Do Bloggers get vacation?  You bet.  It's called not writing or thinking about your blog for a month while you renovate the cottage, or find a new client or job.  Or all of the above.

I'm taking a short break, and should be back to writing, this time with a renewed focus on emerging tech, in September.  In the mean time, I will still be sharing via FourSquare and Twitter, and will always reply to email.

Have a great August!

-AK

I think I may have caught the site in mid-update, because some were in the new design, and others we're in the previous design.  Aeroplan, like Air Miles, is a Canadian coalition-style of rewards programs.  Air Canada, Esso, Sobeys, CIBC and others issue Aeroplan miles as a percentage of purchase, as well as bonus miles on certain products and brands like Tropicana or Life Brand cereal.

Here is the before:

...and here is the new version.  They've used the Aeroplan logo as inspiration for the background.  Not bad.  Certainly a lot more user friendly, and better readability and usability.

Yes, another post about changes to Facebook.  This time just a useful feature update.  Friend activity is now appearing in the left rail as a floating alert.  You don't even have to click the X to close it-- just mousing over indicates you've seen it and it fades away.  Is it a test, or is it here for good?

What feature would you like to see Facebook develop or implement?

Facebook has just launched their improved Insights dashboard.  It seems the focus has shifted from demographics and accumulation to engagement and recency.

The insights dashboard is essential for Page owners, as it provides a quick view of what's happening with the fans (or likers) of their page. Knowing how your content is going over with fans can help a page owners make adjustments or changes to scheduling that can affect future performance and engagement.

The other thing that the Insights can do is shape ad development.  Knowing who your audience is can optimize who who target for ads, whether to speak to your target, or to people outside of your target. Social and engagement ads on Facebook are still unmatched in the web advertising world as far as targeting because of the volume of data available to advertisers.

Thanks @equalman for updating your fantastic video. I've used this in about 6 presentations so far to explain to the non-believers, doubters, and haters that they need to keep an open mind.

LinkedIn has been adding features and making site tweaks a lot lately, and I think, overall, they've been pretty good improvements.

What's interesting for a marketer or corporate communications person is the reality that is presented when a company is followed, one of the new features available.  When you follow a company, you can get updates (either by email or just in the update stream on the site) about when people are hired, when they leave, when they're promoted, when jobs are posted, etc.  If you're looking for a job, working at an agency who deals with a few different clients, or many other situations where it's handy to keep track of companys and people-- this is a pretty good feature.

What this means for the spin-masters (PR, Corp Comms, Agencies, Marketing, HR included) is interesting:  You can't spin change.  If all of the sudden 30 people from your development team start dropping like flies, joining other firms, changing jobs, changing titles-- one could interpret that as turmoil.  A spin master could say "Well, we've just had a lot of changes and turnover."-- except that that same stream would show people getting hired, promoted, updating titles, job descriptions, etc.  Companies are now on display more than ever.

This is a Truth Lens that is pointing at a company, and really, there's nothing a company can do-- since all the data is really just representing what's happening to individuals within the collective.  Something to think about when you update your profile next:  People are watching.

Note: You can change your own privacy settings to not allow changes to be communicated to your network, however a company doesn't have that kind of granular control over what is shared. (yet)

Engagement Ad leads to FBML Tab.


FBML Coupon Tab leads to FutureShop landing page with printable coupons. Is there a potential for fraud? I don't think so. You have to spend to get the deal, so just the fact that it's getting feet through the door means that if someone uses the coupon, it's worth it.  (Or that's how I see retail...)

This is just a straight advertising play though.  You don't have to be a fan (sorry, 'Like') to get the coupons, they just happen to live on that FBML Tab.  But what else could FutureShop do? (Since this promotion is only a week long?)  How about other channels?  Get an email since these customers are engaged enough to click a few times and print a coupon...  Makes sense right?

How would you improve the campaign?