If you are under 34 the answer is probably yes.

Even a year ago 48% of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up. Sound familiar? It’s the morning paper. The difference is 28% do this before even getting out of bed.

48% of young Americans say Facebook is the way they find out about news. Silly, shallow, outrageous you say? Maybe not….  Read more

My family is not really on Facebook much. They forgot my birthday.

This reminded me of traveling in the Yucatan as a 22 year old and utterly forgetting my own birthday. Somehow the group I was with knew when it was even if I did not, and they actually engineered a make-shift surprise party for me. That was perhaps my most memorable birthday, though I’m not sure I would recognize any of those kind people if I bumped into them on the street today….  Read more

“What if company logos were honest” is a very funny blog post featuring the work of the artist and designer Viktor Hertz. It kind of gets you thinking though. I talk a lot about truth and why it matters for a brand. And yet look at all these great brands. They are jokingly being shown at odds with the reality of what they actually deliver.

I think this situation shows, among other things, that a brand is NOT just a logo. But at the same time, it points out how our brand associations really are not rational….  Read more

What does a website want?

I was in a presentation yesterday and I explained it like this: For the first time user a website wants three things:

1. During the first 15 to 30 seconds that I spend on a website, I need to know that I have arrived at the right place. This is the brand establishment moment—a critical juncture—and the moment when I decide to stay or go. If the brand message—visuals, text, overall look and feel—are right, I recognize that I have, in fact, come to the right place, and I stick around long enough for number 2….  Read more

Probably the two most valuable things that have happened to me as a business person were:

1) Being laid off from a corporate job, and having to start a business on my own, forcing the question of how to survive and support a family without a regular salary, benefits, or anything to rely on but myself.

2) My former business partner’s choice to walk off with all our clients, leaving me with the company debt and virtually no business….  Read more

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