Spring Cleaning

springtime on the patio

It’s already been an incredible spring with some good stories to tell, but to shake off the cobwebs I thought I’d give the little bloggy a minor makeover. New theme, in with some new plugins, out with some old. So help me out here – play around with the Facebook social plugin stuff — if you’re into that — unfortunately I won’t be customizing my content for you but I might look into sending your grandma a new pair of shoes if you’re nice. And thanks to Facebook’s concern for your privacy, her shoe size should only be a couple clicks away. But really, if you happen upon this old, neglected blog-o-mine, I do appreciate any and all honest comments and criticism. This has always been more of a testing ground for me than anything else — a place to play around before I bring things to the big stage (or any level of greater accountability).

But seriously, spring is here, I’ve got some time, and a whole lotta ambition. Let’s shake things up, start something new, and rock out in the sun. You ready? (P.S. if you’re on Spotify, I a made a little mix for this right here.)

Facebook Goes Live with Eventbrite Integration

Facebook Eventbrite Partnership Goes Live on Event Pages

I Just noticed this for the first time moments ago — the first fruits of the Facebook / Eventbrite partnership that was sealed last month. I believe this is somewhat of a first for Facebook — actually marrying an exclusive partner into enabling event payments. It sure seems to be part of an ongoing trend — Facebook began taking PayPal payments in mid-February. Why not just incorporate PayPal into Facebook events? It probably wouldn’t be as messy as the Eventbrite link-up is, at least at launch. For months Eventbrite has leveraged Facebook Connect and users’ propensity for cross-posting about events they had RSVP’d for — one of the more effective uses of Connect, to bolster paid registration by maintaining a presence on users’ Facebook News Feeds. If nothing else this proves Eventbrite to be a winner in the who-will-be-the-next eVite.com sweepstakes.

Upcoming Facebook changes will remove this box. Save your music!

Music No More?

But is this just a test? Is it just a partnership or a precursor to acquisition? Will we see gold coins? Remember, Facebook once co-opted iLike and renamed the iLike app THE “Music” app. iLike was later acquired by MySpace (last August) and now the iLike-powered music app is about to vanish from everyone’s Facebook wall.

Music no more?

It is also now impossible to feature photos and videos in an event post — another sign that Facebook is looking to focus on paid event implementation. Any photos I post as an admin show up on the wall but they will not appear by default as new comments take precedence. Let’s walk through the Eventbrite + Facebook process. It’s not at all intuitive from either the event host or user point of view and in fact, it isn’t truly implemented into Facebook — it’s little more than a link to Eventbrite.

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VIDEO: Chandeliers sway in JW Marriott lobby after 7.2 Earthquake South of Mexicali, Baja Mexico April 4, 2010


Chandeliers sway in JW Marriott lobby after 6.9 Earthquake in Baja Mexico April 4, 2010

Originally uploaded by andysternberg

There were strange crack/rolling sounds from alternating sides of the building during the quake, which felt like a gentle swirling than anything else. The quake took place hundreds of miles away. Per Wikipedia:

The Ritz-Carlton/JW Marriott hotel building, a part of the LA Live development in Los Angeles, California, is the first building in Los Angeles that uses an advanced steel plate shear wall system to resist the lateral loads of strong earthquakes and winds.

20 minutes later they came on the loudspeaker to say they were investigating any possibile structural damage to the building.

I just took some photos of the steel beam wall setups and have posted them below — according to the bartender here, this building is built to withstand a 12.0 magnitude earthquake. I feel much safer now.
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Marketing: What you can learn from the Grateful Dead

I”m reposting this from Hubspot so that I remember to check it out later. I’ll read just about anything David Meerman Scott writes anyway…
Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead Webinar

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View the Slides

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About the Webinar

Learn the power of fremium, fans, and remarkable content from the Grateful Dead as shared by deadheads and marketing gurus Brian Halligan and David Meerman Scott. This 60 minute webinar is intended for all (marketing-interested) audiences and includes 45 minutes of entertaining presentation and 15 minutes of Q&A.

via hubspot.com