http://www.myspace.com/garrettramquist

Garrett, only twenty years old, has recently released his first EP, “Twenty Thousand Dreams” containing 7 tracks, my personal favorite being “Storm.” His light, but catchy songs bring back the nostalgic and popular bands of the 90’s. The melodies are simple and inspiring – something that’s sure to have wide appeal.

Visitors to his MySpace profile will quickly realize how much talent this young song writer has and many will become instant fans. His pages are full of activity and dedicated listeners. If you’re a fan of Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls, or Daughtry, do yourself a favor and pick-up his new EP for only $7.99, available on his MySpace profile.

—- Some Distribution Tips for Artists —-

A quick tip for those of you that are selling your music – use as many distribution channels as possible! The more channels, the better the chances of attracting new fans and customers.

Here are a few resources that should NOT be overlooked:

http://cdbaby.net/dd
http://cdbaby.net
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000668.php
http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/sellonline1.htm
http://www.createspace.com/
http://www.ebay.com/

CreateSpace.com is actually affiliated with Amazon.com and offers on demand printing. On demand printing can be more beneficial (than the Advantage program) to artists who don’t have the time to deal with pressing CD’s from one manufacturer and shipping them to Amazon.com when requested. Somtimes this can even save money depending on the price of your CD.

Friendster
Social network sharing profiles, thoughts, photos, and opinions.
www.friendster.com

orkut
Online community that connects people through a network of trusted friends.
www.orkut.com

Facebook
An online directory that connects people through social networks at colleges and universities, high schools, or workplace. People with a valid email address from a supported college, high school, or company can register for Facebook and create a profile to share information, photos, and interests with their friends.
www.facebook.com

Invite Share
Invite Share allows users to give or receive invitations to social networking and other community sites around the Web.
www.inviteshare.com

Yahoo! Mash
Yahoo! Mash is a social network that allows users to add a variety of modules to your profile pages, and also allows you to edit your friends’ profiles as well.
yahoo.com/mash

Google Groups [read review]
Google Groups allows users to start their own email discussion groups and message boards, and browse archives of Usenet groups.
groups.google.com

MySpace
Explore the sites of MySpace, the virtual community, including the home page, its music portal, editor and toolbar wizard, the technorati’s portal blog, and articles about the virtual community.
MySpace.com

Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups allows you to create and manage online email communities in areas such as Recreation and Sports, Entertainment and Arts, Hobbies and Crafts, Computers and Internet, and Health and Wellness.
groups.yahoo.com

Flickr@
Find a collection of sites relating to Flickr, an online photo management tool where users can share photos, store, search, and sort photos.
Flickr.com

Meet Up
Connects people around topics of interest locally.
www.meetup.com

MSN Groups
Message boards and communities of people as unique as you.
groups.msn.com

StumbleUpon
A browser add-on for finding and sharing great web sites.
www.stumbleupon.com

Dogster [read review]
Post and share your dog’s photos and facts. Site enables viewing by breed, size, name, hometown, and more.
www.dogster.com

CouchSurfing [read review]
Helps users make connections worldwide. Meet people from other countries and offer your couch to your new friends when they visit.
www.couchsurfing.com

Bolt
News and features, email, chat, message boards, and more.
www.bolt.com

Well, The
Pioneering online community known for engaging conversation and intelligent debate. Features more than 260 conferences ranging from technical and specific to abstract and surreal.
www.well.com

SMS.ac
Mobile community that enables users worldwide to flirt, chat, and share interests with other by sending SMS messages.
www.sms.ac

hi5
Place to meet new people, connect with friends, and share ideas.
www.hi5.com

Everything2
User-created encyclopedia, web directory, and knowledge web. Everything2 offers definitions, articles, and writeups by readers about anything and everything.
www.everything2.com

Suicide Girls
Cult of sexy amateur punk, emo, and goth girls with online journals, pictures, and movies.
www.suicidegirls.com

Tribe.net
Online social networking service that connects the people in your personal networks and community.
www.tribe.net

Catster [read review]
Post and share your cat’s photos and facts. Site enables viewing by breed, size, name, hometown, and more.
www.catster.com

Ning
Online service where users can create, customize, and share their own social network for free in seconds.
www.ning.com

Bebo
Social network for people who want to stay in touch with their old friends and college pals. Search for current or past students of your college or school, or join clubs, exchange photos, and read blog entries from other users.
www.bebo.com

Tickle
Offers tests, matchmaking, and social networking. Tickle services include LoveHappens, an online introduction network with profiles that feature stories written by friends and family.
web.tickle.com

LinkedIn
Online service helping professionals find and connect with one another through shared social contacts.
www.linkedin.com

Friend of a Friend Project (FOAF)
Creating a web of machine-readable home pages describing people, the links between them, and the things they create and do.
www.foaf-project.org

Cybertown
The sci-fi community of the future.
www.cybertown.com

Stickam.com
Broadcast yourself live. Add live feed, video chat, movies, photos, and audio to your web page, MySpace page, or blog.
www.stickam.com

myYearbook
Social playground originally built by two high school students. You’ve got friends!
www.myyearbook.com

RateMyBody
Online community. Meet people, chat, and rate pictures of others.
www.ratemybody.com

eSnips
Social sharing site where people share any digital content showcasing their talents, interests, and passions from one centralized place.
www.esnips.com

SmartGroups.com
Helps to organize the different groups of people in your life using email and the Internet.
www.smartgroups.com

FaceParty
Build a personal web site, upload pictures, send messages, chat, and find people.
www.faceparty.com

TagWorld
Combines photos, blogging, tagging, and storage in a free online service.
www.tagworld.com

Wallop
Flash-based social networking site where users can share photos, blog, and interact with friends.
mywallop.com

Picit.com
Dedicated to greeting cards, funny pictures, online dating services, pic ratings, and other free stuff.
www.picit.com

consumating
Meet hipsters, bloggers, freaks, and geeks in your area by showing off your quirky personality with zany answers to questions.
www.consumating.com

Communities.com
Online community with chat rooms, instant messaging, detailed photo profiles and galleries, photo ratings, and more.
www.communities.com

Yahoo! Member Directory
Directory for finding profiles of Yahoo! members with similar interests and getting in touch with them.
members.yahoo.com

Desi Rater
A photo rating site to rate Indian girls and guys online. Upload your picture and get it rated by others. Includes chats and forums.
www.desirater.com

Meatball Wiki
Community that deals with online culture, especially how people online come together naturally in groups.
www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl

Multiply
Web community that allows friends and friends of friends to stay in touch by sharing photos, stories, group messages, and more.
www.multiply.com

Zaadz
Social networking site focused on building communities around spirituality, ethical businesses, and personal growth.
www.zaadz.com

CommunityZero
Allows a group of people to communicate and exchange information over the Internet in their own private and secure area.
www.communityzero.com

Mashable
Blog focusing exclusively on social networks.
www.mashable.com

Wikia
Provides a collection of communities with web sites that any user can edit, from movies and TV, to sports, gaming, health, and other topics.
www.wikia.com

Backfence.com
Collaborative “hyperlocal” community hoping to see thousands of web sites bloom, created by neighbors, for neighbors, and supported by local advertising.
www.backfence.com

Cyworld
Virtual community connects members with new or existing social networks through a “minihompy,” which includes a guestbook, message boards, photos, and a personal bulletin board.
us.cyworld.com

Tagged
Online community where users can share photos, keep journals, discover friends, and more.
www.tagged.com

WireClub
Chat and dating site featuring clubs to connect like-minded users.
www.wireclub.com

Interracial Village
Online community for people all over the world from different cultures. Includes lifestyle, cottage shop, message board, and more.
www.interracialvillage.com

Yafro Moblog
Create a free online picture journal using your camera phone or digital camera, and share them with friends or make new friends too.
www.yafro.com

Makeoutclub
Online independent music and subculture community.
www.makeoutclub.com

Huminity
Social networking and chat software.
www.huminity.com

Dandelife.com
Combining personal biographies, graphic timelines, and social networking. Tell your story and explore the lives of others.
www.dandelife.com

Life With Alacrity
A blog on social software, collaboration, trust, security, and privacy, by Christopher Allen
www.lifewithalacrity.com

Playdo Community
Create a unique character by choosing its appearance, age, gender, origin, and interests, then enroll it as a citizen in Playdo City where it can interact with other users.
www.playdo.com

Mediachest
Share books, CDs, DVDs, and video games with people in your social network.
www.mediachest.com

Baby Chums
Social networking site for expectant or new mothers and fathers to congregate for common welfare. Post pictures of your little ones and show them off to the community.
www.babychums.com

ICERED
Online community of high-income professionals in Hong Kong, Singapore, and elsewhere in Asia engaging in discussions of school, work, and play.
www.icered.com

AOL People Connection
Community for AOL users to interact in blogs, message boards, photo galleries, and more.
peopleconnection.aol.com

Pinoy Exchange
Features message boards on variety of topics for Filipinos.
www.pinoyexchange.com

Minti
Provides an online community for parents to both share and rank advice about parenthood. You can create your own family page, keep a blog, and make friends with other members.
www.minti.com

Zanpo
Create a constantly evolving virtual city online.
www.zanpo.com

WeeWorld
Social network built for fun where you can meet and interact with WeeMees, invite friends, send messages, play games, and create your own online cartoon page.
www.weeworld.com

Academici
Global networking platform linking academics, associations, societies, services, students, and related businesses.
www.academici.com

FriendsAbroad
Online community where users can meet and communicate with people from all over the world and learn new language skills.
www.friendsabroad.com

Kaneva
Free online social network and 3D virtual world allows users to create a profile and avatar and live a modern-day virtual life.
www.kaneva.com

OurStory.com
Collaborative stories told through timelines in words, pictures and voices. Can be shared online with various privacy settings, printed in books, archived on DVD, and more.
www.ourstory.com

Groups@AOL
Features message boards for communities based on common interests.
groups.aol.com

i-neighbors
Meet and communicate with your neighbors.
www.i-neighbors.org

Many 2 Many
A group blog on social networking software.
www.corante.com/many

Wikicities
Offers users free wiki hosting to build a community-created web site.
www.wikicities.com

MapPlanet.com
Experimental community geographically organized on a high-resolution map of planet earth.
www.mapplanet.com

Helium.com
Helium.com is a community-created reference covering a diverse number of topics organized into 23 channels. Helium orders subjective content with a patented, peer-review ranking system.
www.helium.com.

TheDilly
Community featuring college, music, sports, and gaming forums, chat, journals, ratings, messaging, and more.
www.thedilly.com

Square, The
Online community for Ivy League students and graduates offering a range of services including job opportunities, local events, personals, chat, home pages, and networking.
www.thesquare.com

BuddyPic.com
Rate and meet guys and girls.
www.buddypic.com

Ryze
Business networking community for people in in the high-tech, finance, and digital media industries.
www.ryze.org

Varsity World
Community that allows teens to network, make friends, create blogs, watch teen-created videos, and more.
www.varsityworld.com

YFly
Teen-only social networking site that empowers teens to connect to their friends, meet new friends, and express themselves through a variety of personalized features. Yfly also enables teens to take their online experience to their cell phone through group text messaging capabilities.
www.yfly.com

Amity Zone
Social networking web site that helps people connect featuring personals, events, classifieds, forums, blogs, and more.
www.amityzone.com

CPixel.com
Online community and picture rating site. Hate or rate!
www.cpixel.com

DowneLink
Online forum for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community. Allows users to share pictures, comments, and testimonials. Also has a space for blogs and an online store.
www.downelink.com

domeus
Allows people to share passions, interests, and opinions by creating and subscribing to free email groups, discussion forums, and mailing lists. Previously eCircle.
www.domeus.co.uk

Twitter (5)
Twitter.com

Full Moon Webs
Member driven online community that offers web hosting, blogs, newsfeeds, and email.
www.fullmoonwebs.com

Lunch 2.0
Social network of people who roam around Silicon Valley corporations, grabbing lunch with the company’s top tech talent.
www.lunch20.com

qmpeople
Meet new people, play games, send SMS messages, post and browse photos and discussion forums, and chat with new friends.
www.qmpeople.com

Findapix
Show pictures of yourself and send and receive messages with other members.
www.findapix.com

Imbee
Social network for kids aged 8 to 14, promoting security and parental controls.
www.imbee.com

Webstock Whole Earth Festival
3D entertainment, information and technology showcase.
www.earthchannel.com

Blue Dot
Social networking service that allows users to save and share bookmarks.
www.bluedot.us

Laws of the Virtual Worlds, The
Paper discussing how the legal concepts of property and moral rights might apply in virtual worlds and online communities.
papers.ssrn.com

iPoste.org
Community building interactive web site dedicated to connecting visitors to their community of interest. Find and communicate with others, post classifieds and messages, and add events to a group calendar.
www.iPoste.org

eyebees
The base camp of swarming offers downloadable software for a collective surfing experience. Browse the Internet with your friends and communicate while you surf.
www.eyebees.com

Person.com
Virtual community allows users to rate profiles with photos, chat one-on-one, play online games, discuss relationships, and more.
www.person.com

Fork
Provides community profiles, cell phone wallpapers, and ringtones. Features the Mosquito Ringtone, a high-pitched ringtone which only teenagers can hear.
www.fork.com

Savvy Miss
Articles and interviews on careers, colleges, and current issues confronting women. Features message boards, newsletters, and blogs.
www.savvymiss.com

World Lounge
Offers users the opportunity to meet people of the same ethnic background through photos, chats, and other events.
www.worldlounge.com

Got Kids Network
Parents’ social network where club members share parenting advice, local event information, shopping deals, and other resources to help raise children.
www.gotkidsnetwork.com

Essembly.com
Social networking site focused on politics. Express your political view or argument and find people who support or counter what you believe.
www.essembly.com

Global Pau Hana
Worldwide grassroots community to connect people with an affinity to Hawaii.
www.globalpauhana.org

minglenow
Locate events and places before going out, stay in contact while you are out using your mobile phone, upload, share, and view images from the night out.
www.minglenow.com

Others Online
Toolbar that helps like-minded people on the web find your site once you register with your web page.
www.othersonline.com

Linked Musicians
Live music web community and directory in multiple languages. Linked Musicians is a community of musicians, bands, and those offering live music products or services.
www.linked-musicians.com

Hip-Hop.net
Hip-hop social networking community connecting people through hip-hop music and culture. Meet new people and grow your network.
www.hip-hop.net

Petster
Interactive community that connects pet owners and enthusiasts through a global network of animal lovers, pet friends, and breed and species organizations.
www.petster.com

Music Hawk
Online music community where fans can share their tastes, meet other fans, and participate in group discussions. Music Hawk features band profiles with links to tours, stores, and media.
www.musichawk.com

My Happy Blog
Allows users to create free blogs as well as chat, play games, rate pics, post to forums, and more.
www.myhappyblog.com

Scott Common Sense Household Tips
Find household hints and solutions at the Scott Common Sense Community.
www.scottcommonsense.com

Carster
Global community for car enthusiasts where members can meet others who share their passion for driving and collecting automobiles.
www.carster.com

MocoSpace
Free mobile community. MocoSpace features chats, photos, profile pages, and more.
www.mocospace.com

Biznik
Location-specific business networking community that helps independent business people build relationships.
biznik.com

Family Routes
Customizable social network featuring free blogging and photo sharing for families, friends, and communities.
www.familyroutes.com

Colonies.com
Online community where you can share your experiences and upload your photos, blog, movies, articles, short stories, and more.
colonies.com

Marble2 Global Hotspot
Build, connect, post video, and blog your global life. Marble2 is an active social network where members blog, email, send instant messenges, and wiki articles together.
www.marble2.com

Outcasted
An online community with forums, chatrooms, free email accounts, and more. Also includes links to related web sites.
www.outcasted.com

EdGateway Communities
Offer science, math and environmental educators and their organizations the ability to find, organize, and share events, discussions, information, and documents.
edgateway.net

Women OC
Provides an online community for women to discuss books, relationships, politics, and dozens of other topics.
www.womenoc.com

Beautiful People
Social networking site where members vote on who can join based mostly on physical attractiveness.
us.beautifulpeople.net

Wannago
Meet new people, discover local events and places.
www.wannago.com

Vidacool
Interactive entertainment community and online club for Spanish-speaking youth in Latin America, the U.S., and Europe.
www.vidacool.com

Holla At US
Provides an online community for chatting, blogging, listening to live radio, exploring friends’ pages, and designing your own page.
www.hollaat.us

Sportsvite
Helps local and amateur sports teams stay organized, and helps players find teams and partners in their area.
sportsvite.com

VIRB
Store blogs, videos, pictures, and music on VIRB, share content with friends, and link out to other sites.
www.virb.com

GabCity
Online community where users meet new people, connect with friends, share ideas, watch videos, play games, and enter contests.
www.gabcity.com

Petsburg
Immersing online village for pet lovers, designed for people who love their dogs and cats as if they were their children.
www.petsburg.com

Weishare
Connect with family and friends and share personal sites.
www.weishare.com

Pinoy Forum
Bulletin boards for Filipino community.
www.pinoyforum.com

OddPodz
Online place where you can meet others, express yourself, have fun, and exhibit your talents.
www.oddpodz.com

Friendeavor
Allows users to connect with other people in the same area who share the same interests as them.
www.friendeavor.com

Badoo.com
Online social community connecting people worldwide through profiles, photos, opinion, and thoughts.
www.badoo.com

Pet Watch Club
Social networking site for pets and their owners. Find fellow animal lovers in your area and connect with other owners at pet-friendly places outside the home.
www.petwatchclub.com

Things I Can Do
Community allows users to network skills and talents and to share common interests with others.
www.thingsicando.com

Lozt Paradise
Virtual community where users have a graphic identity. Features interactive games, live chats, forums, blogs, personal photo album, and more.
www.lozt.com

Singin.com
Online community where users can share their voices, pictures, and words. Prepare to meet new people, revive old friendships, and get your voice heard.
www.singin.com

Imagini
An image-based social network. By clicking on images that closely match your interests, desires, habits, and feelings, the site determines your personality and matches you with people of similar tastes.
www.imagini.net

Ccube.com
Audio-focused social network allows you to find people, hear audio greetings, and be connected in secure conference calls without ever having to share your phone number.
www.ccube.com

Edgeofeverything….
Offers chat and forum space for a subversive, alternative take on the world and all things in it. Zen and anarchy, psychedelia, conspiracy theories, and madness.
particlezen.proboards7.com

eatlunch.at
“vote for lunch” application that allows you to share daily preferences with your lunchtime group.
www.eatlunch.at

Local2Me
Location-based communities for neighbors, small businesses, job seekers, and others to share local advice and information. Groups personalized by distance and age range.
www2.local2me.com

TruthBytes
Mechanism for finding out what people really think of you and other people.
www.truthbytes.com

Unieros
Online community where people celebrate cultural diversity by writing about music, film, literature, and customs from their culture through personal country profiles. Web site offers profiles, picture gallery, calendar, and blog.
www.unieros.com

Urban Prestige
Online community that offers online dating, personal growth advice, and business networking. Urban Prestige features renowned authors, free blogs, and job ads.
www.urbanprestige.com

Nowwwhere
Virtual world featuring 3D ray-traced graphics. Wander around, meet other netizens, and try to solve some puzzles. Features animation and sound clips.
imagiware.com/nowhere

CliqueBox
Allows members to set up unique profiles, view freinds’ profiles, and share photographs, groups, and events.
www.cliquebox.com

RedBubble
Internet art gallery and creative community that makes artwork more accessible, rewarding, and fun for everyone.
www.redbubble.com

Zamboozle
Internet community with a variety of headlines, Flash games, and active forums.
www.zamboozle.com

StayingClose
Offers the chance to create communities and share files, images, and more.
www.stayingclose.com

Bookfizz
Social network for book lovers, featuring news, reviews, a book forum, a calendar of literary events and a comprehensive archive of book awards.
www.bookfizz.com

Trendmill
Social networking site gathering together fashion enthusiasts from around the world. Allows brands and individuals to upload their creations and get feedback from other users.
www.trendmill.com

Respectance
A place for people to share their memories and celebrate the value of life.
www.respectance.com

Paradise
The plans for a deserted metropolis, waiting to be filled in. Explore and write your own part.
www.lovebytes.org.uk/paradise

Virtual Communities and the Internet
Offers course description, syllabus, assignments, and more.
www.fas.harvard.edu/~libcse10

Ebundant Sharing Network
Enables participants to easily find and share portable, occasional use items such as books, sports equipment, camping equipment, tools, and DVDs among friends, and friends of friends.
www.ebundant.com

Girls with Goals
Ecommerce community for business women. Provides business tools, online store, workshops, and information on startups and marketing.
www.girlswithgoals.com

Nuzizo
Online community offering music, chat, friends, networking as well as personals, and dating services.
www.nuzizo.com

Bharat Student.com
Online social networking space for the Indian students. Hang out with buddies in various communities, share campus tit-bits and videos, and post messages.
www.bharatstudent.com

Stuart
Social network for student artists hosted by the Saatchi Gallery in London. Artists can connect to friends, post messages, and display their work.
www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/stuart

myGamma
Mobile phone social network offers members access to instant messaging, photo albums, and moblogs through their cell phones.
www20.mygamma.com/rankdisplay.php

Bumi-n City
Track the growth and suggest changes to this virtual Japanese city with the focus on proper ecological management.
www.hiroshima-gas.co.jp/english/city/frame.htm

Lestout
News and social networking site with the expert advice and articles on health, entertainment, arts, relationships, spirituality, education, and more.
www.lestout.com

PerfSpot.com
Post messages, share pictures, and upload your videos on PerfSpot.com, the online social networking destination.
www.perfspot.com

Metails.com
Social networking space from the folks at Buy.com.
www.metails.com/home

Building an Online Community: Just Add Water
Advice from Matt Haughey in Digital Web.
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/…line_community

Top10db
The top ten database, where people can create their own top ten lists (or more than ten) of anything and share with others, such as top ten movies, TV shows, video games, books, songs, and web sites.
www.top10db.com

AnAmericanBand
Social networking site for unsigned bands and their fans to discover each other.
www.anamericanband.net

Desi Fellows
Online Indian community where you can stay in touch with old friends and find others who share the same interests.
www.desifellows.com

bigadda.com
Social networking portal where users can interact with buddies, post messages, as well as share photos and videos. Also includes various forums and discussion blogs.
www.bigadda.com

Animal Internet
Social networking site that publishes the opinions of animals. No thumbs allowed.
http://AnimalInternet.com

Nigeria Connected
Online Nigerian community allows users to connect with Nigerians around the world.
www.nigeria-connected.com

ReachOutside
Free social networking site with emphasis on dating, relationships, people, and businesses.
www.reachoutside.com

Google Groups 2 Beta
Offering a service where users can start their own email discussion groups and browse Usenet archives.
groups-beta.google.com

OurChart
Social networking site from the creators of The L Word. Connect with friends, see unreleased content from the show, and access original editorial content from creative types everywhere.
www.ourchart.com

LifeHoo!
Discover things you want to do, meet people with similar goals, write entries and blogs, and upload photos. Live, share, and discover the things that make you happy.
www.lifehoo.com

Iliketotallyloveit.com
Share shopping finds and favorite products with a network of fellow lovers.
www.iliketotallyloveit.com

Skyrock
People’s network connecting one another through shared social community. Offers blogs, profiles, chat rooms, and featured videos from users world wide.
www.skyrock.com

Zivity
Adult social networking platform for sexy models and beautiful photography where members get to vote for models and photos they find appealing.
www.zivity.com

GambliZed
GambliZed is a Web 2.0 Gambling Social Bookmarking and Networking Site. You can: – Find and Add Friends – Vote For Stories – Submit Articles, Videos or Pictures – Personalize Your Profile – Have Fun!
www.gamblized.com

Here are the new networks we will start talking about:

• Friendster
• Yahoo Mash
• Bebo
• Orkut
• Hi5

These are, of course, in addition to our current popular marketing sites – MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube. MySpace marketing is obviously the most popular, but marketing on Facebook and YouTube has increased significantly in the past 6 months. There are now bots for all three of these networks and I’m sure there will be more future developments to come.

If you’re new to the site, take a look around at the marketing resources and if you’re interested in a forum membership, pick-up a copy of the myspace marketing book to obtain your free access to our social networking marketing forum.

I’ve mentioned it before – not only should your business have a strong presence on MySpace, but start checking out Facebook too! Facebook has recently launched their iPhone mobile site, iphone.facebook.com, which allows iPhone users to explore the Facebook website wherever they are.

MySpace has opened similar mobile sites, such as their exclusive agreement with Helio, allowing users with a Helio phone to surf a specially made Myspace site, integrating all their favorite features, and even allowing for pictures or video to be uploaded straight from the phone!

This is only the beginning of the mobile-digital world and it’s sure to be the future. The question you should be asking yourself is “how can my company take advantage of this?”

Entertainment is the key when brain storming ideas. In the past decade, advertisers have really been catching on to this new entertainment-advertising medium because it works! Movies and television shows have more product placement advertising in them than ever before. Movies such as Transformers are being completely branded – notice all the cars are GM…

Music and videos are the heart of this change along with games, comics, networking, and pictures. Learn how to make the most out of each of these medias and develop your creative strategies around them. It’s good to follow trends, but not to copy them… Be innovative and keep your goals in mind!

Let’s say you have five different types of requests and/or notification e-mails. Gmail (Google’s web e-mail) allows you to specify detailed filters to separate each of these e-mails, all going to the same address, into different folders. And the best part, you can forward an e-mail by its filter to another e-mail address, which is where you would use the sms gateway.

So, if you have bob for support, chris for server management, and jim for order notifications, each type of e-mail could be forwarded to the correct employee as a text message to their phone. Of course, many medium and larger businesses have systems like this already in place; but some small businesses should find this very useful.

Here’s a list of some of the gateways from Wikipedia. Feel free to share this list with your network.

Here’s the original page

Have you checked out the new iPhone at your local Apple store yet? One of the coolest features of the iPhone is the integrated YouTube video app. Apple has teamed up with YouTube to give iPhone users the ability to search through popular YouTube videos and stream them on the iPhone. This is not done through flash or flv, which is what the YouTube website currently uses, but through another format called H.264. This is not a proprietary format so it is reasonable to assume most future cell phones will include the ability to search and stream YouTube videos as well.

I mentioned “popular” videos above because YouTube does not currently have all of their library converted to the format just yet, however they do expect a total conversion and mobile availability of all videos by the fall. If you’re looking for resources on making your video, check out the creating your own videos tutorial.

Social Networking Sites and Popular Activities
Social networking consumers have exposed their desire to use more than just one social networking website. The research done with Parks Associates shows that 45% of social networking site users in the US use more than one network; 16% are using 3 or more! It also goes on to show that 10% of internet households use social networking websites daily and 8% of them read blogs daily. Multimedia activities (watching videos, posting photos, etc.) also maintain a high share around 4%.

As a marketer, this information tell us three important things:

1. Social Networking is getting bigger and is definitely here to stay
2. It’s better to have a profile on many social networking sites
3. In addition to having a profile, you should maintain a blog and lots of multimedia

Thanks to Mashable.com for the lead.