September 2009 "Best Tweets" List

Finally got an opportunity to post "Best Tweets" again, so thanks for your patience. We've been busy preparing for our launch of "Creople", an iPhone drawing game application. If you have a chance, swing by Creople's Facebook Fan page and check out the "Events" tab for the Creople "Jingle Contest" for children K-12. Should be lots of fun!

In the meantime, the winners of the "Best Tweets for September 2009 are:

Small Business

• Startup Financial Tips From Mark Cuban and 4 Other Entrepreneurs
  
• 10 Tips for the First-Time Business Owner
  
• 16 Inventions That Boost Habitats, Humanity, Health and Happiness
  
  Social Media/Communities/Blogs
  
• Movie Apps Get Social as Studios Integrate Facebook Connect
  
• Online university relies on social networks
  
• Six Social Sites Every Fashion Marketer Should Know
  
• How to measure social media @NewsSocialMedia @daveharkins
  
• Social game aims to help local restaurants
  
• Healthy Choices: Nine Healthcare Bloggers Worth a Click
  
• The 10 'Must Have' Business Tools for Twitter! @SocialNetDaily
  
• The 27 varieties of tweet used by retailers @econsultancy
  
• Trends: Localization
  
  Mobile/Gaming/Etc.
  
• Working Moms Are the Mobile Power Users in the U.S. @mashable
  
• App Store by the Numbers: Category Breakdown @Mobclix
  
• Dialing Into Mobile Marketing @theebayguy
  
• Survey Says Most iPhone Owners Download 10+ Apps
  
• Apple Announces 1.8 billion downloads from the App Store (via @Mashable)
  
• How to Promote your iPhone app in 60 seconds
  
• How to Determine Which of Your iPhone App Ideas Has the Most Merit
  
  Marketing/PR
  
• Want More Results? Make Your Content Likable and Linkable (via @Journalistics)
  
• When Considering Promotion - Think About Emotion
  
• 6 Stupid Excuses for Not Getting Feedback
  
• PR 101: The shape to come of public relations ...cannot just cut and paste a campaign
  
• 10 Great B-to-B Sites
  
• 3 Free Publicity Tools
  
• 7 deadly sins of advertising
  
• E-commerce tips: 13 recommendations for multichannel integration @econsultancy
  
• 16 Wicked Easy Word of Mouth Marketing Tactics @OPENForum
  
• 5 Ways To Spread Content, Whatever It Is
  
• Headline ideas, just a click away
  
  Design/UI/HTML/CSS
  
• 101 Things I Learned In Interaction Design School @smashingmag
  
• Printed books on User Experience free to read online
  
• 7 Awesome Resources to Test Cross Browser Compatibility @hashdesigns
  
• 50 Astonishing Website Footers @inspiredmag @designscouch
  
• 30+ Great Web Tools You Might not Know Yet but Should
  
• High Quality Button Tutorials
  
• 22 Awesome Adobe AIR Applications for Designers @justdesign @jggube
  
• Apple vs. Microsoft – A Website Usability Study
  
• 100 Fantastic Resources For Web Designers @Retireat21
  
• A Month In The Creative Community: An August Roundup | Fuel Your Creativity @tweetmeme
• Free Web Application Icon Set @smashingmag
  
  Search/SEO/SEM
  
• Likes this: Side-by-side comparison of Google vs. Bing search results Likes this
  
• IMshopping Opens Twitter And Human Powered Shopping Search Engine To Retailers @MarkClayson
  
• Collection of Social Media Statistics and Tracking Sites
  

Check back for the "Best Tweets" in October!

Do you have additional articles you'd like me to add? Comment below or let me know at 2cre8@2cre8llc.com. Enjoy!

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"Crowdsourcing" Continues To Be a Hotly Debated Topic

Some of you may have read a hotly debated topic on "crowdsourcing" or also referred to as "spec work" where designers bid for a design job online with the likes of "crowdSpring" and "99designs". It has created quite a controversy to the point a group called No!Spec (Twitter account @nospec) was created.

Recently I stumbled upon an article written by Jeremiah Owyang entitled "Designers: Why Spec Work Is Not Going Away – How You Should Respond". Jeremiah's article was simply stating a social media trend. He actually started off his career as a UI designer. However, it wasn't so much his article that had taken me aback, but what had gotten my attention was the lively discussion that ensued at the end of the article. So of course, being a professional interactive manager/designer (one of many hats), I commented the following:

"What’s not reflected in the conversation is the value Experienced Designers bring to the table. It’s not just about a design that’s aesthetically pleasing, but how strategic design can enhance a brand campaign and product positioning, as well as heighten a brand’s perception. Experienced designers are also strategic creative business partners for the brand and their products.

Spec work may be a venue/channel for a new designer just starting out in the field. I believe there are other options out there, but it takes time to build. I think they need to consider the time they spent vying after spec work vs. creating and building up their personal brand from scratch, i.e., portfolio sites, WOM marketing, etc."

This whole topic spurred me to ask a question on LinkedIn in the 2 design groups I belong to, AIGA and ADCNJ. I wrote 'Do you think "crowdsourcing" devalues designers and design in general?' I wrote a brief description then added, 'I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this issue and what you would recommend as other alternatives for designers.'

The intent of the post was to draw out recommendations and alternatives from other designers. Besides committing to not follow this trend, we all need to find a solution and become proactive in our own personal branding. Here are some ideas that were listed:

• Non-profit organizations for designers just getting their foot in the door
  
• Get involved with your city's Chamber of Commerce
  
• Cold calls
  
• Referrals (this should include friends, family, colleagues and old acquaintances)
  
• I haven't heard of too many people having luck with these, but it's possible: Elance, Guru, Odesk, iFreelance, RentaCoder, etc.
  
• "The Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market" (book listings)
  
• Craigslist
  
• Branding/Identity/Marketing yourself
  
• Advertise
  
• Find design firms that have overflow work that can use your assistance
  
• Join communities like No!Spec (Twitter account @nospec)

Then a fellow designer posted just a link with no comments to this video, which I have to say, really made my day. (Thanks @kenlange! :D)




I'll continue to follow this hotly debated topic and may update the list above from comments provided. What could we do collectively and what could we do for our own personal branding and WOM marketing?

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