The O'Neill Communications Blog

Archive for the ‘online marketing’ Category

An Open Letter to Facebook

(Author’s note: I’ve loved and have been a member of Facebook since June 2005. Facebook is an excellent way to keep up with friends and network with professionals. It’s also a great tool for businesses to use to communicate with several target audiences at one time. But I haven’t been happy with Facebook’s swift change in stance toward privacy and security, and that is what this letter details. I also explain how you can set your privacy settings after the break.)

Dear Facebook,

Facebook, Facebook, Facebook. What happened to you? What’s happened to us? When I first started seeing you, I was still in college. You promised me exclusivity, and in return I shared important information and intriguing facts about me that hardly anyone knew at the time, including the fact that I truly believe “The Great Gatsby” and “Confessions of a Shopaholic” are two of the greatest books of all time.

After some time of that, you began sneaking around. My friends told me that you were flirting with the idea of letting high school students join us. What?!? These were high school students. I thought you and I were beyond that. But you let high school students on, and I eventually became used to that fact. I still loved you, no matter how you treated me.

Once I got used to that (and almost forgot about it, actually), you threw another curveball my way. I was told that you were going to see anyone over the age of 13. Anyone. What happened to the exclusivity? I felt like you were changing, yet I had stayed the same. I tried to break up with you then, but you lured me back. We had so many mutual friends, and you always managed to come up in conversations. How could I not stay away from you? (more…)

Best New Features of LinkedIn

LinkedIn, the popular social network for businesses, has gone through some big changes recently. It’s still one of the only social networks to go against Facebook and hold it’s own. While many of LinkedIn’s recent improvements bare strikingly similar properties to features on Facebook, some of them do not and are quite innovative. We’re going to look at seven of my favorite recent new features in this article. All of these were implemented within the last quarter. Pretty impressive! (more…)

We’re having a Google Christmas!

This is the time of year of sharing and generosity, but Google seems to be going above and beyond the usual holiday spirit this month.  You would think releasing a new phone or redesigning the most iconic homepage on the Internet would be enough, but they’ve been doing much, much more lately. Here’s a recap of all of our Christmas gifts from Google so far this holiday season! (more…)

Facebook Simplifies Security Options

Facebook logoIt’s not exactly a big secret that Facebook is the largest social networking site on the Internet – and it continues to grow on a daily basis. There are actually now 350 million active users (up 50 million from September). With this rapid and consistent growth, security concerns continue to increase. (more…)

Twitter Goes Red

Picture 1Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day, and the (RED) campaign teamed up with Twitter to increase advocacy.In a “so simple it’s brilliant” move, any person who tweets with the hash tags #red or #laceupsavelives saw the font turn red today. Phrases like World Aids Day/#WorldAidsDay, HIV, Africa and Red have remained in the top trending topics all day, and hundreds are retweeting @joinred’s and @ONECampaign’s tweets detailing facts and statistics on AIDS and World AIDS Day. (more…)

Keep Your Email Subscribers Happy.

Tell me if this sounds familiar – you sign up to be on a company’s mailing list and end up finding your inbox inundated with emails from that company. At first you try to read them because you obviously had some interest when you signed up, but now there’s just too many to sort through. If you’re like me, you end up unsubscribing from the emails and moving on with your life.

Here’s a few suggestions I’d like to give companies in order to keep subscribers happy and interested in what they have to say: (more…)

Interactive Conferences

I’ve been incredibly excited all week about the Association of Family Practice Physician Assistants’ 2009 CME Conference & Exhibition. We’re doing a lot of great things to help keep their members in the loop, and so far we’ve had a steady, positive response.

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Why Social Networking is NOT all that Great

Yes, I said it.

WAIT! Don’t get me wrong. I’m obsessed with Facebook and Twitter. I’ve recently discovered Tumblr, and I’m a WordPress fanatic. I post regularly to various forums and blogs that appeal to my interests. I love the Internet and being able to connect with people in a variety of ways.

But sometimes all of the above is a bigger pain than an asset. (more…)

What Every Designer Needs to Know.

Getting a new client is an exciting experience for any designer. Everything is fresh and exciting! I’ve compiled 10 basic questions to ask all clients so that the shiny, new project actually stays shiny AND new. (more…)

Banner Ads

We all have seen them. Sometimes (and more often than not), they are those cleverly designed boxes above, below, or to the side of our favorite Web pages. Sometimes (unfortunately), they are those awfully annoying pop-ups that prevent us from seeing what we visited the Web site to see in the first place.

(more…)

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