Communities of Practice - The real thing!. Here is an excellent example of a medical team building their own Community of Practice using Radio so that they can serve their own Community better. [Robert Paterson's Radio Weblog]

This looks like it kicks serious ass. From their "What we're doing" document:

It seems very likely that the needed essential innovation in healthcare is sociological, more than technological innovation, more than economic innovation. We have more advanced medical technology than we can currently deliver to patients. We spend abut twice as much per person on healthcare delivery in the US as is spent in Great Britain and there is little to indicate our patients have better health or higher satisfaction as a result. The sociological innovation will be discovering how to cooperate. Some community will discover how they can cooperate among providers and with patients. That is the highly leveraged innovation. That community will change everything for the rest. The sciences of complex adaptive systems and social networks need to come together. To these we need to add the art of community conversations.

[Seb's Open Research]

Hyperlinked_companies_compagnies_hyperliees (RSS) [New on TopicExchange.com]

Interesting. This open blog channel lists companies that are talked about by bloggers, along with indications on where to find the links. Here's the bilingual about page.

[Seb's Open Research]

Media Daily News: Wallpaper As Interactive Ad Vehicle

A new software program from ScreenTime Media gives marketers a fresh strategy for promoting their products, services and corporate identity on customers' computers. The program, called SWF Desktop, makes it possible to quickly create branded computer wallpaper with dynamic updating capabilities that can be used to deliver new product announcements, promotions and other information directly to users' desktop screens on a regular basis.

Sounds like Pointcast to me and where did that end up?

[MarketingFix]

iMedia Connection: Interview McDonald’s Neil Perry

iMedia Connection: What are the obstacles preventing your company from allocating a larger percent of your marketing/advertising budget online?

Perry: Our reason is that the Internet still does not reach AS effectively into the African-American and Hispanic communities as we’d like to see. We also have internal audiences that need to be convinced of the relative benefits of the Internet, which requires us to do a significant amount of research to satisfy their questions.

iMedia Connection: How much will your online media budget increase based on reports that the Internet has pulled a large percentage of user media consumption from TV, print and radio?

Perry: If our consumers are shifting even slightly from one form of media to another, we need to adjust our buy accordingly. As people moved to cable TV, we started advertising on cable TV. When they moved more toward public television, we looked for sponsorship there. Unlike the other mediums, the Internet gives us the ability to interact with our customers. It allows us to convey more information than you could do in a .30 TV spot or .30 radio commercial. Customers can explore promotional offers in greater detail, depending on their level of interest. We can also day-part them when they’re making their meal decisions. During the daytime, the Internet is the champion of reach.

Related to this McDonalds conducted a test last year where they increased their online spending from 1 percent of the total media budget to 13 percent, for a two-week campaign. This resulted in an increased in brand awareness from a standard 187% to 232%.

[MarketingFix]

USA Today: Internet firms woo Hispanics

Internet use among Hispanics has surged the past two years, according to poll results to be released today. Nearly half of 300 Hispanics polled say they logged online for the first time since 2000 -- twice the national average. Hispanics also spend more time online -- at home and at work, says the study by America Online and market researcher RoperASW. [...]

The cybergrowth of Hispanics has intensified a scramble among leading Web sites to tailor content to woo them -- and their buying power -- which is expected to grow to almost $1 trillion by 2007, says the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth.

[MarketingFix]

I find Technorati even more useful given this handy bookmarklet I found on Teledyn. Here's how it works.  <A title="drag and drop it on to your hotlist" href="javascript:void(window.open('http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/links.html?rank=fresh&url='+location.href))">Bookmark this link (In Internet Explorer 6, just drag and drop it on your "links" bar). Then click the new bookmark while reading some page to get a pop-up window of what other blogs are saying about the site you're viewing. [Seb's Open Research]

The best description of the LiveJournal community I've come across yet, from a student in Henry Jenkins' class. If you're really curious also check out Everything2's writeups. There's recently been discussion of LJ in this blog's vicinity; a good starting point is Ross Mayfield's blog, e.g. here. I wonder if they have referer rankings? Can they see us linking to them?

[Seb's Open Research]

Search engine marketing expert Shari Thurow has had a busy month. Starting the month with the publication of her new search engine optimization and marketing book, Search Engine Visibility, Thurow has since followed up with a companion Web site, SearchEnginesBook.com. [Search Engine Guide]

I love how Kevin puts a group of related photos on his randomentality blog as one post. Each group conveys an idea, an emotion, a sensibility. Often subtle, sometimes poignant. This is thinking visually in a deep, rich, and personal way. It goes beyond iconography. And the collections, posted four or five times a month, reveal something of Kevin's inner life passage.

[Phil Wolff: Blue Sky Radio]

eMarketer: US Ad Spending in 2003

According to a recent report from CMR/TNS Media Intelligence, US advertising spending should rise by 3.3% this year. The report notes that CMR/TNS estimates that the first half of 2003 will be the strongest, with ad spending rising by 4.5%.

As for the particular media that will see the greatest rise in spending in 2003 over 2002, CMR/TNS notes that Spanish language TV spending will rise by a notable 9.2% this year, and internet spending should rise by 7.4%.

[MarketingFix]

Reuters: Programs: Ads Nauseam from America Online, GAIN

A rant complaining about how the latest upgrade from AOL Instant Messenger contains numerous sly advertising tactics, like placing an ad on the Start Menu.

The article goes on to discuss GAIN, Gator's ad network, which was recently criticised here on MarketingFix.

Bundling adware in with software, without making it crystal clear that that is what they are doing, is gutter business practice:

Gator isn't the only offender here. Xupiter has a similar system and reserves the right to show you as many ads as it wants and requires that you give up control of which Web page you visit when you log on to the Internet.

(If you want to sue them, by the way, Xupiter says its agreement users governed by the laws of Hungary.)

Folks who read the fine print will learn what they're getting into. But few are likely to do that. (Gator's agreement is over 5,500 words.)

[MarketingFix]