So I know it has been awhile since I have posted here on Contagious and I swear it’s not because I am slacking. It’s because I have been spending the majority of my time here and here recently.

This morning I was inspired to update this blog to talk about being a finger, not a nostril. There is a joke that I heard a long time ago that I always seem to whip out at parties during that time after you meet someone and you realize you have very little in common with that person but you need to say something. Here’s how it goes:

Why do gorillas have big nostrils? Because they have big fingers.

Funny right? Yeah, not one of those jokes where people leave the party commenting on how hilarious I am by any stretch. But this joke does bring up an interesting topic on how you do work, push the envelope, and blaze new trails. The joke insinuates that the gorilla’s nostrils got big because his fingers were so big and it stretched them out. It did not mean his fingers grew larger to accommodate the large nostrils. This is an interesting distinction.

Playing in an existing space, bouncing around on the inside and exploring is fine. You see people and companies do it all the time. But until people start “enlarging the nostrils” by pushing from the inside, nothing will ever grow, evolve, and advance.

We’ve had our fun in the social media/Web 2.0 space. We’ve gone to the parties, the Tweetups, and the conventions. We’ve tried “our best” to convince big companies and clients to have a social media presence only to fall short with a measley Facebook page that hasn’t been updated in 2 months. Now it’s time to enlarge the nostrils. Who’s ready to wield a bigger finger?

Gorilla image from Nailbender. Some rights reserved.

Today I read a blog post by Dave Rosenberg on Facebook and how much money they are making from the sale of virtual goods. Some estimates have come in at $34.5 million of how much Facebook users have sent on virtual goods.

Virtual goods. That’s right, fake goods that you can buy for people and post in their profiles. But this line is what caught my attention:

“The vast majority of Facebook gifts are bought from the first screen of gifts in the directory–almost 80 percent of the total sales come from the group of the first 20 gifts. This points to the self-reinforcing nature of popularity (the crowdiness of crowds rather than the wisdom of crowds) when popularity data is made public.”

This “crowdiness of crowds versus the wisdom of crowds” is a very important concept to think about as it pertains to e-commerce, blogging, and establishing power users in social networks.

People like to follow the crowd. In the Facebook example, the most popular products rise to the front and this prequalifies the selections for those who are not as decisive. The thinking may be, “well others like these products so I should too.” When strategic levers are in place, marketers can leverage this phenomenon to create great results. Read more…

If you visit the website for Modernista!, the advertising agency based in Boston most well-known for their ads for Hummer and Cadillac, you may be surprised. Instead of the typical flash-based website with luscious images and animation that occupies most major advertising agency websites, you are greeted with a Wikipedia entry and an announcement.

A red pop-up says, “Do not be alarmed. You are viewing Modernista! through the eyes of the Web. The menu on the left is our homepage. Everything behind it is beyond our control.”

That menu is “cute” at best. It is basic and simple. And it gives nods to various popular sites and web languages:

The “ab.ou.t” section, represented as a nod, no doubt to del.icio.us and other sites (mine included) that uses the full URL to an advantage, is the Wikipedia page and also a Facebook group. The “wrk” section links to a Flickr account displaying print advertising and a YouTube channel for TV spots. The “n3wz” section links to a Google News page displaying the latest announcements and news articles falling under the “Modernista!” keyword. Then there is a “cont@ct” page. Read more…

All I wanted to do was tell someone about an amazing burger I had. So I posted this video up on Seesmic singing the praises of the Southern Smokehouse Bacon Big Mouth Burger from Chili’s.

I felt pretty good telling other bacon lovers about this burger with the amazing thick-cut bacon. After all, anyone that knows me knows that bacon is a hobby of mine. And I only hope that means an endorsement from me about the quality of the bacon on this burger, might cause others to try this thing too.

But within 2 minutes of posting my video I received this reply. In short, “Bill” asked if I worked for Chili’s. At first I was shocked that he would consider my praise to be a thinly veiled paid endorsement by Chili’s. But after re-watching my post, I realized that I don’t blame him. Read more…

Here’s a pretty sweet idea executed by Erik Nordenankar and DHL: the biggest drawing in the world. Using precise instructions and a GPS, a package was shipped by DHL and flown around the world in 55 days. “When all was said and done, the GPS data formed a virtual self-portrait of the artist that spread over 6 continents and 62 countries covering nearly 70,000 miles.”

[Via Gizmodo]