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Energy boost!

For some of us this is a very stressful time in year.

For you all: here is some awesome music which always gives me a huge energy boost. So pump up the speakers and listen to Tinie Tempah with Pass Out!

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What I call "niiiice"

We discovered some nice and cute sites which I really wanted to share with you. Take a look at this list below and let me know which one you prefer.

Storify

Storify is a way to get the picture right. You choose your tags and Storify implement all the info from different social media into 1 story. Joseph Stashko was the first to get the story about the horrible murder by Anders Behring Breivik in Norway.. thanks to Storify. Because of the enormous speed of the social media, these Spotify stories are even quicker than news sites.

The Atavist

This site allows you to offer your articles to people who are willing to pay for them. The Atavist is a great way to encourage people to read more on the iPad or iPhone. A great example of mobile publishing!

Blurb

Blurb offers you the possibility to make your own book and to sell it online.Off course one copy is more expensive than 20 so invent something your friends want to read. Why don't you develop your own cookery book? It seems to me a unique Christmas gift!

Many eyes

Are you tired of the boring graphs in presentations? Many eyes is a great alternative. Just give it your Word document and the site will find the data needed and creates an original visualisation. No more dull Powerpoints!

Condition one

Condition one could be our future. This site gives a very nice way of looking at the world. Something is being filmed with a special 360° camera and you, the viewer, chooses what you see. You simple turn the camera while the little movie is playing and you can have a closer look at that hottie in the background instead of the reporter talking.

Gamification²

You can find a good example of making a game of serious (news)facts (=gamification) at wired.com. You are the pirate, Jack Sparrow if you wish, who has to make money by attacking passing ships. Sound familiar?

Twitter tips

Everybody knows (and uses) Twitter, but I believe there is still a lot to learn about it. You can learn about efficient twittering at a British blog (journalism.co.uk).

Facebook

Also the use of Facebook can be improved. The same British blog gives you 5 ways how journalists can use Facebook in an effective way.

Webdesign-designing

Abduzeedo.com has great examples of how websites should look. Every week it chooses nice looking sites to show people how you should design your website. If you like beauty, have a look!

Logopond

If you LOVE logos, just like I do, then you definitely have to take a look at Logopond. The site lists all different kind of logos and you can search by any keyword you want. Do try 'cause it's worth a shot!

A list apart

A list apart is a site designed especially for webdesigners. It is the place to be to discuss modern webdesigning.

Apress

Apress is just another nice online publisher. Nothing more, nothing less.

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European Parliament.. not now please!

We visited the European Parliament in Brussels with our school. Soon as we got back home, the EP already mailed me... and they kept on doing that every few days!

After 3 weeks I was so tired of it that I finally searched for a way to end the subscription.

After having clicked on the "No...." I was linked through to a webpage.

This page is clear: just tick the confirm-button and the subscription is cancelled. It's possible to change the language but now the language is the same as the one in the e-mail so this is okay. After having clicked the confirm-button, you get this:

So I can conclude thie European Parliament is a very formal organisation with no feelings for creativity. A pitty but no surprise.

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I think this dutchspoken movie is TOP!

The first, New Kids Turbo (2010), was great and I believe this second one , New Kids Nitro, will be as crazy as the first.

Meet some locals from "Maaskantje" who act really unbelievable dumn. But it's so over the top that I really like it!

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SBS Belgium and their social attempt

SBS Belgium and MobileWeb launched the "second screen" application. The basic idea is to implement an additional social factor to watching tele. They want people to talk about their programmes, f.e. "Komen eten" (a cook show), while watchig it on tele. You can comment on the participants, link it to your Facebook or Twitter and follow the opinion of your friends. Off course this is a good opportunity to implement some extra advertising. You can download the app in the iTunes store.

This has been available in VT4 and VijfTV and opperationable since march of this year but honestly, I doubt about its succes. I know nobody who uses it and I'm not interested to use it myself.  Off course it's a good idea to generate more online conversations and to have people watch the programmes live: if you watch it delayed, you can not follow the conversations on Facebook or Twitter. I like the idea behind it, but it doesn't personaly convince me.

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Jo Caudron: realist or pessimist?

Jo Caudron talked about the future of the traditional media in the quality newspaper De Standaard. He believes that the old business model is dead. People don't watch live but they prefer to watch delayed so they can skip the advertising.

The newspaper put forward the fact that Belgians like to watch Belgian programmes like "Vermist" or "Van vlees en bloed" so this would mean that Belgian TV wouldn't have to worry about their future. Caudron agrees on the popularity of Belgian series but he adds that they are extremely expensive.

Caudron is convinced it is high time to face the facts. Media have to work together to react on this threat. If they want to survive they have to reinvent theirselves.

Caudron is severe for the music industry. He sees no future here. Nevertheless he is very happy to see that record compagnies nowadays try to cooperate with organisations like Spotify instead of sueing them.

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Spotify is great but...

... I prefer Nodata.tv!

This site offers link to download your favourite (alternative) music album rightaway!

The links are only available some days so you have to be quick but if you check this site on a daily base, I'm sure you will discover some great music!

The slick design and the fact that you can see the album cover is a nice advantage. I believe this site earns more popularity!

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Molly Katchpole, one of the many "empowered consumers"

You've certainly allready heard of the case Katchpole vs. the Bank of America. This 22-old woman disagreed the price rise of her bank and complaint about it on the internet. She signed a big petition, talks about it on blogs and the case became more popular. Her open letter was read by 300.000 Americans and the Bank of America gave in.

An empowered consumer is the term for someone who uses social media to pressure on big companies to influence their policy.

There are many similar cases so for ones and for all: if you are an organisation, please be aware of this! Monitor the media (and off course the social media) and react on what people are saying about your organisation. Be friendly and polite but don't be too lax either.

Because social media are relatively new, there is no ready-made manual "how to react to social media". You have to investigate the threat and react in a very human way. Jo Caudron thinks organisations need to learn how to deal with criticism, in this way he talks about change management. Change your attitude towards the social world, you can not simply control everything Tweet.

Maybe we should all start with reading his book "Haal meer uit social media" ("Get more out of social media")..?

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Lady Luck, I need a little light...

I know the album Mirrorwriting isn't very new anymore (it was released in April 2011) but God, I'm really not far of becoming a fan!

My boyfriend introduced Jamie Woon to me but at first I didn't like it. Somehow the song Lady Luck caught my attention and I kept on playing it on repeat. I suggest you do the same! Jamie Woon's single Lady Luck on YouTube is not a very special clip but his voice is pure and his music is calming me. Very nice when you're living a stressfull life!

I searched him on Soundcloud and there you can listen to different remixes (DnB, House, Dance,...). A nice twist! Also on his website you can listen to his music and even download some tracks for free. My favourites: "Shoulda", "Night Air" and "Spirits" :)

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The fight for a like

Most of us have Facebook. A nice little place on the web where you can tell the world what you like, who you like, where you live and how you feel. It seems innocent but trust me, it isn't.

Because someone had a clever idea called Facebook Advertising. The main idea is very simple:

Reach the right customer group - inventory of your relationships - manage your budget

Because Facebook knows it all. Maybe you don't know who would be interested in a bride magazine, but Facebook does! Who would not change its relationship status into "engaged" when their little sweetheart proposed just the other night?

The work method is easy: you choose your target group (age, sex, livingplace, interests,...) and set your maximum budget for a day. So for example for a click to your page you pay €0.50 with a maximum of €40 a day.

Only the people who are likely interested in your product or brand will see your ad. This increases the chance that someone will click to your page. So you reach immediately your favourite target group and it is possible to determine different target groups very precisely. And this is exactly the strength of Facebook Advertising!

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Become the best thanks to SEO

We all want a lot of users on our site. We all want happy people who can convince others to have a look at your site. But how can you start this?

Creating a website is like creating a usefull and interesting space on the world wide web. So you have to think about the user: what are his needs? What is he looking for? Content is king! You have to optimize your website for the kind of people you want to focus on.

But off course it is important to keep your site very fast. A user will not wait for 5 seconds for the loading of your page. So keep it quick, interesting and extremely users-friendly. These are the key words to keep in mind. They will create traffic and more popularity.

If you did all of this, you automatically optimized your website. Google will reward you with a higher pagerank. And isn't that what we all want?

When somebody searches on Google, your site will come up in the top of the list and the chances he will click on your link is much much higher.

Off course everybody is doing this so the competition is high.

Nevertheless, check your pagerank on sites like PR Checker, What's my Pagerank? and so many others. If you get a score of 3 or more: good job! If it's less: you know what to do!

There are also a lot of sites where you can find huge amounts of info about upgrading your site like the Dutch html-site. For more information: check on Google. I wonder which site will come up first...

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You + brand or Brand + you?

Brand identification is an important term within the world of reputation and (online) communication from/for organisations.

A brand is a promise. An expectation of quality and a certain way of use. People say we identify ourselves with brands. If you are very sporty, it is likely you will like Nike or Adidas. If you are a fan of fair trading, you propably like Oxfam.

But I wonder, do we identify ourselves by the brands we like or are brands targetting certain people to have a special kind of image? A brand like Porsche or Ferrari will not be linked with an 18-years old girl. Just like an iPod is not associated with a grandfather of 92. Which way does this relationship has?

My point is, is our preference for a certain brand really our own choice? Or are we just the defenseless targets from smart marketeers?

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Keep people close

Nowadays everything happens so incredibly fast, all thanks to the internet.

Organisations are made or broken by people. So the basic message for every modern organisation is to keep your stakeholders happy. If they are happy, they will make you happy.

The power of unsatisfied customers is huge. Remember the power of protest actions like those against United Airlines. The protest song "United Breaks Guitars" had a huge impact and cost the company enormously a lot of money and.. their good reputation.

So the big lesson is "keep your friends close but your enemies even closer".

Because of the speed of conversations on the internet and its importance, like this case shows, it is important to manage the online conversations. The term conversation management should be known by all! 

People have to talk about your brand. So create awareness and manage the conversations. Don't hesitate to interfere or to respond on what people brand about your brand.

Every brand has its opponents and its fans. These fans are very likely to post positive messages about your product or service. If these posts are read by a lot of people, the message spreads itself and it's reinforced.

This is why I would like to introduce to you some fan websites of BMW.

Bimmerpost is a site dedicated to BMW for fans all over the world. It is the project of friends Mark and Jason who began this site as a small forum dedicated to the 3-Series. The site grew in popularity and the forums expanded to cover other models. You can find BMW news, spyshots, wallpapers and there's a forum to discuss all kinds of matter.

Bimmerboard is a Belgian site which also covers all kinds of BMW info. Here you have forums divided by subject. The site has 6325 members and 15.058 topics.. so do have a look and enjoy!

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Final "Kamp Noord 2011"

I've been talking about the music competition Kamp Noord. Nibat Delux was an ex-teacher of mine and I really hoped he would win yesterday but he didn't.. :(

The winner is Geppetto & The Whales, just to let you know. You can listen to some of their (country?) tunes on Soundcloud or have a look at Facebook.

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Halloween Time?

Like most of you will already have seen, Duck Sauce has a new track called Big Bad Wolf. The rythm of the song just keeps on bouncing in my head and the howl of the wolf keeps me alert. So after hearing this song way too much, I can start to like the song.

But then there's the video on Youtube! Some say it's original and funny but others, like myself, just don't get it. I don't understand the idea of having a head on that part of your body and I just don't see the joke. 

So I advise you all: have a look & listen and tell me your opinion! :)

To compare, you can listen to their previous track Barbara Streisand or have a look on their MySpace.

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Drive cheaper thanks to Spritmonitor!

Everybody knows having a (great) car is quite expensive. You have to pay taxes, insurance and off course.. your gas! Spritmonitor helps you to list up your fuel consumption and helps to manage your car's costs.

Off course you have to registrate, but it's free! This German site, which comes in German, English and French, provides all kind of functions like bulletin boards and analyse costs. There's also a smartphone app so you can enter fuelings with your smartphone.

A friend of mine uses this site since march 2008 and now he has a quite expanded profile:

As you can see from this profile, you get a lot of info. The fuel consumption fluctuates when features such as the weather, the kind of tyres or the kind of diesel change. 

I think this site has a great potential for everybody who likes cars AND for everybode who would like to economise. The reason is that you not only see the analysis of your own profile, but you can easily compare this to other cars. You can compare your BMW E92 with other models you can choose freely.

Nowadays, the site shows the analysis of 305.616 vehicles of 236.170 users. And all together there's listed 4.210.284 km!

Like all sites nowadays, also Spritmonitor has a link to social websites like Facebook, Mister Wong, Delicious, the German LinkARENA and StumbleUpon.

[verheydenonline]

What is radio?

With all the new audio initiatifs on the world wide web, I'm wondering what we should call radio and what we should call something like audio output.

You have to admit, how many different types of audio sites are there? I only know a few of them like Soundcloud, Deezer (not available in Belgium!), Grooveshark, Last fm, Jango, Radionomy, etc. etc. And off course the mother of all: YouTube and MySpace. But how to decide what you should call "radio"? You can use a checklist: do these sites meet the criteria of a radio station? For example music, news, weather forecasts, advertisements, comments, jingles, etc.

In my opinion a radio is a medium which selects the audio for you. Whenever you can choose the content, I won't call it a radio station. Off course you have special radio programs where you can call for a request song, but that are only a few songs.

So how should we call those audio sites? Please do understand me, I'm a big fan of them. It's super easy to select your favorite artist and to listen to songs. YOU listen so YOU choose. I like! :)

But still the question remains: how to call these audio web sites? I'd like to call them "music communities", allthough the term might sound a bit old fashioned. But feel free to argue with me!

One thing is a fact: we love these sites!