Social media was instrumental in driving the Egyptian revolution of two years ago. In my visit to Cairo last week, I was particularly excited to speak with people about the role of Facebook and Twitter in the Revolution that culminated on January 25, 2011. On the plane over, I read...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is considering taking action against Netflix and its CEO Reed Hastings because of a Facebook post.

The agency says that the update to Hastings' 200,000+ subscribers where he said "members had enjoyed over 1 billion hours in June" violated the SEC Regulation...

I live in Massachusetts, a solidly blue state that doesn't get much attention from the presidential campaigns except for an occasional fundraising trip. I'm jealous of people who live in battleground states like Ohio and Florida because they experience the full force of the Obama and Romney marketing machines. I...

The music pumps and pulses while tens of thousands of fans all tune into the vibe, dancing, becoming one organism where the line between artist and audience blurs. Each set is different, created for the time and place, taking advantage of the collective mindset of moment. Electronic Dance Music has...

The jury reached a verdict in the high-profile Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse trial. Sandusky, a former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach was found guilty on 45 of 48 charges. Sandusky faces potentially hundreds of years in prison for molesting 10 boys over 15 years.

The story has been...

Last week Marley, the new Bob Marley documentary hit the screens in many countries. Naturally, the official release date was 4/20. The film is terrific and I have a small role in finally telling the reggae legend's story on film.

While in New York City after a gig at Madison...

With the long awaited Kindle Fire now shipping, there is a tremendous incentive for business book authors to create content optimized for tablet computers. The Kindle Fire (as well as the Apple iPad and Barnes & Noble Nook) bring a non-linear experience to reading a book. Readers can instantly jump...

I've been following the Occupy Wall Street movement with interest. What started as a small group has grown remarkably quickly and protest elements are now popping up all over the world.

I'd like to offer some advice from the marketing strategy perspective.

Put a face (or faces) to your organization

When Grateful Dead spiritual leader Jerry Garcia died in 1995 and the band stopped touring, many long-time fans found themselves suddenly without a reason to gather with the many friends they made on tour. It was a sad time for those people for whom the band was an important anchor...

In the late 1990s, the Web was a portal world. Web portal players like AOL, Lycos, Excite, MSN, and Yahoo! built islands of information and fought like hell to keep users with services like email and "exclusive content." Everything was about acquiring and keeping eyeballs and stock market valuations were...

Nearly two weeks after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit northeast Japan, the Tokyo area suffers power cuts and reduced train service, disrupting people's lives and livelihoods. Meanwhile, millions of power-hungry vending machines continue to hum away 24-hours a day.

For John R. Harris, a Canadian writer who lives...

When will companies that block employee access to social networks go through the same sort of revolution as Egypt?

I think it will be soon. These companies are ripe for uprising.

Last night on 60 Minutes, Wael Ghonim, Google's regional marketing manager for the Middle East, talked about how...

Time Magazine announced Mark Zuckerberg as Person of the Year for 2010.

Excellent choice in my opinion.

Zuckerberg built a company from scratch that now serves a half billion people worldwide.

But what really got me thinking is how the two media properties -- Time Magazine and Facebook -- are...

My first job was on a bond trading floor at a Wall Street investment bank. It's impossible to overstate the impact of innovations in computing and telecommunications on the financial markets in the 1980s. Within a decade finance was transformed from a clubby, old-boys' network to a 24-hour global trading...

There's no doubt that social media are an important component of election campaigns in 2010. Tools like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter helped elect Barack Obama in 2008 and its influence is felt at every level this season.

Here in Massachusetts, the social media divide helped decide the...

We're seeing an incredible revival of the 60s movement in modern day marketing. It's no longer enough as a marketer to just come up with a good tag line, spend money on advertising, and hope the consumer minions bite. Shiny new toys don't always win the day, instead consumers are...

Thirty years ago the "Japan Inc." partnership between government and industry created an economic powerhouse. Today, those same players are actively blocking innovators in Japan from creating similar success in the fast-growing, new digital economy.

According to allegations in a case to be decided March 30, 2010 by the...

Late Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense released its official policy covering new media and social media. With some three million employees, the DoD is one of the largest organizations in the world, so this is big news.

The policy, Directive-Type Memorandum 09-026, which is effective immediately, states...

At a news conference this morning, interim General Motors CEO Ed Whitacre announced that he is assuming the role full-time.

While there is a lot for a former telecommunications executive to learn about the automobile business, Whitacre has an even steeper learning curve in his understanding of how people...

A significant factor in putting Barack Obama in the White House was the brilliant social media marketing of the Obama for America campaign. The Obama campaign realized that social media was a primary importance, not an afterthought. The number of people the campaign reached on the Web was staggering: Millions...