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The internet is an engine of connection. It has been from the start (email, chat, forums, blogs, social media...)
One reason that so many of the most popular sites online are those that permit people to express and expose their ideas is that those are the pages we care most about. We go back to see how people responded, how the traffic is, what we can do to improve the page.
Lifestyle media isn't a fad. It's what human beings have been doing forever, with a brief, recent interruption for a hundred years of professional media along the way. That interruption is fading away, and lifestyle media is resurging. People publish. Instead of denigrating user-generated content (what an obscure way to describe human stories), marketers need to understand that this is what we care about.
We shouldn't be surprised when someone chooses to publish their photos, their words, their art or their opinions. We should be surprised when they don't.
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Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis |
Nigel Farage: Escape Euro Prison! Posted: 11 Dec 2011 06:22 PM PST When it comes to humor from politicians (in a good sense), Nigel Farage is right at the top of the list. His opening line had me laughing out loud. Link if YouTube video does not play: Escape Euro Prison! Partial Transcript RT: Britain has no to tighter controls leaving Euro countries to sort themselves out and the UK is being pushed further aside. Farage: Well let's hope so ... Cameron said can we have some small concessions. Sarkozy told him to take a running jump. On the face of it I should be cheering David Cameron and say isn't it marvelous, the British prime minister has finally stood up and said something. ... But we are still members of the union, wae are still bound by all its legislation, and yet what's perfectly clear is henceforth we will have no influence whatsoever. And actually what I am getting from journalists all over Europe is Britain is now despised. So I think what will happen now, bank in the United Kingdom is we are about to launch into a very big national debate about whether we should be members of this union at all. RT: If these countries are going to push on, can the 17 Euro nations solve this by themselves? Farage: Listen. The word "solve" implies there is some easy solution. There isn't. The Euro is a misconstruction. Countries like Greece and Portugal should never have joined it in the first place. RT: Are you saying this could lead to a split in the union? Farage: I think what we saw, in the early hours of this morning was the biggest split in the European Union in fifty years. The UK has been a member of this thing since 1973 and we are a big economy, we're an important country, and whether David Cameron knows it or not, what he did last night was the first step towards the exit door. RT: How easy would it be for those countries to convince their populations about facing tighter controls? What would the people think about all of this? Farage: Believe you me. If we were to put this Euro package to the electorate of Greece, of Portugal, of Ireland, of Italy, of Spain, they would all say no. .... These electorates find themselves trapped inside an economic prison that is called the Euro. Their democracy has been stripped from them. My fear is the kind of civil disobedience and civil disorder that you have already sen on the streets of Greece will multiply. ... If you are stuck in a bad marriage, the best thing to do is end the marriage and start again. I see no hope at all for the Greek economy, stuck inside this economic prison that is called the Euro. ==================== Farage is 100% correct. If the UK is being push aside (and it is), Cameron should embrace being shoved aside and let Merkozy fend for themselves. Thus, Cameron needs to put UK membership in the EU up for public vote, smashing the ball straight down Sarkozy's throat. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
It's So Secret, Even the Fed Does Not Know Who It's Lending To Posted: 11 Dec 2011 04:13 PM PST Some might think the Fed would care where dollar swaps to Europe go. However, if the Fed cares, it doesn't know. Bloomberg reports No One Telling Who Took $586 Billion in Swaps With Fed Condoning Anonymity. For all the transparency forced on the Federal Reserve by Congress and the courts, one of the central bank's emergency-lending programs remains so secretive that names of borrowers may be hidden from the Fed itself.Might I point out that US taxpayers never lost a cent on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac either, until of course they lost $200 billion and counting. Fundamental Problem Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who led President Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, said the "fundamental problem" is that capital markets need information to work properly, yet the Fed is saying, "we believe in capital-market discipline without information."If banks are in such dire straits that they would be at risk if everyone knew they were using the discount window, then they are also in such dire straits the Fed ought not be lending to them in the first place. Actually, the problem is more fundamental. There should not be a Fed at all. Banks might then think twice about being so freaking leveraged. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 11 Dec 2011 07:47 AM PST The political rift between the UK Prime Minister David Cameron (Conservative) and the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) widened into a public feud over Cameron's refusal to sign the Merkozy accord. The Deputy Prime Minister says U.K. Coalition Breakup Over EU Would Cause Economic 'Disaster' U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said a breakup of the coalition government would spell "economic disaster" for Britain while saying he was "bitterly disappointed" by last week's European Union summit.Simple Math Let me point out some simple math to Paddy Ashdown: Two-thirds of voters approve of Cameron's decision not to sell the UK down the river. Thus Cameron not only acted as Conservative leader, but rather for all of the UK. Moreover, I might point out, Cameron should go one step further and call for a referendum to leave the EU. Let the voters decide. Better to Let Them "Do Their Own Thing" Here is a fitting tribute to Cameron's statement "what was on offer just wasn't good enough for Britain. It's better to allow those countries to do their own thing on their own." Link if video does not play: "It's Your Thing" by The Isley Brothers Fight, Fight, Fight Again Within the EU Rah, Rah, Sis Coom Bah, Cameron wants to "Fight from Within!" Yeah that's the spirit. Episode number Five from the British Sitcom Yes Minister explains why. Episode Five: The Writing on the Wall Sir Humphrey: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it's worked so well? Hacker: That's all ancient history, surely? Sir Humphrey: Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing [the EEC] up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased; it's just like old times. Hacker: But surely we're all committed to the European ideal? Sir Humphrey: [chuckles] Really, Minister. Hacker: If not, why are we pushing for an increase in the membership? Sir Humphrey: Well, for the same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact; the more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes. Hacker: What appalling cynicism. Sir Humphrey: Yes... We call it diplomacy, Minister. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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The majority of bloggers are kind of radical when it comes to blog commenting -- they're focusing on DoFollow blogs and let others tap into NoFollow direct link traffic. Smart users recognize the power of "never leaving money on the table" that's why I suggest you give the DoFollow blogs priority while take advantage of NoFollow blogs too. You never know where the best traffic is coming from, so why not get the most out of everything you do? Just remember this rule when you comment on DoFollow blogs -- don't be greedy! So, click the link below to know how you can hurt yourself when commenting on DoFollow blogs: Have you ever found some crappy blogs showing from search to search? In Fast Blog Finder Gold edition you can add those domains to the blacklist in order not to see them in the results anymore [funny way to "manipulate" Google results!]
P.S In my next email I'll reveal you one little secret how you can double your link building efforts. Hope you're still on the list. |
If we put a number on it, people will try to make the number go up.
Now that everyone is a marketer, many people are looking for a louder megaphone, a chance to talk about their work, their career, their product... and social media looks like the ideal soapbox, a free opportunity to shout to the masses.
But first, we're told to make that number go up. Increase the number of fans, friends and followers, so your shouts will be heard. The problem of course is that more noise is not better noise.
In Corey's words, the conventional, broken wisdom is:
This looks like winning (the numbers are going up!), but it's actually a double-edged form of losing. First, you're polluting a powerful space, turning signals into noise and bringing down the level of discourse for everyone. And second, you're wasting your time when you could be building a tribe instead, could be earning permission, could be creating a channel where your voice is actually welcomed.
Leadership (even idea leadership) scares many people, because it requires you to own your words, to do work that matters. The alternative is to be a junk dealer.
The game theory pushes us into one of two directions: either be better at pump and dump than anyone else, get your numbers into the millions, outmass those that choose to use mass and always dance at the edge of spam (in which the number of those you offend or turn off forever keep increasing), or
Relentlessly focus. Prune your message and your list and build a reputation that's worth owning and an audience that cares.
Only one of these strategies builds an asset of value.
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Poland Needs to Spend 30% of Total Budget on IMF Bailouts to EU as Result of Merkozy Summit Posted: 10 Dec 2011 05:20 PM PST Marcin, a reader from Poland writes ... Hello Mish30% of Budget to IMF? WTF? As preposterous as that sounds, please consider this Google Translation: 100 billion zł in Polish for European bankrupts European leaders have agreed to collect 200 billion for the International Monetary Fund to rescue the euro area. For Poland is to fall more than 100 billion zł - says the "Polish daily Gazeta."Please note the 200 billion number is in euros, while the Polish contribution is 100 billion Zloty. Conversion of Zloty to Euro shows the Polish contribution to be 22.17 billion Euros, roughly 11% of the total contribution. However, that 11% contribution is enormous to Poland. Reuters states Polish Expenditures for 2012 328.8 billion zlotys. Thus Marcin's math is correct. I calculate 30.41% to be precise. Quite frankly it is idiotic to even think about giving 30% of a nation's budget to the IMF. Federalists Have Gone Too Far for the Polish Opposition On December 2, before this proposed idiocy, European Disunion reported Federalists Have Gone Too Far for the Polish Opposition Just when you thought that European politics couldn't be any more unstable, Poland's main opposition party, Law and Justice, has called for Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski to be summoned to the State Tribunal - the Polish equivalent of impeachment - after a controversial speech on European integration. The speech, in which Mr. Sikorski ;extolled the virtues of a greater German role in dealing with the eurozone crisis - on the grounds that 'no-one else can do it' - and called for the Commission to be given greater powers over national budgets, has been interpreted by Law and Justice as a call for a reduction in Polish national sovereignty - an act that many consider tantamount to treason.Polish Cowards Will Not Hold Referendum Donald Tusk, Poland's Eurocratic prime minister, will likely not put this IMF contribution to a public referendum where it would promply be smashed to smithereens in a popular vote. Instead Poland's leadership will attempt to cram this monstrosity down taxpayer's throats, hoping no one notices or speaks up. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Posted: 10 Dec 2011 09:35 AM PST Yesterday, various news agencies reported that Hungary opted out of the treaty while Sweden and Czech Republic remained "undecided". However, the latest spin is that Hungary did not opt out yet and the gang of 26 will forge ahead without the UK. UK the "Big Loser" Having Fallen into "French Trap"? Last evening in German Vision Prevails as Leaders Agree on Fiscal Pact the New York Times portrayed the UK as the "big loser", stating Cameron made a "poor gamble". On EU official said the UK fell into a "French Trap".
Britain Seethes, Germany Sulks, France Gloats Reuters reports Europe pushes ahead with fiscal union, with the UK isolated alone. Europe secured an historic agreement to draft a new treaty for deeper economic integration in the euro zone on Friday, but Britain, the region's third largest economy, refused to join the other 26 countries in a fiscal union and was left isolated.Spin City Bear in mind that UK officials will go way out of their way to downplay any and every rift in the group of 26, while simultaneously portraying the UK as a "big loser" seething in the corner in isolation. Cameron would have lost had he given into to EMU clowns. Giving up sovereignty to a group of unelected eurozone bureaucrats would have been exactly the wrong thing to do. One does not "lose" by refusing to give into a group of fools and thugs. Who is the "Real Loser"? The losers are the citizens of every country that might be roped into piss poor deals down the line by an 85% majority of Eurocrat thugs. The last thing Eurocrat thugs want is voter referendums so they seek to reduce the chances by getting every country to cede power to a super-majority. Meanwhile, to keep the money flowing, governments in Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy seem willing to do or say anything to keep the money flowing and the bond purchases going. Germany is on the hook for this in more ways than one. As the ECB keeps bloating its balance sheet with garbage, German taxpayers are at risk, thanks to Merkel foolishly giving in to Sarkozy's insistence of "no losses for bondholders". There are going to be losses, that I assure you. The question is who pay them? As it stands now, Merkel sold German citizens down the river by caving into Sarkozy's demand. It remains to be seen if Finland, the Netherlands, and other countries will go along with the 85% rule on treaty changes but they would be fools to do so. It also remains to be seen if the German Supreme Court stands idly by an lets all of this happen as the Eurocrats have planned. Cameron's Mistake Cameron did not make a mistake in telling Eurocrat fools to shove it. However, he did make a huge mistake and he also painted himself into a corner by stating it would be "disastrous" for the UK to leave the EU. Why? Disastrous for who? The UK would get to shed arcane EU regulations on damn near everything, but especially agricultural tariffs that cost UK citizens plenty. The UK can stop sending money to the EU that goes into creating policies that further cost UK citizens money. Whatever downside there is to leaving the EU, would be more than made up for by shedding EU bureaucracy and idiotic rules entirely. Bazooka Math Reuters reported ... Two ECB sources said the bank's governing council decided on Thursday to keep bond buying limited to around 20 billion euros a week and there was no need to review the decision in the light of the summit outcome.Quite frankly that is a pretty damn big bazooka. Here is the math. 20 billion * 52 = 1040 billion euros, or 1.394 trillion US dollars. 20 billion does not sound like much until you do the math. The ECB has in its power ability to monetize about half of all maturing Eurozone government debt. That is not the unlimited bazooka that Sarkozy wants, but it is a lot of firepower and as I said, European taxpayers are at risk for the entire amount. The German Supreme court needs to put a halt to that, right here, right now. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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Christmas Tree Made of 40,000 Plastic Bottles Posted: 09 Dec 2011 07:59 PM PST This Sunday Kaunas, Lithuania unveiled a 42 foot tall Christmas tree made of 40,000 Sprite plastic bottles. At night, the tree is lit by lights. The tree is by Lithuanian artist Jolanta Smidtiene. Source: delfi |
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