Internet Marketing Web Design SEO Albany NY

Google Car in Albany New York

Here's a picture of the Google Car driving down a road in Albany, New York by the entrance to Interstate 787. The picture was snapped by my friend, Brad Green, who allowed me to share his photo with everyone. The images are used to update Google Street view in the maps, which I personally love. I find it helpful to visualize where I'm going.

Last fall, Google announced they have been testing self-driving cars. These videos show the inside and outside views. The cars were set to drive aggressively (for some reason, I"m not sure!).

 

 

How Twitter, a Hashtag, and a Conference Call Helped Me Make a New Connection

Some people don't "get" Twitter. It's not as intuitive as Facebook. On Facebook you automatically know to read updates from your friends, look at their pictures, share your thoughts and more. Twitter isn't as obvious and I think it's the reason why more of my clients haven't embraced it. So I want to share this real-life example of how Twitter helped me today.

I had purchased a "ticket" to a conference call held today on "How to Best Pitch a Reporter." It was awesome, by the way. So the first thing the moderator said to his listeners was, "If you're on Twitter, please use hashtag #harocall to talk about it." 

Within seconds the Twitterverse lit up with people chatting about it. It was so popular it become the #3 most trended topic on Twitter - even above Britney Spears. Why is she in the news again? I digress. 

As the call was coming to end, I tweeted this, "#harocall Would broadcast TV reporters/producers have the same answers?" To put it in context, all of the panelists consisted mostly of print journalists from the Wall Street Journal, USAToday, Crains, and AOL Weird News. So I was wondering if broadcasts journalists would share the same opinions about pitching stories as their print counterparts.

One very nice PR professional who had been on the call from Connecticut answered 'yes' to my question and offered to email me notes she had taken from a similar conference in Boston that consisted mainly of broadcast journalists. 

She send me a direct message (DM) in Twitter that only I could see and asked for my email address so she could send me her notes. We chatted a bit more about who she works for and such. 

I now follow her on Twitter and she follows me. We have a connection now. Who knows what might come of it down the road. She didn't have to offer up her notes, but she did. Nice woman. Nice Twitter.

 

If you would like to get started with Twitter, but don't know how, please call me at 518-439-5516 or shoot me an email to leslie@biztechlink.com. 

Google's New URL Shortener Goo.gl

Google released from beta its new URL shortener to the public. 

To use the shortener, go to http://goo.gl and type in the URL you want shortened. Login to your Google Account and view the stats Google offers, including: a two hour, daily, weekly, monthly, and all time number of clicks, referrers, countries, browsers, and platforms.