Posted by Elena del Valle on May 13, 2009
Heidi Richards Mooney, a Twitter fan
Twitter, an increasingly popular social networking site created because a man by the name of Jack Dorsey wanted to know what his friends were doing, is known best for the limited size of its posts. Funded initially by Obvious in San Francisco, California Twitter enthusiasts built and launched the first prototype in two weeks in March 2006. By August of that same year it opened to the public. Following rapid growth Twitter was incorporated May 2007.
What makes it special and popular? It seems to be, at least in part, the short postings and simple format. Visitors to the Twitter website find one question on their screen, “What are you doing?” Replies are limited to 140 characters or less. In order to participate and reply visitors must be subscribers to the service. They can send messages via mobile texting, instant message, and the web.
“Twitter is the world’s largest networking party! Where else can you meet anyone from world leaders to leaders of small companies, and learn and share? The give and take is what Twitter is all about,” said Heidi Richards Mooney, author, entrepreneur, and business coach, by email.
Twitter has been in the news lately because of a recent Nielsen study that indicates the booming portal is losing 60 percent of new subscribers each month. In other words, people stop using the service shortly after signing up. In reaching their conclusions, Nielsen analysts, according to an online article, took into account 30 Web sites and applications that feed into the Twitter community including TweetDeck, TwitPic, Twitstat, Hootsuite, EasyTweets, and Tumblr.
According to the Twitter website, the company “has many appealing opportunities for generating revenue but we are holding off on implementation for now because we don’t want to distract ourselves from the more important work at hand which is to create a compelling service and great user experience for millions of people around the world. While our business model is in a research phase, we spend more money than we make.”
Without a source of income and no advertising revenue can Twitter survive long term? Does it play a useful role? Should it survive? The company did not reply to several emails (there was no phone number listed in the contact page). While those who like Twitter find it valuable some people are saturated with social networking and can’t find the time for another task in their day. Others don’t see the usefulness of the short messages and prefer to rely on classic communication methods and traditional social networking sites.
“Twitter is one communication system too many for me! Between the radio, the web, FB, and Linkedin – I’m maxed out!” said a west coast radio host.
Claudia Miani, another Twitter enthusiast
“I use twitter professionally, from a PR perspective, to stay in touch with news producers and tweet stories to them when they are on the hunt for story ideas. I also follow several PR/ Social Media gurus’ tweets that lead to dozens of articles on the latest developments of social media, PR best practice cases, etc.,” said Claudia Miani, account supervisor at Accentmarketing in Coral Gables, Florida. “As a result of this, I am able to share learnings with my colleagues at Accentmarketing, clients and the industry which leads to an increase in followers each day. The key to growing the number of your followers is to keep updating relevant information on what you are passionate about.”
“Moving Beyond Traditional Media Measurement: measuring conversations and social media” audio recording
Presenter Katie Delahaye Paine, founder, KDPaine & Partners
Find out about
- Issues affecting online public relationships today
- Testing relationships as part of a survey
- Measuring ethnic group relationships
- Measuring foreign language communications in a similar ways to English
- Biggest challenges measuring conversations and social media
- Measuring online relationships with little or no money
Click here for information on “Moving Beyond Traditional Media Measurement”
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 12, 2009
Jeremias, Valeria Gastaldi and Baby Bash
Smirnoff Ice and Univision are partnering for Fiestas Chulas, a summer concert series scheduled to take place in San Antonio, Miami and Los Angeles beginning this month and ending in September. Tickets are free and available through Coolcontodos.com, the concert series website (subscription required), and Univision Radio stations.
The first event will take place May 22 at the Pavilion at Sunset Station where Baby Bash and Valeria Gastaldi will be performing. The next event is scheduled to be held July 3 at the Gibson Showroom in Miami. Jeremias is expected to perform unplugged. Finally, Ozomatli and Valeria Gastaldi will perform September 11 in Los Angeles.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 11, 2009
Hip Hop Hoodios Carne Masada album cover
Photos, video, song: Hip Hop Hoodios
The Latino Jewish urban singers Hip Hop Hoodíos released a new album, Carne Masada: Quite Possibly the Very Best of Hip Hop Hoodíos late last month on iTunes and this week it will become available at other digital stores, with a money back guarantee to anyone who didn’t like it. Instead the album reached the eighth top spot on iTunes Alternativo Chart. Scroll down to watch Gorritos Cosmico, a video, and listen to Times Square, a single from the album.
The album features the bilingual single “Times Square (1989)” and guest performances from members of Ozomatli, The Klezmatics, The Pinker Tones, Delinquent Habits and Los Abandoned. The Hip Hop Hoodíos are named with hoodio a play on the word “judío”, Spanish for Jewish. The album spans the group’s career, includes liner notes written by Ernesto Lechner, a Rolling Stone and Los Anteles Times music critic.
Hip Hop Hoodios
The band may be the only act to have co-headlined the Salute to Israel Parade and the Barrio Museum in Spanish Harlem. The 2007 Hip Hop Hoodíos release Viva la Guantanamera, benefiting for Amnesty International’s efforts to close Guantanamo Bay Prison, rose to the number nine spot on the iTunes Latino albums sales chart and the top overall slot on eMusic. The band’s music has been featured in Pride and Glory, MTV’s Life of Ryan and a national Volkswagen campaign.
Josh Norek of Colombian decent and Abraham Velez of Puerto Rican decent make up Hip Hop Hoodios, part of a collective of Latino hip hop artists based in New York and Los Angeles. They mix Latin rhythms with hip hop beats and trilingual lyrics (English, Spanish and Hebrew).
Click on the play button to listen to Times Square.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 8, 2009
The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire book cover
Photos: Teresa Castracane
C.M. Mayo, a resident of Mexico for many years, recently published The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (Unbridled Books, $26.95) a historical novel set in that country during the reign of Emperor Maximilian von Hapsburg. While the Civil War was tearing the United States apart, Louis Napoleon invaded Mexico and installed Austrian Archduke Maximilian von Hapsburg as emperor. Mayo’s story is set against this post war background. Her debut novel, the result of extensive research, is based in fact.
In the 430-page hardcover book she sets the tale of ambition, heart break, intrigue and politics. A year after becoming emperor the childless monarch took custody of a two-year old half American boy, Prince Agustin Iturbide y Green, making him the Heir Presumptive. The boy was the son of a Mexican diplomat and an American woman; and the grandson of Mexico’s first emperor, who fought for independence from Spain and was executed before a firing squad. Maximilian’s refusal to return the toddler to its saddened parents even while his empire crumbled and the empress toyed with madness catapulted the country into scandal.
Author C.M. Mayo
The author, a part time resident of Washington, D.C., is a translator of contemporary Mexican literature and founding editor of Tameme Chapbooks Cuadernos. Mayo’s other books include Sky Over El Nido, winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico, a travel memoir and Mexico: A Traveler’s Literary Companion.
The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire
Click here to buy The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire
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Filed Under: Books
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 6, 2009
By Jon Glass, M. Ed.
Doctoral candidate
Psychology Department
Gannon University
Jon Glass, M. Ed.
Over the past thirty years, social scientists have expanded our understanding of the role that fathers play in child development. Prior to this time, researchers looked almost exclusively at mothers; it was as if fathers’ mere presence, or lack thereof, was enough. Not surprisingly, current data suggests that fathers play a critical role in the family. Positive paternal involvement leads to improved school performance, positive self-esteem, better sibling relationships, and improved mental health outcomes for children. Furthermore, when fathers remain responsible for, engaged with, and accessible to the family, marriages are stronger and pooled financial resources lead to a higher standard of living. Thus, fathers have both a direct and indirect influence on family relationships and stability.
Click here to read the complete article
“Latino Family Dynamics” audio recording
Brenda Hurley and Liria Barbosa
Discuss
- Latino purchasing habits and products they favor
- Latino family characteristics
- Latinos and extended families
- Division of duties, responsibilities within the family
- Who is the decision maker in the Latino family
- Who is the information provider in the Latino family
Click here to find out about Latino purchasing habits and “Latino Family Dynamics”
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 4, 2009
Author Tom Gjelten
Photo: Paul J. Richards
A podcast interview with Tom Gjelten, author of Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, Tom discusses his new book with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Tom covers intelligence and national security issues for NPR News and is a regular panelist on the PBS program Washington Week. From 1986 to 1990 he was NPR’s Latin America correspondent in Mexico, and from 1990 to 1994 he was in Berlin as Central Europe correspondent. He covered the wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia, as well as the Gulf War of 1990-1991 and the wars in Croatia and Bosnia.
He based his first book, Sarajevo Daily: A City and Its Newspaper Under Siege, on his experiences while reporting from Sarajevo from 1992 to 1994. The book was praised by The New York Times as “a chilling portrayal of a city’s slow murder” and selected by the American Library Association as a Notable Nonfiction Book. Tom is also the author of Professionalism in War Reporting: A Correspondent’s View (Carnegie Corporation) and a contributor to Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know (W. W. Norton).
He has also reported extensively from Cuba in recent years, visiting the island more than a dozen times. He has won numerous awards for his work including an Overseas Press Club award for “Best Business or Economic Reporting in Radio or TV,” the Overseas Press Club’s Lowell Thomas Award, a George Polk Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, he began his professional career as a public school teacher and a freelance writer.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Tom Gjelten,” listen to it on your cell phone through VoiceIndigo (click on the Mobilize button), click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the May 2009 section of the podcast archive.
Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba book cover
Click here to buy Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 1, 2009
Capitalizing on Kindness
Kirstin Tillquist, a former attorney turned chief of staff to the mayor of the City of Riverside, California, has experience working with politicians and influential people. She firmly believes one of the most, if not the single most, important attitude in business today is kindness. She explains why in her newly published book, Capitalizing on Kindness Why 21st Century Professionals Need to Be Nice (Career Press, $15,99).
The 255-page softcover book is divided into seven chapters: Kindness Capital, The Power of Reputation, The Power of Reciprocity, The Power of Personality, The Power of Thanks, The Power of Connecting, and From Success to Significance. In it she explains that the type of kindness she refers to is a combination of a caring attitude with a smart and strong business approach. Self sacrificing give til you drop and quiet types will not necessarily reap the benefits she speaks of although they may feel rewarded for their actions in private.
She argues that many business people believe falsely that there is a choice between being kind and being successful. Instead, kind people become successful. She sets out to explain to her readers how to be kind in business and develop “kindness capital,” a concept she defines loosely as “what is built up when you consciously set out to be kinder and develop your skills at applying kindness.”
According to Tillquist, kindness results in higher productivity, lower absenteeism, and lower likelihood of being sued. The author emphasizes the benefits of the five Powers of Kindness: Reputation, Reciprocity, Personality, Thanks and Connecting. She is a business consultant, speaker, columnist, and trainer on business kindness.
Capitalizing on Kindness
Click here to buy Capitalizing on Kindness
Posted by Elena del Valle on April 29, 2009
Article and photo by Fredwill Hernandez
President, Spanglish Entertainment LLC
Interviewer Leila Cobo and Don Omar at this year
The 20th Annual Billboard Latin Conference and Awards and Voz Latina Conference for song writers, artists, agents, artist managers, promoters, music publishers, marketers, and others targeting Latinos took place April 21-23, 2009 at the Eden Roc Beach Resort and Spa in Miami Beach. Approximately 1,000 people attended the panels, celebrity Q & A (questions and answer sessions), music showcases such as the 7th Annual Billboard Bash, and the 2009 Billboard Latin Music Awards broadcast live from Bank United Center in Miami.
The music industry highpoint of this year’s conference was a full question and answer session with Puerto Rican William Omar Ladron, known to fans as Don Omar, who gave attendees a first look at the video of the first single “Virtual Diva” from his new studio album, Idon. He talked about new ways of reaching his fans, new business models that are being put to the test and content he plans to make available to fans who buy one of his CD’s.
One of the bonuses his fans will receive will be a new song featuring Daddy Yankee, a fellow reggaeton performer he used to have a long standing feud with. Don Omar spoke about his acting debut role in the new Fast & Furious movie and his plans to retire in five years and run his music record label, Orfanato Music Group. During the Billboard Awards, Daddy Yankee received the Spirit Of Hope Award for his Corazon Guerrero Foundation ( Warrior Heart Foundation) whose mission is to help troubled and under served youth.
The three-day event ended with Voz Latina, a day long conference that catered to marketers and companies aiming to reach Hispanic consumers. The highlight of the Voz Latina event was a presentation by Jacqueline Hernandez, chief operating officer of Telemundo Communications Group and the day’s keynote speaker. She spoke on the best way for companies to tap into what she called “crucial Hispanic market” by using integrated advertising solutions, innovative models and success stories to help marketers and advertisers achieve their financial goals. Other panels and topics covered Spanish- Language content online, Interactive strategies to reach your target audience, Who wears the pants: The influential consumer, Tecate Case Study: growing in English by speaking in Spanish, and How to market in a recession.
This year’s sponsors included State Farm, Verizon Wireless, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Georgio Vodka, CMN (Cardenas Marketing Network), Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA), MTVtres, MySpace Latino, American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers(ASCAP), Bustelo Coffee, Gibson guitars, and Locman.
Fredwill Hernandez is a musician and aspiring journalism student who expects to attend California State University Dominguez Hills in Los Angeles, California.
Posted by Elena del Valle on April 27, 2009
A Facebook page - click on image to enlarge
Are you thinking of joining the social networking wave? Depending on your interests there are several sites worth considering. Some people sign up and become active in multiple sites. If your attention span or time limits are strict you can try Flutter, self described as nano blogging with a limit of 26 characters per posting; or if you have more to say there’s the increasingly popular Twitter. For something more mainstream oriented with a profile listing, full length postings and widgets there are several very popular options.
Founded in 2004 as a collegiate website at Harvard, Facebook has the highest number of members, 200 million, according to the company website. Founded in 2003 and owned by Fox Interactive Media, MySpace follows with 120 million users. It is a popular choice for entertainers to post profiles. In addition to the main MySpace website and a Spanish language section for Spanish speakers in the United States, there are 33 portals in several languages available in three major areas of the world. MySpace Latino estimates there are nine million users on its pages. According to one monitoring portal, Facebook and MySpace are among the top five most visited websites in the United States.
Hi5, favored in Latin America, Europe and Asia, is available in 50 languages and 200 countries. The privately owned San Francisco based portal established in 2003 claims 80 millions fans. Friendster, a Mountain View, California based company established in 2002, is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, IDG Ventures, and individual investors. It reports a world audience of 100 million. It is especially popular in Asia.
Tagged, established in 2004, attracts teenagers in the United States and abroad. Headquartered in San Francisco, California the company lists 70 million members. Founded in 2003, LinkedIn has a modest membership of only 38 million in 200 countries compared to some of the other networks. It’s main distinction is that it is popular in the business community. The LinkedIn Answers section may appeal to professionals who want to be recognized as experts within the site. Four languages are listed on the company website: English, German, French and Spanish.
Google owned Orkut was initially an exclusive site for technology buffs when it started in 2004. In 2006, the portal was opened to the general market and developed a following, especially in Brazil, Paraguay and India. It boasts 25 million subscribers. Founded in 2005, Bebo has sites in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India and the Netherlands. It is owned by AOL and has 22 million subscribers.
Fast Pitch Founders Bill Jula and Richard Swier
Sarasota, Florida based Fast Pitch was originally established three years ago by Bill Jula and Rich Swier as a national speed networking forum. According to a company spokesperson, the website which offers two basic levels of participation, paid and free, has been profitable for 30 months. There are 350,000 members with free memberships and an undisclosed number of paid subscribers. About five percent of the membership is Hispanic. In addition to English, Fast Pitch is available in German, Portuguese, Italian, two types of Chinese and Spanish.
Several portals provide forums for Spanish speakers and Latinos specifically. Quepasa Corporation, a publicly traded company based in West Palm Beach, Florida, targets users in English, Spanish and Portuguese through its portal Quepasa.com. According to a company spokesperson the portal, established in 1997, has 2.5 million members and grows by 100,000 users per week. The company has offices in Los Angeles, California; São Paulo, Brazil; Scottsdale, Arizona; Miami, Florida; and Hermosillo, Mexico.
“Quepasa has built a viral platform, powering culturally relevant media and contests, such as Playboy Mexico Cyber Chica contest and the Dr. Rey Health and Beauty contest,” said John C. Abbott, chief executive officer of Quepasa by email.
MiGente is part of Community Connect Inc., a New York based company. Other sites include Hispanito, Vostu and MiGrito. None of these portals replied to requests for information.
“Search Engine Marketing to Hispanics” audio recording
Presenter Matias Perel, founder and president, Latin3
Find out about
- The 16 million Latino online users
- Types of online access among Hispanics
- Latino online user language preferences
- What they do online
- Usage by age
- Income levels among Hispanics who visit the Internet
- Internet use by Hispanics
Click here for information on Search Engine Marketing to Hispanics
