Everyone who takes and edits photos (isn’t that everyone?) should check out Picnik. This service is going to give Adobe Photoshop a run for its money. It’s by far the most comprehensive and easy-to-use Web-based photo editing software I’ve ever seen. I like that you don’t have to have an account to try it, which makes it easier to sample. Integration with popular photo-sharing and social networking sites makes it a breeze to use in those spaces. I’m glad someone got this right as it’s been needed for many years.

We’re looking at their API feature for integration into our future projects. But don’t take my word for it, check it out yourself!

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Fun, Social Media, Technology, Web

Back from BlogWell — a riveting, fast-paced look at how some of the big guys do social media. I caught presentations from The Mayo Clinic, Proctor & Gamble, Sharpie, and Molson (who filled a spot at the last minute and brought much beer). Consistent themes included:

• Start with a simple campaign or technology, then grow.
• It’s not about marketing. It’s about interacting.
• Be proactive about transparency and disclosure.
• Don’t pour beer into a frosty mug (drop a note in the comments to find out why)

I was especially struck by the presentation from Susan Wessel at Sharpie (and not just because of the limited edition Barack Obama Sharpie’s), who indicated that for all their visibility, Sharpie is actually a pretty small company. As the primary PR rep for the company, she engaged in blogging and Twitter on her own time. I think this is the way it’s going to be for businesses for the foreseeable future who are unwilling or unable to commit additional resources to social media campaigns. In this case, she wanted to prove its value and the only way to do that was to do it. This is truer of blogging than any other form of marketing I’ve seen. The worst thing you can do is never start.

Maybe I especially remember Susan since I got her very last limited edition Barack Obama sharpie marker. Good word of mouth there.

Here are a couple of photos of Andy Sernovitz from GasPedal/The Blog Council and Adam Moffat from Molson mid-beer:

Here’s a good write-up on BlogWell from Chicago Tech Report.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Social Media, Web

I’m attending the BlogWell social media conference today, which is put together by Andy Sernovitz at GasPedal and The Blog Council. Really looking forward to hear how some larger companies are embracing social media, as they often have a harder time adapting to change and truly adopting the notion of transparency.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Web

This Chris Crocker Britney Spears/Sarah Palin remix video is pretty funny in its own right, but let’s see if has as much viral success as the original Britney fan video.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Fun, Social Media, Web

The eyes of society are watching everything already. No longer are the video mediums the province of notable occurences. Now just about every insignificant thing that’s done is recorded and shared in one way or another. It just needs to be organized a little better for a computer network to become god, encouraging good behavior throughout the land.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Social Media, Technology, Web