Good Morning:

We recently met at one of my speaking engagements or related industry events, and I thought I would point you to our new Ubercool site, where you will find many fascinating stories. Our world is experiencing a riveting social media-propelled revolution, and we are rising to the challenge by adding extended coverage under the rubric of "Social Engagement Marketing," which is also the title of my upcoming book.

Below are a few stories that highlight the type of insights that, I believe, will put you ahead of the curve. I hope you enjoy the content and do let me know what you think, by replying to his e-mail.

Michael Tchong
Trend Analyst & Founder
Ubercool

iPad Ushers In Post-PC, Post-Magazine Era
10-Mar-11

On March 2, Apple announced that it had sold 15 million units in the iPad’s first nine months on the market. That is a considerable achievement for any new product, particularly one in a category that had been taken for dead until Apple reinvented it. In contrast, Apple sold 11 million iPhones in its second full year.

Much has been written about the staggering success that Cupertino, California’s brightest tech star has achieved, but it bears contextualizing.

Read more.

Social CRM
27-Feb-11

For the past 80 years, sales people have been trying to close deals by contacting their prospects directly, primarily by telephone. But the tide is rising against cold-calling. Anecdotal evidence suggests that less than one in 10 calls is ever returned. That explains why the future of customer relationship management software (CRM) lies in “social CRM,” which tightly integrates social networking into CRM apps.

CRM applications like the popular Salesforce.com are starting to show their age. Over the years, these types of programs have grown ever more powerful but at a significant cost in ease of use and simplicity. User feedback suggests that Salesforce.com is not only difficult to use but has also become labyrinth, with one user liking it to a “a beast of a platform that is not user friendly.”

Read more.

Social Analytics
19-Feb-11

The announcement hit like a tweet bomb. Social media analytics firm Vitrue announced it had closed a $17-million Series C funding round, confirming what most close observers already know. Social engagement marketing is red-hot and getting hotter.

The rise of social networks is converging with a parallel trend that’s roiling marketing: response rates from traditional forms of advertising have been steadily declining over the past 25 years, as ever more consumers multi-media task while being deluged with advertising messages.

Read more.

Social Engagement Marketing
11-Feb-11

The Wall Street Journal reports that Twitter is considering selling itself off to either Facebook or Google for the princely sum of between $8 and $10 billion. In a clear sign that the dotcom bubble may have returned, this offer is for a company that will have 2011 revenues of between $100 million and $110 million.

Potential suitors are betting that Twitter will be able to dramatically grow revenues driven by the promise of social engagement marketing, a new science that is being propelled by an explosive new social dialog that produces some 110 million tweets and 130 million Facebook status updates daily.

Read more.