A friend of mine that I assist with online marketing received an email recently regarding the transfer of their domain. The email read that the transfer of their domain was “not yet complete” and provided the recipient on how to unlock their domain record so that it could be transfered to this new organization.

My friend forwarded the email to me because they were unsure of what to do. It was all very official looking, but it turned out to be a deceitful practice. They send emails out to domain owners to confuse them in unlocking their domain with their current registrar and transfer them to their organization.

Always be wary of emails that ask you to provide sensitive information and always question the source. It’s disheartening that companies will use such tactics to confuse consumers in order to make financial gains.

Here’s the email…

Hello █████,

The transfer and renewal of your domain name, █████, is not yet complete because your domain name is currently in a “REGISTRAR-LOCK” status with your current registrar █████.

In order to complete the transfer and renewal, the “REGISTRAR-LOCK” status needs to be removed and an EPP Key/Authorization code needs to be obtained. Please see below for instructions on achieving this.

Solution:
- Log into your account with your current registrar, and change the status of your domain,█████, from “locked” to “active”.- Then look for the EPP Key or Authorization Code.

- Alternatively you may call your current registrar, █████. (see phone number below) and ask them to remove the lock status of  your domain name, give you your EPP Key and allow the transfer to █████ █████ █████ █████.

- Once done please notify us that you have done so, by calling our toll-free number below. We will then re-attempt the transfer and renewal of your domain name.

As a convenience, we have supplied your current registrars phone number below.

Domain: █████
Current Registrar: █████
Registrar Phone Number: Please visit their site to contact them

Some mid-Winter drama popped up this week when Google exposed that Microsoft’s Bing actually piggyback’s search results off of Google results. When Google realized this, they actually setup a “sting” operation just to make sure they were correct. You can read the detailed post by Google’s Amit Singhal here, where he actually calls Microsoft out by calling Bing results ”stale” and “a cheap imitation”. Them are fightin’ words!

Microsoft countered with a post of their own, explaining that they learn from their user’s searches to provide a better search result. Microsoft’s explanation doesn’t sound like it holds much water though. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in coming weeks.

Let me begin with the caveat that unless you’re hosting a reoccurring event (a large event at that), I’d recommend that you utilize existing channels rather than creating new event specific ones. For example, you are likely to get more traction from your existing Twitter account for your event by using an event specific hashtag rather than setting up a new account for your audience to follow.

With that said, let’s jump into the brainstorming!

Blogging

• Post regular updates on preparation leading up to the event.
• Include highlights from either the previous years event or from related events so potential attendees can anticipate what the experience will be like.
• Use your blog as a means to reach out to people to see what they’d be interested in seeing/learning.
• Partake in “Live Blogging” at the actual event. People who did not have the opportunity to attend or who might attend future events could read this for relevancy. Also a great tool for an event “postmortum”

Twitter

• Develop a short, event specific hashtag.
• Promote tracks, speakers, news regularly.
• Use your Tweets to promote discounts or specials on registration fees.
• Target the key influencers among your followers and communicate directly with them about the event.
• Use tools such as twtpoll for electronic polling of your audience.

Facebook

• Create a custom tab with venue info, summary of event, and link to event website and/or registration.
• Facebook allows for you to actually show content only to people who have “Liked” you. Post copies of select presentations relative to the event available for those who have “Liked” you.
• Use Facebook Discussion Groups on your page to engage possible attendees on your event content.

Video

• Have presenters create short videos as “teasers” or summaries of their tracks.
• Videos don’t need to be “professional” quality. Handheld cameras (Flip) or even a PC Webcam video can be a great, informal way of building a rapport with your audience.

QR Codes

• Place QR Codes on attendee badges so that users with smartphones can share data with one another.
• Have a QR Code on display at your booth and allow booth visitors access to a URL where they may download a piece of collateral for visiting.

Signage

Last evening I came to within forty pages or so to the end of our latest book, “Kingdom Keepers III: Disney in Shadow” by Ridley Pearson. Because they (who am I kidding, we) wanted to find out the conclusion, I finished the book to them midday. The fact that we’re snowed in on a post-Christmas vacation helped all the more. At the conclusion of the book, Mr. Pearson directs the reader to a URL and says that a “key” was left for the reader. At first blush, the “key” graphic on the inside cover of the book looks like an icon for design’s sake. After considering it though, I realized that it is in fact a QR Code.

When you visit the URL and open the back cover before your PC’s webcam, you’re provided a secret message from one of the book’s main characters along with a very cool 3D map. I think I was more excited about this than the kids!

This particular series of books takes place in the various Walt Disney World theme parks. The author has a series of short, 40 second or so, videos from various key locations in the stories that have made their way on to YouTube. In these videos, the author will put in little teasers about the tales. It’s been a fabulous way to help visualize scenes in the stories.

To me, nothing beats a great book. But the immersion in the stories is enhanced by these complimentary elements of technology. To me, they in no way overtake the stories themselves or the power of the reader’s imagination, but instead enhance the experience. And in that, Mr. Pearson has enveloped us all the more in his stories.

I started a new site called “Kid On The Bus“. Here’s a snippet from my “mission statement”:

The mission of Kid On The Bus is to serve as a resource for parents to better understand technology and how it can compliment the education and lives of our children. I am the father of three precocious children (currently two in elementary and one in middle school) and by day work in the software industry. With the immersion of technology in every aspect of our lives comes exciting opportunities and challenges for we parents. My hope is that I can relay some information here that you find useful and actionable and that you too can share your experiences, ups and downs, so that we all may learn.

I hope that you have the opportunity to check it out:

Website - www.kidonthebus.com
Facebook - facebook.com/kidonthebus
Twitter –  twitter.com/kidonthebus

Recently, a slide deck from a gentleman by the name of Paul Adam of Google has made its way online entitled “The Real Life Social Network”. Although it tips the scales at over two hundred slides, it is well worth your time as Adam’s outlines user’s online behavior in participating in social networks. The key theme in the deck is that those of us who are active participants in the social media landscape have various types of relationships that we engage in online via tools such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. and quite often there is too much noise generated from ourselves at these overlapping audiences. When you post an update to Facebook for example, you may intend you message to be relevant to a subset of your Friends, however, all of your Friends see the update.

The emergence of this presentation is further fueling speculation that Google is going to make another foray into the social media space. Google already has Orkut, an online community similar to Facebook, but with no where near the foothold. One would hazard to guess that this may be the place that Google would implement these social best practices.

As for Facebook, there is the ability to manage your Privacy Settings and customize your posts to specific groups of Friends via Lists. MakeUseOf.com has a good article regarding this, however the vast array of options and settings is in my opinion too complex for your average Facebook user.

Segmenting your audiences for messaging has been a feature that has been around in some fashion for a while now in other tools such as Twitter and is gaining momentum with other applications. Just this morning, Brizzly announced Brizzly Picnics, where one can develop groups of contacts and share posts, content such as photos and video as well as chat solely within the group. With Twitter, one can connect their Twitter account to other social media applications such as Facebook and LinkedIn and have a Tweet appear on those platforms by adding an application specific hashtag (#fb for Facebook, #in for LinkedIn).

Personally, I dabble in many different social platforms. Using a social media aggregation tool such as Digbsy is an easy way for me to maintain multiple accounts across various platforms. I find it easier to maintain multiple Facebook accounts, personal and professional, via a third party application rather than regularly segmenting posts and lists within Facebook. However, if you tend to gravitate towards a single social application rather than another, I’d highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with how to maximize your Privacy and audience settings within that tool.