A Recap of 2011, Twitter Style

What the Trend?!

Let’s face it; Twitter has become the new judge of what’s hot and what’s not. It tells us more about what people are interested in then trendy magazines do. It gives us the news before the news agencies can. It helps raise money for natural disasters worldwide better than Jerry Lewis ever could. So, as we look back at 2011 it only seems natural that we look at Twitter. Here is an infograph from AdAge and What The Trend recapping 2011.

Thanksgiving “App-Style”

Holiday season is upon us.  Time to stress out about gifts, family, food and fun. But wait, we are in the era of mobility. An estimated 26 million people use tablets in the United States and 43% of Americans with mobile phones have smart phones.  So isn’t about time, we do the holidays “app style?”

Here are the best apps to help get you through Thanksgiving.

First things first, we need a menu. I recommend the Thanksgiving Menu Maker from Fine Cooking. Tap your way to a customized holiday menu from more than 75 all-time favorite Thanksgiving recipes, plus get a customized shopping list and schedule.

Chow Thanksgiving Day Coach is a scaled down version for those of us who don’t like the kitchen. This app has only 9 selections and easy to follow recipes and a step-by-step timeline that lets you make dishes ahead of time.

For those of us on a budget, try the AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner. It has hundreds of recipes for Thanksgiving, including Green Bean Casserole, Candied Sweet Potatoes and plenty of recipes for that perfect Turkey. You can also see ratings of each recipe.

Next, you need a good drink to go with the meal. Wine.com is a beautiful wine app designed specifically for the iPad. But, you need to know your wines before diving in.

Drync Wine Pro will find your wine no matter what. Just type a few words into the search engine and you are sure to find reviews and information on the wine of your choice.

For those of us not so familiar with wine, I recommend using IntoWine Food & Wine Pairing App. The name says it all.

Now onto the shopping. Check your local grocery stores for mobile coupon apps before heading out. When you are at the store, use your phone to scan bar codes and compare pricing and get coupons for specific brands and foods.

For some fun, download some Thanksgiving themed game apps. Turkey Hunt Thanksgiving Dinner is an arcade style game that has you trying to beat the clock to make a Thanksgiving Dinner.

Thanksgiving Jokes has kid-friendly jokes and Word Spree Thanksgiving Lite creates funny random stories that you can share with family and friends.

Thanksgiving gives you fun facts about the holiday that you can turn into a trivia game.

Finally, don’t forget to keep up with the football scores with ESPN Score Center.

Now if there was only an app that would clean up all the dishes.

Top 10 Clues Someone Isn’t A Social Media Expert

10. There are social media icons in their email signature, but when you click on the links you they haven’t updated the page in weeks or months.

9. There are social media icons on their website, but when you click on these links you find they haven’t updated the page in weeks or months.

8. When you ask them if they have actually used the tools they’re recommending—either personally or for a client—they can’t give you a straight answer.

7. Their idea of using social media is to promote a company’s services or key messages without any engagement with users.

6. They claim to be influencers, but their Klout scores are less than your mother’s.

5. Their program proposals talk about big ideas, but they don’t mention how they will track and measure success.

4. As soon as a shiny new tool comes out, they immediately propose you incorporate it into your social media program.

3. They mention MySpace in a discussion about social media channels to consider.

2. They guarantee immediate results.

1. Somewhere in their Twitter/Facebook/Klout/Google+/Foursquare/blog profile it says: “Social media expert.”

Taken from an article by Andrew Worob