Jax has an enthusiastic post entitled “Building brands on the web“. There’s some great points in there, worth a read (it’s pretty snappy – so won’t take long).

In relation to point 1: “Web users are an active audience” – I would heartily recommend checking out Clay Shirky’s talk at Web 2.0 – it’s a goldmine.

And extending point 5: “Easy and cost effective device to gain customer insights” – make sure you have permission! I know Jax knows this, but didn’t state it explicitly :)

And as Seth Godin and the folks at Campaign Monitor often point out, permission isn’t just “can I email you?” – it means providing timely and relevant communications.

In other words, just because you have an email address and an “opt-in” checkbox doesn’t mean that people won’t consider you spam.

• Twitter is an Event Aggregator – Interesting use of Twitter – posting news related to the “Super Tuesday” primary voting in the U.S.
• Companies must listen to the Web 2.0 world – I don’t like the “avoid risk” case for social media strategy; I prefer to focus on opportunities. This article provides an overview of the potential risks. I’ve found that blogs can be a bell-weather for broader constituent sentiment, so worth watching.
• Internet fundraising trends 2008 – A collection of predictions for fundraising and donating in 2008, incl. a spot from Priscilla @ Solidariti and Seth Godin.

(These links were posted to my del.icio.us feed on 05-Feb-2008.)

• Stockvault.net – Another free stock photo site and community. A potentially useful addition to iStockphoto and Stockexchange.
• Sprout Builder – “Sprouts” are widgets that you can add to your site and share with others, created from your own media. Although I’ve not looked deeply into them, they seem a handy and quick way to build promotional widgets for your organisation or cause.
• Is the Tipping Point Toast? – This article has been spreading like wildfire through blogland. A rebuttal, of sorts, to “The Tipping Point” concept where a few “influentials” take trends viral. Thought provoking, and I would say essential reading for anyone in the marketing biz.

(These links were posted to my del.icio.us feed between 28-Jan-2008 and 04-Feb-2008.)

• Zookoda – An interesting looking (free) service – from what I can tell it takes an RSS feed and sends HTML email updates on that basis. Great for promoting your blog or creating quick email newsletters for your organisation. Will need to look into it some more…
• NussbaumOnDesign Obama Vs. Clinton: What Their Web Sites Say About How They View You. – BusinessWeek – Nussbaum on Obama vs. Hillary on the web: “.. Hillary sees her supporters as a series of constituents with individual interests that she needs to meet and Barack sees his backers as members belonging to a mass movement. …”
• The more people you reach the more likely it is that you’re reaching the wrong people – “Who vs. how many.” I truly admire how Seth can distill an important idea into single sentence. Or two…

(These links were posted to my del.icio.us feed between 15-Jan-2008 and 17-Jan-2008.)