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Dennis Carpenter
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Dennis Carpenter
Movie Review – Ides of March
Sometimes remembering the details of movies is difficult, but not this movie. This is one of the better movies you will see this year. This movie hits you hard.
So why is a “tech guy” like me reviewing a movie? Well, the name of this blog is “Seize the Day” isn’t it?
Ides of March takes you on a roller-coaster ride through an election campaign that eerily parallels present day politics. When leaving the theater after the movie, I hear other viewers say, “The story was believable even though you hate to believe it could actually happen”. I agree.
The story line is about the business of selling someone to the American people — someone who can supposedly fix everything that’s wrong with the world and yet is disappointingly human.
The film, based upon Beau Willimon’s stage play, Farragut North, portrays a Governor Mike Morris (Clooney) running for President who mistakenly has his eye on a campaign worker and not his work. The main worker is Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), the smart-as-a-whip assistant campaign manager to the Governor. Myers is an ambitious player in the game, and born to be a politician — he works every angle and explores every possibility, always looking for any piece of information that will not only further Morris’ career but also his own. Gosling performance in this role confirms again he is one of the top actors of his generation.
The movie moves lightning-quick and is over before you know it. As I left, I was definitely wanting more. The Ides of March definitely gets my vote for your weekend viewing.
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Dennis Carpenter
Humbleness, gratitude often only come after you have lost what you took for granted, say thank you to someone today!
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Dennis Carpenter
What’s a Facebook Fan Worth? Depends
Adage ask the proverbial question and provides an answer. Take a look.
“Online analytics firm ComScore and Facebook set out to answer an old question once more: What’s a fan worth? Their answer: A fan is worth the sum of his or her friends.
For example, Facebook mega-brand Starbucks reached 8% of all U.S. internet users in May through unpaid posts and the majority aren’t even fans of the brand.How’s that work exactly? When Starbucks posts to its Facebook page, only a portion of its 24 million fans are actually online or paying attention to their news feed to see that post. About 3% of all 216 million U.S. internet users were in that camp in May, according to ComScore’s new social-measurement tool based on its 2 million-person global panel. When those fans like or comment on Starbucks’ post, their friends — an additional 5% of all U.S. internet users — see the brand pop into their news feeds and, boom, Starbucks gets even more eyeballs without having to cajole their friendship in the first place. (The average Facebook user has 130 friends.)
All that comes at no media cost to the brand, considering that posting updates to Facebook brand pages is free to advertisers. Of course, Facebook execs called the brands in the study — Starbucks, Southwest and Bing — major advertisers and many use paid media on the site to amass their followings. Facebook made nearly $2 billion in global ad revenue last year, up from $740 million in 2009, according to eMarketer.
In all fairness, Starbucks is somewhat of an anomaly on Facebook, considering its massive fan base and the fact that many U.S. consumers visit its stores daily. But even brands with fewer fans, such as Southwest and Bing, reach more friends of fans than fans themselves via Facebook posts. Southwest reached 917,000 fans through posts in May, but 1.1 million friends of fans. Similarly, Bing reached 1.2 million fans and 2.2 million friends of fans. The study also found that the majority of those views don’t happen on brands pages, but in users’ own news feeds. The most activity, 27% in May, happened on Facebook’s homepage and in the news feed. Profile views accounted for 21% of activity and photos 17%. Only about 10% came from apps or tools.
The study also aims to put social-measurement tools in the language of media buys in general, namely gross ratings points and frequency. Starbucks, for example, reached both fans and friends of fans about three times on average.
“The default assumption is that when you publish [on Facebook] you’re hitting 100% of your fan base all of the time,” said Brad Smallwood, head of measurement and insights, Facebook. “That’s not the case. When you publish you have the same tendency to hit the same fans again and again.” “
via What’s a Facebook Fan Worth? Depends on Number of Friends | Digital – Advertising Age. .
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Dennis Carpenter
Some Declare, Moving From Facebook to Google Plus
“It’s time to pack my bags and move to a new social network. Who’s with me? Google+ has been available for less than a month but it has gathered incredible momentum. Estimates put early adopters at more than 20 million, the Google+ mobile app held the top seller on the Apple app market, and the fledgling media site is awash with activity: Google co-founder Larry Page reported that there have been more than a billion items shared and received every day! (The +1 button, which is integrated into Google+, gets about 2.3 billion uses a day.) The Google+ train is picking up steam and I’ve already climbed aboard. While things are still new I thought I’d share with you why I’m leaving Facebook (and Twitter, and LinkedIn, and Buzz), and what I’m learning as I move to Google+. Forgive me for getting a little more bloggy than usual, but there’s so much I’ve discovered and enjoyed, I just had to share.”
via Don’t Look For Me On Facebook, I’ve Moved To Google+ | Singularity Hub.
Have you become a Googler? Will you?
