Here's Project Leader Grace Tarrant grace-ing (hahahahaha, I slay me!) us with a terrible joke.

Recently, three companies have begun to explore the value of a social network. The big questions is, who cares?

Well, I think I might if it get’s me free shit.

Our friends over at Freedom & Partners just launched PushKart, a new software platform that analyzes your social network and assigns you a social net worth.

They claim to have a custom algorithm that works behind the scenes to look at various elements of your online social life – sounds like voodoo to me. But I like magic, so read on.

To determine your value, PushKart looks at the size of your social network, the types of conversations you have and how active you are. The software even analyzes what conversations are most relevant to your social network —I guess the idea being that if the chatter in your network slants to technology, tech brands would be most relevant to you and your network?

Eventually, PushKart will likely enable brands to ask you to be advocates for them. In return you will get access to a special deal or an enhanced deal. PushKart’s premise is: you tell friends --> unlock deals --> enjoy rewards.  It’s simple and pretty cool  – it’s still very much in beta and they are looking for help and ideas.

Another company we have partnered with recently is Vitrue. They have launched the social page evaluator.  It attempts to measure ROI for brands who have created a facebook fan page.  I ran the Travelocity page through and it stacked up pretty well against other brands.

Virtue’s evaluator includes a couple interesting bits of functionality. Like ‘fan-tasize,’ which is a configuration tool that lets you see what your page could be worth. Plus, a compare tool that lets you look at how a brand stacks up against other brands.  There is also a nice tips section for creating and managing a brand page. Social Evaluator 

Yet another cool product is being developed here in our back yard, Argyle Social.  I attended a VC event the other week and caught wind of their offering – a way to measure social media effectiveness.  Argyle received a grant from NC IDEA in January this year to start developing their social platform.  Hopefully they will be stopping by at the agency next week so we can exchange ideas.

Now is trend time for these types of tools as people grasp for new ways to deliver and measure social media campaigns.  There are plenty of expensive Rolls Royce platforms that claim to measure all this stuff but I expect to see the innovation and new products come from smaller more progressive companies.

What do you think? Can you place a value on a social network?

a few weeks back facebook announced the release of the graph API that essentially replaces the facebook connect service.  so what does this mean?

facebook says that the graph API will make it easier to access all of the features of a facebook page, while also enabling a more personalized web experience.  looking forward this could mean that facebook.com as a destination becomes obsolete since all of the features that you now access on your facebook page will travel around the web with you.  facebook wants to become the hidden platform that powers the social web.  if every site you visited had facebook features customized to the site experience why would one ever go to facebook.com.

behind the API are two new modules, open graph and social plugins.  think of open graph as a big repository of data that you have shared via facebook directly or any third party site that you accessed via your facebook ID.  it could be the hobbies listed on your profile page or it could be an artist that you 'liked' when you were logged into pandora via your facebook ID.  open graph will allow third party sites and apps to share this information with each other - so that the next time you login to amazon.com it knows that you 'liked' an artist and immediately hits you with related recommendations.  at some point soon amazon will also use the same info to further personalize and customize the email offers it sends to you.

the like button seems to be one stand out feature right now.  every article, image, just about any piece of content where it makes sense could have a simple like option that feeds back into open graph and provides rich data about you that is available to brands, companies, just about anyone who you give access to.  imagine how companies like yelp, citysearch, amazon, netflix, pandora, ebay and so on could all collect and use this data together.

this is but one small example of what facebook means when it discusses customizing and personalizing your web experience - facebook's vision is that everything online is linked and that they are the glue that holds it all together.  it is a real interesting proposition that has hugely positive implications if it is used in the right way, but lets face it even if the word 'open' is used in the name of this platform, it's not meant in the conventional 'open source' sort of way....facebook is a business, a big business and is out to own this thing and i'm not sure how i feel about that.

how about for you?  is the benefit of a personalized web experience worth the trade off of sharing all this data with facebook?  is facebook.com becoming a thing of the past with this announcement?

On a recent internal email exchange with folks in the interactive community, I felt compelled to pile on.

The topic was the current mckinney.com and the fact that this site used Papervision3d and a totally new approach to navigation.  It was a reinvention in its own way.

Unfortunately, I have been a vocal critic of the site when I think about its intended audiences.  But I've never been critical of the fact we took the chance, we set a high bar and were not afraid to fail.

As a leader of this agency and one of its owners I'm constantly wondering what I'm doing/not doing/should be doing to help us fail forward more often.  I'm not sure I'll ever know THE answer to this.  But I do know that I've never been afraid to fail.  I've failed a lot.  And I've learned more from failure than success.

I also believe, from my experience, that failing forward happens most and best when people take it upon themselves to make shit happen...not waiting to be told or asking for permission.

Here's to failing more, learning a lot and moving forward!

Anoop Desai and I filmed a segment for NBC17's "My Carolina Today"... er... today.  We were on the show to promote the Triangle Corporate Battle of the Bands and Anoop's performance at the event. 

So what is it like to be on TV with someone way more famous than you?  Well, I'll tell you (written in the second person for that walk-a-mile-in-my-shoes effect)...

First, when you drive to a TV interview, you get really nervous and sweaty.  Like Justin Timberlake says, "I'm bringing sweaty back."  Wait.  That wasn't it?  Well, I brought sweaty back.  Not cool.

After a few minutes sitting in the NBC studios parking lot and fanning your face while taking deep calming breaths, you keep telling yourself, "This isn't live, this isn't live, this isn't live."

While waiting for the producer in the lobby, you sit with Anoop and make small talk, trying to act like you can relate to celebrity-dom.  When, in reality, the closest thing you've seen to fame is the cover of Lady Gaga's CD.

Then, when it's time for you to get in place for the interview, you realize there are only two chairs on set: one for Anoop and one for Sharon Delaney, host of "My Carolina Today."  A certain amount of relief sets in as you realize, "Hey, I don't have to do this after all."  And then a larger amount of disappointment: "Hey! I don't get to do this at all!"

The production assistant comes out to "mic up" Anoop, not you, and gushes over the former American Idol contestant.  You, of course, introduce yourself pleasantly at the appropriate time, and that overly eager PA says one brief, uninterested utterance: "Hi."  But her eyes say, "(Insert your name here)?  Who the crap are you?  You are not important.  At all." 

Luckily the tide turns in your favor, perhaps to the chagrin of that aloof PA, and they squeeze another chair onto the set for you.  Anoop and you have a great interview with Sharon Delaney, and Anoop invites you, on air, to be a backup dancer for his tour--

OK, no.  That didn't really happen, but what if!?  No, no... Anoop  and I will not be touring together.  But we will be on NBC17's "My Carolina Today" on May 10^th.  Until then, I'll be enjoying Lady Gaga's "The Fame," practicing to be a backup dancer and trying to convince myself that the album title describes me. (Footage of said backup-dancer practicing will not be available.)

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Related post: Anoop Desai and I go to Battle

"Anooooooooop!" was the chant everyone who watched last year's American Idol heard every week.  And until he was voted off the show, to the disappointment of many Tar Heels, Anoop Desai played the small-town-boy-makes-good card to a T.

But these days, a small-town boy he is not.  In many circles (especially Chapel Hill circles) Anoop Desai is practically Springsteen.  And judging by the screams around the agency after I told a few people he will be a guest star at this year's Triangle Corporate Battle of the Bands, I'm not sure Springsteen would have been as exciting.  (If you're a fan of The Boss, don't cry sacrilege--keep reading...)

Now, granted, the screams were mostly coming from our interns who attend UNC-Chapel Hill.  And let me tell you, if there's one thing Tar Heels know about, it's Anoop Desai.

"Oh, I talked to him last week.  I think he's traveling."  Or, "Oh Anoop, I saw him at He's Not Here on Franklin Street.  He's doing so great!" Or, "He's my neighbor's girlfriend's brother's friend from the Clef Hangers"

Yeah.  Everyone "knows" Anoop.

My favorites were the people who actually had an opinion of him who (my guess) have never actually met him: "He's not answering my emails.  I think he's let the fame go to his head."

I was a little skeptical about the upcoming call I had with him to discuss the details of his performance at the Battle.  I expected the worst:  I'm going to need my own dressing room stocked with caviar, champagne and UNC-Chapel-Hill-branded memorabilia.  Please ensure 25 white doves fly out over the audience as I take the stage.  Also, I want to be referred to only as Mr. Desai.  Or AnoopDog.

Luckily, this version of Anoop Desai was not available for our phone call.  News to the mass of people "know" Anoop and are mad because he's turned into a "diva":  Homeboy is mad cool.  He is a small-town boy who made good.  But I'm thinking he hasn't left the small town too far behind.  His head may be in Hollywood (as it should be), but his heart is right here at home.

Come see Anoop's non-diva-like behavior at the Triangle Corporate Battle of the Bands at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham on May 15.  Doors open at 7:30 p.m.  For tickets and more information, visit http://trianglebattle.com.

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Related post: What's it like to be on NBC with Anoop Desai?

Remember comment cards? You know — those lined pieces of cardstock set next to a locked container with a narrow opening like an old-fashioned ballot box. Oddly, even with the instant bad-experience-sharing capacity of Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, few companies now offer customers more than a “Contact Us” link on their websites. Starbucks is one exception. On public radio’s The Story a few weeks ago, Dick Gordon interviewed a woman who has been filling out Starbucks comment cards every day for more than five years. Her coffee-related commentary evolved into relational reflections, musings on societal conundrums, even her plans for the future. Starbucks rarely replied, and only once did they forgo a form letter to address her remarks specifically.

Sherwin-Williams’ eagerness to relate to their customers is expressed in their tagline: “Ask Sherwin-Williams.” In June, I’m moving down the street and have been digitally painting my future living and dining rooms with the Sherwin-Williams Color Visualizer; Rock Bottom (#7062), Rookwood Red (#2802) and Garden Gate (#6167) are my latest favorites. And when I go to Sherwin-Williams later this summer to buy the paint, I’ll bring a few questions to ask, too, just like they say I should. For example, should I ignore my landlord’s request to NOT fill nail holes? How do you remove spilled paint from a wood floor? Also, can I come back with my dog Otis to find a color that matches him?

Then I got to thinking, what else can I ask Sherwin-Williams? For years I’ve been mulling over a variety of mysteries — maybe this is my chance to get some answers. For example, why are women still having to shave their legs with razors made only wide enough for the lower half of a man’s face? What makes someone, regardless how comely or homely, photogenic? Why do awesome things happen to sons of bitches? Also, if to live in the moment, to experience the present entirely, we must become no longer conscious of ourselves (we must let go of our self-consciousness), how do we recall having been fully present? What’s the biological basis for sentience? And finally, what dogs were let out and why must we know who did it?

Like the Starbucks comment-card writer, I may exploit the company’s invitation to interact with the brand. Still. They say, “Ask Sherwin-Williams.” And I just may — right after I buy a quart of Garden Gate.

If you’re a nail biter, go for it. Just don’t leave your “bread crumbs” near someone else’s desk.

Working for McKinney is stressful.  Work, period, is stressful.  This really set in after an eye-opening meeting with my first boss at McKinney.  I told her I was about to break.  The pace--it was just too much.  "I come in, and I start working, and I just don't stop.  It's just nonstop," I pouted.  I thought coming in early, skipping lunch breaks, and leaving late was just unheard of. 

"That's McKinney," she said.  No follow-up.  No smile or twinkle in the eye to say, That's McKinney, but not really... You're one of a kind, and working through all that stress and pressure is what makes you stand out, Joel.  Here's a raise.

But that just wasn't the case.  Now, workplace stress, especially a workplace like McKinney, may lead to a stress-induced bad habit (or two).  Smoking, grinding of the teeth, nail biting.  Arguably, smoking is the most objectively "disgusting."  But since I smoke, I will move on to gross-stress-induced habit #3.

Wikipedia says (proof of this blog post's literary substance), "Onychophagia or nail biting is a common oral compulsive habit in children and adults, affecting around 30% of children between 7 to 10 years and 45% of teenagers."  But, of course, there are no stats for adult nail biting on Wikipedia.  And no, I'm not researching for that info because I've already seen enough pictures of stubby, nail-bitten digits for one afternoon.

Nail biting, a habit that we know exists beyond childhood, may be turning into an epidemic at McKinney.  No, I haven't seen an excessive amount of nibbled fingertips in meetings recently.  However, I did spot a stray, bitten off nail near my desk and then another on the "smokers' balcony" the next day.

Now, is this gross?  Yes.  Am I bothered?  Not really.  If McKinneyites are stressed to the point of biting a nail or two, it means people around here are working.  Really working.  People are coming in early, skipping lunch breaks, and leaving late.  So what if they chew off a nail out of stress (or hunger if they really are skipping those lunches); all I know is that I've wanted to bite off  more than a fingernail when I am at the top of my stress threshold.  And if "That's McKinney," a fingernail on the ground suddenly becomes a little less gross.

I first met The Travelocity Roaming Gnome in print and online ads while preparing for my first interview in the advertising industry with McKinney. You see, I haven't had a TV for 10 years, so I had not heard the Gnome's voice-that enthusiastic, almost juvenile squawk. And our eyes had locked only briefly through a banner ad or a newspaper insert. But that was eight months ago. Now I see Mr. Gnome every day.

McKinneyites' pride and affection for the little man in the blue coat, black boots and red hat are evident in his presence around the office. He's on bookshelves, desks, floors, coffee mugs and computer monitors.

He's hanging in a string of lights and blown up on a plastic bag.

I cannot get a cup of coffee or use the restroom without meeting his steadfast gaze.

But the Gnome's pensive look camouflages an adventurous, social spirit. Even with his hands perpetually in blue pockets, he embraces new cultures, sports and cuisines. He has danced in a grass skirt, jumped off a cliff and been submerged in crushed ice on a seafood buffet. Having been dragged behind a horse and to the marriage altar, the Gnome inspires others to get out and do what there is to get out and do.

The sound of his voice, though not often heard, carries a raspy falsetto tone and a peculiar European accent. To my ears it rings metropolitan, which is unusual for someone who originated in a garden and who, like me, appreciates the outdoors. However, the Gnome is also technologically savvy, spending much of his time lately on Chatroulette. My TV-less life is hardly unplugged, so I value this online acumen.

I also dig his look: few modern men accessorize as tastefully as the Gnome, who always dons a hat and belts his coat. And though some women dislike oodles of facial hair, I find the Gnome's clean, white beard dashing. He keeps it nicely trimmed, never allowing it to fall below his gold belt buckle.

So. If you haven't already guessed, I have a little crush on the Gnome. It is my burden to bear - spending hours every week around a man attached physically to a mound and matrimonially to a Playboy Bunny. However, the perks of working at McKinney far offset this emotional weight I carry. For now.

(Mr. Gnome, if the Bunny doesn't pan out, let me know.)

TOMS Shoes encouraged the world to go one day without shoes. The TOMS brand was founded on the premise that with every pair of their shoes you purchase, they give a pair to a child in need, one for one. Here at McKinney, we like what that brand stands for and the good it does for children in need. 

On April 8, McKinney participated in TOMS One Day Without Shoes. McKinney is composed of caring and passionate people - and we weren't afraid to ask them to bare their feet in the workplace. A few brave employees even decorated their feet for the cause with markers, paint, glitter and all kinds of creative décor.

Looking around the office that day, you'd see meetings, conversations over coffee and even our president and partners working away at their desks - baring their feet, heart and soles. All in all, we had 40-50 McKinneyites who bared their feet for the cause. 

At Pub Thursday, our judge, Cameron, determined who had the best-decorated feet. Karen Farmer and Andy Ives were winners; their prize was a pair of TOMS Shoes, which means that two children in need are receiving their own shoes as well, and that's pretty cool. 

All of this is thanks to the passionate, dedicated and daring McKinney folk who decided to go barefoot for a good cause. The purpose of the day was to appreciate all we have by experiencing what it is like to go without. All those who participated would agree that we not only appreciated our shoes by the end of the day, but also the family and support we have here at McKinney. What an awesome cause to pull together around.