Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

Goodbye DISQUS, Hello WordPress

Old FriendsSo it wasn’t that long ago I mentioned I was moving my comments system to DISQUS.

The fact that the system was being used on more blogs, and also had social media integration with its Reactions feature that pulled stats from anywhere else your blog was being discussed, seemed pretty cool.

Yet, lately, DISQUS seems to have had some continued issues.

One is that the Reactions (the comments from Twitter, Digg, etc, that show up as trackbacks) seem to be stop-start as to whether they show or not. Another issue (and far more serious) is that DISQUS doesn’t seem to be set up for commenting when viewing a blog on a mobile or smartphone.

At first, I thought it may just be me, but then Ari Herzog pointed it out as well. Considering that more people use their smartphones for browsing now, this is a bit of an issue.

So, time to swap back to the good old WordPress standard comments option. I can also switch CommentLuv back on, which for community is one of the best WordPress plug-ins ever (CommentLuv shows your last blog post and is great for finding new bloggers).

I will say this for DISQUS – their customer support is usually pretty top-notch. If they can get the mobile aspect sorted, and also stabilize the features like Reactions (which means stopping the unrelated porn links that can appear), I’d be more than happy to try again.

In the meantime, I kinda like the new stripped down approach. How about you?

Creative Commons License photo credit: David Reece

How to Sell Social Media – Twitter

One of the questions I’m most asked is how do you sell social media to your boss or client. Sure, we’re in the space and can see the numerous benefits, but how does that transfer to a wary client?

A lot of that comes down to your belief in how social can work for businesses, and how you relate your client or boss’s needs into their social media equivalent. It’s not always easy, but it’s not rocket science either.

With that in mind, here’s the first in a series of presentations on how you can relate certain social media benefits to a business need. This time around it’s Twitter.? I hope you find it useful, and feel free to share with your friends, download, use on your own blog, etc. And if there’s anything you’d add to the presentation, drop it in the comments section below.

How To Sell Social Media To Your Client Or Boss

View more presentations from Danny Brown.

Never Mind the P, Just Get the Relations Part Right

There have been a lot of new definitions and suggestions coming to the fore over the last 12-18 months about what PR stands for. The traditional version is Public Relations, and has been since as long as anyone can remember.

However, solid PR folks like David Mullen suggest it should be People Relations, as does online marketer and social media guy Ari Herzog in a post from earlier this year. Often it’s called Press Relations or Print Relations. I had a little look at the topic last year and there are plenty more views out there.

But you know what?

Who really cares? Let’s take the emphasis off the P, and concentrate on what’s left – the R, or relations, because this is surely the one constant out of all the PR acronyms. For, without relations (and the conversations that spring from these relations), is there any point left to any of the P, whether it’s public, press, people or similar?

S. Neil Vineberg, President of Vineberg Communications, offers his take in a series of excellent little video snippets. What’s yours?

Friday Five

5Last week I introduced you to Friday Five and how I was looking to offer a diversion into the weekend. So, without further ado, here are five random offerings for you. Cheers guys, have a great weekend!

  1. Blogger Corner. One of the blogs that has been springing up on my radar recently is that of Jackie Adkins. In the words of Jackie himself, it’s “a street corner where you can… talk about marketing, the business world, social media and life in general.”?Jackie’s not afraid to call out BS when he sees it either, and for that (as well as his easy style) he gets my vote.
  2. Screen-o-Rama. Okay, so I’m not a teenage girl. And I’m not a huge romance fan, either. But, I will admit to being sucker-punched by the Twilight saga. This weekend sees the second movie in the series, New Moon, hit the screens. I’ll be there, if only to cringe at how I’m probably twice the age of the rest of the audience. You going too?
  3. Making the News. There’s an old edict that journalists are meant to break news, not make it. This week, that came to the fore as a storm erupted around Kurt Greenbaum and his actions regarding a comment troll. A reminder that if you’re in the public view, in any form, you’re putting yourself in the front line when it comes to how you present yourself and the actions you take.
  4. Wine-a-Licious. Although I’m not up to the expertise of the lovely?Rachel Kay, I do enjoy a good wine over the weekend, and one I found recently was Allegrini (2004) Palazza della Torre. If you’re looking for something to ease you through a Saturday night, and not have a hangover in the morning because you drank the second one as well, this is it.
  5. Video Manana. I love ice hockey (and yes, I call it ice hockey because I’m from the UK where hockey is played on grass, with no pads, and girls battering your shins with their sticks). I love the skill, the speed, and most of all the hits. I’m just guessing this player won’t want to remember this hit in a hurry…

Creative Commons License photo credit: svenwerk