Happy New Year and Happy New Decade!!!

Happy New Year!

Reality TV Travel Adventure - Casting Call for Video Submissions - Journey of a Lifetime

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:


Screaming Flea Productions, Inc. and Stamp-It Productions, Inc.

Enter agreement to produce Pilot Episode for http://www.journeyofalifetime.com/

“The proven Production capacity of an industry leader, Screaming Flea Productions, teamed with a visionary reality TV travel adventure show concept positions this to be a breakout show for 2012.”

Del Mar, California, 2010 - It is with great excitement that Stamp-It Productions, Inc. (http://www.JourneyofaLifetime.com), a Premier Young Adult Reality TV Travel Adventure Show, has entered into an Agreement with Screaming Flea Productions from Seattle regarding the selection of user-submitted videos to be reviewed, judged and a finalist selected as the Pilot Episode for the show.



Are you looking to experience your own Journey of a Lifetime? If you are, and you’re prepared to share it with a broad audience through our new reality TV travel entertainment series, then we want to hear your story. Submit your contestant application and prepare to be whisked away by the Journey of a Lifetime team and be taken on your dream trip.



Screaming Flea and Stamp-It both know how hard it is to become a bona-fide international traveler. That's why they’ve teamed up in making it a little bit easier for the i-Generation to travel the globe. This partnership has announced today that they are holding an on-line contest to find the most compelling stories from young adults around the globe. To enter, contestants just have to register at http://www.JourneyofaLifetime.com, create a short video clip that shows why their “Journey of a Lifetime” deserves to be the selected contestant winner, and upload it at http://www.JourneyofaLifetime.com.



Like many reality TV shows, this contest will rely in part on the voting public to help choose the winner. Anyone who wants to participate can view the contestants' video clips and vote for their favorites online at http://www.JourneyOfALifetime.com. The top twelve highest ranked entrants may be named finalists, subject to review by the Casting Committee, and given a chance to win their own “Journey of a Lifetime.”



Unlike hit TV shows Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Amazing Race and American Idol, which focus on contestants that have one particular issue or kind of talent, Journey Of A Lifetime encourages a much broader range of applicants. Aspiring international travelers can submit a video of themselves explaining why their story deserves to become a winner for Journey of a Lifetime.



The CEO of Stamp-It Productions, Kendell Lang, believes the timing couldn’t be better. “This is an incredible story of young adults coming together to impact their peers and positively influence their culture. I am proud to help them implement their vision and let other young adults know that there is much more to travel than just MTV’s Spring Break or Girls Gone Wild. These are passionate and caring young adults who have a heart to share some of life’s blessings which they’ve experienced by giving back.”



Matt Chan, CEO of Screaming Flea, asks the questions, “How has travel impacted your life? What is unique about your story that would be compelling to our audience? What is that special emotional connection that this Journey of a Lifetime represents for you?”



About Screaming Flea Productions, Inc.

Seattle based Screaming Flea Productions has been producing network television for over a decade and has built a national reputation by producing creative, innovative, and original productions across all genres.

Screaming Flea Productions is one of the country’s leading producers of non-fiction television. Their clients span over fifteen different networks, both domestic and international. www.sfpseattle.com



Screaming Flea produced the current reality TV hit, HOARDERS, which has 40 episodes and a third season currently being broadcast on A&E Networks. A&E states that Hoarder’s is, “the network’s best ever season opener for any original A&E series among adults 18-49 and 25-54.” Compulsive Hoarding is a serious mental disorder affecting millions of Americans, their friends and families. Like eating disorders or alcoholism, hoarding afflicts the rich, the poor, the young, the old, doctors, stay at home moms, and computer nerds.



About Stamp-It Productions, Inc.

Stamp-It Productions is a new media entertainment company that captures the cultural change of young adults seeking purpose in their life by producing compelling travel entertainment leading to self-discovery delivered via digital media like iPod, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter; the social networking websites that our target audience uses to receive its content. Stamp-It Productions, Inc. is a young adult travel entertainment organization that encourages social interaction through the production and peer sharing of unique travel experiences. We are a Community Content Production Company focused on delivering high-quality travel content for television, DVD, broadband, web and wireless delivery. Our flagship product is the new reality TV show called Journey of a Lifetime.



For more information about becoming a BECOMING A CONTESTANT visit http://www.JourneyofaLifetime.com or to schedule a video casting call with Kendell Lang, please contact by email at Kendell.Lang@journeyofalifetime.com or by phone at (866) 347-3321.



“Do you have a dream that has become the backdrop of your imagination? A place that is calling to you? When you close your eyes and envision yourself "anywhere else but here," where is that anywhere else? Can you hear the people; what language are they speaking? Can you smell the air; what is that savory sensation? Can you feel the sun, the wind, the rain; how does it caress your skin? Can you see your dream of travel; can you see it come true? Can you see yourself in that dream; how has it changed you; how has it nourished you; how has it enlightened you; how has it become part of your soul? Journey of a Lifetime is about answering those questions and allowing the audience to really see how travel can impact lives. Journey of a Lifetime (http://www.JourneyofaLifetime.com) is your next reality TV travel adventure.”



###########

A Short History of Thanksgiving

A friend of mine wrote an email to me with the following, thanks Mike:

The Mayflower set sail from England on September 6, 1620,
Captained by Christopher Jones. Originally destined for the mouth
of the Hudson River, to join the English Jamestown Settlement in
Virginia, it landed instead in Provincetown, on Cape Cod,
Massachusetts due to harsh winter storms around the southern tip
of Cape Cod, 66 days later. 102 passengers set sail on that
voyage,
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_passengers_on_the_Mayflower)
two people died and one child was born en route. The majority of
the passengers (37) were members of a partisan religious group,
the Leiden Congregation, who were being actively sought out and
persecuted in England for daring to disagree with the Church of
England on some of its tenants. They fled England to Amsterdam in
1607 and eventually to Leiden, Holland, in search of religious
freedom. The members of the Leiden Congregation were referred to
as "Saints", and the others as "Strangers". The Strangers were
likely members of the Church of England, but wanted to "purify"
the Church of its "worldliness and corruption" and hence were
identified as "Puritans". Others aboard included those looking
for economic gains, some hired by English businesses to set up new
outposts and claims, some family servants and 5 men hired to stay
one year. To establish legal order and to quell increasing strife
within the ranks, the settlers wrote and signed the Mayflower
Compact.

Arriving in winter on Cape Cod, food stores depleted, the
passengers and crew sent out parties to find food. They found
food stores (mostly corn) buried in mounds by the local Indian
tribe, the Nausets. Finding food in these strange buried mounds,
they inadvertently desecrated some sacred burial mounds of the
Nausets, which led to "an encounter" at First Encounter Beach,
Plymouth. Governor William Bradford later writes in "History of
Plymouth Plantation", "only enough corn was taken to survive,
paying the locals back in six months, which they gladly received".
The passengers and crew remained on the Mayflower throughout the
winter. In March of 1621, the settlers departed the ship, only to
have an "astonishing visit" from an Abenaki Indian who spoke
English! He returned several days later with another Indian,
Squanto, a member of the Pawtuxet tribe, who had been kidnapped by
an English sea captain, sold into slavery, escaped to London and
later returned to his native land. Only 53 passengers survived
that first winter, the rest dying of scurvy, pneumonia and
tuberculosis.

The survivors built shelter and homes and begin to plant crops in
the spring, as was their English custom. Squanto taught the
weakened settlers how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple
trees, avoid poisonous plants and fish the local streams. He also
helped them forge an alliance with the local Wampanoag tribe.
After the harvest, in the autumn of 1621, the settlers had a
celebration as was their English custom, which they called
Thanksgiving. They sent hunters out to collect game for the
feast, called "fowlers". Finding significant waterfowl, they
returned with enough fowl to feed the entire settlement for a
week. They also found large numbers of wild turkey which they
also hunted and brought to the feast. The fledgling colony also
invited its native allies with whom they had forged a bond, the
Wampanoag tribe. The King of the Wampanoag tribe, King
Massasoy(i)t, and 90 of his people joined the settlers in their
feast, and bestowed five slain deer upon the Captain and Governor
of the settlement. The second celebration of Thanksgiving was not
until the autumn of 1623, after a "Providential rainfall"
following a year of drought, and was proclaimed a "Religious
Celebration" by Governor Bradford. But the settlers were not yet
referred to as "Pilgrims".

In 1840, someone likely resurrecting the original phrase of
William Bradford, describing the "Saints" that had left Leiden for
the New World as "Pilgrims", who had quoted Hebrews 11:13-16 of
the Old Testament: "These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seem them afar off, and were persuaded of
them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth..."

George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by
the national government of the United States. In it, he called
upon Americans to express their gratitude to God for the happy
conclusion to the country's war of independence and the successful
ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Some Presidents thereafter
proclaimed Thanksgivings and others did not. In 1827, a noted
editor and prolific writer of the time, Sarah Josepha Hale, author
of "Mary had a little lamb", began a campaign to establish
Thanksgiving as a national holiday. President Abraham Lincoln
proclaimed the final Thursday in November to be a national
holiday, a day of Thanksgiving in 1863. In it, he entreated all
Americans to: "ask God to commend to His tender care, all those
who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the
lamentable civil strife, and to heal the wounds of the nation".
It remained that day until 1839 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt
moved it up a week, to spur retail sales during the Great
Depression. It became known then as "Franksgiving", and due to
significant opposition, Roosevelt finally acquiesced, reluctantly
signing a Bill marking the fourth Thursday of November the
official day of Thanksgiving, in 1941.

Nearly 90% of American households serve turkey on Thanksgiving.
Parades have also become an integral part of Thanksgiving, since
1924, starting with New York based Macy's department store.
Beginning in the mid 20th century, and possibly before, the
President has "pardoned" one or two turkeys a year, sparing their
harvesting and sending them to a retirement farm. This year,
Obama pardoned four turkeys, none of whom was Rod Blagojevich. In
stately and (ambiguously) religious form, President Obama said:
"This is not the hardest Thanksgiving America has ever faced. But
as long as many members of our American family (sic) are hurting,
we've got to look out for one another". "And as long as many of
our friends and neighbors are looking for work, we've got to do
everything we can to accelerate this recovery and keep our economy
moving forward". A truly inspirational "God bless America".

Quantitative Easing Part 2 - Printing Money is NOT THE SOLUTION!

This gives you a very clear picture of what the FED is trying to do with a less than cleverly disguised printing of money called QE2, or Quantitative Easing. See if this makes any sense to you:



Here's another one for you:

Social Media Marketing and Social Media Broadcasting Roast Video

There has been so much mis-information about the appropriate use of Social Media that it's no wonder you get a hilarious clip like this making fun of social media networking.

One Night In Bangkok - Social Media Marketing Worldview

So after a grueling (but cheap) flight from San Diego, I arrived in Bangkok. It was 1am, so I went straight to the Banyan Tree Bangkok hotel where I am staying. It is located in the central business and embassy district on South Sathon Road, and is about a 40 minutes' drive from Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Can't go anywhere without a desk at which to work! :)

the sitting area

the living room, sitting area

the give you this incredibly frangrant jasmine wrist floral upon arriving, gives the room a great fragrance!

Man was this bed a welcome sight for sore eyes after 30 hours of travel!

View from the room (left)

View from the room, center

View from the room, right

View from the room 57 stories up, you can see the shadow of my building going across the street

The coming destruction of the dollar - why George Soros really is a spooky dude

Whether you love him or hate him, the reality is that Glenn Beck does his homework. And the homework he has done on George Soros is truly frightening. To see the documented participation this "Sith lord" has had in the destruction of four (4)[...yes, that's right, 4!!!] world currencies, is a harbinger of what's coming for the U.S. dollar.

Dismiss this research as conspiracy theory at your own peril...you have been warned and I only reiterate to "do your own research...know why you believe what you believe" not because someone else tells you so.

I didn't fully understand why Glenn was using a Star Wars reference when talking about George Soros, but then I did a little research on my own. Turns out that "Sith Lord" was a title that was conferred on a powerful master of Sith knowledge. Before Darth Bane established the Rule of Two, The Brotherhood of Darkness made all force-sensitive members Sith after training them, to make the members believe themselves to be equal. (hhmmm...everyone equal, redistribution of wealth...heard that before) This strategy was created to prevent the Sith from killing each other, which is the natural order of the dark side of the force, thus violating the natural order. Bane saw this and cleansed the order by killing all of the order and created the Rule of Two; two Sith, one master to embody the power and one to crave it.

If you understand that the current path we're on all starts with George Soros. Once you know George Soros, you really don't need to go much further and the Star Wars analogy to the Sith Order makes total sense. George Soros is the guy who started Center For American Progress. Center For American Progress is the group funded by George Soros that selected John Podesta, and John Podesta selected the Obama Administration and the current White House team. This is where Van Jones went back, to the Center For American Progress. Just do a little reading on the research Glenn has put together on George Soros and his investment in Petrobras.

Read more at GlennBeck.com

To be fair, you also need to read the left perspective and how they respond to Glenn Beck. Read this story called "Progressive Hunter" to understand more about the opposition to Glenn Beck.

In an incredibly insightful piece laid out below, Ton Coumans lays a well constructed argument that supports the possibility of the coming destruction of the dollar. Instead of denying that this could even be a possibility, that just gives power to those who don't want you asking the right questions or being prepared for what they've already put in motion. The right questions are more like, "what does someone like George Soros have to gain by the destruction of the dollar?" or "what is it that the Obama Administration really believes they are accomplishing?" When you start thinking like the people in power (who could care less about the Constitution and America), then you reframe the questions and the answers (previously unthinkable to you and I) beging to make sense.

Author Dinesh D’Souza has a new book out entitled The Roots of Obama’s Rage. In brief, the book is about Barack Obama’s youth and formative experiences that ideologically made him the man he is today. Obama has been the most successful Leftist since President Lyndon Johnson, and maybe FDR, in pushing a radical agenda of socialist encroachment on the American way of life. Instead of denying the reality of what is happening all around us, if you start to ask the question, "what does he believe he's accomplishing with all this?" then you start to get to a frame of reference where from Obama's perspective everything has a purpose. Obama definitely rejects the American dream and the American way of life, but that statement doesn't make sense to Patriotic Americans unless you try and understand why that is the case. Obama has done little or nothing to advance a color-blind society, but rather seems obsessed on some level with skin color and is fanning the flames of racism instead of contributing to solutions. If you understand WHY Obama needs this controversy to continue, then you begin to understand why all these pieces are starting to make sense - only from his perspective.

1914 All Over Again?
By Ton Coumans

I am not one for art, statues or monuments. Most of these objects fail to touch me but every now and then I bump into something that sticks in my mind. Last summer I was drawn to the monument in the picture below, which stands on a square in Nevers - a beautiful city on the river Loire in France. I spent quite a long time studying it and I eventually took some pictures that, for some reason, I regularly review at home.

You will have recognized that this is a monument commemorating the tribulations of the First World War. There is a lot of symbolism in the statue but it is the French soldier's sorrowful stare that won't let me go. What trauma has he lived through? France eventually battled its way to an armistice (not victory) in 1918 after having incurred 1.7 million dead (one in 28 of the population) and over 4 million wounded. Everyone will see something different, but for me this monument is whispering; my God, what have we done?

http://dailyreckoning.com/files/2010/10/DRUS10-16-10-1.jpg

The uncanny thing is that before the outbreak of World War I, most Europeans expected the future to provide an endless stream of good fortunes, to the point of being bored by the prospect. In fact many soldiers such as the one represented by the statue, just four years earlier, were swept up by the bizarre spirit of 1914 that took hold of the peoples of Europe.

The "Spirit of 1914" which seems to have infected the passions of most of the European populations is described as a reckless urge for adventurism under the flag of nationalism. Young men in all countries volunteered to leave their prosperous lives behind and take up a fight with their European neighbors. It is difficult to comprehend the spirit of 1914. All those men lusting for adventure and the glory of battle and no one was sensing danger.

There were only a handful of people, too few to sway the opinion, that realized what lay ahead. A useless and long-forgotten quote by one of them reads: "If the scientific nations of Europe were to wage war on one another they would be thoroughly sick of it before it was finished". That quote is by Sir Winston Churchill who at the time was 37 years old and First Lord of the Admiralty. He had seen the power of artillery and machine guns in the Sudan and the Boer War and repeatedly warned against armed conflict in Europe, to no avail.

Europe had been at peace for 40 years and the millions of men that charged off to battle had no way of being able to imagine what war would be like, until they found themselves mugged by reality and stuck in the horrors of trench warfare "In Flanders Fields". That was obviously not where they had wanted the free market to take them, as Bill Bonner might assess. Nemesis, the Goddess of divine retribution, had finally found a way to sink her teeth into Europe, having waited patiently in the background during the 40 years of the Belle Epoch.

The question now is, do we stand at a similar point in history where we expect the future to provide expanding, effortless wealth, and have we been swept up by the spirit of 2006; flipping houses and living high on mortgage equity withdraws and debt? Does Nemesis have a special surprise for us and what could that be? We are in a global de- leveraging process, which is painful, but is it, in itself, truly destructive? I contend that if we are to "fall deep" there will need to be some kind of major breakdown of cooperation or even "conflict amongst peoples" resulting in a major lose-lose event that sinks the physical economy. What could that be?

In the run up to WWI, an influential book was written by General Von Bernhardi titled Germany and the next War. The book manifests Germany's frustration and militancy. Von Bernhardi proclaims that, with her scientific and intellectual achievements, Germany should have a more prominent role in world affairs, more colonial trophies with access to petroleum reserves. Germany's GDP had passed that of Great Britain and France and they now wanted more respect. France and Great Britain were maneuvering as best they could to keep Germany (a perceived threat) out of the game. Bernhardi's book also argues that war was not only a justifiable means to achieve that goal but even an obligation of Germany's leadership.

And now in 2009 we witness the wide distribution of a book titled Unhappy China, which expresses China's frustrations with their current position. The similarity in tone is uncanny. China is on its way to become the second economy of the world, yet China is not "embraced" as a member of the G8 and has almost no influence in the IMF and World Bank. China is frustrated with the West's meddling in internal affairs and with the humiliation endured by the Olympic torch run that was, in their perception, disgraced by demonstrations.

All the maneuvering by the West now is to keep China out of the game and treat them as a potential threat. Does this have automatic conflict baked into it? All out "kinetic" war does not seem realistic and more something of the past century. We have since organized the UN Security Counsel to regulate conflicts involving the use of force. But do we have adequate global institutions for monetary policy? I judge that today every government and their symbiotic Central Bank feels they have the right and obligation to use monetary policy to the advantage of their own short-sighted wealth preservation and power games. Could the conflict of the twenty-first century revolve around currency wars? Should we rephrase Churchill's warning to state, "If the financially developed nations of the world were to wage a war of competitive currency devaluation on one another, they would be thoroughly sick of it before it was finished". Could competitive currency devaluation be the bear market surprise mechanism that pits countries and peoples against one another?

The First World War is remembered for the senseless slaughter of trench warfare. Will this period be remembered for disruptive impoverishment of currency warfare? It does seem to have the potential to breed distrust and breakdown cooperation between the nations. It also has a runaway nature since it invites tit for tat exchanges. It is inherently instable because the currency that moves first and fast could have the advantage. But does it have the destructive power to sink our global physical economy? Let's hope that some years from now we will not find ourselves sorrowfully staring at the horizon and whispering; my God, what have we done.

Regards,

Ton Coumans
for The Daily Reckoning

Uncle Sam Wants Your Money - I Want Your Money Documentary

This is so good...sad, but true :(



Set against the backdrop of today's headline - 67% of Americans don't approve of Obama's economic policies, the film takes a provocative look at our deeply depressed economy using the words and actions of Presidents Reagan and Obama and shows the marked contrast between Reaganomics and Obamanomics. The film contrasts two views of the role that the federal government should play in our daily lives using the words and actions of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Two versions of the American dream now stand in sharp contrast. One views the money you earned as yours and best allocated by you; the other believes that the elite in Washington know how to best allocate your wealth. One champions the traditional American dream, which has played out millions of times through generations of Americans, of improving one's lot in life and even daring to dream and build big. The other holds that there is no end to the "good" the government can do by taking and spending other peoples' money in an ever-burgeoning list of programs. The documentary film I Want Your Money exposes the high cost in lost freedom and in lost opportunity to support a Leviathan-like bureaucratic state.Documentary Ray Griggs Want Your Money Entertainment

Top 10 Social Media Marketing Tips

1. 
   Keyword Selection is Foundational: 
   Good content requires that you are strategically embedding high-quality
   keywords across your content.  What you think your keywords
   are is irrelevant.  Focus on what your customer uses to search for your
   products or services.  Ask yourself the question, “If I didn’t know my
   company or product name, how would my prospective clients describe my
   business/service/product in a Google search?”
   
   1. 
      GOAL:  Identify the top five
      (5) keywords which reflect how prospective clients describe your
      business.
   2. 
      RESOURCES: 
      
      
      http://www.goodkeywords.com can help you refine your keyword list.
      
      
      http://kendelllang.blogspot.com/search?q=keyword+selection gives
      more detail around developing your keyword list.
2. 
   Social Media Marketing CONTENT: 
   Content has been, currently is…and always will be KING!
   
   If you don’t like writing or don’t believe you have time to invest, get over
   it and realize that this is the single most important investment you’ll make
   towards achieving your marketing goals.  This is worth repeating…CONTENT is
   the single most important component to your base website, your SEO strategy
   and now your Social Media Optimization Strategy (SMO).  Focus on producing
   content which is fresh and unique every week.  If you can’t commit to
   producing new and updated content at least once a week, find someone who can
   do that for you.
   
   1. 
      GOAL:  Write a Press Release
      about an event or newsworthy story, incorporating your keywords above
      into the Title, the Summary Description, the Body and the About Us
      section.
   2. 
      TIP:  Make sure your “About
      Us” section includes a link to your website.
3. 
   Social Media Marketing Accounts: 
   Once you’ve identified your keywords and have written your killer CONTENT,
   now you’re ready to post that content out on social networking websites. 
   Since there are over 500 social networking websites, you’re going to have to
   decide where to invest your time and where you are going to want to post
   your content.  For immediate impact, we are providing two suggested social
   networking websites per major category, so pick three (3) sites and go
   create an account at each website:
   
   1. 
      Social Networking Category:
      

                                                               i.     


http://www.facebook.com

                                                             ii.     


http://www.bebo.com

2. 
   Social Bookmarking Category:

                                                               i.     


http://www.digg.com 

                                                             ii.     


http://www.stumbleupon.com 

3. 
   Social Blogging Category:

                                                               i.     


http://www.wordpress.com

                                                             ii.     


http://www.tumblr.com

4. 
   Social Video Sharing Category:

                                                               i.     


http://www.metacafe.com

                                                             ii.     


http://www.dailymotion.com

5. 
   Social Photo Sharing Category:

                                                               i.     


http://www.flickr.com

                                                             ii.     


http://www.photobucket.com

6. 
   Social Professional Networking Category:

                                                               i.     


http://www.linkedin.com

                                                             ii.     


http://www.naymz.com

7. 
   Social Press Release Category:

                                                               i.     


http://www.1888pressrelease.com

                                                             ii.     


http://www.free-press-release.com

4. 
   Post Your Content:  Now that you’ve
   selected your keywords, written your content and created your selected
   Social Network accounts, now you are ready to post your content.  Log in to
   each of the accounts you just created and follow the instructions for
   posting that content into each account.  Since you’ve written a Press
   Release, start by posting your press release to one of the Press Release
   sites.  After that, you can modify that content slightly and post it at one
   of the Blogging sites, and finally at your last account.
   
   1. 
      GOAL:  You want to be able to
      quickly and efficiently post your content to three (3) social network
      accounts you created in #3 above.
5. 
   Commit to Outbound Marketing:  As a
   business owner promoting your products or service, you should focus on
   pushing Content TO your social network accounts and writing content with a
   goal of pulling traffic FROM your social networks TO your base website.  
   You want to EDUCATE…INSPIRE…ENGAGE with whatever content you are posting. 
   Always remember to include a compelling “call to action.”  The goal is not
   to build traffic for social networks, but to benefit from their traffic and
   attract prospective clients to your website with compelling “calls to
   action.”
   
   1. 
      GOAL:  You want to publish
      relevant and interesting content that attracts potential clients to
      “click thru”
   2. 
      NOTE:   It is going to feel
      counter-intuitive, but you want to PUSH your content to social network
      websites with the goal of PULLING viewers to your website.
6. 
   Get Your Google Places:  You need to
   stake your claim to your physical address.  Search engines are heavily
   focusing on “Localized” search, so the more robust you make your Local
   profile, the better you will rank.  Enhance your listing
   with keyword-rich content targeting the top keyword phrases prospective
   consumers may use to find you.
   
   1. 
      GOAL:  go to
      
      http://www.google.com/places and register your business by location
   2. 
      RESOURCE: 
      
      http://www.worldclassid.com/page/google-local-maps provides a
      step-by-step guide for how to claim your Google Maps Listing.
7. 
   Get Referrals and Testimonials:  Your
   ranking in social networks or referral based social networking sites like
   Yelp, Foursquare, Groupon or Living Social will be greatly improved by
   having solid recommendations or testimonials.  The more “reviews” you have
   the higher you rank.
   
   1. 
      GOAL:  get three clients to
      write a recommendation and give you permission to post
8. 
   Claim Your Social Name:  Whether it
   is a trademarked name, your service name, a branded product as a keyword or
   your personal name, just like the domain name land rush…you are going to
   want to “claim your name” as a social account name.
   
   1. 
      GOAL:  You want to “preserve”
      your brand, so get your name reserved at as many social networks as you
      can.
   2. 
      RESOURCE:  
      
      www.WorldClassID.com has a comprehensive list of more than 500
      social networks, and it’s all FREE.
9. 
   It’s Not About Friends: 
   Here is where we depart from traditional marketing resources and we
   encourage our business clients to modify their perspective about social
   networks.  Contrary to popular opinion, we discourage personal involvement
   in social networks for business purposes.  It is one thing to make a choice
   to personally get involved in Facebook or other social communities.  It is
   entirely another matter if a dentist who gets paid to do patient procedures
   is spending 4 hours a day on Facebook thinking that somehow that is going to
   build his dental practice.
   
   1. 
      GOAL:  encourage active movement
      of prospective customers OFF the social networks and draw them TO your
      website.
10. 
    DO NOT Put Links On Your Website:  We
    have a focus on outbound message insertion into social networks with the
    sole goal of pulling traffic back to our client’s websites.  We do
    everything possible to DISCOURAGE the posting of links to any of your social
    networking websites.  All this does is drive traffic AWAY from your website,
    the exact opposite of your goal to draw traffic TO your website enabling
    them to buy or engage with you.

Friday is Constitution Day | Can You Amend The Constitution? Constitutional Restoration Act says YES!

On Sept. 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was signed. Friday is Constitution Day.

President Obama campaigned on "change." America is realizing that the "change" we're seeing isn't the change we asked for and what the liberal elitists on the left really mean by "change" is "socialism." Call a spade a spade and look at the results of what we've gotten in the last 18 months. Things which two years ago were unthinkable are now reality. The previously unspeakable is now blatantly put forward with everything except an, "I dare you to stop me" challenge.

Taxpayers are finally fed-up with career-politicians' and their unconstitutional programs. They have been eagerly willing to consider any proposed solution. A popular proposal is to limit congressional terms. But what this nominal solution doesn't address are the underlying fundamental breaches of Constitutional authority. These breaches are why we need an Article V Constitutional Convention.

Term limits would require an amendment to the Constitution. What self-serving congressman would vote for an amendment to boot himself out of office? The only other means of changing the Constitution is through an Article V Constitutional Convention (aka "Con-Con").

The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.

The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ratified by conventions in each U.S. state in the name of "The People". The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.

The Constitution holds a central place in United States law and political culture. The handwritten original document penned by Jacob Shallus is on display at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

The framers of the Constitution were aware that changes would be necessary if the Constitution was to endure as the nation grew. However, they were also conscious that such change should not be easy, lest it permit ill-conceived and hastily passed amendments. On the other hand, they also wanted to ensure that a rigid requirement of unanimity would not block action desired by the vast majority of the population. Their solution was a two-step process for proposing and ratifying new amendments.

Amending the Constitution is a two-part process: amendments must be proposed then ratified. Amendments can be proposed one of two ways. To date, all amendments, whether ratified or not, have been proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress. Over 10,000 constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789; during the last several decades, between 100 and 200 have been offered in a typical congressional year. Most of these ideas never leave Congressional committee, and far fewer get proposed by the Congress for ratification.

Alternatively, if two-thirds of the state legislatures demand one, Congress must call for a constitutional convention, which would have the power to propose amendments. As no such convention has been called, it is unclear how one would work in practice. In two instances—reapportionment in the 1960s and a balanced federal budget during the 1970s and 1980s—attempts to use this process have come extremely close to triggering a constitutional convention. The apportionment debate of the 1960s fell only one state short of the required number of states.

There has only been one legitimate Con-Con in our history. In 1787, the Articles of Confederation went into convention for amending. The delegates, having no limits to their latitude to impose "change," deleted and re-wrote the document. Fortunately, those delegates were God-fearing men who had just defeated the British at great personal sacrifice.

The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 (also known as the Federal Convention or the Constitutional Convention) was a landmark in American and world history. Both its handiwork, the Constitution of the United States, and its example of a people's representatives using reason and experience to decide how to govern themselves had profound influence on subsequent experiments in government.

The convention met in the State House (now called Independence Hall) in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Fifty-five delegates from twelve of the thirteen states (Rhode Island did not send delegates) took part in its deliberations.

Our present Constitution emerged by divine providence. America became a light on a hill, radiating strength, peace, prosperity, health, hope and countless miraculous technological advances to an oppressed world.

Article V provides: If two-thirds of state legislatures (34) pass Con-Con resolutions, one must be called. Eminent constitutional-scholars, past and present, have warned that once a Con-Con is triggered, there is no limiting it to specific amendments or stopping it. The delegates will have complete authority to ignore proposed amendments and make whatever "changes" they will -- even to scrap and replace our Constitution. But I find that this is actually misinformation about the inability to limit a Con-Con which in fact can be tightly structured so as to not open a proverbial can of worms.

(You can view "Beware Article V" on YouTube, a video with warnings by supposed constitutional-scholars, all of which conveniently ignore what I've described above as the two-step process for the proposal and then subsequent ratification.)

There is an ill-concieved notion being perpetuated that "the people" will somehow be unable to define who will be the delegates and the implied threats completely undermine the brilliance of what was created to deal with the very issues we now face. Those opposed to a Con-Con would have you resist this Constitutional provision out of fear that the Liberal media, special interest groups, lobbyists for multi-national corporations, international banking interests, socialists of every stripe will covet the opportunity to remake our Constitution in their own image. They also will reference veiled threats to a supposed "waiting in the wings is The New States Constitution, drafted with the Soviet Constitution and the U.N. Charter as templates."

A group of people have finally come to the conclusion that a Constitutional Convention is needed to address the undermining of the United States Constitution. It specifically safeguards against deleting or changing the original Constitution, but adds an amendment which will clarify ambiguities which have arisen as a result of judicial activism and misinterpretation of the original intent of the Constitution. It is a fascinating document and with the high level of involvement in conservative issues through the Tea Party, truly conservative Republicans, Independents, and other concerned individuals – this may be the way to bring our Country back to the ideals with which it was founded. I am going to sign this and forward to my state attorney general. In order to be successful, this process will require hundreds of thousands of people to make their determined stand, act on the paperwork and proceed to get this underway while the hearts and consciences of the American people are stirred up.

Please print the information from the link below and mail it to your own state’s Attorney General. I understand that this is going to be heavily marketed and promoted, so don’t be surprised if there are political attacks against this idea. Common sense will prevail and stay radically focused on the facts.

In order to adequately defend your position, you have to know why you believe what you believe and be able to (peacefully) argue your position in a compelling and fact-base manner.

This gives us the opportunity to do something positive and it will help counteract the fear and frustration which many people have felt as they have watched the deep failures of our leaders over many decades of intentional disruption of our country’s Constitution, its laws, its culture, and its values. It is time to do what we can to Take Back America.

Constitutional Restoration Act

Can You Make A Constitutional Amendment? CALL TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE US THROUGH THE US CONSITUTIONAL CONVENTION III

Senator Harry Reid added the "DREAM" Act to the senate defense bill today. An unusual move, using the safety of our armed forces to forward an unwanted and purely politically motivated and partisan agenda. It is time to make a stand. I found this online and thought I would send it along so you could see an opportunity to make a difference. I signed it and will forward it to my state attorney general. Click the link below:

CALL TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE US THROUGH THE US CONSITUTIONAL CONVENTION III

http://www.usconstitutionalconventioniii.org/

The Truth About the Health Care Bill FACTS - What The Media Won't Tell You!

 

Myth 1: This is a universal health care bill.

Fact: The bill is neither universal health care nor
universal health insurance. According to the
Congressional Budget Office:

• Total uninsured in 2019 with no bill: 54 million
  
   
• Total uninsured in 2019 with Senate
  bill: 24 million
  
   

Myth 2: Insurance companies hate this bill.

Fact: This bill is almost identical to the plan
written by AHIP, the insurance company trade
association, in 2009.

The original Senate Finance Committee bill was authored
by a former Wellpoint vice president. Since Congress
released the first of its health care bills on October
30, 2009, health care stocks have risen 28.35%.

Myth 3: The bill will significantly bring
down insurance premiums for most Americans.

Fact: The bill will not bring down premiums
significantly, and certainly not the $2,500/year that
President Obama promised during his campaign.

Annual premiums in 2016: status quo / with
bill:

Small group market, single: $7,800 / $7,800

Small group market, family: $19,3oo / $19,200

Large Group market, single: $7,400 / $7,300

Large group market, family: $21,100 / $21,300

Individual market, single: $5,500 / $5,800

Individual market, family: $13,100 / $15,200

(The cost of premiums in the individual market goes
up somewhat due to subsidies and mandates of better
coverage. The CBO assumes that cost of individual
policies goes down 7-10%, and that people will buy more
generous policies.)

Myth 4: The bill will make health care
affordable for middle class Americans.

Fact: The bill will impose a financial hardship on
middle class Americans who will be forced to buy a
product that they can't afford to use.

A family of four making $66,370 will be forced to pay
$5,243 per year for insurance. After basic necessities,
this leaves them with $8,307 in discretionary income --
out of which they would have to cover clothing, credit
card and other debt, child care and education costs, in
addition to $5,882 in annual out-of-pocket medical
expenses for which families will be responsible.

Myth 5: This plan is similar to the
Massachusetts plan, which makes health care affordable.

Fact: Many Massachusetts residents forgo health care
because they can't afford it. A 2009 study by the state
of Massachusetts found that:

• 21% of residents forgo medical treatment because they
  can't afford it, including 12% of children
  
   
• 18% have health insurance but can't
  afford to use it
  
   

Myth 6: This bill provides health care to 31
million people who are currently uninsured.

Fact: This bill will mandate that millions of people
who are currently uninsured purchase insurance from
private companies, or the IRS will collect up to 2% of
their annual income in penalties. Some will be assisted
with government subsidies.

Myth 7: You can keep the insurance you have
if you like it.

Fact: The excise tax will result in employers
switching to plans with higher co-pays and fewer covered
services.

Older, less healthy employees with employer-based health
care will be forced to pay much more in out-of-pocket
expenses than they do now.

Myth 8: The "excise tax" will encourage
employers to reduce the scope of health care benefits,
and they will pass the savings on to employees in the
form of higher wages.

Fact: There is insufficient evidence that employers
pass savings from reduced benefits on to employees.

Myth 9: This bill employs nearly every cost
control idea available to bring down costs.

Fact: This bill does not bring down costs and leaves
out nearly every key cost control measure, including:

• Public Option ($25-$110 billion)
  
   
• Medicare buy-in
  
   
• Drug re-importation ($19 billion)
  
   
• Medicare drug price negotiation ($300 billion)
  
   
• Shorter pathway to generic
  biologics ($71 billion)
  
   

Myth 10: The bill will require big companies
like Wal-Mart to provide insurance for their employees.

Fact: The bill was written so that most Wal-Mart
employees will qualify for subsidies, and taxpayers will
pick up a large portion of the cost of their coverage.



Myth 11: The bill "bends the cost curve" on health care.

Fact: "Bends the cost curve" is a misleading and
trivial claim, as the U.S. would still spend far more
for care than other advanced countries.

• In 2009, health care costs were 17.3% of GDP.
  
   
• Annual cost of health care in 2019, status quo:
  $4,670.6 billion (20.8% of GDP)
  
   
• Annual cost of health care in 2019,
  Senate bill: $4,693.5 billion (20.9% of GDP)
  
   

Myth 12: The bill will provide immediate access
to insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of
a pre-existing condition.

Fact: Access to the "high risk pool" is limited and
the pool is underfunded. Only those who have been
uninsured for more than six months will qualify for the
high-risk pool. Only 0.7% of those without insurance now
will get coverage, and the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services report estimates it will run out of
funding by 2011 or 2012.

Myth 13: The bill prohibits dropping people
in individual plans from coverage when they get sick.

Fact: The bill does not empower a regulatory body to
keep people from being dropped when they're sick. There
are already many states that have laws on the books
prohibiting people from being dropped when they're sick,
but without an enforcement mechanism, there is little to
hold the insurance companies in check.

Myth 14: The bill ensures consumers have
access to an effective internal and external appeals
process to challenge new insurance plan decisions.

Fact: The "internal appeals process" is in the hands
of the insurance companies themselves, and the
"external" one is up to each state.

Ensuring that consumers have access to "internal
appeals" simply means the insurance companies have to
review their own decisions. And it is the responsibility
of each state to provide an "external appeals process,"
as there is neither funding nor a regulatory mechanism
for enforcement at the federal level.

Myth 15: This bill will stop insurance
companies from hiking rates 30%-40% per year.

Fact: This bill does not limit insurance company rate
hikes. Private insurers continue to be exempt from
anti-trust laws, and are free to raise rates without
fear of competition in many areas of the country.

Myth 16: When the bill passes, people will
begin receiving benefits under this bill immediately

Fact: Most provisions in this bill, such as an end to
the ban on pre-existing conditions for adults, do not
take effect until 2014.

Six months from the date of passage, children could
not be excluded from coverage due to pre-existing
conditions, though insurance companies could charge more
to cover them. Children would also be allowed to stay on
their parents' plans until age 26. There will be an
elimination of lifetime coverage limits, a high risk
pool for those who have been uninsured for more than 6
months, and community health centers will start
receiving money.

Myth 17: The bill creates a pathway for
single payer.

Fact: Bernie Sanders' provision in the Senate bill
does not start until 2017, and does not cover the
Department of Labor, so no, it doesn't create a pathway
for single payer.

Obama told Dennis Kucinich that the Ohio
Representative's amendment is similar to Bernie Sanders'
provision in the Senate bill, and creates a pathway to
single payer. Since the waiver does not start until
2017, and does not cover the Department of Labor, it is
nearly impossible to see how it gets around the ERISA
laws that stand in the way of any practical state single
payer system.



Myth 18: The bill will end medical bankruptcy and
provide all Americans with peace of mind.

Fact: Most people with medical bankruptcies already
have insurance, and out-of-pocket expenses will continue
to be a burden on the middle class.

• In 2009, 1.5 million Americans declared bankruptcy
  
   
• Of those, 62% were medically related
  
   
• Three-quarters of those had health insurance
  
   
• The Obama bill leaves 24 million without
  insurance
  
   
• The maximum yearly out-of-pocket limit for a
  family will be $11,900 (PDF) on top of premiums
  
   
• A family with serious medical
  problems that last for a few years could easily be
  financially crushed by medical costs
  
   

Real health care reform is needed. But this bill falls
short of that on many levels.

The Government's Violation of Your Fourth Amendment Rights by Tracking Your Every Move With GPS

By ADAM COHEN Adam Cohen – 1 hr 29 mins ago
Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway - and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements.

That is the bizarre - and scary - rule that now applies in California and eight other Western states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently decided the government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime it wants - with no need for a search warrant. (Read about one man's efforts to escape the surveillance state.)

It is a dangerous decision - one that, as the dissenting judges warned, could turn America into the sort of totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell. It is particularly offensive because the judges added insult to injury with some shocking class bias: the little personal privacy that still exists, the court suggested, should belong mainly to the rich.

This case began in 2007, when Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents decided to monitor Juan Pineda-Moreno, an Oregon resident who they suspected was growing marijuana. They snuck onto his property in the middle of the night and found his Jeep in his driveway, a few feet from his trailer home. Then they attached a GPS tracking device to the vehicle's underside.

After Pineda-Moreno challenged the DEA's actions, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled in January that it was all perfectly legal. More disturbingly, a larger group of judges on the circuit, who were subsequently asked to reconsider the ruling, decided this month to let it stand. (Pineda-Moreno has pleaded guilty conditionally to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and manufacturing marijuana while appealing the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained with the help of GPS.)

In fact, the government violated Pineda-Moreno's privacy rights in two different ways. For starters, the invasion of his driveway was wrong. The courts have long held that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their homes and in the "curtilage," a fancy legal term for the area around the home. The government's intrusion on property just a few feet away was clearly in this zone of privacy.

The judges veered into offensiveness when they explained why Pineda-Moreno's driveway was not private. It was open to strangers, they said, such as delivery people and neighborhood children, who could wander across it uninvited. (See the misadventures of the CIA.)

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who dissented from this month's decision refusing to reconsider the case, pointed out whose homes are not open to strangers: rich people's. The court's ruling, he said, means that people who protect their homes with electric gates, fences and security booths have a large protected zone of privacy around their homes. People who cannot afford such barriers have to put up with the government sneaking around at night.

Judge Kozinski is a leading conservative, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, but in his dissent he came across as a raging liberal. "There's been much talk about diversity on the bench, but there's one kind of diversity that doesn't exist," he wrote. "No truly poor people are appointed as federal judges, or as state judges for that matter." The judges in the majority, he charged, were guilty of "cultural elitism."

The court went on to make a second terrible decision about privacy: that once a GPS device has been planted, the government is free to use it to track people without getting a warrant. There is a major battle under way in the federal and state courts over this issue, and the stakes are high. After all, if government agents can track people with secretly planted GPS devices virtually anytime they want, without having to go to a court for a warrant, we are one step closer to a classic police state - with technology taking on the role of the KGB or the East German Stasi.

Fortunately, other courts are coming to a different conclusion from the Ninth Circuit's - including the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That court ruled, also this month, that tracking for an extended period of time with GPS is an invasion of privacy that requires a warrant. The issue is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.

In these highly partisan times, GPS monitoring is a subject that has both conservatives and liberals worried. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's pro-privacy ruling was unanimous - decided by judges appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Plenty of liberals have objected to this kind of spying, but it is the conservative Chief Judge Kozinski who has done so most passionately. "1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it's here at last," he lamented in his dissent. And invoking Orwell's totalitarian dystopia where privacy is essentially nonexistent, he warned: "Some day, soon, we may wake up and find we're living in Oceania."

Cohen, a lawyer, is a former TIME writer and a former member of the New York Times editorial board.

This Is Why There Are No Jobs in America

From Steve Sjuggerud's Daily Wealth - Editor's note: This week, the U.S. government released several key economic reports. To spare you the fine details, just know unemployment is getting worse. And one manufacturing report was so bad, some thought the key number was a misprint. These problems are so severe and so much in the public eye right now, that we're doing something unusual for our Saturday guest essay…

Our sister site, The Daily Crux, called this essay the "best rant of 2009." It's no surprise it's from our colleague Porter Stansberry. While it was written months ago, we believe this is far and away best insight you can possibly read on the unemployment situation in America.

This Is Why There Are No Jobs in America

By Porter Stansberry

Saturday, August 21, 2010

I'd like to make you a business offer.

Seriously. This is a real offer. In fact, you really can't turn me down, as you'll come to understand in a moment…

Here's the deal. You're going to start a business or expand the one you've got now. It doesn't really matter what you do or what you're going to do. I'll partner with you no matter what business you're in – as long as it's legal.

But I can't give you any capital – you have to come up with that on your own. I won't give you any labor – that's definitely up to you. What I will do, however, is demand you follow all sorts of rules about what products and services you can offer, how much (and how often) you pay your employees, and where and when you're allowed to operate your business. That's my role in the affair: to tell you what to do.

Now in return for my rules, I'm going to take roughly half of whatever you make in the business each year. Half seems fair, doesn't it? I think so. Of course, that's half of your profits.

You're also going to have to pay me about 12% of whatever you decide to pay your employees because you've got to cover my expenses for promulgating all of the rules about who you can employ, when, where, and how. Come on, you're my partner. It's only "fair."

Now… after you've put your hard-earned savings at risk to start this business, and after you've worked hard at it for a few decades (paying me my 50% or a bit more along the way each year), you might decide you'd like to cash out – to finally live the good life.

Whether or not this is "fair" – some people never can afford to retire – is a different argument. As your partner, I'm happy for you to sell whenever you'd like… because our agreement says, if you sell, you have to pay me an additional 20% of whatever the capitalized value of the business is at that time.

I know… I know… you put up all the original capital. You took all the risks. You put in all of the labor. That's all true. But I've done my part, too. I've collected 50% of the profits each year. And I've always come up with more rules for you to follow each year. Therefore, I deserve another, final 20% slice of the business.

Oh… and one more thing…

Even after you've sold the business and paid all of my fees… I'd recommend buying lots of life insurance. You see, even after you've been retired for years, when you die, you'll have to pay me 50% of whatever your estate is worth.

After all, I've got lots of partners and not all of them are as successful as you and your family. We don't think it's "fair" for your kids to have such a big advantage. But if you buy enough life insurance, you can finance this expense for your children.

All in all, if you're a very successful entrepreneur… if you're one of the rare, lucky, and hard-working people who can create a new company, employ lots of people, and satisfy the public… you'll end up paying me more than 75% of your income over your life. Thanks so much.

I'm sure you'll think my offer is reasonable and happily partner with me… but it doesn't really matter how you feel about it because if you ever try to stiff me – or cheat me on any of my fees or rules – I'll break down your door in the middle of the night, threaten you and your family with heavy, automatic weapons, and throw you in jail.

That's how civil society is supposed to work, right? This is Amerika, isn't it?

That's the offer Amerika gives its entrepreneurs. And the idiots in Washington wonder why there are no new jobs…

Regards,

Porter Stansberry

Social Media Marketing and Social Media Broadcasting via Puppetheads

This is way too funny!!!

Social Media Gaining Popularity with Corporate Travel Professionals

Press Release Source: American Express Business Travel On Wednesday July 21, 2010, 9:34 am EDT

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New research by American Express Business Travel found that corporate travel professionals are increasingly using social media to communicate with travelers and to stay on top of latest travel industry information. Respondents also reported high expectations regarding their companies’ future social media usage plan, reporting that within the next year forums, webcasts, and online video are the most likely to be implemented by businesses.

The latest research report “Social Media in Business Travel Management” by American Express Business Travel’s eXpert insights research practice outlines the evolution of social media tools and sites from consumer use to business-to-business use, and illustrates how social media supports managed business travel today. The research also includes survey results conducted in the beginning of 2010 to reveal how individuals as well as their companies are currently embracing social media technology and how they might use these tools to support managed travel in the future.

“As businesses around the globe alter the way they communicate and receive information from clients and prospects, social media has also proven to be a useful and effective tool to share pertinent information with employees and drive change in organizations,” said Christa Degnan Manning, director, eXpert insights, American Express Business Travel.

“Applying this research to the social networking platform we’ve launched, BusinessTravelConneXion, it is encouraging to see corporate travel departments becoming more comfortable with this form of collaboration,” said Alicia Tillman, vice president, corporate affairs and marketing services, American Express Business Travel. “We will continue to provide a free forum to share ideas, connect community members, and offer webcasts, videos and blogs to meet the demand for industry information and connection entrepreneurial travel category managers are looking for today.”

Social Media Finds a Role in Corporate Travel

Social media has evolved to play a role in business travel programs. While half (50%) of respondents said that they use social media to some extent to support travel management today, mid-size companies ($3M to $10M USD in air volume) were the largest adopters (59%) of social media to support business travel management to date.

Many respondents indicated that the primary benefit of social media in supporting managed travel is educating themselves or their organization about the market. In fact, 44 percent indicated that staying on top of the latest travel information was the most important social media benefit. This response was followed closely by the interest in using social networking to learn and communicate best practices and reduce business travel costs (43%). Other findings include:


42% use social networking to look for preferred vendors and services from travelers
34% seek to uncover travel patterns that could lend to better vendor rates and services
27% look to gain visibility into traditionally siloed business functions/departments
26% use social media tools to encourage travelers to network with each other
18% network with other travel manager/procurement officer peers

Customization and Oversight Desired For Expanded Social Media Use

Of those survey respondents who do use social media to support travel management, when asked specifically what features or functionality would they add if they could design their own social media tools for professional use, the majority (61%) indicated they wanted flexibility to accommodate business travel management processes. Other top ranking features/functionality include:


Real time updates such as mobile application, the ability to push out notifications and alerts (39%)
Supervision of the entire social media sharing process and specific monitoring of those who are using social media tools (35%)
Reporting ability – notification to website abuse, comments and security issues (29%)

Corporations Apprehensive About Implementing Social Media Tools

Even though the global economic crisis curbed spending, financing was not the main social networking adoption barrier. In fact, only six percent of respondents cited lack of funding as the most significant barrier or challenge to adopt social media tools.

The most significant barrier to adoption of social media as an organization has been the lack of direct benefits realization. Twenty percent found the business case for social media tools and usage within travel management programs unclear. Lack of strategy or understanding and lack of support from upper management each followed at 15 percent respectively.

Notably, only five percent of respondents indicated that they have had no barriers or challenges to adopt social media tools as an organization.

“While companies have a way to go to embrace widespread social media acceptance, they are very involved in evaluating how to use these new technologies rather than simply dismissing it particularly as younger generations enter the workforce and move up the corporate ladder,” continued Manning.

American Express Business Travel’s own www.businesstravelconneXion.com (btX) is an online community serving as the destination for travel professionals to become more informed about travel and expense programs by learning from peers and experts. Community members including travel buyers, suppliers, technology providers, industry experts and influencers, use btX to discuss perspectives, share best practices, build relationships and stay up to date on current research and industry news. The site has grown into a community with an approximate 8,500 user base where thousands of members have participated in online events such as webinars on how to recession proof travel programs, how to adapt to the “New Normal” of business travel, building a strategic meetings management program along with volcanic ash emergency tutorials. Regularly established bloggers from the industry have also prompted hundreds viewing the sites’ blog each month.

About American Express Business Travel

American Express Business Travel (www.americanexpress.com/businesstravel), a division of American Express Company, is committed to helping its clients maximize the return on their travel investment through increased cost savings, world-class customer service and greater spending control. With clients ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations, American Express Business Travel provides a combination of industry-leading technology, travel management consulting, strategic sourcing and supplier negotiation support, alongside global customer service available online and offline. The Company also provides a dynamic online community (www.businesstravelconneXion.com) harnessing the collective intelligence of those in the business travel industry offering a variety of perspectives, best practices, current research and industry news.

American Express operates one of the world’s largest travel agency networks with locations in over 140 countries worldwide. Total travel sales volume in 2009 was $21.5 billion, including proprietary volume, volume processed through joint ventures, and American Express branded volume processed through its partner network.

American Express Company is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.

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