Who would have thought that a virtual mug of beer could make you a millionaire?

Some basement developers have become just that, according to an article in Newseek.  It seems as though the newest rage in mobile has become more than profitable, with more than 300 million downloads of over 10,000 iPhone applications.

With Apple taking 30% of the cut of each application sale, that leaves a huge margin for developers and marketers alike.  With the ability to download and play with iPhone applications being (arguably) the most exciting use of the iPhone, a brand new channel for marketing has been created.

Whether looking to increase branding efforts by providing branded entertainment (think the Carling Virtual Pint) or provide a service (Shazam- I’ve never quite seen anything like this), the race has begun to get your iPhone application out there.

So what can we expect in 2009 when it comes to iPhone applications?  I’d predict that development and downloads will continue to increase, similar to how Facebook applications blew up with the release of the developer platform.

Digital marketers, progressive media buyers, and developers alike should be aware of the marketing and financial possibles that have been created through the iPhone.  Development of a top-notch application can have much smaller costs than most any other advertising campaign, and the best part is - it’s completely portable!

The biggest question is - can you beat your competitor to the punch?  Maybe we should start patenting iPhone app ideas as well!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead (1901-1978)

In our day-to-day lives many of us seldom stop to consider how lucky we really are - to have food on our tables, clothes on our bodies, and heat in our homes.  Every once in a while we’ll get a wake up call, a story about an impoverished child, a blog post on hunger or war in another country, and sometimes we witness it with our own eyes - a cold homeless teenager shivering on the street.

I’m sure that I’m not the only one that finds it easy to creep into my little bubble and keep blinders on from the unpleasant things around me.  Technology, in many ways has allowed us to disconnect from our fellow humans - we  text and email instead of calling, use Facebook to keep in touch with old friends.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been involved with a project called Daily Challenge, a new social network that connects people with small, easy to perform challenges with the intent to change the world.  If ten, one thousand, or even a million people took 2 minutes out of their day to do a small act of kindness for someone else - what would be the impact?!

In light of Blog Action Day and a worldwide discussion on Poverty, the folks at Daily Challenge have honored me as the “Celebrity Challenger” on their site today.  I’d like to challenge you to do the following:

• sign up at Daily Challenge and “Do One Good, Daily” by performing easy, small acts to benefit your friends, family, strangers, the world, and yourself.  Signing up is easy, and don’t forget to add me as a friend!

Do One Good Daily - Use Free Rice to End Poverty!

• Take part in my challenge: “Feed those living in poverty and have some fun at the same time: challenge two friends to a trivia play-off at Free Rice!“  (I’ll warn you - it’s addictive!)

I've donated 360 grains so far - can you beat me?

I’d love to hear how far you get with Free Rice, and your thoughts on Daily Challenge.  For all you social media marketers out there - this is the new social network to watch!  Looking forward to connecting with you!

So after relentlessly adding zillions of people to Twitter (marketing and social media enthusiasts) I have ended up with the following results:

I’ve gotten plenty of visits to my blog, some valuable feedback (thanks for the posts!), 75 direct messages, and hundreds of @replies.  I’m at just over a 2:1 ratio of Following:Followers - and I’m learning so much already!

Some of the interesting things I’ve seen:

• some people have set up Twitter accounts for their pets (I thought this was only a Facebook phenomenon?).  I guess dogs really are still man’s best friend!
• people are very quick to offer their help - I’ve had dozens of offers to help with my Wordpress problem, and my Facebook media buying project has gotten plenty of advice.  Great showing of community on Twitter!
• networking is King - my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles are growing by the hour with like-minded, internet-savvy, marketing and social media enthusiasts.  Exactly the kind of people I want to associate with!
• Twitter is a great traffic pusher, I’ve had lots of people check out my blog and it’s helping to keep the momentum going!

I’m interested to see how my Following/Followers numbers will change.  I’m going to change my approach and go at it organically from here on in - no mega-adds - and get off the Twitter steroids (thanks eromedome22!).

I’ll use the following tips/feedback that I got:

• Keep your Twitter background simple, so that it doesn’t take away from your Tweets (EarlC)
• Always thank the people who follow you, “let them know they matter” (vincenthunt)
• Tweet, tweet, and keep on tweeting! (benlucier - who has to date 2,049 updates!)
• Keep your content interesting, and then it really doesn’t matter what your Following:Follower ratio is (martinjy)

Thanks to everyone for your feedback and your comments on this - I’ll post again in a little while to see where I’m at.

Does anyone have any other tips to add on best Twitter practices?

So my Twitter posse is increasing exponentially and I’m gaining a new found love for this social media hotspot.

Here’s my current status:

So, here’s what I’m pondering - is it some type of social faux pas to be following 3x as many people as are following you?  Come on - am I being a popularity hog here?  Breaking some netiquiette?

By now most people in the social media sphere have gotten to know Twitter.  Although some huge question marks remain (monetization strategy? how can it really benefit a business), many people have adopted it as their new MSN name/Facebook status as a way to keep people informed of their day-to-day activities. (P.S. Does anyone else miss the days of detailing your entire social calender in one line of MSN status? I do!)

When I initially started using Twitter a number of months ago, I decided to become a “Twitter Snob”, keeping those that I followed to an exclusive bunch, only people I personally knew, or very important people that I was interested in.  My Twitter clique remained small, where I followed only about 30 people.

Last night I decided to jump right in and start expanding my Twitter posse.  Seeing that I have close to 1000 friends on Facebook, why not have that many on Twitter?

Now the big question remains - how do I find like-minded people to follow, and have follow me?

I’m going to begin by adding the friends of my close friends, I’m sure that there will be people that I know and that I’m interested in there.

Next, I’m adding everyone that follows “Social Media Club“.  How can I be a Social Media Maverick if I’m not in touch with all of those people?

Here’s where I’m starting:

October 9, 10:04am

Following: 37

Followers: 55

I’ll update on my progress as the days go by!  Let’s see what my fellow Tweeters can do for me - but most importantly, what can I do for them?!

Follow me on Twitter to see for yourself!