Marketing Pilgrim

As I wrote yesterday about all of this iPhone 4 mania and ultimately how ‘over the top’ it is, I realized I was just like many others. Words, words and more words. Well, since I can’t carry a tune I’ll let someone else put this whole ridiculous thing to music (Hat tip to TechCrunch).

Here is a song from Jonathan Mann’s Rock Cookie Bottom. Be careful though because if you start digging around his site you may get caught in his odd little world and even laugh a little.

Here’s to today’s Apple press conference being everything you hoped it would be and much less!

It seems that every time we report on Google’s quarterly performance it’s about disappointment in the investment community over numbers that most companies would kill for even in good times. It’s an interesting exercise that never ceases to amaze.

Google, who offers no guidance to the investment community, had a good second quarter as net revenue rose by 25%. No, that is not a typo but that was also not enough to stop the stock from slipping 4% in after hours trading. Here are the numbers as reported by the New York Times

In a sign of their impatience, Google’s stock price has sunk 17 percent over the last three months. It fell about 4 percent, to $474, in after-hours trading on Thursday after its announcement that both revenue and net income rose 24 percent in the second quarter, which ended June 30.

With absolutely no fanfare at all, Twitter has thrown the switch on an updated Follower notification email that tells you everything you wanted to know about a person and more.

The old notification email greeted you warmly then announced that NAME HERE is now following your tweets on Twitter. After that was a snapshot of their current followers, tweet and following stats.

The new format does away with the warm greeting and puts the name of the Twitter account in the notification line:

Cynthialil (@Cynthialil) is now following your tweets (@TWITTERACCOUNT) on Twitter.

That’s followed by the person’s avatar, Twitter name, location and bio info before moving on to the stats which now include lists. The stat layout is now a table that resembles the layout in Twitter.

The next time you leave a scathing review of a business, you may want to make sure you are giving opinions and not stating falsehoods as facts. The former should see your speech protected. The latter could bring on the wrath of litigious cosmetic surgeon, determined to sue your butt for millions of dollars!

That’s the case in California, where a doctor is suing critics that filed negative reviews on Yelp.com and DoctorScorecard.com.

[Dr. Kimberly] Henry’s lawsuit, filed in Marin Superior Court, claims libel and defamation, invasion of privacy and interference with prospective economic advantage. She is seeking $1 million in general damages, $1 million in special damages, unspecified punitive damages, legal costs, injunctions against the reviewers and restraining orders.

With all of the iPhone mania raising antennae all around the tech journalism world it’s almost so deafening that one is tempted to try to duct tape the press. Wait, that wouldn’t be right because Consumer Reports has made duct tape cool and journalists are not cool (but bloggers are, right?).

Anyway, we wanted to help you with all the rumors that are flying around regarding the iPhone 4, Apple and this whole international incident of intrique. Here we go.

• Duct tape sales in the US are soaring

• Apple has taken so much abuse because they haven’t come out and officially said anything that they now must come out and officially say something this Friday

What do Family Guy, Lady Gaga and President Obama have in common? They’re three of just a handful of Facebook fan pages with more fans than Starbucks. The coffee giant has just crossed the 10 million mark making them the most popular brand on Facebook, beating out Coca-Cola by several million.

What’s the secret to their success? Media Post News says it’s a steady stream of promotions.

“Last July, it added 200,000 fans in one week through its Free Pastry Day promo, allowing fans to print out coupons for complimentary confections with a beverage purchase.

More recently, it used Facebook to run a “Taste Challenge” tied to the rollout of its VIA instant coffee, offering participants a free brewed coffee on their next visit and a $1 off a VIA purchase.”