Oh no you didn't!

This is the response of jilted ex-girlfriends, former roommates, ex-employees and others who have suffered the indignity of being "unfriended". With so much of our lives and personal relationships taking place online, the "unfriending" is almost as hurtful as the break-up...sometimes moreso, thanks to its passive-aggressiveness.

And yes, "unfriend" is the correct term for that action, at least according to the AP, which has expanded its style guide to include 42 new rules for social media. Among the new rules are the change from "Web site" to "website" as the proper reference for an online destination and asserting that "fan", "friend" and "follow" can be used both as nouns and as verbs.

If your sore thumbs and reflex-like full body twitch toward your "smart phone" (which is now officially two words, rather than a compound word) every time you hear something funny didnt clue you in, it's now official: social media is here to stay.

Check out the new 2010 AP Stylebook for the new rules as well as explanations of acronyms and jargon that have popped up with the proliferation of social media. And learn that "POS" no longer has anything to do with your 1986 Buick Le Sabre, with the drooping ceiling, duct taped door panels and trunk that latches with a bungee cord.

How 2 Markit Mor Chikin

Chick-fil-A is bad ass.

They really, truly are.

And here's proof:

- They invented the chicken sandwich and it is delicious.

- They have expanded smartly and now have successful franchises across the country.

- Two words: Waffle. Fries.

But the deliciousness of their food and business principles aside, they have some pretty BA marketing as well.

Most people are familiar with their "Eat Mor Chikin" ad campaign featuring cows encouraging us to eat chicken rather than beef. The multiple iterations of this campaign never cease to be clever and inventive, eye-catching and memorable. (I may or may not have a cow toy from the holiday-themed campaign on my desk right now. It may or may not have been a gift.)

After recognizing the power of their loyal fanbase, Chick-fil-A began mobilizing fans to support new locations. Every time Chick-fil-A opens a new restaurant, they offer a year's worth of free food to the first 100 customers. This promotion has gotten so popular that the line starts more than 24 hours before the store opens and has a list of accompanying rules outlining proper "camped out in a parking lot for chikin" etiquette. I need a store to open on the west coast so I can go. (Yes, I'd camp out for Chick-fil-A. I've camped out for stranger things....)

And Chick-fil-A's latest idea that "Pops" is their targeted Facebook ads offering free chicken biscuits. The user-activated pop-up offers you a free chicken biscuit for entering your information. Then it offers you the chance to let friends know you scored a free biscuit.

This approach to Facebook ads is full of awesome and win because it offers free breakfast goodness and shows a healthy understanding of Facebook and its users. The pop-up is user-activated, so not annoying, and gives people a chance to "brag" to their friends about the free chicken. It uses popular electronic means to turn customers into evangelists and generate trial opportunities for the sad, sad people who have not tried Chick-fil-A.

A moment of silence for those sad people....and then dinner.

The Five PN Seattle Facebook Poses

The majority of the folks here in Porter Novelli Seattle are on Facebook and after skimming all of our beautiful profile photos, I've noticed that we typically fall into five main categories of poses (with examples).

1- The "I'm really deep. Really." shot.

Everyone knows that nothing -NOTHING- says "I'm deep" like taking a picture without looking at the camera. It speaks volumes about the depth of all the deep thoughts you're having at the moment the camera took the shot.

Personally, the only times I'm not looking into the camera when someone is taking my picture is when I want to be left alone or... when I'm not aware someone is taking my picture. And that last situation is punishable by law in the same cases.

Some examples include:

2- The "I'm doing really cute/whacky/off-beat things!" pose
What can I say? PR people are creative types and I guess that means we're always trying to come up with ways to make things (programs, campaigns... profile pictures) look, well, creative.

I mean, look how fun and crazy we are! Don't you want to get to know us better? We hide under tables and read Wired. We wear sunglasses while we work! We have an alter-ego named Jasmine Foxx.

On second thought. That last one is just Kizha.

3- We have kids/families/significant others shot
Check it out, world- I have a (insert what you will here) and I could not post a profile picture without making sure I included him, her or them. Look how cute we are/they are!

LOOK.

I MEAN IT. LOOK.

LOOOOOOK.

4- The "There's like, nature and stuff behind me." shot

...some of us just want to remember what the world looks like outside of 4 walls and a ceiling.

5- The "I Give Up. This picture is as good as any. I'm only on Facebook because I have to be" picture.

Because nothing says "I give up" like a picture of a guy wearing a backpack in front of a blurry background. Or a guy doing... I don't know what he's doing. Looking confused?

Disclaimer: This post was meant in good, clean fun. All images are property of the people in them, not you. They are not to be trifled with in Photoshop, Emil.

FriendFeed Is In. Twitter is Out.

Last month Twitter was all the rage, this month it's Friendfeed (Think Twitter on steroids) - what will it be next month? I read somewhere that there are only about three months in an Internet year, which means that by the time I finish this post... nevermind. With technology advancing as fast as it is on the internet and news being thrown at us from every which way it's hard to keep up with it all. This blog post is my attempt to provide you with some more information on FriendFeed and why it might be worth your (or your clients') time to check it out. What makes Friendfeed so hot right now? It's all those Millennials, or those otherwise known as Generation Y. I actually am a Millennial myself so I know a thing or two about it. We are masters of multitasking - texting, emailing and IMing all at the same time is second nature to us. We are digital natives seeking instant gratification where ever we can find it. We live online, it's how we stay connected to friends, peers and other's like us. It's others like us that we're interested in. Enter FriendFeed. 

According to FriendFeed's site they "enable you to keep up-to-date on the web pages, photos, videos and music that your friends and family are sharing. It offers a unique way to discover and discuss information among friends. " "On FriendFeed, you and your friends contribute to a shared stream of information - information that you care about, because its from the people that you care about." If I didn't know any better, I'd think they were talking directly to me and perhaps, just maybe, the 75 million other Millennials out there.  So lets say you are currently blogging and are active on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. FriendFeed will allow you to create a feed for all of these online services in one place and share your content from all these sites with your friends and others. Check out this article on PRWeek that talks about how PR professionals can utilize FriendFeed for their clients. 

So where is FriendFeed headed? The same place Google, Facebook and any other self-respecting social search site is headed. According to Steve Ruble, all of these sites will "build businesses around social contextual search advertising" which will allow me to search for content created by my peers, people I trust. Danny Sullivan calls this, Search 4.0: The Human Factor. This basically means that search engines, like Google and FriendFeed, will be serving up data custom-tailored to you. 

Keep an eye on FriendFeed, many predict it will replace Twitter. I'd love to hear your ideas for using it to interact with consumers and reporters.

Facebook Lexicon Pops!

Looking for a way to gauge your brand's penetration into the world of Facebook? Interested in whether geeks around the world talk more about Star Wars or Star Trek? Want to know whether Lindsey or Britney is the hotter topic of conversation? A quick and dirty way to find out is Facebook Lexicon. Lexicon shows the number of users that posted each term per day on a profile, event or group Wall on the popular social networking site.

It's great for comparing competitors or analyzing emerging trends (for example, the term "cyclone" has seen a huge jump in the past 5 days). While it doesn't provide raw data (it only shows the relative position of a term over time against itself or other words), it can be very helpful in getting a snapshot of how the community is reacting to you.

You can view the trend over several months or just a few hours.

So, hop on to Lexicon and start exploring what's hot on the Facebook network!