OK, so I went on my social networking safari and thank goodness I didn't adopt someone else's opinion as my own. I chose to join only the social networks from "Top 10 Most Beautiful Social Networks" that suited me.

I joined Pownce, Beautiful Society and Virb; all the while still a member of MySpace and Facebook. So I joined, signed on and got to searching.

Pownce was my first victim. This so-called "beautiful" social network, although neatly organized, doesn't strike me as "pretty." Rather, it's just pretty plain.

The only beauty in Beautiful Society is its name. It's easy to sign-up but the concept falls short at keeping people entertained. The all-forum-style setup of favorites, articles and "stuff" sections are outdated.

Virb was much like MySpace without the hassle of html coding. Like MySpace, you can customize your profile's colors; but that's all you can change. After browsing a bit I came to the conclusion that Virb had the user friendliness and components of Facebook with a MySpace look and feel. Virb is still lacking components that keep Facebook addicts coming back for more.

It's the "Beautiful Mess" state of mind I'm in when I'm on Facebook: scoping out friends, poking, messaging, writing on walls, looking through photos, reading my news feed, playing a game.... And well, you get the point!

Facebook is ever-evolving, keeping its addicts in a constant state of curiosity and interest. Even though it didn't make the Mashable beautiful list, I think it's beautiful- a "Beautiful Mess!" What good is a beautiful and user friendly social network if there are no users to socialize???

I’m antsy so I turn my divided attention to trusty Google. I vaguely remember telling myself earlier that I have to check out this Twitter of which everyone speaks so highly. I was on a search engine kick and instead of going to this unknown site, decided to see if Twitter came up when I searched “social networks”. Truly, this was the test to see if I should trudge on. Google gets back to me fast with some answers…

“Wikipedia, Wikipedia, Top 10 Most Beautiful Social Networks, Social Netw…Wait what?!? Top 10 Most Beautiful Social Networks?!?”

I quickly stumble back up the page to read this absurd title again and to further feed my curiosity - I click…

As if it’s not bad enough that in every gossip magazine, on every entertainment show and every red carpet, there’s a list of beautiful people just waiting to hear how beautiful they are now; we are passing this beauty judgment onto social networking sites? Oddly enough, I can pass up those beautiful people and their Photoshopped faces but beautiful social networks? I had to see for myself.
Everyone has an opinion and reason about their loyalties to various social networking sites. Strange as it seems, our reasons for having biases are often the same. “It’s neat, clean and easy to use.” The criterion for making the Mashable list has to do exactly with that! And guess what folks, although mentioned, Twitter didn’t make the cut.

I am still skeptical. So for the next few days I’ll be challenging this list by joining networks and scoping out the beauties for myself. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I am not taking another’s answer as my own. I’ll get back to you on this one…

It's the new technologies that we're focusing on in the marketing world because
that's what everyone wants. How can we be the first, the freshest?

With all the excitement over interactive marketing, many in our industry talk about print media fading in the distance. Everyone wants the newest news and
trendiest products at their fingertips. While the Internet, email and texting deliver on that consumer demand, print, outdoor and other traditional media are trying to keep up.

But don't count them out just yet.

Just like advertising agencies, the successful media that will be around to see
Web 3.0 will integrate their benefits with the 'Net and interactive technologies. For example, we've seen digital outdoor boards popping up everywhere, but on
March 5th Clear Channel launched a new round of digital outdoor boards
sponsored by the Los Angeles Times' and will feature the latest breaking news.

A great example of traditional media remaining not only relevant but competing to keep their spot in the media by integrating interactive marketing tools to remain in today's ever-fragmenting media market.

So watch out y'all! Even outdoor advertising -- possibly the oldest medium -- is back in the media race for success!