There's no judgment here about who makes the better hamburgers, but rather an assessment of which has the better online marketing presence. McDonald's wins by using techniques any online marketer could emulate.

If you tell your dinner guests their meal will be cooked by a celebrity chef and then instead serve them a high-sodium, chemical-laden entree and dessert, you have lied to them.

A whole new generation is being primed in their most formative years to think Apple. It's fascinating the way these new technology rituals have entered our lives. And they are replacing old rituals.

Nissan has declared a new metric for a completely new model of transportation. Bravo.

Two major IT firms are way out ahead in terms of identifying the new buyer, and gearing up to serve them--that is Adobe and IBM.

Last week IBM announced a new software portfolio that is the clearest indication yet that social media has truly changed the business landscape. While the comparison between IBM's new social software solutions and Facebook could be considered all wet from the start, the mere fact that I'm discussing both in the same sentence should make you take notice.

Say you’re surfing the Internet, and come across a rumor about your company that you know to be false. If you say your first instinct might be to defend your brand, but according to three psychologists, that instinct may be dead wrong.

As you build your social media programs, remember that social media begins with listening and responding.

We all know how secretive Apple is and how much they love doing their own events. But Apple might be willing to let Verizon announce an iPhone -- as long as it's the iPhone 4. That way, it won't seem like such a big deal.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, "Some brands spread joy wherever they go, some spread joy whenever they go."

Google reacts after learning how a menacing merchant found a loophole in the search engine's algorithms that allowed complaints and negative reviews to actually bolster search rankings.

At first glance, an acquisition of Groupon by Google appears to be a land grab: purchasing one of the hottest startups of the moment in a growing market. But that's not the real reason why Google wants to purchase Groupon.

For their latest report, “Rise of Social Commerce,” the Altimeter Group digital strategy consultancy surveyed the social media efforts of 123 major companies, and cited Amazon, Best Buy, Dell, Hallmark and Starbucks amongst the brands that have a clue.

Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon are becoming more than just dominant technology companies. They are well on their way to becoming the news, entertainment and communications networks of the 21st Century.

Best Buy has long been known for experimenting with floor plans at various concept stores throughout the United States, and they continue to push the envelope even though Circuit City, their biggest competitor, has gone the way of the dodo bird.

While Steven Jobs participated in Apple's earnings call with analysts ostensibly to highlight his company's first $20-billion quarter—surely a remarkable achievement—a close examination of his prepared remarks shows that Jobs used that high-profile opportunity to hammer Google on multiple fronts.

Tylenol — despite multiple product recalls, FDA criticism, and mistakes in handling its crisis — scored twice as high as BP on characteristics like "honest and trustworthy" and "acts in the customer's best interests." Why the difference?

Congrats. There's an ad agency handling the MySpace brand -- and a repositioning, a new clever message, and maybe even a new logo just across the horizon. Now it's time for a new owner.

Google’s positioning as an auction conductor has emerged as a central defense to the increasing antitrust attention being paid to Google’s remarkable share of the search advertising market. However, Google’s positioning breaks down when Google buys house ads via AdWords.

Google is right now perhaps at the zenith of its power in the market. But the company risks its reputation if it continues to have a “tin ear” regarding key consumer issues.

I can't see what Google expects to gain by launching and operating a new social network, even if it succeeds in toppling Facebook, or at least taking some of its market share (a big if, given Facebook's scale and momentum).

MarkNet, a private online social network, has overhauled the way we do marketing at GE.

Minor holidays offer a wealth of opportunities to flex your creative muscles and do something different from your competitors. Here are some of my favorite minor holiday-themed emails from the past few years.

At a time when Google is moving into new services in which users have more options and are used to more experienced design, it might want to try to pick up a trick or two about human product experience design from the best in class on this subject.