As it says in the credits, we were very much inspired by Matt Harding’s Where the Hell Is Matt video series, as well as Ellen DeGeneres’ non-stop dancing goodness. Much to our surprise, the video was QUITE the hit among our family and friends. So much so, it was shared on Facebook over 1,000 times! No, really, it was. Here’s the proof:

What was downright mind-blowing to us was that the video was shared by friends of friends, and even some of their friends’ friends I think. I’d search for “Dancing Around Disneyland” on Facebook and it would turn up on the walls of people across the US and in countries like Costa Rica and Italy. It was posted in different languages (OK, just Korean, but still) and, for the most part, all of the comments were overwhelmingly positive (a rarity for the Internet, right?).

At the suggestion of quite a few people, we submitted it to Disney, Flip Video, Ellen DeGeneres, and even Vampire Weekend, the band who sings the catchy little tune that just so happened to accompany the new Honda Civic commercial (I think we inspired them, even though their commercial allegedly started a few days before we published our video on YouTube). Quite a few people have said that whenever they hear the commercial, they immediately think, “That’s the Dancing Around Disneyland song!” and not the other way around. So there.

Flip Video was definitely the most supportive. They featured us on their Facebook page and Tweeted us (twice). We’re still waiting for our commercial deal though. We’re starting to think it might not happen though. Vampire Weekend’s band manager responded with a thumbs up and an account of his childhood visit to Disneyland. It was better than no response, or the dreaded, “Stop using our song,” but we were a little disappointed that they didn’t get behind it and use it to their advantage (at our expense). We’re still waiting on Disney and Ellen to call. Any day now, we can feel it…

As of this posting (1/6/2011), the video has had over 4,500 views. Not bad! OK, so it’s not 2 million. But it also has nothing to do with Justin Bieber. Hmm… maybe we should have chosen a Justin Bieber song? Dang it!

A few people have pointed out that YouTube’s count seems awfully low considering the number of times it was shared on Facebook, and the number of times these same individuals have said to have played the video themselves. It’s a good point. I know we’ve watched it at least 10,000 times myself (we’re a very narcissistic family). I suppose it’s possible that YouTube incorrectly counts the number of views via Facebook, whether unintentional or intentional, considering that Google owns YouTube, and Google and Facebook are sort of at war over the privacy and ownership of their respective “data.” Who knows?

Anyway, the best part of the whole experience was reading all of the great comments. People said it brightened their day, or that their kids asked to watch “the Disneyland video” over 10 times. Rad.

We’ve also received quite a few requests for a sequel. We’re thinking about a group flash mob version some time this summer. We’ll take Disneyland by storm! If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll definitely keep you in the loop as we start to organize it. Who knows, maybe THAT will get the attention of Disney or Ellen. Gotta dream big, right?

P.S. Just for kicks, we registered the domain www.DancingAroundDisneyland.com, which currently takes you straight to the YouTube video. What’s next? We’re not sure. Maybe a Facebook page?

Update: Done.

PLEASE take a few minutes to watch this if you haven’t already seen it (or watch it again and see what you may have missed the first time). Social Media is NOT a myth. Social Media is here to stay. And Social Media is changing everything we know about communications and marketing/advertising.

Here’s one aimed at Social Media Marketing Managers (SMMMs?!?), a position that is popping up at more and more companies these days:

The Social Media Marketing Manager’s job is often made difficult by their company’s general distaste and distrust for social networks based on statistics (and rumors) about lost productivity and other negatives such as poor company representation (aka, employees and others who openly slam the company), affiliation with irresponsible employees, leaking of company secrets, etc.

But I think you’re far better off having someone in this position who knows what they are doing than to 1) do nothing, or 2) let a random employee who “has a lot of Facebook friends” and Tweets a lot take the lead on your company’s Social Media Marketing efforts.

Here’s another one that made me laugh:

There’s another misconception nothing “serious” happens on social networks, that it’s just a of soccer moms and juveniles posting worthless drivel and embarrassing photos for all their friends and family and future (or current) employees to see.

Not true. Those “soccer mom’s” are also avid consumers, and they talk a LOT about the products and services they use most. And when you reach them on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, they have a much easier time spreading your message, both positively and negatively (if/when necessary).

As for the “juveniles,” not all of them are irresponsible. Not only that, they will eventually become customers, so if you have a message that is right for them, go ahead and share it now. And again, don’t underestimate their ability to spread the word (good or bad) – and FAST!

Outside of those two stereotypes, there are people from just about every other walk of life joining Facebook and Twitter and other social networks every day. Baby Boomers are on the rise at the moment. I’m sure kids are the next wave, as Facebook continues to refine their privacy settings. Heck, they even made a movie about social networks. It’s here. Everyone is doing it. Stop resisting (if that’s describes you) and just embrace it. You’ll gain more in friendships, business, and enjoyment than you will ever lose in privacy or productivity. I promise.

These Dilbert comics and more can be seen at www.Dilbert.com.

Ten HD Web Videos for $995

That’s it. Less than 100 bucks a video. A few people have already told me that’s too cheap. We’ll see. I think it’s a pretty good deal, considering what you get.

So, what kind of videos could you record? I’m glad you asked. You could do a 1-2 minute introduction for your company’s web site or blog:

You could also do some FAQs, sales letters, product demonstrations (for Amazon.com), customer testimonials, book reviews, quick tips… just about anything! The key is to be natural, transparent, and genuine. Just be yourself.

In less than a day we can plan, shoot, edit, and upload the 10 videos to YouTube (in HD), and you can start adding them to your company web site, email marketing campaigns, Facebook business page, Twitter, etc.

So why would you want 10 “pretty good” videos versus one amazing video? Personally, I think there’s more benefit in having several shorter pieces rather than one longer, high-end video, especially if your videos are providing little nuggets of value as opposed to boasting about why you or your company is so great.

Interested in learning more? Drop me a line or give me a call at (818) 398-9406 and let’s discuss how easily you could get videos like these, even if you HATE being in front of the camera. (Trust me, most people do. You just can’t tell in these videos. Mostly because I make silly remarks just before hitting the record button.)

Here are a few more examples from the same location, featuring Jason’s wife, Jodi Womack. Although Jodi is much less experienced than Jason in public speaking, you’d never know based on her performance in these videos (and a little bit of editing):

Twitter allows me to follow the news and, almost more importantly, to follow the people following the news. For example, I know that I can trust people like Robert Scoble and Chris Pirillo to stay on top of technology. I know people like Chris Brogan, Jim Kurkal and Gary Vaynerchuk are going to show me what’s new in social media. For better or worse, I trust them.

On YouTube I can catch any TV “moments” I may have missed. Jennifer Lopez fell on stage? Let me YouTube that. They did a remake We Are The World? Cool. I’ll watch it online. The only thing I use my TV for these days is to DVR The Office and a couple other shows, or to watch my Netflix movies.

Then there’s LinkedIn. I probably use this the least of all social media sites. Why is that? Because it’s a bit too serious and boring at times. Besides, I’m friend with a lot of the same people on Facebook, and I can just as easily follow what they are doing (including changing jobs) and interact with them easier on FB.

However, LinkedIn is still the BEST way to maintain an online Rolodex of all the people I’ve worked with, and all the people I’m networking with. It’s also the best place to house an online resume complete with references that are easy to validate. I also sometimes use the Q&A section, groups, and some of the other features.

Email isn’t really what I’d call “social media” per se, but it is my preferred digital in-basket. I use it to capture blogs, Tweets, articles, videos, and pretty much anything I want to take a closer look at when I get have more time or am sitting in front of my computer.

It’s also my permanent archive of a vast amount of information. Thanks to Google, Gmail has the best search in the world, so I can usually find anything I want in less than 30 seconds, and usually less than 5. I’m not joking. I can find ANYTHING, going back years. Even work-related stuff because I either used Gmail or forwarded a copy of my work email in order to keep things easily “searchable.”

Outlook 2007 definitely improved it’s search, but often the search index gets out of sync and you have to reindex. That’s scary after you’ve switched over to the Google method of taggging and using one big Archive folder. I found myself frequently jumping over to Gmail to find something work related because Outlook was having a “bad day.”

Lastly, there is Facebook. Oh, Facebook, how I love thee. And hate thee too. I’ve never been more social in my life. I know more about some of the people I went to high school with than I do about some of my closest friends–only because my friends are not on Facebook (yet). I follow some of my favorite brands, I am meeting new people and extended family members, and I can share a little bit about myself as well.

If I feel like sharing a little more, I can write a blog post like this one. On my iPhone. In bed. Yep, that’s where I am at this exact moment. Later I might be at Momoya Sushi, or an Apple store. I’ll let you know via FourSquare, which is shaping up to be the next Twitter, especially when more businesses get on board and start giving away instant discounts (20% off anything in the store) and free stuff (a round of drinks, appetizers, gambling chips) whenever you “check in.”

The inspiration for this blog post was actually something I saw while waiting outside the women’s restroom at the mall. I jumped onto Facebook and read a post from President Obama about the recent health care and education reform he had just signed into effect. OK, so it probably wasn’t the “actual” President, but someone in his administration.The bottom line is they are making excellent use of the social media tools that are available. This screenshot from my iPhone pretty much says it all (494 comments and 4304 Likes!):

Google Search results for "Tony Pinto"

OK, so it’s not an AMAZING feat of strength, but it has been a goal of mine for some time. It started about a year ago when I first noticed the domain www.tonypinto.com was available. I was lucky enough to buy it for less than $10 bucks!

Then I created this WordPress blog, started Tweeting as @tpinto3 (had @tonypinto at one point, but lost it), and began to comment on other blogs, with links back to my site. I also created a Google profile that links all of my social media, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare.

The journey continues, but I’m just glad now that whenever somebody types “Tony Pinto” into Google, they find me right up at the top.

Can you say the same for yourself?

What I’m referring to is some recent consulting work I completed while eating breakfast at a McDonald’s down in San Diego, just before visiting one of my clients.

With the addition of free Wifi and a recent change in decor, McDonald’s almost feels like a Starbucks these days. I even heard that there’s a McDonalds (somewhere) that offers free use of a conference room. Nice!

I suppose the other reason for this post is to express my amazement over the fact that I can actually conduct business from a McDonald’s restaurant. I’m 100% freelance now (web product development, social media marketing, and video production, in case you were wondering), so I find myself travelling a bit more than I used to. But on this particular morning I found myself eating an Egg McMuffin, replying to emails, reviewing my calendar, and editing videos for one of my clients. Pretty much exactly how I conduct business in the privacy of my home office, and with almost the same efficiency (two 24″ monitors usually helps – but not always!).

Ironically, I found it easier to focus on what I was doing at McDonald’s than at any corporate office I’ve ever worked in. Sometimes it helps to get away from the office (home or otherwise) and to have fewer distractions (people or otherwise) while you’re focusing on a chunk of work.

The icing on the cake was witnessing one of the best McDonalds managers ever. She was so nice to her team, and they seemed so happy. I almost thought I was at In-N-Out.

That’s it from me. What’s your most unique work experience?

Special thanks to my new friend Alice for this photo.

I met some of Ning’s most outstanding employees, shook hands with (and possibly insulted with a back-handed compliment) CEO Gina Bianchini, and compared notes with some amazing network creators who are just crushing it (as Gary Vaynerchuk would say) on sites like MyModernMet.com, BabySpot.com, tudiabetes.org, BroadwaySpace.com, BJPenn.com, DesignDemocracy.ws and LiveHereOakPark.com.

I was a big fan of Ning before my visit, but I can honestly say that I am 1000 times more confident in their infrastructure and commitment to making Ning the best platform for niche social networks.

As far as I can tell, here’s their special sauce (it’s pretty simple actually): Ning cares a lot about their employees. And in return, the employees care a LOT about Ning’s members. My fellow community managers and I were treated like royalty, and our feedback was intensely scrutinized. You don’t see that every day from your typical software companies.

For those who don’t know, Ning offers an amazing product offering and level of service for a ridiculously low price. You can actually create a Ning network in less than 5 minutes at absolutely zero cost. That’s right, zero. Nada. ZIP! And you could scale that network to tens of thousands of users without ever having to open your wallet.

That said, Ning does offer some “premium services” for those who want them. For example, if you want to make your network’s url something like www.BobsFishingHole.com versus http://bobsfishinghole.ning.com, that’ll set you back a whopping $5/month. Want to turn off the banner ads on the right hand side, or hide the references to the Ning Platform? Those features are $25/mo each. They’ve also got premium support for a measley $10 bucks a month, although, frankly, I’ve never needed it. Their user forums are very active, and full of seasoned and helpful community managers as well as Ning employees.

Bottom line: Ning rocks! Nothing else out there even comes close. The good news is that all of my energy can now go into community development for NoTimeToCookDinner.com and new communities for my clients who are ready to take the plunge into social media.

Thanks again to Ning, and to all of my new friends as well.

They do.

So for anyone looking for an easy way to watermark YouTube videos without getting into video production or buying a one-off piece of software, this is probably a good solution.

Here’s a screenshot showing the annotation on the video embedded in my blog:

Using YouTube Annotations to Watermark Videos

Since Annotations are just an overlay on top of the videos (I think), web savvy individuals can probably get around this by downloading the YouTube video and uploading it to another video streaming service. And it happens all the time.

However, if you aren’t too concerned about it and you would just like to include a link to your blog or some other information (or add some “pop up humor” to your videos), YouTube Annotations can be a really fun and easy way to do it. You have some control over the size, shape, and color of the annotations, as well as the duration and some other aspects.

You can also create an annotation that links back to YouTube page (channel), where you can encourage people to subscribe to your videos. Just be careful about using arrow-shaped annotations to point to the Subscribe button, since the button won’t be present if your video is embedded on someone else’s blog or web site. Instead it might be pointing to an advertisement or other unrelated link.

Annotations are really easy to create. Once you are logged into YouTube, click on My Videos > Annotations and read the brief instructions. It might take a little bit of experimenting to find something you like, but the results could be very powerful, especially if you have a lot of “fans” showing off your videos. It even works on Facebook!

YouTube Annotations on Facebook

You can also create Captions for people with disabilities. But this post is already long enough…