IanSchafer.com

Question o ’ The Day: Martha Stewart Edition.

Should MarthaStewart.com be running this ad? Does it harm the user experience or even the brand itself?

American Apparel Gets Called Out.

Happy Friday. This cartoon skewers American Apparel (and then its customers) for its use of titillation to sell clothes. Or something.

Ad-related humor lifts all ships.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Sorry For the Inactivity Lately.

I've been traveling my rear off. But regular posting will resume momentarily, with a sneak preview of a busy, busy June of some very interesting speaking engagements...

No More Daily Twitter Digests.

I've turned off my daily Twitter digests. So if you really want them back, say so in the comments.

Otherwise, you can follow me at twitter.com/ischafer.

They're good. Trust me.

So What Do You Want Me To Blog More About?

So much of this blog is about me riffing, venting, exploring, expounding, and espousing on a whole smorgasbord of topics.

But what I was just thinking about is that I never ask you, the reader -- the commenter -- what you want to read.

So tell me. Is it more on social media? More on Twitter? More on video?

Do you want recaps of my speaking engagements rather than just a heads-up that they are happening?

Do you want more insights about what it's like to run an agency?

Penny for your thoughts in the comments below...

New ‘ McCain Girls ’ Video Hits YouTube.

The latest in the 'McCain Girls' tributes to John McCain is now available on YouTube. Why am I blogging about this? I don't know. I feel close to it, having gone to high school with one of the girls in the video, and well, it's funny.

It may lack the surprise so-bad-it's-good punch of the original, but just wanted to follow-up on my earlier coverage.

WTF Photo of the Day.

flyer, originally uploaded by Ian Schafer.

I took this photo on the corner of Spring & Thompson. Notice the email address. How's that for contextual relevance.

The OpenSocial Foundation.

According to Download Squad, today, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google announced the formation of the OpenSocial Foundation.

The Foundation is a 'non-profit' entity aimed at ensuring '...open and transparent governance of the OpenSocial specifications and intellectual property.'

Is it me, or does it seem weird that you can set up a non-profit entity that is designed to support the initiatives of a very 'for profit' company like Google? It seems that the efforts are noble enough, but still, these are Google standards, no matter how many third-parties are involved.

Do we have a choice but to choose between Google's and Facebook's standards? Time will tell.

Visit Download Squad for the nice little recap.

Follow My Tweets From the MySpace Roadshow.

I'll be sending tweets (that's messages from Twitter for you layfolk) from the MySpace 'upfront' event on Wednesday (3/26) starting at 2:30 or so. Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/ischafer to get scoopage (except for a brief 30 minutes when I have to jump on a call -- clients first, you know).

The 25 Most Valuable Blogs.

24/7 Wall Street posts a list and analysis of the top 25 most valuable blogs.

Here are the first 12:

1. Gawker Media: $150 Million

2. MacRumors: $85 Million (Think this is ridiculous? Check out the traffic)

3. HuffingtonPost: $70 Million

4. PerezHilton: $48 Million

5. TechCrunch: $36 Million

6. ArsTechnica: $15 Million

7. SeekingAlpha: $15 Million

8. Drudge Report: $10 Million

9. Mashable: $10 Million

10. GigaOm: $8.4 Million

11. BoingBoing: $8 Million

12. Silicon Alley Insider: $5.4 Million

Read Silicon Alley Insider's POV here, and check out the original post on 24/7 Wall St. here.

These are some crazy numbers. Many of these blogs have little to no overhead.