When Mark Zuckerberg first experimented with social networking, Harvard University charged him with violating individual privacy and threatened expulsion. Facebook, founded just over five years ago, now has more than 200 million members who connect with friends, share photos, chat, play games and more.
In a less dramatic fashion, Jack Dorsey started Twitter with the idea of creating a service that used SMS to give personal updates. Dorsey sent the first twitter message, “just setting up my twittr,” in 2006 and Twitter launched full scale a year later.
Today, many people have an account with both to share with friends, family, colleagues and clients. It’s even possible to update both statuses from a single place. Some would argue the sites are not in competition. Others would like to know if Facebook and Twitter ever came to blows, who would win?
A post on Brandflakes for Breakfast, a blog run by Plaid, recently explored this inquiry. Through a simple graphic, BFB put Facebook and Twitter head to head. While Facebook dominates in global traffic and functionality, Twitter has less severe social implications and high profile users like President Obama. One major difference in the two sites is overall value. At $250 million, Twitter is only about 2% of Facebook’s value.
Facebook wins rounds one and two, but tweeple fear not! Twitter has chartered unprecedented growth, jumping 414 positions in popularity ranking and increasing page visits by 500% in the last 90 days.
Final Score: With 3.5 billion minutes spent on the site every day, Facebook is still head honcho but shouldn’t get too comfortable at the top. Twitter is eagerly nipping at its elder’s heels.
Prompted by the release of their new product, Firefly Distillery Co-owners Jim Irvin and Scott Newitt hired OM to help them build a marketing campaign with the intent to launch their product nationally, an exciting move toward the future for Firefly Distillery, which eventually led to the launch of four more flavors. OM successfully orchestrated national sponsorship opportunities and secured state-wide and national press, while still keeping in mind the importance of the company’s traditional Southern roots.
On Saturday May 9, 2009, The Center for the Birds of Prey will host South Carolina’s leading naturalist, Rudy Mancke.Mancke will lead walking tours through the Center’s 152 acres.
Mancke is best known as the host of Nature Notes on public radio and for NatureScene, a nationally syndicated TV show on which he appeared for 23 years.Before his television career, Mancke was natural history curator at the South Carolina State Museum and, before that, a high school biology and geology teacher. He received honorary doctorate degrees from the College of Charleston, Converse College, Coker College, Presbyterian College, Winthrop University, and Wofford College.
The tours are open to the public and will begin at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.Guests are welcome to stay for a Birds of Prey flight demonstration scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.The cost will be $30 member and $45 for non-members.Space is limited.To register call Laura Buchta at (843) 971-7474.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Center for Birds of Prey/Avian Conservation Center.
60,000 pounds. That’s how many pounds of recyclable materials College Park Middle Schoolstudents have collected within the last five months. That’s 20,000 bags of Easter candy, 17,455 iPods and 240,000 cell phones worth of recyclable materials. Although most middle school students would prefer collecting candy, iPods and cell phones, College Park Middle School students have discovered a greater need in conservation with the help of the school-wide program, ‘Race to End Waste: Conservation in the Classroom.’
CPM students at 'Race' rally
The environmental program, which was developed by Complete Building Corporation, a commercial general contracting company located in Charleston, SC, launched in October 2008 at College Park Middle School with the intent to educate students on sustainable and eco-friendly initiatives. The company began working with College Park Middle School as a way to embark upon their employee directed charitable giving program.
As the community’s always a top priority for Complete Building Corporation, the company developed “Race to End Waste” to educate Berkley County students on environmental initiatives. They choose College Park Middle School for the program’s inaugural run, but intend to expand the program to a new school in Berkley County each year. Victor Apat, Complete Building Corporation’s president is excited about expanding ‘Race.’ “When starting a new program, you never know how people will respond to it,” Apat said. “However, the passion that the College Park students have put into our program has been phenomenal. We could not have asked for a better start.”
The school-wide interdisciplinary project strives to educate students, teachers and the community through various initiatives concerning conservation and sustainability. The ‘Race to End Waste’ program involves various competitions including the recycled mascot design competition and the classroom recycling competition. Additionally, curriculum in each subject has incorporated the principles of conservation and environmental sustainability. For example, a science class created recycled paper and a language arts class wrote PSA’s and created commercials t6hat will be previewed by elementary school students.
The students’ work and progress with the program has been tracked on the ‘Race to End Waste’ Web site. The site, which offers an overview of the program and school, has highlighted several students who have gone above and beyond to recycle at home and in their community. Additionally, the site has tallied the progress of each classroom with the recycling competition. So far the school has collected over 60,000 pounds of recyclable materials in only five months—a number that continues to grow daily.
CPM student creates recycled art
The year-long project will end on April 16, 2009 with Complete Building Corporation unveiling a greenhouse for the students, as well as announcing winners of the mascot and classroom recycling competitions. “The competition and greenhouse ceremony are important, but our long-term goal is for the children to take the things they’ve learned and continue using the conservation initiatives in there daily lives,” said Apat.
Complete Building Corporation’s goal is to add an additional school to the program each year so that in the next ten years every middle school in Berkeley County will have conservation initiatives as part of their curriculum, as well as a greenhouse to use as a resource.Hopefully next year, another group of students will be willing to put aside their iPods and cell phones to improve the earth they live on.
The AIA/SC Board of Directors for 2010-2011 will include David Moore II as Secretary-Treasurer, Seth Cantley as Lowcountry Director, Luke McCary as Midlands Director, and Meg Terry as Upstate Director.
A new accord between SIB Development & Consulting and Coastal Occupational Medicine is aimed at helping existing Coastal Occupational Medicine clients by reviewing up to five years for misclassification, billing errors, and discrepancies to look for overpayments and obtain a refund on the company’s workman compensation policy.
Coastal Occupational Medicine is one of Charleston’s most experienced occupational medical clinics. With over 25 years in business, Dr. Byron Williams and his staff provide honest diagnosis with appropriate, cost effective treatment. Coastal Occupational Medicine does not see private patients and only works with workman’s compensation cases, making care less time consuming, more specialized and more cost effective when compared to hospital emergency rooms.
“I think it will be very advantageous for the clients and future clients of Coastal to have the benefit of the services offered by SIB Development at their fingertips,” said Brooke Jones, Marketing Director for Coastal Occupational Medicine. “Given the current business and economic climate, offering SIB’s services to folks we’re involved with brings added value to the company’s bottom line.”
Brad Ball, owner of Social Restaurant + Wine Bar, took first place in the Charleston Food + Wine Top Sommelier Competition that was held this morning at Charleston Place. Edging out competitors from all over the state, including last year’s winner, Rick Rubel, Brad correctly identified four out of the five wines presented. Cheers to that!
Congratulations to current/past OM clients that were recognized by the Charleston City Paper in their “Best Of” issue.
City Paper - Eating Out
Best Wine Selection – Social
This upscale downtown hotspot takes its vino menu seriously.
Best New Restaurant – Lucca
Was there any doubt that Ken Vedrinski’s amazing little trattoria in the ‘hood would win? We didn’t think so. The food is astounding, affordable, and hidden from the tourists. What could be more appealing to local foodies?
Best Cheese Plate – Lucca
Ken Vedrinski doesn’t just fix a cheese plate — you know the kind where some chef plops down three or four meager slices on a cold plate and charges you eight bucks for the favor — this man composes cheese plates. He loads them up with slabs of cheese — good cheese, aged cheese, cheese that has been hand-selected by experts like Manoli Davani over at Avondale Wine & Cheese and delivered to Vedrinski’s door at the peak of flavor. Then he hooks them up with, well, “treatments” — a melting robiola, just warm, oozing over fresh slices of apple, fruit compotes dashed across the plate, disparate flavors melded together in ways that make you wonder if you can ever eat cheese again without kicking yourself for not just heading uptown and sniffing out Lucca once more.
Best Place to Eat In a Bad Neighborhood – Lucca
Sienna’s star chef Ken Vedrinski teased us with rumors of a new restaurant downtown, and we finally got it this year with Trattoria Lucca. The fact that it’s located in a less-than-desirable part of town hasn’t kept anyone away — months later, you’ve still got to plan in advance if you want a table. Serving up modern Italian fare with Vedrinski’s signature flair, the place is surprisingly affordable — most entrées will run you less than $20. And the traditional-style Sunday Suppers are not to be missed.
Best Reason to Drive to Seabrook – Red Sky
Kiawah and Seabrook have always had a few star restaurants that do a brisk business with the tourists without giving locals much reason to drive out. But back in the fall, Seabrook got a new addition with Red Sky. Just before you get to the imposing gates of the affluent island community, Red Sky sits in a small building with a gas pump out front and a snack shop next door. Though it’s got a refreshingly casual feel, Chef Matt Bolus’ creations are modern and creative — particularly the appetizers; try the seared scallop served with vanilla-spiked sweet potato puree, lobster jus, and truffles, topped with a spoonful of caviar. Don’t let the islands intimidate you — Red Sky is worth the trip.
The premise is multiple speakers from creative fields, each allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds before the next presenter. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.
The first Pecha Kucha Charleston was inspirational and thought-provoking. View pictures from the last event on Facebook.
Video from the first Pecha Kucha Charleston
Join us on February 25 for the second installment. Location to be disclosed closer to the event.
Production Design Associates has been nominated for ‘Technical Support Company of the Year’ for the 2009 Event Solutions Spotlight Awards, a prestigious set of awards recognizing top event professionals from around the globe. PDA is one of eight finalists for their nominated category. Anyone can vote for Spotlight Awards and support from the Charleston community is appreciated and encouraged. Voting began on November 14, 2008 and will end on January 26, 2009 at midnight.
The recipients of the awards will be named at the Spotlight Awards Ceremony in February 2009 at the Event Solutions Conference and Trade Show in Las Vegas. “It is nice to be from a small market but recognized in a major national market,” said Todd St. Onge, PDA Project Manager.
Additionally, St. Onge will be speaking at the conference. He will be conducting a seminar called, ‘Contemporary Lighting Design in a Cost-Conscious Climate.
Remember, voting ends on January 26, 2009 at mid-night. Please log onto your computer and help make PDA the next ‘Technical Support Company of the Year.’ Click here to vote.
