After months of working on our early beta, I’m pleased to let you know that RareShare is now LIVE!

The Site is free to all and works to connect those affected by rare medical disorders by creating micro-communities for each specific disease.

Currently, there are just over 500 communities (the most common of the rare disorders). We’re planning to add many more over the next several months…

Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) is a conference held each year to bring together some of the most important thinkers in the world. During the conference, 50 prominent speakers have 18 minutes each to give talks about their life passions…a pretty big challenge even for these global leaders. Last years’ speakers included Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, John Doerr, Steve Jurvetson, Jeff Skoll, and E.O. Wilson…

Each conference sells out a year in advance, but don’t worry, you can still see the presentations online. TED.com has archived over 200 of its past presentations. Everyone from Al Gore to Malcolm Gladwell have presented here…and they are all worth watching. Here’s one of my favorites from David Gallo:

Be inspired by TED…for more information, click here

Tonight is the official kickoff of the DEMO ‘08 Conference out here in Palm Desert. For those that aren’t familiar with this event, DEMO hosts a series of conferences each year to provide a launching pad for innovative technology products. To be selected for the show, a product must:

• Make its public debut at the DEMO conference
• Make a significant contribution to the state of the art in its target market
• Change the dynamics of the marketplace into which it is introduced
• Be backed by a management team capable of delivering the product to market

This show in particular will feature 77 new tech products that will be debuted over the next couple days. Each company will have approximately 6 minutes to do live demonstration on stage in front of venture capitalists, angel investors, journalists (and bloggers), and tech-geeks.

I was fortunate enough to land a press-pass last minute (this morning) with the help of Tech Confidential and will be covering the Conference for the next couple days. Be sure to check back regularly for updates from the show.

At least that’s according to Pepperidge Farm, who is helping women improve their social lives through its “Connecting through Cookies” campaign. The campaign was launched on its website, http://www.artofthecookie.com, and offers women the opportunity to learn successful strategies and tips on how to meet others and maintain friendships.

Pepperidge Farm pulled Sally Horchow, author of The Art of Friendship: 70 Simple Rules for Making Meaningful Connections, to be the spokeswoman for the campaign…

Who knew that women had such social problems?

Well, that’s not quite the full story. Although the campaign helps women learn new ways to stay “connected”, Pepperidge Farms hopes that this $2 million campaign will help it develop new ways to reach its consumers and give them a reason to purchase Pepperidge Farm cookies.

This is not an unusual strategy in for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies. Other large CPG companies, including Jockey and Dove have been implementing similar initiatives. Jockey came up with the site jockeyunderwars.com and Dove launched its campaignforrealbeauty.com, which speaks about body image and self-esteem.

Now that you’ve successfully launched a brand, how are you planning to promote it? Here’s one idea…build a community.

Not sure what I mean? Just consider the Harley-Davidson Owners Group (H.O.G.). This brand-centric community was developed by the Harley-Davidson Motor Company to bring together riders from around the world. It not only allows members to participate in local chapters and special events, but it also gives its members access to a special members-only website. Since its establishment in 1983, H.O.G. has attracted more than one million members.

One of the greatest benefits to developing this type of community is that it creates better brand awareness and loyalty. We all want our customers to be happy and come back again and again…and again. While advertising works most of the time, it’s only a piece of the puzzle. When you combine advertising with other forms of marketing communications, you will find that you have even more channels to get in front of your consumers.

The biggest challenge companies’ often face when building these types of communities is targeting the right audience. Before diving in to your development process, take some time to figure out your target demographic and what your company can offer that will attract this demographic to your community.

Concepts to Consider When Building Your Community:

Work the Web
The Internet is available to virtually everyone. When building your community, consider using Web 2.0 tools to launch your own version of a social network. If that’s too complicated, then start by setting up a simple message board or forum on your corporate site.

Go Local
If you own a retail store, focus on your local community. Your customers are probably also your neighbors, so host special events and other types of get-togethers that would interest them. Out here in Boulder, Neptune Mountaineering offers their store as a free venue for adventurers to give slide shows and lectures.

Find a Partner
You don’t have to build a community alone. It’s easy to find a partner to help. For instance, if you own a hardware store, partner with several of your key vendors to launch a community for consumers interested in home improvement.

Examples of Creative Brand-Centric Communities

Reel Moms
A community of mom’s with infants who get together at Loews for first-run movies, events and giveaways. The Company calls it “A Playdate for Moms!”
http://loews.bipnet.com/reelmoms/

Xango.tv
A video sharing site that allows customers and distributors to upload videos about Xango. The Company claims this is the first ever brand-centric video-sharing community in the industry. Currently, it has 10 different channels and is offering a $10,000 XangoTV award.
http://www.xango.tv/

Barack Obama For President
Here’s an example of a community within an established community. The brand in this example is presidential contender, Barack Obama. His Facebook group has attracted 11,225 members and his profile has 163,808 supporters.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2364211938 (Must be a Facebook user to view)

Defy.tv
Developed by adventure sportswear company, The North Face, Defy.tv allows users to upload and share extreme-sports videos.
http://www.defy.tv/

Last week’s Wall Street Journal ran a very interesting article discussing the research behind the size of our personal networks.

In summary, the article explained that in 1993, Oxford anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, published research explaining that humans have an approximate ceiling of 150 friends. The theory was derived by researching social groups in nonhuman primates and then adding to that number for humans, due in part because of our larger neocortex, the part of the brain used for conscious thought and language.

The article continues by saying online tools, such as Facebook and MySpace, may be increasing this number and allowing people to have even larger networks. They did note that most friendships start offline and close friendships are still “touchy-feely”.

Just for fun, I decided to compare my contacts in Outlook, Facebook, and LinkedIn to see how I stack up against the “average” human.

Outlook: 425 Contacts
Facebook: 254 Friends
LinkedIn: 60 Connections

I don’t consider myself a “super-user” of Facebook or LinkedIn, so I’m sure there are plenty of people out there with thousands of friends and connections. Actually, one of my contacts on LinkedIn has close to 10,000 people in his network. In my opinion, having that many friends is useless. You might as well save your time and randomly cold-call people in the White Pages when you need a contact.

How do you compare to the average human?

If you haven’t yet, make sure to add me to your Facebook and LinkedIn networks. You can lookup my profile using my email address, david [at] isserman.com.

 Technorati
The ultimate blog search engine. The first thing you should do after you create your blog is to signup for Technorati and ping it.
http://www.technorati.com

 Digg
Digg allows users to submit articles online with a direct link to the source. Other Digg users can then vote to have the article moved towards the top (or towards the bottom) of the list of popular stories.
http://www.digg.com

 FeedBurner
FeedBurner offers tools to promoting and tracking your blogs and podcasts. It allows users to subscribe to your RSS feeds and if your blog is extremely popular, FeedBurner will help you find advertisers.
http://www.feedburner.com

 Reddit
This is a user generated site that allows users to submit links of their favorite websites. Once a link is submitted, other users can move it up or down on the page depending on its level of popularity.
http://www.reddit.com

Feel free to add your favorites using the comments section below.

The next time you throw a big party, give everyone nametags…okay, this may seem hokey, but here’s the concept – on the nametags, have each guest write his or her name and then below their name, write a word or phrase in big letters that they want to be asked about.

Don’t understand what I’m talking about…here’s a photo example:

 What is NOLS you may (and should) ask…well, aha, there you go…now I can tell you about my 3-month sailing, sea kayaking and backpacking expedition I took during my last semester in college…maybe we’ll have something in common (maybe not), but at least someone will know something interesting about me and I’ll know something interesting about them when I ask about their “word”…

So now you have an idea for your next client party and an excellent way for your party goers to break the ice with each other without needing you to make introductions for everyone…

As a sport that was once reserved for preppy ivy-leaguers and boarding school students, Rugby is taking on a new role in the fashion world.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, luxury fashion houses are finding new lifestyle marketing concepts in the centuries old sport. In particular, the WSJ cited the 2004 launch of the Ralph Lauren Rugby collection, which in a statement by Ralph Lauren he described as “young and hip. It has an attitude, a point of view and it’s constantly changing. There’s a heritage and a sensibility, but it’s not necessarily about fashion, it’s about taste and style.”

So how is the Ralph Lauren Rugby label connecting with its potential customers? Primarily through its boutique Rugby retail stores, where it sells Rugby apparel and hosts a lifestyle themed café, and online at its Rugby.com, where it hosts a variety of Web 2.0 applications, including an interactive history of the Rugby shirt, an online Rugby fashion tool and a blog devoted to the Rugby lifestyle.

Plaxo
Plaxo is a great web-based program that enables users to sync their Outlook contact, calendar, tasks and notes with an online system. It’s free to join and easy to setup. It’s great for people like me who have a desktop computer at the office, a Palm Treo, and a laptop for traveling. I am able to sync everything with Plaxo and it keeps me up-to-date no matter where I update my contact list or calendar entries. 

There are two great added features that make this program even better.

1.) If you are a Plaxo member, you can create Plaxo cards for your home and work information. You can then allow other Plaxo users who add you to their address book to access this information. For instance, in my contact list, I have 17 people who are also members of Plaxo and I am kept up-to-date with their correct contact information.

2.) Once a year, I allow Plaxo to send out an “update” email to everyone in my contact list. This shoots out a quick email to the recipients asking them to review their contact information and click on a link or reply to the email to update it. I did this about 2 weeks ago and received about 50 updates that I would have otherwise not have known about.

Check it out at: http://www.plaxo.com/ 

LinkedIn
Although I’ve been a member for a while, I first started using LinkedIn more recently. Much like Facebook, LinkedIn is a social network. Instead of focusing on college buddies, LinkedIn focuses on business professionals. What does this mean?  It’s appropriate to use it in the office. Just tell your boss that you’re seeking out new business prospects.One great feature with LinkedIn is the ability to ask your network a question. It could be social in nature, but more likely people will ask for business advice. Also, LinkedIn provides a great little tool to post job openings. I haven’t used that feature, so I’m not sure how effective it is….

Check it out at: http://www.linkedin.com/