Cover bands are typically lame, but Pomplamoose is different. In fact, I’m pretty sure it is the first cover band I have ever liked. Ever. And now they are one of my favorite musical duos of all time.

Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn formed this Indie duo almost two years ago in San Francisco, showcasing their work almost exclusively on YouTube through a medium they have dubbed VideoSongs. They are, in fact, the reason I now have a personal YouTube account.

“There’s no hidden sounds, there’s no lip-synching, there’s no overdubbing. What you see is what you hear,” is how Conte described VideoSongs in a recent interview with NPR about how Pomplamoose is making a living on YouTube. “Sometimes, there might be two or three Natalys harmonizing with herself, and then you’ll see those three videos juxtaposed together on the screen.”

Their totally unpretentious homespun VideoSongs feature them playing a gajillion different instruments (including a xylophone, drums, and piano), goofing off in a good way,  dancing around their living room and, most of all, putting their own musical spin on the motley assortment of pop songs they cover. And when I say motley, I mean just that. Their YouTube channel features them working their mojo on everything from Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” to the Chordette’s “Mr. Sandman.”  They also have some songs from “The Sound of Music” and a couple Michael Jackson covers.

Mostly, though, they cover the kind of pop songs you hear on mainstream radio. The kind I love to hate. Until Pomplamoose works its magic on them. For example, I never thought I would be able to tolerate, much less actually enjoy listening to a Lady Gaga song. These days, however, I often catch myself throughout the day humming her hit single “Telephone” thanks to Pomplamoose. (No really, thank you, Pomplamoose. I love your  cover of “Telephone”! Lady Gaga’s version, however, still makes me nauseous. Go figure.)

Instead of gushing on and on about this couple’s music (yes, they are romantically involved … according to YouTube comments), the best way I can describe what makes Pomplamoose so special is to tell you where you can judge their work for yourself. Here’s where you can get the good stuff:

Pomplamoose’s VideoSongs on YouTube

Download Free Pomplamoose Singles from Myspace

Buy Pomplamoose’s Music and Fan Gear Direct from the Source – Cut Out the Middleman!

Buy Pomplamoose’s New Album on iTunes

Check Pomplamoose and let me know what you think!

P.S. Special thanks to my coworker Andrew Alford for filling me in on Pomplamoose.

P.P.S. Pomplamoose means “grapefruit” in French.

Follow Friday: Pomplamoose, YouTube’s Best Cover Band Ever is a post from: Online Marketing Jill of All Trades, the blog of Denver-based SEO/Writer Christy Correll.

According to news reports, Facebook called a company-wide meeting today to discuss its privacy polices. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Facebook’s meeting on privacy issues is a result of a growing number of Facebook users who have become alarmed alarmed by the company’s casual attitude towards protecting user information.

As a result, the ACLU is asking Facebook users to sign a petition to give users more control over their personal information. The ACLU’s petition to Facebook asks Facebook to give users control over all the information they share on Facebook, including “connections,” to protect user information by default, and to et users choose who can see any part of their information. In recent months, the social networking mega-site has taken away some privacy controls altogether from users, and has made other information public by default.

The ACLU is also petitioning Facebook to not share user information with any third party without a user’s “express opt-in consent.” Facebook recently opted users into a beta program that shared user information with third parties by default. Many users did not know that they were sharing their information with other websites, and it’s my guess that the majority of Facebook users that were automatically enrolled in this program still don’t know that their information is leaving the walls of Facebook.

I am going to sign the petition myself. I am all for Facebook being allowed to monetize itself, but not at the cost of tricking the average user into handing over their personal information. As the ACLU stated in the email it sent out to users today, “the less control you have over your own personal information, the more likely that information could end up in the wrong hands—including the government’s.”

The ACLU and Google are not the only organizations freaking out (and rightly so) about Facebook’s recent disrespect for the privacy of its users. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and 14 other consumer groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Facebook. This week, a European Union group slammed Facebook publicly.

Please join me in signing the petition.

I do not want Facebook to go away. It has enriched my relationships with friends around the world and even acted as a catalyst for forming some new friendships. And until recently, my entire family stayed in touch on Facebook. We were able to interact with each other multiple times a day despite being flung across every time zone in the US. Previous to Facebook, that was impossible.

At Facebook’s F8 Conference held April 21, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said his company was “building a web where the default is social,” explaining the new information-sharing features rolled out that day, including Open Graph. Not long after, Google engineers starting closing or deactivating their Facebook accounts in drove. I wonder if Zuckerberg is not concerned for his own privacy, having opened up almost all of his Facebook profile for the entire world to see. While I commend him for walking his talk – subjecting his personal information to the same risks that many unaware Facebook users are now facing – I really want to know if Zuckerberg, who turns 26 tomorrow, has ever read George Orwell’s book 1984. Having come of age in the era of over sharing, many of my 20-something friends don’t understand what all the fuss about. After all, they don’t have anything to hide. Their lives are open books. Like Orwell’s characters in 1984 who had become enslaved to the government, “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”

For those of us who are awake, let’s show Facebook some tough love. Let’s tell Facebook we care about it, and therefore am concerned that it is completely out of control. Stop manipulating innocent user’s personal information, Facebook, and we will keep sharing our lives (with those we choose to) on your site. Refuse to respect our personal boundaries, however, and we are cutting you off.

If Orwell’s 1984 Scared the Hell Out of You, Please Sign the ACLU’s Petition Against Facebook is a post from: Online Marketing Jill of All Trades, the blog of Denver-based SEO/Writer Christy Correll.

In just a few minutes, you can gain two high-quality links from one of the web’s most popular social networking sites, LinkedIn. Not only do they offer great page authority, but they also pass link juice from your public profile. Here’s what to do:

1. Login to your LinkedIn account and select “Edit My Profile” from the drop-down menu.

2. Scroll down your profile page until you see where your links to the websites of your choice  are listed. Note that you are allowed to list three different links here. LinkedIn offers the choice of using custom anchor text for each link or selecting one of several choices from a drop-down menu. Go ahead and select “Other” for your first link and then type in the anchor text of your choice (optimized, of course, for relevant keywords) and then paste in the URL. This link will be no-followed, but it will have perfect anchor text and still give you a link from an authoritative site. Relevant anchor text and site authority are two important measures in determining link value, as is the PageRank or amount of link juice a link passes (usually determined by PageRank when doing a quick-and-dirty analysis of a link’s value).

3. Next, select “My Blog” and “My Website” for your second and third links. Paste in the appropriate URLs for each one. The bummer is that you cannot choose custom anchor site for these two links. But the awesome news is that not only will these links will not only come from an authoritative, high-ranking site,  they will also pass link juice to the blog and website they lead to.

4. Click “Save Changes” and you are done.

5. To verify that I am not pulling the wool over your eyes (or just for fun), you might wish to look at your source code of your public profile to make sure that the links are neither redirected nor no-followed for “My Blog” and “My Website.” Remember, your public profile is the one with your custom URL. For instance, mine can be viewed at http://linkedin.com/in/christycorrell/. The one with the messy URL is the one you can only see when you are logged in. All links in the “Websites” section of your profile with the messy URL will be redirected.

How to Get Two “Do-Follow” Links from LinkedIn in Under Five Minutes is a post from: Online Marketing Jill of All Trades, the blog of Denver-based SEO/Writer Christy Correll.

Facebook is encouraging select local businesses to promote their Facebook pages with the new “text to like” feature. As an incentive, Facebook is gifting these businesses with Facebook-branded window decals customized with the URL of each business’s Facebook page and instructions on how to “like” that particular message by sending an SMS. Social media news blog Mashable confirmed yesterday that select local businesses have already started receiving the “text to like” stickers in their mailboxes.

Aside from the fact that Facebook’s use of the word “like” is totally out of control, I believe local businesses would be wise to leverage this free tool to introduce their brand to as many Facebook users as possible. Last year, the number of people who use Facebook grew by a staggering 145% — from 42 million to 103 million users.

But what if Facebook doesn’t send your local business one of these window stickers? Or what if you don’t qualify as a local business? Actually, it turns out that the “text to like” feature is available to anyone with a custom URL on Facebook.
I tested this myself by sending a text to 32665, Facebook’s mobile messaging number, with the words “like 9news” and received a confirmation message almost immediately. http://facebook.com/9news/ is the custom URL of the most accurate source of local weather information where I live, and that’s saying something as Colorado weather is notoriously unpredictable. Now my Facebook profile page will indicate that I “like” this page, and I will receive a text with the local weather information each day instead of having to log onto 9 News Weather’s website. Rad!

You should be aware that in order to use the “text to like” feature, you must  have activated Facebook Mobile Texts in the account settings for your Facebook account and have confirmed your mobile number. To confirm your mobile phone with Facebook, click on the “mobile” tab in your account settings. Account settings can be accessed from your profile page.

Editor’s Note: Facebook has strict terms regarding the terminology, logos and icons that may used to promote Facebook pages. It is recommended that you read these terms of use thoroughly before designing anything for the purpose of promoting your Facebook page. Neither ChristyCorrell.com nor Honey Tree Media LLC is responsible for anyone who violates Facebook’s TOS.

How to Promote Your Facebook Page with the New “Text to Like” Feature … Even if You Aren’t in the Beta Program is a post from: Online Marketing Jill of All Trades, the blog of Denver-based SEO/Writer Christy Correll.

These social media icon pillows from Craftsquatch on Etsy are the perfect gift for that person in your organization that doesn’t “believe” in social media or thinks it’s a fad. For less than twenty bucks, you can help them get comfy with social media.

Getting Comfy with Social Media is a post from: Online Marketing Jill of All Trades, the blog of Denver-based SEO/Writer Christy Correll.