In March of 2008, Starbucks launched the creation of www.mystarbucksidea.com. The main inspiration for creating the online community is for Starbucks to respond to their customers and in turn, promote and review their ideas. A main feature of the website is a forum where customers can directly dialogue with Starbucks representatives from a variety of departments. Starbucks keeps their website exciting and inviting by implementing six “pillars.”

1. Visible Action
Since 2008, Starbucks has made about 50 changes based on customer submissions.
2. Great Discussions
Engage communication between Starbucks and their customers but also among customers.
3. Promotion
Ads are placed to notify others that change happened due to the community involvement.
4. New Features
The website continues to create new and exciting features that keep customers interested.
5. New Geographies
Expecting to expand to other countries.
6. New ways to use site to have people engage in brand
For new stores waiting for their opening day, the community can decide what music, books and art will be included at their local Starbucks.
These are the main results since implementing mystarbucksidea.com:
• 54,228 product ideas
• 21,648 experience ideas
• 13,235 involvement ideas
• over 100,000s of comments
Every business is different, and clearly all of these “pillars” cannot be used in every situation. Starbucks success in using social media is one all can learn from and implement for their own business.

Every year you get the new yellow pages (or several) on your front door and they seem to get thicker… hmmm, interesting considering we would assume with all the new technology they would be getting thinner. After all, it’s the 21st century and who uses phonebooks these days? But there are those who still prefer printed directories over online ones, but there are also those who hate receiving them. And what happens to all those? They either get thrown away or perhaps recycled. Either way, they are a nuisance for those who do not wish to receive them, and at worst, this proliferation is damaging to the environment.

So why does it continue? Directories generate huge revenues for their publishers, so it is driven more by their profit motive than it is by a desire to provide a service to users. Each year, publishers print and distribute more than 500 million phonebooks in the United States… that’s the equivalent to some 19 million trees, according to YellowPagesGoesGreen.org. Wondering how you can help? Submit your information here to stop receiving phonebooks. We can make a change!

The Tulsa Metro Chamber isn’t just one of the first Tulsa organizations to get an application on the iPhone, it is the first chamber of commerce in the country to do so.

The application, simply called Tulsa Metro Chamber, recently went live on Apple’s App Store. The feature, which can be downloaded for free, includes a searchable directory of chamber members, news and a calendar of events.

Chamber officials credited Cubic, a local creative firm, for coming up with the idea and developing the app.

“Cubic proactively did the research and sought out the programming approval,” said Sheila Curley, vice president of communications.

Billy Kulkin, Cubic’s president and managing partner, said the app is a way to keep the Tulsa chamber ahead of the curve.

“We want to train the members to use the iPhone app in order to obtain the right information at the right time,” he said.

Work on an update already has begun.

Louis C.K. talks on Conan O’brien about technology from Nathan Lunde-Berry on Vimeo.

We Cubicans are quite obsessed with technology. Here is a funny (and regretfully accurate) video with Conan O’Brien and guest Louis C.K. about how people in today’s society take things for granted. The best line: ”We live in an amazing world, and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots.” Burn.