There is one conversation that ranks as high on the discomfort meter as talking about strangers with your child. It is the discussion with your client about the ROI of a follower, a like, or a subscriber.

Over the past few weeks we witnessed a few monumental explosions of social media reactions. One over statements made by Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty.” The other one was from now former public relations executive Justine Sacco, who made of the infamous #HasJustineLandedYet Tweet. Both situations fall into the always attractive “hindsight is 20-20” silo.

As much as any medium, social media plays "the numbers game" in an effort to bend perception. Let's not forget that the biggest fanboys and fangirls for social media are really marketing professionals and advertisers. They are the same people who learned to manipulate and exploit the tools before most average folks ever knew what a “Tweet” was. That being said, there is still skewed misunderstanding that numbers equal value or some type of discernible ROI.

Rarely does one construct a brand that has equal amounts of cultural significance and product association.  Recently I have had the opportunity to work with Orlando Harley- Davidson, consulting them through Big Block Studios on their social media, content marketing and interactive integration. You would think that a rough-and-tumble brand like Harley-Davidson would just give the finger to the world and not give a shit about aggressive optimization.

Something we don’t talk about much in interactive marketing is what's broken or perhaps on its deathbed. 

Regular readers know I have a severe case of #FOMO about my industry and its insanely ascending evolution. As if that isn’t enough to keep my mind in overdrive, I am the same way about technology, trends, tactics and strategies that might have outlived their usefulness - or are ready for an overhaul.

Do you like traveling to exotic destinations? Are you able to sit for hours on end with an uncomfortable assortment of heroin-filled condoms inserted in your rectum? Then you've got what it takes to become a professional drug mule! 

There are very few things less interesting to me than Miley Cyrus. On an interest scale ranging from The Location of Carmen Electra’s Latest Tattoo on the high end all the way down to Parenting Tips From That “Kate Plus Eight” Woman, Miley ranks slightly above Kate only because I’m a sucker for a good train wreck.

For the past several months, I have been mentoring a University of Central Florida student Julia Harlow (I could spend a whole post about how great she is and how well she will do in the future, just take my word for it) who has her sights on an advertising and design career.

It’s a classic “chicken or the egg” scenario. Did our thirst for blood fuel the 24-hour news cycle and TMZ culture? Or is it the other way around? Regardless, I’m not surprised that the media has been pumping out non-stop content about recent stories involving the federal government’s invasion of our privacy, interracial killings and murderous mothers.

What if I told you there is a social media tool that gives you the ability to comb millions of blogs in order to identify the right blogger for your outreach campaign? What if I told you the same tool allows a deep dive into your competitor’s blogs? What if I told you this tool also allows for tracking and measurement against a blog campaign or defined article?

With that out of the way, I can say that I hope his overly lifted face rots in hell, where he will spend an eternity being relentlessly tormented and ridiculed by bullies. Now that I’ve given you a tiny hint about my personal opinion, I think it's time to create a post that is open for debate.