The growth of our video viewership continues to grow at an exponential pace. This is very exciting. Last month we had over 18,000 views. This month we are on track to double that number

Photo from Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 issue

For those of you who are not familiar with Mac Miller, he is a white Pittsburgh Rapper and song writer who has been making some major waves in the music and the social media industry.

Mac is 19 years old and looks the part. But don’t let his age or his baby face fool you. This kid is a monster in the social media scene. He is the first person to have an indie Album to top the charts since 1995.

Last year according to Forbes he made Roughly $8,000,000 from in person appearances alone.

Between his social media and his song Donald Trump, Mac also got a shout out from the Don (Donald Trump) himself.

How did he do it? Youtube, Twitter, and social media.

Mac’s songs are filled with lyrics that are on point, funny and even poke a little fun at Mac himself.

One of my personal favorite lines comes from his song Donald Trump “Hopefully I’ll be at the top soon for now I’m at my house on my couch watching cartoons”

What makes Mac so different?

Well to start he has over 230 million views on YouTube. Add that to the fact that he releases a new song for every 100,000 followers he has on twitter (currently has over 1.5 million followers on twitter).

Mac’s videos are not known for high end special effects, custom Mayhachs or supermodels popping up. His videos are him bouncing around on the screen with his friends in the background.  All that being said, he just seems to really have a handle on the social media industry in a way that very few other artists can match.

The reason I love this article in Forbes and the fact that they picked Mac Miller as one of the top 30 under 30 is that it recognizes the value and importance of proper social media. That and the fact that I love to see people from Pittsburgh doing it big.

I think it is safe to say that Mac is no longer on the couch watching cartoons.

Cheers

Josh Bobrowsky

As a whole the educational system in the United States needs to change.

There are two types of knowledge

The first type of knowledge if Crystallized knowledge- Crystallized knowledge is comprised of facts that we already know. This is often the major focus of the educational system. This can range from knowing how to spell Dog, to the capital of Pennsylvania, to knowing how to calculate the square footage of a circle.

Crystallized knowledge is extremely important to have and in the past it was extraordinarily important to teach. 50 years ago if you did not know the formula for calculating the square footage of a circle you would either have to find a person who knew the answer to your question (which could be difficult because there is a chance they may have the wrong answer) or physically seek out a book or log that explains how to do this.

Now you simply type the question into Google and can find both the formula plus a circle calculator that will calculate the formula for me.

This is not to say that zero Crystalized knowledge should be taught in schools. However, it should be taught with the basic understanding that accurate information is available at children’s fingertips from their cell phones.

To be more specific, less time should be spent upon the pure memorization of abstract ideas and concepts.

During the early years of education it is extremely important to teach the basic concepts of reading writing, spelling and simple math equations.

However, once a base knowledge level of proficiency is learned in these areas, less time should be spent focusing on memorization and more time should be spent focusing on how to effectively use this knowledge in real life (not real life from 50 years ago, but real life today).

Fluid knowledge. Fluid knowledge can be described as the ability to think on your feet. Everything from creativity, to interacting with new knowledge, to thinking through a way to solve a problem or simply how to market a new product.

This is the part of the education system that is very difficult to measure and that is often simply left out of the curriculum. I have never seen a standardized test geared for college or graduate admissions that had any way to measure creativity, or the ability to invent something new.

All education should not be focused on measuring with grades. It may sound like a crazy jump to make, but some aspects of learning are so important that a grade should come secondary.

Here is a list of traits and skills that are extremely important to have in almost any business (these are not ordered in rank of value).

• Foresight as to the coming changes
• Organization
• Resourcefulness
• Creativity
• Compassion for those you work with
• Leadership
• Expertise in your industry
• Work ethic
• Early adoption of the latest technology
• Ability to communicate your ideas
• Marketing
• Teamwork
• Sales
• Time management
• Professional Relationship building
• Trustworthiness
• Ability to perform under pressure
• Possibly the most important…. ability to find a job/career/business you enjoy and are passionate about

As I go down the list I think that less than half of the important traits are covered well in schools. In fact, some traits like resourcefulness, creativity, and relationship building are often stifled by standardized testing, and typical teaching. I have never seen a class that teaches how to build a new business relationship over dinner or drinks. Or a class dedicated to the long run advantages picking an industry that you are truly passionate about.

A little bit broader spectrum of curriculum with the focus on the changing world would go a long way. This would help our children grow into more well rounded adults and also give them an edge when they enter their careers. Who knows maybe even throw a little metric systems into the mix.

So my opinion is start with the end in mind. Build an educational system that will provide real world value, that teaches more than just the ability to perform well on a test, that teaches skills that transcend both the classroom and the business world. Teach children to follow their passion and that they can be a success; and that success cannot always be measured in dollars and grades. That true success is measured in happiness and building a fulfilling life.

I will finish with a quote from a man much wiser than myself and also the quote that inspired me to write this article.

“My hope and wish is that one day, formal education will pay attention to what I call “education of the heart.” Just as we take for granted the need to acquire proficiency in the basic academic subjects, I am hopeful that a time will come when we can take it for granted that children will learn, as part of the curriculum, the indispensability of inner values: love, compassion, justice, and forgiveness.” – Dalai Lama

Josh Bobrowsky

The Kindle Fire is a great tablet that holds its own against any other tablet on the market including the apple iPad. Except for half the price.

Check out the review and tell us your thoughts.

Thanks a lot

Josh Bobrowsky

Here is a video that goes over the basics of the new Youtube Analytics

How expanding your Facebook network can lead to more traffic to your website

First,  I want to say that I am not suggesting that you simply add random people who you don’t know on Facebook.

However, adding people that you know as casual acquaintances’ to your Facebook friends list can easily help increase the traffic to your website and also help your business.

Social media marketing, just like any other form of advertising is all about the number of people that you reach through your marketing.

Thus, if you have 300 friends on Facebook, statistically you are likely to have twice the number of people interested in what you are posting than if you only had 150 friends on Facebook.

How to Add and Find New Friends on Facebook

Go through your friends, see who their friends are. Then search for people who went to your high school and your college. You will be surprised at how many people you actually know who would be willing to accept your friend request.

Remember friends on facebook doesn’t necessarily mean best friends in real life. It means that you know them and that you might be interested in what they are up to.

How to Engage Your Audience

So lets assume you now have 2,000 friends on Facebook. Getting the word out about your company is not going to work if you constantly post advertisements about your business, because your friends will quickly grow tired of reading your ads.

Post interesting news about your company that your audience will want to interact with or comment upon.

For example: Don’t say we are having a 25% off sale on widgets today. Rather, say something more interesting like posting a cool fact… Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was the first person to used widgets in order to make his hat 3 inches higher!

So to sum it all up… Be interesting, have lots of friends, and commutate with them don’t just send one way advertisements

For those of you who are big fans of reading but not huge fans of buying books this is a great opportunity.

Here is how it works.

Catch number 1 is that you have to own a Kindle product. Simply having an iPad or other device with a Kindle application is not enough.

Catch number two you must be an Amazon Prime member.

What that means is that you pay $79 per year in membership fees.

Other stipulations are that you get one free kindle book from the Kindle Library.

Overall I think it’s a cool program but sure has a lot of catches that go with it.

Here is a video that addresses how to embrace positive social media made by consumers, and also examines what social media that is less than positive you should simply ignore.

Amazon is coming out with a new Table called the Kindle Fire. By all accounts the new Kindle Fire will do everything an Apple iPad 2 will do except at well less than half the price.

But the question becomes what is the cost of this tablet to Amazon. Amazon’s third quarter earnings this year were a mere $63 Million. Compared to $231 Million in the same quarter last year.

So the question is will the Fire burn a major hole in Amazon’s profits, or will it burn up the competition to set blaze to the iPad and Andriod competitors