Is the Internet making you stupid? Many academics say sites like Twitter — and the Internet at large — are devouring our brains like zombies. But is it really the Internet’s fault that you decided to follow Snooki? No! Smart ideas do exist online, and you can absorb them into your deteriorating grey matter if you know where to find them. Then you can tell professor Mark Bauerlein (author of The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future) where he can shove it!

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FAQs are questions your website visitors and customers frequently ask. But sometimes you need to ask yourself: “Why do they keep asking these same questions?”

The answer could mean there are problems with your website content. What message are you not getting across? What information do people often have problems finding?

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In this inaugural edition of Are You Really Gonna Search That?, Opticon makes a peculiar discovery while conducting keyword research for a snowmobiling company in Whistler, BC.

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Has an influx of auto-DMs ruined your day more than once? Ever respond to an auto-DM thinking there was a real person there, only to be ignored and reduced to just another faceless Twitter account? It’s time for this injustice to stop! Join me in commemorating May 2011 as Anti-Auto-DM Month and let’s work together to finally put an end to auto-DM abuse!

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At a time when everyone with a smart phone and a Twitter account boasts social media genius, digital analyst Brian Solis renews our faith in the existence of intelligent discourse in that realm. Author of Engage!, a comprehensive guide for businesses vying for success in the social web, Solis offers practical advice on how to build a social media strategy and measure its effectiveness beyond the template follower-counting approaches.

Webcopyplus recently stole a few moments of his time to ask some pressing questions on the minds of most businesses trying to optimize their digital reach.

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Did you forego your venti half-sweet hazelnut soy latte habit to experiment with a pay-per-click ad campaign this month? We’re offering some tips to help you get started, so you can sleep tight knowing you didn’t renounce your coffee princess throne for nothing.

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No matter the industry, all creative professionals, and even the left-brained ones, need to look outside of our circles of influence for inspiration. By exploring new ideas, images, methodologies or concepts, we expand our minds and fuel our own creativity. This is how innovation happens, and how new products, business practices and ways of living help us grow as individuals and as a society.

Where do you look for creative inspiration? Here are some awesome locations around the Web where you can bask in the creativity of your fellow humans.

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Dear business owner,

We know vision, mission and value statements make you feel warm and fuzzy. They may even make a few of your keenest employees feel giddy. But inflicting them on your website visitors is cruel, and it’s time to put a stop this sleep-inducing torture.

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Where do common expressions in the English language come from?

Long before Internet memes and hashtags, there were spoken expressions that stood the test of time. Even the best copywriters fall victim to their seduction, citing writer’s block, lack of sleep or general laziness as culprits. Sadly, clichés, idioms and other common expressions often signify lack of creativity, which is not something any writer wants to portray.

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