In their book “The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture,” advertising and marketing specialists Terry O’Reilly and Mike Tennant provide insight into the persuasive powers of language.

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You’ve seen too many of the same “get more Twitter followers” schemes: pump and dump; get on popular lists; offer gifts; or even buy followers. Too much work, and never enough reward. Here are some creative ideas from our copywriters guaranteed to help you tap into some big accounts instantly!

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On Saturday, Jan. 29, Sidetrek Productions presented a one-day conference in Vancouver on real world social media strategies and implementation. The speaker line-up included representatives from some of the biggest players in social media in Vancouver, the country and the world.

Following is our recap of the highlights.

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Best Buy will run its first Super Bowl game ad this Sunday. The spot will feature the odd pairing of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne with Justin Bieber.

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Online retail sales in Europe are set to rise 18% to more than 200 billion euros ($271 billion) this year, reported Reuters, outpacing growth at traditional shops as well as Internet sales in the US.

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The Apple logo on a laptop or phone may evoke the same feelings for some people as a crucifix or Star of David pendant does for others, suggests research by Tel Aviv University, Duke University and New York University scientists. According to their research, brands are a form of self-expression and a token of self-worth, just like symbolic expressions of one’s faith.

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One of our favourite sources for general hilarity and Web-related weirdness, Laughingsquid, posted Steve Jobs’ New Years Resolutions on a Starbucks Napkin, courtesy of the ‘unreal Apple news’ team over at Scoopertino.  If you think this is funny, check out some of Scoopertino’s other fake Apple news pieces, like Wikileaks Releases 140,000 Emails from Steve Jobs, and Apple Kool-Aid to Go Into Mass Distribution.

I guess we’re not the only ones who like to poke a little fun at Apple’s head brat.

Recently, 52 Weeks of UX posted an article that challenged a commonly held opinion regarding web content — that it should be as concise and simple as possible in order to appeal to the average web user, whose attention span online doesn’t often creep past a few seconds.  The popular theory goes, that if you don’t deliver the pertinent facts quickly, your website visitors will get frustrated and go elsewhere to find the information they desire.

In response to the point that web copy should be brief, the article’s author, Joshua Porter, stated: “There are several problems with this assumption, however. First, people do actually read on the Web…scanning is simply the first step in the process. Second, short text can be just as poorly written as long text (and often is). Third, people actually seek out and enjoy reading longer texts.“

Here are the author’s points supporting this statement, and our take:

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If you’re like me, you get irritated by overused headlines. Now that we’re entering ‘Best of 2010’ season, I’ve gone into hyper-eye-roll mode.

To help you waste your Internet time wisely, I’ve decided to be your ‘Best of 2010’ list curator. Of course, all of these are based around my penchant for web content, copywriting, web design, technology and marketing, and I rebelliously chose 9 instead of 10.

Here is my collection of the Best Best of 2010 Lists of 2010.

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