Happy 2nd Birthday Digital Tonto!

It was two years ago this week that I launched Digital Tonto on a whim. I’ve been amazed and gratified by the support you have given me.
In the past year, more than 80,000 of you have visited the site over 125,000 times. You have tweeted it, linked to it and put it on your Facebook and LinkedIn pages. I couldn’t be more grateful. But enough about you, let’s talk about me.
Just like last year, I’m listing some of my very favorite posts from the past 12 months. Some were popular, some were not, but all of them, along with your responses – some kind, some critical – enriched me in some way. I’m hard at work developing content for Digital Tonto’s third year and will do my best to earn your continued support. Enjoy!
(Click on the title to read each post)
The Next Really, Really, Really, Big Thing: This has been my most successful post to date, with more than 25,000 views in its first week. So, if you want to jump on “the next really, really, really big thing,” just click the link and you’ll be on your way.
Triumphant Tales of Heartbreaking Desperation: Stories of great success are often filled with incredible privation. Of course, that’s not what we normally hear about. We’re told sanitized versions about fantastic people who go from one success to the other. I, however, have always liked the full versions, warts and all. Here are a few of my favorites.
Building Creative Collaboration: How do you build better collaboration? Is it tools? Personalities? Organizational structure? All of those things are important, but evidence suggests that the most important factor is the structure of social networks. Strange, but true!
6 Popular Ideas That Fail: We all want to follow best practices, but what if conventional wisdom leads us astray? It turns out that lots of things that we hear are effective don’t really work. When they fail for us, we just figure that we’re doing it wrong. This post sets the facts straight.
What Makes You So Smart: To paraphrase the great philosopher Forrest Gump, “smart is as smart does.” So the question is, what does smart do? Find out in this post.
Who Killed Social Media Marketing: A year ago, social media marketing looked like the hot thing. Then came Pepsi Refresh and a backlash. What happened? Who killed social media marketing? Well… social media marketers, of course!
Marketing Creativity in The Digital Age: Marketing creativity used to be about “the big idea,” which meant dreaming up a message that would capture the essence of a brand and incite its consumers to action.
That’s still important, but now marketing creativity is extending itself into how consumers interact with not only the brand, but with world around them and each other. Find out why and what to do about it here.
The Story of Networks: Network science is shattering previous conceptions of how our world works. How did we get here and where are we going? Read this post and find out.
The Big Idea Myth: Have a big idea? Good for you, but that’s not enough. Many big ideas fail while smaller ideas, pursued rigorously, can turn into big things. Paragons like Google and Apple win not by coming up with big ideas, but by combining sets of smaller ideas into something completely new.
How Technology Evolves: Technology is changing our lives? Is that good or bad? Should we be afraid of what new discoveries might unleash? This post traces the history of thought concerning technology and offers surprising answers to some important questions.
What Do You Think?: There’s nothing more important to us than our own opinions. People will suffer, die and sometimes even kill for their beliefs. Where do ideas come from? How do we arrive at them? Read on and find out.
How To Cop Out: Are you tired of climbing an endless corporate ladder? Want to get away from the constant griping of clients, superiors and subordinates? Great! You are ready to cop-out. Here’s a quick guide.
How To Blame Your Clients: Okay, I’m cheating here. This one is over a year old, but so what? It’s my birthday and I’ll do what I want! I love this post based on some of the things ad industry folks commonly say.
So there they are. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them. Stick around for next year. The best stuff is still to come!
– Greg
Congrats on two years!!!
-Dan
I discovered you about six months ago and have valued each Sunday when I can learn what I don’t know or confirm what I believe. Thank you and keep expanding and improving our collective knowledge.
Thanks Dan!
Thank you so much, Mark. That’s very kind of you to say.
Have a great week!
– Greg
Congrats !!! Great job. Always enjoy tour insightful and interesting blog. I usually share your comments and posts with friends and colleges in Latin America.
Gracias Alejandro!
Greg,
Happy bday!
Your blog is one of three that I regularly check. Your intellectual reach as well as your experiences contribute to your insightful posts, majority of which teach me at least something new.
Thanks again and keep on the good stuff coming!
And thank you for your always insightful comments.
Have a great week!
– Greg
Congratulations on the two year anniversary Greg. Because of your consistently interesting and well-written posts I’m always looking forward to the next one.
From the list above I see a few that I’ve missed. More good reading material is always a welcome find. Congratulations again!
Thx Rick. btw. I liked your last post about mistakes managers should avoid: http://bit.ly/nfxqCB
Greg
…and congrats, Greg!
I was here for the first birthday, I expect many more to come 🙂
Greetings from Timisoara,
Dragos
Thanks Dragos!
Congratulations Greg! Your blog is simply outstanding!
Keep up the remarkable work man!
Greetings from Warsaw 🙂
Ivan
Dzieki Ivan!
Pozrawiam.
Grzes