Following the Pop Culture Conversation with Collecta, Tinker, Twinfluence and More - Cory Treffiletti - MediaBizBlogger

Last week we witnessed the unprecedented passing of three pop culture icons; Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and of course, Michael Jackson. Each left a lasting impact on our hearts and minds and their deaths within a few hours of each other caused unprecedented demand on Twitter and other communications and social networking sites and services. This week we pay our respects to those pop culture icons by identifying emerging companies that help you track pop culture and the conversations taking place about it.

COLLECTA (http://www.collecta.com/) came on the scene just a couple of weeks ago, but it seems to be making quite an impact. Collecta presents a collection of recent, real-time search results that helps you see what's going on right now. Type in any of the names for your favorite pop culture icons and see what's being said about them right now! It's "Human Nature" in action.

If you just "Can't Stop Till You Get Enough" of what's being talked about right now, check out TINKER (http://www.tinker.com/) from the folks over at Glam Media Labs. Tinker gives you a more graphical way to see what's being talked about right now, but focused on Twitter. If you "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" online, you might as well know what everyone is else is up to first!

If you Twitter quite a bit and want to know how influential you really are, then check out TWINFLUENCE (http://www.twinfluence.com/) and see for yourself. It's a good chance to check out the "Man In The Mirror" and come to terms with what people listen to when you "Say, Say, Say" what you do through Twitter!

Following the Twitterati path that we've started here, let's also check out TWITALYZER (http://www.twitalyzer.com/) which is another tool for seeing how much impact and success you're having in the micro-blogging sphere. Twitalyzer presents a "Black or White" analysis of your success online. You might not be as successful as you think, but you're probably more successful than "Billie Jean" or "Dirty Diana", right?

And if you're having one of those "Bad" days where you just feeling like screaming out "Leave Me Alone", check out BADHAP (http://www.badhap.com/). Bad Hap is like FML and it provides a little line of sight into what other horrible things are happening to people just like you. Somehow, hearing what sucks for other people seems to always make us feel better!

As for the world of iPhone Apps that are hoping to become the next "P.Y.T.", check out VANS SK8 for a cool, branded skateboarding game and TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR, just because it's EA and EA always creates cool games for the iPhone!

Thanks for reading – now "Beat It"!

Cory Treffiletti is President and Managing Partner for Catalyst SF. Cory has been a thought leader in interactive marketing and advertising since 1995. Cory can be contacted at cory@catalystsf.com.

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