Powzot

This is a new feature to the blog (just like regular updates will be at some point). Instead of just tweeting a long list of people you should be following on twitter, I thought it would be much more valuable to actually know why you’re missing out by not following them. This is a proven method, because I’m stealing it from numerous people. Every week (or at least every couple of weeks) I’ll pick 4 of my “must follows” and tell you why they’re so awesome. So, without further ado, lets play Follow Friday! *insert your own cool game show style music here*

@smashadv

You need to follow Jim, because if you don’t you might as well not be following anyone. The man is 100% good stuff. Smart copywriter and business owner. Jim has proved to me that a mix of professional and personal tweets really leads to the best conversations, and has quickly become one of the few who I back track through my stream to read. Also he has a sweet new iPhone 3GS that you should be totally jealous of.

@darrellwhitelaw

Darrell is crazy creative and another must follow if you have anything to do with advertising, design or communications in general. He’s wicked smart and is a true innovator when it comes to running a shop. Did I mention generous too? Because he is. Always willing to help out, which is something more of us should aspire to do with our twitter streams.

@caff

Jane is another one of my twitter staples. Always a source of a laugh or a smile. She’s a fantastic copywriter and a fun person to talk to about “the biz” with because she knows a lot about it and is up to date on the latest news, usually bringing thing to my attention that I totally missed otherwise. I’ve said there may not be a more fun copywriter than her, and I stand by my statement.

@keidson

You need to know Kelly because she’s wicked smart and very soon she’ll be working for your competition, unless you hire her first (You should totally hire her first). Kelly is a lot of fun as well as being really smart. She’s a planner, blogger for AdAge and she’s also the inventor of the snuggiewow, which will change the way you think about blankets forever 

As you may or may not know, today was “Apple Monday.” The day of the WWDC keynote address and the new iPhone announcement. While the speech was going on I made this comment:

and contiued on cheering and jeering apple announcements. But later I got to thinking about this again after reading this comment:

in a blog post by @smashadv. Then the numbers sank in.

Today Apple announced, among other things, that the install base for OS X is now 75million users and there have been over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches sold to date. (Where is he going with this? He’s using a lot of numbers.) While I’m sure there is some overlap (probably a lot) between the two groups but there isn’t 100% overlap. It’s impossible that all iPhone and iPod touch users are also Mac users. So knowing that apple has somewhere between 75 and 115 million users (excluding the other iPods and apple TV). We’re going to call this 100 million for ease of math to come.

Have you ever met an Apple product owner who isn’t at least somewhat fanatic about their Apple product (if not all Apple products)? I haven’t. When we put the numbers and the love in the context of Jim’s post and Len’s tweet, “Note to everyone who is not Apple. You should dream about having customers who get this excited about your shit.” isn’t just about having legions of fans blowing up twitter and filling a convention center. It’s about having an army of almost 100 million walking, talking,breathing,media buying/making, blogging, IMing,emailing, tweeting, news casting, TALKING testimonials that do so much more than Mac and PC can ever hope to do with a TV spot or an interactive banner. You may like John Hodgeman, but you trust your friends, brother, and you mom. And this army is going to talk about these products because they have to, they have to share. Because Apple has spent so much time and energy making them part of their lives. And their friends have to listen. They need to know.

Yes, I know this isn’t a new break through. Word of mouth advertising has long been considered the most reliable type of advertising, but consider this. Apple is doing it on a global scale. 100 million people? That’s 1/3 of the population of the US. That’s 1/3 LARGER than the population of the UK. 1/10 the population of China and 1/60 the population of Earth. They have an army larger than the population of most countries, all happy to talk about their Apple stuff. And all they had to do was Think Different (about marketing). What do you think? Let’s discuss in the comments.