HAHAHA! I almost forgot all about Gin and Topics today.

I did a radio interview with Barry Moltz (you can listen here).

Then spent some time chatting with Marcus Sheridan about the webinar he’s doing for us on August 25 (info coming on Monday!).

Then made sure Pete the Tapeworm had enough to eat so I could focus on some writing today without interruption.

And then I looked up and realized, “OH CRAP! It’s almost noon!”

So here it is…this week’s Gin and Topics.

5. Investing In Main Street Instead of Wall Street. AMEN! Talk about a scary few weeks. This definitely feels worse than 2008, to me, but as I told my team on Monday, “It’s easy to blame the economy, but we’re the only ones in charge of our destiny, so let’s keep going!” Fast Company is taking it a step further and suggesting we work with local businesses to help stimulate the economy.

4. Gamification, Behaviorism, and Bullshit. During my interview with Barry this morning, he asked me what’s coming next. I said, “GAMING!” This article talks about the idea that points and a leaderboard and badges are nice, but they don’t tell you how to create gaming dynamics in both your business and marketing plans. It’s long, but very worth the read.

3. Is Your Blog Worth the Trouble? How to Calculate the ROI. Lots of people talk about determining ROI of something by measuring against goals. But this blog post actually gives you the formula to figure out not only how much it costs to keep your blog going, but whether or not it’s making money.

2. U.K. Government Considers Blocking Twitter and Facebook. Appalled by the rioting that swept across Britain earlier this week, the government wants to find out if censoring social media sites could help prevent them from happening again. Um. John Falchetto? I know you have something to say about this.

1. Disrupt Yourself. Wall Street veteran Whitney Johnson takes us down the timeline of her career’s rise from office administration to high-finance analytics, and shares with us the disruptive secrets to her success. She talks about the five problems she faced when she decided to go work on Wall Street. She leaves you with five suggestions to disrupt yourself. This. Is. Awesome. Thanks, Sean McGinnis, for sending it to me!

Have a great weekend!

Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich is the founder, CEO, and author of Spin Sucks, host of the Spin Sucks podcast, and author of Spin Sucks (the book). She is the creator of the PESO Model and has crafted a certification for it in partnership with Syracuse University. She has run and grown an agency for the past 15 years. She is co-author of Marketing in the Round, co-host of Inside PR, and co-host of The Agency Leadership podcast.

View all posts by Gini Dietrich