CBS will use 144 radio and its 212 TV affiliates to put more local content on sites in its CBS Audience Network. Furthermore, the local partnerships will bring new online opportunities to local advertisers while offering national advertisers the ability to target specific geographical areas.

Locally produced affiliate clips and other media will now be able to seep into the social media sphere via utomattic, Brightcove, Clearspring, DAVE Networks, Goowy Media, meebo, MeeVee, Musestorm, Ning, RockYou!, Slide, VideoEgg, Voxant and vSocial. These profiles widgets, wikis and other community pages will become more localized and hopefully colorful as a result. CBS will then be able to sell, of course, more targeted advertising with that media distribution and increase the amount of time spent with the CBS Brand.

It remains to be seen what kind of material will be produced for distribution on the networks, or if these local media outlets will simply open up their existing streams to the network. Local advertisers, however, will probably be able to find some new audiences via this mechanism - though I’m not yet sure what the media buy will look like.

blog readers: Note new category.

I loved this.

Partially because I’ve got some of these obsessive/compulsive tendencies when I see stuff like this wrong in the world, too. Partially because it is a good idea. And partially because I know companies ignore stuff like this when they should pay attention to it - in fact, this is great marketing material (e.g. “the little things that make Subway better.”)

While I was born inherently visual, I think it’s partially Donald Norman and Seth Godin’s fault, though for making it nearly impossible for me to walk out of any establishment without a mental “improvements” list I’d like to send the proprietor. I think the only places I go where such rarely happens are Disney, BMW service centers, Starbucks, and McDonalds.

Postscript:Â From the lefthandedtoons.com blog, even more goodness.

I have been noticing lately that many News broadcasts, podcasts, and magazine articles are referring to guests as “bloggers” as if this has somehow become a credibility indicator on its own. It is not. Â

Now, if this is followed by “and a professor at x university” or “a best selling author” or “zoologist who grafted a chicken to a poodle”… I’m fine with it. But just saying “blogger” is not enough.

Just a pet peeve here.

Please DIGG my post here.

I’ve been poking around for inspiration for a new business card (for conferences, letters, etc.) and have come across some designs that break the mold pretty nicely. My own cards have mostly been replaced by the “I’ll send you an email with my contact info on it” closure to conversations, and somehow that feels empty with certain people. As I move closer to doing informational products and workshops, I find I should have some cards around. Since I Know I won’t distribute many, I think I should make a good impression. Click to see a slide show of some amazing ones.

The same gallery with artist / credits is over at the “Art of the Business Card” at Daily Poetics. I’ll add new card galleries to this post as I find them, so bookmark me!

And just as I was about to publish this I see on my RSS reader that Seth Godin (a name you’ll see mentioned frequently on this blog) has recently published his thoughts on some common business card mistakes. I’d like to hear what he has to say above some of those above. Do you have a card design as awesome as those above? Post it on a photo site and post a link.

If elegance is not your thing, and you just want to make people spit out their drinks in laughter, pop over to the GapingVoid comic cards site.

David Airey calls out some good designs on his excellent blog, too.

Be sure to check out the folding chair business card in this collection at Creativebits.

If you want to look at more business cards than you’d get from a Ferrari Drawing Fishbowl at Macworld, check out bla.st, the Free International Business Card Site

Saw this in the checkout line at Kroger grocery store. They say never go grocery shopping hungry. You probably shouldn’t go shopping broke, either. Too much temptation.

Actually what you see here is evidence of a slow, but important change in the retail and banking industry.  Kroger already owns a mortgage company, so that’s no stretch, and the other services are easy if you have the capital. Costco and Wal-mart are getting into the banking business, so America is surely getting used to seeing it in non-traditional places. Banks must be scared to death of this - especially those with a branch RIGHT IN THE STORE. But many will simply be confused, probably, into thinking the branch in the store is related to the services.

In reality it’s just an ad for services distributed via a website and via forms at the service desk.  It’s just a bit odd to see it here. What’s next, delis and soda coolers in banks?