Why do Costco customers spend so much? Over on The Frontal Cortex, Wired contributing editor Jonah Lehrer deconstructs:

“… this is where all those details of the Costco shopping experience make us more likely to spend money. The bare bones warehouse aesthetic, the discounted house brand, the constant reassurance that we’re paying ‘wholesale’ prices — it’s all an effective means of convincing us to not worry so much about the price tag. As a result, we’re able to focus entirely on our anticipated pleasures, which is why I walk out of the store with all this stuff I don’t need.”

The full post is a good read and is available over here.

(Hat tip to Mark Evanier.)

When it’s Christmas, it’s gotta be Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story. And when it’s Easter, it’s gotta be Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

I seem to be drowning in articles and blog posts about social media these days. It’s a change from drowning in email, I suppose. Anyway, this feels like a good time to cut through all the bushwah and get down to it.

So in that spirit, as well as in the spirit of blatant linkbait, here are 10 truths about social media presented in no particular order of importance, appropriately distilled to 140 characters or less.

If you’re trying to instill Social Media 101 into a business owner wondering what all the hype is about, these are probably a good place to start:

1. There is no such thing as a social media expert. If you encounter someone who calls him- or herself an “expert,” flee.

2. Social media is media. It’s also social. Fundamentally, it’s more about the social than it is about the media.

3. This ain’t no field of dreams. Just because you build a Facebook page, they won’t necessarily come.

4. If you think social media success will come your way through hard sell, think again.

5. Alfonso Bedoya understands. Ads? We ain’t got no ads. We don’t need no ads! I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ ads!

6. Your crappy marketing will not be saved by a Twitter account and a Facebook page and a LinkedIn profile.

7. Patience, grasshopper. Building social media presence and influence takes time.

8. Having 100 fans or followers is better than having 10,000 … if they’re the right 100.

9. Just because everyone else is on Twitter or Facebook doesn’t mean you need to be there, too.

10. We’re talking communications tools. So before you pick up a hammer or a Phillips head, check to see if you have a nail or a screw.

“In these days of widespread illiteracy, functional illiteracy … anything that keeps people stupid is a felony.”
—Harlan Ellison

Back in 2006, I linked to “The Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes Of All Time” over at The Museum of Hoaxes, which also has this list of the “Top 10 Worst April Fool’s Day Hoaxes Ever.” Click. Read. Enjoy.