Insights from Nebo

Google’s actions are usually shrouded in mystery. Nowhere is this more apparent than when website traffic falls off a cliff in a matter of days due to an unannounced algorithm change. However, not all of Google’s updates are nefarious or even under the radar. Google’s greatest asset is flexibility and, with a few exceptions, accommodation of user needs.

With each year that passes, we get a little wiser. Some of our principles and beliefs are reinforced. Others evolve as we learn and grow.

2012 was a tremendous year for us. We couldn’t have been more fortunate. Our team grew stronger. We added signature clients and launched exciting projects. We also learned a lot – both from our successes and failures.

Below are some of the biggest lessons we learned in the past year.

This year, we've published over 70 posts on the Nebo blog covering everything from the history of french fries to the same-sex marriage controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A. Our goal is to write content that engages and fuels intelligent discussions. If we can work in a fast food tie-in, great.

Internally, we like to track how many social shares each post receives. It helps us learn which topics people find interesting, which ones are duds, and which of our writers deserve promotions (just kidding).

Looking back at our most-shared posts from 2012, we can glean more than a few insights into our audience and how we can better engage them in 2013.

The biggest symbol of the holiday season is of course, the Christmas tree. Real, plastic or made from semi-recyclable materials, it represents joy, wonder, hopes, dreams and the inevitable glee at what lies underneath come Christmas morning. With much anticipation for being with family and friends around our own Christmas trees soon, we took a look at some of the year's best, and most interesting, pine tree presentations. We invite you to take a look at some of the most amazing trees from around the world, and to share some of your memories of what you found under your own tree growing up.

Not since Henry Ford created the assembly line and the Model T has one man or company so influenced the automotive industry. Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley upstart fueled not by profit but philanthropy, has jumpstarted the auto industry’s movement into electric vehicles. Tesla has achieved what no other car company dared think was possible: proved that electric vehicles could be awesome. Don’t take our word for it. Ask Motor Trend, who named their latest car, the Model S, 2013 Car of the Year.

It’s the end of the year, a time to reflect on huge successes or just be thankful for squeaking by. And how do we celebrate? By extending our workday to attend the worst oxymoron in the world: the company party. We get dressed to the 9’s and mind our P’s & Q’s for fear of potential humiliation. No more than two drinks. Speak to your boss. Don’t use your co-worker’s purse as a barf bag. So many rules and regulations to make sure you don’t receive a pink slip instead of your Christmas bonus.

This year, let’s look at the holiday party not as an exercise in masochism, but as an art. An art, that, when mastered, will raise you and your co-workers above the doldrums of Bing Crosby and holiday cocktails, and bring you the one thing missing from most company holiday parties: tidings of comfort and joy.

This is the Art of the Company Holiday Party.