Articles written by
Keeper of the Light
December 23, 2013

The Official 2013 Christmas Drinking Game

It’s time to bust out the Yule lager and get Tannenbombed as we celebrate our favorite time of the year. Though everyone loves Christmas, it’s not without its annoyances.

For every “O Holy Night,” there’s a “Funky, Funky Xmas” by New Kids on the Block. For every beloved Christmas special on TV, there’s a two-and-a-half-minute parade of jewelry commercials. For every warm holiday get-together, there’s an uncle who’s just a little too handsy.

It’s for these reasons that we present the Christmas Drinking Game. Take it with you to your family Christmas and feel that smooth, cold-filtered Christmas spirit spread through your body. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all your friends at Nebo!

September 20, 2013

The Dark, Dank, Confused Mind of Facebook Commenters

Anyone who manages a company’s social media account knows that doing so opens oneself up to all manner of—shall we say—eccentric people and opinions. Social media has enabled brands to personally engage with their audience like never before, but the other side of the coin is that it provides literally anyone with a computer and a passing knowledge of the internet the same opportunity. The most niche, technical post ever is just as likely to get a response from a seasoned industry professional as it is from the guy inventing reasons to throw around racial epithets; and both get an equal voice.

Facebook seems to be the channel that draws most of the unusual commenters out of the woodwork.  This could be a matter of numbers owing to the fact that there are more than twice as many active users on Facebook than there are on Twitter, or maybe the Facebook demographic just skews a little crazier.

Whatever the case, here at Nebo we’re no strangers to strange comments on Facebook. In fact, we get so many that we’ve noticed trends in the type of comments we see. Maybe you’ve noticed the same on your company’s Facebook. Maybe you’ve paid to promote a post only to have dozens of misanthropic or oddball characters click your ad and leave a stream of irrelevant comments. If this sounds like you, then get ready to click “hide comment” as we present the eight people you’ll meet on Facebook. These are all based on actual comments we’ve had on our Facebook posts, but the names, pictures and comments were changed to protect the innocent. And the guilty.

August 30, 2013

College Football Friday

It’s finally upon us. No need for explanation. If you’ve got a heart that pumps blood and feelings that feel and a Fathead of Julio Jones, then you know what I’m talking about. With college football underway and the NFL season right around the corner, it’s no wonder this is the favorite time of year for so many people.

Being based out of the South, Nebo’s office is full of fierce college football loyalty. It seems to be a point of some confusion for those coming from other parts of the country. If you don’t understand the scale of college football fanaticism in the South as it relates to other parts of the country, maybe we can help you out with one of our favorite things in the world: analytics.

ESPN released viewership data for the 2012 college football season, ranking big market cities in terms of the percent of the population that watched college football. Check out this cartogram showing the results. As he always does, Nate Silver did some very interesting stuff with these data to find the true fan base of different Division-I schools.

July 19, 2013

The Travesty of BerkshireHathaway.com

The internet is a lot like a boomtown. It was built around the resource vein of information, and it was quickly populated with every type of company prospecting for paydirt. As any boomtown, its housing was utilitarian at first: rows of canvas tents and Plain Jane HTML. Companies eventually found that they liked the place and decided to set a spell, improving their websites and creating the internet community we know and love today.

However, within this community there are companies and organizations with what might be considered not so much websites as historic sites. Some of these are kept for posterity (Space Jam); some are just inexplicably bad (us.gov), though you get the feeling that they’ll be renovated eventually as was whitehouse.gov; and some are jealously guarded by old, white-haired, hermit prospectors who refuse to be bought out, still shouting from their porch at passersby. The most heinous of these offenders has to be BerkshireHathaway.com.

July 3, 2013

Celebrating America's Fruited Plains

Happy Independence Day! Though it’s raining in many parts of our great nation, the spirit of the Fourth of July and all the summer splendor it brings is alive and well. Even if your cookout plans have been put on the backburner, the bounty of summer is still there for the taking. Fireworks, barbecues and pool parties are great, but they can wait. We thought we’d pay homage to one thing no summer would be complete without that can be enjoyed any time: watermelons.