Glad to hear Jon Husband's going to be expanding and expounding on Wirearchy in 2008 -- especially since he's been talking about wired and collaborative workplaces since way back during Web .25.
Jon is a powerful thinker, communicator, and a gentleman. He's been around the business cycle a time or two. He's NOT a Silicon Valley twenty-something entrepreneur with a poster of Mike Arrington on his wall and a bad techmeme habit. (Thank goodness.) The first stuff I learned about gesturing (from a collaborative and web perspective, not a road rage perspective) was from Jon.
Yes, it's definitely Wirearchy time.
---
December 07, 2007
the redheaded stepchild?
I hadn't heard that LiveJournal was sold. Apparently a Russian company called SUP bought it and will set up an operation in SF. They got the property and its faithful baby bloggers for an undisclosed sum.
Six Apart CEO Chris Alden says it's about focus and Six Apart growing up. I know and like Chris, but that sounds kinda lame, although it also rings true. LiveJournal was MySpace before MySpace was MySpace, and apparently that's the point. The kids have run off to greener social networking pastures, or at least that's the thinking.
Canter and Semple feel creeped out about it.
The thing is that Russian bloggers have found a home on LiveJournal (ala Orkut with the Brazilians). That gives some context for the sale, as does the fact that SUP has been managing LiveJournal for over a year: "The Russian LiveJournal community is second only to the U.S. in number of accounts. There are about 14 million Live Journal users. SUP now represents 28% of the total LiveJournal monthly audience."
I mean guys, it's not like the Russians invaded Six Apart and ran off with the family jewels. And it's not like SixApart sold LJ to AOL or something. SUP was already involved. Users who didn't like it had a year to move. I've seen worse treatment. (COUGHweblogs.comCOUGH).
The thing is, sooner or later the pull of enterprise 2.0 will become irresistible for web companies that will have to grow up and find a sustainable business model (like beyond pay-per-click ads) and a revenue stream that supports salaries and office space and benefits for The Team.
Not all of the web can stay young and hot forever.
That means you'll likely see more of your very-good-best-friend webcos divest themselves of their non-core offerings as they hone in on providing Value to the New Old Boss.
----
Six Apart CEO Chris Alden says it's about focus and Six Apart growing up. I know and like Chris, but that sounds kinda lame, although it also rings true. LiveJournal was MySpace before MySpace was MySpace, and apparently that's the point. The kids have run off to greener social networking pastures, or at least that's the thinking.
Canter and Semple feel creeped out about it.
The thing is that Russian bloggers have found a home on LiveJournal (ala Orkut with the Brazilians). That gives some context for the sale, as does the fact that SUP has been managing LiveJournal for over a year: "The Russian LiveJournal community is second only to the U.S. in number of accounts. There are about 14 million Live Journal users. SUP now represents 28% of the total LiveJournal monthly audience."
I mean guys, it's not like the Russians invaded Six Apart and ran off with the family jewels. And it's not like SixApart sold LJ to AOL or something. SUP was already involved. Users who didn't like it had a year to move. I've seen worse treatment. (COUGHweblogs.comCOUGH).
The thing is, sooner or later the pull of enterprise 2.0 will become irresistible for web companies that will have to grow up and find a sustainable business model (like beyond pay-per-click ads) and a revenue stream that supports salaries and office space and benefits for The Team.
Not all of the web can stay young and hot forever.
That means you'll likely see more of your very-good-best-friend webcos divest themselves of their non-core offerings as they hone in on providing Value to the New Old Boss.
----
December 05, 2007
where's marcus?
You know, just for one day, one half day, one hour even, I'd like the spirit of Buddy Rich to visit the hot web 2.0 players for a little history lesson.
(nws, btw).
These were never supposed to be this accessible (we had the cassettes back in the 80s), but maybe the twitter crowd will enjoy a tour of work 1.0.
(nws, btw).
These were never supposed to be this accessible (we had the cassettes back in the 80s), but maybe the twitter crowd will enjoy a tour of work 1.0.
December 04, 2007
State of the Blogs Roundup: Ronni, Brian, Shelley, Tony, Doc, and Extra-Jesus
I'm concerned about the state of blogging, located just south of North Dakota and just north of South Carolina last time I looked. If you don't see it on google maps that's because the location is v. stealth.
I am concerned that the talented, smart, mouthy voices we need are growing ever wearier of the stupidity. I am concerned that vegetarianism has rendered some bloggers seemingly impotent and obviously NO one has sent meat.
I am concerned that a gender-rigged version of techmeme wouldn't link to me even if a girl did say it was okay to have such a site, which apparently she has not. Okay no i'm not really concerned about that.
I saved a kitten from drowning in a tub tonight. After a friend's three year old got out of the tub and got his PJs on, someone forgot to pull the plug on the tub. And the thing is that two 8-week-old kittens live in the house and WHAT kind of dumpster kitten jumps into a tub full of water? But when I went back in there, there he was floating about in the water looking very disheveled, and so I grabbed him out of the water, and even though this is a wild kitten, he sure was calm and happy to see me and even let me blow him dry with a noisy hair dryer.
Animals are smart like that. Especially after they do something dumb.
But the COOL thing of the day is that I learned our Shakespierce has gone and landed a holy-shit job as head blog wrangler for the entire LA Times, overseeing the MSM outlets 25 blogs. And he got BENEFRICKINFITS. Hey Mr. Media, MizPee is now in your area. Let's talk.
As for Tony's impressive new gig, I hearken back to something doc said on his old blog, doc 1.0:
Because see it was very loud at these bars when you are at SXSW, and you know bloggers, well someone used a big vocab word - Exegesis - and doc heard as "extra-Jesus", at which point that became the conversation condiment of choice for every sentence thereafter, as in "yeah, get that next pitcher with extra-Jesus blahahahaha," which you know, when you think about it, makes pretty good sense.
--
I am concerned that the talented, smart, mouthy voices we need are growing ever wearier of the stupidity. I am concerned that vegetarianism has rendered some bloggers seemingly impotent and obviously NO one has sent meat.
I am concerned that a gender-rigged version of techmeme wouldn't link to me even if a girl did say it was okay to have such a site, which apparently she has not. Okay no i'm not really concerned about that.
I saved a kitten from drowning in a tub tonight. After a friend's three year old got out of the tub and got his PJs on, someone forgot to pull the plug on the tub. And the thing is that two 8-week-old kittens live in the house and WHAT kind of dumpster kitten jumps into a tub full of water? But when I went back in there, there he was floating about in the water looking very disheveled, and so I grabbed him out of the water, and even though this is a wild kitten, he sure was calm and happy to see me and even let me blow him dry with a noisy hair dryer.
Animals are smart like that. Especially after they do something dumb.
But the COOL thing of the day is that I learned our Shakespierce has gone and landed a holy-shit job as head blog wrangler for the entire LA Times, overseeing the MSM outlets 25 blogs. And he got BENEFRICKINFITS. Hey Mr. Media, MizPee is now in your area. Let's talk.
As for Tony's impressive new gig, I hearken back to something doc said on his old blog, doc 1.0:
It will eventually become clear to everybody that there is far more money being made because of open source than with open source. This is what we have to remember every time somebody asks, "How can you make money with (open source product)?" The answer is, "You don't make money with it. You make money because of it."But the best part of that whole Doc discussion was the extra-Jesus.
The because of principle is old hat in mature business categories, but it's new to the software business. Too many of us still want to see "business models" for all kinds of goods that don't belong on the income sides of balance sheets. Would you ask your telephone what its business model is? How about your front porch? Your driveway? Your clothes? Those things may help us make money; but they are not how we make money. Well, the same goes for open source products. They are means to ends. You make money because of them, not with them.
Because see it was very loud at these bars when you are at SXSW, and you know bloggers, well someone used a big vocab word - Exegesis - and doc heard as "extra-Jesus", at which point that became the conversation condiment of choice for every sentence thereafter, as in "yeah, get that next pitcher with extra-Jesus blahahahaha," which you know, when you think about it, makes pretty good sense.
--
December 03, 2007
it takes a village to make a banner
THANK YOU to Madame Levy and her Wonderific Daughter, and to RageBoy and his Wonderific Dissociative Identity Disorder, for the mashup that is my new header. Weee!
---
---
December 01, 2007
A Book that Speaks Volumes for Mothers and Daughters
As part of the MotherTalk Book Tour, Jenna and I reviewed Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz's The Daring Book for Girls. 
Interesting that the first reaction of Jenna, whose ten years old, was that the cover and type looked old fashioned. At first she didn't want to read it because of that--a fact I'm not so proud of. After all, a little old fashioned culture is an inoculation against the Disney monopoly.Far from old and boring, The Daring Book for Girls is an incredible guide for parents and children to explore together -- to find new adventures, little-known facts. Each chapter presented something we didn't know before, and that's a tall order for a book. Especially with two different age groups reading it.
From how to play gin to how to do a cartwheel to French terms of endearment -- Ma puce, or "my flea" for example -- you'll find just about everything a curious mind and body needs in this encyclopedia of coolness. Periodic table of the elements? Check. How to make friendship bracelets? Check. Games for slumber parties? Check. Women Explorers and a timeline for their accomplishments? Check. Making a flat scooter? Check. Sesquepedalian words? Check. Math tricks? Check. History of Women Olympics firsts? Check.
And a LOT more. For a taste of how much more, visit the book's website or watch the authors on The Today Show.
My favorite parts of the books were the learning activities and the games. I knew precisely NONE of the Words to Impress included in the book. I can now say, "Quit that echolalia!" and mean it! (Echolalia means repeating or echoing a person's speech, often in a pathological way.)
The back of the book best encapsulates the purpose of the book:
For every girl with an independent spirit and a nose for trouble, here is the no-boys-allowed guide to adventure.
I'd also add:
And... For every mom who wants to share
with her daughter
the coolest ways to be active, be smart,
and have fun.
with her daughter
the coolest ways to be active, be smart,
and have fun.
The Daring Book is a hit at our house. (And if you're looking for a word to impress on your next job interview, call me first).
----
November 29, 2007
intentionally left blank
crazy
gnarles barkley
I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that place.
Even your emotions have an echo
In so much space
And when you're out there
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much
Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Probably
And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice
Come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are?
Ha ha ha bless your soul
You really think you're in control
Well, I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
Just like me
My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking,
I wanna be like them
Ever since I was little,
ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done
But Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably
Uh, uh
November 28, 2007
Building My Interstructure
Gmail was down for me for an hour this morning. My first thought: Here I go again. When I get into mail, will my email be there or gone-zo? How do other people keep up? Not to scobleize on this, but it's tough to keep up using tin-cup-and-string 2.0 web apps to run your business.
On the flip side, it's free. Ish.
Since the article on my and others' email loss via gmail, I've received many helpful emails from folks on how to protect against losing it all again. One of the easiest options I've seen for staying web based came from someone who suggested using another web-based mail service as a backup. So basically, you have your gmail forward a copy of all your messages to your yahoo mail. This doesn't save your sent mail, but it will give you a web-based duplicate of your incoming mail.
Woot! thanks for that suggestion. it appeals to me because it's easy and I already have my yahoo account in place but rarely use it. It occurred to me that building SMB 2.0 requires us to string together our own infrastructure from the tin-can-and-strings applications and tools web 2.0 gives us for free.
So get busy and backyoself up.
Watch me go.
On the flip side, it's free. Ish.
Since the article on my and others' email loss via gmail, I've received many helpful emails from folks on how to protect against losing it all again. One of the easiest options I've seen for staying web based came from someone who suggested using another web-based mail service as a backup. So basically, you have your gmail forward a copy of all your messages to your yahoo mail. This doesn't save your sent mail, but it will give you a web-based duplicate of your incoming mail.
Woot! thanks for that suggestion. it appeals to me because it's easy and I already have my yahoo account in place but rarely use it. It occurred to me that building SMB 2.0 requires us to string together our own infrastructure from the tin-can-and-strings applications and tools web 2.0 gives us for free.
So get busy and backyoself up.
Watch me go.
I need a masthead for the kindle... work on spec
HEY can anyone make me a masthead for this blog? -- i'm submitting it to be available on the kindle. ahahaha don't laff. I know the kindle's not for scoble, but what the heck, I'd get me a kindle if i ever could get one for 99 dollars not 400 dollars. In the mean time, I would like to see what my blog would be like ON the kindle.
SO this is the specs for what they want as far as a masthead:
Format: EPS or a comparable scalable image format/n/n/t/t-
Size and Orientation: When the image width is scaled (without distortion) to 500px, the height should be no more than 150px. We will not accept mastheads that are taller than they are wide.
OKAY HELP??
If I ever make any money off of this kindle, I'll pay you $50 for the design. If I don't make any money (see: google ad sense), I'll give you my undying gratitude and show off your designs here. Don't get over excited. I don't make techmeme much these days. heh.
---
thx,
me
SO this is the specs for what they want as far as a masthead:
Format: EPS or a comparable scalable image format/n/n/t/t-
Size and Orientation: When the image width is scaled (without distortion) to 500px, the height should be no more than 150px. We will not accept mastheads that are taller than they are wide.
OKAY HELP??
If I ever make any money off of this kindle, I'll pay you $50 for the design. If I don't make any money (see: google ad sense), I'll give you my undying gratitude and show off your designs here. Don't get over excited. I don't make techmeme much these days. heh.
---
thx,
me
November 26, 2007
memory lane
when in the hell did google become a library with archives? (okay some are ppv but still.) Are you bored with what your favorite bloggers are saying today? Travel down memory lane by searching them up in google's news archives. Travel back to the 90s, the 80s, the 50s and beyond. Yowsa!
----
THE UNMARRIED MAN CAREERS, INDEPENDENT LIFESTYLES KEEP MANY 'ELIGIBLE' BACHELORS AWAY FROM THE ALTAR
Source: DAVE O'BRIAN, Mercury News Staff Writer
WHEN Dave Winer comes home late after a hard day at the office, there's no one there to greet him. But he doesn't really mind, he says, because he's hardly ever home. And though he may be by himself, he's not exactly alone. He's one of 3.6 million American males who live by themselves and have never married. More than a blip on a demographic chart, Winer's group has grown 124 percent during the past 15 years, according
Published on August 17, 1986, Page 1L, San Jose Mercury News (CA)
----
Video conferencing helps families connect - but don't talk to...
$2.95 - Dallas Morning News - NewsBank - May 11, 1999
All 5 related - Related web pages
----
IDEAS & TRENDS; An Avalanche of Information Is Coming to Video...
New York Times - Jul 23, 1989
Mecklermedia announces Internet appointment
Pay-Per-View - PR Newswire - ProQuest Archiver - Jan 10, 1994
Related web pages
---
Of course, I'm not paying per view, and I doubt that PPV will be around forever; after all we stole cable, so let's not underestimate the drive of human beings for free content.
Either way, it's interesting surfing. The archives have probably been there forever and I just noticed them. I have a habit of that kind of thing. ;-)
Anyway, search up your family. You might find some good case law, like me!
---
----
THE UNMARRIED MAN CAREERS, INDEPENDENT LIFESTYLES KEEP MANY 'ELIGIBLE' BACHELORS AWAY FROM THE ALTAR
Source: DAVE O'BRIAN, Mercury News Staff Writer
WHEN Dave Winer comes home late after a hard day at the office, there's no one there to greet him. But he doesn't really mind, he says, because he's hardly ever home. And though he may be by himself, he's not exactly alone. He's one of 3.6 million American males who live by themselves and have never married. More than a blip on a demographic chart, Winer's group has grown 124 percent during the past 15 years, according
Published on August 17, 1986, Page 1L, San Jose Mercury News (CA)
----
Video conferencing helps families connect - but don't talk to...
$2.95 - Dallas Morning News - NewsBank - May 11, 1999
| "Yeah, I had 'the Naked Guy' call me one night," says Robert Scoble, a consultant who sets up Internet business Video conferences and helps runs the ... |
----
IDEAS & TRENDS; An Avalanche of Information Is Coming to Video...
New York Times - Jul 23, 1989
| ''These tools will help People manage Information, But they are not going to subsume the tasks that People are doing,'' said Christopher Locke, ... |
| Related web pages |
| Text now on AI frontier: debate over best model for "reading"... Subscription - Software Magazine - HighBeam Research - Nov 1, 1989
|
Pay-Per-View - PR Newswire - ProQuest Archiver - Jan 10, 1994
| Alan Meckler, president and CEO of Mecklermedia Corporation, announces that Christopher Locke has joined the company as general manager of its Internet ... |
---
Of course, I'm not paying per view, and I doubt that PPV will be around forever; after all we stole cable, so let's not underestimate the drive of human beings for free content.
Either way, it's interesting surfing. The archives have probably been there forever and I just noticed them. I have a habit of that kind of thing. ;-)
Anyway, search up your family. You might find some good case law, like me!
---
The Other Side of the PR Fence, Which Shouldn't Be a Fence At All
PR people can't do anything right these days. (Okay maybe these years). It's true--spammers trying to sell you a boatload of nothing are a waste of time and should be called out for their lame tricks. But often times, PR people are actually trying to help in the most efficient way they know how, and they still get blasted by an egotistical editor or reporter having a bad day or a pair of britches on the small side.
I've been on both the shit receiving end AND on the shit throwing end of the PR machine myself. That's because I walk that blurry line, being both a "journalist" listed IN media map, and a PR flack USER of media map (and similar tools) where the journos and the PR flacks intersect (wish i could say connect--but that doesn't happen there).
Anyone having done any kind of media relations knows the reddening sting of a pissed off reporter saying, "You haven't read me, have you?" or "I already wrote about that," or "You're just blindly pitching." And yes, sometimes they're right. But they also fail to take ANY responsibility for how they end up in the endless loop of breaking-news tag.
They know that media map and other tools give PR people infinite details on their every bowel movement. So, if they prefer to be called, if their publication doesn't REALLY cover what media map says it wants to cover, if their beat is wrong, or if they just plain hate PR people and want them to know, then USE THESE TOOLS TO SAY SO. Don't be lazy on the front end and blame the folks who give you fodder for your stories on the backend.
Just like some BigPR SVPs who think they can pull a strategy out of their back pocket to 'build your brand' without understanding your customers, some journalists pull the "blame it on PR flacks" card because it's fast, easy and acceptable to do so. Rather than spell out (and update frequently) on their sites or blogs or in their publications (or God forbid in the tools they know PR people are stuck using) just how they want to interact with us, it's easier to shoot the proxy-messenger. All because an editor is bugged by some pain in the ass emails (news flash: we all get them), hasn't had a good night's sleep, or just plain needs to get laid.
The whole PR industry being broken is not news.
I and those like me have long said that it's badly busted, at least as far as non-public companies and the strategies those companies use to interact with the public and their markets go--and especially in Technology.
For public companies, PR is pretty much what it has always been. A combination of media relations and crisis management. A round robin of announcing good news, winding up with some BAD news, fixing that bad news, and making good news again. All's well that ends well.
For everyone else, all bets are off. In Tech, for example, you have the BigPR firms offering silver bullets in global networks and proven strategies. You have smaller PR firms whose strategies are often blast and follow up. Everyone's aiming to get you ink (or link) and subsequently get you funded and build your brand. Everyone's talking to influencers about thought leaders. Everyone's pitching media about news. All of these approaches are top down: they identify the target and shoot.
They are nothing new.
Something new would be PR people who help clients actually talk TO (not at) their markets. And understand me: clients need help doing this. Manpower, brainpower, and help.
They need help hooking up with customers in new ways, with celebrating their users, with getting the relationship and conversation started.
In Technology -- especially in Web 2.0 -- that is the job of PR 2.0, or at least the PR 2.0 world I'd build if I were Queen.
If I were Queen of PR 2.0, the job of the flack would be all about ENABLEMENT. It's a dumb word, but is accurate. The job of PR 2.0 should be enabling customers/users/participants/markets to DO SOMETHING they couldn't have done as easily without your client's product/service/brains/money.
Get out of the headlines and into the meat of the story.
Find out where there is a community need your client's product or service can actually SOLVE and make it happen. Solve something. Be the intermediary between need and action, between puzzle pieces and masterpiece. DO SOMETHING!
When I want to remember what that feels like, I remember what Albert Lai and I and the team at BubbleShare did, the best accidental no-money-PR-strategy-delivered-via-skype-and-a-hotel-room-and-a-wiki program of its day. My job as the PR person was to find the need. I found it on Doc Searls' blog, because I found a place where we could help.
No one could find a room ANYWHERE in vegas for CES up to 2 days before the event. So what was BubbleShare's product/service: a photosharing app. What was its market - initially bloggers and netizens, eventually everyone. What was the intersection/connection opportunity: Albert going to CES, Doc going to CES, Robert going to CES, Mary Lou going to CES, Mary Hoder going to CES, Charlene Li going to CES, everyone going to CES and no one with a place to stay!
So in one night we launched the Unofficial CES Wiki, which started out as a place for people to offer room share opportunities, leave info on what hotels had what prices, find out who was going and when, and arranging times to get together.
The Wiki turned into an event tool used by bloggers. For example, Charlene Li let everyone know where they could rent a bike. Other bloggers offered to share rooms. And we at BubbleShare decided to host a CES Camp, a hotel-room spot for those Not On the Show Floor to show off their products and services, to hang out, to get the latest stickers and give-aways, and to eat pizza and build relationships.
THAT is the job of PR 2.0.
It's about finding clients you believe in and hooking them up with people you believe in.
There is no $5,000 a month media map tool for this. There are only human beings and social tools for this. There is only living here among clients and their markets.
The tools of PR 2.0 are not Bacons and newswire and press releases with RSS feeds. They are Skype, and email and air travel and the phone; they are friends and the social tools we use to connect.
Well, that's how it would be if I were Queen of PR 2.0.
But for now, I'm a peasant. And as such, I don't have much of a voice on how things go. But with the little bit of voice I have, I will say this to both sides: PR Pros, don't bother journalists without real news. Journalists: Don't act like such asses when a PR person contacts you doing the best they can with what they've got.
And now, you may all resume your job of eating leftover turkey sandwiches.
----
I've been on both the shit receiving end AND on the shit throwing end of the PR machine myself. That's because I walk that blurry line, being both a "journalist" listed IN media map, and a PR flack USER of media map (and similar tools) where the journos and the PR flacks intersect (wish i could say connect--but that doesn't happen there).
Anyone having done any kind of media relations knows the reddening sting of a pissed off reporter saying, "You haven't read me, have you?" or "I already wrote about that," or "You're just blindly pitching." And yes, sometimes they're right. But they also fail to take ANY responsibility for how they end up in the endless loop of breaking-news tag.
They know that media map and other tools give PR people infinite details on their every bowel movement. So, if they prefer to be called, if their publication doesn't REALLY cover what media map says it wants to cover, if their beat is wrong, or if they just plain hate PR people and want them to know, then USE THESE TOOLS TO SAY SO. Don't be lazy on the front end and blame the folks who give you fodder for your stories on the backend.
Just like some BigPR SVPs who think they can pull a strategy out of their back pocket to 'build your brand' without understanding your customers, some journalists pull the "blame it on PR flacks" card because it's fast, easy and acceptable to do so. Rather than spell out (and update frequently) on their sites or blogs or in their publications (or God forbid in the tools they know PR people are stuck using) just how they want to interact with us, it's easier to shoot the proxy-messenger. All because an editor is bugged by some pain in the ass emails (news flash: we all get them), hasn't had a good night's sleep, or just plain needs to get laid.
The whole PR industry being broken is not news.
I and those like me have long said that it's badly busted, at least as far as non-public companies and the strategies those companies use to interact with the public and their markets go--and especially in Technology.
For public companies, PR is pretty much what it has always been. A combination of media relations and crisis management. A round robin of announcing good news, winding up with some BAD news, fixing that bad news, and making good news again. All's well that ends well.
For everyone else, all bets are off. In Tech, for example, you have the BigPR firms offering silver bullets in global networks and proven strategies. You have smaller PR firms whose strategies are often blast and follow up. Everyone's aiming to get you ink (or link) and subsequently get you funded and build your brand. Everyone's talking to influencers about thought leaders. Everyone's pitching media about news. All of these approaches are top down: they identify the target and shoot.
They are nothing new.
Something new would be PR people who help clients actually talk TO (not at) their markets. And understand me: clients need help doing this. Manpower, brainpower, and help.
They need help hooking up with customers in new ways, with celebrating their users, with getting the relationship and conversation started.
In Technology -- especially in Web 2.0 -- that is the job of PR 2.0, or at least the PR 2.0 world I'd build if I were Queen.
If I were Queen of PR 2.0, the job of the flack would be all about ENABLEMENT. It's a dumb word, but is accurate. The job of PR 2.0 should be enabling customers/users/participants/markets to DO SOMETHING they couldn't have done as easily without your client's product/service/brains/money.
Get out of the headlines and into the meat of the story.
Find out where there is a community need your client's product or service can actually SOLVE and make it happen. Solve something. Be the intermediary between need and action, between puzzle pieces and masterpiece. DO SOMETHING!
When I want to remember what that feels like, I remember what Albert Lai and I and the team at BubbleShare did, the best accidental no-money-PR-strategy-delivered-via-skype-and-a-hotel-room-and-a-wiki program of its day. My job as the PR person was to find the need. I found it on Doc Searls' blog, because I found a place where we could help.
No one could find a room ANYWHERE in vegas for CES up to 2 days before the event. So what was BubbleShare's product/service: a photosharing app. What was its market - initially bloggers and netizens, eventually everyone. What was the intersection/connection opportunity: Albert going to CES, Doc going to CES, Robert going to CES, Mary Lou going to CES, Mary Hoder going to CES, Charlene Li going to CES, everyone going to CES and no one with a place to stay!
So in one night we launched the Unofficial CES Wiki, which started out as a place for people to offer room share opportunities, leave info on what hotels had what prices, find out who was going and when, and arranging times to get together.
The Wiki turned into an event tool used by bloggers. For example, Charlene Li let everyone know where they could rent a bike. Other bloggers offered to share rooms. And we at BubbleShare decided to host a CES Camp, a hotel-room spot for those Not On the Show Floor to show off their products and services, to hang out, to get the latest stickers and give-aways, and to eat pizza and build relationships.
THAT is the job of PR 2.0.
It's about finding clients you believe in and hooking them up with people you believe in.
There is no $5,000 a month media map tool for this. There are only human beings and social tools for this. There is only living here among clients and their markets.
The tools of PR 2.0 are not Bacons and newswire and press releases with RSS feeds. They are Skype, and email and air travel and the phone; they are friends and the social tools we use to connect.
Well, that's how it would be if I were Queen of PR 2.0.
But for now, I'm a peasant. And as such, I don't have much of a voice on how things go. But with the little bit of voice I have, I will say this to both sides: PR Pros, don't bother journalists without real news. Journalists: Don't act like such asses when a PR person contacts you doing the best they can with what they've got.
And now, you may all resume your job of eating leftover turkey sandwiches.
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November 24, 2007
omgzie
the manchurian candidate.
watching it. making turkey. better nate than lever. better denzel than football.
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watching it. making turkey. better nate than lever. better denzel than football.
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November 21, 2007
November 20, 2007
Let Them Drink Coke: Lake Lanier Hits Historic Low as the Southeast Dries Up
Not since the 1950s, when metro Atlanta's population was under a million people (now close to five million) has the man-made container of Atlanta's major water supply, Lake Lanier, been this low:Lake Lanier on Monday night dropped to its lowest point since the reservoir was constructed in the 1950s.The problem is not so much the drought, as the local media and political machine would like you to believe, as it is poor infrastructure planning and water management.
The lake hit 1,052.64 feet above sea level, about 11 feet below average.
The old record of 1,052.66 was set in December 1981, also during a severe drought. The next year, an El Nino weather pattern pumped monsoon-like rains into the metro region and refilled the lake within six months.
That's unlikely to happen this time. The opposite weather pattern is in effect, La Nina, which typically creates a warmer, drier winter here.
Since spring 2006, Lanier has been depleted by the relentless drought and by releases of its water downstream to keep power plants operating and federally protected mussels alive.
Federal biologists on Friday agreed to let the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers keep more water in Lanier. That will buy some time for more than 3 million metro Atlantans who rely on the lake for drinking water. But it won't fill the lake; that could take three years of normal rainfall.Right now, Lanier is holding only 42 percent of its stored water capacity. Twenty-two percent of the lake's surface water has disappeared. That's clearly evident in aerial photos showing wide stretches of beach and bank never visible before.
The greedy southern political machine will rise again!
Until about 4 weeks ago, my friend who lives near the Governor's Mansion in Buckhead said she saw the sprinklers on daily. She even called to inquire why, during a watering ban, was the Governor's mansion watering. The response was that the Governor's residence is exempt from those bans.
The Governor's PR people obviously got busy and turned OFF the sprinklers once the nation started watching Atlanta dry up while Sonny prayed. I can't imagine how much the lush grounds take in terms of water for maintenance. Hell, Sonny's meter doesn't even work, so who would know?
Atlanta's no stranger to trouble. We moved here 13 years ago, right before the Olympics came to Atlanta. Massive construction ensued. With all of that Olympic construction, should someone not thought to dig a few more reservoirs?
Most docks are dry. Only one of the corps' 104 boat ramps is still usable.Florida, Alabama, get ready.
Yet Lanier contains more water than two other, smaller federal reservoirs downstream. The corps, which operates the lake, increasingly has relied on Lanier to help meet downstream needs.
And get ready, Atlanta:
To me this means:
1) If you haven't already done so, STOP DRINKING THE WATER HERE. Eventually it will make you sick.
2) Have firewood--if the utils go down this winter, it's gonna be cold.
4) Invest in Detroit real estate.
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as the images unwind........
Round, like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel.
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
Like a snowball down a mountain
Or a carnaval balloon
Like a carousell that's turning
Running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on it's face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
Like a tunnel that you follow
To a tunnel of it's own
Down a hollow to a cavern
Where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving
In a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble
Someone tosses in a stream.
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on it's face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle your head
Why did summer go so quickly
Was it something that I said
Lovers walking allong the shore,
Leave their footprints in the sand
Was the sound of distant drumming
Just the fingers of your hand
Pictures hanging in a hallway
And a fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circle that you find
In the windmills of your mind
Pictures hanging in a hallway
And the fragment of this song
Half remembered names and faces
But to whom do they belong
When you knew that it was over
Were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair
Like a circle in a spiral
Like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning wheel
As the images unwind
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
props: words and music by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman and Michel Legrand
November 19, 2007
Best Tagline for Web App Gives Something Back
I always mean to write this post, but I never seem to get a chance. So here goes:
The Award for the best tagline goes to Skype for "take a deep breath." Why? Because it's the only tagline I've seen that ISN'T about the company at all, but about ME. It's something that's good for me. Has nada to do with chatting or videofoning or the internet. It's about: hey, we're people too. Let's all take a deep breath. Wait. Don't jump into the next thing. Stop clicking. Wshew. Ok. There. Good.
Can you imagine Google: "Go hug someone."
or Yahoo: "Get some sleep."
or TinyURL: "Plant a tree."
Would it be so bad?
Thanks, skype.
---
The Award for the best tagline goes to Skype for "take a deep breath." Why? Because it's the only tagline I've seen that ISN'T about the company at all, but about ME. It's something that's good for me. Has nada to do with chatting or videofoning or the internet. It's about: hey, we're people too. Let's all take a deep breath. Wait. Don't jump into the next thing. Stop clicking. Wshew. Ok. There. Good.
Can you imagine Google: "Go hug someone."
or Yahoo: "Get some sleep."
or TinyURL: "Plant a tree."
Would it be so bad?
Thanks, skype.
---
November 18, 2007
November 16, 2007
If you live in atlanta, and you're not making plans to get out, you should be
Holy Water.
Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007 By MICHAEL GRUNWALD
Georgia was enduring its worst drought in a century, and it had already asked President Bush and the Supreme Court for relief. So on Nov. 13, Republican Governor Sonny Perdue appealed to a higher power, hosting a statehouse vigil to "pray up a storm," begging God to bring the rain he had withheld for 14 months.
But it wasn't God who allowed an outdoor theme park to build a million-gallon mountain of artificial snow while the Southeast was running dry; it was Governor Perdue and his fellow elected officials. They also allowed the wasteful irrigation of Georgia's cotton farms and the rampant overbuilding and overslurping of metropolitan Atlanta.
Like Hurricane Katrina or the California wildfires, this drought was a natural event transformed into a natural disaster by human folly. And while it's still hard to say whether global warming caused any particular drought or flood or fire, it's going to cause more of all of them.
Politicians always call catastrophes "acts of God," blaming unnatural destruction caused by natural phenomena on supernatural forces. When Perdue's spokeswoman said prayer was the answer, because "the issue at the heart of our drought is a lack of rain," she was wrong. The issue is a lack of water, and the best way to retain more is to consume less--with less lawn-sprinkling, car-washing, irrigating and sprawl. At Perdue's vigil, the Rev. Gil Watson acknowledged that "we have not been good stewards of our water," and even Perdue suggested that God was trying to "get our attention" for failing to do "all we could do in conservation."
Amen to that. But now Georgia's politicians are fighting to protect their culture of consumption and development by suspending the Endangered Species Act, so that they won't have to send any water downstream to preserve endangered mussels in Florida's Apalachicola River. It's not a very holy attitude. Those mussels are God's creatures too--and so are the oystermen and fishermen who depend on the Apalachicola. Anyway, stiffing them won't save Atlanta. That's going to require serious water management and long-term thinking. In other words, a miracle.
--------------
AMEN. And may God bless us all.
November 15, 2007
The Hair Club for Men
boys boys boys boys boys boys boys boys lots of lots of boys boys boys boys.
noticed i'm not getting picked up in techmeme discussions these days.
but boy there sure are a lot of boys on there tonite! boys boys boys boys boys boys boys boys lots of lots of boys boys boys boys.
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noticed i'm not getting picked up in techmeme discussions these days.
but boy there sure are a lot of boys on there tonite! boys boys boys boys boys boys boys boys lots of lots of boys boys boys boys.
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