Onward and Upward

Well, this is going to be my last post for a short while.

As many of you know, a new baby is due to come into my life any day now. This marks a turning point for me in many ways. A new life is beginning, and I'm about to enter a new phase of my own life. This has made me think a lot about what I'm doing and where I'm heading, but more about that later.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to upgrade my blog. I'm finding that Blogger has outlived its usefulness for me. I need a lot more flexibility and some more powerful features for what I want to do. When I return I'll still be blogging at jjprojects.net, so please stay tuned for developments. I'll be archiving this blog when I make the change.

I'll let you know when I'm about to kick things off again, it shouldn't be too long. I'll certainly be maintaining existing posts here in the meantime, if any of you would like to leave responses to existing posts. I will still read them and contribute.

During my blogging hiatus you will still find me twittering, facebooking, flickring, SLing...

Thanks for your patience and I'll be back bigger and better soon enough.

jj

Respecting The Snacker

Do I respect the media snacker? Hmmm, that's a good question. It has been asked of me by Connie Reece, and was first posed by Jeremiah Owyang.

So what is a media snacker? Jeremiah has defined media snackers as "Folks who consume small bits of information, data or entertainment when, where, and how they want. If you want to be part of their lives you’ve got to respect them."

I'm certainly guilty of writing the odd long blog post or three. I could do more to make my posts shorter and to the point. I do think there is still a place for longer posts though, if they are well researched and well thought out. People are still prepared to read longer articles on particular subjects they are really interested in, if they have the time.

Having said that, I've become quite a media snacker myself. I'm a heavy user of both Twitter and Facebook, and I tend not to use my RSS reader as much as I used to. I tend to jump to blog posts, video, audio and images as people post them on Twitter and Facebook. I might leave a quick comment on their blog, flickr or Facebook wall when I do.

I'm a lot more prepared to listen to longer audio podcasts than other media, as it's easier to multitask while listening. I don't have a regular podcast (yet), but if or when I do, I think I'll try to keep my recordings on the short side if I can. Famous last words.

In the interests of extending the conversation, I'd be interested to know how this group of people respond to the question, if they feel so inclined:

Laurel Papworth, Steven Lewis, Joseph Jaffe, Bryan Person, Cheryl Lead, Cameron Reilly, Nick Hodge. Cathleen Ritt, Andrea Vascellari

Here is a cross-section of some of the other people who have responded to the question so far: Chris Brogan, Connie Bensen, Clay Newton, Lee Hopkins

If you'd like to respond to the question too, or to what I've said, please feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to see what you've got to say.

The Connections Show Conversation

A few weeks ago I had a recorded Skype conversation with Stan Relihan, the host of The Connections Show on The Podcast Network. The episode has now gone live and can be found here.

The Connections Show examines how to use social networking tools to build a business network. Stan is an executive recruiter and I think I can safely say he is Australia's foremost Linkedin user. He asked me to explain Twitter and to discuss how I use Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools.

Please feel free to leave a comment on the show blog, and If you think the conversation is interesting enough to share with others, please go ahead and digg the episode from the show blog.

I hope you enjoy listening to the show, I enjoyed the conversation with Stan. Like me, he is enthusiastic about social media.

Time To Bash New Media, Again

Is it just me or has there been more than the usual amount of new social media bashing going on in old media lately?

Earlier this week Steven Lewis and Laurel Papworth wrote posts about the ridiculous SMH article, Facebook labelled a $5b waste of time. Steven asserted that this article brought into play his "favourite media ploy: the nonsense statistic"

Laurel maintained that "They HATE us. With a passion. Every article about blogs, wikis, Facebook, MySpace and social networks is one about stalkers, paedophiles, time-wasters at work, mis-information, and- God help us - poor grammar/spellingz?"

In addition, there has been more than the usual amount of Second Life bashing going on lately. This post outlines the string of articles that have appeared recently in publications such as Forbes, the LA Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The question is: why is this happening now? Could it be that old media is beginning to feel more than a little threatened by new social media, and that people feel compelled to criticise what they can't understand?

Could it also be that most brands entering SL (or rather those advising brands) are approaching the Second Life community in an inappropriate way. Surely it's a bit early to be declaring the brand experiments in virtual worlds to be a bust. I'm sure the brands that have experimented with social media have learned a lot from the experiences they have already had - others are being left behind by not participating.

Haven't we seen this kind of thing before? I seem to remember that the first time around there were some ups and downs, but in time things began to work out pretty well for a lot of people (and brands) who began working with (what was then) new media and stuck with it.

What Is Your Social Media Content Worth?

During the past couple of days I've been thinking a lot about what C.C. Chapman said in his passionate Managing the Gray podcast episode Is New Media Selling itself Short.

Amongst other thoughts, he suggests that many new media content producers may be selling themselves short. He thinks that if people are serious about monetising their work (and sure, many people don't want to at all, apart from adding value to their personal brand), it's time to start thinking bigger and more seriously about what it's worth.

If I'm understanding him correctly, he is suggesting that people should be careful that they don't get taken advantage of by some big companies with a LOT of money to spend. He suggests that people should think hard about what their work is worth and not just accept anything they are offered.

I think C.C. has a very good point here. I think that some companies know the real value of some of this content, especially content with sizeable and/or desirable niche audiences. I agree that there is a risk of people being taken advantage of just because it's new media. These are uncharted waters, but I'm sure some companies know they can get a pretty good deal for their marketing dollar at the moment.

I will say that C.C. is speaking from a different environment than we have in Australia. I'm sure the social media landscape is more developed in the U.S. Having said that, it is often a global audience, and coincidently, he does mention and Australian example. I noticed the same example myself. On Twitter, Cameron Reilly from thepodcastnetwork recently mentioned that a high end glossy magazine asked him to write a major article for them for free!

What are your thoughts? In general, do you think that people producing social media content such as blogs and podcasts should take anything they can get at this stage because they are lucky to get anything at all? Is a very small amount better than nothing, even it you think it's worth more? Is it time right to start thinking bigger?

The Sydney Meetup Is On

CathyE and I have taken it upon ourselves to organise a Sydney Twitter Meetup. Cathy has already been involved in organising a couple of them in Melbourne. Those Melbourne people are on the ball!

I'm not sure how it will go, but my attitude is - let's just do it and see what happens! It should be a good chance for like minded people to get together face-to-face. Nobody really knows where this whole social media phenomenon is going, but it's clear that something really interesting is happening all over the place - Twittering, podcasting, PodCamps, meetups, social networking sites, blogging, virtual worlds. Let's just run with it and see where it leads, as long as it's fun! It's a whole new interactive world we are building, so let's get together and support each other.

If you will be in Sydney on the Wednesday 25 July and are interested in coming along , follow our twitters to get the details as they come to hand. Feel free to direct message me via Twitter or send me an email about the event as well.

http://twitter.com/jjprojects
http://twitter.com/CathyE

PodCamp Is Coming To Australia

...but which city will host the first PodCamp Australia?

Jared Madden and Adam Purcell have taken it upon themselves to bring the PodCamp concept to Australia. The first PodCamp was held in Boston only last year, so this is still a very new concept. Jared and Adam have launched a stake your interest website, so go ahead and cast your vote for your favoured host city. At the time of writing, Perth was well in the lead as the post popular place to host the event. I voted for Sydney.

On a side note, I've noticed on Twitter that people have been having a few problems with their confirmation emails ending up in spam folders. This happened to me as well, so when you register, watch out for that. The subject line is "Welcome to the podcamp notification service".

Please note, Podcamp is not just for podcasters, it's also for podcast listeners, bloggers, marketing professionals, and anyone interested or curious about New Media. See you there, it should be a lot of fun.

Are You Powncing?

Well, this is my inevitable post about the new social network Pownce. As many of you may know, I'm quite a big fan of Twitter. I've avoided using Jaiku for some reason, but I seem to have dived straight into Pownce.

I've only been using if since Sunday, and I like it so far. I'm not sure how much I'll use it yet (social media overload and all that), but as a social networking tool, it seems to be off to a flying start. It's very easy to build up Pownce friends – I woke up this morning with a bunch of new invites from interesting people (quite a few were from Twitter mind you).

On Pownce you can send files, messages, links and events. You are able to communicate through the site or via a desktop application. Unlike Twitter, at the moment there is no SMS fuctionality, but I dare say that might be added in time. There is already a Pownce Facebook application.

Apparently Pownce was conceived by Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, Kevin Rose (founder of digg) and Shawn Allen, in that order according to the site.

Like Gmail and Joost before it, Pownce is cunningly working on an invite-only system at the moment, which has created a bit of mystery and an I don't want to be left out mentality amongst social media junkies. People want what they can't have.

Oh, and If you are looking for an invite, sorry, I don't have any left. When you are invited to join, you get 6 invites to give others. I asked my Twitter friends if anyone had one to give me and was inundated with invites. In turn, I gave mine away on a first–come–first–served basis on Twitter.

It's not surprising that invitations are currently spreading like wildfire though online social media channels - everyone seems to be talking about it and asking for invites.

Are you using Pownce already? If you are, what do you think of it so far. How does it compare to Twitter or Jaiku for you? If you want an invite and are not sure how to get one, I suggest you leave comments on a few blogs and ask around. Do a search and follow the trial, invites are not that difficult to come by.

Tracking Your Online Conversations

Thanks to C.C Chapman I've discovered coComment. I've only just started using it, but so far it seems really useful for keeping track of online conversations on blogs and in other social media.

Being able to centralise online conversations definitely saves time. It also enhances the conversations because you don't lose track of any comments you've made, and it makes it possible to respond quickly to comments if you want to.

As soon as I saw this tool I thought, great, I need to use this, it will help me, and it is.

Google What's Hot List

Google has just launched a new service called Hot Trends. The feature displays what people are searching for in large numbers on any particular day.

This follows on the heels of Google Trends, which displays the popularity of search terms in relation to each other over time, and the relative interest in different locations.

As Problogger points out, Hot Trends "could be a useful tool for those writing blogs on current hot topics". At the time I looked, I was surprised to see that fellini film was the second hottest search.

via Googleblog

Using Twitter For Marketing Part 1: Intro

Intermittently, over the period of a few posts, I'm going to address the potential of using Twitter for social media marketing. I intend to pick up and extend some of the existing ideas I've found around the blogosphere, as well as (hopefully) bringing a few new ideas to the twitter table. Needless to say, it's still very early days for this kind of social media marketing, so I'm sure ideas will emerge on twitter as I blog and twitter during the time.

As you can tell, I'm one of the people who find the Twitter phenomenon intriguing, and I do see a lot of potential and value in it (and other services like it). I do realise that there are many people who don't share my enthusiasm. I do encourage you to leave comments in either case.

A quick Twitter recap (but more than 140 characters):

It has been said that Twitter reached a tipping point at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas this year, and that "the buzz has now seeped from the blogosphere to more traditional print media". Newsweek has indeed reported on it, and more recently the The New Your Times has run a story. Incidently, The New York Times has also started to twitter.

Not surprisingly, Twitter currently has a big following among bloggers and people actively engaged in social media. This is no doubt due to the immediacy of live, group communication, and the opportunities it allows for directing people to other content. It's clear that Twitter is growing in popularity, but it remains to be seen whether it reaches a tipping point as far as mainstream popularity is concerned.

Twitter allows a great opportunity for groups of people to share experiences in real time. Tweets are also archived in individual profiles, and individual tweets can be found using Google. As I see it, these features offer quite a few opportunities for social media marketing...

Top 10 Reasons People Unsubscribe

According to a blog survey conducted by ProBlogger Darren Rowse, these are the top 10 reasons people unsubscribe from RSS Feeds:

1. Too many posts (the post levels are too overwhelming)
   
2. Infrequent Posting (or the blog is effectively dead)
   
3. Partial Excerpts Feeds
   
4. Blog Changes Focus (too much off topic posting)
   
5. Too many posts that I see elsewhere (Redundant, Repeated or Recycled News)
   
6. Uninteresting Content
   
7. Irrelevant Content
   
8. The Blogger’s Ego - Too much self promotion
   
9. Low Quality Content
   
10. Too many posts that are too long
    

Let's see, how am I doing so far? I don't usually post every day, but I do try to post regularly (time permitting). I try to keep posts relevant, but sometimes I do get sidetracked. Maybe I do tend to post too much from elsewhere, including this very post.

I hope my content is interesting to my intended audience. I do try not to have an ego or too much self-promotion (but please don't forget to check out my video blog, flickr photos, Twiiter moblog and LinkedIn profile). I think I'm doing a fantastic job really. Oops, I'd better stop now before this post becomes too long, like the last one.

How are you doing with your, or your clients' blogs?

Busiest Social Bookmarking Sites?

According to statistics eBizMBA has collected, this is a list of the ten busiest social bookmarking sites. The list is based on the number of unique visitors to each site per month, for the month of March:

1. digg.com
2. Netscape.com
3. del.icio.us
4. StumbleUpon.com
5. reddit.com
6. Slashdot.org
7. BlinkList.com
8. furl.net
9. Newsvine.com
10. ShoutWire.com

As you can see from the unique visitor numbers, while digg holds the number one spot for the site most likely to drive traffic, it's certainly not the only site capable of generating large numbers of visitors to a site.

I don't know about you, but if these stats are in fact accurate, the fact that Netscape came in at number two is a bit of a surprise to me. If I were to hazard a guess at the results without seeing the stats, I would have thought the order of the top three would have been digg, del.icio.us and then reddit. You learn something every day.

eBizMBA has also put together a list of the top 25 Web 2.0 sites overall, again based on the amount of unique monthly visitors – and the winners are...

1. MySpace.com
2. en.Wikipedia.org
3. YouTube,.com
4. PhotoBucket.com
5. CraigsList.org
6. FaceBook.com
7. flickr.com
8. digg.com
9. Wordpress.com
10. Netscape.com
11. TypePad.com
12. Topix.net
13. Xanga.com
14. CafePress.com
15. LiveJournal.com
16. Techorati.com
17. Last.fm
18. DailyMotion.com
19. iStockPhoto.com
20. Friendster.com
21. Feedburner.com
22. del.icio.us
23. PicZo.comm
24. LinkedIn.com
25. StumbleUpon.com

Ad Feeder

If you like the idea of viewing your advertising news headlines, opinions and latest creative in one place, you might like to check out The Ad Feed. It's a Popurls style aggregator, but specifically for advertising and marketing junkies.

via Bannerblog

kathy Sierra Death Threats

This is just so sad. Sometimes don't you just feel like humans never fail to disappoint?

Kathy Sierra, a very popular blogger has been receiving very nasty, misogynistic death threats over a sustained period. Her lattest post explains her dire situation right now. She is too terrified to leave her home.

It's just so disappointing that this kind of thing happens so often that we have come to think that it's inevitable when humans are able to communicate anonymously, no matter what the medium.

As Seth Godin says "Isn't it sad that misogyny is so common that there's a word for it"