How much does one of those opportunities cost? It can’t be cheap to put up a billboard in an airport, right? That same amount would fund a social media project for an entire year, and you’d have clickable metrics for the effort. Wouldn’t that be a better return?

Did Chris remember the name of the company sponsoring the phone/laptop charging station (Samsung)? The Advertising worked (and got the fringe benefit of promotion on Chris’ blog)

Did Chris remember those Vending Machines in the airport (Apple and Best Buy)?? The Advertising worked (” fringe benefit” comment again).

Did Chris remember the 2 billboards before the Hudson News stand? How about the 2 page spread in the middle of this month’s WIRED? The 12 commercials that ran between when you sat down at Fox Sports Bar and when you got up?

Little Guy In The Subway With A Bag of $

The two examples he used (Samsung charging stations and the Apple or Best Buy vending machines) worked because they either provided immediate value (needing to juice up, a HUGE problem in most airports, or chargers, iPods, etc.) or potential future value. They fit within his/yours/my context. If my mom was travelling at the same time, she wouldnt notice who sponsored the power, because she doesnt travel with devices that need power. She might notice the Apple vending machines because they are novel/unique to her, but 5 years from now she will ignore them because they will be commonplace.

Billboards are a “shotgun” approach (with a ton of metrics behind it). The hope is, the right person happens to walk by who happens to have that product or service as part of their context (along with Direct Marketing phone, email, URL to let them find out more AND to let the marketer see effectiveness) or the creative in the ad connects with the user (for a brand campaign – the iconic APPLE ads are a great example of this). In the case of Brand ads, the marketer is paying for impressions (and they pay through the nose – those boards aren’t cheap). In the case of ads with some kind of direct component, the ROI can be (to a certain extent) measured. There are impressions and clickthrough rates to measure against. Is it personal? Nope.

Here is the thing: this stuff, these traditional techniques (print, radio, tv, out-of-home, ad banners, PR, etc.) aren’t going away. Sure, more of the budget is going to digital, but not all of it. There are more of them (less digitally savvy or complete luddites) than there are of us (people reading this, living this, sharing this thing of ours). Marketers still think of us in terms of CONSUMERS and demographics. The reason the old school isn’t going away, the reason we don’t have the advertising apocalypse is because of one thing – IT STILL WORKS.

While we keep saying Social Media is no longer an experiment, we need to keep the marketer’s context in mind. The CMO wants to be innovative, and the brand manager wants to change the world, but both have numbers (leads, impressions, brand value, etc.) that they have to meet to be successful, to grow their brand, get their bonus or in some cases keep their job (the avg lifespan of a CMO is currently something like 22 months). No one ever got fired for doing yet another Direct Mail campaign (where a 1% response rate is considered successful), billboard or tv/radio spot – they are part of the marketing mix. Even ad banners get clickthroughs and they are the “ritz crackers” (low value, not tasty or very effective) of digital advertising.

Small, growing and new brands can go all-in on Digital and Social because they need an edge, and the edge is reach and cost and hopefully shortcut the need for brand recognition and jump right to a relationship. P&G knows it needs Social and is working towards it for the long term (the same thing they did with radio and TV). Ford and GM know they need it, but have to work harder to connect emotionally and with passion (two things that are kinda requirements). If all you do is SELL SELL SELL, its kinda hard to “start a conversation” – you have to invest a lot (time, money, humility) to get respect and to get people to listen. That investment is happening now.

As the Social Media side of Digital grows and matures (and we get more news like the Dell metrics) it can make the case to take a bigger piece of the marketing pie. Digital is no longer sitting at the kids table when it comes to the Agency-Client relationship. Digital is getting more and more budget because it is effective and less expensive and has greater, time-agnostic reach. Sure, we might start shooting commercials for Hulu (or whatever replaces it) and we may see more immersive and experiential and integrated efforts in the future, but the Old School isn’t going away. An ad agency I interviewed a few months ago WILL NOT HIRE an account, strategist or creative without digital in the portfolio or CV. Its becoming that important.

But Social can be the “red thread” that ties the traditional and the digital together, make them more connected, connecting, relevant and responsive. Social (listening, outreach, participatory) can start changing the marketing mindset from campaign to commitment. But that is going to take time.

In 10 years we will have Marketers (CMOs and Brand Managers) who have grown up with Digital in their toolbox from the beginning. Thats when things will start getting weird (in a good way).

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So you have decided to go to a conference. Maybe you got an invite in the mail or clicked on a banner. Maybe a blogger you like mentioned a show they were going to, or were speaking at, or even organizing (thanks @ChrisBrogan).

You drop some hard-earned cash (whether yours or your boss’) on a conference pass. You checked out the conference agenda, picking out the sessions and breakouts and BoF and parties you wanted to attend. You might have looked at the attendees list (if available), seeing who else in your industry, or region or field of interest is also attending.

With conferences now being net-casted on UStream, decks SlideShared, presentations LiveBlogged and Twittered and Utterli’d, why are you going? The content, the data, the decks, the presentations are all, for the most part available. Chris Pirillo, who runs Gnomedex, UStreams and the archives all of the sessions at Gnomedex. IT Conversations business model was the sharing of conference content (pay to get it right away or wait a couple weeks to download it).

The point of going to a conference is to meet people, to engage, to share your ideas not just consume someone else’s deck. Up until 14 years ago, there was an information imbalance between those who have the information about a subject or topic and those of us who wanted to know more. Conferences were meant to give people a chance to meet and share in real time and real space. Sure there were research papers, monographs, journals and books, but they were physical-world artifacts – you had to have them or have access to them.

It was gatherings/conferences/symposia that transformed affinity to community.

So here are my tips for How NOT to Get The Most Out Of A Conference:

1. Don’t approach this as YOUR Conference. You paid, you travelled to get there, you showed up, you are in attendance, and if you really dont want to get the most out of it, then good for you. You get out of it what you put into it… so give the bare minimum and get just that in return! Rock On!

2. Don’t spend the time to find out who else is going to your conference. Don’t use Summize to see who else is mentioning or going to the show (even though hashtags are wonky doesnt mean you cant track the #conference tag). Don’t check UpComing.org, the Conference website or the blogs of the speakers list. Don’t ping the people in your personal network who are also going. Dont make a list of people you want to meet at the show (I have a bunch of folks who I only know thru twtter that I want to meet at New Marketing Summit).

3. Don’t plan your conference experience. Spending time reviewing and understanding the agenda and looking at who is speaking and when is a great way to make sure you miss something you might enjoy or worse, NEED for your job/business/love of the game. Not preparing will result in lots of “session envy” when you find out how much more fun those guys in the other room had.

4. Don’t bother checking out the blogs and sites of the speakers… it helps you determine which are the sessions you want to attend and where the “gold” is at a given show, especially when you are at a multi-track conference – and no one wants that.

5. Don’t be a critical member of the audience. Don’t bother to ask yourself “is this a pitch” when looking at a conference agenda (at some shows the presenters are up there because their company is footing the bill for the mixer or coffee bar or SWAG bag). Be afraid to “vote with your feet” and walk out on a lame/boring/abusive session/speaker. God forbid you look impolite to people you wont bother to talk to.

6. Don’t participate. Don’t feel comfortable enough to ask questions. Be afraid to challenge the masters of the universe on the stage, especially when you disagree or they say something stupid. Make sure you put these folks on a pedestal, even though they are only human. Chris Brogan, Chris Pirillo and Dave McClure all put on some pretty incredible events and always take the time to talk to and appreciate the folks who show up. But you shouldnt approach them. Uh, uh. No way. Most importantly DONT thank or ask questions of the speakers/panelists after their session. They hate that (they dont want to be there either).

7. Don’t mingle. If you can get most of the content elswhere on the web in the comfort of your boxer shorts, why bother going to a show? Especially when 80% of the experience at a conference is the PEOPLE. Don’t spend time in the hallways between sessions. Don’t walk the floor, meeting people, introducing yourself. Don’t make small talk, trade business cards, join BoF discussions. If at all possible, spend as much time at a conference checking your email, answering voicemail messages, polishing your camera lenses and downloading music from iTunes. DO NOT, under any circumstances try to talk to anyone.

If you DONT want to get the most out of your conference experience, then follow the simple tips above. If you WANT to get the most out of the conference, do the exact opposite:

Prepare for the show, read the agenda, pick your sessions, get to know the speakers blogs, ask questions, talk to people, take notes and share them via your own blog and twitter/utterli/etc…

If you really want a black-belt in Conference-Fu, keep an eye out for the wallflowers and shy folks who are keeping to themselves or aren’t going out of their comfort zone- and introduce yourself/say “hi”/introduce them to someone else. Pay it forward.

Take ownership of your conference experience. And plan to have some fun.

This post is awesome:

http://www.thepomoblog.com/archive/rules-for-media-networking/

My favorite:

4. Give before you get. As soon as I meet someone new I’m immediately thinking about whether I can help them, not because I want to trade a favor (I may not need anything from them), but because this is how I would like to be treated by them.

I found this amazing interview with Dave Stewart (musician, former member of the Eurythmics, Social Engineer!) on http://www.digitalnomads.com/2008/08/27/david-allen-stewart-cultural-engineer-on-music-and-technology

He is cooler than me (I couldnt pull off those shades), has more grammys (I dont have any), and has a much better title

All kidding aside, he is an artist, and by broad definition a cultural engineer.

If you get the chance, check out the interviews on http://www.digitalnomads.com – they seem to be doing some interesting things.

My trip to Seattle this year for Gnomedex was interrupted by mild food poisoning, so I missed all of day 1. The Gnomedex team streams each of the sessions/panels/speakers on UStream which then archive the videos. So between the great experience and incredible conversations in the hallways and mixers, you get to relive or share the best of whats onstage.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been watching the videos of what I missed and recently came across Amanda Koster’s presentation on her project, Salaam Garage. An amazing project, Amanda works with NGOs (non-governmental organizations) inside specific countries to develop projects where traveller/media makers can work with the NGOs to tell real, important stories and share them with their communities and favorite digital spaces (Flickr, Facebook, etc.). I guess you might say it would fall under the “documentary tourism” category of adventure travel. Amanda tells the story of her background, how she came up with the idea and how it is going:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/655337

Live video by Ustream

I think this is amazing (both the work, the idea and the kind of work they are doing. Amanda also has a book coming out here:
http://www.bennetthastings.com/author.php?author_id=38

The video is about 40 minutes long, and is the kind of thing you would expect from TED, but we have become used to after years of gnomedex

I am so glad Chris and Ponzi shared this with us (and am TICKED I missed it live).

Past Is Prologue
-William Shakespeare

I had a conversation with my buddy Craig the other day and we discussed how these platforms and models were changing how users interact and part of the discussion touched specifically on:

Right now, every kid under the age of 18 in the US has grown up with potential access to the internet either at home, school, rec center, mom’s office, etc.

For the most part these kids are creating online identities in a ton of places, some are throwaway (to get access to a concert video), and others are permanent (tell my niece she has to quit MySpace and you will end up in a fight).

These kids are getting their own computers (cell phones), self-organizing digitally

They are making their own media (audio, photo, video, text) daily

They are connecting with their friends on these platforms and using them to stay in touch, bully each other, make new friends, etc.

Potentially, this generation will never lose touch with anyone they grew up with – EVER. They graduate from High School Facebook to College Facebook to Work/Life Facebook (or whatever the social platform/graph/grid/mesh evolves to). My niece will be able to keep in touch with, ignore and more importantly, have status on every single kid she is going to high school and college today. I can’t remember every single kid I went to grade school with, but I could probably find a bunch of them on Facebook if I looked hard enough.

Networking? Sure – having the world’s largest, distributed address book in history will make keeping and making connections more interesting.But what happens when you have persistent status of people you know, what they are doing, where they are /were/will be? What happens over time to this data, when it becomes the past tense (was doing, was at, was with)?

Doc Searls has said in a previous VRM meeting that he wants to see a day when the customer can have their own TOS (terms of service) that gives them the right to “nuke my info off your system if I want to quit your proprietary aspect of data”. Outside of the NUKE option (which I think we need), what about an expiration date on my status/intention/attention/media? 15 years from now, does Johnny really want his new girlfriend to see his “Growing Up Gotti” haircut from back in the day? Are those funnel photos from the Preakness really going to be appropriate when your kid decides to “see what mom was like when she was my age”?

Carrying off on this point is a really great and creepy PSA out about kids and the things they are posting to the web:

It changes the game because WE ARE ALL MAINTAINING THE STATUS over our attention/intention/action as well as that of others. There are no reporters, I dont have a secretary, no one is “going to the archives” to find out what I did last week – they just need to follow my twitter feed (which is hooked up to my friendfeed and facebook and wordpress blog) to see what I was doing. Its all in the cache/cloud/reverse chronological order. All someone needs to do is connect the dots (which is getting easier every day).

Your ideas, photos, comments, videos are out there, in the cloud/cache, forever. A persistent, ongoing record, distributed amongst different platforms and social graphs for the world to see. Add in face and voice recognition and that protest rally you went to in college, because that hippy chick you were dating at the time wanted you to go, might become a problem 20 years from now when you run for office, or a job, or meet a not-so-hippy chick. You didnt shoot the video, you didnt know you were on camera, yet it is part of your history. Lots of folks are getting gigs BECAUSE of their participation on these platforms. There are already stories in the “news” (and I do use the term loosely) about how kids are getting turned down for jobs because of things on their myspace page, beauty pageant contestants are losing their crowns because there are embarrassing photos of them on the web, kids are videotaping crimes to get on YouTube.

I hope you know this will go down on your permanent record
- The Violent Femmes
Kiss Off

Things to think about:

Will our past actions prevent us from trying for a job (even Vice President) because we know what closets our skeletons are in (”I told the candidate I could not accept the VP nod because I want to spend more time with my family, and because there are some raunchy pictures of me at my roommates’s bachelor party 17 years ago”)?

Will individuals guard their expressions more closely and be more conscious of their attention/intention/status?

What happens when we run into a “blank slate” who doesnt have a facebook history or is tagged in flickr sets? Will we give them the job/trust/reputation? Will they be a social media pariah?

Will I be able to find a “cleaner” to get rid of all traces of Spring Break 2012 in Cancun before my bride-to-be finds them?

Will there be a “Identity Bankruptcy Court” that will order these graphs and platforms to nuke all traces of someone?

And it has taught me so much:

• Editorial is not an afterthought
• Trust is earned
• “Are we done yet” is not professional
• Google Adwords, Google Adsense are magic (and Dave McClure is sooooo right)
• There isn’t enough time in the day
• Going to the US Open with a friend is more fun than watching it on TV
• Pretty much going anywhere is better than watching TV
• You have to be pretty hardcore to compare the NY Yankees to the Republican Party
• Writing the perfect doc or deck is impossible
• There is never enough time, there never will be enough time
• I will be going to Gnomedex as long as Chris and Ponzi invite us
• MadMen is the best show on television

More to come… couple of launches in the next couple months, interesting project for some of my friends, some travel, helping a couple of clients

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity
Promiscuity is the practice of making relatively unselective, casual and indiscriminate choices.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promiscuity
Diversity is the presence of a wide range of variation in the qualities or attributes under discussion.

We make choices in how we connect to these spaces and places. Some are light connections and without regard and some seriously focused. Our Facebook page is where we connect with our friends and “adds”, where we have fun, add widgets that are entertaining, and annoy friends with question and movie matching requests. We might add people we just met last night at a party or barely know because this space is casual, fun, the opposite of serious in our life (until a future employer finds the keg-stand and bong photos). Our LinkedIn page is where we take things seriously. We dont post goofy photos, we dont ask stupid questions – we respect the space AND show respect for ourselves and others. We pitch in, make referrals, connect and find connections. A Band’s My Space page is their home on the web – while fun and on a more “fun” social network, its their business – the franchise.

Not all of my friends are in all the same networks. I am not in all of their networks. We connect and get close and pull away and break up by increments over time. There is a lot of overlap in multiple networks – between my network of friends, network of business acquaintances, network of people I kinda-know. I have folks following my twitter feed I have only met once, but have tons of conversations over time, in multiple forms. I refuse to add people I don’t know to my Facebook page.

Promiscuity, or having lots of relationships on lots of networks isnt a bad thing. If you only hang out with LinkedIn kids, what is the true value of your social equity? Does it make sense to be in a clique? Does it make more sense to be in multiple networks, with lots of loose and tight connections? Does that diversity in friends, viewpoints, behavior translate into something more (more social equity)? Does Moore’s law really have an effect when we look at the value of each of our social networks individually and in the aggregate?

Chris Messina (FactoryJoe) once wrote “a monoculture is a monotonous culture”. I think this fits really well.

http://www.ringblender.com/blender.html

This site allows fans of the band to take pre-selected tracks and samples and make their own ringtones, share them with friends and download to their phones.

DIY? Check.
Band that values its fans? Check.
Simple, well-done execution? Check.

SocialNetworkDevCamp will focus on API and Widget development from Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Linked In and others. The camp will also start the process of identifying open APIs and data structures which would facilitate the creation of open standards for social networking.

http://barcamp.org/SocialNetworkDevCamp

Marc Canter has sent an open letter to the Ning team (who just got a HUGE investment) that includes this tasty bit:

But one thing we know for sure – users want to control their own data. And they want to move freely between systems. So here’s what I’d like to propose Ning support. Help us create a data structure and support the OpenID2 Attribute Exchange to facilitate the movement (in both directions) of entire social neworks.

http://blog.broadbandmechanics.com/2007/07/open-letter-to-marc-andressen-gina-bianchini-and-diego-doval

Marc’s open letter should be required reading for those who want to work on social networks (roll your own or customize a service), work with social networks (for your clients or creating your own apps, widgets and webservices) or even play in the space.

Great post from Chris Brogan regarding how we behave (and misbehave) in the multiple social networks we live in. Is it a free-for-all game of who has the most adds like on My Space? Is it fair to troll through your friends facebook lists to see who you haven’t added to yours? Just how creepy is it to have someone you dont know ask for a link on LinkedIn or Facebook, or does Scoble have it right when he adds everyone to his Pownce list?

Is separating your personal life in one network (like facebook), your professional life in another (LinkedIn) and your ambient intimacy efforts in a third (Pownce, Twitter) really effective, really efficient, or are you just spreading out your personal data into too many places and spaces?

This post should be in the same folder with Cory Doctorow’s How To Keep Hostile Jerks From Taking Over Your Online Community.

Part of becoming a neighbor is getting to know the folks in your community, treading lightly as you learned about your new neighbors, what they are into, what social mores are in place, whats accepted, tolerated and taboo. With the proliferation of social networks, we are jumping into the deep end of more than one pool, in real time and asynchronously, and there is no primer, rulebook or digital scout manual to help us figure it out.

http://grasshopperfactory.com/cbc/considering-social-network-etiquette/

Emotionally, I don’t understand why so many people get so upset at being marketed to, or at gleefully acknowledging the good that comes from crafting a social world that is dominated by people willingly exchanging skills, services, and goods. These types could be called Generation Dobler, after the famous quote from the sad sensitive man-child character, Lloyd Dobler, played by John Cusack in the 1989 film Say Anything.

Dobler certified his soulfulness by announcing that “I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.” (my bold)

I need to get crackin on a “Generation Dobler” group on Facebook

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/12/burning_man_and_gene.html

Gnomedex aims to be a tech zeitgeist – where today’s ideas and thinkers come together – although the direction of our conference may change in the following years. The conference industry certainly has affronted us several challenges, since we refuse to play the games that other conferences do. Gnomedex is still largely a labour of love (though also a small part of our business model).

http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/07/11/gnomedex-is-happening/

Well one clear way is to just ’subscribe’ to someone and then find out what they’re doing – wherever they are. This can only be done across vendor’s offerings – so it’s a great use case for open standards.

For a while now I have been a snob of social networks. “I get it, I get it” – I would join, check out early features, and not really invest in the community while trying to get a quick read on the SN. Understanding the theory without being invested. Recently, thanks to having to do the research, friends (like HH) inviting me left and right and some really exciting things happening in the SN space (like Marc’s PeopleAggregator, Facebook opening up, researching SNs in different cultures) I have been getting more invested different worlds, seeing what they have to offer, learning and experiencing (badges to come).

The biggest frustration I have is having to make a new profile from scratch in each of these places. Because, really, my hobbies are the same if I am in facebook or myspace. I might not put my entire employment history in Facebook, but if I did, why would I want to key it or copy/paste it 2x from LinkedIn???? What happens when these data sources become out of synch (like my employment histories or hobbies between social networks)?

The truth Marc has been sharing is simple – open it up (platforms), be free, listen to the customer (radical idea), and anticipate what they want (’cause they dont know it – yet), let them share (on your network and others). I used to think my blog was this center of the social universe for me – and it could become that… we just arent there yet.

We dont have one circle of friends. We don’t have one interest. We dont have only one favorite food. We dont have one email address. We dont only like one musician or singer or group. We dont like only one kind of movie or tv show or magazine. People like choice. They like options. They don’t always make a choice – and that is a choice in itself. They want to engage on their terms in the places and spaces of their choice.

The more you hold them down, lock them out, and box them in the easier it will be for them to invest (time, effort, ideas, creativity) in someone elses platform that is open.

Dave says…

From Marc’s blog:
http://blog.broadbandmechanics.com/2007/06/subscribing-to-people

the first post I find dives into another aggregator/platform Ziki

http://thew0rd.com/2007/06/25/zikicom-releases-v2-of-their-digital-identity-management-suite/

these guys should check out the conversation Doc is leading in VRM
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/vrm/

I love print. I love magazines that commit and pay for long articles and long fiction. The web rewards neither approach. It’s a packeted medium, a surf medium. Short bursts are the way to go. The web isn’t a replacement medium — it’s *another” medium.

(my bold)

From his blog

If it is really true, its a great example of Smartmobs in action. The ironic thing is, earlier in the day MSM was reporting that they werent sure how long the protests could continue, because they dont have an identified leader.

A massive, self-organizing group working with technology and tools at hand to protest against an oppressive government act of censorship and media control.

Sounds like a Stafish and Spider case study.

This is a Modest Mouse video done by Max Tyrie as told by Wooster Collective

“There is no compositing, no shortcuts, just lots of blood, sweat and tears, and a huge Kinkos bill!”…. Max

Read the whole story of how this was done at: Wooster Collective

Turns out Digg may have banned a user for posting a hack.

Jay Adelson of Digg posts the reason here.

Best story title so far:

I’m thinking of a number… it’s not my credit score

Live by the community, get pwned by teh community

So NBC has a text tag on their site linking to a “coming soon” page for their social network.

They are working with:
http://eventful.com for an events database and give event organizers the option to request stringers to attend and record the event, OurMedia will handle the organization and serving of the content
Internet Archive will handle the hosting

The idea is that stringers sign up for the program and list their location and what they do (audio, video). Event organizers tag their events. PodCorps acts as a dating service putting the two together.

They want to grow their stringer base first. They want to have the network in place before they can start setting up events with people. Chicken and Egg – they need stringers to attract events, and events to attract stringers.

here is the url:
podcorps.org

enourmouse # of technologies

cant participate in all communities – have to pick and choose
can try out all the clones for free or low cost
Not an endorsement of any tech – best tool for him or her – might not work – hosted versus local

tools out there – to get at tofay

the ecosystem

a lot of tools fall into one to one category

all web2.0 tech powerful enuff to abuse or misues

toolkit

1. Your Site
Blogs, RSS, forums, email

2. Out at the Edges
blogosphere, social networks, photo and vid sharing –

3. Offline – (3d worlds)
events, meetups, conferences

make your own presence as a company known

very interative tools

start small and private and expand over time

change from buying a superbowl as

easy to get intimidated – how to do all this stuff

how to manage all the attention and info – pick and choose little pieces, start small and expand over time
Part of the community itself

Categories of tools
Blogs
Podcasts
WIki
Rss
SOcial Networks
Chat
wiki
video
chat
email lists
forums/groups

list of 10 other things – all req interactivity and maintenance and managment

not all tech right for every org

“rules are” – they are full of it – misleading lie – everyone doesnt need the same difunct lifestyle

2 or 3 – maybe not everything

Definitions
regularly updated, frequently updated – what its all about

blogs – owner starts conv and everyone responds
wiki – share document between a number of people

social networking underpinning of these tech
enable who you have relationship in a specific way
relationship confers some status

groups and forums connect community to each other

“a series of tubes becomes a series of crossroads”

complement between the diff tools

highlights of key ones

Blogs
great starting point
immediate and ongoing connection
provides human face to the evangelist
enables you to join the community
be proactive and quick to act
low barrier to entry (just get started)

keep the relationship going in a consistent way

start with what works for you – ok to start without comments – didnt allow comments when they started

feeds , permalinks, established blogging elements

lot of the tools self correct over time – listen to the community – they will have impact and you will have a better result

not being dogmatic or bullheaded

not about the tools – blogs are forgiving and about a relationship – plenty of places to find online
great great complments to the other tools

Podcasting and videoblogging
VIdeo services – metacafe, blip, photobucket

photo tools – flickr, photobucket

desktop tools – iMovie, Quicktime, Audactity, Picasa

tools becoming commodified

WIKI
editable web pages
great for collaboration on evolving projects
need tending
hosted vs server side
hosted – social text, jotspot, PBWiki
server – mediawiki, instiki

can rapidly go out of date
inaccuracies and errors if not tended

everything has mistakes – key= people who are interested in managing and maintaingn and organize – let them organize

willing to play a littl, it doesnt have to be perfect

follow model as blogs – free or cheap and getup&go – or installed software (call IT dept) – more complex but more power

easy to move data between diff types of software

all prod are low enough to expense

not uncommon

wiki good tool for internalizing evangelism

wiki less scary inside org

tie to email address for business and internal use – people grow up – wouldnt do that with name attached to it

FEED READING
any site with a feed can be tracked passively and centralized
cuts down on the number of email newsletters
feeds for concepts, searches, topics – search the future

subscribe to feed on a topic – verticalizes what you are searching

more broad than just the exact name – not having to track all the blogs – have the software do the work

discover sites and blogs discussing the topic

hosted vs server for feed reading – power users want offline

sharepoint and portal apps allow feed reading as well

SOCIAL NETWORKING / MEDIA TOOLS
get out there in the community
anything on your blog can link out – post screenshots to flickr, upload video to youtube
ensure you are easy to find
use tags, social bookmarks
use the same screenname across the ecosystem
create a presence – product community page, events calendar

be respectful of the context you are in
myspace and plumbers

devil is in the details – use the same tags – persistent vocabulary – use the same screenname across ecosystem

GM mention
find us on – and then all the networks you participate in

care about participating in those communities

authenticity – dont join a network just to be on it – if you cant add something useful and acting like a native and being honest for that group of users – dont do it – thats OK

no reason to have empty – noting lonelier than flickr without photos

SOme guiding priciples

Be Authentic
participate
you are not in control
get transparent

a Day In The Life

How do you keep up with this stuff
skillset and type of person

a day in the life of mr dash
works in blogging company
every customer has a blog
wonderful customers not afraid to kick in the ass

x tens of millions with tools
track 4-5 brands
2-3 senior executives represent the company
any mention of the brands or people is considered an obligation for 6A to respond
SF, PAris, Tokyo
25 million people, 25 lang, 20 key terms
volume in blog posts mentioning in a lang they can respond in tends to be 6-700 posts
on days when launching something new to somethign active – 10k posts
goal to acknowledge every one
over time – reduced the amount of resources it takes to do it
1. uses all of the feed search systems
a. icerocket, technorati, sphere.com, yahoo blgo search, google blog search
each tool does a search for a product term – searches for all – opens each search in own tab in FFox bookmarkes the tabs
does for each products
feed of every search for the tools
how the day begins
some agg have the tools built in
dashboard – lots of spam and people misusing the terms
take away x %
some people are tag spammers – broad brush
heart of customer comm
diff cats – hey trying out this product or service – mention it in passing
people who just formed a relationship with the org
key opps to say HI I am with X – thanks for talking, considering doing a meeting – huge touchpoint
surprised where thay benefit comes back
POC that early changes impressions
most is fairly structured – not in favor of copy and pasting – follow structure – make bullet list of main points and make them releavant
saying something that is unique to a certain community
“hello, welcome, thanks”
and add on epiece of info that isnt sales-y
“if you need information – here is how to get in touch”

will expose if there is a problem with help at your company

Asymmetrical – will find the gaps and the outliers – where to take the notes and maintain a record

second major group is moderately disgruntled
annoyed, peeved, little problems
fairly straightforward
9 out of 10 – prob aware of it if engaged in community – shouldnt be a surprise
once you set policy you can talk about what you are doing about it
justify what you get in exchange for the fees

underprmise and overdeliver
aware and working on it
fix it or explain – but be sincere
they will understand by being upfront

2 easy cases – welcome to the community or you have a problem

3rd – people who are really upset

most upset for something that has nothing to do with your company, product, service
your product failed at the wrong time – impetus is never about the failure of the prod – you can never say “here is what you are upset about” – cant do that – more exasperating

going a little beyond makes a big difference

more when the battery comes back

Philosophy of evangelism
what is community evangelism
Key concepts
Human tools and tech tools
technical know-how
case studies

WHat can you do with a Book? (AD)

concept that informs a lot of what he sees personally

talk to young people – what can they do with a book – read it, notes, cover it, burn it
dont quickly get to the idea they can write a book

dramatic change for them – they have control over somethign they interact with every day

profound disctinction re the web – the web is something they can manipulate, creat and control

Want to start a podcast, reach a large audience

ton of times reading books or school – but none on the web

diff is the potential of evan

what they can do with the mediaum

2 ideas to review – Persistance and Awareness
fundamental enablers
make the rest o what we do powerful
how many use print or DM?
small number
some actually still cold call caustomers

how do we shift from old school to new school – thru persistance and awareness
obvious in retrospect

media is totally disposabel – degrade automatically – can be lost forever
business comm – a lot that we send comm in a way that says “this is disposable” –
we dont have to settle for that – great comm can be made that we want to keep – meaningful enuff that we want to keep over time

Visits to the Long Tail
from the last month
61% from last month, 27% older than 1 month, 12% older than one month from search

how much of our commm is around newness, and immediacy – we are ignoring almost 1/2 that conv

people are sending links, passing them on, referring to the later

lots of comm going on that is persistant over time – valuable for the long run.
see a lot of cisitors to older content on a blog that is about writing a book (aritfact on a shelf for the rest of your life

blog is persistant over time

social tension arising from use using email and IM over time
emo we need something to hold on to

ikea is a maze – cant get out without buying something

not how the web works
exp of going thru store where they are controlling everywhere you go and everything you see

profound thing – not having a maze

Permalinks and date stamp – see them forever
what was missing from those company websites designed to be ikea store
in all of social media there is a social contract – date stamp promises there will be more updates

A DATE STAMP IS A SOCIAL CONTRACT

because no ones name was attached they were free to make something that didnt have value – namestamp is a confirmation of value

wikipedia – edit link – we trust you to be part of the editing – think about what a leap or promise that is

i have the right to be on the page – think of the risk and opp they are taking wiht that – social expectations being set – I WILL STAY IN TOUCH

Intentions of maintainging relationships

want to talk to someone other than asking for money

we dont stay in touch –

how do we turn the promise to stay in touch where we actually do stay in touch

fulfilling that promise to stay in touch

at the bottom line – what matters

the reason we can trat them as disposable – they are

if we promise and we do so the bar is raised – we can only stay in touch if we add value – no value less attention is paid

kids can watch a movie over and over

resonance there that doesnt happen with web and web20 tech

1/3 of the books he moved he never read

intention of emotional connection

books and movies about meaning ful things we have that ARENT people

can comm using web2.0 that is meaningful and resonant as the best media we consume

as meaningful and the best movie you have ever seen

making something lasting, meaningful and persistant

not to say it will be in the same way – but will be able to comm and treat with the respect appropriate to that comm (friends getting engaged announced with txt)

treating phys objects as disposable – they dont have to be – they can be valuable

MEANINGFUL

how meaningful a relationship you can have with non-competitors

AWARENESS
crux of info overload problem
one key resp as evangelist is to nav sea of info to find what has value and what needs to be trashed

“I NEED MORE EMAIL” – no one says that

awareness not about alert messages – prone to being misused

thoughtless – not appropriate – hurts attention – worse than spam –

junkmail can be deleted – mental expense of people being unintentionally being thoughtless because tools allow it, enable – rude by accident – tools encourage us to do that

WE ARE ALL SINNERS

offer forgiveness for myself and all of us

dont have to be rude

what inspired us – what do people love and covet – ipod, tivo, wii

why these tools were diff than fax machine in office space

same fols working on them

should be similar

diff b/c they offer you control

tv commercials – loud, obnoxious, annouting

good tv now

tivo – not beholden to schedules or commercials – control
ipod – control instead of radio station
wii – 1 button , move it around – visceral powerful levels of control –

how do we trans to web experiences?

RSS ICON

Feeds about control – choosing where and when you get info
subscribe, get info – on your terms, on your time

some of the best tools for feed look like tivo, ipod and wii

seeing there is a convergence towards software and web tech and phys devices enabling control

persistanc e- val over time
awareness – connection without being rude

Persistance + awareness = a relationship

relationship doesnt fit into columns

assign metrics and measurement about evangelism

goal of evangelism – maintain a relationship on the web

using web2.0 to build relationships

COMMUNITY EVANGELISM

Customeer advocate
listener and educator
world of control – corp has lost a huge amount of control – they can make a huge difference

role of evangelist can bring individuals and community along

Amongst the people – being a native as well as on the road

increaing numbers of ethnographers and anthropologists getitng into tech

everyone here will be talkign about users as if they are the other – we are different from them – we are different – we need to get inside the world of people who dont care and dont use all day every day

learn from it and respect it – there is a diff culture out there and be part of it and bring use to it

evangelist is not sales or marketing role – human face of the company – 3d embodiyment

online and offline – cross functional – not just role of the marketer – not solely a markeitng role
that individual has to have and feel comfortable and empowered across the company – HR, Marketing, corporate, CS

Internal as well as external – need to be able to interface with marketing and CS
not just outsiders –

foil for the company or a critic – say things your CEO doesnt want to hear
externally facing – biggest fan | internally biggest critic

“gone native” – off there on the other side – living in a middle of a bridge between the two

human skills

Listener
COnnecter
Critic
Catalyst (Starfish and the spider – decentralized awareness persistant landscape)
Partial Geek
Detective
Diplomat
Juggler
Driven by relationships
Approachable
Intuitive
Inquisitive

catalyst connector role – need to connect and forge relationships

perceived egotistical evangelist isnt bad

working and thinking on the feet alot

pushing pushing

interesting balance – element to succeeding where good evangelists become as well known in the brands they are worknig with as their communities – is it for you or the company/product

if aligned to these values it is clear to what you are in service of

interesting tension to be explored –

conquistadors thought they were evangelists (ended up destroying the civ they visited – DeSoto)

geek vs partial geek – translating and human skills – you end up treading more lightly – very instructuve to think of the conversation and interactions

bringing your cult to the world that isnt read yet – evolution, interation and change

important – like porn – in it for their ego or corp ego – you know it when you see it

before you start an evangelism program – make sure you are aligned with where the company is
ask the tough questions up front

already dozens of bloggers around MS

that kind of face

transparency – len hasnt gotten a lot of credit for being a catalyst behind that – a lot of clarity around the bigger goal

Sometimes transactions dont matter

there is an exchange going on – its ok to admit that – but need to find respect

Key Concepts

Democratization of tools and access
The Live Web
Decentralization
Amateur culture
Increased individual influence
COntrol is out of control
let the seller beware
people are the message

Blogging and the role of marketing – now we can jump into the conversation
human face – corp blogs and ceo blogs – connector and curator

kind of person that can jump in – people are the message – markets and conversations of the cluetrain

they are paying you – respect and listen to them – relationships take work – take time, take effort – in it for the long haul

EVANGELISM
ANil hates the title
no better work yet
overtly religious analogy going on – look at people who practice and the ones most effective are not evangelists – they are witnesses – live the life you want others to experience

for those evangelizing – goal has to be to live the benefits – if we participate we will gain from it

the role of witnessing – diversion but important point – pounding the podium doesnt work

ideas to cover before break – using web2 to build relationships
1 be where your audience is – mentally and physicall – in the communities online – sometimes in the ugly parts of the web – hard time justifying you are working if that site is in your browser – translating into biz req will save time and trouble later

clean polished parts of the web not where the edge is

someone driven by other motivations will not spend time being detective

not into challenge

no its not

2. Offer something of value – not bribery – info is most valuable (inc connection), validation
a response saying I read what you said (no qual, not agreeing) – saying “I am with this company and are responsing to what you said – goes a long way – validation is huge
things you take for granted – is valuable

3. Use WHat You Got
decision making process of one initiative – put it out there for debat – means the world to those using the product or considering a purchase
share that part of the conversation “oh, you actually put thought into this”
dont have insight or respect of it

can get lost in transparency and authenticity

baby steps to talking in a different tone

not that difficult a transition to make

If youdidnt get your badge this AM – tables at bottom of escalator

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