Broadband and Me: Reader Comments

Comment by katie on "Purple Polar Bear"

katie — 2006-03-29T15:18:03+00:00

OMG! how wierd is that !!!!!!!!!!

-- Posted by katie at March 29, 2006 03:18 PM --

Comment by James Cherkoff on "The Power of Belief (Redux)"

James Cherkoff — 2006-03-23T11:05:21+00:00

That's great news Paul - best of luck. Sounds like a case of true passion winning through!!

-- Posted by James Cherkoff at March 23, 2006 11:05 AM --

Comment by Johnnie Moore on "The Power of Belief (Redux)"

Johnnie Moore — 2006-03-23T08:00:40+00:00

Paul: That sounds great... looking forward to hearing more!

-- Posted by Johnnie Moore at March 23, 2006 08:00 AM --

Comment by paige on "Purple Polar Bear"

paige — 2006-03-21T01:29:38+00:00

I know it is not painted.The zoo keepers sprayed it with its purple medacine

-- Posted by paige at March 21, 2006 01:29 AM --

Comment by Peter on "The Power of Belief (Redux)"

Peter — 2006-03-16T21:16:36+00:00

Congratulations on the new role, it sounds like an opportunity in many ways.

We WILL do that coffee soon!

Peter

-- Posted by Peter at March 16, 2006 09:16 PM --

Comment by Beautiful on "Purple Polar Bear"

Beautiful — 2006-03-13T21:50:19+00:00

i just want to let you all know that the animal turned purple because of some kind of cure from a disease. write me justusnow@verizon.net

-- Posted by Beautiful at March 13, 2006 09:50 PM --

Comment by Paul Goodison on "Content or Customer is King?"

Paul Goodison — 2006-03-08T13:17:43+00:00

Thanks for sharing this Tomi! The idea of citizen media and active interaction with brands is becoming more of a passion. I hope to be able to realise some of my thinking soon and put the ideas in Communities Dominate brands into some kind of practice.

-- Posted by Paul Goodison at March 8, 2006 01:17 PM --

Comment by Tomi Ahonen on "Content or Customer is King?"

Tomi Ahonen — 2006-03-07T20:54:21+00:00

Hi Paul

Thanks for the plug, and we liked the story too, but yes, those same stats and cases were pretty well covered in our book already. Shame they didn't contact us, ha-ha.

But here is something really cool and new, about that clear shift in content/consumer role in mass media.

We all know the Pop Idol / American Idol etc format? Now this January the version in Finland - Finnish Idol - had a cool innovation. They introduced parallel to the TV show, a "common man's idol" contest. Networked karaoke on mobile. Here is how it worked:

The singer would call a premium number, sing the Karaoke song, and record it. Then invite friends to go listen to it and vote on it... In the end they of course found a winner. But look at the activity and bear in mind Finland is a small country of 5 million people:

1,862 average Finns called in to make an entry to the contest

150,000 separate people voted in the contest (voting many times obviously)

1.95 MILLION votes were cast. More votes in the Common Man's Idol than the simultaneously run Finnish Idol contest on TV.

This is first a very fascinating study in the evolution of produced content. It shows how highly people appreciate "real" content such as that on reality TV shows and like this kind of karaoke singing. It also shows how much average people want to participate, to create, and to share.

It is the future of TV. More about it at our blogsite www.communities-dominate.blogs.com and this is so much appreciated by both Alan and me, that we can promise we will make Citizen Idolism ha-ha one case study into the next book :-)

Thanks for your support, Paul, we really appreciate it. And keep up the great work at this blogsite

Tomi Ahonen :-)

-- Posted by Tomi Ahonen at March 7, 2006 08:54 PM --

Comment by Brian Misled on "Why Communism doesn't work..."

Brian Misled — 2006-03-05T16:03:39+00:00

In communism, it always seems the citizens are poor and the government is rich. Here is where the problem of communism lies. I personally believe in equality throughout all. Equality in citizens and government. Which means, the government gets absolutely no special treatment. They run our country, but they're citizens too. But they seem to believe they're somehow bigger and better than us. And that sticks in communism. You see, that's where communism fails. The citizens are poor and the government is rich. If it were true communism, then the government would have no more money than the citizens do. It's all distributed EQUALLY.

Now, I agree with communism because of the fact that in communism, there is no upper or middle or lower class like there is here. People suffer here. People are homeless and die. In communism, no one is homeless, no one starves. Everyone gets exactly what they need to survive.

What about incentive to work you ask? I don't agree in a dictatorship whereupon you rule your people and are able to kill those who don't work hard enough. But I do understand that the will to work still doesn't exist. And I also understand why it doesn't exist. Because a janitor in McDonald's or something would make as much money as a physician or something. So I have an idea of how to make it work, but it would be a LONG description. I can't put it now because I don't have enough time. But what I'm basically saying is that if you think for long enough and put enough energy into it, then you can truly make communism work. It only hasn't worked in the past because no one has truly used communism in a good way.

That's all I have to say for now. I'll be back later to describe my idea for a better communism.

Thanks.

-- Posted by Brian Misled at March 5, 2006 04:03 PM --

Comment by Alexander Kjerulf on "The Power of Belief"

Alexander Kjerulf — 2006-03-03T20:15:35+00:00

Nothing quite beats working in that space where you do good work (ie. something worthwhile that you care about) and do it well.

I admire your willingness to try out a new way and to do it "live" in front of customers. Kudos!

One book that celebrates this approach to work is "Happy Mondays" by Richard Reeves. He describes how work is changing, becoming ever more chaotic - and thinks this is basically a wonderful thing. I've reviewed it here: http://positivesharing.com/2005/01/book-review-happy-mondays/

-- Posted by Alexander Kjerulf at March 3, 2006 08:15 PM --

Comment by Chris Green on "Podcasting - start the conversation"

Chris Green — 2006-02-27T20:53:50+00:00

Nice article - you raise a very good point about the potential for smaller businesses to use the theoretical podcast audience.

Cheers
Chris Green

-- Posted by Chris Green at February 27, 2006 08:53 PM --

Comment by Jacques Richard on "Complexity"

Jacques Richard — 2006-02-19T19:50:59+00:00

The evolution of complexity in nature

-- Posted by Jacques Richard at February 19, 2006 07:50 PM --

Comment by jenn on "Why Communism doesn't work..."

jenn — 2006-02-13T08:02:29+00:00

um...i dont know much about communism but i need to write a historical essay on the fall of the soviet union
can anyone give me some good ideas of topics i can delve into to write about? if soo pleasssse answer back soon
thank you so much

-- Posted by jenn at February 13, 2006 08:02 AM --

Comment by Hazzard on "Purple Polar Bear"

Hazzard — 2006-01-20T13:59:46+00:00

It's called photoshop Y'all. Anyone can do it.
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/27935743/

-- Posted by Hazzard at January 20, 2006 01:59 PM --

Comment by John Stevens on "Understanding your customer"

John Stevens — 2005-12-22T11:31:08+00:00

I agree with you about the ineptness of Morrison's customer care and the apparent clash of cultures between what was a midlands and north operation, now trying to cope with how people elsewhere like to shop.
That there should be a problem in the first place is, of course, a sad reflection on how people vary over just a couple of hundred miles, but for someone like me who hates shopping in any manner or form, the only thing that makes it remotely bearable is something approaching a civilized attitude towards paying customers and not the bloody-minded obstruction to paying customers which prevails at Morrisons, the main UK supermarket which simply cannot afford to lose trade.
No doubt the backslapping and ballyhoo which went with the Safeway takeover will in due course be replaced with the blame and recriminations which go with sliding revenues.
Looks like you are not the only customer they lost to Sainsbury.
Happy Shopping! - John
PS Why do Tesco receive 1 pound (�) in every 8 spent in the UK in total and one in three of all grocery sales? Mainly because they do their job well and sell the stuff on their shelves. Not exactly rocket science, but something that shopkeepers obviously forget when they bite off more than they can chew.

-- Posted by John Stevens at December 22, 2005 11:31 AM --

Comment by The Wise One on "Understanding your customer"

The Wise One — 2005-12-20T23:39:19+00:00

Try Waitrose!

-- Posted by The Wise One at December 20, 2005 11:39 PM --

Comment by breanna on "Purple Polar Bear"

breanna — 2005-12-12T17:04:58+00:00

that is just plain mean. i cant believe that. If somebody would do that to my pets i would get mad.

-- Posted by breanna at December 12, 2005 05:04 PM --

Comment by Paul Goodison on "Happy Birthday to me (and the blog)"

Paul Goodison — 2005-11-23T09:27:48+00:00

Lloyd - not taking it personally but you will really need to explain! :)

-- Posted by Paul Goodison at November 23, 2005 09:27 AM --

Comment by Lloyd Davis on "Happy Birthday to me (and the blog)"

Lloyd Davis — 2005-11-22T22:25:14+00:00

Happy Birthday both of you - you're right the cake is delicious. IRL I can't eat chocolate at all, but the virtual equivalent has no bad side effects that I can tell so far.

Please don't take this personally Paul, but only a Scorpio could have his cake in the shape of a Cyberman head.

-- Posted by Lloyd Davis at November 22, 2005 10:25 PM --

Comment by Johnnie Moore on "Happy Birthday to me (and the blog)"

Johnnie Moore — 2005-11-21T11:06:28+00:00

Many happy returns!

-- Posted by Johnnie Moore at November 21, 2005 11:06 AM --