Comments for Connected Conversations

Comment on Amazing trick shot by VJ Singh at Augusta by Bobby

Bobby — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:44:16 +0000

Very nice Mike. Not just the shot. The entire blog!

Comment on Amazing trick shot by VJ Singh at Augusta by mweiksner

mweiksner — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:14:30 +0000

The quality of the video is poor, so I didn't see that. But if so, I have to think that this video is computer generated rather than real. I found it on the golf digest web site, so I had just assumed it was real. Hmmn.

Comment on Amazing trick shot by VJ Singh at Augusta by Nathaniel McNamara

Nathaniel McNamara — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:35:54 +0000

It looks like he doesn't just hit the ball onto the green, but it actually goes *in* the hole! amazing shot.

Comment on Aardvark - I love you! by mweiksner

mweiksner — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:56:50 +0000

I just sent you an invitation. Enjoy!

Comment on Aardvark - I love you! by Brad Rourke

Brad Rourke — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:13:57 +0000

This is very cool. I want to be a part of it.

What I know about:

* Ethics

* Democracy

* Nonprofit Management

bradrourke at gmail

Comment on Quick hits / twitter recap by mweiksner

mweiksner — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:52:43 +0000

That was the same question I asked Andrew. But alas, it is manual. Frankly, the 10-15 minutes I spent cleaning it up were valued added. It would take a bit of smarts to make it “automagic”.

Comment on The AIG Blackmail note by aha

aha — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:24:03 +0000

Check this out:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13395005/AIGs-Employe...

…the Covered Person will forfeit the right to such Guaranteed Retention Award in the following circumstances:

3.04 (b) the Covered Person's employment (or, as applicable, consultancy) is terminated by AIG-FP for cause (”cause” means conduct involving intentional wrongdoing, fraud, dishonesty, gross negligence, material breach of the AIG Code of Conduct or other policies of AIG-FP or AIG, or conviction of or entry of a plea of guility or no contest to a criminal offense); or

So, AIG's management should have dismissed all of the Covered Persons at AIG-FP for “cause” since they exhibited gross negligence when they failed to hedge wrong-way risk. These bonuses should never have been paid out.

Comment on Quick hits / twitter recap by Nathaniel McNamara

Nathaniel McNamara — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:21:19 +0000

Love this post! great set of links. Can you automate this?

Comment on Jim Cramer: Good or Bad Guy? by ecoalex

ecoalex — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:00:07 +0000

Cramer had no argument to save himself.The video clips showed him for what he was, another Wall St bubble boy.He's an insider, one of those inside,he saw himself as a demiGod.I have a friend that actually watched this clown, and bought his news letter.Cramer had a extreme buy order on a stock. My friend bought it, and lost his shirt.He roasts Cramer much more harshly than Stewart did.Wall St is built on bullshit. Until this changes, and those Personal responsibility Republicans actually get an ethics infusion, Wall St will continue to be a pile of steaming Manure.Sadly Obama, and his financial clowns who pushed for deregulation when Clinton was leaving, all want no rules for a time to let the bullshit bubble up to save the economy, then, they say they will institute reforms, laws.The SEC didn't enforce any laws, Madoff was reported to them 3 years earlier, nothing happenned.Until laws are enforced, We're Screwed.

Comment on Jim Cramer: Good or Bad Guy? by mweiksner

mweiksner — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:40:23 +0000

First, Cramer has been benefiting all week long from the publicity.

True, Stewart brutalized him. But I honestly think that he previous coverage which was actually funny was doing more harm to Cramer than this attack.. By letting Stewart vent, I think it buys Cramer one last chance to redeem himself rather than continue to lose blood night after night on the Daily Show.

Finally, I think that Cramer came across as contrite and somewhat sympathetic. What was he supposed to do as the host bombarded him with unsympathetic video clips and hogged the microphone so he had no opportunity to respond?

Comment on Jim Cramer: Good or Bad Guy? by Eric

Eric — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:37:24 +0000

Wow, you had a very different take on it.
It seemed like a pretty aggressive one-side attack by Stewart and Cramer just took it.
He tried to get Stewart to lighten up by being apologetic but instead took the brunt for the recent collapse of financial institutions and wall street.
Cramer may not be a great reported but he hardly was playing a came of nudge/nudge/wink/wink with the financial services companies as Stewart alleged.
I tuned in because I thought it'd be funny but instead it was a bloodbath.
Cramer needs a new publicist.

Comment on Unicorns fart skittles by mweiksner

mweiksner — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:08:44 +0000

200+ jump in sales? Sounds unlikely but would be amazing. I have been working in UGC for a decade too, so I share your enthusiasm and understanding of the issues associated with it. Thanks for you comment!

Comment on Unicorns fart skittles by Stephanie Bergman

Stephanie Bergman — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:31:48 +0000

Yeaah, one thing I've never been accused of is not being opinionated. :) DOn't get me wrong, I LOVE user generated content, that's pretty much been my entire career, but I think companies rush into it without knowing what they're doing, and the skittles experiment was a clear example of that.

I believe that while short-term results can often be achieved by doing something like this, the ultimate response from the company (sales, business, exec, pr) is a negative one, and not something to be taken lightly without a LOT of warning. Brands are very, very touchy about what is said about their product, and the inability to control ugc is still something they're getting used to.

It's also simply sleazy to frame another company's site (after doing it to twitter, they moved on to facebook (but that's a whole other thing).

Someone quoted a 200+ jump in sales number in my blog comments, but I kinda need to see a source…not only would that be really neat for skittles (and just for UGC knowledge in general), but it'd be incredibly fast to know how well the campaign worked. I didn't think consumer sales numbers were returned that quickly.

Comment on Unicorns fart skittles by mweiksner

mweiksner — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:40:04 +0000

I agree. So, but there ought to be some measurable impact of the campaign. Perhaps awareness of skittles in a survey, or a more favorable attitude towards skittles? Interesting to think about how to measure success of this kind of campaign, where there is potentially negative and positive exposure.