Today I… (this was actually yesterday)

• worked on a promotional campaign for a client’s website

• coordinated with our designer to do some Flash work
• lined up a few blog posts
• had a meeting
• emailed back and forth with the Marketing Director of a company we recently partnered with
• learned that Google expanded the criteria for XML sitemap locations
• read more about Yahoo’s Microsoft-Google issues
• briefly explored FriendFeed and Iminta (social media aggregators)
• read Steven’s review of a beta service giving away free coffee
• re-skimmed an article I had skimmed earlier in Wired about Free being the Future of Business
• tried to buy an Obama hat but they are all on back order
• ended up buying an “Irish for Obama” button on ebay
• came down with a cold
• walked to store to buy juice and V8 to combat the cold
• read or skimmed about 20 blog posts
• kept an eye on Twitter in case anything interesting or “important” happened
• oh, and I snuck in a game of StarCraft while eating dinner. Totally pwned the Zerg

And I’d say this was a pretty average day. Nothing too crazy. Sounds like I’m on top of things. But am I?

I nearly missed Leah talking about what could be the next Million Dollar Homepage - The Big Word Project, and G-d knows what Scoble is doing today… crying… laughing… doing laundry. I never even checked… and did Matt Cutts say something revolutionary about reporting spammers? I don’t know… and… oh, sh!t… Loïc Le Meur!!! I remember seeing he was at some creative thinker conference, BILL or TED or something. What happened at that? I totally dropped the ball…

But this is not just a post about me being overwhelmed with social media, news, and life.

Earlier I mentioned that I “briefly explored” a couple social media aggregator sites. This is something I’ve been looking for for quite sometime. They are an attempt at solving a real problem; Information dispersion. But the problem is bigger than that. Besides information being everywhere, the problem is that truly valuable information is often buried under ’social noise’.

So in a 24 hour day, how do we stay on top of it all? What will solve the problem? what’s this elusive NEXT BIG THING that no San Fran start up has thought of yet?

2 words. SocNet Assistant (Social Network Assistant). Let me explain. It would be the R2D2 of social media networks. It would be an AI bot programmed by you to scour the digital Interwebz and only bring the information you customize it to bring.

Picture this: You follow about 50+ people across various different networks – Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and Miscellaneous Blogs, etc.. Now, once programmed, this hypothetical SocNet Bot can watch all these people and when more than one of them starts talking about the same topic it can send an alert. And this alert could come to you on any network you choose.

Basically, you could be spoon fed the information you want in the format you want to receive it by a programmable robot you can train. So, for example, in my case I think I’d probably want a Twitter post,

“@Fitz - Michael Arrington and Steve Rubel are both talking about social aggregators. in particular FriendFeed.com. Here’s a link to FriendFeed.com”

(Notice it gave a link to what they were discussing?)

And ideally it would be smart enough, or be able to “learn”, when things are important to you. I assume this would require an increasingly complex set of filters to be programmed. But I don’t imagine it to be much more difficult than setting your email filters.

You could call it an automated social network media management bot… but I like SocNet Assistant.

I think this is inevitable. The recent enthusiasm over social aggregators prove market forces are at work. The technology is there. It’s just a matter of time before someone fills in.

- Fitz (Nerd Thoughts Inc.)

Hey people, a somewhat spontaneous idea lead to some interesting happenings today on the web. Turns out there is a secret desire in the hearts and souls of Twitterati to sing and be heard. That’s right - Karaoke Style! And that’s exactly what happened through the use of Utterz.com, a mobile mash together of voice, video, pictures, and text messaging.

And just to keep tabs on the event, here is an ongoing list of participants and their contributions…

• Fitz (yeah, it’s me…) - Strangers in da Night
• Egspoony - Cielito Lindo, Jump Around, Ice Ice Baby, Rehab
• 1God - Extraordinary
• 1God’s Daughter - ABC’s
• Matthom - Under the Weather
• yo baby daddy - Bohemian Rhapsody
• JJMac - Fat Cat Blues Uno
• BleuCaldwell - Barbie Girl
• Oblivion - W*O*R*D Up
• Gar_cia - I Like Sheese
• Ceelos - I’m Too Sexy

***I know some more people will be contributing so please let me know if I miss anyone!!!***

This was really fun and funny! It gives people a chance to let down their guard and, personally, I’m hoping this turns into a regular event!

If you have any thoughts about the first Twitter / Utterz Karaoke day leave a comment!

- Fitz

I was talking to a guy in class today who plays in a band. He mentioned how badly he needed a job - his money situation is bleak. So since I’m always thinking about how to involve advertising as a revenue model I suggested his band get some local sponsors. You know, see if the local bowling alley or hardware store would sponsor them in exchange for the band giving a mention during a performance. Maybe they could put some flyers on stage or have the band give a shout out. Heck, maybe even have the band wear t-shirts with the company logos.

I know it sounds kinda cheesy, I can understand that. But when this aspiring musician said it was “selling out” it caught me off guard.

I used to play in bands, follow the Dead and Phish and I was an idealist to the core in terms of music and social equality and all of that. But I guess I’ve fallen far from the tree because I don’t see being sponsored as “selling out” in the least. I see it as an opportunity that pretty much every successful band since the dawn of the recording industry has taken part in.

When the Dead played soldier field were there advertisements at the venue? Sure there were. Or what about Lollapalooza? I never saw more advertising in my life than at those shows. So since QOTSA played Lollapalooza did they “sell out”? No, of course not.

Selling out is when you let the sponsors dictate the music you make. As long as you can still do what you are doing, and as long as we are a capitalistic society, then what is so wrong with a strategic partnership? Don’t we all live in homes that were marketed to us, drink beer that was advertised to us, play music created with instruments and equipment that was advertised to us? In fact, TigerDirect sold me on this very monitor I’m looking at now - they send the most irresistible email offers!

So if advertising is the blood that pumps the heart of our capitalist machine then is mentioning that Wednesdays are $1 lanes at Marty’s Bowl-o-Rama gonna kill you? How does it compromise your music? It doesn’t. It makes you an entrepreneur.

Nerd Thought by,
John Fitzsimmons

So I checked itunes. And almost immediately I spotted something that triggered my carnal impulsive buying behavior mechanisms…

And it was only $9.99. My brain turned off and I just bought it.

You can buy it here: (aff)

I was so excited about the purchase I wanted to tell the world, via Twitter of course. But then I remembered I could link straight to this great deal using the itunes affiliate program I signed up for a million years ago. So I went to LinkShare.com, logged in, and generated the link and posted it in my tweet.

The whole process made me wish Twitter had a field under the settings where you could fill in your affiliate ID number for itunes, amazon, or whatever and that any time you link to something on those sites it would automatically make it an affiliate link. Seems like a neat idea that could generate a little money for people who are unwittingly being viral marketers for these products.

But then I thought about this one guy on Twitter… Vaspers. This guy is the antithesis of everything capitalistic. And he is, to some degree, the voice of ideal morality in a web 2.0 era. My gut told me he would argue against using an affiliate link in your tweets because it compromises your integrity. And I can understand that. It’s kind of like sponsored blog posts. How can you truly know if someone is expressing their honest opinion about product or service on a blog, on twitter, or through any social online medium if they are some how getting a “kick back”?

So there in lies the dilemma. What if you honestly think something is cool, interesting, of value and want to tell other people? Is it wrong then to use an affiliate link? Is it wrong to think, “hey, if someone follows this link on my recommendation and makes a purchase the store should give me some type of referral payment?”

Personally, I think if it’s a legitimate referral about something you believe in then it’s ok. But what differentiates the legitimate person from the typical affiliate hack just trying to generate clicks and sales? I really don’t have an answer for that. Does anyone?

- This has been a Nerd Thought by John Fitzsimmons

Side Note: When watching “V”, originally debuted in 1983, I noticed that most the people in the show got there first knowledge of the alien motherships from watching it on television. And I thought, here we are almost 25 years later with mobile technologies and the Internet yet, I believe, if something like aliens were to make contact today people would still learn about it on TV.

The network established to disseminate information through television is not something that can easily be replaced. Merged with current technologies, yes; but replaced by things like user generated videos or mobile blogging… not any time soon. Even though we are now more connected than ever, we are still vastly disorganized in terms of information distribution. And I’m not sure that is something easily remedied.

Other Side Note: According to Wikipedia, “V: The Second Generation, a sequel to the first miniseries, is scheduled to be published in November 2007; a TV adaption is also planned for 2008.” I couldn’t find anything official but here is a pretty cool fan made teaser (If you never saw the original this will spoil it. Be warned!):

“The environment” isn’t really my specialty. But when ever I think about climate change and the inevitable destructive weather and planetary changes that will coincide it leads me to think of an XRT radio commercial I heard many years ago. The catch line to the commercial was…

I don’t know if getting 50 or 70 miles to the gallon will stop global warming and I don’t know if weening ourselves from oil dependence will stop the polar caps from melting. But one thing I am sure of is that the global planetary conditions of this planet are not stable and probably never were. Change is the only constant this planet has ever known.

So, while Al Gore makes a stink about mankind’s role in the destruction of polar bear habitat and ‘Bush and friends’ misinform and distract the public, precious time is being wasted.

I think a better way we could be spending time is by developing habitats that could survive dramatic changes in weather. Imagine homes that could withstand tornadoes or floods, cities that could survive in deserts or polar ice caps. And technologies that could generate power from tornadoes or tsunamis. Where are these futuristic habitats? Does MIT have a department working on it? I hope so.

If anyone has any links to information about projects related to these topics I’d love to hear about them.

Best Regards,
John Fitzsimmons

P.S. I didn’t mean to sound callous when speaking about the polar bears. I think what is happening to them is really unfortunate and I hope we can figure something out soon.

Todays topic inspired by…

I’ve been busy studying, developing websites, working on a video project geared toward web entrepreneurs, and I’ve been on the hot dog diet (and I am actually losing weight!). But those things aside, I want to mention a few websites briefly that are really great finds.

1. Jott.com now allows you to Twitter or blog with your voice. Think hands free blogging or micro blogging. Great from the car or on the road in any facet. Might be scary if your drunk though.

2. ThinkArtificial.org, could be my favorite blog of the moment, has done a recent post on a robot that can simulate human faces. Both creepy and cool.

3. CopyBlogger.com is THE BLOG for learning how to write creative compelling traffic generating content on your blog. I just wish I actually posted enough for it to matter. Oh well… maybe it’ll help you.

4. Yourminis.com is like widget heaven. Seriously. My musician buddy, JJ, just asked me to help him put a flash mp3 player on his blog. So I found this one on Yourminis and was “good to go” with in minutes. The only slightly tricky thing was creating the XML playlist file… but on a scale of 1 to 10 it was like a 2. And this site gives clear and easy instruction on how to make a playlist. Btw, feel free to check out JJ’s musical creations! His blog needs some love.

5. Zombo.com… ok, this is admittedly a waste of time. But man it’s funny. Make sure you have your volume up before you go and “Welcome to Zombo!”

Ok, 5 minutes is up. Have a good one.

Here is Keith Olbermann with a special comment for Bush & Cheney. He sums up, so eloquently, what I believe so many of us feel and believe; It’s time for Bush to resign!

Both of these clips are a little lengthy but what’s being said just needs to be said… and heard!

Pickle.com lets you create a “channel” that you can publish to via mobile device or web. this channel can then be published anywhere on the web. For example here,

Fitz’ Pickle Channel

I’m not yet sure if you can feed in video from other sources like YouTube, probably not, but that would be pretty sweet. And imagine if this could be monetized with something like AdBrite’s InVideo. Uber sweet.

Also, if anyone at Pickle.com reads this, it would be nice to be able to shoot text msgs to it like with Wiffiti.

Anyway, it’s worth checking out.

John Fitzsimmons

The concept was simple. Prove the value of mobile phones to drive business to local establishments while both creating value for business and incentives for the consumers.

From what I could tell, it worked. The turn out was good.

Mark, using the power of various resources such as online social networks, search engine listings, blog posts, and word of mouth created a buzz for this “Secret Venue” (Plymouth Restaurant). Those that would attend subscribed via txt messaging and were sent notification about the party location. Once at the event, people could use txt messaging to enter chances to win free drinks.

As someone in marketing who sees the potential of the mobile market for local business it was great to see this event be successful. And more importantly, it was fun.

Mark has many great ideas for using mobile technology in interesting ways - not just as a marketing tool. One example was a creative twist on the famous Chicago art exhibit ‘Cows on Parade’. In stead of cows, however, LCD screens or projections would be used to display the SMS messages generated by the public. But this is just the tip of the ice berg.

If Looptopia is Chicago’s attempt at becoming more of a cultured global city then maybe adding a strong mobile element is just what is needed to set us apart. Maybe Mayor Daley should give Mark a txt.

Related Links:

Live @ Looptopia Tumblelog
Looptopia Pictures

John Fitzsimmons

If you ever need to know anything while ‘on the go’ don’t over look using Twitter as a living mobile feedback and research tool.

Case in point. Today I was at Jewel. I was thinking about blackened chicken. I sure love blackened chicken. I went to the spice section and there was nothing labeled blackened. I wondered if I could just buy some different spices and make my own “blackened” mix. But I didn’t know enough about it so I left empty handed.

Hours later, it dawned on me; I could have just asked the kind folks on Twitter. So, as a test, I did. Within minutes I had a suggestion for a brand of pre-mixed seasoning I could order online and I had a recipe (1, 2) for my do-it-yourself ambitions.

Twitter is amazing for this purpose. Want to know something quick? Want feedback about something? Just ask.

Quick Twitter Tip: If you want to use Twitter for feedback it’s a good idea to have a larger network. I currently have over 100 ‘followers’ and conversely ‘follow’ over 200 others. Ok, maybe this isn’t so much a “Twitter Tip” as it is a cry for help… but you get my point. ;P

John Fitzsimmons

Update: The Tweets just keep rolling in…

Rick Murray
Jim Weinhart
Bleu Caldwell (1,2)