Inside the Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog

Links for 2009-07-14 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-15T00:00:00-07:00

Race with Insulin (racewithinsulin) on Twitter
First branded pharma campaign on Twitter: Bio - Racecar driver Charlie Kimball partners with Novo Nordisk to prove his high performance career is possible with diabetes.
Idea X | the Best Buy Idea Exchange. Share ideas, vote, and discuss. Help change Best Buy.
We're constantly looking for new ways to improve our business and are asking you to help us by sharing your own ideas, voting for ideas you like, and discussing them with the rest of the community.

The Truck Stops Here

2009-07-14T16:39:28-04:00

Here's today's Social Media Insider, originally published in MediaPost. Photo credit: Me.

In the future, will all of our restaurants turn into roving trucks? You may not ask yourself that question every day, but answering it will reveal a few things about the evolution of social media.

This megatrend of trucks serving gourmet food is one of those cataclysmic events that can only be brought on by a slew of events that were never supposed to happen at the same time (think "The Day After Tomorrow"):

· A recession that caused consumers to be thrifty when eating out while also giving the jobless and underemployed more time than they're used to.

· GPS technology accurate enough to locate restaurants on wheels.

· The advent of Twitter, which allowed truck-food proprietors to economically broadcast where they are, along with empowering consumers narcissistic enough to tell people they are on line waiting for a truck chef to serve them.

· Finally, the emergence of Dr. Scholl's shoe inserts so comfortable that truck chefs can be gellin' without having their feet resemble snapshots from the podiatric-themed issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

New York City has a multiplying fleet of truck chefs. Battles for the streets have become so intense that one truck food purveyor told The New York Times a few weeks ago, "I should not have to carry a baseball bat on my truck in order to sell cupcakes." I've visited two trucks for food this month alone: Van Leeuwen artisan ice cream by the High Line park (after trying the vanilla, "artisan" must be a synonym for "bland"), and the CupcakeStop.com truck that I found via a colleague's tweet, which served the best red velvet I've had east of the Mississippi (either side of it, you can't top Sprinkes).

The most famous, uber-hip food truck isn't driving near my office anytime soon. It's Kogi, the Los Angeles-based Korean barbecue truck fleet with over 35,000 followers on Twitter. Proprietor Mark Manguera seems to have an Oprah-like command of his followers, with hundreds of them lining up for Asian-Mexican food whenever his trucks tweet.

How much further will this trend go? Here are a few ideas:

· The locations of these trucks will be crowdsourced. It's the converse of the drive-thru: instead of the truck saying where it is and people tweeting about it, people will tweet and the truck drives to where the most buzz is.

· Mobile applications will instantly show which food trucks are in your area. Trucks will be sorted by cuisine type, location, and the length of the line.

· A market of line-savers will emerge. Someone spending $10 on dinner from a truck may well pay another $20 not to wait on line for an hour or two (I couldn't find anyone offering or requesting this on the Los Angeles Craigslist boards). A secure arrangement between the parties using SMS and PayPal could ensure timeliness and accuracy. A more sophisticated system could have the person on line periodically checking in via GPS to confirm their location.

· Trucks will eliminate all of their selection and will tweet the day's option along with the location. One day, it might only be steak fajitas, while another it's shrimp tamales. And the same people who waited two hours to get what they wanted from the truck would wait four to have no options to choose from.

· Trucks will tweet the wrong locations intentionally. This will weed out the fans from the superfans. Anyone can follow a truck on Twitter and find it and wait on line for food while telling all their friends about it. But imagine if people had no clue where the truck was, and even their friends tweeted the wrong locations to throw them off? The same people who waited four hours to eat food from a truck with only one menu item would spend another four hours trying to find out where the truck really is before waiting another four hours for food.

Thanks to social media and the mobile technologies facilitating it, these trucks may in time lead to a super-race of Twitter users. Consumers already too thrifty to gorge themselves will spend four hours running around after a truck and four hours longer standing in line, all to consume undersized portions designed to easily fit in their hand for on-street consumption. While engaging in these tweets and spending ample time with their fellow line-waiters, they're bound to comingle and eventually reproduce. These offspring will in turn exhibit the genes for fitness and tech savvy that will give them disproportionate advantages in the centuries ahead.

I'm not sure I'll be one of them. Sunday night, while walking home, I discovered a Vietnamese restaurant in my neighborhood and ate my first banh mi sandwich. I had read no reviews, whether by professionals or consumers. I saw nary a tweet about it, and didn't tweet it either. Monday night, I went back for another banh mi. It won't be my last. The whole time, the restaurant stayed in the same location, there was no line, and I sat down while waiting. I'm clearly not cut out for the future of truck-based food consumption, though if it's carrying red velvets, I may make an occasional exception.

Wikimobipiedia: Mobile Media Planners New Favorite Site?

2009-07-13T15:59:13-04:00

I received an email from Jamie Wells, US Mobile Director from OMD, about a new site he launched, Wikimobipedia. He also blogged about it at his site MobileStance.com.

He wrote:

I wanted to let you all in on a little side project that I've been working on, and was hoping you'd embrace it for the good of our industry. The site is called wikimobipedia.org, and it's basically a public wiki where mobile marketing buyers can easily collect the info they need (case studies, contact info, audience comps, etc) to begin their planning process.

With our space moving so fast I felt the industry would benefit from a place that "keeps up with mobile (so you don't have to)", and so far things have been going pretty well. I've yet to publically publicize the site (that's coming soon), and so far I've got most of the major mobile players involved - over 50 companies - in less than a month.

I love this idea for a number of reasons. One is that my least interesting collection is my media kit library, so having everything together on the web will potentially make one part of my job easier.

The other is that everyone Jamie sent that email too worked at different agencies that have some involvement with mobile. It’s safe to say no agency is going to win any business because of how current one’s media kit is, so this kind of collaboration will benefit everyone and threaten no one. Yes, some agency planners and strategists will probably discover a few more potential vendors and partners through this, but again, that alone isn’t going to come at another agency’s expense. And mobile’s an area where there’s so much going on but often in fits and spurts, so it’s great to have areas where people bring it together.

Google CPG Blog Guest Post on 4 Questions for Social Media Marketing Success

2009-07-13T14:58:28-04:00

Let’s Ask Four Questions, via the Weighty Matters Blog

A quick note: I have a guest post on Google’s official CPG blog today, a new one for me. I’ve been focused on this vertical quite a bit more lately so if you are doing some interesting work helping consumer packaged goods brands engage with consumers through social marketing, I welcome chatting more.

Here’s an excerpt:

When CPG marketers are assessing various social marketing opportunities, answering four questions can help determine whether or not the opportunity makes sense for the brand:

1) Does the opportunity meet your brand’s objectives?

2) Does the opportunity leverage your brand’s existing arsenal of assets?

3) Does the opportunity abide by the social media rules of the road?

4) Does it provide significant value exchange?

These questions, as well as other tips and best practices, are detailed in 360i’s recently-released Social Marketing Playbook, a freely available 56-page guide on how to develop, execute and measure a successful social marketing strategy.

The rest of the post looks at examples relating to all four questions.

As far as where the examples came from, I often hear some from multiple sources, but two came from conferences I’ve been to recently, one came from a personal contact with a vendor, and one came from reading industry trades. It does help having multiple arenas to draw from, and I always welcome personal connections to hear more.

Thanks to Tyson Foods, Red Bull, Oscar Mayer, and Vitamin Water, along with Facebook, House Party, and MySpace (it’s safe to say Twitter didn’t have anything to do with the Tyson execution while the other vendors played more active roles).

Links for 2009-07-12 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-13T00:00:00-07:00

Prototype - Kicking Reality Up a Notch - NYTimes.com
Savor Chat - A better group chat for Facebook and Twitter
Savor Chat is a very simple FREE group chat application for Facebook and Twitter users. Finally, an application that brings Facebook and Twitter users closer than ever!

Links for 2009-07-10 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-11T00:00:00-07:00

Fancy Fast Food
These photographs show extreme makeovers of actual fast food items purchased at popular fast food restaurants. No additional ingredients have been added except for an occasional simple garnish.

Links for 2009-07-09 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-10T00:00:00-07:00

Exit Strategy NYC for iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Android(G1), and Kindle
Ever wish you knew exactly where to stand on the subway to arrive at your exit? Front? Back? Middle? Plan where to stand accordingly with Exit Strategy NYC and shave minutes off your trip! - works on iPhone, Blackberry, Kindle

Craigslist Real Estate Scam Still Strong a Year and a Half Later

2009-07-09T10:42:38-04:00

It’s scam week here, having covered the Facebook Western Union scam in a column and with the original transcript. Some online scams have proven to be especially enduring.

In December 2007, I posted about a Craigslist real estate scam, and then followed it up with even more details about the real estate scam soon after. These posts have attracted thousands of views and hundreds of comments; terms related to the scam continue to be top draws for the blog.

Here’s a very abbreviated version of how the scam works:

A real person posts a housing listing on Craigslist
A scammer poses a buyer from abroad claiming to be interested
After a protracted conversation, the buyer sends a check for the deposit
The check’s for too much money, so the buyer requests a certain amount back, up to a few thousand dollars
The check the scammer sends is no good, so he’s hoping to receive the victim’s funds before the scammer is figured out

Even after all this time, the scammers still use a lot of the same names and professions.

Given how many people continue to search for information, I’ve posted a new exchange from a recent visitor. As with before, I’m doing this more for Google (and, hey, maybe for Bing) than current readers, since it’s most useful to those searching. But I do know people who have nearly fallen for this – and educated Internet users at that – so you may want to share this if you know of people posting real estate listings on Craigslist.

Here’s the recent exchange. Read from the bottom up. I’ve removed the recipient’s name and email address for her privacy.

Feel free to share your stories and other details in the comments, as Google picks up on those too.

----- Forwarded Message ----
From:
To: Allen James <rukkiey2078@hotmail.com>
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 8:58:20 PM
Subject: Re: Payment Information
I can not provide the information you requested below. You have not provide the documentation I've requested on my earlier email (pay sub, income tax returns, credit reports, bank statement). Also you did not answer my simple question on many kids you have. Obviously you do not need to move as quickly as you stated. You have been eliminated from my potential rental candidates. You've shown me that you are qualify to rent my house. Please do not waste any more of my time. Do not email me again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Allen James <rukkiey2078@hotmail.com>
To:
Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 5:07:37 AM
Subject: Payment Information
Hello,
Concerning the rent and deposit required to be paid in order to secure the rental of your home prior to our arrival to the united states,i would be needing some information from you to be forwarded to my financier so as to make payment to you as soon as possible..i will have the information's forwarded to my financier stating an instruction of payment to you. further more i need you to reconfirm the total move in costs,that is;the rent and deposit to be paid and if there are any other additional bills to be payed do not fail to notify me so that all payment can be sent to you at once.
you can have your information in which payment can be sent to you by my financier in this form
* Home/office address...........
* Payee name to be written on the check......
* Current cell phone/ office phone number.....
Due regards from me and my family,we are looking forward to meeting you
Rev Allen James.

----------------------------
From: Allen James <rukkiey2078@hotmail.com>
To:
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 4:36:07 PM
Subject: RE: NEEDED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Hello ,
Thanks for your response and here is a brief introduction about my self;i am a Pharmacist by profession and I am currently working with the Woodstock Pharmacy, Woodstock,United Kingdom. I will be relocating to the united states of America for the next one year and during my stay i will be working for the United States Implants & orthopedic Agency on a private research work. I hereby reaffirm my interest about renting your home and will be willing to offer you one month rent for a start, plus the security deposit in order to secure the unit prior to our arrival to the united states.
I have a financier based in U.S.A and he will be the one handling the rent deposit payment on our behalf,i will instruct him to send you a bank Check in payment for the rent as soon as you give me the go ahead to send payment to you. I'll be coming with my wife Due to the limited time that we have before our arrival and in line with my work schedule ,we are making arrangements with a furniture company to supply the home with furniture ,so we will need you to provide us with the accurate measurements of the living room and bedroom so that we can send it to the furniture company and they supply the unit with furniture that would fit in well... i would really appreciate it if you could send me some pictures of the living room and the bed rooms.
As regards the lease agreement form,you can have it forwarded to me for review.though i will have it filled and signed on our arrival to your place because am of the opinion that such vital document is best filled and signed physically. We can start the lease by 1st of June and it shall be for a period of 12 months. You can prepare the lease in my name and that of my wife(Rev James & Cheryl James).
Let me know how to move ahead as I intend to complete this deal before I move in a couple of days. I want all the arrangement to be solidified so I settle in comfortably when I arrive. I will let you know the exact date as soon as I get a booking on a flight to the states. I will look forward to your e mail with the required information.
Here is my phone number +Tel: +44-774-008-2424 Thanks and sincere regards from me and my precious family. I await your urgent response.
Rev James
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:39:23 -0700
From:
Subject: Re: NEEDED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
To: jamesallen071@gmail.com
Security deposit $$7,000
you will pay for all your own bills (water, electricity, garbage, cable and internet) except for Gardner.
I need make decison today so if you want to be consider for this...please call me right away. I have a few questions i'd like to ask.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Allen James <jamesallen071@gmail.com>
To:
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 3:58:45 AM
Subject: NEEDED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Hello,
I saw your advertised on craigslist.com and am interested in renting it. I will be signing a one year lease for it and want to know the requirements for renting it. i.e
Monthly Fees:
Security Deposit
Electricity/Utility Bills
I will be doing a one year research on pharmacy work while in the states I will appreciate it if i hear from you in time as i will want to conclude the rental process before the end of June.
Thanks

Links for 2009-07-08 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-09T00:00:00-07:00

What is Fail Whale?
Twitter's Fail Whale represented in art, brought into the real world
Layar
augmented reality browser, built for Android
Screenjelly - Home
Screenjelly records your screen activity with your voice so you can spread it as a video via Twitter or email.
Magma
Video sharing/discovery site, not sure what's different yet

Links for 2009-07-07 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-08T00:00:00-07:00

Pocket Cemetery
This is real (originally via Mashable): This new smart phone application allows you to memorialize departed loved ones on your IPhone and IPod Touch with photos, virtual tombstones and favorite memories. You can create memorials for dead loved ones or anyone you want to memorialize including relatives, friends, pets and celebrities. Now you can visit the graves of your departed loved ones any time. It’s like having your own little heaven in the palm of your hand.
Joobili
Read/Write Web: Joobili is an event-based travel recommendation system where users enter their desired travel dates, country of travel and interests. From here the Joobili community suggests a variety of events with a map view of the results. Rather than planning your trip blindly, you can hit (or miss) every major festival, sporting event or concert tour on your travel route.
Twit Truth - Who's really using twitter
Stats on how people are using twitter, not too dissimilar from mrtweet.com but with a bit more info

The Fastest Way To Lose Money: The Western Union Scam That Keeps Plaguing Facebook

2009-07-07T15:35:18-04:00

An even worse brand endorsement than the Western Union Scam, with apologies to Getty Images and Pepsi

Here's today's column, originally from MediaPost, with more information on the scam alert I recently discussed.Oh, and MediaPost butchered my title - not the first time. They changed it to "SocialMedia: The Fastest Way to Lose Money?" I think that changes the meaning of it. Griping over, the column's below.

The Fastest Way To Lose Money

Friday night, a friend of mine instant-messaged me on Facebook saying he needed my help. On his profile, there were several messages urging people to contact him right away. I was of course concerned.

Soon it became apparent that it wasn't my friend at all. His identity had been hijacked by a scammer who posted the messages to his profile and IMed his friends. The Nigerian scam has been going on in this form at least since January, when Silicon Alley Insider and TechCrunch reported on it. It's a reminder that wherever consumers go, scammers and other malevolent elements will follow. In this case, it's also an unfortunate brand association with Western Union, as you'll see momentarily.

Excerpts of the conversation are below, and you can read the entire transcript on my blog. I've changed the name of my friend to Walter Jenkins, but otherwise it's verbatim.

Walter: I had to visit a resort here in London on vacation and I got robbed at the hotel Im staying... Its really sucks and scary here... I got robbed at a gun point and all my money and stuffs got stolen but im lucky I still have my passport with me. Well, can I ask for a favor?

David: what do you need?

Walter: What i need now is just some cash to complete my tix till im back home to refund you back. Can you help with some money?... $390 pounds is all i need more. I can get it from the ATM for you first thing as soon as Im back home... You can get it to me here using western union. You need just my name as written on my passport and the location here. Do you know how to go about with the western union thing?

David: Using paypal to transfer funds won't do anything for you?

Walter: Im glad you are helping Dav. Western union is very easy to transfer money and to receive money. [An aside: this is just about the worst brand endorsement a marketer could ever receive, which would be topped only if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was shown drinking a Pepsi while jailing election protestors.]

David: If you're online, can't i just use paypal?

Walter: I don't have paypal acct [He's a technology entrepreneur. If the red flags weren't up already, they're signaling major alarms here.]

David: what's the location

Walter: United Kingdom London... Do you know any western union location around you?... You will be given a confirmation number

David: yes i found many locations. i can help. tell me more about where you are. [At this point, I'm stringing him along to get as much information as possible in case it's helpful later.]

Walter: I'll be needing it to pick up the money. You need just my name as written on my passport and my location here. Name:Walter Jenkins. Location United Kingdom, London

David: okay but there are many locations in london, tell me more about where you are

Walter: I can pick up the money at any western union location

David: Okay, great. so tell me why you only need 390 GBP if you were held up at gunpoint

Walter: I need it to complete my ticket and fly back home.

David: how about i just buy you the ticket? i'll go online and buy it for you. tell me which flight you want, which airports

Walter: I'll need the cash for some things more

David: Well if you already have some money for the ticket, use the money you have for the other things. i'll buy the ticket [This exchange went on for awhile, leading nowhere.]

Walter: Im in a library here using the comp here to get on facebook for help

David: a friend of mine happens to be at heathrow right now, i just IMed him. can i have him meet you there?

Walter: Well, Its okay if you can't help

David: i can help. what flight are you taking?

Walter: B.A. Why can't you go to the store and have it done now?

David: What time is your flight?

Walter: I don't think you really want to help. Its okay. the manager will be helping me to purchase the ticket here

David: oh that is SOOO nice of him, then you can use your money to buy whatever else you need. which library are you at? that way i can look up how far you are from heathrow.

Then it abruptly stopped talking. I managed to save the conversation just in time, as soon he defriended me. I still had access to read his Facebook Wall (though not post on it), so I emailed a few people who responded to the scammer's posts there and let them know. The next day, my friend had his account back and we were friends again.

If your account is compromised, Facebook will disable it. It can be reinstated after contacting them via a form. A Facebook representative told Silicon Alley Insider, "We're reminding users to be very suspicious of anyone, even friends, who ask you over the Internet to send money. Please verify their circumstances through some other means than the web (e.g. call them or mutual friends)." You should also make sure they share information about themselves that isn't publicly available on Facebook or elsewhere.

As for Western Union, there's a section on its site about scams, but no mention of this one. That's a shame. In the meantime, the Walter Jenkins impersonators out there are doing a good job representing Western Union's brand. "Walter" is doing well spreading the word, as the top city by far searching Google for 'westernunion.com' is Lagos, Nigeria. If you run into him or his buddies, don't send cash. See if he'll go for a Facebook gift instead.

The Future of Digital Media: One Video, a Dozen Experts (and me)

2009-07-06T11:23:00-04:00

Scott Hoffman, a great marketer and pundit with social network ad platform Lotame, recently shot a video at a Digiday event where he asked a bunch of smart people about the future of digital media. I must have been in the way or something because he included me in a pretty savvy bunch. He pulled it all together in one clip that may get your gears going; at the very least, it's a good intro to a lot of smart folks out there, Scott included.You'll also meet:

John Nardone – CEO of [x+1], Jeff Hirsch – CEO of Audience Science, Adam Broitman – founder A Media Circ.us, Eric Porres & Tom Hespos – founders of Underscore Marketing, Ben Barokas – Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer – Admeld, Raj Chauhan – VP, Ad Network Development – Rubicon Project, Michael Burke – Co-Founder & President – Appssavvy ,Tim McHale – The Madison Avenue Journal, Steven Kaufman – EVP, Client Service – MediaMath, David Honing – Co-Founder – media6, and Janet Balis – President – Digital Media Strategies

Be sure to catch more from Scott at Cliqology.com or @cliqology on Twitter.

Facebook Scam Alert: Friend Robbed at Gunpoint, Needs Cash from Western Union

2009-07-03T18:30:21-04:00

Update: After publishing this I wrote a column with a little more color and an abridged transcript.

I just got instant messaged by a scammer through Facebook. Here’s the gist of the scam:

Someone IMs you on Facebook posing as a real friend – he has full access to the friend’s account, even having posted messages on his wall that he needs help urgently
He says he got held up at gunpoint in London and needs cash wired to Western Union

In my case, when I wasn’t helping fast enough, he grew impatient, and he ultimately defriended me (from my real friend’s account). I proceeded to write any of his friends.

There are a lot of things that make it fishy. For instance, my supposed friend, an internet enterpreneur, somehow didn’t have a PayPal account. While initially I was new to the scam, most of the conversation was me trying to bide time and get more information out of him that may be useful for others.

This isn’t news – TechCrunch covered this back in January and there’s a lot of information out there – but I wanted to get this info out there in case it helps anyone else.

Below’s the IM transcript. I changed the name of my friend.

- - -

Walter

Hi there

5:27pm

David

hey how's it going Walter?

5:28pm

Walter

Well, In not good here

I need your help

5:28pm

David

what's up?

5:29pm

Walter

Im stuck here in London and I really need help with getting on a plane back home

5:34pm

David

how are you stuck? what can i do?

5:35pm

Walter

I had to visit a resort here in London on vacation and I got robbed at the hotel Im staying

5:35pm

David

oh no that's awful

5:35pm

Walter

Yeah, its really sucks and scary here

I got robbed at a gun point and all my money and stuffs got stolen but im lucky I still have my passport with me

Well, can I ask for a favor?

5:36pm

David

oh no

what do you need?

5:37pm

Walter

What i need now is just some cash to complete my tix till im back home to refund you nback

Can you help with some money?

5:38pm

David

yeah if you need it, your banks/credit cards can't come through with anything? how much do you need to get back?

5:39pm

Walter

$390 pounds is all i need more

Can you help with the money?

I can get it from the ATM for you first thing as soon as Im back home

5:40pmD

avid

that's fine, how can i get it to you

5:40pm

Walter

You can get it to me here using western union

You need just my name as written on my passport and the location here

Do you know how to go about with the western union thing?

5:42pm

David

no i'm looking it up now

and just to check, using paypal to transfer funds won't do anything for you right now right?

5:43pm

Walter

Oh k, Im glad you are helping \Dav

5:44pm

Walter

Western union is very easy to transfer money and to receive money

Just let me know when you are on their website

5:45pm

David

tell me something, if you're online, can't i just use paypal?

5:45pm

Walter

I don't have paypal acct

You can easily get it to me here using western union

5:46pm

David

so where should i wire the money to

5:46pm

Walter

Just my name as written on my passport and the location here

5:46pm

David

what's the location

5:47pm

Walter

United Kingdom London

5:47pm

David

okay well that's obviously not enough information, i'm sure they'll need me to be more specific

5:48pm

Walter

That all you need

5:48pm

David

how will they know where you are, i'm sure there are lots of locations in the UK

5:48pm

Walter

Do you know any western union location around you?

You will be given a confirmation number

5:49pm

David

yes i found many locations

i can help

tell me more about where you are

5:49pm

Walter

I'll be needing it to pick up the money he

You need just my name as written on my passport and my location here

Name:Walter Jenkins

Location United Kingdom, London

5:50pm

David

okay but there are many locations in london, tell me more about where you are

5:50pm

Walter

That's all you need

Yeah, I can pick up the money at any western union location

5:52pm

David

okay, great. so tell me why you only need 390 GBP if you were held up at gunpoint

5:53pm

Walter

I need it to complete my ticket and fly back home

5:53pm

David

how about i just buy you the ticket

i'll go online and buy it for you

tell me which flight you want, which airports

5:54pm

Walter

I'll need the cash for some things more

5:54pm

David

well if you already have some moeny for the ticket, use the money you have for the other things

i'll buy the ticket

you clearly already have some money you were going to use for the ticket anyway

now i'll buy the ticket

5:54pm

Walter

I just need the cash to change the date on my ticket

Just let me know if you can help with the money

5:55pm

David

i'll buy you a ticket

which airport are you in

5:56pm

Walter

Im in a library here using the comp here to get on facebook for help

5:56pmDavid

a friend of mine happens to be at heathrow right now, i just IMed him. can i have him meet you there

5:56pm

Walter

Heathrow

Well, Its okay if you can't help

5:56pm

David

i can help

what flight are you taking

5:57pm

Walter

B.A

Why can't you go to the store and have it done now?

5:57pm

David

what time is your flight?

5:57pm

Walter

Dav

5:58pm

David

what time?

5:58pm

Walter

I don't think you really want to help

Its okay

5:58pm

David

i'm going to buy you a plane ticket in your name, with your passport you'll be fine

5:58pm

Walter

I don't need it

5:58pm

David

why not? you got held at gunpoint

5:58pm

Walter

the manager will be helping me to purchase the ticket here

5:59pm

David

oh that is SOOO nice of him, then you can use your money to buy whatever else you need

which library are you at? that way i can look up how far you are from heathrow

6:02pm

David

You don't have permission to chat with this person.

still there?

Links for 2009-07-04 [del.icio.us]

2009-07-05T00:00:00-07:00

Jockipedia
Welcome to Jockipedia, the definitive source for Athletes First-Person Communication.

Facebook Explains Its New Privacy Settings

2009-07-01T15:57:42-04:00

If you’re a hardcore privacy wonk or Facebook addict, you’ll probably appreciate Facebook’s presentation below on explaining the new privacy settings it’s rolling out.

Facebook doesn’t get enough credit for all it has done in the privacy space (though I have applauded them at least as far back as two years ago). These changes all look like good fixes to protect and improve the user experience. I’ll be curious to see them in action.

Facebook Privacy Enhancements

View more presentations from guest5f7bf4.

Six Ways to Improve Conferences

2009-06-30T15:06:17-04:00

Try to keep these people engaged (140 Characters Conference by David Berkowitz via Flickr)

Today's Social Media Insider, originally published in MediaPost

In May and June, I participated in 13 events as a moderator (six), panelist (four), and featured or keynote presenter (three). They weren't evenly dispersed; May brought a stretch of four events in two and a half days, while June had a span of three events in three cities within 48 hours. It was both thrilling and tiring, and I'm glad I get to return to the day job for a while.

Along the way, I came up with a few thoughts on what can make events even better for all participants going forward. Some organizers have a real knack for this; Jeff Pulver in particular deserves a lot of credit for his thoughtful considerations that he incorporated into his 140 Characters Conference. Ultimately, participating in so many events spanning a range of topics mostly around social media topics gives me a way to cross-pollinate some of the best of what I've seen. Here's what can be done:

Mix it up. A number of events suffer from panel syndrome. When you have a large number of panels one after the other, they all start to sound alike. Get some solo speakers, even for short presentations as interludes. When you have a panel, also request speakers sit in the order they're listed in on the screen. If someone's a minute late to a session or distracted with an email during introductions, it's impossible to tell who's who without that arrangement. It's even harder for panels with four or five white males. As one of them, I can tell you from the back of the room, we all do look alike, especially with the social media uniform of the blazer, button-down, dark jeans, and loafers (sometimes we wear khakis).

Include speakers' Twitter handles on screen during their sessions and in the programs if the events have anything to do with social media. I've been lobbying a few event producers to do this, and I'm hoping it will become standard practice soon. The people tweeting about events are providing pro bono exposure, often to hundreds or thousands of others. It's even more effective if those tweeters can refer directly to the speakers' handles. Speakers are especially likely to have handles, and it makes it easy for speakers to continue the dialogue with tweeters after the session.

Know how to pace a panel. The 140 Characters panel with Rick Sanchez and Ann Curry was remarkable for a number of reasons (Ann Curry may be the best panelist I've ever seen). One first I witnessed there was that Pulver let the conference go twice as long because the audience was so engaged (watch Part 1 and Part 2). Most people I spoke to felt that panel alone made the conference worth their while. Another event I attended was so off schedule that by the afternoon, they couldn't find speakers since no one had a clue when they were speaking. Delays need to either be accounted for (like with a shorter lunch) or clearly communicated. Organizers should be conscious of extending some sessions when people are hooked, even if it means cutting others short when they fall flat.

Rework name badges. I'm not the first to say this, and I do see thoughtfully designed badges more often, but the majority of events I go to force unnecessary squinting. Priorities should be given to first names and companies. If it's a really geeky event, Twitter handles merit the same prominence. The smallest amount of space should go to the event name -- everyone knows what event they're at, and if they don't, the organizers have bigger problems.

Treat bloggers like the press, or don't include them. If you want people blogging about the event, give them the same courtesy you would to credentialed journalists, ideally with reserved seating and easy access to panelists. I declined to attend one event as a blogger when they tried setting restrictions on how much I could blog, as they feared live blogging was conveying too much information. I emailed the organizer, "If people who aren't there think they can get their money's worth from an event by reading a transcript, perhaps you should cancel the events and sell the transcripts."

Follow up with shareable content. For social media events, participants are especially likely to be active across social channels. Let them promote your event for you. Post multimedia to services where photos and videos can be embedded, tagged, and downloaded. Aggregate links to others' multimedia and blog posts in a single area. Provide a convenient list of everyone who was tweeting about the event.

Several of these suggestions include ways to extend the experience beyond the event itself. Here's one thing organizers don't need to do: create a new social network just for attendees of that one event. With rare exceptions, they're a waste of time, and participants would be better served with groups on existing networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Event organizers aren't the only ones who can keep providing more value to attendees. Speakers and moderators can also step it up, and they may be addressed in a future post. Share your other suggestions in the comments.

Conference Blogging Policies Need Updating

2009-06-29T11:15:00-04:00

Conference blogging continues to fill a strange niche. In many ways, conference tweeting is overtaking it; far more people actively tweet events these days than blog them. Events I’ve participated in have taken a mixed approach to welcoming bloggers, from those that treat bloggers like press to those that don’t welcome them at all.

I was going to take part in one event recently as a blogger, and then I saw this message:

There will be reserved seating for bloggers in the front of the ballroom. Please note that live video streaming of the event is prohibited. And while we welcome your comments and analysis of the event via your blog and Twitter, out of respect for the hundreds of people who have paid to attend the conference, we request that you do not live blog a “running transcript” of the event.

In short, the policy rubbed me the wrong way. I had a long exchange with the person who sent it to me, and the policy held firm. I wound up not attending the event.

Here’s an excerpt of my response:

…When I have to sit there and wonder if I'm covering a session too much because it's really interesting, it's just not worth my time, and it sets a really bad precedent. It's like I'm getting censored because I type too fast and the content's too good… While many bloggers wouldn't care about the restriction since they wouldn't try to live blog it, it does set a dangerous precedent.

Meanwhile, if people who aren't there think they can get their money's worth from an event by reading a transcript - not even a verbatim, completely comprehensive transcript at that - perhaps you should cancel the events and sell the transcripts. That's not where the value is, and as a blogger I'm only adding to it, both for those who attend and those who don't, rather than taking anything away and diluting the value.

I’m leaving the name of the event out as I don’t want to malign the conference organizer or the event, both of which I respect. But I do want to hear from others who have blogged conferences if you’ve seen policies like this or any other. Do you know of any event policies that others should emulate? Have you ever declined attending an event as a blogger because of its policy?