We’re speaking today with Len Hause, Internetologist and founder of MashBrain where he consults on Internet marketing and technology strategies. Today we’re talking about the Transformation of the Grid. I’ve known Len since the early 1990’s where we worked in IT at Motorola. Len and I where involved in dozens of Intranet and Internet-based projects during the early days of the enterprise learning how to use the Internet.

There’s been quite a bit of discussion lately about the nation’s electrical grid, from aging components, demand exceeding output, discontinuity from sector to sector to potential for terrorist attacks against it.  So, I thought a conversation with Len would be helpful to get the bigger picture of how the lessons learned in building the Internet could be applied to a new generation power grid for the nation.

1. - How has the the transformation and maturity of the Internet affected other sectors? What analogies can we draw between the Internet and the electrical grid?
2. – What are the driving forces and technologies?
3. – Who are the players?
4. – What are some of the initial changes we will see?
5. – What is the scope of the transformation?
6. -What role will open source, or internet standards-based technologies play?
7. – What new markets will emerge?
8. – What role will Social Media play in this transformation?

The lights came down and sure enough Wrath of Kahn starts to play but no preview, so we thought oh heck, we gotta watch an old Star Trek movie before we can see that 10 minute trailer.  I guess they figured people would just watch the trailer and leave so we had to watch the movie.

On the way into the theater, management was fanatical about no cell phones or cameras and wanded everyone that came in – no exceptions and that happened even if you went out to pee and came back into the theater.  There were lots of guys in black suits and some had ‘gear’ to look for the little infrared beam that a camera puts out when it attempts to focus.  We saw the guys, I didn’t see the gear.  Seemed pretty serious for a 10 minute preview but what the heck.  They started playing the “Wrath of Kahn then the movie became very scratchy and stopped playing. Looked like the film burned up or something in the projector and the movie stopped.

Oh great … now what!

Then … the lights up front come on… and this very tall lanky rather familiar looking older man steps onto the stage at the front into the lights.  He was there along with the three writers for the new Star Trek.  We thought, “How cool and how lucky are we that they were there to see the audience reactions to the longer trailer”.

But no, they had something else in mind!

They started talking and asking the audience if we would prefer to see the entire new Star Trek movie versus just the 10 minute trailer. Well that was an easy answer – YES.  But we just thought it was a big joke.  The audience was just dumb founded – like REALLY you’re going show the entire movie not just a 10 minute trailer?  No … you’re kidding … right. Long pause, then Leonard said well, I like Austin and I think it should be the first place to show the new movie.  We applauded like there was no tomorrow with excitement; all the while still half wondering is this was all a joke.  But hey, Nimoy doesn’t lie right?

And then they played the entire new Star Trek and needless to say we were on cloud nine the entire time.

You’re gonna like the movie I think.  We sure loved it.  I’m sure lots will be written and no doubt the movie critics will have their way with it as they tend to do. But for me, a Star Trek fan, I totally enjoyed the movie and will not spoil it for you by trying to analyze it or talk about it too much.  If you watched Star Trek in the 70’s and 80’s, then you’ll enjoy what happens in this movie.

This is the first movie I’ve been to with people standing up applauding and hooping and hollering. Nimoy, the writers and Alamo Drafthouse management came back up on stage afterwards and it was like a giant love fest. Nobody wanted to leave. Many MANY thanks to Alamo Drafthouse in Austin Texas for their magic.

What an evening…

Tom

PS:  There is a hint of a sequel!

If you stop and think about this, it just makes sense to some degree. Google dominates in the area of search. But they don’t do ‘real-time’ search of conversations and that’s where Twitter is strong. If you haven’t used the http://search.twitter.com — do so and you’ll see the power of this new era. Type a few keywords in and watch as it updates for you in real-time, listing the Twitter conversations going on with those keywords.

We’ll see… rumors are rumors.  But just because it makes sense to a bunch of bloggers doesn’t mean it will happen.  Personally, I’d like to see it occur provided Google doesn’t sit on Twitter like it did Blogger and slow the development of the platform.  But I have my doubts Google will make the leap because there is so much in flux right now. New developments in social media and social networking tools are happening almost weekly from startups and the majors.

For example, where does FriendFeed fit into the picture with their announcements this coming Monday (April 6th) for major changes?  I’m personally more interested in these developments because it’s a more powerful communication tool then Twitter.  And what will Facebook do?  My goodness; there are so many changes occurring in the social tools space that 2009 is an exciting year of unpredictable change for most of us. Hardly a new concept though considering the last few years, but that’s another more philosophic topic.

Robert Scoble seems to be leaning away from the idea that Google would buy Twitter. As you know, opinions are like noses, everyone has one. What do you think?  Kara Swisher is reporting that there is no Google deal under discussion to buy Twitter.

Tom

SXSW 2009 is nearly here. This is the week before so I have some tips for you to maximize your experience.

1. Get lots of sleep this week. Really – GO TO BED EARLY all week. Exercise and eat well. You MUST roll into Austin in good shape physically and mentally; else you’ll crumble. Every day is very full from morning to well into the evening. You will want to get out and enjoy downtown Austin for the gatherings and parties which frankly is the best part of SXSW because you meet so many fascinating people.

2. Review the calendar of events and panels and make your first cut now. Don’t wait, you’ll be sorry once you’re sucked into the vortex.

3. Pick A and B for each panel time. The reason for this is the Austin Convention Center (ACC) is HUGE.  If you get to a panel and you don’t like it or it’s crowded you simply must know how to find that B panel, else you’ll lose out on both. Sometimes you just pick the wrong one, so give yourself some options.

4. Go early to pick up your badge. Go early to pick up your badge. Go early to pick up your badge. Did I say that enough?

5. Toss out all the stuff they give you EXCEPT the drink tickets. The rest sadly, is useless.

6. There will be a very large catalog type book for Interactive and Film. Do not haul them each day. Simply pull out the panel summary page for each day and take it with you. Repeat each day.

7. Bring your laptop if it’s light. There is free WIFI throughout the ACC. You’ll want to take notes and hook up with people online in real time. During boring panels you can look like you’re taking notes while you catch up on your Twitter feed or FriendFeed …

8. There is no good food at the ACC. There is Starbucks though.  If you don’t mind standing to eat and food that tastes like it came from the airport, then you can grab lunch at the ACC. It’s best to carry around some fruit and health bars in your back pack.  Eat breakfast before you come each day and be prepared to just head out for lunch which is good for networking anyway. But remember everything downtown is crowded. Same for dinner – eat out.

9. Wear comfortable clothing. If you’re planning on doing some networking, wear something memorable. Why not?

10. Like most places, AC plugs can be as rare as hen’s teeth. If you’re up for it, bring a small extension cord with multiple plugins. Share …

11. Enjoy yourself. This isn’t your typical boring enterprise or academic type conference where everyone is worried about their next raise (well ok these days it’s worry about keeping your job).  This is more like being in college.

12. Take plenty of business cards to give out. SXSW is the uber-conference for networking and plan on using those cards for taking down notes at odd times. Always follow up with folks that you meet even if it’s just to touch back and say hi.

13. Enjoy meeting people. It’s crowded but everyone is there for the same reason to learn and meet people. Say hello, introduce yourself, ask people about themselves and why they are there. Be interested in others. Most people work for themselves or in small businesses. Yes there are some folks from large businesses but most are just like you and me – self employed. Everyone you meet could be an opportunity for new business. It’s like 5 days of meet and greets for business versus dating and hey it’s fun because there is no worry of rejection. And lots of places have free drinks.

Now go to bed if you’re reading this late a night. You’re going to need your energy.

What did I forget? Leave a comment.

All the best
Tom

This interview is 7:45 in length. We chat in my studio about SXSW 2009 this year, the rise in people suddenly adopting ’social media consultant” titles, and comments about his book “Social Media One Hour a Day”.

This was shot with a rental camera I was testing and I didn’t get the focus as razor sharp as I had hoped. That’s how it goes sometimes when you’re testing new gear.  Anyway, it’s the content that counts so enjoy the conversation. Dave is easy to connect with, a good friend and one heck of a smart social media dude.

Here’s Dave …

Tom

For example, periodically you’ll hear people complaining that too many bloggers act like they are talking in an echo chamber meaning nobody has anything new to say. This one seems to surface every few months or so. I just figure people who yammer on about this haven’t really got anything else to blog about so they’re complaining about others that repeat or forward along news from others versus writing something creative.

Truthfully, I don’t know why they get so fixated on the issue but hey, that’s the nature of the Internet now, everyone has a voice. What you do with it is your business. I’m all for encouraging creative thought but let’s be practical here. First off, what’s so wrong with repeating news?

Recently, I had the New York Times newspaper and the Wall Street Journal coming daily and the local paper on Sunday.  That had to stop; quickly it became abundantly clear that traditional news sources are as much an echo chamber as the bloggers. I’d see practically the same stories in all three papers then hear the same key stories on NPR on the radio, then see it again on TV at 5:30 in the evening. NBC, ABC, CBS – would all repeat the same old stories. And that’s not an echo chamber?

The point is this – if you’re subscribing to too many bloggers that all say the same thing, unsubscribe to them. But don’t let the killjoys crimp your style.  If you’re blogging (or microblogging with Twitter) keep writing about the topics that fuel your passion.  Your audience will decide if they like your version or your way of passing along interesting news about the topic areas you cover. It’s that simple.

Now let’s talk about a more recently bogus vibe that is floating around the Internet now. There are those saying you are a snob if you don’t FOLLOW everyone that follows you on Twitter. I recently saw a video podcast of some guy talking for seven minutes about this topic and he was all worked up about it. He just went on and on about how snobbish the practice is and how crippling it would be to building your Twitter community if you didn’t follow everyone. He offered his work around by saying you should create a second Twitter account just for yourself to follow only the people you want to follow. Sorta like a private back channel I guess. Seems like a lot of extra trouble.

Hey it’s not about how many people you follow or how many follow you or how polite you are or are not by following. Go down that rat hole and your focus and attention on quality writing will dwindle. If you’re just starting, find a few people you want to follow. Over time look for more. Don’t worry about following back. Be ok with dropping those that are not blogging or microblogging on topics you’re interested in at this point in time. Maybe you will follow them later.

There are no cheat codes for blogging and microblogging. Be yourself; don’t get caught in the ruts of naysayers and complainers. Look for people that add value to where you are right now in your life. Want people to think you’re awesome? Be awesome and enjoy yourself. The rest will follow.

Tom

For now I’m just keeping this simple.

One question that comes to mind is how does the commenting on Google Friend Connect work with the WordPress blog comments? Right now they are separate.

I’m considering this a work in process. What I’m hoping to show is that all the various niche community social network sites and blog sites will want to interconnect with bigger networks like Google and Facebook. So I’m experimenting to just ’see’ how thing work versus speculating.

I’m interested in getting Facebook Connect to work but that hasn’t proven to be so easy. I’m going to let that rest while we test this interconnection with Google.

Go ahead, leave a comment. Try it out.

Tom

Dear Gwynne -

Thank you for your note about Twitter and how you just don’t get how Twitter works compared to Facebook. I applaud you for moving your traditional mailing list marketing efforts into a Facebook community.  Doing so will help you stay connected with people in Facebook who know you.  Facebook will help you build a community to continue providing insightful support to people who want to use symbolism and models of astrology as a guide to finding themselves and happiness in their life.

You’re right, Twitter is different and at first it seems overly simplified.  There is no on-going flow of people’s thoughts and actions showing up. Well, not until you start befriending others on Twitter. That requires finding people that don’t know you and waiting for others to find you.  Give it some time.  Your Twitter BIO should have the keywords that describe you and your personal interests. You’ll find over time people seek you out on Twitter like they used to do in Google Search engines finding your monthly writings and then asking you to be on your mailing list.  Now people find your Twitters and they decide to follow you.  Like signing up to be on an email list, people ONLY FOLLOW who they really ‘want’ to follow. It’s not a numbers game, it’s about quality of conversation.

Think of Twitter as a kind of  ‘birds of feather’ group where people share thoughts and ideas and links with each other. You want people that add value to your life by sending along new ideas or thought you have not seen before from the Internet. They uncover valuable insights that you appreciate. I only follow 40 or so folks on Twitter and most of them  do not post often. Only a few post daily. But the ones I follow have very high value content. I often reTweet which means I  forward their Tweet along to my list of about 400 which gives them more visibility.  This BTW is how you build up your Twitter community (also called your social graph on Twitter).  Say something useful and post a relevant link. Others will follow.

I’m not interested in how many glasses of water people drink or when they are going to bed at night.  I ignore those folks or just drop them from my follow list. You DO NOT have to follow everyone that follows you. Don’t let others chide you into thinking that. I’m not trying to be hard here just practical.  I think conversation is important but to me having ‘useful’ conversation is more important.

Make sure you put your Twitter address on your email signature and on your web page. You will want to grab your particular  Twitter name before someone else does,  just like you do with Internet domains.  Keep that in mind for now even if you don’t post often, yet.

So for you, post those amazing insights you have each day. Posts a link to your monthly astrology forecasts. Unlike Facebook, practically everyone on  Twitter is visible on the Internet so find interesting people to follow and reTweet their posts. There is an entire subculture of people building amazing Twitter search tools which folks are using to find others they are interested in following. Facebook is more of a ‘who you know’ kind of place where Twitter is more of a ‘what you know’ kind of place to build community.  In fact you can go to http://search.twitter.com and see Twitter posts on whatever topic you pick by dropping in a keyword word or two. It’s in real time from people all over the world. Try that in Facebook – you can’t do it.  Do it on Twitter and find people who are authoring Tweets on topic of interest to you. Click on their FOLLOW button.

The Twitter.com website is fairly dry and uninteresting. I hardly ever use it now. I use TweetDeck because I can see more of the conversation that is occurring from my community of friends. I highly recommend finding a desktop and iPhone Twitter application versus using the Twitter home page.

Enjoy building your community. The next time we talk I’ll show you how to use tools like FriendFeed to automatically repost your blog articles into Twitter and Facebook and find more friends for your community(ies = social graphs). In addition there is a Netscape plug-in tool called Feedley to help you further your efforts in finding relevant information and like minded souls around the world to be in community with.

Tom

• mobile phone trends, especially where it intersects with social networking systems
• iPhone Development microblogging trends – all the various Twitter tools and related developments and use cases
• Community Management experiences (Intranet and Internet)
• Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect – use cases and view of future plans
• successful use of video business and branding strategies on the Internet

One of the oddities of the SXSW website is how difficult it is (at least for me) to navigate. There is no lack of information on their site, but when it comes to just finding out about the panels; it’s a journey to locate them. Why they make it difficult, I just don’t know.  Here is the link to the SXSW2009 panels.

I thought I’d take my own advice and do a quick scan of the interactive panels I’m considering attending. I have a Gold badge this year because I want to explore the Film side of the conference. This will no doubt cause me to compromise some, but we’ll see.  For now, here is what I’m considering:

Designing the Future of The New York Times
(Khoi Vinh, subtraction.com)

Lawrence Lessig Presentation – Change V2
(Lawrence Lessig, lessig.org)

Design for the Wisdom of Crowds
(Derek Powazek, powazek.com)

From Flickr and Beyond: Lessons in Community Management
(Heather Champ, Flickr)

How Social Networks Are Killing the Revolution
(Steve Swedler, Gangplank)

iPhone Development for Experienced Web Developers
(Joshua Siler, Babcock & Jenkins)

The Mobile Web for Good: Hype or Reality?
(Katrin Verclas, MobileActive.org)

OpenID, OAuth, Data Portability and the Enterprise
(Danny Kolke, Etelos, Inc.)

Video Blogging: Turning Wine into Gold
(Gary Vaynerchuk, WineLibraryTV)

Beyond Aggregation — Finding the Web’s Best Content
(Louis Gray, louisgray.com)

Is Time the Key to Crafting Compelling Mobile Service
(Priya Prakash, Flirtomatic)

Keynote Conversation: Chris Anderson (Wired) and Guy Kawasaki (alltop.com)

How about you? You’ll want to be sure you bring a laptop or netbook or iPhone and have something like Tweetdeck installed. SXSW always provides wifi throughout the entire complex. I predict you’ll see people exchanging tips on what panels are good and which ones they are bailing out of to attend the alternate on their list. I remember the first year Twitter was at SXSW. It totally changed the way you found people with common interests and met up with them before, during or after panels and especially what parties were rocking and which ones were losers.

Tom

The most important thing to do right now is to spend a few hours pouring over the panels and parties to map out what you want to do. What I find helpful is having alternate panels or parties on my list for a given day just in case I run into a dud or it’s so crowded I can’t get it (if you’re the type that runs late you’ll find yourself standing outside looking in more often the not).

This year SXSW has focused a lot of attention on their website to make it easier to build your schedule for each day and share it with others. So let’s go schedule.

Get ready! Today I ordered a MiLi Power Pack from PhoneSuit.com to make sure I have plenty of power for my iPhone during the day and evening. Plug outlets are difficult to find and in high demand. The entire Austin Convention Center will be consumed by the SXSW and wifi will be available in all areas. Staying in touch with others during the day and evening is a must. It’s quite a magical mystery tour. Hope to see you there.

Tom