Mashable Conversations Video Feed

A Conversation with Meebo's Founders

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:28:17 -0500

In what seems to be a continuation of a never ending growth pattern by Meebo, it was widely reported this morning that they're now going to be offering branded chat for social networks and online communities. They have a staggering list of volunteer launch partners as well, including DanceJam, Flixster, myYearbook, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group's AddictingGames, Piczo, SparkArt, Sugar Publishing and Tagged.

Sean and I had a great discussion with two of the three founders of Meebo on today's Mashable Conversations, and we came away with two main things that really are noteworthy about this implementation, aside from the technology aspects of it.

First of all, the sheer size of the expected network growth is particularly eye-popping. According to Seth, Meebo, after implementation is finished, will have a global reach of 54.7 million, including an unduplicated reach in the US of 23.3 million. This is accomplished by allowing inter-site communication. If you signup on Piczo, for instance, you'll be able to speak with users from Flixter. This is accomplished by use of the XMMP (Jabber) architecture for the IM service backend.

The other thing particularly noteworthy is that each partner is entering into a revenue sharing agreement, so that advertising supported chat will not only be a tool to significantly increase stickiness, but it will be a profit center as well.

Aside from that, we got a little bit of insight into exactly where the name Meebo comes from - you can too. The video is embedded below (or you can download the MP4 version here).

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A Conversation with Guy Kawasaki

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:04:04 -0500

This weekend and over the course of yesterday, Guy Kawasaki's Alltop made the news for creating a new set of RSS feeds added to the site from FriendFeed. They called this the "Frienderati," and it was a list of FriendFeed members as determined by a mystery algorithm worth following on FriendFeed. Stan covered this here at Mashable, but here was how Guy Kawasaki described its' debut:

I recently signed up for Friendfeed, and I had a hard time figuring out who to follow. Christine Lu told me that this is a common problem, and we came up with idea of aggregating the top Friendfeeds to help people get started. Check it out: Frienderati.alltop.com. You can use this as a starting point to figure out who to follow on Frienderati or to quickly scan what the Frienderati are discussing.

Here's the problem Sean and I (and many other bloggers found): most of these folks are largely inactive on the service. As such, we think that most of the folks on the list aren't particularly useful to check out for folks new to the service. This is the topic we explore on Mashable Conversations today, and it's followed by a conversation that our own Kristen Nicole had with Guy Kawasaki at the launch of AllTop at this year's SXSW.

Watch below or download the MP4!

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A Conversation on Controversy

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:21:39 -0500

Controversy is good. Last week was full of controversy - from political controversy to racial controversy, the blogosphere was a buzz, and several issues rarely brought to the attention of the Web 2.0 set was put in the forefront. There was so much of it going on, it caused me to pause and reflect elsewhere about the usefulness of controversy as a tool.

That's the topic that Sean and I tackled today as we re-examine the whole controversy regarding the whole issue of censorship of Twitter, Qik and other social media services' use by US congressmen. The post that brought this issue back to the fore was a a statement US Rep John Culberson made to TechDirt regarding his politicization of the issue:

"I agree and I never should have brought up Democrat or Republican.... My goal is to shine a light into the Congress and I'll keep partisan labels out of it. And I'm going to stay focused on the goal.... The two things the internet has helped me do is the community has helped me understand to keep the partisan labels out of it, that's good advice which I have taken to heart. And the other good advice I got was that I mean and actually through this debate and TechnoSailor in particular, I think his name's Aaron, had some really good posts on his blog that kind of when you walk through his and a couple of other good blogs out there, I realize that I was targeting the wrong thing, that the existing rules make it illegal for me to post on Twitter, to post on a Qik website, under existing rules I'm operating in the Twilight Zone."

I wasn't particularly sure, in our conversation today, that it was the wrong move to politicize this, as political censorship was a very plausible motive to ascribe at the time. In retrospect, it was more likely motivated by Ludditism, but the partisanship was what brought this issue to the fore, and ignited a good discussion on the matter.

Grab the MP4 here or play the embed below.

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Care-o-bot and Nas

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:02:37 -0500

Hey folks. A quick weekend episode for your enjoyment. I'll have the MP3 feed going soon, but for now you're still stuck with the video only feed.

In this episode, I talk a bit about Nas, Nerdcore, MC Frontalot, Robbie the Robot and the new Care-O-Bot.

Get your MP4 link here.

Extra: Viewer Feedback

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:17:35 -0500

In what we're hoping will become a regular feature on Mashable Conversations, we did an episode this week entirely devoted to the best of the comments from the previous week or so of shows. Due to Sean's travel schedule, we had to shoot this one close to midnight our time, so we're a little punch drunk, as you can probably tell, but we got to the more interesting comments left on our video posts.

Much of the week's comments centered around our discussion of the progression of live video, and how it's still an emerging technology, despite the ubiquity, with comments from Mashable readers Alexander Williams, Duncan Riley and Morgan. Also, with an interesting (and verbose comment we truncated for the show) was George Riddick, who seemed happier than anyone I've ever met that Viacom was suing the pants off Google.

Watch via the embed below, or grab the MP4 directly.

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Announcing BLVD Status: A New Way to Track Statistics.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:33:57 -0500

Sean and I met with Chris Bennett from 97th Floor today on Mashable Conversations - a particularly interesting conversation ensued. 97th Floor is a Utah based social media firm that has their hands in a wide variety of projects, almost all of which are instantly intriguing and interesting. We focused on just two of them yesterday - briefly we spoke about soapboxxer, an interesting and surprisingly insular online community that provides (as you might guess) it's members a soapbox for which to air their grievances.

After your opinion is posted, it turns into an instant poll where the other members of the community can agree, disagree and comment further on their position - it's set up in such a way as to make it very addictive.

What we spent the most time talking about though was a brand new offering, blvdStatus, a stats package that focuses not just on providing accurate and detailed statistics, but also an emphasis on conversions. Most third party stats packages offer conversions, but they're often difficult or intricate to set up.

You're probably thinking the same thing I was when I heard it was focused on conversion tracking: "sales stuff? I'm not particularly interested in yet another system designed to track sales conversions." This one is different though. Ever been curious as to which RSS subscribers click on what? Been interested in where folks discover your RSS feed from or what stories turn a casual blog reader into a blog subscriber? These are the types of conversions

Check in on the conversation below for more information on this (MP4).

Discussion: Sean and I had a conversation that delved even further into the topic I wrote about earlier in the week - How much should newpapers model themselves after New Media, and do they have a choice? Discuss below, your comments coming up on tomorrows episode!

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Microhoo: What's Really Happening (and Do We Care?) [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:48:42 -0500

Microhoo completely dominated the technology news headline space this Monday. Again. For the eleventy-billionth time since this stupid concept of Microsoft acquiring Yahoo was brought up a few months ago. We're pretty sure you're sick of hearing about it, and we know we're sick of writing about it.

On Monday, Stan put a piece of satire together for commentary on the piece, with the upshot being "it's 2019, and we're still rehashing the same story."

Somehow, even though there really isn't any news to report on this, we keep reporting it. Sean and I, in today's Mashable Conversations, try to examine why that is.

You can download the full episode here.

Discussion: Our question to you is whether or not you care? If you do care, we want to know why. Include your comments and discussion below for future inclusion in the show.

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A Meta Discussion on Our Irksome Video Experience [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:06:40 -0500

Today on Mashable Conversations, Sean and I had a very "meta" conversation with regard to online video. We've had an amazing number of downloads and subscribers since we've turned on the RSS feeds with the new episodic platform. We discuss a bit of the puzzlement we have that this show, which is essentially the same format as the audio format of the show, but has significantly less response and listenership.

We had a feeling we might get a better response out of video than audio shows a long way going back, but unfortunately due to a number of technical issues, were continually blocked from getting the production done in the way we had envisioned (you've probably noticed the transformation of the show from the first few episodes we've put out to what it is now).

The problem ends up relating back very directly to the question our sponsor, Cisco is asking: "What is your biggest pet peeve with video technology?"

For us, it's the far too many failure points that exist with doing online video. We go into some pretty great detail on the story behind why our podcast has changed so much from it's initial concepts, and what it is that continues to hold online video back, despite all the ubiquity of video equipment and free video services.

How far have you tried pushing towards the edge of what technology allows with online video? For all that's available, are you satisified with what you can do, or does it leave you wanting more?

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A Conversation with Plentitube's Jon Labes

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:47:36 -0500

Sean and I had the rare opportunity of unmasking a company today on Mashable Conversations. Our guest on the show today was Jon Labes, the founder of a new video marketplace called Plentitube (pronounced like "plentitude, if you change the 'd' to a 'b'). Jon is probably best known as being the creative mind behind Wallstrip, the financial podcast that was later famously sold to CBS Interactive for a tidy sum.

Through his experience in New Media production as well as the experience of taking a show like that from concept to completion to exit, he was made aware of the wide variety of issues that arise for successful independent video producers that we're just not equipped to deal with. Legal issues abound, as do business decisions, odd technical issues, and sales situations; most of the time indie producers just want to, well, produce.

Plentitube is a marketplace built with that in mind. It's currently still in an invite only beta situation, but their goal is to take top notch producers and pair them with advertisers, resources and potential investors and owners for the content. In our interview, we explore the history that led Jon to this venture, as well as the intracies of the marketplace, and how it can benefit the New Media video producer set.

Discussion: YouTube v. Viacom, the $1 Billion Dollar Privacy Question
In our discussion segment, we talk a bit about the YouTube v. Viacom debacle, and what it means (from legal laymen) to open the Pandora's box on user records, and why we're glad it's Google getting sued. Leave your comments below for inclusion in future shows.

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Twitter, Identi.ca and July 4

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:06:35 -0500

First of all, if you're American, and you're reading this - I have to ask why? The web is like a ghost town today. There isn't much going on via Twitter. FriendFeed is unusually slow, and about six or so of our two trillion readers showed up to leave a comment today. It's July 4! Independence Day! Go out and have a brew and a hot dog!

For all our non-American friends and readers, and the six US readers who have nothing else better to do, Sean P. Aune and I have recorded a special episode of Mashable Conversations today. We scoured the web and couldn't find a guest to come in today, so we reverted to a topic that had particularly irked us from the week past - the bizzarre assumption by some in the blogosphere that Identi.ca is the natural successor to Twitter.

I won't steal the show's thunder, but Sean and I puzzle over this idea and try to figure out exactly why this is being said. It's a short episode, so go ahead and watch before you throw on your swimwear and jump in the pool this afternoon.

You can leave your comments on this topic in the comments for inclusion on future episodes.

Those in your feed reader will need to download the episode or hit the blog for the embed.

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A Conversation with EventVue's Rob Johnson

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:32:21 -0500

For today's Mashable Conversations, we sat down with EventVue's CEO Rob Johnson. They run a service that is used in connection with major meet-up and conference style events that allows you to actually know who you'll meet before you meet them. Their service, at least the central part of it, reminds me of a project that Pete assigned to part of the staff shortly before he was on his way to San Francisco the first time.

He had been online as a moving force, as well as participant in the general discussion, with a wide cross-section of the Web 2.0 and social media industry. Having been based in Scotland up until that point, he only had a vague idea what most everyone looked like, and wanted the staff to put together a personal face book of sorts so that when he gallivanted across town, he would know who to look for.

Rob Johnson noticed this trend wasn't isolated, as lots of folks tend to put these together before attending major industry events, and save them to their palmtop devices so that they may recognize key players while they socialize. This was the opportunity in the marketplace that EventVue exploits, amongst other things.

We here at Mashable are utilizing this technology for our Summer Mash events, as well. By registering for our events, you'll recieve an invitation to learn more about your fellow attendees and see their shining faces before you attend.

You can download the full episode here or watch via the embedded player below on today's Mashable Conversations.

Discussion
In this episode, Sean, Rob and I also discuss the ICANN's decision to open up TLD registration to all folks with 100k and an idea. You can leave your thoughts below for inclusion in future Mashable Conversations episodes.

A Conversation with Sister Hazel's Ryan Newell

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:30:48 -0500

A while back on the Mashable Conversations audio podcast, I had CEO Tim Huffman on to talk about his company iVideoSongs. iVideoSongs produces a series of videos made available through iTunes that teach folks how to play music the way the artists intended. These videos are all done by the original artists and followed up with an interview that goes behind the music and behind the band.

The last time Tim was on the program, we spoke about a lot of amazing stories regarding his personal history in music, as well as the stories he's gleaned from interviewing the assortment of artists that have already done an iVideoSongs episode.

This time around, he sent an emmissary, an artist that's done an episode of iVideoSong's how to series, Ryan Newell from Sister Hazel (who's 90s radio hit All For You is probably getting stuck in your head just at the mention of the band's name).

In this episode...
Ryan talked about the effects doing this series has been in terms of fan response and the interesting experiences of actually doing the episodes. Also, in our social media discussion segment, Sean and I go into a bit more detail on the webmaster's perspective on Digg's 'empty hits,' going into a bit more detail on a topic our Stan Schroeder explored yesterday.

A Conversation with Soceeo's Emile Cambree

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:29:25 -0500

Soceeo is one of those interesting Web 2.0 startup projects that is easy to stereotype, but is hard to describe succinctly (or at least to accurately describe succinctly). If you take a step back and look at others that it most closely competes with, you could say it'd be services like Ning or Canter's Broadband Mechanics in the whitelabel social networking space, but to do so would sell short the vision behind what the service tries to offer.

In their present form, though, that's exactly what they are. I had a chance to sit down with one of the site founders, Emile Cambry, and talk about where they see things going and what their vision is for the future. Given all the competition presently in the whitelabel socnet world, they have an amazingly solid userbase from the non-conventional sources (no early typical adopter types here), but they themselves are particularly grounded in the Web 2.0 world, and want to bring their seasoned userbase back some of the better parts of what they see the social media world offering.

What sorts of things? Data portability, RSS and APIs, for a few. They're particularly enamoured with the idea behind services like Twitter and FriendFeed, and have taken not only their service models to heart, but their philosophy of user-driven feature development as well.

Beyond that, they're centrally focused on making this a site so simple that their grandmothers can use it - a laudable goal for a site with advanced social-network generating capabilities.

For the full story (in more detail), sit in on my conversation with Emile.

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Soceeo.com

A Conversation with Disney's Maria McManus

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:27:30 -0500

Maria McManus is the Director of Interface Design and Community at Disney's new Family.com community. She sat down last week briefly to discuss the re-launch of the site as a social network and collected resource for parents, set to launch this summer. The service started as a simple resources site, but with the rise of niche social networks, it became clear to the team at Disney that folks wanted resources to develop community around the site.

The site includes most of the standard social networking features, though they're trying to take different approach to the typical blog feature found on most social networks. Similar to Tumblr, they're attempting to bring together the snippets that could go into a digital scrap book and make it available to the parents to push out their stories and life experiences in format that isn't meant to appease the person who thinks they're there to author the next Great American Novel.

Alana got the details on all this as well as some background and some of the inspiration that organically brought this new approach to media for an Old Media giant like Disney.

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A Conversation with Steve Loughlin's Affinity Circles

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:25:05 -0500

Affinity Circles is a social networking platform used to power a wide variety of various private and branded social networks. We've talked about several here in the past here at Mashable, including the Portland Trail Blazer's social network for fans.

Last month they boasted their 100th social network powered by the platform, and this month they announced the launch of a new recruiting function called inCircles. The utility is designed to take the social network and graph contained within the exclusive community, and use that to find qualified candidates for job positions.

Our Alana Taylor sat down with Affinity Circles President and CEO Steve Loughlin to get a bit more insight into how this works. As he explained, amongst the clientele for the company are vast array of college alumnus organizations. The inCircle functionality has been adopted for use by organizations like Juniper Networks, Lam Research, and Merrill Lynch.

That this is proving to be an effective way of bringing not just the good ol' boys networks up to the digital age, but the various focused talent pools that lay inside niche communities makes for an interesting discussion.

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A Conversation with Tom Green

noreply@blogger.com (Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:06:15 -0500

The first video edition of the Mashable Conversations podcast has finally launched today with a special guest interview with actor and television host, Tom Green.

I had a chance to sit down -- virtually, of course-- with Tom at his studio in Los Angeles, which actually doubles as his living room! Tom, known for his satirical performance in Road Trip and talk show on MTV, recently began his live internet show called "Tom Green's House Tonight."

The show is broadcast on his website, TomGreen.com -The Channel. He has celebrity guests, a live stream 24/7, and he also lets his audience call in through Skype. The show is powered by BitGravity's high definition video stream and airs Monday through Friday, 8-9pm PDT.

Tom commented on what it's like to move from cable television to online video, the future of the internet, and the freedom he has now that his studio is right at home. He talked about the different aspects of his website, touring the nation on a Winnebago, lifecasting at 2am and getting prank calls from fans. The notorious shock-humor comedian also addressed the rumor that he was becoming more serious.

You can see the entire video below:

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