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My Columbus Dispatch interview on social media

2009-06-28T10:08:00.009-04:00

The front page of the Business section in the Columbus Dispatch this morning features an interview I did for their story titled "Clicking with consumers."

The article shares how a handful of local businesses like Nationwide, Jeni's Ice Cream, Katzinger's Deli and Deer Creek Resort, are using social media.

I did the interview several weeks ago and had almost forgotten about it. Of course, I found out about the article from friends on Facebook and Twitter before I noticed it in the Sunday paper.

Here is my portion, but I recommend you read the entire article to see what other local businesses are doing with social media:

"Many of these bigger businesses are creating positions to manage social media efforts, hiring employees who are in charge of wading through all the new forms of technology and deciding what's best for the company.

Shawn Morton's position as senior consultant for social media at Nationwide Insurance was created for him last July, when the company decided to put a lot of energy into the concept.

Nationwide has a large presence on Facebook and Twitter (about 1,400 fans and 800 followers, respectively) and also released an application for the iPhone in April, along with a popular TV commercial, that allows users to take pictures of accident scenes and send them to Nationwide, stores insurance information and finds repair shops.

And the result is a strange fusion of old and new media. When people see the TV commercial, they "tweet" about it. Where before someone might have told a friend about the commercial, word of mouth is now fingers on a keyboard, instantly reaching an audience of millions.

"The iPhone has a lot of passionate users," Morton said. "Downloads have been good."

The insurance company also uses Facebook and Twitter to post photos and coverage from its NASCAR events, which has been a real boost for social media traffic, Morton said.

Read the full "Clicking with consumers" story on dispatch.com.

Ohio Growth Summit tweetup recap

2009-06-10T06:17:00.025-04:00

Compared to what I was used to in Louisville, Columbus has a ton of social media events going on on a weekly basis. That means a lot of stuff falls off my radar as each new meetup announcement comes through my inbox. The Ohio Growth Summit Tweetup was something that I put on my calendar immediately upon hearing about it. Why? First, it had been a couple of weeks since I had been to a tweetup (sad, right?). Second, it was going to feature Chris Brogan. Third, it was featuring a presentation by Mike Figilulo whom I had not met yet (and somehow still haven't).

The event was held at the Columbus State Center for Workforce Development and kicked off with a networking reception. After grabbing my name tag, I immediately ran into Nate Riggs, Tom Williams of InnoGage and Christian Adams of Sigma Creative. We were soon joined by Billy Fischer from Oxiem and the recently-engaged Cheryl Harrison of Sync Creative. In our little circle, we talked about everything from social media in the insurance industry (I tend to blab about that a lot) to engagement rings to Facebook brand pages. I also met David Watts from Columbus State who is a former Nationwider (for 12 years).

Eventually, we were herded into a larger conference room so that Mike Figliuolo could do his presentation. I wasn't sure what to expect since I hadn't heard Mike speak before (and I didn't read the agenda to know what the topic would be :).

The presentation was on leadership and how to develop your personal leadership maxims. Mike made the topic revelant to the tweetup crowd by sharing stories (that combined humor, real-world advice and Mike's engaging, in-your-face style) from his experiences in the military and in companies like Chase, McKinsey and Scotts-Miracle Gro. It definitely made you stop and think about your approach to leading and challenged you to evaluate some of the things you stand for as a leader.

As with any presentation, you could judge it's success by the number of comments and questions at the end. Mike fielded a dozen or more questions before adjourning. And this was after everyone knew that Chris Brogan had arrived. Everyone wanted to meet Brogan, but were still engaged enough with Mike's topic to keep asking questions.

As the networking portion of the event kicked in, Billy Fischer and I got to chat with Wassan Humadi who had been sitting at our table. She shared what she's doing with her consulting company that matches up foreign students with American colleges and universities. Listening to her explain what she did, it was clear she is very passionate and knowledgeable about the higher ed space.

I eventually worked my way over the catch up with Brogan who I spent some time with in Louisville a few weeks ago. He shared some of his travel woes that got him to Columbus later than planned. In fact, he did a nice blog recap of the experience on his blog early thing morning.

I also connected with LinkedIn expert Lewis Howes again. Lewis, who lives in Columbus, and I first connected in Austin during SXSW 2009 when my old pal Jason Falls introduced us in the blogger lounge. Lewis introduced me to Brian Schneider and we chatted about social media and my role at Nationwide.

Before calling it a night, I was able to finally meet Alvin Borromeo who I have known through Twitter for a while. We talked about the Columbus social media "scene" compared to the Louisville one. I also met Rick Coplin who does Business Development at TechColumbus.

Overall, I got everything I expect from a good event: great people, content and conversation. Oh, I did miss one thing. I really wanted to take the air out of Ryan Bauer's tires for this little comment on Twitter earlier in the day about Nationwide's social media efforts (that has since been deleted):

"@sMoRTy71 Speaking of a dated "Insurance Social Media Strategy" have you seen what they're doing at @nationwide. Oh wait. I guess you have."

Speaking at "Getting Results with Social Media" on 6/18

2009-06-01T12:45:00.001-04:00

I have been invited to speak at the Columbus Chamber's upcoming "Getting Results with Social Media" event on June 18th. I am excited about the topic (since so few events really talk about results) and the other speakers.

The lineup is:
Gary Moneysmith, Conrad, Phillips & Vutech
Matt Yuskewich, Ologie
Lara Kretler, Fahlgren Mortine
Bill Baldarez, Webbed Marketing
Stephanie Busack, Bob Evans Farms
Shawn Morton, Nationwide Insurance
Matt Dickman, Fleishman Hillard
Kevin Pfefferle, COSI
Brian Link, Toobla, BE Consulting & thoughtLEADERS
Bobby Whitman, dynamIt

I am going to share some of the success we've had using Twitter to engage with fans of our NASCAR Nationwide Series.

You can register for the event here.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Maddox!

2009-05-31T12:15:00.001-04:00

This photo was taken yesterday at the zoo. Maddox just got his first peek of the elephants.

Today is Maddox Milo Morton's 2nd birthday. It seems like yesterday that we were taking the photo below.

In his brief 2 years, he has been through so much (wearing a helmet to correct a misshapen skull, a bout with RSV, a broken leg, hernia surgery and a diagnosis of Celiacs), but he has always been a joy to be around.

For his big gift, we got him a Kota the Triceratops. He absolutely loved it.

See all of his birthday photos and videos on Flickr.

Jane's Addiction live in Columbus

2009-05-30T10:54:00.008-04:00

After a great Yeah Yeah Yeahs show at The LC the night before, Amy and I headed out to the Jane's Addiction show there last night. It was actually the first time since moving to Columbus last year that we had gone out without the kids. We grabbed dinner and some Jeni's ice cream at North Market then some drinks in the Arena District before settling in for Jane's.

Because it was an outdoor show, we had to wait until it got dark for the show to start. That left us with plenty of time to do some people watching (which was awesome) and have an adult beverage.

During "Nothing Shocking"

Jane's Addiction played a 90-minute set that opened with "Three Days" and finished with "Jane Says." Perry Farrell was one part lounge singer (he wore a gold satin jumpsuit with cummerbund and scarf), one part rock star and one part stoner at the coffee shop that asks you strange questions (he asked the mostly 30+ crowd if school was out yet). I'm not complaining, BTW. Perry is a great showman and definitely kept the crowd engaged. Check out the clip from the end of "Stop" to see that in action.

The end of "Stop"

The weather was absolutely perfect until the last few seconds of "Jane Says." At that point, a downpour started. As the crowd ran for cover, Perry said, "We made it rain!"

You can check out my photos and videos from show on Flickr.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs live in Columbus

2009-05-29T08:36:00.007-04:00

I attended the Yeah Yeah Yeahs show in Columbus last night at "the LC." It was an amazing show. Karen O. had the crowd in the palm of her hand throughout (even tho they had to restart one song twice because she lost her place). They covered songs from all of their albums. I was disappointed not to hear "Tick," but was glad to hear "Black Tongue" and "Date with a Night."

I was able to get digital photos and some HD video on my Flip camera.
Check out more video clips and photos from the YYYs show in Columbus.

YYYs-esque Grand Ole Party was the opening act. I was pleasantly surprised with their set.

Part of "Black Tongue" live

My interview with Tavis Smiley

2009-05-22T14:52:00.007-04:00

It's not every day that you get asked to interview one of TIME's 100 most influential people, so I was pretty thrilled (and a little nervous) heading into my one-on-one with Tavis Smiley yesterday at Nationwide headquarters in Columbus.

Tavis is in the 2nd year of a partnership with Nationwide for the On Your Side Tour and was in Columbus to announce the dates for 2009. I was able to get 10 minutes with him between his media interviews and his talk for Nationwide associates.

My questions centered around the OYS Tour as well as his new documentary STAND which had one of its first public screenings in Columbus last night. Here are my questions followed by his video response:

1. What can attendees of one of the five OYS Tour stops expect to learn? See Tavis' response on Nationwide's Facebook page

2. What was the most interesting thing you learned during the 2008 OYS Tour? See Tavis' response on Nationwide's Facebook page

3. Can you share an example from your film where you learned something you didn't already know about the people traveling with you? (This answer is my favorite, so I am embedding it below)

Afterward, Tavis was nice enough to pose for a photo with me. He even cracked a couple of Twitter-related jokes saying that he can't say no to a photo with the social media guy because I might trash him in 140 characters.

You can learn more about the On Your Side Tour and the 2009 tour dates at nationwide.com.

Inbound Marketing Bootcamp & SMC Louisville recap

2009-05-20T19:15:00.029-04:00

One of the many things I miss about Louisville is the amazing social media community there. I was fortunate enough to be there a year and a half ago when the Social Media Club chapter was formed and was on the board until I moved to Columbus in July.

So when I heard that Chris Brogan was bringing his Inbound Marketing Bootcamp to Louisville *and* that he would be speaking at the SMC Louisville meeting the same night, I had to make the trip back to the 'Ville.

I headed down on Monday afternoon and met Jason Falls, Amber Naslund of Radian6, Justin Levy of New Marketing Labs, and Brendan Jackson from Creative Alliance for dinner at Proof on Main. Fortunately, everyone loved to eat, have a few cocktails and laugh (a lot), so it was a great time. I shared one infamous story from SXSWi that had the table in tears.

After dinner, we moved to the Proof bar and had another drink. For this one, we were joined by David Finch and Chris Brogan. I pulled a Don Draper (thanks to a tip from Brendan) and had an Old Fashioned before calling it a night.

Photo by Chris Brogan

The Inbound Marketing Bootcamp kicked off at 8:30am on Tuesday. The event was hosted by Humana. On the way up the elevator, one of our Humana hosts noticed my Nationwide Insurance nametag and said how cool she thought our new iPhone was. That was nice to hear.

After catching up with Scott Clark from BuzzMaven, I grabbed a table with Falls, Amber and Melissa King from KFC. There was packed house as the event started with around 100 people attending.

Photo by Chris Brogan

Over the next 7 hours, Brogan, Justin, Rick Burnes from Hubspot, Amber, Greg Cangialosi from Blue Sky Factory and Falls covered a wide variety of social media topics including blogging tips, how to engage on social networks, social media listening techniques, creating good content and the differences between bloggers and traditional media. You can check out the Twitter coverage of the event by searching the #imbc hashtag.

After the Bootcamp, we took a big group to Los Aztecas on Main for dinner before the SMC event. We ended up with Falls, Chris Bergman from the 513, Scott Clark, Justin Levy, Chris Hall and Greg Matthews from Humana's Innovation Center, Greg Cangialosi, Amber, Brogan and Rick Burnes.

Around 6pm, we headed back to the Humana Building for the Social Media Club event. Ran into a ton of old friends and former CNET colleagues including Tom Osborne, Eric Roland, Jay Garmon, Jim McDonnell from Papa John's, Rob May and Michelle Jones. Maker's Mark, who sponsored the event, provided free cocktails served in wax-covered glasses.

Brogan takes questions from the audience

Brogan took the stage around 7pm and shared his thoughts on the future of social media and took questions from the audience.

Back row: Chris Hall, me, Rob May, Michelle Jones, Greg Matthews, Justin Levy Front row: Greg Cangialosi, Amber Naslund, Chris Brogan and Jason Falls

Afterward, a group of us, including Brogan, Justin, Falls, Amber, Chris Hall and Greg Matthews, headed to the bar in the Seelbach for some drinks. Stuck with the Old Fashioned again. I spent most of the time talking shop with Brogan, Justin and the guys from Humana's Innovation Center.

I finished up the trip early the next morning by meeting Tom Osborne, Eric Roland and Kevin Brown for breakfast at Panera.

Hoping to convince Chris and Justin to bring the show to Columbus some time later this year.

Who crippled SlingPlayer for the iPhone?

2009-05-14T12:06:00.016-04:00

After months of speculation and anticipation, Sling Media and Apple released SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone this week. The release, which should have been a big day for Slingbox owners like myself (I have 3), was overshadowed by the fact that the app would *not* be allowed to use AT&T's 3G network. Instead, it can only be used on a Wi-Fi network.

Bloggers and the Twitterati quickly jumped all over the story and blame landed squarely on AT&T. After all, they had tweaked, untweaked and retweaked their Terms of Service recently to place limitations on placeshifting. And, immediately following the release, they issued a statement via Engadget that said:

"Slingbox, which would use large amounts of wireless network capacity, could create congestion and potentially prevent other customers from using the network. The application does not run on our 3G wireless network. Applications like this, which redirect a TV signal to a personal computer, are specifically prohibited under our terms of service. We consider smartphones like the iPhone to be personal computers in that they have the same hardware and software attributes as PCs.

That said, we don't restrict users from going to a Web site that lets them view videos. But what our terms and conditions prohibit is the transferring, or slinging, of a TV signal to their personal computer or smartphone.

The Slingbox application for the iPhone runs on WiFi. That's good news for AT&T's iPhone 3G customers, who get free WiFi access at our 20,000 owned and operated hot spots in the U.S., including Starbucks, McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, hotels, and airports. AT&T is the industry leader in WiFi."

This caused many to assume that AT&T's 3G network couldn't handle all of the SlingPlayer traffic on their network. Of course, Slingplayer is already available for Blackberry and Windows Mobile on AT&T (I've used my SlingPlayer on AT&T's network for years without a problem), so that doesn't seem to be a valid reason.

Last night, I received an e-mail from Sling Media announcing the new iPhone app (and an overshadowed update to the Blackberry version). At the very bottom of that e-mail, Sling includes the following disclaimer:

"* SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone is available as Wi-Fi only at Apple's request."

This morning, Gizmodo ran this article that claims insider knowledge of an upcoming i-Verse app from AT&T that would allow AT&T U-verse customers to placeshift their TV signal.

And let's not lose sight of the fact that Sling made an announcement a few weeks ago that owners of older Slingboxes could *not* use SlingPlayer for the iPhone. I'm sure many people upgraded their Slingbox in order to take advantage of the new app. Now, after the Wi-Fi outrage, Sling reveals that the iPhone app will support all Slingboxes. Sorry 'bout that, upgraders.

So, for those keeping score, bloggers and tweeple are blaming AT&T, AT&T is blaming Sling for violating AT&T's Sling-specific Terms of Service and Sling is blaming Apple.

As far as I'm concerned, they are all to blame. Regardless of the reason, they have all contributed to building up hype about a product that fails to meet the expectations of their customers.

I was actually considering upgrading to an iPhone this summer once their new (rumored) hardware is released. Having a Slingplayer app using that big, beautiful touchscreen was one of the primary reasons for that. Combine that with the $2,000 bill issue we just resolved and I have lost the main reason to go with the iPhone or stay with AT&T.

AT&T wants us to pay $2,000 for a $30 data plan we turned off [updated]

2009-05-11T16:27:00.020-04:00

I struggled with the title for this post. I tried "AT&T hates their customers" and "AT&T's data plan scam," but those seemed too sensational. While I want to draw attention to this issue, I think the facts speak for themselves.

I've chronicled one of the many issues here, but there have been many little things over our 5 years as AT&T customers that continue to reinforce their anti-customer attitude. Unfortunately, most of the mishaps have occurred while we were under contract, so leaving would have been too expensive.

Today's most recent debacle, depending on how it is handled, may be enough to finally push us out the door.

Back in December, we turned off the unlimited data plan that I had been using on my Moto Q9h. We had been paying $30 per month for it, but it became unnecessary when I got a corporate Blackberry.

Prior to turning off the data plan, I had my phone set up with Gmail to pull my webmail down at some regular interval. Since I don't use my Moto Q9h for anything other than basic phone features, I hadn't been looking at the e-mail inbox. Didn't think I would needed to, right? After all, I don't have data service.

Turns out that turning off a data plan with AT&T doesn't actually disable it. It simply changes the rate at which they charge you for data.

So, today, we received a bill for over $2,000! The reason? Data usage... Seriously?

Not only did AT&T allow my phone to access a service which I had told them to turn off, but 1) they didn't bother to alert me that I was using a premium service and 2) they didn't bill me at the old rate of $30 per month when they switched it back on.

If we asked AT&T to turn a feature off, it should be off. However, if they decided to turn it back on (which they shouldn't do without an opt-in of some sort), why wouldn't they do it at $30/mo.?

I keep refraining from calling this a "scam;" however, I can't think of any other word that fits.

Now, we're going round and round with customer service to get the charges reversed. Of course, if we can't resolve it, we are either forced to pay $2,000 for something we used to pay $30 for or face the penalty of having it show up on our credit report.

Who treats their customers like that?

We're currently waiting 5-7 days to hear if they are going to take off the charge or not. I'll post an update when I know more.

The funny thing is that I was considering sticking with AT&T (and re-upping my contract) when the new iPhone is released next month. With the rumors of an iPhone coming to Verizon, I might have another option.

[UPDATE 5/22] AT&T has corrected our $2,000 bill issue. Thx to all who provided comments and assistance.

May is going be a busy month

2009-05-06T15:57:00.035-04:00

It has been a busy few weeks, so I haven't been able to blog as much as I would have liked. As I look at my calendar for May, it looks to be a month filled with social media events, concerts and a very special birthday. Should make for plenty of hot blog action over the next 4 weeks.

Last night, I attended the Columbus Tweetup at Sandbox Columbus. Sandbox is a very cool co-working space in the Short North.

Photo courtesy of Sandbox Columbus. See more photos.

I saw some people I knew like Lewis Howes (we met at SXSWi) and Cheryl Harrison and made some new connections with Christian Adams, Mark Allen, Jim Pidcock and Jason Rubinstein.

On May 18th, I am going to be heading back to Louisville for a couple of events with Chris Brogan. First, I will be attending his Inbound Marketing Bootcamp at Humana. It is an all-day event covering blogging, lead gen, customer service and e-mail (among other things).

Later that night, Chris will be speaking at the Social Media Club of Louisville's May meeting. I'm looking forward to catching up with the Louisville crew, especially those that didn't make it down to SXSWi in March.

On May 21st, we will be hosting a series of events at Nationwide with Tavis Smiley.

Jesse Jackson and Tavis Smiley at the 2009 State of the Black Union. Photo courtesy of Nationwide. See more photos from SOBU 2009.

I am scheduled to interview Tavis, who was just named one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People, for one of the web projects we're doing to support our sponsorship. In addition to my own questions, I will be soliciting questions in advance from Twitter. If you have something you would like to ask Tavis, please leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail at smorty71 at gmail dot com.

On May 27th, I will be attending the next Central Ohio Tweetup at Huntington Park, the new home of the Columbus Clippers.

Huntington Park in Downtown Columbus. Photo courtesy of marada. See more of his photos of Huntington Park.

Much like the Tweetup at Ohio Stadium back in November, this one will feature a private tour of the new facility and access to the Club Level Patio before and during the game. You can register for the Tweetup here. Tickets are going fast, though.

On May 28th, I will be going to a sold-out show by one of my absolute favorite bands, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, at The Newport. This will be my first time seeing them live. I had tickets for a show a couple of years ago in Cincinnati, but I wasn't able to make it.

My favorite YYYs song happens to be one of Amy's least favorite songs of all-time.

On May 29th, Amy and I are going to see Jane's Addiction at Lifestyles Community Pavillion. We're both big Jane's fans, so it should be a good time.

We'll be capping off the month with Maddox's 2nd birthday on May 31st. Although we don't have any official plans for that yet, I am assuming we spend several nerve-rattling hours at Chuck E. Cheese.

Nationwide's "I am On Your Side" campaign

2009-04-13T10:00:00.011-04:00

We are kicking off our new ad campaign at Nationwide today with three "I am On Your Side" TV spots. This new campaign replaces "Life Comes at You Fast" and focuses on our associates and how they deliver an On Your Side experience for our customers.

These spots were directed by Academy Award winner Errol Morris and feature Nationwiders Jackie Walker, Robyn Hahn, and Terry Medley.

Check out the videos below and let me know what you think.

My interview with Alex Vorro from Insurance Networking News

2009-04-07T22:24:00.011-04:00

I did an interview a couple of weeks ago with Alex Vorro from INN. He was interested in finding out how insurance companies are using social media, especially Twitter.

I got the print version of the April issue today. You can read the web version here. I've compiled all of the sections I contributed to below:

"Shawn Morton, senior consultant for social media at Nationwide Insurance Co., agrees with Rose, but counters that social networking is by no means replacing any of the traditional channels."

"I've been shocked by how much Twitter has taken off with brands as opposed to other sites that have been around longer," says Shawn Morton, senior consultant for social media at Nationwide Insurance Co. "It has a relatively small user base, but there are hundreds of brands currently participating there. I think it shows there's a commitment to connecting closely, as it's a service about timeliness, relationships, responding and sharing information."

Morton feels that because there's currently so much press about social media, brands that are first to enter the fray get the most attention. He gives the example of H&R Block, which last tax season used Twitter to monitor people discussing their taxes, and would jump in to give advice. While the company was able to benefit a handful of people, the bigger victory was the recognition it gained from the press and industry at large.

"The people who use Twitter tend to be more of the hardcore social media users who talk more about social media, so when they see a brand doing something well, they tend to talk about it," Morton explains."

"The biggest question for insurers is what exactly to do with the mere 140 characters allowed in each Twitter update. Nationwide currently responds when something is posted about them, but are still figuring out what else to do with it. Esurance also is experimenting with the service, trying to refine their audience, and define the proper message."

Read the full article here.

AT&T's new terms outlaw Slingbox & Qik

2009-04-03T15:19:00.005-04:00

AT&T has just changed the terms of use for their data plan to outlaw use of your Slingbox and streaming video tools like Qik. According to Gizmodo, who references Public Knowledge, the new terms state:

"This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, customer initiated redirection of television or other video or audio signals via any technology from a fixed location to a mobile device, web broadcasting, and/or for the operation of servers, telemetry devices and/or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition devices is prohibited."

The only two apps that I use that make a data plan worth paying for are... wait for it... Slingplayer and Qik. So much for my world delivered.

Of course, AT&T will still allow you to receive streaming video that you pay them for. It will be interesting to see how this affects the planned release of Slingplayer for the iPhone (which is an AT&T exclusive).

So does a terms of service change like this give current customers the opportunity to opt out of their contracts? If so, it's time to exit the Deathstar.

[UPDATE:] AT&T has already revised their revised terms of use to remove the language about placeshifting (which would have prohibited Slingbox). The language about "web broadcasting" (which prohibits Qik) is still there.

Nationwide to use Twitter to cover NASCAR events

2009-04-01T14:29:00.012-04:00

Part of my role at Nationwide is to help other teams within the company leverage social media tools. Our first experiment with that was our coverage of the 2009 State of the Black Union back in February where members of our PR team used Blogger, Twitter and Flickr to provide behind-the-scenes access to the people and events surrouding SOBU.

Starting on April 10, we will be using Twitter and Twitpic to provide real-time, behind-the-scenes access to our NASCAR Nationwide Series races.

We will have members of our NASCAR sponsorship team posting updates and capturing photos from the pre-race press conferences, at a driver Easter egg toss, in the garage area and pretty much anywhere else interesting stuff is taking place.

The great thing about having our sponsorship team doing it, rather than someone on my team, is that they are subject matter experts on NASCAR and they have existing relationships with all of the drivers and teams. I am really looking forward to seeing what they're able to capture.

In order to have this Twitter coverage be a little more interactive, we are also working with some key NASCAR bloggers to solicit feedback from their readers as to what they would like to see. So, for example, if someone requests a shot of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car in the garage, our team in Nashville can capture it and post it on Twitter and Twitpic.

For this first Twitter-ed race, we're going to solicit that wish list in advance. Once we get a couple of races under our belt, we will likely try and respond to requests in real-time. For example, we might post that we'll be in the garage area for the next hour and ask NASCAR fans on Twitter what they'd like to see.

I think this could really end up being a nice supplement to all of the other media coverage that fans consume on race weekend. So check out our Nationwide Twitter feed on April 10-11 to see how this plays out.

My one year layoff anniversary

2009-03-26T14:50:00.000-04:00

I was laid off from my job at CNET one year ago today. I had survived more than a half dozen rounds of layoffs during the first dotcom bubble and, honestly, didn't see it coming. I had just returned from an awesome week at SXSWi 2008 and thought I was going to a meeting to discuss our product roadmap (pretty sneaky, huh?). It wasn't until I saw one of our HR staff members from our San Francisco office on the way to that faux meeting that I figured out what was coming.

At the time of the layoff, I considered it a positive thing. After my trip to SXSWi, I realized that I no longer was challenged by my job and that I didn't have the same passion for it as others at SXSWi did about their jobs. Plus, I had been working on a startup in my spare time for the past two years, so I was eager to have more time to dedicate to it.

Fast forward a year and I still consider the layoff a positive event. In fact, I am more grateful for the layoff now than I was a year ago. I was able to take 4 months off to spend time with Amy and the kids. I was able to dedicate time to our startup idea (even though it didn't ultimately pan out). And I was able to move on to a new position leading social media at Nationwide Insurance.

I have had a blast in my new role these first 8 months (read my 6 month recap) and I find myself excited to go to work everyday. I work with a talented team in our interactive marketing department and have been able to work on some great social media projects.

I've also had the opportunity to experience a lot of new things like my first Ohio State game (vs. Michigan, no less), a tour of Ohio Stadium, my first NHL games, my first NASCAR race, my first Rolls Royce ride, my first dinner sitting next to Al Pacino, my first hurricane and Mahlon's first concert.

My only regret is having to leave our friends and my mom in Louisville. I'm hoping to convince all of them to move east. I've already got one of them to meet us halfway.

My Experts in the Industry interview with Aaron Strout

2009-03-26T08:27:00.006-04:00

I was fortunate to connect with Aaron Strout in person at SXSWi this year. I knew of Aaron from his work at both Mzinga and Powered, but we had never met in person. Turns out that the Innovator's Road Trip crew know Aaron, so we ended up at a lot of the same events throughout the week.

While Aaron was giving Jim Storer and me a ride back to the airport, he suggested that I participate in his Experts in the Industry series of interviews. Never one to shy away from a little self-promotion, I agreed.

Before I share the link, I need to explain the picture that Aaron included of me on the interview. Jim and Aaron started a photo meme at SXSWi where they would grab a group of people and ask them to shoot three photos: sad, angry and happy. The photo Aaron included of me is from one of the "happy" photos we took during the Mashable party.

Here is the link to the interview.

Thanks to Aaron for including me with such an impressive group of social media thought leaders and for his hospitality in Austin.

SXSWi 2009 Day 5 recap

2009-03-18T00:22:00.024-04:00

The last day of SXSWi is always bittersweet. On the one hand, you're excited to get home. On the other, you hate to say goodbye to all of the friends and colleagues that you've spent the past 5 days connecting/reconnecting with.

I eased into the day slowly and headed to the Convention Center around 9:30am. I popped into the Blogger Lounge and hung out with Peter Corbett for a bit before getting a demo of an awesome new web service for parents called Lil' Grams. Greg Narain, who built it, had been sporting a Mr. T style mohawk throughout SXSWi, so how could I not check out his app.

Following the demo, Rick Calvert of Blog World Expo, whisked me over to do a live interview about what we're doing with social media at Nationwide.

After the interview, Tim Walker of Hoovers and I went to check out the Building Strong Online Communities featuring Drew Curtis of Fark.com, Erin Kotecki Vest of Blog Her, Ken Fisher of Ars Technica and Alexis Ohanian of reddit.com. Lots of great nuggets of information from the panel; however, Drew Curtis stole the show with his seemingly endless stream of one-liners. The one that got the most respond, including applause, was about anonymous comments. Curtis called them "complete horsesh!t."

Following the session, I headed back to the Blogger Lounge to say my goodbyes. I then went to lunch with Jim Storer, Liz Strauss, Heather Strout, Becky McCray and Keri Pearlson at Maria Maria. Not only was the conversation at lunch great, but Maria Maria's food (the guacamole alone was worth the visit) and decor were really great.

I made one last stop back at the Convention Center to grab some SXSWi swag from the merch table. From there, I connected with Aaron Strout who offered to take Jim Storer and me to the airport.

As with last year's SXSWi, the festival doesn't end until you leave AUS. I ran into Marty Wetherall from FanChatter in the security line. We had met during the Frog Design party on Saturday night. I then ran into Dave Durand, Bill Johnston and Chad Crowell while waiting to board my flight.

On the flight from Austin to Chicago, I sat next to the editor of Parenting.com and was able to share my experience with Lil Grams. Hopefully, she can give that some exposure.

Also captured this video of Austin from about 20K feet.

Ended up getting home from the airport just before midnight. I'm wiped out and exhausted, but can't wait until next year.

SXSWi 2009 Day 4 recap

2009-03-17T10:58:00.027-04:00

Day 4 at SXSWi 2009 started with the Beyond Aggregation panel with Marshall Kirkpatrick, Gabe Rivera, Louis Gray, Melanie Baker and Micah Baldwin. Was able to get there early and get a seat in the front row with Tamar Weinberg. Session ended up completely packed by the time things kicked off. Each panelist had a slightly different motivation for being better information gatherers, so they ended up presenting a broad set of tips. Marshall's method of finding new bloggers to follow was really interesting.

Spent the rest of the morning in the Blogger Lounge uploading photos and videos and reconnecting with the usual cast of characters.

Ended up having lunch on the back patio at Moonshine with Jason Falls, Jim Storer, Bill Johnston, John Johanson, Kevin Frey, Dave Delaney, Rebecca Corliss and Todd Earwood. Had the awesome Chicken Fried Steak. Highly recommended.

One of the highlights of the day was getting Julia Allison to shoot a quick video for a co-worker. He is a huge fan and had asked me to try and get a photo. I ended up getting an awesome 30 second video. Julia was super nice and nailed the video in one take without any preparation.

I attended the Engagement 1.0 session which included MIT's Henry Jenkins. It looked at fandom throughout history and demonstrated how people connect with the media that they love. Really put things like Facebook fan pages in a larger, more interesting context. Sat with Josh Guttmann from Sphere for this session.

When Sam Met Frodo was one example of fan fiction that drastically changes the original premise.

Day ended with dinner with Todd Earwood and Kevin Frey, then hanging out at the Mashable party at Six Lounge before finishing up the night at the Austin Ventures party at Unlisted.

SXSWi 2009 Day 3 recap

2009-03-15T20:42:00.028-04:00

Started off day 3 at SXSWi with a cup of coffee from Starbucks. On the way through the hotel lobby, I spotted Jason Falls, Matt Stewart and Micah Baldwin and decided to crash their breakfast.

Eventually Falls and I made it over to the Blogger Lounge where we ran into Bill Johnston, Dave Peck and Rick Calvert. Rick and I decided to liven things up with a little early morning Rock Band. He played guitar and I sat in on drums. Ended up cranking through 3 or 4 songs and giving the room a taste of what would come later.

At 11:30, Todd Earwood and I went over to the Hilton for a session with Bazaarvoice CMO Sam Decker. On the way over, we walked right past Julia Allison who I am supposed to get a photo of for a co-worker. Didn't have my camera ready, though.

After the session, we headed back to the Blogger Lounge to coordinate a lunch posse. On the way, we ran into Jake McKee who blames me for his netbook envy.

We ended up taking a group of 12, including Bill Johnston, Nick Huhn, Chris Claxton, Chad Crowell, Todd Earwood, Rob May and Dave Durand, over to P.F. Chang's for lunch. I was finally able to meet Sean of Ping.fm. Love their service (except when I make mistakes).

After a tasty lunch, I headed back over to the Blogger Lounge. I snagged a seat next to Jeff Pulver who recruited me for some more Rock Band. Never one to disappoint a crowd, I agreed. After warming up with a couple of songs (with my on drums and Jeff on guitar), we enlisted Jason Falls to take on vocals. We ended up leading a raucous sing-a-long version of "Livin' on a Prayer" with the packed crowd in the Lounge. Really fun(ny) stuff.

Next, I headed to the Community Management session hosted by Heather Champ from Flickr. Ended up sitting with Bill Johnston, Sean O'Driscoll and Dustin Johnson.

Afterward, I joined Jason Falls and a group for a dinner at Stubb's. That ended up being a huge mistake as the food was mediocre and the service was absolutely terrible. Waitress vanished for half an hour and then I overheard manager complaining about our table because we gave her feedback on the service. Will definitely not go there again.

Following dinner, I went back to the hotel to recharge my phone (and myself) before heading out to the Social Media Club event at Buffalo Billiards.

The SMC party was a great event. Lots of room to spread out and network. Seems like everyone in social media was there including Chris Heuer, Kristie Wells, Jeremiah Owyang, Robert Scoble, Scott Monty, Jason Falls, Marcel Lebrun, Richard Mcinnis, Jim Storer, Aaron Strout and Micah Baldwin.

Dynasty!

Ended up pairing up with Todd Earwood to play some pool. We quickly became a self-proclaimed dynasty after repeatedly pummeling Jim Storer and Aaron Strout. We were so good that we didn't even need to make any shots ourselves. We just allowed the other teams to make all of their shots and then scratch on the 8 ball. Genius!

After we closed down the SMC party, we headed to the Tumblr event where Gary Vaynerchuk was supposed to be going to have an impromptu wine party. As soon as we walked in, I bumped into Andrew Mager who I worked with at CNET, but had never met in person (he is in SF, I was in Louisville).

The wine party ended up getting moved across the street to Rain where complete chaos ensued. Wine and wristbands were being passed through the packed crowd. Some of the people we ran into were Pete Cashmore, Baratunde Thurston, Robert Scoble, Daniel Ha and Jim Louderback. I took a ton of photos from that event.

We ended the night by leaving with Gary Vaynerchuk and a group of about 10 people. Tried to get into the Pure Volume event, but were turned away. Since it was ridiculously late at that point, I ended up heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.

SXSWi 2009 Day 2 recap

2009-03-15T09:02:00.022-04:00

Day two began at the TechSet/Windows Mobile Blogger Lounge on the 3rd floor of the Austin Convention Center. As with last year's AMD Blogger Lounge, there are tons of great people who come through throughout the day, so the key is to get there early and snag a seat at one of the handful of large tables.

I met Jason Falls there as they opened the doors at 9:30am. Geoff Livingston and Rick Calvert, CEO of Blog World Expo, were there as well.

Over the course of the next couple of hours, it was a who's who of the social media space with the team from Radian6 (Marcel Lebrun, David Alston, Richard Mcinnis and Amber Naslund), Jeff Pulver, Brian Solis, Jim Storer, Jeremiah Owyang, Bill Johnston, Brian Link, Eric Marcoullier, Chris Heuer, Kristie Wells, Ewan Spence, Joanna Geary, Liz Strauss, etc.

After having breakfast and several cups of coffee there, I headed to Dave Morin's Facebook session. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the room, there was a line of about 35 people gather outside the door who couldn't get in.

So I headed back to the Blogger Lounge to continue the conversations that got started earlier in the morning. One highlight was getting a Maple Bacon Lollipop from foodzie. Another was hearing Jeff Pulver, who is an investor in Twitter, share some of his ideas for the service with Brian Link, former head technologist at Digg.com, and Amber Naslund.

Later, we organized a lunch with Amber and most of the Louisville attendees at Rio Grande. Ended up with me, Jason, Amber, Chris Claxton, Rob May, Todd Earwood, Kevin Frey, Matt Winn, Jesse Harris, Nick Huhn, Dave Durand and Brendan Jackson. I opted for the mahi mahi tacos. Not quite as good as the beef brisket tacos from the day before, but it was still really good.

Lunch at Rio Grande

Headed back to the Convention Center for Zappos' CEO Tony Hseih's keynote on company culture and customer satisfaction. He had some really good insights on how Zappos approached both of those topics.

Following the Zappos keynote, we heard Charlene Li, former Forrester researcher and author of "Groundswell," talk about the future of social networks. Her theme was that "social networks will be like air" and that every website will be able to leverage data about your identity, your contacts and your activities in a much more meaningful way than they do today.

After Charlene's session, I returned to the Blogger Lounge and connected with Louis Gray and Mark Krynsky in person for the first time. I had talked with them quite a bit over the past couple of years as we were working on Profilactic. Louis and Mark have both covered the lifestreaming space extensively, so it was nice to connect with them. Also, talked to Tamar Weinberg briefly and gave her more grief about labeling me "Shawn Hogan" in one of her photos from SXSWi 2008.

Other tech "celebrities" spotted outside the Blogger Lounge area were Kevin Rose, Guy Kawasaki, Tony Tseih.

Eventually, I reconnected with Todd Earwood, Matt Winn and Rob May in the lobby of the Convention Center and we headed across the street to Fogo de Chao for dinner. There, we had an absolutely amazing meal and I made the ultimate social media typo of the week.

Following dinner, I headed out to the Frog Design party at the Mexican American Cultural Center with Rob May, Nick Huhn, Chris Claxton and Dave Durand. Wasn't quite as lively as last year's event. Also didn't see as many people that we knew as we did last year. Did see Ewan Spence and Joanna Geary before connecting with Bill Johnston, Adam Cohen, Dave Peck, Jim Storer and Aaron Strout.

After about an hour, we hopped a couple of bike taxis back to the Convention Center. From there, we headed to the Belmont Lounge for the Toobla party that Brian Link had invited us to. Not quite as nuts as the TechSet party there the previous night, so it was easier to have conversations.

That ended up being my last stop for the night. I need at least 5 hours of beauty sleep, so I headed back to the hotel around 1:30am. Overall, another good at SXSWi.

More of my photos and video from SXSWi 2009 on Flickr

Proofreading is fundamental

2009-03-15T08:41:00.005-04:00

When I was growing up (way back) in the 1970s, there were a series of public service announcments for RIF, Reading is Fundamental. Now, with so many mobile social media apps that can push content to multiple places at once, like Ping.fm, I am going to do this impromptu public service announcement for proofreading.

Last night while at the amazing Brazilian restaurant Fogo de Chao, I typed, "Meat orgy at Fogo de Chao. Amazing!" Anyone who has gone to Fogo knows what I am talking about.

Unfortunately, my Blackberry autocorrected my post to say, "Men orgy at Fogo de Chao. Amazing!" Completely different meaning, obviously. That post went out to almost 1,200 people on Twitter, 300+ people on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and a couple of other networks that I have connected to Ping.fm. The best part was that I didn't notice it for almost 45 minutes.

All of the guys at dinner with me (Rob May, Todd Earwood, Kevin Frey and Dave Durand) had a huge laugh about it. They were also nice enough to share it with our waiter who mentioned it later. It also came up at several other parties as we connected with friends who had seen it.

So next time you're at a meat orgy, doublecheck your spelling.

SXSWi 2009 Day 1 recap

2009-03-14T07:41:00.024-04:00

Friday was my travel day as well as the first day of the festival. I left my house at 5AM EST with plans to arrive in a Austin around 10AM. Delays in Dallas cost us 2 hours; however, I was able to meet up with Louisville friends Todd Earwood, Kevin Frey and Dave Durand who were connecting to Austin through the same flight.

Kevin Frey, Todd Earwood and Dave Durand at Gate A24 in Dallas

We arrived in Austin at noon to find it cold (40 degrees) and pouring rain. Our plans to catch up with Brendan Jackson, Nick Huhn and Jason Falls for lunch fell through, so we grabbed a cab for the Convention Center.

Because the line to claim our SXSWi badges was too long, we decided to split up for a bit to get checked into our hotels.

I ended up meeting back with Dave Durand just as he was about to go up to get his badge. He had been waiting in line for 45 minutes, but was kind enough to let me in line with him. In the process of getting our badge, we ran into Baratunde Thurston and Peter Corbett.

We decided to grab lunch next, so we reconnect with Kevin Frey and Todd Earwood at the Rio Grande. I was disappointed in the three for not knowing it was the same place they used for the house on The Real World Austin, however, I was not disappointed in the beef brisket tacos I had. Really tasty.

Beef brisket tacos from the Rio Grande

After lunch, we returned to the Convention Center so that Todd and Kevin could get their badges. In the mean time, Dave and I got in line to get our tote bag o' swag. We ran into Nick Huhn who decided to join our group. Also bumped into Joanna Geary who I met last year.

Around 3:30pm, Todd, Kevin, Dave, Nick and I headed across the street for the SXSW Tweetup at Champions. Ran into a ton of people we knew including Micah Baldwin from Lijit, Dave Alston, Rich Mcinnis and Marcel Lebrun from Radian6, Jason Falls, Dave Delaney, Jeremy Wright, Krista Neher, Brendan Jackson, Jesse Harris, Chris Claxton and Rob May.

Also met some new people including Drew Olanoff, Dean Hudson from Sub Pop Records and Richard from Dell.

At about 6:30pm, a larger group of us headed for Mix at Six. Last year, the long was so long that we ended up skipping it to make our own party. This year, there were only about 15 people ahead of us, so we waited it out in the cold drizzle.

Once inside, we immediately bumped into old friend Bill Johnston and Dave Peck.

After a couple of drinks, we all decided to migrate to the TechSet/Windows Mobile party at the Belmont Lounge at 8pm. We ended up getting there a few minutes early and ended up the first in line. By the time they opened the doors 10 minutes later, there was a huge line of people queued up behind us.

TechSet was the big event for the night. Hundreds of people packed the rooftop patio including Adam Cohen from Rosetta, the Radian6 guys, Jason Falls, Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Heuer, Brian Solis, Julia Roy, Matt Winn, Chris Pearson, Liz Strauss, Charlie O'Donnell, Jackie Huba, Tim Walker and virtually everyone we had met or hung out with previously that day.

A small group of us left TechSet and headed down to 6th Street. The plan was to catch the rest of the Pasties & Pastries event at Emo's, but the line was still down the block at 10:30pm. Instead, we grabbed a bratwurst from a street vendor, had one more drink at a random dive on 6th and called it a night.

Photos and video from Day 1 are on Flickr.

Quick & dirty Skittles.com HTML demo

2009-03-06T17:40:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post about Skittles.com, I was able to make a working demo in about 10 minutes using all Web 1.0 techniques: iframes, z-index and absolute positioning.

I used some of our Nationwide social media links to replicate the content Skittles includes on their site. I decided to link to our Nationwide Twitter page rather than a Twitter search result, though.

Click here to see a low-fi, graphic-free demo

My take on Skittles.com

2009-03-06T14:35:00.011-05:00

If you've been on Twitter over the past week, you've seen the uproar that Skittles caused with its new website. They've replaced almost all of their website's content with iframed links to social media sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Linking directly to a Twitter search result aside, I think what Skittles did makes a lot of sense. Why does Skittles need to design, build and maintain a website when they can put the content on (or pull the content from) the place where lots of people already go for that type of content. For example, will more people see their videos on Skittles.com or on YouTube? If the answer is YouTube, then why duplicate the effort on .com (please don't use SEO as the reason they should, BTW)?

And for those who claim it isn't social media because they aren't engaging, I didn't see Skittles claim that this was a social media project or campaign (of course, I didn't look, so I may be completely wrong here). It's their website. They just happen to be leveraging social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia to maintain and host it.

There are a lot of other brands that could benefit from this approach. Social media analysts like Jeremiah Owyang have been saying for years that the corporate website is irrelevant and that Google is your homepage. Surprised to see some many people call this crazy.

I love the approach, especially when you realize how simple it was to build. The day after the site launched, I whipped up a working Nationwide version in less than 15 minutes (minus the snazzy design of the faux widget).