Be interesting or be ready to pay, big time.

It’s what all businesses covet, the referral from a friend, positive word of mouth, the “this band is so AWESOME you have to listen to it” kind of media. We the people are the media that increasingly matters most valuable to businesses.

No amount of money is guaranteed to win us over. Not even $10 Million dollars (erghhmn GM)

To activate “we the media”, your organization has to be built to do so. Built to be interesting, to create Social Objects worthy of our time, of our “share” capital.

Threadless, Pebble, Amanda Palmer, these “businesses’ have hit on something. They’re doing interesting.

If you can’t do interesting, you’re going to have to pay the “Boring Tax”. Sponsored posts, paid placements, $10 million dollars on Facebook ads.

When $10 million doesn’t overcome the boring tax, what makes you think your business can do it?

Be interesting or be ready to pay, big time.

Seems to be the way the world is going, and I for one welcome our new interesting overlords.

From 1 billion to 7 billion in two hundred years.

Look out criminals, that sexy bad boy style of yours may be your down fall, the police have an app for….umm … capturing that.

I take wary pleasure in introducing you to MORRIS.

Near Instant Biometric Identification, there’s an app for that

Touted as Smarter and safer, First in the world and significant, MORRIS is an iPhone app that brings multiple biometric identification options to a police officers pocket.

Officers will have access to Facial, Iris and Fingerprint recognition tools that tie in with multiple Department of Justice information sources. They claim to have

Morris provides mobile and wireless biometric identification capabilities and  access criminal justice data from virtually anywhere anytime in a a matter of seconds

MORRIS the BioMetric Id System for Iphones.

Photo Credit: nolifebeforecoffee♡ on Flickr.

I want one, in my house.

@reallyvirtual inadvertently live tweeted history.

Live Tweets of US Raid and Osama Bin Laden’s Death

As the world gets used to the idea that Osama Bin Laden is dead, we’re also getting used to the way such news travels. @reallyvirtual, an “An IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops” inadvertently live tweeted the US raid on Bin Laden.

I’ve captured some for eternity below, but feel free to connect with @reallyvirtual for more on the story.

Via @reallyvirtual in Abbottabad, Pakistan

Photo Cred: greencolander on flickr.

Admit it, you’ve always wanted to make beer in your closet

Who hasn’t! Well now it’s within reach, if you have $5,000 to spare ( a heck of a lot cheaper than buying your own beer company )

From the inventors:

The WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery is the miracle that beer drinkers have been praying for. After 5000 years of brewing, the technology finally exists to allow you to brew the perfect beer. Your Personal Brewery is a breakthrough created by our brewmasters through a combination of their deep love of beer and their extensive knowledge of brewing.

Read more about their Brewing Methods, this ain’t your average home brew.

Who’s in for a Closet Beer Co-op?

Paws to the Wall!

Too many people and companies still approach Social Media like these cats do a treadmill.

They can wack it with their paws as much as they want, but the only way to figure a treadmill out, is to hop on and start running.

Luckily for Business, it hurts a heck of a lot less to “fall” testing out a new social tool, than it does a Treadmill. Just ask this guy.

I’m not, you might be, but given that this blog has limited readership outside of the english speaking world, I doubt it.

Beyond the beautiful use of motion graphics, it’s the data that really makes this video interesting. Have a watch, let me know if you were surpised by any of the info.

A quick look back at the History of Gouging in Canada, coutesy of Rick Mercer.

My favorite part:

Rick: “We’ve overturned that (referring to UBB)”

Boss: “And Polar Bears make good dancing partners, would you believe that too?”

I wouldn’t. Check out what the team at OpenMedia.ca are doing to keep access to the internet fair for Canadians.

Hat tip to Vancouver’s @jason_baker of Digicate .

(via Ambuj Saxena)

I just need to vent for a second … sort of

Profile me?

Have you noticed the proliferation of business etc signing up on to Facebook to interact with the community as a Profile, rather than as a Page? In fact, I have watched many businesses that now have both a Page and a Profile, but use their business Profile as their main point of interaction. Business ‘Profile’? I thought this was against the Facebook rules? Or, at least it used to be. But, there is a reason they do this, and a reason I am jealous of them for doing it; a Profile allows its’ administrator(you) to interact with the Facebook Community in ways a Page does not.

Upgrade the Overhaul

Last week, Facebook made available their most recent Upgrade for Pages, and it is a reasonable overhaul. It allows me to do small things that I like, such as, comment on my Page as myself, rather than only as my Page. Sometimes you might want to write an opinion that is your own, but not necessarily carried by your brand, for example. On the other hand, I can also browse my Facebook world as my Page, commenting on other Pages as my Page. So, enabling businesses, for example, to talk back and forth on each others’ Pages. These are both good additions. Another upgrade was allowing me to post a picture to my Profile, and then tag one of my Pages in it, so that it also appears on my Page. Useful too I suppose. Saves some time in some situations.

So, these upgrades allow me to interact with my Page, and help my Page interact with the greater Facebook Community. And, that’s great. But, I already interact with my Page. What I  REALLY want is for my fans/the Facebook Community to be able to more easily interact with my Page. After all, that is the point of having one in most cases, isn’t it? What am I talking about?

#1 thing I want Facebook to enable for Pages

Here is the situation that bugs me the most, as an example. When you want to post a picture to my Profile, it is pretty simple. Jump into your Profile > Photos > Upload(paraphrased). Pretty basic stuff. And, everyone understands, and is used to doing this.

The number one thing, the #1 thing I want Facebook to enable our fans to tag a picture with ‘The Drink Toque’, for example, and have it appear in the Page’s photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If they allow me to do this from my personal Page, then I imagine that when someone views that tagged photo via my Page, that they can’t look at all my Profile photos subsequently. But, maybe they can? … So, the privacy concerns are, I suppose, trying to limit the business’ opportunity to troll your personal pictures … But, if I can tag from my personal Profile to appear on my Page(s), then it could be done from every one of my Fan’s Profiles as well. Furthermore, when a personal friend of mine is tagged in someone’s Photo Album, I see that in my personal feed, and can already link to that Photo Album, and be suddenly lurking around a Photo Album of someone I do not know. So, this situation doesn’t seem to be a problem out there in the general Community. And, you can set your privacy settings to avoid it.

Tag, you’re it Facebook

Making it easier to interact with Pages is a good thing as far as I am concerned. Especially in the example above. Meanwhile, there are many businesses adopting a Profile to get around this, skirting the rules of Facebook as far as I know. Allowing my Page greater tools to interact with the greater Community is great; allowing the greater Community to more easily interact and support their favourite Pages still has room to grow! (or should I just make the Page a Profile?)

What is the #1 thing you want Facebook to enable for your Page?