I Can't Keep Up...social media for busy people.

We have moved!

2009-03-31T10:19:00.002-06:00

Check out the new Rudy Media Blog here.

Denver turns 150 Saturday - celebrate with BUCKFIFTY.ORG (get it?)

2008-11-20T17:38:00.003-07:00

Just when you thought Denver's 150th was going to wind down with the cake-fest on Saturday, the party will carry on in the form of an engaging online project BUCKFIFTY.ORG. The brains behind the project are craftily trying to maintain anonymity, but I can tell you the founding team includes artists, an editor, a design guru and no one named Joe, but they are trying to find one.

BUCKFIFTY.ORG is an online forum for Denverites and those who love Denver (Denverphiles?) to share their passion. Submissions include: art, video, writing, images and anything else that can be wrangled into an electronic format. Submission guidelines are pretty generous:

At buckfifty.org, we want a wide range of content for our site. We’re not placing restrictions on topics; as long as it has something to do with Denver or the Denver area, it can be about people, places, your experience, history, art, politics, or whatever interests you. What we are looking for is some sort of point of view, and hopefully some sort of hook that will make it interesting to read, or look at, listen to, or watch.

(Note the superb use of the semi-colon. Don't see that anymore!) The goal is 150 posts in the next six months- about five new submissions a week. Just because you send something in, doesn't mean you'll make the cut - uninspired leftovers from a college essay are not going to make the grade. So what've you got? I can think of a lot of folks who should contribute and you should too! Better yet, pass the buck and get your neighbor to contribute. More details are available here.

Don't miss out on the great Anniversary events this weekend!

It's Hockey Season!

2008-11-09T01:39:00.001-07:00

In celebration of #1 Colorado College Tiger Hockey, Snoopy will be entertaining us for today's Sunday Funnies.

A Change Will Do You Good: Change.Gov

2008-11-06T14:36:00.001-07:00

In keeping with a far-reaching online campaign, President-Elect Barack Obama's team hasn't skipped a beat and launched Change.Gov, the official site of the Office of the President-Elect. It's not a place holder. The web site has everything a good website has to offer: content, interactive features and an easy-to-use design.

I just have to say I expect big things from President-Elect Obama and how using social media will evolve the relationship between Americans and their President. The president's weekly radio addresses can now be downloadable podcasts, press conferences can be streamed live, foreign policy junkies can follow negotiations via twitter, the new First Dog can have its own web page (actually, that already exists. See Barney.) and we can all attend online events through Facebook. Pretty soon it's going to be hard for constituents to not be engaged in important legislative actions. This is what Obama's campaign was all about- change in the form of building community online and off.

Let's take a look at how the transition web site is going to facilitate more community building:

Content
What do you want to know? Joe's bio- check. Issues Agenda - check. Acceptance speech embedded video - check. Blog - check. Can you imagine a potential blog name, "The First Blogger"?

One thing I noticed is that some content is replicated across pages- the blog and newsroom are currently one in the same. And, while most pages currently have content, the press room does not yet have information posted for reporters.

Interactive Features

Watch the speech, sign up for updates and apply for a job. Apply for a job? Yep, there is an Expression of Interest form, fill it out and later you'll get an email with a more complete form to fill out. Not to sound like a skeptic, but we need to wait and see if this is window dressing.

And there's a page where every American can tell their story. The government is clearly going to need to expand server capacity... My favorite feature? The little line at the top left that has a countdown: 75 days until inauguration.

Usability

While it lacks the graphic splash of the campaign web site, we'll cut them some slack here they got this up in 24 hours, it is very easy for users to navigate.The toolbar across the top is easy to understand, the drop down menus are helpful and, repeat here, thanks to a large-enough font size, I do not have to worry about going blind while reading the content.

What's missing?
Not a whole lot, but to be fair let's serve up a little feedback here- comments features are not yet enabled on the blog and, as well all know, it's not a blog if you don't allow comments. Well cut The First Blogger a break by recognizing that it would take a small corps of online community managers to manage the flood of comments he would received on a daily basis.

We know it's early, but Mr. O. was a prolific twitter (followed 124K+, followers 120K+) and text user during the campaign, we still do not see that capability yet. How fun would it be to get messages like "@rahmmie ordered the fries again. I am so tired of PBR." Important stuff like that to keep us filled in on the transition...

And when will the Facebook page be up? Step it up pal! ;-)

I'll follow the site and keep you posted. In the meantime, in case you want to watch it again, here is "The Speech.

Happy Thursday!
-I Can't Keep Up

Children of the '80s: You Want Your MTV

2008-10-31T10:14:00.004-06:00

OK, I am resisting the urge to publish a list of Hallowe'en online goodies here. For your Friday "goof-off" however, I am providing something else. Remember the thrill of getting cable TV in the '80s? And watching "All news. All the time" wasn't it. I have fond memories of remaining slumped on the couch, eating cookies and watching video after video on MTV.

Today's kids apparently think that MTV is "The Man." We know better and here is living proof: MTV Music. The site allows you to create a profile, view and list your favorite videos, build a friends list, etc. Some goodies are missing though. While album title, studio and genre are listed for each track, there is no release date noted. I am sure junkies will find even more stats missing. And why is Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up the second most viewed video? Also missing are the ability to create playlists, a help page and a blog keeping users informed as to the site's development. It's a good start though and enough to get people hooked.

Video Killed the Radio Star, Like a Virgin, Love Shack, Money for Nothing, and Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) are all there to take thirty and forty-somethings down memory lane. It was nearly impossible to stop creating this list! I have to add though that there seem to be some notable exceptions to the collection: the band Men at Work, Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian." Sigh.

It was tough to pick one video to post! I am going with Peter Gabriel.

Peter Gabriel |MTV Music

Happy Hallowe'en

-I Can't Keep UP

word gets around: the math

2008-10-30T14:09:00.000-06:00

In my last post, I talked about how to use social media in tight times. And, as luck would have it, someone helped spread my blog post through word of mouth online. In honor of the Society of Word of Mouth's conference today, SWOMfest, I am going to break it down for you by the numbers. (And, if you want to participate in the conference, you can watch it live on the SWOMfest website.)

What is Word of Mouth? (WOM) Storytelling- others passing on the stories of their direct or indirect interactions with a person, place or thing. Their stories can be flat, positive or negative- or a combination of the three. This morning's SWOMfest speakers Haley Rushing and Yaphet Smith talked about purpose, passion and how both drive your storytelling to create word of mouth. And, Haley pointed out - if you aren't out there telling your story, somebody else will be.

Today I am going to skip the content piece and just talk about how quickly word of mouth can travel online, by looking at the numbers. Keep in mind- content is important too, but we'll get to that later. This post is about showing how far something travels and how that happens.

My audience, including friends & followers on my blog, twitter, facebook, plurk, StumbleUpon, email subscriptions and online communities I belong to, is at 3,600+.

The key person who "Stumbled" my post, Te-ge Bramhall, has about 640 "subscribers" on StumbleUpon. She "stumbled" my post- which means she gave it a thumbs up and reviewed it on that website. When she did that all of her subscribers were notified that she stumbled it. A number of them and their friends- well over a thousand folks- visited my site. A few of them stumbled it too, but a lot of them signed up to be subscribers which is even better.

Then, after posting my gratitude to Teeg on Plurk, Mack Collier of The Viral Garden, also mentioned it on twitter. He has over 2,000 followers and about 100 of them checked out my site. One of his followers, @dayngr, "Re-Tweeted" his message and about 150 of her 2,000+ followers also visited my site.

So let's add this up. At a minimum, 8,240 people received word about my post. About 2,700 people visited my site 24 hours after I posted. I received almost 200 new email subscribers and about 200 new RSS subscribers. From a percentage standpoint that's pretty extraordinary. And most of it was because my friend Teeg thought it was a pretty good post and spread the word about it via online WOM. Thanks Teeg!

To check out the bios of Haley Rushing and Yaphet Smith, go to the SWOMfest website and click on their names. Also, @dayngr has a cool blog Honor, Duty, eMail in support of our troops! Check it out and send them some love via eMail.

One more thing. How do I know all this? I use Sitemeter to track all the traffic to my blog. One of the statistics it keeps is what website referred the visitor to your site. I was able to count all the visitors from each of these sites and any others that sent traffic to my blog- including Mack Collier's and @dayngr's referrals from their twitter pages. Pretty neat, huh?

Another spectacular day in Denver. How's yours?
-I Can't Keep Up

using social media in a tough economy

2008-10-27T16:11:00.013-06:00

Don't let the economy rain on your parade. Even if your budget is tight, there are great ways to use social media that cost very little and help build your community at the same time. All the efforts I list below help build word of mouth recognition for you and your organization. Word of mouth in the social media world expands and enhances non-cyber-world communication.

Use LinkedIn to reach out
Update your contacts in LinkedIn and go through them- who haven't you talked to in a while and who has updated their profile? Have you updated your profile and your company's? Making sure your info is correct helps people find you when searching for services. And don't rely on people finding you- search LinkedIn for professionals that you may share common interests with, answer questions to increase your visibility, join groups and share information.

More importantly - make sure your employees are doing the same.

Build your team with facebook
Build/update your profile on facebook. I spoke with a friend the other day who told me her staff, located all over the country, are now using facebook to build their team relationships. What they realized in the process is that their clients and business partners are finding them on facebook as well. She's the kind of person who knows her staff, no matter what their capacity, are the best ambassadors for their company. To help promote the use of facebook, she paid for everyone to have fun headshots taken to use as their profile photo, created a company group- branded with their logo, of course, and made sure they felt comfortable with facebook time during the workday.

Maximize twitter
Are you using twitter? Now that major news organizations are incorporating twitter into their broadcasts, people are using it in place of text messaging and major corporations are using it for customer service, twitter is taking hold in the mainstream. Set up an account and learn how to use it. Once you get that down, start searching it to listen and see what folks are saying about your organization and industry. And, as above, help your staff do the same.

Word of mouth outreach can't be underestimated. Think about the last time you heard great things about a restaurant from a friend and then decided to check it out, or about the time someone complained about the bad service they got at a restaurant. Online, these kinds of word of mouth conversations travel a little faster and a little farther- get out front and maximize your opportunities now, so you are not just putting out fires, but building business!

Make sure your electronic contact info is everywhere it should be
Recently I received a membership mailing from a museum- there was no web address or email contact on the enclosed letter, membership card, envelope, or the large, obviously expensively produced, poster enclosed. What a missed opportunity? Your email and web address should be on your business cards, letterhead, collateral materials, promotional gifts and in the signature of your email. That seems like a no-brainer, but I would put it up there with forgetting business cards for a networking event and thinking, "People no where to find me, I will just email them when I get back." Well, not having the card misses an opportunity to remind them of you and ditto for not providing electronic contact info.

What are you doing with social media to be a world-beater?

Enjoy the autumn colors!
-I Can't Keep Up

Trends: Celebrities' Videos for Community Building

2008-10-27T14:09:00.002-06:00

Last week I wanted to pass a hilarious, educational video on to a friend, but it was embedded into that organization's website with no way to pass it on. Guess what? My friends missed out on this great, funny skit because it wasn't sharable. And, that organization missed out on a chance to share their message with the 125 people on my video list. Ouch! What if they passed it on, and on, and on? Some celebs recognize that they can use their influence to build community and spread the love.

We are all getting used to celebrity vanity videos from folks like Paris. Other celebs are banking on their celebrity to help spread the word about a cause, or to provide a forum for laughter. As tempting as it might be to make a buck by charging for their work, these stars have put their videos in a format that is easily shared. They understand the power of making their videos sharable, helps spread their message and increase their influence. Old rule

Queen Rania of Jordan has set up her own YouTube Channel to foster cultural understanding through educating others about the Arab world. In a year she has developed almost 9500 fans, over 400,000 people have visited her channel and views of her videos range from tens of thousands to over a million. This summer she asked people to submit their stereotypes about the Arab world which she would respond to through video. This is her call to action.

Spreading the word through laughter
Funny or Die, Will Ferrell's latest venture gives aspiring humorists and celebrities a shot at the cyber-meritocracy. Watch comedians throw their best at you and vote- funny or die. While most of the videos aren't cause oriented, Ron Howard, Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler take us back to get out the vote. I am sure it was painful for them to reprise their roles, but they do so without leaving a "jump-the-shark" taste in our mouths.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

How does your organization use video? Do your viewers get to share the love and pass them on?

Happy Monday!

-I Can't Keep Up

Something for a Friday Afternoon: judgeby

2008-10-24T15:22:00.001-06:00

You know you've done it, well now you can apply your StumbleUpon habit to book covers. We've all judged a book by its cover- and judgeby lets you formalize that urge.

Judgeby asks you to rate a book by its cover. Click on the stars to add your rating.

Once you do, you can see how Amazon readers rated the book.

Something light for a Friday.

Happy weekend!
-I Can't Keep Up

Follow Top Videos with TrendHunter TV

2008-10-20T09:02:00.001-06:00

TrendHunter has always been a great source of info about what's happening on the web. Officially launching on October 26, TrendHunter TV will now do the same- following viral video. The fledgling channel follow's the top viral videos, not the top videos with class and taste. Be prepared for that. As TH points out, some of these videos would never make it onto TV. That's the beauty of the internet, for better, or worse ;-)

While I didn't enjoy watching some of the videos, I can say that there is value in learning what's hot online. Spoofs and spoofs of spoofs show trends. Feist's video of 1234, not only propelled her to fame and fortune - it led to the greatest success of all - a gig signing the song on Sesame Street. Over one million people have viewed Feist counting with Elmo and company. Does it get any better than that?

Blog Action Day 2008: Do your part to end poverty.

2008-10-15T01:49:00.015-06:00

Today bloggers from around the world - about 9,458 sites with a reach of over 10,000,000 people - are participating to raise awareness about global poverty. Are we asking you to lead the charge? Quit your job and join the Peace Corps? Give up all your worldly possessions and donate the proceeds? No. (But you know you'd get a big star, or two, by your name if you did!)

A simple act like donating a goat for a family can have an extraordinary impact. It did for Beatrice, a Ugandan student at a US college, who was profiled by 60 minutes in 2005. Her family received the gift of goat and was able to sell the milk to make money, then able to send their children to school. Beatrice then won a scholarship to a high school in Kampala, Uganda's capital and it gets even better from there.

We are all a little overwhelmed with the financial situation at home and abroad, but, if you are reading this, you are probably a lot better off than a lot of other folks. Take a few minutes today to make an impact!

* Spend some time learning about global poverty at One.
* Organize friends and family to start a Kiva micro-finance project.
* Buy a heifer, pig, and/or goat to help feed a family at Heifer International
* Support the efforts of Dr. Paul Farmer and his team at Partners In Health

You don't even have to spend a dime- forward the link to this blog to your friends and family. And direct action to eliminate poverty works. In this video of his TED presentation, Dr. Hans Rosling shows how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty.

Take a shot at it! It's really pretty simple.

And if I didn't persuade you, Amber Naslund will in her Blog Action Day post. Beth Harte at The Harte of Marketing has a great post about helping women fight poverty close to home.

Mile High Social Media Club

2008-10-14T12:04:00.001-06:00

Finally! We have a social media professional group on the Front Range - Mile High Social Media Club. Our next meeting is October 21.

Here are the deets:

What's so great about Magnolia, Delicious and Digg? Why should I care about Furl? Come join us for a terrific panel on using social bookmarking and social news sites. We've got an expert panel lined up:

-> Brett Borders, of CopyBrighter Marketing
-> Jason Cormier, of Room 214 and Capture the Conversation

Both of them have experience using these tools to help clients get out their message.

Plus, we'll have great fun networking and meeting each other afterwards, so don't miss it!

Note: The learning portion will start at 6:00pm SHARP so don't be late!

When: Tuesday, October 21; 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Where: Forest Room 5, 2532 15th Street, Denver. Check out the map.

Don't let the name fool you, "Club" is not of the Mickey Mouse order (apologies to Mickey & the gang.). SMC is a national organization forming as we speak. This is a great time to get involved. If you need more info, or, would like to be a sponsor. Leave me a comment and I will be in touch!

Google in 20 years.

2008-10-12T10:10:00.000-06:00

Big Blue

2008-10-06T15:58:00.000-06:00

Let's end today with something upbeat. This morning, a friend sent me a link announcing Yann Arthus-Bertrand's show Earth from Above which will open in New York next May. Arthus-Bertrand's work gives us perspective and hope, not only in the beauty of his work, but just in the fact that someone is out their capturing all this for us. The Boston.com post shows 38 of the photographer's stunning images. There is so much to worry about these days, Yann's work gives us something else to think about.

Arthus-Bertrand explains his partnership with Google Earth in the video below.

You can see a video on the Earth from Above exhibit here.

Peace.

-I Can't Keep Up

Sunday Funnies: Cow Not Sheep

2008-10-05T08:35:00.004-06:00

I don't think I have blogged about a creative firm for Sunday Funnies.

If you make your blog funny, I'll post it.

Touring Cow: we're not sheep. shows pop up windows of Cow's creative services as you scroll over the rooms. What's funny to me is their game "smack the sheep." Go to the basement of the house and click on the video game machine (circa 1982). Click on the cow to get the sheep toss started! (Sites entirely in flash are undesirable because it makes it hard to search- but that's another post.) Since the site is in flash so I can't give you a direct link to the game.

Bear with me and see Cow's creativity first hand.

-I Can't Keep Up

It's cyber-vocabulary time!

2008-10-03T09:09:00.007-06:00

I bet you have the same reaction I do, someone when says "meh." The brain says- what kind of word is that?

Today, I have created a short (abridged) list of some new words & acronyms to help you out. Let me know what I may have missed!

Grammar alert: this may not be suitable for those concerned about the perceived negative impact of these words on the English language.

FAIL- this was born during the great twitter crisis. twitter was frequently down this summer, so folks started using "twitter = FAIL." I am sure there are a bunch of excellent examples at the moment, "US Economy = FAIL," for example.

meh - I think this is bleah lite. "My inbox is piled high, meh." (this one is currently my fave)

HA! - a short laugh in response to a funny joke that may be at the other's expense.

hehhehheh - sneaky laugh

ROFL - Rolling on the floor laughing

MIL - mother-in-law

BRB Be right back

BIAB Back in bit

BFF - Best Friend Forever - used like this "My BFF is coming over for ice cream later."

haz - see icanhazcheeseburger.com There are lots of new words ending in "z" now. And using "can" in the sentence. ex- "I can needz dinner."

Want to learn more? Check out netlingo.

Happy Friday!

-I Can't Keep Up

PS- when someone figures out how to use "zombie" in a conversational context, will you let me know?

A Best Kept Secret: Red Couch

2008-10-01T12:01:00.001-06:00

Among all the other great new things at the Democratic National Convention, I learned about an internet best kept secret. Who'd have guessed, but Level (3) Communications hosts great video interviews on its website. Yes, free content that's not on cable or network TV.

The Red Couch travels around to national events and hosts interviews with pioneers, thought leaders, scientists, celebrities and entrepreneurs. Mark Zuckerberg, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., lonleygirl15, and Ben Huh (icanhazcheeseburger.com) are just a few of the folks who have graced "the couch." Each interview lasts around 5 minutes or more. The best part are the great questions that give you more than a sound bite from these stars. I think the comfort of the Red Couch lulls them into answering insightful questions with real language, not talking points. Maybe all the candidates running for office should sit on the Couch- we'd probably get to hear some real answers.

Big things are in the works for Red Couch including interactive features. Until then take some time to browse interviews hosted at events like the The Webby Awards, Democratic National Convention, and the CIO 100 Awards.

Have you got your Halloween costume ready yet? I thought so. Well, if you hurry there is still time to make a LOL Cat costume ;-)

-I Can't Keep Up

What social networking sites do you use?

2008-09-30T11:25:00.002-06:00

Let me know! Take my poll and I'll post about it once it ends on October 3. If you don't see one of your networks here, please leave me a comment.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Social Media: Your Customers are Waiting for You!

2008-09-29T09:51:00.006-06:00

Good morning sunshine!

Do you understand the importance of social media and its impact? Do your co-workers? Does your boss? The study I discuss below demonstrates why your company needs to have a social media presence.

Cone, a strategy and communications company, just released the 2008 Business in Social Media which found that 93% of Americans expect companies to have an online presence. (I am not making this up.) On top of that, 85% think that companies should also interact with their customers.

Wow! That's interesting because we know that not everyone knows how to use social media applications, but they know it is important. 60% of Americans use social media on a regular basis. That number is rapidly growing- isn't your grandma on Facebook now?

We are reaching a point where customers are expecting to not only visit your website or Facebook page, but they are also wanting to connect with your business and deepen that relationship.

How do social media applications build relationships with customers?

1. They give you an opportunity to listen to your customers. Customers are already out there talking about you in the various social media venues: Twitter, Facebook, Plurk, MySpace, Chat Boards, etc. Reading their comments helps you understand your market and your product better.

2. Jumping into conversations they have already started enables you to thank them for their kind words, or make an offer to solve a problem for them. To top that off you get free feedback to improve your product.

3. Creating interactive venues - like a Facebook group - helps your customers find one another and share their great experiences.

This just a taste of what you can do. Where do you plan to find your customers?

**Update** I have been asked a couple of times about who participated in the study. When I asked how they selected participants for the study, Cone, Inc. Spokeswoman, Andrea Larrumbide, gave me this response via email: "Opinion Research Corporation selected them from a pre-existing panel of respondents. We screened for prior usage of social media."

Here's looking to another great week!

-I Can't Keep Up

Sunday Funnies: Peanuts Want You to Vote!

2008-09-28T09:46:00.001-06:00

Happy Sunday!

I know you are all sick of election related anything, however, I couldn't pass this up. The Peanuts have joined with Rock the Vote to make sure we all register and send in our ballots, or head to the polls.

Peanuts Rock the Vote

You can vote for your favorite character, purchase "You Elected Charlie Brown" and read Classic Peanuts Election Strips. And you can Register to Vote, get info on voting/registration deadlines and info on "the issues."

Gear up for the big day and make sure you are registered to vote.

-I Can't Keep Up

Modern journalism is here to stay. What are you going to do about it?

2008-09-26T09:45:00.001-06:00

It used to be, back in the day, that a person could say something inappropriate. The verbal gaffe was immediate and maybe passed on via word of mouth. At some point, those words would likely die a quick, painful death.

With the acceleration of technology we all have heard hideous stories of someone losing their job over an electronic gaffe. Some poor fool sent an inappropriate email to the wrong individual, or worse, to an entire list of people. With the advent of email and social media, our mistakes, or perceived mistakes, are on record - permanent, unerasable- can't just hit delete to make it all go away.

One example of a story kept alive involves a local paper and its use of social media. The story lives on and the Rocky Mountain News can't run from it. And, I give the paper credit for not running. The situation occurred earlier this month, and thanks to its permanence on the internet, I'm blogging about it.

The Rocky Mountain News sent a reporter to live blog (or micro-blog in this case) the funeral of a 3 year-old. The child was killed in a hideous accident when two cars crashed into an ice cream store. The story provoked interest because one of the drivers was an illegal immigrant. Berny Morson from the Rocky used Twitter to post in 140 character "tweets" or messages to cover the funeral. (This type of staccato message reporting is called "micro-blogging.)

This is important: the Rocky had the permission of the parents to report the funeral.

People angry over the use of that medium staged a huge outcry. The Dallas News accused the Rocky of a Marv Albert play-by-play style broadcast. Michael Roberts of Denver weekly Westword also invoked a sports analogy: "Here's a sampling of Morson's posts, which seemed to have been delivered by a golf commentator accustomed to whispering at greenside while players lined up putts." And in a post on Computerworld Ian Lamont, of the Industry Standard, dubbed the effort "misguided."(I guess he didn't have a sports analogy handy.)
It seems like the Rocky's experience doesn't just provide a "teachable moment," but also fodder for those who challenge news broadcast on electronic media as a lesser form of journalism.

I feel the critics pain; I love reading print publications. I hate ebooks. I am appalled to see kids hooked up to all kinds of things with wires. We can't, however, live in the past. It's time to move on. In his correspondence with Michael Roberts, John Temple, the Publisher of the Rocky Mountain News put it this way:

"You're free to think what you like," Temple continued, "but your thinking is indicative of the stultified, deadly minds that are destroying American news organizations."

I probably wouldn't have chosen those exact words. I would have said it this way:

Innovate or die.

And I would have responded by text message. Just kidding.

I think the time where online journalists can be marginalized as "oh that's just the bloggers," social media as "just for fun," and Second Life* as something for "those crazies who played D&D in high school" is OVER.

There is a whole, group of folks behind us who get the their news online and apparently it's not just the kids. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports this on electronic medium and the presidential election campaigns:

A record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others.

And I am sure they were reading about other news topics too. That 46% is growing. Before the Democratic National Convention, I hosted a group of "Editorial Operations" editors preparing for the DNC. Who are Editorial Operations staff? They are the people who connect the editors, journalists and the technical staff. I asked them about print publications and one editor said, "we're already over it. They'll be gone in 10 years." And this dude was an old white guy who was a career journalist.

What is a traditional medium for reporting unusual, or sensitive events like funerals? I don't know if that question applies any more. The accusation that reporting via Twitter is "play-by-play" reporting demonstrates a lack of understanding of the application- Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters. That is not the same thing as color commentary. Twitter drives you to be concise resulting in abbreviated messages, shortened words, use of symbols, etc. It's called micro-blogging.

And why are we criticizing microblogging as intrusive? I have seen TV coverage of funerals. I don't really want to watch something as sad as a funeral, but I don't criticize the networks for this. There are some people who would watch funeral coverage - and why that is, is not my business.

Electronic media are pervasive in all aspects of our lives. And who hasn't had an experience where these new medium enter our lives in uncommon places? Chatting on phones in the supermarket, texting while sitting next to a family member, emailing on a Blackberry during a meeting, taking a call while in a bathroom stall. All unsavory to me because those folks aren't "in the moment," but there's nothing I can do about it. I better learn the media or not be competitive in the work place and become detached from everyone who is adopting it.

I rarely agree with the Rocky's editorial opinions. I often vehemently diasgree with its editorial opinions. I have been disappointed and gratified by some of its news coverage. In this case I can say that John Temple has pushed his paper to try to understand and adapt to a confusing time. He's sticking up for what he thinks is right and dealing with all the criticism lobbed at people who try something new. He'll keep doing it too, because those words are on record. Print journalists had their words on the record too. But they haven't had to deal with almost instantaneous criticism that can come from having your words on the internet.

Folks, this techno train is about to leave the station.

Are you on the train, or not?

-I Can't Keep Up

*Esteemed organizations like Harvard Law School and the University of North Carolina Pharmacy School are now teaching classes in Second Life.

PS- for the record, I wouldn't want coverage of a relative's funeral, but that's not the point here.

My SWOMfest Journal: Where is Matt?

2008-09-23T16:47:00.000-06:00

Dear Journal:

I can't believe it is Day 6 since I learned of my free pass to SWOMfest '08. My hosts, Brains On Fire, sent one of their runners, Matt, all the way to Denver to congratulate me. He still is not in Denver.

Where is he?

I hope he is OK! What if Matt was kidnapped by a bridge troll? He was running pretty fast, so the bridge trolls probably won't be able to catch him! Was he captured by poachers? Naaaah, not Matt.

Hmmm.....where is Matt?

You know, I never really looked up the distance between Greenville, South Carolina (home of Brains on Fire) and Denver. It is kind of a long way. Let's check on Google Maps....

According to Google Maps the distance is 1,532 miles from 148 River St., Greenville, South Carolina (home of Brains on Fire) to 16th Street in Denver, CO. And, it should only take Matt 22 hours and 52 minutes to get here :-(

Wait, oh no, wait, wait, these are driving directions. Matt is running! Google Maps has a walking directions feature. I'll just toggle the "driving" button and it becomes a "walking" button.

That's better! To walk here, it takes 20 days and 19 hours. Hmmmmm.....but that is walking, Matt was running! And really fast!

So when will Matt make it to Denver? Well, let's say he is super fast he could get here in 10 days, but he may need to stop to go to the bathroom along the way, check out local sites, eat local food, or replace his running shoes. So we will say 14 days- which would be October 1st!

OK, I will just have to wait. Maybe Matt will call from the road?

If you want to learn how Matt got started on his run, you can check out the Brains On Fire Blog.

You can learn more about the group hosting SWOMfest, the Society for Word of Mouth too.

-I Can't Keep Up

Send Some Love to Ike Evacuees: help raise $5K for FoodBank- in 5 days

2008-09-19T14:04:00.010-06:00

Donation Deadline: September 22

A group of dedicated bloggers in Austin, Texas are digging deep into their pockets and asking their friends to do the same. Why Austin? According to the Capital Area Foodbank over 6,500 evacuees are housed in local shelters and thousands more are staying with friends and family. The Capital Area Foodbank, which supplies food to shelters and 25 lb. food boxes to families, is running out of chow and needs help!

A web site has been set up for individuals to make a donation through ChipIn.com's secure donation site. Or through the widget at the top left of my page.

Your money can initiate a match:

a $5 donation provides $20 in food
a $25 donation provides $100 in food

Anyway, you can do the math.

Also, you can give further assistance by putting a ChipIn widget on your blog or web site. See the one I have added at the top left of my page.

Kudos to Connie Reece of EveryDotConnects, the Social Media Club Austin and the Austin 501 Tech for making this happen

IN-KIND CONTRIBUTION: WORDPRESS SERVICES
The individual or company that makes the largest donation through this ChipIn widget will have access to two hours of time for a Wordpress installation, customization or training by Chel Wolverton, the very capable administrative assistant for Social Media Club. Upon completion of the ChipIn campaign, Chel will contact the winner to find out which of these services is preferred. The amount of your contribution will not be disclosed.

Note: your gift through this ChipIn page is not tax-deductible. If you need a receipt for income tax purposes, you must donate directly to CAFB by check or major credit card. (They are not set up to receive donations via Paypal.)

Thank you Brains on Fire! SWOMfest Here I Come!

2008-09-18T11:13:00.004-06:00

**Update: the volume problem has been fixed! Many apologies!**

Dear Brains on Fire:

I am actually a thank you note kind of girl- the real ones on paper. This time, however, I feel it is really important to return your message in the same medium. (see above)

As a runner, I can really appreciate Matt's dedication, so I hope you will share this with Matt, wherever he is on his run...

I can't wait to meet you all in Austin, Texas on October 30 at SWOMfest!

Yours,

DebInDenver (aka I Can't Keep Up)

PS- this is my first ever home video, so there may be a couple, well one, overused phrases.

I WON! Thanks to Brains on Fire I am Headed to SWOMfest!

2008-09-17T18:16:00.001-06:00

It doesn't get much better than this folks. Today I was chosen at random by the great folks at Brains On Fire to be their guest at the Society for Word of Mouth's inaugural SWOMfest. (note my online handle is "DebInDenver")

And what is "word of mouth" you are asking? Word of mouth is the term to describe communication between individuals- in person and electronic- that helps spread a message. It's the grassroots conversation that goes on about your product, service, organization or cause. And you want it to be good. SWOM members include social media gurus, PR professionals, marketers, internal and external communications professionals and sales professionals.

A colleague and I were just discussing the term "word of mouth" and how it's use is expanding. Well, a conference with a whole bunch of fun folks is a good way to do that!

Watch the video and cheer Matt on, he's got a lot of miles ahead of him!

Next up: my video response!

-I Can't Keep Up