Pulvermedia Blogs

Mark Twain on Getting Yourself Lucky:

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:39:07 GMT

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure." - Mark Twain

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Tags: Entrepreneurship, leadership, Entrepreneur, Mark Twain

Facebook- PLEASE do better with your ads

chrisbrogan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:30:02 GMT

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:30:02 GMT http://xfruits.com/pmwebmaster/?id=32692&clic=394753754&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fchrisbrogandotcom%2F%7E3%2FLsex8deUgMU%2F Dear Facebook: I don’t care who searched for me. I have clicked the “thumbs down” on these sexy ads a gazillion times. It’s like bubble wrap to me. But you know, after several times, it’s not like you care or replace them with anything better.

Here’s the thing, Facebook. You KNOW what I like. You KNOW who I connect with. You KNOW how old I am, whether I’m married, what I’ve liked or favorited, or joined. You know TONS about me, that I’ve freely volunteered. But you don’t listen.

Sadly, it reminds me of this video:

You COULD do so much for me, Facebook. Just try?

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How TO Influence Me

chrisbrogan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:35:26 GMT

On Monday, I complained about a crappy, impersonal pitch I received. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. Danny Brown chided me for it, and said I had just mentioned in my newsletter that it’s important not to point at the mess, but to point at the solution. For penance, here’s some ideas for yesterday’s pitcher, and maybe you.

How to Influence Me

I’m Human – As best as you can, use my name. Sometimes I have to send out mass messages, and if I can’t use software like Blue Sky Factory to put the first name in neatly for me, then I do this one thing: I put the person’s name at the start and/or a line or 3 that shows I’m personally sending the message to that one person. I receive at least a dozen emails a day like this, and I appreciate the personal touch.

Be Brief – Okay, you CAN put everything in one big email, but if you do that, could you make the first few paragraphs a very brief summary? Maybe a bullet or 3, or a numbered list or two. (Monday’s email was brief, for sure. In that case, he might have included a URL for me to learn more).

Target it Even a Little Bit – If you’re asking me to join your influencer group, maybe decide whether or not I’m the right fit. I’m going to say that the pitch from Monday was close enough. I’ve written about consumer beverages before, so that’s fine. I also got five other requests that were for things I’m not remotely related to, or have any influence over. If you’re looking for me to influence, that might be a point to think about.

Don’t Let the Numbers Fool You – Charles Best from DonorsChoose.org gave the best presentation at the 2009 New Comm Forum, wherein which he talked about the “Oprah Effect,” and how a woman with 1000 very passionate readers in her blog community outperformed a popular tech blog with two million daily readers in a simple request for help. Never ever ever look at my numbers first. Never. Never look at anyone’s numbers first. Decide whether the community responds and interacts (some ways to do this are technorati ranking, comments per post, overall traffic vs comments as %), and then determine if you’ve got an influencer. For instance, I think Dadomatic.com is influential to parents, even if there are only a few hundred daily readers.

Be There Before the Sale

There are many people I know and support in this space. I love talking with marketers and pr professionals and other people passionate about how these tools empower communications. If you and I have some kind of passing relationship before you pitch me, I promise you it’ll go much better than when you cold call me. Does this scale? No. (No no no no no no no.) Is it the better way to do it? Yes. You decide whether you want to eschew this advice, but there’s a price to cold calling.

Remember We all Have Megaphones

If you (or if I) do something you don’t like, we’re now the broadcaster. We have the tools to complain, and we use them. Sometimes, we do it to illustrate. Other times, we’re just being human and frustrated. But this isn’t a warning: it’s notice that your attempt has to be considered, because we might not just delete it.

I Could Be Wrong

You’re going to tell me that you have to get the word out, that you don’t have time to talk with everyone individually. You’re going to say that it’s a junior person, and that it’s not something worth giving a lot of attention to in the long run.

Bull.

Sam Lawrence is launching a company Wednesday. He reached out to me directly. He has LOTS of people to contact. This should be something easy to give to someone junior. Do you think Sam wants his message handed to me in a way that might set me off? Do you think Sam thinks this isn’t important to how I perceive him?

We vote with our actions, people. Maybe I was too negative in writing a griping post about this low end annoyance. And yet, to me? How we treat each other, as best as we can, is all we have right now. Attention and trust come from relationships.

How are you building yours?

How NOT To Influence Me

chrisbrogan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:15:43 GMT

One UPDATE: I got an email from the author. He has a disability that is similar to dyslexia, so I’ll give him a pass for that part. I’m still not cheery with the cold call nature, but the typing is his thing. Sorry, author.

Wow, I got the most personalized email today from a marketer:

Hey. Were sending out incase influencer packages for our client, SoBe Lifewater. Tge packages are going to interesting people from the world of film, music, sports and digital. If you have any interest feel free to check out the link that shows past campaigns or just an email me an address and I’ll get it out to you. All the best. [link removed]

Let’s see. No personalization. Poor formatting. ~~Misspellings. Typos.~~

Yeah. I can’t wait to become an influencer.

Photo credit takk

Taking that next Step...

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:44:31 GMT

There are times in your life when it will be up to YOU to make that first move, take that next step, be the one who moves things forward. This is a moment in your life that no one else can do on your behalf. This can not be outsourced. This is something YOU need to do for yourself.

Procrastination is your enemy, not your friend. Like it or not, some things cant go forward without YOU there to make your move.

There have been times in my life where I spent way too much time on the edge and did not have what it took to move myself forward. This resulted in missed quite a number of missed opportunities and eventually a lot of work to get myself back to the place I was prior to missing that opportunity.

When you know in your gut that the next move is up to you, do whatever you need to dig down deep inside and make that move, whatever it is, and wherever it make take you.

The next step you take may change your life.

Tags: Entrepreneurship, leadership, Entrepreneur, Jeff Pulver

Have you had a similar experience? Please feel share your comments and thoughts below:

What You Might Not Know About Personal Branding

chrisbrogan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:18:52 GMT

Ahead of this post, I give you full permission to tell me that I’m talking out of my butt. I’m drinking a delicious McDonalds iced coffee. I prefer their brand over Starbucks and over Dunkin Donuts (which is sacrilege in Massachusetts, where I live). In my neck of the woods, they use a special Newman’s Own blend. It’s delicious. And this relates very much to the part of branding that we don’t much think about.

When guys like Dan Schawbel define personal branding (and personal is somewhat -very?- different than product/service branding), they say this: “Personal branding is the process of how we market ourselves to others.” (Dan’s definition.) That’s part of the puzzle, I will agree, but it’s certainly just one part.

You see, the very best brands in the world do something not addressed in the above definition. They work on perfecting a product/service, and then owning distribution.

Distribution. A platform. The ability to move product by establishing a channel or creating a viable touchpoint to a channel. That’s what’s missing in these definitions. The focus of conversations about branding is quite often about telling people what your product is about, or making sure people know who/what you are/represent.

Distribution’s where it’s at, though. Who gives a crap if you pour all kinds of great intent and messaging into your product if no one knows who you are? Who cares if someone knows who you are, but they can’t reach you?

Distribution. McDonalds built as many burger joints as they could as soon as they got the formula down on making a great, repeatable experience. They built them everywhere. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about how ruthlessly they built, often times building new McDonalds across the street from the other one, in a kind of Darwinian battle for dominance.

It’s distribution. The mafia (all of the various iterations) existed as methods to bypass the “official” distribution channels. Distribution is that part of the puzzle.

Distribution and Its Value to Brand

Once you have distribution, you can experiment. You can add things to the mix. McDonalds is pushing hard on their McCafe brand. Why? Because they pretty much have hamburgers down. In fact, they have chicken down (sorry, KFC, but really…). So coffee it is. Why not take on Starbucks and Dunkins? They tried pizza and Mexican, but nothing much happened there.

Product stretch or diversification is something that can happen only after there’s enough distribution to make it work out.

Jack Welch ran GE back in the day. After, he wrote an amazing book, WINNING, about business. He leveraged that into a great career as a speaker and a media maker, among other things. Most recently, Welch is offering up a branded MBA (not new, for sure: others have done this less formally before). This is what one gets when one has both a great brand and distribution.

That’s the part that we have to think about, work towards, and build. That’s where the work has to go. That’s the hard part of the puzzle.

What’s your take?

Photo credit TonyTheMisfit

Scott Porad: #140conf: Yes, It Was Important

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:30:22 GMT

Interestingly, Twitter changed a lot in the time between when Jeff Pulver invited me to speak at #140conf and when I actually gave my presentation. I wouldnt quite say it hit the mainstream, but it went from underground to mainstream visibility, from a code word to a phrase in the lexicon. My 93 year old grandfather has heard of Twitter now (although he doesnt have a clue as to what it is). More succinctly put: @oprah. Enough said.

Twitter is the cutting edge of social media, and its only in an embryonic state. One of the most stunning statistics I heard while at the conference was that all the tweets combined only add up to something like 1% of all text messages sent in the US. And text messaging is by no means ubiquitous just yet...

Read the rest of Scotts blog post here.

Watch Scott's presentation at #140conf here:

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Tags: 140conf, social media, 140 Characters Conference, twitter, Scott Porad

Backstage at Mesudarim:

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 02:04:46 GMT

The following are photos from my visit to the Set of Mesudarim. I am looking forward to making my debut on Israeli TV on 21 July at 2100 on Israels Channel 2.

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Tags: Mesudarim, Israel, Channel 2, Israeli TV, Jeff Keni Pulver

Are E-Riches For You

chrisbrogan — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:30:18 GMT

I’ve never had a more back-and-forth opinion on a book yet. I talk with Scott Fox from time to time on Twitter and on email. He’s a nice enough guy. I like what I know of him. He does things a bit differently than me in some regards, but in others, he is every bit as passionate about the new rules of marketing as I am. With that in mind, I think the book e-Riches 2.0: Next-Generation Marketing Strategies for Making Millions Online is worth reading, if only to understand a different perspective than the typical “kumbaya” version of social that we talk about so often.

I’m really curious to know your take. If you buy this one, would love for you to weigh in. Here’s my video review.

Here’s the Amazon link to check it out further:

Guest Blogger: Daniel Berninger - An HD Upgrade for the Most Important Communication Link in the World

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:53:47 GMT

The communication hotline President Kennedy installed between the White House and Moscow in 1963 remains operational and deserves a high definition (HD) upgrade. The original hotline involved teletype (not voice), but upgrades over the years added voice and fax capability. The link based at the Pentagon's National Military Command Center (not the White House) still gets tested every hour 24 hours per day. Maintaining the link requires a decent size team even as it gets called into action only occasionally, but the $1mn budget represents a remarkable bargain relative to the cost of most nuclear deterrent activities.

The original idea for the hotline arose from a White House committee headed by 2005 Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling assembled to find ways of minimizing risks associated with "war by accident, surprise, and miscalculation" in the late 1950's. The hotline proposal remained little more than a good idea for several years until President Kennedy discovered, during the Cuban missle crisis in October 1962, the difficulty of communicating with Moscow (and other heads of state) on short notice. The success of the original hotline gave rise to others. The State Department's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center operates a number of hotlines between the US and other countries. France and
the UK have their own hotlines with Moscow. Israel and Egypt implemented a hotline after their peace agreement.

Hotlines operate independent of the global telephone network for reasons of security and reliability. Voice quality adds a third and at least as important reason to avoid the telephone network. The voice quality improvement provide by HD can dramatically reduce errors in comprehension. HD offers a user experience that approaches the quality of an in-person conversation. The standard frequency response of plain old telephone service drops over half the energy associated with voice and makes 15 and 50 and lots of other words indistinguishable. The prospect of understanding a non-native speaker increases dramatically with HD. The globally secure data circuits necessary to support HD already exist, so nothing except the will to get started prevents a HD upgrade.

The benefits of HD voice quality, the wide availability of broadband, and inexpensive off-the-shelf components make HD hotlines compelling for more than just connecting world leaders. Most people have relationships that could benefit from a HD hotline either in personal or business contexts. It seems strange that the CEO of IBM continues to suffer the same mediocre voice quality in conversations with his legal team as teens chatting after school. Setting up a HD hotline is not complicated uses broadband connections that likely already exist and HD phones available for less than $200. It may actually be the teens that adopt HD hotlines first, because the use of VoIP technology and data connections leave HD hotlines unmetered. It does not cost extra to talk 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Each advance in communication from the telegraph to the telephone to the Internet and HD hotlines makes the world a little smaller, but improving communication between world leaders does not translate directly into world peace. Communication tools do not automatically manufacturer trust, but they do provide opportunities to reduce misunderstanding. The US taxpayers spent $10's of millions of dollars recently so President Obama could travel to Moscow to meet with President Menvedev and reduce the risk of misunderstanding. No one doubts the value of the original hotline between the countries, and it seems self-evident the original hotline should offer the best available voice quality. At $200 for each HD capable device, the same logic applies to just about every context where communication matters.

Please join us for a discussion about HD hotlines and other emerging communications topics at the brown bag lunch "Conversation with Jeff Pulver" ) hosted by Mintz Levin in Washington, DC on Tuesday, July 14, 2009. RSVP to this event on Facebook

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Daniel Berninger is CEO, FWD. His bio can be seen here.

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Tags: voip, FCC, public policy, Washington, D.C., social media, HD Hotlines, Daniel Berninger, Jeff Keni Pulver

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – A True Story Told in Tweets

chrisbrogan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:44:21 GMT

So, sometimes, waiting around stinks. I got to the Apple Store a bit early for an appointment to see if they could fix my iPhone (hint: they couldn’t help me replace it, because I’m a business customer, and evidently, I have to deal with the AT&T store for that). I had some time to kill and I landed on a conversation between a prospective customer looking at an iPhone, and an Apple store employee.

This entire story is true. It was first live-tweeted on Thursday, July 9th, and took place at the Apple Store at the Maine Mall in Portland. Here the story is, in its entirety, in little bite sized chunks.

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy

Guy across from me is GRILLING the iPhone guy, and the questions suggest he’s recently arrived at this planet. “I can CALL people?”

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “Wait. Can you find my HOUSE on this?” Not kidding. “Go down the street a little. That’s Bill’s house!”

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “Now, if this thing could take PICTURES and upload them, now that would change EVERYTHING.”

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “I wonder how often they CHANGE those photos?” (google maps streetview).

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “Now, is sending email COSTLY?” (I’m half laughing, half ready to Taze him.

Guy grilling the iPhone guy – “Would you DEMO sending an email? I want to see if I get it.” (I’m SURE he won’t buy this.)

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “So, you just TOUCH it to type? That’s CURIOUS!” – I want to take him to Hot Topic next. “Piercings?”

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “So, what is the BIGGEST question people ask you about the iPhone?” iPhone Guy: “yours?”

iPhone guy to Griller – “My Dad, who’s probably older than YOU, really loves it. They LOVE it. THey won’t stop touching it.”

Guy Grilling the iPhone guy – “So, on a regular phone, I can’t get all this information. I feel like I’ll save money with this.” Um…

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “Let’s just say I want to call my friend Chris. Do I have to set up a contact, or can I just say, Call Chris?”

(I’m a little weirded out that he said Chris, but it turns out the iPhone Guy’s name tag says Chris.)

Guy Grilling the iPhone is now TALKING to the iPhone like Scotty in Star Trek 4. “Hello Computer!”

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “Hey, what about covers for these? Can I buy covers?” (Standing in front of WALL o’ “covers.”

God’s Truth, I am NOT making this up.

Guy Grilling the iPhone – “So what’s the warrantee cover? For example, can I just blow this thing up and get a new one?” (pyroguy?)

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “How long do you think this thing will live?” iPHone Guy- “I left mine on the roof of my car, and its okay.”

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “Do you have a repair shop out back?” followed quickly with, “And if I just want to make a call?” (???)

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “How MANY people can I call at once? 10?” (He’s evidently also very convivial.)

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – “Text messages. Huh. Now what’s this? Is this… is this an email?” iPhone guy looks SO earnest.

Guy Grilling the iPhone guy is now back in Google Maps trying to find other friends he knows. iPhone guy is pretending this is useful.

Guy Grilling the iPhone guy – “Look! There’s that castle!” So he’s googlemapping Scotland?

LAST Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy update – wait for it – … he did NOT buy the iPhone. iPhone Guy didn’t bat an eye.

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Yep, that’s the whole story, start to end. It was about one hour tops in length. I tweeted the whole thing live from a Macbook Pro on display in the Apple store. I almost got caught twice because my shoulders were jerking from laughing a bit too obviously.

Ah, life. There is absolutely no caloric value in this story, but it was fun to do.

Call for Characters: Announcing #140conf Los Angeles and London

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:02:05 GMT

The 140 Characters Conference (#140conf) that took place June 16-17 2009 is now history. In two days, approx. 140 people spoke on one stage in 69 different sessions. You can now watch the videos from the conference over at http://140conf.com. Special thanks to everyone who participated in the event, both in person and on the net.

I am looking for a new Cast of Characters for #140conf: LA taking place October 27/28 in the Wadsworth Theater in Los Angeles as well as for #140conf: London taking place November 10/11. (Special thanks to Kodak who is the title sponsor of both events.)

Once again I plan to look at twitter as a platform and look at the effects of twitter on: Celebrity, The Media, Advertising and Politics as well as other topics based on the proposals received.

I believe we are now living in The State of NOW (see: http://pulverblog.pulver.com/archives/008950.html ) and that the advent of the NOW Internet has ushered in a new era of the net whose effects will be felt for some time to come. #140conf is not a twitter conference where we will be intentionally sharing twitter tips and techniques but rather an event which will be exploring the effects of the NOW Internet on the future of various industries around the world. It just happens I believe twitter is the language of the NOW Internet and I look at the people who are using twitter as a fundamental part of their business as pioneers in this new space.

If you know someone whose approach to business has been affected by twitter, I would appreciate it if you could nominate them to be a character at one or both of my upcoming events. (You can also feel free to nominate yourself.) If you have an idea/suggestion for a panel, please feel free to suggest the speakers. Please feel free to email: jeff @ pulver.com.

I plan on keeping the format of the event fast past with the majority of the individual speaking spots limited to 10 minutes and the panels to be no more than 20 minutes.

The deadline for this Call for Characters is July 24th but, if possible, I would appreciate receiving your feedback before the deadline.

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Tags: 140conf, social media, 140 Characters Conference, twitter, Jeff Keni Pulver

Happy Birthday Jon Swanson

chrisbrogan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:34:51 GMT

For over three years, I’ve had a rewarding and very personal friendship with Jon Swanson. He is at the heart of a personal movement to explore being a social media chaplain. Jon is that, for me. He gives me lots of private help and encouragement. LOTS.

On Twitter, @jnswanson is a force for good. I recommend HIGHLY that you follow him and get to know him. That is, unless you don’t like genuine, intelligent, thoughtful, feeling people.

Happy Birthday, Jon. And I’ll end with some snaps I’ve taken over the last 3 years:

Happy Birthday, friend.

A Quick and Inconclusive List of Software I Like

chrisbrogan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:30:47 GMT

This list is dated July 2009. It will be out of date by the end of July 2009. Not really, but close.

I’m often asked which software and which websites I use to do my job and live my digital life. A list like this is maybe just a way for you to check yourself, but also you occasionally will find something that catches your eye. I’m sure I’ll miss a few things.

Software I Like

WordPress – my blogging software.
Seesmic Desktop – my Twitter client desktop-wide.
Tweetie – my Twitter client for iPhone.
YouTube – for videos under 10 minutes.
Blip.TV – my preferred “full service” video provider.
Gmail – my email service.
Adium – my IM client (I rarely use IM).
BatchBook – my contact database.
FreshBooks – my personal invoicing software.
Pipeline Deals – my sales CRM.
Picnik – my photo editing software. LOVE it.
Flickr – my photo hosting solution.
Delicious – my social bookmarking tool.
Google Reader – my RSS reader (for reading blogs).
Google Calendar – for calendering.
Socialcast – (client) for Workstreaming (like Twitter inside work).
Radian6 – listening software (a client).
Evernote – my multi-tool of note taking/keeping.
Blue Sky Factory – my email marketing software.

That’s what I’ve got for now. If you think of something I missed, or have a question on one, feel free. Let’s use this as a discussion starter. Fair?

Jay ThePal Documentary of #140conf

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:41:10 GMT

Jay ThePal was part of the Cast of Characters at the 140 Characters Conferences that took place last month in New York City.

The following is Jays documentary of the time he spent at #140conf:

Jay ThePal (me) goes to the 140 Character(s) Conference in New York City! Follow his (my) adventures as he meets people, sees people talk and makes new pals!! YEAH! He met up with all sorts of people, from founders of companies to a politician to Internet strategists and a LOT of really cool people from the Twitter! Check it out!

OH YEAH: Watch this docu and listen for cuttings from my new theme song--It's done by Skitzofrenic check out more music here: http://www.myspace.com/skitzonuts BUT WATCH THE DOCU FIRST, MAN!!

Thanks to everyone who spoke to us! Please @reply us on Twitter @ThePal or @JayThePal or @KayThePal if you met us and we haven't followed you back, yet! Connect! It's what the Internet is all about, man! YEAH!!

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Tags: 140conf, social media, 140 Characters Conference, twitter,
Jay ThePal, Jeff Keni Pulver

The Secret Fight Club

chrisbrogan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:13:31 GMT

One of my top three movies of all times is Fight Club. I’ve seen it seventeen times as of July 2009. I’m fascinated with lots of different things in the movie (and I loved the book very much – read it before I saw the movie). My current favorite part reminds me a lot of what’s going on these days.

My favorite part is when Brad Pitt and Edward Norton start shifting from just fighting into putting together a nationwide (international?) presence. Wherever you see a black eye or a missing tooth, it’s someone involved with Fight Club, and they all treat each other a little more special than they do the general public, because they’re in something together. It’s a movement of sorts, and that’s what author Chuck Palahniuk was exploring at some parts: how group activities for men have changed (evaporated!) in more recent years.

Here’s the thing: in some ways, what we’ve got going with social media feels like that secret club. It feels like we’re part of something.

The guy in the picture is Steve Wright, VP of marketing (or something like that) up at Jay Peak Resort in Vermont. When he caught some of my tweets that I was in the area, he dropped me a line and said I should swing by for a ride on their tram, and a little lunch.

Steve was so friendly, and so kind, and the ride in the tram (up 4000-ish feet into the heavy clouds hugging the mountain) was a blast. Lunch was very kid-friendly (important to parents on the road), and it was just a fun, unplanned adventure.

The Secret Fight Club

Basketball professional and businessman Shaquille O’Neal ( @the_real_shaq on Twitter) tweeted this message out famously many months back: “To all twitterers , if u c me n public come say hi, we r not the same we r from twitteronia, we connect.” Other celebrities like MC Hammer are so real that when you finally meet and spend time with them (I’ve hung out briefly at TechCrunch40 and also at CES in Vegas), they’re just as human as anyone else.

Podcasters and bloggers regularly reach out and do great things for each other. They share expenses to attend conferences. My friend, Zane Aveton famously tweeted her way into a ride and lodging to attend SXSW this past March.

This is really astounding, if you think about it, the amount of good will that we pass around in this space. And it’s not relegated to “big names,” whatever that means any more. It’s everyone. People DO things for each other in this space. They give first and give often.

(That last part is the secret sauce: fail to give and you’ll find yourself in a karmic imbalance that usually corrects itself quite obviously.)

I, for one, am always excited about it. I love contributing in my own special ways to the secret fight club. I love giving to causes, helping raise for other causes, and finding ways to get more and more people into jobs that build this space up.

Are You Part of the Secret Fight Club?

Think about it. Are you giving to the secret fight club? Are you building small powerful networks? Are you helping others find work, or sharing whatever your professional cool offering is? Are you the Adam Wallace or Brian Simpson of your organization, offering a plate of free bacon at the bar?

It’s SO easy, so rewarding, and a hell of a lot of fun. Join in.

What’s your contribution?

The Secret Bonus Round

(I added this in after the first push of the post, so folks who only get one RSS copy might not even SEE this.)

What if YOU started something that identifies you as part of the SFC? What if YOU figured out a way to pass around the symbol, such that others knew you were contributing? Maybe it doesn’t have to be as explicit, but then again, wouldn’t a secret signal, sign, symbol, whatever, be cool?

Blog some ideas, and let’s pass this “secretfightclub” tag and idea around a bit. Cool?

Event: Conversation with Jeff Pulver - July 14th in Washington DC

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:03:33 GMT

Readers of my blog are invited to join me for a "Brown Bag Lunch" in the offices of Mintz Levin in Washington, D.C. for "Conversation with Jeff Pulver" hosted by Howard Symons

The event will run from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM and will follow-up on conversations started in NYC at the HD Communications Summit in May and last months 140 Characters Conference.

I am looking forward to the interactive discussion which will follow.

To confirm access to the event, please also register over at: http://amiando.com/dclunch.html. You can also join this event on Facebook.

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Tags: breakfast, Personal Social Media Toolkit, voip, FCC, public policy, Washington, D.C., social media, facebook, Social Media Breakfast, Jeff Keni Pulver

Tiny Annoyance in Posterous

chrisbrogan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:57:04 GMT

UPDATE: Apparently, it’s just me. Others have embedded just fine. Please disregard this post.

I’ve been trying out Posterous after reading about it on Steve Rubel’s blog. I’m using it to capture my vacation.

Today, I tried switching to HTML on the website to embed a YouTube video. (Okay, I just lost a few of you, but basically, I was adding a video the “by hand” way). No go. It wouldn’t be recognized.

Solutions: 1.) use the bookmarklet and push the button while on the YouTube site, or 2.) email the URL to Posterous and let THEM do it.

Okay, fine with a YouTube video. The web has TONS of widgets and applets and things that are just simple copy/paste efforts. Posterous is great and handling the simple stuff and I enjoy it as a very simple, lightweight blogging platform, but I’m a little ticked that I can’t muscle down just a hair and add an embed code.

Just thoughts on a service. Am I wrong?

Invitation to Events in Washington DC on July 14, 2009:

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:19:27 GMT

Please join me in Washington, DC on Tuesday, July 14, 2009.

My day starts off at the Old Ebbitts Grill for the next Washington DC "Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and friends).

Following breakfast, friends are invited to attend a brown bag lunch "Conversation with Jeff Pulver" at Mintz Levin hosted by Howard Symons at noon arose to follow-up on conversations started in NYC at the HD Communications Summit in May and the 140 Characters Conference.

The awareness of high definition voice in Washington, DC is near zero even as HD voice quality improvements could prove transformative for every aspect of government from international diplomacy to military communication and homeland security. The awareness of Twitter in contrast is high, but there still exists a need to connect the dots on how Twitter sets in motion the transformation to the NOW Internet.

The trip marks a re-engagement with the policy community in Washington, DC. People following me over the years will remember the founding of the VON Coalition and intensive efforts leading up to the so called Pulver Order in 2004. This trip will include announcements of similarly ambitious plans, and I look forward to a full day of meetings reconnecting with friends in DC. Feel free to email me (jeff @ pulver.com ) to suggest people, government departments, or organizations you think I should visit.

Please RSVP for either the breakfast at Ebbitts Grill and/or the brown bag lunch at Mintz Levin.

- - -

Tags: breakfast, Personal Social Media Toolkit, voip, FCC, public policy, Washington, D.C., social media, facebook, Social Media Breakfast, Jeff Keni Pulver

Event: Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and friends) in Washington DC on Jul 14th

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:58:57 GMT

On Tuesday July 14th I will be in Washington, D.C. and hosting my 2nd "Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and friends)" event this year in DC from 8-10 AM.

To RSVP, please visit this event on Facebook.

Everyone attending this breakfast will receive a "Personal Social Networking Toolkit." Friends can learn more about my Personal Social Networking Toolkit by watching the video below:

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Tags: breakfast, Personal Social Media Toolkit, Washington, D.C., social media, facebook, Social Media Breakfast, Jeff Pulver

So Long its been Good To Know You

carl — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:07:11 GMT

You can find me over on carlford.net

Defending My Honor

carl — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:34:44 GMT

Wow, what incredible hostility, and blatant defamation of character.

It occurred to me as one of the few people who you could actually contact from Gigaoms site, that I should at least say I am here.

I am not at liberty to discuss anything, but for all who want to complain to me. I will listen.

Of course, if you consider me a jester, than the talk may be among two fools.

But if you want to contact me. I am here.

Kind Regards,
Carl

Responding to GigaOm

carl — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:44:42 GMT

Okay, Lets try to turn to the positive here.

Lets talk about what happens. First of all, I agree VoiceCon had the audience this time. When VON first started VoiceCon (PBX2000) did not like VoIP. The innovation was with us. We built a great UC event that probably would have done well if I had not been running against VoiceCon. The sessions by in large were great.

For the innovators I was asked to provide an open staging area in VONCamp and I did that. But marketing an undefined structure without the entire community committed to supporting it was hard. On the other hand, Several good topics came out of the discussion that I hope the community progresses.

I will remind people that I established a ning thing for people to continue the dialogue its called pulcom.ning.com. It is not a place for commercials its a place for discussion.

As for us missing the boat on Video, I am not sure thats accurate. imho, IPTV vs the Over the Top Video seems to being won by OTTV. Jeff had it right with his video on the net content.

I am not saying we are without error.
Halloween is a much bigger event these days then when I was a kid.
And Choosing to compete with Saint Patty, Maundy Thursday, and Spring Break was another error.

The truth is VoIP won. But like Bush on the Air Craft carrier the victory is not concluded.

I intend to stay in the community to support its continued evolution.

Fave 5, 10, 20 how about 150?

carl — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:28:53 GMT

In the US the cellular carriers are trying to convert us all in groups. My BFF Jill, and Fave 5 call groups are being touted like we are all knowing insiders in social network newspeak. But are these network suggestions of friends list artificial? What is the right number to consider in developing a network of peers and friends.

Antropologically speaking it seems to be 150 other people.

Dwight Irving has been trying to get my attention to these issues of social networking. He has introduced me to a community of Robin IM Dunbar fans. In particular I have been reading an article that asks the premise why would your body give 20% of its energy to support 2% of its mass. Or stated my specifically, why do we have brains?

The interesting analysis we have brains because of our need to be social. Now I am not going to take you down into social networks. But I am going to take us into the discussion of call patterns.

In theory what this says is that people function best in groups of less than 150. So in theory we should see a pattern in the way we call that hits a limit at 150.

It strikes me that this should reveal itself in a number of ways.

1) Call centers. If anyone has call center experience with a group that is greater than 150, I would love to understand how its organized. And if you see problems that you would not expect to see if you were running a group below that number.

In theory call support should be harder to maintain.

2) Billing Records. Our overall bill patterns should show repetition in numbering that relates to professional and personal social networks.

My own take is that womens phone records should show greater spans of reaching the 150 mark then men because they manage more social items such as childrens schedules etc.

3) Sales. If I am reading this right now matter how many cold calls a person does they should in theory top out on quantitiy and start to exhibit quality numbers somewhere below 150.
I am sure there are other ways to interpret this and my own take is that it says something about the way we work as well.

If you keep a journal of your work like most of us do, you rapidly see that your conversations probably keep an inner core. Regardless of weather the people are on the inside or the outside of the company.

So now that I wrote this, let me ask do you think you have a limit to your ability to function above that number or not?

The Hand That Fed You

carl — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:59:15 GMT

Okay, lets cope with the rumors. For the time being pulvermedia is restructuring.

In theory no one should be noticing these changes, but people like to talk. Some just like to hear themselves.

Its unfortunate.

Look at the industry and show me a company that has not gone through a major transition at least once.

VON had a lot of redeeming qualities.

And their are lots of people who want to see VON fail.

Its probably never a good idea to let the outside world see the sausage being made.

If you are reading the negative about what is going on here are some rules.

1) Consider the source
2) Consider the sources source
3) Consider the fact that the blogosphere has lots of people who want to show they are in the know.

Many of which have proven they aren't.

The people in the discussion are above my pay grade.

They will duke it out for a while and then we will see what happens.

This you can believe.

The story has not concluded.

FCBA Cyberspace Committee Lunch on the Future of Voice and Video and Communications in an Internet-Enabled World

jonathan.askin@pulvermedia.com — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:29:57 GMT

I wanted to give a heads up to any of you who might be in DC on April 2. I co-chair the Federal Communications Bar Associations Cyberspace Committee. We are hosting a brown-bag lunch on the Future of Voice and Video and Communications in an Internet-Enabled World.

The event is free, and you dont have to be an FCBA member to come to the lunch, but you do have to RSVP.

My objective (whether or not it is anyone elses objective connected to the event, I do not know) is to shake things up at least a little in DC, to give the regulators, policymakers and advocates a taste of what is going on in the world outside the Beltway, and to make sure laws and rules and policy are crafted with a full appreciation of the needs of innovators and entrepreneurs to do things that existing laws might not have contemplated.

My hope is that when bring tech and business pioneers to DC, the policymakers get a better sense of our needs, and we get a better understanding of their obligations to the greater public good. When we cross-pollinate the policymakers in DC with cutting-edge technologists and entrepreneurs, we get a better understanding about how technology and policy might evolve in a mutually virtuous cycle. We cant keep writing laws and regulations in a vacuum, and, by the same token, we cant keep building new companies without fully appreciating how law, regulations and policy might affect business.

This lunch is just a humble part of a longer dialogue. Ive tried in the past to bring innovators into the corridors of power. (Im not sure how many remember the Peripheral Visionary Summits.) The discussions are always lively and enlightening. Whether we do any permanent good is anyones guess. I hope everyone leaves with a better appreciation of business needs and policy concerns. Im convinced that weve got to persist, to invade DC as often as possible to help shape forward-looking laws and policy.

This Cyberspace lunch is simply designed to expose policy makers to a few ideas and examples about what is going on with voice and video in an Internet-enabled world, and how existing rules are helping or hindering entrepreneurial efforts. I hope to reiterate that the Internet-enabled digital communications future is not about voice alone. It is not about video alone. It is about what happens when both applications, along with the host of other evolving and inter-related applications, are viewed as part of the larger Internet experience. The future of communications is about what happens now that Moore's Law and Metcalfe's Law kick-in and we create a "system" and a new synthetic environment that will change forever the ways in which we all interact.

Here are the details

Federal Communications Bar Association: Cyberspace Practice Committee Brown Bag Lunch

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 2, 12:00 1:30 p.m.

Location: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, 2300 N Street, NW

Topic: The Future of Voice and Video and Communications in an Internet-Enabled World

More Info: This lunch will bring together technology, business and policy thought-leaders to consider the future of Internet-delivered voice and video and whatever other services and applications await us on the horizon.

Moderator: Jonathan Askin, Professor, Brooklyn Law School

Panelists: Shelly Palmer (Managing Partner, Advanced Media Ventures Group; President, The Emmy Awards -- National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY); Lowell Feldman (CEO, Feature Group IP; Adjunct Professor at UT School of Law); John Hane (Pillsbury Winthrop); Craig Walker (Sr. Product Manager, Voice Products at Google)

Again, to RSVP: Click Here

Tags: Internet Communications, Federal Communications Bar Association, VoIP, Jonathan Askin
Internet Video, FCC

VON Presentations

carl — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:36:12 GMT

The Quickest Way to find the presentations at Fall VON is just a social clique away.

VON attendees are going to find a webpage to navigate the slides updated on the "NING" thing every nite. We are going to have them available while the show is going on for the delegates and nightly on NING. If you are not a member, its good to join now. It's also a good way to connect up to the community of attendees more directly. If you need anymore specific help please send a note to carl.ford@pulvermedia.com

Visit PulvermediaCommunity

An Under-the-Rader FCC Proceeding that Could have Profound Consequences on Internet Communications

jonathan.askin@pulvermedia.com — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:15:01 GMT

Im interrupting my drafting of Reply Comments for Feature Group IPs petition to the FCC seeking to ensure that Internet communications may evolve and grow and experience the network effects that can only be achieved in no gatekeeper is allowed to preclude its users from easily and affordably participate in Internet communications. Im taking this break in part to stretch my back and to clear my head, but also to get a reality check.

Maybe Im delusional, but Im starting to feel a little more optimistic that the FCC could take positive action in this proceeding to ensure that ILECs cannot use their stranglehold over the last-mile bottleneck to overcharge other carriers to reach narrowband customers. Perhaps its the power of righteousness. Perhaps its the fact that Ive been cloistered writing these comments and I am out of touch with whats going on in the World outside. Or, perhaps, its that I feel a new dawn at the FCC, and a newfound belief that it will take dispostive action to allow the Internet to transform the ways in which we communicate.

Frankly, I was particularly pleased and hopeful when the FCC opted to hold a Public En Banc Hearing in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Broadband Network Management Practices at Harvard Law School on February 25.

The testimony from several Internet entrepreneurs and innovators and noted academics were remarkably germane to the issues raised in the FeatureGroup IP Petition, particularly the comments of Professor Yochai Benkler and his recognition that the Internet is overwhelmingly about users connecting to each other, not providers connecting to audiences. As Professor Benkler stated:

Once you stop looking through the blinders of people trained in 20th Century business models, the Internet is about people connecting to each other, to chat about the silly and the profound, to create together and to organize, to transact and to tell each other stories about who we are and how our lives might become. Organizations whose history and culture are based in content delivery to audiences or delivery of well-specified services to terminals are going to have a very hard time understanding that this is where the future lies. They will only do so under the pressure of genuine open competition, which will force them either to understand this change or get out of the way.

While Professor Benkler pointed specifically to concerns over Comcasts alleged degrading of access by end-users to peer-to-peer BitTorrent applications, his analysis could not be more apt than in consideration of the activities of the ILECs treatment of narrowband consumer access to voice-embedded Internet applications and consumers ability to participate in more robust, holistic communications and group forming networks. The self-help mechanisms used by the ILECs to extract the highest intercarrier compensation conceivable when an end-user relegated to the PSTN wants to participate in an Internet-based communication that may include a voice component do nothing to advance the Internet, communications, consumer welfare or the public good, beyond the short-term lining of the pockets of the ILECs and their shareholders.

The FCC has the opportunity, by granting the FeatureGroup IP Forbearance Petition, to ensure that the arbitrage game that the ILECs are perpetrating extracting supra-competitive compensation from those providing Internet connectivity to the PSTN do not stifle the growth and evolution of Internet-enabled communications. The FCC has the opportunity in this case to ensure that consumers may obtain maximum value derived from group forming networks and the network effects that may only be achieved when users of each network including those relegated to the limited-functioning, narrowband off-ramp on the network of networks are allowed to participate across networks without any intervening gatekeeper to use its excessive market power or control over an access facility to game the system and extract supra-competitive compensation from consumers or other providers.

Finally, I was encouraged to see organizations like the Open Internet Coalition and Google, and other policy thought-leaders for the Internet application innovators and entrepreneurs becoming actively engaged in the complex debates over the proper approach to pricing interconnection between telecommunications providers. Internet communications entrepreneurs and users have unfortunately become collateral damage in the wars over compensation that have waged for more than ten years between telecommunications carriers in efforts to extract as much inter-carrier revenue from one another as possible, often at the expense of the consumer and the greater economic and social good.

With help from these innovators, and a better understanding of an Internet-enabled future by the officials at the FCC, I think good things could happen.

I suspect this will be among the issues we discuss next week at Spring VON in San Jose. We still have a lot of work ahead of us to make sure the rules and policy are safe for the Internet to grow and evolve. The price of a free and open and robust Internet is eternal vigilance.

Tags: Internet Communications, Feature Group IP, VoIP, Jonathan Askin
Spring VON, FCC

Spring VON Pre-Con Competition Policy

jonathan.askin@pulvermedia.com — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:10:31 GMT

Im looking forward to my return to the VON Community after a one year hiatus. Most academics take a sabbatical from academia into industry. I took a sabbatical from industry into academia. But, then, I often get things backwards.

In any event, the Spring VON Competition Policy Pre-Con, Seismic Eruptions and Disruptions in an Internet-Enabled World, has really shaped up quickly and promises a pretty great day to learn and debate the great policy issues confronting the Internet communications industry.

The current line-up includes discussions on the broad range of complex policy competition policy issues including mergers, antitrust, patents, jurisdictional, social and economic issues with thought-leaders from across all industry players including:

Ed Black, Chief Executive Officer, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Christian Dippon, Vice President, NERA Economic Consulting
Kevin Minsky, Policy Counsel, U.S. Legal/Corporate Affairs, Microsoft
Michael Pelcovits, Principal, Microeconomic Consulting & Research Associates, Inc. (MiCRA)
Lawrence Spiwak, President, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies
Marty Stern, Partner, K&L Gates
Jeffrey Blumenfeld, Partner, Crowell & Moring LLP
Mark Ostrau, Partner,Fenwick & West LLP
Alfred Pfeiffer, Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
Harvey Saferstein, Member ,Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, PC
David Turetsky, Partner, Dewey & LaBouef LLP Moderator:
Glenn Manishin, Partner, Duane Morris LLP
Ross Buntrock, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC
Bill Lake, Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
Jason Wakefield, Vice President, Governmental and External Affairs, Covad Communications Company
Glenn Richards, Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
Daniel Berninger, Independent Technology Analyst, Tier1 Research
Rob Bertin, Partner, Bingham McCutchen LLP
Fred Grasso, Counsel, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Ron Del Sesto, Partner, Bingham McCutchen LLP
Rick Cimerman, VP, State Government Affairs, National Cable & Telecommmunications Association
Staci Pies, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Skype N.A.
David Young, VP, Federal Regulatory, Verizon
Jim Kohlenberger, Executive Director, The Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition

Well also host a presentation on Emergency Services and the Internet by Jason Barbour, President, NENA

The pulvermedia crew are also returning with the VON Town Hall Meeting to kick off Spring VON. The Community Leaders for the Town Hall Meeting include:

Lowell Feldman, Chief Executive Officer, Feature Group IP
Link Hoewing, Assistant Vice President, Internet and Technology, Verizon
Larry Irving, Co-Chairman, Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA)
Rick Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel, Google

and yours truly, Jonathan Askin, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School and returning VON alum.

Tags: Jonathan Askin, VON, Internet Communications

A billion there vs. a Billion here

carl — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:32:04 GMT

Sometimes the conversations you have with people are prophetic in nature. Talking to a friend who is doing a consulting gig with a vendor, we talked about the need for new infrastructure. Particularly to match how people are going to expect to see the Wireless Internet.

IMHO, You can call it Unified Communication, FMC or anything else but fundamentally its an issue of delivering data to an any to any world. And I am not expecting that peer to peer is the right answer for things that are still head end oriented in nature.

With atts announcement that they planned for a $1B dollar build out of the International structure, I was delighted to see that statement. The issues with supporting the network needs of the future are somewhat more confusing than they were just 15 years ago.

Its no longer a simple matter of pipes and valves (as a cable operator friend used to say). Now we have the issues of caching, streaming, smart edges, and dumber pipes.

Its still about the Internet but the hour glass figure that converges on IP sometimes looks like the stacks are trying to widen the waist. For example, does an application need to know the QoS it gets before the service is set up? Or can a best effort network be the answer. Its trickier than you expect because the people I respect are in disharmony about these issues. And even at the IETF we have efforts being made to get some presession QoS metrics in the network routing table. It should be interesting to watch.

If you have a stake in the race for new services, it may be worth your while to listen to att at Spring VON.

Pulvermedia Blogs

Mark Twain on Getting Yourself Lucky:

Facebook- PLEASE do better with your ads

How TO Influence Me

How to Influence Me

I Could Be Wrong

How NOT To Influence Me

Taking that next Step...

What You Might Not Know About Personal Branding

Distribution and Its Value to Brand

Scott Porad: #140conf: Yes, It Was Important

Backstage at Mesudarim:

Are E-Riches For You

Guest Blogger: Daniel Berninger - An HD Upgrade for the Most Important Communication Link in the World

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy – A True Story Told in Tweets

Guy Grilling the iPhone Guy

Call for Characters: Announcing #140conf Los Angeles and London

Happy Birthday Jon Swanson

A Quick and Inconclusive List of Software I Like

Software I Like

Jay ThePal Documentary of #140conf

The Secret Fight Club

The Secret Fight Club

Are You Part of the Secret Fight Club?

The Secret Bonus Round

Event: Conversation with Jeff Pulver - July 14th in Washington DC

Tiny Annoyance in Posterous

Invitation to Events in Washington DC on July 14, 2009:

Event: Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and friends) in Washington DC on Jul 14th

So Long its been Good To Know You

Defending My Honor

Responding to GigaOm

Fave 5, 10, 20 how about 150?

The Hand That Fed You

FCBA Cyberspace Committee Lunch on the Future of Voice and Video and Communications in an Internet-Enabled World

VON Presentations

An Under-the-Rader FCC Proceeding that Could have Profound Consequences on Internet Communications

Spring VON Pre-Con  Competition Policy

A billion there vs. a Billion here

Event: Conversation with Jeff Pulver - July 14th in Washington DC

Spring VON Pre-Con Competition Policy