A Digital Perspective

Ben Phillips: 5 Twitter mannerisms and how they’d appear in real life

Jye — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:51:54 +0000

Digital mastermind, Ben Phillips, has penned a few thoughts about 5 Twitter mannerisms and how they’d appear in real life. What’s your take? Any more to add?

Ben is long overdue to A Digital Perspective and is an exceptionally down to earth digital strategy bro. He’s also got big hair and skates a lot. Ben can be found a luxa house.

Twitter in real life

Every social network brings with it a range of behaviours, some of which are expected, some of which are downright inappropriate and some of which operate in a slightly ambiguous grey area. Now social networks clearly don’t foster the same interaction structures as the physical world, so these comparisons may be totally invalid, that’s up to you.

1. The compliment retweet.
The scenario goes something like this: I have an article published, speak at a conference, have some notable achievement and am publicly applauded for it by one of my followers on Twitter.
“@ben_phillips read your article mate, brilliant work. Impressed”.

Being the incredibly humble person I am, I immediately retweet this to all of my followers. “RT @loyal_minion @ben_phillips read your article mate, brilliant work. Impressed”

Pannerismsnshysical context: An old (admittedly loose) acquaintance walks into a party and approaches me, “Ben, I read your article on the weekend. Fantastic mate excellent stuff”. At this point, without personally acknowledging the flattery, I turn to the assembled crowd and loudly proclaim “Hello everyone, James has just told me that he read my article and that he thinks it’s excellent”. Awkward.

2. The personal retweet
This is a classic. I post a 140 character pearl of wisdom, such as “OMG babes totes lol wtf”. Then at a later date, I choose to repost this and credit myself. “RT @ben_phillips OMG babes totes lol wtf”.

Physical context: You’re out and there’s “that guy” who’s two sheets to the wind and embarking on a convoluted tale of his latest trip to Vegas. Out of the goodness of your soul, you listen patiently, all the while eyeing the PR sprouter who’s been retweeting you a little more than the caliber of your posts warrant. Finally you make a break for it, gliding through the crowd with gentle ease, sprouter firmly in sights when . . . BOOM! Dude has re-appeared, apparently further lit, starting out with “man did you hear about my Vegas trip I was talking about before” . . . . and off we go again.

3. The follow-on-citation
I’ve just bought a new car and I’m in the market for car insurance. Before I get started on more formal research, I post a quick tweet to my followers “What would you recommend as the best car insurance policy for an innercity driver?”. Within 15 minutes, I’m followed by 3 different insurance companies.

Physical context: You’re at a weekend picnic talking to the assembled acquaintances about your recent auto purchase. You mention insurance, and before anyone has time to respond, 3 men in Canali suits drop out of the trees and express an interest in pursuing a personal relationship with you. You hadn’t invited them to the picnic.

4. The auto-DM-on-follow
This scenario is pretty straightforward and I’m sure that everyone who’s used Twitter before has experienced it. I follow someone for whatever reason, and I’m sent a direct message saying something particularly beige along the lines of “hey, thanks for following, looking forward to your tweets”

Physical context: You’ve just had one of those meetings where there are 10 people sitting around a table and there are more business cards being exchanged than there are polo shirts at the young liberals annual bbq. You’re in the cab on the way back and you get an impersonal email from one of the attendees saying “thank you for exchanging business cards with me, I look forward to our email correspondence in the future”. Whoa, what an impressive opener.

5. The gratuitous association tweet
You’re out at a party, a conference, a social media/digital shindig and you’re hanging out with a handful of people who have oh-so-many more followers than you. The world needs to know who you’re rolling with. “Just at the Ivy with @digital_hotshotA and @media_whizkid”

Physical context: You’re at your aunt’s Sunday BBQ and your 21 year old cousin is there. While nursing a hangover the size of a small pony, you try to make idle chit chat about what she’s been up to on the weekend. Her narrative sounds like the weekend social pages, as she not-so-subtlety demonstrates that her view of herself is defined solely by the company she keeps. You want to give her a reassuring hug, but you don’t live in Paddington so she probably wouldn’t welcome it.

Post-script: author is guilty of some, if not all of the aforementioned behaviours.

Spread it

Also of interest:

The Evolution of Story-Telling by Oscar Nicholson

Jye — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:13:05 +0000

There are people in the industry who have the ability to change your entire perception of concepts or crystallise a notion that you’ve always felt but never been able to articulate. And Oscar Nicholson (or @returnon on Twitter) is just one of those people.

And once again, he’s done it again – here’s Oscar’s take on story telling.

Like me – he’s a self-confessed slashie: he’s a video slash director slash story slash a bunch of other things. He’s someone you’d love to have in every idea session – he is a big picture thinker because he understand the intricate details to the Nth degree. So I can’t really sum him up at all!

Storytelling Evolves

Not to condescend to animals, but what distinguishes us homo sapiens from the rest of you vertebrate riff-raff is creativity and empathy. While you dilated your cloaca or increased the musculature of your prehensile tail, we evolved our hairy asses right out of the trees and learned to express ourselves. Our larynx descended, a language of grunts developed into speech and we started to exchange our experiences verbally as stories. No doubt this had an impetus in survival, a means of communicating incidents as warning others can understand through their capacity for empathy. At some point, creative Cro-Magnon found that embellishing a story helped to emphasize danger. “Minimize your odour to avoid attracting predators” is not nearly as enthralling as “A sabre-toothed orangutan can smell the beaver lard you condition your hair with from across a tundra”.

The captivating power of embellishment evolved stories from fact based anecdotes to fiction. Given free reign of expression, storytellers could entertain and enlighten their audiences. Tapping into our unique capacity for empathy, we told tales that empowered us to vicariously experience the lives of people we’d never met or who never existed. Tales of tragedy, heroism and hilarity that entertained and inspired us, spoke of the human condition and helped make sense of our place in the world. Tales became legends, became myths, became religion.

Storytelling became a vocation. As a purely verbal medium, storytelling allowed the teller a degree of authorship over each telling. Folk tales were fluid and perpetually evolving, audiences could ask questions and the teller could diverge from the main story to expound on minor characters and side plots. The Grimm Fairy Tales were originally passed between generations verbally by storytellers with license to adapt the telling to the times. Once the brothers Grimm recorded them in print in the early 19th century, the folk tales lost their fluid adaptability.

Modern storytelling was dominated in the 20th century by motion pictures, where storytelling has been immutable and linear in keeping with linear broadcast mediums such as cinema, television, cable and video. For all its interpretive nuance, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001” is a story told linearly, with a classic three-act structure that would have done Sophocles proud 2500 years ago. Despite a relatively definitive conclusion, its left to audiences of “2001” to ponder the fate of the human race after Dave Bowman’s ultimate evolution, transcending the corporeal to become a being of pure energy. So its not exactly a passive experience, but the audience engagement in conventional motion pictures is limited to personal interpretation.

Now that non-linear communication is mainstream, we can tell stories whose narratives metastasize into infinite directions. Michael Joyce wrote “Afternoon, A Story” (http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/pmaf/hypertext/aft/index.html) in 1987, the first software based literature that allowed readers to make decisions on behalf of the protagonist via hypertext, much like Choose Your Own Adventure books did years prior. Videogames like the Fallout series similarly allow gamers to decide the fate of their avatar, but in a more dynamic and action-packed way than via hyperlinks, which lack the requisite gore to interest young audiences. These are examples of branching narratives.

While branching narratives are fairly commonplace in many storytelling mediums, their potential is relatively untapped in motion pictures. Until DVDs rocked our living rooms in the mid-90’s, no motion picture medium supported immediate audience interaction and even then, the logistics and production costs made branching narratives too big a risk for anyone to seriously undertake. Now YouTube enables hyperlinked annotations within the video, making branching narrative video series possible. But that’s only one small hurdle to making branching narratives work.

Last year Optus commissioned a branching narrative YouTube series produced by MCN (http://www.mcn.com.au) called “Dutch’s Destiny”, which followed the exploits of an upstart MC toiling in a call centre. Audiences could choose the girl he pursues and how to tackle career opportunities.

Though its yet to happen, branching narratives can potentially enhance repeat audiences. Once one narrative strand is completed, the captive audience will want to see how other narrative branches affect the protagonist’s story. The innovation of “Dutch’s Destiny” cannot make up for its lacking execution. Even if it were a linear narrative, the protagonist is ill-defined and difficult to empathize with, in a less than compelling and unoriginal story. Its a classic case of the coulds and the shoulds; just because they could do a branching narrative, should they? Its just a gimmick if the audience cannot identify with the protagonist and an empty exercise if the audience cannot empathize with the decision being made at narrative branches. The entire “Dutch’s Destiny” series was only viewed 6000 times despite widespread promotion. What’s most telling is that viewer numbers steeply decrease as the series progresses.

Yet I still have enormous faith in the future potential of branching narrative series, particularly with IPTV looming on the horizon. Aside from the aforementioned prerequisites applicable to any story, there needs to be a reason for the branching narrative; a “should” if you will. To me, branching narratives argue for free will against the determinism of conventional linear narratives. No matter how many times you watch “2001”, Dave Bowman always decides to shut HAL9000 down, behaviour a determinist would argue is dictated by who he is, his past, his training and his fate. But if “2001” were told as a branching narrative, we could see what might happen if Dave had the free will to alternatively reason with HAL and try to coax the effeminate AI out of its rational insanity. The capacity to further explore who we are as people and tap into our capacity for empathy is fundamentally why branching narratives are so tantalizing an evolution in storytelling.

Spread it

3 eBooks for digitals, creatives and story-tellers

Jye — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:20:39 +0000

Learning from the best

To celebrate my week of A Digital Perspective posts – i.e. posts written by people I’ve come to know and respect. Here’s 3 eBooks I’ve recently come across that have helped me do what we do, better.

One of the biggest challenges faced by bloggers, publishers and agencies alike is delivering real (and hence perceived) value.

Time Management for Creative People by Mark McGuinness
Oh My God What Happened? by Leif Abraham & Christian Behrendt
7 Elements of Story Telling

More people who think smart

2009/08/12: Jonathan Kelly, Marketing Manager, PayPal (Interview)
2009/08/19: Nic Watt, CEO, Nnooo (the future of gaming)
2009/09/21: Ben Shepard, (the Industry)
2010/05/10: Scott-Bradley Pearce, Cook in Chef’s Clothing (Food and the internet)
2010/05/11: Polka Dot Bride (Online communities)
2010/05/14: Jeremy J Somers (Being Creative)
2010/08/23: Phill Ohren, SEO Specialist, Switched On Media (Future of search)
2010/08/24: Hannah Law, Head of Social Media, Switched On Media (Fashion and the internet)

For a full list of interviewees check out A Digital Perspective.

Spread it

Hannah Law: Has fashion been affected by digital?

Jye — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:38:33 +0000

The speed of fashion online

Today I spoke to my successor, Hannah Law – Head of Social Media at Switched On Media – about the effect she believes digital has had on fashion. I for one think it’s fascinating to see the way new fashions birth and die. These macro and micro trends are something that will ultimately drive sales and even communities. Just look at the Spirit Hood (mine is from boutique Desordre in Sydney) – this is a whole movement around conservation, fashion and celebrity.

Just like fixies and step-throughs in Surry Hills.

1. Do you think the internet has changed or altered what is fashionable?

Yes, what is now considered fashionable has changed in terms of global trends and individuality (if there is still such a thing!). Trends now spread more quickly to Australia from Europe and the States and style has become more global, a good example of this is Tokyo’s Harajuku girls who became international trendsetters.

Individuality is now even more important to the fashion-conscious with consumers jumping at the opportunity to look beyond the traditional fashion icons of celebrities and models to other stylish individuals for fashion cues. For example fashion blog The Sartorialist http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com has become incredibly popular because it shows everyday people who have a unique sense of style.

2. Do you think it’s easier for people to be more fashionable or have more style now because of social media?

I think social media takes each of these changes – globalisation and individuality – to a new level which makes it easier for people to be more fashionable or stylish. It is even easier for Australians to see what celebrities, models, designers and everyday people are wearing in London, New York or Milan. This globalisation of fashion combined with a view that everyday people are style icons helps people develop their own individual sense of style. Social media also lets people find more inspiration, for example, looking at friends pics on Facebook might inspire you to wear a certain top differently or to try a style you had never even considered before.

3. Do you read fashion blogs? How has it impacted your fashion choice?

Yes, I read a few fashion blogs but not religiously. I think it has encouraged me to stick to my own style rather than following trends.

4. Do you think Men have had a greater exposure to fashion because of the internet?

The internet has probably helped make fashion sense more popular and mainstream for men. I imagine it is easier for guys to find out about trends, new collections and styles online than it was in the days of newspapers and magazines.

5. Is fashion more, less or of same important for new generations?

I think fashion has, and will, always be a defining element of a generation.

6. Best tip for fashion for 2010?

I’m really not an expert(!) but I guess it would be: keep it real ;)

Spread it

Phill Ohren: Search and Social Media today and beyond

Jye — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:12:24 +0000

This week I spoke to Phill Ohren – SEO at Switched On Media – about the rise and integration of both Search and Social Networks. Phil and I both had the unique experience of working in the specialist agency to get a deep understanding of both. So whether you’re an SEO gun or a social media stormtrooper – there’s some real insight here.

What I enjoy about Phill’s post is that he is discussing a broad context of digital results including rankings, Twitter, Facebook and what the future holds. He’s definitely one to follow on Twitter.

Why I think Google weighs social media popularity higher than ever

Given that Social Media usage, in terms of Facebook, Twitter and Niche communities, is higher than ever, Google can now tap into metrics that are in some ways (not all) much less susceptible to influence from spammers & SEO’s – If something, like a blog post, is genuinely popular in Social Media it’s easy to spot.

There are publicly visible metrics in Social spaces that search engines could easily use determine popularity, to name a few would be the level of interaction, its reach, the rate of spread. Here’s just 2 of them…..

So what use will Google have for Twitter?

Twitter recently opened the doors to search engines by allowing tweets to be fully index-able. Soon after Google quickly release live feeds in SERPS, showing they could easily manipulate Social Content and put to a Search use.

In terms of tweets & SEO, I believe that Google is now capable of using trending topics towards their ranking decisions using metrics such as: link data (from places like Bit.ly) and a tweeters influence (by analysing their friends and followers metrics) and most importantly! Googles own onsite data it collects using Analytics and Click Through Data.

Trouble is with Twitter, there is plenty of fake accounts, sarcasm and duplicate content around – things robots may struggle to manage with. With this in mind, I believe there’s a combination of metrics, I can think of a least 15, Google uses to extract twitter popularity.

Facebook…

Facebooks open Graph on the other hand is revolutionary piece of technology that again can be used for the GOOD of search. How you ask? Here’s one KEY way it could be done, “like”!

Facebooks “like” widget that appears on websites uses a mixture of AJAX coding and JavaScript. Although Google cannot index content within complex JavaScript, it could in theory be programmed to ready the Facebook “like” popularity of an article / page, in turn this data could be used in the ranking algorithm.

In my opinion, a Facebook popularity ranking metric would be a great addition to the algorithm. Why? The /Opengraph provides real time opinionated data that can be used to show search engines what people really think about content in terms of engagement aspects and the share-ability of content and rich media.

In 2011 SEO will….

Given its steady growth rate, I predict social ranking factors will contribute to around 15% of Google overall rankings algorithm. To top that off, I have recently noticed a large amount of spam appearing in SERPs (results pages) which kind of leads me wonder why Google aren’t doing anything about it? Are they taking a break? Maybe. Most likely I think they are planning something very very big!

I will be blogging about this particular subject frequently on both the Switched On Media an my Personal Blog, feel free to let me know your thoughts as this is a dilemma I am more than happy to discuss.

Spread it

An idea for the future: Online and offline Integration

Jye — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 01:35:26 +0000

Real Life Like Buttons

I’m a massive believer in the integration of offline and online to create a truly great brand experience. It’s something in the digital world that can be easy to forget. Coming from an events and music background though, it’s been something that is top of mind for me.

How we interact offline can be amplified, extended and shared online, and often create a much richer experience. But with the development of services like FourSquare (even if they’re about to be crushed by Facebook) and before the Twitter meet-ups, and most prevalently the way we tweet at conferences, all points to one thing:

How we interact offline should be integrated online for a great and engaging (as in more personally relevant) brand experience.

Coke have developed a way to mimic real life “Like” buttons for their Coke village experience. Using RFID and real places, attendees are able to physically “Like” activities/objects through the Village and capture it online.

Crystal Ballin’ – Idea For The Future

One day, using our mobile phone we can instantly Like cafes, bars and clubs (and any establishment) and build their online fan base fueling recommendation and sharing with friends.

Awesome work, Coke.

Spread it

Bed Intruder Song

Jye — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:51:39 +0000

Digital bro Phill just sent me this. The guys from AutoTune the news have something that made me wee my pants. There’s two versions – the full version is definitely worth it.

Update: the top 5 covers of this song are amazing. AMAZING.

Now watch this.

Full Version

And if you want the FULL VERSION. This is fucking amazing. And yeah it’s on iTunes. Funniest is his description of the intruder.

Spread it

Social Media: $1.7 Billion to be spent

Jye — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:38:19 +0000

Social Media Statistics – 6.7% of all US online ad spending

Advertisers to Spend $1.7 Billion on Social Networks in 2010 - Facebook will receive half of all social network ad spending in the US while MySpace continues to diminish in importance. Twitter, which finally launched its ad business earlier this year, is incorporated into eMarketer’s forecast for the first time.

While I’m not usually one to post the newsy stuff about social networking – I felt this was a significant number for the US. Working now with larger corporate clients, it’s a question that I’m usually asked. eMarketer released these numbers and it’s reassuring to see that we’re on track with strong growth.

More Social Media Statistics – Australia

Social Media in Australia up 36.1% - Once again Hitwise deliver the goods about where the industry is heading: social networking and forums usage in Australia increased by 36.1% in the past year, overtaking search engines as the most visited online destinations.
Australia’s using Facebook - Facebook said its Australian users in October had uploaded 80 million pictures and written 32 million “wall posts” and 45 million “status updates”

Spread it

Visualisation of FourSquare History

Jye — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:16:07 +0000

Visualisation and technology

Visualisation is a powerful way to communicate data and meta-data. I think it’s perhaps one of the most effective ways to demonstrate personal relevance of certain forms of social media because it highlights context and the relationships between points of data.

I’ve been smashing FourSquare since about December last year, and while I enjoy it – I’m still not 100% with where it’ll be headed. I think it’s features will be mimicked by a Twitter or Facebook integration in updates soon.

Yet – this tool by WeePlaces.com really injected some interestingness back into the program for me. It’s a visualisation of your FourSquare history. Check it out.

Jye Smith’s Foursquare by WeePlaces.com.

Spread it

Designing spaces for human movement

Jye — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:42:59 +0000

Skatepark designed by champion & architect

I’m fascinated by the way people interact with the spaces they inhabit and visit. Everything from the way rooms are lit by the sun and by the lights around us; to the very set-ups of Macs and PCs at our desks – think about it: this is where – in our industry anyway – we spend so much time here, the influence of the objects and spaces we inhabit is enormous.

But what is greater still is the consideration and dynamic designs of the spaces people move in. And skate parks are a testament to that.

Former European skateboarding champion and architect Matthias Bauer of MBA/S Associates has designed a skatepark and youth club in Stuttgart, Germany. The skatepark is conceived as a combination of the three parts defining modern skateboarding: Street-Plaza, Bowl-Area and king size Vert-Ramp.

Think about the ebb and flow of skater, the desire to push through space. To challenge and defy the forces of gravity and friction. And to make that experience second to none.

When we were putting on concerts and events – it was about transforming spaces. A creative process I still enjoy today: music, lighting, performers and audience. But this is about creation.

Our very physical context – our momentary cosmos – is often over looked. So next time you’re in the office, in a park, moving through a gallery, house or purpose design space – take note of the way we interact with the very space around us.

This is the first category I’ve added to the blog in 12 months, and I want to go back looking at the way we interact and experience events, spaces and live process.

Spread it

Twitter: Thank you for listening

Jye — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:49:08 +0000

Twitter updates email notifcations after tweets

Twitter recently updated their email notifications to include what I consider vital information: bio, followers, pictures and how many tweets.

Not only does this overcome email fatigue – and possible missing great people to follow – it also gives you an indication of what type of people are following you and maybe even why!

I’d like to say this is thanks to ME hehe and others who supported my recent call. Twitter, thanks for listening. We <3 you.

Spread it

Key leadership indicators

Jye — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:15:31 +0000

When we find out if we’re managers or leaders

I think we all want to be leaders or be lead, few us want to be managed.

Most of us by now will recognise that there are some very key differences between managers and leaders – and being one doesn’t necessarily nullify the other, nor does it guarantee you’re able to do both.

I think the moment we find out is much clearer to those we manage or lead: stress. It’s all about when the shit hits the fan: when we’re having an “emergency” when clients threaten to pull, when our ego is at stake: are we still checking the leadership “check-boxes” or are doing “what needs to be done” and holding everyone accountable yet no one responsible.

I think it’s at times like these when our true leaders shine, and our faux-leaders fall. When suddenly all that talk becomes nothing more than something we say, rather than something we believe.

Key Leadership Indicators

Your staff work (or follow) out of passion and commitment, rather than fear and reluctance
You are still “leading” your staff when you’re under pressure
You still put your people first, even when clients are willing to destroy you

I’ve used a lot of you statements. Maybe that’s my mistake. It should be collective – we’re all in this together. None greater than any other.

We are however, greater than the sum of our parts.

Some of my favourite leaders: Andy Jamieson, Scot Ennis, John Butterworth

Spread it

23 revolutions of the sun

Jye — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:30:13 +0000

Valentina: Her first revolution of the sun

Year Zero

Today marks the beginning of my 24th revolution around our great star. Born when the binary stars of Cancer in M44, the Beehive Cluster, were in the sky, in a the capital city of Colombia. The revolution past was one of the most tumultuous; the most powerful and yet the most rewarding. I’ve never grown more.

First up: massive shout out to this particular context – the digital one – massive thank you to every who supported my recent move to Weber Shandwick, to Hannah, Andy, Scoto and the rest at Switched On Media for a foundation second to absoloutely none (and for putting up with me). The mentors in my life: Scooter, Gavin, Ian, Mark, Scott and Katie.

Going Home

As promised at FastBreak’s Are You Alone? forum today I’m also launching my Adopted From Colombia project – where I’m encouraging all children adopted from Colombia to share their stories, as well as the parents of adopted children, or the parents who have adopted-out children.

This is just the beginning, and a story, resource and piece I hope to build with many from around the world. If you, or someone you know, would like to be involved: I invite you to share your story.

23 Revolutions Of The Sun

Twenty-three revolutions of our star
And I’m less afraid, a little less far
From the distant cloud of stellar nursery
Its brilliant colour still blinding me

Everything is always beginning
A new symphony is always singing
As everything we know is ever ending
We are ever changing and ever bending
It is forever year zero

Spread it

8 Skills We Sometimes Forget to Appreciate

Jye — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:26:42 +0000

The little big things

Do you know someone who has a skill most people over-look or under-value? Share them. Let them know. So many things go un-acknowledged. here’s your chance.

Being able to communicate complex things in a simple way, without using 1000 words
Creating graphs that are sound, valid and communicative
Understanding (actual) risk & consequence
Articulating what you’re passionate about
Knowing how to make other people excited about what we’re excited about
Listening
Being able to disagree
Being (and remaining) objective

Spread it

8 Reasons To Get the iPhone

Jye — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:51 +0000

Will I be getting the new iPhone 4?

I’ve been asked perhaps 20 times this week alone if I’ll be getting the new iPhone (AKA iPhone 4, iPhone 4G etc) – and the answer is yes.. but here’s why.

Overall? The design is fucking amazing: I love black glass and steel. Always have. And the retina display as a resolution is a wet dream.

“Retina Display” 4 times as many pixels to the space of a standard pixel
Design: black glass and stainless steel
Battery life: well, I put up with it now. So it’s better now. So I’ll have to put up with a little less.
32GB: yay. Space, for my music and photos. Love it.
Dual Mics: something I hadn’t even thought of, makes a lot of sense.
New camera technology: 5MB pixel, backside illuminated sensor (nice!), zoom, tap to focus,
HD VIDEO!!!111 – sorry Flip cam..
iMovie for iPhone (holy shit.. amazing..) this makes it record, edit and share device. In HD. Includes GPS stuff as well

What I’m not so interested in.

Gyroscope, Accelerometer - feature, but I’m not much of a games person
LED Flash. Yuucky.
Multi-tasking – meh
Threading – just really about time
iAds. God.

Spread it

WTF Community Managers

Jye — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:38:51 +0000

An introduction to Community Management

I just walked home from the first meet-up of Community Managers of Sydney. I’m co-organising and supporting Swankie and Mandi who have kindly started the initiative.

So WTF is a community manager? What are they managing and for who? Well that’s what we were discussing. It seems that the role of a community manager is as dynamic and as varied as the communities they manage.

They need to be able to grow, evolve and adapt just as their communities do.

Overall, a community manager, and community management means different things to different facets of the business. I think the key to strategy – business, digital – it to understand how this should all be aligned. Beyond communications, marketing, customer service, brand – but as a business focus. How do we align all the stakeholders to deliver the best possible outcome for all? What’s the pay off?

There were so many insightful thoughts from the broadest range of backgrounds in the room. Everyone had a unique position. Everyone!

The Take Aways:

A whole new language
Rhythm of contact with members
A community that complains: the community lifecycle
The conversation
What do you compare it with in your real life
A reason for belonging
That I’m not alone (Carla)
Identifying who your community with and how to engage them
That I’m not wrong when I tell my clients that they need to create a local channel
Rhythm & Community Life Cycle
Creating internal communities within the business – building hubs within the business to seve the community elsewhere in the business – the community managers role into other areas of the business. You are empowered on behalf of the business to solve problems, giving them the skills to tell a story.
Analogy of the maitre d’ – the community manager
When building a community: identifying a shared purpose

Up Next:

How do you measure change from your community management efforts
Influencers, Advocates
Trolls & Moderating: Guidelines
When do you take the conversation offline
Where does community management fit in the organisations
Case studies

Spread it

Also of interest:

10 Things They Never Told You About Social Media

Jye — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:02:41 +0000

Don’t drink the Social Media Kool-Aid

So you want to ‘get into social media’, huh?

Firstly, I’ve written posts that make me think I should have opened the fucking kool-aid stand. Oh well. Sue me: I’m doing a 180. But then again, if I didn’t make as many mistakes as I had, I wouldn’t have learned a damn thing. If my coaches and mentors hadn’t said ‘wait, wait, wait, stop – wtf are you talking about?’ I wouldn’t have realised as much as I have.

This week I’ve started building and training the new digital and social media team: and what’s apparent from both agencies and clients alike, is that there’s all these rules and all this musts and it’s all.. bullshit.

So, friends, here’s the 10 things they never told you.

Businesses do this for the bottom line, not holding hands
You don’t have to respond to everything that is said: just set expectation with your community
Data is critical, knowledge is success – know the difference
The biggest social networks don’t always have the best return: Facebook isn’t always the answer
Social media as a stand alone strategy, rarely does all that well (you need wider digital and other media support): try SEO, PPC
Understanding your or your clients sales funnel is critical to strategy (and selling it internally)
Social Media is bigger than marketing, PR and customer service – hence why it’s hard to pick a leader
Online communities can take years to build meaningful relationships: is your agency to prepared to hang in there? Is your client?
Social media campaigns can exist. Set your expectations: if you want to run a 3 month social media campaign, just set the expectations (in the word of Scott Drummond: the party’s here for 2 months, after that, you can go home)
Social media experts exist: they’re just people who know a little more than the next person, in a given situation – I have no idea why it became “insightful”, or cool more to the point, to denounce social media professionals.

Another 11

These people work in this day to day. Not just for show, or for a sense of belonging. Puts some food on the table. And these people have also been kind enough to answer the same question. Most of their answers will form new blog posts for me:

Gavin Heaton, (my hero) Social Media Director, SAP: how to deal with the “social” when it becomes “personal”
Jess Nichols: You need to find a balance between not sharing anything & oversharing everything. So many people go to extremes & can do more harm than good
Mandi Bateson, Digital Planning Director, Daemon Digital: How defensive people get when you take the conversation from a company level down to people – on both sides of the fence. eg. managing internal or client astroturfers who are proud of their work and pounce on negative feedback b/c they take it personally
Alex Asigno, Head of SEO, Switched On Media: the importance of listening
Karalee Evans, Social Media Manager, Amnesia : In my humble opinion, the number 1 untaught lesson: how little ROI is understood in Social Media. The misconceptions of Social Media as intangible needs to be addressed.
Lucie Snape, Digital Strategist, Ogilvy: the importance of managing your personal brand
Marek Wolski, Digital Marketer: Patience. Its a long term commitment that builds relationships. It takes time to create, implement & optimise your crm in social contexts.
Tiphereth Gloria, Social Media Manager, GPYR Sydney: how much people want brands to have a human face i.e. admit mistakes, be real, apologise, move on
Heather Snodgrass, Strategy Director, We Are Social: it depends how good your teacher is!
Nicola Swankie, Account Director, McCann: just how labour intensive it is
Kimberley Lee, PR Communications, ParkYoung: although online connection is great, don’t forget about the power of offline connections too.

Spread it

AIMIA Connect 2010

Jye — Mon, 31 May 2010 08:10:27 +0000

The Future of Digital Media – July 1

This year, AIMIA are hosting AIMIA Connect – a full day conference showcasing the latest thinking from Australia’s digital leaders. Backing up their thoughts will be the most recent AIMIA Award winners – real case studies from the people who have bled for the campaigns.

A day featuring commentary and analysis by the people who carry out the work. I highly encourage anyone in the digital media space – especially agencies – to attend.

The early bird discount ends this week – hope to see you there! Be sure to register today.

Spread it

Cochlear Implant: Reaction of an 8m/o baby

Jye — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:10:38 +0000

Science, Technology should just be about this

Everything else seems trivial.

Spread it

Closing the Digital Divide

Jye — Fri, 28 May 2010 00:52:41 +0000

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

Through innovation in technology we can be more connected to our physical world, we can be more connected. Rather than being machines, sitting in front of other machines.

Swankins passed this video on. And it really blew me away. Forget about tablets, iPads, surfaces for a while – and think about all this. It’s already miles ahead of what we’re considering new releases.

To imagine this technology is incredible. To build it is genious.

Spread it

A Digital Perspective

Ben Phillips: 5 Twitter mannerisms and how they’d appear in real life

Twitter in real life

Also of interest:

The Evolution of Story-Telling by Oscar Nicholson

Storytelling Evolves

Most Commented Posts

3 eBooks for digitals, creatives and story-tellers

Learning from the best

More people who think smart

Most Commented Posts

Hannah Law: Has fashion been affected by digital?

The speed of fashion online

Most Commented Posts

Phill Ohren: Search and Social Media today and beyond

Why I think Google weighs social media popularity higher than ever

So what use will Google have for Twitter?

Facebook…

In 2011 SEO will….

Most Commented Posts

An idea for the future: Online and offline Integration

Real Life Like Buttons

Crystal Ballin’ – Idea For The Future

Most Commented Posts

Bed Intruder Song

Full Version

Most Commented Posts

Social Media: $1.7 Billion to be spent

Social Media Statistics – 6.7% of all US online ad spending

More Social Media Statistics – Australia

Most Commented Posts

Visualisation of FourSquare History

Visualisation and technology

Most Commented Posts

Designing spaces for human movement

Skatepark designed by champion & architect

Most Commented Posts

Twitter: Thank you for listening

Twitter updates email notifcations after tweets

Most Commented Posts

Key leadership indicators

When we find out if we’re managers or leaders

Key Leadership Indicators

Most Commented Posts

23 revolutions of the sun

Year Zero

Going Home

Most Commented Posts

8 Skills We Sometimes Forget to Appreciate

The little big things

Most Commented Posts

8 Reasons To Get the iPhone

Will I be getting the new iPhone 4?

Most Commented Posts

WTF Community Managers

An introduction to Community Management

Also of interest:

10 Things They Never Told You About Social Media

Don’t drink the Social Media Kool-Aid

Another 11

These people work in this day to day. Not just for show, or for a sense of belonging. Puts some food on the table. And these people have also been kind enough to answer the same question. Most of their answers will form new blog posts for me:

Most Commented Posts

AIMIA Connect 2010

The Future of Digital Media – July 1

Most Commented Posts

Cochlear Implant: Reaction of an 8m/o baby

Science, Technology should just be about this

Most Commented Posts

Closing the Digital Divide

Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology

Also of interest: