I am sitting here on the eve of PodCamp Boston 3 with a head full of ideas and a belly full of excitement. It happens every year around this time.

So, I fired up CastBlaster and recorded this episode of Managing the Gray. One of those straight from the brain to the microphone types of shows.

I talk about the continued need to connect with people offline, the concept of being an “expert” (thanks again to Shel Holtz for the very complimentary call in) and on what is happening with The Advance Guard.

I seem to talk to more and more people across multiple channels about the same topic. They want to know how to break into social media. How to find the perfect job for themselves. What is a hot industry that they should go into.

The answer is always the same and it is really a question.

What do YOU want to do? What are you passionate about? What would you love to get up and do every day?

If you can’t answer that, then what is the point of asking the other questions? At the end of the day even if the industry is the hottest thing since Violet Blue, your still going to hate it once the newness wears off unless you are passionate about it in the first place.

Social Media is and always was a buzz phrase. I don’t know who coined it first and I honestly don’t care, but those of us who are living in this fishbowl know that what once was taken for granted is now becoming the norm. That isn’t to say that everyone understands it and is using it. What I mean is the fact that communities, conversations and connectivity are here and are not going away. Yes, they are going to evolve and change, but they are everywhere now. The barriers for entry are lower then ever and anyone can begin playing and working in this space if they desire.

So, back to that road leading into the unknown.

If you are unhappy in your current job and want to do something in this space then you’ve got to work damn hard to make it happen. Having a Facebook page and a podcast on your resume is not going to get you a job. You’ve got to understand the business, you have to know the marketplace. You’ve got to know your stuff, plain and simple. If you can’t sell yourself to a potential employer or client, then no one can.

Everyone seems to think that there is a magic path ahead where if you understand this space the work will come to you. I can tell you that it doesn’t happen. You’ve got to work hard to find the clients. You’ve got to work even harder to make them happy and hire you back for more work. If you keep doing good work people will get to know you and want to hire you. It can all happen, but it is far from magic.

This post got sparked by several conversations I’ve had with people recently who are making a move, looking to make one or are out of work and looking. The reality of it all is starting to sink in for them and before more people think they can just make a leap I wanted to politely remind everyone of that age old saying of “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” While I’ve had a few in my time, I’m a firm believer that hard work will get you more rewards then anything else.

Don’t be afraid of the road. I’m a huge fan of hitting the gas pedal and seeing where it takes me. Adventure is a powerful motivator and one that I love. But, the best adventures are never the easiest ones either. Always remember that. It also reminds me of one of my favorite quotes.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lao-tzu

I spent some time putting words into it and seeing what it did. I don’t want to spoil the surprise but go ahead and give it a try. When you give it a word that the box likes it reacts positively to it. I’m still haven’t figured out if there are any key words that will make it go really nuts or not and what the end goal of the site is, but it is a fun for a nice break. One warning though is that the site loads with sounds so don’t have your speakers to loud. You can turn it off in the upper right hand corner.

What I have determined is that it is tied to a Facebook application as well where you can win prizes by holding the box. I had the box for a while, but didn’t win anything. As you can see below, you can go in every day and “touch” boxes that other people are holding in the hopes that when the box changes holders you’ll get it next. Sort of like an inverted, twisted game of duck duck goose if you ask me.

Word on the street is that this is tied to a television company, but I’m not getting any real answers from anyone I ask so I’m not sure. I did see a TV in one of the promo shots as a prize so who knows.

If you try it out and find anything cool that makes the box do things let me know. If you win a prize I REALLY want to know because I am curious to see what sorts of things it gives out.

Not sure this is “life changing” but it is certainly fun to play with.

What I mean is someone sets up a podcast or develops a Facebook fan page. Maybe they create a Twitter account or begin to blog. Whatever first step they take, they do it and then just assume an audience will follow. They assume instant success and people flocking to them.

I hate to tell you, but that isn’t how it works. As with every other marketing campaign, public relations initative or successful brand it involved a lot of hard work, a little luck and constant evolution in what you are doing. Plain and simple, it takes time!
I don’t mean to cast any doom and gloom because that is not what I’m doing. I just seem to be seeing more and more people assuming that the first little thing they do is going to be hugely successful and solve all of their problems. If you want to use social media or execute a major marketing initiative or gain popularity for yourself then get in gear and get to work. Be passionate and committed to what you are doing. Be ready to work hard, invest both time and money into your goals and stop thinking short term and look at the big picture.

Sorry for the mini-rant, but this has been on my mind a lot lately. Social media is not the silver bullet to solve all your problems. Yes, it is going to help you if it is appropriate and done right for you, but it is not a cure all.

Ahh….I feel better.

According to a recent study by BlogHer and Compass Partners, more than one-third (35%) of all women in the U.S. aged 18 to 75 participate in the blogosphere at least once a week

I’m very glad that BlogHer did this survey because I think it proves what I’ve said in the past about not ignoring the female population on the web. If you win over the Mother in a household, then you win over the pocket book. Sure, I’m the gadget freak of the house, but my wife and I discuss all purchases before they are made. I know we are not unique in this situation. It is how good relationships work.

It also drives home the fact that brands need to continue (or start) to think beyond only Moms and rather focus on all women on the web. Every day women are finding information, shopping and engaging with each other online rather then the more traditional ways.

Of course, I was also happy to see a rising number in female content creators. The survey focuses specifically in on writing blog content, but I’d argue that I’ve been seeing a rise in all forms of media on the web. More and more are starting small. Maybe just a Facebook account or a Twitter stream to express themselves and connect with friends. While others are branching out beyond that and starting to try out video and audio.

It doesn’t matter what they are doing, but rather that they are doing it. This number is going to continue to grow.

I just had an amazing experience in customer service from Comcast and felt that it would be easier and quicker to share in a podcast rather then in a blog post.

With all the flack they have gotten over the years, I’ve actually been very fortunate to have a mostly good experience with them and the last 24 hours really proves that when a brand pays attention to the conversation happening out on the web about them and actively works to engage in that, good things can happen.

If you are not in the mood to listen, the short version of the story is that last night I made a snide remark about the lackluster quality of my HD picture on Comcast during the Celtics game. Comcast saw that and tweeted me back minutes later. This morning I got a call from their service center. This afternoon someone came out. Now my HDTV rocks! THAT my friends is customer service and how it should work all the time.

Brands need to wake up to the fact that “new media” isn’t going away and in fact, I’d argue that it isn’t new anymore, but is here and at the forefront so you either wake up and pay attention or you lose business to they company that is paying attention.

I’m happy to say that I am one of the almost 300 authors taking part in the second edition of this book and as I just submitted my chapter for it, I figured it was time to quickly mention it here.

I saw a mini meme starting among some of the authors to share a snippet from their chapter. I went in a little bit of a different direction with my chapter that I hope isn’t too off the wall. I wasn’t sure what to share, but I liked this piece so I felt it would work as nice tease for what I wrote about.

I love to create. Although the canvas might change, I constantly keep the creative juices flowing and sharing my creations with everyone. What are you doing to add to the gallery? Don’t be afraid to try a new medium.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what all these other authors come up with. So many names I know and so many that I don’t know yet, but hope to. If you are curious check all of them out below by clicking and visiting their sites.

“Age of Conversation 2 - Why Don’t People Get It?” Authors:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Yesterday I upgraded my main desktop computer from a PC that has served me well (bought off the shelf from a Best Buy), but that has been acting flaky lately. Just like a car it is not uncommon that after three years of heavy use a computer can start to bog down, act funny and just not get you where you want to go as nicely as it could. Sure, it still runs, but not like a shiny new one.

My rule when buying a new computer is simple. Buy the highest level of everything that your budget can afford. Spending that extra bit of money now to have more RAM installed will save you time and aggravation down the road. Also, you need to accept that no matter when you buy a computer (or other gadget) that the price and capabilities will be old and outdated faster then you want it to be. Just accept it and move on. It is not worth dwelling on.

If you are thinking of buying a Mac of any sort then I highly recommend checking out the Mac Buyer’s Guide that based on previous release schedules tells you the optimal time to purchase. I listened to them on my iMac and waiting a couple of weeks was the right move. Bookmark that site now!

Last week there was all this commotion around some photos that were taken for an issue of Vanity Fair magazine. I love Annie Lebowitz and thought the photos were fine. I actually didn’t think that the one that really got the most attention was that good if I’m being honest. Parents were mad that a young girl would take suggestive photos. Even when in my opinion they was only minimal suggestion in them. But, that is a whole other discussion.

The point in all of this is that it is obvious that we are watching a transition from Hannah Montana (a fake character created by Disney) to Miley Cyrus, pop superstar. This is a planned, calculated first move in a campaign to change her image. People won’t like it all, but it is just like when a product or company renames itself. You’ve got to get people talking about you and guess what? Here we all are talking about it.

My daughter loves both. Isn’t it obvious by this picture? For the longest time she thought of them as separate people. When she bought the CD there were separate ones for each of them. The music was similar but different. I’ve watched as slowly she talks more about Miley and Hannah is forgotten. It has been happening for weeks and she is unaware of all this craziness going on right now.

There is no quicker way to kill off a young innocent girl then to have her grow up. It happens to the best of them and that is what we are seeing.

Soon Miley will be 16. Her fans are growing up as well. Sure, she has the choice of if she stays a “good girl” or she ends up becoming the new poster child for abuse and stupidity (i.e. Britney).

I’m just sick of reading and hearing about people “taking advantage of her” or Miley “not know what is going on” because nothing could be further from the truth. This is all just part of the big brand game and there is sure to be more soon. Sometimes you’ve got to take the good and the bad or as Hannah would sing “the best of both worlds.”

I seem to have picked up several new listeners from my show on the Manic Mommies which is great. If this is your first show then welcome!

I’m excited to say that I have a new call in number for the show. It is 1-866-384-4522 and if you are a listener of more then one of my shows, that number is going to work for all of them so write it down or throw it into your phone.

Mentioned on the show

• PodCamp NYC 2
  
• mDialog’s PodCamp NYC Video Channel
• PodCamp Boston 3
• MITX
• The Ultra Creatives Podcast

I also mention the scholarships I’m going to be giving away for PodCamp Boston 3, but you’ll have to listen to get the details.

Kristin and Erin from Manic Mommies swung by on a Sunday morning for conversation and coffee. We talk about a lot of topics including the General Motors sponsorship of their Mommy Escape (the picture here is my wife AT the Escape), their recent trip to the BlogHer Business Conference and the growing of their brand. Not only are they friends of mine, but I’ve really loved watching them grow over the three years since they first started podcasting.

The best part about having them over is that it reminds me how much fun it is to have conversations on podcasts. I don’t do that as often as I should. I think it is a new goal for me

If your curious about a whole other side of mine, we recorded an episode of their show where we only talked about parenting. When it is up I’ll put a link here.

Update: The episode of Manic Mommies is now available here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg2MukcqbdE

AMEN Gary! Amen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTPrLka-HWA

Of course, the first thing I did this morning was send “him” an e-mail to see what would happen.

As I guessed, I got an auto responder with some nice thank you text and link to their campaign website where I could learn more about their phones if I wanted to.

I’ll give whoever came up with this campaign credit for grabbing my attention and being smart enough to set up the auto response. But, what I’m hoping I get to do is give them praise if he actually ever answers the e-mail. I put in an invitation for him to come on Managing the Gray for an interview about this new approach to get a conversation started with consumers. Hopefully it goes better then the invitation I put over a year ago to politicians and none took me up on.

This picture is of my daughter Emily. She grabbed a box of chalk and attacked our driveway. She was drawing everything from scribbles to a map of the house. She drew these crazy shapes that made me think of an armada of blimps on the attack and when I said that she laughed at me because in her mind it was nothing of the kind.

When I talk with the kids they often say “wouldn’t it be cool if….” I’ve caught myself a couple of times explaining why an idea wouldn’t ever work and then I stop and have promised myself that I would never do that again. Why should I put up barriers in their minds already when I know eventually some will come anyways and I’d rather see them continue to think the fantastical. We need more people like this in the world don’t we?

So how do you keep your creative edge? Some believe that creativity can come from anywhere. I do believe that it is in all of us, but many are scared to ever let it out to play for fear of “stupid ideas” or “people laughing at me.” Those have got to be the two worse reasons NOT to be creative. I always wondered how the girl or guy who first through out the idea of a pink bunny rabbit banging on a base drum felt in that meeting. Talk about a silly idea that people would laugh at. Who is laughing now though right?

Ever since I got back from SXSW I’ve been thinking a lot about my personal creativity. About how to stretch it. Take it out to play more often then I have been.

When I was little if you were to ask me what I was going to be when I grew up I always said an artist. I was constantly drawing and creating stuff. In one sense I guess I still do that. But, I haven’t painted or doodled much lately and I need to do that. I love to create with my camera and my audio, but I want to do more.

What do you do to stimulate creativity? Do you do anything?

Personally music and being outside stimulate mine. Combine the two with an iPod and a walk in the woods or around the urban jungle and the juices get flowing for me. I also find it in the most unlikely of places. A book, television show or even the once in a million commercial might get things going. Playing a video game with Dylan a few weeks ago sent me off on a tangent of creativity when he went to bed. I got an annual report in the mail last night that while wasn’t at all what I thought it was going to be it got me thinking.

I also have items I can always go to. Some would include:

• Colma by Buckethead
• Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez
• Any Tarantino movie
• Behind the scenes videos with David Fincher
• Rules of the Red Rubber Ball (thanks again Whit)
• Dr. Seuss books
• My Cathedral of the Pines

Do you have the equivalent of creativity comfort foods that you can go to when you need them? I can’t be the only one.

I feel better getting this blog post out. It has been rattling around in my head since I took this picture of Emily. I thought about making it into a podcast or even just an entry in my paper journal, but wanted to brain dump here to get other people’s thoughts.

I’m just back from my time in Austin, TX attending SXSW and wanted to share my thoughts with you about it. Were you there? If so I’d love to hear your thoughts. Give me a call at 206-309-4729 and leave a comment. I’ll play it on the next show.

I talked a lot about what was so great for me about the conference. It was a mix of the people, the events and the overall vibe of it all. The food was great as well! *grin*

Links to some things I talked about:

• My photos from SXSW
• The Fray Cafe
• Jane McGonigal’s Keynote
• SXSW For Newbies video series (client)

And one thing that I think most of us took for granted was that Twitter stayed up the whole time. Last year is when it really broke out and the servers got crushed. They mentioned upgrading the servers just before the conference started and it seemed to work great. Way to go to the team behind the scenes on that one.

I only had a couple of minutes to play around with it, but it let me build a little house from a template and populate it with a couple of things that I bought from the store. It looks like you can also create your own, sell items and move things around. With the border around my house I’m not sure if I’ll get neighbors someday or how that happens. It all seems to be tied into a bigger site and functionality. I wonder how it all connects?

I’m sure this is just the first of many invites I’m going to get on MySpace. I’m curious how different it is from developing applications in Facebook and if it is more powerful or limiting. Only time will tell. If you know, let me know would you? Thanks in advance

Tags: myspace, myspace apps, myminilife

Yesterday while cruising around Facebook I saw an ad for a cabin rental in the Adirondacks. I clicked onto something else before I realized that the ad was of interest to me and then couldn’t find it again. I clicked on the little “more ads” under the space, but it wasn’t there.

I’ve set up these ads before and know that they allow you to target people based on a variety of demographic and key word data. So I obviously fit someone’s profile for who they wanted to target and they got it right because I wanted to find out more. But, now I can’t!

The only thing I can guess is that this particular ad hit a spending limit and that is why it is not visible any more. But, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to look for ads if you wanted to? Sure, the frequency of this happening would be low, but who is going to turn away someone that WANTS to see their ad?

Ok, my mini rant is done. Guess I’ll have to just use good old Google to look for a cabin to rent.

My friend Sarah “Intellagirl” Robbins called me out in a recent blog post.

She wanted to know one tangible way to break out of the fishbowl and get more people into new media. Rather then thinking about it long and hard I hit record and gave the first thing to come to mind. I’d love to hear how else you are are getting new people to try out things in this space. I’m sure we all have stories and sharing them can only help others so please do share.

Call in with your ideas to 206-309-4729 or leave them as a comment on this post. I can’t wait to hear what is on your mind.

The first happened when I logged into the Apple iTunes Store this morning and this is what I saw.

A complete buy out of the three big advertising spaces at the top of the store. For those of you who don’t use the store, each of those squares traditionally advertises one piece of content and they rotate slowly through usually three different options. Most of the time it is highlighting the newest album, movie or service.

This the first time I’ve seen a complete buy out of all three for one brand and there is no rotation. I’m sure this has to do with all the American Idol content that the store has this year. Performances, audition videos, links to songs that are sung, the works. Kudos to all involved.

The second came as I was checking the news on Boston.com and saw a banner ad from McDonald’s that caught my eye. That in itself takes a lot since like most people I get banner blindness and usually ignore them. Where it took me was The Chilled Out Lounge.

McDonald’s has said it wants to move beyond just fast food and wants to go directly after Starbucks in the coffee market. This is obviously a play in that direction. Not sure I’ll personally ever be able to think of McDonald’s as anything other then a place I can’t eat ever since watching Super Size Me.

The point of this post is to showcase some big brands trying new things. Nothing earth shattering or mind blowing here. Certainly nothing that has not been done before, but it was unique enough that I wanted to share it here.

What makes Overlay.TV different is that anyone can tag any video. It does not touch the original uploaded file. It can pull a video from most of the major video services (Brightcove is one I asked about which is coming) or from an uploaded movie file on your own server and then people can place overlays on the video highlighting products and services.

In the demo we pulled in a video of a trumpet player from YouTube and tagged his t-shirt to go to Amazon to buy a similar one. Anyone can take any video and place overlays on it. The process is quick, easy and powerful. The options on if the overlay is just a simple hot sport or actually a mini pop up is up to the user. Adding product information is done via a bookmarklet that allows for one click copy and past of descriptions, prices and other needed information from any web site.

I can see some big potential for this from lots of different angles. Brands (especially retail ones) will be adding overlays to their viral videos. Bands can link out to their CDs and equipment sponsors. Fans can take anything they are in love with and create their own overlays and then embed it all on their blogs and Facebook profiles.

Some people might freak since this could be viewed as changing a video, but it is not. It is just putting a screen over the video and allowing for people to link items in it. I’m interested to see the community nature of this and also how companies can leverage it on their own sites. I’m also interested to see if this gets popular if performance will degrade and if items won’t seamlessly sync up.

Take a moment and check it out when you have a moment. To get a feel for what I’m talking about they’ve made this throw back infomercial as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qATtnwdXzEQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHu9-IUB4k

That is exactly what my good friend Mitch Joel did in his video showing why he loves his Sony Vaio.

On February 11th if you’d like I’ll be online for two hours to chat with anyone about anything. It would be great to connect and you can sign up here.

I’ve played with ooVoo for a while now. It is good to see that they are finally out with a Mac friendly client because I think the ability to do live video chat with five other people is a very powerful thing and something that a lot of people can benefit from.

What makes me most happy about this day is that I was told that I’d have $1500 to donate towards charity. I am a HUGE supporter of giving back in any way possible so this made my day. I’m splitting my donation between the Frozen Pea Fund for breast cancer and the Ma Chen- Autism School in China that my good friend Whitney is championing.

The screen shot is from the sign up page and includes a few of the other great participants. I’m personally looking forward to signing up and chatting with others such as Mitch Joel and Scott Sigler as well.

Hope to see you there.

I woke up this morning and the first thing I saw on the web was this blog post from Mitch Joel talking about virtual worlds and it got my mind rolling as I brought the kids to school. When I got home rather then sharing my thoughts in a blog post I thought it would make a better podcast so I could just rattle off my thoughts about how the usability of virtual worlds must get better, how kids are growing up on them and how more people need to start thinking about virtual worlds as social networks.

Some links mentioned on the show in case you want to find out more:

• Webkinz
• Second Life
• Littlest Pet Shop VIPs
• Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

I also briefly mentioned at the end of the show two client projects we are working with on Facebook. One was the online trivia game from Trivya and the other was the aerie kissing booth.

Feedback always welcome at 206-309-4729 or drop me an e-mail.

I love creative commercials as much as the next guy and the idea of having a site where I can go and view them if I wish is an interesting one, but long term I don’t get how a site like this can survive. It is fun for a few minutes and advertisers might pay to have their ads featured, but after that what? What brings back an audience on an ongoing basis?

Then last week I read about their campaign around the Super Bowl which we all know is as much about the pimping as it is the pigskin. The Road to Firebrand Monday is a campaign across multiple channels featuring some of the best characters and commercials from over the years. Here you can see one of their advertisements for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEXhigptdM8

They are also doing a series of special episodes gearing up for this and on the day after the game will feature a special episode hosted by Carmen Electra and Reebok’s “Office Linebacker” Terry Tate. I’m actually looking forward to watching this one episode because it should make for good TV and I always like seeing what other have to say about the commercials I loved and hated. The shows run on ION TV which I didn’t even know I had until I was flipping through the channels one night and discovered it.

I watch the Super Bowl for the game first and the ads second. Especially this year when the Patriots are rolling into town to crush the Giants.

I’m still not sold on Firebrand, but I am sold on this specific campaign. It is a natural and perfect fit for their brand. It is going to be interesting to see what they do with all this buzz they are getting and if it can take them anywhere in the months ahead.

This week aerie by american eagle launched a Facebook application that would be playful, flirty and fun for their brand. We worked with them to brainstorm and then develop the aerie kissing booth. They already had a successful and growing Facebook group so this was a natural extension to that.

I firmly believe that Facebook or any other social tool is not a silver bullet solution that works for every company. This is why at The Advance Guard we prefer to never focus on the technology but rather on the goals a client is looking to achieve. Perhaps it is just to build buzz or to raise awareness for a new product or service. Other times it’ll be about getting new users to sign up for something or to expand the reach of a brand. Whatever the goal I like that we also make sure to stop and really think about what is appropriate for that particular situation and brand.

This is the first Facebook application that we’ve been directly involved in the development of and we’ve learned so much. It has been fun to wake up this week to a profile full of kisses.

-Cross posting at CC-Chapman.com and ManagingTheGray.com -

I’ve been getting asked by lots of people lately, “How do I break into new media?”

I’m a firm believer that all the tools are out there and the great thing is that anyone can start today if they want to. There is no velvet rope, no casting couch, everyone is invited to the party. But, I do think that if you really want to do this as a career (which is what most people are asking me about) then there are some other things you need to think about.

I didn’t state the obvious which is to get in on the ground floor with a company working in the space. I completely forgot to say this during the show, but it is a great way to do it. While The Advance Guard isn’t hiring at the moment we are always open to the idea of interns who are willing to work hard and get some great experience at the same time.

It is more about hard work, passion, curiosity and determination then about any tool, trick or tantrum. Get out there and make it happen. You’ve got the tools, but do you have the drive to make it happen?

On the show I mentioned that I’d love to hear what your goals for the year are. Call them into 206-309-4729 or drop me an e-mail.