Six Pixels of Separation - Marketing and Communications Insights - By Mitch Joel at Twist Image

Building Loyalty Beyond Reason

Mitch Joel — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:27:34 PDT

It seemed like everything changed in business overnight.

At one, unique moment in time, we shifted from a world where we dreamed about being able to collect data and information about our customers, to a world where personal computing was a reality. Not only was this a world where there was a computer on every desktop, but Moore's Law (the notion that computation power doubles every two years) started kicking in, and we were able to capture, slice and dice larger and more powerful data sets and output them into offers for customers that were more personalized and relevant.

The truth is that business technology actually got too good at capturing customer information.

We went from a dry and desolate data desert to drowning in a sea of data. Marketers spent decades trying to crack the code and come up with cost-effective and timely ways to capture, slice and dice this endless depth of customer information gold. Few companies had the financial wherewithal, human capital and marketing resources to harness this information fully. With the onslaught of social technologies and mobility we have arrived at a moment in time where the technology is both cost effective and consumers are sharing more and more in public forums. This combination of customer data captured at the business level and people self-identifying themselves in spaces like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest creates the perfect storm for brands to leverage the power of social commerce and the value of a strong loyalty program.

Imagine a world...

Imagine a world where you swipe your Air Miles card at your local supermarket and you're suddenly getting coupons, discounts and offers that are one hundred percent personalized and customized to the brands you like. Imagine a world where companies (like that supermarket) are sending out unique offers to each and every one of their customers. Hundreds of thousand of different coupon books. Does it sound like something we might see in the near future? It's happening today. Right now. And, it's the work of Bryan Pearson and his two thousand-plus employees at LoyaltyOne where he is President and CEO. Pearson heads six global enterprises (including Air Miles - which seventy percent of Canadians use) that connects to a knowledge base of more than one hundred and twenty million customer relationships. In short, Pearson not only knows why you buy, but when, how much and how often you'll come back. With a passion for enhancing shopper experiences and over twenty years under his marketing belt, Pearson just released his first business book, The Loyalty Leap - Turning customer information into customer intimacy (Portfolio - 2012).

Making The Loyalty Leap.

"Inside of me, I always felt that there was a book that was screaming to get out," Pearson said during a conversation held last week in Toronto at the Canadian Marketing Association's 2012 CMA Summit. "What I saw in the marketplace was that all of the concepts we bring forward in the loyalty game... and have been talking about for over fifteen years... have come to the point where we are truly enabled to capitalize on all of this potential. I felt that there was this opportunity - a moment in time - to publish a book and see if this can create a sea change of movement. Despite everything we hear about digital media, the vast majority of companies are very much stuck in an old paradigm."

What is this old paradigm?

Pearson thinks that it begins when companies spend way too much time being, what he calls, "product obsessed" while the customer becomes this thing on the side (the group of people that we sell our stuff to). "It starts in the infancy of the business," says Pearson on the genesis of this traditional paradigm. "They know who they're trying to serve, because they grow, develop and expand the product line but then they start to lose track of that customer. The idea of the leap is an attempt to shake the organization up from being product obsessed and focused on operation efficiencies, to shift the corporate conversation to start thinking about what they would do differently if they really became customer committed. I want businesses to take advantage and use this data analytics and technology that the world has to deliver what is possible: which is a true one to one and unique experience. Businesses need to start thinking about how that would change who they are, and how much more loyal it would make their consumers."

This is less about manipulating consumers and much more about creating a better marketing experience.

The challenge with data is always around the social contract between the consumer and the brand. Without trust and a candid understanding about how all of this data gets captured and used, consumers have a low-level of trust. When done well, the relationship can be magical for businesses. Pearson acknowledges that consumers should, rightfully, be skeptical, but he still believes that we're in the very nascent days of having a consumer that is truly social and engaged with a social business that delivers a much more relevant experience. Consumers are demanding it and now, businesses of all shapes and sizes are capable of delivering on it. This is less about "if" loyalty will continue on with its massive growth and potential to do that much more at creating better consumer experiences, and more of a question of "when." For Pearson and many others, that "when" is now (and that's why businesses need to make this loyalty leap). Technology is no longer the roadblock.

The roadblock has become our traditional and non-consumer centric ways of thinking.

The above post is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original versions online here:

Montreal Gazette - Focus back on the consumer, loyalty lord says.
Vancouver Sun - not yet published.

You can listen to my conversation with Bryan Pearson in its entirety in an upcoming episode of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast (which will be published in the coming weeks).

Tags: 2012 cma summit air miles brand bryan pearson business business book business column business technology canadian marketing association cma coupon customer data customer information customer insights customer intimacy customer relationship data analytics digital media facebook loyalty loyalty marketing loyalty program loyatlyone marketer marketing marketing resources montreal gazette moores law newspaper column personal computing pinterest portfolio privacy product obsessed shopper experiences social business social commerce social contract social technology the loyalty leap trust twitter vancouver sun youtube

The Lying Game

Mitch Joel — Mon, 21 May 2012 06:09:38 PDT

Distrust in a world of trust agents is problematic.

On May 18th, The New York Times ran a fascinating news story titled, In the Undoing of a C.E.O., a Puzzle. The article is all about former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson and the recent unraveling of his short tenure as head of the beleaguered digital media company. At one point in the debacle (which started because Thompson falsified his resume by claiming to have had a computer science degree), this happened: "The board's initial hopes that it was all an easily explained mistake were quickly dashed. Instead of offering Mr. Bostock an explanation, Mr. Thompson fumed at Mr. Loeb and his tactics. Mr. Bostock stressed that the only way to deal with the situation was to 'immediately tell the absolute and total truth, whatever it is' and make it public, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation. Unspoken but implicit was the understanding that if he'd ever misstated his credentials, Mr. Thompson should publicly admit it, apologize and offer to resign. In that case, the board would have assessed the situation, but might well have stood behind him. Mr. Thompson seemed to get the message, but said nothing more to clear up the matter."

The absolute and total truth.

I was once speaking to a headhunter who told me that they estimated that lying (or severe embellishments) happens in about seventy percent of resumes. Imagine that. Seven out of ten resumes that you look at include either outright lies or severe embellishments ("most likely both," laughed the headhunter). I've seen it happen on countless occasions here at Twist Image too. It's especially prevalent when people leave the organization. It always makes me laugh that the reasons someone left are usually highlighted, exaggerated or claimed as their own personal accomplishments on their LinkedIn profile. Hard to believe isn't it? Once they leave, all of the work that they accomplished with a full team is claimed as a personal victory and spun (regardless or real world results).

The need to look good.

What would you rather buy: something that looks pristine but once you purchase it, it fails to deliver or something that looks the way that it does (no lipstick on the pig) but it does what it says it does? Pushing that further... imagine buying something that looks the way that it does, but it completely over-delivers on what it says it can do. What would be the ultimate customer experience? I'm guessing you're with me in thinking that the last two examples are, obviously, the recommended marketing strategy. If we want to work for companies that can deliver a solid product that surprises and delights consumers, why do we all lie so much and oversell ourselves on resumes and on LinkedIn profiles so desperately?

No lying.

I tell the truth because it's the easiest thing to remember. I'm not perfect (white lies get us by, sometimes), but when it comes to the big stuff, I often ask myself this one simple question: "at what cost?" Is life merely about how much money can be extracted from another person or how others perceive me? My personal philosophy is this: I would rather have less money but be a person of ethics and morals. I would rather have people find me not all that interesting instead of having to lie just to become the circle of attention.

Laugh all that you want.

I don't have a university degree. I simply wasn't good at school or motivated to attend. That being said, I never let my lack of degrees get in the way of my education. I read a book a week, consume as much information as possible (I'm an infovore), attend conferences and events and spend the bulk of my time learning, reading, writing, growing and critical thinking. If a company doesn't hire me because I don't have a university degree, it's their loss. If the only way that I can get a company to look at my resume is to lie, then what does that say about the integrity of the company, myself and the entire human resources process?

It's simple...

Don't lie. Don't over-embellish. If you feel like you're drowning, ask for help before spiraling down into a world of lies. I promise you, it's not worth it. Don't believe me? Ask Scott Thompson.

Tags: business book computer science degree conference critical thinking customer experience digital media company education event headhunter hr human resources infovore linkedin marketing strategy reading resume school scott thompson the new york times trust trust agents university degree writing yahoo

Truth In Marketing

Mitch Joel — Sun, 20 May 2012 05:34:11 PDT

Episode #306 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Jonathan Salem Baskin is becoming a marketing book juggernaut. In fact, there are few global branding strategist who are like Baskin. He's had a career that any Marketer would be jealous of. Having spent close to three decades in the branding and advertising world, Jonathan's resume is a who's who of the top brands in the world. Along with that, he is a prolific writer and thinker. We first connected in 2008 when his book, Branding Only Works On Cattle, came out because we share the same editor and publisher (Grand Central Publishing - Hachette Book Group). He then went on to write the book, Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs and then Histories Of Social Media. He's back with another book titled, Tell The Truth - Honesty is Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool (which he co-authored along with Sue Unerman - Chief Strategy Officer of MediaCom, a WPP agency). Along with that, Jonathan is a Blogger over at Dim Bulb and a bi-weekly columnist for Advertising Age. His opinions on Marketing, Social Media and the new world of branding will get you thinking and it's a pleasure to have him back on the show. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #306.

Tags: advertising advertising age advertising podcast blog blogging branding branding strategist bright lights and dim bulbs david usher digital marketing dm bulb facebook grand central publishing hachette book group histories of social media itunes jonathan salem baskin marketer marketing marketing book marketing podcast mediacom online social network podcast podcasting social media sue unerman tell the truth twitter wpp

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #100

Mitch Joel — Sat, 19 May 2012 05:01:11 PDT

93Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

How to Spot the Future - Wired. "On their 20th anniversary, Wired is spending a bunch of time with people who've shaped the face of technology. In this piece, they look at the seven lenses through which they try to guess the future. Several of them were set out by Wired's first editor at large, the extraordinary Kevin Kelly (whose Next five thousand days of the Internet is brilliant, and makes us realize how nascent this world in which we surf really is). They still hold true today, and author Thomas Goetz gives them a great update." (Alistair for Hugh).
The frequent fliers who flew too much - Los Angeles Times. "Oh, how times change. American Airlines once offered an unlimited, lifetime first class seat for a paltry half-million or so. Turns out that's not a great bargain when a fervent few decide they prefer life in the air to life on the ground. Faced with bankruptcy--and realizing this deal costs the company a million or more a year--American decided to try and shut them down. A fascinating look at what happens when promotions have unintended consequences." (Alistair for Mitch).
World's Subways Converging on Ideal Form - Wired. "You would think that the subway systems in the world would end up with different geometries, since they exist in very different cities, with different geographies, different planning approaches, different cultures. But it turns out that subway systems tend organically towards certain characteristics: 50% of stations are outside of the core; the distance from a city's center to its farthest subway terminus station is twice the diameter of the subway system's core. These patterns and ratios appear again and again, suggesting that organization of urban systems follows set patterns, rather than set planning." (Hugh for Alistair).
How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet - Gizmodo. "Perhaps a bit over the top in its anti-Yahoo slant, but this is a brilliant piece of anthropological history of the social web, and decline of one of the very first 'social networks.' When I first rediscovered the Web in 2004, it was WordPress, Wikipedia, Flickr and Delicious that revealed to me a new future... Both Flickr and Delicious were bought by Yahoo!, and both, it could be argued, became irrelevant soon after." (Hugh for Mitch).
Come the Revolution - The New York Times. "Several years ago, I read a feature in Fast Company magazine on the future of education. It made me stop and say to myself, 'it's true! Why can't you buy your education like iTunes?' Why not be able to take a marketing class at Stanford, a strategy course from Harvard and then a physics class from MIT all from the comforts of your computer?' It seems to not only be logical, but a great new business model for education. Well, it turns out that others are starting to catch up. In this wonderful op-ed piece, Thomas L. Friedman is starting to feel it too. These new 'revolutions' are still nascent, but they are profound and powerful. Welcome to the iTunes-ization of every business." (Mitch for Alistair).
In Defense of the New York Public Library - The New York Review Of Books. "When I moved homes several years ago, the bane of the entire process was the packing, moving and unpacking of my book collection. As someone who reads about a book a week and a passionate believer in paying for all of that content, you can imagine the haul. When I first discovered e-readers and reading apps (thank you Amazon Kindle!), it - literally - changed my life. I carry a library worth of books with me in the palm of my hand at all times. I read more books than I ever have. Do I miss the feel and smell of books? Nope. I don't. Do I love wandering through book stores and libraries? Absolutely. Is there a massive paradox and enigma in those statements. There sure is. What is the role of the library? Should it be just about books? Is that really a reason for people to go to them? Who knows?" (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags: alistair croll amazon american airlines bitcurrent complete web monitoring delicious fast company flickr gigaom gizmodo harvard university hugh mcguire human 20 iambik itunes kevin kelly kindle librivox link exchange linkbait los angeles times managing bandwidth media hacks mit new york public library. pressbooks stanford university story the book oven the new york review of books the new york times thomas goetz thomas l friedman wikipedia wired wordpress yahoo year one labs

Learning About Creativity By Watching Creative Types

Mitch Joel — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:00:39 PDT

Observing creative types is an amazing way to think more creatively.

Next week, I'll be spending the majority of my days attending a global conference called, C2 MTL (our agency, Twist Image, also handled some of the social media marketing). Along with hosting a very special lunch event with musician, David Usher, I'll also be sharing the stage with Arianna Huffington. Beyond those more formal activities, I'll be sitting in the crowd soaking in the content as the conference focuses on the collision between creativity and commerce. It should be quite the event (and it's probably not too late if you want to attend). There must be something in the air, because there's an amazing new presentation by Clay Shirky (Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus) from the PSFK Conference NYC. Shirky (a professor from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University) walks through five fascinating student projects that will truly get you thinking about the level of creativity that you bring to work each and every day...

Tags: arianna huffington c2mtl clay shirky cognitive surplus commerce conference content creative type creativity david usher here comes everybody interactive telecommunications program new york university psfk conference social media marketing tisch school of arts

The Public Speaker's Master Toolkit

Mitch Joel — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:12:33 PDT

What are the tools that can help you give an unforgettable presentation?

After several years of speaking in public, I've had to develop my own system to ensure that each and every presentation goes off without a hitch. And yes, there are some great tools and tips to ensure that this happens. This blog post is not about your content. I'm going to assume that the content rocks and that you know what you're going to talk about.

The Public Speaker's Master Toolkit:

The Rider. If you want to ensure that you have a great event, you have to ensure that all of your audio and visual requirements are met (long before you show up at the venue). I send along with all speaking contracts a rider of my audio and visual needs:

Projector and screen for laptop.
3.5mm (1/8") plug for audio to run out of the laptop.
Lapel wireless microphone for voice.
Depending on venue - confidence monitor for Keynote slides.
Speaker does not require an Internet connection.
Laptop must be located on the stage and near the Speaker.
Speaker's computer must be within 20 feet of the most distant point where the speaker will be presenting.
All podiums must be moved to either side of the stage. Speaker does not use a podium during presentation.
Podiums cannot remain in the middle of the stage during Speaker's presentation.
Speaker will be using his own wireless remote presenter and will advance his own slides.
Speaker will be using his own, personal, laptop with the presentation pre-loaded on it.
Speaker's computer is an Apple MacBook Air running Keynote software.
Speaker has both VGA and DVI dongle adapters for projector.
Speaker will not provide a digital version of the presentation in advance.
AC power must be within 6 feet of speaker's computer.
If your event is using iMag, you must have two screens (one which always displays the speaker's slides to the audience without interruption).
Computer stays in the speaker's possession at all times. It will not be given the night prior for setup and it will not be surrendered on the day of the event. It stays in the speaker's possession.
Speaker is more than willing to work with your team on a tech/sound check, preferably thirty minutes before the speaker presents.

Why is this so complicated?

It seems like a lot and very detail oriented, but here's the thing: they're paying me to give a great presentation and this is what it takes - from my experience - for me to deliver that. It also takes away a lot of the stress and anxiety that comes along with speaking when you know that things are set-up in a way that you're comfortable with. I hate being in a venue where I can't see the slides that audience is seeing (hence the confidence monitor), I like being in control of my laptop in case I have to skip a section or want to tinker with something at the last moment, and I hate showing up to an event and the entire stage is just a podium (I like to walk, engage and connect with the audience). In other instances, the AV team wants to control the cue remote (which is always slower than when I do it) or they have a video camera capturing the presenter on screen, and can't move between the slides and the presenter fast enough, so you wind up not speaking to an important point, but everyone is just staring at you mug on a screen.

The computer.

I run a MacBook Air with both Keynote and PowerPoint on it. I always have versions of my presentation on both software platforms in case one crashes.
Caffeine is a great little app that sits in the menu bar and when it's clicked, your computer will never go to sleep, screen saver or anything (just make sure to turn it off once you're done). Caffeine makes it "always on."
I love the presenter's view in both Keynote and PowerPoint, but you have to ensure that the output resolution to the projector can handle it, so test it by lowering (or raising) your screen resolution.
Apple also allows you to have the display information from your screen as an icon in the menu bar. This makes it very easy to toggle through different resolutions. Look for it in your display preferences.
e.ggtimer is a great little tool if you take breaks in your presentation. You can set the timer and show it on the screen, so that everyone in the audience knows when to be expected back in their seats.

The hardware.

Logitech Professional Presenter R800 is the best remote presenter out there. It not only has a hundred foot range, but it has a built-in timer that counts down and gives off a silent vibration when you have five minutes left and another one when you're done with your presentation. In case you're wondering, I've tried all of the remote presenters out there... this is the one.
Dongles. Make sure to have both VGA and DVI dongles on you. Don't trust the venue and I've seen variances where new Macs don't work with older dongles, etc... Have your own, so you never have to worry.
USB stick. Always have your presentations backed up on a USB stick and - when possible - ensure that the AV team has a copy too and can switch to their computer should you have a crash.
USB hub. If you're plugging in multiple remotes and dongles, etc... it's always good to have a thin and small USB hub (just in case).
Rocket stick. I don't trust hotel and conference center Internet connections (wired or wireless), and when I do need to present something online, I much prefer to be doing so with my own access point. Mobile Internet is great to have in case you are relying on their connectivity and it goes down (which it does).
Extra power supply. Most laptops suck a lot of power and fast - especially when they're plugged into a projector> Always bring your own power supply and plug your computer in. Do not trust the battery.

Extra goodies.

Podium Timer app. This is a paid app, but it allows you to set-up your own timer (with messages too) that you can either use on your iPhone so you can tell where you're at, or you can daisy chain it to the HD version which is a more robust iPad timer.
Breathing Zone app. Whether you get nervous before speaking or not, this app is a great tool to get your breathing and heart rate into the right zone. If that doesn't work for you, try this technique: Take A Breather.
HT Professional Recorder. This iPhone app is an amazing audio recorder. If you want to improve as a speaker, use this app to record all of your presentations, you can go back and listen to how you did.
Download videos. Don't rely on a solid internet connection to show online videos. Here's a simple way to download online videos (just be sure to embed them within your presentation and give credit where credit is due). If you add the word "sing" in front of "youtube" in the URL for a video that you like, you get redirected to a site where you can download the audio of that video.

Did I miss anything? What would you add to this list of master tools?

Tags: apple breathing zone app caffeine eggtimer ht professional recorder ipad iphone iphone app keynote lapel wireless microphone logitech macbook air podium timer app powerpoint presentation presentation skills presenters view public speaker public speaking public speaking master toolkit remote presenter speaking usb hub usb stick

Leaving Facebook

Mitch Joel — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:40:52 PDT

Should you pull all of your advertising dollars out of Facebook?

On the eve of Facebook's historical initial public offering, automotive manufacturer, GM, made a big public stink about pulling ten million dollars of media spend out of Facebook because they felt that Facebook advertising doesn't work (more on that here: Advertising Age - GM Cuts Facebook Ad Spending, But Ford Steps on the Gas). The subtext to this move is not about one brand leaving Facebook advertising, but a sentiment that Facebook advertising doesn't work.

It's all very silly, isn't it?

This morning at the Canadian Marketing Association's Annual Summit 2012, Jordan Banks (head of Facebook in Canada) started off his presentation by saying that Facebook has accomplished only one percent of what it has set out to do, and that because of its massive user base close (900 million connected consumers strong), it will do some things right and some things wrong moving forward. His point being, that advertising on Facebook works when done in tandem with other activities, and even the advertising platform as we currently see it to date could very well morph, change and adapt.

Media is just media.

I don't know the innards of GM and their media planning or strategy, but this decision does require some context. While Facebook loves to trot out the nine hundred million users, it's important to note that the average user only has about one hundred and twenty connections. So, while Facebook cumulatively is massive, it's really millions of very little connections that are primarily there to share personal and social information. Is that type of user ready to engage with a small little banner box in the same fashion that they would on a news site or a blog page? It's doubtful. The role of the advertiser is to make that little box of advertising as compelling to the user as the social content that they're really there for. In short: that's a tall and hard order to deliver.

Where else to put your money.

If GM realized that they are severely under-indexed on search engines or that they have a massive opportunity with email marketing, and that those strategies are both proven and can earn them more with an acquisition model than Facebook advertising, than this news announcement was nothing more than some kind of political press release to question Facebook's viability. If GM has the perfect media mix and they're struggling to find advertising return on investment with their Facebook ads, it would be interesting to know how often they tested, iterated and played with the format before deciding that it was simply not an effective ad platform them.

Facebook is not (just) an advertising platform.

If the media game is to simply blast a message in front of someone who is on their Facebook page, all is lost. There are probably much better places to advertise. If the game is to create a better marketing story and to leverage the power of Facebook (human beings who have self-identified themselves and are connecting in a sincere way with people they either know or want to know better), then the opportunity is not only massive, but it is still very nascent.

Your Facebook marketing is probably at 1%.

If Facebook feels like they've only accomplished one percent of their goal in helping the world to connect, rest assured: your marketing is at about the same percentage level. What does this mean? It is still early days. Facebook is about to get a major cash injection, and while they say that it's business as usual, we'll see if being public changes their need to adopt faster and more efficiently to a mobile world, and one where the public will demand cash profitability driven by our collective investments in the company. The most exciting brands on Facebook are doing much more than advertising. They are marketing in the channel and leveraging the social graph to connect outside. They're driving content, contests, apps, connectivity and more within Facebook's walled garden and pushing consumers over to microsites, websites and other media channels. These brands are connecting through valuable content that people will not only care about, but share within their own, personal, networks... and that's a powerful place to be. If a brand thinks that Facebook is just about advertising, they are (without question) not understanding Facebook (and the potential of it). At all. And, these same brands are completely missing the point. If all they want is a page to splatter an ad across and those Facebook pages don't do the trick, then by all means, they're making the strategic decision to not advertise on Facebook.

Ask yourself this: is your brand looking for a place to advertise or a place to connect, share and grow?

Tags: advertising advertising dollars advertising platform banner advertising blog brand canadian marketing association cma cma annual summit email marketing facebook facebook advertising facebook app facebook canada facebook ipo facebook marketing gm jordan banks media media channel media mix media planning media strategy mobile online advertising online media presentation search engine marketing social content social media

Find Your One Thing

Mitch Joel — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:15:42 PDT

Can you sum up your professional you in one or two words?

I was very touched watching the documentary, Being Elmo, on PBS' Independent Lens. The movie is about Kevin Clash (the puppeteer behind Sesame Street's Elmo). From a very young age, Clash demonstrated a strong desire to be a puppeteer. While that seems quaint and points to someone who was focused on what they wanted to do in life from a very young age, you can imagine the struggles he faced growing up in Baltimore. While all of the other kids were out playing baseball or causing mischief, Clash was at home sewing puppets together and entertaining the local toddlers.

Becoming Elmo.

One of the highlight in the documentary comes when Clash explains how he was able to take the character of Elmo and turn him into such a beloved character. He says that each and every muppet needs to have its own, one unique thing. For Miss Piggy, her one thing is a truck driver who wants to be a movie starlet. For Fozzie Bear, it's being a Vaudeville performer. For Elmo, it is love. Elmo loves everyone. Elmo loves love. He loves to hug and he loves to kiss and everything that Elmo does is an expression of his love for others. As basic and as simple as that sounds, kids know it and they feel it... and that's why he is the most beloved muppet of them all.

What's your one thing?

I often think about why one blog is that much more popular than another. My friend, Chris Brogan, has one of the top-ranked marketing blogs in the world. Why? I think Chris' one thing is: making business human. It's who he is. He genuinely wants to meet and help everyone he sees. While we're on the road together, I'm busy trying to get to my hotel room and get some sleep, while Chris is busy trying to connect and meet up with more people. It's not wonder he has an audience that is ten times the size of mine. He is deeply in touch with his one thing. Not only that, everyone who connects with him believes it to be true. This is the interesting part: you may not like him, his content or what he stands for, but you can't deny that it is who he is. That one thing has be believable... not just a platitude.

Being in touch with your one thing.

If you do a quick survey of the most successful people you know, it's clear how direct and in-touch they are with their own thing. It's no different for brands. You can have all of the values and brand expressions in the world, but if you can't sum it up into one, unique, thing, it's going to be hard to truly do groundbreaking things. While this may seem like a simplistic concept and one that has been bandied around when it comes to branding for years, it was enlightening to see Clash capture that concept, transpose it to muppets and be able to see how those characters connect with the human emotion. Too many individuals and brands are clamoring for attention, while those same brands and individuals probably grapple to define that one great thing.

We could all use a little more Elmo in our lives.

Tags: being elmo blog brand expression character chris brogan documentary elmo fozzie bear independant lens kevin clash love marketing blog miss piggy muppet one thing pbs professional career puppet puppeteer sesame street success

Can Breastfeeding Save Time Magazine?

Mitch Joel — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:01:46 PDT

When was the last time you discussed Time Magazine around the dinner table?

I found myself giving a dissertation on mass media at dinner the other night. It all started when one friend leaned into the table and spoke (in an almost embarrassed whisper), "Did any of you see the cover of Time Magazine? The one with the mother and her older child... breastfeeding?" I knew that they were talking about the issue dated May 21st, 2012 titled, Are You Mom Enough? by Kate Pickert. The article about Dr. Sears and the attachment parenting movement has created quite a stir, but I wanted to tease my friends, so I asked, "Does it offend you?" As is always the case, everybody clamed up hoping that someone else would fall on a sword (and we would either save that person and defend them or watch them squirm and then make fun of them on Facebook).

The real question is this: why did Time Magazine run with that cover story?

The answer to that question comes in the first line of this blog post: seriously, when was the last time you talked about Time Magazine? While the magazine continues to publish, it feels like it has been on some kind of paper diet for a while now. Thin, without much content, Time Magazine (once the weekly magazine that every smart person - or wanna be - had to have) has now become somewhat dated and tried. Without blaming the Internet, for their current state of affairs, it's apparent that magazines like The Economist, The New Yorker, Fast Company and The Atlantic are transcending the whole, "the Internet is killing the magazine business" discourse that is both unfounded and untrue. The Internet simply brought more choice. More choice does not create business challenges, so long as the quality and value is perceived by an audience. In fact, as those other magazines mentioned above prove, the Internet is finally starting to create new and interesting business models for these publications.

It's all about the PR.

The real reason that Time Magazine ran that cover is publicity. They need to sell magazines. The only way to sell magazines (if people aren't hooked on specific writers or stories that they can't find anywhere else) is to create controversy. The challenge with this publishing tactic is that it firmly places Time Magazine into the tabloid marketing camp: where it becomes a game of diminishing returns. Time Magazine will have to keep on being controversial (in fact, increasingly more controversial) to keep people coming back (and talking about them). Has Time Magazine lost its way?

The mass market is a tough market.

In creating a news magazine geared towards everyone, Time Magazine is quickly learning the same lessons that the Web portals had to learn: in an Internet world where people can grab content that is very niche oriented, the general (more mass) content needs to have particular angle. Time Magazine wins awards. Don't kid yourself. They have legitimate and great writers. They understand the magazine business. That all being said, don't kid yourself. That magazine cover was published for one reason... and one reason only: to sell more magazines. It shouldn't offend you. That's not true. They're actually hoping to offend you because the more people talk about it (like this article), the more likelihood it will have for commercial success.

Doesn't it feel like too much of chasing the mass media dragon in a very different world?

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post called, Media Hacker. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

The Huffington Post - Can Breastfeeding Save Time Magazine?

Tags: are you mom enough attachment parenting blo business column current affaires dr sears facebook fast company kate pickert magazine publishing marketing mass media media hacker news magazine pr public relations publishing the atlantic the economist the huffington post the new yorker time magazine

The Virtual Self And The New Trend Of Self-Tracking

Mitch Joel — Sun, 13 May 2012 08:09:27 PDT

Episode #305 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Now, with the ubiquity of smartphones and mobile connectedness, it has never been easier to share with the world our each and every move (look no further than Facebook's one billion dollar acquisition of Instagram). And we're publishing our lives. All of the time - in text, images, audio and video - for the world to see. In fact, it's happening more and more with each and every passing day. Why are we doing all of this self-tracking? It's a topic that has fascinated Nora Young for a long while. The founding host and producer of CBC's Definitely Not The Opera and the current host of Spark (a radio show and podcast about the intersection of technology and culture - and it's one of my personal favorites) spent this past year digging deeper into self-tracking and what this means about our society and who we are. The culmination of her work is the recently published book, The Virtual Self - How Our Digital Lives Are Altering the World Around Us. Over the years, I've had the pleasure of being a guest on Spark on multiple occasions, so it was a lot of fun to turn the tables and interview Nora. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #305.

Tags: advertising podcast blog blogging cbc david usher definitely not the opera digital marketing facebook itunes marketing marketing podcast nora young online social network podcast podcasting social media spark the virtual self twitter

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #99

Mitch Joel — Sat, 12 May 2012 06:09:32 PDT

93Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Why Generation Y is Causing the Great Migration of the 21st Century - PlaceShakers And NewsMakers. "Nathan Morris makes a good case that 60 years of suburban dreams have ended, and that we'll no longer crave the suburbs. Technology, infrastructure, and lifestyle changes might turn the countryside into a ghost town the way the flight from urban cores has abandoned some cities." (Alistair for Hugh).
Startups, this is how design works. "These days, it's all about the interface. With dozens of new companies emerging daily, those that are easy and intuitive get a head start. Wells Riley has a great (and well-designed) guidebook for startups that need to understand the fundamentals of design. It's a good read that illustrates common mistakes and underscores the fundamental reason for designing something: to solve a physical or virtual problem." (Alistair for Mitch).
The Floppy Disk means Save, and 14 other old people Icons that don't make sense anymore - Computer Zen. "I don't know if you have this experience too, but I have a mother who asks me occasionally for help with her computer. She doesn't do it very often because I usually end up shouting at the phone. For whatever reason, my mother just doesn't seem to connect with the fundamental metaphors that computers are built on: file/folder structure, and layers of open-but-not-in-use applications. But what about the young people today, struggling to figure out why 'save' should be denoted by an icon of a floppy disk? What's a floppy disk? Here's a list of common computer iconography that no longer make much sense at all, since the things they refer to in order to help us 'understand' are - for many young people - long extinct and as baffling as the questions: 'what app are you in? what does the menu bar say?' are for my mother." (Hugh for Alistair).
How Books Will Survive Amazon? - The New York Review of Books. "Jason Epstein is the cofounder of the New York Review of Books AND the co-founder of On Demand Books, which makes the Espresso Book Machine - an (industrial) photocopier-sized machine that'll print and bind a one-off of your favorite book in about a minute. So he's the co-founder of both one of the bastions of 'old' literary culture, and 'new' publishing technology. In this short piece, he tells everyone worried about the future of publishing to relax. The details don't matter so much as Epstein's conclusion: 'Barring a nuclear disaster, life will go on as it always has: past, present, and future all at once.'" (Hugh for Mitch).
Dieter Rams On Good Design As A Key Business Advantage - Fast Company's Co.Design. "This is a beautiful speech given by Dieter Rams in New York in 1976. Rams is best-known for his design work at Braun (and for being a heavy influence on Jony Ive - Apple's superstar designer. Rams is 80 years old today, and this jump back in time is still an extremely fresh and compelling perspective on why design matters." (Mitch for Alistair).
Prime-Time Stern - The New York Times. "On Monday night, the season premiere of America's Got Talent will be on. Anyone who thinks that Howard Stern is a lewd and crude shock jock, will see the side of him that I know and love: he is, without question, one of the smartest people on the plant who commands a conversation like no other. His celebrity interviews are second-to-none because he is no-nonsense and has an acute beat on the human condition. America (and the rest of the world) are going to fall in love with Stern because in a world of fake reality television, he is truly real." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags: alistair croll amazon americas got talent apple bitcurrent braun co design complete web monitoring computer zen dieter rams espresso book machine fast company gigaom howard stern hugh mcguire human 20 iambik jason epstein jony ive librivox link exchange linkbait managing bandwidth media hacks nathan morris on demand books placeshakers and newsmakers pressbooks startup startups this is how design works story the book over the new york review of books the new york times wells riley year one labs

The Trick With Inspiration

Mitch Joel — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:31:31 PDT

Believe it or not, you're constantly being inspired.

The trick with inspiration is being able to both acknowledge that moment and act on it when it happens. I was reminded of this earlier in the week. I was listening to Howard Stern interview Chris Martin from Coldplay (it was a repeat from earlier in the year). Martin was talking about how the hit song Yellow came to him. He said it happened very quickly - in maybe fifteen minutes. He was in the studio, messing around with his acoustic guitar and doing impersonations of Neil Young in between takes, when the line "Look at the stars. Look how they shine for you." came out in Young's quirky tone. He kept at it... "And everything you do. Yeah, they were all yellow." Something felt right, so he kept tinkering with the guitar chords and melodies and that's when the part, "Your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones" came along. He told Stern that he knew it was a hit once it was written and the other members of Coldplay had their way with it.

Do you have that kind of courage?

There is a lot of mind space in between Martin's explanation. You have to have a serious ability for self-inflection to be able to recognize that what was, initially, a goof on Neil Young could be the germ of something more. Pushing it and letting the melody take you somewhere is the hardest part. This isn't about thinking up a great idea in a dream but not writing it down and then forgetting it by the time you wake up, this is about what happens to you - day in and day out - on a conscience level. It could be from staring out of your window or from reading this blog post. Inspiration is everywhere and one of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself is the ability to acknowledge it. Not every moment of inspiration will be a hit song like Coldplay's Yellow, but you just never know where it will come from.

Inspiration is (not) magic.

It may look, feel and act like magic, but it's a very real proactive acknowledgement of something - usually something quite small - that can take you to strange and beautiful places. I'm thankful that there are artists like Chris Martin who act as reminders that inspiration is not a flash of genius or something that just pops into someone's head. Our brains are constantly spurting thoughts out there and it's important - especially in the work that you do - to be cognizant when than thought is something that can be turned into something that is much bigger and brighter.

Tags: chris martin coldplay creativity howard stern inspiration neil young songwriting yellow

This Blog Sucks (And You're Probably Not Reading This)

Mitch Joel — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:44:22 PDT

I don't mind that I'm becoming a dinosaur.

I'm not going to lie and say that I was shocked to read the DigiDay article, Agencies Ditch Blogs, that they published on Monday. "With the rise of social media, businesses are blogging less. That goes for agencies, too, which are increasingly turning their backs on their blogs in favor of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and newer kids on the block like Instagram and Pinterest." The article went on to quote Sam Weston (director of communications at digital marketing agency, Huge): "Nobody reads agency blogs, and there are so many out there it's impossible for people to keep up anyway. We put ours on hiatus while we figure out what we want to do with it. We do use Facebook and Twitter. We've figured out what works for us there."

Please allow me to correct that quote...

"Nobody reads agency blogs"... THAT ARE BORING AND SELF-SERVING. This is what the Internet brought: just because everyone can publish content, it doesn't mean that they should. Let's argue and say that I'm wrong and that anybody and everybody should be publishing content... fine. Then just because everyone can publish content, it doesn't mean that anyone will care. What advertising agencies are learning is that publishing content on a frequent and consistent basis with a compelling voice is not only a commitment, but it is very difficult. Nothing new here. We've been saying this for close to a decade. It has only become more complicated because there are many other, faster and quicker and different ways to create and share content. This is no longer about the Internet grappling for some of TV's viewers. We live in a world where Instagram is biting into Pinterest's usage and Facebook is tackling users away from YouTube and beyond. It's very complex. It's very complicated.

Blogging is about writing.

Here's a dirty little secret: I hope more agencies stop blogging. I could also name some bloggers that I'd like to see stop. Why? Am I being mean? Absolutely not. I see too many agencies and bloggers struggle with their blogs. It's both obvious and painful to watch. They wind up spending too much time writing about themselves or covering the same areas of interest that everyone else is talking about. They're afraid to have an opinion, step into a territory that they're uncomfortable with and - most of all - they're afraid to go "off brand."

Why you should blog...

Because it's your own space - not another platform or channel that you can't control.
Because it's good for search engine optimization.
Because it helps an agency build a community.
Because it's good for business and helps your company look more human.
Because it's a great place to share links and advice.
Because it's a great way to attract clients.

Maybe... but no.

While all of these may sound like a good reason to blog, they're not.

Why you should blog (really)...

Because you have something to say.
Because you are passionate about your industry.
Because you are seeing things that not many people are talking about.
Because it helps you to think critically about the changes that your industry faces.
Because you love to write.
Because you have to write.
Because if you had more time, you would write even more.
Because you feel that others out there might connect with the content and the connect to you.
Because you're not blogging for work. Your working hard to make your blog work.

Cowboy up.

This isn't about blogging or whether or not blogging is cool. Blogging simply allows an individual (or an advertising agency) to publish how they think in words, instantly and for free for the world to read. If someone (anyone) is abandoning their blog, it is for one reason only: the world is not caring all that much. The truth is that the world can be a cold and unforgiving place. The only way to change that is to create something so compelling that it makes people stop, think, wonder, share and engage.

Maybe the agencies just realized that there are no free lunches?

Some additional thinking on this:

Tags: advertisin agency agency blog blog blogger blogging brand business blogging chris brogan content digiday digital marketing agency facebook huge instagram internet linkedin online community pinterest publishing sam weston search engine optimization shel holtz social media twitter writing youtube

Listen. Engage. Connect.

Mitch Joel — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:10:34 PDT

One of the largest gatherings of professional marketers is about to take place.

The Canadian Marketing Association's 2012 CMA Summit is happening next week (May 16th - 17th, 2012 at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto, Ontario). I'm fortunate to be the chairman of the board of the directors of this association and prior to that role, I was co-chair of these national annual gatherings. Each and every year offered professional marketers from across the globe the opportunity to connect and share. This year will be no exception.

All under one roof.

During the two days, just some of the amazing speakers include:

Sir Ken Robinson. If you've never seen his amazing TED Talk, Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity, it is twenty minutes that will change your life. He is also the author of Out Of Our Minds and The Element. He's a master presenter on the topic of creativity.
Jim Lecinski - Vice-President of US Sales for Google will discuss his ZMOT - Zero Moment Of Truth concepts.
Jordan Banks - Managing Director of Facebook Canada will be joined by L'Oreal Canada's Chief Marketing Officer, Marie-Josee-Lamothe, to discuss the marketing power of friends marketing to friends.
Bryan Pearson - President and CEO of LoyaltyOne will officially launch his brand new business book, The Loyalty Leap.

And much, much more...

On top of that, there will be a breakfast session on May 17th where I will lead one of nine roundtable conversations. My breakfast chat is called, Digital Marketing...is your brand or agency still struggling to catch up? and there are plenty of other choices. My plan is to attend the entire two-day event. It's another great opportunity to both catch-up with my fellow marketing professionals and to learn about the trends and movements in our industry. If you plan on being there, make sure to come over, hang out and say "hi!".

Would you like to come to this event for free?

The Canadian Marketing Association has offered up two free passes to this event to the Six Pixels of Separation community. If you would like to win one of the two passes, all you have to do is leave a comment below about your thoughts on what it takes for marketers to listen, engage and connect in today's world. The deadline for entries will be May 14th, 2012 at 12 pm ET and the winners will be announced by 5 pm on that same day. If you win, you have to cover everything else (travel, accommodations, etc... are not included... it's just the tickets).

I hope to see you there!

Congrats to the winners... Marc Ensign and Heather Briggs! Each will receive one guest pass to the CMA 2012 Annual Summit. Check your emails for more details.

Tags: 2012 cma summit bryan pearson business book canadian marketing association cma creativity digital marketing facebook canada google jim lecinski jordan banks loreal canada loyaltyone marie josee lamothe marketer marketing marketing association out of our minds professional marketer sir ken robinson ted talk the element the loyalty leap zero moment of truth zmot

Welcome To "Less Is More" Marketing

Mitch Joel — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:55:36 PDT

Maybe you should not be thinking of ways to create and publish more content.

What do you really think consumers want: to have that much more engagement with your brand or to have an easier, simpler and faster experience? While you may think that those two areas are not mutually exclusive, they are actually, intrinsically connected. If you can make the purchase funnel for your consumers have as little friction as possible, they'll become loyal. With that loyalty comes more engagement (sometimes). It's not as obvious as you think. Most brands are cramming more and more pieces of content (which is mostly thinly veiled marketing pap) into more and more channels, but they're spending less and less energy making their own websites and platforms easier and faster for consumers to navigate.

Every second count.

At a recent Art of Marketing in Chicago, I shared the stage with Avinash Kaushik (Google's Digital Marketing Evangelist and the author of two bestselling business books: Web Analytics - An Hour A Day and Web Analytics 2.0). I don't remember the exact stat that Kaushik told the audience, but it was something along the lines of this: for every second that a person has to wait for a page to load, the conversion potential drops seven percent. Consumers are unforgiving. They want efficiency and speed... not a cool Facebook page.

Don't believe me?

Yesterday, MarketingVox ran a news item titled, Users Want Ease of Decision More Than Engagement. It turns out that online shoppers could care less about engaging with their favorite brand (unless they have a complaint or need more information). In fact, they'll switch (and fast) to a competitive brand that helps them buy faster. "In a study of 7,000 consumers and marketing executives representing 125 consumer brands across 12 industries, CEB identified a significant disconnect between current marketing strategies, including customer engagement, and preferred consumer buying behavior. While most marketers are behaving as if the majority of consumers are open to having a relationship with their brand, CEB found only 20% of consumers report being open to such relationships. As a result, today's marketing tactics are making customers less loyal and resulting in lost revenue for companies. 'Our research indicates that the impact of simplifying purchase decisions for consumers is four times stronger than the favored marketing strategy of engagement and is the number one driver of likelihood to buy,' said Patrick Spenner, managing director at CEB. 'Too much choice and information causes customers to over-think purchase decisions, making them more likely to change their minds about a product, be less confident in their choice and less likely to repurchase.'"

Don't let your analytics lie to you.

Take a look at your marketing teams and ask this simple question: who amongst us is responsible for ensuring that our consumers can get in, find what they need and convert as quickly and efficiently as possible? Marketing optimization tends to look at opportunities within the campaign realm (how do we make these display ads flashier so people click on them?), but we can't forget about how critical it is to ensure that our entire experience is seamless and easy (and yes, it's an iterative and ongoing process).

It's a cluttered Web.

There's no doubt about it. We've made a mess of things. Most brands have no cohesive brand narrative because they're busy updating their websites with more pages, tweeting randomly on Twitter, working a Facebook page, experimenting on Pinterest, loading up videos on YouTube and more. They're just throwing content at popular channels without looking at the holistic space and opportunity to extend a brand narrative. Even if they're nailed that down tight, they still struggle with simplicity: making their websites (mobile, Web and touch) move quickly and efficiently. Google's homepage looks the way it does for a reason (same with Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and beyond). They know that the simpler and faster they make their products, the less likelihood there will be for consumers to go elsewhere.

Imagine a world where brands published less but optimized for speed and efficiency more?

Tags: art of marketing chicago avinash kaushik brand engagement brand narrative business book ceb consumer consumer loyalty content digital marketing digital marketing evangelist display advertising facebook google less is more marketing marketing marketing optimization marketing team marketingvox online video patrick spenner pinterest publishing twitter web analytics web analytics 20 web analytics an hour a day website youtube

This Is Being Recorded... By You

Mitch Joel — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:52:32 PDT

The art of self-tracking.

It was one thing to know where I was going. It was a totally different experience to know how far I had been, how much further I needed to go, what my expected time of arrival was, how long I had stopped for and what my average speed was. Most people just stare at the map of their GPS system and wait for the voice commands to bark out their next turn. I never tagged myself as an analytics jockey, but switching over to the trip data screen of my GPS turned the long drive into both a game and fascinating collection of data. The system was tracking my every move (and it was tracking me even when the car was idle). It wasn't enough. All I could think of is just how cool it would be if I could upload that information and look at other road trips that I had taken to see some averages and cumulative data. What if I could share this information with friends and family? What if I could compare road trips... my mind went spinning.

I didn't think anything of it.

On March 15th of this year, I found myself at the Van Halen concert in Montreal with a friend. As the lights dimmed and Eddie Van Halen's guitar started to wail, instead of the usual Zippo lighters raised fist-pumping high in the air, that flame was replaced by the glow of smartphones. Snapping pictures, capturing videos, texting friends, tweeting and updating our Facebook timelines. Instead of rocking out to 'Running With The Devil', the majority of people in the audience were recording, capturing and publishing the moment instead of soaking in the sweat of the rock n' roll and raising a cold one with some friends.

What have we become?

George Orwell's 1984 painted a dystopian view of our society. Big Brother was watching and tracking our every move. Instead of becoming Winston Smith, each and every one of us has become our own, Big Brother. We track our own every move. We post tweets on Twitter, we check-in on Foursquare, we publish pictures of our daily lives on Facebook, upload videos to YouTube, and much more. Now, with the ubiquity of smartphones and mobile connectedness, it has never been easier to share with the world our each and every move (look no further than Facebook's one billion dollar acquisition of Instagram - a social network for mobile photography). And we're publishing our lives. All of the time. In fact, more and more with each and every passing day. It's a topic that has fascinated Nora Young for a long while. The founding host and producer of CBC's Definitely Not The Opera and the current host of Spark (a radio show and podcast about the intersection of technology and culture) spent this past year digging deeper into self-tracking and what this means about our society and who we are. The culmination of her work is the recently published book, The Virtual Self - How Our Digital Lives Are Altering the World Around Us (McClelland & Stewart - 2012).

The virtual self.

"As with most things about technology, I am pretty ambivalent about it," said Young via Skype last week. "I think there are interesting and healthy things about all of this self-tracking, and there is also a danger of losing touch with the physical and grounded reality. At the same time, I also think that these tools can be really helpful and can shed a lot of light on things for us. As human beings, we seek sharing and storytelling. We don't want to think that our lives are just one damn thing after another. We want to create a sense of narrative. I think a lot of this self-tracking comes out of a desire to create a story for ourselves."

The Klout effect.

The challenge with this "story" is that it is being done in public. For all to see. We're not just talking about family, friends and people from high school that we swore we never wanted to see again (but still wind up creeping on their Facebook profiles every so often to see if they got fat or not), but it's also companies who are able to see, hear and know things about us that they could have never known before. Klout is an online platform designed to allocate an actual ranking to individuals as a kind of social scoring system. Klout scores are becoming a powerful tool for marketers to both identify and connect with evangelists as a form of influencer marketing. In the end, all of this self-tracking becomes like an onion being peeled (they are many layers to it). The more we post and publish, the more our friends and family are doing the same and the more brands are watching and capturing it all. Ultimately, you could be doing very little to no self-tracking but if your family and friends are, then your life is still being shared (whether you like it or not).

"The technology that we use directs us to tell a story in a certain way," continues Young. "If you're on Facebook, the story that it encourages you to tell about yourself is the movies that you like or the products that you identify with. It encourages you to make these kinds of lists - partly because that's good for marketing reasons and partly because technology is good at helping us to make lists. The danger is that you start to think of yourself and identify with yourself and others) in those terms. I am a person who likes X, Y and Z, but we're a lot more than just the pop culture products that we identify with."

Have become schizophrenic?

This fascinating moment in time could well become an indictment as to just how schizophrenic society can be. On one hand, we shrill when channels like Facebook make nuanced changes to their terms and service for fear that it will breach our privacy, but on the other hand we are constantly and willfully publishing our each and every move for the world to see in text, images, audio and video. It turns out that our virtual selves are just as confused and complicated as our physical selves.

What's your take?

You can listen to my conversation with Nora Young in its entirety in the upcoming episode of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast (which will be published this coming Sunday).

Tags: 1984 analytics big brother brand brand evangelist business column cbc culture data definitely not the opera digital lives eddie van halen facebook foursquare george orwell gps influencer marketing instagram klout marketer mcclelland stewart mobile mobile photography montreal gazette new business newspaper column nora young online platform online video podcast pop culture postmedia publishing radio recording self tracking skype smartphone social network social scoring system spark storytelling technology the virtual self tracking twitter van halen vancouver sun voice command winston smith youtube zippo

It's Not About Advertising. It's About Creating A Brand Movement.

Mitch Joel — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:27:50 PDT

Episode #304 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Welcome to episode #304 of Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast. Scott Goodson is the founder and CEO of StrawberryFrog, an advertising agency that is looking to help brands cultivate cultural movements. Most recently, Goodson published his first book, Uprising - How To Build A Brand And Change The World By Sparking Cultural Movements. Working with brands like Jim Bean, New Balance, Heineken and Emirates, Goodson knows a thing or two about what it takes for a brand to be relevant in today's world. His book, Uprising, looks at how brands can move beyond advertising into something deeper and more connected to consumer's and their needs in today's market. The bigger question is this: are all brands capable of creating a true cultural movement? Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #304.

Tags: advertising agency advertising podcast blog blogging cultural movement david usher digital marketing emirates facebook heineken itunes jim bean marketing marketing podcast new balance online social network podcast podcasting scott goodson social media strawberryfrog uprising

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #98

Mitch Joel — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:04:31 PDT

93Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Valve: How I Got Here, What It's Like, and What I'm Doing - Ramblings in Valve Time. "Michael Abrash is a brilliant architect and game developer behind some of the best games around today. He works for Valve, which has almost single-handedly disrupted the distribution channel for games by, well, not being jerks. Valve's CEO is famous for responding to emails directly, and they generally solve for making stuff that works and paying creators well. In this post, Abrash explains how he came to work at Valve, years after it launched. Valve gives workers an unprecedented amount of latitude in what they work on -- relying on peer accountability to keep everyone busy -- so he wound up working on wearable computing simply because it was an interesting problem." (Alistair for Hugh).
Don't work. Be hated. Love someone - Half & Half. "I've been on vacation (sort of) for three weeks, and I've spent a bunch of time trying to decide what to do. So, my links this week are two posts that seem relevant to that concern. This commencement speech by Adrian Tan is reminiscent of Baz Luhrman's Always Wear Sunscreen, or Bud Caddell's How To Be Happy In Business. Tan's list is simple: not trying to please everyone, not working on things you hate, and figuring out how to adore at least one other person. Good list." (Alistair for Mitch).
The social cell - New Statesman. "The parallels between biological cells and obscure cultural practices, as explored by Daniel Dennett." (Hugh for Alistair).
Cuckoo - New York Magazine. "On the pressure that culture has put on our internal clocks." (Hugh for Mitch).
Why You Can't Get a Taxi - The Atlantic. "A beautiful piece about a great little start-up called, Uber, that allows you to use your smartphone to hail a town car. That's right, instead of standing on the corner and hoping that a cab will stop, accept your destination and not give you an anxiety attack during the drive as they whisk through traffic, you can use this service. While it may cost more than a cab ride, Uber solves a problem for many business people (and those who would prefer a ride with a little more class). A friend of mine, Aidan Nulman, has a similar startup (Hire Winston) that works great too. As someone who travels a lot, I can not only appreciate startups like this, but I admire the inventiveness of the idea - to serve a specific niche and solve a specific challenge. Not all great ideas have to an Instagram or Facebook sized one." (Mitch for Alistair).
The Flight From Conversation - The New York Times. "It's strange how much time I have spent thinking about the message of Sherry Turkle from both her TED talk this past year and her book, Alone Together. In this piece for The New York Times, Turkle provokes with gems like this: 'At home, families sit together, texting and reading e-mail. At work executives text during board meetings. We text (and shop and go on Facebook) during classes and when we're on dates. My students tell me about an important new skill: it involves maintaining eye contact with someone while you text someone else; it's hard, but it can be done.' What have we become?" (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags: adrian tan aidan nulman alistair croll alone together always wear sunscreen baz luhrman bitcurrent bud caddell complete web monitoring daniel dennett facebook gigaom half and half hire winston how to be happy in business hugh mcguire human 20 iambik instagram librivox link exchange linkbait managing bandwidth media hacks michael abrash new statesman new york magazine pressbooks sherry turkle startup story ted talk the atlantic the book over the new york times uber valve year one labs

Dear Tom Peters

Mitch Joel — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:59:38 PDT

Dear Tom,

It has been a while since we last did an event together, but I was just thinking of you yesterday and I felt compelled to write you this note. I don't think I ever told you this, but over a decade ago, I took a job as a Director of Marketing for a mobile content business. I was very excited about this opportunity because it involved working directly for Andy Nulman. At the time, Andy was best known for being the founder of the Just For Laughs comedy festival, but he decided to try out the technology and content world. I was both excited and intimidated by this opportunity because Andy is quite the character (and I mean that in the most loving way possible). I knew it would be hard to impress him, because this was a guy who had seen and done everything to turn Just For Laughs into the world-class brand that it has become. On my first day, I walked into my new office and he handed me a copy of your book, The Project 50. Up until that point, I don't think I had ever (truly) read a business book. I had given up on book reading after not enjoying my formal education. The book was small and Andy insisted that I read it before working on any projects.

I devoured that book.

Not only did I devour that book, but it sent me on a virtual spiral to read, consume and find anything and everything like it that had ever been written before. In short, your book, your thinking and your writing style was the catalyst (along with some prodding from my good friend, Andy) to learn. Not to read, but to learn. Not to worry about school, but to get a real education. Since then, I have probably read thousands of books (including all of yours) and my life has dramatically changed because of it. I wound up launching the Montreal Business Book Review and an audio podcast entirely dedicated to business and motivational books called, Foreword Thinking. While I have stopped both of those projects, all of that type of content still seeps its way into everything that I do here on this blog and podcast. I can't even count how many new and interesting authors your work has introduced me to (I still think that Funky Business by Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom is a gem!).

In 2003, right before you released Re-Imagine! I heard that you would be speaking in Toronto. I got in a car and drove six hours (twelve total!) to see you speak that afternoon. I was so excited, that I actually wound up going to local Toronto bookstore where you were also doing an event in the earlier part of the afternoon to see you twice in a day. What happened at those two events changed my life forever. I had never seen you speak in public before, so watching you walk up and down the aisles (who needs a podium!) and speaking to people in both a whisper and then a scream inspired me to think differently about what a corporate presentation should be. The way you designed your slides and used them only as a catalyst for the words that were coming out of your mouth, taught me that knowing your content is a whole other world away from presenting content from a screen. I was more than inspired... it was a religious experience.

From there, we've had the chance to not only share the stage on numerous occasions, but to connect, chat and catch-up. As someone who spent over a decade in the music industry, I would often tell people that if they ever get the chance to meet the rock stars that they admire, to not do it. It winds up always being a letdown, and the image of them in their minds will always be more glamorous and powerful. Well, Tom, you are definitely one of the rock stars in my life, and am I ever happy that I didn't take my own advice. Meeting you and speaking to you has only reinforced the words that you write and the presentations that you give. You are compassionate, caring, real and a true conversationalist.

I'm not just a massive fan of yours because of the content that you create, but because it's obvious (from your books, blog posts, tweets and speeches) that business is personal to you. It's a life lesson that took me a couple of years to reconcile. People would often say to me, "it's nothing personal... it's just business." I hated that line. I spent my days (and nights) building my business. It's my passion and my love and I take it (all) very personally. You helped me realize that it's ok to take business personally. You have a care not just for business success, but a care for humanity. You preach about equality and doing what is right and - even after all of these years - it's a breath of fresh air.

I look forward to the next time that we have a moment to catch up. Until then, know that I'm following every post, tweet and word that you put out into our world and I do, sincerely, think that our world is a better place because of you.

Thanks, Tom... I don't know where I would be without you (and I owe Andy the old hat-tip for the intro to your beautiful mind).

Warm regards,

Mitch

I was very moved by the book, Steal Like An Artist, by Austin Kleon. Especially the section titled, Write Fan Letters. The truth is that I used to always write a note to the author of the book that I had just finished. I guess I got too busy (or read to many books or became lazy) to keep at it. In Kleon's book, he recommends writing a public fan letter and ends the section by saying: "The most important thing is that you show your appreciation without expecting anything in return, and that you get new work out of the appreciation." It's a beautiful concept. With your permission, I'll be using this space from time to time to write these kinds of letters. Welcome to Project: Public Fan Letter. Feel free to do a few of them yourself. I wrote my first Public Fan Letter to Seth Godin (you can read it here: Dear Seth Godin).

Tags: andy nulman austin kleon blog brand business business book comedy festival content education fan letter foreword thinking funky business jonas ridderstrale just for laughs kjell nordstrom marketing mobile content montreal business book review motivational book podcast presentation presentation skills project public fan letter public fan letter public speaking reimagine seth godin speaking speaking skills steal like an artist technology the project 50 tom peters

The Business (To Business) Of Social Media

Mitch Joel — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:13:26 PDT

"Why aren't there more case studies of business to business organizations using social media?"

I get asked this question all of the time. The truth is that most people are not looking hard enough. Yes, we're all excited when a big brand scores a slum dunk and everyone gets all excited about capturing likes on Facebook, but the dirty little secret of the Internet is this: is you think that social media is good for consumer brands, it's much more powerful for those in the business to business space.

The opportunities are everywhere.

The best business to business sales are done through relationships, testimonials, white papers and general content marketing (unless you're in a highly structured, regulated and procurement driven process, but there is still an opportunity to leverage social media). If social media can't help you augment all of those areas, I'm not sure we're all living on the same planet. Are the consumers there? We tend to forget that those consumers are also human beings. They're on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Speaking of LinkedIn...

It was just announced that LinkedIn acquired SlideShare (more on that here: LinkedIn Acquires Professional Content Sharing Platform SlideShare For $119M). This is a prime example of the business side of social media picking up steam. It's about much more than making sure you have an up-to-date LinkedIn profile and that you're posting presentations to SlideShare, it's about the very real reality that more and more businesses are turning to the Web as a form of social proofing. They're looking to dig a little deeper into the online profiles and information that businesses share as a way to "get to know you"... and your business.

Shun social media for business at your own peril.

People will complain about the time and effort that it takes to build valuable connections online (and whether there is any ROI associated with it). They're right. It's amazing how strikingly similar the online world is to our day to day lives, isn't it? Did you think that a robust LinkedIn profile instantly qualifies you as someone worthy of doing business with? What we're learning is that it's not about how you present yourself online, it's also about how you conduct yourself. It's about who you are connected to, what kinds of engagement you are having and how you connect, share and contribute in these spaces as well. It's going to take effort... but in that effort comes the value.

For those used to Facebook and Twitter, this is all very obvious.

But, for those who are looking at social media from a business-only perspective, the river is growing bigger and deeper with each and every passing day. As much as these channels provide a publishing platform for individuals to share and connect, there is no reason why you can't leverage them in a smart and strategic way for your business to have a truly connected presence. In short, if you think that social media is just about "the conversation," you're missing the bigger opportunity.

What social media means to business to business.

What makes any media "social" is the ability for the media (in and of itself) to be as shareable and findable as possible. That's the core social action. Once you accomplish that, more people can engage and connect (and yes, this sometimes leads to actual conversations) If you're not in the business of making what you do as shareable and as findable as possible, then what, exactly, are you in the business of? The LinkedIn and SlideShare deal should make you realize how many tremendous business opportunities are missed - each and ever day - by businesses who wrongfully think that social media is just about businesses acting in a more human way. Social media makes your business more findable and more shareable.

That's core... isn't it?

Tags: b2b brand. facebook business to business case studies consumer brand content marketing content sharing platform internet linkedin online profile online world publishing platform relationships roi sldieshare social media social proofing techcrunch testimonials twitter white paper

The Foundation Of Social Business

Mitch Joel — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:12:20 PDT

Too many companies still struggle with social media.

Here's the newsflash: some of the smarter businesses have moved on. It's no longer just about their media being social, but the business (as an entity). Is this a problem? Not for the brands that embrace this newfound opportunity. For others, they simply don't know where to begin. Jeremiah Owyang is currently Partner of Customer Strategy at Altimeter Group, a research based advisory firm started by Charlene Li (Groundswell and Open Leadership). I've been following Jeremiah since his days at Forrester Research and was one of the earlier readers/fans of his blog, Web Strategy. Just this past weekend, Jeremiah appeared on my podcast, Six Pixels of Separation (you can listen to it right here: SPOS #303 - Why Social Media Agencies Are Turning To Advertising With Jeremiah Owyang), but today he tweeted about a recent presentation he gave at the Dachis Group's Social Business Summit 2012 titled, Build A Scalable Program Through Social Readiness. In this 30-minute presentation, you will learn the merit and opportunities that happen when you start thinking about your business as a social business.

This will be well-worth your time...

Tags: advertising altimeter group blog business charlene li dachis group forrester research groundswell jeremiah owyang media open leadership podcast research company social business social business summit social media social media agency web strategy

The Old (Evolving) Rules

Mitch Joel — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:22:24 PDT

Are rules set and permanent?

That's obviously not the case - especially when it comes to social media. I've recently been watching some of the discourse online and how many people struggle, because they feel that no one is giving them any hard and true answers as to how they should be doing things online. What these people fail to realize is that marketing using these digital channels is not a linear process and very much like a relationship. The dynamics at play call for very different strategies and tactics as you move from brand to brand. "You're not telling me what others in my industry have done to be successful?" is a common comment I see/hear.

Let's be raw for a minute...

If I explained to you how I managed to join with my business partners here at Twist Image and how we built the business to be successful, do you think it's a model that you could replicate? Look at Instagram. Do you think that's a model you can replicate? Here's the thing: in a world where you can now do almost anything in these digital channels, what makes you think that any kind of best practice is actually going to provide a semblance of success for your brand? Show me a successful story and I'll show you many exceptions with very few rules.

Should I follow you back?

A friend recently decided to get more active on Twitter. Because they have some visibility in the marketplace (they're a known entity in media), they asked whether or not they should follow everyone back on Twitter who is following them. Had you asked me this question when Twitter first started out, I would have said "yes!" Had you asked me this question two years ago, I would have said "no, follow back only those people that you find interesting." Being asked that question the other day, I was stumped. Why? Because the answer is yes, you should and no, you shouldn't and/or be very selective. If I look at three of my contemporaries: Gary Vaynerchuk, Amber Naslund and Mark W. Schaefer, I would say that the three of us have very similar business goals. We all use Twitter as a way to connect, provoke some thought leadership, all with the ultimate goal of getting clients to work with us. When I watch those three in Twitter action, none of them have/deploy the same strategies or techniques. We're all in the same industry and we all have the same business goals and we're all so fundamentally different at leveraging Twitter. And, most importantly, we all have very different followers with varying degrees of engagement.

Rules have become personal.

Do you remember when online marketers would tell you that you should never use the word "free" or use all caps in an email subject headline? The thought was that these emails would be relegated to the junk mail folder (or, even worse, be marked as spam). No more. The spammers have become so sophisticated, that they don't even use those techniques anymore, so the rules have changed. In fact, we regarded email as the future of direct marketing and we're currently seeing a very different kind of email marketing opportunity arise: one where it acts as a trigger to engage consumers to enact in different ways. More rules that are changing, evolving or becoming extinct.

Rails yes. Rules no.

Does this mean that everything is up in the air? No. There are rails. There are instances of blunders, foibles and big time idiotic moves that have highlighted the importance of knowing the rails: where they are and where they go, but that's about it. We can talk about everything from context and consistency to personalization and a certain humanness that are profound rails of what makes something work in the digital channels (and what makes other things die), but even knowing where the rails are (and keeping your hands on them as you walk down the path) is no guarantee of success.

Great, now what?

Why not go back and look at all of your digital marketing channels (website, mobile environment, search engine optimization, email marketing, social media, affiliate program, web analytics, etc...) and start looking through the "rules" you created to ensure success. Make a list of these rules. Then, do some quick online searches, attend some webinars or local conferences and see if any of your rules have changed, shifted or have been debunked.

The results will surprise you.

Tags: affiliate marketing amber naslund best practice brand business goals business model conference consumer engagement digital channel digital marketing direct marketing email marketing gary vaynerchuk instagram mark w schaefer marketing media mobile environment online discourse online marketing search engine optimization seo social media social media rules thought leadership twist image twitter web analytics webinar website

The Sound And The Hurry Of Podcasting

Mitch Joel — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:28:49 PDT

It's funny how things fall together.

I found out that Julie Burstein, the author of Spark - How Creativity Works and creator of the radio program Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen for Public Radio International, was going to be a speaker at this past year's TED conference. I usually choose a handful of speakers or guests to try to connect with prior to boarding my flight to Long Beach. Having pre-set meetings and meal buddies makes it easier to connect with people and network (especially for someone as introverted as me). Julie was kind enough to make some time for me at the end of third day. We wound up having a wonderful conversation about the power of creativity and where it comes from (we actually recorded the conversation and you can hear it all right here: Episode #297 of Six Pixels of Separation Podcast with Julie Burstein) and agreed to try to stay connected.

Does anybody still care about podcasting?

Having recently celebrated the three hundredth episode of my weekly podcast, Six Pixels of Separation, I half jokingly tell people that it's the most selfish act of social media ever. I use the show as an excuse to corner interesting people and pry the answers to questions that are challenging me in business out of them. The only non-selfish act is the fact that I publish it for free for the world to listen in. It turns out that podcasting (and, audio podcasting, in general) never gained the traction of say blogging, online social networks or even online video. It's a shame. Audio (be it a podcast or radio) is true theater for the mind. Personally, I like nothing more than either plugging in some ear buds and listening to some killer content or cranking them through the audio system as I make my daily commute to the office. I especially love listening to audio podcasts on long haul flights. iTunes is an amazing repository of audio podcasts that enable each and every one of us to become our own, eclectic, program directors of our own radio stations (the only difference with podcasts when compared to radio is that you can pause, fast forward, rewind, stop, delete and share them... on your own time). It's the cheapest way to learn that you can find.

Good morning, Chelsea.

It turns out that few weeks after the TED conference, I was asked to speak at a private Google event in New York City. Julie had mentioned that I should ping her should I ever be in the area, and I had a breakfast opening. We wound up meeting for breakfast in Chelsea at The Grey Dog (in case you were wondering, the baked oatmeal is to die for) to chat about all things audio. Post success of her bestselling book, Spark, Julie was thinking of starting an audio podcast to continue to interview creative types. The name of her new audio podcast is called, Pursuit of Spark, but she had some technical and philosophical questions about how podcasting can (and should) be different from radio. In short, podcasting shouldn't be a mirror of radio. The opportunity we have is to experiment and come up with new and different ways to create audio programming. In the same breathe, there is tons of knowledge that Julie has about radio, so it became this strange conversation about sharing tips and tricks to chart this new course for audio.

Tools of the trade.

One of the biggest challenges is capturing the audio in the best possible light. Most podcasters (myself included) don't have access to a world-class studio or the ability to have our subjects show up to a specific location for a conversation (my studio is a MacBook Air with the Audacity freeware). We have to be more mobile and agile. The challenge with that is recording phone calls is not only hard to do, but the sound quality is brutal. Over the years, I've found that the audio quality of Skype trumps phones (so long as the Skype call is clean and free of distortion). I record those Skype chats using Audio Hijack Pro and the results have been quite good. While on the go, I've transitioned over the years from a small Sony tape recorder, to a digital recorder to the M-Audio MicroTrack portable digital studio to the HT Professional Recorder app for the iPhone. I was telling Julie all about my nerdware when she asked if I had heard about the Hindenburg Field Recorder. The app costs $29.99 and is worth each and every penny. It's almost astounding to see both the functionality (on-the-fly editing, you can set cue points during an interview, add notes and much more) and the overall audio quality. Without sounding too much like a commercial for Hindenburg, you can feel the future of audio reporting by just playing with it. It's like GarageBand for news and podcast producing junkies.

The power of audio.

There's still something to be said about the beauty of well-produced audio. Yes, there are a bunch of very indie podcasts out there and there are a host of professionally produced shows that are simply distributed through podcasting as well, but the tools are now readily available to make each and every one of us a producer of quality audio content. As businesses and brands clamor for friends, followers, likes, retweets and pins, start tinkering with audio podcasting. You may not only enjoy it, but be able to find some highly qualified new business leads and a burgeoning and loyal community along the way.

The Huffington Post - Why We Shouldn't Cast Away Podcasting.

Tags: audacity audio hijack pro audio podcasting audio programming audio quality audio reporting blog business book business column creativity garageband google hindenburg field recorder ht professional recorder iphone itunes julie burstein kurt andersen m audio microtrack macbook air media hacker mobile online social network online video podcast podcasting portable digital studio program director public radio international publishing pursuit of spark radio radio station recording studio skype social media sony spark studio 360 tape recorder ted conference the grey dog the huffington post

Why Are Social Media Agencies Now Buying Advertising?

Mitch Joel — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:42:05 PDT

Episode #303 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

I find it very embarrassing that after three hundred-plus episodes, we've never had Jeremiah Owyang on the podcast. He's currently Partner of Customer Strategy at Altimeter Group, a research based advisory firm started by Charlene Li (Groundswell and Open Leadership). I've been following Jeremiah (and admiring him) since his days at Forrester Research and was one of the earlier readers/fans of his blog, Web Strategy. On April 14th, 2012, Jeremiah posted a fascinating piece on his blog titled, Trend: Social Media Agencies Turn to Advertising (make sure to read the comments too!). According to his blog post: "In a stunning early finding of interviews with nearly a dozen social media agencies and software providers, I'm seeing a new trend: Social media agency of record (SMaoR) are now moving into advertising buying." Very conversation worthy...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #303.

Tags: advertising advertising podcast altimeter group blog blogging charlene li david usher digital marketing facebook forrester research groundswell itunes jeremiah owyang marketing marketing podcast online social network open leadership podcast podcasting social media social media agency web strategy

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #97

Mitch Joel — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:32:50 PDT

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Mapping London. "While in the UK, I've been attending events as part of Big Data Week. Last night, I watched a fascinating series on visualization, which included the Mapping London project. It tracks everything from bike commuters to tube riders geographically. But this one is interesting for another reason: Britons have many restrictions on what they can do legally -- my cousin told me she's not allowed to ask prospective hires how many years' experience they have, because it's considered age-discriminatory. I imagine that a survey of Londoners by racial profile would be similarly controversial and frowned upon. But an analysis of last names -- Smith versus Singh, for example, is trivial. This is a great example of how hard it can be to legislate and govern data. For everything we ban, there's likely a close parallel that's easy to collect and comparatively unregulated. Want to know where your tribe lives? Map London by last name." (Alistair for Hugh).
Lady's orange wig, lipstick and 'five regrets of the dying' newspaper cutting found alongside body of spy in the bag, and SOMEONE ELSE locked him inside - The Daily Mail. "I'm in England for a family vacation, and as a result my media diet has been filled with Murdoch, hoodies, sheep, Olympics, and TOWIEs. It reminds me of how little news actually makes it across international barriers and through our media filters. This story, in particular, has transfixed us, and I can't believe it hasn't seen further attention. It sounds like a Bourne Identity script, or at least an elaborate episode of CSI -- an MI6 code breaker, found locked in a gym bag, with the padlock beneath him, in a room full of £20K of unworn women's clothing. Nobody seems to have any explanations. Oh, and it happened two years ago. How am I just hearing about this now? Media bubbles indeed." (Alistair for Mitch).
Letter to Jeff Walker regarding "Blade Runner" - Letters. "In 1981, science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick saw a preview on television of the film Blade Runner, which is based on his novel, 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' This is the letter he sent to the producer of the movie. Unfortunately, PKD died shortly after this, and never got a chance to see the complete film." (Hugh for Alistair).
Six Rules for Dining Out - The Atlantic. "Mitch, you travel more than anyone I know. Here are some suggestions and advice about finding good food when you are on the road, including: choose Vietnamese over Thai, unless the Thai restaurant is attached to a hotel. And: avoid restaurants with many smiling, beautiful women." (Hugh for Mitch).
Get Rich U - The New Yorker. "I've been fascinated with geography lately. Not maps or games of memory, but why people are located where they are. What is it about Silicon Valley that makes it such a hotbed of innovation, technology and talent? Most people aren't born there, but they move there... making a pilgrimage (of sorts). Much in the same way people went out in gold rush times. You would think that technology changes that. You would think that great ideas can come from anywhere. The truth is that they can (and do). Yet, still, if you want to make it in Hollywood, you have to be in Hollywood. In this article, Ken Auletta looks at the Chinese walls (or there lack of) that exists between Stanford University and Silicon Valley's thirst to find the next Facebook or Instagram or..." (Mitch for Alistair).
Words Came In, Marked For Death - The New Yorker. "Virginia, our Executive Creative Director at Twist Image flipped this gem my way (so thank her, not me). The folks over at The New Yorker launched a Twitter-based game called, Questioningly. In the first round, they asked readers to recommend a single English word that should be completely removed from the language by taking suggestions via Facebook and Twitter (gamers were asked to use the hahstag #tnyquestion). Read on to discover what happened and the hilarity (or weirdness) of smart people (or the criminally insane)." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags: alistair croll big data week bitcurrent blade runner bourne identity complete web monitoring csi do androids dream of electric sheep gigaom hugh mcguire human 20 iambik jeff walker ken auletta librivox link exchange linkbait managing bandwidth mapping london media hacks philip k dick pressbooks questioningly story the atlantic the book over the daily mail the new yorker twist image twitter year one labs