Fine Print

CNN has an interesting story today about a social network for spies. The program is called A-Space, and it’s a site for analysts within the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies to swap intel and other information detrimental to national security. Unfortunately, only intelligence personnel with the proper security clearance can access the site, so Mashable won’t be sending out beta invites any time soon.

An interesting tactic, with a launch date of September 22, so expect hackers across the world to start polishing their keyboards in anticipation.

Seguing nicely from people stealing secrets to people stealing ideas, I heard about You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice from the girl Riot™. (A great blog by the way.)

YTWWN is a blog full of ad campaigns, websites, designs and other original ideas that — you guessed it — have been ripped off and used elsewhere, sometimes blatantly outright or in a slightly more subtle way. Look at this! And this! And this!

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

If you recall, a few years ago Metallica’s Lars Ulrich was up in arms about online music services, equating them to nothing more than online piracy.

How times have changed! It seems that nothing else matters for him apart from getting some buzz for their latest music, and offering fans the ability to download high-quality tracks before their new CD is actually released: “If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. Happy days.”

The band also held some listening parties for bloggers, and weren’t happy with the feedback. You can’t have it both ways, Lars.

Matthew Ingram has the full story.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Had meetings most of the day today, inlcuding a very comprehensive PR Boot Camp, so picked a quick couple of links for the blog.

Twitter Grader. I got 65, disappointed, thought I was at least a 67 or something.

At least we treat our interns with respect.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Google’s Chrome browser.

For busy PR people who need to pop out at lunch and make a quick viral video for their clients, you can now shoot the video and upload it to YouTube, using this snazzy piece of hardware, or this one.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

If you don’t want to take a 10-minute break from work, close the office door, play some fun games and maybe win a free trip to Mexico or the Dominican Republic courtesy of our client Dell, then please don’t click here or here.

Thank you.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

I got followed by Betty Draper today, but I don’t even watch Mad Men, so not sure why.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Mozilla Labs has been playing around with trying a next-gen user interface for the way we communicate online. It goes a long way beyond just inserting a link into an e-mail. Very cool video, suggest you watch it.

Here’s the buzz for it.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

For those of us working in the sideshow attraction of social media, news today of an abrupt change of heart in the acquisition of Livingston Communications by the Social Media Group. After the realization that their management styles wouldn’t really gel, it’s nice to see full and open disclosure of why it’s not taking place. Better to find out sooner rather than later.

Heard here, watched here, read here.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

I just helped to present a Lunch and Learn for around 10 colleagues; think it went pretty well — we had some good questions thrown at us and no one was sneaking a look at their watch. The theme was “Digital Media Outreach” and how to identify and engage with influencers in particular industries. One of my roles here.

We demonstrated certain online tools and applications that made the job easy. But, we also explained that a lot of the research is just plain good-old-fashioned donkey work, rolling the sleeves up and taking the time to zero in on the results, and digging deeper. It still takes a human touch to sift through a piece of code’s initial findings.

So, as I’m in a generous mood, here’s my list of tips on how to spot a social media influencer. Grab a coffee and settle into a comfy seat before you read it if you want:

1) Do they respond?

So, hope that helps when you start to do your own research. Pass it around, it’s a freebie. That one step is how to spot a social media influencer.

When you … ask them a question; mention them in a blog; disagree with them; need some free advice that helps you to do your job better; request a referral to another source if they don’t know the answer; criticize their product or service; recommend them to someone in your contact list — Do they respond?

Those people, in my mind, are the social media influencers.

Off topic link of the day #1: A great way to relaunch a website. Blow the c**p out of the old one with guns. (Hat tip: AdFreak.)

Off topic link of the day #2: Is there a Canadian equivalent of Agency Spy?

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Todd Defren has another quick idea for bloggers to indicate whether they’re open to PR pitches or not.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

“I know … I’ll set up a website that shows nothing but ads, and people will flock to it, buy them all up and make me a million bucks!” ~ Alex Tew, circa 2005.

I’m sure Tew said something akin to the above quote before setting up Million Dollar Homepage a few years ago. True to his prediction — and as harebrained as it sounds — people really did fall over themselves to buy pixel space just to be part of the hottest Internet buzz at the time. And of course, the then 21-year-old student did make his million, and earned a place in viral history.

Now, for the bargain price of around $40, you too can own a piece of history by buying a limited edition print of the homepage. Good on him for squeezing even more dollar$ out of his success.

My point? You can’t force something to become viral, it just happens. Those unique ideas that have Merit, Surprise, Good timing and, yes, balls, become the ones that people talk about and pass along. Add some MSG into your client’s branding and see what happens.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Here’s a good example of why you should reserve your own domain name before someone else does.

Hat tip: Ragan Communications.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Peter Shankman gets asked that a lot, as he mentions in his blog. He is the guy that started Help A Reporter Out (HARO) which has been going for a while now, and has a lot of top journos and freelance writers using it for finding relevent sources. All that for $0.00 precisely.

His beef is with people who think he’s not working hard, just because he happens to be “sitting in the lounge at Gatwick, munching on a bagel,” in “Singapore–>EWR flight delayed, hitting Duty Free, anyone want anything?” or  “sitting on the hood of my rental car, watching the sunset from the desert outside of Eloy, Arizona.” [That last one made me look around my office and think, hmmm!]

People who work in this exciting social media world live online. They fire up their latest iGizmo version 1.whatever, and start to blog, vlog, IM, Tweet, Plurk, podcast, Digg, StumbleUpon, e-mail, and Phweet (there’s a new one for ya). Sure I missed some. Just because they’re not in an office cubicle somewhere doesn’t mean they’re not working hard, putting in 100% for their clients, and getting excellent results.

Shankman is a digital nomad [Dell is a client], someone who can sit in the sun on his patio, sipping a cold one, and still close some deals. Office rent is a thing of the past in this area of the digital workplace. It’s very exciting, and liberating.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

The title above refers to Christie Blatchford’s last sentence in today’s Globe and Mail piece. I disagree with her. (Of course, otherwise this post ends here.)

She writes that “the unofficial end to journalism” happened this week, just because her colleague Matt Sekeres uttered those ubiquitous words: “I’m going to blog this.” So, I decided to look up what the definition of journalism is:

1. The collecting, writing, editing, and presenting of news or news articles in newspapers and magazines and in radio and television broadcasts.
2. Material written for publication in a newspaper or magazine or for broadcast.
3. The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation.
4. Newspapers and magazines.
5. An academic course training students in journalism.
6. Written material of current interest or wide popular appeal.

Granted — to give Blatchford the benefit of the doubt on one point — it doesn’t mention the word “blog” in any of the definitions. But doesn’t (1) and (2) apply, if the word was added in there? And isn’t (6) the very definition of a blog? Editorials are blogs too, you know, just not electronic.

Apparently a Canadian Press colleague was “stricken with nostalgia” upon spying Blatchford’s notebook. Please! I get stricken with nostalgia when I see a cellphone that can’t take a video, or recall the days when the URL twitter.com was available for $20. Times change, journalism has changed, time to buy some real estate in Blogville.

[Update: Doug Haslam weighs in here: “Is ‘Editorial’ the same as ‘Blog?’ Perhaps there are some logical gymnastics performed in this article, but as I feel it’s healthy to look beyond format and examine content and intent, they may be closer cousins than some bloggers — or editors — may want to admit.”]

Slightly related: a blog posting that has some real research behind it. Researching some research, in fact.

Totally not related: Electronic Arts gets it. How to engage 101. (Or, if you’re a conspiracy theorist, how to deliberately screw up something so you can turn it to your advantage down the line.)

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

I came across CityMama a few months ago after doing some research on mompreneurs = a very large, influential, active and opinionated group of people. These guys gals do their own WOM marketing and throw out bad pitches with the soiled diapers, so it takes a while to build a relationship with them.

Blogger Stefania posted a year ago (yes, 2007) on her views about getting insincere PR pitches, and how she handles them. This quote from a couple of Blogher attendees made me cringe: “I listened as not one, but two PR guys stood up to tell us mothers how proud they were of their strategy to ‘hook’ moms into trying their products by pretending to read our blogs (so we’ll trust them) before offering up whatever it is that they’d like us to blog for free.”

She quite rightly, in her own words, laid a “smackdown” on them, and also touches on the issue of pitching to mommy bloggers from a different demographic. Well worth a read, and also stay tuned for the comments section, more insights to be had there.

On a different tack, I got quite excited when driving to work this morning as I thought Pink Floyd were finally planning a tour. Did you see any of these in Toronto?

Thanks (I think?) to Adrants for bursting my bubble and revealing that they were nothing more than a Fido campaign involving Fidolls, or flogos, or something or other.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

We’d like to welcome Emily as our newest member of the team, she handles accounts:

And say hello to Lee, he’s in charge of client relations:

Actually, don’t bother. They’re not real and won’t reply.

The first “person” is totally computer-generated, and demonstrates the next level that photo-realistic characters have reached for use in video games, films and other applications. The other is an android developed by a Japanese robotics professor. The realism in both — especially “Emily” — is quite stunning, and perhaps, a little bit freaky too if you were ever scared of dolls as a kid.

My point? Loads of potential for the social media/network scene in a few years, when your online avatar will be as realistic as you, for when you hold a virtual seminar, need to give a few presentations at the same time, or just need a webcam stand-in for when the golf course beckons.

And talking of things that aren’t as they seem, the Enfartico spoofer has been unveiled.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

The third in a series of three Twebinars is on tomorrow at 2 p.m. EDT. The last two have been pretty informative, so will try and catch this one too.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

From John Bell.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

I’d hardly call LinkedIn an old-school social network, as referenced by Web Worker Daily. Been using it since it started, it’s free, led to some great freelance gigs and I’ve brainstormed with people on there cleverer than I to get advice that would probably cost me hundreds in consulting fees. Karma rules, so I’ve helped others too.

So I had to jump into the comments section of the post and argue the point that it’s not interactive. Brian asks: “What about the people who are 25, 27, 32? Are they going to have job offers in hours? Not likely.” I’d be curious from anyone out there in that age range who did find employment using LinkedIn. Or offered a job to someone. What made you decide? Or is there a better way, like Tweeting it or something?

On the topic of Twitter, Media Guardian’s Jemima Kiss reports that John Cleese has an account. Obviously, take that with a pinch of salt, as it might be someone having a laugh. From seeing Cleese in interviews, it kind of sounds like him, but his style could be easily faked by a diehard Monty Python fan.

Another “celeb” who has an active online presence is Kanye West. His blog post is what today’s title refers to, a cool ad.

Have a great weekend.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

A bit tied up on new biz pitches today, which is probably for the best, as I was going to write some very contentious content. Then I saw this.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

The old chestnut of whether it’s time to look for a new job has surfaced again — whether PR is on its last legs, or just going through a transitional phase.

In the red corner we have Brian Solis, and in the blue, we have Steve Rubel. Both are heavy hitters so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

If PR does get handed to the general online population, then here’s a great opportunity from an airline that’s handing it’s next PR campaign to one lucky blogger.

With all due respect to the number-crunchers out there, accounting has always been a bit of a dry area when it comes to exciting PR. Seems that all it needed was a catchy jingle, thanks to this excellent viral from Intuit QuickBooks. That is really the silky smooth sound of small business success!

Hat tip for that one to BizLaunch.ca.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

“Think of social media’s value in a way where you can’t not make time for it.”

Social Media Mafia reports that recent PR grad Michael Allison said that, and I think it’s spot on. Reverse psychology in action: “You really should be in social media you know, old chap, lots of benefits,” is not as persuasive as “What?! You’re not in social media?! Wow. Just wow.”

Humans are nosy by nature. We need to know what everyone else is up to. Just in case we miss out on something.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

The Department of State’s first blog, Dipnote, was launched as a way to encourage dialogue between a U.S. government agency and its citizens. WebGuild’s headline — U.S. Government Using Social Media For Counter-Intelligence — is a bit strong, I think, but if a country is using a blog to “influence foreign policy and to change the perception of the United States with the rest of the world,” then maybe that is akin to heading off subversive influence by enemy states.

The Department recently launched a Facebook page and has 444 fans. That intrigues me. Who joins these type of groups? Are they fans of the policies? Or a meeting place for historians and politics-lovers to congregate?

I applaud their initiative in trying to be more transparent. If Number 10 Downing Street can have a Twitter account, then it’s open season on more government immersion in social media.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Jonathan Kash has set up a very handy list of brands using Twitter. Here’s the official new site, but I prefer the older one.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

A regular posting from some of my feeds about who is saying what out there …

“The #080808 campaign allows microbloggers to participate in a worldwide timeline of online Twitter chatter about August 8, 2008, the start of the Beijing Olympics games.”
http://www.tag080808.com/

“Hate to tell you, but Web 1.0 was social too.”
http://gregverdino.typepad.com/greg_verdinos_blog/2008/08/hate-to-tell-yo.html

“Of course, ‘web version’ hints at the problem, because most editorial workflows are still built around print publishing and so are blind to all of the web value being figuratively left on the cutting room floor or literally tossed in the trash.”
http://publishing2.com/2008/08/07/how-newsrooms-throw-away-value-by-not-linking-to-sources-on-the-web/

“You are killing the paper. You might as well just burn the place down. You’re setting a match to it. This is insane. Even the slowest, most curmudgeonly, most backward in your dying, suffering industry would not be this stupid anymore. They know that the internet is the present and the future and the paper is the past. Protecting the past is no strategy for the future. It is suicide. It is murder. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/08/07/a-stake-through-the-heart-of-the-has-been-inquirer/

“The thing about social media isn’t about the cool enhancements that Flash allows, or the greater stability and scalability of PHP over Ruby on Rails. The thing about social is that it is … social.”
http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2008/08/why-im-the-late.html

“Saying ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I’ll have to check’ or words to that effect is critically important when it comes to being able to build trust, understanding, etc, between the VC and company.  I respect, admire, and appreciate ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I’ll check’ as signs of maturity and professionalism.”
http://ricksegal.typepad.com/pmv/2008/08/ruh-oh—time-for-a-butt-whoppin-mine.html

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

1) A nice witty take on how Facebook would have been used in Shakespeare’s day: The King sent Hamlet a goblet of wine.

For the record, I’m not a fan of the new FB layout. I have been avoiding trying it out, but they caught up with me last night and switched me over. But then again, I wasn’t a fan of the new LinkedIn layout when that was introduced — now I love it.

2) The Flickr guys want to meet you for a drink tomorrow (8-8-8) at C’est What, 67 Front Street East, Toronto. Would be cool to bring your camera too.

3) I’m all about the humane treatment of animals, and sometimes think the shock effect of some of PETA’s campaigns do get results, but I think this is taking it much too far. Not a good comparison at all.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington blogged today about the Fake Follow: “The Fake Follow looks like a normal follow to the other person, but to me it’s like I didn’t follow them at all. This solves the ego stroking issue (and related problems) that so many people have.”

Can’t recall the last time I had my ego stroked, but it must be nice. How about you? When someone reciprocates a follow on Twitter, I see it is a polite, courteous thing to do. If they don’t follow me, I don’t mind — that’s their call. I follow people because I am interested in their views, the things they chat about relevant to my line of work. If they somehow get an ego boost out of that act, then good for them! Glad I could help out.

I have some followers too, not many. Some people I know, some I have no idea who they are or why they chose to follow me. But if they see some value in that, then again — good for them! Glad I could help out.

Arrington’s Fake Follow idea is taking things a bit far, in my opinion. Why should we be offended if someone chooses not to follow us back? I don’t get that aspect of Twitter. There’s a lot more things to concern ourselves with on a daily basis than trying to keep up with multiple streams of wisdom in 140 characters or less.

You follow?

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

Already a fully-fledged member of Generation X, I am now also a member of Generation V. In fact, by reading this, you are too. Cool eh? We have something in common, according to Gartner. The question is are you a creator, contributor, opportunist or lurker? I think you can be all four at once actually.

“To address the different needs of these groups, Gartner recommends that marketing organizations segment and support all four engagement levels in the community with appropriate technology and establish goals with plans for determining return on investment (ROI).”

I ran the above statement through my handy Web 2.0 Buzzword Statement Generator Translator, and it came out as: “Find where your customer hangs out, listen to them, make them happy, increase your bottom line/reputation.”

So, now we’re all nicely connected, maybe I can help you get in touch with someone you’d like to do business with? Or, failing that — Madonna. I’m probably around four people away from her.

Mitch Joel blogged about some researchers who have “worked out that any two strangers are, on average, distanced by precisely 6.6 degrees of separation.” To a networking fan such as myself, I find that very interesting … but not sure how true. Theoretically, I can get in touch with anyone on the planet via my initial circle of contacts. It’s similar to a real-world version of LinkedIn, knowing people by degrees of separation.

Remember One Red Paperclip? Kyle MacDonald had the genius idea of starting with a paperclip, and seeing how many trades it would take him to get a house. It took him 14 in total. Not a bad ROI for a tiny piece of metal that costs a few cents. He saw the big picture of starting small, reaching out a little higher each time, and achieving his goal. Social media can allow us all to follow his lead.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

I have been thinking a bit more about last Friday’s post and the quick-thinking TV show referenced.

If I write a post on this blog, and someone comments on it, do we then both own the blog? Is it shared between us? Or is it GCI Canada’s blog that someone has contributed to as a guest writer? So, if you don’t want to set up your own blog, maybe all you have to do is comment on other people’s blogs and then become part-owners of their online properties?

Had to get that thought out there.

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada

It’s true. I’m cheap, let’s face it. Still using the free version of LinkedIn, Blogger for my personal blog, and Google AdSense to cover my hosting costs. All free and doing the jobs I need them for.

But yesterday I bought my way into a social network for $20, which is something I never thought I’d do. Not to be part of the “in crowd,” but for one simple reason: curiosity. After pre-ordering a copy of Tribes I got an invite code to Triiibes which apart from giving me an extra pair of i’s for my investment, enables me — as member #160 = 159 keener people than me — to join an exclusive social network, for a while, at least. My curiosity spurred me on to find out who else was in there. It’s an interesting move by Seth Godin, or a blatant money-making exercise. I will participate for a while and let you know what value it brings …

So, to balance things up, I also joined the specifically-numbered alpha 0.1a version of PitchEngine which launched yesterday. And is FREE. I did this for two reasons: (1) I am already a member of the PitchEngine social network which I think is pretty useful, and (2) creator Jason Kintzler has always been helpful, polite and prompt in his replies to my questions, and that goes a long way in my book. The site offers a social media release builder which I’ll test out, and also a (coming soon!) custom media newsroom which, as it’s an upgrade, suggests will carry a fee for using that.

Jim Tobin is predicting that social networks will become portable, so I hope that Godin and Kintzler have that aspect built in for the future. I can’t wait to send out social media press releases from a beach in Hawaii on my mobile device. There’s a joke in there somewhere.

And if you want to leave me a message on today’s post, give me a quick call on Slydial to guarantee that you won’t reach me.

On that note, it’s a long weekend here in Canada, so see you Tuesday; have a good one!

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada