Why I Disagree with Chris Brogan on the 100 Comments Project

100 Comments are not that useful. What’s the point? IMO, it’s a gimmick that promotes interaction, but not necessarily meaningful communication.

From this post at chrisbrogan.com. 100 Comments Project- Someone starts a post, we fill up 100 meaningful comments. End result: an e-book on a topic.OK I am going to weigh in on this 100 comments thing. I think the law of declining returns definitely is in play on this. I actually think it is very difficult to (one) take the time to read through all the previous comments and have something thoughtful to add and (two) expect that people won't do a variation of "me too" just so they be part of the party. It builds more of a bully pulpit and "comments for comments sake" rather than in-depth, meaningful conversation. Or enough documentation to justify an e-book.Though I really like the idea of an e-book built on collaboration from many authors. I just don't think a blog post with comments is the ideal mechanism for creating it.

100 Comments is like a huge cocktail party. I'd rather have dinner with eight new friends.

I'd also rather spread the love and the conversation by encouraging people to go find a new voice they haven't /heard/watched before, and leave them a thoughtful comment! You can find these bright minds by reading the comments on the A-list blogs.Here are a few that I read (in addition to the above-mentioned Mr. Brogan) that get a lot of comments, many of them thoughtful. It's a great place to go mining for the bright, unsung voices of the internet:
http://www.scobleizer.com - Robert Scoble for geeks and tech
http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/ - Toby Bloomberg on marketing
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/ - Guy Kawasaki on startups and business in general
http://headrush.typepad.com/ - Kathy Sierra creating passionate users

Then, go one step further if you like and add them to your Twitter friends and/or add a link to them in one of your blog posts. I did that earlier today for Bryan Person, an active member of the Boston new media community and with Rupert Howe who I met online through videoblogging.

Rox's Summer Project #1: Share the Link Love

Go out and spread the link love:

• The love of giving your attention to someone new;
• The love of talking directly to them;
• The super love of telling someone else about them!What do you think? Leave a short comment here - "me too's" are perfect in this situation I think! I'd love to know your opinion and, I want you to spend your quality time connecting with others. No need to craft anything special here.

For anyone new here, I love Chris Brogan and he loves me. We just have a different approach on this one!

100comments, chrisbrogan, bryanperson, tobybloomberg, robertscoble, guykawasaki, kathysierra, socialnetworking, roxannedarling, barefeetstudios, podcast

[This comment did not import correctly from our DB transfer - apologies to Jim!]

Author: Jim Long, http://www.vergenewmedia.com
Date: 06/23/2007 09:24:03 AM
Chris always raises thought-provoking questions. And he really has the leadership skills to rally people to his blog. Rox, you raise an interesting point here, and it takes a bit of courage and integrity to tell a friend.. "hang on here" and express dissent. Kudos to you!Having said that, I played along anyway.

June 26: The day the web goes silent

Join Bare Feet Studios in fighting the proposed rate increase for royalties paid by internet radio. “The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger.  Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on July 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!).  To protest these rates and encourage the millions of net radio listeners to take action and contact their Congressional representatives, a national Day of Silence will be held June 26.”

I am quoting in this post directly from the Save Internet Radio web site. "On March 2, 2007 the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which oversees sound recording royalties paid by Internet radio services, increased Internet radio's royalty burden between 300 and 1200 percent and thereby jeopardized the industry's future.

At the request of the Recording Industry Association of America, the CRB ignored the fact that Internet radio royalties were already double what satellite radio pays, and multiplied the royalties even further. The 2005 royalty rate was 7/100 of a penny per song streamed; the 2010 rate will be 19/100 of a penny per song streamed. And for small webcasters that were able to calculate royalties as a percentage of revenue in 2005 – that option was quashed by the CRB, so small webcasters' royalties will grow exponentially!"

The internet is here to stay. People are speaking and listening to each other, as well as to your mass-produced content. Come join us at this amazing party, or be left behind.

When arbitrary and clearly biased fees such as these are imposed on the marketplace, the marketplace resembles more of a feudalistic system controlled by a few dinosaurs who don't know how to grow their businesses with the times than "may the best company win." Yes, this action has been spurred by the large traditional radio station owners who are seeing declining listenership due to the Internet.

Calling all traditional media and traditional content producers: You no longer control the conversation all by yourselves.

Calling YOU: You and Congress can stop this heinous fee hike that is designed to drive Internet Radio out of business. This link makes it easy to contact your representatives.

View the list of participating stations here.

Meanwhile go explore internet radio if you haven't already! Here are some places to start:
http://www.daveslounge.com
http://somafm.com
http://www.kcrw.org
http://www.doctortrey.com
http://www.live365.com

saveinternetradio, roxannedarling, barefeetstudios, podcast

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In Praise of Wishy-Washy

One of the things I like about the world now that blogging has given us a platform to state our opinions, is how deliciously diverse and opinionated we all are! For better or worse, I however am infused with the ability to see both sides; unable to view the world in black and white, but rather in “millions of colors” just like my computer monitor. Jason Fried, of 37Signals is one of the more opinionated people I read now and then.

I attended the very first workshop they ever held (they used my testimonial for years), on web usability, and am a very enthusiastic user of their Basecamp project management software. If you haven't tried it, I heartily recommend it! Though if Jason (or many other internet literati) were writing this, the advice would be more like, "You MUST try this software!"

In fact, today's post is inspired by this post on Jason's blog, from which I quote:

It's nice to read someone who says "do it this way" instead of being wishy-washy.

He was referring to the book, Bit Literacy by Mark Hurst. Mark recommends, for example, getting your Inbox down to zero messages at least once a day. (I am not even going to go there.) However reading through the comments, it is plain to see the pros and cons of Mark's method, and the people for whom it is brilliant all the way to out-dated.

It's great the book takes a stand and I love it when people Do take a stand, it's just problematic when people think their stand applies to everyone else. That's where I come in, just like the commenters, and de-construct the actual topic to help determine if "just doing it this way" is going to be more useful or more irritating to YOU.

There is plenty of advice on the internet. Being willing and able to filter it while seeing both sides may be called wishy-washy in some circles, but to me, is simply personalization. I also this type of engagement is more adult, more peer to peer, whereas just telling people what to do is rather parental, top-down style of thinking. We are all free to be bossy; in fact many of us like being told what to do once we have signed on to your ideas. It seems easier, for a moment or two, until more people, more facts, start pouring in.

Where do you fall along this spectrum? Do you like absolutes and being told what to do? Or do you see the value in sorting through something to get to the specifics, the case-by-case-ness of it? In one sense, it's like having a blog with comments turned off - you just issue your opinions, versus having comments open, where people are encouraged to submit their own perspectives. And in fairness to Jason, Basecamp would not be the fantastic tool it is if they hadn't regularly listened to their very opinionated users.

Which really closes this post for me: even when you try to be really "just do it this way" it's hard to actually get away with it. And that's my opinion! What is yours?

Tags: 37signals, jasonfried, markhurst, basecamp, just do it, roxannedarling, barefeetstudios, opinion

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Key Ingredient for Social Media Marketing Success

I learned long ago when setting up community-based health programs in American Indian communities that the key ingredient for success often rises or falls on the presence of the community organizer. All the good intentions, training, and plans will fall by the wayside without someone to keep spreading the love and showing the way to connectedness.

Today, my friend and colleague Mike McAllen over at Grass Shack Road queried a few of us on LinkedIn about what elements we consider to be essential in a new media marketing plan. Here's what I offered to him, and now to you:

The main point I would put on the table is that though the tools may be free/cheap, the real investment is in time and leadership. It takes a dedicated person who is outgoing and creative, and willing to talk into the ether for a measurable period of time before expecting results. The more you, as the host or sponsor, nurture and support this person, the better are your chances for a thriving community. Can they get a big head after a while? Yes, the risk is there. But first, let's get this thing off the ground.

Checklist for the Ideal New Media Ringleader

• outgoing personality
• technologically inclined (though this is the most trainable piece)
• willing and happy to work independently
• able to reach out to others without expectations
• creative in a very conversational way
• curious and able to learn by watching others and adapting (this takes a mindset where you can observe the underlying structures, not be distracted by the content of the discussion)
• it really helps if the person is literate in the underlying topic that is the raison d'etre for the SN group.
• ability to work with conflict and ability to be ignored without taking it personally. (This involves understanding web user psychology - 95% plus are lurkers and people can be much harsher and more reactionary than in face to face encounters.)

In my experience, the best intentions and set up often fail if there is not a pied piper committed for the long haul to make it happen.

Mike also pointed me to this series underway over at Spark Media: The 12 Principles of New Media. Mahalo Mike!

UPDATE 07-06-23: On Twitter I discovered this quote from Mitch Joel "social networks have nothing to do with technology" that was posted by Bryan Person.

I so agree!

newmedia, mikemcallen , davidsparks, strategy, business, roxannedarling, barefeetstudios, community

P.S. Here is the archived site about my work in Indian Country. Healthy Tribes

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Case Study: Pretty But Powerless

A recent mailing I received from the New Mexico Advertising Federation gives us all an opportunity to commit a few key points to memory when developing online business tools. Trust me, after over 10 years in the web development business, we have tremendous respect for the challenge of creating a useful business website that plays well online as well as offline. There are a lot of things to remember!  Maybe it's my background as a trainer, but I like to seize upon “opportunities for improvement” and blogging gives us a conversational way to help each other.

Overview

I received a beautiful postcard invitation to a NM@F public event scheduled for next Tuesday, June 19th. My partner Shane is actually working in Santa Fe for two weeks, so I mentioned it to him. He said, "Send me the link." Hmmm, and that's where the story begins.

People are really good at helping themselves, if you give them the tools.

To save time and cut to the chase, there are several barriers to attending this event. Here's what is missing, from an online and offline point of view.

OFFLINE: Missing Ingredients
The postcard invitation is over-sized and attractively designed to get my attention. However, someone forgot the basic checklist, so I'll provide them here:

• No price or RSVP instructions.
• No name or phone number to contact.
• No web site address.
• No street address, only the name of the venue.

Bottom Line: There is no easy way for me to contact them. At first, I think, OK, no problem, I will search on Google for their web site.

ONLINE: Missing Ingredients
Good news! I found the site easily. Unfortunately that leads me to the Online problems:

• There is no mention of the upcoming event on the home page.
• There is no mention of the event in the News & Events page or on the Calendar page.
• There is not Contact link on the site.
• There is no contact information on the home page.

Here's a screenshot of the Home Page. No mention of the event or any contact information. (Click the thumbnail to see full size.)

Here's a screen shot of the News & Announcements Page. Wow. Look at all that white space that could be helping people who want to attend an event. (Click the thumbnail to see full size.)

To be fair, on my final run through the site, I did finally find a phone and email address as text on an inside page. But as a busy person with a goal in mind, I was looking for "CONTACT." I was not wanting to stop and read the text on individual inside pages. I strongly recommend having a prominent "Contact" link on every page of your site, especially the home page.

I did call the phone number, but alas, it is 6:30 pm in NM so I got the voice mail. It did include the event pricing (yeah!) and said I could RSVP by leaving a message. Cynical me, I don't trust people to leave clear messages about how to spell their names or remember to include a phone or email in case I want to follow up. A nice form on your web site does that very well though!

Big Bottom Line

Here are a few of the opportunities being missed, that could be substantial if only there was integration of offline and online activities, combined with a checklist for basic standards for each:

• Difficult for NM@F to plan this event. I have no clue how they are getting RSVPs and what number will be provided to the hotel for a meal count. (It's a luncheon.)
• Shane can't easily RSVP; not likely to invest two hours of driving to take his chances. People online don't want to pick up the phone (high chance of getting voice mail) just get basics like the price of an event.
• He was going to take our Lead Programmer. Now that's two seats that are lost.
• We would love to blog about this and help spread the news digitally. Unfortunately, they didn't provide any way for us to tell our friends about it.
• The most concerning thing to me, is that NM@F represents the best and brightest advertising minds in New Mexico. There is a serious credibility gap here. You can put an "at symbol" in your name, but that doesn't mean you understand how to do business online.

In case you want to take your chances, I'm typing up the details for you. I don't know many people who would bother to do that, do you?

NMAF Upcoming Event

Mary Nick - Honoring, Inspiring, and Unleashing Vision
Pierre Barbeau - The Birth of a New Media

Mary and Pierre worked together previously at Sprint Nextel (where they helped shape the future of mobile marketing) and will tell us what advertisers should be doing with this technology to market more effectively to their customers.

Date: Tuesday, June 19th, 2007.
Time: 11:30 am
Place: The Embassy Suites Hotel, 1000 Woodward Place NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87102 (505) 245-7100, Google Map Link
Fee: Free to members; $30 to guests.
RSVP: 505-265-1286 or try
Web: http://www.nmadfed.org/

Please feel free to email this page's link to anyone you know who may want to attend!
Short URL already prepped for you: http://urltea.com/s3h

Takeaway

• Include your website address on every printed piece!
• Tell people how to attend the events you are promoting. (Date, Time, Place, Price, RSVP Details)
• Have a prominent "Contact" link on every page of your website.
• Use the Events section of your website to post your upcoming events.
• Give us some spice about the speakers. I found Pierre's page on LinkedIn but was not so lucky with Mary.

NMAF, howto,mary nick,pierre barbeau, business, roxannedarling, roxanne darling,barefeetstudios

How to Create Special Effects for Online Video

I’m sitting in the DIY session at Pixelodeon on Special Effects with Rudy of Galacticast and Eric of Indy Mogul. Please enjoy these tips and links!

Key Points

• Storyboard before you shoot. It will save you time and help you film complex-looking scenes bu using perspective and lines of motion to create the effect. It will make the shooting go so much faster too.
• Get a little bit of cheap lighting to help light your scene. Good lighting will make it easier to apply special effects in the editing process. Household lighting can be used!
• Search craft stores and garage sales to assemble stuff for making props. A little bit of spray paint can really create a realistic looking item.

Links
Rudy & Casey's Galacticast
Rudy & Casey's Production Company
Eric of IndyMogul.com

Source Material
Detonation Films - free footage of
SpinExpress - Search for creative commons media
Free Sound Project
The Force - star wars fan site and tutorials
Rebel's Guide - best book ever!
Fast Track USB - device for capturing live instrument sound and remixing
GarageBand - sound effects and make your own music

Pixelodeon

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Not Enough Time for a Blog Post? Just Tumblr Instead.

Problems finding time to blog but have more to say than you can using Twitter or Jaiku ? Tumblr may be the perfect solution.

If blogs are journals, tumblelogs are scrapbooks.

Tumblr (totally Free) is what's referred to as a "tumblelog." According to the Tumblr FAQ : "To make a simple analogy: If blogs are journals, tumblelogs are scrapbooks. You can also look at tumblelogs as slightly more structured blogs that make it easier, faster, and more fun to post and share stuff you find or create."

There's even a Wikipedia entry on Tumblelogs that describes a definition by Jason Kottke dating back to 2005.

You could also describe a Tumblelog as a Micro-blogging platform. Perfect for dumping in quick notes, thought, ideas, quotes, pictures, videos, etc. Anything that you might come across in your Web travels that you find interesting but that don't require a full blog posting. So you can use a Tumblelog right along side your blog and not instead of your blog.

If you don't yet have a blog, a Tumblelog may be a great way to get started. Tumblr is one of the better known tumblelogs and has a list of great features that make it actually fun to use.

Once you've created your free Tumbler account you can login to your Dashboard where you're greeted with a very attractive and sleek interface. A row of six easily identifiable button across the top of the page allow you to select which type of Tumblr entry you'd like to create.

Selecting "Text" or "Quote" produces a simple text entry field into which you can type whatever's on your mind. Selecting "Photo" presents you with a button that allows you to upload a photo from your computer. "Video" allow you to easily paste in code to display a video from YouTube or your favorite video sharing site.

One of my favorite Tumblr options is the "Chat" type. By simply entering text in the following format your page displays a chat or IM (instant messenger) type of dialog:

Here's an actual Tumblr Chat from my own Tumblr page.

So if you haven't started blogging yet and you'd like to dip your toes in the water without setting up your own blog, Tumblr might be perfect for you. And even if you already have a blog or consider yourself a power blogger, Tumblr might be perfect for posting those little gems you find while surfing that you'd like to share but don't necessarily want to post them to your regular blog.

If you have a Tumblr or tumblelog please leave a comment with a link. We'd love to see it!

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