No idea what you were thinking of (pervert!) - but I just wanted to mention how much I love this video.

I love people & I love stupid dancing.

So this vid is pure happiness.

Flock, Flock, why are you making this so difficult…?!

I really like you. You’re fun, open-minded, you connect with my friends - and overall, you really get me. In general, I think you’re great. You have so many qualities that am I truly looking for in a browser.

But… there some things that I am finding kind of … frustrating. I think we’ve been together long enough, so that I feel I can be open & given some more time we can find our way through this. Right?

OK. Sometimes, you’re a little erratic. No, please, just listen. Maybe you feel threatened when I look at some other sites, but crashing unexpectedly doesn’t make things better for either of us. And all it’s gonna make me do in the end is use another browser…. So, you see how this behavior can be pretty self-defeating?

Frankly, my boyfriend (oh, yes, awkward… Perhaps I should have mentioned him earlier, but I just didn’t know exactly when to…) is infuriated by the amount of RAM you take up. I try to tell him that you need that much, you’re just that powerful, but he’s unimpressed and creates new obscene monikers for your daily.

He thinks I’m a masochist for staying with you. I think you’re just misunderstood. After all, you offer a tremendous amount of support, you communicate when I need you to, you try to resolve the problems. Just sometimes, sometimes I just get frustrated with all the crashes.

So just level-out a bit, OK. Stop being so temperamental.

I want us to make it in the long-haul.

Lovingly Yours,
Monica

I usually reserve erudite titles like this one for my other blog, but sometimes you gotta go with your first instinct.

Upon seeing an article in The Province for the social networking/dating site Beautiful People, I felt nauseous.

If you’re frightened to look at the site (and you should be): it’s a site reserved for only beautiful people to connect.

Yes, looks matter. It’s a shameful aspect of how we are built. Undeniable, true. But shameful nonetheless. And, as the Province’s expert notes “Maybe they all just deserve each other”. Truer words have never been spoken.

But on a larger scale, it’s just very sad, for that dating pool as a whole. While we generally need to be attracted to people we want to date, people become more attractive (or less, depending) the more you get to know them. Most people can attest to finding their partner increasingly sexy as they discovered more of their strength/sense of humor/personality. And how many times has a friend told you about how hot someone was, and you think “Hmmm, not very conventionally attractive” - but that wasn’t what it was about: they were attracted to something about the person physically and/or personality-wise.

How we respond to someone is about so much more that objective attractiveness. But just like the sites for people who only want to date other people who earn x amount of money or a site where someone goes to date a millionaire specifically (e.g. The Millionaire’s Club, but I shouldn’t single this one out because it is but 1 of many, many such sites - and don’t even get me started on The Bachelor…) people are free and welcome to limit their choice in partners to absurd and specific qualifications.

And this is helpful for society as well. Extremely superficial people should associate only with their own superficial kind. Save everyone else unnecessary problems.

Win-win.

If you missed my insomniac guest post about truthfulness on the internet on the B5 network, feel free to check it out here.

So, if you’ve read my piece on “Pick the Brain” (and according to one frustrated commentator (see previous “post”), you may not) you’ll see that I hate fax machines. Oh how I despise them. But they were ultra-cool when they first arrived. Makes you wonder how uncool our current stuff might be in 20 years. I was trying to convince my 8 year old nephew that someday he’ll be uncool - he’ll sing along to by-then-retro songs he loved in his youth. (This began as a way of explaining why 80s music that youngsters think is sheer crap is AWESOME to me.) He didn’t believe me. And then I stopped tormenting the poor boy. He’s only 8, after all!

And I wonder which social networking sites/styles will survive in upcoming years? How long will Facebook, or Twitter be around? Yeah, I know I shouldn’t be asking those questions, being that I’m in this biz. I should have the answers. Well, I don’t.

I’m assuming they’ll be some futuristic network which will combine everything we use (Plaxo has the right idea seed, but not quite there) into one handy and efficient site. And I’m jonesin’ for that bad. ‘Cause between you, you, you and me (I think there’s only 3 people reading this blog, right?) I really need a way to have a life online that doesn’t involve, well, living online. Me Like the outside world too.

Here’s a teaser:

“…there was a time before we had the “tubes” of the internet. And before social media. But you can put all those years of inefficiency and dismay behind you, because that time has passed.

So you are probably wondering how does social media improve my life? Here are just a few benefits:

Read the full article here.

The internet encourages people to pass on music and other stuff they are passionate about.

Causes are a perfect fit!

Here are just a few things Nonprofits and their Fans can do to encourage their message to spread:

— Nonprofits: What can you do? —

• Make it cool.
  “Nothing but Nets” succeeded, in part, because it simplified a big issue: buy a child a $10 net, help prevent the spread of malaria. An easy message to absorb and pass on. And $10 is an amount most everyone can give. Awesome.. (See New York Times, “A $10 Mosquito Net Is Making Charity Cool“)
• Fun it up.
  Games can go a long way to educating people in an interactive way. (e.g. Games for Change, World Without Oil)
• Tell a story.
  Numbers are dull and impersonal. People relate to stories. Who is affected? What is happening? (See “Social networking sites help nonprofit tell stories, raise awareness“)
• Don’t be cruel.
  Don’t play “find the donate button” with potential donors.
  Your request for donations, if important to your cause, should be clear, prominent and distinctive. (See “I Can’t Even Give It Away (Or “A Brief Review of Donate Buttons on Non-Profit Websites”)
• Blog, Blog and Blog Again.
  Talking and listening is critical in the Web 2.0 sphere. Begin the conversation and encourage interaction. (See “5 Tips to Start a Nonprofit Blog”)
• Tag – We’re All It.
  Encourage people to use tags. Basically, “think of a tag as a simple category name. People can categorize their posts, photos and videos with any tag that makes sense.” Using the same tag means related information can be found with ease – on del.icio.us, Flickr, Youtube etc . - as well as aggregated into feeds. (See “Make your nonprofit more effective with RSS aggregation”)

—Supporters: What Can You Do?—

• Have Camera, Will Shoot.
  Shoot pictures that tell your story (you can even use your cell phone). Put on Flikr.
  Shoot a video – say what’s on your mind, interview others, create a short documentary about your cause or give tips on how others can help. (Youtube gives you pointers at “Broadcast Your Cause - YouTube Nonprofit Program”. Example of interesting videos: “Let’s Make a Change 2008”, “Lindsay Coulter – Suzuki’s Queen of Green” offers some tips and “Adam is Cycling From Vancouver to Mexico”.)
• Get Organized.
  Plan a protest, a meeting etc.
  Arrange a happening in the real world using Meetup.com and Facebook - or raise real awareness by creating a virtual event (e.g. EarthHour on Facebook).
• Plant the Seed.
  Ask for donations to your charity at key dates. (E.g. “My birthday” - tip from Beth Kanter on Slideshare - or a special occasion like a “bar mitzvah”).
• Chirp, Rattle and Tweet.
  Mention what you are doing (raising money, volunteering etc. - on Facebook status, Twitter etc.) or raise money.
  Post articles your feel are important to the cause (on Facebook, and/or bookmark them on del.icio.us.
  Raise awareness with a Facebook group (e.g. “Wear a Pink T-shirt on February 27th and Take a Stand Against Bullying”). Bonus points if it encourages people to change/take new profile photos - and even load them to your page – which will then appear on NewsFeeds (another example: Raise Your Hand if You Think the Media Was Too Soft on Bush.)

(Oh & take a look at some of the tips given to nonprofits above. They apply to you as well.)

Make use of social media to help you mobilize, inform and educate and get your message around.

YOU have the message and the tools.

Now go spread the word.

_________________________________

Bibliography and Further Resources:
http://del.icio.us/mhamburg/powertoyou

& Thanks to Joe Solomon and Elijah van der Giessen for your wonderful help!

__________________________________

Oh & if the video below doesn’t demonstrate a great way a message can be conveyed - I don’t know what does.

Presenting…. Internet Celebrities in a music video supporting Net Neutrality:

I had a fun discussion/interview, re: Crowdsourcing and Social Media in general, with Mhairi Petrovic of Out-Smarts.

You can listen to the podcast here.

I have new piece (i.e. different from below) on One Degree which deals with Marketing & ARGs.

Check it out - here.

(or The Value of Games in our High-Pressure Lives)

Note: I have bookmarked relevant items mentioned here on Del.icio.us:

I like to play. Here’s an example of a recent conversation I had.
(Note: I have these types of conversations often.)

She: So, what do you do for fun.
Me: … Well, I celebrated my 31st birthday at the PNE amusement park, if that tells you anything. …I love bumper cars.
She: So does my son.
Me: I’m sure. How old is he? (Optimistically,) 12?
She: 6

Yeah, that sounds about right. See, I work hard, but I also love to have fun. My work now often involves both which is fan-tastic.

I tend to paint things with a broad brush in these posts, and so why change things now? As a society, we’ve lost our sense of fun.

While, I’m no advocate of men in their 20’s + spending days online pretending to be warlocks, I also think there needs to be more of a balance – one that doesn’t involve giving up a strong game/fun factor.

This is where I think ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) and similar concepts come into play.

Games are making a comeback – and in our high-pressure, time-starved lifestyles there is a desire (and perhaps a new compulsion) to make fun a part of our lives.

The CBC recently explored ARG’s in several articles, describing them as follows:

A typical ARG is structured like a mystery. Game designers invent a conspiratorial narrative and the players have to put together the pieces of the mystery. …Although they’re mostly virtual, some games take to the streets. They get players to look for clues in real, physical locations and involve such old-fashioned fun as playing a game of ‘chase’ to track down people playing the role of characters in the game.

And some involved in ARGs are encouraging participants to be part of life, not escape from it.

…take everything we’ve learned about making games successful and inviting and do that in the real world so we don’t need to escape from it as much and it boils down to quality of life. …we’re very lucky in comparison to the people who use the systems we design, the games we make, their lives are not as exciting, engaging, they don’t make them as happy as the games do. I look at it as a moral and ethical responsibility to take everything I’ve learned to help those people have that kind of adventure. What if I felt if I was as good at life as I am at games. A lot of people are playing with that notion.

- Jane McGonigal

Think this is a stupid, immature – at best a ridiculous outlet? How much better is it to get piss drunk after a long-work week, so wound-up that getting plastered is the only option/outlet? Or, going bungie jumping for thrills? Yeah, I rest my case.

New life-games blur the line between fact and fiction, work and play. I meant to write this post when I originally read Frank Rose’s piece about Immersive Games in Wired (“And Now a Word From Our Sponsors”/”Secret Websites, Coded Messages: The New World of Immersive Games”), but today I came across some related concepts, and was compelled (or perhaps possessed) to finally post about the topic.

The Wired piece wrote in great detail about 42 Entertainment, a company which deals uniquely with this type of marketing. There are many truly electrifying elements in this article, but here are my favorites:

“…a new kind of interactive fiction. These narratives unfold in fragments, in all sorts of media, from Web sites to phone calls to live events, and the audience pieces together the story from shards of information. The task is too complicated for any one person, but the Web enables a collective intelligence to emerge to assemble the pieces, solve the mysteries, and in the process, tell and retell the story online. The narrative is shaped — and ultimately owned — by the audience in ways that other forms of storytelling cannot match. No longer passive consumers, the players live out the story.”

The ARG for the Nine Inch Nails “Year Zero” album, which is described in detail culminated with an event sequence:

“… The players were told to report to a parking lot, where they were loaded onto a ram-shackle bus with blacked-out windows.

The bus delivered them at twilight to what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse near some railroad tracks. Armed men patrolled the roof. The 50-odd players were led up a ramp and into a large, dark room where the leader of Open Source Resistance (actually an actor) gave a speech about the importance of making themselves heard…

With the sudden crack of a drumbeat, Nine Inch Nails materialized onstage and broke into “The Beginning of the End,” a song they had never before played in the US. “This is the beginning,” Reznor intoned, as guitar chords strafed the room. He got out one, two, three, four more songs before the SWAT team arrived. Then, as flashing lights and flash bombs filled the room, men in riot gear stormed the stage. “Run for the bus!” someone yelled, and the players started sprinting.

Simply put: uh, wow…

Talk about incorporating excitement and fun….

Of course, incorporating play can fall into many categories. While it can involve a form marketing (and, as in the Nine Inch Nails example, much ARG does), it doesn’t have to.

a small group of students, community activists and artists launched TorGame: Waking City. This grassroots alternate reality game was designed to get players to connect socially and explore the hidden pleasures of a big, anonymous city while uncovering a mystery buried in a series of puzzles.

However, marketing that uses fun and our desire for fun (rather than the empty promise of enjoyment) can be very successful, especially when targeted the right group.

When teenagers buy the new young-adult mystery novel Cathy’s Book, the words between the covers will tell only part of the story. The rest of the book’s mystery unfolds in an elaborate series of clues readers have to dig up — clues left not on the page, but in the digital environment around them.
…
In other words, the ’story’ is a package that includes both the linear tale in the book and a fictional world that exists alongside the cellphone culture and social networking sites of your average real-world teen. It’s a distinctly literary twist on the booming world of alternate reality games and it may point the way to a new form of storytelling.

At the recent Bridging Media [LINK] conference Monique Trottier of Boxcar Marketing mentioned (and I’m paraphrasing here) that she advises publishers not to think of the book as a final point, but to consider it a starting point from which to other media flow and connect to…

It’s About Adventure

Recently, I saw people participating in the Mitsubishi City Chase, a city-wide scavenger hunt. Players were excitedly chasing the buses (note the word “excitedly” to differentiate from what we all do, especially in Vancouver, on a daily basis) in order to get to their next destination.

Hey, a treasure hunt as an adult! I’m all about that! (It reminded me that the only reality show I ever found enthralling was The Amazing Race. So freaking cool.)

Oh how I long to play capture the flag again…

But I digress, once again.

In Jeff Howe’s latest excerpt of his Crowdsourcing book piece he discusses the MATLAB contests and makes the following astute observation:

Programming contests have occupied a time-honoured position in geek culture since the earliest days of the computing, for just this reason: they make the development of skills feel like a game.

Wouldn’t all most people’s jobs be more fun if they incorporated some aspect of games and basic enjoyment (and not the “hot chocolate day” or forced company picnic time (those things tend to be more painful than sitting through a romantic comedy or a Michael Bay film).

The need to thrill is within us, desperately being held back by our need to be “adults” to balance the insane pitch and tempo of our lives.

This month’s issue of Psychology Today has a piece about Jane McGonigal, who recently spoke at SXSW. I missed SXSW, which is my bad, since the topic, slides and summary all tell me this is a speech I would have greatly enjoyed. It speaks to me.

I’m all for happiness, and feel that it, along with the concept of fun has been abandoned along the way. Just as people are seeking workplaces where they feel more value (in their workplace, and at their job) they are similarly looking for this elusive happiness thing – which isn’t so elusive if you at least acknowledge one aspect – for many of us, that we are what we do.

When I hear the comment “It’s just a job” or “It’s not the most exciting thing but it pays the bills” I can’t help but wonder, is that really OK with the speaker (and if so, fantastic, power to them). But for many, it isn’t OK to toil away at a job that doesn’t fulfill their lives, because in many of our cases, even if we are lucky enough to have a great partner, friends and so forth, we are hopeless devotees to our jobs – and often to get ahead, we need to be. So, if all those hours are spent there, shouldn’t we at the very least be enjoying them…? (Longer rant on this to come at a later date, meanwhile awesome inspiration in Po Bronson’s book.)

But I’ll end here, with Jane McGonigal’s inspiring Slideshow, which decrees that Happiness and the Happiness Business is what we are propelling towards – and what we should be aiming for.

I’m game.

OK, I figured I’d do a quick post occasionally about what I’m up to, so here goes:

1. I am now co-organizer of Third Tuesday Vancouver (Yeah! I get to work with Netchick, not a bad life I have). The next Third Tuesday (May 20th) has the illustrious Darren Barefoot speaking about “Getting the Attention of the Web’s Influencers”. I just saw Darren and the lovely Julie Szabo talk at the High Tech Community Exchange, so I’m psyched. We’re at a tasty venue (The Century House) & we’re getting pretty booked, so sign up now if you’re planning to attend.
2. I’m looking forward to speaking about “The Power of Images: Using Media and Technology” on (update: Conference Postponed - new date =) October 5, 2008 at the Citizens for Public Power’s “More Power to You: A Conference for Community & Environmental Activists Organizing to Protect Public Power in British Columbia”.
3. Carol Sill interviews me about (you guessed it) Crowdsourcing on AlphaBlogs. Thanks Carol!
4. I have started on some Squidoo lens: “Social Media: Unite, Promote and Have Fun” and a Humor one: “Things that Make Me Go Hmmmmm” (since I swear and talk about strange un-kid-friendly topics, it is rated “R”, so don’t be alarmed by the “Adult Content” warning - that disclaimer tends to accompany me wherever I go ;).

Until I have a moment to write Google the letter they require, I thought I’d put this site up for the blogosphere…

I wonder if this “blogger” (http://www.blogger.com/profile/03677857199479735919) has any original content or if he just takes other peoples posts and republishes them (in their entirety no less) on his/her site. (Sure, he/she links to the original post, but what’s the point of that the article is already posted on the site in its entirety).

The following are just a few of the posts of mine he has republished on the Viral Marketing Blog. They are all originally from this blog here. Yip, I’ve let the “blogger” know of his “error”, to no avail. (If you’re in “viral marketing” pay attention to this blog, he likely posts all your posts as well).

http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/nothing-says-you-dont-know-who-i-am.html
http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/lets-talk-technorati.html
http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/ill-tell-you-what-i-want-what-i-really_3718.html
http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/feelin-joomla_09.html

http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/web-20-communication-truly-2-way-street.html
http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/20th-century-fox-why-do-you-hate-me-so.html
http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/digging-vancouver-style_11.html
http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/soup-to-nuts-progressive-dinner-blog.html
http://strategy-for-viral-marketing.blogspot.com/2008/02/bad-memory-helps-branding_08.html

I found the perfect social media song.

Hey, I’m a sap. I admit it. But it’s beautiful. And the lyrics are spot on.

As I mentioned when I first began blogging, we’re all seeking to connect with each other - which is, beyond money, beyond marketing, why we’re all so excited about social media. Because it gives us that link to other people, that feeling of community.

I have, at some points in my life, had a frightening realization of how isolated I was…

You move, people move. And suddenly you’re picking up a pie (for one, of course) at the local pizza place - and it hits you. You could easily be one of those people… The ones in the papers who are discovered dead in their apartment, days, weeks later…

Really, most of my friends lived far away. And, naturally they’d get concerned if they didn’t hear from me for a few days, but what would they really do - call my local police department? It would probably take awhile before they took that step. And yes, it was a morbid thought process - but it wasn’t outlandish…

And we have, in many societies, lost any true sense of community. Someone knocks on your door, you lay low. There’s only so much time and, well, ya know, also safety concerns. “At a personal level we are disengaged or indifferent in more and more situations.”

In 2006, Time Magazine realized the impact that the Web 2.0 components were having on our lives (Youtube, MySpace, Second Life) declaring the collective “YOU” “Person of the Year” and describing what was happening on the web as “a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before.” (Lev Grossman)

This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It’s a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who’s out there looking back at them.

And just who is it that’s out there? Probably people better, smarter and cooler than us. Well, that’s what you would surmise from watching anything mainstream. Everyone out there must be perfect - in every way. Not just their physiques - but their “jobs” and “homes” and “relationships”.

Sure, no one touted film or television as reality (wait - they actually have…), but as we became wiser to the medium, as it developed, the progression should have been towards a more accurate reflection of our lives. How we truly live…

Has that happened? Well, not so much.

Who has these perfect homes? Is some hotshot attorney at like 22? (Or for that matter looks good while attached to some torture device, facing death…? But I digress…)… And where are these perfect relationships where people never have a true disagreement, no matter how difficult their circumstance?

In fact, Grossman wisely noted that

you can learn more about how Americans live just by looking at the backgrounds of YouTube videos—those rumpled bedrooms and toy-strewn basement rec rooms—than you could from 1,000 hours of network television.

So is it any surprise that we are so yearning to connect with people like us? Be near each other? Feel a part of this huge world?

We recognize that need - and how fulfilling it is to engage and interact and help.

We have come full-circle. And I’m glad we get it again.

Because we are all in this together.

The new relationships talent are forging with their fans are truly invaluable - and essential.

Music (and Art in general) is a natural fit for social media promotion. A fan who feels that he is an essential component of a group/artist is more motivated to truly champion his favorite.

With social media, the fans have become an integral part of the process, involved in funding (e.g. Sellaband ) – as well as organically participating in marketing/promotion (they are logically a “viral host” naturally passing on music they enjoy to their friends and networks).

They may even play a part in where the bands perform (I’m not sure what (if anything) is currently happening with ALiveCrowd - but it could prove to be an excellent use of the fan base as well).

The record label structure, rather than uniting the musician with their fan base, has become a type of beefy bodyguard, keeping the two entities from any real contact.

The new module (whether it be a self-promotion through social media or platforms like Sellaband) means that musicians are also able to show their gratitude and respect for the people who are sincerely involved in their success (“without you fans, we are nothing, man”), and the fans feel that they are a legitimate part of the process.

At a recent event (Bridging Media) Darren Barefoot mentioned Kevin Kelly’s excellent piece 1,000 True fans which makes the claim that a musician need only have 1000 true fans to make their career feasible (and financially sustainable).

Kelly’s theory makes good sense…

My friend Suzka is a phenomenal musician (violinist & singer).

When Myspace came around, she began actively promoting herself on the site and establishing contact with her fans. Supporters enthusiastically forwarded her page to others, recognizing that they had come across real talent, and her fan base increased exponentially. She now has 2523 friends on Myspace alone. Not a bad number on one site alone to promote her tracks, albums and shows to…

Any thoughts on how performers promote themselves efficiently though the new mediums? I am considering writing a series on Art and Social Media and welcome any suggestions and interesting sites/social media tactics from my readers…

In early April, Jonathon Narvey of Currents was kind enough to interview me so I could make sure I knew my stuff for the Third Tuesday Presentation. Jonathon was great and I had a fantastic time chatting with him. He’s smart, kind and personable. I am lucky to have such amazing friends.

I have my moments in this but I sincerely don’t feel I came across as all that confident. I questioned many things I actually knew (Such as what an algorithm was?!! Sigh…) I also said “Right?” too much (should ban it from my vocab overall!), and there were some painful pauses where I sorted through my brain organizing my thoughts. I’ll get better with practice. Also my performance background leads me to be very, very critical of anything I do that sounds less than polished.

To clarify: Outsourcing didn’t begin Crowdsourcing - I just meant that the terms are similar and that might have been the “root” of the term. Outsourcing is closer to Open Source, but differs in many respects (who gets paid, how the contributions are valued). Jeff Howe is tracing the history of Crowdsourcing in his upcoming book “Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business”.)

OK, it’s not everything – and my title makes just about as much sense as the Count Crotchula costume on Family Guy (Episode: The Former Life of Brian – Oh how I wish there was a clip of that Youtube to link to) - but apparently “WordPress Camp” became “WordCamp”… I’ve updated my Del.icio.us bookmarks to include both terms (for those who wish to see the articles & blogs I referenced during my presentation).

So WordCamp was great, very educational. Though I must admit, slightly intimidating… I will be creating a new website from WordPress.org and, well, it seems there will be much to learn, or at least much I could learn… Smart people these techies…

My talk on “Blogging and Social Media” went well, again I’d say “by all accounts”. I am a perfectionist and so there were about 2 instances where I couldn’t express what I wanted to say exactly, and of course those stuck in my mind - so I was very pleased to hear that people liked the talk.

I enjoyed all the presentations, especially Bruce Byfield’s “The Joy’s of Amateur Blogging” and John Chow’s “How to make money using a WordPress Blog”.

Bruce made some excellent points about blogging for fun and, somewhat paradoxically, John covered how to make money using your blog. Bruce was honest about his views about blogging and blogs and how his perspective had developed overtime. And his comments about how were he now to assign journaling to a creative writing class, he would suggest they put up a blog instead really resonated with me. I think students would get so much out of blogging and, in the process, learn a great deal about how their work impacted on others and about the medium in general.

And John Chow was tremendously inspiring. I met him for the first time several months ago at the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup , and promised myself I’d figure out how to monetize my (other) blog. I don’t yet have the traffic to make this feasible yet, but I will work on it. I would love to make just a third of what he makes on his John Chow blog, monthly (er, that would be $10,000 – as he earns, wait for it… $30,000 a month(!) off that blog)…

I am still contemplating putting up the slides/presentation/or a full post with notes re: what I presented. What do you think would be most useful (for those who attended as well as those who didn’t)?

Let me know your thoughts on this (and this isn’t just a tactic to generate comments, as I did make a similar suggestion in my presentation), but a rather a genuine question.

Note: Coverage of the WordCamp event is up already on Rebecca’s Miss604
and Raul’s Hummingbird604 blogs

And, finally, a big thank you to Rastin Mehr , Tazzu and all the organizers, sponsors (including Invoke) presenters etc. and amazing attendees for making this event possible.

Update @6:50PM:
Thanks for the feedback! Here’s the slideshow.

(All posts referenced are on Del.icio.us):

Tonight I’ll be speaking at WordPress Camp amongst many other cool presenters (including Rebecca Bollwitt, Bruce Byfield and Greg Andrews). I’m looking forward to hearing the other bloggers speak and am sure it will be a very inspiring & educational evening!

Putting my talk together was a bit more fraught with drama than I would have liked… Yesterday, when I was almost done writing my notes for the presentation (and lovely they were, of course) – I got booted out of my Word Docx (not a big fan, btw) – only to lose the document forever. Yip, the file was deemed “corrupted” and try as I might to recover it, it was gone. Gone babe gone.

Suffice it to say, I was not a happy camper.

But, I’ve now recreated my piece and am feeling far way more optimistic.

So, what will I be talking about? “Blogging and Social Media”.

While I don’t profess to be an expert blogger (far from it) - I do love talking. And I think the Tazzu folks are wonderful so here I am, or will be, or by the time you read this, already was…

I’ll be addressing some tactics on how to write more engaging posts and promote the best ones using social media sites. It’s a 20 minute presentation, so I won’t be able to cover everything, but I will be touching on some important subjects and am excited.

I’ll be referencing a whole bunch of posts and blogs. I’ve bookmarked these (and some other excellent related articles) on Del.icio.us.

I have learned even more about blogging and post promotion through this research than I did when I first began blogging. Hope you will too.

I am also thinking about posting my Powerpoint with an audio track on Myplick (or another slidesharing tool that can easily sync an audio track - ideas?). Let me know what you think about that.

And please feel free to suggest any articles that helped you become a better blogger or better promote your posts.

Jeff Howe has posted another excerpt from his book (and if you’re interested in Crowdsourcing and you’re not reading it - bad puppy, bad, bad puppy. Frankly, it’s just so well written and interesting.)

Howe provides the example of M dot Strange a filmmaker who made his own film and career and used blogs, Youtube etc. to propel himself and his film into notoriety. Here are my thoughts on Howe’s excerpt:

The statement “fuck the system” (thank you Belmont) is not so much anti-establishment, as a comment on how the system is extremely flawed. As you wisely pointed out, choosing not participate in the system is a far cry from choosing not to participate at all. Many people have made and established their presence and careers online – outside of the mainstream conveyor belt.

OK, I am being a bit harsh and my opinion is, of course, somewhat biased – I am basing it on my own (and some of my friends’) experiences navigating the performance world for many years But it is impossible to ignore the fact that rather than being a potential vehicle to bring in exciting new content and performers into the arena, the system often becomes an obstacle course – stacked strongly against originality in every form. It is less about “what you can do” than weeding people out based on assumptions about what they can’t do and what they are not. It’s a viciously hierarchical system - and what someone can offer is an afterthought, frequently a non-consideration. There’s too much noise for the signal to get through.

What is wonderful about Crowdsourcing (and Social Media, in general) is that a part of the artistic obstacle course is being removed. Certainly this concept began, as you mentioned, with the advent of more accessible means of production (digital cameras, video recorders etc.) but the exposure wasn’t entirely there until Web 2.0. The value is becoming about what you do, rather than “who” you are or who you know. E.g. is your design any good (Threadless)? How about your music (Sellaband)? Failing that, is it popular? So, certainly there are pointless cat vids and frat stunts on Youtube (that’s no different than the mainstream which has no shortage of enduring stupidity - “Americas Home Videos” and the like, anyone?) - but the beauty is that a talented creator can get all the exposure he needs with a carefully executed social media plan. A talented and personable filmmaker, who doesn’t have the backing or funds to publicize and get his films into theatres can do what Belmont has so aptly demonstrated: make his work and profit outside of the mainstream. And if you don’t want to go it entirely alone, there are options as well - an unsigned musician can use something like Sellaband to fund and record her album with top people, which might have been untenable without the site and the opportunity it provides.

Most aren’t saying “Fuck the System” because that’s cool – they are saying that because they feel left out - and with good reason. For most participating in Crowdsourcing and social media, they aren’t necessarily eschewing the advantages of “a” system – they are advocating the need for more participation, greater openness, less restrictions - and being able to produce and/or watch material that has meaning to them. Amen.

Sometimes I wonder about stuff. Like this “Future Me” site … - a service which allows you to send emails to yourself (or someone else) at a future date. Last time I checked, many email services had this. (If you funnel your emails into Outlook, you can certainly make this happen…) “kay, am I missing something…?

But hey, at least that site is free, right? Not so much with this one - “Time Vault Letters” which charges you $10 to mail yourself a letter - or $60 for 10 pre-paid envelopes. If this company turns a profit, it will indeed prove Mencken’s theory…

Third Tuesday last night went very well, by all accounts. I enjoyed having a captive audience for my talk (you can’t get that kind of stuff in acting ;), and the discussion that ensued about Crowdsourcing during the Q & A was really interesting and engaging.

I made a comment during my talk about how when you read good blogs sometimes the comments are as valuable as the actual posts. Often, people make very intelligent and astute comments and point you in the direction of future resources. Such was certainly the case with the conversion last night where the audience had great questions and insight. (I knew they’d be a smart crowd.)

The talk was live-blogged by Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604). I can’t imagine live blogging any event - you have to have a mind like a steel trap and really nimble fingers. Props and many thanks, Rebecca.

Raul also gave a very nice summary on his blog as did Jenn Lowther . And Greg Scott Twittered the talk (Wow!).

For those who attended and aren’t on my Facebook (where I posted a thank you status) - I appreciated you being there and your input. For those who missed it, they’ll be more talks to come (I’ll be posting those in the “Upcoming” Section of this blog).

I also wanted to make sure to thank The Network Hub for hosting us.

And of course, thank you so much, Tanya Davis, for organizing the event. You’re awesome.