The Power of the Blog

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Even though blogging is currently a very big buzz… a “buzz word du jour” even, I still think it widely misunderstood. So, what’s The Big Idea?

First of all, your blog is your home base. If you’re doing social media marketing, it’s the center of your virtual storm. Your Twitter, Facebook and other social media posts all link back to your blog.

Perhaps even more importantly, your blog is where you find your voice. It’s a real world exercise in speaking your truth and finding your value, making your offering. It’s not a new marketing trick. It’s actually the heart of authentic, transparent, 21st Century marketing.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s an awesome video clip featuring two true marketing “gurus.” Don’t be fooled, this video is less than 2 minutes long, but you may not hear a more important message this week (or month? or year?) So maybe you’ll want to watch it more than once? You probably know the speakers. Seth Godin who has written some of the most creative as well as best-selling internet marketing books ever (in fact he coined the term “permission marketing”) and Tom Peters of “In Search of Excellence” and so many other best sellers. Listen carefully. These guys not only really know what works, they are sharing what’s most essential to them… and apparently that’s blogging!

Still Think Social Media is a Fad? Then Watch This Now.

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Don’t view this in your face presentation at your own risk. It’s packed with provocative stats, presented in rapid fire fashion, to make the case for Social Media as much more than a fad, but rather a real people-powered media revolution. Dare to disagree?

What the F**k is Social Media?

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I think this is the first time I have given something I thought worthy of posting on this blog the same title as the thing itself. It’s an indication of how “right on” this simple slide show is. Don’t be intimidated by the fact there are 83 slides. You can click as fast as you like. I highly recommend this content. It’s a clear and well-articulated message and, in the view of this media maven, includes many concepts that more of us need to understand. Useful information rules! Please let me know if you agree. Click this link to see the presentation:

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

The Transparent Presidency

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Yes, it’s apparent that Barak Obama is not only the most impressive leader and community organizer that we’ve ever had has president, he will also be the most transparent. This is the first presidency that is “digitally native.”

The evidence of this is already on the web in the form of a slide show of back stage images from election night that was made freely available, almost immediately, with apparently little editing, via Flickr. The image above is from the set of images that is available here, and an articulate description of their historical significance is here.

Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes, Obama’s “online organizing guru” Deserves Big Props

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You have to love a story about a 24-year old who made a monumental difference by helping Barak Obama to become president-elect of the United States. In other words, this young dude helped change the world.

His name is Chris Hughes and he was one of the three co-founders of Facebook, the runaway social networking phenom to which I am addicted. And I am 61.

Mr. Hughes left Facebook last February (taking stock options that are worth at least tens of millions with him) to become the “online organizing guru” for the Obama campaign, moving from Silicon Valley to Chicago. Obviously, in hindsight, the move was worth it. MyBarakObama.com was brilliant and brilliantly successful. Thanks so much, Chris.

The New York Times published his story in July calling him “The Facebooker Who Friended Obama”
and he came to my attention because
Beet.TV republished a two year old video interview with Hughes last week.

I have a new enthusiasm for the ways that the world is changing, and I’m inspired by young people like Chris who are making real changes happen.

Continuing on the Gen-X theme, I was also very moved by Heather Havrilesky’s “open apology to boomers everywhere” on Salon.com. It was nice of her to speak so respectfully to her elders when she said, “Your earnest, self-important prattle has gotten on Gen X nerves for decades. But now we finally get it.” 😉

It’s a bright new day.

Facebook to Become New Distribution Channel for Major Media Videos

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Social media platforms are all the buzz, but I think this is a milestone worth noting: Slide today announced a deal to use Facebook to distribute videos from “major media” companies (including CBS, NBC and many more…). The geeky young face you see to the right is not only the founder/CEO of Slide, but a co-founder of PayPal.

Sure, Amazon and NetFlix (just to name two) are now distributing streaming video; but the leverage of Facebook is quite amazing. In fact, I’ve become an active Facebook user myself recently (see link lower left of this page), and I enjoy (among other things) using the quickie one-click video embed for Facebook that’s offered by YouTube. Now, fans of network TV shows will actually be able to embed episodes and who knows what else.

Stay tuned. The Video Web is regenerating with a major boost from social networking power!

More Very Useful Explanations in Plain English

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I’m going to claim this might be the best resource for explaining Web 2.0 communication platforms to newbies ever! See my post below about CommonCraft, and if you’re someone who would like a better understanding of stuff like blogs, RSS, social networking, podcasting, Twitter and more, there are easy to understand and remarkably clear and enjoyable CommonCraft videos about each of these subjects on the CommonCraft YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Podcasting (and Twitter) in Plain English

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OK. I’m someone who has been doing his best to “span the Grand Canyon Gap between people and technology” for quite a number of years, so when I say this is impressive, I at least have some vague idea of what I’m talking about… 😉

I was trying to explain Twitter to my associate and went to Twitter.com and clicked “Watch a Video” Ta-da! A simple, cleverly animated, and impressively clear (and that’s the main thing) explanation. What a concept! No kidding. As I once wrote, “making it look easy is the hard part.” The creative production company is CommonCraft.com They say, “Our product is explanation.” I love that and I love their work.

I’ll let their work speak for them and maybe you’ll agree it’s impressive. Here’s “Podcasting in Plain English”:

Tangler: Awesome Interactive Web 2.0 Application for Embedded Forum-style Discussions

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Here’s the kind of easy to use, immediate user feedback and ultra-highly-interactive application that makes Web 2.0 so interesting for me. Actually, it’s a kind of convergence of online discussion forums & real time chat, all of which can be embedded within any page of your site. Impressive stuff!

http://www.tangler.com/ | TechCruch review

Build Your Own Social Network, The Buzz Du Jour

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I made a post re the build-your-own-social-network platform Ning below, so this is just a small follow up because I couldn’t resist passing along TechCrunch‘s quote of the NYTimes quoting Ning’s founder, Marc Andreesen regarding Cisco’s buyout of social network-building company Tribe.

Andreesen said, “The idea that Cisco is going to be a force in social networking is about as plausible as Ning being a force in optical switches.”

Be careful out there… 😉