In my session on “Twitter: Are we all just drinking the Kool Aid?” we explored the strawman notion that Twitter, even with about 2MM users, is only an early adopter tool that isn’t really worth the time people and brands are investing in it. Through discussion (with a very Twitter-heavy crowd) we helped several non-twitter users discover the potential value they’d find using Twitter. We heard stories of people finding answers, getting brand feedback, and we even had 2 people who had courted, and gotten engaged over Twitter.

In my discussion on “What Old Media can teach New Media” (which I usually run with Dean Landsman like we did at Social Media Camp NY), I had a great question and insight – As we discussed how one media tends not to replace the next one, but to cause it to change (as TV did to radio), someone asked about Enterprise 2.0. He noted that he’s trying to get people to adopt some of the new Enterprise 2.0 tech, but that they’re not replacing, say, Email, as the way people share information. We discussed how companies like Lotus added SameTime and MS has enterprise IM because of this. We discussed a few ways about how to get people to understand this “one doesn’t replace the other” situation and how to introduce things slowly and get adoption.

Finally, from Twitter: @KaraLaFleur: @howardgr talking about how web teams are the unrecognized rockstsrs if ad firms – & how that needs to change based on how pol use media.

Yes, we discussed how, if you’re going to talk Social Media with Advertisers, you have to know how they buy traditional media, because you may be teaching them a new paradigm (“ROI=Return on Influence vs. Reach and Frequency buy, for example). Speak to them in their language, and help them understand.

The event was well run, and the crowd was good as well. Thanks, Philly.

4 Missions, 4 Projects: Social Media Club Gets to Work | Social Media Club

Media Literacy

Michael Brito is leading an effort to find and organize all the best Introduction to Social Media presentations, classes, discussions, cartoons, videos, blog posts etc… There are a lot of ‘here is what you need to know about social media‘ lists out there as well – where are they, which ones are the best. If you have some materials to submit, or if you run across some good material, can you please join this project by submitting your introduction to Social Media materials on the Social Media Club wiki.

I think this is a critical issue for children as well as customers of any company. We say “don’t believe everything you see online.” But how do we evaluate different content, research sources, and teach people how to be discriminating. Not only am I going to be involved in this effort at Social Media Club, but I’ve proposed this topic as a panel at the South By SouthWest Interactive Festival in Austin in 2009 (SXSW). If you support this idea, please consider voting for my panel. You’ll have to create a free account.

After a great drive out to Eindhoven, (thanks Martin), and some initial networking, I met Tom Paffen and Tom De Bryune who spoke on Venture Capital raising and on “Freaks and Geeks” as the leading indicators of where social media and social networking tech are heading as cultural and technical phenomenon.

The photo set is on Flickr.

Bill and I spoke after the break. Bill did an excellent job talking about the “3 screen world” where TV, Computers and Smart Phones are the locations that people are using when they view and interact with content, all to different extents, of course. I chimed in afterward about how media companies are using Social Web tools to create new kinds of stories (like the Heroes show and related content), and also about how, as seems to come up in conversations a lot lately – destination sites are not the future. Having content everywhere, via syndication, mashup, widgets, and basically where your viewer, user, customer wants it, will be the future. The panel finished with questions and more networking.

I know the slides and information on the panel, as well as the full video will soon be posted on Efactor.com and I’ll update with a link to that when it’s available.

BTW, Mashable did a brief review of the E.factor here.

Barack Obama is the first major candidate to decline participation in the public financing system for presidential campaigns. He’s found a more effective way to raise money – by leveraging the power of the American people through online Social Networks. Get the pdf version here.

The Social Web TV: The Pilot: ‘Talk to our lawyers… bitch’

In the pilot episode, John McCrea, Joseph Smarr, and David Recordon spend fifteen minutes rapping on the idea behind the show and sharing their front-row perspective on what happened this week at the Supernova conference where the ongoing standoff between Google and Facebook flared back up.

I think they did really well for a first episode.

Sidenote: the history of blacklists is much more serious and a heavier topic than is being given credit in all this banter about them. They’re an attempt at keeping people from acting in a certain way due to social and societal pressure, and they’re against the spirit of what I see as social media. Blacklisting spammers is, to me, appropriate, because they’re clearly flaunting law and culture. What I see many bloggers and PR professionals ranting about it not blacklisting but a lack of transparency and accountability.

Geoff Livingston seems do be quite reasonable in his analysis of the situation.

Nasty actions like publicly outing PR professionals and firms hurt real people. Bloggers (and some reporters) often act without professional ethics or thinking about how these acts affect others. I got one thing to say back to you: Take responsibility for your words and stop harming people.

Jeremy Pepper clarifies the whole Gina Trapani story, noting it was her personal email address being spammed. He also notes that junior staff at PR firms aren’t being trained and supervised not to make these mistakes. And, in typical Jeremy humor, he has a plan worth reading.

Jason Falls of Social Media Club Louisville notes that the bloggers themsevles need to be blacklisted -

I am saying that a journalist (or a blogger for that matter) who publicly humiliates someone just trying to do their job – even poorly – or goes a step further by declaring that person’s employer on a permanent banned list is performing the adult (though not mature) equivalent of Chris Hargensen ordering up buckets of pigs blood to be dumped on Carrie White at prom.

Jason makes a very good point. Not everyone at the firm that spammed you is an outright idiot. But just as we, as bloggers shouldn’t blindly blacklist PR firms, PR firms shouldn’t blacklist journalists.

Of course, Aaron Brazell is happy to be on a blacklist, because he doesn’t want to be pitched, unless a PR pro has created “some kind of professional rapport” with him. He also notes a possible solution:

I think it’s high time that the PR community finance the creation and support of a third party broker that would maintain the authenticity, privacy, trust and relationship with the blogging comunity. I’m talking about an OpenID sort of trust-based system that includes the trust-relationship management as well as a CRM tool/plugin-in for sending communications in a standardized way. This tool would provide the recipient a means of “opt out” as well as trust-based ratings, reviews, advocacy and management.

Aaron’s solution is interesting and thought-provoking. I’d like to hear more.

Jason Kintzler over at PitchEngine discusses some ways that PR professionals can more effectively get the word out including Social Media/New Media Releases, and remembering that news distribution can be effectively done via the wire services. Pitching to people requires a different tact.

Again, I go back to transparency and accountability. Sending an email to lots of people pitching something irrelevant is timewasting and is potentially asking for someone to ‘out’ your pitch. Contacting people in the way the provide for you, being clear about who and what you represent is clearly a way to get some respect.

Finally, I’ll publically state that I’m happy to hear a PR or Blogging professional’s pitch, via my email, or via the huge “Call Me” button I keep handy on the side of my website, as long as said professional has looked at my blog enough to know what interests me. I’m also on Twitter if you want to hit me that way.

UPDATE: Seems I missed something that helped start this whole thing, in which someone from Brian Solis’ team did something wrong, and Brian made an apology and some distinctions that are quite relevant.

Today, the NYTimes had the same idea. Congrats to Chuck on the great publicity – he does a great job on LinkedIn Live, and all his activities.

My US friend Tom Watson of Changing our World and On Philanthropy invited Pamela and I to join a group of friends to meet MP Tom Watson, Cabinet Office Minister from the UK.
MP Watson’s office recently released a report on the Power of Information, documented here in his blog.

Yes, his blog, the archives of which go back to 2003.

Five years ago, I set up political blog. At the time, it was seen as a radical act…People couldn’t believe that I had opened myself up to such scrutiny and occasional daily abuse.But the blog broke down the walls between legislators and electors in a way that interested me. So I persevered.

He’s also got a LastFM badge. This is a real blogger. A gentleman at dinner asked him what he looked at first as far as websites and email, and he started quoting LifeHacker and GTD and how he manages his information flow. This already is different from almost any American Politican I’ve met at any level. He also was impressed I had gone to ITP, since he’s a fan of Clay Shirky.

It is clear that Tom is passionate about helping people get a handle on their information. From the aforementioned blog link:

Today I am going to offer two arguments that I think compliment the Prime Minister’s recent announcement on public service reform.

Firstly, that freeing up data will allow us to unlock the talent British entrepreneurs. And secondly, engaging people – using the simple tools that bring them together – will allow the talents of all our people to be applied to the provision of public services.

Free up data – liberate talent and catalyse creativity. Engage – bring people together using simple tools and you empower.

The dinner was held under Chatham House Rules, which allows the participants to use the information they gathered, but not to attribute the identity or affiliation of the speakers. So, I can’t really go into depth on the discussions. However, it is clear to me that MP Tom Watson will be helping to open up the UK Government in a way that may prove quite beneficial to the citizens of the UK and be a model for us here in ‘the colonies.’

Tom will be in SF for the Web 2.0 Expo, and I’m hoping to get him together with a few of my friends who will be there. If you’re interesed, please get in touch with me.