Jennifer Jones’ “Marketing Voices” caught CNET’s Rafe Needleman at the PodTech BlogHaus at CES 2008. Needleman tells how CNET’s doin’ their thing and shares his views on “traditional” versus new media. Jones and Needleman discuss the frustration of journalists who wish many of the bloggers had more academic training and knowledge.
In addition to receiving a generous new round of venture capital, Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com (and the backend provider for NewTeeVee and the rest of the GigaOM network), has announced a storage upgrade for users. Combined with the beta video player, server-side transcoding and a new Flash-based uploading interface due to be released shortly, this makes the $20-a-year WordPress.com pro account a simple, turnkey solution for videoblog and podcast publishing.
Leaders from many countries are meeting in Davos, Switzerland this week to share wisdom, pain and real plans for making the world a better place.
We have more access to who’s there, what they’re saying and what are the real big ideas that can really be put into action. I’ll be tuning into YouTube and sharing some on Facebook (Intel World Ahead) some of the things Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and his team are doing at Davos. There’s a cool “The Davos Question” YouTube site where people can upload videos and share the stories they want world leaders to hear.
The Power of Collaborative Innovation is this year’s theme. What’s powerful is when we can begin to see leaders join forces and integrate their great efforts to make a bigger, quicker and more meaningful impact in places around the world.
Dr. Barrett will show how he is leading commitments to invest in teachers, education tools and even healthcare efforts around the world. In the February issue of Fast Company, Dr. Barrett tells it like it is — he’s working hard with many leaders around the world, and making real progress.
“The various ministers and presidents always ask Intel to build a plant in their country to create jobs,” says a former Intel senior executive. “That is obviously not possible, at least not in every country around the world. So the Intel execs give an answer along the lines of, ‘We understand your desire to join the digital revolution, and we are going to do even better than building a plant. We are going to train your teachers in the use of technology.'” That, says the former exec, means “more good PR at a reasonable cost.”
The Fast Time story — “Intel’s Amazon Ambitions” — focuses on Intel World Ahead efforts called “The Most Remote Digital City,” a WiMAX equipped city of Parintins located in the heart of the Amazon.
“The demonstration projects are a rip-off of the Nike slogan, ‘Just do it,'” says Barrett. “I’ve given presentations around the world about the latest broadband wireless technologies. People will say, ‘That’s very interesting,’ and go away. But if you do a demonstration like Parintins in their backyard, people take notice. And they start to say, ‘This is not theory. Look, it’s real. You can touch it.'”
The Fast Company article ends:
Hardly the hyperbolic digital makeover of Intel’s initial press release. “These kids now have a little more opportunity than they did before,” Barrett says, “and we’re seeding the forest for the next billion trees.” Not to mention the next billion customers.
Here a related videointerview with Dr. Barrett from February 2007. You can hear his heart’s in it!
This is fun, done quickly and incredibly creative and memorable video about the new thin laptop, MacBook Air. Even Nats video description is great:
Has Apple considered the implications of its glorification of thin models? Has it once considered the feelings of my “big boned” HP, and how she’s felt living in a society where you’re only as attractive as you are THIN? And what about the young processors that are at an impressionable age. Do they need this pressure? I think not.
Shel Israel is definitely among my top favorite social media wisemen and Jennifer Jones has a nice insight into Shel and so many communication gurus doing great things.
Like so many, I believe there’s an unstoppable swell of social media energy and needs inside companies and industries around the world. It’s up to us to help companies, industry and government leaders understand why we ought to keep forging into new ways of communicating better using the Internet. Younger folks, even my own kids, are already using the Internet like I used to use the phone, radio, TV and the yellow pages. Heck, my five-year-old knows how to answer a Skype call and turn on the video chat!
Gizmodo bloggers equipped with some TV-B-Gone clickers caused a ruckus at CES as they roamed the floor and randomly turned off TV monitors while companies were trying to demonstrate their new technologies to booth audiences. Bloggers behaving badly may have caused some ramifications we’ll all want to watch as the social media tidal wave rises. Seems tradition and new media was coming together more an more — example was how NBC went all out at CES — but there are still holders-on or people who believe the social media phenomon will reveal more the ugly side of democracy than the more controlled era of traditional media. Let’s see what happens. Here’s a good post by CNET.
Last year at CES 2007, I remember seeing a huge surge in the number young people with digital video cameras visiting the Intel booth. I typically work with local, national and international broadcasters, so I took every opportunity to try and meet this new crop of video bloggers.
This year at CES 2008, I saw two times more people walking around video taping our booth, learning about the latest technologies from Intel experts. I even brought my Sony HDV cam and shot several interviews and the Intel keynote — here’s an Intel blog post I shot and wrote featuring a few short clips of Smash Mouth on Stage with Intel CEO Paul Otellini. As did my “double down” pal Nick Knupfer.
What I love most every year — this was my seventh CES in Las Vegas — is getting to see so many of my media friends, coworkers and even college buddies (ran into one of my best Chico buddies at the Intel keynote). This year took things into a new stratosphere because I got to connect and work alongside fellow social media enthusiasts and see my Intel pals like Bryan Rhoads really have fun with more resources devoted to social media. Today’s (somewhat) more organized efforts spouted from organic energy a few years ago, and now I see the social media posse swelling with new talent. We’ll making new inroads, new friends and better relationships along the way. This is great, because I believe that we ought to encourage any Intel employee to participate with social media in a smart, fun way. The more people we have out there, the more connected and meaningful Intel will be to people’s lives. More relevance and more able to respond to what’s happening today and any changes we need to make in order to make a positive impact in the world. If we keep at this pace, I (and many of my coworkers) believe we can help move up into the top ten most recognized brands using social media.
Here’s some of the social media posse action from my visit to CES 2008:
Everyone’s favorite “Tell Me How It Works” guru and my Chico WildCat buddy Ralph Bond and I visited PodTech’s BlogHaus the evening after Bill Gates’ keynote. At that point, he thought my soft brown Italian jacket was the most talked about thing at CES.
We got to hang out with PodTech’s wonderful interviewer and photographer Michael Johnson:
There’s never a dull moment because even standing in long taxi lines allowed time for mindflow sessions with geniuses like Rohit Bhargava.
Hotel hopping with John Furrier — who helped me dive fast and deep into Podcasting in 2005:
And seeing Brian Giesen’s bright smile and energy at breakfast is enough to give anyone a jolt — let’s hit the show!
I flew back to the Bay Area on the new Virgin America — what a great flight! Cool new painted planes, sweet back seat touch screen entertainment with music videos, live TV and other cool things. Got a few drink and really enjoyed the spirited, lovely people working for the new airline. As I entered the plane, I got to congratulate Robert Scoble holding his cheerful newborn baby. That’s what life’s all about!
One person I most missed this year compared with last year? Jeremiah Owyang, one of the best social media posse pioneers who has helped me make so many connections and is helping so many others nowadays playing in the big leagues at Forrester Research.
Jeremiah Owyang (on Twitter)was the first to really explain how people at Intel could use Twitter for events like the Intel Developer Forum. He gave great examples and then several os us followed his advice and on-going commentary. But not many of us are — other than Josh Bancroft, that I know of — seem to be Twittering with real savvy. Here are highlights from Jeremiah’s post about how he reached the top ranks on Twitter.
“…focus on your objectives, what is it that you’re trying to accomplish, if you’re just trying to keep track of your friends or immediate contacts, this is not the strategy for you. This strategy only works if you are trying to gain a large following, it’s not recommended for everyone.”
1) Figure out why you want to use this tool. Is there a reason, an objective? For me it was to have greater reach in listening and in talking to others, and to really, really know Micromedia and how to use it. Being popular really isn’t a great objective, but being meaningful to your specific network is much more important.
2) Integrate it throughout your online experience. You’ll notice that I ask people to add me from various posts, have it listed in my side role and on my facebook account. It’s available for anyone that’s looking.
3) Add people back. I follow everyone that follows me, I’m following more people than are following me, and that’s a sign that you want to listen to what others have to say. Sadly, it’s a lot to digest so I end up scanning conversations. Go back to number 1, and figure out what your objective is first.
4) Add value when you tweet. I’ve given up on my google reader link blog, instead, I leave links to what I think is interesting during the day. Since I consume a lot of content, I’m acting like a filter. Most who know me know that my focus is on social media + marketing. Last week’s twitter storm was a rare opportunity to connect folks, keep listening to find an opportunity to help the larger group.
5) Ask questions. I didn’t realize this was going to be one of the largest attributes on tweeterboard, so I got lucky. I find Twitter a useful tool to get information back from people, so I like to ask a lot of questions. I learn a lot this way, in many ways, this is an example of social search.
Blogging from my blackberry while spending the holidays in Italy. BuzzLogic has been on my wish list for almost six months now. Their approach is something I believe could be built into a foundation for communication efforts. Jennifer Jones gets another great interview for “Marketing Voices.”
Movin' Ahead 