Get Shouty

I love a bit of fist shaking shoutyness.

I’m taking a week off and stepping down from my soapbox, but I’m happy to share and introduce you all to Peter Bray, who has  been in the digital industry for around 13 years, is a Director of CHOICE (the Australian Consumers’ Association) and the NSW President of AIMIA (the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association):

 
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I am starting to feel a bit numb about social media. I thought I knew what it was, and how to use it, but now I am confused. Really confused. More so than usual.

Recently there have been people redefining what social media is, defining rules of engagement, and generally trying to one up each other in a public display of ego driven “rankings.” Lists of top bloggers, top twitterers, top facebookers and top brands that use social media are deluging down my connection like an empirical tsunami. And a lot of people seem to be riding the wave, while others, like me, are simply feeling a little swamped.

When did it all get out of hand?

Please, please, to all the digerati out there, perhaps it is time for a bit of quiet, humble success rather than screaming from rooftops at every possible moment. It is a long way to fall, especially if you position yourself at the top of the ladder.

It all used to seem so fun, this whole social media caper. It just doesn’t feel the same any more. Social media is in danger of killing the digital star; metrics are undecided; pundits are confused with professionals; flaming is out of control – why is it that social media has all these growing pains?

Perhaps it is something to do with the personality types that are attracted to social media. Could social media provide a way for people who are otherwise socially inept to finally quantitatively prove that they understand relationships? Are the social media experts in fact introverts who are now, through the bright lights of their computer screens, able to tell people how they should behave? Is a pre qualification for being a social media expert the attainment of level 12 in Dungeons and Dragons (sorry for the out of date reference, but I don’t know the World of Warcraft equivalent?)

My point is (if I have one), that social media should not be positioned as the “next big thing” for brands, simply because not only has it already arrived, but the effectiveness when it comes to marketing is very questionable. Social media has some wonderful uses, however given then number of brands that have invested in social media, there is a striking lack of successful case studies when it comes to brand marketing.

We know social media is out there, we are just not sure how to identify and tag it, let alone breed it in captivity. So it seems that people are firing pot-shots, trying to define what social media is and the rules for engagement, instead of simply letting it run wild for the time being.

Social media needs a lot of time to develop and grow, since it is still in the awkward teenager phase. If we are not careful, by creating so many arbitrary rules and restrictions, social media will never mature and achieve its potential. People need to stop acting like overprotective parents. No one owns the social media space, no one is an expert above others, and such activity will inevitably stunt innovation and experimentation in the social media space. Anyone remember Second Life?

I advocate not enforcing any rules when it comes to social media, apart from one simple guideline, that applies not only to brands and consumers, but social media practitioners as well: TRY NOT TO DO DUMB THINGS, BECAUSE EVERYONE IS ALWAYS LOOKING.

Oh, and play nice.

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Peter can be found on Twitter http://twitter.com/peterbray 

I won’t be found in Sydney town until Ad-tech next week. I’m on the  panel about social media measurement and I’m bringing my boxing gloves. See you there!

I recently got a message from my friend Sean who was buzzing after having read Saul Kaplan’s article on “Creating a Passion Economy“.

He got inspired ( as he does so well) and was so enamored with this concept that he asked a bunch of peple to weigh in on their views regarding “The Passion Economy” and it’s role or impact on business, brands and each of us.

I want insight into what this idea of a “passion economy” might mean in the context of brands and our lives. Professionally and otherwise.  Or whether this is even a real force in our world.

The result is here The Passion Economy: opportunity for brands or just a fad? (PDF, 2.3 megs)

And now, a round of applause for the contributors:

Scott Suthren
Ellen Di Resta
Gavin Heaton
Charles Frith
Mike Wagner
Mack Collier
Mike Arauz
Alan Wolk
Peter Flaschner
Matthew Milan

……and me! A sneak peak on my bit:

We live in times where there is great need- and vast resources. Some of our greatest needs are a sustainable vision for the future, purpose, quality of life, and sense of belonging. The resources that we have to meet these needs are just waiting to be harvested: the will of everyday people to do good. I have yet to meet a person who does not want to be part a strong community, contribute to a safer, greener and more equitable world and see all children meet the future healthy and well prepared. So why aren’t more resources flowing to needs?

Please read, share this document freely and join in the conversation!

Newspaper + Sharpie = Poems.  Austin Kleon awesomeness can be found here.

Instead of starting with a blank page, poet Austin Kleon grabs the New York Times and a permanent marker and eliminates the words he doesn’t need. — NPR’s Morning Edition

Sort of like Michelangelo carving away the marble that imprisoned what he saw within.—Cleveland Plain Dealer

One can imagine taking up blackout poetry on their daily bus commute in place of sudoku or the crossword puzzle.— Toronto’s National Post

Some of the results are hilarious, some are profound and even unsettling, but they are never bland or boring.—The Ephemerist

Part “writing with constrictions,” part happy accident, part found art, part design challenge…the collection…gives a well rounded and consistent view into a guy most of us would want to buy a beer. —Radio Exile

Tim Burrowes has had a busy week. He’s been on telly. Mumbrella his blog about “Everything under Australia’s media & marketing umbrella: BETA” has been chockfull of happy clappy (and unhappy slappy) goodness.  He’s been all Warhol like and aggregated and synthesised  us some canned action on the viral video soupy saga that was “The Girl With The Jacket”

• Agency accused of “screwing” the industry over girl-with-the-jacket fake
• Clothing label owns up
• Boss of the agency puts forward positon on the terrirory between deceit and conceit and says truth is overrated in gaining effectiveness.

The chit chat about this campaign has moved over into some quite heated territories at times. I find pomposity and hubris to be rather astonishing. And funny. And compelling like a car crash is compelling.

And it’s never quite as feisty as when the ‘social media experts’ biff it out with each other.

I reproduce this almost in it’s entirety:

DR MUMBO: Seth and Zac and Laurel and Britney:

Zac Martin is a remarkably young, talked-about Australian blogger. He writes an excellent blog here.

Laurel Papworth is a remarkably grumpy social media stormtrooper. But she writes a writes a very good blog here.

Got it so far? Good.

So Laurel doesn’t like Seth, because Seth doesn’t allow comments on his blog, which she thinks is bad. So Seth tried to be nice, and sent Laurel a lovely message on her blog. But Laurel was mean to him, put her fingers in her ears, and told him she couldn’t hear him. Then Zac stepped in.

Now you can watch this…

It’s just an everyday tale of life in the Aussie blogosphere…

Six Lessons organizations can learn from the Obama New Media Team.

Here’s the Inauguration Day Tumblr

With the swearing-in of Barack Obama just hours away, we’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Tumblr to create a dedicated feed of content to the official Inauguration blog.  We’ll be posting throughout the day and reblogging your Inauguration Day moments.

Share your thoughts, photos, links, quotes, and videos. And see what others are saying in real-time during this epic event.

In addition, we’ll be using Tumblr tonight to liveblog the Neighborhood Ball from the Convention Center in Washington, DC.

http://www.pic2009.org/blog/entry/tumblr

And the Photosynth moments, on CNN and here:  best inauguration synths.

When you have tap dancing, surfing, criminal mastermind,  always being appropriately dressed for dinner and publisher extraordinaire as your basic skill set….logic would seem a little greedy.

(this is for Tim: have you seen this list of famous Penguins? Thanks @Boris for the find)

I get asked the question: what is Twitter and why would you  use it? quite a lot.

It’s not something I can tell you about,  it’s something you have to experience.

This week David Armano authored a brilliant experience that raised $14,000 in a matter of hours for a family in need. Entirely on Twitter. You can see all the interaction with the hashtag #daniela:

Scott Drummond has already done a magnificent job bringing this to life in his post How is your relationship balance sheet? (and why it pays to be in the black) .

David says:

We asked the people of our digital neighborhood if they could help a family. They did. And all of Twitter felt it.

I hope you can feel it too.

UPDATE: You can follow Daniela’a journey here.

lizstrauss Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. 2:23 PM yesterday

lizstrauss They never ask: “What does his voice sound like?” “What games does he like best?” “Does he collect butterflies?”.

lizstrauss They ask: “How old is he?” “How many brothers does he have?” “How much does he weigh?” “How much money does his father make?”

I saw this stream of thought from the lovely Liz Strauss on Twitter yesterday and it got me thinking. Which is not uncommon after having any kind of contact with Liz*

And I’ve been having brilliant chats, as ever, with Sean about the struggles of building meaning and defining relationships that bring value to a domain.

In the space between these conversations, I found something:

When we ask for numbers all we get is a definition. We can’t build an understanding of humans with numbers alone.

I’m loving the tension between grown up definitions and that child like discipline of asking to understand. I think that this is the core of where social media is really quite different from the grown up ROI language of impressions and click throughs. It can’t be measured in the same way, because it’s language, a protocol,   a hand lens for the empathic and  inquisitive.

So, what if we asked people about what really matters? Questions for Understanding? I’m looking forward to building some Q & U.

* (My first comment on Liz’s blog: I feel like I’ve just dunked my head in icy water-wooooosh- a million dancing particles of life celebration just sparkled into existence)

For Mobile 2009-2020 Predictions

For Online Marketing Predictions

Big respect to Ash at BannerBlog who has compiled 120+ Agency Xmas and Brand Christmas for 2008 cards all in one spot. He’s segmented them with screen shots and commentary and provided some top level analytics about this year’s crop:

Total Xmas Cards: 123
Self Promo: 60
For a client: 49

You can add your own if you like.  View Full entry here.

Who said that you can’t use context and get an emotional reation with online display media?

Blimmin’ AWESOME.

Found on the W+K Portland blog

What will happen to the story in this millenium? What’s over the hill for writers? How can you take your narrative ideas into a cross platform environment? And how can you make a living at it?  Jennifer Wilson, Therese Fingleton, and  Christy Dena have collaborated on a magnificent project to answer and inspire this generation’s professional creative writers.

The writer’s guide was developed through the Australia Council’s Story of the Future project to explore the craft and business of writing in the digital era. It includes case studies from Australia’s rising generation of poets, novelists, screenwriters, games writers and producers who are embracing new media and contains audio and video content from seminars and workshops, as well as extensive references to resources in Australia and beyond.

Fingleton, T. Dena, C. & Wilson, J. 2008, The writer’s guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure, Sydney, Australia Council for the Arts Download all 268 pages of digital goodness here.

What’s this disc on my desk from the conference I presented at last week?

WTF?
*breathe*
They’ve done WHAT with my presentation? The one I only gave to the AV guys 20 minutes before I was on stage?
*ok …breathe again*
Burnt it to disc. The raw PowerPoint file. With all the charts and diagrams.
Distributed it to all of the delegates. Hundreds of them.
My competitors.
*breathe breathe breathe*
WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.
No copyright protection. No commercial in confidence protection.

And no sign off from the client.

No release at all.

What do you do when the IP horse not has bolted, but has been stolen?
Anyone been here? What did you do? What happened?

I love ambition and personal belief as much as anyone.

……in context though.

It’s pretty unlikely that I’ll ever claim that I can do brain surgery, build a nuclear reactor or fix the economy in three days.

You’d need to be a specialist, and a very experienced one to do that.

You use a specialist to consult with you when you want to create the best possible outcome, the best possible future.

And if they can’t do what is says on the tin, those Probable, Possible and Preferable futures turn into Improbable, Impossible, and frickin’ Disastrous outcomes.

As ever, fertilizer is a great bed for humour. I introduce to you an old friend (a character from the brilliant comic Catherine Tate) as a new concept (a chameleon to watch out for):

Helen Marsh

A woman who claims “I can do that!” when her friends and colleagues are in search of people with specific skills. For instance, in one episode, her colleague needs someone to practise tennis with, and Helen happily accepts to assist her, implying that she can play tennis brilliantly. However, she is abysmal at tennis and hits the balls way out of the court into a group of trees. In another sketch, she claims she can speak seven languages for a conference, and proceeds to “translate” into nonsensical sounds that were based on linguistic stereotypes.

Beware. Be warned. And when you spot a Helen Marsh remember to say:

No you can’t.

You sold me a ticket to cirque de soleil. What’s with the sock puppet?

“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back…..You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up and believe…whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill…..you stay in wonderland…and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

Morpheus, The Matrix

When I worked in the music industry there were a number of amazingly promising acts who were offered record deals and wouldn’t sign, because any offer from a label must be suspect. There was an underlying notion that any contract, any foray into written documentation must the start of corporate piracy, and any opportunity to afford an artist a decent standard of living could only come at the cost of artistic licence.

I’m amazed at the number of people who believe that Wonderland is not for them. That they know how deep the rabbit hole goes and only focus on how dark it is, how fraught with danger and moral compromise it is and refuse to take a chance on themselves. Not because they don’t think they can make it- rather the opposite- it’s the fear of what success,  wild crazy world domination success, might do……..

And in that spirit I’d like to share this gem:

(the embed has been removed- but it’s worth a click through)

ME: (A plan to evaluate and gain insight should form the backbone of any holistic brand strategy)

THEM: I really don’t have any idea what you’re talking about

ME: (Walking through the numbers, a simple ROI calculation)

THEM: Nope. Still don’t get it

ME: (Explaining the fundamentals of channel strategy and the process of decision making)

THEM: Look, you have stop with the jargon.

ME:(Championing the role of marketing: message+connection= sales)

THEM: Why would I want that?

ME: ‘…’

(thanks for the gif(t) Pabs)