When is a Studfinder Not a Studfinder?

We've all had the experience of being set in our way of thinking. The great thing about New Media is that it challenges us to transform our ideas on how we package our information, connect with our audiences/customers, and converse about our organization's issue areas.

The trouble is, this kind of thinking can be tough to start. We're so used to print being our main media of communication, that we merely transfer its rules and regulations over to the online world.

I'll go back to my Psych 101 class for an explanation. My professor concluded a lecture on set thinking by asking us "How do you pronounce the following names?"

Mac Beth
Mac Heath
Mac Duff
Mac Hine
Mac Inroe

We dutifully pronounced them all correctly, except for one. #4. Mac Hine. We all said "mac hyne," and then the professor lobbed the bombshell.

"It's machine."

We were blithely following the lead of what we've done before and transferred the rules from one set to another, missing out on the joke.

John Jantsch, on Duct Tape Marketing, gives us another example. In his post Sell the result, not the tool he shows us a lazer studfinder that's been re-tagged. He's asking us "When is a studfinder not a studfinder?"

When it's a Lazer Decorating Kit.

Now you may argue that renaming a tool is just a bit of cheesy marketing spin. Maybe it is. But it's also an object lesson in how we grasp on to what we know, what we've experienced, what we're comfortable with, and hesitate to investigate any idea that's a bit more out there, somewhere.

I've been caught up in the same thinking myself. Someone had to tell me that the famous street in the Harry Potter books called Diagon Alley was really the word diagonally. Split like Mac Hine. Boy did I feel dumb!

But that's not what's dumb. What's dumb is not investigating the new. Not trying on the unknown. Not attempting to understand those things we tell ourselves we don't understand.

Like Facebook, Twitter, and a bunch of other online applications.

I'll close with another example. What shape is included in the FedEx logo?

High Tech Makes Low Tech Fashionable

It used to cost big bucks to videotape anything. You had to hire the right professionals, who would run the equipment, make sure the proper lighting existed, ensure the audio was correct, and then shoot and edit the video. For a small organization, this type of production (from TED: Ideas worth spreading) was just about impossible:



Not just because it looked professional, but because the audience was used to, and demanded, a high level of technical prowess. Hollywood movies and network TV made us all into conoisseurs of film and video. Not the content of those media - but the technical aspects - how it looked and sounded. To deliver anything less, while still costing a bundle of bucks, made you look hopelessly feeble; instead of looking high tech, you looked miserably low tech.

Not anymore. Streaming video on our laptops and online applications like YouTube and Kyte have not only created an audience for micro screen, shot-on-the-go video, they've changed the way most of us look at "amateur" video production. While I wouldn't want to watch Ben-Hur on YouTube, I will watch a nine-minute video with pedestrian production elements:



What this means for you: We're all getting more and more used to limited production elements as we concentrate more on the content of New Media instead of the cinematography. This means you can shoot all the video you want at your conferences at low (or no) cost - with volunteers from your membership even - and upload them for anyone to view - especially those members and other interested people who couldn't attend the meeting.

And you'll look current, cutting edge, and incredibly knowledgeable.

Creating Connecting Sparks Among Your Conferees

Just as I was beginning to create what I thought would be a comprehensive list of how organizations can use Web 2.0 applications to expand conferences and meetings, I run into this awesome, incredibly readable document by David Spark titled How to "Web 2.0-Enable" your Live Event.

That's what I love about this new, expanded online world - the ability to find someone who takes your idea and makes it even bigger.

Here's a quick preview of what David covers:

• WiFi'ing your event
• Creating an online conference epicenter (and not a “one-time only” site)
• Go with the popular applications (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube)
• Make audio and video of sessions available to everyone
• Record live video of conversations, not just sessions
• Set up live chats in the lobby (or pre-conference areas)
• Microblog to keep attendees “in the know”
• Take photos and put them on Flickr
• Enable live chat so attendees can “talk” with each other during sessions
• Build interest by setting up social media groups beforehand

Don't worry if you don't immediately understand what he's talking about after you've read that list. Go visit David's Web site, where he explains in wonderfully non-technical terms and links liberally to Web 2.0 applications. The document is available in both PDF and HTML versions, and it's absolutely free (another thing I love about this new online world!)

Awesome Set of Articles!

Web Strategy by Jeremiah has published this great list of accessible, readable articles explaining all kinds of web-based tactics, strategies, and ways of understanding how "new media" is changing the work we do. While Jeremiah focuses on the business ("for-profit") aspects in his postings, nonprofits can use this information too. After all, the only difference between companies and nonprofits is... uh...

Some of the ideas that jumped out at me:

Web strategy means a balance of community, technology, and business - and if you "Can’t master them all? Be able to Learn or Delegate."

"Marketing has shifted, it’s no longer on two domains - [it] has spread to many other areas where conversations occur: social networks, rating sites, chat rooms, and even blogs."

"Too many social media experts are quick to draw conclusions that the Press release is dead, or that corporate communications will go away. For the most part, that’s not true, there is just an additional toolset that they communications teams will have to learn how to work with."

He's also got the best description and discussion of Twitter that I've read so far. I could go on, but I'd just be re-posting all of Jeremiah's awesome articles. I hope you check them out!

26 (Plus) Reasons To Blog

I Googled the phrase "reasons to blog" over the weekend and took the first ten Web pages of results, weeded out sites that didn't return the specified information, and organized what I found into the following list of why the experts believe businesses and organizations should blog.

I had to perform some editing, as a couple of sites offered lists of over 100 reasons, and I wanted to get this done before 2008. I also separated out the first two reasons you'll see below because I think they're among the most intelligent and accurate I've found. And at the end of the entire list I've included links to the Web sites I used from the Google search.

The number after the reasons in bold refers to a rough count of how many times that reason appeared in the search. The phrases under each are from the posts and explain the headline in a bit more detail. So, here are 26+ Reasons A Business Or Organization Should Blog, as identified by the blogging community:

TOP TWO (from Smart Money Daily):
1. You have a thorough understanding of business and you recognize the business models that are in play with blogs and you know you can make money in this area.
2. You love blogging and/or you love a narrow topic enough to do it even if you never had a single person visit your website and you never made a penny from it.

26 MORE REASONS:

1. BLOGGING GIVES YOU NEW, DIRECT, POWERFUL CUSTOMER AND PROSPECT CONNECTIONS AND CONTACTS - 18
(speak directly and candidly; create a new marketing channel; communicate with my audience quickly and efficiently; audience decides what they want and when they want it; fan the flames of customer evangelism; facilitate the spread of buzz; great marketing device; help engage customers in conversation; build personal, long-lasting relationships; because professionalism is more than consumption, it is contribution; offer a "Buy In" that increases customer satisfaction)

2. GOOD TOOL FOR NETWORKING - 15
(I've built professional connections world-wide that would not otherwise exist; comment on ideas I see elsewhere; puts you in touch with Industry Leaders; interactive; allow you to have more simultaneous conversations - more than you could ever do in person; you’ll hook up all over the place; blog to leverage opinion leaders' influence.)

3. HUMANIZES YOUR BUSINESS OR ORGANIZATION - 14
(put a human face on the company; success depends on the ability of its author to come across as honest, credible and down-to-earth; a business can show themselves as a group of "real people" who have a certain knowledge and expertise to share; fosters trust, over time that can mean contacts from prospects and customers.)

4. IMPROVES SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS - 10
(search engine spiders love blogs for the simple reason that they constantly seek new content; search engines index your ongoing knowledge-sharing, making it easier for customers and prospects to find you; Google will love you; BLOG stands for Better Listings On Google.)

5. HELPS YOU BECOME THE INDUSTRY EXPERT -10
(they help position you as a knowledgeable expert in your industry.)

6. ENABLES FREE MARKET RESEARCH - 9
(comments from readers are akin to free market research; generate discussion about new concepts, ideas, opportunities, news, and competition; To share my expertise and passion in Knowledge Management with those interested both inside and outside of IBM; great way to get feedback on what my division does.)

7. GIVES YOU OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE KNOWLEDGE - 6
(it’s a swap meet for the mind; readers can leave comments and respond to each other.)

8. ALLOWS YOU TO PUBLISH INSTANTANEOUSLY - 6
bogs give you the power to publish at an instant; if timeliness is a critical element of your publishing plan, it’s an irresistible platform; function as an instant-feedback mechanism; provide an additional channel to put your brand in front of the customer and keep shaping its unique identity in real-time.)

9. BLOGS ARE EAST TO SETUP UP -5
(easy to start; build a new website without training; most blog service providers offer good-looking templates to use if your existing website design is embarrassing or non-existent; blogs require no technical skills; if you can send an email or use Word, you can blog.)

10. IMPROVES INTERNAL COLLABORATION - 5
(exchanging comments on posts has led into discussions with IBM executives, customers and industry analysts; it will keep your employees informed of company news; connect with Co-Workers/Employees.)

11. IMPROVES YOUR WRITING SKILLS - 5
(blogging improves your writing skills; codify your thoughts; blogging hasn't made me indifferent to revision or accuracy; it just makes the process of generating words less susceptible to the inner critic.)

12. IMPROVES YOUR MEDIA RELATIONS - 5
(the media relies on blogs for source material - as a result, journalists call you, not your competition; traditional journalists read blogs; bloggers read traditional journalists; journalists get good ideas from bloggers; blog items respond to a rapidly changing media landscape.)

13. PROVIDES A CREATIVE OUTLET TO EXPRESS YOURSELF - 4
(express yourself; an outlet for your creative writing; it has helped me find myself again as a reader and writer.)

14. BECAUSE IT’S FUN - 4
(the real thrill is composition.)

15. ALLOWS YOU TO CREATE ANSWERS TO MANY COMMONLY-ASKED QUESTIONS ALL AT ONCE– 3
(answer common email questions so everyone can see them.)

16. ENHANCES JOB RECRUITMENT - 3
(recruit employees by posting your want ads.)

17. BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE IS BLOGGING - 3

18. EXTENDS YOUR REACH – 3

19. BUILDS/STRENGTHENS YOUR BRAND - 3

20. HELPS YOU MANAGE YOUR CONTENT - 3

21. HELPS STAY ON TOP OF INDUSTRY NEWS - 2

22. POSITIONS YOUR AS DIFFERENT/UNIQUE TO PENETRATE UNDERSERVED NICHE MARKETS- 2

23. INEXPENSIVE TO SET UP AND RUN - 3

24. GIVES YOU POWER AND WINS YOU AWARDS - 2

25. MAKES YOU MONEY - 2

26. AND A SLEW OF OTHER UNIQUE REASONS - 15
Blogging can grow your business.

Blogs are Infectious. a blog gives you the power of a syndicated columnist.

Prepare for a Book.

Adding video and audio to a blog also significantly enrich the learning experience, allowing for various learning styles.

Blogging gives you knowledge.

In a blog, I can be as opinionated as I want.

Blogs enhance reputation management.

Blogs are great crisis handlers.

Harness the power of publishing.

Blog to gain on the Big Dogs.

Because your job depends on it.

Blogs help you show the world that you have nothing to hide.

Blog because Fortune Magazine says there is no escaping the blog.

Drive traffic to your web site.

Pull instead of push.

Thanks to the following sites for the original lists!

• iMedia Connection: Five Reasons to Blog
• Loving Change.com: Why Blog?
• Top eLearning Technology: Ten Reasons To Blog
• Realty Times: 101 Reasons to Blog
• CorporateBlogging.Info: Why blog for business?
• Performancing.com: 12 Reasons To Blog On Your Own Domain
• SEOmoz: Why You Should Blog
• Pajama Market Small Business Blog: 101 reasons for your small business to have a blog
• AWH Weblog: 5 Top Reasons to Blog
• CyberJournalist.net: 7 reasons to blog
• Church of the Customer Blog: Small Businesses and Blogging
• Ralph Roberts: 101+ Reasons to Blog
• Brazen Careerist: Blogging essential for a good career
• ContentRobot: 3 Reasons to Blog for Business
• East Portland Chamber of Commerce Blog: 6 Reasons to Blog
• blogosphere: 10 reasons to blog
• Trak.in': 10 Important reasons to blog
• BloggingKnowHow.com: Blog or Ezine? Top 7 Reasons to Blog Now!
• IBM: Blogs go to work
• Charleston WV Area Alliance on SlideShare: The Value of Blogging in Business
• BizAlert - BizActions Weblog: Why Blog?

One Good Aha! Moment

I've been talking with people - live people, not online atavars - for over a year now and I'm still looking for that One Good Aha! Moment. That's why I started this blog. I want to explain how the Web is expanding beyond the boundaries of traditional, printality-based communications, into a whole new realm where an individual has more power over media than any other time in the history of homo sapiens.

I want to create a moment for people where they suddenly understand this for themselves, and begin to grasp all the possibilities in their own lives. Like this fellow:



Does the 2001 Monolith (the greatest movie social object ever created) send a signal to Moonwatcher's brain and encourage him to pick up that bone? Or does the mere presence of a non-natural object in his environment fire off dormant synapses in his brain and help him make the connection between "bone" and "hit" all on his own?

Or does it matter?

The Boomer Dilemma: Commentary, followed by Show-and-Tell

I've had numerous conversations with fellow Boomer-aged friends and acquaintances on blogging and "social media" over the past few months. The outcomes fall into two camps: "I want to know more, but I don't have time," and "that stuff'll never last - it's just a fad." The fascinating thing about the second response is how vehemently it's uttered. There's real anger seething behind the words.

I think it comes from we were treated to information in the sixties. It was a time when the walls of patriarchy were being scaled, but not torn down. There was always the "need to know" inherent in any conversation that involved a power structure, and this continues today. The result: so many of us "middle-aged" people are struggling with these newly-opened channels of communication. We self-censor, because we don't want to get called-out for "spilling the beans."

Take a look at Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) for a clue as to how many of us were brought up:

You remember that U.S. National Space dignitary Heywood Floyd is the sole passenger on a very expensive space flight to the moon.


Floyd changes ships at the revolving multi-national space station.



During the brief layover, Floyd runs into a fellow scientist from Russia, and is introduced to her colleagues.


One of the Russian scientists questions Floyd about some strange things going on at Clavius base - a possible epidemic of some kind, necessitating a quarantine.


Floyd uneasily states that he's unable to discuss the matter and hops the next craft to the moon.


...where he briefs fellow US moonbase staff about the need for "absolute secrecy" on the matter...



...warning that the world would experience "widespread shock and social disorientation" if the matter at hand were communicated without proper preparation.*

What's the big deal? Just a 4-million year old monolith, buried beneath the lunar surface. The US finds it and keeps it a secret, preferring not to tell anyone that there's evidence of vast intelligences far beyond the earth.

The secrecy drives HAL crazy, he murders the crew of Discovery except for Dave, who then gives HAL a lobotomy.


Many of us who remember the sixties weren't a part of the counterculture. We were brought up to play our cards close to the chest, to keep secret information for secret's sake, and now we're not used to being so open. We might even be afraid of calling HAL's fate upon ourselves.
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*Floyd even requests that the council members he's briefing sign non-disclosure statements.