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.
________________________________________________
*Floyd even requests that the council members he's briefing sign non-disclosure statements.

Is This the End of Web Sites?

Traditional Web sites may be going the way of the dinosaurs, commentary generated by yesterday's New York Times article "Strategies to Succeed Online" seems to suggest.

"These days, a Web site may not even be the best place to start promoting your products or services," writes Times journalist David Strom. The best place? Blogs and social media, like Facebook, Strom suggests.

Donor Power Blog agrees, saying "In the scheme of things, a web site barely exists."

And JournaMarketing counsels "...the thousands of dollars you spend on traditional website development could be spent on new content."

So, yes, things change even faster in the online world, and I'm sure there are many heads spinning out there from the speed. But look at it this way - new Web applications let us create more and more online, with less and less technical expertise needed. Creating a Web site used to be easy for computer geeks. Now it's easier for all of us.

Check out Donor Power Blog and JournaMarketing for their full take on the New York Times article. And remember what JournaMarketing offers to help you generate new, exciting content: "You could bring on a freelance/part-time blogger or podcaster to work as an extension of your staff, generating engaging, interesting material." You don't have to do it all!

Over time, the online world doesn't get harder, it gets bigger.
________________________________________________________
P.S. Is it Web site, web site, or website?

18 Blogger Traits: Uncovering the Secret Blogger Among You

Yesterday, Andy Sernovitz wrote "CEOs shouldn't blog." That probably goes the same for Executive Directors and Board Presidents. Andy goes on to say "The correct people to blog at a big company are people who love to do it and who are good at it."

The trick is to find those people. What kind of person is more likely to succeed at blogging - when succeed means running a blog that posts content at least three times per week, regardless of the audience, amount of people visiting the blog, and whether or not it has advertising or makes money.

I've come up with 18 traits of a good blogger. If I was looking, I'd try to find someone who:

1. Has some experience writing in his or her own voice.

2. Not only voices opinions, but jots them down, on a napkin, post-it note, scrap of paper, their forearm (or someone else's).

3. Has some sort of non-work interest that involves him in a community of like-minded individuals.

4. Participates in exercise of almost any kind, and if she misses a day, week, or month, finds it easy to get back into it;

5. Complains of trouble sleeping;

6. Is equally at home scanning and skimming information as well as traditional "focusing on every words reading;

7. Possesses natural curiosity;

8. Is unlikely to judge negatively things outside his sphere of influence and interest;

9. Is not felled by criticism;

10. Is able to glean useful ideas from any criticism;

11. Offers willingness to take on long-term projects without immediate satisfaction;

12. Seems able to digest, use and comment on information quickly;

13. Can see connections - everywhere - and not get paralyzed by them;

14. Has a high comfort level in letting things "go" that aren't "perfect";

15. Feels that other people are potential wellsprings of interesting ideas;

16. Can offer critiques without engaging negative emotions;

17. Displays comfort with online modes of communication;

18. Can make a plan but is not so wedded to it that they are ready to change at a moments notice because something else fascinating has come along.

I think I'm pretty good at most of these, except for #5.

What's Your MacGuffin?

I've run across an interesting term being discussed on a number of blogs lately: Social Objects. You might think it refers to some kind of new-agey Web 2.0 application theory, but in actuality it's a concept as old as humanity itself. Simply paraphrased, a social object is something that people gather around, trade, discuss. Blogging pundits are theorizing that the most successful social network applications (MySpace, Flickr) must be built around the object (music for MySpace, photos for Flickr.) A "new media" service can't be successful without it, the thinking goes.

I'm interested in a parallel concept that's served literature, theater, storytelling, movies, and television for a long time. The simplest fairy tales are built around objects (Cinderella's glass slipper) as are movies to this day (the "One Ring to Rule Them All" in the Lord of the Rings.) In some rare cases, the object has jumped off the screen and is coveted in reality - just think of Dorothy's ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz - the actual shoes are the "holy grail" (another social object) of movie collectors. A pair is on view in Washington, DC's Smithsonian Institution.

On the Web, social objects are broad, easily sharable, inexpensive to trade, like photos. In the tightly-controlled, 2-hour universe of a movie, objects are much more specific. Alfred Hitchcock came up with a term for these specific objects that control the plot - he called them "MacGuffins," and then went on to state that they really had no intrinsic value, except that the characters fight, scheme, murder, and chase each other for them. They can set a plot in motion (Marion Crane stealing the $40,000 in Psycho) and sometimes you don't even find out what made the object important in the first place (the microfilm in North By Northwest.)

Sometimes people even kill for the object, which is not advisable in everday life.

Along with the term "social object" goes the belief that you can't rally people and get them interested in information alone. It's too broad, especially online. So the trick becomes finding a great social object, one that's broad enough to enable all kinds of talk and activity around it, but not so narrow that it can be banked by just one person.

As with many aspects of life, finding that social object can be tricky if not downright hard.

I Don't Know What To Say!

Ever since the dawn of movies, and on into the advent of television, we've expected and assumed that the screens we place ourselves in front of will two things for us:

entertain and/or inform.

Until the personal computer put a screen on everyone's work and home desk, we've sat passively and let the info come to us. Someone had to create that info, but those people were way far away, in Hollywood, or in some TV station somewhere. The manpower, equipment, and overhead for creating this info was so expensive it could only be done by people in groups who had access to large amounts of money. And who had successfully broken through the barriers to entry, which were (and in some cases continue to be) quite formidable.

We spectators really had no say in what that info was, how it was created, who it went to, and how it made us feel. We may have thought we had a say - look at how many people have opinions on who wins Academy Awards - but that was all we had. Opinions.

Then a funny thing happened. Those screens on our desks - they started working two ways. Back and forth. Like the postal service at first, then in ways that started to eclipse the status quo. And we were not ready for that. Especially since we were waiting for those screens on our desks to talk to us in the same old way.

We're so used to movies and television that we don't remember - because most of us were around when they began - the time when those screens didn't know how to talk to us.

Take D.W. Griffith. Before he started directing movies at the beginning of the 20th century, the few narrative, story telling films were short, static affairs. Visionaries like Georges Melies and Edwin S. Porter experimented with telling some wild tales, but they kept the camera locked down in one spot, basically filming the story as if it was being presented on stage. It took D. W. Griffith, director of the controversial Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, to start presenting movies to us that were governed by a language, a grammer, in which establishing shots, close ups, different camera angles and film editing which laid the basis for a brand new way of communicating.

According to the Wikipedia entry on Griffith:
Whether or not he actually invented new techniques in film grammar, he seems to have been among the first to understand how these techniques could be used to create an expressive language.

We've forgotten how big this was. We're so used to this kind of storytelling, we accept editing and closeups and all that intrinsically - we never notice the nouns and verbs being used - we just understand the meaning that's presented to us.

Why do I go back so far and explain this? I was thinking how, now that the costs of getting the information out to people is so much lower than it has been for 100 years, many of us assume that the Web and the Internet are there on our screens to do exactly what Gone With The Wind, Star Wars, and the CBS Evening News have been doing. Informing and entertaining us, while we sit passively.

Is it any wonder, then, that so many people aren't at all sure how to actually USE these new tools? Are we asking people too much when we get frustrated that they don't immediately grasp the immense capabilities they have in their hands? Are we expecting them to be like Orson Welles, who once said about RKO Studio "This is the biggest electric train set a boy ever had!" - and then go on to create the Internet equivalent of Citizen Kane?

Some of us have, through years of study and some lucky breaks, enough experience and capabilities with the old screen production methods. We may have a leg up on some of this stuff. Still, it's hard not to be reduced to a younger age at times. We're still like a motormouthed four-year old who, when given the opportunity to speak into a microphone, suddenly clams up!

It Helps to Have a Guide

In Lessons Learned: Obviously, it’s not Obvious, The Wizard's Dick Costolo (founder of Feedburner) states that the #1 lesson he's learned in the past five years is: What is obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to others. He then goes on to give an example:

I remember the first time I saw Twitter and thought “I don’t get it”, and then somebody explained it to me and I thought “uh-huh. I don’t get it”, and then somebody explained it to me again, and I thought “Ah!... I don’t get it.” Only after I saw somebody using it in a way that I found valuable did I finally get it.

I find this extremely valuable to know - that the founder of Feedburner can come across a popular tool in the New Media/Web 2.0 realm and be completely confused by it.

It makes me feel better about myself, as I explore how I can use sites like Facebook. And it's something to remember as I try to guide people and organizations into trying blogging.

It definitely helps to have a guide - and it's even better if that guide can remember how it was when she was lost in the woods. I try to remember that when I'm talking to someone whose brain is yelling "I don't get it!" at them - it's probably best to use simple terms, avoiding words like "platform," "application," and even "tag."

The trick is helping the other person realize that the hiking trail we're on will lead to a spectacular view.

P.S. I'm still figuring out Twitter myself!
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Photo from IndonesiaJourney.com.

August 2007

While the world doesn't stop in August, it does seem to slow down a little (at least, that small part of the world in which I'm located.) I've been taking some time off, and have been doing things away from the online world. I'm finding this time away is allowing me to actually think, long thoughts uninterrupted by the need to check email, respond to a phone call, or do just about an other electronic-related communication. It feels good... and so I'll be away from this blog until early next week (but I will be back.)

Why We're Not Grasping "Social Media"

Perhaps you've heard of LinkedIn. Or someone in your office keeps talking about Facebook. Or your kids are all over MySpace.

That's what I'm talking about here. Online places where we can create profiles describing ourselves, upload information and pictures, link to others in various networks, and explore profiles across the country and around the world.

But some of us aren't grasping it. When we get an email requesting we link to a friend or colleague, we think "I don't understand the usefulness of this stuff."

Why aren't we getting it? Maybe:

we're wary of broadcasting our lives over electronic media;
we believe that the best way to meet someone is in person;
we're comfortable using the Internet for sending, receiving and researching information, but not for building communities;
we're overworked, over-scheduled and under-rested;
we're unsure about where we can find more information;
we feel we'll be buried by the information we do find;
we're unaware of what's out there;
we think we're too old and set in our ways to learn something new;
we're confused because Friendster was the ticket, and then Friendster was out and everyone was using MySpace; then MySpace turned into a haven for kids and everyone moved to Facebook and LinkedIn;
we don't want to use the wrong application;
we hope it's all just a fad that will play itself out soon;
we don't realize we're already doing it.

I've been all those things, and probably more. The remedy? Read Chris Brogan - A Conversation with a Community about Digital Relationships. Chris calls it like it is - and gives voice to when he doesn't understand how some aspect of "social media" will work out. Online community building is the big thing that's growing right now, and there are even job announcements for online community organizers.

It's exciting to think about how an organization or an individual can build a community around an idea, a project, a product, or a discipline. It's also daunting, for all the reasons outlined above.

The trick is to keep learning, even if just a little, every day, and start to play with the tools that are out there.

7 Ways of Avoid the Blogging Black Hole

One of the main complaints about all this New Media is also what makes it so interesting: there's just too much information out there! If you've started reading blogs, you've probably felt your time slipping away as you click and zoom down information wormholes, until you're hopelessly lost.

How do I deal with all this info? Here are some methods:

1. Give your initial blog discovering activities a definite ending date. Alice went Through the Looking Glass, but she did go back home. You need to also. Give yourself a week or so, and set a date on which you'll actually do something with all the bookmarks you've compiled - like sort them out or get rid of them.

2. Manage your new bookmarks into categories. This has worked wonders for me - and my folder categories are few and extremely simple:

Blogs 1 - blogs I really like and I read every day - limited to 10.
Blogs 2 - blogs I visit when I've got the time.
Blogs 3 - Blogs I visit once or twice each week.

3. Use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. This browser has revolutionized the way I spend my time online.

4. Pursue in-blog links with the firm and clear understanding that You Will Read Them Later. Once that link comes up on your computer, immediately bookmark it, then go back and finish reading the original article. Firefox comes in handy here, with its ability to open new links with "tabs."

5. Use RSS, which delivers updated blog content to you, without making you go to each blog you're interested in. I don't use it, but that's because I like going to blogs. It's like visiting people in their homes. Or going to restaurants. But that's just me. RSS might be great for you.

6. Vow to use the information you're saving in a bookmark, even if it's only categorizing it for later use. I do this by looking at all the bookmarks I've saved once a week, downloading to text that info I can really use.

7. If you can only use two of the above methods, use
#2: Categorize Your Bookmarks
and
#4: Read Links Later.
They're the ones that work best for me!

What If I Run Out of Ideas - Or Don't Have Any To Start With?

I bet your biggest stumbling block to starting a blog is your Fear Of Content. Maybe you're excited about beginning your own online repository for your brilliant ideas, but can't take that crucial next step. Or you're exhausted from battling a severe brain fog.

The Fear can take a number of forms:

1. Fear of not defining your "niche" area;
2. Fear of your words sounding dumb;
3. Fear of your ideas getting criticized;
4. Fear of coming up with something every day - and how you'll feel when you hit a roadblock.

You'll probably hate me for this, but I don't have this problem. Strike that - I do have this problem, and all these fears. I've been writing scripts long enough (and have had critics rip them apart) that I've developed the proverbial "thick skin." Writing may not be as simple as a-b-c, but I can pretty easily vanquish many of my anxieties. And if I'm having trouble on a particular day, I know where to go for help and inspiration.

In addressing the #4 fear above, some established bloggers have come up with all kinds of ideas to help you generate ideas. Here's where you can go for more help:

I Help You Blog compiled 101 great posting ideas that will make your blog sizzle.

ProBlogger tells us How to Generate High Quantities of Content for Your Blog
and gives us weapons for Battling Bloggers Block.

And Lifehack ties it all together for the blogging beginner and promises riches in line with our wildest dreams in Beginner’s Guide: Start a blog, get 100,000 page views and make over $100 your first month.

Chances are you've got something in your past or hidden in your secret reserves which, if tapped into, will turn you into a content-generating monster. I know that my experience sitting down in the evening, night after night, pounding out play scenes and screenplay pages - and having them read, responded to, produced, and critiqued, has given me an ability to constantly generate article ideas. I write all of them down - even if they're just a sentence or a headline - and go back later to flesh them out. Sometimes they work, other times they refused to take on any mass. But having a big list of possible ideas does great things for my self-confidence. And having people like what they read - that does even more!

A Vital and Awesome Reason to Blog

Did you know that the blog is the new resume? I've had this feeling all along - and now others are putting it into "print." So you don't have to take my word for it. check out what these bloggers have to say:

Traces of Inspiration
Bokardo

It's amazing where we've come in twenty years. I've gone from having resumes produced at a print shop (when paper selection and type style ruled the design choices), to including links to this blog in cover letters.

You know, writing for a blog is about 10,000 times more fun than creating a resume!

(and I'll include a link to my series "Screenwriter Secrets of Effective Storytelling" at my other blog "krooz," to boost that blog's resume factor.)

Independence from The Matrix

Chris Brogan's come up with two blog posts that are at the foundation of the Moonlight Initiative idea:

Declaring Your Independence
is a call to action for all of us to take more control of how we live our lives.

The Matrix Lives Your Life
tells me what I've suspected all along about my tv-watching habits.

Boomers Meet The New Media

In my meetings with friends (of middle and late "boomer" age) over the past few weeks, I've presented the ideas contained in this blog with two objectives in mind: I want to discover what communications issues people deal with in their daily job/passion investigation endeavors. And I'm practicing my consulting abilities as I assist them in understanding how New Media (especially blogging) can help them with their goals.

It's been fascinating, listening to their stories and desires. From these conversations, I've developed a list of my friends' concerns when faced with constantly developing "social media" applications:

I don't have time to get familiar with this, but I know I need to.
I'm not sure I could sustain a blog over a long period of time.
Isn't this just One More Thing barging into our lives?
What's the return on investment?
I don't know how to implement it for myself, although I understand the concept and it seems great.
Isn't this just for the younger crowd?
It feels like just more work.

My chief difficulty in helping out is getting past all this confusion, while letting everyone know that they're not the only ones confused. My biggest message? Try it out, and if it doesn't work for you, you can quit - without losing money since you haven't invested any in the first place... just time.

Hugh MacLeod over at Gaping Void has some very interesting things to say about how "social media" is evolving. He sees these applications becoming "faster, cheaper, easier." What I'm finding is many people are really waiting until "easier" comes along. Which is quite understandable when you factor in our schedules these days.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention... Seth Godin thinks you should blog, "even if you only have one post in you."

Blogs Are Best For...

Problogger's written the most clear description of what a blog is best for that I've seen. Although he's talking about the business/sales blogging niche, I think it contains great information for anyone just starting out (as well as anyone else who's interested.)

Here he describes blogging's strengths:

"While blogs can be used as a tool for selling they are at their best when they are relational, conversational and offer their readers something useful that will enhance their lives in some way. Ask most blog subscribers why they follow a particular blog and you’ll find out that in almost every case they get something out of the blog (whether it be entertainment, advice, research, ideas etc)."

Thanks, Problogger!

There's Always A Catch

Lifehack has a fascinating post on the "open source" concept, and it's a great piece. It made me think about how open sourcing not only puts the power in our hands, but grants us some problems we haven't had to address before in our lives.

By far, the toughest thing about maintaining a blog is coming up with interesting content at least five days a week. I've seen friends start a blog and then, after a few days or a week, give it up. The reason? They feel they ran out of interesting things to say.

To me, this problem can be seen in a different light. If you start a blog, then you're starting a communications tool that can have far-reaching and maybe even global ramifications. Kind of like starting a newspaper, or developing a new cable channel.

Starting a newspaper means you have to come up with page after page of content every single day -plus ads to pay for it. Starting a cable station means you have to come up with 24 hours of content 7 days a week 365 days a year, without end.

No wonder channels like Animal Planet start running movies that have appeared on other cable channels!

You've got the same problem with your blog - although at a much smaller scale. It's a problem we all inherit when we take on a role that was traditionally only available to people with huge amounts of cash and or power.

So instead of thinking "OMG, I have to write something interesting every day for five days!" change your thinking to "Wow, I only have to come up with a short paragraph of interesting information for five days, then I have two days in which I can see how many ideas I can generate before I have to do it all over again!"

And you can even miss a day if you have to.

Ignore Mainstream Media

I'm advocating for a radical idea here, one that could be of definite benefit to small organizations, and individuals too.

Ignore mainstream media. Don't generate newspaper and television coverage of your issue or interest area. Don't bother with op-eds, features, and interviews if they're going to be carried over the airwaves, on cable, or in newsprint across the country.

And do what instead? Do what you're already doing, but optimize it. Worry more about your Google ranking than your news releases. Generate daily online content instead of fact sheets for the press. Treat your current audience - as listed in your mailing lists - like they're MacNeil-Lehrer. Like gold.

Why would I propose such a heinous idea? Because newspapers and television aren't there for you. (We won't even start discussing radio.) Their number 1 focus is on making money - and this goes for public broadcasting too. They only care about your issue area or interest if it relates to their bottom line - and they'll tell you how it relates.

It's just not cost effective to spend the time courting and obtaining mainstream media coverage.

Look at what you're up against:

• You're competing against Paris Hilton.
• You're yelling at the top of your voice in an information-oversaturated marketplace.
• There are just too many channels and too many newspapers to count.
• Mainstream media requires variety over substance - which means even if they run a story on you/your issue, you can bet that'll be the only story they run on it for the next year.
• It's useless to use newspapers and television to "build awareness" - you're firing a musket spraying buckshot when you should be injecting a hypodermic needle.
• Mainstream media's audience is not your audience, unless your audience is the general public (and you should have a really good reason for courting that audience.)
• You could be working more from your ego than from an unselfish desire for doing good.
• Media doesn't just set the agenda, it creates its own agenda - and face it, you're just not on it.
• You're constantly asking permission, instead of just going ahead and implementing.
• You know your audience better than anyone else.

However, if you get a call from a media source, by all means, give them what they need, and meet their deadlines. But let them come to you. If the story's big enough, they will.

But your story doesn't have to be big enough in order to attract the interest of a smaller, defined audience.

If you positively, absolutely have to get the media to pay attention to you, check out "Maximum Exposure for your Business or Blog" at Lifehack.org.

But first, read about how ABC's 20/20 found Scott The Nametag Guy.

REAL LIFE LEARNING: My Other Blog IS NOT a Spam Blog!

Blogger researched my other blog (krooz) and found it was not a Spam Blog, which means I'm once again able to post to it. It only took about 24 hours, so I wasn't down all that long. And I was able to continue saving drafts. See my previous post for the beginning of this mini-saga.

Here's the email I received from Blogger yesterday:

Hello,
Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

Not bad at all. However, if my blog was monetized, I'm not sure how I would feel being down 24 hours. But I'm not overly concerned at this point. Blogger came through for me, and no matter what we do online, there are going to be down times.

One thing I've been doing lately, in case I do want to move my blogs out on their own, is begin studying CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). I picked up a great book titled Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML. It's as thick and heavy as a phone directory, but that let that put you off. It's a blast - a ton of fun - to read and work through! It's helping me identify gaps in my knowledge - I learned HTML one morning a few years back, in a Macromedia Homesite class, and I've been able to do much with (admittedly) limited knowledge. Also, the book's really helping me develop a foundation for understanding Web site workings. I look forward each day to spending time with it.

And now, it's time to study!

REAL LIFE LEARNING: My Other Blog is a Spam Blog

Here's a problem with having Blogger host your blog:

This blog has been locked by Blogger's spam-prevention robots. You will not be able to publish your posts, but you will be able to save them as drafts.

Save your post as a draft or click here for more about what's going on and how to get your blog unlocked.

That's the message I received today when I tried to post to my other blog titled "krooz."

I'm sure it's because of two things:

1. I ran the list of blogging metaphors from Liz Strauss's blog (which included my metaphor post "Feeding on Plankton.")

2. I've been linking to my previous posts in my series "It May Not Be Your Passion If" - perhaps not the most efficient method of linking, but hey, shoot me!

I'm not sure when Blogger will let me post again to "krooz." I did a quick Google search on the words "Blogger's spam-prevention robots" and came up with a bunch of similar stories.

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a spam blog. One pair of human eyes could quickly come to this conclusion.

This could go either way - Blogger could quickly restore my ability to post my own writings, or it could take days. And I could go either way too - I could stay with Blogger and continue to recommend the service, or I could jump ship and go somewhere else (most likely On My Own) if I'm unhappy with the outcome.

The ball's in your court, Blogger...

Old Newspapers and Flying Cars

A frustrating and fascinating aspect of New Media is what it's doing to our old and beloved methods of mass communication.

And we have to face it at some point or another: Newspapers and Television (capitalized to stand for the institutions themselves) have lost their place at the top of the pyramid.

Sure, we all still dream of having ourselves or our stories carried on the Fourth Estate. But that's the old paradigm continuing to influence our egos. We can't shake the believe in that correctly-placed television ad or news story - and how it will focus so much attention on us or our issue that we'll need Starbucks House Blend IVs providing our energy to deal with it all.

Steve Pavlina, the enormously influential blogger, has a compelling blend of data and opinion on this in his post "New York Times vs. Digg - Strange New Media." From the article:

"While old media has feedback channels as well, the general perception is that they’re still too corporate and aren’t really listening. I don’t think many people genuinely believe that if you suggest a story to the New York Times via their web site that your idea will be forwarded to a writer for consideration within the next few hours. Yet blogs and social bookmarking sites give you that opportunity in abundance."

I started this post saying New Media is frustrating and fascinating. Frustrating because there's so much to learn, the pace of change and improvement in online capabilities sends us running for those Starbucks IVs, we don't know where it's all going, and we've just learned how to work the Old Media. Fascinating because... well, I can't speak for you, but I find it fascinating! Not least because so much is now in our hands.

Take a look at Liz Strauss's post "The Internet’s Not Finished, But Flying Cars Are Unlikely" at The Blog Herald. I think it's a good follow-up to the Brave New Media post, as it gets us thinking about the different dimensions our communications can take.

And for that headache and panic slowly building when faced with all this new stuff? A couple of Tylenols and some time in a quiet room. That works better for me than coffee!

A Few Early Steps

Liz Strauss has posted the first submissions to her "Metaphor Project," which asked for bloggers to tell what metaphors they use when talking about this method of online communication.

I'm excited because I've received very positive feedback from a number of sources on my "Whale Metaphor" (originally from the the "Moonlight" post of May 27 and revised as "Feeding on Plankton" on my other blog "krooz.") Big thanks from me to Liz for including my metaphor in this early round!

Heres' the list - they're a richly varied group, and hopefully one will catch your eye and deepen your understanding!

What metaphor do you use to explain blogging? at Ian’s Messy Desk
Blogging Metaphor–The Salad Bar Blog at Word Sell
My blog is a smorgasbord, come and eat… at Juggling Frogs
Feeding on Plankton at krooz
My Preferred Metaphor for Business Blogging at Business and Blogging
10 reasons why blogging is like dating” at Romance Tracker
Equestrian Ecstasy - Portal to another Reality at INNside Innkeeping in Montana
Blogging Metaphors: Bridge-Building at Middle Zone Musings
Blogging Metaphor: Blogging is like Exercise at Virtual Impax
My Blogging Metaphor: BNI at Kiss2
Why Conversational Blogging Is Like A LineConga at dawudmiracle
Blog 101 and the New Cocktail Party at What Would Dad Say

It's taken me awhile to get used to comments, memes, and other online conversation builders. I hate to be thought of as a "lurker," someone who reads blogs and doesn't leave his mark through a comment or some other means. There have been times I've drafted a comment, but end up deleting it, thinking it's uninteresting. So, when I receive great feedback and get recognized by others out there, it builds up my confidence and energy to get out there and talk some more!

Who Really Gets This Stuff?
I've believed for a while now that "boomers" as a whole do not "get" Web 2.0, and that everyone thirty years younger does. Until yesterday, when I read this post on Brazen Careerist. Ryan "gets" it, and basically states my Moonlight Initiative philosophy about blogging. His point, in his own words:

"If you offer intelligent opinions or advice on a credible blog, then you are an expert."

Click on the quoted line above to read the rest of his post.

My thinking has been wrong. It doesn't matter whether your six or sixty. Everyone comes at this stuff from a different angle.

The trick is to not reject it out of hand.

Keeping Your Head Above Water

Once you start treading water in this online ocean of information, it's easy to feel like you're drowning. Especially when you think about implementing what you see. How to keep calm?

Don’t worry about SEO, CSS, AJAX, and all the other all-caps acronyms you see. Ignore them for now. They may not go away, but they won’t bother you for awhile.

Don’t read any blog’s posts from the beginning. Resist the urge to go to the first entry and start reading, like it was the first page of a novel. Start with the post that’s up today. Then, if you’re interested, search out a couple of the blogger’s “top posts” that catch your eye. It may look like War and Peace – but it’s not! It’s also not a movie where you have to start at the beginning to understand anything.

When I started figuring out what all this blog stuff was about, I happened upon Wil Wheaton’s blog. I read that day's post and I didn’t quite understand it. I looked for the beginning, someplace to start, like the first page of a book. But (and this refers to his previous blog) I saw a long list of previous entries and thought “I gotta read all that?” Needless to say, I didn’t. Not that I wasn't interested. It was just that I was unsure about what I was getting myself into.

Why's there a whale accompanying this post? Well, I gradually came to equate reading blogs with a whale feeding on tiny krill in the ocean. I think we're all straining tons of information each day.

The trick to it is read a lot. Don't worry about starting at the beginning. Jump in and see what you can pick up. And then go from there.

The #1 Secret To Successful Blogging

There's really only one secret to successful blogging, and it's something that's true no matter what you do: You just have to buckle down and do it.

If you're starting out, this is the primary goal for, I would say, your first month. Just Sit Down and Post To Your Blog. Maybe not every day, but five days a week. Do that for a month.

Of course, as you work through that first month, you're going to come up against a major barrier: What Do I Post About? To answer that for yourself, resist the urge to read everything you can about blogging, and concentrate on just getting your words online. Don't worry about "finding your niche" or "monetizing your blog" or "search engine optimization." Because if you quit after a short amount of time, none of the rest will matter.

Do, however, take advantage of the wonderful information other fantastically established bloggers have made available DIRECTLY TO YOU FOR FREE that can give you an infinite choice of things to write about. A couple of good places to start, if you're feeling particularly uncreative:

Lorelle's 101 Ways To Create Original Content.

ProBlogger's Declaring War on Apathy.

Liz Strauss's How To Beat Writer's Block.

Individuals beginning blogs are, I feel, the most likely candidates to quit after a couple of days. I've known some people who have done just that. Me included (although I started up again a few months later.)

So, let me revise my original suggestion, and shorten your initial goal: schedule yourself to update your blog Monday-Friday for two weeks. The key is to get some information onto your site. Don't worry if it isn't good, or correct, or whatever. Give yourself permission to write garbage. Deleting your posts about your cat or what you ate for breakfast can come later.

(Of course, resist the urge at all times to write about your cat, or your friend's cat if you don't have one.)

Wiki What?

If you've ever gotten lost in the Wikipedia, then you have at least a passing acquaintence with the world of wikis. But what's a wiki? We can go to the Wikipedia for that - "a wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and edit content." And that's not their definition - it's from the The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.

If it all sounds vaguely Hawaiian to you, your instincts are correct. "Wiki" is Hawaiian for "quick."

And if, after you've read the Wikipedia wiki entry, you think "but allowing people to add, remove and edit content from a Web site is just asking for trouble," you're not the first to come to that conclusion.

But with the ever-present online options of password protection, you can get past that fear.

I admit to visiting the Wikipedia often - and that's not because I'm actually mentioned in it. But I find that there's such a huge amount of information there that I can satisfy just about any semi-fleeting desire for an explanation of things I have no idea about.

And I just had an experiencing showing me the dynamic nature of the wiki universe. I was looking for the page that mentioned me, and found it deleted. For the reason why, follow this link to the Wikipedia's deletion log. Suffice it to say I was mentioned in it, at one time.

There's even a place where you can set up your own wiki - for free.

Once you've set one up - what can you use it for?

Boards of directors can use a wiki for editing governance documents.
A collaborative group of people working on a new grant or on a grant report can use a wiki for developing those texts.
Any individual looking to build a base of information can use a wiki to reach out and find others with information to add.

I haven't actually constructed a usable wiki, although now that I've played around with setting one up, I can start to see the options it provides.

Now I just need to start producing information for it, and see what happens...

Hot On The Heels...

...of yesterday's post titled 5 Barriers You May Experience When Considering Blogging is Top 5 Blogging Myths at Daily Blog Tips. I feel an exceptionally special kinship to #4: “Why should I blog when I can create a normal Website?” It's very close to the question We already have a Web site - How is this different? in my May 1 post Blogging for Organizations. While you're at Daily Blog Tips, take a look around. It's one of my favorite sites for clear, focused blogging information... and the link to Blogging Basics is a great resource.

[And check out this link to Answers.com regarding "fair use" of the roadrunner picture above...]