Disqus - Latest Comments for Mark Dykeman

Re: The creative process (Scripting News)

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:02:45 -0000

Nice concise way to describe the creative process. I'm curious: are you working alone or in a group? Your description makes me think this is a solo project.

Re: The Five Roles Of Bloggers

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:12:14 -0000

Great post and summary of ideas about blogging! I recently wrote a post on my own blog called "Why The Heck Would Anyone Want To Blog?" where I had proposed three very generic types of bloggers.

In my own case, I'd like to see my blog as the online version of a syndicated column. However, I think you've laid out your five types very effectively.

Re: The Five Roles Of Bloggers

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:25:15 -0000

Thanks Steve!

Re: Time Is A Blogger’s Best Friend

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:40:18 -0000

This is a wonderful, inspiring post. Thank you!

Re: A Few Words On Information Overload

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:06:16 -0000

Short and sweet. Good post.

I love pen and paper myself, even if it means retyping.

Re: Is User Generated Content Fair?

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:14:15 -0000

Wow, this is a tough one. I've seen another excellent post or two that really tears in to this topic.

Thing is, sites like Huffington and others make no bones about the fact that they don't pay, so you can't blame them for enforcing their own rules. YouTube, I'd say, is being smart in trying to share the riches, but in a sense they are changing the rules mid-stream and there are consequences for doing that.

In the end, it remains to be seen whether Hufffington will suffer from not paying writers or not.

Re: A Case For Blogging

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:57:03 -0000

I see my blog more like opinion, commentary, or a syndicated column. I try to use good writing standards, but I really don't consider myself to be a journalist.

Re: How To Build Community

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:39:38 -0000

" People don’t like starting conversations with walls."

Brilliant! Exactly right!

Re: Alternate Reality Games Hit The Mainstream

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:06:58 -0000

Would the Lost Experience count as ARG?

Re: Prince Charle’s Ghost Attends Energy Summit

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:44:20 -0000

I don't know whether to laugh or applaud.

Re: Light Bulbs, Cell Phones And Utility

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:37:18 -0000

Excellent point, Steve. This brings to mind the example of the remote control with more buttons than an octopus could operate.

Re: Richard Branson Wants To Send You Into Space

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:39:54 -0000

I get the point. I'd want to make sure that SpaceShipTwo worked....

Re: Optimizing HTML Links In The Aftermath Of A Blog Storm

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:56:50 -0000

I'll be saving this for future use. I'm a neophyte blogger and I don't have the platform in place to take advantage of this idea. However, I look forward to the day that I can because this is a great tutorial.

Re: Optimizing HTML Links In The Aftermath Of A Blog Storm

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:56:50 -0000

Re: Last.fm tries the subscription model

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:10:49 -0000

Not only is Last.fm paying the labels for the rights to use the music, they're also paying the artists a share of the ad revenues, DIRECTLY.

Maybe they have a sweet ad deal to afford this. I suppose it's worth a try, but the only thing that this does is make limited streaming legit and I'm not sure how you could legally get the music to your iPod. On the other hand, I do believe that Last.fm is oriented towards someone using a laptop or PC, which should make the iPod unnecessary for this model.

It's also OK if you don't have any favorite songs.

Re: Digg: A social media Petri dish

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:37:57 -0000

Mathew, my belief is that the algorithm change was just part of the problem. The lack of feedback from Digg about user bannings, the lack of feedback from Digg management and support in general, the unusual bury activity AND the unannounced algorithm change were all contributing factors.

I've had some minor interaction with three of the four top Diggers who were part of the protest letter and they seem like decent people. I think they got frustrated because, once again, the rules were changed without warning, adding another log on the fire of frustration. After all, they're just people like the rest of us - they want to be heard when they have a complaint.

Re: Media: Still grasping for a clue

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:53:46 -0000

I understand the desire to protect one's content, but in the relatively open environment of the Web and the blogosphere, trying to control inbound linking is far more trouble than it is worth. I think there is far more value to Business Week in permitting the link to expose their brand, plus bolster their reputation a bit by seeing some gratitude from the interviewee. But I'm not a professional media guy, so what do I know?

In fairness, I would be willing to allow that Business Week hasn't reviewed that old user agreement in years and their management might not realize how it doesn't fit in the current Web environment. However, it's certainly in their best interest to dust it off, take a good look at the publishing industry, and consider some radical changes.

Re: Pay for a blog feed? Not going to happen

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:43:49 -0000

Blog feeds are a commodity that happen to have a retail price of $0.00.

It seems like Allen Stern is looking for something with the ease and convenience of an RSS feed that people would be willing to pay for. Thing is, and I mean no disrespect to you, Mathew, but as you've indicated above, the value proposition might not be there for someone to pay for blog content on a subscription basis. Your blog does serve to:

a) provide you with a continual online presence
b) draw people's attention to things that you find interesting
c) provide some education
d) provide you with a promotional platform, if you choose to use it that way

Rex Hammock says it quite eloquently, doesn't he?

Matthew, a question: do you feel like you are "locked in" to blogging? In other words, do you feel that giving up a blog would actually hurt you as a professional and, to be blunt, as a product?

Another piece of data in my ongoing quest to come up with a new model to monetize content. I'm really enjoying your writing.

Re: Netflix comes to the Xbox 360. Did Microsoft just destroy the Apple TV?

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:53:55 -0000

MG, is this deal US only?

Re: There is No Road to Success

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:46:46 -0000

Inspiring!

<abbr>Mark Dykemans last blog post..And now for something completely different</abbr>

Re: http://www.andydesoto.com/commentary/falling-short-of-true-content-creation/

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:25:06 -0000

I think there's something that the newer media can do to add some spark, but I don't think that words alone are at their end either.

Re: My thirty eight editors on Friendfeed. « My Thoughts On Social Media

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:45:47 -0000

Cool idea. If I ever start using Google Reader's sharing functionality on a consistent basis, I'll give you my URL as well.

Re: Viral on FriendFeed « My Thoughts On Social Media

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:17:41 -0000

I admit, I was "fished in" a bit at first, but then the tone of the post caused some alarm bells to go off. I completely missed the whole "sign-up page" thing... I might have fallen for that, too.

Good lesson for us all. :)

Re: The different factors of forming relationships offline « My Thoughts On Social Media

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:22:41 -0000

FriendFeed meet ups sound like a good idea!

Re: 20 people you should follow on FriendFeed « My Thoughts On Social Media

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:59:21 -0000

Many thanks, Mike! You do great stuff, too!

P.S. You forgot to mention my comedy writing chops... :D Actually, I've only written one or two intentionally comic posts, so perhaps I've still got to prove myself in that form of writing... ;-)

Re: State of the blog - By a Z lister « My Thoughts On Social Media

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:11:32 -0000

Congratulations on your success to date!

Re: 35 Tips for getting started with social media « My Thoughts On Social Media

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:23:08 -0000

Impressive. Very impressive.

About 4 - there are different schools of thought about defining your permalink structure. Some people are strongly opposed to incorporating date characters into the URL, as it firmly fixes your posts at a certain point in time, which may turn some people off if they encounter them at some point in the future. Adding the word "blog" is interesting and something I've never considered before: is that in anticipation of a more function-filled website of which the blog is a part?

Great work!

Re: Life as a Pro Blogger

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 25 May 2008 10:43:33 -0000

Maybe it would be easier to explain that you're a professional writer/e-business guy than a blogger. Very similar.

Re: Scoble is Wrong About Blog Comments Being Dead

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:00:26 -0000

The value of Robert's post, if any, was merely to provoke discussion. I'd say he conducted a little experiment on everyone to see what we'd say.

Clever guy. Who knows what he really thinks?

Re: Scoble is Wrong About Blog Comments Being Dead

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:35:04 -0000

Easier to say completely dead than 2/3 dead, might remind one of a zombie. ;)

Re: Why Social Media Leadership Won’t Come from Public Relations Teams

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:56:06 -0000

I left this same comment at Social Media Today before I realised that you had posted this here at Ignite, so I'm posting it again here:

My background: I'm an IT guy who's most familiar with consumer packaged goods manufacturing and distribution, so I'm an amateur and a social media enthusiast/blogger.

Now, for those of you who are still reading...

There's a fair amount of history that tends to support your concept of divergence (which we might also call "specialization" or "evolution".) Any profession or area of study tends to specialize over time if it draws enough interest or demonstrates its value through innovation and value. If it doesn't, that particular branch either stops growing, sickens, or dies. If it dies, it often decomposes in nearby soil and gets absorbed by the parent organism to help the parent grow, much like a plant or a tree.

If I understand your article correctly, you're saying that social media should exist as a separate discipline due to its collection of focused talent and skill sets. This will allow practioners to develop deep knowledge and skills and then help to set the direction forward.

If social media agencies can demonstrate the necessary value, then I would think a number of them could spring up and become strong. I also believe that large companies like the concept of "one stop shopping", which will likely push traditional PR firms, ad agencies, etc. to develop these skills in house.

However, like many things, some situations call for the "best of the best" and specific skills. If companies like yours can demonstrate that value, the social media agency branch should survive and prosper. I don't know if it will be a big branch, but at least it could be a healthy branch.

Re: Crystal Light Case Study: When Brands Overpower Social Media

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:01:41 -0000

Out of curiosity, do the social media features of Crystal Light make you more inclined to use their products?

I'm guessing the resources at their site are rewarding, but does that really relate back to the experience of buying and drinking a flavored drink?

Re: Think Before You Ning

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:53:56 -0000

There's probably a whole article or ten to be written about why people actually join social networks, beyond the fad appeal.

Your "problem solving" focus is something that needs to be considered, though, and it's a key observation, IMHO.

Keep the essential and dump the rest.

Ning could be multi-purpose, but weak at any one thing.

If you want to socialize and trade jokes, keep it on Facebook. Again, IMHO and there's nothing wrong with that approach.

If you actually want to do something constructive, though...

Re: Friday’s Food for the Soul, Shel Israel, Loren Feldman, and Knowing When to Stop

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:15:19 -0000

I think they should bury the hatchet and use their platform to raise money for a worthy charity.

Re: Stealing Avatars: Identity Theft 2.0

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 10:46:54 -0000

The fact of the matter is that many readers will not do a detailed content read. They might not have the desire and they probably don't have the time to do so. They will develop preferences for content submitted by certain people, learn to recognize the avatar/photo, and then use that avatar as a visual cue to attract their attention to that poster. I guess I'm agreeing with Elmer on this.

It's unscrupulous (and pathetic, IMHO) to steal someone's image or else mostly copy it for your own, because you're clearly trying to "steal" their business, so to speak. So I agree with Fortune Fox.

Content should always be king, but we need to recognize that we're all fighting for the viewer's attention and these visual cues help. That's where branding comes in. Yeah, most of this stuff is a hobby to us, but we're all looking for an audience, right?

The thing is, unless we go through some legal hoops, we don't actually own our avatars. I can't claim to own mine, I can only hope that the image that I use will help people recognize me amongst other talented and prolific people.

Re: Quality Content or Bullshit?

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:27:39 -0000

Don't underestimate the power of common sense. Also, perhaps you should keep in mind that a number of those points were describing the use of StumbleUpon to help promote your blog.

It is pretty basic stuff, though.

Re: Pro Blogger - The Paris Hilton of Blogging

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:19:17 -0000

Disclosure: I'm a Problogger.net and Darren Rowse fan, so this will probably color anything I write.

I haven't read the entire book, but I still plan to at some point. I have read the free introductory chapter and found the anecdotal stuff a bit interesting.

At best I expect that it's an introduction to professional blogging concepts. For the price they are charging, I would not expect them to give away the farm, particularly given their involvement with other products and programs.

Having said that, I'll certainly keep your thoughts in mind when I do read the book.

Re: Exit Blogs, Enter Social Coverage

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:51:08 -0000

Good post and intriguing idea. I subscribed - look forward to more from you.

Re: Arcade Memories

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:18:25 -0000

I loved that Star Wars game back in those days... Same vector graphics as Battlezone, only with color!

Re: The death of blogging is nowhere near….

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:29:11 -0000

Good point!

Re: 2007/11/30/mashable-christmas-wish-list/

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 07:39:19 -0000

Nice article, interesting how the first topic mentioned was Facebook.

Re: 2008/06/05/donations/

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:48:54 -0000

Steven, your idea is certainly worth considering. I'm sure I could handle $1/month and if I felt that the money would go to good use, I'd sign up for it. If they lick the majority of their problems, that is.

Re: 2008/06/12/monetizing-friendfeed/

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:58:21 -0000

I tend to see my FriendFeed output as being separate from my blogging output, although I do have the Wordpress FriendFeed widget on my blog that displays likes and comments.

Mark, don't you find that your FriendFeed stream suffers a bit from lack of context? For example, if Disqus comments appear, you can't automatically see the original post where they came from. Also, having Tweets appear can be one-sided, particularly if you are replying to someone else. I see that you've added in a lot of the context, though, so you're compensating pretty well. Isn't Disqus still a problem?

Re: 2008/06/27/bill-gates-retirement/

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:30:59 -0000

I'm not so certain that it's such a bad thing that Bill's gone. In a manner of speaking I think he's been gone for awhile and Ballmer's had more power for awhile than we might suspect. In addition, my impression is that Vista was Bill's baby...

Maybe it's a chance for new blood to shake things up further.

Re: 2008/08/05/cheap-broadband/

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:53:03 -0000

Alan:

First of all, I appreciate the fact that you took the time to comment on the article and did so in a civil manner, so thanks for that.

I'll try to address a few of your comments or points here:

- I don't disagree with you in that these are two different materials and that the analogy that I try to draw between them isn't particularly strong, but I don't think it's out of the question either. No doubt that oil is a limited resource traded as a commodity, which I did try to acknowledge near the end of the article, and Internet access is not. In my opening paragraph I inadvertently tied the impact of both oil and Internet access too closely together, my bad.
- However, I wasn't doing a deep analysis on how we buy and sell these two items - this isn't the Economist of the Harvard Business Review, afterall.
- If there was a point that I was trying to make throughout all of this, it was more around the fact that cheap broadband Internet access has led to the market for, and growth in, Web applications. I tried, perhaps unsuccessfully, to draw a comparison between commodity prices and economic performance. I still believe that many of the modern Web applications, regardless of where or not they have a quantifiable value to the consumer, would not have experienced the kind of growth that they've had if broadband Internet access was more expensive that it is today.

I appreciate your feedback and that will help me in future writing.

Re: 2008/08/05/cheap-broadband/

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:57:01 -0000

David:

Fair point on conflating wants with needs. Do we need Web 1.0, Web 2.0? Probably not, although many people have become accustomed to it. Yes, we could probably use dial-up or other slower communication methods, much as I could ride a bicycle to work rather than drive in my car. However, since I live more than 25 miles from my workplace, I'm not inclined to spend the time required to travel by bicycle. I also recognize, however, that I can't use my bicycle to haul a trailer with 20 tons of freight in it, so oil does represent a critical resource with real value.

Re: 2008/08/05/cheap-broadband/

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:45:08 -0000

Fair point and thank you.

Re: 2008/08/29/introvert-social-media-rock-star/

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:44:57 -0000

DesignMeme, I agree that there is a different between communication skills and personality types. Introversion is a personality type that you're basically born with and you just have to work with that. On the other hand, introverts can be great thinkers and communicators - they just can't be "on" around other people as much as extroverts can be or for as long.

Re: 2008/08/29/introvert-social-media-rock-star/

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:45:49 -0000

I'm calling BS, Melanie. ;)

Re: 2008/08/29/introvert-social-media-rock-star/

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:01:38 -0000

To everyone who's expressed similar thoughts or struggles - I hear you. For those who've said a kind word, thanks!

Re: 2008/08/29/introvert-social-media-rock-star/

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:28:46 -0000

Thanks Lou! Quite true: online comms do provide the ability to keep people at arm's length - E-mail is the classic example of this.

Re: 2008/09/05/gamers-and-social-media-users/

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:00:56 -0000

Hey taulpaul, that's an interesting coincidence. I think a number of conventions from online games have worked their way into social media.

Re: 2008/09/05/gamers-and-social-media-users/

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:19:56 -0000

Hi Pamela. You have a good point about the potentially addictive nature of both games and social media. While it's true that people may not be sitting there and Twittering away non-stop, they may be doing an awful lot of reading and/or waiting for someone to respond to their Tweets. That can be an addictive time sink as well and it can led people to ignore their priorities, much like gaming does.

As for the manipulative nature of MMORPGs (i.e. activity to keep you playing and waiting for the next big "score", not unlike the way that slot machines work...

Re: 2008/09/05/gamers-and-social-media-users/

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:22:59 -0000

I agree, Gloria.

Re: 2008/09/05/gamers-and-social-media-users/

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:50:55 -0000

If you are who you appear to be, I visited your spot in EU a couple of times. Crazy.

Re: Who Owns Google?

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:55:01 -0000

Yeah, but what will people say when their price hits $777?

"Oh, thank goodness the Lord's taking care of it now, Norman!"

Re: Bodog Fantasy: Bedroom

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:31:11 -0000

The reveal was... pretty funny!

Re: Think Niche

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:24:39 -0000

In my few weeks of serious study about blogging and writing copy, the only word that I've seen more than "SEO" is "niche".

I have a business degree and I understand the need for market segmentation and targeting. However, I'm not at the point where I would want to have multiple niche blogs. I am trying to develop a couple of ideas that could be blogs on their own, but I've learned enough that I want to plan that out a bit first. I'm still building my core blog!

Here's an interesting question: should a blogger challange themselves to find a niche that NO ONE is talking about or else become so specific in a niche that they are the only one doing it?

Re: Human Information Nodes and Routing

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:09:22 -0000

Hi folks, first time posting here.

I can't speak much to technology or methods here, but I like this idea because it might help deal with a different problem that I recently pondered: getting access to trustworthy information in an age where spin, exaggeration, and downright lies seem all too prevalent.

Over time we all build up our networks of trusted information sources. When the media (any media) starts broadcasting a story of some kind, you can tap into your network of contacts to determine whether the information is true, false, or flawed. But what if you are new to the game and don't have a network or don't know who is really knowledgeable? A network of trustworthy information nodes would be a wonderful thing to be able to tap into.

Could a wiki be a part of the ultimate solution, or something like it that allows continuous editing, review, approval, and is built to link things together? Just a thought...

Great post!

Re: Social Media as Personal Power

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:21:24 -0000

Hello Chris. I like the analogy between social media power and superpowers - I've been a comic book geek for over 30 years!

I don't think it's fair to compare enterprise applications to social media. It's a bit like comparing Van Gogh's brushes and paints to the machines that paint lines on highways. Line painters do an important, but repetitious and boring job and they do it well. Thank goodness! So do sales order systems, purchase order systems, general ledger systems, banking systems... they ultimately empower the organization to grow through consistency and conformity.

Back to social media: well, I guess you might say that I'm growing my "power base" as I learn more about the virtual world. I live in a fairly rural area, so Web/social media/etc. have made a big difference by granting me the "power" to tap into wonderful and varied things that I would never have discovered otherwise.

In some ways I wish all of this technology was around (in its current form) when I started university 20 years ago. Then again, I might not have graduated from university if it had been around - I'd have been too busy Tweeting, Facebooking, and playing online games!

Long term, I'm not going to pretend that I have many altruistic or charitable reasons for using social media, although it would be nice to use it to support causes that I believe in. I might do that at some point in the future. Right now I'm exploring the opportunities and working on my writing/content creation skills.

Besides, if I ever really wanted to have a superpower, I'd really want to have Peter Petrelli's! But social media mastery would be cool.

Re: Social Media Starter Pack

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:52:59 -0000

Great ideas there and many would work on a personal/individual level, too.

Re: My Three Words for 2008

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:50:44 -0000

Handy way to drill those three key concepts, Chris.

I'm kind of interested in "farming", myself, particularly when it comes to the creative process and idea generation.

I've not been really diligent about goal setting or "framing" my actions other than trying to follow some principles and common sense. The past few years have shown me that I might need to change my ways.

I look forward to seeing how your three-word mantra works for you in 2008!

Re: FastCompany Goes SUPER Social

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:13:01 -0000

Must go check out; hopefully it is working OK now.

Re: The Community Play

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:48:34 -0000

I would certainly agree that there's a lot of unexplored potential with community. I think that a lot of companies haven't worked out the risk/reward tradeoff yet. Publicly traded companies, in particular, have that risk-aversion mindset that probably scares them off.

Re: Who Am I Really

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:18:13 -0000

Happy birthday, Chris. Many happy returns!

Thank you for being a firestarter.

I envy your ability to connect with so many people!

Re: Conquering Fear of Blogging

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:46:00 -0000

I think "Read and Read and Read" is especially important and often overlooked. Many successful authors (i.e. Stephen King) attest to the value of reading widely. In the appendix to "On Writing" he lists a huge number of novels that he read during a period of several years. What he didn't list is newspaper articles, magazines, websites, etc. that probably also read during the same period of time.

In short, don't just read blogs to become a good writer (or blogger).

Re: What do Avatars Mean to Us

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:55:51 -0000

The first time that I really got an inkling as to the power of an avatar was when I met Jason Falls in January 2008. I didn't know him and he didn't know me at the time (or so I thought). After he gave a little talk to our social media group I chatted him with a few minutes and told him I was a blogger and a social media enthusiast. I told him about my avatar and he's like, "You're THAT guy? I've seen that around before." I don't think I would have made an impression without that avatar.

The fact is that the Broadcasting Brain avatar (purple skin, green glowing brain) has caught enough attention on social news sites and Twitter that it's part of my on-line identity now, so I would find it hard to change it. It seems to fit with my blog name and it's essentially my brand or image. It catches your eye and it does make it stand out from a lot of other avatars (Muhammad Saleem's spade is quite ingenious, however.)

I haven't done the clever things like mixing pea images for special occasions because: a) I don't personally have the skills to do that and b) why would I make it harder to recognize something that already stands out quite well? It not that I don't support these causes but, quite frankly, I'm still fairly new to the whole blogging and social media scene, so I can't really afford to put multiple images out there, IMHO.

One minor downside to using this kind of avatar is that most people who meet me in person might be disappointed by how pale my skin really is. I'm thinking about getting a neon green skullcap, plus purple face paint, if I ever go to a social media or industry conference, but a button or sticker with the avatar might be a bit less geeky. :)

FYI, the avatar's look and color scheme were inspired by the character Dr. Manhattan from the comic book maxi-series Watchmen (except the green glowing brain part.)

Re: Spend a Day Reading and Commenting

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:01:04 -0000

My God, it was full of blogs!

In all seriousness, nice to check out some different blogs and different ideas.

Re: Newspapers Be Warned

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:27:36 -0000

Chris, that brain of yours must run 24/7.

Certainly a creative idea for local news to consider. I wonder if anyone's trying it yet?

Re: Three Photo Editing Tools to Check Out

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:46:41 -0000

Love to have an invite to a.viary!

Re: Whats In It For Me

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:43:42 -0000

Most of the time I approach blog posts from the "what do I want to say today" point of view instead of what you describe. I'd say that your method works very well for evangelists, guides, educators, and pro/business bloggers who want to connect with their audience. For that matter, it could work well for anyone.

The only problem with that technique, for me on a personal level, is that I would feel like I was dumbing down the presentation of the material. The reality is that it's actually sticking closer to the inverted pyramid format used by reporters for generations: get the most important points out first, then provide additional information for those who want to keep reading. You're assuming that your audience doesn't have a lot of free time for reading (and many don't).

I can't see myself using this technique consistently, but I can see where it would work with certain types of posts that I write. Food for thought. Thanks.

Re: When Your Blog is a Grand Stage

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:33:22 -0000

Inspiring stuff, man. Keep 'em coming.

Re: Happy Blog Day

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:07:30 -0000

Cool picks. I posted for Blog Day 2008 as well, but I went far afield to find bloggers from different countries and walks of life, including bloggers from Africa, Argentina, India, Australia, and Belgium.

Cheers!

Re: Mike Arrington’s dream team has wrong goal

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:19:45 -0000

Hello Robert! First time commenting on your blog!

I do appreciate the fact that blogging and social media do provide interesting new ways for people to get in contact. In particular, the access to people who might not have been been reachable otherwise is a wonderful benefit of social media and Web 2.0.

Mike Arrington does allude to an important point, however: we all have limited attention span and as more and more blogs and venues pop up, there do appear to be small shares of attention span to capture. However, his more pragmatic point is that maybe the VC money is looking for the BIG payoff and the stakes are therefore multiplying.

(Of course, expanding the total blog reading audience might offset that problem...)

Can big money, talent, and hard work kill off a competitor or two? Sure. Is that really a worthwhile accomplishment? It depends. If it's an investment decision, then it might be from that perspective. It's kind of short sighted, though.

I do like your goals, though, based in the acquisition of knowledge and experience.

Re: Why Google News has no noise

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:41:31 -0000

So you might say you're a trendspotter?

Re: Blog comments are dead: discuss

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:54:43 -0000

Robert, you are a master at baiting, I'll give you that.

:)

On a separate note, clearly people weren't wrapping their heads around the car post. Perhaps it's because automobiles are outside of your perceived areas of expertise?

Re: The “Participation Premium”

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:22:18 -0000

Robert, a lot of good ideas in this post. There's just one comment that I have, however.

You compared your subscriber growth on Twitter vs. FriendFeed in your first four months using both services, whereby you had 100 followers on Twitter vs.... well, thousands, I assume, on FriendFeed.

You wrote the following: "It’s amazing how fast FriendFeed is growing, too. Remember, I’ve only been on FriendFeed four months. After being on Twitter four months I only had a few hundred followers. FriendFeed is a very viral community and is changing daily as new people discover it."

Is it reasonable to assume a correlation between your FriendFeed subscriber growth and FriendFeed's overall subscriber growth? That's what you're implying, and I don't doubt that FriendFeed is growing very rapidly, but there are 8 other default recommended FriendFeed users, plus a number of other users, so the apparent link between the two growths is a bit uncertain.

There's no doubt in my mind that a significant portion of your Twitter audience has followed you to FriendFeed, leading to a large number of FriendFeed followers. Also, Twitter really helped lay the groundwork for an application like FriendFeed by popularizing microblogs and lifestreaming/sharing, so the general audience was probably more receptive to FriendFeed today than, say, two years ago.

I'm just nitpicking on a couple of points, I do think your other observations in this article make sense and I've seen them work myself.

Re: The expo war over startups

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:55:43 -0000

After reading this post, it almost feels like Techcrunch is the Microsoft of blogging. Not the Google of blogging, the Microsoft.

Thing is: do the best products, with the most loyal followings, really get launched under the wing and coverage of Techcrunch vs. other outlets? I wonder. Maybe there are more success stories coming from elsewhere?

In other words, is there really that much power behind that big stick?

Re: Let’s cry for the poor fragmented, underreported startups

Mark Dykeman — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:55:15 -0000

Many of these start-ups have names that are similar to established companies. And, speaking of which:

Best Buy? As in the electronics retailer? Wha?

Re: So, you need a job? Man, do resumes suck

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:03:08 -0000

One meta-idea: do not send in a generic resume. Tailor the offering to the job and organization that you're applying for. The point is implicit in your comments above, but it doesn't hurt to state that explicitly, either.

Re: So, you need a job? Man, do resumes suck

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:03:51 -0000

Actually a question for you, Robert: what kind of value would you place on references?

Re: While blogging in crisis job #1 is listening

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:43:10 -0000

Robert:

Fair point, in a way, about how people don't always list the sources that form their opinions.

I did not read all of your FriendFeed, Google Reader, etc. activity in detail about the current financial markets downturn and, to be blunt, it's hard to do that. It does take a certain amount of time and effort. My impression was that your "doom and gloom" commentary was more energetic and overshadowed most of your more positive commentary. What can I say?

One thing that is interesting to note that you are performing multi-channel information watching, synthesis and broadcasting (two-way, of course) in a way that few people can or will do. There's definitely value in that. It does take a lot of time and you deserve some recognition for that.

However, I think you must realize that the first, loudest, brightest, most energetic communication forms an impression and I feel that's what your "doom and gloom" communications did in this scenario.

Just saying what I think. It's still good to see someone scouting out the information, though.

Re: While blogging in crisis job #1 is listening

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:48:48 -0000

Robert: perhaps so, but IMF doesn't hold a lot of credibility in my books. And, at any rate, you are attempting to show both sides... that's cool.

Re: Thanks Mike Arrington for taking us off the rails into Twitter idiot land

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:56:39 -0000

Robert: at the risk of sounding trite or simplistic, I think you should consider the following points:

1. Ignore Mike Arrington's opinion in this matter - you have different goals backing your opinion on the value of large numbers of followers. Or at least accept that he has a different point of view. Oh, by the way, Mike hasn't dragged me off the rails, nor has he dragged 99%+ of the world's (or blogosphere's) population after him. The people who we use as thought-leaders and role models tend not to be the most popular. "Me too" is getting far too old. Also, perhaps the recent declines in Techcrunch readership are not a sign of idiocy of the readership, but a sign of intelligence: a signal that it's not meeting some people's needs.
2. Continue trying to start or join in smart conversations - see, you're already on the right track
3. Continue to look beyond the tech blogosphere for smart people and smart conversations (which you've been doing this year) - see point 2
4. Finish what you start - if you start a new conversation, etc. then give it some time to carry on, become more complex, etc. and keep checking in. Build on it. You're already doing that in this post.
5. Acknowledge that we all want some brain candy in addition to good, nourishing stuff.

Re: In social media, listening is only half the battle

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:44:08 -0000

I particularly enjoyed the Lego anecdote.

Re: Nominate Your Favorite Writing Blog for 3rd Annual Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:32:28 -0000

Men With Pens (http://menwithpens.ca/)

James and Harry cover an array of writing topics for all writers from beginner to expert with a focus on what works on the Web. They have built a strong community (see their comments section), are extremely responsive, and they happen to be damn good at what they do.

Re: The Future of Print Publishing and Paid Content

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 19:54:13 -0000

You know, I see a bit of a parallel between the emergeance of portable video and E-books or electronic documents. I read an article a number of months ago that talked about a change in viewing habits developing with today's teenagers and 20-somethings (the Millenials, I guess).

The generations preceeding the Millenials are used to seeing video on something the size of a TV screen or a movie screen. Now you've got a new generation that's getting used to watching video on a screen that's the size of a Zippo lighter - namely, the Video iPod. Portable DVD players have relatively small screens, as do most notebook PCs. We used to take for granted that video was supposed to be (or seem) larger than life.

Documents have thousands of years of history as physical objects that could be picked up and "paged" through. It's hard to fit an entire page of a document on a PC screen. Scratch that: it's easy to fit an entire document page on a screen... but most of the time the print is so small that it's unreadable. Electronic documents are going to have to fight that battle in order to replace paper. Until we have a viable unit that's portable, yet able to allow a viewing screen the size of a sheet of 8x11 or A4 paper, I don't think paper will completely disappear.

Re: Can Blogs Do Journalism?

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:34:04 -0000

After reading through this article and the comments written by your readers, I'm convinced that blogging is a viable platform or distribution channel for journalism. I'm just not sure why it would be necessary.

After all, most major newspapers and periodicals offer online content which duplicates or, in some cases, supplements their print material. Online content is, by its nature, fresher, faster and attuned to the moment. The CMS that powers these periodicals already covers most of the functionality built into blogging platforms.

I can only think of three main reasons why blogs would be used for journalism (or by journalists):

(1) Some, perhaps many blog readers don't read newspapers or other periodicals, so this is a way to expand the journalist's audience.

(2) The blog offers the journalist an opportunity to build a distinct identity.

(3) The blog allows the journalist to have editorial control.

My question: do these three reasons fly in the face of the traditional role of the journalist?

Re: The Web’s Link-Driven Attention Economy

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:55:43 -0000

The hyperlink wouldn't be worth a darn thing without three important attributes:

- advertising platforms that reward content creators for people who fill seats (i.e. click on pages and links)
- the creator's need for attention
- the promise of income deriving from the reputation that links provide

You do bring up an important point for visual creators in that the product is the image. It can be difficult to attribute credit to the image in an environment where images are used indiscriminately and frequently. Don't forget, however, that plagiarism is still alive and well and even harder to prevent in a hyperlinked world.

Re: Reader-Centric Publishing: Aggregating and Repackaging Print Content Online

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:46:03 -0000

I think that it's equally, if not more significant, that all of this indexed, branded content is FREE to the reader.

Re: Can Pay-For-Performance Improve The Quality Of Content On The Web?

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:18:01 -0000

By focusing on quality of posts, I assume that Vallewag is following the same trend that I've seen a few key bloggers (i.e. Skellie, Leo Babauta) mention in 2007: fewer high quality posts (with high value for the reader) are better than plenty of mediocre posts: more like a "sniper" effect than a machine-gun or shotgun effect.

How do you build a quality-detection algorithm, I wonder? It's somewhat subjective, isn't it?

Re: Five Guiding Principles For The Transformation Of Media Companies

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:40:15 -0000

Wouldn't you say that Search is less like the newsstand and more like a librarian who can find anything that you need if you give him or her the right instructions?

Re: The Coming War Over Data On The Web

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:47:00 -0000

The bottom line, which seems to be the Holy Grail of publishing 2.0 in general, is the answer to this question: who will pay for content or services? And will content and services start to die off if no one is willing to pay? Conventional logic would suggest that eventually these things will disappear if there are no funds to support them.

Re: Do Youth Media Habits Predict The Future Of Media?

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:57:07 -0000

The fact that my young children love books makes me happy. I hope that the Kindle, or a similar product, will fail in its possible goal of eliminating the paper book, even though I'd love to have a Kindle for myself (and the funds to fill its memory to burst at the seams).

Re: Centeralization vs. Decentralization: What’s The Value Of Twitter?

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 14:31:18 -0000

If Twitter had better redundancy and contingency planning, such that it had a back-up plan or system in place during the Jobs keynote, would this conversation even be occurring?

Decentralization is one thing. Having a back-up plan to keep you going through a critical failure is another. They are separate issues that, IMHO, shouldn't be confused.

Twitter's lightweight interface, companion apps, and ability to tie multiple feeds together fairly seamlessly are strong selling points. However, it's the community and the appearance of greater and easier access to people who you couldn't normally talk to (in real time, that is) which are the real value.

On the surface, Orkut seems a lot like Facebook, without 99.5% of your friends, colleagues, or any other users, for that matter. (I'm generalizing, but I don't think I'm far off the mark) That's what differentiates Facebook from other like services. A massive community of communities built up around it. Twitter caught the attention of existing communities and hit/is hitting critical mass before the others, even though they have some superior functionality.

Re: Where Digg Fails, Reddit Succeeds

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 07:38:56 -0000

Hi Tamar, great blog! I recognize your handle from Digg.

Interesting coments on Reddit and Digg. I actually found Digg's community to be more open and accepting than Reddit's, but to be fair I probably approached Reddit in the wrong way. I had actually felt that there was a strong Bury Brigade at Reddit, but again, I may well have committed some faux pas and gotten on someone's bad side. I think that if I were ever to start with Reddit again, I'd approach it much differently.

It will be interesting to see if GUI changes will make Reddit more attractive and if that helps them attract more users.

Re: Do Negative Comments Hurt Social Media?

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:53:57 -0000

Tamar, I think you have hit the nail on the head with the "anonymity" comment. It allow people to make attacks with relatively little consequences for their actions.

I made a similar observation in a previous blog post when I talked about the anonymity available to on-line gamers leading some of them to do rotten things "in game". I think the same principle holds true for blog commenting or any other outlet where people can communicate anonymously. Some people will just use it as an outlet to vent or to do certain things that they would not dare do in person. The attached link leads to that post, in the response to question 3:

http://markdykeman.wordpress.com/2007/09/12/bra...

Er, sorry for the digression there, but I thought it would add to your point.

I enjoy reading your blog!

Re: The Attention Economy: Is it Too Much?

Mark Dykeman — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:42:41 -0000

Generally speaking, I think you have a good point about how simplicity often wins out over time (Google comes to mind as an exammple).

This paragraph caught my eye:

"A recent note posted (ironically) on Pownce got me wondering about what works. I think theres a real problem when there are so many social networks begging for our attention. Worse, it is awful when you see three of your friends flocking to one social network while four of your other friends choose another one. What is the best, and why? Should diversity prevail?"

Eventually, I see one of two things happening:

a) Everyone will flock to a common social networking application for whatever reasons. In a different but similar case, VHS video tapes crushed Betamax, mainly because I think you could store more programming on VHS than Betamax, despite the superior quality of Betamax video. DVD has largely destroyed the market for VHS due to ability to record programming, sound quality, similar pricing, and ease of use. And now digital media files are replacing more "solid" media. Granted, we're comparing apples and oranges, but innovations will generally replace almost any status quo, while providing multiple conflicting yet similar choices in the interim. It seems likely that between the two (Pownce or Twitter) one will survive to become the dominant player while the other will either disappear or become a niche product.

b) Specialized networks/applications will continue to co-exist with the "big guy" if those specialized players have enough fans and users, plus functionality specific to their needs.

I've barely tried Twitter, never tried Pownce, so I can't judge which is better. I don't see how either could become "must have" apps for me, since most of my personal/real life contacts don't use the microblogging medium, although that could change in the future.

Maybe the answer is to create bridges or aggregators which allow users of different apps to communicate, like Trillian, only for microblogging.

As a final comment, I guess I can appreciate that you are in a situation where you might not want to alienate friends by choosing one application over another. In that sense, having options makes it difficult because you feel forced to make a choice. Despite the current challenges, I would think that it's generally better to have choice than to not have choice.

Re: Social Media: It’s No Longer Every Man for Himself

Mark Dykeman — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:02:33 -0000

Hi Tamar, good to see another article from you!

Some of your previous articles helped me to start to get my head around social media sites like Digg, which I started using in July of this year. I'll admit that I came into these sites with some unrealistic goals for self-promotion, but I have learned a lot about social media, in no small part through your writing.

We can't overestimate the power of networking and community, as your articles state.

I also appreciate your welcoming approach to new users. It's nice to see an inclusive approach compared to an insular or elitest approcah.

On a personal level, I realise that I can't devote the time and energy, at least in the short term, to try to acheive the same things that other people have acheived through months and years of work. I'm OK with that and I'm still using social media, albeit with somewhat more realistic, somewhat less selfish expectations.

In short, your points are well taken by this blogger/writer/contributor. Cheers!

Re: Best Internet Marketing Blog Posts of 2007

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:59:50 -0000

This article is a great piece of work, Tamar. I'm very pleased to have been mentioned on it!

Regards,

Mark Dykeman

Re: Twitter versus Plurk: Not Even in the Same League

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:51:40 -0000

I haven't Plurked nearly as much as some other folks, but it certainly seems to be a more lighthearted, chatty atmosphere than other services. Twitter, to me, remains a broadcasting medium that isn't ideal for conversations.

Oh, and... FriendFeed. ;-)

Re: Informational Cascades Prove Tipping Points Exist

Mark Dykeman — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 11:55:24 -0000

Dan, I'm glad to see that the "influencer" conversation continues forward - it's been one of my favorite topics in 2008.

Marshall's article, and the Pollara study, does bring up the interesting point about the influence of bloggers, though, doesn't it?

Re: Reader Poll: How do you use Twitter?

Mark Dykeman — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:50:06 -0000

Hello Lee, this is my first visit to your blog and, oddly enough, I saw your link to this post on Twitter.

Twitter gives me a chance to interact with a number of people, almost in real time, in a way that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. In fact, I think it is becoming a more relevant "social news" application to me than a site like Digg, even though it is limited to the number of people that I follow and whatever they wish to talk about. It's also beginning to replace my news aggregator, or at least supplement that function, since a number of my favorite bloggers are dropping their links here. The chatting aspect of Twitter gives it an edge over Google Reader, Netvibes, or whatever else you use.

I do use Twitter to promote things that I'd like other people to see, but I am also enjoying the conversational aspect of Twitter.

Re: Creating Super Brands

Mark Dykeman — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:04:24 -0000

Thanks for linking to my blog post! You certainly caught the message I was trying to communicate.