Disqus - Latest Comments for Phil

Re: Give us a Twhirl

Phil — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:43:32 -0000

Twhirl was the first client that helped ensnare me into Twitter. Then TweetDeck came out to offer grouping, which helped focus on main followers. Until today, I thought TweeDeck was headed toward the finals in the desktop client race.

If Twhirl adds a few more functions (like groups), I may return to it as my primary interface. TweetDeck's move I guess.

++++

re: Mark Lee's thoughts: As long as anybody takes Twitter seriously, they will never get anything out of it. It's like being serious about telephony. Once you realize what a stupid, absurd and inane contraption it is, you'll then see that tiny sliver of utility: that utility is different from person to person imho.

Final remark: I can think of many ways for Accountants to use Twitter (in fact, I can think of thousands of ways accountants could violate SEC laws - but I don't think that should discourage its use). I'd love to see more accountants on Twitter (not just public ones, but all the other varieties). Twitter's as useful and useless as the peeps tweeting.

Re: Defining the new for 2009

Phil — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:51:24 -0000

Nice one! (Is Loren Feldman the only useful Jackass on the internet? ;) )

The Twitter Search tweetcocking, although ridiculous at times, does bring up a core point about the future use of 'new' media: with data shifting away from web pages into spaces like Twitter and mobile, the need to sort through authoritative and (perhaps even more importantly for media like Twitter) *relevance*.

I don't know what the 'right' Twitter Search algorithm would look like: certainly more than number of followers. (A search engine that gives me appropriate *contextual* results from Twitter streams would be nice: then I could use Google for authority...or go straight to the Twitterer to follow up.) Ambient pinging is what Twitter's great for.

One thing I am sure about is this: if a remarkable search engine for Twitter comes around, it could be a good thing for Twitter: Twitterers would have a built-in incentive to generate useful streams. Twitter's frivolous, stupid, asinine and almost irrelevant. But a smart Search process could change the game. (Something that needs a bit of visualizing I suppose.) In tomorrow's post-gangster-mangled economy, we will need 'quick and dirty' answers to solve time-sensitive problems: Google has given us authority for long and clean (in theory); Twitter could give us relevancy. A different, but mutual, game, no?

The Long Tail of the web doesn't mean advertising is dead. No, it just means that the old advertising models lose their efficacy. The new media create the opportunity, and consequently force the demand, for sleeker and more focused tools to effect positive ROI for enterprises.

2008 may have been a year about explaining away ROI for the fantasy-based crowd. 2009 aught to be about explaining it *in*. Accounting theory would be a breath of fresh air if it were to waft into the social media crackhouse (aren't accountants the ones who specialize on measuring the hard-to-measure?)

I have noticed that much fun has been poked at "the suits" by the "t-shirts" in 2008. The t-shirts have their points, but the suits aren't as dumb as they are famed to be. Once the suits sip a bit of the old Kool Aid, they'll thirst for the the real deal and get cracking on using it the right way. If the "suits" "get it" (as the t-shirts snide), then social media may become something worth investing with time and attention. Enterprise social media needs peeps who know their s**t.

Why human beings depend on adversity for their brilliance perhaps has evolutionary reasons. Regardless, my hope for 2009: less Kool Aid, more Bread.

Re: Getting help, growing networks: Twitter

Phil — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:45:08 -0000

I definitely believe that enterprises can benefit enormously from (properly, intelligently) incorporating microblogging into their collaborating, networking, crowd-sourcing needs.

I don't know if the underlying implications of a service like Twitter (and the ever-growing Search pool) have yet been plumbed and fully realized. Traditional search (text on servers) and Search.Twitter (direct human input & exchange) produce vastly different results. Twitter is opening a new door to an old house.

We have gotten so accustomed to the traditional portal to the web (browsers and search engines that algorithmically crawl text on servers) that we've sort of forgotten that "brain search" is where it's been all along. Twitter (with a 140 character limit and a simple tiny url) provides the server-bypassing mechanics needed for brain-to-brain connection and search.

Twitter changes the game I think. Enterprises tend to look at Twitter and see frivolity (Twitter is frivolous, and therein lies its infectivity). If enterprises understood the vast and almost hidden implications of the simple mechanics of Twitter, I think it wouldn't be long before they would see the value.

A lot of the Kool Aide crowd who touts Twitter and other Social Media don't understand the deeper and larger problems facing enterprises. They tend to ridicule the "suits" who "obsess over that ROI thingy" and pen endless ramblings that seek to explain it away as if we're all complete morons. This crowd is probably compounding the confusion that the "suites" might be having. (I don't blame them in a way.)

I'll kiss your ass Dennis and say that it's good to have someone with your experience to "get Twitter" (a condescension btw) - not in a faddish and trial sense, but in the potential you outlined in your post (although I'm sure many of your followers enjoy the occasional splurge of sardonic humor among your tweets).

'Social Media' needs to grow up. Enterprise, if it uses its brain well, may be the agent for needed change.

BTW: Are you aware of any Health Care suits interested in something like ESME? There's a HUGE opportunity for such clients in that industry. Huge. Just a thought.

Phil

Re: Two sides of ‘influence’

Phil — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:10:05 -0000

What you said over on Chris' blog needed to be articulated.

For those who claim to be ardently propounding the cause of 'Web 2.0', or whatever lingo we use, why should they fear building a falsifiable case for getting this right? If they passionately believe in a cause, why fear its criticism? Fear of the truth is counterproductive for those who seek it.

What I don't think is fully appreciated within the SM evangelista is the vast diversity of strategic needs of enterprises, especially the larger ones. I think that there are many 'experts' who believe that because they know how to use Twitter or Facebook that they possess a secret gnosis that can be revealed to CEOs. The tips of the problems facing enterprises can run down to the bottom of the iceberg.

It's easy to laugh at the technological gap within most large organizations (heck, I often do myself). That's not going to advance the proper cause. Yet, that's what I most often read about: 'adopt Web 2.0 or fail!' That's nonsensical hype and fear-mongering. We need to understand the why there's a gap and appreciate it first.

Collaboration has always been a basic human need. It will become increasingly necessary as the 21st Century climbs Mount Moore's Law. It will become increasingly critical that the technology we use (and our relationship with and through that technology) be exceedingly appropriate, well understood and properly deployed.

I'm no expert. I'm an outsider. That doesn't give me much influence or credibility. On the other hand, maybe it's us outsiders who appreciate the subtle nuances within an ever-changing world. Tools are transient. Principles aren't.

We won't have many chances to get 'social media' right: technology has a nasty habit of embedding itself into our human parts. Once it does, it's almost impossible to excise.

Don't let the bastards get you down, curmudgeon. You tossed a precious gift into the ring. Some left it unopened. Some have taken it home. The rest of us already knew what was inside.

Re: Wanna understand passion and teams?

Phil — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:27:49 -0000

Happy that ESME is moving along. It's a brilliant project and I hope it succeeds.

As business becomes about small groups with big ideas, the need for effective collaboration will increase.

What I find appealing about ESME is that it seems to simultaneously exploit technology to enhance collaboration and minimize technological infiltration. That's a tenuous balance worth working to keep.

Keep up the work.

Re: Insanity alive and well in the US

Phil — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:26:56 -0000

Insanity never really was dead over here, it just sort of was medicated with a lot of dopey entertainment.

Is this over, though? Don't the events of last week re-enforce the consumerist ideas on WS that if their reckless spending and gambling habits fail then the government will bail them out? Isn't that, in part, what started this mess?

I just hope some of our auditors learn how to understand the securities they're supposed to audit.

Insanity indeed.

Re: Should we be concerned over new Reg FD guidance?

Phil — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:01:23 -0000

Dennis,

I would imagine GRC software would benefit from these complications of hyper regulatory controls.

This brings up a larger concern about reporting in general. How much of the accounting and reporting process is mired in the accumulated dross of bygone eras? Just skimming today's speech on REG FD, it struck me as almost laughable that we are today attempting to bring instantaneous publishing to amended legislation from 1934. Over time, did not regulatory and legislative measures result in ever widening gyres of theory to appease every conceivable stakeholder? Did economic reality get lost in the shuffle of fantastic accruals? I’m just wondering.

In the US, FASB pronouncements are predominantly the result of political compromise (call me out if I'm wrong). I'm not saying that they’re unethical or theoretically botched. But they aught to be unflinchingly about relevant measures of operating, investing and financing activities. I'm not sure how a blog post or Tweet about quarterly net income is going to offer much more value to investors than a ""glossy PDF". If regulatory authorities are going to embrace social media, it better be unadulturated love.

Perhaps these complications will only go away when investing gets its focus back on the long-term. It's useful that web interfaces can finally be used for publishing the up-to-date numbers; but if the numbers are geared toward short-term, speculative goals, then the process has complication built right into it and there's no way out of that, is there?

I’m out of the business and horribly ignorant, so here are some questions for you:

-Is accounting, auditing and reporting fundamentally facing the right direction for this century or is it stuck trying to satisfy the transient needs of the last one?

-Could social media get us back to the original goal of reporting and past the needs of the assembly-line mentality?

-Or: will social media be where the new snow jobs blow (sorry for the proximity of those two words).

-GRC software will likely grow in demand--but does that do the investor or other stakeholders any good? (How much is that industry a scam?)

-Will auditing reform come from within or without? Or what rough beast slouches...?

Phil

Re: This gets my attention

Phil — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:32:42 -0000

@Amanda

I get your frustration with hyperbole. Hype is everywhere about what blogs or Web 2.0 can do. I get it. It numbs my mind too!

Not all hospitals *need* a blog per se. But there are side effects to the practice, especially since there is a gap (from my perspective) between the healthcare industry and the technologies they could use. A blog sparks interest in what's going on in the world. It can be valuable if done right and with care.

Hospitals operate 24/7, which makes it easy for (some) key administrators from keeping up-to-date with our changing world. My hope in sparking interest in blogging (which was just one example) is that my industry gets better and exploits the chance to interact with the greater community.

If I made the project sound SUPERCALIFRAGALISTICALLY VALUABLE, well then that's my fault as messenger and novel blogger, not the concept I'm hoping to convey.

Namaste!

Re: This gets my attention

Phil — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:18:21 -0000

I like "saw the error of his ways".

Sort of, rather I saw the error of others' ways and got tire of that whistle in my mouth.

RFID tags would be a big help in delivering better healthcare (I can't tell you how many times I've had to deal with the problem of no supplies (due I'm sure to none other than some bad inventory costing system).

Glad this got your attention. Rockin' on.

Re: Twitter is at least a dress rehearsal (Scripting News)

Phil — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:57:19 -0000

Agree with metadata off tweets.

If Twitter would offer a tagging feature (where I can append a tag outside of the tweet versus the clutter and limits of hashtags), Twitter's search would be enhanced. It may seem to 'break' the 140 limit, but tagging would bring an important layer of human interpretation to Twitter. Of course, it all depends on the calibre of the brain behind the tweet.

Re: louisgray.com: Blogging 2.0 Causing Friction With 1.0 Bloggers

Phil — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:14:47 -0000

This will open up the field to more people, especially (paradoxically) the less technically proficient. Outsiders, who can now use technologies that require less technical know-how, will be able to see more fully how to exploit the tools.

Will we even use the word "blooger" in a few years? Perhaps, but maybe not the way we do toady. I guess it depends on how much louder the noise gets and how much people care about the difference between noise and news.

Re: Why You Should Pownce on Rejaw | SheenOnline

Phil — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:42:37 -0000

Hmmm. what the hell, what's to lose? i'll give it a spin. thanks for the head up.

Re: Going to Mars with NIN

Phil — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:28:35 -0000

Yup, pretty amazing stuff indeed.

Re: The Biggest Drawing in the World?

Phil — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:29:48 -0000

It did turn out to be bogus, but it's still a great idea to try something like this. Don't know why the dude pulled the prank, but it'll still probably inspire someone.

Re: The Biggest Drawing in the World?

Phil — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:30:27 -0000

I agree; eventually someone will do something like this for real. Definitely a creative idea.

Re: 8 Ways to Become a Better Nurse

Phil — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:08:07 -0000

Thanks to all who have added your items so far. I've gotten some great tips from you all.

Re: San Francisco’s New Contemporary Jewish Museum

Phil — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:29:51 -0000

This is inspiring. The wall "In the beginning was the end" is very moving.

Right now, I really wish my father lived to see this. On behalf of him, thank you for posting this.

Why aren't there more of these museums around the country? We could, and need, to learn so much more of what happened. My parents went through hell, so I understand the history; but I'm noticing lately that there's a lot of ignorance; and my fear is this ignorance will lead to danger ahead.

But it's wonderful (as it is sad) to see these open up.

Re: Hashtags are dead. Long live real-time search and filtering!

Phil — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:12:20 -0000

If Twitter were to offer a tagging feature, then I think we'd be on a smoother experience: if you're following a conference or specific conversation, it can be tagged.

This accomplishes the task of hashtags (to specifically mark a tweet, versus just as a searchable term).

Until Twitter provides a tagging feature, hashtags will still have their value. It's in Twitter's interest to have metadata on tweets. And ours.

Re: ROI Is Not Money

Phil — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:59:39 -0000

Hi Leslie,

I got here from @ariherzog.

I agree with the spirit of what you're saying: I can't argue against any of the points you make, especially re: customer interaction and embracing negative feedback. I've written about this in the past.

Still, I don't think that there's really a new ROI: investors still need a return. Social ROI is a good "intuition pump" or analogy. It's just a matter of explaining the difference between tangible and intangible ROI.

A good stab at the central problem of Social ROI.

<abbr>Phil Baumanns last blog post..Daily Diigo Discoveries 11/09/2008</abbr>

Re: FriendFeed Starts Sucking Up the Conversation

Phil — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:45:45 -0000

Looking at other blogs, there has been a shift in the conversation. Yesterday I posted about comments going through a rebirthing process (Commenting is Dead, Long Live Commenting!).

You're right, there will be tools to loop comments back to the original post, but I still think the the ink is in the pool now and we won't be able to go back and siphon it out.

It may be that we're seeing the beginning of a new way of blogging.

So far FriendFeed seems the most intelligent conversational medium.

I do find some of the commenting on a blog fed into FriendFeed to have a different ambiance than on the original post. Could be the people, but I think it's the user interface. It's quick, tight, and although not truly threaded yet, it's easier to collect evey commenters' ideas.

I'm curious to see how things look in a year. By then we'll know the state of comment fragmentation and how much financial and other impacts it has.

Re: What I learned at NewTeeVee

Phil — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:57:20 -0000

Seesmic video reply from Disqus re: NewTeeVee.

Re: Why do you keep talking about PeopleBrowsr

Phil — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 01:13:41 -0000

@sukhji re: peoplebrowsr, congrats!

Re: How I use Tweetdeck to supercharge Twitter | Web Business by Ken Burbary

Phil — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:10:40 -0000

Ken,

Honestly, I'm sort of amazed that people have never used a desktop client like TweetDeck or Twhirl 'get' Twitter: the apps make it so much easier to get a handle on the stream.

TweeDeck definitely is the Twitter app to beat imho. The groups and search features are alone worth the candle, not to mention the aesthetics of the interface.

Well-laid out case for TweetDeck and its uses, Ken.

Phil

Re: Welcome To My New Blog Home

Phil — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:31:15 -0000

Looks good. The celebrity photos on the L sidebar make for a smart idea.

I like content in the center (I'm mostly a feed-reader, so content is king for me).

My only suggestion: a prominent RSS icon for the blog (with a link explaining RSS to the 1.0 crowd).

Good luck with the new site!

Phil

Re: Gary Vaynerchuk - When do you know you have a community? Stop...

Phil — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:02:18 -0000

Bravo! You're right on about the conversation. Sometimes webcrack gets us away from the whole point of communal relationships. I'll spread the meme. Ciao!

Re: Pale Blue Dots | danny brown

Phil — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 04:18:41 -0000

What a nice little riff, Danny.

These principles have always been true (social media doesn't change that at all). But you're right: it does make it easier to see through bad intent.

Other-promotion is probably one of the most important tenants of mass-connection. It may take a while for people to recognize that, but when they do I think the planet will be a brighter shade of blue. (I hope.)

It's a non-linear world and Moore's Law is bending the curves even sharper than ever before. It's probably a good thing, then, that we have a chance to connect with other brains: it's getting harder every day to stand your own ground when little pale blue dots start spinning faster than they used to.

Phil Baumann's Recent post...null

Re: How Social Media Can Save Lives | danny brown

Phil — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:54:22 -0000

Arik,

Health care definitely could benefit from the proper use of communication and collaboration technologies and communities.

Since health care represents a wide range of services and needs, the pliancy of various social media lends itself to enhancing the quality of patient-provider relationships, collaboration among healthcare professionals and enabling the availability of authoritative, validated and meaningful online content.

We need to flush out all of the opportunities and dangers of social media in provision of safe and effective health care. Our helathcare system is fast appoaching a catastophic collapse. We need more doctors and nurses and administrators and others involved in getting up to speed with an understanding of how the Web works, and how it doesn't.

Quality of care not only involves direct patient-provider contact: it involves remarkable communication among all parties involved. Services like Twitter (or more secure analogues) could certainly provide better follow-up care for patients who have established relationships with providers and could radicalize the way professionals accomplish their goals.

HIPAA will need to be reformed. We will need to re-visit the issue of privacy in a world where technologies are making it harder every day to maintain privacy.

We have a long way to go before social media can be used in the ways that it aught to be used, but my I think as awareness grows of the technologies and communities that are sprouting, healthcare will take a needed look at social media.

Above all, efforts to incorporate social media into health care must focus on the safe and effective uses of the various technologies, without being fearful of change.

Glad to see interesting in health care communication and collaboration technologies waxing. It's time.

Re: Customer Service Hoops

Phil — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:43:59 -0000

You'd think that with the freer flow of information on the web that companies would finally understand that customer service is really the only important thing that they sell. But alas, it seems they're probably run by folks who are just either out of touch or really lazy (don't really want to do the hard work involved with customer service.

I call the kind of approach you're talking about Clockwork Orange Marketing (Youtube has clips of what I'm talking about). I'd really love to spread the Clockwork Orange Marketing (COM) meme. It'd be great to mark companies with bad customer service with the COM badge all over the web.

Clockwork Orange Marketing: let's stop the torture!

Re: What Do You Think

Phil — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:48:44 -0000

1. Seamless collaboration
2. Secure transparency
3. Universal identity standards
4. Death of oligopolies

The four are also tools to achieve the wins, but I think these are some of the most important pillars that I hope social media achieves.

Most of how we conduct social media is currently limited to technology and vision. We're also in a very experimental stage now (in a few years I think we'll just laugh at all the widgets we plaster our blogs with).

Perhaps #4 is the most important. For all the democratization we've been seeing, I don't think we can underestimate the power of cunning manipulators to usurp any technology. In fact, our social media optimism just might be making us complacent. Ironically, it may just be social media that saves the day.

A great question! One I don't think has been focused on enough. It raises an other important question: what exactly are OUR goals in social media?

Re: Appreciating A Seth Godin Post

Phil — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:00:50 -0000

Seth's post hit me too. I sent the link to friends and they all came back with "Loved it!" I know many folks who work for cog-shops and feel like they do more meeting than creating and doing.

By the way, Seth's memes spread so well, I think, because he keeps comments turned off. It's a clever way to get a lot of Achoos. I just wish I could plant a big neon feed reader in every office of Corporate America with his posts. We'd see better products, happier employees and a stronger economy.

I agree, Seth's an important read. I realize folks in the marketing biz tend to be his main readers, but he's got a wisdom that transcends that field.

Re: Happy Birthday Dad

Phil — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:43:55 -0000

It's wonderful to have a great father, isn't it? I miss mine, but I'm glad he instilled a sense of awe at the things we can with life so that I can pass that awe on to my little one.

You're very kind to post your love of your father. Fathers deserve a shout out now and again.

Re: Threading the Social Needle

Phil — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:33:51 -0000

Where should all this go? Well, excellent question, which probably depends a lot on what it's all for.

Right now, social media tools are in an adrenalized (sp?) evolution. And other kinds of technological innovations are rising up the curve as well (think semantic web) to enhance and propel the medium of media.

It would of course be nice to have all of the streams meaningfully aggregated into a single tool (after all Google, so far, has become the primary search engine, so why not a similar case for social media?)

FriendFeed (which should be called ADDFiend) seems to be the kind of unifying "thread" that I think you are getting at (please correct me otherwise). I don't think FF is it right now, but the idea of a conversational thread coupled with the flow of dynamic information in all its forms (text, video, etc.) is probably where the trend is leading.

My close buddies aren't on FF yet (and I think I'd enjoy it more if they were (laggards!)). But for me, as an outsider, I've been able to follow & learn from the brightest in social media & tech, absorbing information at a rate I never thought possible. So FF is an example of how to keep the thread weaving. It just needs to evolve.

You mention being pinged as you walk into a conference. I've wondered how RFID-web (would this be Web 4.0?--3.0 being mobile) coupled with semantic technologies is where the hot stuff is going to happen. I say hot because it offers the possibility of releasing us from the chains of desktop and mobile devices and could get us back to face-to-face social interaction enhanced (and not limited) by hardware.

Sorry, roundabout answer, but I think where all this should reside is in a customizable platform that:

-helps us extract meaning out of information-overlaod (solves the problem of abundance of data versus scarcity of meaning);

-spontaneously links us with the people who either share our interests or who could benefit from establishing a trusting relationship based on their profile;

-provides thread-able conversation that can ping you if that's a conversation you aught to participate in;

Right now, well-crafted blogs can go a long way for most companies to establish the kind of interface that improves customer interaction. Twitter & Facebook are great to use for the (still few) folks using these tools...but I wouldn't rely on Twitter to grow a base (enhance it, yes). That might change if Twitter's adoption hits critical mass.

The trick here is the play around with the current tools, establish good profiles on them, network through them...but: be very aware that all this is in serious flux. A new boy toy is always around the corner, so your strategy has to keep the awareness bulb burning.

Let me know if this helps. These are questions we need to keep working on. Thanks for the thread, Chris.

Re: Social Media Strategy - Aligning Goals and Measurements

Phil — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:16:28 -0000

Chris, I have comments for your (mission-critical) post.

But: they're long long long (I've been working on a related project). When it's ready, I'll either post a trackback, drop comments here, or email to you. Just let me know if you're up for an accountant-cum-nurse's view on the matter.

Enjoy your weekend.

Re: Social Media Strategy - Aligning Goals and Measurements

Phil — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:10:17 -0000

@ Josh Klein and Chris

Here's a goal every marketer needs to have:

Add value to your customers. Forget about ROI and leads and traffic generation and revenues and everything related to you until you've established how every step you make (blog posts, social media tools, newsletters, etc.) adds value to your customers. Value drives it all. Period.

If you don't know what value your blog adds to your customers, then what are you doing? This is your first (and most important) goal.

So here are some goals (say for a blog):

-My customers will value my blog because they can kvetch about my bad service/product

-My customers value my blog because I get prompt responses to product recommendations

-My customers will value my blog because they can praise the good features of my service/product

-My customers value the interaction with other customers that my blog offers

-My customers value the fact that they can actively talk about a service they really are impressed with

So, all of your goals aught to follow from putting your customers value first and knowing what kind of value your bringing to your customers.

Value drives the customer conversion engine.

Re: Making Money Isnt Evil

Phil — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:15:35 -0000

Awesome! Bill Hicks would be proud.

A lot of corporate folks need this kind of kicking around. Although you call this a rant, it's really speaking truth to power.

Peace!

Re: Writing Email That Gets Answered

Phil — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:25:11 -0000

I just emailed you using your tips (tee hee).

Simplicity of value. It should be built right into Gmail. (Google algorithms could do that, couldn't they?)

Re: How Do I Add FriendFeed Comments to My Blog

Phil — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:02:31 -0000

This is a paste of what's on mine. do you have all the elements (parens, etc)?

/* FF Comments */

Re: Threading Some Trends Together

Phil — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:51:10 -0000

Excellent insights here!

Your three sentences sum up the arguments perfectly (great extended tag-line for 20th Century businesses):

"Fuel costs are rising. Bandwidth is everywhere. Jobs are shifting into knowledge delivery and networked communities more than face-to-face affairs."

I think you're right-on here. We're in a transitional period, but the trend will (have to) be towards distributed collaboration and away from centralized command.

The work models established in the 19th and 20th century, though entrenched deeply in the minds of many of us, will have to be replaced with models that make sense given our opportunities and challenges.

But (and this is my tiny inner pessimist) I think there's a factor of *corporate reluctance* which can't be underestimated. Unfortunately, that reluctance will have economic and social consequences.

As for me, I'd like to work remotely. I'll be going back to bedside nursing (part-time) in part because I enjoy the interaction with patients.

BUT: I wish hospitals would deploy more remote tools. For example, I'd love to be able to remotely assist an ICU. That's a good use of knowledge-working that's not utilized well at this point. (And it would be way cool!)

This is an awesome post, Chris. I hope it gets a lot of trackbacks & discussion.

Well-articulated points. Happy 4th (including outside the US)!

Re: A Sample Blogging Workflow

Phil — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:50:47 -0000

HUGE help here.

Establishing a disciplined rhythm seems to be the biggest Dip right now for me, (but I've got faith).

One tool I found to be useful to me is: unplugging from everything for a small amount of time & just chilling. Meditate or walk or workout or go out with a friend, or start a conversation with a barista at Starbucks (remarkable people often). Turn your gaze upon Mother Nature: she's very inspiring and mind-clearing.

Structuring the day is another good tool. I love Google Reader, but it can be a real Hoover. So allocating chunks of time and turning off notifications (50 minute increments works for me).

Stream-of-consciousness (or speed-writing without self-editing) is also a good way to get things out. (You can always edit later, but you create *now*.)

Skitch is great, but I'll have to check out Picnik.

Great post here, Chris. Makes me realize how much better I could be by practicing good *blogging hygiene*.

Re: What Social Media Does Best

Phil — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:23:50 -0000

Chris, excellent list.

In fact, this topic would be a great daily (or weekly) tip. Maybe a scheduled email with a single tip.

>>>

Maybe even set up a simple website with a running list of these tips that would be tagged & searchable (sort of like State of the Web). I'm sure there are remarkable designers who would love to set that up.

Also: sell the list as a huge poster for employees and other stakeholders to hang up. I know old-school, but then again, it takes a bridge...

Phil

Re: Ten Secrets to Better Blogging

Phil — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:27:11 -0000

Is this helpful? Are you kidding? Of course!

This is better than getting a personal guitar lesson from David Gilmour.

Going to hit the EcoSafe button now. Thanks, man!

Re: Musicians Play for Tips- The Importance of Comments

Phil — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:14:19 -0000

I think Seth Godin knows he has a hit before he even hits publish (half-kidding). The effect of turning trackbacks off for Seth is that people link to his blog, email his post and otherwise share and discuss his material around the web. Before FriendFeed was Godin. Google alerts probably help him track his success too, if he's interested. His idea viruses probably get sneezed more rapidly this way--in the wild versus in his blog. Whether or not that's his intent, I don't know and can't say.

I'm not sure musicians always play for tips. Sometimes they just play for the music. Doesn't blogging work the same way? Commenting to? Sometimes a blog hits the right notes and people love to just sit back an listen as @Stephen Hopson said. Other times a blog hits other notes, or misses others, and that's when people want to play along.

Sorry for the mixed metaphors.

As for my blog, well it's only a few months young, and it's still tuning its fork. Comments would certainly help my tuning, but I know it can take 3-5 years to get that tune set down in the right key; and even then, I hope it's more like Jazz or Rock than Muzak.

Re: Support Teams

Phil — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:41:55 -0000

Chris, I think I might be where you were in 2005 (a different story of course, but the basics are similar).

I'm also caring for my little one and he's been my #1 passion, but blogging and all of its social accoutrements are also a toddler-passion of mine. Perhaps the two are related. Social media also going to a big part of our kids' future, so maybe you're doing your children a big favor in a way you might not even fully realize.

Anyway, your post here couldn't come at a better time for some random dude like me. Sincerely: thank you. Ciao!

Re: FriendFeed- The Hidden Conversation

Phil — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:45:35 -0000

Good advice for newer members. The mixed metaphor was close: it is a firehose, which makes pouring that cup so hard for some. You need a bucket.

Unlike Twitter, I think the conversations are more focused and clustered. That's good conversation, but it's also useful archival information if you show up late to the party.

Just like Twitter was "hard to get at first", FriendFeed (FF) has hidden benefits. FF can be used in very creative ways. I'm sure you'll post about those in the future (Rooms, search, how to use FF as a bookmarking tool, etc.).

FriendFeed can be overwhelming but rewarding. I have found that to get the most of FF, you just have to plunge into those remarkable conversations over there. It's free!

Re: Expand Your Blog Reading

Phil — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:53:34 -0000

Someone who always seems to have a pretty unique view on things is Hugh Macleod (gapingvoid). You may or may not agree with him, but the perspective is always refreshing. An important lens through which to view what's happening.

Re: My Best Advice About Social Networking

Phil — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:06:15 -0000

Thanks for these links that you've been provided.

For those of us who have been playfully understanding these tools, it's easy to forget about the later adopters. It's easy for us to just tell companies to start adopting.

But I think some in the Social Media Strategy business forget that they have a responsibility to demonstrate the benefits and costs of these tools. Business owners, especially executives of very large corporations, need clear descriptions of what's in it for their going concerns. Too often we forget their perspective. These aren't idiots, and often the SM industry seems to treat their prospective clients as if they are.

I'm glad ChrisBrogan.com doesn't take that approach. These links are important: they give concrete examples of how the specific values these tools offer clients.

I'm in the health care business. I can tell you getting this industry to appropriately adopt these tools is perhaps the greatest challenge of all industries.

The links and post you provide here will be very useful in my mission to evangelize the right way to executives. They're smart people; they just need the right kind of information.

Keep the links and posts coming.

When are you coming out with your ebook series? Or are you saving it for your upcoming book?

Thanks!

Re: The Distance of Your Ask

Phil — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 09:59:11 -0000

I like this post. The Archimedes principle is a very useful metaphor. It's a good question to ask yourself about what to ask of others.

This long-lever principle won't work for those who want quick results. Of course, quick results in SM are the exception. It's beautiful for those who understand and appreciate the discipline of the walking the long ramp to rich relationships.

Is there any other way? Not anymore.

Re: Citizen Journalists Arent Evil

Phil — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:51:14 -0000

Just an ironic correction about thirst (I'm being a citizen journalist). Our bodies do have receptor sites for thirst.

Luckily, some of us have enough receptor sites for trusted information that we'll scout around for good water.

Cheers!

(:

Re: 25 Ways to Build Your Community

Phil — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:37:29 -0000

When it's good, it's all good (of course, it's always all good here!)

#24 is incredibly important. So easy to get off the mark without a focused strategy. Not necessarily a tight niche, but an understanding of your community's (changing) needs. I think we all struggle with that.

Awesome tips. Thanks!

Re: Web 2.0- Was It Ever Alive?

Phil — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:33:11 -0000

I hope this post ends up on the FP of Digg, if only for the pleasant irony.

I am with Dennis on this and with Chris' take on what Dennis is trying to convey.

"Until we as an industry recognize that and apply smart thinking to the immediate problems of doing business, then the well meaning ideology of social anything just ain’t going to cut it."

How can anyone argue against that?

I don't think Dennis is trashing SM, per se. Dennis in fact is hitting on a cornerstone of the 'social media' problem: just how and why should enterprises incorporate the tools and strategies of SM?

'Experts' in social media need to have a clear understanding of how enterprises work, what the specific collaborative needs are, and how SM (or whatever we call it) fits into their overall strategies. I agree with Dennis that the success is thus far questionable.

There's an enormous and growing technological gap across the business community. It's depressing in fact. Dennis is correct in pointing out the lack of awareness. If enough people aren't aware, then just how 'alive' is Web 2.0? It's a legitimate and refreshing question!

Tim offers remarkable arguments, none of which I can' refute. I don't think Dennis is wrong, though, in pointing out the awareness gap and its implications. (Forget about the gap in the healthcare industry! That gap is almost criminal...I digress.)

When Dennis asks if Web 2.0 was ever alive, it's not a bashing of the project. It's an implied proclamation of its potential.

Re: Interview with Heroes Star Brea Grant

Phil — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:26:49 -0000

Bravo. Chris, I think you asked enough of the right questions. Brea now has a platform for her fans to know what she wants them to know.

Authentic, sincere interview which shows that the team Brea and Laura have formed will probably be a model for how mainstream celebrities interface with the online community.

What can I say? A very very very cool interview!

Brea, best to you on Heroes and your acting career. I think you've picked the right strategy for working with the future of online celebrity. Welcome to the Twitter world....hope don't disappoint.

Cheers!

Phil

Re: Drop Everything- Run to LinkedIn NOW

Phil — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:57:46 -0000

This is the hit LinkedIn was born for.

I like that it's not an overwhelming menu of apps. They seem to be offering just about the right mix (at least as a start). Unlike Facebook which overstuffs the garden wall, this approach dovetails much better with the purpose of LinkedIn.

I'm sure we'll be taking them for a spin and get back to you.

Thanks heads up.

Re: Drop Everything- Run to LinkedIn NOW

Phil — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:29:26 -0000

@Clif @Shannon

This is a good point to highlight for users before they plunge right in without knowing what they're doing; but I think over time businesses will figure out that the old walled-in garden approach to human resources won't fly over too well as we become more 'connected' and transparent.

It's unfortunate that some businesses invest more effort into espionage than in providing such meaningful experiences for their employees that they don't need to worry about the competition.

So: if you work for a suspicious organization, just be careful how you use these tools. Or: find a way to quit your cog job and do something liberating.

Re: Dear Bank of America

Phil — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 09:42:19 -0000

Here's a specific way that we can use Social Media:

I started a DearCEO hashtag today, which you can add to via Twitter anytime.

Whenever any of us have gripes about unremarkable service, you can prefix your tweets with #DearCEO. Think of it as Micro Letters to the CEO that all of us can keep on writing.

http://twemes.com/dearceo

Re: The Vital Importance of Links

Phil — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:33:15 -0000

Useful tips for SEO, about the most succinct that I've seen. SEO can get cumbersome. These are particularly useful for bloggers who want to focus a lot more on just writing/blogging.

I never gave much thought on the actual text to hightlight for links. That's especially useful. Thanks!

Re: Cafe-Shaped Conversations

Phil — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:35:45 -0000

We are trying to fit two different models of the marketing universe into each other. Different feet, different shoes.

One model, the Fully Automatic Model, is all about large mass: mass production, mass consumption, mass assembly, mass distribution, mass scale, mass automation, mass communication. The kind of conversation within that model is mostly unilateral and not very flexible. Invest big dollars and you can (mostly) let the process takes care of itself.

The other model, the Fully Organic Model, is all about grassroots, connection, word-of-mouth, micro-niche, human element, long-tail, collaboration, instant communication, social context. The kind of conversation within that model is Cafe-Shaped and it's mostly bilateral and flexible. Invest small dollars but you need to tend more fully to the garden.

Even though we are probably moving away from the Fully Automatic to the Fully Organic, I don't think one is necessarily more appropriate than the other. Smart people know what tools work for which tasks.

For large-scale markets, the cost of abandoning the Fully Automatic model can be too great.

For small scale markets, the cost of embracing the Fully Automatic model can be to great.

Those businesses which understand the utility and relevance of each model are going to be the ones that thrive. Large enterprises that are smart will know how to incorporate the Organic model into their strategy. For those organizations, Twitter won't be a primary sounding platform: but it will provide an opportunity to drop by the Cafe when it's appropriate: Social strategies could help large enterprises be more osmotic and less entrenched in their walled-in gardens.

Likewise, small enterprises still can take advantage of the Automatic model: there's advantage, for example, in using the right kind of mass-advertising to help boost an already established WOM campaign.

The bridge between these two models is human connection. If each can ensure safe, effective and meaningful human connection, then enterprises will do well in either medium if used appropriately.

Re: Guest Post- The Post-Geekdominant Twitterverse

Phil — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:19:06 -0000

Dr. Drapeu

What Twitter does best, I think, is strip down the walls that we often build online.

Perhaps because of its simplicity and brevity, it's much easier to tweet snippets of what's going on in friends' heads: an interesting comment on some part of life, a link to what's fascinating or to just engage in stimulating or entertaining conversation. That's not easy with the "macro-blogging" or other traditional web platforms.

The ambient intimacy which Twitter provides is what makes it such a pliant agent for an almost infinite array of human connection: from marketing, to entertainment, to personal connection and on and on.

This is why Twitter is a game-changer: it gets us away from the static web to a stream of human connection. As the nongeeks figure this out (they will because they're WAY smarter and more interesting than we early adopters), Twitter will sing its best notes.

Anybody else feel this way? Am I overzealous with Twitter's potential? Is Twitter the game-changer for the web?

Thanks Mark for your perspective. I've always though that the healthcare community, not the techies, had within it the power to show the world what social media is really all about. Makes me proud. :)

Phil
Twitter Deflowered

Re: Search is Part of Social

Phil — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:45:42 -0000

Twitter Search Optimization (TSO) :)
(On Google, there's 8 results as of today).

Would you say that traditional search and social media search dovetail each other? That is, in order for enterprises to fully optimize their web presence, should they understand the difference between them and how to best couple them?

Traditional search provides different results from social media search. I think that as social media becomes more mainstream, people will learn to use both methods to find their answers.

If I ask Where Can I Get a Purple Meatball Sundae in Philadelphia?, the results on Google would be vastly different than the results from, say, Search.Twitter. With Twitter or other social search, I get more immediate access to human brains. With Google, I get access to servers and alogorithms.

Time-sensitivity, relevancy and context/quality are different between the two kinds of search. Plus, Twitter searches potentially could link us to other people much faster to help spur further direct quering than you could get from a blog.

I'm not SEO expert. But I would think that social media search seems to extend how people find what they're looking for.

Optimizing on each is different also. With Google, we have pages of text to optimize serps. With Twitter, you've got 140 characters. But you could be tactical in your tweeting. Of course the problem with that kind of approach is that if it's not done right, it could disrupt your ability to hold quality conversations.

How much of a game-changer is social media search? How will the search aspect, and efforts to optimize, affect how social media is used?

Re: Make Useful Media

Phil — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:07:29 -0000

No point rambling her with another echo chamber comment.

If you're reading Chris' post, only comment if you have a specific idea. If you already have one, leave now and lead the way.

My idea (Please steal it if you can do better):

Authoritative, down-to-earth and remarkable online assistance through our botched Healthcare system.

Re: Twitter User? Use Tweetdeck or Else

Phil — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:25:33 -0000

I love TweetDeck too. Liked it when it first came out but still preferred Twhirl (simple interface & different cowbell for tweets/replies/directs).

The November update brought enough features (like sound notification) to make it my primary crack pipe.

Today's release sweetens the deal even more.

One Twitter interface to keep an eye, though, is . It's alpha and only web-based but it's worth a test-drive. It may be overwhelming (and seizure-inducing). Remains to be seen where it goes. TweetDeck still has it beat as far as usability.

TweetDeck seems to be the standard to beat for us TwitterCrackheads (although Twhirl was my first girl, so there's still some love left over there).

Re: Happy Holidays And Thanks

Phil — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:38:44 -0000

Chris,

A sweet video. Thank you for sharing.

You know, I started my social media sloshing in 2008, started blogging a bit more seriously in the Spring and got hooked on Twitter.

I could have quit it all very easily. I was unemployed and pretty dejected but something happened which spurred me on.

I don't remember how but I found your blog and I felt that somebody else was out there who kinda had the same sense about what we could do with social media.

I have to tell you: you took an interest in one post of mine, the cascading consequences of which pushed me on to become a better blogger, a better person of sharing. I think that without your recognition, I may not have found the community that I now enjoy.

I have big plans for 2009, few of which I would have had were it not for your intelligence, your kindness and your commitment to getting social media right. It's taken many years to get Healthcamp to come to Philly. I don't think it's just a footnote to say that you were an important inspiring part in getting that started.

So, blessings be on you and your lovely family. 2009 will be a dark time for most of us. But that's OK. Our lives were meant to lend each other helping hands and reasoning minds. Where the darkness grows, so does the saving grace. Perhaps social is the medium through which we all can connect to make a better world.

You will need help in 2009. You can count on our help in making your goals matter to the rest of the world.

Thank you, Chis.

Always,
Phil

Re: Social Media is No Place for Robot Behavior

Phil — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:55:05 -0000

Love the title. Should be a sign-post on Twitter's home page.

It's OK to bitch. Especially about stupid uses of something that's (mostly) stupid.

I'm sure a lot of us feel the same way.

(I also like "unfollow you on principle")

Re: 12 Things to Stop Doing in 2009

Phil — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:09:20 -0000

For your first list:

13 Let's stop writing blog posts about what others should be doing. (sure!)

14 Stop making fun of peeps who "don't get it" - we were all there (I'm guilty of this too)

15 Stop using inane words/phrases like "passion", "embrace", "engage", "listen".

16 Consume less sugar. That crap will kill you.

For your second list:

7 Let's get more healthcare professionals on board with the right kind of social media.
8 Raise awareness of Twitter among the population who should be the leaders:
Epidemiologists
Disaster response teams
Organ transplant services
Accountants and other agents of fiduciary trust
9 Promote a health-conscious attention to the consumption of technology.
10 Learn how the Federal System works (and how it doesn't).
11 Discover wonders of nature that you never knew existed.
12 File your Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of the State of Delaware.
13 Discuss how the next holocausts will be waged via social media and what we can do now to respond.
14 Walk into a hospital and thank the staff for what they do. Bring them boxes of donuts and buckets of gratitude.
15 Read Galway Kinnell (Daybreak).
16 A Ritual To Reach To Each Other by William Stafford is a social media *MUST*
17 Read Alan Watts (Become What You Are).
18 Read Philip K. Dick if only for the psychedelic Gnosis (VALIS).
19 Learn how to meditate
20 Start using action verbs like "hunger", "welcome", "captivate", "mind" (see #15 in the first list).
21 Learn how to conduct a Japanese Tea Ceremony. (Invite me to it & teach me.)
22 Practice loving-kindess, especially at your most anger-inftrated moments.
23 Study resurrection. You'll need that skill more than ever.
24 Grieve for all those moments of your life that are gone forever.
25 Listen to the sound of rain falling on leaf-mush.
26 Teach our youth how to forgive wrongs, especially ours.
27 Acquire the fearlessness to love the people who will inevitably betray you.
28 Make yourself Bananas Foster. AND: Make some for the homeless in your town. (They're not dogs and not worthy of dog food.)
29 Learn something you never heard of every weekend (if you have those).
30 Know that what you make is proof of what you think.
31 Ask these two questions of yourself: when someone says listen hard, why do you squint? Could that be a metaphor for what's wrong with how we interact with each other and the world?
32 Know the difference between being nice and being good: nice people seek comfort and often disappoint; good people seek results and often disturb.
33 Decide which is more useful in the dangerous wild: hope or presence of mind.
34 Learn the distinction between spirituality and religion, between faith and belief.
35 Think like a scientist; act like an artist.
36 Think about how Search.Twitter could be a game-changer. (This isn't as obvious as you might think.)
37 Live with less.
38 Let's help each other to pull the beams out of our eyes.
39 Learn how to survive in the wild. Literally.
40 Eat less red meat.
41 Learn the difference between accrual basis accounting and cash basis accounting.
42 Know that Venture Capitalists come in all shapes, sizes, backgrounds. (That is, don't piss people off - at least until you know what they gotts.)
43 Listen to music you've never heard. The music from the Great Depression was pretty remarkable.
44 Think about your mortality and ask yourself what you're doing wrong and right.
45 Keep fighting racism.
46 Keep fighting for gay rights.
47 Keep fighting Crypto Fascism.
48 Find out what you can do to improve our healthcare system (other than screaming "Free Markets" or "Universal Healthcare").
49 Learn about the Eight-fold path and see if it makes sense. If it does, follow it.
50 Read the Book of Job and Daniel Dennett's Darwin's Dangerous Idea.
51 Practice foregiveness (especially when you're in a good mood).
52 Plan your work; work your plan.
53 Learn how to deal with terrorists and the people who don't.
54 Strike up a conversation with the Thunder-Gods of Failure and thank them.
55 Know the difference between bitching and kvetching.
56 Be mindful of banality. Banality is the poker-face of evil.
59 Set small, simple goals for more exercise.
60 Wage relentless war on superstition.
61 Disregard 99.9% of what you read on blogs (especially those by social media 'experts').
62 Follow @scottmonty if you're not already.
63 Make better use of the 100,000,000,000,000 to 500,000,000,000,000 inter-neuronal connections in your brain.
64 Send hand-written letters to long-lost friends and tell them how important they were in your life.
65 Tell her you can't stop thinking about her (unless your Stalker Dude)
66 Don't apologize unless you plan to set things aright.
67 Know that you cast a shadow and what it might be covering up.
68 Write down your story.
69 Acknowledge, embrace and say goodbye to your inner Douchebag.
70 You're no longer invisible. Deal with it.
71 Buy a rose, tie your business card to it and offer it to that prospect who will never buy from you.
72 Read Adam Smith.
73 Read the Federalist Papers and Wendell Berry.
74 Memorize the Bill of Rights.
75 Know the Declaration of Independence by heart and by mind.
76 Know: you are part of a universe that grows marvelous things: quarks, electrons, stars, galaxies, you.
77 Know: every time you breathe and think and dream, you grow the universe that grows you.
78 Knowing the last two facts, ask yourself: "How could I ever stop falling in love?"
79 Read Nassim Taleb
80 Be reasonable or shut up.
81 Think about how you want to represented in The Cloud. Does the truth work for you?
82 Read Hymn to Intellectual Beauty by Shelley, The Second Coming by Yeats and Walking Around by Neruda.
83 Seek treatment for clinical depression. Screw stigma.
84 Learn more about Domestic Violence and donate resources to women's shelters.
85 Hitting a child is NEVER acceptable. Child abuse affects you more than you know. Help to bring an end to violence against children.
86 Understand why someone with an opposing view holds such a view and how you might be wrong or right.
87 Be more of a fun-loving Jackass on Twitter once in a while. It's not 1837 anymore, Victoria.
88 Run a charity campaign on Twitter or wherever you have a presence on the web. Or just devote hours to a local need in your backyard.
89 Read Propaganda by Edward Bernays and learn about the origins of Public Relations.
90 Keep on reading Godin. Maybe in 2009 you'll finally understand what he's been saying about Twitter. Or maybe he'll go berserk and follow the s**t out of everybody.
91 Realize that most of the choices in your life were probably wrong. You're still here. Go figure.
92 Put spice in your chocolate.
93 Lie down once in a while and whisper to yourself "The world won't stop. I'm safe and in love with this moment."
94 Quit your job before it quits you.
95 Befriend your mind.
96 Invest where nobody else invests.
97 Plant a tree in memory of a lost soul-mate.
98 Question authority: especially on Twitter.
99 Make peace a verb
100 Mind your mind.
101 Lead on Twitter more than you follow.
102 Trust that if you follow your bliss then the Force will get your back, always. Be a bliss leader.
103 Pre-order Trust Economies when it's available. For fuk's sake: how much did you earn from Chris' sharing, kindness, insomnia and commitment to getting social media right?

Re: 12 Things to Stop Doing in 2009

Phil — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:24:31 -0000

Edit to big ass comment 71:

#103 above: Trust Agents is the title, not Trust Economies. Although, we could use a trust economy right now. Sorry for typing at 2am ;)

Re: Your 3 Goals for 2009

Phil — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:23:46 -0000

1. Ready

Re: Your 3 Goals for 2009

Phil — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:24:04 -0000

2. Aim

Re: Your 3 Goals for 2009

Phil — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:24:25 -0000

3. Fire

Re: Build Useful Media

Phil — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:47:34 -0000

"Attention is the new distribution." <== Wowsa!

I was following down your post, coasting along. Then I read "Attention is the new distribution." Suddenly, I was in a completely different place and now can't wait to see you expound on that premise.

So: if it's true that attention is now distribution, how do we (we're all marketers, right?) market in a world that is increasingly suffering from Attention Obesity? Ah, there's a question.

Re: Social Media Decision Tree

Phil — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:56:30 -0000

Businesses don't need to embrace social media.

They just need to know where they are, where they need to go and how to get there. If blogs or Twitter are part of the journey, well then they should learn how to do them well. If not, there's a great chance for unnecessary trips.

Once nice thing about a global economic depression is this: so called experts who don't know anything about their potential clients will be left on the sidelines. Which means that the remarkable ones will flourish.

Re: That Neighborhood Feel

Phil — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:11:59 -0000

Sincerity.

It's hard to say how scalable intimacy - which is what the neighborhood engenders - can ever be. But just because intimacy may not scale well, it doesn't mean that large enterprises can't be sincere in their efforts.

Is sincerity scalable? I think it can be - at least more so than intimacy. This may be counter-intuitive, but since the essence of sincerity is truth (and truth is scalable), those organizations which are committed to sincerity, but challenged by the scalability of intimacy, may be in a better position to engender a more neighborly feel.

As long as I feel that an enterprise is sincere in its commitment to its community, then it has a chance for me to feel appreciated in my hour of need. In my interaction with businesses, that's neighborly enough for me.

Re: Why Microsoft will buy Facebook and keep it closed

Phil — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:06:04 -0000

Yup, could be a big big deal. There are arguments that MS wouldn't overpay for Facebook, but the payoff of a killer MS (Yahoo) search synergized with Facebook could be worth the risk for MS. Something to watch (any maybe run from!).

Re: The sixth question companies ask about social media

Phil — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:27:38 -0000

Intangible assets generate intangible results.

That's what I would say. If that doesn't work, I'd move on to the client--and fast.

Re: Has/How/Why tech blogging has failed you

Phil — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:52:19 -0000

Wow. This isn't just about tech blogging, even though that's your specialty. Same could be applied to other interests.

Robert, could you do something to rescue those 14 year-olds you mention? They are, after all, the future. I think if you carved a little time to speak at schools, you could sew a few good seeds. They'll be adults in only a few years. They could use the in-person inspiration (lord knows they're missing that I'm afraid). Perhaps you already do this. If not, please think about it.

You're one hell of a blogger. Off to FF.

Re: I am not an American

Phil — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:02:07 -0000

You are an American. So am I: a first-generation American and proud of it.

It's too bad that so many Americans have lost their way. It's partly a symptom of a rapidly changing world.

Don't be too down on yourself. Wearing you down is a part of the plan of psychopaths and heretics who are butchering our country.

When times get rough, most people lose their minds to mental illness. Change can be too stressful for some people. In an attempt to establish something solid, they often turn to things which give them the illusion of security: false religions, drugs, political extremism.

Don't let a suffering culture deprive you of your inalienable right to critical thinking.

I'm as frustrated as you. But I'm frustrated BECAUSE I'm an American. (But it's getting lonely.)

This may be a time to be sick to your stomach, but it's not a time to quit.

Grab a beer, Scoble. The game's not over. (:

Re: CEO of Healthline talks economy, politics, and privacy

Phil — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:52:17 -0000

Remarkable to see Healthline's CEO help to bring the healthcare industry into the 21st Century.

Our industry has a long way to go to catch up. Healthcare might be the most challenging of industries in terms of embracing the proper kind of enterprise Web 2.0. This is a huge opportunity, one I'd like to see given more attention.

Thanks for posting this interview. I hope we see more projects like Healthline.

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

Phil — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:14:21 -0000

Question for you, Robert (and readers):

Would the realization of a true, context-driven Twitter search change Twitter for the better?

What I have in mind is: a remarkably powerful search algorithm which returns the results of a search based not on keyword (or # followers, please!) but on context?

A robust Search.Twitter would provide a built-in incentive for Twitterers to produce relevant streams of tweets (and that's what Twitter is: streams of data, not static web pages).

Yes Twitter is about conversation (sort of) and networking. (I'm with Chris Brogan here, but up to a point). An intelligent search portal would seem to take Twitter to a new level.

Google search is about *servers*. Twitter search is about *brains*, no? Why are we underestimating the potency of that?

What would you pay if you had the power to search millions of brains? Granted, many of them aren't working full-force: still, the power of that has got to mean something.

Have we gotten so used to the "computer" web that we've forgotten that, as of now, the most powerful supercomputers reside in our skulls?

This is why I think Twitter (enhanced by a "winning" Twitter Search) can be such a game-changer: especially if it collates mobile data--now that's one hell of a web, no?

Am I off? Is my question worth answering? Please, somebody help me out here, because I'm thinking we have something very important going on here that I don't know is discussed often enough.

Re: Twitter Client War: Twhirl vs. TweetDeck

Phil — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:27:28 -0000

TweetDeck (for now).

But: if Twhirl adds Groups, it could win me back (there's something about those dings/chimes for replies/directs in Twhirl).

Re: Why do you tweet?

Phil — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:10:41 -0000

I tweet to learn what it's like to tweet. It's a never-ending experience. :)

More seriously: to connect with other people, share information, ask questions, understand how connecting with others in this way helps us or hurts us. Above all, to have fun in the hope of being valuable to others.

<abbr>Phil Baumann’s last blog post..Hospital CEO Compensation…A Comment On</abbr>

Re: Mythbusting: Ideas Do Not Spread Because they are Good

Phil — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:58:35 -0000

This is spot on with respect to the success of meme via the stepwise process of selective pressures.

I don't know how far enough memetics has gone toward explaining everything about consciousness, but the analogy of ideas to memes works sufficiently well in understanding the transmission, or infectivity, of ideas from host to host.

Memes, like any replicator, need media to grow in and be transmitted through. It's very easy for the wrong ideas to spread through the right kind of media and into all sorts of brains.

How this specifically relates to 'viral marketing' depends on the marketer and the marketed.

So to whom is this thesis, which I believe is correct, worth more? The viral marketer or the target market?

Re: Random thoughts on Twitter

Phil — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:39:59 -0000

Twitter has a lot more going on beneath its hood and the points made here illustrate that.

Twitter has the potential to really get at the problem of abundance of information and scarcity of meaning. The idea of having PageRank-like algorithm to help figure out who to follow could accomplish several things at once:

1. More focused social interaction (but with flexible options)
2. The benefits of the selective pressures of human search
3. Ability to have a meaningful, reliable and usable Directory for users

The list could go on. But as we enter a more mobile web, we're going to need a sleek and powerful way to converge our needs.

A Googlesque Twitter has got to be a worthwhile look-see.

Re: To Be Strong

Phil — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:05:18 -0000

Interesting to go from studying engineering to ATC to nursing. Seems like there are more folks turning the corners with their careers.

Good luck with the blog.

Re: Has anyone seen the remote?

Phil — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:49:54 -0000

It's amazing how our gizmos turn us into mush. Good observation.

Re: What are you looking at?

Phil — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:09:30 -0000

High School Jock rocks!

Re: Consider the source

Phil — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:52:33 -0000

Whenever I need to check on the authenticity of a story I usually go with Borat. Why?

- It's free
- It's funny as bawlz
- It's more reliable than MSNBC

Peace!

Re: I’m a Medical Professional… and I Blog Sometimes

Phil — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:50:28 -0000

Right on, you nailed it.

It is simple. I think HIPPAs going to have to be reformed to address the new tech, but for now this is great advice.

Re: Hi. I’m the Nurse. We’ve Never Met.

Phil — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:34:28 -0000

This is AWESOME.

This list knocks several stones. The public (generally) does have a deranged and uneducated view of nursing. It's a shame, because I don't think people realize just how critical nursing is in preventing and treating diseases.

And I'm glad you pointed out that nurses work in diverse fields.

What a list! Bravo.

Re: I’m Taking The BS(N) Plunge!

Phil — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:37:39 -0000

Sean,

Good to hear the news and we all wish you well.

As for the course of your blogging, I've found myself in a similar situation: many of my blog's subscribers tend to be healthcare peeps, and although my blog does cover health-related themes, I blog about all sort of things.

I chose my own name as my domain primarily because I felt that I could use my blog to convey my thoughts and not have to worry about a niche. If you want a commercial blog, most bloggers are probably wise to stick to niche-blogging. If, on the other hand, you want to have a primary "home camp" online that allows you to do your thing as you please, then don't worry about your themes.

Anyway, always good to talk with you on Twitter and I wish you well on your BSN. Cheers!

Phil

Re: Keep It Professional, No Matter How Personal

Phil — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:58:01 -0000

Three simple rules when dealing with contentious/controversial moments in charting:

1) Avoid interpretative statements
2) Write based on directly observed facts
3) Use quotation marks

Re: I’m a Featured Blogger! It’s Official!

Phil — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:39:49 -0000

Congrats, buddy!

Twitter does pay, huh? Knock 'em dead.

Re: 3 ways to prevent being ‘unfollowed’ on Twitter

Phil — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:30:19 -0000

Good advice on using Twitter intelligently. (First time at your blog.)

One thing I'd add is not to take being un-followed personally. People un-follow for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes people just scale back their fellowship for better management. Othertimes, some tweets just aren't in your area of interest.

If you decide to use a service like Qwitter, don't use it for vanity purposes. It may help you give you feedback about the effects of your tweeting, but don't take it too seriously.

Twitter's a remarkable permission-based way to connect with other people, develop a human-based RSS reader or just have fun. People follow and un-follow all the time. If you use Twitter intelligently and with a good purpose, the number of followers doesn't matter.