DISQUS

Might I ask how Peter Shankman (@skydiver, http://www.shankman.com) didn’t make this exhaustive list? He epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit of New York and is one of the most highly visible technology and marketing movers and shakers. How did that happen?

Wow, thanks again Lon. I am excited (and surprised!) to be on this list. :)

Thanks for the link, Louis, but I don't know that I am your best example. In regards to Twitter popularity, which was my biggest complaint, I fear I fall onto those stupid top 100 lists daily. I was guilty of doing the self-congratulatory bit in the past (as, lets face it, we all have) but I hope like hell I pull away from it. We social marketeers / bloggers aren't rocket scientists. I think we've just convinced each other we are. And there's not one darn impressive thing about it.

It's very common for security companies, especially in Silicon Valley. Go through SJC and you get hit with three of them. Go to a Sharks game, and you get two. I think when it comes to reaching enterprise buyers, whether we want to admit it or not, there's still some "barriers to entry" in terms of the human engagement that some consumer companies can experience. Maintaining a visible brand is critical, especially in a space like security, where the market is so damn crowded. Airport advertising isn't necessarily going to create qualified leads for a company, but it might give them that "Yeah, I know them" quality that's so critical when enterprise buyers flesh out their short lists.

I'm going to start calling Todd "Grandpa Defren" ":)

Thanks again Chris. I'm very honored to be on this list, in such great company. No pressure though, right?

I read Shannon and Jason and Micah regularly. I'll definitely start reading the others.

Some of my consistent favorite marketing bloggers are Dave Fleet (http://www.davefleet.com) and Kyle Flaherty (http://www.engageinpr.com). I learn so much from them, so I definitely recommend folks subscribing there, too.

All is well and good until you try to remove something and then it breaks. Grr.

Yeah, my reaction was "why did this take them so long?" especially with their influx of cash. I'm also surprised there aren't other apps available. But it's here now, and most of the late adopters won't even notice that it's a late feature. So good for LinkedIn. But I don't think it merits rushing over to take advantage of these tools, either.

It's not a people power fight, but if the people understand how to lobby relative to their Congressperson's soft spots it could make a difference. For instance, I live in Silicon Valley, where tech businesses are the bread and butter of our economy. Pandora shutting down or other streaming music services being compromised due to the lack of time necessary for negotiating more fair fees, could impact our local economy and wellbeing. I posed this message to Rep. Mike Honda in an email and voicemail last night -- and heard back today. My message was received. How will he vote? I don't know if I can influence that. But I got his attention. Sending the message to people that only a big-time lobbyist can be heard is akin to saying "only one vote doesn't count." That breeds apathy. Passion can win; self-defeat only breeds loss.

It's mildly ironic. I think a lot of people assume that introverted = shy. Introversion really means you get your energy from within yourself, versus getting your energy from external elements (extroversion). So an introvert isn't necessarily shy -- it just means he or she draws energy from within versus relying on being around other people. Introverts can be just as gregarious as extroverts. They may just not rely on it as much for satisfaction.

At least that's what I learned in college psych. Then again that was a long time ago... heh

Agree with you that it's an antiquated strategy and that it's just allowing competitors to steal their thunder. Waiting to announce at an event or trade show is overrated. Journalists are so saturated. I'm covering the TechCrunch 50 for ZDNet (see you there?) and I would prefer to know what's going on ahead of time. Otherwise some GOOD news might get lost in the shuffle.

Silly, silly PR people. :)

Chris, if I'd never followed your blogging advice some months back I never would've gotten my blog going -- and certainly would not be writing for ZDNet now.

This advice is gold, people. It works. :)

I'm going to go with Google Reader as well, for the conversational element. I am not interested in getting my blogs Dugg but I am interested in having them start thought-provoking conversations. I'd rather 10 people share my stuff than 50 people Digg it.

That's the thing with blogging. There's a rumor, do you want to be the idiot who jumps on the bandwagon or the first to confirm it? It's a tough balance since the rules of journalistic research sometimes don't apply (whether they should or not is an entirely different conversation).

When I was contemplating writing my blog about the topic this morning for ZDNet, I considered a lot of those factors. So I took a different approach, even though Om Malik had already allegedly confirmed the news. I posed everything as speculation and never claimed it to be fact, and what would happen "if" this goes through. That gives good market commentary without having to eat crow later. I've seen a lot of bloggers today and yesterday who will need to eat crow in one way or another. While I'm all for taking a stand, I would never do so based on just a rumor.

Bravo. Finally, Verizon does something with which I agree. When I trained in competitive improv the one thing my coach got through our heads over and over again was that the "easy" laugh (sex jokes, racism, etc.) were not clever nor sustainable. This pretty much proves his point. And going for the easy (inappropriate) laugh was costly to Feldman. Hope it was worth it.

Seriously, perfect timing Chris. I am working on a blog on a similar topic and this is great fuel for the fire. Agree that it's not one or the other -- it's both.

So, I understand that participation is key. It's kinda like if you're a wallflower at a party you're not going to make friends, but if you talk to people you likely will. It's pretty communication 101 stuff.

Where I am confused is with the numbers game. I don't understand the point of this blog, other than to do a comparison with Arrington. I also wonder, with as many followers you have on all of your services, how do you really participate in a quality way with the majority of them. How do you make the selection? There's no way you're participating the way the rest of us are participating. Right?

Just curious.

Does anyone have a good social media case study in which there is quantifiable ROI for an effort? That would be interesting to see.