Disqus - Latest Comments for JoeC

Re: Identity Crisis

JoeC — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:18:59 -0000

It's not necessary or advisable to use only one OpenID. It's very useful to think of OpenIDs as the Internet login equivalent of a general credit card like Visa or MasterCard. Most people carry two or three different cards, and some people have dozens.

Why? Having one general-purpose card is obviously much more convenient than having a card and account with each individual store or retailer you do business with (or for OpenID with every site you have an account with). But having two or three general purpose cards is much safer in the sense that if one is compromised or lost, you can still use the others. A second advantage is that you can, to some extent, cut off the ability to profile you through your purchases on one card if you spread your purchases out over different cards.

In my case, I put all my business-related purchases on one card, and all my personal purchases on another. Plus we have one extra that my wife uses most of the time. This gives us isolation of records, but with a no-effort backup in case a card is lost or compromised or the bank puts a hold on it for some reason. An even better idea is to keep yet another different card at home that never leaves the house in case your wallet is lost or stolen and all your other cards are lost.

Exactly the same strategy could be used for one's OpenIDs. Segregate the uses, keep one for backup. The OpenID implementations do need some improvement when it comes to deprecating and replacing IDs that may be compromised. But this is real strength of OpenID, in that its architecture does not dictate the implementation or strategy of authentication.

Re: Corporate Twitter Entities – Yay or Nay?

JoeC — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:05:04 -0000

The sites you've listed don't give an encouraging picture of business use of Twitter. Of the 8 listed, only 2 have any followers to speak of.

It's easy to see why CNN is followed. Their product (breaking news headlines) fits Twitter's paradigm perfectly, plus it's something people want, and they're giving it away.

I'm sort of at a loss to explain why JetBlue has over 1000 followers. Reading back on the timeline, most of their posts are promotional, which on Twitter typically doesn't fly (so to speak). It does seem to be coming from one person, which is good, and the more recent ones seem to be reaching out for opinions and suggestions. But many corporations do the same thing with no repsonse. Do you have any insight on this, Chris?

I think Twitter would be a great contact point for a company ombudsman. Someone to listen to customer's issues and get through to the right people inside. Nothing makes me more frustrated that the usual stonewall you get from a corporation. And conversely, nothing makes me connect to a company more than when they treat me like a human being and are transparent. Putting a human face on an otherwise cold and uncaring corporation is a worthwhile use of Twitter, I think.

Re: Twitter Best Practices So Far

JoeC — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:41:43 -0000

A good advice, particularly having a good photo and informative bio. Include your location, too! And don't be cute about it. "Anywhere the wind blows" might be poetic, but I don't like that you're being coy. It doesn't have to be your street address or even your zip code, but it does have to give your reader a general idea of how close you are to them. Mine just says, "Southeast Connecticut".

A word on background images. I used to have a gorgeous >1meg image of some fall foliage as my background. But it took too long to load on my XO PC (aka OLPC). I should probably find another, smaller one that obeys your guideline for fitting around the Twitter content in a nice way.

Re: Comparing Corporate Social Media use to a Golf Club

JoeC — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:44:41 -0000

I would add that those taking up social media should remember that as in golf, you will get the most out of the game by enjoying the people you're playing with, taking time to get to know them and letting them get to know you. I've made some very good friends both on the golf course and participating in social media.

In golf, I've always considered it bad form to try to actually do business during the game. Rather, I prefer to use the 4 hours to try to get a handle on someone's character, their honesty, their sense of humor. Social networking is very much the same. You can get to know someone before trying to close the deal, or deciding if you want to close the deal with that person at all.

Re: Social CRM: When Registration Pages Go Extinct

JoeC — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:23:02 -0000

A system to render registration forms obsolete already exists. It's called OpenID.

Re: There's a missing product (Scripting News)

JoeC — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:42:19 -0000

Thanks to Steve Garfield, I saw your post. Please check out my post on a protocol I am developing called SLAP for Simple Lightweight Announcement Protocol. http://joecascio.net/joecblog/2009/05/18/announ... The key thing about SLAP is that it would work with any existing publication type, as long as it can be identified by a URI and the post by a permalink. Would love to get your thoughts on it.

Thanks,
Joe Cascio

Re: David Pogue asks why can’t people be civil online?

JoeC — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 06:50:01 -0000

Ditto to #12. Doesn't anyone remember "flame wars?" The flaming rant was practically invented on the Internet.

Re: Google, the world’s largest startup?

JoeC — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 00:13:31 -0000

Blip.tv has the same attitude. Call now, see it a couple of hours from now. The fact that Google can do this at their size is encouraging. As a 35 year veteran of software development, all I can say is, woo hoo, no QA department!

Re: Don’t register domains when you’re drunk

JoeC — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 04:54:27 -0000

Must have been National Fun Friday. I sure had fun, as did "The Dope"'s Lisa Kate. Check 'em out and read my comment on LisaKate's blog.

Re: John Edwards to announce he’s running for President

JoeC — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 16:18:32 -0000

Anyone who is interested in Internet freedom of speech ought to check this out before supporting John McCain. I have a hard time believing anyone is going to fall for his crap, but then again, look who is sitting in the Oval Office now. I used to think McCain was sort of ok because he spoke for veterans and against torture, but apparently he has been turned into another authoritarian dolt.

Re: Google Reader, the next “Digg?”

JoeC — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 08:41:32 -0000

I started using Google Reader when I got fed up with feed clients that I couldn't figure out, or that had too many "features". Google Reader was so easy to use, unencumbered by crap and just so intuitive: it fits my understanding of what RSS does. Plus, when I click on an RSS link, it does what I expect: it goes to my G.R. page. That little bit by itself was enough to sell me. And finally, it's web based, so reading at work or reading at home doesn't involve duplication of effort.

Re: Adam Curry and John Welch ask the hard questions of me

JoeC — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 13:51:21 -0000

I just watched Steve Garfield's video of you and Chuck Olsen at the NH campaign setup. What you said about catching fleeting moments rather than trying to duplicate what MSM is doing is right on, in my estimation. Here's what I wrote about that today.

Re: Things I learned

JoeC — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 14:42:15 -0000

I think you answered your own question about how bloggers play in the process. They show what the process is and how it works, not from the press's point of view, but from a citizen's, a voter's point of view. Maybe more of us can come away with that new respect that you seem to have found.

Re: Inside ODesk

JoeC — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:19:40 -0000

This is not good news for US software developers. I took a quick look at the site. Average rate for a .NET developer is $15/hr? Are you kidding me? That's 30K a year. You can't live in America and support a family on that.

Re: Google Reader losing feeds?

JoeC — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:04:28 -0000

Not even a hiccup for me. Sorry y'all had trouble

Re: Calacanis is right: startups can’t afford slackers

JoeC — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:16:40 -0000

Although I haven't met Calacanis, all I've read about him, including the foregoing, leads me to believe that he's the asshole you warn people not to tolerate.

Re: The Art Of Conversational Marketing

JoeC — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:32:18 -0000

It seems to me the best thing for companies to do with their social media initiative is to try to help the consumer. And I mean truly help, not just set them up for The Pitch. The last corp. I worked for did very well because they provided a truly consultative service for their customers in the pre-sales process. Customers are so, so welcoming to simple honesty. Just help me, don't make me endure your "sales process". Just give me what I need, not what you want to sell. Your reward is a friend made, a good-will ambassador for your brand.

But this strategy is one of planting seeds, not harvesting. The payback comes much later. Unfortunately, corporate minds want to see immediate results, measurable ROI. That's unlikely. The company I keep pointing out as truly understanding this mode of operation is Blip.tv. They're fanatical about support and listening to what their users need. It's a company built by listening, not talking.

Re: The Weakest Argument Against Web 2.0 Yet

JoeC — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 13:46:07 -0000

The real answer to keeping profiles updated is to eliminate the plural. You should only need one profile that's associated with your OpenId. What we need is for people to own their own profile and have soc-net sites subscribe to it. That way, we update it once, and they get the update the next time we use the site.
Unfortunately, soc-net sites still live under the illusion that just because someone registers on their site, they "own" that person.

Re: Should Facebook Join OpenSocial?

JoeC — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 07:32:11 -0000

If Google had built a truly open platform with technology like OpenID instead of one that simply allows developers to write more idiotic garbage "applications" like SuperPoke they may have had an opportunity to knock Facebook's socks off, and in the process make Facebook compatible. But as it stands, this is just another example of competition for its own sake rather than to benefit the consumer. Just like IE vs Mozilla, just like Mac vs Windows, just like Java vs. .NET, it forces developers and consumers to make an unnecessary choice so a corporation can benefit.
Consumers win when open standards win, not when two corporations intentionally set up barriers to interoperation to please their investors.

Re: Me and TomTom—True Love Always

JoeC — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:20:33 -0000

Hi Ann,
I, too have become dependent on my GPS device. In my case, it's a Garmin nuvi. I stuck with the default American English voice. I believe her name is "Jill". Yes they actually give the voices names. I'll bet you'd like either the British English male, Daniel, or the Australian English male, Lee.

Now, if they would just make these devices with EVDO, so they could always have the most up-to-date maps, and know about traffic. :)

Re: Twitter vs. Pownce and the Value Proposition of Social Media

JoeC — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:41:51 -0000

Good post, Jim!! Here's my take on Twitter:
http://joesvideoetc.blogspot.com/2007/06/why-is...

Re: “Media Snacking” Theme Echoed at VON Conference in Boston

JoeC — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 07:49:01 -0000

Jim,
We always talk about conversation vs talking "at" people, and I think this is key to understanding the short nature of a lot of internet video. When you and I converse, first you say something, then I say something back. Internet video is kind of like that. Each video is one person's "turn" or "at-bat" in an ongoing conversation with the rest of us. If you try to evaluate these as independent, complete works, like a long-form film, of course they're going to appear incomplete. But if you see them simply as parts of a conversation, then it makes a lot more sense. So, I might characterize them more as "courses" of a meal rather than appetizers. You have to consider them as a connected pieces of a whole, rather than a complete meal in themselves. Make sense?

Re: Local TV Transforms – Towers and Transmitters Meet the Social Web

JoeC — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:14:24 -0000

Yes, it certainly seems that newspapers are out in front when it comes to transitioning to the web. But I haven't seen one yet that has done much at all with video or audio content, even though from a technology standpoint, there's nothing at all stopping them from doing that. What is stopping them is that they have no videographers on staff. Why? "Uh, we're a newspaper. We don't DO video." And the opposite excuse comes from the local TV stations. "Uh, we're television, we don't do print stories."

Well, Duh... Why doesn't someone (oh, maybe named "Jim") start a local news text/video site that does BOTH and equally well?

ps. Please make the royalty check out to "Joseph Cascio, Jr.", K? Thx.Bai.

Re: Local TV Transforms – Towers and Transmitters Meet the Social Web

JoeC — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 11:20:12 -0000

Jim, didn't mean to imply you didn't get it in the above, but that you would be the PERFECT guy to try something really revolutionary like that. :)