Disqus - Latest Comments for Ken

Re: I Am Sorry Virginia… There is More to Marketing Than a Blog.

Ken — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:43:26 -0000

Well said...

Re: I Have a Writer, His Name is Anthony

Ken — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:41:25 -0000

Great article Anthony...err..Nick :)

Re: Why Big Brands Don’t Sponsor Blogs

Ken — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:51:55 -0000

I think perhaps big-time advertisers are probably pursuing sponsorships on ads, but what about authenticity and transparency on blogs? Do these things play a factor in how the blogger decides who they can have on their site IF their blog becomes a high-traffic domain? Will people criticize the blogger for succumbing to the "greed of corporate America"? How can a journalist (professional or citizen) truly write about stuff sans bias without the issue about transparency lingering over their shoulder?

Of course I agree that brands probably don't want to get mixed in with bloggers who trash each other and slander their compatriot's good name to get a leg up on the competition.

Re: Are Video Comments Going Mainstream?

Ken — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:28:52 -0000

Nick, I've installed Disqus on my blog and I think it's nothing new to the commenting world. It's more of a personal preference, I believe. The only difference is that if you use Disqus, it'll be spread virally from there too. So you can comment on a blog and someone from the web who hasn't read the blog post can comment on your comment. It's comment proliferation!

Video comments I think of as being a novelty, similar to what Twitter used to be in its infancy before mutating. I see it more for mobile use first and maybe later from the desktop. I'm sure we're not all THAT lazy we can't type in our comments from our desks, are we?

Re: Wizzard’s Blog » Blog Archive » Transparency in Social Media

Ken — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:39:46 -0000

You make an excellent point about how to make it your own page, but no matter what you do online, it'll come back to haunt you later in life...whether you're applying for college, looking for a new job, networking, or simply running for office. Look at what happened with the future speechwriter for Barack Obama!

But social pages on Facebook, Myspace, etc. are fundamentally "personal", but at the same time, it's "professional" as well. Unfortunately we're not all psychics and can't predict what will happen in our lives, so while there are people who'd wanna post compromising photos for their friends to see from that last beer bash party, it's unfortunate that they'd have to just simply resort to email or printing it out to share.

Will privacy settings help? Chances are they will minimize the risk of things you don't want others to see being leaked, but nothing online is tamperproof.

Great post.

Re: Mr. Obama, don’t give up your Blackberry! Use it differently.

Ken — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:11:13 -0000

Great post...as a Blackberry addict, I'm in total agreement that Obama shouldn't relinquish his Blackberry, but I do think that it's somewhat sensible for him to stop for four years. As President, he's going to have EVERYTHING be part of the public domain...including emails that he would potentially send to his friends and family. Even those that are "Merry Christmas from the Obamas" or "Are you going to the White Sox game tonight?", etc. that would be subject to public scrutiny.

I think that if the public saw that, it would give people the sense that Obama is more human than the past administration, but then again, where's the privacy issue for Obama's personal life? I think it's a delicate balance for how the White House can stil integrate with the web-generation.

Re: 2008/03/14/readburner-acquired/

Ken — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 09:20:23 -0000

Congratulations Adam! I've been prone to constantly relying on Twitter for my feed updates or simply visiting multiple sites to check out the latest news, but something that has all of that in one place is great. Looking forward to seeing it.

Re: Rebranding Government 2.0

Ken — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:42:59 -0000

Novel idea to rename the government 2.0 "experiment". But is it all about rebranding this notion for people to feel like their federal government is being more transparent? I'm not sure that it's that simple by giving it a new name, although they all still share the same message - the government is not about the politicians but rather the people who vote & are citizens.

How would you consider this "rebranding" to be anything different from Change.gov? Do you consider change.gov to be more Obama-centric & now more bureaucratic since his election to the presidency? Or is your premise based on creating a campaign that the government could use to help bring in citizens to educate them that their government is being more transparent now with the new administration?

If I had to choose amongst the winners (excluding the one written by your interns whom I feel sorry they get more work as a result of their contribution), I'd choose WeGov rather than iGov because it has a connotation of being more pluralistic rather than singular in nature. Government shouldn't be about just an individual but about the community and if we're spinning 2.0, then it's all about the network & community.

RE: the Government Vista example - very hilarious, but I'd like to add to that. Once people grow tired of Government Vista, the government will release a new version and call it Government Mojave and fool the public once again and then reveal it to be an improved version of Vista, much to the anger or chagrin of the US public. Hey, it worked for Microsoft, right?

Re: 2008/12/08/iphone-at-walmart/

Ken — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:50:55 -0000

When I replied to your Tweet earlier today, I never thought of Wal-Mart's addition of the iPhone to it's low-cost repertoire as something that cheapens the Apple brand - mostly all about accessibility. I do see what other folks have said in their @replies to you and agree that it could "cheapen" the brand, but maybe that's not necessarily true? Rather than reaching out to those who can only afford the $199+ phones at the AT&T or Apple stores, maybe Apple's thinking that it can reach another market segment by focusing on those that are cost-conscious BUT they WANT an iPhone. Apple probably realizes that these folks don't want to wait 4 years until the iPhone drops to something more affordable for them. They want something NOW and affordable. So Apple drops the price of some older iPhones to $99 and markets it at Wal-Mart because they know that's where the cost-conscious folks are. The really nice upper class iPhones are still found at the Apple & AT&T stores. This is no difference than having large fashion manufacturers/designers create luxury clothes for Nordstrom but make low-cost clothes for Wal-Mart.

Re: RentHop: What Apartment Listings on Craigslist Should Be

Ken — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:43:17 -0000

This is a great idea but this isn't anything new. I remember when I was looking for an apartment in San Francisco there was a mashup that pulled the same data from Google Maps and Craigslist. It's located at http://www.housingmaps.com and features apartments for rent, sale and sublet elsewhere in the United States.

Re: Affiliate Marketing on Twitter — Is it OK?

Ken — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:50:46 -0000

Joe - this is a great post and offers some great insights into how to use Twitter for marketing usage. I agree that you need to interact and be yourself. Twitter and social media are not one-way means of communication. It's just another way to have a conversation. Thanks for the post!

Re: Gary Vaynerchuk - 1 Show Doesn’t Fit All! I want to talk about the...

Ken — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:20:41 -0000

Awesome video, Gary. Hit it right on the head once again. Everyone is always asking to do what their competitor is doing because it's so successful. But you're right...what your competitor does, isn't going to be the same with you. Wonder if people will think you're copying them because you don't have any original thoughts?

But it's all about you engaging your customers...anything else would be...well...not keeping it real.

Re: Transparency in Social Media

Ken — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:39:46 -0000

Re: Privateers- Backing Your Pirate Ships

Ken — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:18:27 -0000

Chris - Congratulations on the news! Much success to you in the future!

Re: Audience of Twittering Assholes

Ken — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:53:46 -0000

Great points you make. I wasn't at SXSW but I saw the video of the interview on the AllFacebook website and I was kind of baffled about the "types" of questions that were being asked. I'm in marketing so some of those would relate, but you're right that the audience needed to hear more about what related to them as opposed to Sarah Lacy reporting from a journalist standpoint. She wanted to make it more newsworthy than it probably was and talked about what you'd see on the ABC Nightly News or even on CNN.

I think that it's the audience's responsibility to voice their disagreement if such a highly anticipated event tanks as soon as it begins (approx. 15 minutes in it, according to what I read from your blog). If you're paying big bucks to attend, you might as well get your money's worth. I would say it's equivalent to paying money for a cruise, but having the ship stay docked in the same port for 7 days. Where's the value? Thanks for your insights!

Re: The Decline of Traditional Advertising and the Rise of Social Media

Ken — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:39:24 -0000

Great blog post here, Brian. Way to put things simply about how the world is moving towards the web age when it comes to marketing and putting less money into traditional forms that just aren't working anymore. I wouldn't necessarily say that marketers are "abandoning" traditional advertising/marketing but I personally see the potential of using online resources as, like you said, they are cheaper to enact. This research from Forrester only strengthens that argument for going online. Plus there's much more personalization and customization to actually "get to know" who your customers are. I think the military adage is "don't spray and pray" - this is what the traditional advertising is doing, but with online means, you're looking at where your customers are going and what their activity is online and that's how you're going to keep them as customers. Lastly, isn't it also about portability and mobility? Your customers/community wants to have your content on the go or have multiple areas where they can learn more about your product, services and wares? If you're just throwing it onto a press release or advertisement in the New York Times, what information is shared and how can this be spread virally? Thanks for writing this up. I really enjoyed reading it.

Re: The Decline of Traditional Advertising and the Rise of Social Media

Ken — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:39:24 -0000

Re: Inside Word: What Crowdsourcers Can Learn From 'American Idol'

Ken — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:18:35 -0000

Hi Ed - thanks for your comments. While I agree with you that American Idol is based solely on voting, I think there may be some misunderstanding what point I was trying to make. During the shows, the judges offer their critique but the "crowd" - the American public - is able to offer their suggestions to who they think should be the next winner.

When I wrote this blog post, I looked up what the definition of "crowdsourcing" is and this is what I came up with:

"A neologism for the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call."

I agree with your comment that if an entity (by which I assume you mean company) has an effective customer service analytics and feedback mechanism, they can respond to their customer demands. That's a very accurate statement and all companies should have something like that on hand. However, I'm not advocating the use of crowdsourcing to help make all the decisions in the company. My example of crowdsourcing using American Idol was just one situation where it was applicable. Not all companies are able to use crowdsourcing, nor should they.

May I recommend my blog post for further discussion as I do go on about more business aspects relating to crowdsourcing and American Idol that may offer some thoughts?

http://blog.thelettertwo.com/2009/06/27/what-am...

Thanks again for your comment. I look forward to continued discussions about this topic.

Re: The Cameraman Marketer, Metrics and Measurement in Social Media

Ken — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:42:46 -0000

I agree...EXCELLENT post. I think you're definitely onto something and I would say that if anything...Twitter is just an extension of any media by connecting people together and shares pertinent information that people would find informative. Your twitter posts will let people know what's going on and force them to seek out the info at a URL you publish in your Twitter post - whether that's to Facebook, MySpace, NBC, a blog, etc.

Why base the ROI solely on ONE item. Yes, corporate America may seem to want ROI based on rationalizing why Twitter is a good tool, but in looking over the long-term, it's a man-made news ticker that can be made more personalized and adds a human aspect onto things. I agree with Valeria Maltoni's definition of the I as meaning "involvement"...that's what social media is (in my opinion)...getting the masses involved in the marketplace, but not as a collective, but as individuals influencing the way the world works.

Re: Media – Running at the “Speed of the Network”

Ken — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:42:24 -0000

Nice blog and great points. I'm impressed by all the work that you've done and you've definitely incorporated a lot of social media into your work...you're truly the 21st century broadcaster. No longer is traditional media relaying the news, but interactive has taken over. I think you make some great points about engaging the people in these "conversations". From your experience with the press pool during your travels, do you see any of your other colleagues engaging in social media while broadcasting?