Disqus - Latest Comments for Jay Moonah from Media Driving

Re: Technology is not community

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:18:34 -0000

Didn't you mean you mean "not _just_ because there’s a running joke that Jay talks a lot"? ;-)

Thanks for the props Mark, and I wanted to say again that it was an honor to be on the first episodes of Community Divas -- it's shaping up to be a terrific show!

Re: Measuring Third Tuesday Toronto

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:50:41 -0000

Eden is being modest, she's pretty wild. ;-)

My fave comment of the evening (probably 'cus it was in response to my question) was Katie talking about creating metrics to help the boardroom folks "get it". One she talked about was the "suckiness quotient" -- basically the idea being using Technorati and similar to tools to search for your brand with words like "sucks," and then comparing that to competitors.

So Mark, let me just say for the record -- I'm pretty sure that you under-index on suckiness. :-)

Re: Have a coffee? Go to PodCamp?

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:13:14 -0000

Yeah, Mark you and I have talked about this a bit before. I think there's a balance, and I think self-organizing events like Podcamps find their natural right size organically. What you did for Podcamp Ottawa was very cool because you used natural limitations of time and the nature of the event to limit the attendance organically -- I thought that was extremely creative and a great approach.

Some people asked me if I was upset by the fact that we had approximately 55-60% attendance vs. registration at Podcamp Toronto. I honestly wasn't -- the only thing I was a bit concerned about was that I think a fair amount of food got thrown out on the second day (BTW the leftover sandwiches on day one went to a men's shelter who were more than happy to have them.) Otherwise, I think the Toronto event was the size it was meant to be. The people who came were there because they WANTED to be there, not 'cus they were worried about wasting their $50.

And while I'm all for being positive, I'm adamantly against rah-rah-ism and groupthink. The community is never going to get anywhere if everyone just says "everything is wonderful" every time they see something they don't agree with just 'cus they're worried they might be labeled as negative.

To me a community that can't withstand a bit a of dissent isn't a very healthy one, and I believe our community is quite healthy so I'm going to keep dissenting when I see a need!:-)

Re: Have a coffee? Go to PodCamp?

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:42:12 -0000

It's funny you put it as "evolution in discussion" rather than "spin", which is what it feels more like to me -- the spin being that people who are opposed to the fee are too cheap to pony up the $50.

I have a lot of faith in the organizing committee too, but I do see the fee as a knee-jerk reaction to perceived problems that happened in Boston last year. Frankly I think the problem was that the expectations for that event were set WAY too high. Why was there even an attempt made to grow the event 500ish% in one year? That's what I never understood.

Re: Have a coffee? Go to PodCamp?

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:40:41 -0000

It's very strange how this argument has been twisted around.

The fee for Podcamp Boston was NOT (to the best of my understanding) added because the event needs money to sustain itself. I'm pretty sure the money to keep the event going was and still could be got from sponsorships, and that could continue to be the case.

Yes, $50 is a pittance to pay for the value of something like Podcamp. But I think if you ask Chris Brogan or Chris Penn, they'd admit they don't actually NEED people to contribute the money to keep the event going.

The REAL reason (again, to the best of my understanding) for adding the fee was to offset the fact that, for Podcamp Boston, so many people signed up but didn't show up.

MY objection, at any rate, was that charging a fee might change the feel of the event from it being something that is put on BY the attendees but rather being something that is put on FOR the attendees.

So far, I haven't heard anyone put forward any strategies to help make sure the event retains its community nature, other than to say "we hope it won't change things."

Re: The music industry DOES want your money!

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:01:22 -0000

Oh, and they do have an FM album but not the one I mentioned.

On the other hand, they seem to have 6 Nash The Slash albums.

Re: The music industry DOES want your money!

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:00:43 -0000

It would appear they do not have any Goddo or Doucette on iTunes.

Apparently you can't go THAT obscure...

Re: The music industry DOES want your money!

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:51:41 -0000

That's funny 'cus I just bought a bunch of Chilliwack on iTunes a few weeks ago after seeing that it had been added after sometime. I would have _loved_ to be in on that Twitter conversation but as it happened I was playing with my 80s band The McFlies, so I was there in spirit I guess. :-)

Mark, I think in some cases there are rights issues around some of these older acts split among now defunct labels and publishing companies, and songwriters who have since moved to Tatamagouche or Fernie. Also in some cases master recordings can be hard to track down -- there's a terrific story of the band FM and their classic album Black Noise, how they couldn't find the masters to put it on CD so they ended up using a vinyl copy and then cleaning the sound with digital software! Hilarious.

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:12:49 -0000

Vivian: Totally understood. I certainly wouldn't want to give the impression that I'm against niche events or unconferences. Quite the contrary. When I said I didn't see PodcampEDU as a Podcamp, I only meant that I didn't see it having the same 'broad' appeal (insofar as Podcamps could be said to have broad appeal) as a Podcamp with no suffix. I certainly did not mean to imply that I didn't think the event would be run in the same spirit and manner as other unconferences.

As someone who worked in academic technology at universities for almost a decade, I can see the value in PodcampEDU 100%, and I applaud your success. I can also see tremendous value in creating Podcamps that focus on other verticals or themes in much the way Mark outlined in the original post.

I appreciate you supporting the idea of 'pure' Podcamps which I still think have tremendous value. My original points were to argue against Mark's assertion that "the ship has sailed" on these. I still feel this assertion is flat out wrong.

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:02:04 -0000

Maybe this is all a problem of audience definition. Podcamps, as I see it, are not for the meek. They are true self-directed, andragogical learning opportunities. You have the power to control your learning but, as Uncle Ben said, with great power comes great responsibility.

I'm personally less interested in making Podcamp more friendly. I'm interested in making it more scary. I want to see an event that challenges peoples assumptions and gets their mental juices flowing. That's not say there isn't a place for intro sessions, but I don't think there is a place for hand-holding. If people don't want to jump in, unconferences might not be the right thing for them.

BTW, I'm not at all anti-conference. I love conferences. I love organized tracks and getting speaker line-ups two months in advance that I can can go over with three different colours of highlighters. I like bags of swag even if I throw half of it out 'cus there's usually at least a couple of fun do-dads and some decent magazines. I like all that stuff. But that is conference stuff.

Podcamp is NOT A CONFERENCE.

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:21:16 -0000

"So far, Podcamp is the “biggest tent” out there, encompassing most of these folks comfortably. Is narrow better? Is a wider net better?"

Whit, I think this sums up nicely the difference in opinion here. When it comes to Podcamp, I'd definitely a "big tent" guy. I totally get that there are opportunities for smaller, more focused events, but I still think the "pure" pod-type-camp model needs a certain amount of chaos to work well, and I feel like that chaos is best cultivated, now and for the foreseeable future, through the wide net. Other kinds of events could certainly be more focused and organized, and I agree that is through a combination of these that things will move forward. Let's see what happens!

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:06:23 -0000

Mark, again I think we differ on this. I think the Podcamp (or whatever-camp) model is actually self-revising without the need for strict verticals or tracks. I believe it adapts naturally to the needs of the community.

In fact, I've been thinking about this more and I think if anything we need to expand the reach of events like a podcamp, not restrain it with verticals. Hmmm, I feel my own blog entry coming on...

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:15:45 -0000

Yeah... I think this is where I'm differing with a lot of folks these days. Not to get cheesey, but I feel there's something really special and fundamental about the Podcamp model as it was originally conceived (including the idea of remaining free, which I also see as fundemental even though it's technically no longer required) whereby each Podcamp takes on the form and content that the community needs because it is defined by the community.

One of my favorite guys at Podcamp is Vergel Evans. Vergel will be involved in like one scheduled session on the Friday night of Podcamp Toronto, and by the end of Sunday he's done 3 or 4 sessions 'cus he sees "hey, nobody is talking about X", so he schedules a session or grabs a partner and just does it. THAT'S the magic of Podcamp, and personally I don't EVER see Podcamps loosing relevance as long as there are guys like Vergel who are sensitive to the needs of the community in the moment of the event.

Put another way, I see Podcamp evolving naturally with the community as long as we don't keep trying to "fix" a model that is a long way from broken, IMHO.

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:24:43 -0000

"...a lot of individuals and organizations think that a free, community organized, un-conference on a broad subject area isn't going to deliver the information they're looking for..."

Mark, I simply don't agree with this statement -- unless the 200+ people who were at Podcamp Toronto last week (over half of them at their first Podcamp) were a figment of my imagination. Or unless they all came up to people other than me and said they wanted a more focused event, 'cus they certainly didn't say it to me.

Am I just totally out to lunch here?

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:50:50 -0000

"The mistake people will make in the context of vertical events (or tracks) is that they will exclude themselves by virtue of the fact that they are not specifically in that community."

But that's my point exactly. If you have, for example, something called PodcampEDU, that says to me that I have to be a member of the education community to get some benefit from that. Do you honestly think anyone from, say, a marketing discipline would attend, even if there is potential benefit for them?

Also not sure what you mean by "unfocused events keep us trapped in our current state", could you clarify?

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:24:07 -0000

Mark: Understood. I can speak only for my own goals for Podcamp Toronto, and that was to have as many _engaged_ people as possible. Pure numbers honestly don't matter a bit to me, personally. If we had ended up with fewer people than last year I honestly wouldn't have minded as long as those people showed that high level of engagement and participation.

Personally, I still believe in the spirit and practice of the first Podcamp in Boston, and I think we have kept some of that alive at the Toronto Podcamps. Once again this year, some of very favorite moments happened not in scheduled sessions but in spontaneous hallway conversations, circles and evening events. I understand the interest in verticals, but I see a PodCampEDU, for example, as being different than a Podcamp. One of the best things about Podcamp is the mixture of people of all levels of experience with a huge range of interests being thrown together, and my fear would be parsing things out into verticals would destroy that wonderful chaos, which for me has been the root of so much inspiration.

One common complaint about Podcamp Toronto was the physical distance between the Z2P room and the rest of the sessions. This was 100% my decision and my fault, but what I take most from the comment is that people LIKE the mixture of new & old, expert & newbie, rockstar and rockstars-that-may-not-know-they-are-rockstars-yet (i.e. everyone at Podcamp!)

Re: My thoughts on three verticals for PodCamp

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:58:43 -0000

"Organizers have measured success by the number of people that register then attend and how many “Rock Stars” participate."

Hmmm... I have to say, if this is how the success of Podcamps was being measured, I am very guilty of misunderstanding what all these Podcamps have been about, and of not measuring the success of the ones I've been involved with correctly.

Re: Jobs in a Recession Survey Results 1: Recent Hires Got Jobs Via Referral from Friends, Colleagues, Alumni, or Family

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:38:21 -0000

"Active" doesn't equal "creator" either, right? I understand that 69% are within the "spectator" rung of the Technographics ladder (which BTW is a _fantastic_ tool that I love) but do you think your sample is more indicative of those spectators or of those higher up the ladder?

Also, are you implying that the Technographics data counts people who READ a website that happens to have social features as consumers of social media? So is everyone who reads a newspaper site count in the "spectator" rung of the ladder even if they never use the social features such as commenting? That would seem to be a stretch to me.

Re: Jobs in a Recession Survey Results 1: Recent Hires Got Jobs Via Referral from Friends, Colleagues, Alumni, or Family

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:19:15 -0000

Jeremiah, I'm sorry if this comes off as a bit cheeky but when you say "_slightly skewed_ towards those that are already active in social media" don't you really mean "completely composed of those that are already active in social media"?

I know you've qualified your results throughout the post and I'm certainly not saying your advice here isn't good, but how many people in the general population do you REALLY think get jobs via Twitter, blogs, podcasts or even LinkedIn? I'd guess it's WAY less than the 5% or so you seem to be showing from your numbers.

Re: People on the Move in the Social Media Industry: Sept 29, 2008

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:35:01 -0000

Thanks for the props Jeremiah!

Re: Crises Tracking on Twitter: The Benefits –and Dangers– of New Media

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:54:08 -0000

Being in Toronto (although far away from the blast) I heard about this initially on the radio, which I habitually have playing on Sunday morning while I sip coffee and read the paper -- very old media! I found within a couple of minutes, I had the local 24 hour news station on my TV and my browser open to multiple tabs, including Twitter, a couple of local news sites, and a couple of local blogger sites including Photojunkie.

What I thought was most interesting with this emerging story was that that NO single source had what could be called the "definitive" version of the story. Photojunkie and others had different angles of video and photos, as did the TV news. Radio had a live interview with the mayor, and details of transit and street closures. News websites had maps of the effected area and hotline numbers to call. All had some degree of speculation and 'best availible' information given their location and ability to learn more. Even today, as new pieces of the story are emerging, I find myself turning to multiple sources.

What this really highlights for me is what has always been the case -- no one source of information, be it traditional or social media, should be trusted as having THE story. The story exists a pieces of a puzzle. For those of us who want to view a more complete a picture from that puzzle, we must work to put the pieces together.

Media literacy and critical thinking have been important skills for many years, and this is more true today than ever before.

Great post Jeremiah, thanks!

Re: People on the Move in the Social Media Industry: June 10th, 2008

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:42:18 -0000

Here's a great move for a great guy to a great company:

Dave Fleet goes to Thornley Fallis Communications Inc as a Senior Consultant, working out of their Toronto office. http://davefleet.com/2008/06/its-time-to-grow/

Re: Social Media Measurement Attribute: Defining Velocity

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:04:23 -0000

I think accessing directionality has to be tied to goals. If broad reach is all that is desired, I think directionality is less important. If success is being measured against reaching specific targets, directionality would be more important.

For example, here in Canada one of the things we have to access with many clients is how much of the reach is to consumers outside of Canada, particularly within the U.S. For traditional media with geo- targeting and fencing this can be limited but this is not necessarily possible with a social media campaign, so accessing reach to Canadian consumers in particular is important, particularly for brands that don't exist outside the country.

Re: Commemorating the Idiocy of the Dot Com Era: Did we Repeat or Reform?

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 10:13:48 -0000

I have two words that separate today from yesterday:

burn rate

Thank gawd we are, for the most part, done with the silliness of throwing insane amounts of VC dollars at companies that were little more than concepts. I was mostly in the academic world at that time but I had my flirtations with some dot com bombs. Glad I stayed at the university 'til 2004 when things were a bit saner.

Today, I think there's the realization that you can pilot an idea and do a reasonable proof of concept with a few thousand dollars rather than a few million. I think that's the big difference.

Re: Social Network Stats: Facebook, MySpace, Reunion (Jan, 2008)

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:41:34 -0000

Jeremiah, interesting stuff! Haven't been very aware of what is happening with Reunion, seemed to me on a short look in the past that it was similar to something like Classmates, but you've inspired me to have a better look.

FYI, a little plug if I may for a blog post I made yesterday of some of the top Facebook cities in the U.S., U.K. & Canada if you and your readers are interested:

http://jaymoonah.com/blog/2008/01/08/some-of-th...

Cheers,
- J.

Re: Toronto Urban Fellows

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:17:47 -0000

Thanks for this, sounds like an interesting program. Was a little curious about your comment that it's not "particularly innovative" -- I'm sort of thinking, so what? Don't we want government to adopt ideas that work?

Re: Toronto Urban Fellows

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:29:52 -0000

Makes sense, thanks for the clarification! :-)

Re: Marketing says unity is possible

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:53:58 -0000

It's true at a certain level that we're all the same, but it's also well established folly for marketers to assume that everything that works in one culture will work in another. It's true that we recognize many things of Tehran as being similar to what we see on a North American street, but we also have to think about what we don't see -- obvious examples would be ads with scantily clan women, or ads for certain kinds of culturally unacceptable food or drink. Vlad's point about smaller places is also important. Cultural sensitivity is important, even without leaving your own national borders. Hell, Burlington Vermont doesn't have as many billboards or lighted signs as most cities its size in the US, because the community standards are different.

It's great that people are starting to realize that we share many things, but we should always be sensitive to the differences as well.

Re: Stop Screwing Around and Take the Red Pill

Jay Moonah from Media Driving — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:28:08 -0000

Gents:

First, thanks for the props on the Google AdWords targeting find. Will be interesting to see how effective that is.

Second, I think you might have missed the point of the Forrester tool slightly. As I understand it, it isn't designed to determine your customer demographics, but for you to map your demos on to it to determine potential uptake on a particular SM execution. So for example, Chris as you were noting, your demos are starting to skew a bit older. You could map those demos against the Forrester percentages to see, for example, if a UGC contest made sense based on the percentage of your audience who were up in that Creators rung of the ladder.

The challenge for Forrester will be to continue to update _their_ demos to keep the tool relevant, but personally I think it's the best tool of this type I've seen to provide some third-party data against user behavior, rather than us just guessing what our audience does.