DISQUS

Christopher:

While we fall on different sides of the political issue, I do agree with this post. I think that the demographics that helped elect Obama would also enjoy to connect with him and his administration through these channels.

I also think that, given his campaign's understanding of these tools he has the opportunity to do something on par with the incredible feats he has already accomplished. He can involve people in politics and the political process like never before.

Can you imagine if he...not a spokesperson, but Barack Obama himself Twittered at the end of the day? Or wrote a blog post at the end of the day? Imagine the engagement that people would feel with the President and the country!

He obviously touched a nerve and found the keys to speak to people. I think that his great responsibility is to now continue that and he has an opportunity available to no President in history. With the tools now available, he has the chance to actually engage with people on a personal level. To break the barrier that so many feel to those in power.

Whether he chooses to use that opportunity will remain to be seen, but he's certainly in the position to do it.

Kevin

Chris:

Great post. I have a Bank of America credit card and it's the one place anymore that charges for transaction downloads/online banking anymore.

Ridiculous.

Kevin

I agree and disagree.

While it's not a "traditional" conference, I do think it has the potential to achieve many of the same things. This basically gives us a conference without the interaction. Certainly loses some of the benefit of a normal conference/unconference but it also gives us a lot of content we may not otherwise get to see.

When you say, "Conferences are about interaction, collaboration, and meeting people," I agree with you that this is a nice benefit, but that definition could apply to a bar as well. I don't think that most people pay thousands of dollars to go somewhere and meet people. That may rank a high second on their list, but I think the content is what draws them there. I don't think I could put up a website that says, "There's no speakers or anything, we're just getting together to interact and meet people," and have people pay thousands to come. (As an aside, if people WOULD, let me know!)

I think what makes a conference a conference is people gathering, interacting, etc around common interests...and this is driven by the speakers and content at the conference.

I think the real question is, if these Pixelated "events" aren't conferences due to the lack of collaboration/interaction, what can we do to MAKE them into a conference - or as close as possible to one? How can we build that interaction into them so that people who may not normally attend such an event (due to location, cost, etc) can get the same (or similar) benefit from these events?

I think if we can find a good way to do it, the interaction and collaboration from such an event could be far more beneficial than a traditional conference.

Kevin

Christopher:

Interesting concept and one that companies will have to be careful of...especially if their stock prices rely so heavily on one person.

One thing that makes me nervous about this is what the push-back will be with regard to citizen journalism. Will CNN just stop iReport all together? I agree that Apple needed to come out on Twitter/blogs/etc if they had one. Hey, why not take a lesson from the terrorists for every time the US seems to stop thinking about Osama? Put out a video of him to remind us.

I worry that this just gives fuel to the fire for those people who say social media and citizen journalism are not good for the industry/world. I think that making CNN liable to the Apple shareholders sets a very dangerous precedent.

I don't know what the answer is here. How transparent/open can we go before things start becoming detrimental to those who participate?

I don't know, but I hope this doesn't have the negative effects that I can certainly see it having.

Kevin

Robert:

I think that any service/company/guy in his basement that tries to make a splash in the 3D online world (this includes SL) needs to address the usability issues that SL has faced.

When you limit the machines that can use the service as strictly as SL has, you won't get widespread adoption. The inability of many Dell machines to actually use SL was, in my opinion, one of the key elements that kept SL from taking off.

Sure, there are shifts in attitudes that need to take place, but I think the technological limitations hurt as much if not more than the users' attitudes/views of what the net could be.

Kevin

It's difficult for me to jump into this type of argument.

Black Maltese: While I agree with some of your sentiment and I too am fed up with the America bashing that seems so rampant today, I agree with Matt that your presentation of your argument leaves something to be desired and can detract from your message.

Matt: You need to get over the "stolen election" thing. Seriously...move on.
And, to imply that we deserved what we got on 9/11...that goes WAY too far. Do you really believe that if we help people like Osama, everything would just work out? That's like Obama saying he'll talk to/negotiate with anyone. It will only provide an opening for them.

Christopher: I think you are sharp as a tack when it comes to marketing...politics I depart from you quickly. You say that, " The war crimes the United States is accused of are crimes against lawful combatants - Iraqi military and militants..."

Many of them were actually from Afghanistan, and the first sentence of the article reads, "Former terrorist suspects detained by the United States..."

In addition, I struggle with your railing against practices by the US that are deemed terrible but then act as if Saddam Hussein was a sweet, uncle type figure. If you wanted to see human rights violations, you need only to look to Iraq while he was in power. That tends to get glossed over though. It bothers me that the same people who scream about human rights violations in places like Darfur and Tibet criticize the war in Iraq. Were the Iraqis less important than the people in those other places?

Do I think that the way the prisoners were treated was right? No. I also don't think it appropriate to imply that George Bush was ordering torture as so many people imply. I don't think you should get to make decisions about who should be held accountable for something when you are INCREDIBLY biased against the person you are accusing. Am I against all forms of torture in the situation of gaining information from a suspected terrorist that my protect the American people? Absolutely not. Plus, to say that Saddam Hussein had no interest in terrorism is a little naive.

Now, this point I only bring up because of other political statements you have made here and on Twitter before. I don't understand how you can be so appalled by how someone is treated when they are suspected of terrorism but not bat an eye to the practice of killing them before they have a chance to make that decision....or any decision for that matter.

It's a little frustrating to see politics so regularly mixed with marketing in many blogs. I understand that this is a personal medium and people are allowed to make their personal beliefs known. But, when someone is viewed as "internet famous" and seen as a reliable source of information and then makes political posts with half-truths and biased agendas, it does little to serve the rest of us.

Chris:

Great, you always have to make me start thinking with your posts...don't you!

I think a big win for social media right now would be moving beyond the view many people have of a "cure all" and translating into a tool on par with many others.

I think it would be big (and incredibly important) that people focus on determining what their offering is and deciding to use a blog/podcast/other social media to promote that message rather than, "Let's start a blog.....ok, what do we talk about?"

It's critical to all parts of marketing, but I think social media is especially susceptible to putting the cart before the horse. Getting people to understand the importance of standing for something and articulating their viewpoint clearly would be a big win and one I think that social media is in a unique position to get that message across.

Kevin

Great post! I think that this is a great explanation because it truly highlights the importance of standing for something and properly articulating your idea.

If a bad or fuzzy idea is what is driving the company, obviously sharing the idea is made more difficult and the selling/call to action for the idea is going to suffer.

By approaching marketing and sales from the point of view that they are related to the idea, it should help an organization focus on getting that right before worrying about how to market or sell.

Kevin

Chris:

Great post and great take on a use for Twitter. I'm lucky enough to have my company's IT department protecting me from the evils of Twitter by blocking access. Whew...I'm safe!

Kevin

Robert:

This is a great and helpful post, but I don't think that it should be limited just to being laid off.

Sure, there are many elements that would be specific to that situation, but most of them are good advice to undertake now, before getting laid off to build your personal brand.

Thanks for the advice!

Kevin

I have two dogs.

Kevin Behringer
kevinbehringer@gmail.com

There are a couple things about this that stick out for me.

First, some people need to lighten up. This is being blown way out of proportion.

To me, this ad is not the issue. The issue for me is this: of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in advertising, the only thing that really is gaining traction and discussion is the removal of an ad from circulation. No discussion of "this great ad" or "that great ad" but only discussion about an ad striking up controversy and being removed.

This, to me is just another nail in the coffin of the 30 second.

C.C.

I will continue the trend of not offering any conferences, but I will say that I am VERY interested in following this thread. With limited time and budget, I want to make sure that any conference I attend will be a great one. Generally I don't hear about them until AFTER they happen.

To that end, one of my big life regrets is not going to the CMA Digital Marketing Conference last year. You, Jaffe, Mitch, Weinberger, etc. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! You add Shel & Neville to that and it's like the Super Bowl (oops, sorry, the big football game, the name of which may not be uttered without PAYING.) Hopefully '07 will offer a reprise to this conference!

I say we give Apple what they want.

We stop using Podcast.

What about "AppleSucksCast"?
"BiteMeSteveJobsCast"?
"TakingAPageFromTheGoogleHandbookCast"?
"ThanksForYourMoneyNowBendOverCast"?

It used to be, when I was in college that people WANTED to have their name/brand/product used as the word for a generic item (think Kleenex)

Why is Apple so opposed to holding such a tight grip on simple words...especially when they benefit from it. How many people assume that you need an iPod to listen to them. I wonder how many have bought an iPod for that reason?

The other question is why do people keep worshiping Apple when they pull this type of stuff?

What about calling it a "WindowsCast" or "MSCast?" Really stick it to Apple.

Robert:

My prayers are with you and your family.

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

God Bless,

Kevin

Scoble:

Exactly!

When I opened the WMP 11, one of the first things I did was search the help for how to set up for podcasts. Nothing.

That shocked me. It seems if Microsoft is creating something to compete with iTunes, they would at least create something that could do everything that iTunes does...then add to it.

I have to say, it's a bit like the new IE. It's like Microsoft is trying to copy Firefox instead of beating it.

Why not jump over what people are used to and offer them something they never thought of?

Robert:

I'm so sorry to hear about this. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. From the comments, it's obvious the support you have, which is a testimonial to what you've done for everyone...but it certainly doesn't make it any easier.

Kevin