Scott Monty

Utterz = Twitter All Over Again

<div class="utterz-entry"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="35" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.utterz.com/fp/slimline.swf?20" /><param name="flashvars" value="utt_id=NDk2MzIzNg&autoplay=0&wu=NDk1MzA4NQ" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed src="http://www.utterz.com/fp/slimline.swf?20" wmode="transparent" flashvars="utt_id=NDk2MzIzNg&autoplay=0&wu=NDk1MzA4NQ" width="320" height="35" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object> <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk2MzIzNg/utt.php">Mobile post</a> sent by <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com/~h-scottmonty/list.php">scottmonty</a> using <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com">Utterz</a>. <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk2MzIzNg/utt.php"><img border="0" src="http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk2MzIzNg/reply_count.php" style="vertical-align: middle; border: none; padding: 0px;"></a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk2MzIzNg/utt.php">Replies</a>.</div>

Utterz = Twitter All Over Again

Mobile post sent by scottmonty using Utterz . Replies .

Social Media & the World Series

<div class="utterz-entry"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="35" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.utterz.com/fp/slimline.swf?20" /><param name="flashvars" value="utt_id=NDk2MzE4OA&autoplay=0&wu=NDk1MzA4NQ" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><embed src="http://www.utterz.com/fp/slimline.swf?20" wmode="transparent" flashvars="utt_id=NDk2MzE4OA&autoplay=0&wu=NDk1MzA4NQ" width="320" height="35" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object> <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk2MzE4OA/utt.php">Mobile post</a> sent by <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com/~h-scottmonty/list.php">scottmonty</a> using <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com">Utterz</a>. <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk2MzE4OA/utt.php"><img border="0" src="http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk2MzE4OA/reply_count.php" style="vertical-align: middle; border: none; padding: 0px;"></a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.utterz.com/~u-NDk2MzE4OA/utt.php">Replies</a>.</div>

Social Media & the World Series

Mobile post sent by scottmonty using Utterz . Replies .

My PodCamp Boston 2 Presentation

This morning, I had the opportunity to give a presentation at PodCamp Boston 2. It was a full house, despite being the first session of the morning on a foggy, damp and grey morning in Boston. 
 
Thank you to everyone who attended, asked questions - and most importantly, contributed to the conversation. I admitted that I clearly don't know everything about this field and that I rely on my communities to fill in my knowledge gaps. That's the beauty of the social media space. 
 
My talk, <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/scottmonty/web-20-tools-you-can-use/">Web 2.0 Tools You Can Use</a>, focused on four web apps that can help you be more productive and get your life in order. I recommended four basic tools - certainly not a comprehensive list, but a basic set of productivity-enhancing apps that can help you keep sane amidst the clutter. 
 
And the Web is cluttered. Some basic facts: 
<ul>
<li>Facebook gets over 54 billion page views a month</li>
<li>Facebook accounts for 1% of all Web traffic</li>
<li>25% of people's free time is spent online</li>
<li>Technorati tracks 70 million blogs</li>
<li>Not to mention that every day, I have to check email, Twitter, Skype, and a boatload of RSS feeds</li>
</ul>
The question is, how productive can you possibly be amidst all of this? There has to be a way. 
 
<center>
<div id="__ss_147494" style="text-align: left; width: 425px;">
<object height="355" style="margin: 0px;" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/ssplayer2.swf?doc=web-20-tools-you-can-use-1193510354170822-5"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/ssplayer2.swf?doc=web-20-tools-you-can-use-1193510354170822-5" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="355" width="425"></embed></object> 
<div style="font-family: tahoma,arial; font-size: 11px; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;">
<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/?src=embed"><img alt="SlideShare" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/slideshare/logo_embd.png" style="border: 0px none; margin-bottom: -5px;" /></a> | <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/scottmonty/web-20-tools-you-can-use" title="View 'Web 2.0 Tools You Can Use' on SlideShare">View</a> | <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/upload">Upload your own</a></div>
</div>
</center>
 
My suggestions: 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.jott.com/">Jott</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.trailfire.com/">Trailfire</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.grandcentral.com/">GrandCentral</a></li>
<li><a href="http://doodle.ch/">Doodle</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/">Remember the Milk</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.inviteshare.com/">InviteShare</a></li>
</ul>
And crayon's latest client, the groundbreaking video chat client, <a href="http://www.oovoo.com/">ooVoo</a> - which you can see at the end of the deck, embedded above and hosted on <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/scottmonty/web-20-tools-you-can-use/">SlideShare</a>. 
 
And then I opened it up to the audience. Some of their suggestions included: 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.8apps.com/">8 Apps</a></li>
<li>Google: <a href="http://www.google.com/alerts">Alerts</a>, <a href="http://analytics.google.com/">Analytics</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/trends">Trends</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/">My BlogLog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.sitemeter.com/">SiteMeter</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.radian6.com/">Radian6</a></li>
<li><a href="http://statcounter.com/">StatCounter</a></li>
<li><a href="http://del.icio.us/">del.icio.us</a></li>
</ul>
If you'd like a comprehensive list of the tools that I track, you can see it at: <a href="http://del.icio.us/socialmediamarketing/tools">http://del.icio.us/socialmediamarketing/tools</a> 
 
Special thanks to <a href="http://www.markblevis.com/">Mark Blevis</a> for taking notes during the session and forwarding on the audience suggestions.

My PodCamp Boston 2 Presentation

This morning, I had the opportunity to give a presentation at PodCamp Boston 2. It was a full house, despite being the first session of the ...

Unkommonly Good

Last week, my post <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2007/10/new-media-douchebag-are-you-one.html">New Media Douchebag: Are You One?</a> was a surprise hit. I'd like to think it's thanks to my wise choice of a headline, but I think everyone would agree that it was the entertaining nature of the video itself. 
 
Well, not one to rest on my laurels, I've got another entry in the series. Before I queue it up though, I'd like to acknowledge <a href="http://www.kommonkraft.com/blog/">Kommon Kraft</a>, the creators of these amazingly funny and too-close-to-the-truth videos. 
 
This series is a send-up of Lee LeFever's very successful <a href="http://www.commoncraft.com/">Common Craft</a> videos - particularly the "Plain English" series. But Kommon Kraft - with a logo suspiciously similar to <a href="http://krispykreme.com/">Krispy Kreme</a> (mmm....hot donuts now...) - is a creation of <a href="http://kellystewart.com/">Kelly Stewart</a>, who clearly is a very talented individual. 
 
In this case, KK has hijacked the conversation and skewers my crayon colleague Joseph Jaffe (among others) in another hilarious video. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="b-hbp-video b-uploaded" frameborder="0" height="266" id="BLOGGER-video-64e9b8b031e84c76-10059" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxCr2HIFbIVhlTgIgoJ5KpRtbaOQGXpfYFHeR3rpmZzAR3km5vXT3TBxz8q0-wsILkhtgw4RsjS92WJPZex2zNEuveXTdf_OjZxlUmgntihTSbJfKIDRad_SMsKbGn3j8iWRq2G" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe> 
 
<div style="text-align: left;">
I wonder who the next (un)suspecting victim will be. Got any suggestions? I'm sure Kelly is listening. 
 </div>
</div>

Unkommonly Good

Last week, my post New Media Douchebag: Are You One? was a surprise hit. I'd like to think it's thanks to my wise choice of a headl...

Social Media Takeaways #3

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMV0h9XnKok/UuhUtwrjGHI/AAAAAAAAP9M/_qVQd130PR8/s1600/Chinese+takeaway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EMV0h9XnKok/UuhUtwrjGHI/AAAAAAAAP9M/_qVQd130PR8/s1600/Chinese+takeaway.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
This is a busy week - coming off of the great Boston Web Community dinner, courtesy of EMC, where I got to see some of my favorite new media folks (<a href="http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/">Jeremiah Owyang</a>, <a href="http://www.chrisbrogan.net/">Chris Brogan</a>, <a href="http://www.pistachioconsulting.com/">Laura Fitton</a>, <a href="http://www.roninmarketeer.com/">John Wall</a>, <a href="http://www.blogstring.com/">Sarah Wurrey</a>, <a href="http://www.stevegarfield.com/">Steve Garfield</a>, <a href="http://personalbrandingblog.wordpress.com/">Dan Schawbel</a>, <a href="http://www.beingpeterkim.com/">Peter Kim</a>, <a href="http://socialmediaguy.com/">Yianni Garcia</a>, <a href="http://www.clipper.typepad.com/">Julia Roy</a>) and meet new ones (<a href="http://www.diecastaudio.com/">Jeff Glasson</a>, <a href="http://www.perkettprsuasion.com/">Christine Perkett</a>, <a href="http://socialhoneycomb.com/">Amanda Gravel</a>). In addition, I'm gearing up for <a href="http://www.podcampboston.org/">PodCamp Boston 2</a>, where I'll be speaking. 
 
But that doesn't mean there wasn't still a bit of time for a few Social Media Takeaways: 
 
<a href="http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2007/10/my-apple-is-a-l.html" style="font-weight: bold;">My Apple Is a Lemon</a> 
No, this isn't David Armano's way of trying to score some free bling for his blog (like <a href="http://www.jaffejuice.com/2007/09/the-iphone-spon.html">some other people</a> we know). It turns out this is David's 2nd Macbook Pro that's given him inexplicable trouble, so he decided to write about it. 
<ul>
<li>SMT: Uh-oh. Apple should be concerned. First they fired 800 employees for taking a $100 voucher on their free iPhones, now they've got a prominent blogger who's pissed off. I hope they're listening. But I like what <a href="http://technomarketer.typepad.com/">Matt Dickman</a> had to say <a href="http://twitter.com/MattDickman/statuses/358178432">on twitter</a>: @Armano: I bet Dell responds before Apple does ;-)</li>
</ul>
Quick, Fire That Customer 
It's not a good week to be a customer. <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/10/the-need-to-be-.html">Seth Godin</a> and <a href="http://senithomas.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/is-the-customer-always-right/">the Ad-Vocate</a> both opine that the customer is not always right and call for certain customers to be fired. I like Seth's rejoinder to the phrase "the customer's always right": when they're wrong, they're not your customer any more. 
<ul>
<li>SMT: Listen up. Get to know your customers well, through whatever space they inhabit. Find out what they're saying about you and <a href="http://www.jointheconversation.us/">join the conversation</a> if you can. But realize when you'll never convert them and know when to let go.</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119323518308669856.html" style="font-weight: bold;"> 
Fa¢ebook</a> 
At this point, Facebook is steering clear of Google and instead opting for the cold hard cash from our friends at Micro$oft - a cool $278 million, to be exact. This amount, a 1.6% stake in Facebook, entitles the software behemoth to be the exclusive U.S. and international advertiser with the social network through 2011. 
<ul>
<li>SMT: A $15 billion valuation for Facebook? What-ever. If the ad revenue can continue to stream in - and with Facebook's ability to target different demographics, it's an attractive site for advertisers - then perhaps it's not totaly off-base. But with today's fickle youth, I wonder if Facebook isn't going to be old school before 2008 is out. The only hope is continuing to get the <a href="http://www.tbo.com/news/money/MGBBTO5XD7F.html">more mature generations</a> involved. And I wouldn't rule out additional funding for Facebook from other sources...</li>
</ul>
<div>
 </div>
<div>
Image credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/69502324@N00/3558930683/in/photolist-6qus6R-6s7sdt-6KVyfy-6MSUQD-7jvQnb-7qwwKm-7r1qsU-7tu26G-7vovWu-dB9heL-dBmSoM-dBtKKw-dBorZR-b1RqZP-dAFAFK-dfuafd-7RhbjA-apzSwY-7HGg1A-7JaeXa-98iXu5-dwi3Tn-dvjNLS-duwZBF-duTdCS-dyFL7Z-a9Pdos-dNoLTY-dLdanm-8K8sP1-asz9fq-abQarB-e2ixiF-bPbTbc-bPbTba-8ZWLS8-8ZZSvy-8ZWLMP-8ZWLQ4-8K5q6x-8K8sso-8K8swY-dTvw9c-aMaLH8-bc3D9i-99FUHy-7ET37P-7EWUgU-dNkamy-aj3D3V-8iiiX3" target="_blank">erussell1984 (Flickr)</a></div>
<div>
--</div>
<div>
 </div>

Social Media Takeaways #3

This is a busy week - coming off of the great Boston Web Community dinner, courtesy of EMC, where I got to see some of my favorite new me...

New Media Douchebag: Are You One?

If you haven't seen this video yet, you need to watch it. While it may be a little too close to the truth for some, I had a good laugh. <div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" class="b-hbp-video b-uploaded" frameborder="0" height="266" id="BLOGGER-video-9261bbb715f7548e-2653" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dywGzShMJI6HjLEL4_94clcfLJ9wwbwJ3x4QGNkJ8gwHIQAj_DjfGYSsOkISplfqQlouTkW9atLEdnQLSFpcZjqwAZf6RKKxC_xhjTYhVKjRXNLV3FvSqRsDkFiUMCGwXDZz6w" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe> <div style="text-align: left;"> I guess the question is: does this really apply to you (or me)? I view my online activities as part research, part education, part self-marketing - all of which lead me to new discoveries, realizations and insights that I can then share with clients. So while the online busy work may seem (and feel) like it's so much fluff, it's what you do with those findings, how you share them and how you impart your unique perspective that makes it time well spent. </div></div>

New Media Douchebag: Are You One?

If you haven't seen this video yet, you need to watch it. While it may be a little too close to the truth for some, I had a good laugh. ...

When a Community Unites, Great Things Are Possible

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470137320/103-1731002-2267851?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0470137320"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5122775774142374722" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_Wgi7DTsDt2g/RxfBbMm7o0I/AAAAAAAAAgQ/2YfHDd74HDI/s200/jtccover2.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" /></a>My friend and colleague Joseph Jaffe is getting ready to burn up the charts. His second book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470137320/103-1731002-2267851?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0470137320">Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing-Wearing Consumers Through the Power of Community, Dialogue and Partnership</a>, is now available. But keeping in the spirit of the book, Joe is using new marketing to prove new marketing. This Sunday, October 21, he is going to bum rush the charts at Amazon. "Do what to the what?" I hear you asking. He's asking that everyone wait until Sunday to buy the book and then hit that purchase button at once, helping to drive his book up the Amazon rankings. This only works when you purchase one book at a time, so if you're at all inclined to buy multiple copies, please be aware that if you buy 5 books together, it only counts as a single purchase for the rankings. Tip: if you do want more than one copy, bundle each one with another book you plan on purchasing, in order to get Amazon's free shipping. So, please join me in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470137320/103-1731002-2267851?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0470137320">purchasing the book</a> (no, I don't get an <a href="http://www.crayonville.com">employee</a> discount) on Sunday and showing Amazon what the power of community can mean. .

When a Community Unites, Great Things Are Possible

My friend and colleague Joseph Jaffe is getting ready to burn up the charts. His second book, Join the Conversation: How to Engage Marketing...

A Pharma-Sponsored Social Network?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Can-6M5fOmM/Uug44FQhsoI/AAAAAAAAP8g/mea7HZKAL1I/s1600/sermo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Can-6M5fOmM/Uug44FQhsoI/AAAAAAAAP8g/mea7HZKAL1I/s1600/sermo.png" width="640" /></a></div>
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a minute. This is potentially groundbreaking news. 
 
The time may have come for pharma to break into the social media world. News is that <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119239937318658576-email.html">Pfizer is teaming up with Sermo to create a social networking site</a>. 
 
Those of you who know me know that I've got a good deal of health science background - pharma, biotech, medical device and healthcare experience - and that I talk quite a deal about how pharma is missing out by not embracing social media. I recognize the inherent pitfalls; in fact, I've written about the challenges in <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2006/11/social-media-in-highly-regulated.html">using social media in a highly regulated environment</a> and suggested <a href="http://www.scottmonty.com/2007/05/empowering-womens-health-with-social.html">an approach for a niche medical device maker</a>, 
 
So the question with <a href="http://pfizer.com/news/pfizer_press_releases.jsp?rssUrl=http://mediaroom.pfizer.com/portal/site/pfizer/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1006533&newsId=20071014005075&newsLang=en">the Pfizer announcement</a> is: how did they figure out a way around the lawyers and regulators and create a social network? 
 
The answer lies in their audience. Recognizing that the direct-to-consumer model is laden with legal statements that require a two-page buy in print and a 60-second spot on television, pharma is now figuring out a way to improve on the model is seemingly invented: the sales call on the physician. They're moving back to their b-to-b roots. 
 
Trying to secure a 2-minute appointment with an already time-crunched physician, only to bark out some data points and leave behind a handful of free pens and samples - that never appealed to me, either as a potential job or as the proper way to interact with a customer. This model doesn't allow for the salesperson to use one of the most valuable tools they have: their ears. And <a href="http://www.sermo.com/">Sermo</a> themselves listened to their community. According to Sermo's CEO, physicians on the site started asking for the industry to communicate with them in a medium more convenient than sending sales people to their offices. 
 
With the Sermo partnership, Pfizer gets access to Sermo's 31,000 licensed physicians and can interact with them directly. While the users in the network remain anonymous, Pfizer doctors who ask and answer questions are identified as being from Pfizer. The upside? The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385721706/103-1731002-2267851?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0385721706">Wisdom of Crowds</a> comes into play and the community calls out a biased post or comes to the defense of a peer. And a large population of physicians gets the same message at the same time. 
 
The one thing I'd be interested in tracking is how this plays out with the lawyers and regulators. Will the FDA demand (and be granted) access to the network? I don't think it's such an unreasonable request. They should probably be added as members who can observe, but not participate in these online discussions. 
 
I applaud Pfizer and Sermo for creating a way to open the door to social media for the pharmaceutical industry. Let's see how this arrangement goes and see who's up next.

A Pharma-Sponsored Social Network?

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a minute. This is potentially groundbreaking news. The time may have come for pharma to break into the social ...

Social Media Takeaways #2

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QvmucMhIZkM/UuhVO6G4z7I/AAAAAAAAP9U/a7rrjkbabGY/s1600/Fish+&+Chip+takeaway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QvmucMhIZkM/UuhVO6G4z7I/AAAAAAAAP9U/a7rrjkbabGY/s1600/Fish+&+Chip+takeaway.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
Busy week, this. The great topics started piling up on Monday -maybe it was that the Columbus Day holiday (for some) made a difference in the ability to crank out some top-notch blog posts, or that the news was especially slow. And then some big news from some major companies started pouring in on Tuesday. Santa Maria! We've got a nice lineup of topics this week. 
 
Anyway, I wanted to get these to your attention before all of the newsy-ness wears off of them... 
 
<a href="http://www.bryper.com/2007/10/08/die-resume-die-die-die" style="font-weight: bold;">Die, Resume! Die! Die! Die!</a> 
Bryan Person takes a cue from Tom Foremski's <a href="http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2006/02/die_press_relea.php">shot-heard-round-the-world</a> for the PR industry and suggests that it's time for an end to the traditional resume as we know it. The replacement? Why, a Social Media Resume, of course! 
<ul>
<li>SMT: Great idea. I think it's high time this was instituted. I've always referred headhunters to my LinkedIn page when they ask for my resume, but they insist on the hard copy anyway (come to think of it, even crayon insisted on the old fashioned version).</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=68806&Nid=35072&p=313502" style="font-weight: bold;">Manhattan Sees a Mashup of Soup & Ice Cream</a> 
For fans of Cold Stone Creamery and Soup Kitchen International (aka the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soup_nazi">Soup Nazi</a>), you don't have to visit more than one store. An aspiring entrepreneur is combining both stores in one and promoting it with a contest that rewards two grand prizes: a cup of soup a day for life and a cup of ice cream a day for life. 
<ul>
<li>SMT: The kicker is that they're not using traditional marketing. They tried "buying local advertising and radio spots, but didn't get much bang for [their] buck." So, the co-branded shop is going entirely with word of mouth marketing. How's that for hot & cold?</li>
</ul>
 
<a href="http://jaiku.com/help/google" style="font-weight: bold;">Google Acquires Jaiku</a> 
Google buys Jaiku for an unspecified amount. A huge surprise, since Twitter seems to have the market share of users. But a brilliant strategic move from Google. And expect more soon - as Robert Scoble says, <a href="http://scobleizer.com/2007/10/09/google-making-big-social-media-moves/">prepare yourself for November 5</a>. 
<ul>
<li>SMT: Rest assured that Google is assuming a take-no-prisoners approach with Facebook and Twitter. I think Google is getting more deeply rooted in the community space - and what's more, this clearly positions them for more mobile applications (can you say <a href="http://mashable.com/2007/10/08/gphone-2/">gPhone</a>?). But will I still be able to stream Twitter through Jaiku?Neville Hobson recommends that we "refuse to choose" - use <a href="http://www.twitku.com/">Twitku</a>.</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/corporate-20071009000000-nbcuniversaltoacq.html">NBC Universal Acquires Oxygen Media</a>NBC announced that it was paying $925 million for the female-focused network that streams into 74 million homes in America, padding their portfolio of properties that cater to the fair sex. 
<ul>
<li>SMT: It's an interesting way to assemble more of a focused audience - well, as focused as mass media can be. But I think <a href="http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/">Chris Thilk</a> hit it on the head when <a href="http://twitter.com/CThilk/statuses/323354712">he Twittered</a>:</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">
Now it has 2 female-targeted properties it can fail to integrate efficiently. Awesome.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Image credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41153475@N04/8067207282/in/photolist-dhSxEJ-cgvCLL-faVYuF-aA3NsM-dDEJy4-fP5Ls2-fdakW2-83UNFP-dhSy7e-dhSxSC-dhSxSK-dQPs1b-bgdaE2-7LS2Sn-7LS3HD-dn5JsS-7z6Bk4-7z6H4K-7Ujpes-abSanH-dPwdQg-8tHWds-ccPJyw-7VK5Cg-bX8Au6-fbconS-ej4oAp-7K2gzN-cvfDyN-aaZ53S-7xyVyh-7xyVdG-e3qM9t-7xyVou-7VhijS-7VhgHA-7VhiP3-7Vhiy9-7Kjrhu-dDECU4-9m3tGU-c6UsaA-efHhAd-ej4k6B-chwHPL-8BA8Lq-959tdH-7EzYAt-8dLctM-bAGNhk-bFhap2" target="_blank">markyharky (Flickr)</a> 
-- 
 </div>

Social Media Takeaways #2

Busy week, this. The great topics started piling up on Monday -maybe it was that the Columbus Day holiday (for some) made a difference in...

Life After Life After the 30-Second Spot

<a href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1357/1435846410_9d0cbe3fb4.jpg?v=0" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1357/1435846410_9d0cbe3fb4.jpg?v=0" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 66px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 258px;" /></a>A couple of weeks ago, I was in New York to participate in a press conference for <a href="http://www.firebrand.com/">Firebrand</a>, one of our clients at <a href="http://www.crayonville.com/blog">crayon</a>. 
 
I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the features of Firebrand, as they've been covered by <a href="http://www.jaffejuice.com/2007/09/post.html">Joe</a> and <a href="http://gregverdino.typepad.com/greg_verdinos_blog/2007/09/yall-know-that-.html">Greg</a>, among others. Before I tell you about the event, here's a thumbnail sketch of Firebrand. Essentially, Firebrand offers Web, TV and mobile viewing of top-notch television commercials, but with a twist that sets it apart from other online video properties: they're all-commercials, all the time; and the site allows you to actually participate in contests, giveaways and offers from the very brands that you're watching. 
 
While it may seem counterintuitive that crayon, the company whose founder bemoans the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471718378/103-1731002-2267851?ie=UTF8&tag=thebakerstree-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0471718378">tired old 30-second spot</a>, was involved, there was a method to our madness. You see, in this case, the ads are not interruptions of the feature program: they are the feature program. Commercials as content. And we can support entertainment and engagement. 
 
Now let me tell you a little bit about the event itself. 
 Firebrand planned a press conference for September 25, during Advertising Week - perfect timing, as lots of industry people would be in town and journalists would be in the mood to talk about marketing & advertising. Held at the <a href="http://www.mtr.org/">Paley Center for Media</a> (formerly the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/arts/design/05pale.html">Museum of Television and Radio</a>), it was the perfect spot for debuting a brand that is multimedia in nature. In addition to a nod to the past and present, Firebrand also looked to the future, by virtue of the invitation list. There were probably about 75 people in attendance in the hall - mostly traditional journalists - and I was impressed with the turnout. But here's the interesting part: I was one of a handful of bloggers who were there as well (many more were invited, but unable to attend). When you consider that Firebrand's target audience is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y">Millennials</a>, having the news break on blogs is a natural move. The bloggers - who were treated the same as the traditional press - were given press kits, including glossies and a traditional press release, as well as links to the <a href="http://press.firebrand.com/smpr/">social media news release</a> for the event. The SMNR had links to pages on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/FirebrandTV">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/firebrandtv/">Flickr</a> and <a href="http://del.icio.us/FirebrandTV">del.icio.us</a> and even a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5967126396">Facebook group</a>. Based on what I've seen from some <a href="http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2007/09/firebrand-shows.html">prominent</a> <a href="http://experiencecurve.com/archives/firebrand-extremely-ambitious-advertising-as-content-destination">bloggers</a>, the SMNR was widely used, as video links and quotes continue to pop up everywhere. And the Facebook group has already garnered over 500 members. All this, and the site doesn't even go live until October 22! Not bad. Stay tuned for the beta release...

Life After Life After the 30-Second Spot

A couple of weeks ago, I was in New York to participate in a press conference for Firebrand , one of our clients at crayon . I'm not g...

New Feature: Social Media Takeaways

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lAxx7GmPovw/Uugv5h3GT6I/AAAAAAAAP8I/0BgaZLlZW1c/s1600/newsmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="416" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lAxx7GmPovw/Uugv5h3GT6I/AAAAAAAAP8I/0BgaZLlZW1c/s1600/newsmap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
I get a lot of industry news in my RSS reader and my inbox. You probably do, too. Typically I parse through it with a eye for what would be interesting to share with you here. 
 
Lately, there have been some great examples of <a href="http://www.bryper.com/category/social-media-top-10/">Top 10</a> or <a href="http://gischeleman.com/2007/09/10/social-media-top-five-half-the-items-twice-the-quality/">Top 5</a> lists of what's going on in social media, which I'm enjoying following. 
 
But rather than acting as an aggregator, my goal in posting newsy tidbits is to give you a bit of commentary and perspective on each item as it relates to social media, marketing, PR and advertising. I call them Social Media Takeaways (SMT). I hope you'll find it helpful. 
 
<a href="http://blogs.mediapost.com/online_minute/?p=1578" style="font-weight: bold;">Online Advertising Up 27%</a> 
According the IAB and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, $10 billion was spent in the first 6 months of the year. Making up 41% of this was search, which is an increase over last year (via <a href="http://blogs.mediapost.com/online_minute/">Just an Online Minute</a>) 
<ul>
<li>SMT: With search becoming increasingly important, now's the time to consider how a corporate blog might fit into your search strategy. With timely and relevant posts, your content is indexed and searched so that additional traffic can be brought to your company's site. Blogging is a natural for SEO.</li>
</ul>
 
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a8RinPzEzIPQ" style="font-weight: bold;">The MySpace Crowd Migrates to Facebook</a>ComScore notes that Facebook attracted 69.3 million users in August, 33% more than in June. Visitors to MySpace declined 7.4% to 105.7 million. There are a number of reasons for the defection to Facebook, including more privacy, more functionality, less spam (you get bacn instead) and a cleaner look (via <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/">Bloomberg</a>) 
<ul>
<li>SMT: While there is a huge influx in Facebook traffic and we're seeing a boom in the resulting business uses of Facebook, don't count MySpace out yet. Steve Ballmer may think <a href="http://gigaom.com/2007/10/02/ballmer-thinks-facebook-at-risk-for-being-a-fad-we-think-not/">Facebook is just a fad</a>, but you need to assess your marketing goals against where your audience is. And if they like sharing music on MySpace, then MySpace is still relevant for them. The bottom line is you should be aware of trends, demographics and new developments to make the most of them.</li>
</ul>
 
And that's all for this installment of Social Media Takeaways. What do you think of this new feature? Should I continue it? Do you have any news or insights that you can share from the past week?

New Feature: Social Media Takeaways

I get a lot of industry news in my RSS reader and my inbox. You probably do, too. Typically I parse through it with a eye for what would ...

Beta = Exclusive? Not Necessarily

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_Wgi7DTsDt2g/RwXVxMm7oqI/AAAAAAAAAe8/mtNQ3_mro9A/s1600-h/Beta.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5117731592751260322" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_Wgi7DTsDt2g/RwXVxMm7oqI/AAAAAAAAAe8/mtNQ3_mro9A/s200/Beta.png" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" /></a>As new sites and applications appear on a near-daily basis (think I'm kidding? Put <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/">TechCrunch</a> in your RSS feed and see how many posts a day they crank out), you'll inevitably get shut out of sites with beta invites. And with only so many friends in the social media space, what's a desperate beta tester to do? Until now, it was beg, plead and work your social networks. But there's a site that's got an answer. Over at <a href="http://www.inviteshare.com/">InviteShare</a>, you can do just that - share your beta invitations with others, or ask for beta invitations from them. For example, when you sign up for <a href="http://www.grandcentral.com/">GrandCentral</a>, you get 10 beta invites. Maybe you've only given invitations to 4 people in your network - you can let people at InviteShare know that you have 6 invitations left. Similarly, you can put in requests for those hard-to-find beta site invitations, like <a href="http://mash.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Mash</a>, the aforementioned GrandCentral, <a href="http://www.pownce.com/">Pownce</a>, etc. Now, don't expect the ultra-exclusive sites like <a href="http://www.asmallworld.com/">aSmallWorld</a> or <a href="http://www.diamondlounge.com/">Diamond Lounge</a> to have any invitations there. Some social networks are too good for that.

Beta = Exclusive? Not Necessarily

As new sites and applications appear on a near-daily basis (think I'm kidding? Put TechCrunch in your RSS feed and see how many posts a...

Quality or Quantity?

<a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_Wgi7DTsDt2g/RwMSBcm7omI/AAAAAAAAAec/MqjwGNRC9Ko/s1600-h/quantqual_curve.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116953417691669090" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_Wgi7DTsDt2g/RwMSBcm7omI/AAAAAAAAAec/MqjwGNRC9Ko/s200/quantqual_curve.gif" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" /></a>It's that age-old conundrum. Quality vs. quantity. 
 
<a href="http://www.twistimage.com/blog/">Mitch Joel</a> got me thinking - not an unusual result after reading his stuff. On <a href="http://www.twitter.com/scottmonty">Twitter</a>, he opined: 
<blockquote>
"I am disappointed that most of my favourite Blogs have become receptacles for Twitter feeds and del.icio.us links. Come on people... Blog!"</blockquote>
I've gotta say - he has a point. It seems that the pervasiveness of SocNets like Twitter and Facebook have resulted in the trailing off of blog posts, to a certain degree. I can't say that it's affected my own frequency (work is more responsible for that), but I can see the attraction of spitting out short bursts of information rather than longer more cerebral pieces. 
 
It takes a certain concerted effort to put together a well thought-out post that hits a variety of buttons - topical, emotional, etc. And that's not always easy to do in our everything-now fast-paced lives. You'll note that a number of my posts lately have been heavy lifting - which is a plus, because it's brought many of you here. 
 
Why Not Quality AND Quantity? 
But at a certain point, I've got to mix quantity in with quality. But at the same time, I recognize that I can't go on for long with only one "real" post a week. So I'm taking Mitch up on his challenge and I will be hitting the blogging keys more frequently. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll do away with the del.icio.us links, though. 
 
So I'll open it up to you. Do you find my <a href="http://del.icio.us/socialmediamarketing" style="font-weight: bold;">del.icio.us</a> bookmarks to be a reasonable complement to the other posts? Should I do away with them entirely? What value are you getting from my posts - the links or the longer pieces?

Quality or Quantity?

It's that age-old conundrum. Quality vs. quantity. Mitch Joel got me thinking - not an unusual result after reading his stuff. On Twi...

Scott Monty - Strategic Communications & Leadership Advisor