That's right folks, I'm packing up my posts and heading over to WordPress land. Here's my new URL:
http://newmediawire.wordpress.com
If I can build up a readership, don't be surprised to see me switch New Media Wire over to a regular domain...that would rock!
Anyways, thanks for getting me started, Blogger, but it's time to move on to more influential pastures :)
Come see me at my new digs!
-Brian
If you're a YouTube junkie like myself, you've inevitably either or seen or at the very least heard of Channel Federator's electrifying animated video "Internet People". I'm not sure what's worse, the fact that I recognized just about every person/event highlighted in the the video or the fact that there are people lining up to become the next Chris Crocker or Mr. Pregnant, and the best part is that we love them, and we love to hate them as well.
Essentially, the video takes viewers through some of the most notable "cel-web-rities" and popular web moments and compiles them all into one thrill ride of the past couple years.
What I liked most about the video is that it actually brings up a social relevance in the way we receive our entertainment these days. It's now possible for just about anyone to become a celebrity, even if it's for the wrong reasons. From established comedians like Adam Samberg and Chris Parnell in "Lazy Sunday" to everyday heroes like Gary Brolsma (the Numa Numa guy) who now has a fan site dedicated to his honor, the public has the ability to pick and choose those people we want to identify rather, rather than the people the entertainment industry tells us are funny.
I'd like to get some thoughts going on this topic, so feel free to let me know what you think!
(Props to Dan Meth, and to Blake Robinson for sending my way)
In this day and age, we now have the option to sign up and bare ourselves on a whole galaxy of social networking sites. We have Facebook, MySpace, Quechup, Bebo, and now Yahoo! Mash, the newest attempt by a major company to hone in on the young and the relentless. The other great debate surrounds business networking communities like LinkedIn, but that's a whole other subject. For this post, I'm mainly going to express my points about the "social side of networking."
Deep down, we all have a desire, a need, to be connected to those around us. We want to know that we have a network of people who care about us deeply, enough to buy us a virtual drink anyways. All it takes is a friend request by a colleague, maybe an old friend, maybe even a new friend or love interest, or even a message on our wall saying something mundane like "sup?" and we feel as though we really are wanted and needed. Is that really the case though? Are we so consumed by our need to add as many friends as possible that we lose the integrity of making real friends?
It's not uncommon for us, I've seen and experienced it myself, to feel that if we're not constantly checking our profiles, we might miss out on some amazing comment about us. Or, we might miss the chance to immediately accept someone's friend request, worrying that the other person might think that we were debating whether or not to accept. Because, c'mon, who wants to be a bad friend on a social networking site? Let's face it: if you can't be a good friend online, then you certainly could be questioned in the real world.
So how many people have become so enamored with their social networking application(s) that it consumes their ability to maintain real-world connections? Does a poke on Facebook translate into a compliment at the office or hanging out with friends? Seems to me that social networking is to 2005 what instant messaging was in 1998. Remember those days when your life centered around who was online and who you chatted with for hours? Fond memories I hope.
But now it's 2007, a new era of socializing is upon us, and the marketing and advertising firms are lining up, displaying all the classic conditions of Pavlov's dogs. And naturally we feed into this, and we will continue to do so as we continue to evolve as humans learning to co-exist with machinery. So the next time you spot someone in the office casually checking their profile, keep in mind that they could be in a frenzy of anxiety over whether or not their friend poked them, winked at them, hugged them, or God-forbid, ignored them.
Here's an interesting study by the British Association For The Advancement Of Science, posted on ScienceDaily last Friday about social networking anxiety. And it's not just social networking, this has been studied and published for teens with cell phone anxiety.
Let me know what you think!
Yesterday was a really, really bad day for Digg. CNN reports that users litterly revolted against the news aggregate-service, after it removed all commentarty that featured a16-digit code used to bypass anti-piracy features on HD-DVDs.
Digg's founder, Kevin Rose, was qouted last December, attrbuting the sites succes to the users. "It's about allowing users to define the site and police the site themseves."
Well apparently, the Digg community didn't like Mr. Rose going back on his word. After the intial posts featuring the bad code were cut, thousuands and thousands of users posted articles containing the code arguing that they did not want to be censored by Digg.
Rose has since flip-floped again on the issue, with the following post on his blog:
"You've made it clear, you'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying."
This is HUGE, as a big player in the social media industry is realizing that it is the PUBLIC that has the power in two-way conversation. Everyone has a chance to be heard. Listen to and accomidate your audince and reap the benefits. If you try to pull a fast one on them, be sue that you're ready to "deal with whatever the consequences might be." stay tuned for more on this...
In the work I do every day, the news is out there-- companies that were once hesitant to even mention the word "blog" are now starting to turn their heads and actually consider the possibility of establishing a corporate blog, or at least strategize with agencies like mine on how best to reach out and begin conversations with targeted bloggers.
To say that corporate blogging and corporate interaction with bloggers is new...is pretty much false. Companies all over the world are taking interest in the new media space like IBM, McDonald's, Infosys, etc. The newest batch of blogosphere neophytes are Indian marketing firms that have begun to see the amazing value in social media.
With a booming population and a high number of teenagers in India, the marketing value of blogging and other types of social media are key to reaching students, general interest readers and potential employees. The article, found on Asia Times Online, sets its sights on India's Tata Interactive Systems blog. Tata is a developer of e-learning solutions with a major global presence. TIS took the leap and created a blog that allows the company to create global dialogue, offer up news and information directly to readers, share company photos, etc. AND IT WORKED!
Stories like this make me feel positive about the direction of the Web....(and wonderful about my job security!) So long as clients continue to ask for counsel on social media, there will always be a place for people like myself to offer advice on how to enter the ring with a cautious stance and an open mind.
Comments welcome!
Presidential debates are nothing out of the ordinary. Since early on in our nation's history, political opponents have squared off in these battle royales to see who can speak better and politically pee farther. 2004 of course saw the first use of blogging technology. And we've all taken it in, at least most of us, and we all wait patiently but excitedly for the next great debates in four years.
While many of us will stay glued to our TVs this campaign season to see which candidate will reign supreme at the podium and hopefully deliver us from the last eight years, I predict that twice as many will be glued to their computer screens sometime after Labor Day to watch the first ever online presidential debates.
As Monday's post by Harry McCracken points out, one Democratic and one Republican candidate will be chosen to participate, and viewers will have the ability to upload video questions for the candidates. At the helm of all this will be Charlie Rose, and DNC chairman Howard Dean will provide the opening remarks [Insert that primal scream of his here].
As far as content format goes, that remains yet to be determined....eh, announced. I imagine the organizers would use some sort of high-bandwidth streaming video like CNN Pipeline uses.
For anyone who works and/or tinkers in social networking or new media, this is a must-attend.
Greetings all,
Sorry for the delay in getting more posts on here, I recently got a puppy and to say the least, Molly's been quite the handful! I only have so many hours available in the day (and only so much carpet left), and anyone who's either raised a puppy or a baby knows what it's like to be sleepless and vigilant over its every move!
I'll be back in the high life again, so please stay tuned!
-Brian
