OxyMorontreal

Opposites Most Definitely Attract

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:51:00 +0000

Social Media creates focal points- sometimes around topics that simply attract attention and sometimes around topics that provoke reactions. This past week we had both going on, in parallel. Plenty of attention was paid to the race to 1 million Twitter followers between Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk), CNN and Brittany Spears, as well as Oprah's impending first tweet. Aside from the potential benefits to charity, which became part of the "ante" as the contest continued, the rest was, well, Ho Hum. Update: While it doesn't really change my point of view, some interesting perspective on Ashton's venture into Social Media - from Harvard, no less.

What really captured my attention, as well as millions of others, was two parallel incidents that couldn't have been more opposite, yet shared a common thread - their exposure and the vocal reactions elicited via Social media.

Cheering for the Underdog
The first is Susan Boyle - if you haven't seen the video by now (and there are a number of versions, watched by millions), you're in the minority. Not only did this striking performance gather interest and online steam, it touched people in very personal ways. Anyone who has ever felt like the "underdog" in a given situation can immediately identify and feel a connection. My friend Tim Dempsey provided a poignant perspective on his blog yesterday:

For me, this one is a lesson in humility. Susan Boyle carried out a simple act of courage and faith notwithstanding her circumstances. From the opening note, she had utterly transformed the environment around her. Those who sneered were agape in wonder. Those who judged, reversed their verdicts. Those who were seated, stood, applauded, cheered

The Twitter Streamgraph for Susan Boyle also displays the activity and emotion in the ongoing conversations:

Everything we never wanted to know about Fast Food
The second topic is the Dominos pizza "booger" incident - the kind of thing we've all thought about in the back of our minds when we partake of fast-food, but never wanted to have confirmed. Where Susan Boyle clearly demonstrated something that evoked strong emotions - ranging from pride to guilt - this bunch of miscreants elicited a more singular emotion, disgust. The bigger story here is not about the stupidity of these few employees, but rather the incident-to-damage ratio - how a few people, in one of literally thousands of Dominos outlets, and a single video, can inflict serious damage on a multi-billion dollar brand. Aside from the circulation of the video and the conversations it spawned among consumers, social media circles conversed about the initial lack of response from Dominos, as reported in this Adweek article.

That response eventually did come, in the form of a video from Domino's President. While generally praised as a decent response, conversations on Twitter as of this morning show the damage continuing...

In short, this has been a very interesting week for Social media. Despite a number of "firsts" that attracted even more mainstream attention for Twitter and related Social Networks, what I found most interesting were the immediate, emotional, insightful and most-definitely viral, polarized reactions to two completely different incidents. Despite their vast differences, they shared a common thread- rather than simply passing them along as another "interesting" news story or a silly bandwagon to jump on, people began engaging in conversations that will likely have more lasting effect and outcome than @aplusk's 1 millionth follower.

Old School Marketing, New School Philosophy

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:13:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Back in the early '90's I was responsible for Product Marketing for SOFTIMAGE, the software behind some of the most cutting-edge 3D animations being used in film, video and commercials. As we were preparing for our most important trade show of the year, Siggraph, a major motion picture release would forever change what the industry thought was possible with computer animation - Jurassic Park. I was recently thinking back to some of the marketing I did back then, and trying to imagine how I'd go about the same thing today. It brought to mind these stories...

Siggraph '93

It was the era of "doing it big" at trade shows, and for SOFTIMAGE this was no exception - a 40'x40' double-decker booth with all the trimmings. Despite that, what generated the most buzz for us at ths show was a low-cost, high-impact marketing effort. Given SOFTIMAGE's role in the 3D effects in Jurassic Park, I was able to secure usage of the logo on a limited run of SOFTIMAGE/Siggraph t-shirts that were the hit of the show, so hot that attending computer graphics geeks were even willing to buy them off our backs when we ran out. All that attention for just a few hundred dollars- a pittance compared to the overall investment in the show.

Siggraph '94

While it was going to be hard to top the success of the previous year, I decided to try a different approach. The use of 3D graphics in arcade games was on the rise. SOFTIMAGE customer, SEGA, had a big hit on their hands with the Virtua Racing game. Through SEGA USA, I managed to secure two Virtua Racing Deluxe arcade games, complete with seats that inflated as you negotiated curves, at no charge. During the entire show, we had lineups down the aisles as attendees waited to try out the games - using tokens provided after they sat through our product demo.

Fast forward to 2009

In marketing circles today new-school approaches such as Word-of-Mouth Marketing and Surprise Marketing are all the rage. WOMMA offers up the following definition:

Word of mouth marketing: Giving people a reason to talk about your products and services, and making it easier for that conversation to take place

Is this definition or the "tactics" that serve as the basis for these new philosophies really all that different from what we did 15 years ago? I don't think so - they share the same basic premise of coming up with an idea that attracts positive attention for your brand and gets people talking.

Where the big differences lie are in the medium, reach and cost. In the '90's we spent lots of money to attend trade shows and reach out to an audience that would number in the hundreds, or perhaps a few thousand- limited by the number of attendees. We also relied on print advertising to reach a broader audience, but with greater expense. Today's campaigns can rely on the nearly limitless reach of the Internet, leverage the power of Social Media networks and technologies and are executed (in some cases) for a fraction of what we invested in trade shows.

The lesson here for Product Marketers is - it's not really about a drastic change in approach or tactics, but rather adapting to the medium and using that to your advantage to maximize your reach, impact and ROI.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words - sometimes

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:46:00 +0000

I love to read. You might say I have a pretty voracious appetite for books, and my bookshelves at home are testament to that. I also love movies. More often than not, however, I avoid movies based upon books I've really enjoyed. I find these movies, despite how well they may stand on their own, lack the depth- of character, plot, locale- that you experience through the book.

That said, under different circumstances, I believe that pictures and visualizations are extremely powerful in replacing words (and numbers, for that matter) - complex data, calculations, and correlations can often be simplified and better understood through visualization.

Many of us are visual learners. We also like to be entertained. No doubt a well-prepared presentation balancing text and visualization will keep our focus, attention and improve retention vs endless streams of raw text.

I've come across some very interesting visualizations recently, spanning a broad range of topics - from our current credit crisis, to a keynote at the recent SXSW conference, to Twitter analytics - they speak for themselves.

How did we get in this mess?
Our economy has affected almost all of us, or people we know, in profound ways. How many of us really understand the details of how we got in this hot water to begin with? I came across a great reference list of visualizations. My favorite, however, is the following animation illustrating the credit crisis:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Did you see what they said?
During the SXSW conference in Austin a few weeks ago, Pepsi introduced a great visualization that showed key twitter trends for the day.

Did you see what he said?
Also during SXSW, Sunni Brown did this fantastic graphical recording of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh's keynote.

I told two friends, then they told two friends....
As Twitter continues to grow as a social network, so do the analytics tools that help better visualize conversations and relationships:

These are just a few brief examples of the power that visualization can provide. It's no surprise that Web Analytics has become so popular in helping marketers understand user behaviors. Giving busy managers and executives critical, decision-making data in easily understood, readily-consumable visualizations is a winning combination.

How do you use visualizations to improve your work?

Breaking out of your Comfort Zone

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Your comfort zone is like an easy chair full of cockroaches. It may feel good now, but there’s something disturbing squirming underneath - Tony D. Clark

We're all different, yet in some ways alike - when we find something that works for us, in both personal and professional scenarios, we'll keep doing it. Like a good comedy routine, if it gets laughs, we keep telling the jokes. Following the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra, there's tendency to stick to the repeatable, comfortable routines. Perhaps we've become a bit complacent- sort of operating on autopilot- and the relative heyday of the last few years allowed us to get away with it. To succeed, and perhaps even stand out in these trying times, you've got to ditch the same old, same old- you've got to break out of your comfort zone.

Wikipedia defines your comfort zone as "the set of environments and behaviors with which one is comfortable, without creating a sense of risk". This brings to mind a whole set of risk/reward mantras that ring true - truth is, if you want to capitalize on the more limited set of rewards available in our current downturn, you need to take more risks. Not stupid, spontaneous risk - rather calculated, qualified risk. Set desired outcomes, with a risk/reward balance that makes sense. Sure, there may be some disappointment, but you can use that to your advantage to learn and adapt.

While it certainly seems more timely to apply in a business context, it was actually a more personal one that brought it to mind for me. I enjoy fishing - in fact, I'm quite passionate about it. I'm also very routine, and have been sticking to familiar methods for years. While recently in Florida with my family, we were having very limited success vs past visits. That all changed on our last day, however, when my son decided to try something different - he switched lures, with the expressed intention of catching smaller, more plentiful fish.

Needless to say, this change in routine yielded rewards that far exceeded expectations.

Strangely enough (in a karmic sort-of way), as I was putting this post together, I came across a tweet from a fellow Montrealer Julien Smith, that truly summed up what I was thinking.

So, while you may not be fishing in the literal sense, change something about how you approach a challenge - despite some discomfort, you may reel in a whole lot more than you bargained for.

I want my hour back!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:29:00 +0000

I've been mulling over a post on Analytics - not Web Analytics specifically, but in a more general sense - how pictures and images help us simplify and absorb more complex ideas.

I was gaining some "thought traction" last night when, BAM, it happened - DST. I lost an hour, and along with it, all those sage thoughts and ideas. I could do without the loss, but then it is Federal law. Guess I'll just have to start over again. Unfortunately, the Time Machine on my new Macbook was of no use - that hour's gone.

Not only that, think of all those twitter conversations that are lost in some space-time continuum...

It figures that I'd have to be in Florida, rather than Arizona or Hawaii, where I certainly would've been more productive. On the bright side - this is my shortest post ever.

I want my hour back! Maybe I'll find it tomorrow, on my flight home :)

Image Copyright © 2009 ramsaycrowe.com

The Recession-Proof Networks

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:26:00 +0000

In 2009, there are more ways to connect to the Internet than one might've thought possible, even a scant decade ago. At the office, there's the LAN, WAN and wireless. At home, you've got cable, DSL or dialup (gasp) and wireless networks. On-the-go you've got GPRS, EDGE or the newer, faster 3G network to speed your mobile connectivity. Maybe even a 3G USB dongle for the mobile laptop (and to stop spending $$ on Starbucks lattes). Amidst this environment of economic doom & gloom, connectivity has become ubiquitous, even forgettable - we take it for granted, like the dial tone when you pick up the phone. Major interest and attention are focused elsewhere -on the "networks" that run atop all this connectivity- our Social Networks.

Everywhere you turn, it's impossible to escape news of the recession, with negative headlines abounding:

Bank failures
Corporate bankruptcy
Auto-industry bailout
Scandalous fund managers
Unemployment

It is often cited that with adversity comes opportunity. I happen to agree with this - in fact, history has shown that some of our biggest, most successful companies started during tough times. Despite all the negativity and downward trends, Social networks are most definitely bucking it. Users are flocking to Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, ... in record numbers - according to Compete.com, twitter had a 2008 growth rate of 752%. If people aren't buying less these days, they're certainly buying "smarter." They're sharing a stream of thoughts & opinions- chances are high (and getting continuously higher) that when they research, discuss, or even complain about issues, they're doing it on social networks.

Some cases in point:

During the "great Gmail outage of Feb 2009" people flocked to the social networks in droves, to discuss, complain and inform as a collective- even creating a pseudo twitter-enabled worldwide helpdesk that helped inform Google there was a problem.

The post-Superbowl commercial hype created a large scale twitter backlash from those that don't like the sexist style of the GoDaddy.com commercials. People complained and threatened to leave the domain registrar, competitors listened and responded with offers to lure them away. GoDaddy adopted their usual approach of "no press is bad press." The point is not the effect on the bottom line for GoDaddy, but once again the use of twitter as a vehicle for discussing and building a wave of sentiment.

When the recent Belkin product review scandal broke on a blog , it then in turn spread like wildfire through the social networks, to the point where Belkin had to officially respond and acknowledge their faux pas.

On a slightly different note, twitter continues its trend as the source of breaking news, consistently beating out major news outlets in reporting the latest in a series of plane crashes, natural disasters and terrorist acts. The same holds true for real-time reporting about major events like the TED conference, Grammys and Oscars.

Many business trends require complex modeling and analytics to evaluate and understand their value- this one seems DEAD SIMPLE. While most things in our world are trending in a singularly downward spiral, social networks are like a rocket ride to the moon - going straight up! If you're in a position to sell something, service something, or simply want to make the most out of existing relationships with customers or partners, it seems like you're being offered a social media silver platter.

So let's see - tough economic times, opportunity amidst adversity, a positive trend amidst a sea of negativity. If you're not picking up the virtual phone and dialing into the sentiments of your prospects, customers, partners, you're likely missing out on an opportunity that you can be sure someone else is taking advantage of.

Twestival Experiment - Social Media "in the Flesh"

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Last night I attended the Montreal Twestival - part of a worldwide, one-night social event, organized via Twitter to support the charity: water organization. In typical Montreal fashion, plenty of chic-geek folks were there amidst the DJ's beats and the flowing drinks- as my friend Alistair Croll tweeted ironically - "Why am I drinking beer at a charity event for water?" This was a great opportunity to try out some thoughts I'd gotten earlier in the day via Chris Brogan and Justin Kownacki. I was going to break the comfortable social setting mold of hanging with my friends. My goal - random conversations and meeting new people, Twitter-style, only in-the-flesh.

In his blog post, Justin asked:

Why do so many of us attend "face to face" events and then spend the bulk of the event talking to the same people we knew yesterday? Isn't the entire point of a social event to meet people you wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to talk with?

This question resonated with me, solidifying an alternate approach to my socializing at Twestival. I'm happy to report, at least from my perspective, this anthropological diversion was a success. Although it started out in typical fashion, safely and comfortably ensconced amongst friends, the rest of the evening proceeded outside of my usual comfort zone.

I met, enjoyed the company of, and have now socially connected (literally and figuratively) with new, diverse, interesting people including:

The connected guy - He runs a Montreal tech-startup accelerator that has provided funding and strategic services to startups across North America. In this "do more, with less" economy, startups surely need the bootstrapping. Hopefully we'll be having a coffee soon.

The other connected guy - I'd met him virtually, and lived vicariously through his tweets from TED last week, but had never met this local entrepreneur/angel investor in-person before. It was nice to finally chat.

The out-of-town-gal - This Las Vegas Technical Documentalist was in Montreal for business and we enjoyed her company at Twestival. Had a nice chat with her on our walk to an after-party dinner. Wonder when I'll make it to Vegas next?

The new-in-town guy - Having relocated from Saskatchewan to join his wife, who completed her studies at McGill and is now a Genetic Counselor, he's a Senior developer who's tinkling around with iPhone Apps in his spare time. Really nice guy.

The twitter app guy - He quit his job and now spends his time developing cool twitter apps and organizing some great monthly get-togethers for the Montreal Tech Community. I look forward to trying his apps and attending his next event.

The traditional media guy - He's a technology reporter for the Montreal Gazette. I read his writing regularly, but it was the first time we met. I look forward to meeting again.

The acquired entrepreneur - He was the CEO of a Montreal Cloud Computing company recently acquired by Joyent, who run over 25% of the Facebook application traffic on their platform. Very interesting space, more conversations to come.

All in all, a pretty satisfying evening. Spent some time with friends, made some new (and hopefully lasting) ones, and best of all, helped out a great cause. Despite going against the normal social tendencies for many people, it does seem to make a lot of sense to adjust the way we socialize. We do it online, after all, why not in-the-flesh?

And, oh yeah, thanks to Chris and Justin for the ideas - I'm glad I listened.

Image from Hammer Brothers

Observations from a Social Media Newbie

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:34:00 +0000

Hi, my name's Mike...and I'm a Social Media newbie. There - that wasn't so hard.

I've been lurking on fringes of Social Media for a while- where a smorgasbord of characters share everything from what they ate for breakfast, to blow-by-blow coverage of live events, to how (or if) to measure the ROI of Social Media undertakings. Recently, I've become more passionate about it. Admissions made, I'd like to offer some initial observations on Twitter and blogging.

Like your first day of Kindergarten

Social Media has you grappling with new vocabulary and etiquette. Tweets, retweets, hashtags and Follow Friday are your first homework. Then comes playing nice with others, respecting their opinions, trackbacks and attribution. Whew, good thing it's only a half day!

Imagine a first date at a dance club

It's really noisy. There are people everywhere and they're all dancing, talking and generally trying to attract attention. You want to talk, but you can hardly hear your date amidst the noise, and you want to say something really smart. You also can't help being distracted by the interesting girl/guy on the left - welcome to Twitter. It's ok to check out other interesting people - Twitter encourages it.

Patience is a virtue

You may be tempted to jump right into the fray, tweeting and commenting at will. Don't. Wait a while, read and LISTEN. Don't be over-anxious, but don't be shy either - if you have something good to say, say it.

Use tools...

...to help you separate the wheat from the chaff. Lots of people are tweeting. Some share advice & opinions, others chronicle their day. Twitter search, Twitscoop and Mr. Tweet will help you find relevant and buzzing topics and people that interest you- follow accordingly. Take advantage of Follow Friday suggestions and retweets to add "Follows" and find blog posts.

If you build it, they won't come

unless you're an acknowledged subject-matter expert with a built-in following. So wait, don't blog just yet. Read. Think. Read more. Take advice from the experts. Have you read "Made to Stick"? Re-read it - I am. Then, maybe you'll be ready.

Blogs and Twitter are very different beasts

They call Twitter micro-blogging, but similarities stop there. The way people consume, react and respond are vastly different. Blogs take time to evolve into a conversation. Twitter is inherently real-time conversation. Tweet something relevant and interesting (from the perspective of the "listener") - conversations are sparked.

People ARE listening

Seasoned users of Twitter have finely tuned hearing - think Six Million Dollar Man (humorous aside). They take Social Media conversations seriously. True story - I responded to a tweet, lauding Zappos customer experience. Within an hour I was being followed by @zappos_alfred and @zappos, the COO and CEO of Zappos, respectively. I've since tweeted with Alfred on things as banal as the weather. Real people, representing real brands - impressive.

Chris Brogan can't be a real person

I think he's really a distributed, artificially-intelligent (ok, very intelligent) Twitter web service deployed in an Amazon EC2 cloud - infinitely scalable. He's the inspirational, folkloric equivalent of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny for Social Media. But seriously, Chris is representative of a larger phenomenon - a bunch of very smart, talented Social Media folks like him, who share the same philosophy. They give a lot - dispensing opinion and advice regularly and accessibly - for FREE.

Clients pay for their services, we get it free.

Take advantage.

Super Bowl Sunday - Gridiron Showdown or Battle of the Brands?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:29:00 +0000

Come Monday there'll be a lot of talk about the Super Bowl. Sure, some of it will be about the game, but I'll lay odds that as much or more will be about the commercials. People who don't give a hoot about the outcome of the game will be talking, tweeting, chatting, blogging and watching YouTube videos of the commercials. Is it more about the eyeballs than it is the pigskin?

Some interesting Twittering between @avinashkaushik and @acroll (both of whom I've had the pleasure to work with) about data visualization gave me some ideas. I started to put together year-to-year data on 30-sec advertising spots during the Super Bowl, the average US viewer stats and stats about the growth of Internet users. Munged together, it looks like this:

I interpret this data as follows:

The cost of 30-sec spots at the Super Bowl are trending upward steeply in the last few years
The cost of advertising is increasing at a higher rate than the potential viewership
The growth of Super Bowl viewership is basically on par with the growth of Internet users

Now, let's complement this data with some more:

Twitter usage is up over 600% at the end of 2008
Facebook has over 140M users and growing

A less literal interpretation tells me that advertisers are paying ever-increasing amounts to market to the coveted Super Bowl audience, which is actually expected to decrease from last year. At the same time the potential Internet audience, an ever growing segment of which is accessible via Social Media, is growing at the same or greater rate.

Common sense would also seem to say that engaging via a well thought out Social Media strategy has the potential to be more cost-effective and stickier (how many of those 30-sec spots do you remember the "story" but forget the brand?).

By no means am I suggesting that SM replace these hallowed forms of traditional media. I don't have the data or expertise to support that. That said, I'm not surprised that some savvy brands have chosen to complement their mega-ad spend this year with SM. Check out what Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi have planned for this year's event.

I'll be standing by for the post-game analysis. May the best (smartest) brand win.

Tough Love for the Mouse, a Social Media Tale

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:44:00 +0000

No, we don't have mice in the house, nor do we have a pet mouse. I'm referring to, of course, the Microsoft Laser Laptop mouse currently in use with our "shared" home computer. What's the point? How could this possibly lead to to some insight into Social Media? Keep reading...

I happened to be working from home a few weeks ago, during a blustery, blizzard of a winter day. I was in another room, busy on my laptop, when I overheard my wife complaining that the mouse wasn't working right. I'm not sure, but I think she went through the usual routine:

Unplug and re-plug the USB dongle
Put a fresh battery in the mouse

I guess none of this helped, and I actually walked into the room when I heard a banging, albeit subtle, coming from the room. Turns out she was banging the mouse on the computer desk. When I asked "Why???" the response was "I'm trying to make it work" - with an accompanying look that said - Duh!

I tried to explain (without being too patronizing) that, unlike it's trackball predecessors, this mouse had no relevant moving parts and banging it was more likely to shorten its lifespan than entice it to work. The old approach wasn't going to work with the new technology.

So, while our "lead family musician" has managed to adapt well to some evolutions of our computing environment, such as Facebook, she hasn't quite understood how to make others work.

Ready for the leap? Here goes.

As I read some recent blog posts (including but not limited to Mack Collier, Beth Kanter, Amber Naslund , David Alston and Beth Harte) on how Marketers are struggling with the "hows and whys" of Social Media , it brought this recent at-home incident to mind. With SM as the "buzz du jour," many companies have moved to quickly invest and:

Made mistakes by trying to market to the audience, as in traditional adverts & campaigns, rather than listening and engaging
Overpaid under-qualified consultants for poor advice
Have really gotten it - like Zappos and Dell (amongst numerous others)

In other cases, there's no lack of appreciation that they need to embrace this new platform for engaging customers. That said, tempered with apprehension, ROI comparisons to traditional marketing means and fear, many companies freeze like "deer in the headlights."

Social media is here. Many recognize this, yet IMHO few understand what this means to them, their brand, their customers... Let's hope that as they do move forward with strategies, they've set goals and clearly understand how to make it work for them, rather than having to "bang the mouse" in an attempt to make it work.

Where to Draw the Line in the SAN?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:32:00 +0000

While the title may not completely correlate to the post, I just couldn't pass it up.

As BlackBerries and iPhones continue to permeate our connected culture at an astounding rate, the line between "things" business and personal begins to blur. While some companies provide devices for their employee's use as a theoretical productivity enabler in their job, other situations exist where they don't, and employees use their personal devices for business purposes. They are connected to the corporate network and begin to synchronize email, calendar and other data. At the same time, being personal devices, they will almost certainly contain a wide variety of personal stuff.

Now the million dollar question - Who "owns" the data?

I recently became aware of a situation where a questionable line was drawn, resulting in a messy situation. An employee left his company to move on to other opportunities, taking with him, amongst other things, his personal Blackberry (hereupon known as BB). Later that evening, he happened to glance at his BB just in time to witness the progress of a dreaded event - the BB was halfway through the un-stoppable process of wiping all its data.

Seems his former employer's IT policy was to terminate the BB email account, followed by sending a "kill" signal to the BB. The BB responds to this signal by wiping all of the data on the unit, despite the origin or "ownership" of that data. Justification for this extreme approach was the sanctity of corporate data that no longer belonged to that individual. While a case can certainly be made for removing corporate data from the device, what about the data that the company could lay no claim to - pictures, contacts, music, favorites, ringtones,...?

Is there a right or wrong here? The only thing I know for sure is that it's a gray area which hasn't necessarily been given due consideration in corporate IT policies. Should personal devices be allowed on corporate networks? If they are, policies about the termination of that synchronized relationship need to be made clear up-front. Without that, I can see many unfortunate repeat performances. I get chills as I imagine that sinking feeling, coupled with utter helplessness, as they watch all their "stuff" evaporate in just a few moments.

Why Average Joe (and Jane) should be Twits too

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 00:54:00 +0000

That's right, you heard me (or read, more appropriately) Twits. Not to be confused with the Muggle-Wumps in the Ronald Dahl book. I'm talking about people who Twit... using Twitter.

I've been thinking about this topic for a while, but got some extra inspiration recently. There's been a good deal of chatter amongst the social media pundits about social media and its application in B2B vs B2C environments. Two well respected bloggers I follow, Chris Brogan and Amber Naslund each shared their unique perspectives. Chris offered up that "biggest discernible difference in business communications between those two groups is the justification of purchases." Amber talked about the traditional basics of B2B marketing (mailings, collateral,...) and asked "how do we EVOLVE them?"

Their related posts have one particular thing in common (aside from being much more widely-read than mine) from which I'll diverge - they focus on the business, or B-side of social media. It's no surprise there's a lot of conversation and opinions on this topic, as business grapples with optimizing the use of social media. While it's inspired me, it's not my area of expertise (as yet) so I'm going to focus exclusively on the C's, the everyday consumer, and Twitter in particular.

Twitter isn't brand new, but it has become "all the rage" with the technically savvy and "computer literati" amongst us. It's become mainstream enough in casual conversation that even those of us not joined at the hip to our Crackberries and iPhones want to know what it's all about. And why not? I think they SHOULD.

Social media will likely have revolutionary, lasting impact on how businesses communicate with their audiences. There is, however, a much larger audience out there - everyday folks. Sure, they have computers, but most don't spend all day (or night) on them. Nonetheless, they've still embraced the Internet as a source of information and communication. For many, the recognition of Google and Facebook are on equal footing with the likes of Kleenex and Clorox.

The good news is, there's lots of info out there. The bad news is, there's lots of info out there. Information overload, in fact. What if we were all Evelyn Wood Speed Reading certified for the Internet? We could quickly and easily scan the oodles of blogs and web sites out there and pinpoint just the information that interested us and people we wanted to talk to about it.

Wait a second.... or.. we could just use Twitter! Twitter does the Evelyn Wood part for us - thoughts and ideas are compressed into 140 characters or less. We can use tools like search.twitter.com or Twellow to help find topics and/or people we are interested in reading about and/or conversing with. From there, we can often save time by finding links to relevant blog posts or blogs we'd like to regularly follow. It's an alternate means to the now standard Google search - rather than providing web pages or blogs as a result, it provides people. It then leaves the rest up to you. You can simply read and follow, or choose to make a social connection.

As an avid bass fisherman, I can easily find people that are conversing about bass fishing, follow a few, share some twits and perhaps learn a thing or two. My wife can discover other piano teachers, musicians and even students - she can simply follow, or choose to engage someone interesting in follow-on conversation. It provides an alternate, and perhaps more tangible forum than the email discussion groups she weeds through regularly.

Admittedly, it takes time. It can also get addictive. You'll definitely encounter some meaningless chatter along the way. Hopefully, it'll pay dividends in helping you get what or where you want - faster, and perhaps with some meaningful conversations along the way.

What's it all about?

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:32:00 +0000

These days, there are countless reasons why people blog - many because they truly have unique ideas and perspective to share, others purely to flog a product or service they sell and still others because they can make money doing so, perhaps via advertising. Steve Hodson shares some excellent thoughts and perspective on this topic, and pulls no punches, in a recent blog post. I like it because he exposes numerous contradictions related to making money off the blogsphere.

I don't pass judgement on any of the above. That said, hopefully, eventually, I fall into the first category. I have a keen interest in technology. I come into contact with it in both my personal and professional lives. I like to understand it, but also observe how others understand it - or don't. I see contradictions - in the way people try to use technology, the way they perceive its value. This is what I'll focus my writing on, although please cut me some slack if I veer off occasionally. I'm new at this.

Now, a bit about me.

I moved to Montreal from Long Island almost 20 years ago and began a very interesting, certainly enriching and sometimes tumultuous career in high-tech. I've managed people, products, partners and services. I've been acquired numerous times (my company, that is). I've seen the ups and the downs. I've had to let people go and have been let go myself.

I have one wife (I've personally only been acquired once) and two children. While technology certainly pervades our home life, it is strongly overshadowed by music. More specifically, piano. It's my wife's business, her passion and she takes it very seriously (and there's hell to pay if we don't).

Observing kids, raised in today's totally tech-aware culture, is very interesting - my daughter knows more about computers at 8 than I did at 18. Even more interesting is the observation of a classically trained musician encountering and embracing (and sometimes being smacked around by) technology.

I think I have a pretty fertile ground from which to cultivate my musings...

An Inauguration (of sorts)

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Gero) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:29:00 +0000

I guess it's a day for inaugurations... One of monumental, game-changing proportion to the world community, the other of personal interest to me, and hopefully that of a somewhat smaller community (I'll leave it to you to figure which is which :) )

For my first-ever, inaugural blog post, I'm going to draw a page - somewhat literally and definitely figuratively - from a book I had the good fortune to recently preview. I imagine it's surprising to launch a blog without telling you more about myself and about this blog in particular (please come back later for more of that), but that's exactly the point - Surprise.

Over the Holidays I read Andy Nulman's soon-to-be-released book (see picture) on leveraging the power of "Surprise" in marketing. It's largely based on his successful blog, of which I'm an ardent fan. I decided to write about it here because in addition to being highly thought-provoking, reflecting on it provided the inspiration for naming this very blog. Andy's book is a compelling, interesting, page-turner of a business tome. I don't know about you, but for me combining these adjectives together to describe an educational business book is, well, a contradiction in terms. An oxymoron, you might say. Get the link? I hope so. Andy turns the conventional paradigm of "no pain, no gain" on its head, imparting wisdom in a very pleasurable, humorous fashion.

From the get-go, with forewards by comic icons John Cleese and Craig Ferguson, Andy has your funny bone tickled and your brain engaged. Chapter by chapter, he proceeds to dispense easily- consumable advice on leveraging the power of Surprise to create effective, and hopefully lasting, marketing impact. It's laced with dashes of intriguing personal info, anecdotes and real-world examples. One of my favorites includes a segment about Portland, Oregon specialty donut shop Voodoo Donuts. In addition to a menu composed of completely original handmade treats, they also a sponsor some Surprising events, including ones that'll let the guys see how they stack up - doughnuts, that is. (hint- be sure to read to the bottom of the page)

In our current economic environment, where the theme of "do more with less..." is running rampant, Andy's lessons can be put to good use to create inspiring, memorable marketing campaigns that fit with downsized 2009 budgets. Andy practices what he preaches, covering numerous antics he used to bootstrap the success of his own company.

Don't take my word for it. Surprise yourself, and pick up a copy when it's released later in February.

Disclaimer: I do know Andy. He is, however, just a casual acquaintance. He's better known to my wife, a former neighbor and current Facebook friend of hers. I know him as the former ringmaster (CEO) of the always enjoyable "Just for Laughs" Festival and part of the successful team behind Airborne Mobile (where I plead temporary insanity for not taking advantage of an opportunity to work with him).

He didn't offer me enough of a bribe as incentive to write this, refusing to part with his 'vette (kidding, of course). I decided to do it of my own volition, because Surprisingly or not, he provided me with an early copy when I asked. I truly enjoyed it, and hope others will too.