Tweet Tooth

I'm following nearly 200 folks on Twitter. And, even though there's a good amount of Twitter overlap amongst my friends -- i.e., a lot of us show up on each other's lists -- I'm willing to be there are a few folks that I consider to be irreplaceable in my day, but whom you have never met, nor even heard of.

Thus, an idea -- not unlike Blog Day:

Who Are Five People YOU Should Be Following on Twitter?

(NOTE: This list is completely subjective AND meant to suggest those flying under-the-radar, so I won't be including obvious names like Chris Brogan.)

1) Jim Long -- A veteran NBC cameraman who often tweets from the field, Jim takes us behind the scenes of the world news machine. I learned about the VA Tech incident and the President's trip to Iraq from Jim's tweets long before I heard about them on the "news."

2) Scott Simpson -- Quite possibly the funniest man on Twitter. (I won't bore you with the details of his day job, and neither will he.)

3) Locobone -- More pop culture skewering than an episode of MST3K. His blog is quite good, too (but needs to be updated more often *nudge*).

4) Zadi Diaz -- The face of JetSetShow, she also does a great job representing the pulse of the West Coast social media scene. We East Coasters could use more of Zadi.

5) 21st Century Citizen -- Not funny, just practical. If you're even the slightest bit Green -- or would like to be -- these tweets may come in handy. (I know, 2000+ followers isn't exactly "under the radar," but still...)

So... who are YOUR suggestions?

VON: The Industry Perspective

I don't proclaim to know everything there is to know about our industry. If I did, I'd have retired by now.

But I do know a lot about the content creator's side of the story, and I got a much better perspective of how we're perceived -- and where our industry is heading -- at VON.

Bright, Shiny Things

Six months ago, I said "it's frustrating to be one of the only people in the room (at VON) that gets it."

"It" was the potential of web video, and the other people in the room were primarily old media representatives trying to figure out how to do old things with new media. The possibilities were endless, but they were only interested in looking at it from the pre-existing standpoint of control and monetization, without seeing the bigger picture.

Now, we content creators are no longer the shaggy, ill-portending strangers we may have been percieved as previously. Instead, people recognize that we're here to stay, and that we've earned a place at the table (which we've essentially built ourselves, so thank you).

In one way, we're the bright, shiny things in the room. Everyone else is attracted to our potential, but no one's really sure what to do with us -- or what we CAN do -- yet.

Neither are we.

The Downside

The bulk of the presentations I saw were directed at existing industry employees looking to monetize the space.

This makes absolute sense, because that's who the conference is for. And, without someone finding a way to monetize web video, it won't grow past the YouTube stage anytime soon.

The frustrating part is, listening to a pack of industry "experts" sharing their viewpoints -- and frequently exchanging information that seems flat-out pointless -- does nothing to boost morale among those of us looking to disrupt the playing field. It actually worries me that people are spending this much time, effort and money to NOT get ahead of the curve.

Example: a gentleman from Nielsen was invited to give a presentation on audience metrics. Despite assurances that this man was chock-full of vital information, the six of us from the content creator side could not believe the words coming out of the man's mouth. As any of us will tell you, the high point came in the following quote:

"The bad news is, homes with broadband connections are watching less television."

Um... Bad news for who? Those of us already creating content in this space or those in the industry who still think "Must-See TV" is the cutting edge?

(More alarming: given that the event was called "Video on the Net," who exactly was that comment directed at? The people who see video as a necessary evil, or another task they have to channel into their workflow? Was this conference seen by some as a warning rather than an opportunity?)

Suffice it to say, that kind of talk left a few of us out of the loop on occasion.

The Upside

It's always great to see so many content producers in one spot. Anytime this occurs, a few things happen:

- Old friendships are rekindled
- New friendships are begun
- Information about HOW we do what we do is exchanged, improving everyone's work, and
- New ideas are generated through conversations you just can't have electronically

At an event like this, you also get to take a peek at the new technologies coming down the pipeline and wonder, "What COULD we do with something like this?"

I met so many great people at VON that I don't want to slight anyone by choosing favorites. However, there are three companies whose services stuck in my mind:

- VideoEgg is a service that enables video producers to embed clickable ads in an overlay channel, similar to watching a football game and seeing an ad for the network's news show pop up at the bottom of the screen. Except, in this case, it's clickable. Could be a great alternative to post-roll advertisements. They also offer distribution options through a network of affiliate channels.

- Visible Measures was the exception to the "metrics" rule. These folks understand what we content producers ACTUALLY want: comprehensive understanding of how our audience interacts with our media.

In this case, their systems can analyze every frame of your video and tell you which sections have the highest drop-off rates and which ones are rewound and rewatched the most. Forget "number of plays" -- now you can chart individual interactions on a second-by-second basis. Partner tyhis with an ad overlay service (like VideoEgg) and now you have a marketing weapon.

- Bubble PLY, by PLY Media, is the wild card. I'm most interested in them because, quite simply, I don't think they've yet understood the full potential of their own software.

In a nutshell, this is the interactive web video version of "Pop Up Video": content creators can allow visitors to overlay their own word balloons, thought bubbles and caption boxes atop existing video, thereby changing the content directly by adding a pseudo-narration... or a self-mocking tone... or vital statistics... or trivia... or advertisements... or easter eggs...

The sky's the limit here, and this is one of the first ways I've seen that we at STBD, for example, could open the doors to our audience and allow them to tinker with our "finished product" (i.e., each new episode). We're in discussions with the folks at PLY to see how best we can make this happen. Look for a mini-announcement in the next week.

Summary

We're not light years away from last year's VON Boston, but we have made progress. More than anything else, the space has become MUCH more crowded. If VON Boston was the wild west, this is the Land Rush: everyone wants a stake in what's happening, even if they're not sure what it'll lead to next.

It's a very exciting, occasionally aggravating, and ultimately eye-opening time. Thus, I leave you with three bits of observed wisdom:

1. Make friends. (It's impossible to do this alone. It's even worse to attend an industry cocktail party and not bring business cards.)

2. Keep friends. (It's great to know everyone. It's better to actually know a few people WELL. Those are the people who will make an effort to help you succeed and see you as more than just a number.)

3. Ask questions. (Having surfed the various blogs and Flickr photos after the event, I'm amazed at everyone I didn't talk to. Whether I just didn't see them or I didn't think to introduce myself, there go another 2 dozen great conversations -- and contacts, and resources -- I could have enjoyed.)

Don't confuse this space with something that makes sense. We're all in this together. Start making waves.

Why Break Down When You Can Build Up?

Since it's so easy to find information about anything -- or anyone -- online these days, each of us now has a certain responsibility every time we type a word, record a syllable or post a video to the web: we have the power to create or destroy.

I Know I've Got a Bad Reputation... And It Isn't Just Talk, Talk, Talk...

By now, we all know the power of Jeff Jarvis's dissatisfaction with Dell: he complained about their poor customer service on BuzzMachine and became the leading spokesperson about their business practices.

If someone is dissatisfied with YOUR business, product or services, the damage they can do to your brand and reputation is far greater than the good they could do if they were madly in love with you. Why? Because it's been proven through numerous consumer behavior studies that customers are nearly 10 times more likely to tell their friends about a BAD experience they had with a business than they are to relate a GOOD experience.

People take good service for granted. People EXPECT you to deliver what you promise.

But if there's a wrinkle in the plan, their good graces go out the window.

Suddenly, your five minute delay or minor hiccup could cost your customer time or money -- and their vitriolic review of you online (or to their friends, who could ALSO bash you online) could cost YOU even more.

And yet... instead of sitting around complaining about the ills of the world, think of how much more productive we could be if we all spread the word about the POSITIVE experiences we have.

Pass It On

Someone you know is taking part in a cancer run. Someone else is volunteering at a daycare or a homeless shelter. And someone else is trying to figure out what, exactly, to do about Darfur.

Does everyone else in your social circle know about these compelling individuals? Does everyone you connect with have an avenue to assist these folks in whatever way they can?

Probably not.

Probably because you took your ten minutes of blogging or Twittering time today to update people about how lousy you feel, or how pressured, or how something important broke, or how angry you are at a waitress or clerk or civil servant who didn't move your day along as fast as possible.

So, instead of linking the people you know to the information you KNOW they should be aware of, you instead become yet another voice of dissent in their lives. You may be amusing, you may be insightful, you may be hysterical -- most of all, you may be RIGHT -- but the one thing you're NOT doing is ADDING to the conversation.

Think about it: would you rather your friends all go to bed tonight knowing that TalkShoe is helping Kiva finance small businesses in developing countries through their Talkathon, or knowing that traffic was horrible both to AND from Wendy's, and that your hamburger was undercooked?

There are millions of people out there who are dissatisfied about something. That's why spreading good news tends to stand out so clearly: no one else is doing it.

5 Ways Twitter Has Changed My Life (After a Week)

I started using Twitter last Monday.

I was wary. I didn't know if it would be worth my time. I didn't understand how another attention-stealing device could improve my life.

After 8 days of use, here are my five observations:

1. Twitter Is Highly Addictive

This is obvious, because that's what Twitter was built to do. It's designed to enthrall the generation that can't help oversharing with itself, 24/7. But it's WHY in which it's addictive that's unusual.

Unlike a publicly-accessible forum, in which you may or may not particularly care what half the commenters have to say, the members of your Twitter group are all friends you've VOLUNTARILY chosen to "follow." This amounts to a nonstop stream-of-consciousness dialogue with the people whose opinions and anecdotes you inherently care about.

In my case, my Twitter friends happen to be a few dozen of the movers and shakers in the new media space. This colors the information I receive. Instead of inane posts from friends whose lives are no more interesting than where they're eating dinner and what they're watching on TV, I get real-time windows into the offices and mobile lives of the people who are changing the way we communicate.

This enables me to take action or supply information as needed on an instantaneous basis, which means I need to stay connected.

2. Twitter Replaces Multiple Websites and Apps

Twitter is billed as a "better IM" -- or, in some circles, the app that will kill blogs -- but I disagree.

I see Twitter as an ever-updating group chat or forum thread. Here, my Twitter friends can post links to news articles they're reading (or writing), events they're attending, pop culture they're consuming and world events they're considering.

Instead of needing to check Digg, Newsvine, CNN and other rapidly-updated sites all day, I can usually gleam the best of the buzz from my Twitter list. If something's relevant or worth talking about, someone on my list probably mentioned it, and included a link.

Instead of leaving Instant Messenger open all day, I now logon only when I'm looking to communicate with someone directly and privately and may need to transfer files. (I could do most of that directly in Twitter as well, but I have yet to cycle AIM completely out of my bag of tricks.)

And I check MySpace almost exclusively for business purposes at this point, because the people I'm really interested in keeping up with are on my Twitter list -- and I don't need to waste time opening their messages or approving their comments in Twitter; they're just there.

3. Twitter Inspires Me to Do More

Seeing what everyone on my Twitter list is up to reminds me that I need to keep up with their productivity.

At my old day jobs, I paced my workflow against that of my managers. If they seemed to be slacking, I knew I could slow down because the vibe was mellow. If they were stressed out, I knew I'd better keep my head down and get things done.

Now I can gauge the day's workvibe against my Twitter friends. And since the folks I follow on Twitter are all involved in a medium I'm highly interested in, and their work has massive and far-reaching impacts on the medium (and on me), they set the bar pretty high.

Speaking of which...

4. Twitter Urges Me to Be More Relevant

The meta-conversation my Twitter friends have tends to be the kind of conversation that moves a medium forward. At any given moment, a few of them can be asking questions, soliciting advice and making connections. If I'm fast on the draw, I can be part of the problem-solving process.

Twitter is also a great place for self-promotion. Did you just blog about something? Include a link in your Twitterstream. Are you being interviewed at a certain time and place? Mention that to your "followers." New song? New video? New website you've found that no one else seems to have glommed onto yet? Stake your find on Twitter.

Meanwhile, if I've noticed that 3 or 4 of my own most recent Twitter updates are of the "what I ate for dinner" variety, I realize I need to get back to work...

5. Twitter Reminds Me to Get Up Earlier

If I didn't realize I was wasting time by sleeping in before, I certainly do now.

It's embarrassing to see Chris Penn posting a new Financial Aid Podcast, Chris Brogan wading through three meetings, Jeff Pulver flying through twelve time zones and Steve Garfield raising the dead before I've even had breakfast.

Striving to keep up with my contemporaries means I need to get at the workload earlier and hit it harder. Otherwise, the dozens of people who get my Twitter updates will start noticing I haven't been around, and they may presume I'm wasting time... and they might be right.

The Last Word

Despite the downsides to the service -- it's obviously growing faster than it can handle, and it doesn't currently support a lot of features that many of us are striving to find workarounds for (like groups, filtering and "highlight reels") -- the immediate upside is hard to argue.

Twitter hasn't yet changed my life in such drastic tones that I can't imagine not having it around. But it certainly does add a new facet to my daily web life that I'm finding increasingly more dynamic by the day. And it enables me to live at the pulse of the new media lifeline.

I don't believe I'm jumping the gun when I say: The revolution will not be televised -- it will be Twittered.

Get By (Or Not) With a Little Help from Your Friends

Michael Bailey at MobaSoft has had a series of revealing blog posts lately.

In seasonal fashion, he's been working through the same late-winter blahs that affect most of us, and cause us to second-guess what we're doing and why. A few days ago, it looked as if he was getting ready to hang it up for good -- all before his product ever officially launched.

But now he's decided to carry on, albeit with a change of procedure: he's flying solo instead of working with friends.

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

It's a tough situation to work closely with friends because the lines between casual and professional interaction -- and expectations -- can become fuzzy.

- Friends may not do what you need them to do.
- Friends may not know what they CAN do, so they overinflate their value.
- Friends may take liberties that strangers wouldn't.
- Friends may not work as hard as strangers.
- Friends may not listen.

When it comes time to make hard choices, often it's the friendship that suffers more than the business. Any business can rebound from the loss of a single employee, no matter how integral he or she is to the business structure. But a friendship is between two people, and when the connecting lines have become tangled, severing one set often means you end up severing both.

Personally, on paper, I'd never advocate working with friends. And yet I continually work with friends and acquaintances on projects large and small. Why?

- Friends already "know" me, and are personally invested in seeing me / us succeed.
- Friends know people, and can introduce me to them.
- Friends take phone calls at 3 AM.
- Friends talk me down when the going gets tough.
- Friends understand that there's more to life than business.

But the most important reason I choose to work with people I know is:

- Success feels better with a team I cherish, and I already cherish my friends.

Come Together

Not everyone I work with is a friend, but almost everyone I work with BECOMES a friend. That's because I can't help but endeavor to make a connection with someone that extends beyond paperwork and deadlines. I want to RELATE to the people I like / admire / connect with, not simply be a name in their address book.

When I started Something to Be Desired, I did so with a few friends. We needed a larger cast, so they tapped a few of their friends. With rare exception, our initial cast was comprised of people 1 or 2 degrees away from me personally, which gave us a personal stake in the series' success.

Now, our cast is so large, I couldn't possibly be close friends with everyone. But that doesn't mean we're not all "close," in a way. When you're dedicating as much time and effort to a venture as the STBD cast is, you can't help but form the kind of bond you often hear about in film crews, bands and small businesses: we're a family. We may have black sheep, problem children and estranged cousins, but we're all in it together and we find a way to make it work.

The Long and Winding Road

Sometimes, despite everyone's best intentions, it doesn't work out.

Sometimes working with friends doesn't produce the desired results. In those cases, we're faced with a decision: accept the situation and learn to work within the new realm of (lowered) expectations, or cut ties (professionally) in the hopes of sticking to the original vision.

Your decision is based upon your own desire as a leader: is the success of your idea more important than the stability of your friendship?

Your answer will vary depending upon the issue at hand and the strength of the friendship. Sometimes you need to be willing to bend. Other times, you need to be willing to break -- up the partnership.

Ob La Di, Ob La Da, Life Goes On

Some friendships thrive on conflict. One promotional team we've worked with before is comprised of friends who drive each other crazy in their drive to get things done.

"So," I asked them last week, "when are you two moving in together to maximize productivity?"

"We're not," came the answer. "She yells at me too much."

It doesn't mean they're not friends -- they were sitting right next to each other and laughed, because they both know it's true. But they've identified where their boundaries between work and friendship lie. They know how to push each other's buttons just enough to get the job done without causing personal strife.

Find those people. Find those boundaries. Find something you want to create together. Go forward.

And, should your paths diverge, wish each other the best. Leave the communication channels open.

You never know when your paths will cross again.