I Have Seen the Future, and It Is Me

I was profiled in a KDKA TV News feature about Pittsburgh's young entrepreneurs. Reporter Andy Sheehan talked to several local innovators about the ways our businesses differ from the norm -- my tendency to work from cafes while producing STBD, for example, or the wisdom of converting a home into the (multi-employee) office for local design firm Blue Tomato.

As always, most news items about young people in Pittsburgh tend to focus on two themes: whether we'll save the city by reinventing it, or whether the city will empower us to make our dreams come true. This particular clip does a bit of both -- which is typical of the city's identity crisis. As the region with the second-oldest population in the country (behind only Miami), Pittsburgh is forever torn between the need to redefine itself and the presumption that it doesn't have to.

If I were a casual viewer, I'd probably think every one of us featured in this video -- including Nick Pinkston and Kellee Maize -- are naive young crackpots who need a real 9-to-5 job to drive some reality down our throats. But, on the off chance that one of us succeeds, that same casual viewer can take pride in the fact that we didn't listen to their conventional wisdom after all.

What I Do: The Floodgates of Self-Promotion

Sometimes this blog goes quiet for awhile, and people might suspect I'm slacking off. While that's often true, sometimes I actually have legitimate(-ish) work to do.

This week, three different videos (that I had varying amounts of involvement with) have hit the web simultaneously. As much as I'd love to promote each of them independently, I happen to be leaving for vacation in Seattle + Portland shortly, so I've decided to group them all together and minimize my own horn-tooting.

Talking Tea with Joe Torre, Phil Simms & Terry Francona



This is a promotional video that the Creative Concepts agency filmed for Bigelow Tea. I happen to record and edit nearly every video that Creative Concepts produces -- including another Bigelow Tea video we filmed this same day, which generated a little buzz over on Chris Brogan's blog.

Something to Be Desired: Episode 6.7 "The Red Scare"



In addition to my corporate media work, I also produce the web's longest-running sitcom, Something to Be Desired (STBD). We've been on hiatus since mid-December, but I finally found the time to edit a new episode for April Fool's Day. (Fun fact: this episode was filmed on Sunday night, then edited and posted on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Torre video above was filmed before Christmas.)

Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto Answers Questions from Lady Elaine



Pittsburgh city councilman (and occasional STBD guest star) Bill Peduto asked me if I could do him a favor: a local blogger named Lady Elaine asked a series of questions to all local electoral candidates, and instead of responding in text, Bill wanted to work the questions into a video. The results are above -- and yes, there are puppets. (And in case you're wondering: no, the puppets were not purchased with city money... but at least one came from eBay...)

Side note: after posting these videos side by side, I realized my camera work and editing style remain fairly consistent from project to project, regardless of who I'm filming or why. Evidently, I've developed a personal method that works (for me, at least).

So, for everyone who follows me on Twitter and occasionally wonders what the hell I actually do, now you know (some of it, at least).

How Long Is Your Internet Celebrity Shelf Life?

Remember last year's video for Weezer's "Pork and Beans"? It was filled with all the YouTube stars of the moment.

How many of them are still recognizable today?

Internet fame is fleeting. People become disproportionately famous for (usually) doing something novel or unusual, once. And then they attempt to turn that one-time novelty into a brand. And then they try to get paid for it.

Some Schticks Last Longer than Others

Gary Vee has been successful both promotionally and financially with his Wine Library TV webcast, a gig that's grown beyond the confines of the internet and gotten him invited on The Conan O'Brien Show. Gary's content is primarily information-based, which means it's built to last over time instead of flaming out when he can't think of a better punchline.

In order for Gary to start losing traction, he'd need to be outperformed by a competitor who offers:

* more compelling information
* higher-quality content
* better ease of access, or
* a more widely-embraceable personality

And even if that were to happen, Gary still has one more ace in the hole: he was first. Some fans won't ever migrate away from the pioneer, even if the competition is stronger, because legacy occasionally trumps legitimacy.

How to Avoid Rickrolling Yourself

If you're planning on becoming "internet famous," make sure you're extraordinarily:

* informative (particularly within a scalable niche)
* entertaining (at least to a dedicated audience)
* engaging (because nothing replaces authenticity)
* original (and unlikely to be duplicated)
* available (everywhere), or
* first

Unless you're one of those things, odds are, you'll never become the kind of celebrity whose exploits titillate the rabid throngs. Instead, you might be relegated to the island of one-hit web wonders, where the real estate is cheap and the skyscrapers stretch forever upward...

Fantasy Football: Making People Obsessive About Your Brand

I'm in two Fantasy Football leagues this year, and if things go as they should this evening, I'll be 1-0 in both leagues. I won one of these leagues -- managed by Jim at Sportsorcacy -- last year, and came in second in the other, so I may know a thing or two about fantasy football, or I may just be quite lucky.

But one thing fantasy football forces me to be is obsessive.

In order to compete in a league with cash on the line, I need to know more than my opponents. This means that I, like people in every city in the US, will be paying razor-sharp attention to every play, every injury report and every news item, seven days a week for the next 16, in the hopes that some overlooked bit of information will give me an edge in my fantasy football leagues.

And this means your waiter at Chili's tonight probably knows more about the injury status of all 16 starting tight ends in the AFC than he does about his own nephew. You think the NFL isn't thrilled about that?

So... how obsessed is America with YOUR brand?

What Good Is Criticism?

I have a larger point to make, but first, a specific window into the situation:

This is the closing weekend for In Service, a powerful multimedia production that presents the stories of actual Pittsburgh soldiers who've returned from service in Iraq. The show is purposely absent of any slanted political context because it's meant to provide a rare glimpse of the soldiers themselves, not the ideologies behind the war they've fought (and continue to fight).

Ted Hoover, the stage critic for Pittsburgh's City Paper, issued a lukewarm review of the piece. Instead of basing his judgment on what the piece was, he bemoaned what it wasn't -- specifically taking the creators to task for NOT speaking out against the war itself.

To raise that complaint misses the point of the piece entirely, but it also betrays a complicated paradox in the world of art criticism (and critical thinking in general):

What IS the Role of the Critic?

Before you think this question doesn't apply to you, consider this: when was the last time you recommended an album/ movie / TV show / book to someone else?

Did you recommend it because you thought it was legitimately good and worth their time, or because the creation in question was closely aligned with what YOU, personally, enjoy?

Now consider the last time you told someone a book / movie / TV show / song was horrible.

WHY was it horrible?

Was it because the execution was terrible? Because the artist was a fraud? Because the communication was unclear, or the artistic choices were false?

Or, did you simply not like it? (Or, worse, did you not understand it, and therefore you presumed no one else would either?)

The Thin Line Between Criticism and Control

Critics are cynical enough to realize they can't support something their readers won't like. Stray too far from your audience's tastes and they'll forsake you. Thus, to remain relevant, a critic must review all art AS THOUGH HE ALREADY KNOWS WHAT HIS AUDIENCE WILL ACCEPT.

For example, in the case of Pittsburgh theatre, the target audience tends to be adults over the age of 50. Therefore, any play that doesn't speak directly to that demographic is likely to be panned, or commended with caution.

As you can imagine, this creates a stifling atmosphere for artists attempting to create new work, because they have two uphill battles to fight: the one to get an audience to take them seriously, and the one to convince the powers-that-be (who shape the choices of the populace) to convince the masses to take them seriously.

Personal Anecdote Time

Before I ventured into social media, I spent 2+ years as a music critic for the nearly-major music website Splendid (now defunct), out of Chicago. In that time, I reviewed hundreds of CDs, averaging a minimum of 3 per week.

Considering this was an unpaid, "free time" gig, it was in my best interests to plow through the CDs as quickly as possible. Most reviews were written after one or two listens, with only the ones that caught my attention garnering additional quality time.

I know from artist feedback that my reviews validated the burgeoning musical careers of several underground indie artists, who drew strength from my support of their work. I also know (from scathingly-worded emails) that my negative reviews cut the musicians deeply. If I helped keep some artists active, I don't think it's unreasonable to presume I may have also driven others out of their musical dreams altogether.

Looking back, it's ironic that a review written in haste might have caused a potentially talented musician -- who happened to not yet be "up to par" with others of his / her ilk -- to throw in the towel prematurely.

And yet, that's the power (fair or not) that every critic has with each word he commits to paper and page.

So, the Real Question Is...

... should a critic support the work of an artist who has the potential to become great, even if that work isn't yet fully commendable, because the risk of smiting that dream too early might mean the absence of new work that could someday change the world?

Or, should a critic be exceedingly harsh and unrelenting, fostering an environment where only the strongest survive?

Is a critic's primary function to be a guide for the audience or the artist?

How each critic answers those questions determines the role he seeks to fill: cheerleader or executioner?

Then again, EVERYONE'S a critic -- so what do YOU think?

Test-Driving BlogRush

Andy Quayle asked (via Twitter) if anyone else was using BlogRush. Having never heard of it, I checked it out and, suitably interested, dedided to give it a shot myself.

What Is BlogRush?

It's a traffic aggregator for your blog.

See the new BlogRush widget in my sidebar? Those are all links to other people's blog posts, which BlogRush thinks cover some of the same bases as my own blog posts. Kind of like Google ads, but for blog referrals instead of retailers.

How Does Blog Rush Work?

That remains to be seen, since I just installed it. But, in theory, every time someone comes to this site, one of my blog posts gets pinged out into the BlogRush referral network. If I get 100 visitors a day, the BlogRush network will ping my posts through that widget 100 times.

Where it gets interesting is in the "tiered structure" of referrals: if you sign up for BlogRush by clicking on the tab below the widget (or by clicking here), my blog(s) get additional views via the BlogRush network. (And if someone signs up through your widget, we both benefit... and on and on...)

So It's a Pyramid Scheme?

I'm not sure.

On one hand, yes, it does seem structured that way. But since the resources being aggregated are page views, not actual cash, it somehow seems more benevolent, no?

On the other hand, it could easily become a tool for spammers, so I'm very interested to see how BlogRush combats that.

And, lastly, I have no idea how this applies to RSS views. If someone reads my blog posts in a reader and never actually visits the site... does that register as a "visit"?

It's all food for thought, but I'm interested in seeing how it plays out. I'm also interested in seeing how accurate the widget aligns other blog posts with mine. Semantic web, here we come...

Who's Your Tour Guide?

For the past year, every time I've mentioned PodCamp Pittsburgh, someone's said, "Oh, yeah. I wish I'd heard about that BEFORE it happened -- I'd have loved to be there."

This year, as I'm inviting people / companies to take part, I'm well aware that the exact same thing is going to happen as last year:

1. People think, "why would I want to attend a social media conference in Pittsburgh?" (This step applies to people IN Pittsburgh, too.)

2. About 200-250 people will attend PCPGH2 over the course of two days.

3. The people who attend PCPGH2 will have a great time.

4. Those people will tell their friends.

5. Every time I mention PodCamp Pittsburgh 2, people will say, "Man, I WISH I'd heard about that beforehand..."

6. I will continue to wonder where people in this city (or anywhere else) get their information from.

The More Maps, The Better

When I was in London, I had three different maps / guidebooks. Each of them offered a different "take" on the city, as well as being practical in different ways (i.e., a pocket map vs. a fully illustrated guidebook vs. a "thrifty traveler" paperback guide). I could have enjoyed myself even with only one of the three, but having them all gave me a wider view of my options.

In Pittsburgh, the recurring argument is that no one ever knows when anything COOL is happening. We have a free City Paper, several event-based websites, bulletin boards in trendy cafes and general word-of-mouth... and yet, when I attend arts or social events, I routinely see the same people at each one.

Either there's only about 200 active people in this city, or we're all getting the same information within our walled gardens.

If someone DOESN'T hear about PodCamp Pittsburgh before Aug 18-19, I'm left to wonder -- where ARE they getting their information?

Why We Should All Be Tour Guides

How often have you really wanted to see a movie, attend a gallery show or check out a new restaurant... but you're afraid to mention it because you suspect your friends won't be interested?

By not mentioning your interest, you're preventing your friends from possibly enjoying something they might never have considered on their own.

Conversely, if I publicly promote an event I'm attending, it has a chance of being heard about by hundreds of people far beyond my immediate reach. That information ripples... but it only ripples if we make that information available.

What are YOU doing this weekend?

Do your friends know?

Network2 Takes Manhattan

Chris Brogan, Jeff Pulver and the Network2 crew went to Times Square yesterday to relive the glory days of MTV -- specifically, the "I Want My MTV!" battle cry.

The results can be seen here.

No better way to build a buzz than by getting attractive people to shout about your product in Times Square, no?

How Many Social Networks Does It Take to Screw in a Lightbulb?

As I mentioned yesterday, I recently joined Virb, on the advice of Justine, who proudly proclaims Virb to be the new and improved version of MySpace.

I agree, Virb is nice. It's clean. It allows for increased customizability without needing to resort to trolling the internet for hacks and codes. And because it's so new, it doesn't have the profile that attracts spammers (yet).

But why do I need Virb? I already have a MySpace.

Tool Time

I've also been toying with Ning and People Aggregator, which are two sites that allow you, the user, to CREATE YOUR OWN social networks.

Why?

What will your new social network do that you can't already accomplish with a forum, a message board, or a Twitter account?

Some people like, Steve Garfield, use Ning as a catch-all for existing groups, like Boston Mediamakers. That would make sense, as long as the group doesn't already have its own website or wiki.

After all, isn't asking people to come to two different sources for the same information a bit redundant? And if there's different information on both sites, isn't that a bit presumptuous to assume that a group's members have the time and interest to visit both sites regularly?

As with your blog and your actual site, all peripherals -- MySpace, Twitter, wikis, etc. -- must build back to the same brand. They must build on the overall experience for a member of your group -- or, in STBD's case, our fans -- rather than creating a disjointed, cacophonous racket.

They Can't All Be Screwdrivers

However, that's not to say you can't happily maintain a presence on numerous social networking platforms.

The question is, WHAT DO YOU DO at each of them?

As the grandaddy of the form, MySpace has one thing going for it: numbers. It's easier to aggregate a large audience there than anywhere else, solely because they already have the userbase. If you need to get a message out fast to the legions, MySpace is the place to do it.

So why use another service? Because perhaps there are actions you can take there that you can't take at MySpace.

Let's consider Virb again. What are the pros?

- Clean
- Easily customizable
- Everything is taggable
- Shareable playlists
- No spam (yet)

And the cons?

- Small(er) userbase
- Small(er) growth rate
- Potential redundancy with MySpace

So, from a user-end POV, if I didn't already have a MySpace, I'd choose Virb in a heartbeat. Presuming it'll continue to grow at a healthy clip as more and more people discuss it, it may become the social networking site of choice for people who prefer it to the five-and-dime look (and interface) of MySpace.

What potential actions could be taken on a smaller, more nimble platform? Could Virb be used to:

- Create a "street team" of more centralized, passionate individuals?
- Recruit extras for filming group scenes, with friends sorted by location tags?
- Program a faux-podcast using the built-in shareable playlist feature?
- Easily buzz businesses for sponsorships or event hosting, using friend tags?
- Encourage fans to customize their own brand-themed Virb pages?

MySpace has long been established as a place where users come to "hang out" and exchange information about themselves. With a name like "Virb," it seems only natural that the site could be used for far more action-oriented experiences.

What other ways could you use Virb?

What other ways could you use other social networks?

(Secret?) Identities

Christopher Penn has a pair of very valid blog posts about how the Web 2.0 is quickly becoming the Matrix 2.0, and on the value of protecting your brand name assets on Twitter.

This got me thinking about a number of related topics.

Self-Defense Real Estate

- Do you own the URL of your name (i.e. "YOU dot com")? If you don't, who does?
- Do you own all available comparison URLs of your name ("YOU dot net, YOU dot tv, etc.)?

If you don't, or if you believe you're "not important enough" to need to, let me ask you this: what happens when you ARE "important enough" to become a household name, even in a very small circle?

Chances are, you'll BECOME popular because other people are talking about you... and other people may realize the value of your name before you do.

The savvy people are out there right now, buying up every URL associated with their own names, "just in case."

The savvier people are out there buying up every URL associated with OTHER PEOPLE'S names...

HappyBaptism.com

- Do you own the URLs for your children's names?

Let's presume that the web, as we know it, is here to stay, and that URLs will still be a valid way around the information superhighway in another 20-30 years.

How many of us have children who -- like ourselves -- may someday grow up to "be someone"?

Imagine how grateful you'd be, as a kid, knowing that your online identity was safely registered by your parents before you could even clutch a mouse. It certainly beats the alternative: knowing that you'll someday need to buy that URL back from some black market identities dealer who's currently using it as an affiliate site.

All Websites Are Actually Real Estate Agencies

- Is your profile registered on MySpace? Facebook? Digg? Twitter? Technorati?...

I recently joined Virb, a new social networking site... or, rather, STBD did.

I initially saw Virb as a new networking / marketing tool -- a cleaner version of MySpace -- so I registered a profile for Something to Be Desired. As I'm writing this post, I realize I haven't yet signed up as myself yet... so I just did.

I could (and should) do the same for every other social networking site on the planet... and every other web app that could be used for marketing, communication and brand imaging. So should you.

EVERY WEBSITE is a potential link into your world -- or your brand / product / business -- for someone else.

Think I'm joking? Google me. What do you see?

As of today, the top search results are:

- Something to Be Desired (the web sitcom I produce)
- The STBD blog
- This blog
- My Technorati tag
- My Blogger profile (including my AIM handle)
- A Jeff Pulver blog post referencing me
- Bryan Person's audio interview with me from PodCamp Boston
- STBD's Network2 show page
- A Chris Brogan interview with me from April of last year
- My MyFeedz tag

Observations?

- The easiest way for people to find me is through my work.
- Blogger and Network2 are ways to find me that I have AT LEAST SOME CONTROL OVER.
- Technorati and MyFeedz tags are ways to find me that I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER.
- Pulver, Person and Brogan's blog posts are also inbound links to my life that I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER.

Two other interesting notes:

- The Brogan interview was several pages down on my personal Google search results in April of last year. (Yes, I ego-surf.) Since then, Brogan and I have each seen our profiles rise, to the point that this same once-buried interview is now hot stuff.

- My MyFeedz tag actually produces no results. I've never even heard of MyFeedz until just now. But evidently other people have, and whatever is said about me there will have a much better chance of being heard by others than what I might say myself on, say, the PodCamp Pittsburgh Feedback page, which doesn't appear until the fourth page of Google search results.

What Does This Mean?

- You'll never have 100% control of how you're viewed by other people -- especially online.
- You DO have SOME control over how you're viewed -- and you should take those opportunities to stake your claim (and "defend your brand").
- You never know when your profile on an arbitrary website, a comment you've left on a blog or something you say in an interview will be stumbled upon by someone else, and THAT WILL BE SOMEONE'S FIRST IMPRESSION OF YOU.

Each of us needs to decide exactly how much of a "public persona" we're interested in cultivating online, and how much of a "private persona" we're willing to live without.

Think Michael Jackson had it bad walking down the street in the '80s without being recognized? That's nothing compared to what Britney Spears contends with from Perez Hilton on a daily basis -- or what you face thanks to Google, MySpace, WordPress, Twitter...

I Went and Done It

I activated my Twitter account...

Now the world can breathlessly follow my story as I... um... do pretty much what I always do...

Or do MORE...

The Three Elements I'm Most Interested In Exploring

1. HOW DOES A ROVING 'AWAY' MESSAGE IMPACT MY LIFE?

- Will I come to enjoy leaving updates?
- Will I feel burdened by the oversharing?
- Will I feel the need to do more interesting things in order to justify the time it takes people to read my updates?

(You could apply that last sentence to pretty much any phase of my life. Or yours.)

2. WHAT CAN TWITTER DO FOR ME?

I know Twitter can help me keep in touch with everyone on my list. But I could already do that through other services. This is just one more wrinkle along the corduroy information superhighway.

More interestingly:

- How can Twitter be hacked to become productive? (Christopher Penn has a good idea.)
- What information can I gather from Twitter that I can't gather elsewhere?
- How will what basically amounts to a neverending passive-agressive chatroom morph into a valuable font of real-time feedback?

3. WHAT'S NEXT?

- Will Twitter expand its operations to other services?
- Will hacking (or open sourcing) enable users to turn Twitter into MySpace 2.0?
- Will social networking as a whole become a new lifestyle we can't imagine living without?

We shall see...

Creative Treehouse Recap

I'm not sure if the readers of this blog overlap completely with the readers of my STBD Behind the Scenes blog or not. In case they dont:

Ann Turiano (Caroline) and Erik Schark (Rich) from STBD attended the grand opening of Creative Treehouse this weekend. The facility kicked off with a 24-hour creative marathon, which involved over 70 artists creating original work on-site within a 24-hour time limit. Those works went on display (and on sale, as a fundraiser) after the 24 hours were up.

I shot a 5:00 summary / promo video of the event. Very cool stuff. It's great to see Pittsburgh's creative community coming together to embrace a new venue AND a new concept in collaboration.