CheapThrills

My blog was hacked!

Seriously?

Don't people have anything better to do than sit around cracking the code for CheapThrills?

See post below. I didn't delete... for some ridiculous reason I find the whole situation incredibly amusing. I mean come on - Personalised Number Plates? Really? Couldn't even attempt to match my content? Hide an obscene joke in there or something? Or even so much as spell "personalized" correctly?

These hackers are incredibly unimpressive.

Scratch that. Kinda impressive. So now that I've praised your craftsmanship will ya leave me alone, hacker?

Obama's VP text/e-mail announcement and faith in the next generation

I remember learning of Barack Obama’s Iowa win via text message. A bunch of my oldschool friends were in town, and the news made an already tasty night even sweeter. Learning of the win “on location” (i.e. at the bar) gave us the opportunity to celebrate night right: we toasted, hugged, bounced around the restaurant excitedly and talked politics for the rest of the evening.

My generation texts everything, because texts cut the crap – good ones are short, easy to follow and, most importantly, informative. Receiving a text that says “what up” is seriously wack. But give me some news or update that I really want, and I’m all over it. I’m hungry for it.

As a digital marketer, I see corporations starting to understand the real opportunity that text messages present. Mobile coupons, text-to-wins, updates – it works if it’s done right. But so many companies are really scared of new media. They don’t trust it

So yesterday I was a bit stunned upon receiving this e-mail from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. My thoughts went a little something like this: “Announce the VP choice via text and e-mail? Seriously? He’s crazy. Oh, and that’s so ridiculously awesome, I gotta go sign up right away.”

 

The choice that the Obama campaign made is daring, that’s for sure. They’re putting tremendous faith in new media. But it’s funny, by using new media - my media - and as the only platform to announce such important news, I feel as though the Obama campaign is tremendous faith in me as well – which feels really good.

Because you and I both know that when I receive the VP text, I’ll shout it out all over the bar. Apparently the Obama campaign knows that too.

Related:
Washington Post: Obama Nearing a Veep Decision?

Mad Men again... AMC's online casting contest produces gems

The You Could Be On Mad Men Contest: make the best 1-minute video and get flown out to L.A. for a walk-on role in a future episode of the show. Great use of user-generated video.

But also, some of these entries are freaking crazy! It's like, either the actors takes themselves way too seriously (umm, what's up with all the camera cuts here?), or they just kinda suck,

OR they make a mockery of the whole thing. Like this one (clip below), by Victor Fischbarg. He only has 2 votes so far, so he probably won't get very far. But dude. Come on. The hand? That's awesome. You'll win my eternal admiration if you can find a more craptacular character rendition.

Diggbama: the intersection of politics and emerging media

I got into a heated discussion last week with a co-worker about presidential candidates with respect to their comfort in the digital space (is it nauseatingly obvious that we work in the Internets?).

My friend Action Bob was trying to tell me that he didn’t think Obama’s campaign had enough understanding of emerging media to address the wired world we live in. Of course, I vehemently disagreed with him – citing everything from Obama’s very interactive, social web-focused website, to his campaign’s savvy use of the Internet to organize volunteers and fundraisers, to the simple fact that his kids are young and growing up with the Web at their fingertips.

And there’s also the fact that Obama supporters really get the power of the Web… inside and out. An example? This crazy new Digg-like site . It’s a place where Obama supporters can post ideas for the campaign and others can rank the posts up or down. There’s already some smart stuff posted - I'm impressed.  I’d suggest a new name for the site though – OhBoyObama doesn't even make any sense. I’d call it Diggbama.

I’m also wondering if the creators of the site have relinquished full control to the users, or if they’re moderating the posts as they go up. Because, in light of recent “jokes”, I could see a few conservatives posting some vile mess. But I’m sure that kind of nonsense would get voted down…

...Ahh, the beauty of the social web.

Politico's Ben Smith: Campaign by Digg

Final takeaway from ad:tech ’08: Kevin Rose is much more gentlemanly than Michael Arrington

The tumbleweeds were rolling at the Moscone Center yesterday afternoon as ad:tech ’08 came to a close. I always find it depressing when something that was once so full of life ends – I get really teary at the end of movies when there’s a flashback scene to the way things once were.

But anyway, here are some things about ad:tech that stuck with me, on both a professional and a personal level:

• Thursday afternoon’s Widgets and Gadgets panel was packed! Seems like everyone is interested in incorporated widgets into their marketing mix somehow. But how? What's the best way? No one really knows. All of the panel members had a different definition for what makes a widget successful – from active users to downloads to buzz generation. But everyone agrees that, when done right, widgets can vastly expand and monetize your reach.
• But that’s not what everyone will be talking about after ad:tech ’08. What will be on everyone’s mind are NBC CDO George Kliavkoff’s comments on iTunes and piracy. I put a short post up on this a few days ago, but check out Sean Howard’s comments over at Craphammer for some great detailed insight.
• The parties weren’t as awesome as everyone hyped them up to be. At least on Tuesday and Thursday. Apparently I missed all the crazy Wednesday night action.
• This industry really needs some estrogen and some color. Pronto. On average, there were 0 - 1 females (who could barely get a word in edgewise), 0 - .5 people of color (including ONE sole African-American man), and 0 - 0 African-American women (i.e not a single one) sitting on each panel. This became exceptionally apparent to Katie Chatfield of GetShouty and I during Internet Superstar’s closing keynote. There are quite a few female internet superstars out there, but not one was interviewed during this live broadcast. The interview couch resembled a frat house basement. Lots of talk of bad alcohol, French maids, ninjas… you know, normal guy stuff. Which is always funny... kinda.
• But I did get a kick out of Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg.com and creator of Diggnation. He talks faster than a tween on Red Bull and is richer than everyone I know (combined), but he still has a certain... je ne sais quoi about him. Let's call it charm. And he didn’t snuff me at the afterparty when I went over to chat, which is more than I can say about other Internet... celebs, if you will. In my opinion, you can always tell a lot about someone's true character based on how they treat those outside of their close circle. And based on their smile in a photo :) Kevin's seems pretty genuine.

• The best parts of the conference, by far, were the enthusiastic high-level conversations, deep discussions and general nights of merriment with my fellow bloggers and friends. Oh, the beauty of the face-to-face! Look for more perspectives on ad:tech ‘08 from bloggers Sean Howard, Katie Chatfield, Cam Beck and Paul McEnany.

ad:tech - Oh, the gimmicks at the show

One of the best things about a conference is the ways in which a company will try to lure attendees into its booth. Of course, there’s the depressingly obvious and narrow-minded use of the “booth babe” (see Valleywag’s round up for more on that), but it’s inspiring when companies get a little creative. Yesterday afternoon, Paul McEnany from HeeHaw Marketing and I took to the ad:tech Exhibition Hall in search of free stuff and craptacular gimmicks.

AdShuffle and Adify were both giving away a free Wii. AdShuffle handed out tote bags with little scratch tickets attached. Paul apparently “won” and he was psyched, until he realized he was only a runner up when he was handed a bright orange AdShuffle-branded Rubik’s Cube.

Vegas time over at the Adify booth – my bet via business card placement almost won me a Wii. So close, and yet so far away.

Then there was eBuddy.

Yep. There we are. Inappropriately hype.

And of course, we can’t forget the Cashinator. Paul and I wandered over to this booth and Paul asked if he could try. Of course, they let him in (why wouldn’t they, right?) and he grabbed 10 bucks out of the air.

But then when I asked to go in, the Cashinator Guardian wouldn’t let me play! He said I wasn’t currently working with them or something… even before he asked where I worked or what I did. And when he finally inquired, he had no idea what my company was or what we did (for the record, I work for a global digital ad agency – he would have had to be living in a subway tunnel not to have heard of us in this industry). Shocking. Pretty offensive stuff, especially considering he had been flirting with a booth babe before he turned to me and denied me entrance. But at least this little incident made me remember the company name – it’s Market Leverage in case you were wondering. So nice work Cashinator Guardian. Kudos to you and your magical box of $2 bills.   

Wednesday morning at ad:tech - NBC’s Chief Digital Officer on iTunes, YouTube and piracy

Lots of juicy stuff here from this morning's ad:tech keynote interview concerning NBC’s digital strategy with respect to YouTube and iTunes (brought to you by my trusty little Flip Camera). I think that, all in all, CDO (Chief Digital Officer—yeah, that’s C-level position) George Kliavkoff has a healthy perspective on the situation. In his view, it’s much more beneficial for NBC to take an offensive approach by creating a place – Hulu.com – where users can gain access to high quality NBC content free, on demand, and before it hits YouTube.  Gaining friends instead of skewering enemies (aka the VIACOM way)… very wise approach, in my opinion.

But there was something else that came out of the conversation that really threw me off. It has to do with iTunes.

NBC has a film distribution deal with iTunes, but no distribution deal for their television content. George K says that he’d love to distribute NBC TV programming on iTunes—that iTunes provides a great customer experience—but then in the same breath says that another one of NBC’s primary concerns is piracy. Fighting piracy.

So, umm, what does iTunes have to do with piracy? In George K’s words:

“Without talking about any particular partner, I would say if you looked at some of the studies about mp3 players – especially the leading mp3 players – and what portion of that content is pirated content as opposed to legitimate content and then you think about how that content gets on those devices, it really has to go through a gatekeeping piece of software, which would be a pretty convenient place to have some anti-piracy measures that would give someone the opportunity to buy the legitimate copy if they’re trying to upload the illegitimate copy.”

Translation: iTunes will not adequately protect our television content from piracy. Wow.

I know that most, if not all, pirated content on people’s mp3 players comes from old downloads off of Kazaa a million years ago. NOT iTunes. In fact, peeps found iTunes’ anti-piracy measures to be a major bummer. I for one have never downloaded anything for free of off iTunes, TV shows included. So why does NBC have a movie distribution deal with iTunes and not one for TV? What exactly is George K trying to say about iTunes with respect to piracy?

Next gen print advertising, for all you naysayers

So you say print advertising is dead? Well think again, my friend. Just came from the Tales from the Bleeding Edge ad:tech panel, which was pretty awesome (especially the part when the moderator projected that the audience would be “jumping and bleeding” by the end of it… :/ )

But Total Immersion Augmented Reality blew everyone away – like, to the point of a bleeding windburn. (ew). When they were first introduced, I couldn’t really get beyond the name - it’s a little hokey for my taste (the founder is Parisian though, so I let it slide). But that’s neither here nor there, because the service is awesome.

Hold up a package or a print ad or a brochure to a Total Immersion “magical screen” and the picture comes to life. And you can interact with it. It’s like entering the childhood fairytale land of your dreams.

Don’t believe me? Check this out.

bCODE's Michael Mak and me: Follow the Escalades and the pink pulsing screen!

Here’s a funny story.

So I arrived in San Francisco around 9pm last night (April 14th) and immediately began aimlessly wandering around trying to figure out the best way to get into the city. For anyone who doesn’t know me, sometimes I can look a little… young (over Christmas, I got carded at an R rated movie). Especially when I’m wearing some busted jeans and my “conductor” cap (which was my brother’s, when he was 4).

Anyway, a man approaches me and asks if I’m looking for a cab, saying he’ll charge me less than the taxis for a lift into the city. He just needs to find one other person for the ride. So he asks a tall, well-dressed gentleman, who says sure (as I breath a sigh of relief—the gentleman could TOTALLY take the driver in a fight). Then the driver leads us down all these shady walkways and stairways until we arrive at his car, parked in the airport’s parking lot.

And it’s this crazy-ass tricked out Escalade.

The man and me hop into the SUV and get to talking. His name is Michael Mak and turns out he’s working on an awesome mobile phone coupon project. And he’s presenting at ad:tech. At one of the panels that I’ve been psyched about since I signed up: Tales from the Bleeding Edge.

Just my luck! I told him a little bit about what I do, and then we agreed to meet after we’d checked in to our hotels for dinner and discussion.

So here’s the inside, impromptu, 10:30pm-after-a-long-plane-ride scoop on Michael Mak and his company, bCODE.

Basically, bCODE is an ingenious solution for bringing coupons away from the cut out fraying slips stored in a coffee-stained envelope and straight to your mobile phone. But what’s always been the problem with mobile coupons? The damn barcodes. Either a carrier won’t allow graphics to display on the phone (Verizon), or the screen on the phone doesn’t display the barcode correctly, or you’ve got an old phone with a screen held together by tape and the barcode just won’t scan. Barcodes are only successful about 60-70% of the time, which is really an unacceptable percentage for an emerging technology. Michael learned this the hard way, after spending 4 years and countless dollars trying to get the damn barcodes to prove successful.

BUT THEN, when all seemed lost and Michael was in his office tinkering with his company’s hundreds of old crappy cell phones (alone, at dusk, with a tear in his eye), it came to him. What’s the lowest common denominator when it comes to phones? What will work on any phone, with any carrier? What’s easy to type out if your phone’s screen is too old to scan? Text messages, of course. Short text messages displaying actual numbers and letters. Instead of sending barcodes, bCODE texts a 13 X 3 text message algorithm to your phone. And using bCODE hardware, these text messages are actually scan-able.

And the hardware… um, hello awesome. I’m a creative, and so obviously athletics are important to me. But I had no idea they were important to CEOs as well. Or maybe Michael’s just a special CEO. His scanning screen is slick and sleek and glass and thin – just like we like our technology to be these days. The best part – it displays a pulsing pink light as an indicator and a branding attribute. Oooo, pink! Coupons meet Times Square.

The hurdle, naturally, is getting the bCODE infastructure out there. But Michael Mak’s got plenty of phase two ideas bubbling over that’ll take care of that ☺

Everyone’s trying to get a handle on mobile. Companies want to use it, but they have no idea how or why – they just need it as part of their media mix. The thing about mobile – your phone is always in your pocket, and so has the power to influence you while you’re on the go. And what better influencer than a coupon… not for $1 off toilet paper, but for free drinks all night at the New Orleans Jazz Festival or free décor at IKEA. Let me ask this: If you received an IKEA coupon, while you were waiting in one of their ridiculous lines, and then got to scan said coupon on a pretty glass screen blinking pink, would you use it?

My answer? An emphatic yes.

So the shady Escalade ride actually turned out to be a great turn of events. I got a ride in a souped up… truck, really… and a couple hours alone with the CEO of a company that represents the next generation of mobile marketing.

Welcome to the ad:tech Blogger pit!

I'll be coming to you live from sunny San Francisco (well, actually, from a windowless room full of bagels and coffee) with the news, the scoop and the down-low from ad:tech '08.

Fun fun fun!

ad:tech People's Choice Award reviews, from Ryan to you

 Over the course of next week, leading up to ad:tech San Francisco, I will be reviewing some of the ad:tech People’s Choice Award nominees. These reviews, along with other great pieces from my fellow Marketing peeps, will be posted on the Madison Avenue Journal. 

My first review covers FX’s rich media unit, which promotes nip/tuck’s upcoming season and drives to a  micro site. Here’s a short excerpt: 

To promote the upcoming nip/tuck season, which premiers October 30, FX launched an ad  campaign fronted by the most powerful image (no, Ali G fans, it's not a naked woman on a horse - but astoundingly close). I mean, seriously, who isn't intrigued by a skinny chick, an ass, a pair of angel wings and two bleeding back scars? It's just so - so  nip/tuck creepy-meets-sexy.

The entire review is posted on the MadAve Journal now, so go check it out!

Digital Marketing Industry in April! ad:tech, Blogger Social, Age of Conversation craziness

I know, I know, I’ve gotten totally into the whole Election ’08 scene. But for right now, I must focus my attention elsewhere. I am an advertising copywriter and digital trend-watcher after all, a fact (and a passion) that cannot be left to the sidelines. Because this month, as you can see, it’s all about the industry.

Announcements!

1. I will be attending ad:tech, which is scheduled to take place April 15-17 in the lovely city of San Francisco. As a member of the press, I will be reviewing creative and conducting interviews, as well as live-blogging some Keynote Presentations and covering select breakout sessions. So if you can’t make ad:tech this year, join in on the conversation with me and it'll be like you're there in spirit!

Here are the presentations I'll be live-blogging -
Tuesday:
Keynote Roundtable: The Art of Conversation - Building Great Brands in the Digital Age

Wednesday:
Keynote: Consumers, Content and Control: Big Media in the Digital Age
You Don't Know Jack! Teens Speak Out

Thursday:
Closing Keynote: Internet Superstar, Live at ad:tech

And the sessions I'll comment on - 
Power Panel: Tales from the Bleeding Edge - Game-Changing Opportunities for Tomorrow's Marketer
Power Panel: The Modern Agency
Power Panel: Social Network Marketing - Exploring the Value Proposition
Exchange Series I: New Creative, New Tools 
Urban Wallpaper: Digital Signage and the Rise of the Fourth Screen 
Making Widgets and Gadgets Work for You

Let me know if there are one or two of these sessions that you find especially compelling so I can be sure to write a particularly robust blog post on the subject.

2. Blogger Social is this weekend! Tons of marketing bloggers attending (see list here) and looks like there are a bunch of Sunday brunchers as well. If you’re interested in joining, sign up here. Or if you're traveling home through New Jersey, hit Steve's backyard BBQ!

3. This year’s Age of Conversation list of authors is out, and I am seriously pumped. The number of contributors went up from 100 to 275, and I can hardly wait to read what everyone’s got to say. The topic for 2008: “Why don’t people get it.” I’ll be writing about my personal experiences in the conversation lane how my perception has changed/evolved since last year. As always, my aim is to write something that’ll raise a few eyebrows ;)

Here is the complete list of 2008 AoC authors in all its glory. Please join me in giving 2008's Age of Conversation a celebratory lift-off toast!

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Eons.com, social networking for the over 50 - or "Flip Side" - crowd, as described by founder Jeff Taylor

Jeff Taylor discusses his new venture, Eons.com, at MITX's 1/24/08 event Social Media: the Opportunities and Implications for Marketers (click here for a recap of the entire event).

Definitely stole the show for me!

 

Find more videos like this on MITX Exchange

P.S. I took this video with my Pure Digital Flip. Oh little Flip, how I love thee :)

MITX Event: I've found it! The magical solution for marketing to the social web!

For marketers, the online social world presents quite the conundrum—how do marketers utilize such a buzzin’ space without being perceived as obtrusive? Because now more than ever, it’s all about the user's time, not the marketer’s. Now more than ever, marketers aren’t the ones calling all the shots; people are voicing what they want and need, and companies are rushing to provide.

Such was the discussion at last night’s fabulous MITX event, Social Media: the Opportunities and Implications for Marketers, which was held at the Parris Lounge. Larry Weber, social media guru and chairman of the W2 group, moderated a panel comprised of some heavy-hitters from the social media space: Tom Arrix from Facebook, Suzanne Skop from MySpace, and Juan Fernando Santos from Studiocom. In addition, Jeff Taylor, Founder and CEO of newcomer Eons weighed in from a start-up’s perspective (and he absolutely blew my socks off btw), and Pauline Ores from IBM spoke on behalf of a 100-year-old business adapting to this new digital space.

A few key points from the panel discussion:

• Now more than ever, customers are vocalizing what they want and it’s up to companies to get it.
• Jeff from EONs described how community members are meeting on the site, and then a week later meeting in person. To me, that’s what social media is all about.
• People who are on social networks want to be heard. And they don’t necessarily want to be rewarded monetarily for voicing their opinions. Rather, they want access. They want the inside scoop.
• Social networks can easily double as focus groups—which are (or were) quite costly to organize.
• For traditional media to catch up, it needs to run its content in a lot of different places. It needs to be widely accessible and, in my opinion, free.

But what about marketing? Where do advertisers fit in? Well, you see, no one really knows. Someone mentioned an influencer-type of scene, where people tell their friends/virtual community about their favorite products. But if the company is pushing that, it sounds a lot like a payless pyramid scheme… or the failed Facebook Beacon.

Which brings me to my final takeaway: insiders from the leading social media sites really have no idea how to market to their users! And I don’t say this as an insult to any of the panelists, but rather as an exclamation of excitement. We’ve got all this great data, unbelievable segmentation possibilities, and HUNGRY Internet/mobile users who simply can’t get enough of the virtual world. So much opportunity, and so many kinks to be worked out. As Larry Weber put it last night, right now in the social media space, it’s a matter of maturation. We’re encountering, as he put it, “first generation hiccups.” Example: Coke friending his daughter on Facebook. Yeah, that’s pretty freaking lame.

So don’t let the heavy-hitters fool you; they do not have the golden equation that will magically make their users interested in marketing. We’re all mixing potions--or, in our lives, scribbling away at the whiteboard--together. And what fun it is!

Find more photos like this on MITX Exchange

Ryan's birthday jig, brought to you by my Flip

Wow, little Flip. Your small size and simple nature do not keep you from producing quality work. We can all learn a thing or two from you.

Umm, oh yeah! Today's my birthday! And I plan to spend it doing the things that I love. Like laughing. So, my dear readers, I invite you to share a quarter-century giggle with me (25 = new age bracket box. Both terrifying and... terrifying. Like this dance).