Raw audio file for the Podcamp Western Mass 2 Managing Social Media session by Jeff Cutler and Mike Langford. I just did a quick edit to get the file posted as quickly as possible. Look for follow up postings with detail notes in the future.
Raw audio file for the Podcamp Western Mass 2 Facebook Pages session by Kelly Galanis. I just did a quick edit to get the file posted as quickly as possible. Look for follow up postings with detail notes in the future.
Ironically I really dislike it when when social media folks start post about their “rules” for social media, yet I dare make this post which puts me closely on the edge of being hypocritical. That said, I’ll avoid calling this a guideline to use when communicating with me, because that would just make me a douchebag. So here it is:
Voice Calls – This includes every form. Landline, mobile, VOIP. These types of call should be reserved for only two situations. 1) When immediate attention is of concern, something needs to be done now or information is needed instantly. 2) Intimate conversation. Family, friends, mates. The next best thing to being their.
What doesn’t belong here is phone spam. Don’t waste my time by trying to sell me something this way or even mask that marketing call by saying your “just introducing” yourself. If you are going to presume that my time is so frivolous that you can take my attention for this than you have already started several points behind your competition. Unless your product/service is right up their with slice toast and your are the only source it is very unlikely I will ever take you seriously. If in fact I do want your service then I will go out of my way to find your competition first.
Instant Message – Essentially the same rules as a voice call with a slightly lower degree of urgency. Personal conversations actually score lower here in my book. If your going to type a friendly “Hello, how’s it going” why not use a social media channel so that others can join the conversation and we can multi-task this whole non-intimate, intamacy?
Email – Here’s the catch all. We all hate spam but let’s face it, it’s so easy to filter these days it’s really not as offensive as it once was. Of course unless you’re on my white-list, you may be buried in a filtered folder for months. The good news is (amongst Gmail users) your message is well indexed and when I search for a keyword related to your service there’s a very good chance I’ll find your message!
New Media – Now here’s the key! Don’t tell me what I need and what I want to buy. Instead, make yourself visible, searchable and findable in the realm of new media. (Websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) When I need you, here’s where I’ll find you and simultaneously see how you do business and what your customers think about you. You’ll earn major points in my book for being cool and cutting edge and I’ll retweet the heck out of you and sing your praises should we end up doing business together. Of course if you do me wrong that will be broadcast as well. If that’s what you’re afraid of then perhaps it’s better we don’t do business together.
The Twitter DM – This is what fueled my post. I like to use the DM function as an instant message like feature. I believe this ws the intent of the function. When you DM me, it is forwarded to my Blackberry and I will give it near immediate attention. Very much like an IM. If you’re throwing a random marketing pitch at me this way you are almost guaranteed a block if not a spam report. (Which will get repeated over all my Twitter accounts).
(BONUS: If you’ve actually read this far, thank you! As a bonus I’ll fill you in on the “KNDL” tag you see in the subject of this message. I’m making many of my posts available for instant delivery via Amazon Kindle. This tag will facilitate this project. Now you’re an insider!)
Source: PfMonaco
The old theme didn’t survive the upgrade too well, hence my standard disclaimer… “Excuse the appearance while we remodel” 
Do you have a creative idea or ambition endeavors that you’d like to get off the ground but short on funds? Built under the premise that a large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement. the KickStarter platform sets up a system of rewards where creatives can use various methods of reward to encourage people to help fund their projects.
Kickstart using an all-or-nothing philosophy. Reason being is let’s say you have a project that needs $5000 to get off the ground, and you only get $2000 in funding. Well that’s just not going to do you any good and not only will it put you in a tight spot to produce but if you fail not only will it give your reputation a hit but may discourage others from helping in the future.
Everyone likes to see good people get ahead, Kickstarter is a way to help them or get help yourself.
Thanks to social networking and more specifically Facebook (my fan page), I just had one of the best nights of my life. Last year I bought a house back in my old home town and through Facebook hooked up with some of my old friends. We finally decided to all reunite at our High School’s final football game of the season which we won of course! (video highlight).
Prior to the game I logged into my Brightkite account to make sure I had a handy bookmark to log my arrival at the big game. Well much to my dissappointment, not only was I the ONLY person to check into the High School but I was the FIRST EVER person to check in!
Okay, so maybe Brightkite isn’t appealing to the kids, after all many people are a bit shy about the GPS tracking thing even though Brightkiet is totally opt in and doesn’t automatically track you.
So back to the highlight video, surely it would land in the middle of an ocean of related videos from the school…. well.. I’m wrong again, just a small handful with a very weak viewer count.
Could this really be possible? Perhaps I was a bit too optimistic in thinking that kids today could/would be just as excited about this electronic global village as I am.. oh wait.. that was a Hillary thing, not their generation. But seriously, more and more I’m seeing and hearing that the up and coming generations are more interested in direct person to person communication (Text messaging these days) than social dialog.
So my question to you is where does that leave us? The social media evangelists of the world and our vision for future communications and marketing? Are we already cycling back to personal communications and reverting back to broadcast style marketing?
Finally! Utilizing data derived from a social network for something OTHER then SEO optimization and marketing. If you’re a member of Google Latitude and keep your device on while traveling, then you’ve been contributing to Google Live Traffic data on Google Maps while you’ve been keeping track of where your friends and family are hanging out.
Traffic information on the major interstate highways have been available for some time now. State transportation departments mount “radar guns” to utility poles to feed average speed data to a central computer. Primarily as a tool that can alert authorities to possible emergency conditions with a cost offset provided from by commercial traffic reporting services leasing the data.
Setting up more granular monitoring using this method is costly but by croudsourcing GPS data from Latitude users, not only can these traffic patterns be more closely analyzed but they can be expanded as well. Instead of just knowing which exit we should take to avoid that big tie up we can now choose the best local artery as well.
On my Blackberry Pearl I’m using version 3.0.2 (#3037) of Google Maps which doesn’t yet appear to be showing the advanced data. I guess it’s time to replace my windshield mounted GPS with my netbook and GPS enabled air card.
(Source: Google Lat Long Blog)
A message to #PCB4 podcampers was just sent out with the current fluid schedule and some great advice. One of the hardest points for newcomers to swallow would be..
The most important part of PodCamp isn’t the schedule or planned discussions. These are at most a third of your PodCamp experience, if that!
In fact it’s recommended you DO NOT print out the schedule! Of course being the lord of time management that I am, that will prove to be a difficult challenge, but since the green aspect of saving a tree was brought up it makes it a little easier. Of course you won’t be able to stop me from loading up my Blackberry Calendar with as much detail as I can!
So with the event being so dynamic, what does one do to prepare to get the most out of it? Simple, try to eliminate those little annoyances that can creep up on you and bug you just enough to miss out on a little of the goodness. Here’s a few things on my list along with extra suggestions depending on your situation…
- Power Strip! – No.. don’t time yourself to see how quickly you can get nekkid! I’m talking wall power here. Lots of people in a confined area with power hungry devices. If you’ve ever been frustrated trying to find a free outlet while on an airport layover just factor in several hundred more laptoppers at the gate! If you have space, pack a small multi-outlet power strip and of course be willing to share.
- Batteries for the toys! - Not everything can be quick charged, AA’s and AAA’s can come in handy especially for digital cameras.
- USB drives – You never know when you’ll have some files to share. Don’t rely on a rock solid Wifi connection or G3. These are getting pretty inexpensive and always handy.
- Mobile Broadband – More then likely WiFi will be available but the bandwidth will be crowded. If you’re a content creator and plan on updating from the event it’s best to bring your own access. Most larger hotels charge for access, so if you have a card plan on bringing it.
- Shoes, Good ones! – You’ll be doing a lot of walking. Good shock absorption on the feed just makes you feel good all the way up to the top of your head. Evening events can last quite long.
- Sugar! – Diabetic or not, it’s easy to get forget about eating while getting caught up in the moment and frenzied conversations can lead to dry scratchy throats. A pocket full of hard candies can make a great life ring!
- Pre Flight Check – Driving, Flying or Public Transportation.. check your itineraries, plan your route and at least consider some contingencies should you encounter delays and unexpected events along the way.
- Old School Supplies – Even though we’re loaded with gear, nothing can beat the reliability of good old pencil and paper! You will want to take notes!
- Who Am I? - One of the most common questions. You’re going to want to meet new people and likewise, they’ll want to meet you. Do you have a card handy to pass to them? It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, be creative and roll your own!
This is certainly not an exhaustive list, there’s plenty more that can be added and I encourage you to comment and add your own!
Once podcamp is over and you get back home, get a good night sleep because your brain will be filled with so many new ideas you’ll be up non-stop for days with your new found knowledge! Can’t wait to see you their!
Official Site: http://www.podcampboston.org
Friday, August 14th 2009
(the Friday after Podcamp Boston 4)
When: 5:30pm – 8:30pm
Where: Apollo Grill (Great Burger!)
Coordinates: 116 Pleasent Street; Easthampton, MA (map)
Official Pages: wmtweeps.com, Facebook event page
As I’ve said before, this is an awesome opportunity to network with your peers and really experience the social in social networking. Being the week after Podamp Boston4 it will be a great time to review your experience with others who attended and to convince those that didn’t to make the next one.
I’m looking forward to seeing you all again and to have an awesome Apollo Burger as well!
I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but I *just* attended my first tweet-up! Sure I’ve been to a few PodCamp after parties but those were different. Something about a bunch of people being in a strange town just makes those a given and I’m no stranger to the out of town conversion seen.
Social media is a bit slow in its migration to central Connecticut, so most of the tweet-ups I’ve been aware of have always been “just a little too far” to push me into going, but once I heard @jasonturcotte of Turcotte Data and Designs was organizing one at the Apollo Grill and I had plenty of time to plan on being their, I knew I couldn’t miss it!
All things social are what you make of it. I once heard Tweetups described as a “Happy Hour with name tags” but it’s so much more. These are the type of events where the organizer simply lays out the venue and facilitates while the participants actually drive the event.
Here are some simple Tweetup Tips:
- Don’t Be Shy! – Dive right in. Find the organizer and introduce yourself. They *really are* happy you came!
- Seek Out Your Peeps – You can spot em! Look for the name badges or the geeky shirts. Don’t be afraid to jump right into a conversation or just walk up to someone that appears idle and introduce yourself.
- Share Openly – You’ll meet people from many disciplines. From hobbyist and gamers to hard core entrepreneurs. This is more of a venue to share and develop fresh ideas then it is to prospect for new customers, though that’s been known to happen!
- Casual and Festive, but not too festive! – Tweetups usually involve beer, sometimes lots of it. But it’s not a frat party, know your limit and try not to get too silly. Never be afraid to stick with non-alcoholic beverages, I can guarantee that you won’t be the only one drinking a pop.
- Follow Up – Takes notes, write down names. Be sure to connect online with anyone new you’ve met.
I personally had some great conversations at this event. @keithlaflam and I discussed various wireless devices, @writerjax shared her insight and expertise on writing and @JRStratford shared many of his best SEO tricks and tactics with us.
My only regret is I still had many people I wanted to meet but simply ran out of time. Can’t wait until the next event!