| Feed View | Micro Persuasion |
| Steve Rubel explores how social media is transforming marketing, media and public relations. |
 Subscribe | Retrun to feeds | Users subscribed: 0 | Last Updated: May 31 2008, 14:25:07
27 May 2008 13:49:19 Over the past several months I have written extensively about The Attention Crash. There are some signs (at least among geeks) that it's worsening. Robert Scoble is, of course, the poster boy. Mike Elgan talks about curing the 'Distraction Virus' and Paul Graham takes up a similar theme today. Even the New York Times is in. Lord knows I am part of the same club. In fact, my own attention issues have prompted me to re-read the Four Hour Workweek. Tim's tips for trimming one's attention sails are invaluable, even if you remain in a corporate environment - which I certainly plan to do. However, the more I ponder the issue, the more I think The Attention Crash is entirely generational. Case in point. I work in an open space with a mix of people. Some are Gen Xers like me but even more are younger - they're Millennials. The Gen Yer's, it seems, do a far better job of coping with massive amounts of information. It's not uncommon for a lot of folks to be running Meebo with a dozen IM windows going at once, Facebooking, emailing and talking on the phone. And they're productive! Those of you who have kids I am sure see the same in your home. Boomers and Gen Xers in the workplace will soon be outnumbered by Millennials. As this occurs, everyone will need to develop the same kind of coping skills. I don't have the answers, just tips. But our entire career path depends upon it.  26 May 2008 05:31:03 -
Good example of how the media is moving into Friendfeed. -
This site says it all. These guys know how to scale. -
Interesting tool for tracking conversations across the web. It's not perfect. Also needs RSS. -
Comcast customer service is using Friendfeed Rooms. Smart. -
Using GPS and DHL someone found the 'man in the Earth.' -
More media on Friendfeed.  24 May 2008 05:32:10
-
Great example (using me) of how to monitor and respond to issues.
-
Amazing what a magnet Friendfeed is for commenting.
-
-
We're co-hosting an event with PR Week in June designed to bring academics together with practitioners and industry gurus. Professors can still sign up and register.
-
-
Mag updates their cover 2005 story, which in part featured me, with a new one.
-
-
-
'This blog is an attempt to give this humble character the respect it deserves'
 23 May 2008 13:25:59  Over the last several weeks I have become utterly addicted to Friendfeed. If you're not tracking me there already, you might want to. You can pick up the feed here or just hit this page. Friendfeed aggregates all of my content, including my Twitter updates and Google Reader shared items. I am also using it to share my favorite YouTube videos and Flickr photos, something I haven't done elsewhere. It's basically the mother of all social networks because it can capture everything from you and your friends - real or imaginary. While some complain about the noise, I have found that Friendfeed can be very helpful f you keep it confined to a small group of people who help you accomplish what you're trying to do. Part of this lies in hiding certain social sites and taking full advantage of the powerful but simple feature set. In my case, I use it to keep up with my colleagues and people who generally share valuable links. Still, as great as Friendfeed is, there's a question that keeps gnawing at me: are we looking at the next Twitter or the next Jaiku? What I mean here is Friendfeed going supernova or is that that we are simply bored and looking for the next big thing. Remember, we have a habit of this! I posed the question over on the site this morning: Is Friendfeed the next big thing or are we just bored? Discuss. Eager to hear your thoughts either here or on Friendfeed (or here or here, or wait, here - yikes too many comments in too many places).  21 May 2008 13:24:54 Google developer Dan Holevoet published the roadmap for the forthcoming changes to the iGoogle personalized home page. You can check out the presentation here.
The site, which anecdotally I can tell you is getting very popular, will get a new canvas view (below) starting in June and social features over the summer. However, what's most notable is that iGoogle is getting ads. They have not shown yet what this will look like visually. However, there is more info posted in an official FAQ.
According to the Google deck and FAQ, ads will appear embedded in the widgets themselves and only in the new canvas view - offering developers a way to monetize. In addition, Google will solicit feedback from users as they go. However, I wonder if this is going to add to the clutter of the site. Further, I would be interested if the developers use Open Social features to make the ads as social as the widgets promise to become.
Meanwhile in related news, Google Reader is closing in on Bloglines, according to new data from Hitwise. The site is currently free of ads but with Google's purchase of Feedburner I wonder if a Gmail-like model is in the works for this site too - particularly as its use increases. Ideally this would encourage feed owners to join Feedburner's ad networks and share in the monetization in and Adsense like model.  21 May 2008 05:31:55
-
-
Apparently, Tumblr doesn't get a lot of love from Google.
-
Techmeme adds search.
-
Like chocolate and peanut butter all in one.
 20 May 2008 15:27:42 Every day a new social network is born and yet another dies. This makes spotting digital trends and tracking them to be challenging at times. However, I have found a system that works really well called Open Files. It was developed by George Stalk at the Boston Consulting Group (an Edelman client). It's become the framework for my latest talk, which I have been giving around the world. Stalk tracks trends by breaking them down into three distinct buckets - faint signals that are here and now trends with real consumer movement and business models, a watch list - new directions that are emerging but may not be ready for primetime, and hallucinations, flashes that, if you squint, might vanish. You can read a description of the nine big trends in my Open Files and peruse my deck over on Authentcities, the Edelman Digital blog. The trends include: Faint Signals: The Cut and Paste Web, The Attention Crash, Digital Curators, Super Crunching and Collaboration Watch List: Living Room 2.0. and Geek Markterers Hallucinations: Digital Nomads and Data Leaking  18 May 2008 20:17:31 Two studies that crossed my screen tonight here in London point to a widening digital divide. I am not referring to the gap between those who are online and everyone else. The gulf I am addressing here is between those who are fully engaged with the web and, well, Earth.
The first piece of research from Parks Associates (via Dwight Silverman and CNET) reveals that one-fifth of all U.S. heads-of-household have never used e-mail. Based on the conversations I had in Europe this past week, this is even more pronounced outside the US where high mobile penetration makes things a bit more complicated to track.
Meanwhile, a separate white paper from IDC/Nortel (via Jackie Huba) - this one spanning 17 countries - found that 16% of the information workforce is already 'Hyperconnected' and that another 36% will be joining us soon. Definitely download the PDF. It's an interesting read.
Source: IDC/Nortel White Paper - The Hyperconnected: Here They Come!
All of this data is consistent with what Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff talk about extensively in their new book, Groundswell. If you play with Forrester's Technographic profile tool, you can zero in on just how wide the divide is within your target audience. They peg 52% of the US online population as largely passive.
Net, this leaves me convinced that despite all of the buzz around the growth of new media and/or digital advertising, neither will replace existing modalities for some time to come. Yes, Scoble, that's why Google News still rules. Digital media is going to be additive in the near to medium term. However, in a decade - perhaps sooner, perhaps later - it will be a different story.
The data bodes well for businesses like the TV nets that live off the 30-second spot. Some have written the :30 off for dead. However, that's a bit premature.
The challenge for traditional media companies and the advertising ecosystem that support them is that static advertising is no longer a growth businesses. This will become particularly true as the number of Hyperconnected skyrocket. However, for now, old still co-exists with new.
The takeaway for marketers is to utilize all of the relevant venues/tactics as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy (the same goes for PR). Ignoring something because it's old school doesn't always make sense. 
|
|
|
| Users online: | 4 |
| Users registered: | 11294 |
| Users active: | 216 |
| Feeds subscribed: | 5025 |
|
|
|
