The Limitations of FREE; Godin vs. Gladwell
For Anderson, YouTube illustrates the principle that Free removes the necessity of aesthetic judgment. (As he puts it, YouTube proves that “crap is in the eye of the beholder.”) But, in order to make money, YouTube has been obliged to pay for programs that aren’t crap. To recap: YouTube is a great example of Free,
Sorry, but Chris Brogan is no Warren Buffett
“the social media echo chamber is starting to crumble” —David Armano, Senior Partner, Dachis Corp Depending on whom you choose to interact with on Twitter, it can easily seem like an echo chamber, and the release of a “report” last week declaring “It’s Official: Fortune 100 CEOs are Social Media Slackers” did nothing to change that perception. The research found that
Crowds vs. Gatekeepers: Not a Zero-Sum Game
“It’s bullshit! Crowds have terrible taste… If you let the people decide, then nothing truly adventurous ever gets out. And that’s a problem.” –Christopher R. Weingarten (@1000TimesYes), #140Conf Speaking at the 140 Characters Conference — a brazenly opportunistic affair best described as “a meeting of Twitter Early Adopters Anonymous” and the “biggest circle jerk of
Not Every Conversation is Worth Having
“For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three.” Alice Kahn I follow a lot of experienced marketers on Twitter, along with several whose real-world experience is questionable, and one of the most annoying memes I’ve seen is the belief that everyone should be on
Review: NOW IS GONE by Geoff Livingston
With the Internet continuing to evolve at a dizzying pace, where six months can feel like six years, most printed books about new media are outdated by the time they hit bookstore shelves. One published back in 2007 should, by all rights, be completely worthless at this point. That Geoff Livingston’s now is gone: A
Can the $99 iPhone save newspapers?
I am not a card-carrying member of the Steve Jobs Cult by any means, but the smug “Mac vs. PC” commercials aside, when it comes to innovation and marketing savvy, I bow before Apple’s altar. Yesterday’s announcement of the “new” iPhone 3G S wasn’t greeted very warmly by some of its hardcore fan base (“Apple
How Much is a Magazine’s Content Worth? Part III
There will always be gatekeepers of one form or another, whether traditional publishers or the crowd-sourced variety. In both cases, the crowds are usually led by a few vocal minorities, and both have a history of chasing trends while ignoring new voices and ideas, so what’s old is basically new again. The true value of content is more measurable than it’s ever been, so publishers’ primary focus should be on curating great content that people are willing to pay for, and to organize and nurture a community around that content and the authors who create it. That community will exist in multiple places and spaces, and vary wildly in size; in some cases, they won’t be the least bit interested in having advertising invade their space, overtly or covertly.
Beware the Social Media Kool-Aid
“Be a little cautious of the social media kool-aid… It does work slowly over time, but if you need to get attention now, you still need to use traditional methods, too. Social media is not a replacement for anything; it’s an add-on, it’s another way of communicating. But don’t leave the other stuff behind, especially
In a time of crisitunity, you gotta have soul!
“Ad networks have scale and data, but they lack soul. Customers don’t join ad networks.” —John Battelle, Founder & CEO, Federated Media Federated Media’s Conversational Marketing Summit earlier this week was an unconditional success by any measure, particularly with regards to acheiving their goal of presenting insightful and instructive case studies of conversational marketing programs
Publishers should be idea advocates
I attended my second BookExpo America last Friday — walking the main floor, talking to several exhibitors and attendees, checking out a couple of panels, hanging out at the #beattweetup later that night — and came away with an odd sense of deja vu. It reminded me a bit of the last National Poetry Slam I attended as more