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The best of 2006. Thanks to Michael over at The Client Side for this one.
The 50 years of dance in six minutes is one of the greatest pieces. Ever. Check it out. It's the first one in January and it's titled "Evolution of Dance." (P.S. This is also the best Holiday Xmas card a marketing company has ever done, IMO.)
Tags: viral, best of 2006, video, evolution of dance
Has it happened? Has YouTube become mainstream? I'm sure Google is hoping so. I ask because the media up North here is shifting from "Look Ma, here's this new thing!" to "Look how someone is using it."
Now the Police are joining the fray. Or perhaps this has more to do with a lack of funding?
Check out this article at the Globe and Mail: YouTube catalyst in finding murder suspect.
"After the clip had been on YouTube for about two weeks and viewed some 17,000 times, George Gallo, 24, turned himself in to police Tuesday, accompanied by a lawyer. He has been charged with second-degree murder."
Tags: youtube, police, social media, globe and mail
Image credit: grendelkhan
Think sex sells?
brandsizzle would disagree.
Now run, don't walk to this article at the Brand Builder blog. Back to the basics, baby. A wonderful reminder during the Holiday blitz that it's about inspiring dreams in our consumers.
Course, my dreams tend to be about sex...
Think you know how a 20-year old relates to technology?
Gavin over at Servant of Chaos wrote an article titled "Life beings at 40 -- Second Life at 20". He raises the issue of a growing generation gap in how we use and view technology. But he does so with poetic brilliance. Take the following quote:
"We are not of the present because our victories are already in the past."
I dream of writing this well. Keep it coming, Gavin.
Wrap it up
That's all I have. What are you bringing to the potluck?
Image Credit: eleuki
Tags: technology, social media, generation gap
Sony admits to a fake blog that purports to be a bunch of real users at http://www.alliwantforxmasisapsp.com/blog/
Two steps forward and four steps back? We should really name this dance.
"Piggybacking the YouTube bonanza, the company has hired "consumer activation" firm Zipatoni to create a false video-and-blogging approach to generate interest in their flagging PlayStation Portable handheld machine."
Source: New Sony Viral marketing ploy angers consumers, Guardian Unlimited, Aleks Krotoski
Sigh. This is from some time back. What makes it news is Sony has publicly admitted it. But I don't think they are feeling much remorse.
Here is the BBS thread that helped to break the story: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=319545186
It's cool that Sony wants to take part in the blog and youtube phenomenon. And they are not alone. But it's amazing to see the lack of concern over transparency. And frankly, I doubt there is much remorse as I'm sure the publicity generated outweighs any damage to their credibility. And the funny/sad part is they are probably right.
The full story is in the Guardian Unlimited story quoted at the top of the article.
Tags: alliwantforxmasisapsp, transparency, social media, sony
Following up on my post last week on Ursula Franklin's "Real World of Technology", I wanted to discuss her differentation between holistic and prescriptive uses of technology. Holistic being a craftmans approach, where one person brings a product from raw materials to completion versus prescriptive which is akin to division of labour. One person does only one small task in the production workflow and must comply with the rules of production.
"While we should not forget that these prescriptive technologies are often exceedingly effective and efficient, they come with an enormous social mortgage. The mortgage means we live in a culture of compliance, that we are ever more contitioned to accept orthodoxy as normal, and to accept that there is only one way of doing 'it'."
From car manufacturing to Health Care, for example.
So. It's likely that all but the most pessimistic of readers desire more craftmanship vs. division of labour. So how do we do that? Well, when it comes to a brand, I recommend you jump over and read Mike Wagner speaking about shaving your legs. Seriously.
What are you willing to do that no one else is? How involved are you in the experience your company and your product has with your customers?
Some craftmanship in action.
A quick word out to the peeps at Ampd. Their short series Lil' Bush has been signed to Comedy Central. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Except when you realize it was designed solely for distribution to cell phones. Wow. Congrats for creating some truly memorable content.
P.S. The name of the company is actually Amp'd Mobile.
Division of Labour by Edelman?
There's been a lot of talk about the Social Media Press Release tool by Edelman. The best and most level-headed sum-up I've seen is over on DeepJiveInterests. Check it out. Someone from edelman even joins in the fray.
(I will never get used to writing Labour the Canadian way. Sigh.)
Photo source: Dr H
Tags: Lil Bush, Holistic, Ursula Franklin, Prescriptive
My recent and somewhat disastrous foray into office remodeling (a long story) delayed my plans and gave me time to contemplate a book I've been reading about Technology's impact on our culture, our society and our lives.
“I once was invited to examine Chinese bronzes at the Freer Gallery of Art. The purpose of the gathering was to develop suggestions for research into the technology of Chinese bronze casting, to share knowledge and to avoid duplication. We were about six or eight, and I will never forget the scene. Most participants were art historians or museum people; I was the only researcher coming out of Engineering. We were all looking at bronze fragments and we all had magnifying glasses, but my magnifying glass was different [...]. 'They' had magnifying glasses that they put to their eyes and then lifted the object into proper viewing distance. I had a magnifying glass that I put on the object, and I manoeuvred my head into a good viewing position. They took one look at my magnifying glass and I was out. I was classified as an outsider.”
The above quote is from Ursula Franklin from her CBC Massey Lecture “The Real World of Technology”. If you haven't guessed, this is the book I'm reading.
What is giving me pause is the method by which we create connections in the 'blogosphere“. The way we naturally connect with others who share our contextual view of technology. ie: The likelihood that we are all using these technologies in a similar way.
In my work with clients, we counsel them to get involved in real conversations (the good and the bad.) To take risks and reach out to both customers and opponents so as to better understand the conversations their company or products create. But then I asked myself how many conversations do I participate in where I don't agree with the author. How involved have I been in real conversations on both sides? Next to none.
Am I a hypocrite?
Or does it go deeper? Even those with whom I might not agree see the world potentially through the same big lens. All of us bloggers are using the same ”magnifying glass“.
If I use the same tools, in the same manner as those around me, I am an insider and likely preaching to the converted. And at what cost, I'm unsure. Nor am I clear on how to change this situation or if it even requires changing. But to blindly continue is not an option that sits well with me either.
I find all of this especially pertinent for social media when we consider our efforts in a global context. After all, so much of what we do is now for a global audience. And I always assumed that different cultures would require different social media tools. But now I'm curious as to whether the very act of using social media is creating a common culture and blinding us to what is outside of that "world". Removing our ability to gauge what is next.
I am now looking for example of people who appear to be approaching technology from a different perspective (as both process and goal.) I believe we can learn a lot by exposing our bias. I want to know what is in my blind spot before I change lanes and cause a major accident on the social media highway.
Have any examples to share? Or am I just breathing too many toxic drywall fumes?
Image Credits: kingjen and Noah Sachs via flickr.
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