Posted by Jesse Poe on May 24 at 10:10 AM
This post discusses:
• the hospitality, music, and internet industry
• a start-up to be aware of
• a cool iPhone app
• two ways to direct your strategy
• the key to successful poetry
Last night, I went to the ACE Hotel in midtown to meet up with Edward Aten founder of Swift.fm in ACE's very popular bar. Swift.fm is an amazing start-up that allows users to add audio information to tweets creating a radio-station style playlist of music (check out my office ambiance channel here) which is viral-enabled to allow users to engage content in various formats and contexts by highlighting their musical perspective. They are also a breath away from being the #1 Music-specific twitter client by traffic, and with their new platform of locked down branded-wrapped embeddable channels they are soon to be a swift force in creating brand identity, engagement and social conversation on the web (well even more than they already are). We talked about the future of Swift.fm and the future of the web and which direction we see it going: a direction that other like minds across town are quickly developing at diaspora* I had two eyes open all night as that not only am I interested in the internet (as it is my field) and especially as it relates to social networking and music (as that is my love), but also because I build social media plans for hip hotels and program their facebook pages in FBML. We toured the hotel and it’s famed analog sound system, met with the event planners and tried a variety of their special brews. Independently, Ed and I both took pictures of the Hotel/bar and showed them to each other, both photos were snapped with our iPhones, yet with surprisingly different results. My photo on the left, doesn’t look cool, but points out one of the cool features of ACE and it’s brilliant design; the curation of space through text and messaging throughout the space Such as this great use of the exit sign:
Ed’s photo on the right is much more cool looking and stylized in presentation as that he took it with the new app Hipstamatic which creates some really incredible shots (I have been using it exclusively ever since for all my photos), however his photo doesn’t show how cool ACE is, instead it shows how ACE is just like any other bar, hip or not, across the world, and in essence the backbone to the bar, that it is in the end a “bar”. There is what you present and there is how you present it. Success is a synergy between the two. The great poet Terry Hummer once told me the secret to poetry was to take a flower and expand it’s beauty and properties to become as vast as the cosmos, or to take the cosmos out of the sky and wrap into a language and understanding so tight that you can hand to someone like a flower.
Topics: Internet, media, social_networking, strategy, tools0 CommentsRead Full Post
Posted by Jesse Poe on January 28 at 10:38 AM (Part 2 of Tomorrow Will Change the World)
Well it’s the morning after the day the world would change and well, has anything changed?
Jobs wrangled his illusive tablet unicorn out of Apple’s enchanted woods and it’s called the iPad. The internet exploded not with acclaim, but with jokes. One thing I learned as a musician was never name your band something that can easily be punned upon. Why? because for lack insight or time to investigate, it’s easier for writers to bash something than to support it. If there’s a joke to made then it’s the first step on that slippery path, and the iPad slid right down it.
Was it a game changer? Not really, but we can’t say until it is implemented. My greatest hope was to see 3G packages for existing iPhone users who purchased the Pad, and bundled subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. But there is still hope, even in it’s highly sterilized control freak OS.
It’s also the morning after one of the best speeches since Roosevelt, and if you watched the ignoble arm folding of the right during or Fox news afterward (just for torture), it wasn’t a game changer either, according to them.
However, this morning I was encouraged as I stopped at my local newsstand, and saw the positive headlines topping almost every paper, and it made me think. It’s not so much the product, but the way we react to it. It is not so much what is given to us, but what we choose to do with it.
So my challenge is this, even though Terry McGraw probably woke up with a horse head in his bed, we can still have bundled content, we can have cool innovation. Who will join us?
I’d like to see my favorite print in full glorious color, hyperlinked, and with video all in one spot. We don’t have to wait for Time or SI to lead the way, what about the The Baffler, or Yeti? And new hardware to interface. Adobe, Wacom? How about a slip case that holds the iPad on one side and on the other side a pen tablet to write/draw on, bundled with subscription services for university text books?
Posted by Jesse Poe on January 26 at 11:48 AM
So tomorrow at 10 a.m. PT the world will be a different place.
Apple will drag the elusive unicorn out of the woods and unveil their Tablet (whatever it will be called), and the world will be a different place just like it was after the iPod.
Maybe?
I doubt it, but it will be a wonderful new way to create, engage and connect. A new tool to build around to work with, to enrich our lives. Should be a step up or two from it's former Newton. So game changer or not, it will be exciting.
You can read proposed specs and uses on every site & blog on the web, however the most important thing to think about for this 'game-changing' moment is if this does change the world, are you ready for it?
The iPod smashed the music industry and then rebuilt it. It also turned music back into a staple of culture.
Technology, as it advances, changes business and the way we work, how will this new Apple device change your business? And if it is not a game changer, will you be able to use it regardless in an effective way for your business.
Here is a chart showing what others have allegedly filed apps for according to Flurry:
The print industry is rubbing it's hands in expectation of this glorious day. How are you going to use it?
Posted by Jesse Poe on January 20 at 12:30 PM
So the New York Times is going to start charging for their on-line content.
Makes sense, people have always paid for the New York Times at the newstand or to open their door in the morning and find it waiting there, so why not on-line.
I clicked a survey yesterday on this very topic and the results showed that some 70% thought it should be free. Because journalist should work for free? Absolutely not, but because we have come to believe that everything on the internet should be free. How we got to that idea collectively is the subject of other posts, but it is true, free is the current currency of on-line life.
So is the Times doing something smart?
Well smarter than the Wall Street Journal, in that incidental visitors, arriving no more than once in a while through searches and links, would be unaffected by the new system. This is good as that Wired.com has proven it is the long-tail that is of greatest importance of all. Over 70% of the searches performed leading to their site are for articles more than 2 years old.
Blocking information is like cutting off people’s water, it just seems wrong, but if we can’t afford to pay for serious journalism, we would suffer much greater problems in the future. As an example look at the age of miss-information that Fox “News” has created.
What is very smart in all of this is that the New York Times is thinking ahead. The deluge of e-Readers that are about swamp the market will most likely funnel down into a paid prescription sort of package, as that internet providers will not be able to squeeze a third monthly charge for access. Your home connection, your phone and your tablet. It just won’t fly. But wrap that up together in a package with different content packages and I’ll buy it.
The most important thing is that as technology steps into this new decade you will see an advance in e-readers that will make the hype for the Apple tablet seem without basis. Flexible screens, that you can fold and shove into your bag will be the tipping point for a complete exodus to digital news, as it will no longer make sense, neither environmentally nor economically, to produce a majority of printed news. Having begun to step into the waters of paid subscription again, the New York Times will, even if running a skeleton crew, still be alive for this new time of jubilee that will once again reposit newspapers as pillars of wealth as well as culture.
Whatever the Apple Tablet may turn out to be, based on the speculation of what it is purported to be, they are missing the boat. I don’t need an expensive one-sided laptop. But an affordable flexible reader that has my choice of content, that I can follow hyperlinks for further exploration or word/fact look ups, email articles to my friends, see videos attached to the news, fold up and shove in my bag; that will be a game changer, and worthy of subscription fees. I’m glad to see NY Times getting ready for that kind of game.
I’m also glad that subscribers to the physical paper will get free access to the site, that is fair and makes sense, I love reading the Times in my hands, but for passing articles and information on to friends and clients, the on-line site is essential. And will hold me over till the future arrives. Topics: Internet, Mobile_Marketing, social_networking, strategy, tools0 CommentsRead Full Post
Geekdom has been drooling over the coming of the Apple Tablet. Why?
The simple hope that it will be a game changer, like the iPod was a decade ago, or the iPhone was just a few years ago.
The important question is what will your website, blog, magazine look like on a tablet and more importantly are you ready for it?
With the late adoption of the iPhone/mobile platform and still complete failure of major magazines such Playboy to respond in a current and creative manner, you can be sure this might be your chance to get a leg up.
Many have already cued up, have you?
Here is an example of what Sports Illustrated is planning:
Posted by Rowland Hobbs on December 8 at 1:13 PM
All my life, I have never struggled for perfection. For one, I believe it's unattainable. For two, I believe it's a moving target. Nothing is ever perfect. If you ever think something is perfect, you're either lazy or misinformed.
On the web this is even moreso the case. The glory of the web is that we can change things on the fly. Files can be put up, and taken down. Images can be uploaded, downloaded, and deleted. We can create multiple versions of the same page just to test which setup works the best.
Today, WebMonkey (which sounds a lot less serious than it actually is) posted a blog much to this point, except regarding applications.
And it's true! We need to break free of the unending and deadly cycle of reviews and approvals. It is better to get something up and then work on it continually. Once it's in the real world, you can quickly see what works, and what fails.
If all we do is stare at PDF files of designs that have not been put to the real test of hard code programming, we set ourselves up for disaster when the browsers and connection speeds of the world show us what our actual project will look like.
Of course, this is a bitter pill to swallow. How do you tell a client "let's get it out there, and then fix it?" What's funny is you really can't, it's the worst cacophony to their ears. However, also funny, is that this is how it always is. You launch a site and then begin to notice things.
On the web we so strive for organization. For an easy template to pop our projects into. We want things quick, easy, and clean of the blood of the innocent. This doesn't produce good websites, but it does create award winning ulcers and nights of restless slumber.
So we all need to take a deep breath. Grab our clients by the hand, and tell them it's all right. It's okay. We can fix that. It'll take just a few hours.
Why will this work? Because a website is never done any way. Even books print numerous editions. We can do the same on the web, in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.
Posted by Jesse Poe on December 8 at 12:01 PM
Google blew the doors off yesterday with a bevy of new services. From analytics to the more commercial centered Google Goggles, they came out swinging. The funny thing is that there wasn’t really anyone in the ring to go down.
In Sunday’s New York Times article about the App store, Katy Huberty, a Morgan Stanley analyst said, “Applications make the smartphone trend a revolutionary trend — one we haven’t seen in consumer technology for many years.”
Ms. Huberty then likens the advent of the App Store and the iPhone to AOL’s pioneering role in driving broad-based consumer adoption of the Internet in the 1990s.
In no way am I being cynical, but I am curious what Apple has planned to keep it from going the way of AOL.
AOL claimed a demographic that it will maintain, until their grandchildren or younger friends, convince them that AOL is not the internet, but a website. So they can hang in there for awhile, Apple has massed enough cash they should be fine as well, but their demographic are tech loving youngins, artists, designers, etc. Nothing is there to keep that demographic if it's better, cheaper, easier and more open armed elsewhere.
While Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were snuggling up over their Joe and AOL mail. AOL was conquered on the very groundwork they laid.
Reminds me of the age-old situational joke, where I struggle to open the bottle that’s honeyed shut, I do all the work, and then my kid brother picks it up and takes the lid off to much applause.
I just hope while Apple is standing around and “clapping-in” new kitchy apps everyday, somebody is in the back hard at work on something as good as all Google has to offer the world of late.
Posted by Jesse Poe on December 4 at 11:41 AM
People have been using Google as a dictionary for years. Simply typing the word or an approximation of the word, letting google correct it, copying it, pasting it and then moving on.
The fact that they added definition to their site is even more convenient.
Is it the best? Who cares?
Basic definitions are typically the most useful. Why? because when writing/speaking even though you might like to use the perfect word, the perfect word is always the word that is going to communicate the best and that is usually the most common definition of the word.
Communication is all about communicating.
With the exception of poetry and other such writing, people typically want to quickly clarify the definition and spelling, not do a word study.
For word studies I wouldn't go to dictionary.com (etc.) anyway, but a number of sources, in which case the spotlight on my Mac is the perfect solution. Dictionary, thesaurus, wikipedia all side by side.
Good work on Google's part, they understand what people want: ease.
Posted by Jesse Poe on December 3 at 11:24 AM
Ok, so to be honest my google reader is not full of just PR, tech and media feeds, it is a bit of everything, and one of my favorites is GOOD.is.
I had to weigh in about the importance of residual waste as well and to make my point I turned to my job and how here we use all parts of the chicken at DMDxd.
When you are planning an event, what is your residual waste, and how can you then turn that into stock for a great soup?
Here’s a check list:
1. Audio
2. Video
3. Social Media
4. Photos
5. Copy
Audio, interview people there, the speakers, the crowd, little meetings, whatever. Turn it into a Podcast.
Video, sure your filming the talk or the ribbon cutting or ball dropping etc., but what about in the dressing room, in the cab, behind the scenes. Run it through iMovie and put it on Youtube (no more than 2 mins please).
Social Media, do you have an established #ashtag set up for people to follow, or even a twitter account specific to the event? Can people Facebook connect when they arrive, how are you looping these things around your event and back into your business. A guest book can be so many things these days, if it’s fun, easy and there, people will do it.
Photos, yep those are still important, even if you on the same page and have already hired a photographer or two, what about on the fly? Your cell phone? I played a festival where once you got off stage each performer was given a video camera they could keep with them for the next couple hours, now that was cool, and footage everyone wanted to see, places most people couldn’t get and priceless candidacy. What about just leaving disposable cameras at tables, and sticking a Flickr URL on the camera letting people know, the photos they snap will be uploaded. And you can get the ball rolling behind the scenes with a live feed to flickr from your cell or whatever, while the event is going on.
Copy, microblogging the event, compiling that afterwards into a more blown out blog post, straightened up and polished into a whitepaper or article that you purpose to a magazine, or someone else’s blog.
The idea is that if you have an event, use the whole chicken. And remember, that event can be something as simple as a tweet-up or you name it, brangelina doesn’t have to attend to make it an event, just you and your great ideas.
(an example of DMD doing this can be found here, and more if you like, drop us a line.)
As the Creative Director of a web, mobile marketing, and social media agency - I would love to talk about us and our brilliance all the time. And hopefully, as we land more and more projects and launch more and more things, I will be able to do that.
But at other times, I just have to give the bigger dogs their due. These days, so many clients are pining for more! more! more! We want MORE functionality! MORE options! MORE lolcats! But Ogilvy took a page from the upcoming holiday season, and its biblical battle cry for simplicity - and channeled that simple wish into an iPhone Christmas app.
It's pretty fantastic... but it also could do with just a BIT more.
You take a photo, you press a button, and snow is superimposed over the photo you took. Why is this awesome? Because it's an immediate strategic headslap for me (why didn't I think of that??). Because it is not at all expensive. And it is simple, simple, simple. Add to that the fact that it's free and that the web is already talking about it and I can tell you that this will be a successful idea from the company. They sell mobile, marketing, and web. And that's exactly what their app does.
But far be it from me to just lay back and say "good job, other company that isn't mine." Of course I need to step in and offer some "wouldn't it be better ifs".
So please, indulge me:
I'd love to have an option to add falling snow to any VIDEO. With iPhone's ability to edit and upload direct to YouTube, that could be fun, as well.
What if I want to turn this into a mobile holiday card? Can I type a quick message that is superimposed over the image, and sign my name using the touch pad? Another personal touch that increases viral potential.
What about a drawer of stick-on imagery? I'd love to drag an Ogilvy snowman onto my photo, and shrink or grow him appropriately to add to my faux-snowy scene.
Now... you may say... but then it's no longer simple! I disagree. A few SIMPLE additions I mentioned here, streamlined with a slick UI, could certainly keep this snowy and simplistic... while adding more value.
Because, while simplicity is key, too much of it isn't a good thing, either. You need to give something a bit more flair to give it that extra push from one user to that user's friends and family. Topics: Mobile_Marketing, tools, web_design0 CommentsRead Full Post
Posted by Jesse Poe on November 24 at 11:24 AM
From Leon Kadoch to Ben Parr, everybody is talking about the recent changes to LinkedIn.
It has been 2 years coming and I am happy for the changes however minimal they are, but much more excited about the possibilities that might arise as a result.
The most obvious would be an integration of services such as Plocky or the like, where I could easily connect my Linked In to my social networks that I have built via Twitter, or reconnected with on Facebook, or even found through forums for change like GOOD.is.
Asking people to add you in one place and then come join you in another is tedious, and although everyone wants to have the stamp on the town square they should realize that if they were to simply make the town square centralized and easy to get to, more people would congregate there instead of staying at home.
There was a question, getting passed around twitter the other day:
LinkedIn to what?
I don't agree, but it begs the question, how has LinkedIn failed if people aren't easily seeing the benefit of their service?
I have found LinkedIn useful realizing from the begining that it is what you put into it, as any platform is. I have found it very useful for those close enough to me that they are willing to then go to another platform to friend me, however it can often be a rather bottom up feed source.
I run an engaging and organic twitter account, which although small consists of people I have engaged and built a dialogue with. If I put their twitter name into a tweet, I am sure that I will get not only a response, but a "threaded" conversation.
Britney does not follow me, but quite a few CEOs of cool companies do.
So think about this LinkedIn and those thinking of building another platform for yet another social community, someone who is looking for a leg up, and is intrigued by the information I give out on twitter, they are going to do the click work to find me and Link in with me, maybe, and I am glad to help. However, a CEO or other possible future client, who finds the material I tweet interesting, is probably going to keep following my links when they see them, but it is going to be a long slow reeling in process to "linking in" with them. During that process, they could have had me consulting them on the functionality of their site and its flow, or perhaps redesigning it from the ground up.
I might have lost that chance to some kid in their mail room who says he knows a guy who knows html, thinking he is doing his company a service. While I am slowly reeling them in from twitter to LinkedIn, they have lost the chance of having an effective site and outreach and way to use that site right now as a tool.
The operative word is "right now".
We want to put 2 & 2 together right now, because we might need 4 to get us through a choppy quarter, or for the launch of our most innovative product or service to date.
LinkedIn and others should think about this and less about the popularity of their own site and brand and they should do so fast before Google decides to push their Google Profiles, If a brand doesn't serve me, then I am going to remember its name, I am going to remember it as something that didn't work and not return. However, the first person to connect us conveniently and across platforms will win my loyalty and surely that of every other person in business, they won't even need a brand name, they'll just sell the service and retire in the Caribbeans.
Posted by Jesse Poe on November 19 at 3:19 PM
When I used to work for Apple the most common question I heard was:
"What's the most important thing to look for in a computer? I mean do I need bigger or faster? I don't want to buy a computer and then three years later it's obsolete."
My response was an aside, I got a watch to sell ya whisper, saying, "hey soon, Google will make an OS of their own and then that question won't matter, in essence you'll just need a machine that runs well."
The rummor I was spreading has come true here is Google video launched today to prove it:
And if an online operating system to revolutionize the way we use computers wasn't enough in one day, they have beat Microsoft at it own "humanity" game. It's new Search Stories are so captivating, clever and moving that I got a little choked up.
Posted by Rowland Hobbs on November 18 at 3:02 PM
These days, people are constantly trying to be the first to pimp and spread a tool or application. I can count on no certain number of hands and feet the amount of times someone has forwarded to me a tool that they clearly never tried or used, and then wanted to spread anyway.
"Hey, check this out, it's SO awesome!"
But then the tool sucks.
If I get one more slap-dash wireframing tool, I might scream. They're all the same, and none of them are ever any good. In fact, most apps, tools and programs give me a big headache. They don't make my life easier, they make it more complicated. I need to stop my tasks to update notes on those tasks, tally those tasks, and document those tasks, before uploading and tweeting those tasks... which stops me from actually doing the tasks.
Suddenly I'm too busy talking about what I plan on doing, that I never have the time to actually do any of it.
But, every once in a while, I come across an app that is actually useful. And by useful I mean totally amazing. In that it makes my job easier.
That tool I am talking about is Skitch. I discovered it today and plan to use it every day for the rest of my Internet life.
Simply put, Skitch is a screen grabbing application that allows you to easily snap a shot of something, and then write and draw all over it, cropping and resizing as you go.
Oh and it's free.
Where is this useful? Everywhere if you work on the Web. If something isn't working on a site I am QCing, I fire up Skitch (which hides sweetly in the background until I summon it), take a screen grab, and start going to town.
With Apple-like UI, I can flip the photo, edit the photo, and then "tear" a JPEG out of it and to my desktop. I can also upload it to the Skitch web site if I want to post the photo on a blog or website. This isn't useful to me, but it'll probably make Perez Hilton's job a lot easier.
DMDxd got a chance to chat with Janet Meiners Thaeler about her new book, "I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What??"
We will also be giving away free copies of the book on Friday. To win a copy leave a comment and winners will be chosen randomly on 11/20.
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What's your elevator pitch for I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What?
You've thought about pitching your news to the media. Now learn how to pitch your news to a search engine.
Why did you need to write this book?
Too many small business owners and PR firms miss opportunities because they don't understand SEO or know the power of online press releases. I've seen these methods work again and again and I want people to know how to use them for their benefit and for their clients.
Who should read this book, and who shouldn’t?
Anyone who wants to get online publicity for their business or for their client. It's a very practical guide. It even has templates for you to use and gives options for any budget.
While my book can be used for businesses of all sizes I don't go into detail about traditional wire services. I will in a future book.
Give it to us quick: Why can’t we just slap a standard press release on the Internet?
It just won't get the visibility you desire - you need to use a news distribution web site that has authority and gets your news on the top online news sources. I go over how to do this in the book.
Can you give our readers a few quick tips on making a press release “killer”
1. Use links in your press releases - not just to URLs but keyword links.
2. Include a boilerplate that gives all of the ways to connect with your business online (i.e. social networking sites)
3. Take advantage of trends to become an expert and get top placement in search engines.
4. Include a "call to action" in your press release.
5. After sending a press release, use the many free methods online to get your news even more visibility.
What are the differences between being a community organizer and an online marketer? And what are the similarities?
Here's a great blog post www.connectioncafe.com and chart about that. Sometimes these overlap because building a community online can make for powerful online marketing. However, it's just one part of online marketing.
Clearly in this day and age, print is not the end of the line. What are you doing to expand the reach of I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What? online?
It's important to have a print book - even if it's just sold on Amazon.com. It gets you credibility and there are lots of tools Amazon has to help you sell yourself online.
I set up a Twitter account @onlineprbook and a blog www.OnlinePRBook.com/blog I've partnered with folks like Joan Stewart of The Publicity Hound and PRWeb. I speak at events and conferences.
That said, I hope not to do another print book. They are so quickly outdated and I prefer an ebook. They just haven't reached the respect that an actual book has.
We love that you have a money back guarantee on your book. Do you feel it’ll contribute to stronger sales?
I'm not sure how many people know about it but if they did, yes it should. I also give free copies to bloggers if they agree to post a review. I've had people say the book was worth far more than they paid.
If the book is not enough for you, I'm preparing a DVD that will show you the main tools that I use. I walk you through the steps of keyword research, submitting your news and promoting it. It will be priced a bit more but it's me spending hours teaching you what took me years to learn. My video editor has already seen success just through passive learning he's done editing the DVD.
My Killer Press Releases DVD will be out next month (December 2009) - watch my site for more information.
And join Janet for her free webinar Wednesday the 18th on PRWeb.
Posted by Jesse Poe on November 11 at 11:58 AM
"Online Ads Are Booming, if They’re Attached to a Video", according to this morning’s NY Times Business section. $477 million in revenue in the first half of 2009, up 38% from the same period in 2008.
Is this just big companies throwing money in new directions to try and find a win somewhere?
No, video based online advertising might be the most effective advertising dollar ever spent, if done right.
Why? Because, opposed to TV commercials where you have a supposed segment of people who are probably watching, here you have people choosing to watch and each time they do, you can track it.
Furthermore and exponentially greater is that your viewers will take that content and your attached ad, into their homes, into their friend’s homes, and their friend’s friends home, by posting it on their blog, on their Facebook, passing it around via Twitter, if your ad is good and you’ve chosen the correct content to be tethered to, that is.
Preaching to the choir.
Don’t waste your time or money selling ads to the converted. The idea is to expand your market, not show your already established market that you know how to make a video and pay the $75 C.P.M. to WSJ to pre-roll it. Think creatively about how to expand your market through pre-roll advertising.
Recycling is in, but not with Ads.
Don’t repurpose your already made ads for TV, or what not, and have them roll before a clip. You’re reaching a new segment, these viewers want new material, even if they are the same ones watching TV at night, they have different expectations and different mindsets when online in the morning. Your material should be aware of the space it is in.
Video on the internet is not TV.
You can do so much more with ads on the internet than you can on TV and people are expecting you to do so. Today’s Apple ad "PC Switcher" on the NY Times is a perfect example of what to do and what not to do. Cool innovation, the ad is using the medium, but the voice and message is old, tired, and not in line with people’s perception of the company nor their expectations for ads in general. Come up with something new! Use the medium and do it with fresh material. It is not enough to Wow me with how you are saying it, you must also Wow me with what you are saying. Cool tech is not enough, you also need good content.
KISS
Keep it short and simple. Get your message across quickly and easily. Clearly define your message. Make sure I can understand the ad even if I only hear it, in case I tab over to read an article while I’m waiting for your ad to roll by. Compel me to tab back!
Thank you to BRIAN STELTER of the NY Times for the original article.
Posted by Jesse Poe on September 9 at 10:56 AM
If you’re a Star Wars geek (not that I am, but I did see the first 1977 run of it at the drive in, and then many times after), you might have participated in tweaking scenes from the Star Wars saga, when George Lucas put them on-line. A winning strategy which helped insure that previous fans would become acolytes in his re-tuning of the holy trilogy.
Audience participation is not kenneled to sci-fi fans or people who love to cross-dress and sing show tunes with Frankenfurter snarls. Participation grafts a brand to a participant’s life. Even the word audience becomes tricky because their participation makes them a part of the brand itself.
Topics: Internet, media, Mobile_Marketing, tools1 CommentRead Full Post
Posted by Rowland Hobbs on June 1 at 6:30 AM
Today Microsoft made an earth-shattering announcement called Natal, and dropped an unfortunate bomb named Bing... Topics: tools, web_design1 CommentRead Full Post
Ok, ok, I get it. Sometimes this stuff can be confusing. Let me see if I can briefly bring you up to speed on what experience design is all about. Fundamentally it is helping organizations know what to make and why.
Posted by Nadia Ries Shen on February 7 at 8:36 AM
Today I attended the Intro to Interaction Design workshop with Dave Malouf. He made many useful references and gave us a good list of reading materials. We did a few sketching exercises throughout the morning as he emphasized the importance of sketching as an excellent means of brainstorming and communicating.
Topics: , , strategy, tools2 CommentsRead Full Post
Posted by Nadia Ries Shen on February 7 at 7:41 AM
The Microsoft Surface was on display at the sponsors forum at the IxDA '09 conference. It seemed to grab a lot of peoples attention as there was a big group standing around playing with its fun functions. The screen is 30" which enabled people to sit around the table-like screen and interact with it and those around it.
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Posted by Nadia Ries Shen on February 6 at 8:48 AM
First day at the IXDA conference I attended a workshop: Mock-up Web Application Design with Adobe Fireworks CS4 with speakers David Hogue and Adam Musselman. Topics: tools, web_design3 CommentsRead Full Post
Swift.fm is an amazing start-up that allows users to add audio information to tweets creating a radio-station style playlist of music (check out my office ambiance channel here) which is viral-enabled to allow users to engage content in various formats and contexts by highlighting their musical perspective. They are also a breath away from being the #1 Music-specific twitter client by traffic, and with their new platform of locked down branded-wrapped embeddable channels they are soon to be a swift force in creating brand identity, engagement and social conversation on the web (well even more than they already are). We talked about the future of Swift.fm and the future of the web and which direction we see it going: a direction that other like minds across town are quickly developing at diaspora* 
I had two eyes open all night as that not only am I interested in the internet (as it is my field) and especially as it relates to social networking and music (as that is my love), but also because I build social media plans for hip hotels and program their facebook pages in FBML. We toured the hotel and it’s famed analog sound system, met with the event planners and tried a variety of their special brews. Independently, Ed and I both took pictures of the Hotel/bar and showed them to each other, both photos were snapped with our iPhones, yet with surprisingly different results. My photo on the left, doesn’t look cool, but points out one of the cool features of ACE and it’s brilliant design; the curation of space through text and messaging throughout the space Such as this great use of the exit sign:
The great poet Terry Hummer once told me the secret to poetry was to take a flower and expand it’s beauty and properties to become as vast as the cosmos, or to take the cosmos out of the sky and wrap into a language and understanding so tight that you can hand to someone like a flower.
Topics: Internet, media, social_networking, strategy, tools 0 Comments
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