Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 147
February 23, 2018
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #400
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, Pandemonio, and ResolveTO, Author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
Netflix vs Blockbuster - Dirty Tricks - Business Wars - NPR . "I often refer to Netflix and Blockbuster when talking about innovation: Netflix wanted the future to be here sooner, so they stuffed DVDs into envelopes, turning the postal service into a broadband network. But I had no idea how dirty the fight was until I listened to this." (Alistair for Hugh).
Wearable scanners will be able to read our minds - Financial Times . "I was in Ottawa this week, speaking to government about the future of work, and the unreasonable power of algorithms. It's not just AI, but the speed with which sensors and robotics are improving, that challenge the way we work. Case in point: MRIs are great, but expensive. What if they were a thousand times cheaper and a billion times more clear? The implications for everything from diagnostics to interrogation are stunning." (Alistair for Mitch).
Chart of the day (century?): Price changes 1997 to 2017 - AEIdeas . "I don't know that I agree with the conclusions of the writers, and I would like to see the fuller range of data and goods/asset classes (for instance, I would like to see how some other ' oods' such as houses track), but. Pretty wild to see differences in cost increase profiles across different goods, with hospitals, college tuition and textbooks soaring above the rest." (Hugh for Alistair).
William Baumol, whose famous economic theory explains the modern world, has died - Vox . "And... here is the economic theory that explains (some of) the differences between goods/services costs that have increased vs. declined over the past 20 years. According to the Baumol Cost Disease theory, the difference is not due to government interference (as the author of the post above suggests), but rather because: 'rising productivity in the manufacturing sector of the economy inevitably pushes up the cost of labor-intensive services like live musical performances [and college tuituon]. Rising productivity allows factories to cut prices and raise wages at the same time. But when wages rise, music venues [and colleges] have no alternative but to raise ticket prices to cover the higher costs.'" (Hugh for Mitch).
Iggy And The Stooges - Rider . "Typically, the 'rider' is a dry and very specific document that a band (and management) sends to the promoter of a live show. The document is meant to ensure that all of the specifics that the band requires (from sound to lighting to backstage food) is done just right, so that the band can really deliver a great show. As a speaker, I have a rider too. I want to ensure that the av is set-up just right, so that I can deliver a great presentation. This is the rider for Iggy Pop and his band, The Stooges. It is also proof that you never have to be boring. In fact, if you're even a little bit different, a mundane piece of content can easily go viral. Like this one..." (Mitch for Alistair).
Is the E-Reader Dead? - Tom's Guide . "As huge book nerds, this information may be both obvious and deeply disturbing. I've been a fan of having a sole e-reader for a very long time. I like the fact that the books are 'isolated' and that I have no other distraction than reading with these devices. I also enjoy the fact that they were designed with the sole intent of reading. With that, I read most of my books (and I still read a ton) on my iPhone using the Kindle app. Probably not good for my eyes. Probably get too distracted by other apps. But... another device to lug around? Ugh. Well, is it the end for the e-reader?..." (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
Tags:
advertising
advertising agency
aeideas
algorithm ai
alistair croll
amazon
amazon kindle
artificial intelligence
baumol cost disease
blockbuster
book
brand
broadband
business blog
business wars
content marketing
digital marketing
digital marketing agency
digital marketing blog
disruption
e reader
economics
ereader
facebook
financial times
iggy and the stooges
iggy pop
information
innovation
iphone
j walter thompson
jwt
kindle
kindle app
link
link exchange
manufacturing
marketing
marketing agency
marketing blog
mirum
mirum agency
mirum agency blog
mirum blog
mirum canada
mirum in canada
mitch joel
mitchjoel
music
netflix
npr
npr one
productivity
reading
reading device
robotics
sensors
six pixels of separation
solve for interesting
tilt the windmill
toms guide
twitter
vox
wearables
william baumol
wpp
Media's New Business Model: Surveillance Capitalism
The struggle is real.
Brands simply no longer know where to put their money. It's easy to build a dystopian vision about the current state of digital, but it's less about a current media dystopia and more about threading the needle between several key facts the marketing industry is currently experiencing, and then drawing our conclusions from there. Before diving into the current day realities, what was the job of the media world? In simplistic terms: deliver information that was paid for and supported by brands and advertising. A (somewhat) fair and equitable exchange. People want information (news, entertainment, sports, etc...). Brands want to capture eyeballs and attention. Charge brands for access to these consumers and their attention. From there, if these consumers buy and support the brand, there is a winning marketing and sales model. Then, the brand can support this relationship through better ads, loyalty, service and more.
Simple enough? What happened?
One could argue that consumers turned sour on advertising. One could argue that digital changed the kind of media that consumers now want. One could argue that digital doesn't deliver media in the same way. One could argue a lot of other variables. The challenge from my perch - as the evolution unfolds before our eyes - is that the 800 pound gorillas of media in our current age (Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc...) may not, in fact, be media companies. Not a new narrative, but something to consider. Nothing makes a Facebook (or Google) executive turn pale, squirm in their seat or lose eye contact more than when they are asked if they are a media company. Don't believe me? Troll through the myriad of conversations that took place at last week's Recode Code Media event in Huntington Beach, California. It's tough to watch. And, candidly, I don't buy into the ideology that these Silicon Valley revenue juggernauts are not media companies. Just take a look at their revenues. They don't come from selling a platform, enterprise solutions, or much else besides advertising. The problem, of course, is that if they admit that they are media companies, this puts them in the precarious position of having to change and shift and act like a media company (it's easy to abdicate the problems of media, when you say that you're just a platform, and not responsible for the content that flows through it). Plus, the public markets like technology companies much more than media plays, so there's that too.
Taking a contrarian (but realistic) perspective.
As the Recode event was winding down, I recorded an upcoming episode of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Pocast with Andrew Keen. On the harsher side of the spectrum, Andrew has been called the "anti-Christ of Silicon Valley." He's the author of the very contrarion books, Cult of the Amateur, Digital Vertigo, The Internet Is Not The Answer and, most recently, How To Fix The Future. Over the course of the past decade, I've had multiple opportunities to debate and converse with Andrew about the state of media and the Internet. I find myself being more optimist about media, social media and connectivity than pessimistic. Andrew would say that he's not pessimistic but realistic about it. With that, maybe I'm more opportunistic about the current state, while Andrew is more realistic? There is one thing that we both definitely agree on: surveillance capitalism.
What is surveillance capitalism, and is that media's true new business model.
What do Facebook, Google, and everyone else truly sell? You know the saying: "if you can't see the product, you are the product." Whether it's access to information, access to individuals, or whatever. The culmination of our highly personalized searches, connections and commentary is the product. In fact, if media used to sell access to an audience that had a combined interest in a piece of media, then media today is selling access to highly personalized information that their consumers are generating to third parties to better target them. These companies don't really sell content or advertising. They do really sell the surveillance of their consumers.
Maybe consumers are ok with that? I don't think that they are.
After all, these are incredible services... and they're free. With that, consumers are not fools. They know that these services were not created as social causes. These are businesses. They are here to generate income (more and more of it). Pushing this further, you could even question the business models that seem - on the surface - to not be based on surveillance capitalism. Take Amazon, as an example . Are we really just buying products and services online for a cheaper price, more convenience and speed of delivery? Think of how rich and valuable the data set is that Amazon has. Add in their Amazon Web Services (which powers a large chunk of our favourite Web services) and what Amazon has (and knows) about consumers, and they're teetering into the surveillance capitalism model (or what now makes them a multi-billion dollar generating media juggernaut). Dive a little deeper into Amazon Marketing Services, if you're struggling to see these connection points. What Amazon knows about the consumer is a much more valuable commodity than selling them smartphone chargers, diapers and books. Remember: "data is the new oil". Nobody has ever said that ecommerce is the new oil, or that content is the new oil.
What does media solve for?
Programmatic technology, beacons, retargeting, a lack of visibility into how consumer data and usage moves through the pipes, where it stops, where it resides, and how it is really monetized, what ambient data is being sniffed up by wifi networks, bluetooth, mobile connectivity and beyond. It's enough to make any consumer paranoid. Their information is the business. And, there's a reason Unilever CMO, Keith Weed, recently stated:
"Consumers don't care about third-party verification. They do care about fraudulent practice, fake news, and Russians influencing the US election. They don't care about good value for advertisers. But they do care when they see their brands being placed next to ads funding terror, or exploiting children... They don't care about sophisticated data usage or ad targeting via complex algorithms, but they do care about not seeing the same ad 100 times a day. They don't care about ad fraud, but they do care about their data being misused and stolen."
This is a company that lives and dies by the media model of paying for consumer's attention, while consumers are engaged with media in the hopes that the consumer choose their consumer packaged goods. Why are they putting the brakes on? Media used to solve for audience and attention. Now, the companies with the biggest war chests don't want to call themselves media companies, and they are all primarily driven by surveillance capitalism. Make money from watching what people do and sell that rich well of information to multiple highest bidders. This is not a business model based on a group of people gathered together by a shared interest in a topic, but it is about tracking individuals from websites, smartphones, emails, and more down to physical spaces and back, using sophisticated tracking technology, physical cameras in public (and private) spaces, using third party data assets, ambient video, facial recognition, and data sources... and now layering all of that on top of machine learning and artificial intelligence to make some very strong correlations.
Media is no longer about targeting your audience's interests. Media looks like it's much more about targeting consumers and selling their data... personally. Is that what consumers signed up for?
Tags:
ad fraud
advertising
advertising agency
ai
algorithm
amazon
amazon marketing services
amazon web services
ambient data
analytics
andrew keen
artificial intelligence
attention
beacons
brand
business blog
business model
chief marketing officer
cmo
code media
connectivity
consumer data
cpg
cult of the amateur
data
data usage
digital marketing
digital marketing agency
digital marketing blog
digital media
digital vertigo
disruption
ecommerce
email
email marketing
enterprise solutions
facebook
fake news
google
how to fix the future
innovation
j walter thompson
jwt
keith weed
linkedin
loyalty
marketing
marketing agency
marketing blog
marketing industry
media
media company
media dystopia
mirum
mirum agency
mirum agency blog
mirum blog
mirum canada
mirum in canada
mitch joel
mitchjoel
mobile connectivity
podcast
programmatic
recode
retargeting
silicon valley
six pixels of separation
smartphone
social media
surveillance capitalism
the internet is not the answer
twitter
unilever
web analytics
wpp
February 22, 2018
Media's New Business Model: Surveillance Capitalism
The struggle is real.
Brands simply no longer know where to put their money. It's easy to build a dystopian vision about the current state of digital, but it's less about a current media dystopia and more about threading the needle between several key facts the marketing industry is currently experiencing, and then drawing our conclusions from there. Before diving into the current day realities, what was the job of the media world? In simplistic terms: deliver information that was paid for and supported by brands and advertising. A (somewhat) fair and equitable exchange. People want information (news, entertainment, sports, etc...). Brands want to capture eyeballs and attention. Charge brands for access to these consumers and their attention. From there, if these consumers buy and support the brand, there is a winning marketing and sales model. Then, the brand can support this relationship through better ads, loyalty, service and more.
Simple enough? What happened?
One could argue that consumers turned sour on advertising. One could argue that digital changed the kind of media that consumers now want. One could argue that digital doesn't deliver media in the same way. One could argue a lot of other variables. The challenge from my perch - as the evolution unfolds before our eyes - is that the 800 pound gorillas of media in our current age (Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc...) may not, in fact, be media companies. Not a new narrative, but something to consider. Nothing makes a Facebook (or Google) executive turn pale, squirm in their seat or lose eye contact more than when they are asked if they are a media company. Don't believe me? Troll through the myriad of conversations that took place at last week's Recode Code Media event in Huntington Beach, California. It's tough to watch. And, candidly, I don't buy into the ideology that these Silicon Valley revenue juggernauts are not media companies. Just take a look at their revenues. They don't come from selling a platform, enterprise solutions, or much else besides advertising. The problem, of course, is that if they admit that they are media companies, this puts them in the precarious position of having to change and shift and act like a media company (it's easy to abdicate the problems of media, when you say that you're just a platform, and not responsible for the content that flows through it). Plus, the public markets like technology companies much more than media plays, so there's that too.
Taking a contrarian (but realistic) perspective.
As the Recode event was winding down, I recorded an upcoming episode of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Pocast with Andrew Keen. On the harsher side of the spectrum, Andrew has been called the "anti-Christ of Silicon Valley." He's the author of the very contrarion books, Cult of the Amateur, Digital Vertigo, The Internet Is Not The Answer and, most recently, How To Fix The Future. Over the course of the past decade, I've had multiple opportunities to debate and converse with Andrew about the state of media and the Internet. I find myself being more optimist about media, social media and connectivity than pessimistic. Andrew would say that he's not pessimistic but realistic about it. With that, maybe I'm more opportunistic about the current state, while Andrew is more realistic? There is one thing that we both definitely agree on: surveillance capitalism.
What is surveillance capitalism, and is that media's true new business model.
What do Facebook, Google, and everyone else truly sell? You know the saying: "if you can't see the product, you are the product." Whether it's access to information, access to individuals, or whatever. The culmination of our highly personalized searches, connections and commentary is the product. In fact, if media used to sell access to an audience that had a combined interest in a piece of media, then media today is selling access to highly personalized information that their consumers are generating to third parties to better target them. These companies don't really sell content or advertising. They do really sell the surveillance of their consumers.
Maybe consumers are ok with that? I don't think that they are.
After all, these are incredible services... and they're free. With that, consumers are not fools. They know that these services were not created as social causes. These are businesses. They are here to generate income (more and more of it). Pushing this further, you could even question the business models that seem - on the surface - to not be based on surveillance capitalism. Take Amazon, as an example . Are we really just buying products and services online for a cheaper price, more convenience and speed of delivery? Think of how rich and valuable the data set is that Amazon has. Add in their Amazon Web Services (which powers a large chunk of our favourite Web services) and what Amazon has (and knows) about consumers, and they're teetering into the surveillance capitalism model (or what now makes them a multi-billion dollar generating media juggernaut). Dive a little deeper into Amazon Marketing Services, if you're struggling to see these connection points. What Amazon knows about the consumer is a much more valuable commodity than selling them smartphone chargers, diapers and books. Remember: "data is the new oil". Nobody has ever said that ecommerce is the new oil, or that content is the new oil.
What does media solve for?
Programmatic technology, beacons, retargeting, a lack of visibility into how consumer data and usage moves through the pipes, where it stops, where it resides, and how it is really monetized, what ambient data is being sniffed up by wifi networks, bluetooth, mobile connectivity and beyond. It's enough to make any consumer paranoid. Their information is the business. And, there's a reason Unilever CMO, Keith Weed, recently stated:
"Consumers don't care about third-party verification. They do care about fraudulent practice, fake news, and Russians influencing the US election. They don't care about good value for advertisers. But they do care when they see their brands being placed next to ads funding terror, or exploiting children... They don't care about sophisticated data usage or ad targeting via complex algorithms, but they do care about not seeing the same ad 100 times a day. They don't care about ad fraud, but they do care about their data being misused and stolen."
This is a company that lives and dies by the media model of paying for consumer's attention, while consumers are engaged with media in the hopes that the consumer choose their consumer packaged goods. Why are they putting the brakes on? Media used to solve for audience and attention. Now, the companies with the biggest war chests don't want to call themselves media companies, and they are all primarily driven by surveillance capitalism. Make money from watching what people do and sell that rich well of information to multiple highest bidders. This is not a business model based on a group of people gathered together by a shared interest in a topic, but it is about tracking individuals from websites, smartphones, emails, and more down to physical spaces and back, using sophisticated tracking technology, physical cameras in public (and private) spaces, using third party data assets, ambient video, facial recognition, and data sources... and now layering all of that on top of machine learning and artificial intelligence to make some very strong correlations.
Media is no longer about targeting your audience's interests. Media looks like it's much more about targeting consumers and selling their data... personally. Is that what consumers signed up for?
Tags:
ad fraud
advertising
advertising agency
ai
algorithm
amazon
amazon marketing services
amazon web services
ambient data
analytics
andrew keen
artificial intelligence
attention
beacons
brand
business blog
business model
chief marketing officer
cmo
code media
connectivity
consumer data
cpg
cult of the amateur
data
data usage
digital marketing
digital marketing agency
digital marketing blog
digital media
digital vertigo
disruption
ecommerce
email
email marketing
enterprise solutions
facebook
fake news
google
how to fix the future
innovation
j walter thompson
jwt
keith weed
linkedin
loyalty
marketing
marketing agency
marketing blog
marketing industry
media
media company
media dystopia
mirum
mirum agency
mirum agency blog
mirum blog
mirum canada
mirum in canada
mitch joel
mitchjoel
mobile connectivity
podcast
programmatic
recode
retargeting
silicon valley
six pixels of separation
smartphone
social media
surveillance capitalism
the internet is not the answer
twitter
unilever
web analytics
wpp
February 19, 2018
Is The Bank Of Amazon Coming And More On This Week's CTRL ALT Delete Segment On CHOM 97.7 FM
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away about what's going on in the digital world. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
Amazon keeps disrupting businesses. Last week we discussed the test launch of Shipping With Amazon designed to compete with UPS and FedEx. Then, later in the week, Amazon announced that it is partnering with Bank of America to expand its lending program for small businesses. This will allow Amazon to reduce risk by providing credit to more merchants. The invitation-only business will grant loans from $1000 - $750,000 for businesses that may have trouble getting a traditional business loan. Bank of Amazon, anyone?
Netflix charges a monthly fee and, of course, there are no TV commercials. It validates the model that people are willing to pay for content. Still, the Netflix effect is real. According to research from nScreenMedia, Netflix has taken anywhere from $3 billion to $6 billion per year off the table in TV advertising revenue, as a result of the viewing on its platform. In the past, such viewing would have gone to ad-supported TV networks. So, while TV advertising is not at risk from Netflix, the amount of TV viewed because of Netflix will impact the bottom-line. Fascinating.
Is your life not complete because it lacks emoticons for bagels, mango and lobster? Fear not! Fresh new emojis are on the way! The Unicode Consortium (that handles this sort of emoticon thing) will roll out 157 new ideograms this summer. You should have these non-verbal and non-word-based ways to communicate by June/July.
App of the Week: Facebook Local.
Tags:
advertising agency
amazon
app of the week
bank of america
brand
business blog
chom 977 fm
chom fm
ctrl alt delete
ctrl alt delete with mitch joel
digital marketing
digital marketing agency
digital marketing blog
digital media
emoji
emoticon
facebook
facebook local
fedex
guest contributor
i heart radio
j walter thompson
jwt
marketing
marketing agency
marketing blog
mirum
mirum agency
mirum agency blog
mirum blog
mirum canada
mirum in canada
mitch joel
mitchjoel
montreal radio
morning show
mornings rock with terry dimonte
netflix
nscreenmedia
radio segment
radio station
shipping with amazon
six pixels of separation
social media
technology
terry dimonte
tv commercials
unicode consortium
ups
wpp
Is The Bank Of Amazon Coming And More On This Week's CTRL ALT Delete Segment On CHOM 97.7 FM
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away about what's going on in the digital world. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
Amazon keeps disrupting businesses. Last week we discussed the test launch of Shipping With Amazon designed to compete with UPS and FedEx. Then, later in the week, Amazon announced that it is partnering with Bank of America to expand its lending program for small businesses. This will allow Amazon to reduce risk by providing credit to more merchants. The invitation-only business will grant loans from $1000 - $750,000 for businesses that may have trouble getting a traditional business loan. Bank of Amazon, anyone?
Netflix charges a monthly fee and, of course, there are no TV commercials. It validates the model that people are willing to pay for content. Still, the Netflix effect is real. According to research from nScreenMedia, Netflix has taken anywhere from $3 billion to $6 billion per year off the table in TV advertising revenue, as a result of the viewing on its platform. In the past, such viewing would have gone to ad-supported TV networks. So, while TV advertising is not at risk from Netflix, the amount of TV viewed because of Netflix will impact the bottom-line. Fascinating.
Is your life not complete because it lacks emoticons for bagels, mango and lobster? Fear not! Fresh new emojis are on the way! The Unicode Consortium (that handles this sort of emoticon thing) will roll out 157 new ideograms this summer. You should have these non-verbal and non-word-based ways to communicate by June/July.
App of the Week: Facebook Local.
Tags:
advertising agency
amazon
app of the week
bank of america
brand
business blog
chom 977 fm
chom fm
ctrl alt delete
ctrl alt delete with mitch joel
digital marketing
digital marketing agency
digital marketing blog
digital media
emoji
emoticon
facebook
facebook local
fedex
guest contributor
i heart radio
j walter thompson
jwt
marketing
marketing agency
marketing blog
mirum
mirum agency
mirum agency blog
mirum blog
mirum canada
mirum in canada
mitch joel
mitchjoel
montreal radio
morning show
mornings rock with terry dimonte
netflix
nscreenmedia
radio segment
radio station
shipping with amazon
six pixels of separation
social media
technology
terry dimonte
tv commercials
unicode consortium
ups
wpp
February 18, 2018
Become A Superconnector With Scott Gerber - This Week's Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast
Episode #606 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
Everywhere I look, I see the book Superconnector. Online, in bookstores at the airport. What kind of connector would I be without trying to pin down the bestselling book's author, Scott Gerber? Scott Gerber is CEO of The Community Company, an organization that builds and manages community-driven programs for media companies and global brands. He is also the founder of YEC, an invitation-only organization comprised of the world's most successful young entrepreneurs, and the co-author of Superconnector. He also wrote the book, Never Get a "Real" Job a few years back. Scott believes that we should never diminish the power of our social capital, and we should be constantly making deposits to ensure that the account keeps growing. How do you find purpose and value in your connections, in your network and in networking? Listen on. Enjoy the conversation...
You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast #606.
Tags:
advertising
advertising agency
advertising podcast
brand
business blog
business book
business conversation
business podcast
connections
digital marketing
digital marketing agency
digital marketing blog
digital marketing podcast
disruption
entrepreneur
innovation
j walter thompson
jwt
leadership book
leadership podcast
management podcast
marketing
marketing agency
marketing blog
marketing podcast
media
media company
mirum
mirum agency
mirum agency blog
mirum blog
mirum canada
mirum in canada
mitch joel
mitchjoel
network
networking
never get a real job
non fiction book
podcast
scott gerber
six pixels of separation
social capital
super connector
superconnector
the community company
wpp
yec
February 16, 2018
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #399
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, Pandemonio, and ResolveTO, Author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist's Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:
The 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water - like Cape Town - BBC . "Water's scarce, populations are rising, climate change is altering aquifers and patterns of water distribution. South Africa might be days from running out of water, but other parts of the world aren't far behind. To twist Gibson's words: The misery is here, it's just not evenly distributed." (Alistair for Hugh).
Chinese cops are wearing glasses that can recognize faces - Technology Review . "Peter Thiel building offshore cities beyond the reach of the law. Fake videos indistinguishable from the truth. Ubiquitous social surveillance. It's dystopia week here in my head, so enough with funny videos and poetry: It's time for some properly Gibsonian future present to spill over into links. Chinese policing using facial recognition. This will happen in every country, soon. For now, if you want a glimpse of the commonplace tomorrow look at China today." (Alistair for Mitch).
Sprawling Maya network discovered under Guatemala jungle - BBC . "Fascinating to think that the Mayan population, in a territory about the size of England, may have been ten times bigger than the UK's in 500AD, and perhaps half the population of all of Europe at the same time. New satellite imagery suggests a sprawling, bustling civilization of raised causeways, and significant cities in what is now Guatemalan jungle." (Hugh for Alistair).
In Conversation: Erykah Badu - Vulture . "Kooky but great interview with Erykah Badu, 90s R&B iconoclast who still holds some sway." (Hugh for Mitch).
No one's coming. It's up to us - Dan Hon - Medium . "This is a very rich and deep piece of thinking. Please make the time to soak it all in. We talk a lot about how we can create a better future by what we do with technology and commerce. In this essay, Dan Hon makes the case that we need some form of technological humanism. This flies in the face of rapid progress and ideologies like, 'move fast and break things'. This is as much about technology as it is about non-technology. Confused? Don't be. Read on..."
Waiting For the Robot Rembrandt - Nautilus . "Many people believe that that the creative arts will never be overrun by artificial intelligence. I don't believe that to be true. I think it's just a matter of time. This doesn't mean that humans will be replaced by AI. It does mean that humans and AI will be producing a lot of art (from books to paintings to music and movies). It also means, that it may be hard for consumers to tell the difference. Many people think it's ridiculous that an artificial intelligence will be able to write a bestselling novel. I wonder, what makes us think that AI will stop prior to that point?" (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
Tags:
advertising
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Mr. Zuckerberg... Tear Down That Algorithm
Every time that Facebook changes their news feed (and the algorithm that feeds it), Facebook changes.
Some of those changes are for the good. Some of them make Facebook (somewhat) unusable for many users. Their most recent shift in the news feed was a big one. In what seems like the right play for the online social network, they wanted to throttle back on content from publishers and brands in the organic feed and amp up content from friends and family. With that, they also want to amplify the content from friends and family that is experiencing the most social interaction (the clarity of what this means is not finite. It could be likes and share, it could be comments and interactions between connections). We don't know the exact secret sauce here, and by the sounds of things, it's unclear what, exactly, Facebook means by these definitions as well. That's not be cynical of the social media platform, that is based on how Adam Mosseri, Facebook's head of News Feed, describes the past, current and possible future state of the news feed at the Code Media event that is currently underway.
This is an important watch: Facebook's head of news partnerships & head of News Feed live from Code Media.
What does Facebook really want? Does it want advertising dollars? Does it want our personal data and interactions? Does it want to connect the world because of altruistic beliefs? Let's cut through the parlance and PR spin: Facebook is a business. Facebook provides its services for free to consumers. The consumer's data is the product (or, you are the product). The advertising (and enterprise solutions) is how Facebook makes it money. There's nothing wrong with this business model, so long as everyone engaged in it is clear in what the intentions are and that consent is given.
It is the consent that makes things difficult.
Sure, everything is laid out in the terms of service on Facebook. Sure, nobody should engage in Facebook without reading and understanding the terms of service. Sure, Facebook should not be held accountable if people don't read (or understand) their terms of service. Still, it's also easy to argue the other side of this: Consumers are not that media and technology literate. Consumers are very unclear what kind of data is being stored, used and sold to the highest bidder. Consumers are not great with the "fine print." And, ultimately, it's a free service... so whatevs, right?
What do you really think of the new news feed. Is it good from a user perspective? Is it good from a brand perspective?
Personally, I am spending more time than ever on Facebook. If we're connected, you might think the opposite. The bulk of my time on Facebook is currently being spent in private groups. This is not me thumbing my nose to public posts. This is not me trying to sound self-important. I have been fortunate to find several tribes that speak directly to my area of interest (from professional speaking and non-fiction writing to podcasting, marketing agency leadership and middle-aged people discussing eighties rock). I've never derived as much value from Facebook as I have in the past five years. With that, the current changes to the news feed have choked it down into a place where it feels like I am only seeing a handful of posts from a handful of people, and the content tends to not refresh but repeat itself through the week. In short, the new algorithm has made Facebook's news feed very bland and boring.
How can Facebook find the right balance?
I would pay for a better Facebook. Would you? Chris Brogan posted this on Facebook (oh, the irony) just the other day: "I would pay Facebook $5/month to ALWAYS have 'most recent' and ALWAYS have 'turn off notifications'." Chris is not alone. I'm sure that there are, literally, millions of people who would pay for the same services. I've written and spoken about this new business model opportunity for a long time. In fact, I would push Chris' sentiment much further with this statement...
Mr. Zuckerberg... tear down that algorithm!
Personally, I would pay Netflix-like monthly fees (let's call it $10 - $20 per month) to have a pure and untouched access to my news feed (and, take it easy on the infomercial-like advertising, while I'm paying for it). This means that whoever (friend, family, brand) that I have "liked" or "followed" should be shown to me in the order that it has been posted... no matter what they post. Open up the entire feed, kill the algorithm and let it flow, baby!
Why pay for the firehose?
Whether it's an issue of fake news or throttling content in attempts to create a better user experience, Facebook is working under the supposition that we - the consumers - have no idea what's good for us. While that may be true for a segment of the population, there probably is another (larger) segment that understands the implications of "like"-ing and following a person or a brand. Give the user the power to mute, unfriend, unfollow or delete the content that they're no longer interested in. What makes this most interesting, is that none of this requires any kind of algorithm. It probably requires them to simply remove the algorithm.
Instead of trying to make the algorithm smarter, why not just empower your users to be smarter?
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February 13, 2018
The Gravity Of Elon Musk And More On This Week's CTRL ALT Delete Segment On CHOM 97.7 FM
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 10 minutes every week - about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away about what's going on in the digital world. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
Can we discuss Elon Musk? Did you see the launch of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy last week? Sure, we were laughing about his The Boring Company flamethrowers last week, but we have to give credit where credit is due. Tesla, SolarCity, space travel and more. If he's not our generation's Edison, da Vinci and Tesla... I do not know who is.
Many are calling for the government to step in and break up Amazon. The problem, of course, is that they are in so many businesses. From Whole Foods, to Amazon Web Services to announcing the launch of their own healthcare company, last week Amazon announced that it is launching a delivery service to compete against FedEx and UPS. Is there any business that Amazon can't disrupt?
Montreal (my home and native land) had a moment of pride last week that went fairly unnoticed. Bill Gates (of Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) announced that his new favourite book of all time is the soon to be released, Enlightenment Now. The author that book? Steven Pinker... a Montrealer (who definitely doesn't get enough credit on this side of the border).
For years, people have asked Facebook for an "unlike" button. Well, now they are testing a "downvote" button in the hopes that the community can help them with everything from true and valuable content to bullying and fake news. Will this makes things right?
App of the Week: CBC Olympic Sports.
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February 11, 2018
Next Level Negotiation Skills With Chris Voss - This Week's Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast
Episode #605 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
His book is easily one of the best books that I have read in a very long time. The concept of negotiating has been a hot topic for authors and business speakers for a very long time. Still, Chris Voss is truly brilliant and his book, Never Split The Difference - Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, is just chock full of genius from start to finish. Chris was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the FBI's hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council's Hostage Working Group. Prior to becoming the FBI lead international kidnapping negotiator, Christopher served as the lead Crisis Negotiator for the New York City Division of the FBI. Christopher was a member of the New York City Joint Terrorist Task Force for 14 years. During Chris's 24 year tenure in the Bureau, he was trained in the art of negotiation by not only the FBI but Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School. He is also a recipient of the Attorney General's Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement and the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service. Chris currently teaches business negotiation in the MBA program as an adjunct professor at University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. So, yeah, he knows a thing or two (or a million) about how to get things done. It's been a while since I was this nervous to speak with a book author (because I admire his work so much). Enjoy the conversation...
You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast #605.
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