Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 148
February 9, 2018
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #398
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:
No Filter - The Baffler . "'Instagram allows even the ugly to be beautiful and bad taste to masquerade as good.' I love me some grumpy. This is a look at the awful, beautiful world of Instagram poetry." (Alistair for Hugh).
Craft Beer Is the Strangest, Happiest Economic Story in America - The Atlantic . "I was in Panama last week for a conference on business and sustainability. One of the topics was the inevitable concentration of companies into fewer, bigger competitors (because of economies of scale) and their exploitation of externalities (to capture profits at the expense of others.) But it turns out this doesn't happen everywhere--in craft beer, for example!" (Alistair for Mitch).
CheXNet: an in-depth review - Luke Oakden-Rayner . "This one is not for the faint of heart. It's a detailed examination of the data behind some research claims about AI being used in a medical application, 'an algorithm that can detect pneumonia from chest X-rays at a level exceeding practicing radiologists.' The author of this post says, not so fast." (Hugh for Alistair).
AI: Racing Towards The Brink - Sam Harris . "Sam Harris, who can veer towards dogmatism on some topics around politics and religion, is at his best talking about AI and human cognition. In this podcast, he interviews Eliezer Yudkowsky about what we really have to fear from AI (hint: it's not malicious terminator-style robots; it's probably far worse)." (Hugh for Mitch).
We're 'addicted' to socializing--not our smartphones - Futurity . "Well, here's an interesting perspective. Maybe all of our smartphone addiction woes has little to do with the engineering of the software and much more to do with something a little more... shall we say... primal: our self-esteem? Maybe we're so attached to our smartphones not because of how the technology is programmed to make it a compulsion, but more to do with how we - as human beings - are evolving. According to this research, we are changing... and we are changing to be much more social by nature. So, it's now in our DNA to snoop on others and take selfies?" (Mitch for Alistair).
John Perry Barlow, 70, Dies; Championed an Unfettered Internet - The New York Times . "The three of us that share links here with the world come from a much more honest and pure internet. We were all there at the beginning. It was a very different time. We had hopes and dreams of open access for all... and place where diverse voices would be connected and heard. A place where anyone with a idea could spread it - for free - to the world. In a way, this world has come to be. In a way, this world looks nothing like those early days. John Perry Barlow was a huge part of what made us all want this internet to be so different. While his voice has been silenced, I'm hopeful that his idea will carry on, and that all of us will carry that torch forward on his behalf. RIP." (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
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February 5, 2018
The Super Bowl Of Advertising 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:
How is it possible that a concert goes on sale and every ticket is sold out within minutes? Welcome to the world of bots, automation and technology. This issue reared its ugly head again this week, when fans who attempted to get tickets to Elton John's upcoming Farewell Yellow Brick Road world tour noticed that the shows were sold out in a few minutes. What can be done? How is this even possible?
It was Super Bowl weekend... so, who won (besides the Eagles)? In my world, it's not just about the teams on the field, but what happens in-between: the TV commercials (and how they extend online). Which brands ruled the mightiest of mighty in the ad industry's biggest moment?
Elon Musk does some wild and wacky stuff. It's not just about commercial spaceships or electric cars. But now, Musk is selling a flamethrower for his Boring company? No joke. Plus, because it's Musk, he sold 20,000 of them in short order at $500 a pop... that's $10 million dollars. Not a bad day at the office!
App of the Week: Google Flights can now predict your delays (before the airlines!).
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February 4, 2018
Your Customer's Secret Lingo With Jeffrey Shaw - This Week's Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast
Episode #604 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
Slowly and surely famed commercial photographer, Jeffrey Shaw, is becoming known at the "lingo guy." Who would have thought that a shy teenager hiding behind a camera and in a darkroom would wind up having a 31 year career as the go-to photographer for America's most affluent families? Of course, it then made perfect sense that the instincts and knowledge he gained could be shared with other entrepreneurs around the world as a business coach. That same shy kid is Jeffrey Shaw, who is also the host of the popular Creative Warriors podcast, and now the author of Lingo - Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible. What is this language? Why does it matter for your brand? Do you know it? Listen in to find out. 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 #604.
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February 2, 2018
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #397
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:
If they made a show called "White Mirror" that was about all the positive aspects of the human/technology relationship, what would be the plot of certain episodes? - Reddit . "I had other things to share, but Jeremy Edberg pointed me at this amazing Reddit thread. I've been writing short fiction a bit lately, and most of it, when it comes out of my head, is depressing and terrifying. Like, I thought for a week, wrote for twelve minutes, finished a short story and sat shaking and wanting to wash my hands. The first line was 'I was seven when my parents deleted my dog.' Well, it turns out other people don't like the doom and gloom. So, this thread is about all the good things technology could do, in response to the dismal future that Charlie Brooker has cooked up in Black Mirror. I'd watch that." (Alistair for Hugh).
Flashmob recreates Rembrandt painting in Dutch shopping centre - The Guardian . "A great example of marketing done right. Imagine the coordination required for this--and the courage to pull it off." (Alistair for Mitch).
We Measured Trump's First Year According To His Own Goals. Here's What We Found - FiveThirtyEight . "After the US election in 2016, Mitch, Alistair and I made a rule amongst ourselves, which was: no links about infuriating politics, especially about a certain leader of a significant North American country. All of us get enough of that elsewhere. I am on the wrong side of these rules, if you read them to the letter. But I think I am OK in spirit, because this isn't a political link, it's a data link. It contains a host of fascinating charts (about, eg: manufacturing employment, oil production, trade deficits, number of uninsured, etc) and analysis that show not just what has happened under the current administration, but how that data fits into the context of historical trends. A main finding: if you want to put more people out of work, elect a Bush." (Hugh for Alistair).
The enduring appeal of conspiracy theories - BBC . "We live in the age of conspiracy theories. Here's why they won't go away." (Hugh for Mitch).
Tackling the Internet's Central Villain: The Advertising Business - The New York Times . "If it wasn't for advertising (or, the advertising business) we would not have any of the issues that we have in terms of fake news, cyber-bullying, the dark net, over-bloated social media networks by the billions, everyone selling stuff, selfies, and... everything else? Well, here's one way to make me want to question my very existence..." (Mitch for Alistair).
The shift is real and it's forever (books by the numbers) - The Domino Project . "For the book nerds out there (you know who you are!). What does the book publishing world really need? Take a read and find out..." (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
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January 30, 2018
Amazon's New Retail Stores 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:
Lots of information about Facebook and our health in the past few episodes. In fact, there's a big push around just how health mobile devices and social media are to our health (and our kids). Well, pushing this idea further, Salesforce founder, Marc Benioff suggests to The Guardian that maybe Facebook should be regulated like the cigarette industry.
Everyone thought Amazon was going to kill retail stores. Well, Amazon has opened up their own book stores, they have kiosks and stores in many shopping malls, the acquired Whole Foods Market... and last week, they took things a step further with Amazon Go stores. In fact for retailers, this was a massive leap forward. No cashiers. No money. Just grab and go. So, what's it like?
App of the Week: Sworkit.
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January 28, 2018
Building The Best Creative Teams With Todd Henry - This Week's Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast
Episode #603 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
There is no doubt that when it comes to writing business books on the creative process and how it flows in business today, Todd Henry is the gold standard. He bills himself as "an arms dealer for the creative revolution," and that's just one of his creative ways to describe what he really does. Todd writes amazing books, speaks internationally on creativity, leadership, productivity, and passion for work, while helping people and teams generate brilliant ideas. Candidly, I don't know many people as astute as Todd. His first book, The Accidental Creative (also the name of his incredible podcast) was followed by Die Empty (one of the best business book titles ever!), then came, Louder Than Words and now, Herding Tigers. Herding Tigers tackles one of the more complex challenges that organizations face today: How to be creative and lead creative teams by providing stability and challenges, so that the people on the team can do their best work. AI is not going to save your brand... how creative you are (and how creative your team is) just might. 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 #603.
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Todd Henry
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January 23, 2018
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #396
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 Invasion of the German Board Games - The Atlantic. "I'm headed to Panama next week for a five-day event on the sustainability of business. While a lot of the Geoversity lineup has to do with nature and biology, there's an underlying theme I'm hoping to explore: Objective Functions. Life, for example, has an objective function of adaptivity and survival of the fittest. In an increasingly algorithmic age, the objective function we give to a machine--an AI, a robot--can send it off in perilously wrong directions (Nick Bostrom famously imagines an AI we tell to 'make paperclips' which, following these instructions to the letter, turns the entire universe into paperclips). A big part of these functions is the underlying game systems that make parties co-operate or compete. As part of the discussion, I'll be interviewing Ubisoft's VP of Editorial, Tommy François. He's been thinking a lot about games where bigger, better, faster isn't the only goal--and it seems like the Germans are a good model." (Alistair for Hugh).
Taco Bell Made the Perfect Trailer for a Fake Movie About Why They've Never Sold Fries - AdWeek . "I never wondered why Taco Bell didn't have fries. But if you're gonna change up a menu, this is how you do it." (Alistair for Mitch).
Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People? - The Atlantic . "With all due respect to Will Rogers, I never met a doomsday apocalypse prediction I didn't like. Nukes? Climate Change? How about an oldie (but goodie): can we feed a global population that is expected to be twice what it was in 1987? We'll find out, sometime around 2050." (Hugh for Alistair).
Philip K. Dick and the Fake Humans - Boston Review . "I love the first line of this article: 'This is not the dystopia we were promised.' Orwell and Huxley got it wrong, but Philip K. Dick's notions of the blurring lines between human and non-human, reality and non-reality (or competing realities), capture better the strange place we find ourselves in today." (Hugh for Mitch).
Why People Dislike Really Smart Leaders - Scientific American . "You know the saying, 'if you're the smartest person in the room... you're in the wrong room.' Still, being around people who are smart and super strong leaders is intimidating. Even after all of my years and all of my work experience, I can feel that way when confronted with acknowledged smart leaders. I often wonder, 'what do I have to add to this conversation?' But maybe that's all wrong? What if the smartest leaders are perceived as not that effective by the people who work for them? This is a fascinating read that flies in the face of conventional wisdom." (Mitch for Alistair).
The Problem With Courting Amazon - The Atlantic . "Amazon has turned the hunt for their second HQ into a competition akin to how we watch cities try to lure the Olympics. Is this the right comparison? Which cities have truly benefited and flourished after hosting the Olympics? As a Montrealer, it's hard not to look at our Olympic Stadium (and all of the infrastructure that was put in place... and then subsequently neglected) and wonder about the tax payer's implications, and what it ultimately cost our city. Other cities have had the same narrative. Here's an interesting read on how business like this rolls out. Does the city that gets the next Amazon HQ win as the country suffers?" (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
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Why Facebook Is Cleaning Up The Neighborhood
Brands (and the people that work for them) are going apoplectic about where Facebook is headed next. Investors are a bit nervous, too.
What sparked it all? Facebook founder and brainchild, Mark Zuckerberg, just published a long post about how Facebook will be changing in the next little while. Here is the TL;DR synopsis: less content from brands and news publishers in your news feed, and more content from family and friends. It boils down to an acceleration of a plan to quiet down the corporate pitches and news, especially fake news, to get back to letting friends hang with friends in a better neighbourhood. Here is Sire Zuck in his own words: "Video and other public content have exploded on Facebook in the past couple of years. Since there's more public content than posts from your friends and family, the balance of what's in News Feed has shifted away from the most important thing Facebook can do--help us connect with each other. We feel a responsibility to make sure our services aren't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being."
Wait, Facebook cares about our well-being?
Maybe, but it also cares about making money and, in the long run, it knows it can ultimately charge a higher premium to advertisers if it bombards users with fewer unwanted pitches and fake news. So, it has to clean up the social community.
Social makes us unhappy.
Facebook knew it had a problem. Zuckerberg himself cites research that has been done (by Facebook and other sources) about the impact of social media on the population, and the results are not great. In December, Facebook admitted in a post titled, Hard Questions: Is Spending Time on Social Media Bad for Us? that it poses a mental health risk: "...when people spend a lot of time passively consuming information--reading but not interacting with people--they report feeling worse afterward...researchers hypothesize that reading about others online might lead to negative social comparison--and perhaps even more so than offline, since people's posts are often more curated and flattering." Of course, Facebook also makes the counterpoint; it's not all bad news and social media can actually help us feel better. The same research suggests that those "actively interacting with people" do feel better. No surprise there: the more in touch we are with family and friends (without the narcissism of selfies), the happier we are, and the more connected we feel to our personal community.
So what is going on now that would convince Facebook to shift away from its recent role as a news publishing powerhouse? And why now?
How does this affect their stakeholders? Where does this leave a business that's been working hard over the past 10 years (or more) to get customers to "like" brands on Facebook, follow your posts and engage with them on the platform? And how, ask investors, will Facebook's stock hold up if it turns its back on all that revenue from publishers? The shares took a big hit on Friday on the news. The truth? These changes have been taking place for quite some time already. In fact, at the end of 2014, word began to spread that Facebook would be throttling organic content from brands to amp up more content from family and friends in the news feed. For brands that saw Facebook as a free content/advertising publishing platform, this was problematic. In fact, Facebook needed to do this. They are a data powerhouse and their numbers told them that engagement goes down as people's feeds get filled with brands constantly trying to pimp their wares. In a strategic move, organic reach (how far their content gets shared by people who mean it) for brands on Facebook has dropped to less than one per cent today. So, if a brand wants to reach an audience today, they have pay to promote and boost their content. A frustrating part is that Facebook is throttling back by deciding what a user wants to see. If a customer has already "liked" a corporate brand page on Facebook, isn't that an acknowledgement that they want to see content from a company? And, if a user tires of a brand's constant shilling, it's not that hard to unfollow.
Cleaning up has been good for business to date.
Ultimately, Facebook's throttling of business content has actually driven their stock price north for many quarters to a US $526.33 billion market cap (and it does not look to be slowing down in a media world where ad spend is expected to hit about $580 billion with 4 per cent growth from last year, and the dollars continue to shift towards Facebook). This is the true conundrum. Does Facebook see advertising revenue as their core business model or are they realizing that the pervasive flow of fake news in recent years is just another form of bad advertisement (like male enhancement pills or get-rich-quick schemes)? With that, is Facebook realizing that more ads (and, in turn, more corporate content that is being paid to be in the news feed) are not really helping Facebook accomplish its overarching business goal? The truth is that Facebook has become a media platform (whether they like that title or not). People do go to Facebook for their news, to connect with brands and more. There were rumours that Facebook was contemplating a two-feed solution (one feed for your friends and family, and another feed for your other areas of interest). It could also be that Facebook is moving away from an ad-supported business model, as it attempts to do more in the areas of e-commerce and/or data. Ultimately, it sounds like Zuckerberg and his team are figuring out what those of us in the media have known for a long time: quality content rules, too many ads poison the well, and understanding your consumers (what they really want to consume and connect with) can open up much better monetization models than disrupting them with ads that aren't even close to being relevant.
Facebook wants you to have more quality social time.
Zuckerberg concluded in his post that "by making these changes, I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable. And if we do the right thing, I believe that will be good for our community and our business over the long term too." Companies will no longer be able to simply pay to reach any audience, by the sound of this. Companies will be able to pay to reach an audience that cares, but it will cost these businesses much more to do that, in terms of paying for access to such a premium audience and paying (in time, effort and energy) to create something that will resonate with this audience. That, coupled with what sounds like Facebook's desire to move their advertising model from one of abundance (anyone can advertise to everyone all of the time), to one of scarcity (limited inventory and more expensive media options)--which is what made advertising work for decades prior to the Internet. When social media first took hold in the mid-2000s, many new-media pundits (myself included) were hopeful that this would usher in a new era. One where brands no longer advertised to people, but set out to create meaningful interactions and engage in conversation. If Facebook can get this new model right, they could usher in an era of great opportunity and marketing for brands.
Fingers crossed.
The above posting is a column I wrote for Maclean's. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here: Why Facebook is cleaning up the neighbourhood.
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January 22, 2018
The Energy Behind Cryptocurrency 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:
Cryptocurrencies and their technology platforms (like Bitcoin and Ethereum) are tough to wrap our heads around - from understanding what they are to why the markets are going crazy over them. As governments try to figure out what do about bitcoin mining, Chinese companies have been eyeing Canada. Quebec, in particular. It turns out that cryptocurrency mining is a huge power suck. So, countries like China (where some of the largest mining farms are) are looking for other regions to continue their work. Cryptocurrency mining consume a lot of energy, because it uses computers to solve complex math puzzles to validate transactions in the cryptocurrency, which are written to the blockchain, or digital ledger (complex, like I said). The first miner to solve the problem is rewarded in bitcoin, and the transaction is added to the blockchain. Hydro Quebec described a potential sales pipeline of around thirty large cryptocurrency mines after a campaign by them to attract data centres to the province triggered a ton of interest from bitcoin miners. Manitoba wants in on it too. Interesting times.
Last week talked about my Maclean's article, Why Facebook is cleaning up the neighborhood, about how Facebook will be amping up what we see from our friends and family, and throttling even more organic content from brands and corporate entities. Now, Facebook is about to launch a ranking tool to decide which news outlets are trustworthy. How will they do this? Complex algorithms? Hire thousands of people to monitor? Nope. Us. We will do it. Facebook announced last Friday that they will use surveys to rate news organizations and assign them trust score. Do we trust one large corporation to decide which news is trustworthy? Do we believe in the wisdom of the crowd?
Robots can't take our jobs, right? Especially jobs that are more cerebral and less physical, right? Not so fast. Last week, an artificial intelligence program built by Alibaba and Microsoft beat humans on a Stanford University reading comprehension test. The scariest part of this news item? This quote: "Luo Si, the chief scientist of natural language processing at the Chinese company's AI research group, called the milestone 'a great honor,' but also acknowledged that it will likely lead to a significant number of workers losing their jobs to machines." Ouch.
App of the Week: Google Arts & Culture.
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January 21, 2018
Same Side Selling With Ian Altman - This Week's Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast
Episode #602 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.
Ian has become a good friend over the years. That should come as no surprise, once you listen to this show. Business leaders call on Ian Altman to modernize their sales and marketing. Ian's approach helps companies significantly grow sales by aligning their goals with current and emerging trends in buyer behavior. Seems like marketing chatter, but it's not. Ian brought the idea of Same Side Selling to the world, and now it's a common sales and marketing strategy for some of the best organizations. Ian is a multi-bestselling author (Same Side Selling, Upside-Down Selling and Same Side Improv), strategic advisor, and internationally sought keynote speaker. How does he do it? He's been successful at sales in services and technology companies for over two decades, and he draws on years of success and research on how customers make decisions. He shares how his clients have more than doubled their businesses following the same methods that he used to build his former company from zero to more than $1 billion in value. You can also find Ian's weekly articles on Inc. and Forbes. He is the host of the weekly podcast, Grow My Revenue Business Cast.The numbers are real and the strategy is sound. 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 #602.
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