Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 152

Exactly What To Say With Phil Jones - This Week's Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast

Episode #592 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

I was surprisingly taken aback by the book, Exactly What To Say. There are no stories in this book. No case studies. It's a small book. It's a very smart book. In a world where you might assume that anything and everything has already been written about sales, Phil Jones' book packs a lot of wows. Smart and just the facts and tactics. No fat... all protein. It will also help you to frame (and reframe) how you think about everything from introducing yourself to pitching your wares. Phil is a sales machine at heart. He started his first business at fourteen. He's worked in fashion, retail, sports and beyond. After extensive travel, he honed in on what he likes best: helping other people get more comfortable with closing deals. If you have not picked up, Exactly What To Say... you really should. The subtitle of the book is, "the magic words for influence and impact," and it delivers. 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 #592.

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Can't Facebook Kill Twitter?

Twitter does one thing right that Facebook isn't doing.

No, it's not the 140 characters (or 280 characters now). No, it's definitely not how Twitter handle trolls and harassment. It's the real-time and live events. It's the "now." Or, more specifically, search and the "now" and in real-time. It's everything from, "hey did anybody else see or hear those low-flying planes over the park just now," to trying to figure out what the hive mind thinks about that conference in Phoenix we're all attending, to right now being able to search within these live and real-time events for a specific topic (like, "what did everyone think of the keynote speaker?"). Facebook has hashtags. Facebook has a timeline. Facebook allows you to search for things like this, but the interface and feed doesn't pull it all together well, and the algorithm messes with how information appears. Because content gets throttled and filtered on Facebook, it's next to impossible to organically see anything and everything on a specific moment in time.

Still, let's think about how easy it would be for Facebook to kill Twitter (you know, just for fun!)... 

First, Facebook could simply pull in Twitter's entire feed. Much better distribution for Twitter's dwindling numbers (and makes perfect sense as Twitter expands to 280 characters per post). Facebook already has status updates, which are the same as Twitter (without the 140/280 character limitation). Hashtags are there on Facebook. It's simply a question of fixing the feed and adjusting the feed. If you really look at it, what Twitter does right now as a platform is really nothing more than a feature for Facebook. Yes, Facebook tweaks would be needed for the algorithm to take a back seat to sequential posts, and the search on Facebook would have to be adjusted. But... that's about it.

It wouldn't take much.

Of course, Twitter has a charm in its speed and simplicity. Still... Facebook. There is nothing in terms of hashtags, search and chronological sorting that Facebook could not do. The friction seems to be in the search. Searching by moments in time and having to find the right hashtag and the right people seems to be where Facebook loses ground to Twitter in the real-time.

A real-time example...

For over a decade, I have been attending (and presenting) at conferences and tradeshows around the world. Either while they are happening or on my way to the airport, I'm curious about several things: how did my presentation go? Who liked it? Any pictures? What did the organizers share? Which individuals have tweeted the most? Are they worth following? What did the other speakers say? What did the attendees think about the other speakers? Which other events do these attendees talk about? Where are the meetups at? Does anyone attending need anything that I can help with? The list goes on. Live events makes Twitter an excellent and centralized concierge. Facebook seems to be the place where you post something either right before... or right after an event takes place. Facebook is the "I can't wait for..." and "I just got back from" instead of the centralized, "we're here, let's meet and connect and make this event something special... something more!" That seems easy enough for Facebook to do... right?

Facebook is more about people and not events.

And that's fine. That's their jam. It just feels like their two billion-plus users (and close to one billion users on Instagram) would all like and benefit from this real-time feature-set. It does seem like Twitter is leaving it out there, fluttering in the wind, for Facebook to take. Think about how agreesively Facebook has adopted this - exact - strategy with Snapchat. They're basically stealing and adopting anything and everything that works with Snapchat, to the point where most senior marketing professionals are having trouble seeing a real difference between Facebook, Snapchat and even Instagram (which Facebook owns). Why not adopt the same startegy with Twitter? Snapchat is feeling the pain.

Isn't Facebook acting more real-time (like Twitter) something that we all want?

It's not about Twitter dying. It's about Facebook grabbing a piece of land that is critical to users. Facebook would be able to do this in fairly quick fashion, and it would make it that much more valuable. It feels like a perfect case of 1 + 1 = 5. And, at this point, simply acquiring Twitter can't be off the table.

Right?

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #385

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 First Woman to Translate the 'Odyssey' Into English - The New York Times Magazine . "Since Hugh's spent a lot of time with translations of ancient texts, I knew this was for him. 'So the question of whether he's the turned or the turner: I played around with that a lot.' I did not know there was this much ambiguity and interpretation of an ancient poem, and just how much meaning comes from the translator rather than the text, until I heard about it through new eyes." (Alistair for Hugh).
30 Rock - Shows In The Show - YouTube . "I have absolutely no reason for sharing this other than it came up on YouTube, I watched it, and it made me laugh so hard I coughed until I nearly passed out. Seriously, sometimes stuff is just worth sharing. Queue it up when you're having a bad day. So meta." (Alistair for Mitch).
The Saudi Purge Isn't Just a Power Grab - Bloomberg Businessweek . "Not a week goes by, it seems, without some new craziness happening in the world. The big shakeup in Saudi Arabia -- where some of the country's most rich and powerful men have been arrested -- is new craziness. Here's some context, if you are curious." (Hugh for Alistair).
Something is wrong on the internet - James Bridle - Medium . "James Bridle examines the weird and very worrying world of 'kids youtube.' It's messed up, and symptomatic of some fundamental problems when algorithms and bad actors start interacting in ways we can't even quite figure out." (Hugh for Mitch).
How To Perform During Life's High Stakes Moments - Michael & Amy Port - TEDxCambridge . "A little background: I have known and been friends with both Amy and Michael Port for several years. Michael used to be an author and speaker in the sales and leadership space. From there, he went on to found (with Amy) a business called, Heroic Public Speaking. I have been mesmerized with their work for a long time. I'm lucky to have had some speaker training with them. With that, this is a very meta TEDx talk. It's meta because of how they created and performed it, and it's meta because the content is super-relevant to anyone trying to understand how to better present their ideas (which is all of us) and also an incredible lesson in what a great talk can look, feel and sound like. I've watched this many times already. I will watch it many times over. You should too." (Mitch for Alistair).
How Facebook Figures Out Everyone You've Ever Met - Gizmodo . "I do several thing to keep the social media algorithms at bay. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or overtly paranoid at all, I just believe in being personable online (and not too personal)... for my own reasons. With that, I will 'like' and comment on random things, not be 'friends' with siblings and parents and do other uncommon moves (like accept basically anybody on LinkedIn). Candidly, I also do this to see what Facebook will do to adjust, and what will it show me. It's been wild to see how well it can connect the dots, as each year progresses. My heart sank the other day, when it recommended that I become 'friends' with my parents' handyman. Whoa! That was more than a little too creepy to me. This brand new article digs in deeper (way deeper) into just how good Facebook is at making connections. You may want to start making that aluminum foil helmet right about now!" (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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Hands On The iPhone X 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 iHeart 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: 

It has arrived! Apple latest smartphone, the iPhone X is here. Mine arrived on Friday. So, let's get hands on, and see if this $1000+ smartphone was worth the wait and the time!          
Regardless of whether or not you have the iPhone, here's the new reality: the mobile internet is the internet now. We now spend around 70% of our internet time on mobile devices (bye bye laptops and computers!). By 2019, the number will be closer to 80%. What we used to call the "mobile internet" is now, simply, the internet. The thing is, that most brands are still deploying a web/desktop-first mentality. Huge mistake!
Microsoft acquired LinkedIn a while back for a staggering $26+ billion. We talked about this event, when it happened last year. Well, now we are starting to see the fruition of what this means. This past week, Microsoft announced that LinkedIn is now integrated into Outlook.com. Now, email users can view insights, profile pictures, work history and more from their inbox. Commercial users of Office 365 will soon be available within that system as well. Imagine having everyone's LinkedIn profile associated with a meeting invitation, and just how powerful this information will be for better connecting and networking. Or, do you think that this too is creepy? 
App of the Week: Animoji and Animoji Karaoke.

 

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The Funny Thing About Marketing With Tom Fishburne - This Week's Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast

Episode #591 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

There's this incredible feeling that you get from Tom Fishburne's comics about the marketing industry. Of course, they're funny. With that, they can be very biting (almost to the point of feeling that he's been using Alexa's technology to listen in on some of your meetings), and that is coupled with this opposing sense of care, empathy and love for the business. Hard and soft... at the same time. For years, he has been taking shots at just how much technology has impacted brands and consumers. With that, he doesn't just do it from his pencil. He's been a marketing professional for a long time (from large CPGs like General Mills and Nestle to Method and beyond). Now, he's more commonly known as the Marketoonist (and if you're in business, you do not want to miss his weekly hit), but he also runs a small agency providing business cartooning for clients. Most recently, Tom published his first book, Your Ad Ignored Here (which is a compilation of his work). It's an amazing anthology and you can, literally, see which technologies were happening at any given moment in time and just how much consumers (probably) have not changed (hint: hit them with ads as much as you like, they're just not that into you). 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 #591.

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #384

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: 

A Fire Story, Part 1 - The Fies File . "I have many friends in the Santa Rosa area of California, near where dry brush and brutal winds have left thousands homeless. This very personal story, a simple comic, hurt to read. It's also beautiful." (Alistair for Hugh).
AUTOMATICA 4k - Robots Vs. Music - Nigel Stanford - YouTube . "This is an amazing video. Good song... perfect for our time. That is all." (Alistair for Mitch).
. "Is there a bitcoin bubble?" (Hugh for Alistair).
Saudi Arabia Just Announced Plans to Build a Mega City That Will Cost $500 Billion - Bloomberg . "I am imaging a giant oasis in the middle of the desert, covered in a glass bubble, fortified with a quantum laser forcefield, populated by half-a-million people hand-picked by Peter Thiel." (Hugh for Mitch).
The Web Began Dying In 2014, Here's How - Andre Staltz . "Anybody interested in how technology informs us... and changes us... should read this piece. There is plenty to comment on, disagree with and attack... still, there is an equal amount of compelling thoughts that just might make you think (and re-think) everything you hold dearly about the Web. Is there an Internet? Some could argue that it's just Google and Facebook. Is that enough for you? Not for me." (Mitch for Alistair).
Muji's Anti-Branding Strategy, In 15 Images - Fast Company - Co. Design . "I have always had a funny relationship with brands. I love them... they are the work that I do. Still when it comes to my personal life... I prefer most things unbranded (but from interesting brands). Does that make any sense? If it does/doesn't, here's what I mean. Muji is a great example of a brand that I love, because of how little branding they put on their products." (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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The One And Only Steve Bailey On This Month's Groove - The No Treble Podcast

Steve Bailey is this month's conversation on Groove - The No Treble Podcast.

You can listen the new episode right here: Groove - The No Treble Podcast - Episode #35 - Steve Bailey.

Who is Steve Bailey?

Here's a little known personal fact about me: Steve Bailey's 2007 album, So Low... Solo, is one my favorite instrumental music albums of all time. Beyond his stunning mastery of the six-string fretless bass, the composition and arrangements on this disc are captivating. It's still on high rotation in my weekly playlist. With that, Steve is more commonly known as the Chair of the bass department at the coveted Berklee School Of Music. A gig he did not set out to get, but one that nonetheless puts him square in the middle of where bassists are grown and nurtured. It's a role where Steve is helping musicians (and the world) better understand the role that the bass plays in music. Steve is a virtuoso, in the purest definition of the word. His work with Victor Wooten in Bass Extremes is legendary. He has played with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie and Mel Torme to Jethro Tull and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He has previously been a faculty member at Coastal Carolina University, the University of North Carolina Wilmington and was also a faculty member at Hollywood's BIT for 10 years. In short: Steve Bailey is a bass legend. Enjoy the conversation...

Listen in: Groove - The No Treble Podcast - Episode #35 - Steve Bailey.

<a href="http://notreble.bandcamp.com/track/gr..." data-mce-href="http://notreble.bandcamp.com/track/gr... - Episode #35: Steve Bailey by No Treble</a>

What is Groove - The No Treble Podcast?

This is an ambitious effort. This will be a fascinating conversation. Our goal at Groove is to build the largest oral history of bass players. Why Groove? Most of the content about the bass revolves around gear, playing techniques, and more technical chatter. For us, bassists are creative artists with stories to tell. They are a force to be reckon with. These are the stories and conversation that we will capture. To create this oral history of why these artists chose the bass, what their creative lives are like, and where inspiration can be found.

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Is Amazon The Creepiest Company In The World?

Today we celebrate ghosts, ghouls, goblins, witches, monsters and... Amazon?

Happy Halloween! Get ready to sugar overdose on mini Snickers bars! In anticipation of this year's Halloween festivities, I am always regaled with tales of how prepping for Halloween has become - almost one hundred percent - an online shopping experience (mostly on Amazon). From discounted bulk candy to more unique costumes (we need to one-up the neighbor's kids) to lawn decorations. Amazon not only makes this experience easier, but it also makes it hyper-price competitive, as businesses fight for your business. This is different from the limited selections that most of us were forced to face based off of geography, and our local merchants' non-desire to stock extensively for this here today/gone tomorrow holiday. 

That's not what makes Amazon extra-creepy this year.

Amazon is not what most consumers think it is. It's true that Amazon makes it increasingly easy to get what you want quickly and for a great price, but that comes with a price. There's a famous turn of phrase: "if you can't see the product, then you are the product." Well, Amazon has pushed this phrase to Orwellian levels. For Amazon...

"You can see the product... and you are still the product."

Here are just some of the creepiest developments from Amazon in the past short while that should make every brand, marketer and consumer pay attention:

Creepy Voice. Did you know that Amazon's Alexa (voice platform and connected speaker) can now recognize different voices? Yes, your Echo can now learn the many different voices in your family/office to deliver a more personalized experience. Amazon is listening in to everything that you ask of it... and knows who is speaking. It's still early days for this technology, but imagine the data and privacy implications here. Source: Amazon's Alexa can now recognize different voices and give personalized responses.
Creepy Front Door Access. Last week, Amazon announced, Amazon Key. Starting soon, if you are an Amazon Prime member, you can pay $250 for an assortment of home automation tools (a new deadbolt for your door, a security camera and special mobile app) that enables you to open your door, and allow anyone delivering an Amazon package to leave the package inside of your home. Sure, let the strangers on in! Source: Amazon Is Betting on In-Home Deliveries to Win Over Prime Users.
Creepy Paying Them Shop. Speaking of Amazon Prime, has anyone really thought about what this is? Sure, Amazon Prime is wrapped up with "free" content (movies, TV shows, books, magazines, etc...), but the real story here is that people (actually, 90+ million customers) are paying Amazon over $100 per year for priority shipping and other goodies. Yes, we're paying them for the privilege to shop with them. What other retailers can truly claim this? Source: With 90 million subscribers, Amazon Prime might be one of Jeff Bezos' best ideas yet.
Creepy Instant. Next day delivery? Same day delivery? In the new few hours delivery? Every time that Amazon experiments with how to get products to consumers faster, every other retailer in the world is flummoxed. Well, Amazon is now tinkering with Instant Pickup in the US. This is currently being tested at five college campuses, but Amazon plans to expand this program out. It's pretty simple: Order something (anything) and within two minutes, it is ready to be picked up at a nearby locker that consumers can access with a barcode. Amazon is taking impulse and snacking purchases to a new level. Source: Amazon adds 'Instant Pickup' in U.S. brick-and-mortar push.
Creepy Drugs. Amazon is currently looking at how it can disrupt the pharmacy business. Everyone would agree that the business of selling prescription medication is ripe for disruption, and Amazon has a beat on how to do this. With it will come legal and regulatory challenges, but nothing seems to stop Amazon. Think about the additional layers of personal data that Amazon will then have on their consumers, as they move from the bookshelf and living room to kitchen and bathroom and then right into your medicine cabinet. What won't Amazon know about you? Source: Is Amazon getting into the pharmacy business? This is what you need to know.
Creepy Advertising. When we think of the duopoly that is digital advertising today (namely, Google and Facebook), many media pundits struggle to see if another media player can knock one of those two from their perch. A more likely scenario might be a third horse in the race. Before you guess who it might be (Snapchat? LinkedIn? Twitter?), think about Amazon. While nobody knows just how big Amazon Media is (several billion dollars per year, is anybody's best guess), make no mistake about it, Amazon has one of the fastest growing and deeply efficient media programs that most of us in marketing have ever seen. Amazon's customer profiles enable them to know and target advertising in a profoundly powerful and different way. Can Amazon break the duopoly and turn it into a game of three? As creepy as that may sound... it can (and probably will). Source: How Amazon is selling ad buyers on its growing advertising business.
Creepy Robot Army. We have all seen the robotic prowess and dance that Amazon's robots go through to get something into our grubby little hands. Their development, research and development of robotics doesn't end in their warehouses. Whether it's drone delivery, home automation tools or the Amazon Robotics Challenge, make no mistake about it, Amazon has the power, resources and capabilities to be the true leader in robots. No, we're not just talking about Roomba-like robots either, but the stuff that we see in the science fiction movies of today. Source: Amazon Is Quietly Building the Robots of Sci-Fi--Piece by Practical Piece.

Boo! Are you scared yet? Creeped out?


There's much more to be creeped out about, but you get the idea. Think about the power of Amazon Web Services, how much it is powering the tools of the Web today, how much understanding it has around our usage and where our interests lie. Think about how the one app that millennial can't live without isn't Instagram or WhatsApp... it's Amazon, or how you will soon be able to walk into an Amazon store, pick up an item and walk out of the store with it (no more cashiers). With all of this, Amazon has become increasingly better at anticipating what you might buy, as it works behind the scenes to get items that you "should" be buying soon to a distribution center closeby. 
 
Don't be scared... it's technology... it's progress... if it's something consumers don't want, it dies.


Amazon is a business. Maybe the biggest business. It is constantly changing, upgrading, testing and learning, and while everything won't be as sweet for them as that bag full of your favourite chocolate mini bars on this scariest of scary days, it's hard not to see just how creepy the company can be. At the same time, Amazon is a beloved brand. Most consumers can't imagine retail, shopping or even watching a movie without them. And, while this article was riffing on "creepy" in keeping with the theme of Halloween, I'm a massive advocate and fan of the brand (including its founder/CEO, Jeff Bezos).
 
Amazon will continue to amaze us... and even though it can feel creepy at times, it's equally astonishing. 


Happy Halloween!

 

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Amazon Deliveries Inside Your Home 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 iHeart 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: 

Happy Halloween to one and all (and, let them eat candy!).
Everyone thought it was insane that we would use our mobile device to summon strangers and get into their cars. Uber and Lyft are explosively huge business models. Now, Amazon is racheting up the creep factor by allowing strangers into your home to for true in-home deliveries. Amazon Key is no April Fool's Joke. It's a home automaton kit that equips houses with a smart lock, a security camera and a mobile app that for $250 allows delivery staff to drop off packages inside your home. It will launch November 8th and will only be available to Amazon Prime members.  
Just how big is YouTube these days? New data came out last week, and it's staggering. Everyday, 100 million hours of YouTube content is viewed on TV sets (not smartphones or computers... that's a different number). For comparison, YouTube says that on any given day, users watch just over one billion hours of video content, meaning that TV viewership now accounts for about 1/10th of all YouTube viewing. The number of living room views doing this was up more than 70% year-over-year. In short: YouTube is taking over the TV.
App of the Week: Cliffhanger - Chat Stories.

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 chom 977 fm

Sonic Branding With David Meerman Scott - This Week's Six Pixels Of Separation Podcast

Episode #590 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

The power of audio is not just something that we are all seeing in the growth of streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. More than ever what we often hear is as important as what we read and see. The impact that audio has on a brand cannot be understated. So much so, that famed marketing thought leader and strategist, David Meerman Scott, has a new co-venture (with Juanito Pascual) called, Signature Tones. The bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR, The New Rules of Sales & Service, Marketing the Moon, Real-Time Marketing & PR, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, World Wide Rave, Eyeball Wars, Newsjacking and more has many thoughts on the intersection and opportunity that exists for marketing and music. 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 #590.

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