Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 196

Pay Attention To Virtual And Augmented Reality

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 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 to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed: 

Just when you're getting used to your smartphone instead of a Web browser, we're about to see the next big platform: virtual reality and augmented reality. This past week, I was in New York speaking at Columbia University's BRITE Conference, then I spent a half day learning all about virtual reality and augmented reality. It's coming, and everyone is paying attention. Microsoft is launching their own platform, HoloLens, Google is pushing with Cardboard, Facebook is about to roll out Oculus, while Samsung, Sony and others all have skin in the game as well. What's the difference between augmented and virtual reality? How soon will this be commonplace? Is this nothing more than a parlour trick?
Facebook is now rolling out Facebook Live to more and more users. Live video streaming services. Right now, it's for people with verified pages and public figures who access to their Mentions app, but it won't be long before we're all streaming live. Why is this important now? If you want to get to the top of Facebook's feed, they are going to prefer live streaming videos now. From their news item: "Now that more and more people are watching Live videos, we are considering Live Videos as a new content type - different from normal videos - and learning how to rank them for people in News Feed. As a first step, we are making a small update to News Feed so that Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed when those videos are actually live, compared to after they are no longer live. People spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video on average compared to a video that's no longer live. This is because Facebook Live videos are more interesting in the moment than after the fact."
App of the week: Slack. 

Listen here...

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What Works At Work

Episode #505 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

We have learned a lot in the past few years about what works in business. We have companies' valuations explode with massive growth. We've also re-invented the spaces that we work in. So, how has it all worked out? Do open-floor plans really work, or do they make employees miserable? Are there companies which really put their employees' welfare first, and their clients second?  Are annual performance reviews really necessary? These are just some of the questions that Dr. David Burkus has been trying to answer. The culmination is his second book, Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business as Usual. David is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Psychology Today and 99U. When not speaking or writing, he's also an assistant professor of management at Oral Roberts University, where he teaches courses on organizational behavior, creativity, innovation, and strategic leadership. His first book was titled, The Myths of Creativity - The Truth About How Innovative Companies Generate Great Ideas, ands podcast is called, Radio Free Leader. I'm excited to welcome him back to the show. 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 #505.

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #299

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 (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), 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 case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute - US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health . "As any of my family will tell you, I can take things a bit far. But I've never been so passive-aggressive that I've turned the frequent theft of teaspoons into a formal research paper published in a respected journal (the National Center for Biotechnology Information). Apparently, someone did. And they know exactly how fast teaspoons leave their shared kitchen. Hardcore." (Alistair for Hugh).
Celeste Boursier-Mougenot at London's Barbican - The Wire Magazine . "This installation by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot takes dozens of birds, and a variety of stringed instruments, and makes music from them. The video shows the installation at the Barbican, but it's in Montreal now. I'm loving how tech, music, and the physical world are being reinvented by interactive artists these days." (Alistair for Mitch).
'Not even my wife knows': secret Donald Trump voters speak out. - The Guardian . "Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump." (Hugh for Alistair).
Hell's Been Empty - MTV . "Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump." (Hugh for Mitch).
After years of intensive analysis, Google discovers the key to good teamwork is being nice - Quartz . "Is it about who you are working with? Is it about what you are working on? It is about how you interact with one another? In this long multi-year study, Google (as Google does) tried to use analytics, research and more to figure out what makes a great team. The results are both surprising and obvious. The question is this: how many businesses will take these results, and actually optimize their teams around it?" (Mitch for Alistair).
Facebook is eating the world - Columbia Journalism Review . "News publishers have lost controlled over their distribution. It has shifted to social media, and this has given companies like Facebook tremendous control. You may take no issue with this, but consider this: 'There is a far greater concentration of power in this respect than there ever has been in the past. Networks favour economies of scale, so our careful curation of plurality in media markets such as the UK, disappears at a stroke, and the market dynamics and anti-trust laws the Americans rely on to sort out such anomalies are failing.' Does this not deserve some kind of public debate and discussion?" (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at London's Barbican from The Wire Magazine on Vimeo.

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The Craft Of Marketing

Is it just a job or the work that you were meant to do?

I don't get tired of writing these words. I don't get tired of having conversations about business, and then turning them into a Six Pixels of Separation Podcast. I like prepping slides for a presentation. I love it when my Mirum team members come to me with pitches, decks, ideas for clients and more. I feel blessed to be in this business. I know that this is more than a job for me. It's more than just work... This is my craft. 

Work or the work that you were meant to do?

We spend so much time zipping through content, that we often fail to think about why it was created, how it came to be, and who the creator is behind it? It's easy to flick one's thumb through a feed and pay no attention to something. Digital media equalizes everything. A tweet catches the same attention span as a piece of art, and it's often hard to appreciate the nuances of life because of it. 

Well, marketing is a craft. 

I believe it. I respect it. I spend time... Painstakingly trying to get better and better at it, in a world where it's often hard to notice anything marvelous at all. Take a look at this incredible mini-documentary about the making of John Mayer's Born & Raised album cover. Not the music. The cover art. It's fascinating, because album cover art has become so devalued. They're more like tiny icons in iTunes and Spotify, and less like the seminal pieces of art that they became known as, when vinyl ruled the world. David A. Smith is a traditional sign-writer/designer specializing in high-quality ornamental hand-crafted reverse glass signs and decorative silvered and gilded mirrors. David produced the artwork for Mayer. Beyond the craft of this artisan, listen to his words and watch him work. This is a craftsman at work. When work gets tough. I watch this video. It reminds me of what I need to bring to my work every day... if I want the day count. 

Work your craft, my friends...

The Making of John Mayer's 'Born & Raised' Artwork from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

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Virtually There With Virtual Reality For Brands

Virtual reality and augmented reality will be the next digital platform.

It's kind of a buzzwordy thing to say, but it is a fact. In the past several years, I've been privileged to see the evolution of this platform to a consumer-ready product, and the excitement of it from the business, investment and acquisition side. At first, most of the demos and applications felt just like a parlour trick (and some of them still are), but the path of evolution is becoming clearer. We are seeing how Facebook's 360 degree videos will evolve into Oculus, etc... With that, if you have ever experienced it, you know it. You feel it in your bones. The evolution from a flat, two-dimensional Web browser experience pales in comparison to what you can see, when you "go into" a virtual reality or augmented reality experience. It's like moving from a black and white television experience into Star Trek's Holodeck. 

Virtual reality and augmented reality are not the same thing. 

With all things tech, it's easy to lump two very different platforms and technologies into the same pile. In terms of simplicity, this is how I think brands needs to define the difference between the two:

Augmented reality. This technology allows the user to have their typical view of the world. Currently devices like Google Glass or Microsoft's just-released Hololens act as a piece of hardware that provide a lens on top of what we typically see. This lens augments our visible reality with technology. As an example: a doctor is operating on a patient using augmented reality, and the technology is able to show them things that may not be visible to the human eye, or they're able to access information without stopping the procedure.
Virtual reality. This technology is more of an isolating experience. Currently devices like Facebook's Oculus or Google's Cardboard act as a piece of hardware that blocks out everything we see in our real world, and immerses the user into another world. As an example: at the last Google Zeitgeist conference, I took part in a Cardboard experience that transported us on a virtual field trip to the Amazon Rain Forest. It was completely immersive, and felt as close to "real" as I have ever felt.

They are both going to battle for the consumer. They both provide unique and different experiences.

I have no doubt that this technology is where we are heading. These are the real tools of our future. Say goodbye to Web browsers and smartphones, as you have known them to date. The future is not tomorrow. The future may not be in the next five years. The future is coming. Some reports say that this will be a $150 billion market by 2020. Some say it will be larger than that, and that it will happen sooner. Either way, brands need to better understand the definitions, the technology under it and the opportunity.

What are the brand opportunities with augmented reality and virtual reality today?

First! Brands love to be first, and we're already seeing this. Watch - as the next week unfolds - just how many brands will debut some kind of augmented/virtual play at the famed SXSW event. 
PR. Because brands can be first, there are media and public relations opportunities that will drive attention for a brand. So, regardless of what the true (and sustainable) applications can be for brands, just being aligned with something so forward-thinking like this is great for positioning and media mentions.
Experiential. If a brand is doing any kind of live experiential type of marketing, adding a virtual or augmented reality component, is a very cheap and effective way to make the experience that much more powerful and memorable. This is also important, because the technology is new. Have a handful of these head mounted displays with experts on-hand to manage the experience, lessens the chance of something going wrong and will make any event a "wow!"
Training. This technology has been around for a while. It has, mostly, been non-commercial and used in many instances as a way to improve results in training team members. Brands can look at virtual and augmented reality programs as a way to better train their people.
Storytelling. While the technology has evolved beyond a parlour trick, it can still be used to tell a much better story. It does allow you to transport your audience to another place (in another time, even). It does allow the user to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. You can give the user superhero powers. You can do a whole lot more. Storytelling will change dramatically because of this.
Labs. Every brand touts having some kind of lab or innovation center. Having a couple of these headsets lying around can spark something new and different.

Should your brand dive intro augmented or virtual reality?

It is early days. We are seeing the beginning of a new kind of technology take hold. With that comes a whole new way to tell stories, create a user experience, and do things that we could never do with flat screens. The desire to experiment and play is obvious. Will this replace your current digital marketing strategy and campaigns? It is unlikely (for the next little while). Still - as with all things new and shiny - it would be wise to pay attention to it, rather than dismiss it or ignore it.

What do you think? Have you tried it? Have you seen the future? 

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Amp Up Your Marketing Chops... Welcome To The Art Of Marketing

Have you been to The Art of Marketing events before?

I have had the pleasure of knowing the people behind The Art Of Productions since they started the business. I've spoken at many of their events over the years. So much so, that some people think I'm either invested in the company, or that I work for them. I don't. On both counts. I just happen to love what they do (and, based on their audience feedback, my presentations have scored high enough to warrant multiple opportunities to be on their stage). Personally, their events are less about whether or not I get to be on stage, and much more about my desire to want to be in the audience, learning and growing and getting better at this trade.

Why you need to attend The Art of Marketing...

On June 14th, 2016, The Art of Marketing will - once again - take place in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and the line-up is stunning.

Morgan Spurlock - Academy Award Nominated filmmaker, documentarian (Super Size Me, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, One Direction: This Is Us, etc...) and host of CNN's Inside Man. You can also check out my conversation with Spurlock about content marketing and the future of video, right here: Future Content With Morgan Spurlock.
Bethany Mota - YouTube superstar (close to 10 million subscribers) with her own Aeropostale clothing line, and widely considered one of the most powerful voices in new media. I will be conducting a "fireside chat" with Mota, about how brands can better connect with their audience and consumers.
Avinash Kaushik - Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, bestselling author (Web Analytics - An Hour A Day and Web Analytics 2.0) and co-founder of Market Motive. Avinash is a close friend, and you can hear our most-recent conversation about the state of digital marketing right here: Better Marketing Metrics With Avinash Kaushik.
Adam Garone - CEO and Co-Founder of The Movember Foundation.
Stephen Shapiro - Bestselling author of books like Personality Poker, Best Practices Are Stupid and many more. Shapiro is a former consultant at Accenture, who is best known for his work in the innovation space.
Ron Tite - Ron is a branding, creativity and storytelling expert. He's the CEO at The Tite Group, a super-close friend, and will act as the day's host. He's also a standup comedian, and one of the better presenters out there.

Want to come to The Art of Marketing in Toronto for free?

Come and hang out with all of us! Because I'll be in conversation with Bethany Mota, the good folks at The Art of Productions have offered this Six Pixels of Separation community the chance to win one of two VIP Pass experiences. Each winner will get two VIP Passes (so you can bring a guest) that include:

VIP Pass express entrance.
Reserved premier seating beginning in the third row.
Recent issue of The Art of Magazine.
Book signing opportunities with speakers.
Exclusive three course networking lunch.
An eco-friendly tote bag, notebook and pen.
Copies of two featured bestselling books: Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik and Best Practices Are Stupid by Stephen Shapiro.

How can you win one of these Art of Marketing VIP Pass experiences?

Let's make it easy. If you want to win one of the two VIP Pass experiences for you and a friend, please leave a comment below, about what you think is the marketer's number one challenge these days and why? I'll review the comments on May 17th, 2016 and pick two winners (each one will get two VIP Passes). Please keep in mind that the winners will be responsible for all expenses outside of the VIP Passes (meaning: you get what is listed above... nothing more). Plus, if you're looking to buy tickets and want to save some money, please feel free to use the code: MIRUM23. That will get you $100 off of each pass. 

Let's connect at The Art of Marketing in Toronto on June 14th, 2016! It's going to be a great day! 

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Video Content Eats All

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio broadcasting out of Montreal (home base). It's not a long segment - about 5 to 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 to SoundCloud, if you're interested in hearing more of me blathering away. I'm really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed: 

How many old computers do you have lying around? Well, now you can install a free piece of software called CloudReady that's based on Google's lightweight Web-centric Chrome operating system. Second life for that old computer? You bet! Great ideas for schools and groups to help those in need? Yes!
One story that I can't get over is how Snapchat turned down a $3  billion dollar acquisition offer from Facebook back in 2013. Now, as Facebook amps up on videos - and as videos become the predominant stuff that we share - we find Snapchat is rocking in video views. This week it was announced that Snapchat has caught up to Facebook in terms of video views. We toss around the word 'billions' now like it's normal. It's not. Whether you're talking about money, users or even views. A billion is a lot of numbers! Snapchat's video traffic is now at 8 billion daily video views. That's more than five times where it was a year ago. That's now at par with Facebook. Imagine if that Snapchat/Facebook deal had gone through? These numbers are just staggering. 
Have you seen the ads on Instagram? Do you like them? Facebook owns Instagram, and it looks like it's time for that multi-billion dollar acquisition to spit back some cash. So, bring forth the ads. Imagine this: 200,000 advertisers in five months. That's a "wow!" To make this happen, Instagram opened its ads to 200 markets, established dozens of marketing-vendor partnerships, introduced longer-form video ads and carousel ads, and expanded its action-based ad options such as app-install ads, "Shop Now" and "Learn More" buttons. The formats have attracted big brand names.
App of the week: Doctr.

Listen here...

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Douglas Rushkoff And The Failing State Of Our Digital Economy

Episode #504 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Simply put: Douglas Rushkoff makes my brain hurt, because he is so smart. He recently published his latest book, Throwing Rocks At The Google Bus, and it will make your head spin too. All of our assumptions about disruption, the digital economy, unicorns, valuations, and how all of this technological innovation has evolved will be questioned. Not to be a contrarian for contrarian's sake, this Media Scholar also happens to understand the underpinnings of our economy, and it will startle you. The book acts as a warning and - as with everything he touches - it will make you think deeply. Rushkoff (for those who do not know) is the person responsible for coining terms like 'digital natives', 'social currency' and 'viral media'. If you've never heard of Rushkoff, he's the winner of the Media Ecology Association's first Neil Postman award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, he is an author, teacher, and documentarian who focuses on the ways people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other's values. He is Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at CUNY, technology and media commentator for CNN, digital literacy advocate for Codecademy.com and a lecturer on media, technology, culture and economics around the world. Trust me, you do not want to miss this episode. 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 #504.

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The Story Of Vice And The Future Of Media

I'm a metalhead punk. That's about it.

With that comes my general attitude of wanting to mess up the system, keep things casual and honest, and never be satisfied with what is a part of the establishment. Faster and harder. It's my way of life... and it's not for everyone. My roots to that genre of music run deep. Back to the early seventies, when I was a young pup, and my brothers used to choke me if I didn't listen to KISS, Black Sabbath and The Who. You learn quickly. To this day, cranking heavy music is the one thing that can center me. With that, I was very fortunate to work in the music industry (starting in the late eighties). I wrote for music and lifestyle publications (I even published a few), and managed to become friends with artists, industry professionals and other media outlets. Before there was this thing (the Internet, blogging, etc...) the editors and publishers of the printed press controlled which artists got coverage (and which didn't). It was a gruelling lifestyle to convince these people that you had an interesting story to share about an artist, that their readers would find captivating. Here, in Montreal, the art and music scene was about as eclectic as you could imagine. Think New York injected with European culture, mixed with a bilingual group of citizens all pushing for their own rights. Fertile ground for metal, punk, anger and a sense of anti-establishment.

It was perfect for someone like me.

Along with publishing two magazines (and helping to launch a third), I did a lot of freelance writing. For magazines and newspapers all over the world. Here, in Montreal, I had a weekly stint at one of the local alternative weekly newspapers. The content was always edgy, and had to be delivered at a frenetic pace. People often ask me how I am able to produce the amount of content that I do here, at Six Pixels of Separation? This is nothing compared to the demands of a weekly alternative paper or a daily newspaper. Making stories happen. That's what these people do. In the Montreal scene, a new magazine/indie paper called, Voice of Montreal, hit the streets. The story were over-the-top. Topics that you thought could only be the stuff of fiction, but it wasn't. It was crazy. From the photos to the words. They quickly changed the name to Vice and the format to a glossy magazine, but the content maintained its edge. How edgy? Let's just say that there were many moments - sifting through the magazine - that would make me blush or super uncomfortable. It could be a picture, it could be the writing of an article or even the headline. Vice had this magical way of not just pushing towards the edge, but going well beyond it.

Vice helped you discover things about this world that you never knew. It helped you discover things about yourself as well.  

I would pitch Vice stories about up and coming bands. It turns out that I was soft. I would have an interview with legendary punk, spoken word and author Henry Rollins, but Suroosh Alvi and Shane Smith wanted to know what was new, different and original about that (I didn't interface much with Gavin McInnes, who is no longer with the organization). I would bring them new artists (ones that no one ever heard of), and as great as the music was - and Vice's ability to be the first to talk about these groups - they wanted something else... something more. They were a tough crowd to please. I'm not sure how many pieces of mine actually got published at Vice back then, but I do remember a piece about Bill Shields making it to the magazine. Shields was (and still remains) one of the most intense writers/poets that I have ever read. He published his poetry on Rollins' book imprint, 2.13. 61. Shields' words about his drug addiction, PTSD from Vietnam, poverty and life were so raw and honest, it was crushing. That's what Vice wanted to do. They always wanted to open the eyes of the world just a little bit wider.

Vice is now a media juggernaut.

It's hard not to admire what these guys from Montreal accomplished. They moved to New York, took big risks, expanded beyond the printed word, embraced digital, and continue to evolve. I could not be prouder, especially when I think about the countless nights we all spent together in our youth, in the local scene watching bands, laughing and the stuff that young dreamers do. Last week, Vice launched Viceland, their own television channel. Vice Co-founder/CEO, Shane Smith, and Creative Director, Spike Jonze, sat down with Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka of Recode at their Code Media 2016 event to discuss why this modern media company thinks the next step for success is a traditional television station, and what the future may hold. Putting aside my past with Vice, this was one of the most interesting conversations about media that I have seen in a long, long time. The full video is below, but consider this one quote from Shane Smith: 

"...media is the best business in the f***ing world to be in. So, if this is the hard part, then it's better than selling shoes at Payless. Everyone is asking [us] questions, hard questions, to people who have a business that's hard to run. Whoever gets the first mover, whatever that is -- three-screen, one-screen, OTT, different programming day and day scale, monetized, having the brands, native that can't be ad-blocked, all that stuff, get away from programatic up to premium -- whoever wins that algorithm, wins everything... wins the race. And then you can talk about IPOs or getting bought, or no one can buy you at that point, or doing something with a big boy like an Apple or a Google, whatever it is. Then you're transforming media. So whoever gets there first, wins. Who's racing towards that goal?"

Huge question: look around at every media, brand and content company. Who is - like Vice - really racing towards that goal?

Watch this: Going to Viceland With Shane Smith and Spike Jonze - Recode. 

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Where Does Creativity Come From?

The million dollar question. The billion dollar answer.

Where does creativity come from? People are focused. People are creative by nature. Is it nature or is it nurture? Are there lighting bolts of inspiration that hit us out of the blue? Is creativity the same as going to work (meaning, it just happens when you show up to do it)? There are so many studies, so many business books, so many more questions on this, specific, topic. One thing we do know: When we see something creative, it typically sits with us. We remember it. We talk about it. We share it with others. We are all in this creative business. For the most part, we're all trying to get our ideas (which, at their core, are creative) to be heard. The more people who read this, watch the video below, and share it, the better I feel. The more accomplished my work is. With that, we live in complex times. There are so many places to publish ideas, that creativity now lurks around every corner.

The act of creating something now lies in all of our hands.

So, where does great work come from? Do the real creative geniuses of our time just sit down, and it pours out. Clearly, it's a struggle. And yes, the struggle is real. If you've ever done anything creative, you know this. As a writer, there are some days when the words flow effortlessly, and then moments when not a word makes any sense. It's classic. It's something that we all deal with. Many believe that we need the perfect situation for our creativity to flow. We need to not be disrupted or distracted or faced with problems for our best work to flow with muse.

What, if being disrupted or getting distracted actually was the source of better ideas? 

Well, here's a thought: perhaps the challenges, disruptions and roadblocks actually make us more creative than ever. Our need to focus on solving these issues and little messes in our lives help us to solve not only those, specific, problems but unlock new (and much needed) layers of creativity. This what Tim Harford believes. Hartford is best known for his book (and popular Financial Times column), The Undercover Economist (he has a slew of other bestsellers too). In this TED talk (which has a heavy slant towards behavioural economics), he shares more than a few stories about how some of the most creative challenges were created when the artist was actually busy dealing with "other stuff," and the magic that can come from it.

What do you think? Is being driven to distraction a strong creative fuel for you? Watch this ...

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