Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 215

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #260

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 improbable rise and fall of Couchsurfing - The Kernel . "Some communities are mirages -- when you try to monetize them, they vanish into the desert. Couchsurfing thrived on intimacy between like-minded, well-meaning people. And then everyone else found out. An object lesson in the tragedy of the commons." (Alistair for Hugh).
College Has Gotten 12 Times More Expensive in One Generation - Mother Jones . "The GI Bill and the New Deal boosted America's fortunes. Now we see the reverse -- the widening gulf between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' I can't wait until the machines write better psychology papers than the teachers can grade." (Alistair for Mitch).
What Is Code? - BusinessWeek . "This seems to be the article (or rather, short book - its 38,000 words) everyone is reading this week. If you are a coder, then this is a brilliant example of how to explain your craft to the rest of the world. If you are not a coder, then this will explain to you how most of the (human) world actually works. Also, Paul Ford is one of the most delightful writers around." (Hugh for Alistair).
How Things Break - Slate . "I've been on a bit of a Muhammed Ali kick lately. The Rumble in the Jungle really is an amazing sporting spectacle (and is available on YouTube in its entirety). But, before the great Ali-Foreman fight, there was Ali-Liston - much less interesting as a boxing match, but resulting in this iconic photo. Here's the backstory." (Hugh for Mitch). 
Man Asks for Photoshop Help, Internet Hilariously Responds - Pleated Jeans . "Need laugh? The Internet never lets you down. Promise." (Mitch for Alistair).
Four Columbia House insiders explain the shady math behind "8 CDs for a penny" - AV Club . "I was a 'member.' I probably still owe them money. I'm now wondering if my lack of fulfillment has somehow affected my credit rating. I don't know. I did the classic Columbia House play for vinyl, cassettes and yes, even, CDs. Seems so antiquated now. Was it a smart business model? This is a great read for anyone who loved music in the 80s and 90s..." (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:

alistair croll

amazon

av club

bit current

bit north

book a futurists manifesto

businessweek

columbia house

complete web monitoring

couchsurfing

facebook

gigaom

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

lean analytics

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

managing bandwidth

mother jones

muhammed ali

paul ford

photoshop

pleated jeans

press books

slate

social media

solve for interesting

the kernel

the rumble in the jungle

year one labs

youtube

The Most Important Trends Of This Year

Admit it, you didn't bother looking at the 200 slides, did you?

Almost three weeks ago, I posted Mary Meeker's (from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers) annual Internet Trends report that she gave at the Re/Code summit. It's a lot to swallow, a lot to grind through and hard to understand without the context of Mary's rapid-fire delivery. The video presentation was finally posted online, and it is - without question - one of the most important pieces of content that every business professional should watch. It's under thirty minutes, and it is an extremely powerful primer on where the connectivity of the world is, where advertising fits into this, how we're connecting and what's making us most excited about connectivity.

It's a "wow!" Trust me. Watch this...

Your browser does not support iframes.

...and here are the slides, if you want to review them...

2015 Internet Trends Report from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

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Stop Being A Digital Immigrant

This is the fundamental challenge of most brands today.

They are not born digital (as Don Tapscott would say). Yes, digital transformation is a reality for all businesses. It's something that is deeply affecting the small, medium and large businesses. It is something that affects both B2B and B2C markets. Brands tend to look at startups that shoot to billion dollar-plus valuations and wonder how they can be more like that. What they fail to understand is that businesses like Uber, GoPro and Airbnb were born in these digital times. They don't have to transform. They don't have to adjust their marketing. They're not living off of technology legacy systems that must be updated. Most importantly, they connect (in their language, communication, marketing and advertising) by having team members that aren't just current on digital marketing trends, but these kinds of team members who know no other way.

Traditional advertising in digital channels is not a transformation.

How many years has it been? A responsive website, a mobile experience, a decent email database, a social media presence and ad spend that tips more towards AdWords than towards newspaper advertising doesn't count as digital transformation, and it certainly doesn't count as thinking/being born digital. Those are simple tablestakes. At this point, that only gives a brand a seat at the table (in fact, one could question if that seat should even be at the adult table... you could well be sitting with the kids and their Dixie cups). Digital keeps evolving. Digital keeps introducing new opportunities. Call it live streaming across Twitter now, when simply tweeting was all the rage only a few months ago. Looking to these platforms as a way to simply push a message through, instead of figuring out how these platforms can increase a brand's economic value, make better connections and build stronger relationships with customers, is what we're aiming for.

Things are getting complex. It's going to get more complex.

Let's rattle through this: data and analytics, marketing automation, programmatic buying, drones, robotics, wearable technology, block chain, the Internet of things and more. It's a full time job just to graze these topics, and have a semblance of an opinion about them and what they mean to your business today... and tomorrow. So, what's a brand to do.

Don't sit back and wait. If you hear about something new, sign up and tinker with it.
Keep learning. There are enough blogs, podcasts and links to go around. If you're not an infovore, you're going to be in trouble.
Get help. There are tons ways to be tutored. Videos on YouTube (free!), paid online course, lean on your agency partners, and many more.
Bring in the experts. Well, not exactly. While it's hard to be an "expert" in anything this new, there are professionals (with pedigree, experience and skill) who can help you figure out how to use it, ignore it or simply better understand where this all going.
Test and learn. Not everything is going to work. Not everything is going to be right for the brand. Digital does do one thing well: it allows you to test and learn with a fairly low time and cost barrier. The other component of testing and learning is that it also allows you to optimize, so you get better and better the deeper you go. 

Push away from the tactics.


This is the other difficult thing for brands to do. They're trying (so desperately) to get something out of Facebook as an engine of advertising or how to adjust their LinkedIn profiles to attract a better employee that they're losing sight of the greater opportunity. To be like Uber... you have to be like Uber. Uber (and other modern brands) don't think about how to adapt what they used to do, to be more functional in this environment. Brands like Uber live and breathe the experience like their consumers do. Maybe that's a little too simplistic for brands to latch on to, but it's true.
 
The future isn't about how to become more digital. The future is about being digital. At all costs.

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google

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linkedin

marketing

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meerkat

mirum

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mobile

periscope

programmatic

robotics

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startup

twitter

uber

wearable technology

youtube online course

 

Consumers Want Personalization And Privacy

Have you ever shopped on Amazon?

Probably one of the stupidest questions ever asked in 2015. Especially, when it's being asked on a blog that focuses on digital transformation, and technology that helps brands better connect with consumers. Of course, you have. Who hasn't shopped at Amazon? Do you like the experience? Have you ever tried to log out of Amazon and just start browsing the site without being logged into your personal account, or without any history? I have. It sucks. It knows nothing about me and - as a consumer - you are simply lost. Amazon becomes more and more valuable to consumers the more and more it's used. Amazon uses your data and information to create a better experience for you. Consumers say that they hate advertising, but the truth is that they hate bad/untargeted advertising. Advertising works when it knows its audience. The more it knows, the better it works. When it works like that, people want it. Don't believe me? Head over to YouTube and see how many millions of views certain TV ads get. Consumers who are interested, willfully seek out these ads, watch them, share and - ultimately - buy the products or services.

Does that offend you?

Do you feel that Amazon is breaching your privacy? Do you feel like they are abusing their relationship with you and the data that they are collecting? This is core to the argument that I make in my second business book, CTRL ALT Delete (which came out in trade paperback last month... in case, you have yet to pick up a copy). The reasoning is that consumers have completely confused the difference between "privacy" and "personalization." It's not just consumers. This is a failure of proper business practices. Brands have done a terrible job (some on purpose, others by accident) in helping consumers understand both the value that is being exchanged for their data/information, and how the company handles their most private information (credit card accounts and other forms of personal data). The best brands have created a digital chasm between the usage of the user (the stuff that makes for great personalization) and their data (the stuff that makes a consumer personally identifiable). The two streams should never cross, match or be used in ways that haven't been explicitly agreed to by the consumer. 

Is this a dream?

While Amazon has its detractors, it has worked for them. It is also working for many other businesses. The more connected businesses are to their consumers in understanding their habits and usage, the better positioned they are to make a supremely frictionless experience. Billions of dollars are at play. And, when that amount of money is on the table, it's hard not to see the other side. A few days ago, TechCrunch published a scathing editorial piece based on a new study titled, The Online Privacy Lie Is Unraveling.

Please read this:

"Rather than feeling able to make choices, Americans believe it is futile to manage what companies can learn about them. Our study reveals that more than half do not want to lose control over their information but also believe this loss of control has already happened... By misrepresenting the American people and championing the tradeoff argument, marketers give policymakers false justifications for allowing the collection and use of all kinds of consumer data often in ways that the public find objectionable. Moreover, the futility we found, combined with a broad public fear about what companies can do with the data, portends serious difficulties not just for individuals but also -- over time -- for the institution of consumer commerce. It is not difficult to predict widespread social tensions, and concerns about democratic access to the marketplace, if Americans continue to be resigned to a lack of control over how, when, and what marketers learn about them."

We - as a marketing community - must do something about this now.

I am starting to feel like I am all alone on this issue. It's starting to feel like brands and marketers are getting drunk on the data... and the allure of it. Like once they have it, they are entitled to do with it what they will (including sharing it with third parties). The laws shouldn't have to be clear. This is a question of morals and scruples. It's a question of businesses acting in the best faith, on behalf of their consumers because they want them to buy from them, to be loyal to them, and for their customers to tell everyone they know about them. This shell game that is being played out with people's data may be lining the pockets of many brands, but it is eroding the public trust. Without trust, the money will not follow. Consumer advocates are important, but in this case it feels like we need to do a much better job of self-regulating, with the perspective that when data is exchanged between a consumer and a brand that the value of the exchange is always to the benefit of the consumer, and that the consumer knows what they re relinquishing in this exchange.

It seems simple enough.

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personalization

privacy

public trust

techcrunch

the tradeoff fallacy

tv advertising

user experience

web analytics

youtube

Can Twitter Change? Should It?

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:

Have you declared voicemail bankruptcy? I have... back in 2007! I am terrible at leaving and responding to voicemails at my office. What's the solution? I tell people to email or text me in my greeting. Much more efficient, right? Well, what about if we just got rid of voicemail all together? Think that's crazy? JPMorgan Chase (a major bank... and traditional one) is doing away with voicemails. I say, good riddance. That... and the fax machines too! 
Are we at the end of Twitter? Are people leaving/not using it and simply unifying everything at Facebook? The folks at Twitter would disagree.. or would they? Chris Sacca, one of their biggest investors, says that Twitter needs to be fixed. He wrote an 8000+ word blog post about everything that's wrong and how to fix it. There's a lot of good insight in there (Sacca is an investor in some of the best businesses out there - Uber, Kickstarter, Medium, Slack, Facebook, Instagram and more), but - even more interesting - is also how social media enables people to really say what they're feeling, even about the things that they're heavily vested in.
Would you pay for Facebook? I'm not sure that I would. There are some people that would pay to have a Facebook that wasn't using/selling their personal data. Is this a business model? Would people pay for this? Are people smart enough to know what their data means (and what it's worth). Is Mark Zuckerberg leaving money on the table by not selling this option to users? This was the topic of a fascinating op-ed piece in The New York Times. There's a saying: "if you can't see the product, you're the product." So, how many people know that on Facebook, they are the product? 
App of the week: Grammarly for Google Chrome.

Listen here...

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Creative Talent And The Future Of Agency Life

Episode #465 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Mirum Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Welcome to episode #465 of Six Pixels Of Separation - The Mirum Podcast. Joseph Jaffe is widely regarded as one of the top marketing bloggers (Jaffe Juice) and podcasters (both Jaffe Juice in audio and Jaffe Juice TV in video). He is the author of four excellent books (Life After The 30-Second Spot, Join The Conversation, Flip The Funnel and Z.E.R.O.) and his latest business venture is, Evol8tion. A long-time friend (and one of the main inspirations behind the Six Pixels of Separation blog and podcast), we've decided to hold semi-regular conversations, debates and back-and-forths that will dive a little deeper into the digital marketing and advertising landscape. This is our 32nd conversation (or, as I like to affectionately call it, Across The Sound 32.20), and in this episode, we discuss the Wall Street Journal article, Tech Firms Pull Talent Away From Ad Agencies. 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 #465.

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advertising podcast

audio

blog

blogging

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business podcast

david usher

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evolution

Facebook

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google

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join the conversation

joseph jaffe

life after the 30 second spot

marketing blog

marketing podcast

startup for brands

twitter

wall street journal

zero

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #259

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:

How People Consume Conspiracy Theories on Facebook - MIT Technology Review . "Italian researchers trolled conspiracy theorists with stories like the presence of Viagra in chemtrails. MIT Technology Review says we may be underestimating the dangers of this behavior, which can shape public policy and the fate of elections. Yikes." (Alistair for Hugh).
I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss. Here's How - io9 . "While it's great to go through life optimistic, we're awful at being sufficiently skeptical. Here's a great example: Convincing people to share news they really, really want to be true. TL;DR: It doesn't." (Alistair for Mitch).
A Beehive That Takes the Sting Out of the Harvest - New York Times . "A new beehive design raises a record-breaking $12million in crowdfunding. Check it out." (Hugh for Alistair). 
Digital Journalism: The Next Generation - The New York Review of Books . "There's something about the tone of this piece I'm not crazy about, but it's a nice overview of the digital news media landscape, touching on Buzzfeed, Vox, Intercept, FiveThiryEight, and a handful of other platforms. The general tenor is: these platforms aren't so much shaking up, as consolidating media power." (Hugh for Mitch).
What Twitter Can Be - Lowercase Capital . "I can't claim to be friends with Chris Sacca. I can tell you that I know him. I've met him. We've exchanged communications. I have tons of respect and admiration for him. He's a former Googler and one of the most powerful venture capitalists in the game. He's one of the largest shareholders at Twitter, and has made a lot of right moves with a long string of brilliant investments  Now, he's come out - publicly - to talk (at depth) about what Twitter needs to do to compete and grow. It's a long read. It has been played out in the media. Still, if you put aside that this is a piece about Twitter, Sacca is actually providing both a blueprint and recipe that everybody in business should read and layer against their own products and services. The perfect read for a startup... or a multinational brand." (Mitch for Alistair).
7 free tools for anyone who wants to become a better writer - Mashable . "I'd love to tell you that I am above getting sucked into flashy headlines like this. I am not. I clicked with skepticism and self-regret. 'More linkbait,' I thought to myself. Well, I'm here to report that out of the seven tools listed, I knew none of them. Maybe you are all smarter and more adept at this than I am. I don't know. For me, this was a whole bunch of valuable links and apps to save for when I need them. So, if you like to write, you may want to check these 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.

Tags:

alistair croll

amazon

bit current

bit north

book a futurists manifesto

buzzfeed

chris sacca

complete web monitoring

digital journalism

facebook

fivethrityeight

gigaom

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

intercept

io9

lean analytics

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

lowercase capital

managing bandwidth

mashable

mit technology review

new york times

press books

social media

solve for interesting

the new york review of books

twitter

venture capital

vox

write

writing

year one labs

When Paper Wins In The Digital Age

There are certain companies who understand (and embrace) what it means to be a digital-first brand.

Even... when that brand is a paper company. In fact, calling it a "paper company" is probably a misnomer as well. It's also a fashion brand. It's also a productivity brand. It's also a lifestyle brand. It will come as no surprise, that I have been a huge fan of the Moleskine brand years (even if you think I'm just paying them lip service, you can see the truth right here). You can't open a drawer of mine (both in the office and at home) and not find some kind of Moleskine notebook in there. I carry around various formats and still (very much) enjoy the process of handwritten notes and ideas. Nothing beats it for my creative process, and their notebooks really do rock (though, I am also a huge fan of Field Notes). With that, the L2 YouTube channel has been amazing lately. Scott Galloway creates these amazingly insightful videos about who the winners and losers are in the digital age. They're quick (this one is about three minutes long), and they are packed with data, insights and knowledge. They are always worth watching, but this week's episode is especially powerful. Moleskine growth is running in tandem with the rise of digital. And, if that isn't incredible enough, the sales of Moleskine notebooks correlate positively with proximity to an Apple store.

Imagine that... now, watch this:  An Unlikely Winner In A Digital Age.

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digital first brand

fashion

field notes

l2

l2 youtube channel

lifestyle

moleskine

moleskine notebook

notebook

productivity

scott galloway

youtube. youtube channel

 

Be The First One In

Go ahead, call me a Type A personality.

I'm not so sure that would be the truth. Being self-reflective, I often find myself being super-lazy, binging on way too much Netflix, or watching a movie on the plane when I should be writing. It's not all perfect. I can be super-focused. I can be super passionate. I am, ultimately, a human being. I am just as distracted by those shiny-bright objects as the rest of you squirrels might be, but... if there's one thing I cherish and try to do as often as possible, it's this...

I want to be the first one in the office.

There's a well-known leadership strategy (that has been adopted and morphed from the military), that a company's leader should always lead from the front. That they should be the first one in and the last one out. The aphorism - and how it fits into a world of combat - makes so much sense (you have to demonstrate to your team that you're willing to be the first one with boots "on the ground," to establish that you're willing to take the first bullet, and that you're the last person out, because you are hanging in there - in the thick of things - with everyone else, and to ensure that no one is left behind). It would be so self-serving for me to use that as my reason for being the first one in the office. It's not.

Why I am the first one in the office?

It's an indirect way to send a message about the work to myself. The early morning offers the sacred hours. The family is off to school. The hum of emails and meetings have yet to commence. The distraction of social media is a dull roar. It's all about focus. The ideas seem fresh. The real work is done, because there are no interruptions. The caffeine from my morning coffee is just kicking in. The world is filled with boundless ideas and opportunities.

It's not about emails, calendar items or to-do lists. 

Some of the best leaders use this time to catch up on emails, schedule their appointments or rocket through their daily list of things to do. Because that time is so fresh and solitary, that's the time that I use to read, take notes (lots and lots of notes) and write (sometimes quick little shots, sometimes longer blog posts, prep work for client-related content and more). Fast Company published an article today titled, The Case For Being The First One In The Office. The reasons did not really resonate with me (being available for people in different times zones, doing things that won't be disrupted when the phone starts ringing, vigorous exercise, and more). They did have one reason that is often overlooked by professionals: "According to researchers Mareike Wietha and Rose Zacks in an article published in the journal Thinking & Reasoning, working early in the morning, when you're still groggy, promotes greater insight, problem solving capabilities, and creativity when compared to starting the day after 9 a.m., when you're feeling more alert and awake." This one, I believe in. Deeply.   

Groggy am good. Groggy pm bad.

I am sure there is a case for night owls as well. I'm sure there is some research to substantiate it. The night is very tough for sprints and ideation (especially if you're balancing work and a young family). It's hard to not be exhausted... in a drained kind of way. That being said, being the first one in the office isn't for everybody. It's a concept. It's a mental model. It's something to experiment with. From my limited experience, whatever gets done first in the am tends to be the thing that had the most attention, care and creativity on it.

And, to quote the hilarious movie, Talladega Nights (don't judge me!): "If you're not first... you're last."

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Disclosure. This Is A Disclosure.

#Client.

How often are you trolling the social media feeds and you see some kind of post about how great something is, or why you may want to check something out? It sounds encouraging. It's exciting. You click the link. Suddenly, you're immersed in a form of content, and your mind begins to wander back to the person who told you all about this experience. The pieces start to click into place, and it's just then that you realize that this individual works for the company, has them as a client, or it's about a business that they are somehow connected to (their spouse works there or it's owned by their brother). In a sense, you feel duped. In another sense, you don't begrudge the person, because they're simply trying to help out a friend, family member, client or employer. We're in this desperate race to create as much attention as possible, in a world where attention is becoming a much more scarce resource.

One must disclose.

This is the day and age of disclosure. Social media brought forth a whole new level of transparency for brands and the people who create content. You don't have to look far to see how important clear disclosure and transparency is. Just look at your employment agreement. Every corporate social media guidelines has sections (sometimes pages) on the topic of transparency and disclosure. It's become such a strong issue that organizations like the FTC are involved. They're creating laws around disclosure, and are doing its best to set-up frameworks and fines for those who should know better.

This is a real issue.

It makes perfect sense that the FTC will hold publishers responsible for misleading consumers with native advertising. If it's an ad, it should look like an ad. If the advertiser wants to partner with a publisher to create a special kind of content (that looks more like content than an ad), it's important that there is not a sense that the consumer is being misled. Is there an obvious solution? Is there a clear way to identify something as native advertising? That's a tough one. The FCC is clearly stating that they would like advertisers to think about how they are disclosing what an advertisement is, in the general flow of what consumers are seeing. It's going to be messy. It's going to sticky. But, this is something that our industry desperately needs.

Still, can disclosures be pushed too far?

Is "liking" a brand on social media an endorsement? Well, if you thought that the issue of disclosure and native advertising is a tough one to resolve, the FTC is also saying that Facebook "likes" and Pinterest photos can be endorsements as well. While the FTC is not sending people to prison or racking up fines, they are using language like this: "Simply posting a picture of a product in social media, such as on Pinterest, or a video of you using it could convey that you like and approve of the product. If it does, it's an endorsement... You don't necessarily have to use words to convey a positive message." So, what's a brand to do in a world where a lot of these platforms don't allow individuals or brands to disclose any incentives? The answer is a little frightening. The FTC is saying that brands should avoid soliciting endorsements on those platforms.

What kind of crazy world do we live in?

Regardless of whether or not this can policed. Regardless of the fact that Facebook implemented its own rules that brands can't exchange likes for incentives, we are seeing something that must be paid attention to. There should be concern, thought and care given to marketing programs that are using influencers (or even regular consumers) to speak, share or boost something online. We all know and want consumers to fully disclose when they have been giving any form of free goods or services. Now, we're moving to a world where simply liking or pinning something can be considered a formal endorsement as well? It's seems like a stretch and we're going to need a happy medium.

The question is this: can brands pull it together to self-regulate the situation, or are we going to let the government decide for us? 

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social media

social media guidelines

transparency