Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 251

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #202

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:

  Outbox vs. USPS: How the Post Office Killed Digital Mail - Inside Sources . "I've spent the last year looking at how innovation happens (or doesn't happen) in large organizations. This should be Exhibit A: while disruption is a good word in Silicon Valley, it's often a dangerous idea in the halls of power. What happens when an awesome postal offering runs into the Postmaster General? 'American citizens aren't our customers -- about 400 junk mailers are our customers. Your service hurts our ability to serve those customers.' Just yikes -- and a Hat Tip to Blake Robinson for sending me this one." (Alistair for Hugh).

Guelph 80s family ends year of living in the past - CBC . "Every parent I know struggles with 'screen time.' On the one hand, we want our kids to be in the moment, communicating and interacting and healthy. On the other hand, they will grow up with a prosthetic brain on which they are increasingly reliant, a strange human-machine hybrid, and they're getting ready for that. But few parents take this to the extremes that Blair McMillan and Morgan Patey did, living in the eighties for a year (one other notable example is the BBC documentary Electric Dreams, where a family gets a year's technology each day, taking them from 1970 to 2000 in a month). Now the Guelph, Ontario-based family is finished their year of living in the past; here's what they learned." (Alistair for Mitch).

Fluffier, Brighter, Weirder Dinosaurs - Radiolab . "Back in 2003? or 2004? I got a writing job helping to develop the dinosaur exhibit for the Canadian Museum of Natural History. And it was my first true experience really using Wikipedia, which, despite its flaws, was an amazing tool for an independent researcher, writer, even back in 2003. And, I having received, I also gave: I wrote a good chunk of the Feathered Dinosaurs article, at Wikipedia. It's (my God) 10 years later, and it appears that dinosaurs were even featherier than we thought." (Hugh for Alistair). 

Debbie Harry: 'Iggy Pop has been twerking for most of his career' - The Guardian . "I think I'm including this link for the title alone. And, because I'm an old CBGBs fan." (Hugh for Mitch).

Rude Salespeople Make You Buy Fancy Things - Pacific Standard . "I hate it when salespeople are pretentious, don't you? I'll walk by the high-end stores on Madison Avenue in New York City and fail to understand how people put up with salespeople who snub their nose at practically anyone who doesn't fit a particular archetype. It's the classic scene in Pretty Women when Richard Gere says, 'we're going to need more sucking here!' after Julia Roberts gets the stinkeye. Well, it turns out that this is a very strategic move for these types of brands. Rude salespeople make the cash register ring in the luxury goods space. This is the type of stuff that Dan Ariely must just love. Me too." (Mitch for Alistair).

A Eulogy for Twitter - The Atlantic . " Twitter got pummeled by the public markets this week. I love Twitter. That doesn't mean I don't struggle to see what the real business model will be. I'm not bullish on advertising as the sole revenue generator for media properties any more. It's a tough thing to say (because I live and breathe in this space), but advertising has become a model of abundance and not scarcity (which is what made it so powerful). So, what is Twitter going to do to keep adding people, getting them to use the service more and generate real revenue against that? While I would never go so far as to say that 'Twitter is dying,' I do think that this piece points to some very real challenges that the company will need to address. Like I said, I love Twitter, and I know some of the people who work there. They are sharp. I am confident that they will figure this out and make it work. You?" (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Tags:

alistair croll

bbc

bitcurrent

blake robinson

book a futurists manifesto

canadian museum of natural history

cbc

cbgb

complete web monitoring

dan ariely

debbie harry

electric dreams

facebook

gigaom

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

iggy pop

inside sources

julia roberts

lean analytics

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

managing bandwidth

media hacks

pacific standard

pressbooks

pretty woman

radiolab

richard gere

social media

solve for interesting

the atlantic

the guardian

twerking

twitter

usps

wikipedia

year one labs

A Punk's Guide To Success

I used to be an angry young man.

Heavy metal. Punk. Street. That's the music that captured my attention. The early days of that music. I would also read. Nothing got me more riled up to be a better writer than Henry Rollins. Most know him as the frontman for Black Flag or his own solo venture, Rollins Band. I liked the music, but I loved his writing. He had his own book publishing company (long before the Internet and long before self-publishing was truly accessible) called, 2.13.61, and his writing was raw, visceral and deep. You could feel his moments. With that, he has one of the best quotes ever about writing: "If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you."

Magic.

I came across this video of Henry Rollins talking about what it means to be young, to become successful and to think about one's life in a greater context. I read a lot of books these days. I read a lot of books about personal development. I want to be better. I want to do better. I want more success in my life. I want the people who work in and around me to be successful as well. If you don't have time to read these types of books or put in the type of work it takes to find and define success in your life, spend four minutes with this...

...(and show this to every young person you know... or those who are old and have forgotten about their own potential)...

Tags:

2 13 61

black flag

book

book publishing

heavy metal

henry rollins

music

personal development

punk

punk music

reading

rollins band

self publishing

success

writing

Exciting News About Twist Image... And The Future

When Twist Image first started in 2000, there was a vision.

We wanted to create a marketing agency that was reflective of the modern times. Our desire was - and has always been - to work with big brands, solving complicated business challenges and helping them to thrive in the ever-changing digital landscape.

So much has changed in the past fourteen years.

We have gone from static websites to mobile applications. From banner ads to performance-based advertising. From putting messages in front of people to connecting in a more real and tangible way using social media. From using server logs to robust systems of analytics and data. From keyboards to glass. It has - and continues to be - an amazing experience, where new opportunities arrive on a near-daily basis, and the foundational components of digital marketing are just as strong today, as they were nearly twenty years ago.

It's still Day 1.

In 1997, three years after founding Amazon, Jeff Bezos wrote in a letter to shareholders that it was "Day 1" for the Internet. To this day, Bezos keeps saying that every day is "Day 1" when it comes to this space. Twist Image believes in this ideology. In fact, I have that quote on the first page of my Moleskine notebook. I read it every morning before I start the day.

A year-long journey.

Over 12 months ago, the four business partners at Twist Image began a journey. We wanted to ensure the growth, health and success of this agency - not just for the next year, but for the next decade. Our dream is to always work on bigger brands in need of bigger digital experiences. Part of this desire was for us to scale our capabilities in strategy, creative, analytics, technology, user experience and beyond into newer service offerings.

Moving forward.

Today, I am very proud to let you know that we have agreed to become a part of the WPP organization. WPP is one of the world's largest communications services group, employing 175,000 people working in 3,000 offices in 110 countries. And, while the size and scale of the WPP network is impressive, this relationship allows us to remain an independent agency within the WPP network, which is of major importance to all of the business partners at Twist Image. We are committed to Twist Image.  We will remain active and engaged in Twist Image, and nothing changes in our current day-to-day capacities. We are excited about the tremendous opportunity to grow and scale Twist Image. WPP gives us unprecedented access to data and technology via the WPP Data Alliance, and the ability to partner with some of our industry's leading agencies in both the digital and more traditional marketing spaces to build better, more creative and more comprehensive solutions for our clients. WPP also has deep strategic partnerships with the likes of Google, Facebook, Adobe and others, allowing Twist Image to be engaged at early stage ideation and partnering for new and innovative marketing.

We feel like being a part of the WPP family is the next logical step for us.

We look forward to seeing how technology, marketing and communications evolves over the coming years. Having the support and infrastructure of WPP behind us, also enables us to experiment, grow and adapt as the marketing and communications business continues to become more and more digital.

For us it's just another day. It's Day one... once again.

Tags:

adobe

amazon

banners ads

big data

brand

business challenges

communications

data

day one

digital experiences

digital landscape

facebook

google

innovative marketing

jeff bezos

marketing

marketing agency

marketing challenges

mobile

moleskine

performance based advertising

social media

traditional marketing

twist image

user experience

web analytics

website

wpp

wpp data alliance

wpp network

It's All About The Experience

We often forget that it's all about the experience. So, here's one for the user experience team.

You can be as strategic, creative and smart as you want, but if the experience doesn't live and breathe, everything else falls flat. Desperately flat. In a Marketing Charts article, Agencies: Clients Still Have Significant Digital Weaknesses, what do you think was the number one ranked gap for digital marketers? User experience. We live in a very different digital universe than we did a few years ago. As content gets smaller, faster and adapted for people who are, literally, consuming and creating it on the go, if the experience doesn't remove almost all of the friction, it becomes dead in the water. Fast.

The Instagram world is upon us.

I was watching Scott Galloway (from L2 and the professor of marketing at Stern) talk about the winners and losers in digital today at the DLD NYC event (via online stream), and he is overly bullish on Instagram as being the big winner in social media. In his presentation, he states that in the next 12-24 months, Instagram will be the most powerful social media channel. In fact, he slyly added - at the end of his point - that it may very well already be that powerful. It turns out that Facebook may be spending a lot of its money on acquisitions with the sole purpose of defending their position in social media. What makes Instagram so great? Again, Galloway believes that the real digital winners of today and tomorrow need to be born of mobile and mostly visual. That human beings just do better with pictures over text, and mobile instead of fixed. While that may not provide any semblance of breakthrough thinking, take a quick moment to think about how great a user experience has to be for it to properly deliver on that promise.

It's hard. Much harder than you think.

A visual experience that works in the mobile landscape - that a user can quickly (and seamlessly) navigate successfully - is no easy feat. It's not like this is the type of training that we have had for decades. The kind of training that is taught within the university and college systems of the world. We have many people that are geniuses at this type of development, but they are - in the grand scheme of things - few and far between. If any of the bigger players (Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc...) get a whiff that a certain start-up team has those types of chops, they usually get gobbled up and acquired long before any of the average folks realize it was a squeeze for either talent, a defensive move... or both. It happens more than most people care to admit.

Training for the future.

Sure, we are continually searching for the next generation of coders to come out of schools and help us architect our digital landscapes, but let's not forget about the user experience people. From my vantage point, this is a very developed space that is still in a nascent phase simply because the playing field keeps evolving. From keyboards and screens to touchable mobile screens, to wearables to smart televisions to connected appliances to... All of these connected things will need a connected user experience. When you put that fork to your pie hole at night, don't take for granted the massive amounts of usability and user experience evolution that brought the simple fork to where it is today. User experience (especially in the digital landscape) is a very complex field of practice. And, ultimately, you can have all of the big data, likes on Facebook and paid traffic to your website that you want, if the user experience is anything less than pristine, all of your conversion rates and true value starts faltering and failing at a terrible pace. User experience is rarely made up in an organization with bulked up creative services coupled with the technology team. It's a field unto itself, and it continues to become a much more critical part of digital's backbone. It's easy to write these words. It's hard to live it. It's harder to have this become a major piece of the digital marketing puzzle, in a world where most brands know they need it, but don't know how to hire for it or have the experience gaps that they have (as defined in the Marketing Charts article above). What's fascinating is this: great digital marketing is no different than other marketing. It is (and always will be) about the experience. The challenge is that user experience is still a black box for most organizations.

That has to change. That's going to change.

Tags:

amazon

apple

coder

coding

connected devices

connected user experience

content

creative services

digital landscape

digital marketer

digital marketing

digital universe

dld nyc

facebook

google

instagram

l2

marketing agency

marketing charts

marketing experience

mobile

mobile landscape

scott galloway

smart televisions

social media

social media channel

stern university

user experience

visual experience

wearable technology

Is Bethany Mota The Future Of The NewFronts?

Maybe we'll just stop calling them 30 second spots in the future?

What would the world of advertising be like if the 30 second spot actually started playing second fiddle in the advertising mix (what if it moved over to the bassoon section?)? You don't have to look far to see how this is already starting to take shape (it's something my good friend, Joseph Jaffe, wrote about in his debut business book, Life After The 30-Second Spot, nearly a decade ago). We hear more media buyers using lingo like "pre-roll" and "post-roll" to talk about commercials, because the dollars are clearly shifting from traditional channels (TV, radio and print) to digital (online, mobile, etc...). And, as is always the case, video is one of the most profoundly powerful ways that advertisers are looking at as a way to equalize their budgets, as they shift away from TV advertising. In case you missed the news, Internet ads just surpassed broadcast television for the first time.

Is this a good thing or the worst thing possible?

Right now, everyone who is excited about digital media (and how it may slay the traditional TV beast) are holed up in NYC attending the NewFronts. Right now, everyone who thinks that TV will continue to reign supreme over digital media are also holed up in NYC attending the NewFronts. The cynics and believers collide in this near-newly minted event meant to mimic the industry's long-standing UpFronts. The upfronts are a meeting/party hosted by television network executives as a way to pump up the press and major advertisers about an upcoming season of television. The bigger goal is get the advertisers to buy television commercial airtime "up front" or before the season begins. The NewFronts is for advertisers and the media to buy into online video channels, programming and more. YouTube, AOL and more want the mass advertisers to definitely shift their ad dollars to online video. It's nothing new. This has long been the plea of digital media executives. Now, as online video starts racking up significant numbers and access to this type of programming is expanding beyond the desktop computer into tablets, smartphones and even smart TV set-ups, it feels like now may be the best time to make a run at it.

We may be missing the bigger opportunity.

What if the advertising component of video (be it traditional television or online programming) is simply a minor component of the bigger play for the video producers? This thought falls in line with a lot of my punditry around the vast difference between digital and traditional. Traditional 's model is set: interrupt the consumer experience, and there's no need for a direct lineage between how the money is made and the content that surrounds it. Maybe Bethany Mota understands what a real NewFronts looks like, while the big digital video guns are busy trying to replicate television, instead of re-inventing it. You wouldn't know Bethany Mota unless you have teenagers in your life (and, even then, you may not know her). Yesterday, Bethany cracked six million subscribers to her YouTube channel. She doesn't sing. She doesn't act. She's not an author. She records haul videos. Young girls interested in fashion, shopping and trends tune in with massive numbers (and they are loyal beyond reason). It's not uncommon for any video of hers to garner over two million views in a short while. She doesn't stop at YouTube, she's active on Twitter (1.43 million followers) and Instagram too (2.8 million followers). She's become her own mass media channel.

Don't believe me?

Do you know who John Oliver is? He's a former cast member on The Daily Show who debuted his new HBO series, Last Week Tonight, with what The Hollywood Reporter called a "strong start" of 1.1 million viewers. Oliver only has 289,000 followers on Twitter, by the way. Of course, it's hard to compare a John Oliver to a Bethany Mota, but Oliver is relying on these traditional advertising buys to save him, while Bethany Mota is rolling in it. From a business perspective, I'm sure Mota capitalizes on the immense amount of views that her YouTube videos generate (and I'm sure Google/YouTube is hopeful that she keeps on growing and shares in the revenue), but Mota is also pulling in sponsorships and, even more impressive, is her recently launched clothing line with Aeropostale. As Mota builds her direct relationship with the fans (which is a hybrid of owned, shared and earned media), her fans not only expect product endorsements... they're practically begging for them.

Is Bethany Mota the future of the NewFronts?

If I were a brand looking to truly connect, engage and build a direct relationship with my consumers, I would be less impressed with more video advertising inventory that can now be found online, and I would be spending the bulk of that time figuring out who is our Bethany Mota? Is it someone we build out from within, or is it someone we partner with for success? Granted, most brands are not going to generate the kind of interest that Mota gets, but the world of advertising isn't a game of mass reach only. The true world of advertising is about reaching the right audience with the right message as frequently as possible. We used to do that through GRPs and repetition. By the looks of the NewFronts, we're just substituting television for online video. Perhaps the real future of online video is about developing the right characters to tell the story in a more holistic and mutually beneficial way (for the brand and consumer). Instead, it feels like the NewFronts are just trying to like the Upfronts. That may be a massive waste of an opportunity.

I believe this: if Bethany Mota can do it, most brands can do it too. Simply buying an ad is no longer the key to attention and loyalty.

Tags:

30 second spot

advertising

advertising mix

advertising revenue share

aeropostale

aol

bethany mota

broadcast television

commercial

consumer experience

digital media

digital video

direct relationship

earned media

fashion

google

grp

haul video

hbo

instagram

john oliver

joseph jaffe

last week tonight

life after the 30 second spot

mass media channel

media

media buyer

newfronts

online programming

online video

online video channel

owned media

post roll

pre roll

print

product endorsements

radio

shared media

shopping

sponsorship

television commercial

television network

the daily show

the future of advertising

the hollywood reporter

traditional media

tv

twitter

upfronts

video producer

youtube

youtube channel

CTRL ALT Delete - Weekly Technology And Digital Media Review - CHOM FM #28

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:

What is a Twitter verified account and why they matter.

What took so long for Bethany Mota to get verified on Twitter (she has close to 1.5 million followers).

Why do Twitter accounts get hacked?

YouTube and their mainstream media ads.

Google spends a lot of money on television ads.

The Digital Newfronts.

Should online video be more like TV... and vice-versa?

Digital video needs a new model of monetization.

Maybe Bethany Mota has figured it out for everyone?

Specialty TV creates a bunch of random celebrities (dog trainers, cake bakers, kids having kids, etc...).

App of the week: Camel Camel Camel.

Listen here...

Tags:

bethany mota

chom 977 fm

chom fm

ctrl alt delete

ctrl alt delete with mitch joel

digital media

digital newfronts

facebook

google

guest contributor

heather backman

montreal radio

morning show

mornings rock with terry and heather b

radio segment

radio station

social media

soundcloud

technology

terry dimonte

twitter

twitter verified account

youtube

Humanizing The Company

Episode #407 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

If you're trying to better understand how communications and marketing has changed so dramatically in the past decade, and what to (really) do about it, Gini Dietrich really does walk the walk. She has her own communications agency that focuses on digital and social media called, Arment Dietrich, and has one of the most popular blogs on the topic, Spin Sucks (which also offers professional development for communications professionals). She co-authored her first book, Marketing In The Round with Geoff Livingston and is back with a brand news book, Spin Sucks. In a world where so many changes have happened - just in the last few weeks, alone - I'm thrilled to have Gini back on the show to talk about where we're at in this space, how well organizations have adapted to digital, and why her new book matters so much. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #407.

Tags:

advertising podcast

arment dietrich

blog

blogging

brand

business book

business podcast

content marketing

david usher

digital marketing

facebook

geoff livingston

gini dietrich

itunes

marketing blogger

marketing in the round

marketing podcast

podcast

podcasting

social media

spin sucks

twitter

video podcast

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #201

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:

What Tobacco's Past Means for Vaping's Future - PaleoFuture . "The best thing to happen to the Internet in recent memory, in my opinion, is the Explainer. These long-form posts are the equivalent of Neo in the Matrix, plugging in and then waking up saying, 'I know Kung Fu.' I read a fascinating piece on the Google Bus protests a few days ago, which linked Harvey Milk, burrowing owls, the Jim Jones ritual sacrifices, the use of environmental studies to fight bike lanes, and much more -- and wound up with a deeply nuanced understanding of the income disparity problems in Silicon Valley. In that vein, this is a fascinating look at Big Tobacco and the rise of electronic cigarettes." (Alistair for Hugh).

This Incredible Animation Was Made By Code That Could Fit on a Floppy - Gizmodo . "When I was much younger, I may or may not have played games on an Apple IIe that weren't from the original sources, strictly speaking. The hacker groups that unlocked games added their own graffiti, in the form of tiny audio/visual animations. This grew into the Demo scene, where crazy-good coders wrote crazy-small code to get graphics and sound chips to do things they shouldn't be able to. More recently, with the advent of high-end graphics and sound cards, the demo movement has focused on generating complex environments using algorithms. The results are beautiful, mesmerizing -- and still tiny. Saying 'this fits on a floppy' is as much of an anachronism as is the idea of writing compact code. But they do, and this is an amazing example of the state of the scene." (Alistair for Mitch).

Slavoj Zizek - Big Think . "Slavoj Zizek is - for my money - the most entertaining public intellectual around. Here's a bunch of short clips from an interview on Big Think ." (Hugh for Alistair).

Goodbye, Net Neutrality; Hello, Net Discrimination - The New Yorker . "Is the Web as we know it dead? With the successful move to walled gardens (Facebook), and apps, the open Web - as we know it - is already under fire. It looks like things will get worse, as a fundamental principle of the Web, net neutrality, comes under fire in the US. This is the principle that your ISP can't decide which websites are faster or slower - so Disney and LibriVox both share an equal and open playing field on the Web. That's about to change." (Hugh for Mitch).

Habitable exoplanets are bad news for humanity - The Conversation . "Any time there's this massively cool science news about a livable planet found by NASA that I don't see pumped through the mass media channels, I get upset. It's a bit of a 'get off my lawn' type of thing, where I can't believe the celebrity gossip culture of our world. So, for the past little while, I've been making sure that we're all up to speed on the amazing discoveries about our universe that are being made. I'm getting all pumped up for the fact that Elon Musk really believes that we'll be the first generation of multi-planetary species that we know. Pretty cool stuff. Or not. Depending on what you read. I had never heard of The Great Filter until reading this. Now, I'm depressed. Not excited." (Mitch for Alistair). 

Upworthy's Headlines Are Insufferable. Here's Why You Click Anyway - Fast Co.Design . "Admit it, if you saw the headline, 'I Never Thought A Slice Of Pie Would Make Me So Angry' while trolling through your Facebook feed, you would click it. I would. And, that's the problem, isn't it? We would like to think that we're so evolved and not susceptible to listicles or silly linkbait/clickbait... but we are. I'm ashamed to admit, but I am admitting it. So, what makes a headline work? Don't ask me. It turns out (after reading this article), that I'm probably not putting in nearly enough effort to make them click... and neither are you. Talk about the fascinating evolution of persuasion. Read this." (Mitch for Hugh).  

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags:

alistair croll

apple iie

big think

bitcurrent

book a futurists manifesto

complete web monitoring

disney

elon musk

exoplanet

facebook

fast company

fastco design

gigaom

gizmodo

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

lean analytics

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

managing bandwidth

media hacks

nasa

net neutrality

paleofuture

pressbooks

slavoj zizek

social media

solve for interesting

the conversation

the great filter

the new yorker

tobacco

upworthy

vaping

year one labs

What Technology Will Bring (Hint: More Massive Disruption)

This is some big brain stuff to watch over the weekend.

It's probably also some of the smartest and most important things for you (and your business) to be thinking about in the next five years. I have been looking at the area of robotics, drones and wearable technology in a very different light for the past few years (I've even started a Tumblr page on the topic, We, Robots, but it's dire need of being updated with all of the new content that I have been hoarding on Pocket). In short, there is a major panic in industry that the digitization of work and the growing dominance of newer robotic technology is going to push us all out of work. My theory, is that robots should not replace humans, but rather augment our work experience. Let the droids handle the work that doesn't inspire, so that human beings have more time to be creative, exploratory and connecting to one another (yes, I know, it's a big dream). At this past year's TED conference, I was fortunate enough to discuss this topic and other trends over a dinner one night with Erik Brynjolfsson. He is the Schussel Family Professor at the MIT Sloan School, the Director of the MIT Center for Digital Business, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Along with Andrew McAfee (a scientist at MIT), they have co-authored the amazing book, The Second Machine Age - Work, Progress, And Prosperity In A Time Of Brilliant Technology. It's a staggering data-based read about work and the future of business. McAfee recently had a conversation with Walter Isaacson (who heads up The Aspen Institute and also authored many books - including the Steve Jobs biography) at the institute. It's over an hour long (so, pack a lunch), but it is something that will get you thinking completely differently about work today, and what it's all going to mean tomorrow.

The Second Machine Age conversation between Andrew McAfee and Walter Isaacson is right here...

Tags:

andrew mcafee

content

digitization of work

disruption

drones

erik brynjolfsson

mit

mit center for digital business

mit sloan school

national bureau of economic research

pocket

robotic technology

robotics

steve jobs

steve jobs biography

technology

ted conference

the aspen institute

the second machine age

tumblr

walter isaacson

we robots

wearable technology

Facebook And A New Era In Paid Media

Will the brands revolt?

Facebook has been making some serious moves when it comes to what a user sees in their newsfeed. The implication on brands (and brand pages) has been massive. In one corner, you have brands that have accumulated friends and followers to connect with that they're no longer reaching. In the other corner, Facebook is now throttling that content via an algorithm and forcing brands to pay for the opportunity to put a message in front of these individuals (who have already asked to be connected). It seems strange, but the free gravy train for brands is coming to an end on Facebook. Facebook knows that if brands have free access to send out as many messages that they like (free of charge) that brands will... and they have. We would like to think that marketers didn't take advantage of this opportunity, but they did. Who among us did not see a brand post that was something like this: a picture of the sun with a message that read: "like this, if you like sunny days!" ? Facebook is asking brands one simple question: if you had to pay for that kind of post, would you have done it? The hope is that paying for access to the audience will make the brands think and do smarter things.

Will the brands revolt?

Aren't consumers smart enough to decide when a brand is being good and kind to them on Facebook? Whatever you think, Facebook can't risk it. They are now a public company, and billions of dollars are at stake. Yesterday, Facebook posted their earnings. Here is a snapshot of the details:

Facebook has 1.01 billion users on small screens (smartphones and tablets).

They earned $2.5 billion in revenue this past quarter.

802 million daily users.

609 million daily mobile users.

59% of ad revenue came from mobile devices.

They are winning in the mobile ad space.

Mobile ads made up 53% of ad revenue. There has been much punditry about Facebook and the futility of their ads in the past (not relevant, in the wrong space, size issues, viewability, etc...). So, where did all of this money come from? If you want people to play a game, download an app, etc... getting a sponsored post in a consumer's newsfeed is still valuable. Facebook nailed this format with beautiful simplicity in the mobile space. As you're thumbing through your newsfeed, they are inserting pieces of content that look like your newsfeed, take up the whole screen, but do not interrupt or stop the flow of the Facebook mobile experience. You could argue the "interrupt" component of my argument, but it's pretty easy to flick past a paid post as much as it is to flick past that picture of your friend's kid that you are not interested in. Because Facebook users share interesting pictures, articles and videos, these sponsored posts feel even more at home and less interruptive. Facebook continues to impress with the way in which they have adapted to the mobile realities of the consumer (and the speed with which they switched from Web-based to mobile-first).

Can it keep going?

This is the big (and tough) question. Many feel that Facebook is now a mature platform and, because of this, that interest could start to taper off. If that consumer interest floats to Instagram, Facebook is still in a good place (they own Instagram). The real question may be: are brands going to continue to pay for these posts in a world where Facebook isn't giving them much more room to earn media from their organic work? The ramifications of these changes in content algorithms from Facebook has yet to hit the (wall) street (we'll have to see next quarter, and the ones after that). Perhaps this throttling is just a temporary measure that Facebook is taking to to regain control of the newsfeed, demonstrate to brands which types of paid posts work (and which ones don't) before allowing the brands who are playing nicely to have more organic reach than the spammers?

Who knows?

In the end, it seems like Wall Street (and many people on Twitter) are thrilled with how Facebook is performing these days. They are posting big adverting revenues. This feels like the beginning of a new Facebook. A Facebook that is less about corporate social media (sharing and conversation), and much more about a new paid media model that works in conjunction with a very social consumer. The challenge is that many brands have positioned Facebook as a way to engage with their consumers... not another paid media option. Of course, it's not so black and white. Of course, many brands are still using Facebook to engage, connect and grow an audience. If anything, the Wall Street reporting proves that Facebook is making significant strides and changes to who they are d how they make money.

Now, we have to watch and see if brands see the long-term value in this ever-evolving model.

Tags:

ad revenue

advertising revenue

brand

content

content algorithm

content marketing

earned media

facebook

facebook earnings

instagram

marketer

marketing

media

mobile advertising

mobile first

newsfeed

organic media

paid media

smartphone

social consumer

social media

sponsored post

tablet

throttling content

twitter

wall street