Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 304

Sleeping With Your Smartphone

It used to be a whole lot simpler.

I don't know about you, but I used to come from work and charge my smartphone at the small table near my front entrance. It was a parlour trick. It was a way for me to not think about my mobile device from the time I walked into the house until I had to leave again. It worked well for a couple of a years... and then something happened. We can blame it on the apps, we can blame it on the music, we can blame it on our lack of desire to have a hardwired phone in the home because mobile works so well, but these smartphones slowly crept their ways into our living rooms and have now made their way into the bedroom.

The real me.

Before bed, I find myself doing one last glance at the inbox, checking Facebook and Twitter for some light entertainment, and then I usually switch over to my Kindle app to end the night with some book reading before my eyelids get heavy and I drop the iPhone on my face. At that point, I set the alarm on my smartphone and doze off. If I happen to wake up in the middle of the night, I may take a peek at it as well. I won't look at email (one negative piece of mail is enough to keep me up), but I may check the Twitter feeds or check in on the global news. It's there. On my nightstand. It's much more than a phone. It has become the remote control for my life.

I am not alone.

You may see some similar traits from my habits to yours... and we are not alone. Business Insider ran the news item, 90% Of 18-29 Year-Olds Sleep With Their Smartphones, that uncovered the following data points:

90% of 18-29 year olds sleep with their smartphones.

1 in 3 people would rather give up sex than their phone.

95% of people use the phone for something just before going to bed.

Half of people check their phones immediately if they wake up during the night.

Are you sleeping with the enemy?

I'm not sure if my habit would quantify as "sleeping with my smartphone," but it is (admittedly) within arm's reach. The data above is a sobering indictment on what we have become. On a personal note, I no longer reach for my smartphone if I wake up in the middle of the night. Regardless of how low the brightness level is set, I find that the raw light really wakes me up and keeps me up. Beyond that, we have to start asking ourselves: "what, exactly, is so important that we have to actually sleep with our devices?" Have we all suddenly become emergency room doctors and firefighters?

Media overload.

While we complain about media overload, perhaps what we really have is connectivity overload. This doesn't mean that we need to unplug more or toss these devices into a bonfire, but it does point to one, very telling, point: the majority of our population does not know (or understand) how to manage their technology. While this is my profession and I have spent many years being the constant student (and occasional teacher) of all things technology and media, I do hold one core philosophy: I do not let the technology manage me. I manage my technology. I decide when to check my email or social media updates, etc...

Two tips to unshackle yourself from your smartphone:

Before bed. Don't leave your smartphone in your bedroom. Leave it charging in another room. If you wake up in the middle of the night, count sheep. Don't get up out of bed to get your smartphone. Trust me, if anything is really important, you will know. If you use your smartphone as an alarm clock (as I do), don't use it for anything else. It's not easy, but freewill can be powerful thing.

Turn it off. Turn off all notifications. I do this for everything except phone calls and text messages from close family members and friends. Otherwise, don't allow your device to ding, buzz, beep or flicker a light for anything other the phone. I check email, Twitter, Facebook and more on my own terms. Not on theirs.

Now, try to get some rest... if you can't and you have more tips to share, please do so below.

Tags:

amazon

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connectivity overload

email

facebook

iphone

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media overload

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technology

twitter

The Future Of Personalized Pricing

Should every customer pay the same price for something?

Before answering that question, ask yourself this: should every person see the same search results? Truth: we live in a world of radical personalization. Google is doing everything it can to optimize the search results you see. They're not just doing it to ensure that you have a better search experience, they're doing this to drill down and find a more effective way to deliver more targeted and relevant ads to you.

Don't get mad at personalization.

It's somewhat ironic that when you ask consumers what type of advertising they would be most responsive to, they will always say advertising that is relevant and personal. When, marketers finally deliver on this dream, we're told that the personalization comes off as some kind of slimy vibe that bears a whiff of privacy sketchiness. Not good. Personalization can work like a charm, only when the marketer provides such a high level of value for the experience, that this value overrides any icky feelings of privacy awkwardness. Don't believe me? Just ask those playing in the loyalty marketing space. So, if the world is all about personalization, shouldn't the pricing be subject the same kind of practice?

Mess with prices... and you mess with the future of your business.

Is price everything? Is it fair that one person pays more for a product than someone else? What about the consumer who buys a product only to find out that it has been heavily discounted a few months later? Too bad? That's the price of admission? Change the scenario: what if technology, our consumer data and our social data could be combined to create a kind of super profile of a consumer. A profile to end all profiles. The brands now know everything about you: when you buy, what you typically spend and more. Should everyone still pay the same price?

Enter personalized pricing.

What does Amazon know about you? In short, everything. Once you are logged in, they probably know more about you (from personal data and buying habits) than any other retailer. What if pricing was created for you based on your online performance (not just what you spend, but how much your interact with third-party media and beyond)? How would you even know if the price of a book was the same or similar to someone who is buying the exact same book in another state?

It doesn't sound all that ethical (or fair) does it?

BBC News published the news item, How technology opens the door for personalised pricing, to look at these specific issues. From the article: "The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) wants to know more about personalised pricing. This occurs if a retailer offers different prices depending on information they have collected about that customer. This is done primarily in two ways. Firstly, retailers can collect details of a customer's previous purchases made on the website. Secondly, they can buy information about the customer's purchases or internet searches from a third party. New rules are in place to give consumers more control over their personal data. The OFT wants to know if consumers are aware that all this data is being collected about their shopping and searching preferences, as well as if this puts consumers off buying on the internet. The regulator says that there is no evidence, but a lot of concern, that this information allows retailers to charge a higher price to certain customers."

In a digital shopping world, expect personalized pricing to become a major issue.

As technology advances and the speed of algorithms continues to increase, an online retailer's ability to leverage data and analytics to change from moment to moment is a reality. Don't think for a second that the majority of online retailers don't currently engage in price testing experiences already. You may recall that back in August, travel site Orbitz discovered that consumers who use a Mac spend nearly thirty percent more per night on hotels, so the online enterprise begun showing Apple users different prices (for more on that: On Orbitz, Mac Users Steered to Pricier Hotels). As online sales continue to increase, and mobile commerce moves out of its current nascent state into a more ubiquitous role in the hands of the consumer, it seems like an inevitability that personalized pricing will be both pervasive and a major issue for consumers and consumer advocates.

Next steps?

Both marketers and retailers are going to have to take the lead here. Instead of trying to brush it under the carpet, they are going to have to be more transparent about how their price structure works, and how that varies from physical store to digital entity, and from location to location, and person to person. If they don't (and something tells me that they will not), it's going to force government intervention.

And, we all know how well that winds up working out for the consumer. So, what do you think: should everyone pay the same price?

Tags:

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9 TED Talks That Will Stretch Your Business Mind

It doesn't take long to find inspiration. It takes forever to figure out how to do something meaningful with it.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to attend the famed TED conference since 2008. Within that timeframe, I have also helped out on a few of the TEDx events. It's always a treat. I am privileged to be able to speak in front of audiences many times throughout the year, and I count the TED conference as one of a handful of events that I attend for the sole reason of personal development. It's my time to learn, think and attempt to do some serious reflection. A few days ago, Mashable ran an article titled, Tim O'Reilly: 9 TEDTalks That Stretched My Mind. Well, it inspired me to put together a list of TED Talks that have forced me to rethink and reshape my vision of business. I hope you enjoy these, and please feel free to add your picks in the comments below.

9 TED Talks That Will Stretch Your Business Mind:

1. Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity.

I don't think you can have a healthy business without understanding the value of education and creativity in our community. I don't think anyone has ever presented a more powerful case for how the education system is letting down a vast majority of our young people and, because of it, has created a stigma about what education means and how important creativity is in our society...

2. Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability.

Think about the work that you do - each and every day. Do you bring things like true vulnerability and authenticity to the work that you do? People say, "it's nothing personal, it's just business." I hate that line. I love the work that I do, and I take it all very personally. Some may see this as a weakness. Fine. Their choice. I'm also thrilled that brilliant minds like Brene Brown are out "in the wild" and sharing this type of information that would have, typically, been perceived as a sign of weakness. It's not...

3. Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action.

I've had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Simon Sinek on more than a few occasions (in fact, we just presented at The Art of Management this past Tuesday in Toronto). Simon believes that leaders can (and should) do more. He also believes that when leaders do more, it means that businesses can do a whole lot more. It's a rare breed to find someone who can blend both motivation with business practice into something tangible and real. Simon Sinek is that rare breed of business excellence and what we should be striving for. He also happens to be an exceptional speaker...

4. Seth Godin: The tribes we lead.

The legendary Seth Godin talks about the merits of not just a great idea, but how to find the right people to help that message spread. It's easy to look online and find every social media pundit blogging or tweeting about community management and building a strong brand evangelist platform, but many get it wrong. What we're looking to do is to build tribes of like-minded people. Nobody explains the power of new marketing and new business thinking better than Seth... 

5. JJ Abrams: the mystery box.

Brands think they understand the power of great storytelling. The majority of them are just blasting a message that say "look at me! look at me!" Famed television and movie writer, director and producer, J.J. Abrams knows a good story when he sees it. In this amazing TED Talk, he deconstructs the story behind telling a great story. I wish more business executives would pay attention to this one...

6. Clay Shirky: Institutions vs. collaboration.

I can't say enough good things about Clay Shirky. I do think he is the Marshall McLuhan of our time (big statement, but I stand by it). He gave this talk in 2005... nearly eight years ago. What he talks about is not supposition but fact. Now, ask yourself: how well is my business networked and collaborating in this kind of world?...

7. Ray Kurzweil: The accelerating power of technology.

It's not just technology that is moving at an exponential pace. I believe that in this prescient talk, Ray Kurzweil is demonstrating that business is now (finally) at this unique moment in time that is moving from a linear to exponential pace of change. What does this mean? In short, all bets are off. We must rethink the very shape and fabric of business in this very different landscape...

8. Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?

Now that you have seen what people like Godin, Shirky and Kurzweil think, it's time to take a step back, take a deep breath and  ask yourself if all of these connected and networked societies are truly making us better people. Right now, we ignore the person in front of us to tend to our Facebook updates. What does that say about us as human people. If you think that the Internet and social media are some of the best things to happen to business, please take a moment of pause and watch what Sherry Turkle has to say about it...

9. Susan Cain: The power of introverts

In Susan Cain's book, The Quiet, I found myself. I used to wonder if it was normal that I enjoyed going to concerts and movies alone. I used to wonder why I took so much pleasure in reading a book is a quiet corner. As my work evolves, I take great pleasure the solitary space of thinking, reading, writing and problem solving. Seems strange for someone who speaks publicly, blogs and more, doesn't it? It isn't. Watch this.......

Now, it's your turn. Don't share the TED Talks that have great speakers, but please feel free to share the TED Talks that have changed the way you think about business...

in case you are curious about the TEDx talk I gave, you can watch it here...

Tags:

brene brown

clay shirky

creativity

education

facebook

jj abrams

marshall mcluhan

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presentation

ray kurweil

seth godin

sherry turkle

simon sinek

sir ken robinson

social media

storytelling

susan cain

ted

ted conference

ted talks

tedx

the art of management

the quiet

tim oreilly

tribes

In The Trust Economy, Marketers Are Bankrupt

It's getting ugly for marketers. Too bad, because marketing is just starting to get good.

We have a major issue with marketing and it needs to get solved soon if our future it to be as bright as we hope. Bottom line: marketers need to prove the business impact of our work. Seems simple enough, doesn't it? Well, the CEOs of our world do not believe that we are delivering on this concept. That is the sad (and, ultimately, very scary) news out of the Fournaise 2012 Global Marketing Effectiveness Program, which interviewed over 1,200 CEOs from across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Check out these data points from their press release, 70% of CEOs Admit They May Be Responsible for Marketers' Poor Perceived Performance:

80% of CEOs were not very impressed by the work done by Marketers and believed Marketers were poor business performers.

CEOs thought Marketers could not adequately prove the positive business impact their marketing activities.

CEOs thought Marketers had lost sight of what their job really was (i.e. to generate more customer demand for their products/services).

CEOS thought Marketers were not business performance-obsessed enough.

70% of the same CEOs admitted they may be somewhat responsible for Marketers' poor perceived business performance and reputation - but purely as a consequence of:

a) Having steadily lost trust in Marketers' business abilities; and b) Subsequently having given up on holding Marketers accountable.

It's a tough report to read.

When you have a majority that looks like 70% - 80%, it should give pause for all of us evaluate just what, exactly, we're trying to do - day in and day out. My view is this: marketing departments have liquidated themselves over the past two decades by focusing all of their energy on advertising and promotions. They have forgotten about the need for marketing 101 - the basics of the four Ps and the value that a well-rounded marketing department brings to an organization. We suddenly have revenue departments instead of marketing leading and nurturing the pricing strategy of the business. We suddenly have product managers instead of marketing leading the product development and placement. So, what's left? You guessed it, just the promotion.

Doesn't digital change everything?

Digital does change everything (at least from my perspective), but digital changes nothing if all a brand is doing is traditional marketing in new marketing channels. That isn't to say that solving the digital marketing challenge will suddenly get the marketers a more respected chair in the c-suite, but this is massive opportunity for marketers because measuring, testing, optimizing and learning has never been as scientific and results-oriented as it is (and can) be in the digital channels. There's the old saying, "fail faster," I believe that digital marketing allows a brand to not only fail faster, but to do it in a cost-effective way.

There's something else.

On June 14th, 2012, Forbes ran a news item that may run counter to the findings above. Titled, CMO Tenure Hits 43-Month Mark, it reveals: "After the 2006 low point, CMO tenure jumped to 26.8 months in 2007, 28.4 months in 2008, 34.7 months in 2009, and 42 months in 2010 before reaching 43 months in 2011. So what's behind the increase? 'As always, there are likely a number of drivers behind the increased tenure number, but from our perspective, it is a positive trend that we would like to see continue,' said Greg Welch, a consultant at Spencer Stuart, in an email. 'Certainly industry consolidation (i.e. fewer employers) tends to drive this up a bit, as does a suppressed stock market where executives have significant equity in limbo. Additionally, I would like to think that the biggest factor is that today's CMOs are being more thoughtful about how they win over the long haul. We actually spend significant time, particularly with new CMOs, to ensure that they get off to a fast start as building momentum early on is critical.'  The longer tenure, he said, is primarily a reflection of CMOs' worth and impact on their companies."

What what what?

It doesn't matter which data point you want to side with (the one that says that marketers are failing at the c-suite or the one that marketers have never been doing better because they're keeping their jobs longer), what is important is that both items point to the same outcome: prove impact! There is no doubt that proving impact with traditional marketing can be somewhat ambiguous. Buying a bunch of ads can create awareness and even attention, but can we draw a direct line between our ads and the overall impact on the brand's business? Much harder. Can digital save the day? I believe it can (and I know that I am not alone). What is required is both much more education within the marketing departments of the world (to better understand digital, measurement and analytics) and a shift in philosophy that marketing doesn't need to be dominated by advertising. Marketers can win back the c-suite trust, so long as they're willing do more real marketing, instead of simply focusing on the advertising (which is still important, it's just not everything). Marketing is about economic value to the company, as my good friend, Kenneth Wong, always says. 

Can marketers win back this trust? What do you think?

(special thanks to Bryan Eisenberg for the inspiration. He sent me an email asking for feedback on his recent blog post, 70% of CEOs have lost Trust in Marketers. The topic was worthy of much more than a blog comment).

Tags:

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bryan eisenberg

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forbes

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greg welch

kenneth wong

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spencer stuart

traditional marketing

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Two Steps To Success

How well are you planning for success?

It was the late nineties when I took on a marketing position at Airborne Entertainment. The company's vision was to deliver big content on little screens. Yes, nearly a decade ago when all mobile carriers cared about was how many minutes their consumers were using to make phone calls, the notion of content delivered to a mobile device was nascent (to put things into perspective, there was no text messaging or ringtones at the time). This company had a simple goal: to take big brands and own the rights to develop their mobile content. We tend to forget how quickly things change, but back then there were no mobile Web browsers and each carrier had their own set pages of links for mobile content. You couldn't just Google something on your mobile device or call up a Web page. My boss (and one of the owners of the operation) was Andy Nulman (currently back at his old gig running the famed Just For Laughs comedy brand). On my first day, he handed me a copy of famed business Guru, Tom Peters, book The Project 50. Having never spent any time reading non-fiction, that book sent me on ride that currently has me devouring 1-2 business books per week. Through hundreds of business books, seminars, audio books and more, there are two techniques to growing, nurturing and fostering business that I have uncovered on this reading journey that continuously add a deeper level of perspective to challenging business issues.

1. Create a matrix for everything.

Take a blank sheet of paper, draw one vertical line down the middle and then draw and line across it horizontally in the middle. Choose the area that is challenging you. As an example, let's say it is talent. Now choose the two most important qualities you look for in talent. For the sake of this exercise, let's call them creativity and effort. Put effort at the far right end of the horizontal line and put creativity at the top of the vertical line. Now, start plotting each and every one of your team members (including yourself). The top players should land in the uppermost corner of the top-right. How does your team look? If everyone is in the top right corner, does your bottom line agree with your assessment? For fun, I'll often find myself looking at businesses or leaders I have come to respect, and I will plot them on this chart as well as a way to benchmark not only the people on my team, but how they compare to one to those we wish could be on our team. The beautiful fun of the matrix modeling is that you can do it for nearly every part of you business. From comparing your business to your competitors to a scorecard for new business opportunity to benchmarking your company's website against others. All you need to do is define the two most important factors for success, and then have the integrity to plot everything with brutal honesty.

2. Work from the end backwards.

Back to Airborne Entertainment. Nulman didn't just help me realize the value in reading and educating myself about business, he also helped me better understand how to define success. He would often talk about knowing what the dream of the business. He would do this grand vision and then talk about "walking it backwards." From day one, Nulman (and his business partner, Garner Bornstein) had a vision of selling Airborne Entertainment for over 100 million dollars. It wasn't a get-rich-quick scheme (they were not looking for a quick score) and it certainly wasn't the exit strategy. It was a big, hairy audacious goal. In knowing what outcome they wanted, they built the pillars of the business around what it would take to sell a mobile entertainment company for that size. At that point in time, most of the fervor over mobile content was happening in Asia. Ultimately, Airborne Entertainment was sold to Asian company for more than 100 million dollars. The correlation to the vision and the outcome came from each and every arduous step that this company took to set the stage for the result. While the company and the people were taking steps forward every day, Nulman and Bornstein were ensuring that these steps were in sync with how they were walking the business backwards towards the bigger dream. Most companies have a vision for their products and/or services, but few of them have a clearly defined outcome with a working and organic list of what is being done - each and every day - to check enough items off of that master list as it walks itself backwards.

It takes a notebook.

Whether you are using a classic Moleskine notebook and writing by hand or working with note-taking apps like Evernote or Noteshelf on a laptop or iPad, get obsessive about creating as many of these matrix models and waking it backwards notes as possible. All too often, business leaders forget the forest because they're stuck staring at the trees. The hard work of elevating the tasks up to this higher vision can be daunting. There is no doubt that it takes a lot more work that creating these grids and lists, but you will be surprised by what kind of magic you will create for your business once you begin to become obsessive over taking notes, that are much more important than today's to-do list or the stuff you are worried that you might forget.      

Now, it's your turn: are there two simple strategies or tactics that you deploy to have a grander vision for your business success?

The above post is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure.

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A Lesson In Great Leadership

Episode #332 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

There are few kinder people than Mark Miller. I had the pleasure of meeting Mark many years ago at my first TED conference. I didn't know anyone (and this can make it kind of awkward) and Mark was always kind, welcoming and willing to invite anyone and everyone into a conversation. I think I leaned on that kindness more than I should have at that first event, and over the years I would look forward to running into him at every TED. Mark is the author of three excellent books on leadership titled, Great Leaders Grow (his latest), The Secret Of Teams and The Secret. With each of these books, Mark worked (at varying levels) with Ken Blanchard (master author of books like, The One Minute Manager, Who Moved My Cheese?, Raving Fans and many more). I had been chomping at the bit to chat with Mark about his thoughts on what it takes to be a great leader. Mark is also the Vice President of Organizational Effectiveness at chick-fil-a. Our chat finally happened and the timing was, somewhat awkward. Chick-fil-a had created a firestorm when their COO, Dan Cathy, made several public statements about his thoughts on same sex marriage. Being who I am, I had to ask Mark about this as well. For the record: I am all for two things: happiness and peace. If two people want to be together and love each other, I don't care who they are (or what they are), so long as they are adding more happiness and peace to the world. This podcast (and the blog) are never political, so I did my best to navigate the issue. I hope I both didn't let any of the regular listeners down while, at the same time, respecting and honoring my friendship and admiration for the way Mark thinks about business and leadership. 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 #332.

Tags:

advertising podcast

blog

blogging

brand

business book

chick fil a

dan cathy

david usher

digital marketing

facebook

great leaders grow

great leaders serve

itunes

ken blanchard

mark miller

marketing

marketing blogger

marketing podcast

online social network

podcast

podcasting

raving fans

social media

ted conference

the one minute manager

the secret

the secret of teams

who moved my cheese

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #126

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, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so 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:

Teller Reveals His Secrets - Smithsonian . " Teller (the quiet one) talks about magic and neuroscience. By breaking down a card trick, he reveals how easily our brains can be duped. It's a topic that's more and more mainstream, as everyone from politicians to marketers tries to manipulate us. It's also a reminder of how unfree free will is. Plus, cool trick." (Alistair for Hugh).

Dance Dance Revolution - GQ . "This may be the greatest article ever written about the mainstreaming of electronic music (the runner-up is here ). It's packed with chewy gems: 'a gentleman named Skrillex, whose music sounds like a computerized raccoon fight' and 'the world's only groups of five people passing around menthols as though they were initiatory chalices are people on Ecstasy.' But most of all, it's a comical, clever, breathless look at the ascent of the bass." (Alistair for Mitch).

Million-Dollar Traders Replaced With Machines Amid Cuts - Bloomberg . "I don't know where to start with this article, or indeed where to finish. The 'purpose' of financial markets is to enable entities who produce value to raise capital in order to undertake costly initiatives (think building bridges, inventing new products, or investing in new marketing of existing products). These initiatives are supposed to add more value to the world, and the financial industry is supposed to take a slice for helping fund these initiatives. A secondary 'purpose' of financial markets is to enable companies to manage risk of price fluctuations in products that they are buying or selling. Of course we have gone a long way from this ideal view of what financial markets are supposed to do. Instead we have hedge funds traders running massive algorithms to make bets on market moves. But you can forget the traders now - those guys looking at green screens chewing their nails. They'll all be gone from the picture soon enough, replaced simply by the algorithms themselves. And so the financial market will be (in fact, already largely is) driven by competing algorithms whose job it is to outfox other algorithms. This is the actual world we live in." (Hugh for Alistair).

White Guys Running the U.S. House Face Diverse Democrats - Bloomberg . "Demographics are hard to fight, as Mitt Romney learned the hard way. If the Republicans want a future, it looks like they are going to have to figure out how to appeal to non-white America. Fox News commentator, Bill O'Reilly , said: 'It's not a traditional America anymore.' He went on to say some pretty ugly things, but in a sense he was right: catering to rich white men is not likely to cut it for the Republicans, if the US is to remain a democracy." (Hugh for Mitch).

Napster, Udacity, and the Academy - Clay Shirky . " Clay Shirky does not blog. Instead, he posts long-form text-based content on his blog. It is always worthwhile and it's the kind of stuff you wish would get a much broader distribution in some kind of traditional mainstream publication. Clay has a problem: he's too smart. This relegates him to a much smaller group of people who really want to think in a deeper and more profound way about how technology continues to change media. This latest think piece is no exception. Forget the title and just read it. In the end, Shirky is a master at helping us better understand what happens when a technology helps a group of people redefine what is possible. Magical times... and the hits just keep on coming." (Mitch for Alistair).

Scientists and Philosophers Answer Kids' Most Pressing Questions About How the World Works - Brain Pickings . "I didn't even make it through the first one-quarter of this article before switching tabs and buying the book, Big Questions from Little People & Simple Answers from Great Minds . I'm sure that books like this have been done before, but this one is spectacular, especially if you have younger children who are very inquisitive. I can't tell you how many times, I get asked a question by one of my kids and my only response is <crickets>. This book asks some of the smartest people questions like: why we can't tickle ourselves? If the universe started from nothing, how did it become something? And gems like How do chefs get ideas for recipes? and Who is God? The answers come courtesy of people like Noam Chomsky , Mario Batali and Richard Dawkins. Genius. Pure genius." (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

big questions from little people

bill oreilly

bitcurrent

bloomberg

brain pickings

clay shirky

complete web monitoring

fox news

gigaom

gq

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

librivox

link bait

link exchange

link sharing

managing bandwidth

mario batali

media hacks

mitt romney

noam chomsky

penn and teller

pressbooks

richard dawkins

skrillex

smithsonian

the book over

year one labs

Finding Courage

Are you courageous?

It seems like a simple question to answer. It isn't. Daylight changes our answer. In daylight, we'll tell people to "just do it" and to be "fearless." The athletic apparel and shoe business will toss a ton of motivational aphorisms at you to get your butt up off of the couch and into a pair of their shoes. When we sit in boardrooms, we use a tonnage of military terms to talk about what we're going to do to our competition. We walk tall. We wear crisp clothes and drive fancy cars in the hopes that people will see us, respect us and follow our every business whim. Late at night, in the dark, well... that's another story. That's when we're naked, honest, full of self-doubt, anxiety, stress, concern and uncertainty.

What's with the dual personality?

I've been around people we would all consider courageous, but it isn't an "always on" attribute. I once confided in a speaking coach that I probably get more nervous than most people who are paid to speak. They turned to me and said, "if you aren't nervous, you would be dead from the shoulders up." 

What are you going to do about it?

To overcome my own fears and anxieties, I read. I write (blog posts, articles, books, etc...). I listen to other people speak. I learn. Personally, my ability to move forward (to ascend) happens when I do things to distract my mind from when it's not feeling all that confident and primed by pumping it full of new thinking and business motivation. One of my go-to sources is (and always has been), Seth Godin (you can read more about that right here: Dear Seth Godin). Well, Seth is back with another book that feels like the perfect kick in the butt and cranium - at the same time. It's called, The Icarus Deception. The book started out as a Kickstarter initiative (you can read more about that right here: The Most Exciting Thing Happening In Digital Right Now) and it's almost ready for the mass public. In moving toward the publishing date (December 31st, 2012), Seth just launched a preview/manifesto about the topic titled, We Are All Artists Now (to download the PDF, just click on the green cover in the top left corner). As with all things "Seth Godin" take the thirty minutes out of your busy weekend to read it. Oh, and did I mention that it was free?

If you were not looking forward to going back to work on Monday, We Are All Artists Now may change your mind.

#thanksseth

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we are all artists now

The Value Of Brands In Social Media

What if we started with business... how would we do?

How badly do people want to be connected with brands? I've been thinking a lot about the pervasiveness of brands in the social media channels. From a business perspective, it could not make me happier. Watching brands do everything they can do to better connect with their consumers and create a powerful and direct relationship will be critical for their future success and loyalty. From a consumer perspective, it's doubtful that there was ever a moment in time where they have been so inundated by brands in every nook and cranny of their media diet. As the pervasiveness of social media rolls on, we're now seeing brands in some of our most intimate social spaces.

Where the brands are.

So, here's the thing. This week, Facebook made some significant changes in how people can connect with brands (and vice-versa). It all started with an article from ReadWrite titled, Mark Cuban: Facebook Is Driving Away Brands - Starting With Mine. From the article: "Cuban and other corporate Facebook members are howling because new rules on the social network make it harder for brands to reach people without spending big money on sponsored posts. That's because in September Facebook changed the algorithm that controls which messages get through to which members. The result is that some brands a sharp dropoff in the reach of their posts - as much as 50% in some cases. Facebook insists it isn't choking off reach as a way to push brands to spend more on sponsored posts. Facebook uses an algorithm called EdgeRank to determine which people see which posts. EdgeRank uses a lot of factors, including how often your friends log in to Facebook and what settings they choose on their news feeds, the company says." Later in the week, Facebook announced that they would rolling out a feed for "pages only." "The feature lets you access the new view on your News Feed homepage by clicking 'Pages feed' on the left-hand side," says the news item, Facebook's New Pages Feed Corrals Brands -- And Gives Brand-Fatigued Users Some Space, published today on ReadWrite. "Though Page owners might be nominally pleased by the gesture, it's hard to imagine what might inspire a Facebook user to hop over to the new view. Facebook says the new brand-only feed makes it 'even easier for people to keep up with the Pages they care about most.' Corraling Pages into their own pen could at least ease some psychological brand weariness among users, a flavor of fatigue that's already begun taking its toll on brands and users alike."

The moment of truth.

In January 2010, I published a blog post titled, The Moment Of Truth. That blog post looked at how The New York Times was about to launch a paywall. The moment of truth was about figuring out whether or not the mass public would pay for content online. I believe that these next few months may well be the moment of truth for social media.

But first, let's make up a story...

Imagine a new online social network that was created by brands, for brands. Anyone can join (and membership is free) and this online social network allows everyone to connect to the brands that matter most to them. They can comment on products and services, speak with brand ambassadors, check out sales, new product information, get special promotions and more. Sure, you could chat with your friends and fellow brand lovers, but the main purpose of this, specific, online social network would be to connect to brands. Does this sound interesting? Do you think this would be a viable business model? Do you believe that people would have a desire (similar to the way they engage with Twitter and Facebook) to be active on this type of online social network? Could this become a destination?

We shall see.

These next few years are going to be very telling for brands. Companies like Facebook are doing the right thing: they're allowing brands more access to people. What will be interesting is to see what the customers really, really want from brands, and just how much engagement they're actually interested in. My guess is that it's going to be significantly less than what brands would have hoped for. In that, these brands are going to blame social media for a lack of performance. Sad, isn't it? Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and everything else is simply a place where people are congregating. Thinking that this is a treasure trove for brands could be a mistake.

What's your take?

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business model

direct relationship

edgerank

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mark cuban

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readwrite

social media

social network

social spaces

sponsored posts

the new york times

twitter

youtube

4 Ways To Spark Your Creativity

Have you ever had a tough lesson in creativity?

The book, Spark - How Creativity Works, by Julie Burstein changed a lot of things for me - especially the way I think about creativity. To say that reading Burstein's book was a treat would be an understatement. I had the pleasure of having a one-on-one conversation with Burstein after her TED Talk that took place this past year (you can listen to our conversation here: SPOS #297 - The Hard Work Of Creativity With Julie Burstein). The entire experience enabled me to fill a Moleskine up with ideas not just about my agency, Twist Image, but about where ideas, inspiration and yes, even these words, come from. Since that time, we've become fast friends and stay in touch as often as possible.

Creativity is everybody's business.

Everybody is creative. Everybody needs to be thinking more about their creativity. Everybody needs to be implementing more creativity in their work. Beyond that, expanding your horizons and digging for creativity in your life is a worthy pursuit. This week, TED released Burstein's talk titled, 4 Lessons In Creativity. It is under twenty minutes. It is well-worth your attention.

Are you looking for that spark? Watch this...

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creativity

creativity book

julie burstein

moleskine

spark

ted

ted talk