Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 370

Content Is Everywhere - The Changing Tide Of The Internet

It's no longer about sending people to your website. It's about being at the center of where your consumer is.

There have been a couple of major indicators that the world of publishing and content is shifting away from the traditionally held value that you have to drive traffic to one, specific destination. That world has not only changed, but it's gone.

Need some proof?

The smart producers of content link out to the best content. The New York Times has not mastered this, but they started experimenting with this technique a few years back, and many considered this revolutionary when it first occurred for a newspaper website.

Prior to major newspaper websites letting visitors leave their destination for other sites, Buzzmachine and best-selling author of What Would Google Do?, Jeff Jarvis, hailed this concept as "cover what you do best and link to the rest"  (February 2007).

 Facebook begins distribution of their "like" button, so that consumers can "like" anything on any site (not just within the walls of Facebook). You can read more about this here: Facebook Isn't (Just) A Destination.

Even though the iPad has a near-seamless Web experience, publishers still create native apps for the device.

It was just announced that AOL has acquired The Huffington Post for $315 million (more on that here: Reuters - AOL to buy The Huffington Post for $315 million) and that  Arianna Huffington will now become "president editor-in-chief of all of AOL's content," according to the Mashable news item, AOL Acquires Huffington Post for $315 Million.

Don't focus on The Huffington Post part of the equation... put your focus and attention on AOL.

The minute Tim Armstrong left his very comfortable position leading sales and advertising at Google to become the CEO of AOL in March 2009, I knew things were about to change online (and I knew it would take some time). Too many people counted AOL (and him) out. I've had the pleasure of meeting Armstrong on many occasions and knew that when he took on the helm at AOL, things would change. This acquisition of Huffington Post isn't the entire picture, but just another spot on a leopard that continues to change its spots.

Ditch the destination.

If you own media and if you publish content, you need to understand that pushing people where you want them to go in a world where anyone and everyone can publish content in text, images, audio and video is an impossible task. The most strategic move you can make is to now be everywhere you consumers are. Here's what Arianna Huffington had to say about the acquisition of her company to AOL:

"AOL's Patch.com covers 800 towns across America, providing an incredible infrastructure for citizen journalism in time for the 2012 election, and a focus on community and local solutions that have been an integral part of HuffPost's DNA. Check. Original video? AOL's just finished building a pair of state-of-the-art video studios in New York and LA, and video views on AOL have gone up 400 percent over the last year. Check. More sections? AutoBlog , Music , AOL Latino , Black Voices , etc, etc, etc. fill gaps in HuffPost's coverage. Add all that to what HuffPost is doing with social, community, mobile, as well as our commitment to innovative original reporting and beyond-left-and-right commentary, and the blending will have a multiplier effect. Or, as Tim and I have been saying over the last couple of weeks: 1 + 1 = 11."

The new publisher.

You can see by AOL's performance and some of the media punditry that this is a company in transition. It's no longer just about the ISP, the portal destination (aka "the walled garden") and building AOL as the primary brand (regardless of what the current revenue model looks like). AOL is quickly becoming the new publisher. The publisher of the future. AOL owns properties like Engadget, TechCrunch, Moviefone and many, many more. In fact, many laughed when Tim Armstrong first arrived at AOL and said it would take a few months to better understand all of the properties that AOL owned, and where they fit in the grand scheme of things.

What AOL knows... that others are missing.

There is a sense of both innovation happening at AOL when it comes to publishing and no fear of killing their sacred cows. While many of us have all but ignored AOL, the past few years have been spent shedding the old/non-performing sites and turning the Internet into a world of AOL content sites through acquisition and creation. It's something that companies like News Corp, The New York Times and even Google and Facebook could learn from. Is the model perfect? No. Is the model providing astounding revenues? No... not yet. Like everything else, we need to give this transition time.

This isn't about AOL. It's about the new way content flows in a digital world.

Many people will comment (below and elsewhere) about whether or not this is a good deal for The Huffington Post and/or AOL. I don't see that as relevant to the story as much as what this continues to mean for the dramatic changes in content and marketing:

It's no longer about a destination. The content is everywhere. You don't just have to read this Blog post and comment here. You can read it on Facebook, on a Blog aggregator and you can comment anywhere you wish (on Twitter, YouTube... you name it).

If you're a publisher, you can acquire the content sites that you are missing and leave them be to perform as they are. You don't have to assimilate them into a global brand (traditional magazine publishers do this quite well).

If the content doesn't exist, the platform does exist for you to create it in an original and compelling way. Arianna Huffington and team didn't wait for The Los Angeles Times to have a vision for the newspaper of the future. They created it - using cheap, easy and existing tools.

Local and niche content continues to become more and more relevant in the digital space. Read between the lines about this acquisition and it becomes obvious that the content masters of the near-future will be those who grasp deep niches and hyper-local spaces.

It's about the platforms too. This isn't a Web-based world, a mobile world and a tablet world. It's about how connected the consumer now is through their one-line of connectivity.

In the end, whether AOL becomes the next big thing (again) is less relevant to me than the business model that they are creating for Publishers and Advertisers. As it acquires more and more properties across all of the technological platforms, AOL makes itself very attractive to these advertisers by helping them to become more findable (and shareable) in every nook and cranny of the consumer's appetite for content.

What's your take on this publishing move away from a destination to being anywhere and everywhere? 

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What You Need To Know About The Now Revolution

Episode #239 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

If there are two people who continually publish both interesting and though-provoking Blog posts in this day and age of clutter and hype, it is Jay Baer over at Convince & Convert and Amber Naslund over at Brass Tack Thinking (Amber also happens to be a senior executive at Radian6 - the Social Media monitoring company). Most recently, Jay and Amber released their debut business book, The Now Revolution - 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social. The two of them are super smart when it comes to businesses, Social Media and what it takes to be competitive in this new world. I'm thrilled that they both agreed to be a part of this episode. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #238.

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The Answer To A Dilution In Attention

How much content is too much content?

I am often asked this question (and many like it). From, "how often should I Blog?", "how often should I tweet?" to "how long should a Podcast be?" and "how much time should I spend on Facebook?" Seth Godin often says, "your mileage may vary," (a line I often use and don't cite back to the source as much as I should) and, as vague of an answer as that it... it's the perfect answer. Understanding the pulse of your audience is one of the biggest challenges and hurdles those who produce content have to contend with (more on that here: The Pulse Of Your Content). But, there is a bigger issue that seems to be surfacing in many of the Blogs, Twitter feeds and YouTube channels that I frequent. In a world where each and every day many more new (and smart) individuals start publishing content in text, images, audio and video (and those who already do publish content are getting better and better at it), the cluttered world of content in the online channel gets murkier, and those with any semblance of audience are now fighting for attention from more and more content publishers. And as the bar raises, I'm seeing more and more of these individuals publish more frequently. Much more frequently.

Is this just another play on the quality over quantity debate? 

I don't think so. Something tells me that if you asked some of these content producers why they are suddenly producing double the amount of content when compared to their usual publishing practice, it does seem like they're doing this to "out-publish" the competition. You have to remember: it's hard to topple a recognized Blogger when they jump from one post a day to two posts daily. But, the ultimate question is this:

"Does publishing more content double your audience or just maintain it?... and to what end?"

There are some raw truths: many of the web analytics tools do look at metrics like frequency, links and overall activity, so if you want to maintain a level of clout on these lists and through these services, simply doubling down is a very strategic move... if you can, ultimately, deliver at the same level of quality that was happening before.

Sadly, this doesn't seem to be the case.

As some of these content producers put out two shorter pieces of content or simply double the amount of content they're producing, I'm noticing a lack in quality that doesn't happen fifty percent of the time, but an overall drop in the overall quality of the content... and that's just sad (and yes, there are also exceptions to this). The only true reason to increase your content production is because you have additional content that is of equal to or greater value than your current publishing pace. Beyond that, because people have less time to pay more attention, doubling your content can wind up being too much for their appetite and hinder your overall brand engagement with them. Meaning, people who are overwhelmed don't naturally retract to their own pace, they wind up dropping you entirely because they do not like to feel like they are falling behind.

What's my personal answer?

In recent weeks and through discussions with many of my digital peers who I respect as online publishers, I've come to the conclusion that perhaps Six Pixels of Separation should not even be considered "Blog" anymore. In fact, looking back at why I first started Blogging, it was because I needed an outlet for my words. As a journalist, a platform to publish for free to the world - and one where I can choose what to fill the blank screen with - is what made me most excited (and still does to this day). If I look at the pulse of this Blog, I like to publish articles. Pieces of new journalism. Yes, some of them may appear more op-ed than reporting on a news item, but that's the flow and pulse I have nurtured (it's my style and it's my art). I don't think I post like most Bloggers do. I'm not looking for short/catchy headlines to grab attention. I'm definitely not good at sourcing a royalty free image to grab your attention, and I grapple with writing short and snappy posts even though those are the ones that drive the most traffic. I publish articles. I like publishing articles, and I recognize that those who follow, read and comment below are probably doing a lot more work/thinking than they are in other online spaces where you can get in and out in 250 words or less or graze through some kind of "top ten list" for tips and tricks. In the end, this doesn't feel like a Blog anymore. It feels much more like a publishing platform for my articles.

It makes me wonder if the answer to a dilution in attention is not increasing the frequency but decreasing it in some instances? What do you think?

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #33

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, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for each other (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:

Ten Games That Make You Think About Life - Casual Girl Gamer . "With tools making it easier for a single person to build a game, and games an increasingly integrated part of our culture, it's only natural that game designers use them to explore philosophical themes. This collection from Casual Girl Gamer lists ten of the best. They're sometimes poetic, sometimes disturbing, and sometimes curious, but all worth a glance. Best of all, many are free and playable in a browser." (Alistair for Hugh).

Toilet Paper Orientation - Wikipedia . "I came across this via Reddit . It never occurred to me that there could be so much discussion around something this mundane. But apparently it's the subject of much contention, with warring factions arguing their cases and a detailed Wikipedia page. That we disagree so passionately about something with no right answer is an object lesson for everyone from counselors to hostage negotiators. Or maybe I'm reading too much into a roll of paper." (Alistair for Mitch).

Iceland Shows Ireland Did 'Wrong Things' Saving Banks - Bloomberg . "A couple of years into the financial crisis, and very little (if anything) has changed in the financial systems that brought the crisis on. Instead of facing the consequences of years of risky, reckless lending and ballooning debt in the financial system, the banks and bankers the world over were protected by their governments. Generally, governments guaranteed all the bad loans that banks had made to each other. So when Bank #1 owed Bank #2 more money than it could afford, the government stepped in and paid off Bank #2. All the banks were happy, and are making huge profits once again. There were a couple of bumpy years, but by and large there was nothing in the way of dire consequences for bankers and the banking system. The taxpayers, on the other hand, are saddled with the bill, and employment and the real economy continues to languish. Was there another road? Iceland went another direction, and told all the banks: 'sorry, you shouldn't have made such risky loans.' It seems to be working." (Hugh for Alistair).

Peaked Performance - The Boston Globe . "Remember when it seemed like sports and athletes just got better and better every year? Up until 1980 or so, improvements in diet, training techniques, equipment, psychology meant that records kept falling, especially in track & field, where external factors are less important (team dynamics etc). Then things started to plateau. And we are now, it seems, at the limits of what the human body can do. The records don't fall much these days. What does it mean for our conception of elite athletics, of the human race in general, if, by and large, the best we can do is aim to equal the record?" (Hugh for Mitch).

Is Facebook A Bubble? - Fast Company . "As Facebook continues to grow and become an ever-more important part of our day to day lives, their valuation continues to rocket. Many remember the dot com bust that happened several years ago and are looking at recent events ( Groupon turning down Google 's offer of acquisition for six billion dollars, etc...) as key indicators that we're quickly heading into (or are in the middle of) Internet Bubble 2.0. According to this Fast Company article, 'Bloomberg reports that a poll of global investors reveals that 69% of them think that Facebook is overvalued. Just 10% thought it was 'properly valued' (and 4% thought it undervalued), while 17% had 'no idea.' Is Facebook really worth over fifty billion dollars?" (Mitch for Alistair).

Where Are the Women in Wikipedia? - The New York Times . "It's an interesting question... and one I don't understand/have an answer for. In this interactive feature of The New York Times , seven women and one man dissect the reasons (and you too can play along at home). Is it because women communicate differently from men? Are open platforms not all that 'open' in the end? Are women easier to 'give in' in an online confrontation? Do the trolls keep the women at bay? Are women more anti-social than men? Is Wikipedia more about power than gender? Or, do women just desperately need to avoid nerds at all costs?" (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.

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Facebook Isn't (Just) A Destination

Is Facebook a valuable Marketing tool?

The general discussion (or debate - depending on which Blogs and/or articles you read) about Facebook as a marketing engine seems to be both a little misguided and a little shortsighted - all at the same time. I hear a lot of Marketing professionals talk about loosing interest in Facebook (some of them have even pulled the plug on their profiles). There's this feeling of Facebook becoming the next Friendster of MySpace. Early adopters (and people highly engaged in these online channels) tend to eat their own. It's part of the online circle of life. From my perspective these people tend to view Facebook as a destination. The new and improved iteration of the early portal play of the Internet. Beyond the early adopters, Facebook continues to grow - across demographics and psychographics.

Facebook isn't just a destination. It's a platform.

When Mark Zuckerberg and his team talks about helping people to connect, he isn't just talking about on www.facebook.com. He wants them to connect anywhere (online, mobile, tablet, etc...) and everywhere (on other websites, Blogs, etc...)... he just wants Facebook to facilitate that connection (and have access to that data) - wherever it might occur. If you can see Facebook more as a platform than the destination where you see whose Birthday it is today or who posted some racey photos of themselves online, you can begin to see how the bigger pieces are starting to click together in this very interesting puzzle.

If you pay attention to anything, please pay attention to third-party logins.

We're seeing more and more of this. First, Facebook untethered the "like" button - allowing Blogs, websites and even e-commerce sites to enable people to "like" something. Pushing that further, some Blogs now allow you to verify your comments by validation through Facebook Connect. Just this week, there was news that Facebook is about to launch a more robust version of their commenting system (more on that here: Mashable - Facebook To Launch Third-Party Commenting Platform) which will allow users to post content to websites by logging in through Facebook. The feature is also reported to include threaded comments that can also be "liked" and the comments can also be synched on the publisher's site and their Facebook page. Think about it this way: if you comment on this Blog post using this new Facebook commenting system, it can also appear on a Facebook page.

It's hard to abandon Facebook when it's everywhere.

With each picture that you post and friend that you add, your ability to walk away from Facebook decreases. It decreases even more as Facebook makes it easier and easier for you to access your friends and what's going on in all of the places you frequent online. Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV and Crush It) often talks about the huge opportunity that Facebook Credits will bring... and I agree with him. If you can store some money in a Facebook account (like PayPal or iTunes) and pay for anything just by clicking a button to connect your Facebook profile, this will facilitate a huge amount of transactions.

And let's not forget about mobile.

While some think Facebook's mobile strategy is lagging, I'm fairly confident that they have people in their organization who understand the mobile imperative. More and more of their users access Facebook through their mobile devices. And, more and more people are also using third-party login on other sites to connect their Facebook profile. Facebook sees, knows and understands their web analytics. Think about the potential of third-party logins via mobile that seamlessly allow you to access Facebook Credits as well. Simply put: easy mobile commerce.

Facebook is not perfect.

We all know Facebook is not perfect (security, privacy issues, etc...). We also know that any platform with over 500 million people on it is going to struggle to adapt and grow to meet the ever-growing needs and requests of their audience. The company will fumble and drop the ball many more times (than they already have), but it can't be denied: Facebook is not a destination. Facebook is a platform that allows people to connect. Not just to one another... but to everything.

When we begin to accept that Facebook isn't a destination and that it is a platform to connect and communicate, it changes the game (a lot), doesn't it?

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Your Digital Footprint Is Muddy

You may have the best of intentions, but pay close attention to the digital footprints that you leave behind. They can often be muddy.

True story: someone recently reached out to me for favor. In all truth, this would benefit them much more than it would me, but they are a good acquaintance, and I have a hard time saying no. We agree to a meeting. That person doesn't show. I email them to see what happened. No response. It's no (literal) skin off of my back as I wasn't all that interested in helping out in the first place. Then, a month later, they reconnect and tell me how the month has been insanely busy, but never apologizing for the back and forth prior to the meeting and for ditching it in the end.

Here's what they didn't realize...

We're connected. I follow them on Twitter. I follow them on Facebook. We're connected. So, while this person is "busy" all month, I'm able to see a four-week-plus digital footprint that includes a bunch of twitpic moments and Foursquare check-ins that weren't exactly screaming, "I don't have a moment to breathe!" Sure, they could have changed their mind about asking a favor. Sure, they could have decided that it wasn't worth the time. Sure, a large majority of people lack the basic social skills of good manners and kindness, but still... it' clear as day what, exactly, is going on here.

Senior executives have shared similar stories. 

A senior marketing executive recounted to me a story of a very well-known individual in the Social Media space and how their engagement unraveled because of the very channels they were hired to help the company with. As strategy decks and tactics were delayed, complicated with errors and deadlines moved with apologies, this senior executive was watching the principal in the organization (and the lead on their project) as they tweeted their life (and good times) for all to see. The company's final statement about dismissing this Social Media agency? "It was apparent by their use of Social Media that they had no time for the work they were being paid to do for clients." 

Ouch.

The physical world and the digital world are intrinsically connected. So, if you're tweeting while on a conference call, be aware that the people you're supposed to be engaged with on the call may very well be watching you as you tweet (or read those tweets later in the day). I've, personally, been in multiple situations where an individual said they could not do something because they were busy (or something) but could then be found tweeting away or updating their status on Facebook. The more content we create the more breadcrumbs of our lives exist for all to see and trace.

I wonder how many people truly stop to think about their digital footprint... and the imprint it makes on their professional life... and their reputation.

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Demand Better Content

How would you feel if you found out that everything you are reading in the newspaper was chosen for you by a robot?

Would you have confidence in the choice of topics and its quality? Is it even possible for a robot to figure out what works in a newspaper? Behind the scenes at any newspaper is a crack editorial team composed of editors and journalists who spend their days hunting for the news that matters most to you. Some of it is local, some national and some global. They meticulously curate and edit this content so that it fits within the allotted pages. Success in the publishing business comes from the publishing company that employs the best people who have a "nose for news." The amount of pages published daily in this newspaper is (somewhat) predicated on how much advertising is sold. That's the true business model (beyond the cover price and subscriptions). As the publishers of your local paper creates a compelling enough newspaper, this grows the audience, and that larger audience is attractive to advertisers.

The big question is: Can robots do a better job than these editors in knowing what content you are most interested in?

We may have uncovered the answer to this question last week, when Demand Media went public. Demand Media Inc. is a U.S. company based in Santa Monica, California, and is headed by Richard Rosenblatt, who is the former chairman of MySpace. The business model of Demand Media is unique. Through studying Web analytics and niche topics that are getting search engine traffic online, Demand Media uses the information to create content (mostly text articles and videos). This content is then syndicated across the Internet and the articles are coupled with Google's AdSense advertising program (which generates contextually relevant ads that are only paid for by the advertiser if someone clicks on it).

It seems like a genius business model, doesn't it?

If people are looking for a particular type of content and Demand Media can figure out what that content is, get someone to create it, and monetize the article, it seems like not only have the robots figured out what type of content the consumers want, but they've also uncovered a simple and elegant revenue model to match it. Wall Street seems to agree. When Demand Media went public last Wednesday, the shares soared 33 per cent in their first day of trading. The closing price on its first day of trading brought Demand Media a market cap of close to $1.9 billion - making it larger than the New York Times Co. and Time Inc.

But all is not perfect for Demand Media.

While it might seem like an entirely new type of company to you, many companies over the years developed a similar business model. The success of this type of business is predicated on the ability to not only create, monetize and syndicate content, but to get it to the top of a search engine's natural listings as well. This is where things get interesting: Companies such as Google, Yahoo and Bing are not looking for just any type of content to be present on the first page of search results. Their success is based on a search delivering the best result - which means quality and relevance. Demand Media (and other companies with similar business models) are often accused by search engines and media as having low-quality content akin to spam. "The company's sites, which include eHow, Answerbag and Livestrong, ranked the firm as the nation's 17th-biggest Web property overall in November, according to ComScore, as 105 million viewers clicked on its how-to articles and videos on topics such as 'How to sew your own pillow,'" reported the Los Angeles Times in an article titled, Demand Media shares jump 33% in trading debut. 

These types of content creation and syndication companies have been labelled "content farms" and it's something that search engines such as Google have been paying close attention to.

The last thing the major search engines need is someone creating content that has been gamed through links, keyword focus and other search engine optimization tactics to be placed at the top of their results. What Google (and the others) really want is the most relevant answer at the top. Rosenblatt counters that the content Demand Media creates is the type of content people are looking for. "Each article is actually touched by 14 humans, titling, writing, fact checking and copy editing," Rosenblatt said in that same Los Angeles Times article. "We can't imagine a more rigorous quality process. We think content farms are non-original, duplicative, spammy content. And that's not us."

Google bites back (sort of).

Regardless of how Rosenblatt feels, in a blog post on Google's official blog titled, Google Search And Search Engine Spam, written by Matt Cutts (principal engineer and head of the "webspam" team at Google), he says: "As 'pure webspam' has decreased over time, attention has shifted instead to 'content farms' ... In 2010, we launched two major algorithmic changes focused on low-quality sites. Nonetheless, we hear the feedback from the Web loud and clear: people are asking for even stronger action on content farms and sites that consist primarily of spammy or low-quality content. We take pride in Google search and strive to make each and every search perfect. The fact is that we're not perfect, and combined with users' skyrocketing expectations of Google, these imperfections get magnified in perception. However, we can and should do better."

This is where the business paradox kicks in...

Demand Media's success is directly tied to Google's financial success. The more successful Demand Media is, the more advertising revenue Google gets. If Google begins punishing Demand Media's content by lowering its relevancy and placement in their search results, they are also hurting their own financial outcome (especially when you look at the financial and traffic success that Demand Media is experiencing).

Who decides what the definition of "quality content" really is? Is it the editors of the newspaper, the webspam team at Google, the Web analytics behind Demand Media or you?

The above posting 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, but you can check out the original versions online here:

Montreal Gazette - The unique business model of Demand Media .

Vancouver Sun - not yet published.

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Who Will Win The Superbowl? Facebook... That's Who

The Superbowl is always a funny event for me. Jocks, couch potatoes and Marketing nerds all get their funk on for a couple of hours.

From a Marketing perspective (because, trust me, you do not want my perspective on sports), the Superbowl is that one time out of the year when our industry gets a very real temperature check as to how we're doing. We see this in how fast the television commercials sell-out for the event (and when in the year this happens), we see this in the amount a 30-second spot sells for, we see this in the types of adjunct promotions that take place surrounding the event and, ultimately, in how well the creative performs. For many Marketers, advertising on the Superbowl becomes the centrifugal force for the rest of their marketing and communications activities for the entire year.

So, who do you think will come out on top this year? The answer is: Facebook .

You may be thinking to yourself that Facebook isn't even running a TV commercial during the football game... and you would be right. They don't have to. Along with every commercial will be some kind of link to a Facebook page. They will be about "liking" the brand on Facebook, "learning more" on Facebook, "following" the brand on Facebook, a contest on Facebook and much more. Twitter will get some love too, but this will be the "year of Facebook" when it comes to the Superbowl.

It won't just be about Facebook during the commercials.

Along with the many calls-to-action driving consumers to Facebook, you can rest assured that the commentators during the game will drop the "F" bomb a couple of times too (Facebook... Facebook... not the other "f bomb") just to come off as being culturally relevant. The press in and around the game will also make mention of Facebook (a lot) when discussing and dissecting the commercials and their viability. It just won't stop.

What do you think Facebook is paying for all of this attention and publicity?

The answer is: nothing (or next to nothing). In fact, they are actually going to make money (and, a lot of it) on the Superbowl. All of this attention is going to drive a significant amount of traffic that will push advertising on the online social network to new heights. Brands are currently paying Facebook to set-up some of the many promotions that they are going to run during the Superbowl. On top of that, because of the many new and different ways that brands will be leveraging Facebook, the company will use those stories as case studies to entice other advertisers to work with them. So, while everyone else is trying to figure out if the beer company or the sugar-water company had a better ad on the Superbowl, always remember (in the back of your mind) that it's actually Facebook that will be coming out on top.

While I'm not much of a gambler, I'd love to bet on the over/under for how many mentions and sightings there are of Facebook during the Superbowl.

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The Life And Times Of A Digital Marketing Strategy

Episode #238 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to. This is also episode #12.20 of Across The Sound.

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 three excellent books (Life After The 30-Second Spot, Join The Conversation and Flip The Funnel). Along with that, he is currently one of the chiefs over at the Social Media Marketing agency, Powered. A long-time friend (and one of the main inspirations behind the Six Pixels of Separation Blog and Podcast), we've decided to hold monthly conversations, debates and back-and-forths that will dive a little deeper into the Digital Marketing and Social Media landscape. This is our twelfth conversation (or, as I like to affectionately call it, Across The Sound 12.20), and this one focuses on agencies and their true abilities to deliver a strong digital marketing strategy (and yes, this includes the ability to engage with Social Media as well). 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 #238.

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Get More Media Savvy

You have probably seen enough instances of immaturity in the Social Media channels to make you feel like this is nothing more than a digital kindergarten.

Personally, I still believe this to be one of the major reasons why the more senior executives and professionals of industry shy away from publishing their thoughts in these channels. Because the online channels are so personal, you wind up seeing people and their true colors shine (in a not-so-pretty way). More often than not, their indiscretions and acts of unprofessionalism (even when they fall into the minority based on their overall presence) casts them in a very different/negative light.

Be more like a journalist.

If you don't like the idea of being a journalist, then just consider (for a moment) taking some time (and it doesn't need to be a lot of time) to get more media savvy. The more media savvy you are, the more the likelihood will be that you will take that extra second before tweeting something, updating you Facebook status or publishing that Blog post to ensure that the information you are about to share with everyone connected to you is as accurate and reliable as possible.

Let's do this without removing the humanity of it all.

This is not a plea to turn every tweet and Blog post into something that looks like an op-ed piece in the Sunday edition of The New York Times. This is much more about accepting the very powerful gift we have all been given to publish our thoughts in text, images, audio and video instantly (and for free) for the world to see.

Here's how to get more media media savvy in 6 steps...

Spelling and grammar. While it was once not a critical part of the Blogging world, proper spelling and grammar is now an important part of being taken seriously. I often make spelling and grammar mistakes, and I'm thankful to the many people who email, tweet or message me with the corrections. That being said, I do try to edit the content as much as possible prior to pushing it out there.

Be skeptical. How many celebrities have been announced dead on Twitter only for it later to be revealed that it was a mistake? And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Because anyone can publish content, everyone must become that much more skeptical of content we see. This means that you have to dig - just a little bit.

Check sources. This doesn't mean that you have to call BP to find information about an oil spill if it's being discussed online, but it wouldn't kill you to click on a link before retweeting it - just to ensure that it links to the right piece of content, and that it's something you would be proud to share with your connections.

Ask questions. If you read or follow something that doesn't sit well with you, ask, probe and push your community for their insights and thoughts. Beyond that, always remember that those who ask questions (and lots of them) are usually the ones who come up with the most interesting answers and understanding on a specific topic.

Don't blow your fuse. People often tweet or post "in the moment" - as something is happening to them. While this is an important part of Social Media, it's also important to take a deep breathe, cool down and really think about what you're about to post. Passion running high is critical. Passion without thinking it through and be critically damaging.

Be personable. Don't become a robot and don't take these points to mean that you should change your style, flow or content. You should use these concepts to add to your arsenal. To make you better. To make you a more effective communicator (because once you publish anything, that's exactly what you are).

Many people don't know that my professional career started off in journalism and magazine publishing (over two decades ago). I learned many valuable lessons in those formative years. These included lessons about writing, editing, interviews, mass media, new media, publishing, advertising, marketing, etc... but the biggest lesson of all was listening, learning and reading. I not only create media (for our clients at Twist Image and for myself), but I'm a constant and continuous student of media.

The more media savvy you get, the better the media that you are producing will become.

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