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If you want to know what I mean by a local media company doing “continuous news” (see: News is a Process, Not a Finished Product), give a lookie-loo to the KTBS-TV website. It helps that a hurricane is bearing down on the coast, but the formula works with or without breaking news.
From a statistics perspective, the can site is measured in terms of simultaneous active sessions (think “ratings”) with ads sold by daypart. I predict you’ll see this in many other places as the months and years go by. The RSS feed is also quite useful and, therefore, valuable.
KTBS is a client of mine, so naturally, I’m proud of them.
If you’re not, you should be.
Jeremiah Owyang, a senior analyst for Forrester Research and one of the smartest web guys around, has a provocative post on his blog about the honing of one’s personal brand. I’ve been thinking a lot about this myself, because I see the struggle between anchors and reporters who blog and the companies they represent. The media companies want their brands reflected in the work of “their” employees, but it may be smarter for these people to be allowed to develop their own.
Let’s face it; the day is coming when independent journalists will offer their goods and services to media companies, instead of the companies actually employing them. This is already happening on a small scale, but I expect it will increase as fiscal pressures squeeze the life out of media companies. Hard-working independent contractors can make good money, and it will cost media companies less to purchase their work.
And so my advice to journalists is to develop your own brands, and Jeremiah’s entry gives lots of good advice. Here’s just some:
There are so many brands now, in fact with the introduction of websites, and blogs in particular, many are developing personal brands, something not as easy to accomplish (as) in past years. With this profileration of brands, it becomes so much more difficult for brand to stand out from the millions of others. Sure, you’re thinking the long tail solves this, and well yes, in a way. In reality there are leaders and followers being created in each sub-niche, so the rules of getting noticed still apply.
He advises people to:
There’s also great advice in the comments.
If you work for a local media company, I strongly recommend you start blogging and building your brand. If you’re a local media company, I strongly recommend you let your people blog, although you might want to own the domains that drive their brands.
AH: If Custer had somehow won the battle of the Little Bighorn, would he be as famous as he is today?
JD: Absolutely not. With a success at the Little Bighorn, he might have gone on to a stellar Army career such as Nelson Miles enjoyed, and achieved that level of fame. But that would have occurred only if he received a promotion to General; otherwise, he might have been as well-known as Col. Eugene A. Carr, who defeated the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers at Summit Springs, Colorado, in 1869. I don't think either name is familiar to the general public.
If George Armstrong Custer had won the battle of the Little Bighorn, most people wouldn’t even know his name today.
Read the rest of the American Heritage interview with historian James Donovan.
Worth reading, Maureen Dowd's op-ed in today's Times.
There was a time, believe it or not, there was a time when I liked George W. Bush as President. 
Please don't show me graphs that place the days in order, in a bar chart.
I know it's convenient, but it's useless.
Every week I get a chart like this, and every week Wednesday is after Tuesday (and Tuesday's on the phone with me). Highlighting web traffic in this way is not helpful. All it tells me is that once again, the weekend was sort of slow.
Or consider this chart, the standard comparison display, from Google Analytics.
This chart is only useful if both months begin on the same day--once every seven months, give or take. Why isn't the computer smart enough to line the dates up for us?
Week on week and month on month matter a great deal online (and off). Daily charts, on the other hand, just confuse things.
Post from Leadership Turn Image credit: svilen001 CC license
Do you listen to what people say about you? Do you believe what they say?
Do you listen without realizing it, buying into the negatives and allowing them to shape your life?
Whether you do or don’t is a function of your MAP and that’s within your control—in other words, it’s your choice.
So when someone tells you that you can’t, think about it honestly—first about the source of the comment and then about the comment itself—and make your choice.
Here are a number of folks who fortunately didn’t listen.
Can’t act. Can’t sing. Balding. Can dance a little. –MGM executive, reacting to Fred Astaire’s screen test, 1928
You’d better learn secretarial work or else get married. –Emmeline Snively, to Marilyn Monroe, 1944
Many others who’ve won fame and riches were told they couldn’t/wouldn’t succeed…
And finally a business favorite of mine straight from the horses mouth,
“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary; we’ll come work for you.’
And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’” –Steve Jobs on efforts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.
To whom do you listen?
Your comments—priceless
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** Yeah, this post is off-topic ... oh well. **
The above photo is of my older brother (Trip) and nephew (Blair). It was taken earlier this month when Trip's family visited me in Austin.
When folks visit me in the badlands of Central Texas, I make it a point to take them to a top-notch BBQ joint. Smitty's BBQ in Lockhart, TX is one of the top-notch BBQ joints I take people to. And that photo is from a smoky side room inside Smitty's.
The other BBQ joints I take people to include Louie Mueller BBQ (Taylor, TX), Kruez Market (Lockhart, TX), and City Market (Luling, TX). (Snow's BBQ is also on this list but as we know, it's only open on Saturdays [video].)
A few months ago ... two high-school friends visited me and we went on a big-time BBQ Binge. Three hours. Three BBQ joints. For sloppy video of our BBQ Binge, watch below:

Editor & Publisher had a couple of articles this week (here, here) about the slow stream of newspapers who are opting out of their deals with the Associated Press. The biggie is the Minneapolis Star Tribune. According to various reports, these AP contracts have a two-year out clause. In Minneapolis, the Star Tribune has given its required notice, but in Spokane, the Spokesman-Review is even challenging the clause, insisting that the latest rate increase is actually a new contract, which the paper is refusing to accept. In their minds, the Spokesmen-Review will be free of the AP in January without waiting the two years.
Other papers are also leaving the fold. They include The Post Register of Idaho Falls; The Bakersfield Californian; and The Yakima Herald-Republic and Wenatchee World, both in Washington. Other publishers have sent angry letters to the cooperative, and papers in Ohio have banded together to form their own cooperative, which portends further problems for the AP.
This should surprise no one, for, as I’ve oft-written in the past, the Internet by-passes middlemen, and it is no respecter of companies. The networks even by-pass affiliates in delivering their programs directly to viewers these days. This “by-pass” trait inherent to the Web has been discussed by minds much greater than mine, only they use the term “route around” to describe the idea.
“The net regards censorship as a failure, and routes around it.” John Gilmore, SUN Microsystems.
“The net regards hierarchy as a failure, and routes around it.” Mark Pesce, Writer, consultant, Sydney, Australia
“The web regards centralization as a failure, and routes around it… by moving to the edge.” Stowe Boyd
My take: “The net regards the middleman as a failure, and routes around it.”
So the handwriting is on the wall for the AP, which has its work cut out for it in redefining itself. As a purveyor of original content, it will always have a place in the media world, but the creation of original content — as all media companies are discovering — is at the wrong end of the value chain in today’s business world. It’s just plain expensive, and if you can’t make enough money to support it through advertising, you’ve got a big problem.’
At the AP, original reporting is supported by the contracts the cooperative has with the hundreds (thousands?) of media outlets around the country and beyond. AP has a history of always raising prices, and I can remember from my days as a news director the pain of the size of the monthly check that went to the AP. I can also remember feeling absolutely choiceless, and therefore powerless, in the relationship.
The clear message from the action of these papers is that life for the AP cannot continue, for there are now ways to “route around” the cooperative and obtain news directly from the source, and I expect a cheap model for this is just around the corner. Such a model could come from the AP, but it won’t, because like any other business caught in the throes of disruption, the AP has to protect its legacy business.
I have never felt quite so hip as I do now; tapping out a blog post on my iPod.
I know, you were expecting to read about the fifth chapter in IBM’s The Enterprise of the Future (a steady Saturday feature since July 12 (be sure and download your free copy), but I’m taking a break in the name of politics.
As you all know, John McCain announced his running mate in an acknowledged effort to blunt the Democratic convention momentum (yawn). Nothing new there.
McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Based on my limited knowledge of political maneuvering, her main advantages are gender, Conservative credentials, and age.
Upon reading here and there today, I got the impression that the Republicans are hoping that “Hilary women” will vote the Republican ticket because the Vice Presidential candidate has the same plumbing. Never mind that Palin stands in diametric opposition to most of Clinton’s beliefs.
At the Democratic Convention and in the media Obama was hailed as a personification of Dr. King’s Dream, but If he (an eighth cousin to Dick Cheney and an 11th cousin to G. W. Bush) does win he’ll actually be the seventh black president (after Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower)—just the first one who shows and, as Americans have proved over and over, appearance is everything.
Are we [the American people] really as shallow as we’ve made ourselves out to be?
Is our vision truly so focused on form that substance sinks into oblivion?
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Tom points us to this fascinating concept. It's called the uncanny valley and it goes back as far as Freud.
When you get too good at faking it, people freak out.
We love cute dogs, cute monkeys, clairvoyant websites, smart voice mail systems.
But we get totally wigged out when a website knows too much about us, when we start talking to a voice mail attendant like she's a real person or when a photo or a robot is just too good. A magician is fine, an actual mind reader we burn at the stake.
The relevant issue here for marketers is what happens when our databases and predictions get too good. I don't want the hotel to automatically serve me the same breakfast as last trip, or for the doorman to pretend he's my friend just because he read a database entry.
What makes a reporter –or for that matter, anyone in your target market – keep reading your marketing materials and press releases? It all comes down to a good lead (or lede in the media business).
An effective lead makes a promise to the reader or viewer: I have something important, something interesting, to tell you. A good lead beckons and invites. It informs, attracts, and entices. And it must be mastered if you want a journalist to decide your story is worth covering.
Follow these guidelines and expect to grab the attention of more readers and expand your audience!
The lead sentence should include the most important information in less than 25 words. You want to make sure that your lead is merely a summary of what the article will include. If the lead is too long, it begins to resemble the beginning of a story instead of a short description of your article.
Don’t guess that your reader will know what you’re talking about from the headline. Although many readers may grasp the article’s content from the headline, there are still those who may need a more detailed explanation of what your piece is about.
There should be no advertising or propaganda in the lead. Any extra exaggeration in the lead just adds unnecessary length and you could lose your reader.
The lead paragraph should include the who, what, when, where and how of the story. Once you answer the main questions of who’s involved, what the event is, and when, where and how it will occur, you’ll have everything you need to write the rest of the article.
The lead needs to be bold so that it is communicated to your audience effectively. The importance in communicating your message in the lead boldly is to draw the interest of the reader and make them feel like they have enough information about the article even if they only read the lead. The key is to make them want to read the rest of your article by catching their attention early on.
When it comes to word usage, less is more. The best thing you can do to communicate effectively is cut down the jargon. If your message is hidden behind a lot of complicated terminology, you run the risk of losing your reader’s interest. Putting your information in simple terms is more successful in getting your message across than utilizing complex words, phrases and inner-circle jargon.
Comcast puts broadband usage limits on its oversold network.
This study shows that increasing tax rates makes people report more taxable income.
Dean Baker notes that the rise in durable goods orders–one of the economy’s only current strong points–has to do with machinery.
The Daily Green has a list of the ten greenest presidents in US history. You’d never guess that Tricky Dick is one of them.
The WSJ has yet another take on the China vs. India superpower debate. Somebody should build a market around all this speculation.
Did you know that Sarah Palin was the Twitter Fail Whale? And that she actually shot JR?
A “little known fact: Sarah Palin” meme took hold on Twitter and quickly crossed the pond to Europe. The tweets are coming in by the second and some of them are simply hilarious - you can follow what is being said via the twitter search engine.
Unfortunately, and with John McCain not using the Internet he may never know…
Social networking at its best
Happy Labor Day Weekend!
Mitch Joel recently posted about Best Practices in Social Media Marketing and has asked folks to weigh in with their best practices. This is an awesome idea ... a crazy number of us blog about doing the right thing, but no one has really pulled them all together. So this is my small contribution in the hopes that these all get pulled together in a handy place for communications folks new to this space.
To me, there is nothing more attractive (and yes, kinda sexy) than someone who is passionate about what they do. And what makes me even more admiring is when they take that passion and share it in amazing, creative ways. And when you get the right passionate person talking (or writing or singing or vlogging) about the right topic, magic happens.
My Best Practice in Social Media Marketing
Choose the right person. Now this may seem like stating the obvious, but so many social media marketing efforts have failed because the person who started the initiative didn't have the temperament for social media. They may not be the obvious choice (like the CEO or the VP of Corporate Communications). They will also likely not be the most popular person in your company (like the Director of Sales who is super-affable at the office party and with clients, but whose emails make you cringe).
The right person should be passionate about their work and the company they work for. They will want to share the good and the bad about the company/products because this genuinely helps customers. They will have a clarity of communication (in a number of forms) and will have a spirit of learning and reciprocity. They will embody the values of transparency and disclosure. And they will, of course, know how to listen.
It is by choosing/encouraging the right person in your company that you will come to know success through social media marketing.
Photo Credit: k-girl
I know I need to approach this topic with kid gloves because there are many of you out there that either perform good deeds entirely selflessly or many of those that truly believe that you do. I used to be part of the latter group. Then I read The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation by Matt Ridley and realized something really significant:
Just because a good deed is performed to someone’s benefit, it doesn’t make the deed any less good.
In fact, as Ridley points out, in the absence of personal incentives to positively contribute to a community, the majority of people would not contribute at all. And there are incentives, even if indirect, to performing good deeds. Even if all of you are in the 0.01% of people who perform good deeds entirely selflessly, think about all of the people you’ve met in the world you could only convince to give more, do more and care more. Those are the people need incentives - for better or for worse.
I think about how current incentives work. I was chatting the other day with another Matt, Matt Langdon of the Hero Workshop. He was saying to me that he was setting up the Hero Workshop as a non-profit because he would feel bad about making a profit off of this work. Really? Why, I thought? There are plenty of people getting rich off of doing nasty stuff like making cigarettes and selling drugs and lobbying governments to keep us oil dependent. And there are even more people making millions from just producing a load of crap we don’t need. Why should the people contributing positively from the world have to take the martyr road? My second thought was, “No friggin wonder it is an uphill battle to get people to do stuff like Matt is doing!” Matt’s are rare. Dedicating your life for the betterment of others is a beautiful, amazing thing, but if you can’t pay the bills or provide financial security for your family and your future, you will probably end up getting burnt out really fast.
There is no reason for us to be holier-than-thou about our contributions (not to mention the very essence of holier-than-thou points to the fact that we want recognition, which means the act itself is not, after all, selfless). Good for those of us who have sacrificed ourselves for the benefit of the wider community, but we should never become martyrs because of it. We should, instead, be thinking of ways to create more of us to do the work…’cause at the end of the day we have to make a living…or at least I do.
I’m personally overjoyed that people are making gazillions off of the green movement (as long as it’s not a hoax). The fact that you can do good AND do well is an amazing incentive and, I think, the tipping point for people to actually start giving a damn…through consumption, yes, but if that’s what it takes, I’m all for it. This is America after all. We vote through our consumption…that we have a choice to vote for positive change is awesome.
I’ve been thinking a great deal about incentives and I think that people like Jane McGonigal and Austin Hill are doing amazing work in this area, incentivizing acts of kindness through gaming techniques. Ethically, people may have a problem with gaming human nature, but I don’t. To game towards the good is helluvalot better than to incentivize people towards acts of exploitation, waste, corruption and greed. And, believe me, the long-standing dominant atmosphere favors the greedy.
For the upcoming HeroCamp, I’m going to be concentrating on incentives. Having a 15 year-old who is not in that 0.01% has been eye-opening for me. He’s a good kid and very talented and I love him, but whenever I speak of heroism or positively contributing to the greater good, he rolls his eyes at me and calls me lame. What incentivizes him? Well, money is the biggest thing unfortunately, but he also plays games like World of Warcraft, where I watch him sacrifice himself and his points constantly to move his tribe forward. And when I asked him to come to HeroCamp and be our Lame-Meter, he agreed. I incentivized him with a voice…a chance to influence an outcome…a chance for him to shine. Okay, and a few days off of school, too, but that was less of an incentive than the rest. I asked him to be himself and told him that would be a key role in what we’re working on. The incentive is ego.
I believe that raising Whuffie is also good incentive that encourages positive contributions. However, I am not so blind as to ignore the way that people exploit this as well. There is an upside and downside of everything. We need to figure out better ways to reward those that are doing good in the world (and sometimes this means that they need to make money from it) and remove the incentives for people to exploit influence in the networks (by making it harder for them to make a living - refusing to buy their goods or read their blogs).
So, in conclusion, I believe that making a better world comes down to building in positive incentives (beyond ‘it’s the right thing to do’) for good deeds and removing the incentives for bad deeds.
That, in a nutshell, is the law in Canada, thanks to Justice Wright.
(tags: domains onedegree caTLD canada)

In the Great iTunes Library Transfer of 2007, I lost all of my song ratings and play counts. Sigh. Which means that my smart playlists weren't so smart anymore. So I've been slowly putting in ratings again. Which is a pain b/c you have to switch to iTunes to do it. And they don't have a keyboard shortcut. Now, I found a number of smart folks who had written Apple scripts to do ratings short-cuts or tweaked keyboard shortcuts in the system settings. For a Mac newbie, a little scary.
So instead, I have tried and am delighted by a little toolbar app called "I Love Stars"
It appears in your menu bar when iTunes is playing. And you just click to set your star rating. It also takes scroll wheel input. It's so tiny and easy to use. Even more so than a keyboard shortcut, I think. MacApper says it best:
I think utilities like these are really helpful because it reduces distractions. Having to switch to iTunes just to rate music is annoying and somewhat distracting. Though you originally planned to just tag a song, in no time, you’ll end up browsing album art, looking through the iTunes store, and actually buying some music. It’s simple utilities like these that get the job done, and done fast.
I Love Stars is free (like beer) from Potion Factory. They also have a pretty neat playlist creation tool called Tangerine. It creates playlists based on Beats Per Minute.
Via MacApper
Bonus link: I also came across AutoRate which is a mass tunes rater based on a formula. I like to do each song individually, but this might work for initial ratings.