Want to harness your creativity? Want a change of perspective? Easy. Hand your digital camera over to a child.
Inspired by this post on sharing ideas by Cam Beck … and in preparation for my up-coming talk at InterestingSouth, I wrote this post over at MarketingProfs. It looks at the amazine world of my four year old daughter … and while we share the same spaces — her world is infinitely more magical than mine. Or was … until I saw the pictures.
I am loving Twitter at the moment … I am coming in contact with more and more people who have fascinating blogs, great insight and, well, a brilliant sense of humour. It is always a joy to dig into a newly discovered blog … to find out about what interests them, how they interpret their passion (or their work), and how their readers respond to their writing.
Chris Hambly has a great blog that looks at new media … with some great recent posts on the state of the music industry. But digging found I found this great question … "what stops you commenting?". It made me think. I get a lot of visits here and a mostly regular core of commentors … but what about the casual reader? What about the feed reader? What about the lurker?
Really, I am interested to know … perhaps there is something that I can do to invite you into the conversation. A change in tone. More seriousness? Less?
Go on … let me know. As Chris says, "lose the comment fear".
I have been buried in a mountain of market research over the last couple of weeks. It has been an interesting exercise for me, especially considering my usual suspicion around research, its methods and even its value. One of the things that I find fascinating is the way that your own analysis and reading can actually bear out similar results to the research firms … next time you are commissioning market research — or even just digging around, try the following:
Anyway, along the way, I found this summary of social media research which makes for interesting reading. Not compelling … it is market research after all!
Datamonitors predict that the explosive growth of social media membership will plateau in five years. FIVE years! It seems to me that the folks over at Datamonitors don’t understand this space at all! This is going to be a completely different space in five years … in the two years that I have been writing this blog there has been a vast amount of change. For example, about 12 months ago I was thinking that Facebook was washed up … that the horse had bolted and that MySpace had won (glad I don’t write predictions here especially given today’s news!).
And as Ann Handley jokes, blogging years are like "dog years" … one year counts for about seven in terms of experience. So if we apply this to the research … in about 35 years social media will plateau — basically growth in social media in 2042 will only be possible in line with global population expansion.
Ok, that was slightly facetious. But you know I love research … but not as much as Rob.
For anyone in Sydney tomorrow, bloggers coffee morning action is taking place at Single Origin, Cnr of Reservoir & Mary Streets in Surry Hills.
We are rocking up a little earlier to chat about InterestingSouth so you will be able to catch us anytime after 7am.
Really? 7am? What is Emily thinking?
It has been a long time between drinks, but Sean, Paul and I are finally back with the next instalment of Eat.Sleep.Blog. And in our ongoing exploration of technologies, we have shifted, yet again … this time trying out the new Kaltura video collaboration system.
A couple of days we started thinking about doing another episode … so I suggested we try Kaltura to make the recording. Sean setup a series of clips as a framework and our "experiment" very quickly turned into a production rough cut … thanks largely to the ease of use of the system. Despite a few issues with permissions, it is surprisingly easy to arrange, edit and produce a video podcast. And while this first Kaltura episode is a little rough … I am sure it will get better over time.
This episode covers:
OK … so Sean, Paul and I are doing a little experimentation with Kaltura at the moment and having a bit of fun. In this clip, Sean takes exception to the spammer who claims he is "responsible" and able to work "auto …", "auton …", "autonymously". Actually … I can’t seem to get the clip to work (Sean must have disabled those permissions again). Update: seems to be working!
(But if you really want to see some good thinking on customer experience and SPAM, check out Cam’s latest MarketingProfs post.
Michael Wesch has another thought provoking video available … looking this time at the world of students … their aspirations, challenges and interests. As these kids represent the next generation of consumers (you know, the people who buy the stuff that you sell) … it is important to get at least a little insight into what makes them tick.
My latest post over at MarketingProfs attempts to look at some of what the video covers. What comes through powerfully, is that, perhaps more than ever, there is a desire RELEVANCE. And if it can’t be found with you or your brand, it will be sought elsewhere.
Liz Strauss is holding the 2nd Annual All-Day Open Comment Birthday Party this Wednesday, October 24, 2007, 7a.m – 11p.m. Chicago Time (Central Time/GMT -6hrs) … and EVERYONE is invited.
All you need to bring is:
… a link to a page, a picture, a post that demonstrates, celebrates, illuminates your success and outstanding-ness as a blogger.
Or bring that ebook, that manifesto, that photo, that priceless work that you want to offer as a birthday gift to everyone.
Also, on the subject of birthdays … The Servant of Chaos quietly slipped past the TWO YEAR mark this week. I knew it was coming, but just forgot to keep an eye on the date!
AND … this week is the first anniversary of the Sydney bloggers coffee mornings. And while I haven’t been in person for a while, I certainly am there in spirit (or is that just the coffee fumes?). I think I had better make a special effort this Friday … hope to see you there!
I guess it is way to soon to know, but Gooruze may just be what you have been looking for.
Me?
I am only checking it out because Matt Dickman is investigating. But if you want to check out my (currently) barren profile, you can do so at servantofchaos.gooruze.com.
There is a lot of information available about breast cancer, but do you REALLY know what the important risk factors are?
Now, in an Australian first, it is possible to calculate your risk of breast cancer using the National Breast Cancer Council’s interactive calculator.
Check it out. It’s free. And it could save your life.
