“The presumption of old media was that everyone in the audience saw every advertisement and that’s why ads were bought on the basis of the size of the audience. Size mattered. But today, what advertisers really want is verification that their ads reached the audience they were sold – not just in size but in relevance.”
We’re seeing major (for us) spike in traffic to one of our blogs from link on Huffington Post site. Radio Iowa News Director O. K. Henderson has been doing a super job of covering “town hall” meetings in Iowa. And breaking news, as she frequently does.
Yes, I am easily seduced. I admit it. I’m like a pillow, I keep the impression of the last person who sat on me. Twitter, Posterous… I love new stuff and tend to get carried away. I’ve posted her less frequently since I began dallying with these new tools. But, as Dave Winer reminds us (in a post to Robert Scoble regarding sale of FriendFeed to MySpace Facebook), I can always come home to momma.
“Our blogs are still there, as is the web and the Internet. They never went away just because we foolishly flirted with something fast and easy and seductive. Our blogs never went away, they’re still ready to share our ideas and connect us with others. We’ll go back to basics now, take what we learned from this round of innovation, and build it for real this time.”
I never got the FriendFeed bug but I can’t believe MySpace Facebook owning it is good news for users. But hey, if MS bought Yahoo! they’d probably screw up flickr, so…
The point is, my blog is mine. Nobody can buy it or mess with it. It’s my place to “write things down.”
I’m not really sure, but they must be a bunch of old fuckers, based on the sponsors of tonight’s NBC (first group) and ABC (second group) network newscasts.
Is that the most depressing list you have ever seen? Could there be one living soul under the age of 60 watching these newscasts? Is network news in trouble? May-be.
Leo Babauta has a very good list of tips on how to cultivate your creativity. Here are a few of my favorites from his list:
If I might add one idea to this excellent list (be sure to check out the full list from link above), you have to be in an environment that will allow (better yet, encourage) creativity. I’ve been so blessed for most of my working life. I guess this means working for the right company or working for yourself.
Bill Maher (along with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert) has the knack –and the balls– for saying things I believe but can’t quite put into words. Like, “this is a stupid country.”
“I’m the bad guy for saying it’s a stupid country, yet polls show that a majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights is. 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. More than two-thirds of Americans don’t know what’s in Roe v. Wade. Two-thirds don’t know what the Food and Drug Administration does. Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up simply by being alive. You know, like the way the Slumdog kid knew about cricket.
Not here. Nearly half of Americans don’t know that states have two senators and more than half can’t name their congressman. And among Republican governors, only 30% got their wife’s name right on the first try.
Until we admit there are things we don’t know, we can’t even start asking the questions to find out. Until we admit that America can make a mistake, we can’t stop the next one.”
Whew. I feel SO much better.
I learned from @chadlivengood that the Missouri State Teachers Association is now on Twitter (@MSTA). I seem to recall them advertising on one of our radio networks a few years ago. I’ve been thinking about what they were getting for their money. Basically, distribution of their message to radio stations affiliated with our network. If someone was listening to one of these stations when an MSTA announcement aired, mission accomplished.
So what does the MSTA do with Twitter. In theory, everyone in the state could see their tweets. But only if they choose to “follow” @MSTA. The association must persuade people to pay attention to their Twitter feed? Most advertisers spend a lot of time or money or both on the messages they air on radio and TV. But even if the message is weak, someone hears it.
With Twitter, nobody sees the message unless it’s good (i.e. relevant, interesting). And being limited to 140 characters forces one to boil the message down to the essence. Distribution is free, but worthless unless you have something to say.
During my radio days I wrote and produced commercials and entered what I considered my best in competitions each year. I wonder if there are competitions for the best commercial tweet? I doubt it. Nobody wants to hear “commercials,” no matter how short they are.
From a traditional advertising perspective, Twitter’s only up side is it’s free. It can take a long time to grow the number of people who follow you. And more importantly, they have all the power, all the control. If a company is successful, it has something far more valuable than advertising. Something that money –literally– cannot buy.
Given enough time and money, even a bad product or service can see returns from advertising. Not so with social media. I’m not sure it’s possible to teach a company how to be open, honest, authentic and caring. They were supposed to have learned that in kindergarten.
Just learned that Narvel Felts will be performing at the Missouri State Fair on August 19 (part of the Country Gold Tour). According to Wikipedia, Narvel is 70, so it’s good to know he’s still performing.
Here’s a couple of photos from his younger days, taken in the studios of KBOA in Kennett, MO (circa 1950). L-R: JW Grubbs (Bass Guitar), Leon Barnett (Lead Guitar), Narvel Felts (Guitar & Vocals), Bob Taylor? (Drums), and Jerry Tuttle (Saxophone & Steel Guitar).
Wikipedia: “Narvel attended Bernie High School, Felts was discovered during a talent show at the school. He had been encouraged to participate in the show by some of his classmates, and it just so happened that a talent agent was attending the performance at the time.
Felts recorded his first single “Kiss-a Me Baby” at the age of 16, and his career skyrocketed with the help of Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. Narvel Felts enjoyed modest pop success in 1960 with a remake of the Drifters “Honey Love” which earned a low position on the Billboard Hot 100. He went on to release such songs as “Lonely Teardrops” and “Pink And Black Days”, but it wasn’t until the 1970s when he began enjoying success on a national level as a country singer.
His first major hit came in 1973, with a cover of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away”. Felts’ version — No. 8 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in September 1973 — was mid-tempo country compared to Gray’s blues version. The follow-up single, “All in the Name of Love,” just missed hitting the top 10 in December 1973.”
I’d been working at the radio station about a year when Drift Away got Narvel some notoriety and he came by the station to plug the record. It’s was a big deal for Kennett, Missouri. Narvel had beautiful hair.
I recently learned of an ambitious undertaking involving the websites of some of the divisions of state government here in Missouri. The objective is to bring some consistency of design and how the information is organized.
For example, why not put the search box in the same place on each site? Or, when deciding on names for different kinds of content areas, use the name most common to the public, rather than some acronym known only to those within the division or agency.
The man responsible for overseeing this sisyphean task is Tim Robyn, Deputy for Web Presence with the state’s IT services division. We had a cup of Rocket Fuel here at the Coffee Zone yesterday and he talked about the program.
The state of Missouri has dozens of websites but ten have been selected for this UI make-over. I forgot to ask Tim which ten but when I have that list, I’ll grab some screenshots so we can see a before-and-after.
PS: Tim has what might be the coolest title I’ve heard in a while.
UPDATE: The official State of Missouri site (below) and the MO Dept. of Agriculture were among the first to get the make-over’s. The Dept. of Insurance is up next, and offers a good “before” example. On deck: Revenue, Office of Administration, Economic Development, Labor and Industrial Relations, Mental Health, Natural Resources, Health, Social Services
I could be wrong, but the design below sure looks like a WordPress them to me.
