Category Archives: Media & Culture

Bambi358 is following you

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I just did a little Twitter house cleaning, blocking about 60 followers who looked … suspect. My criteria for blocking is very scientific and includes –but is not limited to– the following:

  • Anyone who follows 500+
  • Anyone with a number in their name
  • Anyone trying to be anonymous
  • Overly cute names
  • Just about any business (unless I know you)
  • Anyone who uses the terms “SEO” or “social” in their profile bio
  • Glam shot photo icon

If I blocked you and you’d like for me to reconsider… you’re way too needy. But email me and we’ll talk.

[10 hours later] The Twitter spam is coming way too fast. I’ve blocked almost 100. Giving serious thought to protecting my account.

Cell phone etiquette (interview)

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July is Cell Phone Courtesy Month. As with all such months, there’s a list of cell phone no-no’s. There are a lot of lists. As I scanned them I saw that I was guilty of a couple of the more venial sins. I still catch myself talking too loudly and I answer the phone in the middle of a conversation. I’ve chalked these up to still being something of a newbie to the cell phone experience and plan to break these bad habits.

Nathan Waddell is the director of sales for U. S. Cellular in Missouri and a nice PR lady named Susan arranged for me to talk with Nathan about this important topic.

AUDIO: 15 min interview (MP3)

Radio stops with the listener

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What do you do when someone sends you a good video, a photo, or a link to an interesting news item? You share it. Maybe with a link on Facebook or Twitter; a blog if that’s your thing; or you simply email it to everyone in your address book. And some of them will do the same. It seems quite natural after 15 years of life on the net.

Now, what do you do when you hear something interesting, amusing or important on the radio? Assuming you’re not recording, your options are limited. You could call a friend, but by the time you reach them the song/interview/comedy bit is likely to be over.

All the good stuff you hear on the radio (or TV) pretty much stops when it reaches the listener. That never bothered me before because… well, where else _could_ it go after reaching me? There WAS no practical way to share it.

The web changed all that. Even the dumbest cat photo goes on and on and on.

Before hitting the record button or opening the mic, we should ask ourselves, “Can anyone link to what I am about to create?”

Ignore Everybody (Hugh MacLeod)

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Telling someone how to be creative is like explaining how to wiggle your ears. But Hugh MacLeod’s little blog-to-book (Ignore Everybody – And 39 Other Keys to Creativity) has some useful insights. Here are my favorites:

  • The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you.
  • Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships. That is why good ideas are always initially resisted.
  • The sovereignty you have over your work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will.
  • It was so liberating to be doing something that didn’t have to have some sort of commercial angle, for a change.
  • Doing anything worthwhile takes forever.
  • Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
  • Like the best jobs in the world, it just kinda sorta happened.
  • Art suffers the moment other people start paying for it. The more you need the money, the more people will tell you what to do. The less control you will have. The more bullshit you will have to swallow. The less joy it will bring.
  • The only people who can change the world are the people who want to. And not everybody does.
  • Selling out is harder than it looks (It’s hard to sell out if nobody has bought in)
  • If you’re arranging your life in such a way that you need to make a lot of fuss between feeling the (creative) itch and getting to work, you’re putting the cart before the horse. You have to find a way of working that makes it dead easy to take full advantage of your inspired moments. They never hit at a convenient time, nor do they last long.
  • The best way to get approval is to not need it.
  • Part of being creative is learning how to protect your freedom.
  • The size of the endeavor doesn’t matter as much as how meaningful it becomes to you.
  • If you are successful, it’ll never come from the direction you predicted. Same is true if you fail.

“Sorry, There’s No Way To Save The TV Business”

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A thought-provoking column by Henry Blodget in the Silicon Alley Insider. Here’s his nutshell:

“As with print-based media, Internet-based distribution generates only a tiny fraction of the revenue and profit that today’s incumbent cable, broadcast, and satellite distribution models do.  As Internet-based distribution gains steam, therefore, most TV industry incumbents will no longer be able to support their existing cost structures.”

According to Blodget, the TV business models for the past 50 years have been based on:

  • Not much else to do at home that’s as simple and fun as TV
  • No way to get video content other than via TV
  • No options other than TV for advertisers who want to tell video stories
  • No options other than cable–and, more recently, satellite–to get TV
  • Tight choke-points in each market through which all video content has to flow (cable company, airwaves), which creates enormous value for the owners of those gates.