It’s been a while since I’ve done any video blogging, and even longer since I’ve put myself in front of the camera. I actually got my start with video blogging back in 2006 hosting videos for WatchMojo, and only later moved on to doing it myself on this blog.

Well, recently, Ashkan, the Pres. of WatchMojo.com (who also contributes to TechCrunch, GigaOm, and a few other big sites) asked if I’d be interested in shooting a pilot show on the tech industry, and since I have some more free time now, I figured “why not?” So here’s a couple clips from the installment of what might turn into a weekly show called HipMojo (named after Ash’s tech industry blog).

As I mentioned, it’s been a while since I’ve been in front of the camera, so I’m a bit rusty and awkward, but I’d appreciate any comments or feedback you might have on the format or content. I also hope that you enjoy…

HipMojo Episode #1A – CEO Bloggers

In this clip, we talk about CEOs that blog and how it can affect their business. This one was interesting because Ash falls into this category, and has some first-hand experience with how being a CEO blogger can affect your business — both positively and negatively.

HipMojo Episode #1B – VC Impact on CEOs

In this second installment of our pilot, we discuss how venture capital can affect a company’s culture and brand, and how its CEO makes decision. Specifically, we touch upon the recent fiasco with AirBNB.

Mourning is just extended self-pity.
– Donald Draper

Credit: Stu Sherman

I let a domain expire yesterday. It was one of the first domains I ever registered — possibly the second or third. It was also the domain for the second blog I ever really invested any serious time or energy into.

It wasn’t a very focused blog. It didn’t really have a niche or a topic. It was founded on the belief that my reckless charm would catapult me to internet stardom.

Well, it never really got me there. In fact, the only place it ever did seem to get me was in trouble — both professionally and in my personal life. But it did teach me a few things a few things along the way.

First, it taught me that it’s not enough to try and get by on your charm and your wit. You have to have a purpose. Charm and wit can go a long way in fulfilling that purpose, but they can’t be your purpose in and of themselves.

Second, it taught me that what happens on the internet, stays on the internet… and there’s really no such thing as anonymity. Sooner or later, we all get outed, and when that happens, the best you can hope for is that, all along, you were lacking in purpose enough that no one really notices or cares when you get outed.

Third, it taught me about personal branding. About how your personal brand needs a purpose, and should be grown around that. About how you can’t put a round peg in a square hole, and no matter how good you are at some things, if your personality doesn’t fit the mould, you’re to have a hard time getting people to take you seriously.

I would like to say that “most importantly, it taught me to let go,” but it didn’t. The truth is that I kept renewing that domain long after I stopped blogging there. I even put up a custom parking page for a while. And then I took it down, put back up the blog, and tried to revive it all over again.

The thing became a time suck. A distraction from thinking about something more useful, something more meaningful, something with a purpose. It haunted me…

So when I got a renewal notice, I asked myself “do I really still want this thing in my life?” I understand that I should hold on to it for intellectual property reasons (or whatever) but don’t we bury our dead so that we can move on?

So I decided to let it go… Because its time in my life was up, I had finally learned from it what it could teach me, and that it was time to move on…

This past weekend was Podcamp Montreal 2009 where I delivered a session called Sex, Trust, & Transparency: What Would Donald Draper Blog?

I set out to explore social media, personal branding, and what bloggers and podcasters could learn from Mad Men protagonist, Donald Draper. The audience was great, contributed so much input, and together, we covered so many different aspects of trust & transparency.

"I sell products, not advertising."

Blogging and podcasting are about self expression, about being able to share your ideas without any barriers. They’re  about community: building community and joining community. So the question was: How would Donald Draper use Social Media to build his personal brand today?

For starters, Donald Draper wouldn’t whore himself. He’d define his brand and target an appropriate audience give them what they wanted.

"Everybody else's tobacco is poisonous. Lucky Strikes’ is toasted."

Then he’d start off with his brand’s story. A story about what gives him a personality that his targeted audience can connect with. He’d define what makes him unique. What makes him special. What makes him relevant to that targeted audience.

And then he’d fill a demand for what his targeted audience wanted. Not his friends. Not his “connections.” But that defined, targeted audience.

Because as a blogger, his audience would be the client, and Donald Draper has a very intuitive grasp what his clients need. And Donald Draper is very good at respecting those needs and paying attention to them. He wouldn’t neglect those needs just to be a social media rockstar.

"I don’t know you at all and this is personal and it’s not up for discussion."

He wouldn’t talk about his personal life or what he likes doing on the weekend. And he definitely wouldn’t gossip. Neither of these would do anything to help him fill the demand of his audience.

And this is why Donald Draper wouldn’t be transparent. Sure, he’d share his thoughts about what his audience is interested in. But those thoughts would be calculated and pre-meditated.

Because when it come to building a community around a brand — personal or otherwise — what you call transparency was invented by guys like me to invoice clients for tweets. ;)

Since Donald Draper’s day, brands have transcended the ad industry and extended into our very identities. The idea of a brand has become so entrenched in society that we don’t even have personalities anymore. We have personal brands.

And just as Dick Whitman recreated himself as Don Draper, personal branding let’s us recreated ourselves. So while Donald Draper might not blog, Dick Whitman most certainly would.

"You are the product. You feeling something. That’s what sells. Not them. Not sex."

So I guess a better question would be: What would Dick Whitman blog? Because let’s face it, as incompatible as Donald Draper’s personality is with the open, transparent culture of social media, he’s just a product.

Donald Draper is the personal brand of Dick Whitman, someone from humble beginnings that wanted to make it big in the big city. And that someone would use any relevant tool available to them, including social media, to create a brand that was relevant to the audience that they wanted to target.

I need your help. I pitched a session for Podcamp Montreal 2009, and now I have speakers’ block. With only a few days ago, I’m really short on time to make a creative comeback. So if you have any suggestions, I’d really appreciated some feedback. Let me explain further…

iPhone Version

You might have noticed that lately I’ve been hung up on haikus. Part of the reason is that I’m too lazy to write posts (which is why I video blog). But the other part is that I’ve always felt that most people talk too much and say too little. When it comes to the social media circle jerk, this applies more than it doesn’t. Even on Twitter, where people are limited to 140 characters, they seem to jabber on and on and on, without ever saying anything more than “Hey, look at me. I tweet, therefore I am.”

Well, they say that online, you should find a niche and commit yourself to it… and I think that the Gypsy Bandito may have just found his. In the last 24 hours, I’ve had my Facebook Haiku featured on Haiku.com, and have been followed by the ZEN Poetry Fest on Twitter.

Of course, for me haikus are just a way to be ironic in the same way that skinny-leg-jeans-wearing-hipsters are ironic — which leaves me wondering whether this new niche of mine is haikus or irony. Whichever it is, this thought from the homepage of the Montreal Zen Poetry Festival has me thinking about the current state of social media and “the conversation” we’re supposed be having with at other people.