Louis CK

Most Important Tech Companies in 2011

In the first instalment, we discuss which companies were the “most important” in 2011. We openly invited nominations from viewers, but some of the companies we mentioned were:

• YouTube
• Facebook
• Google
• Apple
• Twitter
• Groupon
• and a few more…

Louis CK Goes Direct to Consumers

In this second instalment, we examine Louis CK’s latest comedy special, which was made available online directly to users for only $5. Some of the angles we consider is how (1) he was already big enough to pull it off, and (2) being the first to do it makes it a bigger, more successful initiative than it might otherwise be.

Lightning Round: Tech Blogs, SOPA, and Big Brother

In this last segment we enter the lightning round and answer email of the week. The questions we address include:

• The value of Tech Blogs
• What SOPA means for the average user
• and how Big Brother is getting privatized

Then in the email of the week, we talk about how technology is disrupting the Madison Avenue and the ad industry.

Credit: Dan Morelle

If I deleted you from my Facebook, would you notice? What about if I stopped following you on Twitter?

And if you noticed, why would that be? Because you count your “friends” and followers closely? Or because you actually missed me?

We spend so much time “connected” to other “people,” but how deep do those relationships run?

So many of our online relationships are based on a single common interest. These relationships are different than many of the “organic” ones we form — the ones we form “out there” in the “real world.”

In the “real world,” our relationships start from a shared, common interest, but then they evolve.

As we share space with these people, we get to know them beyond our initial shared interests. They become humanized as our relationship with them grows deeper and more nuanced.

But our online relationships tend to stay compartmentalized.

We follow someone on Twitter because of what they tweet. We connect with them on LinkedIn because we do business and/or work in the same industry. And we might even add them on Facebook, but we’re mindful of what we share with them — of what we let them see.

Like a bunch of marketers, we try to keep these relationships targeted — we try to keep them focused.

But if they needed help in the “real world”, would we ever notice? If they needed help moving a couch, would we be there? How much do these relationships really mean to us? How much would we really miss them if they were gone?

If you read this blog, then this probably won’t interest you. But maybe you know someone who it will, so here it is.

Next week, June 15th, From 6-8:30pm, I’ll be giving a social media marketing workshop at Agence Ometz. The goal of this workshop is to demonstrate how people can use LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to grow their professional networks, find business opportunities, and advance their careers.

The workshop costs $55 and will be broken down into four modules:

• Reputation Management: using social media to manage your online brand/reputation.
• Professional Profiles: codes of conduct for maintaining a professional online presence.
• Business Development: social networking to find business leads & career opportunities.
• Features & Functions: 1 hour tutorial on maximizing the networking potential of your different online profiles.

If you know anyone who you think might benefit from something like this, I’d appreciate you passing it on. Thanks…

Here’s the second half of my interview with Shel Israel. In this installment, Shel chats about his career over the last 30 years, how he got into social media, and when it clicked for him that Twitter was going to be a big f**king deal. I hope you enjoy…

iPhone

A couple weeks ago, Shel Israel was in town and I got a chance to chat with him on behalf of WatchMojo. We chatted about his new book, Twitterville — and about what a whole bunch of other social media voodoo means… I even put him on the spot, but then I felt like a jerk for doing so, so we edited it out. In any case, here’s Part I of II.

iPhone Version

Tweet, tweet the fail whale,

Tweet, tweet, goes security,

Hash tag epic fail.

Mass media reaches its natural end-state when
we broadcast our lives rather than live them.
– Nicholas Carr

We talk too much, but…

say little, listen rarely,

and stop living life.

So there are a lot of spoof accounts on Twitter, and most of them are pretty much inactive. Well, here’s a list of five (faux) world leaders who not only actually seem to update regularly, but do so with a sense of humor too:

• George W. Bush – @TheCoPresident
• Vladimir Putin – @Putin
• Kim Jongil – @KimJongil
• Fidel Castro – @fidelcastro (en Español)
• Hugo Chavez – @chavez (en Español)

There’s a slew of fake world leaders and celebrites on Twitter, as well, but most of those accounts seemed to have been abandoned. However, I thought that Dick Cheney (@dickcheney) deserved an honorable mention for this last tweet from over a year ago.

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.

If Twitter charged me,

there would always be Jaiku,

which rhymes with haiku…

Originally posted as a comment here.