Glassy Eyed

How embarrassing that it's been a year since I updated here. It's been quite a year.

I frequently intend to blog something, but rarely feel like I have the time to dedicate to a well thought out post and instead, end up tweeting a shorthand version of that thought.

Red Tettemer + Partners is bustling. We're moving at a speed that only another agency with talent and fire in their bellies can appreciate. It's fun as heck.

Speaking of fun. I picked up a pair of Google Glasses this week. Here I am wearing them on Amtrak.

What a device. I've only had them for a few days and haven't worn them out in the world yet, but it's been remarkable testing them and thinking of new ways to apply them to life and my work. 

For me, because so much of what I do is based on understanding people and their behaviors, it's been most fun to put them on someone else for the first time. Over the last two days, I've given a quick Glass tutorial to about 25 people that I work with and watched them as they experience Glass for the first time. It's magnificent to watch. 

Initially they scoff, tease and are skeptical about even trying the device on. But every single skeptic, after they put them on, when they see that home screen then follow their command "Ok Glass," an incredulous smile spreads across their faces. For me, it's like peering into a window and seeing what they were like as children. In a word, magical. 

Testing the product also dispels a lot of the myths around it. People fear being captured in every day moments. They fear privacy infringement. 

When I hear cries of privacy infringement, which I understand and respect, I also think to myself that privacy from technology ceased existing years ago. It died with Twitter, where people can tweet every word they overhear you say. It died with The People of Walmart that won mainstream attention by posting surreptitious photos of us as we shop. It died with camera phones - hand held devices easy to position discreetly and snap. 

Google Glass, on the other hand, lights up when in use. You can plainly see that the user is doing something with the device. And because it primarily functions on voice commands (not solely, but primarily), you will likely hear the action the wearer is taking. 

Of course, there are some downsides to the device. It's a little bit clumsy with sharing. It shares to your Google+ very easily. The voice video command only offers :15 hands free. Any longer and you have to hold a button down on the frame. If not tethered to your phone, it can't join a Google Hangout. It very quickly drains your phone battery if you're running on bluetooth. And the voice the command thing can get crazy, if you're talking to someone or near a group. 

It's a moonshot. One of those far reaching shots that Google didn't know if it'd work unless they tried. And they did it. Today I imagined Steve Jobs testing glass and I imagined him inspired. To that end, I'm eager to see what we at RT+P can create with it. 

As a society, we've spent so long slumped over technology, looking down. Won't it be great to live and share life, back in the upright position?

  

PSA: Stop VVS.

A very important PSA in this day and age. 

This video didn't hav to look this way. It could have been prevented. 

Facebook Really Wants You To Use Facebook Email

Facebook just sent another platform-wide reminder to users that they own them.

This time, Facebook has arbitrarily changed everyone's email listed in the About section of your Timeline, to that @facebook.com address they're been encouraging people to use for ages. 

Gizmodo explains the switcheroo and details how you can remove this email address from your profile. 

I drafted this post in February, meaning to come back and make it more robust, but let's face it, I've been swamped.
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A few things that have caught my eye recently:

Task Ave: This app adds location element to your to do list. So if you need to pick up dry cleaning, the app will push out a reminder when you're nearby.

UnSocial: Connect via your LinkedIn profile, tag yourself, and this app will connect you to business people in your proximity that you'd like to meet.

Intersect: I love storytelling, so this is right up my alley. You enter a location and can post a pic from their and/or tell a story related to that exact location in the world.

Looking Ahead: User Shared Content

My latest thinking on social is related to the evolution of how we're using it. A few years ago, social media was what some now call "static social". It was text based, updating blogs and wiki's and posting in forums.

Then we moved into the UGC phase, where people discovered the ease of creating and publishing their own content. Regular people and their cats became internet sensations. We loved it.

Today and moving forward, I think social is going to be about USC, or User Shared Content. More and more people are exposed to mass and niche sources for news and entertainment. People are spending so much time socializing and discovering news/information on the web, they don't have time to "create content" anymore and honestly, most would rather read or look at someone else's.

Instead, they can share it. And they can entertain friends and family and their new global social graph, by sharing links/pix/vids with a wider group of friends than ever before, who can like it and comment on it and share it some more.

USC a great opportunity for creatives and ad agencies, whom have the ability and resources to make some kickass content that is irresistibly shareable.

A letter to CMO's, Brand Managers and in-house Marketers

Hi there:

More and more I hear from brands who've been disappointed by the work (or lack thereof) of a social media specialist. Some of these complaints are about well-known names in social media and practitioners backed by credible organizations like WOMMA, PRSA, and the AMA. With so-called "earned media" there are always going to be successes and failures, there are no guarantees here, but there are ways for brands to better vet who they work with in this field.

A Social Media search checklist:

1. Define your needs. Do you need a high-level strategist, creative, an educator on the tools, or a day-to-day team in the trenches with you? If you don't know what you need, survey your team or discuss your business goals during the RFP/vetting process and ask for input on a recommended scope of work.
2. Ask trusted sources for recommended SM specialists.
3. Find an example of a successful social media campaign that wowed you. Research who executed that and how. Share that example with your candidates so they better understand your idea of success.
   
4. Research the SM agency or individual. Check out their pages/accounts/blogs. Find out who they are. Look into their experience in the field.
5. Ask for case studies. While social media is still young, a lot of great work/campaigns have been done. Ask them what they've done. The proof is in the pudding. Even if they are providing high level strategy, I firmly believe they should have current work under their belt. How can you make a solid recommendation on approach, if you're not actively out there, working and accountable for the success of your ideas?
6. Ask direct questions about their work/role in their case studies. What was this person's contribution to the work? Who else contributed and how?
7. Ask for client references. Connect with their clients and seek feedback on the project or campaign.
   
8. Agree upon quantifiable program goals.
   
9. State clear timing expectations.
   
10. Be nimble. If an agreed upon approach isn't working, challenge your SM partner to develop a new approach. One of the best things about SM is that it IS a changing landscape and you can switch gears and try new things without a huge spend set in stone.
    

Good luck out there.

Just back from Blogher '10. Here are my observations:

1. The team at Blogher does an excellent job pulling off a tricky event. Part professional conference, part reunion, part trade show, part retreat, this event is onion-like in layers. It's not easy to produce something that is so many things to so many people. Kudos to the team for tackling this challenge.
2. I will always love Blogher, if just for the fact this is my Ms. Magazine. I'm young enough to have benefited from the doors opened by the women's movement decades ago, and I'm old enough to have seen the glass ceiling firsthand. Blogher is powerful evidence that Madison Avenue and the C-suite now understand the buying power and purchasing decisions of the WOMAN of the house. That's huge. Blogher is evidence that woman have a seat at the proverbial table, rather than serving it. The awe of having "arrived" always hits me at Blogher.
3. The community checked itself before it wrecked itself. Last year was gross. Egregiously gross. And some of the blame goes to brands for acting like desperate boyfriends and getting into bed with anyone who had a URL and some the blame lays with community members who fell victim to the gold rush and embraced swag like guest stars on "Hoarders." Hey, it happens. But you know what Blogher's? You nipped that in the bud. Post-conference, you policed yourselves by talking about it on your blogs, acknowledging it and being accountable. This year was a completely different show. Well done.
   
4. More than any other year (I attended my first Blogher event in 2005), you felt like a community this year. Last year I felt this, and it was exciting but still new. It was like Freshman coming back to college after Christmas break. This year, it was like college sophomores coming back for Fall semester. You knew each other better - online and IRL, and there was a comfortable and familiar feeling as you ran into each other, hung out and caught up.
5. PR people. Good lord. I haven't seen that many PR people in one place since CES. Maybe b/c it was in NYC and so many agencies are there, or maybe it's because Blogher now has a seat at the proverbial table, but PR people were everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I looooooved seeing so many old friends, it just surprised me.
   

Now, here's where I think Blogher can improve:

1. Session programming needs some work. I attend this show as a blogger, albeit a lazy one, since I rarely dust off this antique (or the 3 other robust blogs I authored under nom de plumes from 1998-2006). I found very few sessions that interested me. Maybe they were poorly titled, I don't know.
2. Sessions need moderation. While I recognize the "community" and "sharing" aspect of Blogher, some rules need apply to panels. For example, this is not an opportunity for the audience to do improv/stand up, nor is it group therapy. I'm sure 5 of you will argue the latter (e.g. -"But we're bloggers, blogging is my therapy!") - go ahead and take it to my comments. This is a panel. The people on the panel have been chosen because a) they have stories to tell b) they have more experience than you c) you can learn from them d) they are accomplished e) people want to hear them speak and f) they are more important than you. Therefore, when you get the mic, please ask a question. I'm not here to hear your backstory and I don't need you to provide me with your backstory for the question...Just. Ask. Your. Question. Really. And Moderators, you should be on this. You should be setting the ground rules prior to Q&A and gently reminding audience members when they start to riff. Blogher organizers may disagree with me, but without good moderation, the audience is cheated from maximum interaction and learning.
   
3. Improve the sponsor experience. Since I knew so many people working booths, I heard lots of feedback. The Blogher team has a ripe opportunity to improve the sponsor experience and like every other company providing a service, they need to listen to their funders/investors/customers/partners and improve service. Blogher charges big money to sponsors for this conference - and rightly so. It's a valuable community to support, and Blogher does a great job integrating sponsors cross channel both virtually and on-site. However, there needs to be some attention to detail in regard to sponsors, after all, they're helping to fund this conference and the community. Why not offer them some good-old fashioned hospitality? Why not provide a few meal tickets to sponsors with booths? How about a small behind-the-scenes sponsor area for them to regroup, get coffee, tea or water? That suite or area could have a flat screen running a live tweet stream of all of the tagged #blogher and #blogher10 tweets so they can see the social interaction and social impact of the event in real time. And how about a bag for the sponsors - even if it isn't the coveted attendee bag (although 1-per booth would be nice) - Blogher could offer their own swag to sponsors (great opportunity for you to market yourselves to your valued partners!).
4. Sponsors: Be cool. This is a consumer event, even though it feels like a trade show. Educating me on your product or service is cool, I get it, that's why you're here. Overwhelming me when I stop in your booth with a camera crew and amped up host with a microphone to capture my reaction, not providing me with a release to sign nor asking to tape me, is bush league. C'mon son.
   

Net net, I'm thankful that Blogher hosts this event each year, it's no small feat and is a great service to the community. This year, it re-energized my interest in blogging, gave me face time with people I enjoy who live far away, and exposed me to some fascinating new people I will keep up with virtually.