Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson
Music: Dom Duff & the song “March Azur” via the podsafe Music Alley.

Discussed during the show:

• iPad means business
  • How to buy
  • To win a copy of “iPad means business”, email steve@minnov8.com with the code word we mentioned in the podcast. We will draw a name at random and announce the winner on Monday on Minnov8
  • “iPads Are Latest Weapon in Medical Sales” (Medtronic is one of the biggest corporate buyers)
  • One way Graeme uses his iPad
  • Apple’s iPad Luring Small Businesses
• Don Ball links: CoCoMSP; Network 2010; pariSoma; iPass; SoCoCo (Graeme’s interview at DEMO); James J. Hill Library and that incubator article in StarTribune.
• CrashPlan
• All social media experts “are actually the same person,” Wikileaks documents reveal

Minnov8 Gang 104 – We Are All Virtual Now is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Clintone and the song “Full Circle” via the podsafe music network Music Alley.

Discussed during the show:

Minnov8 Gang 87: More Buzz About Mobile is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music by Kahuna Kawentzmann w/tune, “Late Bird” from podsafe Music Alley.
Modified image based on the James Bond 007 knockoff from the 1960s, the Matt Helm movies series starring Dean Martin.

Links discussed during the show:

• Stillwater company Nibipedia led by Troy Peterson
• Internet Broadcasting, the departure of their CEO, David Lebow, partner Mashery
• Mentioned by Tom Bergerding: Polyvore
• Graeme mentioned Involver
• MOJO MN; Minnebar
• Visi Open House Friday, May 21st
• Open source alternative to Facebook, Diaspora. Just a concept, as of this writing they’ve raised $143k and have over 4k supporter/donators!
• Facebook controversy links:
  • OpenBook
  • New York Times stories compiled here
  • Excellent essay by social media researcher Danah Boyd (now w/Microsoft)
  • The case for staying with Facebook
• Fix your Facebook privacy settings or delete your account altogether
• FASCINATING infographic by a developer with the Visual Communication Lab at IBM Research Center for Social Software. The views expressed on it are his own, and do not reflect those of IBM (and read his disclaimers below the graph) BUT make sure you click on the years on the right in succession from 2005 until 2010 so you can visualize the erosion of privacy on Facebook since 2005. If your reaction is not “Holy Sh*t!” I’ll be surprised.

Minnov8 Gang 79: The Facebookers is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

It’s called “Izzy’s Flavor Up!” and it essentially allows customers to subscribe to their favorite ice cream flavors. Current flavors are updated every three minutes on its “flavor grid” web page.

With web site design and technology assistance from Bloomington MN-based The Nerdery (aka Sierra Bravo), Rogers MN-based RFID firm AbeTech, and CA-based tech vendor Phoenix Technologies, Izzy’s Ice Cream is now tagging all its 90+ flavors of ice cream in-store with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.  Each flavor’s tub is tagged with a unique code that’s automatically scanned when placed in the dipping cabinet.

What it means for an ice cream lover is nothing less than nirvana. Customers can now know, with absolute certainty anytime around the clock, which flavors are available in-store. When new flavors are removed from or added to the dipping cabinet, Izzy’s web site, Facebook and Twitter pages will automatically be updated, alerting fans to the latest changes. Customers can sign up for email alerts for their favorite flavors – so they’ll always know when their favorite Hot Brown Sugar, Soy Peanut Butter, or Peace Coffee ice cream is available. My buddy Al Maruggi told me today that Izzy’s has the best coconut ice cream in the Twin Cities, too, as he licked a sample thereof.

We also learned that SMS or text updates are on the way, if you’d rather get your alerts that way.  In-store customers can see the technology in action via a large-screen monitor that shows which flavors are now being scooped.

“Our customers are extremely passionate about their favorite flavors of Izzy’s ice cream,” said Jeff Sommers, Izzy’s owner, in a statement. “Their enthusiasm, while motivating me to continue creating delicious flavors, can also prove to be a customer service issue. Before today, our customers had no way of knowing if their favorite flavors were going to be available when they walked through the door.  This system solves that problem and makes it easier for our customers to enjoy their favorite flavors.”  The title of a video that Izzy’s crack PR firm put up on YouTube says it all: “How to Subscribe to Ice Cream.”

The nameplates for each flavor in the store have RFID chips built in, which are then read by antennae anchored in the dipping cabinet. The inventory is automatically updated simply through the act of an employee changing flavors in the dipping cabinet. That act triggers an inventory update, which in turn publishes the current flavors to multiple channels: the in-store screen, Izzy’s website, its Twitter and Facebook pages, and it’s automated emails to subscribers of individual flavors.

Izzy’s isn’t just a retail business. It has a catering business as well, and a wholesale business that has signed up several upscale grocery stores and restaurants throughout the Twin Cities that now offer its products — Kowalski’s, just to name one chain.

Regarding its latest new wrinkle, “This is undoubtedly one of the first uses of RFID as a customer service application,” said the company’s statement.  Izzy’s has a history of embracing new technology, having installed solar panels in 2005.  Owner Jeff Sommers also showed attendees at his media briefing today an innovative new cleaning system he has implemented in Izzy’s kitchen called “Zap Water,” which is an amazingly more environmentally friendly way to maintain a germ-free, allergen-free environment.

Izzy’s gets my vote as a true Minnesota innovator!  Now, excuse me, I’m jumping onto their web site to check if my favorite flavor is still available tonight….

Web Innovation Is Everywhere in Minnesota – Even In an Ice Cream Shop! is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

• Apple sells 1 million iPads in 28 days. Took iPhone 74 days. Plus, Minnesota-based analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray estimated that Apple sold about 300,000 units over the weekend, similar to the 300,000 Apple sold the first day of sales April 3. He said the 3G unit was sold out in 49 of 50 stores he checked, suggesting that long term, 3G units will make up about 40 percent of all sales while Wi-Fi units will make up the remaining 60 percent. In related news, is the iPhone code ban facing antitrust inquiry? and Apple Policy Said to Prompt U.S. Allegation by Adobe

• HTC’s Incredible Android Smartphone Hits the Market

• Twitter Launches Embeddable Tweets and PCMag’s Lance Unaloff thinks Twitter is the new CNN

• Governor Pawlenty says Minnesota needs to be more competitive. Healthy state economies will play a critical role in future job creation, but Minnesota does not rank among the nation’s top 10 “growth performers,” according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce study rolled out Monday by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

• KeyOn Announces Acquisition of Network Assets in Iowa and Minnesota. KeyOn is one of the largest providers of wireless broadband, satellite and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services in the United States, primarily targeting underserved markets with populations generally less than 50,000. (Good thing for rural Minnesota?)

• Google Acquires 3D desktop company Bump Technologies

• Microsoft’s IE Sinks While Google Chrome’s Market Share Triples

• Seven things you need to stop doing on Facebook and tech pundit Leo Laporte mentioned on TWiG 39 that he’s going to delete his Facebook profile over the incomprehensible social graph moves — and Leo’s inability to understand their impact on privacy settings (which he explains as, “If I can’t understand them…how can the average person!“) — made by Facebook at F8, their developer conference.

• Bill Gates says that Microsoft has some tablet projects in the works.

Newsbytes for Tuesday, May 4, 2010 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ The Pushbutton Web, a concept article by Anil Dash about a ”publish once, distribute everywhere” model:

• Steve Borsch talked about this at his SMBMSP #16 preso at Deluxe)
• Services: Posterous, PixelPipe
• WordPress plugins & themes like tWPter — along with hemes appearing like P2 that turns your WordPress blog into a Twitter-like tool
• Announcement by Typepad that they’re enabling microblogging
• PubSubHubBub at Google
• Google Insights, Trends & Alerts

+ Upcoming Microsoft retail stores and that they’re hiring for them. Also, the Gizmodo ‘leak’ of a presentation/plan done for Microsoft on the store concept

+ Google Voice, Apple & AT&T controversy with the Federal Communications Commission asking for clarification on Apple disallowing Google Voice in the iPhone App Store. Apple’s, Google’s and AT&T’s respective responses.

+ MIMA Summit; and the Social Media Breakfast (SMBMSP) next week at the State Fair.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast #48: Pushbuttons & Voice is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Discussed during the show:

+ Twitter down (and Dragnet’s “Blue Boy” LSD episode); FanChatter; Blog comment addition vendors: Echo and BackType (and BackType Connect for WordPress); Minnesota startups BusinessCard2 and Extendr as well as Retaggr

+ Federal Trade Commission (FTC) looking in to Google’s Eric Schmidt on Apple’s board (now potentially a moot point)

+ Pending Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceedings regarding wireless open access and handset exclusivity are in motion, and as part of this the FCC requested more information from the Google Voice app rejection by Apple (good overview of the controversy–and Apple’s overall app rejection policy–in this BusinessWeek article)

• FCC’s letter to Apple
• FCC’s letter to AT&T
• FCC’s letter to Google

+ HTML 5 and the open source video codec rejection; Google acquiring On2 and conjecture it was a strategic move to open source On2′s codec, move away from Flash (and minimize the possibility Adobe could make it a ubiquitous application platform as well as continuing to extend its reach as one for video) and not require licensing H.264

+ The MiFi device and the Wired article referred to by Tim; Comcast getting in to wireless broadband

+ “Social Media on a Stick“: Social Media Breakfast, Minneapolis/St. Paul (SMBMSP) is meeting at the State Fair

+ Blogwell is next week! This is positioned as a must-attend event for anyone interested in corporate social media use

+ Evocam: Steve’s geek fun this weekend.

Minnov8 Gang #46: Addicted to Twitter, Chatter about FanChatter & More is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

“Seed funding is the earliest stage of venture funding.  It pays your expenses while you’re getting started. Some companies may need no more than seed funding. Others will go through several rounds.  There is no right answer; how much funding you need depends on the kind of company you start.  At Y Combinator, our goal is to get you through the first phase. This usually means: get you to the point where you’ve built something impressive enough to raise money on a larger scale.  Then we introduce you to later stage investors or occasionally even acquirers.” (More on Y Combinator’s About page.)

YC’s application process is well explained on their site, a process FanChatter went through earlier this year, before their selection in mid-April.  After sitting on this story for some time, waiting for the TechCrunch post to break first (which is the normal way YC companies get announced), what follows is the result of a phone and email interview I did over the past few days with FanChatter founders Marty Wetherall and Luke Francl, who remain in Silicon Valley through August. (The third founder, Norm Orstad, was not available.)

Minnov8: Tell us about how you came to apply for the Y Combinator program. Why did you think a MN startup would stand a chance, and why did you decide to do it this year?

Luke: It was pretty much my idea, but it was basically for the hell of it. I figured “why not?” We made a pact that if we got in, we would do YC for sure, no matter what. Being from Minnesota didn’t figure into my decision at all; YC doesn’t really discriminate based on geography. As for the timing, it didn’t occur to me to apply sooner. I think that worked out for us, as YC expanded somewhat for the Summer 2009 class, due to the $2M investment they had raised. [That was primarily from Sequoia Capital.]

Marty: I’d always heard about Y Combinator as this program where only the best and brightest startups were allowed.  It just sounded cool like that, even though I wasn’t very knowledgeable at the time about Paul Graham or Hacker News.  All I knew was that FanChatter needed something big to happen, so we went for it.

Minnov8: Give us the quick story on the process — starting from when you applied, to when you were invited to make the trip to Mountain View to pitch, and then how you were chosen as a finalist.

Luke: The application is straightforward. The most challenging part is the video. We spent more than two hours working on a one-minute video. The first inkling we had that we might get selected was when Paul emailed me to say our video didn’t work. Crap! But that showed they were interested.  April 6th was nerve wracking as we waited to hear if we’d gotten an interview. Finally, at 7:30 that night, we got the email that they wanted to meet with us. We picked a time and flew out the morning of the interview.  Afterward, you have to wait around until YC calls you that evening. We got called about four hours after our interview.  YC has standard terms which everyone knows in advance, so you pretty much just have to say “yes” or “no.”

Marty: Couple things.  First, I’m a film and TV guy with well-known Super Bowl spots on my list of credits, and this video was the simplest thing I’ve ever done.  That’s because I didn’t have the brain space to make it into anything more than dudes talking into a web cam — but we must have said something right because they told us it was good!  Second, there’s a photo on our blog of Luke getting the call that we were in.  It was a great moment.  It felt like FanChatter had arrived. [Here's that photo of Luke taking the call from YC's Paul Graham, shot by Marty.]

Minnov8: The amount of seed capital each Y Combinator startup gets is not huge, but give us your take on the other benefits of being selected.

Luke: Yeah, the money is not really the main benefit of Y Combinator for a company like ours. I think if you were fresh out of college and used to living on ramen, $15,000 or $20,000 would go a long way, but we all have mortgages. On the flip side, we already have customers and so we can afford to take a little time and try to make this work. For the company, we get an incredible inside view of how Silicon Valley works, and a chance to pitch to the best angels in the Valley on Demo Day. For me personally, I knew I couldn’t turn down this adventure, even though I’m giving up income and living apart from my wife for the summer.

Marty: Definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I’ve lived and worked in LA and felt how the film industry runs that town.  Colors everything about it.  It feels like that in Silicon Valley, but it’s tech.  In coffee shops, what you overhear is tech talk.  Startups, angels, and VC.  It’s been fun to experience this.

Minnov8: Once you were accepted into the program around mid-April, how were you able to keep it such a secret — and why did you have to?

Luke: Keeping this under wraps has been incredibly difficult, because we wanted to shout it from the rooftops. But we were advised not to blog about being accepted to Y Combinator, because then it wouldn’t be news when we launched, meaning we’d have a difficult time getting covered by tech blogs. This was a tough row to hoe for us because we’ve been around for a while. I kind of wish we’d announced it sooner — we could have easily been the first YC launch of the summer, but that honor went to our friends at Bump.

Marty: Once we knew we couldn’t talk about it until we launched, we decided we’d use a new piece of business for our coming- out party.  We got that with the debut of our new ChatterBox feature on the homepage of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Minnov8: Tell us what the process was like to apply and, then, once selected as a semi-finalist, get up in front of the four judges to pitch FanChatter.

Luke: We spent a lot of time crafting the application. Every time I looked at the instructions, it seemed like there was some facet I’d missed, and I tried to hew very closely to the instructions, especially around answer length. I also paid close attention to the basics, like spelling and grammar, so there wouldn’t be any excuses to put our application aside. Paul and his partners look at hundreds of applications, so I didn’t want to give them a reason to pass ours by.

Waiting around at the YC office for the interview was the hardest part. I’d read horror stories about how you’d be able to get out two sentences and then Paul was just going to savage your idea. So, I practiced our demo, and Marty practiced our two sentences. There were a few other people waiting around so I showed them the demo, and I got to see theirs.

Once we got into the interview my nervousness was lifted right away. Paul was excited to see our demo. Paul, Jessica, Trevor, and Robert came around to the other side of the table and crowded around my laptop. [There's more about the four YC partners on YC's People page.] Then Paul sort of riffed on things we could do — I think he came up with about two years’ worth of work in about 10 minutes — while Jessica tried to bring things to a close so they could stay on time.

Marty: It’s true.  Luke kept grilling me the whole trip out here. “What are you going to do?” over and over. Not in terms of the interview, but in terms of the company.  So, we were ready.  The interview was easy once we got in there.  It’s definitely the closest I’ll ever get to feeling like a contestant on American Idol.

Minnov8: Being chosen as a winner required you to move to the Valley for the summer.  How did you, Luke, and Norm handle that, with respect to your “other” lives, and how long are you out there?

Marty: My wife and two-year-old daughter came out here with me, which has been both good and challenging. Startup life is round the clock, but we’ve made it work.  In many ways, it would have been easier as a young guy just out of college, as many of our YC classmates are.

Luke: I was already doing independent contract development work (hey, if this startup thing doesn’t work out, let me know if you need a good Rails developer!), so I finished up the contracts I was working on and that was about it.  My wife and I had planned to take a trip to Italy this summer (that was “Plan A”), so I had to pass that up. We’re out here until sometime in September, and then we’ll see after that.

Minnov8: Describe a typical day for you this summer in the Y Combinator program in Mountain View. Where do all these company founders work?  Are there events where you all get together?

Luke: For me, a typical day is programming, programming, programming. We have a quick stand-up meeting in the morning, and then I try to hack away at our products. I don’t see the other startup founders much, except on Tuesdays when we all get together for the YC dinner. That’s the social highlight of the week.  Almost everyone works out of their apartments, though I know of one group that’s living out of their office!

Marty: Our apartment is in Mountain View, just a few blocks from YC’s offices. Those Tuesday dinners at Y Combinator really define the program.  That’s where we meet and listen to amazing speakers from the startup world, including successful YC alums.  It’s interesting to check in with the other founders in our class to see what they’ve accomplished since the previous week.  I think it pushes all of us to keep up the momentum.  [Here's a photo of Luke and Marty, center, at one of the Tuesday night meetings, from a Flickr set by "socialmoth" - a YC alum named Paul McKellar.]

Minnov8: We’ve heard the mantra Y Combinator puts forth for its companies is to “Make something people want.”  What did FanChatter, which is not a brand-new startup, propose to “make”?  Did you essentially propose to improve your offering for consumers in order to be selected?  If so, how are you coming with that new work?  And when will new features be available to your existing users?

Luke: I think an increasing number of companies coming into YC already have products or working demos. They liked that we had customers — that was very attractive. We sort of pitched it as, “Look how far we’ve come working on this in our spare time. Imagine what we could do if we did this full time.” We’ve been rolling out new features to our existing customers all summer, as well as creating the new ChatterBox product. Paul’s been very helpful in helping us figure out the “big picture” of where we should be going: making more revenue for our clients (and getting a piece of that).

Marty: In our case, we’re making something that sports teams and other businesses who have fans want.  More engagement so they can make more money.  I’ve always believed that content sharing is the path to engagement, so that’s what we’re doing with Scoreboard Photo Sharing and the ChatterBox — and that’s just the beginning.

Minnov8: So, what is yet to happen in the Y Combinator summer program, as you’re now about two months into it — and what does the future hold for FanChatter?

Luke: “Demo Day” is what it all leads up to. [That's in late August at YC's offices, attended by many VCs and angels.] After that, we’ll see. We’re working on becoming ramen profitable, but also looking to raise some angel money.

Marty: Who knows?  Hopefully we’re on to something and fan engagement can carry us beyond sports and into music and TV and anywhere fans come together around a common interest.  There’s so much potential for interesting things to happen, and that’s where we want to be.

We at Minnov8 certainly wish the founders of FanChatter all the best as they go forward. And we love the fact that they just happen to be doing great things for our sports teams here in the Twin Cities!  For more, see the news release the company did on August 4. The TechCrunch story that broke August 1 is here: YC-Funded FanChatter Takes Social Media To The Ball Game. And another good story followed that on MediaPost’s Online Media Daily.

If you’re a startup thinking of taking a run at applying for the Winter 2010 Y Combinator program, there are some great tips on YC’s site, and a FAQ page provides even more insight into how you might be able to take advantage of this excellent program.

What’s your take?  Will you apply?  If not, why not?  What are your picks for other promising startups here in Minnesota who should apply?  Tell us in the comments.

FanChatter Goes to the Valley, Tapped by ‘American Idol’ for Startups: Y Combinator is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson. (Note: I apologize for the unfortunate ‘clicks’ heard in Lisa’s audio which were indeterminate)

Discussed During the Show Notes:

+ The music was provided by the Podsafe Music Network, the song is PJ style Blues by artist AjT, a 39 year old french geek and Apple lover.

+ Crunchpad and Mike Arrington on Charlie Rose

+ Twitter 101 and how Ashton Kutcher has come out about the fact that “Twitter Will Change Media”

+ Best Buy:

• Twelpforce: the Twitter account and a Techcrunch article
• The Twitter fight between Doug Beacham & Best Buy CMO, Barry Judge (and social media thought leader, Chris Brogan, has his own take on it here)
• Best Buy Social Media Director job that was crowdsourced and an update #2 on it here

+ The iPod as a multi-function device (can tie Touch to local app devs)

+  BlogWell on August 13th at General Mills (get Minnov8 discount code in this post)

+ Our guest, Lisa Foote, sent over these links for our show notes:

• Citation on “app stores not the future” (Financial Times report on MobileBeat, July 17)
• More on Nokia and QT
• Rhodes
• Android’s growth

+ Finally, as a special tribute to Phil Wilson’s curious and instant recognition that the bumper music for this week’s show was, in fact, very “Cialis commercial-like,” I offer up this Cialis spoof video starring the actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. (possibly NSFW) in honor of Mr. Wilson.

Minnov8 Gang #43: Tech Stuff & Mobile Trends is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Discussed during the show notes:

+ Social Media Breakfast-Minneapolis/St. Paul (SMBMSP) last week

+ Best Buy’s new Twitter initiative

+ MagentoCommerce

+ Upcoming WordPress meetup/unconference on Thursday, July 30th at 6:30pm

+ GDGT.com

+ Vendor Relationship Management

+ Posterous

Minnov8 Gang 41: What if George had an iPhone? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

On March 18th, I had the delight of lunching with Josh and his colleague Jocelyn Walters, both of Forrester Research. We met at the Cambridge Legal Sea Foods and shared stories and insights collected from our professional and personal experiences. Here is a snapshot of the insights I collected from our conversation. 

We talked a bit about social media analytics. I asked Josh what the key indicators or metrics are for managing on-line communities or sentiment flows, like Twitter. Josh was straightforward. He commented that social media analytics only tell part of the story, that off-line research is still required to validate new methods. Josh also added, that when using social media analytics, two things are highly usable – trends and inflections (spikes). When listening to a sentiment flow over time, one should be able to parse out trends from conversations. Spikes or inflection points require action. During a spike, something materially changes to the conversation and requires attention. Was there a product recall or significant event of similar nature? Spikes should trigger response.

I asked Josh using a baseball metaphor, “What inning is social media in?” He commented “It’s early.”

I also asked Josh about how an organization with a diverse brand portfolio could work across silos. Josh commented that “it’s all about best practices.” And that simple, portable frameworks allow for custom tailored applications per brand. Finally, Josh added that social media isn’t for every brand. You need audience scale or the right mix of technographics.

Josh warned against offering health professionals “widgets” to add to their professional websites. Something about “You’re nuts if you think that will work.”

We talked about the effect of time. What happens to Mom when her kids grow up? If Mom joins a community when her child is 6 months, does she move on to a new community during the toddler years? Pre-school years? We agreed that social media, specifically branded communities, have not done a good enough job of addressing time factors in their design and utility. How should a brand plan for such consumers movements in and out of communities over a lifetime? People change. More research is required.

Classic Josh – “Social media investment is growing. My phone won’t stop ringing. Different industry groups by the week.”

Finally, we chatted about Twitter and Twitter search. Josh gave me a live demo using certain branded keywords. Very cool. It led to this video, my first Flip Mino recording.

Interview with Josh Bernoff of Groundswell is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

If you’re not yet on board and using it, you’d have to be in some remote cabin in the wilderness to not have heard of it and been aware of its use during the presidential campaign, on CNN, spoofed on the Daily Show or used by members of Congress on their Blackberries during President Obama’s recent speech to they and the nation.

At the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference going on this week — the place where Twitter first hit the scene in March of 2007 — Twitter has, once again, been one of the primary conduits of communication for festival-goers as well as those in the greater Twitterville user community. Even companies like PepsiCo, in an apparent desire to capitalize upon the in-crowd’s use of this fun service, paid for a “PepsiCo Zeitgeist” application that tracks tweets that people insert with the #sxsw “hashtag” (an identifier so the message can easily be found by others searching with that tag) and displays them in fun and unique ways.

But there’s twouble in Twitterville at SXSW and from that comes a note of caution and advice if you’re planning on leveraging Twitter personally, professionally or as an organization.  The biggest issue facing Twitter users at SXSW are the volume of messages. Not only are people at SXSW using the #sxsw hashtag, so is every other Twitter user discussing anything related to SXSW! Many are using ‘sub’ hashtags (e.g., sxswi for south by southwest interactive) to better separate their tweets from the film and music venues down there in Austin, TX, but it’s not enough.

People have been crying out for other ways to manage the thousands of tweets, and services have sprung up to try and make communications easier to find and absorb. SXSWBaby, a blog and this Twitter account is aggregating key happenings and content at the conference as well as such aggregators as Twitmatic, a site collating all SXSW-related videos.

A newly launched service, Foursquare, is delivering geo-located services (e.g., so you can enter where you are with coordinates if your phone supports GPS and others can find you) as well as simultaneously messaging to and informing your Foursquare friends and Twitter. I’m one of the first in Minnesota to be using this on my iPhone, and apparently it’s gaining alot of buzz at SXSW as an alternative to Twitter.

Another problem that’s emerged at SXSW is access to Twitter. As it turns out, smartphone usage at SXSW (the iPhone in particular using its built-in GPS) is all the rage and one observer has seen far fewer laptops and netbooks vs. people primarily using mobile devices for all their internet-centric activities.  The additional problem with that and Twitter? People have been having huge problems even accessing AT&T’s 3G service with their iPhones. Fortunately, AT&T was undoubtedly monitoring both press coverage and Twitter outrage and took steps to double capacity and avert a likely public relations disaster.

CAUTION & YES YOU SHOULD
My note of caution is this: there is no magic with Twitter in the same way, you may recall, common knowledge indicated having a website was in 1997 or using email for marketing in 2000, both of which seemed like a panacea at the time but quickly turned into new channels that required an understanding and effort to use them effectively (and ward off the spammers and charlatans, also emerging in Twitter).

Does that mean you shouldn’t signup for Twitter? Quite the contrary. In my view being online, connected, and augmenting your in-person social connections will be “table stakes” to be in-the-game going forward. If you’re not connected online, it’ll be like not having a telephone or email.

• As an individual, resist the temptation to embrace Twitter just because everyone else is and thus expect miracles. The amount of noise that comes with a critical mass of people online is always higher than the signal…similar to trying to hold a conversation in a stadium when the crowd is cheering. It’s going to be more challenging as a brand new person now than it was when Twitter was smaller in the number of users, but it’s becoming as important as having a telephone in many ways so you should join and at least get started

• Professionally it’s undoubtedly important, especially if you’re a thought leader who blogs or is concerned about being relevant. More and more I’m seeing younger business leaders looking for those older folks that “get it” and are involved, engaged and embracing online activities

• As an organization, it’s nice to use Twitter as an automatic way of notifying those who care to follow you (e.g., by automatically having blog posts update your Twitter account; engaging conversationally with other Twitter users; and so on). It’s also a great way to ensure that you’re engaged with your brand in this people and communication milieu. One example of that is how Comcast — the cable and internet company who has experienced several backlashes from the tech community and a ComcastMustDie.com website — created a Twitter account called, “@ComcastCares“, in order to be directly involved in Twitterville and able to instantly respond (NOTE: I complained about a problem and the community manager for @ComcastCares sent it to escalation within the corporation and my problem was handled quickly).

There are a number of thought leaders right here in Minnesota. We enjoy some very astute technologists and observers whom you might want to follow on Twitter (because if you’re not already signed up, you will do so immediately after reading this article, right?). As I write this post on Monday morning, I’m listening to the streaming Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) program called “Twitter Nation” with just a couple of Minnesotans involved in Twitter who also enjoy unique perspectives.  The guests are:

• Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Consumer Technology reporter and columnist for the Pioneer Press, and author of “twitter means business: how microblogging can help or hurt your company.” (And someone we had on a Minnov8 Gang Podcast you can listen to here). Find Julio: blog; twitter; his day job at the Pioneer Press.
• Jamie Thingelstad: Former CTO of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, and now an entrepreneur-in-residence with Split Rock Partners.
• John Hodgman: Author and humorist. His latest book is “More Information Than You Require” and even though he’s not a Minnesotan, he looks and acts like one so we can make him an honorary citizen if he can be taught to say, “You Betcha.”

There is also a chapter of the Social Media Breakfast Club, comprised of more than 550 members which you can join and learn from others who are pushing the envelope with internet-centric communications. This group is made up of technologists, marketers and interested others who are involved in Twitter as well as many other social media/networking offerings.

UPDATE: Jamie Thinglestad wrote a recap post along with an embedded player so you can listen to the MPR show.

Twouble in Twitterville? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

You’ve heard us talk many times about how the time of flux we’re living in has created new opportunities and that people are atypically open to listening to better, cheaper, faster or new ways of doing things. If your startup has one, how are you helping people know about it?

Today’s hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Over-n-over again your Gang members run in to people seeking ways to make their processes more efficient, find cheaper or better ways to do something, but one thing is clear to us: people just don’t know what’s out there, what’s possible or — for the most part — that you or your startup even exist!

Links to Items Discussed on the Show:

+ PrincipledInnovation.com

+ Shazam

+ CloudCamp Minnesota

+ Mogulus

+ TimElliot.us

+ Customer service is the new marketing and more links here on this topic.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 25 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Today’s hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson. (Photo credit: Lee Odden (TopRankBlog; Flickr).

Joining us on the podcast is a brand new Minnov8 contributor and participant, Gary Koelling, who is Senior Manager, Social Technology at Best Buy Inc. After interactions with Graeme Thickins — who isn’t bashful about promoting Minnov8 — Gary decided he’d like to create for Minnov8 and completed the form (hint: you could too!).

Gary is the founder of BlueShirtNation.com, Giftag.com and leads several social technology projects within Best Buy. He describes himself as a tinkerer, gadfly (and an aspiring iconoclast), reader, tryer (someone who tries), teacher and listener (with a fairly tuned bullshit meter). Due to the success of the efforts he’s involved in, and the high profile of our hometown consumer electronics retailing giant, Gary has been able to talk to lots of people and companies around the country about social media and social technology.

Our favorite quote about his speaking around the country from his LinkedIn profile? “I don’t know if it’s helping, but I enjoy it.” We sure think so since he’s in-the-game, taking risks, experimenting and driving towards high value outcomes for his employer.

LINKS
Here are links to sites, products or other resources discussed during the podcast:

• Good economic news for MN tech firms in Q4 2008: MTS revs up 9%, EPS up 21% (view MTS “Test Suite“) and NVE up 24%, EPS up 44% (view NVE “Fun Facts” page)
• Mashable article on 40 Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them (Scroll down to the “Retail” section)
• Fortune Top 100 Best Places to Work: Mayo (24th) and General Mills (39th) as great places to work (via MNHeadhunter)
• Forbes listing America’s Top Most Wired Cities: Minneapolis is #7 on the list
• The (mostly mythological) “Osborne Effect” but is there some reality to it in an online world?
• Macintosh image editors increasingly used by Tim Elliott: Acorn and Pixelmator
• Gary headed to Etail in Phoenix and a Computerworld event (both he and his cohort and colleague, Steve Bendt)
• EVENTS: Social Media Breakfast 1/30/09; Minnedemo (RSVP if you want to get in!) 2/6/09; Unsummit 3/7/09.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 22 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Today’s hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.

Our discussion surrounded a variety of topics:

- How did the idea to open up the Best Buy catalog come about? What is the vision for Remix?
- How does it fit with broader plans or strategies of the corporation?
- Can you talk about how you came to select Mashery as your API delivery partner?
- What about higher level tools to increase access to the Remix API?

As you may have heard, a guy by the name of Keith Burtis (based in Buffalo, NY) was just hired to be community manager of the Remix program and is running the Twitter presence. During this podcast, we discussed the role of the community manager, what Keith is doing, and why it matters.

Links:

+ Kallow.com

+ Blog:  http://remix.bestbuy.com/blog

+ Twitter:  http://twitter.com/bestbuyremix

+ Kevin’s article, Agile Software Development: Bridges to the Future in BusinessWeek.

+ Follow @kevinmatheny on Twitter here.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 19 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

For those of you not yet on Twitter — and aren’t you feeling so smug you’re not wasting as much time as the rest of us? — you’re likely not aware there’s a site called Twitterholic, which ranks the popularity of Twitter users by number of followers.  Actually, despite what non-Twitter users may think, this social-media “microblogging” tool is proving to be quite useful for many in business, media, and even government, if the list of Minneapolis’ Top 100 Twitterers is any indication.

To better understand who’s doing these rankings, here’s how Twitterholic cutely explains itself:

“A few times a day, we calculate individual statistics for each twittering twit in our database. In other words, WE”R IN UR TWTTR PAGES, READN UR STATZ.  This list is updated daily so you can find out who the most popular twitter users are. To participate, do what you normally do — twitter constantly — if you deserve to be on the list, we’ll find you.”

Twitterholic ranks users across the world, with Barak Obama still leading the pack, CNN now in #3, and Twitter itself down the list further at #9.  But, beyond that global ranking, the two developers who built the site (based in Orlando, FL) devised a way to rank Twitter users by city — I assume, in our case, by finding the word “Minneapolis” or “Mpls” in individuals’ profiles.  Note some people choose to leave that part of their profile blank, while others insert something clever like “here” or “Earth” or “at my desk,” and thus they would not make it into their city ranking. (Note also the Minneapolis ranking of course does not include our friends across the river in St. Paul.)

But what are some things we can learn from the list of the Mill City’s top Twitterers?  First, that there are more than a handful on the list that have been twittering almost from when Twitter first became available, back in early 2007.  The man in first place, Lee Odden, fits that bill, and now has more than 5000 followers.  Lee is a consultant in search engine optimization (SEO), and speaks frequently at conferences all over the country. He obviously knows how to spread the word about his Twitter page, online and off.

Some locally based media outlets made the list, too, with Finance & Commerce ranked a surprising #26, our friends at MinnPost at #36, and the venerable StarTribune at #74.  Media organizations naturally tend to use Twitter to send out links to stories as they publish them. The Strib’s number of updates listed in the rankings, however, boggles the mind: 37,947!  Could our local daily possibly be putting out *that many* links in only 1.5 years?  Note the highest ranked media person on the list is James Lileks, a columnist at the StarTribune; his personal Twitter page is at #6.  Jim is a famous early-adopter of tech toys and tools. 

Others types of folks represented on the list include at least a couple of execs at local big companies: Barry Judge, Best Buy’s CMO (a recent convert), at #7, and Pete Steege, an exec at Seagate’s offices in Shakopee, at #20. Several PR and advertising types are on the list, too — including #11 (@PerfectPorridge), #16 (@tbrunelle), #22 (@MrChristopherL), #27 (@AxiomPR), #85 (@aeklund), #93 (@donmball), among others.  (I’d put myself in that category, too, and was very happy to see myself moving up the rankings at #31 after only a year on Twitter.)  A recruiter I know (@MNheadhunter) is at #29.  And several folks qualifying as Web 2.0 consultants or geeks obviously dot the list as well.  No question that many of these people tweet at least some of the time about their personal lives (I try not to!) — but you may be surprised that most on this list write or post links about business matters quite often, on such topics as how they use technology in their work lives, interesting articles they’ve read (I have a real weakness for this myself), and of course chatting back and forth with their work colleagues or business friends, about all manner of things. 

And how can I not call out that Minnov8′s own Phil Wilson came in at #89 (@Philson).  What’s more, a fun creation of his ranked even ahead of his own page, at #86.  I certainly recommend you follow that one: @comicTwit.  It provides me with many laughs as I scroll through a lot of crap (I mean tweets) from my own followers on Twitter.  Hey, there’s a lot to be said about not taking ourselves too seriously! 

But the most surprising thing of all on this Minneapolis Twitterers list?  Our city’s tech-savvy mayor, R.T. Rybak, comes in at #38!  So, local government has at least one representative.  And our city’s convention bureau, which dubbed itself “Meet Minneapolis” some years ago, is ranked at a very respectable #57.

So, whom do you know on the list, or whose tweets do you like?  By the way, be sure to follow us at www.twitter.com/minnov8!  Hey, we may not be on the Top 100 list yet, but we’re good…  :-)  

UPDATE 12/16/08: So, what about a Top 100 list for St. Paul?  Well, the Twitterholic developers must need to tweak something, because there are only two people on the list I could find.  I will leave the retarded jokes for others… Seriously, @albertmaruggi, our Social Media Breakfast buddy, kinda looks like he owns that town on this list, huh? And the Top 100 for “Twin Cities”?  That list needs serious help, too — only one person shows up there. One change on the Minneapolis list, if you’re reading the comments: Minnov8′s own @timelliott changed his profile to say “Minneapolis” (from “Twin Cities”), and he’s now at #20, pushing everyone below down a notch.  Note he’s been on Twitter for 1.8 years, tied for longevity with Lee Odden, as well as with @swirlspice, @edkohler, and @garrickvanburen.  But @Lileks beats that, at 1.9 years. Longest of all, though?  That would be @alexisthegirl — who’s been on for 2.0 years! Yikes, she must have been an early beta user.

What Can We Learn from the Minneapolis Top 100 Twitterers List? is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Today’s hosts: Steve Borsch,Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins, Phil Wilson, Garrick Van Buren

Connie Bensen is a woman who is completely engaged in the social media world and has turned it into a thought leadership position as well as career. She’s not only connected with other social media leaders who are geographically disbursed around the globe, but she’s also involved representing social media analytics company Techrigy…and all from her home 4.5 hours north of the Twin Cities! Who said outstate Minnesota people aren’t connected and fully engaged in the 21st century communications revolution!

Show notes:

+ Book Connie mentioned, “Personality Not Included”

+ Other links mentioned: Brian Brown’s Twitter account (from Ideapark); Graeme’s Twitter account; Fast Company article about “8 Experts Predict How Web 2.0 Will Evolve In 2009“; ComicTwit (and its Twitter account)

+ Connie has several key resources linked to from her home page here…definitely worth reading ‘em!

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 17 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

Today’s hosts: Steve Borsch,Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins, Phil Wilson, Garrick Van Buren

We’re blogging; doing vlogs; publishing photos in Flickr and sending messages on Twitter and Identi.ca; social bookmarking like Cullect and Delicious; on networks like Facebook and MySpace *and* joining specialty affinity groups like, for instance, SMBMSP.Ning.com.

Flock, the browser for Windows/Mac/Linux, came out to try to provide a one-stop-shop of all of our disparate, browser-based social media and networking participation. Friendfeed was the one of the first well accepted, Web-hosted one. Now there’s PeopleBrowsr. We’re also seeing inter-connections between social networks, blogs, social bookmarking and channels like Twitter: posting to a blog can appear in Facebook and be sent to Twitter; Twitter messages can be posted on Facebook; Cullect can capture feeds instantly. 

Without a dozen tabs open in a browser — or using a tool like Fluid or Mozilla Prism to create a bunch of SSB’s (site specific browsers) or building a dashboard in iGoogle or NetVibes — none of us have enough time in the day to keep tabs on what everyone is doing, participating within all of these channels of communication, and ensuring we’re EVEN AWARE of them in order to participate in relevant and important conversations. 

In this show, the Gang discusses where we are and some approaches to solving this chaotic (but fun) mess.

Minnov8 Gang Podcast – Episode 16 is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

The continued growth of social networks is the strongest indicator of that trend, but the explosion of microblogging is another that bears watching, is worthy of your participation sooner-rather-than-later, as it’s already beginning to shift how early adopters in Minnesota are connecting with one another.

If you’re reading this blog post — whether directly on Minnov8, through an aggregated feed like the one at CentralStandardTech, or a publication we support with our content, MinnPost — you’re already familiar with blogging.

Though blogging is still one of the best ways to connect with people, inexpensively self-publish, create search engine friendly frequently updated content, or be a ‘container’ in which one can place value and position oneself as a a thought leader, good blogging requires significant time and effort in order to build and maintain an audience.

Microblogging, on the other hand, is a method to quickly publish small snippets of commentary or value — usually 140 characters or less that is somewhat like a persistent instant message, public in nature — and is therefore much easier to update when the mood strikes. Add to that the ability to make a brief comment and include a web link URL if so desired (so people can go out and read or view what you’re pointing them to on the Web) allows anyone publishing in this way to have their “followers” or audience quickly read that snippet, comment on it, forward it on, or let it stream by as other content appears from other followed microbloggers.

Minnesotans have embraced microblogging and its promise is that it will help to shift the way we all connect with one another, are alerted to items of interest, and even to collectively be engaged in running commentary like what has been exhibited during the various presidential or vice presidential debates where people were making real-time comments sent over Twitter.

The first mover in the microblogging space was Twitter. During the 2007 South by Southwest conference in Austin, TX, Twitter setup up 51″ displays that showed the ongoing stream of “tweets” as they’re called, alerting attendees to parties, bands and other must-attend venues. In a short time, many of the top bloggers attending were gushing about Twitter, and many of us following those bloggers signed up and starting using Twitter to see what all the fuss was about with this new service.

Unfortunately, as Twitter exploded in use it had scalability issues. The site and service was often down, updates didn’t refresh properly, and the outcry from the tech community was relentless. One reason its use grew so quickly was not just the number of people signing up and using it, but also because Twitter (perhaps too early) released an application programming interface (API) that enabled developers to create new applications that used the underlying Twitter architecture.

If you’d care to view a dizzying array of applications making use of the Twitter infrastructure, you can do so here.

This didn’t stop people from using it, but the pressure made them address it quickly. It also helped other microblogging services obtain new users such as FriendFeed (an aggregrator of all your digital breadcrumbs left around the internet); Pownce; the open source identi.ca; and even a recently introduced private, enterprise-class version called Yammer.

Uses of microblogging are numerous and include everything from instant notifications of earthquakes, grassfires and other events, to live updates from news organizations, political campaigns and even auto-microblog-postings when a blog post or article is published by a microblogging person or organization.

This is one way Minnesotans are using microblogging. Here’s a random list of microbloggers to give you a sense of what’s out there and whom you could follow:

+ PoliticsMN

+ Minnesota Historical Society

+ MN Headhunter

+ KARE 11

+ UofMN Golden Gophers

+ MinneMom

+ Minnov8

+ ComicTwit

+ Finally, here’s a Twitter search for tweets within 100 miles of Minneapolis, which will give you a sense of the volume of people actively engaged in this service within Minnesota.

IS TWITTER THE PERFECT COMMUNICATION MEDIUM?
Not by a long shot and some have even pointed out the uselessness of microblogging. But if you consider how the internet, web and access to it with desktop/laptop computers, smartphones and netbooks has made it even more important in all of our lives, then evolutionary communication mediums like microblogging are important stepping stones along the path toward richer, more robust and deeper human connections.

Some find microblogging a distraction, especially since real-time updating clients have emerged (e.g., Twhirl) that require fairly frequent attention be paid as messages keep appearing and then scrolling off the page into the ether.

Others point out that there is trouble with microblogging exacerbating the negative trend of a “sound bite” culture since too many people already focus only on the “headlines” and not the “article or story”. This headline-only nature is akin to how many people only skim newspaper headlines with disturbing assumptive results, “Carjacking in St. Paul by Two Teenage Males” with the article stating, “Today’s apparent carjacking victim realized she was completely unaware of any danger as two Roseville teenage boys pulled her out of her rear-engined car as flames began shooting out from under the hood.”

Even BusinessWeek has weighed in with several articles, most importantly this one from May of 2008 entitled, “Why Twitter Matters“:

Businesses such as H&R Block (HRB) and Zappos are now using Twitter to respond to customer queries. Market researchers look to it to scope out minute-by-minute trends. Media groups are focusing on Twitterers as first-to-the-scene reporters. (They were on top of the May 12 China earthquake within minutes.) Loads of new applications and services are growing around the Twitter platform, leading some to suggest that the microblogging service could become a powerhouse in social media.

More likely is that Twitter, Pownce, Yammer and other microblogging ‘platforms’ will continue to evolve and increasingly become personalized conduits within which alerts, notifications, links and even GPS-location based photos or updates will be sent to those following the person or organization sending the message.

One thing is clear, however, and that is Minnesotans have already embraced microblogging and are incorporating it into daily life.

+ Definition of microblogging

+ Microblogging News

+ The Microblogger: a blog about microblogging (is this paradoxical?)

Minnesota Microblogging is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.

As you can see from Phil Wilson’s Unsummit post, there were those who ignored the hype and chose to do their own (free) concurrent event at a nearby pub, thank you very much. (Okay, many of them were too cheap to pay the big MIMA fee.) And the MIMA folks actually cheered them on (even from the stage the day of the two events), since they felt bad they couldn’t have accommodated more people. But the venue — the very nice Depot downtown — could literally take no more. (MIMA has vowed to find a bigger site next year though that won’t be easy — maybe the Convention Center?) This year’s attendance, I believe, was something north of 700. MIMA’s membership is now about 950, but the Summit’s attendees also included some non-members and invited speakers, of course.

So, how did the event go?  This was my first year attending (they have not given press passes to us lowly bloggers in the past), so I went courtesy of my employer, to do some serious working of the crowd.  My assessment: the hype didn’t quite meet the reality as far as the overall content, as quality conferences go. But this is an association, after all, not a professional conference producer. And don’t we all kinda forgive a certain percentage of marketing build-up most of the time?  Nonetheless, the logistics were handled quite well, and my hat’s off to the MIMA officers and their band of volunteers who pulled this thing off. (I’m sure they’ve worked out a lot of bugs over the several years they’ve sponsored this event.)

As with any event like this, I attend much more for the people, the networking, the connections, and that part was excellent. The chance to exchange notes and news with your peers, meet new folks in our amazing marketing and advertising community, and meet out-of-town speakers as well made the event very worthwhile. As they say, it’s what goes on in the hallways that matters, not in the meeting rooms. In the age of Conversational Marketing, this was indeed a blab fest of the highest order.

The highlight of the day for most everyone was surely the lunch speaker, Ze Frank. This guy is a polished, well coached and practiced speaker to large audiences (including the likes of the TED conference and other high-brow affairs), and he did not disappoint. The man is flat-out funny and entertaining. He’s a bona fide Internet celebrity since launching his first video (him dancing) several years ago, a video that went viral beyond all viral to that date. (He talked about getting a $30,000 bandwidth bill from his ISP after that experience.)  See more about the Ze Frank Show at this page of his archived links or visit his blog at www.ZeFrank.com. (By the way, if you want to be cool, you pronounce his first name “zay.”)

It’s a good thing Ze was so well received, because the earlier keynote, to open the event, was horrid. Note to planners: one hour is too long, and editors may write well, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they know how to speak. (I live-Twittered the event: here’s my archive page, which is six screen shots of my tweets, starting with the beginning of the event on top.)

So, what else did I pick up about the event, what was the overall buzz?  Well, there were those who said it wasn’t “interactive enough,” which is an interesting take for a gathering of interactive marketers. But it can be hard to have participatory discussions with such a large group (impossible?), even in the breakout sessions — some of which easily drew 150+ in packed rooms with many standing.  Choosing breakout sessions is always a challenge, and I missed some very good ones because, well, I had to make one choice each session. I’m sure many went away feeling the same.  There were just too many not-to-miss talks scheduled concurrently (not good planning on the part of MIMA) — six each in two particular sessions! Way too difficult to choose, and jumping from one to another, to catch two concurrent sessions you like, just never really works.

Funny thing was, two other breakout sessions had four choices each and were largely duds — none of the choices had much appeal to me at all.  So, I left feeling I missed what could have been some really good content.  Example: I just had to attend “Mobile…2009 and Beyond” (which was good), but missed the concurrent session with the Zappos guy talking about “Making the Customer Connection in 140 Characters or Less” (that would be Twitter). But I made up for it by chatting with him at the cocktail reception later.

I was only able to catch two other breakout sessions: one on ad exchanges vs. networks (by Google), which was only mildly interesting to anyone except a media buyer, and another called “Marketing Mix Challenge,” which had four panelists describe how they would spend “only” $500k on a fictitious consumer product launch. I heard criticism later from people on that one who just don’t relate to the large agency world, which thinks $500k is a small budget.

But, all in all, it was as successful an event as each individual made it to be. And I made it a good one — lots of great new connections with whom I look forward to following up.

MIMA Summit Packs The Depot is a post from: Minnov8 and published under a Creative Commons license.