Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

MIMA Presents Obama Online

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There has been much discussion about the new emphasis on the online and social media policies of our new administration. As Minnov8’s Steve Borsch noted back in November, “The Obama campaign’s effectiveness in delivering their messages and calls to action will be hyper-analyzed over the next several months.” Well our friends over at the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association are giving us some of that analysis by presenting an “Integrated Campaign Case Study: Obama Online” On June 17th.

The event will be held at Nicollet Island Pavilion and feature Scott Thomas (aka SimpleScott). According ot MIMA you’re invited to “take a look at how the Obama campaign looked before (Scott) and other designers, joined the team for the last election season.” and promises “You’ll see how it was, how it evolved, and the lessons learned along the way. ”

Scott Thomas, aka SimpleScott, was invited to join the New Media team at Obama for America during the campaign and it led to him becoming the Design Director of the historic Obama Presidential campaign.

Getting to Know W3i

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w3i_logoAs usual, the schmoozing at Minnedemo yielded a pleasant surprise. My discovery of a Minnesota company that is known better beyond it’s borders than within them and the CEO of said company. The CEO; Andy Johnson. The company; St. Cloud based W3i.

Many in the Minnesota interactive “space” (I love using that term. It’s so Gene Roddenberry) know Andy from his days at Fingerhut. He was instrumental in moving them into the e-commerce world where he grew their business to some $300 million* before Fingerhut sold in 1999, allowing him  to take some time to recharge and be with family. He eventually joined CMS Direct where he was lured away by three brothers–Rob, Ryan, and Aaron Weber (the W3 of W3i. Yep the “i” is for interactive.)

What does W3i do? According to Johnson, whether you are a small developer with a great Windows based application or part of a monster company like Yahoo!, W3i can get your product on computers, build traffic, and make you money. How?…  [Read More…]

Standouts and Serendipity at SXSW Interactive

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Last week was a busy one for many in the interactive community here in Minnesota. As chronicled by Minnov8, South By Southwest (SXSW), a name long associated with independent and breaking music and has grown to include Film and Interactive, attracted many of Minnesota’s best and brightest for five days of workshops, events, and parties.

From March 13th-17th the Austin Convention Center, as well as the very Streets of Austin, became a hotbed for computer code, social media, and interactive business. And right there in the middle of it stood the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
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Unsummit: But First, Real People on Social Media

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As part of Minnov8’s coverage of the Unsummit on Saturday, March 7th, we thought it would be interesting (and more than a bit fun) to ask people on the streets around the Hennepin County Library (site of the Unsummit) how they use social media. Join videographer Brian Stemmler and myself for a little “people on the street” fun. (Please note that no Canadians in bunny ears were harmed in the making of this video.)

Check back here soon for more video interviews and information from the Unsummit.

Meet and Tweet at Twestival!

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logo_twestival-w-dateTwestival moved into Uptown on Thursday night attracting local tweeps looking to help bring clean water to the world. Organized by charity: water, the gathering at Moto-i was part of 200+ city effort world-wide. From Hamburg to Hong Kong, Dubai to Dublin, and Madrid to Minneapolis the organization’s goal was to raise $1 million dollars to aid in its mission to bring clean drinking water to the 1.1 billion people (one in six) who don’t have access to it.

As I entered last Thursday’s event I was pleasantly surprised to see many people I hadn’t seen before at the many social media industry gatherings in the Twin Cities. Wow, real people using Twitter! As I wound my way through the crowd to hang with the tweeps I knew, I noted many laptops open with their users either tweeting or live blogging the event. A video display showed Twitter activity regarding the Minneapolis gathering scrolling up the wall via spy and, in the corner. the hosts of SpaceVidcast hosted their weekly vidcast.

As the sake flowed and the sounds of Air Supply (really…Air Supply…no, really) wafted from the speakers, for the Twitter faithful who weren’t glued to their screens or phones, they mingled and got to meet the people that they had probably only tweeted to on line. There was no shortage of conversation as the 140 character limit used on Twitter had been lifted from the relationships.

As of this writing, the final numbers of money raised at the event were not available. According to Minneapolis Twestival organizer, Andrew Korf (@andrewkorf) nearly $700 in cash was raised at the event with more to come from online donations. On a more global level, charity: water, faced with the need to collect money from around the world and a Monday bank holiday, hopes to have final numbers by Tuesday or Wednesday. (Look for an update here.) According to charity: water Communication and Media representative Nicky Yates, “A million dollar donation would mean clean drinking water for 50,000 people for 20 years.”

Update 2/20/09: According to the Twestival website, $250,000 has been collected so far.

Beyond aiding fundraising efforts, Twestival is another example of what social media can do to raise the awareness of a cause or organization. The planning of Twestival, put together over a 3 month to 3 week period of time, depending on the city, brought new awareness to charity: water on a gobal scale. Yates says, “We’re very excited by this entirely volunteer organized event. There are now more than 50,000 people around the world who are aware of charity: water that weren’t before this event.”

A New Chapter for MN Stories

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mnstories1Video, Video, Video. Open your browser and you open a world of video access….or is that excess? From in-depth news coverage to roller-skating parrots, the world offers an unlimited supply of video. That’s a lot of video! How could one possibly discover what’s being produced here in Minnesota, maybe right up the street? Enter MN Stories, a video sharing site founded by Chuck Olsen.

You might know Chuck from any number of video and web related projects in and around the Twin Cities. Most recently, the always in motion Mr. Olsen dedicates heart and soul to the Uptake, a nationally acclaimed citizen journalism outlet that was launched to cover the 2008 election process (One that has stretched into 2009 as we Minnesotans patiently(?), at least as of this writing, await the seating of our 2nd Senator.).

The first iteration of Chuck’s MN Stories, launched in 2005, more closely resembled a video blog showcasing mostly Chuck’s work. “I always had a vision of a video sharing site.” says Chuck. “The Uptake just took over so much time.” Now, as the election hustle and bustle fades, Chuck has time to relaunch his video community vision. A relaunch we happily herald here as part of his first interview on the topic.

The newly rethought and redesigned MN Stories offers easy access to Minnesota video as well as providing a community for the producers and viewers of that video. “I can post video on YouTube but who’s gonna find me?” was Chuck’s driving question. So, think YouTube for Minnesota.
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Playing Tag at Social Media Breakfast

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Thursday morning (11/20) saw another gathering of Social Media Breakfast at Best Buy headquarters. This was a “special” event presented by Best Buy rather than the gathering those who attend the event each month have come to expect.

It was billed as “Breakfast with Jeff Pulver“. Jeff is considered a true VOIP pioneer and a very active enthusiast in social media or what he terms “Social Communications”…a term  more fitting to this movement since it focuses on the act of communicating rather than the medium through which we do it.  He hosts breakfasts around the world and, as it appears, he is using them to practice Personal Tagging.

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Great (Meerman) Scott! What a Social Media Breakfast!

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The monthly meeting of the Social Media Breakfast of Minneapolis-St.Paul, held at the PartnerUp Headquarters, also known as Deluxe, was anchored by author/marketer David Meerman Scott on Friday (10/29).

Following opening comments from SMBMSP head cheese, Rick Mahn, Minnov8’s own Graeme Thickins, who coordinated Meerman Scott’s appearance, introduced the online media evangelist to a packed room.

The bulk of his presentation centered around the need for companies to adopt social media and interactive methods of marketing for one simple reason…that’s where customers go to find what they’re looking for. He noted that whenever he asks any group, organization, or gathering what their habits are, when it comes to finding what they want, the web always impacts nearly 100% or them, yet marketers still cling to those methods (direct mail, mass media, etc.) that have much less impact.

He calls the activity of using online and social media marketing as “Spreading the message by word of mouse.” There is a clear need for businesses, individuals, and marketers alike to “think like a publisher” citing that, “We are what we publish.” What reason is given most often as to why a company or individual can’t do that? “We’re a ________! We can’t do that!” where the blank represents a company’s business practice or product.
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Science Museum Could Be Minnesota’s Tech Secret

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The Science Museum of Minnesota held another of its Web Seminars on Tuesday, October 7th.  For many, the SMM has become a valuable resource as they seek to get up to speed, learn a new skill, or discover “what all the fuss is about” in the computer world. To others it could very well be a secret.

The SMM houses a Computer Education program that never fails to impress me. I first discovered them about two years ago when I made the decision to merge my traditional media experience with the “new” media world. They offer an incredible array of classes that cover everything from an introduction to computers (Absolutely Terrified of Computers) to network management, HTML, PHP, and a whole host of software training. I’ve found these classes to be concise and very hands on. All taught by incredibly well prepared…and patient…educators at a very reasonable rate.

Throughout the year they host seminars that take on various topics related to web development and design. The topic for this gathering: Refresh Your Pages. Presentations included Maintaining Your Website, PDF Accessibility For All, Benefits of Business Blogging, and Flash at its Finest. These free presentations were made by both SMM staff and guests and, as noted in the photo, attracted a full room of participants. I was particularly interested in the accessibility information as I often find myself short-cutting the process.

I’m always excited to see who shows up at these events. I always know a few faces from the world of tech, marketing, and project management but I also meet plenty of full and part-time designers there to pick up a tip or two. The best part; there are always new faces, people I don’t see at the many tech related gatherings I attend, who are just entering the online world. The guest presenters are also people I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting at other conferences. Getting to know all of them is always very heartening, because more people teaching and more people learning means more people participating online. And that means more opportunities for Minnesota innovation to proliferate.

UnSummit ’08…More Than a Summit Alternative

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As noted on it’s website, “UnSummit 2008 is an technology+marketing conference created to serve those unable to get tickets to the the MIMA Summit on Oct. 1, 2008.” Though maybe not the intent of organizer Don Ball, it was also for those who didn’t want to pop for the rather spendy registration fee for said MIMA Summit, simply didn’t want to go, or were drawn to a more intimate setting. Whatever the motivation, the daylong event held at the Local Pub in Minneapolis was quite the success.

The day was set in the increasingly popular “unconference” format where the agenda naturally evolves around a given topic or question. Some fifty interactive and social media enthusiasts spent the day addressing a wide range of topics. Three separate “spaces” played host to discussion and presentations on How Traditional Agencies Can Move to Digital, Social Media Reality Check, New Possibilities in Video, Marketing Heresies, Community Management 101,The Future of PR, and a  session addressing the lofty goal of Measuring ROI of Social Media…nope, we didn’t quite figure that one out. Dang!

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