Social Media — Page 3

Visions of Tomorrow, Yesterday

February 17, 2010 By Steve Borsch

From Matt Novak's PaleoFuture blog (click on image to see Matt's post)

If you, like I, follow the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) Twitter feed (@MNHS) then you might already have stumbled across an interesting lecture which may also have led you to a delightful St. Paul blog.

Stumble indeed.

It was pure happenstance that I came across a compelling MNHS lecture called, “History of Hip: Yesterday’s Tomorrow” and features historian Brian Horrigan and blogger Matt Novak (the guy with that cool St. Paul blog called “Paleo-Future“). In it they highlighted some of their favorite trends in science fiction of the past while they shared their own thoughts about the future of this genre.

With only three lectures posted (on a WordPress blog in a new category called Minnesota History Lectures), the innovative thing is that MNHS, like many historical societies around the country, are exposing more of their content and compelling attractions digitally and online. Most of the MNHS efforts succeed — like my favorites Family Search and the great images of Minnesota digitized and available through the Collections — but I must admit feeling a profound sense of disappointment that this particular lecture was delivered in video as a 320 x 240 window in M4V format. Perfect for an iPod or iPhone, but unacceptable for how I usually watch long-form video (through my Mac mini on my HDTV).

I downloaded the 513MB file and watched it on my iPhone and now wish I’d known about the lecture in advance (it was that good) and also so I could scrub through it and see portions of it again. There is some great content in it and in particular some of the retro future videos Matt shows in his portion of the lecture in the second half are really fun.

The challenges MNHS faces delivering long lectures of this type (and doing so affordably) isn’t lost on someone like me who has analyzed the economics of video. But so many of us now are streaming video over our computers or connecting our Roku (or next month the Boxee Box) to our HDTV’s, the stepping up of the qualitative delivery of video is an imperative and, I believe, will be “table stakes” to be in the game of delivering long form video content going forward.

All that said, I so appreciate the efforts of MNHS and that more and more of the content they hold is available online. I’d heartily recommend you head over to their site and check out what’s going on there and this lecture in specific and, by the way, Matt Novak is launching a magazine in April, you can help him raise the initial dough by donating, and this retro future magazine ought to be a fun one!

Get in Their Shoes: 1:1 Interviews for You

February 8, 2010 By Steve Borsch

Wouldn’t it be great to have a chance for a 1:1 mentoring from former Apple evangelist and current VC Guy Kawasaki? Or time with the former CEO of GE, Jack Welch? Or a chance to ask Wired magazine’s Chris Anderson about all the things he sees that might be germane to your startup? Or talk about your social media startup with Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell?

Here’s your chance.

Patrick Tedjamulia, one of the founders of a non-profit in Utah called the International Mentoring Network Organization (IMNO.org) reached out to me about a “Mentorship Auction” they’re holding and their Get in Their Shoes Campaign to promote it (thanks to Doug Pollei for the connection). Thinking a post about it might be a bit of a stretch for Minnov8’s mission focused on internet and web innovation in our state, I reached out to Patrick by email and tossed the ball in his court to give me a call so we could kick it around.

Tedjamulia is a brand manager at General Mills and he grabbed a few minutes to launch a call to me this morning. As we talked I quickly realized that yes, this sort of thing would definitely be of interest to the Minnov8 readership!

The first auction is currently running and is a 1-on-1 mentoring opportunity with one of my favorite authors Daniel Pink, the NY Times Best Selling author of “A Whole New Mind”, and “Drive”. Daniel’s auction ends Feb. 11th so there is still time for you to bid. The winning bidder will get a thirty-minute phone conversation (mentorship) with Daniel Pink.

Today, Feb. 8th, the next auction is opening and will be a mentoring opportunity with Caterina Fake, the co-founder of Flickr and now Hunch. Coming up are auctions posted for mentoring opportunities with the following individuals:

Fernando Aguirre, CEO and Chairman of Chiquita brands: Feb 15- 24
Lawler Kang, author of Passion at Work: Feb 22-Mar.3
Dave Logan, author of Tribal Leadership and The Three Laws of Performance: Mar. 1 – 10
Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine and author of Free!: Mar. 8-17
Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group and co-author of Groundswell: Mar. 15-24
Stephan Roche, CEO of Kapitall: Mar. 22 – 31
Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, author of The Culture Code: Mar. 29 – Apr. 7
Geoff Colvin, Senior Editor, FORTUNE and author of Talent is Overrated: Apr. 5 – 14
Robbie Vitrano, CEO of Trumpet Group: Apr. 12 – 21
Jeff Hayzlett, CMO of Kodak: Apr. 19 – 28
Jeffrey Veen, web design and development guru and co-founder of Adaptive Path: Apr. 26 – May. 5
Aaron Magness, Director of Brand Marketing, Zappos: May 3 – 12
Rafe Furst, entrepreneur, investor and business leader: May 10 – 19
Guy Kawasaki, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures: May 17 – 26
…and more.

Proceeds from the campaign will go directly to the International Mentoring Network Organization (www.imno.org), a 501c3 non-profit organization aimed at making professional mentoring available to everyone and truly founders of what they term the “Open Source Mentoring Movement”. Also, stop by their site to listen to some recorded calls to get a sense of what these sorts of mentorship opportunities are like.

Don’t miss the chance to be mentored by Daniel Pink, Guy Kawasaki, and many others and bid today at Get in Their Shoes.

Dave Does Digital: A Morning Show and Social Media

January 13, 2010 By Phil Wilson

How a Twin Cities morning mainstay, The Dave Ryan Show, is using social media.

I admit it, I listen to commercial radio quite a bit…yes, even Top 40. I know this is hard for many to admit. There is this pressure that if you don’t listen to NPR all the time you’re some how less of a person. I have my public radio favorites and still love to dig for new and more independent music, but I like hearing the “hits”. It’s the way I was brought up. Whether they be current or more from my formative years, I listen to rock, alternative, country and pop stations and the “hit” music they play. Besides, with a pre-teen and teen in the house and car it’s pretty much a given that I’ll be hearing my fair share of Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.
It’s for that reason that I noted and was impressed with how one of Minneapolis’ local shows was using interactive and social media tools. What was also impressive was how they were integrating it into their on-air presentation. They often noted that more and sometimes exclusive content could be had online…a practice all too often avoided by stations and personalities.

As I have commented here on RemainComm, commercial radio as a whole has been slow in adopting and investing in the new forms of media that allow the growth of relationships with their listeners. OK, some just plain suck at it. KDWB’s Dave Ryan Show is an exception. Dave and his cast have done some interesting things and I had a chance to chat with him about his interactive pursuits.

For better or for worse, Dave still looks at interactive as “free marketing”. For the radio business the price tag of free is the main appeal of social media. Dave noted, “You’re crazy if you’re not taking advantage of everything you can to reach your audience.” But to Dave’s credit he goes on to say, “Yeah, you want more listeners but you really do care…about the listeners and the content. It’s like having a booth at the State Fair.” A practice all Twin Cities stations take part in, whether it makes sense as a marketing tool or not. Dave also notes that what they do online is “an extension but it also keeps us relevant. It helps let the audience know that you have your fingers in all the cool stuff.” (More on his use of social media to listen further down the page.) Here’s a look at what they are doing. Some of it is obvious, some not, and some of it shows great foresight…. [Read More…]

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