Miscellaneous Uses for a Blog

You KNOW I love when companies utilize the tools of social media to engage their base of customers or potential customers. I’ve been looking for a new cell phone for a while now. One of the phones I had been considering was the Samsung Instinct from Sprint . Unfortunately, first impressions for me were not that great. Yet, after expressing this over Twitter, Samsung took the time to engage with me directly . That interaction not only encouraged me to make the decision to take a second look, but also put the phone at the top of my list.

Yet another way that social media can improve your business.

FYI: Cell phone on the brain caused me to say "Verizon" instead of "Viacom" in the video with regards to a previous post .

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I’m sure you have heard the commotion over a judge ordering YouTube (owned by Google ) to hand over "all data from the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website" to Viacom . This has raised huge concerns centered around internet privacy and the seemingly spineless way Google has responded to the court order. Handing over personally identifiable information sets a president for other companies to do the same. In fact, the Wall Street Journal even hints that this is the end of Internet privacy .

Viacom ’s response

Monday, Viacom released a statement regarding the court order and what Google and Viacom have been doing with regards to the transfer of information. In it, they say:

"The personally identifiable information that YouTube collects from its users will be stripped from the data before it is transferred to Viacom . Viacom will use the data exclusively for the purpose of proving our case against You Tube and Google."

While popular response to the "big evil Viacom" would hint that this statement is nothing more than a cover up, I believe them. It’s clear that Viacom is looking for information about just how much of their content was viewed on YouTube so they can hand Google a bill. Viacom’s lawsuit is NOT with individual users, but with Google. This lawsuit was known well ahead of Google’s acquisition of YouTube. While Google has implemented ways to find copyrighted material on it’s site, there is really no way for them to completely stop it. They knew going in that this would be a case they would fight and most likely loose.

John Flowers made a great point on the July 9th edition of This Week in Media . He likens Google’s response to copyrighted online video to how Microsoft handled the $1 million/day fine they were giving in 1997 for bundling Internet Explorer in Windows 95. They simply decided to continue to pay the fine. Google will likely continue to pay fines to companies like Viacom for copyrighted content on their system until partnerships can be reached.

The REAL takeaway for Viacom

Of course, a hefty check for royalties will be coming Viacom’s way no matter what happens. You certainly can not ignore that fact. But one thing that people are missing is the fact that Viacom will essentially get exclusive access (apart from Google) to the biggest database of online video viewing habits in the world. This isn’t Neilson folks… it’s hard, complete data, and an insane amount of it. This is information that no other media entity has access to. With this data, Viacom can evaluate exactly where people’s viewing interests lie, compare online verses offline viewership, and further evaluate the marketing potential of online video.

How it can HELP increase online distribution of video

While there is a lot of "kick-in-the-pants" stuff on YouTube, I believe that Viacom will be surprised at just how many people view their properties online through YouTube. This will be data that Viacom will not be able to ignore. I suspect that this information will only INCREASE Viacom’s willingness to distribute their copyrighted material online. While their properties SHOULD be copyrighted, I think Viacom will see the incredible value that promotion through channels such as YouTube affords them. Steven Colbert owes a great deal of his success to the online community and to what WAS illegal sharing of the Colbert Report through sites like YouTube. The more companies realize that these channels can be utilized to promote their offerings, the more willing they’ll be to bring their content to the online world.

… and that my friends is great news.

Look Outside The Fishbowl

You’ve heard the term, right?  "Look outside of the fishbowl!" It refers to looking outside of that circle of influence and to peer out into the outside world to get their perspective. This is especially true when it comes to promoting your online presence outside of the online world. I’ve always taken issue with the "look out of the fish bowl" phrase. You see, when you are inside of a fishbowl, you see everything on the inside with relative clarity. However, if you look through the glass to the other side, that same fishbowl distorts your view of the outside world. Things appears stretched and twisted. Abnormally large or abnormally small.

This is something that has bugged me for quite some time. The growth and power of new media is impressive, but it still pales in comparison to traditional media channels. While you may have used a computer for years and communicate with email nearly hourly, yet over 1 in 5 US households have never sent an email in their life . That’s 21% of the population that has no clue, nor likely any desire to engage in the new media revolution. While you can make the argument that many of these are a generation separated from technology, that comes no were close to the 20%. The digital divide is still there folks.

As with any interest group, to those of us hyper-connected and in the heart of the online and new media revolution, it’s easy to get a distorted view of the realities of the other side. You are looking out of the fishbowl, but see a distorted view of the actual realities. I constantly hear arguments like

"Does anyone use X service any more?"

- Does anyone use Yahoo any more?

"It not a big deal because everyone has X."

- The DTV switch is not that big of a deal because almost everyone has cable or satellite TV already.

I think you can see the problem…

No, CLIMB Out of the Fishbowl

As you progress in your quest in this new media world, whether it’s building your personal brand or your business, where do you get this view of the outside world? Do you deliberately take the time to talk to others that spend little time online about your online presence? Have you taken a few days to completely disconnect and gain insight to where others focus their energy? Have you CLIMBED out of the fishbowl instead of just looking out of it?

What ways have you found to gain the perspective of someone outside of your typical sphere of influence? How has this new perspective helped you in your activities inside and outside of the fishbowl? Leave a comment!

This is going to be another random, personal post… so I apologize in advance.. Needless to say, I’ve been rather quiet on the new media front lately. I’ll do some more new media stuff here soon, but life has really been crazy the last couple of weeks.

Life and emotional chaos

Becca has been studying for the CPA test for the last year. Her latest section of the exam tested last week, and unfortunately, it didn’t appear to have gone as well as she hoped. Apparently there was a great deal of items in the exam that were not in the review materials. So much for the $3000 we spent on them. In any case, Becca then followed up the exam with sinus surgery less than 12 hours after finishing her test.  The surgery went well, but she’s been pretty inactive since Thursday. She headed back to work today.

The school year has also passed, and my son is beginning his first summer vacation. I don’t think the concept has quite sunk in yet, but I know both kids are anxious to get some quality pool time in this summer. The weather here has been pretty hot over the last week, so I’m sure the local pools will heat up in a hurry. Becca can’t wait until she gets the go-ahead from the doctor to be in the pool again. The kids get their fish qualities from her.

As some of you know, I tend to take on the emotional burdens of those I care for. I’ve had no problems caring for Becca over the last week, in fact I welcome being able to serve her. But needless to say, the emotional drain from everything has gotten to me a bit as of late. I haven’t even looked into producing a new episode of Looking Out The Window , and it’s been several weeks since the last show went out. It was also discouraging when my latest interview fell through. Realizations that I won’t make it to either Podcamp Boston or the New Media Expo this year have me down as well. But, such if life.

KCWeather as a business?

There have been many interesting developments on the weather front as of late. Yes, it’s been an active severe weather season (although pretty calm in Kansas City), but there are other things going on that have peaked my interest.  Primarily, is that I’ve been contacted by a few different people about starting up some sort of weather consulting company or weather network. While planning is still in their infancy stages, we’ve thought about everything from offering personalized forecasts for people (kind of a virtual assistant for weather) to utilizing current reader and listener bases to form a network. One person I’ve been in contact with is a former coworker of mine. The opportunity to possibly work with them makes me smile. The only questions are: Is there a market for specific weather information, or is the market already too saturated to make it into a business? Would it replace current work? The list goes on, but has certainly been an interesting thought to say the least.

Still looking for a phone

Thanks to those of you that offered your thoughts on the phone upgrade I’m looking in to. The more I’ve looked, the better the Samsung Instinct looks. Unfortunatly, it requires that I leave my current family plan and sign up for one of Sprint ’s everything plans (that costs more than my current family plan). I was hoping that I could simply add data to my current plan and I’d be golden. That doesn’t appear to be the case. I’m not sure I want to spend $70 for an individual plan AND X dollars for a plan for my wife. If I could simply add $30 to my family plan to cover my phone, I’d be okay with that. To add twice that to my monthly bill is a bit much for us. Thanks Sprint.

I’m still looking for a phone, and the new Google Android phones look nice as well. Who knows when those will launch.. and I’ve heard they’re going to be rather expensive. I really need something with a full browser, so that limits my choices significantly. Needless to say, it’s pretty discouraging, but something I could really use (especially if this weather thing ends up panning out).

For now, that will cover my brain dump. I’m off to search for a hug…

I’ve been thinking about taking the step to get a more advanced phone for quite some time. As I’ve become more and more ingrained into new media, I have found and increasing desire to have my toolbox with me. That is, my connection to the internet. This is especially true now that the connections I’ve made via the Kansas City Weather Podcast have come to rely on me for weather information. I want to be able to provide that, and to answer questions as they come in. Unfortunately, I often do not have the means at my disposal at the time. I’ve wanted to have radar information at my fingertips for years, and with this increasing pull from the outside that desire has only increased.

So, here is what I am looking for:

• I’m an active Twitter user, so I would like a phone that is built for text messaging. I can’t imagine trying to deal with the tiny keys of a Crackberry, so a full keyboard would be ideal.
• I need a decent web browser. I don’t want to rely on a mobile browser that doesn’t properly scale a web page because it wasn’t designed for "mobile use." I want the ability to get the information I want quickly and easily so I can put down the phone and get back to regular life as soon as I can. This is especially important as my wife has had some bad experiences with friends who have become attached to their mobile phones. The easier the information is to process, the better. I control my phone, I don’t want the phone to control me because of clunky functionality.
• I could care less about a mobile music store or TV on my phone. The media I consume is not available with these channels of distribution. If I could load some of my media onto a micro SD card for playback, then I might utilize my phone for media.
• Ideally, I would like the ability to run third-party apps on the phone. Not a big thing, but a Twitter client, or possibly the Gmail mobile application would be nice to have. Like I said, it’s definatly not a big deal but functionality I can see myself utilizing.
• I have a decent family plan with Sprint right now, and have been happy to support the company… especially with their world headquarters being right here in the KC metro. I would like to stay with Sprint.

Part of me would like to wait to see how the market progresses over the next several months. Like it or not, the iPhone has changed the mobile business and people’s ideas of what they can do with their phone. With Google Android coming out soon and manufacturers coming out with products to offer much of the same functionality as the iPhone, there are going to be huge changes very soon. I’d like to be on top of this so I can provide mobile users a decent experience with my own media entities. Do I wait to see what comes out? I don’t know. I’ve glanced at a few phones, including the HTC Mogol (thanks Lynette ), and I talked to a Sprint Store employee about the new Instinct (Sprint’s iPhone competitor due out next month).

So what are your thoughts?

What are some phones that you know of that could fit the bill? Would I be better served to simply wait and see what the market throws out this summer? In a way, I really like the idea of the Instinct, if for no other reason than it’s customizable and gets me to that "process my information as soon as possible" plateau I’d like to be at. It also comes with a "full keyboard" via a touchscreen and runs EVDO.
Is there anyone at Sprint that would like to help me out with this? I am a respected local podcaster, blogger, and social media guy that would be more than willing to help you spread the word about this device and how it could fill my needs.

ADDITION: Kudos to the folks at the Sprint Store for pointing me to YouTube for videos about the Instinct. I ALWAYS like to hear companies utilizing social media tools.