Archive for category internet

Thugs, Cheerleaders or Citizen Journalists?

Posted by Paul Holmes in internet, photography, social media, society on June 17, 2011

The wounds are still fresh in the minds, and on the streets, of Vancouver.

We are angry, frustrated, and embarrassed about what some people made of the beautiful city of Vancouver on June 15th. As people around the world fight for freedom, and against tyranny, we smash cars and windows, ostensibly, because of a hockey game.

Much of the outrage heard on talk radio, the blogosphere, and social media itself, is about the so-called cheerleaders who stayed when the police asked everyone to leave. They kept their cell phones running, taking photos and videos, and posting them.

In social media circles, this could be called live-blogging.

So, did their presence instigate the problem, or were they getting in the way of the Police? Probably a little of both.

But the larger question is this: In an age of Citizen Journalism, were they Citizens or Journalists?

I guarantee that somebody will offer as defense in court over the next few months that they were exercising journalistic freedom by staying after the police asked them to leave.

After all, the traditional media didn’t leave. They were doing a public service, right? And, yet, no doubt, their presence inspired the rioters to continue, too.

Here’s the reality: There’s no Press Pass for a riot.

So where do we draw the line? If you have a popular blog, are you a journalist? If you have a Facebook page, are you a journalist?

Can you see police announce over a loudspeaker: If you have a Klout score below 62, you must immediately leave the area.

We’ve seen numerous other “publishing” laws apply to individuals (typically to the Facebook user’s surprise and detriment). In this case, we will see push back from self-styled citizen journalists who claim their presence was no different than the TV camera, or the newspaper photographer.

Are they correct? I suppose this will be for the courts to decide.

I’m willing to bet some lawyer with a name to make will drag this one as far up the court system as possible. I anxiously await the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in 2015.

As a total aside, love them or hate them, much of the citizen journalists’ content is helping police catch the real instigators.

Photo by Rebecca Bollwitt

Canucks, hockey, law, riot, Vancouver

2 Comments

The UVic Lipdub is Online!

Posted by Paul Holmes in humour, internet, music on October 23, 2010

A huge congrats to all the folks who worked so hard on the UVic Lipdub. The video is up, and it is awesome!

20,000 views and counting!

lipdub, uvic

1 Comment

Social Media – Top 25

Posted by Paul Holmes in business, internet, personal, social media, society on August 30, 2010

Social Media Camp, Victoria BC, October 3rd, 2010

It’s been over 8 months since my last social media top 10 list, so I figured it was time for an update. Last time, my top 10 list was actually a top 18, so I figured I’d just bite the bullet, and make this one a top 25.

If you are using social media for business, you are probably best to stick with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (perhaps with a dash of YouTube or Flickr). But if you are a geek like me, you might find a few little gems in this list.

25. Google Buzz

So much buzz, yet so little sting. It’s my new FriendFeed, although I don’t think Google intended it to be used this way. I rarely use it, despite the fact it’s in my face every time I use GMail.

24. MySpace

Oh! How far you have fallen, MySpace. For those of you who haven’t heard of MySpace, it’s a website where you can find music. Is there anything else? Not really. Don’t accuse me of dissin’ MySpace though, you’ll notice this list doesn’t include bebo, hi5, Friendster, Multiply, Plaxo, ecademy, or any of the other also-ran general interest social networks.

23. Identi.ca

It’s like a better Twitter, only it hasn’t reached critical mass. I hope they have some commercial success with status.net, because competition is good.

22. FriendFeed

As predicted, Facebook bought FriendFeed and did nothing with it. It was number 10 on my last list.

21. meme by Yahoo!

I have met some very interesting people on this. It’s another offering that blurs the line between micro-blogging and blogging (like Posterous and Tumblr tend to); it seems to be a great place to profile photography. Like VIMEO, it’s a better network not for the features or marketing potential, but for the interesting users and their content.

20. Hunch

Great idea – a taste graph for the social web. I hope it catches on; a good idea is only that unless it gains critical mass. Notably, the founder of Hunch was also a co-founder of Flickr.

19. StumbleUpon

I have nothing against StumbleUpon, and I know it can be a dream come true for people who spend all their time on SEO. It’s fun and easy to use, but I honestly don’t use it much…

18. Slideshare

Share your PDFs and PPTs easily, embed them elsewhere, and share them directly on Slideshare itself, with your friends and contacts there. Great tool!

17. Goodreads

Do you read good? This is a great social network for people who like to read. I love it, even though I don’t read so goodly.

16. Flixster

I like movies. In fact, I like movies a lot. The Flixster website itself is a bit MySpace-y, but the iPhone app rocks. You can mark movies you want to watch, and rate your movies, and add a review. It doesn’t seem this network has caught on, but I use it at least once a week.

15. Sprouter

If LinkedIn is Facebook for business, then Sprouter is Twitter for business. It seems to be catching on. Time will tell.

14. Tumblr

It’s a blog or a microblog, and a social network, all beautifully united. Simple. Fun. I use it a little.

13. Posterous

Another good and simple blogging tool. Notice Tumblr and Posterous are neck-and-neck, I only put Posterous a notch ahead because I use it to subscribe to some great blogs (and they e-mail me a daily digest). However, I don’t use it much to blog (see item 3 for my real bias).

12. Gowalla

Share your location with your friends. Creepy, but fun and interesting. There are a bunch of tools that do this: Gowalla, Foursquare, Yelp, BrightKite (not on this list), and now Facebook Places (not yet available in Canada). Admittedly I use all 4 (soon to be 5) on my iPhone, and sort of get a kick out of it. I like Yelp the best, and it has a legacy review function, which is, in my opinion, way cooler than the simpler Gowalla and Foursquare.

11. Foursquare

It seems to be the category killer, but the game is definitely not over, especially with Facebook getting in on the act, and Yelp revving up their user base. I put Foursquare ahead of Gowalla, because you can be Mayor of the places you visit! Imagine my joy in being Mayor of First Choice Haircutters!

10. YouTube

Oh, YouTube. So famous, so popular, so immature and anti-social. Your comments remind me of things I used to say when I was 12. YouTube is great because it will host your video, and because it has critical mass. But for grown-ups, VIMEO is much better.

9. VIMEO

It’s like a nice YouTube. Better content, and more mature users. I’m a bit surprised it’s done as well as it has, considering YouTube’s market dominance. There have been other contenders in the video space, too – DailyMotion, VEOH, and others.

8. Meetup

They actually had a friend feature, but they apparently phased it out. But it’s still a social network, in that you can find members of your meetup groups, and see what other groups they are in. It also allows you to indicate your interests, and suggests new groups to you based on geography and interest.

Best of all, Meetup is about meeting people in real life, not just online. And isn’t this the best sort of social networking there can be?

7. Digg

Geek alert. I still like Digg. It’s fun. Sorry.

I’m still a bit unsure about the new version (I was an Alpha user), but I think it will be better in the long run.

6. Facebook

I don’t really like Facebook. However, it must make the list because I do like that I can connect with almost all my friends there. Also, it has some great marketing tools (like Facebook Business Pages and Facebook Ads).

5. Yelp

I really like Yelp. I think it’s better than Gowalla and Foursquare. It started out as a review site, but they’ve since added the check-in functions to mirror Gowalla and Foursquare, and you can be a Duke (or Duchess) instead of a Mayor! What can be better than that!? It’s gaining critical mass, albeit not as quickly as Foursquare.

4. Flickr

Best. Photo. Sharing. Tool. Ever. Forget about TwitPic and TweetPhoto and that frog one… if you want to Tweet a photo, use Flickr! It has some incredibly powerful group and sharing functions, and is itself a social network, too. If you’re going to share photos on Twitter, it’s hands-down the most sensible tool to use.

3. Blogging using WordPress

I’m a huge fan of blogging, and a huge fan of WordPress!

I’ve organized two WordCamp events in Victoria, and cannot say enough good things about it. It’s a great product. It’s easy. It’s fun. It’s free (you have to have web hosting, but if you have a website, you can add WordPress fairly easily).

There are numerous other blogging tools (some mentioned in this list), but with the self-installed version of WordPress, you own your social media! And you build your own community. You are not reliant on a startup with an unknown revenue situation or business model to host your media.

I’m a big fan of integrating Feedburner and Disqus, too.

2. LinkedIn

Are you in business now? Will you one day be in business? Do you have business dealings? Are you a professional that might expect one or two job changes or career focus changes sometime in the next thirty years? Are you a student? Are you management? Are you between the age of 18 and 80 and expect to live and work for the next 6 months, or longer?

I’m not going to beat around the bush here. I’ve heard all the excuses for not being on LinkedIn. They are all misguided (at best), lazy or stupid (at worst), and of no validity whatsoever.

You must sign up to LinkedIn immediately, and shame on you for not doing so before now!

This is not Facebook – there are no party photos, funny status updates and kid’s stuff. This is serious business, and it will take all of 5 minutes a month out of your hectic schedule.

1. Twitter

I (heart) Twitter.

It can be whatever you want it to be. If you want to talk marketing on Twitter, there are definitely some best practices. But outside of that world, there’s no right or wrong way. Want to socialize? Want to meet people? Want to talk business? Want to talk shop with other people in your business? Want to find out the news or the weather?

Jump on in and join the conversation!

Twitter, as crazy as it may sound, in it’s 140 character glory, is really the everything network, and remains steadfast in it’s number 1 spot on my list.

Epilogue

There you have it, my exhaustive list. You may notice I removed Instant Messaging from the list. I’ve decided it doesn’t apply to this list. Like text messaging, I still use it, of course, and occasionally do business on it – but it’s not inherently social in the 1 to many sense that we’ve come to recognize social media as being.

Like my list? Hate my list? Agree with something? Disagree with something? Did I miss something real obvious?

Please comment on the site!

digg, facebook, flickr, linkedin, meetup, social media, twitter, wordpress, yelp

2 Comments

Victoria British Columbia Officially Proclaims “Social Media Day”, June 30th

Posted by Paul Holmes in business, events, internet, social media on June 25, 2010

Victoria, British Columbia, the Capital city – for visitors, there are lots of great things to see and do. But did you also know it’s the capital city for technology and social media?

It was big news when the technology industry eclipsed tourism in 2007. But what about social media? Well, the industry here might not be colossal, but it’s growing, and there is plenty of expertise for a small city, not to mention the power users.

Here’s a sample of our accomplishments…

Victoria was the first city in Canada to form a Social Media Club chapter.
Victoria is hosting the first Social Media Camp in Canada on October 3rd, 2010.
Twestival Victoria raised the second most funds in Canada (after Toronto), and was the 15th most successful city in the world!
Victoria is home to Flock, the social browser.
And now, Victoria is the first city in the world to proclaim June 30th Social Media Day!

Here is the wording of the proclamation:

CITY OF VICTORIA

PROCLAMATION

“SOCIAL MEDIA DAY”

WHEREAS Social Media has made it easier for people to communicate, locally, regionally and globally, and

WHEREAS Social Media has offered people with critical illnesses and disabilities a tool to communicate more effectively, and

WHEREAS Social Media is an amazing communications technology, and technology is a critical and growing component of Victoria’s economy, and

WHEREAS June 30th is being celebrated in over 400 cities around the world as Social Media Day.

NOW, THEREFORE I do hereby proclaim the day of June 30, 2010 as “SOCIAL MEDIA DAY” in the CITY OF VICTORIA, CAPITAL CITY of the PROVINCE of BRITISH COLUMBIA.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I hereunto set my hand this 24th day of June, Two Thousand and Ten.

DEAN FORTIN
MAYOR
CITY OF VICTORIA
BRITISH COLUMBIA

I picked up the official City of Victoria proclamation today, and will bring it to the party on Social Media Day, June 30th.

The historic Fairmont Empress hotel, which uses social media regularly and effectively, was quick to pick up on the event, offering their luxurious Bengal Lounge for the party.

A special thanks goes out to the Victoria City Councilor Chris Coleman, and the City staff who worked on finalizing the proclamation. Mr. Coleman was very enthusiastic when I suggested the idea, and saw the process through to the end.

british columbia, canada, social media, social media day, victoria

7 Comments

Top 5 Tips For New Facebook Pages

Posted by Paul Holmes in blogging, business, internet, social media on March 22, 2010

1. Make your page title as generic as possible.
If you are setting up a page to promote your company brand, this may not be an option. But generic pages are far more likely to gain fans than brand pages.

Think about it this way – if you have a website about “Travel to Asia”, do you think Facebook users will be more likely to become a fan of “Travel to Asia” or “TravelToAsia.com”?

As much as it pains you, there are far more people who are fans of “Travel to Asia” than there are fans of your website.

In my experience, people are far more likely to share their photos, videos and comments on more generic sounding pages, and more likely to randomly recommend it to their friends.

All this builds a larger community – a community, remember, that you can promote your website and services on.

2. Set up your page properly.
Put an image on your page. Design your page nicely. Through the magic of RSS, import your blog into your Facebook page.

Change the settings so that fan comments appear to everyone, enable comments, videos, photos, and discussion forums!

3. Name your page.
It’s much easier to share your Facebook fan page if you can give a short, concise, and branded URL for it, rather than some ridiculously long address.

Which looks better to you?

If I had $1 for every time I saw a Facebook fan page with over 1,000 fans, but no vanity URL, I’d be rich! It used to be 1,000 fans were what were needed to name a page, then it went down to 100, and now it’s a mere 25 fans! Do you have 25 friends who can fan your page?

Click here to name your Facebook fan page!

Promote your page on Facebook, Twitter and your blog.
Facebook is here to stay. It’s not going away. Get over any concerns you have about losing traffic to it, and take advantage of the community-building tools it has!

Facebook has a little widget you can add to your website to promote your page, it’s called the “fan box”. Click on “Edit Page”, then “Promote with a fan box” (middle column, third section). Here’s what it looks like:

IdeaZone.ca on Facebook

Of course you can link to your Facebook page in a bunch of ways – with a nice Facebook icon, a text link, or with the Meebo Bar.

Advertise your page.
You can advertise your website on Facebook (and I do suggest any serious business considers this). But did you also know you can advertise your page?

My favourite form of advertising on Facebook are fan page ads to “friends of your fans”. If you have 100 fans on your page, there are probably thousands of “friends of your fans”.

Suppose “John Smith” is a fan of your page, “Acme Widgets”. John’s friends will see an ad pop up occasionally showing your “Acme Widgets” page, and saying “John Smith is a fan of Acme Widgets. Become a Fan?” One click, and they’ve signed up!

The old marketing question in this case has gone from “Do I trust Acme Widgets?” to “Do I trust my friend’s positive opinion of Acme Widgets?”

But why would I pay Facebook to advertise Facebook?

First of all, you need to get over the old rules of web marketing – you are not advertising Facebook, you are advertising your brand on Facebook.

There is another big reason: comfort.

The fact is that Facebook users are far more comfortable with Facebook then all those other scary websites in the world! Once a fan becomes comfortable with your fan page, they’ll become far more comfortable with visiting your website.

advertising, branding, facebook, fan pages, vanity url

1 Comment

Paul Holmes

Archive for category internet

The UVic Lipdub is Online!

Social Media

Recent Posts

Tweets

Network

E-Mail Subscription to Blog

Tags