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What is Emerging Media, anyway?

0 comments By Deb Filed in social media, transition, trends, what is? Tagged with , , , , April 14th, 2010 @ 6:40 pm

Yesterday I sat down with Angela Berardino, Director of Emerging Media at Turner Public Relations to get the answer…

Deb: I know we have this discussion that Social Media is such a limited term, so how would you define Emerging Media?

Angela: It’s like that Supreme Court Justice’s response on hard-core pornography: I can’t really define it, but “I know it when I see it.”* It’s more robust than Social Media and more complex than simply a blog. Many professionals are creating content that broadens the field – mashups, video, iphone apps, custom communities, new technology.

I can’t really define it, but “I know it when I see it.”

Deb: Tell me more about Emerging Media being broader than Social Media.

Angela: Well, when I hear Social Media, I think “conversational, consumer-direct channel.” Both amateurs and professionals can create the types of content I mentioned before. The professionals, however, take that content and alter it or build upon it in some way that creates new ideas, new conversations and new ways to connect. I liken it to Andy Warhol (whether you liked his art, or not) – he took other people’s ideas and re-imagined them in a way that was totally unique, that struck a chord with people who saw it. What I think is this next wave of ‘emerging media’ will be led by people re-creating others’ ideas and content. A digital version of the modernist movement in the sixties and seventies.

Deb: What’s important to teach marketers about Emerging Media?

Angela: Train yourself to think like a consumer of media; a lot of people who create online marketing content wouldn’t subscribe to their own service because it’s pushy, or sales-y, or – even worse – boring. You have to think like a consumer. What kind of info would you want? How would you like to connect with a brand in your “personal space”?

Thanks again Angela for your thoughts and ideas. Next time we are going to do this on video!

Angela is a seasoned travel PR pro and works in the luxury and adventure travel industries. Her dog is named Ollie and would likely not get along with Rudy because they are both Alpha dogs. Ollie is just as cute as Rudy though. You can also find Angela on twitter @COTravelGirl and she is a Board Member of the Mile High Social Media Club.

*”I know it when I see it,” is attributed to former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in the concurring opinion on Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964) Source

Point/Counterpoint: Plurk v. Twitter

10 comments By Deb Filed in micro-blog, plurk, trends, twitter Tagged with , , , , , , September 17th, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

This is a cross-posting with Aaron Strout of Citizen Marketer 2.0.

On last week’s Quick-n-Dirty podcast
show, my co-host, Jennifer Leggio and
I spent some time talking about Twitter wannabe, Plurk, and why
it never really took off (see Compete’s comparative numbers). In fact,
in my wrap up post, I went so far as to say that Plurk “sucked.” Well,
our friend and listener, Deb Robison, hopped on the show’s live chat and told us not so fast.
In fact, Deb argued that not only was Plurk not dead but rather that
there were a number of reasons why she actually liked Plurk more than
Twitter.

This conversation of course piqued my curiosity so I threw the idea
out to Deb that we do a “point / counterpoint” on Plurk vs. Twitter.
We agreed to divide and conquer with me writing the intro, both of us
creating a list of “pro’s and con’s” and then Deb doing the wrap up.
Since Deb gets the last word in this discussion, I have to say, she’s
done a great job getting me to think more about my harsh criticism of
Plurk. That’s not to say that I will jump back in and start using
Plurk again but rather that I might take a “kinder and gentler”
approach when I bring it up.
To make this a little more interactive, I did add my comments on Deb’s
lists in brackets — I encouraged her to do the same (hers are in gray
type):

Deb’s Plurk Pro’s

  1. threaded conversations easy to follow, seems to develop
    conversation better, more in-depth [AWS - fair point. Although
    there are a few third party apps that do this for Twitter like Mike Langford's TweetWorks]  Deb: yes, but is TweetWorks widely known?
    Oddly, one of the best apps for following threaded Twitter
    conversations is the app-formerly-known-as TwiterFon, now called echofon, but
    is only available on the iPhone and iPod Touch, so it too languishes
    in obscurity.

  2. consistency of group builds
    relationships greeting, familiarity, connections- asking about
    personal/work issues
  3. timeline and response mechanism
    prevent missing a conversation you were participating
    in     [Aaron: Twitter could benefit from this although
    hashtags make an attempt to replicate] Deb: but you still have to do a
    search for a hashtag potentially taking you away from your Twitter
    stream- obviously not the case if you use Tweetdeck, or Tweetgrid, but
    both have limitations- there is often a lag time.
  4. easier to decide who to
    friend-can see them participate in other conversations and how they
    are connected to the people you already know
  5. groups formed around communities
    within plurk- plurkshops, plurk weightloss, recipe
    exchange
  6. constantly adding new features
    (where does the money come from?)
  7. can post from other services
    such as ping.fm and posterous
  8. private conversations take place
    among a group of people     [Aaron: in my mind, this is Plurk's biggest advantage over
    Twitter. I've heard that this functionality is underway on Twitter but
    right now, it's frustratingly absent]
  9. **Has anyone noticed my high
    level of restraint here? I never mention that- Plurk rarely goes down.
    A lot of folks migrated to Plurk during the season of the FAIL Whale
    last year, but moved back once things stabilized.     [Aaron: great
    point]

**Deb:
I have added #9 as an afterthought here, can’t believe I forgot it for
the original list **

Deb’s Plurk Con’s

  1. no community
    evangelism     [Aaron
    - where's Robert Scoble when you need him?]
  2. karma- it’s only a novelty, not
    sure why people focus on it so much     [Aaron - as I mentioned in the
    podcast, this is the thing I hate most about Plurk]
  3. hard to use on a PC- mouse
    trackball makes it easier to scroll side to side
  4. no SMS (IM though)
  5. only a couple of mobile apps
—————


Aaron’s Twitter Pro’s
  1. Sheer numbers: Whether it’s 20
    million or 40 million (yes, there is a question as to how many of
    these folks are actually active), many of my friends are here en
    masse.     Deb: yes, but the numbers are
    overwhelming, some days I see people in my stream and think “who the
    hell is that and why am I following them? Or a friend doesn’t show up
    in my stream for days. They were active, but for some reason only some
    Tweeps show up in the stream. I am sure volume is the
    issue.
  2. Simplicity: yes, it took a
    little while to figure out Twitter but it was a whole lot easier to
    navigate than the land of weird looking animals with bones sticking
    out of their necks.     Deb: again, see my argument about karma-
    who cares? Are you subject to nightmares after seeing Plurk critters?
    It’s about the conversation.
  3. Third party apps: due to
    Twitter’s open architecture, I’ve loved the apps that have been
    developed around Twitter.     Deb: yep, the Plurk people
    missed the boat on this one. Although, I don’t understand why the
    Twitter folks couldn’t seem to innovate, Plurk constantly adds new
    features which seem to play the role of a third party
    app.
  4. Low barrier to
    following/un-following: unlike Facebook, I like the fact that
    following or un-following someone on Twitter has very little stigma. I
    can “try” someone’s stream if I like and then just as easily un-follow
    them if I don’t find value.     Deb: never had any problem
    unfollowing people on Plurk or Twitter, but I notice some people
    really get upset when unfollowed. What’s the big deal? You have a
    thousand followers and you are going to miss me??
  5. Straightforward stream: while
    one might argue that this is the biggest strength and weakness of
    Twitter, I like the fact that I can dip in and out of the stream as I
    choose. If I want to update and walk away for a day, there’s nobody
    waiting on the other side for me to finish my threaded
    conversation.     Deb: yeah, but I have had to come in
    mid-stream when a conversation is going on and sort through the tweets
    to get to the origination of the convo. That is when I reach for
    TwitterFon (echofon).
Aaron’s Twitter Con’s
  1. Spam: with mass adoption comes
    opportunity. With opportunity comes scam artists. Unfortunately, this
    has become a huge pain in the ass when it comes to determining who to
    follow back.     Deb: I did not
    have to deal with a spammer until a couple of weeks ago. It was
    sending me through the roof. I experienced
    “SpamRage.”
  2. Threaded conversations: while
    there are third party apps that do this, it would be nice to have this
    “in-line” on Twitter.
  3. No group DMs: as I commented
    above, there are many a time when I would love to be able to send a
    group DM. For instance, I group blog with a number of friends over at
    Big Papelbon and
    it would be nice to be able to send a comment to all the contributors
    via DM all at one time.
  4. Hard to follow lots of users:
    yes, I do use Tweetdeck which makes following discrete groups easier
    but it would be nice if Twitter had Friendfeed like capabilities to
    pre-segment people into groups. Based on Deb’s “Plurk pro’s” above, it
    sounds like you can do this on Plurk.     Deb: you can create groups and/or private
    conversations sent to individuals of your choice on Plurk, but I
    rarely do it. Tweetdeck crashes constantly, so I don’t use it
    anymore.



Gee, I feel like David Brooks and
Gail Collins of the New York Times’ The Conversation blog where the opposing parties exchange
niceties about summer vacation, then give their POVs. The Conversation
ends nicely and we politely agree to disagree. That having been said,
while I wouldn’t use the word “sucks” about Twitter, I don’t like it
as much as Plurk, but feel I have to use it for my work- held hostage
by a little bird and a whale. Thanks for the lovely discourse Aaron
and I hope your summer on the Cape didn’t leave you with too bad of a
sunburn. [Aaron: Deb, this has been a blast. And as you
know, I love doing the point / counterpoint thing. Normally I spar
weekly with Jennifer on the Quick-n-Dirty but I always welcome
engaging with other smart folks like yourself.]

Follow Top Videos with TrendHunter TV

0 comments By Germaine Filed in trends, video October 20th, 2008 @ 8:02 am

TrendHunter has always been a great source of info about what’s happening on the web. Officially launching on October 26, TrendHunter TV will now do the same- following viral video. The fledgling channel follow’s the top viral videos, not the top videos with class and taste. Be prepared for that. As TH points out, some of these videos would never make it onto TV. That’s the beauty of the internet, for better, or worse ;-)

While I didn’t enjoy watching some of the videos, I can say that there is value in learning what’s hot online. Spoofs and spoofs of spoofs show trends. Feist’s video of 1234, not only propelled her to fame and fortune – it led to the greatest success of all – a gig signing the song on Sesame Street. Over one million people have viewed Feist counting with Elmo and company. Does it get any better than that?

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