CES 2007: The Blogger Reception…

I know it’s short notice, but Teresa Valdez Klein sent some information about The Blogger Reception at CES 2007 in case you are interested. CEA is the Consumer Electronics Association and it’s holding thier CES 2007 conference in Las Vegas on January 8 to 11th.

Man, why can’t these be on the East Coast?…

NEWCOMM: FORUM ‘07…

I going to add something new to my blog.When I do research online or meet individuals in the blogosphere, I usually come accross interesting educational sites. I also learn about upcoming events.

So now I will start posting this information and categorize them as “resources”.Josh Hallett from hyku.com (if you don’t read it, I suggest you do) sent me an email last week highlighting a site called New Communications Review. I could spend a day on this site and probably will sometime over the weekend.

His email also hyped an upcoming conference called NEWCOMM FORUM ‘07 to be held at the Venetian Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on March 7-9, ‘07.Check it out.

Resources: Take Advantage…

Since I entered the world of both product development and social media, I’ve always had to rely on other people within my organization for simple “coding” requests.The more I learn and the more my role grows, the more requests I make for new creative and/or simple adjustments to existing templates and frames.

What I’m talking about is html. Remember, I’m originally an “operations” guy and I never had to learn it much less other things like java and so forth.Now, when I don’t know something, I’ll research it online or simply go to my local library and research it the old fashioned way. This has helped me in learning the basics of html, but I’m still teaching myself.

Imagine my surprise about a week ago when I picked up a newsletter from the Orange County Library System. I found a number of free computer courses including four in a row that taught html (terminology, frames, CSS, forms, etc.).

I signed up and took six hours out of my vacation last night and now I’m an official html geek. When I showed up for work this morning, I shared my unbridled enthusiasm about what I had learned and was quickly nominated as the “back-up” for our developers in Marketing.

Go figure.

My point is this: Regardless of you experience and what you do, don’t forget all the available resources out there. And when you find them, take advantage of them.

I know going to my library on my vacation to learn html is a little corny, but I guarantee I’ve become a little more marketable and my productivity (personal and professional) just got a little better…

The Z List: Wow…

Wow. I’m really freaked out…

I noticed last week that I made the “Z List” Why am I suprised? Simple:

• I’ve only been playing around with social media for about a year now. Before that, I ran call centers throughout the travel industry.
• When I made the list, I only had 22 posts and 3 comments.
• This blog originally was an experiment (like the other 10-12 I’ve done) to get used to working a blog for my company’s website.

However, I am deeply honored. I want to thank everyone who actually reads this blog and/or shows me link love.

Thanks people…

SEO: Just a dog chasing its tail?…

When I was first introduced to the insane world of SEO earlier this year, I was excited and I got “it” – meaning how search engines work.Then I moved on to social media.

When I attended the Blog Business Summit in October, Dave Taylor made an interesting comment. He said that with SEO you are always “playing catching up”. Obviously, this is a common sense statement since search engines change their algorithms from time to time.Then I read some notes from a SEO conference in Chicago where Jason Calacanis was playing word association. When he was given the word SEO, Jason replied “BS”. He then went on to reply on a later blog post that it is BS because it’s all about content, content, content.

Now I know that an argument could be made for SEO and “content” could be seen as being one in the same (e.g. content drives SEO and SEO drives content), but they are are both distinct.

Dave and Jason are both right. Instead of trying to “crack the code” on SEO which you will have to revisit time and time again, it is more important to be transparent and give the people what they need via content. Content is what is most important. It builds and supports your whole foundation.

Create good content and the SEO will come…

Activism: The Slacker Generation…

When I first started blogging, I created a number of different blogs with a number of different angles. I finally settled on this one.I actually thought about a political blog, but over the past 15-20 years politics has gotten just downright nasty. Honest and open political debate seems to be dead or in a long hibernation.

I currently subscribe to a number of podcasts and a couple I enjoy are Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History and Common Sense. Regardless of your political affiliation, he made an interesting observation the other day.

Dan suggested that political activism of the 60’s could be seen as something to do – you went to the National Mall to voice your opinion, protest and hopefully, hook up with the opposite sex.

Obviously, the protesters of the sixties believed in what they were protesting and this was a way to “connect” socially.In today’s world everyone is connected online. In fact a number of young industry leaders are part of the so-called Slacker Generation – I mean this is a good way.

Dan predicts that the consistent growth of “connection” through technology and behavior tfrom this technology will turn political activism into Slacktivism (hopefully I spelled this right).

I think there’s a lot of truth to this. Just read Rheingold’s Smart Mobs, or look at the rise of Howard Dean as a Presidential Candidate in 2004, or even this years Connecticut Senatorial Primary.Interesting concept Dan. I wonder if this term will stick and I can’t wait for 2008…

Community Manger: Update Part Deux…

I thought I’d take a moment and give a quick update on the concept of a Community Manager (CM). I received a number of emails from people giving me their feedback and asking me questions.Again, it’s great to see this type of activity from this concept and here’s my update:

• I am completely focused as Project Manager of my company’s website for it’s Members – so no real update… The official implementation date for the redesign is scheduled for Jan 22nd.
• I just launched a blog for all of our Members to explain why we are doing a redesign and hopefully solicit their feedback and ideas as this site grows.
• Senior Management has bought in to the concept of a Community Manager but it is not an “official” until I prove it out ROI-wise.
• As Project Manager, I am obviously responsible for identifying future resources needed to keep this new website and online community “alive”. Conventional wisdom states that I will need a developer and a content manager. My argument is “no”, I need a CM who holds oversight regarding updates in content and structure. Not that I don’t like content managers and developers, I just think that since I work for a small business (120) the potential bureaucracy is unnecessary.
• I will be out of the Office this entire week, so I want to create an “official” scope and job description before I return – I know said that I would post it in Wikipedia a while back, but the redesign comes first.
• Two outside consultants love this concept and want to help me make this an official title by 2nd Qtr 2007.

Contact me with any questions.