Filed under: Digital culture, Future of Media, geek, Geek stuff, Innovative stimulus, Social media
Remember the good old days when an online company didn’t need a revenue model because simply being an entrepreneurial innovative online business was enough? I remember those days well because very early in my advertising career we wrote strategies for many of those businesses who never ever got it together thanks to the dot com crash and a swift return to reason. As the market re-settles and new revenue models emerge, one thing remains true: like any business, you have to find a way to charge for what you do. Yes content is still super important and many sites still rely on advertising or lead generation rather than content to fund their models but as categories become more sophisticated, so too do their revenue models.
Anyhoo i found this site which offers an overview of top tech companies and their revenue models across ads, subscriptions, affiliates, data, freemium, and royalties. For those of you looking for an little innovation stimulation or just to feed your inner geek, have a gander – it’s a fun way to get a quick sense of how the bigger brands are tackling the market.
Filed under: content communities, creativity, Digital culture, Emergent media, geek, Research Methods, Social media, steal or borrow info, unbusiness | Tags: Content curation, curation, matt langer, Neil Perkin, noah brier, Only the dead fish, Percolate
I was trawling through my usual channels of content this morning and came across these posts on curation. Certainly a lot of conversation in the bloggersphere has been stimulated by the posting of the curator’s code. The code states that we should “keep the rabbit hole of the Internet open by honouring discovery”.
Not only should we be honouring original sources, but we should be honouring the people who find interesting stuff and re-tweet or re-post it. We should celebrate not only the creators and authors, but those that distribute, magnify and amplify their work. The connectors, so to speak.
This concept of curation is being bandied about a lot lately. We talk about websites and brands curating content; using third party content as a jump point for new conversation. We talk about brands and retailers curating product, filtering out the rubbish and selectively choosing niche or narrow channel products that are centred around a particular interest or cultural space.
In my other life at Eco Outdoor we talk about curation being one of our key focuses and we’re in the stone business. When we say that we’re talking about curation in the most traditional definition of the word – we select the most interesting and unique product (sometimes you don’t know why its interesting or unique unless you’re in the stone game), and we organise it in a way that inspires people to use it differently or create really unique design form or pairings. We tell the story of the product, how it fits into the world from whence it came and why we think its important or significant or special. The focus here is that we travel the
world looking for and selectively choosing what we present and how we put it together.
I guess you could say that Innovation Feeder curates content, although really it’s just sharing what takes my fancy. I started it when I was working in the social trends / innovation space as a way of collating data, organising other people’s thoughts that I would want to refer back to and even organising my own. It was like an online memory and imagination bank.
So when is a blog not curating? When it writes all its own content I guess. There are some that believe it better to write original content than re-post, and there are scales and a spectrum in re-posting itself that differentiate between gathering tidbits like a bountiful bowerbird and scattering them amongst the pages, versus your classic “Look what I found mamma” straight re-post of content. Is there a hierarchy of one over the other? I think in this age, conversation flows on many different levels and if the content is relevant and engaging, who cares on what level of the spectrum it falls? And as Matt Langer points out, is it curation or simply sharing our thoughts and discoveries online? Is curation merely the act of sharing and distributing (albeit selectively)? or must it have some ontology or semantic continuity?
Traditionally curation has been used in the realm of ‘art curation’ where art is selected by an art historian who selects significant pieces and places them in context to identify why they are significant and to what extent. Who ‘places’ the art in context and helps us understand the story and content surrounding it. The term curation has long (well long in online terms) been used outside of the realm of art, but the question remains > What do we define as curation in the online space? By identifying our act of sharing as selective, by filtering (with our own self supposed good taste) the good from the bad – is that curation?
Some other links to check out:
Curation is the New Search is the New Curation
Anyway, as usual online, I digress. Here’s a great collation of opinions on the topic by Neil Perkin. Regardless of whether you agree with the definition or not, I love Percolate‘s idea of stock and flow of content. The flow of ideas and conversation being the currency by which we remind people that we exist versus the stock we create from the realms of our own minds and imaginations. It gives credence to these different modes of conversation and the ways in which they operate uniquely for different purposes. Following here is Neil’s collection of opinions and ideas, re-posted.
Filed under: creativity, Digital culture, Emergent media, Future of Media, Futures, Futurists, geek, People you should know | Tags: Caterina fake, David rowan, Eric Wahlforss, Networked society, on the brink, Soundcloud, wired
A transformer from Nike sent me this link to “On The Brink” which discusses the past, present and future of connectivity with a mix of people including David Rowan, chief editor of Wired UK; Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr; and Eric Wahlforss, the co-founder of Soundcloud. Each of the interviewees discusses the emerging opportunities being enabled by technology as we enter the Networked Society. What does it really mean to imagine borderless opportunities and creativity, new open business models, and why do people talk about today’s ‘dumb society’? Check it out…
Filed under: Digital culture, geek, Social media | Tags: bud caddell, mika arauz, undercurrent
Ok I’ve discovered more mind candy, this time in the form of a couple of strategists who work at digital think tank Undercurrent in the US. The first one is Mike Arauz and he blogs about anything and everything digital. This is an RSS cracker so get on to it, take a peek and whack it in your reader. He also posts a lot of diagrams. Diagrams look smart and are nice to read. I love a good diagram. Here’s a snippet of some of his posts :
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I’ve been thinking a lot about fans. Not just the average viewer, reader, or customer; but, the devoted people who on some level see their affection for something someone else has created as part of their own identity. When we think about how the internet has changed the communications landscape, it seems that fans have taken on an increasingly important and central role in the making or breaking of brands and entertainment properties.
Fandom has a long and storied history (and there are plenty of people who are much more qualified than I am to talk about it), and in the past couple years I think we’ve started a new chapter. The most obvious example of this change is Comic-Con, the huge conference for sci-fi disciples and super hero devotees of every persuasion that has turned into the must-attend super-showcase for every aspiring new movie, TV show, or video game. I’ve also seen fan culture creep into the marketing world. In my own work I often use the word fan in place of consumer, when I talk about reaching a core audience of people who care most about a product or service.
I think that the reason why we’re seeing this interest in fans, is that we’re recognizing how powerful a mobilized fan community can be. If they love you, they will make you a hit. If they hate you, they will prevent you from ever having a chance.
But, relationships between fans and the creators of the work that has earned the fans’ devotion are complex, and the diverse roles represent varying degrees of active participation.
There is another reason why I love this blog. On it I have just found a fabulous link to geeky data heaven. Check out this puppy. For those of you who love a good statistic, this will be the time sucker for 2009.
Another fella from Undercurrent who also writes is Bud Caddell and he blogs at what consumes me. Anyway these two are worth taking a peek at if you’re looking for a little geek buzz uptop.
Filed under: geek, Geek stuff, girlgeek, Social, technorati | Tags: Advertising, Advertising age, Australian Bloggers, blogasphere, bloggerati, Community, laurel papworth, Marketing, media, power 150, ranking, social networks, technorati, todd andrlik, top bloggers
I’ve just been reading Laurel Papworth’s post on Advertising Age’s top Media and Marketing blogs listing – Ad Age ranks Laurel’s blog at 156 and if you haven’t checked it out I recommend you do so, it’s worth a peep. I see that Innovation Feeder has scored a mention as one of the blogs Advertising Age is monitoring for their Top 150 list which is amazing because I also blog rather erratically and there must be loads of other Australian blogs which are doing fabulous things under the radar. So if you are one of those bloggers, get onto the Advertising Age site and submit your blog.
Advertising Age are currently monitoring a bunch of blogs, here Laurel has dug out the Australian entrants for us: [thanks Laurel]
10. ProBlogger (uber blogger Darren Rowse)
66. Bannerblog (Ashley Ringrose, Ashadi Hopper)
123. Young PR (oi! Paull Young is in NY now!)
131. Duncan’s TV Ad Land (Duncan Macleod)
145. Servant of Chaos (probably my favourite Aussie blogger, Gavin Heaton)
156. Social Network Marketing (this blog! Laurel Papworth)
190. Better Communication Results (fellow Adelaidean, Lee Hopkins)
295. Get Shouty (cheers Katie Chatfield!)
343. Media Hunter (Craig Wilson)
347. Corporate Engagement (hi Trevor Cook! )
365. The Marketer (Gordon ‘Dangerous’ Whitehead)
382. Business of Marketing and Branding (David Koopmans)
388. PR Disasters Gerry McCusker
391. PersonalizeMedia (my cutie, Gary Hayes)
465. Adspace Pioneers (Greetings Julian Cole)
474. ineedhits Search Marketing Blog (cute name) (Clay Cook, Rachel Cook)
618. Jax Rant ( Jacqueline Weschler)
623 Shifted Pixels (Nick Holmes a’Court)
638. Ryan’s View (Ryan Peal)
640. The Jason Recliner (Vando, from his armchair)
692. Igloo/Ignite (agency blog)
702. Pigs Don’t Fly (Zac Martin)
731. Increase Web Traffic @ Traffic2MyPage.com
752. Innovation Feeder (Jen Stumbles)
796. Slice Media ( Kylie Lewis)
Filed under: Digital culture, Future of Media, Future of Work, geek, Geek stuff, Social media, Thinking, Trends stuff, Work Futures | Tags: digital curator, micropersuasion, steve rubel
A great post borrowed from Steve Rubel who writes Micropersuasion
Credit: Met by jesst7Content: it’s everywhere. Content is in your inbox, your feed reader, outdoor media, your living room, your pocket and, increasingly, on every web site you visit. It also increasingly resides on sites built and managed by your favorite brands, which are bypassing the media and going direct.
The democratization of publishing is without a doubt a revolution. When we’re all dead and gone, the 21st Century will be remembered as a Digital Renaissance – one that rivals the original that preceded it by 700 years.
The Internet has empowered billions of people and is distributing their creativity across millions of niches and dozens of formats. Quality and accuracy, of course, can vary. However, virtually every subject either is or will be addressed with excellence – by someone, somewhere.
However, the glut of content as we all know also has a major downside. Our information and entertainment options greatly outweigh the time we have to consume it. Even if one were to only focus on micro-niche interests and snack on bite-sized content, demand could never ever scale to match the supply. Content is a commodity. The Attention Crash is real and – make no mistake – it will deepen.
Enter the Digital Curator.
Filed under: Digital culture, Future of Media, geek, Geek stuff, new product, Social media | Tags: Bill Gates, Buyout, Flickr, Microsoft, Microsoft takeover of Flickr, Partnerships, Protest, Spoofs
Flickr users are making their opinions known about the potential takeover by Microsoft. Check out the visual protests by users here. Thanks for the tip Charlie.
Filed under: beta, Brand, Community, content communities, creativity, Digital culture, Emergent media, FMCG innovation, Future of Media, geek, Geek stuff, Innovation, Innovative marketing, Lifestyle trends, Macro trends, neophiliac, new product, Nice Design, Social, Social media, Thinking, Work Futures | Tags: beta, Beta-culture, Facebook, Forrester Consumer Forum, Google, Innovation, MySpace, Radiohead, social networking, trends, Twitter
The idea of being in beta has become a broad cultural phenomenon. Many new products never make it beyond trial stage, and the trial and error beta-approach that helps Google and other alpha innovators to out-fail and thereby out-innovate the competition, is as much an attribute of successful organizations as it is a sign of our time.
But it’s not only analysts and conference organizers who are switching instantly from micro to macro, picking up nascent trends and elevating them to a must-deal-with core competence that transcends the current fad (just see all the Facebook conferences that are mushrooming right now). What I find even more interesting is how the media and blogosphere deal with it. If everything’s in beta, the public doesn’t have the patience anymore to wait for the alpha. As the media are increasingly forced to immediately widen the scope and view every innovation in a larger context as it occurs, the boundaries between reporters and commentators, bloggers and industry analysts are fading.
Some examples: Not too long ago, Twitter was all the rage, and it was stunning to see that just shortly after the initial coverage during SXSW in March, reporters were already elaborating on the concept of micro-blogging, wondering what the new “radical transparency” meant for business. Nowadays, there is a great chance that you will stumble upon a Facebook story when you open just about any publication: It’s Facebook vs. MySpace, the implications of social networking on the borders between work and personal life, reflections on the “Facebook economy,” Facebook vs. iTunes, and maybe a philosophical piece on Facebook “as a post-modern book” or the future of social networking, which, for TIME, equals the future of the Internet. It is only a small step from MySpace to the “MySpace generation,” and from Facebook to the “Facebook generation” and then to the “Fakebook generation.” Similarly, the recent buzz around Radiohead’s “pay what you want” online release has instantly led to the coining of a “Radiohead Generation” and praise for the band “as a pioneer of the digital revolution.” And there are hundreds of articles discussing if Radiohead’s decision ushers in the definite end of the record industry. The stories about the radical distribution model appear to eclipse the actual music on the album–in this case, too, the reviews are in before the story is told.
Evidently, the media need to cope with the current while also putting forward a vision for the up and coming. The time between observation and conclusion, between description and prediction, however, has shrunk to almost zero. There are no more lapses between news, analysis, background story, industry trend story, and intellectual dissection; they have become one and the same, at the same time. Not only is beta the new alpha–beta has gone meta.
Filed under: creativity, Digital culture, geek, Geek stuff, Innovative promotions
In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages. Haiku poetry has strick construction rules, each poem has only 17 syllables; 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third. They are used to communicate a timeless message, often achieving a wistful, yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity (and are much better than “Your computer has performed an illegal operation.”) Here they are:
Your file was so big.
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
The Web site you seek
Cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
Program aborting:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask far too much.
