ROCKETBOOM on Social Networks...

Rocketboom put out a great video podcast - with many of their videos also available, as you can see, on YouTube. Here's their up-to-the-minute take on where Social Networking is at.

When FREE MUSIC isn't worth it!

I wasted time tonight. That wouldn't be such a problem if i had time to waste. The distraction was the lure of free music. My iTunes is populated by free - legally - downloaded music so I rarely miss a chance to add to my collection. However that may change.

My new iPod Video Nano - thanks family! - has seen me download a few favourite tunes in return for some hard earned cash. This is quick and you get exactly what you want. Better than a hour lost downloading music, music I'll probably never listen to, just because it's being given away. Besides the attached strings means my inbox will be flooded with emails about bands I have no interest in. Consider my music acquisition policy offically reviewed!

But if you just must get your hands on some free music you find some at hearitfirst.com and a solitary new track at delirious.co.uk.

Who are you?

It seems like an obvious question but can you give it a simple answer? Your answer my give your name, it might describe your job function or even some of your traits or characteristics. Now refine the question, putting it in the context of who you are when you type a blog or film yourself for YouTube - or whatever your favorite new media interaction is.

Are you real? Believable? Because your credibility here won't come from your name, and probably not from your job function, it'll come from you. (If you reading this and you are a genuine household name that last statement doesn't apply!) You need to know who you are so you can show people who you are. Be yourself. Don't act. The internet chews up and spits out frauds much like God promises to do with the lukewarm!

Conclusion: unreal, lukewarm new media is as attractive as vomit.

How Tom stopped peeping!

Tom is everybody's friend. Well in the world of MySpace he is unless, like me, you deleted him! It seems that him and Mark, who doesn't add himself as your friend when you sign up to Facebook, are causing something of a surprising change online.

This week TIME put out an article called Facebook: More Popular Than Porn. It states that, in the US, more 18-25s are spending time on social networks than on adult sites. It offers a few suggestions as to why. I'll add one it didn't

When I logged into MySpace tonight I girl whose name I can't remember wanted to be my friend. Like so many others she was new to myspace, didn't understand it but had a webcam - oh, and she thought I was cute. Why do all these friend requests have exactly the same body text? (rhetorical question!) The porn industry hasn't overlooked the success of social networking. But perhaps it hadn't banked on how much people would prefer to be titillated by the provocative posing of their online freinds!

Thoughts of Excellence

Excellence. Apart from the word goading me to shout 'excellent' in a Wayne's World style it's got me thinking. I've got a meeting next week about video blogging. So what make's excellent video blogs? The camera and the lighting quality? The set and the style of the blogger? What they say or the tone of their voice? Or is it the fact they say something, anything...that fact they just keep putting our videos?

What I do know is excellence must not be confussed with perfection. Perfection is that elusive quality with the power to stall any project, break any budget and kill any creativity. And in video blogging perfection is an unnecessary aim. In a medium with a topical lifespan of a few days there's little point in striving for high art. You'll deliver your masterpiece just in time to see the back of an online community already on to the next thing.

Becoming agnostic!

I just saw this video and the phrase at the end struck a chord. We must become 'channel agnostic' - delivering content to people how they want to recieve it.



The Economist is a fantastic weekly read that I highly recommend. Of course you could visit economist.com and save yourself the cover price! Although, can you browse a website in the bath?

I watch BeetTV on Youtube. That's where this video came from. Andy Plesser puts out a fascinating array on business tech content so check it out!

Make the music - it'll sell the T-shirts

I was part of a discussion about communication strategy earlier today when I stumbled on an analogy. I liked it, so I thought I'd document it here. We were discussing how 'church' can sell it's products and services. My thought turned the the music industry.

Band's make music. That's what makes and band a band. Bands also make t-shirts. That's where bands make their money. Fans buy t-shirts. But why?

I recently bought t-shirts with printed designs from Primark, they cost £3 each. I've bought t-shirts from gigs for as much as £20. Are the worth the extra £17? Not on the physical value - or even the design merit - of the the product. It's the association, buying into the band identity, that makes me dig deeper than I know is sensible too.

The 'church' problem is trying to sell the T-shirts. You'll never convince people they're great quality or killer designs - because they're probably not. But write some great music and put on an awesome show and the T-shirts will sell themselves.

Let's not forget to make the music. If 'church' lived the life it should in a way that showed people not only would lives be changed but people would be queuing at the merchandise table!


To understand more of where the music industry is going read this article aboutgiving music away and this one about Madonna ditching her record label - both from the Times.