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Apr 17

Why Old Media IS NOT in the Grave

April 17, 2009 • 8 Comments • Social Media and Society

Yesterday I went to an Austin Social Media Club meeting entitled “Old Media Rises from the Grave”. While I must admit that the vast expense of print and TV production will inevitably push them to a web-based platform, this hasn’t happened yet. TV still pummels online content in terms of sheer influence. Don’t believe me? Here are stats:

1.) Often it feels like online time eats into our TV time. Not so. According to a Nielsen Research report, online consumption AND TV time have gone up. From Q3’07 to Q3’08, TV consumption went up 4.1% for TV and internet consumption went up 5.7%. Only among internet early adopters did TV consumption go down. At what expense? As sad as this is, it is at the expense of our families and our waistlines.

2.) In a McPheters and Company study, eye tracking studies showed that 63% of internet ads weren’t even seen by respondents. Magazines had ad recall almost three times that of Internet banner ads. To top it off, net recall of TV ads was almost twice that of magazine ads. So basically, although they are cheaper, internet ads are just about entirely forgotten by the majority of people.

3.) In terms of sheer volume, old media has new media beat. If I advertise on one episode of American Idol, my ad has the potential of going out to over 24,000,000 people. That’s 24 MILLION active viewers, and the chances of them actually retaining the benefits of my product are much higher. Consider shameless product placement like Ford and Coca-Cola, and the net exposure is even bigger.

If I ask Ashton Kutcher to plug my product in his million person Twitter feed, 1.) I’d probably have to pay him and 2.) those are subscribers, not active viewers. So I wouldn’t have to pay as much, but I wouldn’t get nearly the bang I would get from American Idol. Traditional media just has numbers on its side…for now.

Although new media allows for a much more personable approach to marketing, you have to consider the here and now. And the here and now is saying that people still like shows, news, and everything new media people say is “dead’. Good content drives traffic, no matter it’s source. Right now, the silent majority of people are still watching TV (including myself) and are still looking at passive forms of media. This means my CPM can be lower than it is with online media because although my costs are higher, my impressions are as well.

The two biggest questions marketers must ask are 1.) Where are the people who would benefit from my product and 2.) Where are the influencers that would help promote my product, whether professionally or as consumers? If I’m promoting software for developers, 99.9% of TV shows are stupid avenues. For the majority products however, it is naive and even dangerous to think that old media is completely “dead”. Just because you are an early adopter, it doesn’t mean that the people who pay your paycheck are as well.

8 Comments
Jun 29

Attend Austin’s MOST EXCLUSIVE Tech Event–The Tweetup Blood Drive

June 29, 2008 • 22 Comments • Events I've Attended

Foo Camp. TED. Michael Arrington’s Twitterfeed. None of these are as exclusive as the Tweetup Blood Drive occurring in Austin, Texas on Thursday, July 3rd from 10 am to 4 pm at the Blood Center of Central Texas.

Why is this event so exclusive? If you go to the reservation list, there are only 96 spots available from 10-4. As of 4:23 on Sunday, five spots are already taken. That means if you want to be one of the tough guys or smart women who donates blood to save lives, you have to book your spot before everyone else does or your spot will be totally gone.

This event is sponsored by the Austin Social Media Club, the 501Tech Club, and Austin Jelly. You don’t have to be a tough guy or a smart women to be a member of these groups, but it couldn’t hurt. David J. Neff of the American Cancer Society will be organizing the event throughout the day.

To be sure to beat Scoble to the punch, follow these instructions:
1.) register or log into the Blood Center of Central Texas’s website.
2.) Choose the location at 4300 North Lamar.
3.) Be sure to pick a time slot from 10 am-4 pm on Thursday, July 3rd.
4.) Show up at the appropriate time. Give a shoutout to David J. Neff.
5.) Give blood. Eat a piece of the sammichometer. Give thanks that you are healthy and can offer health to someone else who needs it.

Be sure to blog, Tweet, and spread the word about this event as soon as you can. If you blog it and are lazy, just copy and paste steps 1 through 5. Please refer them to the Facebook event for it. You want to make sure your followers know that you know the latest cool happenings in Austin.

If you aren’t in Austin, sorry. You will just have to have a Tweetup Blood Drive in your city on your own ;-) .

22 Comments
Mar 30

A Productive Day One at WordCamp Dallas

March 30, 2008 • 4 Comments • Events I've Attended

There is nothing like reconstituted egg product at the Frisco Hampton Inn and hanging out with a bunch of fellow geeks with MacBooks to get the ideas flowing. I was a bit worried that WordCamp Dallas would not be worth missing out on a weekend in Austin, TX, but here are some of great ideas/announcements that came about at WordCamp Dallas:

1.) According to John P., I finally need to update the look and plugins of this blog so it does not suck.
2.) Andy Skelton wants to have a “rate my neighbor” Google maps mashup that allows you to see if your neighbors are total duds. Aaron Brazell thinks we should have a “rate that driver” application that allows you to call out crappy drivers by their license plate number.
3.) B5Media’s VP of Social Engineering, Ed, is a former diplomat and a total social media guru. Look for his ideas on how to kickstart your career using social media on Twitter soon.
4.) Will Andy Skelton allow me to whisper sweet nothings to you in your WordPress dashboard? Doubtful.
5.) Oh yeah, some guy named Matt Mullenweg announced the WordPress 2.5 launch 20 minutes after it happened. Then he gave insights as to what would be in 2.6 for the first time ever. Well, whoopidy do!

Look for more news from me, Ryan Joy, Paul Menard, Jen Simmons and Jeff. I’m hoping they don’t release the official WordPress mascot, Pressly the grizzly bear. That got kind of ugly last time, from what I heard.

4 Comments
Mar 26

Everydotconnects Post Inspires Michelle’s First Official Rant

March 26, 2008 • 3 Comments • Politics and Current Events

OK, double pings here, I read Connie Reece’s post “Five White Men Talk About Social Media” which was inspired by “X Chromosome Web 2.0 Rock Stars“. Essentially, the observation is that we continually see the same men in the social media world, and although we like these men, we would like to see more women.

Why does the lack of prominent women in social media surprise anyone?

We’ve never seen a female U.S. President. Great Britain elected a female Prime Minister in Margaret Thatcher. Indira Gandhi served as Prime Minister of India. Finland, a country with the highest number of scientists per capita in the world, elected Conan O’Brien look-alike Tarja Halonen as president. Although the Catholics in Argentina will not see a female priest, they did elect Cristina Fernandez de Kirschner, who is following in the footsteps of her husband and former president Nestor. Pakistan, a primarily Muslim nation, elected Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister in 1988 and she was leading another election until she was assassinated last December. This is supposedly the freest place on Earth for women, and yet, a Muslim nation elected a female for a leader 20 years before we even get a viable candidate for President. Should we be surprised we can’t get a woman on a City Council social media panel? Nope.

There are very few female CEOs. There is one woman on the Supreme Court. There are 14 women in the Senate. These are decision makers. Are there issues they face that impact women much differently than men? Yes. Are there people that seriously believe women are poor decision makers, consciously or subconsciously? Unfortunately, yes.

Many commenters on Connie’s post said that it is much more natural for men to promote themselves than women. I’d say so. I’ve worked in the tech and auto industries since I graduated from college. I have not had a female boss since I was 18 and I worked in a restaurant. Everyone ahead of me has been male, and many of my female, straight counterparts get married, have kids and then stay at home. It often feels as if the cards are stacked against us.

This rant being said, that doesn’t mean that the social media world should simply follow suit. On the contrary, if social media can produce viable, relevant female “celebrities”, it would bring more attention to online media than ever. These would have to be progressive thinkers, capable of instituting substantive change both in and out of the online space. Any takers?

3 Comments
Jan 29

February GeekAustin Happy Hour 2/12 at JBlack’s

January 29, 2008 • Leave a Comment • Events I've Attended

Ok, so our next party is at JBlack’s on February 12th. This will not involve buying flowers or candy, or calling around to restaurants trying to find the one place that isn’t booked. Will you meet the future Mr. or Ms. (insert your last name here) at the February Geek Austin party? We doubt it, but at least you can count on having a good time.

We are cohosting this event with Dorkbot. Dorkbot is a group of many sorts that builds things and sometimes blows them up in the name of “electronic art” (in the broadest sense of the term). Want to see electronic art in action? Take your kids or the kid in you to the Austin Children’s Museum to check out De La Maquina’s “Electronic Gongs.” These Flickr photos don’t do it justice.

Will we be blowing up Valentine’s Day presents at the party? Probably not. Should you RSVP to find out what does happen? The link is here, my friends:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/418904

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Jan 09

GeekAustin and RefreshAustin Celebrate the King’s Birthday at JBlack’s

January 9, 2008 • 3 Comments • Events I've Attended

OK, Lynn, Whurley and I really hope you all had a great time at JBlack’s tonight. No arrests were made and I don’t think there was any geek loving going on in the bathroom. Just fun times with a great bunch of people, a concerned Time Warner Cable guy, and a bunch of Elvises.

So GeekAustin.org is a bit “outdated.” We thought about competing with Jakob Nielsen’s site for the most old school looking site still on the web, and figured it wasn’t worth the hassle. What does this mean to you, the humble GeekAustin reader? It means we have to have a contest, of course!

GeekAustin is asking every good designer in town to design a logo for us. We will announce the winner at the (drumroll) GEEK AUSTIN SXSW PARTY. Get creative and have fun. Be sure to check into the site or subscribe to our RSS feed for more details. Here’s the link to the Everything GeekAustin Feed. If you are the partying type and just want a feed to our events, get your party on with this Geek Austin feed. If you prefer a more direct approach, check out GeekAustin’s Job Feed.

Much thanks to RefreshAustin for having this party with us. You guys are awesome.

Now you get to see all your lovely pics. Check out my GeekAustin pool of photos, and be sure to add your own so as to show off your awesome Ansel Adams skillz (Lord knows, I need to improve mine). The pool is located here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/geekaustinjanuary2008

Thanks again, I’m hitting the sack!

3 Comments
Dec 26

So Maybe I Should Be More Careful With the Company I Keep…

December 26, 2007 • Leave a Comment • Events I've Attended

michelleandgrinch2.jpg

OK, so I don’t have the greatest taste in men…

Hopefully you all had a restful and rewarding holiday break. I’m looking forward to 2008!

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Nov 30

Tiptoeing into the Blogosphere

November 30, 2007 • 2 Comments • Blogs

OK, so for my first post, I actually wrote this sweet psuedo-interactive commentary on the social web which involved a window with a video of me talking to a window with a video of my friend John, a chat window featuring an overzealous Viagra pusher, and a Skype option. Considering I spent several hours attempting to install a festive WordPress template that ended up being broken to begin with, I think i’ll just stick with writing for now.

I will first start my blog by offering a few shameless plugs.

debutaunt.com: This is my sister’s blog. She is recovering from a stem cell transplant. If you are interested in learning about cancer recovery or just want a good laugh, check it out.

sports.aol.com/fanhouse/nfl/houston-texans: This is another blog by one of my sisters. If you are a Houston Texans fan, then 1.) I will know you are not from Austin, because no one here respects the Texans for picking Mario Williams over Vince Young and 2.) you will enjoy this blog.

barackobama.com: Hopefully you know who this is. Apparently, Obama is so incredible that a 26-year-old Google ad executive who met him dared to call him “Google-Like.” Hopefully we can all get a piece of him before he closes at $701 a share. Check out his campaign events or log into Obama forums by registering at my.barackobama.com. At this site, you can participate in or plan campaign events in your area. If you are in the Austin area, you can register for a debate watching party at Scholz Garten on December 10th at 6:00 pm.

geekaustin.com: What is “the Social Web”? You can peruse through Wikipedia’s lovely entry on the topic and/or you can attend one of the events on this site. Currently, whurley and linearb are hosting a party at Joe Dimaggio’s in the Domain. I opt for the drinking martinis at a swanky restaurant option, but that’s just me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C64GpWNHkg
This clip is just really really funny.

Please take a look at the hundreds of WordPress templates available, and if you see one you think would look cool, send me the link. I will be sure to give you props in my next post if I use it.

2 Comments