Five years ago today, Twitter’s @Jack published the very first Tweet, the first of billions of Tweets that would eventually change the way millions of people share, learn, and communicate. While other news media (Twitter included) report that Jack’s first Tweet simply stated, “inviting coworkers” – the first tweet on record by @jack actually read, “just setting up my twttr.” That same Tweet was published by all employees at a time when Twitter was actually known as Twttr. In five…
Twitter Isn’t Journalism, Or Is It? Perhaps It’s the Wrong Question to Ask
I was asked to enter the Bloomberg BusinessWeek Debate Room to make the case “for” Twitter as a platform for journalism – at least that’s how I interpreted it. On the other side, ScribbleLive CEO Michael De Monte debates why it is “for the birds.” But before we get too far down the path, let’s frame the discussion. The original debate topic posed by BusinessWeek, “Twitter Isn’t Journalism, Or Is It?” is a bit misleading and honestly, I think it’s…
New Media and the Future of Business
I was recently interviewed by Israel’s BuzzInNews about new media and business. The conversation was translated from Hebrew to English, to share with you here as well. The discussion explores the evolution of social media in business from attention economics to B2B to ROI and concluding with a discussion of the brewing cold war between Google and Facebook. As an expert on New Media, could you provide an insight to what the difference is between New Media and Social Media?…
(R)evolution: Katie Couric on Privacy and Personal Branding
In a landmark discussion where traditional media meets social media, we find ourselves realizing just how much we have yet to learn and also define. This is indeed our time to influence how new media evolves and also how it affects who we are and how we communicate with one another. The final installment in this series with Kate Couric, anchor and managing editor of the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH KATIE COURIC, takes us away from the discussion of social…
(R)evolution: CBSNews.com Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber on the Future of News
Welcome to the (R)evolution, a new series that connects you to the people, trends, and ideas defining the future of business, marketing, and media. In a world where news no longer breaks, it Tweets, information finds us, because we expect it to. Dan Farber is someone whom I respect and admire and he’s also someone I have the privilege to call a friend. Farber is the Editor-in-Chief of CBSNews.com and is one of the brightest minds in journalism, possessing a…
(R)evolution: Mark Burnett on the Art of Storytelling
Welcome to the (R)evolution, a new series that connects you to the people, trends, and ideas defining the future of business, marketing, and media. During Blogworld Expo, I had the opportunity to share the stage with Mr. Mark Burnett, a groundbreaking television producer, perhaps best known for creating and producing industry-defining reality television shows such as Survivor and The Apprentice. On stage, we spent an action-packed hour discussing his experiences and how he transformed his ideas into successful realities. Immediately…
The Social Network: Ecosystem vs. Egosystem
Of all the social networks competing for our online persona and social graph, Twitter is special. The culture and self-governing rules of engagement shaped by the “me” in social media, create a personalized experience that looks and feels less like a “social” network and instead, creates an empowering information exchange. Twitter is at the heart of the Web’s evolving egosystem and its archetype is powerful and quite understated. For better or worse, Twitter introduces the notion of notion of popularity,…
This is Your Time to Make a Difference: Engage or Die
We live in amazing times. Perhaps what makes it so special is that the present is rewriting the future for so many things held sacred over the years. So many industries, processes, politics, beliefs and myths clouded or seized our responsibility and capacity to force innovation and ultimately the change that is needed and long overdue. At the root of this however, is what fuels evolution and revolution… #you You helped define social media. You helped democratize the ability to…
Influencing the Influencer
The competition for attention is focused on social networks as brands vie for awareness and consideration. Establishing a presence in Facebook and Twitter is as necessary as it is trivial. In the great social land grab, many organizations are missing true opportunities to connect with the fifth P of the marketing mix, people. It’s less about communicating with those individuals who are already following you online and more about those who aren’t. To excel in social media, engagement has its…
Video: The New Influencers, Does Old School Media Get It?
In part seven of a series of conversations exploring the state and future of social media, Chris Beck, founder of 26dottwo (@26dottwo) and I review the rise of the new influencers (you and me) and how traditional media can adapt to the democratization of content creation and curation. As new media creates a bottom up (r)evolution, the top-down methodologies of publishing are forced to adapt. Consumers are now in full control of defining their own experiences, with whom they connect,…