Brindle Media

Archive for the ‘Social media’ Category

Russian journalist, Vladimir Abarinov reports for Radio Liberty, aka svobodanews.ru from his base in Saratoga Springs, New York. Our daughters attended the same school this year which is how Vladimir and I became acquainted.

Apparently, communications theorist Marshall McLuhan, the man who’s most famous observation is “The medium is the message”, is quite revered in Russia. Earlier this month, to mark the centennial of McLuhan’s birth, Abarinov asked if he might interview me about broadcasting and social media in America. What follows is the Google English’s translation of a portion of that interview from the original Russian transcript. Idiomatically, it’s a bit challenging, but….

Brindle: I truly admire the social networks and new opportunities arising with the advent of Internet radio and podcasts, which are now You can listen to the car dashboard. For me it is, in essence, a continuation and extension of what I have done before, but there is also a challenge. If you do business information, you can no longer be only newspaper people. or just a radio journalist, broadcaster or just. You should work on all platforms, in all guises at once incorporated into a product of sound, video and text. In addition, the audience is now more control over the content, it has become more active and more demanding. Those who are accustomed to the traditional one-way communication with the public, it is very difficult to restructure in this regard.

Abarinov Vladimir: We met with Ron because our daughter Mary and Sarah attend the same private boarding school for girls. Once we returned from school, and Ron complained to me that Sarah has blocked his access to his Facebook page”.” I replied that I have not blocked, but sometimes I can hardly understand what is written there. Our daughter while sitting in the back, listened and laughed. Is technology taken away from us our children?

Brindle: I do not think. Kids always find a way to stand apart from their parents. It is growing, and they want better relations with peers than with mom and dad. So they put us to the barriers. When I was in the same age as I did the same thing, just different. I do not think that technology hinder our communication with children, to me they, conversely, help. I will find something of interest in the network, showing her daughter with her and we discuss this information. It is useless to resist – you need to use technology as an opportunity for contact with children. But I recognize that they must also assert their independence. And then there is the risk that the information they publish to social networks, gain access someone else, so they limit their social circle friends whom they trust. Remember Congressman Wiener, who sent a””Twitter their intimate pictures. Now to leak so easily …

You can read the a transcript of the entire article here
http://www.svobodanews.ru/content/transcript/24269535.html

When I went out on the front porch to fetch the Sunday morning paper (traditional media version), I was surprised and pleased to learn that a new family had taken up residence in our vacant birdhouse.

These guys will be driving their poor mother crazy for a few weeks with their constant begging for more food then they’ll be testing their wings and flying off on their own adventures.

“And the circle, it goes round and round…..”

Groupon is one of the hot social media tools which is changing the way businesses are connecting with consumers (aka B2C marketing). Groupon Now is about to launch with an augmented reality component which just makes sense. Watch an example by clicking here: Groupon Now

Radio sales people seem to be in denial about Groupon and are focusing on complaints from business owners who haven’t seen success using the service. Of course, for years the radio industry also has had to deal with those kinds of complaints as well from small business owners with unrealistic expectations. Meanwhile, Groupon is putting boots on the ground in local markets to compete with radio, TV and newspaper ad sales departments.

If you own a smartphone, would Groupon Now be a useful tool for you? How about your friends & family? Would be interested to learn your thoughts.

Last Sunday night, I have to admit to feeling uncomfortable watching the spontaneous celebrations outside of the White House following President Obama’s announcement that Osama bin Laden was dead.

My friend, Joe Templin, author of FINANCIAL MISTAKES OF NEW COLLEGE GRADS, provided some perspective. Joe reminded me that most of the people we saw celebrating were either in elementary school or middle school ten years ago. In their minds, they’ve lived most of their lives under an impending threat of terrorism. For them, it’s similar to the threat that we Baby Boomers felt about the potential for nuclear annihilation during the Cold War. Joe’s explanation helped me to better understand the students’ reaction. To them, it probably feels like an ending. I suspect that isn’t so.

Don’t get me wrong. A person with bin Laden’s list of crimes against humanity deserved a death sentence. However, as I watched the student’s celebrations and listened to their joyful shouts of “USA! USA!” the word tawdry came to mind. Perhaps the word I was really looking for was inappropriate. Probably, it’s my primarily English heritage and New England background but It seemed to me that a more reserved reaction would have been more dignified. We know we’re #1. The world knows that America’s #1. Why rub their noses in it. Isn’t our tendency to do so a major reason why they hate us?

I remember watching an old movie, “Saratoga Trunk” in which the character played by Ingrid Bergman is told that she’s beautiful. She responds: “Yes. Isn’t it lucky?” I’ve always admired that response and the sentiment behind it. Bergman’s character acknowledges that her natural beauty is a blessing which has been bestowed upon her rather than an attribute for which she is responsible.

It’s the same for us Americans. We take so many of our privileges and liberties for granted. We believe that it’s our right to vote even though we make little effort to actually be informed about what we’re voting for or against. As one friend defined that attitude, who needs facts when I can have an opinion!?!

I have faith that the core American values of fairness, equality, justice, industry and integrity will eventually win out against fear, evil and ruthlessness. When we triumph, I hope the primary image that history remembers won’t be of a Styrofoam index finger pointed skyward bearing the words “We’re #1!”.

Photos courtesy of DoctorMacro and CBS News

It happens to everybody. You run into someone at the store, on the subway, while on vacation. You recognize their face but can’t for the life of you remember their name. To the rescue: a facial recognition AR app on your smartphone!

And that’s not all. Watch this courtesy of Augmented Reality guru, John C. Havens:
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Can you see how Augmented Reality might become a useful tool for you?

OK, I admit it. I’m living in prehistoric times with my old Blackberry Curve.

But my wife bought me an Apple Store gift card for my birthday and she’s been bugging me to get an iPhone. It’s obvious that technology is changing rapidly. Both our daughters have iPhones. But I’ve got a couple of dilemmas.

First, our AT&T contract. Now, of course, all the Apple people sneer at AT&T and we don’t get good reception at our home because we live near an airport where new construction for cell towers is prohibited.
But Verizon doesn’t work very well at our house either.

Our oldest daughter switched back to AT&T from Verizon because she wasn’t happy with the Verizon’s coverage. So, that complicates matters. Which carrier to choose?

Then, there’s the matter of which iPhone. The 5G is coming out in August but I’ll leave that one to the early adopters. The real question for me is whether to go for the 4G or the 3G.

In Shelly Palmer’s review of 3G vs. 4G devices, he points out that AT&T 4G is only available at full speed in Northern CA, Greater LA, Greater Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Charlotte, Baltimore, Buffalo, Boston, Providence & Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, Verizon’s 4G is only available to 1/3rd of the US right now and won’t cover most of the country for almost 3 years!

Plus, if you own a 4G phone but a 4G network isn’t available, your phone is actually running at 3G anyway. But, if you don’t turn off the 4G radio, the phone keeps searching for a network and eats up your battery.

You can read Shelly’s complete review here:
http://www.shellypalmer.com/2011/04/3g-or-4g-battery-life-vs-bandwidth/

So, it sounds like I’ll be going with an iPhone 3G. But which carrier:
Verizon or AT&T?

This is too much work for a phone!

The social media agency, Ignite has created an infographic which you might find useful. Do you know which social networking site has the most members with graduate degrees? It’s well-known that women like Facebook. Which SN sites do men prefer? Which SN sites do you perceive as “up & coming” and which do you perceive as “over”? Compare your perceptions with the results on this infographic.
(To enlarge it, click on the picture below. You’ll see a lot of white space and a picture to the far left on the next screen. Click on that picture)

What do you think? Anything here surprise you?

Thanks to http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/

Have you transitioned to a smartphone yet? Traded in your Blackberry for an Android. Finally bought that iPhone? By 2020, it’s predicted that the primary source for accessing the internet will be via mobile technology.

Mobile technology is changing the way we do things every day. The folks at MobiTV created this graphic to provide some perspective and I thought that you’d like to see it. Click on it to see the full infographic.
(Hint: After clicking on the graphic, if you see a slim picture to the left of the screen and a lot of white space. Click on the picture and the whole piece should appear.)

Created by MobiTV,  Inc. a Mobile Technology Platform

Thanks to Jacobs Media for making me aware of this graphic.

Successful advertising is designed to reflect that values and attitudes of the advertiser’s intended audience. It’s interesting to realize that it really wasn’t so long ago that the sentiments expressed in these ads were considered to be appropriate and true. (If you’re having a hard time reading an ad, click on it to enlarge.)

Think about the print, radio and video ads that we see and hear today. How will they look and sound to someone a few decades from now?

Thanks to Dale Brooks for sharing these ads with me.

Last week, Fareed Zakara interviewed Sony Chairman Howard Stringer on CNN. During their discussion about the impact on Japan’s economy of the recent disaster, Stringer also discussed SONY’s mistakes in creating products for vertical vs horizontal platforms. The conversation offers some useful perspective about platform thinking in the 21st century.

The internet has certainly made researching a topic, company or individual easier but, if you’re like me, you still encounter a lot of stumbling blocks. Ann Smarty offers some very useful advice in this blog about Advanced Social Media Search
http://mashable.com/2011/03/25/advanced-social-media-search/

I’ve never used Google Adwords and, to be honest, feel a bit daunted by the process. Here’s a good primer from Matt Silverman:
http://mashable.com/2011/03/27/google-adwords-tips/

I’m not a member of Rotary but my wife was once president of a local chapter and I have a lot of respect for the work that its members do. One of the missions of the International Rotary organization is to help eradicate polio. Here’s their latest :60 PSA