Last night's Blogging in Action conference(?) at the Polish club in London was certainly worth attending if only to hear Tom Coates analogy of blogs being a horseless carriage (you had to be there) although a more important point was the fact that a blog is 'the suit you wear online'.
I also enjoyed Neil's (of the Guardian) explanation of what their blogging was about - not quite what I thought i.e. an attempt to broaden the Brand appeal but more of an exploration of where journalism could go.
Nokia's Charlie Schick also had some interesting points to make about 'its all about content' and then you share and not where you are (a reference to mobility) although I wanted something more from him (not sure what though). Good point about rise of broadband facilitating the uploading aspects of content though (downloading generally being of less import). Still not sure why I hadn't heard of lifeblog before?
John Dale of Warwick University however was the star turn with not only an interesting story of how Warwick have set up their own blogging software and services but also how it is being used i.e. the ability to view their current blog entries in different ways (by department or by hall of residence for example) and the wide variety of uses for blogs. It was also interesting to note the self regulating effects of the community on outrageous posts.
Mr Moore was also on form (as he posts here) on the format of the evening. While the wine was certainly first rate I agree that the format needed some tweaking. The mingling at the end felt more exciting although making a key part of the event rather than a coda would have been preferable. Perhaps Alistair should get Johnnie to facilitate next time?
Good also to see James and to meet a few other people including Adriana, Sacha and Luke (albeit briefly).
Shame I didn't get to speak to Suw and tell her thanks for recommending Spaced but then I've done it here. Suw also posts a run down of the evening here. (via Lloyd who shares Johnnie's views on format)
This event cemented a number of ideas swirling in my head about blogs and their usages, which I hope to capture somewhere soon.
Of course I am about to be abducted by aliens for two weeks. When I return to planet blog maybe some sense will have emerged (knowing my track record this is unlikely).
Just received this from a female friend (hence the gender) - make your own mind up but I certainly think there is something to comparing marketing to sleeping around - not sure why?
You see a gorgeous guy at a party. You go up to him and say, "I'm fantastic in bed." That's Direct Marketing.You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous guy. One
of your friends goes up to him and pointing at you says, "She's fantastic
in bed."
That's Advertising.You see a gorgeous guy at a party. You go up to him and get his
telephone
number. The next day you call and say, "Hi, I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Telemarketing.You're at a party and see a gorgeous guy. You get up and straighten
your skirt, you walk up to him and pour him a drink. You open the door for
him, pick up his bag after he drops it, offer him a ride, and then say, "By
the way, I'm fantastic in bed."
That's Public Relations.You're at a party and see a gorgeous guy. He walks up to you and says,
I hear you're fantastic in bed."
That's Brand Recognition
What about when people start posting on the web how you could improve? Is that open source marketing?
Lots of thinking going on over the last 48 hours. Johnnie and James' Open Sauce Live was well worth attending, not only to listen to the guys themselves (and the walk up the stairs - all four flights) but also to listen to the other attendees. A genuine connection in any situation happens so rarely that it is worth remembering. Open Source in a marketing context feels very much that it is about nurturing connection with customers, stakeholders and using that to add value, to benefit the people involved should be the goal all the time. And I really don't mean purely numbers or money.
On this note and Johnnie's recent postings on experience I met an old friend, a guy who used to work for me at ntl today. He is a wonderful guy who really knows his stuff (web development) and is incredibly genuine. We started talking about ntl and the old times. It made me realise just how much the organisation had changed and how much it had impacted me. When we worked together there was a desire to 'do good things' not a fixation with numbers and it made the place wodnerful to work and led to sme extraordinary things being achieved. I rarely saw this in my last couple of years at ntl when most people really looked like they were having their souls bleed away. Strong words? Absolutely and it isn't a criticism of ntl per se, just of the way the business world has developed and the impact of an adverse situation on me.
I'll post something more positive on Monday.
I've been quiet of late on the blogging front paradoxically I've had less time to focus on this being temporaily unemployed than when I was working - I'm sure someone must have invented a rule to descrive this phenomenon - If anyone knows drop me a comment!
I've been busy applying for lots of roles and had a few interviews - a couple still open as we speak and I'm hopeful, however if anyone out there is looking for someone who knows his way around the Internet, broadband and business processes, and has a good working knowledge of marketing then drop me a line.
Next week I have several interesting meetings coming up - tomorrow Johnnie and James's Open Sauce Live - very much looking forward to this.
Next Tuesday also goning to see Johnnie and others talk about the Elephant under the table - outing those things that don;t get said in the corporate world.
On Thursday SixApart are having a presentation on Blogging in Action, looking forward to meeting Alastair Shrimpton, who is Sixapart in the UK, and a number of other very interesting speakers and attendees.
If anyone else is attending those events and like to have a chat please drop me an email.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Stakes raised in fast net race
Well my old company look to take the lead in the Broadband race by implementing ADSL2+. Don't know the ins and outs of it but I guess that the aim is certainly to offer customers much faster speeds than currently. What I am confused over is the ability to offer the service through ntl's own existing cable network as I understood that to not be possible... Be interesting to see and I wait with baited breath :0
Looks like my old team at ntl have plenty of work on and I'm glad of that - I hope it gives them a chance to use their capabilities to the full.
I'll have to try and find out more details...
Julian spots this little gem:
Connecting People With ContentShawn Callahan points to his own white paper Using Content To Create Connections Among People [PDF] that advocates (in a style accessible to the non-techie) the use of blogs, feeds and aggregators as a more flexible solution (compared with a grand “knowledge repository”) to sharing knowledge within a company and between a company and its customers.
Just cheerleading at the moment probably responde when I've analysed this a bit more...