community building « Social Media North

09.04.10 a post about Ping { for iTunes } 0

admin to behavior,community building,general,social web commentary,user-centered design — Tags: Album, Apple, behavior, Compact Disc, Fred Wilson, iTunes, Last.fm, Listening, Music, Pandora, Ping, Reprogramming, Tower Records

: Image by Getty Images via @daylife

hoo … feels good to log back into THIS WordPress account, right? ;]

anyhow, firstly … check out this amazing post on Music and Community and all that’s so totally wrong with Ping … from Fred Wilson … read up

just to sum it up a little, Ping supposedly adds some social web coolness to iTunes 10 … and according to our good friend Fred Wilson, he sums up the ginormous issue with the very nature of what this Ping thing is all about … its not very user-centered by design at all … it doesn’t take into consideration that the ‘social’ part of listening to music might be more inclined to be about the people, the listeners and all about the amazing music their listening too … instead, Ping seems to be very purchase-centered … and apparently not that cool to use at all … and not only that, it might be another proverbial attack on all that’s super cool and interesting about music … i mean, i actually don’t mind if an entire industry of valueless middlemen gets stripped down by all these disruptive technological progressions we’ve endured … but along with the transitional era we’ve witnessed ( bye bye Tower Records and many other record stores, those surviving perhaps depending more upon merchandising sales of toys, trinkets, CD resellings, and other non-music related economics … the destruction of or diminishing art of ‘the album’ { in fact, it seems that bands and musicians have totally dropped thinking about music beyond the MP3 single in many ways … just the hits, ma’am … which feeds that whole iMovement … that whole i listen to my music on my iPod, when i want, how i want, in isolation … i know its a GenX | GenY | GenI thing, but the actual social aspects of music … playing music ‘out loud’ for chrissakes, with your windows open, for passersby to listen + enjoy ( or not ), or in a room with others during a party without the whole ‘everyone can be an instantly amazing DJ with millions and millions of stolen files here on my iTunes, like actually listening to an entire band’s album … we’ve been retrained, as musicians and listeners, to behave differently with regards to our musicmaking and musiclistening … which is really scary, atrocious and sad on many levels }

see … see what i mean … now i seem to be on instant though iShuffle or something … i am so passionately enraged by what’s come up out of reading this article that i can’t get back to the point

i think we’ve lost the social aspect of listening to music … even the social experience of purchasing music, of going to a store and hearing music while talking with people flipping through albums in the bins next to you about what you love, what you recommend, what’s cool and new, or cool and old … and some of these online experiences do something a lot more valuable than the Ping thing … i know i’ve checked out Last.fm, Blip.fm, Pandora, and now there’s a few more that Fred Wilson brings up in his article … and they’re all interesting, and allow you to discover music and people with amazingly similar or dissimilar tastes in musiclistening … let’s try and keep as much of this as human as possible, okay? maybe we can start a little underground railroad of musiclistening … we’ll meet in damp basements … we’ll actually have record albums, cassettes, CDs … beer, pot, coffee and food … whatever … we should sit, listen, talk, and enjoy each other’s company … and listen to music the way we used to do ;]

05.29.10 upcoming Refresh 0

admin to Boston-area,community building — Tags: Ajax, Cascading Style Sheets, Design thought, Events, HTML, JavaScript, Languages, Microsoft, Networking, Process, Programming, Refresh Boston

: Image by dumbledad via Flickr

don’t forget … the veryNext Refresh Boston hits the Microsoft NERD Center on Monday, June 28 with Dan Ritzenthaler’s provocative talk ‘Don’t Trust a Wireframe’ … sounds like an amazing discussion + one you won’t wanna miss …

from what i can tell it seems like Dan’s pushing for that jump right in approach to design for the web … ya know? lots of ‘em are calling it Agile { although, boy does that word get bashed around + misused }, but for the most part the faster you get to a working prototype of that experience on the web you’re trying to put ‘out there’ the sooner you’re gonna figure out if the nuances of that interaction, the flow of each pop, lock ‘n’ drop of the application environment, if all that makes any sense to the 80% or not

Photoshop comprehensives might do the trick, right? but the ability to sketch slows drastically when each pixel comes into play

in Dan’s specific case he’s talking about wireframes … Omnigraffle, Visio, whatever … these programs allow you to sketch rapidly + flesh out the details of a set of pages … but ofttimes the client can’t ‘see’ what you’re talking about … or the overseas development team quite literally speaks a different language + can’t be bothered actually reading all the important thought you put into your notes + interaction details … etcetera, so on + blah blah blah

so, why not just dig right in … grab that Ajax … rip out the HTML, CSS + other codely goodness + get crackin’ … ain’t nothin’ like the real thing … + if your team is set up right you’ll bring that experience to life { iteration 1 or whatever } in no time flat … everyone will get it with very little left to the imagination

of course, i’m just guessing that’s what this talk is all about … get out to the NERD on the 28th to hear the gorey details for yourself … i hope to see you there ;]

here’s Dan talking about ‘The Problem with Personas’ as a quick-hit appeteaser … enjoy!

Problems with Personas from Dan Ritz on Vimeo.

11.25.09 No more ‘harnessing the power of social media’! 0

admin to community building,general,user-centered design — Tags: activity, Blog, Business, Customer service, Facebook, LinkedIn, mindset, Social media, Social media marketing, Social network, the social web, user-centered

: Image by HubSpot via Flickr

I just bumped across a cool post on the B2B Social Media group up on that there LinkedIn. I felt compelled to add to the thoughtStream, so here’s the original post with a little link to an awesome article on IttyBiz with my little follow up trailing after. Enjoy.

No more ‘harnessing the power of social media’!

I ran across this story on one of the blogs I frequent. Something about it really hit home. Everyone is trying to ‘engage’ consumers in order to create a relationship that will hopefully lead to sales. While I am not denying the power social media has to strengthen current b2c relationships (in the form of customer service) is a company really going to get a new customer because they have a spiffy Facebook page?

http://ittybiz.com/social-media-marketing-sucks/

Here’s my comment added to the discussion …

Thanks for posting this … and thanks for pointing to the IttyBiz article that your thoughts grow out of

I think a very pertinent point to take into consideration … the current mindset of the user … I particularly enjoyed the concept ( in big red letters ) in ‘Social Media Marketing Sucks’ that ‘Interacting is a social activity. Buying is a commercial activity’ … you need to take the initial mindset of the user into consideration every step of the way and determine which activity they are originally engaged in and then cater your online behavior to the user

For instance, I bet if done wrong, the interactions you might engage with could be perceived verymuch like that superPushy salesperson that’s just sort of lurking in the aisles of the store, springing on you at the first opportunity … total turn off for me … I bet the same turn off for SO many others

Very important to make each and every one of these experiences user-centered … and to realize that as the marketer, as the businessperson, as the potential snake draping down from a branch of a tree, well … you need to be there for the user more than you’re there for you or the company … give without expectations … interact without expecting any guarantees … just be there for them … most of the time people are just on the social web to just be social

09.30.09 question for Rick Castanho 0

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

ha HA!

for some reason i couldn’t post this to yer Facebook Wall, so here goes …

..:: *** :: original Facebook Wall message to Rick :: *** ::..

Rick … what up?

Hey, sorry we didn’t get to golf t’gether recently … maybe that Mike guy’ll set us up fer some fun again soon before the season is out … just remember, I snck supremely … but its fun to get ‘out there’, right? ;]

Quick Q fer ya … on the IA side a life … dialogs that come up all the time in an app include:

1. unfortunately, error messages come up a lot and its good to have a pattern + styles for them
2. warning, will robinson, warning … what’s the delta between an error and a warning though, right? that’s part of the challenge
3. messages … from the system … these could be informative and edutaining, or simply things you need to relay for whatever purposes ( i can’t dig up the theory right now from the recesses of my mind )
4. loading … when the system needs to think a bit between pockets of dataDisplay, its always courteous to let the user know everything is still okay and they’re headin’ in the right direction … keep ‘em in the know and they just might stick around
5. what else? just trying to get to anything else i haven’t thought about yet on the AI + IxD = ‘good, thoughtful design thought’ side a life ;]

a LOT about thought … i repeat the word too many times, but i’m keepin’ it just like that … this isn’t a fr!kken novel, right? not even a novelization … just a Q fer ya on this fine Wednesday morning …

[: peace out :]

lou

09.01.09 introducing … the Blovel ;] 0

admin to community building,general — Tags: Fiction, Novel, Online Writing

: Image by _saturnine via Flickr

aight … just wanted to share this little diddy witchyaz …

i found this right up there on JungleG … oh yeah … all about bloggin’ up your novel progress right to the web … they’re callin’ it … duh duh dunnnnnnn

guess

a Blovel

nOOOoooOooOOOOOooOOOOooooOOooo

;]

here’s the post yo …
http://tr.im/jgblovel

read it an’ tweet :]

ha HA!

seriously

enjoy!

08.29.09 a ‘famous’ brand 0

admin to Boston-area,career,community building,general — Tags: Brand extension, Coffee, Educational, LinkedIn, Social Sciences, Tools, Win-win game

: Image via Wikipedia

i’m not sure if you know my story

or at least my most recent chapter

its pretty interesting

i’m NOT going to talk about it too, too openly here … but if you want to know more feel free to ask me … we can catch up over coffee … i loves coffee ;]

well, let’s jump up to as much of the encrypted story as we can relay here online … let’s just put it this way …

i was asked to remove any references to a certain ‘famous’ brand from any and all of my domains … i have decided, as a means of passive-agressive online resistance to remove the reference to this ‘famous’ brand from every single domain &/or personal and professional brand extension i have ‘out there’ on the web

i think this is a smart move

maybe the smartest way, on the web, to actually help me help them

see, i adhere to the law, after all, it was a legal threat

AND

they get less of their ‘famous’ brand ‘out there’ on the web

a win win?

nope

its a lose win

they lose, i win

here’s how

so, on LinkedIn … every single instance ( and there were 3 instances of this particular brand ) of the ‘famous’ brand has been removed, or rather … replaced by the phrase ‘a ‘famous’ brand’ …

there ya go

happy?

ask me about my story

[: come to my seminar :]

be careful what you … well … not what you wish for …

be careful what you request in an official threat

g’day

08.29.09 know yer sh!t … an’ show !t! 0

admin to Chris Brogan,career,community building,cyberSurreal,general — Tags: Chris Brogan, Critical thinking, Facebook, On the Web, Online Communities, Raisin in the Sun, Social network, Twitter

: Image via Wikipedia

aight … here goes … grrrrrrrrrrr …

so, you want sum web 2.0 … sum social web … alL that, right? or your company wants that stuff all up in there … and let’s say you’re like me, but you just haven’t been playin’ as hard, ya know? like you’re an industry professiona, maybe in the cSuite ( i target the cSuite y’alL … just my favourite new term an’ all … sea sweet, see sweetie, cSuite … i think they usually got some funny in the head, ya know? rattle rattle rattle … at least 92 pacenta the time its seems it seems ) … so …

its your gig now to put some design thought, some thought leadership an’ vision into a product, but … like i said … you just haven’t been playin’, right? let’s admit …

… that’s why this here blog on Social Media North is called … hMmmmMmm … gues what mnthafncka? GUESS! … yep … network + play …

aight, you gut the work part down … its practically part of yer brand … job = work = drudgery = slavery = boredumb = ho hum = grrrrrrrrr = 9 ta 5 = passionlessness = you get the picture, right? at least to me, just the word work has direct correlations to the concept of no fnckin’ fun dude

but

words are pretty powerful tools of technology

seriously

watch this sh!t

to make work more interesting, why not inject … i don’t know … some stimulation into the mix, right? … put a little net on the beginnin’ a that sh!t an’ you get network … rutRo … hope ya been networkin’ dudes, because keeping connected w/ just email an’ online means just ain’t enough … ya gotta make friends … AND … ya really gotta mean it … you can’t just network to network … NOPE … ya gotta open up your heart, mind, body an’ soul and participate and really listen ( see Chris Brogan, read his blog daily, grow bigger ears, but also, begin to listen to your heart more and the collective heart and spirit of humanity … and as much as this might sound like crazy soulSh!t … its the fnckin’ truth dude … wake up … get outta yer career comas an’ smell the coffee before ya bring that sh!thouse down ta the river an’ dunk ‘em all in there … wouldn’t want THAT now, woodjya? )

so, you gut the word network now … do that … don’t JUST come and go at an office here or an office there, or maybe 2 different offices as of Monday, right? offices are just a distraction to producing really good work … i mean, unless they’re set up correctly an’ all that sh!t w/ lots a love + tla … without some special care to help nurture productivity, creativity, respect and innovation, an office means jack fnckin’ sh!t … right? … RIGHT

so then … uhm … another thing i tried to do when coming up w/ what the tweet component would be for this site … AND for what the tone a this site was gonna be … well, i thought of the many metaphors for work …

work = work
work = war
work = power struggle
work = chain gang
work = politics + trickery
work = sports + teamwork … this is nicer, right?

but what sounds even more fnckin’ fun?

in fact, what’s something we ALL wanna do, regardless of our age, sex, creed, color, belief systems, food preference an’ all that?

what’s something even little kids LOVE ta do?

its up in the tagline dude ;]

that’s right, what if … oooh … what if the metaphor became something like

work = play

play as in ‘wanna play doctor’ … well, no, er, ehm … that might lead to harassment … scratch that sh!t out

play as in ‘i’d love to go see a good play, like ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ … a fantastic play, depending on the actors and the performance‘

a powerful metaphor perhaps … that the employees are actors on a stage and they perform their jobly activities … interesting …

i could vamp on that later though

because that’s not what i meant at first … that’s NOT the play in the tagline

the play in the tagline is the whole ‘wanna play blocks?’ thing or the ‘wanna play Barbie?’ thing … ya know? …

wanna play?

i wanna play

wanna work?

well, i think of work as play now … it helps, because i can solve a lotta stuff just by playin’ around … by improvising, but runnin’ w/ my guts in my hand until i get to the finish line …

rewind, step back a bit …

so, besides this big work metaphor concept, right? let’s get back to companies that wanna put some social webbishness to good use …

it is really fncking important that as an industry professional that designs in any capacity for user experience in 2009 and beyond, it is SO important that you as a web person play with the amazing tools that are ‘out there’ at your disposal

the tools are free

time is not

and as much as it might look like you’re fncking around on Facebook, even if you truly ARE fncking around on Facebook … you’re learning

it helps inna nice complimentary way as you play with the social web … it really helps to think about what you’re doing, well, after you first give yourself entirely to the flow of the site, to the experience …

if you find yourself clicking an’ poking an’ social webbing without too much reflection … well then the people that made that site did their job mighty nice … they made you know only stop thinking, they made you, most likely, begin to play again

awe

cool

that’s why we LOVE the social web

that’s why it rawks

consider this too now

think or don’ think about it, whatever … i could care less … after all, i really don’t know who you are right now readin’ this here post, right?

but i think as a means to facilitate the thinking, the important critical thinking that helps us decide why a site is fun and successful

i want to be fun and successful

think of me as a website

a website you want to read

click me

double click me

oh, that’s good

hey! HARASSMENT!

why do i keep clownin’ around … jeesh …

so, as a means to facilitate the thinking … and maybe more importantly … as a means to SHARE your thinking and as a way to connect with real people in a real community somewhere ‘out there’ … put your thoughts ‘out there’ in a blog … tweet whenever you update the blog … think of new ways to use twitter … tweet about that … bebo your plurk … face your space … chat up your AIR client … and by all means GoogleWave your tweets all over the Facebook … play with it … play with it until you explode w/ joy

i apologize for the nearPornographic metaphor … for the chilling moneyshot conclusion to this diatribe + experiment in humanization of the technologies available to me …

but, this is how i think, how i rant an’ roll w/ it … this is how we do it … and i am SO lucky to be able to share it all w/ you in such a playful, happy manner … thank you social web … thank you my friends, my readership … thank you gawed

hey

now get back to WORK!

NOT ;]

08.17.09 make ‘em care … design for social web traction ala Bokardo 0

admin to Boston-area,Joshua Porter,community building,general

aight … i’m still only half a way done w/ Josh Porter’s Design for the Social Web ( i’m a pretty slow and distracted reader ), but I have to say … i completely fncking love it, its an awesome read so far and I highly recommend picking it up and just diggin’ in …

i just got me sum tweetage direct from the man hisself, right … an’ it says he’s working up a new self-published book tentatively titled ‘Make Them Care’ … check it … there’s the link to his blog …

so, what’s interesting is that i could SO totally have predicted Mr. Porter might be writing about this very topic soon … especially after the Refresh Boston talk he gave … although the topic for the evening was NOT about sign up, Josh couldn’t help but talk about what an amazing thing Tumblr does during their sign up flow … they very natural, conversational, almost playful … what i would definitely think of as Web 2.0 from how he described it at the NERD Center … gawd, it like SO totally makes sense + i am like SO super happy + pumped to hear the news ( didjya hear the news Willy! Ebbet’s Field blew up! … name THAT play yo! ) … anyhow, can’t wait to hear more, get little glimpses a the piece in progress and to pick it up when its finally out …

what’s the ETA on that Mr. P? hmmMMmmm? hmMMmMMmm?

;]

08.12.09 quick note to Chris Brogan 0

admin to Boston-area,community building,general — Tags: Chris Brogan, Facebook, LinkedIn, Online and offline, Social media, Social network, Social network service, Twitter

: Image via CrunchBase

local social media genius Chris Brogan ( check out and pre-order Trust Agents ) recently blogged on friending and online reputation right up here …

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/friending-and-reputation/?success&dsq=14706854#comment-14706854

I left some commentary for Chris’ network right on his blog using Disqus, but here it is right here on SMN, too … just in case ;]

woah … Chris … right on!

i think we have the same social web translation devie or something, because i too am a bit flirtatious in my friendings and pretty much openly invite and accept friend requests … i look at these sites as a tool or means to not only connect w/ people, but to also express myself in new and interesting ways ( never before possible prior to the social web ) …

the term and activity i would like some clarity on is the ‘poke’ ;] … i got in trouble a while back for ‘poking’ a friend of a brand new friend, right? and as much as the term ‘poke’ could be thought of in some psychoSexual way, i was thinking of it more along the lines of tapping someone on the shoulder … after all, at least a year or so back, poking meant that you were now allowing someone else to check out your full Facebook Profile and all the interactive goodness you might have put up on it over time and space …

… but, now … back to friendliness …

i think what you propose here makes a lot of sense … keep a list of your own friends like in your back pocket or something … no one should have access to that list buy you and maybe your inner circle, right? it shouldn’t be the way you think of your activity in online networking …

another note … i am also trying to put out a certain kind of crazyHappy, positive energy in my social webbedness recently … to express a certain mindset and ideaGeneration capability using Facebook and LinkedIn Groups in combination w/ my own unwieldy batch of online presences … so, through this energy and designerly approach to my web persona ( which is veryMuch my offline personality anyhow ) i am trying to attract likeminded, excited and slightly ‘out there’ prospects and clients … to join forces and conquer the world … ( all for fun, fun for all! ) … and so far, its been workin’ out well … its been pretty amazing …

and in regards to the endorsementure … i agree 123% in what you put up there in this blogEntry … endorse only those you might consider hiring yourself … keep your reputation in mind … make sure you can endorse that connection w/ an almost cartoonish fervocity, and if not, don’t endorse them …

i do think that endorseability could indeed be a parametric function of time … i know several people that in the deepest depth of friendship and workedness have put in the old LinkedIn endorsement request to me … and at the time of the request there was something, just something small inside me that would say ‘hey, Lou … uhm, don’t do it … remember the time …’ and that voice would point up and out to like 3 things that made the person a little offstance w/ my reputationBase … a little warning coming directly from the heart that just said in its antiNike-like way ‘just DON’T do it’ … and luckily, when trusting in matters of the heart, the voice was like SO right … SO right … but i can totally imagine a time in the future when these very people, due to some new face-to-face interactions or discussions over a coffee or lunch ( or better yet, over another collaborative assignment ), i can imagine a time when these verySame people would inspire a flood of nice commentary and a real recommendation … i think, sometimes, you just don’t have enough narrative connection w/ the person requesting the recommendation … not enough story between the 2 of you, ya know? … and so, you just need time and space together to see if you can really, quite literally, sing their praises

my 2 cents … brought to you by Paypal Connect … the new social network that let’s your money talk for you ;]

08.12.09 Facebook … what’s the difference? 0

admin to community building,cyberSurreal,general — Tags: Cool, Facebook, Nipple, On the Web, Online Communities, Social network, Website

: Image via CrunchBase

Question for ya …

What’s the difference between a Facebook Profile, a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group?

Answer for ya …

Its all about the interactivity, or the levels of play, right?

Give me your spin on this … but here’s mine …

… so, you sign up for Facebook. You put your picture up on that, add in some info and you get this Wall that you hopefully allow people to post comments to, etcetera … well, that’s your Facebook Profile. Open, honest, clean … er, ehm … well, you know what I mean, right? Its you and your pictures up online ( after all, uhm, Facebook is a photoSharing social website, right? For the most part? Right? ).

Aight … then one day you get all Facebook Advanced and all. You get board w/ the same old same old and you decide to create a Facebook Page. oOOOoOOOoooOOoo … maybe you do this for your online business network … or for a rockStar persona … or for who knows what, right? But you make a Page and people can now become a fan of your Facebook Page identity, whatever the fnck that is. Coolness, right? A little more interactive … but NOT really. Its almost EXACTLY like having a new Facebook Profile, but for that other identity you created and want to promote. And the cool thing is … the coolest thing about it I guess … is that you don’t have to Sign Out and Sign On again to get into this other mode. You just have to … yep, that’s right … you have to do a fncking search for that sh!t up in that box to the upper right. At least that’s the only way I could figure out gettin’ into my own FB Pages. Kinda awkward, but whatever … so there’s a Facebook Page ( plllLLlLLllLlLphPhPHpHFPALfpOIJffffffffff … an intentional bi-labial fricative noise, intentionally here to suggest fartishness … a bit SO WHAT? )

But the Group, yes … The Facebook Group … that’s where its @ yo … an’ here’s why …

So, you set up a Group on Facebook … you invite people to come … you can create events … you can brand all this stuff, the Group and the Events … you can attach photos, video, commentary, discussion … right? I’m not remembering this incorrectly, am I? Its a whole lot cooler from how I recall it all … you even get a free set a nipples sent to you directly in the mail when you set up a Facebook Group ( sometimes its a pair, sometimes its something a little freakier than that, oh yeah ) … aight, aight … I lied there … you don’t get nipples in the mail … but its almost as cool as THAT … its SO much more robust from the IxD ( that’s Interaction Design … don’t ask me on the little ‘x’ deal … its part of that movement to slam an X into any UX abbreviatory nomenclature … UX being User eXperience, so at least THAT one ALMOST makes sense, right? )

So, I know I’m being subtle here … but if you aXe me, and if you don’t understand the difference between a Facebook Profile, a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group … dude, go Group … you know what they say? Once you go Group … oh, no … wait a minute … that’s something else entirely … nevermind ;]

Join The Network for Work Facebook Group t’day!