Question of the day…

Can someone tell me why the company that makes iPhones does not have a mobile-optimized website?

Step aside vending machines, tank tops, and condoms: Wikipedia new on list of high school bans

What does Wikipedia have in common with vending machines, tank tops, and condoms? It has become a controversial topic for high schools, and like some of the above mentioned elements, has even gone so far to be banned.

I was at a family gathering recently and entered into a discussion with my cousin, a freshman in high school. He is currently enrolled in some classes with projects and papers, so we spoke about the process his teachers encourage him to research and source.

Apparently at his high school, students are only allowed to use sources found in a few select online databases approved by the school. They are not allowed to find information by searching the internet, and above all, NO Wikipedia.

I absolutely agree that Wikipedia should not be listed in your works cited, but it is a far more useful tool than most teachers these days realize.

For one, Wikipedia gives you an overall knowledge of a particular subject. With the wealth of information out there, it is often hard to find a general explanation of certain topics. That can be crucial in offering a starting off point for a research paper, especially for young minds like high school students.

Secondly, the Wikipedia community is usually very good at citing their references. Though the text in Wikipedia may not be quotable, the sources at the end of each article can often be used as trustworthy pieces of reference.

I also think it is important to be teaching kids, especially at a young ago, how to appropriately use social media tools, such as Wikipedia. The solution is not to ban Wikipedia. It is to encourage them to use it in a responsible way.

I have seen college kids cite Wikipedia in their bibliography for research papers. For a long time, I don’t think many people understood how incorrect that was. Without the proper teachings early on, these high school kids may fall into the same trap. Don’t tell them to not use Wikipedia. Instead, explain to them why not to use it in those situations, and tell them when it is appropriate.

Kids these days are savvy enough to know Wikipedia exists, and at some point in their student career, they will turn to it. They need to be taught that it is a user-created encyclopedia, and to judge the credibility of everything they read. Not everything will be correct, but at the same time, this does not mean everything will necessarily be wrong (with a high percentage comparable to reputable encyclopedias.)

In this age of new media, people should be critical of everything they read, and Wikipedia is a perfect teaching tool for this.

Join me in encouraging students and teachers to Practice Safe Wikipedia Research!

The Wave Has Arrived…

Full blog posting to come… Stay tuned.

If you weren’t believin’ before, you are now: Tonight’s ‘Glee’ songs already hitting Top 100

On October 29th, Columbia Records reported that the Glee Cast’s rendition of Journey’s beloved “Don’t Stop Believin’” went Gold in digital sales with an excess of 500,000 downloads. This rounds off the show’s total number of digital song purchases to over two million.

Tonight’s show (November 15th) featured “Defying Gravity” from the Broadway hit Wicked, and CCR’s classic “Proud Mary.”

As part of FOX’s genius marketing ploy, songs from each episode are released on iTunes for download as they appear on the show. Tonight, in one of my weakest moments, I gave in and purchased “Defying Gravity.”

After playing the song through a few times, I thought to myself – how many other people did exactly what I did? How many other Americans are also hopelessly brainwashed by the show’s catchy-teen-musical combination that they, too, in a zombie-like fashion, searched “Glee Cast’ in iTunes and clicked “purchase” to the two newest songs?

Around 1 A.M., I found the list of top 100 iTunes downloads, updated daily. Sure enough, within 3 hours of tonight’s Glee episode, the November 12th chart featured Glee’s “Defying Gravity” at #66 and “Proud Mary” at #81. Both songs are the only Glee songs currently featured on the Top 100.

How long had these songs been on the chart? Since there are no archives on the site, I looked up a Google cached version of that exact webpage. The most recent snapshot I found was taken on November 11th at 9:33 GMT, which comes out to 4:33 A.M. EST.

I looked through the list, and I did not see the two songs in question. In fact, I did not even see one Glee song. Just to be sure of this, I used my trusty ⌘F key to “Find” the term Glee in the browser window, and still nothing came up. That’s pretty ⌘F-ing crazy.

Within just a few hours, two previously unknown songs had risen to the Top 100 downloaded list just because they appeared in a TV show.

According to the Boston Herald, the week of October 6th saw ten Glee songs crack the Top 200 download list, with “Somebody to Love” cracking the Top 10 – sitting up there with mainstream favorites Jay-Z, Mylie, and Black Eyed Peas.

All of these songs are not successful because of the phenomenal talent and energy of their performers alone. They are successful because they allow viewers to connect with the visual and emotional sensations they feel when watching the show.

A heart-felt rendition of “Keep Holding On” was sung at the end of an episode where Quinn, head cheerleader, was kicked off the squad because of an unplanned pregnancy. The performance of “No Air” exploded with chemistry between the lead male and female who are destined to cross high school clique boundaries.

This unique model allows the show’s story to continue beyond your flat screen TV. Glee is no longer just a one-hour-a-week commitment. It’s a full experience, a cult, a lifestyle.

=============UPDATE 11/12 10:39 A.M.=============

At 10:39 A.M., the Glee Cast’s version of “Defying Gravity” jumped to #41 and “Proud Mary” to #53. This is getting out of control.

=============UPDATE 11/13 1:36 P.M.=============

I am going to blow your mind with this interesting twist. Let me first start off by saying “Defying Gravity (Glee Cast Version)” is currently at #16 and “Proud Mary” quietly skipped to #39. That, in itself, is worth the blog update. However, I discovered even more noteworthy movement in the charts that merits addressing. Glee now has an additional three songs in the Top 100 daily downloads.

Last Wednesday, character Artie, a paraplegic in a wheelchair, sang a cover of “Dancing with Myself.” I originally did not mention this song as one of the ones featured in last episode because it was not a “Glee Club” song, sung on screen by the entire cast. Apparently, that did not stop the rest of America from paying attention to it. Originally a Billy Idol favorite, this Glee Cast rendition finally cracked the Top 100, coming in at #73.

In an even more mind-boggling event, the last two songs to hit the chart were two different versions of the episode’s headlining song, “Defying Gravity.” Accompanying the original Glee Cast Version at #16 are Rachel/Lea Michele’s Solo Version at #35 (jumping from yesterday’s #75 ranking which I completely missed) and Kurt/Chris Colfer’s Solo Version at #88.

I can’t imagine every single one of those three versions were downloaded by different people. That means with just one song, Fox’s genius marketing machine managed to potentially generate up to three times the revenue. No one in their right mind would typically download a song three times. However, as I explained earlier in the posting, these songs are more than just musical bliss. They are the emotional connectors between the viewers and the television show.

The song “Defying Gravity” was sung as part of a “diva-off” between the usual female lead, Rachel, and Kurt, the gay male who also wanted to be considered for the lead role, even though it is typically given to a female. Each character was asked to sing the song and the winner was voted on by the rest of the Glee club.

Downloading one or more of these versions means more than just defining which song displays the most musical prowess. Viewers can continue the show’s popularity debate over one character or another, or in their own way cast their vote as to who they think sang the song best. They could also sympathize with the ideal that everyone should have an equal opportunity, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or handicap.

It could be any or all of these elements. The point is these songs instill something different in everyone, and it’s those personal reasons that make them want to download a particular song – or in this case – maybe all three.

The Crowd Goes Wild Over Brian Lehrer and WNYC

I found many an example of crowdsourcing on the internet. There are websites out there that are entirely built off the notion of crowdsourcing (NewAssignment.net) and others that simply have interesting components (someecards.com).

The most intriguing examples I found were case studies that fell somewhere in between – very informative yet interactive and playful.

Surprisingly enough, I discovered my favorite instance of crowdsourcing on WYNC, New York City’s NPR station. The station plays host to “The Brian Lehrer Show” – featuring Brian Lehrer himself – which focuses on national issues and links them to real-life for New Yorkers. It is an interesting beat as is, but what peaked my curiosity was the ingenuity he uses to deliver his message. On multiple occasions, Lehrer has used crowdsourcing to illustrate his point. He solicits responses and votes from his listeners and fellow New Yorkers as the base of his stories. This adds a unique level of legitimacy and relevance to his stories.

On August 2nd, 2007, he asked the question “How many SUVs are on your block?” Instead of citing data from a recent New York census or car distributor, Lehrer turned to the people. He asked them to go outside their house and count how many SUVs, as well as regular cars, were found around their house. On October 8th, he wanted to know who was getting ripped off. So he asked New Yorkers to go purchase a carton of milk, a head of lettuce, and a six-pack of beer at their local convenience store, and report back to him.

The social and economical conclusions were not the only interesting aspects of these projects. Lehrer created an interactive map to display these results. These maps added a visual element to his projects and strengthened his thesis. Users could click on specific blocks and find out exactly how many SUVs were found, or the exact price of that head of lettuce. Lehrer also encouraged users to comment on these findings, questioning the data or adding more of their own.

It’s the Little Things That Count: Social Media Thus Far

I’m a big believer of the idea that it’s the little things in life that change your way of thinking. This is the idea I portrayed in my bachelor of fine arts thesis my senior year. Having grown up in a couple different places, I was always astounded by the niche differences between cultures. It was those everyday aspects of life that made people question their own culture, rather than any overarching differences that are normally studied.

I’m getting to the point, I promise.

In this class we have read countless articles, blog postings, and books to mold the way we think about social media. Though every single one of them was insightful and shaped my social media palette, I found it were the smaller, less significant details, found in the readings and said in class, that forced me to look differently upon this online world we live in. Those facts really demonstrate to us the unique aspect of the current state of online media, and it’s those facts that I have found myself repeating to countless co-workers, family members, and friends to illustrate my points.

Here is my list of 5 details that stood out to me:

1. The mesothelioma myth. I often use Google AdWords to promote my events, and even I tend to get upset when I am forced to bid over $1 for a keyword. Learning about the highest paying keywords – and the reason for them – really put into perspective how I use AdWords, how Google is profiting from them, and the system’s overall ingenuity. (On an unrelated note, stay tuned for my next blog, creatively titled: On Mesothelioma: Your First Source for Mesothelioma, Meosthelioma Attorneys, Mesothelioma Lawyers and Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma)

2. Google Trends = coolest shit ever. I was blown away by the concentrated searches of Hillary/Obama around the time and location of the primaries. I have no idea why I never before played around with this application. The idea is ingenious and applicable to so many topics in the online marketing world. It gives us an opportunity to support your pitches with hard data, which is sometimes a very difficult thing to do in this field.

3. Linking is your sourcing. I started to understand blog writing and developing your voice, but I never grasped the importance of linking. Garrett had two pieces of advice. For one, linking is your sourcing. Unlike articles or books that may use footnotes or citations, in the same capacity blogs use links. Whenever I refer to something that is not explicitly described in my own blog, I should link it. After that class, I started noticing how linking was appropriately used in the blogs I read. I also began to link more in my own blogs. That brings me to the next tip: a blog should have between 10-20 links. That initially sounded like a lot, but understanding the purpose of linking, it now makes sense.

4. Twitter got it wrong. I have spent countless hours arguing with people about the merits of social media, in particular Twitter. Everyone’s response is “I don’t give a sh*t what people ate for breakfast.” You know what, me neither, and I don’t follow those people. But how do I explain the positive aspects of this program? Well, Garrett simplified my argument when he said “Twitter got it wrong – (and I must admit I held my breath with an ear out, eager to hear what was coming next) – The little box up top that said ‘What are you doing?’ should have said ‘What are you thinking?’” That was it, right then and there. Twitter is an effective forum to share thoughts, not to announce your inane daily tasks. And once you understand that, it becomes an entirely different entity with purpose. One people can value and to which relate.

5. Promise/Tool/Bargain. Ok, this is more than a small “detail” in our class. It is an overarching theme that we address daily – class, work, projects, writing, and in our own searches. It has become the lens through which I view and critique every marketing endeavor I encounter. It is the approach I take when problem-solving one of my own campaigns. It has become a crucial aspect of my own professional career.

Blogging about Water Polo and Trying to Stay Afloat

I’ve played water polo since I was 12 years old, so you could say it’s a passion of mine. I started my career in Montreal, Canada, at one of the most prestigious clubs in North America, Dollard-Des-Ormeaux. I then continued my playing in college while at Notre Dame. Now I play for the Wetskins and the Women’s Capitol Area Polo clubs, each practicing together up in Takoma. I have become a pretty active member in their community over the past 3 years and will likely continue to do so for my stay here in DC.

Having this experience, I found that over the course of the past 14 years, I have used three main sites to help me with my water polo needs: Water Polo Canada, Collegiate Water Polo Association, and USA Water Polo. I have never looked any further than these sites, but am interested to see what is out there for a community like this.

Water Polo Canada recently redesigned their website, so many aspects are new. In addition to the typical information about leagues, rosters, and results, they have a water polo Canada Twitter feed. Although this was only last updated 14 days ago, it seems to be pretty active when there is a national or international tournament taking place. They also linked to a personal YouTube channel which is new in the last 3 months. They have videos of players and coaches giving post-game recaps. The channel only has 4 subscribers with no user comments, but it is still relatively new. The site now has a newsletter and a “membership login” option, which may earn you further access to the site. There are, however, no polls or no places to comment on news stories or posts.

USA Water Polo also has a YouTube Channel, but it is much more active. They currently have 63 uploaded videos, 80 subscribers, and comments on multiple videos. They also have posts about clubs and teams of different levels, not exclusively players from National teams who recap plays. Unlike the Canadian site, there are message boards for members to post topics and questions. Some threads have amassed dozens of responses, which is pretty impressive for a water polo website. They also have a members forum and database search for local members, clubs and leagues. This is an important aspect of the site because it builds the offline water polo community where, naturally, water polo is played.

The CWPA website has also been redesigned recently (thank god). Through navigating, I found one element I thought really helpful for young members of the water polo community: “Ask an athlete”. They allow anyone to submit a question and the CWPA will forward to a current water polo athlete. It’s a very nifty idea, because it adds human element to the site and builds a tighter community, but I think it would be more beneficial to set this up as message boards, or at least post all Q&A, so other visitors could benefit from the information as well. The site has an elaborate database of contact information for men and women’s club and varsity teams around the country. They also have an online form that allows you to update your team’s information online. These are important aspects of the site, and though I think they could be better presented and formated (like with a search bar, for example), it allows current and potential collegiate water polo players to communicate with one another, building the foundation for a lasting community. The site features multiple news stories, many of them highlighting “players of the week,” but one of the recent ones linking to an online stream of a game. Thought the CWPA did not host this video, they did a good job showcasing this link so parents and fans could find it.  The site also has a newsletter and a weekly poll adding to the site’s interactive elements.

WaterPoloPlanet.com is also another site I found as a good resource for the water polo community. There is an extensive list of articles written by different writers, featuring drills, coaching success stories, nutrition, and more. There is also a very active message board with topics varying from general news to national teams. These threads are full of member’s comments, questions, and moderator notes. This site is more a resource for young players looking to advance their career and coaches seeking additional advice.

H20Polo.com self-proclaims to allow “the water polo player and fan have the opportunity to interact dynamically with this site.” It is an excellent idea, though it does not fully deliver to its mission. Though it is a great place to find links within the water polo community, this site lacks them messages boards, videos, and articles that the more specialized websites feature.

Waterpolo-world.com, as the name says, focusses on water polo around the world and not just North America. Though this is not necessarily a resource for building the sports within our country, it allows us to see where our sport and teams fall on an international level. This site is mostly a news outlet to find out what are the top stories in the sport around the world.

Facebook has also been a pretty good resource for water polo, succeeding mainly on a local level. There are a few open groups and pages, but those don’t seem to offer much information (the largest water polo fan page boasts over 5,000 member, but is only filled with posts of member shouting “I love water polo!”) I am a member of my old team’s (DDO) Facebook group. This is a fantastic page with constant, real-time updates about each age group team’s results, posts from fans and current/past players, messages to members, links to water polo videos, an extensive photo gallery, and much more. Though it only boasts 172 member, it is a huge resource for current players, as well as alumni like myself who find it hard to stay up to speed with current events.

I was hoping to find a website that harmoniously combined all these aspects of the sport: national amateur coverage, collegiate scores, International results, skill-teaching, and a database of youth, professional, and club teams and contacts. Currently, people may play during their youth, but lose track once they leave for college. Continuously, collegiate players who are not good enough to make a national team will miss out on club opportunities in their area because they don’t know where to find one. Social clubs may also miss out on local tournament in which to participate because there is to central location to showcase them. A website like that would bring together all aspects of the community and build a strong one online, and off.

I guess that will have to wait until I make my first million and have time to dedicate to the creation of my long-standing vision of “pickupwaterpolo.com”

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Google?

Halloween is always a time to examine what makes our culture cringe. Traditionally,  But in this information-technology world, a new boogieman has surfaced, terrifying us to our very core: Google.

Why should we be scared of a website? Because it’s more than a website. It is a monopoly on the way we live. The way we run our companies. Using Google is the only way we know how to function.

When it comes down to it, there is one main reason why we should be afraid of Google: the ultimate control of information. In any situation, regardless of mal intentions or history of past criminal work, the possession of such a crowd of information is a very frightening – and dangerous – thing.

Currently, over 26 million internet users have a Google Mail, or Gmail, account. Throughout the development of additional programs (Maps, Checkout, Reader, Calendar, Blogger, Finance, etc.), Google has facilitated the management of personal information and streamlined access to outside sources.

As if it’s not enough for me just to contemplate the sheer volume of information I trust with Google, this media conglomerate carries no shame in taunting me. In my email, Google will show me ads for EXACTLY what I’m looking for. If my email mentions pizza at 7 PM on Friday night, it will list me local pizza parlors (of course, only ones who chose to advertise with Google,) and will ask me if I want to add my 7 PM rendez-vous to my calendar. Google reads my email as intelligently as I do.

If I am on a different website looking for pizza, Google ads will still surface, attempting to steer my decision to its preferred pizza partners. Now if I want to locate a pizza joint in my area, Google Maps can show me all nearby options, but my eye will be draw to those who “update their Google listing” with pictures, profiles, and additional information. We blindly follow Google to the depths of the earth. The leader is never questioned.

Do we love this? Absolutely. I don’t know what I would do without it. But there’s really no other way to describe it than creepy. In the end, it means Google known everything about me. It knows what I’m doing and when through my GCal. It stores my deepest, darkest secrets in my email. It can see where I’m looking to visit in my latest GMaps search.

Step aside all you lions, tigers and bears. Google has arrived, and is here to stay.

The Long Tail and Beyond: How Social Media is Affecting Music Distribution

In “The Long Tail”, Anderson outlines the direction today’s music industry has taken. This path culminates in the almost infinite inventory of songs, crossed with accessible distribution channels. He attributes a large portion of this derivation from the “hit” culture to peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing and single-song purchase through iTunes, which creates an almost unlimited supply.

Though Anderson was entirely correct in his analysis of the impact of Napster and iTunes, he falls short on how far distribution in the music industry has really come. This is at no fault to him, as his book was published a lifetime ago (we’re talking 2006 A.D.), but there are now even more novel ways to extend the long tail curve that are worth noting.

To illustrate my point, I give you one of my recent experiences:

Browsing through a list of upcoming concerts, I found a show featuring two of my new favorite bands – and I should mention I discovered these groups thanks to online radio and a song-tagging app on my iPhone.

In anticipation of this concert, I made myself a playlist of songs on Grooveshark, which included songs by the two headlining artists, as well as the two supporting bands also playing that night. After a couple songs in, I grew a strong affinity for one of the previously unknown bands, The Friday Night Boys, who happened to be Virginia locals.

Clearly my next move – no surprise at all – was to search Facebook and find out more about them. I discovered their page and became a fan in hopes of hearing updates about upcoming events. My interest could have stopped there. Instead, I was compelled to write a status update about my new find: “Liking my latest pop punk guilty pleasure The Friday Night Boys, and not just because they have an album called “That’s What She Said.” (In a very Twitter-esque fashion, “The Friday Night Boys” was preceded by an “@” symbol, making it linkable to their fan page directly from my status – one of my favorite new Facebook features.)

In addition to a “thumbs up” from my friend Clare who can’t get enough of my “that’s what she said” jokes, I received a comment from my friend Rob 20 minutes later saying he already downloaded their album, loves it, and recommends a similar band, “Forever the Sickest Kids.” Never having heard of them, I ask him to put together a playlist in my Grooveshark account. Minutes later, the playlist is up, and I am jamming at my computer to some new tunes of which I can’t get enough.

In the span of under an hour, I discovered a new band, introduced them to someone 3,000 miles away, then learned about another band which fit comfortably in the pocket of my musical library. In just those few minutes, local band The Friday Night Boys gained a fan in Los Angeles, and Forever the Sickest Kids earned a spot in my headphones.

Chance has now also become a crucial factor in prolonging the long tail. You don’t “accidentally” download an iTunes song. But you can unintentionally stumble upon a Facebook post or Tweet with just enough information to perk your fancy. I did not set out that day to preach the gospel of a local band, and Rob was not looking to further his musical reach either. We each happen to be in the same virtual place and the same virtual time.

In a time where Anderson’s world would have stopped with the download of a song through iTunes, or possibly the pirating of music through P2P downloads, social media has given us an entirely new venue to share our long tail niches with others – intentionally or not.

A Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web: Where to Draw the Line?

On September 4th, 2007, Joseph Smarr, Marc Canter, Robert Scoble, and Michael Arrington, four prominent figures in the social media world, authored a “Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web.” This blog posting outlined simple inherit “rights” every user of social networking sites should receive, and calls to all site of the open social web to adhere.

To begin, I agree with the assertion of the three fundamental rights: ownership, control, and freedom of your personal information. These are basic rights we should always have as human beings, online and off. I think we can all agree to these crucial points.

What I do not think needs to be mandated is the syndication of your personal information. Social network sites should be free to offer whatever kind of syndication options they chose, and in no way should anything be required. Though undeniably advantageous it is for them to offer plenty of syndication options, it is still a technical issue that should be addressed individually by each social website on their own.

There is, however, one aspect of control of online information that these rights do not address.

After reading through some of the comments, I discovered one crucial rule I think they’re missing in this bill of rights: “the right to know who is collecting what and for what purposes.” Whit McNamara suggested this in reference to Duncan Work’s “A Call for a Social Networking Bill of Rights.”

I think we have the right to know who is doing what with our information. Are they letting advertisers target us based on our marital status? Maybe by our interests? Facebook is a tangible culprit of this act. They allow groups to show us advertisements based on the information we list in our profile, no matter how secure we set our privacy level. It may not seem like a big deal to have these ads running alongside our profiles, however, it means that certain aspects of our profiles, which we assume were private, are now not. If they are accessing this information to help display ads, for what other purposes could they be reading this information? If we would like our information to remain private, it should not be possible for advertisements to hone in on these details.

It is the same case with Google. Their AdSense appearing around the web targets users based on the websites they are currently using. However, running AdSense through our email or personal documents is another story. Clearly there is some kind of script that is running through every personal note we write, to and from one another, to produce those advertisements. Though I can’t imagine these algorithms are gathering and storing data for longer than the time needed to produce appropriate ads, but nevertheless it makes me uncomfortable to think about. Users should have the right to keep information in their email private, and not have it accessible to google everytime they write a new message.

To answer the topic in question… yes, I believe we need a bill of rights for the social web. There is enough personal information out there that needs to be protected; especially the control over who uses your information and for what purpose. However, I think it should be mandated based on the control of privacy, NOT on the base of syndication of the information in particular.