What I Did For My Summer Vacation

meshmarketing badgeDo you remember those mini-essays that teachers made you write on the first day of school in which you had to write about what you did for my summer vacation? This blog post is sort of like that but rather than going away to summer camp, I spent a good part of the summer organizing the first meshmarketing conference.

While co-organizing the mesh conference with the mesh gang has given me some valuable insight into what goes on, trying to put together a conference over the summer is a different kind of proposition.

For one, many people take these things called vacations, often for several weeks in which they sometimes let their in-boxes collect dust. As well, people get into summer mode, so the last thing they want to think about is stuff happening after summer is over.

Still, these are the kind of obstacles that any conference organizer faces when you do an event in the autumn. And in the end, everything has really worked out. We’ve got a line-up of terrific speakers, led by keynote Hugh MacLeod, and some great social events.

As important, people are enthusiastic about meshmarketing, which is gratifying because it means that we’re doing something that people want or need – something we picked up on during the last mesh conference.

As we head into tonight’s pre-conference party at the Drake Hotel, I want to thank everyone who bought a ticket at a time when everyone is still watching their pennies pretty closely. I want to thank our sponsors for their support, including Seth Singer who stepped in at the last minute to tweak and update the Web site.

Finally, I want to thank Sheri Moore and the team from MCC Planners. Without their crucial behind-the-scenes help and enthusiasm, we couldn’t pull off meshU, mesh or meshmarketing.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone over the next couple of days!

What I Learned at BlogWeek Expo

Having just spent two days at BlogWorld Expo, here’s some the bigger takeaways.

1. Las Vegas is truly bigger than life. Everything is big: the hotels, the drinks, the food served at restaurants and the convention centres. The weird part is the scale of the place throws you. What looks like a short distance between two hotels is actually a long, long walk.

2. I’m not a professional blogger, although I do blog a lot and do make some money from blogging. Compared with the “pros”, I’m more of an enthusiast, who really likes to write. (Note: Here’s a good blog post about how you need to publish three to 10 blog posts a day to compete with the top blogs.

3. Even “professional” bloggers, the money really isn’t in selling ads on their blogs (unless you’re a TechCrunch, GigaOm or ReadWriteWeb). Blogs are really effective billboards for bloggers to attract other business such as consulting assignments, speaking gigs, book deals, etc.

4. The most enthusiastic bloggers are obsessed with Twitter. They use it a lot, including the promotion of themselves and their blog posts.

5. Bloggers have a use for Facebook but they it is uncertain if they are enthusiastic about it. That said, Facebook evangelist Mari Smith (@marismith) could probably get any blogger to pay more attention to Facebook

6. While WordPress is worshiped among bloggers, Google’s Blogger.com is as strong if not stronger, although few hard-core bloggers would admit using it.

7. The world beyond technology blogging is enormous. There’s even an active military blogging ecosystem, although you’d think the military would need to be careful about what it blogs about.

8. Blogging is still very much alive and well. While Twitter and Facebook are getting the lion’s share of the attention, the number of blogs continues go grow, as well as blog readership.

9. The real value of conferences is not the content, although great speakers and panelists count a lot. The action at conferences happens in the hallways and at the parties where you get to meet new people and catch up with people you already know.

10. BlogWorld Expo is a big event but it’s only one part of the blogging conference circuit. The “pro” bloggers seem to travel on a regular basis from event to event.

11. Las Vegas is exhausting.

Blogging Continues to Rumble Along

blogTwitter is sexy and Facebook now has more than 300 million registered users. But what about blogging? Blogging isn’t sexy anymore and it is being assailed as a passing fancy, especially by the mainstream media.

The truth, however, is the blogosphere is doing just fine: the number of blogs, blog posts and people reading blogs continues to grow. Meanwhile, the mainstream media continues to launch blogs as part of its mad scramble to embrace the social Web.

What became obvious during BlogWorld Expo is that blogging is the solid citizen of the social Web, while Twitter and Facebook are the wild children. Another reality is that Twitter and Facebook are, in many cases, complementary tools used by bloggers rather than tools that replace blogging.

Before anyone writes off blogs, think again.

More: Here’s an audio clip from social media maven Robert Scoble on whether blogging during tech conferences such as BlogWorld Expo is dead.

Apple, Is Anyone Listening?

During the first day of BlogWorld Expo, there was a lot of talk from panelists about how companies need to listen to their customers, and engage in conversations. This philosophy was hammered home throughout the day, including a lunchtime conversation between Kara Swisher and Scott Monty, who heads up social media for Ford Motor Co.

It seems that all the major brands are getting into the listening and engagement business with one big exception: Apple. For all the excitement about how social media can have a huge impact on communications, marketing, sales and customer service, Apple continues to happily sit on the sidelines.

The question is: why? For a company seemingly in tune with what its customers want and need, Apple doesn’t seem to be listening or engaging with its customers. Maybe, it doesn’t need to do it because sales are so strong. Perhaps Apple is relying on its customers to engage on its behalf on social media.

Regardless of the reason, it is frustrating that Apple isn’t involved with social media like many other companies. Since buying a new MacBook about a month ago, I’ve used Twitter to kvetch about some problems (the inability to insert a CD, a battery that cacks out after a couple of hours).

Many other companies would have been activity monitoring mentions of their brands on Twitter, and then reached out to deal with the problem – not Apple, which clearly marches to the beat of its own drum.

What do you think? Is Apple taking the wrong approach?

Below is the Twitter account for twitter.com/apple. It looks like Apple doesn’t even own it, let alone use it.

Picture 7

The Sad State of Social Media in Canada

When I was thinking about launching my new consulting business, I thought about and then rejected the idea of positioning myself as a social media consultant or a social media strategist.

A big part of the decision was based on the belief it might be difficult to carve out a business based on just social media given that many Canadian companies are still thinking about or just dabbling with social media.

In hindsight, it was the right decision because while I do some social media consulting, I’m doing far more work in helping companies with their marketing, communications and branding needs – some of it basic blocking and tackling before they can even think about embracing social media.

I was thinking about this decision this morning during a panel at BlogWorld Expo after listen to several speakers, including Sysomos’ Aubrey Podolsky, Radian6′s Amber Naslund and Techrigy’s Connie Bensen talked social media issues such as crisis management, customer service, community growth and sentiment.

My sense is that U.S. companies are embracing and using social media significantly more than Canadian companies. As a result, there’s more business for social media consultants, strategists and social media monitoring services. If you’re a social media consultant or strategist, you can probably make a good living south of the border.

In Canada, we’re enthusiastic social media users, which explains why Facebook and Twitter are so popular. And we’ve got a great and engaged group of social media evangelists who are more than happy to talk about social media, and the amazing benefits it offers. Hence, all the conference, meet-ups, etc. that are happening.

But we seem to be doing a lot more talking than walking in Canada. Canadian companies are either not thinking about social media at all, they’re thinking about it but not doing much, or they’re just doing a little but not much.

Maybe it has to do with the fact Canadians take longer to embrace new online concepts despite the fact we love high-speed Internet access. It took us longer to embrace e-commerce, for example. And we were arguably slow in getting on the blogging and Web 2.0 bandwagons.

So maybe it’s just a matter of time before social media really takes off in Canada and, specifically, among Canadian companies. When they’re ready, the good news is there’s a growing number of people who can help them navigate the social media landscape…including yours truly.

Technorati Redux?

For the past few years, Technorati has been easy fodder for critics. Once the shining star of the blog search world and a venture capital darling, Technorati stumbled into near oblivion after the service deteriorated to the point where it nearly became irrelevant.

But in the past two years, Technorati has dusted itself off, admitted its mistakes, and been diligently working to restore its luster. Not that Technorati has come all the way back but there are definite signs of life.

Perhaps the most obvious indication was a new design unveiled yesterday that includes some new wrinkles. (See TechCrunch for coverage of the New Technorati.) It was also disclosed that Technorati has raised another $2-million from its existing investors.

Behind the scenes, CEO Richard Jalichandra, who will deliver a keynote at BlogWorld Expolater this week, has been busy, launching an ad network and bought a blog network, Blogcritics.

The blog search engine is still alive and if Technorati can perform well, it has a shot at reclaiming its status as the blog search leader given the market is still leaderless. Technorati is a good example of a high-flyer that could have easily crashed, burned and disappeared. Instead, it clung to life, reinvented itself, and has lived to see another day.

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