Well the online video world at least. The latest statistics on the new iPhone 3GS and YouTube are staggering. The iPhone has a history of taking something that has been around for awhile on other mobile phones and blasting it into the mainstream. Browsing the web was nothing new on a mobile phone when the iPhone was launched, but Apple took it to such a level and made it so easy and fun to do, mobile web traffic has exploded since. Now it’s happening with video. Nokia phones especially have always been great for taking video, but it has taken the new iPhone 3GS with it’s built in video capabilities to make it massively popular. Again, Apple takes mobile video to the next level by allowing simple on phone editing and super simple distribution to YouTube. I’ve always thought mobile video was going to be the next big thing and it looks like the new iPhone is going to confirm that thought.

What does it mean for your business? All this new video is going to drive more people to YouTube to watch. It will solidify YouTube’s dominance in the online video world. If you are doing any kind of video for your company and you do not have a YouTube channel yet, you are passing up a massive opportunity. You simply cannot afford not to be on YouTube. You should also be watching and monitoring YouYube for videos about your company or your industry. What are people saying, what are they thinking? This is the best market research/customer opinion lab you have ever had. You may not like all the content, but you had better pay attention and be ready to respond and engage.

What kind of opportunities are you giving your customers, your raving fans to share their videos? Maybe you should share the best YouTube videos on your main website. What other ways can you encourage people to create good video content about your company? These are the kinds of things you should be brainstorming with your social media consultant. Don’t have one? You might want to give me a call, I’m happy to help.

Homemade crafters have a wonderful tool in etsy.com to run their small business backend and website. The really smart ones, though, also use social media marketing tools to promote the business.

I’ve been experimenting with video more, as you can see by my Connected World TV episodes. I am learning on the fly and there is a lot to learn, so again I thank you for your patience. Part of the learning curve is determining how to distribute video on the Internet . There are a vast array of services that you can post your video to, all with their own particular advantages and disadvantages. Here I offer you an overview of some of the more popular sites.

YouTube is the granddaddy of them all and is an important platform to be on because that’s where the numbers are. YouTube has far and away the largest numbers of viewers. I don’t think you an afford to avoid YouTube under any circumstances. YouTube is also compatible with both Apple TV and the iPhone so there is another large and growing channel.  The video quality is decent, maybe not quite as good as other services, but the HD video looks on par to me. YouTube also makes it super easy to post videos to your blog and has a customizable player.

Viddler is another good site with some unique features. Video quality on Viddler is very good and the real draw is the built in ability to overlay your own logo onto the video. This custom branding of videos is very desirable for any brand.

Blip.tv has very good video as well and it’s unique feature is that it can convert video into multiple formats at one time. Upon uploading of a video it will crate a Flash video and, if you choose, an iPod compatible version. Blip also has some mild personal branding of their player but nothing as good as Viddler. Blip has very good sharing, allowing you to post your videos to your blog and even to Facebook.

Vimeo is a popular site with some because it’s video quality may be the best of all. I have not used Vimeo much at all and it appears to be somewhat limited in it’s capability other than excellent video.

An important thing to remember are the upload restrictions when dealing with these general purpose video sites. YouTube is pretty generous but has as limit of 10min. Viddler and Blip have decent limits and Vimeo has the most restrictive. HD uploading is sometimes different than non-HD video. Many of these sites will allow you to upgrade your limits with a premium paid account. Check each site for details.

Ustream is a good platform if you are going to be doing live broadcasting. Ustream is strictly a live platform. You don’t upload pre-recorded videos although any live videos you to shoot are saved to the service for viewing later. Among the live broadcast services, Ustream has the largest audience and a good set of tools, including an interactive chat room along side your video. Ustream doesn’t have a strong mobile client yet but for shooting with a built in webcam, it works well.

Qik is a specialized service for cell phones and is an amazing live mobile video service. It works really well from a jailbroken iPhone and you can even view Qik videos from a special iPhone web page. There are also Qik clients for many other cell phones including most modern Nokia phones. I use Qik for all my live mobile video.

Seesmic is a special case. Seesmic is really for video “conversation”. Videos on Seesmic are usually recorded by webcam and are very short. You might think of Seesmic as the Twitter of video. People watch videos and often start conversations with videos going back and forth, all in a public stream. The problem with Seesmic is it’s a walled garden. Inside Seesmic, you can meet good people and have interesting conversations, but video from Seesmic rarely gets outside of Seesmic. It’s a very limited audience. The other big problem with Seesmic is it can take a great deal of time to view all the videos in a conversation. A 5 video thread with each participant talking for 2 min would take 10 min of time to view. And that’s just one conversation. I don’t use Seesmic anymore as I don’t have time to view and respond to all the videos. Conversation on Twitter is faster and more efficient. Seesmic is an interesting idea, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere.

That is a somewhat technical overview but, of course, the other shoe to drop is what do you actually do with these services? How does this help my business? Stay tuned, the answers are forthcoming.

Time has come out with a new experimental personalized magazine called Mine. I give you a look at it here and give you my perspective as to what it means in regard to the future of magazines and publishing.

Quicktime Version

Here is the debut show for Connected World TV. When I have something more visual to share, I will use the video medium. It also gives me the chance to experiment and learn more about online video. What happens when a struggling writer takes to the Internet and uses the power of social media? Good things. Make sure to visit JC Hutchins website and check out all his great fiction.

Quicktime Version

There are a few fundamental pillars upon which social media sits; honesty is one of them. No, this isn’t your fathers marketing.

I was reading an interesting article in the New York Times about how companies are starting to add social media specialists to their rolls and how some enterprising individuals are making good use of social media to land these jobs. All good, but two things stood out to me and I wasn’t happy about either. At one point the article talks about David Puner of Dunkin Donuts (@dunkindonuts).

Recently he said he told his tweeps (Twitter followers) he was going to a Bruce Springsteen concert wearing a pink Dunkin’ Donuts cape. So did he? “I didn’t really do that,” he said. “I’m not the type to shoot T-shirts out of a cannon into the crowd.”

It’s not a big thing but it disturbs me. What else has he lied about? David’s and more importantly Dunkin Donuts credibility takes a big hit for this as far as I am concerned. You cannot lie in social media. You should not mislead. Social Media is like your parents, they will always find out eventually and you will be much worse off than if you had just told the truth in the first place. And by the way, he should have done it, and taken a picture. It would have been awesome.

The end of the article talks about David Ready Jr. the winemaker at Murphy-Go0de. The winery is hiring a social media person to tweet about wine.

But there have been drawbacks, too. During a recent interview Mr. Ready was asked if he used Twitter. When he said no, his publicist gave him a stern warning. “She told me to stop telling them I don’t have a Twitter account,” he said. “But then I thought, ‘Aren’t we hiring someone to do that for us?’ ”

Mr. Ready is precisely correct and the publicist, not surprisingly, is an idiot. Why would she set him up to lie about a Twitter account? Is he supposed to say yes?  Someone will check and find out he does not. Remember, your parents. Or if they give him an account but there is nothing in it, it’s just as bad. There is no crime in not having a Twitter account. I’m sure Mr. Ready keeps pretty busy looking after the wine, he doesn’t need to Twitter. In fact, has he said, they are hiring someone to handle Twitter for them. It’s sort of the whole point.

The lesson here is simple, don’t lie. You won’t get away with it and when you don’t someone will Tweet about it or write a blog post about it. If you especially unlucky or if it is a particularly juicy one it may go viral, spreading to tens of thousands of people. In addition, never forget the Long Tail of the Internet. Those blog posts will be around for a very long time. One of the best things about the Internet is that it is forcing business to play fair. It’s much harder to get away with the kinds of nonsense companies typically try to get away with. That’s good for all of us.

I love following really smart, funny and interesting people on Twitter. I learn so much from them. However, I am not someone who follows everyone that follows me. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I highly value what comes in through my Twitter stream. I carefully evaluate each person I follow. It’s not always the same exact criteria, but if I am following someone, there is some kind of direct perceived value there. Other people have different philosophies on following people, this is mine. These are my tips for finding quality people of high relevance to follow on Twitter:

• My favorite method is using search.twitter.com to setup specific search terms. This is a good thing to do anyway just to find great information on something particular. When reading these tweets, you will discover all kinds of new people you might have never found otherwise. Read their tweets, check their profiles and follow the ones you most like. I have a few local searches that target Orange County where I live. This helps me find local twitter users, which is always nice and can result in a face to face meeting. If you are in complimentary businesses, it can even lead to a business relationship. Don’t ever let anyone tell you business isn’t being done on Twitter. I have searches on terms of interest to me like “social media” and I also have a few individuals if I want a quick view at everything that has been said about and by a certain person.
• Mr Tweet is a service I really like. Mr. Tweet will intelligently recommend new people you should follow based on the people you already follow and some other factors. It also gives you stats on your Twitter usage and allows you can get recommendations from other people. I find it to be very relevant and a great place to find new people to follow.
• #followfriday is a new hashtag being used on Fridays to recommend people to follow. I’m not a huge fan of this but if the recommendations are coming from someone you really trust, it could be worth checking out.
• Paying attention to names people you are following reference in their everyday tweets has always been a great method, however, Twitter has been changing this feature so that you may not see names of people referenced if you do not already follow them. Kind of defeats the whole point which is why many Twitter users have been angered about the change. Twitter has partially restored it and promises to bring back full functionality in some different way.
• If you are reading a great blog, check to see if the author has a Twitter account. They will usually put a link to it on the blog sidebar. When you meet people in person, search to see if they have an account or ask them directly. I put my Twitter account right on my business cards. That is a great way to pick up new followers yourself.

Please comment on this post and add to the list. How do you find great people to follow on Twitter?

Very disappointing as I find a company that is selling Twitter followers. They also have some other very questionable online marketing tactics. Two quick rules for you. 1. Don’t spam. 2. Don’t be a scumbag.

Be a Fan of Connected World Media on Facebook

I believe in social media Karma. I also believe social media is an ecosystem of content and ideas. Like any ecosystem, there is a delicate balance that must be maintained to sustain the healthy state of the system. As we use social media, be it a blog or some content in Facebook, a Twitter we are putting things into the ecosystem. The more good and valuable things we add, the better the ecosystem is. Adding things of no value or worse toxic things (spam) the ecosystem and everyone in it suffers.

Some tips that I think help maintain a healthy ecosystem.

• Don’t think promote first: If everyone simply promoted all the time, a take, take, take strategy, the social media ecosystem would be sucked dry. Think about giving first before you try to take. If you are a good social media citizen and keep adding value, social media karma will eventually kick in and start paying you off.
• Be helpful: One of the best things about the Internet is there are so many smart people from all kinds of professional fields you can learn from. There are lots of people with different levels of expertise many of whom are looking for help or answers. If you can help people with your knowledge or advice or with a connection you can help them make, that’s another big deposit in the social media karma bank. One of my all time favorite quotes from Zig Ziglar is “You can get everything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Never has it been so true and never has it been so possible but with the connections that bind us on the Internet.
• Don’t be a troll: The opposite rule to the previous one. Trolls are toxic to the ecosystem. They are individuals who seek to cause harm and damage to all they run into. A nasty comment on a blog, a vicious review on Yelp. Trolls want to tear down people and companies for no good reason but their own folly. There is certainly room for spirited debate and disagreement on the Internet, but be careful you don’t cross the line into personal or unsubstantiated attacks.
• Care: I call this the Gary Vaynerchuk credo. One of the best things Gary always says as one of his secrets to success is to care. Care about your customers, care about your prospects, the people you work with. Care about the ecosystem and everyone in it.

My job as a social media professional is to help companies and individuals primarily outside the ecosystem interface with the powerful tools within the ecosystem to better run their business. If the ecosystem becomes damaged or dirty, my job gets harder. Please don’t poop in the pool.

I just finished reading a fantastic new media book called Groundswell that I am considering to be an essential new media business book. That got me thinking about other essential titles. So here they are, the new media books I consider to be paramount and essential reading for any business professional in this new marketing age.

The Cluetrain Manifesto

Cluetrain is like the book of Genesis in the standard bible. This is the one that started it all. These are the most fundamental concepts of new media marketing. Unflinching and direct, this is the book to start with and if you only read one book on this list, this is the one to read.

The Long Tail

This is your economics lesson for new media. Filled with lots of research and data, this book explains how some of the most successful Internet companies actually make money. You will hear the phrase “long tail marketing” a lot in presentations, blogs and other books. Here is where you find out what it all means.

Permission Marketing

Seth Godin is revered in marketing circles and his books are among the most popular business books. This is one of his earliest but possibly most important work. None of Seth’s other books make any sense without understanding Permission Marketing. The concept is also one of the fundamental pillars upon which all of new media marketing stands on. As a bonus, Seth’s other fundamental book is Purple Cow

Don’t Make Me Think

An unusual choice as this book is primarily about website design and usability, but way to many businesses that I deal with still make too many mistakes on their websites. All the new media tools aside, the most important business tool is still your website and it’s critical you get it right. You can actually learn a lot more than just web design and usability from this book. The concepts apply just as well to presentations and even advertising layout. If nothing else, you should ask any web professional you work with if they know this book. If they do, your in good hands. If not, give them a copy and tell them to read it before they work on your website.

I would love to hear from you about your essential new media books. What would you recommend not being without? Leave your choices in the comments to this post.

Celebrities have invaded twitter, but are they getting the most out of it or missing out on a golden opportunity to connect with fans?

We talk a lot in social media about how companies are no longer in control of their brand, and in many cases their own logo. Google has always had a tradition of changing their logo for special occasions and holidays. But how would you like to put your logo into the hands of gradeschoolers? That’s what Google did for it’s Draw 4 Google contest where kids K-12 were encouraged to draw their own version of the Google logo based around the concept of “What if…”. The winner’s logo was the Google logo for a day. Sometimes not being in control of your brand can be a beautiful thing.

From the past post, we learned how damaging video can be to a brand online. What’s even worse, is when employees do it to their own company. This video, originally posted to YouTube and since taken down, features two Dominos employees in North Carolina doing disgusting things to the food during preparation. They thought this was very funny and posted it to YouTube. A marketing nightmare.

Fortunately for Dominos, someone notified them of the video and they took quick action to get it taken down. They also did a great thing by putting their president on video with a response, also posted to YouTube. The president is great in this video. He is serious, a little angry and authentic. Domoinos did well limiting this disaster but it brings up several points.

• Brand monitoring: It was very fortunate that someone notified Dominos of the video, but Dominos should have been monitoring social media sites themselves. They might have been able to catch the video even faster.
• Training: It is now critical to train all employees on the use of social media while at work and while not at work if it involves the company at all. Sensible guidelines for all employees will help safeguard employees and the company.
• Speed and Transparency: The big lesson here is the speed of response and the transparency and open honesty. Dominos did not try to hide anything that happened or sugar coat it in any way. They dealt with things head on.

One of the many effects of social media is to amplify things. Your successes can become bigger and your failures can become disasters. Pepsi ran a promotion with the New York Yankees that involved giving away baseball tickets along with Pepsi gear. They promoted 200 tickets were to be given away. Hundreds of people lined up and waited for hours upon hours. When only 100 tickets were actually available, the crowd went crazy, chanting Pepsi sucks and throughing Pepsi cans in the gutter.

This campaign was completely offline but has been dramatically effected by online as this video is now on the net and making the rounds. You couldn’t ask for a more damaging spectacle. Pepsi, for their part has admitted they completely blew it and are trying to make amends, but the damage is done and thanks to the Long Tail of the Internet, this video will live on for a long time.

One of the more common things I hear from clients is that they don’t have time to do social media. But how much time to you have to marke your business? Guess what, social media is the new marketing. Let’s work together to find a way.

When Amazon introduced the new Kindle 2 ebook reader, somewhat overlooked was what may end up being the most important announcement of all, that Amazon was looking to put the Kindle technology on other devices. It came much faster than I expected when last  night I discovered the Kindle iPhone application was available.

The app itself is very well done and after purchasing my first Kindle book, opening the app synced my purchase right over to the iPhone, easy as can be. The reading experience on the iPhone is surprisingly good. Of course it’s no match for a real Kindle with the larger screen and eInk technology, but I was perfectly happy with the experience. You can control font sizes, create book marks and the software remembers where you left off.

It’s a significant development because it effectively drives the price for a Kindle reader down to $199 from a regular Kindle price of $359. For people who already own the iPhone, which is far more people than the Kindle device, the app to add Kindle functionality is free. This is going to put Kindle books into far more hands far quicker than Amazon could do on it’s own. It will also likely sell more Kindle hardware as well as people want to upgrade to a better reading experience. As I said in the last podcast, Amazon is in the book sales business not the hardware business. This is a great first step and I can’t wait to see where else Kindle technology shows up.

The Kindle 2 is a wondrous device and possibly the savior for the publishing industry. But the Authors Guild is making a stink over a new text to speach feature. Does it really infringe on audio books or is this yet another case of an old school business unable to grasp the potential of new technology?

There are all kind of people on Twitter. Many take the names of famous people and twitter as them. With more and more celebrities joining Twitter, it has become sometimes hard to figure out which is the real person. So when I got this tweet from “The Real Shaq” I was dubious.

I immediately figured this was some kid joking around, so I blocked the account and went on with my life. After all, I don’t know Shaq and I certainly didn’t send him any pictures. The next day I get an email from a writer at a real estate trade pub in Seattle asking for an interview about social media and real estate. After the interiew I ask her where she found me and not to my surprise she says Twitter and then this blog. Then she asks me if I have heard of “The Real Shaq” on Twitter. I relay the story of the odd Twitter of the past day and she tells me that no, in fact, this really is Shaquille O’Neal. It turns out two bloggers from Phoenix found him out one day and confirmed the account is his. This is how she found me on Twitter; because she was following The_Real_Shaq.

The results of this mis-tweet: With over 100,000 followers, alot of people saw my name pop up on their radar. I got an interview as a social media expert. My followers on Twitter jumped dramatically in just two days. I also added several LinkedIn connections and picked up many new readers to the blog. Many more people who did not know I was a social media professional now do. That’s all good, all due to the Shaq Effect.

Hulu is the newest and best place on the Internet to watch TV programs, but they are pulling out of the innovative Boxee software service that runs on PC, Mac and Apple TV. What it all means for Internet video and the future of television.

I have been wanting a new logo for Connected World Media for a long time now and I finally found a graphic designer locally that I wanted to work with. Here is a sneak peek at what very well may be the new logo. I love it.

In the ongoing saga of dumb entertainment companies doing dumb things online, Universal Music Group has a new page on it’s website for a new Eminem single they are promoting. There is a link on this page leading to a YouTube video which has been banned by Universal Music for unauthorized copyright. Talk about getting caught in your own bear trap. This has obviously become an embarrassment as the page as of now (11:02am) gives a message of Access Denied.

What good does this do anybody? Now I can’t hear the new song, watch the new video and get excited about telling my friends and buying it. Now I’m just angry because the music industry is yet again messing with me, the consumer. If Universal Music was smart, they would release this video in a high quality format and encourage music fans to put it on their blogs and embed it into their social network profiles. Further, Universal Music should have an affiliate program wherein if I place one of these videos on my blog and someone clicks through and buys a single or an album I get a small payment.

To the music industry I say, please read a book for me. It’s called the Cluetrain Manifesto. After that please take a look at The Long Tail. And by the way, dear reader, if you have not yet read these books, I highly suggest you do.

As part of my local business networking, I have joined BNI here in Orange County, CA. BNI is a worldwide structured business networking group that has put a rocket booster on my business. Members meet once a week and among other things, exchange referrals. Networking online is great but you must get involved locally as well. I encourage you to check out a BNI group in your area and see if it’s for you.

For my group, the Octopus Network, I have opened a new Facebook group. If you are a small business in Orange County, CA come take a look and if you would like to visit us please drop me an email and I will help you out. We meet every Thursday at 8AM in Mission Viejo, CA

It turns out YouTube is more than just skateboarding dogs and people falling down stairs. Business is being transacted, but you must treat your customers with respect and engage them on the new technology platforms. What you can learn from Warner Music Group and Monty Python.

And now for something completely different…

Warner Music could learn a lot from Monty Python. Python videos and clips have been some of the most popular items to be posted to YouTube by fans over the years. Sound familiar Warner Music? Viacom? Pay attention. Frustrated by all the “pirate” videos, Monty Python opened their own YouTube channel with high quality videos of all their stuff. In return they ask that you buy the DVD’s. The results? Monty Python videos have increased 23% since creation of the channel. It’s true, treating customers with respect and giving them an easy and fair way to purchase your products online will increase your sales. Contrary to popular belief among the old media dons, most people don’t want to steal your content. But they do want to use the new tools of the Internet to comsume and purchase. For years the music industry believed they were being ripped off because of the Internet. But look at the wild success of iTunes and you can see, given the new technologies and fair prices, people are happy to purchase content.

Congratulations to Monty Python and their fans. I hope more content producers take note of this success and start thinking differently. Please stop fighting with us. Work with us and together we can all win.

First it was YouTube vs. Viacom in a battle that is still going to this day. Now Warner Music enters the ring, insisting that any music from Warner artists be muted from YouTube clips or, in any cases, the clips have been removed altogether. This includes informal performances by kids on their personal keyboards. Even humming the wrong tune could get you in trouble these days. As far as I know I can still think about a Warners artist while recording a video on YouTube

As you would expect, unless you are Warners which I guess just doesn’t know or doesn’t care, there has been a huge outcry and many videos produced in protest. Maybe I missed it, but contiually alienating and pissing off your customers is something I didn’t get in any of my college business classes. YouTube has indicated in the past that it would like to do deals with major content providors to clear up these copyright issues, but the old media dons hold out for unreasonable demands.

It continues to shock me how the music industry contiues to self mutilate itself trying to enforce it’s antiquated business model. They killed Napster and thought they had won, but it was never about Napster. It’s so much bigger than that. For better or for worse it’s a new connected world order. The old rules don’t apply. Obama just got elected President; greed is out. Again I quote Princess Leia from Star Wars addressing Governor Tarkin. “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”