LaLunaBlanca

2008-03-12T18:11:00.001-05:00

Mobile post sent by LaLunaBlanca using Utterz. Replies. mp3

2008-03-12T18:08:00.001-05:00

Mobile post sent by LaLunaBlanca using Utterz. Replies. mp3

2008-03-09T15:55:00.001-05:00

Mobile post sent by LaLunaBlanca using Utterz. Replies. mp3

Hey, I'm just wrapping...

2008-03-04T10:01:00.001-06:00

Hey,
I'm just wrapping up a meeting with some [...] small business chamber, trying to see if my Jott still works. Little snow here in Lampus(?). listen

Powered by Jott

Now Is Gone - Southwest.

2007-12-04T18:41:00.001-06:00

In heading to Seattle via Denver from Nashville, I committed to reading to Now is Gone cover to cover. To my surprise, on page 41 is a section titled "Social Media Success Story: Nuts about Southwest". Where was I sitting? On Southwest Airlines.

When I first boarded the flight it had completely slipped my mind that you could pick your own seat! Too cool… I was still a little spun around by the new way they call you to board the plane. It's sectioned somehow, for some reason that still elludes me. Maybe people that pay more, get to board first? I didn't meet a passenger that wasn't confused by it (so maybe a better job of letting folks know would be SWEEET).

I thought while on the flight, I'd ask the attendants about the blog mentioned in Now Is Gone. On the Nashville-to-Denver, none of the three I spoke with could remember hearing of the blog. Two were mid-20's and both pretty hip looking (guy and gal). They had never been on Facebook either. The 3rd attendant was in her early 30's as well. The length of employment with Southwest was 1, 5, and 6 years. They all love their jobs and are at Southwest for the long-haul.

On Denver-to-Seattle however, I spoke with one mid-20's attendant who had recently read the blog as she' s been with Southwest in an office job and wanted to become an attendant. Her interest in the blog was to find out more about what the profession was like. She does have a MySpace page, has heard of Facebook in that it's not as junkie, but will be staying put for a while. She also likes to read blogs from other stewardesses and pilots sharing their "stories" of encounters.

Another attendant in her mid-30's had only recently been on the blog to read more about the lady with the short skirt incident. They thought it was great that the company president had read all the many posts and then posted an appreciated comment about the whole ordeal.

This flight is excellent and I have an entire row all to myself. My only problem is the elderly couple who I believe are engaged in an all-out gas passing competition … while they nap. Good moment for a parachute…
I've never been to "Nuts about Southwest", but am committed to stopping by next time I have a connection. Southwest is still the darling of the sky.

Facebook Members' Growth by City

2007-11-28T12:15:00.000-06:00

In looking at developing a case for social networking, I looked at the growth rate of some select cities. I was surprised to find the rate so high over an eight day period that included the Thanksgiving holiday.

For example, on 17 Nov, Memphis had 60,000 members. 8 days later on the 25th, there were 61000: a 1.67% growth. With the total population* of Memphis being 670902, that's a 9.1 percent participation rate. No doubt plenty of error, but looking at these metros, the rates are clustered.

* Population Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

* Revised per corrected data provided by Ruby (thank you).

(and might I include that html in Blogger is trash!)

Social Network - Definition

2007-11-24T14:32:00.000-06:00

In " Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship" Danah Boyd and Nichole Ellison Define a Social Network Sites as:

Web-based services that allow individuals to:

construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system,
articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and
view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.

I initially couldn't understand the motivation for this definition, but now I get it (I believe). Looking back at a computer network and thinking of "nodes", this all makes sense.

Establish a visitable node (as yourself)
Dictate connected visitable nodes (your friends)
Traverse to and through the subsequently connected nodes. (friends of friends)

As definitions go, you've got to draw the line in the sand somewhere... I got it.

Twitted Life

2007-11-24T14:29:00.000-06:00

I'm amazed at the utility of the distractions served up all day on Twitter. Following Tweets, I get a zig and zag on the following in the last couple of hours:

CBensen to Pownce.com after a Twitter outtage
then to MindMapping (which I knew as Ygnius years ago). Ooops. need to log in - erg.

JOWYang to his interview of MySpaces "Jay" who has a quote that tosses me out to Danah Boyd how has written a couple of papers as she's working on PHd . One of the papers has some definitions of SNS and how that term is polluted to include Social Networking. Ooops. I've been polluting. A paper in the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication

ChrisBrogan to WebWorkerDaily's new site. zagged off to AT&T (booo!) and their recall of telecommuters to the cube!! Oh boy.

JOwYang to a podcast by where I hear the term "swag" for the second time this week. Swag is promotional items (pencils, mousepads, hats, frisbees, etc...)
http://cdn.libsyn.com/fir/fir-295.mp3
Via www.ForImmeidateRelease.biz

All Opt In & Proximity Marketing

2007-11-19T21:11:00.000-06:00

Advertising
I'm pretty happy to live in a world that's evolving and getting better in many ways.

I like that we have innovation, and a means to bring those innovations to market.
I like knowing about these innovations and how I might actually like them.
I like being profiled to some extent and only having to see ads that pertain to stuff I'm interested in. I don't want to have to go look to see if there's something new that might improve the quality of my life, making my short time here more enjoyable.
I like it that advertisers seem to get it that I don't want their ads in my face blocking my view, but rather off to the side, in-case I want to peek (sometimes I do…usually, I don't see ads).
I like it that advertisers seem to learn from their mistakes. I don't mind mistakes and learning. I do it all them both all the time.
I love how Social Media is giving volume to the Voice of the Customer (VOC).

I believe a nice blend of VOC and targeted traditional advertising is where we'll wind-up.

Proximity Marketing
I long for the day when we slide our Treo/Blackberry type phones into their cradles in our vehicles. Aside from many countless other things it'll do, I see the immediate payoff in connecting with:
- Our global position
- Our own preferences data
- Other consumers' experience data (feedback)
- Voice recognition for hands-off device control
- Voice-to-Text
- Text-to-Voice
- Real-time drive-through-put monitoring
- Smart Marketers
(the "plus" version would have a heads-up display out of our line of sight)

This way before I sms (via voice) my order to Starbucks, I'll be told through my car stereo that:
- three blocks ahead is a Peetes coffee with
- carrot cake special at $1.50 with only 25% calories from fat
- that I can add to my coffee that I normally get at Starbucks for the same price
- and that my expected wait time is 65 seconds if I say "yes" now.

The process we call a "drive thru" will actually be one, instead of a "wait thru", "smog thru", or "waste thru". You're either using the sms service or parking your car ("pal").

Of course with all this advertising, my phone should be free, and I'm somehow charged for the coffee transaction without having to dig out cash or credit card.

It'll happen. Now would be great! (and if my copy of Now is Gone would just get here, that'd be even greater!)

EcoMemphis

2007-11-19T02:47:00.000-06:00

This summer we soft launched EcoMemphis.com on the Web, MySpace and Facebook. As there is no revenue associated with it, it's been a slow rollout (as we still have to make a living). The increase of global concerns and actual news events to point at helps.

Environmental concern is coming out of the long-tail and into the main stream hump. If $3.00 a gallon is what it takes to open eyes and get people talking about efficiencies, then I honestly wish for a huge tax on top of the that (in order to more quickly bring about the drastic modifications we need to be making). Necessity is the mother of invention.

Even the United Nations is coming down hard about it.

"Colored" Sunday

2007-11-18T19:42:00.000-06:00

Great thoughts, everywhere I turn this weekend:

- Chris writes of doing impactful, meaningful projects.

- Jeremia asks about the ads or not in Social Networks and the value of not.

-Connie shares a wonderful application of sms and spins the proximity marketing/sms wheels, Essential Networking guidelines, and even yummy metrics for Social Networking ROI.

I'm inspired to write on all these.

Racism
Completely mind boggling is the perpetuation of racial hatred. My effort on this front is not to specifically eliminate racism, but rather to try and remind people of the many Civil Rights battles of the 50's and 60's here in "the South". I find the predominant southern inclination is to quietly forget about them. This is obscene. Getting more into blogging, I will have to elaborate.

Take a look at this photo I shot in the middle of the night in Birmingham this summer. It's of a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. looking toward the 16th Street Baptist Church where 4 girls were killed by a KKK bomb blast before church the year I was born. I posted on Flickr, and the FIRST person to comment on the photo called Dr. King a "…nigger…monkeys…". (click here to the see the photo in Flickr post)I cooled down from being angry, to sad and amazed. It didn't stop there.

I've been on Flickr for almost 3 years and have formed many groups there. I wanted to associated my Dr. King photo with an MLK group on Flickr, BUT there wasn't one! I could not believe that either! I formed the Martin Luther King Jr group, the Civil Rights group, Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, and others. I then had one of my employees search Flickr for related photos and invite these people to join these related groups and post their photos. Now there are 39 members in the group posting 230 photos.

I hate to say it, but it was a good thing the Jena 6 case made national headlines because of the awareness it created. People can be so hateful sometimes, out of fear, and the lack of understanding the unknown... There'll be more to say.

Hello my one blogger...

2007-11-16T10:26:00.001-06:00

Hello my one blogger subscription band via I just wanted to try this system out and put up there just for you, it is call Jott I heard about it from friend of mine and it seems to work pretty good. It does a good job at transcribing and this looks like it saves me a little bit of time and my wife's using it also, so I don't know thought I'd passing it along via the blog.
Talk to you later. listen

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Internet Talk

2007-11-13T10:25:00.001-06:00

Mobile post sent by LaLunaBlanca using Utterz. Replies. mp3

Two services I'm trying out that in someway bridge your cellphone to the Internet: Simulscribe.com and for blogging: Utterz.com

Simulscribe -
You route your voicemail to them, it sends it back to you as a .wav file and transcribes it into text (ala "dictation" in a way). If it thinks it's guessing at something it lets you know. Sample output from one of my employees this morning:

Dave. This is (Geri?). My car broke down and my husband had to turn around and come back and get me. So, I'm gonna be about 30 minutes late. Just wanted to call and let you know. I'll talk to you later. Bye.

---------------------------------------------
SimulScribe Voicemail Message#69423875:

(?)= The word is spelled phonetically, usually happens with names and places.
(??)= Sorry, we can't understand this word or portion of the message.

Utterz
Although it's for blogging... and you don't (or rather didn't) have time for blogging, it may make some blogging more of a reality. How it works: You call a number, leave a voicemail and it converts your vm into a web ready format and puts it on the web and your blog with a link for downloadable mp3 format. The audio you see above I recorded after typing this blog post. It's utterly fantastic!

Cheers

Brand Personality

2007-11-11T22:25:00.000-06:00

ConnieBensen wraps up her latest post with the question: "What ideas do you have for creating brand personality?"
http://conniebensen.com/blog/2007/11/11/giving-a-brand-personality/

I initially considered that it'd probably make a difference if it were an existing brand or a new brand. But she did say "creating". So, "new" brand. That led my mind down two paths:

- The old worn and now even paved path of the Marketer controlling the brand. The way it's been.

- The new branding where the Voice of the Customer is now louder than that of the Marketer.

With "perception being reality", and quoting a latin american presenter of a recent podcast, the "consumer controls the brand". As I ponder Connie's question more, I begin to sense more that the most important aspect of controlling our brands is to guide the perception, acceptance, and portrayal by the consumers. Since consumers' portrayal of the brand carries more weight than that of the Marketer, it is what ultimately controls it - what it is - the brand's personality.

We must consider the personality of the -established- community that a newcomer initially encounters. The prospective consumer may encounter a sense of not belonging by the first impression of a brand's community.

For example, let's say I've been a Photoshop user for 15+ years now. I hear about XYZee photo software and headline skimmer I am, I blast quickly across their website, wind-up in the blog and see that most everyone is discussing using the software for specific applications that are NOT mine - like scanning, retouching, etc... I might draw the conclusion that the software is used by 'ole film/print folks' to digitize their libraries, but that it's not meant for digital camera shooters. Quick conclusion, I stumbled on the wrong place or whoever it was that recommended it to me must have misunderstood my needs.

All that said, it would seem that the Marketer must continually be ever present within the community of users: participating and guiding them. As such, the community will associatively imprint the brand's personality with that of its' guides (or Community Managers). I can see some management cringing in their boots if there are merely two or even one Community Manager! That's a TON of power to give 1 pure "employee"...

Boiling all that down, the bullet version might look something like:

Ideas on creating brand personality are
1. Maintain an ever present and responsive presence in the community.
2. Keep and eye on the "first impression" perception of the community to be certain that a cross-section of the target market is clearly represented and/or welcome.
3. Utilize the combinations of multi-media that reduce the likelihood of misinterpreting personality from the perceived tone of written-only word.

Connie engages this with the consumer's imprinting on her and her sister as the brand. Also, the use of the utterz.com audio application.

"Peaceful Assembly" and Civil Unrest

2007-06-26T22:22:00.000-05:00

Relating to the previous post, the below is my response to a request by a local newspaper reporter to comment on an article he forwarded titled "U.S. economy leaving record numbers in severe poverty". This was in February 2007.

----begin response---
Sir,

I’m surely way past your deadline, but did want to mention completely off the record as I’m absolutely no authority in these matters:

I’d be completely surprised if someone doesn’t bring up civil unrest and potentially revolt. Capitalism is far from mature and how it’s dealt with on a societal level is now expanding beyond traditional borders to encompass the globe. I’m no sociologist, but I believe if you asked one that they’d say something about: when the power of the numbers of the “have-nots” outweigh the power of the “haves”, then they will attempt dominance. Again, not being a sociologist, I believe you’ll find that the have-nots will utilize the Internet to organize and ultimately destabilize the balance.

Business has been the entity to leverage the Internet to its advantage. The people being put out by this shift or “gulf” will ultimately use the medium to their benefit. I am fairly confident that this will happen and we’ll see it occur when there becomes a leader of these poor that they trust. This person will establish themselves on the social networks like MySpace, There’ll be initial legal attempts to hurt the “haves” like widespread organized boycotting. If that doesn’t catch the eye of the “haves”, then resorting to illegal outright terrorism with acceptance by the masses of “have-nots” will be likely. I’m not referring to terrorism of life/limb, but rather economic terrorism beyond the boycott. Enough widespread, yet focused on a corporation, grass roots “juvenile vandalism” can wreak billions a day in damages. Helping a cause are all those out of work poor with plenty of idle time to go be a nuisance or to campaign. The possibilities are incredible and completely probable. We could see benign, but damaging activities such as: at every WalMart across the country, 200 people go in, load –up their shopping carts and realize, ooops, they left their wallets at home, and then walk out of the store.

I hope that the evolution is such that the benign acts bully corporations into being more socially responsible than just to the shareholder/bottom-line. It would be wonderful if the gulfing trend can be affected on that level before desperate people chose desperate measures.

I’m no historian either, but aren’t civil unrest and ultimately revolt recurring phenomena in “civilized” history?

I look forward to seeing how this news story evolves. I don’t know if there’s anything to be found online about it, but I’ll give it a gander and email you anything I run into. I’m sure it’d be an interesting spin on this concept.

------- end response ------

Oddly enough, the reporter hasn't asked me for a comment since. :-)

Web 2.0 - about time.

2007-06-26T21:49:00.000-05:00

Web 2.0 is the first realization of a great promise of the Web as a great democratizer. While the business communitiy has regarded the Web's democratization as pertaining to allowing small and micro business to command the same presence on the Web a fortune 500, the true democratization is that of the people.

The people are gaining their voice. User Generated Content. They are learning to harness their collective power, as customers, as believers, as citizens and leaders. "Social Networking" The people are virtually assembling and it's beautiful.

From the First Ammendment of the U.S. Constitution
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

We're seeing the beginnings though. Society has much to master. We're figuring it out. Rather, some are figuring it out. They are Explorers of a frontier in the approach of the medium for collective influence and ultimately cause action. The biggest Town Hall meeting on the planet.

Next post is definitely related.

Cheers.

Bebo

2007-03-23T00:28:00.000-05:00

Checking out www.bebo.com . Finding lots of nice music and much a bit on the edgy side too. Users upload original music, writing, poetry. Site is free. Zipped Ardent label and a buddy of mine in Maine onto this as well.

Read about this site in Business 2.0 I read the print version, the fact that CNN Money is in it really turns me off for some reason. In the print version, I don't see the CNN logo plastered at the top of every page.

EcoMemphis

2007-03-11T20:39:00.000-05:00

I do a quick Google and find that there's nothing to be found in my fair city of Memphis for EarthDay - a mere 5-6 weeks away. I even checked-out http://www.earthday.net/ with no luck.

A few years back, the Overton Park Shell http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2007/02/19/daily23.html?surround=lfn was the site of the City's Earth Day celebration, but it's scheduled to undergo renovation for about a year starting in June. Hmmmm...

Memphis is one of those cities where if you're up in a building on anything higher than about the 5th floor, your window view is tree tops with an occassional building jutting up here and there. I've been here about 20 years and have grown so accustomed to them. A couple of years ago I was out at Monument Valley talking with a Native American who's reflection of Memphis was, "... all those trees...".

The ideas are endless for EarthDay. More exhibits, awareness, vendors (with profits going to Renewable Energy Credits). It would seem like a pivotal EarthDay being the first since the big awareness push of 2006.

Wheels spin.

Eco - Carbon Neutral

2007-03-11T10:16:00.000-05:00

Carbonic Neutralis- An Inconvenient Truth: woah.

Al Gore campaigning for the environment. Laying out the facts of global warming - sans politics. It's the "oh no" documentary of our lifetimes. The associated website is at: ClimateCrisis.NET.

Many links from there including:
Telework Coalition which deals with Enabling Virtual, Mobile, and Distributed Work through Research, Education, Technology, and Legislation

Native Energy learn about Renewable Energy Credits and Carbon Offsets and their blog here http://www.nativeenergy.blogspot.com/

Green Day.

NOAA on SecondLife

2007-03-08T04:14:00.000-06:00

In the best deployment of multimedia I've seen yet, NOAA has an Island complete with welcome video tour (on YouTube of course).

SecondLife

2007-03-03T10:29:00.000-06:00

SecondLife resources:

Posts that contain Secondlife per day for the last 360 days.

Breakfast Tea with Mom on SecondLife

2007-03-03T10:02:00.000-06:00

Getting to bed early, I was up at 3:30 this morning. Reading about SecondLife, I found an article on Wired about how SecondLife was helping abuse victims and cerebral palsy folks regain/gain social skills.

Anyway I wound up visiting the palsy victims' island and buying a cool drum they had. It has a few different beats and while I was working the drum's controls, my mom pops on SL and invites me over for tea in a very peaceful oriental garden that she likes to hang out at.

We chatted for about 30 mins and caught up on various what nots. Incredible.

Happy Birthday Dad

2007-03-03T09:43:00.000-06:00

February 27th was my Dad's 63rd birthday and we (my lovely wife, my dad, my mom - looking quiet young these days) celebrated on SecondLife. Photo forthcoming.

There were virtual balloons, card, gift boxes, fishing pole, and of course some of SecondLife's best Island Rum. Although we didn't sing happy birthday, there were many heartfelt wishes. For the occasion, I purchased a small chunk of land (512 sq.meters) to share with the family. My dad's "avi" (avatar) sports his white hair and beard, complete with a belly. My mom, is a spitting image you'd see of her in the family photo albums from the late sixties / early seventies.

I hadn't paid much attention to my avi, but after the event I changed the face to reflect more of my age. Although, there's no option for thinning salt/pepper hair.

:-)

Eclipse

2007-03-03T09:32:00.000-06:00

It seems fitting to start this on a Full Moon and to top it off, with an Eclipse.

I'm not particularly looking for readers, but rather see this as a tool for my own thoughts, but primarily a location to store all the random, yet connected things that come zooming past my brain (that's not doing a good job at keeping up with it all).