The Social Net

LWFL NFC Power Rankings Week Three

2010-09-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

Eagles Fly High, Face Another Stiff Test

In the NFL, going up against the "Williams Wall" of the Minnesota Vikings is usually an exercise in futility for anyone hoping for success. #93 Kevin Williams and #94 Pat Williams are perennial All-Pros who are considered the best tandem at defensive tackle in the NFL today.

In the LWFL, defending league champion Rebecca Newkirk and her Team Eagles will face her own version of the Williams Wall as she moves from meeting (and beating) the Rescue Rangers Al Williams in a high-powered showdown to playing the Islamic Socialists, currently ranked second in the league in scoring, coached by Mark Williams.

This will be the second consecutive #1 vs. #2 showdown for Team Eagles.

Now, the similarity between the NFL's Williams Wall and the LWFL Williams Wall pretty much ends at the waistline, but the analogy is clear--if one Williams doesn't knock you around on Sundays, there's always another one waiting for the same chance.

So far, the Eagles are responding to all challenges and defending their crown with the heart of a champion, but look for them to face another stern challenge in week four.

The winner of the Eagles vs. Islamic Socialists game will determine next week's top spot in the Power Rankings.

#1 Team Eagles

In the first #1 vs. #2 match up of the season, the Eagles were actually underdogs against the Rescue Rangers but pulled thru with a 21 point victory behind great performances by Peyton Manning and DeSean Jackson. With 5 players in double figures, the Eagles showed good balance thru out the lineup with a very solid effort.

The Rescue Rangers normally have 5 or more players in double figures, but only had 4 players with 10+ points last week, and were especially hurt by poor performances from their mainstays at RB and WR. Pierre Thomas, MJD, Reggie Wayne and Miles Austin all scored in single digits with very disappointing efforts. It's hard to win when your studs play like backups.

While 115 points is good enough to win most weeks in the LWFL, it might also be said that the Rangers lost this game more than the Eagles won it. But give credit where it's due--in their first big game of the season, the Eagles won handily.

#2 Islamic Socialists

The Islamic Socialists have led the league in scoring in each of the last two weeks, and are now the #2 scoring team in the league by rolling to a 46 point victory over Team Falk.

Once again, the Socialists spread the production around the entire offense with a total of 6 players hitting double digits and that's with Anqoun Boldin's 32 points left on the bench. This team has solid players at every position and should remain in the top 3 in scoring all year long, although they may have face some difficulties against the Eagles in Week Four because of bye issues.

#3 Rescue Rangers

Despite their loss against the Eagles, the Rescue Rangers remain the #3 scoring team in the league. When your team scores 'only' 94 points on a bad day for your top 4 players, you're not really hurting.

Barring injuries, the Rangers will be a serious contender for a championship, although the lack of production from Maurice Jones Drew could prove problematic down the road. Without better quarterback play from David Garrard, opposing defenses will continue to stack the box and make it very difficult for MJD to produce.

Keep an eye on MJD's performances, because the Rangers bench isn't very deep and they will probably need to play the waiver wire for spot starters as we enter into bye weeks. The Jacksonville star might prove to be the Achilles heel for the Rangers during the stretch run.

#4 Mr. Al Davis

Mr. Al Davis claims the #4 spot with their win over the Dreaded Mercenaries, although this won't be the last time this season these two evenly-matched teams trade positions in the Power Rankings.

Mr. Al Davis scored 115 points last week, with outstanding results from their stars Tom Brady and Chris Johnson, with LeSean McCoy and the Eagles DEF also contributing in a major way.

Owner Justin Rocha made a shrewd move in picking up Austin Collie off the waiver wire this week, especially in light of a toe injury to their #2 RB Jahvid Best. The move will allow McCoy to slide into the RB2 position and Collie to play as their regular flex player. McCoy will be an inconsistent performer as long as Michael Vick is playing at his current level, so Collie's steady performances will bring some stability to this lineup.

If you're Mr. AD, it's a little troublesome that 75% of your scoring came from 45% of your lineup--with 3 players scoring more than 20 points and one right behind at 18. They continue to get 50+ points from Brady and Johnson every week, but relying on that kind of production on a regular basis from top players will prove to be disappointing on many weeks too.

Still this team embodies it's namesake--it's a high-risk, high-reward team that can score mega points in any given week. Look for them to continue their high-scoring ways in week 4.

#5 Dreaded Mercenaries

You know what Dreaded Mercenaries owner Sarah Snow has in common with Minnesota Vikings running back Toby Gerhard?

They are both recent Stanford grads who excelled in college but find themselves competing against superstars in the pros and come up a little bit short. For now. And it's got to be killing both of them to lose a little lustre off their star power.

Gerhard, of course, is the back up to Adrian Peterson in Minnesota and only sees the field for maybe 5-10 plays in any given week.

The Mercenaries remain one of the better teams in the league, but were simply outmatched against Mr. Al Davis in week 3, although they kept the game closer than expected. Still, their balance was on display with four players in double digits. Dreaded Mercenaries RB's Steven Jackson and Knowshon Moreno are hit with the injury bug right now, so this team could struggle some in the next few weeks.

On the other hand, 95 points in an 'off' week is an indicator of the strength of this team, and if they can play .500 ball for the next few weeks while their RB's get healthy and play the waiver wire well, this team will be formidable down the stretch and can be a championship contender.

#6 Heavenly Rampagers

Whatever prayers the Rampagers sent towards heaven must have paid off as they break thru not only with their first win of the season, but their first score over 100 as well.

The Heavenly Rampagers are going to be a 'tweener' team all season long--in any given week, they are capable of playing with any other team, but there is a clear distinction between the top 5 teams in the league and the bottom 3 in how consistent their scores will be. While the top 5 are scoring 95 points or so on an average-to-bad day, teams like the Rampagers are scoring 100 points on a good day.

Frank Gore will anchor this team along with Tony Romo, but after that, the rest of the lineup is an exercise in hope every week. Ray Rice is a puzzle thus far in the season and now has a bruised knee to add on top of that. If the Baltimore Ravens air attack continues to produce like it did last week, Rice will see fewer defenders in the box and find a little more running room as the year goes on.

The WR's on this team are all solid but at their best, will score 8-9 TD's over the course of the year, which means that they will not all produce every week. In some weeks, 2 of the 3 WR's will produce, and in some weeks, none of them will, and the Rampagers just don't have the firepower at other positions to make up for any lack of production.

This is a team that needs to fire on all cylinders in order to compete with the top 5. But when they ARE on--they can beat any team in the league.

#7 Team Damages

The Damages avoid the basement for a second straight week based on a better showing in their 102-82 loss to the Heavenly Rampagers. This is a team that is showing signs of coming to life.

Once again, #1 pick Aaron Rogers did his part to carry the team, and got support from Cedric Benson and Ladanian Tomlinson, but were let down once again by DeAngelo Williams, Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Smith and the SF DEF. Each of these players were projected to be among the best at their respective positions at the beginning of the year, but for various reasons are underperforming and are likely to continue to underperform on a consistent basis in the forseeable future.

There's no question that Larry Fitzgerald is among the top 3 pass catchers in the league, and Steve Smith is one of the most explosive and exciting WR's in the NFL. However, both suffer from poor quarterback play--and a receiver whose QB can't get him the ball isn't much of a help to either their real team or the FF owners.

This could be one of the better teams in the league if the players on this team had some support on their actual NFL teams. Don't be surprised when Team Damages busts out with a 120 point performance, but don't expect that every week quite yet.

#8 Team Falk

The Falkians had the bad luck to run up against the rabid Islamic Socialists last week AND had nearly half their players going against each other in the Bears/Packers game on Monday night in what turned out to be a low-scoring affair.

Team Falk is another team plagued by inconsistency--each of their players have had outstanding efforts at some point so far this season, but owner Susan Falk hasn't gotten more than 3 players with good efforts from her team in any given week.

Team Falk will need to work the waiver wire and trade route in order to upgrade their team--they are solid at 7 of the 9 positions, but lack depth and consistent performers at the other two, which puts added pressure on the other players to give noteworthy efforts. The RB2 position is a particularly glaring weakness.

Due to bye week issues by their opponent, Team Falk stands a decent chance of grabbing their first win of the season in week 4.

Week Four Predictions

Last week predictions: 3-1
Season Record: 3-1

Marquee Matchup: Team Eagles vs. Islamic Socialists

Another high-scoring affair is predicted in this game, with the official spread favoring the Islamic Socialists by a single point. Both teams are projected to score 130+ points, but I don't think the actual game will be that close or that high scoring.

Team Eagles catch this game at the right time, with the Socialists starting RB tandem of Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles on the bench with a bye. These two players are significant weapons for the Socialists, currently ranked as the #1 and #13 ranked RB's in the FF right now.

Still, the Socialists have depth and can plug in Darren McFadden and Joseph Addai. McFadden is currently #5 among fantasy RB, and while Addai is not a threat for big yardage days and only ranked 26th, he is usually good for 100 total yards running and receiving and a TD, making him a solid one-week replacement running against a weak Jacksonville defense.

The Eagles will have a definite advantage at QB with Peyton Manning facing the pitiful Jaguars secondary, while the Socialists will have slight advantages at RB and WR and a definite advantage at TE. DEF and K are about even.

The key matchup in this game will be at the flex position with the Socialists Jeremy Maclin facing Arian Foster. Maclin is likely to get 100 yards and a score in his game against the Redskins, but Foster--who ran for 200+ yards and 3 scores against Indy in week 1--is running against an Oakland Raider defense that ranks among the worst at defending the run.

The Socialists win if they can squeeze double-digit scoring out of 7 of their players, and the Eagles win if Arian Foster runs for 125 yards and two scores.

Prediction: Socialists by 4

Watch Out For: Dreaded Mercenaries vs Team Damages

This is one of those games where the individual player match ups could go either way. The DM's start Drew Brees at QB and the Damages counter with Aaron Rodgers, so those two should cancel each other out.

When it comes to RB's, both teams feature RB's who get the ball a lot in their respective offenses and are considered workhorses. The Damages will start DeAngelo Williams and Cedric Benson against the Mercenaries Rashard Mendenhall and Peyton Hillis.

The problem here is that all four RB's are running against stout run defenses this week, so expectations should be tempered.

The Mercenaries have an edge at WR, if for no other reason than they actually have quality QB's throwing them the ball, while the Damages have to rely on Kenny Anderson and Jimmy Clausen to get the ball to Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Smith respectively.

At the bottom of the lineup, the Mercenaries have a slight edge, which leaves the flex position and an intriguing matchup of the Mercenaries Calvin Johnson vs. the Damages LT. LT should have the edge here, running against a weak Buffalo defense, BUT…it's a divisional game, and the Bills tend to play well within their division.

Calvin Johnson is one of the best receivers in the NFL, but has faced consistent bracket coverage and tight defenses the first few weeks. The coverage tends to ease up late in the game, so Johnson is always a threat for a big play and a score, even if that score comes in garbage time.

I'm going to say that the deciding factors in this game will be the RB 1 matchup along with WR2 and TE. Whichever team wins 2 out of those 3 positions should win the game.

Prediction: Dreaded Mercenaries by 12

Mercy Kill of the Week: Mr. Al Davis vs. Heavenly Rampagers

Mr. Al Davis is favored to win this game by 30 points, and I'm not sure that it's even going to be that close. Mr. AD has favorable match ups thru out his line up and the Rampagers simply don't have the fire power to keep up. I can see the Rampagers going down by 40 in this game.

One caveat that could make this game a LOT more interesting and deliver a huge upset for the Rampagers is that Mr. Al Davis has 3 players from the Eagles game against Washington, representing 1/3rd of his team.

The Redskins are currently ranked among the worst defenses in the league, but they always play well against division rivals. Philly is playing at home where their own fans have been known to boo them, so if Washington DEF can get a couple of early stops and turnovers, they just might burst Michael Vick's bubble and could turn into a low-scoring game.

If that happens, the Rampagers might squeak out an upset. It's not likely, but hey, just like a UFO landing in a remote area of the Nevada desert, it could happen.

Prediction: Mr. Al Davis by 34

Upset Special: Rescue Rangers vs. Team Falk

This could be the week that Team Falk breaks into the win column as they take on a Rescue Rangers team with two key players on a bye.

On paper, the Rangers should win this one without much worry--almost all of their starters are playing home games against teams that are ranked far below them and that's usually a recipe for a high-scoring affair and fantasy success. Don't be surprised if this team scores 115+ points this week.

So what makes me think that Team Falk could pull off an upset?

The Falkians are also playing against teams they should be able to exploit, so I look for them to break the 100 point barrier for the first time this season in this game. Given that MJD and Pierre Thomas have underperformed the past couple of weeks for the Rangers, that makes them a little vulnerable.

Pierre Thomas is one of my favorite players and is capable of putting up 15 points every single week, but his ankle is a little banged up and the Saints are thin at RB, so he might not see as much work as usual this week. New Orleans won't need much of a contribution from Thomas in order to beat Carolina. So he could wind up with only 5 points or so.

MJD normally runs well against the Colts (who doesn't?), but opposing defenses have done a good job of shutting him down so far this year, so it wouldn't be much of a shocker to see him only contribute 5-7 points too.

And while the Rangers are in the enviable position of having two outstanding #1 WR's in Reggie Wayne and Miles Austin on their roster, they will only have one available this week, with Austin's Dallas Cowboys inactive on their bye this week.

If these two teams played 10 times, I'm sure the Rescue Rangers would win 8 or 9 times out of 10, so this isn't a matter of Team Falk suddenly becoming a great team…but rather, the Rangers are ripe to under perform.

Call this one a gut feeling, but if Chicago scores more than 30 points against the NY Giants this week, and Falk finds a better RB2 than Brandon Jackson off the waiver wire, AND both Rangers RB's turn in performances similar to last week, then Team Falk could pull off a stunning upset.

So just for fun…

Prediction: Team Falk by 3

Best of luck to everyone this week…unless you're playing ME!

--Da Commish

LWFL NFC Power Rankings Week 2

2010-09-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

Steve Miller's "Fly Like an Eagle" was one of the most awesome rock songs of the 70's and defending LWFL champion Rebecca Newkirk's Team Eagles are one of the most awesome fantasy football teams the LWFL has ever seen.

Time will tell whether they become golden oldies and fall off the charts or can keep on rockin the fantasy world.

#1 Team Eagles

The Eagles will remain atop the Power Rankings as the top scoring team in the league until someone can displace them, but showed some vulnerability last week, narrowly escaping with an 8 point victory over the Heavenly Rampagers.

Led by Peyton Manning and DeSean Jackson, Team Eagles once again had 4 players score in double digits, but slid back in total score to an 'average' week, as Arian Foster came back to earth and Michael Turner left his game with an injury after only 9 carries.

Still, at 102 points on an average week, Team Eagles are in an enviable position and are a formidable champion. They face a tough battle to retain their top ranking when they take on the Rescue Rangers in Week Three. With both teams projected to score more than 130 points, this game is sure to be an exciting slugfest, with the winner claiming the #1 position for next week.

#2 Rescue Rangers

The Rescue Rangers move up a notch to #2 on the strength of their 110 points in their victory over the Damages.

The Rangers got an exceptional effort and 3 TD's from QB Phillip Rivers, but what's impressive about this team is that they had SIX of their nine players score in double digits, and none of them had especially outstanding games, while their RB tandem of MJD and Pierre Thomas had below-average games. This might be the first team in league history to have all nine of its players score in double digits at some point during the season.

The Rescue Rangers will take on Team Eagles in week three in a battle of the two highest scoring teams in the league, with the winner taking an inside track on the path to a league championship.

#3 Dreaded Mercenaries

The Mercenaries slide down a notch to #3 this week, turning in an average performance by scoring 93 points in their victory over the hard-luck Team Falk.

The Mercenaries once again showed excellent balance in their team, with five players scoring in double digits, and no player having a particularly exceptional day. They left a few points on the bench (and apparently did not heed the advice to consider playing Knowshown Moreno in their flex position), but all in all, a very solid result from a very solid team.

The Dreaded Mercenaries are currently 4th in the league in scoring and sport a 2-0 record, but that could change with a tough match up against Mr. Al Davis this week.
The DM's can be expected to put up another 100 points this week, so there is little chance they will get embarrassed, but this is one of those weeks where there isn't much they can do--their opponent simply has better match ups with their key players.

#4 Islamic Socialists

America's terror lived up to its promise for at least one week, putting up a 64 point whup-ass on Mr. Al Davis.

This was the second week in a row that the Islamic Socialists were projected to score more than 130 points, and for a change, they delivered. The Socialists spread the scoring around with SIX players in double figures, and a seventh player left on the bench who reached that landmark.

While Matt Schaub, Antonio Gates and Garret Hartley had better-than-expected games, the rest of the team was mostly average--so don't be surprised to see this team score in the 130's several times this year, and they *might* reach 150 in a game or two.

The Islamic Socialists are currently the third-highest scoring team in the league, just 3 points behind the Rescue Rangers and 29 points behind the Eagles, but are ranked #4 until they can show some consistency.

#5 Mr. Al Davis

I warned last week that Mr. Al Davis would be a streaky, inconsistent team capable of putting up big numbers some weeks and a couple of low-scoring efforts, and last week, they proved me right by stinking the joint up in their game against the Socialists.

As a finance guy in his day job, it's hard to tell which irks owner Justin Rocha more--having his carefully selected team underperform, or getting beat by a bunch of socialists.

In week 3, I expect this team to prove me right again and put up big numbers in their game against the Mercenaries. Mr. Al Davis is currently 6th in the league in scoring, but I expect them to rise to either #3 or #4 by next week. Look for this team to score between 120-140 points this week.

#6 Heavenly Rampagers

Roy Sniffen's team almost pulled out a thrilling Monday night victory, but fell victim to four San Francisco turnovers against the New Orleans DEF--which happened to be their margin of defeat.

The Rampagers got a great effort from Frank Gore, but need to get Tony Romo and their flex position on track if they are going to be a contender in this league. They played a slightly better-than-average game by scoring 94 points, but with half the teams in the league averaging 100 points per game, that's not going to get the job done on a consistent basis.

This is a team that can do some damage when all of its players perform up to their capabilities, so don't take them lightly. It's a strong lineup that has under-performed to date.

#7 Team Falk

Team owner Susan Falk might be looking for a new coach this week as she lost a heartbreaker against the Dreaded Mercenaries by 16 points, with not one, but TWO players sitting on her bench who would have brought her team a victory had they been active.

While the Falkians scored a below-average 76 points, they left Jay Cutler's 29 points on the bench, as well as the Pittsburgh DEF and their 31 points. Either of these players would have brought Team Falk a victory and nudged them over the century mark, so clearly, this is a team with firepower.

Still, it's a team with question marks at RB, WR and Flex that will struggle to break 90 on most weeks. Like the NFL, the axiom "on any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team" rings true, so I wouldn't look past Team Falk. If they make a QB switch and play the waiver wire well, this is a team that can sneak up on you.

#8 Team Damages

The Damages selected Aaron Rodgers with the #1 pick in this year's draft, and so far, he is the only player to produce on this under-performing team.

Last year, the Damages built their offense around Larry Fitzgerald, who was disappointing for a #1 pick, and this year, not only do they have Fitzgerald playing below his billing again, but they have added DeAngelo Williams and Cedric Benson as players who are performing far below expectations.

Add in mediocre performances by Shonn Greene (projected to be a top 12 RB) and Jason Witten (taken out of his game with a concussion) and its easy to see why this is the lowest scoring team in the league thus far.

On the bright side, it's also a team that scored 88 points with terrible performances from most of its players, so the upside is there. If Carolina can find a QB that can make opposing defenses respect their air attack, then DeAngelo Williams will start to find running room again.

As the season goes on, Cedric Benson will start to come around and get his numbers too--the biggest question is whether the Damages can grab a couple of wins while their stars struggle.

Look for this team to rack up points by midseason, and hope that they aren't out of the playoff hunt by the time the team starts to perform.

Week Three Predictions:

The Marquee Matchup: Team Eagles vs. Rescue Rangers

I look for a very high-scoring game here with both teams scoring 120+ points. Both teams are very evenly matched, but this one will come down to the match ups at RB. With the Eagles Michael Turner coming off a groin injury and the the Giants Ahmad Bradshaw going on the road against one of the better run defenses in the league in Tennessee, I'm going to give the edge to the Rangers tandem of MJD and Pierre Thomas.

Look for Thomas to have a huge game and be the deciding factor for the Rangers.

Pick: Rangers by 8

Keep An Eye On: Dreaded Mercenaries vs. Mr. Al Davis

I once took a psychiatric evaluation where I was asked the question "would you rather kill someone with a flame thrower or run them over with a tank?"

I'm not sure what that question was supposed to reveal, but it's a good metaphor for what the Mercenaries are facing this week in Mr. Al Davis--any answers they come up are probably not going to be good ones.

The Mercenaries have a powerful lineup and should score a 100-120 points this week. But the problem is that Mr. Al Davis has more favorable match ups through out his lineup and will probably score 130+ points.

If everyone does what they are supposed to, Mr. Al Davis wins this game easily. The Mercenaries have to pin their hopes on Rashard Mendenhall running wild against Tampa Bay for 150 yards and two scores (not likely), Ocho Cinco getting two scores against Carolina (possible but not likely) and Mr. Al Davis' Jahvid Best getting shut down by the Minnesota DEF (possible) or Brandon Marshall getting shut down by a Jets DEF missing Darelle Revis to eke out a win.

Pick: Mr. Al Davis by 18

Somebody Will Remain Winless: Damages vs. Heavenly Rampagers

Both teams are 0-2 and in desperate need of a win--will this be the week these teams put it together?

On paper, the Damages have the better team, but some of their key players are facing difficult matchups. DeAngelo Williams will find it tough running against the Cincinatti DEF, and top WR Steve Smith will have a rookie QB trying to get him the ball. Look for both players to have sub-par days.

In addition, the Damages have LT running against a stout Miami DEF and WR Larry Fitzgerald going against perhaps the 2nd shut-down corner in the league in
Nnamdi Asomugha. I hate to be harbinger of bad news, but look for this team to under-perform yet again.

The Heavenly Rampagers won't win this by default however. The Rampagers appear to be benching Tony Romo and will send Josh Freeman against a stout Pittsburgh DEF, so look for the Damages to have the edge at QB. While Ray Rice has a favorable match up against Cleveland at RB, the Rampagers other RB's face difficult DEF and will find it tough to get points.

The Rampagers win this one if they get production out of their WR and TE, the Damages win if they get production out of their RB's, and Aaron Rogers puts up 25+ points.

Pick: Rampagers by 9

They Still Have To Play The Game: Islamic Socialists vs. Team Falk

On paper, this one is no contest--the Islamic Socialists should win handily over Team Falk. But a football takes some funny bounces and this could be one of those dangerous games where a play here and there could add up to a major upset for Team Falk.

Susan Falk will have a lot riding on the Green Bay v. Chicago game, with 4 of her 9 players involved in that contest. The problem is that Team Falk will play 3 Bears against one of the better DEF in the game. Now, Chicago can definitely score a lot of points, so if this turns out to be a high scoring game, Team Falk will look like they are coached by a fantasy football genius.

If defense dominates this game, then Team Falk will be embarrassed. But then again, the Islamic Socialists are well balanced and have favorable player match-ups at nearly every position, so the Falkians are backed into a high-risk, high-reward strategy this week.

Look for this game to be closer than the projections indicate--the two QB's should perform about the same, as should the #2RB, #1 WR, TE, DEF and K. Which means this game will more than likely be decided at the #1 RB and Flex position.

Adrian Peterson should run for 125 yards plus 1-2 scores against Detroit for the Socialists and Darren McFadden should go for 100 yards and a score against the Arizona Cardinals. Team Falk counters with Matt Forte running against a stout GB DEF and Steve Smith (NYG) going against the top-rated pass defense of the Tennesee Titans. Forte is likely to catch enough passes out of the backfield to be a threat, so this game will hinge on Steve Smith for Team Falk.

Pick: Islamic Socialists by 14

LWFL NFC Power Rankings, Week One

2010-09-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

(Note: Among my many interests, I am the commissioner of the LiveWorld Fantasy Football League, comprised of 16 LiveWorld employees, past employees and friends/family of LiveWorlders. The league is split into NFC and AFC conferences. I publish the Power Rankings for the 8 teams in the LWFL NFC. Briant Laslo publishes Power Rankings for the AFC)

LWFL NFC Power Rankings
Week 1 Sep. 12, 2010

#1 Team Eagles
Rebecca Newkirk's defending Super Bowl (and scoring) champions from last year started right where they left off with a league-high 130 point effort on opening day.

Led by monster performances from Arian Foster and Peyton Manning who accounted for 76 points between the two of them, the Eagles dominated in a 64 point win, extending their streak to 4 consecutive games in which they've won by a margin of 50 points or more.

While the Eagles are not likely to get 40 point efforts from the running back position very often (consider that Foster's effort came against the always woeful Colts run defense), they do possess balance thru out their lineup, with 4 players scoring in double figures, despite key players like Michael Turner and DeSean Jackson having poor showings. This is a high-risk, high reward team that can score a ton of points in any given week but still reasonably expect to put up 90-100 points per game on an average week.

The Eagles are still the team to beat until someone does, and they appear to have all the right pieces to be the first to repeat as LWFL Super Bowl champions.

#2 Dreaded Mercenaries
Sarah Snow's Dreaded Mercenaries were the third-highest scoring team this week, but get the second place nod for the overall balance in their lineup.

Even with Drew Brees having a sub-par game, the Mercenaries tied for the league-lead with a total of FIVE players scoring in double-digits, led by a vintage effort from Chad Ocho Cinco with 21 points.

Overall, the Mercenaries were only a couple of plays and bad calls away from having 9 out of the 10 starters in double digits and it's very tough to beat a team that can put up big numbers from ANY position on the team. The Dreaded Mercenaries are the fantasy football equivalent of the 1927 Yankees--they have stars at every position with Drew Brees, Steven Jackson, Roddy White, Calvin Johnson, Rashard Mendenhall and Vernon Davis filling out their lineup. Even their DEF (NY Jets) and K (Ryan Longwell) are among the best at their position. The weakest position on this team is its flex player--who just happened to lead the team in scoring this week. If the Mercenaries make the right choice between playing Knowshon Moreno and Ocho Cinco every week, they stand a good chance of going undefeated.

The Dreaded Mercenaries are not as explosive as Team Eagles, but are more consistent through out the lineup. I expect these two teams to be battling for the points title all season long.

#3 Mr. Al Davis
Like his famous name-sake, team owner Justin Rocha doesn't give a **** about his Power Ranking, as long as he just wins, baby.

Mr. Al Davis is led by the tandem of Tom Brady and Chris Johnson, who are both capable of putting up astronomical numbers every week and went for 56 points on Sunday. Look for those two to consistently put up 50+ point between them on a weekly basis.

After those two, however, Mr. A.D. has a lot of players who *could* put up good numbers in any given week, but their stats and projections suggest they are only going to give a fantasy-worthy performance every other week. My prediction for this team is inconsistency.

Besides Johnson, Mr. Al Davis will rely on two rookies and a 2nd year RB to tote the rock, and two very talented WR's who unfortunately are playing in systems where they should not expect to get a lot of TD's like other elite receivers. Both Brandon Marshall and Marques Colston are immense talents, but New Orleans spreads the ball around pretty equally to all of its receivers, and while Marshall is the focal point of the Dolphins passing attack, he's limited by his QB and the lack of strong complementary wideout. Both receivers should get 1100-1300 receiving yards this season, but only 8-9 TD catches.

This team is like the homeless guy you meet on the streets who could either be a really interesting person to talk with or just batsh*t crazy. Mr. Al Davis will be a tough team to beat in any given week and is easily capable of putting up 120-140 points. But I wouldn't be surprised to see them with a few meek 70-80 point efforts either.

#4 Rescue Rangers
The Rescue Rangers, coached by Al Williams, made their league debut in impressive fashion, scoring a come-from-behind victory on Monday night led by Phillip Rivers 23 points.

The Rangers tied the Mercenaries by having five players scoring 10 or more points, and are also built for consistency, with Maurice Jones-Drew, Reggie Wayne, Miles Austin, Jermichael Finley and Pierre Thomas rounding out their starting lineup. Their most glaring weakness is at the Flex position--they lack a consistent performer in that position. They might guess right in some weeks, but that's the one spot in their roster that will keep this team from being one of the elites.

Just like the NFL, any team can beat any other team in any given week, but the Power Rankings are all about which team is the strongest and would win most of the time. The Rangers will have to play the waiver wire well or coach this position well each week to compete with the teams above them in the rankings.

Still, 96 points in their debut is a good solid start and right around where I think this team will perform on a weekly basis.

The Bottom Half

#5 Heavenly Rampagers
Roy Sniffen's Rampagers must be doing some Hail Mary's to atone for the curses they swore at their team last Sunday. With 84 points in a losing effort, the Heavenly Rampagers needed a little help from above--or from Frank Gore and Ray Rice, who both under-performed in a big way.

Still, 84 points on a bad day isn't too bad and should have the Rampagers seeing some encouragement. Their lineup is strong at the top with a near-elite QB in Tony Romo and 3 near-elite RB's in Rice, Gore and Ronnie Brown. The WR core is solid with Wes Welker, but they are lacking a true #1 WR who can be explosive on a regular basis. Maybe something to pray for?

The bottom of their Rampagers lineup is solid, if unspectacular--this is a team that should regularly put up between 80-100 points per week, and will occasionally score in the 110-120 range.

#6 Team Falk
The Falkland Islands are a small set of islands in the Southern Ocean off the coast of Argentina. It is a cold, windy, desolate and craggy land inhabited by more sheep than humans. Argentina and England fought a war over possession of the archipelago in 1982. No one really knows for sure what it is they were fighting over.

I mention this, because Susan Falk's Team Falk is a bit of an enigma too--no one really knows what to expect from this team. An 84 point effort in their opening game isn't bad, and that's with their star QB Brett Favre under-performing badly, #1 RB Ryan Grant getting hurt early in the game, getting no contribution from #1 WR Andre Johnson and flex player Jonathan Stewart all but disappearing from his teams game plan when he was projected to do well.

On the other hand, Matt Forte is not the kind of player you expect a 30 point effort from either. About the only predictable result from this game was the 14 points from Dallas Clark, who can be expected to provide 10 points or so on a regular basis.

I think that Team Falk is in for a roller-coaster season--it's a team that will probably average around 80-90 points per game, and 3-4 times this year will probably throw down 120 points on someone. But replacing their #1 RB is not going to be an easy task, and there are question marks at QB--Favre looked very average against New Orleans and Jay Cutler will be streaky-- the Flex position is filled by two RB's who are #2 on their own team, and the #2 WR position will be inconsistent on a weekly basis too, unless team coach Susan Falk guesses right each week with which WR to start.

#7 Team Damages
The Damages scored a woeful 66 points in week one and Jenna Woodull was hurt by her prized #1 draft pick, Aaron Rogers.

Rogers tossed 2 TD's, but turned in an otherwise pedestrian 15 points to go with his 2 INT's and under 200 yards passing. This in an aberrant performance from Rogers--he's an elite option at QB who should regularly score more than 22+ points per week and can easily go off for 40.

The rest of the Damages lineup was equally disappointing, with DeAngelo Williams, Shonn Greene, Jason Witten and the 49ers DEF all playing well below expectations. Despite the lack of production from key players, the Damages still had 4 players score in double digits, so clearly, better days are ahead for this team.

Look for the Damages to average in the 80-90's, with a couple of games around 110-120, but don't be too surprised by a couple of stinker games like this one either. The lineup is generally solid, and filled with players who might score and get good yardage in any given week, but except for Larry Fitzgerald, they lack explosive players who can score multiple times in a game with any regularity.

#8 Islamic Socialists
What's in a name? Well, Shakespeare said that a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. While there's nothing more feared in America than extremist Muslims and socialism, there's no such thing as an Islamic socialist in the real world and apparently not in fantasy football either.

The message is clear--be careful what you name your team.

Commissioner Mark Williams must have been busy with other league duties, because his Socialists either forgot or refused to compete last weekend, getting sub-par performances from EVERY position on the team except #2 RB Jamaal Charles, TE Antonio Gates and the Green Bay DEF. QB Matt Schaub--projected as a top 5 QB by most pundits--,RB Adrian Peterson and Joseph Addai, WR Randy Moss and Dwayne Bowe all failed to score more than 10 points, leading a very disappointing effort. This team was projected to score 139 points in this game and didn't manage to score half that total.

While the Islamic Socialists scored more point than Team Damages, I'm ranking them dead last in the league so the Socialists gets the message. This is a team that *should* be averaging 100 points per game and by the end of the season, I expect this team to compete for both a scoring and Super Bowl championship.

Good luck to all next week! (unless you're playing me)

--da Commish

Movement is LIFE

2010-08-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

I'm a kinesthetic actor.

I like to mooooooooooove and feel the energy flow. I'm a better actor when I'm out of my head and in my body, even if I do consider all the head work absolutely necessary to get me to where I can just feel the part.

Tonight's rehearsal was about working on making Joseph real through movement, paying more attention to communicating with my body and energy more than the words. It's been a struggle to explore the physicality of the role so far--we've generally only run thru the play once per night and I sit thru the entire scene, so there hasn't been much time to play.

But I finally had a night off last night and took some time playing at home exploring the movement vocabulary that is available to Joseph while sitting.

A Quick Trip Down Memory Lane...

The exercise brought back fond memories of acting classes with Jack Clay at the UW. Our studio was in Hutchinson Hall, a 75 year-old gymnasium with a wooden basketball floor, sunlight streaming in from windows 14 feet in the air, a playing area ringed with heavy black curtains and topped with a mish-mash of steel pipes suspended from the ceiling to create a light grid. This was my lab, my temple, my sanctuary, my love for many years.

In one of our very earliest classes--we (a class of 12) did an exercise to see how many different ways we could sit on a chair. It was a mad, frenetic dash of joyful creativity--each of us running up to the chair, trying a new way of sitting on it that gave an 'attitude' or expressed something. We'd try 1-2 poses and then hop off, the next person racing to the chair until we finally ran out of ideas and started repeating ourselves.

I don't recall our final tally, but it was in excess of 100. Something like 113, but I wouldn't swear to that, and it doesn't matter. The lesson was to explore the possibilies that exists for expression even in such a confined space as a chair, and not to limit ourselves to convention.

So tonight's rehearsal was for exploring my expressiveness while sitting...

...AND MOVE YOUR BODY! ( DANCE REVOLUTION)

One of the most important things I do in building a character is pick a character movement shape and personality type using Laban dance movement.

In a (very small) nutshell, Laban revolutionized the dance world in the 1920's and 30's with the publication of his theories analyzing the qualities that constitute dance (life) movement and defining 8 types of action movements: Float, Punch, Glide, Slash, Dab, Wring, Flick, and Press.

These descriptions are essentially the ONLY 8 movements that constitute the entire vocabulary describing how living things move. (and Laban also devises a movement notation system for choreographers that is still used today)

That's probably a little too ethereal a description, so go ahead and do some of those gestures while you're sitting at the keyboard right now. Make a "glide" motion with your hand.

Now make a wringing motion.

And finally, make a "flick" motion.

Did you notice how the quality of each movement felt differently? Making a gliding motion might feel light, but the wringing motion feels more labored and heavy.

Or flicking something is a very indirect action, like shooing a fly, but one glides in a direct line. (and if a glide moves in an indirect motion, it's called a float)

Now...take a leap of faith with me and embrace that all those types of movement shapes (Float, Punch, Glide, Slash, Dab, Wring, Flick, and Press) are also types of personalities.

Are You My Type?

Are you short, blunt and to the point? You're a Punch. Can you focus for long periods of time on difficult problems? You might be a Press. What would we call someone who acts like a stereotypical 'dumb blonde'? A Float. A silly little twit might be a Dab. A person who worries all the time--a wring.

And so on, for each of the 8 movement/personality types.

So part of my process is to pick which type of action/personality shape my character might be.

Once I know which personality fits, I automatically get a whole vocabulary of movements to try out. How do I gesture? Quickly? Deliberately? With great purpose or seemingly nonchalantly? direct and to the point, or wildly?

If I know the personality type, I now know the quality of the character's movement. And that's what I was exploring tonight in rehearsal...what type of Laban shape and personality is Joseph?

Try it out for yourself--it's fun!

Do this:

actually make gestures with your hands and arms in each of the 8 motion shapes.
Float, Punch, Glide, Slash, Dab, Wring, Flick, and Press
walk around the room as if that gesture fills up your entire body and changes your walk
What would it feel like to have a walk that floated across the room? Walk like that.
Or flicked across the room? Walk like that.
Or slashed? (make sure there is no furniture in the way)

It's a little abstract I know, but try it...and you'll start to feeeeeeel it. What kind of attitude do you get when you glide? Is it different than when you wring? Or dab?

Each of us is one of these 8 personality types, more or less. I won't say which one I'm choosing for the play, but as for myself personally, I like to think of myself as a glide...

...but I think the truth is that I'm really a press.

Would you agree with that or not? Which personality/movement type best describes YOU?

CONNECT with the words

2010-08-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

Good rehearsal tonight--enjoyed a nice lingering afterglow and gathered some momentum from the last 'over-acting' rehearsal.

The direction to go over the top really blew out the cobwebs and has freed me up to be bolder, follow impulses and really clarify my point of view. The director really likes what I'm doing--I'm no judge of myself, in any event. (it's very, very rare when I'm pleased with my work.) Some of what I'm doing feels right, and some of it feels like I'm floundering, but if the director likes it, then I'm happy.

Using my sculpting analogy, I'm lopping off huge chunks of clay right now so the shape is recognizable. I have a week yet to polish and maybe add some fine detail.

The detail, of course, is what makes a thing beautiful and transcendent. I strive for that in my work--I'm sure I miss it more often than not, but it's all I know how to do, is to chase it. It's my motivation for being in the theater--that moment when everything congeals into something beautiful on stage and my body and soul are part of an amazing, transcendent experience. You can feel it on stage and oh yeah... it is an addictive drug.

Transcendence happens...

... when the actors connect to the character's feelings, with the words that they say, with each other and with the audience. When the audience is drawn in to the characters, the cycle is complete...like a tsaheylu connection in Avatar.

When you don't have it, you want it. When you have it, you want it to last longer. As soon as it's over, you want it again. But it's powerful enough to tide you over for quite some time.

Performers of all stripes know this feeling.

And the difference between being beautiful and being transcendent is sooooooo small...so fine that it's barely noticeable, but it makes all the difference in the world. Check out the two vids below of the song Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors. (I'll bet you didn't know that more famous 1986 version starring Rick Moranis and Steve Martin was a remake of Roger Corman's film from 1960)

In the first video, pop star Mandy Moore and Broadway vet Adam Pascal sing the song. Pascal gained his fame as one of the leads in Rent, and Mandy Moore has been a touring staple for years. She once turned down the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, so she is well-thought of as a live performer. They both have serious vocal chops.

So yes..they sing the hell out of the song--there's no doubt that both of them have beautiful voices if you close your eyes and just listen. But...they are both more in love with their voices and themselves in the song than each other.

It's not quite transcendent. They don't connect with each other, and the audience doesn't really connect with them. It's lovely and some people will mistake it for something incredible. It's a very pretty song.

But...

Check out this version sang by Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene. Technically, they don't have anywhere near the voices of Pascal and Moore. They are both what would be called 'character' voices. But they sure can act.

Note the *connection* between the two...even when they move apart, you still get the feeling that they are connected to each other, no? The camera work is better in the film version of course, but can you feel yourself sucked into the story...and notice that you start to feel what each character is feeling?

More importantly...the actors connect simply with the words of the song. They don't go for the pretty sounding note--we feel like they actually mean what they are saying. They just happen to be saying it to a tune.

By the end...we are totally connected as an audience with the characters and the actors and the song. We haven't just heard a pretty love song, we watched....and participated in a transcendent event- the very instant when two people fell in love.

Subconsciously, by bearing witnessing to that moment we actually transport ourselves to the moment (or moments) when WE have fallen in love. If we were in a theater with someone, we might squeeze the hand of the person we're with, or cast a glance their way. It's a poignant moment we want to share.

Imagine that...a whole audience falls in love at the same time--that's pretty transcendent.

It's a good reminder for me, this most basic of all acting lessons: CONNECT with the words. If I'm lucky, something beautiful and transcendent might happen.

Just mean what you say. How hard is that?

Overacting is Fun!

2010-07-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight's rehearsal was all about overacting on purpose. With purpose. And was lots of fun!

The director has been asking for more...More...MORE in the past few rehearsals. In my case, it's been a struggle because I haven't necessarily found what's right yet (I've only had 5 rehearsals), but that doesn't really matter. She doesn't care whether my choices are right--she just wants to see them played bigger.

The rest of the cast has been struggling with that too, in large part because we've been rehearsing in intimate spaces--a living room cleared of furniture, a small dance studio and a church classroom. Our playing area for the actual performance is much larger, so we needed a kick in the pants to get us to play to fill the space.

Do You Know The Way To San Jose?

We moved rehearsal outside tonight, where we had to compete with the sounds of airplanes arriving at the San Jose airport (Marie's house is directly underneath the final approach for landing), dogs barking and children playing next door in order to be heard and make our point.

To help get us out of our heads and into our more impulsive state, for one night only, the director gave us permission to play big, broad stereotypes and to see where that took us.

I loved it, because the deeper I get into this script, the more I want to play it like it's a Dario Fo or Joe Orton play. To me, the play is a wild, absurd farce set in a courtroom, but we're playing it straight as a realistic, serious courtroom drama.

The problem is that play was written in the 1950's and it shows. Picture an early Perry Mason courtroom scene, and you'll have an idea of the style of the play. But we're not setting it in the 1950's. We're trying to set in a contemporary period without defining it as contemporary--sort of an ageless period.

Words, Words, Words

It should go without saying that words are powerful little things. It's almost a cliche by now, but if you open yourself up to words, they can lead you places where you had no idea of going.

In grad school, I was taught to learn how to give myself over to a script. How to let the and the rhythmsounds of the words take me out of my head, and into my body. To let the words define my character and guide my journey, free of any rational or intellectual choice of mine own.

So tonight...when asked to overact and cut loose of any inhibitions or rational thought, a middle-aged Jewish man who loved and admired Jesus emerged.

And boy, was he pissed.

Tonight I wailed...howling my anger at the death sentence, puking my disgust at the proceedings in which I partook, and dove into the shock, sorrow and bewilderment at how everything turned into a clusterf**k so quickly. I felt the tenderness I had for Jesus preparing his body for his burial.

And then pushed that vocally and with energy to the back of the yard, 75 feet away.

Okay. So I lost some of the truths that I had been working on...but found new ones instead. I lost some focus on the crispness of the words and 'pushed' more than I just let it flow, but that's part of the process too.

More importantly, I got back into the habit of putting my energy out to an audience that is a fair distance away. I felt tired at the end of rehearsal, like after a good workout, which is a good sign.

That's how I want to feel after every rehearsal or performance. It was nice to feel that way tonight...like a visit with an old friend.

I'm rounding into shape. Another week to go!

The AHA! Moment

2010-07-29T22:40:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love the most about the rehearsal process is the arrival of AHA! moments. We all get them...those bursts of clarity that explode in your head and clear the fogginess of a problem that you were musing on, revealing a golden light pointing out the new direction.

I live for those moments of creativity and clarity.

Sometimes, I feel both good and foolish when I catch myself literally saying "aha!" in that moment of discovery. I feel foolish because it's such a cliche, and who goes around saying "AHA!" any more outside of a melodrama?

But then I feel good, because cliches come from somewhere. The AHA! moment is a timeless connection to artists and great thinkers throughout history. Socrates or Aristotle probably said it first, but I can imagine Da Vinci...Michaelangelo...Shakespeare...Moliere...Mozart saying AHA! just before they put pen in hand and started creating their masterpieces.

My most recent AHA! moment on The Case of Humanity vs. Pontius Pilate came during a phone conversation with my good friend Rachel. Our relationship began when she wandered into one of my acting classes nearly 15 years ago, and since that time, she has taught me far more than I ever taught her.

When in doubt, call a friend.

So I've been working thru some of the blocks I've been running up against in the play, trying to really understand and feel the strength of faith that Joseph must have had to get Jesus' body from the cross, clean his body and prepare him for burial in his own tomb.

There are so many layers of human emotion running thru that act, and I'm trying peel each layer back to feel the deepest possible truth of what motivates Joseph and what his personal perspective was on the series of crucifixion events.

My biggest obstacle and challenge has been to find the love of Jesus that Joseph must have felt. An extraordinary love for....*something*....that made him risk his reputation and welfare by doing something that could cause great harm to him and his family.

Now, Rachel and I talk maybe every couple of years, usually when one of us is doing a play or needs someone to bounce some creative thoughts off of, so it was time for a check-in. I needed some help.

And Now, A Few Words from our Master

I mentioned my difficulty feeling what Joseph must be feeling to Rachel, and once again, her response was an example of the student schooling the teacher.

She reminded me of the teachings of Stanislavsky, and the "magic IF". I laughed as soon as she said those words--those are the same words that I teach in every acting class...in the very first class. I was the first person to introduce Rachel to Stanislavsky...and here she was re-introducing him to me for the first time again.

It's funny how things work like that.

You Can't Always Feel What You Want to Feel

In the theater, I believe that it's always better to actually feel what your character feels. I like it when a character takes over my body--I get to see the world thru a whole new set of eyes and experience things that I wouldn't ordinarily do.

But sometimes...you hit a block. You're not feeling what the character is feeling...what the script says he's feeling. What to do then?

The Magic IF

You break out the "magic IF". The power in the magic IF is that you don't HAVE to feel what the character is feeling. You just have to act AS IF you were feeling what the character is feeling.

As Stanislavsky explains, that little "if", makes all the difference in the world. The actor playing Hamlet has probably never killed 3 people in real life, as Hamlet does in the course of the play. So he can't really feel what Hamlet does with each death, yet he must act AS IF he has killed these people.

The "if" allows the actor to go to those hidden places in their soul--we are all human, and therefore we come hard-wired with the same set of emotions. Which means as humans, we can ALL kill. Feel lust. Feel rage, jealousy, hatred, intense sorrow or joy, etc.

And as Rachel pointed out...that "if" makes it safe for us to live in those hidden places inside ourselves in the theater...it's not really 'me' doing those things the character is...I'm just doing or saying those things as if I were that other person.

The beauty of a play is that the lines stay the same every night and the story always ends the same way. The actor keeps his (or her) identity...their own sense of self strong, precisely because they know that they can give over to the 'if' and by 10:30, its over. That other person leaves and you return to yourself again.

It's an out of body experience...a trip, if you will. Except you know how it will go every night, so you can just ease into it and let it flow.

The AHA! moment is...

All a long-winded way of saying...I don't have to love Jesus. I have to behave AS IF I love Jesus. Now I have a starting point and lots of thoughts, feelings, and choices suddenly spring to mind.

(and yes, I did say "AHA!" when that light bulb went off)

Don't you just LOVE that feeling of clarity? Do you have a story to share about your last AHA! moment?

Begin...At The Beginning

2010-07-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

As it turns out, I'm stepping into The Case of Humanity vs. Pontius Pilate as a replacement for an actor who was unable to continue in the project for work-related reasons.

I mention this because it adds a special twist to the role--not only do I have a compressed time period to do the role (3 weeks, which is plenty of time for the size of the role), but I have an additional dynamic of blending with a cast and director already quite used to working with each other by this time of the process.

Process? Which Process?

The thing is, every actor has their own process for developing a role. Rehearsals are kind of like the elementary school playground at lunchtime--it's where everyone in the cast learns how to play with each other. So by coming into rehearsals 4 weeks into a 7 week process--well, I'm like the new kid in school. I've got to figure out the social and creative dynamics real quickly, yet still adhere to my own artistic process.

By the time a cast is four weeks into rehearsal, a common artistic language has been established between the director and cast. Each actor knows how the others work and has adjusted so each gets what they need.

For example, some actors can't 'act' until they know their lines. Others are highly analytical and want to know every last detail about their character and events of the play. Some actors respond best thru movement or improvisation and use rehearsal to constantly try a variety of new things, while others might strive to speak every line and perform every movement with exact, consistent precision day-after-day.

Rehearsals are a place to figure all that out, and being the new kid in the cast means that THEY have to start the process all over again with ME. Which makes me feel a little awkward, self-concious, and just a little unsure of how to fit in.

In the Beginning...

I was reminded of the importance of process tonight by the director Marie, who was a cast mate of mine when we played in Squabbles together a little more than a year ago. We spent quite a bit of time talking art/theater/life during the run of that show, and we have a mutual respect for each others acting talents. I trust her as a director.

I've now had three rehearsals with the cast, and Marie has shown some surprise at the direction I've taken the character in. At our first rehearsal, she was treating me like all the other actors in the cast, giving me notes that were more appropriate for an actor 4 weeks into rehearsal than one who was just in days 1-5 of even having a script.

She was pushing me in a direction that I wasn't quite ready to go yet.

In the first week of rehearsal, a director might ask "what do you think the character is feeling here? Or "What's going on for him in this scene?"

In the fourth week of rehearsal, you might get the note like "I need a bigger emotional response from you here-- can you turn it up a notch?" And that's a problem when I'm not sure of which emotional response is right for the moment based on how the character is feeling and what I am actually getting from my scene partner.

Emotions need to be justified. Sometimes you take a leap of faith and dive into an emotional response and sometimes they need to build slowly.

For my own personal process--I start slowly. And that's a risk to take when joining a new cast...you want to impress everyone and prove to them why you were chosen for the part--but that's a path that leads to insincere acting.

The Actor As Rodin

The metaphor that I use for developing a character is that I am a sculptor. I must first envision who the character is and get a picture in my mind, and then the rehearsal process is like sculpting...I am the block of clay and I must remove things that don't belong until I am left with what is left--the bare, essential truth of the character.

Like a piece of sculpture, the character *emerges* from the clay--I might start with a vision, but the finished piece creates itself in the process. In fact, one of my great mentors described the art of the theater as "the process of coming into creativity." His conviction was that actors do not create a character--they open themselves up in such a way as the character comes into them.

It's a mysterious (and wonderful) process...that CAN be attained through rigorous and focused practice. But it takes time. A cake that is supposed to bake for 20 minutes will not taste as good if it is only baked for 15.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

For me...the first step I take when I get a role is to ask questions...what is the truth of this character? Why are they in the play? What drives the character to do what they do and...what are they trying to hide?"

That last question is often the most telling for me--if I know the characters darkest secrets that they don't want anyone to know, then I know what motivates them to do whatever it is that they do in the play.

I perceive my job as an actor is to bring Truth to light. To create a memorable character out of words on a paper who is a vital cog to the story being told. To bring life to a fictitious character and make him so real that an audience believes they know him beyond the script--that they can tell me things about the character that are never revealed in the script.

I look for the truth of the character and try to bring that out in myself.

I cannot even begin to 'act' until I know these truths. I can learn my lines, learn blocking, improvise and do all kinds of other groundwork during the early rehearsals, but I don't grasp the Truth so quickly.

So for me, the early rehearsals are usually pretty ugly. I'll make some choices on what the character wants, play them, and then see how they felt....truthful or not.

Next time thru, I'll make completely different choices, even if my first choice felt good, because I want to make sure I'm not missing something *better*. All choices in rehearsals are good--but some are better, and more interesting than others.

So tonight, I got a nice compliment from Marie (whose job as director is, after all, to compliment the actors into giving good performances). It wasn't just that it was nice--it was the look in her eye, the deep breath she took before saying it and the smile that came with it.

"Mark," she said, "I have to learn to trust you more. Some of the choices you make are not what I would make, and sometimes they are 180 degrees from what I was thinking. But they're always interesting choices. And I can see that you go a lot deeper into the character than just what's in the script and I believe what you're saying. Keep doing whatever it is that you're doing."

As compliments go, that ranks up there for me. I'm nowhere's near 'there' yet, but as an actor, the only thing I try to be is interesting, truthful and believable. I don't want to rush that process.

So I'm on the path for 2 out of 3, so far. Show date is August 7th. We'll see how far I get.

I GOT THE PART!!!

2010-07-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

Those are probably the most cherished words any actor will ever speak.

Getting a role is pure bliss for the ego--a validation of all the work, training, courage and passion that everyone who dares to get on a stage possesses . It's the best part of being an actor, getting a job. It's probably a more joyful occasion than actually performing.

You Like Me. You REALLY Like Me! (you DO, don't you?)

Once the euphoria wears off though (and it's ALWAYS a short-lived joy), it's replaced by a nervousness and nagging fear. Sure, you think, I did a good job in the audition. But what if I can't really play the role? Now I have to perform. They must have seen 20 other actors for this role--why did they pick ME? It's kind of like a battered wife syndrome--you've been rejected so many times that you start thinking that maybe I'm not really that good, and even when someone DOES like you, you sort of think, well, maybe they couldn't find anyone better or "what's wrong with this person that likes me?"

Yeah, actors are a little crazy and insecure. Like I said, spend your time in constant cycles of yearning and rejection sometime and see what it does to YOU. Most people are smart enough to ever subject themselves to that type of abuse.

As the day of the first rehearsal draws near, the nervousness magnifies, but excitement and eagerness creep in too. You're going to get to PLAY! You're getting to do the thing you LOVE to do more than anything else in the world. And make no doubt about it, if you're an actor, there is no place you'd rather be than on a stage, and no lover will ever capture your heart like performing will.

And the day you stop feeling that way is the day that you stop acting.

You may eventually find something resembling balance in your life, but acting will still dominate. Actors often miss weddings, funerals, birthday parties, anniversaries and other special occasions because of rehearsals or performances. You've heard the phrase "the show must go on", and the show doesn't care that it's your wedding anniversary, your mom is sick in the hospital or that your brother is graduating from high school--there is an audience that needs to be satisfied and people have paid money to see you perform.

Very few jobs require the total dedication that the theater does--she is a very demanding, cruel mistress.

Ring, Ring...

In recent years, I've taken leave of this mistress in exchange for a little bit of stability and the pleasure that comes with regular paychecks. And I work with people who appreciate me and they don't make me interview for my job every day. (of course, they work me like the rented mule that I am, but that's okay--at least I'm working!) I'm not the kind of person to look back, but every now and then, that cruel mistress tugs at my heartstrings.

She's the crazy girlfriend who is so totally bad for you, but being with her is the most incredibly amazing INTENSE time that you keep seeing her even though you KNOW she is going wreak havoc in your life.

So imagine my surprise when one week ago, I get a call out of the blue from my director friend Marie who says "how'd you like to play a role for me?"

I'm Just A Boy Who Can't Say No

Being a typical actor, the first word out of my mouth was "sure". I didn't even think about it...it slipped out before I had a chance to take it back. It's a habitual response, and you'll know your around people who have acted before if whenever you ask them something the answer is ALWAYS "yes".

"Hey, have you ever ridden a horse before?" Yes. "Can you stand on your head?" Yes. "Can you play castanets and dance flamenco?" Yes. "Can we set you on fire?" Yes.

(by the way, I have actually been asked all of those questions before in the casting process. And eventually did all of them in performance, even though a more accurate answer at the time would have been "no")

Actors are superhuman--we think we can do anything any human can do, and if we haven't done it before, then we're sure that we can learn it quickly enough to look like we've been doing it for years by opening night. You never know what is going to get you a role...or keep you from getting a role, so you just say "yes" to everything.

So when Marie asked me to play a role for her, I said "yes" before even thinking to ask the more logical question--what's the role?

Even a Cruel Mistress Has a Sense of Humor

Which is how I now find myself playing Joseph of Aramethia in play titled "The Case of Humanity vs. Pontius Pilate".

That would be SAINT Joseph of Arimithea. The man who gets Jesus from the cross and buries him in his finest linens in a burial plot meant for himself. The Joseph who eventually builds the first Christian church in England and brings the Holy Grail along with him.

One has to appreciate the irony and the implied humor (the joke is on me)--we've got an avowed athiest playing a venerated Catholic saint...a man of supreme faith. But hey, I got the part!!

This is gonna be interesting, to say the least. I'll pour myself into the role and it poses some challenges to me, which is something I like in a role. I like to be stretched--I like to learn about myself and discover new feelings, emotions, thoughts. I often use the theater to become more enlightened.

I don't know how I will fare in the role, and it's too early to worry about that. All I can do is go about my process for developing role and seek the truth of the character. Maybe I'll find it...and maybe I won't.

All I'm certain of is that come performance time, either me or the audience is going to be surprised by what happens. But for now...all that matters is...I GOT THE PART!

Next up: What do I do now? (first rehearsals)

New Direction

2010-07-20T21:55:00.001-07:00

I have a confession to make: I haven't been taking my own advice.

This poor blog has been neglected ever since I created it because I've been writing on topics that I think I should be writing on--not the stuff that really interests me.

In my mind, the ONLY thing that I have published in the past year that I am actually proud of can be found here. In my writing, I've settled for being average, when I preach as an artist to always work to create something special.

It's time to change direction and follow my own path. I've been trying to play the role of a social media marketing expert and that's just not really me.

I mean, I AM a social media marketing expert. I've been wired into the 'net, building online communities and doing social media campaigns for major brands for almost 15 years now and have a long list of really cool accomplishments and events that I've been a part of or was witness to. I've got good stories to tell about this business, and I've earned my street cred, so yeah, I think it's fair to call me a social media marketing expert.

But I'm so much MORE than that, and I've been consumed with all things computer/hi tech since I moved to California in 1999. I have many more facets that I haven't shown and since there are already hundreds of other people already falling all over themselves trying to establish a personal brand and get recognized as an industry expert, I will gladly leave the field to them.

I will still write on social media topics on the LiveWorld blog from time to time. I mean, it comes with my job. If you're interested in all things about social media marketing, then please follow us on Facebook too.

But now, it's time to write about...whatever interests me. I hope it will interest you too. At least enough to get you thinking and talking, which is the natural order of things. We don't always follow the natural order of things, but it's good to be aware, in any event.

Beginning tomorrow, I will start a series of posts chronicling my latest adventure--performing in a play. Many of my friends know of my theatrical background, and a few have asked me to write on how an actor goes about preparing for a role, so that's where I'll start my new direction.

I hope you come along for the journey. And please feel free to suggest topics that you would like me to write on!

The 3 Rules of Social Media Crisis Management

2010-06-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

What would you do if you are a business who took a dive into the warm, inviting pool of social media for marketing reasons...

...and then found yourself in a crocodile-infested swamp during a feeding frenzy?

There are a couple of major brands who are in the news right now as the object of some serious brand-bashing in social channels.

It's a vicious reminder that while Twitter and Facebook are great tools for connecting with your customers, things can go horribly wrong for a brand in a hurry in those channels too.

Without getting into a discussion of whether these brands deserve to bear the brunt of public anger and mistrust or not, here are three simple rules to help any brand manage a crisis using social media.

3 Rules of Social Media Crisis Management

A brand cannot win an argument online. Ever. Don't bother trying--it comes across as defensive and makes things worse. Give facts and resources, not messaging.
Admit your mistakes, say you're sorry and show us what you are doing to fix the problem.
Repeat #1 and #2 as often as necessary.

That's it. What do you think? Anything you would add?

Facebook Wants You To Totally, Like...Like EVERYTHING!

2010-04-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

Facebook wants to make the Internet a much more like-able place, and is announcing several changes around its "LIKE" button at its F8 developers conference this week.

1. Embedding the Like button on sites across the Internet
2. Displaying brand/community Pages that users have Liked on their personal Facebook profile page
3. Recommending new brands/community Pages for Facebook users to Like
4. Renaming the “Become a Fan” to “Like”

The moves are just further evidence of Facebook’s strategy to strengthen the connection between its members and marketers.

You Like Me..You REALLY Like Me!

Facebook’s introduction of a “Like” button that online publishers can add to their sites is the biggest news of all. The new button functions much like “Digg this” or "Tweet This," and will supplement Facebook Connect as a tool that enables Facebook users to share articles to their profile pages.

So why should Facebook users or marketers care?Two big reasons: 1) Activity Feed 2) Profile Page.

Unlike Digg, which allows you to anonymously recommend web content, the Facebook button will publicly identify your external “Likes” by displaying a note in your Activity Feed and on your personal profile page. Facebook will also add the list of brands and cause pages that you follow, or have “Liked” in your personal profile.

We Think You Will Also Like...

In fact, Facebook will go one step further and recommend Pages you might like, based on your current “Likes” and content you post to Facebook.

Update your status with a post that says you "can't wait to go to the John Mayer concert next week," and you will soon see "John Mayer" suggested as a Facebook Page you should 'like'.

Some privacy issues have already been raised over concerns that the “Like” button, distributed across the web, could be used to track individual user behavior, but Facebook insists that it will use the data ONLY to provide better advertising and marketing recommendations within the Facebook platform.

Reach Out And Touch Someone...Please

Ultimately, Facebook wants to better connect people with brands. Most studies show that peer-to-peer recommendations are highly influential in purchasing decisions, and displaying a list of brands and products that consumers 'like' on their personal profile page and activity feeds constitutes a public endorsement. So, getting a “seal of approval” on a personal profile page that gives the appearance of endorsing a brand really can pay off for marketers.

A Word (or two) of Caution

There's also level of trust involved here that both sides (Facebook and brands) have yet to fully earn. Facebook has made a number of missteps on privacy issuesthat has members feeling leery about what Facebook is doing with their data. And brands need to alter their normal behavior when on Facebook and not be too intrusive into what is, after all, a personal experience for the members.

Most people don't join Facebook to connect with brands--they join to connect with their real-world friends and family. As long as brands play nice and join--but don't try to dominate--the conversation, my take is that they will be welcome on the personal pages of Facebook members. It will be a delicate balance.

What are your thoughts? Is Facebook ruining the social experience for members by facilitating brand connections or just bringing the marketplace to where the people are?

Facebook Gets Brand-Friendlier

2010-04-05T00:36:00.000-07:00

Facebook made a few moves last week to make themselves more friendly to brands and brand marketing, creating new Community Pages and luring members to connect with brands by renaming the ‘fan’ button.

These new policies are an open invitation from Facebook for businesses to become more active on the platform. While these are more evolutionary than revolutionary changes, brands should understand how Facebook is providing more opportunities for your business by:

Renaming the Fan button on Pages to Like

Creating new category: Community Pages

Renaming Pages to Official Pages

Does It Really Matter If I ‘Fan’ or ‘Like’ a Brand?

Replacing the label 'Fan' for 'Like' is a subtle semantic change designed to dramatically increase the number of connections between people and brands, or total member reach.

From a social perspective, the difference between ‘fan’ and ‘like’ is the emotional connection to the brand—being a fan is a much deeper commitment and suggests a stronger sense of identity with the brand. “Like” is a much weaker connection, less discriminating and requires less of a commitment.

I like ice cream, for example. But I’m a fan of Blue Bell because I think it’s better than Ben and Jerry’s or Haagen Daaz. I still like Ben and Jerry's ice cream, but if I'm going to choose one to identify myself with, I'm going to tell my friends that I'm a 'fan' Blue Bell. Our fan loyalty is generally only given to one brand in a given category.

With the new label change, it's less of an emotional connection to say that I like Ben and Jerry's. And I like Haagen Daaz. And I like Blue Bell. The label on the 'join' button helps define my commitment to the brand.

Why Would Facebook Make This Change?

An internal memo from Facebook to its advertisers makes the case that people use the ‘like’ feature twice as much as the ‘fan’ feature. The name change is designed to get more people to connect with brands on Facebook.

While some might think that a brand would prefer a deeper connection that comes with attracting 'fans', the reality is that they don’t really care—it’s more about the numbers. Advertisers and marketers like BIG numbers and the numbers on most brand fan pages just aren’t large enough to justify big dollar investments yet.

Imagine, however, doubling your connections from 1 million fans to 2 million “likes” just by changing the label on a button. Sure it sounds better to say "we have 1 million fans", but if someone is going to give you big bucks to advertise on your platform, it's just as cool to say "2 million people like Brand X."

Even if the connections don't double immediately, any increase in activity comes from the result of very little effort and investment. Facebook's advertising and marketing revenue increases, and brands extend their reach just by changing the name on a button.

Smart move, Facebook.

The New Facebook Community Pages

What's a Community Page? It’s the newest classification of identity on Facebook bringing the total up to four: Profiles, Official Pages, Community Pages and Groups.

It’s getting a little confusing for users and brands, so here are the core differences between the pages:

Profiles are for humans—plain, ordinary people doing ordinary people things

Official Pages are for businesses, brands, and organizations. Musicians, artists, politicians and celebrities are included.

Community Pages are for member causes and topics that no one really ‘owns’.

Groups are a place for members to share professional interests or hobbies

Community pages are designed for users who want to bring attention to causes and topics of their choice, or to create ‘unofficial’ pages around brands or celebrities.

Causes highlight or promote actual causes with real-world consequences, like providing global disaster relief (500K fans), show support for gay marriage (660K fans) or protest the health care bill (1.2M fans).

Topics can be on any subject, but typically are a reflection of pop culture and entertaining memes, like “I Need a Vacation” (4.7M fans), “im just gonna rest my eyes while they text back....*next morning* dammit!!” (1.2M fans) or “I Stand In The Shower for An Hour Because I like Hot Water.” (1.1M fans)

Most topics are not really ‘owned’ by the creator of the page (ie: who owns the need for a vacation?), but owning the page gives certain privileges to a page admin, like the ability to email (or spam) all the fans of the page.

To reduce the spam threat, once a Community Page has passed a yet-to-be-defined number of fans, Facebook will convert the page to community ownership, like a wiki. The ability to email all fans of the page will be removed.

Official Pages are for businesses and brands on Facebook.

You must have the right to establish the page on behalf of the company/brand in order to create this type of page. So only Starbucks may own pages classified as Starbucks Official Pages. A fan may still create "Starbucks--The Best Coffee”, but this would now be classified as a “topic” and be categorized as a Community Page.

Artists, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, government agencies, politicians, movie stars and other celebrities will also use Official Pages. Fans of celebrities who want to create fan pages for their favorite artists would use the new Community Pages.

What Is Facebook Up To?

Quite simply, Facebook is trying to be more brand-friendly. By removing causes and topics from Pages and creating Community Pages, Facebook is doing some spring cleaning and making it easier for brands to be found.

If you were to search FB Pages for “Apple”, for example, NONE of the top 10 results in Pages would display the Cupertino-based computer maker. But you could find the topic “Apple turnover served over a hot, steaming child”, a business “An Apple A Day Depot” or the page for the Apple Valley PTA.

My hunch is that Official Pages will be weighted more heavily in search results and result in more click thrus to brand pages. Coupled with the semantic change to “liking” a brand, Facebook is clearly trying to increase traffic and build an ad platform that can meet or exceed television-like numbers for brands.

For all the advantages that online marketing offers, the gold standard for advertisers and marketers is still television. A very lowly-rated show on cable still garners more than a million viewers. There are around 300 Pages on Facebook that generate that type of attention, and most of those are of the "causes" and "topics" variety.

If Facebook wants to keep the marketing and advertising dollars flowing, they've got to get more traffic to brands any way they can. It's as simple as that.

What are your thoughts on Facebook’s new brand-friendly moves? Are these shrewd moves, adding to user confusion, or part of a massive selling-out by Facebook?

Stop the Snark!

2010-03-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

Is Twitter turning us into a bunch of whiners?

I attend a fair number of conferences where I find Twitter to be a great tool for taking notes. I've stopped tweeting during most sessions to focus on listening and absorbing the content more deeply, because I know that many other people will be taking notes and someone is bound to tweet what I would have anyway.

But I'm starting to notice a trend that is bothering me--Twitter is becoming a cynical, snarky place at conferences. Unhappy that the panel isn't meeting your expectations? Bored? Then tweet to the world how bored and smart you are by cleverly insulting the invited guests!

If you were to look at a sample of the tweets from an interview with Twitter's Evan Williams at SXSW, for example, you'd think the event was an unmitigated disaster. The backchannel was FULL of snarky comments like:

Phillyberg @ev checked his watch 45 mins into #mondaykeynote. trust me, we were all checking too.
mikestopforth selling the rights to my screenplay "Sloppy Moderator and the Revenge of the Back Channel", aka "#Mondaykeynote"
@zuno: Should have kept the #mondaykeynote to 140 characters
@RT mikeminer: Every time the moderator says "let me talk for a minute about. . ." a baby angel dies in heaven.

The Truth? You Can't Handle The Truth.

But looking at the entire session, you'd be surprised to discover that MOST of the people actually liked the topic and took away some good nuggets. I'm in that camp--I found Evan to be thoughtful and articulate and I learned something. It wasn't GREAT, but it wasn't horrible either.

The problem, of course, is perception and how quickly a negative perception travels across the internet and how difficult it is to correct something that is false. You get articles like this one that paint a very distorted picture of the actual event.

I was there. Most of the audience did NOT 'rip' into the keynote. In conversations I had in the halls, people were ambivalent, but I didn't hear anyone 'rip' into the event. Maybe there is a difference between what people say out loud versus what the voices in their head say, I don't know. And of course, I didn't talk with everyone who saw the keynote either.

I'm a fan of freedom of expression. And if folks are unhappy with a panel or a presentation, Twitter is a great way to give instant feedback that is valuable.

Has Twitter Jumped the Snark?

It seems that snark is becoming our preferred means of expressing ourselves and it feels rude, disrespectful and contributes to a general decline in our civility.

In my opinion, snark distorts the actual event in the guise of 'reporting' and is just plain rude. It's the equivalent of someone giving a negative review about a movie that you are enjoying WHILE the movie is still playing.

Here's a new radical notion: Every thought does not have to be shared in public.

The Twitter crowd is becoming the digerati equivalent of an infant crying in public--sure, the baby is unhappy and is expressing itself, but does everyone else really need to listen to the baby cry because it is hungry, tired, needs to be burped or just wants attention?

Towards A Kinder Gentler Twitter

I know it's a really old-fashioned notion, but my mom used to tell me "if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all." I think that's still good advice.

We all have the option to simply tweet "not finding this session useful" and leave. Doing so contributes to the public record of the event and displays your personal expression without putting anyone down personally. It contributes to a civil discourse where one freely expresses their opinion without putting any lasting negativity into the conversation.

What are your thoughts? Do you think that we're becoming snarkier? Is this a good thing?

Do You Believe in Omens?

2010-03-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

ON YOUR MARK...

I have to confess that I am not a planner.

I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of guy, who enjoys spontaneity, diving into the unknown and the thrill of surfing controlled chaos.

So imagine my surprise when it came time for me to travel to Austin for SXSW and I find myself planning the day of my trip down to the hour, complete with a checklist of tasks to accomplish before I go.

GET SET...

Feed the cats and change the litter box? Check. Laundry done? Check. Dishes done? Check. Gather all the video equipment, buy clip-on mics, get extra tapes and don’t forget a tripod. Check, check, check and check.

The plan called to start packing and running last-minute errands at noon and to cease all activity at 2 for a flight leaving at 4. This gives me plenty of time to get to the airport 15 minutes away, park close to the terminal, and check email and relax, instead of my usual habit of running thru the concourse to be the last person who boards the airplane just before they shut the gate.

I’m packed, ready to go and the bag is waiting to be strapped to the motorcycle at 2. So far, so good.

Now, there’s a reason I always take my motorcycle to the airport—I get in and out of any traffic quickly, and always manage to score free parking. Bikes fit in places that the evil people who charge for parking don’t quite account for and I take advantage of those spaces. Since I’ll be gone for a week, taking the motorcycle will save me around $150 in parking fees.

I grab my helmet, feel inside for the keys and head out the door.

AND...

Wait.

No keys.

No keys?

My keys are always inside the helmet. ALWAYS. That’s where they live. I frequently play hide-and-seek with my wallet, keys and things like that, so it’s not time to panic yet. My only chance of winning this game is to ALWAYS put my keys in my motorcycle helmet. It’s a habit. I turn off the motorcycle, take off my helmet, take the keys from the ignition and toss them into the helmet. Each. And. Every. Time.

If the keys aren’t in the helmet, then where are they? I check my motorcycle jacket. Nope. The shelf where all the other keys live. Nope. Various pants pockets. Nope. I look in the bedroom, the office, the truck, and the bag I packed. Nope, nope, nope and nope.

Panic.

AND...

45 minutes later, I still can’t find the keys and I REALLY have to leave. I hop in the truck, speed to the airport, park 2 miles away in the nether land that is long-term parking, wait nervously for 10 minutes for the next shuttle bus to take me to the terminal, stand in line to check my bag, and then start running thru the concourse to be the last person who boards the airplane just before they shut the gate.

sigh.

So far, my missing keys are costing me $150 for airport parking and potentially another $175 to replace the key ring. (BMW keys are expensive to replace) The cost of an airport shuttle? $20.

GO!

I’m hoping that this isn’t an omen of things to come…you know, that the rest of the SXSW trip is going to be like this. Is this an omen, or just my universe self-correcting itself to my normal behavior?

What do you think? Do you believe in omens?

The Real Time Web--The Future Is NOW.

2009-10-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when you were a kid and would dream what the fantastic future would hold? What was it you wished for? Flying cars? Holodecks? Time travel? Being able to be teletransported like on Star Trek?

I'm guessing that for most of us, our wildest dreams didn't include having access to all of the world's information RIGHT NOW.

But that's what we're getting. Are you ready for it?

The Real Time Web

I recently attended the fascinating ReadWriteWeb summit on the development of the Real Time Web, where the general consensus is that the future is NOW. Literally. Your future will be comprised of instant updates on breaking news, your kid's homework assignments, traffic conditions, weather, stocks,sports scores and play-by-play, what your friends ate for lunch, political developments, and much, much more, all sent auto magically to the electronic device of your choice.

You can know everything happening everywhere all at the same time.

Twitter is a good example of the real time web in action, albeit just one facet. It's an amazing source of thoughts, information, news, mundane happenings and the buzz of the hive. Now you can know when protesters are being shot as it happens in Iran, what a congressman is thinking while the President is talking, get pictures the instant an airplane lands in the Hudson River and follow real-time discussion and presentations in a conference that you couldn't attend in person.

You can also know the moment that Miley Cyrus decides that she is tired of Twitter and quits it, what Shaquile O'Neal is doing this afternoon or see video of a balloon NOT containing a child making its way across Colorado.

Do You Have The Need To Know?

It's heady stuff, and to be honest, I'm not sure that I really need to know everything going on in the world RIGHT NOW. I asked conference organizer Marshall Kirkpatrick a few questions about how this will affect the 'average' internet user, and he was gracious enough to respond in this video.

I'm curious though--can you think of when you NEED to know information RIGHT NOW? Are we overloading ourselves with too much information?

From my point of view, while having some information in real time is useful, it's rarely vital. And there's the problem of filtering--how to determine which information is important and which is trivial.

With the real time web, Neda is given the same importance as balloon boy, because it's the trending topic and what everyone is talking about. And that's just not right. I think that the constant flow of information trivializes all of it, because one bit of news is replaced by another in just a few minutes.

What about you? Is the real time web useful in your life? Is a real time web what you want your future to be--or would you really rather have that flying car?

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What Do You Do Every Day Anyway?

2009-08-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

I recently gave my team a challenge to develop 'elevator pitches'--short, 45 second introductions of themselves and our company. I suggested 3 scenarios where having something prepared that rolls naturally and easily off the tongue would come in handy:

At a conference of peers, and you get the inevitable questions-- "what do you do?" and "who do you work for?"
In either a business or social situation where you meet someone who might be a potential client and you want to introduce yourself in a personal yet professional way.
When your non-tech family and friends ask you "what exactly do you do for a living?"

As community managers, that third scenario is often the most difficult to describe, because there really isn't an off-line job that mirrors what a CM does.

Well, I'd like to give a shameless plug to @rhappe of The Community Roundtable who has written what I consider to be the best description of the many functions of a Community Manager.

She's done a brilliant job describing the role and I'm not going to recap her work here--I highly recommend you click on the link and check it out. I don't really have anything to add to her concise description.

Now, I still have to figure out how to put her wonderful CM description into 45 seconds or less so my Dad can understand what I do for a living, but that's another matter.

Rachel poses an interesting question on the topic--how do you prioritize your time as a CM? With so many different aspects to the job, how do you go about managing your day?

And that's what I'm curious to know too. I'm probably not very good at time management, because I find myself working on a Sunday afternoon, trying to catch up to work that I didn't get to during the week. I can get so wrapped up in doing daily maintenance tasks for my clients that I don't always get to the bigger, long term initiatives that will ultimately benefit both the client and my company more.

So here is my question for you, dear readers: How much of your day is taken up with 'mundane' tasks, and how do you carve time out for the bigger projects? I can find myself so occupied with responding to daily emails, looking at metrics and reports, surfing through clients communities etc, that I don't feel like I actually got anything done.

Do you have a system? How do you spend your day?

5 Things NOT To Do When Developing Community

2009-08-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

Somebody once said something to the effect of "empty what is full, and fill what is empty."

I take that statement to mean, "do the not-so-obvious when everyone is doing the obvious, and do the obvious when everyone is doing something different." In other words, I don't always go with what everyone else is saying or doing.

If you're looking to develop a community around a brand or an idea, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of 'how to' articles on the internet that can give you solid advice on getting started. That's what's full.

What is empty...or emptier, I should say, are thoughts on what NOT to do when developing a community. So here are 5 things that I recoomend that you should NOT do when trying to develop or grow either an online or offline community:

DONT:

1. Talk with your community in marketing-speak.

Sure, you have an ulterior motive for developing a community--but people aren't "customers", "members", "users" or "clients". They're people. Talk with them the way that you'd talk with your friends, family and co-workers. Be a human, not a marketer.

2. Expect people to behave the way you want them to behave.

Yes, you have an objective for gathering people together and trying to form a community, and you have hopes for how they will act. But you can't force people to do anything, and this is REALLY important when developing a website.

MOST sites want people to register with the site--they want data like email addresses, demographic info, purchasing info for follow up marketing. So they force users to register for the site in order to use the features of the site.

Or they offer very limited functionality and try to funnel visitors to either the registration or purchasing tracks.

This is wrong. UI studies indicate that you have approximately 6 seconds to provide some usefulness to a site visitor or s/he is gone. If you're not providing *instant* value, then you're never going to get the visitor to registration.

Provide value to the visitors at first glance, and then *observe* visitor behavior and try to take advantage of what the GUEST wants to do, not what YOU want them to do.

It's a better, more fruitful experience for all and will lead to repeat visits and deeper engagement with the community/website.

Registration information given because the user had to give it (instead of wanting to give it) is useless and counter-productive. The first time you try to connect with that person, they will remove themselves from your emailing list and will form a negative opinion of you because they will remember that you forced them to give something they didn't want to give.

Give people the opportunity to give you information because they want to, and that information becomes MUCH more valuable.

3. Squash disagreements or negative comments about you.

Okay, it's your website or brand--do you REALLY have to listen to people talk trash about you?

Yes. If you want to create an environment where great ideas will grow.

Nobody likes to hear people say bad things about them, but people only say bad things because they WANT to love you/your brand, but something is disappointing them.

YOU want to please your customers and your friends, don't you?

The only way to know if you're doing that is to create an open, warm environment where people are free to speak their mind.

There should be rules of civil discourse, of course and you should definitely set the rules for the tone of the culture on how to disagree and express opinions.

Controversy and freedom of expression helps bring clarity to issues (not necessarily agreement), allows defenders to come forth and leads to new understanding.

Remember--everyone speaks their version of the truth, so there is something good to be found in every opinion. If you are looking to deliver the best possible product or service, those negative views are telling you where you could be doing better.

4. Feel compelled to ACT on every suggestion or comment from the community.

Someone has to set direction and the practical reality is that you will often get conflicting opinions from members of your community on what 'they' want.

THANK everyone in the community for contributing their thoughts and energy, let them know that they were heard and considered, and give them reasons for why you make certain decisions.

But once you decide to turn left, don't waste any more time explaining to people why you didn't turn right. It detracts from the focus of what you are doing.

5. Be afraid to make mistakes.

There are no guarantees of success in any endeavor--you take the best practices, create an environment for success and make the best decisions you can for the right reasons, and maybe success comes your way.

If you're into sporting analogies--there are 32 teams comprised of professional football players in the NFL. They all have amazing players, dedicated, workaholic coaches and organizations whose sole focus is to win games on Sundays and win a championship.

Yet, only ONE of those teams wins the championship every year, and less than half have a winning season. It's unusual when a team wins a championship two years in a row, so success is a very rare commodity.

So if you decide to turn left over opposition from the community, for example, and it turns out you should have turned right, well....

....admit it, and turn right. The community will forgive you (eventually) and your openness will signal to them that you are engaged *with* them and they will appreciate you for the honesty.

We learn more from our mistakes...remember them longer...and grow more attached people we have suffered with than those we have only succeeded with.

Failure makes you human, being human makes you endearing. And even brands can be endearing.

So if you try some initiative with your community and it doesn't work--that's okay. Try something else. Learn what you can from each experience and continue to *listen* to what your community is telling you.

After all, you are ultimately there to serve the needs of the community, not the other way around.

Those are my Top 5 Things NOT To Do when building a community.

What are some of yours?

2009-07-20T00:46:00.000-07:00

It's said that relapse is a part of recovery, so I'll just chalk up my blogging absence to a long relapse.

Life has caught up with me and in the past few months, I've simply found myself too busy with work, the death of my mom and working on a theatrical production to keep up with my blogging activities.

I'm back, and will continue the 12 Step Social Media program in the coming days. But first...

Community Leadership Summit

I attended the Community Leadership Summit in San Jose this weekend--a fantastic event hosted by Jono Bacon of Ubuntu. (a guy so cool, he even has his own wikipedia entry)

Jono did an amazing job of organizing a free 'unconference', attended by 200 or so community managers and developers, many of whom came from the open source community.

You can find the twitter recap and notes of some of sessions on the conference wiki.

I dove in and led two sessions--one called "Social Media Snake Oil" and the other "Metrics That Matter". (note to self--remember to ask someone to take notes-I forgot to get notes of the first session, but did get them for the Metrics panel.)

My main role leading the sessions as I perceived it, was to instigate and moderate--challenge the 'conventional wisdom' (ie: you MUST be on Twitter) and prod the smart people in the room to come up with solutions to common problems.

I was really pleased when @sujamthe came up and introduced herself after my first session to tell me that she liked the way that I conducted the session and it inspired her to lead a session as well. I also discovered that she leads Twitter meetups in the South Bay and that introduction led to my meeting @pcrampton, which in turn led to an afternoon and evening of deep discussion on measuring communities that led to the topic of the second session regarding metrics.

The metrics session went well--the conversation was lively, some practical tips were shared and nearly 75% of the attendees were still deep in conversation 15 minutes after the panel ended.

That response really told us that there is a lot of interest (and NEED) among community managers for some direction when it comes to measuring communities both qualitatively and quantitatively. So now we're looking at extending THAT session possibly into an all-day conference on community metrics. (ping me if you're interested in helping organize an event!)

It's really amazing how one small thing can lead to so many bigger things at these events.

Problems CM's Everywhere Face

I discovered there are MANY common problems among community managers. Chief among them:

Not enough time. Communities/relationships take time and it's a messy job that doesn't fit neatly into predictable blocks of time (like coding). Most CM's are tasked with many functions as part of their job.

Which tools/platforms are the most effective & efficient to use? Where do you get the most bang for the buck? (Answer: it depends. Of course.)

Metrics are the 800 pound gorilla. Nearly all CM's struggle with developing metrics that gives REAL information. Most metrics are devised to satisfy either marketing or upper management that the community yield is worth the company investment, but what management wants is often misguided to what the community is actually doing or good for.

What I Learned at #CLS

I came away with enough fodder for several blog posts, but here are a couple of things that stick out in my mind:

Developer and open source communities have *incredible* passion and energy--probably more so than branded communities. Their energy level is palpable. Sometimes fierce.

Developer and open source communities take the concept of 'purity' VERY seriously, which makes managing their communities something of a challenge. It's an almost anarchistic environment and they like it that way.

These community members feel very, very protective of the communities that develop, and they struggle with how much guidance or control is appropriate in their communities.

It seems to me that branded communities like and expect a certain level of control by the brand in their communities. Yes, the members own the community, but they also understand that it will be policed and managed by the brand. Branded communities don't like to feel manipulated, but they seem to accept some degree of control better than open-source/developer communities.

Women Are Geeks Too

There were more women at this conference than most, and they wanted to educate the guys on how to bring even MORE women into conferences. The ratio was roughly 75% male to 25% female, and the consensus among the women was that the 'normal' ratio is around 90/10.

There were several sessions on how to create more women-friendly conferences. This is definitely a future blog topic. I really had my eyes opened and got the message. Women want to come and play too, but the guys can make women feel uncomfortable at conferences.

All About You: In 45 Seconds Or Less

Lastly, in one session, we practiced developing a 45 second elevator pitch to describe what you do that is interesting and invites more conversation but doesn't make you sound like a robot or like you're selling something.

It's a LOT harder than it sounds. But invaluable.

I *highly* recommend people take a couple of hours and develop 3-5 different elevator pitches slanted towards different type of people you're bound to meet.

Mine still needs more refinement, but I was a lot better after the workshop and I'll keep practicing. It's really a very necessary skill to distill who you are and what you do into a 45 second message.

We all know that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If you happened to stumble upon someone really, really important in your field and only had 45 seconds to talk with them about what you do, what would YOU say?

Give it a try and see what you come up with!

Building A Social Marketing Culture: Step 2 of 12

2009-03-23T21:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I mentioned that 'old school' marketing is like an addiction--it's a habit that feels good, produces a familiar feeling, but ultimately is self-destructive and damaging to creating healthy relationships.

Step 1: Acknowledging the Addiction

I suggested a homework assignment to identify specifically what (or who) in your company exemplifies the addictive behavior that is standing in the way of developing a more social brand.

It's important to admit that something is getting in the way. It's not a pleasant task. But like an alcoholic who must first admit that s/he has a drinking problem in order to overcome it, you must identify what must change in your company culture before deciding how to change it.

Here are some common obstacles I've seen. Maybe you recognize one of these?

A legal department that thinks the company will be held liable for anything published on your site, and thus believes they are protecting the company. Typically, every bit of content on the site must be approved by several channels prior to posting, and every innovative idea that arises is often met with the phrase "we have to run that thru legal first."
A general fear of what the customer might say. What if people say bad things about your product on your web site?
Marketing wants to control the brand image and portray the product how they want it perceived.
A person in power/decision maker who just doesn't like or use the internet.
Business objectives that try to dictate or push the customer to desired behavior rather than offering options for the customer to do what THEY want to do.

Most of these obstacles really come down to this: fear of losing control.

Step 2: Believe in a Higher Power

Okay, so now that you've named and identified the addiction. Let's say that your company is addicted to fear. Or addicted to control. (same thing, in my book) If you've got a different addiction, mention that in the comments section below, and we'll work with that instead.

So now we know the addiction. Does acknowledging it make it go away? Is the world suddenly full of fluffy kittens, golden rays of sunshine and your company is magically ready to embrace social media?

Of course not. It's not that easy. But identifying the addiction is a step towards identifying what trumps the addiction.

If we are to overcome fear or a loss of control, we must replace that with a higher power, something that trumps fear in the cosmic game of rock, paper, scissors.

Rock Beats Scissors, Scissors Beat Paper,Paper Beats Rock...What Beats Fear?

So rock beats scissors, paper beats rock and scissors beats paper...fear beats control...but what beats fear?

Knowledge.

Now, knowledge alone won't make an addict see the light and proclaim "I'm an addict and must change my ways." I'm about to post some links to some great case studies that show the benefits of social media marketing.

Follow these links and you'll find sterling examples to demonstrate to the fearful that social media marketing DOES work, has profound benefits and that online communities are more powerful than traditional customer channels.

But those case studies won't be enough to actually change the mind of your CEO, legal department or EVP of Marketing to embrace social media.

The knowledge that others have used these tools with success will start to calm some of the fears, but won't be enough to actually change an opinion. I know we'd like to think we are ultimately rational beings, the reality is that emotion (pleasure) trumps knowledge any day of the week.

So remember this: Fear trumps control. Knowledge trumps fear. Emotion (pleasure) trumps knowledge.

If you want to convince an addict to admit their addiction and change their behavior, first appeal to their fears, then their intellect and then the emotion of pleasure. In that order.

Hey, This Higher Power Stuff WORKS.

This is your homework assignment--pick out 3 case studies of the 100's listed here that are applicable to your business sector and objectives. Don't worry if you don't know your exact objectives yet--just pick out 3 case studies that seem to fit.

This compilation of case studies is courtesy of The Interactive Insights Group, and is an exhaustive list of successful social media campaigns and sites across all commercial and non-profit industries.

(Make sure you visit their site and leave a "thanks" for compiling the list. It's a fantastic resource and no easy task to put together. Saying thank you is part of your karma. Make sure you do it.)

Once you've picked out your 3 case studies, you will write a total of 3 paragraphs for each case study:

a paragrah summarizing the objective and result of the campaign
a paragraph describing how this campaign is relevant to your company
a paragraph on what you would hope to acheive by running a similar campaign for your company

These 9 paragraphs will become the basis of your appeal to a higher power--the power of knowledge. We'll be working with this appeal to knowledge for awhile, so spend some time getting these paragraphs right.

How am I doing so far? Are you finding this 12 Step Plan useful?

Building Community: A 12 Step Social Media Program

2009-03-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

One of the things that's been bugging me about the SXSW Interactive conference was the generalization of advice given in most of the sessions I attended. Actually, that bugs me about MOST conferences I attend.

What Is Moderation? Not Enough Excess?

I think when people pay money for a conference, they attend because they are looking for specific help to a specific problem they face at work. At conferences, however, presenters often give a broad overview that you could get from reading a book, and usually only take 3-4 questions from the audience on specific problems.

I realize that there isn't time to help everyone one-on-one at a conference, but I can read a book and figure stuff out on my own time. I don't need to spend $450 or so to have someone tell me, for example, that a community should be moderated for a more pleasant user experience.

I want to know, what exactly is moderation? What does moderation entail? How many hours per day does it require? What *specific* guidelines should I have in place? What are the pros and cons of having topical moderation? What do I do when a flame war breaks out? Should my CEO be posting on the boards?

Yes, I understand that the answer to each of those questions CAN be "it depends". Which is of no help to the person shelling out scarce dollars to attend a conference. The person presenting is supposed to be a Master Practitioner. At the very least, I would want a very specific list of questions that I need to answer in order to proceed.

The typical response of "your community should be moderated" is just not helpful enough.

12 Steps and Tips You Can Use

Well, I'm going to try and fix that and provide solid, practical and detailed tips on how to use social media to develop online communities using the principles of a 12 Step program. I've been in the business of developing online communities for 10 years, and I have a few experiences that just might be useful for others.

Now, a 12 Step program is typically associated with recovery from addiction and getting on a more productive life path. So in my use of the 12 Steps, I'm going to assume that companies are addicted to 'old school' marketing, production or communication techniques and need to be broken of this addiction.

The principles of a 12 Step Program are founded on:

admitting that one cannot control one's addiction or compulsion
recognizing a greater power that can give strength
examining past errors with the help of a sponsor
making amends for these errors
learning to live a new life with a new code of behavior
helping others that suffer from the same addictions or compulsions

Can you recognize how these principles might be applicable in your company?

Step One: Admitting Addiction

Does your company have an addiction or a compulsion to a particularly destructive behavior?

Maybe it's that your company is too much under the influence of the legal department and free exchange of information is prohibited for fear of liability. Or completed projects never get an internal review for lessons learned because that's 'not billable time.' Or maybe business objectives overrule design principles, because the business folks want to force the users into a particular experience rather than let the user *choose* their experience. (and thus the business people ensure the failure of their own objectives)

When it comes to using social media or developing strong relationships with their clients, MOST companies have an addiction that prevents them from getting closer to their customers. These might be addictions to personal power, control, fear or an aversion to change, but whatever the addiction, there exists an "us vs. them" mentality.

The company is us. The customers are them. But there is rarely a "we" that embraces the customer as an integral part of the company. (notable exceptions: Nike, Southwest Airlines, Apple)

Your Homework Assignment

1) What is the most significant obstacle in the way of your company using social media?

2) Can you list 1-3 things that your company is addicted to that is preventing your company from establishing real relationships with your customers? Is it a person? A culture? A department?

Identify it. Give it a name. You won't know what to change unless you can name the addictive behavior. Please use the comments section to 'fess up to your addiction, but if your obstacle is a specific person, please use a psuedonym.

Tomorrow: Recognizing A Greater Power That Can Give Strength (or: Case Studies in How The Collective Rules)

SXSW-Wrap Up

2009-03-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

Finally home and mostly decompressed from SXSW. Long travel day yesterday--I missed a flight for the first time in my life!! Totally got caught in Austin traffic and it took an hour and a half to make what should have been a 20 minute trip.

Yeah, I know, I should have left earlier. I had a SXSW recap breakfast with Bryan Person and then caught the Birth of Cool exhibit that I missed on Monday, took some photos, lost track of time and left for the airport later than I should.

How nerdy am I--missing a flight because I was at the museum. I am definitely not 'cool'.

Anyway, lots of really positive things at SXSW.

Special Recognition Goes To...

1) The SXSW organizing committee.

The event is very well produced and staffed. The volunteers away from the registration and information areas weren't all that knowledgeable and the signage/maps of events could have been better, but really, that's nit-picking. The web site was excellent, you could organize events online and sync them to your mobile calendar, the printed materials were outstanding. There was a wide variety of conference topics, social activities were great, special areas like the trade show, screen burn gaming area, blogger lounge and podcast areas were nice on-site getaways.

Special kudos for the designers of the pocket guide, which was truly a useful guide. Best I've ever used at an event.

2) Twitter.

Love it/hate it/indifferent. I feel all those things about Twitter, and at SXSW, it finally proved itself to be a very useful tool for me. Whether you were connecting with a friend because the cell phone coverage was sketchy, looking to find out what the hot panels were, searching for content in a session you missed or just participating in a backchannel conversation during a talk, Twitter really proved it's utility.

I know some people who weren't at SXSW complained about being inundated with tweets, but on the other hand, I also know a lot of people who didn't make the conference who felt like they got a lot of value by following the twitter-stream.

I still get annoyed by people using Twitter to give a blow-by-blow description about the party that they are at or who they are downing shots with, but who am I to judge?

Well, I'm me, and I rule. So stop it. No one cares who you are drinking with or that you are about to go sing karaoke.

My Favorite Panel Discussions

1) Most Entertaining: Mad Men on Twitter. Now I have a mad crush on Peggy Olson and I don't even get Showtime.

2) Most Use(r)ful: Designing for the Wisdom of the Crowds by Derek Powazek . He's funny in a nerdy way, and chock full of useful information on how to let user behavior influence design. After all, it's called User Interface, right? Plus there were some really good notes and slides.

3) Most Validating: Managing Expert Clients by Kali Cover and Marili Cantu. These two laid out very practical how-to advice on managing client relations. Lots of nodding of heads in the audience when discussing the special challenges we face helping clients. The notes are by @MeganGarza.

Most Disappointing Panels

I don't want to call anyone out in public because any disappointment I had was *mine*, and I'm sure that for every panel I was in that I thought wasn't fulfilling, there were people in the room who thought it rocked.

Still, here are some things that disappointed me that ANYONE who speaks at a conference should heed:

1) Title are important. If you have a totally kick-ass title for your panel, your presentation should rock too. A provocative title means you will have bold opinions and a definitive stance. A title with a question in it should ANSWER THE QUESTION by end of the session. (you'd be surprised how infrequently this happens) A vague title that requires a subtitle to explain what the topic is really about isn't going to get many people to your session.

2) It's not necessary that EVERY panelist responds to EVERY question. I saw a lot of time wasted and thus, not a lot of information being shared in panels where the moderator would pose a question and then the other 4 panelists would give their answers and they were all saying essentially the same thing.

If there is strong disagreement on the panels, that's good and makes for a lively discussion. Everyone agreeing with the first response and then saying why they agree pretty much wastes everyone's time.

I would rather see more points covered than making sure everyone on the panel got equal response time.

3) Have enough topics to cover the time allotted. I saw several one hour sessions where there were maybe three bullet points covered in the entire hour. I wasn't sure if that was because that's all the moderator could think to cover, everyone just kept rambling in their responses or what.

But each case felt like a waste of an hour. I don't mind getting only one good takeway out of an hour presentation, but if you only cover three things, you're cutting down your odds of getting something awesome in there.

More isn't necessarily more, but less isn't always more either.

4) A presentation isn't a lecture, it's a performance. Please don't just talk about what's on your Powerpoint slides. If that's all you're going to do, just post your slides somewhere and let us get on to someone more interesting.

YOU are as important as your material. I hate to put any pressure on anyone, but if your name is in print, I'm expecting you to entertain me in some way. Be provocative. Witty. More knowledgeable than anyone else out there...be extraordinary.

5) Announce a sensible Twitter hashtag at the beginning of your presentation. If you don't know much about Twitter, then ask someone in the audience to set a hashtag.

Hashtags are how we are going to find notes and information from your presentation afterwards. Twitter just may become the new search. People are tweeting about your presentation and we want to find those notes later.

Clever hashtags like #cake and #fuckcount draw a laugh from the crowd attending, but when you try to find a bit of information from that presentation 3 months from now or you weren't at the conference and the topic was really Building a Brand or Developing Strong Communities, are you really going to look for #cake or #fuckcount? (yes, those are actual hashtags recommended by the panel moderators)

Great Connections

1) I loved meeting the Southwest Airlines new media team. Southwest is doing some really cool stuff in the social networking/online community space, and they clearly 'get' this media. It's refreshing to see a corporation that knows how to have fun and be social with their customers.

2) Also enjoyed meeting @LPT--another person at a major corporation that is utilizing social media well, albeit different in tone than Southwest. Her blog is a good, thoughtful read.

3) I was amazed by @carbody, and she really opened my eyes as to what being a 'digital native' means. I watched her effortlessly tweet, listen, take notes, engage in conversation, email, add followers, fact check and absorb everything around her as easily as breathing. I don't even think she is aware of how extraordinary she is-but she is so fluent in this realm that it was truly inspiring.

I chatted with her during the breaks and found her to be quite thoughtful, eloquent, knowledgeable, passionate about social media and her clients and just down-to-earth and friendly.

4) I was also lucky enough to chat with Andy Carvin of NPR and chat about the future of journalism and some directions NPR will be heading. He's a very thoughtful, forward-thinking person, and NPR is also doing some exciting things with social media.

If you're not an NPR fan now, you should check 'em out! NPR should be a daily stop for news and entertainment.

What I Take Away From SXSW

1) Inspiration. It was a pleasure to see so many passionate social media practitioners in one place and learn by watching my peers as well as participating in discussions with 'experts'. I have many new ideas and information to share with my team, my company and my clients.

2) Have a plan. I went totally free-form. I wasn't sure of what to expect, so I didn't plan much beyond where I was staying. I got a lot out of it by just wandering around and going with the moment but probably could have gotten a few more connections, developed a few more relationships and learned a few more things by being more organized.

3) SXSW parties are not a good way to connect. They are good for having fun (you can never go wrong with free booze and food!), but it's tough to have meaningful conversations with music blaring.

4) Go with someone. I traveled solo for this, and it can be an extra struggle/effort to constantly meet people. I'm kind of strange, maybe. There are times when I can be very outgoing and love to meet people AND when I'm in a big crowd, I can also just sort of sit on the sidelines and watch.

I didn't find many people at SXSW who made much of an effort reaching out to me (other than Bryan who I work with, and thankfully, he seems to know a lot of people), which meant that I was the one constantly going out of my way to meet other people.

That's not a horrible thing, just something that takes some effort that eventually feels draining. I'd recommend going with a friend--it's a better shared experience than solo.

5) Pace yourself. The smartest thing I did was get away from the conference for an afternoon and just enjoy Austin. The energy at SXSW Interactive is very palpable and eventually becomes overwhelming. Don't be afraid to get away--Austin has many other nice attractions. Get 8 hours of sleep and drink plenty of water. It's a grind, not a sprint.

6) Blue Bell ice cream. This was recommended to me by Texas native @LindaKayHolden and I first thought it was just another "everything is better in Texas" kind of suggestion.

Nope. Blue Bell is REAL ice cream. Made from real cream. Waaaaaaaaaaaay better than Ben and Jerry's, Haagen Daaz or any other ice cream I've had.

Really. It's that good.

The Conclusion

Yep. It's worth the money. I got enough ideas, inspiration and new friendships that totally made the trip worthwhile. I highly recommend attendance if you're currently using social media or are thinking about it. I'll be back next year.

So...what was YOUR SXSW experience like? What was the best and/or the worst of it?

SXSW Interactive Day 5: The Nerds Go Home

2009-03-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

Interesting day today--it's the last day of the Interactive festival, the first day of the Music festival and St. Patrick's Day. Busy.

And somehow, I forgot that last tidbit and didn't pack anything green for the trip. I claimed that the green neckband on my festival pass counted. Lame, I know.

Lots of folks left yesterday, and even more today. Still plenty of people around, but the energy was considerable less frenetic. People are tired and more focused on the content today.

The Mediocre

1) Like many others I talked with, I'm a little disappointed that the content is uneven. Some panels are really good, in-depth and useful. Those are like an ice-cold glass of iced tea on a hot summer day.

2) Many panels have good speakers but just don't go deep enough into the material to be useful for the type of people at this conference. This is not a beginners conference. If you're here, it's because you're serious about interactive, gaming or social media.

The material should reflect the talent level of the people here. A lot of what I saw was pretty basic. I'll recap the 'winners' tomorrow. I've left feedback on the SXSW site for the other panels, so I don't feel a need to call anybody out in public. I'm sure there are a lot of backstories to some panels that I don't know about.

3) The worst is the bait-and-switch with panel titles, which is more common than it should be. I was in three sessions where the title was very provocative, but the moderators either never lived up to the title, or worse, asked a very specific question in the title and didn't answer it. Or led to the conclusion that the question is unanswerable right now.

Random conversations with folks indicated this was a more widespread problem than you would think. So, here's a note to anyone ever presenting at a conference:

If you've got the moxie to create a really provocative title for your panel, then BACK IT UP WITH A KICK-ASS SESSION.

But let's not be a hater. There were a LOT of really good things today.

The Good

1) Connections! I hung out with @BryanPerson quite a bit today and met a lot of people. Seems like Bryan knows everyone. We had breakfast with the @SouthwestAir emerging media team (including this red-headed leprachaun). They are doing some very cool things with social media and have a great culture there. I got a few good ideas from them. :-)

Bryan had a list of like, a gazillion people to meet during the 5 days of the conference, and at the end of today, he proudly showed me that he had met all but one. (note to self for next year: have a plan)

Bryan doesn't look like a schmoozer, but I tell you, he's got those Boy Scout good looks and is a charming guy. No wonder he won an award as one of the top 25 Social Media professionals in Texas this year. (not to mention he picked up the tab for breakfast, which makes him VERY socialble, in my book)

2) I also met @C arriBugbee who totally RAWKED THE HOUSE in her panel about being one of the 'voices' behind the Mad Men Twitter characters. (and I even got her autograph!) Didn't get to sing karaoke with her, though. Maybe next time.

3) Got my second free meal of the day meeting (I still take a starving-artist's delight at getting free meals, what can I say?) with @withoutayard who not only is a former Austin local with a LOT of knowledge of the music scene, but is also a great promoter for Toronto as a travel destination. It's now high on my list of places to visit.

4) Met too many other people in casual conversations to list. Random strangers seemed more accessible to chat with today. Lots of ruminating on the conference today, which I will summarize tomorrow. Bryan and I will be getting together to recap and brainstorm more on some cool takeaway ideas we had today.

We both found some inspiration during the conference, and suffice it to say that I learned a lot, had a good time and would definitely recommend others to come here.

5) And of course, I have to give a shout out to my house mate Bruce, his awesome dog Rosie, and Coco Ono, who became my cat away from home. It's been pretty cool living like a local away from the downtown party scene and not out of a hotel.

I'll be back, Austin. Thanks for a good time! :-)

SXSW Day 4- Austin Social

2009-03-17T04:41:00.000-07:00

Day 4 started like every other day has so far--late. Time and I have not been very good friends this trip.

Since I think the point of an interactive conference is to...well...interact, I
spent the morning having coffee and chatting with my housemate Bruce. He does some work setting up eBay stores for small businesses and we had a really good strategy/brainstorm session on how he could help a particular mom & pop kayak shop use social media to develop an online community that might help grow their business.

Good stuff, and it was nice to connect. We've chatted a few times since I've been here, and I feel like I've made a new friend. We found each other via Craigslist--I'm renting a room in his house for $400 for the week, instead of the $200 per night that the hotels are charging.

Yippee for social networking. By the way--check out Jeremiah Owyang's blog on how connection is evolving. It's a look at how we're liable to connect on adventures like this in the near future.

Hive Mentality

I didn't mind missing some of the morning sessions--it's a bit of grind being inundated with so much information and buzz. One term being bandied about in social media circles these days is the 'hive' mentality, and that's really evident here.

Following the Twitter-stream of SXSW live and in the 'backchannels' of a conference is like tapping into one HUGE thought-stream.

(the backchannel is the unspoken conversation by the audience while the panel is going on. Often snarky, sometimes off-topic, it provides both a source of notes for the topic and a feeling of what people really think about the session, like passing notes in a classroom)

It's both fascinating and overwhelming--like a sci fi story where you can hear everyone's thoughts. Trends, patterns and organization forms out of all the chaos, but there is a lot of noise to filter too, and that process can be very mentally taxing.

One of the useful things about the hive mentality is that it can help crystallize and validate your own thoughts. It's nice to know that you're not the only one feeling something. My own feelings of being slightly overwhelmed and TOO immersed at SXSW were echoed by a check of the twitter-stream.

Well the sun came out today, and after a really good panel session on dealing with difficult clients (one of the best panels I've participated in this week), I decided to get away from the noise and explore Austin a bit.

@MarkWilliams Day Off

I started with a Mexican Martini at the Cedar Door and almost ended the day right there. A Mexican Martini is a margarita-flavored martini that arrives in a 16 oz glass. Since the place was slammed with customers, food service was very slow and I had time to nearly finish my drink before eating anything, sparing me the waste of food absorbing the alcohol entering my bloodstream.

An instant stress-reducer.

Texas Art and Culture

From there, I had intended to stumble to the Birth of Cool exhibit at the Blanton Art Museum, but my motor skills having mysteriously diminished at lunch, I wound up taking the cute 'Dillo (short for armadillo) trolley for just 50 cents crosstown.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch that the art museum was closed on Monday's, but it happened to be across the street from The Bob Bullock State Texas History Museum, which WAS open. Apparently, the good people of Texas only need art 6 days a week, but they'll talk about themselves any ol' time.

The BBSTHM was pretty cool. It's named after a former Texas state Lieutenant Governor, by the way. I've always wondered just what exactly a Lieutenant Governor does, and now I know. They build museums and name them after themselves.

I learned a lot of local history, like how Texans took the land from the native Indians, then Spain and later Mexico. Did you know that Texas used to be an independent Republic?

Texans are proud of their state and history, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were willing to display some not-so-proud momentos of their history, like this:

I spent a few hours in the museum--it's rather extensive and I was not able to see it all in that time. If you go, (and I recommend you do), plan on leaving at least 4 hours for the visit.

Local Austin

I was lucky that Bruce was willing to play tour guide and show me a little bit of the local scene away from the downtown area, and took me on a short hike to Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin. From there, we went to Zilker Park Disc Golf course (I didn't have any discs with me, but might try and play tomorrow morning) and Barton Springs.

Finished the evening up at the fabulous 'locals only' Magnolia Cafe with VERY tasty dinner of Jamacian jerk pork chops with collared greens and garlic mashed potatoes, topped off with local brew of Fireman's #4.

By this time it was 9 pm and I was gassed. Went home and finished off my pint of Blue Bell Chocolate and Cherry ice cream, which just might be the best ice cream in America. Really, it's that good.

One more day of SXW. Let's hope I can make it to the finish line!

SXSW Day 3: Random Moments of Beauty

2009-03-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

In the midst of all the hyper-activity of SXSW, here are a few moments of sheer beauty that I've come across--little snapshots that existed only for a second or two and then vanished.

Tiny stolen moments in the cacophony that surrounds SXSW...little intimacies I wasn't supposed to see.

These are the ones that go in my treasure box.

1) The 30-something woman--a senior manager at a very large corporation, influential in her field and sought-after as an expert and speaker--who had dreams of being a professional dancer as a child. Attending an awards ceremony held in a ballet studio, gazing in the mirror and assuming first position, checking the curvature of her arms and the correct angle of her feet.

She subconsciously slips in a demi-plie; a respectful curtsy to the gods of Dance like she was trained to do many years ago. For the briefest moment, her eyes sparkled, her soul twirling and leaping with her dreams remembered and she became a little girl who loved to dance more than anything else in the world.

Then she laughed, and talked about something else. But she was still dancing on the inside.

2) Riding the bus, catching the eye of a very pretty transsexual heading for home after a night out. She gave me a smile, I smiled back and then she turned her head away and wouldn't look at me for the rest of the ride. Maybe a little fearful that I would uncover her secret under the harsh lights of the bus interior?

During the ride, I thought about her and how much courage she had--I wonder if I would have that much courage to be who I am in public, if 'who I am' is that far outside of the norm? Her hands gave her away--large, weathered hands with a bit of grease still under the cuticles. Man's hands, probably a mechanic.

When I left the bus, she finally looked at me again and gave me a flirtatious smile with a little toss of her hair, and looked away again shyly.

Just like a girl.

3) The middle-aged Latina waitress at the end of her shift in a still-busy Mexican restaurant late Sunday night. Harried, still serving tables and trying to finish her work and close out so she could go home, she would be occasionally be overcome by the music from the live salsa band and break out in fierce moments of dance once she got off the floor and was hidden from view in the waitress station.

Music so powerful, so ingrained in her soul, that even when tired and given the chance to rest, she danced.

4) A random connection that happened because of mistaken identity. Standing in the doorway of a room, waiting to leave for the day, a woman approaches me joyfully, with a smile and a big greeting. Then realizes I'm not who she thought I was. We laugh and chat to get over the awkwardness.

Turns out we have much in common professionally, and the person she was there to meet was someone that I wanted to meet too. In the midst of our 'professional' conversation, I mention that I came to the world of social media via the theater.

"Really?", she asked, eyes lighting up. She leaned in slightly towards me, and lowers her voice just a bit, as if she were to share a secret. "I'm a jazz singer." Her body seemed to relax a bit, lighter, like a heavy cloak had been removed from her shoulders.

We are all so much more than what we appear to be.

5) A recipient of an award recognizing work in the social media field, responds to the audience asking for a speech. Unplanned, unscripted, she fumbles a bit for words--she's not used to public speaking. "I don't want to be a rock star", she says. "We're in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and there are a lot of people out of work."

She pauses a moment, looking for eloquence. Her heart wants to speak, her mind struggles to find the right words to express the depth of her feeling, but she's uncomfortable at a microphone, there are lights shining on her and 75 people are looking at her, waiting for her to say something.

Somewhat awkwardly, she blurts, "We're in trouble, people. Let's help each other out." To rousing applause from the audience.

The words are always perfect when spoken from the heart.

This is the best of SXSW so far.

SXSW--When is Transparency TMI?

2009-03-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

I got a great text message to my last blog post (SXSW Day 2) from someone who is very close to me who asked: "You are degrading your personal experience and knowledge...is this the kind of message you want to be sharing with the world?"

In an age where the greatest Olympic champion EVER can go from being a hero and a role model to a national joke in just a few weeks because of a photo posted on the web, that's a very good question.

When DOES transparency and accessibility become too much information?

It's a sage question because people DO check out your Facebook page before making hiring decisions. People have been fired for things on their Myspace or Facebook pages. The question shows a real savvy in this new social world that we can all be held accountable for our actions...and thoughts... to a greater degree than ever.

In my particular case, I don't mind being transparent and sharing my insecurity and uncertainty about immersion at SXSW Interactive because I think many of my clients (and others thinking of getting into social media) feel the same way. The use of socia technology and depth of inter-connectiveness IS confusing and scary if you're not a digital native, and I think I'm reflecting the same trepidation that many people feel.

I am one of them. Even if I'm the 'expert'--we're in this journey together.

Education and Experience

Two of my favorite quotes about education are:

a. "We teach best what we most need to learn."
b. "Education is the process of discovering what you already know."

The point is... I know what I know and my friend is trying to remind me of that. I'm also okay with sharing in public what I don't know, because it's real. Others (including clients) should takeaway that yeah, I'm uncertain about some of this stuff too, but I see the value and I dive in anyway.

What I Know

I've been gathering people together around shared passions and developing real-world communities for 20 years. I've been developing online communities for 10 years. I know what works there.

And, in my own personal history, I've also been a radio disc jockey. I've been interviewed on radio and television. I've worked in movies and television both in front of and behind the camera, so I get podcasting and video. (and understand that web video and cell phone video are NOT the same as film and tv)

I've also been on stage connecting with people in groups of 10 to 1,000 at a time. I've spent a LOT of time in chat rooms, discussion forums and blogging. None of these technologies or forms are new to me.

What IS new, is doing all of them, all at once, casually and easily. I'm used to production values and polish not speed of production and content delivery that prevails now.

The Lesson I'm Learning

Connie Benson (one of the folks whose style and message I really respect) posted a wonderful "How To Build Community 101" guide today, which was a wonderful reminder to me that the *tools* we use to build a community and connection may differ, but the process of connecting remains the same.

So yes, I've been feeling a little overwhelmed here at SXSW because there are so many people here who are fluent in using so many tools simultaneously and their presence is ubiquitous. You can't walk 20 feet around here without seeing someone podcasting, shoot a web video or twittering.

But knowing how to play many musical instruments doesn't make one a superior musician. Mozart couldn't play all of the instruments in his orchestra or sing, but he wrote some of the most amazing compositions and opera ever.

By blogging my uncertainties at SXSW, I share with my clients and anyone else who is trying to develop a social brand presence a lesson that I have to remind myself every so often:

Do what you know how to do.

Connect the way that you know how to connect...and experiment with the new forms too. Don't let the forms of media confuse you from making the actual connections that you're trying to make. Sure, what works to connect via a blog won't work with a video. The form dictates the style of the content--but not the connection itself. The focus is not "I must use this form (tool), but "what's the best way to create a connection with this person?"

It's about connecting with people, not tools.

And I never was one of the cool kids. I was one of the creative ones. That's okay with me.

The core question remains--what do you consider to be TMI? Am I sharing too much inapproriately?

SXSW Day 2

2009-03-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of SXSW Interactive started off bad. In rapid succession--

I overslept because my iPhone, which doubles as my alarm clock, ran out of battery power during the night. (lesson: if it's plugged into the Mac and the Mac goes to sleep, the phone stops charging) So I started the day 2 hours later than intended.

Then, I plugged the phone in to charge, got ready to go, left the house and forgot the phone. And locked myself out. Walked up to the bus stop to catch a bus just in time for the session I wanted to go to and...

...I forgot that I had spent my bus change the night before and all I had was a $10 bill. Missed the bus. Hiked another mile to a 7-11. Caught the next bus just in time to miss the NEXT session I wanted to go to. A mighty fine start to the day.

The Good

1. People. I seem to make 1-2 really good connections per day. I talk with more than that, of course, but seem to really only *engage* 1-2. Today it was @carbody--she's a twenty-something social media specialist who woud best be described in anthropological terms as a 'digital native'.

It was a total pleasure sitting next to her in a session and watching her effortlessly listen to the speaker, twitter good notes recapping the discussion, quickly researching the profiles of people speaking, add 5-10 new followers on Twitter (and checking them out before doing so), listening and contributing to the conversation on the backchannel AND checking her email.

And she is FULLY engaged. We had a great conversation after the session, sharing stories, frustrations, common problems and brainstorming around working with clients. She is so fluent and intuitive in how she uses social media--it is a part of her being and her native language. Chatting with her was both delightful and informative for me.

2. Found Waterloo Records, which is something of an Austin landmark for being a cool, independent record store. Glad to contribute to the local economy and pick up some music by local artists.

3. Helped Bryan (our LiveWorld evangelist) score an interview on NPR tomorrow. Bryan is really very good at talking with people and interviewing others, but too nice a guy to toot his own horn. We were at the NPR/PBS party tonight talking with their social media director who was telling us about their upcoming interviews with social media experts and evangelists, so naturally I piped up and said "well, you should interview this guy right here!"

Bryan is the founder of Social Media Breakfasts that have now sprung up in something like 20+ cities across the US and has some street cred. They started chatting and arranging interviews with each other for tomorrow.

I make a good wingman. :-)

4) Nice opening address by Tony Hsieh of Zappos. Focus was on *happiness*. That everything we do, our ultimate goal is happiness, so why don't we just incorporate happiness into everything we do?

5) I helped steer a session that I was in back on to its original topic: "Why Gen Y Won't Friend Your Brand." (search #geny on http://search.twitter.com) (I have answers to that question that I think are better than what was presented in the session btw. If your brand sucks to Gen Y, they won't friend it. If it's relevant and engaging to them, they will. And not every brand is relevant, no matter how much you might want to sell to them. Which, by the way, is no different than trying to engage any other generation. But...I digress)

The Bad

1. The day started badly and I was grumpy for much of the day.

2. I'm a little overwhelmed by all of the activity at SXSW and underwhelmed by the actual content. It's AMAZING to see the level of connectivity going on by so many people. And...I get it. But on MY personal level, I don't really want that amount of connectivity and I'm not as fluent in as many realms as most of the people around me.

It's like traveling to another country where you know some of the language but aren't fluent. It's very tiring and draining to always try to translate and understand what is being said. My frustration here at SXSW is that I get what everyone says at the macro level--I understand on a deep, personal level how people connect and why.

In fact, I'm underwhelmed by the content--I haven't heard anyone say anything yet that I don't already know about social media, how it connects people, how to use it, etc. The only really useful gem I've picked up about how to engage Gen Y is to enable sharing personal information among peers, or "what can you tell me about my friends that I didn't already know?"

So I know what this stuff is all about, but I'm personally not podcasting, live streaming, twittering thru the sessions, chatting on the backchannel, emailing, texting friends and sharing every single little detail of SXSW as I go along. I'm not that fluent and I'm not sure I want to be--I wonder if I'm sharing too much or not enough or the right kind of info for the folks who aren't here.

I still think about the *quality* of content, and the shift really does seem to be towards quantity and letting the masses sort the wheat from the chaffe.

I'll have to let that last statement marinate a bit.

3) I'm at the epicenter of coolness at SXSW, and I'm not cool. Not compared to the other kids (and adults) here. And I don't know if I want to work that hard to be cool. Or whether I even COULD be.

I feel like I could have something to contribute, but don't have a mechanism. I came hear to learn, but the panels aren't teaching me anything yet. I learned more from sitting next to @carbody today than from anything anyone has said in 2.5 days.

I'm surprisingly out of my comfort zone here. This kind of reminds me of high school. :-)

And tell me...how many of you really enjoyed high school? Or were you one of the cool kids?

SXSW Day 1

2009-03-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Austin on a cold, wet, windy day--all the locals apologize for the weather. I guess it was 80 degrees and sunny a few days ago and the forecast calls for nice weather to return over the weekend.

For now, the weather dissuades one from just walking around downtown Austin, so we're stuck indoors, which is okay cuz I want to get the vibe of SXSW Interactive and you've got to be immersed to get the feel, right?

First impressions--it's very well run event. Someone called it "Burning Man for tech geeks" and it's a little like that. No costumes, but a very large three ring circus that can be sensory overload at first glance. There's a LOT going on and it seems like you really need to be on top of your schedule here--no casual wandering around and just absorbing it.

The Good

1) I've met some interesting people so far. Ken from http://thepoint.com that has a startup that gives people a platform to connect local causes, philanthropy and activism. Talked about how to gather and activate community for offline actions--check their site out, they are doing some very righteous stuff there.

Also met Fred from Google apps--they are offering a cloud solution for businesses who don't want or can't afford to create their own IT department but might have sophisticated needs that goes beyond a small business using one computer to connect to the internet. I'll start work on a project developing a small business community when I return from SXSW, so meeting the Google folks will help me be a better resource for that community.

Had dinner with an Israeli filmmaker and we talked about marketing films/documentaries on both web and cell phone interface, and the strengths/weaknesses of those platforms, and how to utilize community and web video to support the more mainstream film & tv content. Fun brainstorm session.

Also met some folks from a local interactive agency and had a fascinating discussion on architecture, how space influences people and what that means for web design. Very esoteric and fun.

2) Texas BBQ ribs--lunch was so good (and filling!) that I didn't eat dinner.

3) My housing. I went on Craigslist and found a sublet with a local for $65 a night, instead of the $250 per night the hotels around the event are charging. I get a cool roommate (he likes to backpack to strange lands and poke around ruins) who gives me great local insight and hangouts, with a friendly dog and a cat who is as affectionate with me as my cat Cleo at home.

Plus good coffee in the morning.

4) Screen burn. They have a very cool, fun game center where you can go unwind, play some Wii, WOW, Guitar Hero and many other games. They've got a conference center decked out like a family game room for cool ambience. Will take pics tomorrow.

The Not So Good

1) Not getting into THREE sessions that I wanted to see because I was 2 minutes late and the events were full. I'm still at work while I'm here and was solving work-related problems which caused me to be a little late. So now I know to get my sessions early, but still. I paid $450 for my ticket and my expectation is that I can see the things I want to, even if it means standing room only.

2) Had an invite to the Social Media Club mixer tonight and there was a line of maybe 100 people when I got there and was told the event was already full and they would let people in one at a time, which essentially meant I wasn't going to get in.

I was there on time for that one AND I'm one of the few *paying* Professional members of Social Media Club, so I would have thought I could get in, but nooooooo.

Membership is supposed to have its privileges, but apparently not here.

3) Went to another party that seemed interesting--the Austin Museum of Digital Art was sponsoring a laptop DJ battle. 16 DJ's using only their laptop and a controller for mixing their best 3 minutes. The event started late and while the DJ's all had some good technical skills, no one was....uh....dancing.

When's the last time you were at a club with 300 or so of your new best friends with DJ's battling it out and no one was dancing? I gave it a good hour and a half, saw half the DJ's perform and didn't think it was going to get any better so I left.

Oh yeah...dunno if this is Texas or what...but the bars down here serve Pabst Blue Ribbon in a can. PBR is usually what you get when you don't want to spend the money on Miller where I come from, but I guess it's a premium beer down here.

That's it for now. Will report back tomorrow--I have a full slate of seminars and panels scheduled starting at 10 am.

...and I know that I can't be late!

5 Rants and 5 Raves About Twitter.

2009-03-08T22:10:00.001-07:00

I had a great phone call last week with an old friend of mine who has been charged by her workplace to become their 'social media expert'. In the next couple of weeks, of course. She called asking for some help and insight.

Talking with my friend gave me the opportunity to talk frankly about this business, the tools available and to distill everything I knew to the essential. I had the chance to rant and rave over my view of the social media landscape from the vantage point of one who sees a LOT of social media strategies by major brands up close and personal. Some of whom who do it right, and many of them who don't.

Twitter...all the world is a-twitter about Twitter.

One of the first things she asked about was Twitter...and that core question that newcomers to Twitter always have--what is it good for?

Now, like many people, I have mixed emotions about Twitter. I spend a fair amount of time on it. I find it often amusing, sometimes useful, frequently addictive and occasionally infuriating. I'm part of the culture, part of the hype and...

...I'm still not sold on it, even though I embrace it as a tool and source of connectivity.

There's much that I like about Twitter, and more than a few things that I DON'T like about Twitter.

Rants: 5 Things I Don't Like About Twitter

1. Traditional media doing stories whenever someone 'mainstream' uses Twitter.

Like, it MUST be worthwhile if Barack Obama, Paris Hilton, Arnold Scharzenegger, Shaquille O'Neal and other celebrities are using it. If they're doing it, we must do it too.

It's not news that Barack Obama sends text messages. Or emails. Or uses the telephone. Ergo, it's not news if he Twitters. Which he doesn't, btw. Someone on his staff does it in his name.

2. Folks on Twitter who twitter about every time the traditional media does a story about someone famous using Twitter.

The media talking about a form of media.

Hey look! I have a belly button! Whoaaaaaaa....dude...YOU have a belly button too?! That's AWESOME! We must be, like the only two people who have belly buttons! NO....wait....you mean THEY have belly buttons too? That is JUST SO F'IN AMAZING! Let's tweet that!

3. News agencies (CNN) who incorporate Twitter feeds into their on-air broadcast.

"Let's see what they're saying about the collapse of our economy on Twitter."

Twitter: "Skittles fit perfectly in my cat's anus!

I don't give a frack about what the person in the street (Twitter) is saying about the news of the day, bucko. I'm paying YOU to tell me what's going on. If I wanted to know what the people on Twitter were saying about something, I'd log on and find out for myself.

4. Creating new nouns and verbs based on variance of 'twitter'.

ie: Twittersphere, twips, tweets, twestions, twaffic, twatrix, tweepers, tweeples, tweetaholism, tweet-bombs, tweetcred, tweethearts, tweetups, twirlfriend, twitoverse...you get the point. It's not cute or clever and this practice must stop.

It only serves to further devolve the English language and create a special insider vocabularly that makes Twitter LESS inclusive.

Those that persist in this odious practice are just a bunch of twankers.

5. The use of the term "followers".

I am not a follower. I learn, I engage, I listen and I connect on Twitter, but I don't follow anyone.

The term is creepy, like I'm a stalker, a disciple or a fan. I do not solicit a cult following, nor do I necessarily agree with the thoughts and practices of those I am connected to via Twitter, so I don't know how I can be considered a follower. More properly, I'm a listener--I connect to people who have interesting things to say with whom I might want to engage in conversation.

"Following" leads to a cult of personality and I think we all see this on Twitter--getting followers seems to be a way of claiming either special status or knowledge, when it does neither. The term needs to change. Language matters.

Raves: 5 Things I Love About Twitter

1. One can connect with a bunch of really smart, articulate people that you ordinarily would not get to talk with.

This is the primary benefit of Twitter for individuals, in my opinion. I can't go up to a superstar in person and just introduce myself and engage in a conversation with them, but I do get that opportunity via Twitter. That's very cool.

2. Twitter blatantly encourages businesses/brands to join the conversation.

Most brands need to do an end-around to actually converse with their customers and find out what people really think of them. They build elaborate customer service, public relations and marketing departments, all of whom have a vested interest in diluting or distorting the feedback they get from actual customers.

Twitters levels that playing field and brings some honesty to the conversation, which is good for both brand AND consumer.

3. The ethos on Twitter (for now) is sharing and transparency.

You gotta love a place where you build cred and status by giving away your best thoughts, links to resources and making connections for people, whether doing so benefits you directly or not.

And as an added bonus, Twitter is a no-bullshit zone--there are too many people with too many resources at their fingertips for anyone to try and spread propoganda or falsehoods.

4. You can deliver a message to a lot of people very quickly--IF it's the right message.

I have very modest standing on Twitter--there are 450 people on my 'followers' list. But according to one Twitter influence tool, I have a reach of slightly more than 2.5 million people in my network. That's pretty cool--if I have the right message that is important enough, clever enough or vital, I can broadcast to a lot of people in a very short period of time.

That's a power that I couldn't possibly obtain thru any other social media.

Of course, with great power comes with great responsibility. Which brings me to #5...

5. Twitter is chaos in action and demonstrates how people will self-regulate and govern given the opportunity.

It's a wide-open frontier on Twitter and there are very few rules. By and large, people will organize themselves in social groups in the way that works best for everyone and do not need a lot of outside regulation or direction.

So far, Twitter is a place where interesting conversations take place, good deeds get done, information gets shared, connections are made, friendships are formed and the general ethos is to help the 'have-nots' have more.

It's pretty cool to see the best of humanity come out on such a visible playing field.

So that's my list. What are YOUR rants and raves about Twitter?

Perspective, with a bit of Heresy

2009-03-05T21:18:00.000-08:00

I'm baaaaaaaack, interwebs. Didja miss me?

Okay, I wasn't really gone for long--I took a week's worth of vacation to play some golf, connect with my brother who is going thru a divorce, and then once I was offline for awhile, I just got lazy, breaking the cardinal rule of blogging:

You must blog consistently or you lose your audience.

And sure enough, I can hear the echos and the reverberation of my own voice out there at this very moment. Kinda reminds me of Twitter.

Heh. I'll save my Twitter rant for tomorrow's entry.

Tin Foil Hat Goes Unplugged

I spend 10-12 hours a day online and unplugging comes very easily for me. I love being connected when I am, but I've got to tell you that I'm not the least bit concerned about email, my blog, Aim,
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr or work when I'm looking at a 30 foot downhill slider for birdie to win $2 against my big brother.

I'm as focused as Tiger Woods even if it's just a couple of bucks on the line.

A break from the computer helps put things into perspective too. My brother is a fellow who prides himself on being a bit of a troglodyte--he's not exactly a technophobe, but he doesn't use many electronic gadgets and doesn't see the need to. He doesn't text, checks his email maybe once every other day and the social media tool he uses most frequently is a telephone.

And he gets along in this world just fine, thank you very much. He has lots of friends that he sees often and connects with his long-distance friends and family frequently. He's even been known to *gasp*--write letters.

I have to say, I get a bigger kick out of getting a letter or a card from him than I do an email, even if I get both with about the same frequency. (once every couple of months)

He's a good touchstone for me--because every so often I have to explain to him what I do for a living and why someone is willing to pay me money to show them the wonders (and value) of social media and building online communities.

He gets it. He just prefers a different style.

For example, we originally planned our golf trip to San Diego to play PGA West, Torrey Pines and La Costa but it was raining like crazy the day we left and we reaaaallly didn't feel like paying that much money to play those great courses in the rain.

And there were rain clouds in the sky for a few hundred miles in any direction you looked.

Road Trip!

So you know what we did? We *could* have gone online and looked for weather forecasts, put an APB out on Twitter asking where we could go where it wasn't raining, downloaded weather maps to my iPhone or found any other number of efficient, online solutions.

But the purpose of the trip was to spend time together, so we just hopped in the car, starting in LA and drove south and west until we found sunshine and a golf course.

A few hundred miles later, we found a quaint little course in Blythe, CA where it was overcast, but not raining. We jumped out of the car, played 18 holes and got back in the car just before it started raining again.

We kept heading west, took a wrong turn, almost ran out of gas, ended up on Route 66, where we proceeded to get our kicks and wound up in Laughlin, NV, home to a couple of great golf courses, and cheap hotel casinos where we proceeded to win enough money on the craps and blackjack tables to pay for the golf and the gas.

We had a great time because we decided to ignore efficiency of all the technology available to us and just explore. (we also explored how high golf balls will bounce when dropped out of a 25th floor window, but that's another story)

Here's the Bit of Heresy

My brother is a good reminder to me that for as intense as this business of being wired 24/7 can get, and for all the many wonderful connections and relationships that social networking can foster, there are still literally millions of people in the USA who don't participate in online social networks and they live rich, meaningful lives.

Social networking online is beneficial. Useful. Enriching, even. Just not necessary.

It's a good perspective for me to not take all of this stuff so seriously and get in a tizzy about the latest marketing gimmick (Skittles), or tool (Twitter). Social media isn't the thing itself. It's the *way* to the thing. And that thing is...

...connecting with people. In the real world.

.

Thanks, bro. Had a great time, and thanks for making me go unplugged. :-)

What Would Brogan Do?

2009-02-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

Like many of my fellow social media brethren (quick--would somebody look up if the word 'brethren' can also include women and let me know?), I subscribe to a number of blogs written by the rock stars of my industry, including the world-famous Chris Brogan, who is pretty much the Bono of social media.

Now, I read Chris as eagerly as I do The National Enquirer at the supermarket checkout line--which is to say that I devour his words. I do not chew slowly and savor Brogan- he's like mom's macaroni and cheese. Pleasant enough to go with any other dish or it can be the main course by itself. No matter how often you have mac and cheese, it's always good stuff.

That's Chris. The mac and cheese of social media.

So I'm reading him the other day and I come across his piece about his social media system.

Now, to give the right props, the idea for the blog wasn't his--Brogan was riffing on a piece written by John Jantsch. If Brogan is the Bono of social media, then Jantsch is The Edge.

Both of these guys were waxing eloquently about their social media system and how they read 800 blog posts every day, respond personally to 4,000 emails, create 5 killer presentations, fly to Cannes to give an address at a marketing conference, always leave a 25% tip, AND still make time to do the laundry, the dishes, make dinner and help the kids with their homework.

Every day.

They making it sound like *anyone* can be a social media rock star if they've got the right system.

System? SYSTEM?? There's a SYSTEM to this stuff? HOW COME NOBODY TOLD ME THERE WAS A SYSTEM??!!!

Naturally, it got me to thinking about MY system. Heck, if they can do it, I can have my own system too! So here goes...My 40 Steps to a Social Media System

roll out of bed at 7:30 am, put on the same sweats I wore yesterday (which are the same sweats I wore the day before that too)
stumble 15 feet to the office to check email.
read Brogan
stumble to the kitchen, make coffee, eat a bowl of cereal, let the cats outside
check email, read 10 more blogs, try to decide which emails can wait til later
get my coffee. pour some Baileys in it. take a sip. add more Bailey's.
go thru email, respond to a couple.
log in to twitter.
tweet
tweet
tweet. mulit-task--read a few more blogs.
client phone meeting
client phone meeting
internal team meeting
put a couple of items on my "to do" list. note that I still haven't done everything on yesterday's list. or the day before.
check new emails that have come in response to my morning replies.
update my Facebook status
tweet
respond to CEO's request for information
add more tasks to the to-do list
check traffic stats on my blog
reply to client
reply to client
add more tasks on the to-do list
tweet about what a crazy day I'm having
check email--20 more items have come in since last check.
sniff armpits. still haven't had a shower yet. or maybe it's the sweats.
do two tasks off to-do list. whichever ones are the easiest.
reply to emails
weekly reports just released--time to go look at the numbers and see how I'm doing.
it's lunch time! it's also 3 pm.
more emails come in.
bug my engineers and ask (politely) for status. casually mention that I've received 125 emails so far today just wondering when those issues will be resolved.
discover that most of the issues are resolved if I would just read my email.
respond to clients
get another cup of coffee. damn. out of Bailey's.
Tweet that I'm out of Bailey's.
Knock off 4 more items from the to-do list. which generates more email.
I REALLY need a shower. And to put some real clothes on.
It's 7 pm. Done for the day. Time to write a blog entry!

So there you have it. There's my system. I spend 30% of my day on Twitter, 10% on Facebook, 70% in email, 25% on the phone, and 15% god knows where. 35% of my day is in research, 50% in execution, 10% in preparation, 40% wondering what I'm supposed to be doing next and 15% feeling guilty over what I didn't get done yesterday.

*sigh*

Chris Brogan is God. No...wait...John Jantsch is God. That makes Chris Brogan Jesus.

So when you're setting up YOUR social media system, just ask yourself--"WWBD?"

What's your social media system look like now?
(with apologies to Chris Brogan for stealing his picture and taking his name in vain. I hopes takes this in the light-hearted spirit I intended)

3 Things My Cats Can Teach You About Brand Engagement

2009-01-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

It seems like everyone is writing about using social media to engage your customers with your brand and establish meaningful relationships, so it must be pretty easy, right?

Well, in a way, yes it is— so easy that even my cats can show you how to create deep engagement between your customers and your brand—if you follow these 3 simple guidelines:

1. Establish Relationships, Not Transactions
2. Give Them A Reason To Come In (and recognize them when they do)
3. Do What THEY Want You To Do, Not What YOU Want To Do

My cats (SAM and Cleo) and I have a typical customer-to-brand relationship. I’m the brand. I have goods and services that they want and need; they have payment that I want.

The currency my cats give me is affection, which they show by purring. To me, their purrs are the reason why I’m in the business of having cats.

The cats, of course, don’t purr just because I want them to—I’ve got to provide them food, water, a clean litter box and lots of attention. They’re demanding customers, but their purrs are their way of telling me that they are satisfied customers.
1. Relationships are better than transactions.

As customers and brands, we have a lot of transactions during any given day—I put food in their bowl, turn the water on in the sink for a drink, open the door and let them outside, scratch behind their ears when they have an itch, play with them when they are frisky, clean the litter box, etc.

For each one of those transactions, I get a small payment—I pet the cat and the cat usually gives me a nudge of appreciation in return.

But these are transactions anyone can do. The cat doesn’t really show affection—she isn’t purring, she’s just allowing me to take what I want from her. It’s like ringing up a sale at the cash register—I don’t really want to give you my money, but it’s what it costs to get the goods, so I do it. The cat lets me pet her because that’s what the service cost. There's no meaningful connection.

The real sign of my cats’ happiness comes when they come to me of their own volition, and spend time in my lap with their little purr motor churning away.

When that happens, the cat is saying that I did a LOT of things right that day, and they appreciate the effort.

That’s the sign of a relationship and deep engagement. And it’s a lot more satisfying for both of us than just a quick pet. Are you petting your customers, or are they purring for you?

2. Give Them A Reason To Come In and Recognize Them When They Do.

I want my cats in the house every night. I used to live in Lake Tahoe where bears, coyotes and owls would eat cats that weren’t inside after dark. So I like to take care of my cats (customers) by bringing them in at a regular time, partly to soothe my own fears that they are still there.

How do you do that?

Give them a reason to come in. For a brand, they might come for your blog or discussion forums where they can hang out with friends, a promotion or they come looking information updated daily. Give them a reason to come.

My cats love to eat. I regulate their food intake so they have dry food available all day long but their food dish is usually empty by evening. They’re not starving, but I like to keep them a little hungry so they have a good reason to come home.

Every night at 10 pm, I call for the cats, refill their dry food and give them a treat of canned food. They like being outside chasing bugs and things a LOT...but they like to eat even more. I know I’m motivating my customers with something they really want. I do this consistently, every day.

The result is that they now know how to tell time. My cats can be away all day long, but they still stroll into the house between 9:30 and 10:00 pm. every night on their own accord looking for food.

It’s important that they ALWAYS get food at that time and that I recognize them when they do come home. They don’t always act like it, but the fact is that my cats like it when I make a fuss over them—they appreciate the recognition. A simple “thanks for coming in, SAM" always gets his acknowledgment. If I DON’T say anything, he walks right by me and ignores me.

I always have to remember that the cats don’t come home because I want them to--they come because I give them a reason to. If I stop giving them that reason and recognition for doing so, they will stop coming.

And here’s a cool thing-- if I’m working late and haven’t noticed that it’s past 10 pm, both cats will start raise a ruckus and let me know that it’s time to feed them.

As customers, they are telling me that they fulfilled their part of the deal by showing up and that they are used to a consistent behavior. They remind me to uphold my customer service standards. It’s a good reminder.

3. Do What THEY Want You To Do, Not What YOU Want To Do

My cats are brother and sister but couldn’t be more different from each other. Cleo is affectionate, doesn’t stray too far from home, curious, loves to be cuddled and always comes when she is called. She’s the loyal customer who always wants to know what your company is up to.

SAM is more aloof, gets annoyed if you pet him when he’s not in the mood, doesn’t like to be picked up, doesn’t like change, tolerates attention and is cautious. He likes to be ‘around’ me, but keeps his distance. EXCEPT...twice a day, without fail, he turns into a loving, affectionate purr machine for around 15 minutes. And then he goes back to being aloof.

Ever have a customer like that? I think MOST of them are like SAM. You’ve got to take advantage of that 15 minutes of affection when HE wants to give it, or it's gone.

Keep in mind that MY objective is to get purrs from the cats, and that it's something that I have to entice them to give. But obviously, I can’t treat them the same way to get purrs—they both like different things and different tactics.

Cleo always greets me when I walk in the door. She knows the sound of my motorcycle and can be in the backyard catching lizards, but when she hears my bike pull up, she runs inside the house and is waiting for me at the front door like a dog.

She’s like an Apple customer whenever there is a new product announcement by Steve Jobs. She wants to be close to me and wouldn’t think of going anywhere else.

SAM is a lot cooler. If he’s in the house, he’ll look at me and give a slight nod of the head, like “it’s okay if you come over if you pet me, but I’m fine if you don’t.” If I try to pick SAM up, he either runs away or howls in protest. He clearly doesn’t enjoy it.

He’s like most of your customers. He wants acknowledgment, but not a lot of attention. He wants to be left alone until he dictates the terms of the interaction. I'm okay with that.

Here’s the thing though—if I give my attention to SAM before acknowledging Cleo, she gets jealous and will cry and paw at me until I pay attention to her instead. I have to pet her before I focus on SAM. If I don't, she goes and sulks for awhile.

The lesson there is: pay attention to your most loyal customers FIRST. They’ve earned it, they want it, and they demand it. Reward their loyalty and they will continue to give it to you.

The point is, of course, that it takes time to observe the different behaviors between different customers (cats) and to learn to respond appropriately. What makes one cat (customer) happy isn’t what makes another one happy.

It takes patience, an ability to listen and a willingness to adapt to each customers needs to develop a rewarding relationship for both sides.

They Want To Purr

Lastly, it’s important to remember that most cats would prefer to have a nice warm lap to cuddle up with, regular food and know that they are going to be cared for—it’s a much better life than an alley cat that has to scramble daily to satisfy its needs.

Your customers are like that too—they WANT to have a good, consistent relationship with your brand—it makes their life easier and more enjoyable.

Follow these 3 simple rules, and you’ll have your customers engaged and purring too.

Am I missing anything? What do your pets teach you?

Five Lessons, Ten Years After.

2009-01-27T21:41:00.000-08:00

I've just recently passed the 10 year mark of working for LiveWorld, which I celebrated with a handful of jelly bellies, a diet coke and a passing nod that time really does fly when you're having fun. It's hard to believe that I've spent ten years working in the practice of developing online and offline communities--I still feel like I have start-up passion, conviction and optimism.

I'm not going to wax philosophical on the strange and curious wonders I've seen in this business--suffice it to say that my general observation is that building communities and brand engagement marketing is pretty much like reporting the news--the names and the tools used to do the job change, but the actual events remain pretty much the same.

I would, however, like to share a few lessons that I've learned that might be helpful both on a personal level in the workplace and for brands wanting to engage with their customers.

1. Listen to what is really being said, not just the words actually spoken.
The words "I hate you" usually mean "I want to love you but something is in the way." Translation: your most vociferous detractors really want to be your biggest fans. Take action on what people actually say...and what they were really trying to tell you.

2. Everybody wants to help.
Feedback, complaints, suggestions, comments--almost everybody wants to help! Regardless of whether you think the input is helpful or not, assume that people's intentions are good and give every suggestion the same consideration as if you had thought of it yourself.

My cat Cleo (pictured above) thinks she's helping me work by sprawling all over my keyboard and demanding attention. There are days when that seems really annoying and I want to push her aside. Those are the days when she is reminding me that taking time to scratch behind her ears will make her purr, and her purring will change my perspective.

Then there are days when I thank her for wanting to help, pick her off my keyboard and place her on the floor and get on with my work. But always acknowledge when someone wants to help and let them, or they will stop offering...and stop purring.

You want to encourage purring.

3. Everyone speaks the truth.
Not all truths are the same, of course. One person can tell you that you're great, and another person can say that you suck...and they are both right. So who do you believe? You get to choose which truths you will accept and will act on, but listen to what everyone is telling you and find the truth in it that you can use. There's something useful in what both sides are saying.

4. Speak the truth, be transparent and do the right thing.
It's a simple concept--don't lie or exaggerate. Just tell the truth. Admit when you make a mistake and when you are successful, don't take credit that isn't yours. People like the truth and we all know hyperbole when we hear it. "First, best, leader, anything ending in -est" is probably not the truth and will make people not trust you.

A corollary to this--give more credit to people around you than you take for yourself. It makes people feel good, encourages them to help even more and they probably deserve it more than you do anyway. Success is always a team effort.

And yes...do the right thing. This doesn't need definition--if you have to ask if you're doing the right thing, then you're not. Always go with your gut (and not your head) on that one.

5. Don't be afraid to fail.
We learn more from failures than successes so change the word failure to education. You know that campaign you tried that didn't go over so well? We sure learned a lot from that experience, didn't we?

On the other hand, don't make the same mistake twice. The point IS to succeed and learn. Just remember that if nobody is dying for real, it's not really an emergency or a disaster. We'll come back and do better tomorrow.

Oh yeah...

6. Have Fun and Break a Few Rules Every Now and Then.
100% of the people I know would rather have fun than not have fun. Create an environment and user experience where people can have fun and good results will follow. Joy lightens everything it touches and makes all the hard work worthwhile...and makes people want to come back for more.

As for breaking rules...well... rules are for those who lack creativity and don't trust themselves to the right thing. If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?

Do you have any rules for success that you'd like to share?

What Can't You Do Without?

2009-01-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about my job is that I work with some amazing people who are smart, passionate, eloquent, curious, kind, and eclectic. We have interesting conversations on a wide range of topics in the office and overall, we posses a wry sense of humor at LiveWorld.

Sometimes You Can't See The Sky For The Air

For some reason, a few of us were discussing aeronautics the other day and scientifically discounting the commonly-held teaching that the Bernoulli effect is what makes an airplane fly.

One of our engineers, a former officer in the US Air Force, who heretofore had been busy quietly writing code, suddenly raised his head, stopped typing and said non-chalantly, "I know what makes an airplane fly." The rest of us stopped talking, and listened intently. This is a guy with inside information, after all.

"Money," he said. "Money makes airplanes fly. Whenever an airline runs out of money, they stop flying. So Money must be what makes airplanes fly."

And then he went back to writing code.

We laughed, of course, because the logic is irrefutable. Without money, an airplane doesn't fly, and while we were talking about physics theory, Tim was pointing out a practical reality. Sometimes you can look so deeply at a problem that you miss an obvious connection.

Not Failing Is Better Than Not Succeeding

If we extend Tim's observation to online community, it's important to ask "what makes my community fly?" When developing a new community...or even when trying to grow an existing one, we often focus (rightly) on the core question of "what do we want to DO with this community?" We set about creating a plan and outlining the steps that in theory, will lead to success.

We ask...what are the goals and objectives? What benefits are there to be gained for the members? The brand? What's the ROI and the value? Success is elusive, so most of us will ask all of the questions we think we need to find success...but we often DON'T ask...

...what is it that we need in order to not fail?

This is an important question, in my opinion, because if you're not succeeding, you're still in the game and can turn things around. A community that is not succeeding can have an influx of ideas, strategy and tactics that can help it grow, become vital and thrive.

A failed community, however, is dead and cannot be resurrected. You have to start all over again if you fail. And it gets harder to develop a community the second...or third...or fourth time around.

Thus, I think that not failing is more important than succeeding. It's a process...a step along the way.

Without money, the Wright Brothers can't develop an airplane, and an airline doesn't fly. You could also say "fuel" is what makes airplanes fly too, because without it, the plane isn't getting off the ground either. There can be (and probably is) more than one component to "not failing".

Ask Not What You Need, But What Can't You Do Without?

So, what does a community need in order to fly? What can it absolutely not do without? Well, I don't have all the answers, but I think I'd offer this list for starters:

People.
Purpose--a common reason to be there. (see yesterday's blog entry)
Passion--folks have to care enough about the purpose to bother to show up.

Take away any of these three components, and the community probably isn't going to succeed. Thus, these are the most important vital signs of the community that are worth checking on a regular basis. Are you getting enough people into the community? Is the purpose of the community clear? Are you generating sufficient passion to keep visitors engaged?

Keeping your finger on the pulse and checking for these vital signs frequently will help to keep your community flying high. They are the sine quo non of building online community.

If you are interested in HOW to keep these vital signs healthy, just ask in the comments box and I'll happily reply. There's no shortage of tips, tricks and tactics here.

What do you think? Am I missing anything? What do YOU think a community needs in order to keep flying? What can't YOUR community do without?

What's YOUR Higher Purpose?

2009-01-19T12:02:00.001-08:00

Today, of course, was Martin Luther King's birthday, a day we celebrate not just the man, but the ethics and noble ideals that he inspired in so many. We honor this man for his selfless dedication and ability to inspire others to commit to a higher purpose of achieving equality and justice for all.

All across America today, many communities participated in a day of service motivated, in part, by President-elect Obama's call to honor Dr. King's example by working for a common good.

President Kennedy's famous inauguration speech--"ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" has been a guiding principle in my life since childhood. I grew up with the sense of idealism and higher purpose Kennedy speaks of, and thankfully, it has weathered several decades of cynicism.

The Higher Purpose of Community

Today is a good day to remind ourselves that we ALL have a higher purpose, and this concept relates to the practical matter of using social media to develop online communities. Now, I don't want to diminish the magnitude of Dr. King's achievements by linking him with marketing and social media. Rather, I want to show how his inspiration can be applied to some of the common aspects of life too, not just the big things.

I've been musing a lot lately on the definition of 'community.' How do you define it? I'm coming to the belief that every community, in order to be called a community, must possess two core elements: action and higher purpose.

What noble ideal will inspire people to join...and work for this community?

Now, I am a community manager for several well-known brands and many folks might want to know where is the higher purpose in selling something? What's Nike's higher purpose? Exxon's? McDonald's? Can you really build a community around each of these brands? (note: I don't work for any of these companies)

Well, yes, I could. By bringing people together around what these companies either represent or COULD represent as their higher purpose.

What Business Are You Really In?

Nike isn't in the business of selling shoes. Their higher purpose is selling Excellence. Their higher purpose has to do with YOUR self-image--your desire and ability to see yourself as a high performance, healthy person who values Excellence, Discipline and Hard Work. The shoes are just a means to those aspirations.

Can you create a community of people who are motivated to excel and give them the tools and peer support to do so? You betcha. A Nike community is easy to develop.

If I were developing a community for Exxon, I would suggest that their higher purpose is providing the energy that powers our life. (regardless of the lifestyle we choose). McDonald's higher purpose is feeding people inexpensively.

Image Problem? Look in the Mirror.

Each of the companies I've mentioned has an image problem, and yet, each of these companies sells their products to MILLIONS of people around the world. Obviously, they have some fans. If you buy these products or are employed by these companies, YOU are their image. What kind of story do you tell?

Having ordinary people tell their stories of how these brands have a positive influence in their life would go a long way to altering the common public perception.The fact is that Nike, Exxon and McDonalds DO do some good things--we just hardly ever hear about them.

Now, I'm not defending or promoting any of these companies...I'm just pointing out how appealing to a sense of higher purpose is needed to develop a sense of community. If these companies more clearly define their higher purpose and develop a community based on those ideals, then their community will help them...and help direct them towards right, noble actions.

No one would join a community that supports child labor in Third World countries, encourages the pillage of the environment or promotes obesity in children. Nobody is going to join a community about shoes, gasoline or cheap hamburgers, either.

Appeal to the Best in People, not their Fears or Prejudice.

50 years ago, no one would join a community and face jail, beatings and death to support the right of supposedly inferior humans to vote, sit anywhere on the bus or in a restaurant, or have equal access to schools either. It took the inspiration of a higher purpose--the appeal to more noble and loftier notions of Equality and Justice--to bring about that type of change.

Only communities--people acting together with a higher purpose--can deliver that type of change.

So before you build your community, ask yourself--what is your higher purpose? Make it big. What noble ideals are you promoting?

Please share your comments--I'd love to engage in a conversation with you.

What's A Community Worth Anyway?

2009-01-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

The nagging question of 2009 in my line of work is—what’s all this ‘community’ and ‘social networking' stuff worth anyway?

Ask the right question.

I recently had an inquiry from one of our sales folks who asked a seemingly innocent and reasonable question: A prospect was asking “what type of participation can they expect if they added community to their e-commerce site?”

They wanted to know if x number of people visit the ‘main’ site, what y number of people would participate in the community?

I know both the prospect and the sales person were hoping for a neat, succinct answer. Say…10%. It really didn’t matter what the number is, they just wanted a number.

Implied in the question, of course, is the question “what is a community worth?” It’s that ROI issue—if a client invests money in a community site, how will they know if they got an appropriate value in return?

Now, I love our sales folks. They live and breath this stuff too and they have a challenging job. Part of my job is to give them insight/information to help make their job easier.

I hate giving a long answer to a short question, but here is my (edited) email response:

What Does 'Participate' Mean Anyway?“

Not only does community participation vary based on online/offline promotion of the community and how community is integrated on the website, it can also vary by what one calls 'participation'.

Responding to a poll question or clicking to rate something can be totally anonymous and not require any member self-identification with the community. Yet those are acts of participation that provide tremendous value to the community.

Reading a blog entry and gathering information from it is valuable to me, the reader, even if I don’t choose to leave a comment. Did I ‘participate’ in the community by reading the content, or do I only count as participating if I register, login and leave a comment?

Benchmarks, who's got benchmarks?

I know that everyone in the industry wants benchmarks so they can gauge the expected results of their community investment. The problem is that there aren’t any objective criteria to qualify benchmarks, in part because of the number of variables that enter into the equation.

Not only are there varied definitions of what constitutes community participation, but the site implementation and community visibility on the site factors in, as well as any offline promotion given by the client means that any figure we give is truly a wag. Sure, we can say 10-20% of total visitors on some of our sites will click on a ‘community’ link but we (or anyone else, for that matter) don't really have any reliable data to support what type of participation a community can expect.

Thinking in terms of "if we invest x number of dollars, we should get y number of posts, comments, visits, etc," is really the wrong way to think about online community, though. You probably already know that and this might not be what the prospect wants to hear but...

…the value is immeasurable. It has value, or course. We just can’t measure it yet. We need to rephrase the core question.

Value. C'mon, what's it really worth?

Here are a couple of examples of why we need to reshape that customer question/objection of what is essentially "what is the investment worth?"

1. I purchase a lot of stuff off Amazon and I read a lot of ratings and reviews before nearly every purchase. I don't buy things with bad reviews, I do buy things with positive reviews. I personally have never written a review and rarely leave ratings on products I buy on Amazon, yet I am significantly affected by the actions of the community.

There isn't a good way to track the value to me, or from me as a consumer, but I will state categorically that I do not buy ANYTHING without checking out reviews and ratings. I don't actively 'participate' in the community, but without it, I take my purchases elsewhere.

2. Many times on a community site, customers will complain about:
--product defects
--poor customer service
--desired features that are lacking

Even when the forums are NOT specifically customer support boards, what is the value of the ONE post that asks a question/complains about a problem that is resolved by either: a) an official representative of the company or b) a member-generated response?

In either case, you could calculate the saving of a reduction in customer support call, but you don't really know the reach of the one question. The question could be posted once, but read by 100 people and thus saving 100 customer support calls at a cost of z dollars each, or it could have been seen by 1,000 people.

We really don't know since those metrics won't show up as 'participation'. The value is there, but how do you calculate it?

If Something Good Happens and No One Knows About It, Does It Have a Value?

Likewise, how do you calculate the benefit of the ONE feature suggestion that is really good and makes the product better and makes it sell better? I doubt if anyone can really say “wow, member BraNdLuvveR had a great suggestion and sales increased 17% because of that improvement they suggested.” The value exists in being part of the conversation with your customers on what they would like to see to love your product even more, but how do you quantify it?

Or, what is the value of seeing one customer service issue resolved publicly that not only makes THAT customer happy, but also influences other readers of the forum who think "wow, this company is pretty cool and will resolve any issues I might have with them?"

Personally, I DO make purchasing decisions based on input that I get as to how their follow up customer support is likely to be. I bought Bose headphones for a Xmas present this year instead of comparable Shure headphones because I'd read on discussion boards that while both products fail at about the same rate, Bose will supply new headphones with no questions asked, where Shure's policy on returns involves jumping thru a bunch of hoops.

That was a $300 purchasing decision based on whether I thought I would have a *future* good customer service contact with the brand or not.

But how do you track that value?

What is the right question?

In sum--as a community manager, I would be very leery of giving out metrics and expectations of performance during the sales process. It's more valuable to get the company involved to CLEARLY state their objectives, and then see how we can move towards that goal, rather than tell them what they might expect.

The more pertinent question, imo, isn't what they can expect to happen...but what do they WANT to happen by developing and connecting with their community?

And then ask them how they would measure that.”

Amazingly, after a response like that to a simple question, my sales folks still talk to me and respond to my emails. I love the people I work with--they tolerate my roundabout responses to their direct questions. :-)

And I'm getting double-duty from an email by getting a blog post out of it too, so I'm maximizing MY roi value from the question.

So my question to you, dear readers, is how DO you measure the value of an online community?

Don't Vote for the Dead Guy

2008-12-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

If you are a movie fan, December is probably the best time of the year, bringing in rash of really good films that are trying to make the deadline for major awards consideration. Over the next couple of weeks, you can look forward to seeing no fewer than 7 movies in the theaters that will have Oscar aspirations--The Wrestler, Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, and Synecdoch, New York. That's quite a lineup.

December also brings Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations and with those come the fanning of Oscar talk for the late Heath Ledger.

Ledger, in case you've been under a rock somewhere, died tragically of an accidental drug overdose just before the release of his last film, Batman--The Dark Knight in which he plays the mercurial role of The Joker. There was Oscar buzz for his performance before his death, and popular sentiment runs high for him to win the award posthumously.

Well, I hate to rain on the parade, but frankly, it's not an Oscar-worthy performance.

Don't get me wrong--I'm part of the crowd that thinks Ledger was a very talented, intense actor. And he chews up every scene that he's in as the Joker. He took on an iconic role played brilliantly by Jack Nicholson--one of the all-time greats--and he made it his own. He's more the star of the movie than the title character, and certainly more memorable. Symbolically, his is the character who embodies the theme of the film. It's an outstanding performance.

But not, in my opinion, Oscar-worthy.

Why, you might ask?

Well, as an actor, I would say that Ledger fails to bring the one vital element to EVERY character--the one element that is the raison d'etre of the profession, in my opinion.

Humanity. And along with it, a certain degree of likability.

Ledger, as the Joker, is mercurial. Flamboyant. Outrageous. Memorable. Evil. Intelligent and an excellent foible for the Batman. The one thing he is not, however...is likable. As a human. As an audience member, I felt absolutely no sympathy or empathy for the character, and thus, he was not likeable. I can appreciate how diabolical the character is, but he never won me over to see the world from his point of view, never brough me deeply enough inside where I could take a look at the horrible acts and find a justification for them

I couldn't identify with the character, and thus, had no sympathy for him. He was simply vengeful and evil.

I might be splitting hairs here, because he IS, after all, a cartoon character and thus, a two-dimensional character. But the job of an actor is to take a character who is two dimensional (after all, a character is only words on a page of a script) and create a three dimensional person.

Now, let me say too, that I didn't think that Daniel Day-Lewis deserved the Oscar last year for No Country for Old Men. My choice was Javier Bardem, for the same reason I just mentioned. Day-Lewis was pure evil and greed without any redeeming qualities, while Bardem, in his role as a killer, at least had an ethic that a 'normal' person could understand and somewhat agree with.

Twisted, yes, but it's the *empathy* with the character's intention and world view that draws me in.

And that's the role of an actor--to portray humanity in such a way that we understand more deeply about people for having watched the actor's performance. It's easy to play pure evil, badness or greed. It's FAR more difficult to play an evil character and to create some understanding and empathy for that character in spite of their evilness.

THAT is what an Oscar-worthy performance is about.

Of the films that I've seen this year and the actors who are nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category that Ledger is nominated in both Golden Globes and SAG Awards, my choices for Best Supporting Actor are (in order) Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Tom Cruise and Ralph Fiennes ahead of Ledger.

Fiennes, in particular, gives a master class in playing a character in The Duchess who by all accounts, is a bastard and someone you shouldn't like as an audience. Almost every single thing he does throughout the film is an unlikeable action, and yet, by the end of the film, his is forgiveable. Not *excuseable* for his actions, but forgiveable.

I don't find any such forgiveness for Ledger's Joker.

The hands down winner for best ACTING performance, deserves to go to Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder. Not only does he do the *unimaginable* by playing an Australian actor playing an African-American actor in a film-within-a-film, he is believable in both roles, and shows a remarkable sensitivity in finding the right 'tone' to doing the role in blackface makeup that is both hilarious and spot-on.

He manages to tackle the most offensive racial stereotype possible and carry it off with skill, class and the right sense of humor. This is one of the most gifted actors around today taking on a role that could have been a total disaster on so many levels. It is simply an amazing acting performance, and more of a challenge than Ledger's Joker character. If Ledger fails with his role, people just say that Nicholson was a better Joker.

If Downey fails in HIS role, race riots break out all over the US. It's a riskier performance and he carries it of brillaintly.

I also want to give props to Tom Cruise for his role in Tropic Thunder as well. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I'm not going to spoil it. Suffice it to say even though I knew he was in the movie, it wasn't until the very end that I figured out which part he played. I was mesmerized by the character he played, and had no idea it was Cruise for most of the movie. Great stuff.

So, there you have it--while Ledger is/was a very gifted actor, I'm hoping that he doesn't get the sympathy vote for a posthumous Oscar. Not because I don't think he deserves it...but because others deserve it more.

What do you think? Do you give it to the dead guy because he was 'close enough' and will never get another chance to win one? Or do you honor the living and give it to the best performance of the year?

Take it Off...Take it ALL Off (line)!

2008-12-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

I participate in (too) many online discussions among social media types that focus on developing standards, best practices and ethics in the new social media world. These are all fascinating discussions among really smart, articulate people. Yet I often find myself shaking my head and thinking that we're missing something fundamental.

The social media tools that are now available to us--whether they be blogs, Facebook, Twitter, online communities, heck, even email is a social media tool--really only exist for one purpose, and one purpose only.

To take it offline.

That's right--we go online in order to promote OFFLINE behavior and any social media site or guru that doesn't recognize this is missing the boat. And opportunity.

During the last presidential campaign, MyBarackobama.com was hailed as innovative and the new standard bearer in how campaigns should be run in a new media world. The site had all of the trappings of a typical social networking site like friending, groups, blogs, discussion boards etc. But every aspect of the site was directed to one *specific* objective--to drive offline behavior.

Whether that behavior was to call people to get out the vote, or to hold fundraisers, or connect with other Obama supporters in your local area, every feature of the site was designed to get the member to DO something in the real world.

Online activity is really only useful if it is promoting an offline behavior. We use Facebook to keep in touch with friends that we know in the real world to add value to our next meeting. We don't have to spend as much time on "what have you been up to?" and can get to the meatier "that one experience you posted on FB sounded really awesome--tell me more about that!" We generally don't meet new people on FB tho, and if we do, it's because we want to meet offline or are participating in a common cause that has an offline component.

We join branded communities because we either purchase or are thinking about purchasing a company's products. We put our band up on MySpace in hopes that people listen and buy music, or maybe see a concert.

The best websites recognize this and make the connection to the desired offline behavior for the visitor and provide an easy UI flow that encourages the online activity and makes it easy to do the offline activity as well. If the site is only focused on the online activity UI, they are wasting money on their website.

Even the Twitterati recognize the need for offline behavior. While Twitter is an interesting way to keep updated on a wide variety of topics (depending on who is twittering), it suffers as a connecting tool if you don't really know who you are receiving twitters from.

And so, tweetups emerged, where folks could meet the person on the other end of the tweet.

As an information source, Twitter works well because you can receive information that will somehow be meaningful in your offline world--maybe give you resources that will help you be better at your job, let you know where the latest party is happening or heck, I know of one case where someone was seeking marrow donors via twitter.

My last blog post is a classic example of how social networking encourages offline behavior. This isn't to pat myself on the back or anything--just an example of 'what is this social networking stuff really good for?' I saw a need (Melody) and knew that I had resources to help available online--I could reach far more people more quickly with a blog post than I could by phoning all of my friends and asking for donations. Many people donated money, either by reaching into their wallet, or mailing me a check or sending money to a PayPal account. I used social media to raise some money to promote an offline action.

So as we discuss social media and it's best practices, let's all remember the most basic rule of all: the point of online activity is to motivate offline behavior. Social media is just a tool used to build something bigger--something that happens offline.

And now, I'd like to motivate all of you to go offline and go to the movies. Here are some very short movie reviews for your reading pleasure:

Slumdog Millionaire: A MUST SEE for anyone who likes action, romance, suspense, comedy, drama, good music and a heart-warming story all in one film. Deserves Oscar consideration.

Milk: A beautifully made biopic with outstanding performances all around, led by Sean Penn, and by the way, Josh Brolin is quietly one of the finest actors in the business today. A story of humanity, perseverance and hope, with a slight dash of politics. Somebody made a SERIOUS error in not releasing this film before the elections--Prop 8 (banning gay marriage) would not have passed in California if this movie had been in the theaters 2 weeks prior to the elections.

Quantum of Solace: An excellent entry in the genre, feels like one of the classic 60's Bond movies. Not as good as the Bourne series, but a very good Bond film.

Four Christmases: Surpisingly funny for the first half of the movie, degenerates in saccaharine, predictable Hollywood fare. Nothing special.

The Day the Earth Stood Still: Keanu Reeves displays an acting range from A to B in this remake of the sci-fi classic. It's almost worth the price of admission to look at Jennifer Connoley for 2 hours (good god, she's beautiful), but really, skip it and read the story instead. Completely misses the mark as a film.

I still have to go see Australia, Bolt, Twilight and Cadillac Records before the next wave of good movies comes out on Christmas.

Enjoy, and as always, please tell me what you're thinking!

What do Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, Britney Spears and Christmas all have in common?

2008-12-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

So what do Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, Britney Spears and Christmas all have in common?

Well, besides the fact that they've all sold their soul in order to make money, they all happen to be three of the top ten searched words on the internet today, according to one search engine optimization website.

I know, I should have had a funnier punch line than that, but really, what can one say about Blagojevich and Spears that hasn't already been said? Britney seems to be on a path of redemption and Blagojevich will soon be somebody's wife in prison.

Both deserve what they have coming to them.

In theory, using those terms in my blog title and in context in the blog entry will get my blog ranked a little higher and generate a few more new readers. I don't know about that, but hey, I'm trying to learn about SEO, so it's worth a try.

The REAL topic of this entry is...the one that's left...CHRISTMAS! Or rather, an early Christmas present delivered by me but with the help of many generous blog readers.

Last week, I reported on a homeless woman living in her car who had come to see a "pay what you can" performance of a play I was in, and during the performance, someone broke into her car and stole all of her worldly possessions.

I STILL hear her voice in my head...her pitiful cries of "why did they take my stuff??".

I know I can't save the world and I'm not trying to--but I felt somehow responsible for this woman, who had come in from the cold for a little respite that our play represented, and wound up losing everything she had. I wrote about finding her after the show cold, crying and her life in tatters.

I put out an appeal for help to raise some money to replace some of her stuff (new clothes, blankets, etc), and WOW, DID YOU RESPOND!

We raised a total of $418.37 for her, which I rounded up to $420 and delivered tonight.

Her name is Melody, and she's been homeless for awhile.

She's staying with her brother for now, while she is trying to get into a homeless shelter full time. She doesn't work and collects a disability check for income. She's very nice and looks you in the eye when she talks with you. She's doing the best she can, just like the rest of us.

It's a pretty tough life when the thing you hope for the most is that a bed will become available for you in a homeless shelter.

It was fun to do something nice for her. When we met, I told her the story about me writing about her and that we had taken a collection for her. She was very touched that strangers would offer to help.

I gave her the money in an envelope, but didn't tell her how much was in there. We chatted for a few minutes, she thanked me several times, and she declined when I offered to buy her dinner. It WAS dinner time and truth is, I was hungry and wanted to get a little more of her story. I think she felt like she was already receiving too much charity and didn't want to impose, so I didn't push it. We hugged, I asked if I could take her picture so folks could know her--that she wouldn't be "some homeless woman", but just Melody, and we left.

The REALLY fun part happened about an hour later. I was sitting at home when my phone rang. I answered to "oh my god. Oh my GOD. THANK YOU!!"

She had thought maybe we had raised $100 or so. And yes, she was very, very grateful for that help. She never looked in the envelope I gave her until she got to her brother's place and when she did, she immediately called me, just as happy as could be.

$400 is a LOT of money to her. Getting that much money was like winning the lottery for her.

Enough for her, as she put it, to have a Christmas. She plans to take some of that money and give gifts to the people who have helped her, as well as replace her clothes and get her car fixed. (her locks are broken, which is why her car got broken into in the first place).

So...a little tragedy has turned into a positive, thanks to you, my friends. I'd give it a shout out by name, but I know that pretty much everyone who gave something did so because they are kind, caring people, not because they want any recognition. I think I've thanked everyone personally, and if I haven't, well, I suck. I'll go through my list and check it twice and take note of who's been nice.

Melody says...from the bottom of her heart..."Thank you, God Bless You, and Merry Christmas!"

And a big shout out to the internet, without which we wouldn't have been able to raise that much money so quickly to respond to a person in need.

Thank you, internet! Just for being here.

90/9/1 Rule--Tell Me What It's Good For.

2008-12-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

In the social media circles, hot topics travel quickly, as you might expect. We are the fanners of the flame, after all.

Today's hot topic is the 90/9/1 rule. This principle suggests a benchmark for community participation--roughly speaking, an online community can expect to have 1% of its members be active content creators, 9% of the members will edit that content (comment, respond, vote in polls, rate, etc) and 90% are content consumers--they read but don't do anything else.

Martin Reed and Mike Rowland both challenge this principle from the perspective that accepting this principle is to accept less than the full potential of an online community. And of course, there are a whole lot of "amens" coming from both sides of the issue.

This is Sam's perspective of the issue. He doesn't really care. This pic isn't germaine at all. I just promised that my cats would appear in my blog and it's a reminder not to take any of these social media conversations TOO seriously. It's still more art than science.

My perspective on the topic...

90/9/1 is a guideline, not a rule. And a very, very valuable guideline.

Many community managers look at online community with a wide-eyed sense of higher purpose and idealism. Online communities are changing the way that corporations interact with their customers, they give power to the people, can lead to dramatic social change, and they connect people around shared passions. There is certainly a strong sense of evangelism shared among community managers everywhere. Our cause is just and holy.

Yes to all of that.

And...online communities/social networks are also a commodity. They are an investment. *Somebody* is paying for the bandwidth, the people, the designers, engineers, moderators, etc. for a reason. There is something they want in exchange. While doing a greater good and shifting a paradigm is fun and part of the objective, let's face it, it's still all about the Benjamins.

As a commodity, social networking/online community is largely funded by marketing departments. At least, that's my experience developing communities for major brands over the past 10 years. Some online communities might come out of customer support budgets, but by and large, I think we're seeing the spread of social networking online as a function of marketing dollars at work.

Marketing people like metrics. It's what they do. They want results for campaigns that are measurable against benchmarks. Doesn't matter if it's a short campaign like a tv ad running for 4 weeks or a long campaign like an online community. They want to hear those 3 beautiful little words that drive relationships all over the world.

Return. On. Investment.

Now, I'm not saying that's the *right* attitude to take. Just pointing out current reality. As an industry, social networks/online communities have a serious dearth of available metrics that make a case for *value* of an online community in a way that marketers like to hear. Yes, I know there are all kinds of metrics out there that can (and are) used to illustrate value. Some of them are voodoo....some are quite useful.

But marketing folks like to know "I spent x dollars on y campaign and that moved sales z % against an expectation of q industry benchmark. Therefore, my campaign was a success (or failure)."

We're getting there, but we don't deliver those types of results in the social media world yet. We're in the process of defining metrics that do show ROI, and we're in the process of redefining what community 'success' means in the marketing world.

But that's a long road to travel and in the meanwhile, the people paying the bills want to know what they are getting for their money.

The 90/9/1 rule is just a benchmark for marketers to understand.

Remember those old TV car commercials where they would spout off gas consumption efficiency, and they always ended with the legal disclaimer "actual mileage may vary"? It's like that.

Marketing people aren't the type of people who are going to hand you a check for $250K to develop an online community and not expect to see some *results* for that investment. And saying "I don't know what type of results to expect" isn't a very satisfying answer.

Neither is "we're going to connect people with your brand in a holistic way so you can be part of a conversation with your customer."

Sure. Sounds good. To what purpose?

Enter 90/9/1. This principle gives marketers a rough idea of what to expect, although actual mileage may vary. There are SO many variables at play--site design, prominence of links into the community, content integration, outside marketing, tone and culture of the community, etc.--but it's better to have *something* resembling a benchmark than not.

Online communities still need to contribute to the bottom line of a company. Having the online community is either adding revenue, saving expenses or improving brand awareness or there is isn't much reason to have it.

And those criteria are measurable in every other aspect of running a business, so why not for online communities, too?

The 90/9/1 rule gives a standard to compare to, but it's like any other rule of thumb. It's a good approximation, not a specific measurement.

Get 20 random people together and I'll bet that their thumbs will show a variance of at least 50% in size. And yet the rule of thumb says that the width of a thumb is roughly 1 inch and that's close enough. The standard lets you know roughly what 'normal' is, even with a variance.

In my experience managing both online and offline communities, the 90/9/1 rule is relatively accurate. Yes, there are exceptions both in terms of far exceeding and underachieving those ratios, but I've found it to be roughly true.

Previous statement disclaimer: I don't quibble over movements of 1-5% in community metrics. I look for larger trends and dramatic impact. For me, 5% is that margin of error or 'your mileage may vary' factor. I just don't consider changes that small to be statistically significant over time. Community behavior is just too volatile to worry about small swings in behavior until they become consistent.

I think the real point in using this principle is that it gives some comfort to people managing communities that you can be successful with as little as 1% of your viewers contributing content. When you consider the emphasis place on BIG numbers by most marketing folks, you can truly see the value of the 90/9/1 rule--it keeps the expectations reasonable while trying to nail down the exact ROI of the site based on *actual* behavior.

Short version of the story--it's a good guideline, but don't freak out if your site doesn't measure up and you still feel like you're getting value out of your community. And if your metrics far surpass this rule and you feel your community is successful, pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

If you're not measuring up to the guideline and you don't feel like your community is being successful, then it's time to examine your site strategy and implementation more closely and make adjustments.

As always, your thoughts are welcomed.

--Mark

Giving More Than A Rat's Ass

2008-12-04T23:37:00.000-08:00

According to http://www.mindlesscrap.com/origins/more-b.htm, the phrase, "I don't give a rat's ass" is of 20th century origin and came about because a rat's ass is small, and the rodent is annoying.

I don't totally buy that, and would to have to choose the phrase came about because, well, let's face it, a rat DOES have a pretty small butt. So if you're going to give a metaphorical comparison about how little you care about something, a rat's ass is very tiny indeed.

I've never measured one, but I'd have to guess that it is less than 2 mm wide, which is pretty small. (note: further web research indicates that a rat's anus is indeed 1-2 mm in diameter. isn't it amazing that there are people who get paid to study such things?)

Fascinating stuff, to be sure, but I mention it in context...here's something I DO give rat's ass about. Or to put it into a metaphorical context, I care a whales intestine about this. (fyi--intestines in humans are roughly 2 times the length of said human's height. In a whale, the intestines are typically 5-6 times the length of the whale. in other words, to care a whales intestines means to care a LOT).

Our show tonight was very special...it was a pay-what-you-can performance, which often draws a lot of homeless people to the theater, or unemployed folks who don't have any money to spend. These are always my favorite performances, because these are people who cannot afford to go the theater, but there is a deep-seated *need* inside them to come be part of the experience. It's a chance for folks without money to be entertained, connect and to escape for just a little while.

The cast was brilliant tonight. The audience was energetic, enthusiastic and had a great time, and in turn, we were at our best too. Easily our best performance as a cast, and even though we've had appreciative audiences so far, tonight was by far the best house we had. It was a real high to play tonight.

And then it all came crashing down. Hard.

After the show, I got caught by several audience members who were congratulatory and wanted to talk about the play and share how much fun they had. I'm normally on my way home within 15 minutes after curtain, but tonight, I was there for almost 45 minutes chatting with audience. When I finally did go outside though, my fun night came to a grinding halt.

A middle-aged woman in well-worn clothes was sitting on the cement sidewalk outside the theater in a light jacket on a very cold night, sobbing and wailing. She had the kind of weathered face that you could tell made her look a lot older than her actual age.

She sat on the ground repeating over and over..."why did they take my stuff? Why did they take my stuff? WHY DID THEY TAKE MY STUFF?"

I didn't know who this woman was. But she looked me right in the eye, bawling, and begged me to answer "why did they take my stuff?"

Talk about a downer. My heart took a hit like a rock flying up and putting a chip in a windshield.

Turns out, she was one of our audience tonight. A homeless woman. She lives in her car and at some point during the show, someone broke into her car and took a few shopping bags that were in there.

Those shopping bags contained all of her clothes...a thrift-store wardrobe to be sure, but all she had. Her official documents. Some makeup. A few trinkets that are worthless to most folks, but priceless to her.
A few pictures. A little jewelry box a dead friend had given her. A cell phone charger. Remnants of her life before she hit hard times and became homeless.

Nearly everything that was important to her was in those two bags.

The last vestiges of who she is. Her past. Her life. All she has left.

To a person who has nothing and is living out of her car, a $30 phone charger is vital. The phone is her lifeline, that charger is what keeps her able to function.

I can't get her cries out of my head.

"WHY DID THEY TAKE MY STUFF?"

I spent an hour or so looking thru dumpsters, in the yards around the theater, even checking out trash cans that line the streets waiting for morning pickup, hoping someone took the bags, rifled thru them, didn't see anything of value and then threw the bags in the nearest trash bin.

No luck.

One kind soul took her home so she had a place to stay. Tonight. Because her blankets were gone too, and it's cold outside--you can't sleep in a metal car in the cold without blankets. But her warm clothes were in the bags.

She was in her nicest clothes to go to the theater tonight. Not her warm clothes. Her nicest...her fanciest...because she was going to the theater.

I feel responsible. She was in the theater tonight to see ME. To get some respite, some laughs, to find a bit of refuge from her harsh life. Instead, her life has become even worse.

She came to what she thought was a haven. An escape. A safe place.

If her car wasn't in this place at this time...and she wasn't away from it when she normally would have been inside...

...she wouldn't have lost everything that is important to her.

You really have to hear what that sounds like coming from another person if you haven't. The rawness. It's primal. To have little...and then to have your soul ripped out and be left with NOTHING.

It's haunting.

WHY DID THEY TAKE MY STUFF?

So I'm starting a collection at the theater and among my friends. I can't get her jewelry box back, but we live in a land of wealth, and while I can't make her whole again, a couple hundred dollars will allow her to get some new clothes, blankets, replace the makeup, get her a charger and maybe restore some faith in her, that while maybe *some* humans are so crass as to steal from someone who has nothing...

...there are also people who care enough to reach out and help someone in a real time of need. Even if that person is a total stranger.

If you care to donate, contact me (Mark Williams) at my email address on Pay Pal--two2_tango@yahoo.com. Send money. I'll collect money in my account for her.

Heck you can email me at: mwilliams@liveworld.com, with the subject line DONATION, and tell me that you want to donate a certain amount, and we'll figure out how to actually get the money from you and into her hands. I'll make sure she gets some help immediately, though.

I'm starting the fund with $100, and hope to raise another $200 or so by Saturday night when we close. Hey, more would be better--it's not like this woman has spare cash sitting around.

We live in a valley of wealth here. Please, if you care to donate maybe a latte's worth of cash...or lunch money for a day...or the price of a night at the movies...$5, $10 or $20 would go a long way to making a person in pain feel just a little bit better.

Please, give a rat's ass.

Ten Reasons Why You Should Subscribe To This Blog

2008-12-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

With the myriad of blogs spewing so much content into the blogosphere like Bejing smog, why on earth would you want to read (and subscribe) to this one? Especially since topics covered will range from social networking, theater, arts, pop culture, politics and sometimes, nothing in particular?

1. I'm wearing a tin foil hat in my profile picture. How can you NOT want to listen to what a guy in a tin foil hat is thinking?

2. You won't get bored. If you don't like the topic one day, chances are I'll talk about something completely different the next day.

3. Continuity. Somehow, all of those random topics tie into each other to create a larger picture. Like a mosaic.

4. I have 2 cats, Sam and Cleo, who do strange things. Everyone likes to hear funny cat stories, don't they?

5. Perspective. Folks tell me that I have a way of connecting the big picture to little details or little details to the big picture. That I view things 'differently'. I think they are complimenting me when they say that.

6. I'm...uh...shall we say... 'provocative'. I'll say things out loud (and in print) that most people only think but never say. I laugh at funerals and flirt with the bride at weddings. And I always tell the emperor when he's not wearing any clothes. If the emperor is a woman, I keep my mouth shut. Why would I want her to put clothes on?

7. Even though it's not very humble of me to say it, I'm smart. Or at least I think I am...that's something for you to decide, really. This blog will offer up lessons learned and enlightenment for your free use.

8. I'm not very humble, but I don't really give a rat's ass about celebrity, unlike many other 'gurus' who set themselves up as experts so they can sell books or boost their bill rate as a consultant. And if I ever write a book, it will be fiction, so I'm not looking to enhance my status in my industry--just give a little straight talk in a world where folks speak in platitudes and marketing-speak.

9. Actually, I don't know what "I don't give a rat's ass" really means. Why would anyone equate desire with a rat's ass? This an example of the kind of stuff that will keep me awake at night and lure to me to research on the internet and share with you. So eventually, you'll learn fun things like, "what is the origin of the phrase 'I don't give a rat's ass'?" (tangent: did I punctuate the end of that sentence correctly? damn...another thing to go research) This will make you a very good living room Jeopardy player.

10. Experience. Man, I've been around the block, and have seen and done some **** in my life. I figure I've already made lot of stupid mistakes and also done some really good things, so someone should get the benefit of that experience. Sharing means caring, right? If I care enough to write, the least you can do is care enough to subscribe and read.

11. It's free. You know what they say...the best things in life are free. Like this blog.

Yeah, that's eleven items. I have a problem with rules and following directions. Even my own. Just subscribe and leave comments, would ya?

Peace out,
Mark