Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Things I Don't Care About #1

Upon examining my role in the community, I've noticed that some seek out my opinion on purported "Big Deals" in the space. But what I'm really finding is that most of the Big Deals don't mean a hill of beans to me. So I'll begin an ad-hoc new category of posts: Things I Don't Care About.

  • Podshow changes it's name to Mevio
    The conventional wisdom is that Adam, Ron & Co. are abandoning ship on the concept of podcasting, thereby somehow invalidating it for the rest of the community. Maybe the CW is right. Maybe not. But I honestly don't care. The marketplace where they play is still quite volatile and a long way from maturity. When you bitch about their name change, all I hear is that you thought the name and their approach to the market was perfect to begin with. And you're wrong. I've heard you say it enough times to know better.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Getting closer to #phx





Phx Twitterati RSS

Originally uploaded by evo_terra


Here's a dirty little secret of mine: I'm not a social person by nature. Ask my wife. She'll tell you that I'd become a hermit if it wasn't for her. Now while that might not be 100% accurate, it's not terribly far from the truth.

But just like Jules from Pulp Fiction, I'm trying. I'm trying real hard.

Recently, I've been flexing my wings at this via what I and others refer to as the Phoenix Twitterati -- an eclectic mix of people loosely organized by random "hey, let's go here" posts to Twitter. We grab coffee, have dinner, crash other meetings... whatever. It's totally organic.

In an effort to actually get to know these people better (140 characters and jokes about having no life can only teach you so much), I've decided to start subscribing to the RSS feeds created by these folks. I put them all into a special group, as I don't plan on checking these every day. But I would like to get to know more about them (OK, some of them). Skimming their personal/professional blogs seems like a good way.

So the next time we meet, #Phx Twitterati, don't be surprised if I ask how your vacation was.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Reflections of me in my Tweet Cloud





My Tweet Cloud

Originally uploaded by evo_terra


I'm a big supporter of Twitter. It's the first (only?) social media tool that I've embraced and stuck with for a serious amount of time.

We've moved well beyond the "what are you doing" days of Twitter. For me, I try and make my posts about things that I want to say that you (or at least someone) might want to hear.

Looking at my Tweet Cloud, I think that comes through.

Most shocking: 'Listening' is fairly prominent. I know it's probably from me telling you what song I'm listening to, but it could be indicative of my desire to try and be a better listener.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Trickle down or ripple effect?

I started my morning with the following tweet:

"Trying to tap into a network of influencers is pointless: it's very hard to know who really has influence and who's just got a big mouth."


That pearl of wisdom comes from Suw Charman in her blog post on Strange Attractor. Like Suw, I've always questioned the idea that if you reach some "key" people in any organization (blogs, podcasts, companies, schools, meetup-aholics) then it will trickle down to the unwashed masses below. That smacks of Reaganomics to me -- been there, done that.

Granted, there is a huge "follower" mentality and echo-chamber effect for some of those groups (you know the ones), but most people won't truly adopt something and incorporate it into their life unless it speaks to them and is useful -- to them. Not just because Brogan (and I loves me some Brogan) said it was cool. It actually has to BE cool and be something that I need to be cool to me.

But I like the ripple effect. It's how I learned about podcasting, Word Press, Twitter... you name it. Sure, I hear about lots of cool stuff from the Top Brass and I've been known to adopt early. But most people aren't watching as closely as I and a handful of others. Let's hear it for the ripple effect.

Props to Thomas for the link!