I had a Twitter conversation with @byzantin3 which ran from two days:
byzantin3:
I just love the way Obama does his campaign. He is omnipresent in most social networks. extremely connected. Brilliant. 02:43 PM February 19, 2008 from web
Once again, he impresses us with his sheer genius and style with his thoughts on the US primaries. I like the the quality of his arguments and how he slowly builds them up logically. Take your time and listen to The Lessig in the videos below.
“20 or so minutes on why I am 4Barack”
“10 minutes on whether Hillary can win”
In tomorrow’s social media class, our professor will be showing everyone Larry’s presentation on creativity and the law with relation to the Read/Write web from TED. I can’t wait to see everyone’s faces during and after the presentation as they watch in awe. I’ve done this kind of presentation twice already in the past 2 years and 1 worked out better than the other. Last term, someone told me that a group or two already did it during advertising class. I’m sure, after tomorrow’s class, more SMU students will be presenting using The Lessig Style.
It ain’t easy. But once the students pull it off, they will have a presentation that will stick.
Check out this video by Vincent, who’s an undergrad like me in the Singapore Management University. It’s a video to support Singapore’s bid to host the Youth Olympic Games in 2010.
Isn’t that cool? I first saw one of his videos a couple of years ago for a school project and I was really impressed. It was amateurishly-professionally done, if that makes any sense. I’ve been a fan of his ever since.
Vincent’s productions are way better than what I see on local TV. He’s got the right angle, music and style for every video that he shoots and produces.
Before the problem was sex offenders, now it’s gang recruiting according to this article from CBS5.com.
The other day in social media class we were discussing if virtual worlds needed some sort of regulations to prevent abuse. The same should be asked about social networks. I’m sure MySpace, Facebook and the rest do their own policing but spotting all this misconduct is easier said than done.
It is through these online networks that the digital natives connect and meet with new friends. But with our online profiles exposed to the public, it’s easy for gang members to collect and select potential recruits. It may first start with a poke or a friendly private message but once added ‘as a friend’, these students can be slowly manipulated or influenced by the gang members.
Social networking sites have their filters, flags to raise, profile limiting and blocking, etc. However, no feature will be preventive enough to stop possible interactions between gangsters and their targets in this social phenomenon.
Both sources target different readers and the way they titled their articles just intrigues me. Both articles probably draw from the same study, I’m just not sure which is a more effective use of headline knowing who their respective audience are.
After the announcement about Yahoo’s plans to lay off hundreds of employees 3 weeks ago, a post from Portfolio.com just confirmed that Yahoo has gotten rid of their designers. Not just some of them - the whole enchilada in fact.
I think that the Yahoo Design Innovation team, a.k.a. yHaus, was critical to a company like Yahoo. In a business where you have this graphical interface which serves as an in-between between the services that you provide and your customers, design does matter.
“Good design in our company doesn’t just sell products. Good design fosters collaboration, communicates strategy, sets expectations, improves the efficiency of a team, and most importantly inspires and motivates like nothing else.” (Source)
I’ve used one of their products before, Wufoo, to make online forms and the usability of their site was excellent. I remember choosing Wufoo over 2-3 other services that I found online because their site was just really easy and simple to use (and it a lot of cool features too).
yHaus probably does a lot more than website design that’s why they have the word Innovation in their team name, which I think is a bigger loss for Yahoo. Based from their old blog and the next* (a site that you get re-directed to if you go to the main site of the design team which does not exist anymore) , they do have some pretty innovative projects going on.
My advertising professor from a year ago, Jorg Dietzel, who is also a brand consultant, previously had a talk on business and design. One-half of Jorg’s message from his presentation was that businesses need design.
To keep up in this overly competitive domain, Yahoo still needs to come up with innovative designs.
Just as I praised Sony Ericsson for their user interface, Google releases new screen shots of Android. The last time I saw a preview of Android during its early development, I was impressed with the apps they had running on it. The only problem that I had was their menu, which had the same implementation as Yahoo! Go 3.0 using a carousel. I’m sure if they had other display layouts for their menu.
The new screen shots from Gizmodo showed UI improvements in the Android OS. They don’t look as sleek as the iPhone or Sony Ericsson phones, but they look very neat and simple to use. Simple done well is better than a flashy UI that’s too complicated to use.
I’ve been converted to a Robbie Williams fan recently after watching a DVD of his concert at Knebworth. What We Did Last Summer: Live at Knebworth is one of the best concert DVDs out there. So pick it up or rent it when you can. It’s going to be worth it.
We wrapped up blogging last week in Social Media class, and after watching the DVD close to ten times in a span of two weeks, I was inspired to write about what bloggers can learn from Robbie Williams, as ‘a singer, a songwriter and a born entertainer’. Here it goes.
1. Engage Your Readers - Throughout the concert, Robbie tried to engage the crowd whenever he could. He told stories and he even had a massive karaoke session with the audience when he sang “Strong”. As a blogger, you can engage your readers by posing a question, asking for opinions or by replying to comments to keep the conversation going. ProBlogger advices that “Posting Less Frequently Can Lead to Higher Reader Engagement“.
2. Put 110% - I heard some of the songs in the DVD for the first time but because Robbie put so much effort in the singing and performance of each number, I ended up liking all the new songs. If you put effort into writing every blog entry, then readers will be coming back for more. Neil from Pronet Advertising suggests ways on how to get more readership/popular through content.
3. Be Real - One of the reasons why Knebworth was a memorable concert is because we saw the real Robbie Williams. He was honest and wasn’t afraid of showing his true self. Being real is what bloggers need to do if they want to build a long term relationship/conversation with their readers. Write to Done says that bloggers should ‘write from the heart’ and ‘reveal’ themselves.
4. Be Passionate - Robbie’s energy on stage comes from his passion for what he does. In this concert especially, it shows through. If you blog about topics that you’re passionate about, then your readers are likely to enjoy and benefit from your writing. Here’s a good article from Blog Herald about passion and blogging.
5. Say Thanks - Robbie Williams wouldn’t be who he is now if his fans did not buy his records. At Knebworth, he showed how much he appreciated how his fans stayed with him throughout his career. Blogging relations is about the act of reciprocity. If you get mentioned in a another blog or receive a comment, leaving a simple ‘Thank You’ note will go a long way. NorthxEast provides 15 ways to thank your loyal readers.
As a give-away, here’s my one of my favorite songs from the DVD. I think it also is a good representation of the tips above. Enjoy! (Although YouTube doesn’t do justice. Buy the HD DVD.)
After the iPhone, I think that Sony Ericsson has one of the best mobile phone user interfaces in the market. Not only are they easy to use, they look good too.
