Buffer ruined my Twitter account

I've been hard at work this past quarter putting my nose to the grind stone, cranking out new content, and learning a completely new framework and methodology for discovering commercial insights.

For those who haven't read the Challenge Customer (it really is a must read) commercial insights are basically the way you've determined (through tons of research and validated learning) to message your products or services. This post is not about commercial insights - so click the link above if you're looking to dive deeper. Everyone else, continue on with me to hear about how Buffer ruined Twitter for me. 

So how did Buffer ruin Twitter for Daniel Taibleson? 

Let me take you back...

It was October 6th, 2016 when I published my most popular post on this blog titled High level Content Strategy. This was before I started working at Vertafore and I figured I better start proving to the world that I'm capable of teaching others about content marketing and content strategy. So, like any good writer, I decided to start writing about what I know and sharing it with the world.

No more than a week later while on Vacation in San Diego with some good friends I got the call from Vertafore and accepted a position with them as their new Content Marketing Manager. 

All was well in the world, I was in sunny San Diego while it was raining in Seattle, I had a new job to look forward to, and 2 weeks off to wrap up loose ends before getting back into the rhythm and routine of work life. 

All of a sudden I started to get notification on Twitter that people were tweeting my article.

Holy crow! This is awesome! What I had to say with people was actually resonating! 

Some of you who are cool kids on Twitter might already know this but when you get over 20 notifications it just shows 20 on your mobile device. 

3 weeks later and I was still getting 20+ notifications a day about my article. 

Even weirder - all of the tweets said exactly the same thing:

Understanding Content Strategy via @dantaibleson http://buff.ly/29gFglF  #contentmarketing #Advertising #Perspective

It's July and I'm still getting the notifications.

All the same tweets. 

So what's happened? Basically, buffer picked up on my article and has started suggesting it to people to tweet out (They even suggested a new title LOL - thanks for the hint guys). Which is fine, I get the promo - but it's not necessarily ginune engagement because these people aren't finding it themselves and they're definitely not reading the content before they share it. 

How do I know? 

I use buffer. 

And although I don't mind it - they do seem to be translating into real page views - and sometimes real interaction between the followers of people who tweet this out. The honest reality is that I'm never excited to log into Twitter anymore. Instead of anticipating what cool new connections I've made or what interesting people are reaching out to me to talk about the things I'm passionate about - I know it's just another automated, scheduled tweet from someone who uses buffer to boost their social media presence. 

Sorry Twitter, but I'm not sure how you're going to survive. I like what you're doing with real-time events, but I'm not sure you can beat Facebook or YouTube at that game (YouTube already streaming my favorite live festivals with real time commenting capabilities). I think it will boost your stock price for the next year and a half before we see a dramatic decline or acquisition. I don't wish a decline on anyone - but I can't see how they will compete with snapchat when it comes to Gen Z and even later generations. If you have any thought's feel free to chime in :) 

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a hot topic in the tech community right now, which is almost counter intuitive...because we see all of these prominent tech figures talking about how important it is to take a time out from our gadgets and social networks to reconnect with ourselves and the world around us.

I'm breathing in.

I'm breathing out.

Sorry about that, I was just taking a quick breathing break to remind myself of where I am and what I'm doing, so that I can truly appreciate life and the fact that I'm living and embrace this moment.

Because every moment on this earth is a fantastical blessing and miracle in it's own right.

There is NO doubt in my mind that technology is evil.

There is also no doubt in my mind that it's our savior.

Technology is 100% integrated into our evolution and from this point in time forward will play a role in shaping human existence. I am a full believer that our destiny's are intertwined.

Part of me feels hopeless about it. I look around and see people so consumed with their gadgets that I DO believe people will say yes to implants. Honestly I don't know if I'd say no to an affordable connected device embedded seamlessly (and painlessly) under the first few layers of my skin. It's an absurd concept, but one day it WILL be available.

The few things I do know are:

1) My son likes playing with rocks and dirt and puddles
2) But when you put him in front of screen, he's powerless to it
3) When I spend more time on social media, I get instant gratification, but feel more scattered, and less confident about where I'm at in life in the long run.
4) Our education system is NOT doing a good enough job at teaching kids about mindfulness
5) Humans are forgetting how we got here in the first place

If you're looking for a good place to start, try this: http://www.amazon.com/The-Miracle-Mindfulness-Introduction-Meditation/dp/0807012394

MagicPlaylist

As you probably know, I'm a Product hunt Addict. I use the Panda 4 Chrome extension to get my daily dose of new products (mostly software) and every now and then I stumble on something that I can't help but share.

Today's gold mine find is for everyone out there that uses spotify.

You might think I'd be willing to pay for spotify seeing as I'm a music blogger over on Onlythebeat.com. Unfortunately, it's a touchy subject for me and I've refused to become a spotify user because I want to build my own streaming service and I don't want to give them the satisfaction of having me as a user.

But as they continue to roll out new product features I'm having a hard time resisting.

Don't get me wrong, I've used the product a ton...for...competitive analysis...but I've never been able to pull the trigger on the 9.99 monthly subscription fee and my mobile music listening habits have remained firmly rooted in podcasts because I'm usually concerned with what's new, not necessarily creating epic playlists, which is really what spotify allows you to do (in the cloud). Podcasts are free...so again, I can't really see the value in paying for spotify when I can barely get through all of the free music podcasts deliver on a weekly basis.

And it's funny, the tool I want to share with you today wasn't even developed by spotify, which continues to prove how important it is to have open source software, generous API's, and application marketplaces. It's the add ons developed by random dudes in their basements that will finally convert resistant people like me into a user.

Behold, music magic: 

http://magicplaylist.co/?ref=producthunt

I tried to trick this thing and typed in some pretty random Trance artists and tracks but it was still able to come up with playlists. And for someone who has spent the last 4 years focusing specifically on podcasts and reviewing singular EDM tracks, this thing might be able to help me drastically improve my music library for entertaining less EDM focused guests at parties etc.

Chill playlists, 90's hip-hop, R&B...Genres I really enjoy but haven't dedicated any time to curating over the last 4 years...I can create playlists and save them to spotify in seconds. And that solves a huge problem for me.

Shout out to the guys that developed this. Maybe I can hire them to help me build a new streaming service in the near future.

If you're interested in doing something like that, connect with me on linkedin.

The Great Suspender

Blogging about technology is something that I love to do.

But I don't necessarily like to blog technology in the same way I review music on OnlyTheBeat.com.

Listening to music is more of an emotional experience where as technology plays more of a utilitarian role in my life. When I do discover useful technology that solves real problems for me I share it here on my blog. Usually devoid of the pomp and fluff that I provide when describing my favorite genre: melodic, euphoric, uplifting, big room Trance.

The Great Suspender is one of my new favorite chrome extensions. It "automatically suspends unused tabs to free up system resources."

Aka, for those of us that might not have the latest macbook and run into issues when we have more than a few tabs open, this bad boy swoops in to save the day.

Pro tip: Make sure you turn on the screen shot option in the settings so that when you come back to a tab, you can see (remember) what was actually on the page :)

More info:

"The Great Suspender is a lightweight chrome extension to help reduce chrome's memory footprint for users that like to have too many tabs open at the same time. This extension will automagically unload each tab while retaining its favicon and title text. A tab can be restored by clicking anywhere on the page when it is needed. This reduces the number of dom elements on the page and ensures no memory leaks or excessive javascripts are running."

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How are you scheduling your time?

One of the most shocking things I experience while going through the interview process with Amazon was the lack of technology used in the process of scheduling the actual times to talk. I'm sure they have their reasons for operating the way they do. Jeff Bezos doesn't seem like the type to let such an inefficiency slip, I just thought it was interesting that I had a point of contact for job related questions and a different point of contact for scheduling my interviews. Two separate humans.

The reason this is on my mind is because I've been meeting up with a ton of people since I've been back in Seattle and it's been interesting to see how everyone goes about scheduling their time. Booking their time. Arranging their time. Managing their time. It's only the most important thing we do...So I've been watching and taking notes, the results have been interesting.

The first thing that really struck me, for which I now have a hypothesis, is that my generation seems to have skipped email for personal use and all of the calendar tools that came with it. We had email in high school but we had it so early on that when Facebook came around (my Sophomore year of high school) email quickly became a distant, stuffy tool that we were forced to use in order to communicate with old people (who would undoubtedly respond with some sort of message that brought fear or the fear of more homework). And in that transition, similar to the transition from home phones to cell phones (which yes! I did live through!), we completely lost touch with the need or ability to remember anyones email address. I now know about...3 peoples email addresses by heart. Maybe 10 because I have my own business so I know most of them are laid out like: firstname@onlythebeat.com. Still, I'd be guessing.

For the sake of trying to keep these posts short and easy to digest, I'll cut to the chase and provide you with two, yes TWO amazing Google Chrome extensions that you can add to your gmail inbox in order to start managing your time better today:

1. http://assistant.to/
2. https://calendly.com/

Both are pretty cool...The only real difference I've seen, being on both side of the user experience, is that Assistant keeps the experience in your receivers gmail inbox while Calendly takes them to a web-based landing page. This is for a good reason though. If you upgrade to the paid version of Calendly that landing page can provide different options for the user, such as "Book a 15 min design critique" or "Are you my client? Book a 30 min chat." It makes sense to move the experience once more options are involved. I also give the design award to Calendly, recently removing Assistant.to from my gmail inbox because of some frustrations with how it was cluttering my emails.

I have to run! Check back for more tomorrow :)

p.s. the OTB Instagram is up to 2,335 followers (see Crowdfire)

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Crowdfire

Whether we like to admit it or not, social media followings continue to hold a lot clout (in every industry) because they give us a common benchmark with which to compare ourselves to our competitors.

Who you should compare yourself to, and in what capacity, is a completely different post all together...But if you're looking for some great personal development articles about how NOT to compare yourself to the wrong people, check out this recent post on The Art of Charm blog: Enjoying Success at Your Own Pace

Back to social.

There is something weird happening in the social media ecosystem. Generations are fractioning at ever-increasing rates and each new generation is differentiating and defining themselves by the social apps they're adopting and choosing to engage with. I've heard that Facebook is a 22-year-old and up platform, and from what I've experienced that seems to be a pretty legit generalization (caveat: I preach that we should never to make large sweeping generalizations). I was in High School when Facebook came out and was still exclusive to University students but because the school I went to gave us ".edu" email addresses we were able to create accounts and I'll be honest, that changed everything. I was pretty obsessed with Facebook all the way through college and it's been eye opening to meet younger kids that didn't even care about it.

The reason this is a big deal is because I've let my own passion for specific platforms affect my business decisions in the past.

I even let myself get talked OUT of using YouTube in exchange for Vimeo when I first started Only The Beat. Of course Vimeo had better video quality...but the discovery for your videos on the platform is zilch. Don't worry, not only have I learned from that mistake, I'm planning on making YouTube the center of our new strategy moving forward until we decide whether we're going to build out our own player or go for a turn key solution like Lessthan3.com is doing...but of course, the CEO of the video player they're using is also the CEO of Lessthan3...aka...he's just a really smart dude and realized that the video player he needed to create for his site could also be a turn-key product and completely separate viable business (since video is the future).

We make jokes like ROI (RADIO ON INTERNET) on TV shows like Silicon Valley...but it IS interesting that it really took so long for us to come full circle and bring video to the internet and make it front and center. We're talking about video on Facebook like it's some new insane thing when the first TV was invented in 1927, but I guess that's a testament to the complexity of serving millions of hours of video a day to billions of people all over the world.

I'm determined not to let this happen again. Instagram is another platform that I've shied away from personally, I've never been big on posting pictures (leaving evidence!), but there's no denying the power it has over Millennial's.

I'm going to make Instagram a focus of my work over the next few weeks, learn the in's and out's, figure out how to generate successful creative, and really learn to harness it as a marketing tool. The first step? Crowdfire. My friend has used it to gain over 7k followers on his company's Instagram in a month. All real, engaged followers. That was enough to convince me to spend the $20 a month to have 2 team members and manage 5 accounts.

Sitting at 1,796 followers as of 9/11/2015

I thought I'd give it a go and let you guys know how it works out. After just a few days of dinking around we've added ~100 followers with minimal effort. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this pans out. Don't drink the coolaid just yet, I'll keep you guys posted.

He's also advised me to use iconosquare.com for Instagram analytics and comment management, which I will also be doing and reporting back on. The yearly subscription only runs you $28.80. I'm excited to get started.

Are you marketing like it's 2015?

Content is king. 

Let's refine that statement: Amazing content with even better context is king. 

Should we refine it even more? Or is it time for marketers to stop talking about how "content is king" move the conversation forward in a more mature direction? 

I feel like the saying "content is king" has been around since the TV was invented. Duh. Hellllllo. We know content is king. 

Maybe what we should really be saying is: Having a well defined, thoughtful, and daftly executed content strategy is king. 

And content strategy isn't just "what blog posts should we write this month?"

Don't get me wrong, that is a very real part of content strategy. When it's done right it can have a massive effect for a brand of any size. But it's just one small part of the game. The content strategy role is a role that is no longer ignorable within marketing departments at any organization. Content strategy is applicable to every piece of creative that a brand produces. 

Most people don't have an intricate knowledge of the organizational structure of an ad agency, so the role of "content strategist" might sound foreign, but I view it as a hybrid of the account planning and copywriter positions. A role that lives in both worlds, strategic planning and creative. A role that requires a deep understanding of what makes the consumer tick as well as a deep understanding of the tools and resources available to execute on a given strategy. 

That means constant psychology/consumer research and a healthy does of Techcrunch and product hunt.  

The point is it's 2015. There are smarter ways for brands to be spending their money. New technology and innovation has opened new doors to help you reach THE RIGHT consumers more effectively and with more efficiency. 

Now ask yourself, is that what you're doing? 

If you want to see what the most innovative digital brands are doing, check out theAmplify. 

Google Photos Tip

After my post last night titled Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon I was riding a wave of energy and decided it would be a good idea to organize my Google Photos.

Yes, that was how I spent my Saturday night.

Imagine the horror on my face when I realized that all of the old blog post images I'd deleted from my personal Google photos also resulted in the removal of the photos from each of these blog posts on #Advertising | #Perspective.

So instead of spending today finishing one of the other posts I have in drafts, I wanted to pass along this tip so you can learn from my mistakes and avoid this issue for yourself in the future.

It makes sense now that I think about it. Blogger is a free blogging platform, a perk for writers who choose to use it, but a huge cost to Google when it comes to hosting all of their content. Apparently their solution was to bake photo and video content into your personal Google account, the one that you use for Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, etc. The photos and videos are stored as part of your free 15 gigs that come standard for anyone who signs up for a Gmail account. Compare this with Apple iCloud's 5 free gig's and Microsoft's answer in the form of office.com and a universal Microsoft login that also provides 15 free gigs.

Each company has strengths and weaknesses: Apple is strong in Product Design, Google was first to have a widely adopted free file sharing system (Google Docs), and Microsoft has always been the strongest player in the enterprise software game which has allowed it to create adopt of it's product through force and routine.

I'm an Apple fan because I believe they believe in design first. I believe they do the best job of their competitors when it comes to creating elegant product and user experience design. But I really love Google docs ease of accessibility and find it pretty awesome that Microsoft has put all of it's Office products online for free (which is basically a more robust version of Google docs now that I think of it)...But everyone has Gmail email accounts...which makes it easier to share Google docs. What I would really like to see happen, is for Apple to move it's applications to the cloud and give users more than 5 gigs of free space. If they did that, I would be all in on Apple (I would require an update to all of the products as well).

Until then, I think I'll continue using Google Drive and all of it's features and Office.com for the random times I need Word (which only seems to happen these days when I'm dealing with someone who only uses Microsoft products). But as far as things go in regards to devices, I'm still open to suggestions. Currently using iphone/macbook.

So I spent a good hour or two today going back through my trash and finding the photos I deleted in order to add them back to their original posts.

Lesson learned.

Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon

I use Google for gmail, Google docs, Google apps for business, and most recently, Google photos (which automatically uploads any photo I take on my Apple iPhone and stores it in Google photos).

I have an Apple iPhone and Apple Macbook Pro.

I use Amazon Prime as my source for books and food I don't want to go to the store for...And because I have a Prime membership, I get access to Prime instant video and Amazon Prime Music.

And Microsoft, well, I grew up on a PC. Mac's in the computer lab at school, but PC's at home and in High School. The computer lab's of the late 90's were a magical place. All of those brightly colored iMac's humming in synchrony.

I believe 7th and 8th grade I was laptop-less, just like the rest of my friends. Sleep overs were spent huddled around the family desktop playing games and illegally downloading as many gigs as we could get our greedy little hands on. It wasn't until 2003 when I went to Shattuck St. Mary's that I got my own laptop. The school was a part of a computer literacy program being funded by Gateway. The computers came in white boxes with black spots, like cows. Remember that? For some reason Gateway had a thing for cows.

It was a big deal back then, to be 14 and have unlimited access to the internet. I remember emailing friends in class. The IT staff eventually figured out how to shut off AIM during the day and after lights out, but there was always one kid who could figure out how to hack in and make it work (Thanks Max). Those days spent emailing in class seem oddly familiar to what I see happening in offices now...People coming to meetings with laptops open and phones on the table. I couldn't fool my teachers back then and you definitely can't fool me now. I wish everyone (who doesn't absolutely need to have them open) would put the tech away in meetings. 

As soon as I hit college I asked for a Macbook. I guess Gateway's attempt to hook me from a young age didn't work...Mac's were just too cool. 

And I still don't know why...which brings us back to the story about Google Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. 

My current Macbook is almost 5 years old. I'm due for a new one, but haven't had to buy one because the kind people I've worked for over the last 4 years have always been generous enough to provide me with one. 

Now I find myself in Seattle. My recent transition, which is still in progress, has put me in an interesting position to reexamine the market and my choices. Something I haven't had the opportunity to do in a long time. 

Trying to understand what I mean? Okay, well ask yourself this, 'What computer do you use at work? What operating software? What tools do you use to manage your time? Your contacts? Your music?" 

Now I'll ask you: Are they your first choice? Would you really buy a Lenovo if it was up to you? 

I didn't think so. 

All of a sudden I found myself at U-Village near the University of Washington standing in an Apple store, staring across the parking lot at a Windows store. Things look a lot differently when you're paying the full price tag yourself. So I sauntered out of the Apple store and into the Windows store. I was pretty blown away at what they had to offer for the price point. The Surface Pro 3 seems pretty legit for a toy to keep around the house if your employer is footing the bill for your work computer, but then again, maybe it's just all of those Russell Wilson commercial's speaking to me subliminally. But what was especially awesome, that I can't believe I didn't know about, is office.com. I've been using Google docs so long I didn't even know you could access Microsoft Word for free online. 

I feel like I've been woken up from a horrible nightmare where I've been making all of my purchase decisions based off of stock prices, only to realize that my nightmare is true, and even worse, I finally understand how irrational the Market really is. 

Everyone you talk to is on a different side. And everyone that works in the stores are getting paid to tell you their company and it's solutions are the best. 

I wish this was a blog post with some closure, but I'm sorry, it's not. I'm just getting started. And I feel like I'm back at the beginning. Sitting in that dim old computer lab, wondering which computer is really the best. 

Do I go full Google and get a Chromebook and Andriod phone and watch TV on Chromecast? Or the Amazon Fire Stick, a Kindle and Prime? Do I stick with Apple and continue over paying for things I don't even use? 

In a world where we're told that technology is supposed to make things easier for us, this sure is difficult. 

The difficult part is that it's all subjective. And the next time I step into an office I'm sure they'll have an operating system that they'll want me to use. I think the work place maintains a stronger hold on our technology habits than we realize, and as the lines between work and life continue to blend, completely eroding the idea of work-life balance into a singular existence, my advice to the tech companies battling for our allegiance is this: Everything is going to come down to the details and design. 

I'm extremely interested to see who will win the race to create their own entire ecosystem. 

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The Consumer Internet

If the Internet was really just the Internet, then why would Reed Hoffman, the Founder of LinkedIn, call the Internet "The Consumer Internet" in his book The Start Up of You?

(Great book btw, definitely check it out if you haven't had a chance yet).

I'll tell you why. Because anything that you read on the Internet for free...is an opinion piece. This included. I was toying with the idea of calling all free media and content propaganda, but only with the intention of inciting some type of visceral reaction from you. Regardless, I don't think propaganda is too far from the truth, but I'll stick with "opinion pieces" and give the rest of the journalists out there a break.

Unless you're willing to pay for your media consumption habits, like the Wall Street Journal, or the Harvard Business Review, you seriously need to consider taking everything with a grain of salt.

We're even beginning to openly acknowledge, in the form of a running joke it seems, that wikipedia is flawed at times. I just heard a Podcast with Tim Ferris where he and the guest chuckled at the idea of trusting their Wikipedia bios. All I'm saying is that in a world of on-demand free content we need to remember why humans created 'barriers to entry' in the first place. My comments have nothing to do with who should be allowed to consume content and everything to do with paying people for their art.

And a lot of the time, picking up a book is a lot better use of your time than opening a new tab.

Just because something CAN take up your attention, doesn't mean that it should. Remember to ask yourself how things make you feel. "Was this worth my time?" But even more importantly "When I put down that book, or when I close that tab, do I feel inspired?"

There are so many things that inspire me on a daily basis...but the internet...doesn't seem to be one of them. Then again, I guess I don't really read on the internet. It all just seems to fly by, like the boy in the image at the top of the post. Clicking from one page to the next as though there is something I need to get to faster, quicker....when I really need to be slowing down. Thinking things through. Asking myself the tough introspective questions I posed above...

There is a consumer internet. And a creator internet. Which one do you want to be a part of? 

When Will Marketers Talk About Attention, Not Impressions?

I came across a blog post from Gary Vaynerchuk this week that I've been waiting to share with you. His blog post covers a topic that he actually discusses quite frequently, the idea of attention rather than impressions.

The advertising/marketing community, or anyone that really knows what they're doing, for example a small business owner who manages their own PPC ads, knows that the system is flawed. They know that 10%, 20%, even up to 50% of their digital marketing budget is going to circle the toilet bowl; wasted due to improper reporting, fraud, and a variety of other flaws in the marketing/advertising ecosystem that we're too quick to sweep under the rug. Or as Gary says:

"The entire marketing world is obsessed with impressions. You might hear someone say "40,000 people saw this video." But the truth is, they didn't. They didn't because as soon as the ad came up in video form, they clicked away to a new tab to look at something they actually wanted to see. But they count as an impression. They count as "seeing it."

And he's right.

We're too quick to accept impressions as a industry wide metric because it allows us to keep reporting these massive numbers to our clients who in turn continue to pay us.

But we should be smarter than that. And people like Gary are smarter than that.

If you're video got viewed 1 million times, but no one watched more than 10% of it, you probably missed the mark with the creative.

We need to measure attention because the simple fact is attention (read as: time focused) has become our most precious commodity.

1) The way we spend our time 2) Who we spend it with...those are the two most important things that will determine the outcome of our lives.

And it's not like it's rocket science to get the attention data, it's sitting there for you in google your Google Analytics.

But before we get any deeper, the purpose of this particular post is to share Gary's article with you as well as my response, a comment on his site that I've taken a screen shot of and shared below.

Read: When Will Marketers Talk About Attention, Not Impressions?

My comment:

The reality is: The reason YouTube is such a success is because the content lives and dies by the sword of attention. People either watch your videos or they don't. If advertisers and marketers would approach their creative with the same intensity (mindset), they'd be more apt to produce higher quality work. Ultimately saving clients money in the long run while building a stronger brand (advertisements....shouldn't look like ads anymore). We see this happening already on the creative side with brands like Red Bull that just seem to get it. I mean, come on, they literally just show us dope clips from extreme sports athletes to sell us an energy drink that even THEY admit tastes horrible unless chilled to the perfect temperature. And we also see brands like Taco Bell extorting every last oz out of social media attention hotspots to further their cause. Taco Bell is disgusting. But I still like/respect the brand. I have no idea why. A little reminder that we don't think rationally 100% of the time. And that the correct use of media truly can sway the public.

Finally, if you're an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur and you haven't seen this video....thank me later. Stop what you're doing or set aside 45 minutes this weekend for a life changing (SUPER REAL) one-way conversation with Gary Vaynerchuk.

Gary Vaynerchuk | USC Entrepreneur Talk | 2015

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Twitter, Isis, and the unintended consequences of changing the world

What do you do when the most important work you've ever done is hijacked from you and used for evil?

Imagine toiling for years, Chinese food, dim lights, late nights, and painstaking decisions about whether or not to pivot. Imagine pouring everything you have into a project that you fundamentally believe is going to change the world, only to have its ethos ripped away and twisted by the users into a dark and powerful tool of hate.

An article from the associated press ran in today's Seattle Times detailing the destruction of ancient history in Syria by the Islamic state. They're saying it's the "most brutal, systematic destruction of ancient sites since World War II." Not only are they destroying some of the world's oldest and most historic mosques, churches, and archaeological sites, the Islamic military state is beheading people who dedicated their lives to preserving our shared history. Isis is a hot button topic. I don't think I need to go any further into detail to get your blood boiling. It bothers me deeply that human are stilling killing one another over religious differences, and I have no idea how this is going to play out on a global scale.

Now imagine that you are one of the founders of Twitter. You've created a product that I love. A product that I use daily. A product that's been used to overthrow governments, lead revolutions, and champion justice. You've also created a product that terrorists use to post pictures of Nutella chocolate in attempt to recruit new members. Apparently having a fondness for Nutella is an axiom of humanity, we simply cannot refuse the delicious combination of hazelnuts and chocolate.

And it bothers me. It really bothers me that I'm using the same app as a terrorist. I know that's irrational. I use the app for news while they use it to spread hate...but it still bothers me. I also want to acknowledge It's unfair of me to pick on Twitter, almost any social networking app can and is (most likely) being used by 'terrorists.'

Where do we draw the line when it comes to free speech on the internet? Especially when the 1st Amendment sets the precedent for protecting the rights of the people who created the company and product but not those who are using the product to galvanize a segment of the global population that is willing to kill themselves to see our Constitution burned and our Country in ruins? Dramatic, I know. Our laws of the land aren't simple, and they're even harder to enforce on the internet. For an internal example all we have to do is take a glance at Reddit and ask ourselves: "How much hate are we going to allow ourselves to perpetuate when when know it's having a detrimental effect on our society?" This leads into a much longer conversation about who gets to make that call, why they get to, and how it will be done. And it's conversation I'm confident will continue to play out as long as humans and the internet co-exist.

Twitter has done an amazing job responding to this situation. Cracking down on accounts associated with Isis and continuing to cull thousands more. But the facts stand that The Islamic State "has been astonishingly successful at spreading its message using 21st-century social media," moving to new social platforms like Diaspora according to ROYT.org.

Terrorism is an extreme case. And I'll admit that I've used it to grab your attention.

Getting back to business 

Being able to foresee unintended consequences is one of the big differences between bourgeoning and veteran entrepreneurs. Luckily it is a process that can be learned through meticulous practice and repetition. Your brain is a muscle and one that needs to be flexed. Especially in the arena of business.

Forcing yourself to sit down and think about the potential unintended consequences of your product will help you discover holes in your business plan as well as ideas for product improvement and new streams of revenue. The challenging part is that we live in a global economy, but we don't always feel the forces of the global economy until it's too late and disaster has already struck. Entrepreneurs will need to become increasingly educated, up-to-date, and empathetic in order to use their imagination to fill in the gaps about any potential repercussions of their business decisions. And keeping your finger on the pulse of the world, that's really hard. Capitalism doesn't care about empathy, but todays consumers do. And we're seeing it reflected in the market all the time. Consumers are voting with their dollars, choosing to support brands that support their employees, healthy lifestyles, and different humanitarian causes around the world. For the first time in a long time, it feels like empathy has become a part of the equation again. This makes it even more important to operate your business with integrity and stick to your values. Every decision you make will be scrutinized, and remember, it's always the interim.

I'm the first one to admit that keeping up with the world's business can be overwhelming. I feel like I have so much to learn and I wish I learned it all yesterday. Unfortunately that's just not possible, and accepting that reality has brought me peace of mind.

We have to have focus in life in order to be successful. Or as John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on fire says, "F.O.C.U.S: Follow one course until success." You shouldn't spend two hours a day reading about the fish markets in Japan if you aren't in the fish business. But you can choose to set aside 10 minutes each day to study something new and give it 100% of your focus. One thing at a time, one day at a time.

Magical things will start to happen for you when you start approaching your life with this mindset: "Have I given the task at hand 100% of my focus? And if I have, has it moved me one step closer to accomplishing my goal?" Even if you only spend 10 minutes a day on a task, it's an extremely empowering feeling to be able to answer "Yes" to both of those questions.

We're always trying to bite off more than we can chew. We live in a society that condones instant gratification and we forget that so many of our most revolutionary discoveries came from painstakingly boring, routine tasks that took deadly intense focus (for example, Pickering’s Harem, a group of women who worked at the Harvard Observatory combing through hundreds of thousands of photos of stars in order to produce data that lead to the empirical foundation of astronomical theory). The good news? None of us are tasked with solving the mysteries of the universe (I just like to think about them in my free time).

My advice for entrepreneurs is to adopt the compound effect. Do little things each day that add up over time to give you a slight advantage. Do 100 pushups a day. Set aside 5 minutes to mediate. And in regards to keeping your find on the pulse of the global economy? Listen to APM's Marketplace podcast everyday. It's a small, easy win that will have a huge impact on the way you think about business and the global economy. Not to mention, it will make you a more interesting person.

I really want to stress that I'm not saying entrepreneurs should spend an in-proportionate amount of time thinking about unintended consequences of every business decision they make. It would be preposterous to suggest that you spend your days fretting over the ways that your product could be used for evil. But taking some calculated time at the beginning of a new project to suss out the potential pitfalls and unintended consequences of a new venture? Now that sounds like a seasoned professional to me.

So how can you learn to foresee the unintended consequences of your product or business decisions? Well, If you want to create a new product or service that disrupts the market, you're going to need to be able to think like a hacker. Here are some questions you might want to consider:

• Who did I build this product for and why? 
• Who else will see value in what I've created?
• Does this product help people see the commonalities in one another? Or the differences?  
• Who will spot an opportunity for manipulation? And if I do see an opportunity: How can I block it? Can I add a feature that will enhance security? Can I get people to pay for this added feature? 
• How can my product can be manipulated? 
• Am I accounting for advances in technology? 
• Is my security as good as it needs to be? 
• Is identity verification going to be central to the success of the product? 
• Does my business model depend on the success and/or failure of other businesses? And if so, who and what does their business model depend on. 
• What kind of influence could climate change have on my business? War? 
• Am I building this product for one specific group of people? Or a global community?
• What are my values, and where will I draw the line with censorship? 
• Do I have the time and money necessary to fight back against the inevitable misuse of my product? 

The good news? This will become easier over time as you continue to repeat the process and ask yourself the hard questions. It is the process of asking those hard questions that will open your mind to new ways of thinking, new information, and ultimately, make you a better entrepreneur.

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Ashley Madison, Venmo, and the Reality of Encryption

Of course your information is safe...

I can't help but get frustrated with friends and acquaintances who refuse to download the mobile payment app Venmo. It's been out for a few years now, it's owned by PayPal (a trusted online payment Source) and it makes transferring money between friends unbelievably easy. One could say I'm a bit of a Venmo evangelist, rolling my eyes at people who don't have it yet and grabbing their phones out of their hands so I can log on to the App Store and install it on their phone. I've even gone as far as to accuse people of being sketchy for not wanting to download and use the app. I know that sounds horrible, but I used to jump to conclusions:

"Is there something I don't know about this person? Why wouldn't they want to make their life easier? They really don't want to attach a bank account? Is that because they only deal in cash? And if they do, are they involved in something illegal? Everything is done online, why don't you trust this massive payment conglomerate? Sign away you life!!!"

Apparently I'm obsessed with technology (and willing to put my bank account in harms way). I spend a lot of my free time browsing Product Hunt for the latest and greatest products, that 99% of the time, have been enhanced with software (or they're pure SaaS, web apps etc). I plan on spending many early morning and late evenings writing about the companies I discover on Product Hunt. I think it's one of the best websites in the world and everyone should take some time to download the Panda 4 Chrome extension so they can be tapped into Product Hunt every time they open a new tab (and the many other sources that Panda 4 makes available).

So why won't my friends use Venmo? 

The lasted privacy breach that's effected Ashley Madison and its users reminds us that none of us are safe. Even when the entire business model of a company we are entrusting is based on privacy and secrecy.

The Ashley Madison hack was actually pretty small http://t.co/Yty7zT9PSm pic.twitter.com/zhh4VuOoY2

— BI Tech (@SAI) August 20, 2015

This seems to happen every few months now. And even though the tweet from Business Insider Tech above callously reminds us that this breach is one of the smaller ones, the graph lacks context. The context is: How many people in America are even married anymore? The world? And of those, some ~30 million are cheating?! I digress, this is an entirely other conversation all in of itself, so let's move on (stop cheating, just break up).

I was still curious about how a business that sells anonymity could let such a horrible thing happen to it's customers. And could something like this happen to me? Could my Venmo account be just as easily hacked? This lead me to ask the smartest computer programmer I know about privacy, security, and encryption.

What he had to say might surprise you. Maybe not.

Ashley Madison Logo

Everything is hackable. Encryption is essential an extremely complex mathematical equation that can be cracked over time. The idea is that the equations are so complex and advanced, that they would take other computers more than a human lifetime to break. But of course, this does not account for Moore's Law. The layers of security that a system has will determine how well something is protected, but he told me that ultimately the final layers are really just warning systems that notify the business someone is hacking in and it's time to pull the plug. 

"It's safe to assume that anything connected to a network can be exploited."

Interesting side note: He told me how terrorist would use email accounts as digital drop boxes, logging in and writing emails but never sending them, saving them as drafts instead and passing along the login info so others could sign in from different locations and read the messages. Apparently this worked for a while...and when you think about it, might be a better way to cheat on your significant other than using Ashley Madison.

So, maybe, the reality is just that Ashley Madison was never protected enough in the first place. A reminder to those considering entering the tech space that security is only becoming more important. Make sure you hire a good security dev. And for those that are looking for new ventures, cyber security is HOT right now. Government contracts, big seed rounds, if you can develop a user friendly way to distribute online identity verification in a new and relevant way you might be able to make a LOT of money. I know from experience during my time at Scottsmarketplace.com, an online marketplace connecting shoppers with local business owners, identity verification was always something we struggled with. People will go to insane lengths to try and "hack" the system.

But I'm not a cheater...

I'm not worried about getting caught on Ashley Madison, I'm not even married. But my bank account? That's an entirely different situation all together. 

I did some research and went over to Venmo's website to check out what they had to say about their security. To be honest, it was the same type of verbage I seem to see everywhere: 

"Venmo uses bank grade security systems and data encryption to protect you and guard against any unauthorized transactions and access to your personal or financial information. If you suspect that there has been any unauthorized activity on your account, please contact us immediately at support@venmo.com—we’re here to help."

Okay, so #1, what are "bank grade security systems" and why are they so much better than whatever Ashley Madison had? #2, notice that last part of the statement? "If you suspect that there has been any unauthorized activity on your account..." So you're telling me Venmo could get hacked?

Now I realize I'm playing devil's advocate, I trust Venmo and our bank grade security systems enough to use them. But these 'alleged' hacks from China who have apparently stolen government information coupled with the string of breaches to private companies are making me rethink my laissez-faire attitude when it comes to the storage of my digital coin.

I'm going to do more research and dig into some videos that I'll share with you later, but in the meantime, I'll just go ahead and leave this here:

Laws of Physics Say Quantum Cryptography Is Unhackable. It’s Not

What are your thoughts/feelings about using services like Venmo? Do you feel like your information is safe? Or have you just given up and given in? Assuming that eventually all of your information will be public anyways...

Interested to hear others thoughts :)

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Smart Phone? More Like Magic Wand.

Another great find while watching Ted Talks during my lunch today, wait, that's an understatement. The free mobile app in this demonstration, called Aurasma and created at Cambridge, is going to have a monumental effect on the advertising industry. I'm going to tell you what it does, but not even that will spoil the amazing capabilities this app encompasses.

It allows anyone, for free, to tag an image, with a video. That means that anytime the app is open, and one holds their phone up to an image that his been tagged, the image will come to life, acting out whatever video (even 3D) has been prompted to play. It can fit in with the picture, the picture itself can begin to move, or a completely random video can pop up. But the fact that we can now create free interactive experiences for consumers, in their environment, is just absolutely mind blowing. Not to mention they are already using it for education! Having a smart phone is becoming more and more like having a magic wand. You can tag text books to come to life and give extra visual learning opportunities. Dressing room experiences are going to become more animated. Billboards interactive with rich media. The possibilities are endless; and what's even more excited, something Matt mentions in the Ted Talk, is that the processing power/phone technology is only getting better and better, faster and faster.

If someone big gets behind this app (Think P&G POP/in-store visual product demonstrations), and sinks real money into it (someone will, I will!) the world of advertising will never be the same.

Make Technology Disappear

The goal is to make technology disappear with seamless user interfaces....I can't wait for "a more natural future." Great talk from Steve Clayton of Microsoft....

It's All Mobile From Here

Has anyone out there heard of singularity? Perhaps you read the article in Time Magazine? It was a feature article that made the cover, which looked a little something like this…

What is the future of mobile technology? What about bio and nanotechnology? Does this pertain to advertising in any way? What about…everyone

You’re skeptical; maybe even surprised you’ve kept reading after that creepy picture with the thingy sticking into the unnaturally pale bald head. I don’t like it either and I’m not sure how I feel about the article, which is why you should probably read it for yourself. In the meantime, to get you interested, here is a little quote from the article written by Lev Grossman…

“Kurzweil believes that we're approaching a moment when computers will become intelligent, and not just intelligent but more intelligent than humans. When that happens, humanity — our bodies, our minds, our civilization — will be completely and irreversibly transformed. He believes that this moment is not only inevitable but imminent. According to his calculations, the end of human civilization as we know it is about 35 years away.”

This is a must read article. No matter who you are. If you plan on being alive for the next thirty years this knowledge, information, and insight will give you some much needed perspective on the future. One that is evolving and growing exponentially at what some might say is an alarming rate.

Read the rest of the article here: Singularity 

I am interested in others thoughts. Do you think we would ever let computers or robots gain the upper hand? I don’t even think it would be possible to regulate the building of robots. someone in some country in some cave with access to the internet (infinite information) would be able to build as they please. It makes you wonder what the government is doing with its DOD budget, and why it’s so large. I’m probably being tracked right now just for bringing it up!

Either way, the next step in our technological advancement as a global community is in the direction of mobile technology, which I will delve into with my next few posts. Just thought this might be a fun way to get it started!!

-Daniel 

The Semantic Barrier!

Mapping Social Media (watch the video here)

Tom Thai from Bluefin Labs explains how they are connecting the semantic gap.
Shout out to Tom Thai for using a hockey reference in his speech too, even though he is a Bruins fan #GoCanucks 

OK, this technology is pretty crazy, and not even in the sense that it is extremely complicated to understand for humans, but because it is making it possible for computers to make human inferences and connections between social media conversations and how they are/were sparked. They have a sweet data slice visualization of 50,000 people. relevant vocab, social graph: which is made up of all your Facebook friends, Twitter followers etc. Content graph: everything that happens on TV. Episodes of TV, a commercial that runs inside of a TV show would be connected to that TV show.

The guys at Bluefin Labs have come up with this technology that focuses on connecting the feedback loop between audience and speaker but on a grand scale using new technology. Or in other words, they have put in 15 years of research at MIT which is allowing them to map out social media chatter and see where it stems from, what started it, what it is relative to. Here is a good quote from the article that explains what the challenge is:

"the challenge in all of this: help machines understand the semantic layer, or the what the conversation is about. As he describes it, the first input is TV, the second input is social media. The space in the middle is the semantic barrier."

They call this mapping between the social and content graph the TV Genome, which is cool? maybe giving themselves a little too much credit with that name haha. Anyways, it does seem to have some futuristic implications. The article even gets a little profane with one of its examples so dive in if you life the F-word. If not, I would still suggest watching the video! 
The take home message from the article is that by harvesting this data on such a HUGE level, and doing it correctly with computers, will allow us to discover new surprising insights from the data. gotta love insights. I don't know about you, but if you are in advertising and you went to Washington State you probably enjoy reading Mintel in your free time ;)

Thoughts? what could the implications be? what could be discovered? is this even worth doing?

We all want to be Famous

     The first thing I encourage each one of you to do is go to this page and read Dave Wieneke's article on the use of QR codes. Dave Wieneke is a very respected digital strategist, and knows much more about where the future of digital marketing is headed than I do. I enjoyed reading his article Which I have posted below. It is my hope you will read this post and be inspired to think about issues from another persons perspective. One thing I will keep consistent through out this blog is that it is not just important but absolutely necessary to keep an open mind and see things from other peoples perspectives. Thats all I ask. Although we may have different ideas on a particular subject we are all working towards the same common goal.


Why Marketers Shouldn't Waste Their Time With QR Codes


     Wieneke makes two interesting points when he says that we are falling victim to the "overuse of a new technique, which is nothing new," and that "QR codes can actually impede the conversation. He compares QR codes to mini-disc's, which never caught on, but ends his article by saying that they do offer some benefits, such as displaying boarding passes on smart phones to ticket readers.  


     There are definitely some points where I agree with Wienenke. For the most part, QR codes are rather dull and drab looking and do not excite there audience visually. Though, such as the one I have posted above, certain companies have started to come out with more appealing looking codes. Wieneke says in his article that he would rather use a 30 ft. rat, like the one he sees on the street, to advertise than a QR code because it "made the moment memorable and created an instant connection between the protesters and me." I think a 30ft. rat my grab my attention too, but when I asses the situation from a different perspective, such as a female (sorry for the generalization), a large rat might be very off putting. Wieneke is correct in his statements about the ability for a 30ft. rat to attract attention, when he is the target market, do you agree? So, we would be in agreement that there are many different target markets? And you would agree that QR codes reach some demographics better than others? My final question would be, perhaps QR codes are not meant to target men in Wieneke's demographic....


    I will spare you the Socratic method and give a little bit about my perspective on QR codes. I would love to hear what you think. Personally, I feel that "creating an instant connection," between consumers and your brand is the job of advertising. Otherwise, you might as well be selling your competitors product. Where Wieneke and I see differently, is in our generational ideologies. I on one hand, am referred to by your marketing research companies as a digital native. I remember the enjoy of unwrapping that first ipod! the tears of happiness over my first iphone! And with that, the curiosity involved with and satisfaction that came from snapping a pic of my first QR code. I love QR codes because they are new and different. Most of the time I don't even care what company they are for because I am so excited about utilizing the new technology that I have access to. It fulfills the most sought after human desire, importance. QR codes make people feel like they are taking part in the advertising process and doing so on their on accord; which is the most important way to get people involved. We  don't want to sell people products, we want them to buy products. 


     The next thing I noticed in the article was his statement that: "First, you have to assume not everyone knows what they are, so you have to explain how they work." My comments once again go back to the issue of segmentation and importance. As a 22 year old male, I am constantly, where I admit it or not, trying to out do others. The possession of knowledge is one of the ways that this can be accomplished. say for example, I meet a cute girl with a new iphone that does not know how to work it, but I have the knowledge and ability to show her how. In turn she becomes intrigued. That is a playful example, but the again humans always have alternative motives. Like J. Pierpont Morgan observed, a person usually has two reasons for doing a thing: one that sounds good and a real one. My point here is that there is a group of people out there who ARE interested in QR codes and will take the responsibility upon themselves to self educate. And personally I do not feel like it is that strenuous of a process: download the app once, when you see a QR code open the app and point it at the code, it does the rest for you. Is the American public really that helpless? Even if QR codes are replaced by some cooler, faster, and easier technology in a few years they can still be used right now to target a niche market; which is necessary in this era of advertising and marketing. 


WHAT DO YOU THINK?
     

Apple Jockey

Ok, I am not someone who claims to be a HUGE Apple fan, even though I have an iphone, ipod, mac book pro, whatever. But if you haven't seen the updates they implementing through Ios5 you really need to check out this video.  New Ios5!

There idea for wireless syncing is probably my favorite part about it. A lot of people who use blackberry's like to focus on BBM messenger as the distinguishing feature that separates its from the iphone. The first thing I have to say to that is...you don't have unlimited texts? And unless you are a drug dealer there is no reason to want to have your "instant messaging" untraceable. Plus, when I did have a blackberry, my first would just get mad at me because they can see when you read their message and don't respond or vice versa. So, that being said, say hello to imessenger, and say goodbye to bbm.

I read someones review about the new operating system and they were hating on it saying it was super basic and simple....and I'm thinking, ya, that's why people like it. Apple has been able to tap into a technologically befuddled demographic and made them feel cool for being able to use an ipad, and thats cool! People like things that are simple. It's human nature. Not everyone can be in the 10% of consumers who are ahead of the curve. my mom barely uses computers, and she is a neurologist, but she has an iphone.

let me know what you think they best part of the #Ios5 update is....