Mickey, Doug, Ryan, Jonathan and Matt. But, for the first time since I launched this blog, no Greg.
"No Greg" is the easy part -- I'm with the family at Disney World this week (which covers off on Mickey as well) and rather than having my blog go dark for a week or spending my "time off" online (my usual vacation routine,) I've lined up a rogue's gallery of blogfriends to contribute come pretty interesting posts during the course of the week (one per day, Mon-Thurs.)
In fact, when I got a load of the quality and diversity of the posts that these guys had written, I grew concerned that I may have made myself obsolete at my very own blog!
You'll learn why you need to think narrow and why all the technology in the world won't help if you're using it for the wrong reasons. You'll take a trip into the past (complete with codpieces!) and get a glimpse of the future. And who are the fine bloggers that will serve as your guides?
Let's meet Doug, Ryan, Jonathan and Matt...
When I first met Doug Meacham, he worked at Circuit City and was involved with, among other things, the electronic retailer's first foray into Second Life. Today (well, starting Monday actually,) Doug is a managing consultant with IBM, where he specializes in multi-channel integration for retail environments. He blogs about consumer technology, user experience and social media trends at NextUp. Congrats on your new gig, Doug!
I'm not actually sure where Ryan Karpeles works - in fact, until last week I thought he lived in Australia! Turns out Ryan is based in Chicago. Go figure. What I do know about Ryan is that he writes an uncommonly high number of posts that make me think, "man, I wish I'd written that one." If you haven't met Ryan yet, be sure to check out Living Light Bulbs.
Jonathan Salem Baskin found me, and mistook me for a marketing expert, while he was doing research for his book - Branding Only Works on Cattle -- coming out in September 2008. By day, JSB runs Baskin Associates Inc, a marketing consultancy built around the notion that Brand Is Behavior (which is certainly more actionable than my notion that Branding Is Bullshit.) His blog, Dim Bulb, is loaded with smart, quirky posts and is well worth the read.
And finally, Matt Dickman, the Techno//Marketer himself... Matt works at Digiknow and is a marketing/technology/strategy/social media rennaissance man. His video tours of new media properties, his weekly "buzz" reports and, most recently, his whiteboard videos that explain new technologies in terms that even the newest of noobs can understand combine to make him a blogger to watch (erm, pun intended...)
So, thanks to the guys (and yes, they're all guys - not sure how that happened since I know so many great women bloggers) and I hope everyone enjoys the week. Check out their posts throughout the week and don't forget to chime in with comments.
