Greg Verdino

YouTube through an anthropologist's eyes

Is there anything Kansas State professor Michael Wesch can't do?  If the name isn't familiar to you, he's the anthropologist who produced the brilliant "The Machine Is Us/ing Us" video that portrayed the impact of Web 2.0 on not only technology but culture, and did it all in five riveting minutes.

This week, Wesch posted a presentation he gave last month at the Library of Congress.  Entitled, "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube," it uses dozens of consumer generated clips to present a compelling case for the far reaching impact of social media on world cultures and connected societies.

This video clocks in at almost an hour, so you may want to save it for your lunch hour -- or after hours, for that matter -- but I can guarantee that it will be an hour well-spent.

[Feed and email readers, please click through for the video.]

If you don't have a full hour and want to skip around to find portions that seem interesting, here is the timeline:

0:00   Introduction, YouTube’s Big Numbers

2:00  Numa Numa and the Celebration of Webcams

5:53   The Machine is Us/ing Us and the New Mediascape

12:16  Introducing our Research Team

12:56  Who is on YouTube?

13:25  What’s on Youtube? Charlie Bit My Finger, Soulja Boy, etc.

17:04  5% of vids are personal vlogs addressed to the YouTube community, Why?

17:30  YouTube in context.  The loss of community and “networked individualism” (Wellman)

18:41  Cultural Inversion: individualism and community

19:15  Understanding new forms of community through Participant Observation

21:18 YouTube as a medium for community

23:00 Our first vlogs

25:00 The webcam: Everybody is watching where nobody is (“context collapse”)

26:05 Re-cognition and new forms of self-awareness (McLuhan)

27:58 The Anonymity of Watching YouTube: Haters and Lovers

29:53 Aesthetic Arrest

30:25 Connection without Constraint

32:35 Free Hugs: A hero for our mediated culture

34:02 YouTube Drama: Striving for popularity

34:55 An early star: emokid21ohio

36:55 YouTube’s Anthenticity Crisis: the story of LonelyGirl15

39:50 Reflections on Authenticity

41:54 Gaming the system / Exposing the System

43:37 Seriously Playful Participatory Media Culture

47:32 Networked Production: The Collab.  MadV’s “The Message” and the message of YouTube

49:29 Poem: The Little Glass Dot, The Eyes of the World

51:15 Conclusion by bnessel1973

52:50 Dedication and Credits (Our Numa Numa dance)

Big thanks to my Aussie mate Gavin Heaton for pointing me to the link.  Read his post about Wesch's latest for commentary far more insightful than my own.

The future is free. Get yours today.

In this case, the future is a book -- 2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade by Richard Laermer, author of Trendspotting, Punk Marketing and the mastermind behind the Bad Pitch Blog. You can get your electronic edition free right now by visiting FreeBabyFree.

As you might have guessed from its title, 2011 is a trends book.  Laermer's starting premise is that this decade, the 10 years kicked-off by the 9/11 attacks, has been little more than a waiting period marked by prevalent mediocrity.  But that the 'big things' that we've all been waiting for will hit on or around the year 2011 -- so, as business people, we had better get ready.

Don't read this book expecting to find lots of starry eyed visions of space colonies or Jetsons-style jetpacks. Really, who has time for that kind of thing anymore?

Instead, Laermer focuses on near-in trends.  Trends that are bubbling just below the surface. The kinds of trends that are ripe for the picking (to mix a metaphor) and just might impact how we live and work, come the year 2011. In fact, Laermer presents so many trends that he has spotted -- more than 50 if I counted correctly -- that I'd be shocked if we don't look back at this book a few years from now and think, "Crap, Laermer is a modern day Nostradamus... sans beard, pointy hat and all that doom and gloom stuff."  Even if he has only nailed a few, it would be pretty impressive.

If anything, it is the sheer volume of ideas and the breakneck pace at which Laermer lays them out that maybe makes the book a little daunting.  You can open the book to almost any page and glean something useful or insightful. Trust me, there are plenty of gems between the two covers.  Laermer tackles everything from business, communications etiquette and media to aging, sexuality and of course technology (yup, you can expect to see more new technology buy don't expect to be as impressed with it as you used to be; and you know all this social networking stuff that has us all lathered up?  Laermer thinks it might be a bunch of hooey.)  All in all, if you're in the media or marketing industries -- or any industry that is affected by change (e.g., any industry at all) -- 2011 offers at least a few ideas to get you thinking. 

But reading it from end-to-end is a bit of a chore. 

I confessed this to Richard, who has been jonesing for my review (McGraw-Hill sent me an advance copy months ago), and he pointed out that this is the very reason the publisher has agreed to distribute a free e-book edition.  This is most likely the first time a major publisher has gone this route, but I think it's a smart and calculated gamble -- that you'll read a few e-chapters for free, and like what you see enough to invest in a plain old hard copy that you can dog-ear and mark-up for future reference.

Taking a page out of Laermer's book, I figure it's worth keeping an eye on whether or not other major publishers go the free-book route.  One or two more experiments, and we might be looking at a trend.

Download your free 2011 e-book now.

links for 2008-07-28

• The Guardian | Twitter Searches for the Next Step
  UK newspaper talks with Twitter's founders about where the service is now, why they acquired Twitter search tool Summize, and where they might be headed in the future.
  (tags: blogging business future internet search technology socialmedia twitter web2.0)
• ZDNet | Video: Will Mobile Social Networking Fly?
  Haven't watched the video yet, but I'm working on a presentation about the future of mobile so I am sure I'll give this one a look.
  (tags: mobile mososo future socialnetworks socialnetworking socialmedia emergingmedia)
• InformationWeek | Wireless Social Networking to Transform Tech, Media, Telecom
  Coverage of a recent iSuppli study that advises companies to shift strategies to remain relevant to an increasingly mobile, connected consumer.
  (tags: marketing mobile socialmedia technology strategy future innovation research)
• ReadWriteWeb | Brandstreaming: What Is It & Who's Doing It?
  Interesting piece on how brands can use/are starting to use lifestreaming technologies and approaches to product and distribute a constant flow of content directly to consumers.
  (tags: advertising blogs branding brands business content internet media microblogging socialmedia web2.0)

Let's caucus: My ooVoo Day... Political Edition

Whether you're a political junkie or not, it's difficult to deny that the 2008 Presidential Election will be one for the history books.  OK -- I suppose all presidential races make their way into the history books, but Obama vs McCain will be one of the hottest races that we've seen in a long time.

Tapping into the political zeitgeist, and springboarding off the success our first My ooVoo Day program, we're proud to announce My ooVoo Day With... Political Edition.

(Y'all know that ooVoo is a crayon client, but in the interest of full disclosure I figured I'd mention it anyway.)

Beginning next week -- and running through early August -- ooVoo will enable a series of multi-person video chats, hosted by 25 or so political pundits, bloggers and online commentators.  The hosts represent the conservative and liberal camps (and everything in between), and will tackle a wide variety of election year topics -- so no matter where you fall on the political spectrum or what issues get you riled up, there's bound to be a conversation that will spark your interest.

Check out the host profiles and schedules at the My ooVoo Day site, sign up for some of the 6-person chats, and while you're at it be sure to download ooVoo if you aren't already a subscriber.  Let's caucus!

You can watch this ooVoo video message to learn more about MoDW Political Edition -- as explained by ooVoo CEO Philippe Schwartz and and marketing maven Philip Robertson.

[Click through if you'd like to watch the embedded video.]

While you're at it, be sure to show your support and meet other participants on Facebook (My ooVoo Day Event, My ooVoo Day Fan Page.)

Never gonna rock n roll all nite

This is a bit off-topic but everyone deserves a little party every day.  What do you get when you combine The Hottest Band in the World with the most annoying social media prank ever devised?  The KISS Roll.

[Feed and email readers click through for the video.]

Hat tip to YesButNoButYes.

Agency pitches are nasty bitches

Anyone who has spent time at agencies knows that the new business pitch process, though a necessary evil, is absolute hell.  You expend lots of resources, usually under impossibly tight time constraints, while jumping over hurdles to meet unreasonable demands seemingly designed to prove that you really do want the client's business (e.g., would it be possible for your team to present your final proposal on Thanksgiving Day?)

But in all fairness, I can't imagine it's much better for the client.  All the time spent drawing up the request for proposal, cherry picking the small handful of agencies that you will invite, reading puffy round one written responses, sitting through two or three successive rounds of presentations, hating most of what you see but knowing that you need to choose an agency and get on with business.

The pitch process seems to be as broken as the agency model itself.

Enter Pitchh.com, a 2.0-style start-up that aims to change the way agencies and clients get to know one another. Their proposition is pretty simple -- that making the pitch process open-source will make it easier for agencies of all kinds to level the playing field and get their ideas in front of prospective clients, and easier for clients to find a virtually unlimited pool of new, cool, smart, creative and (most likely) smaller off-the-beaten-path agencies that are hungry for their business.  And of course, it's all done online,  community-style.

With agencies and clients alike looking for ways to harness distributed creativity and the wisdom of crowds, something like Pitchh seems like a logical next step.  But I figure their long term success will hinge upon their ability to attract even a few big brands and a major agency or two.  Just now soft launching in beta, they're nowhere near that point but already look like they might run the risk of becoming a marketplace that connects tiny agencies with the smallest clients with no budgets.

I'd love your thoughts, especially if you're an agency slave laborer or a marketer that makes agency decisions.  Do you think something like this will work?  What would it take for you to join and start using it to find your next marketing partner?

New colors in the crayon box

I'm sure many of you read Jaffe Juice and crayon's 93 Colors blog, so you may have already heard the news about the latest additions to the crayon box.  Nonetheless, for those of you who haven't heard the news, I'd like to let you know about the four newest crayonistas to join our team.

Many of you know that our Consiglieri Scott Monty has moved on to lead the social media charge at Ford Motor Company.  I'm happy to say that Jane Quigley has come on board to fill Scott's shoes and co-lead our client services team, while also helping Joe and me with new business development.  Jane is a well known mover and shaker in the social media space, and an experienced marketer who joins us from Zeta Interactive.

But Jane is just the most recent addition. 

I'm also happy to welcome Gary Krivin -- co-founder of Dotglu and a former senior executive at Razorfish and AKQA -- as Chief Operating Officer, and Earl Adams -- from Moxie Interactive's Verizon Wireless client service team -- as Relationship Director.

Last but not least, I don't believe I've ever officially welcomed Deb Wiseman.  Deb joined crayon early this year as a Senior Strategist working on clients like ooVoo, Panasonic, Kraft and American.  She joined us from my alma mater, Digitas, although we never worked together there. 

So with that, I present to you the latest incarnation of crayon:

A 7 letter word for napkin that starts with "tw'"

It may look like just another doodle by a bored meeting attendee.  And it might be on a legal pad rather than on the proverbial back of a napkin, but the picture above is a bona fide piece of Web 2.0 history -- or maybe I should say twistory (not to be confused with Twistori.)

Just as Twitter is seemingly crossing the chasm, if mainstream media coverage is any indication, co-founder Jack Dorsey has posted an early sketch of what was to eventually (more than six years later) become the powder blue standard for presence applications.

Dorsey accompanies his photo with what appears to be his pre-launch musings about the origins of his micro-baby:

"On May 31st, 2000, I signed up with a new service called LiveJournal. I was user 4,136 which entitled me a permanent account and street cred in some alternate geeky universe which I have not yet visited. I was living in the Sunshine Biscuit Factory in Oakland California and starting a company to dispatch couriers, taxis, and emergency services from the web.

One night in July of that year I had an idea to make a more 'live' LiveJournal. Real-time, up-to-date, from the road. Akin to updating your AIM status from wherever you are, and sharing it. For the next 5 years, I thought about this concept and tried to silently introduce it into my various projects. It slipped into my dispatch work. It slipped into my networks of medical devices. It slipped into an idea for a frictionless service market. It was everywhere I looked: a wonderful abstraction which was easy to implement and understand.

The 6th year; the idea has finally solidified (thanks to the massively creative environment my employer Odeo provides) and taken a novel form. We're calling it twttr (though this original rendering calls it stat.us; I love the word.ed domains, e.g. gu.st). It's evolved a lot in the past few months. From an excited discussion and persuasion on the South Park playground to a recently approved application for a SMS shortcode. I'm happy this idea has taken root; I hope it thrives.

Some things are worth the wait."

While Twitter still has plenty of room to grow, it's certainly interesting to get a peek into where, why and how it got its start.

Hat tips to Campfire and PSFK.

links for 2008-07-21

• The Most Public Index | Most Influential New Yorkers
  News crowdsourcing site NowPublic includes me (#14) on a list of the most "public" NY influencers, in an attempt to quantify influence based on a combination of prominence, authority and active use of key social media channels.
  (tags: socialmedia statistics reference web2.0 influence)
• The Faces of PodCamp Boston 3
  GregPC set out to snap a portrait of everyone who attending PCB3.  Here's the Flickr photo set - 140 pics when I tagged it; not sure if he's still uploading.
  (tags: socialmedia web2.0 podcasting events)

PCB3 smart social media marketing panel

I'm back at work after a great PodCamp Boston 3 weekend.  On Saturday, I shared the floor with Philip Robertson, Doug Haslam and Adam Broitman for a panel discussion/open conversation about Smart Social Media Marketing.

Qik lifestreamer Len Edgerly captured most of the hour+ session on video.  The audio is a bit dodgy but if you're interested in getting a sense of how it went and what we discussed, check out Part 1 and Part 2.

The panelists, left to right: Philip, Doug, Adam and me.  That's Len shooting the video in the lower righthand corner.  Check out Flickr for the rest of my photos from the weekend.