15 minute catch-up

I am catching up on a number of emails and readings. For a change I'll list what I catch-up on below:

23:10: Old School Music by Lauryn Hill at MTV Unplugged. Music is interactive and definately a marketing tool so make sure to listen to as much music as you can!

23:13: Remember Technology Sunday? Well I hope to be able to write some more on the suppliment or elsewhere. Doing some thinking on a possible topic.

23:14: Networking is useful. It starts off from the fact that collective intelligence is more powerful than individual so I've just accepted a LinkedIn invitation from a friend who now works in telecoms like i do.

23:18: Sorting deadlines for some forms I have to fill in.

23:23: Discover new ventures. I planning to post some more interviews about new projects and just got one in my mailbox. Will hopefully BLAB about it shortly.

23:24: Last minute...

23:28 (exceeded catch-up time by 3 minutes) Staying hungry - checking on what to read/study in the coming year

23:30: (2 more minutes) Some more posting about the latest happenings at ICON which emails me regularly with fresh new projects: ICON just launched 'a fresh, SEO-efficient portal' for local artist, Stephanie Borg: http://www.stephanieborg.com/steffiborg/home.aspx

23:32: Back to work!

Blab & steal attention "from anywhere"

I got this Twitter status by email:

'BBC Radio 1 to broadcast Coldplay's Glasgow gig on Sept 18th (listen online from anywhere) - http://bit.ly/Z7qGg'

Have you ever driven for long distances, driving for hours, crossing boarders and countries? Well if you have/had to do that you would know that your car stereo would switch from one radio station to the other on the same or nearby frequency. Some of the radios are specific to the area and broadcast traffic updates as you cross the region. Very useful, however very old school. Today you can broadcast content from anywhere and you don't have neither size nor geographic limitations.

This is great news however not totally: the massive content clutter makes my blog one of many many, and hence, empowered by the internet which allows an unqualified blogger like me to broadcast his thoughts, I am actually less important than ever. If I really had to be serious about being important online, I would have to devise an attention stealing strategy!

However, I may resort to the 'Blab & follow' strategy. I'll blab when I think it is appropriate, as we all do on our facebook, twitter, blogger accounts, and then wait for some attention to be given to me. A long-tail, a big long tail of blabs give us a long tail of attention - little amounts of attention for everyone to be happy wherever ("from anywhere")!

Blank sheet approach - adds freshness

I'd like to drop a line or two about the fresh page / blank sheet approach. This post is less about interactive marketing and more about how we work, which explains that I am doing less reading and more working...which is a contradiction because I strongly believe that the more you work, the more you should read and stay in touch.

A fresh page is a clean start, a beginning. A fresh page does not mean forgetting about the mistakes and successes of past projects but implies entering the room or kick starting a project objectively and openly. A fresh blank sheet implies not being biased from the start, it highlights the need to listen carefully, look at the issue from all possible unexplored perspectives and then if necessary go back to the baggage you carry around with you from past projects you've been involved in.

Text by DESA

I have recently been involved in a project by the English students association DESA. The above is the end result of their hard work and enthusiasm. There is no financial business model in the project but a freshness of colour, discovery and literature. To get to know more about DESA visit their online space at http://soc.um.edu.mt/desa-soc/latest.html

Social brands and latest news

I admire brands which regularly update their followers/consumers about what they're up to. Some of these brands regularly send e-newsletters which are less of a promotional message and more of an informative one. Often, they even add tips which are in-line or adjacent to their area of expertise.

There other brands though, brands that BLAB in bursts, surprise their followers and then go to sleep for some weeks or months. Then they burst again when research highlights they have been losing appeal or trust. These brands under-estimate the value of news! Their news section is often hidden somewhere in their website. Their latest news section is often not up to date with the latest news and their news is no news but a promotional BLAB. In contrast, social brands interact socially. Social brands update their twitter status and tell us what's on their mind. Social brands allow us to connect and follow. Social brands enable us to speak about them in the online world because they are online.

I am a social being and it is easier for me to engage with a social side of a big commercial brand.

Happy Birthday Blogger

A worthy blab for Blogger which turns 10 next Sunday and hosts this blog amongst many. A good review about Blogger's roots and history at TechCrunch: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/17/before-there-was-twitter-there-was-blogger-and-its-turning-10/

Freshness Index

Image Source: toxel.com

I'd like to dedicate this 2 minute blab on my/your/our 'freshness index':

How fresh am I in the ideas I propose and the solutions I come up with? How open am I to alternative perspectives to one particular problem? How often do I reject the first idea? How often do I read loads of different stuff which exposes me to areas other then my everyday interests? - That's how fresh I am/you/we are!

Now I believe the above makes an individual fresh in his/her approach to life and therefore work. Now trow in the same room, office or house a bunch of such 'fresh' individuals and watch the freshness multiply and grow exponentially!

Now imagine the opposite happening in a mainstream office (of which we have many)...and cry!

Freshness brings freshness, and that it should be on our priority list at any level in any big, small or medium organization.