time for the population?

I worked for an agency amusingly titled 'The Population' many years ago (2008). This was the first and most awesome social media agency to bravely launch in Sydney before the plonkas at the top decided to merge it with another agency hugely culturally removed, without any integration, that every member of staff jumped ship.

(If you don't believe me when I say how cool we were, check out this naff little farewell video I threw together.)

While working there I did indulge myself with a little article on "The Stoop" which was the entrance way to our offices tucked away in Surry Hill's namely famous for Tony Thomas' encounter with a homeless lady taking a dump on the doorstep in broad day light early one morning. 

I thought I'd give that little article a home on Jectaspecta because its so lovely to remember a fun time in my career and a place that I felt quite inspired at. Especially because having been living a 'homeless/everywhere's my home' life since October 2011; I can relate a bit more to the hobo's of Surry Hills. I did manage my madness in nature though as she doesn't seem to mind if I poop in her jungle in broad daylight.

The Stoop really is a place for the diverse.
Commonly we have the socially neglected surry hills hobo’s hang out on our doorstep. So far I have noted a few categories of the characters who like to chill in our neighbourhood.

1. The guitar hero Nikki on her way to work one morning was met with a rather interesting display. A homeless dude enthusiastically playing on his air guitar in the middle of Foster Street, with his full head of knotted hair rocking to his imaginary sound. As a big rock fan, for her that was amusing if not a very bizarre out of context dejavu.

2. The Dozer This is the guy often found curled up in the fetal position nicely tucked on our front door step. One day my heart raced as I opened our rather large and heavy front door to leave work for the day when I found myself nearly stomping on the Dozer’s head with my booted foot! Little did he know as he continued to dream. What do you think hobo’s dream about? I suppose their points of reference would be very alien to many.

3. The Loud Mentalist I know, its not PC to go round calling people hobo’s or mentalists but you have to believe me when I tell you this one is relatively just! Unfortunately the Loud Mentalist frequents these parts very often, if not daily. He is the man shouting obscenities in his weathered voice relentlessly. This is usually well timed with a client meeting. I don’t know why. Perhaps we have just become accustomed to his constant bellowing that we don’t take note until we become aware of the circumstances through awkward sound effects to our social media strategies.

There are a few more characters who brighten our day and add an element of surprise at The Population. Of course it is sad seeing people looking desperate, struggling and not sound of mind but its also reassuring to see that the Salvation Army work really hard to make their lives easier and there is even a little commune who hang out with their brown paper bags on the Hub Store doorstep (this one’s much bigger than ours) who crack jokes and support each other.

Thought it would be quite topical to post the winner from Tropfest NY 2008, "Mankind Is No Island" by Jason van Genderen.

Peace and love to Tony, Ms Scaman, Nikki Johns-Stammers-Johns, Hayley Richardson, Benhamin, Julian Cole and Cate Mathers for bringing their dash of inspired madness to The Population mix and I am happy to say that I am still in touch with most of them who became really good friends despite my worldly and sometimes illusive hobo antics...

who will occupy wall street?

With over 700 arrested over the weekend and hardly a peep from the nations mainstream media, the US Occupy Wall Street protest against the nations state of economic affairs and policy has been an interesting one to witness from the other side of the globe.

And of course, without being there how do you know what to believe? How can you make a fair assessment when your perception might be at the mercy of the voice of those who may not have your best interests at heart? Perhaps that's when the power of social media really does come in to play, because these people don't profit by sharing their story, they're giving you insight in to their world in order to empower and protect their community without the bias or perversion of a middle-body's agenda.

A perfect, somewhat disturbing, example of this can be seen below where the New York Times changed the first line of a story about the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. The change subtly shifted the blame for the mass arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge from the police to the protesters. In the first version of the story, police allowed them onto the bridge and then “cut off and arrested” them. In the second, there was a “showdown” in which demonstrators “marched onto the bridge.” Adding interest, the author of the piece was changed from “Colin Moynihan” to “Al Baker and Colin Moynihan.” Who is Al Baker? He is the guy in charge of the police bureau at the Times.

via Society Page

So once again the internet has been a key enabler for organising the masses and while news portals such as CNN have kept shtum about the reality of what’s going on, people have taken the lead in becoming content producers, citizen journalists, the voices from the ground sharing livestreams, twitter updates, videos and blogs to let the rest of the country and the world know what is really going on and continue to organise further protests (there are over 60 locations around the country right now).

Some of the most upsetting footage has uploaded on to YouTube (for example, this one showing innocent female demonstrators being maced in the face by a police officer).

But there are suspicions that even the diplomacy of Twitter has been compromised (with over 1 billion tweets, how was #occupywallstreet not a trending topic?) and knowing governments are getting in to bed with social networks and mobile phone providers, one might question what side of the fence these conversation platforms are on... But people continue to be the propagators of a message they feel needs to be heard nevertheless and that message is platform agnostic so long as there's the infrastructure in place and people willing and able to listen to it.

via Laurel Papworth

And what are these people so upset about? Is there any wonder? Was it only a matter of time?

More charts on Mother Jones

A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of the US? $31,244. The economic downturn shook the many and yet benefited significantly the few.

And what will happen? In a representational democracy the government must respond to the wishes of its people. Otherwise it becomes a dictatorship. And that doesn’t sound like the ‘land of the free’ to me.

why would we think social media is revolutionary?

Check out this podcast feature from Clay Shirky's on "Why Would We Think Social Media Is Revolutionary?"

In this podcast, Shirky discusses the most recent examples of effective use of the Internet and social media to effect political change in authoritarian countries from the Green Wave protests during the 2009 Iranian presidential election to Tunisian insurgents' recent ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Learn how revolutionaries and reformers have always used the most effective communication tools to distribute their message to the masses, going as far back as the printing press. For example looking at how the equilibrium state moved to freedom of expression when the printing press evolved and the first Bibles were created and how the printing press acted as a political medium.

Shirky talks about what we can do to help promote worthy causes by paying attention to and volunteering remotely for the regions of the world you care about most. Social media is another distributer of messages and information. It's almost global and has the power to create accountability.



In the same breath it worth watching Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, who shares a profoundly optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond - at this powerful moment when people realised they could step out of their houses and ask for change and the impact his reporters had on being present and distributing their news story to the rest of the world.

social media me

Another one to throw in the mix (there are plenty better one's out there but I'm all for sharing). Somewhat simplified.

Bigger version there.

holy crap we're creating a democracy

Social media. Naughty countries get exposed. Naughty brands do too. Nothing new except its going to get bigger, increasingly adopted and with larger reach and more technology - people increasingly will own your brand.

UPDATE: Interesting article on the correlation of internet access and democracy

How to start a movement

Here are some learnings from Derek Silvers TED Talk:

• A leader needs the guts to stand out and be ridiculed
• If you’re the lone nut who starts a movement, who goes out there alone, nurture your first few followers as equals – its about the movement not about you
• The first follower is an underestimated form of leadership in itself - he shows the others how to follow
• A movement must be public, new followers emulate the followers not the leader
• Leadership is over glorified; the first follower transforms the lone nut in to a leader (if we’re all trying to be leaders it’d be ineffective)
• As more people join in, its less risky, so those who were spectators now have no reason not to get involved - they won't stand out, they won't be ridiculed, they may be part of the in crowd if they hurry (Tipping point)

So, find your followers, embrace them as equals and have the courage to follow and show others. how to follow

I’ve sent the future and its… Digital?

Increasingly we’re seeing communication channels expand and evolve in to more dynamic, interactive spaces. There’s been a gradual convergence between tradition and new media.

There are two fundamental changes I see:

1. People are increasingly less responsive to traditional broadcast advertising
2. Communication technology is developing at a very very fast rate

1. If an ad falls in the forest and no one notices, there is no ad.

In a traditional sense, you can define advertising as the science of creating and placing media that interrupts the consumer and prompts an action. Once upon a time this model was incredibly affective, ‘consumers’ had more time, less choice and so whoever shouted the loudest would win the argument. Not so anymore. Now we have less time and more choice, everyone is shouting at us at the top of their lungs why they’re the best and quite frankly it’s exasperating. I’m confused. I’m over-communicated. I’m cynical and having been exposed to traditional advertising all my life, I'm pretty savvy at avoiding it.

Seth agrees; "The interruption model is extremely effective when there's not an overflow of interruptions," Godin says. "But there's too much going on in our lives for us to enjoy being interrupted anymore."

That’s not to say that a new, innovative and incredible advert won’t grab attention but I think the challenge we have today is knowing how to shine amongst the clutter and appreciating that interruption is less exciting than interaction.

Its not a case of video killed the radio star; I don’t think it’s a matter of new media vs traditional media – it’s an evolution of our approach, the channels we use and an appreciation that the proliferation of media has changed the way in which people engage with content (remember that now consumer media consumption across channels leads to virtual days exceeding 24 hours)!

I’ve worked in agencies where this shift is emphasised to clients and yet in many cases, traditional media forms such as television remain the biggest investment, even if it’s not the best choice. One obstacle is lack of understanding of new media, followed by company inertia, another big obstacle is finding reliable metric models of these new tools and how a lot of marketers are still trying to retrofit those applied to traditional media.

Of course, the fact that people are less responsive to being shouted at also provides a great argument for a popular space at the moment, social media, where brands and people can have a dialogue. Personally whilst I think social media is a fantastic opportunity for marketers, brands and consumers alike, I also believe the facets of this space are really the beginning of things to come.

Our challenge as marketers is to find what might surprise, cut through, engage, entertain, add value and start conversations whilst using the right media to facilitate it in an increasingly fragmented landscape where ultimately the consumer's in control.

2. Communication technology is developing at a very very fast rate

If we look over the last century and examine the rate of technological growth its incredible to review the rate at which it has developed. We can fly, travel underwater, go to space, access the world wide web, we can see and talk to people on the other side of the world instantaneously, share still images by the click of a button, we can even carry our wallet, bank account, a GPS map, social network, search facility, computer game and telephone in our back pocket. Change will never be this slow again.

What I find very exciting is how traditional communication platforms are also progressing and moving in to the digital realm through these advances in technology and the internet. Some examples below:

TV channels are streaming catch-up TV online, TV channels are launching solely online, they’re integrating with social media (great post on this here), TV has got smarter, more relevant and started to allow for interaction at the push of a button. This I see only progressing.

Print: Newspapers and Magazines have been quite challenged lately and whilst there is seemingly a decline in the medium, the product remains strong. It is the means through which stories are distributed that are undergoing a rapid development. We’re already seeing print complemented with online articles/blogs/Twitter accounts. But this is just a glimpse of what we have to come, see the e-paper business and the likes of Amazon Kindles and Apple’s iPad to get an idea of what we might be reading stories from in the future.

And of course, not to mention, Outdoor Display which now commonly features interactive digital billboards, QR codes (personally not as exciting, but clever nonetheless), can create augmented realities, interactive window displays and not to mention feature hologram technology.

So to conclude, new technology allows for a much needed change of approach and engagement between brands and people. There’s more breadth, room for innovation and opportunities to do something amazing and interactive with people rather than just broadcasting a one-way message.

Forrester unsurprisingly has predicted a growth in interactive advertising and among the interactive channels, Forrester sees social media and mobile marketing spending expanding significantly between 2009 and 2014, with social media jumping by 34% on a compounded annual basis and mobile marketing increasing by 27%.

But these are young channels, at least as compared with relatively mature interactive mediums such as e-mail, display advertising and search which are also seeing a change.

I think it naïve to presume that interactive advertising solely rests within what some perceive as “Online / Digital”, we need to remember that traditional channels are becoming increasingly digitalised, technology is changing and whilst interaction is important and digital may facilitate it - you still need to be a brand that people want to interact with.

The cost of experimentation is approaching zero

And we've only just started...

Clean water initiative on Mt Kilimanjaro

I love this idea. Props to Goodby Silverstein & Partners & Unit 6 who have built a website proportionately the size of Mt Kilimanjaro.
The sites in support of a charity-infused campaign that HP have brought to life by inviting celebrities and musicians to climb the mountain and in doing so post blogs, tweets, images and videos of their climb from their HP notepads - the contents tagged along the pix-elated climb of the website (at 16,709,709 pixels).

In addition to hearing the stories of the brave mountaineers, visitors can also 'sponsor a foot' of the journey by donating some dinero via UNHCR's clean water program. Every dollar donated provides 100 litres of safe clean water to people without.

I suppose what I like about this is its pushing the boundaries on and offline by thinking BIG - literally. It brings to life a cause through the adventures/stories shared online. No doubt some of these mountaineers having celebrity status will help push things on the PR front. I wonder what the impact would have been if the opportunity to climb Mt Kilimanjaro was open to everyone initially? Akin to what Coca Cola did recently through Expedition 206.

People can connect to the program and unlike a reality tv show where one can watch idiots rolling over one another saying controversial things and playing spin the bottle (Which reminds me, has anyone watched Dead Set - Absolutely hilarious, in a sick and twisted Zombie way, anyway I digress); here there's an opportunity to respect mountaineers and go on the journey with them virtually.

Its socially led integrating offline and online in a pretty slick way even down to the detail of pixel proportionality! Obviously a smart move for HP who get to facilitate the program, demonstrate their product whilst align themselves with a positive cause without overtly branding anything. I'd like to see how interaction between site visitors and the climb team works out which would be the natural expectation for conversation, whether we'll be able to have a webchat to a makeup-less Jessica Biel at 17,000 ft is questionable.

Still there's some amusing webisodes to keep people entertained which is meant to be behind the scenes footage of the mountaineers training footage.



Well, launch is January 7 2010 and includes the tallest banner ever created, a TV spot and web films. Watch this space or their space even.

Facebook Aps for charities

I thought I’d share with you a couple of interesting aps that charities are using on Facebook to amplify word of mouth harnessing peer to peer communications by pin-pointing, recruiting and rewarding an army of dedicated fans who openly represent their causes within their social network.

Causes Ap

Check out this interesting ap used to promote and recruit friends to join not-for-profits online via “Causes” http://apps.facebook.com/causes/ or www.causes.com

Its very clever.

First step, click on link, see the campaign’s progress and invite your friends.

Next, give them your email address to stay up to date. If you want.
Then check out their page, browse other members and see what impact they’re having.



The Hall of Fame shows profiles of those making the biggest impact (i.e. Spreading the word) and you can send them props/note/thank you etc.



You can also pledge your support whereby you commit to inviting 300 friends to the cause (not 100% sure of this commitment considering I don’t have that many friends!) and you can also donate.


Finally, show your friends what a good Samaritan you are by having your cause feature on your FB profile page and track your progress.


I’d say the one limitation to this is it acts independently from a fanpage/group so users need to accept the ap and go through the above process as opposed to a one-click conversion to becoming a fan. That said however, its still a fantastic integration with the platform.

Super Badger

Another innovative ap is the Super Badger
With Super Badger you can send prewritten emails straight from your profile to the people making the decisions - whether it is badgering politicians about climate change or badgering supermarkets to stock more Fairtrade products.

Here you are rewarded points for “Badgering”

You choose what you wish to “Badger” and you can send a prewritten email to politicians/decision makers, donate your status and sign up to receive Global Action emails.

Once the email gets sent, you get your points and your profile is updated for all your FB friends to see. Once again there’s an element of social kudos, especially when you start ranking up the leader board.


So what do you think?

In the life of... a Community Manager

I don't usually discuss my real life "work" in my blog, however, seeing as I am getting consistently inconsistent in terms of my blogging genre... I figured; why change now? Besides, I realised there are some key learnings that I've found as a Campaign/Community Manager that are probably worth sharing...

1. Content is king.
   I probably don't need to dwell on this however, I think its important to appreciate that content leads when it comes to nourishing a community. Its easy to digest, offers entertainment and provides the audience with a piece of social currency for them to share to their friends. My colleague Zoe Scamen has written a great post on this here. So do develop a content schedule and maximise it!
   
2. Timing is everything.
   OK, I know that's not necessarily true but I think its easy to rush something to get a box ticked without putting timing in to consideration. I like to think upon it as "Contextual Marketing" i.e. think about what people are doing at that moment in time when your message is read and try to make it as relevant as possible. So for example; its lunchtime - don't start talking about night caps. Its obvious really. Also be opportunistic with the time of day; Tuesday and Wednesday circa 11am is the optimum time to email folks for example. I'm sure there are better insights out there but I think its always important to consider time as it won't always be on your side.
   
3. Use http://bit.ly/ to death.
   It provides great insights. So for example any media that I seed a community can be “bit.ly’d” before distributed. That way with anything shared is tracked: simple really but easily overlooked.
4. Analysis
   If you can, set up Google Analytics on any pages you create or sites you are sending people to. How are you going to measure engagement unless you track and measure the stats? There is a science to it, but at the end of the day, there's a big risk in running around blind - even if it is in the right general direction.
   
5. Video hosting - help spread
   In terms of video content suppliers, I feel if you want to spread a message: think Youtube. There's an audience that already exists, its aligned with google search (another audience to tap in to) and its the most popular platform for users to search for videos on. Plus it offers great insights as part of the package. Oh and I forgot to mention, its free! But don't forget your video channel may become a community in itself so its imperative that you manage this and respond to commentary on this forum also.
   
6. Video hosting - VIPs only
   There is an awful lot of benefit in giving a community exclusivity and an element of that might be first opportunities to view video content. In these instance, I feel Vimeo offers great affordable hosting software, I really recommend getting a Pro account for aprox $55 a year. You can manage it to a point where Vimeo branding is removed, its better quality, there's control as to which sites its viewed on, one can limit its shareability (even on Vimeo itself) and has all the nice to have’s like bespoke sizing/colours etc. Bonus: this will save a fortune in hosting.
7. Bloggers?
   Why not team up with bloggers as an outreach program? Invite relevant influential bloggers in to the community so they too have access to exclusive content and brand insights plus use it as an opportunity to share relevant content to that category by sharing blog posts via "status updates" for example. Its a win (the blogger) win (the community) win (you) situation.
   
8. Get stuck in
   Get stuck in to the forum/message board and ask people to use it. I've worked on a project where people were invited to post their thoughts on the community page, guess what?! It worked!
   Remember that members of your community may be active on other social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube... etc. Set up Google Alerts, search on your Tweetdeck and just keep your ears to the ground and eyes pealed for any commentary outside of the community. Social media is a fantastic opportunities for brands to gain insights as to consumer sentiment and also an opportunity for these brands to respond to these individuals.
9. Make them feel special
   This community is special, its a collective of individuals who deserve your love. They've invested their time, make sure its worth it for them. Be responsive. Listen to feedback whether its good or bad and make them feel an integral part of the community, because at the heart of it, they are.
   

Well that's me. Hope somebody finds this useful while I continue to learn more and more about the world of community managing :)

PS. Lastly, don't forget to consider an Exit Strategy...

Wiring a web for global good

Its amazing the opportunities we have right now, we really are in the day and age of true interconnectedness. Where we can instantly inform and amplify, share and respond to digital content.

I think this is something we're going to see more of. In countries where oppression is rife, where media is biased and where access is limited we're going to see more harnessing of social media as a tool to create awareness. Action Aid Australia have made a very forward thinking move with Project TOTO in recruiting a blogger to teach people from developing countries how to use these tools so that people can have insight into the realities they face day to day.

Gorgon Brown talks to this very enthusiastically at his talk at TED last month.

Creative Sydney - Finding Your Followers

Here are some take outs from last nights panel discussion at Creative Sydney “Finding your Followers”...

"There’s a world of fans waiting to discover you – so how do you reach them? Discover global and local marketing, publicity and distribution strategies for artists and makers. Presented in association with Pages Digital."

- Creative Sydney

Virginia Hyam (The Studio), Sydney Opera House

• Digitally enabled word of mouth (WOM) is seen as a move from the traditional WOM to new media – the fundamentals don’t change.
• Massive support from press helped change perceptions of expense, exclusive to Opera performances and open up opportunities in the music industry eight years ago.

Jean-Claude Abouchar (The Grand Social)

• In order to keep their Twitter account exciting, they invite friends/colleagues going on Fashionistic trips abroad etc. to have account access and report on their experiences on Twitter. I think this would be a great idea for film companies i.e “Guest tweets” from actors, producers, directors etc.
• They create parallels online and offline, e.g. For launch they had a “pop up” store in Paddington and created the same online to increase WOM, accessibility and distribution which got a lot of press coverage too.
• Initially they targeted their communication to designers and encouraged networking between them by hosting events and with that grew a larger market place online as more and more designers got on board via WOM.
• A strong selling point for The Grand Social is that it encourages consumers to discover other similar brands, hence a good opportunity for designers and consumers.

Adam Ferrier (Naked Communications)
Four rules to a successful product:

1. Be different, what’s your point of difference? Create your own sector. Get it right!
2. Have purpose – what’s the consumer need / motivation?
3. Be believable – prove your credibility.
4. Visionary – think big, think forwards, think differently

Another point touched upon was distribution... No point having a great product if you can’t distribute it.

Almira Pizovic (Picaholic)
Some rules for a good website:

1. Be compelling
2. Be easy to use and navigate
3. Search engine friendly
4. Browser / screen compatible
5. Mobile enabled
6. Live feeds / social media integration

Innovative new art sites and products which I really like that were presented by the following:

Tim Brady (Freshly Baked Gallery)
A virtual art gallery where geography isn’t an issue for accessing art. You can purchase art online and envisage this art on your own wall... Original idea, another winner in my books and I like Tim’s story that he went from being a construction manager making the pay check but not feeling satisfied with his life decided to take the risk, quit his job and start up Freshly Baked (example art below).

Madeleine Boyd (Stupid Krap)
This site is dedicated to the community of artists, underground and street creating an artist-run portal and on-line store, featuring limited-edition high-quality art prints and collectibles. I can see myself making a few purchases on here.

All in all, it was a good night I enjoyed the discussion although the crying baby started to tickle my clearly un-maternal nerves somewhat. I recommend anyone interested in learning more as a creative, marketeer or curios to attend some of these free seminars at Creative Sydney at the MCA... besides its a great opportunity to see the beautifully lit up MCA and Opera House.