Blogs from online marketing/new media masterclass attendees

We've got some great people joining us at today's masterclass. 

Yesterday we set up some simple blogs using Posterous. Here they are!

Louis van Wyk

Andrea McLeay

Sandi Piggin

Nigel Lee

Kelly Tozer

Hope to see some more blogs from the whole crew soon! :) 

Posted via email from Simon's posterous

Hotel wifi is letting us down

So here we are at the online marketing and new media masterclass, trying to send emails all at once. Hmm.

Sent from my iPhone
www.sy-engage.com

Posted via email from Simon's posterous

I didn't know you could make personalised stamps in Aus. This is my sister's dog, immortalized in stamp form

via tweetie

Posted via web from Simon's posterous

Open Leadership

Just got this in the mail. Looking forward to it! I just need a month or so to read this and some other review copies I have. 

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Is Technorati still worth it?

When I first started with social media, Technorati was supposed to be the top way to get inbound links and measure your authority. 

Over the years, I've heard different things about Technorati, mostly that their authority rankings were not reflecting any kind of reality. Thankfully there are other ways of telling if a blog is influential or not, such as Google PageRank, the number of retweets and likes each post has, and even the number of comments.

Still, Technorati probably plays some small part in the ecosystem, which is why I'm pasting this code HGE99VYGD89C to claim this blog. 

What's been your experience with Technorati?

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How to get along with people

Everyone's a little bit broken. We're all pretty messed up, and all a little bit crazy.

The people who seem to have it all together, you just don't know that well. We are all broken.

That could make you depressed, or it could make you compassionate.

Instead of expecting people to perform like machines, I choose to recognise that everyone is a little bit cuckoo, and a bit broken, and that helps me see that "despite whatever", they've got some amazing qualities. 

Patronising? I don't know if it can be, if you give absolutely everyone the same benefit of the doubt.

Or am I a little bit crazy to say that?

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Why social media can be hard to explain (warning: contains postmodernism)

As Blake says, I think too much. I've started, so I need to get this out. 

Social media is hard to explain sometimes. Not the big picture stuff, that's easy. I mean the specifics of "what you see on your Facebook news feed". Or any other page on Facebook (or Twitter, or LinkedIn) for example. 

Because it's all personalised, everyone's page is different. It's customised to their network, their choices, their actions. It's completely subjective.

And that coincides quite nicely with what I understand of the concept of postmodernism (disclaimer: I'm not a philosopher, nor have I formally studied philosophy). Postmodernism acknowledges that our perception is ultimately subjective, that while there may be an objective truth, none of us are really able to get it. 

Social media actually illustrates this side of postmodernism quite well, taking it from an abstract concept to something we can all relate to. 

What do you reckon? Do the works of Derrida come alive through your Facebook news feed, or am I overthinking it?

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The problem with Facebook

Facebook is one example of social media. Social media is where sales, marketing and PR get mashed up, because customers want to buy from you and learn about you, but most of all they want stuff to work.

Even if you set up a Facebook page as a marketing effort, your customers will treat it as a customer service channel.

Facebook faces the same problems. They are keen to speak with you if you want to advertise. But when you have persistent questions about functionality, Facebook goes deaf, because Facebook is like every other business in that it needs to connect its ears and mouth. It needs to come to terms with the challenges of social media, which is really ironic because it is social media!

Sent from my iPhone
www.sy-engage.com

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American grammar is just plain wrong

Time for a wee rant. This'll only take a few seconds, I promise. 

It really bugs me when I read or hear something like:

"Everyone can't be an astronaut." 

...when the intended meaning is actually...

"Not everyone can be an astronaut." 

Think about it. If everyone can't be an astronaut, no-one can be an astronaut, right? 

So why do Americans (and I've only noticed this in American writing and speech) use language in this weird way? 

And ... do all Americans do this, or just some? 

If it's just some, I could then say: "Not all Americans misuse grammar this way." NOT "All Americans don't misuse grammar this way".

End of rant. As you were.

Posted via email from Simon's posterous