[5] Leslie Berland wasn't exactly killin' it on Twitter

Leslie Berland

But Leslie Berland wasn't exactly killin' it on Twitter, before joining and lauding Twitter, as its new CMO.

[4] Leslie Berland as new Twitter CMO

Twitter Confirms Amex’s Leslie Berland As Its New CMO

Twitter is a service like no other. It has and continues to change the world, shaping how we communicate and connect, how we’re entertained, informed and inspired. It represents everything that’s relevant at each and every moment – to me, there’s nothing more powerful. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Jack and the Twitter teams to bring the magic of Twitter to life, broaden its reach, and deepen its impact as the company enters this incredibly exciting new chapter.

~Leslie Berland
new CMO | Twitter

but ... [see next post]

[3] Ex-Twitter executive Katie Jacobs Stanton, spare me!

Executive exodus at troubled Twitter

Said ex-Twitter exec Katie Jacobs Stanton: "I decided to resign because it's time for me to pour more of my energy into my family."

Spare me!

[2] Has Twitter hit its peak?

Jack Dorsey Confirms Departures Of Several Twitter Execs

Sometimes a business has hit its peak and may be at its EOL (End-of-Life): consider Yahoo!, Groupon, RIM and Myspace.

[1] Twitter hit by executive exodus

I'm sad to announce...

Jack may be more sad about the state of affairs at Twitter than he is about the exit of top executives.

The fall, and rise, and fall again of a homeless man

10 viral sensations on life after internet fame

"Well, when I walked in that door and all these microphones and cameras were thrust into my face, and just couldn’t believe it."

~Ted Williams:

I only thought I was getting a job at the local radio station. I knew nothing about viral internet sensations or anything, so when I went down the following day, I saw all types of satellite trucks, news cameras, it was just phenomenal. But I didn’t think any of that was pertaining to me, because when you see CNN, ABC, NBC, all these trucks, you know something’s big. Well, when I walked in that door and all these microphones and cameras were thrust into my face, and just couldn’t believe it. I was an emotional wreck. “Uh, hi, would you like to come on the Today show?” “Hi, this is ABC.” Everybody was fighting for exclusives. It was ridiculous. I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy all this quick adulation? But it became invasive. I was like, “Oh, God, you gotta know my mother? My children? My girlfriend?” We sold my story to NBC for an exclusive, but I’d given out my mother’s address, and CBS This Morning went and found her. Took her away and sequestered her in a hotel in Manhattan so they could have the 17-year reunion of me and my mom. They finally called and said, “Ted, we’re going to take you to see your mother,” and that excited me, but I had no idea there were going to be 35 cameras there. 

My platform is simple. First, I want to change the way the power structure deals with homeless military veterans. After all of their years of service, and them protecting the freedoms of Americans, they come back only to become discouraged and disenchanted. They can’t find housing, they can’t find nothing. Secondly, homeless Americans, period—I want to eradicate that. We have more space dedicated to golf courses than we have land appropriated to build housing for homeless Americans. I think we need to shut down some of those country clubs and use that land for helping the homeless. Then I want to definitely challenge states’ handling of Fair Housing laws. And I’m tired of them outsourcing our jobs. We’ve got sweatshops in Thailand, China—you name it, you’ve got little kids manufacturing name-brand things there. Nike! I’m not bashing Nike, don’t get me wrong, but bring those jobs back to America.

A hilarious hip dance medley, then it's Viral City

10 viral sensations on life after internet fame

A hilarious, hip dance medley that, at one point, was the most viewed video on YouTube.

Judson Laipply:

I’m one of the few where my video directly affected my current career. A lot of other people who go viral have to switch careers, or they never really get to maximize such an event. For me, I was doing something already — working this inspirational-comedian idea, and doing the dance — and then that was like a 20-year boost of marketing and exposure. I was lucky because what I got famous for was something I was already becoming good at. 

The most watched video back then was the like Smosh Pokemon Theme Song, and the average age of a YouTuber was about 12 years old. So my video was kind of one of the first that people could related to past the age of 20. And because my video was right when YouTube was becoming popular, a lot of news stations would use it to show what’s on there. 

I did a second video, but we don’t talk about that one. I did it right during the big legal turmoil over song rights, when Viacom was suing YouTube, and Sony was suing YouTube. I’d gotten the streaming rights, but it was only for a few songs. In those early days, it was the Wild, Wild West. YouTube didn’t know what to do. Now they have the technology to recognize songs in the videos, and YouTube just distributes the money accordingly. But back then I didn’t want the owner of the rights — and there are 30 songs in that video — to say, “We need you to take that down.” So we had to put it on a different channel. Now that all that’s resolved, the third won’t have those problems. 

When my video took off, I got a call from them where it’s like “Hello?” “Hi, please hold for Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC.” I’m like still going, “Huh, what?” when he comes on the line and says, “We’re having this meeting in a couple weeks and I was wondering if you’d be able to come talk to us about internet stuff.” And it was so interesting being in the room — we were listening to the lawyers and their mind-set of “We need to take every person’s content down.” They were suggesting spending millions of dollars on telling people to. And Jeff said, “No, we need to let people just have it. Stop trying to put a finger in the hole when the dam has a thousand others.” 

I think the biggest — I don’t really want to say problem, but … [is that] I’ll be turning 40 in March. At most I have maybe just 10 more years of being able to physically do the dance. It’s a taxing thing. The running joke is that I say it’s eventually going to go from being funny to being sad. But I don’t regret anything, not in the slightest. If I could go back and redo anything, it would be that I’d have had a bunch of different merchandise and products to sell. Or maybe do a better job of getting viewers’ emails, so I could just send them a ton of stuff.

A fateful fumble, then a brutal venomous public

10 viral sensations on life after internet fame

A fateful fumble, and sadly this Miss Teen USA contestant found herself at the cross hairs of a brutal, venomous public.

Caite Upton:

I lost a lot of close friends over it — people I’d been friends with since I was 10, people I grew up playing soccer with. One group of girls took me to this party at the University of South Carolina, and I walk in, and the entire USC baseball team surrounded me and bashed me with the harshest, meanest comments I had ever heard. And somebody once put a letter in my parents’ mailbox about how my body was going to be eaten alive by ants and burned in a freak fire. And then it said, in all caps, GO DIE CAITE UPTON, GO DIE FOR YOUR STUPIDITY. That’s the kind of stuff people would say to me for two years. 

I definitely went through a period where I was very, very depressed. But I never let anybody see that stuff, except for people I could trust. I had some very dark moments where I thought about committing suicide. The fact that I have such an amazing family and friends, it really, really helped. [Begins to tear up] Sorry, it’s just really emotional. This is the first time I’ve actually been able to talk about it. It was awful, and it was every single day for a good two years. I’ve only spoken to my fiancé about how I felt in those moments truthfully, and my best friend. And, recently, my mom. But, like, my dad doesn’t even know yet. 

The past few years, going brunette, I have not had any recognition for the Miss Teen USA Pageant at all. But I also get recognized for having a similar name to Kate Upton. So I’ll go into my auditions and be like, “Yes, yes, I know — I’m the other one.”

Freedom (3) The Right to be Forgotten

I find this question to be a terribly complex one.  On the one hand, if one has paid his or her dues, and by law a past transgression is no longer a matter of consideration, for example, for getting a job, buying a house, or obtaining a credit card, then why should it remain available?  On the other hand, I personally appreciate having any old information available on any person or topic of interest to me.  This is how I learn about the background of actors, for example, and how I probe more deeply into their filmography.  So the question comes down (a) morally to the freedom to move on with a clean slate and (b) pragmatically to the means with which to determine how ought to be, and ought not be, removed. 

Freedom (2) Cyberbullying and its Consequences

The answer in this situation is easy:  No.  What is difficult, though, is finding answers on to how to stop cyberbullying.  It requires patience and fortitude to do so, that is, in our working to get a better grip on the problem and what underlies it and on the perpetrators and what drives them.  It requires empathic understanding:  not to be confused with sympathy or compassion, but with the ability and willingness to probe into emotional, psychological layers.

Freedom (1) Artistic Expression Online

At first I took umbrage at the idea of anyone petitioning to get artistic work taken offline.  But perhaps in this case, it makes sense, especially as we don't quite know who might be viewing sensitive (albeit artistic) photos online and having whatever unsavory, obnoxious thoughts about them.   

Perhaps. 

Google Artist Hub

With Google Music is open for business, the search giant looks increasingly like Apple.  What I like most about what they’re doing, however, is the Artist Hub.

Here’s Google describing what artists can do:

Whether you’re on a label or the do-it-yourself variety, artists are at the heart of Google Music. With the Google Music artist hub, any artist who has all the necessary rights can distribute his or her own music on our platform, and use the artist hub interface to build an artist page, upload original tracks, set prices and sell content directly to fans - essentially becoming the manager of their own far-reaching music store. This goes for new artists as well as established independent artists, like Tiesto, who debuts a new single on Google Music today.

 Now, here are those artists speaking up for themselves:

At one point, all famous musicians had a start. Maybe they had the fortune of instant success. Most likely, they struggled in anonymity for years and scrambled just to make ends meet. Perhaps driving their own van and getting food from a soup kitchen defined life for many more of them than we know. Very likely, too, there are many, many of such musicians now aspiring to make it and living day-to-day with their basic needs.

Well, going with Google should hold them in very good stead, then. From a purely market reach standpoint, Google is obviously dominant. We can never know for sure how these up-and-coming talent will do, but I’m happy they have a superb platform from which to realize that talent. 

Note: I wrote this article on November 17th 2011 for an old Media & Tech blog.

The Social of Google+

Bradley Horowitz

Even the best of us fail, and fail often. But success is emblazoned in our DNA, when we get up time and time again, recover well, and press forward. That, in essence, is where Google has been and is now. With Google+, it has learned its lessons and it’s back in the social sphere in a big way.

Here is a Wired Magazine interview of Bradley Horowitz, VP of Products at Google: Inside Google Plus. There is a lot of really good insight to tease out from this conversation, and this article covers the aspects of what we members experience on the site (i.e., social). 

Noisy stream

One of my friends on Google+ posts some stunning, clever photography. Sometimes it’s thought-provoking or make-me-smile messages. Regardless, she’s clearly capturing attention, and prompting friends to comment and engage in dialogue. The problem? Her stuff dominates my Newsfeed. For a handful of weeks, hers were the only things I would see or else I would have to scroll down pretty far to find other posts. I loved her stuff, but grew really annoyed with it. She’s like the vivacious lady at the party who spins great tales and people are enraptured by her. Except that two or three hours later, she hasn’t stopped talking or veered from being the center of attention.

Apparently I’m not the only one with this problem, as Horowitz and his team are addressing this:

The biggest challenge they face is what we call the noisy-stream problem, in which a few active people overwhelm the conversation. We need some tools to either suppress that noise or present the information in a way that it doesn’t dominate.

I wish there was something like the vertical glass panel in The Matrix and The Minority Report, where the operator can move sections here and there with a touch and thereby control different systems and machines. I did something of the sort by shifting her to a different circle. I would normally delete such a friend, but I didn’t want to lose her cool stuff. She just needed to see the downside of too much activity and engagement, and dial it down.

Private stream

Horowitz points out:

We’ve found there is actually twice as much private sharing as there is sharing that’s visible to everyone on the Internet. That’s why sometimes it looks like people sign up and then don’t come back. In fact, they’re sharing with small groups of people that they trust and love. It’s just not publicly visible. So there’s this sort of dark matter that the public can’t see.

In our in-person world, there are friends or colleagues we share certain things with, and things we share only with certain others. Google+ aims to mimic this world with its mechanism of circles. I know Facebook and Twitter allow for this sort of choice and privacy, through the use of lists, but Google+ makes it so easy and quick. Deciding which circle a connection belongs to is a matter of click-drag-drop. With Twitter, on the other hand, I’d have to open two or three windows, and the content on these don’t load very quickly.

In any case, what Horowitz says is a point well taken. Just as we can select which friends we share with and which ones we don’t, they themselves can select or deselect us in their sharing circles. So when a friend seemingly disappears, and stops posting, it may not be that they’ve become comatose in their cyber flats. Instead, it may be that we’ve been kept off their private circle.

Sharing stream

We have so many ways now of communicating that it’s positively dizzying. One time, a friend and I were chatting on BlackBerry Messenger (mobile), on Windows Live Messenger (mobile and PC), and also on Facebook (PC). At the same time. It was a lot of fun just to span across different media and technology. So back-and-forth like this isn’t an issue.

I think this is the kind of sharing that Google+ would like us to be able to do as well, not just back-and-forth but truly together.

Google+ introduces a new means of sharing, and one of the things that people love to share is media. People are already sharing fun media on the service, like animated GIFs. We’re not ready to announce anything now, but I think you can extrapolate and say Google+ is a good way to share mass media as well. That could take the form of people listening or watching something together in Hangouts.

Again, we have mechanisms that allow for this kind of sharing, but for various reasons they’re less than satisfying. For example, Go To webinars are live seminars on the web that people can join together. But I have not been able to attend these. Why? There’s an audio problem, which after talking to friends and trying to fix it several times, is probably an ISP interference issue. I’m able to have a business call on Launch (Microsoft Office Live Meeting), but reviewing documents or slides together is very slow streaming and it results in choppy images. It’s a little better sharing screens on Skype, but again that’s subject to ISP interference where I live. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and you simply can’t do business that way.

I understand that Google+ has special features or ‘apps’ for business people, like myself, but it’s not ready yet. I’ll wait for it. But if Hangouts is even just a notch more satisfying than any of the above, then I’ll be on Google+ more often and my friends and colleagues, too, because I’ll be bringing them on board the ‘gravy train!’

Note: I wrote this article on October 1st 2011 for an old Media & Tech blog.

Privacy Bill of Rights

(image credit)

My article on March 3rd 2012 from an old Media & Tech blog

Even if you’re just minimally active online, privacy ought to be an issue for you. While the past decade heralded amazing platforms for media and technology, this decade is the coliseum where both David and Goliath companies battle fiercely for as many pieces of information about us as they can grab.

Social network users face mounting privacy concerns, so announces The Citizen in its article today. It references the Pew Research Center and its report Privacy management on social media sites.

First, I believe it’s our responsibility as users to know the privacy controls and policies of sites we frequent and to use these properly to serve our purpose. Second, more importantly, it’s our responsibility to exercise good judgment in the content that we upload and respond with. The same, too, for content about us from friends, connections, followers et al. In particular, I regularly monitor their tags, mentions, and posts, and I do not hesitate to delete, block or report, if something is inappropriate or unwanted.

The Citizen also mentions Obama Seeks Privacy Bill of Rights for Internet Users from Voice of America.  Hear Darren Hayes speak about this (below).   He is head of the Computer Information Systems Program at Pace University in New York.

I think that, you know, this legislation is just, it’s long overdue. I think that in its present form it looks very effective and I think that it is a step in the right direction and the average online user does need more transparency and more control over the use of their information.

I think in practical terms it’s going to make online companies more accountable for what they do. It also seeks to provide more transparency about how third parties are sharing their information and give the user, hopefully, the ability to opt out of having their information shared.

What’s also going to be important about this legislation are the penalties and fines that will ultimately be imposed for non-compliance.

So be informed, entertained, and engaged on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. But, for goodness sake, be smart, careful, and responsible as well.