::HorsePigCow:: marketing uncommon

What I ‘Do’ For a Living

miss rogue — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:15:34 +0000

The most common conversation I have when I go to an event goes somewhere along these lines:

New acquaintance: “Tara, I see your name everywhere, but I still don’t quite understand what you do.”

Me: “Well, I make a living as a marketing consultant, specializing in online communities and strategy, but I spend more of my time these days as a community organizer and armchair economist. I also have a book coming out in April of 2009, which also makes me an author, and I travel around the world speaking at conferences on the online marketing and strategy work that I do.”

That’s sort of it in a nutshell. But my background is varied and so are my interests, so I believe that leads to a great deal of confusion for people as to what exactly I ‘do’ for a living. Even though my ‘about’ section as well as my resume outlines my experience and expertise in the area of marketing strategy (both online and off in less ‘traditional’ types of marketing), I admit that I spend more time reading, thinking and writing about a much broader array of subjects.

I’m deeply interested in social issues and how economics underpins much of our social world. That is what got me into the study of social capital. The current understanding of economics tends to be pretty simplistic and focused on personal wealth - that is, what is in my bank account at any given moment and what the damned government is taking out of it at the end of each year. I think this is a most unfortunate situation as economics is complex and cash money isn’t the only wealth we accumulate or distribute over our lifetimes that is of value. Certainly, we cannot pay our rent or eat if we don’t have cash money in the bank, but how we get it in there and how it supports us is what interests me a great deal. I also think it’s changed over the years, especially with the advent of the internet.

So, what I ‘do’ for a living - marketing consulting - is made possible because of my social capital, which is the culmination of my:

connections
reputation
influence
bridging capital - the number of connections you have across to different industries, social strata, etc.
bonding capital - the depth of your close connections (how close and how much you could ask of your connections)
access to ideas and talent through your connections
access to resources through your connections
“potential” access to further resources (more distant, but very legitimate)
saved up favors (reciprocity is huge - which is why doing good stuff matter alot with social capital)
accomplishments (slightly different from reputation, it is the more fungible form of SC - resumes, awards, etc.)
and the Social Capital of those who you have relationships with (Bordieu’s ideas on the French elite talk about this)

Added to this is my accumulation of cultural capital, which “is the knowledge, experience and or connections one has had through the course of their life that enables them to succeed more so than someone from a less experienced background.”

Both my social capital and my cultural capital are intimately woven into my economic capital. All three types of capital support and foster the growth of one another. I meet people (social capital) and learn things (cultural capital) which help me meet potential clients who see my experience as an asset (social capital) and hire me (economic capital), which produces more experience (cultural capital) and, if I do good work, opens me up for new lucrative relationships (social capital), which turn into more work (economic capital).

I think it may be tough for some people to understand the diversification of work, but I know very few people who can sum up their careers in a single word. Personally, I don’t believe humans were designed to be singularly focused, I believe we were designed to be innately curious and questioning of how the world around us works. And those of us who push the boundaries around the definition of work help innovate and pioneer new paths for new job definitions.

In regards to what I do NOT ‘do’ for a living…well, I don’t consider myself a social media consultant, the new term for someone who uses the online tools well and helps spread buzz through online communities (I think that’s accurate). Of course, that is part of my function, but I consider myself more of a strategist. When setting up Citizen Agency, I thought long and hard about how to define what we offered and came up with the idea of the tripod of strategy: environment (that’s where research comes in - understanding the market well), product (product development, innovation and designing for what you know about the market and where it is moving) and community (mostly the customer community, but also how you fit into the wider business community). Once again, all three of these, like the legs on a tripod, have to be balanced and working together towards a solid strategy. So what does Citizen Agency do? An organic strategy. I won’t take on projects where I’m asked to come in and slap together social media band-aids. I won’t advocate for a client until I believe they will be beneficial to my community of followers and friends. But I will help them get to the point where a social media strategy and community advocacy is part of the overall plan.

So, what do I ‘do’ for a living? Well, mostly I think too much about stuff and produce loads of content that, I hope, helps others come to positive conclusions and helps create a smarter marketplace. But if you want to boil it down to a pitch, I am a marketing strategy consultant.

This Week’s Links on Ma.gnolia

miss rogue — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:01:41 +0000

Some stuff I’m reading this week…

Renamed WiFi Networks Guilt Freeloaders Into Buying Coffee » Adrants

This is truly brilliant.

Daily Kos: Prop 8: The legal challenges are beginning

I still can’t believe that millions of total strangers who have never so much as laid eyes on me had the right to vote on my rights and equality at all, let alone that they voted against them. If this was, in fact, an unconstitutional proposition, it means they did not have that right. It won’t change the fact that they voted how they did, but it will take some of the pain away.

Cupcakes Take The Cake: Barack Obama in 1240 cupcakes

Artist Zilly Rosen of soon-to-open Buffalo, New York bakery Zillycakes has made this piece of art using 1,240 cupcakes to display Senator Barack Obama. 1,240 cupcakes, people!

Obama’s Seven Lessons for Radical Innovators - Umair Haque

Barack Obama is one of the most radical management innovators in the world today. Obama’s team built something truly world-changing: a new kind of political organization for the 21st century. It differs from yesterday’s political organizations as much as Google and Threadless differ from yesterday’s corporations: all are a tiny handful of truly new, 21st century institutions in the world today.

Obama’s historic election « Social Capital Blog

The election of Saguaro’s Barack Obama as 44th, and first African-American president marks itself as a truly historic election.

Highlights: Newsweek’s Special Election Project | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008 | Newsweek.com

WOWOWOWOW:

“The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, “I don’t consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, ‘You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.’ So when Brian Williams is asking me about what’s a personal thing that you’ve done [that's green], and I say, you know, ‘Well, I planted a bunch of trees.’ And he says, ‘I’m talking about personal.’ What I’m thinking in my head is, ‘Well, the truth is, Brian, we can’t solve global warming because I f—ing changed light bulbs in my house. It’s because of something collective’.”"

hypebot: Russell Simmons On Creativity

There has been a major pr run-up to the 12/1 launch of Talenthouse.com - “a new entertainment company that gives artists a global online home to share their work and have the opportunity to be discovered by the best minds…

The Obama presidency: ‘It’s the network, stupid’ | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

“The tools have changed,” Trippi said. “It’s Web 2.0. (Obama) did it due to these tools.”

Gore says Obama’s election overwhelming - San Jose Mercury News

Former vice-president Al Gore says he was overwhelmed by Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election, and says he believes it could not have happened without the Internet.

The trouble with bailouts

That’s also why, during the postwar period, the British government protected its auto manufacturing sector with tariffs, bailouts and government-backed mergers. In the process, what had once been a country with four of the world’s best-known car companies now has no domestic automakers at all.

Contributing to New York Coworking and New Work City « Life as Sanford

Last night, I was proud to be a member of the community who congratulated Tony Bacigalupo for the launch of New Work City. As a member of the team for these past few years, last night, a couple of people ask me what had happened to my involvement in coworking and New Work City.

Better Place

Better Place is a venture-backed company that aims to reduce global dependency on oil through the creation of a market-based transportation infrastructure that supports electric vehicles, providing consumers with a cleaner, sustainable, personal transportation alternative.

Tesla Motors

The official site for Tesla Motors, makers of the Tesla Roadster, the high-performance electric sports car. Electric cars from Tesla Motors are developed with an emphasis on design, performance, and efficiency.

Aptera

The first Operating Prototype achieved over 230 Miles per gallon!
Five years ago, Aptera’s founder Steve Fambro endeavored to design and build a passenger vehicle that was safe, comfortable, and more fuel-efficient than anything ever produced. This aspiration, combined with his background in engineering, led him to an intensive study of aerodynamics, and composite aircraft construction. He hypothesized that a low-drag, aerodynamic body shape could be achieved without sacrificing comfort, drivability or safety.

Op-Ed Contributor - The Climate for Change - NYTimes.com

Here is the good news: the bold steps that are needed to solve the climate crisis are exactly the same steps that ought to be taken in order to solve the economic crisis and the energy security crisis.

Economists across the spectrum — including Martin Feldstein and Lawrence Summers — agree that large and rapid investments in a jobs-intensive infrastructure initiative is the best way to revive our economy in a quick and sustainable way. Many also agree that our economy will fall behind if we continue spending hundreds of billions of dollars on foreign oil every year. Moreover, national security experts in both parties agree that we face a dangerous strategic vulnerability if the world suddenly loses access to Middle Eastern oil.

New Appreciation Of the Complexity In a Flock of Birds - New York Times

NOTHING in the motion of a single bird or a single fish, no matter how graceful, can prepare a scientist for the sight of 10,000 starlings wheeling in formation over a cornfield, or a million minnows, threatened by a predator, snapping into a tight, polarized array.

Obama’s Victory: the REAL foundation of success « OnRamp101

It would be easy to hand some of the credit for the Obama victory over to social media–in fact, a number of industry voices have already done so. But to look to social technologies as a, or even THE, reason that the campaign succeeded would be to shortchange both the campaign and the technologies behind it. Obama gained leadership because he believed in the power of people to create change–and he harnessed the right social tools to mobilize this power toward a shared vision and goal.

Bailout Main Street | not Wall Street

The wealthy and corporate interests who dished out billions of dollars this election season will be swarming over Washington to get their agendas passed. The energy giants will demand “clean coal,” nuclear power and offshore drilling. More big corporations facing bankruptcy because of their corruption and greed will demand taxpayer bailouts.

Obama launches Web site to reach public - CNN.com

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Barack Obama starts doing a weekly YouTube video and also fireside chats for the 21st century by allowing people to filter up questions to him that he might answer.”

The president-elect already has said he’ll have a five-day online comment period before signing any nonemergency legislation, so Americans can be part of the process.

Obama Vs. McCain Search and Social Media Showdown | Adult ADD Strengths

I got the idea for this as I was surfing the US Presidential candidates websites late Monday night, looking for ideas for online ADHD advocacy from my last post. As an Adult ADHD coach who has ADHD, I wanted examples to help raise awareness of Adult ADHD.

Battle Plans. How Obama won - The New Yorker - Ethiopian Review

Behind the scenes look at the strategy behind the Obama Campaign.

Lexington Living - Kentucky Living | Lexington Herald-Leader

When Charlie Kratzer started on the basement art project in his south Lexington home, he was surrounded by walls painted a classic cream. Ten dollars of Magic Marker and Sharpie later, the place was black and cream and drawn all over.

Interview with key architect of Obama’s ground strategy « Social Capital Blog

Well in my mind people place too much stress on the Internet and other new technology. It is very useful – but as tools placed in the hands of skilled organizers, not as a substitute for them. It made it easier for people to alert the campaign that they wanted to help and easier for the campaign to plug these individuals in to ongoing efforts.

George Bush flashes the shocker

Really. This is wild. He mustn’t know….

The Karaoke Channel

Stingray Media Group, the ultimate karaoke experience!

Charter For Compassion :: home

By recognizing that the Golden Rule is fundamental to all world religions, the Charter for Compassion can inspire people to think differently about religion. This Charter is being created in a collaborative project by people from all over the world. It will be completed in 2009. Use this site to offer language you’d like to see included. Or inspire others by sharing your own story of compassion.

Barack Obama: How He Did It | Newsweek Politics: Campaign 2008 | Newsweek.com

Obama understood that he had become a giant screen upon which Americans projected their hopes and fears, dreams and frustrations. Maybe such a person never really existed, couldn’t exist, but people wanted a savior nonetheless. As a bestselling memoirist he had created a mythic figure, a man named Barack Obama who had searched and quested and overcome travails, who had found an identity and a calling in public service. Obama recalled that he often joked with his team, “This Barack Obama sounds like a great guy. Now I’m not sure that I am Barack Obama, right?” He added, pointedly, “It wasn’t entirely a joke.”

Obama v. McCain – Online! | BNET

“An effective Web site design conveys brand and presents information with a clear hierarchy,” says Mendell, who has led several award-winning site redesigns, including BNET’s. “A functional site creates intuitive access to all the content.” Here’s Mendell’s take on Obama v. McCain online.

Op-Ed Columnist - How to Fix a Flat - NYTimes.com

How could these companies be so bad for so long? Clearly the combination of a very un-innovative business culture, visionless management and overly generous labor contracts explains a lot of it. It led to a situation whereby General Motors could make money only by selling big, gas-guzzling S.U.V.’s and trucks. Therefore, instead of focusing on making money by innovating around fuel efficiency, productivity and design, G.M. threw way too much energy into lobbying and maneuvering to protect its gas guzzlers.

John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory

Normal person + anonymity + audience = total fuckwad

Samuelson: The Attack on American Affluence | Newsweek Business | Newsweek.com

The bad news is that recovery, though boosting employment, may prove unsatisfying. Our new economic era may lapse into a state of “affluent deprivation.” That’s an unfamiliar term. It doesn’t mean poverty. The United States will remain a wealthy society. Rather, “affluent deprivation” signifies a state of mind. People feel poorer, because their sluggish income gains get siphoned off into higher taxes, energy costs and health spending. Though these all involve benefits, they don’t pay everyday bills or cover people’s routine pleasures. There’s an approaching collision between private and public wants—government spending for everything from retirement benefits to defense to the repair of roads and bridges.

Obama to take new media to White House - Politics AP - MiamiHerald.com

It’s the first visible result of a major transition-team effort to make Obama’s conversations with the electorate more direct. In addition, members and supporters of the White House media upgrade want more input opportunities for the public.

Many of the changes, if adopted, also would curb the power of a traditional but often unpopular middleman between presidents and the populace: the mainstream media.

View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

The True Value of Social Media Consultants

miss rogue — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:21:57 +0000

The other day, I was in a meeting with a group of very smart people and we were talking about how to discern a ‘great’ social media consultant from a ‘mediocre’ social media consultant. I’ve never really considered myself a social media consultant, though. I’ve always thought of myself in a more integrated way, since I’ve spent my marketing career working online AND offline and being part of product development as much as promotional campaigns. Even the term ‘community marketing’ that I usually use to describe my practice falls short.

Even so, I believe the job of Social Media Consultant entails using the online social media tools available to spread the word - much like PR does for traditional media - to pick up steam for the brands they represent. This, of course, is a very smart business to get into, especially during these turbulent economic times. Social media tools are inexpensive and are quite easy to measure impact for. I particularly like tools like HubSpot and Google Analytics for measuring impact of social media campaigns, as well as tracking word of mouth through Twitter’s search and Google Blogsearch. There are many other tools available, as outlined here by my colleague, Jeremiah. This makes a Social Media Consultant a sound investment as an adjunct to any other form of marketing you are embarking on. It’s also a safe bet when budgets get cut back as it is more cost effective than many other types of marketing.

Still, how does one know who is a ‘good’ consultant and a ‘mediocre’ one? I think it all comes down to Whuffie.

Much like a PR person worth her weight in gold has many contacts and a good reputation in the traditional media circles, a social media consultant (SMC) worth her weight in gold has many contacts and a good reputation in online communities. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the SMC has the MOST contacts, either. It’s how people talk about her, how she interacts and how the things she posts are spread around. A good SMC will have high Whuffie on the web. People will trust her opinion. Other influential people will value her expertise. The reason that quality is as important as quantity is that her Whuffie will rub off on her clients. If she is trusted for what she talks about, her connections will be more likely to check out who she is representing.

Anyone can be a SMC, really. There are millions of people of all ages using the online tools and hundreds of thousands of them use them effectively. But to be a kickass SMC, you need to be an influencer yourself. This isn’t much different from PR. And, in both cases, it matters who you represent.

Social media, just like any other type of marketing, is only as good as the response you get from customers. A good SMC knows her stuff and understands what the market will respond to. She will be honest with you in early meetings if she knows your product needs work to delight potential customers. You deserve that. You don’t want to spend a bunch of money and energy on a campaign that goes nowhere. You should be spending that time and money on building a really awesome product. And, a good marketing professional, social media or not can help you in that realm as well. I’ve actually spent more of my career working on product development and innovation than I have on the promotion of it. The truth is, great products need less promotion and ’stick’ when you do promote.

Lastly, an SMC you want to hire practices ethical marketing. Much related to the point about having influence in a community, ethical marketing practices maintain and build integrity within communities. Anything that smacks of lying or tricking people will be found out and both your company and your SMC will pay the price Whuffie-wise. Future campaigns will be looked upon as suspect and time and money spent will be for naught.

I take great care in working with clients - who I’m working with and how I’m promoting them. I make sure that what I’m delivering is of value and that my connections won’t feel spammed or get tired of the type of media that I’m sharing with them. If my own quality slips, the interest from my connections slips and I become less useful to current and future clients who deserve the positive word of mouth. There are clients I have taken on who have potential, but were not ready for promotion - so we focused on product and getting to the point where we could both be proud of what we were sharing with our connections. Other potential clients who wanted the promotion, but wouldn’t do the work to make sure people I introduced to their products would be delighted, had to be passed over. In today’s competitive landscape, I was sorry to see them pass up the opportunity.

Thus, if you want to have your SM campaigns go further, assess your SMC on these three measurements:

How much influence does he/she have in online communities?
Does he/she understand market trends? What kind of feedback does he/she give on your product? Are there good ideas in there?
Does he/she practice ethical marketing? If he/she suggests that you can pay people to digg up an item, probably not.

Other than that list, an SMC has to understand how to use the tools, know how to measure impact and how to get creative to get through the noise that is the thousands of campaigns already inundating people in online communities. But it isn’t necessarily getting through that counts. It is how that message is received on the other side. That outcome is going to mean results or rejection.

This Week’s Links on Ma.gnolia

miss rogue — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:02:05 +0000

Some stuff I’m reading this week…

Official Gmail Blog: New in Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret

Sometimes I send messages I shouldn’t send. Like the time I told that girl I had a crush on her over text message. Or the time I sent that late night email to my ex-girlfriend that we should get back together. Gmail can’t always prevent you from sending messages you might later regret, but today we’re launching a new Labs feature I wrote called Mail Goggles which may help.

What is Responsible Business, Really? Perspectives from Stonyfield Farms and Clif Bar Founders ( Gary+Erickson, Gary+Hirshberg, Kit+Crawford, Clif+Bar, Stonyfield+Farms, Good+Business+Network, CSR, Corporate, Social, Responsibility, Kellie, McElhaney, Haa

Hirshberg’s company (stonyfield yogurt), too, pays it employees to volunteer and “that kind of stuff” but philanthropy can’t dilute the focus of a truly great business, he argued. He compared check-writing and volunteering to cutting the leaves and branches off a tree, where the heart of the business and its ability to impact the world positively is the tree itself.

The Social Capital Divide in MySpace | Dr Shock MD PhD

Researchers found evidence for a social capital divide on My Space based on age. They did a study of user profiles among teenagers and older users of MySpace. MySpace is one of many online social networking site, but one of the largest.

Zazengo - Welcome to Zazengo

Actions speak louder than words
Turn awareness into action around causes that matter to you. Record your social impact and watch it grow across your community.

Delancey Street Foundation - Home

At our site we hope to show you a little about our model, our successes and our struggles. We’re considered the country’s leading residential self-help organization for substance abusers, ex-convicts, homeless and others who have hit bottom. Our average resident has been a hard-core drug addict for sixteen years, abusing alcohol and multiple drugs and has dropped out of school at the 7th grade and has been institutionalized several times. Many have been gang members; most have been trapped in poverty for several generations. Rather than hire experts to help the people with problems, we decided to run Delancey Street with no staff and no funding. Like a large family, our residents must learn to develop their strengths and help each other. It’s an approach to changing lives that is “against all odds”.

Analyst: Half of ’social media campaigns’ will flop | The Social - CNET News

There’s obviously no universal solution to social-media advertising and marketing, because every company is different. But Sarner offered a preliminary tip: to make sure that there’s a clear reason why such a campaign is instituted, and “get people talking” isn’t enough. “Are you discovering what’s going to be the new black next season?” he suggested as an example of a trendspotting-focused strategy.

Wall Decals: Toronto Transit Series | Walloper

A collection of decals featuring the iconic modernist design and typography of the Toronto Subway system. Wall decals are easy to apply and remove so you can reimagine your space as often as you like

25 Ways to Build Your Community | chrisbrogan.com

Good tips from The Broganmeister.

Superstruct: The world’s first massively multiplayer forecasting game - Massively

Forget what you typically expect from your average client-based MMO. In fact, the title you’re going to read about here differs markedly from the type of game we normally cover at Massively, but that makes it no less interesting. Superstruct is truly something different

Scroll Magazine | Scroll Number 1

Welcome to Scroll Number 1: | virtual…physical | . You’ve journeyed between worlds to be here today. How was your trip? It’s one we take for granted as we

50 Ways Marketers Can use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing | chrisbrogan.com

Social media isn’t always the right tool for the job. Not every company needs a blog. YouTube worked for BlendTec, but it might not work for your company. And yet, there’s something to this. Over the last three days, I’ve spoken to four HUGE brands in America that are considering social media for one project or another, and there are many more out there working on how these tools might integrate into their business needs. Here’s a list of 50 ideas (in no particular order) to help move the conversation along. Note: I mix PR and Marketing. They should get back together again.

globeandmail.com: The class of 2012: Mr. Google’s children

The class of 2012: Mr. Google’s children
They’ve been called shallow, over-entitled, self-absorbed social-network addicts. A few experts predict instead that they’ll be the next ‘hero generation.’ But what do they say for themselves?

Influential Marketing Blog: The Softer Side Of Measuring Social Media

Social media measurements - qualitatively

View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

This Week’s Links on Ma.gnolia

miss rogue — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:01:42 +0000

Some stuff I’m reading this week…

twittergram

Send your Flickr pix to Twitter and show people what you’re up to. To disable posting simply enter your flickr username, select the disable checkbox below it and click Submit.

Your flickr feed is checked about every 10 minutes and only the most recent post within the hour is sent to Twitter.

Disaster Capitalism, State of Extortion

As the planet is rocked by multiple shocks, here’s a look at how disaster capitalists are reaping the benefits–leveraging the Iraq War, the push for arctic drilling and the global food crisis.

Silicon Valley Rocks

Great idea for an event. Funds raised go to a school music program. Lotso fun!

The Banality of Heroism

The banality of heroism concept suggests that we are all potential heroes waiting for a moment in life to perform a heroic deed. The decision to act heroically is a choice that many of us will be called upon to make at some point in time. By conceiving of heroism as a universal attribute of human nature, not as a rare feature of the few “heroic elect,” heroism becomes something that seems in the range of possibilities for every person, perhaps inspiring more of us to answer that call.

Robert Reich’s Blog: What Wall Street Should Be Required to Do, to Get A Blank Check From Taxpayers

Wall Street’s request for a blank check comes at the same time most of the public is worried about their jobs and declining wages, and having enough money to pay for gas and food and health insurance, meet their car payments and mortgage payments, and save for their retirement and childrens’ college education. And so the public is asking: Why should Wall Street get bailed out by me when I’m getting screwed?

FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right

Totally awesome geeky stats on elections.

Americans text more than they talk | News - Wireless - CNET News

For the second quarter of 2008, U.S. mobile subscribers sent and received on average 357 text messages per month, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month, according to Nielsen. The new statistic is a clear indication that Americans have jumped onto the SMS text bandwagon.

Pew Internet: Teens, Video Games and Civics

Game playing is universal, with almost all teens playing games and at least half playing games on a given day. Game playing experiences are diverse, with the most popular games falling into the racing, puzzle, sports, action and adventure categories.
Game playing is also social, with most teens playing games with others at least some of the time and can incorporate many aspects of civic and political life.

Educational Publishing Summit

I’ve been in talks with this group about presenting our HeroCamp findings next summer.

Study: Most Americans want to see companies on social sites - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe

According to the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present, but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

Heilemann: Obama Passes Presidential Test; McCain Fails Manners — Daily Intel — New York News Blog — New York Magazine

As we’ve seen over and over since the general election started, when the campaign is at equilibrium, Obama runs ahead of McCain by somewhere between 3 and 7 points — which is why McCain and his people are constantly, and somewhat desperately, trying to unsettle that equilibrium with gimmicks, shocks, and stunts. The selection of Palin. The “suspension” of McCain’s campaign. The transparently bogus threat of bailing out of the first debate unless a bailout plan for the financial system was agreed to on Capitol Hill. The problem with these gambits is diminishing returns: each one has less effect than the last.

Political Affairs Magazine - Naomi Klein on “Disaster Capitalism”

…the ruling class is using disasters, both natural and those brought about by their polices, to ram through social structural changes in their interests that they never could have brought about using the democratic process. Getting rid of public housing for the poor in New Orleans, for example.

Now is the Time to Resist Wall Street’s Shock Doctrine | Naomi Klein

It would be a grave mistake to underestimate the right’s ability to use this crisis — created by deregulation and privatization — to demand more of the same. Don’t forget that Newt Gingrich’s 527 organization, American Solutions for Winning the Future, is still riding the wave of success from its offshore drilling campaign, “Drill Here, Drill Now!” Just four months ago, offshore drilling was not even on the political radar and now the U.S. House of Representatives has passed supportive legislation. Gingrich is holding an event this Saturday, September 27 that will be broadcast on satellite television to shore up public support for these controversial policies.

Ten First Steps Toward Lighter Living | Lighter Footstep

Every journey begins with a single step. At Lighter Footstep, we’ve rounded-up the ten easiest ways for you to start moving toward a lighter lifestyle. Some cost nothing at all. Others provide a lot bang for your eco-dollar. In every case, these ideas will save you money, cut energy use, and help balance your household’s greenhouse gas budget — the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere to produce goods or electrical power.

So pick a few, and give them a try. Before long, you’ll establish the habits we all need to develop as we face the challenges of a resource-hungry planet.

The Corporation Film: Welcome

This is one of the documentaries that totally changed my perspective. It’s a brilliant look at how corporations have all of the rights of a citizen with none of the responsibilities and how totally frightening that is.

PR 2.0: The State of Social Media 2008

no matter how grand an expert one purports to be, the truth is that we’re all still trying to figure this out as it continually changes – together. I’m not talking about what to do or how, but what must be done in order to ensure that this global renaissance paves the way for permanent residence in every media property and business through value, education, and reform.

SmallWorlds

SmallWorlds is a 3D virtual world that runs inside your web browser. It enables you to build your own room, house, or even your own world, and fill it with a wide variety of items and fun activities.

How to Break the Bubble Cycle

To be sure, bailouts can hit CEOs, top management, and institutional shareholders hard, above all through loss of employment and loss of bonuses. But bailouts have economic and social costs that are not covered by the assets. And bailouts raise the question of moral hazard—the problem that people behave recklessly if they are not responsible for the consequences of their actions. Indeed, banks are allowed to fail whereas other financial institutions are rescued. Who decides on that and on what grounds?

Storytelling Alice

In contrast to the large number of people who use computers and computer programs in their daily lives, relatively few learn to create their own computer programs. Storytelling Alice is a programming environment designed to motivate a broad spectrum of middle school students (particularly girls) to learn to program computers through creating short 3D animated movies.

Nature’s Variety

Another good raw food diet for dogs that was recommended to me by @tracy1314 on twitter.

View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

Red Zone/Green Zone

miss rogue — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:52:37 +0000

Baghdad (International) Green Zone by James Gordon

Does this sound familiar?

Jane works for a company that is fairly successful. The product it produces is beer and has moved from being a local favorite to a regional favorite to a favorite in pubs across the entire U.S. Jane’s role is customer service and she takes calls from, mostly, happy customers every day, thanking her for producing a really great beer with a great taste and a solid heartfelt brand. One Monday morning, the companies executives round up all of the employees for a big meeting and tell them that, because of the great success thusfar, the board has decided to go more nationally aggressive with the company. The company is getting a boost in funding and will be hiring a whole bunch of new people to handle the expansion. Jane is excited. More customers equals more great phonecalls for her.

As they expand, things start to change…but not in the directions Jane thought they would. The biggest addition seems to be to the sales team - a group of beverage sales specialists. In order to help Jane out, they hire two other people, quite junior as part of her customer service staff. The sales team sticks to their own, which baffles Jane a little. The smaller company always hung out as a team, so they would know exactly what was happening in each department, from executive to sales to customer service to science to even the staff that were brewing.

The pressure is on to sell and produce more beer and there are rumors that the strict quality process they had before isn’t being adhered to. Jane and her new team are receiving more negative phonecalls than usual, and, because of the national focus of the new sales, the customer service lines are constantly busy, giving Jane no time to monitor or train the new people. One day she is pulled into the office of the VP Marketing who tells her there have been complaints about customer service. She works unpaid overtime to put together scripts and quality control documents for her staff. She puts in a request for a CRM system so that she can keep track of the calls, but is told that customer service is a ‘loss leader’, so the request isn’t approved. Meanwhile, the sales department is furnished with a foosball table, and they are all given expense accounts to wine and dine their customers.

Jane is frustrated, and, as things get worse and worse, she starts to hate the job that she once loved. She feels powerless to help the customers who are calling her daily unhappy - she doesn’t know what is going on, and when she does (as far as the quality rumors go), she can’t say anything. Then the decision comes to ‘tighten the belts’ of the company as sales are waning. Who do they cut first? Jane’s team. She is left with one staff member. Even the quality of Jane’s customer service plummets as she can’t handle the volume of calls…and when she does, she is powerless to help the customers. She is called into the office of the VP Marketing again. This time the news is really bad. They’ve decided to outsource their customer service and, other than handling the transition, Jane is no longer needed. The poor performance of her department just doesn’t warrant keeping it local.

This is a classic story that I’ve heard from many companies over the years, but other than a different idea of what is important (what you measure, matters), I just thought it was the way most businesses handled themselves.

It wasn’t until I read Naomi Klein’s latest work on Disaster Capitalism that it occurred to me that what happens in this country with the social system is tightly connected to what happens to the parts of a business like customer service, that are seen as ‘extraneous’.

In her writing, she discusses the growth of Green Zones - the ‘free market’ influx of private companies coming in to solve public services for a profitable venture - while the Red Zones - the public services that remain in place to serve those who cannot afford to pay for the Green Zones that are underfunded and forgotten until they are enough of a problem to wipe out altogether (housing projects, for example) - are used as an example to demonize the public system and further grow Green Zones.

This happens in business like the above examples. The Green Zones are the profit centers of the company and the Red Zones are the cost centers of the company - the cost centers, of course, support the growth of the profit centers (providing customer service, marketing, support staff, quality control, etc), but on the books are seen as pure loss leaders. So, when a company needs to cut back costs…those centers are hit, not the ‘profit’ centers like sales. After enough cutbacks, the performance of the cost centers suffers, which gives enough validation to outsource or get rid of them altogether. Because the sales team is showing numbers (even though those numbers would not exist if it weren’t for the corporate Red Zones supporting them), they are shown as an example of what works in the company.

Now, I don’t know if Klein would want me to twist her metaphor to support my thesis, but I do believe it is the core of what is failing with business today. The Yin and Yang of it need to be kept in place and both cost and profit centers rely on one other to exist and flourish. Jane’s story above ends in her getting a new job that she can love again and her old company struggling to stay afloat, not understanding why things went so badly after the expansion…maybe even returning to their roots years later and re-gaining their customer’s trust.

In the public sphere, we must be wary of Green Zones and the creation of Red Zones, but we must also be aware of it in terms of our professional sphere. Is your company creating a Green Zone/Red Zone atmosphere? I urge you to read Klein’s work either way and tell me if you see the parallel yourself.

This Week’s Links on Ma.gnolia

miss rogue — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 07:01:26 +0000

Some stuff I’m reading this week…

I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You - Clive Thompson - NYTimes.com

Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.

Apartment Therapy Chicago | Mini Pug + Mini Eames Lounge = Small and Cool?

Mini Pug + Mini Eames Lounge = Small and Cool?

Raptr: What are you playing?

Raptr’s single goal is to change the way you play and discover games and share your gaming experiences with friends. Sure, we have a comprehensive library of games, videos, and mods but what we’re really proud of is our recommendation system.

Coworking sites cater to the lonely self-employed — chicagotribune.com

The new way to work on your own is to work alone together.

Across the country, spaces are springing up to meet the demands of a new workforce, made up of self-employed entrepreneurs or part-time employees for whom the freedom of padding down the hallway to their home office in slippers and pajamas has turned into a home-based version of solitary confinement.

The communal office | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA

The SoCo Depot in Penngrove, founded by six disgruntled at-home workers in April, is a wide-open space. The only doors are for the entrance, the conference room and the bathroom.

I heart Bacon Womens Shirt | Bacon Shirts - bacon themed shirts, aprons and underpants for men, women and kids

I heart Bacon Womens Shirt | bacon themed shirts, aprons and underpants for men, women and children | 100% Bacon Love / 0% actual bacon

About Sarah Palin by Anne Kilkenny

“Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.”

Democracy Now: Fundamental Duties of a Citizen - Part 1 | Gimmie The Scoop

Somehow we place disproportionate emphasis on our rights against our duties as citizens. For it is, rights and duties are the two sides of the same coin. Our inalienable rights are inherent and fundamental; the constitution simply safeguards and guarantees them. As rights are inalienable so are duties, for every right there is a reciprocal duty. The duty of a person is an inalienable part of his/her right.

Democracy Now: Fundamental Duties of a Citizen - Part 2 - Associated Content

no democratic republic can ever thrive unless citizens are active participants in the process of governance by embracing responsibilities and discharging citizenship duties.

stellargirl returns: restocking the refrigerator

sometimes i feel like a refrigerator, filled with food i would like to share with other people. (great analogy)

snug as « Loldogs, Dogs ‘n’ Puppy Dog Pictures - I Has A Hotdog!

omg omg lub lub lub

My New Space @ Citizen Space | Chris Heuer’s Insytes

Very excited to make this other announcement today that I am going to be joining a bunch of my friends and colleagues at the local co-working offices of Citizen Space!

Global Neighbourhoods: SM Global Report: Beeline’s Francois Gossieaux

People want to hang out with like-minded people and want to help and be helped by people who care. By providing a massive platform for participation, social media has allowed that tribal behavior to return to the forefront. Whether you like it or not, there is probably a good chance that your consumer tribe already hangs out in some corner of the online world. While at times a bit dense, you can find a collection on the most recent research Consumer Tribes.

Fitbit - Automatically Track Your Fitness and Sleep

Saw this while watching the TC50 ustream. I think I’ll get one. Tracks your activity and your sleep. Wifi enabled. Very cool.

Pollster.com - Political Poll Trends, Charts and Analysis

Charts, maps and award winning analysis of all national and state polls for the elections for President, Senate, Governor and U.S. House, updated constantly.

The Social Capital Investment Strategy | Fast Company

The one thing I’ve consistently seen entrepreneurs do that has significant measurable impact on everything they do — more than any other factor — is manage their relationships and manage their social capital. Folks that do that really well are bound to find some measure of success in some area of their life. It may not be the course they set initially, but there’s invariably some positive that comes from it. So I’ve made it point throughout my own endeavors to continue to find ways to improve my own ability to manage and maintain relationships and to learn from others.

Michael E. Gruen » An asset class called Whuffie

unlike other asset classes, social capital has memory. More traditional classes, like cash, are relatively expendable: lose all your cash, you’ll be mad at yourself. Lose all your social capital, your capital will be mad and it will be hard to earn back. Further, if you manage to reclaim it, it will always remember you once lost it.

globeandmail.com: A place to lay your laptop

For the business person on the road, co-working spaces are much more comfortable than a coffee shop or hotel meeting room, says Tara Hunt, a California information-technology consultant and the owner of Citizen Space in San Francisco.

CAMP FOUR PAWS

This is where we found Ridley…what an amazing place!

More on Trust Agents

If social capital is the currency of the web, trust agents are people that understand how it works through their understanding of how people work on the web (how they join together, how they come to trust others, etc). They do this, at all times, with *people* in mind, not profit.

Airline Pet Travel Information

Pet carry-on, travel, and shipping information for the listed airlines. Click on the airline name to be taken to the detailed airline-specific pet information page.

DogFriendly.com’s City Guide: San Francisco, California

Places to take your Pet in San Francisco California.

Dog Friendly Dining in San Francisco Bay Area

Our goal at Dining With Sophie is to create a comprehensive list of restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area that are dog friendly. Using Google Maps, we are plotting the location of restaurants that have outdoor seating areas.

Pet Friendly San Francisco Dining Restaurants

Great list of restaurants you can take your pooch!

Franchise Software: Intranet + Point of Sale (POS) + Kiosk + Website = LavaBlast!

LavaBlast develops franchise software that reduces costs and increases the franchise’s uniqueness

Fresh Folio | WooThemes

Thinking about some great Wordpress templates…beautiful

Graph Paper Press Wordpress Themes

We make cool themes for Wordpress

electopinion.ca : twitter + elections = <3

Canadian politicians tweeting.

Wheat Free Dog Food, Gluten Free Dog Food–The Honest Kitchen

Grain free dog food, gluten free dog food– The Honest Kitchen caters to dogs with sensitive stomachs with wheat free & gluten free dog food.

San Francisco Blue Recycling Cart Program

Information about Sunset Scavenger Company’s blue cart recycling program in San Francisco.

Post Like a Pirate - Your Pirate Translator

Remember that Friday is Talk Like a Pirate Day!

TwitterKeys: Enhance your Twitter conversations

♥ ✈ ☺ ♬ ☑ ♠ ☎ ☻ ♫ ☒ ♤ ☤ ☹ ♪ ♀ …

Matching Sexy Dog Costumes for Women and Female Pups, Pet Dog Costumes, Toy Dog Costumes at SpoiledRottenDoggies.com

OMG…I really shouldn’t…

Derek Powazek - DePo Masthead

Totally yummy new Wordpress theme…I wonder when this will be available?

Pooches Playtime

The boarding kennel recommended by PugPros.com for a place for Ridley to stay when I’m out of town.

BuddyPress » A Wordpress MU Based Social Network Platform

BuddyPress is a set of WordPress MU specific plugins, each plugin adding a distinct new feature. BuddyPress contains all the features you’d expect from WordPress but aims to let members socially interact.

Education, Family Background, Key Factors Determining Economic Mobility - MarketWatch

“Education is the key to mobility, and the golden key is a college degree,” said report author Stuart Butler. “But our findings show that success in education is crucially influenced by a range of key factors, such as the family environment, community norms, and health during childhood.”

ObamaTravel.org

Welcome to OBAMAtravel.org. This site is designed to help volunteers from non-swing states get to crucial swing states by connecting them with the resources they need.

The Superstruct Game

This fall, the IFTF invites you to play Superstruct, the world’s first massively multiplayer forecasting game. It’s not just about envisioning the future - it’s about inventing the future. Watch for the opening volley of threats and survival stories…

View all my bookmarks on Ma.gnolia

All about HeroCamp

miss rogue — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:38:41 +0000

Details:

HeroCamp
(wiki)
October 23-26, 2008
Caroline Collective, 4820 Caroline Street, Houston, TX
Cost: free (but we’re looking for sponsors to keep it that way!)

REWARDS = massive!

Rebooting America

miss rogue — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:02:40 +0000

Yay! Totally stoked that Rebooting America is now available for sale, an anthology I worked on with the good peeps at the Personal Democracy Forum. Rebooting includes forty-four essays by political and digital luminaries including Craig Newmark (of craigslist), Esther Dyson, Joe Trippi, Newt Gingrich and many others — including my slightly provocative essay, “Who Needs Elected Officials Anyway?“! Each essay has a unique central idea but all are infused with the hopes of reenergizing, reorganizing, and reorienting our government for the Internet Age.

Rebooting America is more than a book, it is an “open source” experiment in new media publishing underwritten by the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy. Copies of the book are available as .pdfs for download for free. Every essay has been posted online with an invitation for readers to comment.

However, I’m hoping that you’ll consider buying a paperback edition to support this open model. Rebooting America is available today online for viewing and purchase.

BLANKSPACES makes awesome Coworking videos

miss rogue — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:27:56 +0000

Collaboration 2.0 from BLANKSPACES on Vimeo.

If you need to work in LA, you need to stop by BLANKSPACES to do so. In fact, I need to get to LA, just to meet these people!

p.s. You can see more of their awesome work HERE.