Things The Internet Needs | Part 1: AdPants

adpants

First world problem solving.

Every time you skip a YouTube advert (after being forced to watch 5 seconds) or mute the new evil 15 second ones, a Tweet / Facebook update is sent out referencing the brand in question saying something like:

“Thanks @[nameofbrand] for hijacking my @YouTube time with your old school ad #adpants”

Advertising via interruption on the web is awful, lazy and tasteless. Old paradigm thinking in new world playgrounds. It doesn’t work.

Who wants to build a Chrome extension or some other programme / app which does the above? Can it be made? If so maybe we could crowfund it—who’s game?

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TEDxTeAro Review | Reflecting

dk at tedxtearo

100 enthused attendees, 8 wonderful speakers, 6 skilled partners, 3 lovely sponsors, 1 very happy licensee holder.

On Saturday, TEDxTeAro made me smile with my heart.

Ideas from the stage included:

sarah wilson

“fear is something we don’t usually run towards” / “adventure is any undertaking where the outcome is unclear” / “we breathe in and inspire” | Sarah Wilson

evan thomas

“everything always has a [maker] story behind it” / “[digital] fabrication is a grass roots technology” | Evan Thomas

emma saunders

“success doesn’t lead to happiness, happiness leads to success” / “19% chance of a faster diagnosis if your doctor is happy” / “[cultivate happiness through] compassion, conscious acts of kindness, gratitude” | Emma Saunders

anja geelen

“we’re genetically wired to be in nature” / “we are biologically designed for play” / “children download [real life] experiences into their brains” | Anja Geelen

anna guenther

“even though it’s a young industry there are already 300 crowd funding platforms out there” / “it’s a disruptive innovation” / “collaboration is the new black” | Anna Guenther

dan khan

“the innovation ecosystem needs to be led by entrepreneurs with 20 years of history” / “innovation is bred at the boundary of constraint” | Dan Khan

ben forman

“our teaching has yet to catch up with our environment” / “comfort is boring” / “go nuts, do stuff and have fun” | Ben Forman

alex hannant

“we can’t negotiate with a planet which doesn’t speak english and which is much bigger than us” / “create unreasonable ideas” / “social enterprises focus on a geniune need (rather than creating one to sell)” | Alex Hannant

My focus now:

  • how do we improve?
  • how do we ensure momentum is not lost?
  • how do we scale and match the personal nature of this event?

A HUGE thank you to everyone involved, the speakers, sponsors, partners, attendees, TED and its community etc etc etc

What were your highlights?

Onwards to TEDxTeAro 2013.

Related posts: Today I Will Be Busy | TEDxTeAro Goes Live, TEDxTeAro | Dates And Location Announced and Announcing TEDxTeAro | Steering A Very Important Ship
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Today I Will Be Busy | TEDxTeAro Goes Live

all the tedxtearo 2012 speakers

The capitals first grown-up public TEDx event.

Honoured to be involved—here’s the agenda:

1.00pm Networking Hub doors open
1.40pm Event doors open / live stream starts
1.45pm Mihi Whakatau
2.00pm Welcome / Intro
2.20pm Sarah Wilson : Deconstructing Fear : a Personal Adventure.
2.40pm Evan Thomas : Designing for mass customisation.
3.00pm TEDx Video : Chosen / introduced by Kaila Colbin, TEDxEQChCh Curator.
3.15pm Emma Saunders : Happiness is a boardroom strategy.
3.35pm Anja Geelen : Reconnecting with childhood through play.
3.55pm Review / End of part one / Networking Hub break
5.00pm Welcome back
5.10pm Anna Guenther : How crowdfunding is going to change the world.
5.30pm Dan Khan : Thinking small, big impact.
5.50pm TEDx Video : Chosen / introduced by Jose and Trent from TEDxQueenstown
6.05pm Ben Forman : Digital Thinking vs Analogue Thinking.
6.25pm Alex Hannant : Why Social Enterprise is a good idea, and how we can get more of it.
6.45pm Close / Thanks / Networking Hub
7.30pm Go home smiling

Will be streamed live on tedxtearo.com—watch / support if you are able.

Related posts: TEDxTeAro | Dates And Location Announced and Announcing TEDxTeAro | Steering A Very Important Ship
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The Art Of Career Change | Taking notes

From the wonderful School Of Life

Five deliciously taunting lessons from Roman Krznaric on finding fulfilling work:

1. Confusion is perfectly normal

      1. —changing career (and the prospect of doing so) is utterly confusing due to the paradox of choice plus we’re naturally rick adverse—we have to move beyond this

2. Beware of personality tests

      1. —they simply don’t work

3. Be a wide achiever, not a high achiever

      1. —nurture the many sides of who we are to be a portfolio worker or a serial specialist

4. Find where your values and talent meet

      1. —therein lies in your vocation

5. Act first, reflect later

    1. —make time for change. The ‘plan and implement model’ is backwards. Branching projects or temporary assignments.

How did you find the job that fulfils you?

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The State Of The Internet | It’s Messy

fbvsggl

Juicy graphs and tastier truths.

Love this:

Google is the best ad product in the history of the world because it’s like advertising at a store. Facebook, meanwhile, is like advertising at a party.

BOOM!

The above and other stuff like:

  • the commercial internet is 20 years old
  • smartphones overtook PC sales in 2011
  • new media stock has 3x more value than old media
  • games played online are up 20x in two years
  • 45billion apps will be downloaded by the end of the year

…is from the un-embeddable (they say it is but it creates an ad—oh the irony) The State Of The Internet slidedeck from Business Insider.

Go, trawl / remix.

image credit
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Strategies vs Culture | Influencing Excellence

culture quote drucker

Replacing strategy with culture.

The following lines were featured in an exit report for my previous role:

…this is less about strategies and more about culture. Create the habitat and the habit will follow.

Something I’ve been saying for a while about social media and more importantly, change (whether it be departmental, organisational, individual etc).

Then the above [quote in the image] came along and I had to go outside and get some air.

Allow it to sink in.

Take some time to realise its importance.

Then adopt and adapt, embrace and move on, richer.

Thank you Peter Drucker.

How do you create a better culture for your organisation / company / for yourself?

Image credit via Drucker Institute
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Rilke’s Desk

Rilke in the Hotel Biron, Paris

Totally intrigued by this image of my literary mentor, Rainer Maria Rilke.

The bare room.

The sturdy desk.

The overbearing chair.

And then there’s the look… away… reaching… not to notice the scene but more as a gesture to placate the task in which the mind is now dutifully attending—beauty builds in the pause before the creative act!

Related post: The Man Watching
Image credit
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Splash Media U And Pete Aspen | A Twitter Mystery

magnum pi

Digital investigator.

Mr Pete Aspen recently tweeted me the following question:

do you know if @splashmediau is a good place for a newbie to learn how to become a social media manger?

Now I always click into the profiles of those who have taken the time to tweet me (especially if I’m asked to give an opinion on something). I’ve heard of Splash Media in the past and thought Mr Aspen had tracked me down due to my very previous role as a social media manager.

After scrolling through every one of Mr Aspens 1,906 tweets (at the time of writing this afternoon), it became evident though that all he’s doing is asking the same question about social media training and certification programmes.

However, nearly 25% of all tweets (448) references @splashmediau.

Note the timestamps on the right hand side of the tweets below:

peteaspen automated

Nothing wrong in using timed tweets as to not overload your followers or even strategically ensure it’s when most of them are online, but something is not right here.

As an experiment I engaged Mr Aspen with a reply to try and gain a response:

peteaspen reply

I heard nothing back (as of yet).

There are two conclusions to be made, either:

  • Mr Aspen is using Twitter as a micro-advisory or research platform, tweeting on only one topic / question in an attempt to gain insights for what could be a myriad of reasons; or
  • Mr Aspen is a poor automated attempt by @splashmediau to highlight their services

If it is the former then surely @splashmediau (who would be seeing his tweets they are mentioned in) should be all over Mr Aspen to either demonstrate their services (as he’s an obvious customer) or kindly asking him to refrain from referencing them constantly because he’s certainly not helping their reputation.

If it is the latter… well, you make up your mind. Maybe there’s a third reason. What do you think is happening here my little Magnums?

By the way, Mr Aspen and @splashmediau, the floor is yours, feel free to comment below as well.

Image credit to magnum-mania

UPDATE (a few hours later): take a look at the first (right at the botom) and seventh followers of our friend Mr Aspen:
peteaspen followers

UPDATE (10.11.12): As you can from the comment and this tweet below, there has been a response:

pete aspen response

What do you guys think now?

Related post: BlackBox SocialMedia | Automated Communication
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