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The Audience Has An Audience | Adapt, Adopt

Watch. Learn. Apply.

Back in 2006 I spoke at my first television-industry conference (there were many many more).

Even then the discourse and examples focussed on how the the web was shifting the watching experience. Martini media had arrived along with mobile phones plus social networks.

Fast forward over 7 years and most people will read / watch the above, nod and continue on their merry way. What a shame!

The social connected layer influences and continues to impact vast swathes of our considered and structured lives. This stuff doesn’t just apply to TV. It’s also about how we work. Our health. How we interact with our family / friends. Our security. How we bank. How we vote. Where we go for dinner etc

The idea that we have networks which we influence is what the clever people get. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 or 10,000… we have the collective / connective power to influence and create on a level unknown like any other time.

Then again, we could just Instagram the sandwich we’re eating!

How does the idea of your audience having an audience affect / influence what you do?

ᔥ Motherboard Vice blog
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Crossing The Chasm | Small Numbers Matter

Diffusion_of_ideas

How the diffusion of ideas can be used in creating socially literate University departments.

The above idea originally was developed regarding how technology is adopted into a culture through consumerism. Within the graph there exists a ‘chasm that needs to be crossed‘ between the innovators / early adopters and the early majority (Simon Sinek does a great job at dissecting and detailing this). Knowing and focussing on this tipping point ensures a piece of technology (and subsequently, an idea) could take hold and become part of the global consciousness.

I recently used this model with the client below regarding creating an internal culture (rather strategy) of social media use.

Ensuring the innovators / early adopters become joined by the early majority sometimes means literally a handful of people rather than the larger department as a whole. Inspiring three or four souls can shift groups into a transitional point and simply thinking about it in this way (a few rather than a whole) makes the task immediately more achievable.

I have had 9 separate emails, 4 passer-by comments, and 5 texts this evening from people who attended the ‘general’ session. All comments were thanking, and praising of you, your talents, your gifts and your style.

You absolutely and undeniably rocked our world today…!!! In Maori we would say:

E kore e mimiti te puna mihi ki a koe e te tautohito, e te pou whirinaki!

(a metaphorical spring of acknowledgement and tribute that would never diminish / dry up… i.e. forever grateful for your expertise….you as a pillar of support (dependable, reliant) and adept / experienced and skilled).

Dee Reid, Te Toi Tupu – Kaihautu (Programme Leader), Institute of Professional Learning, The University of Waikato

In this session we focussed on how we can inspire a small number of people to curate content of interest, celebrate success, acknowledge their growing ambassadorial role, as well as mentoring champions coming through. Remember, we’re only talking three or four people here to create this bigger change.

How are you crossing the chasm?

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Puncture The Equilibrium | The Social Perimeter

Illustrated-Guide-PhD-Matt-Might-Remix

Keep pushing!

Discussions about the space I’ve been operating in for eight years is stilted at ‘social media’ (and usually the false assumption that most folks think it just means social media marketing).

For me, the semantic and focus has shifted to just “social”, which includes:

  • social media
  • social technologies
  • social platforms
  • social workflows
  • social currencies
  • social literacies
  • social interactions
  • social expectations
  • social sharing
  • social business
  • social metrics
  • social culture (to name but a few)

These new associations seem peripheral to the main social media discourse, and if you think that way, good, because there’s not much space on the edge.

The courageous, audacious, curious margins with their better questions.

The fringes where development occurs as a gradual push outwards, extending the status quo.

A punctuated equilibrium.

Whether it be a university asking for applications for one of it’s courses via 200 characters; Lego making it’s executives to take courses in social; crowdfunded films winning oscars etc

The edges are far more fun, confusing, impactful and wondrous than the center.

Join me if you dare.

Image remixed from The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.
Hat-tip Brian Sweeney for ‘punctuated equilibrium’ term.
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Jeff Bezos Buys The Washington Post | Opportunity Follows

I really hope Bezos watches The Newsroom.

The Washington Post has a great legacy although has been losing readers and reach for years. Jeff Bezos just bought them and with it an opportunity to give journalists the permission to be the informed and critical medium it has long forgot it needs to be (even though the general populace has become more interested in shallow celebrity stuff than real life):

There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy. We will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment. Our touchstone will be readers, understanding what they care about – government, local leaders, restaurant openings, scout troops, businesses, charities, governors, sports – and working backwards from there.

Bezos open letter

Re: The Newsroom clip—isn’t it sad that fiction says more about the truth than real life.
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Unplugging | Kicking It Old School

stoplooklive

After over a decade of being immersed in online social spaces and digital technologies it’s time to take a break.

To quieten the cleverness.

To go deep (not just wide).

To consolidate memory.

Regain focus.

Reflect.

Create.

Play.

That means no more blogging / Twitter / Tumlbr / Pinterest / Facebook / RSS feeds…

Don’t know how long—definitely for a good few weeks / months (during my west coast trip), maybe longer.

“The quieter we are, the more patient and open we are in our sadnesses, the more deeply and serenely the new presence can enter us, and the more we can make it our own, the more it becomes our fate.”
Rainer Maria Rilke

In the past couple of years the whole social media space has become noisy with advertisers / marketeers and diluted with experts.

That being said, recently I’ve discovered the next set of questions—just have to work out if I have the energy to start another business around them and if I’m in the right place for folks who are ready buy.

Still available for hire regarding consulting and speaking gigs (no more training services though unless it’s c-suite level).

I’m back.

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1 Giant Leap | One Immense Offering

Get the extended version out from the library and experience two hours and forty minutes of pure wonderment!

Come to the edge we said, and they said no, it’s too high;
Come to the edge we said, and they said no, we’re going to fall;
Come to the edge we said, and they very reluctantly came, and we pushed, and they flew!

1 Giant Leap produced a range of emotions rarely evoked by any documentary—a pure triumph of creative excellence!

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Exporting Skype Contacts Hack | Broken Software

skype logo

Why does Skype make stuff so hard?

Recently, I wanted to move my Skype contacts to my username but there’s no way to export to make it easy.

Here’s a hack I found:

  1. Open old account > click ‘Contacts’ on the left hand column and make sure to select ‘All’ (not just those ‘Online’)
  2. Open up a blank textedit file
  3. Back in Skype, Cmd > A to select all contacts and literally drag and drop them into the text file

All the contacts usernames should now be in the text file.

Now there’s no way to import these into the new account but at least you can search via their usernames (which is half the battle as many people are hard to find without this).

The above is for Mac and would love if anyone can confirm this works in Windows as well… leave a comment.

Hope this helps someone.

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