Disruptive Conversations

My Report into For Immediate Release (FIR) Podcast #632

In this week's For Immediate Release episode #632, my report covered:

• Congratulations to Shel and Neville on 7 years of FIR! It's insanely easy to start something like a podcast, but extremely difficult to keep it going... and 7 years is quite an accomplishment!
  
  
• Text messaging is declining in some areas as people move to using other messaging systems working over the data network.
  
  
• Codeyear.com provides an easy way to learn a little bit about "coding" if you have ever been interested in dipping your toes in and understanding some of the allure of programming.
  
  
• A gentle plea to experience the moment rather than focus on capturing moments to share on social networks.
  
  
• My 3 Words for 2012.

If you are a FIR subscriber, you should have the show now in iTunes or whatever you use to get the feed. If you aren't a subscriber, you can simply listen to the episode online now.

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My Report into For Immediate Release Podcast #623 - Oct 31, 2011

In this week's For Immediate Release episode #623, my report covered:

• The freak October New England snowstorm and the value again of social networks in crisis situations
• My view on the Klout kerfuffle and how Klout is violating historical integrity
  
  
• The awesome visualization power provided by Google+ Ripples (and examples thereof)
  
  
• Google Search Results and authorship - new ways to assert your authorship of content in ways that will show up in Google search results. Some articles about this:
  • http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/10/improving-look-of-authorship-in-your.html
  • http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/10/set-up-authorship-using-just-your-email.html
  • http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=1408986

And if you listened to the very end of my report you would have heard an additional contribution from a "helper". :-)

You can, of course, listen to the episode online now.

My FIR Report for October 3, 2011

Shel and Neville were recording Monday's "For Immediate Release" podcast episode over the weekend, so my report has already been sent in. This week I covered:

• Mathew Ingram's great piece at GigaOm on "Why Facebook's Frictionless Sharing Is The Future"

• The release of the Amazon Kindle Fire and how it is potentially forking the Android operating system

• A brief discussion of Apple iOS5/iPhone5 launch rumored to be this week (Oct 4 or 5)

• The Release 1.0 of Status.Net, the open source microblogging software formerly known as "Laconi.ca" and powering the Identi.ca service - see more at Status.net

• A brief mention of a new site I am experimenting with to aggregate my content across the web.

Of course, to hear all of that, you'll need to tune into Monday's edition of the FIR podcast after Shel or Neville posts it. Enjoy!

Final Day of the 2011 FIR Listener Survey - Help Us Guide The Show!

Do you listen to the For Immediate Release Podcast? If so, do you have a few minutes to take the FIR listener survey if you haven't already done so?

The survey is a very important tool to help Shel and Neville (and by extension, we who are correspondents) shape the future of the FIR podcast. The feedback IS highly valued and much appreciated.

THE 2011 FIR LISTENER SURVEY CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT GMT ON SEPTEMBER 20!

So please, if you have a few minutes, help us out and complete the survey!

P.S. And if you are not an FIR listener but are interested in social media, why not give it a try now? Each week there is an hour-long show plus sometimes other interviews and book reviews. I'm always learning something new from all the great content!

My FIR Report - Sept 19, 2011 - An Update on My Job Change And Content Strategy

My report into today's FIR episode #617 was a little different than my usual reports. Instead of an update on the latest technology and trends in social media, I gave a more personal update about my job change to work as Senior Content Strategist over at the Internet Society. Those who want the details can read the full blog post, but suffice it to say that I've moved from my role at Voxeo over to a more education-focused role at the Internet Society, a global nonprofit organization focused on the missing of promoting the "open Internet". My role will focus on the creation, curation, distribution and promotion of content related to that mission. While I'm definitely going to miss all the great folks and great work at Voxeo, I'm excited for this next chapter... I gave some more info in my report into today's FIR episode.

Next week, I'll return to my usual commentary on the intersection of social media and technology... :-)

My FIR Report - June 13, 2010 - How Apple's WWDC News Impacts Communicators

In my report into today's For Immediate Release (FIR) podcast, I spoke about why communicators should care about the news coming out of Apple's WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) last week. In particular, I spoke about the deep integration of Twitter into iOS 5, the next version of the operating system for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. I also spoke briefly about iMessage, the new IM service that Apple is introducing in iOS 5.

I also discussed iCloud and how Apple is truly moving to viewing Mac laptops and servers as "just another device" connected to the cloud... and how this is another sign of our true migration to a "post-PC era" (using "PC" generically for desktop computers) where functionality moves into the cloud.

I also explained why I thought communicators ought to care about all of this, even if they don't use Macs or Apple devices... but for that, you'll need to listen to the episode ;-)

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My FIR Report for March 14, 2011 - Japan Quake, Doc Searls and Al Jazeera

My report into this week's For Immediate Release podcast #590 turned out to be a very focused report. Last Thursday when I was thinking about what to record on Friday, I had planned to talk about the sheer brilliance of Apple's iPad2 launch timing... about how they are "masters of creating spectacle". However, other events created a far greater spectacle which swept away any focus people may have had on the newest gadget coming out of Cupertino.

I know my attention on Friday was not focused on any reports of iPad 2 lines or online scarcity but instead focused on all the insane and surreal news coming out of Japan with the combination of the earthquake and tsunami and all the resulting devastation. Given the super-high density of mobile phones in Japan, it was perhaps too be expected that this disaster would be uploaded.... videos.... photos... tweets... updates of all sorts...

My FIR report focused on that aspect of the event... and also Doc Searls great post: "Earthquake turns TV networks into print" about how the Internet is changing coverage of events, particularly when some media like Al Jazeera are using live streaming so well while other TV networks are not (or cannot due to contracts). I have much more to say on that topic... but in the meantime I encourage you all to read Doc's post. Or... listen to my report inside of this week's FIR ;-)

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My Report into the FIR podcast - November 29, 2010

Sent in my regular weekly 5-minute report this morning for today's "For Immediate Release" podcast episode. In today's report I discussed:

• The NY Times article about negative publicity and Google search results, including:
  • The GetSatisfaction blog post about why negative comments on their site (and others) won't help with search rankings; and
  • Jeff Jarvis on "What Should Google Do?" (good comments, too)
• Robert X. Cringely on "The Decline and Fall of Email"
• My post about "At What Point Do We Just Stop Caring About IE6 Visitors?"

The episode will be available for your listening pleasure from the FIR web site later today.

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Ch..ch..changes in the For Immediate Release (FIR) podcast - and the impact to my reports

As listeners to FIR #542 on Monday, April 12th, have already heard, there are a number of changes happening to the "For Immediate Release" podcast hosted by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson and to which I have been a "weekly correspondent" for now most of 5 years.

The largest change is, of course, moving from "twice weekly" to simply "weekly" and dropping the Thursday show. For reasons Shel and Neville explain, they really had to do this because of their schedules. Personally, I've been absolutely amazed that they have been able to keep the twice-weekly format going for as long as they have - and so the change wasn't a big surprise.

So what does this change mean for me and the weekly reports I've been sending in since 2005 for the Thursday show?

On one level... not much. I'm still sending in reports... just now for the Monday show. There are, though, some tweaks you'll hear to tighten up the show a bit given that ALL correspondent reports will now be in the single show. These include:

• The RadioDaddy intro to my segments has been dropped ("From the serene and picturesque hills...")
  
  
• My reports will no longer have the intro/outro music. (MANY thanks to FIR listener and composer Joseph Fosco who gave me that music to use many years ago!)
  
  
• My reports will not appear at the beginning as they have in recent times but will rather be simply mixed in with all the other news items and other correspondent reports.
  
  
• I'll be sticking to a hard limit of 5 minutes for each report. (In the past they've ranged but typically have been 5-8 minutes.)

I don't have an issue with any of the changes. I actually really don't mind the RadioDaddy intro going away - I've gotten kind of tired of being labeled as "from the technologist's point-of-view" given that these days most of my time is spent much more in a pure communications/PR/marketing viewpoint (admittedly, though, I'll always be a "technologist" at heart). Like I said, I'm surprised Shel & Neville kept going with the twice-weekly format as long as they did.

The big challenge for me is just going to be to remember to send in my reports on Monday! That will take some getting used to...

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FIR Podcast hits the iPhone (and Android) as an app

It was great to learn of the FIR iPhone app and naturally I had to install it right away on my iPhone. (It's also available for Android phones.) It's free, of course, and gives you access to all the podcasts produced under the For Immediate Release brand.

With the iPhone app you have a very easy way to immediately jump to FIR episodes and start listening. When you go into one of the episodes you have a "Play Podcast" link when loads the iPhone's QuickTime player and starts playing the episode for you. You can also follow the "Web Link" to view the page out on the FIR site (where you could see comments). There's also a nice "Categories" screen that lets you see the various different categories of FIR podcasts.

If you create an "account" you can then apparently mark episodes as "favorites", comment on episodes and rate episodes. My one point of feedback I'll be passing along to Shel and Neville is that it's not entirely clear to me where I am creating this account. Is it on the service of the vendor behind this app? (GenWi, the company behind iSites.us) Admittedly I'm a bit more paranoid than the average user (blame my security background), but I'd like to know a bit more about who is going to have my data before I sign up.

Speaking of iSites, they are the iPhone application vendor Shel and Neville used for this app. It's admittedly very cool... for just $25 you can get your own iPhone app created.

Now, the only caveat is that for that $25 one-time fee, you are stuck with the in-application advertising that you see in the image to the left and over which you have no control. iSites does have a $99/year pricing plan that gives you control over ads and presumably they are expecting that a certain number of folks will choose that plan to lose the ads. (I would.)

I obviously just started using the app and I'll be interested to see how using it compares to using the regular "iPod" functionality built into my iPhone. This app has the advantage that you can very quickly get to FIR podcasts and be able to see what is there. Whenever you launch the app it seems to check for the most recent episodes so you are always up to date.

On the other hand, in the "iPod" app on my iPhone I do have to manually initiate the "Get more episodes" process to download new episodes. However, one advantage to the iPod app is that I get to see how far I have listened to any given FIR episode - and it retains that info so with one glance I can see which episodes I still need to listen to and how much more I have of each episode. This is a great advantage when your time to listen to podcasts is rather fragmented.

Regardless, I think it's rather cool for Shel and Neville to now have an iPhone (and Android) app. If you are an FIR listener (or are interested in the intersection of social media, technology, PR and communications), do check out the app and try it out. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts. What do you think of it? Do you see yourself using it versus the iPod app to listen to FIR?

P.S. In full disclosure... if you are not aware, I am a weekly correspondent into FIR, usually on Thursdays, and so I am affiliated with the podcast.

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