Disruptive Conversations

Listeners to For Immediate Release episode 460 last Thursday, June 25th, will have heard that I interviewed Eric Schwartzman and then briefly spoke with Christopher Penn as well. Although FIR is only audio, there was actually a video component to my report last week. You see, I didn't have my audio recorder with me at the event where Eric and I met, so I simply recorded the video using my small JVC Everio hard disk video camera. I then imported the movie into iMovie '09 on my MacBook Pro. Next I opened the resulting movie in GarageBand, where I deleted the video track and exported the remaining audio track as an MP3 file that I sent to Shel and Neville for the FIR episode.

But... since I did have video, I decided to upload the video of Eric (and briefly Chris) to YouTube where you can watch it now:

You can find out more about Eric at ontherecordpodcast.com (sans beard and mustache :-) or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ontherecord. Christopher Penn can be found at marketingovercoffee.com or twitter.com/cspenn

The For Immediate Release podcast can as always be found at forimmediaterelease.biz

Enjoy...

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Technorati Tags: fir, forimmediaterelease, ericschwartzman, danyork, christopherpenn, pr, marketing, social media, socialmedia

Today I sent over to Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson my usual weekly report into For Immediate Release. In my actual report, I said I'd post the links to the reports that I was talking about in the report. They are:

• Seattle Post-Intelligencer stops publishing print edition after 146 years and shifts to online only
  
  
• Pew Project For Excellence in Journalism: "The State of the News Media 2009", and in particular:
  • Intro
  • Major Trends
  • Key Findings
    
    
• Clay Shirky: Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable
  
  
• Charlene Li: Future of Social Networks presentation
  
  
• C.C. Chapman and The Advance Guard: About Facebook Pages

Now, as to what I said about each of those.... well, you'll have to wait until Shel & Neville edit/produce FIR #432 and post it on the FIR site sometime today. :-)

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TIP: As you'll hear in the report, I recorded it in the field. I did so using the iRecorder app on my iPhone which I've used in the past. The neat thing about iRecorder is that it's trivial to get the files off the iPhone - the iRecorder app simply runs a local web server on your iPhone and you connect to that web server from another PC on your local network.

However, as I discovered today, that is the only way to get the recordings off your iPhone and so if you don't have WiFi access... or more specifically unrestricted WiFi access... you are out of luck.

Today I recorded this segment en route to my local Panera Bread where I planned to work all day offsite and mostly offline. I figured I'd just transfer the file over the free WiFi and send it off. However, this failed miserably. Both my laptop and my iPhone were able to get on Panera's free WiFi, access the web, etc. But when I put iRecorder in its "Sync" mode running a local web server and then tried to connect from my laptop, I couldn't! After a couple of attempts (and a cup of tea) I wound up returning home to do the transfer.

Blame the security folks, methinks. In trying a couple of other connections, it looks like the folks at Panera are very nicely restricting people from connecting to other computers on the free WiFi network. This is a VERY good thing! 99.9% of the time... just not when I want to do a file transfer over the local network. It's actually good to know and honestly makes me more inclined to use Panera's network, since they appear to be protecting me from scanning from other computers on the network. It was just not how I thought today would work out. Ah, well. Lesson learned.

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If you listened to my report into today's For Immediate Release podcast #403, you would have heard me speak about a new Internet domain, ".tel", and a bit about what it means for communicators. Over on my DisruptiveTelephony.com blog, I wrote a lengthy review of the .tel domain that probably goes into way more detail about any of this than many of you care. Still, the post is over there for those interested - and I would encourage you to read the comments as well because someone from Telnic, the company behind the .tel domain got involved as well as someone from a domain name registrar also providing a lengthy reply.

To provide a quick summary, the ".tel" domain is a new top-level domain (TLD) that is designed to be very different from other current TLDs. Rather than be used to point to websites, it is designed to point to contact information. As that contact information is actually stored in the DNS system, it is potentially available much more quickly than through a traditional web-based directory. A key point is also that OWNERS of a .tel domain are the ones responsible for updating the contact info. You can do that on your own local site... so it has the potential to be a massively distributed directory. You can see an example of how this can look at danyork.vip.tel (my page in their beta program).

Now I have a few problems with the idea, which I've described in my post but for communicators of the PR/marketing form there are a couple of points to consider:

1. Brand protection in a new TLD - The most obvious concern is that this is a new top-level-domain. Will your brand (or that of your clients) be protected in this new TLD? Will you be able to get yourcompanyname.tel?

One question is - do you care if you you get this domain? (See my point #2 below.) If you don't, you can stop reading now and go read something else more interesting. If you do care, you should consider that the .tel launch is now in the first of three launch phases:

• Sunrise - Started yesterday (Dec 3rd). Owners of registered trademarks may apply for .tel domains (at a high cost).
• Landrush - Starts February 3rd. Anyone can register for any available domain - at a premium cost.
• General Availability - Starts March 24th. Anyone can register for any available domain at a "typical" cost.

More information about each phase can be found on Telnic's Launch Information page. So if you are a communicator associated with a trademark-protected brand, you may want to consider whether you want to go in on the Sunrise period and apply for your domain. Or you may want to wait it out. (Or, as was recently voiced to me, you may just view all of these new TLDs as yet-another-attempt to extract money out of you.)

2. Should you care? Will it succeed? - This is honestly a tough one to answer. Global directories have been tried many times before and haven't really succeeded. I have questions about whether this .tel effort will succeed. I think the potential is intriguing... but I do have to wonder if the technical issues can be overcome.

The question really comes down to this - if it does succeed, or at least do well enough to be useful, do you want your company/brand to be visible at brandname.tel? Or do you see this as yet another attempt to build a directory that probably won't work and you'll just wait and see? Ultimately, each of you have to make that choice.

Beyond my post and the excellent comments left to it from someone at Telnic and a domain name registrar, I'd also recommend listening to the Squawk Box episode where we interviewed Telnic's Justin Hayward (.tel part starts around 17:50).

I think we'd all like to see some kind of better way to find people online... the question is really just whether this is it. (What do you think?)

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Technorati Tags: .tel, telnic, DNS, internet, domains, domainnames, icann

Do you want to win a copy of Shel & Neville's book "How to Do Everything with Podcasting?" If so, all you need to do is to enter the FIR Listener Contest! Basically you just have to answer the question "I think a podcast will help my organization/my client because..."

Details, rules, etc. can all be found on the FIR Listener Contest page. Entries are due by Friday, January 25, 2008.

I'll be one of the judges and am looking forward to seeing what creative entries people may come up with.

Technorati Tags: fir, forimmediaterelease, pr, podcasting

In getting caught up on some listening to "For Immediate Release", I noted that back at the beginning of the month, Shel & Neville launched the "FIR Forum" as a way to encourage conversations among FIR listeners. They tried this first with the discussion forums over on a Facebook Group, but, like most Facebook Groups I've seen, those forums hardly ever got used. So now they are trying it with what seems to be directly-hosted forum software. It's not behind any walls... anyone can read the posts *without* registration. Anyone can register and join in the conversation. We'll see how it goes!

If you are interested in issues around PR, communications and social media, please do head on over and check it out. Stick around, if you like, and please do join in to the conversation!

Technorati Tags: fir, forimmediaterelease, pr, socialmedia, shel holtz, neville hobson

This morning when I needed to record my weekly report into For Immediate Release, I figured I might as well try a little experiment with Seesmic since my MacBook was sitting there with its webcam. So here it is... you, too, can watch me record my FIR report:

Now many folks may find that about as exciting as watching paint dry or water boil. There's a bit of an echo chamber strangeness to it.... watching me recording something. Actually, it kind of reminds me of the times when I'd flip through the TV stations and see a channel that was broadcasting video of Don Imus and friends recording their audio/radio show. I don't know that it adds a whole lot but it was at least an entertaining and quick little experiment.

The astute observers will note that you can see the audio waveform moving across the screen in the background as I continue my usual practice of recording directly into Audacity. For those who are curious about such things, that's a Studio Projects B1 mic that I bought 2+ years ago and the headphones are a Sennheiser "HD 280 pro". The mic boom is from Heil since it is the only one that would clamp onto a desk.

The good news for me was that I did the report in one take without really flubbing up any words or phrases. The truth is that this was my second or third attempt and so I had my text down rather well. It would have been more entertaining, probably, for folks to see a recording where I keep messing up and restarting. Ah, well, perhaps another time... ;-)

P.S. One final note - I can't seem to find any way to get the embed code from the Seesmic video without logging into Seesmic and going to the page for the video. Am I missing something or can't you get that embed code without being logged in?

Technorati Tags: dan york, danyork, fir, forimmediaterelease, seesmic, video

Earlier today I participated in a audio book review of "WordPress for Dummies" with FIR co-host Neville Hobson (I am a weekly "correspondent" into the FIR podcast). The podcast is now online on the FIR site and I will also be cross-posting the podcast notice below as well. It was fun to do the interview with Neville and overall we both were very positive about the new book. (You'll hear my one main point of criticism, which was not so much with the content but with the way it was presented.) If you are working with WordPress - or thinking about it - I would definitely recommend you check out this book.

NOTE: Neville cross-posted the podcast notice on his blog and the book author has responded with a comment.

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One of the most popular platforms for creating and managing a blog is WordPress. From its origins in 2003, WordPress has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on hundreds of thousands of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

A new book, WordPress For Dummies, has just been published, with explanations in plain English about WordPress and how to use it.

Written by Lisa Sabin-Wilson, WordPress for Dummies covers blogging basics, choosing a hosting solution or setting up a host, developing blog content, syndicating blog posts with RSS, launching a specialized blog (including podcasting, photoblogging, mobile blogging, and videoblogging), and even earning revenue. It includes help on every aspect of installing and using WordPress, illustrations from real-world WordPress blogs, step-by-step tutorials on key topics, and insights from bloggers who use WordPress.

FIR co-host Neville Hobson and FIR correspondent Dan York discuss their take on the new book, looking at various aspects of the overall content, and concluding with their recommendation about the book.

Download the review here (MP3, 12.6MB, 27mins 37 secs), or sign up for the FIR Book Reviews RSS feed to get it and future reviews automatically. To receive all For Immediate Release podcasts including the twice-weekly Hobson & Holtz Report, sign up for the full RSS feed.

Listen to this podcast now:

Voxeo
If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or suggestions for future interviews, email us at [email protected]; or call the Comment Line at +1 206 222 2803 (North America) or +44 20 8133 9844 (Europe); or Skype: fircomments; or comment at Twitter: twitter.com/FIR; or at Jaiku: fir.jaiku.com. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 3 minutes / 5Mb attachment, please!). We’ll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

Podsafe intro music - On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

WordPress for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Paperback, 384 pages
Published in November 2007
ISBN: 978-0-470-14946-1
Available online now from Amazon.com and other outlets.

Technorati Tags: blogging, danyork, fir, nevillehobson, wordpressfordummies, wordpress, wordpressmu

Here's a preview of the things that I discuss in my correspondent's report into tomorrow's episode of For Immediate Release:

• Google search on "social network portability"
• Microformats wiki: social-network-portability
• Tris Hussey's "The Mediasphere" podcast on August 14: "Portability of Social Networks" with guest Brian Oberkirch
• Data Sharing Summit, Sept 7-8, Richmond, CA (see also Network World article about the event)
• Kim Cameron: "Digital gifts for my digital birthday"
• IABC Heritage Region Conference, Oct 14-16, near Cincinatti, OH, where I'm giving a "Podcasting 101" talk at 7:45am on the 16th.

And the thing I meant to talk about but forgot- Jeremiah Owyang: "Facebook news page gives away son's taboo party"

Luke Armour has a bit of a special guest appearance... of sorts... but you'll have to listen tomorrow to FIR #267 to hear what I mean. :-)

I just have to post my congratulations to Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson for landing a sponsorship of FIR by Lawrence Ragan Communications!  As noted in their blog post and also in their social media news release, this is a long-term relationship that will both promote Ragan to FIR listeners and also promote FIR to the many Ragan customers.  (Shel and Neville also discuss this in today's FIR #255.)  As a weekly correspondent into FIR, I'm excited for Shel and Neville that they have both the financial backing and also the wider exposure within the communications industry.  I think it will only be a positive thing for the show and its listeners!  Congrats, Shel and Neville!

On my flight out to Las Vegas, I finally got a chance to listen to FIR episode #250, our tribute show to Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out!  And I understand why both Shel and Neville were blushing. 

You see, Sallie Goetsch and I were running around contacting all sorts of people to see about getting contributions while Lee Hopkins had volunteered to do the audio mixing and post-production.  We were getting people to send those contribs into a special gmail address I took out, from where Lee was going to pull the clips.  In the midst of this, Sallie was on vacation and I was in the normal chaos that leads up to going on a week of vacation... and in the middle of things Lee's email server was having problems and was not reliably receiving email from Sallie and I... so it was all a bit chaotic.  But the net of it is that the episode was published while I was offline, so it wasn't until today when I could really listen to it.   Mr. Hopkins did his usual shenanigans with all sorts of audio clips and other things... and the contributions from folks were all very nicely done and great to listen to.

The only bummer was that we left out Bryper's contribution.  He was one of the early ones who sent something in... but it didn't go to the special gmail address and I guess none of us realized that in the run-up to getting the show done.   The good news is that you can catch his comment at the beginning of FIR #251.  Sorry about that, Bryan.

In any event, I thought the episode (and other comments) were definitely a great demonstration of the community that can be built around a show.  I'm glad that both Shel and Neville liked it... and it's great to see them climbing on with #251 and #252... let's see where the next 250 shows take FIR!