Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Online Communities

See You at TEDx Ottawa on December 6

(From the TEDx Ottawa website): TED is an annual event where some of the world?s leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about. ?TED? stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design ? three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future.

Past speakers include Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon, Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono. TED was first held in Monterey, California, in 1984. In 2001, Chris Anderson?s Sapling Foundation acquired TED from its founder, Richard Saul Wurman.

So what is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx ? local, self-organized events that bring people together to share TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

TEDx Ottawa Key Information and Dates

The event will be taking place on Sunday, Dec 6th starting at 10am and will span about six hours. It will consist of TEDtalk video presentations and a number of live speakers in addition to lots of time for hallway discussions.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Title: TEDx Ottawa
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada
Link out: Click here
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2009-12-06
End Time: 16:00

Making Twitter Sticky

Day One Hundred TwelveThere are a lot of changes happening over at Twitter at the minute. They recently updated their Terms of Service and now they’re working on Project ReTweet, where sharing someone else’s tweet with your connections will be performed differently from the current user-generated method.

As is usual when wide-scale changes happen at a company (or, in this case, on a digital stream), there are both fans and dissenters to the new proposals. That’s normal. But what if Twitter could bypass the need for changes like the retweet one?

Twitter’s reasoning for the change is that it can be a confusing mess for new users, and it’s one of the reasons a lot of new users give up within the first month.

While that’s true, a lot of that comes down to the fact that Twitter itself doesn’t offer a great user guide for newcomers. A really simple FAQ or intro sheet emailed to new users would make all the difference, and then they could advise of user-created options, how they fit in and how best to use them.

This would help settle in new users and create something similar to the WordPress community, where you’d have the official tools as well as the community-created ones that existing users can help with. It’d help people settle in more quickly and get the sticky factor that Twitter needs (if reports that 40% of all new users quit after one month is accurate).

But why stop there? There are other areas that Twitter could help keep new and existing users stay happy.

Kill the Private Spam

This is a major problem for Twitter. We know there’s a chance our public streams will have some spam content. But I don’t recall signing up for private message spam from third-party platforms that I didn’t even register for. Pirate games and mafia clans are just two current examples. How can they get into my private message area when I’m not a user? Not good, Twitter.

Make the Suggested Users List Relevant

When you sign up for a new account, Twitter gives you a list of suggested users. The problem is, this list is usually filled with either celebrities or Twitter “power users”. These accounts can often be amongst the most active and busy as far as content goes – how can that be a good introduction when you’ve just joined? Instead, why not work with something like Twellow, ask a couple of simple questions and use these keywords to offer suggestions that actually make sense? So, people in your locality, industry, interest zones, etc, and ease new users into the system as opposed to scaring them off with hyper feeds to follow.

These are just some options that Twitter could take to make the experience better. They’re nothing major, yet they could possibly make a big difference (at least from a user-friendliness viewpoint).

How about you – how would you make Twitter more sticky?

Creative Commons License photo credit: Dustin Diaz

The Powerful Effect of Simplicity

Suddenly things seem crystal clear to me ...Last week was a crazy one for me. I’ve just started a big new project (which I’ll be sharing soon) and getting to grips with it has been information overload from day one (although all good fun).

Add to that some really bad wisdom tooth pain, a lot of community planning for a special November 12for12k collaboration as well as normal day-to-day stuff and little sleep, and I was feeling a little bit frayed.

Then an email landed in my inbox that changed everything with two simple words: “Thank you.”

The email was from Sasha H. Muradali, a great upcoming PR pro over in Miami who has a pretty cool blog over at Little Pink Book PR. It mentioned her newest post, and the fact that the post was tied to one of Sasha’s earliest ones in April of this year.

It turns out that I was one of the first to share Sasha’s blog post on Twitter, and this email from her was to say thank you for that. And that just floored me and made me smile in a big way. I know Sasha’s a busy person; I know she has a lot of things on the go; I know that the reference Sasha was making was almost 6 months ago.

Yet she still remembered, and took the time to say thanks personally. And these two little words turned a frazzled face into a wide grin. Or, as Sasha herself put it, “all gushy feeling semi-girlie inside” (yes, you got me, Sasha!).

There’s something for us all to learn from Sasha. Agree?

Creative Commons License photo credit: annia316

From Twitter to Blog – #FollowFriday Vol. 3

Recently I wrote about why I was moving my #followfriday recommendations from Twitter to this blog. So, without further ado, here are my recommendations for this week.

Something a little different this week (and I realize it goes against my reasons for taking it to the blog – just listing names – but there’s a reason this week).

Everyone featured today fits into many different categories but one thing they all have in common is that they’re proud wearers of the 12for12k avatars. Designed by iGoByDoc, it’s a fun way of showing their support for a worthy cause outside of normal (and much appreciated) donations.

Apart from that, they’re all incredibly cool people doing amazing things offline as well (and I’ll be featuring them in much more depth in upcoming #FollowFiday posts, if I haven’t already).

So, what are you waiting for – check them out (each link opens in a new window so you don’t need to click back)! They are:

@_sarakate_; @DominickEvans; @judithsthoughts; @LibbyUnwin; @JamesAWoods; @allenmireles; @arikhanson; @bluestreak23; @HighEdSalesGuy; @iamkhayyam; @iGoByDoc; @JASunshine1011; @JGoldsborough; @JonAston; @KatieMDesigns; @KyleJudkins; @mickeygomez; @MSchechter; @nataliekeiko; @PromoMarketer; @rachelakay; @raekaye; @shannoncherry; @SocialPMChick; @iggypintado; @StaciJShelton; @suzemuse; @thebassman; @ZenMommy; @Rich_at_Dell; @mjleonard; @websuccessdiva; @12for12k; @MarketingProfs; @abarcelos; @AnneHyde; @nsbmom; @freelancerant; @AvenueZ; @_djh; @briancarter; @tmaduri; @concierge; @GinaLaGuardia; @jamiecalder; @johnhaydon; @liajen; @nakeva; @ramartijr; @SarahRobinson; @southplatte; @CherylFehlberg; @storyassistant.

If, by chance, I’ve missed anyone out, please let me know and I’ll sort that immediately!

Thanks for being who you are guys – your support means everything, as does everyone behind the 12for12k idea.

Normal #FollowFriday recommendations will resume next week. Have a great weekend!

The More We Connect, The More We Lose Touch

?You can?t please everyone, so you?ve got to please yourself.? ? Ricky Nelson.

It?s been an interesting last 24 hours. Abusive emails, character attacks on Twitter and questions about my ethics. Just another day in the life of.

Time is an interesting commodity.

On the one hand, we love it when time passes quickly so we can see a new movie, or buy a new product, or see a new date. On the other, we complain there?s never enough time in the day.

Online connections simply increase this problem. As we connect with new people on new networks, our availability factor goes down.

You don?t mean it to; you try avoid it; but it?s a simple fact that as we connect with more, the less we can offer. This may be less time for people you used to converse with more; less time for generic conversations; and less time for things in general.

Sure, you can use tools to help you manage your time better. Yet at the end of the day, the tools are only as good as the person using them, so perhaps I need to brush up on my time management skills.

Yet the attacks/criticisms that came my way over the last 24 hours would probably have come regardless of time management, by the nature of them. The suggestion of ?having time for some people but not for others? being the main theme.

Again, it comes back to where to try and divert your time. While this isn?t an excuse as such, a lot of my time at the minute is taken up by:

  • 12for12k
  • Legal clearances for promotional materials for this month?s charity
  • Conference calls with charity partners
  • Social change events
  • Client projects (since all 12for12k efforts are free of charge)

If you add in personal time, offering help where possible to people asking for advice and residency issues in Canada to name just a few, you might see where I can get sidetracked.

As I say, it?s not an excuse but an explanation. I appreciate the connections we have and I?ll try my best to manage them as best I can and help wherever I can. However, there will be times that some people and actions slip through the cracks.

So, here?s a suggestion.

If you?ve sent me something or asked me something and I haven?t responded in a couple of days, send me a nudge. Failing that, email me ? my contact details are on this blog, or my website, or on my Twitter background. I?ll try my damnedest to respond.

And if I haven?t replied straight away, please don?t take it personally.

With regards the ethics question, I certainly don?t always make the best decisions but I always believe that whatever they are, they are for the right and ethical reasons. Of course, it?s anyone?s prerogative to doubt this, but I?m happy to live with my decisions.

How about you? Are you finding yourself with less time for the stuff that needs more time? How are you managing your conversations?

Creative Commons License photo credit: Joshua Davis