Broadcasting Brain

Catch the Brainwaves is our semi-regular series of Q&A sessions with social media folks. Today’s interviewee is the CEO of Search Engine People and an enthusiastic citizen of the blogosphere. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting our guest in person and he’s a great, intelligent guy.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… Jeff Quipp!

1. Five years ago, would you have predicted the surge of social media innovation and functionality?

Wow … good question. No, I don’t think I did see it coming. I mean, I knew something was coming, I just didn’t really know exactly what. I stay very focused on our direct business for the most part, and don’t really try to develop additional businesses … it would be a distraction of focus.

To be honest, I think those who foresaw the coming of social media as we now know it, are reaping the benefits as we speak. Kevin Rose will be quite happy I’m sure with a few hundred million, as will Mark Zuckerberg, Fake and Butterfield, Garrett Camp et al. And good for them … they had the vision and capitalized on it.

2. As a regular conference attendee, can you tell us about the best parts of conferences, in general?

Without question … the networking! Sure you can pick up tidbits here and there in the sessions, but the real learnings occur afterward at dinner, or at the bar, and especially in the friendships that are forged. I’ve made so many great friends that I speak to on a daily basis. If I ever run into a problem that we can’t solve internally, I can reach out to my network of friends, and guaranteed someone will have run into it before.

3. In a similar vein, what are some of the more disappointing parts of conferences?

To be honest, I don’t go for any other reason than to socialize and make new friends. Fortunately it fits my personality and my role with SEP too, otherwise I’d be spending a lot of money for not. All that to say … I’m only disappointed if I don’t meet a lot of new people, and even then I’ve only got myself to blame.

4. Is there any particular revelation, or biggest surprise, that you experienced as a result of starting Search Engine People?

Wow … so many revelations! The single biggest one for me though was “surround myself with great people I could trust!” I had a few missteps at the beginning and it set us back a while. But I learned, and ultimately realized I couldn’t excel at everything, and that there were people who were infinitely more talented than I was at so many things. It became clear that I needed these people on my side. If we then all worked to our strengths, we’d be a very formidable machine … and we now are! I very fortunate to work with so many exceptional people, who are so much stronger than I am at so much.

5. Any thoughts on the hard line that the Associated Press has been taking with bloggers using their stories?

I think they’re missing the boat completely! Its amazing sometimes how even large corporations can lose perspective, and fall prey to the whims of underperforming managers within. If everyone starts doing what TechCrunch did, they’ll come to their senses quickly. Here’s a quote:

“So here’s our new policy on A.P. stories: they don’t exist. We don’t see them, we don’t quote them, we don’t link to them. They’re banned until they abandon this new strategy, and I encourage others to do the same until they back down from these ridiculous attempts to stop the spread of information around the Internet.”

6. Does your family use social media for recreation? If so, any recommendations?

ABSOLUTELY! My kids adore Webkinz World which is a social media site for preteens. My wife as you know also works here at SEP and is one of those very trusted, more talented than me individuals I mentioned earlier. She’s also got profiles everywhere. And for me … social media is my way of staying atop of all my other passions; sports, science, technology, environment, music, space, gadgets, and oddities. Its become part of our family culture.

7. Did you use computers much in your formative years? Would you say that you use them more or less than in the past?

Lets see … my first computer was a Texas Instruments TI994a bought in 1982 or 83. There was no disk drive, believe it or not the Basic programs I wrote at the time were saved to a tape recorder, and that acted as the disk drive. I also studied for 2 semesters in the 80’s at college to become a Computer Programmer, but at that time there was just unstructured code … it was terrible.

Now … I do use computers more than at any time in the past. Partially because of my job, but also because much of my social network is online and its my connection to real time news and information, and I am an information junkie.

8. Are you dying to own an iPhone (especially the new one)?

I am … but I’m also looking forward to the day when it will have an infrared blue tooth keyboard and wall projector built into it. Then … it will become a must have!

9. Pretend the Internet was destroyed overnight. What do you do the next day?

Hmmmm … well I guess I’d have a better idea how it would unfold when its starts to redevelop, so I’d probably change my last name to Zuckerberg, move to Boston, and get ready to launch something called Facebook.

10. Any parting thoughts for our readers?

Hi Mom!

For anyone who wants to hook up with me at a conference, stop me anytime and say hi. I love to meet new people, especially if your interests are similar to my own. Also, if anyone wants to hook up on social media, you can find my profiles here. If you like the type of stuff I submit, and submit similar stuff yourself, drop me an email (jquipp AATT gmail.com)

Thanks, Jeff, for being our guest!

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Catch the Brainwaves is our ongoing series of interviews with a variety of folks participating in blogging and social media. I ask them ten questions and they respond with their brilliant answers and insights! Today we have a special Q&A session where we are featuring Toronto Globe and Mail technology writer and blogger extraordinaire Mathew Ingram.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin!

1. What kinds of changes have you observed in a journalist’s work during the past five years?

I’ve noticed a lot of changes as a result of the Web. What used to be a newspaper’s normal flow, with stories written in the afternoon and filed in the early evening, has become a 24/7 stream (or close to it), much more like what a wire service does. Stories begin on the Web and in many cases are updated and end on the Web, and in between they are packaged and printed in the paper. I’ve also noticed an increasing amount of feedback between the Web and the paper, with readers comments and the popularity of stories helping to change the perception of those stories within the paper and occasionally adding value to them as well.

2. Do you see any potential conflict of interest if a professional journalist has an active social news or social bookmarking user profile (e.g. Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, etc.) where they are actively submitting, voting, or commenting on stories?

I don’t really see that as a conflict at all. Bloggers do it, so I don’t see why a professional journalist shouldn’t do it. Provided that they are actually trying to be part of the community, and aren’t just submitting and voting on their own stories then I think it’s fine.

3. Do social media make any aspects of your life easier? Harder?

Social media make many aspects of my life easier — particularly the part that has to do with generating story ideas and tracking the development of issues within the Web and new media. I guess the only thing they make harder is sorting through all the content that’s out there, since Twitter and RSS and so on can produce a pretty gigantic stream of stuff on a daily basis.

4. Is it difficult to turn work “off” these days, when the world seems to follow us wherever we go?

It is difficult, but in part I think that has to do with the fact that for me it’s not just work. I write about the Web and technology and social media because it interests me, not just because it’s my job — and so I am pretty much always connected and reading and looking around for things, and responding to comments and so on, regardless of what my “work” hours are.

5. In your opinion, is privacy really dead or seriously compromised with the multitude of ways that people can find out information about us?

I’m not sure it’s dead really — but I would say that privacy seems to be much more of a continuum than it used to be, where people are comfortable opening up their lives in certain ways to certain friends or family or co-workers or whatever, depending on which social networks they’re using. It’s when those different groups collide that I think there can be problems, and when people use information they find on a given network for other purposes.

6. Do you have any concerns about the mutations of the English language to include LOLspeak, 133t speak, and the rise of the letter “Z” as a catch-all consonant? (And do you pronounce it “zee” or “zed”?)

I still pronounce it “zed” because I’m old I’m not really that troubled by those sorts of things, to tell you the truth. I think language continually evolves, and there are idiosyncracies that emerge at various times that may become popular with a certain group but overall things still change relatively slowly — and some of those changes become so useful that we don’t even notice them. If you think about it, the language itself is a kind of social network, like Wikipedia; people are voting all the time on the type of language they want, and eventually the culture as a whole decides.

7. Are today’s more popular blogging platforms (Wordpress in particular) needlessly complex or cumbersome? Or are they just fine? Should we strive for simpler and easier self-publishing?

I think things can always be easier — and there are some Ajax-powered Wiki services that make editing and publishing pretty simple, not to mention things like Tumblr. But that said, I’m a big fan of Wordpress — it is extremely easy to use, and yet is almost infinitely flexible as well, which is a rare combination.

8. Would you say that the blogging A-list (i.e. the Technorati Top 100) is an anomaly or will those voices remain strong as the blogosphere (or the Web, perhaps) segments over time the way that television audiences now divide their video watching time between the big networks, cable, satellite, DVD/downloaded video, YouTube, and purely Web-hosted video?

I think the “A-list” is probably something that will change over time, and become less of an influence — in a lot of ways the blogosphere is still a little like the early days of television, when there were only a couple of dozen influential people. But I think the early pioneers always have influence, simply because they’ve been around so long.

9. Pretend the Internet is destroyed overnight. What do you do the next morning?

I guess I would start hunting for a newspaper

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?

As much as possible, do whatever it is that makes you happy. Passion makes up for a lack of money a lot better than money makes up for a lack of passion.

Thanks to Mathew Ingram for sharing his brainwaves!

Catch the Brainwaves is our ongoing series of interviews with a variety of folks participating in blogging and social media. I ask them ten questions and they respond with their brilliant answers and insights! Today we are featuring Patricia Mayo of Comhacker.org and Nowsourcing.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin!

1. When you read, do you prefer paper or are you an on-line, electronic reader?

I prefer the best of both worlds - PDF downloaded to my Blackberry. That way I’m not chained to my desk and I’m not contributing to paper waste

2. “Live free or die” – does that motto resonate with you?

Absolutely, otherwise I wouldn’t have stayed in New Hampshire for 6 years, joined the Free State Project, and associate with mostly Libertarians. I have a great big button on my purse - I mean huge 5″ diameter - with the famous Benjamin Franklin quote “Those willing to forfeit liberty for security will have neither.”

Although, it goes much deeper than that. My father, who passed in 2003, spent the large majority of his teens and early twenties in and out of jail for charges like “threatening the life of the President,” “vandalizing government property,” and other similarly patriotic acts The apple did not fall far from the tree. Daddy was my favorite, after all.

Nowadays I toil away at exposing media lies and working for media reform. This June, in fact, I’m going to the Free Press conference on media reform. It’s much better to bark up one tree and figure out how to fix that one, than to just bark up them all.

3. Are we getting to the point where words alone are not enough? Put differently, have we become dependant upon images to complement our words, especially online?

If you are targeting the general public, absolutely yes. The attention span of the casual Internet user is too short to be captivated by any kind of even truly useful headline. You have to give the general public something cutesy to focus on and draw them in - and unfortunately, that will only get worse as more websites are created and thusly demand our limited time.

However, if you are targeting academics, scientists or other technical groups, pretty pictures actually get in the way more often than not. The fundamental difference between these two groups is they inherently want information, they want to learn, and will spend days on end hunting for the right thing. The general public, on the other hand, is mostly just seeking entertainment or “something” useful.

4. Ever think about writing a book? If so, what would be the topic?

I am actually writing a free ebook right now on getting the most with virtual assistants through effective communication. This will eventually be turned into a full-on series about specific areas of effective communication - such as in management, marketing, relationships, etc. There’s a mailing list for anyone wishing to keep up to date and ask any specific questions they need answered - the signup form is on every page of ComHacker.

As far as actual physical in-print books with an ISBN and PITA distribution agreements, I have quite a few in mind. One is on my existential philosophies (like Uniform Social Standards), another on my discoveries within cognitive psychology and mass media, and I’ve been thinking about a remix of swarm theory.

Gosh, put that way I sound like such a stuffed shirt. Then again, anyone who knows me through Twitter or even in person would probably think of all that as being out of left field. Which brings me to the idea of writing my memoirs. I have been through quite an interesting life, and some of the lessons I have learned - such as keeping to myself the fact I analyze every single word anyone ever utters or scribbles - would be best if put to use by others too.

5. Let’s talk about social media for a moment. Do you think that large organizations are starting to understand the potential value of social media (blogs and more)? Or does social media really have an impact on a large corporation?

In the United States, definitely yes. The fact that Wal-Mat, Sony, and Microsoft have all had their fair share of fake blogger and social media bribery scandals stands as testament to both accounts.

Remember the Kryptonite bicycle locks? The company that made those was literally brought to its knees by one person posting one YouTube video on breaking into their locks with a ballpoint pen. And let’s not forget the special number sequence for hacking the HD DVD encryption key. Someone thought it important enough to write a cease and desist letter - social media therefore must have an impact on companies that can afford to lose a few hundred thousand dollars without even so much as a flinch.

However, remember that I specified the U.S.A. (we’re not the world, we just haven’t realized it yet). South Africa is actually fairly closed to the idea of using or even watching their reputation on social media. And who can blame them, really? The vast majority of Internet users are in developed countries - but it would be wise of them to at least tap into this market and encourage importing their goods.

6. Where do you think ideas come from? Pete Townshend (the Who) used to think that his song ideas were a divine gift or otherwise were created by a higher power. Others think otherwise. How about you?

Oh dear. Now you’ve just gone and set me up to be contradictory.

As much as I admire and appreciate Pete Townshend, Van Morrison, and The Grateful Dead, I have to say ideas come from subliminal connections. Taking drugs (as just about every musician does, famous or otherwise) often helps subliminal thought processes to move more into the cognitive realm, and thus new ideas can happen more rapidly - but there are less risky ways to encourage subliminal and cognitive mergers.

One of the most recognized and common ways is meditation. I use that in combination with sleep deprivation and polyphasic sleep to feed my idea machine as well as boost productivity, metabolism, memory, and lucid thought.

But to elaborate on the “subliminal connections” I mentioned before - absolutely everything within the range of your five senses, whether you consciously register it or not, is remembered. In the case of whatever you are doing at any particular point in time, everything within the range of your five senses at that moment is linked together into one cohesive bubble in your subliminal and cognitive mind-spaces.

Later on you can recall that entire bubble if the most unique input is re-triggered. That “input” could have been stored in your subliminal or cognitive mind-space, doesn’t matter - so long as it was the first of its kind.

Take for instance scents trigger the most vivid memories because our sense of smell becomes tolerant so quickly - eventually, you just don’t smell your perfume or cologne, so you don’t realize you’ve bathed in it. Unlike any of the other senses, not only are you not cognitively registering that scent, you’re not subliminally registering it either. Therefore, scents are most commonly the most unique input and thus trigger more vivid memories than any other sensory inputs - because only one thing smells like bacon, and that’s bacon.

Back to my point - obviously, not a whole lot is unique. If a memory doesn’t have a unique sensory marker, it just gets jumbled into a larger bubble with a few loose links to some cognitive thoughts - think of it as a tag cloud, except every bit of information is a tag. When you think or see something that contains some of the same information from that tag cloud, you mind kinda “clicks” on that tag, quickly digests the information to see if it’s relevant, and just might give you a subliminal connection - an idea.

How quickly you can come up with ideas is entirely reliant on how much you use your brain and how much you encourage your brain to “index” subliminal information through drug use, meditation, and sleep techniques.

Simple, isn’t it?

7. Can you list five things that you couldn’t live without?

Can I? Almost certainly. Will I? No.

…

…ok, you win.

1. The bare essentials for survival - food, water, air. Didn’t want to be a smart alec and use up three for something so obvious and trivial.
2. Humor - because I’m not good at being dull. That would mean I’d have to be perfect too, because without humor, nobody could laugh at me either… and being perfect is just way too much work.
3. Access to more information than I could ever digest in an entire lifetime. If there’s nothing left to learn, what’s the point? I don’t care if I don’t have Internet access - so long as I can travel, new experiences count as information too.
4. Some way of expressing myself and sharing information. I don’t care if I have to stand on a soap box in the middle of Timbuktu and holler my message while the Pamplona bull run is in town… so long as they can listen and run.
5. And last but not least - Liberty.

If you’re wondering why all of the above are more like concepts rather than things - I’m against materialism and senseless consumerism.

8. Do you feel that you are accomplishing the things that you want to have accomplished at this phase in your life? Do you have a schedule, conscious or unconscious, that you are following?

If you had asked me that when I was 12, doing graphic design for anyone that didn’t mind my age (or didn’t ask) - I would have told you “hell no, it’s moving way too slow.”

If you had asked me that when I was 14, the general manager of a cybercafe and computer build and repair shop who single handedly took the company out of the red and positioned it to sell for a few million dollars, only to get booted by the new owners because I was too young - I would have told you “hell no, it’s moving way too slow.”

If you had asked me that when I was 16, married and technically a legal adult but nobody believed me - I would have told you “hell no, it’s moving way too slow.”

If you had asked me that when I was 18, stupidly trying to start my own magazine (I had no clue what I was doing!) - I would have told you “ack! I can’t keep up!”

If you had asked me that when I was 20, deer-in-headlights lost, following anything with some kind of promise, desperate and hopelessly flip flopping from job to job - I would have told you “F off, I gave up.”

If you had asked me that when I was 22, finally having found my spot in the world working my way up the copywriting ladder from the bottom up - I would have told you “I think I can make it. This isn’t a pipe dream anymore.”

And now that you’re asking me just 1 month before my 24th birthday, I can safely say I’m doing better than I thought I would be by now (once I got my head screwed on straight). I would have been content making maybe $1,000 a month for the next year, but the fact I’m doing more than double that and hardly breaking a sweat has actually caught me by surprise.

9. Pretend the Internet is destroyed overnight. What do you do the next morning?

Celebrate and focus on direct mail and “old fashioned” B2B networking for my clients, and get out more often ;D

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?

Don’t just drink one person’s kool-aid. Always always research and find out more before you buy something (especially anything to do with making money online), hire someone, start a business, or accept some bite of information into your psyche - opinion, fact, or otherwise. In simpler terms - don’t accept anything at face value.

After all, the face is merely a cover around a very interesting book.

Thanks to Patricia Mayo for sharing her brainwaves!

Catch the Brainwaves is our ongoing series of interviews with a variety of folks participating in blogging and social media. I ask them ten questions and they respond with their brilliant answers and insights! Today we are featuring the amazingly helpful Jaan Kanellis of KBK Marketing aka The Incredible Help!

1. Can you give us your definition of “organic search marketing”?

Optimizing a website for the purpose of ranking in the “still free” places on Google, Yahoo and MSN. The three main pillars to success for organic search marketing are:

1. Relevant authoritative back links. Link baiting and social media.
2. Accessibility in themed structure. Making your website easy to crawl and index. Information architecture is key.
3. Basic on-site SEO factors. Fresh original content.

2. Why does your blog title emphasize that you are located in Cincinnati, OH?

Just for local SEO help. I work with clients all over the world, but I want to let them know where I am located directly. I don’t like it when customers can’t get a feel for where you are located in the states. There are far too many shysters in this business that don’t claim any actually place to work from.

3. In your opinion, does Digg traffic provide any long term advantage to a website?

As with any social network you can have a second order effect that will help your website rank. If I offer a collection of social network buttons on all my pages (Digg include) the visitor may get there and be more apt to bookmark the website since the buttons are there. After the page has been syndicated, friends of the original syndicator will pick on the Digg and syndicate it further. This will create a flow of eye balls to your website which will:

• Create new leads
• Create more bookmarking of the page
• Create new RSS feed subscribers
• Create more buyers for product or service
• Create more back links to your when others blog about website

The chain reaction of just one Digg or Stumble is very effective. So my answer would yes you should actively promote yourself in the social networks, including Digg, but I personally find other social network are more effective than Digg.

4. I like the nod to Marvel Comics in your avatar. Are you a Marvel Comics fan?

Sure as any young boy in the 80s I was a fan of most comic books. My name IncredibleHelp came before the avatar. I have been very active in forums over the years and everyone keep saying what an “incredible help” my posts were I kind of assumed that as handle going forward. With a name like that I decided to take a angry picture of myself and turn it a shade green. The avatar definitely stands out from others when browsing blogs that use MyBlogLog.  (ED:  I can attest to the power of green… and purple.)  I am a fan of the Incredible Hulk, but a bigger fan of Spider-Man.

5. Do you think that large organizations are starting to understand the potential value of social media? Or does social media really have an impact on a large corporation?

I think larger corporations are just now being more sold on blogging itself.  As companies grow internally with their corporate blog(s), social media becomes much more acceptable.

6. What is your opinion of the long term viability of “human powered search” i.e. Mahalo?

I have not been a big fan of Mahalo. I don’t like seeing them appear in Google. It is a bad experience for everyone, but that is another issue for another time.

Conceptually it makes sense to have a search engine that has human interaction, approval and editing, but Mahalo won’t work because it is simply not scalable. There are far to many search queries that currently happen, let alone the new ones happening every day to think you can do this type of thing effectively. I remember Udi Manber from Google saying that 25% of all queries on Google are new or have never been tried before, from the previous day. How is Mahalo supposed to keep up with that?

7. What resources do you use to stay on top of your field of expertise?

Read, learn, post. SEM is ever changing and very hard to stay on top of everything. You must build your own social circle where you have contacts and colleagues in the industry. Follow them and others in your RSS reader every day. Start posting on your own blog. It helps keep you sharp and involved in the industry.

8. What is the one achievement on the Web which gives you the most pleasure and/or satisfaction?

I would say it is two-fold. I really enjoy helping people on forums and blogs. Answering questions for some of those that are new to this type of thing and seeing it help them is really rewarding. Of course meeting my clients overall goals is just as rewarding.

9. Pretend the Internet is destroyed overnight. What do you do the next morning?

Start building the infrastructure all over again. The internet is a necessary means of communication and we should work to keep it free and safe for ever.

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?

If you want to rank better on Google, Yahoo and MSN the one thing you should do is start a blog on your website. I don’t care what products or services you offer a blog can be worked into your business plan and will be a success for your online marketing plans long term.

Thanks again to Jaan Kanellis!

Catch the Brainwaves is our ongoing series of interviews with a variety of folks participating in blogging and social media. I ask them ten questions and they respond with their brilliant answers and insights!

Today’s Q&A features a true social media rockstar, the author/editor of Techipedia - Tamar Weinberg!

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin!

1. You seem to be involved with a lot of cool websites and companies. How many jobs do you have – it seems like 100 or more!

Exactly 102.

2. Your new blog template for Techipedia makes use of purple and navy, which are unusual choices. Some people think colors are very important in your template. Why did you choose that particular color scheme?

I actually wanted pastel type colors — they’re soft and welcoming. I ended up going with a dark blue and purple because my favicon was already purple and blue is my favorite color. There really was no specific rhyme or reason for the design but I liked the colors.

3. You’ve been featured or participated in a number of podcasts. How do you like doing that compared to other social media work?

Well, to be honest, I’m not such a fan of podcasts as much as I should be. The ease of social media engagement is that I can multitask and be a lot more efficient (at least in terms of how I measure my own productivity) using the internet as a tool and having my fingers on the keyboard or mouse. When you get into podcasting, you simply cannot multitask — you need to be focused on what people are saying (especially if you’re live on the show!) so that you don’t say anything silly.

With 102 jobs, doing one thing at a time just isn’t me

4. Ever think about writing a book? If so, what would be the topic?

I’m always considering these options, though I don’t really know what the topic would be yet. (And if I did, I couldn’t possibly tell you in case you’d steal the idea)

[ED: her book will be about how to survive on a desert island with only a box of crayons, some Play Dough, and a bottlecap. But don't tell anyone I told you...]

5. Do you think that large organizations are starting to understand the potential value of social media? Or does social media really have an impact on a large corporation?

I think it does. Social media brings brand awareness to individuals who may know about large corporations but may not know exactly what they do. For large corporations, social media also is a fun way to engage the community. Repeated social media campaigns can really build relationships (and if nothing else, put the corporation at the front of a prospective consumer’s mind for later consideration). As many people know, the return may not be immediate (social media is not necessarily fulfilling an immediate need to search for something *right now*), but the more people know about you and your offerings, the more likely they are to work with you in the future.

6. This is bait, but I can’t resist: what’s the future hold for Digg? Does it have a long term future?

To be honest, I’m not that sure. My last submission to Digg was on January 28th. I think that once it made some serious changes (primarily to attract a new and broader demographic), they impacted some of their key contributors, including me. I am not venturing off to Digg anymore or as often, and frankly, I don’t miss it that much either.

7. How’s the swag collection coming along?

Oh baby, it’s getting better and better every day. But you can always send me more great swag. Some of this stuff is turning out to be more and more awesome. And lately, I’ve been considering reviews of gadgets. My first review was on the Microsoft Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000. How’d I do?

8. What is the one achievement on the Web which gives you the most pleasure and/or satisfaction?

I really like blogging, and I love it when people find my content interesting and enjoyable to read.

9. Pretend the Internet is destroyed overnight. What do you do the next morning?

I’d hibernate. Forever.Interestingly, I’m watching Jericho and I think I’d go absolutely insane without the Internet. I still can’t imagine what my life was like beforehand. I guess I’d be reading, but lately, all the books I’ve been reading are about marketing…on the Internet.

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?

I’m all about networking, and one of the biggest things I’d advocate online is that you should network, but do it right. When you find people online, build a relationship with them that means more than just asking for a vote on a social network site. Get to know your friends. Some of these relationships can be extremely valuable in the long run. I’ve met several individuals from social media spheres in real life and we have a connection that nobody understands, but it’s a beautiful thing because we’ve been building upon our friendships elsewhere for months. If you’re only networking to ask for votes (for personal gain) and never get to know the person behind the screen name, you’re not doing it right.

Thanks to Tamar for sharing her brainwaves!

Catch the Brainwaves is our ongoing series of interviews with a variety of folks participating in blogging and social media. I ask them ten questions and they respond with their brilliant answers and insights! Today’s Q&A features a SEO extraordinaire Melanie Nathan aka Crash aka status-girl.

Are you sitting comfortably?   Then let’s begin!

1. Do you feel that national identity means anything in social media? You and I both live in Canada, but neither of us seems to make a big deal about it.

I guess it all depends on one’s goals and expectations. I think there’s major benefit to national identity IF your social media mission is to be an authority in local search, local news etc. I recently thought about this as I brainstormed for domain ideas for my new blog. It totally occurred to me to market myself as a ‘Canadian SEO’. Why limit myself though? I think overall, you’re opening yourself to a much broader audience if your national identity is simply planet earth.

2. If you could live in a different country, which one would it be and why?

Definitely the US. They’re lucky in that they have all types of climate to choose from. In Canada we only really have one… FREAKIN’ COLD (especially in Edmonton).

I also love palm trees, white sand and blue water and, in the US, there’s plenty of places like that to choose from. Not to mention my love of paying for healthcare…

3. Why do you go by the user name “Crash” on SEOmoz? I notice that it’s different that what you use at, say, Twitter.

I use different handles depending on the site and purpose but I’m publicly known as ‘crashingflwgrl’ or just ‘crash’ for short. I only very recently created ‘status_girl’ because of the awesome media production company I now work for. Soon after I started on with StatusFirm, I was confident I had found myself a permanent home therefore I felt comfortable creating an online persona surrounding that. Besides that, ‘crashingflwrgrl’ was apparently too long for twitter and ‘crash’ was already scooped!

4. How has Twitter changed your life?

First and foremost, it’s really helped me establish myself as an SEO expert/guru/aficionado, without having to run a daily blog (I want to eventually though). It’s also provided me with a great network in which to promote my content and help others promote theirs. It’s brought me closer to, and has helped me tap in on, the day to day dealings of other SEO and social media professionals. It’s helped me discover other SM webbies in my own city (I almost thought I was the only one). And lastly, it’s boosted my self esteem and my self confidence too – having a big following of truly awesome people will do that (thanks guys!!).

In a nutshell twitter has brought me out of obscurity, expanded my social reach, allowed me to help others more effectively and given me an opportunity to really showcase my talents and skills.

5. Seth Godin has written about the effect of being #1 on a list vs. #10 on a list in terms of attention, traffic, financial rewards, etc. The #1 spot seems to get 10 times the attention and exposure of the #10 spot. Do you see any evidence of that ratio in your work?

Yes, everywhere. With lists, with SERP’s, with links, with directories etc. Like Ricky Bobby says… “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

I’ve wondered this about the Google SERP’s too…. I know it’s best to be in the top three but if that’s just not happening for you, and #10 is the best you can muster… is it better to be at the bottom of page 1 or the very top of page 2?? Think about it. How often does Google not get the appropriate content on the first page? How many people click through to page two?

6. Do you have a favorite social media site? If so, then can you tell us why it’s your favorite?

That’s easy… twitter. The best description I’ve ever heard was by @baramunchies in that twitter is “the backstage area of the blogosphere”. ‘Nuff said.  (ED:  who knew she was a Marvel comics fan?)

7. Are social media and social news providing more than entertainment value?

Definitely.

Personally, I don’t even read the daily newspaper anymore because news just travels faster online. Social media serves an entire generation of people who want on demand access to news and information almost as fast as it happens. On the flip side, there’s also a genre of people out there trying actively to boost their online reps by being the first to discover things and bring it to the masses (I’m one of them!). In my opinion the system works perfectly. It’s up to the end user to select what’s important to them and tune out the rest.

8. What is the one achievement on the Web which gives you the most pleasure and/or satisfaction?

Just ONE? There’s no way.   :)

Satisfaction – I sold my first e-commerce website in late 2006 which afforded both my husband and I to take a year off and travel. I’m also pretty happy that I recently pushed both Platts and Forbes down in order to claim the top spot for a very competitive ‘energy’ related key phrase. One of our other sites is also now ranking for a competitive ‘Las Vegas’ related term. Top rankings always bring me satisfaction though, especially when there are tens of millions of other pages competing for the same term.

Pleasure – All sorts of different people now contact me for advice on everything relating to naming their blog, getting top rankings, keyword research, link baiting/building secrets, getting more SM exposure etc. I am immensely pleased that I’ve come this far in a few short years and I’m seriously happy to be able to help people. Back in the day, I was the one asking all the questions and it feels really good to be able to confidently give back now.

My proudest achievement yet though, is that I’ve been invited to speak at SEM Canada in Calgary this year, which I’m looking very forward to. Look for me to be presenting on both analytics and advanced link building techniques along with such speakers as Todd Friesen, Andy Beal and Jane Copland.

Of course, being interviewed for Catch the Brainwaves at broadcasting-brain.com, definitely makes my list.  ;)

9. Pretend the Internet is destroyed overnight. What do you do the next morning?

I would definitely tweet about it, er, I mean blog it, oops, I meant digg it….. umm?… holy hell!! Wtf WOULD I do???

I guess I would FREAK OUT just like everybody else. And then, because I’ve tried working in the real world and it never did much for me, I’d probably pick up my guitar again and pursue my dreams of becoming a singer/songwriter. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about illegal downloading of my tasty songs

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?

Whether you’re promoting a product, a website, or a brand; create your reputation as an expert, by acting like an expert. Take SEOmoz for a great example. They created a reputation as experts by acting as THE resource for SEO. It then became a self-fulfilling prophecy: everyone comes here because we’re the best at SEO; we’re the best at SEO because everyone comes here. What ever your industry is, strive for this.

Other than that, when it comes to SM, just have fun and always be yourself (yes, even if you’re a douchebag).  (ED:  historians take note:  this is the first time that the word douchebag was used at Broadcasting Brain.)

Cheers!

After spending weeks on hiatus, Catch The Brainwaves is back tomorrow!

Who will we feature in tomorrow’s Q&A session?  Tune in and find out!

Catch the Brainwaves is our ongoing series of interviews with a variety of folks participating in blogging and social media. I ask them ten questions and they respond with their brilliant answers and insights! Today’s Q&A features a journalist, freelance writer, and social media expert - David Cohn aka DigiDave!

Are you ready?  Then, catch the brainwaves! 

1. Briefly: is blogging and citizen journalism a threat to traditional journalism?

That’s a good question. I know some journalists still take citizen journalism as a “threat.” But I would argue against this statement on principle and in practice.

On principle: More citizen journalists and more bloggers means more information. Granted, some of this might be misinformation, but the internet also internal methods of fact-checking. Even social bookmarking is a way to collectively separate the wheat from the chaff. Any journalist that thinks more information is bad shouldn’t be a journalist.

In practice: Most citizen journalists and bloggers aren’t motivated by money. They aren’t professional journalists because they have fulfilling jobs in other sectors. They blog or engage in citizen journalism because they want a certain amount of recognition or to perform some kind of civic duty. In that situation (which again, is the case for the vast majority of bloggers) these individuals can be seen as assets - people journalists can rely on to help them get more information, quicker and of higher quality.

2. I’ve heard from some freelancers that they enjoy writing for the Web more than print. Do you have a preference?

I am a freelancer born on the Web. My first real gig was with Wired News (wired.com, not the magazine). I have written for print before - but the majority of my writing has been online. I like to think I approach writing for print or online in the same manner - but the truth is, I don’t. My first journalism professor at Columbia Journalism School said that a writer should think of their readers as trying to escape from prison. From the second they start reading - they want to run away from your story. You have to grab them in the first four paragraphs.

Did you hear that? The first four paragraphs. Online it feels more like the first four words.

3. How hard is it to make a living as a freelancer (your opinion)?
 

It is definitely not easy. Right now I’m fairly lucky, because I have three steady contracts right now. Before these contracts I was living pitch-to-pitch. Pitching stories to editors is tough, especially if you don’t already know them. Most editors work on a system of trust - they only take content from writers they already know. When I was sending cold-call pitches out I was having real trouble. Another thing to consider: a lot of people think that because you are a freelancer you are your own boss. I suppose that’s true, but like I said, I have three contracts right now — so really I have three bosses. Understandably, they all want as much from me as they can get - so even once you are passed the pitch-acceptence level of freelancing, it’s not a cushy job.

4. Have you ever wanted to write comic book stories?
  I love comic books and visual language in general. I’ve never wanted to write fiction (although I love the sci-fi worlds of Marvel), but I wouldn’t mind doing a great investigation and telling it in comic-book form. In fact, I think that would open up a world of possibilities. The only problem - I can barely draw a stick figure.

5. Would you agree that social news and traditional news outlets are now locked into a symbiotic relationship? If so, do you think either party realizes this?

I think it is a symbiotic relationship, but I don’t know if news organizations realize it. I think many are starting to - but they aren’t taking full advantage of it. News organizations are still the best at providing quality journalism. Right now there isn’t a social news site that champions that, although I hope NewsTrust.net, a non-profit social news site I work for, meets that demand. Until that kind of site exists news organizations will have to compete with bloggers for the front page of Digg - but in truth the two groups often have a different focus: most bloggers are creating content like “how to’s” or “top 10’s.” Journalists aren’t supposed to write this kind of content - so they will “lose” on social news sites all the time.

But on a site like NewsTrust.net - which rates news based on journalistic quality news organizations are suited to do well. Bloggers can do well too - but top 10 lists won’t.

6. Mac or PC?

Mac - born and raised. My first computer was an Apple IIC - I think it was 1989, I was around 7 years old and playing the original Kings Quest.

7. What makes a good blog (or a blog good, whichever you prefer)?

There are two types of boggers: Linkers and thinkers.

A good blog first figures out which one of these it is.

Then a good blog figures out what it is linking or thinking about - it finds a specific subject.

To be a great blog the subject either has to be something that isn’t being covered by anybody else (a unique niche) or it covers a general topic but it does so better than anybody else.

8. Did the Digg Embargo achieve its goals? I believe that Social News Central was formed in part due to that incident. (ED:  this Q&A session occurred before the Digg Town Hall of Feb. 25/08)

It’s too early to tell.

What we wanted to achieve was to open up a line of communication with Jay (Adelson) and Kevin (Rose), because we repeatedly felt as if issues, such as banned users and auto-bury sites, were being ignored despite numerous emails sent through traditional channels. Since Jay and Kevin showed up on the very day we decided to take a step back from Digg, we did achieve our goals: We were able to express to Jay and Kevin our concerns and get feedback.

But the final goal is to have a real mode of communication that is open, honest and allows people to have their answers met.

I hope that Social News Central proves to be a place where people can hang out, old and new diggers alike, to talk about how social bookmarking in general can improve.

9. Do you hope that your social news work will have a legacy? If so, what kind of legacy do you want to be remembered for?

Wow, I never really thought of it as a “legacy.” I hope that I’ve been a conduit of information - that I’ve helped certain people get information that they wanted. In that case it’s not about having a “legacy” but having connected with individuals. I like to think that each time I get a front page story on Digg I help somebody learn something new.

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?

We are seeing the rapid evolution in the exchange of information. Anything we can do to continue this process will keep the Internet free of coercion and a benefit to mankind.

In other words: This is our culture to make - so participate in a constructive way.

Thanks to DigiDave for sharing his brainwaves!

Catch the Brainwaves is our ongoing series of interviews with a variety of folks participating in blogging and social media. I ask them ten questions and they respond with their brilliant answers and insights! Today’s Q&A features a master of social media who really knows how to “Digg” his way to the top.

 Today we’re featuring Andrew Sorcini aka Mr. BabyMan of Digg and The Drill Down podcast as our guest.

Are you ready to catch his brainwaves, including:

The TRUE story behind his user name?

Then let’s begin!

1. I’m sure you’ve explained this one million times, but what’s the origin of your user name?
It’s actually a pet name given to me by my girlfriend at the time (who’s now my wife). It’s a reference to my arrested development and general refusal to grow up and act like a serious adult. I began to use it as a username (for lack of a better one) when I would go online. Honestly, if I knew it was gonna be so notorious, I probably would’ve picked something more intimidating.

2. Do you get hit by millions of messages, E-mails, Digg requests, etc. the minute that you go online?
Less than you’d think, but mostly when I show up on IM. I’m open to all emails and Digg shouts, as long as they’re not spam.

3. Some might say that you are an on-line celebrity. That brings up another question: why do you think people put so much value in being a celebrity?
Former Photobucket marketer MJ Kim once told me, “Andy Warhol said that in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Well, when you’re ‘internet famous’, you’re famous to 15 people.” While I certainly don’t consider myself a celebrity (even an ‘internet famous’ one), I think celebrity is significant to some people as a public validation of success.

4. Does being the top Digger something you cherish or is it that big of a deal to you?
I’m proud of the honor, but I never sought out to be top digger. Many people consider Digg to be like a game, where the goal in competition is to try and get the most submissions to the front page, or to have a perfect submission record, or to be the most prolific thread commenter. Digg has never been about that for me. My only goal in submitting to Digg is to find the most interesting sites & articles and expose them to the broadest audience possible. In that respect, there is no goal of completion for me. I’ll keep submitting to Digg as long as there are great stories to submit.

5. Can you single out any one Digg submission or story that will be etched into your memory for the rest of your life?
Oddly enough, the stories that really stand out for me are the ones that I really felt passionately about, but failed to make the front page. The real tragedy of Digg is how many amazing stories are submitted, but never make the front page for one reason or another. I would recommend to any digg user that they take the time to look past the front page and onto the Upcoming page, where the real gems are.

6. Is it easy for you to keep up with all of your social media contacts? Do you use software, a notebook, or memory exercises to keep track of it all?
Keeping track of my social media contacts is actually my weakest point. I seem to be often too overwhelmed to engage in regular communication with my social news contacts. I don’t IM that often, so if you’re not on my friends list, the best way to get my attention is to email me or ’shout’ to me.

7. What’s the next step for social news? What is it going to evolve to be?
You’re going to see social news become more ubiquitous and more integrated into mainstream media. The walls between the two will eventually break down completely. User commentary will share space on the page with journalist-written articles in The New York Times. CNN video coverage of momentous events will share space with live video streaming from users’ cellphones of the same events. As people realize they can contribute to the collective voice and be heard, the news space will evolve to be richer, more eclectic, and better informed.

8. Pretend the Internet is destroyed overnight. What do you do the next morning?
Focus my free time on my other passion, watching and studying movies. It would probably mean going to Blockbuster instead of Netflix, but what are you gonna do?

9. Do you hope that your social media work will have a legacy? If so, what kind of legacy do you want to be remembered for?
More than any one particular act, I would hope the body of my work would serve to highlight the significance of the social bookmarker. A tremendous amount of time and effort is volunteered by scores of talented people with the knack for uncovering the best content, and it’s very easy to forget that it doesn’t just anonymously appear of the front pages of everyone’s favorite social news sites. Content is always king, of course, but the social bookmarker is the one who delivers it.

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?
The most often question I’m asked regarding social bookmarking is “what is the best way to get my stories seen?” To which I say two things: Be choosy about what you submit, as you will be judged by your content. And make lots of friends and support each other by promoting each others’ stories. Often this is the only way to insure your story rises above the scores of other submissions.
The other advice I’d offer is not to take it all too seriously. It’s supposed to be fun.

Thanks to Mr BabyMan for sharing his brainwaves!

Catch the Brainwaves is our ongoing series of interviews with a variety of folks participating in blogging and social media. I ask them ten questions and they respond with their brilliant answers and insights! Today’s Q&A features the incomparable Shea Gunther, who can be found here, here, here, and here! 

1. How cool is Maine?

Maine is pure awesome. I grew up in neighboring New Hampshire but lived right on the border, so I got a lot of exposure to Maine as a kid. Portland is the hippest little city in the country and is an up and coming destination for entrepreneurs. It wasn’t quite the case even just 10 years ago but the last decade has seen a lot of cool things pour into the city. We have new arts colleges that have pulled in new smart and creative young people as well as the expected bars, restaurants, book stores, and boutiques. Whole Foods just moved in last year. You can drive an hour and be on your snowboard up in the mountains or go 15 minutes to the beach. There’s world class rock climbing just two hours away in New Hampshire and Boston is an equal amount of time down I-95. We have a nice airport and the cost of living is low.

2. If you could live in a different country, which one would it be and why?

I’ve been hearing really good things about Norway, but I’d probably have to go with Canada. (ED:  I did not put that in, Shea wrote it!  )I’m pretty lazy when it comes to learning other languages so the fact that I could get away with English there is a plus. They have a lot of water, tons of beautiful wilderness, and haven’t started any disastrous and expensive wars lately.

3. Is the world going to change in January 2009, when the new US president takes office?

Fuck yes. We’ve had an amazingly bad last 8 years and I don’t pull any punches when I label Bush as our Worst President Ever. The guy has messed up this country in so many ways I think it’s pushed us down like a spring ready to explode under the leadership of anyone who isn’t the evil retarded fish frog that George W. Bush is. I’m a Barack man and think he will get this country back on track in every way when he takes office in ‘09 including getting us out of the clusterfuck in Iraq.

4. Is it tough to be a US citizen these days, knowing that the US government is extremely unpopular in several different parts of the world?

He’s not my President, I voted against him twice and always thought he was a shifty incompetent of a leader. I hope that people around the world are able to distinguish between Americans and the American government. The American people, for the most part, are downright friendly folk. Our (current) government is a bunch of wackjob corrupt politicos lead by a very dumb man with very bad friends. We’ll get a Democrat in office next year and we’ll start the work of rebuilding our standing in the world.

5. What do you think about the increases in travel restrictions for entering or leaving the US?

I think immigration and travel security laws are reactionary, inefficient, xenophobic, and ignorant as to the realities of the world.

6. Do you think that fuel cell technology will ever hit the mainstream? Should it?

Yes, and yes. It’s good technology and will be an important part of helping us break away from burning a fossil fuel to do everything.

7. What makes a blog good?

The writers. You have to get the mechanics of good blogging down- proper linking and image use, great design, a well coded template, feeds and email subscriptions and such, but it’s the writers that will really capture and grow an audience.

8. Are social media and social news providing more than entertainment value?

Social media and news are connecting people in a way that’s never happened before. When you connect more smart, creative, driven people you are going to get an increase in the cool things those people do. We’re going to see more innovation in business, technology, and the arts because of social media and news.

It will also mean big changes in politics as more people hook up along shared political and social views and flex their power within the parties. If anything could facilitate the creation of a viable third party candidate it’s the net and social media. The Ron Paul phenomenon was just the tip of the iceberg as to what will be possible in the coming decades.

9. Pretend the Internet is destroyed overnight. What do you do the next morning?

Cancel my DSL line and cry. Then I’d go outside and build a tree fort.

10. What one piece of knowledge, advice, or wisdom do you have to share with our readers?

Go after your dreams with everything you have. Failure should be expected and embraced. Learn the lessons of failing and wear your wounds ands scars proudly. Don’t be content with being a sheeple and never ever give up.

Thanks to Shea for sharing his brainwaves!