make cool stuff happen

21 Mar, 2009 • posts i've written • 37 comments

I want to find a group of thinkers and makers to quietly take over the world.

I’m a strategist. Ideas vomit out of my mouth all day. Some of them are wretched, some are mediocre, but one or two a month aren’t half bad. I’ve specialized in “thinking” about stuff.

Over the years, I’ve let my “making” stuff skills fall by the wayside. Once upon a time I was a developer (little d) and a designer (also little d), but now, not so much. And I was never that great at it to start with. I have a huge amount of respect for great makers of stuff.

I’d like to make more stuff. Small stuff. It isn’t so much about my own ideas, but the act of collaboration, that I miss exploring the most; aimless collaboration, the kind that can actually surprise you. I want to make stuff happen. I want to find a group of thinkers and makers. Maybe we meet once a month. Or maybe we just connect virtually. Maybe it’s a Brooklyn thing, or maybe it’s a whole world thing. But with the cost of building stuff on the web so low, a group of people like us could make a dramatic impact.

I’m earnestly tossing this out there. If you’re at all interested, please leave a comment and let’s start a conversation.

you are what you link

18 Mar, 2009 • posts i've written • 5 comments

I took the time on the flight back from SxSW to digest Henry Jenkins’ eight part series on Spreadable Media.  In the digital world it may be considered a hefty tome, but it’s an incredibly thought provoking piece of academic research (so read it). I also had the pleasure of meeting Henry at SxSW, albeit briefly.

In lieu of writing a cliff notes version of Henry’s work, I want to instead focus on the creation of one’s identity online (a key component of Henry’s studies). SxSW is a conference for marketers and advertisers; and this year I found the dialogue very much concerned with the consumer as means for distributing a brand’s marketing message.

From my own perspective, I’ve seen about three dozen too many powerpoint slides with the words, ‘Viral Video Concepts’ written across the top. I’ve heard far too many marketing managers speak about their next viral campaign as if their work was already complete. And I’ve watched far too many brands chase the next platform or piece of technology. I know you’re fed up too.

In truth, this fatigue is all our own doing. We’ve looked for easy answers, and we’ve fabricated for ourselves a false panacea. It’s time we ween ourselves from this idea of a ‘viral’ mechanism. Ideas (and marketing messages) do not self replicate. The mechanism of mobility does not lie within the message itself; your youtube video does not pluck itself from one pair of eyeballs to another. There’s a human hand at work here –  a human hand we have ignored for far too long.

Like a crime novel detective, understanding motive is critical. We must investigate our subject’s motive if we’re to better understand why messages spread. In the digital realm, rarely is our consumption or sharing of media invisible to our social graph. Particularly, our sharing of media is a conscious one; and the spread of these messages is intrinsic to establishing our own identity. As we’re prone to do, we’ve applied a myopic focus to the effect or end result, and have completely ignored the root cause.

Our identity among our peers is defined by our use of messages and the meanings we construct together. It’s critically important to understand that the meaning of these devices (or messages) is created by both the individual and the observer; and that controlling meaning (by the publisher) is impossible (and a waste of a scarce resource, time).

In Henry’s research, he extrapolates various motives for why people spread media:

• They are doing so because the brand expresses something about themselves or their community.
• They are doing so because the brand message serves some valued social function.
• They are doing so because the entertainment content gives expressive form to some deeply held perception or feeling about the world.
• They are doing so because individual responses to such content helps them determine who does or does not belong in their community.

Clearly, there is a complex decision making process happening when people spread media. It can no longer be said that content is ‘viral’ or memetic.

Talking about memes and viral media places an emphasis on the replication of the original idea, which fails to consider the everyday reality of communication — that ideas get transformed, repurposed, or distorted as they pass from hand to hand, a process which has been accelerated as we move into network culture.

Henry also goes on to speak about how media starts as a cultural commodity; and through the process of spreading, media can become a cultural resource – but only when we choose to give it to someone else. Thus, we are what we link. We are what we choose to spread; what we consciously decide to give to others. Through this process of spreading media we make meaning among those resources and ourselves. And we’re constantly in the process of defining our identity among the various networks in which we participate.

As a marketer, this completely negates our previous strategies of fixating purely on the content; sprinkle in this, make that joke, get this celebrity, etc.

We must begin to focus once again on the people we wish to affect, and the networks and cultures in which they participate.

We must create more using less.

Here I’ve specifically excluded content strategies from the discussion, although Henry’s work includes detailed discussion on the matter; have a read.

interview with amc’s blogger

30 Jan, 2009 • posts i've written • No comments

A while back I did a quick phone interview with John Frankfurt who writes AMC’s Mad Men blog. John just posted the interview and sent me some nice schwag to say thanks.

Q: How are characters assigned or chosen from the show in Twitter?

A: Originally it was anyone who jumped on it and registered that account, because that’s the way Twitter works: If you have the account it’s yours. Main characters like Don Draper and Peggy Olson were picked first. After that, we see one person will run three or four accounts to pick up some peripheral characters so they can do really interesting things together. I think you’re seeing that with Francine’s character and Betty Draper, so they can experience what’s going on outside of Manhattan. For other people, it’s what resonates most with them.

I definitely prefer email interviews to phone, there’s always a good bit lost in translation, but I was happily surprised when AMC’s blogger reached out to me. The next step is talking to AMC proper, then Matt Weiner.

mad recognition

28 Jan, 2009 • posts i've written • No comments

What a week! First off, Henry Jenkins himself, the father of Convergence Culture, posted an entry about my report into my time as one of the Mad Men characters on Twitter. And then New York Magazine online picked it up and wrote a little ditty.

I’m pretty elated by Henry’s recognition of my blood, sweat, and welling of tears. Henry’s work, along with the work of his research assistants and students, is absolutely essential to the future of entertainment and culture (and more importantly to me, Henry has given me immeasurable inspiration). Beyond my mere involvement, I’m excited at how much attention fan work is receiving these days. It’s a good sign of the times. But it means there’s so much more to do and say and explore. Are you game?

After Henry posted his thoughts, a representative of Deep Focus quickly commented on the piece. Although I disagree with some of what he said, he was absolutely right by pointing out the hard work of the other Mad Men characters. If they do ever choose to reveal themselves publicly, I hope they finally can receive the personal recognition they deserve. You guys and gals really did blow me away.

I guess I need to add a press page to my site. I’m kind of a big deal on the internet now.

more learnings from becoming a mad man

22 Jan, 2009 • posts i've written • 1 comment

Flourish Klink is consumed. She co-founded one of the largest Harry Potter fan fiction sites, FictionAlley.org. She was one of the young fan fiction writers interviewed for Henry Jenkins’ Convergence Culture. Currently, she attends the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT, focusing on fan culture, and is co-chair of Formal Programming for Azkatraz 2009, a Harry Potter conference.

And she just interviewed me over at her new Fandom Blog.

In “Becoming a Mad Man,” you identify yourself as a fan, going so far as to defend that identity to Deep Focus, Mad Men’s digital marketing agency. How would you define that identity, “fan”?

I define a fan simply as someone whose enjoyment of something becomes part of their expressed identity.

I’m loathe to think of myself as a marketer first, or even a consumer first. It’s too convenient a trap to fall in to. Deep Focus didn’t know how else to treat me beyond the accusatory; but even your last post identified me as a marketer. In the digital space, I’m hired to help people think more like human beings; to rid themselves of the artifice of the Madison Avenue castle. Oversimplification is why we all feel insulted these days.

Go on and read the full post (and subscribe to the blog).

If you haven’t already, now’s a good time to read my full report on being a Mad Men character on Twitter.

Oh, and just a reminder, I want to write for your blog. Gratis. But you have to give me a great question or profound thought to ponder.

we are sterling cooper

08 Dec, 2008 • posts i've written • 1 comment

I must confess. I’ve been leading a double life. On Twitter, I’ve been masquerading as Bud Melman, a mailroom clerk at Sterling Cooper Advertising in 1962. I also built WeAreSterlingCooper.org. And for a short period of time, I ran a wiki where I tried to get many of the other Mad Men characters to play along and create story arcs between episodes.

I’ve written a full report about my other life, along with what it could mean for the future of entertainment. Download Becoming a Mad Man.

So why did I do it? Because I’m a fan of the show; maybe even the biggest fan. Sunday nights were a solemn ritual of tuning in (ask Vanessa). I’d even buy the episode off iTunes the next day to watch on the train. I didn’t let anyone out of my sight without going on and on about what a great show it was. That’s what fans do, turn on new people to your show, product, etc. The more creative we get (like Mad Men twittering), the more effective we can be.

I wasn’t the first to come up with the idea of bringing a Mad Men character to life on Twitter, though. I just thought the idea was insanely brilliant and I wanted to play along, too. It didn’t work out quite how I had hoped, but I’m incredibly thankful for all the new people I’ve met and the support they’ve given me.

UPDATES

In a bit of “holy shit that’s awesome” news, I see that my report, Becoming a Mad Man, is part of Henry Jenkin’s syllabus for the fall course he’s teaching on Transmedia Storytelling at USC. It’s sure to be poked, prodded, and maybe even dismissed, but I’m incredibly honored for its inclusion in the course.

In addition, the report and my activities were recently cited in Grant McCracken’s latest book, Chief Culture Officer (p. 91)