OK, I’ll admit it. I was the disappointed with the launch of the Apple iPad. It didn’t change the face of computing as we know it today. And it doesn’t revolutionize your life either (or fold your laundry).

But, that’s exactly the problem.

The expectation that this device would do exactly that made for huge buzz-kill for most of us techy-geek-heads. But, again- that’s exactly the problem.

Perhaps this device isn’t for techy-geek-heads.

Has anyone considered that since this is an “instant on” device (no startup waiting) the many practicalities and convenience of being able to instantly browse the web or open media files. There isn’t a netbook out there that performs as quick or as beautifully as the iPad.

Perhaps there many practical uses for this device we have yet to consider, take for example; graphic designers showing their portfolio at a coffee shop meeting, real-estate agents working with clients using it to show photos and their properties, photographers portfolios, or anyone who sells anything could use this device in a meeting (I already show friends and clients photos and portfolios with my iPhone and I’m confident the iPad likely does it better).

Perhaps everyone has “office space syndrome” and we are just hopping on the jump-to-conclusions mat before anyone really actually has used the device besides the techy-geek-heads out there.

The verdict is still out in my book until I actually get to physically hold it- touch it- use it and put it through my own tests. And for the record, I would still camp out for this device. I want it.

What do you think? What was your reaction to the iPad? Do you want to buy an iPad? Leave a comment.

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If you don’t think I’m a geek (already), you will after you get done reading this blog post.

Back, in July of 2008, I was 1 of the few crazy people who waited over 10+ hours to get the 3G iPhone. I even video blogged it and took photos.

Several people have asked me, was it worth it? (i was interviewed on Fox and NBC and was asked this same question). What are my thoughts now?

I would do it again.

When I tell people what I did- it sounds 100% crazy: 10 hours of waiting in line overnight, outside, I took a 1-hour nap on the concrete sidewalk, with only 1 Starbucks donut and Frap to eat and drink. All this, just to be 1 of the first people to buy a new phone.

But I’m telling you, I’d do it all over again. And like Scoble, yes, I am a fanboi too.

Many blogs are quoting Steve Jobs in saying this new tablet (still unconfirmed) release is, “the most important thing I’ve ever done.” Considering his achievements, that’s a powerful quote. The release of this product has taken years in the making- which I’ve followed closely.

Will I camp out when it goes on sale?

I want to. Half the excitement from a major release like this is the people you meet. There’s only a select few who are dedicated and passionate enough to do this. It’s completely idiotic and wonderful in every respect. The experience of the camp out is worth it- and the privileged of getting to use first whatever this device might be- I want to be apart of it.

PLEASE NOTE: once a release date is set, I’ll formalize my offer in a blog post that is open to anyone: the open proposal for sponsorship of my camp out at the low cost of whatever the device selling price is. This will be in exchange for the rights to a video blog and photos from the camp out experience (the sponsor gets full rights to the video and photos I take, more details later). Furthermore, I’ll wear t-shirts / hats / signs or whatever swag you’d like during my camp out. Heck, I’ll setup a tent with your logo on it if you want. I’m open to ideas. Drop me an email if you’re interested (email@ramseymohsen.com), I’ll be posting details later.

You might think I’m going out on a limb here- I am.

Some of you follow me on Twitter, my tweet explains my thoughts and expectations for this week’s rumored Apple tablet launch:

So now we all wait till Wednesday …and I’m totally pumped for it. Do you think I’m crazy? Tell me all your thoughts good AND bad in the comments.

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I’m a big fan of podcasts. Recently, I learned you can stream podcasts without having to download them on your iPhone! I’m sharing this with you because it’s seems to be such a “hidden” feature that I certainly wasn’t aware of (but it’s been available for a while). Launch the iTunes app and just search for any podcast and click on the title to start playing it. Simple and easy. I have a 20-minute commute into work each day, which is the perfect time window of time to catch up on my podcasts without having to dock my iPod and download them first.

Some people think podcasts are dead. I don’t agree with them. The podcasts I follow I are my own personal “virtual teachers”. I consider it my free continuing education tool. It helps me stay up with industry knowledge, teach me how to be better communicator, they provide motivation and I always enjoy comparing notes on how others “tell a great story”. Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels is one of my favorites to follow.

Do you listen to podcasts? What are your favorite podcasts to follow and why? Make a comment and share it with everyone. It’s great discovering new and interesting podcasts. Tell me your what are your favorites.

I have one more thing to say about CES 2010 that somehow I didn’t cover in 1 out of the hundreds elevendy +plus video blogs I posted

3DTV at your house is stupid.

No really, it’s dumb. Ok, I’m being a bit Jersey Shore dramatic, but I viewed the best 3DTV’s in the world at CES this year from every major manufacturer (Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, yade-yada) and I’m telling you it’s over hyped and it under-delivers.

Consider my 3 simple reasons:

1.) Imagine you’re at home, the sun is out on a gorgeous weekend- and you’re watching your favorite college team play football. John, Susie, Lebron and Kim who are all best friends are sitting on the couch having beers and snacking on some food. You’re watching the in game in 3D on ESPN and you turn to John and high-five him after a big touchdown. You then scan the room and look around and realize all of you sitting on the couch are wearing big black bulky 3D glasses.

Can you picture that? I have a hard time believing that John, Susie and Lebron and Kim are going to be cool with wearing 3D glasses comfortably and watching the big game, don’t you?

2.) No one looks cool in 3D glasses. Period. Look how dumb I look:

Annnnnnnnnnnd this is why I’m proud to announce my start-up “designer” 3D glasses company (just kidding, but seriously- someone should).

3.) At CES there were several varying sizes of 3DTV’s. I demo’ed the 42″, the 60″ the 50″ and even the 20″ and 8″ TVs. I came to a realization that fundamentally sets apart 3DTV in the movie theater vs. 3DTV at your house.

3DTV’s are too small.

The reason why Avatar looks incredible in the theater, is you’re watching it on a huge screen that engulfs you into the movie. When you watch 3DTV on a 50″, the experience doesn’t compare. And you can forget the small 3DTV’s, it’s not worth the hassle of wearing the 3D glasses for what you get out of it.

IMHO, 3DTV at your house is simply a novelty at best and I would argue it will never go mainstream. In retrospect, I do think that movie theaters are the appropriate place people want to experience 3DTV, primarily because you’re focused on nothing else in the room but screen …not to mention the lights are off and it’s pitch black.

There was one type of 3D that did catch my attention at CES that I do think will be a hit. That’s 3D gaming for your computer and XBOX 360. I played Avatar on 360 at the NVIDIA booth and that experience was incredible. If 3D has any kind of chance, it’s the gaming sector that will benefit the most from it.

You can forget seeing a 3D movie at your friend’s house anytime soon. It’ll be a fad before you can say “Sony Mini-Disc“.

Am I crazy to think that 3DTV at your house won’t ever be the norm? What do you think? Is it just a fad? Make a comment.

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Erin Byrne from Burson-Marsteller shares a quote so dead-on I wanted to share it with you:

People talk about online, online, online, it’s really about integration. Conversations go online, then offline, then online again. The most successful PR professionals use traditional PR to build awareness and then use social media relations and digital tools to drive from awareness to action.

Many times I first meet with clients who are so caught up with the shiny objects (e.g. social media, iPhone apps, Flash on their website) they easily forget the bigger picture. I often have to remind them, the entire touch-point experience your customers and audience has with you and your brand is multidimensional, multilayered and multifaceted. Don’t forget that. The read, they click, the search, they watch video and TV, they talk to their friends and work professional/colleagues/competitors. Understanding the flow of these customer experiences is critical to know before you can even begin crafting a strategy for desired outcomes, conversions or positioning of your brand.

Your “footprint” online, offline, on TV, in-person, even what’s said about you by other people- these are all are apart of a larger narrative that tell a story. Ensuring this story is consistent, cohesive and aligned with your larger organizational objectives will ensure you follow one of the fundamental marketing / branding rules: consistency facilitates recognition.
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If you follow me on Twitter, you probably see my Tweets talking about Timberland’s Earthkeepers (www.earthkeeper.com), a website project that I lead from concept, design to development which launched earlier this year. Recently, it won the Gold award in the “Green” category of the Davey Awards! The contest is an international competition and has over 4,000 entries every year- so I was stoked to hear the great news of winning the gold!

I thought use a blog post entry to share with you some details about my involvement in leading this project full disclosure: this is not a paid blog post- I’m writing this on my accord.

The Timberland Earthkeepers website project was is exciting to me since the goals and mission are something I personally believe in. To help you understand- let me explain the word “Earthkeepers”. First of all, it’s not a real word- Timberland made it up. “Earth”- where we all live, plus “keeper”- a protector or guardian …when combined, basically means someone who cares about the environment.

If you want the corporate mumbo-jumbo description, here’s the official Timberland take on the Earthkeepers mission:

“We at Timberland started Earthkeepers because we love the outdoors. Making outdoor boots, shoes and gear is what we do for a living. No more outdoors means no more living. For us—or anyone else. Of course, we realize that by making our products, we’re part of the problem. We believe it’s time for companies, like ours, to take a look at how the way they do business affects the environment and do something about it. Earthkeepers is one way we’re trying to do exactly that. Our goal—inspire and engage one million Earthkeepers.”

Pretty cool huh? I think so. If you’re curious for more information, take a look around at the website for more information. There are several exciting updates and enhancements on the road map.

When I first started working on this project, I was aware of the popular environmental issues and general steps you can take to help- but I certainly wasn’t exposed to the deeper niche topics. It was is a fun education process learning about all the aspects of the eco-conscious mindset. There’s a quote that I learned that I share with others that really hits the nail on the head of why a movement like this is so powerful:

Small changes, when aggregated on a large scale, can make a big change in the world.

What’s even more interesting is the positioning of Timberland’s Earthkeepers program is seeing a retail company not only embrace this attitude- but running with it and taking actions quickly. This movement is being driven by everyone in the company, including the person at the top, their CEO, Jeff Swartz. If you’re lucky enough to hear Jeff talk, he describes so fluidly his personal passion and mission of the eco-concious mindset companies should adopt. Furthermore, he uses Twitter to affect the masses of people and/or other CEOs.

Seeing and hearing all the things Timberland has dedicated itself to is exhausting (and I’m not just saying that because they’re my client). They do everything from planting over 1 million trees worldwide, to things like Timberland’s CEO banned bottled water at all their corporate offices.

Personally, since I’ve started this project, I’ve learned so much and started to take steps of my own: I now use a reusable water bottle at work and at home, I use reusable grocery sacks, I’ve convinced our office to not buy styrofoam cups or plates, I even created an Earth Day video blog earlier this year to get the good word out …just to mention a few.

I’m really excited to be leading the Earthkeepers website development- there’s lot of exciting things happening now and lined up for the future. For example, Wyclef Jean recently was announced as our celebrity spokesperson!! Keep tabs on www.earthkeeper.com for updates.
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A popular local blogger here in Kansas City, Tony, called me out RE: not being critical in regards to my recent blog post + video blog “Press Access to Chiefs Football”. Good for him. I not only appreciate being called out- I’m going to respond to it directly and update the original blog post. Friends, clients and other bloggers have told me that sometimes I’m not as candid in regards to detailing my experiences. This isn’t intentional. Fact is, I don’t get paid to blog. I don’t get paid for my video blogs either. I do this because I enjoy it. Furthermore, I want to provide my audience the “real” take on things I cover. The stuff you won’t get from traditional media. I certainly am not out there to just make everything seem “happy go lucky”. I discipline myself to post quality content in a perspective that’s real- not influenced by anything other than what my opinion is.

If this means I need to up my game in regards to injecting more critical opinions (good or bad), then I need to do it. I’ve been trying to do this more and more- but it’s not to the level I want it to be. Friends, clients, bloggers and Tony- consider your critiques of my blogging officially heard and action is being taken from here forward.

That said, here is additional information on my experience with the Chiefs I should have originally published with the initial blog post (which will be updated):

• Arrowhead certainly is in the mix of being renovated. That said, the facilities are certainly not high-end or very nice for that matter. The press box has a GREAT view of the field, but it was shocking to see how outdated things were for an organization like the Kansas City Chiefs.

• I was initially really excited to meet Jason Whitlock. Let me stress the word “initially”. First, let me acknowledge that I admire his successes and his ability to get attention with his columns he writes for the Kansas City Star and Fox Sports. But I certainly don’t always agree with everything he writes- BUT I do think he’s good at what he does. My expectations when I pictured Jason Whitlock is that he would be like ESPN’s Stuart Scott- someone with a vibrant upbeat personality who is quick on his feet and provides insightful intellectual commentary. I was wrong. From my observations, Jason Whitlock walks around the press box with arrogance. People had to approach him and he’s hailed as the “cool kid” among his press peers (or at least it appeared that way). When I introduced myself to Jason, I simply asked if he’d be willing to do a video interview during half-time, which he was actually quite receptive and open to. When I asked about his thoughts before halftime- he commented something along the lines of, “the Chiefs will screw this up somehow.” (which given their record, it’d be hard to argue they wouldn’t, and they certainly did by games end). All in all- for me it was a lot of high expectations with a disappointing ending in regards to meeting Jason. The takeaway for me is just because you can write well- it might not necessarily mean you’re an interesting or engaging person in real life.

• When I was there, it angered me observing the waste of paper that was used to print “stats” at the end of each quarter. These are handed out to every member of the press- it’s a sheet that details player and team information. This is 2009 and it would make much more sense for the environment to have a website exclusive to the press or plasma screens to project that information. Furthermore, I observed that most of members of the press threw the paper away without even looking at it.

• While it’s great the Chiefs do have objectives and are engaged with social media- they are certainly in the infancy or adolescence stage of understanding how to leverage it to their full advantage. They are trying to congregate the Chiefs community to their website- this means just getting traffic to their site. However, what they have working against them is the painful obvious; when you have a struggling team with a losing record- it is difficult to keep fans excited or positive about the Chiefs. Which means- traffic their website suffers. Sure responding to chat comments during the game, providing correct credible/verified information to fans and engaging on Twitter with fans seems to be the right strategy …but one could argue that’s just fundamentals when it comes to engagement and presence online the Chiefs should have. It’s the first of many steps the Chiefs website team has left to go in regards to their presence online.

• Throughout the game everyone in the press box experienced connectivity and internet speed issues. You would assume the press would need reliable and fast internet bandwidth since time and connectivity is of the essence for the press. However, this certainly wasn’t the case. It was sorta frustrating even for me who was just updating on Twitter and Facebook.

Sitting the press box was interesting and certainly a perspective I’ve never seen. However, I can’t say it was super exciting. Interesting yes- but not thrilling. The fact is, the press is there to get down to business (as they should be). I was excited at the opportunity and enjoyed it.

All of these comments are my personal opinion. For the most part they’re fairly detailed and perhaps overly critical. However, it’s the truth and real perspective from my point of view. The acceptance of the Chiefs letting me attend the game with press access is noteworthy and telling of their willingness to let a blogger provide a candid view of what it’s actually like behind the scenes. I do want to apologize to my readers for not including this insight in my original blog post- but consider this my ‘make good’ action that has immediate implications of the types of critiques you’ll be seeing in blog posts to come in the future. Everyone’s continued feedback via emails and comments is the only way I’ve been able to evolve as a blogger- for better or worse. Thank you.
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The Kansas City Chiefs football team called me and asked if I would be interested receiving press access to an NFL game. To which I eloquently said, “Uhhhh- yes, I’m interested.” (duh!) I was stoked at the opportunity- and the Chiefs gave me full press access with free reign to capture whatever I deemed worthy during my experience to broadcast to the Internets. I got to sit in the press box, interview members of the press, attend the post game conference and even go into the locker rooms! Put simply, the experience was awesome.

Full Disclosure: The Chiefs provided me free access /tickets. I was not paid for my time or for the content I produced and published.

With my press access, I decided the angle I wanted to share was the “inside” experience of an NFL football game from the “press” perspective. It’s certainly something not everyone gets to see or experience.

Here’s the video blog I put together of my experience:

(It’s interesting to think about the idea of asking bloggers to come capture, document and broadcast content. It’s a great tactic for embracing influencers or your super-fans who already are creating content and have a community. Furthermore, the outside perspective gives a fresh new angle.)

If you follow me on Twitter- you might have noticed, I live Tweet’ed during the game to provide anyone who was interested the ability to ask direct questions to me or the Chiefs. For this blog post- I’ve weaved a few of my live Tweets and will elaborate on them.

The first thing I noticed was the amount of conversation and chatter that goes on in the press box. ESPN, USA-Today, local morning TV shows- they’re all packed into this one room. When key plays happen like fumbles, touchdowns or sacks- the room echos loudly with confirmations of the players names (who made the play) or the yardage # gained. What I find interesting is the larger implication of all this yelling- these people of the press are the ones who disseminate out the information to websites, TV channels and other outlets as the mothership “source” of data. They punch in the numbers on their laptops. And it’s interesting to think about the effects that ripple down and start in just this one room. Imagine if you could map the pyramid of all the communication connections the press box touches. Something else that’s interesting- when you are in the press, you’re instructed to refrain from cheering on either team outloud.

Arrowhead certainly is in the mix of being renovated. That said, the facilities are certainly not high-end or very nice for that matter. The press box has a GREAT view of the field, but it was shocking to see how outdated things were for an organization like the Kansas City Chiefs. Throughout the game everyone in the press box experienced connectivity and internet speed issues. You would assume the press would need reliable and fast internet bandwidth since time and connectivity is of the essence for the press. However, this certainly wasn’t the case. It was sorta frustrating even for me who was just updating on Twitter and Facebook.

The Chiefs had two members from the web team dedicated to updating www.kcchiefs.com. Lance Brown and Josh Looney- who were both simultaneously watching the game and monitoring Twitter and the website conversations as they happened. I asked them what their objectives were, they shared their current goals in using social media:

1. Create and/or engage a community and stoke them. Prior to the recent update to kcchiefs.com, conversations happened in several forums. The goal is to both embrace the fans and unite the fan community in one place, the KC Chiefs website.
2. Provide accurate exclusive information. There’s unique access to data and information that is credible that the Chiefs web team can provide. Furthermore, the ability for the fans to interact and ask specific questions is something that can’t be done when watching it on TV or sitting in the stands.

While it’s great the Chiefs do have objectives and are engaged with social media- they are certainly in the infancy or adolescence stage of understanding how to leverage it to their full advantage. They are trying to congregate the Chiefs community to their website- this means just getting traffic to their site. However, what they have working against them is the painful obvious; when you have a struggling team with a losing record- it is difficult to keep fans excited or positive about the Chiefs. Which means- traffic their website suffers. Sure responding to chat comments during the game, providing correct credible/verified information to fans and engaging on Twitter with fans seems to be the right strategy …but one could argue that’s just fundamentals when it comes to engagement and presence online the Chiefs should have. It’s the first of many steps the Chiefs website team has left to go in regards to their presence online.

I was also excited that I was able to finally meet and talk to someone here in Kansas City and on the national scale is recognized as a great columnist writer, Jason Whitlock. Here’s a couple Tweets RE: Jason

I was initially really excited to meet Jason Whitlock. Let me stress the word “initially”. First, let me acknowledge that I admire his successes and his ability to get attention with his columns he writes for the Kansas City Star and Fox Sports. But I certainly don’t always agree with everything he writes- BUT I do think he’s good at what he does. My expectations when I pictured Jason Whitlock is that he would be like ESPN’s Stuart Scott- someone with a vibrant upbeat personality who is quick on his feet and provides insightful intellectual commentary. I was wrong. From my observations, Jason Whitlock walks around the press box with arrogance. People had to approach him and he’s hailed as the “cool kid” among his press peers (or at least it appeared that way). When I introduced myself to Jason, I simply asked if he’d be willing to do a video interview during half-time, which he was actually quite receptive and open to. When I asked about his thoughts before halftime- he commented something along the lines of, “the Chiefs will screw this up somehow.” (which given their record, it’d be hard to argue they wouldn’t, and they certainly did by games end). All in all- for me it was a lot of high expectations with a disappointing ending in regards to meeting Jason. The takeaway for me is just because you can write well- it might not necessarily mean you’re an interesting or engaging person in real life.

While I was shooting video blog clips at the game, Lance (from kcchiefs.com) noted that some of the aspects I was capturing he’s never thought twice being something of interest to fans. He realized that since he’s been doing this job for a while- it’s easy to miss valuable “behind the scenes” content that might be of interest with fans.

When I was there, it angered me observing the waste of paper that was used to print “stats” at the end of each quarter. These are handed out to every member of the press- it’s a sheet that details player and team information. This is 2009 and it would make much more sense for the environment to have a website exclusive to the press or plasma screens to project that information. Furthermore, I observed that most of members of the press threw the paper away without even looking at it.

All in all, the entire experience was great. I remember thinking to myself when I was exploring the locker room- a blogger getting this type of access is pretty darn cool! The acceptance of the Chiefs letting me attend the game with press access is noteworthy and telling of their willingness to let a blogger provide a candid view of what it’s actually like behind the scenes. I’ve blogged about it before- bloggers and press can both exist- but it should be a partnership, not fighting against each other. Thanks again to the Chiefs- I’m always stoked to see any organization who understand the right way to tap and engage with bloggers.
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This week, I attended a presentation given by Brian Solis, a thought leader in the social media space (principal at FutureWorks). While his presentation was introduced as “an updated look at trends and ethics within the PR profession”, a large portion of his presentation focused on the ability to find niche influencers online and “inspire action and measure it”. It was interesting seeing some of his data, considering he’s in the agency trenches doing social media for major brands and not just a “talking head” in the industry.

After the presentation, we had a chance to talk- and I whipped out my flip cam and asked him to share his thoughts RE: social media and PR. He also provided some teaser information about the subject matter of his next book- which from the way he speaks about it, it should shake things up for some companies and analysts. Check out the full video blog interview on my YouTube channel (thanks to the Greater Kansas City PRSA for organizing a great event).

I’ve often been asked the question, is it possible to have too much of a presence when using social media? Recently, I noticed this same question on a LinkedIn group discussion so I thought I’d share my take here on my blog.

The answer to this question requires you to take a step back and understand first WHY should you have a presence in the first place. You first need to be able to answer simple questions like; Why should we be on Facebook? Why should we have a company blog and who will care?

It’s important to identify a relevant need (the “why”), then take the proper steps to set objectives, understand your audience, devise a strategy and execute tactics (which is simple to say, but hard to do right). However, when you know all that, then the answer to “how often” you should physically post content will reveal itself.

Having a profile on every social network that exists on the Internet is not the right strategy. You must first truly understanding your customers / clients behavior and where they are online. This can and should be done through as many measurable activities as possible (pending budget constraints, of course). Some examples I would suggest are: focus groups, polls, surveys, social media monitoring software, email marketing analysis, web analytics analysis, SEO analysis and direct competitor analysis. When this data is combined and analyzed, you will then have a more complete technographic assessment of your audience to help inform your decision.

If you understand why you’re here in the first place and what the landscape of “where YOUR fish are” is- then a well constructed strategy should outline the quantity of how much and where (tools) you should post to achieve the objectives you have (that’s the hard part). Furthermore, social media monitoring tools, comments and feedback from your users should help you understand the frequency that’s acceptable to post and what your audience responds to. Personally, I find myself frequently tweaking + testing my content and interactions to get things just right.

“How much social media presence is too much?” <– at first glance, it seems like a simple question- but it requires some prerequisites to be answered before you can answer this question correctly.

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I’m in the business of consulting and strategy. That said, I’m quick to give props to other companies that “get it” and have executed things well. Through super-magical-powers of ambient intimacy, my eye was drawn to an image that popped into my Facebook newsfeed today from my friend Amber. It was one of those moments where I find myself smirking thinking to myself, “This is great- and it’s well executed.”

This print AD is simple- concise- timely, relevant and more importantly is aligned with the Levi’s Go Forth cause marketing effort (I was compelled to read more online after seeing this AD). Kudos to the team who executed this, job well done.

A friend at work passed along an article that made me so furious- I almost couldn’t believe it was allowed to be published. The article was on MSN, entitled “Is Facebook Past Its Prime?” Now before, I go on- this blog post isn’t intended to be a rant on how horrific the article is. Instead, I want to rationalize some concepts I believe are easy to forget.

The article, makes some very definitive points that seem to be written as facts and NOT as opinion:

• “This may mark the beginning of the end of Facebook’s enormous popularity.”
• “After that 25 things note, there’s not much left to say.”
• “People who actually have lives don’t use Facebook.”

Wrong, wrong and wrong. I couldn’t disagree more with each of these points. The author of this article (Hillary Rhodes) is failing to recognize a broader construct. Great technology takes different forms and has different life cycles of use for any given person. Just because Hillary (the author) has found herself finding Facebook less relevant- doesn’t mean the masses out there are graduating from it (after all, 250 million still use it frequently). I’ve always said, the value of Facebook and Twitter is dependent upon the people you follow (or are friends with). If you follow or are friends with people that suck- your experience with either of these websites will suck. It’s as simple as that. The websites themselves are dependent upon sharing and creating content- so it’s a direct correlation. YOUR participation and your friends participation is what makes it valuable. If you logged into either Twitter or Facebook and no one updated or did anything- there wouldn’t be anything there. It would just be a blank page. Your friends in these networks defines what you experience with Twitter or Facebook.

Facebook is a networking tool. It’s a tool that connects real people. Twitter is a tool that also connects real people. Both of these tools can be worthless if you aren’t able to augment existing relationships or create real interactions with people of like interests. Real interactions with real people who contribute in these networks is the real value in using Facebook or Twitter.

That said, in my opinion, it’s important to understand two things when it comes to the usage of social media:

1.) People’s experience with social media tools is unique to each individual.
There are so many variables that contribute to how your experience using social media tools (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) will play out. For example, things like; are you an influencer already?, does your social network already exist in the network, do you frequently update, do you interact or just sit and troll on the website, are your expectations to use the network for business or personal expectations- or mixed. These factors all contribute to your experience with any given social media tool.

2.) Understanding HOW to get the most out of a social media tools and WHEN to use it is also important.
Similar to knowing the right time to send a text message vs. picking up the phone to call someone is important- the same is true for social media tools.

Facebook and Twitter are both great social media technologies that facilitate social networking. Neither of these communication tools are going to be extinct anytime soon. Bottom line, understand your experience with Facebook and Twitter are unique to you and it is not going to be the same for everyone else. Something Hillary Rhodes should of thought about before concluding that the “end” Facebook is near. It might be for her- but not for the other 249,999,999 of us.
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The term ambient intimacy is more than just a definition- it’s a construct that helps make sense of why the usage of social media appeals to the masses. Many often struggle in rationalizing SM’s value in corporate board rooms and company meetings everyday- or even when you’re talking to your friends. And it’s common for people to throw questions at you like; I don’t get why people use Twitter? Do people even read your blog? Isn’t social media just a bunch of narcissistic noise? Why do people use that website?

First, let me share a quick story about a friend, Sam Meers. Until recently- Sam and I had never met. However, we shared a mutual friend. She recommended I Google him and consider getting to know him better. Sam and myself share common interests in that we both blog and work in the agency world. Beyond that, we’re really quite different people. I started reading his blog and instantly was hooked at his ability to be such a graceful story teller with his words. I posted comments and my thoughts on blogs and we became acquaintances that was limited to just interactions online. Now- fast forward- the company I work for, engaged Sam to provide us consulting in regards to our marketing and brand. It was only then that I met him face-to-face for the first time. Yet, the first thing we both agreed was that the first question he asked, “What have you been up to?” was really irrelevant because of the interactions we share online. We already knew the answer to that question yet were only meeting for the first time! Our conversation was greatly augmented because we are able to jump right into relevant conversation we’re interested in.

Ambient intimacy is about being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy that you wouldn’t usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible. In the case of Sam and myself, it is a perfect illustration about how social media facilitates this term, ambient intimacy.

• Facebook helps me see what my friends are thinking, doing, projects they’re working on and what they did this weekend.

• Twitter tells me what websites to check out and the opinions people have about news and current events.

• Flickr lets me see the latest family photos or pics from a recent trip. And it also shows me their latest haircut.

• Friendfeed tells me their activity stream of my friends online, what they’re looking at, what they’re reading and videos they’ve favorited on YouTube.

So who cares? @leisa summarizes it well; It helps us get to know people who would otherwise be just acquaintances. It makes us feel closer to people we care for but in whose lives we’re not able to participate as closely as we’d like. Knowing these details creates intimacy. (It also saves a lot of time when you finally do get to catchup with these people in real life!) It’s not so much about meaning, it’s just about being in touch.

When people have asked the ways social media has helped me- I always make it a point to mention that social media has the power to greatly augment (not destroy or lessen) existing relationships you have with friends, family and businesses (corporate use) you have in your life. Like anything, you must understand how to integrate it appropriately- but once you do, it’s powerful stuff.

Take my mom for instance, she’s likely my biggest fan of my flickr feed and video blogs (note: she lives in a different state). It is almost down to a routine for me to get a phone call from her once I upload something. Furthermore, I myself regularly reference in conversation with her, “Did you see that photo from my trip? [insert story here]“. She enjoys the ways my usage of social media provides intimacy even though the physical distance exists between us.

So if you think that “my mom” isn’t good enough justification- social media works wonders for businesses too. Take a look at the recent revenue Dell is making by using Twitter or the successful brand ambassadors Cirque Du Soleil has.

In my opinion, the term “Ambient Intimacy”, is an important psychological and communication construct that provides the WHY in how the technologies can enhance peoples behavior for the better.
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Last week, a website project I managed won an unexpected national award (we didn’t even enter it into the contest!) and I wanted to share the great news! I know that many of you are familiar with the video blogs I do for fun– but by day I’m a web consultant at Digital Evolution Group. We’re a 30′ish person e-consultancy in which I lead and manage the strategy, development, creative design and deployment of Projects (largely socially website focused).

A few months ago, we were tasked to redesign the corporate website for Entertainment Properties Trust (EPR). They are a publicly traded REIT and is the largest owner of entertainment related real estate in North America, owning megaplex movie theater properties, entertainment retail centers and other specialty properties in the US and Canada. Their portfolio has over 7.1 million square feet of properties and over $1.4 billion of assets. Translation? They’re a pretty darn-big-deal. Chances are if you have ever been to an AMC, you walked on property they own. Specifically here in Kansas City, they own the AMC 20 in Leawood, AMC 30 in Olathe and Snow Creek.

Anyways- I’ll jump to the good news. The website was awarded second place (silver) by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). One of the more exciting parts is that all REITs and publicly traded real estate companies were included in the competition. The “best website” category was the 1 of 3 captions they honored. Furthermore, we didn’t even enter it into the contest! NAREIT discovered it on their own!

For this project- it was a bit of a challenge. Think about it- how do you make a Real Estate company compelling? Buildings and land isn’t necessarily sexy stuff. We first set out with some ambitious Project objectives. Then we took careful time following our persona methodology and getting that right. One thing I’d like to note, we mapped out the expectations and context of visit to the website between a retail investor and an institutional investors or analyst. This uncovered some gaps of resources that needed to be present on the website, as well as influenced the naming convention of sections and pages of the website. These are two of our primary personas visiting the website, and while there are overlapping needs- there’s also clear differences in what they expect to find. One final note about the process, the entire Project team made sure the creative execution captured the personality of the brand that is greatly influenced by the leadership team. Anyone who has come in contact with the gentleman who run this company know it’s an experience in and of itself (meaning, in a great way).

Check out the website and judge for yourself. Be sure to check out the interactive flash properties map. I was pretty pleased and proud of the output. We’ve got some work to do to make it even better- but it’s a great start.

P.S. for what it’s worth, the 1st place winner Avalon Bay and 3rd place winner Post Properties aren’t even CLOSE to the quality execution of www.eprkc.com but that’s just my opinion.
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Today, I gave a social media presentation to the American Institute of Architects and didn’t get a chance to elaborate on a finding that I found fascinating regarding a finding about “continuous conversation”. So I figured, I’d blog about it . During my portion of the presentation (powerpoint here), I cited a report published every year called the Edelman Trust Barometer. It is a survey conducted every year to measure consumer trust in businesses, government and other industries. Within that report there’s a finding that concludes, “Regardless of channel or voice, the majority needs to hear a message 3-5 times to believe it.

Whoa! Did that just blow your mind like it did mine!?! 60% of people need to hear information about a company 3-5 times before they believe it. If you deconstruct this a bit more, you can see how as a company, while you may be marketing 1 message (or shouting it, if you will) in order to really be effective, people must here this message echoed before they really believe it.

Think of this from a more integrated communication strategy (e.g. online, print, face to face). If your message or information needs to be reiterated, multiple times, by multiple sources- employing a strategy that reaches out across multiple mediums is essential. The long-term goal would be that people will promote/discuss that message or information for you with others (who you could call your “cheerleaders”).

There are a lot of elements that people evaluate in order view someone as trustful. However, I found this finding somewhat of a “Seinfeld eye-opener”, that illustrates you should never rely on 1 communication channel to achieve a goal. Things are all integrated and it should all be consistent (golden rule: consistency facilitates recognition). Given these findings, I believe that utilizing social media (which is a set of communication tools) you can reiterate that message in several areas in order to fulfill that 3-5 time requirement in order for people to believe it.
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