Blog Soup 2011.11.05 Sign of Noah, Social Media, and Business as Usual

Blog Soup

by Stan Faryna

Blog Soup 2011.11.05. Sign of Noah, Social Media, and Business as Usual

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Jack Steiner says that things aren’t any worse or better than they ever were. Keep the course, I suppose. Only those that hear the music are in danger of the blood thirsty mermaids that swarm around the hull with irresistible siren songs.

Triberr is on full manual. You’ll need to approve each tweet from your tribe members – if you want them to keep loving on you. I’ll be repeating this message for a few more blog soups for the obvious reasons. [grin]

I read a lot of blogs. Maybe, too many. I comment on a lot of blog posts. Maybe, too many. If you are a Triberrati, you do too.

A Triberrati is a blogger that stands out in the Triberr community. Triberr is a web app that connects bloggers and helps them to curate each other on Twitter. You can learn all about Triberr by reading any of the following posts about it.

1. James St. John, Triberr: They Want To Change The World

2. Yomar Lopez, How Triberr Changes The Competitive Landscape

3. Neicole Crepeau, Friday Fives: Tips For Using Triberr

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Gary Portnoy, Where everybody knows your name (Cheers theme song)

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2011.11.05

Some of you asked for porn. So here it is. Pictures of my chicken pot pie.

Featured

Just some of the blogs that I recently commented on:

1. The Dilemma of Politics Blogging for Cash by Dmitry Davidov

2. Can You Write 200 Words? Then Read This by J.M. Bell

3. Are You In The Service Industry? by Yomar Lopez

4. My assumptions questioned. Daily. by Laurinda Shaver

5. Thrown From The Bull by Steve Goodier 

6. Recent Ideas About Social Media by Lauren Lewis

7. More Flooding by Al Gore

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Johnny Cash, Five Feet and Rising

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Blog Soup

1. The Dilemma of Politics Blogging for Cash by Dmitry Davidov

A Georgian political blogger writes about the increasing problem of bloggers getting paid to write opinions which are not their own.

My comment:

The problem for counterfeit journalism and citizen media is actually a growing problem. For example, Orlando Nicoara, General Manager of the Mediafax Group (a Romanian news service), has a dozens of bloggers on salary or pay off. They don’t just shill for corporate advertisers, Orlando’s blog ops team execute misinformation campaigns that range from anti-competitive business practices to more subtle political opinion that obfuscate truth, reality, and critical opinion.

Adrian Niculae is not the only Romanian to speak out about award-winning Romanian blogger and anti-semite Vali Petcu of Zoso.ro doing Orlando’s bidding.

According to my confidential sources, other top Romanian blogs under Orlando and Mediafax Group’s black hat practice of citizen media include deceblog.net, piticu.ro, and codrosu.ro.

The problem, however, is not unique to Russia and Eastern Europe. Digital agencies around the world face growing temptations to employ black hat PR, journalism, and citizen media. Unfortunately, online industry associations like IAB are reluctant to address the problem. Some criticize that IAB Europe indirectly supports such activities as it just happens that Orlando Nicoara is a leading member of the present IAB Romania which is licensed through IAB Europe and IAB (US) with the full support of Alain Heureux.

This is the same Orlando Nicoara that employed false online traffic reporting systems at Netbridge, mismanaged New Century Holdings online investments, and championed fraud, tax evasion, and software piracy (Abobe, Microsoft, etc.) in the Romanian online industry.

If the online industry does not move to forcefully discourage such undemocratic online practices such as black hat PR, journalism, and citizen media, however, government regulation will soon have to be considered.
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2. Can You Write 200 Words? Then Read This by J.M. Bell

Write a 200-word piece of flash fiction and JM Bell will post the craziest story/stories on his blog, serenade the authors with Retweets (RTs) on Twitter, and, maybe, share your awesome on Google Plus, Facebook, and beyond.

My comment:

Here’s the last two paragraphs from my OWS-inspired entry:

“We need replacement and clean up at G six,” she said and looked out over what was left of the half submerged sea-side city of 99 percenters.

“London will make a brilliant sea resort,” she sneered.

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3. Are You In The Service Industry? by Yomar Lopez

We’re all in the service industry. That’s what Yomar is saying.

My comment:

Important points that Yomar makes.

1. Give your customers a place to speak freely and openly about their experience. There’s no better way to learn what you are doing right and wrong.

2. Respond to negative feedback with sympathy, concern, and an urgent desire to resolve a misunderstanding, faux pas, or [gulp] horrendous blunder.

3. Support that sucks is not support.

4. Reward your best customers according to their contribution- the people that act as brand evangelists and loyal fans.

Did I miss anything?
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4. My assumptions questioned. Daily. by Laurinda Shaver

Laurinda and her business partner are writing a business plan. And they are thinking it through. Everything! Have you thought through your business and blog?

My comment:

Yomar Lopez comments that he’s looking for the perfect business partner.

Buddy, there is no such thing as a perfect business partner. Because the perfect business partner is the business partner that doesn’t need you. Now let’s do some amazing things. All of us. Together.

What I didn’t write:

If I understand Janet Callaway correctly, she agrees that product isn’t the top priority.

Although Laurinda’s questions emphasize how to do business (move product), Janet recommends that the focus should be on the why.

Oh, Janet! [sigh]

Your embarrassment to just give us the link in your comment, put me into a position of having to open a new tab, get to your website, and attempt to search for the blog post that you recommend in your comment. The search failed according to your instructions. So I went to Google and, ta-da, I found the blog post.

I know you mean well, Janet. However, your outreach has been sabotaged by that pervasive attitude of misguided bloggers who have spoken out against hypertext with uninformed prejudice. And I just wish bloggers would stop behaving as if they were walking on eggshells when it comes to hypertext! Myself, I have argued for over 15 years that the lack of hypertext (links within text) is a certain defeat of the internet, critical thinking, and sharing.

Most bloggers, generally speaking, have come online in the last five years and made a mess of hypertext due mostly to their fears of being called link whores and back-link pimps. Blog authors have also been guilty of perpetuating hypertext censorship because some are, in fact, attention whores and closet authoritarians who yearn for petty online fiefdoms.

Of course, black hat SEO created a problematic, but I think that the present prejudice is the same that fuels book burnings where pages out of books by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain) and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are used as kindling.

I know, I know. I need to write a blog post about this. [grin]

As for Janet’s blog post, I agree with her that the why is important. But so too is the how as Laurinda points out.

Rachel Lavern, as do other commenters, re-affirms Laurinda’s insight about trusting your gut. But I need to say that you shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bath water. In other words, put your brain to work in service to your gut feelings. Don’t just get all spontaneous and fuzzy because you have a feeling about something. Work out the details in your head. Because hitting your head against a brick wall doesn’t tear down walls. Even if you were to bang your head on the same wall for 100 years. [grin]

Eventually, your skull will cave – not the wall.

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5. Thrown From The Bull by Steve Goodier

Steve Goodier is guest posting on Rachel Lavern’s blog.

Steve concludes:

… experience will never come if we are afraid to try. And fail. And try again. And maybe fail again. We may have to “get thrown from a lot of bulls” if we are ever going to learn to ride. But that is part of living a full and happy life!

My comment:

In my youth, I’ve been thrown by a bull, a horse, and a 40 mph skateboard! Hitting the ground sucks. Everyone knows that. But I know how it feels. I’ve broken bones.

In adulthood, I’ve been thrown by million dollar deals, start ups, and a bad wife too. I have broken hopes and my heart was shattered into a thousand pieces. But it’s never as bad as you imagine it could be. [grin] Obviously. I’m not dead as you can see.

Steve is saying something important here and I hope you pay attention. And more important than the obvious take away is stop lying to yourself. Climb down off that gentle mechanical bull, that safe, stationary treadmill, or that mop that pretends to be a high horse.

Live, work, love, serve, give, and play… wholeheartedly.

Just now, I’m reminded of Aaron Biebert’s recent blog post, What Do You Make!
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6. Recent Ideas About Social Media by Lauren Lewis

Social media isn’t a Twitter or facebook account. Blogs are the most typical missing component to an effective social media campaign. That’s what Lauren learned from reading Oliveier Blanchard’s Social Media ROI.

My comment:

Lauren is from Reno. I did some time in Reno. First two years of High School – that is. Anyway, I ended up at Lauren’s blog after seeing her comment to Lee Downen on his guest post at Christian Hollingsworth’s blog.

Lauren has been working with the Mount Rose ski resort for the past five years. As it happens, I learned how to ski on Mount Rose on the Mount Rose junior ski program.

Small world, huh!

The three most common challenges faced by social media efforts that I have seen when evaluating corporate strategies:

1. The social media expert is not an expert, strategist, and/or community builder
2. Social media is more expensive than they imagined (though it is cheap relatively speaking in comparison to traditional marketing strategies)
3. Lack of a dedicated person or people to support customer connection, customer support, and engagement

In my humble opinion, these are the symptoms of the failure to define mission critical objectives and realistic resources, budgets, and milestones for execution.

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7. More Flooding by Al Gore

Al Gore shares reports from Joe Romm about flooding around the world including Central America and Thailand.

My comment:

These disasters obviously have local impact, but the economics of these disasters have global reach. And the timing couldn’t be worse for the global economy.

The price of rice and rubber going up is just the tip of the iceberg. Not only is Thailand the largest rice exporter in the world, it exports over $100 Billion worth of low cost goods and services per year. Important manufacturing and industrial complexes ground to a halt by the Thai floods. Electronic components, electrical appliances, computer components, and other industrial goods are not being produced. Honda, for example, is presently unable to supply industrial demands for water pumps (useful equipment when negotiating flooding) because it’s factory in Thailand was devastated.

Global prices for bananas, coffee, sugar, beef, and tobacco will increase slightly due to recent flooding in Central America.

Obviously, Gore’s recent criticism of President Obama’s lack of initiative on climate change is not just political grandstanding. [grin] As Gore observes, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, in which the U.S. never participated and Gore helped to broker, expires in 2012. And the world needs leadership on climate change now more than ever before.

Or we can look forward to rising sea levels devastating coastal populations around the world. In the very near future – according to this year’s Vatican report on climate change and forecasted global threats.

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Feedback

If you think that this blog post sucks, let me know in your comment and don’t forget to include a link to YOUR favorite blog post.

If you think this blog post rocks, tell me why it rocks in the comment. “Awesome,””Great post,” etc. works for me. Don’t forget to include a link to YOUR most recent blog post.

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Stan Faryna
05 November 2011
Bucharest, Romania

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P.S. Help me to do something beautiful. More here.

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More Blog Soup

1. Blog Soup: 2011.10.06 http://wp.me/pbg0R-r7

2. Blog Soup: 2011.09.22 http://wp.me/pbg0R-pF

3. Blog Soup: 2011:10:10 http://wp.me/pbg0R-rO

4. Blog Soup. 2011:10:13 http://wp.me/pbg0R-s9

5. Blog Soup. 2011.10.17 http://wp.me/pbg0R-sq

6. Blog Soup. 2011.10.21 http://wp.me/pbg0R-to

7. Blog Soup. 2011.10.24 http://wp.me/pbg0R-tw

8. Blog Soup. 2011.10.27 http://wp.me/pbg0R-tI

9. Blog Soup. 2011.10.31 http://wp.me/pbg0R-u3

10. Blog Soup. 2011.11.02 http://wp.me/pbg0R-un

11. Blog Soup. 2011.11.04 http://wp.me/pbg0R-uu

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