I recently got a new job. It doesn’t really concern anyone because people haven’t started subscribing to this blog yet. But it has me thinking about the concept.

I chose “The Neo Com” because I had been thinking about the way communication is being revolutionized as a result of these social media technologies. It’s a wild new platform for exchanging information, and in a sense … tracking communication patterns. In the past people might have done this for science, now industry is doing it for profit.

I see an era where billboards don’t exist, yet you will walk by a restaurant and get a text message saying, “Happy Hour at Joe’s Cafe … hamburger and fries $20.” (editors note, I only say $20 because I predict it will be a couple years before that happens).

At any rate … this is a new communication medium … it affects everyone from farmers to dentists … and I would like to continue to understand it better.

And if not, perhaps at least write some funny posts and/or stories along the way …

I am friends with Courtney Love on Twitter. And sometimes I don’t really know why because she goes on long rants about things that I cannot understand. Arguments with lawyers … fabric vendors … all kinds of things. Perhaps she is using it wisely … maybe she has tons of friends like me who enjoy following her escapades … who are more likely to go to her next show if she ever goes on tour again? I don’t know - that is why I don’t think it is too useful for personalities.

Billy Corgan is also a Twitter friend of mine. He doesn’t post very often though. When he does it is usually some obscure spiritual message. It makes me wonder what it is like to live in the world of Billy Corgan … it seems like at times his mind has been his very own prison … yet he has access to all the riches in the world in the form of his own creativity. Meaning, he could go on tour and make a boatload of money. haha.

But yes … the hidden spiritual message was intended…

Next door to me a little coffee shop has opened up called the ‘Happy Sparrow.’ They sell Kolaches (a Czech bread with various fillings), coffee, and smoothies. They are the nicest people I have met in some time and I really hope their business succeeds. In the first weeks since they had been open I would go in and share some books on social media strategy and they have been getting into it. I am their Twitter friend and they regularly post specials on Kolaches, or mention smoothies made with berries from Sauvie Island. They told me that whenever they post something, people from the neighborhood come waltzing in. For them, Twitter is a very useful tool and The Happy Sparrow is an exemplary model for using social media in business.

But I am still trying to figure out how to make it more useful for my band … I post and hope strangers will come running to our shows … but it never works that way. I even lied and said the lead singer of Phish might show up … no such luck with the Tipping Point for me …

Anyway - I need to get back on the blog train. This was a feeble attempt …

Well, right now the healthcare debate is heating up in Washington and as reported by many sources the single-payer government provided healthcare option is not represented in meetings between the president, senate leaders, and insurance industry leaders.

There are many reasons why the single-payer option should be the only option considered. However, the insurance industry has a ton of money and they just paid a PR firm to create a campaign explaining why government healthcare doesn’t work.

Nevermind the fact that they are PAYING a PR firm with a horrible past to LIE TO YOU, but they also pose the question: “Do you want the government getting between you and your doctor?”

First of all, I have never been able to afford healthcare coverage in my entire life. Secondly, would you rather have an insurance salesman between you and your doctor? On one hand you have a government elected by the people for the people, on the other hand you have corporate profiteers! My god, who are they kidding? Why do they think a FOR-PROFIT system could ever be better?

I’ve spent a little bit of time this evening doing some research and have provided some links for you. The first is for a group called Healthcare-NOW! They are healthcare professionals, church leaders, and union leaders. Their website is: http://www.healthcare-now.org/

Please consider signing their petition and repost their website. Encourage your friends!

The other link I want to bring to your attention is the Conservatives for Patients Rights. This is the website created by a PR Firm and financed by insurance industry leaders to lie and manipulate statistics to scare you away from government supported healthcare. http://www.cprights.org/

I strongly encourage them to change their name to: Conservative Republicans for American Physician’s - or CRAP!!!!

And here is a link to the Washington Post article that exposes the Conservatives for Patients Rights. I know it is a lot of reading, but it is the issue of our time and we can’t allow the top 1/10 of 1% to control our collective destiny as Americans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/10/AR2009051002243_pf.html?ref=fp3

Cinco de Twitter

Some might wonder what I am doing home at midnight on Cinco de Mayo. Well … I’m blogging, that is your first clue …

I wanted to give my thoughts on Twitter, and why it may not make sense for an artist or small business owner to spend too much time using this technology (that is your second clue).

Keep in mind, this is just my opinion regarding my own uses.

I don’t find it helpful for my needs. There, I said it. I don’t think it has any unique functions. I think it could be a plugin for Facebook, but a major social media website? That is stretching things a bit.

I have definitely heard all the stories of how Twitter was useful. Some kid was freed from jail in Egypt - someone Twittered from the inside of a Mumbai Hotel during the hostage crisis - and there are numerous other examples. But I am not sure if Twitter actually provided a practical use in these instances, or did they just get a sweet PR plug? Did Twitter do something a normal text message wouldn’t have done?

Annnnd, how did someone Tweet from Egyptian prison in the first place? Shouldn’t the real story be about Akmed - the kind Egyptian prison guard who felt sorry for some mothers son - and let him have his cell phone in jail?

Would that kid have been freed from Egyptian prison without the cell phone? Did the Twitterers in Mumbai help end the crisis? I wonder - do people really use “Twitter search” to a degree that has any substantial pay off?

I have a lot of questions and no answers people.

I definitely believe that having a lot of friends in Twitter indicates absolutely nothing. As an experiment I loaded up my band’s Twitter account with nearly 800 friends hoping some of them would add us in kind. I got us about 275 friends at our peak. (approximately 34% followed along with my scheme). I then started posting all kinds of crazy things about our Myspace page to see if I would get a measurable increase in visits to our Myspace page.

I didn’t.

Apparently my new friends didn’t give a tw**t what I had to say. They were probably all inundated with hundreds of other friends engaged in the feverish act of shameless self-promotion. Which is all I think Twitter really does for anyone - enables shameless self-promotion. But is it effective? What is the ROI? hahaha - I can’t believe I said that! That is what skeptics say, apparently.

I have noticed that people who actually USE Twitter have very few friends that they actually FOLLOW. In my opinion, it is likely these so called Twitter friends are already in close connection with a given Twitterer… say IN REAL LIFE … or via a more practical medium such as Facebook.

It seems most of the recent news stories related to Twitter have absolutely nothing to do with the actual practicality of the service, and are merely sensationalist garbage and/or propaganda.

“Ashton Kutcher beats CNN to one million Twitter Friends. Courtney Love becomes the first person to get sued for something she said on Twitter.”

In defense of Twitter, I don’t have an iPhone and I can’t receive very many text messages because I am a broke underemployed bastard with a weak cell phone calling plan from a corporation that would sooner have me become their indentured servant (I tried but they weren’t hiring).

Perhaps that is where I am missing out. Perhaps if I updated my Twitter account every five minutes with information relevant to some event I were throwing it might provide some benefit.

What do you think? I know I have enabled a feature on this blog where you have to create a profile to sign in to leave a comment. I am looking for a good, practical way to fend off the spammers that are bludgeoning me with offers for free sex and free drugs … but on Twitter … what are your thoughts on Twitter? Perhaps you can think about it as you go about your daily routine … squeezing oranges for your breakfast treat … doing crunches to remain at the peak of fitness … selling kittens from a tray on 35th and Hawthorne …

I remain a skeptic …

What will happen to Nanda I wonder?

Oh well, another social media experiment I suppose.

Here is the interview in all of its glory:

******

What is your name? Kiyota

What is your business? Performing with the group, Nanda

Where is your business located? Everywhere (officially Port Townsend, WA)

What were you doing before you started your business? Various odds and ends. Retail, sushi, landscaping, construction, traveling … etc.

Do you have a website? www.nandatown.com

Do you have eCommerce capabilities? Not yet …

Do you use secondary websites to promote your business (ex – eBay, Estsy, etc)? No

Do you use social media technologies? If so, which ones? If not, why? We use Myspace, Facebook, Youtube, Tribe

Tribe is not among the more notable social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. What is Tribe, and how do you use it? Actually, we don’t really use this very much anymore because it never really worked for us. I’m not totally clear on how it works but it has something to with creating groups or “tribes” and then getting people to join it for networking. From what I understand it’s sort of a Burning Man/hippie technology.

For what purpose do you use social technologies? Networking, promotion, etc.

What types of technologies do you find the most useful? Probably at this point Facebook, but Myspace had a shining moment …

Why are you moving away from Myspace and towards Facebook? We still use Myspace regularly but Facebook seems to be a little more direct as far as networking is concerned, and it also sees to be becoming more popular … although, I don’t have the actual data to back that up, just the word on the street.

What factors do you consider before using a technology? How popular it seems to be

Where do you learn about these new technologies? Mostly word of mouth and online advertisement

Do you have a social media ‘strategy’? At this point we don’t work these technologies for client relations. For us, this means we’re using them primarily for fan base cultivation and networking. I’d say our strategy is constantly evolving around the shifting interests of our audience and the feedback that we get from our fans.

Do you network and share information with other small businesses? Sure, as in any business it’s all about people - so sharing ideas and tried and true information is one of the greatest collective strengths in our community of peers. I don’t think we really prescribe to the capitalist cutthroat agenda of extreme competitiveness and the keeping of trade secrets. There has got to be a more sustainable interaction that promotes a healthier and more fulfilling sense of success for any industry.

Do you think about the ROI (return on investment) of your social media technologies? Up until now the technologies have been free so it’s just a time investment, which is hard to quantify if it’s work you enjoy. At this point, the majority of the equity we have in our business is made of sweat. As for the return, this is also difficult to figure because the nature of our business at present is not very reliant on the quantity or dedication of our fans. However, we are working to have more of what we do be about the people that appreciate the art that is presented - so it’s probably more of a future investment.

Do you use traditional forms of advertising? We rely mostly on our manager going and “fishing” for clients as well as word of mouth and our website.

Will your social media strategy ever replace your use of traditional media advertising? That probably depends hugely on how terrain evolves. I think that any tool can be great if you really learn to use it to absolute mastery. Even sub mastery of that tool means staying aware of the most effective time to implement it, and garnering a respect for everything involved with it’s use and especially how it affects the community around you.

Anything else you’d like to add? I think that one of largest struggles that face any entrepreneurial endeavor in this day and age is how to be successful while maintaining the ideal that success is just as much about how you get there, as the financial integer that gets stamped on it. In the end there might be something more gratifying about how many quality or significant interactions the business has forged, versus how many commas are on the yearly gross.

I saw you have a fantastic new website. Can you tell me a little more about the site and how you created it? It’s the collaborative fruit of mine and Chen’s labor. It’s programmed in Flash and The graphics are all digitally created in Corel Painter, Photoshop and Blender. We’ll be launching a press/booking site soon that will be mostly html and done in Dreamweaver. If you were wanting more info let me know…

Nevertheless, one of the first groups she added was her favorite band, Brand New. Within hours of adding the group she received a tweet, and I will paraphrase here:

“Volcanic eruptions in Alaska, show canceled, we’re doing a show in Seattle tomorrow night.”

Within moments my girlfriend was texting her best friend in Sacramento, booking a flight, and making travel arrangements to leave for Seattle at 6am the following morning.

Now, if any music enthusiast doubts Twitter any longer - use this story as an example and start an account!

Let’s see if we can work some social media technology magic! How long will it take for this puppy to get to 10,000 views? Is it possible? It seems like it could be. I’m gonna give it a shot … promote it in my spare time … it could be like this sick game for nerds …

We had Ted Turner, we had the owner of the Oregonian, someone from the Wall Street Journal (has since been bought by Rupert Murdoch), the owner of the Seattle Times … all those people came to tell us the sky was falling as a result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 - although at the time it didn’t necessarily seem like it!

I remember specifically - the owner of the Seattle Times spoke about the importance of having two newspaper cities. For him it appeared to be a question of values. An old fashioned value … set in stone years before I was even born.

At the time, the Seattle Times was spending a lot of money to keep the Seattle PI afloat. It was some strange agreement between the two and it sounded like once the Times agreed to it, they couldn’t wiggle out of it. After all they weren’t propping up another local paper … they were propping up a newspaper owned by Hearst … Hearst being a huge corporation that owned tons of media outlets.

I always remember thinking this was so strange! The small family owned newspaper was propping up a huge corporation … I remember thinking Hearst was making the Seattle PI fail if only to drive the Seattle Times out of business!

In recent months we’ve had several newspapers fail … The Rocky Mountain News, The Seattle PI, and The San Francisco Chronicle is rumored to be next. What do these three papers have in common?

They are all owned by Hearst!

QUESTION:

So, are these newspapers really failing, or is Hearst trying to cut costs because they are in over their heads with too many media outlets? Does Hearst have a crappy conservative business model? Does Hearst Corporate not understand the markets they operate in?

People are using the internet and blogging/bloggers as a scapegoat for newspapers failing. I don’t think this is the case at all! It’s solely media consolidation. These big corporations are at fault! I hate to sound like the treehugging hippie of the hour, but it’s true people! In every other industry social media technologies are helping savvy businesses expand their reach … but not in the newspaper industry?

It’s because there are too few people are thinking about and trying to solve the problem. Whereas before you might have 500 family owned newspapers in major cities creatively thinking outside the box, now you have a few.

In defense, you might argue that independent newspapers are also cutting jobs and failing across the country.

“The Seattle Times just laid off 12% of their workforce. The Oregonian just laid a bunch of people off. High Times Magazine laid people off. Hugh Heffner is just getting laid … ”

Good for you, you can read the headlines.

However, we’re also in a recession and many businesses are doing the same thing.

While I agree that newspaper businesses might need to think of a newer business model in today’s society - I don’t think the internet is causing them to fail.

Consider this ….

With the creation of MP3’s, another revolutionizing digital technology, we saw the music industry go topsy turvy as well.

It wasn’t because digital technology was the great Satan. It was because the digital technology empowered the people. More people were able to start recording projects because they could afford the equipment to do so. They could send their music through the internet, and MP3’s began mutating into a promotional tool versus a commodity to be bought and sold. The business model changed. New record labels sprouted up all across the nation. With them came new business models and new small businesses owners … creators of the majority of jobs in this country.

The few major labels in existence spent their energy (and money) suing Napster and individual people instead of reinventing their business models. As a result, they were crippled - one by one.

It’s because they got too big. It’s because the power was concentrated in too few.

Kinda like what happened in this financial meltdown, eh?

My first victims are my favorites: NANDA!!!

Nanda getting their feet wet ... in social media technology!

Kiyota bravely answered over a dozen social media specific questions that might bore a lesser man. I hope to get that information up soon. I also had a great conversation with a friend of mine who works at the Montinore Winery. Additionally, there are several boutiques and artists around Portland that I admire and hope to cover, among them The Snarky Card Chick.

However, I am still working out the questions, my friends.

If you, dear reader, were interviewing a small business or artist - what would you like to know about their social media habits? What is important to you?

“ROI! What is the return on investment! Show me the money!!!”

Oh jeez, you must be a marketing professional! That is the antithesis of what I hope to discover!

“Fine then! I want to know how social media can help me write a better article for Fortune Magazine … I have been lifting from the book Groundswell for the past 8 months and have nowhere else to turn!”

Guys, I know - I have had the same reaction every time I open your magazine, and I am shocked every time I see your Ernst & Young and Best Buy case studies.

Check back any time and hopefully you can cover some young entrepreneurs at work!

“This is the art of listening.”
“You need to fish where the fish are.”
“Build your community….”

While I certainly agree with all those things, it’s time we move past the lame social media jargon and rhetoric and start talking about something more meaningful.

“Yeah, like how will these social media companies actually turn a profit.”

NO!!! I don’t want to talk about that either! I don’t care about that and you shouldn’t either! Why should you? If the company fails there will be another up within days to take its place.

People - you need to be focused on how to make these social media technologies work for you. You need to be focused on the communication aspect … you need to be aware how many people are using a given technology, how much they use it, and what they use that for. Free reports of that type of information are available from reputable sources across the world wide web!

TIP OF THE DAY, TIP OF THE HAT

Big huge corporations have the advantage in their ability to spend a tidal wave of MONEY trying to make themselves appear human-like. This is called branding. They want to appear sensual … or exciting … or down-to-earth. They want their product to appear something aside from what it really is … ie, something you may not have heard of and probably didn’t need to begin with!

Small business owners and artists do not need to do such a thing!!! You can use these free social media technologies to talk about yourself … share your personal story … connect with REAL PEOPLE … consumers …

Do it for free! In your spare time!

“I’m a small business owner, I have no time to do anything … har har har.”

Can I just say, for the most part, that is BS. I have walked past your little cutesy boutique shop on 23rd street in Portland - I have seen you hunched over your computer looking on eBay or Etsy … don’t give me that crap!

I have started this Wordpress web site not knowing anything about html, php, or css … in weeks I have taught myself how to buy a domain, access a server, upload content to that server … manage the databases - and even tweak the content of the php files!

I’m telling you … small business owner … this stuff is cake, once you get into the ball game.

It’s time to get into the ball game.

Next posting: Twitter … why you might want to consider using it, how you can use it, what benefit you might receive! Also, why IT MIGHT BE A WASTE OF YOUR TIME!

Cheers!

The Neo Com