“Trying to work out the correct formatting construction for citing tweets in my dissertation. A First World problem or what?”
9:24 PM Apr 22nd from my Twitterfeed.
Thoughts on creating disruptive organisational transformations with design thinking.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Notes from Viral Marketing Presentation at Science Gallery
Jonah Perertti of Buzzfeed.com gave an interesting presentation on viral marketing on 17 April 2009 at the Science Gallery, as part of the Infectious festival and exhibition. Viral marketing is tangential to the subject of my MA research, but I noted some points that may be of interest.
Some aspects of his talk aligned with the observations of Shirkey regarding the societal forces that limit or promote the effects of Internet technology.
• In the case of viral marketing it is the social imperative that drives the passing-on of the viral content.
• The architecture of the underlying system influences how viral memes spread. He drew an analogy with a forest fire: it is not so much about the particular match as about the dry brushwood and the trees. “The network structure is more important than the influencers.”
There are a number of non-trivial problems with viral marketing that need to be mitigated against:
1 It is unpredictable and hard to control.
2 What tends to spread is inconsequential: free, simple, fun and instant.
Ergo most messages are not viral. Furthermore, the slightest drag makes something non-viral. To grow at exponential rate 100 people will need to tell 200, who then go on to tell 400 and so on. If the spread rate is only one-to-one or less, then it will die out.
He spoke about his categorisation of the ‘Bored At Work Network’. This seemed to posit some kind of viral elite who are too busy, too hip and too creative to ever have any time to be bored, as opposed to millions of numb accountants and claims-adjusters waiting to click on the next photo of a kitten on a skateboard.
In terms of viral marketing for things other than novelty, fun, trivia, he spoke about ‘big seed media’. This seemed to have an old-school Interruption Marketing basis, as its starting point was leveraging an installed base of email addresses. His example was the Tide detergent company emailing a million people to shift 40k of product samples.
More interesting was his overview of the real-time audience data informing the editorial decisions on the Huffington Post home page. Articles are promoted or demoted based on their audience figures. This reinforces Shirkey’s analysis of the new paradigm of ‘publish first and filter second’. It is the same Darwinian methodology that kills off unpopular television shows, but whereas that process takes months this happens in hours.
Finally, in strategising how best to propagate your particular message, he advised “it is best to think like a Mormon rather than a Jew”. That metaphor is about focussing as much on the mechanism of how your message is to spread and not just on the content of your message. This is probably his most insightful point. Looking to the Irish graphic design blogosphere the greatest failing seems to be that most effort is expended on the content and little on ensuring both that the content is read and that it facilitates being read. Building in hooks for propagation whether by social imperatives or other means is part of the key to success.
Some aspects of his talk aligned with the observations of Shirkey regarding the societal forces that limit or promote the effects of Internet technology.
• In the case of viral marketing it is the social imperative that drives the passing-on of the viral content.
• The architecture of the underlying system influences how viral memes spread. He drew an analogy with a forest fire: it is not so much about the particular match as about the dry brushwood and the trees. “The network structure is more important than the influencers.”
There are a number of non-trivial problems with viral marketing that need to be mitigated against:
1 It is unpredictable and hard to control.
2 What tends to spread is inconsequential: free, simple, fun and instant.
Ergo most messages are not viral. Furthermore, the slightest drag makes something non-viral. To grow at exponential rate 100 people will need to tell 200, who then go on to tell 400 and so on. If the spread rate is only one-to-one or less, then it will die out.
He spoke about his categorisation of the ‘Bored At Work Network’. This seemed to posit some kind of viral elite who are too busy, too hip and too creative to ever have any time to be bored, as opposed to millions of numb accountants and claims-adjusters waiting to click on the next photo of a kitten on a skateboard.
In terms of viral marketing for things other than novelty, fun, trivia, he spoke about ‘big seed media’. This seemed to have an old-school Interruption Marketing basis, as its starting point was leveraging an installed base of email addresses. His example was the Tide detergent company emailing a million people to shift 40k of product samples.
More interesting was his overview of the real-time audience data informing the editorial decisions on the Huffington Post home page. Articles are promoted or demoted based on their audience figures. This reinforces Shirkey’s analysis of the new paradigm of ‘publish first and filter second’. It is the same Darwinian methodology that kills off unpopular television shows, but whereas that process takes months this happens in hours.
Finally, in strategising how best to propagate your particular message, he advised “it is best to think like a Mormon rather than a Jew”. That metaphor is about focussing as much on the mechanism of how your message is to spread and not just on the content of your message. This is probably his most insightful point. Looking to the Irish graphic design blogosphere the greatest failing seems to be that most effort is expended on the content and little on ensuring both that the content is read and that it facilitates being read. Building in hooks for propagation whether by social imperatives or other means is part of the key to success.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Establishing a Dissertation Blog
Social media and technology journalist, author, and blogger, Shel Israel is writing a book on the intersection of Twitter and business called Twitterville, due for publication in the third quarter of 2009. He is blogging the writing process, putting up his raw notes and interviews. He is crowd-sourcing comments, feedback and suggestions to further his research (but holding back his final manuscript for publication obviously).
This approach would be a productive model for an aspect my own research. It certainly puts the traits of openness and transparency into practice: “be the change you wish to see”. In my case I have created a dedicated dissertation Work-In-Progress blog as my public research and crowd-source hub.
Update
Following the completion of my MA programme I have retired my dedicated dissertation blog and merged all of its content into this Thoughtport blog.
This approach would be a productive model for an aspect my own research. It certainly puts the traits of openness and transparency into practice: “be the change you wish to see”. In my case I have created a dedicated dissertation Work-In-Progress blog as my public research and crowd-source hub.
Update
Following the completion of my MA programme I have retired my dedicated dissertation blog and merged all of its content into this Thoughtport blog.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Twitter in Plain English
This video is a companion piece to the explanatory blogging presentation video I linked to earlier today.
Blogs in Plain English
This video is very much the ‘Beginners Guide to What Blogging Is’, but it is still worth a look. It is particularly good for sharing with anyone you know who is new to blogging and the blogosphere.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
My Thought for the Day 15/04/09
“Writing Literature Review long-hand. My theory was that after 40-odd pages my writing would improve with practice. Sigh. So much for that...”
11:54 PM Apr 15th from my Twitterfeed.
11:54 PM Apr 15th from my Twitterfeed.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
It Is Very Simple, although Not Obvious
There are a number of worthwhile statements in Charlie Rose’s interview with Evan Williams, founder of Twitter Inc, from Friday 27 February 2009. These are worth noting in this blog for future reference. Williams is the second of two interviewees in this excerpted highlight version and his segment begins at 04:15. You can watch the complete interview here, but be aware that Williams is not the best verbal communicator.
Speaking from his previous experience as the founder of Blogger, he notes that it took time (culturally) for blogging to become normalised, and now that practice and having a MySpace or Facebook presence are seen as things that normal people do. Twitter is not yet at that point and people still wonder why others would “put themselves out there like that”.
Relevant quotes about Twitter:
“It is very simple, although not obvious.”
“It is something we did not know we needed (until we had it).”
“Living more publicly, more transparently can have powerful and positive effects... new people and new opportunities... an authentic and open way to live your life that people enjoy and makes everyone richer.”
Speaking from his previous experience as the founder of Blogger, he notes that it took time (culturally) for blogging to become normalised, and now that practice and having a MySpace or Facebook presence are seen as things that normal people do. Twitter is not yet at that point and people still wonder why others would “put themselves out there like that”.
Relevant quotes about Twitter:
“It is very simple, although not obvious.”
“It is something we did not know we needed (until we had it).”
“Living more publicly, more transparently can have powerful and positive effects... new people and new opportunities... an authentic and open way to live your life that people enjoy and makes everyone richer.”
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Zeldman on Blogging
In this video interview noted American web designer Jeffery Zeldman talks about his personal history as a blogger. He explains his own interpretation of online authority and talking straight with his clients. He discusses how having better content on your blog can engender better comments. He recommends that you think about the kind of community you want to aggregate around your blog.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Six DBI Graphic Design Companies Blogging in 2009 (Out of 46)
I reviewed all of the graphic design companies listed as members of Design Business Ireland on the DBI website (accessed on 05 April 2009) and identified which have a company blog linked to from their primary company website. This does not preclude their being such a blog, but where none is visible on the company website an inference can be made as to how the blog is positioned within the company’s mix of corporate communications.
Of the 46 relevant DBI members on the list, six had corporate blogs and forty had none.
Of the 46 relevant DBI members on the list, six had corporate blogs and forty had none.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Obsession Times Voice
‘Topic Times Voice’, or, if you’re a little bit more of a ‘Obsession Times Voice’.
Notable bloggers John Gruber andMerlin Mann expounded on this theory in a presentation they gave at this year’s SxSW conference in Austin, Texas.
Their presentation was broadly about blogging as micro self-publishing. Their principle theme was the importance of owning your topic. To expand Merlin’s quote above. Without obsession your blog will tend to wander. Without their own individual voices all too many blogs fall back on repeating other content from web.
His argument is that if you have obsession without voice, then all you basically have is a keyword search. You have reblogging without curation. Conversely if you have voice without an obsession then you get the equivalent of the more pointless content people post on Twitter (what they had for lunch).
Mann and Gruber both stress the importance for bloggers of figuring out where you are, whatever it is that you want do and whatever outcome is the most important to you. They see the platform of personal publishing via blogging as the lever to become really great, becoming “the go-to person for whatever topic you are obsessed with”.
They argue that you need to set yourself ambitious goals, aiming to be in the top twenty percentile. “Whatever your topic is, try to figure how to be better at it than 80% of everybody else in the world. I think that’s very ambitious, and you know what, you probably won’t be. Right?”
You can download the complete audio recording of their presentation here.
Notable bloggers John Gruber andMerlin Mann expounded on this theory in a presentation they gave at this year’s SxSW conference in Austin, Texas.
Their presentation was broadly about blogging as micro self-publishing. Their principle theme was the importance of owning your topic. To expand Merlin’s quote above. Without obsession your blog will tend to wander. Without their own individual voices all too many blogs fall back on repeating other content from web.
His argument is that if you have obsession without voice, then all you basically have is a keyword search. You have reblogging without curation. Conversely if you have voice without an obsession then you get the equivalent of the more pointless content people post on Twitter (what they had for lunch).
Mann and Gruber both stress the importance for bloggers of figuring out where you are, whatever it is that you want do and whatever outcome is the most important to you. They see the platform of personal publishing via blogging as the lever to become really great, becoming “the go-to person for whatever topic you are obsessed with”.
They argue that you need to set yourself ambitious goals, aiming to be in the top twenty percentile. “Whatever your topic is, try to figure how to be better at it than 80% of everybody else in the world. I think that’s very ambitious, and you know what, you probably won’t be. Right?”
You can download the complete audio recording of their presentation here.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
My Thought for the Day 01/04/09
“Hmmm, perhaps my Twitter-referencing April Fools gag was just too clever-clever by half...”
10:52 PM Apr 1st from twitterrific
10:52 PM Apr 1st from twitterrific
Small Pieces, Loosely Connected
After a very quick scan through the blogs submitted after yesterday’s email request it strikes me that as yet there are no A-List or Go-To blogs in the Irish Graphic Design sector. Only a few blogs were mentioned more than once by respondents (in what was admittedly a very small and unscientific sample).
Where are the Seth Godins, the Hugh Macleods and John Grubers of the Irish graphic design sector? Given the small size of the Irish graphic design sector and the smaller subset one would expect to actively blog within that, perhaps small, ultra-niche atomized, personalized audiences are all that one can expect. Clay Shirkey’s power law analysis of blogging would suggest that one or two of these blogs should have gained a broader audience and expanded beyond their initial audience.
Actions: based on this analysis examine the sample blogs.
— Is their content very personalized, only of interest to friends and acquaintances?
— Is their content primarily of interest only to the author (diary blog, design reference for self)?
— Is their material published on an ad-hoc basis, with long intermissions?
— Does the blog promote the designer or their business?
Where are the Seth Godins, the Hugh Macleods and John Grubers of the Irish graphic design sector? Given the small size of the Irish graphic design sector and the smaller subset one would expect to actively blog within that, perhaps small, ultra-niche atomized, personalized audiences are all that one can expect. Clay Shirkey’s power law analysis of blogging would suggest that one or two of these blogs should have gained a broader audience and expanded beyond their initial audience.
Actions: based on this analysis examine the sample blogs.
— Is their content very personalized, only of interest to friends and acquaintances?
— Is their content primarily of interest only to the author (diary blog, design reference for self)?
— Is their material published on an ad-hoc basis, with long intermissions?
— Does the blog promote the designer or their business?
Irish Graphic Design Companies on Twitter in 2009
This list is sorted by each design company’s starting date on Twitter, with the oldest first.
(This post was started in April 2009 and updated with additional company details throughout my research during the Summer. The total had only reached twelve companies by the time my research was submitted in October 2009.)
@CreativeDistrict
The Creative District: graphic design studio.
Since: January 2009.
@ArrivalDesign
Arrival: graphic design studio.
Since: February 2009.
@BFKDesign
BFK: branding and design company.
Since: February 2009.
@Xcommunications
Xcommunications: digital meda design company.
Since: February 2009.
@PenhouseDesign
Penhouse Design: graphic design studio.
Since: 20 April 2009.
@CandyCollective
Candy Collective: Irish graphic design evangelists.
Since: May 2009.
@CreativeMediaNI
Creative Media: graphic design studio.
Since: May 2009.
@DesignInch
Design Inch: graphic design studio.
Since: June 2009.
@CubedRoute
CubedRoute: web design agency.
Since: June 2009.
@DesignTactics
Design Tactics: branding and design company.
Since: June 2009.
@NewGraphic
NewGraphic: graphic design studio.
Since: June 2009.
@Ebow
Ebow: web design and graphic design company.
Since: September 2009.
(This post was started in April 2009 and updated with additional company details throughout my research during the Summer. The total had only reached twelve companies by the time my research was submitted in October 2009.)
@CreativeDistrict
The Creative District: graphic design studio.
Since: January 2009.
@ArrivalDesign
Arrival: graphic design studio.
Since: February 2009.
@BFKDesign
BFK: branding and design company.
Since: February 2009.
@Xcommunications
Xcommunications: digital meda design company.
Since: February 2009.
@PenhouseDesign
Penhouse Design: graphic design studio.
Since: 20 April 2009.
@CandyCollective
Candy Collective: Irish graphic design evangelists.
Since: May 2009.
@CreativeMediaNI
Creative Media: graphic design studio.
Since: May 2009.
@DesignInch
Design Inch: graphic design studio.
Since: June 2009.
@CubedRoute
CubedRoute: web design agency.
Since: June 2009.
@DesignTactics
Design Tactics: branding and design company.
Since: June 2009.
@NewGraphic
NewGraphic: graphic design studio.
Since: June 2009.
@Ebow
Ebow: web design and graphic design company.
Since: September 2009.
Irish Graphic Designers On Twitter in 2009
This list is sorted by each designer’s starting date on Twitter, with the oldest first.
This post was started in April 2009 and updated with additional designer’s details throughout my research during the Summer. The discoverable total had only reached seventeen by the time my research was submitted in October 2009.
@AidenKenny
Aiden Kenny. Since: 22 March 2007.
@DaraghOToole
Daragh O’Toole. Since: 04 April 2007.
@DavidAirey
David Airey. Since: 17 March 2008.
@Pawelgra77
Pawel Grabowski. Since: 28 December 2008.
@YoussefSarhan
Youssef Sarhan. Since: 14 January 2009.
@AceJet170
Richard Weston. Since: 27 January 2009.
@EoinStan
Eoin Stanley. Since: 24 February 2009.
@/GaryMcginty
Gary McGinty. Since: 27 February 2009
@GillianReidy
Gillian Reidy. Since: 27 February 2009.
@Laughing_Lion
Jennifer Farley. Since: 05 March 2009.
@Miralize
Sean O’Grady. Since: 06 March 2009.
@Acatisacat
Fergus O’Neill. Since: 13 March 2009.
@Fogra
Sean O’Grady. Since: 14 March 2009.
@PaulGuinan
Paul Guinan. Since 16 March 2009.
@ConKennedy
Con Kennedy. Since: 24 April 2009.
@JamesCullen123
James Cullen. Since: 28 June 2009.
@HilaryT4S
Hilary Kenna. Since 22 September 2009.
This post was started in April 2009 and updated with additional designer’s details throughout my research during the Summer. The discoverable total had only reached seventeen by the time my research was submitted in October 2009.
@AidenKenny
Aiden Kenny. Since: 22 March 2007.
@DaraghOToole
Daragh O’Toole. Since: 04 April 2007.
@DavidAirey
David Airey. Since: 17 March 2008.
@Pawelgra77
Pawel Grabowski. Since: 28 December 2008.
@YoussefSarhan
Youssef Sarhan. Since: 14 January 2009.
@AceJet170
Richard Weston. Since: 27 January 2009.
@EoinStan
Eoin Stanley. Since: 24 February 2009.
@/GaryMcginty
Gary McGinty. Since: 27 February 2009
@GillianReidy
Gillian Reidy. Since: 27 February 2009.
@Laughing_Lion
Jennifer Farley. Since: 05 March 2009.
@Miralize
Sean O’Grady. Since: 06 March 2009.
@Acatisacat
Fergus O’Neill. Since: 13 March 2009.
@Fogra
Sean O’Grady. Since: 14 March 2009.
@PaulGuinan
Paul Guinan. Since 16 March 2009.
@ConKennedy
Con Kennedy. Since: 24 April 2009.
@JamesCullen123
James Cullen. Since: 28 June 2009.
@HilaryT4S
Hilary Kenna. Since 22 September 2009.
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