Micro Persuasion

So Long Blogging, Hello Lifestreaming!

After talking to a bunch of folks and thinking about it I have decided after all to direct all of my online publishing energies to one hub, The Steve Rubel Lifestream, plus several spokes, e.g. the social networks and platforms where I participate (e.g today that's Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook). You can read more why here. 

Blogging feels old. Publishing today is all about The Flow. Posterous, my new home, feels more like flow and where the web is going so it's time for me to do the same with my publishing, which will become daily once again!

For those of you who may be here via Google or elsewhere, please note that all of the archives will remain in tact, online and searchable. Note that the existing Micro Persuasion RSS feed will redirect my new feed, which is here. But you don't have to make a change in your reader 

Evolving from blogging to lifestreaming feels like the right thing to do. Life is about taking chances! So long, Micro Persuasion! Hello Lifestream.

Why I am Forking my Content

UPDATE:: As of June 25, 2009 and after listening to you, I am shutting down this site but leaving it all online as an archive. I will no longer actively publish here. It's time to evolve from blogging to lifestreaming. The feed will redirect for 30 more days then cease. My new site is here and the feed is here. 

Photo: The Road More Travelled by Simon Sterg

I have been writing a weblog for five years now - and it's been very good to me. However, my job at Edelman is to remain at the cutting edge and to advise major marketers on what's next. This means I must experiment and evolve or I will die.

Every great artist reinvents him/herself. I am not a great artist. But I admire musicians like Sting who try new genres like classical or Will Smith who dabbles in drama. I need to do the same when it comes to emerging technology, otherwise I will get stale.

So here's how I am planning to fork my content (unless you vehemently all disagree) ...

The Steve Rubel Lifestream :: This site will include the essays that were the mainstay here but will have a lot more - and it will be daily. Content will include the full text of the essays published on my existing blog but also brief insights, observations, links, photos, videos and more about emerging technology. I may even do audio too since the Posterous feed by default is a podcast. Some will become AdAge columns and vice versa. I am inspired by the incredible flexibility of the Posterous platform and I plan to use it to the full extent with my iPhone, especially for video. I recommend you join me over there since it's going to be where I publish the most. (RSS feed)

Twitter :: I will continue to share links on Twitter (and not just links back to these sites), but begin to use it more for conversation around the links so that I get smarter. Net, expect the same here as what I do now.

Friendfeed :: This is where you can get all my stuff (and more) and talk about it too. I plan to engage here as I have been. I am on Facebook too, but I limit my network to only those who I have met face-to-face or corresponded with.

I have given this a lot of thought. A part of me just says autop-ublish everything I post to my Lifestream site to here, but that will just create two carbon copies of the same. I want to create a distinct purpose for each site. And I am sure some of you will think this is crazy because of the Google Juice my blog has, but it feels like it's time to branch out.

For more on my strategy, see this interview I gave via email to Peter Himler. Also, this related thread from Louis Gray is relevant too. Of course, if you have thoughts, leave them here, there or anywhere!

Posted via email from The Steve Rubel Lifestream

Video: The Power of Corporate All-Stars on Twitter

via blip.tv

Last week I gave a Powerpoint-free talk at the 140 Characters Conference on the power of activating "Corporate All-Stars" on Twitter. You can watch the full video above. It lasts about 10 minutes.

Posted via web from The Steve Rubel Lifestream

The Latest Social Networking Stats from Nielsen

Adweek: 

"May 2009 data from Nielsen Online show that people continue to spend more time on social networking and blog sites than ever before."

Other highlights: Twitter flat lined. Facebook continues to chug. But Don't overlook the MySpace video views - 116M streams is huge.

Later:: Time spent at newspaper sites sank. Coincidence?

Posted via email from The Steve Rubel Lifestream

"Are the Free Lunch Days Over for Web Apps?" That's Not the Only Question

It seems as if every once-free service is now pondering ways to make money and extract revenue from their members, which makes sense when you consider that they are, after all, businesses.

Doriano Carta writing on webworkerdaily.com

I have long been a fan of using web apps. But a funny thing happened - 1) better apps on the desktop, like via Adobe Air (an Edelman client) and 2) mobile apps that are mini versions of the desktop apps. These use the cloud to sync and have changed some of my habits. That may alter the game for web apps just when perhaps they thought they had it cinched. The cloud is becoming an intermediary not the medium.

Posted via web from The Steve Rubel Lifestream

Is Unplugging the "New Black?"

David Pierce on attending the US Open without gadgets, which were banned:
 

I’m the last person who would ever recommend unplugging from technology for days, or weeks, or even hours. But, in small spurts, it can be a great thing. Have an errand to run? Don’t bring your cell phone. Enjoy the fact that even if you wanted to be productive, you can’t. Be bored, be present, and be in the dark – it’s a weird feeling, but it’s a good one.

 
Is boredom the new black? He seems to say that unplugging is becoming a trend but I am not so sure. People are cuttig back on gorging on media but connectivity it seems is something we want, no expect, to have everywhere.
 
Do you unplug? I never do except in meetings and when the FAA forces me to.

Posted via email from The Steve Rubel Lifestream

Video: How I am Gearing Up to Tweet for eBay

via youtube.com

Here's how I am gearing up to tweet for eBay tomorrow (eBay is an Edelman client). You can follow me Monday through Wednesday over on the . I detail the gear I am packing as I venture to tweet the sites and sounds of this special event. More details are here.

Posted via web from The Steve Rubel Lifestream

The Rules of the Road for Journalists on Twitter

"But some employers are either so afraid of the platform or so disdainful about its journalistic potential that they've tried to bar their reporters from even accessing Twitter in the workplace. The Sydney Star Observer's (SSO) Harley Dennett says he's denied access to both his Facebook and Twitter accounts at work via web filters on office computers."

via pbs.org

Fascinating look at how journalists, particularly in APAC, are engaging on Twitter. This nugget jumps out as do the 20 tips for journalists.

Posted via web from The Steve Rubel Lifestream

Posterous is Changing How I Think About Blogging

I have been giving a lot of thought to what the future looks like for blogging and where it fits in my life. I have no plans to stop, but as more action moves to the statusphere and my world gets more mobile, I have been looking for a new publishing approach.

Louis Gray, Steve Gilmor and I had a rather deep discussion about this at the Friendfeed meet-up a few weeks ago. I have also had some good conversations about this with my contemporary, Jeremiah Owyang, as well as the folks who work for Six Apart, Blogger and Disqus.

Now that I have been at it for over five years, writing a weblog is starting to feel very slow and antiquated. It's like a singles tennis player who focuses solely on the baseline game, logging long balls back and forth. The statusphere, on other hand, is like playing doubles - and at the net all the time.

That's just one side of the story though. Another part of me feels strongly that in a world of "RTs" and "@s" a thoughtful blog post that adds value is downright refreshing. The right mix is a hybrid.

I have long been an admire of Jon Gruber, who writes the outstanding Daring Fireball weblog. He has the right model. All day long he's posting on his blog pithy comments with links to "finds." Occasionally, he writes a longer analysis as he did today about PR and journalism (a must-read by the way). He is also active on Twitter but for conversation. That's a great model to follow. But how do I do so when I am often on the go?

Enter Posterous. If you haven't seen it, Posterous is outstanding because it can serve as a front end for all of your out-bound publishing. It works entirely by email.

When I email Posterous the content immediately gets posted to my lifestream site, but it also goes to certain other venues depending on how I address the message. Posterous also has a ton  of other features that I love like easy tagging and also traffic statistics that you can see for every one of my posts. (For more browse this archive.)

Lately I have been shifting more of my reading/sharing to my iPhone. Some days I probably spend as much time or more time browsing the web from my mobile device than I do my laptop. Now that I have a new iPhone 3GS, I also want to do more with photos and video. Posterous seems like the great hybrid solution since I can share things in different places based on context and easily do so through via email.

So what does this mean for you as a reader? Nothing. You will get what you have come to expect from me right here on my blog. And if you subscribe my lifestream, you will get even more. My friends on Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook will get a mix. It appears to be the ideal front end for the active publisher.

How do you decide what to publish where and when? One medium doesn't replace the other but we need more hybrids like Posterous.

Posted via email from The Steve Rubel Lifestream

Search Engine Visibility and PR - An Edelman Digital White Paper

Regular readers here know that in addition to focusing on emerging technologies, I also have long taken an interest in how search engines are evolving. Fundamentally, I believe that Google is media and also every brand's home page. Therefore, search engine visibility (and all of the reputational concerns that go with it) are front and center an opportunity for the public relations industry to shine.

With this in mind, my colleagues and I have co-authored a 13-page position paper on Search Engine Visibility. We released it to our clients last month but now we are making it available to the public today at the Edelman New Media Academic Summit in Washington. You can download it here (PDF). It's also embedded below. This is the second in a series - the first is here.

In the paper we posit that today there are two primary search visibility tactics: Paid Search (more widely known as search engine marketing - SEM) and Optimized Search (e.g. SEO). Both of these are generally not managed by public relations professionals.

Now, however, there are two new disciplines emerging. And both sit squarely in the public relations professional's domain...

• Reputational Search - The premise and promise of Reputational Search is that any company, NGO or brand can apply a search mindset to tried-and-true PR tactics and, in the process, influence the search results around certain keywords.

• Social Search - With Google and competitors increasingly prioritizing social content from Flickr, blogs, Twitter and others in result pages, it is imperative that brands build out "embassies" in all relevant networks – places where employees work to serve the interests of the community, as well as their company.

If you read the paper you will see that we are convinced that search engines for the foreseeable future will have a critical impact on how brands are perceived - far more so than any single social network site, which tend to come and go. As always, we're interested in your views. Please share them below or on Twitter or Friendfeed.

Open publication - Free publishing - More steve rubel

links for 2009-06-08

• Conversation Agent: NewsSift by Financial Times Talks the Language of Business
  Interesting beta from the FT that bases its searches upon relationships and context instead of keywords - sounds like the Semantic Web to me.
  (tags: newspapers Innovation financialtimes semanticweb)
• Test your site's load time with Webslug
  (tags: Webdev tools)
• patrickrhone / journal » Blog Archive » My Daily Log
  Really simple idea - live in text files and log your day. I am doing this and find it to be quite effective.
  (tags: productivity lifehacks)

links for 2009-06-06

• How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live - TIME
  (tags: twitter trends culture microblogging)
• 10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy
  "These 10 tips will help you steer clear of pitfalls and allow you to focus on what’s important: engaging the customer."
  (tags: socialmedia policies HR guidelines)
• Mobile Marketing: Just Having an iPhone App Isn't Enough - Advertising Age - Digital
  "It Has to Be Useful and, Increasingly, Supported by Traditional Marketing"
  (tags: utility marketing iphone mobile apps)
• Why The New York Times Doesn't Call Its Readers 'Readers' - Advertising Age - Digital
  (tags: nytimes newspapers media)
• Social Media, Your Brand and Your Employees
  "People are the new brand"
  (tags: Branding personalbranding careers trust blego marketing)

Bye Bye Boredom, We Hardly Knew Ya

Boring by PhoenixDailyPhoto

I am writing this blog post from high above the US as I fly back to NY after a quick overnight trip to Chicago. However, I am not writing it on a computer, rather I am using just a smartphone.

This trip was unusual. For only the second time I left my laptop at home and traveled with just a smartphone (in my case an iPhone), a Verizon Mifi router and an 8gb Lacie Iamakey USB drive. Nevertheless, I was remarkably able to do just about everything I needed.

Despite the challeneges of working with a virtual keyboard I have become rather adept at typing on the iPhone. I use apps like The Thumb to train myself. In fact, I am composing this post using the outstanding QuickOffice suite, which is available on virtually every mobile platform. My experience this week is encouraging me to go "laptopless" on short trips from here on in, unless I feel I will need a computer to work on a PowerPoint document or to project one.

All of the excitement in technology sector these days is in the mobile space - especially this summer with the gaggle of new devices that are launching. TechCrunch even calls this the summer of smartphone love. But beyond all the hype of the devices, there is a fundamentally bigger story here about how these platforms are tranforming society.

What's notable is that pundits in the tech press aren't even calling the new devices "phones" - as much as they used to. Notice how both Ed Baig from USA Today and Walt Mossberg from The Wall Street Journal refer to the new Palm Pre not so much as a phone but rather a "pocket computer." (Palm is an Edelman client.) The same of course can be said for the entire group: Android, Windows Mobile, iPhones and Blackberries .

This language represents a subtle but important shift. The phone isn't a phone any more. It has become the connected computer that is with us all the time. And just as our PCs serve as a virually endless fountain of information and entertainment so too do our "pocket computers." And it's going to become the focal point for marketers in a short order

Even though I am disconected from the ether as I pen this post I am awed by the sheer amount of content that's sitting on my device just waiting to be consumed. It includes a rented movie, three video and audio podcasts, two thousand songs, five Amazon Kindle ebooks, 10 games, 125 unread RSS items in NetNewswire plus dozens of cached articles in Instapaper, the New York Times and WSJ apps. It would literally take me months to go through it all. Plus once I landed my magical pocket computer filled up with even more - emails, tweets, feeds, etc.

What this has me thinking is that it is simply impossible to be bored anymore. Anyone with a mobile phone (and these days that's everyone) has infinite choices to keep them occupied no matter how idle he/she might be. In addition we have a myriad of ways to use the device to create content as well. Just look at the runaway success of the Brushes application for the iPhone.

So boredom is dead. I for one am happy to see it go. However I wonder how this will impact those of us who grew up at times bored as well as subsequent generations who will never experience it. As always, I am eager for your thoughts either here or on Twitter, Facebook or Friendfeed.

What is the Future of Twitter? Only You Know

A larger, much more readable version of the above is here.

Yesterday during my keynote on the future of Twitter at the TWTRCON conference in San Francisco I decided to do something different. For one day, at least, I put away PowerPoint and fired up a mind mapping program (in my case I use Mind Node for the Mac).

I really enjoyed the experience and, anecdotally from what others told me, so did the audience. For one, It made the session more interactive. Second, because it was different, it seemed to capture people's attention more than a deck would have. (Hmm, is PowerPoint making us blind and deaf?) Still, since this was my first time out mind mapping with the audience I know much can be improved.

To build the mind map I started (conceptually) with a framework that built off of Brian Solis' great Twiiterverse diagram.

Then, I divided the map in half - Twitter as an OS (think "Twitter Inside") and Twitter and the Ecosystem (think Twitter and others). Then, for the next 25 minutes, I took the audience through my initial thinking but opened it up to more feedback and input so that we grow it. Now it's your turn.

I have published the mind map on Flickr. In addition, you can download it here in PDF and OPML format. The OPML file should open up in any mind mapping application like MindManager for Mac or Windows or Mindmeister (a web app).

Let's see if we can take this concept to the next level and perhaps use it to bring Twitter new ideas, which they seem quite open to - at least that's what they said during the session that preceded mine. Leave comments here or on Twitter with the hash #futureoftwitter and let's see where we can take this.

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Twitter, TWTRCON