Minced Media on Ustream, BlogTV and Stickam

Everywhere I surf, someone is playing with a webcam. If it isn't someone broadcasting the boring details of her work day, it's someone making a fool of himself mugging at the screen.

Each new service that debuts is like a Flavor of the Moment, so of course, I sign up immediately. Excessive? So sue me!

Check me out on Ustream.tv, BlogTV.com or Stickam -- I'm probably broadcasting somewhere!

Warning: Objects in your browser may be closer than they appear.

Twitterisms - Random Observations

I guarantee you'll get sick of this topic long before I do. Yep, I'm blogging about Twitter again. Don't worry. I'm sure I'll get it out of my system eventually.

I caught myself on Twittervision recently. It's like walking by a row of TV sets at Sears. Sure, you're trying not to notice a camera is pointed at you, but you can't help yourself. Gee, is that broccoli in my teeth?




The Twitter spam has started already.

You knew it would, so stop pretending it wasn't going to happen.

Hey, Twitter head honchos. Now would be a good time to put some user-optional filters in place. Or not.


I've noticed lots of people using facial parts for their Twitter profile images...like Yours Truly. Ever wonder what happens in the public timeline when two face parts appear together?

So much for originality on my part. Funny, I never thought of myself as a "lowest common denominator" type of person, but I guess we all have our moments. Ironic how part of the other screen name matches my real surname.


And speaking of moments, the following Tweets -- found courtesy of Twittersearch -- fit in the category of "Too much information."

I draw the line at Twittering while on the toilet. Not gonna happen. Nope.

48 Hours in Twitterland

Twitter allows employees to live a day in someone else's cubicle, so to speak, and share learnings less obtrusively.

I am addicted to Twitter. Twitter is a "service that allows you to post short little posts under 140 characters," according to an Ask.com-retrieved definition from blog.zemote.com. This week, I've been using Twitter frequently, just to experience for myself if there exists any real business apps potential here. You see, I just joined a new project team and I decided I needed some high-tech, fast on-boarding. Twitter is a great way that co-workers can shadow each other and learn. I asked co-workers to sign up and Twitter about their day, so I could get a feel for their hour-to-hour activities. Meg accommodated me and signed up immediately. She Twittered about meetings and conversations and I soon realized that people-to-people interactions take up a good portion of her day.

As for me, I Twittered tweeted about a combination of one-sided MeetingPlace calls and Web slide presentations, amidst intermittent tasks like customer care by email, software training, and little unrelated observations. I tend to be more "heads-down," burrowing into the guts of the work like a tech-loner. I'd make a lousy manager that way.

Sometimes conference calls are the background noise I need while I dual and triple process. I rarely pick up a phone to chat with a colleague, because email is just an extension of my whirling fingers. Maybe that's not so great, especially since I work remotely much of the time, and my over-dependence on technology makes me a corporate wallflower -- invisible too often. If my co-workers in other cities were on Twitter, perhaps I wouldn't feel so isolated.

Two co-workers in the same company or group can have and act upon different concepts of work day effectiveness. After comparing our Twitter posts (Meg and mine) for the past 48 hours, I felt like my day was fragmented. It made me think about better ways to organize my tasks around bigger chunks of productivity and, of course, people. So, in a way, being on Twitter caused me to up my game, mainly because I was broadcasting to the world. Now if every person behaved that way...

As a side note, while reviewing emerging presidential candidates, I found myself gravitating toward certain candidates for technological reasons. Now I'm wondering if I can separate the medium from the message. I noticed that Barack Obama and John Edwards both have MySpace.com & Twitter pages. No, I don't think having a "cool" Web presence is necessarily a requirement of U.S. leadership. They're just tools (she tells herself), not qualifications for vote-getting or indications of competence. But I'm getting sidetracked again.

Anyway, back to the business hook for Twitter. Twitter allows employees to live a day in someone else's cubicle, so to speak, and share learnings less obtrusively. For WAH workers or those in another city, Twitter can also help convey ideas and atmosphere in real time -- something most distance workers wouldn't normally experience in such an informal manner.

So...if you've questioned whether or not Twitter has any real use, I can answer that. There are real time implications for corporations interested in adding more social media tools to their internal communications mix. It's giving me a better perspective on how I can best work on this new team, too.

Here's a list of business applications for Twitter:
· Attracting event sponsors - whether planned or spontaneous
· Media outlet news feed
· Event channel - i.e. film festival mini-reviews, sports play-by-play and so on
· Informational and real-time updates for users - system outages, server issues, product releases, and product updates
· Radio station play list - with updates on what track is now playing
· Team updates for a geographically diverse workforce
· Marketing or PR ticker directed at journalists or analysts
· Feedback channel for customer care purposes
· Blow-by-blow notations of usability studies for PD teams
· SEO strategy tool for enhancing an online community presence

Can you think of more? Comment on this blog post and/or add a link to Twitter Fan Wiki on Business Uses.

~ Kim

Millions of Sites and Nothing to Read

Question: How does one get read today, or even noticed, when there is so much content available? Tons of sites and blogs have launched, hoping to bring fame and fortune to the Web-entrepreneur or would-be pundit. Most of these are worthless; each new digital page is yet another fly in the soup of useless Web drivel.

I guess my Dad was lucky in his day. Dad's writing was most often peer-reviewed. Nothing got past the gatekeepers without a good "going over." Too bad the same can't be said of today's bloggers. Sadly, I'm no exception. On the Web, no one holds my hand and saves me from myself. Hardly anything but sweat equity prevents me from writing too much, saying the wrong thing, or saying it badly. I suspect I'm not alone.

A blogger is like an amateur photographer who takes hundreds of pictures each month with a cheap digital camera. No, he doesn't plan to print these photos out. Most of the shots are blurry and poorly-composed snippets of time anyway. But that won't stop him. He enjoys the daily click and whirrrrrrr, knowing he didn't spend a few days and dollars waiting to develop the results. It's the freedom that attracts him, not the promise of a great framed print.

The next time you search through Google or Technorati for something wonderful to read, keep that in mind. There are thousands of free articles and millions of blog entries. Most of them are not worth the digital paper they're posted on. They're just there, because it's the act of composing that attracts most bloggers, and not the paycheck.

In spite of our love for writing, there will always be poor composition. It's a long, hard road -- mastering style, focusing thought and gaining a loyal readership. I write because I love to share my opinion and knowledge, and I'm content to leave it at that.

Of course, if your writing is terrible, or worse, nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to sell goods and services, you'll fail, and fail miserably. Whether it's writing to build recognition as an authority or writing to fill a creative void, empty advice with the hope of selling something is worse than not writing at all. The real challenge is making your blog stand on its own, with actionable content...if you can do that, you've got something. It's likely the reader won't mind seeing a short tagline with a link to your other Web presence, if you give them something to think about.

Having said all that, I'll admit that I write because I truly enjoy the act of thinking and typing simultaneously. No, your approval or admiration is not required...and I'm not trying to be dismissive or arrogant here. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm just being transparent about what I expect out of this blog.

Yes, I'll keep writing long after you've left my site, never to return. If you happen to like something I've written, post a comment. I'll revel in it and feel like someone out there is appreciative. If you don't like it, well, check out Technorati. I'm sure you'll find a blog or two more to your liking and probably less self-serving.