Free Culture and Attention as Currency
Most web assets from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google, Tumblr, Foursquare and a gazillion others appear to be free, opening floodgates of content, ranging from the genius of Wikipedia/Ushahidi to the apparently innocuous LOLcats.
The shelf life of tweets, status updates, YouTube videos and, hence, their footprints on the public memory, is dropping by the second.
While the repercussion of such an open and free culture invites a discussion in itself, let’s talk about in the context of the startup ambience.
To begin with, let us do away with presumptions of terms like “free” and “open.”
With “free,” we imply Freedom at almost a Zero price. Let’s not confuse this with “freebies” or “giveaways.” With “openness” (coders, rejoice!) we imply an Open Source culture, where the ratio of creators to consumers is shooting up faster than ever.
Fifty years ago, when content producers were a privileged club, the ratio was probably 1:10 million. Now, with the barriers lifted, a swamp of creators are competing the bigwigs, creating a culture with 1,000 broadcasters for 10 million listeners. The ratio is only poised to rise with time.
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Email Lists: One Step at a Time
I took a completely unscientific Twtpoll a couple of days ago. The question was: you’ve met someone once, and like a good networker, exchanged business cards. Next thing you know, you’re on this person’s email list, which is clearly being used to market his/her small business. OK or no way?
Out of 28 votes, seven thought it was ok. The rest (75%) pretty much said no way (if it’s going in your spam filter, I take it as a sign that it’s unwanted) and the comments are pretty clear.
My Take
In my opinion, this is the quickest way to eliminate what could have been potentially a very good contact for you from not just your database, but your life. Or worse, fall afoul of CAN-SPAM.
You want to grow your business; I get that. But building a business is based in no small part on building relationships, as yesterday’s #soloPR Twitterchat made perfectly clear (and many of those participating were/are small business owners).
Filed under Career, Networking, Shonali Burke | Tags: chris brogan, email marketing twtpoll networking, seth godin, solopr | Comments (10)Adam Lambert and the Purple Cow
I was not a happy camper last night after “American Idol” aired.
It’s not that I dislike Kris Allen; he seems like a very sweet guy. But Adam Lambert has been the reason I re-engaged with the show after several years, so when Kris was given the crown, my shoes somehow ended up near the TV.
Following that, I spent about 20 minutes convincing one of our dogs that “it’s ok, Mommy’s not mad.”
I know, I know. And yes, I’m better now.
I know I’m not the only one to feel like this – but clearly many other people feel the opposite, which is why Kris won.
Filed under Communication, Personal, Shonali Burke | Tags: adam lambert, american idol, kris allen, lauren vargas, purple cow, seth godin | Comments (3)
