We Feel Fine

We Feel Fine is a web based application that, essentially, searches specific public social networks for emotive mentions. When it finds an specific emotion, it sets to finding context about the environment in which it exists. This can include the person’s gender, location and age. It can also include the weather and time which the emotion was expressed. But even more interestingly, if there is an image associated with the emotion, this too is cataloged.

Ultimately, We Feel Fine gives the curious searcher information about the emotive state of the internet, either past or present.

Delicious

The interesting thing about Delicious is that it is neither a new or an underused tool. However, when added to a mix of psychographic tools it becomes a powerful engine for understanding the preferences of hundreds of thousand of technology users. This is accomplished by the voluntary cataloging of interesting content on the internet by people who discover it. It is important to understand that it isn’t the number of bookmarks, alone, that makes something important, it is the kind of content that is being book marked.

TweetPsych

TouchGraph

Ionz

MIT Media Labs

Social Mention

Pipl Search

Twiangulate

Your Open Book

Happy Hunting!

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“The People’s Republic of Portland (PROP) is the brainchild of local artist Jennifer Forti. Jen wanted to create well-designed, responsibly sourced and stylish clothing with a conscience and a message: Community makes all the difference. Wearing any of Jen’s sleek and cozy designs is a way of affirming and promoting everything that makes Portland a haven for artists, thinkers, nurturers and all who want a better world.

Jen and the people of PROP know that social justice, sustainability, and equitable access to health care and nutrition begin at home; that artistic expression and community-building start here and now, among ourselves. PROP’s goal for 2010 is to give 5% of all profits to Portland non-profits serving our friends and neighbors. When you wear PROP you are helping to make that happen—and every smile at the “Republic” motif can renew our understanding that we are a community: strong, thriving, beautiful. The seeds of what makes Portland wonderful can be sown around the world.

Free-spirited, expressive, kind and socially responsible: We are the People’s Republic of Portland.

And so are you.”

I am please to announce that I am, as of July 27th, 2010, I am going to be performing the duties of Analytics, Social Media planning and Distribution along the side of Jennifer Forti. I am excited to be a part of the team. From what I can tell, having only met with Jennifer once, I am going to be working closely with the efforts of PROP to bring a movement to Portland through a vision of ethics and message. Besides, I might get some cool swag for helping out. As I continue to work with PROP and the fruits of our labors appear, I will continue to update this post. Wish us luck!

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My intention is to expose myself to criticism intentionally. So be prepared for a degree of honesty that I hold only for close friends and my mother.

Enjoy!

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DubFX was creating music unlike anything I had heard to date. Here is a sample of that unique sound.

What is truly intriguing about the work that DubFX is doing is what seems to be a story of awakening, something that inspired him to quit living only a portion of his potential. There is something primal about how he puts words together and conveys a message. Simply observe the comments on his YouTube videos and you will understand that there is a common understanding of this fact.  DubFX is truly becoming a hero for some and a musical renaissance for many.

DubFX (Ben Stanford) chose, intentionally, to gather himself and his many observations of the world as begin a journey that will ultimately take him to places that only the Fates will be able to foresee.

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After clicking on the Google TV Twitter account I decided to investigate further, so down the rabbit hole I fell. I first visited their website and was greeted with this YouTube video.

From the video one can easily discern that the combination of both the Internet and traditional Broadcast Television is geared towards making viewing content easier and more readily accessible. Google is certainly in a place to put both capital and pressure behind this effort, something that should have been done years ago. Despite being innovative and clearly desired by many who stream content, what is the real significance of Google TV?

From my perspective Google TV is a small step toward Multi-Media integration on a single platform. Meaning, putting different channels together such as YouTube, NetFlix, Cable and even Hulu is not exactly a fundamental change in the way that media is consumed, just an optimization. Google TV is going to make avoiding commercials incredibly easy, at least as things stand now. From my experience, simply hooking my HDTV to my computer is as effective as the proposition Google is making here.

What I am looking for is something that allows for Multi-Media integration through the creation of more flexible mediums and content. I am completely confident that Google can deliver the next generation of content and media. Wave and HTML5 is one step in that direction, but not a finishing place. To truly revolutionize the consumption of media, content producers and Internet providers must think outside of a little black box and more deeply into the actual experience of accessible content, deeply enriched media.

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Subman!

At first I was shocked to see a walking sandwich, something I thought was left To Jared, but I stand corrected. As I continued to gaze on in amusement I began to observe more of the context surrounding why this personified deli Happy Meal was even present at this event. This walking delicatessen was trying to take advantage of the spirit of civics surrounding Sand in the City. This brings me to the question at hand, “What is the real value of a brand mascot?” But before we dive too deep into this discussion, lets establish a core metric that will help us clarify any ambiguities, what is a brand mascot?

For the purposes of this post a brand mascot will be anyone wearing a branded costume excluding Sports Teams. These costumes can be any intentional representation of a brand from a logo to an archetype. Most importantly, a brand mascot is a person in a suit. Now, let us dig a little deeper into why I personally think “Brand Mascots Suck”.

It could be easily said that, “Mascots provide an opportunity for our actual and potential customers to interact with our brand personified.” On the flip side it could also be mentioned that, “Brand Mascots appeal to children. Enough said.” It doesn’t really matter which strategy or approach you take to brand mascots, they are essentially clowns in Superman capes. This being said, the greatest difference between the Superheros and brand mascots is message and time period.

Brand mascots are attempting to provide two core messages to the public (primarily children). These would be as follows:

1. Our brand is real, really.
2. Come play with us!

During the “Fast Food Renaissance” of the 50’s, the brand mascot was truly invented, at least in the context that we know it today. Here is an example of that.

But there has developed a disconnect between the origin of brand mascots and the present purpose they serve. There is an important point to be made here, “It isn’t the fault of the costumed sandwiches but their puppet masters for this falling from glory.” Subman isn’t to blame for being a poor brand representation, it is the marketers that designed and dispatched him. This is the point. Brand mascots fail to deliver any meaningful message to the public because marketers, in general, have failed to educate themselves on the changes occurring in the outside world.

Here are a couple of lessons that I have learned about brand mascots, having been reinforced in the past month (thank you Old Spice Guy).

1. Brands don’t need clowns, they need Circus Masters. Instead of relying on a one act performer to sway an audience, put your faith in a conductor of sorts. Brands, if they are to continue using live spectacles, need to be able to summon and fluidly integrate the environment into their efforts. This can take the form of a staged event or the crowd itself.
2. Children are off limits, period. From the time I was a child to this very day, I have always loathed advertising geared towards any age demo under 14 years old, especially with parental consent. Brands must begin to give children the freedom from coercive messaging. Focus on decision makers directly and stay out of school.

There is little that can be done to salvage the typical brand mascot, that ship has sailed. Let us understand very clearly, marketers need to be more creative than dancing sandwiches.

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As our panel was coming to a close, with roughly 15 minutes remaining, a group of 3 young women crept in as quietly as they knew how, didn’t really work out for them in that sense. Nevertheless they settled into the back of the room to soak up the last of the Q&A. Then I spoke up.

Essentially, the assembled panel was a group of four various Portland industry opinion holders on the issue of Internet Privacy. It was the common sentiment among the different panel members ,including Marshall Kirkpatrick, that Internet Privacy was something to be cherished and maintained for the benefit of the common user. This didn’t sit right with me, so I made it known.

Apparently I said something interesting as I was greeted with handshakes and smiles of thanks after the event. But what really stood out for me was when those three young women walked up to me, they unanimously agreed with my sentiment. Yet, it wasn’t until I learned who these lovely ladies were and what they are doing that I became truly excited.

It turns out that these three mavens were collectively known as Gen Juice, a national Gen-Y innovation tour designed to connect and inspire anyone who is paying attention. Essentially, they are stopping in 13 major cities across the country, hosting events and conferences in each, and ultimately generating the momentum needed to kick-start a live and dynamic network of Gen-Y innovators. While in each city, recently Portland and now Seattle, they are also interviewing individual Gen-Y thought leaders about their stories, creating a degree of personalization for their journey. Here is one such interview.’

Arielle, Danielle and Virgilia, each having come from unique and inspiring backgrounds, seem to fit seamlessly together as a team. Each brings a unique skill set that quite literally builds off and supports the others. After having spent quality time with all three of them, I can personally say that these women are a certain kind of Dream Team!

After having attended their event in Portland, having twice had dinner with them and having taken them to Seattle it has become apparent that these three lovely divas are on their way to amazing things. Check them out on Twitter and at their Website and give them a digital hug, they love hugs.

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I was browsing through my Google Reader, exploring “stolen content”, and I noticed something that sounded interesting; the word was “BooCoo”. I clicked on the story bar and was soon greeted by a sadly sympathetic review of the newest online print manifestation, an attempt to fight Craigslist and eBay. It is common knowledge that one of the major sources of income for many papers, the classifieds, has been in decline for the past decade. Until recently it would seem like their only attempts at adapting was either legislation or complaining.

However, this would seem to have changed recently as a coalition of 300 newspapers have bandied together to bring their audiences with them to the digital era. BooCoo, essentially an online version of the classifieds, is being launched in the hopes of making some money on open commerce. This story is just getting started.

When someone visits Craigslist, they are coming to the first iteration of connected, open and inventive commerce. Even eBay, to an extent, could even be considered open commerce despite their restrictions on selling souls, virginity and guns. When someone visits BooCoo, there is a sense of – garage sale listing; the backbone of modern print classifieds.

Here is a screenshot of their wildly innovative interface.

While writing this article I was involved in a conversation on Twitter with someone from BooCoo HQ who asked for specific recommendations for the site. Well here are several:

1. You have to understand that your pricing structure cannot rely on the assumed value of an “auction item”. This will retard the value of items listed by your users and thus people’s willingness to participate. You don’t seem to understand what open online commerce means. Here is a screen shot of their fees:
2. For having the support of a coalition of 300 newspapers with an estimated readership of 22 million, your website looks childish. While Craigslist is not any better aesthetically, you have to compete for attention.
3. You bought a website URL where you do not own the .org property. This is a fundamental mistake as your now competing for Google Page results with someone promoting music lessons.
4. When you registered your domain you left the gate wide open for hackers, spammers, pirates and creeps. I feel really concerned for George Willard. Here is another screenshot of the vital information surrounding who owns the domain:
5. Where are your community listings? To be trying to fight the horrible realities of Craigslist, you are going to have to try to connect to the real world a little harder.

There are so many things frustrating about this site. I truly feel remorse for this industry.

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To provide a little context, the Made in Oregon sign has been in the news recently as a source of contention surrounding the changing of ownership. Recently, the City of Portland took ownership over the sign after having had been bought by the University of Oregon. It wasn’t the fact that U of O had ownership over the sign, it was the intended message that caused the stir. The University of Oregon wanted to blaze their name in bright lights across the Portland landscape, this was the controversy. Following this announcement, the City of Portland condemned the sign and took ownership over it. Now here we stand, waiting to hear what the new logo/message/slogan is going to say.

Understanding all of this I then became interested in what these 3 gentlemen had to say about the sign, so I walked over to the lamppost and took a look. What their fliers were promoting was the message that the Made in Oregon sign’s future should be to promote the creative class of Oregon. This would be accomplished with the statement “Make in Oregon” replacing the “Made in Oregon” signature slogan we have all grown to know.

I personally like this idea and would think it would lend itself to the incredible creative nature of Portland and Oregon as a whole. Here is the actual text from the flier that was posted.

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This article was written by Kelsey Wallace who has been writing as the web editor for BitchMagazine.com. Shortly after having read the article I contacted Kelsey to see if she would like to be a guest on my radio and podcast programs. I am very impressed by this author, someone who is presumably as young as I am. It would be interesting to meet her and allow all of  us the opportunity to see what source of talent she draws from.

Here are a few of quotes from her article that I think best demonstrate why this is an article worth reading.

1. “Shit gets real in these commercials, folks!”
2. “Considering the media-saturated environment we exist in currently, I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing more and more multi-platform educational advertising campaigns that go beyond the “buy this product and have a fantasy life!” message and actually attempt to keep it real.
3. “True, at heart this is still a commercial that is trying to get us to buy processed cheese in a pan. Still, the Stouffer’s Let’s Fix Dinner campaign is one of the only I’ve seen in recent memory that actually depicts its target demographic in its ads.”

These are a few of the quotes that struck me as being very apt and realistic. Here is the YouTube video of the commercials that were being referenced by Kelsey. Oh yeah, pay attention to the coming weeks and I will hope to have the audio and video from an interview with Kelsey or at least someone from Bitch Magazine.

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