Start by entering this link into your browser:

1. https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

1. Local Business or Place
2. Company, Organization or Institution
3. Brand or Product
4. Artist, Band or Public Figure
5. Entertainment
1. Category
1. TV Network
2. Name
3. Agree to Terms
4. Get Started
6. Cause or Community

1. I suggest that you use your logo or a branded banner.

1. This is an opportunity for you to invite existing contacts or Facebook friends to “Like” your new page.

1. Website
1. I recommend that you enter your Network’s primary domain here.
2. About
1. In 255 characters describe your Network.

1. These are important in creating the language, initial impression and nature of your Network’s identity and relationships with viewers.
1. Consider any message or update for the first 30 days as part of your first status updates.

1. Campaign
1. Each campaign should reflect a different objective.
1. Name each campaign to reflect that objective.
2. Ad
1. Each ad is an attempt to deliver a specific message to a specific audience.
1. The naming structure of each ad should reflect the demographics being targeted.

Construction of Ads

1. Title
1. The title of your ad, if you are able to change it, needs to reflect your intention and/or identity.
1. A titles to the effect of “Company Name” or “Social Engagement” work well.
2. Verbiage
1. Most often, ads should have no more than two sentences of text.
1. The first sentence in an introduction to the second sentence which is a call to action.
1. That call to action will be accomplish by clicking on the ad.
3. Image
1. The image inside of your ad needs to be quickly appealing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be sexy or racy, but those kinds of images do work.
2. The simpler, the better.
4. Targeting
1. For Online Networks, it can be important to clarify the ideal geographies, demographics, interests and employment of an audience member. Having a wide enough understanding of your audience enables you to intelligently anticipate specific qualities related to ad targeting.
1. Location
1. Most ads are developed for a single metro area.
2. Demographics
1. Try to keep your age range  to within 20 years.
2. Gender, sexual orientation, relationship status and languages spoken are important to consider, but less so than age.
3. Precise Interests
1. This is an opportunity to relate your understanding of your audience to specific interests (any noun or pronoun) to the subject of your ad.
4. Education and Work
1. Generally of little importance.
5. Connections on Facebook
1. If you are trying to gather more “Likes” then always check the “Only show my ad to friends of the fans of x-page” box.
2. Otherwise I would suggest that you target “Anyone”.
6. Pricing
1. This depends almost entirely on your budget.
1. My suspicion is that Facebook gives preferential placement to those who are willing to pay more for impressions/clicks.
2. I try to average $.25 per click $.10 per 1000 impressions.
2. I recommend that you select “Pay for Clicks” (CPC) as your pay structure.

Primary Metrics and KPIs

1. Click Through Rate (CTR) and Social Click Through Ratre (sCTR) - .025%+
1. CTR is the percentage of people who, after seeing your ad, clicked on it.
2. sCTR is the percentage of people who clicked on the ad who have a relationship with someone on Facebook who has “liked” the destination page.
3. A healthy (s)CTR is generally .025% or above.
2. % as Social Impressions – 65%
1. This is the percentage of all impressions that were shown to people who have a relationship with someone on Facebook who likes your destination Page.
2. This is generally only an important metric when you are trying to attract new “Likes”.

Feed

1. Your Feed is essentially a stream of your activity, while logged in, on YouTube. This will include your “likes”, “uploads” and other activities.
2. Keep you Feed clean of any activity that might be deemed as contrary to how you would like the viewer to see the Network’s brand.
3. Construct your feed to express relevant interests.
1. This personifies your brand by showing your ability to “curate an identity”.

1. For most Networks, YouTube will be an opportunity to post snippets or single segments from a longer episode. This is important for two reasons:
1. Audiences on the YouTube platform have a short attention span. Therefore, introducing your content instead of featuring your content on the YouTube platform will draw viewers to your primary site.
1. Essentially, YouTube is a filter for viewers who are interested in seeing longer media.
2. There are two common kinds of content that are uploaded to YouTube by Networks.
1. Test
1. YouTube is an excellent platform to test new content among the general audience.
1. High quality testing will demonstrate which demographics, through the use of Video and Library Analytics, respond to your media.
2. Promotional
1. Acting as a filter for viewers interested in long-form media, YouTube provides you an excellent way to promote specific programming available on your site.

Video - Popular Entertainment Factor – X/40%

1. This is the total number of plays compared to the average playthrough.
1. To find the average playthrough, divide the average time watched into the total length of an episode.
2. This measurement essentially shows how many times your video was played and how long the average viewer watched.
3. This measurement can be significant for knowing the impact of ad placement concerning impressions.

1. This is a measurement of either a video or your library based on any or all of the following:
1. The physical location of the viewer
1. Typically on a city, regional or country level
2. The device the viewer used to watch the video/library selection
3. The Designated Marketing Area (DMA) the viewer is located in
4. The domain on which the viewer is watching the video/library selection
2. There are many metrics that can be applied including:
1. Total Number of Plays
2. Average Videos Watched/User/Day - 1.6+
3. Video Conversion Rate – 50%+
4. Hours Delivered
5. Average Time Watched/Video – 40% of total length+

1. Total Social Action Multiplier (TSAM) – 350x+
1. This is the total number of times greater each on-site social action was viewed on Facebook.
2. The KPI indicates that 350 impressions or greater for every on-site social action is healthy.
2. Referral Percentage – .05%+
1. This is the percentage of impressions (from the TSAM)  that clicked a link in a friend’s status update which then sent them to the Earth2World website.
3. Popular Demographics - A/S/L
1. Any number of combinations of  popular Age/Sex/Location.

Facebook Page – Primary Metrics and KPIs

1. % of Change in New Likes – 10.0%+
1. An increase of ten percent over a 2 – 60 day period is healthy.
2. % of Change in Monthly Active Users - 5.0%+
1. An increase of five percent over a 30 day period is healthy.
3. % of Change in Total Post Views – 15.0%+
1. An increase of fifteen percent over a 2 – 60 day period is healthy.
4. % of Change in Post Feedback - 5.0%+
1. An increase of five percent over a 2 – 60 day period is healthy.
5. Popular Demographics – A/S/L
1. Any number of combinations of popular Age/Sex/Location

Daily Visits – Total Visits for X Days Past/X

1. At this point, the goal here is to get a sense of how daily Website traffic is doing compared over a recent period of time.

1. You are looking for the three heaviest hours and days, both separately and together, for traffic on the website.
2. This can be a measurement over any time-period, based on your needs.

1. A healthy ratio of Returning/New Visitors is three Returning for every two New visitors.

1. Including all visitors over a specific time period, three minutes and above is a healthy average for a media site.

1. Again, including all visitors over a specific time period, 2.25 pageviews and above is healthy.

To connect one piece of media to another means to find a relationship between the two. Whether it is opposites attracting or birds of a feather, the future of media is the creation of advanced narratives. By this I mean that instead of media existing as isolated pieces, there will be means of weaving information together. Today, this takes on the form of technology such as a wiki tags.

While researching for this post, I ran across a post from Daniel Bachhuber who seems to be in agreement with me about the importance of organizing information and media. In his post, Daniel addresses the use of tags as organizational tools for his data. He also refers to his data being something as, “infinitely reusable”. These two elements, organization and access are important to the success of connected media.

In May, I wrote an post titled, “Customizable News Streams“. In that article I outline an idea for creating customized “streams” of News (information). That stream would be delivered as a linear story; moving from one segment to the next. To advance that idea I would like to propose that the delivery of information should represent the nature of information, which is anything but linear.

Raw information is environmental by nature. Having access to more than just a single source of information, in-fact a limitless supply of sources, allows for creativity and learning to take place. This in-turn invents new media, which is how we are continuing to expand our ability to communicate.

The very verbs that we use to describe our relationship to information needs to change. Today, we commonly use words such as consume, read, watch and listen. Words such as organize, collaboratively, design and share are gradually being introduced into our culture’s lexicon. It is exciting to see this happen as it shows progress towards a much deeper relationship to information.

The world is gradually changing and I believe it is for the better with things becoming much more flexible and transient. Connected Media is just one example of how one industry might behave. It would be interesting to learn how other industries of production are developing.

Vimeo Page Description: Resonance is a collaborative project with over 30 independent visual and audio designers/studios. The aim was to explore the relationship between geometry and audio in unique ways.

Reaction: While this video jumps around a lot, from designer to designer, it is a great watch if you are interested in the relationship between shape and sound. Taking on very different forms through out the video, the impacts of shape and sound on each other are explored.

According to this video’s Vimeo page, “20 Hz observes a geo-magnetic storm occurring in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Working with data collected from the CARISMA radio array and interpreted as audio, we hear tweeting and rumbles caused by incoming solar wind, captured at the frequency of 20 Hertz. Generated directly by the sound, tangible and sculptural forms emerge suggestive of scientific visualisations. As different frequencies interact both visually and aurally, complex patterns emerge to create interference phenomena that probe the limits of our perception.” At first I thought this was a bit eery, but knowing what I am seeing and hearing made a difference. I suggest that you watch this full-screen.

Technology is enabling us to experience the world with our base senses in new ways. It is as if we are enabling technologically induced Synesthesia. Are we finally bridging the senses or are we just teasing ourselves?

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/20-hz/feed/ 0 http://www.bretevan.com/3d-sound-experiment-take-1/ http://www.bretevan.com/3d-sound-experiment-take-1/#comments Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:13:28 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=2665 The idea behind 3D sound is that instead of hearing noise as the left and right of a single stereo track, you would hear sound as if it came from physical space. The best example of 3D Sound that I know of is called the “Virtual Barber Shop“. The video uses the sounds of a Spanish or Italian barber shop to illustrate how sound can be represent space as well.  Now, here is how you can do it.

Using two diaphragm microphones, each inputting the left or right of a single stereo track, you can create 3D sound. The key is mic placement and direction. You need to have the mics at the same level, spaced about 8 inches apart while facing away from each other. This simulates the positioning and orientation of your ears, using your head as the listening point.

To hear my 3D sound experiment, with headphones,  press play below.

Here is the equipment and settings  I was using to produce this effect:

•  Zoom H4n Recorder:  1/2 Link On and MS Stereo Matrix Off
• Studio Projects B1: -20dB
• AKG Perception 220: -20dB

How does running an Internet TV network differ from running a traditional TV network?

Here are three major differences between an Internet and Traditional TV Network.

1. The first is the use of Video, Social and Web Analytics. These three technologies allow Internet TV Networks to immediately discover detailed information about their audience for free; something Traditional TV pays expensive fees for. Using these three tools, Internet TV can create an profile of a typical viewer that can then be used to target advertising with.
2. The second major difference is the cost of operation and production. Internet TV is capable of producing full-length programming for a fraction of the cost to produce and distribute Traditional TV. It really is the power of Internet distribution that saves money.
3. A third major difference between Internet and Traditional TV is the difference of inherent content restrictions, no FCC. Traditional TV must strongly guard against breaking Federal regulations such as curse words and sensitive subjects. On Internet TV, there is none of that. Internet TV is able to make our own decisions about content.

• What are your thoughts on the future of Internet TV?
  

This is an important question. Here are three major changes/trends in Internet TV.

1. The first trend is a greater flexibility in content delivery. The audience will be able to more freely explore and experience video content. This will be aided by technology that responds to individual site preferences. In essence, the website will aid you in finding the best content based on your preferences.
2. The second is an increased dependence on Analytics by all Internet Media for revenue. The use of precise media measurement tools will become the norm.
3. The third will be the continued growth in the efficiency of the product. As production and distribution chains become cheaper and more intuitive, the distance between the audience and the Network shortens. This means that an Internet TV Network can film, produce and distribute high quality video for a fraction of today’s costs, which are already a fraction of yesterday’s costs.

1. New Distribution and Audience Growth Strategies
2. Diversification of Internet Media Outlets
3. Shrinking Revenues and Staff in Traditional Media
4. Concentration of Media Ownership
5. Partnerships Between Internet and Traditional Media
6. The Rise of the Enterprising Journalist
7. Talent Finding New Outlets for Broadcasting
8. Frequent Reshuffling of Radio Station Formats
9. The Use of Personal People Meters

It is called “Mic Check”. When someone among thousands of people, has the floor, they yell out “Mic Check”. The crowd responds by repeating what is said. This continues until the message is finished. While I was recording I heard many messages, but there seemed to be a common theme.

Take a listen (with headphones) to what I heard.

Earlier in the week I was broadcasting a live performance using both the Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder and Ustream. I ran into an issue with lag or skipping in the feed, something that would turn away the majority of viewers.

Potential Solution: Lower Bit Rate

To resolve the lag issue I followed these steps and resolved the issue.

1. Test your Internet upload speed: http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/. Make sure to choose Los Angeles as your destination as that is where the Ustream servers are.
2. lower your video bit rate below your upload speed. This can be done inside of the Flash Media Live Encoder broadcast interface.

In my case it was just that simple. I measured my Internet upload speed and lowered my bit rate. I am interested to see whether or not this works for others. Feedback is welcome!

In attendance were probably a hundred community and NALC members cheering the speakers on.  City Commissioner Amanda Fritz spoke in support of the Post Office while passing cars honked to encourage the rally. The atmosphere was casual, but in unanimous support of the Post Office and it’s employees.

What really excited the crowd was when a representative from Earl Blumenauer’s office presented a letter from the Congressman. To hear that reading, press “Play” below.

While it would seem that the number of people using the Postal Service is decreasing, the number of people depending on it is not. An affordable Postal Service  provides a critical lifeline for those who need help and information delivered. Whether it is the USPS or FedEx, an efficient Postal Service is neccesary for a Democracy to function.

The debate is over whether or not this service should be public or private. Leading to the question of “Who?” Identifying that party is an ongoing search for some. And for others, the search never got started as the answer is tradition. This is really a conversation about the changing habits of American information consumption. The roots of which are embedded in our cultural identity.

From the Pony Express to the Internet, America has always excelled with sharing information. I imagine that the future holds a similar excellence. The Post Office is not necessarily doomed, but is being given an opportunity to recreate itself by becoming innovative and relevant again.

This is an opportunity for a renaissance in the means to distribute information, public or private.

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/changing-identity-of-post-office/feed/ 0 chaning role of post office,cultural identity,fedex,information delivery,post office,postal service,public vs private,usps On September 27th a rally was held at the Post Office at 715 NW Hoyt St in Portland Oregon. - In attendance were probably a hundred community and NALC members cheering the speakers on.  City Commissioner Amanda Fritz spoke in support of the Post Offic... On September 27th a rally was held at the Post Office at 715 NW Hoyt St in Portland Oregon. In attendance were probably a hundred community and NALC members cheering the speakers on.  City Commissioner Amanda Fritz spoke in support of the Post Office while passing cars honked to encourage the rally. The atmosphere was casual, but in unanimous support of the Post Office and it's employees. What really excited the crowd was when a representative from Earl Blumenauer's office presented a letter from the Congressman. To hear that reading, press "Play" below. While it would seem that the number of people using the Postal Service is decreasing, the number of people depending on it is not. An affordable Postal Service  provides a critical lifeline for those who need help and information delivered. Whether it is the USPS or FedEx, an efficient Postal Service is neccesary for a Democracy to function. The debate is over whether or not this service should be public or private. Leading to the question of "Who?" Identifying that party is an ongoing search for some. And for others, the search never got started as the answer is tradition. This is really a conversation about the changing habits of American information consumption. The roots of which are embedded in our cultural identity. From the Pony Express to the Internet, America has always excelled with sharing information. I imagine that the future holds a similar excellence. The Post Office is not necessarily doomed, but is being given an opportunity to recreate itself by becoming innovative and relevant again. This is an opportunity for a renaissance in the means to distribute information, public or private. Bret Bernhoft no 3:03 http://www.bretevan.com/achieving-synesthesia-through-technology/ http://www.bretevan.com/achieving-synesthesia-through-technology/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 02:13:36 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=2457 If you were to guess what the color blue sounds like, what comes to mind? How about the shape of a taste? While these might sound like ridiculous questions, for some the answers are obvious as they experience the world through Synesthesia.

According to Wikipedia, Synesthesia ” is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.” In other words, imagine being able to smell colors, see sounds and hear sights as part of your everyday world. But what does this mean?

For some, Synesthesia is part of their biology; their filter. To help explain the experience of Synesthesia here is a TED Talk on the subject by Daniel Tammet.

After having watched the TED Talk above, it becomes obvious to me that what is missing from the sensory diet of the typical person is “diversity of experience”. I can imagine that in the near future having a typical sensory experience will be a disadvantage.

In an article published on GOOD called”Digital Synesthesia“, exciting examples of extending our senses through technology provide glimpses of what is coming. For example, imagine being able to see with your skin. Known as “Skin Vision“, it has been hypothesized that through biomimicry human skin cells could be given the ability to sense light. And while there are incredible medical uses for technologically enabled Synesthesia, could you imagine the revolution in communication?

Instead of simply receiving and decoding messages according to today’s understanding, you could mix it up. Each of your body’s senses would no longer be limited by their nature, but expanded by it. And that’s just the beginning. If we were able to work with the five basic senses, there is no reason to think that we couldn’t realize new ones.

But, am I throwing caution to the wind? Are we not meant to taste sound or smell shapes? Is the human experience static? I don’t think so. I am a proponent of expanding the human condition beyond what we see as its limitations. And something to remember is that achieving Synesthesia through technology is like a single drop of water in the vast ocean of human potential.

1. Demographics and Location are Important – The location of any audience is local. Also, use the demographics from a brand’s Facebook Page Insights to guide you.
2. Diversity in Ads – At least four versions of every ad. You are looking at 20+ ads for a typical campaign.
3. Friend of Friends – If your goal is to increase the number of “Likes”, only use the FoF option.
4. Call to Action – Include a Call to Action at the end of every ad. “Click here to learn more.”
5. Interests – After you have your demographics and location, use special interests that relate to the brand and the audience as ways to target your ads.
6. Text in Ad: No more than 16 words/2 sentences.
7. CPC – Pay for clicks, not impressions.
8. Titling Ads – Create a naming system that you understand that describes the ads by title.
9. Image – Easily understood what it is. Cute and straightforward.
10. Bid Pricing – Start high at $2.00.

These rules are flexible. Enjoy!

Today was an important day for a particular FB Ad Campaign; we reached the saturation point of a hyper-local demographic. Meaning, a small group of similar people in a limited geography have all seen at least one ad from a specific Facebook Ad Campaign. This is important in that it was quickly followed by a sharp decline in the Click Through Rate (CTR). This leads me to believe that there are three directions this campaign can go.

1. The first is to stop.
2. The second is to create more Ads.
3. And the third is to retarget each Ad.

I decided to create 20 more Ads targeted to the same audience as I believe that a .032% CTR is high for a hyper-local demographic and I don’t want to ignore that. Originally, this Campaign consisted of 20 unique Ads based on the interests of people who were of a specific age and gender in a certain location. As a side note, I have found that hyper-local audiences do better for campaigns focused on niche interests. I am uncertain as to why that is the case.

In regards to the continued performance of the Campaign’s CTR, my expectation is that it will either slowly decrease to below Facebook’s low average of .01% or will plateau around .025%. I will update this post in a week when I see the results.

Update

Well, it has been almost three weeks since I first wrote this post and the results are in. What I found is what I expected; the Campaign’s CTR plateaued at .027%, even after the addition of 20 new ads. I expect the reason for this is simple “audience overlap”. Meaning, as I added new ads to the Campaign the audience, based on segmentation by interest, overlapped. This is due to related interests.

Takeaways:

1. If you are looking to maintain a high CTR for a campaign, it is important to create multiple rounds of ads.
2. If consistently targeting hyperlocal audiences with multiple rounds of ads, your campaign will eventually run into a CTR plateau. This is because of the overlap in related interests.

Stumptown Kilts

Equalize It

Bernie Doran Photography

Sienna Morris paints with the numbers of Math and Science. She illustrates the makeup of what we observe everyday. Through her love and dedication to learning, Sienna has found an original outlet for this work. Her process includes hours of research and the exploration of a subject, which then becomes her inspiration to create.

Sienna’s work, similar to Pointillism, relies on smaller elements to make the whole image complete. Using the advantages of detail and patience, Sienna is capable of changing someone’s opinion about the value of both sides of their mind. In this interview Sienna and I discuss how art can inspire the discovery of Math and Science at any age.

Contact Information:

• Email: johnl@johnlabovitz.com

Notes:

• Typography is a representation of the author.
• Design is very important to publishing.
• eBooks have seemingly minimized design in technology.
• Because of the industrialization of bookmaking, the quality has decreased.
• William Morris was a textile designer who believed in craft and art instead of industrialized processes.
• Our current eBook industry represents the circumstances of the late 19th century book manufacturing.

Contact Information:

• Email: toddsattersten+contact2011@gmail.com

Notes:

• We are four years into a five year disruption cycle. It all started in2007 when Amazon released the first Kindle.
• “We are not trying enought stuff out. It angers me. It saddens me. We need to searching for new business models. This doesn’t mean that we need to execute old business models.”
• If we are going to play the game we need to understand what the game is.
• The Power Law Distribution, not the Bell Curve, illustrates the publishing industry. Every decision needs to be based on this model.
• Are you selling vitamins or aspirin?
• Publishers need to talk in terms of benefits to the reader compared to the possible function of the book.
• It is important to identify the “felt need” of an audience, this is where your opportunity as a publisher exists.
• Publishers are problems solvers. We are amplifiers of solutions to people’s problems.

Contact Information:

• Email: abbey@abbeygaterud.com
• Address: Portland State University

Notes:

• Sustainable development means to leave the world in as good or better condition then when we found it.
• We are amplifiers as publishers.
• Publishers are the experts.
• The increase in quantity demands that publishers create quality. Publishers need to be in a position to ensure quality.
• Publishing is going to get smaller.
• Publishers, especially small publishers, need to have many more skills then ever before. You can’t go to New York and do one thing.
• Believes that publishing will be too broad for one person or one company to be able to do it all.
• The definition of success needs to be changed within the publishing industry.
• Small publishers have taken advantage of new means of distribution.
• The old model of publishing means to release based on quantity and hope that the drag net captures enough volume to recuperate costs.

Contact Information:

• Email: ps@publicationstudio.biz
• Address: 717 SW Ankeny, Portland Oregon

Notes:

• Within the literary world we are not dealing with consumers, but readers.
• When the scale shifts into a 1-to-1 relationship between the writer and the reader, the issue becomes scalable monetization. This is known as “The Puzzle”.
• The first thing we, as publishers, are involved with is publishing. This means that there needs to be a intentional creation of a public.
• Our role is to intentionally create a public space through our work.
• The book is one of the most “potent” social networking tools used throughout history.
• It goes without saying that the digital, social and material lives of reading belong together. This ecosystem, these relationships, need to be radically intertwined. There needs to be an redundancy inside of each of these environments.
• It goes without saying that reading drives the life of a book.
• Reading and writing are quite different actions.
• The IPRC is a great resource for writers to learn about how to create, maintain and monetize a public.
• Publication Studio relies on relationships that lead to sales of literature over the course of years. The nature of these relationships makes it hard to “pin down a sale date”
• The social life of the book is fundamental to the success of the book. Getting together, socializing, is the life of the book.
• The enemy of publication is the itemization of sales.
• “Make it more expensive.”
• “We should sell books to people who actually want to read them.”
• “Curation is coherence.”
• “You are unlikely to survive in a traditional retail environment.”

Contact Information:

• Email: corey@exprimamedia.com

Notes:

• Disintermediation is an issue for publishers.
• Publishers need to “take over the research and development for publishing platforms”.
• “Electric Incunabula“
• eBooks are a problem because they don’t consider platforms when they are being published.
• To become relevant again, publishers need to re-intermediate themselves inside of the value chain by creating new opportunities as platform developers.
• “When everything is ‘nebulous’ everyone is nervous. This is especially true inside of the publishing industry.”
• The future of libraries is unknown. A library is an archive is cultural items and therefore deals with whatever the publishers create.
• What is the revenue model for future publishers? “Refinement
• Curation is more important than ever.
• Where do publishers belong on the Web? They belong as “artful and specialist voices” among the noise.

Today I was walking home from work and I noticed something interesting in Pioneer Square; a YouTube promotion. But instead of promoting their Channel content, they were promoting their newly released movie rental service.

Most people seem to use YouTube to find obscure media. Yet, it would seem as if YouTube is beginning to appeal to the broader market through movie rentals. This seems almost counter-intuitive in that YouTube is the home to such a great wealth of user generated content. It seems to be almost counter productive to offer movies when viewers have been trained to watch 30 second clips.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I depend on YouTube for probably 90% of the video media I consume. I understand the value of YouTube and would be more than willing to pay for access to the content I consume. Instead of promoting mainstream movies for a fee, YouTube should be offering full length original user generated content, which is currently clipped into 15 minute lengths due to upload restrictions, for the same fee. They should also consider offering premium content plans for their channel operators under a shared fee agreement.

YouTube’s red box seems like a stark departure from it’s roots. If the goal is to encourage revenue from rentals then let’s start from where we began; users.

Unified Analytics is the ability to access visitor/user data from multiple channels (Social, Mobile and Web) in a single interface. From this aggregation comes the ability to correlate and compare data that would otherwise be found in isolation. Being able to easily intertwine multiple sources of data has many distinct benefits What follows are four insights into how Unified Analytics can help an Analyst perform their work.

1. Unified Analytics allows the Analyst to monitor traffic peaks and dips from one platform or site to another. For example, if the customer has a mobile, a web and a social destination it is possible to observe how and when traffic moves from one property to the next. This is especially helpful for content sites to know when and where to publish certain pieces of media.
2. Having access to Social, Mobile and Web Analytics gives the Analyst the ability to apply demographic data to otherwise anonymous traffic sources. For instance, having access to demographics through Facebook and Twitter allows the Analyst to apply this information to otherwise vague traffic sources.
3. Through the use of Unified Analytics the value of Path Analysis becomes increasingly valuable as traffic moves and consumes/shares content from one platform to another. This is especially true for a login system that is able to identify users over multiple channels.
4. Unified Analytics also implies new KPIs for visitor metrics such as length of stay, average page views and others.

In addition to providing new insights there are open ended questions that I think are important to consider when contemplating the value of Unified Analytics.

1. Does the term “Unified” really imply a single interface for accessing all the various Analytics channels?
2. Does the value of being able to identify the individual become more or less important as a result of Unified Analytics.
3. If  Unified Analytics does imply a single interface, then which factors would determine the importance of one Analytics channel over the other?

Unified Analytics are emerging as a powerful tool for both Analysts and customers. The ability to understand how multiple channels are interacting with each other is increasingly important to the inquiry process for developing a multiple-channel strategy.

To many, this healthcare model comes out of necessity. With healthcare costs continuing to increase and access becoming scarcer, some in the local have taken it upon themselves to invest energy and resources into an alternative; the coop model. Simply put, the coop model, when applied to healthcare, is a group of people coming together as a community to support each other by removing the insurance middleman. This reduces costs, according to Tony McCormick, “…by up to 80%.”

Episode Notes: Attached to this post is an interview I conducted with Tony McCormick in early July, 2011. Take a listen into what may turn out to be one of Portland’s strongest cooperative healthcare movements.

While much of YouTube is littered with trolls and nastiness, there are many excellent communities that self-organize around benefiting each other. These communities aren’t outright seeking to forward an agenda or bias, but simply to introduce curious explorers to niche entertainment.

What makes this community possible is the ability to freely access, remark on and share the media that is uploaded. YouTube is, by it’s nature, an enabler of generosity. It is also, by it’s nature, an abundant resource. These two elements, abundance and generosity, have led to communities that thrive on cooperation, sharing and progressive ideals. These communities are also made possible through a nearly complete absence of barriers to entry, beyond having high-speed access to the Internet.

With “Walled Gardens” becoming increasingly popular these YouTube communities are beginning to take on new roles as taste makers in a world where choices are limited by budget. If an individual does not know how to see out the uncommon, then the work of these loosely connected communities becomes their map.

Over the past two years I have drastically changed my taste in music from what used to be MTV to what is not a simple peer recommendation system. The music that I have discovered has changed my life and I desire to give back to this community in ways that I can. Whether it is through podcasting or simply introducing a friend to a talented artist, the act of sharing is awesome. My preschool teacher, Mrs. Bobby, was right.

Below you will find examples of the how members of these generous YouTube communities frame some of their favorite music.

It is unnecessary to delineate between “Terrestrial Radio” and “Radio that happens to be on the Internet” as they are melding into a single medium. The waves that carry both AM/FM Radio and Wi-Fi or Mobile serve the same purpose; delivering information. While the revolution within Radio is in it’s expanding diversity, the process of transmitting and receiving a stream of media hasn’t substantially changed.

The idea that there is increasing value to a Journalist in Radio may seem contradictory. Yet, it is the fragmentation of the audience and the increasing power of the tools to Narrowcast to them that gives Journalists an opportunity to inform the audiences in need. In this case, it isn’t so much about measuring, through Analytics, the performance of the media in terms of volume, it is in finding a dispersed audience with a common need for your information. That’s the ticket here for Journalists;becoming a Publisher.

So tune into this episode of Journalytics as we begin a series within a series; honest commentary on Journalism and Analytics.

Take a look.

As mentioned above, I found that the majority of people who watch the same videos as I do are in the same age range as me; 25-34. I also found that as someone who recently turned 25, having moved from a younger demographic to an older demographic, that the age range that I just left behind still enjoys a good percentage of the music that I do as well. Similarly, the older demographic of 35-44 could be a predictor of future music tastes.

The value of this information isn’t in what it says upfront, but what it implies is possible. Appreciating that it is possible to see which age groups are interested in specific media pieces, there seems to be a secondary opportunity here; insights into culture. It is possible, if you take the time, to learn about how certain fragmented cultures express, entertain and inform themselves. It is possible for citizen and professional anthropologists alike to find the digital footprints left by scattered online tribes and to infer their collective interests.

This tool would be geared towards independent publishers in particular and would provide them with Narrowcasting Analytics. This information helps the independent publisher demonstrate their value to advertisers and thus a source of income. Tools such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and Google Search Results would make up the backbone of the dashboard.

Each tool would be displayed in close resemblance to it’s original format. In addition to the native filtering provided by each tool, there would be options for aggregate results. I would expect this tool to cost no more than a $10 monthly subscription to use.

The unique advantage that independent publishers have at this moment in time is the ability to be agile. Meaning, that if they are willing to make a decision to measure their work, they can be early adopters of the increasing standards of advertisers. Thus, being more likely to secure a sponsor at a higher value per listener/viewer/reader than a mainstream outlet.

This all assumes that the work of the independent publisher is high quality, as some in the mainstream media have set the bar quite high in regards to post production. Yet in my mind, if a publisher is capable of measure their work, they are savvier then the average bear.

For a publishers of any size to successfully use Analytics, they need at least one of two things;

1. Quantity
2. Quality

In this case, Quality is defined as “the unique composition of a comparatively smaller audience.” Quantity is defined as it’s opposite, “the volume of listeners/viewers/readers of a comparatively larger audience.” Analytics proves both, it just depends on the accuracy and reliability of your metrics. Here are three metrics that I feel to be important for accomplishing either objective.

Quality

1. Page level age/sex
2. High percentage of recent and frequent listeners/viewers/readers
3. Popularity of published material in target markets

Quantity

1. Volume of visits within a specific period of time
2. Volume of shared and “Liked” published content on the Facebook platform
3. Click Through Rate from Facebook

I view quality and quantity as being potentially separate objectives. As a result, I find that both have their own unique values. Advertisers have been trained to understand the value of quantity. However, with a good demonstration, quality could rival quantity as a standard for justifying value and therefore a sponsorship. This proves to be a valuable opportunity for either large or small publishers; who have a high quality production.

Dispersed and Mobile

Today’s audience is dispersed and mobile and can therefore the same piece of content can be consumed anywhere in the world there is high-speed Internet. But fret not, this is to the

Facebook Insights

Narrowcaster’s advantage. Through a combination of Web (Google or Webtrends Analytics) and Social Analytics (Facebook Insights) an online narrowcaster can provide more value to an advertiser through the combination of unique measurements than a traditional broadcaster.

Traditional broadcasters depended on large surveys of market size, demographics and income of the areas they were broadcasting in. This information is gathered by private companies and organizations that then sell the information to broadcasters. This information is then given to advertisers as evidence for the cost structures behind what they are being charged.

Using a tool, such as Facebook Insights, to discover the exact demographics of those who have clicked the “Like” button allows the online broadcaster to provide a great value to the advertiser. However, that value is only realized if the demographics provided by the broadcaster are similar to the advertisers target market(s).

The increased value behind a smaller audience relies on the ability to more easily and specifically identify that group. That translates into a high or lower probability of the “likelihood to purchase” an advertised product or service based on narrowcaster/advertiser compatibility.

The responsibility to successfully monetize a narrowcast falls onto both the narrowcaster and advertiser equally. The narrowcaster is responsible for producing reliable information about their audience to the advertiser, which can be made possible by using free or inexpensive tools. The advertiser is responsible for understanding who and where their target markets are. If both parties are able to accomplish their responsibilities, then after a match has been made, the value to both is implied.

The ability for a narrowcaster to monetize a small audience at an increased value per diem is a significant change in the structure of the profitability of media.

1. The first use of a Living Wall is as a cooling and filtering system. According to Vegitecture and Urbanarbolismo the use of plants as a cooling and filter system is simple and effective.
2. A second use for a Living Wall is as a Living Roof. This definitely not a new technology according to Wikipedia and has been used in wetter climates around the world in quite the same way.
3. A third use for Living Walls is the aesthetic value that it brings to an internal or external facade. You know that feeling you get when you stand next to something alive, especially plants, when you know it has a certain vibrancy to it? To get that is to understand the point of a living wall.

More to come.

1. Putting QR Codes as part of window display for quick advertising reference.
2. Geo-location based information that provides instant context for any experience, touch point or other interaction.
3. Activating a feature or function within an app or mobile website that only responds to a specific QR Code.
4. Combining a handheld iPhone projector with a QR Code with an embedded image URL. This would allow the user to project a piece of artwork onto the wall where it previously there hadn’t been.
5. Similar to the “United States Currency Tracking Project”, place a QR Code on a dollar bill so that it could be immediately tracked as it is identified.
6. On Mobile Food Trucks so that people in line can check out their menu and prices.
7. In games as way points for information or direction.
8. On resumes.

To me, it seems like the purpose of a QR Code is prompt a use to access otherwise unrelated information by turning their smart phone into a “data access point”. Yet, it seems like we are just at the beginning of using symbols (QR Codes) to give access to an immense amount of peripheral information.

Ultimately, the thing to remember is that QR Codes are not new; having been invented in 1994 by a Toyota company. However, as their adoption begins to trickle into Western Mainstream, their usefulness will be limited by the adoption of smart phones and the imagination of people with printers.

After Aretmas had finished playing, he mentioned something that was quite revealing about performing live for an audience in park. He said, “You know, I have never really thought this through or even said it out-loud, but I would rather perform live than make a record.” Continuing on Artemas said, “You can record something and have a person listen to it 10 times, but the same feeling you get when you listen to it live just isn’t there. When I play live, the sounds just disappear, but with a recording, they are captured forever.” In my mind, this was profound as it implies that the connection between the audience and the performer just isn’t there when a recording stand between the two.

To me that is a challenge to make the media experience as real as possible, one day leading to something as genuine as the original sound. Having now recorded well over 1000 hours of audio, I am beginning to come to the point where I enjoy the rawest format possible. Meaning, even though a WAV file is larger than an MP3, the quality of sound that is captured is so vastly different. It isn’t the role of the recording artist to manipulate the sound, it’s their job to make it as close to the original as possible.

What you are about to hear pressing play above is a song that was recorded at 1PM on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011.

However, during our conversation John makes it clear that those who are to be saved were already destined to be so (predetermination). He, along with many others, is convinced that the world as we know it is coming to a close and that we must “pray to God and never stop.”

Host’s Note: Lets imagine for a second that we are in ancient Rome and we crier announces that, “the Games are about to start!” This would make those listening, the “hearers“. Fast forward 2300 years and we have “readers“. Today, we have “visitors“. It is interesting how the role of the receiver of the information directly reflects the role of the sender of the information. And as that sender becomes an access point to massive amounts of information, almost like a library, the receiver becomes more present. We are sending people to sites; locations.

I see a future for Newspapers where they are libraries, of sorts. A place where an individual can go to do information (read, listen, watch etc.).

If I were employed by Apple to review podcasts for iTunes here is a list of “Quality Checks” or qualifications I would like to see in each program.

1. Quality of Media: A high BitRate for each audio and/or video episode would be encouraged.
2. Hosted Website: A functional hosted website that acted, at least in part,  as the home for the podcast.
3. Archives: At least three previously published full-length episodes of each submitted program.
4. Feed Monitoring: It would be encouraged for each podcast feed URL to be submitted through a “Feed Tracking” service such as FeedBurner.
5. iTunes Feed Information: Accurate and detailed information about each program and episode being submitted to iTunes.
6. ID3 Tagging: Creating the correct ID3 tags for your MP3 episode files.

Now, I should say that these five criteria are only hypothetical and that iTunes may have different ideals entirely. However, after having submitted over a dozen different podcasts for myself and others, these elements seem to be universally successful in achieving a listing in iTunes.

After having podcasted for the past two+ years, I am beginning to see the value in quality across the board when it comes to production and distribution. And as iTunes is one of the most valuable resources for disseminating independently produced episodic media for most publishers, understanding their internal review requirements is important.

Being called “Metrics”, the specific measurements that are available for channel operators is quite profound. Here is a quick breakdown of the various Analytics (Metrics) that Ustream provides.

1. Ustream Broadcast Metrics: The available Metrics for the actual broadcast signal are Unique Viewers, Viewer Hours, Total Views and Average Viewer Hours. These metrics allow you to easily monetize any stream by giving you the equivalency of “impressions” and the ability to qualify them with “value-add-ons”.
2. Ustream Recorded Videos and Highlights: The available Metrics for any recorded broadcast are similar to those of the initial broadcast. The biggest different, however, is that with a recorded broadcast, viewers aren’t forced to just tune into a single stream; they can access it at any time. Therefore the nature of the Metrics available for on-demand videos are about the timeline of viewership. Date and Volume of viewership are the prime Metrics for this form of stream.
3. Ustream Crowd Metrics: The available Metrics for those viewers who have sign-up to be part of your “Ustream Crowd” are, again, Date and Volume. Essentially, at what point did you have a certain number of “crowd members”?
4. Ustream Event Metrics: The available Metrics for “upcoming Events” is simply the Volume of RSVPs. This allows you to understand how popular or important a certain event was to expecting viewers.

In my opinion, the most valuable available Ustream Metrics are those found for the actual streaming itself. Ustream provides some pretty awesome insights, for free, for channel operators. Taking advantage of these measurements will allow you to monetize and manage your content. So, get out there and make something.

In the past, most qualitative metrics were guesses at best. Now, through the introduction of Social Analytics content publishers are able to specialize their content to an ever more specific audience. The goal for emerging publishers is to learn how to target a specific audience, not necessarily appeal to the masses.

It will become increasingly profitable for both advertisers and publishers to release better information to a smaller audience. This isn’t a print-on-demand service or a reduction in the circulation of a Newspaper, it is the creation of original content that is delivered to specific individuals. Essentially, the information that we consume will become a completely customized experience. Unfortunately this puts the paperboy out of business completely.

More specifically, this puts a larger strain on major news outlets and their massive overheads. Yet, hope is emerging in the form of experimentation. I recently joined the Oregonian News Network through my work with the Clark County Blog and experienced firsthand the impact that a small investment can make in diversifying the incoming news sources of a larger outlet.

It is this investment that is going to introduce me to a new context for the relationship between traffic sources and Social data. I am looking forward to learning more about how to use Social and Web Analytics together in the hopes of making better, cheaper and faster News. Who knows what we will learn.

A first trait that defines a Website’s behavior is the “Average Time on Site” of a visitor. When you know this amount, you better understand the attention span of visitors to your site. This is an indicator, not necessarily of quality, but of the “Duration of Relevance” or how long your site mattered. Duration of Relevance

A second trait that defines a Website’s behavior is the comparison of “New Visits to the Bounce Rate”. This could be called the “Impression of Relevance” to your visitors. In other words, how significant of a role does your website continue to play in the online lives of those who visit. Is your website their friend, if not why? Friend, Foe or Somewhere in Between?

A third trait is the comparison of the “Average Pages per Visit to the Average Time on Site”. Ultimately, this describes how quickly people shuffle through your site. Often what I have found is that the more pages people view, the shorter the time they spend on each. However, this trait has a wide variance, depending on each site. Pace of Experience

A fourth trait that describes a Website’s behavior is the shared proportions of the three major kinds of traffic sources (Direct, Referring and Search). Essentially, this is the diet of the Website and therefore the more balanced it is, the healthier the site. As an example, imagine a Media site that is heavily reliant on Search Engines for it’s traffic. The moment that Google changes it’s algorithm or the cost of a Keyword goes up, the Website must be able to rely on alternative sources of traffic. Every site needs a balanced and diverse diet to truly thrive. Diversity of Diet

A fifth and final trait of a Website’s behavior is the “Location of it’s Traffic”. The question that is being answered is, “Where in the World are people visiting my site from?” Again, traffic to a website is it’s diet and therefore the location of where it is being fed. This is like asking, “Where do you normally eat lunch?” If your answer is, “Most of my traffic (diet) is local,” then you may be a Hometown Hero. However, if your visitors come from around the world then you may be a Global Citizen. Hometown Hero or Global Citizen?

It is interesting to think that a Website has it’s own behavior and that there exist traits that can define it. It would almost seem to imply that a Website has a distinct personality based on it’s unique combination of factors. Factors that can be understood at many levels; from the aggregate to the individual profile. Web Analytics enables you to better construct the relationship that visitors have with your Website and therefore to your organization.

Now I am interested in hearing what you have to say. What are your thoughts on the personification of Websites? Can a Website “be on it’s best behavior”?

The more I study Analytics, whether it is Web, Social or Mobile, I find that a clearer picture is emerging in my mind of how people use the Internet. The typical peaks and valleys begin to emerge, time and time again. You can actually predict how long the public will care about a certain issue or why a Twitter account has 40,000+ followers. It’s simply a matter of who we are.

The big question Web Analytics will ultimately answer is, “Who are we becoming?” It is clear that we, as a scattered yet connected community are beginning to experience the world differently. Our ability to know, communicate and change are quickening and as result we are setting the pace.

The Internet is just the beginning of what is to come. We are truly witnessing a new Renaissance and with it the growth of the mind. This is a process which is made possible only through technology. The machines that we embrace are becoming extensions of our senses, heightening the power of the mind. This coming Renaissance will change everything.

Our ability to experience the world is no longer limited by who, where, when, why and what we are. I can see the sunset in Maui from the mountains of Sweden 3 days later on demand. That will become the common understanding of the world; a ubiquitous experience.

What a blessing to share these thoughts with you. Times are changing and I hope to be a part of it my entire life.

• Zoom H2 Portable Stereo Recorder:http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H2-Portable-Stereo-Recorder/dp/B000VBH2IG/ – Cost: $127.50
• Alesis MultiMix USB Four Channel Mixer:http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-MultiMix-USB-Four-Channel-Mixer/dp/B001T9O5VG - Cost: $73:14
• SanDisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Class-Memory-SDSDB-8192-Packaging/dp/B0018BOLIC – Cost: $11.22
• Shure PG58 Vocal Mic: http://www.amazon.com/Shure-PG58XLR-Vocal-Mic-Cable/dp/B0000WOEG4 – Cost: $59.00
• Tabletop Mic Stand:http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Nu-Era-Tabletop-Mic-Stand/dp/B003VYBD58 – Cost: $7.95
• XLR Mic Cable:http://www.amazon.com/XLR-male-female-Microphone-Cable/dp/B000165DSM – Cost: $6.88
• Mixer-to-Recorder Cable:http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-CMP153-Stereo-8In-Mono/dp/B0002CZZ0G – Cost: $5.50

1 – Setting Up Your Equipment

This is potentially the most important point in recording a podcast as it requires a bit of technical expertise, however the Internet is here to help. Instead of me dedicating the next 2000 words to elaborating on how to connect your mixer to your computer and proper use of your mixer-to-recorder cord, I will suggest that you refer to the following diagram, which should be worth at least 1000 words.

2 – Setting Up Skype

Before you can adjust Skype you need to download it. Here is the link to page where you can pick your Operating System for downloading Skype: http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/. After you have installed the program you need to adjust your audio “Input” and “Output” settings. To accomplish this open Skype and click on “Tools”, then “Options” and finally “Audio Settings”. Here is an image of what your “Input” and “Output” should look like.

Ultimately the goal is to set both the “Input” and “Output” to your mixer, which is referred to as “USB Audio CODEC”. This will allow the Skype to send and receive sound from your mixer.

3 – Mic Technique

Your goal is to speak in such a way into the microphone as to allow for the highest quality recording as possible. Here are a few pointers for when you are speaking into the mic.

1. Keep you mouth in front of the microphone.
2. Speak no more than 4 inches away from the mesh-ball of the mic. This is because the microphone you are using is designed to only pick up the sounds of a single source (your voice) and this limits its effectiveness at even a short distance.
3. Looking at your mixer you will see two vertical lines of green, orange and red lights; these is your meter. When you are speaking into the mic watch these lights flash. You do not want the red lights flashing as this indicates something known as “peaking”. To avoid this, learn at what volume your voice and the mixer need to be at in order to maintain a conversational tone.

4 – Mic Settings

It is important to understand how to adjust the settings on your mixer to fit your needs. Below is an image with the labels for each adjustable element for a single microphone. Following the image is a brief description of the function of each labeled element.

1. Volume: This is how you adjust the level of sound from complete silence to max.
2. Pan: This allows you to move the sound from left to right when recording in stereo.
3. Lows: This knob allows you to adjust the deeper sounds of your mic. This is great for certain voices that are naturally deep.
4. Highs: Similar to “Lows”, this element allows you to adjust the higher sounds of your mic.
5. Gain: Similar to volume, the “Gain” allows you to radically adjust the volume level by increasing the “sound floor” or the quietest the volume can get. Be careful not to set this element to high or you will easily peak.

5 – Using the Recorder

To use the recorder for podcasting there are three main functions/settings that you need to become familiar with. Here is a list with descriptions for each of those settings.

1. Recording Button: The big red button in the lower center on the front of the recorder is the “Recording Button”. If you press the red button once, you engage the recorder’s “Monitoring” status. This means that you will be able to “monitor” your audio level coming from your mixer. This is a great opportunity to adjust the “Recording Level”. If you press the red button twice, you will engage the recorder’s “Active” status. This means that the device is currently recoding the audio it is receiving. Make sure that the “Recording Button” has been pressed twice before you begin your podcast interview/conversation.
2. Line-In: This is where you will plug the 1/8 inch end of your mixer cable into in order to receive sound.
3. Recording Level: These are the two buttons directly underneath the screen that allow you to adjust the “sensitivity” of the recorder to the incoming audio. Simply press the minus button to lower the sound and the plus button to raise it. Adjusting the “Recording Level” down makes the recorder less sensitive to louder sounds. The opposite is true for raising it.

6 – Dont Forget About the SD Card

To even be able to record you need to insert the SD card into the bottom of the recorder. To do this, simply slide the SD port open, insert the card gently and close it.

Ultimately, this is a simple guide to a series of important points to be able to podcast.

1. Carla Axtman from Blue Oregon (CA)
2. Paul Souders from Mercy Corps (PS)
3. Carri Bugbee from Big Deal PR (CB)
4. Dene Grigar from WSU Vancouver (DG)
   

Questions:

• How is the technology changing the way we consume media?

PS: Humanity will change, not the technology, in regards to filtering the information. Ultimately the technology is unpredictable.

CA: If we allow technology to change the way we consume media by only selecting what we want to hear then we will live in a bubble.

DG: There is a tendency to want to follow people first. We flock together already. 2/3 of the world’s population already use Social Media.

• How is it possible to have tools that change things so quickly and still have the dichotomy of “like-groups”?

CA: Events on Social Media create a new sense of synergy for events. It was because of the Social Media coverage that the News paid attention to. We have to overcome Corporate Media to actually get information.

CB: What is interesting about the News and Social Media is that Twitter publicly aggregates and tracks messages.

• How do you use Social Media to get people to do things?

PS: More people donate through Facebook Shares than through paid advertising. Essentially, sharing the action of “doing good” on Facebook is advertising you can’t buy. Twitter is a broadcast medium and it takes a critical mass for things to happen.

• How far does Social Media extend?

PS: It is hard for people to distinguish between media and the real. YouTube and cell phones enables us to act like CNN from 20 years ago.

DG: Online multimedia is especially interesting to women. Rodney King was an example of “eye-reporting” over 15 years ago.

• What are your thoughts on the compression of time through Social Media?

CA: There needs to be an ethical standard for using Social Media. The speed at which we transmit media allows people to make immediate opinions without knowing all of the details and this is an ethical issue.

DG: Many Communications Schools at various Universities don’t teach Social Media. The idea of the “greater good” doesn’t work anymore. We have to look at what is best for not just the now, but the future. This is called Deontology. The Hindenburg event reporter was fired for being passionate.

CB: There are two ways of looking at Social Media. 1. Social Media is narcissistic and therefore will fall by the wayside. 2. Traditional Media is so dispassionate, but Social Media is more personal and therefore connects you to the event more than others.

• Is Social Media a trend or a new reality?

PS: Social Media is like a body of water that is always running, if it gets turned off then people notice. We now accept Social Media as a baseline of connectedness.

CA: You can dam the river but Social Media, the Internet, will find a way. It’s a brave new world my friends.

• What are the risks of Social Media becoming something that can be used in bad ways as well?

CA: One of the ways that the Tea Party came together was through Facebook events. You can look at the Obama Campaign as a great example of someone who was charismatic could use Social Media.

• Does Social Media allow us to find a common ground?

PS: People on Facebook use their real name today, while people 15 years ago used fake names. The anonymity of the Internet allowed people to swing punches from the dark corner.

CA: At Blue Oregon we used Facebook Connect because of the “cesspool” of comments and since then the comments have cooled down. Conversations today are much more amicable.

DG: Anonymity is the problem. Social Media allows you to create ethos, your brand and your image.

Audience Questions and Subjects:

• Wikipedia and Social Media acting as the fact checker of the Internet.
• To silo is to restrict the information that you receive and that is impossible on the Internet.
  
• Mubarak shutdown the Internet and as a result shutdown the country.
• What is the effect of Social Media on our youth?
• What are your thoughts on Live Blogging?
• Noise sucks!

1. Zoom H2 Portable Stereo Recorder: http://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H2-Portable-Stereo-Recorder/dp/B000VBH2IG/ – Cost: $127.50
2. Alesis MultiMix USB Four Channel Mixer: http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-MultiMix-USB-Four-Channel-Mixer/dp/B001T9O5VG - Cost: $73:14
3. SanDisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Class-Memory-SDSDB-8192-Packaging/dp/B0018BOLIC – Cost: $11.22
4. Shure PG58 Vocal Mic: http://www.amazon.com/Shure-PG58XLR-Vocal-Mic-Cable/dp/B0000WOEG4 – Cost: $59.00
5. Tabletop Mic Stand: http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Nu-Era-Tabletop-Mic-Stand/dp/B003VYBD58 – Cost: $7.95
6. XLR Mic Cable: http://www.amazon.com/XLR-male-female-Microphone-Cable/dp/B000165DSM – Cost: $6.88
7. Mixer-to-Recorder Cable: http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-CMP153-Stereo-8In-Mono/dp/B0002CZZ0G – Cost: $5.50

As a podcaster myself, I have a firm loyalty to high-quality audio. So, when I find another producer who is dedicated to the passion of sound, I always take a good listen to what they produce. Recently, I stumbled across a new podcast based out of my hometown of Portland Oregon; Listening Pleasures by Nueva Forma. The whole production was superb, so I decided to check out their website and learn more about the artists they represent.

Here is a brief rundown of a few of my pick for best artist.

Cloudburst

His music starts off quick, but subtle. It then moves into a electric echo in the foreground quickly followed by a distant base thump. Welcome to a soundscape. Cloudburst’s music is wonderful and elicits a need for space when listening to his music. This is one local Portland Artist I did not know of who I look forward to hearing more from.

This is a great label and I hope they do well. Take a listen and you might find something that you enjoy too.

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/nueva-forma/feed/ 0 cable bills suck,cloudburst,nueva forma,podcasts,Portland Oregon,woot,YouTube I am a huge podcast fan, with nearly 30 iTunes subscriptions. These hour long audio programs make up the majority of my time spent with entertainment and News. Podcasts and YouTube have allowed me to get rid of my $80 monthly cable bill (Woot!). - I am a huge podcast fan, with nearly 30 iTunes subscriptions. These hour long audio programs make up the majority of my time spent with entertainment and News. Podcasts and YouTube have allowed me to get rid of my $80 monthly cable bill (Woot!). As a podcaster myself, I have a firm loyalty to high-quality audio. So, when I find another producer who is dedicated to the passion of sound, I always take a good listen to what they produce. Recently, I stumbled across a new podcast based out of my hometown of Portland Oregon; Listening Pleasures by Nueva Forma. The whole production was superb, so I decided to check out their website and learn more about the artists they represent. Here is a brief rundown of a few of my pick for best artist. Cloudburst His music starts off quick, but subtle. It then moves into a electric echo in the foreground quickly followed by a distant base thump. Welcome to a soundscape. Cloudburst's music is wonderful and elicits a need for space when listening to his music. This is one local Portland Artist I did not know of who I look forward to hearing more from. This is a great label and I hope they do well. Take a listen and you might find something that you enjoy too. Bret Bernhoft no 8:02 http://www.bretevan.com/phillip-beswick-of-the-media-audit-episode-3/ http://www.bretevan.com/phillip-beswick-of-the-media-audit-episode-3/#comments Thu, 03 Mar 2011 07:36:56 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=1608 On this episode of Journalytics I interview Phillip Beswick of The Media Audit about the importance of demographics in advertising and the need to measure them. We discuss multiple mediums including television, radio and the Internet. Examples such as Pandora, Satellite Radio and Network Television are all subjects for this interview.

It was during our conversation that I realized measurement, as a practice, has existed for as long as media has. From traditional television audiences to modern day Internet subscribers, the “need to know” about the quality of the audience has driven advertising. So, take a listen as we dive into the details about the importance of measurement on all mediums.

1. The first resource that I recommend is the “Beyond Web Analytics” podcast. Hosts, Adam Greco, Rudi Shumpert, James Dutton and Gary Angel represent the growing need to communicate within the world of Web Analytics. To date there have been 41 episodes produced, all of which, in my opinion, are insightful and really represent a certain “pulse” within the Web Analytics community. I feel that Beyond Web Analytics provides a real insight into what is happening across the profession.
2. The second resource I recommend is Quora. If the goal is to learn from a community of experienced practitioners, then this is a goldmine of insightful nuggets. What makes Quora especially valuable is the immediacy of feedback you get on engaging questions; there is a very active community here. To start with, check out the “Web Analytics” topic and review some of the questions that have been asked and answered.
3. The third resource I recommend is the Analysis Exchange program that allows both students and mentors to come together to learn while working on submitted projects. The Analysis Exchange is essentially the Web Analytics community coming together to inspire and provide the education of Web Analysts across the Internet. It is free to sign up and the education and experience are quite valuable.
4. The fourth resource I recommend is Google Alerts, which allow you to monitor the Web for keywords of interest in either realtime or periodically. Creating an Alert for the terms “Web Analytics” and “Web Analyst” gives you access to what Google finds on the subject. Therefore, you are constantly being provided access to potential resources of value from a variety of platforms, including Blogs and YouTube.
5. The fifth and final resource that I recommend is Twitter Search. Performing a search for either “Web Analytics” or “Web Analyst” provides you an opportunity to view in-the-moment conversations about the subject. This is an excellent resource for becoming familiar with the subtopics that are involved in Web Analytics.

There is a growing body of professional wisdom that seeks to serve those who are willing to teach themselves. From Blogs and Twitter to Podcasts, there are countless resources available to students. This is not by chance as many of the people involved in this industry are entrepreneurs at heart and therefore innovation comes naturally and is shared for the benefit of all. Tapping into this information only takes a bit of curiosity and a commitment to quality information. Ultimately, the goal is to provide yourself with opportunities to ask questions and receive guidance from examples of insightful work.

The New Newsroom Flow

In a recent article on the Forbes website, Lewis DVorkin paints a picture of the evident dichotomy between traditional Newsrooms and the emergence of New Media Newsrooms. In his article titled, “9 big steps in 9 short months, now Forbes is building The New Newsroom,”Lewis points out that,

The Web and social media turned everything upside down. Knowledgeable content creators, audience members and marketers, too, now possess tools to independently produce and distribute text, photos and video that is then shared, “followed” and commented on across the digital landscape.

From the image that began this post (The New Newsroom) we find that the entire process of telling the News is now matter of context and analysis.The very positions involved with the “Flow of the News” essentially revolve around making content smarter and understanding it’s success through monitoring. This is a radical shift in the world of storytelling as it puts a greater level of responsibility onto the shoulders of the Newsroom to validate its performance.

Above is a video with an audio piece I put together about “The Future of the Internet”. Take a watch!

It wasn’t until I sat down the owner, Erin Sutherland, and asked her about her new venture that I realized how unique this clothing store was. Above you will find the audio from our conversation and below you will find a photo gallery of Lodekka. Enjoy!

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/lodekka/feed/ 0 Double Decker Bus,Erin Sutherland,Lodekka,Portland Oregon Earlier today I was walking down N. Williams in Portland Oregon near Failing Street, where there are typically only "brick and mortar" businesses. However, today there was something quite different. I noticed a traditional British Double Decker bus tha... Earlier today I was walking down N. Williams in Portland Oregon near Failing Street, where there are typically only "brick and mortar" businesses. However, today there was something quite different. I noticed a traditional British Double Decker bus that had been converted into a Dress Shop called "Lodekka". This mass-transit vehicle had been retired in a very fashionable way. It wasn't until I sat down the owner, Erin Sutherland, and asked her about her new venture that I realized how unique this clothing store was. Above you will find the audio from our conversation and below you will find a photo gallery of Lodekka. Enjoy! Bret Bernhoft no 3:46 http://www.bretevan.com/daves-killer-bread/ http://www.bretevan.com/daves-killer-bread/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:26:58 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=1447 On this episode of PROPcast we interview Dave Dahl of “Dave’s Killer Bread”. From humility to the changes and struggles people must go through to become something different. There is something special about this interview. Dave is a very honest and humble man, making a difference in the lives of hundreds of employees and thousands of customers. Take a listen.

One of the first steps to developing a community is establishing a “Constitution” or Code of Conduct that individuals can and will be held accountable to. Recently, the Web Analytics Association released a public document referred to as “The Web Analysts Code of Ethics” that is intended to help change the dialogue around the responsibility of Vendors, Analysts and Clients. In addition, there is a publicly available list of supporters designed to show the industry wide support for this effort. This list and its public supporters are the founders of signers of a draft of a proverbial Constitution for the Web Analytics industry. I personally see this as a statement of intention and the continuing process of maturation within this industry. However, this is only one sign of the progress of the Web Analyst profession.

Another example of an industry beginning to mature is the identification of “everyday heroes”. Emer Kirrane is the owner and publisher of a website titled, “Crepuscular Light” and has begun profiling well-known Web Analysts throughout the industry. Despite being in the early stages, this is a clear example of how Web Analysts are taking notice of each other and thus elevating our own good-doers. The result is that we are beginning to see each other more as collaborators and less as competitors.

As a young Web Analyst I have the privilege of seeing our industry with fresh eyes and like most things that relate to this line of work I am excited by the possibilities that await us.

A Web Analyst is an individual who helps make sense of, typically, anonymous aggregated data in a way that betters both the customer experience and a company’s business objectives. The Analyst acts as a conduit for customer behavior and is, by the nature of the profession, able to readily communicate insights to others. To accomplish this, the Analyst must enter into a state of “Flow” where information travels through them from a tool to a decision. A good Analyst is able, through the State of Flow, to appreciate the intelligence of a collective customer base and reflect that wisdom to people who need to make a decision.

One of the assumptions that I am making about an Analyst’s work is that it involves customers on one side and a need for an organization to remain sustainable, typically through income, on the other. It might seem that an Analyst is a peace maker between two opposing parties; customers and business. However, instead of viewing the role of an Analyst as a bringing resolution, think of it as bringing enlightenment and clarity to, what is typically, guesswork. If this is true, Flow is the means for an Analyst to bridge a connection between these two sides. Imagine, if you will, that Flow is the optimal level of performance an Analyst can have. It is like an athlete saying, “I was in the Zone.”

To achieve and sustain this state, there must be recognition of the value of data in the business process at a “Change Maker” level. Meaning, that the individual(s) inside a business who are able to make or influence important decisions must understand the importance of evidence; Analytics data. It is this understanding, truly, that enables the Analyst to enter Flow. This is because; an Analyst is not a self contained unit. Every Analyst must be supported by Managers, VPs, Junior Analysts and other key positions in order to be effective. Ultimately, that is what an Analyst is about, effectiveness and therefore Flow.

The impact that an Analysts’ State of Flow has on a business is, in-of-itself, a KPI as it points to the quality of the collective embrace of Analytics. Therefore, it is my opinion, that an Analyst is a sort of “Canary in the Coal Mine” for how any digital enterprise will fare. To ignore the unbiased insights of a good Analyst is to ignore your customers’ needs. Flow is just the tip of the iceberg for how an Analyst functions inside of an organization and with time we will see this position become increasingly invaluable to both customers and businesses.

If our environments decide much of who we are, then I would contend that by providing context through technology you will improve the well-being of those involved. Being able to be in a space and to understand where someone is coming from encourages the good in us all. This is how technology returns from where it came, by allowing us new levels of understanding to who we are both as a collective and as individuals.

Enter Geo-Targeting

Google, to the best of my observations, in-part uses the location of a Searcher in the results that are displayed. For instance, being that I am located in Portland Oregon, it would make sense that when I type in “books” that local bookstores, such as Powells, would be displayed among the first page results. This, when translated into the world of Journalism, is “Hyper-Local” at its best. The news can do the same thing, but instead of waiting for the visitor to make an on-site search, News outlets can be proactive by customizing the entire experience of an audience member based on location.

Analytics gives the website owner (the content publisher) the ability to find what people are reading based on location. This in turn helps to reinvests the power of content back into the hands of those who produce it. Let’s get specific.

City Level Targeting

Web Analytics, such as Webtrends or Google, can parse visitor data down to the City level. From that Segment or Advanced Filter level the content producer is able to see what is being viewed and for how long, among other valuable insights. With this information, the News that is being delivered to consumers can be unambiguously prioritized.

This does not mean that the news is adjusted, edited or altered in of the content in any way. Also, news isn’t being withheld from any portion of the audience, it is simply being presented in a different order of importance. The reality is that content can be distributed to the audiences who are likely to need it based on their locations and traffic patterns.

This can be done instantaneously through an automated tagging system operated by Journalists who understand the demands of each location. This has, in someways, been done for 100+ through the existence of local papers. The writers who produce stories are assumed to have an understanding of the needs of their local reader base, now the readers are telling you what they want through Analytics.

All Encompassing

The advent of Social and Mobile Analytics allows the content publisher to extend this kind of monitoring outside of the confines of their own website. Now, content can be distributed on Social and Mobile platforms using similar techniques as mentioned above.

Mobile Analytics allows you to change the news feed for each individual app user based on their changing location. So, if a business reader travels and uses your News app for their information, it would make sense to customize a portion of their news feed based on their movements. Social Media allows you a much broader set of metrics to consider when creating a customized News feed.

This includes the use of a monitoring tool such as Social Mention or Twitter Search to understand the real-time consumer needs of any specific location based on key word. This can be used as much needed information for Web or Mobile Analytics can lack the kind measurement of substance that Social provides.

Conclusion

The use of Analytics in the News telling process is becoming increasingly invaluable to online news outlets and early adopters are finding ways to use these tools for the benefit of the audience. If you working “in the News” in some capacity, from Editors to Bloggers and back, information can be intelligently distributed in ways unimaginable to most even 5 years ago.

Growing up with technology has given my generation the greatest gift yet, connectivity. Whether it’s Wikipedia or World of Warcraft, my peers and I who were fortunate enough to have access to technology were prepared for a future of a vastly different relationship with each other.

As we begin to identify our new skills we become increasingly frustrated with limitations on our ability to remain connected. Imagine, if you will, that for someone who is in their 20′s, communication is constant and fluid. It is communication that has moved from the phone to Facebook to Facebook on the phone, that makes it so that we are now reliant on the “status update“. This in turn has shifted our perspective from regional to global in no less than four years. As a result, there are things happening in small pockets around the world that are changing the ways people learn and create.

Here is a TED video of Sugata Mitra explaining his work with exposing children from around the world to a technology that can help you learn anything; the Internet. If you have a time crunch then I would suggest forwarding the video to the last two minutes, there you will see a summary of his presentation and what it would take “to change everything“.

Now, not only is my generation learning with the internet, but we are creating with it too. From financing to displaying, our art is part of a global museum. The halls of which include Flickr, Facebook and Google Image Search. Instead of having to forgo creativity because of a lack of money, now you can “crowdsource your funding”. The project known as KICKSTARTER is one example of how this is possible. The video below is an explanation of one use of the Internet to enable creative minds.

The videos above help illustrate the main point that “the speed of being creative and sharing knowledge is quickening.” There is little in the way of preventing this that can happen. However, the obstacle of “limited exposure” prevents an equal share of knowledge for all who seek it. It is my sentiment that sharing our understanding of the internet with each other will only inspire great things.

Interesting things are happening and I feel privileged that we can be a part of them together.

1. You are curious about what is popular online somewhere else in the world and want to know what searches are related, based on physical location, to a primary search query.
2. You would like to understand how to reach a geologically specific audience.

The more specific you are in your search, the greater your chances are for finding an answer. If search engines, even in part, work best with specific queries then the more precise your search term is, the more accurate a measurement GIS can give you. This is based on the idea of “search intention” (the reason for someone’s search) being rooted in experience and curiosity. Of course there are other reasons why people search, but the working assumption is that most people search because they want to see, hear, learn or relate to information.

For instance, let’s say that I was curious about the global and regional interest level in President Obama’s State of the Union Address. This is a specific enough search that you can define a single subject of interest, meaning that people who search for the “State of the Union Address” are probably looking for something related to the primary focus of the query. In addition to being able to see geographic based interest levels in certain subjects, you are also able to understand what are the “related” and “emerging search terms” are to the original query.

These three sets of data (geographic interest, emerging search and related searches) provide a window into how to build content for a specific world population. For instance, let’s say that you are looking to write a blog on American Politics or create content for an audience to earn money off of advertising and you need to know what subjects to write about at this moment. Let’s also say that your audience is or needs to be in Brazil. You understand enough about the culture, language and personalities of the people of Brazil to write in a way that they will relate to, but don’t know what to write about.

To solve this problem you take a subject such as “Obama”, a location such as Brazil and a time period such as 2004 – the Present and you enter these values into the GIS tool. When you hit search here is what you find:

What you will find is a treasure trove of information or blueprints for the subjects that you would want to cover to inform and entertain an audience in Brazil.Notice the red arrows that are pointing towards similar search terms in both “Top Searches” and “Rising Searches”. These are your KPIs or “Key Performance Indicators” for what to focus on. Now, to understand the context of what each search term means, it is advised that you actually input each search term into Google to find out what content is popular based on front page rankings. Whether it is a popular YouTube video or a blog post, this will provide you an understanding of how to apply each search term to your content.

In addition, GIS gives you the ability to guesstimate where your traffic in Brazil will come from based on the overall search interest per region. This may lead you to an additional level of geological specificity by clicking on the more popular regions and finding out what is popular in an even smaller area. This is a point that is up to you, but remember the more specific your content, the more specific your audience.

Ultimately, GIS is a tool for researching an audience for a piece or series of content. It’s value is immense to content publishers and advertisers.

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/using-google-insights-for-search-to-research-an-audience/feed/ 0 http://www.bretevan.com/growth-patterns-for-facebook-page-likes/ http://www.bretevan.com/growth-patterns-for-facebook-page-likes/#comments Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:28:15 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=1324 As part of the research that I do at Webtrends I have been using the Facebook Page Statistics tool from AllFacebook.com. This tool gives you the ability to see the growth rates of pages over the past 30 days. While this time period can be limiting, in general the information is invaluable to understanding how a page is performing. After having reviewed hundreds of growth periods, one of the trends that I have noticed is that there are three distinct growth patterns for pages on the “rise” (increase in total number of “likes”). What follows is a brief overview of some of the key characteristics for each growth pattern.

1. The first pattern is is what we might call the “slow and steady wins the race” phenomenon. Notice that the box I have drawn around the growth line is longer than numbers 2 and 3. This is because, from what I have seen, this growth pattern is highly sustainable and therefore predictable over a longer period of time. Typically, this growth rate only sees a 2% weekly increase in the total number of new ” page likes”.
2. The second growth pattern is what we will call “the middle ground” as it is a representation of both a sudden shift in upwards growth and a track record for being predictable. However, the box that I have drawn around this growth pattern is nearly half the size of the first pattern and is therefore less reliable.
3. The third pattern is what I call “shocking” because of the sudden and sharp growth in “likes”. The most important part of predicting how sustainable a growth pattern is, is the ability to understand why it is happening. This pattern has more variables than patterns one or two and is therefore less predictable. Notice the box that I have drawn around the growth period for patter number 3, it is the smallest of all the patterns.

Essentially, the period of growth measured against the percentage of growth, gives you an idea of how predictable your increase is. I won’t make any implications as to whether one growth pattern is “better” than another, that depends on your metrics. What is important to make clear is that being able to predict the rate of growth of a page based on time/% of increase is an important measurement to understand. I believe this measurement lays the foundation for a larger conversation about what success means.

If there was a medium (Twitter) that had created a shared name for a relationship (part of the shared vocabulary) that was able to be graphed (Twiangulate) then you could display a number of elements. In my mind, there are four elements that can be readily considered:

1. Popularity
2. Proximity
3. Quantity
4. Volume

These four elements comprise part of the social fabric of Personal Communities on Twitter and therefore can be potentially measured.

The base assumption that I make here is that the definition of a “personal community” is, “the network of shared relationships between two people.” So, if a relationship is the presence of mutually understood terms and a personal community is the network of relationships between two people, then we must understand if this applies online platforms, such as Twitter.

I am a digital native, so for me the connections that I make online are representations of, if not in fact, my actual relationships. Even a strict interpretation of the definitions in this post would show that online connections are relationships. I therefore toss my hat into the ring and state that Twitter applies here, at least in my world it does.

Now, here is the fun part. I used Twiangualte to map out three “personal communities” between six Twitter Accounts. I then took screen shots and used Photoshop, to make this safe for those people behind the profiles involved, having erased all the names in each graph. I also color coordinated each profile based on the percentage of other profiles who are their friends. Here are some of the interesting observations I can make about each pair.

Community #1

In this community most people know each other with even the outliers have a percentage of relation above 20%.

Community #2

This community is, from my experience much more common in relationship to the volume of share connections as well as structure. When compared to community #1 you can see a difference in the distance between the outliers and the center is greater. Also, there are fewer black profiles per the volume of community members when compared to both communities #1 and #2.

Community #3

Community #3 is the sparsest of the three communities. With no single profile knowing more than 60% of the other profiles, there is no center or core (leader) for this group. Essentially, this is a very loose knit community.

There are takeaways from the comparison of these three communities. The first is that there will always be a center with outliers. The second is that there is probably an ideal ratio of more popular to less popular community members. Third and final is that there is a distinct ripple effect in the actual structure of each community. These takeaways are evidence in my mind of uniformity within the makeup of every community. There are mediums and tools that are emerging that are beginning to make seeing “MetaData” easier. Being able to see our communities is one example.

We will be using information from the Google Analytics (GA) and the Facebook Insights (FBi) from four of my personal websites. Each website used has a minimum monthly traffic volume of 1000 unique visitors. We will only be looking at the Browser and Gender/Age of visitors who have come to each site. The question is, “What is the relationship between the Gender/Age and the preferred Browser of visitors who view each site?” It is my guess that we will see Firefox as being more popular on sites where the average age of engaged user is between 20 and 30.

Website #1

This is a personal blog of mine that I have been working on for the past two months. What is interesting to see about this combination of GA and FBi is the incredible preference males have to this site over females.  Among the Browsers of the visitors to the site, Firefox appears to be popular.  As well, the diversity of Browsers seems to be unique considering the short lifespan of this website.

Website #2

This are the GA and FBi from one of my more recent podcasts. Again, you will notice that this site is popular among 25-34 y.o. males who use Firefox.

Website #3

These are the GA and FBi from one of the more popular sites I constructed. Notice that the popularity of Firefox continues with almost 40% of all visitors. Also, this site is popular among 25-34 y.o. adults, both female and male. However, what we find is that this is is also popular among 35-44 y.o. adults as well. This fact may only increase the popularity of Firefox among visitors.

Website #4

The GA and FBi from this site are closely reflective of the data from Website #3 above. However, the purpose of Website #4 is widely different than that of Website #3. This again strengthens the idea that, in general, the demographics of a content producer, not solely the function of the website, will determine the audience.

I put together the average use of the top four Browsers as well as the popularity of all four sites among the various age ranges measured by FBi. I think these four sets of Analytics, when viewed together in the two charts to the left, make three main points.

1. Firefox is a popular Browser among internet users in their 20s to early 40s.
2. The demographics of a content producer will generally be reflected in the content consumers.
3. My sites are not easily consumed on mobile devices.

The first point seems to answer my earlier question, “What is the relationship between the Gender/Age and the preferred Browser of visitors who view each site?” The answer, while not being conclusive, shows that there is a relationship between the use of Firefox and those who are between the ages of 25-44, both females and males. The second point is something that I will explore on an upcoming episode of Journalytics. And finally, the third point was just too obvious to pass up.

All in all, this is pretty revealing and demonstrates the need to understand your audience. Facebook Insights and other Analytics like it, provide an emerging level of Analytics that is changing how we measure the performance of our sites. Knowing your audience will become increasingly valuable and easy to do.

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/firefox-is-popular-among-25-4-year-old-adults/feed/ 0 http://www.bretevan.com/the-portland-artists-clinic/ http://www.bretevan.com/the-portland-artists-clinic/#comments Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:14:14 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=1226 The challenges faced by the uninsured are growing. From a lack of access to simple screenings to the need for treatment, many are going without. Artists, in particular, are vulnerable to these pressures. In response to this reality, a team of doctors, practitioners and concerned citizens have team up to create an alternative to having no safety net. The Portland Artists Clinic is the product of their efforts.

Without a need for membership and with the presence of skilled practitioners, The Portland Artists Clinic is a bright spot on the horizon. The energy of the three ladies I interviewed is very present in the need to help. To help raise money for the creation of this clinic, the proceeds from this year’s Threshold event are being donated to their cause.

I think that you will enjoy this episode as it is a demonstration of a community healing itself; people taking on their own needs and filling the gaps. So, take a listen and find out what Portland is up to.

I overheard a conversation between what appeared to be, two freshmen who were using verbs that related only to the online space of Facebook. ““Facebook me” when you get home,” one of the students said to the other. This was all the other student needed to know before they departed; the course of action was simple for both students. One of them would access a digital representation of the other to engage in conversation about what had happened in their “physical lives”. The digital space was the endgame.

The significance of this is that a completely digital space has now spilled over beyond its own domain and into the physical world of offline conversation. The fact that I need to delineate between online and offline seems silly to me, but that is only because I see the two as merging. These student are participants in one of the many changes that are happening in communication; no phone calls, just simple and brief messages.

The ability to have a conversation about a representative world, the Internet, in the physical world says something about the paradigm of both the students. They see both realms as equally important for their social graces and collective experiences. Facebook is beginning to reach a level of significance in the lives of those who use it that make it appear irreplaceable.

This wasn’t said about MySpace when it was popular. It is now seen as having been a collective experiment in online communication and community building. Today, it is a niche site dedicated to sharing a specific kind of media, music. I think Facebook has already passed the point of no return for vanishing over night, similar to MySpace. Poof!

Facebook is becoming a home to an incredible percentage of our online activities. As the ability to access anyone you are connected to increases, so too will the language we use in our offline lives to describe the actions in our online lives. I am personally excited by these changes, but that is just a sign of what generation I am a part of.

So tell me, are you excited or nervous about these changes?

As enforcement of these rules, the WAA is looking to the community. Christopher Berry has an interesting take on his blog about how this Code of Ethics is a “social contract”. In my opinion, that is a true statement. While not every industry can self-police, the Web Analytics industry can. This is because of two reasons.

1. The Size of the industry: The Web Analytics industry is still small enough that colleagues are tight knit. This inspires, when involving the community to an extent, honesty and straightforwardness.
2. The Public Spotlight: Being that the public is aware of the conversation the industry is having, there is continued pressure to perform at a high level within the Web Analytics industry.

John Lovett, one of the authors of the Web Analyst’s Code of Ethics, states that,

It’s important to recognize that this Code is a pledge for individuals and not organizations. We created it as such because we know that not every individual will be able to enforce policy within their company, but every individual can inform and educate their peers. Yet, as we state in the pledge itself, “I recognize that we are far stronger as a community…”. And this effort is about a community showing it’s commitment to ethical data collection and utilization practices.

Here is a video from John Lovett to help explain the Web Analyst community’s initial support for the Code of Ethics.

This is the beginning of the conversation for who is a Web Analyst, how we should behave and what we are responsible for. It is my personal belief that a this conversation will continue to develop into a broader agreement between the public, the Analysts, the Press and the vendors that will ultimately protect everyone. Here is a list of everyone who has, to date, supported the Web Analyst’s Code of Ethics.

As classes rely more heavily on the PDF, the library has responded with an expanded online/downloadable Scholarly Article selection.  Something that used to be the toil of scholars by candlelight is now available, for the cost of tuition, to 20,000+ students at one University. This, by itself, isn’t the noteworthy part of the relationship the individual has to information, the future is.

I feel privileged to be a part of the transition to an entirely digital catalog of course texts and media. Every class I have taken for the past 4 years has included the use of YouTube, TED or iTunes University in some way. As technology and media begin to replace the use of physical text in the learning process changes in the way we think about information will occur.

Beyond the generational communication issues that are continuing to deepen, the students of my generation and those to follow will be communicating with media in ways that we cannot imagine. The library will be redefined by a noticeable reliance of computer labs, similar to what we see today. And as a result of this, the ability to know what is being learned will improve education holistically.

Here are three of the potential realities Libraries are facing as things begin to change.

1. First of all, let’s appreciate that we are still going to refer to learning as “borrowing”. Meaning, each time someone views a piece of media they are in-fact borrowing knowledge, just as we do today with books from libraries.
2. There are three possibilities for the future of interacting with libraries.
   1. Libraries will either transition into archives, similar to a museum.
   2. They will be completely online and therefore decentralized.
   3. Libraries will become community computer labs.
3. The information that is available will broaden and deepen significantly as access to it improves via the internet.

With these in mind it is important to understand how these changes will enable you. Here are several ways I think access to online information will change the speed with which we learn.

1.      Guided Research: In some ways, the hyperlink was the beginning of this kind of enablement. It is my guess that an automated intelligence, beyond the search engine, will be able to lead you in your pursuit of information.

2.      Visual Learners Excel: As many people, including myself, rely on what they witness to be able to learn, video, audio and other interactive media will become our books. I also assume that libraries will have more games to play as a way of learning.

3.      Malleable Information: I also assume that people will be able to make, comment and alter a copy of the information they are viewing, while they are viewing it. It would only make sense that information becomes malleable.

These are only ideas, but I think that they have very real potential for becoming a reality within my lifetime. Ultimately, I think that the library needs to be redefined as a place of community and wisdom, not just quiet knowledge.

I was recently turned onto iTunes U by a good friend and have enjoyed learning “anything, anytime, anywhere.” As part of that education I was introduced to a presentation by David Heineimeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and partner at 37signals, at Stanford University about “Unlearning Your MBA”.  This was my first introduction to his company, 37signals and the idea of a distributed and agile workforce, however small.

As someone who likes to see to believe, I thought that I would map out the locations of their team in the United States. So, I needed to find a resource that listed the locations of each of their employees, but this isn’t something that is typically available; until Twitter. The 37signals Twitter account is, as it turns out, only following their employees. Using the location of each employee’s Twitter account, I was able to create a map the shows the true distribution of their workforce.

What I find interesting about this map is that there is a strong parallel between the locations of many corporate headquarter offices and of 37signals employees. I would guess that 37signals either intentionally distributed themselves to reflect their client needs or it is a strong coincidence. No matter the reason, the result is probably working in their favor.

The value of a distributed and agile workforce has amazing benefits. This is a practice that is becoming increasingly common among smaller companies that have national or global client base. Centralization, when cumbersome, is seeming to disappear or being minimized by the demands of the connected information economy.

TwitArcs takes the latest 100 tweets for a twitter ID or term of interest and creates a list representation that has arcs connecting messages sent to the same users or that use the same primary term.

Cloud.li is a Twitter Search Engine that visualizes the popularity of words in relation to an initial search term.

Twitter Venn takes two or three search terms and creates a Venn Diagram showing the rate of tweets containing the search terms in the various combinations.

Twitter StreamGraphs is an interactive tool that shows the trends in word usage over time for twitter messages from a particular user or that contain a given search term.

Web Analytics – Google Analytics, Webtrends, Omniture are all examples of technologies that visualize aggregate website traffic data.

Social Mention is  a real-time social media search and analysis engine.

We Feel Fine is a tool that scrapes and visually categorizes human emotion from open social media data.

Google Insights for Search visualizes the levels of interest in particular search terms based on a number of parameters.

Twiangulate is a tool that allows you to visualize the relationships between Twitter accounts.

InMaps allows you to visualize the relationships between your LinkedIn connections.

One of the tools Abraham mentioned was “Many Eyes“, a utility that enables the user to easily visualize and better perceive the world of data. With the advent of tools such as Yahoo Pipes and Delicious, the Journalist has a treasure trove of information at their finger tips. However, there is a degree of passivity among certain Journalists when it comes to using free tools.

Is it up to the Journalist or developers to help inspire the use of these free tools? This week’s episode addresses the importance of both Journalists and developers working together to create accurate and reliable tools to help gather and display data in way that makes it useful for the reader.

What follows are six Responsibilities and nine Qualifications that are commonly found in Web Analyst job postings.

Responsibilities

1. Analyze business needs of clients and/or employer
2. Create and manage appropriate reports for Project Managers
3. Stay up-to-date on Internet Technology trends
4. Be able to communicate both meta and granular level information to appropriate staff members
5. Create documentation for processes to help educate web team
6. Identify and track strengths and weaknesses of website’s performance

Qualifications

1. Bachelors Degree+ in Business, Math or Communications related studies
2. Understands HTML and JavaScript
3. Advanced knowledge of Excel
4. Knowledge of databases and SQL query statements
5. Understanding of Internet Marketing including SEO and PPC
6. 1-3 years of experience with Web Analytics (Webtrends, Google Analytics, etc.)
7. Must be a “self-starter” with strong communication skills and possess an attention to detail
8. Able to manage multiple projects effectively on teams and alone
9. Experience with a wide range of social measurement tools (Radian6, Social Mention and Twitter Search)

In my mind, what these 15 requirements boil down to is the ability to process and communicate data using an evolving set of tools. Businesses are beginning to see the utility in their own information and as a result positions are being created to help translate speculation into certainty. It is going to interesting to see how this profession changes in the next five years.

The media that we are creating is interactive and feedback is immediate.

Writing as a Technology

YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are truly replacing emails and hand written letters as the foremost medium of communication for my generation. Why would we write a letter when we can shoot a video and share an unprecedented level of connectedness with complete ease? In my mind, the action of reading is to share and express an idea through time and over space. Yet media can fulfill this fundamental human need in ways that Johannes Gutenberg never could have imagined. Books were, and to some degree still are, quite good at this. However, the written language is “out of date” when it is compared to newer technologies.

Like cursive, I assume that the hand written letter will become a secondary learning objective for students in the coming decades. Instead of learning how to write a paragraph in English class, students will be learning how to create and share multimedia in their “Futures Class”. I understand the irony of my having written this post with text and your having read it, but understand that what I am describing here is an observation of a slow decay.

Not to Worry

This is not something that anyone should worry about. Instead of spending energy fighting against something that is already here and isn’t going away, we should be embracing these changes. “User Generated Content” is what we are calling the first stages of the (r)evolution of laymen communications. People are now empowered to communicate as if they were in the presence of a crowd from their computers. These are incredibly exciting times and I am looking forward to the next decade of innovation.

My Second Trip to San Francisco

San Francisco is an amazing place. It has many things that parts of Portland are trying to become. But from what I have experienced here there are two distinct cities within its limits. The first is downtown, with its sky high towers and embassies. The second is everywhere else I walked to.

The first time I came to San Francisco, it was mid August, 2010. I had decided to take a road trip with a couple of friends. I had just gotten my Internship at Webtrends in Portland and to celebrate I needed a vacation. During my 72 hour road trip I experienced more variety and grander personalities than I had really ever before in my life. This is what led to my second visit to San Francisco.

The difference between my first and second trip, as it would turn out, were the relationships I would make. This wasn’t something I expected, I was thinking that I would have a repeat of my first visit; learning more about the structure of the city instead of the people. I am glad the second time was different.

On my second trip to San Francisco I both traveled and lived differently. I think that played a huge part in why it was fundamentally different. For instance, instead of driving for 12 hours I flew, which only took 90 minutes. Instead of sleeping in my car, I stayed in a hostel. Instead of doing the whole trip on $200 I had enough money to exist comfortably in downtown. Those little differences made a big difference when I reexamine them

Hostel Living

Living in a hostel for two nights seems like I have Visa to another planet. When I first arrived at the Green Tortoise I was naive about what to expect. There were rumors and even myths in my mind that made up my understanding of what a hostel even was. Movies, music and books had always filled my head with either quaint or horrible notions about what happens here.

I arrived at the Green Tortoise at around 10 in the morning, a little too early for the room to be ready. So, instead of waiting around I put my bag into a secure storage closet and made a break on foot. It was my goal to visit KQED and to make it to Golden Gate Park to see if it was what I remembered from the previous summer. In the two hours I was away from the hostel I must have ended up walking a good five miles before returning.

From Portland to San Francisco?

There are things about San Francisco that make me want to stay, but there is something about how condensed an experience Portland is that makes it hard to leave. It is a city that thrives on its ability to remain sustainable, in all operating senses of the word, which is reliant on its size. San Francisco seems to be more reliant on the outside world to survive. This is something I also noticed in New York City, people need support from others to exist at that scale.

The largest imports into Portland are its people. San Francisco, on the other hand, seems to have a mixture of people and business as large pieces of its formula for success.

When I tell people here in San Francisco where I am visiting from, they react to its reputation quite immediately. “Ohhh, Portland Oregon. Are you originally from there?” I tell them, “I was born near Seattle, but raised in the Portland area. So, yes I guess I am.” Their responses tell me a lot about how people perceive my home. “From what I hear, Portland is a place where people our age move to so that they can retire; “Baristas.”

It was over this weekend that I confirmed what I suspected about my home, it is somewhere I need to move on from. However, I don’t agree with how the outside sees us. I think they, like my understanding of what a hostel is, haven’t experienced Portland like I have. Portland is a place to grow as a young person, at least from my vantage spot.

So, this is a bit of an overview of what I found interesting about my trip to San Francisco. While I don’t have any definite plans to move to San Francisco, it is certainly on my radar. Big thanks to Max Ogden and Steve Walling for their hospitality. It is always good to see people I know from one city succeeding in another.

Here is a simple video I made about a Tap Dancing Busker in San Francisco. Enjoy.

Like many of my peers and colleagues, I use Pandora to listen to music. However, I rarely find that I am staying longer than 2 songs. The reason for this is that I cannot choose which specific songs I want to listen and when. This is a deal breaker for me. So, instead I use YouTube playlists to act as a “Cloud” music library. A music library that I have complete control over as long as the music is available.

But Pandora is not useless as it serves as an amazing discovery engine. Their “Music Genome Project” is solid. This being so, if you explore Pandora’s stations you will find an artist you have never heard before who you enjoy. That is where it stops being useful and YouTube begins. Like I mentioned earlier, I use YouTube playlists to essentially bookmark my favorite songs and artists. I can then replay this music from any desktop at anytime; truly being OnDemand music from a reliably endless source.

Here are the four steps I take when discovering new music.

1. Use Pandora.com to discover a new song or Artist I enjoy.
2. Search and find that song or artist on YouTube.
3. Create a playlist by hitting the “Add To” button underneath the video.
4. Using the “Suggestions” on the right hand side of the video you are watching, I find related music and artists based on me peer’s and YouTube’s suggestions.

All this together is a process of being free to access the media that I want to when I want to. This is the predicament of my generation as we need unfettered access to our entertainment. Thank you Google.

For example, if I were a Plumber I would want to know how the chemical makeup of the water flowing through the pipes I just installed would affect the longevity of the project. Or, if I were a Politician I would want to appreciate the impact my vote would have on my constituents. Both are examples of a deeper desire to understand the mechanics of an infrastructure. Being able to effectively use advanced tools requires the ability to build, repair and improve them.

I believe that the role of an Analyst is greater than just providing insights; it is creating the set of tools and processes needed to construct them. To illustrate this, I will compare the skilled Web Analyst to a Systems Engineer, as I find that both professionals are working towards the same goal; integration of separate solutions into a single set of answers. Let’s take a look at what it means to be a Systems Engineer.

According to Wikipedia, “Systems engineering deals with work-processes and tools to handle such projects, and it overlaps with both technical and human-centered disciplines...“. You could easily replace “Systems engineering” with “Web Analysis” and achieve a satisfactory definition of the profession. There are other professions similar to Web Analysis where a similar substitution can be made. But it appears as if there is more in common between being a Web Analyst and a Systems Engineer than most others.

The stark similarities between Web Analysts and System Engineers points to a common thread between the role of a structure designed to gather information and the analysis of it; invention. Being able to create the very utilities that our profession relies on is one of the many strengths within the field. In the end, being an Analyst boils down to curiosity, creativity and a systems perspective. This profession truly is fascinating and I am excited about what new tools we will invent to help understand humanity on the Web.

1. A public facing representation of a body’s actions and motivations.
2. Able to be held accountable.
3. Works with a system of distribution.

It needs to be stressed that the primary function Analytics play in Journalism is to preserve accuracy through measurement and encourage the wise curation of facts. As the telegraph did and the internet will continue to do, technology is aiding the human story teller.

1. A first use of Analytics in Journalism is the ability to demonstrate increasing value of your content to advertisers.
2. A second use is the ability to track content performance across platforms and to therefore determine where the audience for a single report is. This includes the use of a wider assortment of tools than just on-site technology.
3. A third use of Analytics is the ability to decide how to staff certain events and geographies that would otherwise be overcrowded.
4. A fourth use of Analytics in Journalism is the ability to accurately and reliably define your audience.
5. A fifth use of Analytics in Journalism is the ability to understand why certain media suffers in performance while others succeed. Through the use of universal metrics, the performance of a single piece of media can be measured and improved.

Earlier today I interviewed a reporter from the Portland Spectator Magazine on an article he had recently written titled, “Like Burning Man But on a Train“. When we sat down, I thought the conversation would stay centered on the subject of his article, Burning Man, but things have a way of unexpectedly evolving. Ultimately, we ended up talking about the importance of Gonzo Journalism across the world.

Listen to the interview audio in the player above as we have a conversation about the power of citizen storytelling.

What you will hear from the players above are two different “tracks” or rhythms that Trevor performed while I recorded. What is interesting is how each track evolves over time, very similar to a drum circle, but instead there is one pair of hands setting the pace.

The purpose of the podcast is to collect the individual voices of Portland Oregon’s Media in a single location for anyone to access. With over 100,000 plays and 1000 subscribers, I consider The Face of Media a success.

The Noun Project

In addition to being informational, The Noun Project allows you to download any choice of symbols to help spread the understanding of what each icon means. So tune in and find out what the future holds for The Noun Project and visual information.

In addition, here are the 8 Expectations from both his presentation and our conversation.

1. We need the Press to be an Authenticator.
2. We need the Press to be a sense maker.
3. We need the press to be a watchdog.
4. We need the press to be a whiteness bearer.
5. We need the press to empower us.
6. We need the press to be a smart aggregator.
7. We need the press to be a forum organizer.
8. We need the press to be a role model.

These 8 Expectations have been made integrated into Tom’s new book, Blur. You can review it here.

Its not longer about my opinion or yours, it becomes a societal issue. Below you will find a video containing screenshots of Google Search Insights of state level interest in the Net Neutrality issue. Pay attention to the bar at the bottom of the video as it indicates the time periods that each flare-up of interest occurs. Also, notice the patterns of regional interest in the issue based on the increasing or decreasing of the volume of searches for each state.

When you begin to notice that specific regions of the country care about the issue more than others, you can then use that information in many ways. One of them being the ability to see how important an issue may become to a Federal Congressional politician based on what state they are from.

The ability to see whether certain populations care about issues is valuable. It would be interesting to see if the politicians that represent the states who had higher search volumes were the most vocal in Congress.

“We enjoy making what we make. We want other to enjoy it. But ultimately we want to sustain ourselves from it.”

1. Isaac Watson
2. I Heart Art Portland
3. Etsy
4. PNCA
5. Museum of Contemporary Craft
6. Destination DIY

Take a listen to our conversation.

A big thanks to all 71 of Supportland’s participating businesses. They are making something amazing happen.

It is important to remember that there were 10 speakers, however I ran out of room to take notes on the napkin I was using after only five. Here is what I have.

1. Greg Netzer – Wordstock: Books are history. To publish is to create community. The goal of a publisher, in addition to creating community, is to create a dialogue about the literature. If you engage the audience you will receive a benefit for printed text.
2. Joshua Tallent – eBook Architects: The printed form of books are not going away, but will forever be changed because of eBooks. The goal of any publisher is to see what is coming.
3. Victoria Blake – Underland Press: A “wovel” is a Web Novel, a crowdsourced narrative. When reading her web novels, only 30% of readers made it to the end. Information wants to be free.
4. Justin Hocking – IPRC: Considers himself a publishing community, not a company. Describes what he does as an underground operation. The Zine is very personal. The Zine is made possible by the “Gift Economy”.
5. Josh Kenyon and Colby Nichols – Jolby: Funded their book with Kickstarter. 60% were from family and friends and the remaining 40% were “others”.

There you have it, a brief rundown of some examples of the future of publishing. I did enjoy the event and hope to see more like them in the future.

]]> http://www.bretevan.com/page-turn-pdx/feed/ 0 http://www.bretevan.com/portland-digital-marketing-conference-audio-and-slides/ http://www.bretevan.com/portland-digital-marketing-conference-audio-and-slides/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:44:01 +0000 Bret Bernhoft http://www.bretevan.com/?p=418 Above you will find the audio of my presentation at today’s Portland Digital Marketing Conference (pdxDMC). Below you will find the slides I used plus the video of my presentation. In addition, here are links to the five major resources I used during the presentation.

1. Podcasts
2. TouchGraph
3. Clould.li
4. Twitter Search
5. Pipl