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Monday 29 November 2010

Vlogging and Public Speaking.

I talked in my last post here about starting to vlog and about getting used to speaking into a video camera.

I also mentioned about how vlogging can & probably will, change your life in some way. Now, obviously these changes can take many forms. But, one that i have certainly noticed is how vlogging has helped me when it comes to speaking in public.

The thought of speaking in public is one of those things that makes the majority of people break out into a cold sweat. I know that many people can think of nothing worse, or more scary, to be asked to do.

There are, of course, those for whom this holds no fear. But, i suspect that they are in the minority.
Just think of all of those people who are being, potentially, held back by that fear of public speaking.

Now, when you record a vlog, what are you doing?
Yes, you are speaking in public, albeit with no audience actually in view.

I realise that for a lot of vloggers, being able to hide behind their video camera, or webcam and not actually seeing an audience, is a big bonus. I'm sure that many vloggers would think twice about talking out loud, in front of a real audeince.
But why?

I mentioned in my last blog post about how most of us are not natural extroverts and i would certainly consider myself to be within that number.
But, amongst the many and varied skills that i feel i have learned through vlogging, is an improved ability to speak. And to speak publicly too.
Whether you actually realise it, or not, recording a vlog and speaking in public are not really that dissimilar.

For both, you are the only one speaking and the audience is listening to you alone. You are, in effect, having a one way conversation.
As i said earlier, for a vlog the only thing missing is the visible audience.

So, think about that the next time you are asked to speak in public. And don't think that speaking in public is limited to standing up and giving a speech either.
No, in my view anyway, speaking in public can also mean raising your hand in a meeting and putting your point across. It means not being afraid to speak up and give your opinion.
Just think of all the practise you've had of doing just that, in front of your video camera.

Although i had done some forms of what i consider to be public speaking, before i started vlogging. I know full well, that i am far better at and more confident of, doing it now and i put that down to my experience as a vlogger.

And that experience and improved confidence can help you in the most unlikely settings too.

For those of you who are maybe not aware, my Father died earlier this year. At his funeral, i got up and gave a short speech. I talked about some of his personal history and obviously relayed some personal memories.
Now, as you can imagine, this was not an easy thing to do. But, once again, my experience as a vlogger helped me through.

Although i effectively wrote out what i wanted to say, in case the emotion of the occasion got the better of me. I ended up using those notes only as a guide. I spoke in much the same way as i would have done had i been recording a vlog. I tended to focus on one member of the audience and in a strange way, used that person as my video camera.

For me, treating that speech, more or less as a vlog, made delivering the speech far easier than i could have hoped.

Another recent example concerns a YouTube friend, who shall remain nameless.
Earlier this year, my friend was asked to be the best man at a wedding and, as is normal, they had to make a speech.
Rather like a speech at a funeral, the best mans speech can be a nerve wrecking experience. But, at least with a funeral, you have the sympathy of all who are there. The best mans speech is often thought of as one of the highlights of a wedding. No pressure then?!

During a conversation, i told my friend to try and treat the best mans speech as if it were a vlog. In much the same way as i did at my Fathers funeral.
To cut a long story short. My friend took my advice and it worked. The speech went well and everyone enjoyed it.

So, as you can see, vlogging can help you in ways that you propbably never even considered, or imagined.

Even more reason, surely, to give it a try?

And don't call me Shirley ;)

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Pointing The Camera At Yourself.

A friend of mine recently watched one of my vlogs (video blogs), for the very first time.
He told me this via Twitter and whilst he made no comment about the actual content of the video, the one comment he did make was to say that he could never do that himself.

This is a very common reaction when people, especially friends, see one of your vlogs for the first time.
I can understand that.
Pointing a video camera at yourself can seem a little strange, when you think about it.
There is a big difference, in my opinion, between recording yourself on a webcam, in the privacy of your own home and filming yourself out in the open.
We've all grown used to seeing people filming with video cameras in just about every imaginable situation. Maybe even when we haven't thought that the filming was appropriate?

But, how often have you seen somebody pointing that ubiquitous video camera at themselves and talking into it? And if you have, what did you think?

My own reaction and i suspect that of all vloggers, would be to inwardly congratulate that person (after all, i wouldn't want to disturb a fellow vlogger now would i?) and to wonder who they were, what they were recording and for what.
But, i imagine most other peoples reaction would be to look, maybe stare and to think that the person was a little weird. I've seen that reaction myself many times. I've also seen it when somebody has filmed me talking into a camera.

Most of us aren't natural extroverts and those first tentative steps into vlogging can be a little daunting.
I can't pretend to have completely overcome those feelings of self consciousness when i do it now. But, it's amazing how much more confident i am now at pointing the camera at myself, after 4 years of vlogging experience.

In fact, a recent experience proves just that point.
I was in London meeting up with some friends from San Francisco. People who i had met via YouTube and vlogging, as it happens.
At the end of our time together, i decided that i wanted to record a short vlog, talking about the day. Without thinking, i got out my camera and recorded a vlog between myself and one of my friends, in the street. This filming attracted some of the usual strange looks from a nearby construction worker. But, i didn't give it a thought.
Maybe, it's just easier to point that video camera at yourself, when you are not alone?

So, i guess what i'm really trying to say here is that the vlogger is really no different to anyone else. They just tend to use their cameras a bit differently to the rest of the population.
I doubt that many vloggers first pointed their video camera at themselves, outdoors. I suspect that we all first did that in the privacy of our own homes and that makes perfect sense.
I can still recall the first ever vlog that i made at home and how i felt when making it. It was a strange experience. But, once i'd done it, i got the bug and have never looked back.

You may well feel, like my friend did, that you couldn't ever do it yourselves. But, i felt the same myself at one time.

Since getting into vlogging and video making generally, 4 years ago, i have tried to encourage others to follow my path. Most vloggers will tell you that the vlogging experience has changed their life, in some way. I am no exception to that and would encourage everyone to, at least, give it a try. After all, what have you got to lose?

By all means, make those first tentative steps using the webcam on your computer. Many people record all their vlogs this way and why not?

Why not watch some vloggers on YouTube first, to see how others do it?
One thing to be mindful of here though. Don't be put off my the apparent good quality of the vloggers you watch and discover. Many of those vloggers will have been vlogging for years and they will all tell you that they are a lot better now, than when they first started out.
We all have to start somewhere. I still watch my very first vlog and cringe a little. So, you are not alone.

So, are you convinced yet?
If so, get recording and let me know how you get on.
Best of luck.

All of the above doesn't, of course, answer that age old question of why on earth you'd ever want to talk into a video camera in the first place.
What drives the vlogger to vlog?
What do you talk about?

Well, the answer to those questions is material for, potentially, many more blog posts.
Watch this space.

Saturday 6 November 2010

AudioBoo - No Nov Boo Vlog Blog Month.

AudioBoo - No Nov Boo Vlog Blog Month.

November can be a busy month, in the world of social media. Well, if you let it that is.

This was originally posted on my personal blog, Moose Musings. But, i felt that it was relevant here as well.
I hope that you agree.

Thursday 4 November 2010

Social Media - Local Connections.

Recently, i have been involved in helping to organise some local charity events/projects. Some more successfully than others i might add!
But, one thing that has struck me whilst doing this, is the way in which i have been communicating with the other people involved.
Yes, i have been using those, relatively, old fashioned methods of communciation, email and text. I have even been using the antiquated telephone system, albeit mainly the mobile/cell variety.
All of these methods have their uses and that will probably continue to be the case, for much time to come..
But, what has surprised me has been the way that i've found myself using social media sites, such as Facebook, to help with both the communication and organising of these events.
These sites, especially the messaging side of Facebook, have enabled me to quickly contact and keep in touch with all the people involved with these projects and all within one site too.
One of the beauties of doing this on Facebook, is that your interaction can be done both privately and publicly, depending on what you wish others to see. I know that other sites allow direct/privtae messaging. But, i do find Facebook to be especially good for this.

I must admit that i was never much a fan of the idea of Facebook.
I know that this probably sounds very familiar to those of you who may have read other blog posts that i've written here. But, Facebook, like Twitter before it, was a site that i had to be convinced to try out and more, or less dragged onto.
Even then i was not a big fan, at first. But, i have finally come to see it's worth and strangely enough, it is the way that i interact on Facebook with local people, that has helped to change my opinion of the site.

Now, that is somewthing that i never expected.
My experiences with social media had, until fairly recently anyway, been mainly with people from right across the world and not with people living on my doorstep. But, the advent of both Twitter and Facebook has changed that and has opened up my social media world to a brand new community, my local community.

Both Twitter and Facebook are social media sites on which my virtual life and my real life collide. Facebook, especially, does this and that has been a slightly strange experience at times. At first my Facebook experience essentially mirrored my time on YouTube. I interacted with the same people, albeit using our real names.
But, then the local aspect started to become more prevalent and this is what really took me by surprise. I never expected that collison of virtual and real worlds to happen. But, it is something that seems to work. It has also led to a blurring of the lines between those two worlds.

I have met, both virtually and in reality, many new people from my local area because of social media. People i would quite probably never have met and interacted with, without the aid of sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

This is an aspect of social media that does tend to get overlooked when people talk about social networking.
We all tend to think of social media as a global phenomenon. But, sometimes the most interesting people might live right around the corner from your house and you just never knew it.

Just because you live in the same town, or city, doesn't mean that you can't, or shouldn't use social media to interact with the people within them.
Social media has the power to enable you to meet and interact with people from countries throughout the world and i have met many interesting people precisely because of this.
But, don't forget those people who live in the same country, or even the town as you.
Who knows what you might be missing out on?

There is a famous saying, usually used in a totally different context, "Think globally, act locally"
Maybe we can put that saying to use into social media as well?

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Not The Only Show In Town.


Talking about how we now migrate between different social media/networking sites.

Those older sites are not, now, the only show in town.

Here's a link to Ken's blog post, that i mentioned in this video:
http://socialmediajourneys.blogspot.com/2010/10/using-your-website-as-content-hub.html

Thursday 21 October 2010

Social Media - Fun For All Ages

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to talk with a group of about eighteen senior citizens visiting Los Angeles as part of a tour organized by Road Scholar (formerly Elder Hostel), an organization that creates educational tours for older adults of locations around the world. The tours include a great deal of artistic and historical sites, as well as talks from representative locals.

As a "filmmaker," (in quotes because hardly anyone works in film anymore), I was asked to speak with this group for an hour before they left for their tour about my own perspective as a media professional working in what is essentially a company town.

When this opportunity was offered to me, I was intrigued with the challenge of talking about the media industry, what I do for a living (create non-fiction/documentary work), and all of the changes that are taking place in my industry - in particular, social media.

I like to describe visual social media (i.e. YouTube) as a "third platform" beyond that of television and motion pictures.  For those new to the concept, it helps to place this new form of communication in a historical context as the natural evolution of a form of visual expression.  I also expressed my belief that this form of communication might eventually provide huge new opportunities for an entirely new breed of entrepreneur.

I told them about the community aspect of social media - the idea of followers/subscribers, and the like, and the various forms of expression from blogging to podcasting to YouTube-style vlogging.  I spoke of the emerging media literacy being as important as literacy itself proved for the development of civilization.  I spoke of the growing army of citizen journalists, and told them how Social Media Journey's own Andy Gunton became, in effect, a media outlet of his own after the recent Hastings pier fire.

I introduced them to the great simplicity of Flip (and Flip-like) cameras, and the fact that this is a form of expression that is practiced by people of all ages (of course, I mentioned YouTube's Geriatric1927).  

The group was fascinated, and very much engaged.  We probably could have gone on for another two hours.   They were intrigued with the possibilities, particularly in regard to cameras like the Flip, and excitedly shared ideas with me after the discussion about how they could use this technology.

Talks like these leave me wildly optimistic about the future of social media.  We're still at the very dawn of this era...

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Blogging For Action.

On Friday October 15th, myself and 5,693 other bloggers, took part in this years Blog Action Day 2010.
This has now become an annual event, since Blog Action Day was founded in 2007.

I took part for the first time last year, when the theme was the environment and straight away i realised what a great idea this was.
This year, the theme was water and once again i decided to write my own blog post, to help with the global discussion, on this increasingly important topic.
As did Ken, one of the other contributors to this blog.

So, why am i talking about all of this here?
Well, i just feel that this illustrates how far we've come over the past decade, or so. Especially, in the ways in which social media is used, or can be used.

In the past, the ordinary citizen, didn't have many ways in which to convey their thoughts about important topics. Well, certainly not in ways that might actually be heard, read, or listened to.
We could have written to a newspaper and hope that our letter might be published. Or, maybe, we could have rang a talk radio show, if we had the courage to do so.
But, now, we can all express ourselves far more freely and to a potential worldwide audience as well.

According to the Blog Action Day website. The blogs posted this year, have been read by over 41 million readers. That's a very impressive figure.
Now, i'm sure, that my own blog was not read by that amount of people. But, at least it was available to be read and by a potentially far bigger audience than any newspaper, or talk radio show. If you were allowed to air those views in the first place that is.

We all have opinions and now we have the means and the technology to share them with the rest of the world. Most of us bloggers now have an audience for those views, that just wasn't possible a decade ago.

But, there are other aspects to this that i also think are important.

Blog Action Day and many other campaigns like them, are global campaigns. They have the potential to bring people together, from across the world.
The rise of the Interent and social media has, in effect, encouraged users to integrate and collaborate, on a global scale. That, may well end up being it's greatest legacy.

Campaigns, such as this, also expose us to new ideas and global concerns. They make us think about topics that we might not otherwise have concerned ourselves with. Or, maybe even knew anything about.

Whilst writing my own blog post about water, i had to do a little bit of research. I doubt that i was the only one to do so either. That little bit of research taught me things that i was unaware of and even corrected some misconceptions.

So, apart from expressing my views, i was actually learning from the experience too. And, of course, that learning was only enhanced by reading the blog posts of my fellow bloggers.

Bloggers do get some bad press and i'm sure in some cases, deservedly so. But, something like Blog Action Day, shows that blogging can be a force for good.
It gets people involved. It opens our minds to new topics and global issues. And it teaches us along the way too.

So, i guess the lesson to be learnt from all of this, is - Get Blogging.
You'll, quite possibly, be a better person because of it.

Saturday 16 October 2010

Using Your Website as a Content Hub

Not too many year ago, but ages ago in internet time, everybody was building personal websites. No knowledge of html or css or xml needed; services like GeoCities or Homestead (etc.) made it easy to use ready-made templates, upload your photos, type out your life story, and have a website.

Those services are now long gone, as people started considering their "home" as their profile page on a community site such as MySpace or Facebook. Another development was the replacement of the static content web page, with the dynamic content blog. Blogger (where this site is hosted) was one of the pioneers and still a major player, but WordPress and others have also risen to dominance here. Now add twitter to the mix, and podcasts, and photostreams, and videos..., and pretty soon you've got content spread across a half-dozen sites or more.

Personally, I regularly post content to three or four blogs, two Twitter accounts, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr (photos), Soundcloud (music), and Audioboo (podcast). Okay, maybe I'm a bit on the extreme end. But this is a social media blog you're reading, so I'm going to guess you just might appreciate my situation.

For some time I've struggled with how to effectively combine all these different content streams into a single, well-designed, website that presents all of my online output. I must not have been the only one wrestling with this issue, as two new services have recently popped up offering a solution: About.me and Flavors.me.

Flavors.me was the first to launch, and I quickly signed up (see my page here). I was given a choice of several basic layouts, simple instructions on choosing a background image (I uploaded my own), and a list of services to import my feeds from, including blogger, linkedin, facebook, flickr, twitter, etc. Within a few minutes my page was up and running and looking great.

The feed from each service (blog, twitter, etc.) is displayed as part of the page. Without leaving my flavors.me page you can seamlessly click through my content from a variety of sources. This was it - exactly what I'd been looking for forever. I finally had that one, single destination website that I could point people to and have all my content readily visible.

The free version of flavors.me did limit the number of feeds I could import, but I was happy enough to pay for the full version. I've also assigned one of my personal domains, kengoldstein.ca, to the page.

Then About.me launched. Even though I was happy with my Flavors.me site, I still wanted to try it out (see my page here). On first glance, it appears to be almost a clone of Flavors.me; choose a template, upload your background image, select your feeds to import, bang, you're in business.

But immediately frustrations surfaced. I still cannot get my background image to scale correctly. It either tiles or expands way beyond the window. And it will only allow me to include one blogger account or twitter account at a time. The other other blogs can be added as extra links, but will not display inline. For my purposes, these problems add up to a huge FAIL.

On the positive side, I gotta admit that About.me has the much better domain name. Flavors.me is, well, kinda silly. I don't care, as I use my own domain name, but still.

If you have multiple content streams and would like to combine them in a single, personal hub, you really should test them each out. Leave a comment below with which one you prefer, or if you use a different (and better?) solution.

Flavors.me - FTW! Silly name, and fee required for full features, but works like a dream. Exactly what I wanted.
About.me - When you launch second, you're supposed to improve on the original idea, not mess it up. FAIL!

Thursday 14 October 2010

Power To The People?

I have just read an article in The Word magazine. One of my favourite magazines as it happens.
In the article, the writer mentioned that he just been to see a pre-screening of The Social Network, here in the UK.

Obviously, movie reviewers and journalists have been seeing new movies earlier than the rest of us mere mortals for many years now. But, now some things have changed.

As the journalist mentioned. Before seeing the movie he and every other fellow reviewer, were told that they were forbidden from giving any opinion about the movie in any form, until October 11th. A few days prior to the UK release date. Even though the movie had already been released in the USA.

This embargo covered such social media avenues as Twitter, Facebook, Blog posts etc.
As was pointed out in the article, this was especially ironic, considering the subject matter of the movie.
The Social Network was not allowed to be discussed on any social network. Hmm...

Now, this is by no means the first time that i've heard of these type of controls and effective gagging orders being put onto reviewers and journalists.
As media companies, in their many forms, get increasingly paranoid about potential bad publicity and leaks, these controls are likely to become even more widespread.
But why?

I do understand why companies would be concerned about the potential leaking of their music and movies all over the Internet. And i know that record companies have now started playing new music down the phone to music journalists. Or, inviting them to "special" playback sessions, where they have to leave their phones etc outside. But, stopping a reviewer even talking about a movie is getting a little bit ridiculous, in my opinion.

All of this paranoia does, partly, explain the reason why movies and music are increasingly finding their release dates corresponding, across the world. Similtaneous release dates are becoming far more frequent. Partly as a result of piracy concerns.

But, as with anything out in the big wide world. It is the quality of the product that really matters. As has always been the case.
No amount of gagging orders and secrecy will help to stop the news that you have unleashed a huge turkey of a product onto the unsuspecting public.

And, this brings us to the real crux of the matter.
The reason that we are not being allowed to hear the opinions of reviewers and journalists, is because of the power of social media.

There have already been examples of new and very expensive movies, that have bombed at the box office, because of the power of social media and word of mouth generally.

Word of mouth has always been a very valuable tool to anyone selling a product. But, in these days of increased use of social media, that word of mouth can spread like wildfire and within timescales not before seen.

You may well have been thinking of going to see that brand new blockbuster movie, at the weekend. But, because of your numerous social media connections, your friends and anyone else whose opinion you value, may well be telling you to avoid that new movie like the plague.

We all know that we always tell far more people about something we dislike, than we do about something we've enjoyed.
Now, those opinions are available at the click of a mouse.

So, maybe this is a case of power falling into the hands of the people at last.
No longer do we have to be sucked in by fancy advertising. We can just listen to the opinions of those whose judgement we value, or listen to.

This is what those huge media corporations are really worried about, when they attempt to gag those reviewers and journalists.

But, there is one very easy solution to all of this.
Release good quality products in the first place.

I wonder if that idea will ever catch on?

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet.

For somebody who is a, self confessed, social media junky, i was actually quite late onto Twitter.

I'm afraid that i was one of those people who, initially, thought that Twitter couldn't possibly be of any use to me. After all, what use is just 140 characters to somebody who regularly makes 10 minute long videos for YouTube, Or, whose blog posts could probably test the patience of a saint?

Yes, i was one of those who said, or says "I don't want to know what you had for breakfast" etc etc.
That is a common argument given by non Twitterers and i even heard this very point made by the actor Sir Michael Caine just last week. In his defence, Michael Caine has now joined the Twitterati and, just like me, has realised the error of his ways.

I was dragged, virtually kicking and screaming, onto Twitter in September, 2008.
That may well seem like a long time ago, especially in the world of the Internet. But, as somebody who, generally, signs up to most of the new social media sensations, i was actually quite late off of the mark.
Most of my online friends were already well and truly addicted to Twitter by then and it was in fact down to them that i signed up in the first place.

My moment of epiphany came during a road trip, with some fellow YouTubers, in the USA, during 2008..
It was during that trip that i saw, at first hand, the way that Twitter could and did connect people. It wasn't all about your choice of breakfast cereal after all.

Obviously, since that day, i've never looked back.

Like most Twitter users, the way that i use Twitter has evolved over the years and has led me in some interesting directions. Something that i may well talk about in future blog posts.

But, Twitter, the way that it is now used and how my own use has evolved, was brought home to me last week, when i was caught up in a local news story.
I have talked about aspects of this in a separate blog post.

What i realised after that event, was the way that Twitter is used, by myself and others, to spread the news and our coverage of it.
We can probably all think of recent major news stories in which Twitter has been used in this way. But, it really brings it home to you, when you are a part of it yourself.

I was very impresessed by the way that the vast majority of news organisations, radio and tv stations were using, watching and interacting onTwitter. It has become a major source of news for us all. This is something that has really crept up on everybody and something that i'm sure the founders of Twitter never considered when they first started the service.

Twitter has now become, for many including myself, a primary way of communicating with friends, family, contacts and even complete strangers.
It has also become my primary source of news coverage, from right across the world.

Twitter also links me to viral videos, interesting newspaper and magazine articles, blog posts, local events and much, much more that i would never have seen, or heard about, otherwise.

I, for one, would never have expected all of this when i, very tentatively, signed up to Twitter back in September 2008.
I guess that this just goes to show that things are not always what they seem?

If you have your own Twitter story to tell, please let us know. We'd love to hear it.

By the way, what did you have for breakfast?

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Citizen Journalists

Yesterday, i became a citizen journalist.

At around 6am yesterday, my wife told me that the radio was reporting that our local pier, here in Hastings, was on fire. So, being the social media junky that i am, i got up, grabbed my iPhone and digital camera and ran out the door as fast as i could. I didn't even brush my teeth!

Now, at this point, my only thought was to take some photos and maybe some video footage, mainly for my own use. If it was any good, i might then post it onto my various social media sites, just in case anyone may be interested. I didn't even bother to take my main video camera.
I also didn't know if the radio reports were true, or not.

It was only when i got down onto the seafront and saw the full extent of the fire, that i realised that this was something a little different. This was big.
As somebody said to me later in the day. Somebody that i only "met" yesterday via Twitter by the way. I was now recording history.
I can't say that i fully realised this at the time. But, i did know, straight away, that i had to record what i could and then pass it on.

So, i quickly took some photos, from a distance and then, literally, jogged along the seafront to get as near to the burning pier as i could.
As soon as i got close to the pier, i took some video footage with my phone and also some more photo's.
I then did something that i would not even have thought about doing, even a few weeks ago. I recorded an AudioBoo podcast
Somehow, i just knew that i should record something, describing what it was i was seeing right in front of my eyes.

So, where did that urge to record this historic event come from. Especially the AudioBoo?

I fully believe that it is my time using social media that did it. Somehow, using social media had prepared me for doing exactly what i did yesterday. Using social media had taught me how to do it. What to record, what to photograph, what to say and how.

Yes, other people were taking photographs and even video footage. But, as far as i'm aware, i was the only person who intended to share them in the way that i did. And i'm almost certain that i was the only person who thought to record some kind of audio commentary as well.
As i suggested earlier. I would never have thought about doing that, if i didn't use AudiBoo in the first place.

It was only then that i realised that there was no media presence around at all. No reporters, no tv crews, no microphones, or obvious news cameramen, or photographers.
I had suddenly become a citizen journalist.
Myself and my fellow onlookers were the only people recording this piece of local history and national news.

It was then that i realised that i needed to get home and get my footage, photo's and audio "out there", as soon as i could.

The first item i posted was the AudioBoo. Within 5 minutes of it going live, i receieved an email from AudioBoo, saying that they had "Featured" my post on their front page.
I then posted some of my photos onto TwitpPic. I followed that by quickly editing my video footage and uploading it to YouTube. All of these uploads were then linked to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.

To cut a long story short. Within an hour, i had been contacted by the BBC, the Brighton Argus newspaper and my local newspaper, who even came to my house to collect my video footage. I was also newly "followed" on Twitter by several radio stations, news organisations, reporters and local people.

My photo's, video and AudioBoo were Tweeted around the World. As well as being used and linked to on many websites. Including the Brighton Argus website, where one of my photos was used as a headline image.


As somebody else, commenting on my AudioBoo, said to me yesterday, "This really shows how journalism exists within the hands of everyone who has the technology"


I couldn't have put it better myself and this goes to show that we are all now potential citizen journalists. We are the people who are normally first on the scene of any major incident, or news story.


Citizen journalism and social media have combined to break and cover major news stories such as the protests in Iran and the Hudson River plane crash, amongst others.


And apart from enabling us to be the first to report the news to the world. Our continued use of social media is actually training us to do so.


We have the technology. So, let's use it.


Just use it wisely and safely please.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

12Seconds Completes its Fifteen Minutes

Okay, I'm sure the title of this post is a bit trite, and has probably already been used, but I couldn't resist. For those who missed it, 12seconds.tv is (soon to be was) a micro-vlogging site, headquartered in Santa Cruz, CA, for the past three years or so, that yesterday announced they will be closing shortly.

Micro-vlogging? Let me explain it this way: What Twitter is to Blogger, 12seconds.tv was to YouTube. A video sharing site, but with the length of each video limited to, you got it, twelve seconds.

After a well-publicized launch it looked like 12seconds.tv was off to a good start, but the user-base never grew beyond the over-eager early adopter crowd (such as myself). Meanwhile, one founder was distracted with a new baby, the other founder battled cancer (he's feeling much better now), and the entire worldwide economy crashed.

Technical problems were also an issue, and certainly one of the problems I didn't use the site much after the initial rush. But the twelve second limit itself was an issue as well. Tweeting is easy and does not take much set-up or any time at all to post. Turning on your webcam, or even an iPhone app, getting lighting right, checking for background noise... it all takes a little more effort, including uploading your product only to find that you really needed 13 seconds.

Meanwhile, others have stepped up to fill the "post video to twitter" category without the twelve second limit.

An article today in the Guardian UK asks, "As 12seconds.tv closes, what is the future for video communities?" The article also notes that Seesmic has shifted focus from its original video service as well, but in so doing points out that:
"... community [is] humanised by the format of video which, while it demands more from its contributors, gives back more in the quality of interaction."
I think that quote says it all. The quality of the interaction is what it's all about. Yes, it takes a certain type of person to be willing to turn on your webcam, shine the light in your own face, and talk to strangers. It's certainly not for everyone. But I know I've been rewarded for that effort with high quality friendships.

While I often have trouble convincing my contemporaries of that fact (my collaborators here excepted), I have always had faith that the next generation will understand it innately. The Guardian article quotes Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jason Calacanis as saying very much the same thing:
"The next generation will be able to do it more inherently, they will grow up knowing phones with Facetime and computers with iSight. Where our generation knows how to write a good quip in a comment, the next generation will know how to do that in video."
Today we say goodbye to 12seconds.tv, but not to online video, or using video as the basis for building online community. In fact, that journey has barely yet begun.

The Age of Media Literacy?

As I was recording this audioboo podcast about a talk I'll be giving in a couple of weeks to a group of senior citizens on an educational tour of Los Angeles, it occurred to me  that as I talk about my career in media, and the realities of living in the film industry's "company town," I might touch on social media.

It's a challenging proposition.  Most of these tourists range in age from their 60's up to their 80's.  I expect that a good percentage of them will be online to some extent - some will even active in Facebook.   It should prove interesting to learn their various levels of online activity.  I'm pondering an analogy that could define social media.

We live in a time when we can use the tools of popular media to communicate with others - to develop community - express ourselves and reach, at least theoretically, a virtually unlimited audience.

Still, it's a challenge to define a form of expression that is still developing.

Perhaps we're living in an age akin to the development of literacy in advanced societies - where reading and writing became accessible to more and more people, leading to a more informed populace, and ultimately transformed those societies.

Similarly, media literacy can bring the most effective means of communication in the modern world to millions, where just a few years ago, such tools were limited to a select few.

What changes will media literacy bring?

[My personal blog, and links to my own social media world, can be found at http://worldaccordingtorich.blogspot.com]

Saturday 2 October 2010

Why "Social Media Journeys"?

Well, the answer to that question is probably, if you're reading this, you are on a social media journey of your own. Whether you have realised that yet, or not.

We all got here from somewhere and part of the purpose of this blog, is to chart that personal journey.
Whether that be the story of how we got here in the first place, where we are trying to get to,  what we've learned along the way. Or, just our experiences during that journey, both good and bad.

We all have a social media story to tell and the aim of this blog is to try and tell that story. Whether that story be mine, or yours.

On our individual journeys, we all stop off at different social media and networking sites. Be that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace etc etc. And that list is getting ever longer.
We aim to talk about our own experiences with all of those sites.

One of the reasons for this is that social media is still a relatively small affair. It might not seem like it to those who are already here. But, there are billions of people throughout the world, who have yet to start on their own social media journey.
Over the next few years and especially in this age of ever increasing mobile internet use, many of those people will be embarking on their own personal journeys.
If we can help those new users in any way, by sharing our own experiences and assist their first faltering steps into the world of social media, this will have been worthwhile.

Another focus of this blog is a question i raised in a recent YouTube video announcing this venture.
That question is "How has social media changed, or how is it changing your life?"

I think we can safely say, that for the vast majority of us, our exposure to social media changes us in some way. Those changes can be both big and small. For some people the effects are, quite literally, life changing.
We aim to cover a wide variety of topics around this question. Talking about both the good and the bad effects of social media on our lives.
We also intend to talk about how social media has possibly changed our attitudes to the people that we interact with around the world.

There is also the question of how social media is changing the world in general.
We have probably all seen how social media has become a big buzz word in the world of advertising. Any business with an eye to the future is trying to muscle in to the world of social media. We'll be discussing the good and bad sides of this as well.

Well, i think that gives you all a flavour of what to expect in the future.

As you may have noticed, i have been joined on this blog by two fellow contributors.

Ken has been on the Internet and using very early forms of social media since the 1990's. Here is his story. So, he has wide experience of social media, both from a personal and from a business point of view.
I have known Ken for nearly 4 years, via YouTube etc. I finally got to meet him earlier in 2010, when i visited California, where he lives.

Rich is a relative newcomer to social media and will therefore be telling us about his first steps and experiences into this new world. This is his story. Rich also lives in California and has wide experience in film making.
I have only known Rich since early 2010. But, was lucky enough to meet up with him as well, during my trip to California.

We also aim to have guest posts from different people, telling us their own stories and discussing various different aspects of the social media experience.

So stay tuned.  It promises to be an interesting and eventful future for us all.
It's good to have you along for the journey and be sure to tell your friends all about Social Media Journeys.

When the (Social Media) World Began

Computers got cheap the year I graduated from college/university.  I remember the commercials that were running at the time, with William Shatner hawking the new Commodore computers.  The VIC-20, with 5k memory, and the Commodore 64, with a whopping 64k.  One was $100, the other was $200.  I bought the cheaper computer, found out just how cool the computer world might be, and sold it to a friend a month later and bought the top-line "64."

Right away, I bought a 300 baud modem - that's about as slow as you can go, and the only consumer modem available at the time.  The entire idea of connecting with the world was exciting - even though I was sort of fuzzy on what that actually meant.  I experimented with calling up local computer bulletin board systems, but I also signed up for the biggest BBS of them all - Compuserve.  At that time, it was a text-only system.  Everything scrolled up the screen.  News, special interest groups, and limited text-only games were fascinating, but Compuserve chat was fascinating.  The idea that I could hold conversations with random people anywhere in the world (well - anywhere in America at that point), fired my imagination.  There were chat rooms of any variety - some created by Compuserve, and others by users themselves - so it was relatively easy to find like-minded people.  I still remember the first few people with which I chatted - another recent college student, a woman in her 50's, and others, all discussing issues of world peace! Where would this all lead? I was filled with anticipation for the future!

I still am.  Though I was an early user of some social networking tools, and have used it throughout my career for research, inspiration and communication, I really didn't understand what it meant to be a content creator and an active part of an online community.

How and why that all changed is part of what I hope to explore here.  I look forward to sharing the journey!

In the meantime, feel free to explore my vlog, blog and audioboo podcast - you can find it all on my blog at http://worldaccordingtorich.blogspot.com

Friday 1 October 2010

The Quality of the Conversation

An audioboo regarding the question of quantity and quality in the number of "followers" or "subscribers" an individual has on any social media site (twitter, audioboo, youtube, etc.). It seems to be an answer that most individuals grasp instinctively, but that marketing experts are slow to understand.

Listen!

Thursday 30 September 2010

Introduction to My Social Media Journey

An interesting aspect of some journeys is when you set out with no particular destination in mind. Or, to put it more accurately, only a vague concept of the destination. An idea, a belief, a conviction that the destination is out there, although it has yet to be named or defined. I suppose my "social media" journey is kind of like that, as it began long before anybody ever used the term "social media."

Hi. My name is Ken Goldstein, known on many sites by my online handle of "kenrg" and I'm here to share a bit of my social media journey...  In brief, I've been online since about 1993, first using text-only dial-up services, then AOL, then an ISP to get directly to the full colorful web. One of my first surprises was the sense of community. Even in plain text, there were pockets of like-minded people, anxious to share information and to connect.

I learned html and posted my first web site around 1995. Shortly after, I added a cgi script for basic threaded discussion and ran a board for a music-related group. Again, community being the focus.

Meanwhile, professionally, I was also a member of an online community of nonprofit and social service professionals, called HandsNet. By 1999 I was not simply a HandsNet member, but had joined the staff as Director of Online Community Development, managing discussion board related to fighting poverty, and supervising the discussion moderators.

When I first opened my account here on blogger.com, nearly ten years ago, it was well before Google had purchased it from Pyra, the original developers. Likewise, I joined YouTube four-and-a-half years ago, before the Google purchase, and have been regularly tweeting away on twitter for nearly four years as well. Heck, I was even a Friendster member long before MySpace and Facebook.

From "online community" to "web 2.0" to "social media" I've been along on the journey, sometimes testing the waters ahead of the crowds, sometimes following, but always eager to learn the latest tools. For me, it's always been about the connections, and about communication. And I believe we have only begun to tap the true power and possibility of this brave new world.

I'm pleased that Andy has asked me to be a contributor to this blog. I will be sharing some recollections of my journey so far, my opinions on where we're going, and some criticisms of those who don't get it (hint: those who think Twitter is an advertising medium will be regular targets of my scorn). And I look forward to your comments on my posts.

You can find links to all my various feeds (blogs, vlogs, podcasts, photostreams, etc.) on my home portal (kengoldstein.ca).  Meanwhile, here are links to a couple of recent blog posts to give you an idea of where I stand:

Social Media Journeys


How has Social Media changed you?

An introduction to this new project.
Imported from my YouTube channel.

If you want to contribute, please get in touch & tell us your own story.
I already have one new contributor.

A beach vlog.

Blog Post - YouTube Is A Social Network

A blog post originally posted on my Moose Musings blog on 25th July, 2010:

Blog post - YouTube is a Social Network

Sorry for the confusion, after my last post. But, i suddenly realised that i'd missed this older post and felt that it needed to be added.
Hopefully, that's the last of the older posts and we can now move onto new ones.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Where did they come from?

Anyone who might have stumbled upon this new blog. Would probably be wondering why there are already 23 videos and 3 blog posts here. After all, this Social Media Journeys blog was only created a few days ago.

Well, all will be revealed throughout the blog posts that will follow, now that this new blog is up and running properly.

But, a brief explanation is that, all of the posts, below this one,  have been taken from either my YouTube channel , or from my other blog, Moose Musings.

The reason for this is that i have been talking and making videos about Social Media for around 4 years now. And i felt that those videos and blog posts were as valid here as they were on their original channels. I also felt that they are as valid now as they were when they were made.

They cover the same sort of topics that this blog will, hopefully, be covering. And although some of them are a few years old, they are a part of my own social media journey. Looking back on them shows me how far i have come and how much i've learned along the way.

It is always interesting for me to look back on the videos especially and i hope that it might be interesting and possibly valuable to you as well.

We all have to start somewhere and watching somebody elses first faltering steps, on their own social media journey,  can be a very valuable learning experience.

After all, the longest journey starts with just a single step.

Tuesday 28 September 2010

4 Years And Counting.


Originally posted on YouTube on 13th August, 2010.
That was the 4th anniversary of opening my YouTube account.
Some reflections of my time on YouTube.

I actually posted my first video on 25th August 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSKnhJ...

Blog Post: Vlogging - For Personal Use.

Blog Post - Vlogging For Personal Use

From my blog: http://andymooseman.blogspot.com/
Originally posted on 18th August, 2010.

Blog Post - Social Media And Me.

Blog post - Social Media And Me

Blog post from: http://andymooseman.blogspot.com/
Originally posted on 18th July, 2010.

Blog Post - A Digital Memory Bank

Blog post - Digital Memory Bank

A post from my other blog: http://andymooseman.blogspot.com/
Originally posted on 30th June, 2010.

This is Our Vloggerhood.


Originally posted on YouTube on 19th April, 2007.
This is one of the YouTube videos that i am most proud of.
Collaboration videos are one of the best things about the whole YouTube experience.

A Vlogger's Code.
These are not rules, just ideas and ideals.
It's about responsibility and respect. It's about honour and integrity. It's about entertaining and enlightening.
A collaboration with:
http://www.youtube.com/ohcurt & http://www.youtube.com/thefrozenghost
Music supplied by: www.g-manink.com

andymooseman - The Brand


Originally posted on YouTube on 12th March, 2010.
Are we all becoming a brand?
A beach vlog.

My blog - Moose Musings:
http://andymooseman.blogspot.com/

Sub 4 What?


Originally posted on YouTube on 20th February, 2010.
Talking about subscribers on YouTube.
Another beach vlog.

Re: Social Media - How Connected Are You?


Originally posted to YouTube on 12th November, 2009.
This was another response video. This time to: http://www.youtube.com/user/SunnyDazS...

Socialnomics & Social Media


Originally posted on YouTube on 12th October, 2009.
Some thoughts.
This is a follow up video to "Socialnomics - A Book Review".

Following on from my review of the book:
Socialnomics by Erik Qualman.

Socialnomics - A Book Review


Originally posted on YouTube on 12th October, 2009.

Social Media Revolution video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQ...

A review of the book:
Socialnomics by Erik Qualman.

Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Socialnom...

"United Breaks Guitars" video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4z...

Friends


Originally posted to YouTube on 8th October, 2009.
The evolution of friendships here on the Internet & other related thoughts

Wired


Originally posted on YouTube on 23rd September, 2009.
Thinking about Social Media & Social networking.
A stream of consciousness video.

Blurry.


Originally posted on YouTube on 20th September, 2009.
Real life vs Internet life.
Are the two worlds starting to collide? And how big will you let the bang be?

Crisis Of Faith?


Originally posted on YouTube on 30th August, 2009.
A video inspired by a conversation on Twitter. Inspiration can come from the most unlikely places.

Social Media & It's Use.


Originally posted on YouTube on 11th August, 2009.
A vlog inspired by three blogs/articles i'd recently read.
Have you changed the way you use the Internet & social media.
Does your age determine how you use social media?

A Secret Life?


Originally posted to YouTube on 19th July, 2009.
This was a response to my own "Digital memory bamk" video and to a comment from another YouTuber.
Many of my videos have come from viewers comments and feedback.

Digital Memory Bank.


Originally posted to YouTube on 18th July, 2009.
As with so many other videos, this was inspired by somebody else. On this occasion it was:
http://www.youtube.com/user/atree3

This is her video explaining what she's doing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lprtC_...

My original AudioBoo about this topic:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/44506-a-digit...

Happy archiving. 

I Like.....Vlogging.


Originally posted on YouTube on 11th July, 2009.
This was a response to a "tag" by a fellow YouTuber. Tagging has been quite popular on YouTube, during my time there.
The title says it all really.

Vlog A Day - Social Networking.


Originally posted on YouTube on 19th February, 2009.
Social Networking - Is that term an oxymoron?
Can Social Networking damage your health?
Discuss.

Are Vloggers Weird?


Originally posted to YouTube on 29th August, 2008.
Why are vloggers not taken as seriously as other communicators?
Vloggers vs Bloggers.
I apologise if you find it hard to distinguish between me saying Vloggers & Bloggers. You may have to listen carefully!
Just some thoughts.

What Is A Vlog?


Originally posted to YouTube on 6th August, 2008.
These are just my own thoughts as to what a vlog really is.
I have recently found out that this videos was quoted and referenced in an academic paper about "Real vlogs": http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2699/2353

Internet Friendships.


Originally posted on YouTube on 26th January, 2008.
Can Internet friendships ever be real friendships.
This is also the first "beach vlog" included here and does contains some scenes of the sea.

The Global Village.


This video was originally posted on YouTube on 20th September, 2007.
It was inspired by the use of one of my videos, by an English teacher in Bogota, Columbia. Showing how our videos can be seen and affect people around the world.

The Great YouTube Learning Experience.


This video was originally uploaded to YouTube on 21st February, 2007.
It is the 3rd in a series of videos about YouTube and is the follow up to "Are you a secret YouTuber?".

Are You A Secret YouTuber?


This video was originally posted on YouTube on 16th January, 2007.
It was the 2nd in a short series of videos about YouTube and is the follow up to "Are you a YouTube virgin?".

Are You A YouTube Virgin?


This video was originally posted onto YouTube on 11th December, 2006.
The video was posted to try and persuade others to take the plunge and make their own first video for YouTube. It was also the first in a short series of videos i did about my early YouTube experiences.