 |
|
| FriendFeed is the easiest way to share online. Learn more » |
Tom Foremski › Comments
SF Chronicle circulation plunges 26%, worst drop in US, but says turnaround is working (!?) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin...
Someone cold called me the other night asking me to sign up and I thought how tough a job that must be. By the time the news hits the paper its already a day old, it's probably been over five years since I actually paid for a copy of something in print.
- Davis Freeberg
Yes, that's not a good job to have :) I do buy the paper if I'm having breakfast, but it costs more and there is a lot less of it. Less is not more in this case.
- Tom Foremski
Mugged By Ticketmaster - The Outrageous Tax On Culture - http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt...
Kim Landwehr liked this
Ok the should be a rule that the fee you pay for an item should never be more then the item itself, just saying
- Kim Landwehr
Even that's too much. What value has Ticketmaster provided to demand nearly 100 per cent of the ticket? -Tom Silicon Valley Watcher - at the intersection of technology and media 1900 Eddy St. #6 San Francisco CA 94115 mobile: 415 336 7547 Twitter: @tomforemski
- Tom Foremski
from email
Our online lives slowly leak away - http://scobleizer.com/2009...
Thomas Power, Caglar Erol, drew olanoff and 37 other people liked this
i have lost so many memories online: my first blog from 96-97 i built on aol homepages with all the pregnancy and baby pics of my first son. my second blog on journalspace - 6years of writing, photos, music and art i had created, friendships. countless amounts of thoughts, words, photos, and who know's what else posted on sites i can't even remember anymore. so i think about it a lot...
more...
- Jodi Church
Jodi: I have a fatalistic attitude toward it. I'll be dead someday and just won't care. But my kids will care about their own photos or memories the way I care about memories of my parents and such. It's interesting how in the 1980s I still have my college newspapers that I wrote but I didn't save any of my writings on AOL or Prodigy.
- Robert Scoble
be sure to backup all those digital photos, movies, soundbites, etc of the kids. save them on external harddrives. i carried mine with me from germany, because i want them for my kids as well. make hardcopies of the stuff you love the most and put them somewhere safe. i just don't think we can rely on websites still being around. especially knowing how everything is moving towards...
more...
- Jodi Church
Jodi: yup, I have to print out more photos of my kids. Good reminder to spend some money doing that.
- Robert Scoble
I've been really happy with the quality and pricing of bay photo out of santa cruz
- David Thomas
This is why I like SmugMug - I upload the RAW images via Amazon S3. My images are all visible via the SmugMug service, but will always have a hard copy on a hard drive elsewhere if SmugMug ever goes away. It would take both SmugMug and Amazon going away for me to lose those. Great article though - it's a major concern.
- Jesse Stay
This is a major issue, as I am sure you know, Robert. The digital world faces the same issues as, for example, the film world faces and at a much faster pace. The sectors who are among the most concerned about it include: museums, libraries and archives. I managed a project in that sector, for a short time last year, and this was a significant issue. One of the commonly used labels for...
more...
- John W Lewis
I am not too concerned about my own stuff - I have local versions of most that matters, i stay away from proprietary formats (learned the hard way 10 years ago, with valuable things lost in formats i cant access), and the rest is just let go - and frankly it was no different in the "real" world, most notes, conversations and a lot of the pictures did not make it to the next generation....
more...
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
surely your photos are not only on flickr and your children will have access to them from your own home systems should something happen to you - same for password and access information for anything really "valuable" (i.e. memories, photos) that wouldnt be covered by the normal legacy process (I am assuming here if your website / blog is also your business you have put things in place for these since they are assets)
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
there is nothing you can hold for very long
- Robert Higgins
Robert, I like how Eckhart Tolle tells the story of visiting to an old fort with his family and reading a sign there that simply stated "ALL STRUCTURES ARE UNSTABLE" his insight to that was that he found that signpost to indeed be a "Sacred Sutra". This it in part has inspired me to found my new company VitalLock. VitalLock takes a utility approach to the problem by providing an Adobe...
more...
- Bob Stewart
One of the interesting things is that we can't really future proof this because we don't know what technologies will be used in 10 years. So a thumb drive, a hard drive, any sort of hard copy we keep must also be updated and at some point isn't it the memories? If it's important we'll do something like actually print a picture, rudimentary I know. Maybe we'll go back to the scrapbook...
more...
- Sheryl
Isn't that what cloud storage should do for us? Then we wouldn't have to worry about the format. That would be up to the provider to guarantee. Is anyone doing this well yet? I've talked with several companies about this over the years, but nothing has succeeded that I know of.
- Leigh Marriner
Print? No way. In fact I paid a service, ScanCafe to digitize old prints before they completely fade away.http://www.zoliblog.com/2008...
- Zoli Erdos
...and what about all the corporate data, civic/government data, and medical data that's going to get lost in these cloud computing schemes, and all of the communications and digital artifacts you'll lose investing them into services like FaceBook, and, well, FriendFeed... just sayin'...
- .LAG liked that
You don't "invest" in those systems - you do things for here and now, because they bring you value here and now. They're not an investment for the future, never will be, especially any site that is free owes you and me nothing, and promises us nothing. (Note: I pay for email at a place where theT&Cs give me guarantees, for that kind of reason). PS: I started keeping quick copies of good...
more...
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
@Joelle: fair enough, and it sounds like you have a fairly organized and strategic approach to preserving digital artifacts that you find important. I'd argue that most people just dive in, uploading, sharing, interacting, only to get burned later, when they want to look back on something and can't find it. You have a great point about the free vs. paid service. I agree totally with you there. If it's truly important, you should pay. That's why I pay for my email too. :)
- .LAG liked that
Thinking about this problem is part of what prompted my own artistic solution to the problem, at least on FF. I make daily sketches based on what's Best of Day for myself and for my friends. Here's the group that I share the copies to: http://friendfeed.com/friendf... It was starting to bother me how ephemeral all of this is. I still would like a better way to preserve more of my FF writing. I have it piped through Twitter, to Twistory, to Google Calendar, but that's fragmented.
- Kamilah Gill
Kamilah... your FF drawings are teh awesome!
- .LAG liked that
Dust to dust ashes to ashes...we all leak away eventually. That's not a bad thing.
- Tom Foremski
Thanks, .LAG
- Kamilah Gill
The ifference between bloggers and journalists? Journalists do it every day :)
Jeff (the マクダジ of FF) liked this
Is that the only ifference?
- Louis Gray
Hmmm... some journalists publish only twice a week, while many bloggers (for example Louis) publish twice a day :)
- Valeria Maltoni
Yup the frequency of posts is not a good comparison. Come up with something better Tom. :)
- Bryan Lee
Sounds simplistic. Does this include journalists who write for monthlies or quarterlies?
- Admiral Anika
They spell check everyday? :)
- Jeff (the マクダジ of FF)
from iPhone
Yes, we do need editors :) That's another difference...
- Tom Foremski
My point was that most bloggers have a day job and that they don't have to publish if they don't want to. But for journalists that is their day job and so they "do it" every day. While some might only publish one story a week, they are doing far more research than a lot of bloggers. But of course, there are many other differences between the two.
- Tom Foremski
Oh, I don't know about that either. The bloggers I know, do it everyday. They spend a good time doing research, despite their day jobs. Most manage to publish everyday, which is a lot more than most journalists regardless of media. The bloggers I know, do not have research assistants/dept. like journalists do, so there's that.
- Admiral Anika
I have a day job and 1 year old twins and publish every day. And I don't rehash other people's news. Bring it.
- Louis Gray
LG - and you're the undisputed MarioKart champ too. ;)
- Jeff (the マクダジ of FF)
from iPhone
The best thing many bloggers can do is read the AP Stylebook, repeatedly, until they understand ‘the craft’ of journalism. There’s often too little in common between journalists and bloggers. Journalists have a better handle on how to make attributions, organize material, separate their opinions and give credit to others. Oh yes, and maintain their professional ethics, even (or especially when) blogging. How many bloggers would recognize the AP Stylebook if they saw it?
- A Mitchell
Fwd: Ever since RSS got started, the tech industry has been trying to kill it. It's the people's tech, of course they don't like it. (via http://friendfeed.com/davew...)
Kol Tregaskes, Jannifer @wordsforliving, Daniel J. Pritchett and 6 other people liked this
The last word - comments disabled
- Steve Gillmor
The tech industry tries to kill all technologies. Nothing wants to be replaced.
- Cliff Gerrish
I can see his point. Don't think he was talking about you Steve. Sounded like he was venting aginst people like Murdoch who want to charge people for content every which way they can. But disabling the comments is uncool.
- Roberto Bonini
nothing is replaced, it's built on top of it. Eventually it becomes oil
- Steve Gillmor
My response here: http://friendfeed.com/rbonini...
- Roberto Bonini
Nothing wants to become a dinosaur, and then oil...
- Cliff Gerrish
Nice analogy steve. IPV6 is an example in point. we are still using the same basic tech the web was born with. Http is another good example. We use http in ways the original spec never anticiplated.
- Roberto Bonini
Roberto, I can see his point too and have been supportive for years. But he is talking about me when he maligns TechCrunch and equates us with being in the bag for major players.
- Steve Gillmor
It's a little bit dramatic. RSS isn't dead it's just gone into the woodwork...
- Tom Foremski
Tom, here's the scoop: http://www.scripting.com/stories...
- Dave Winer
Roberto, we use the whole stack -- RSS, XML, text, bytes, bits, circuits.
- Dave Winer
Tom it is the woodwork.
- Steve Gillmor
from iPhone
I really find it fascinating how few people really understand how fundamental RSS is to the web we all rely on.
- Tom Guarriello
Steve I hope you write more about that.
- Dave Winer
Looks like this guy thinks you said RSS is "dead" http://www.techmeme.com/090903...
- Dave Winer
His point is not supported by facts..innovation in RSS has stooped an has become what everybody wanted a 'dumb pipe' not that its dumb but that its something that we can depend on to be there without thinking about it
- Fred Grott
Fwd: Ever since RSS got started, the tech industry has been trying to kill it. It's the people's tech, of course they don't like it. (via http://friendfeed.com/davew...)
RSS defines this second phase of the Internet - I can't think of any other technology that does this.
- Tom Foremski
@ajkeen Andrew, I have a simple solution: Just delete the hate. Don't ban anonymity. It's throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
You are wrong. I would throw anonymity out in a second if I could.
- Robert Scoble
from iPhone
anonymity is what enables the expression of hate on the 'net. Think of all the trolls posting as anonymous. What if suddenly everyone knew who they were. They'd shape up quickly or get out. Either way win-win for the rest of us. I'm with Robert on this one.
- Kevin Arth
To me, this is analogous to those bloggers who blamed FriendFeed for their getting lots of negative reactions to their negative behavior. Did a single one of them mention that FriendFeed had nothing to do with the behavior that frightened Sarah Lacy? Anonymity has enabled the expression of love, too, but no one acknowledges that. I'm not with anyone who wants to ban anonymity. Ban stupidity.
- MiniMage TKDteacher of FF
There is no way to throw anonymity out. And even if you could it's the hate that's the problem. Right now a lot of sites aren't deleting the hate filled comments. Why don't we start there.
- Tom Foremski
Loading Up On BS In Silicon Valley - http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt...
Don't disagree, however what is the line between being positive/optimistic/excited and bullshit/cynical/negative? Who do you think does this balancing act well?
- Bill Flitter
I don't know where the line is... BTW, sorry about losing the thread on our email earlier, it would be good to catch up. I do quite a few meeting at the Apollo cafe on corner of Divisadero and Turk if that's OK with you.
- Tom Foremski
from email
Social business software: transforming people into a platform (@Ross ) http://blogs.zdnet.com/Foremsk...
The efficiencies gained once a wiki gains significant traction are remarkable. But I agree Tom, that lack of adoption within the organization is the barrier. My advice to Ross and Eugene, ardent in making great social software to accelerate inter-company communication, knowledge sharing etc -- is to build a more visual version aimed at youth, worked into curriculum. When I was in 9th grade (1984), they taught us BASIC. Why don't they teach Ruby on Rails or Drupal or Wikis today?
- lisa padilla
Thanks Lisa, good points...
- Tom Foremski
from email
Lack of media monitoring by Apple = arrogance - http://blogs.zdnet.com/Foremsk...
Cathryn Hrudicka, TodaSalud, Sebastian and 3 other people liked this
To be fair, maybe they're just not paying attention to stuff on ZDNet. I dislike Apple as much as the next guy, but nobody can be everywhere.
- Otto
Apple has not once commented on any of my posts.
- Robert Scoble
Also, AppleCare, like any other extended warranty, is a scam and a half from the very beginning. The fact that anybody still falls for it amazes me.
- Otto
Wait, isn't that what the "real-time web" is for? If comcast can do it, apple could pull some people off of appstore approval.
- Andy Bakun
from Android
I wonder if he'd like some cheese with his whine…
- Mistletoe Glen
I would love some cheese thanks! But also, this is an interesting experiment...
- Tom Foremski
A lot of companies are wondering, should we reply to negative stuff or sit still? So far, it's worked for Apple to sit still and not react.
- Tom Foremski
@BeerConnoisseur I've been enjoying the Sam Adams Summer Ale, but no beer for me tonight, I'm having a pint of Guinness
Tom Foremski liked this
Mmmh... beer. It's only 3.38pm here but...
- Tom Foremski
The Problem With The Real-Time Web - No Google Juice - http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt...
Agustín Méndez, Greg Guitarbuster, Jose Maria Pelaez and 17 other people liked this
Yet...
- Christian Anderson
from iPhone
This is absolutely wrong. My FriendFeed items are showing up in Google.
- Robert Scoble
from iPhone
...my FriendFeed items show up as well
- J.D. Deutschendorf
Tom is wrong again.
- Louis Gray
Left this comment. It's waiting for approval: "Sorry, but nope nope nope to the first half of your story about tweets not being able to rank in Google. Here's a perfect example that I ran into just in the last couple hours. Tonight my wife and I attended a Kathy Griffin concert at the Mountain Winery. Steve Wozniak was in the audience. On the way out of the concert, my wife did the...
more...
- Matt Cutts
So wrong ....
- Charlie Anzman
By Google "juice" I'm not talking about being searchable, I'm referring to pagerank, the importance that Google assigns to content. There is a big difference here. There would need to be a system that collects and collates all your online personas along with your website/blogsite.
- Tom Foremski
The real-time web is no so important. Not yet anyways. And it's not reliable, it's basically a huge mess. mostly a waste of time and noise. Once Google Wave starts working it will be another story.
- Charbax
another sign up for the realtime isn't real deadpool list
- Steve Gillmor
There's an opportunity for someone to complete the circle on real-time and static web and of course, Google is best positioned for that. And that's why "real-time" isn't what's going to crack GOOG's dominance.
- Tom Foremski
realtime isn't gonna crack anybody'd dominance - it is extending it
- Steve Gillmor
Google juice is fine and can be attributed - real-time does something far more powerful - flocking and virility. Google search is for residual traffic, Real-time is for live conversation.
- Chris Saad
Real-time is just a feature though, there are other profound features that will coalesce into a new phase of the web
- Chris Saad
oh wait Saad is clueless too
- Steve Gillmor
Heh sure :)
- Chris Saad
a feature, then your app is an implementation of a feature - don't think so
- Steve Gillmor
It's a feature - an important one, but a feature none-the-less - There are some other important features that need to come together as well for a real sea-change
- Chris Saad
sea changes are overrated
- Steve Gillmor
realtime v. sea change - take rt and the $
- Steve Gillmor
I disagree - IRC was 'real-time' - the point is not just real-time - it's also about concrete identity, distribution, aggregation, implicit and explicit gestures and more
- Chris Saad
don't throw gestures at me pal
- Steve Gillmor
I think we are just debating naming conventions though - whatever you want to call this thing its exciting as hell
- Chris Saad
agreed I call it realtime
- Steve Gillmor
I call it something else :) But it's still fun!
- Chris Saad
concrete gestures blah blah blah - realtime wins
- Steve Gillmor
How bout PushButton :-)
- PXLated
rssCloud
- Steve Gillmor
Don't give up on your genius from the old days Steve - you were right - just ahead of your time - like all of us - Gestures still need to play a role
- Chris Saad
I was right then and right now
- Steve Gillmor
You're always right - aren't you?
- Chris Saad
you're still about to be right
- Steve Gillmor
haha what does that mean
- Chris Saad
don't worry it'll come to you
- Steve Gillmor
It seems discussions about these types of things end up too binary - either/or. It's neither either/or but "and".
- Tom Foremski
Tom, you started it with "The problem"
- Steve Gillmor
Seriously though - have you had a moment to read our synaptic web straw man steve?
- Chris Saad
seriously, what the leo are you talking about
- Steve Gillmor
what the Leo LOL
- Chris Saad
http://synapticweb.org/ <-- this thing is what I am talking about. I'd very much like your input (as always)
- Chris Saad
I still say realtime is the wrong emphasis. It's about flow, and persistence.
- Kevin Marks
Yes Kevin - that's part of my point - would love ur input on that link too
- Chris Saad
Yes, I did :) But I wasn't clear enough on the "problem." I'm thinking in terms of investment of time between blog and the real-time world and how much time should I spend here and there...
- Tom Foremski
More content on my blog gives me an investment that translates into a better pagerank which is a lasting benefit. But it's not clear how lasting are the rewards if I spend more time in the real-time world...
- Tom Foremski
Why is it either/or Tom - why not integrate real-time on your blog?
- Chris Saad
*bump*
- Jay Cuthrell
tom's post points out the obvious. "You've got to do both. If you abandon your static web presence for your real-time activities you will find it harder to build your overall social media capital". of course a single micro-message is not *typically* going to have any weight as it's often just a pointer to the real content value. the largest percentage of the so-called real-time...
more...
- sull
i also think real-time is a feature of the larger evolving digital infosphere. in a way, realtime is like rapid failure.... meaning... the speed and volume of the data flow to analyze and grade and filter and stock... the greater the value realtime offers to intelligent systems (ie. google). slower data flow translates to a slower realization of what content is not only generally good...
more...
- sull
The other day, @bitlynow gave me a link about someone who died. my first thought was... hey it's bitly, they are good at what they are doing so i gave the tweet artificial value by reposting it only to realize moments later that the link and story were part of a hoax and possibly part of a worm. perfect example of why faster realtime data flow and analysis are critical to avoiding bad data from propagating.
- sull
sull - well said... Some people however, aren't using pointers, they have nothing to point to, and that's a mistake.
- Tom Foremski
Who says Real Time doesn't get you Google Juice. Not the Murphy Goode winery: http://www.google.com/search... (yesterday's post already there) or, more accurately, http://www.google.com/search... .
- Robert Scoble
Thats more like, its the problem with today's Google.
- Lakshman Prasad
i can't believe apple's getting press coverage today for "copy and paste." i mean really...
charlesbaker, David Ward and Tom Foremski liked this
Still no search(!)
- Tom Foremski
Really tough day. One of the toughest of my life. Fast Company TV is being restructured and had to lay off my friend @rocmanusa
Franklin Pettit, david beckwith, Iggy Mwangi and 68 other people liked this
Well, this day turned out a lot worse than I expected it to be. Sigh.
- Robert Scoble
Damn. That sucks. :(
- Jason Shultz
from twhirl
Well crap... that is not fun. Hang in there Robert (sending rocmanusa a tweet now)
- Brian Roy
I hate that you had to let him go, Robert. I'm sure with your massive following you'll be able to get him hooked up with something else fast.
- David Wilson
Hang tough Robert. Keep business and personal on different sides of the room.
- MVB (Grinch of FF)
Sorry to hear that, Robert. It always hurts when it hits close to home...
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
That truly sucks. Sadly, there are a lot of other folks out there right now going through a similar experience.
- Kevin Pedraja
maybe you can spread the word on his skills and help hook him up with a new job? surely someone is out there who is looking for someone with his skills?
- Jason Shultz
from twhirl
Sorry to hear :(
- Tyson Key
:(
- Steven Perez
Sucks but think big picture. If "this" is one of the toughest days of your life you have led a very very charmed life and should be counting yourself one of the luckiest peeps alive. Walla, now you have the attitude adjustment to go forth and help friend where possible. :)
- Steve C
:o( Sorry to hear it.
- Nurse Katie
Steve: agreed. My life is very charmed compared to many people's lives. My mom dying and my divorce were worse, but this sucks.
- Robert Scoble
Sorry to hear Robert.
- AJ Kohn
:( Sorry to hear Robert.
- Roberto Bonini
That is really unfortunate, I'm sorry to hear that.
- Jeremy Peronto
Not easy at all. I hate that we're going backwards.
- Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct
It's happening all over. Hope that doesn't add too much to your workload.
- Phil Boiarski
Robert, so sorry to hear that on behalf of RocMan - please send my regards to him. He was one of the hardest working people there.
- Jesse Stay
Wow that is incredibly harsh. It's tough enough when you have to lay off employees in general, let alone someone you considered a friend.
- Devlin Dunsmore
from twhirl
Hang in there buddy. Have unfortunately had too many months of that. Call me if you want to talk to someone.
- Patrick Moorhead
Sorry to hear about @rocmanusa. One of my business contacts was laid off yesterday, so it's all over. And Peter, sorry to hear about your layoff.
- Ontario Emperor
Sorry to hear this about Rocky :(
- directeur
that's too bad. Rocky's a great guy and was a fantastic video editor, producer, friend. Tought times indeed.
- Thomas Hawk
Oh wow, that would SUCK big time!! My heart goes out to you...he was a dear friend and collegue to you... I am sorry **** HUG **** . That is scary too isn't it?!
- Susan Beebe
Sorry, Robert its tough when your friends are laid off
- Kim Landwehr
... big hugs for rocky .. buy him a few beers
- johnpiercy
Bummer Robert. Heartfelt wishes and best of luck to your friend rocmanusa.
- jcunwired
sorry, sometimes i think it's harder psychically on the person doing the layoff than the one cut
- Dan Perlman
from twhirl
That is hard, Robert. I feel for you. @rocmanusa good luck finding something! I am sure @scobleizer will have a great word to help you out! Will root for you!
- Robert Couture
from Friend Deck
Robert that really sucks! And Rocky, I'm sorry to hear you were let go!!!
- Jeff P. Henderson
Nothing harder, Robert. I once built an entire news department, only to fire everyone after a 2 year run.
- Doug
Didin't realise it was Rocky till now. Now that really blows, man. Sorry. It sucks. :(
- Roberto Bonini
This is sad. Robert, how many people does Fast Company currently employ?
- Michael Forian
Dozens. Not sure of the whole number because Mansueto Ventures has Inc magazine too.
- Robert Scoble
That sucks, sorry to hear it - and hope Rocky gets straight into a great new gig ...
- Patrick Jordan
Sorry, Robert. It's happening everywhere, but that doesn't make it any easier.
- Louis Gray
Robert, I would only ask you one thing to make yourself feel better (regret is easy-action is harder) and think outside the box: Given the reverse, what would you like your friend to do for you? How far would you go to protect him or her? This is the kind of innovation, gentlemen (and ladies) that we need right now. Rather than hope, DO. DO everything you can to help your friend get a new job. And don't give up until its done.
- Melanie Reed
Melanie: I already have talked with a few people trying to find Rocky a job so I absolutely agree.
- Robert Scoble
{hugs} - I'm laid off too. It's a great time for an entrepreneur to grab a bunch of us talented developers and go into stealth mode on some super awesome new web site. I'm game for sure!
- Chrimmus Tad
Robert: Then you will both be blessed. I will be praying for you both until I hear its accomplished.
- Melanie Reed
It's tough, but i guess it wasn't coming out of the blue. Sometimes good companies just get into this mess because of bad timing. The good news are that some of them might survive the crisis, the bad ones are that no one really knows when this thing is about to end.
- Nir Ben Yona
Bummer. :-(
- Lisa L. Seifert
Sorry to hear that
- Adam Sherk
Sorry to hear the news. Rocky rules!
- Brian Ziel
From the *Wish It Were Not True Dep't* the likely future of Rocky's (and certainly millions of others) INBOX: Month 1: So sorry! Hugs! Month 2: Don't worry, something will turn up. Month 3: Dude, it's just a rough ride for everyone. Month 4: Maybe you should go back to school. Month 5: You just have to "reinvent" yourself ... yes, AGAIN. Month 6: Why didn't anyone speak up back in February and help Make #BasicIncome http://usbig.net/ Happen?
- michael silverton
i hate to say this but this should have been private :( there are just things that shouldn't be made public - especially by a boss. good luck to rocky in any case -
- Allen Stern
Sorry Rob for the bad news ... hangin in there rocky .. all the best wishes
- johnpiercy
ooottttaaayyy, that's dreaming. i was finally persuaded the other day to live in the world how it is, not how i would love it to be. (don't you agree you gotta' spot me this one, Robert?) absolutely *not* at Rocky's expense; for honestly, the situation sux beyond belief *heaving sigh of complete empathy* really, we have to think about this on a serious massive scale; we all heard Davos, what are we *doing* about it? are we really going to just sit around believing business as usual will return any day?
- michael silverton
"Furthermore, the regular rhythm of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years meant that everyone would know when the next release was due, thereby giving fairness and equity to both creditor and debtor.[45][46] Hudson therefore maintains that not only was the Levitical legislation a significant advance over the prior attempts to deal with indebtedness, but this legislation was also eminently...
more...
- Melanie Reed
Sorry to hear that.
- Steve Rubel
Hard for both of you for sure. Hang in there @rocmanusa.
- Micah Wittman
Already heard that, and I'm sad for both of you. Read my blog from today:-)
- Francine Hardaway
And I hope you didn't do it by email. Like someone did to me.
- Francine Hardaway
Not that it make sit better, but I want to add my sympathies, as well, to both you guys. I know it's not easy to let good people go -- or, of course, to be the one let go, obviously!
- Woodrow Jarvis Hill
I'm a big fan of Rocky but I agree with Alex, not sure if this is appropriate way to announce a layoff... it could come across as being more about you than Rocky, you seem to be getting more sympathy than he.
- Tom Foremski
I hear you, Robert. It is an awful feeling.
- Pete Delucchi
You could keep Rocky as a contractor and you'll need to credit him on all the videos he Edited.
- paul mooney
Good talent is rarely out of work for long. Good luck to the both of you.
- MarkCarras
Sorry to hear, Rocky is a fun guy. Looks like a roadie, but much nicer.
- sean percival
ouch. :-) best of luck to Rocky...
- Mitchell Tsai
:( ... I met Rocky and u while you guys were in HK last year. Can never expect the world change so quickly for the worst.
- Clarence Chiang
Well the good news is they got rid of Ed Sussman already. That had nothing to do with economics
- Marc Canter
Here's where FF fails. "I had to lay off my friend" and FriendFiend says 49 people "liked this." So sick.
- Michael Markman
Robert, I've had to layoff friends. Several times, and it never gets easier.
- Seth Greenblatt
from NoiseRiver
Sorry to hear that, I had to lay off my wife at the end of last year, we have worked together for 12 years.
- John D Reasor
Francine, I agree. I have had the email layoff experience so I can understand how you feel.
- Melanie Reed
This story really illustrates what a CEO friend of mine brings out constantly:is your relationship transactional or relational? Its the paradigm that needs to change. Business and its practices and thoughts have infiltrated our thinking for far too long. The phrase "It's just business." is going to go from grimly and begrudgingly accepted to the painful resentment needed to change it and our behavior towards one another. There are other ways.
- Melanie Reed
Resorting to what's always been done, is indicative of running out of ideas. btw- the CEO I mentioned wants to fight the "Transactional" way we treat all our relationships when it comes to business.
- Melanie Reed
Francine: i did read your post. Damn. I try never to deliver bad news through email. I hate it when people do that to me and I try to treat others the way I'd like to be treated. Allen: good point, but Rocky announced it on Twitter first and for better or for worse I live my life, good and bad, in public. It isn't always comfortable and it isn't always the best thing to do, I'm sure. But I chose to live my life in public and if I only shared the good stuff in my life you'd be seeing an incomplete picture.
- Robert Scoble
Also, my goal now is to help http://www.twitter.com/rocmanu... get a job. One advantage I have is my public network. By getting a crappy situation out here it might help. Already I've talked to a couple of people who saw this news and needed a good video editor.
- Robert Scoble
Sorry to hear Robert and it is great you are helping him. One of the big benefits of social networking
- Rob Cairns
++Melanie, there are global structural changes underway that could well open the door to these paradigm shifts, but prepare for a painful, and stubbornly lengthy transition. What if http://tr.im/ItIsThatBad ?
- michael silverton
Extraordinary: "I chose to live my life in public and if I only shared the good stuff in my life you'd be seeing an incomplete picture." -- RS. I've pointed this out before to others, and RS doesn't need my approval in any way; but this is indeed one of the foundational tenets of @scobleizer's revolutionary lifestyle. I suspect 80% of "followers" haven't the first f'ing clue of the road he's traveled to this point. Yes, Robert, talking about you in ur own thread. Nulle bastardo carborundum, including me.
- michael silverton
That sucks! all the best to your friend.
- Kahlil Lechelt
Thanks everyone. Got to keep as upbeat as possible.After all, nothing lasts forever. This is yet another test of character for me. I'm up for the challenge. I have to be. Robert, thanks for the memories. Good times, yeah? !!!
- Rocky Barbanica
oh no. I'm sorry to hear that friends
- Jeremiah Owyang
Geez, sorry to hear about this, you guys were a great team. Lots of hard news for Rocky at all once, keep your chin up, you have mad skills!
- Phil G
it is a sad day for you both, I'm sure. In this hyper connected world this is becoming all too common. We choose to work with people we know and like and then when the business changes... I've been thinking a lot about companies laying off people, then asking consumers to buy. Hey, we're all the same people on both sides of the spectrum.
- Valeria Maltoni
sorry to hear Rocky and Robert, really sad. Good luck Rocky.
- Loic Le Meur
Ugh, the recession is leaving nobody untouched.
- jjprojects
Perhaps what we need is some outside expertise in Social Collapse Best Practices http://friendfeed.com/e...
- michael silverton
Facebook: 25 Things I Didn't Want to Know About You - TIME - http://www.time.com/time...
Daniel Rowley, Brad Davis Seal, Phillip B and 5 other people liked this
An estimated 5 million of these notes — that's 125 million facts — have appeared on the website within the past week. Assuming it takes someone 10 minutes to come up with their list, this recent bout of viral narcissism has sent roughly 800,000 hours of worktime productivity down the drain.
- Leo Laporte
I think 10 minutes is a VERY conservative estimate.
- Louis Simoneau
I agree with Louis. Ten minutes is too conservative. It takes at least a minute to make something up about yourself that sounds believable.
- Joe Lima
Grouch 2.0
- Tom Foremski
Please people - they're TWEETS not TWiTs. Ah never mind.
Phillip Stewart, Daniel Rowley, Shawn Farner and 17 other people liked this
Hopefully one day you can make enough money to just buy Twitter and end the pain.
- Rolf Schewe
I'm a Twit, because I Tweet about TWiT. :-)
- Robert Scoble
I'm still hoping people will start calling them "Twaats"...
- Gabe
Heh, didn't someone want to buy the domain name and turn it into a Britney Spears fansite?
- Tyson Key
Haha, Gabe
- Tyson Key
it probably depends on what's said, actually
- Erin O'Bannon
sigh... Are you waiting for a higher valuation before you sue them?
- MVB (Grinch of FF)
Lol Robert you are funny.
- Rob Cairns
It's a Twit if it's dumb...but obviously no relation!
- Tom Foremski
A friend has a glass company and is struggling. Their Web site sucks. What advice do you give? Any Web designers in Silicon Valley?
Simone Lovati, Bruce Lewis, Roberto Bonini and 17 other people liked this
Link?
- Evan
there should be the odd web designer in the valley somewhere.
- Zee.
I would recommend that they first think what kind of content they want to have online. Product information is good bet, but what other things they should share to people? What about history of company? Telling stories make people feel more sympathy to company. (And yes, I could have some recommendation for those designers but I have to look from my bookmarks first...)
- Daniel Schildt
Given the economy they need to consider only 2 things right now: 1) how do I acquire customers; 2) how do I keep the customers I get (return business/upsell) - That should be the only purpose of the site. HOW they get there is what a good creative can help them with.
- Brian Roy
SWOT analysis, strategies evaluation, objectives setting, execution planning. In that same order
- Marcello Del Bono
engagement, loyalty, turn customers into sales-people. 'social-ize' your products
- MikeAmundsen
Make sure your website is tested on all platforms, loads quickly, gets to the point and is attractive without being gaudy. Showcase your work in the most attractive manner possible, but keep in mind who your key customers are; What kind of glass they make (art?, Practical?, sheets for artists?) will determine how they market. One thing they teach you in an MBA is that you can't just sell a product, you have to market to a customer- the first q they should ask themselves is who do they want as their customer
- InPerpetualMotion(Gina k)
Evan: It is: http://www.southbayglassco.com/
- Robert Scoble
My tips? First, think about how people are using Google to find you. Put those search terms in your title tag. Second, put a simple sentence about what you do for customers and how you are different from your competitors. Include those same search terms. Put that at the top of your page. After that, start a blog, make it personal. Add some stories of what you do. Tips for customers who are looking to hire you. That, too, will help you with Google.
- Robert Scoble
It doesn't tell me their story. Doesn't give me any reason why I should pick them over any other glass company.
- Alex Scoble
outsource it to asia for low cost upgrade, get a top notch result, can hook u up
- imran
Agree with Alex. I want to know what makes them great, even without saying "we are better than everyone else." Maybe teach us something about glass. People may think a certain way about glass, but if we have a better understanding of what goes into giving us the product, we may gravitate towards them.
- Evan
forget the Web site... how's the glass? perhaps that is the problem...
- Jon Price
Make sure the fundamentals are covered. Easy to find address, phone number, other corporate info (you'd be amazed how many sites blow this). Make it easy for a customer to get in touch from every page--the moment they find what they want they can get in touch with the company and order it or get more answers. Another bit of advice is one page = one product. Get them into google on each individual item. Sitemaps are also important and good header tags.
- Andrew Leyden
Marketing is more imp than product, right hand rule, unless u sell oil/gas
- imran
I didn't find them on yelp. Might want to encourage customers to start some entries. I didn't see any customer reviews. There's no tag line. I like to see something about good prices, good work, leave the place clean, on time, that sort of thing. The examples of their work are too big and there are no descriptions of what makes their work good.
- Todd Hoff
Better yet, move to Dubai, your friend will be sold out in a month or so
- imran
Start a blog and a short video show on YouTube. Write the most basic posts about glass company themes. go to Yahoo Answers and answer every questions related to glass/windows.
- Jason Calacanis
Selling your friends isn't very friendly.
- Todd Hoff
Follow/learn from Jcal, Arrington, Scoble's marketing lifestyle
- imran
I'd volunteer to help your friend - most businesses have fundamental biz development issues - they need to develop referral systems, focus on client education, reactivate dead leads, develop backend email system w/frontend free ebook optin above the fold answering most common client questions, and personalize the website with owner profile. It's cold and not that informative. Position...
more...
- Vicki Flaugher
Robert- I would be happy to send an complete analysis / recommendation. It sucks watching a good business fail with a bad site. I have some business basics articles I can narrow them in with, I know translating all this "net jargon" is hard for most brick and mortar businesses.
- 123socialmedia
Thanks for all the tips, I just forwarded this.
- Robert Scoble
they are struggling not because of their web site - this is for sure. They need to focus on their overall integrated sales/marketing strategies: like partnerships with contractors, etc; cross-marketing, referral-based incentives. People in general do not purchase these types of services because of the nice looking web site - period. There are few simple things that could be done to beautify their web site, even they will somehow drive folks to this web site-will not lead to more closed business- more needed
- glfceo
more content, should have a unique page for every major glass company out there. a page for every major style of glass/glass doors.Should have a nice section that can be used as a resource by potential customers to draw them in and generate a lead. Also all the META info for the homepage(and i imagine every other page) needs a revamp.
- sean percival
Answer three questions before you start: 1. Who am I talking to? 2. What do I want from them? 3. What do they want from me?
- Michael Markman
also the mom and pop stuff is always very hard, ive done about 200 ecommerce sites, mostly for small companies like this. their focus is always on the biz first and website last, today it and in some cases it should be the other way around.
- sean percival
Scobleizer, I guess it depends on their budget. If they have some budget allocated to improving their website, they should hire a consulting firm specializing in web and graphics design, like Emily Chang. However, if their budget is limited, they can search for students at nearby universities and see if any student designers will take it as a student project, or even have it as a class project competition.
- imabonehead
Nothing says personal like some raw videos going up now and then showing some aspect of the business. Be it some cutting taking place and the owner talking about the business somewhat. Once it's genuine and not a "well I saw someone say to do this so let me do this" kind of thing. You would know what I mean, Robert. I think.
- Evan
I'd like to see an http://www.englishcut.com style site go up for them and think that could work well. Of course using the web effectively might not translate well into business for a glass company...The other question is how effectively are they exploiting other avenues of advertising. Are they going the extra mile to get and maintain good word of mouth solicitations from current/past customers? Etc.
- Alex Scoble
selling glass during real estate troubles is interesting way to to target potential customers with sense of humor
- A.T.
also, making search on google maps with string "glass near 63 Washington Street Santa Clara, CA 95050" (remove parethesis before search) and zooming out shows how many glass ships around -- I don't know what they are counting for...
- A.T.
they don't appear on page 1 of google results for "santa clara glass." lot of drilling down to find them using maps, and they have NO reviews. on web site, gotta scroll down to find out "What we do." also, glass product named "Windows 95" does not inspire confidence
- Karim
They need to do more then an overhaul of their website. They need to work on SEO and targetted traffic such as through PPC campaigns. Plus wouldn't offline marketing be more effective for them?
- Nicholas James
The good news is, they can do a lot more. Be compelling. Details. Engage. It's about motivation from the client-side. Go beyond the website with the "service or products that are offered... Offer something of value and show it. Talk about it. Be seen...
- kilbuda
I would say that the bottom line comes down to storytelling. If I can go to their site and learn about them - what is their story? how did they get into the glass business? what makes them great? - I will gain an emotional connection and they've got my (and many others') business. Tell me the story of the process, let me gain the knowledge and make me feel like an insider because I know the terms and processes and don't feel like a fool when I call. That will make me a customer too.
- Shawn Kelley
I sent a lengthy e-mail to your fastcompany addy. Please forward to your friend. :)
- 123socialmedia
Before the glass company invests a lot of time, effort, and money into upgrading their Web site, they should run a small PPC (Google Adwords is your best bet) campaign to test the waters locally (under product/service related keywords like auto glass, glass windows, etc.). They can direct the Google ads to specialized landing pages that provide a call-to-action for the visitor - a small...
more...
- Drive Thru
Let's put internet aside for a sec (did I say that?). Seems to me they're lacking focus. Wikipedia tells me that Santa Clara has 100k pop. with median household income 76k$; yet, the showers seem quite expensive. Are they targeting the local market or also neighboring counties? Who are their customers cies or households? Before revamping their website, I think they should review their positioning. The most surprising is that they present themselves as subcontractors, maybe that's where they should start?
- Zack Brandit
my company 9 consults projects like this. have him email me and we'll do it pro bono. patricia@whatis9.com.
- Patricia
Wow, way to bump up an old FF post!
- Tamar Weinberg
Great thread. Good advice here for any company.
- Roberto Bonini
Is this an unforeseen consequence of the "New Great Advanced Search"? Thread Necrophilia?
- Matthew DeVries
Four months ago Alex Scoble and Shawn Kelley talked about this business needing to do more storytelling. That was before FriendFeed added geoRSS support and added some real-time enhancements. Today they could add a FriendFeed widget to their site and send photos of the jobs they do with locations, live reporting like at http://friendfeed.com/scoblei...
- Bruce Lewis
from fftogo
Matthew, I thought the same thing. I'm not sure I like that given my discussion that current FF content is being ignored.
- Tamar Weinberg
Not sure a web site can fix a struggling business otherwise we could do a killer design for the auto makers :-) It would be a lot cheaper...
- Tom Foremski
New rule: I am abandoning the phrase "new media" in all client decks and memos. It's not new. I have replaced it with "digital media."
oliver gassner, фыр, Seamus Condron and 36 other people liked this
what sparked this?
- Jason Kintzler
I'd suggest it's because "new" is scary to the enterprise. They want something that is proven and established. Good move.
- Louis Gray
@Jason inspiration. I am working on a deck.
- Steve Rubel
good. i started using digital media and online media last week in conversations and got a lot less ???-looks. new media required explanation.
- Admiral Anika
True. "New" is not only vague & ultimately meaningless, but something can only be "new" so long. "Digital" is more accurate.
- Paul Rodriguez
like that. Especially when new is no longer new.
- Joe Buhler
similarly, the BBC renamed its New Media and Technology division a while back. It is now called Future Media and Technology.
- Luca Belletti
from fftogo
I call it @TheAntiChrist media http://noahdavidsimon.blogspot.com/2008...
- Noah David Simon
The only problem with this is that outside our little sphere, plenty of people still consider "media" to be old media: print, TV, radio. The Internet itself is still a scary unknown for a lot of people and companies--even very large ones--still. Start talking about microblogging or social media, and they'll think you're playing some sort of goof on them.
- abacab
About time.
- Steve Isaacs
from fftogo
(I agree with dropping 'new', btw.)
- abacab
Agree with Gregory although I use "social media" as I think it is the social aspect of it that makes it different with "old media"... but in the end of the day it is "media" indeed.
- Philippe Borremans
I dropped "social" and "new media" and "2.0" - and I used to call it "digital media" back in the day (1998).
- l0ckergn0me
agree. 8/10 times i have to explain what i mean
- ray
I like "SM" because it sounds kinky and obnoxious at the same time
- Noah David Simon
honestly, it might confuse people. digital right now means that switch for TV to a lot of people.
- Patricia
i've been using "emerging" instead of "new" for years - folks get it
- mike "glemak" dunn
I was saying that a year ago on a CES panel. Of course, it was a "new media" type panel so it wasn't very well received.
- Russell Holliman
I do think this is in part why collectively whole industries like media, internet, etc. need to determine names for things. just one guy deciding it should be called digital media often coincides with another guy wanting to call it new media, and so on. switching things up like that makes it harder to train audiences and get them to adopt. Slower adoption makes everything harder on...
more...
- Patricia
Don't you mean *online* media? TV, radio, CDs, DVDs, etc., all have *digital* forms.
- Brent Logan
I think I ditched 'new media' around 2001. Digital & Social Media almost covers the bases, but because it's really alien and unknown territory, definitions are difficult to make stick. Interactive media still has its place, but even 'emerging media' is going to be dated once somethign has emerged.
- David Petherick
from twhirl
I never liked to term New Media, I have beedn using either Digital Design or Digital Media for like forever
- Bryan Thatcher
from twhirl
I had an interesting discussion with my team last week regarding the terms "digital" vs. "interactive"
- Christian
david: that is why i personally use "emerging" because once it has emerged you can call it something else, so it only refers to those forms of media that are truly emerging for their day...
- mike "glemak" dunn
steverubel i still think interactive describes the medium best just my 2 cents
- Jason Cronkhite
from twhirl
Digital is good, better than "social" it is more neutral and more accurate imho.
- Tom Foremski
Digital is insufficient, IMO. Most media is/can be digital, but that doesn't make it social or interactive.
- Mark Logan
from twhirl
I think "new media" could mean whatever is newest at the time.
- Jason Kintzler
I can "digit."
- Phil Boiarski
New Media Strategist at Voce Communications - http://www.linkedin.com/in...
New media and not social media? Interesting... I think you are right, btw.
- Tom Foremski
this is disappointing http://news.cnet.com/8301-10... can't remember when I've sided with a wireless company
Jeff, both government and wireless firms are living fat while we pay the price. They both go hand in hand anyway. The full price should be shown because that's what it is, rather than those "teaser" deals they show.
- Tom Foremski
Other ways to read this feed:
