http://www.odeo.com/channels/4562-The-Steve-Rubel-Lifestream no Daily links, insights, photos, videos and more on emerging technology. Daily links, insights, photos, videos and more on emerging technology. Daily links, insights, photos, videos and more on emerging technology. 40 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:02:00 -0800 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:02:00 -0800 http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25447956-The-Next-Big-Trend-It-s-All-About-Curation Fact: Information sources are exploding. More information will be created in 2009 than all prior years. Fact: Attention is finite. We're becoming media agnostic, but when we're interested in something we dig down into our interests. This is why I and others like Robert Scoble are really excited about digital curation. Facebook and Twitter lists are one level of curation. However, there are others. Posterous and Tumblr are fantastic platforms for soliciting contributions from groups of people around a shared interest. And they're platforms that will enable all of us to curate together. Here are a handful of places where you can see curation at work (more in the gallery below as well) ... My Parents Were Awesome is a group-contributed tumbelog that honors our elders. It has received national recognition. PopURLs Brown by UPS curates information all around business news (UPS is an Edelman client but we didn't build this site) Microsoft and Nissan have built entire brandstreaming sites ... Fact: Information sources are exploding. More information will be created in 2009 than all prior years. Fact: Attention is finite. We're becoming media agnostic, but when we're interested in something we dig down into our interests. This is why I and others like Robert Scoble are really excited about digital curation. Facebook and Twitter lists are one level of curation. However, there are others. Posterous and Tumblr are fantastic platforms for soliciting contributions from groups of people around a shared interest. And they're platforms that will enable all of us to curate together. Here are a handful of places where you can see curation at work (more in the gallery below as well) ... My Parents Were Awesome is a group-contributed tumbelog that honors our elders. It has received national recognition. PopURLs Brown by UPS curates information all around business news (UPS is an Edelman client but we didn't build this site) Microsoft and Nissan have built entire brandstreaming sites that showcase conversations around their brand (Edelman built the Nissan site) Sawhorse Media is creating a next generation media company by curating tweets in different topics like pets and now lists too IBM is using Tumblr to curate ideas for a smarter planet Do you agree that curation - both automated and human-powered - is the next big thing? This isn't just aggregation. As I wrote in my initial post on the subject it's about separating art from junk online. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » Fact: Information sources are exploding. More information will be created in 2009 than all prior years. Fact: Attention is finite. We're becoming media agnostic, but when we're interested in something we dig down into our interests. This is why I and others like Robert Scoble are really excited about digital curation. Facebook and Twitter lists are one level of curation. However, there are others. Posterous and Tumblr are fantastic platforms for soliciting contributions from groups of people around a shared interest. And they're platforms that will enable all of us to curate together. Here are a handful of places where you can see curation at work (more in the gallery below as well) ... My Parents Were Awesome is a group-contributed tumbelog that honors our elders. It has received national recognition. PopURLs Brown by UPS curates information all around business news (UPS is an Edelman client but we didn't build this site) Microsoft and Nissan have built entire brandstreaming sites that showcase conversations around their brand (Edelman built the Nissan site) Sawhorse Media is creating a next generation media company by curating tweets in different topics like pets and now lists too IBM is using Tumblr to curate ideas for a smarter planet Do you agree that curation - both automated and human-powered - is the next big thing? This isn't just aggregation. As I wrote in my initial post on the subject it's about separating art from junk online. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-11-13,25447956 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:02:00 -0800 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25434478-Google-Makes-Two-Ranking-Changes-Per-Day Satisfied with your Google ranking? It just may change before the day is out. Marissa Mayer on Google's race against spammers... "We have two, three, five changes every week that are visible to the end-user in the user interface. We don't [publicize] the ranking changes. We are making changes to our ranking algorithm at the rate of two per day. Interestingly, some of our competitors haven't made any changes to their ranking function for quite some time. Search needs to evolve: the user interface, the ranking function. It's a process of making lots of small changes all the time and to constantly make things better." Now factor in personalization and that people are using more words per query and you get the sense that SEO as we know it really could one day be extinct.   Permalink | Leave a comment  » Satisfied with your Google ranking? It just may change before the day is out. Marissa Mayer on Google's race against spammers... "We have two, three, five changes every week that are visible to the end-user in the user interface. We don't [publicize] the ranking changes. We are making changes to our ranking algorithm at the rate of two per day. Interestingly, some of our competitors haven't made any changes to their ranking function for quite some time. Search needs to evolve: the user interface, the ranking function. It's a process of making lots of small changes all the time and to constantly make things better." Now factor in personalization and that people are using more words per query and you get the sense that SEO as we know it really could one day be extinct.   Permalink | Leave a comment  » Satisfied with your Google ranking? It just may change before the day is out. Marissa Mayer on Google's race against spammers... "We have two, three, five changes every week that are visible to the end-user in the user interface. We don't [publicize] the ranking changes. We are making changes to our ranking algorithm at the rate of two per day. Interestingly, some of our competitors haven't made any changes to their ranking function for quite some time. Search needs to evolve: the user interface, the ranking function. It's a process of making lots of small changes all the time and to constantly make things better." Now factor in personalization and that people are using more words per query and you get the sense that SEO as we know it really could one day be extinct.   Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-11-10,25434478 Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:42:00 -0800 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25415557-Five-Incredibly-Useful-Things-You-Can-Do-Without-Ever-Leaving-Facebook I have been spending a fair amount of time on Facebook since they updated the news feed feature, mostly because I can get a quick read on what's new. I like how they show you "trends from friends." In the process, I am discovering that it's becoming a one-stop shop for many of my day-to-day activities. Here are five things that I recently found you can do right from within Facebook without having to leave... 1) Read, search and post tweets via Twitgether, a full-featured Twitter client 2) Watch TV streams via Hulu 3) Catch up with the local weather, using WeatherBug 4) Read blog and news RSS feeds with Frontpage News 5) Follow sports scores and more via Citizen Sports See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » I have been spending a fair amount of time on Facebook since they updated the news feed feature, mostly because I can get a quick read on what's new. I like how they show you "trends from friends." In the process, I am discovering that it's becoming a one-stop shop for many of my day-to-day activities. Here are five things that I recently found you can do right from within Facebook without having to leave... 1) Read, search and post tweets via Twitgether, a full-featured Twitter client 2) Watch TV streams via Hulu 3) Catch up with the local weather, using WeatherBug 4) Read blog and news RSS feeds with Frontpage News 5) Follow sports scores and more via Citizen Sports See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » I have been spending a fair amount of time on Facebook since they updated the news feed feature, mostly because I can get a quick read on what's new. I like how they show you "trends from friends." In the process, I am discovering that it's becoming a one-stop shop for many of my day-to-day activities. Here are five things that I recently found you can do right from within Facebook without having to leave... 1) Read, search and post tweets via Twitgether, a full-featured Twitter client 2) Watch TV streams via Hulu 3) Catch up with the local weather, using WeatherBug 4) Read blog and news RSS feeds with Frontpage News 5) Follow sports scores and more via Citizen Sports See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-11-06,25415557 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:31:18 -0800 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25415558-Moms-More-Influenced-Offline-While-Kids-Are-Online Two new studies point to a growing divide in how moms and kids communicate and are influenced...First up, Nielsen/Pete Blackshaw's Pocket Guide to Social Media and Kids: "In the hands of children and tweens, today’s cell phones are primarily used as text messaging devices, cameras, gaming consoles, video viewers, MP3 players, and incidentally, as mobile phones via the speaker capability so their friends can chime in on the call." And, via AdAge, parents are relying more on offline conversations to make decisions: "A study due out next week from the Parenting Group found that while moms are avid web and social-media users, they still turn to family and friends first, whether by phone, e-mail or in-person, when making decisions about product purchases." More in the images below. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Two new studies point to a growing divide in how moms and kids communicate and are influenced...First up, Nielsen/Pete Blackshaw's Pocket Guide to Social Media and Kids: "In the hands of children and tweens, today’s cell phones are primarily used as text messaging devices, cameras, gaming consoles, video viewers, MP3 players, and incidentally, as mobile phones via the speaker capability so their friends can chime in on the call." And, via AdAge, parents are relying more on offline conversations to make decisions: "A study due out next week from the Parenting Group found that while moms are avid web and social-media users, they still turn to family and friends first, whether by phone, e-mail or in-person, when making decisions about product purchases." More in the images below. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Two new studies point to a growing divide in how moms and kids communicate and are influenced...First up, Nielsen/Pete Blackshaw's Pocket Guide to Social Media and Kids: "In the hands of children and tweens, today’s cell phones are primarily used as text messaging devices, cameras, gaming consoles, video viewers, MP3 players, and incidentally, as mobile phones via the speaker capability so their friends can chime in on the call." And, via AdAge, parents are relying more on offline conversations to make decisions: "A study due out next week from the Parenting Group found that while moms are avid web and social-media users, they still turn to family and friends first, whether by phone, e-mail or in-person, when making decisions about product purchases." More in the images below. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-11-06,25415558 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:53:00 -0800 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25398079-Three-Ways-to-Thrive-in-the-Age-of-Streams The images above should strike fear in any one who seeks attention - be it a brand, a politician or an individual. They come from Nielsen. The first (87) is the number of domains the average American visits in a month. The second (2600) is the number of web pages the average American visits in a month.  This funnel is small when you think about the infinite choices we have today - an era of information abundance. And given that human attention doesn't scale, I anticipate these stats will remain stable. So how do you break through? Here are three steps I am considering in my work as a communicator ... 1) Limiting all writing to 400 words or less - that's what Leo Baubata is doing and I think he's on to something. (You can do the same with email.) 2) Doing more with visuals - most of my PowerPoint decks don't have bullet points and I am doing more with mindmapping. (According to the book Brain Rules, if information is presented just verbally orally, people only remember about 10 ... The images above should strike fear in any one who seeks attention - be it a brand, a politician or an individual. They come from Nielsen. The first (87) is the number of domains the average American visits in a month. The second (2600) is the number of web pages the average American visits in a month.  This funnel is small when you think about the infinite choices we have today - an era of information abundance. And given that human attention doesn't scale, I anticipate these stats will remain stable. So how do you break through? Here are three steps I am considering in my work as a communicator ... 1) Limiting all writing to 400 words or less - that's what Leo Baubata is doing and I think he's on to something. (You can do the same with email.) 2) Doing more with visuals - most of my PowerPoint decks don't have bullet points and I am doing more with mindmapping. (According to the book Brain Rules, if information is presented just verbally orally, people only remember about 10 percent. This jumps to 65 percent if you add a picture.) 3) Embracing a hub and spoke approach - it's difficult to expect anyone to come to you. This is why I like Posterous. I can start something here and engage with it everywhere via their auto-posting feature Is your message being heard? And if so, how are you coping Permalink | Leave a comment  » The images above should strike fear in any one who seeks attention - be it a brand, a politician or an individual. They come from Nielsen. The first (87) is the number of domains the average American visits in a month. The second (2600) is the number of web pages the average American visits in a month.  This funnel is small when you think about the infinite choices we have today - an era of information abundance. And given that human attention doesn't scale, I anticipate these stats will remain stable. So how do you break through? Here are three steps I am considering in my work as a communicator ... 1) Limiting all writing to 400 words or less - that's what Leo Baubata is doing and I think he's on to something. (You can do the same with email.) 2) Doing more with visuals - most of my PowerPoint decks don't have bullet points and I am doing more with mindmapping. (According to the book Brain Rules, if information is presented just verbally orally, people only remember about 10 percent. This jumps to 65 percent if you add a picture.) 3) Embracing a hub and spoke approach - it's difficult to expect anyone to come to you. This is why I like Posterous. I can start something here and engage with it everywhere via their auto-posting feature Is your message being heard? And if so, how are you coping Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-11-03,25398079 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:12:00 -0800 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25398080-Defining-Media-Cross-Mating-Elephants-and-Zebras Five years ago there was media and social media and the two were distinct. You know what was what. It was like there elephants and zebras. You knew the difference.  Today all media is social, all social is media. It's impossible to separate the two.  The media all actively use social technologies to innovate, converse and collaborate with their audiences. Meanwhile, social content from friends - be it tweets or status updates or videos - all should be considered media. Yes, the elephants and the zebras have cross-mated. My colleague overheard me say this and he drew this little doodle for me a few months ago. I keep it handy and refer to it often when thinking about big topics, like this one: just what is media? I don't have an answer any more. But it's important we have one. Google has a bunch of definitions here, but none of them seem to apply any more. The reason we need a new definition for media (as opposed to a definition for new media - a topic for another day) is... Five years ago there was media and social media and the two were distinct. You know what was what. It was like there elephants and zebras. You knew the difference.  Today all media is social, all social is media. It's impossible to separate the two.  The media all actively use social technologies to innovate, converse and collaborate with their audiences. Meanwhile, social content from friends - be it tweets or status updates or videos - all should be considered media. Yes, the elephants and the zebras have cross-mated. My colleague overheard me say this and he drew this little doodle for me a few months ago. I keep it handy and refer to it often when thinking about big topics, like this one: just what is media? I don't have an answer any more. But it's important we have one. Google has a bunch of definitions here, but none of them seem to apply any more. The reason we need a new definition for media (as opposed to a definition for new media - a topic for another day) is because entire industries depend on it. People say "I work in the media business." There are "media buying" agencies. And so on. So in asking this question, I turn to you. How would you define media today? Maybe we can begin to crowdsource a definition. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Five years ago there was media and social media and the two were distinct. You know what was what. It was like there elephants and zebras. You knew the difference.  Today all media is social, all social is media. It's impossible to separate the two.  The media all actively use social technologies to innovate, converse and collaborate with their audiences. Meanwhile, social content from friends - be it tweets or status updates or videos - all should be considered media. Yes, the elephants and the zebras have cross-mated. My colleague overheard me say this and he drew this little doodle for me a few months ago. I keep it handy and refer to it often when thinking about big topics, like this one: just what is media? I don't have an answer any more. But it's important we have one. Google has a bunch of definitions here, but none of them seem to apply any more. The reason we need a new definition for media (as opposed to a definition for new media - a topic for another day) is because entire industries depend on it. People say "I work in the media business." There are "media buying" agencies. And so on. So in asking this question, I turn to you. How would you define media today? Maybe we can begin to crowdsource a definition. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-11-03,25398080 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:34:01 -0800 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25398081-Julio-Ojeda-Zapata-on-the-Potential-for-Newspaper-Storystreaming via Posterous powers "storystreaming" at the Pioneer Press Julio Ojeda-Zapata explainsl how the St. Paul Pioneer Press used Posterous to solicit photos from readers in reporting the Packers-Vikings game over the weekend. Permalink | Leave a comment  » via Posterous powers "storystreaming" at the Pioneer Press Julio Ojeda-Zapata explainsl how the St. Paul Pioneer Press used Posterous to solicit photos from readers in reporting the Packers-Vikings game over the weekend. Permalink | Leave a comment  » via Posterous powers "storystreaming" at the Pioneer Press Julio Ojeda-Zapata explainsl how the St. Paul Pioneer Press used Posterous to solicit photos from readers in reporting the Packers-Vikings game over the weekend. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-11-02,25398081 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:58:00 -0800 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25398082-The-Two-Faces-of-Facebook The following is also my Adage column this week The Two Faces of Facebook I spend a lot of time gazing into a crystal ball that I know is going to be cloudy half the time. Lately I have been pondering Facebook's future. Facebook is clearly on a roll and is knocking on Google's door as the biggest site on the web. Will it continue to dominate or see its lead slip? Here are two potential outcomes. The Google Scenario In the more rosy picture Facebook remains the disrupter. It transforms how we use the web. Just as search changed our expectations that everything we want to know is accessible if we Google it, Facebook is the inverse. If information is important, it will find us through our friends and their friends and so on. We don't have to Google it. 'Trends from friends' is as tranformative as search. The more we use Facebook and the more we create and connect there, the smarter it gets in realizing what we need and when. We don't have to ask. The opportunity cost of switching to an... The following is also my Adage column this week The Two Faces of Facebook I spend a lot of time gazing into a crystal ball that I know is going to be cloudy half the time. Lately I have been pondering Facebook's future. Facebook is clearly on a roll and is knocking on Google's door as the biggest site on the web. Will it continue to dominate or see its lead slip? Here are two potential outcomes. The Google Scenario In the more rosy picture Facebook remains the disrupter. It transforms how we use the web. Just as search changed our expectations that everything we want to know is accessible if we Google it, Facebook is the inverse. If information is important, it will find us through our friends and their friends and so on. We don't have to Google it. 'Trends from friends' is as tranformative as search. The more we use Facebook and the more we create and connect there, the smarter it gets in realizing what we need and when. We don't have to ask. The opportunity cost of switching to an alternative is simply too great. This is why millions remain wih the same IM network they first tried years ago. Facebook, like Google, groks data. And they know how to study and use it to make the experience and value grow with every status update, photo, connection and interaction. Once they get serious about search - and consumers see the value in using it for finding curated information - Facebook's value and power could grow. The AOL Scenario It's hard to believe but ten years ago AOL was once dominant. It was a hit with advertisers. Publishers paid for position and built grand palaces. It was the place to be. It was also a walled garden. Sound familliar? This begs the question: could Facebook follow the same path? Possibly. Through continuous innovation Facebook is trying not to become AOL. That's the smart play. However each successive update has irked consumers. The revamped news feed, which rolled out last week, is just the latest. So far we keep coming back; but you have to wonder if a social network has nine lives. It's possible fickle consumers will eventually migrate elsewhere. Where might they turn? Just as with AOL they'll go everywhere. The entire web is becoming social. Facebook Connect is a play to make this happen on their terms. However this is where Google, Yahoo and other stalwarts could shine. They already control millions of IM and email address books and have lots of data So which mask wil Facebook don - Google's or AOLs? My bet right now is Google's. Permalink | Leave a comment  » The following is also my Adage column this week The Two Faces of Facebook I spend a lot of time gazing into a crystal ball that I know is going to be cloudy half the time. Lately I have been pondering Facebook's future. Facebook is clearly on a roll and is knocking on Google's door as the biggest site on the web. Will it continue to dominate or see its lead slip? Here are two potential outcomes. The Google Scenario In the more rosy picture Facebook remains the disrupter. It transforms how we use the web. Just as search changed our expectations that everything we want to know is accessible if we Google it, Facebook is the inverse. If information is important, it will find us through our friends and their friends and so on. We don't have to Google it. 'Trends from friends' is as tranformative as search. The more we use Facebook and the more we create and connect there, the smarter it gets in realizing what we need and when. We don't have to ask. The opportunity cost of switching to an alternative is simply too great. This is why millions remain wih the same IM network they first tried years ago. Facebook, like Google, groks data. And they know how to study and use it to make the experience and value grow with every status update, photo, connection and interaction. Once they get serious about search - and consumers see the value in using it for finding curated information - Facebook's value and power could grow. The AOL Scenario It's hard to believe but ten years ago AOL was once dominant. It was a hit with advertisers. Publishers paid for position and built grand palaces. It was the place to be. It was also a walled garden. Sound familliar? This begs the question: could Facebook follow the same path? Possibly. Through continuous innovation Facebook is trying not to become AOL. That's the smart play. However each successive update has irked consumers. The revamped news feed, which rolled out last week, is just the latest. So far we keep coming back; but you have to wonder if a social network has nine lives. It's possible fickle consumers will eventually migrate elsewhere. Where might they turn? Just as with AOL they'll go everywhere. The entire web is becoming social. Facebook Connect is a play to make this happen on their terms. However this is where Google, Yahoo and other stalwarts could shine. They already control millions of IM and email address books and have lots of data So which mask wil Facebook don - Google's or AOLs? My bet right now is Google's. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-29,25398082 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:27:26 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25398083-Chart-Newspaper-Circulation-the-Last-Two-Decades via theawl.com Fascinating look at newspaper circulation over the last 20 years. Handy for PowerPoints should you need it. Permalink | Leave a comment  » via theawl.com Fascinating look at newspaper circulation over the last 20 years. Handy for PowerPoints should you need it. Permalink | Leave a comment  » via theawl.com Fascinating look at newspaper circulation over the last 20 years. Handy for PowerPoints should you need it. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-27,25398083 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:07:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25398085-The-Next-Great-Social-Network-Your-Address-Book This morning I logged into YouTube and I noticed that it now helps me find me find videos and channels from friends who have linked their Google contact information to their social profiles. Meanwhile yesterday Google rolled out its social search program (which so far I like). And recently Google Reader too became a lot more social. So the Gmail address book/contact list is finally showing that it can be a powerful tool for connecting you to your social connections. This is something we saw coming. Here's what I love about this...  First, because I have lived in Gmail the last five years, there's loads of data in there that can make social networking even more powerful. Google will do a lot to mine these connections. This is just the beginning. But third parties will assist too. I love what Remail is doing by helping me easily find emails from contacts on my iPhone - even when I am offline. Second, its agnostic. Google doesn't care which social network you j... This morning I logged into YouTube and I noticed that it now helps me find me find videos and channels from friends who have linked their Google contact information to their social profiles. Meanwhile yesterday Google rolled out its social search program (which so far I like). And recently Google Reader too became a lot more social. So the Gmail address book/contact list is finally showing that it can be a powerful tool for connecting you to your social connections. This is something we saw coming. Here's what I love about this...  First, because I have lived in Gmail the last five years, there's loads of data in there that can make social networking even more powerful. Google will do a lot to mine these connections. This is just the beginning. But third parties will assist too. I love what Remail is doing by helping me easily find emails from contacts on my iPhone - even when I am offline. Second, its agnostic. Google doesn't care which social network you join. If a user links their profile to their social graph, Google will hep you harness it. Finally, I like that you're in complete control. If you don't want people to be able to search your Flickr photos, make them private and do not connect them to your Google Profile. However, here's the big question - will consumers set up their Google profiles? And, if they do, will they link them to their social networks? If they are tech adept, yes, they will. But what about the rest of us? I am not so sure. This has to get as easy and as elegant to use as Facebook. Watch for Google, and perhaps Yahoo and AOL, to make a big push in this direction in the coming months. Google will start promoting Profiles heavily and on its spartan home page so that they can get smarter about social networks. And Facebook, meanwhile, will do the same by encouraging more sites to use Facebook Connect so that, over time, they can help you search the annotated web as filtered by your friends. Permalink | Leave a comment  » This morning I logged into YouTube and I noticed that it now helps me find me find videos and channels from friends who have linked their Google contact information to their social profiles. Meanwhile yesterday Google rolled out its social search program (which so far I like). And recently Google Reader too became a lot more social. So the Gmail address book/contact list is finally showing that it can be a powerful tool for connecting you to your social connections. This is something we saw coming. Here's what I love about this...  First, because I have lived in Gmail the last five years, there's loads of data in there that can make social networking even more powerful. Google will do a lot to mine these connections. This is just the beginning. But third parties will assist too. I love what Remail is doing by helping me easily find emails from contacts on my iPhone - even when I am offline. Second, its agnostic. Google doesn't care which social network you join. If a user links their profile to their social graph, Google will hep you harness it. Finally, I like that you're in complete control. If you don't want people to be able to search your Flickr photos, make them private and do not connect them to your Google Profile. However, here's the big question - will consumers set up their Google profiles? And, if they do, will they link them to their social networks? If they are tech adept, yes, they will. But what about the rest of us? I am not so sure. This has to get as easy and as elegant to use as Facebook. Watch for Google, and perhaps Yahoo and AOL, to make a big push in this direction in the coming months. Google will start promoting Profiles heavily and on its spartan home page so that they can get smarter about social networks. And Facebook, meanwhile, will do the same by encouraging more sites to use Facebook Connect so that, over time, they can help you search the annotated web as filtered by your friends. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-27,25398085 Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:58:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25376752-How-to-Bring-Back-the-Old-Facebook-Feed On Facebook a lot of my friends are lamenting last week's switch to the new new news feed. (It's now split: the news feed shows trends from friends while the live feed is real-time.) Personally, I like the change. You can pick one. You're not forced. Still, if you want the old Facebook back, you can get it- sorta - via this tip which a friend left on my wall... "To get the "old facebook" back. On your main screen, on your left hand side click 'more' then click and drag 'status update' to the top of the list. Then refresh your page and it should be back to normal." Easy enough. Permalink | Leave a comment  » On Facebook a lot of my friends are lamenting last week's switch to the new new news feed. (It's now split: the news feed shows trends from friends while the live feed is real-time.) Personally, I like the change. You can pick one. You're not forced. Still, if you want the old Facebook back, you can get it- sorta - via this tip which a friend left on my wall... "To get the "old facebook" back. On your main screen, on your left hand side click 'more' then click and drag 'status update' to the top of the list. Then refresh your page and it should be back to normal." Easy enough. Permalink | Leave a comment  » On Facebook a lot of my friends are lamenting last week's switch to the new new news feed. (It's now split: the news feed shows trends from friends while the live feed is real-time.) Personally, I like the change. You can pick one. You're not forced. Still, if you want the old Facebook back, you can get it- sorta - via this tip which a friend left on my wall... "To get the "old facebook" back. On your main screen, on your left hand side click 'more' then click and drag 'status update' to the top of the list. Then refresh your page and it should be back to normal." Easy enough. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-26,25376752 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:59:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25373304-Goosh-is-a-Cool-Command-Line-Interface-for-Google I am on a minimalist kick these days as I try to unload some of the more complex stuff I use in favor simple tools that are "good enough." A lot of this involves moving to anything that works with plain text since it works well everywhere and it's inherently portable. There's actually an active crowd of minimalist curators out there and, with their help, I am finding all kinds of cool stuff in this genre. Here's one such gem: Goosh.org - a command line interface for Google. Once you're on the site type h and enter and you'll get a list of commands. Then, for example, if you type n followed by a keyword (like Yankees as I did here) you can quickly turn around a search of news results for a keyword without leaving the page.  My only nit with Goosh is that it doesn't work on mobile devices. However, the code is open source so maybe someone will remedy that soon. Link: Goosh.org (via Minimal on Tumblr) Permalink | Leave a comment  » I am on a minimalist kick these days as I try to unload some of the more complex stuff I use in favor simple tools that are "good enough." A lot of this involves moving to anything that works with plain text since it works well everywhere and it's inherently portable. There's actually an active crowd of minimalist curators out there and, with their help, I am finding all kinds of cool stuff in this genre. Here's one such gem: Goosh.org - a command line interface for Google. Once you're on the site type h and enter and you'll get a list of commands. Then, for example, if you type n followed by a keyword (like Yankees as I did here) you can quickly turn around a search of news results for a keyword without leaving the page.  My only nit with Goosh is that it doesn't work on mobile devices. However, the code is open source so maybe someone will remedy that soon. Link: Goosh.org (via Minimal on Tumblr) Permalink | Leave a comment  » I am on a minimalist kick these days as I try to unload some of the more complex stuff I use in favor simple tools that are "good enough." A lot of this involves moving to anything that works with plain text since it works well everywhere and it's inherently portable. There's actually an active crowd of minimalist curators out there and, with their help, I am finding all kinds of cool stuff in this genre. Here's one such gem: Goosh.org - a command line interface for Google. Once you're on the site type h and enter and you'll get a list of commands. Then, for example, if you type n followed by a keyword (like Yankees as I did here) you can quickly turn around a search of news results for a keyword without leaving the page.  My only nit with Goosh is that it doesn't work on mobile devices. However, the code is open source so maybe someone will remedy that soon. Link: Goosh.org (via Minimal on Tumblr) Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-25,25373304 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:11:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25334504-Kindle-Books-Can-Now-Be-Annotated-on-the-iPhone I have an Amazon Kindle but I never use it. However, I constantly use the iPhone Kindle reader - and it has me buying a lot more books. The Kindle Reader for the iPhone got a nice update last night (see the bottom of this page for details). It now lets you not only highlight and annotate your ebooks but also sync these back to the web, as you can see from the image above. Unfortunately this is somewhat limited since you can't search your notes either on the web or on the phone. Barnes and Noble is coming on strong with their new Nook reader but I decided a few months ago to go 100% electronic and to get rid of all of my books in favor of ebooks from Amazon since they have the best selection. I am hopeful they will add support for other devices like Blackberries and also PC/Mac desktop readers as well.  The Kindle feels like it should be less a device and more of a platform. However, good search is a must and it's still missing for now from non-Amazon devices. Permalink | Lea... I have an Amazon Kindle but I never use it. However, I constantly use the iPhone Kindle reader - and it has me buying a lot more books. The Kindle Reader for the iPhone got a nice update last night (see the bottom of this page for details). It now lets you not only highlight and annotate your ebooks but also sync these back to the web, as you can see from the image above. Unfortunately this is somewhat limited since you can't search your notes either on the web or on the phone. Barnes and Noble is coming on strong with their new Nook reader but I decided a few months ago to go 100% electronic and to get rid of all of my books in favor of ebooks from Amazon since they have the best selection. I am hopeful they will add support for other devices like Blackberries and also PC/Mac desktop readers as well.  The Kindle feels like it should be less a device and more of a platform. However, good search is a must and it's still missing for now from non-Amazon devices. Permalink | Leave a comment  » I have an Amazon Kindle but I never use it. However, I constantly use the iPhone Kindle reader - and it has me buying a lot more books. The Kindle Reader for the iPhone got a nice update last night (see the bottom of this page for details). It now lets you not only highlight and annotate your ebooks but also sync these back to the web, as you can see from the image above. Unfortunately this is somewhat limited since you can't search your notes either on the web or on the phone. Barnes and Noble is coming on strong with their new Nook reader but I decided a few months ago to go 100% electronic and to get rid of all of my books in favor of ebooks from Amazon since they have the best selection. I am hopeful they will add support for other devices like Blackberries and also PC/Mac desktop readers as well.  The Kindle feels like it should be less a device and more of a platform. However, good search is a must and it's still missing for now from non-Amazon devices. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-21,25334504 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:36:47 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25334505-Twitter-Users-Are-Now-Younger-on-Average-Than-Facebook-s The Pew Internet for the American Life Project is out with new data about Twitter ... "Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service." However, what's also notable is that Twitter is stronger on average with the younger audience - the same one that TV nets and advertisers covet. Overall it's younger than Facebook, which is graying. Still, pound for pound I am sure Facebook has more consumers in the same demo given its girth ... "Internet users age 18-44 report rapid uptake of Twitter over the last nine months, whereas internet users ages 45 and older report slower adoption rates. For example, 37% of internet users age 18-24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19% in December 2008. The median age of a Twitter user is 31, wh... The Pew Internet for the American Life Project is out with new data about Twitter ... "Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service." However, what's also notable is that Twitter is stronger on average with the younger audience - the same one that TV nets and advertisers covet. Overall it's younger than Facebook, which is graying. Still, pound for pound I am sure Facebook has more consumers in the same demo given its girth ... "Internet users age 18-44 report rapid uptake of Twitter over the last nine months, whereas internet users ages 45 and older report slower adoption rates. For example, 37% of internet users age 18-24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19% in December 2008. The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. The median age for MySpace is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40. Facebook, however, is graying a bit: the median age for this social network site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008."  This also explains why Twitter users like current events and culture. For more, see the PDF from Pew embedded below. Download now or preview on posterous PIP_Twitter_Fall_2009.pdf (451 KB) Permalink | Leave a comment  » The Pew Internet for the American Life Project is out with new data about Twitter ... "Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service." However, what's also notable is that Twitter is stronger on average with the younger audience - the same one that TV nets and advertisers covet. Overall it's younger than Facebook, which is graying. Still, pound for pound I am sure Facebook has more consumers in the same demo given its girth ... "Internet users age 18-44 report rapid uptake of Twitter over the last nine months, whereas internet users ages 45 and older report slower adoption rates. For example, 37% of internet users age 18-24 use Twitter or another service, up from 19% in December 2008. The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. The median age for MySpace is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40. Facebook, however, is graying a bit: the median age for this social network site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008."  This also explains why Twitter users like current events and culture. For more, see the PDF from Pew embedded below. Download now or preview on posterous PIP_Twitter_Fall_2009.pdf (451 KB) Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-21,25334505 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:03:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25312392-The-State-of-the-Blogosphere-2009-Edition Technorati is out with their annual report on the state of blogging. As usual it's packed with statistics. Notably this year it shows how some are taking a hub and spoke approach by promoting their blogs on other social networks. I was interviewed for the piece, which you can find here. We cover the value of the hub and spoke model, my move to Posterous and lifestreaming and what's next for PR and blogging. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Technorati is out with their annual report on the state of blogging. As usual it's packed with statistics. Notably this year it shows how some are taking a hub and spoke approach by promoting their blogs on other social networks. I was interviewed for the piece, which you can find here. We cover the value of the hub and spoke model, my move to Posterous and lifestreaming and what's next for PR and blogging. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Technorati is out with their annual report on the state of blogging. As usual it's packed with statistics. Notably this year it shows how some are taking a hub and spoke approach by promoting their blogs on other social networks. I was interviewed for the piece, which you can find here. We cover the value of the hub and spoke model, my move to Posterous and lifestreaming and what's next for PR and blogging. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-19,25312392 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:37:05 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25312393-As-the-World-Tweets Neat visual look at how the world wakes up on Twitter... GoodMorning! is a Twitter visualization tool that shows about 11,000 ‘good morning’ tweets over a 24 hour period, rendering a simple sample of Twitter activity around the globe. The tweets are colour-coded: green blocks are early tweets, orange ones are around 9am, and red tweets are later in the morning. Black blocks are ‘out of time’ tweets which said good morning (or a non-english equivalent) at a strange time in the day. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Neat visual look at how the world wakes up on Twitter... GoodMorning! is a Twitter visualization tool that shows about 11,000 ‘good morning’ tweets over a 24 hour period, rendering a simple sample of Twitter activity around the globe. The tweets are colour-coded: green blocks are early tweets, orange ones are around 9am, and red tweets are later in the morning. Black blocks are ‘out of time’ tweets which said good morning (or a non-english equivalent) at a strange time in the day. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Neat visual look at how the world wakes up on Twitter... GoodMorning! is a Twitter visualization tool that shows about 11,000 ‘good morning’ tweets over a 24 hour period, rendering a simple sample of Twitter activity around the globe. The tweets are colour-coded: green blocks are early tweets, orange ones are around 9am, and red tweets are later in the morning. Black blocks are ‘out of time’ tweets which said good morning (or a non-english equivalent) at a strange time in the day. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-19,25312393 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:07:15 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25267687-Studying-the-Evolution-of-Social-Media-to-See-its-Future I was a history minor in college - and, for awhile, it was my major. I am glad I was because the experience has framed how I view the development of the Internet and specifically online communities. (I have been online since 1988 when all we used were text-based online services.)  We need to see where we've been to understand where we might be going. Webdesigner depot has a great post that takes us down memory lane with some thoughts on what's next. Remember, that there will always be hype in this space. Yahoo bought Geocities for $3.65B and now, about ten years later, they shut it down. Permalink | Leave a comment  » I was a history minor in college - and, for awhile, it was my major. I am glad I was because the experience has framed how I view the development of the Internet and specifically online communities. (I have been online since 1988 when all we used were text-based online services.)  We need to see where we've been to understand where we might be going. Webdesigner depot has a great post that takes us down memory lane with some thoughts on what's next. Remember, that there will always be hype in this space. Yahoo bought Geocities for $3.65B and now, about ten years later, they shut it down. Permalink | Leave a comment  » I was a history minor in college - and, for awhile, it was my major. I am glad I was because the experience has framed how I view the development of the Internet and specifically online communities. (I have been online since 1988 when all we used were text-based online services.)  We need to see where we've been to understand where we might be going. Webdesigner depot has a great post that takes us down memory lane with some thoughts on what's next. Remember, that there will always be hype in this space. Yahoo bought Geocities for $3.65B and now, about ten years later, they shut it down. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-11,25267687 Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:16:45 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25247783-Charticle-The-Battle-for-Real-Time-Search Ann Smarty at ProductiveWise sizes up the various options for tapping into real-time search - Twitter, Facebook, Google and Friendfeed. Personally, I am finding Google's new search options to be outstanding - an addicting. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Ann Smarty at ProductiveWise sizes up the various options for tapping into real-time search - Twitter, Facebook, Google and Friendfeed. Personally, I am finding Google's new search options to be outstanding - an addicting. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Ann Smarty at ProductiveWise sizes up the various options for tapping into real-time search - Twitter, Facebook, Google and Friendfeed. Personally, I am finding Google's new search options to be outstanding - an addicting. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-07,25247783 Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:37:55 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25245502-Google-Preps-Server-Side-Clipboard via googlesystem.blogspot.com A Google pilot program unearthed by the Google Operating System blog - a clipboard in the clouds. I have wanted something like this for awhile, but hope that it will sync across computers and devices. Permalink | Leave a comment  » via googlesystem.blogspot.com A Google pilot program unearthed by the Google Operating System blog - a clipboard in the clouds. I have wanted something like this for awhile, but hope that it will sync across computers and devices. Permalink | Leave a comment  » via googlesystem.blogspot.com A Google pilot program unearthed by the Google Operating System blog - a clipboard in the clouds. I have wanted something like this for awhile, but hope that it will sync across computers and devices. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-10-06,25245502 Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:09:15 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25213333-Twitter-to-Add-User-Curated-Lists Lists are coming to Twitter to help users curate... "The idea is to allow people to curate lists of Twitter accounts. For example, you could create a list of the funniest Twitter accounts of all time, athletes, local businesses, friends, or any compilation that makes sense.Lists are public by default (but can be made private) and the lists you've created are linked from your profile. Other Twitter users can then subscribe to your lists. This means lists have the potential to be an important new discovery mechanism for great tweets and accounts." Sounds like a great feature. Will be helpful for separating art from junk. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Lists are coming to Twitter to help users curate... "The idea is to allow people to curate lists of Twitter accounts. For example, you could create a list of the funniest Twitter accounts of all time, athletes, local businesses, friends, or any compilation that makes sense.Lists are public by default (but can be made private) and the lists you've created are linked from your profile. Other Twitter users can then subscribe to your lists. This means lists have the potential to be an important new discovery mechanism for great tweets and accounts." Sounds like a great feature. Will be helpful for separating art from junk. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Lists are coming to Twitter to help users curate... "The idea is to allow people to curate lists of Twitter accounts. For example, you could create a list of the funniest Twitter accounts of all time, athletes, local businesses, friends, or any compilation that makes sense.Lists are public by default (but can be made private) and the lists you've created are linked from your profile. Other Twitter users can then subscribe to your lists. This means lists have the potential to be an important new discovery mechanism for great tweets and accounts." Sounds like a great feature. Will be helpful for separating art from junk. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-30,25213333 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:26:57 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25213334-A-Chance-Meeting-with-Tom-Dickson-of-Will-It-Blend In Atlanta today I ran into Tom Dickson, CEO of Blendtec. This is his business card. If you don't know Blendtec, they are the geniuses behind the wildly successful Will It Blend video series. We didn't have a lot of time to connect so I didn't shoot a video. However, I did get the sense that they are proud of their work (as you can see from Tom's business card above) and that it had helped their appliance company immensely. I wish more firms would be as pioneering. Permalink | Leave a comment  » In Atlanta today I ran into Tom Dickson, CEO of Blendtec. This is his business card. If you don't know Blendtec, they are the geniuses behind the wildly successful Will It Blend video series. We didn't have a lot of time to connect so I didn't shoot a video. However, I did get the sense that they are proud of their work (as you can see from Tom's business card above) and that it had helped their appliance company immensely. I wish more firms would be as pioneering. Permalink | Leave a comment  » In Atlanta today I ran into Tom Dickson, CEO of Blendtec. This is his business card. If you don't know Blendtec, they are the geniuses behind the wildly successful Will It Blend video series. We didn't have a lot of time to connect so I didn't shoot a video. However, I did get the sense that they are proud of their work (as you can see from Tom's business card above) and that it had helped their appliance company immensely. I wish more firms would be as pioneering. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-30,25213334 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:17:32 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25209680-The-Next-Great-Media-Company-Won-t-Have-a-Web-Site Lately I have noticed that many of the people, blogs, news services and more that I want to track are right inside Facebook. I have even filed them under a list called "feeds." This is very convient since their updates are integrated right into my stream right beside the people that I follow - friends, family, coworkers, etc. This has tremendous potential. Conceivably the next great media company will be all spokes and no hub. It will exist as a constellation of connected apps and widgets that live inside other sites and offer a full experience plus access to your social graph and robust community features. Each of these may interconnect too so that a media company's community on Facebook can talk to the same on Twitter. Facebook might be the first venue where this starts. It could become a mini news reader for millions who don't care about RSS or Twitter. Over time this may obviate the need to create large news sites. It's easier to create a rich interactive experience there than s... Lately I have noticed that many of the people, blogs, news services and more that I want to track are right inside Facebook. I have even filed them under a list called "feeds." This is very convient since their updates are integrated right into my stream right beside the people that I follow - friends, family, coworkers, etc. This has tremendous potential. Conceivably the next great media company will be all spokes and no hub. It will exist as a constellation of connected apps and widgets that live inside other sites and offer a full experience plus access to your social graph and robust community features. Each of these may interconnect too so that a media company's community on Facebook can talk to the same on Twitter. Facebook might be the first venue where this starts. It could become a mini news reader for millions who don't care about RSS or Twitter. Over time this may obviate the need to create large news sites. It's easier to create a rich interactive experience there than start a new news site and hope that people come to you. They won't have time to find or visit. In some ways this is a return to the old days of AOL where media companies rushed to develop a presence. Ultimately the web won out. But I wonder if we might see a return here to the days of old now that eyeballs are aggregating on socal networks and the connective tissue exists for them to talk to each other. I do believe it's possible to be successful here. Witness for example the New England Patriots. That said it will be very difficult for existing media companies to make such a move. What's your view? Permalink | Leave a comment  » Lately I have noticed that many of the people, blogs, news services and more that I want to track are right inside Facebook. I have even filed them under a list called "feeds." This is very convient since their updates are integrated right into my stream right beside the people that I follow - friends, family, coworkers, etc. This has tremendous potential. Conceivably the next great media company will be all spokes and no hub. It will exist as a constellation of connected apps and widgets that live inside other sites and offer a full experience plus access to your social graph and robust community features. Each of these may interconnect too so that a media company's community on Facebook can talk to the same on Twitter. Facebook might be the first venue where this starts. It could become a mini news reader for millions who don't care about RSS or Twitter. Over time this may obviate the need to create large news sites. It's easier to create a rich interactive experience there than start a new news site and hope that people come to you. They won't have time to find or visit. In some ways this is a return to the old days of AOL where media companies rushed to develop a presence. Ultimately the web won out. But I wonder if we might see a return here to the days of old now that eyeballs are aggregating on socal networks and the connective tissue exists for them to talk to each other. I do believe it's possible to be successful here. Witness for example the New England Patriots. That said it will be very difficult for existing media companies to make such a move. What's your view? Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-30,25209680 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:43:11 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25199055-A-Week-in-the-Clouds-Without-a-Notebook On average I travel for business about seven to 15 days a month. Sometimes it can get a bit nuts, but I love it - I never get bored. This is one of those weeks. I will literally be in the clouds all week both virtually and physically. I am starting my journey today in Toronto. Tomorrow I am speaking at the MIXX conference and will also participate in staff, client, industry and press meetings. Wednesday I head to Atlanta for the day for another private event and then right back up to Montreal that night. Thursday I am speaking at MIXX in Montreal. I head home for one night and then do a round-trip from NY to DC on Friday for, yes, another speaking gig. (Map above. I like maps!) Despite the travel, however, I still need to be productive. I need to stay in touch with my colleagues and clients and also do some writing. Also, I want to stay in touch with you here on my lifestream and on social networks. Mobile technology is my friend here. I have a couple of differen... On average I travel for business about seven to 15 days a month. Sometimes it can get a bit nuts, but I love it - I never get bored. This is one of those weeks. I will literally be in the clouds all week both virtually and physically. I am starting my journey today in Toronto. Tomorrow I am speaking at the MIXX conference and will also participate in staff, client, industry and press meetings. Wednesday I head to Atlanta for the day for another private event and then right back up to Montreal that night. Thursday I am speaking at MIXX in Montreal. I head home for one night and then do a round-trip from NY to DC on Friday for, yes, another speaking gig. (Map above. I like maps!) Despite the travel, however, I still need to be productive. I need to stay in touch with my colleagues and clients and also do some writing. Also, I want to stay in touch with you here on my lifestream and on social networks. Mobile technology is my friend here. I have a couple of different laptops that I take on trips. All of them are light. But you see, I am on a quest. I want ditch my laptop on every trip and only carry a smartphone and my Iamakey for the rest. Right now I have an iPhone 3GS but I may add a Blackberry to complement it. My key files and even some portable apps are encrypted on the USB key. The reason is simple: all of these devices are pocketable. A laptop isn't. I don't want to carry a laptop because it's mental baggage. I don't want to be thinking about where it is. Smartphones and USB keys are like appendages. I always know where they are. Plus, I know that one day soon we won't need to carry laptops on business trips because these phones - which are really pocket computers - will be able to do it all, including hook up to hotel TVs. I am trying to experience this future now. I have gone sans laptop on business trips before but this one at three nights is the longest one yet - although I am home for one night in between trips. I have tweaked my setup so that the apps and services I use on my smartphone are identical to what I use on my Mac at home and - to a large degree - my desktop PC at work. I like the simplicity and consistency of it all. Here's what I using... (workflow below) Writing and To Do List - WriteRoom (which now has TextExpander support to speed up typing) Contacts and Calendar - Address Book and iCal, which connect with our Exchange Server  Notes - WriteRoom for temporary storage, Evernote for archiving (more on this in a subsequent post on lifelogging) Files - Documents to Go, and if necessary, my IamaKey and Box.net/Sharepoint Mindmapping - Mindjet and Mindnode RSS - NetNewsWire, which syncs to Google Reader Twitter - Tweetie Plus, of course, Posterous and Instapaper for sharing and reading The only thing I can't do with this setup is create or edit a PowerPoint deck, although I can view them. This is one reason I am considering getting a Blackberry too - you can edit PPT. I don't anticipate I will need to on this trip. However, I will need to write, but I can actually do so on my phone quite comfortably. If some people can write books on cell phones, then I can certainly crank out shorter stuff too. You probably think I am nuts, but I hate carrying laptops. I have done so for years. I will keep you posted on my progress. Sometimes I am on the road seven or nine days at a time. I don't think I can ditch a laptop on these trips, but this journey might convince me otherwise. Wish me luck. Permalink | Leave a comment  » On average I travel for business about seven to 15 days a month. Sometimes it can get a bit nuts, but I love it - I never get bored. This is one of those weeks. I will literally be in the clouds all week both virtually and physically. I am starting my journey today in Toronto. Tomorrow I am speaking at the MIXX conference and will also participate in staff, client, industry and press meetings. Wednesday I head to Atlanta for the day for another private event and then right back up to Montreal that night. Thursday I am speaking at MIXX in Montreal. I head home for one night and then do a round-trip from NY to DC on Friday for, yes, another speaking gig. (Map above. I like maps!) Despite the travel, however, I still need to be productive. I need to stay in touch with my colleagues and clients and also do some writing. Also, I want to stay in touch with you here on my lifestream and on social networks. Mobile technology is my friend here. I have a couple of different laptops that I take on trips. All of them are light. But you see, I am on a quest. I want ditch my laptop on every trip and only carry a smartphone and my Iamakey for the rest. Right now I have an iPhone 3GS but I may add a Blackberry to complement it. My key files and even some portable apps are encrypted on the USB key. The reason is simple: all of these devices are pocketable. A laptop isn't. I don't want to carry a laptop because it's mental baggage. I don't want to be thinking about where it is. Smartphones and USB keys are like appendages. I always know where they are. Plus, I know that one day soon we won't need to carry laptops on business trips because these phones - which are really pocket computers - will be able to do it all, including hook up to hotel TVs. I am trying to experience this future now. I have gone sans laptop on business trips before but this one at three nights is the longest one yet - although I am home for one night in between trips. I have tweaked my setup so that the apps and services I use on my smartphone are identical to what I use on my Mac at home and - to a large degree - my desktop PC at work. I like the simplicity and consistency of it all. Here's what I using... (workflow below) Writing and To Do List - WriteRoom (which now has TextExpander support to speed up typing) Contacts and Calendar - Address Book and iCal, which connect with our Exchange Server  Notes - WriteRoom for temporary storage, Evernote for archiving (more on this in a subsequent post on lifelogging) Files - Documents to Go, and if necessary, my IamaKey and Box.net/Sharepoint Mindmapping - Mindjet and Mindnode RSS - NetNewsWire, which syncs to Google Reader Twitter - Tweetie Plus, of course, Posterous and Instapaper for sharing and reading The only thing I can't do with this setup is create or edit a PowerPoint deck, although I can view them. This is one reason I am considering getting a Blackberry too - you can edit PPT. I don't anticipate I will need to on this trip. However, I will need to write, but I can actually do so on my phone quite comfortably. If some people can write books on cell phones, then I can certainly crank out shorter stuff too. You probably think I am nuts, but I hate carrying laptops. I have done so for years. I will keep you posted on my progress. Sometimes I am on the road seven or nine days at a time. I don't think I can ditch a laptop on these trips, but this journey might convince me otherwise. Wish me luck. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-28,25199055 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:59:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25189295-Debate-Can-You-Still-Build-a-Profitable-Blog Earlier this week I appeared on Canadian TV (specifically BNN.ca) where I discussed blogging vs. lifestreaming with Lainey Lui of Laineygossip.com and eTalk. During the interview I maintained that it's difficult today to build a profitable blog since many of the big niches are taken. Lainey disagreed. What's your view? Permalink | Leave a comment  » Earlier this week I appeared on Canadian TV (specifically BNN.ca) where I discussed blogging vs. lifestreaming with Lainey Lui of Laineygossip.com and eTalk. During the interview I maintained that it's difficult today to build a profitable blog since many of the big niches are taken. Lainey disagreed. What's your view? Permalink | Leave a comment  » Earlier this week I appeared on Canadian TV (specifically BNN.ca) where I discussed blogging vs. lifestreaming with Lainey Lui of Laineygossip.com and eTalk. During the interview I maintained that it's difficult today to build a profitable blog since many of the big niches are taken. Lainey disagreed. What's your view? Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-26,25189295 Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:21:07 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25189296-Google-US-Flu-Activity-Already-Nearing-Seasonal-Peak I remain fascinated what you can do with search data. You can truly read minds since how we search is becoming a direct reflection our society.  Google has a site called Flu Trends where they use search data to assess how widespread the flu is in a few different regions of the world, as well as state by state in the US. I pulled up the US page this morning and was shocked by the activity. Even though it's early in the season, flu-related activity in the US is already nearing the seasonal peak point of prior years. With companies, NGOs and governments partnering together for greater good, I hope Google is sharing this aggregate data to help officials make smarter decisions about how to keep us as healthy as possible. Fascinating stuff. Permalink | Leave a comment  » I remain fascinated what you can do with search data. You can truly read minds since how we search is becoming a direct reflection our society.  Google has a site called Flu Trends where they use search data to assess how widespread the flu is in a few different regions of the world, as well as state by state in the US. I pulled up the US page this morning and was shocked by the activity. Even though it's early in the season, flu-related activity in the US is already nearing the seasonal peak point of prior years. With companies, NGOs and governments partnering together for greater good, I hope Google is sharing this aggregate data to help officials make smarter decisions about how to keep us as healthy as possible. Fascinating stuff. Permalink | Leave a comment  » I remain fascinated what you can do with search data. You can truly read minds since how we search is becoming a direct reflection our society.  Google has a site called Flu Trends where they use search data to assess how widespread the flu is in a few different regions of the world, as well as state by state in the US. I pulled up the US page this morning and was shocked by the activity. Even though it's early in the season, flu-related activity in the US is already nearing the seasonal peak point of prior years. With companies, NGOs and governments partnering together for greater good, I hope Google is sharing this aggregate data to help officials make smarter decisions about how to keep us as healthy as possible. Fascinating stuff. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-26,25189296 Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:34:35 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25179067-Charticle-The-Death-of-the-Print-Newspaper The Mint blog has compiled in one place a wealth of data about the decline of the print newspaper. The data points come from the Newspaper Association of America and Bloomberg.  Curiously the data doesn't include aggregate figures from Mint users - which conceivably they can compile by looking at payments to newspaper delivery companies and the like. It would have been interesting to see how this trend is sliced among Mint users, who are more tech savvy.  The full size infographic is here. Highlights below via Mint. Permalink | Leave a comment  » The Mint blog has compiled in one place a wealth of data about the decline of the print newspaper. The data points come from the Newspaper Association of America and Bloomberg.  Curiously the data doesn't include aggregate figures from Mint users - which conceivably they can compile by looking at payments to newspaper delivery companies and the like. It would have been interesting to see how this trend is sliced among Mint users, who are more tech savvy.  The full size infographic is here. Highlights below via Mint. Permalink | Leave a comment  » The Mint blog has compiled in one place a wealth of data about the decline of the print newspaper. The data points come from the Newspaper Association of America and Bloomberg.  Curiously the data doesn't include aggregate figures from Mint users - which conceivably they can compile by looking at payments to newspaper delivery companies and the like. It would have been interesting to see how this trend is sliced among Mint users, who are more tech savvy.  The full size infographic is here. Highlights below via Mint. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-24,25179067 Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:45:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25167871-Lifestreaming-Lessons-a-90-Day-Report As many of you are aware, three months ago I did something that some considered virtual heresy. After five years and 5300 posts I shuttered my blog, Micro Persuasion, in favor of this lifestream. I set out to find a middle ground between a blog and a tweet. I longed for a new approach where I could post shorter items, more often and in more visual and creative ways. I wanted to establish a place where we could probe technology - like Da Vinci once did on his own - but do so together and daily. Posterous has done a great job on the tech side, but I want to elevate my game. So far, I am extremely pleased with my approach, but I am never one to be satisfied. The basic formula is working well. I use this site as a launching pad to initiate many of my social streams and then I go and engage in conversations around these out in the hubs where it syndicated. Still, I am also posting content often directly into Facebook and Twitter without starting it here. I may play with the formula so th... As many of you are aware, three months ago I did something that some considered virtual heresy. After five years and 5300 posts I shuttered my blog, Micro Persuasion, in favor of this lifestream. I set out to find a middle ground between a blog and a tweet. I longed for a new approach where I could post shorter items, more often and in more visual and creative ways. I wanted to establish a place where we could probe technology - like Da Vinci once did on his own - but do so together and daily. Posterous has done a great job on the tech side, but I want to elevate my game. So far, I am extremely pleased with my approach, but I am never one to be satisfied. The basic formula is working well. I use this site as a launching pad to initiate many of my social streams and then I go and engage in conversations around these out in the hubs where it syndicated. Still, I am also posting content often directly into Facebook and Twitter without starting it here. I may play with the formula so that everything at least begins here. So what's missing? Well, the content is still too text heavy. Posterous lets you do so many things with audio, video, photos and text. I keep a list of formats I want to try. However, I still resort back to text too often and, what's more, I haven't been able to post daily as I had hoped. I am close, but I can do better. Last night on the Long Island Railroad I drew up this mindmap in Mindnode on my iPhone. I appreciate alliteration. How would you feel about a structure like this where I theme the content based on the day of the week? Monday we tackle models and/or mindmaps, Tuesday we talk trends, etc. I want to post more often and more creatively than just writing. Permalink | Leave a comment  » As many of you are aware, three months ago I did something that some considered virtual heresy. After five years and 5300 posts I shuttered my blog, Micro Persuasion, in favor of this lifestream. I set out to find a middle ground between a blog and a tweet. I longed for a new approach where I could post shorter items, more often and in more visual and creative ways. I wanted to establish a place where we could probe technology - like Da Vinci once did on his own - but do so together and daily. Posterous has done a great job on the tech side, but I want to elevate my game. So far, I am extremely pleased with my approach, but I am never one to be satisfied. The basic formula is working well. I use this site as a launching pad to initiate many of my social streams and then I go and engage in conversations around these out in the hubs where it syndicated. Still, I am also posting content often directly into Facebook and Twitter without starting it here. I may play with the formula so that everything at least begins here. So what's missing? Well, the content is still too text heavy. Posterous lets you do so many things with audio, video, photos and text. I keep a list of formats I want to try. However, I still resort back to text too often and, what's more, I haven't been able to post daily as I had hoped. I am close, but I can do better. Last night on the Long Island Railroad I drew up this mindmap in Mindnode on my iPhone. I appreciate alliteration. How would you feel about a structure like this where I theme the content based on the day of the week? Monday we tackle models and/or mindmaps, Tuesday we talk trends, etc. I want to post more often and more creatively than just writing. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-22,25167871 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:40:47 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25162282-The-Science-of-Retweet-Success Fascinating study by Dan Zarrella that looks at what does/does not get retweeted, based on 40M retweets. Unsurprisingly, words and time of day matter immensely. Surprisingly, begging works! Yet, semicolons don't! Permalink | Leave a comment  » Fascinating study by Dan Zarrella that looks at what does/does not get retweeted, based on 40M retweets. Unsurprisingly, words and time of day matter immensely. Surprisingly, begging works! Yet, semicolons don't! Permalink | Leave a comment  » Fascinating study by Dan Zarrella that looks at what does/does not get retweeted, based on 40M retweets. Unsurprisingly, words and time of day matter immensely. Surprisingly, begging works! Yet, semicolons don't! Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-21,25162282 Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:19:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25160938-Track-Twitter-Trending-Topics-with-Tweeter-Trends One of my frustrations with Twitter is that there's no easy way to track the hot trending topics within your personal stream. So, with that, I went ahead and created a tool that does just that. All you need to do is follow @Tweetertrends or simply subscribe via RSS. The app is a mashup that uses Dapper, Feedburner and Twitterfeed. It's wonky at times, still it works for the most part and is handy for tracking what's hot on Twitter today. Permalink | Leave a comment  » One of my frustrations with Twitter is that there's no easy way to track the hot trending topics within your personal stream. So, with that, I went ahead and created a tool that does just that. All you need to do is follow @Tweetertrends or simply subscribe via RSS. The app is a mashup that uses Dapper, Feedburner and Twitterfeed. It's wonky at times, still it works for the most part and is handy for tracking what's hot on Twitter today. Permalink | Leave a comment  » One of my frustrations with Twitter is that there's no easy way to track the hot trending topics within your personal stream. So, with that, I went ahead and created a tool that does just that. All you need to do is follow @Tweetertrends or simply subscribe via RSS. The app is a mashup that uses Dapper, Feedburner and Twitterfeed. It's wonky at times, still it works for the most part and is handy for tracking what's hot on Twitter today. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-21,25160938 Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:15:57 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25134269-Stats-The-Internet-in-Charts I love charts and graphs. So, here are a bunch of them that crossed my screen today. I found these all fascinating and I thought you would too. From Digital Inspiration... From The Next Web... From Visualizing Global Brand Data... Permalink | Leave a comment  » I love charts and graphs. So, here are a bunch of them that crossed my screen today. I found these all fascinating and I thought you would too. From Digital Inspiration... From The Next Web... From Visualizing Global Brand Data... Permalink | Leave a comment  » I love charts and graphs. So, here are a bunch of them that crossed my screen today. I found these all fascinating and I thought you would too. From Digital Inspiration... From The Next Web... From Visualizing Global Brand Data... Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-16,25134269 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:30:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25119869-Google-Real-Time-Search-Bookmarklet ReadWrite Web has discovered a way to make a simple tweak to the URL that Google returns and get back real time results. However, as you can see from the images below, they still have a way to go. For example, a search for NFL surfaced 10 result. Meanwhile Twitter alone is seeing hundreds of tweets per minute, each of which has it's own permalinked page. So even though it's not ready for prime time, the move is work watching. If you're interested in testing this out here's a bookmarklet you can use for as long as Google keeps this URL schema running. Just create a new bookmark with the following URL, click on it, enter your search and you will get back any results Google has uncovered in the last 10 minutes. javascript:(function()%7B%20p=prompt('Search%20term:','');%20if(p)%7B%20document.location.href='http://www.google.com/search?as_qdr=n10&q='%20+%20escape(p)%7D%20%7D)(); Permalink | Leave a comment  » ReadWrite Web has discovered a way to make a simple tweak to the URL that Google returns and get back real time results. However, as you can see from the images below, they still have a way to go. For example, a search for NFL surfaced 10 result. Meanwhile Twitter alone is seeing hundreds of tweets per minute, each of which has it's own permalinked page. So even though it's not ready for prime time, the move is work watching. If you're interested in testing this out here's a bookmarklet you can use for as long as Google keeps this URL schema running. Just create a new bookmark with the following URL, click on it, enter your search and you will get back any results Google has uncovered in the last 10 minutes. javascript:(function()%7B%20p=prompt('Search%20term:','');%20if(p)%7B%20document.location.href='http://www.google.com/search?as_qdr=n10&q='%20+%20escape(p)%7D%20%7D)(); Permalink | Leave a comment  » ReadWrite Web has discovered a way to make a simple tweak to the URL that Google returns and get back real time results. However, as you can see from the images below, they still have a way to go. For example, a search for NFL surfaced 10 result. Meanwhile Twitter alone is seeing hundreds of tweets per minute, each of which has it's own permalinked page. So even though it's not ready for prime time, the move is work watching. If you're interested in testing this out here's a bookmarklet you can use for as long as Google keeps this URL schema running. Just create a new bookmark with the following URL, click on it, enter your search and you will get back any results Google has uncovered in the last 10 minutes. javascript:(function()%7B%20p=prompt('Search%20term:','');%20if(p)%7B%20document.location.href='http://www.google.com/search?as_qdr=n10&q='%20+%20escape(p)%7D%20%7D)(); Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-13,25119869 Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:06:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25112117-Translation-Technology-Can-Open-Your-Eyes-to-a-Global-Social-Web As more of us around the world join the web, a lot content is going to start to be produced in non-English languages. This hasn't been a factor for a lot of us, but I suspect it will as we begin to discover content-rich resources and individuals we want to interact with.  Case in point. Recently I started reading a German blog that covers technology. It has a lot rich content, like for example the latest build of a portable version of Google Chrome - but it's all in German. I was delighted to discover that not only can Google Reader translate RSS but it remembers this setting on a feed-by-feed basis. Even though the translation is Yoda-like it's incredibly handy and is opening up my eyes to new voices. I hope that the big social networks like Twitter and Facebook can one day follow suit. Permalink | Leave a comment  » As more of us around the world join the web, a lot content is going to start to be produced in non-English languages. This hasn't been a factor for a lot of us, but I suspect it will as we begin to discover content-rich resources and individuals we want to interact with.  Case in point. Recently I started reading a German blog that covers technology. It has a lot rich content, like for example the latest build of a portable version of Google Chrome - but it's all in German. I was delighted to discover that not only can Google Reader translate RSS but it remembers this setting on a feed-by-feed basis. Even though the translation is Yoda-like it's incredibly handy and is opening up my eyes to new voices. I hope that the big social networks like Twitter and Facebook can one day follow suit. Permalink | Leave a comment  » As more of us around the world join the web, a lot content is going to start to be produced in non-English languages. This hasn't been a factor for a lot of us, but I suspect it will as we begin to discover content-rich resources and individuals we want to interact with.  Case in point. Recently I started reading a German blog that covers technology. It has a lot rich content, like for example the latest build of a portable version of Google Chrome - but it's all in German. I was delighted to discover that not only can Google Reader translate RSS but it remembers this setting on a feed-by-feed basis. Even though the translation is Yoda-like it's incredibly handy and is opening up my eyes to new voices. I hope that the big social networks like Twitter and Facebook can one day follow suit. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-12,25112117 Sat, 12 Sep 2009 08:30:37 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25107375-How-To-Backup-Your-Tweets-and-Make-Them-Searchable-with-Google-Calendar As I understand it, Twitter doesn't make more than your last 3000 tweets archived or searchable. But you can go store them going forward using Twistory and Google Calendar. I had signed up for Twistory way back in late 2007 and added it to Google Calendar. However, I had forgotten all about it since I had that calendar hidden from the default view. I was delighted today when while tinkering that all of my tweets since have been archived! Here's how you can do the same for yours, at least going forward. First, visit the Twistory site and enter in your Twitter username. Then you will be redirected to a page where you can subscribe to your tweet calendar in any one of a few different formats.  Second, I would subscribe to it in Google Calendar. This will add all kinds of Googleness to your tweets, like search and exporting. Finally, once your more recent tweets begin to populate in GCal they will all be archived going forward. You can browse them by date, or as you ... As I understand it, Twitter doesn't make more than your last 3000 tweets archived or searchable. But you can go store them going forward using Twistory and Google Calendar. I had signed up for Twistory way back in late 2007 and added it to Google Calendar. However, I had forgotten all about it since I had that calendar hidden from the default view. I was delighted today when while tinkering that all of my tweets since have been archived! Here's how you can do the same for yours, at least going forward. First, visit the Twistory site and enter in your Twitter username. Then you will be redirected to a page where you can subscribe to your tweet calendar in any one of a few different formats.  Second, I would subscribe to it in Google Calendar. This will add all kinds of Googleness to your tweets, like search and exporting. Finally, once your more recent tweets begin to populate in GCal they will all be archived going forward. You can browse them by date, or as you can see below, search them. Very handy indeed. Permalink | Leave a comment  » As I understand it, Twitter doesn't make more than your last 3000 tweets archived or searchable. But you can go store them going forward using Twistory and Google Calendar. I had signed up for Twistory way back in late 2007 and added it to Google Calendar. However, I had forgotten all about it since I had that calendar hidden from the default view. I was delighted today when while tinkering that all of my tweets since have been archived! Here's how you can do the same for yours, at least going forward. First, visit the Twistory site and enter in your Twitter username. Then you will be redirected to a page where you can subscribe to your tweet calendar in any one of a few different formats.  Second, I would subscribe to it in Google Calendar. This will add all kinds of Googleness to your tweets, like search and exporting. Finally, once your more recent tweets begin to populate in GCal they will all be archived going forward. You can browse them by date, or as you can see below, search them. Very handy indeed. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-11,25107375 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:11:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25105176-AOL-Integrates-Lifestreaming-into-AIM-for-the-iPhone via appadvice.com One of the big things that Facebook brings to the age of streams is instant messaging and presence indicators - the ability to see who is online right now and active on the service so you can chat in real time. I hope that sites like Twitter (and its ecosystem of apps) do the same. My bet is that they will soon tie into IM networks more in the near future. In the meantime, I am very interested in what AOL has been up to lately in bringing lifestreaming and social content the other direction - into IM clients that millions already use. This isn't just a big user base but they're also mainstream users too. Now it's all coming in the iPhone. With the integration of lifestreaming into the mobile IM client and the potential to create even more value through location-based social networking services, this entire space is about to get a lot more interesting. Keep an eye on the big IM nets and their massive social graphs. They are sleeping giants that are waking up to... via appadvice.com One of the big things that Facebook brings to the age of streams is instant messaging and presence indicators - the ability to see who is online right now and active on the service so you can chat in real time. I hope that sites like Twitter (and its ecosystem of apps) do the same. My bet is that they will soon tie into IM networks more in the near future. In the meantime, I am very interested in what AOL has been up to lately in bringing lifestreaming and social content the other direction - into IM clients that millions already use. This isn't just a big user base but they're also mainstream users too. Now it's all coming in the iPhone. With the integration of lifestreaming into the mobile IM client and the potential to create even more value through location-based social networking services, this entire space is about to get a lot more interesting. Keep an eye on the big IM nets and their massive social graphs. They are sleeping giants that are waking up to the potential here. Permalink | Leave a comment  » via appadvice.com One of the big things that Facebook brings to the age of streams is instant messaging and presence indicators - the ability to see who is online right now and active on the service so you can chat in real time. I hope that sites like Twitter (and its ecosystem of apps) do the same. My bet is that they will soon tie into IM networks more in the near future. In the meantime, I am very interested in what AOL has been up to lately in bringing lifestreaming and social content the other direction - into IM clients that millions already use. This isn't just a big user base but they're also mainstream users too. Now it's all coming in the iPhone. With the integration of lifestreaming into the mobile IM client and the potential to create even more value through location-based social networking services, this entire space is about to get a lot more interesting. Keep an eye on the big IM nets and their massive social graphs. They are sleeping giants that are waking up to the potential here. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-10,25105176 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:30:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25105177-Facebook-Goes-Light-Seesmic-Goes-Dark Two sites. One, Facebook, goes light (in the US and India only for now). The other, Seesmic Web, goes dark. Which one do you like better? It seems like there's a splintering approach to web UI's lately, one light one dark. One simple, another more complex. I just want to skin the web. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » Two sites. One, Facebook, goes light (in the US and India only for now). The other, Seesmic Web, goes dark. Which one do you like better? It seems like there's a splintering approach to web UI's lately, one light one dark. One simple, another more complex. I just want to skin the web. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » Two sites. One, Facebook, goes light (in the US and India only for now). The other, Seesmic Web, goes dark. Which one do you like better? It seems like there's a splintering approach to web UI's lately, one light one dark. One simple, another more complex. I just want to skin the web. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-10,25105177 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:43:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25099986-Google-Opens-Internet-Stat-Center Google has quietly opened up a new resource that aggregates Internet statistics across five vectors: consumer trends, macro economic trends, media consumption, media landscape and technology. The site is hosted on the Google.co.uk domain but the statistics are global.  The data on the site is pulled from a variety of sources that includes BusinessWeek, Comscore, eMarketer, HarvardBusiness.org, Hitwise, IAB, Nielsen, and others. The database is searchable as well and anyone can submit a statistic here. (via delicious) Permalink | Leave a comment  » Google has quietly opened up a new resource that aggregates Internet statistics across five vectors: consumer trends, macro economic trends, media consumption, media landscape and technology. The site is hosted on the Google.co.uk domain but the statistics are global.  The data on the site is pulled from a variety of sources that includes BusinessWeek, Comscore, eMarketer, HarvardBusiness.org, Hitwise, IAB, Nielsen, and others. The database is searchable as well and anyone can submit a statistic here. (via delicious) Permalink | Leave a comment  » Google has quietly opened up a new resource that aggregates Internet statistics across five vectors: consumer trends, macro economic trends, media consumption, media landscape and technology. The site is hosted on the Google.co.uk domain but the statistics are global.  The data on the site is pulled from a variety of sources that includes BusinessWeek, Comscore, eMarketer, HarvardBusiness.org, Hitwise, IAB, Nielsen, and others. The database is searchable as well and anyone can submit a statistic here. (via delicious) Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-09,25099986 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:21:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25099987-Essay-The-Power-of-Pull Photo credit: iirraa on Flickr The following is also my column in this week's Advertising Age. For more than 100 years, marketing has largely operated as a push paradigm. We create messages and funnel them through the media to reach stakeholders.Push remains viable. However, with time on social-networking sites and search engines rising, we need new ways to engage and reach people multiple times across different sources. That, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, is when consumers will trust what we have to say. That's what the "power of pull" is all about.Here are three considerations for tapping into the power of pull.CREATE RESOURCES THAT INFORM THE CONVERSATION When it comes to information, consumers will increasingly have a general ambient awareness of things they don't care about. However, they will go deep into pockets of passion. Brands can stand out and be more discoverable by becoming digital curators in a given niche -- and doing it well. They can work to separate ar... Photo credit: iirraa on Flickr The following is also my column in this week's Advertising Age. For more than 100 years, marketing has largely operated as a push paradigm. We create messages and funnel them through the media to reach stakeholders.Push remains viable. However, with time on social-networking sites and search engines rising, we need new ways to engage and reach people multiple times across different sources. That, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, is when consumers will trust what we have to say. That's what the "power of pull" is all about.Here are three considerations for tapping into the power of pull.CREATE RESOURCES THAT INFORM THE CONVERSATION When it comes to information, consumers will increasingly have a general ambient awareness of things they don't care about. However, they will go deep into pockets of passion. Brands can stand out and be more discoverable by becoming digital curators in a given niche -- and doing it well. They can work to separate art from junk. IBM is doing this by sponsoring Popurls Blue Edition, a section of the headline aggregator that culls business IT news. ADOPT RATHER THAN INVENT Although it offers a lot of reward, creating content is work. This can be mitigated by finding digital assets that consumers are already using, remixing it and/or partnering with its creators to give it further lift. EA did this with "Tiger Woods 08," when fans noticed Tiger could hit a golf ball while standing on water. EA posted a video response starring Tiger hitting the "Jesus shot" and promoted "Tiger Woods 09" in the process. WRITE FOR SEARCHERS, NOT JUST READERS Most of us still write for readers. But in the pull economy, we need to also write for searchers. One way to think of it is that Googlers are looking for "how to get rid of roaches," not necessarily for "bug spray." We can suggest using Google Trends and Twitter Trends to learn how people express themselves, and map language accordingly. That's what the power of pull is all about. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Photo credit: iirraa on Flickr The following is also my column in this week's Advertising Age. For more than 100 years, marketing has largely operated as a push paradigm. We create messages and funnel them through the media to reach stakeholders.Push remains viable. However, with time on social-networking sites and search engines rising, we need new ways to engage and reach people multiple times across different sources. That, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, is when consumers will trust what we have to say. That's what the "power of pull" is all about.Here are three considerations for tapping into the power of pull.CREATE RESOURCES THAT INFORM THE CONVERSATION When it comes to information, consumers will increasingly have a general ambient awareness of things they don't care about. However, they will go deep into pockets of passion. Brands can stand out and be more discoverable by becoming digital curators in a given niche -- and doing it well. They can work to separate art from junk. IBM is doing this by sponsoring Popurls Blue Edition, a section of the headline aggregator that culls business IT news. ADOPT RATHER THAN INVENT Although it offers a lot of reward, creating content is work. This can be mitigated by finding digital assets that consumers are already using, remixing it and/or partnering with its creators to give it further lift. EA did this with "Tiger Woods 08," when fans noticed Tiger could hit a golf ball while standing on water. EA posted a video response starring Tiger hitting the "Jesus shot" and promoted "Tiger Woods 09" in the process. WRITE FOR SEARCHERS, NOT JUST READERS Most of us still write for readers. But in the pull economy, we need to also write for searchers. One way to think of it is that Googlers are looking for "how to get rid of roaches," not necessarily for "bug spray." We can suggest using Google Trends and Twitter Trends to learn how people express themselves, and map language accordingly. That's what the power of pull is all about. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-09,25099987 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:38:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25094154-Stats-Tuesday-is-Social-Network-Ad-Day-But-Probably-Not-for-Women Mediapost: "According to new data from social media services provider ViTrue, (Tuesday) is the day of the week when click-through rates are highest on content posted on the walls of brand pages on Facebook, at 9.89%." However... MarketingCharts: "'The Digital Disconnect’ Emerges'" study found that even though 52% percent of the 1,000 women surveyed have befriended or become a fan of at least one brand on a social network, 83% nonetheless feel 'neutral' or 'negative' when they see a brand on a social networking site. Only 17% said they feel positive." In short, a faceless presence on a social network doesn't really work that well. People are there for people, not brands. Companies need to put their own employees out there authentically if they hope to break through in the Age of Streams. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Mediapost: "According to new data from social media services provider ViTrue, (Tuesday) is the day of the week when click-through rates are highest on content posted on the walls of brand pages on Facebook, at 9.89%." However... MarketingCharts: "'The Digital Disconnect’ Emerges'" study found that even though 52% percent of the 1,000 women surveyed have befriended or become a fan of at least one brand on a social network, 83% nonetheless feel 'neutral' or 'negative' when they see a brand on a social networking site. Only 17% said they feel positive." In short, a faceless presence on a social network doesn't really work that well. People are there for people, not brands. Companies need to put their own employees out there authentically if they hope to break through in the Age of Streams. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Mediapost: "According to new data from social media services provider ViTrue, (Tuesday) is the day of the week when click-through rates are highest on content posted on the walls of brand pages on Facebook, at 9.89%." However... MarketingCharts: "'The Digital Disconnect’ Emerges'" study found that even though 52% percent of the 1,000 women surveyed have befriended or become a fan of at least one brand on a social network, 83% nonetheless feel 'neutral' or 'negative' when they see a brand on a social networking site. Only 17% said they feel positive." In short, a faceless presence on a social network doesn't really work that well. People are there for people, not brands. Companies need to put their own employees out there authentically if they hope to break through in the Age of Streams. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-08,25094154 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:59:46 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25088216-Stats-Bit-ly-Surpasses-TinyURL-in-Traffic Short URL services are a key part of the infrastructure that powers the Age of the Stream. Think of them like railroad tracks.  TinyURL was king for awhile. But then Twitter ditched it for Bit.ly back in May. Just how much impact did this switch have? A big one. Traffic stats are only one way to measure the reach of such services. Link shrinking technology is built into the Twitter UI as well as the giant ecosystem of apps that power users interact with. So, in some ways, the total reach of TinyURL and Bit.ly sites are actually meaningless since the figures are significantly lower than they are actually used.  Still, what's unmistakable is that Bit.ly is rocking TinyURLs world thanks to the switch. For more, see the images below, which where pulled from Compete.com and Google Trends. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » Short URL services are a key part of the infrastructure that powers the Age of the Stream. Think of them like railroad tracks.  TinyURL was king for awhile. But then Twitter ditched it for Bit.ly back in May. Just how much impact did this switch have? A big one. Traffic stats are only one way to measure the reach of such services. Link shrinking technology is built into the Twitter UI as well as the giant ecosystem of apps that power users interact with. So, in some ways, the total reach of TinyURL and Bit.ly sites are actually meaningless since the figures are significantly lower than they are actually used.  Still, what's unmistakable is that Bit.ly is rocking TinyURLs world thanks to the switch. For more, see the images below, which where pulled from Compete.com and Google Trends. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » Short URL services are a key part of the infrastructure that powers the Age of the Stream. Think of them like railroad tracks.  TinyURL was king for awhile. But then Twitter ditched it for Bit.ly back in May. Just how much impact did this switch have? A big one. Traffic stats are only one way to measure the reach of such services. Link shrinking technology is built into the Twitter UI as well as the giant ecosystem of apps that power users interact with. So, in some ways, the total reach of TinyURL and Bit.ly sites are actually meaningless since the figures are significantly lower than they are actually used.  Still, what's unmistakable is that Bit.ly is rocking TinyURLs world thanks to the switch. For more, see the images below, which where pulled from Compete.com and Google Trends. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-07,25088216 Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:39:53 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25083311-Tools-Google-Trends-Goes-Mobile I'm not exactly sure when this was launched, but Google Trends now has a handy mobile version, which you can access here. The site, like it's desktop sibling, features links to the top searches of the hour. However, it also includes historical data from the past day, week and month.  Google Trends is one of the most useful sites on the Internet. I think a lot of people forget it exists. While Twitter might get all the press, there's no single more valuable tool than Trends to gauge what's got the public's attention. Now that it has a mobile version, I am sure I will be using it more. Permalink | Leave a comment  » I'm not exactly sure when this was launched, but Google Trends now has a handy mobile version, which you can access here. The site, like it's desktop sibling, features links to the top searches of the hour. However, it also includes historical data from the past day, week and month.  Google Trends is one of the most useful sites on the Internet. I think a lot of people forget it exists. While Twitter might get all the press, there's no single more valuable tool than Trends to gauge what's got the public's attention. Now that it has a mobile version, I am sure I will be using it more. Permalink | Leave a comment  » I'm not exactly sure when this was launched, but Google Trends now has a handy mobile version, which you can access here. The site, like it's desktop sibling, features links to the top searches of the hour. However, it also includes historical data from the past day, week and month.  Google Trends is one of the most useful sites on the Internet. I think a lot of people forget it exists. While Twitter might get all the press, there's no single more valuable tool than Trends to gauge what's got the public's attention. Now that it has a mobile version, I am sure I will be using it more. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-09-06,25083311 Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:40:52 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25053465-Conversation-of-the-Day-Facebook-is-the-New-Address-Book When it comes to personal information like email, calendars, to- do's and notes, I have super systems that keep all the data up-to-date by leveraging the cloud and keeping local copies on my computers and my iPhone. Evernote, for example, is one great tool that I use to stay in sync.  Contact information, on the other hand, has always been a pain.  The basic tools like the address book that comes with your computer are outdated. People move around too much these days. Enter social networking. The problem is keeping your information in sync everywhere. The new version of Facebook for the iPhone, however, at least for me is finally a workable solution because it has an integrated dialer. Part of the reason it works is because I limit my Facebook friends only to those whom I have met or corresponded. Like Robert Scoble, I wish that people would add their phone numbers to their Facebook accounts so that this becomes the ultimate solution. It sounds like soon Facebook will... When it comes to personal information like email, calendars, to- do's and notes, I have super systems that keep all the data up-to-date by leveraging the cloud and keeping local copies on my computers and my iPhone. Evernote, for example, is one great tool that I use to stay in sync.  Contact information, on the other hand, has always been a pain.  The basic tools like the address book that comes with your computer are outdated. People move around too much these days. Enter social networking. The problem is keeping your information in sync everywhere. The new version of Facebook for the iPhone, however, at least for me is finally a workable solution because it has an integrated dialer. Part of the reason it works is because I limit my Facebook friends only to those whom I have met or corresponded. Like Robert Scoble, I wish that people would add their phone numbers to their Facebook accounts so that this becomes the ultimate solution. It sounds like soon Facebook will keep your contact information in sync, which will make this all easier. However, all of this depends on if people keep their contact info current - which isn't a  given because of privacy concerns. For more, see Robert Scoble's thread on Friendfeed, which I have added below. What's your view? Permalink | Leave a comment  » When it comes to personal information like email, calendars, to- do's and notes, I have super systems that keep all the data up-to-date by leveraging the cloud and keeping local copies on my computers and my iPhone. Evernote, for example, is one great tool that I use to stay in sync.  Contact information, on the other hand, has always been a pain.  The basic tools like the address book that comes with your computer are outdated. People move around too much these days. Enter social networking. The problem is keeping your information in sync everywhere. The new version of Facebook for the iPhone, however, at least for me is finally a workable solution because it has an integrated dialer. Part of the reason it works is because I limit my Facebook friends only to those whom I have met or corresponded. Like Robert Scoble, I wish that people would add their phone numbers to their Facebook accounts so that this becomes the ultimate solution. It sounds like soon Facebook will keep your contact information in sync, which will make this all easier. However, all of this depends on if people keep their contact info current - which isn't a  given because of privacy concerns. For more, see Robert Scoble's thread on Friendfeed, which I have added below. What's your view? Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-31,25053465 Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:35:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25045206-Lifestreaming-Newspaper-Uses-Posterous-to-Solicit-and-Publish-Reader-Photos You're probably sick of me talking about Posterous, but it's been about a year since I have been this excited by a new platform and its potential to change how we publish. I don't know what the future is for the company (and no, they aren't a client), but I love its simplicity, its hub and spoke model and its collaborative features. But don't just take my word for it. Check out how others are innovating. John Bridges, a reporter with the Austin American Statesman, today is using Posterous to solicit and publish reader photos documenting a "day in the sun." Readers can submit their photos via email to  post@austinheat.posterous.com and then approved images get added to an aggregate Posterous site you can find here. Brilliant. I bet that others in the media will catch on soon and realize what you can do with this elegant, simple platform. We often overlook that the media helped Twitter go nuclear. Friendfeed was a bit to geeky to engender the same respons... You're probably sick of me talking about Posterous, but it's been about a year since I have been this excited by a new platform and its potential to change how we publish. I don't know what the future is for the company (and no, they aren't a client), but I love its simplicity, its hub and spoke model and its collaborative features. But don't just take my word for it. Check out how others are innovating. John Bridges, a reporter with the Austin American Statesman, today is using Posterous to solicit and publish reader photos documenting a "day in the sun." Readers can submit their photos via email to  post@austinheat.posterous.com and then approved images get added to an aggregate Posterous site you can find here. Brilliant. I bet that others in the media will catch on soon and realize what you can do with this elegant, simple platform. We often overlook that the media helped Twitter go nuclear. Friendfeed was a bit to geeky to engender the same response, but Posterous I bet is simple enough that the media will start to put it to use in creative ways. This is the first example I have seen. Permalink | Leave a comment  » You're probably sick of me talking about Posterous, but it's been about a year since I have been this excited by a new platform and its potential to change how we publish. I don't know what the future is for the company (and no, they aren't a client), but I love its simplicity, its hub and spoke model and its collaborative features. But don't just take my word for it. Check out how others are innovating. John Bridges, a reporter with the Austin American Statesman, today is using Posterous to solicit and publish reader photos documenting a "day in the sun." Readers can submit their photos via email to  post@austinheat.posterous.com and then approved images get added to an aggregate Posterous site you can find here. Brilliant. I bet that others in the media will catch on soon and realize what you can do with this elegant, simple platform. We often overlook that the media helped Twitter go nuclear. Friendfeed was a bit to geeky to engender the same response, but Posterous I bet is simple enough that the media will start to put it to use in creative ways. This is the first example I have seen. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-30,25045206 Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:22:54 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25037711-Quote-In-the-future-everybody-will-be-anonymous-for-15-minutes During a recent interview with Personal Branding magazine, the writer asked me what I thought about this amusing quote, which is the inverse of Andy Wharhol's more famous one. I am not so sure. The world is filled with extroverts and introverts so maybe there's a balance somewhere. Your view? (I find it ironic by the way that this tweeter uses Obama on a stage as his Twitter background.) Permalink | Leave a comment  » During a recent interview with Personal Branding magazine, the writer asked me what I thought about this amusing quote, which is the inverse of Andy Wharhol's more famous one. I am not so sure. The world is filled with extroverts and introverts so maybe there's a balance somewhere. Your view? (I find it ironic by the way that this tweeter uses Obama on a stage as his Twitter background.) Permalink | Leave a comment  » During a recent interview with Personal Branding magazine, the writer asked me what I thought about this amusing quote, which is the inverse of Andy Wharhol's more famous one. I am not so sure. The world is filled with extroverts and introverts so maybe there's a balance somewhere. Your view? (I find it ironic by the way that this tweeter uses Obama on a stage as his Twitter background.) Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-28,25037711 Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:55:30 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25036340-Lifestreaming-Follow-Your-Posterous-Peeps-with-RSS As I mentioned last night, as more of my friends join Posterous and use it as a hub to populate their I am becoming a huge fan of their built in reader. It's helping me discover all kinds of new, substantive content that is hard to find in Twitter or even multiple blog RSS feeds. Today I found out you can actually subscribe to the Posterous peeps you follow via RSS. Here's how. First, visit posterous.com/reader in your browser. If you're using Firefox, Safari or IE, the RSS icon should light up. Then all you need to do is subscribe to that feed. I am wondering if this one day will become my preferred input channel - especially if Posterous becomes as real-time as Friendfeed, Facebook and Twitter. It still feels slow right now, like blogging. Then again, much of the content already finds its way into all three sites. So this might be moot. Still, for now, it's cool for me. Permalink | Leave a comment  » As I mentioned last night, as more of my friends join Posterous and use it as a hub to populate their I am becoming a huge fan of their built in reader. It's helping me discover all kinds of new, substantive content that is hard to find in Twitter or even multiple blog RSS feeds. Today I found out you can actually subscribe to the Posterous peeps you follow via RSS. Here's how. First, visit posterous.com/reader in your browser. If you're using Firefox, Safari or IE, the RSS icon should light up. Then all you need to do is subscribe to that feed. I am wondering if this one day will become my preferred input channel - especially if Posterous becomes as real-time as Friendfeed, Facebook and Twitter. It still feels slow right now, like blogging. Then again, much of the content already finds its way into all three sites. So this might be moot. Still, for now, it's cool for me. Permalink | Leave a comment  » As I mentioned last night, as more of my friends join Posterous and use it as a hub to populate their I am becoming a huge fan of their built in reader. It's helping me discover all kinds of new, substantive content that is hard to find in Twitter or even multiple blog RSS feeds. Today I found out you can actually subscribe to the Posterous peeps you follow via RSS. Here's how. First, visit posterous.com/reader in your browser. If you're using Firefox, Safari or IE, the RSS icon should light up. Then all you need to do is subscribe to that feed. I am wondering if this one day will become my preferred input channel - especially if Posterous becomes as real-time as Friendfeed, Facebook and Twitter. It still feels slow right now, like blogging. Then again, much of the content already finds its way into all three sites. So this might be moot. Still, for now, it's cool for me. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-28,25036340 Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:35:54 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25033951-Lifestreaming-Evolving-the-Model-from-Import-and-Aggregate-to-Hub-and-Spokes Lifestreaming started out initially as a model that revolved around importation and aggregation: a place to roll-up all your streams. But that's changing. Now that Facebook acquired Friendfeed and the noise on Twitter is at near cacophonous levels, I am seeing a new model emerge for lifestreaming. This one centers on using a site as your hub, having it syndicate out to all your spokes (where you engage around it) and then bringing some of the conversation back to your site. It also seems to help people focus their content in more useful ways. Mark Krynsky, who I had a chance to meet in LA last week at XPrize, summarizes this shift for lifestreaming nicely in this post. Here's how he diagrammed it... And this closely mirrors what others, like our creative director Jared Hendler, Fast Company and others have observed about Posterous. Facebook, Twitter and RSS all have a big problem - too much noise, not enough signal. This new approach for lifestreaming, however, coupled with ... Lifestreaming started out initially as a model that revolved around importation and aggregation: a place to roll-up all your streams. But that's changing. Now that Facebook acquired Friendfeed and the noise on Twitter is at near cacophonous levels, I am seeing a new model emerge for lifestreaming. This one centers on using a site as your hub, having it syndicate out to all your spokes (where you engage around it) and then bringing some of the conversation back to your site. It also seems to help people focus their content in more useful ways. Mark Krynsky, who I had a chance to meet in LA last week at XPrize, summarizes this shift for lifestreaming nicely in this post. Here's how he diagrammed it... And this closely mirrors what others, like our creative director Jared Hendler, Fast Company and others have observed about Posterous. Facebook, Twitter and RSS all have a big problem - too much noise, not enough signal. This new approach for lifestreaming, however, coupled with Posterous' outstanding reader (depicted below) is forcing me to make smart choices about who I follow. I am finding myself turning more to the Posterous community for cool stuff since, they too, seem to recognize that too much nose is bad, signal is good. Maybe I am crazy, but I think the simplicity of the Posterous platform - which helps us get closer to signals and away from noise - will be the next site to capture the hearts and minds of the digerati, particularly as they tire of the noise. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » Lifestreaming started out initially as a model that revolved around importation and aggregation: a place to roll-up all your streams. But that's changing. Now that Facebook acquired Friendfeed and the noise on Twitter is at near cacophonous levels, I am seeing a new model emerge for lifestreaming. This one centers on using a site as your hub, having it syndicate out to all your spokes (where you engage around it) and then bringing some of the conversation back to your site. It also seems to help people focus their content in more useful ways. Mark Krynsky, who I had a chance to meet in LA last week at XPrize, summarizes this shift for lifestreaming nicely in this post. Here's how he diagrammed it... And this closely mirrors what others, like our creative director Jared Hendler, Fast Company and others have observed about Posterous. Facebook, Twitter and RSS all have a big problem - too much noise, not enough signal. This new approach for lifestreaming, however, coupled with Posterous' outstanding reader (depicted below) is forcing me to make smart choices about who I follow. I am finding myself turning more to the Posterous community for cool stuff since, they too, seem to recognize that too much nose is bad, signal is good. Maybe I am crazy, but I think the simplicity of the Posterous platform - which helps us get closer to signals and away from noise - will be the next site to capture the hearts and minds of the digerati, particularly as they tire of the noise. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-27,25033951 Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:44:57 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25027490-Gallery-How-the-Leading-Social-Sites-Describe-Themselves I just wrapped up a nine-day swing through California, the majority of which I was in Silicon Valley. Every time I visit the Bay Area (which I truly love to visit) I am always struck by how technology pervades the region much more so than any other. Digerati chatter is everywhere, from the coffeehouses to the billboards that line US 101. While technology influences all of us, life is different inside the bubble of the Valley. This is why I am glad I get to spend so much time each year in several major cities: Chicago, New York, Toronto, London, LA, as well as San Francisco and Silicon Valley. My travels help me maintain a broader perspective that I believe the Valley sometimes misses. I am increasingly embracing my time on the road because it (hopefully) helps me maintain a wider worldview. Here's a small example of what I mean. In the gallery below I pulled together the welcome screens that grace some of the more popular social networks and communities on the web. As you look ... I just wrapped up a nine-day swing through California, the majority of which I was in Silicon Valley. Every time I visit the Bay Area (which I truly love to visit) I am always struck by how technology pervades the region much more so than any other. Digerati chatter is everywhere, from the coffeehouses to the billboards that line US 101. While technology influences all of us, life is different inside the bubble of the Valley. This is why I am glad I get to spend so much time each year in several major cities: Chicago, New York, Toronto, London, LA, as well as San Francisco and Silicon Valley. My travels help me maintain a broader perspective that I believe the Valley sometimes misses. I am increasingly embracing my time on the road because it (hopefully) helps me maintain a wider worldview. Here's a small example of what I mean. In the gallery below I pulled together the welcome screens that grace some of the more popular social networks and communities on the web. As you look at these note how similar the language is - particularly Twitter, digg, Friendfeed and Stumbleupon.  Now try to imagine you're a new user from Bismark or Des Moines who heard about these sites on CNN, would you sign up - and how might you choose?  Do these sites only speak to Silicon Valley, rather than the broader universe of citizens they hope to attract? If so, how might this hamper their growth? That's what's on my mind tonight now that I am back in NY. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » I just wrapped up a nine-day swing through California, the majority of which I was in Silicon Valley. Every time I visit the Bay Area (which I truly love to visit) I am always struck by how technology pervades the region much more so than any other. Digerati chatter is everywhere, from the coffeehouses to the billboards that line US 101. While technology influences all of us, life is different inside the bubble of the Valley. This is why I am glad I get to spend so much time each year in several major cities: Chicago, New York, Toronto, London, LA, as well as San Francisco and Silicon Valley. My travels help me maintain a broader perspective that I believe the Valley sometimes misses. I am increasingly embracing my time on the road because it (hopefully) helps me maintain a wider worldview. Here's a small example of what I mean. In the gallery below I pulled together the welcome screens that grace some of the more popular social networks and communities on the web. As you look at these note how similar the language is - particularly Twitter, digg, Friendfeed and Stumbleupon.  Now try to imagine you're a new user from Bismark or Des Moines who heard about these sites on CNN, would you sign up - and how might you choose?  Do these sites only speak to Silicon Valley, rather than the broader universe of citizens they hope to attract? If so, how might this hamper their growth? That's what's on my mind tonight now that I am back in NY. See and download the full gallery on posterous Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-26,25027490 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:51:00 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25020803-Streams-from-the-Road-Trends-from-Friends On Sunday I spent the afternoon in Half Moon Bay with Robert Scoble, his lovely family and Francine Hardaway (whom I had never met).  For over five years now I have looked to Robert as a beacon for what's next for social media. He got me blogging back in 2004, on Twitter in 2006 and Friendfeed in 2007. I returned the favor (finally) by getting him onto Posterous. Naturally, the conversation turned to what's next.  However, unlike years past, this time we were all hard pressed to come up with a crisp answer. The one clear takeaway, which Robert writes about here, is not to overlook Yelp - which is growing like mad and with the non-digerati set as well.  Beyond Yelp, we discussed augmented reality, the post-iPhone world, lifestreaming/Posterous, a resurgence for blogging and what's next for Twitter and Facebook. However, while it might seem like the world is taking a breather and that innovation is slowing, I see it another way. Everything is becoming social. As a resul... On Sunday I spent the afternoon in Half Moon Bay with Robert Scoble, his lovely family and Francine Hardaway (whom I had never met).  For over five years now I have looked to Robert as a beacon for what's next for social media. He got me blogging back in 2004, on Twitter in 2006 and Friendfeed in 2007. I returned the favor (finally) by getting him onto Posterous. Naturally, the conversation turned to what's next.  However, unlike years past, this time we were all hard pressed to come up with a crisp answer. The one clear takeaway, which Robert writes about here, is not to overlook Yelp - which is growing like mad and with the non-digerati set as well.  Beyond Yelp, we discussed augmented reality, the post-iPhone world, lifestreaming/Posterous, a resurgence for blogging and what's next for Twitter and Facebook. However, while it might seem like the world is taking a breather and that innovation is slowing, I see it another way. Everything is becoming social. As a result the noise is only going to get worse.  As I travel many I talk to are having a hard time keeping up. The digerati at least are breathless and frustrated with their overflowing inboxes - RSS, Twitter, Facebook, email, SMS and IMs. The Attention Crash is worsening. And there's no end in sight.  However, as everything becomes more social I believe there will be a boom in curation technologies that help us find the signal in the noise. These apps will help us spot trends from friends. You can spot these everywhere - the Facebook highlights column, PostRank, Feedly, Alltop, PopUrls, Regator and my6sense.  As these take hold, who you follow will become more critical. Follow people like you who share things you're interested in and the signal will rise. Follow noisemakers and the signal fades. This reason is precisely why Robert recently cleaned out his Twitter and Facebook friends after following everyone for years. So Robert remains a sign of what's to come: smarter attention management with the help of smart tools. Permalink | Leave a comment  » On Sunday I spent the afternoon in Half Moon Bay with Robert Scoble, his lovely family and Francine Hardaway (whom I had never met).  For over five years now I have looked to Robert as a beacon for what's next for social media. He got me blogging back in 2004, on Twitter in 2006 and Friendfeed in 2007. I returned the favor (finally) by getting him onto Posterous. Naturally, the conversation turned to what's next.  However, unlike years past, this time we were all hard pressed to come up with a crisp answer. The one clear takeaway, which Robert writes about here, is not to overlook Yelp - which is growing like mad and with the non-digerati set as well.  Beyond Yelp, we discussed augmented reality, the post-iPhone world, lifestreaming/Posterous, a resurgence for blogging and what's next for Twitter and Facebook. However, while it might seem like the world is taking a breather and that innovation is slowing, I see it another way. Everything is becoming social. As a result the noise is only going to get worse.  As I travel many I talk to are having a hard time keeping up. The digerati at least are breathless and frustrated with their overflowing inboxes - RSS, Twitter, Facebook, email, SMS and IMs. The Attention Crash is worsening. And there's no end in sight.  However, as everything becomes more social I believe there will be a boom in curation technologies that help us find the signal in the noise. These apps will help us spot trends from friends. You can spot these everywhere - the Facebook highlights column, PostRank, Feedly, Alltop, PopUrls, Regator and my6sense.  As these take hold, who you follow will become more critical. Follow people like you who share things you're interested in and the signal will rise. Follow noisemakers and the signal fades. This reason is precisely why Robert recently cleaned out his Twitter and Facebook friends after following everyone for years. So Robert remains a sign of what's to come: smarter attention management with the help of smart tools. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-25,25020803 Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:44:02 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25014382-Streams-from-the-Road-One-Impressive-Teen As a rule of thumb, as I age I try to spend some time with people who are younger than me when I can. Not only does it make me feel younger but it helps me keep my eye on the ball of what's next.  The generation growing up today feels more self-sufficient and entrepreneurial than any other. They use technology in ways that many of us can't fathom. Daniel Brusilovsky is one such teen. During my last few visits to Silicon Valley I have had the pleasure of spending time with Daniel and I learn something every time. We had coffee in Palo Alto the other night. I shot this photo of him at TechCrunch HQ.  Why is Daniel unique? Well, even though he is just a senior in high school Daniel: runs marketing for Qik (and was one of their first employees), writes for TechCrunch and also continues to build out Teens in Tech, a site he started a couple of years ago.  I don't know about you, but to me that's impressive. At age 16 all I had accomplished by then was delivering newspapers... As a rule of thumb, as I age I try to spend some time with people who are younger than me when I can. Not only does it make me feel younger but it helps me keep my eye on the ball of what's next.  The generation growing up today feels more self-sufficient and entrepreneurial than any other. They use technology in ways that many of us can't fathom. Daniel Brusilovsky is one such teen. During my last few visits to Silicon Valley I have had the pleasure of spending time with Daniel and I learn something every time. We had coffee in Palo Alto the other night. I shot this photo of him at TechCrunch HQ.  Why is Daniel unique? Well, even though he is just a senior in high school Daniel: runs marketing for Qik (and was one of their first employees), writes for TechCrunch and also continues to build out Teens in Tech, a site he started a couple of years ago.  I don't know about you, but to me that's impressive. At age 16 all I had accomplished by then was delivering newspapers and working as a summer camp counselor.  Anyway the takeaway here for marketers is to seek out teens like Daniel (and others who are less tech savvy too). They are your future customers. Permalink | Leave a comment  » As a rule of thumb, as I age I try to spend some time with people who are younger than me when I can. Not only does it make me feel younger but it helps me keep my eye on the ball of what's next.  The generation growing up today feels more self-sufficient and entrepreneurial than any other. They use technology in ways that many of us can't fathom. Daniel Brusilovsky is one such teen. During my last few visits to Silicon Valley I have had the pleasure of spending time with Daniel and I learn something every time. We had coffee in Palo Alto the other night. I shot this photo of him at TechCrunch HQ.  Why is Daniel unique? Well, even though he is just a senior in high school Daniel: runs marketing for Qik (and was one of their first employees), writes for TechCrunch and also continues to build out Teens in Tech, a site he started a couple of years ago.  I don't know about you, but to me that's impressive. At age 16 all I had accomplished by then was delivering newspapers and working as a summer camp counselor.  Anyway the takeaway here for marketers is to seek out teens like Daniel (and others who are less tech savvy too). They are your future customers. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-24,25014382 Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:25:01 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/25007197-Streams-from-the-Road-Public-vs-Private-Personas   Download now or listen on posterous Podcast.m4a (1291 KB) Permalink | Leave a comment  »   Download now or listen on posterous Podcast.m4a (1291 KB) Permalink | Leave a comment  »   Download now or listen on posterous Podcast.m4a (1291 KB) Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-22,25007197 Sat, 22 Aug 2009 23:31:32 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream http://www.odeo.com/episodes/24997532-Listen-to-the-Doers Last night was among the more memorable of my career.  I had the unique opportunity to dine with social media strategists who work for three giants. Joining me were (pictured above left to right) Michael Brito from Intel, Tony "Frosty" Welch from HP's personal systems group and Richard Brewer-Hay from eBay. (Note: I consult to Tony and RBH and their companies since they are clients of Edelman.) The event that preceded dinner also included Angela LoSasso, Social Networking Manager at HP. A full summary is here.  I always love when the clients open up and share their experiences. Sometimes I wish we would pay more attention to what these such individuals say over what every Tom, Dick and Harry who calls himself a "social media guru" utters.  These are "the doers" - the ones who are on the front lines of change; innovators who are taking risks and getting things done.  During dinner we discussed the triumphs and tribulations of living as a social media strategist in... Last night was among the more memorable of my career.  I had the unique opportunity to dine with social media strategists who work for three giants. Joining me were (pictured above left to right) Michael Brito from Intel, Tony "Frosty" Welch from HP's personal systems group and Richard Brewer-Hay from eBay. (Note: I consult to Tony and RBH and their companies since they are clients of Edelman.) The event that preceded dinner also included Angela LoSasso, Social Networking Manager at HP. A full summary is here.  I always love when the clients open up and share their experiences. Sometimes I wish we would pay more attention to what these such individuals say over what every Tom, Dick and Harry who calls himself a "social media guru" utters.  These are "the doers" - the ones who are on the front lines of change; innovators who are taking risks and getting things done.  During dinner we discussed the triumphs and tribulations of living as a social media strategist inside a big company. Sound easy? It's not. It requires finesse, good judgment and technological savvy. A lot of us think we know what works. These guys do because, well, they actually do - as in execute - strategies.  So my suggestion to you if you want to learn more about social media is to tune into "the doers." There are many if you know where to look. It's "the doers" more so than thinkers who increasingly have all the answers. Permalink | Leave a comment  » Last night was among the more memorable of my career.  I had the unique opportunity to dine with social media strategists who work for three giants. Joining me were (pictured above left to right) Michael Brito from Intel, Tony "Frosty" Welch from HP's personal systems group and Richard Brewer-Hay from eBay. (Note: I consult to Tony and RBH and their companies since they are clients of Edelman.) The event that preceded dinner also included Angela LoSasso, Social Networking Manager at HP. A full summary is here.  I always love when the clients open up and share their experiences. Sometimes I wish we would pay more attention to what these such individuals say over what every Tom, Dick and Harry who calls himself a "social media guru" utters.  These are "the doers" - the ones who are on the front lines of change; innovators who are taking risks and getting things done.  During dinner we discussed the triumphs and tribulations of living as a social media strategist inside a big company. Sound easy? It's not. It requires finesse, good judgment and technological savvy. A lot of us think we know what works. These guys do because, well, they actually do - as in execute - strategies.  So my suggestion to you if you want to learn more about social media is to tune into "the doers." There are many if you know where to look. It's "the doers" more so than thinkers who increasingly have all the answers. Permalink | Leave a comment  » tag:odeo.com,2009-08-20,24997532 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:42:15 -0700 no The Steve Rubel Lifestream