With Twitter’s recent roll-out of Lists functionality, there’s been a lot of division over their utility, measure of influence, and whether they simply serve as self-referential ego strokes for the technorati establishment.  OK, I admit I was a bit giddy to discover how many lists I was on, and YES, I made that little “I’m Listed!” image link there on the right sidebar. WordPress Bible author Aaron Brazell confirmed to me that the sidebar link does in fact qualify as social media douchebaggery, but hey I’m embracing it.. owning those bona fides if you will. Regardless, lists do give users the ability to take the firehose of their Twitter data and break it down into manageable streams.

I’m still figuring out how I’m going to use them and I’d love your advice here. In the comments below, please leave smart ideas on how people are using lists, beyond the usual “social media ninja”, “thought leader” kind of stuff.  I’m also interested in hearing your thoughts about whether you make your lists public and how Twitter might make this functionality better.

Publishing those lists is what seems dividing users. So when the functionality appeared in my stream, I shared the news and was eager to jump in. Right off the bat, one of my dearest Twitter friends, Jon Swanson, made me stop and think.

@newmediajim wait. what if we don’t WANT to be managed? -
@jnswanson

By then, interweb titans Chris Brogan and Robert Scoble were well into a debate about the misgivings and merits surrounding lists.  That conversation has been propogated and amplified on the web, and at the end of this post, I’ll provide links to some other interesting viewpoints. I did an informal poll on Twitter asking.

TWITTER LISTS – social media d-bag ego stroke?, spam opportunity?, measure of influence?, useful tool? all of the above?

Here is a sampling of the responses I received.

jillinski @newmediajim Also, ppl are hard to fit into just 1 list. So I’ve decided to bail on the whole concept. Does this make me a Twitter Luddite?

You2Gov @newmediajim Lists: some will abuse, most will make useful tool. Ego is involved, but so is altruism, transparency and flat communications.

Scobleizer @newmediajim you are on my tech news people list so you KNOW my answer is “all of the above!” Seriously, lists are crack.T

thomasknoll @newmediajim lists are for listening

SGnow @newmediajim Twitter lists… Something to use to organize and discover. Not overthink.

While lists probably aren’t something we should over think, they do merit discussion.. to a point.  I think we all know, that there will be “rock star” or “must follow” lists, which will serve little more than as self-perpetuating ego strokes.  For instance, I’m a member of two VERY elite Twitter lists.  These lists reside behind a virtual velvet rope of the ultra hip lounge called the internet.  They are:

• Orchid8′s Team-Hot-Salad-Dressing
• mikeneumann’s Might-Need-Bail-Money

Clearly, I’ve managed my online reputation well.

How Others Perceive You

If you do show up on lists, it is a unique opportunity to see how others perceive you.  Leah Jones compares Twitter lists to Johari Windows.  In her post, she describes how she was surprised a bit at peoples’ perceptions of her.  There’s an interesting web tool out there by MustExist that allows you to see a tag cloud of words that people use to describe you (or your brand) in lists.  To me, this is a much more important data set than how many lists you’re on or how many followers you have.

Measure of Influence

In his post “Using Twitter Lists to Judge Influence”, The Bivings Group’s Todd Zeigler posits that being listed is a far better metric of “influence” than simply being followed.  This post has been getting a lot of traction, re-tweets, and references, but I’m not sure I agree with it entirely.

I think Twitter Lists will end up helping separate the men from the boys when it comes to influence.  In addition to seeing a Twitter users follower count, we can now see the number of other Twitter users who have added them to lists – Todd Zeigler

Here’s why I’m a bit skeptical.  As of this writing, I’m on some 600 lists.  But if you take a look, you’ll see that the vast majority of them are followed by ZERO, bupkus, nil, naught, nuthin!  Others might have a handful of follows and are likely people that already follow me on Twitter.  Seems a bit redundant to me, so I’m not sure how accurate a measure of influence lists really are.

Real Utility

During the coverage of the horrifyingly tragic shootings at Fort Hood, journalism demonstrated the curation value of lists. The New York Times, The Huffington Post and The Today Show all created lists of a variety of sources from the center of the crisis.  Sadly, a violent shooting rampage happened just the next day in Orlando, Florida.  Again, lists were created by smart, Twitter savvy journalists like Etan Horowitz.

I think how people end up using lists privately,  might demonstrate their real utility.  From filtering out noise to geographic, and categorical organization,  these bread and butter applications will be the mainstay, yet less blogged about practices.   Again, let me know in the comment some smart ways, either publicly or privately, you plan on using lists.

Further Reading

Why Twitter Lists Change Everything

Are Lists Good for Social Media

Twitter Lists – Proof That Social Media Misunderstands Itself

Twitter Strokes Egos With a New A-List Popularity Contest

NBC’s Local Media Initiative

In a move that acknowledges the diminishing influence of one-way communication channels, NBC has renamed the Television Stations Division “Local Media Division”. There was a great deal of coverage in industry blogs. Media Week and Lost Remote have both framed the change as a fundamental shift in business.

NBC Local Media better reflects the full scope of our capabilities, as well as our ability to offer clients a fully-integrated, local media solution across the full portfolio of our assets.-John Wallace – President, NBC Local Media Division, from press release

As marketers continue to shift ad dollars from traditional media to online, it’s vital for companies like NBC to take the brand where the people are. Increasingly, that means web and mobile. As newspapers and TV move to build online, the distinction between the two becomes meaningless. Right now local “newspapers” appear to be winning online.

Creating an Engaging Experience While Building a Business

The static web sites of most TV and Radio stations have been eclipsed by the more interactive offerings of newspapers. Perhaps the economic imperative of the dying newspaper industry has forced print publishers bring online innovations to market faster. So the challenge for local media is to build an engaging, imersive, media platform that actually becomes something the community can’t live without – at the same time scaling the user base to a point where the enterprise is economically worthwhile.

What would that platform look like? What key elements would satisfy both the community and the media company? I took that question to my very smart Twitter posse and they came up with some great ideas. Here’s a small sampling:

All very smart ideas from early adopters of social web technology. Smart ideas about the evolution of local media can be found in practice and in theory, but ultimately big media companies are looking for the ones that will generate increased traffic and ad revenue. I do think it is vital for those in charge of any local media initiative to get input from outside the corporate meeting rooms. They should be talking to the local blogging, tech, and social media communities. They should be sponsoring conferences, discussions and meetups with the pioneers of the social web in their local communities.

I strongly feel that media companies need to discover and encourage the brand champions within their own organizations to use social media. While there may be some who grumble about already burdensome workloads – and believe me, TV news is a pretty thankless sausage factory – standing by and hoping that the sales and promotions departments will save careers is not a good career strategy. I’ve discovered that meeting and listening to people on the social web, through platforms like Twitter, blogging, Facebook, and meetups, has enriched my life both personally and professionally. It’s also allowed me to bring the NBC News brand into this space.

Envisioning Local Media

Mel Taylor outlines the key points of a recent speech by former CBS News chief Andrew Heyward. In it, Heyward outlines the current problems with the state of TV news, and discusses some forward-thinking approaches to building succssesful online platforms. Don Dodge, while blogging about newspaper strategy, puts forth ideas that are equally resonant in television’s web efforts. Essentially he says be local, be a marketplace, and be the best local search engine out there. A good example of very useful local search platform is the Boston local search platform Citysqaures.

I think the key to success in transforming local media is to build a platform that people can’t live without. It should be a place where people can connect around ideas and affinities, build their own social netowrk profile, network and create events, have a robust mobile component, and should recommend content and events based on the users profile. People want to share and create content and links. Making that easy and customizable, in a locally relevant way, is key to getting the Facebook generation passionate about local media.The bottom line is, of course, the bottom line. But while media companies have to focus on profits, they should not look at their web presence as a secondary effort, or simply repository for recycled newscast content.

For local media platforms to be successful, they will have to implement imersive, relevant, engaging, and useful experiences for the community. So my assembled readers, how would you build a successful local media platform? What are some good examples of ones you’ve come across?

Greg Cangialosi over at The Trend Junkie has tagged me with the “measurement” meme in a post entitled “Metrics, Measurement, and Social Media”. In the same week author, entrepreneur and marketing strategist Geoff Livingston included me in a “DC Area’s Top 12 Social Media, Marketing, and PR blogs” list. So I’m scratching my head here. I’m a cameraman for a major network news organization, right? I’m not a marketer… or am I?

In my journey with social media, my blogging, and use of platforms like Twitter and Facebook, I’ve discovered that I’ve become somewhat of a personal micro-media brand. I’ve been able to measure the tangible results of my personal brand building in terms of hard data, and in terms of harder to measure, yet deeply enriching professional and personal connections. The hard data is readily available and demonstrates that listening to the very smart people in this space, and engaging them in meaningful conversation goes a long way in building your brand. By hard data, I’m talking about Google search ranking and analytics, Technorati ranking/authority, blog traffic data, and friends in my circle of influence on various social networking platforms.

That more difficult to define measure of my social media involvement is how it’s enabled me to connect with incredibly smart, visionary, driven entrepreneurs. With fourteen hundred Twitter friends, I have a knowledge base of deeply engaged, early adopters drawn from the ranks of venture capital, PR, marketing, social and traditional media, web strategy, and technology. Social media enabled CC Chapman to connect me to my first professional speaking engagement and meet Geoff Livingston and Valeria Maltoni. People like David Eckoff of Turner Broadcasting cite me as a case study of how to use social media on panels at Streaming Media West. I use Facebook to organize events and affinity groups. Recently, I hosted a breakfast for Seesmic CEO, Loic Lemeur here in Washington, DC. In short, I’ve become relevant in this space. None of this would have been possible without my deep engagement in social media. I see TREMENDOUS value in all of that.

Talking Twitter to marketers, Photo courtesy of CC Chapman

Twitter is my most front-facing social media tool. I post frequently every day, much of it on assignment for NBC News. People tell me they find this behind-the-scenes look into the news fascinating. Many have told me that I put a human face on “the media” that they would otherwise have no real connection with. So I think there is a real value here in being a bridge between the Facebook generation and traditional media. Those type of fuzzy metrics, while interesting, aren’t enough for corporations. They want ROI – and whether you define the “I” as “investment” or as Valeria Maltoni prefers “involvement” – a social media effort should produce measurable results. So it’s not enough that I’m the “crazy uncle” running around NBC evangelizing shiny new social media platforms. Big companies, like my current employer, want real definable results.

Kami Huyse points out that you should begin any social media effort with well defined relational objectives.

One of the things I will stress is the importance of having well-defined objectives. By definition, objectives have to be measurable, “What would you like to see happen and by when as a results of engaging in social media?”- Kami Huyse

John Bell, of Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence practice, helps us further define some of the nuance of social media measurement, exploring the distinction between influence, authority, engagement, and impact.

So, dear readers, how do you measure your social media activity, or in fact, do you measure at all? How are you defining reach, influence, and impact? Frankly, I’m still much of a noob at all of this. At the end of the day, at the core of my being, I’m just a cameraman..right?

Speaking at the Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s “Era of Conversation” conferencePhoto by CC Chapman

Last Thursday, I had the unique pleasure of speaking before a group of marketing executives at the Direct Marketing Association of Washington’s confab in DC. I spoke to one of the many break-out sessions on “new media basics” – fitting for me as there there is SO much I’ve yet to absorb about the social web. In fact, I began by telling my breakout session: “I have no business speaking before a bunch of marketing executives, but..”

From that jumping off point, I discussed my nascent (only been blogging since March of this year), but reasonably engaging blogging efforts, and my use of Twitter as primary tools of social media. Essentially I riffed that if I can do it, you can do it, and basic tools are a good place to start, especially when shifting from less conversational communication. Fortunately for me, and for the rest of the attendees, there was an abundance of thought leadership on wide-ranging strategies for launching social media efforts. Overall I think it’s key to find the tools that are right for you or your organization.

For me, blogging is most rewarding when I leave my posts open-ended, and people WAY smarter than me complete my thoughts in the comments section.  Sure, you can be confrontational, and link-bait to generate traffic, but I like the notion of what Stephen Marino, of Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence practice calls “Return on Involvement”. The day was filled with terrific speakers, and I had the chance to meet some of the brightest minds in this space like keynote speaker Valeria Maltoni (she’s not yet convinced of Twitter so get over to her blog and give her a nudge!), and keynote speaker CC Chapman, who I’ve been eager to meet for some time. CC connected me with Geoff Livingston, another keynote at the conference who really did a great job of blogging the event with the help of Larissa Fair. Geoff pointed out, in support of Marino’s premise, that participation IS marketing.

In my presentation, I demonstrated how Twitter can be used and misused an engagement tool. At one point i called out to all of YOU on Twitter and asked if you’d say hello to the DMAW session. While waiting for some responses to generate, CC Chapman, in what can almost be described as a movie moment, stopped me and said almost chillingly: “Jim.. refresh the page”. You guys had come through!! Imagine if that hadn’t worked . There were no less than 80 immediate responses. (thank you!) I think that aptly demonstrated Twitter’s immediate, conversational, attention directing value. I also pointed out that Team Twitter had  helped shape my presentation in the comments on my blog. (again thank you!)

So despite this being my first ever presentation before a professional group, I think I was able to get people thinking about social media and what tools are right for them. Social media allows us to connect on a deep human level across social, cultural, and corporate barriers in a way we never could before. Conversations no longer happen from the top down. More importantly they are no longer controlled by corporations. Media that aren’t conversational or social are becoming less and less relevant. Funny that I felt like odd man out speaking at this event. At the end of the day I’m a network news cameraman, not a social media consultant. Ogilvy’s John Bell advises on his blog:

Spark ideas by mixing up odd-fellows and odd exepriences. Oh, and let go of the reins a bit.
John Bell

I think that’s fitting here. Social media enables the exchange of good ideas and allows the the best ones to take root and propagate, creating value, involvement, and engagement. So maybe that’s why I was invited. I want to thank Donna Tschiffely, Executive Director of DMAW, for bringing this all together. I hope i get a chance to do this again soon.

yours truly… multitasking

What’s in your business communications toolkit?

Hi, I’m Jim and I’m a Twitterholic. My addiction to the very popular, multi-platform SMS tool is mentioned with a quick quote from me, tech evangelist Betsy Weber, and consultant Cathryn Hrudicka  in a smart piece by Podtech rock star, Twitter Hall of Famer, FastCompany.com contributor, and blogger Robert Scoble. I’ve blogged about Twitter’s value as a branding tool, and have encouraged big media to empower their employees to be brand champions with these tools. Pownce, Jaiku, and Facebook are also used as examples of these new tools in the business communications aresenal. Scoble adds an interesting twist, pointing out all the behavioral data made available by seemingly mundane posts. Scary or promising depending on where you stand.

given what it and other companies spend acquiring new customers, there’s an untapped gold mine in Twitter and Facebook because we’re volunteering so much information about what we’re doing right now.Learning how to tap it correctly–both to sell to me directly and in seeing major trends in the millions of daily public posts–will be the next major challenge for these companies.
Robert Scoble, on Fastcompany.com 9/07  

He sums up the piece with a look in to the future:

If we revisit this conversation again in three years, I suspect that we’ll have found all sorts of little uses for these services, and they’ll simply become what email is today: something we must do just to participate in the heartbeat of business.  

Besides Twitter, what social media are you using to promote your brand (read what should be using that I don’t know about!)? What are you using to learn more about your community? What will be the next killer tool? In addition to Scoble’s Twitter presence, check out his Twitter link blog.

Capricorn, Community, and Craft

Just before boarding a flight to the Craft Hobby Association show this past Friday, I gave one last check on Twitter. Twitter friend and resident astrologist @KrazyKritter had just posted Capricorn. Now look, I’m not normally superstitious, but the outlook for Capricorn resonated with me.

“Today is finally the right time to embrace a new idea and work on fleshing it out”horoscope for Capricorn, 7-20-07

I was energized by this message as i flew to Chicago to cover this huge crafting industry trade show for Crafty Nation our new media venture.

The show was a huge success for us, by way of coverage and for getting our brand out there. We met wonderful people working in this space who were very excited about what we are creating – folks like Margot Potter, Candie Cooper, Katie Hacker, Cari Clement, Debba Haupert, Nicole Mumma, and Amy Romano. Why build a social network and content channel for crafters? Well for one, it’s a natural for social networking. Crafters are passionate about what they do and love to share their ideas and their work with others. They truly are a community. Even at the CHA, which is a decidedly commerce driven event, the community was vibrant and energizing. Craft and Hobby is a 30 billion dollar industry and there are many brands out there looking to associate themselves with the online craft conversations.

promoting the Crafty Nation brand during an education session at CHA

Fleshing Out the Idea

Now it’s time to tackle the most important part of Friday’s horoscope: “work on fleshing it out”. This means listening to our “board of advisors”, the early adopters of CraftyNation’s social media platform. How do we build it and make it better? A drop dead simple, stare-you-in-the-face, idea about how to do that came from Margot Potter. She told me that crafters like to customize their profiles because they’re, well, creative. Thank you Margot!! @conniereece, @AnnOhio, @WickedStepmom, @Uavery, @brendajos, and many more “Twitter Knitters” have been tremendously helpful in pointing out usability issues. What we’ve done with our phase one beta launch is to take an idea that only a year ago was a discussion over coffee, between myself and business partner Toni Lyn, and turned it into a strong start for something that will only grow. As we build out Crafty Nation, it’s the feedback from our community that will drive the direction and growth of this space, so that we can help create real value. We want to give voice to the vibrant fabric of the craft community, and create a place where we’re merely custodians of something much larger than the site itself.

Niche Market Video Content Engaging Your Target Audience

Here’s a link to the programs we’ve created. We also did some quick turnaround daily dispatches from the conference. Video is a very big part of Crafty Nation. Our video content celebrates the creativity and spirit of crafters, and our hope is that it acts as a springboard for conversation and community on our site.

At a dinner on Monday night with Lee Aase and Dennis McDonald, that was supposed to include Jeremiah Owyang, we discussed social media, niche market content, and the evolution web video. Dennis and Lee both have tremendous insight into this space, and are lovely dinner companions. Great food and conversation. Jeremiah’s absence led us to wonder if he was in fact a real person, or just an avatar.

Today the Newseum sent a crew and producer to interview me as part of a much larger interactive video exhibit about new media. Some of my Twitter friends suggested I video blog the goings on. I’ll let the Newseum team introduce themselves (cameraman Tom Haller and I go WAY back and his wife is an extraordinarily talented producer at NBC)

But wasn’t Jaiku supposed to kill Twitter? Haven’t we been down this road before? And while Mike Arrington stacks up the functionality of both in a chart, the buzz around Pownce seems to have subsided down just a bit. I ‘m not seeing as many pleas for invites on Twitter lately.

I was reading business writer Jill Konrath’s thoughts about value propositions and asked myself “what is the value proposition of social media?”. At the end of the day, isn’t it that it connects people on a deeply personal level across time and geography? Twitter friends are people who rely on each other, and genuinely care about what their friends are doing.

Today, Marc Nathan, or marc1919 as he’s known on Twitter, announced the birth of he and his wife’s daughter Naomi, live from the delivery room, and we all CHEERED on Twitter!! In my recent round-the-world trip with the Secretary of Defense, a woman who goes by Sprite or BlondeByDesign on Twitter, gave me an assignment.

Blonde By Design

Sgt. Danny Allman in Kandahar

Find a soldier in Afghanistan who she could “take care of” by sending care packages. I met Sgt. Danny Allman in Kandahar and he told me about how life can be rough there for “his guys”. I took down his email and connected Danny and Sprite. Another Twitter friend, who goes by WickedStepMom, got Danny’s email from me and is sending care packages along with children’s artwork.

This is the real human connection I’m talking about. No API, or coding, or killer functionality can trump that. There’s no doubt Twitter CAN be frustrating. I was recently poised to have the best Twitter day EVAH!! I was covering a John Edwards campaign speech before a big aircraft labor union for NBC News. I had plans to Twitter his remarks and actually did go up and tell him I was his Twitter friend. Sadly, Twitter was puking that day. But we keep coming back because that’s where our friends are. Friends like Connie Reece, who uses Twitter, like many of us, to drive traffic to her blog.But like i said in Susan Reynold’s blog: “Twitter is like the neighborhood bar where the waitress is a grouchy and the food isn’t terribly good, but everyone knows your name. Call me old fashioned, but I like Twitter even though it drives me crazy sometimes.”

I got some terrific responses from my Twitter friends (Twitter is also a great quick SOS platform) on the value of Twitter and Pownce. Here’s a sampling:

i still like twitter better and they’ve gotten it right with their mobile integration. few apps do it right presently
Sean Scott

Twitter wins; Pownce KO’d. marc1919 is live-twittering baby’s birth from delivery room
Connie Reece

Pownce is better due to file sharing, better link display in note, and a good reply mechanism, you can reply to specific note.
Steven E. Streight

i notice that people use multiple services to serve different needs. For me mobility is the key and twitter has it.
seekground

Twitter: does one thing well, Pownce: cluttered/missing metaphor; language needs an audience and the more open “talk” the more trust.
Chris Judson

Twitter randomness. Pownce engaging conversation. Twitter sponteneous. Pownce measured feedback.
Michael Sommermeyer

editing the videoblog in DC coffee shop

It’s taken a trip to Crawford, Texas for me to find the time reflect on the tremendous response to the blogging, Twittering, and video blogging I did from my round-the-world trip with the Secretary of Defense. It was an endeavor that I can describe, with certain resignation, as Rosenblum-esqe, as I managed to do my network pool camera crew thing AND a sidebar videoblog. MSNBC.com ran my videoblog as a two-part series. Part one took us from DC to Singapore, and in Part two, we visited Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and France. Must-read TV industry blogs, TV Newser and Fishbowl DC both ran very nice posts on my efforts.

Jim Long shoots Defense Secretary Gates boarding CH-47

It was a long, arduous journey, but it was made much more pleasant by the community of friends that were with me every step of the way. I blogged and Twittered from the trip and was inspired by the great group of folks I’ve come to know through Twitter and other social media. Every time I checked my Twitters, I was struck by all of the messages of encouragement. I wonder what I would do without Twitter and my network of friends there. Recently a friend made this observation about all of these hyper-connected relationships that transcend time and space.

Isn’t it great (crazy) to feel so connected to people you’ve never met–cheering them on, giving/getting advice
-Twitter friend

This Twitter friend had really pointed out the strange duality of this Contiuous Partial Friendship (David Weinberger’s nod to Linda Stone’s critical theory on social media, Continuous Partial Attention) While I won’t delve into the pros and cons, it is both great and crazy, or curious at least, why people who’ve never met feel such affinity towards one another. People who I’ve never met genuinely care about what I’m doing, just as I care about them. This affinity, which Leisa Reichelt describes as Ambient Intimacy, helps us stay connected across time and space and build unique bonds using online social media tools.

that sense of connectedness that you get from participating in social tools online that allow you to feel as though you are maintaining and, perhaps in fact, increasing your closeness with people in your social network through the messages and content that you share online – be it photographs or text or information about upcoming travel.
-Leisa Reichelt

Deb Schultz lyrically describes this type of this type of hyper-connected online behavior as “weaving”. In this post she points out how this “weaving” will be crucial to businesses trying to stay relevant and successful in this environment where markets are growing faster and smarter than most companies.

Jon Swanson described how we create community and relationship with these tools.

Because of twitter, I learned of a guy named Jim Long. Jim is a camera guy for NBC news and twitters throughout his day. Recently he spent a week traveling around the world. He is producing a two-part video travelogue which is wonderful. Part one is here. What is so compelling is that he gives a human side to the people who are doing the media work and the government work. It is about relationship.
-Jon Swanson

In Hawaii, social media merged with social life, where Roxanne Darling of Beachwalk met up with the weary Pentagon press at Alan Wong’s restaurant in Honolulu. Roxanne was a delightful counterpoint to the old media guard. She videoblogged about our discussions on mainstream and emerging media

Beach Walks with Rox #439 – Take a Blogger to Work

Videoblogging pioneer Steve Garfield gave a nice hat tip to our efforts, as did colleague, contemporary, and wordsmith Stewart Pittman. Atlanta blogger and social media leader Grayson Daughters questioned the resources applied to shooting a bunch of far-flung photo-ops, and while, she does raise a valid point, I hope I have provided context in her comments section. My DC Media Maker posse wonders when i’m getting that promotion from NBC. I’ll wait for that Twitter from @CathleenRitt.

Connie Reece discussing social media with NBC News team

Back here in Crawford, social media merged once again with social life. Connie Reece of Every Dot connects – one of my Twitter friends – stopped by the White House Press TV workspace in Crawford for a mind-share between old media and new. It was really a pleasure to meet face to face with someone I’ve come to know on Twitter, and Connie is even more delightful in person that her online persona betrays. Nothing can beat the human connection of direct face to face human interaction, but I do believe all of these social media platforms can help create vital bonds. On my grueling round the world adventure, It was these relationships that truly buoyed me throughout the journey. We really all made that trip together. Thank you!

Jim Long blogging somewhere over the Pacific, en route Singapore

Friend and social media rock star Chris Abraham once told me that I blog in the “rarified air” from my perch as a network news cameraman. Today, I blog from the very thin air, 35000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, en route to Singapore with Defense Secretary Gates.

Secretary Gates and Admiral Keating brief press at Pacific Command HQ

NBC News is the US TV Pool traveling with Gates, which means the video I shoot will be used by all five of the big networks. We are flying on this impressive aircraft,
the Air Force E4B.

Air Force E4B on the flight line

Of it’s long list of operational capabilities, the one nearest and dearest to the heart of this blogger is that it has broadband! Now all it needs is a global coffee chain franchise. Lord knows it would fit! I’ve been able to sneak out a Twitter or two here and there, in flight. Pretty cool!

Recently, friend and blogging cameraman Lenslinger, bristled a bit at some of the new media musings of myself and some of my contemporaries, proudly proclaiming his determination to lug around his old camera and continue his Quixotic quest to tell well crafted, lovingly shot television stories as he’s done for years. Well on this journey, I’m equally entrenched in the trappings of old media. So much so that we’re actually carrying two Ikegami HL-V55 cameras, both in their “autumn years” – one PAL, one NTSC.

With us on this trip is veteran CNN Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre. Jamie is filing stories for CNN, and as the pool crew we’re responsible for getting him on the air.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN Pentagon Correspondent

Jamie and I are both videoblogging our journey and I’m eager to see what he puts together. (frankly I hope he’s not a better shooter than me!) So I guess then, it’s not a strictly old-media junket. In fact, we had dinner last night with Roxanne Darling of Beachwalks at Alan Wong’s in Honolulu. Beachwalks is a soothing online TV show that is life instruction for stress free living. Roxanne was a wonderful addition to the group and a refreshing diversion from echo chamber discussions of missile defense, Iraq and other Pentagon chatter.

I’ll keep you posted on the Round the World With Secretary Gates videoblog. I’m looking forward to getting home as we continue our westward journey.

Wallstrip, the online financial news show where “stock culture meets pop culture”, has been purchased by CBS Interactive for a price tag reported to be far less than the rumored $5 million price tag. Wallstrip announced the news on their show in typically tongue in cheek fashion, asking CBS employees about the deal on the sidewalk in front of “Black Rock”

Click To Play

CNET reports that it was CBS Interactive president, and former Silicon Valley M&A maverick, Qunicy Smith that sealed the deal. In a NewTeeVee article by Liz Gannes, Wallstrip’s distribution and syndicaton are reported as favorable considerations in CBS’ decision to buy the show. As Wallstrip puts it: “Watch Wall Strip where YOU want!” Here’s a snip of Wallstrip chief Howard Lindzon’s reaction to the deal:

I am dipping my toes tomorrow. I like their syndication strategy and I am bullish on Quincy and the Interactive Division of course.

I am looking forward to making Wallstrip better every day. Congrats to the Wallstrip team for their hard work and our investors for their sheer genius. Awesome day.

-Howard Lindzon

This points to two trends that this content creator hopes to take advantage of:

Now big media companies can sit back watch while savvy media makers bootstrap their content business models, and then simply come by waving cash and cherrypick the best. Call me old fashioned, but I like the sound of that! Here’s a sneak peak at one of the niche market content plays Verge New Media is creating.

Click To Play

Another emerging trend in the niche market content space is the rise of the aggregators like Network2.TV and Next New Networks. The team at Next New Networks seems very happy with their recent tip of the hat from TechCrunch. Surprisingly TechCrunch made no mention of Jetset, which I’ve often praised here as very smart interntet community TV. Next New Networks describes their model this way:

Next New Networks had some simple goals in launching: be authentic voices of the communities we launch networks around; build networks around online emerging television with web features that allow others to share, contribute and distribute; and be dependable and reliable

I have to wonder though, what is the value (read deal) for the content creator/micro-media-mogul, of aligning with a Next New Network. Wallstrip is an example of going it alone and bootstrapping. Maybe there is merit in that strategy for the entrepreneurially inclined.

So who will be the next small TV acquistion headline? Maybe it will be the surreal, sexy, sci-fi stylings of Galaciticast, or the hip, twenty-something web comedy Something to Be Desired. I think niche market web content is a HUGE sandbox that is creating tremendous opportunity for micro media moguls. I suspect content that Verge New Media has in the pipeline will be part of that mix, creating value in niche market content.

Finally, Amanda Chapel, of Strumpette, was recently sighted on Twitter describing value like this:

value is based on standards; standards are vetted by hierarchy. A bank is a bank for reason and that’s where the money is
- Amanda Chapel via Twitter

Privately, she added this: (and agreed that I publish it)

branding, seduction, under promise and over deliver. Ya can’t go wrong.

Apparently value, and money, can also be found in niche market content created by savvy, agile new media startups. Look for more of that from me and form legions of other media makers. Who do you think are the new micro media moguls to watch this year?