Social Media Club, the amazing international association started by Chris Heuer and friends, is starting a chapter in Vancouver, and I have the great pleasure and honor of leading the charge on this one.

Social Media Club’s main purpose is sharing best practices, establishing ethics and standards, and promoting media literacy around the emerging area of Social Media. This facilitation of a global conversation about building an organization and a community where the many diverse groups of people who care about social media can come together to discover, connect, share, and learn.

There are already a very large handful of social media events in the city - everything from Third Tuesday, Net Tuesday and Blogger meet ups. The city does not need yet another event for the same people to attend. So, no, SMC604 will not hold events, for the most part. If we do - and I’m still working this out, so don’t take this as though it was set in stone - the events will be speakers from around the world, who are all leaders in their fields, who have something to share. For example, Chris Pirillo was streamed into one of Chris’ events, and there are so many fantastic people, with social media insights to share - I want to bring those to Vancouver. 

The goals and mandate for SMC604 will be to be the leading association in town for Social Media, somewhere businesses can come for advice and information. We will have a database of qualified practitioners - leaving the “experts, rockstars and gurus” in the dust. We will also have a speaker’s bureau so that the next time Third Tuesday is looking for a good speaker, they’ll have somewhere to go looking for someone. There will be more, however, this is my starting point. 

What else would you add to the chapter? What else would you like to see?

This is something anyone who any sort of intelligence about wireless communications knows - they don’t really interfere with the navigation system like we’ve been told all these years. Now that Delta, American Airlines & Southwest are trying out satellite-based wifi systems, the concern is more around annoying the other passengers than it is about any navigational system.

The spokesperson for Delta Airlines is quoted in the New York Times:

“…said the airline will keep track of how customers use the Wi-Fi technology, then decide whether to set limits on how customers can use the Internet. Airlines can and do block access to pornography sites, for example, and Delta, like American, is blocking access to sites that offer Internet voice services.

“A lot of it will be self-policing,” he said. “If you’re not aware of it, your seatmate will make you aware.” [source]

So, ok, you might annoy other passengers, but what happens when wifi is everywhere, and your flight, which used to be an untouchable block of time, becomes office hours, in which you’re expected to work, rather than relax, read, nap, or like I’ve been known to do, watch a movie or write offline.

Here’s the other hitch - which airlines might be looking at inflight wifi as an additional income source, is it really going to make that much of a difference to the bottom line? The Times piece did some of the math - if every passenger on board a flight paid $12.95 for the 3+ hour trip, they’d make approximately $1500. Great, but will every passenger buy? My guess is no. Sure, some will, but I’d estimate that’s probably less than 1/3 of the passengers.

The others are going to be of the mind that I am for the moment - unless it’s free, I don’t really need to be online that badly, and even then, there’s got to be someplace in the world (or above it in this case) where I don’t have to make an excuse or provide a reason why I’d like to be offline.

It’s looking like YouTube is about to be made a star. YouTube is this close to signing a contract with the William Morris Agency which would give the company’s clients another screen to be on - the really small screen: made-for-the-Web productions.

Much like the music industry underwent changes to the distribution model when the dust settled and the internet became such a powerful force for music; this deal will underscore the ways the distribution models for television and movies on the internet.

There’s several actors and other celebrities are creating their own content for the internet, avoiding the red tape involved in developing a show for a network. Not only will the distribution change, WM clients will get an ownership stake in the videos they create for YouTube; something that television networks don’t offer.

So far, reps from both sides declined to comment when the New York Times asked to get one for their article. Two people who are close to the deal spoke to Brian Stetler on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal, described the arrangement as “YouTube’s most sweeping attempt to date to add professionally produced videos to its Web site”.  [source]

Even better, including celebrity videos on YouTube would solve the niggling problem Google has about how to make some cash from the bazillions of videos they host for free.

By signing a deal with a talent agency, YouTube is shouting pretty loudly that they want to be the next destination for Hollywood content. That concert they sponsored in November, YouTube Live, said exactly the same thing.

I guess we’ll see what happens when the deal’s finally done and the ink on the contract dries.

For the gazillion of you that watched the super bowl and saw this ad, you will want to skip this post. Here, go read about some other people’s lives for a while and laugh at them.

For the rest of you, I’d like to announce that Alec Baldwin has finally come out - he truly is an alien.

Buzznetworker has had the privilege of being the top choice for many guest posts, and the quality of the posts we get is astounding. This one, by Dave Macaulay of Aplus.net is certainly no exception.  Dave as been thinking a lot about the ‘Blogosphere’ and has some great insight as to where we’ve been in the past few years and where we’re headed.

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Acme Printing has one. The local historic preservation society has one, too. So does your Aunt Clara. Chances are that at one time or another you’ve read someone’s blog, even regularly. Or maybe you have your own.

There are political blogs, business blogs, university and high school blogs, blogs about just one thing: woodworking or coin collecting or 1950s bebop. Now there are even photoblogs, sketchblogs and blogs comprised solely of music (MP3 blog), video (vlogs) and other multimedia, in addition to the traditional text-based blogs.

How did we get here, arriving in Web 2.0 land? The “blogosphere” has become an Internet fixture – although technology watchers like Gartner predicted that blogging would peak in 2007 as the novelty of this as a publishing format gradually wears off. Still, Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere / 2008” may suggest otherwise: in 2007 there were 94.1 million U.S. blog readers and 22.6 million U.S. bloggers (eMarketer, May 2008); while 184 million people worldwide have started a blog and 346 million read them – 77% of active Internet users (Universal McCann, March 2008).

It’s remarkable to think that the concept of a blog, or “Webblog,” dates back only a few years to the early/mid 1990s. Many credit Swarthmore student Justin Hall with creating the very first blog, Links.net. Other early bloggers followed, experimenting with online diaries, journals and Web-based commentary that linked to other articles. Commercial blogging platforms launched with Open Diary in 1998 and LiveJournal in March 1999 and then Blogger’s free blog-creation service later that same year. Blogging went mobile with the availability of new apps in 2003, and by the end of 2004, Merriam-Webster dictionary declared “blog” as its “Word of the Year.” And ever since, blogs have been gaining notice – and notoriety – for their role in breaking news and entertainment stories.

So where’s blogging headed? The future is here…it’s mostly about making what we have now – even better:

• Better design, more sophisticated blogging platforms: new widgets, plug-ins, custom CSS and a wide array of SEO tools – thanks to TypePad and WordPress and the other major blogging services
• Mainstream marketing/brand building channels for business, higher education and the non-profit world.
• More ad revenue – and not just for the big guys: Google AdSenseAdify and other ad networks are generating some serious ad revenue for the A-listers, and they’re interested in the smaller and mid-sized bloggers too
• “Tweet”, and then some: Micro-blogging – short text (140 characters or less) and/or multimedia posts – is here to stay. TwitterPlurk continue to transform the world of social blogging. So do lifestreaming aggregators like FriendFeed and Plaxo Pulse that allow people to continuously share their daily activities and discoveries online

New and different kinds of blogs and blog hybrids will start to appear as well:

• More collaborative, multi-author blogs
• Cross-platform “tumblelogs” like Tumblr will bridge the gap between long form content and micro-sharing
• Blog mashups that combine wikis and electronic mailing lists with other content-creating virtual communities online

At the same time, we’ll return to long-form blogging in a big way – something that’s already happening. The best new blogs are still personal and diary like, but very, very focused: What I Saw Riding My Bike Around about post-Katrina New Orleans and Art Spark Theatreby an illustrator in Northern California who likes to discover unexpected connections. Or they delve deeply in a special topic: I Love Typography and Film Noir

Blogs continue to be democratic, diverse, dynamic experiments in self-expression that have quickly become an integral part of our lives. Even the lines between blogs and mainstream media are beginning to blur. Bloggers increasingly influence political races. They drive conversations that can make, or break, brands. They offer informed insights on topics we care deeply about – and often can’t get elsewhere.

We’ll continue to want the first word, the inside scoop, the final say. We’ll also network more. We’ll use video, audio and chat in ways yet imagined. And someday soon, your blog will be the first thing you read in the morning, every morning, over your cup of coffee. For many, it already is.

Two of the biggest conferences for New Media wonks and independent content producers yesterday announced a merger.  The BlogWorld Expo and the New Media Expo are merging into one “mega new media event.”

I was at Blog World Expo this year,  and while I enjoyed every minute of the conference, partly because my people were there,  it didn’t blow my mind (sorry Rick. You rock….. 08’s BWE was more about newbies than it was me), I was quite honestly looking for something more….higher level.

And now, with the merger of BWE and New Media Expo, this is not only going to be one giant party, it’s also going to be a good conference… I hope.

Vancouver is home to the 2010 Olympics, as much of the world is aware (and those who aren’t aware have more important things on their minds).  The city is enveloped in a flurry of activity, getting everything from buildings, athlete’s villages, and ski jumps ready for the onslaught of tourists, athletes and media that will descend onto our fair city.

Recently, the Vancouver Organizing Committee (aka VANOC - you know, the bigwigs in charge of all of the Olympic everythings in Vancouver) began a four-day “World Press Briefing” for more than 250 visiting journalists and media managers. There was some serious debate about how media coverage of the Olympics is changing dramatically due to new and emerging media.

Three local citizen journalists, under the Raincity Studios umbrella - Dave Olsen, Kris Krug & Robert Scales - have written an open letter to VANOC requesting entry into the closed-door press briefing.

DaveO, ever the eloquent one, says, “In brief, we’d like to have a conversation about how to allow fans and amateur media makers to document their Olympic experience…”.

“We are aware of your obligations to media rights holders and are seeking to provide an entirely different sort of coverage than the accredited media provide,” he wrote. “We are not looking to cover events per se but are instead interested in covering the cultural stories, athletes’ families’ stories, and stories from fans who saved and travelled from around the world for this experience. In other words, we plan to encourage and aggregate fan coverage of the individual’s on the street experience of the Games.”

Between the three of them, Scales, Krug and Olsen have covered Beijing 2008, Torino 2006, SLC 2002, and Nagano 1998, all unaccredited and on various forms of media.

DaveO goes on to explain that, in order to facilitate more citizen journalism, Raincity Studios will be “… hosting an independent, international media centre at our Gastown loft office. As part of this, we’ll organize events like photo walks and aggregate fan-made content for the enjoyment of a worldwide audience.”

This is going to happen with or without the mighty blessing of VANOC, but as DaveO pointed out,  “We’d [all] like to work with you to do this for mutual benefit.”

To date, all that I know is that the spokeswoman for VANOC told Jeff Lee, the Vancouver Sun Olympic Reporter that “The IOC is the ultimate arbiter on the representation on the press commission, and each country’s National Olympic Committee determines which media get accredited for the Games.”

She goes on to say that, “As the organizing committee, we can and will encourage both entities to recognize and facilitate the immense growth of online media, however ultimately decisions for press commission membership and Games accreditation lie with them. We have not yet responded to the open letter from the social media group but will do so in the coming days.”

So, Dave, Kris, Robert, where do we stand on this? Has VANOC gotten back to you? Have we come to any sort of conclusion here?

You’d have to have been either on vacation on a tiny island with no internet access at all or be living under a rock not to know about the web’s latest love-fest, The Shiba Inu Puppy Cam.

People have complained about losing all productivity after finding out about the puppies - people stopped working almost entirely to watch the puppies sleep. I know at least an hour or two of my own productivity got sucked away by the little, adorable furballs, even if they were just sleeping.

You know something has become popular, or dare I say it, even an overnight sensation when it starts to get spoofed. First, Rob Cottingham of Noise to Signal released this:

and now, there’s a YouTube video as well:

We really should just band together and stop watching these damn dog…… awwww! They’re playing!!!!

(image source: (CC) Noise to Signal. Video Source Gonzoprm)

Twitter is notorious for it’s lack of business model, and Simon Dumenco from AdAge has written a really thought-provoking article about the service. I’ve always just accepted that if I’m going to be online, I’m gonna get advertised at. Maybe not tho…

Simon raises an excellent point when he says

But what if it’s not only too late, but it was never time? What if not everything that flits across our screens — computer or cellphone or whatever — can be contorted into serving as a profit center? As I’ve said before: I don’t think every tweet or blurp or bloop or fart that emanates from a human can or should have ads sold against it or be otherwise monetized. [source]

Now with the economy going sideways and the VC firms warning tech companies to slow their burn rate and batten down the hatches so as to weather the storm,  some of our beloved social media apps  may disappear. Being loved isn’t enough to get through the current rough patch.

Rafe Needleman wrote

Although well-used by many and even relied upon by some (like me), Twitter has yet to turn on a revenue model. It’s not like the company would lose users, if it set up a minor advertising strategy as a test; people want to see the company make some money. Please, Twitter, turn on the revenue before it’s too late. [source]

So, who’s right? Do you think Twitter is in danger of getting crushed under the fail whale? (image source: Yiying Lu)

So, as I mentioned earlier, I moderated a panel today about non profits getting involved in social media. The panel was great, and once I got over my initial nerves, and remembered to actually speak slowly, (I’m a fast talker normally, and when you put that through a microphone, it gets all mumbly), and enunciate.

We had several fantastic questions from the crowd - which, we had more of than previous panels and presentations, including one rather aggressive one that asked whether or not those of us who participate in social media aren’t just narcissistic, self absorbed jerks.  I have to admit, the panel was rather surprised about the question itself, as was I, but I wanted to hear what others thought of this aggression. I don’t know what happened during the panel that made this person decide we were all narcissistic, but whatever. It may have been my “shameless self-promotion plug” about BuzzNetworker, which I labeled as such.

I think that this is not only an amazingly timely topic for Board of Trade members, and one that definitely needs revisiting in the near future. So many people had questions, people were asking about how to sell social media, and the need to spend time doing it, to traditional CEOs and management. Several of the questions that came up were things that I’ve covered here in the past. I frequently forget that I’m officially an early adopter of social media tools, and that others are still starting to blog.

If you’re just starting out in social media, there’s a few things to consider when you enter into social media:

Be transparent and authentic: Be you and talk about your actual world. Grow your relationships. Social media is all about relationships.

We spent a lot of time talking about transparancy and authenticity. You’ve got to be you on social sites, otherwise you lose all credibility.

I got a ton of ideas from the Board of Trade event and plan on blogging those thoughts, coming soon…..