Last Friday my friend Colleen Coplick presented to the Vancouver chapter of CPRS (PR people group) on blogs and social media.  I got a sneak peak at her slides Thursday night (she asked for feedback).  I think she was right on the mark and didn’t have too many (26, about right for an hour).

However it seems that not everyone enjoyed it:

You have to be honest. You have to be transparent. You have to join the conversation. Hang out on facebook.” After a half hour of this it was clear that she couldn’t really fill the rest of the half hour she was contracted to speak for. And really, even people with a nominal knowledge of social media most likely already have the “transparency schtick” down. Source: CPRS Talk on Social Media with Guest Speaker Colleen Coplick « Condofire

Now, here’s irony for you, the person complaining about getting the “transparency schtick” … doesn’t have his/her name on the blog or even an about page.  Not very transparent!

Speaking about blogs and social to a group like this is really freakin’ hard.  The audience is likely all over the map at both social media and computer levels.  I wasn’t there, so I can’t comment on how she did, but since I did have an advance look at the slides, I know she covered her bases.

Blogs and PR folks, it’s tough.  I launched (officially) my new b5media blog Manscaping 101 and I’m getting more and more emails from PR folks.  Let me tell you, they have come a long way since I started blogging four years ago (yes it really has been only four years).  What I’m getting now show’s they’s read the blog and want to suggest things that I really would be interested in.

Kudos to Colleen for doing it.  And for your viewing enjoyment, her slides via SlideShare:

| View | Upload your own

Photo by Lisa Thomas-Tench

Vancouver-based Strutta has finally launched to the world after being a hot presenter recently in Vancouver.  Strutta was on a lot of people’s lips at SXSW and I begged for an invite (yes, begged).  Jordan Behan emailed me last week with a heads up that they were launching today.

Other folks got in first with their reviews:

The Strutta site is built around the idea of online video competitions. Users can challenge each other in video-based Battle-Royales for bragging rights, nerd notoriety, and geek glory, or simply vote on entries in the various ongoing games. Source: Strutta Puts On Its Game Face

Techcrunch and Mashable did their thing I have something none of them have–an exclusive “Best Canadian Joke” game!

That’s right no one else is talking about their own game, but I have one!  Heh!

Enough bragging, okay maybe a little more later, but what is Strutta?

Strutta: Online games with a new twist

Strutta isn’t about building a “friends network” or sharing your goofy LOLcats, it’s about submitting a video that you think is the best in a game.  Like my, exclusive to MapleLeaf 2.0 readers best Canadian Joke game, you put up a video and people vote and the most votes wins.

I browsed around and there are the pet videos (not lolcats, but there was a dog howling like a police siren), or tech or whatever.  To play you just sign up, sign in, watch a video and vote. 

Simple, easy.

So why now?  What’s hot and new about this?  This tells me that technology has really taken another great jump forward.  So many people have built-in webcams that you can just easily make a quick video and post it.  Like Seesmic we can now just make and share video in an instant.

Will I go lots to play?  Lots?  No, but I think it might be a nice break from RSS feeds.

Now, what’s your best Canadian joke?

This post is part of my blog claiming process of BlogRize (thanks Louis for the invite!). BlogRize is based in Vancouver and once I play with it more … I’ll give you more info:

In closing the inaugural post - I really think we’ve developed something special with a lot of potential. If you agree or disagree or have any feedback please let me know. I’ll be listening carefully. Thank you Source: The Blogrize Blog » Blog Archive » BlogRize beta launches - and louisgray invites work now!

Until then … well I’m claiming and signing up.