me and the fly was sitting at pool deck of my estate, and i was looking at this fly on the table. flying around from point A to point B, and i thought how cool it would be if us humans could be granted the same privilege.but then it started walking, and it wouldn't travel very far. but we could, with our bipedal biological design, we were designed to walk vast and great distances. and there was a purpose to everything, the way it was designed, to do certain things, and perhaps certain things alone. What humour are you? Your result for The 3 Variable Funny Test...Your sense of humor is off-the-cuff and kind of gross. Is it is also sinister, cynical, and vaguely threatening to the purer folks of this world. You probably get off on that. You would cut a greasy fart, then blame it on your mom, and then just shrug when someone pointed out that she's dead.Yours is hands-down the most outrageous sense of humor; you like things trangressive and hardcore. It's highly likely (a) you have no limits (b) you have no scruples and (c) you have no job. Ironically, it's your type of humor that can make the biggest bucks in show business.PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Howard Stern - Adam Sandler - Roseanne Barrthe Shock Jock(57% dark, 50% spontaneous, 53% vulgar) your humor style:VULGAR | SPONTANEOUS | DARKgo do a test now. like this one! SPREAD IT! (ideas that spread are like an STD) okay, so what makes a piece of content shareable? almost everyday, i reach out to influencers, but is my content influencing? or even spreadable?marketers like to call ideas that spread, the viral effect. it's like a disease, and then it becomes an epidemic. scary init?but it still doesn't address that magick that makes you wanna go tell someone else, or in this case, infect.let's look at the disease analogy more closely. in fact, let's look at it imagining it to be a sexually transmited disease like say.. syphyllis. (or genital warts)so you suddenly find yourself with gential warts, you have an itch that needs scratching, and you don't sign yourself into rehab, in fact, what you still want to do, is sleep around regardless of the consequence.okay, i exaggerate, but what i want to drive at, is this desire to fulfil your own needs, and in the process, you spread your disease. (unknowingly perhaps?) and your infected victims unknowingly spread it to someone else.see, the idea is not genital warts (no one would sleep with you if you had them. note: make sure your ideas are not genital warts), the idea is desire.you're sharing the desireability of your idea, that could be:1. making someone else laugh2. helping someone solve a problem3. making someone more money4. lifehacking someone else's processes5. making myself / someone else extremely popularwe all have an itch that needs scratching, and that's what makes us want to spread it.Trivia: how many times i've said "genital warts" in this post - 5 Inane MSN conversation with Nadnut so sue me if i'm borrowing nadnut's awesome star power to draw some more attention to my blog. but this was rather cute and i had to share it:nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:actually i think most men are scared of menadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:weirdbrian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:hahaha, srsly?nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:yeapnadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:lol brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:hahahaha, this is a potentially trapping questionbrian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:if i say you're not.. you might think i dont give you enough creditbrian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:if i say you are.. then you might so im spineless and can't stand up for myselfnadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:lol this isnt a trapping question nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:im just wondering some men are scared of menadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:aside from squeezing manboobs, i think im rather harmlessnadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:even more harmless than your bananashevaens no! nadnut, you are absolutely adorable -)))nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:but seriously, do i seem fierce brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:nono.. heaven's nobrian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:you're adorablenadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:o.Onadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:that's newnadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:lol brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:hahahabrian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:i have a wide vocabularybrian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:and i try to choose my words carefullynadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:lol nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:damnitnadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:adorable is like cute = ugly but adorable nadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:ecknadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:lol brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:AHA!brian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:but in the equationbrian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:cute = ugly + adorablebrian. firing solutions to the main batteries. says:adorable = cute - uglynadnut™ [save some trees! have a blog!] says:lol Touching Is The New Secks You see it everywhere these days, many mobile devices are moving toward touch interfaces, from the Apple iPhones, HTC Touches and Samsung (I can't remember). Design-wise, i think this is a good thing. handheld devices and touch technology go hand-in-hand, because i think it's intuitive. check out this video of firefox mobile for the iPhone if you need any more evidence that touch is more than just a fancy marketing gimmick, but it changes the way you interact with your tools: Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.So imagine my eyes-widening when uniquefrequency and melvin invited me to their HP TouchSmart Blogger event. Now, this is interesting, i've always been organising Open Room events for bloggers, now it was a chance to finally be a blogger. And a tech event no less!this is what we all came to see:I hope I'll be honest and objective here. I do like the HP Touch Smart, i think HP have gone a long way to design a desktop that is intuitive to use, is a speaking point in any home or as a living room feature. this is a very sexy lifestyle product. it runs on a special version of Windows Vista, so the aero interface goes very well with the physical black aesthetics, and it has the main entertainment features in play, coverflow for your music and videos, 22" HD screen to enjoy your digital photo albums, all at the touch of your fingertips. it literally causes you to rethink the way you approach a personal computer, especially when you're brought up using a mouse or keyboard. HP have included these peripherals, but i think if you want the true experience, you'd be touching. *ahem*but i think beyond that, it's a regular PC with some touch technology (which in itself interesting, i learn there are cameras all over the screen that track the movement of your fingers - it aint pressure sensitive though.)for something that looks like an apple imac (which starts at 24"), sustainable graphic cards, wireless mouse and keyboard, and in itself a space saver, yet offers enough power to edit videos and images without much hassle, the HP TouchSmart has found itself a worthy competitor. But you can't touch an iMac, and i think that is enough of a unique proposition that might sway your decision. Could this be the first step toward new desktop based products that will be more intuitive to use, not just in terms of aesthetics and usability, but the backend programming that makes using such touch-focused products easier rather than more difficult?as i maintain, i'm a big fan of the aesthetics, i'd get it if i had money to burn, but it ain't no desktop replacement. not at this point at least.Apart from that, it was nice to see how other agencies approach blogger engagement. my personal experience was that I was well attended to, met up with old and new friends, and it was social, not some marketing babble schpwel. if any, it was kept to a bare minimum.if I can refer any client executives to the way the HP reps conducted themselves in blogger-produced vodcasts, check this example out from the fine folks at the Geek Goddess Show:intelligible, simple, clear and articulate. and use of visual aids! anything to help us understand your product or service better -)of course the food was stellar, and the beer was *muackz* i'll leave you now with some pictures because i'm too lazy to fit them contextually into this post:Bloggers are not an unruly bunch! they listen to what you have to say!bitbot streaming live to Qik:bitbot and menow with the incredible nadnutclicktokill is another rock grrlNicole always smiling when i see herand my homies, beatmastermark and uniquefrequencyMore photos at: social media misadventuresOther posts:uniquefrequencynicoleclicktokillclaudsbitbot All Your Livejournal Are Belong To Us Here's a funny Error 404 page from the folks at www.livejournal.comAnd to put this in context, here are a couple of videos to help you with your sense of humour.all your base are belong to uszero wing rhapsodythank me later. Jean.SG Says She Was Molested, And We Say She Deserves It? "seems to me there's somethin' you don't know about men, an' that's we can't help this shit.i mean, i dunno if it's genetic, or if it's to do with what we get taught, of if it's just 'cause it's expected of us -- but it's what we DO, ok?'cause to help a girl when she's in trouble, or stop her gettin' into trouble, is just the right goddamned thing to do.." - jesse custer, preacher #17it's just the right, goddamned thing to do. i don't know why this post link here is bothering me so much, or i think it's more the comments from anonymous pass-bys that irks me more. link hereBefore we go any deeper into this, please read these links to get some context to what's going on.the girl's accounta local tabloid's reportasiaone's news storyand countless other people who have spoken for and against this girl for either leading the guy on (accepting a $48,000 'gift'), putting herself in an awkward situation (sharing a bed together) and inviting trouble.Yes. Yes. and Yes.but still, what gives the guy ANY RIGHT to snuggle up next to her in the dead of the night, start stroking her back with his fingers, and when she was too terrified to do anything, whip out his big dick (it must be big if his brain was there and not in his cranium) and stroke it at her buttocks?No seriously, what gives him the right to assume the stage has been set, the gift ($48,000 mind you) has been given, the circumstances were ideal (what? he thought she planned the 'one bed' dilemma?) when there is no clear sign of consent?i'll admit, i think sex is a special enough act that you remain faithful to your partner to, even before you are married. but that's just me, and even for people who don't share the same view and are more versed in this act of sleeping with anyone they wish, isn't there some sort of 'teasing' or acknowledgment that they want to have sex with you?i hardly think a dead log not making a noise to your stroking fingers is communication that screams out 'YES! TAKE ME NOW!'i think i've made my point, who was clearly, more in the wrong for assuming too much.the final thing that irks me, are all these anonymous people who leave comments behind saying that she had brought it upon herself, saying money had changed hands, justifying this course of action. well if it does, it clearly shows how you treat women, they're nothing more than things that can be bought. women are humans just like us. i think it sorta shows what kind of person you are. the selfish type who looks out only for his/herself, or you respect your peers, regardless of where they come from, and their well-being is of concern to you.it's funny how such anonymous commenter's can say such things, and although www.jean.sg has chosen to remain anonymous, at least she has a source blog and is contactable via email and willing to go public. how many of these other unverified commenters are willing to be spotlighted by public opinion, and actually broadcast what they really want they say and put it on record, while taking full responsibility for the words they use. not many i can imagine.big empty words. forever resigned to anonymity lacking any credibility. my identity on this blog is public and transparent for a reason. i'm taking responsibility for anything and everything i say here, and i cannot speak for anyone but myself. in closing, the blame that we heap on www.jean.sg will come full circle. if we are unwilling to give her quarter and benefit of the doubt for such a hideous action, when it happens to one of your loved ones, or to yourself and you are powerless to do anything about it, we have only wrought the hurt upon ourselves, because we allowed and justified such a thing to happen in the first place.why am i speaking out about this? i'll share two of my favorite quotes, because it's pushed my buttons and these quotes belly my own principles as a man, and mortal. 'cause to help a girl when she's in trouble, or stop her gettin' into trouble, is just the right goddamned thing to do.." - jesse custer, preacher #17once a man has seen, he can never turn his back on it. never pretend it doesn't exist. no matter who orders him to look the other way. we do not do this thing because it is permitted. we do it because we have to. we do it because we are compelled." - rorschach, watchmen issue vi Brian Morgan Productions Pilot Vodcast: The Muxtape Episode without much fanfare, production values and a brand new blackbook, i present brian morgan productions a first look at music you should be listening to and all the other cool DIY things you could be doing.who we are: brian leery, bassist & inquisitive social media practitioner and morgan c. hoax, indie music guru, photographer & brains behind the skinny fistswhy we started vodcasting: we're both recently mac-enabled. i wanted to show how easy it was to begin vodcasting. for content, we both love music a little too much, and we hope that through the use of video, we can share the cool things you ought to be listening to and what's out there in the world of music + intertubeslinks mentionedmuxtapemorgan's muxtapebrian's muxtapepitchforkmorgan's blogbrian's blog: you're reading it now!songs and/or albums mentioned1. Follow The Lights (EP) by Ryan Adams2. The Greatest (LP) by Cat Power3. He War (Single) by Cat Power dashing all your hopes and dreams it's been awhile since i last stepped into my blog. it's scary, knowing that it's there and i should type in it ever so often. but really, sometimes i'm human and i don't really know what i want to say. but oh well, we all have to grow up sometime right? *EXPOSE* what's all this fuss about Plurk anyhow? by now, some of the more active new media movers in Singapore have tried out the latest web application, Plurk.what exactly is Plurk? well, if you aren't even using Twitter, this post might not make much sense to you.Twitterers jumped onto Plurk when Twitter kept having outages that really made following conversations a hassle. While Twitter and me have not parted ways, i am sort of having a friend with benefits, if that is my relationship with Plurk.So let me share step by step, what's working out for me and Plurk, before i add a wishlist of what would perhaps, make it even more plurking awesome.1. Plurk iz prettythe timeline user-interface (UI) takes a bit of getting used to. but once you do, following conversations and taking part in them is insanely easy. 2. Plurk makes it easy to participate in conversations of interestsee a post that you like? click on the drop down option, and plurk a response instantaneously! it reminds me of the way people post replies to threads on forums. in fact, it's like "threaded conversations" if i may quote @uniquefrequency or @yuhui. i cannot remember. in one of my more popular plurks i got 43 responses, although more than half came from @uniquefrequency and myself, it proved the ease in starting a conversation on any topic, and anyone can join in.here's an example of that Plurk's permalink. the fantastic thing, is that you can now join in that conversation by just registering yourself and continuing that conversation!3. RSS Feedsthis was rather overlooked. or didn't appear in any of my current conversations. but i've started subscribing to various Plurkers on my GReader, if i see anything that interests me, i can click on that link in my RSS Reader that takes me straight to a Plurk's Permalink, and i can take part in the conversation without needing to go thru the hassle of checking my timelines.it's a bit of a hassle, but this will help manage updates if and when Plurk becomes too busy for its own good. you can also try subscribing to Plurk responses, but i think that's overkill.[Note: you can only subscribe to public plurks, plurkers that are private will not produce a feed. My feed is in this link if you wanna follow me: link]wishlist1. SMS integration like Twitter. but that might not be necessary if WIFI becomes ubiquitous for mobile internet devices, or if you have a good 3G data plan. i hear good things about their mobile site.2. convulated timeline will have to be addressed sooner or later.3. easier UI to keep track of conversations that are happening. as someone suggested, plurks with responses should perhaps be aggregated to a sidebar for you to comment on. by doing so, this might render the RSS+GReader method unnecessary and require a shorter learning curve to using Plurk.4. more 3rd party apps or blog widgets to make Plurk more integrated to a lifestream.closing thoughtsPlurk and Twitter are different animals. Plurk has made it great to start and follow up on conversations. but it doesn't have the ubiquity of Twitter that truly excels on an SMS platform. you probably won't see someone using Plurk to plurk a cry for help when he/she gets arrested in Egypt. SO don't throw away Twitter yet! Twitter might be quiet for awhile as more of us play with Plurk, but i think Twitter will be back with a vengence WHEN it sorts out its backend engineering.if you'd like to see it for yourself, take part in the conversation and join my Plurk network here: link! my life in point form 1. played with plurk.com2. left work3. listening to matthew good4. discovered fail blog- what is the culture of "fail"? [please watch video]5. ate durians at geylang6. met friends from perth whom i've not seen in a year7. still hearting oceansize[please watch videos]women who love men who love drugs[emo spaz moments at 1:58 and 4:17]Serial killerLifeus ExitusSo don't dareKill herIt's on meIt's on youYeahSo Don't YouBelieveWomenWho LoveMen WhoLoveDrugsYeah...unfamiliar[love the arrangement of this song, mindblowing vocal melody at 3:40]During the laceration all you wanna do is cryAt last that realization how quickly fresh blood driesNeeds little explanation, 'sgonna take a lot of timeIdeas above our station are below the fog in my mindWhen I see I see my signsIt's the same face presenting the same lieIf you keep walking sideways, if you keep changing your mindWhen i see i see my signsAnd obsolete your voices areThey say that silence it sometimes paysIn war silence it sometimes paysSouls and windows stops existingAnd holes where his eyes used to beNeedle and thread hold together his love for the deadAnd all who sail in herSaw the seashore, unfamiliarThe water and oil, unfamiliarSuccess and toil, unfamiliarUnaccustomed, unfamiliar8. playing a gig with Kevin Matthews and the Groovy People on Saturday 930pm @ Timbre for Rock The Sub! why you need a social media strategist like me okay, purely off the bat, i'm not moonlighting my services, but this is an example of how being rather connected helps your cause.it all started with this:direct link hereAn innocent tweet about the new socialite, an upcoming blog that seems to be covering the new media scene / blogosphere / twittersphere around singapore. and they quoted me! linked my blog. AND! deemed my friend @ambarvalia crush worthy -) oh, the wonders of having me as your friend will do wonders for your brand!you can read the article here.well, in my defence, i never "accused" anyone. for further evidence, please refer to above image and notice the tone of my "non-accusing" tweet. i mean, how harmless is that? -)anyway, i don't think the new socialite means any harm, and i've already subscribed to its feed. if someone else has got the pulse on singapore, you've already got me hooked as a reader.i've also yet to join the Facebook group that nadnut invited me to for sweets.sg. i saw the trailer, and looking forward to what these new players in the vodcasting scene are gonna show us! revisiting the madness my oh my. what a tragically long absence away from my blog. for a variety of reasons, i had avoided penning down my thoughts because as fatigue took over, i didn't want to post incoherently.unfortunately, as the week progressed, more and more things amassed, and my lack of a draft system meant that i wasn't taking note of what i wanted to blog about. there were a few highlights:1. social media breakfast 2i had fun as usual, and was always good to touch base with one of the more prominent blogging communities in Singapore. 2. www.podfire.sg and www.treats.sg part ways.accounts from the usual suspects here:michael cheng [podfire]aaron koh [blogger's treat]3. byzantin3 posted some highlights from vinton cerf's keynote address. [vinton is part of the team that created TCP/IP protocols that are the architecture the Internet is built upon]here.her department, Ogilvy One also posted an interview they had done with him online. chekkit out, it's 5 morselly minutes of goodness:4. there's a new commoncraft show: social media in plain english5. but do checkout the hacked version by kommonkraft for the new media douchebag.i wish i had more input to the things i've just shared, but i'm a bit swamped with the way life is catching up with me. countless rehearsals for church, gigs and weddings make for a busy month. but things should lighten up after this week. *hopes meekly*in other news, the new Baybeats 2008 website has been launched. My band Leeson will be playing at "Asia's largest indie rock festival" so do pop by and check out the video teaser they've put up for our band and the other 10 as well -)www.baybeats.com.sgmy props go out to you and whose army? anna judge april. silhouette and cardinal avenue! Freakhog Cool Cadbury Egg Crushing Machine This is so freakhog cool! plus i think it makes a great "user-ad" for Cadbury eggs, much like what Coke Lite and Mentos were in a past life. you've found your answers, i've found mine if only we could laugh like the way we used tosing for those that love us soand love those that loved us first Applying Maeda's First Two Laws of Simplicity to My Daily Living It was a public holiday today, and i did the one thing that was most pressing on my to-do list:clean my room.quite literally, this is another of my attempts at thoughtful reduction, and i must say, it's a success. i have a bed to sleep on, my basses are nicely tucked in a corner, my computer space is neatly marked out to handle my macbook, midi keyboard, amplifiers and power points to house all my stompboxes. this also brings into play simplicity law number two: organization, and by doing so, living in my room seems so much simpler and enjoyable, and in due time, productive. yes. i also finally filed all my financial statements that had been accumulating, and my financial planner is going to be so proud of me. 70 Millions Blogs and Growing.. Influencing The New Generation I used to wonder if i had Attention Deficit Disorder, now i know.. the markerters have given me a label. I'm part of Generation Y (Why?)I'll be blogging in direct response to this post:Great, I now have a label to explain everything that's wrong about me, we're Generation Y with short attention spans, we want a balance in life. Work and our careers are everything to us (in that we want to be successful), but it's not everything (in that we want a social life, friends and all the trimmings that life has to offer.)Great by-product of the generation that grew up on Cable, Video on Demand, Broadband Internet, MTV, Mega Malls, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Designer labels, Ecstacy, Blogs, Review Sites, Amazon, EBay and heaven knows what else. Can you really blame us for not giving your brand the time of day when you try to reach out to us with your ads, pamphlets, sales promises and emotional brand experience?How then is the best way to get your message to the people that matter?I've probably already failed to influence in the length of this particular post. If you've given me the time of day to read this far, then maybe we've arrived at something.connectionif for some reason, you feel that what i have to say is important, it might be because of a mixture of knowing me, we've interacted in some way, and your life somehow benefited after coming in contact with me. attentioni still read yongfook.com to this day. his blog has evolved into a well designed lifestream. he captures my attention with great content, short blurbs and funny videos & monologues. meaning i don't have to spend more than 5 mins on his site to hear what he has to say, and decide for myself if it's important or not.too many times, important things are lost in a sea of noise, or they're not very popular things to begin with. (take a look at ping.sg and hazard a guess at what the average pingster finds important in the "top 10 posts for the last 24 hours".)now of course, all great brands want to be popular, and they'd like to be in that top 10 posts of pingsters.communitybut we have to remember that ping.sg is not the only community group there is. it's a sizable community, and they've done some really great things, built on uzyn's API platform to aggregate the most popular posts in their community.but what about social networks and forums that house already existing brand advocates? how about other separate undiscovered blogs that might serve, 20 - 50 committed readers daily? what can we do as brands to help their lives and connect connect with them?merely reading information online rarely influences a reader. Gen Y is a bit more savvy to believe everything they read. but i think we will consider the expert opinion of someone we know, close to us or at least in our social circle.fragmentswith this amount of choice and clutter, is it in fact possible to have your message carried by every single one of these different voices? let's remember that when someone tries to tell us something in a language we don't understand, it's garble, noise, meaningless and ultimately spam.is that how you want Gen Y to remember your brand? Do you really care about social media? Slightly more than a year ago, the term 'social media' was foreign to me. I had no idea that1. chatting with my friends online was considered 'Word of Mouth Marketing'2. uploading blog entries, photos and videos was 'user generated content'3. connecting with friends and other local bands on Friendster and Myspace was 'social networking'4. downloading a Radiohead album would change the way the recording industry saw itself5. sharing knowledge on wikipedia and forums would be 'crowdsourcing'bloi was just a user, and i'm still a user. i find it strangely hard to accept terms like 'social media strategist' or that this blog will end up being a 'guru' blog that will tell you how to do great 'blogger relations' and that my opinion could be seen as an expert opinion. i just happen to be in this space, where the tides of information are changing at such a rapid rate that people are becoming increasingly connected that i don't really know what to expect, except an explosion of signal and noise. more wisdom will be shared with the rest of society, we'll be able to put our brains together and come up with solutions much faster. information will travel at the speed of light, that today's news will be yesterday's news.and the murky depths of the human condition will also be more apparent as we upload all the filth that has accumulated in our unplugged lives, and everyone's opinion will seemingly matter. everyone will suddenly become an 'expert'.i think signal will be harder to find, so hold on to the current signals that you have today, i think they'll come in handy tomorrow. Predictions of the iPhone's impact in Singapore So here's what i think.i think that the iPhone will make social media tools more ubiquitous to Singaporeans when it's finally officially launched in Singapore.why do i say that?1) seamless wireless coverage around Singapore and 3G connection.2) people will have near 24 hours connection to the net on a mobile device that has true web experience and user experience (screen touching! how intuitive can you get?)this means that people will (hopefully) start subscribing to RSS feeds, receiving content via the iPhones, using Twitter a lot more, and actually blogging more on the go. And one other reason why i think this will be so, is because so many of us travel by public transport, and there'll be a lot of downtime. traveling, waiting for friends to show up.. etc. i dare not think when WiMax becomes a part of all this. The recipe is this.ubiquitous network coverage + ubiquitous mobile internet device = ubiquitous net usage and a need to aggregate information faster, and on the fly.we'll see come september My little blackbook Say hello to my little friend:okay, what i really meant to show you was this:they really know how to tease you when you open the box.everything in it's right place.many purists don't like the blackbook. i however, am sold on black tech. pr0nthis could be the beginning of a beautiful relationshipcall it a mild obsession. sparingly incredulous reminiscing from a sea change that we all have grown up not the usual title you might have expected of me if you've only been reading my blog for the past year. however, if you started reading me back when i started in 2003, this might seem vaguely familiar, something like a past life. Brian before he started in all this Social Media hullabaloo.things changed in April 2007. i was blessed enough to find a job in Ogilvy's Global 360˚Digital Influence team, and have been working there ever since.as i reflect, what a great ride it's been! ups and downs, but it truly is one of those things where i can say, i learn something new everyday. and the people i've met! colleagues, clients and bloggers! i really value the lessons that have been learnt, how much i've matured, and actually better manage my time.don't ask me how i manage to work a full time job, play in a band, dabble in currently 3 side projects for music and serve in church. something's got to give, i haven't managed to lose the 10 extra kilos i put on in my my last year studying in Perth. just check out my friendster profile if you don't believe i wasn't this size before!thing's really came full circle in what i believe to be engaging bloggers. we launched The Open Room last week, and actually got bloggers to meet clients in a social setting. this isn't for us, but for bloggers and clients, to know where each other is coming from, to see down in the trenches, what's changing and taking place in the market place.some see the value, some don't. to those who see the value, i know we'll be having a lot more valuable conversations as we enter the new communications and information age together.well, from 2003 - 2006, you'll get a sense of what this quirky little blog used to be. in fact, it was a wonderful colour of purple and pink! it kind of reflects the colours in my mind, because it mixes different base colours to form something extraordinary, something different from the norm, something like "red makes my car go faster" sorta norm. zzzzzz. if you want to know the guy before he donned his corporate colours, this will be an interesting journey for you, the reader.so i'm a little dichotomised right now, just where does harmless?bananas! stand in the grand scheme of blogging with a purpose..? well, i think i finally have the opportunity to go back to being a bit more personal, and definitely the place to experiment new applications that get launched everyday. i think, this blog is finally me once again.i'm just taking something i found off uniquefrequency's blog. it's a meme, but it's been awhile since i did one, so here goes -)7 Things You Didn’t Know About My Social Media Journey1. i started blogging because i admired two bloggers: styra and yongfook2. my ICQ number was 5635761. 7 digits. only 5 digit people rule more than me!3. i used to go into mIRC as |PhaseR|. i was 16 and i'm 26 now.4. after napster died, i found solace in soulseek and found tonnes of great music there.5. my first website was actually everlasting peace, but the link is dead. my second website is single scene evolution that contains poetry i had typed in HTML from the years 2000 - 20046. harmless? bananas! was birthed from a night of playing Counter Strike, the words seemed to rhyme and i was drawn to the use of symbols. call it an early lesson in linguistics and semeotics7. litford has absolutely no meaning apart from the acronym i gave to "laughing in the face of death" and added an 'R' to make it look not so ridiculous and actually phonetically pronounceable.and if i may add an eigth point.8. my spelling still sucks after all these years.feel free to continue the meme! and thanks for stopping by! feel free to contact me from a variety of methods in the side bar -) No rest for the weary Sometimes the powers that be, make it really difficult to fully express yourself, and you find that change is not something that people look upon willingly. I was really excited about a new concept on Tuesday, a way of doing things, but by Thursday, i find my enthusiasm waning at the uphill task it'll be to convert the masses. maybe that's a key insight into Social Media, and rings true for the prophecy of Loren Feldman, that the most important voice on the Internet is always your own voice, not those that you follow.Nobody likes to be told what to do, we're pulling in the information that shapes our worlds. Why then do establishments still bombard us with their truths, when everyone has already established their own?These are troubling times indeed. New marketing, but are we ready? I really should be plugging our blogger social event that just happened last night to launch The Open Room, but i'm just so suitably buzzed up right now about something that i just have to type it down first. Yes, it's that important, but don't worry, The Open Room is somewhere a part off all this. i'm currently attending the IAS Graduate Diploma in Digital Advertising, it's on every Tuesday from 7pm to 10pm, and it's taken considerable strain. In fact, things weren't going so well because, every body was rehashing the same thing over and over again. New marketing, new media, new advertising, basically everything was X X & X with a 2.0 behind it.you get my drift, you've heard it all before. we've been telling it to you till no end. 2.0, digital, social and post- become great things to put in your product and service offerings so that clients will bite.but it just won't work because you're just doing the same crap with a 2.0 stuck to it. so what you get is:crap2.0digital crapsocial crappost-crapcrap in, crap out.and what do i mean by crap? trying to service, sell products and services that worked on a unified mass media platform on what we see today in mature markets as a increasing fragmented media landscapehere's an illustration. in mature and connected markets like the US, Japan and even Singapore (super high broadband penetration) think about the choices you have:Cable TVBroadband (Youtube, Flickr, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, Netvibes, RSS)MagazinesAdvertisementsNewspapersForumsThe list could go on forever, and that's the media fragmentation we see, coupled with the insane amount of choice we have today.What brand of toothpaste to buy? what type of toothpaste? whitening? more calcium? 12 hr protection? 24 hr protection?Basically, we as consumers wanted choice? the marketers gave us choices. and i guess in the process, a lot of crappy choices, and we were at their mercy. choice became clutter.now, with the Internet, we research what is relevant to us, we try to pull the information that is relevant to us, but it's hard work. And the offers and unsolicited information that finds themselves to us, is SPAM. marketers, advertisers and PR practitioners should take a look at the world's spam folder one day. we can only be positive that its digital, for i forsee worldwide deforrestation if spam was still paper.So my point is this.The old way of selling doesn't work on the new breed of consumers.Marketers, PR and Advertising have become complacent in the way we engage consumers. we don't! we expect one way messages to work, or pseudo interactivity disguised as feedback, survey or clicking on a link..??I used to be scared of this barrier. This barrier into the consumer space, this natural resistance to the things that we try to do.Today in class, talking with like minded people, i think some of us felt that we had to change the way we did things. We had to find not just a new way to sell things, but genuinely connect with consumers, be their partners that make life better for them, we go down to their level, or we bring them up to us. Either way, don't take it the wrong way.. the idea is that we should all be on the level playing field.bring back the days when i wanted something, and went to the small independent shop near my place.. rekindle the joy of having a genuine service that served a customer need or want.what am i talking about?about the idea of building shelters or sleeping bags for homeless people sponsored by advertisers or clients. perhaps you could do something good with your ad or presence?how about the food stores that took your grocery list for a party you were organising, and helped you calculate how much each person owes you? and perhaps helped you collect that money?how about building an online tool that genuinely helped solved information overload problems?what about that branded shoe that you designed yourself?what about that computer that you put together yourself, but they built and delivered to you?what about that mp3 player that you got engraved, for yourself or a loved one?NOW, all this doesn't just happen overnight, corporations are process driven, and different departments have goals to meet, but slowly.. once people start understanding this key insight on the difference between choice and clutter, something will change.and change is exactly what i'm talking about. change in the way we as marketers, PR and advertisers do things, in the way we service our clients and our communities.instead of being the agency, we become their partners, and we help join the dots and form long lasting business relationships with their customers and their brands. in fact, consumers should not be seen as such statistics, but as stakeholders, or business partners who enter a business-client relationship.. you get the idea. VALUE THEM as part of your company!and that's where The Open Room comes in. i could have started this post telling you all about it, getting myself a media hit for it. but i hope you can see that The Open Room is just a small part of this ecosystem of change. We did it to connect brands and bloggers together, as if they could be business partners or colleagues.. and foster a natural, casual, fun, relationship or transaction. To have each other understand that we're all a part of this, and we'll make our business work together. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and detracters to one brand, will find solace in other. hopefully that other brand will welcome them with open arms.maybe we'll then see that the pie is big enough for everyone. *shrug* (i sound like a non-profit don't i?)so in closing, our market has changed gears, we need new marketing to connect with new audiences. why are we hoping and praying to the unseen god of materialism that our old methods will work on a truly different consumer. A consumer just like you and me, and yet.. so intrinsically unique. simplicity, choice and news sources a rather interesting micro-phenomena has been going on in my life. twice in the past week, my good friend napture has been informing me of new media (NM) trends and stories as they were reported in traditional media (TM), or blogs that he had come across.The first story was coming across uniquefrequency's blog post "Why Generation Y Doesn’t Read The Newspaper And Can They Do Anything?" Now, i posted this about three posts earlier, and actually was blogging live on the IDC conference when uniquefrequency first made his comment. so in some sense, this came as 'old' news even though he informed me one day later.The second story was when Digital Life ran the story of how Twitter helped a UC Berkley undergrad escape incarceration in Egypt after being arrested. @Techcrunch first posted it on Twitter (of which i subscribe to) about the article that he blogged on Techcrunch. This news comes one week late to me.. and it's interesting because journalists are following the same bloggers / new media evangelists that i follow. which is somewhat natural.. wisdom rises to the top and becomes influence.we really live in a world of decentralised information, where no breaking story is really breaking for a very long period of time. i'm also reminded that my perception of the world is shaped inherently by the media i choose to consume. which also lies my diellema of choice. there is no way we can read all the sources of information online, and thus doomed to only shape a fractal truth of something that really happened. it's the post-modern state where everything is nothing at the same time. so how i live my life, is based on the choices i make everyday, what i read, consume and spit back out into this world. just one more blip in the pulse of the intertubes.but anyway, i digress.. the point of simplicity that i'm a trying to make is that, i have simplified my life with the use of RSS feeds. at a glance i can see all the news and information that i choose to subscribe to. some are more useful than others, some are entirely useless, but at its heart, i chose to subscribe to them.mass communication models are breaking down, they can no longer hold the control of one way information via broadcast, print, radio.. everything is splintering apart, everything is fragments. media people, corporations and the consumer have to recognise this. that the old way of doing things, the old theories do not hold true anymore in a connected world. new theories have to be thought of, something to explain the things we see.the vague and loose point that i'm trying to make about simplicity is my own natural evolution in the way i aggregate information. i'm trying to apply John Maeda's laws of simplicity to my own aggregation of information, and the first law, reduction, are wise words to live by."The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction."you can download laws of simplicity wallpapers hereso, do have a rethink of the way you consume information, what you can leave out, and what you can't do without. then think of the process in which you consume that information, and if you have a need to aggregate that information, find out what tools you'll need, if not.. don't bother -) Hillarious Korean Drummer (Not Drama) Oh man, this cracks me up so much. It's a tape found in a studio when a Korean band seemed to be shooting a music video (probably in the 1990's)Just pay attention to the drummer, his expressions are the things that legends are made from! Omigosh... i soooooo want this!!! a space invaders tumbler? it really doesn't get any better than this. ah! the simple things in life!via link After thoughts of IDC's Directions'08 Panel Discussion A big topic was the idea of "paying bloggers" from a public relations standpoint, we can't pay bloggers, because that's like paying journalists. unfortunately, journalists get paid for the writing, and bloggers don't get paid for their hobby.what we do see is blogs like Techcrunch paying their own writers. Hence, the blog needs to attract enough attention (can you beat TC's readership of 700K++ RSS sunscribers?) to attract sponsorship, or advertising dollars, or some way to sell content and pay their staff writers. not really different from a regular Traditional Media (TM) publication / broadcaster, but i see the business model of information bloggers evolving to something new. something more along the lines of a workable meatball sundaewith reference to "do bloggers have a code of ethics?" it's interesting that Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence open a discussion with bloggers in USA to hear what they had to say.read their responses here: link and our own code of ethics as Digital Influencers / PR practitioners herei also thought Uniquefrequency's comments about Twitter were awesome. the example of the airline contacting customers directly via Twitter as an instantaneous, anywhere, anytime feedback channel HAS to be a good thing. i refer also to this post of how Twitter helped save a journalist from incarceration Finally, advertising should evolve past static banners or even microsites. PR helps connect bloggers and brands together by being real, Digital PR NEEDS to evolve as well, it's not about using traditional methodologies and just treating bloggers like journalists and expecting certain things of them.. at it's heart, if you are only interested in a 'media hit' your bloggers become nothing more than statistics and you're doomed to failure. Brian Solis writes expertly about the concept of PR2.0embrace the social element of SOCIAL media, understand the communities, be a part of it, add to it, find out what help bloggers need from your clients and join the dots! We're launching The Open Room to do just that, and i am oh so psyched! Live Broadcast of IDC's Directions 2008 Today's Discussion: Generation Y and the Emerging Power of User-generated ContentOn the panelUniquefrequency (UF)Hong Kong Phooey (HKP)Kenny Sia (KS)The Compulsive Confessor (TCC)Qn: Do corporate blogs matter?Uniquefrequency: You can connect with others and it gives a personal touch to your corporationKenny Sia: Some blogs are cooler than others.Paying off bloggers?Hong Kong Phooey: We bloggers have to be careful as well, not to cross a line. doesn't put ads on blogs. Readers respect that, if they respect you, they keep following you.The Compulsive Confessor: I'm open to moneyUF: i don't mind taking stuff, but i would disclaim that i am not obilged to say something good about your productKS: always been brought out for drinks, came to a point when i can make a decent amount. bloggers should not be hard up to receive money or advertising. blogging for money is akin / similar to newspaper advertorials.is there a blogger code of ethics? can bloggers remain uncorruptible like editorials?KS: open to reviews, but if you're paid off, its hard to maintain your own credibilityUF: questions about motivations behind the pieceTCC: i think my readers trust me, that's why it might be effective. won't work as a random cold review.What cool factor do you look for in products?HKF: usability. Using the Meebo widget, i am available to readers and PR proposals and can find out what might work.is online the only way forward now?KS: for me, this is it, but i think it's not the only way forward.. online alone may not work for an ad campaignTCC: for gadgets, it works because you go online to read reviewsHKP: corporations are spending more time online. but people are not putting money online.UF: for me, this media is defintely it. i dont read papers. people are the new ones online who are passing information online. younger demographic will replace current traditional media consuming generation.does new media widen the generation gap?UF: a month and a half, grandpa got on facebook. grandad read TM to figure facebook out. TM helped connect grandad. but if you don't embrance NM, the gap will then widen.HKP: family is savvyKS: Family could not understand why you would live a public life. blogging boom, 2-3 years ago. After malaysian elections, people accept it as a good form of communication.TCC: most email from folks her age.online qn on microblogging. will regular blogging take a hit?KS: Twitter is annoying. finds it too noisy. it might complement it, but it wont kill it.UF: huge fan of twitter. i think it helps. not gonna replace blogs. Twitter only uses 140 characters, limits. gives example of airline connecting with customers who Twittered: airline sucks!! but responded "how can we help?"- panel ends - Perhaps why Xiaxue is more popular than you you've got to hand it to her. Xiaxue really puts Singapore on the map of the global blogosphere. by now, you might have seen this video floating around on the Internet: and if you haven't, well, there it is. it's an iphone "review" by Xiaxue because the producers of her vodcast, Xiaxue's guide to life played a "prank" on her by giving her a fake iphone to review, and when given a real iphone, she completely disses the much heralded holy grail of consumer geek tech. i won't claim to be a media expert, but i've done filmmaking, studied mockumentaries and probably have an above average media literacy level. there are many clues that suggest that Xiaxue was not at all serious when doing this video, and it's amazing how many people think it's real. notice an imac in the background? if that isn't meant to be irony and sacarsm, i don't know what is. Xiaxue may type bimbotic and exude that personality on her blog, but you'll actually realise she's pretty sharp when it comes to social commentary, choosing to blog about the little cracks in Singaporean culture, there is no way in hell she would not have known what an iphone was. even if you don't want to take my word for it, she gives us the expose of the little prank she pulled in her own blog post and the reason why she's popular is not just because she's just controversial, but also because she totally plays on the personality she's carved out for herself, and is willing to stake her own reputation on the line, and not just get pinged, tomorrow-ed, but also gizmodo-ed and fake steve job-ed now. how many singaporean bloggers can claim that for themselves? she's not in the technorati top 100 for nothing. (last i checked - 6 months ago) in fact, her real strength doesn't lie in her content, but in her ability to not take herself seriously at all. i think she enjoys getting the attention, but not so much as doing what she likes, when she likes it, and has people around her to appreciate her not for what she does, but who she is. so i guess it's a sort of self-confidence and freedom to do whatever the hell she likes. i d think she'd still blog what she wants to blog, even without the media attention. ie. she's not doing it as a favour to anyone. Another blogger that has gotten my attention lately is Loren Feldman. he has insulted America's top bloggers and social media strategists (if we can even call ourselves that), for example Robert Scoble, Shel Israel, Michael Arrignton and Jeremiah Owyang. Like Xiaxue, he gets his kicks targeting trends and people who take themselves too seriously. He's not as entertaining as Xiaxue, but he comes across as Mr Angry to everything, but it's a good counter balance to all the hype your friendly neighbourhood social media evangelists (like me) seem to perpetuate. my point is, if i wanted to read good reviews, safe material, objective material.. i'd read what my old skool PR skills feed to publications and bloggers who are too lazy to write good stories. and now that my brief analysis of Xiaxue is done, i'll comment a little on what uniquefrequency has blogged about Xiaxue's disservice to the Singaporean social media community. Social Media. Now with more *SOCIAL!!!* okay you lot. this sod promised Daryl that he would go down for the Social Media Breakfast @ Frujch last saturday, 29 March 2008. i'm glad i did, i met a bunch of great people, had really good conversations and best of all, i enjoyed myself. it also got me thinking, as PR practitioners who are evolving, we always talk about "oh yeah, and we can leverage on social media to do x-x & x for your brand / organisation." but seriously, i think it's a whole balloon of hot air. why? because we focus more on the "media" than the "social". when we focus more on the media, public relations doesn't evolve, it stays the same and we basically riddle the intertubes with more bad PR, more reasons for bloggers not to want to meet us, more reasons for corporations saying that social media doesn't work, more reason for the public to see us as spin doctors. what we basically do, is spread more PR jargon and out-dated messaging methods on the myriad of "social" media tools at our disposal, be it blogs, forums, youtube, flickr, twitter, jaiku, myspace, friendster, facebook, pownce, plaxo, twhirl.. bla bla bla you get the idea. that's what i loved about the Social Media Breakfast. i could have gone to NUS to attend Web 2.0 - Emerging Industry Series, and as much as i love Kevin and Vantan, they do such a great job explaining what they do on the blogs and vodcasts, that i needed to challenge myself with something really new, and that was to be more involved in the community that i reach out to when i represent clients, and for my own personal interest of better understanding this emerging media industry. a simple breakfast gathering, no fancy powerpoint presentations, measurement or videos. this is where SOCIAL media gets very very very interesting. meeting like-minded people, and very different people, this is the stuff that people experience and can talk about. i know for a fact that there was plenty of socialising at the other event, but i'd like to think the the SMB proves that social media is more about the people and community, than it is about cutting edge technology, new ways of communicating and all the other cool technical stuff. social media, in its essence, is about meeting people, sharing and publishing our thoughts to the intertubes. so as a PR practitioner, don't be bowled over by the communication tools that are out there, they are important, yes.. they help bridge you and the community together, but what is even more important, is to meet your community, face to face, help your clients meet their fans, their advocates, share some of the insight and joy of working in your really cool organisation to the folks that are fans. afterall, how difficult is it to say "hello"? personal tagging i actually started del.icio.us-ing myself by pasting links over myself, and pasting links on people. something the toolkit didn't tell us we could do -) *smirk* Nabilah, who i think makes stuff for Frujch me with ping.sg blogger of 2007, Rinaz with the infamous DK some bloggers who've covered or the Social Media Breakfast 1. miccheng - now with more video! 2. ridzuan CEO of widgeo.us, with whom he told me many great things and we had some great conversations about social media. 3. and daryl of course, who organised the breakfast. and of course big shout outs to other bloggers i met that day 1. DK, yes your arm longer than mine -) 2. Rinaz, you asked me why things are becoming more complicated when it comes to blogging these days, i hope to answer your question soon, but even top bloggers in the US are not spared the fate. -))) 3. Nabilah, thanks for the food and hahaha, perhaps our next meeting will be when Jonpan arranges for one of his schemes again -) 4. Hisham, sorry we didn't get to talk, but there'll be more opportunities! 5. Jerrick, always a pleasure to see you -) 6. Jean, i do hope you get better soon -)