on cloud 9

reading this post by a book author almost makes me want to throw-up.  he talks about how he finds multiple pirated copies of his book over the internet and how he thinks google is wrong for indexing them.  he continues on his rant about how he can’t understand why people would ‘pirate’ and the like.  this reminds me a lot of the music industry; resistant to change and unwilling to admit failure. obviously selling books & music is no longer a practise either industry should be engaging in.  the price to obtain a book or music is now $0.  but somehow this author is on cloud 9.  if he would give his book away for free, write a blog and be available for speaking engagements he would suddenly be making more money and have a larger audience.  sure it’s nice to get paid right away as soon as you publish the book and see some tangible results, but in this world of free that is no longer practical.

many, many businesses get this (37signals as an example);  they teach their (potential) customers about various different aspects of their business.  they share insights, advice and a whole lot more.  they understand that even though they could put it in a book and sell it, they will make a lot more money off giving that away for free and charging for other things.  blogs are extremely important, especially for authors, because they allow you to maintain a continuous connection with your readers.

people need to realize that the monetization of the past is not the monetization of the future.  the marginal cost of copying published works these day is darn near zero!  until the music & publishing industry realize this they will continue to flounder & lose money!

don’t screw it up

i haven’t had much time to write a blog post concerning the crtc’s decision to look at canadian content on the web until now.  as you may or may not know the crtc is the regulatory body that oversees telecommunications in canada.  they also establish rules for canadian content on radio and television in canada.  in some cases this can be useful, but this old fashioned thinking does not apply to the internet.  like no other medium before it, the internet is a world wide distributed system over which no one entity has complete control.  arguably it is the largest democracy in the world and has become the most important communication channel for many folks.

 

recently the crtc started a panel looking into the potential of “promoting” canadian content online.  i personally feel this is the wrong move.  it goes against everything i believe makes a person successful.  if canadian content is to truly be great we shouldn’t need to shove down canadians throats.  but what’s more troubling than that is the whole cinema of possibilities this opens up.  this is just the start of a potentially crippling plan to try and censor what canadians do online.  we screwed up in tv and radio let’s not do it again and waste a great oppurntunity.  time and time again the government has come under scrutiny for the productions (movies, shows, music) that is has sponsored as a part of the canadian content agenda.  if the government stays out of regulating internet content then we will no longer have to deal with any issues that arise out of these funding announcements.  governments have more important things to do than defend certain productions and qualify their funding.

 

what i am frightened by the most is the proposal put forward by canadian comedian Colin Mochrie.  he proposes the crtc imposes a fee on internet service providers to support the production of canadian content.  this is totally in the wrong direction of where we should be going! many people will agree when i say that money doesn’t equal great content.  

Canadian content should succeed as a result of quality and not regulation. Imposing rules to Canadian online publishers is simply going to impair further their ability to compete with foreign sites. Let it be us, Canadians, who choose what content to watch; rather than rules imposed by regulators in response to pressure from unions. This is a battle about consumer choices, not actors revenues.

this comment by jay sums it all up nicely.  not amount of regulation will improve the quality of canadian content.  aside from that, the cost of broadcasting on the internet is virtually free with sites like youtube et al offering their services au gratis.  unlike large television sets and expensive studios great content can be produced with a $300 camera in your own bedroom.  many great web shows have taken this approach and have very little capital cost.

 

the other disturbing thing about the crtc’s new review is the age of most of the commisioners.  most of the commisioners grew up in a world much different than ours and did not have the luxury of computers & the internet as children.  they clearly don’t understand the dynamics of the internet and seem intent on repeating the mistakes made with television and radio.  instead i propose the crtc create a single time commision made up of 18-35 year olds would should decide on this problem.  they are going to be the ones affected by the decision in the long run not the current commisioners.

 

i urge all canadian content creators to speak out tell the crtc that you are doing just fine without their help and don’t want them regulating your internet experience.  i urge any and every resident of canada to write the crtc telling them that regulation doesn’t make good content.  tell them to look at the long term effects and put citizens before the salaries of actors and mainstream media.

The Allure of WebTV

   as i was watching a web-show/podcast which i recently discovered, everydaydrinkers, i had to sit back and think about the huge differences between webtv and regular television.  on the internet anyone can publish content which allows everyone’s opinions to be heard.  on television only a select few people can share their opinions or create content.  

   furthermore webtv allows new stars to be born within months and to quickly profit from their newfound fame.  in television it takes years to make a star and there is little any particular person can do to hasten their ascent.  in many ways the web is much more open to new stars and really gives us the real deal, as opposed to what the “big guys” want.

   in television you must prove that you’ll have a fairly sizeable audience before a show comes on air or a channel is created.  on the web, with hosting as cheap as it is, you don’t need an audience greater than 100 to justify spending $5/month on hosting.  this has tremendous advantages, especially for niches.  there is little to no chance that everydaydrinkers would have gotten a weekly show on regular television, but on the net they have a small, but devoted following that interacts and consumes their content.

   as more and more people discover the power of video and communities online, the allure of catering to a specific niche increases.  sure there are great shows for wide categories (wine -> winelibrarytv) but if someone came along and focused on a more specific part of that massive category.  the advantages of cost and distribution of the web will spawn a new generation of niche-focused content.

Social Media For Teens #1

This is the first in a series of videos for teens about getting involved in social media.  The first topic I cover is Twitter.  Here are some of the links mentioned in the video.

Tools:

Tweetdeck

Twhirl

TweepSearch

Twitter Search

Profiles:

@gsmaverick

@garyvee

@DionRodrigues

@guykawasaki

@loic

 

Video:
http://seesmic.com/videos/ZCfdpt8H22

Twitter-Tasking

I just wanted to take some time briefly to highlight some of the good tools out there to manage your twittersphere and how they can help you.  If you someone who follows quite a few people these tools can be really helpful.

Tweetdeck

Hands down, Tweetdeck is the best desktop client there is.  The multi-columnar view and the ability to customize what you see are second to none.  This is the single most important tool I use everyday to keep on top of my twitter timeline.  You should use it as well.  And if you are so inclined give the guy a donation.  He’s doing it all by himself.

More Info

TweetGrid

This is a tool I discovered last week, and has been an absolute godsend.  This is such a useful tool, yet very few people seem to know about it.  It allows you to track up to 9 different search terms seamlessly on one page and is very good at its task.  I personally recommend the 2×2 view because it gives you the best quantity vs quality ratio.  Such a simple tool as this can become a really important tool very quickly.

More Info

retweetrader

Found this through a retweet, lol, from someone I follow a few weeks ago.  Nothing gives you a better udnerstanding of what’s important on twitter than what’s being retweeted.  You can see the users most retweeted, the links most retweeted, and the words most retweeted.  A simple app, a powerful touch.  Updates seamlessly, helps you work disruptively.

More Info

FriendFeed

With their posting to Twitter system you can bring all those wonderful links back into your Twitter stream with next to no work.  I use this feature extensively for posting Digg stories that I find interesting and to let people know what I’m up to around the web.  Obviously FriendFeed itself is also great for aggregating your twitter posts and seeing what people are talking about and having great conversations.

More Info

TwitterFeed

If you have a blog this is essential, in fact if their is any rss feed you want to pull into twitter this is an essential.  I don’t use this as I don’t blog a lot, but it powers a good portion of the posts you see on twitter.  Very good at making sure every post you make gets tweeted, if you are prone to forget.

More Info

 

Anyways, there are just 5 tools I use to take full advantage of my twitter experience.  I’m sure there are other great tools out there, so leave them in the comments.

Beta Testers Wanted

I’m looking for some amazon-using beta testers for my new application, nozomo.  Drop me a comment here or email me at gavin[dot]schulz[at]gmail[dot]com and I’ll try and hook you up!