Joel-Mark-Witt.com - Latest Comments

Re: Hollywood Waste And Social Media Efficiency

Adam — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:41:26 -0000

That's a tough one. Anyone got an answer out there?

I feel like unless an individual starts a killer-awesome blog which gets picked up by Showtime for a series, the options are dwindling. (And then, of course, it gets picked up by an organization that doesn't know what to do with their million dollar budgets.)

Re: Hollywood Waste And Social Media Efficiency

joelmarkwitt — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:30:14 -0000

Thanks Adam for your comment. My only question is how do we pay for info creation? How do people that make great stuff (personal connecting stuff) eat?

I don't pretend to have the answer. Just asking the question.

~ Joel

Re: Hollywood Waste And Social Media Efficiency

Adam — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:24:38 -0000

It's this same waste that is dragging more and more people away from periodicals and newspapers. While I enjoy the professionalism of a well-written article or a solidly produced feature film, their reliance on advertising, product-placement, and other sponsors often creates a separation between their product and their audience. The world is craving something that speaks to them on a personal level.

Adam @Advent Creative Web Design

Re: Are You An Expert Or A Leader?

joelmarkwitt — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:17:32 -0000

Thanks Angie for the comment.

You are right. No two projects are ever the same.

When I was growing up - my dad always told me that learning how to learn was the best skill I could develop. He had foresight that most of my teachers lacked. They focused on the data at hand instead of the learning process itself.

Thankfully I had parents who knew enough to teach me the art and love of learning. And this has served me very well in the area of social media.

~ Joel

Re: Are You An Expert Or A Leader?

joelmarkwitt — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:14:51 -0000

Hey Rich,

Thanks for the comment. I hope people aren't just groping in the dark. There are some great "expert leaders" who can help us get to already reached destinations. Some of these "expert leaders" really do know how to use Twitter, Facebook, etc. (Or where the stars really live).

True leaders (the kind that use machetes) appear to be groping - but they have a pretty good idea where they want to end up. I use the metaphor of the mountain in the distance. Sometimes they have to climb a tree and see where it is again - but they know the mountain is the goal.

~ Joel

Re: Are You An Expert Or A Leader?

joelmarkwitt — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:09:31 -0000

Hi Cat.

Thanks for the comment. I would say some are more than participants. There is a group of people that "sees a mountain in the distance" and begins charging the way forward. They may not have all the answers, but they are leading others down a path that is exciting and challenging.

But they ARE leading. They know where they are going.

A group of participants really goes nowhere. Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Are leaders participants? Absolutely. They wouldn't be leaders otherwise. But leaders have something else that sets them apart from the crowd... they ability to motivate and inspire others and lead the way.

~ Joel

Re: Are You An Expert Or A Leader?

twitter-65031944 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:04:15 -0000

Great article. Having been in the web biz for years now, I find this to generally be true in this business. No two projects are ever alike; it's always new - new technology, new platform, new media, etc. Thanks for writing an article that explains my professional career! :)

Re: Are You An Expert Or A Leader?

twitter-61291764 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:05:09 -0000

Great post, many of us are just groping in the dark I agree. I personally think one must answer the question, "What am I looking to get out of this?" Is it for personal expression, promoting a business or just listening to what is out there.

I am finding out the hard way, those promising to sell you their map to social media utopia and people selling maps of the stars homes in Hollywood have a lot in common. They both cost you money, time and at the end of the day, the person selling you the map didn't find it valuable either.

Re: Are You An Expert Or A Leader?

Cat — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:41:28 -0000

In terms of social media, there are no experts. Just participants. Or so I think. Another important point re: social media is how very different the mediums are that get lumped together under "social media" as an umbrella term: http://twurl.cc/1e6n Some of these "experts" are just as confused as everyone else.

Re: The Power Of Friendfeed

joelmarkwitt — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:10:57 -0000

I'm sure you've got a point Taylor. The same argument could be made for Twitter followers. They could be seen as "lower quality" - but I just view it as an informal acquaintance that could lead to a deeper relationship in the future.

~ Joel

Re: The Power Of Friendfeed

tdavidson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:53:20 -0000

RSS subscribers that pay attention are "worth" (meaning, paying attention, making a connection) more than ones than don't.

I have an assumption (which could be very wrong) that a lower % of Friendfeed RSS subscribers pay attention than just regular RSS subscribers. Thoughts?

Re: The Power Of Friendfeed

joelmarkwitt — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:03:41 -0000

You are right in asking Taylor. Are some RSS subscribers more valuable than others?

I guess I wasn't measuring worth as much as I am noticing the potential of Friendfeed to connect with an audience (however informal) in a new way.

~ Joel

Re: The Power Of Friendfeed

tdavidson — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:18:52 -0000

Actually, it invites a question: is a Friendfeed subscriber "worth" as much as an RSS subscriber, or an Email subscriber, or a person that visits the site directly, or a Twitter follower? We intuitively know the answer is no, but how can we measure the x multiple of "worth" to each form of content distribution? There must be some way which I'm overlooking...

Friendfeed used to count as 1 RSS sub, and it changed a couple months ago. I'm curious if people started trying to get more FF subs purely to boost their RSS sub count :)

Re: Publisher Or Blogger… Or Writer? What Do You Call Yourself?

joelmarkwitt — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:26:51 -0000

Taylor,

Thanks for the great thoughts. I like your viewpoint. "Publisher" is a broad term and isn't tool specific. If we label ourselves by the tools we use - then we are already outdated. For example: I think of so many filmmakers who can't latch onto internet media simply because of how they've labeled themselves.

And you are also right that any good "publisher" will be listening to his/her audience. We ALL need to do that more.

~Joel

Re: Publisher Or Blogger… Or Writer? What Do You Call Yourself?

tdavidson — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:17:33 -0000

Agreed, terminology and labels are important, it frames how we approach a situation and the tools that we bring to the table. And tools matter, right? (loved your notes on twitter about tools, btw)

Personally, I take more of the "publisher" view. I cringe when I use the word publisher, for the simple reason that it focuses more on talking and neglects the role of listening, the term publisher is a broader, more flexible frame that focuses more on the core of what I enjoy doing (creating, sharing) than the tools I use. The tools will change far faster than me :)

Re: Honesty In Consulting

jglovier — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:07:50 -0000

You are to be commended for your honesty. If there were more honest people in this industry, things would be a lot better. I'll just leave it at that.

I think honesty is always the best policy - for many reasons. Not the least among them is that it's good for both you AND the client.

A few months ago I had a guy come to me who had just gotten approval for several million dollars in venture capital for his website that is sort of a membership rewards thing, and to make a long story short he said he was willing to pay me 60K to redesign the site and maintain it. At the time I was only beginning to learn web development, although I had been doing web design for some time. But I felt I had to be honest with him and let him know that I could certainly make the site look good, but he'd need to find a developer to build what I create.

In essence I knew I was turning away his business, because he could just as easily find someone who could do both the development AND the design. And I probably could have learned the development side to do what he needed (and as it turns out I have since then) but at the time I knew I couldn't and that if I set up a business relationship on a false pretense that I already had what he wanted, in the end we both would have been unhappy - likely me more than him, especially if it got ugly.

I've kept in touch with him, and now that I can offer what he wanted, I hope he'll still consider me since he hasn't found someone else. But either way I think honesty is always best.

Houses built on a firm foundation stand the test of time, but houses built on a cracked foundation fall with a great "THUD!"