Perhaps the greatest asset that web developers and business execs have in place is the ability to Traverse the Social Graph.
Traversing the social graph can be defined thus:
- A trust relationship exists between one person and their close sphere of relationships
- A 2nd level of relationship is inherited, because of that first level of trust
- A 3rd level can be inferred from the 2nd.
Therefore, in classic social graph definition, one can "traverse" the graph for good (and for ill!).
Businesses can also do this, however all businesses should be aware that the right-brained savviness of the modern internet user can smell a "corporate push" when it shows up. The value proposition must be respected, maintained, and secured.
Execs, developers, and decision makers - grab your CMO, your CTO, and get them talking about how to leverage the social graph - especially traversing the interesting and innovative bridges that are being formed every minute of every day.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Thursday, October 28, 2010
RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us
This is a phenomenal video. Absolutely loved the content and the delivery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)
Tremendous video to be used in the debate of the power of Social Media. Keep it in your back pocket.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The Power of "Time Shifted Events"
At Ignition Garage (www.ignitiongarage.com) we have the pleasure of working on new ideas every day. Some of them are incubated in our minds and some of them come from our clients, that we get the honor of helping to bring to the light of day (and market).
Time Shifted Events are a powerful model for the future. In the era of shrinking budgets across every spectrum of life (personal and work), there is the need to harness the increase of information ingestion while tailoring to the need of real-time connection for a fraction of what it takes to pull all the participants into one place, at one time. Enter the concept of time shifting events.
What fundamentally we are doing is calling out the content, be it real-time presentations, secondary announcements, or human-augmented media shouts and enabling audiences to participate with the subject matter experts (SMEs), ideally the author of the aforementioned content. The landscape of the marketplace has tectonically moved - where the business models that worked before are in tremendous jeopardy and industries are fighting for survival (publishing, music, network broadcast). The evolution of these industries is fast moving and there will be deaths along with new births (with new models) that create and convey the same or greater value, at a blistering pace.
Time shifted events respects the human in this blitz of value transfer. It will be to everyone's benefit that the SMEs are there, approachable, and interacting with them - even if the information is not presented for the first time. Indeed, it is a powerful augmenter to something as tried and true as a book - when the author is able to interact across mediums (print, web, media, slide show, story) again, again, and again. It is not about the teller of the story, it is about the hearer.
Ironically enough, while this is happening at lightening speed in social media, it is putting the content creators in a pickle. How do they promote themselves and keep up with the expectations of realtime communication? How many times can an author respond with direct messages (DMs) or replies (@replies) in Twitter, in a 1 to 1000 manner? When the content creator quickly gets to the chaos threshold, they will grab for anything to keep up the appearance and regain some sanity - which often results in outsourcing their authenticity. When the fans get word of this, beware the backlash. The expectations have created levers of power that are enormous billy clubs, wielded by potential mobs.
Time shifting events can act as the emotional shock absorber for the potential billy-club masses. The artist must manage their time, voice, and interaction with their adoring fans. They can do this by being live, while "on" camera, even if they are in their jammies via broadband web communication. It is still authentic, personal, and terribly satisfying.
The era of the enormous, mega-event for product promotion is over. The caveats to this are the avenues of successful entertainment (hearken to U2's 360 tour for financial numbers to prove this assertion). However, for an original content creator to build the audience that they need - time shifting their events can be one of the best tools in their promotional toolkit. And one day, they will be able to create their own spaceship and cart it around to venues around the world. Heck, maybe they will fly theirs.
Time Shifted Events are a powerful model for the future. In the era of shrinking budgets across every spectrum of life (personal and work), there is the need to harness the increase of information ingestion while tailoring to the need of real-time connection for a fraction of what it takes to pull all the participants into one place, at one time. Enter the concept of time shifting events.
What fundamentally we are doing is calling out the content, be it real-time presentations, secondary announcements, or human-augmented media shouts and enabling audiences to participate with the subject matter experts (SMEs), ideally the author of the aforementioned content. The landscape of the marketplace has tectonically moved - where the business models that worked before are in tremendous jeopardy and industries are fighting for survival (publishing, music, network broadcast). The evolution of these industries is fast moving and there will be deaths along with new births (with new models) that create and convey the same or greater value, at a blistering pace.
Time shifted events respects the human in this blitz of value transfer. It will be to everyone's benefit that the SMEs are there, approachable, and interacting with them - even if the information is not presented for the first time. Indeed, it is a powerful augmenter to something as tried and true as a book - when the author is able to interact across mediums (print, web, media, slide show, story) again, again, and again. It is not about the teller of the story, it is about the hearer.
Ironically enough, while this is happening at lightening speed in social media, it is putting the content creators in a pickle. How do they promote themselves and keep up with the expectations of realtime communication? How many times can an author respond with direct messages (DMs) or replies (@replies) in Twitter, in a 1 to 1000 manner? When the content creator quickly gets to the chaos threshold, they will grab for anything to keep up the appearance and regain some sanity - which often results in outsourcing their authenticity. When the fans get word of this, beware the backlash. The expectations have created levers of power that are enormous billy clubs, wielded by potential mobs.
Time shifting events can act as the emotional shock absorber for the potential billy-club masses. The artist must manage their time, voice, and interaction with their adoring fans. They can do this by being live, while "on" camera, even if they are in their jammies via broadband web communication. It is still authentic, personal, and terribly satisfying.
The era of the enormous, mega-event for product promotion is over. The caveats to this are the avenues of successful entertainment (hearken to U2's 360 tour for financial numbers to prove this assertion). However, for an original content creator to build the audience that they need - time shifting their events can be one of the best tools in their promotional toolkit. And one day, they will be able to create their own spaceship and cart it around to venues around the world. Heck, maybe they will fly theirs.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Africa 2010 - Heathrow - The Journey Home
March 1, 2010
The mission trip was successful, and seeds were planted (physical and spiritual). We have done our roles, and the Lord shall do His. We had a side mission trip to Uganda, met several influential people, and were able to deliver the teaching on Stewardship to two distinct groups. The nation is one that is still recovering from its past and struggling to find its future. There is an abundance of natural resources but it appears that the nation is still experiencing tensions from within and without.
So now, en route to home. Miss it terribly and ready to transition to normal life again. The Lord has blessed our company and it is calling me to dive back into it with full energy. Significant events are opening up on the Mission Igniter side of the company - unanticipated and unmerited opportunity, quite a blessing. Mike has done a phenomenal job keeping the balls rolling forward and supporting us from the home base.
Kenya, may you prosper and grow in your strength and knowledge of the Lord. You are in my heart. Brett, out.
The mission trip was successful, and seeds were planted (physical and spiritual). We have done our roles, and the Lord shall do His. We had a side mission trip to Uganda, met several influential people, and were able to deliver the teaching on Stewardship to two distinct groups. The nation is one that is still recovering from its past and struggling to find its future. There is an abundance of natural resources but it appears that the nation is still experiencing tensions from within and without.
So now, en route to home. Miss it terribly and ready to transition to normal life again. The Lord has blessed our company and it is calling me to dive back into it with full energy. Significant events are opening up on the Mission Igniter side of the company - unanticipated and unmerited opportunity, quite a blessing. Mike has done a phenomenal job keeping the balls rolling forward and supporting us from the home base.
Kenya, may you prosper and grow in your strength and knowledge of the Lord. You are in my heart. Brett, out.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Africa 2010 - Never, ever drive in Africa at night
February 11th, 2010
Leaving from Siaya, we tarried far too long. We had a long drive ahead of us, probably 2 hours. The thing about Kenyan roads is that potholes can be the size of small cows, trucks win because they have mass, don’t care, and are driving to some obscure deadline (ironically), and there are no lines in the middle or the side of the road. Compounding that terror, pedestrians, goats, cattle, human-driven carts, donkey-driven carts, motorcycles, bicycles, and any contraption in between ALL SHARE THE ROAD. This happens day and night. And at night, since there are no streetlights, and the African people have an automatic night-time camouflage, the drive is utterly terrifying.
It was obvious that we were getting into hairy situations when the sun was setting and we were only halfway to home. We bobbed, we weaved, we slammed on the brakes numerous times, we jockeyed, we prayed and eventually we made it home. When we saw the shore of Lake Victoria after the last rise, we broke into song- Malcom and me perhaps moreso than Rose and Paul, for whom this kind of driving is normal. Egad.
Leaving from Siaya, we tarried far too long. We had a long drive ahead of us, probably 2 hours. The thing about Kenyan roads is that potholes can be the size of small cows, trucks win because they have mass, don’t care, and are driving to some obscure deadline (ironically), and there are no lines in the middle or the side of the road. Compounding that terror, pedestrians, goats, cattle, human-driven carts, donkey-driven carts, motorcycles, bicycles, and any contraption in between ALL SHARE THE ROAD. This happens day and night. And at night, since there are no streetlights, and the African people have an automatic night-time camouflage, the drive is utterly terrifying.
It was obvious that we were getting into hairy situations when the sun was setting and we were only halfway to home. We bobbed, we weaved, we slammed on the brakes numerous times, we jockeyed, we prayed and eventually we made it home. When we saw the shore of Lake Victoria after the last rise, we broke into song- Malcom and me perhaps moreso than Rose and Paul, for whom this kind of driving is normal. Egad.
Africa 2010 - See-Eye-Ah
February 11th, 2010
One of the bishops, George Barrack, gave us a key to Siaya to remember the region – See Eye Ah. This is a fertile place, an hour outside of Kisumu, where Paul grew up. When we arrived to a tiny, clean, steel-roofed church, the children began by singing to us in Swahili. We were treated with honor and it was obvious that we were the first white people that some of the children had ever seen.
Malcolm preached a 2 hour lesson, about Stewardship and Sacrifice. He felt moved, prior to speaking, to ask for the blessing of one of the obvious elders in the village. He was shakey from old age, but had a steely gaze and a warmth about him. Malcolm knelt before this man who laid hands on Malcolm’s head and prayed for him in Swahili. After a short, powerful benediction, Malcolm got up and hugged him and the man hugged him back – as brothers in Christ, from 2 sides of the world. Paul was sitting in the corner just smiling. He exclaimed “that’s my father!”. We all were astonished and deeply thankful, and truly had no idea that this man Malcolm felt led to ask, was related at all. The Lord was marvelous and lifted up during that teaching.
After the teaching, we were invited up to the village to a feast. It was authentic Kenyan meal, fried liver, maize, rice, cabbage, soups, and rolled flat bread. It was delicious and we were treated like kings. There was also enough food for 20 people. So when we were finished, some of the men of the village came and took the food to the other houses. I later learned that when Africans have visitors, they show them incredible hospitality and have a saying “When the visitors come, the whole village eats”. Perhaps that is why we had so much food put before us.
We left the village, after a happy send off, including my showing the kids how to juggle their “soccer ball”. The ball was built of dozens of grocery bags bundled up and kept together with rubber bands. They thought it was a hoot that this Mizungu (Swahili for “white dude”) was pretty good at soccer. Every time I muffed and kicked the ball away, some beautiful kid would scamper off and pick it up and throw it back to me. What a treat.
Our next stop was to Paul’s mother’s home, only a mile away from the church. She was sick and her feet were causing her much pain. Paul said it was arthritis. We arrived at a clearing and walked about a hundred yards along a hillside trail. We came upon mud and wattle homes, with thatched roofs. In one of the older ones, a sweet woman was sitting in the dark. No electricity, no plumbing, only a single room with a bed stacked in the corner. Her face was lined with worry and wrinkles from a hard life. She was authentically African. I shall never forget her face. Malcolm and I prayed over her and asked the Lord to reach down and heal her body. We chatted with her for a while, all the while worry lines crossing her brow and her mouth. We eventually left to head back to Kisumu.
Prologue: The Lord did not heal Paul’s mother. Indeed, the answer was different than anyone was expecting. This precious woman died two days later. It was a hard hitting fact for both of us that life is so indeed out of our control to manipulate, stretch, or breathe into. I actually snuck two pictures of Paul’s mother and one picture of her feet beside Paul’s. I don’t know exactly why I did this. I didn’t want to intrude on the sacred moment of prayer with my camera, but I felt that it was important. Those 2 pictures were the last pictures ever taken of this woman, who is now pain-free in the arms of Jesus. Of that, I am sure.
One of the bishops, George Barrack, gave us a key to Siaya to remember the region – See Eye Ah. This is a fertile place, an hour outside of Kisumu, where Paul grew up. When we arrived to a tiny, clean, steel-roofed church, the children began by singing to us in Swahili. We were treated with honor and it was obvious that we were the first white people that some of the children had ever seen.
Malcolm preached a 2 hour lesson, about Stewardship and Sacrifice. He felt moved, prior to speaking, to ask for the blessing of one of the obvious elders in the village. He was shakey from old age, but had a steely gaze and a warmth about him. Malcolm knelt before this man who laid hands on Malcolm’s head and prayed for him in Swahili. After a short, powerful benediction, Malcolm got up and hugged him and the man hugged him back – as brothers in Christ, from 2 sides of the world. Paul was sitting in the corner just smiling. He exclaimed “that’s my father!”. We all were astonished and deeply thankful, and truly had no idea that this man Malcolm felt led to ask, was related at all. The Lord was marvelous and lifted up during that teaching.
After the teaching, we were invited up to the village to a feast. It was authentic Kenyan meal, fried liver, maize, rice, cabbage, soups, and rolled flat bread. It was delicious and we were treated like kings. There was also enough food for 20 people. So when we were finished, some of the men of the village came and took the food to the other houses. I later learned that when Africans have visitors, they show them incredible hospitality and have a saying “When the visitors come, the whole village eats”. Perhaps that is why we had so much food put before us.
We left the village, after a happy send off, including my showing the kids how to juggle their “soccer ball”. The ball was built of dozens of grocery bags bundled up and kept together with rubber bands. They thought it was a hoot that this Mizungu (Swahili for “white dude”) was pretty good at soccer. Every time I muffed and kicked the ball away, some beautiful kid would scamper off and pick it up and throw it back to me. What a treat.
Our next stop was to Paul’s mother’s home, only a mile away from the church. She was sick and her feet were causing her much pain. Paul said it was arthritis. We arrived at a clearing and walked about a hundred yards along a hillside trail. We came upon mud and wattle homes, with thatched roofs. In one of the older ones, a sweet woman was sitting in the dark. No electricity, no plumbing, only a single room with a bed stacked in the corner. Her face was lined with worry and wrinkles from a hard life. She was authentically African. I shall never forget her face. Malcolm and I prayed over her and asked the Lord to reach down and heal her body. We chatted with her for a while, all the while worry lines crossing her brow and her mouth. We eventually left to head back to Kisumu.
Prologue: The Lord did not heal Paul’s mother. Indeed, the answer was different than anyone was expecting. This precious woman died two days later. It was a hard hitting fact for both of us that life is so indeed out of our control to manipulate, stretch, or breathe into. I actually snuck two pictures of Paul’s mother and one picture of her feet beside Paul’s. I don’t know exactly why I did this. I didn’t want to intrude on the sacred moment of prayer with my camera, but I felt that it was important. Those 2 pictures were the last pictures ever taken of this woman, who is now pain-free in the arms of Jesus. Of that, I am sure.
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