Monthly Archives: February 2009

It’s Hackathon Time at Clearspring.

Posted on
Reply

Over the last year of being at Clearspring, I’ve gotten to know and experience all kinds of fun company traditions.  Today, I get to experience another one… the hackathon.

From noon today till noon tomorrow, our engineering and product teams will be working hard on all kinds of different, fun, and innovative projects that are related to what we do but not on the main product roadmap.

It’s definitely a big bonding time for the company.  It’s something that everyone gets SUPER psyched about.  I’m excited to see what people hack up.  I’ll be here to report to you, the world, about how things go as the night goes on.  Yep, I’ll be here all night. :-)

BTW – Check out the blog post our CEO Hooman Radfar wrote about today’s Hackathon.


Bookmark and Share

Come to the Washington DC Twestival Next Thursday!

Posted on
1

Next Thursday, Washington DC is going to be host to it’s very first Twestival.

Your first question is going to be what the hell is a Twestival.  Well I’m glad you asked.   It’s a charity event that’s getting held in 185 cities all across the world all on the same night. The event is being organized and promoted using Twitter and social media.

Our’s in DC is going to be next Thursday at 5:30 pm at the club/restaurant Local 16 up on U St.  It costs $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

Proceeds are going to Charity:Water.  They help bring clean water to developing nations.


Bookmark and Share

This is an awesome excuse to party (which we know DC loves to do)  and do some good in the process.  So come on out!!!

Jeff Pulver and Making Friends via Sharing Social Objects

Posted on
2

This morning I went to the Social Media Breakfast here in Washington DC hosted by the VOIP Pioneer Jeff Pulver.  I had a great time.  Of all the breakfasts he’s hosted in the world, this is his second time hosting in Washington, DC.

At these events, he passes out the “Personal Social Networking Toolkit.”  It’s a pen, two name tags, and a bunch of little stickers.  One of the name tags is for your name and your personal tag line.  With the personal tag line, you try to say something about yourself that will help you more easily connect with others.  The other name tag and little stickers are for you to tag other people with your perceptions about them.  You contribute to others’ personal tag clouds.

I’ll admit that when I went to Jeff’s first breakfast in the DC area.  I didn’t get the personal tag line and the tagging.  I just thought it was kind of weird and didn’t do it.  This time he talked about it more and I got it.

Much like the notion of object centered sociality, Jeff was trying to show that, when two people can more easily identify a shared area of interest, circumstance, or experience (aka social object),  it’ll be easier for them to connect and make friends.  The personal tagline and tags are there to help facilitate the back and forth.

This got me thinking more… a while ago I had heard a story that a guy had worn a t-shirt that said, “Hi, my name is Bob.”  His name was Bob. Throughout the day, people were far more friendly with them then they’d normally be because they knew what his name was.  It was easier to connect.

It’s one of the reason why I love wearing Threadless t-shirts. The t-shirts make people laugh, they make people think, they make people stop and look.  The t-shirts start a conversation.  They allow me to more easily connect with others.  The t-shirts are social objects.

It’s the reason why I write this blog.  The more I’m transparent with you here about what’s going on with me and what I’m thinking about the more opportunities you’ll have to connect with me.  There will be more opportunities for us to have a conversation.    These blog posts are social objects.

All of this activity fascinates me.  The more that we use all these different tools whether its offline with t-shirt or online with blogging, Twitter, and Facebook,  we’re seeing how sharing is helping more people connect in ways that would have never happened before.   More and better relationships are being built.


Bookmark and Share

Businesses Connecting with Customers via Facebook…

Posted on
1

I spend a lot of my time out and about talking to folks about how they’re using social media within their lives and the lives of their businesses.

When it comes to businesses using social media, seems like one response I’ve been getting a lot of lately is… “We have a page on Facebook.  I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do with it but we have one.”

Seems like most people who’re approaching social media see the tools as just boxes on a check list that they need to check off and are not thinking about how they are actually going to use it.  How are you going to use your business’ Facebook to reach to new audiences and generate better relationships with your existing users?

But who’s actually doing this? There are many pages for businesses on Facebook but once I’ve become a fan of the company, what next?   Do you send out “fan updates”?  I’ve become a fan of so many pages that those are really hard to keep up with and have become noise.

Some businesses create branded Facebook apps but those seem to be more “throw-away” apps.  I’ll use them for a few days and then I’ll get bored with them and move on or “throw them away”.  How can you use Facebook to create long term engagement between you and your business?

So… have you seen any examples?  What am I missing?


Bookmark and Share

Renewed My Subscription to the Washington Post Dead Tree Edition…

Posted on
2

So… yesterday, I got a letter from the Washington Post saying that I needed to renew my subscription for daily deliver of the Washington Post.  I opted to go for it.  I re-upped for the next 6 months.

Is it weird that I enjoy reading the physical newspaper?  I feel like I don’t see many other 24 year olds walking down the street with the newspaper under there arm.

For my dad, the smell of newspaper ink on his hands is a religious experience. (He’s a former newspaper reporter.)

For me, I just like something about how news is presented to me in a newspaper.  It’s not flung at me all at once.  It’s progressively exposed to me a few stories at a time.

What do you guys think?  Any of you read the physical newspaper?  Any of you pay for it?

I realize that at some point that printing the physical newspaper will be a non-profitable business for them.  I guess, by that time, we’ll all be walking around with Amazon Kindles.


Bookmark and Share

More on the iPhone App Mafia Live!

Posted on
169

Seems like I’ve been getting lots of response to my post on the iphone app Mafia Live. Wanted to pass on these posts i found.

Here are two blog posts that my co-worker John Nelson wrote about the game, with tons of tips.

Also looks like they have a Get Satisfaction customer support page, with all kinds of the discussions of the game including tips.


Bookmark and Share

Falling in Love with Audible & Audiobooks…

Posted on
5

About 6-7 months ago, after listening to Leo Laporte and the TWiT crew mention Audible for the 10,000th time, I subscribed to Audible.

With Audible, you subscribe for a fee and every month you get a credit that you can use towards getting a book.  I’ve been enjoying Audible so much that the day each month that I get my credit feels like Christmas.   It’s exciting to start a new book.

Audiobooks are GREAT!  I commute about an hour to work to and from work every day.  I plow through so many books.

I just downloaded “The Associate” by John Grisham.  My favorites thus far have been books like “When Character Was King” by Peggy Noonan,  ”Around the World in 80 Days” by Michael Palin, and “The Pixar Touch.”

Do you do audiobooks or Audible?  If so, what do you think?

Washington, DC Apple Store Design Approved… Yay!

Posted on
1

The dcist is reporting that the Georgetown advisory neighborhood commission has FINALLY approved the design for the upcoming Apple store in their neighborhood.  It may be here as soon as the end of the year.  Yay!

The approved design reportedly has a more Georgetown-friendly brick emphasis and the “Apple logo greatly diminished in size.” Apple retail news web site ifoAppleStore says the store could be open as early as late 2009.

Mafia LIVE! – My New Favorite iPhone Game

Posted on
642

I have a new iPhone game which I’m addicted to.  It’s called Mafia LIVE! (iTunes URL) It’s a mobile massive multiple role playing game and SOOO much fun.

At the start of the game, you’re a kid on the street who’s trying to start the biggest mafia family.  There are jobs for you to do, you fight other families (who are other people who play the game), you win money, buy equipment, and you buy real estate.  As time passes, collect skills, and experience, the more you have the ability to do.

As if this wasn’t addictive enough, the game has a bigger social component to it.  You create your mafia family by teaming up with your friends.  For example, my mafia family code is 200313114. (Invite me to your family :-) ).  In the game you can enter my code and we can become a bigger family to do bigger things.   It even has address book integration so that you can send invites.

It’s a really fun game.

The most interesting part of the game is that it’s SUPER low-fi.  It’s not super fancy graphics.  It’s probably just a mobile Web site.

I wonder what kind of numbers the game gets.  I hope they’re tracking the numbers.  I bet they’re getting some crazy high engagement levels.

Now they just need to find out a way to keep people paying them money so that they can continue making cash even from the folks who’ve been playing the game for a while.  Would it be through ads?  Would you have to upgrade to a 2.0 version of the game, kind of like with the new World of Warcraft packs?


Bookmark and Share