Category: Wine Library TV

Just Added “Wine Library Reserve” to My Apple iTunes Podcast List

When my boy Gary V. and Wine Library TV joined the Revision 3 show line up, we all got a bit of a surprise gift.  It is the delivery of Wine Library Reserve.

Wine Library Reserve is a 5 minute summary of two of the shows that Gary does every week.

Gary currently does a show every day and they tend to last 20 to 30 minutes.  I’ve been quite busy lately so these have become hard to stay up with and consume.

I’ve really enjoyed Wine Library Reserve and have added it to my Apple iTunes podcast list.

If you’ve hesitated to get into Wine Library TV before because it’s felt like a fire house, check this out.  If you do subscribe, what do you think?

Buy Gary Vaynerchuk’s Book “101 Wines”

Cover of Gary's Book

I was so excited when I heard that my friend and host of Wine Library TV Gary Vaynerchuk was writing a book that without thinking about it I went out and pre-ordered a copy on Amazon.

The book is entitled “Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World.” I’m confident it will be a great learning tool for me and will continue my wine education and excitement that started for me in college and has re-ignited with Gary’s online show.

I implore of you to go to Amazon.com and buy the book right now.  I know you won’t be disappointed.

I also think it’d be really cool to show the traditional media world that you don’t need BIG advertising budgets to get the word out about a product.  Let’s get this book to #1 on Amazon and show everyone that you can do it all via word of mouth on the Web.

Gary V. says that if you buy 2 copies and send him a copy of the receipt, special deals and promotions will be sent to you.

So… what are you waiting for??? Go buy the book!!!!

SXSW…So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Well I have to say that among the conferences i’ve been to this has by far been one of the best.  South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive is AWESOME!

Among the conferences that folks go to,  it seems like most go here.  The first hour I was here I walked the halls and ran into so many friends of mine.  It’s great!  The Web community is so much fun.

Man and the Web community knows how to party.  There were lots of parties, like 5 or 6 a night.  It was a great chance to meet people I didn’t know.  Probably some of the best parties were the adhoc ones.

Next year I definitely want to do more.  I think any company could get a lot of mileage out of having a presence at this event.  You can gain a lot of awareness pretty quickly.

Seems like every year there is a company or app that gains a lot of attention which everyone is excited, last year it was Twitter… I’d posit that this year it’s Gary Vaynerchuk and Wine Library TV.   I went to a panel and 3 out of the 5 members were wearing Wine Library TV wristbands.  He also threw an adhoc wine party that everyone was talking about and made some news.

Well… I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts to share later.

Did you go to SXSW?  What was the highlight for you?

Gary Vaynerchuk – He’s changing more than just the wine world.

Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV talking at the Future of Web Apps

Last night I got back from Miami where I attended BarCampMiami (which Clearspring graciously sponsored) and Ryan Carson‘s one-day conference the Future of Web Apps.

One of the things that I was looking forward to the most was meeting Wine Library TV‘s Gary Vaynerchuk.  As you know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while,  I have a TON of respect for him. I’ve been watching his show for a while and love what he’s doing.

Well Gary beat me to the punch.  There was a break between sessions.  I was headed up to the foyer to grab some much needed caffeine and chit chat with other developers who were there.

I wasn’t fully paying attention to what was going on and out of the blue I hear this New Jersey accent say, “What up J Thorp!”  It was Gary V. himself.  We chit chatted for 2 or 3 minutes and then he had to run off and do somethings because his talk was coming up.  He was closing out the conference.

Side note – Kudos to Ryan Carson for AMAZING book ends to the conference.  He started with Kathy Sierra and ended with Gary Vaynerchuk.  They were both the best speakers of the entire show.

Well, onto Gary’s talk…It was entitled “The Future of Communities.”

While all the other speakers spoke from slides and notes, Gary just talked.  You could tell what he was saying was from his heart, which is really cool.

The main message that I took away from it was that if you’re going to do something, love what you do.  If you don’t love it, it will show, which is SO true.  You have to believe in the cause you’re working for.

Secondly, I think his message was that you need to be sold out to your users.  Your customers and their thoughts and needs are the most important thing.

I’ve heard my friend and social media extraordinaire Shel Israel talk about how if you want to get you first have to give, which is right inline with what Gary was talking about.

Gary talked about how, even up to right before he went on stage, he was answering e-mails from folks who has questions about wine.  He was serving his users.  This is by far the reason why he has been so successful in business and why his fans are so vocal about their support of him.  He’s willing to give of himself.

He went on to say that if you’re a CEO and you’re too busy to have a lot of face time with your user base that you should hire a community manager.  I thought this was particularly interesting considering I am now a community manager.

Gary’s words of wisdom were right on.  I’ll probably buy the video of the event from Carsonified just get Gary’s talk.

There are so many people that I think need to hear this.  So many folks have lost sight of the idea of serving.

I don’t know if Gary’s a Christian but I am.  In the Bible, Matthew 22:39, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  Something that is talked about in every church but isn’t always show or practiced (by myself included), which is a shame.

At the end of every one of Gary Vaynerchuk’s shows he says, “With you and a little bit of me, we’re changing the wine world, whether they like it or not.”  Well Gary, you’re changing more than just the wine world.

(Photo by alex decarvalho)

Happy Birthday to Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV

Our friend and father of the Vayner-nation Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV turned 32 today and I want to wish him a BIG happy birthday today.

Drop on over to his video blog and give him some last minute birthday wishes.

What Online Television Shows Do You Watch?

One of the sessions at BarCamp DC that I heard a lot of buzz about after words was Joe Price‘s discussion of the Future of Television.  I’m bummed I missed it but I was facilitating one of the other rooms.

Joe and I talked after and we thought it’d be cool to get an online thread going about what kind of online television shows people are watching.

I watch (in no particular order)…

What do you watch?  Leave me a comment.  Write a blog post about it.    I don’t have cable tv so I wanna hear about what new shows I should be watching.

I’d love to hear from as many people as possible.

It’d be especially cool to hear from folks that were at BarCamp DC.  Matt, Jason, Jackson, Cindy, Patrick,  Samantha, Brian… tag you’re it.  Post about your favorite online tv shows and then tag  more people.

Maybe you don’t watch much online tv.  If that’s the case, post about why and what’s missing.  What would make it a better experience?

Watch Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk Tonight on NBC’s Conan O’Brien Show

Master of all things wine and host of the popular podcast Wine Library TV Gary Vaynerchuk is going to be a guest on the NBC’s The Conan O’Brien Show tonight at 12:30am.

How cool would it be if this was one of Conan’s most watched shows because the Web world came out in force to support Gary?  It’d be such an awesome message about the power of the Web and podcasting.

So… stay up late tonight and support Gary Vaynerchuk and Wine Library TV.

Oh oh…. you can follow Gary’s adventure’s on Twitter.  Apparently he’s on stage right now doing the taping.

Gary Vaynerchuk – a gentleman, scholar, and example of an expert in a Web 2.0 world

Last week, I went off on Jakob Neilsen for essentially saying that you have to bloviate like a dotty old tenured professor if you want to be considered an expert in your field. (exaggeration) My thesis was that its important to know your stuff but that you need to interact and have conversations with your community. It’s through these conversations which you gain trust with the people you’re there to serve.

Someone who exemplifies these qualities for me is Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. He is both a gentleman and a scholar. He takes advantage of all that Web 2.0 has to offer to spread his message of Wine to the world.

For those of you not familiar with Gary, he hosts a podcast, Wine Library TV, that goes out every weekday where he reviews some wine. He’s fun and engaging. It’s probably one of the best shows on the Web. Both Time Magazine and ABC News have decided to stand up and take notice.

On his show, he is constantly asking for user feedback but his show isn’t the only place where he interacts with the community. He has a Twitter account. In addition to giving personal updates, he used to use Twitter as a way to field viewer questions live on the show.

Now instead of using Twitter to field questions, he has an application on Facebook called “Ask Gary.” There users can post question for Gary, which he’ll answer.

He has a profile on the wine social network Cork’d. You can see what he’s drinking and what his thoughts are on the wines that he’s tried. He loved the community of Cork’d so much that his company Wine Library purchased it. He hopes to grow the community and use it as a way venue for encouraging people to try new wines.

At the end of everyone of his shows, Gary says, “you with a little bit of me…we’re changing the wine world.” I can imagine if Jakob Neilsen had a podcast he’d say, “I’m changing the world and I’m glad you just paid $3,000 to listen to me talk about it.”