Servant of Chaos

Einstein on Social Media

Looks to me like Einstein got it right. (Oh and you can make your own version here.)

Hat tip to Beth Kanter.

Sponsor Me This Movember

For the last two years, each November, I take part in an unusual ritual. It begins at the beginning of the month and it lasts right through to the last itchy moments before the year-end whirlwind of December hits. The participants in this ritual signal each other with a knowing smirk, a casual glance and scratch of the chin. That’s right, it is Movember -- a time to build awareness of prostate cancer and raise money to fund research projects. After all, this is a disease that affects 1 in 6 men.

Last year, the Movember campaign – a month long commitment from men around the world to grow a moustache (while also seeking sponsorship) - raised around $21 million. Over 131,000 men around the world took to the “tash” … and this year we hope for even more. (I believe that the majority of this money was raised by the families of these men who promised to pay as soon as their faces were shaved clean.)

This year, I have joined a team of wannabe-beardies. In other words, we may take this “Mo” too far – to the fear and disgust of our families and friends. We ably led in this endeavour by Jye Smith. My other team mates include Matt Fitzsimmons, Scott Drummond, Tom Voirol and Tim Longhurst. And while it is early days and our confidence is high, Scott admitted a secret fear at coffee on Friday. He is concerned that his facial growth will be less than stellar. But there is a solution … the Build a Beard Workshop. You simply select the beard of your choice, Photoshop it onto a picture of your face, and voila! Not only do you get the beard of your choice, you also raise money for a Kiva project.

Remember this Movember, even the smallest amount of sponsorship will make a difference – and donations over $2 are tax deductible. By using this link, you will immediately be issued with a tax deductible receipt.

Get Into Your Groove with the KaiserMix

Have you ever wondered what social media is all about? Here, I will let you into a trade secret. It is just TWO things.

• Being social -- reaching out, activating, participating and exciting people
• Doing things -- creating content, sharing ideas, holding events

Now, you might think that this sounds easy. But you see, the challenge is, in a digital landscape and in a social world that crosses borders, timezones (and sometimes even boundaries of common decency - jokes), the crafting of a compelling offer and the telling of an enlivening story requires a broad array of skills and expertise. And you will find that the bloggers and social media participants who do this well have a breadth of expertise that normally resides in a TEAM of people.

Now, Marcus Brown is one such person. I profiled Marcus in my first Mining the Gold post, but that was a retrospective. Tomorrow night (Australia time), we all have the opportunity to actually PARTICIPATE in one of Marcus' creations. It is called the KaiserMix and it will be a heady mix of music, streaming, photography and live bar action direct from Munich. It is easy to participate, as Marcus explains:

Twitter:
I’ve set up a twitter account (robbed myself of a former Character’s Twitter account) called TheKaiserMix which you can of course follow. I’ll only be using this twitter account on the evening and it’ll be tweeting my blips - and through that odd @ functionality the blips of everyone following me. If you’re on the road and want a song played just send an @TheKaiserMix to me on twitter - and I’ll play it.

Flickr:

I’ll be taking lots of photos during the evening which will be appearing in the slide show widget you can see above over on The Kaiser Mix blog (the charming Gentleman in the slide show above is Snoop - and along with Joseph runs The Schwarzer Hahn). If you’re there, like in “The Hahn” on the night and you have a flickr account you can upload photos and if you tag them thekaisermix (just that tag) they automatically appear in the slide show. Likewise if you’re not going to be in Munich but you’re listening or watching (see below) you can upload your version/experience of The Kaiser Mix.

Blip:

For those of you who are not going to make it to Munich, there is of course blip itself. If you follow me and use the @thekaiser function you can send me songs you want played. If I play your blip it’s goes into the kaiser’s playlist.

Yahoo Live:

OK, as some of you know I’ve been playing around with the video streaming stuff - and think I’ve got it nailed. You can either watch the event, live (starts around 21:00hrs C.E.T) on The Kaiser Mix channel (where you can chat with me during the evening - and if you’ve got a video camera stream on the channel as well) or on the The Kaiser Mix. If you’re especially excited by all of this you can actually embed the yahoo live widget on your blog.

Hope to see you in Munich ... or a screen a bit closer to home!

Kiss and the Cognitive Surplus

Sometimes "user generated content" astounds me -- not only in its quantity but in its quality. In those instances, it is a pleasure to see Clay Shirky's "cognitive surplus" in action. Clearly, a great deal of effort, focus and skill has gone into this video clip. One viewing and you will be as amazed as I was.

David Armano for President?

Now I know that there are many people who believe that the man in the hat can change the world, but is this a step too far?

With thanks to Leo Bottary -- make your own here.

Who Really Gets Social Media?

Sometimes you just have to ask a question and see where it takes you. Twitter started off with the same premise. What are you doing? Eliciting a variety of responses and prompting a banal moment-by-moment commentary before the community kicked-in and reshaped Twitter's reason for being.

But while I have a great affinity with Twitter, it is feeling more and more like a broadcast medium every day. Sure there are some small-scale discussions occurring but they are hardly conversational. Plurk, on the other hand, have placed conversation right at the heart of their design.

This post is continued over at MarketingProfs Daily Fix. Hope you enjoy!

Calling All Marketers -- Inspiraton, Anyone?

Following up from the Microsoft teaser, the full-length video is now available.

With the first instalment in this series entitled The Breakup, the intention was to raise debate. Microsoft boldly tackled the issue around the shifting nature of the consumer-advertiser relationship, and invited marketers into the conversation. It certainly was not the type of communication or advertising I expected from Microsoft -- and it did capture a lot of attention at the time of launch.

But with this sequel there is a wholly different challenge. Geert Desager and Kris Hoet are clearly taking another step -- to facilitate the establishment of a marketing community (moving from conversation to action?). In the process, they are taking a sweep at brands, agencies and all the folks who inhabit them. There are some great lines, including "I tried to look up that Web 2.0 thing you told be about, I just couldn't find the exact URL". Let's face it both agencies and marketers are easy targets (and we provide so much fodder) ... so you are bound to raise a chuckle or two.

However, if you do want to move beyond the banter, the site Get Inspired Here is the place you can go. Over the coming weeks (and in the wake of Cannes), there is bound to be plenty of discussion, taunting and maybe even a little creativity. Get your full feed here. Hopefully there are more surprises in store!

Inspiration, anyone?
by geertdesager

Difficult is Worth Doing

Now, I can't imagine I would ever sky dive myself, but this nice piece of work really captures the adrenaline rush that comes with the real thing. Oh, and of course, it is all in pursuit of brand activation. This time, for Honda. Courtesy of Paul McEnany.

Trade Your Child

In the tradition of Marry Our Daughter, the Child Trader website is now open for business. Now you have the opportunity to trade that difficult or problem child for a sleeker, more compliant model. Simply login and begin bartering.

The site has a handy FAQ which answers many of the questions you would never dare to ask -- including this one:

My child is pretty run-down. Should I still consider trading him/her?
Yes! One man’s garbage is another man’s gold, so don’t count your kid out of trading eligibility just because of bad skin, awkward arms or thick glasses. Many parents find these traits adorable in trades, especially if they find their child too handsome, too athletic or too intelligent. Do you consider those bad traits? Some trading parents do.

As with the Marry Our Daughter site, this one challenges both taste and morality. The scary thing is, that some people may well think it is legitimate.

Does Your Blog Have a Potty Mouth?

Created by OnePlusYou
- Free Online Dating

Some blogs are known for their insight. Some for their coverage of issues. Some for their colourful personalities. And some for their funky design and willingness to share. Sometimes the personality of the author is there in your face while for others, it is important to stay tucked away behind the words on the screen.

But no matter where your blog sits in this spectrum, the words that you write truly do say something about you. After all, blogs and your personal brand are intimately linked.

This fun little cuss-o-meter gives you a quick reading of your cussability score (with thanks to Meg Tsiamis). Meg ranked a healthy 2% while I managed a meagre 0.8%.

I am hoping that some of my friends make up for my poor efforts. After all, some have more reasons to cuss than others!