I’m extremely excited to announce that on October 31 I’ll be joining the Wildfire Interactive client services team as Social Media Strategist.

In my new role I’ll be working with brands and business to help develop and evolve their social media marketing strategy. I’m excited to get to use the Wildfire platform to do so. The company provides an impressive set of sophisticated technology that power a wide range of marketing tactics. The technology is built for brand marketers to easily create engaging promotions inside of Facebook and online, without custom or expensive development.

For me, professionally, the move is different but familiar. Wildfire is a software company and I’ve spent the last two years in PR at Boston communications agency Cone. However, the role is still as a social marketing strategist and in client services. I’ll be able to continue the work that I started at Cone, helping brands use new media to find creative solutions to business goals. I’m incredibly excited to have access to Wildfire tools to do so.

The move ends my time with Cone, an agency where I spent two years cutting my teeth on some amazing accounts with bright, impressive and hardworking colleagues. For me moving to an emerging tech company that is blazing a trail in new media marketing satisfies two of my professional appetites. It will be hard to say goodbye to Cone and all the amazing people I’ve been able to learn from over the past my time there.

The new position will also send me into the heart of the tech world. Wildfire’s offices are located in Redwood City, California near the Facebook offices and other giants of the tech and social media world. I’m excited to live in beautiful San Francisco and get to know the bay area just as I’ve gotten to know and love Boston in my three years here. I’m bummed to leave my network of friends in Boston. The people here have changed my life and I know without them I wouldn’t be where I am. I’m equally pumped to join my friends in the bay area and build new relationships.

If you’re reading this and want to connect in Boston before I leave please let me know!

-MA

Take a couple of minutes to watch the video below to learn more about Wildfire. In August Robert Scobel talked with Founder and CEO Victoria Ransom in the new Wildfire offices about the company and her how she has been able to build such a successful company.

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Video is cool – anything that you add video content to seems to become better, stickier and more interesting. Whether it be a PR campaign, a blog post, a contest, a song, whatever video is great. However, not a lot of content producers are creating original videos… not sure why but below is a short video on what I use to shoot video for my blog and for sites like VYou.  For $200 I created my HD livestream or web video setup and I think it looks and sounds great.  The two pieces of equipment are plug_and_play, requiring zero set up time. See for yourself below!

Video:  Microsoft – LifeCam Studio $99.95 http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/p/lifecam-studio

Audio: Blue – Snowball $100 http://www.bluemic.com/snowball/

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Imagine with me what it’s like to look  inside of Facebook. To see all of the data produced from the 600 million users in real time. Assuming this is possible (which in one fashion or another I suspect to be true), it can only be compared to starring at the sun.

So much of the world is sharing so much personal information on Facebook that if you were able to look at it all – unrestricted – that on a macro scale you could almost predict the future. The trends that this data creates could potentially predict the winner on election night, identify where uprisings or protest were going to happen and indicate what stocks and companies are on their way to soaring gains.

Do you think Zuck ever pulls back the curtain to sneak a peek at what the world is thinking? Maybe after a few drinks he impresses a date with a behind the scenes look at the worlds online circus?

Who knows… but I wouldn’t blame him.

Have a comment or idea to add? Ask me on VYou.

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So I just got really excited about this idea but then realized it was way too big and THEN realized that someone had written about it before but from a different angle. So here is a bit of my drivel and then a really amazing piece from TED curator Chris Anderson – Via Wired Magazine

The Mommy Blogger Effect – People like what other people like

Big Idea:
People swarm in on something when it gets popular, has a low barrier to entry and they are or can get really excited/passionate about it.

I want to prove that what happens is a select few luminaries drive and innovate an industry and then a community forms. That community hits critical mass, becomes self-aware and self-sustaining. The sheer numbers of people who want to become as cool as the top dogs make the top dogs cool. For instance who visits the top mommy blogger blogs? Mommy bloggers.

The Mommy Blogger effect - Marcus Andrews (Absurdly Digital)

Origionally posted in Wired Magazine on January Edition – Read the whole piece there – Featuring TED Curator Chris Anderson

Innovation has always been a group activity. The myth of the lone genius having a eureka moment that changes the world is indeed a myth. Most innovation is the result of long hours, building on the input of others. Ideas spawn from earlier ideas, bouncing from person to person and being reshaped as they go. If you’re comfortable with the language of memes, you could say a healthy meme needs an ecosystem not of a single brain but of a network of brains. That’s how ideas bump into other ideas, replicate, mutate, and evolve.

Several authors have recently taken on this subject. Henry Chesbrough warns companies to adopt “open innovation,” Eric von Hippel speaks of democratizing innovation, showing how, for example, the kite-surfer community outinnovated the manufacturers that were serving it, and Michael Farrell describes “collaborative circles,” demonstrating that throughout history the best creativity has happened when groups of artists, reformers, writers, or scientists connected regularly with one another.

So Crowd Accelerated Innovation isn’t new. In one sense, it’s the only kind of innovation there’s ever been. What is new is that the Internet—and specifically online video—has cranked it up to a spectacular degree.

The way I see it, Crowd Accelerated Innovation requires three ingredients: a crowd, light, and desire. Let’s take each in turn.

Whole Article – Originally posted in Wired Magazine on January Edition

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You’ve heard it….

“You’re not on Twitter? You have to check it out.”
“Twitter is a game changer, things are different now.”
“Real time communication is going to change the world.”

Hell, you’ve said it. I know I have, Twitter is amazing and professionally it’s been life altering. However, this weekend I realized exactly how powerful it is and the negative impact real time communication (Twitter) can have.

After a devastating loss to their long time rivals, my Chicago Bears (promise this isn’t me being a bitter homer) took another beating on Twitter, because their starting Quarter Back – Jay Cutler – seemed to “wimp out” after hurting his knee at the end of the second half (he came out, didn’t return and looked upset, although he always looks this way). Of course he took this heat from fans around the league of opposing teams (fine) and even from some upset, angry Bears fans (OK) but then current and former players chimed in, some of whom represent some of the largest sports media outlets.

Here is a sample:
Jones-Drew — “All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee… I played the whole season on one.”

Arizona Cardinals DT Darnell Dockett — “If I’m on chicago team jay cutler has to wait till me and the team shower get dressed and leave before he comes in the locker room!”

Jaguars linebacker Kirk Morrison — “Jay Cutler better go put some Tussin on that knee and get back out there.”

Former All-Pro cornerback Deion Sanders — “Im telling u in the playoffs u must drag me off the field. . . . Folks i never question a players injury but i do question a players heart.”

So here’s the thing, it came out today Cutler tore his MCL. This wasn’t a hangnail, he really couldn’t play and his teammates and head coach reiterated that he is a tough SOB even if he has bad body language and doesn’t like to talk to the media. So now these NFL types who jumped on Twitter to chastise an injured dude are reeling because of their ill-advised tweets (their personal brand sprained), Jay Cutler’s public image is in turmoil and main stream media is scrambling to say “It wasn’t me this time guys!” It all equals a cluster-fuck for the NFL, Da Bears, ESPN and Twitter (although I think the last two may enjoy it).

Because of the nature of Twitter (real time) and because of the relevance of the people on the platform Twitter is becoming a Tornado of pop culture, news and unfiltered devastation. This puts Twitter’s importance into question, is MJD going to hire a publicist to do all of his tweeting now? (That would suck). I hope it’s obvious that people need to get facts and think about what they say even if it is Twitter (OK especially if it is Twitter) because this is embarrassing. There are plenty of people who just should not be on Twitter. It really is a game changer.

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Last weekend I had a discussion with Jeremy Levin , Jason Evanish, Fan Bi, Samuel Johns and Jon Frisch about whether or not the founders of Groupon had made The Worst Decision Ever. My stance was that yes indeed – declining guaranteed billionarship for a startup that in my opinion is a bit of a fad without a sustainable long term model was a bad decision, a billion doll hair bad decision (the worst kind).

Since our conversation (at a pub) I’ve come down a bit on my stance and read some good points about how Groupon has the taken the HUGE coupon clipping audience and put it online and how they have made the couponing thing socially expectable. However, I can still come up with 5 reasons why Groupon made the worst decision ever. Here’s hoping you prove me wrong you ballsy bastards.

#1 No differentiator from at least 10 competitors
Is Groupon doing anything different from Living Social or BuyWithMe? Not really, what would happen if they have some sort of public scandal or slip up? Or if one of these companies got a huge cash investment to compete with Groupon?

#2 They have been a company for less than a year
So scary, yes they have BLOW up and are in several different countries through a bunch of very smart acquisitions but still. Dudes, you are in such a fragile ecosystem you have to know what kind of a risk it is not to drop the dice and walk away with the 6 B’s in the bank (saying 6 B’s annoys me too but…).

#3 Roller Coasters go up…. Then down
Rolling off my last point we all know how a fad works. Everyone in the world wants to chop their veggies by slapping a little bubble or snuggle into a blanket hoody to keep warm and then all of a sudden it’s not cool, funny, interesting, cheap or new anymore and everyone walks away.

#4 The beast will turn…
Basically the same point as 4. Groupon has really figured out what the collective internet wants (And how to turn that into Scrooge McDuck type of money). However, what we have learned from history is that the collective internet works like a dumb as rocks 6 Billion lbs beast. When it’s weight gets behind something things can get crazy (Twitter, Antoine Dodson, Leeroy Jenkins) however when the next shiny thing comes along they will forget about your whatever quicker than you can say “Maybe we should hav…”

#5 Their founders have SO SO SO much equity
What did it take to found Groupon….. ? I mean don’t get me wrong it’s brilliant but it’s not new. The founders must still own so much of their company, meaning between the three of them they’d get at least $1 Billion a person. That is like make believe money… take it and start a company that embodies your other passions if that’s what your into. I mean these dudes must really love group buying.  (Thanks to Mike Hollywood for insight)

Maybe they didn’t want to sell because they think it can make them more money, maybe they didn’t want to compromise their baby, maybe one of the guys at Google slept with their prom date in High School. Worst decision ever made.

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Today you got an email from Gmail about Buzz…. ?

Email - is the pre-eminent method of communication in the 21st century, the telegraph or telephone of it’s day. Gmail - is the best, most used and email provider. They are revolutionary in their thinking, for instance, it integrates seamlessly with: docs, calendar, alerts, voice and many other free productivity and communication tools (All of which are provide by Google). Buzz is the bastard child of Wave (yet another free communication tool from Google) A “failure” by Google’s standards buzz will become defunct soon.

So back to your email from Gmail - Somebody (“we were sued by a group of Buzz users”) sued the balls out of Google because buzz violated their privacy. Now I won’t debate privacy – it’s a different thing to different people – as a Millennial I understand if you put things online they are simply not private and am OK with that, in fact I applaud it.

Back to the email from Gmail. In this email Google explains that if you use Gmail – then you are part of the lawsuit and that as part of the lawsuit $8.5 Million (a drop in the bucket) will be set aside by the search giant to promote privacy education and policy on the web. What’s really shocking is that Google emailed all of it’s Gmail users – publically airing the egg on the company’s face.

This appalls me because Google offers such an amazing and forward thinking set of communication SaaS tools (software as a service) and now due to the concerns of a small group they will rethink releasing new products. Their lawyers from now on will be a huge function of any release – effectively killing anything new and revolutionary (or at least stunting its growth). It really is a sad day for the internet and sets back a lot of what forward thinking companies like Google and what they are trying to do – innovate – as well as sets a dangerous precedent for similar companies.

A final thought:
While I do show a great deal of empathy for Google/Gmail/Buzz here I think it’s a cowardly move to send this email on election night – effectively killing the press’s instant reaction to the situation.

If you can pull yourself away from tonight’s political politics, I’d appreciate your thoughts on the internet’s.

The Email:
“Google rarely contacts Gmail users via email, but we are making an exception to let you know that we’ve reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com), a service we launched within Gmail in February of this year.

Shortly after its launch, we heard from a number of people who were concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users and recently reached a settlement in this case.

The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users’ concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting privacy education and policy on the web. We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.

Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement on January 31, 2011. This email is a summary of the settlement, and more detailed information and instructions approved by the court, including instructions about how to opt out, object, or comment, are available at http://www.BuzzClassAction.com.

——————————————————————–
This mandatory announcement was sent to all Gmail users in the United States as part of a legal settlement and was authorized by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Google Inc. | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway | Mountain View, CA 94043

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Tenacious New Media is how I describe my approach and attitude toward marketing and business. New Media can lead and define business, serious business… bottom lines, and triple bottom lines… and double secret bottom lines. It’s a response to people not taking social media serious and seeing it as an add on, trend or buzz word. There is no “fluff” in the work I do in New Media. In real terms, every blog post, every tweet, every Facebook Fan is part of a plan that can solve myriad business problems or take advantage of market opportunities. It’s all measured, captured and ties back to brand’s grand plans. The internet has created this communication tool that we are still trying to figure out, when we do, those who call social media or New Media a fad, will look like giant human leg warmers.

Being snarky on Twitter can be fun… but not it’s not as much fun as making money… or defining an industry… or blazing communication frontiers.

Marcus Andrews
Tenacious New Media

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Mike Hollywood and I really like what we do, we work hard, bust ass all week and if I may say so myself, do some pretty innovative work in New Media at our communications agency. So when the week ends we congratulate ourselves with a cold frosty and shoot the shit about what is going on in our industry in regards to social and new media.  One week at a college’s farewell party we decided that we should start taping our Friday afternoons and share it with you, and thus #beerfridays was born. We are now 8 episodes in and don’t plan on stopping, we have no agenda other then to entertain (ourselves) and share some ideas, but the main reason we podcast is …. well… because we are the dorks on the New Media team!

Without further ado #BeerFridays!

The thoughts and opinions in #BeerFridays are our own and do not necessarily represent our employer.

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