Genius+Power+Magic

Too many connections?

I have 6 email accounts that feed into gmail, I use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Veoh, Slideshare and Ning for all my social networking needs.  I manage my updates via Tweetdeck while using Twitterfon and Tweetie to manage two different accounts via my iPhone.  My blog is thru Typepad - which feeds both Twitter feeds, which feeds my Facebook status updates.

How come I feel so disconnected? 

Don't get me wrong, as someone whose primary occupation is about networking, marketing and public relations, it is paramount that I am deeply and powerfully connected to a large number of people.  The only problem is that I thrive in this career because of my love of people, my joy in connecting and building relationships - and I find myself sometimes 'down the rabbit hole' (my term for having my head in my computer) vs having real live conversations with people.

The Convergence is intended to foster these kinds of real time connections. When we first began, it was about bringing a large number of diverse people into one room.

At the very first event on April 23rd, we have 100 people attending and took the time to have every person introduce themselves.  By the end of the introductions, the convergence opportunity was palpable and real.  How did we create so many opportunities for such a diverse group of people?

We video taped the event and interviewed a large number of people (video) whose comments were commonly some version of "it is wonderful to see such a diverse group of people - and I was wondering how I was going to connect across industries".  Many found their home that night and are still with us.

That intention still lives with us and we are excited to continue to foster diverse mash ups of people gathering to support Chicago in being known as the center of digital excellence.

Google Wave Obliterates Everything

Google Wave Developer Preview presentation at the Day 2 Keynote of Google I/O. To learn more visit http://wave.google.com

Pervasive, Pointed, Personal

Blog from Colin Canright on Chicago Convergence.

“Where is Twitter a year from now?” asked Google’s Ted Souder, who moderated TiE Midwest’s panel on “Trends in Social Media,” hosted by Google and sponsored by the law firm McCracken & Frank. No surprise that Twitter dominated the conversation, just as its current growth rate overshadows social media coverage.

Twitter is pervasive, the panelists agreed. “Twitter will be the norm,” said Daniel Honigman, lead social media strategist for Tribune Interactive. “Twitter has changed the way communications happens on the web.”

Real-time search and pointed communications make for a powerful marketing medium, especially given the short, quick nature of social media communications. As the conversation turned to content length, most of the audience agreed that even a four-to-five paragraph email is too long.

“Twitter makes you get to the heart of the matter quickly," said panelist Eric Olson, co-founder of Tech Cocktail. It highlights the critical tidbits of information in long-form articles.

The personal touch may well show up as success in the metrics. “Retweets per thousand followers is the new metric,” Daniel said. The New York Times has 0.4 RTM while Colonel Tribune has as many as 14 RTM, he said. The difference is that the Times is an RSS feed while the Tribune’s is personally selected and, presumably, edited for Twitter.

To me, the primary attraction and point of social media is its personal nature. When quantitative metrics are combined with a scheme of custom, qualitative characteristics, the business value of social media may be more easily demonstrated.

Consider the following characteristics that could measure the strength of the relationship to a social media audience:
* Relevance of traffic
* Responsiveness of audience
* Reputation of followers

Selecting quantifiable qualities for those characteristics may lie in a traditional exercise of audience analysis and building: knowing who you are talking to and who you want to talk to. “Retweets tell you whether you have a community that likes (your) content,” noted panelist Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of CrowdSpring.

The ultimate payoff for social media lies in the relationship with a community. Like all healthy relationships, building and maintaining a community requires commitment. As Ross said, “it has to be a long, sustained effort.”

Cold Fusion

One of the many talks at The Imagination College
Chicago Motion Design Conference

Two days of talks, Convergence style* - at the Motion Graphics Festival
Friday, January 23rd at Columbia College

*18 Minutes of high-octane 411

Presentation by Ben Forta, Adobe Systems

Motion Design Conference

MGFest speaker announced: Ben Forta, Adobe Systems

Once technical evangelist for Allaire Systems inventors of Cold Fusion, then Macromedia, and now Adobe Systems, Ben has authored scores of books that lead the industry in Cold Fusion & Flex development.  A Michigan resident, Ben travels internationally expounding upon the power and flexibility of Adobe's newest server technologies.

http://www.forta.com/

Social Media Predictions 2009

This is from http://www.beingpeterkim.com/

Community and collaboration are wonderful things.

Fourteen great minds on social media have shared thoughts on what 2009 may have in store for us.  Here's some of what they're thinking:

• "Although it is now cheaper to launch an initiative leveraging Web 2.0 technology - it requires qualified and passionate people to make them successful." - David Armano
• "You may not always start the year as a leader, but you can certainly finish it that way." - Rohit Bhargava  
• "Intimacy touches emotion; emotion powers conversation." - Pete Blackshaw
• "Doors are going to close all over the social web. Why? Because the money didn't come the way people thought it would." - Chris Brogan 
• "The tipping point has not only *not* been reached, but could still tilt *away* from Social Media." - Todd Defren
• "There's a lot of fixing that needs to be done." - Jason Falls 
• "Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the ball." - Ann Handley 
• "We're going to develop a set of better metrics to help guide, direct and validate 'commitment'." - Joseph Jaffe 
• "The movement is rooted in a desire to have quality, not quantity, as people cocoon in the face of the economic crisis." - Charlene Li 
• "After a pre-qualifying wrestling match..." - Ben McConnell
• "These will be cumulative events and interactions that will build brand loyalty for the companies that pay attention to them." - Scott Monty  
• "The recession will force revenue results out of social technologies." - Jeremiah Owyang
• "Companies that focus on earning love will thrive during hard times, and kick ass when good times return." - Andy Sernovitz
• "Suddenly, being Facebook friends with your mom will seem less ridiculous than following 4,000 strangers on Twitter." - Greg Verdino  

Everyone's thoughts have been assembled in this PDF. You can also read the document in-line below.
Social Media 2009

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Management Business social media 2009

Nearly impossible to plan social media for the future

Wailin Wong | DIGITAL LIFE December 11, 2008

Not quite a decade after the burst of the dot-com bubble, certain obsolete Web ventures have become shorthand for the era's cautionary tales: Webvan. Pets.com.

I'm no economist, but I am a worrywart, so I sometimes wonder whether there's irrational exuberance around online social networking and the sites that are leading the pack: Facebook, MySpace, YouTube. Will they become anecdotes in an impending Web 2.0 obituary?

The problem with predicting the future of social networking is that the medium is built to capture events of the present, whether it's describing what someone is eating for breakfast or posting photos from last weekend's birthday party.

Casual users of social networking sites don't ponder whether they'll still want to update their Facebook status over the long term. But technology companies are planning ahead.

Wailin Wong Wailin Wong Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

Manifest Digital, an interactive marketing agency with headquarters in the West Loop, won a Microsoft-sponsored contest this month that challenged four design teams to create Web campaigns promoting Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The winning team had to appeal "to an audience that's going to grow up over the next eight years," said Chris Bernard, a user-experience evangelist (yes, that's his official title) at Microsoft in Chicago.

Manifest Digital aimed to craft a social networking platform that inspires younger users to get involved in the bid effort and keeps them interested in the Olympics if Chicago is named the host city.

"It's definitely a challenge for any site to stay up-to-date with technology, especially on the Web, where things are changing so frequently," said Dan Thompson, a Microsoft Web developer at Manifest Digital. "But the interesting thing is with these social networking sites, they are now starting to open themselves up in a standards-compliant way."

More social networking portals are letting their users transfer profile data to other Web sites, with Facebook and MySpace stepping up their "open" initiatives.

Manifest Digital's winning entry was a social networking platform called "5 Star City" that allows users to pull in such content as photos and videos of Chicago from sites like Flickr and YouTube. Members also can send comments to the main site via text message.

Brian Henkel, the team's user-experience architect, believes 5 Star City would stay viable as other social networking sites fall in and out of favor.

"You could make the argument that our site would continue to get better as technology advances," Henkel said. "Things are becoming more compatible and seamless. Even if Flickr were to relinquish its title to its competitor, we could easily link to that competitor as well."

I'm not convinced some of the social networking trends—microblogging comes to mind—have staying power. But online interactions seem to be a routine part of digital communication. I find sharing photos to be as commonplace as e-mail, for example.

The key to longer-term success might be figuring out which basic forms of social networking will be around in a decade and then developing the flexibility to ride out the trends.

If I'm wrong, there's always the promise of immortality as a footnote in the annals of Internet history. I hope the Pets.com sock puppet saved me a space.

wawong@tribune.com

The Chicago Convergence is a BizSpark Network Partner

What is BizSpark?

BizSpark is an innovative new program that unites startups with global entrepreneurial and technology resource in one community, with a common goal of supporting and accelerating the success of a new generation of high-potential Startups.

BizSpark is uniquely designed to help Startups engaged in software development to jump-start their business, by:

• Providing them with “express access” to Microsoft tools and technologies, for their immediate use in design, development, testing, demonstration, and hosted application production and deployment; and

• Connecting them with Network Partners and a united, global community of resources designed to support them.

For Startups:
1. Startup Eligibility Requirements:

• An eligible startup must have the following characteristics at the time of joining: Actively engaged in development of a software-based product or service that will form a core piece of its current or intended business, Privately held, In business for less than 3 years and Less than US $1 million in annual revenue.
• To be eligible to use the software for production and deployment of hosted solutions, startups must also be developing a new “software as a service” solution (on any platform) to be delivered over the Internet.

2. Term: Startups can participate in BizSpark for up to 3 years. On the first and second
anniversary of initial enrollment, they must update their enrollment (e.g., confirm they haven’t
gone public and their ownership hasn’t changed).

3. Fee: A USD $100 program offering fee is due when the Startup exits the Program. As part of
Microsoft’s commitment to Startup success, there are no initial costs for Startups to join BizSpark.

4. Technology offering: The BizSpark technology offering to Startups currently includes:

• Design, development, testing and demonstrations rights with regard to: All the software included in the Visual Studio Team System Team Suite (VSTS) with MSDN Premium subscription Expression Studio (Version 2) VSTS Team Foundation Server (Standard Edition)
• Production Use rights to host a “software as a service” solution (developed by the startup during their participation, on any platform) over the Internet, with regard to products including: Windows Server (all versions up to and including Enterprise); SQL Server (all versions); Office SharePoint Server; Systems Center, and BizTalk Server The information is representative and not comprehensive. Products, versions, availability and additional benefits are subject to change. Because this offering is likely to be updated from time to time, Startups and Network Partners should visit the Microsoft® BizSpark website at https://microsoft.com/bizspark often to check Program Guides.

5. Special offers: By virtue of their participation in BizSpark, Startups may also be eligible for additional special technology or services offerings (from Microsoft or others) from time to time during their tenure in the Program. Startups enrolled in BizSpark will be notified of special offers when they become available, as well as the terms of those offerings and how to sign up for them.

Vote for Chicago's CrowdSpring* on Wired Small Biz

Vote for Chicago's CrowdSpring* on Wired Small Biz
Click twice and your done.  Do it NOW!

See the Orange '755', make it go up by clicking it when you arrive.

Michael & Ross say:
"It's not often that we ask you for favors (OK, maybe it is - but, seriously, who's counting) - so you know it must be serious if we're asking for your help. We are in the running for the top prize in WIRED's Small Biz Competition and it all comes down to votes. We want your vote. We need your vote. We gots'ta gots'ta have your vote! And we're not too proud to beg. Pleeeeeeaase? Please vote for us ? Pretty please?"

*CrowdSpring is a Sponsor and past presenter of The Chicago Convergence, which used their services to create the Convergence logo you see in the banner at the top of this newsletter. 

A Social Media President

A Social Media President

(Chicago Nov 2, 2008) - Oct 20th was the launch of a Facebook Connect integration at My.BarackObama.com, the grassroots organizing social network set up by the Obama campaign many months ago.  In some ways it comes as no surprise as Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes now runs many of Obama's social media efforts.

I signed up some time ago to receive Obama emails and I've been asked to volunteer, contribute or get out the vote.  I have felt every part of the campaign with daily emails and video logs, updates on Twitter and Facebook and I have the experience of Barack Obama, as David Armano coins it, through hundreds of "Micro-Interactions", and each continues to refine my scope of social responsibility.

Obama's quote says it very well.  "I'm asking you to believe, not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours".

What excites me most about the campaign and the methodology for it is not just the belief in 'change' or 'hope', but the real call to action for being a nation that wrests back it's own social responsibility.

Here we find the real opportunity of Social Media.  It gives a person a voice.  It says "I have something to say about how this goes" and alters the mentality from victim to power.  At the same time, it shifts the context for thinking about life from me to We. 

We have entered the We era, where the reality that 'one action or inaction ripples across the fabric of humanity' is not just something we can grasp, but something we think, live from and plan for. 

We have alot to say about Our future.

Here lies my purpose for founding The Chicago Convergence.  We have something to say about our future.  We have something to say about how the world sees Chicago.  We have ideas and technology that can benefit ourselves and the world.  Tuesday we may find out that Chicago was not just the home to a Social Media Candidate, but the home of The First Social Media President.

Tuesday we may find out that Chicago was not just the home to a Social Media Candidate, but the home of The First Social Media President.
 
Have you thought about what this could make possible?

Have you thought about what this could make possible?  We should.

Last Tuesday I got a Tattoo (my first) quote that scrolls around my bicep that reads "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it" (Goethe).  It is a constant reminder to myself to 'wake the @!#$ up' and 'dream big'. 

Come collide with me.

John Patterson
Founder & President of The Chicago Convergence

Wow, eat, drink and collide.

Wow, eat, drink and collide.
 
The PhizzPop Design Challenge, hosted by Microsoft, is back for its second year, and is joining forces with The Chicago Convergence to deliver a top digital design competition you won't want to miss. PhizzPop is a national interactive design competition with participation from top creative agencies taking place on the evening of Thursday, November 20th.
 
Join us at 6:30 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center (pictured below), 78 East Washington, to watch some of Chicago's hippest interactive agencies show off their work in a competition of design, development and creativity ... and for some great food, and a drink (or two) on us.
 
Registration is FREE and space is limited for this see-be-seen cross-industry party that you won't want to miss!  Go to: www.phizzpop.com

If you attended the Chicago New Media Summit on September 15th you had the opportunity to see the winner of last year's challenge, Cynergy (read more).

In each city, teams received training on Microsoft's emerging technology and platforms and were presented with a 'challenge' that they had three days to solve.

Cynergy's challenge was to create a collection of online tools and services that could enable and enlighten citizens about issues and topics around the upcoming presidential selection. It was only one of 35 great examples that were created through the challenges throughout the US.

"the PhizzPop Tour will make a stop in Chicago on November 20th at the Chicago Cultural Center and will partner with The Chicago Convergence to solve a special to-be-revealed challenge around Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid."

Mark your calendars now to watch an invited collection of design partners and luminary judges put their best efforts towards helping Chicago deliver a media and technology vision that can secure Chicago's future as the place 'Where talent, ideas and code collide'.

The PhizzPop Tour in Chicago provides a great opportunity to showcase world class innovation that will be showcased by some of the best design and technology talent that Chicago can offer. 




The Chicago Convergence is the property of Chicago New Media Summit Council, which has applied for private 501(c) 3 nonprofit status, and will continue to foster and award projects and presentations that unite diverse industries and individuals in new ways to encourage regional and global contributions.