When I had started this blog roughly one year ago I had discussed how my focus has been on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin – as to me these tools seemed the most professional, had the best user experience, and drew a higher caliber crowd. I had also mentioned since that point that the Internet elite are likely seeking out new social media tools as these become crowded and competition becomes more fierce. For those early and basic discussions on social media refer to my past articles titled Social Media Part I, Social Media Part II, and Social Media Part III.

While reading “Crush It,” the author Gary Vaynerchuk reinforces this point and provides five tools he is watching – some that I were aware of and others I were not. In any event I thought I would share them here:

1. Plaxo
2. hi5
3. Bebo
4. FriendFeed
5. Orkut

This has made me consider placing more of my attention on emerging social media within my own business. This makes sense to me – the trend did happen as people left other social media and flocked to Facebook, it seems rational that the next evolution will be others flocking to another tool.

What I hadn’t thought of is the idea that the other social media tools are smaller ponds, with less competition. This makes these yet untapped tools ripe for individuals to establish themselves there.

In addition, with “Crush It” the author provides some compelling reasons to use more of Twitter – a tool that I had long ago abandoned due to ever increasing amounts of spam.

In addition to Facebook and Twitter, here are some other tools that Gary Vaynerchuk references – some well known, others not so much. I’ve made notes next to some tools which I have learned new information about after reading “Crush It,” others I either know well or have not yet used – I just wanted to list them for completeness and for anyone else who may want to check them out:

1. WordPress
2. Tumblr – This is blog publishing software similar to WordPress which I was previously unaware.
3. flickr – Photo sharing software, I have dabbled with this, but Vaynerchuk asserts that the main value of this tool is the community. Perhaps this is worth revisiting.
4. YouTube
5. Viddler – Similar to YouTube, however instead of the Viddler logo appearing on your video, this tool allows you to place your own logo – good for branding!
6. Ustream
7. Justin.tv
8. jaiku
9. Ping.fm
10. TubeMogul
11. Break.com

If you have a couple hours to spare and are interested in learning more about the Internet, social media (particularly video), and doing business check out “Crush It.”

“Now may be the time to explore some of the lesser known social media!”

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

“The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” - John Gilmore

I had found this quote really fascinating given the recent explosion in popularity of the Internet, especially with blogging and social media. It made me consider censorship and how the world is changing quickly.

The Fence
The author of “Media Virus”, Douglas Rushkoff provided an interesting analogy for the above quote – a chain link fence. If information is traveling over the chain link fence and one of the links is broken, the information continues through another link. This is a powerful analogy which provides a great visual of why censorship does not work on the Internet.

I am currently reading “Say Everything” by Scott Rosenberg. In this book the author documents the rise of blogging and it’s changing role in our culture. I am about 200 pages into it so far – if you are interested in the history of blogging and it’s societal impact – this book is for you. But I digress. In “Say Everything” Rosenberg provides a chapter on political blogging which I believe provides great examples of Rushkoff’s earlier discussion on the Internet and censorship in “Media Virus.”

In the chapter on political blogging Rosenberg discusses how there were slip-ups made by higher-level political figures during public events – events at which the media was present. In some instance the media would not report it, in others they may have reported it – but the information may have been buried deep within the paper, or only provided as a brief mention. There was speculation that the mainstream media was not reporting on these slip-ups as they may have been concerned about damaging their relationships with the political figure in question.

This where blogging and the Internet comes in. There were at least a couple documented cases within “Say Everything” where the author noted that bloggers exposed, or at least elevated the profile of certain transgressions by political figures that were not given adequate coverage by the mainstream media.

Political blogging is one example of an alternate path that information takes when one avenue is blocked. Another example is the role that social media has played – mainly Facebook and Twitter in bringing information to light. This is sometimes political and high profile, but has really been effective for voicing concerns about poor customer service or poor product quality.

A Natural Evolution
It will be interesting to see how the Internet evolves and how society evolves with it to handle the flow of information. Will the Internet remain a Wild West of sorts? Or will regulators and big business step in to censor at certain points? If censorship prevails will it be effective or will the Net simply “route around it?”

One thing is certain, the Internet is an evolving organism of sorts which is changing at an amazing pace – it will be fascinating to see how the Net evolves and how we evolve with it.

“The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

Are you remarkable? I was forced to ponder this question while reading Seth Godin’s Purple Cow. Purple Cow is a classic marketing book which made the term purple cow synonymous with being remarkable. It is an equally classic tale – the author and his family are driving through the European countryside and are at first amazed by the sight of cows grazing the pastures. However, over time the appearance of the cows became commonplace – a commodity really. And the inevitable question arose – wouldn’t it be remarkable to see a purple cow? That would be something to talk about!

Being Remarkable
When running your business or living your life you should consider the concept of the purple cow. In society there is sometimes a tendency to not want to be talked about. People talk, so it reasons that you should not give them anything to talk about. Stay within the lines and it will give them less to talk about. This is the safe path and will likely keep you away from trouble or even failure.

In avoiding failure you will also avoid phenomenal success. Average is a commodity, a purple cow is remarkable. The commodity does things the way they have always been done mainly because they have always been done that way – it’s the safe path, or so it seems. The purple cow challenges convention and strives to be different and therefore is worthy of remark. The purple cow flies in the face of this always.

Practicing What You Preach
One of the many aspects that I admire about Seth Godin is that he leads by example. Business and marketing books are supposed to be dry and serious – not Seth Godin – his work is colorful and witty! Nearly all books come in the same shape and size. His books are smaller, shorter, and interestingly enough – packed with more value. Purple Cow even came packaged in a milk carton. Talk about a purple cow!

Purple Cow is congruent in that it instructs on how to be remarkable and at the same time is remarkable in and of itself.

A Time For Introspection
Look deep within yourself and consider the following questions:

1. Are you remarkable?
2. Are people talking about you? If not, why not?
3. How can you as an individual or business become a purple cow, and therefore worthy of discussion?

Put another way, one of my favorite books Do You Matter places a simple test for determining this. If you or your company ceased to exist tomorrow would anyone care? If so, why? If not, why not? Really makes you think.

Are you remarkable?

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding