The Way We Watch

11 Posts From Around The Web To Motivate Your Blogging

Blogging can be a treadmill.  I always have a little dread after writing what I think is a good post.  Have you ever said to yourself, "What will I do next?"

When I am stuck, I turn to these 11 posts and bloggers to help me get an idea going, give me confidence, or just push me to blog another day.
 

1. 45 Blog Post Ideas That Always Generate Buzz - Adam Singer
   I kid Adam that this post of his is my "playbook."  But time and time again, I've looked to this list as a guide to create buzz worthy content.  Adam also writes on inspiration and his body of work here helped me and countless others to start a blog of my own.
    
2. How To Write Fast - Problogger
   Darren Rowse is a prolific and talented blogger.  His first 3 steps out of the 5 here are sometimes all I need to get my mind in the right frame of mind.
    
3. 31 Blog Post Ideas for Small Businesses - Mark Hayward
   We don't blog in a vacuum. Most of us are expert at something and make a living from it.  This list helps you to see all the content that is out there at your job - ready to mined.
    
4. My Best Advice About Blogging - Chris Brogan
   Chris has archived his best "how to blog" posts in one category.  In these eleven great posts, there is always something to get my mind racing. One line always resonates, "Pretend you are the reader.  Is this worth their time?"
    
5. The Secret of the Web (hint: it's a virtue) - Seth Godin
   I re-read this post when I want to quit blogging.  One of Godin's most popular posts, it's a nice reminder that if you keep plugging away - you will outlast the other guys.  And win.
    
6. My Gift To You - Hurry, Offer Ends Soon - Danny Brown
   I have a tendency to get serious when I blog. We all do. We want to have that "expert" voice.  I have to remind myself that communicating can come in all forms.  In this post, Danny Brown shows that humor can be just as effective to get your point across.  It just so happens that this is one of Danny's most widely read posts as well.
    
7. How To Write Headlines That Work - Copyblogger
   Sometimes a great headline is all I need to start the writing juices flowing. 
    
8. Alltop
   Alltop is an online Magazine Rack of popular subjects.  Type in the subject of your niche and in seconds hundreds of blogs and news sites will appear with up to the hour updated material. Great for taking the pulse of what is happening right now in your field.
    
9. My Social Media System - John Jantsch 
   Ever wonder why great ideas come to you in the shower or while driving? It's because muscle memory is doing all the work and your brain is free to dream.  This post is one way to make your social media automatic - so your brain can be freed up to do way more important things. When I'm wasting too much time on the computer and not being productive, John's post reminds me to automate.
    
10. Viral Marketing Review: Using and Identifying Design Patterns - Ship's Biscuit
    I like how this post aims to be exhaustive.  I'm sure it gets tons of hits a day because the thinking is clear and they make great points.  The post is about deconstructing what a lot of people are trying to do on the web right now: have a viral hit.  If it's not in your niche, I think you can still admire how they found as many examples as they could to define what constitutes a viral ad.
     
11. Sasha Dichter's Blog
    Reading someone else's blog that has nothing to do with your niche is sometimes the best way to be inspired. There are thousands out there. As the Director of Business Development at the Acumen Fund, Sasha works in a completely different world than me. However, Sasha's on my motivation list because I really like the way he brings his every day life and observations into his posts. 
    
    Let me know what posts motivate you...
    
    (If you liked this post, please let me know by commenting below or subscribing by RSS here or by email here).

Vimeo: The Stronger the Social Network the Better the Videos

Quick quiz.  Close your eyes and tell me what you think of when you hear the words YouTube.  Here’s my free association:  the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Sometimes really ugly. 

But, let’s say I wanted to know how the George Washington Bridge looks from a car window.  Sure enough – in jerky DV - there it is: ah, the magic of relevant search.  However, to browse YouTube clip by clip for excellent content would be kind of ridiculous.

Vimeo is an all-together different animal.  It is the go to destination for filmmakers and wannabe filmmakers searching for inspiration.  Owned by IAC (Barry Diller's conglomerate), the community is known for being supportive and celebrating the artist. It's led by a team of Community Directors (that’s their real title) like Blake Whitman. 

Vimeo boasts an ever-expanding list of members (1.3 million and growing) that includes director Michael Bay as well as creative wedding video production companies in the UK.

Strategically, Vimeo does not allow any video that actively promotes a product or service – except for self-promotion of members themselves.  And, that's why it works so well. Freed from the constraints of selling a product, filmmakers are liberated to explore anything that makes them excited. To simply do a great job and do it for the feedback is enough.

Whitman was hired from the community itself.  Still a filmmaker at heart, Whitman's mission along with his other community directors is to show, “that Vimeo is about creative video.  We’re looking to inspire members to take that next step… to go from a pro-sumer to a professional.”

(Note: Michael Bay need not apply).

Vimeo was the pioneer in allowing members to upload HD files (October 2007) so it quickly became a  home for serious filmmakers. Vimeo has never looked back.

The Vimeo difference plays itself out when filmmakers post a video.  Usually a video post includes the credits of who made the film, what camera it was shot on and any other inside information that is relevant like lenses or processing effects.   Community members will give support, ask technical questions, and give honest and open opinions of the work being shown.

In my post of 37 Viral Video Web Tips, I noted that the Vimeo staff picks are the videos to watch.  Here’s what Whitman looks for in one of his staff picks:
“If I can inspire someone through the staff picks that’s probably the best thing. The qualities I look for are something that is inspiring, something that is interesting something that is in the possibility of someone doing it themselves."  (Paging Mr. Bay. You won't be a staff pick any time soon).

Here are three of Blake’s picks that speak directly to what he’s looking for:

The Lost Tribes of New York City from Carolyn London on Vimeo.

Bellissimo from Leonardo Dalessandri on Vimeo.

Oil in Water from Shawn Knol on Vimeo.

Stop Frame As Metaphor
One staff pick video that would probably take a long time for Blake to do himself is The Long Haul.  A wickedly good stop frame animation and labor of love that Sylvain Dumais and his producing partners Full Serve Productions in Toronto put together.  Sylvain worked on the project during a long haul of two months and split the cost with the producers.  All the staff worked for free – but all are using the piece as a demo reel to show their services.

Stop Motion | The Long Haul from DUMAIS on Vimeo.

Knowing that Vimeo is a destination for not just supportive filmmakers but bloggers and agency types, Dumais didn’t think of premiering his piece anywhere but Vimeo.

With the help of Whitman's golden pick, the video went viral.  72,000 views in 11 days.  The video got picked up by Andrew Sullivan's website and then featured on other well-known blogs.  Sylvain has been on the phone with talent scouts, camera accessory manufacturers for sponsorships and Good Morning America.

Sylvain cherishes the nurturing environment that Vimeo has created: “Well, the Vimeo community has really great and generous feedback. It's a hub for a lot of creative people both professional and amateur and is somehow more serious then let's say, YouTube. So when people see something they like they often comment, mostly positively and constructively as they create video as well and know about the medium. Vimeo is always evolving where as YouTube looks the same since forever.  I'll say the most important and great thing about it is the content and the users.”

Of course the web is one great pool to steal from and Dumais knows with popularity comes the double edged sword of someone lifting your ideas.

Dumais: You know what I really think? I think that an ad agency will decide to do something really similar for whatever brand they work with as it often happen. If I'm lucky enough, they'll ask me to do it (or re-do it)! If not, I'll be able to say that that big production is inspired directly from my work. Either ways I'm winning out of it as it will get me attention.

I hope there is at least one smart bold agency out there that will ask Dumais to do make something completely new and different.

In the meantime, make something beautiful and upload it on Vimeo or just subscribe to the RSS of their staff picks here.

(If you liked this post won't you please comment or subscribe using the links below).

Cross Genre Dressing

What if you took a Martin Scorsese movie and made it a musical?
You would get New York, New York.

What if Hitchcock really wanted to make a movie like Otto Preminger?
You would get The Paradine Case.

And what if Dirty Dancing was directed by David Lynch.  You would get this: 

Click on pic. The embed is turned off on YouTube. Thanks to Creative Review for the original link to this video. 

Television Viewers Are Renters - Web Users Are Owners

In my post regarding the misconception that great web video is made by production companies with "nothing to lose," Dustin Staiger, a creative director in Tulsa, made a comment that is worth saying here again:

"Broadcasting a commercial on TV is renting an audience that already exists (actually a portion of the audience who isn't skipping/muting ads). After the commercial airs, you still do not own any of the audience.

Creating a series of online videos is building an audience. You start with virtually nothing, but build it brick-by-brick. This is creating an asset for your business (something business owners/leaders appreciate)."

I like Dustin's thought a lot, but I think the the analogy works just as well if you see the viewing audience as owners v. renters.  If you live in a rental, you're not going to put a lot of improvements into the place. If you own your own home - you're always thinking about increasing the value of your property. 

Some of the savvier companies are producing media on the web and television understanding that this split exists.




When T-Mobile is pitching to consumers/renters on broadcast TV, they create mini dramedies with suburban neighbors that we can instantly recognize.  Characters are extrapolated from common commedia_dell'arte archetypes (just as situation comedies have been doing for ever). The writing, acting, and direction are flawless working towards those two laugh lines. ... but the viewer doesn't own the product anymore than she owns the programming that surrounds the spot.  She's in for the short term.

The viewer does their part of the dance by registering the unique selling proposition (faves are free!), laughing at the punch line and putting the information in the back recess of their brain never to be thought of again unless walking past a T-Mobile Store.  And that's a maybe. Case closed.

The Web User

When T-Mobile is talking to viewers/owners on the web, the company creates larger than life "event" videos.  We don't see moms, dads, backyards, barbeques or everyday life as we know it. 

We see the diverse masses (photogenic ones and some not so), we hear the Beatles (OMG!), we see camera work that makes us go "whoosh." The video makes us feel something - it's good to be alive - just as Where the Hell is Matt? did.  Most of all - there's not one mention of a product benefit. The main theme is always a feeling summed up by, "We're human.  Aren't we grand!"

Knowing that net trollers act as owners and are always trying to increase their value, T-Mobile is counting on the next part of the dance. 

The Psychology of Owning

The average web user doesn't share the every day TV commercial with its selling propositions and lens focused on normal life - there is nothing to be gained.  On the social web, users share other people's content (let's call it OPC) when they think their own value will be enhanced - they claim ownership of the ad/content with the act of sharing it.

The amazing success of Twitter is built on this paradigm.  OK, before you start sending the hate email - I know there are hundreds of self-less twitter folk who, "just want to help."

If you're being honest - a big reason to tweet is to constantly chant to your tribe, "I am worth following."  Sharing content that makes us "feel" shows the world that you are human/special/worth knowing.  At the same time, sharing OPC is a very effective (and easy) way to increase Twitter followers.  Ask @nicholaspatten who tweets out a dozen OPC links a day - (admittedly his twittered links are usually exquisite).  His follower count is up to 22,000+.

When you share ownership of someone's else's content - you're enhancing yourself - with very little effort - you are building the value of what you own - your reputation.

Here's proof that there are many web watchers leveraging OPC: Monday's T-Mobile web viral video above was instantly piped out by thousands of twitterers. See how they were hoping to enhance their own brand here.

Next time you see a video you want to share - tell me why it's different from what you see on TV and why you tweeted it out.

Exclusive Video: Worst Tweets of the Week

For your viewing enjoyment, I've put together a video of the worst tweets that I've found so far this week.  My sub-title for this film is "Don't Do This at Home."  That's right. The key to Twitter: be interesting.

No wonder people give up on twitter within a month. Who would want to follow these boring tweets?
My three rules for twitter after be interesting:

• If you want to tweet the mundane, be witty.
• Focus on your niche. Be the expert to one thing and let people know about it.
• Tweet a suggestion or advice that helps in some way or moves the conversation forward.

This video was made quite quickly in animoto.  Animoto takes your stills and let's you add text and music (all licensed) and then crunches and spits out a pretty cool looking video.  The uses are limitless: fun slide-shows with family pics, recognition videos for your employees, or video brochures for your on-the-side Isagenix business...  You can then one-button them over to YouTube, Facebook or the usual suspects.  I used the HTML option for this post.

The best part: short videos (like this one) on animoto are free.  Longer ones are about $3.00 and you can even get a yearly subscription that allows you to make as many videos as you want.  Downloading full resolution files for  DVDs is also possible.

Other than the price, the other aspect to animoto that I really like is that their magic algorithm has figured out how to cut on the beat.  MTV videos of long ago found success when they edited cuts together on the beat of the music.  Animoto does (in minutes) what a super editor would do if you had one in your back room.

By the way, if you see some bad tweets out there... let me know about them for the sequel!  Write me a comment or email me here.