Swine flu hogwash and the mass media

So have you heard about this Swine Flu thing? Of course you have. The WHO and the CDC’s of the world combined with the CNN’s and CBC’s have made it impossible not to. Each time I turn on my TV or computer, pick up a newspaper or do anything at all to interact with civilization I find myself being updated on what’s new with it. Even tech blogs and podcasts, where I spend most of my time have gotten into the act of telling us more and more about this perilous threat to the future of civilization. And let’s not even get into the fine role...

Our wired world has a long way to go – putting “big” numbers in perspective

Last night I attended Refresh Events 7th installment at the MaRS Discovery District in downtown Toronto.  Stemming from keynote Thomas Purves‘ presentation on augmented reality, a spirited group discussion broke out to end the evening.  Topics included everything from global and local socioeconomics, to the proliferation of Java mobile apps in South Africa, to whether or not internet access could become a basic human right, to a future where people may have their phones “inside them” (insert joke here – last night’s best involved...

‘Hacking’ into niche content – launching a web series, with Jill Golick (Part 2)

Welcome back for part two of my interview with Jill Golick on her pay-per-download web series for tween girls, Hailey’s Hacks.  If you missed part one yesterday, you can get caught up here. Let’s dive right back in. What are some of the tools you’re using to promote the content?  How have you found the response to date? Before we launched we built up little presences for Hailey on Facebook (as a Facebook page), on icanhascheezburger, Twitter, YouTube and 12seconds....

‘Hacking’ into niche content – launching a web series, with Jill Golick (Part 1)

With microblogging and social networking seemingly dominating all of the headlines these days, I was really refreshed a short while ago when I came across an original pay-per-download instructional web video series called Hailey’s Hacks. I thought it was great to see someone investing video content with a clear purpose, rather than simply networking, and even greater, to see that it was starting with a business model – a somewhat novel concept these days! I got even more excited when I realized that Hailey’s Hacks was created by Toronto’s own...

Could microblogging and social media undermine the tech conference industry?

This week’s Mesh09 conference in Toronto was a fantastic success, by all accounts.  David Usher continued to move from music into the social media scene, though it couldn’t be resisted to ask “how does Nickelback influence you”.  His response?  “Chad’s a nice guy…”.  Of course, the Globe and Mail’s Mathew Ingram, a conference organizer, was also present and in his usual fine form, chiming in humorously on the Tropicana redesign fiasco in his recap panel with Mike Masnick.  But perhaps the highlight of the...

Daily Challenge breaks a record, reminds us not everything has to happen online

If you’re networked in Toronto and you didn’t hear about Daily Challenge’s Pay it Backwards Day this past weekend, then there’s a possibility that your Facebook and Tweetdeck have experienced a major fail. Plastering every possible social network with information on how to get involved for weeks on end, the #PIBTO team achieved their goal on Saturday by setting an official world record for acts of kindness at the Second Cup at John and Richmond. But in the process of using all tools social and digital to promote the event, in the end, they showed...

It’s not Gossip, Girl – it’s the future of hyper-niche citizen journalism

I have a confession to make. I love cheesy TV dramas. The unenlightened among you might call them “chick” shows, but as a regular viewer of many such programs, I can assure you that they do have entertainment value for the discerning gentleman – just sometimes it’s a little harder to spot. In spite of this confession, up until this week I had managed to avoid a program that all the ladies seem to be talking about these days. A little show called, Gossip Girl. The show was actually named for a pop-culture term that I always thought I...

Cross-platform communication and why the Bell Fund doesn’t ‘suck’

This article appeared in the February 17, 2009 edition of the Interactive Ontario Newsletter. As many of you I’m sure know, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund had one of their scramble-to-get-it-all-in-a-binder deadlines on February 2. While this deadline was one like any other, Canadian television writer, Denis McGrath, took the occasion as an opportunity to pen a decidedly hyperbolic blog post on the subject. In the entry, titled “Sucky Canadian Broadcast Websites” , McGrath lambasts the Fund and interactive producers for failing to properly...

Can Obama help resurrect Harper’s political branding, or is it too late?

If you haven’t heard the news, Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, is finally about to follow through on an olive branch he extended to Barack Obama… last November. This comes as exciting news to Canadians who have been waiting for their fearless leader to do, well, anything that resembles what the leader of a nation might do amidst one of history’s greatest recessions. But after months of acting more like the Governor General than the Prime Minister, can Harper really meet the objectives that are oh-so imperative to our nation (and the...

Thinking small after the big game – why Superbowl ads aren’t all they’re cracked up to be

I think any sports fan who watched last night’s Superbowl can agree that it was a fantastic game. But the day after, it always seems to feel like dissecting the commercials is as popular a topic across the message boards, Tweetdecks and (if you’re old-fashioned) water coolers of the world, as the results of the game itself. The incredible buzz generated from these spots is enough to make any brand marketer drool. At their best, they take brands to a cultural iconic status. At their worst, the brand still makes off like a bandit with the amount of vitriol...