If you’re an NPR fan, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, the web or radio, it’s definitely worth the three minutes to fill it out and give your feedback.

I suggested adding the Facebook “Like” button to their web posts because it’s a great passive way to share their stories without being invasive on someone’s wall or requiring them to include a comment about it, as Facebook links often require (or so it feels).

I’m curious to see what the results are.  If they post it, I’ll be sure to include it here as an update.

A recent post at BusinessInsider reads  “One huge bummer about e-books: No one can see how smart you are“, citing that publishers find the transition to e-books the beginning of the end for them, as well as retail bookstores. The reasons cited in the article appear to be two-fold:

1. the cover image as a marketing tool becomes benign, and
2. books on a shelf in someone’s home serves as personal testimonials to the value of the book.

The real bummer here is that book publishers are not seizing the opportunity to transition a reader’s behaviour to “show-off” from their intimate living rooms to “sharing” on the vast Social Web.  The two reasons above are simply excuses that will likely fail at buying traditional publishers time.

Book publishers and sellers alike could instead be spending their efforts addressing the demise of the printed book (glass half empty)… or rather, the rise of the e-book (glass half full).

Cover art is dead?

Far from it, in fact.  Cover art is now more important than ever.  With e-book readers like the Kindle and iPad, publishers have the opportunity take a single image, and create a dynamic cover that gives a potential readers more than a singular visual impression.

With smartphones and tablet readers, the cover can become like a movie or video-game trailer that entices your imagination using moving visual and audio cues.  Albeit from magazines, here are two very different examples of how animated cover art can draw the consumer in.

A recent New Yorker cover by Jorge Colombo illustrated entirely on the iPhone app Brushes:

And an even more dynamic experience is this opening sequence for an iPad publication:

A movie poster never sells a film as much as the movie trailer or review does. So why should a book cover or poster have to? No longer will you be able to judge a book by its cover…

Exhibitionism drives the digital landscape.

Social media and networks thrive on the fact that people like to share about themselves, as well as share things that they find interesting. Publishers should be making these two factors work in their favor.

First, virtual applications like Visual Bookshelf (by Living Social) in Facebook, have a much greater reach than any guests that will walk through my study at home. Someone with 200 friends can easily share tips about the 100 books on their shelves much more quickly and passively, than they can with 10 friends at a dinner party.

Hannah is a Facebook friend whose bookshelf I've never seen. In fact, we've never met in person, but know each other thru a mutual friend. Nonetheless, I've grown to trust her and her taste in books, and have recently begun reading "The Elegance of the Hedgehog".

In fact, Visual Bookshelf expands one’s community beyond their immediate social network friends to the 52,000+ fans of the app on Facebook, or 1.3 million fans [2008 data] on its site.  And virtual social applications become more intimate as friends discover what books I may have on my nightstand… not just my bookshelves.

The integration of Visual Bookshelf and Amazon.com is a key example of how publishers can transform consumer behaviour by encouraging instant one-click (print or electronic) book purchases.  The one-click sell rate for a cheaper e-book will inevitably surpass the sales of higher-priced print books as consumers become increasingly accustomed to instant, hassle-free purchases.

Readers know what sells best.

After all, they did buy your book.  So let them share their favorite experts, whether it’s 140 characters  at a time or in 40 word snippets.  One day soon, e-books will allow people to share any section (of limited length) from a book directly to Buzz, Twitter or Facebook, for example.

A snippet that rang true to one reader could be the bit that sells the book to someone else.  Or if a reader is curious about a book and wants to find out who in their network has read it, linked data will one day be able to give you customized feedback.

Amazon sort of does this already with the “People who bought this also bought…” feature.  Netflix does this very well with movies, but has thus far lacked at building an active engagement on existing social networks outside the Netflix platform.

Then imagine tying in a New York Times book review to this social media chatter. The possibilities for truly integrated and digital marketing only keep growing.

Besides, how many of those books on your actual bookshelves, have you actually read?

Together, the e-book and social Web lets you prove your “smarts” through your ratings and reviews… to the billions who have access to the Web.  Nevermind the dozen friends who will walk through your house this year.

If any organization should be worried and recreating their business strategy as a result of e-books, it would probably be public libraries.  How will they deal with brick-and-mortar operations if the “information” they’ve traditionally collected becomes completely available for loan online?

Marketing and branding were about pushing your message to consumers. You sold them what they never knew they wanted.

Marketing used to be all about the product or service. What made your product unique from anything else on the market? What was the value-add in your version versus a competitor? Did you have the best price or experience for the money?

Branding was all about the image of that product or service. What perception did you want your customers to have about your company? What did customers feel about consuming what you had to offer?

NOW

Marketing and branding are responses to real-time customer demands and needs. Customers are telling you what they want. You are listening – more than ever – to the consumer, instead of dictating to them what they can or cannot live without.

Marketing is now much more than the product or service.  While people still connect with an object such as a particular coffee brand or airline, it’s not enough to sell how tasteful your peppermint latte is or the extra 6-inches of legroom compared to a competitor.

Likewise, branding is now about customer interaction (not to be confused with customer service), corporate social responsibility, online culture and community, and much more.

Making this shift to social media isn’t an easy move. Wait too long to get on the bandwagon, and you’ve lost your first-mover advantage. Act too fast, and you may not have a well thought-out strategy.

So how do you know whether to jump into the next new web trend? How do you evaluate your presence in that landscape? How do you use the new media tool in such a way that no one else is using it? Thinking outside the box and being innovative with the new media tools will help in setting your company, brand and product apart.

Whether it’s a mobile app, interactive website that has nothing to do with your product and everything about your consumers, there’s definitely a niche that you can create for yourself within your industry that will accomplish the original goals of branding and marketing.

Here are a few new media integration examples that are successful at tying together “new marketing” and “new branding” into the digital customer experience:

Sonicare: Adopt-a-Tooth

The Sonicare Facebook application keeps the user engaged over and over again by encouraging good dental hygiene through a “pet” tooth.  Take better care of our “canine” and be privy to special gifts and promotions.

When someone takes action with their pet tooth, it can appear on their friends news feeds, and is always visible on the owner’s profile.

In today’s social network landscape where the popularity of social gaming such as Mafia Wars and Farmville are growing exponentially, it’s smart for a brand to jump into the arena with the right interactive app.

Coke Zero Facial Profiler

Coca-cola claims that Coke Zero has been one of the most successful product launches in its history. In the two years since its release, Coke Zero has sold nearly 450 million cases and is available in more than 100 countries. So why not take this success and broad reach to connect your fans online?

That’s exactly what cokezero.com does. The site says nothing about the product except for a wordmark that includes the tagline “Real Coke Taste. Zero Calories.”  Instead, their site is home to the Facial Profiler application, which uses Facebook Connect to troll tagged images of you to help find your look-alike.

The premise? A social experiment: If millions of people like you enjoy Coke Zero, then there surely is another person that looks like you that enjoys Coke Zero.

USAA Mobile App

Your new media presence doesn’t always have to be through a web browser. USAA takes personal finance management to a whole new level with their iPhone app. Unique features include:

• Deposit@Mobile — Depositing a check is as simple as snapping a photo.
• ATM Locator — Find the closest ATMs.
• Loan Calculator — Estimate monthly payments on a loan.
• Rental Car Locator — Find the nearest Avis, Budget or Hertz location.
• Accident Checklist — Record accident details to help you file a claim.

Happy 40th birthday Internet.

The first test that led to the operation of the Internet happened on September 2, 1969.  Many other things happened that summer, including the Apollo 11 lunar landing and Woodstock.  All three events changed the course of history in then unimaginable ways.  None, however, has affected individual lives as much as the Internet.

The Internet made the Web possible. (By comparison, the Web is only half the age of the Internet.)

I’ve been thinking a lot about how the Web has changed so much about our society, culture and habits.  Many are embracing it, while others will continue to shun it.  Regardless of which side you’re on, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Web is here to stay.

Two recent articles really catalyzed this mental debate.  The first is Clive Thompson on the New Literacy (WIRED). Thompson surmises that writing is not dead – that indeed it has just evolved to suit the times and the new medium:

The first thing [Lunsford] found is that young people today write far more than any generation before them. That’s because so much socializing takes place online, and it almost always involves text. Of all the writing that the Stanford students did, a stunning 38 percent of it took place out of the classroom—life writing, as Lunsford calls it. Those Twitter updates and lists of 25 things about yourself add up.

In contrast, the New York Times this past weekend published Facebook Exodus (by Virigina Heffernan) a glum look into the future of the social network:

Is Facebook doomed to someday become an online ghost town, run by zombie users who never update their pages and packs of marketers picking at the corpses of social circles they once hoped to exploit? Sad, if so. Though maybe fated, like the demise of a college clique.

Some will say that the Web is to blame for ADD.  Others will blame it for stealing their identity or being the cause for their gambling addiction.  I blame the Web for my inability to communicate my emotions in person… after all, it’s easier to ROFL than actually “roll on the floor laughing”.

And why the heck not blame the Web for all our wrongs?  For all that makes us feel uncomfortable?  For all the shortcomings of the world?  The Web has no feelings. It can’t defend itself.

That’s exactly why the Web is here to stay.  It’s staunch.  It can stand up against any amount of bashing, any sins thrust upon it.  When all of humanity is wiped out, the World Wide Web will still remain in the clouds somewhere… along with the cockroaches in the flattened earth.

Until that Armageddon though, I think it’s time that we accepted the ways of Web 2.0 (and beyond) as the dawn of the New Renaissance.  Let’s not blame the Web for our lives lacking the slow pace of yesteryear, or children’s inability to conduct research for country reports.  The Web is not impersonalizing relationships, or making families distant.

Instead, the Web lets us enjoy more things in life… get things done quicker so there is more time to enjoy our hobbies, and find new ones.  Children are becoming smarter.  Families can keep in touch in more experiential ways, understand each other deeper.  And “friends” take on new meaning.

Who, after all, can actually have 550 friends in the traditional sense?  I couldn’t.  That would mean that in one year, I could only spend a fraction of one day (66% to be exact) with each person – assuming I didn’t do anything else in life, including sleep.

So, what is the New Renaissance?

It’s still being defined and will be for decades – if not centuries – to come.  But a comparison of the classical Renaissance helps define how I see it:

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence affected literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art. [Wikipedia]

So then, the New Renaissance is possibly:

A cultural movement that profoundly affects world-wide intellectual life of the 21st century.  Having roots in the Americas, Europe and Asia, its influence affects business, literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, technology, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry.  New Renaissance scholars employ the humanist and philosophical methods in study, and searches for semantics, sapience and sentience in our virtual presence.

As Thompson mentions in his article, writing is not dead – it’s evolved.  I argue that the same sort of evolution is happening with other aspects of our society.  Life on the “InterWebs” will adapt, evolve, and surely only the fittest will survive.

Facebook may (or may not) be the momentary fad that meets its demise via the collective action of online protest, mass extinction of accounts.  I doubt it.  Facebook’s own platform became the home for protesters angry at Facebook and Hasbro for taking down Scrabulous, or those infuriated with Facebook’s Terms of Service.  A decade ago, this would not have happened.  Any defamation or protest against one’s own platform would surely have been taken down immediately.

Every new change will have it’s nay-sayers.  New processes, styles, fads will shake itself out and reach an equilibrium where a happy medium of new tools will work itself out.  I think that’s where social networking is finally at, for example.  At first there were Friendster and MySpace.   There were sharing issues, privacy concerns, etc.  But over time, people have become comfortable with social networking and online conversations.  Social networks have evolved such that you can control who sees what on your profile.  Similarly, humans have adapted their lives to fit the conversations on social networks so that we’re not afraid of what other people may know about ourselves.

This is just one of many thousands of ways we’ve evolved to adapt to an online world.  I go into more depth below about the world redefined by the World Wide Web.

There will always be those that cling to the past.  And I of all people derive pleasure from reminiscing through old printed photographs of generations past, soundless 35mm videos, ratty sweatshirts and my dozens of mixed tapes.  But if we don’t embrace this New Renaissance that we are in today, I think the digital divide will further separate our society… when the sole purpose of the Web ought to be make the world a more intimate experience.

I admit what I’ve written here is just one-sided.  I am part of a network that is very connected.  I work at the only computing-focused school at the University of California, after all.  I also head a new media consultancy, INCULINK, that relies solely on technological mediums.  And I’m a social media whore – no denying that.  But I think my one-sidedness gives me a deeper appreciation of the potential that is to come in an ever-connected world where the Web becomes more semantic, more experiential.

I’m looking forward to reading this 10 years from now.  Much like I recently enjoyed reading the essay I wrote in 8th grade about where I hoped to be at 30 – the only thing I was right about was marriage, a house, and the dog.

—

Redefining Words.

This New Renaissance is also transforming our vocabulary.  What we call “search” or “friends” is not what it was just two decades ago.

• Search: Sure, you may still search for loose coins in your sofa.  But more likely, you’re searching for information on the Web – Google-ing it.  So then, what does the term “googley-eyed” mean now?  (Side thought: with the advent of smartcards, coins will become obsolete one day anyways…)
• Friend: At some point “friend” became a verb, as well as a noun.  To “friend” someone is to connect via a virtual social network.  I don’t “friend” anyone… I need to find some sort of value in the connection I make because too much information is overwhelming.  Yet, I still “friend” others who had a locker next to me in high school, just because I feel like we shared a crucial (and awkward) time in our lives.  Or the person I met at a real friend’s birthday party because we are in the same photo and are now forever connected to each other on Facebook.
• Share: I used to hate to share.  If it meant that I lost half my cookie to my sister, I’d rather have eaten it in secret.  But now I can’t wait to share things with her – YouTube videos, Facebook albums, blog posts, etc. – thereby sharing laughs, memories… knowledge.   I lose nothing, but gain everything.
• Chat: This has been redefined time and again in the past couple of decades: from BBS to mIRC to IMs (instant messaging) to Twitter.  Lunchtime and telephone chats, are more like converstations.  “Chats” today don’t require immediate response.  How many times have we feigned “away” on IM so that we could write re-write the best response?

The endless list goes on…

Redefining Self.

Had I went to college five years earlier than I did – I would likely be working in a lab somewhere pipetting and performing PCRs to amplify genes.  But the World Wide Web let me explore and find a more creative career route.  I was missing the creativity I used to find in music when studying genetics, but I found a way to replace it with writing about technology and communicating on the web.

People can discover themselves in new ways.  Future generations will have infinite more resources than current generations.  But that will only help people to really define themselves early on… to find a passion, and find a community that supports that passion.

This New Renaissance will continue to help people create their own career paths.  Sure medical schools and law schools will always exist.  But the options of what one can do after obtaining their basic training is endless.  People will innovate where there is a need.  And there will always be new needs, as long as there is a stream of information and virtual networks talking amongst themselves.

Redefining Relationships.

As I mention above, the word “friend” has taken on a whole new meaning.  But the difference in relationships don’t end there.  I have made connections with many people around the world thanks to the Web and it’s ability to connect people easily, and relatively.  By relatively, I mean that I can map a definite interest or connection to the people I have created relationships with… and they all come in different forms.

I am very much interested in New Media.  Thus, I join in conversations on sites such as Read Write Web and Mashable and have “friended”  (on Facebook nonetheless), the founders and contributors of such sites. I engage in discussions from them, learn about new media, and also provide fodder for their content from time to time.  I’ve also recently had several conversations with Dame Wendy Hall, co-founder of the Web Science Research Initiative… and realized I may have a calling in web science.

Thanks to the web and social networks, I am more in touch with my high school classmates than I ever was while actually going to high school.  I knew so-and-so was on the swim team.  But I also know now that they love photography and travel and get to see the world through their eyes as we share photos on Flickr.

I also know what family is up to on a daily basis.  I can ask my grandma-in-law how particular book project went at Thanksgiving dinner… instead of digging for niceties.  We can connect more and really understand who we are as individuals.

And professionally, I have been able to build a reputation, a rapport with my colleagues.  They see what I am able to put out on the web and are willing to share more.  Likewise, as a communications director, I am able to use Facebook to “friend” colleagues and find news stories from casually mining their status updates.  Yes, I use Facebook at work…. to accomplish actual work.

On the other hand, what I do online is transparent and any wrong move can come back to haunt me today, even years from now because the Web doesn’t forget.  But the beauty of the Web and this transparency is the speed at which I can make mends.  The Web doesn’t hide who the real me is… it helps me become a better person because you never know who is watching.

Redefining Information.

Not even a decade ago, the Internet and Web were just for just the privelaged, the educated.  Without a $2,000 computer and monthly Internet access, one could not be on the Web.

All you one needs today is a mobile phone to access the Web.  In fact, mobile phones are more ubiquitous in third-world countries that cannot afford desktop or laptop computers than in the U.S.  One recent twitter post via @serkantoto says that the number of mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam is now 107.84 million, up 31% from December 2008.  That is an incredible number of people who have access to information at their fingertips!

Information, accessibility and the ability to not discrimnate who gets what information is a beautiful thing.  (Net neutrality is another issue that is part of this tangled web — pun intended — but I’ll leave that for a separate discussion.)

The World Wide Web is our oyster.

The World is at our fingertips.  Literally.  Virtually.

That is the question that Personas, a project at MIT, asks.  It’s a kind of Doppler Radar for your Web presence.  Here’s what my Personas looks like.

It leaves me wondering… what’s so “illegal” about me?

I don’t think there’s anything you can decipher or definitively pull from the Personas analysis.  But it is a great way to take an alternate look at your personal brand on the World Wide Web.

Here’s an analysis for Liz Pulliam Weston, a personal finance adviser, and contributor to MSN.  Liz’s presence is much more diverse, colorful, and spans 29 dimensions (versus my three).  If nothing else, it says that her brand touches a wide-spectrum of interest and very broadly on the Web.

And why not type in your corporate brand as well and see what comes up?

[Hat-tip to Sam Kaufman]

Why do you, or why don’t you, use Twitter?… I only forbid one answer: “because everyone else is doing it.” That’s the same reason people wore Hammer pants.

In short, my answer was that I use it because it’s part of my research to do my job effectively, and to stay on the cutting edge of my industry.  (Go here for the long answer.)

That all led me to wonder how my tweets were being used by others… if at all.  I know what value I am getting, but what do others get out of my 140-character banter?

Sure people retweet what I say or converse with me via my public lifestream at @sherrymain.  But is all the noise I make actually worthy of anything other than building my online-ego?

I came across an LA Times article from May 21 that quotes my tweet verbatim (down to the hashtag!), and associates it with my full-time profession:

Gun scare at UCI serves as test for text-alert system

…Reports also spread through campus through hundreds of messages on the microblogging site, with students sending tweets about helicopters hovering above campus, swarms of police and apparent lockdowns. “For those reporting on #UCI incident, evidence that UCI’s ZotAlert system works, and Twitter helps to spread the word beyond,” wrote Sherry Main, a communications director at UCI.

Someone is listening!  The media are listening, especially  because I wear a communications hat.  So in fact, the primary reason for my tweeting maybe to research the medium, but a by-product of that research is that I represent not only my private self, but any and all organizations that I am affiliated with.

In such a public forum, I must always be “on” – whether I tweet about my restless night at 3 a.m. or the hair in my lunch – people (and the media, which include major papers, bloggers, etc.) are listening and looking for quick, easy ways to obtain and retool information.

I’ve always been consciously aware that anyone can read what I write, but being consciously aware that someone can reuse what you write, is something completely different.

What starts as research quickly turns into addiction – ahem, Twitter and Facebook – especially when my interactions with the respective communities grow.  But the value in this addiction lies in the ability to filter out the noise and extract lessons for both my life and more importantly to carve a career path and expert niche for myself.

Installing and activating your page with Clickable Now is good practice.  Your followers, customers, and constituents may be using either browser, and this is just one more step that will help ease the process for people who want to interact with you on the Social Web.

Install the add-on or script into your browser from here, then give Clickable Now access to your Twitter account.  Once you do, it’s pretty simple (See the screen shots below):

1. Click on the “New Link” button.
2. Drag the link box to the portion of your sidebar that you’d like hyper-linked.
3. Resize to fit the area to be hyper-linked.
4. Enter the email or Web site information, and choose the highlight color.
5. Save settings.

That’s it!  Although this only works on Firefox browsers, and for those who have installed the add-on, it’s a big step forward.  We’ve been wanting the Twitter backgrounds to be interactive for a long time.

You can see below what we’ve hyper-linked @INCULINK or on my personal page @SherryMain.  We’ve added live links to our logo and URL, personal blogs, personal Twitter accounts, and to our Facebook fan page.

Perhaps one day, HTML will go the way of Photoshop layers and allow us to upload custom HTML backgrounds behind the Twitter feeds.  But until then, this will do…

Hat-tip to Todd Defren (@tdefren) of ShiftComm.com.

A few months ago, I wrote a post introducing Aardvark (aka Vark) – a service where your question is broadcast to those mostly likely able to answer it within the Aardvark community.

Vark has been really useful because I can broadcast a specific question without clogging Facebook or Twitter feeds, and count on someone with at least a basic knowledge of my query, to point me in the right direction.

Today, I got an email from CEO Max Ventilla:

Since you’ve blogged about Aardvark in the past, I thought you might be interested in some exciting developments…

…Anyone can join now at http://vark.com using their Facebook account. (We’re integrating with other social networks very soon.)

[Fan them on Facebook too.]

This is a great move on the part of Aardvark.  They’ve really come a long way in the last few months, partly thanks to the growth in number of users.  Once it reaches critical mass, it’s value will increase exponentially.

Five more suggestions that I think will make their tool and brand name powerful are:

1. Allow my Vark Q&As to be published to social network feeds, particularly on Facebook, Twitter and FriendFeed.
2. Facebook app that can also be a tab within a profile where friends can see your Vark profile, and question/answers.
3. iPhone app (this is already in the works)
4. And if an exact or very similar query has already been answered, to automatically “reuse” that answer for faster responses (with a like/dislike option).
5. Vanity URL to profile.  (I’d like “vark.com/sherry”.)

I enjoy Vark because it’s (almost) anonymous social networking: I’m interacting with strangers to help them out, and vice versa.  If you use the instant messaging (IM) tool for Vark, the unexpected randomness of questions breaks up my work day.  Vark “interrupts” subtly by asking “Are you there?” and you can choose whether to engage or not by typing “sure”, “busy”, or “pass”.

Try it out… you’ll be surprised at how much you actually know.

For fun, here are a couple questions I’ve asked:

Q: How do I know when the tires on my road bike are worn, if they have no treads?

A: You’ll start to see threads come through the rubber in places and/or you’ll start getting more flats. Also, if you don’t ride often, the rubber may be brittle before they wear and you’ll see significant cracking in the tires. (Portland, Oregon)

Q: Looking for video to audio converter for Mac/OSX. Any recommendations? (i.e. MOV to AVI, MPG, MP3, etc.)

A: try Audacity (from New Delhi, India)

A: iSquint for basic stuff. If it is not enough, try avidemux. (from Dublin, Ireland)

And a few answers I’ve given:

Q: What’s a great book for beginners to use when teaching themself Photoshop? (from Springfield, Missouri)

A: A nice cheap book: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Classroom in a Book. A more expensive, and better one: Photoshop CS4 One-on-One: Fundamentals (both on Amazon)

Q: Is there a way to take an RSS feed and have my email updated when new entries are posted? (from San Francisco, California)

A: Try Feed My Inbox: http://www.feedmyinbox.com/

Q: What is a nice Agrituruismo (country farm stay hotel) in Chianti region Italy for a family to visit in August? (from Los Altos, California)

A: We loved staying at Podere Le Manzinaie http://www.lemanzinaie.it/ The family was wonderful and amenities great. Included is a dinner with the family one evening.