Forecast from my social media barometer

PodCamp Toronto is an unconference at its best – a volunteer planned two-day event every February on the campus of Ryerson University – where URL meets IRL with equal parts learning and socializing. The casual atmostphere takes you back to days when social media was mostly outside the status quo.  Of course PodCamp, like social media, is more mainstream but that entropic start-up energy is still very much at its core.

This year, I gave a talk called 'Social Media Barometer' – my take on some of the recent trends and changes happening in the social communications space. It's by no means exhaustive; more of a roundup of some of the developments and tools that have caught my attention recently.  And it's all new material, so to speak.

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Meet my new personal assistant

It's Google.  

Yep. The Internet behemoth is keeping track of little old me.  Not too shabby. You'd think I'd be happy to be chosen for such an honour.

But the thing is, I haven't been plucked from the crowd, it's more a case of not being able to opt out.

Like many of us, I'm a big Google user. I enjoy their products, how well they work and how integrated they are. Because of the company, I learned how to spell and almost understand algorithm. I'm also a fan of their minimalist design aesthetic.  

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Memories…Facebook turns into the way we were

Facebook wants to become our repository for nostalgia, or as Mark Zuckerberg says, the ‘story of your life’. And soon your Facebook page will resemble the DNA of your past. That is, once you get the new profile and Timeline (mine is above).

But is that where you want your life story written and displayed, all wrapped up in a nice neat package – that changes its wrapping rules all the time? (more…)

Toronto social media events – fall edition

A few weeks ago, Jay Baer wrote a post recommending some of the social media conferences he’s speaking at during the fall – and it’s a great list (including the PRSA conference Inside PR is attending).

Mark Skeffington, a former social media student of mine, asked if there was a similar list for Canada.

There isn’t to my knowlege, so I thought I’d put together a subjective overview of the social media conferences and events I’m looking forward to in Toronto over the next several months. (more…)

Privacy and publicity – can they ever be friends?

I read a disturbing feature in yesterday’s New York Times about ‘sexting’ and its potential to cause harm.   (more…)