The writers are doing a great job communicating their story on the Internet. I wish them luck, and will be doing what I can as a fan to support them. If you want a good summary of the issues, watch these two videos.
And check out these sites:
- Fans4writers
- United Hollywood (sign the petition)
- Writers Guild of America West
- Writers Guild of America East
- Pencils down means pencils down
The issue is resonating particularly loudly in the fandoms I follow, chiefly the Whedonverse and Battlestar Galactica. Joss Whedon has posted on Whedonesque multiple times and Ron Moore of BSG just started his own, personal blog (versus the scifi.com one he sporadically posted to last year.) And of course writers Jane Espenson and Mark Verheiden, whose blogs I read on a regular basis anyway, have been covering the strike in their usual articulate fashion.
Tags: WGA, writers strike, Whedonverse, Battlestar Galactica
If we do not agree on gay marriage, does that mean we cannot discuss healthcare? If we do not agree on abortion rights, does that mean we cannot discuss childcare? If we do not agree on the war, does that mean we cannot discuss the economy?
Certainly, it is in the best interests of the major political parties that we stay so divided. But is it in ours? I do not think so.
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Okay, that’s the political discussion. On to social media. As I mentioned, I attended the unconference, sponsored in part by my client HP, and I have nothing but good things to say about it. The format and facilitation were great, and I got as much out of my four hours there as I did from the previous two days. That wouldn’t necessarily be the case for every BlogHer, but for us quasi or totally techie social media types, it was heaven! I wish I could have stayed until the end.
I participated in three topics: advertising on blogs, the death of communities and how do we define social media. The discussion was terrific, and I can in no way do it justice here. My notes are pretty awful 🙂
But I would like to share with you some things I shared with my fellow "open spacers" last Sunday. And not just that John Mackey from Whole Foods was a jackass for his anonymous Wild Oats bashing, which he was but I’ll let others wax eloquent on that. I have no time for a public company CEO with so little responsibility to his shareholders.
Back to the unconference. The three sessions I participated in gave me an opportunity to share two themes that I have been noodling for quite some time. The response in Chicago was pretty positive- thanks, BlogHers, and Hims. Would love your thoughts as well.
First, a common issue that seemed to underly all the discussions was the delta between what customers/bloggers are interested in, and what companies seem to put out, whether in advertising, blogger relations or communities. I’ve long thought of it in terms of product — task — emotion. Companies love their products, sometimes understand that tasks, not features, motivate, but rarely understand that the true motivation is the underlying emotion: WHY the person wants to do the task. Jack Vinson from Knowledge Jolt, created a good example from my starting point: We understand that the drill (product) is purchased to drill holes (task) but what we miss is that the real purpose is to build a birdhouse and watch birds.
There is almost always a higher order, emotional purpose. Look for it.
Then over lunch, we tried to come to a definition of social media, and were only slightly sidetracked by Whole Foods and furries, but not thank heaven, in the same sentence. Mackey is a vegan after all.
I shared a construct that drives my thinking of social media. For me, social media are the tools that let us return to a simplicity of communication not dissimilar from the village. Here’s how it goes.
Way back when, we had villages. And in the villages, everyone knew everyone. Call it the beat of a drum or gossip or simply society. People spoke with each other, and directly learned what they needed to know. And then everything exploded. The Industrial Revolution begat the Modern Age, and mass media intermediated. You didn’t get your information from someone you knew. You got it from Huntley & Brinkley, Chancellor, Tom, Dan and Peter. Mass media became the filter to our experience.
And then the Modern Age begat the Internet. And social media tools like blogs and social networks and Twitter and whatever comes next…. they allowed us to talk to each other again. Directly. Without editors.
Which means we filter a lot of crap. But it also means that a landlord can’t bamboozle a young couple. And companies can’t dismiss warranties. And a whole lot of other things.
Because we know each other again. In our little village called the Internet.
At least that’s how I see it. What do you think?
Tags: blogher07, blogher, politics, gender, unconference, social media, social networks