Blog Posts About: friends

Have you even had two friends that you knew separately who fell in love and eventually moved in together, got married and created a great couple?  That's what I feel about the news that two of my favorite tech companies (and groups of people) are merging.  Rain City Studios is acquiring Bryght (Press Release) and I'm so excited about the news. Drupal worlds are colliding.

I've been a member of the Bryght and Rain City fan clubs since 2005.  Bryght hosts (and supports) this site, Rain City designed our travel site and more than anything, I've had the pleasure to travel with, party with and brainstorm with a lot of the folks at both companies.  Congrats Robert, Kris, Boris and everyone involved!

I won't ask about kids at this early stage.

Even though the Web makes us all feel like citizens of the world, what matters is often local.  Our neighborhoods and neighbors have a huge impact.  There is a brand-new platform, created by Instivate, a company run by one of our long-time friends and neighbors, that aims to give every neighborhood a site for sharing local news. It's called Instant Journalist.

Here's the scenario:  You sign up for Instant Journalist - it has a monthly fee that's linked to the size of the site.  Right off the shelf, the site is ready for you and your neighbors to start sharing stories, photos and videos, complete with map integration.

Instant Journalist also has a bunch of cool features that make the site easy to customize.  Here's my favorite:

You can right-click on almost any text on the site and change the copy.  If you don't like the tab that says "Your Neighborhood", you can change it in two clicks - no geekiness required.

You can see a demo of Instant Journalist here or a screencast on the posting process here.  It's new, so if you have feedback or thoughts the folks at Instivate would love to hear it. Congrats to Scott and Instivate for getting it out the door. 

I just got an email from Patrick O'Keefe, a friend that I've known through the web for years. His story got my blood boiling and I want to share it.

Updated:  Patrick will not have to give up his site (for now).  

Patrick owns a Mariano Rivera fan site at MarianoRivera.com. Here's the banner - notice the "unofficial" part. Rivera is a relief pitcher for for the NY Yankees.

Just recently he was contacted by SFX Baseball, who represents Rivera. Without any other contact, they have accused him of cybersquatting and creating the site to...

trick people into coming to this website instead a website operating with Mr. Rivera's approval.

Further...

they "demand" that I immediately cease and desist my use of the domain name and give it to them. They want written confirmation saying that I will do it by 5:00 PM on August 10 or they'll... well... do what they need to do without any further notice to me.

Now, I am not a lawyer, but I imagine that Patrick may end up having to give up the domain - but it's not about that. This article has more info on the personal name/domain name issue.

What gets me (and Patrick) is the automatic accusation of unethical behavior. The lawyers came to him having ruled, judge and jury, that he is a thief or criminal. Maybe the sports and music lawyers should get together - strongarming is sooo 1980.

Patrick and his site are completely legit, as he says:

It's not like we're selling forged autographs, trying to trick people into something or passing ourselves as official. This is a good fan site. We've been in operation since April 4, 2004 - that's 3 years and nearly 5 months. We are the largest (and perhaps only) Mariano Rivera fan site on the internet.

Again, this isn't about the legal case - it's about being cool - you know, like The Fonz. I get so frustrated when I hear about lawyers reacting this way. Haven't we moved on yet?

To blindly throw around offensive boilerplate letters and try to throw us up against the wall like a typical cybersquatter is completely, completely inappropriate. I don't know why they couldn't have approached us respectfully and asked nicely? Maybe thanked us for what we've done and offered to work with us or something.

He is a fan with nothing but good intentions to support an athlete - and they treat him like a criminal? Patrick's site is about the best, most wholesome and legit site Mr. Rivera has on the web right now.

I wish Patrick the best in fighting this. More than anything, I want to bring light to tactics that I sincerely loath. I have no love for people that work this way. Patrick deserves better. Pass it on.

More on this story here.

Did you know that in a recent survey by Harris Interactive that only 16% of the online public know what a wiki is? For some, this will seem surprising. Others will say "what's a wiki?"

I had coffee today with my friend Kevin Flaherty of Wet Paint, the Seattle-based wiki company. He told me that they were perplexed that "wiki" was deemed one the 10 most annoying words on the web, so they ask Harris Interactive to do the survey comparing "wiki" to the terms social network, blog and online forum. Here's what they found (full results here):

16% of the US online population is familiar with what a wiki is. Even if you just look at the online trendsetters (18-34 year olds), only 27% of those online users are familiar with wikis.

Blogs, which have universal awareness among nearly anyone reading this post, are only familiar to 35% of online users. And familiarity with social networks as a category still ranks below that of online forums at 28% and 35% respectfully.

For context, consider that 76% of the same population know of search engines and 97% of toilet paper.

What does this mean? It means that we're making assumptions about what people understand about our online world. There is more misunderstanding than understanding and more confusion than solution.

What really gets me about this is that wikis, RSS, social networks and blogs are all accessible and potentially useful for the general public - but they're not being adopted as quickly as we'd imagine. The culprit, from my perspective, is the language we use to describe and promote them. It's too easy to forget that we're in the minority.

My advice to promote more awareness is to stop talking like a brochure and tell a story. Don't talk about what your product is or does - tell people why they should give a damn. Use real world examples and show how a problem gets solved. Look at every word you use and consider the simpler options.

You might not earn the respect of programmers, but you might just turn your Mom onto something that will save her time - and we all need more time.

In the last couple of weeks two people I know have made the jump into the independent world and I think we'll all be better off for it. Both are focused on the social side of the web and bring with them a ton of real world experience.

Jake "Community Guy" McKee, someone I've known for years and consider a great friend created Ants Eye View. Here's how Jake describes his services:

At Ant’s Eye View we concentrate on providing as many services as possible within a very small niche, namely online and offline social connection between company and consumer.

I have no doubt that Jake will do well. And, man that is a cool logo.

Joshua Porter at Bokardo has become one of my favorite bloggers - he consistenly has pertinent, informed and smart things to say about social design. Josh recently created Borkardo Design, where he'll put his smarts to work. Here's how Josh described his services in a recent post.

I’m going to offer the exact services that I write about here at Bokardo: Interface design and strategy for social web applications. For those of you who have read Bokardo for a long time, nothing that I offer will be a surprise. I’m simply putting into practice what I’ve been preaching…so to speak.

Welcome to the independent world Josh and Jake. I'm sure you'll do wonderfully and I hope we can find ways to work together.

I wish I could comment on every blog post and link back to all the good folks that say nice things about us as a result of the videos.  Unfortunately, I haven't been so good about keeping up, and that's a shame. 

The truth is, you've been amazing in making this all come together.  It's been a wild ride to see the videos get passed around and to see our name on so many sites. It sometimes feels like a dream.  As one indication, we're currently the 813th most linked-to blog according to Technorati (for today anyway).

As a way to say thanks. I want to give a shout-out to a bunch of folks that have been a big part of our growth through linking to us and saying nice things.  Go visit their sites and subscribe to their RSS feeds.  

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"This is one of my all time favorite video blogs, at first, I was worried this would be just a series of one-offs, but Lee has created a handful of “web in plain english�? videos called the Common Craft Show.
Really easy to understand, very succinct, and very helpful. If only consultants and lawyers could speak so clearly." Jeremiah Owyang, Web Strategist.

"These videos are a great primer for folks who want an explanation of what RSS and Wikis actually are. They’re fun, too."  Joshua Porter at Bokardo

"There you go - quick, painless, might even have stuck in your head. Guaranteed that at least some readers here will now shoot this around to colleagues, maybe even friends and family, to help explain these things."  Dan at BizTechTalk

"The creative people over at Common Craft have put together another helpful and easy to follow video." Mike

"Lee Lefever of Common Craft continues to make his elegantly simple videos of Web 2.0 concepts. This one on the definition of social networking is a must watch."
James Keylim

"These CommonCraft guides are ideal for those who are uncertain/newbies or anyone looking for the bare bones of how some familiar Web 2.0 tools work... thanks to Lee Lefever at Commoncraft for this latest gem..." Mr. Harrington - an old welsh dragon.

"This video is so brilliantly and elementarily insightful - I love the slide that talks about how a network can give you money and love. Enjoy."
BuzzCanuck

"I love the plain English series that Lee LeFever does."
Beth Kanter

"It's short, sweet, and if you take the time to watch it, you'll notice just how much it emphasizes the organic, human element of online interaction through social networks."  Chris

"I love this video from Lee Lefever that explains social networking, because I could show it to my dad and he'd understand it." Opinionated Marketers

A team at KM4Dev put together a paperworks video in 1.5 hours.  Check it out: Paperworks homage

"Those clever folks at Commoncraft.com have created a short video explaining social networking in plain English." fortyniner

"What’s changed today is that I’ve just seen a short video which explains very clearly, very non-technically, with entertaining pictures, the underlying structure of a wiki and how to use one." Business and Blogging

"I love it when someone comes along and explains seemingly complicated things in terms that even a CMO can understand.  The folks at Common Craft have found a way to boil down popular social media tools to their most basic features and benefits -- focusing more on what people can actually do with these tools than on the nuts and bolts of the underlying technologies -- and bring them to life in short, charming video vignettes that make for perfect introductions for anyone that is still mystified by new media."
Greg Verdino

"I think just about anyone will understand this, and probably go away realizing the many ways that RSS could save them time and improve their information digestion.   I love it when people explain things in a way that just makes sense...with words better than those I could have come up with." Sarah at Librarian in Black.

"Watching this video is good for two reasons*: 1. It explains how to use a newsreader in a way that is clever and simple to understand. 2. It proves that you don’t need broadcast-quality production values to create a killer how-to video." Rex Hammock

"The irony of the video RSS in Plain English is that it is simultaneously one of the clearest and most engaging explanations of RSS I have ever seen and also a vivid demonstration of why RSS has not gone mainstream �?? how can something that takes 3.5 minutes to explain be a killer app?" Scott Karp

"In the meantime, here is the best example of explaining RSS that I’ve seen. Thank you to Common Craft for creating this video." Dawud Miracle.

"This video falls in the footsteps of his previous video on RSS in Plain English which spread across the blogosphere nearly overnight (see our post here). These videos just keep getting better. Keep up the great work Lee!" Nick Finck and Blue Flavor

"If you have ever seen me present my half-day or full-day seminars for IAB Canada - Interactive Advertising Bureau on Social Media Marketing and Web 2.0, you know how much I love to use the Common Craft videos to explain new online channels." Mitch Joel

"If you are confused about RSS, all you need to do is watch the video on the linked page. I guarantee this will clear up 99% of the confusion when it comes to understanding RSS." Todd Cochrane at GeekNewsCentral.

"Great video from Lee and Sachi LeFever working to craft a better explanation of RSS for everyday folks." Chris Heuer at Social Media Club.

"It is also just a fun video to watch, as it is created with paper, pen, and whiteboard.  Low-tech but very effective!" Becky Carroll at Customers Rock.

"Thank goodness for Lee LeFever over at CommonCraft, whose new video does for wikis what his last video did for RSS. The next time you need to explain a wiki to someone, just show them this:"  Shel Holtz.

"Anyway, Greg Verdino has done me a favour by reminding me exactly how clever the folks over at Common Craft really are." Gavin Heaton.

"The Common Craft Show: A Case Study in Video Awesomeness
Their first, “RSS in Plain English�? was a very accessible intro to the complicated world of RSS feeds.  In just one month it’s become an international sensation and there’s no reason why the video won’t be passed around long into the future.  This week Common Craft released their second video tutorial, “Wikis in Plain English.�?
Marshall Kirkpatrick

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Again, thanks to everyone your kind words and links. There are a lot more videos on the way