Archive for July, 2010

10 Tips to Help You Do Better Interviews

I received this message from Andrew Dechellis on my contact form this week: Hey man I have a question, I was wondering if you could help me out with. I am going to be interviewing Jordan Romero (youngest person to ever climb Mt Everest – 13yrs old, completed in May 2010). I have writing in my past but never really have interviewed anyone before. Any tips or pointers you could shed light on would be great, or any articles you’ve read would be awesome. Thanks. Andrew Thank you, Andrew. I do a lot of interviews, mostly because I enjoy the process.  It’s a great way to connect with new people while also creating content.  If I had to pick one my favorites so far, it was my interview with Natalie Malaszenko and, more recently, with Chris Brogan. I’ve learned a few things along the way.  Here are some ideas: Tips for Doing Killer Interviews Get to know your interviewee before the interview. Have coffee or a beer or dinner.  Skype if you are at a distance.  Google their name.  Search the social web for mentions of their name, blog comments, videos and any profile they might have.  Do good homework by learning their personality, what’s important to them, and what’s unique and interesting.  Most importantly, let them also get to know you.  Familiarity, and even a basic sense of trust, will make for a much more comfortable and open interview session. Use video every time. Even if you only intend to do a written interview, you can capture more of the interviewee’s tone and voice by having a visual recording.  We humans communicate more with our nonverbal cues than we do with our words.    Using video also gives you the ability to naturally ask questions and stay engaged in the conversation, without having to stop and scribble [...]

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How Radio Can Win at Facebook

The convergence of radio and social media fascinates me.   Radio, unlike television or print, seems to have significant gains to make by learning to work inside social media and tap into their passive listener base.  Think about it.  From the user end, radio is a very passive form of media. For years, radio stations have focused dollars, time and loads of effort on producing live events.  From live concerts and happy hours to on-location contests and parties, radio stations use events to connect with their listener base in hopes of creating loyalty. Fast-forward to now.  Social media has made it possible for events to happen on the web. Do you see the connection? Social Blitz What the 99.7 The Blitz is doing on Facebook is impressive. If you visit their fan page, you’ll notice that there is no customization.  No special tabs.  No custom applications.  In fact, you won’t even find one any of the free applications that are available in Facebook’s application directory installed. It’s bare bones – and it’s working really well. What The Blitz (specifically, their morning show with Blazer and Mo) does have is the power of mass media, a targeted niche audience and solid engagement from their Facebook page fan base.  Win! Lessons from The Blitz I love this case study.  It highlights a critically important aspect of social media strategy: social media is more about sharing the right content and having active human users, rather than shiny technology. Here are some lessons that we can all learn from how the Blitz is using Facebook: Be Your Audience Blazer, Mo, and most of the DJs on the blitz, are the demographic that they target.  They are rock fanatics, with active social lives, who share a sense of humor with their audience.  Being “one of us” is important in [...]

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Sprint EVO 4G Review #3 – App Organization & The Android Market

This is a continuation of my reviews of the Sprint EVO 4G.  I’m now two weeks in and getting more comfortable with my new sidearm. Organization of Apps There are some aspects of the Sprint EVO 4G that I really enjoy – the most prominent of which is the general speed of the operating system (and device overall), as compared to the iPhone 3G I was carrying. Android seems to have bet their chips on the idea that your average smart phone user will typically use the same set of 20 applications (on a regular basis).  The organization of the apps on the Sprint EVO 4G seems to make it very easy to get to your top 20, but makes it’s bit more cumbersome to get to apps outside of that select group in a hurry. It’s a decent idea, but I still fancy Apple’s new take on folder organization. 3 Downfalls of the Android Market In buying into the Sprint EVO 4G, I’ve had to completely relearn how my phone operates.  One of the most stark differences lies in the user experience of the Andriod Market and Android Applications, as opposed to Apple’s App Store and iPhone Applications. Here’s the breakdown of three differences I think are most noticeable: 1)  I’ve noticed a increase in the amount of comment spammers. These folks post comments on specific apps with the intention of driving traffic to third party app directories.  It’s not at all helpful in terms of learning about user perspectives, and, frankly, a bit annoying. 2)  The organization of the Market is cumbersome. Application titles are vague and it seems to take more clicks to get to information, regarding what each app does.  That alone has somewhat turned me off to seeking out new apps. 3)  There’s a noticeable difference in the variety and quality of the apps in [...]

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