Content Strategy for the Masses

Shut your office door. Pretend you’re on a conference call or something. Or if you don’t have an office, get a wifi-enabled laptop and sneak into the stock room. Why? Because these videos are important.

The first is an interview with Ze Frank. I’ve mentioned him before. He managed to turn a small experiment into a worldwide phenomenon all by giving power to his audience. He explains it way better. This is amusing and enlightening. 

Next, snoop around the online video player for Ted – Technology, Education and Design. It’s an amazing collection of lectures – and there are great snippets of what’s next in technology.

Kevin Kelly, says the web is less than 5,000 days old and everyone thought it would be “TV, but better.” But it’s so much more, and he looks at the next 5,000 days.

Don’t understand the long tail that everyone keeps talking about? Watch Chris Anderson break it down. Want to know why is a mobile phone an important tool for humanity?   

Sure beats Dancing with the Stars.*

*Please note I have never seen Dancing with the Stars

Just a quick note… The creators of the new search engine Cuil.com, as I reported earlier, said Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge.

That wasn’t so smart .

IT World is reporting many Irish users in an Irish language forum have revealed the word usually means corner or nook.

Heh.

I never said this blog would be pun-free.

Google launched its answer to Wikipedia on Wednesday, Knol. “Authoritative” sources write articles and names are included. But it’s not passive, as comments and feedback are encouraged. 

It’s still very much in a beta stage, as most searches come up empty handed… unless you’re looking for medical advice. At the moment, Knol is chock full of details to instill horror for any hypochondriac.

Want more information? Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Knol. Heh.

I have a messed up gmail account name because I didn’t get my own name in time. Some other Lianne is walking around with my gmail account! I’m sure to those with very common names this is a familiar refrain. Whether your last name is Smith or Roengfieogne (I totally just made that one up), it might be time to claim your identification online.

Why is this important? Everything is a brand now, and whether you’re applying for a new job or just talking to a prospective client, they’re likely looking up your name online to get some additional information. Also, owning your name online ensures you’re in charge of your brand. And take it from me: It’s annoying to explain why your username isn’t your name.

But where do you start? First, I have started to sign up for most new social media applications while they’re in their beta (early) stage to ensure no one else gets it as their user name… in case the application takes off. I also signed up for the two new Yahoo mail accounts, even though I’m happy with my ill monikered gmail account.

Keep it consistent. If you have one email address with a period between your first and last name, keep up that format for the other things you sign up with. I went with my first and last name as all one word.

Getting a URL in your name might not be a bad idea either, but keep in mind you’ll need to use a reputable company to buy the domain. Some clever person has already bought every single last name there is, so if Mr. Roengfieogne decides Roengfieogne.com is the way to go, he might be out of luck –  unless he wants to barter a deal on the domain name from its current owner.

While I don’t know of a company yet that will automatically enroll your name, or brand, into every new online application that pops up, there are companies that try to make this task a little easier. ClaimID lets you track where your identity is online. Within this site, they’ve created a guide to track yourself, which is pretty cool.

Ok. The internet has a lot of information in it. A lot of this information is clutter that’s difficult for a search engine to navigate. So some websites are asking its users to tag images, words, music and other things to help populate search engines and make the internet faster… through games. Yay.

Google started this back in 2006 with Google Image Labeler. I just played it and you just have to keep entering in words you think would match the image on the screen. If you and your anonymous partner come up with the same tag, you get points.

Personally, I prefer Games With A Purpose. The games are really fun, as they’re focused on whether you’re a word person, a music person, a visual person, etc. Just don’t play it at work. The games are timer based and you might end up yelling at co-workers who innocently come up to your desk to ask a question. “Can’t you see I only have a minute left to describe this picture of a cow?!”

There’s also this relatively new one for corporate branding, Brand Tags. There’s no game involved – you just see a brand logo and type the word you think best describes it. I tagged Exxon “spilly.” 

Why is this important? Users are being asked to populate a service they use with the words and phrases they use and understand. Brilliant.