The Future Buzz

Are you a leader or a follower?

A huge trend across the spectrum of professional industries is personal branding.

Thanks mostly in part to blogs and social media, there exists an exciting new landscape to easily see who the all-stars are in every field.

Simply handing someone a resume is already dated. If you’re a professional and think a strong resume and great references will win you a high level position in the future, think again.

Intro

I have strong thoughts and passion on this subject, and decided to put down just some in a feature connecting the music and news industries with a little history, the future and why everyone needs to come together and not fight change.

As both an artist and someone who works closely with the media industry, I believe I have a unique perspective on how similar the challenges are facing both of these industries and how it is unfortunate that the big players are using their positions of power to destroy a beautiful evolution of technology and communication.

This evolution ultimately will impact society in an incredibly positive way, bringing down the gatekeepers and creating a completely open and free cultural and information economy.

That is, if we (the independents) can win, and the laws are not bent to the fortune of the few when the power of the many is what will most benefit humanity.

Did you LOL yet?
Obvious part out of the way: Lolcats are a hugely popular internet meme. If you’re unfamiliar with what an Lolcat is, well it’s actually quite simple. The meme involves combining a photo of a cat with some quirky text to create a humorous image (I included a few in my 50 Viral Images article).

Here’s just one recent Lolcat photo:

There are an immeasurable number of Lolcat images floating around the web across platforms. If you Google lolcat, you’ll get more than a million results.

I previously wrote how TechCrunch had been nice enough to ship me a free, signed copy of Sarah Lacy’s new book: “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good – The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0.”

I’ll try to just add my opinion and not go into too much detail as I don’t want to ruin the book for you.

In one sentence: this book is essential material for everyone involved in the web 2.0 world. It’s a fantastic read of how we got where we are, the entrepreneurs pushing the envelope and the culture behind the scenes of Silicon Valley.

Spam protection on the web is a big deal.  Especially for independent publishers who don’t have much time to to focus on anything besides creating content for their site.
Many people think that spam only comes in the form of those annoying email messages you receive offering you pharmaceuticals or stocks, but there are many types […]

Treating the web like you treat the rest of the one-way media outlets as a PR person or marketer is dangerous. It isn’t a broadcast medium, it is a communications medium. It’s a two way street. That’s why banner ads are so ineffective and search ads are so effective.
Search ads […]

Huge thanks to TechCrunch and and Sarah Lacy - I opened up my (physical) mailbox today to find a signed copy of Sarah’s new book, titled “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good.” You guys made my day!

Saw a contest on TechCrunch giving out some free copies of the book if you leave a comment, […]

I’ve written previously on how the print newspaper is a dying breed, and how web clips are worth far more than print clips. Today I’d like to go into why traditional newspaper operations still have much to learn about the web and why they will have to adapt in order to survive.
Anyone reading […]

Technorati, in case you’re unfamiliar, is the ultimate blog search, directory and ranking site. They have created the ranking system for the blogosphere, and to be in the illustrious Technorati top 100 is to be known as one of the influencers of the Internet.
Technorati current tracks 112.8 million blogs and more than 250 million […]

The New York Times is reporting that a daily print newspaper in Madison, Wis. is moving to an almost purely online format.
They are pretty smart – clearly this is the trend. In a digital world, print newspapers are becoming already irrelevant. They say the future is here now, just in isolated pockets. […]