chris brogan unplugged

Think Before Trying to Build Relationships

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 13:04:44 -0400

Here’s one: before trying to build your audience, THINK about who your audience should be, figure out where THEY are, and then go find them. If you think it’s interesting to me, tell me. If you just think it’s interesting, that *might* be interesting to me, but it also might not.

Further, relationship-building comes from people getting to know you. It comes from you contributing to the communities you hope to join. Get to know me and understand what makes me happy before you try to push your stuff on me. Especially if it’s not really a fit.

And me=you, if you think about it. Right?

Connection and Passion

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:50:15 -0400

The tools are not the message. The people are the message. The tools are here to support you, to agument what you’re doing. Learn how to use them, and go forth.

You know what might be a great project? I think you would do better than me talking about a situation where you’ve used the tools to do something you’re passionate about, or to do something where you connected via social media.

Put a link to me or a reference to me or something, and I’ll read every blog post you write. Hell, my site’s still down. I might as well read YOURS.

The Power of Friends and Networks of Kindness

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:36:26 -0500

My website is down. I have approximately 7000 tweets and direct messages and emails and SMS text messages to prove it. Thank you for your kindness.

But here’s what matters:

Friends came right to the rescue. I have seven or eight people all offering to jump in and help out. By the way, I’m taking one friend up on using his hosting company, and will shift my accounts to him.

For everything I do on the web, the most important part are the people. When people come up and ask me how to make millions, it’s kind of the hardest thing in the world to explain, because it’s not what I’m doing on my site, and it’s not what I’m doing with making media. It’s not the direct THING ; it’s the connection.

You know that, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know” expression? It’s more true now than ever before.

MEET people. Connect. Share. Put your best work out there. Work the HELL out of making connections and find the people doing what you love, and who love what you’re doing. THIS is the payload. THIS is how I do what I do. And if you learned NOTHING from reading my site over the last bunch of years, know that the “secret sauce” of being Chris Brogan is that. Humans. People. Connections.

The tools are just tools.

Sorry you can’t comment. Tumblr doesn’t have it normally (not sure why). Weirdos, Tumblr.

My Website is Down

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:05:20 -0500

Sorry for the delay, everyone. I’m having a problem with my hosting company right now. They tried to help me yesterday morning, and have not yet resolved my issue. I’ve been told several times that we’re oh so close to making it work. So, we’ll see.

In the mean time, here’s a placeholder.

Sorry. You’re very important to me.

I Think FeedBurner is Tweaked

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:42:47 -0500

What’s up with this?

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Wow. Nothing says love like lackluster email spam: Greetings; My name is Tina, I’m the...

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:59:55 -0500

Wow. Nothing says love like lackluster email spam:

Greetings;

My name is Tina, I’m the webmaster of http://www.direct-hotels.co.uk .
I have visited your site ( chrisbrogan.com ) and I believe a link
exchange could benefit us both.

I’m offering you the following: If you place a link to my site in your
website, I’ll place a link to your website on the Hotels links page.

I’ll provide you the details. These are my sites info:

TITLE: Malmaison
DESCRIPTION: Compare hotels and rates - Cheap, Luxury, Boutique and Spa
hotels. Discount hotel accommodation in Manchester and around the World.
URL: http://www.direct-hotels.co.uk/hotels-malmaison.htm

And these are the site where I would place a link to your site:

http://www.hotels.nl/partners/ (page rank 5)

If you are interested, please add my link to your site, reply to this
mail or at dsc0103@gmail.com and I would gladly add your link in my
site after I verify them.

Thanks a lot for your attention, hope to hear back from you.

Regards;

personal mail: dsc0103@gmail.com

What they’re looking for. Boobies. Tee hee.

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:09:22 -0500

What they’re looking for. Boobies. Tee hee.

Where people come from and hit my blog.

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:08:57 -0500

Where people come from and hit my blog.

Which ONLINE Reminder App Do You Use

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 20:52:05 -0500

I asked Twitter which online reminder application people were using.

David Jacobs | davidjacobs — Vitalist. Built on GTD concept and support integration with Jott. You call call in tasks.
Doug!as Cootey | TheLaughingImp — Found a good review for to do lists (http://t-l.cc/3yv). iPhone centric, tho. http://todoist.com gets great reviews, btw
Doug!as Cootey | TheLaughingImp — I use http://tadalist.com at the moment, but wish Apple released a task manager for the iPhone that synced with iCal.
linuxchic | linuxchic — I like Remember the Milk so much I paid for their pro account. I can even control my tasks and get reminders through Twitter
Jason Benway | benwaynet — I just started using http://www.rememberthemilk.com so far so good, I’ve also used http://www.30boxes.com
Bryce Moore | abiteofsanity — I’m old school… no online task list/reminders… old-fashioned pen and paper in a Dayrunner.
Andrew Flusche | aflusche — Remember The Milk
jeffmadison | jeffmadison — I’ve tried to use “iwantsandy” but haven’t quite got it all lined out yet.
Howard Greenstein | howardgr — - Online task- I’m still stuck with Exchange since it works with Blackberry. If you find better -document. Must work with BB.
Liz Strauss | lizstrauss — … maybe that’s my problem hmmm which ONLINE app for reminders. I forgot I should have one. damn.
Christopher Penn | cspenn — I then have gCal sync with spanning sync to iCal and iSync so my iPod and phone prompt me for reminders along with SMS/email.
chelpixie | chelpixie — todoist
Tommy Vallier | tommyvallier — A combination of Google Calendar and Remember The milk 11
Christopher Penn | cspenn — google calendar and quicksilver. I can create instant reminders in quicksilver and they appear on my gcal.
Darin R. McClure | darinrmcclure — google calender, even sends updates to my iPhone.
Glenda Myles | GlendaM — I use toodledo to create and track my to do list and I get an email daily with task list/update as a reminder.
Andy Kaufman | andykaufman — - google calendar & I set reminders (sometimes multiple ones for the same event)
Eddie Awad | eddieawad — I use http://www.rememberthemilk…. Google calendar works too.
Tessa | driveafastercar — Remember The Milk mostly, some GoogleCal
Jane Quigley | jquig99 — 37Signals BackpackDave Olson revyd —. Jott.com
jeremyfranklin — entourage
Amie Gillingham | gillie — combo of 30 boxes for personal and basecamp for business

My Inbox

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:59:23 -0500

There’s other mail just below where I cropped this, but that’s the last 2 hours or so of my inbox.

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Which Blogging Platform and Why

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:43:00 -0500

I asked Twitter which blogging platform people used and why. Here’s what you said back.

Jennifer —Started off with Blogger. Easy but too limiting. Moved up to WordPress hosted then exported to self-hosted. Love themes/plugins
Meg Fowler — it’s the best looking and easiest to modify — and google likes me in it.
Paisano — Wordpress.com because it came with free eggrolls. Just kidding. Read much more positive feedback for WP vs Blogger.
Raymond — wordpress.org : free, open source, lots of plugins.
Teri Lussier — what @cspenn said.
Sam Harrelson — ReveNews is on MT4 and it’s terrible compared to Wordpress (even for a “group blog”). We’re switching to WP soon.
Doug McCaughan™ — I chose WordPress b/c someone I read used it. Good choice! Think it was @kristyk http://kristyk.org/
Joshua Nichols — rolled my own for the experience of it.
creativivi — - Reach, laziness (feedburner + Google login = easy to use Blogger) Will move up to Wordpress when I grow
Jane Quigley — I use both WP and TypePad because I wanted to check them both out, WP was easier
Jeff Turner — Wordpress. Used & Tested Blogger, Typepad, Vox, Moveable Type, others . Nothing close in my opinion.
Jay Martinez — i am in agreement with @cspenn
Christopher Penn — wordpress for its plugins and price tag.
Kris Smith — because i wrote it ;-).
Lauren Vargas — My main blog and teaching blogs are Typepad, but I am using Wordpress for clients.
Mike Allan — - WordPress is the easiest and most adaptable platform for blogging - hands down!
Heath Row — I hung out with Ev in his apartment in ‘99 during one of the CoF Roadshows
Sarah Wurrey — - For one I use Typepad, for another Wordpress, and for another Moveable Type. I’m a schizo-blogger!
Krish — Wordpress hands down. Opensource, extensible with plugins and if @factoryjoe has his way, my own social network. WP all the way
zenaweist — a few of the blogs I contribute to were already on blogger so it was a natural for my own blog.
danoph — i’m building my own CMS/blog platform. Wordpress is too complex. 6
derrickkwa — Mainly because I had the account for quite a while. Ease of use and convenience, I guess.
Mike Keliher — WordPress.org seemed a good combination of free-ness (open-source), flexibility (plug-ins) and support (online community).
eric dolecki — its free, i install nothing ever, and is pretty flexible. 7
Barbara K. Baker — WordPress: free and easy, like so many things on the Web ;)
Daniel Johnson, Jr. — I chose Blogger back in January 2002 because it looked like the one with the shortest learning curve at that time.
Vergel E — choose Drupal originally for the flexability… switched to Wordpress cause of the easy of use and simple user commenting tech.
kristen crusius — because my inner geek wants more control! 9 from twitterrific
Andrew Flusche — WordPress - I love the flexibility and the endless supply of plugins. Plus, it works darn good!
Doug Haslam — Wordpress.com on recommendation from @edlee, someday will un-lazify and do Wordpress.org

Events for 2008

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:14:21 -0500

I asked Twitter and LinkedIN about events to attend in 2008. What follows is the list I got back from various sources, in URL form. I’m not necessarily speaking at or attending all of these, but here’s my list and/or what I’ll consider.

These came without URLs, but hey, there’s Google:

TED
InternetWorld
JupiterMedia
SearchEngineWatch
iMediaConnection
OMMA
MIXX
AdTech
Advertising Week NYC

This list doesn’t count PodCamps. I’ll attempt to reach as many of these as possible.

I Ask Twitter About Choice

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:58:00 -0500

People, by and large, WANT serving suggestions for life. They WANT imposed structure and constraint. They crave guidance. Yes/no? Thoughts?

Here’s what Twitter said back:

Kyle Ingrelli quantumparticle — thats the exact opposite of what I want.
Meg Megin — yes & it makes parenting interesting- provide tools & skills to succeed traditionally yet encourage passion and trailblazing.
John R. Carman CarmanAvenue — I make sure that my ideas aren’t that great, so nobody else will claim them.
etherius etherius — “…and his chain long enough to give him the illusion of freedom.” — Hank Parnell
etherius etherius — “Man is everywhere a wolf, yet he longs to be a dog - and all he asks is that his collar be comfortable…
MYKL.biz MYKLbiz — I don’t spend much time w/ such folk, but SOMEone is watching all that highly rated bad TV and shopping at the malls.
Mark_Dykeman Mark_Dykeman — - serving suggestions are ideal for those too busy, tired, sick or lazy to think; most of us are in that group at some point!
Vincent Ferrari vincenzof — I 100% agree. If there were a manual for not screwing up your life, I’d buy it. Serving suggestions would be nice!
ElisabetMcLauryLewin podcastmama — I concur w @indiefeed - As a parent of teens, I see a lot of the rules and structure I provide as something to rebel against.
Laura P Thomas LPT — - unlimited options often lead to inability to chose/act - think that’s why people crave some constraint.
Ed Illig Illig — i.e., to say online same paradigm holds true. I’m busy. A UI and offerings should address a target-concise, beneficial, tested
Cathryn Hrudicka CreativeSage — I would say different types of people need different amounts of structure & guidance. A key mgmt skill is to manage all types.
Critt Jarvis Critt — USA? Not a democracy, but rather a constitutional republic.
Dawn LyriqueTragedy — I tend to agree, but people also like to think that they come up w/ ideas on their own regardless of how much advice they seek.
Brian Solis briansolis —, hey thanks for including the book in your roundup!
Critt Jarvis Critt — We like choice—imposition can be choice— and we like transparency. A simple rule set, outlining constraints. Trust in proxy.
Johnny Baker Johnny_Cr — - if something is left too wide open, people have a hard time using it/making good choices. Boundaries create good choices.
Gordon Brander gordonbrander — Only if it’s not their expertese, or they don’t have time. If you can do it well and easy for them, that’s a win. So, yes/no.
Ed Illig Illig — Restaurants: I’m set asea when faced with sev. hundred select./combos. I figure food’s their biz— make me an offer, expert.
Michael E. Gruen gruen — : methinks you answered your own question. (it’s so meta!) about 1 hour ago from web
scottmcdougall Scottwitter — music metaphor, without structure there is no freedom, think about music w/o tones, scales, beat. Earth turning is structure.
Jason Theodor jted @ chrisbrogan - Remember art class? Tell people they can draw anything and they freak out. “What should I draw? Tell me!” Most prefer a box.
Jon Plummer jplummer — People want less choice, but the right choices. Not so much imposed constraint as gentle or benevolent constraint (guidance).
Jonathan Coffman jdcoffman — I think they want a little bit of guidance, but don’t necessarily need us to feed it directly to their mouths just make it easy
Lance Weber LanceWeber — with recipes you are free to tinker with ingredients/techniques because you’re focused on making good food, not the process…
angela penny apenny — i think that there are at least two types of people. Some want / need structure and other’s don’t.
Spangles Spangles —. No, people want the choice to choose. im
Seth Eagelfeld Obstructionist — They want to know that they’re doing the RIGHT thing (ie what everyone else is doing). Yes, give people rails and they’ll ride.
Chris MacDonald indiefeed — they often want structure so they can define and distinguish against it
leslie1120 leslie1120 — For the most part, I totally agree, but its such a fine balance. Too much structre can stifle anyone
Lance Weber LanceWeber — - I like the concept of having recipes to use in life. GTD is a great set of recipes for example.
P.D. Love LoveHouseRadio — I agree that many people want to be guided and even more want structure…
Cynthia Armistead technomom — Yes, the majority of the people I’ve known are followers. They want that structure. They aren’t the people I choose to ass …
Bryce Moore abiteofsanity — Sure, but not when it’s accompanied by its usual self-righteous backhands.
Kevin Honeycutt kevinessdack — People want EASY, they want to add a new thing to their life and forget it.
Phillip Zannini phillymac — In general, yes. People, even the most unconventional ones, create frameworks they are comfortable living within.
Jill M. Foster Jillfoster — — yes! Said structure can add context and focus in decision making.
Christopher Penn cspenn — the human mind likes order, structure, and guidance, even at the expense of our own natures.
Cynthia Armistead technomom — What are serving suggestions for life?
audaciousgloop — yes, just look at the number of “how to” books on store shelves. Some quite dogmatic. about 1 hour ago from
Merlene Paynter Merlene — but is that nature or nuture? Look at how our schools are designed & operated. I think ppl are brainwashed to require structure
Jim Long newmediajim — of course! that’s why there are search/recommendation engines

Now THIS is an interesting use of SecondLife. This is Amazon...

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:04:00 -0500

Now THIS is an interesting use of SecondLife. This is Amazon showing off a simple model application built using S3 and EC2. If this is really running as a representation of something on the web, and not just a play/replay model of behavior, that is cool.

Does someone smarter than me in SL things know whether SL can see state like that, or is this just a play toy?

I Asked Twitter about Managing Failure

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:36:00 -0500

When I asked Twitter how people manage failure, I got this in 10 minutes of pulling:

Garrick Van Buren - http://tinyurl.com/22togc . Failure doesn’t need managing. It does just fine. 3 minutes ago from web
MikeESSDACK - Failures are opportunities in disquise..Learn to fail fast, do an autopsy on it, change, and move on..makes life exciting 9 minutes ago from Snitter
akaMonty - Failure is nothing more than an ingredient in the recipe for success. 10 minutes ago from web
Yianni Garcia - OLPC has been Twittering for 2 weeks. With only 36 updates we’ve gotten 478 followers. Twitter success story? 15 minutes ago from web
Yvette - First, I cry. Next, conduct a post-mortem. Then, move forward, quickly. 16 minutes ago from web Icon_red_lock
Jess Kutch - I collect failures for use in discussions/presentations with other colleagues. Learn from failure, then teach others. 16 minutes ago from web
Jen Zingsheim - I manage failure first with chocolate, and then I buckle down and resolve to learn from my mistake(s) 16 minutes ago from web
Jeff Caylor - Not really a management technique, but failure it infinitely less painful when you have a community of friends to lean into. 16 minutes ago from twitterrific
Pistachio Consulting - yup, an important part. try to determine what broke down. realign strengths with ur contributions, weaknesses with delegation. 17 minutes ago from web
Ike Pigott - intelligence = diagnosing & learning from your mistakes. Wisdom = learning from *others’* mistakes. 18 minutes ago from web
sampad swain - - By Making the best out of it…. 19 minutes ago from web
Roger Goun - I manage my failures by sending them back to Apple. 20 minutes ago from im
Amie Gillingham - by trying to understand what & why things went wrong, and making the leap of intuition needed to move on when possible 21 minutes ago from web
Lauren Vargas - Accept and move on 23 minutes ago from web
derrickkwa - The biggest thing is acknowledging that. And not taking it personally. Too often, people equate their own value to their work’s 23 minutes ago from Snitter
Rick Mahn - Accept that I do fail and use similar techniques to @cspenn (nicely put by the way, @cspenn). 23 minutes ago from web
DougE - It is failure that makes winning worth while. 23 minutes ago from web Icon_red_lock
Chuck Olsen - I manage failure through transformative alcohol consumption. 24 minutes ago from web
Tracy Lee - Failure? There is no failure, it is just another step to success. If not for failures, how would we ever measure success? 24 minutes ago from Snitter
Christopher Penn- personality flaws deep inside me often manifest as individual failures. repair the flaws and the rest follows.
Wicked Stepmom - If you have learned from the experience, then it’s in no way a failure. 29 minutes ago from web
Christopher Penn - I look for weaknesses in my mind and spirit and find ways to turn them into strengths. Transform failure into success. 30 minutes ago from twitterrific
Karen Cardoza - failure is unacceptable to me so I drive myself crazy trying to plug away till I find what works.
Scott Schablow - Then: write down what you will do differently next time. Keep this handy and refer to it when you are making desicions. 2 minutes ago from Snitter
Scott Schablow - Take the time to look inside yourself for an honest answer as to why you failed. Write it down. Tear it up and throw out. Then: 3 minutes ago from Snitter
David Howell - there is no such thing as failure. 34 minutes ago from web
Scott Goldblatt - you manage failure by accepting it 34 minutes ago from web
dewelch — Weeping? Gnashing of teeth? Nah, just jump back in and try another method. You can’t win them all.
scott_goldblatt -you manage failure by accepting it.
ikepigott —intelligence = diagnosing & learning from your mistakes. Wisdom = learning from *others’* mistakes.

I forgot that I asked about this in June, and that Becky McCray captured it then, too.

Thank you so much. I am so thrilled that I’ve cracked...

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:34:23 -0500

Thank you so much. I am so thrilled that I’ve cracked 2000. I’m so excited by this, because it means that we’re getting more people into the conversation. Thank you. Truly. This is like having a holiday gift early.

I spent most of the night hopped up on Vault Zero, hiding in the bathroom flitting from idea to...

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:17:57 -0500

I spent most of the night hopped up on Vault Zero, hiding in the bathroom flitting from idea to idea.

I’m lacking some kind of organizational tool to capture it all. Might have to break down and buy Xmind.

Kitchen Philosophy

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:59:28 -0500

Kitchen Philosophy