Today I was part of a roundtable discussion about social media’s impact on storytelling with brilliant social media strategist Rohit Bargava, the amazingly talented musician Daria Musk, founder of Future of StoryTelling Charles Melcher, and storytelling expert (she wrote the book) Annette Simmons. Watch above and be sure to attend the Future of StoryTelling event in NY on October 3, 2013.
How To Search For Twitter Usernames Directly From Chrome.
It’s been bugging me for months. I wanted a better, easier way to search for people’s Twitter usernames directly from the Chrome omnibox, without using a Google search.
Welp, I finally figured it out.
Step 1: Right-click on the Chrome omnibox and select “and select “Edit Search Engines…” (or go to Preferences > Manage Search Engines).
Step 2: In the “Other Search Engines” section fill in “Twitter User” in the “Add a new search engine” field, “@” in the “Keyword” field, and “https://twitter.com/search/users?q=%s” in the “URL with %s” in place” field. Click “Done”.
Step 3: Start searching. Simply type “@” with a space after it, and your omnibox will turn into a Twitter User search box.
Step 4: Profit.
The Deep Focus 2013 Outlook Is Here.
My team at Deep Focus has put together a fantastic and insightful look at the year ahead in digital and social media.
Take a look. Lots of good stuff in there.
Demand A Plan.
Click to enlarge.
I urge you to visit demandaplan.org, and take some simple steps that will have great impact.
This full-page ad is running in todays NY Times, page A9. Thanks to Ken Lerer, Ron Conway, Eric Hippeau, and Fred Wilson for making this happen.
Please also take a moment to read Fred Wilson’s blog post today.
Why You Shouldn’t Freak Out Over Instagram’s New Terms Of Use.
This happens every time.
Social platform changes its terms of use to enable it to serve ads on its platform.
People freak out. Threaten to quit. Write manifestos.
People forget.
People go back to normal.
That’s because every time it happens, it’s not as big of a deal as people make it out to be.
Instagram just changed their terms of use, and especially because it’s a photo-centric service, people are freaking out that their photos might get sold without their permission. I just don’t think that’s what this is all about.
Here’s a caveat: I’m not a lawyer. But what I’m getting from all of this is that the common thread with all platforms that make a change like this is this: The granting of a “non-exclusive license”, which is meant to give a social platform the right to hold your content on their servers, and then serve it to other people — in accordance with your privacy preferences, of course. It’s a form of “temporary ownership” or “temporary transference of rights” that Instagram legally needs to serve something you created.
Not to sell your photos.
Rather, they want to use your use of their (free) service to sell ads that will be seen by the right “you”s.
The quote from this Lifehacker piece in 2010 is pretty spot on: “if you’re not paying for something, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold”. It’s YOU. Not your photos.
Instagram is selling you. Ironically, people seem to be more ok with that.
So while, yes, the legalese could probably technically be interpreted to grant Instagram the right to sell your stuff directly, my hunch is that just as Facebook did, they will issue a clarifying statement.
Jimmy Fallon. Facilitator of Creativity and Sharing.
This is something you have to see. My observations:
1) The best thing about Jimmy Fallon is that he gives The Roots opportunities to make make magic like this happen.
2) I am genuinely surprised by how good Mariah Carey sounds here.
3) The Roots make great music from instruments you would find in any first-grade classroom.
4) I don’t find Jimmy Fallon as funny as I find him creative and a great facilitator of other peoples’ creativity, and someone who is acutely aware of what people want to share.
Bravo, Jimmy.
Facebook’s External Ad Network is Around the Corner.
As gigaom reports, Facebook’s external ad network is coming. Read all about it here.
I’ve been saying this was inevitable since (before) 2010, as the stars have been aligning for this to happen for quite some time.
From my 2010 post:
It seems to be an inevitability that all of this intelligence will one day soon be applied to power a socially-targeted ad network as big (or bigger than) Google’s AdSense. It would be a network that would theoretically deliver even better results for advertisers, resulting in higher CPMs/CPCs/CP-whatevers that can deliver higher payouts to publishers, making a choice between the two platforms a not-too difficult one for those publishers.
For everyone that bought into Facebook stock, this is a very big reason to believe.
Amazon’s New Manifesto.
Is this the new “think different”?
We’re the people with the smile on the box. We’re the re-inventors of normal. We dream of making things that change your life, then disappear into your everyday. And when we build you something new, you can expect everything to change a little more. Look around. What once seemed wildly impractical is now completely normal. And “normal” just begs to be messed with.
Reality Check: Why There Is No Instagram For Video.
Every week, there’s a new buzz around an app that is purported to be the “Instagram for Video”.
It was Socialcam, Viddy, and several others in the past. Today it’s Ptch.
But I can confidently say that there is no “Instagram for Video”.
And for anyone over the age of 16, there may never be.
The main reason is that our brains care more about candid still moments than candid moving moments.
Think about it. If you go to a friend’s house and they have a wedding album on the coffee table, you’re likely to open it up and start a conversation about the people, the wedding, the couple, or anything else that it might inspire.
But say that same friend asked you to watch their wedding, or vacation video. Even just clips from the wedding or vacation. That’s not wistful reminiscence. That’s torture. Because we all know that vacation (or any amateur) videos (unless directed by Ridley Scott) are probably going to be boring. And we all know that the video you’re sharing with us on the next “Instagram for Video” is probably going to suck.
Celebrities may dominate these new apps, and spam may be used to distribute them, but the “Instagram For Video” is a MacGuffin, and probably not happening any time soon.
But if it does, I’ll revisit this post 
Social TV: Water Cooler Effect Gone Online.
On June 19th 2012, I spoke at the 140Conference in NYC with my friends Rishi Malhotra (Managing Partner of [212]Media) and Caroline Giegerich on the evolving state of Social TV, and how the “water cooler effect” has materialized across devices, and online.
Full video of the session is below.