Quick-n-dirty Social Media Podcast: Episode 9 Recap

After a week off for a little family vacation, imagine how relieved I was to find out that I still had a job as a cohost of Quick-n-Dirty podcast. Apparently, Kyle Flaherty, did an admirable job filling in for me but my partner in crime, Jennifer Leggio, decided that he's more fun to make fun of than me so he was the odd man out (sorry Kyle).

For anyone new to the show, here are the recaps of episodes one, two, three, four, five. six, seven and eight. Not that the first couple of shows weren't good but we really started to hit our stride around show five and six so if you're digging back through the archives, you might want to start there.

If you missed this week's show, you can listen to an archive of episode nine here. If you're more of a reader than a listener, you'll find a recap of this week's show below:

1. Featured Social Network: Friendfeed. To be honest, we focused more on the contraversy surrounding Friendfeed that came up a couple weeks back when blogger/uber Tweeter, Aaron Brazell pulled the plug on his FF account. Friendfeed evangelist and big time tech blogger, Robert Scoble was less than pleased because when Aaron pulled the plug, it wiped out all of Scoble's comments. Rather than take my word for it, read Scoble's and Brazell's accounts of the story.
2. Special Guest: Michael Feferman, director of digital for C3. No, we didn't just have Michael on the show because his name is fun to say. But we did invite him on Q-n-D because he works in a job where music meets digital, and in particular, social media. What I liked most about our interview with Michael was his candor around the music industry's need to embrace some of these new ways of embracing their communities.
3. Case Study: EMC thanks to friend, Len Devanna. During the show, I shared the following bullets with the listeners:
   
   * About 18 months old now.
   * Greater than 50% adoption across a global workforce of about 38k.
   * It’s been instrumental in breaking down internal walls (geo, divisional, organizational, etc.)
   * Among initial intent was to drive proficiency with E2.0 across global workforce. I’d say we’ve done that in spades. Many of our current public bloggers honed their voice on EMC ONE pre going public.
   * We’re seeing more and more movement away from traditional processes and migration to online collab via wikis, etc.
   Len was also kind enough to pass along these two links that highlight the importance of EMC | ONE to the company.
4. Featured Twitterer: Ryan Kuder. What was cool about this is that both Jennifer and I know Ryan (her IRL and me via Twitter). I think Ryan was one of the first 250 people I followed on Twitter so he of course has a special place in my heart. What is particularly cool is the fact that Ryan was one of the first people to publicly tweet about his experience of getting laid off from a major company... in this case, Yahoo. If you don't follow him yet, make sure you do because he's smart, funny and always helpful.
5. Point / Counterpoint: Sponsored blogging. Yeah, don't get us started on this one. To be honest, neither Jennifer nor I am a huge fan of sponsored blogging. I am a little softer in my stance around sponsored Tweeting -- something Jennifer has very little tolerance for. One interesting point that Jennifer brought up that I liked a lot was that if companies want high profile folks to talk about their company/products, they'd be much better off hiring subject matter experts -- paid or unpaid -- to support their brand. We didn't mention this but certainly Wal-mart's Eleven Mom's program would fall into this category.

Up next week, we'll be talking about social network, Aardvark and bringing on special guest, personal branding expert, Dan Schawbel. Of course we'll have a featured case study, tweeter and point/counterpoint as well. Be sure to join us!

What, this recap wasn't enough? Well go and listen live or download archived podcasts here.

Experts in the Industry: Len Devanna (31 of 45)

Len Devanna, director Web strategy, EMC is one of the few people on this list I haven't actually met in person. There have been several times where we were supposed to be at the same event but one or the other of us ended up blowing it (mostly me I think). However, between Twitter and our mutual friend, Adam Cohen, I feel like I've gotten to know more about Len and the great work he's doing to bring "social" to a little old company called EMC.

Len is a smart guy and I think you're going to enjoy how he answered his Experts in the Industry questions:

In one sentence, please describe what you do and why you’re good at it.

I help drive online evolution at EMC Corporation, and am good at it because I am truly, truly passionate about the topic.

 

How did you get into the world of online community, social media or social marketing?

It all started with the big bang...  Wait – probably going too far back. In’ 94 I fell in love with the web – well, Usenet at the time. I achieved 30% helpdesk call deflection by simply putting answers to common questions online (trust me – it was an epiphany at the time). Since, I’ve focused my career on helping companies leverage the online realm to better communicate with their audience. The emergence of social is simply the latest step in the evolution. Where the notion of one way information flow was appealing in the past, the ability to now engage and interact opens a world of opportunities that we’ve not even started to tap. 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the impact of friends Jeremiah Owyang and Sean O’Driscoll. Both have a contagious passion for the online world and helped me understand just how powerful the opportunities at hand are.

 

If you had $10 million to invest in one company and one company only based on their use of “social,” which company would it be and why?

Tough to cite a particular company – Rather would focus on the notion of common credentials and reputation management. Many have toes in this pond, but no one has nailed it, yet. To me, this is a MASSIVE opportunity. The ability to traverse the web, leveraging common credentials and being able to bring my likes, dislikes, network, social capital, etc; along with me is truly exciting.

 

Which business leader, politician or public figure do you most respect?

I’ve been impressed with the adoption of the social web by some political heavies. President Obama did a masterful job engaging the younger generation via the usual social channels. I can’t think of any of his predecessors that were so successful in tapping into the younger crowd on ‘their’ turf. I’m a recent transplant to the San Fran area – and have also been impressed with Governor Schwarzenegger’s use of social tools to engage CA residents.

 

Would you join a toothpaste community? Why?

If only I had a dollar for every time I was asked this...  I’d join any community if the subject matter was interesting to me. Toothpaste, unfortunately, is not.

 

Freeform – here’s where you can riff on anyone or anything – good or bad. Or just share a pearl of wisdom.

You get one trip on this ride we call life. Make the most of it. Don’t sweat the small stuff and enjoy every minute of every day. 

Lastly – Aaron – thanks for the opportunity to share a bit about myself and for coming up with such a creative way to connect folks in the community! [Aaron: My pleasure Len!]