Tarah's Digital Voice

At iCrossing, we recently launched a marketing thought leadership series called Real-Time Insights. The first set of videos focuses on the implications of Google Plus and Google Plus Pages for marketers. I look forward to your thoughts.

To see the full playlist, just hit the little TV button to the left of "CC".

Videos on playlist: 

• Why CMOs Need to Embrace Google+ Pages Now
• Is Google+ the Next Facebook for Marketers?
• How Can Marketers Use Google+ Hangouts?
• What Does Google+ Mean for Search & Social?

Our first observation was that the air smelled amazing; it was like the whole city had been washed and we had fresh sea air flowing in.

The worst damage was on Dekalb Ave, where a tree had been uprooted and fell on a car, pulling up a portion of sidewalk with it. I was impressed that the city had already cut off the branches that were blocking traffic and bundled everything on the side. Go NYC!

In Fort Green Park, there were a lot of small branches down, but I only saw one large branch that had fallen to the ground. The tennis courts and part of the trail was flooded, which kids and dogs were playing in. See the video below for a short clip of our dog, Taj, frolicking a bit. It was nice to see him be so adventurous, as he usually avoids water at all cost.

Enjoy the photos and video!

This is an important and poignant discussion about how social and search algorithms have begun to filter our content, based on what it thinks we want. While this might be great when you're shopping on Amazon, it has dangerous implications on our awareness and understanding about what's happening in the world and our communities, outside of our most immediate or most frequented spheres. Pariser makes the point that when the Internet first launched, we had human editors; the problem with algorithmic editors is that they don't have the ethics, the moral compass to ensure that people are seeing what they NEED to see, not just what they might want to see.

I have to agree. I geek out on what tech can do for us every day, but this is exactly why I curate all of my own feeds on my social networks - it lets me choose the voices I want to hear, rather than letting a machine decide which content I should see, based on my past behaviors. Consider that if you do not curate your own filters, you're not seeing posts from a number of your connections, but you're also probably not seeing everything that the people you interact with the most are posting; you're only seeing the types of stuff you've interacted with from them before. That's a problem, in my opinion.

One of my favorite parts about the Internet has been serendipity, discovery and the expansion of my worldview. If we remove that, we might as well abandon the web and go back to insular, local communities.

Watch this TEDTalk and let me know what you think. It's only eight minutes, but it's eternally important.

viaTED.com

It’s a sad, but unsurprising day: Comcast has decided to kill the group that I helped to launch back in 2005, the NBCU Digital Studio (http://bit.ly/lbAMaC). This was an innovative, forward-looking vision, initiated as MySpace was being bought by NewsCorp and YouTube by Google; a time that, I would argue, was the beginning of mainstream digital content.

When I was there, the group was filled with immensely talented folks, from video, design and interactive, and I can say that we created some really game-changing work...that rarely saw the light of day. The tragedy, and the reason I left, was that the NBCU brass didn’t buy into the vision that they had approved and funded. The bureaucracy moved too slowly and various execs didn’t want to rock the boat, as they were comfortable with the ancient model. I’m not surprised that the support didn’t increase over the years, leading to this ultimate demise.

Since I left, several of my former colleagues, such as Ryan Noggle, have continued to produce great video series, all for brands, nonetheless. However, these projects were few and far between, as they only greenlit projects that were fully sold through to brands, who would underwrite the production and an interactive experience around the series. This makes sense, from a business standpoint, but I assume that their hands were tied by the restrictions of network television advertising – an old-school approach to the pairing of brands and content – and were, largely not supported by the rest of the network. Once in a while, a digital series would receive an on-air mention or be featured on NBC.com, but largely, these initiatives seemed to be treated as isolated digital brand campaigns, disconnected from the NBC Entertainment entity. I am sure that the pitches heavily played on the sexiness of making a show with NBC, but as a consumer, I believe that they weren’t given the prominence or context they needed to truly succeed.

To me, this means that the Digital Studio was essentially a creative digital agency, yet it was being run by entertainment professionals, not advertising professionals. That’s not all bad (heck, I started out as an entertainment guy), but to succeed in our business, an organization needs leaders and team members with deep expertise and understanding of the advertising business and the way that marketers think, along with the talented storytellers and entertainment pros. Even more importantly, it needs real, long-term commitment from the company's executives, which comes from an understanding that this is still an emerging business; one that requires time, innovation and experimentation to develop a profitable business unit.

When Comcast acquired NBC Universal, I’m sure they had to take a hard look at every department, analyzing it for its profitability and value. Even more than that, I’m sure the NBCU execs had to think about which initiatives they were willing to fight for, an even bigger risk than normal in the face of such a massive acquisition. I’m not surprised that they didn’t fight for the Digital Studio; they never did. Honestly, I’m surprised that it lasted this long.

Fortunately, there are other companies that are fully committed to this mission and to finding that appropriate balance between content and marketing. There's one in particular that I'll be speaking about very soon. Stay tuned.

What do you think about this decision? What do you think killed the promise of the NBCU Digital Studio? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Back in April, DigitalFlash NYC asked me to participate in their monthly panel series and exclusive networking events. I was honored to share my perspectives on the creative process of digital media, drawing from my experiences as a filmmaker and producer, founding member of the NBCU Digital Studio leading creative development, creative director at various advertising and marketing agencies, and digital strategist (read my full story here). It was a lively conversation, covering both the vast innovation that is happening in video, design and interactivity across digital platforms, as well as the formidable challenges that we face, both from business and technical perspectives.

The video quality is not spectacular, but it's valuable content, so I thought it was worth sharing. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.