Posts from — January 2010

This is the recorder that started it all for me.  I started podcasting in 2005 and latched on to the iRiver MP3 player because it also could record with an external or internal mic.  It is a great tool and was very popular among early podcasters.  Since then quite a few solid state recorders have come along like the my Edirol and Marantz PMD-660.

I have kept my collection of iRivers for one reason.  I can use record several people all at the same time at a remote location.  With my four recorders, I can record eight people with excellent fidelity.  That would get expensive with newer recorders.

I did have a panic when the iRiver software would not work with Windows Vista.  After some searching on Google. I found the solution to keep the iRivers in my toolbox.  Here is what I did to upgrade my iRivers:

• Find a Windows XP computer.
• Load the iRiver Music Manager 3.17 software from iRiver USA.
• Download iFP-800 Series Firmware V1.95 UMS and extract it.
• Connect the iRiver and use the Music Manger to upgrade the firmware.
• You now have the equivalent of a USB drive.  You can record and then download the files when the Vista computer recognizes the  iRiver as an external drive.

I was so excited to be able to extend the life of my iRiver recorders.  The Edirol is my primary recorder, but I regularly carry a backup (or two).  Even when recording video, I will record a separate track of just audio – just in case.

My thanks to Jan Karlsbjerg for the details to make the firmware upgrade work. 

It is final.  Scott Brown won the senate race in Massachuttes.  I say social media won, as well.  There were many factors that helped him win, but I think his use of social media will be highlighted as crucial to his success.

I have to point out the caveat again - ”‘a correlation does not necessarily mean there is a cause and effect.”‘  Scott Brown did not win just because he had more Facebook fans and Twitter followers.  But, it is interesting his campaign did leverage the Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube to a greater degree than Martha Coakley.

Whether a cause or just a coincidence, I think social media is the winner in this off season election.  Social and new media tools will be critical in the upcoming election season.  Here are some others who think so too:   Real Clear Politics and ePolitics.

Obama did it in 2008.  Will Scott Brown do it in 2010?

New Media tools and Social Media tools are certainly finding their place in election campaigns.  For the last few election cycles, the campaign website has been a given.  What is new is the integration of  new media and social media tools.  This early special election in Massachusetts between Scott Brown and Martha Coakley will foretell the direction of the social media winds in the upcoming election season.

Since today is election day,   I don’t know the results of the race.  So, I can’t say yet if each campaigner’s online presence affected the outcome.  But, I can say Scott Brown’s use of new media and social media tools has brought him from underdog status to race equal.  That is clear.  As I did my research for this post, there we some subjective points that mirrored the numbers.  As I show the numbers below, I’ll explain my other observations.  Here is a quick look at how the two campaigners stack up in the social media arena.

Scott Brown is clearly the numeric leader in the Facebook race.  On election day, Martha Coakley has 17,540 fans and Scott Brown has 95,946 fans.  That’s a ratio of about 5:1.  What does this say?  Only that Scott Brown put more effort into Facebook.  When I searched for Martha Coakley’s Facebook page, I found three fan pages each with a different picture.  One of the fan pages was a “negative” fan page.  Another of the fan pages was in support of her, but contained negative images from “fans.”

Update:  As I get ready to publish this, the two “negative” fan pages do not appear after a search.  This clearly demonstrates how dynamic this online environment is.

Although Martha’s website had video on it, her real fan page did not.  In contrast, Scott’s fan page did have video.  For the latest post on each page, Scott had 4,394 “Like This…” and 1,225 comments.  Martha 352 “Like this…” and 106 comments.  Clearly, Scott Brown has far more interaction and participation with his fans in Facebook.

The story is similar in the Twitter space.  Scott Brown has 12,280 Followers to Martha Coakley’s 4,073.  This is a ratio of about 3:1.  Both have a similar number of tweets.  On the qualitative side, Martha Coakley seems to be interacting a bit more with her followers while Scott Brown appears to be using Twitter as a “broadcast” tool.  Scott Brown has a very clear call to action on his twitter page.  This “action image” changed to be perfectly appropriate for the day- election day.  This shows me Scott Brown has an online election campaign strategy in place to leverage social media tools.

My statistics teacher would be proud that I remember “A correlation does not necessarily mean cause and effect.”  If Scott Brown wins today, it does not mean he won because he leveraged social media better than Martha Coakley.  It just means there is a correlation.  It is something to watch.  I’ll leave it to the researchers to decide whether leveraging new media and social media is the new winner in election campaign strategy.

Jakob Nielsen, called the guru of web page design by the New York Times, just published his report, 10 Best Intranets of 2010.

Three points from the report stand out for me.

Mobile access Only 30% of winners had mobile enabled intranets. This is low compared to many world wide websites. The report sees this as a growth area.

Social networking tools Social media tools were common on the winning intranets. This included features for both employees as individuals and workgroup connections.

Emergency Preparedness 40% of the winning intranets had integrated some features for use in crisis situations. Some winners had learned from experiences with previous disasters like Hurricane Katrina. The inclusion of emergency preparedness indicates intranets are becoming a key part of the enterprise, communication infrastructure.

What can you do with this info?  Plan to integrate these winning features into your intranet and external website.   I know I’m extrapolating from a report on intranets to external websites, but the reports acknowledges faster adoption of these tools and techniques on external websites.  So,  if your enterprise lags in either arena, start planning.

This report reinforces something I say all the time.  You have to be where the people are. Seems obvious enough.  The report says people are increasingly in two places – on their smartphones and on social networks.

More people are using smartphones in their personal lives and in their business lives.   So whether it is for business or pleasure, the tool is there.  The smartphone is the “forth” screen after Big screen, the TV screen, and the computer screen.  You have to be where the people are.  This is just as true for your external customer as it is for your widely dispersed, mobile workforce.

As the use of the world wide social web grows, the thought of connecting and collaborating through social networks will become less novelty and more reality.  Enterprises can plan now to enable workgroups to be more engaged, involved, and  productive.

On the last point, Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “… plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”  Nobody can have the perfect plan for an emergency, but the process of planning for it will be invaluable.  So start planning how to leverage your website and intranet during an emergency.

Be where the people are – mobile and social media; leverage web technologies during emergencies.  These are what top businesses are doing.  What are you doing?

This brings back the feeling of soaring for me. I hope it stirs something for you, too.