“Now Is Gone: A New Media Primer for Executives and Entrepreneurs” will be released in early Fall, 2007. The primary thesis of the book is Chris Heuer’s Participation is Marketing concept. Contributing author Brian Solis guided me towards Chris’s participation post, and the rest is history.

In advance of the book, the Social Media Club founder and de facto president took time to sit down and chat with The Buzz Bin. Hear Chris’s thoughts on the participation is marketing concept, providing proper attribution, the Social Media Club as well as the book’s departing concept, Think Liquid. You can’t miss this 30-minute podcast (photo provided by Kris Krug)!

Just got an email from Todd Andrlik: The Power 150 is joining forces with Advertising Age…

The Ad Age partnership will help make the Power 150 an even greater tool (and more powerful) since Ad Age has a dedicated staff, a giant readership and more resources… As an individual who is passionate about marketing, I have taken the Power 150 as far as possible.

Today, the Power 150?s multimetric algorithm ranks almost 350 marketing blogs – 150 plus honorable mentions. Several hundred hours have already gone into creating, establishing and maintaining the Power 150, and this is an opportunity for Ad Age to take it to the next level, immediately creating value for readers as well as listed bloggers (considering the potential for a ton of traffic).

According to the media kit, adage.com gets over 354,000 monthly unique visitors. Across online and print, Ad Age has a a total reach of more than 800,000 people including many senior agency, marketing and media executives every month! Bottom line, the marketing world – including the marketing blogosphere – will benefit tremendously from the Ad Age + Power 150 partnership.

Congratulations, Todd! This is indeed good news for the entire industry. A formal announcement is expected today at 5, CST.

The topic of Internet friends or followers has really erupted into a great debate. A lot of very influential bloggers are not thrilled with the random “friending”that Facebook, Twitter, Pownce and other social networks enable. They would prefer to select friends or sign-off on someone following them on Twitter or Pownce.

These are people that have earned my respect, so this kind of trend or behavior demands attention. You have to appreciate their choices. There’s much to be determined with this friends debate, and many people feel very differently. There seems to be no wrong or right.

For this blogger, it’s important to remain open to being friends with anyone who’s interested in content, happenings or thoughts. You can find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pownce and Twitter. There are several reasons for this open “friendliness:”

• Nomenclature: An internet friend is not a brick and mortar friend. Yet folks get really wrapped around the axle about this terminology, associating it with close relationships past and present. Associating the two seems to be an error.
• Nomenclature: Once can only hope the same is true for followers. A brick and mortar connotation: An attendant, servant, or retainer. Another reason to feel uncomfortable with Twitter. Again, associating the two seems to be an error.
• Internet friending/following occurs for several reasons: Genuine interest, wanting to belong, belt notches (most friends). As a marketer, the reason should be irrelevant, it’s an opt-in.
• Opt-ins don’t mean shameless promo, but in a participatory sense Internet friends are interested in content generated by their network. That means they may be interested in a book, a blog or an application you are developing.
• Once something is on the Internet, it’s really available to just about anyone. So rather than fret about who’s seeing what, it’s safer to assume that anyone and everyone can see it.
• Adhering to the principle of openness in general has been critical to much of the Internet’s success.

The Principle of Openness

The principle of openness on the Internet must be considered a very serious consideration for any going concern, whether it’s an individual blogger/small company or serious application. Openness on the Internet has caused the social media revolution and many other great peering benefits, such as Wikipedia.

Openness created democracy. Openness via net neutrality allowed Google and Yahoo! to prosper. Open APIs have driven great applications and exciting communities such as Facebook, file sharing and also disasters like the widespread adoption of Windows!

Yet in closed, controlled environments, limited opportunities occur. Consider Macintosh versus Windows. Macs are better, but the closed licensing process almost killed this OS. Historically, closed communities can also become stunted and parochial (From the Amish to AOL, and please don’t get PC on me about the Amish thing).

What exactly is the principle of openness? One of Dictionary.com’s definitions for openness, “Relatively free of obstructions to sight, movement, or internal arrangement: an open floor plan.”

Here’s another suggested definition for the principle of openness as it relates to social media participation: Our membership ought to include all who are interested in sharing information. We should refuse none who wish to participate. Membership should never depend upon money or conformity.

It’s a healthy discussion, and really when it comes to the Internet, how relationships evolve are truly up to the entity or individual. The chosen approach dictates how everything will happen for that entity or individual.

Technorati Tags: friends, openness, followers, Twitter, Pownce, Facebook, Kami Huyse, Brian Oberkirch, Jeremiah Owyang, Ken Yarmosh

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The decision has been made, and a little earlier than expected. Specifically, it’s time to fulfill the promise to cut a social network from my regular repertoire.

There are too many of them. With a business to run, a book to promote, and a life to maintain, balance required a change. There have been many entries about the social networks, and the corresponding fatigue they can cause, etc. No one summed it up better than Valeria Maltoni in her great article, “Facebook ain’t about Face time.”

The surprise is that I’m keeping both microblogging profiles, Twitter and Pownce.
Why? Pownce is an absolute blast with great conversations. And Twitter really seams to be the pooling place for communication bloggers. Further, since adding a Twitter badge to the blog Twitter readership has doubled.

Why Cut MyRagan?

In the end it came down to statistics. In the past month, Google Analytics reveals that the Buzz Bin has received 209 visits from Pownce, 68 visits from Twitter and 4 visits from MyRagan. We did receive over a hundred visits from a Shel Holtz mention in the Ragan eNewstand; however, this is a separate entity from MyRagan.

This type of traffic clearly reveals which communities value my participation and time. The decision was easy. A contributing factor made it happen sooner than the promised end of the month.

The Contributing Factor

Originally, this decision was not going to be made until the end of the month. However, Rich Becker and I were trying to launch a forum on MyRagan to help new bloggers get their legs. After getting sign-off from Mark Ragan, we suddenly could not get the forum launched… And there was not a straight answer on why the forum was stalled.

In the time that we got the forum approved by Mark, MyRagan instituted a new approval policy. Unlike other social networks like Facebook, MyRagan has closed forum development, requiring interested users to suggest a new discussion topics to MyRagan management. In essence, they are controlling which discussions can occur…

Controlling content directly contradicts the spirit of social media. Further, who are the judges of what content should be discussed? I would like to know who is so qualified to determine what kind of conversations should occur in a social network.

This is not the first time MyRagan has come under fire for controlling content. Mark Ragan specifically got drawn into a very public incident with the Social Media Club. The control issue plus, to be frank, this incident annoyed me after all of the effort put into the concept. So the decision was hastened.

That being said, when Mark saw my premature Twitter post intending to “ax MyRagan” (nice word choice on my part – head slap), he said in return, “Interesting comment, Geoff. Only I can ax MyRagan. And why would I? It’s more successful than I ever dreamed possible.”

MyRagan is a great concept for communicators. It should experience continued success, and perhaps in the future it’ll make sense to participate. After all, we must continue to Think Liquid. But for that to happen, MyRagan will need to loosen it’s hold on content and community development. In the interim, Rich and I intend to launch the effort publicly on the Internet soon. More details are forthcoming.

One Footnote

Much hub-bub about Facebook and LinkedIn. I have profiles on both (hyper-linked) if you want to “friend” me… I’m not sure how excited to get about either of these networks as they seem to be glorified contact managers with bulletin boards. Of the two, Facebook is more robust. I am always open to participation and conversation on either network.

A client asked what the absolute five must-read marketing blogs were for a new entrant into the social media realm. When I told him who I read, he said no, the easiest blogs for new readers! An innocent, yet painful question that will force me to dismiss some of my friends. Not fair at all. There are so many worthwhile blogs. Here are the five I recommended:

• Shel Holtz: Great blocking and tackling. Always reliable, always insightful, always good and not bogged down in too much social media jargon.
• Diva Marketing blog: Toby’s a blue chipper.
• scobleizer: An easy entre into social media discussion. super influential (would he ever allow the Buzz Bin to interview him?).
• PR Squared: Todd Defren’s got the chops on the PR side.
• Marketing Roadmaps: Susan Getgood keeps it real with straight-up pragmatic discussions.

I couldn’t resist and added five more; the ones I am most actively reading and am influenced by right now:

1. Bran Oberkirch (LikeItMatters): Irreverent, insightful and brilliant. His Twitter posts are equally fascinating, if not better. Great writing style.
2. Chris Heuer: Yoda. Founder of the Social Media club. Participation is marketing concept formed the thesis of my forthcoming book, “Now Is Gone.”
3. Kevin Dugan: Bad pitch blogger’s own PR blog; rich and brilliant.
4. Web Strategy: Jeremiah’s insightful, well-respected with a good tone.
5. Kami Huyse: Very service-oriented ethos, super savvy marketing mind. On semi-maternity leave, otherwise I’d put her in the newbie must-reads, too.

OK, I did the best I could. To my friends who are not on here, I read 50 to 60 blogs a week, bare minimum. You know who you are, and I value all of you (link love is the best evidence). Keep blogging, and I’ll keep reading.

Additions and/or suggestions are welcome…