Robin Good

If you want to get some ideas and inspiration about how you could use online video to significantly increase your company social media marketing impact, look no further. I have collected here for you the very best video marketing examples of some popular corporate brands. Photo credit: Elizabeth EngleVideo marketing on the web is positively one of the most effective ways in which companies of all sizes are taking up the social Web as their preferred marketing channel. Though, there is not an official set of categories for videos used as social media marketing vehicles, I have divided the set of video examples I have selected here for you, in three different categories that differentiate the video format and typology of use:a) Video Tutorials: Tutorials explain in a short video what your company / service / tool is about, and how it works. There is nothing like a short, immediate video to communicate effectively with your customers.b) Viral Videos: Maybe these should be labeled, "wanna-be viral videos", as there is no way to tell if a video is going to get "viral" before having published it. These are generally funny, spectacular or ironic videos that rapidly gain a huge popularity on the Internet by the sheer power of word of mouth and linking from other sites.c) Commercials: These are the classical video ads, sometimes with a sprinkle of new ideas and designed to have a long shelf life on both traditional TV and the Web.d) YouTube Channels: These are video company channels to collect all their TV commercials and any user-generated videos or feedback from passionate customers.Media analyst and social media marketing expert Peter Kim has grouped on his own web site a terrific collection of social media marketing examples, providing a list of companies that use social media marketing to sell their products and services on the Web.Among the many cool examples available in Peter Kim\'s huge list, I have personally selected the very best online video examples that have been recently used by commercial companies. Here all the details:

Social Media Marketing: Best Online Videos (Hand-picked and extracted from Peter Kim\'s Social Media Marketing Examples)
Video Tutorial: Alltop Online MagazineAlltop is a web magazine that aggregates RSS feeds on different topics and and allows its users to check them in an easy-to-use interface without registration or subscriptions of any kind. In this short video tutorial the company explains how Alltop works, and which topics you can find inside the web magazine. Very simple and straightforward.

Video Commercial: Big Rock Beer Ad ContestEvery year, Canadian beerBig Rock launches a contest where its consumers compete to create commercials promoting Big Rock beer. The video above is the 3rd place winner in this year "Television Commercial" category, showcasing an Indiana Jones-inspired cartoon.

Viral Videos: Coca-Cola "Can\'s Professional"Have you ever tried to toss a Coca-Cola inside a trash can? The "Coca- Cola Can Professional" guys sure had. The Coca-Cola Company shot a series of three videos where 5 young guys toss a can of coke into trash in any way. Why is it so clever? Because it is user-generated, and of course because before tossing a can, you have to buy one.

Video Commercial: Dove EvolutionIn this video commercial, beauty companyDove promotes its Real Beauty Campaign. The strategy is to record a video of the girl next door while preparing to star in a printed ad. The make-up, the hair-styling, and all the photo retouching procedures which completely change the girl\'s appearance, are filmed in fast-motion to let the viewers immediately glance the before / after differences. The message: so-called real beauty is not always so real.

YouTube Commercial: EA Spore and Youtube IntegrationThe popular video gameSpore from Electronic Arts and Maxis, lets you create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore universe created by other gamers. A unique feature of Spore is to create your own character and then upload the videos of your creations to The Official Spore Channel on YouTube to let other players watch it.

YouTube Channel: Intuit QuickBooks Video AdIntuit QuickBooks is a provider of business and financial management software for small and mid-sized businesses. The company has a YouTube channel with all their TV commercials and offerings. Above an example of a QuickBooks television commercial showcasing why you have to pay greater attention on how you manage your business sales.

Video Commercial: Microsoft "Inspiration, Anyone?""Inspiration, Anyone?" belongs to a series ofviral marketing videos created by Microsoft Advertising. Microsoft shot these videos to promote the launch of an online marketing community aimed at bringing together marketers and advertisers. The goal of the community is to overcome the difficulties of creating marketing campaigns that consumers feel distant and annoying.

Video Sharing: National Geographic Everyday ExplorersEveryday Explorersis a section ofNational Geographic Online web site that contains user-generated videos. After you register to the site, you can upload and share your videos showcasing how you see the World around you. You can then share your videos with other users, leave comments, and rate the videos you like most.

Viral Videos: Girlfriend on Nintendo Wii FitDon\'t be fooled by the amateur rendering of this video: Nintendo hired Tinsley Advertising agency to promote the Nintendo Wii Fit, a work-out accessory for their popular Wii video game console. The great idea is that you never see a Wii or a Wii Fit in the video, but just a girl using it and his supposed boyfriend enjoying the scene. Simple and effective.

YouTube Channel: Quicken Loans User-generated Video CommercialInstead of creating a classic advertising campaign to highlight the benefit of their mortgage company, Quicken Loans has chosen to let its clients tell the whole story. The company has a YouTube channel where satisfied families can upload their videos telling their own experience. Isn\'t reality the better form of advertisement?

YouTube Channel: UK Government - Number 10
The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has a YouTube channel where UK citizens can upload a video with questions for the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown in person will then provide a public video answer that all the YouTube community can watch.

If you enjoyed this collection of videos based on Peter Kim\'s list of social media marketing examples, I suggest you also check out this other article on MasterNewMedia: "Social Media Marketing: Widget Examples Of Corporate Uses And Applications", where I personally hand-picked the best widget applications among those selected by Peter Kim.

This resource list has been put together by Daniele Bazzano of MasterNewMedia - Original resource list of social media marketing examples prepared by Peter Kim for Being Peter Kim and published on November 23rd 2008 as "A List of Social Media Marketing Examples".

About the authorPeter Kim is a former analyst at Forrester Research and international marketing manager at Puma AG. A well-known personality in the fields of social media and marketing, Peter Kim currently working to build a start-up to help clients formulate social computing strategies. ...

Video publishers are in for some good news today. There is a new web service that lets you pull together multiple video feeds from sites like YouTube, Hulu, Comedy Central, and more in order to create your own Internet TV station.Photo credit: iloveotto And if you love Post-it notes, I have an awesome Web 2.0 solution that will do what the Post-it note did to your desk... organize your online and offline world, and help you remember where you found all those interesting things. In this issue of the Visual Communication Sharewood Guide, I will share with you those two tools, plus six more that include, among other things, great solutions to let you create and embed charts easily, as well as a new web-based image and photo editor.Here is the list of my hand-picked visual communication pearls:

• ffwd - A web video aggregator that allows you to create your own personalized TV station on the Web by pulling video together from any source.
• Evernote - Allows you to capture information online and offline using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time from you computer or other web-enabled device.
• ZapLive TV - Allows you to stream live video on the Web and create your personal TV channel.
• Hohli Charts - Allows you to create almost any kind of chart easily and then embed or share it anywhere on the Web.
• PiZap - Fun web-based photo editor that allows you to add different effects like stickers and thought bubbles, and then share them easily throughout the Web.
• Polyvore - A web-based collage creator and social network.
• Meez - A site that allows you to create a customizable 3D avatar of yourself that can be your virtual you.
• Dezignus - A community of graphic designers that offers a bunch of free resources and inspiration to help you with your design project.

Here all the details:

Visual Communication Tools

1. FfwdFfwd is a social video aggregator that allows you to create your own TV channels by mixing content from around the web, and discover new videos recommended by ffwd based on your favorite shows and interests. Ffwd aggregates content from all over the web, including but not limited to Hulu, YouTube, Funny Or Die, and Comedy Central. Ffwd also allows you to create your own custom TV channel from that content, and then share it with others.To help you share your content with others, ffwd recently released a feature called Twitter Connect that lets you populate your Twitter stream with ffwd channels and videos. Additionally, ffwd also offers a bookmarklet that lets you send any video you find on the web to your Twitter buddies with a single click. Finally, through their ffwd API, ffwd wants to make access to the videos being shared through ffwd available on any platform, whether it be on your desktop... in the living room... or mobile, by providing developers with an easy way to build applications that work seamlessly with ffwd. http://ffwd.com/
2. EvernoteEvernote does for the web generation what Post-it did for their mothers and fathers. Simply put, Evernote allows you to capture information whether online or offline, and makes that information accessible and searchable at any time by seamlessly synchronizing your new notes with your database on the web. Your database of \'memories\' can then be accessed across all the devices and platforms you use, including your web-enabled mobile device like the iPhone or from Windows and Mac computers connected to the internet.Evernote works like this: offline you can snap photos of any thing from whiteboards to business cards to wine labels, and Evemote takes those images and puts it online (on their servers) so you can access that information from any device that is connected to the internet. To simplify retrieval of all that information you have stored, Evernote makes text within those images searchable. Online or on your computer, Evernote can be activated with a click of a button and Evernote can save the full HTML of the web page you are viewing, save only the text that you have selected, or your screenshot. Evernote also allows you to generate tags for every web page, text element, or image that you save so that you can easily find it later. Your notes can then be searched by tag, date, and even location (Evernote Mobile has a geo-location feature that automatically tags your note with the location where it was uploaded).http://evernote.com/
3. ZapLiveTVEver wanted to create your own live TV station? ZapLiveTV allows you run your own free live TV station over the Web. ZapLiveTV streams your live broadcasts via the Internet for viewers all over the world. All you need is a camera and a computer connected to the internet, and ZapLiveTV does the rest. You can even stream your content in from a mobile phone.ZapLiveTV is a p2p based streaming service like JustinTV. So what that means is that the quality of the video that is being streamed depend on the number of people watching it. The more people watching the video, the better the streaming. Also like JustinTV, you can chat live as the video is being streamed.http://zaplive.tv/
4. Hohli ChartsLooking for a simpler way to create charts? Hohli Charts helps you to easily produce charts of different types and sizes that you can embed, share through a link, or copy as an image file. The site runs on Google's chart API, CSS and Javascript. Hohli Charts lets you create anything from bar, line and pie charts to Venn diagrams, scatter plots and radar charts. The charts you create can vary in size and different sizes can be selected to fit the design layout of your website, blog, presentation, or whatever other purpose you have in mind for you chart.Hohli Charts brings simplicity to the chart creation process as well. From beginning to end, you can create and preview your chart without ever having to select a \'next\' button. After selecting the type of chart that you want to make, you just need to continue scrolling down the page and fill in the necessary information. If you are curious about how your chart will look while you create it, Hohli Charts offers a preview feature that follows you around and provides real time previews as you edit your chart.http://charts.hohli.com/
5. PiZapPiZap can be both fun and useful. PiZap is a free online photo editor, but it takes a different approach to online photo editing than other services like Adobe Photoshop Express and Flauntr. If you are looking for a true photo editor, then PiZap is not for you. The photo editing effects are limited with PiZap, but where PiZap shines is that it gives you a way to quickly jazz up your photo by adding your own elements to it (thought bubbles, stickers, emoticons, symbols, etc) through a simple drag and drop interface.On­c­e y­ou­ h­av­e fin­ish­ed­ working­ on­ y­ou­r m­asterp­iec­e, y­ou­ can save a web-ready JPEG to display on your favorite website, social network blog, or even save it to your computer. PiZap adds another twist by allowing you to place your finished photos on physical objects like T-shirts and mugs, and then order them through the site.http://pizap.com/
6. PolyvorePolyvore is a free, easy-to-use web-based application for mixing and matching images from anywhere on the web and a social network. At the moment Polyvore seems to be geared toward (and dominated by) fashion and would-be fashion designers. Creating your image collage is easy. Polyvore lets you create your collage through its drag and drop interface. After you have created your collage, you can publish and share it with your friends and the Polyvore community.It is that community aspect that makes Polyvore unique. As a user, you can of course import your own items (photo clips), but you can also use items imported by other users to use in your collages. Furthermore, if you click on items that other users have imported there is a link to the site where that user found it so if you are interested you can buy that item. And finally Polyvore actively supports its community by creating contests where you have to make outfits that fits a certain theme, and the contestant with the best outfit receives a trophy to display on their profile page. http://polyvore.com
7. MeezIf you have ever wanted to create your own 3D online avatar to serve as the face for your online identity, then Meez is your answer. Meez is your customizable digital identity which you create and use to represent yourself everywhere you go on the Internet. You can personalize your Meez to look like you do in real life or try on a completely new look. It\'s up to you.Meez offers dozens of hairstyles and outfits to create intricate downloadable avatars that can dance via fun animations. Users can also choose from a wide variety of backgrounds for their avatar. Most things are free, but some cost Coinz bought via PayPal or a credit card for 10 cents each. Once you have created your Meez avatar, you can export him or her and embed your Meez into any website. Or you can take a snapshot of your Meez and use that as your profile picture.http://meez.com/
8. DezignusDezignus a community made by a graphic designer for graphic designers, or those who are interested in graphic design. The site has everything from tutorials to free graphics that designers can access and use on their projects. Free downloads include vector images, Photoshop brushes and shapes, textures and backgrounds, icons etc. But I think what makes Dezignus really great is the community component of it. Someone without any graphic design experience (like myself) can find a lot of interesting tutorials and information about graphics design that is shared by the community. And for professional designers, the community at Dezignus follows the latest design trends to help designers stay up to date on what is relevant.http://dezignus.com/

Do you see any mistakes with these reviews? Would you like to suggest other visual communication solutions? Would you like to share your own experiences with any of the solutions reviewed? Please leave a comment below.

Originally written by Andre Deutmeyer for MasterNewMedia and first published on December 22th 2008 as Visual Communication And Video Publishing - Selected Tools And Web Services - Sharewood Guide Dec 22 08. ...

Erick SchonfeldofTechCrunch suggests a new possible scenario for your online identity. Google and Facebook may soon be the only companies controlling the way most of you are going to identify yourself on the Web.Photo credit: James F ClayFacebook ConnectandGoogle Friend Connect are two new and competing services which provide you with the ability to login into your favorite social network, as well as to access an increasing number of your preferred content publication and distribution services: from YouTube to Delicious and more. The key new thing here, is that by adopting one of these online identification systems you can log into all of these web-based services by using always the same credentials.For example: popular site TechCrunch has already started using both Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect to allow its readers to login into the site social community by using their own Facebook and Google credentials. Similarly, the commenting system Disqus has also been thinking about integrating these two same services by the end of the year.But is this really a cool thing, from all standpoints?As George Siemenspoints out in this Media Literacy digest issue, Facebook and Google already own the majority of the digital content you share on the Web. Your e-mail, photos, music, contacts, are all mostly stored on their servers. Given this situation, how smart is it to allow these two companies to be able to also start monitoring all of your moves and actions online? Should they be the ones to control your access to your social network, blog comments, and to everything else you do online?This, along with other hot technology issues and new interesting media and education-related resources, makes up for another rich media literacy digest, showcasing the deep and disruptive changes new media technologies are bringing into your lives, and the good questions you should ask yourself before fully embracing them. Here all the details:Intro by Robin Good

eLearning Resources and Newslearning, networks, knowledge, technology, trendsby George Siemens

Facebook vs. GoogleEarlier this year, the short term future of the internet included a four company race:

• Yahoo,
• Facebook,
• Microsoft,
• and Google.

Since that time, Yahoo has managed to successfully exclude itself. They are now best seen as an acquisition opportunity. Microsoft is still trying to figure out how it can apply a similar lock to the internet that it has (had?) on the desktop. They're current philosophy is "innovation through blatant duplication" - revealed by the Zune and a rumoured Zune phone. Microsoft's internet strategy is confused at best, retaining too much of the desktop model. They are trying to innovate, and given their financial resources and market presence, they shouldn't be ruled out. Which leaves Google and Facebook as the two prominent companies fighting to define the future of the internet. Google is stable and consistent, reporting continued growth in their share of the search market and regular innovations (with odd, slightly embarrassing missteps such as Lively). It appears that Facebook has all the momentum right now. Facebook is where Google was five years ago - innovative, redefining the game, and operating on a different set of premises from its competitors. Most companies launching widely disliked platforms such as Beacon would be punished by loss of users. Not Facebook. They keep growing - Facebook is challenging Google for the amount of time visitors spend with the service.

Balance Between Individual and Group-geniusScience and art have been historically defined by individual genius. In the 50's, individual invention gave way to group / institutional invention (i.e. Bell Labs). Now it appears that loosely connected networks of specialized expertise (such as pharmaceutical networks or the network that was formed to research SARS at the height of the crisis in 2003) are providing answers to the most challenging questions of our era. At the heart of the transition from individual to institution to network innovation is obviously the role of the individual. Is Einstein the last genius takes a look at the value of individual vs. group based activities: ""Successful research groups are those that grow and evolve on their own over time," he says. "For example, an individual comes up with a good idea, gets funding, and new group begins to form around that good idea. This creates a framework where many smaller groups contribute to the whole.""

Grades: Evaluation Without ContextMalcolm Gladwell is busy promoting his new book about the systemic (sometimes circumstantial) causes for success - Outliers. He carries this focus into an article: Most likely to succeed: "There are certain jobs where almost nothing you can learn about candidates before they start predicts how they'll do once they're hired. So how do we know whom to choose in cases like that? In recent years, a number of fields have begun to wrestle with this problem, but none with such profound social consequences as the profession of teaching."There are many angles to consider in the article as Gladwell runs a parallel discussion of teacher success and quarterback success. I found the discussion of the limitations of tradition metrics most valuable (p. 5). We simply do not know who will be a good teacher by the ways we currently measure. Grades are essentially evaluation without context. The process of ‘becoming' a teacher (or carpenter, plumber, or doctor) requires activities - and evaluation - to be situated in a real context.

Let's Talk Systemic ChangeIn recent presentations / discussions, I've been making the point that grassroots level approaches to reform in education are being hampered by systemic barriers. The structure of systems of education impedes future innovation. What is required, of course, is a reformulation of educational institutions. As is often the case, we are not entirely without examples. Consider Cisco's pursuit to redefine itself to better compete in a networked world: "Today, a network of councils and boards empowered to launch new businesses, plus an evolving set of Web 2.0 gizmos — not to mention a new financial incentive system — encourage executives to work together like never before. Pull back the tent flaps and Cisco citizens are blogging, vlogging, and virtualizing, using social-networking tools that they've made themselves and that, in many cases, far exceed the capabilities of the commercially available wikis, YouTubes, and Facebooks created by the kids up the road in Palo Alto… "Without changing the structure of your organization," Chambers told the analysts in September, "I would argue that [innovation] will not work.""

Who Owns My Thoughts?It's been a year or so (I think) sincemybloglog introduced the concept of having our identity (and network) trail behind us as we visited different websites. A site that set up mybloglog would allow visitors to connect with each other beyond simply comments. Not much happened with the concept after the launch. A few blogs added the widget, but I haven't seen significant adoption. Of course, as Google has learned from Facebook, relationships are more important than content in determining loyalty and commitment to a site or service. While I can happily post on my site, the real value for readers is in the connections they form with other people. Google has to date monetized content with services like adwords. But what do you do to monetize relationships? How do you get people to use your service as a source for forming relationships? Facebook answers with Facebook Connect and Google responds with Friend Connect (their marketing department wasn't involved in the "let's give this thing a creative name" discussion).What does this mean? Doall of our comments belong to Facebook? or Google? I'm personally less concerned with these companies owning my content than I am with their knowledge of my relationships / connections. Facebook in particular is very good at mining data based on relatedness (oh, look, many of George's friends list these topics of interest…or this political orientation…or religion). Both Facebook and Google desire to know us, not just our content. That's what doesn't sit well with me. Oops, gotta go login to Google mail…then off to check my Facebook account.

Classroom Response SystemsClassroom response systems are now common in many universities and colleges. CRS' are used for faculty to poll students - asking questions related to course content and, based on responses, re-teach key points or clarify misconceptions. While it sounds simple, writing questions that reveal misconceptions students have about curriculum is difficult. CRS are usually fairly affordable for students (except when they lose their clickers). I always wondered why we were building separate systems for response when many students already have mobile phones. Why not just use phones and texting for feedback? I read about an MIT initiative on something like this… and at least one university has started using iPhones for a response system. The important thing here is that the system works on any phone / device.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on December 19th 2008 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About the authorTo learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

Photo credits:Facebook vs. Google - PaulPaladiBalance Between Individual and Group-genius - Herbert KratkyGrades: Evaluation Without Context - Graça VictoriaLet\'s Talk Systemic Change - Tri VoWho Owns My Thoughts? - Dunca Daniel and madmaxerClassroom Response Systems - Chris Modarelli ...

John Buckman, the entrepreneur behindMagnatune, shared his personal vision for successfully becoming your own boss at LeWeb \'08 conference in Paris. Photo credit: John BuckmanThe title of his presentation was "Love Entrepreneurship: Your Own Way" and his focus was specifically on what key points you MUST follow if you want to start your own online business. Many startuppers fail because they do not pay attention to some very fundamental strategic rules of good entreprenurship and dive into their projects without thinking of the consequences of their initial, time-pressed decisions.Being an entrepreneur it\'s not all fun and games. If you want to become your own boss, you have to make sure first that you do make the right choices. So which are the successful steps to self-employment?Becoming independent and self-employed is like a chess game. It\'s cool to start playing the game and have other people under you doing what you ask, but if you don\'t play smart and make the correct moves, things may not exactly go the way you may have expected.If you, like me, didn\'t have the chance to see John Buckman live at LeWeb, this is something you don\'t want to miss. Here for you his great talk recorded on stage at LeWeb, and a full English transcription:Intro by Daniele Bazzano

Love Entrepreneurship Your Own WayDuration: 9\'
Full English Text TranscriptionJohn Buckman: Here are the quick steps that I see for self-employment.
1) Think of Lots of IdeasThe very first thing is: just start thinking of lots of ideas. Starts reading a science fiction, futurism, start watching TED... just start writing ideas down.
2) Do NothingAnd then, this is the crucial step: do nothing. Don\'t do anything with those ideas. Just keep thinking of ideas and writing them down, and the reason is that in three months most of those ideas are going to be shit. And it\'s going to take you at least three months, if not six to nine months to get those ideas together. Too many people jump on the first ideas they have and start doing them, and they shut their brain down and they stop thinking of other clever things.This is my own personal test, I called it the pub-test. I spent half the year in England and Brits are well-educated, which means they\'re a very tough audience for new ideas. I go to a pub with a friend, it\'s noisy, we\'re having a beer, and then about 15 seconds I explain my idea. If they don\'t stop drinking their beer and pay attention, my idea is not good enough.It\'s very simple. It\'s because a noisy pub, with beer, lots of queue other people around... it\'s what the Internet is like: there are tons of distractions, there are tons of things pulling people away. If you\'re not interesting enough to get someone to look up from their beer, it\'s not gonna happen. Try again.
3) The Elevator PitchNow, think about your product: what this really comes down to, it\'s some sort of elevator pitch, some sort of very simple explanation. It\'s called an elevator pitch because if you\'re stuck in an elevator with someone famous, let\'s say Chris Anderson of TED, and you want to speak at TED. What would you say in those fifteen seconds that would excite him, that would make him take your card, and call you back?
4) Write The First Line of Your Press ReleaseI can\'t stress this enough: before you do any work, write the first line of your press release. So many companies leave this still later. They make the product, they get it to ship and then they write the press release, and they realize that the first line of their press release is boring. The product is already made, there\'s nothing you can do: you have a boring product.You need to work the other way around. How is that first line of that press release going to get people interested?
5) Write The First Paragraph of Your HomepageNext, write the first paragraph of your homepage. This is the follow one. Someone says, "Uh, that sounds interesting, tell me more". You have three or four sentences to get them excited. Make the homepage finally hunt for unique names. This is actually not nearly as important as you would think. A lot of companies like my own Magnatune, or even ones like Seesmic, are not the best names in the world, but if they\'re really good ideas and they\'re memorable, that\'s fine. It\'s not a problem.
6) Don\'t Borrow MoneyThis is really crucial. Don\'t borrow money. Figure out how to do the idea extremely cheaply.
7) Make a Mock-upNext finally, make a mock-up. Show it to people. Again, see if they\'re are really excited.
8) Launch Before You Are ReadyAnd this is crucial. Lunch way before you\'re ready. Get it out there. start getting feedback. See if the idea is any good, because you might be really wrong. After you pitch at the bloggers, if no-one cared, if you didn\'t borrow money, you don\'t have anything invested in it, other than a few months\' work. Kill it, start over.You just learned something, you just learned why the idea was bad. Start again.
9) Don\'t Quit Your Day JobThis is also crucial: don\'t quit your day job. A lot of people think they need to get funding, quit their day jobs, start with a bunch of partners, and go off. What you really need to do, is get that salary and find time on the weekends, on the evenings, to work on your project, and gradually lower your time commitment to your job. But only quit it once you have enough money.
10) Salespeople Are a Bad IdeaYou also discover that salespeople are an extremely bad idea. The reason is that salespeople require capital and they also generally mean that your idea isn\'t that good. Your idea isn\'t that good because it requires salespeople to convince people it\'s good. If it\'s good it should convince people on their own. Great products build word of mouth.
11) Pitch The BloggersAnother fallacy is that if we just had a big PR and marketing campaign, that everyone would know about our product that would be great. That\'s not true either. Because if you can convince just a few bloggers that it\'s interesting, and a few early users, that is something really unusual, then it will happen on its own.

John\'s SecretsI got a few case studies here. This is my secret, it\'s really really simple. The secret to getting massive press, and I have got massive press for my project, so the first one is the hardest:
a) Be InterestingBe really damned interesting. Guy Kawasaki in his famous books says: "If you\'re not getting press, get better reality". That\'s a more clever way of saying what I\'m saying, but find something really interesting.
b) Convince Influential BloggersAnd then you just need to convince two influential bloggers that it\'s really interesting. That will get you the stage. If it\'s not that interesting it won\'t go anywhere.
c) Focus on FreelancersAnother secret, this is for traditional print media, is focus on freelancers, not on staff writers. Freelancers will write about small people, generally staff writers won\'t. And the reason is that staff writers get stories from editors, whereas freelancers have to find stories and pitch to the editor.Become a cause that freelancer would personally like they have personally invested in.

The Flow of ThingsThis is the flow of things:

• I first got a blog,
• I got Creative Commons and Boing Boing to blog,
• and then The Inquirer,
• and then everything else happened: Fark, Slashdot, USA Today, NPR.

This is from each one. It\'s just a cascade. Each media watches the next media and it happens automatically.Here some of the story angles. You had to download this to read us more, but think of as many edgy stories as you can. Especially when what\'s happened has been written about. So, when a journalist contacts you can give them something really juicy to think about.

Click above to enlarge imageThis is the Magnatune homepage, this is my elevator pitch, "we are not evil", It\'s very cute, it makes people laugh, and then there is this massive paragraph. What people see is "we are not evil", bla bla bla bla bla.

Final TipsOkay, some final tips.
Dedibox Those of you who are French, you need to look at Dedibox. For a thirty euros a month you can have a machine of a 100 megabits. It\'s only available to French people, and it\'s a wonderful thing.
Use PHPI recommend you use PHP, because it\'s a simple technology. You can hire people cheaply.
Make Your Homepage PrettyDon\'t skimp on graphics.
Do Everything YourselfDo everything yourself. And if you\'re not technical, sorry, you\'re going to to have to be technical. You\'re going have to learn technology at some level. Otherwise it\'s not going to happen.You\'re going have to read a lot of books. You got to to learn everything out running a company, but it\'s going to be a lot of fun. And if it is successful, you get all the percents.You can\'t lead people if you don\'t know how to do their job.
Don\'t Borrow MoneyDon\'t borrow money, because if you fail, you can just start again next week.
That is all I wanted to say, thank you very much for listening. Bye-bye!

Additional Resources

• John Buckman complete presentation on SlideShare
• John Buckman complete bio on Wikipedia
• Robin Good\'s "Be Your Own Boss!" presentation

Originally presented by John Buckman for LeWeb \'08 and first recorded on December 10th 2008 as "Self-Employment: Successful Steps To Become Your Own Boss - John Buckman At LeWeb08".

About the authorJohn Buckman is founder and CEO of Magnatune.com, an online record label which was recently named as one of the "Top 20 Music Download Sites" by Time Magazine. John also founded Bookmooch.com, an online community for exchanging used books. His past accomplishments as a programmer and entrepreneur include having founded email software company Lyris in 1994. Buckman is also a well-known figure in the open source community and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Photo credits:Think of Lots of Ideas - Jason StittDo Nothing - vukxThe Elevator Pitch - Henrik AndersenWrite The First Line of Your Press Release - Pavel MuronWrite The First Paragraph of Your Homepage - mipanDon\'t Borrow Money - mipanMake a Mock-up - DG Flugzeugbau GmbHLaunch Before You Are Ready - Jón HelgasonDon\'t Quit Your Day Job - Diego CervoSalespeople Are a Bad Idea - cookelmaPitch The Bloggers - Yurok AleksandrovichJohn\'s Secrets - 3Girls3BoyBe Interesting - CHOReograPConvince Influential Bloggers - Marc DietrichFocus on Freelancers - James SteidlThe Flow of Things - tombakytDedibox - DediboxUse PHP - WikipediaMake Your Homepage Pretty - Karam MiriDo Everything Yourself - semenovpDon\'t Borrow Money - Tyler Olson ...

One of the main concerns of every online publisher is money. If you start publishing your stuff online and you get some traffic, you\'d probably want to earn something from your blog as soon as possible. Photo credit: Robin GoodBut this is not going to happen very quickly, unless you focus first on two big issues: niche targeting and getting REAL traffic.In this short video tutorial, Robin Good shares some basic advice about how to make money with your blog or web site.Immediately plastering your site with ads, just won\'t do. Your first concern should be questioning again the content niche you have selected and see whether you can improve and define better its specific traits and characteristics. The more you define it and identify your niche profile the easier it becomes to serve your audience with content and advertising offers that can match your readers expectations. Next step up is traffic. Once you have clearly identified your niche it\'s time to focus on getting qualified traffic to your site. The more relevant and interested in your topics, the more your web readers are likely to enjoy your content, click on some ads and bookmark your site to come back for more. According to Robin though, if you cannot make at least 500 or more visitors per day, you should not start planning to send your present boss a resignation letter any time soon. Yes, even with a small, but highly targeted traffic stream, you could start seeing an interesting revenue stream coming your way, but you need to make sure that your ads and sponsor are highly relevant to your readers interests and that they do not alienate or distract them from what they are really interested into.Here his short video and tips on how you too, can start looking at your site as a potential source of additional income:

How Much Money Can You Earn With Your BlogDuration: 5\'
Full English Text TranscriptionHi guys this is Robin Good for MasterNewMedia, and I have more and more questions coming in from you at my email inbox at Robin.Good(at)masternewmedia.orgLet\'s see what I\'ve selected today to answer. You write: "Let\'s talk about money! How much am I supposed to earn with my own blog, and how much will it cost me to keep it fully functional?"That\'s a good question, and not an easy one to answer!"How much are you supposed to earn with your blog?" As much possible I would say!There isn\'t really an official figure for how much you\'re supposed to earn, but let me give you some indications of what may be useful for you.

What To Do Before Thinking of MoneyYou should consider monetizing your blog only after you\'ve established your blog in some way. If you\'ve just opened your blog and your plastering it with ads from Google or from affiliate products, or other things, I think you\'re just wasting your time. I think you shouldn\'t do that.

1. I think you should first, find out for yourself:
   • if you like what you\'re doing,
   • if you can do it well if you get few comments from people, or from your friends after they read what you got out there,
   • if you become visible inside major search engines, especially Google.
   That is: "if you write the topic of your latest article, can you find yourself in Google in one of the first few pages?", and so on.
2. Once that happens, and once therefore you start having real traffic, you can then think about advertising.
3. And then, if you have, at least, I would say a 500 to 1000 visitors per day, and you talk about a very specific topic, for which there is a number of products and services, and companies that want to advertise out there and you can find out these much earlier before you even start publishing your blog site, you should see some revenue coming in the amount of... ...if you are on a specific niche that has a good value you could be making a few tens of dollars per day. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 dollars per day, or more.

Choose a Good Market NicheIt depends very much on the topic that you\'re focusing on. Some topics are worth much more than others because the products and the services that are sold after the people click on your ads are worth much more money and revenue to those companies than other products. A Coca-Cola bottle has only little revenue margin. A mortgage on a house has a huge margin for a very long time for whoever sells it, just to give you a general idea.

Money = EffortThe reason, the specific amount.I would say that a properly prepared blog that works on a specific niche, and builds some authority before plastering ads in the correct and best positions out there, should be making at least 500 to a 1000 dollars per month to justify spending on it the three-four hours per day that it may require. Maybe a lot less in some cases, maybe a bit more in some others. But that\'s the type of number that would indicate me if it\'s worth spending more time on it or not.If you don\'t make that 500-1000 either you\'re doing something wrong in the way you\'re publishing your site, or your niche is not worth enough, or you need to understand better how to work your content, then titles, and the general look of the site so that your Google search bots will come and index you better, and you can be found by people who search that topic.
That\'s what can I say. There isn\'t a specific set of rules and figures, but I would say that the threshold to make some money is above 500 visitors on a specific niche. There you should start making some (money), and you should be making a few hundred to a thousand or more if you\'re doing your things well.Hope that helps.Ciao from Robin, talk to you soon!
Do you have more questions you want Robin Good to answer? Post them here below inside the comments area.

Do you want to learn more about other key strategies in professional web publishing? Check out POP, a new video blog site where Robin Good shares his expertise with "in-depth" video tutorials to help professional online publishers to monetize their sites.

Originally shot and recorded by Robin Good for MasterNewMedia and first published on December 18th 2008 as "Blog Earnings: How Much Money Can You Earn With Your Blog - Robin Good Video" ...

Are you looking for an effective way to collaborate and organize ideas with other people? If you\'re still into voice and text chat, you might want to give mind mapping a try. Mind mapping is a cool way to share your ideas in total freedom, without the need to follow a structured approach, but just shooting your best thoughts as they come out of your head. And the good news is that there are many tools online that let you draw your own mindmaps. Today, I scouted the Web to suggest you the best ones.A MindMap created with MindMeisterSince Robin Good introduced me to mindmaps a few months ago, I don\'t grab a piece of paper or open a text document anymore to plan what I need to do. I just open my favorite mindmap tool and start scattering ideas around.What I like best about mindmaps are the ease and freedom with which you can visualize your ideas, and clearly understand the relationships between them. You set a core idea, which could be expressed by a sentence, a word, or an image, and then you start adding other ideas around this core concept. You can then see all your ideas at once and re-arrange them visually creating links between ideas and concepts that may be / appear initially unrelated.Curious? Do you want to know more about mindmaps and how to organize your ideas more effectively? In this new Sharewood Guide I have collected the best services out there on the Web to draw a mindmap.Here below the set of key basic characteristics that I have utilized to compare these selection tools to draw your own mindmaps, so that you can easily find the best fit for your needs:

1. Price: Evaluate if you prefer a free service or a more complete solution with additional features.
2. Software / Web-based: Specifies if you can use the tool inside your browser or you have to download and install a software on your hard-disk.
3. Platform: Check if you can run the service on your operating system.
4. Free trial: Indicates if the service allows you to evaluate it for free during a limited period.
5. Collaborative working: Not all mind mapping services allows you to collaborate in real-time with your teammates. Find the ones that does.

Here all the details:

Mind Mapping Tools Comparison Table
go to the table!*Please refer to individual vendors sites for additional pricing solutions.

Draw Your Own MindMaps

1. MindMeisterMindMeister is a free web-based tool to draw mindmpas and share them with your team. Instead of taking advantage of fancy animations, MeindMeister provides a clean working environment: the interface is very simple, and it\'s easy to add nodes to your core idea. Mindmeister is Ajax-based, so the service doesn\'t require any third-party player to run inside your browser, resulting to be very light and fast to utilize. Interesting feature is the possibility to export your mindmpas in a number of file formats, including .rtf, .pdf, and .jpg. Free to use up to six mindmaps, MindMeister offers different pricing solutions.http://www.mindmeister.com
2. MindomoMindomo is perhaps one of the best free web-based mind mapping applications. Mindomo comes with a very elegant interface which mimics Microsoft Office. Flash-based, the service offers many different export options and formats, alongside a rich choice of layouts to arrange your ideas. Mindomo supports multimedia files and image uploading, as well as organic style maps. The free version is ad-supported but you can switch to one of the available pricing solutions.http://www.mindomo.com
3. MindManagerMindManager is one of the best mind mapping software on the market. Easy to use and fully-featured, this tool is a must-have for enterprise and personal use of mindmaps. Mindmanager allows you and your team to collaborate on the same mindmap making it easy and fast to have a brainstorming session over the Web. MindManager works on both Pc and Mac platforms, and it is priced at $299 for Pc users and $129 for Mac users. You can try and evaluate the service for 30 days (Pc version) or 21 days (Mac solution).http://www.mindjet.com/
4. iMindMapiMindMap is the "official mindmap software", created under the guidance of Tony Buzan, mindmap evangelist. Available for both Windows and Mac machines, iMindMap lets you draw rich and full-featured mindmaps, adding nodes and arranging them in a very natural way. Collaboration with other users is not allowed. Starting price is set at $99. iMindMap offers a seven-day trial period to test out the service before buying it.http://www.imindmap.com/
5. bubbl.usBubbl.us offers a simple, efficient way to draw a mindmap. Still at an early stage of its development, bubbl.us is a free flash-based online tool that works directly in your browser, so you don\'t need to install any additional software to your computer. Enhanced with animated effects, unlike other solutions bubbl.us does support collaborative working for sharing a brainstorming session with your team.http://www.bubbl.us/
6. FreeMindFreeMind is an open source, free mind-mapping software written in Java. The service offers a minimalist interface and covers the basics of mindmaps drawing like hyperlinking and retractable branches. Perhaps the most popular solution on the Web, FreeMind takes advantage from being a cross-platform solution that works seamlessly on your machine independently of which operating system it runs. FreeMind does not support collaborative creation of mindmaps.http://freemind.sourceforge.net/
7. TopicscapeTopicscape is an information organizer complementing Mindmanager by taking mindmaps to a 3D landscape. The application uses a three-dimensional interface to help you draw 3D mindmaps for better organization and planning procedures. Topicscape requires a bit of practice to use, but is definitely worth taking the effort because of its stunning mind mapping approach. Topiscape offers different pricing solutions starting at $69, and you can test the software with no charge for 30 days.http://www.topicscape.com/
8. PersonalBrainPersonalBrain is a cross-platform solution to draw mindmaps. PersonalBrain goes beyond the traditional concept of organizing ideas by adding a built-in calendar feature for events you add to your mindmap. Enriched by other features like zoomable image icons, transparencies, and integration with Microsoft Outlook, PersonalBrain is tailored to professionals who wants to get the best out of mind mapping possibilities. Free to use in its light edition, the tool provides different commercial solutions. Collaborative working on mindmaps is not supported.http://www.thebrain.com
9. Mind42Mind42 is a free web-based mind mapping application that runs inside your browser. Very user-friendly, the tool lets you share your mindmaps with your teammates or publish your mindmaps on the Web. The interface is very simple and you can add images to your nodes, as well as hyperlinking them. Export to .rtf files is allowed. Mind42 offers also different commercial solutions to access more possibilities to create your projects.http://www.mind42.com
10. MapulMapul is a simple, web-based solution that lets you draw your own mindmaps. Based on Microsoft Silverlight technology, Mapul offers many different features like image-adding, and an efficient arrangement of branches, tailored to a better mindmap handling. Unlike other similar tools, Mapul has support for Russian and Arabic languages. The service is offered at $7 / month, and offers the possibility for a free trial before buying it.http://www.mapul.com
11. KidspirationKidspiration is a mind mapping software tailored for Educators and students. Tailored for K-5 learners, Kidspiration enhances thinking, literacy and numeracy skills using visual learning principles. In reading and writing, Kidspiration strengthens word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension and written expression. Not suitable for real-time collaboration with other users, Kidspiration is available for Windows and Mac platforms,with a starting price of $69. You can try the software for 30 days before buying it.http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration
12. GliffyGliffy is a free web-based solution to draw diagrams and flowcharts. It is not specifically designed to create mindmaps but the style of arranging ideas and organizing branches is just the same. Gliffy does not allow real-time collaboration, but the service keeps tracks of all the changing made by collaborators, just like a wiki. The free version has limited features, but iyou can upgrade to the Premium account for a monthly fee of $5 which is intended to last at least three months.http://www.gliffy.com/

Originally prepared by Stefanos Karagos and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia and first published on December 17th 2008 as "Mind Mapping: Best Tools To Draw Your Own MindMaps - Sharewood Guide". ...

This is my small Christmas gift to you: Ten things I have changed in my life and which have provided me with an opportunity to live a richer, happier and more joyful life, one in which I feel gradually more and more in control of where I am going.Tired of gifting you with new media tools that allow you to communicate and collaborate better, I have decided to share with you today, something special, something you can find only here. It is my small Christmas gift to you and it is made up by ten little changes I have brought into my life and which have brought a tangible bit of more happiness and joy into my weekdays.I had been thinking for a while about what Christmas gifts to share with you today and tomorrow, but nonetheless some good ideas brainstormed with my newsroom team, I have decided to go back to some spontaneous, heart-felt and passion-driven writing for these special two-days.In this article, I have decided to share ten small personal things I have changed in my life and which have provided me with big, tangible results. These are not things I have learned in a self-improvement course or by reading a Stephen Covey\'s book. These are my own personal discoveries at which I have arrived at by doing my own homework.Find some time and stop in your busy life to ask yourself too which things you could drop, eliminate, add and mix-in to make your life a happier one.My solutions are only good as inspiration for some but may not be best for everyone out there. I am not advocating these as the medicine for all pains, I am just wanting to inspire you to take time and think with your own head what you could change in your life to make it a happier one.Here\'s my own in-progress recipe.Have a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate one:

1) Stop Being Dependent-Addicted To Old MediaDrop all time-wasting devices that you do not need anymore to realize your goals: phone, television, newspapers. They are the best distractors, time wasters and intruders into your life path, that the less you see them the better. I have put my mobile in perpetual silent mode and check on it a couple of times a day to see who is still searching for me in the old media world. My TV is long gone and I don\'t buy a newspaper since over 15 years.

2) Make Your Workspace A Wonderful SpaceFind your own shrine where to work, think and do the things you love. If you are surrounded by people you don\'t like and your desk is inside a ugly, badly lit and cold place start thinking about finding an alternative to it. Once you have your own place, work on it and take care of it as a monk would do with a temple. Make it shine so that each time you get there, you are greeted and inspired by the very things you like most. And start from the lighting. A different light can deeply change how you perceive and feel inside a space.

3) Drop Your Fake Friends There are way too many of them in this category and these are the people that are always sucking something from you but never share anything back. These are the people who are always lamenting and destructive and who have never have a word of love and compliment for someone else. These are the people you hear complaining and blaming such and such for ruining their lives or breaking their plans but never taking responsibility for it. Steer clear of them this year and less company is not always a bad thing. Try.

4) Give Something Great To Kids. DailyIt doesn\'t matter if they are your own or if they are someone\'s else kids. What counts is to tune in into their frequencies and to share with them something good, something they love to get from you: your attention and your willingness to play. Their ability to re-charge you and inject some true toxin-free positive energy in you is unmatched and their ability to let go is contagious. Get this disease asap.

5) ListenStart listening more when someone else is talking to you. Don\'t just get into a race for who has the latest news or has downloaded the coolest toy last. Start listening for what often doesn\'t get to be said: pain, anger for something, need for help, confusion about where to go. The more you become an active listener to the real needs of your friends, the more your friends will be providing back with the energy, love and support you may need when you will be in difficulty.

6) Be A Talent ScoutSearch for small, hard to find little flowers and help them bloom. No, you don\'t need to go searching in the grass for these. These are all around you under a human guise. These are the little heroes, the passionate workers and inventors who are all around you. Help these individuals, give them advice, share your skills and your experiences with them, and where you can, give them opportunities to do the things they like most.

7) Don\'t Blame Yourself Use each and every opportunity, as well as any mistake you make, to learn something valuable and to move on. Don\'t blame yourself when you can learn and move on to the next opportunity immediately. Making yourself and others guilty is just a huge waste of time. Life is a learning park and when you take every instance of it to find what to change and improve in yourself, you get the highest kick life can provide you with.

8) Don\'t give upIf what you have been working on doesn\'t turn out to be the success you had hoped for, don\'t give up on it. You may have screwed the ingredients, or you may have cooked it too little, or you may have just forgot to get the right amount of water. In all cases, if you are after something important, something you badly want, do not give up as you stumble into the first set of obstacles. Change road, ask your peers, get elders advice, seek alternative solutions, look up to successful others, try again and again, but do get in some way or other to your chosen goal. Make it a life habit.

9) Have Serious, Professional FunLearn how to have fun and make it a serious sport. This is going to be one of the most desired skills a human can have, and as time goes on, one that will be increasingly more valuable. The age of consumerism and happiness generated by buying more and more packaged goods is about to see its downturn. Next stop is learning to have real fun, not the one served up by packed disco ballrooms or old-media stylized crowded movie theaters and stadiums. The new fun is done by sharing and performing with the people you love: your friends.

10) Don\'t ConformI know this sounds a bit crazy, but in the end you really need not to conform if you want to fully realize yourself. Go after what makes YOU happy, and pursue it. Stop doing things you must do because others feel you should. Stop being together with people you don\'t feel you belong with. Stop living in a neighborhood that sucks if you are serious about changing your life. Most of all, stop thinking that I have got all the solutions and that you are not as good as I am. You are. You only need to stop listening to all those games happening around you, where you can never play your best moves. Don\'t fight the game, change it.

Originally written by Robin Good for MasterNewMedia and first published on December 24th 2008 as "How To Be Happy Without Becoming A Monk - 10 Things I Have Changed To Live A More Self-Directed Life" ...

I have come to believe that to really learn something you need a few, very specific things which are not part of the traditional education system. These do not include a classroom, a teacher, nor a final exam to certify what you officially know, as from what I learned on my own, none of this is really necessary.Photo credit: Artmann-WiThe key strategic resources needed for effective learning are exactly the same ones you access daily when in need to find out how something technological works or how to solve a difficult psychological situation. The field of interest does not affect the learning resources you use.But somewhat distracted, numbed by what traditional media and parents have been telling us, we appear mostly incapable to look at our educational system with fresh eyes, or to ask relevant questions as to why we force our most promising youth to spend the most brilliant years of their lives to memorize dates, facts and notions they will have little use for in the real life that exists outside of their secure school walls.Read on:Descarga Cachao - Timba Latin Jazz Quintet - This group is made up by several of the teachers / masters of my music school - a place I have realized has many of the traits of the ideal learning environment

10 Key Components Of An Ideal Learning Environment:The Timba Music School Model In my opinion, when it comes to effective, true learning, the one you do when you learn to play a new game, when you learn a language, or a new sport or skill, there are some key things which are vital in providing the setting and resources needed to make all of this possible.I am not discovering anything new by underlining how much of the learning we do in our everyday life happens just-in-time, under the most informal circumstances, outside of a classroom and in the absence of a teacher. But realizing, acknowledging and consciously understanding the apparently obvious characteristics of natural learning, provides a powerful key to gradually harmonize what we actually know from real-life to what we "culturally" have been educated to do, when in need to go out and learn something. To bridge these two seemingly distant realities I am taking a real example from my own personal life in which, as a Latin percussions student at a small private music school, I have accidentally discovered a perfect learning environment, where a mix of different cultural ideas and objectives has created a uniquely creative environment for any serious Latin music learner.The school is called Timba, and while sitting in the heart of Rome, Italy, it cultivates the spirit and musical traditions of music percussions of all kinds and in particular those of a far away island, Cuba, mother of so much of the percussive language pervading our present day music language.The video showcased above, which I have recorded live a few days ago, is the Timba Latin Jazz Quintet, a unique group of talented musicians made in good part by some of best teachers / musicians working at the Timba school. I am a beginning student at the Timba school having been there less than a year. Even in this short time I have had the opportunity to realize how special this learning environment is and what makes it so damn good.This is a topic that is very dear to me, not only because I think it is something that touches everyone\'s life as we increasingly need to learn and adapt to new and more complex environments, but also because I am very much involved, in this publishing work that I do, in actually providing some of the resources needed to help others learn what I have discovered before them.I feel we are nearing a time where less certifications and more tangible proofs of what you are good at are going to be the norm. Understanding that learning is not stuffing one\'s own head with thousands of names and formulas is the key to have better and more intelligent people around. Check out my vision for learning and what I have recently said in my presentation for LeWeb08 in Paris. Learning is not teaching, and to really learn something properly you really need to be in the position of loving that something you want to make yours.And this is why I have chosen to feature the Timba Latin Jazz Quintet in this article today. The music school this quintet represents is a great example of how learning, no matter what the topic is about, should really be.In this short article, I try to capture and list what I see as being the key characteristic of the Timba music school which make it such an ideal learning place.
1) Open AccessLearning is all about having freedom to access the tools, peers, learning objects and experts anytime you want to learn study something. No need to sit down in a classroom at a specific day and time. Resources, books, CDs and unique people need to be always accessible to the serious student. The Timba music school is accessible at most times and six days out of seven. The school acts also as a professional recording studio and practice location for many independent musicians in Rome. Anyone can call in and reserve a music practice room or you can just drop by and find some friends or an empty lab to play in. If you are a student you can schedule private lessons and have free access to a good number of free hours inside any practice lab.

2) Learning ObjectsYou can\'t learn something if the object of what you need to learn is not something you can have easy access to. Unless your learning interest is purely speculative and theoretical, in most cases, learning something requires having access to tools, objects, machinery or special individuals that allow you to try out, experiment, practice, review and perform your desired learning goal. At Timba school, music instruments, sound-proof rooms, microphones, speakers and sound amplifiers are the bread and butter or any music learner. Having these objects in good state, accessible and available for every learner to use at her request is a key fundamental requirement for learning and the school does all it can to provide accessibility, support and good maintenance of all such critical resources.

3) Passionate PeersThe best learning environments are characterized by passionate individuals who share a common interest and get together to exchange, talk, practice, teach other and learn convivially. Such groups are not characterized by age or district of residence. They include individuals of all ages, social classes and ethnicities. Being together with other passionate learners is by itself one of the most valuable traits of an ideal learning environment as key lessons and skills are often learned informally by asking or emulating what a peer does.The Timba school reflects all this by being a place not characterized by age-based classes, rigid teach to student relationships and structured lectures at all times. The learners are the ones that make up the true value of the school, and since many of the masters have the right attitude of being teachers and students at the same time, great opportunities arise for everyone to learn something from someone else.

4) EldersElders are individuals that have lots of experience. They may not be always the greatest teachers, but they are invaluable resources when it comes to get strategic advice, tips or better understanding into the what and why of who certain things came to be.When I am at the Timba school there are always some experts and wise masters that you can go and ask anything you want to. They are accessible and easy-going and they often enjoy coming and playing some sessions during our learning rehearsals.

5) ModelsHaving great models to follow and to be inspired by can provide a great boost in the motivation, drive and quality of work any learner places into his own study path. But beware. In my view, models, more often than not, are in the eyes of the beholder. You look up to someone, but not always because of his acquired public merits or celebrity, but because you like something specific about how that person does or executes something. You study, analyze, dissect and question his operating mode and by doing so you learn in much greater depth what it takes to make yours what he or she already has. A model act as reference from which to capture, emulate and absorb what is not already part of your abilities.My school acts as a perfect venue for this by offering such a variety of individuals, personalities, professional musicians and passionate artists that anyone can tap into such wonderful diversity to pick and select what most appropriate and interesting for her.

6) ProfessionalsThe presence of people who perform for serious artistic purposes or who work professionally at the creation of what you are interested in can provide significant additional value to a learning experience. Professionals have specific goals, operate under tights or controlled budgets, need to make little mistakes and work around achieving a certain standard of quality in what they do. At the school, seeing, helping or co-operating with their work is as real as the real thing can get, and getting down to do the things with the front line guys is a pretty obvious hard-to-beat learning experience.

7) Opportunity To Try, Experiment and To Be WrongHaving the chance to screw up, make tons of mistakes, go wrong a million times and start again afresh each single time is the key winning card of any serious learner. Whether for learning the newest interactive video game or for mastering a new percussion rhythm, a space where judgment is momentarily suspended and mistakes are well accepted components of the learning practice, one can learn at much higher speeds than where mistakes are underlined, greeted with irony and sarcasm and elevated to criteria for being able to access more advanced knowledge and skills. While old-fashioned approaches to teaching keep surfacing here and there also at the school, the general spirit is one of embracing mistakes as an opportunity to gain extra insight and to discover new things. Obviously, performing under fear of "making a mistake" is never good for a learner. What you need is exactly the opposite: a supportive, friendly circle of friends that spontaneously pushes to help you and to fill you in when everything else seems to fail. And that\'s what I find at the Timba school.

8) Showcase - Perform - Put Into Practice PubliclyPutting into practice what you have learned, especially if this takes place somewhat in a public, open access format, where people you don\'t know can peek in, participate and comment on what you do, can be extremely helpful in consolidating and mastering those skills you want to know best. Practicing within a classroom or only within a controlled and familiar audience is most often not the best way to try out something you may need to execute under very different terms.The Timba school is a small ongoing performance house with jamming labs and open sessions happening every few hours. If you want to dive in, they have got plenty of water.

9) Learning From Each Other, Just-in-Time, With No End (or Exam) in SightWhen individuals are freed from the idea that learning must be connected to a final exam / test to measure and certify what you really know, wonderful things start to happen. And once you have the luck of finding yourself inside an ideal learning environment, like my music school, one of the great, deep touching discoveries you make is how much you learn directly from your own peers. Not only learners in such an environment are very inclined to openly share, help and support each other when needed, but the overall atmosphere breathes of a place where everyone is always willing to share all of his knowledge and skills without expecting anything in return. Your peers feel like younger brothers and sisters who rather than compete with you, are your own best gateways to learn more and faster.

10) Learners\' in the Driver SeatWhen it is the student who can choose his master, peers and practice and learning times, you know something is going the right way. If it is true that it is really up to the learner to make all of the steps to relate and master what she is interested in, then it must follow that it must be the same student who chooses what to learn, from whom and when to do it. In my music school you can choose not only your teacher(s) but you can also participate in the practice labs of any of the other classes and teachers without needing to be specifically enrolled in them.
For those of you interested in paying a visit to the real Timba music school, in Rome Italy, you are more than welcome to do so and here below you can find some Google map directions on how to get there. See you there!The official address is: Timba - Villa Musicavia del Fornetto, 11 Rome, Italy
View Larger MapDisclosure: I have no commercial affiliation or partnership with the school, have not been asked to write about them, and have not yet informed them of my intention to give them such indirect, positive coverage. My reference to them is fully spontaneous and prompted by the unique setting and circumstances under which learning takes place in this place.

Originally written by Robin Good for MasterNewMedia and first published on December 25th 2008 as "The 10 Key Components Of An Ideal Learning Environment And The Timba Music School Model"Photo credits:Learning Objects - Blaz Kure Open Access - Sebastian KaulitzkiPassionate Peers - Mark HuntElders - Nicolaas Traut Models - Rick LordProfessionals - Andrei KiselevOpportunities to try - Miroslav GeorgijevicShowcase, perform - Nicolaas TrautLearning from each other - Lisa F. YoungLearners in the driver seat - Nikolas Spasenoski ...

A look at the future of technology and trends in this issue of the Media Literacy digest. Photo credit: Jay CrossIn this issue:George Siemens deals with changing paradigms in education, a new report about the Twittersphere, two interesting studies on the importance of video games in online learning, and a top ten of everything that\'s going to be hot in 2009.What seems to be crucial for Dr. Siemens, is the access people have to educational resources. Media trends and technology role in our lives are the bread and butter of this weekly digest. Here you can find education-related pointers and tools that may help you make greater sense of the deep changes that new technologies and media are bringing.Here all the details:Intro by Daniele Bazzano

eLearning Resources and Newslearning, networks, knowledge, technology, trendsby George Siemens

Top 10 Forecasts for the FutureI'm not sure why future forecasts always require 10 items. Why not 6? or 11? Does selecting a nice round number like ‘10′ provide a glimpse into our assumptions that the future will exhibit some type of order?The World Future Societyhas listed its top 10 trends for 2009 and beyond. Some are fairly obvious (growth of electricity access, urbanization). Others are intriguing in terms of implications to education: "Professional knowledge will become obsolete almost as quickly as it's acquired. An individual's professional knowledge is becoming outdated at a much faster rate than ever before" and "Everything you say and do will be recorded by 2030".

The Pirate HoaxThe Pirate Hoaxis generating strong reactions. Basically, a professor asked his students to a series of fabricated resources posted on Blogs, Wikipedia, and YouTube, and promoted on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. The project was discontinued once actual historians - colleagues of the professor who initiated the project - "bought into the hoax". Deliberating posting fabricated information has ethical dimensions. Not everyone is amused. Michael Feldstein sees the project as teaching vandalism, and in the process, calling into question sites like Wikipedia. I understand that perspective. My own view is different. This project is not about Wikipedia or even the potential fallibility of user-generated content. This project highlights the importance for everyone, even so-called experts, to be constantly vigilant about all information sources. Everyone who encounters information online should be aware that it can be easily created by anyone. When gatekeepers such as journals and encyclopedias play a less important role in restricting information access, the openness creates a shift in where we determine information's value and authenticity. Information is now validated at the point of consumption, not creation.

Quest for ExpertiseHow long does it take to become an expert? Generally, a 10-year rule is applied. I've seen this referenced in numerous books and articles, most recently in Gladwell's new book Outliers. On a recent (long) trip, I had time to read both Outliers and Expertise and Expert Performance. The 10-year rule figures prominently in both, though the latter takes a research-focused approach. As a follow up to those two books, I enjoyed reading Quest for Expertise (via Stephen Downes). The author of the post searches for the origin of the 10-year rule and in the process, presents numerous resources on expertise.The topic of expertise will become more important to consider. The creation of sites like Wikipedia raises the profile of amateurs while also questioning the role experts play in "everyone creates, everyone participates" environments.

Trends with GamesVideo games warrant far more attention than they receive in traditional media. The odd TV program or magazine article tries to address the significance of this field. But to understand gaming requires participation. The days of N64 have yielded to online, immersive, multiplayer, and interactive (Wii) games, and high powered consoles. Games are not confined to consoles either. PSP, Nintendo DS, and Gameboy (a bit dated) offer constant play. It's very hard to overhype the gaming industry for size and growth. And it's not just young males either. Profiles of gamers are changing (average age: 32). Two great resources to give you a sense of the scope of the field:

• Video Game Design: 1990-2008
• Video Gaming Trends

(Links via Trends Spotting)

Industries in TransitionI have the rather biased view that higher education will be subject to enormous change in the next decade. It won't just be change around the edges (new programs or new technology added to existing methods) like we've experienced in the past. It will be change that systemically redefines the enterprise of education. With this perspective in mind, I find broad industry shifts like capital movement to eastern countries, global awareness of environmental issues, and the rise of participative culture intriguing. In some instances - such as with newspapers and car manufacturers - the industry transitions have been forecast for decades. And yet, when change finally strikes, it leaves most people baffled. News You Can Lose analyzes the decline of the newspaper industry. There are lessons here for educators…

State of the Twittersphere?While technology moves forward, buzzwords apparently do not. Technorati publishes an almost annual state of the blogosphere (btw - I hardly ever use Technorati - Google Alerts seems to suffice). In the spirit of true creativity (?) we know have the state of the twittersphere.Growth has been tremendous forTwitter. I haven't heard much about abandoned accounts - a key complaint about blogs. Twitter is just easier. It's highly social, it accommodates a range of strong and weak ties, and it doesn't require much effort to contribute. Plus, as a bonus, you don't have to strive for coherence.

Changing Shape of Universities?In an effort to create a more articulate argument for why systemic changes are required in higher education, I've spent the last several months digging through resources, articles, and books. Most resources are not publicly accessible. Articles require journal access, books usually don't allow direct links to chapters. It's difficult to share or engage with those resources when access is restricted. I've been aware ofTony Bates' work for several years… and finally took the time to dig deeper into his articles / book chapters. Fortunately, he posts much of his work on his site. Thanks for making your work available, Tony!

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on December 24th 2008 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About the authorTo learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

Photo credits:Top 10 Forecasts for the Future - pablo631The Pirate Hoax - SupertrQuest for Expertise - Tom GrillTrends with Games - Alexandr StepanovIndustries in Transition - Vladimir TarassovState of the Twittersphere? - The World in the Satin BagChanging Shape of Universities? - petrol ...

If your goal is to improve the ways and tools with which you collaborate with your team, as well as the resources and approaches to to learn, discover and share more of what you know, here are the best 2008 MasterNewMedia articles about online collaboration.

Photo credit: Kirsty Pargeter

Whether you are into finding out the best videoconferencing, or screen sharing tools or interested in seeing how education and learning are transforming the way we look at schools and the world of work, in this set of hand-picked guides and articles you can find some of the best writing and research work we have done on this front in the last 12 months.

Here the best online collaboration and learning content from our 2008 archives. Enjoy:

Intro by Robin Good

Online Collaboration

Best Online Collaboration Tools 2008 - The Collaborative Map

The Best Online Collaboration Tools 2008, Collaborative Map is a live editable map of over 200 of the best free and low-cost online collaboration tools available, picked and selected by passionate users like you and me.

Best Video Conferencing Tools That Anyone Can Use - VideoConferencing Sharewood Guide

Video conferencing tools allow you to use your standard webcam and broadband Internet connection to have multi-party videoconferences. Once reserved only to high-end and very costly proprietary hardware systems, videoconferencing tools and services have sharply grown in number and they now offer multiple useful alternatives that you can start using without having to spend a dollar.

Screen Share Top 25 - The Best Screen Sharing Tools - Sharewood Guide

Screen sharing tools are a specific category of online collaboration tools that enable you to broadcast a continuous live stream of what is happening on your computer screen to individuals connected via the Internet at distant locations.

How To Send Files Larger Than 1GB - Sharewood Guide

Large files sending web services are a category of online collaboration tools that is made up of those applications that allow you to send huge files, even larger than 1GB, to one or more people, and without resorting to email attachments.

How Do I Motivate My Team? The Three-Step Turbocharging Method

Ken Thompson, bioteaming expert and author of the breakthrough Manifesto on effective collaboration, explains how you can quickly motivate your team in the right direction in three simple steps.

Effective Brainstorming: 7 Tips To Brainstorm Better With Your Team

Brainstorming, nonetheless the popularity of the term, is one of the most challenging collaborative activities to carry out in a small group. While most people think they know how to brainstorm, very few have really gotten the basic rules needed to make a brainstorming session work effectively.

Education and Learning

Learning Zeitgeist: The Future of Education is Just-in-Time, Multidisciplinary, Experimental, Emergent

The skills that are highly valued today are not even distantly related to the skills that are developed in our educational prison facilities year after year, week after week, class after class, when students are put into classrooms, disconnected from each other to fill tests, amputated from their prosthesis of thinking like mobile phones and their intellectual capabilities being hammered into the dirt by requiring certain outcomes rather than creativity and imagination.

Educational Models And Learning In The Digital Age: What Is Connectivism And What Makes It So Special

Connectivismcombines important elements of many different learning theories, social structures, and of new communication technologies while having been designed to give birth to new ways of learning in the digital age.

P2P And Education: Robin Good Interviews Peer-To-Peer Evangelist Michel Bauwens

Peer-to-peeris an emergent philosophy and way of working, collaborating and creating wealth among human beings. The peer to peer philosophy is based on living principles that are quite different from those that you may have been educated with but which in many ways may feel more "natural" and close to your nature than the ones you have seen at work in the business world around you.

Love For Education - A Shifting Paradigm: My Video Presentation For LeWeb08

This is my own video on the future of education, that completes and extends what I was able to deliver this past Wednesday at LeWeb in Paris.

The 10 Key Components Of An Ideal Learning Environment And The Timba Music School Model

In my opinion, when it comes to effective, true learning, the one you do when you learn to play a new game, when you learn a language, or a new sport or skill, there are some key things which are vital in providing the setting and resources needed to make all of this possible.

Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia and first published on December 28, 2008 as "Online Collaboration And Learning: The Best Resources Of 2008 From MasterNewMedia".

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If you are looking for the most effective ways to create new content, provide value to your readers, innovate and improve the quality of your online content, this digest brings you the best content I, Robin, and the other article editors have prepared this year here at MasterNewMedia.Photo credit: IreneKNot falling prey of the typical online content publishing strategy, where the current idea being sold is that who wins is who has the latest news and the most posts, is already a great step forward toward distinguishing yourself from the increasing crowd of small independent publishers.In this digest MasterNewMedia looks at the issues of content and information architecture, tags and content tagging, duplicate content, the best writing approach to article intros, Robin\'s own personal method for selecting the most relevant images, how to easily add multimedia links and references that keep your readers on your site, and a lot more. Here all the details:Intro by Robin Good

Online Content Strategies
Online Publishing Strategy: What Has More Value Than Free Content?When content can be copied indefinitely and just about anything digital can be duplicated and re-distributed instantly, where is value to be found? "The money in this networked economy does not follow the path of the copies. Rather it follows the path of attention, and attention has its own circuits."

Duplicate Content Online: Issues, Problems and Good ThingsDuplicate content: is it an issue you need to worry about? Whether you are on the side of those publishing content that is duplicated on other sites or on the side of those republishing contributing authors content on yours, it is important to understand what are the real issues and problems that duplicate content can generate and separate them from myths and easy speculation.

What Differentiates Yet Another Blog Post From A Professionally Web Published Article?What differentiates a professional online article from just another blog post? Nothing? Both are published contents that just utilize a different writing style. If that is your answer, let me challenge and show you how many differences there can be between a "typical" blog post and what I would call a professionally written and formatted web article.

WebSite Content Organizaton And Planning: Apply Information Architecture Principles To Optimize Your Blog SiteThanks toDev.Opera, a fantastic web resource for anyone who wants to learn more about tech-savvy creative web design and development, Jonathan Lane introduces today for you the very basics of what goes under the label of "information architecture".

How To Select Images To Illustrate Your ArticlesSelecting images to illustrate a blog post or a research article is more than often than not a very challenging task. If you have spent anytime trying to illustrate your own articles I am sure you have already learned how frustrating it feels to not be able to "visualize" an idea or a concept in a way that you find truly effective.

Content Writing Strategies: The Tramezzino Approach And the Inverted Pyramid - How To Create Effective Article OpeningsWhen you\'re writing a web content your strategy should be to tell immediately to your readers what it is so special about your post that they should stop doing other things and put all of their attention on reading it. More often than not though online publishers start their articles by attacking the topic from very far away.

Tags and Tagging: How Do You Create Good Tags?Created with TagCrowdIn essence, the art of effective tagging consists in selecting a comprehensive enough set of keywords that organically describes the specific content while offering enough relevant hooks for this to be picked up by user searches.

Web Content Strategies: The MasterNewMedia New Editorial ApproachFrom a media and technology news & reviews daily web magazine to a reference / learning resource with a specific focus on media literacy, communication skills and professional web publishing. This is the new editorial strategy focus for Master New Media, the daily magazine that originates the story you are reading now. This is where I am going next.

How To Publish Your Content Online Without A Web Site - Video Interview With Ryan Hupfer Of Hubpages.comIn this eight-minute video interview, I recorded a few hours ago with Ryan Hupfer of Hubpages, you are going to find out what are the benefits of publishing to a ready-made content publishing portal and what are the key benefits you may have by going with Hubpages. (For a full review of Hubpages see this MasterNewMedia review.)

Create A Web Site Without Knowing HMTL: Web Site Creators - Sharewood GuideDo you want to create a web site but you know nothing about HTML coding? Finally, the time has come for everyone to take advantage of a growing number of web site and web page creation services which allow you to create and publish your online content even if you don\'t have any HTML code programming skills.

Add Multimedia Links And Embeds To Your Website With One Click: Apture ReviewedApture is a new tool for bloggers and online publishers that can add interactive multimedia links and embeds to their site with a single click. Apture takes the traditional act of linking to a whole new level and provides your site with greater functionality and depth by providing your reader with the opportunity to browse related off-site content without ever having to leave your site.

Increase Page Views And Reader Engagement On Your Site With Lijit - Video Interview With Todd VernonLijit is a free solution that helps you increase page views and reader engagement on your own site. By placing a non-intrusive search box on the side of your web pages, Lijit scans your site and discretely suggests your readers for additional relevant content.

Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia and first published on December 29, 2008 as "Online Content Strategies: The Best 2008 Editorial Advice From MasterNewMedia". ...

Social media marketing, ad management and optimization, diagnosing AdSense revenue drops, the brand ambassador model, are just some of the hot topics included inside this showcase of the best advertising and internet marketing articles published this year here at MasterNewMedia.Photo credit: Giuseppe RamosIf you want to monetize your blog site, attract potential advertisers, improve your advertising revenues, or deploy efficient market strategies, you can find most of what you need to know right inside this small collection of in-depth guides and reports.Check it out.Here all the details:

Best of MasterNewMedia 2008Online Advertising
Increase Online Ad Revenue: Professional Web Publisher Guide To Online Ad OptimizationRajeev Goel, CEO and Co-founder of Pubmatic, a company that specializes in optimizing ad network serving for web sites has just released an essential guide to ad revenue optimization, after having looked for a long time at what other the opportunity points to be leveraged in the fast-changing ad serving and optimization marketplace.

AdSense Revenue Drop: Diagnosing The Possible CausesChristian Ashlock, at theOfficial Google AdSense blog has recently posted a two-part report on this very topic which I found extremely helpful and comprehensive, especially for those who are new and unfamiliar with the online advertising business and specifically with the factors that can affect your AdSense revenues.

Advertising 2.0 Model: The Brand AmbassadorThe Brand Ambassador is an advertising model that leverages the authority and credibility of online personalities to create a powerful direct marketing strategy. A respected followed authority, a blogger or small publisher targeting a specific audience niche can be a much more effective vehicle for marketing communication that the most expensive advertising campaign.

MasterNewMedia Joins The Federated Media Advertising Network: John Battelle VideoAs passion, integrity and authority are among some of the key selection criteria used, it is with great pride that I can officially announce that MasterNewMedia has become part of the Federated Media Publishing and advertising network.

Online Ad Optimization And Management: Software And Services To Maximize Your Site Advertising RevenueAd optimization and management canincrease your ad revenue by as much as 150% (as PubMatic did with BikerOrNot). Or at least that is what companies offering ad optimization and management solutions are saying. If you are a professional blogger, you already understand that monetizing your content is extremely important.

Online Standard Ad Formats: Official Advertising Formats And Sizes For Web Banner AdsBanner, leaderboard, skyscraper, small rectangle. Just like for newspapers and print magazines, also on the Web advertisers and publishers have defined over time an official set of "online standard ad formats". Such ad formats represent the full range of visual and text-ad sizes available for use on public web pages.

Internet Marketing
Self-Marketing Online: The Personal Branding Top 100 Tactics RemixI am republishing here below the original content from Chris Brogan original Top 100, fully reformatted according to specific advice I have shared in my recent "How To Format Big Lists". Compare the original article with this one and provide feedback in the comment section at the end, of if and where you see significant improvements.

Cool Internet Marketing Tools: My Personal Toolkit For Online Marketing TasksLooking for some cool online marketing tools? Thanks again to my ongoing collaboration with Italian future-looking magazine 7thFloor for which I have been producing a small multi-part content section called "Yellow Pages for explorers and innovators", I am bringing to you the extended and upgraded version of a small collection of useful online marketing tools I have selected for their latest issue.

The Social Media Optimization Manifesto: Key Social Marketing Principles To Increase The Visibility Of Your Web SiteSMO (social media optimization), originally based on the five key principles Rohit first wrote to increase the visibility of a blog site, grew with time to 17 items, as other social media experts contributed to them by suggesting new ones across new blog posts about social media optimization best practices.

Guerrilla Marketing: Online Tactics For Independent Web PublishersWant to market, promote and monetize your best quality content and find out which are the effective guerrilla marketing actions that could help you the most? In this seven-minute excellent video presentation recorded last November at the nextMEDIA: Monetizing Digital Media event, Will Pate, shares with you some of the very best content marketing advice you can get around.

Building A Strong Online Identity: Robin Good VideoOne of the main steps to become a successful online publisher is to build a strong online identity. The more you establish yourself as a reliable source of information, the more the people will seek you for help and visit your site.

Social Media Marketing: Small Business, Collaboration Tools and Recruiting - Bill Vick Interviews Robin GoodHere, in this short video interviewwithBill Vick, I share some of my own little learned lessons on the front of social media marketing by recounting how useful these have been when I have been in search of other talent.

Originally prepared by Robin Good and Daniele Bazzano for MasterNewMedia and first published on December 30, 2008 as "Online Advertising And Internet Marketing: MasterNewMedia Greatest Hits From 2008". ...