Category Archives: Toronto

digital media, podcast, social media, Toronto, video

Why I do what I do.

Image representing Boris Wertz as depicted in ...
Image via CrunchBase

I love Toronto.  And not just the Blue Jays baseball team or the CN Tower.  I mean what makes Toronto, well, Toronto.

Her people.  Especially those people who are making things happen.  Whether it be community activists like the folks at the Toronto Green Community or the start-up/tech space that I have been involved in for the past couple of years.

Earlier today, I had the opportunity to chat with Canadian entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist Boris Wertz.  He appeared as my guest on The XConnect Show.  It was our 19th episode and the first time we had a live audience.

The reason we invited a select audience was because our team knew that many people in the start-up space would love the opportunity to listen and learn from Boris.  So we had about 10 guests sit in on the session.

Before our taping I introduced Boris to every member of the studio audience.  And that made me feel happy and proud.  Happy that I could do it and proud that I had the chance to do it.

What made me more happier was receiving an email from one friend a few minutes ago who apologized for leaving without talking to me so he could share with Boris a cab ride across the city.

No need to apologize.

It’s why I do what I do.

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blog, digital media, social media, Toronto, twitter

my top seven #followfriday

Old and new Diet Coke cans.
Image via Wikipedia

In what may turn out to be a regular weekly installment, here are my top seven recommendations for people to follow on Twitter. In no particular order I present to you…

  1. @TantienHime – no other person RT’s me more than her. No other person supports everything that is Toronto more than her.
  2. @mhp – many people know that I don’t indulge in wobbly pops.  Mark knows that.  It doesn’t stop Mark, though, from buying me a Diet Coke every time he sees me.  And if I don’t say it enough: Thank You Mark.
  3. @salimavalji – Salima is one of the early pioneers of Toronto’s digital industry  as the former head of Edelman‘s digital division. And I was fortunate enough to spend some quality time with her at Canada 3.0 this week. (Thanks for the ride!)
  4. @vasta – I once asked him, “How do I use Twitter?” He answered, “Just get on it and register.” Hey Sameer, I’ve registered. Now what?
  5. @amirad – Community Manager for My City Lives is also a popular writer now. She was featured this past week in Metro. Congrats Amira!
  6. @ceben – Thanks for taking the lead in Toronto’s StartUp Weekend Chris.
  7. @Ldillonschalk – For inviting me for a Monday morning coffee and helping me start the week off right. Thanks so much for everything.
Start following these folks on Twitter. Your life will be much brighter!
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digital media, social media, sports, Toronto, twitter

(Update) Toronto’s social media winner: sports team category

(UPDATE – 4/19/2011: I’ve included links to all the web and social sites to the team listed below as well as numbers if applicable.)

Criteria:

Revenues generated as a direct result of social media.  Here’s why this is the most important factor in determining the winner. What do fans want most? A winning team. The best situation would be a championship team. And the factor that determines whether or not a team is of contending status or not is their ability to financially attract and retain talent.  And for the purposes of this blog post, let’s see which Toronto sport’s team has reaped financial benefits.

Wait a sec:

Fan engagement and reach is important too.  In this day and age of instant communication, sports fans demand up to the second updates.  This is why athletes and media are heavy users of tools like Twitter. However, to measure the “return on investment” of social media engagement.

Also, understand that these are just my observations.  I have not interviewed anyone who works for the nominees even though I know them.  The purpose of this blog is to give my viewpoint and to spur some discussion.  I would love to hear your thoughts on who is “winning” the social media game.  On to the nominees!

The nominees:

Toronto Argonauts

Twitter: 4,696 Facebook: 2,727 YouTube: 253,697 upload views

The Argos website has share functions throughout. Furthermore, their Facebook, YouTube and Twitter channels  are well populated with a fairly engaged online community.

Toronto Maple Leafs

LeafSpaceMonika: 8,713 Twitter: 48,642 Facebook: 378,572

Their Leafspace.com fan-focused site drives both fan engagement and revenues via advertising and ticket and merch sales.  The Leafs also have a huge following on both Twitter and Facebook.

Toronto Blue Jays

Social Media Clubhouse, Twitter:  32,210 Facebook: 249,397

A very busy website where the social media properties are hard to find. While we did see the BlackBerry sponsored Tweeting Tuesday’s ad, we had to scroll down to the bottom to see the Twitter and Facebook links. The BlueJays also have a very popular Facebook and Twitter following with a highly engaged audience.

Toronto Raptors

Twitter: 30,697 Facebook: 204,592

Piggy-backing off their Maple Leafs cousins, the Raps have done an amazing job with their Raptorspace fan site as well as with their Twitter and Facebook pages.

The Winner:

This is a hard one.  I’ll be honest tough. Before I even started to write this I had the Blue Jays picked as the winner. Why? They had actually obtained a sponsor as a result of their Tweeting Tuesday’s initiative – BlackBerry. The Blue Jays are improving in how they communicate and engage with their fans via social media. And last year they not only obtained a sponsor for one of their social media properties, their parent company (Rogers) has done a great job by looping in all their media properties. Listen or watch a game and there will be mention of “following” or “friending” the Blue Jays. But…

The Leafs are the perennial favourites here in Toronto. Yet picking them would be too easy and lazy.  However, after some surface research, I have to announce the winner as the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Leafs have  done an amazing job interacting and engaging with their fans on Facebook and Twitter.  They (as well as the Raptors) have also created a fun and interactive fan site called Leafspace. And when it comes to monetization they have conquered that too. A cursory glance at their website shows corporate ads on their fan areas. And they also held a Facebook competition  which was sponsored by a corporate sponsor.

Congrats Toronto Maple Leafs! And a HUGE thumbs up to the Toronto Blue Jays for doing a kick ass job in a relatively short period of time (and for inspiring this blog post!).

digital media, social media, Toronto, twitter

5 Questions with Meghan Warby

Meghan Warby is the first community manager working within a provincial   government.  In the province of Ontario‘s Cabinet Office she guides Ministries in their digital communications, online outreach and social media strategies.

Previously, Meghan has been an agency-side communications consultant in government relations, corporate communications and digital strategies, at Hill & Knowlton & Argyle Communications.  A social media enthusiast, Meghan spent the winter of 2008 traveling across the United States to interview ‘pioneers’ in eAdvocacy to gauge the significant changes in communications between the 2004 and 2008 American federal elections. Blogging and tweeting as @withoutayard combines her love of music (nurtured at the Austin Music Foundation) & politics (expressed on two Election Predictor Blogs & as Vice Chair of the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy).

What motivates you to do what you do on a daily basis?

I’ve always been passionate about civic engagement and studied political science, public policy, specifically cultural policy, for years. After working in the non-profit sector, Heritage Canada, and the consulting world, I knew that my work needed to include civic-minded values, technology and communications. Acting as Community Manager for the Province is a great balance of these three areas. As naive as it may sound, I strongly believe that citizens will become far more engaged with government if they have clear, updated, easy-to-access information online.

If you had 30 seconds to impart your wisdom on a classroom of soon-to-be graduates, what would you say?

Be humble, yet shameless. Take the opportunity of being labelled a ‘student’ to interview people you admire for your final dissertation. Glean invaluable information on their career path, habits, inspiration and experience. Make writing (real-life paper-version) thank-you notes part of your weekly routine.

In your opinion, what has been one of the most important technological developments over the past 12 months?

It’s certainly not Quora or Paper.li or any of the other tack-ons to existing systems or sites.  Honestly, I think that the massive political and social chance brought by the media’s use of WikiLeaks over the past year will prove to be the most important.

If you had a crystal ball, what would you say will be the most important technological development over the next 12 months?

Hopefully in the next 12 months we crack the mobile currency ‘nut’ to develop a comprehensive/centralized network that delivers international aid, encourages donors’ to offer micro-loans & tracks behaviour (health, lifestyle, spending, etc.) in developing countries.

Who is one of Canada’s tech stars and why?

Too many to name and the field is growing! Likely the biggest and best tech star of 2011 is plugging away right now in Ryerson’s DMZ lab. If I had to pick one, my Toronto-centric lefty-pinko paradigm would note the creator of Rocket Radar, Adam Schwabe.


blog, digital media, social media, Toronto, twitter

are you searchable? – post 2 of 31

marketing in a social age is devoting 31 posts this month to social and digital media and the real estate industry.

Are you searchable?

If not you should be.  If I did not personally know a real estate agent there are a few places I would go to search out for one.  I will share with you how I would look for them and where I would be.

Google

Are you searchable on Google (or really any major search engine)?  People might not search for you but they are searching for agents in a neighbourhood or within a specific area.  For example, if you specialize in condos in Toronto’s Scarborough Bluffs area, make sure you can be found if someone types in : “Toronto Scarborough Bluffs real estate agent”.

How do you do this?

There are a number of ways.  Here are two ways.

First, optimize your search.  A good SEO expert will make sure that the keywords you want to be found by are used on your main website.

Second, take advantage of social search.  A proper blogging and using micro blogging strategy is a great way to increase the chances of you being found.

Twitter

Being searchable on Twitter is not hard.  The point here though is twofold.

First, make sure that you tweet enough that your content gets becomes relevant and is then found by the search engines.  Second, create enough good content that people on Twitter find you interesting and useful.

Important Twitter Point:

It’s okay to tweet out your listing.  However, what might not work is ONLY tweeting out your listings.  Be human.  If you were at a party (unrelated to real estate) would you only talk about real estate? Try it and see how fast you’re looking for someone to talk to who’s interested.

Facebook

I will cover Facebook a bit more in a later blog post.  Understand this though: Facebook has become one of the world’s most popular search engines.  Many people will search on Facebook just like they search on Google.  And Facebook’s search is powered by Bing; a competitor of Google’s.

My advice here is to create as much relevant and compelling content on Facebook as you do on your blog and on Twitter.  One of the things you can do is to publish your blog on Facebook.  This allows your thoughts to be read by those who may be Facebook friends of your’s but not savvy enough to search for your blog.

 

social media, Toronto, twitter

SMS episode 2

Social Media & Sports – http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8807157

Hosts

Karim Kanji – Twitter

Guests

Joel Reilly – Twitter

I have worked as a producer & director in Toronto’s entertainment industry for 9 years on over 100 productions. Working with some of the industries top commercial production companies. I have produced and directed two films that were purchased by Bravo. “Silent as a mouse”, a 1940’s film noir, had its world premiere at the 2008 LA Shorts Film Festival. The film “Thomson’s Wake” is the 1st dramatic film on the mysterious death of Tom Thomson. Most recently, I created and ran a social media initiative called Boshtown (www.boshtown.com) which had on average over 5000 unique visitors per post and also trended on Twitter. Currently working biz dev for Red Juice Media.

Anthony Zanfini – Twitter

I’m a creative and social media strategist with GWP, a Toronto based branding consultancy. Also a former sports writer for both the University of Toronto and McGill University newspapers.

Sean Boulton – Twitter

Sean Boulton is a long-suffering Toronto sports fan, old enough to have legally hoisted a drink to the 92/93 World Series victories, but young enough to have never hoisted even a sippy-cup for a Stanley Cup win. Born and raised a Leafs fan in Canadiens country, he’s been in Toronto for more than 20 years, where he can properly fulfill his Leafs and Blue Jays love in its natural environment. His following list on Twitter is chock-full of sports writers and broadcasters, local athletes, and like-minded fans. Wage-slave to the investment industry by day, amateur singer/actor and karaoke enthusiast by night, Sean can be found on Twitter at @sboulton, and inconsistently maintains a blog about the trials of trying to go from unfit to fit at http://mlaffs.wordpress.com.

Producer

Stephen Thomas

Episode Description

This Week on SMS: Discussing the line between Social Media and Sports, with Joel Rielly, Anthony Zanfini and Sean Boulton.

Topics

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8807157

sports, Toronto

Inspirational Person – The Good Doctor

I suggested a few blog posts ago that I would highlight a couple of inspirational people a month in this space. I’m gonna cut that down to one. At least. That way I can still host a few guest blogs and write about other things. However, don’t be surprised if I highlight more than one person a month. Thanks for understanding. And now, on with today’s show…

Roy “Doc” Halladay.

I know. He’s been in the news a lot lately regarding a potential trade away from the only professional baseball team he’s ever played for. He’s a multi-million dollar pitcher. Many consider him the best at his craft. Even George W. Bush likes him (Dubya was a part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball club before he was President of the U.S.).

So why is he this month’s Inspirational Person?

Is it because he plays for my favourite team? Is it because he’s so good? Is it because Doc is topical? Not at all.

Focus.

It’s something I strive for. And I know many of you strive for it.

Focus is that thing you do with a single-minded purpose. Whatever your purpose and vision is (heck, whatever it is that you do think about and do on a daily basis) demands that you be focused. We all need to be focused to complete our “task” with excellence.

It’s what Doc does. Everyday. Not just every fifth day when he is on the mound. But everyday, he prepares himself – mentally and physically – so that when he is called upon he displays excellence. These past few days, we have seen him answer question after question about the why and where and when of the trade rumours (especially during last week’s All-Star game). And what what his answer? It was calm and professional. How did he pitch? Well, yesterday, he pitched a complete game six-hitter for another complete game victory over the American League leaders, Boston Red Sox.

How does he do it?

Focus.

And that’s why he’s this month’s (and this blog’s) inaugural Inspirational Person.

If you have a suggestion for an Inspirational Person you’d like to see featured here, please email me at karim_kanji at hotmail dot com.

Photo Credit – http://infieldfly.wordpress.com/tag/roy-halladay/
social media, Toronto

Hockey – The new battleground for social media.

Hockey is top of mind for many people these days. Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins are providing hockey and NHL fans with a great display of technique, passion and skill.

Then there is the “battle” taking place in Arizona. Balsillie versus Bettman.

Whether you or I believe or agree with what Mr. Blackberry is doing with his makeitseven.ca campaign is not the point of this post.

What Jim and his team do understand is that the power of social media tools are helping them to make a concerted effort to bring a hockey team to the Hamilton, ON residents. And it’s not just the makeitseven Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Here is a list (without links because you can find most if not all if you enter makeitseven.ca in your web browser of choice 🙂 ) of the “tools” he is employing:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • makeitseven.ca
  • Email updates to supporters (just sign up and become one!) on each and every legal and non-legal moves and initiatives
  • the makeitseven.ca shop where fans can buy merchandise
  • the HaveAVoice blog and community where fans can interact and share with each other
  • Photo and video galleries
  • Corporate partners (which are listed on the site) have also put out radio and tv commercials (at least in the Toronto area) which ask their customers to support the makeitseven campaign

This may sound like much ado about nothing. Here’s the thing though: Mr. Balsillie is a billionaire who does not have to garner public support in his bid to buy a hockey team. He just has to pay his lawyers enough and buy the team. He has the financial resources.

Why is this campaign a study in social media then? Because of what Mr. Balsillie has learned from running Research in Motion: In short, it is the public – the Audience – who is responsible for either the success or failure of any business, team or campaign.

This story and fight are far from over. I believe this is just the beginning of both this campaign and how future corporate sports battles will be fought.

What are your thoughts? What do you think of the makeitseven initiative?

Toronto

PodCamp Toronto 2009

I’m attending my first PodCamp this Saturday. What is PodCamp? I haven’t a clue. What I do know, is that it is a (un)conference that strives to bring together people in the spirit of community help. Think of a conference that you, as an attendee, can design. Couple that with the power of social media and people who love to help people.


I’m going as a volunteer representative for Toronto Green Community. We’re hoping to learn some stuff to help TGC go mainstream. Here are some answers to questions posted on Toronto PodCamp website:

What are your personal goals for Podcamp?

I want to learn as much as possible. Be a sponge. Meet new people. All with the focus of taking what I can to help TGC grow.

What do you want to learn?

How can TGC use social media and other socmed events to raise needed funds for project work and create raving fans!

What are you offering to share/teach others at Podcamp?

All I can share I will. I’m a little new at these type of events. What I do know is that if an event like TwestivalTO can be a success then so can a Toronto Green Community inspired “tweet” event!

Which podcamp registrants would you like to meet?

I would love to meet Chris Brogan, John Sheridan. I’d also like to re-meet Erin Bury and Sarah Prevette who headed up TwestivalTO. Oh! And Helen Overland as well!

Why? Who is your “dream interview” for your podcast? Why?

I don’t have one. How the heck do you podcast?????

What is your, “Can’t miss it” session at podcamp?

Social Media for Special Causes and Social Media for Non-Profits.

Monetize or Communitize?

Both!

Who would win in a cage match: Chris Brogan, Bob Goyetche, My Marilyn, or Scarborough Dude?

?

In time honored meme tradition– guilt a few more people into carrying on this meme.

Everyone who reads this post and is coming!!!