I finally did it.  I watched All the President’s Men on DVD.  It was this movie that popularized the code name Deep Throat.  Deep Throat was the insider who fed Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein with enough information, leads and clues that led to the downfall of American President Nixon.

It was an interesting movie to watch for me.  And not just because of the historical significance of the movie.  It was interesting because of how far technology has come since then.

There are no more rotary phones (except at my parents house), we have smartphones, the internet, Google, Twitter and Facebook.  We also have citizen journalists and WikiLeaks.

Which brings us to the title and question of this post: will there ever be a Deep Throat again?

Will there ever be an individual who will stay unidentified for decades yet be able to feed such valuable information to the media?  Does the popularity and ubiquity of free online social tools make it virtually impossible to stay undercover?

You would think that people would like to stay anonymous online.  Wasn’t that once one of the selling points in the “early days” of the internet?  Not anymore it seems.  Social tools like Twitter have given rise to people looking to cash in on their 2 tweets/seconds of fame.

Here’s my opinion:  I don’t think we will ever see a figure like Deep Throat again.  Why?  Everyone’s lives are on a search engine near you.  Seems like almost everything can be found online.  But then again, a site like WikiLeaks makes public that type of information which people would want to remain anonymous.

Your thoughts?

Sony just announced that they are discontinuing their popular Sony Walkman.  Are you kidding me?!  I’m not outraged.  I’m surprised that they were still making those things.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I love(d) the Sony Walkman.  I actually own(ed) an original Sport version of the Walkman.  Big, fat, yellow, water-resistant and unbreakable.  I even played my first mix tape on the Sport Walkman.  But now it’s gone.

Now we put tiny ear buds or oversized earmuffs into/over our ears to listen to digital downloads.  The music we listen to comes in bits and bytes.  Sometimes we download from an online store.  Sometimes we listen to pirated music.

We have even started watching  concerts on YouTube.

The way we consume, listen to and interact with music has been an ever-changing story.  And it will continue to change.

This is the premise for MusicConnectTO.

MusicConnectTO is an event that a trio of us have organized for the Toronto community.

Taking place this Thursday evening at Toronto’s famous Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, we will be discussing the Canadian music industry’s response to social media, digital media and new media.

Here’s why I’d love for you to come:

1. You can win cool prizes like a trip to Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
2. You will learn about a couple of Toronto tech startups, Mediazoic and YouPhonics, that will take the industry by storm.
3. You will have an opportunity to learn how record labels and independent bands have approached the utilization of these new tools and technologies.
4. You will have a great time with some great people in a great venue.

There are many more reasons for you to attend.  But if you’re a fan of music (and who isn’t) and a user of these new tools (I know you tweet!) MusicConnectTO is the place to be.

I hope to see you there.

For more information visit MusicConnectTO.  To reserve a spot (hey, it’s free!) visit our Event Page.

Thanks.

On September 30th I had the good fortune of being present during the second installment of TEDxToronto.

Many of you are familiar with the popular TED conferences and podcasts.  However, some of you may not be familiar with TEDx-branded conferences.

Here’s a description from the TEDxToronto website:

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxToronto, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxToronto event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

During this conference I was asked to help out in the green room.  The green room was where the speakers and volunteer staff would huddle throughout the day.  Some  came there for conversation.  Others to relax and get prepped for their talk.

I took my handy FLIP camera with me to capture some special moments. Here is a video I made. (If YouTube allowed more than 10 minutes per video I would have taken advantage of it.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQP6BQgVlU8]

Appearing in the video are: Bruce Poon Tip, Drew Dudley, Dr. Catherine Zahn, Neil Hetherington, Sol Guy, Trey Anthony, and Neil Pasricha.

It’s finally here.  Facebook Place that is.  The question is: 

Is Facebook Places here to much or little fanfare.  I guess it depends on who you’re asking.  Ask brands and marketing folks and you’ll probably hear some enthusiasm.  Ask individuals and you might hear a mix of delight and trepidation.

There has been much talk in the interwebs and MSM about the issue of privacy and Facebook.  The introduction of Facebook Places has only increased this debate.

Today show you how to “turn off” Facebook Places.  Why?  The business and marketing case for Facebook Places will be determined soon.  I’m also expecting there to be some tweaks and changes in the coming days and weeks.  You can expect some thoughts from me on this later.  Or you can also check out your favourite search engine; there are already plenty of articles on that.

Back to the topic at hand.  With the media and government harping (which has nothing to do with Mr.Harper…) on Facebook about their privacy many people are curious how to turn this Places thing off.  I’m glad you asked…

How to turn off Facebook Places:

1. Delete your account.  Seeing as this is the simplest thing to do I thought I’d put this at the top.  You probably won’t do it so on to #2.
2. Go to Privacy Settings.
3. Click on Customize Settings under the Custom tag.
4. You will now see the various things you “allow” yourself to share with others.
5. See the “Places I check into”?  Click on this and edit the settings to “Only Me.”
6. Disable the box that says, “Include me in ‘People Here Now’ after I check in”.
7. We’re not done yet.  Facebook makes this a little difficult. Not on purpose though.
8. Scroll down to “Things Others Share” and disable “Friends can check me in to Places”.
9. Still not done. You may want to revisit #1 above.
10. Go back one page to the main Privacy Settings page.
11. Go to edit the “Applications and Websites”.
12. Edit “Info accessible through your friends”.
13. Uncheck “Places I check into”.
14. I think this is it. But you can always revisit #1 and seriously consider it.

If any of you find an easier way of disabling or turning off Facebook Places (especially in Canada) please feel free to comment below.  And please don’t cancel your Facebook account. I might take it that you don’t want to be my friend.

What makes an event trend locally?

Well, the simple answer is that the #hashtag or term needs to show up on the Twitter stream so often that it starts trending.  This past week #TIFF ( Toronto International Film Festival) was trending in Toronto (if not Canada) on Twitter.

Which brings me to a question I want to help answer:

How do you trend?

On Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs opened their pre-season schedule against the Ottawa Senators.  This game at the Air Canada Centre was sponsored by Coca Cola’s Coke Zero brand.  But this story began a couple of months ago…

Earlier this summer I was invited to participate in a marketing promotion that the Toronto Maple Leafs were participating in.

Sponsored by Coca Cola’s Coke Zero brand, a number of Maple Leafs and coaches “assaulted” a men’s beer league.  This was the opening of the summer long promotion hyping up the “free” pre-season game between the Maple Leafs and hated Ottawa Senators.

On this evening, Joallore Alon (@clickflickca), Sean Ward (@seanward), myself and a few others descended on the Leafs practice facility in Etobicoke.  We met the “beer” hockey players, the Maple Leafs players and coaches and even a bunch of Coke Zero promotional personalities.

After tweeting 140 characters at a time, we found out that the term #CokeZeroFansFirst started trending in Toronto. No big deal, I thought.  Until I was told that Coke never trended (globally or in Toronto) during the entire World Cup.  It did not even trend during Coke’s World Cup Trophy tour.

Yet here was a local event that did trend.  Here are a few  reasons why I think it did:

1.       Concentration.  Although it was a small event, there were at least a dozen people who were tweeting at the event live.  Out of this, 4-5 people tweeted at least a half a dozen times.

2.       Inclusion.  Include people who are not at the live event.  A few of us decided (with the support of the Leafs) to give away a few free tickets if they tweeted with the hashtag #CokeZeroFansFirst.  And because Torontonians love the Leafs they tweeted like crazy to “win” those free tickets.

3.       Local.  Yes, Twitter is global.  Yes, social media allows a brand to have a global reach at a low-cost.  However, the power of social media is in the local aspect.  Keeping strategies local gives a brand the opportunity to be a “big fish in a small pond.”

Joallore may have said it best,  “I think it was the influencers snowballing the event that made the event.  A combination of an established property in the Maple Leafs, the new trades and Twitter personalities made it easy.  It’s all about timing.”

The next question that should be asked is…

Why do you want to trend?

The simple answer: To peek curiosity and create brand awareness.  Imagine taking a look at your twitter stream (whether it’s everyone you follow or a specific list you’ve created) and seeing a #hashtag appear throughout a part of the day (or even the whole day.)  You naturally become curious.

Then you start asking questions.  And then so does everyone else.

Tweets begin to spread and the hashtag starts to take on a life on its own.  If done properly (and tied to an online property where people can detailed information on the product/service/campaign) a brand can create a blanket of awareness in a city, country and even worldwide.

What value do you place on your brand being the talk of the town?  Especially if its positive? What value do you place on more people becoming fans of your brand and eventually purchasing from you?

All because you saw a value in using social media and the power of a community of brand ambassadors.

That’s the power of trending, the power of community and the power of social media.

Here are two videos I made from the ambush event and the first game.  I hope you enjoy.

#CokeZeroFansFirst Ambush Event:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfIolrqR3V0]

#CokeZeroFansFirst Pre-Season Game:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BP-GVJViyE]