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December 31, 2009

140 Steps To Cure Your Twitter Addiction

Another great video created, filmed, directed and produced by Jeffrey Sass of sassholes and founder / curator of Invitations, the premiere spot for those needing to experience Social Media Rehab.

In all seriousness, as we continue to experience the effects of hyper-communications during 2010 and beyond, facilities similar to the one Jeff created in his mind ("Invitations") will become a real-life business opportunity.


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Posted by jeff at 09:24 AM | Permalink

December 30, 2009

Conference Insider: A new approach to the pricing of the #140conf events in 2010

I’ve been creating/producing/hosting conferences since 1996. Over the years I learned a lot about the conference business and was fortunate to develop the event platform that helped popularize VoIP (Voice over IP) around the world.

One area that everyone in the conference business fights with themselves is the pricing of their events. We never know if we are charging the right amount for access to our events until it is too late.

Something Fred Wilson shared in a blog post titled Conferences back in May has been resonating in my mind the last few weeks of the year.

It turns out that Fred is “...not a big fan of attending conferences.” With regard to event pricing Fred wrote: “The most interesting people you can meet are the outsiders, the up and comers, and the hackers who can't afford to lay out $4000 to attend an event and are never going to get an invite to an event where you have to know somebody or "be somebody" to get in. So I avoid those most of all.”

And Fred’s right about this. The way I compensated over the years to open my doors to students and to offer discounts to startups. But I’m sure this policy didn’t do enough to bring as many outsiders as I could.

During 2009 I introduced a new conference, the 140 Characters Conference (#140conf) whose scope was a lot wider and deeper than any conference I was associated with in the past. During the course of the year I was fortunate to be able to bring together together a worldwide community of people in: New York City, Los Angeles, London and Tel Aviv while nurturing a much larger community of people online. Along the way I learned a thing or two about viral marketing in 2009 and how to produce these four events without spending any money on advertising or marketing. And with this all said, I also knew that I needed to try something different with regard to the costs to attend future #140conf events.

And Fred’s words got me thinking about the conference business in general and how to best approach the pricing of #140conf events in 2010. I decided to try something which is quite disruptive to the way I approached event pricing since 1996 because I like to be on the disruptive side of industries as my own history has shown.

My new approach is to offer “social pricing” to conferences which will (hopefully) cover my own incremental per-person costs and be at a level that I hope would also naturally attract the “outsiders, the up and comers, and the hackers” who can’t afford to lay out the kind of money I was asking for in the past.

Starting with #140conf NYC ‘10, the ticket prices will be more reflective of the cost to attend the theater and/or a music concert in New York City than a typical tech event.

From today thru March 6, 2010 the cost to attend the entire 2 days of #140conf NYC ’10 is: $100. Afterwards the price goes to: $140. This translates to a cost of $50 to $70 a day for this conference which I hope is affordable to anyone who has wants to be a part of the #140conf experience. For people who want to attend and have a budget for something extra, I am also offering “VIP” tickets at $395 for the two days for people who would benefit from: the ability to network with the speakers backstage in the speakers lounge, access to preferred seating and an invite to the planned VIP/Speaker party as well as other perks to be added leading up to the event.

The formal “Call for Speakers” for #140conf NYC ’10 will be going out next week. In the meanwhile, if you would like to reserve your seat at the next #140conf NYC, please visit: http://140conf.com/register today.

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Posted by jeff at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

December 28, 2009

Guest Blogger: Unified Communications 2015: Six Predictions - Steve Parrott

In the last of a series of posts from fellow bloggers at the Seamless Enterprise, Steve Parrott shares his thoughts on the near term future of unified communications.

Note: If you’re reading this blog, you should assume that I make money from some posts I put on this blog from advertisers. Some links on this blog are paid links. All banner advertising on my blogs are paid for by advertisers.

Unified Communications 2015: Six Predictions

Author: Steve Parrott

Technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. What is hot today can easily become a “has been,” “could-have-been”, or hobby within a year. Although Unified Communications is still in its infancy, we can confidently say that will not be the case and instead, are already looking ahead at how it will change how we communicate. Here are half a dozen predictions of how we see UC changing the enterprise within just a few short years.

1. It won’t be called UC anymore. The seamless convergence of networks, mobility, voice, and collaborative applications will become second nature to us, making collaboration an intuitive part of our daily lives.

2. Enterprises will do far more “single-provider” partnering when it comes to mobile devices and handsets. With mobile integration the norm, businesses will no longer see a need for, or value in, splitting their purchases so evenly among multiple wireless carriers. Given that the many of the benefits of UC are in a seamless experience, business will strive to create a common employee experience regardless of the end user device.

3. We’ll lose our sense of distance and differentiation in terms of communications. We will communicate virtually anytime from anywhere. The lines that delineate our local, long distance, wireless, and international calling will vanish. Communications, all of which will have converged, will be free flowing, enabling us to move seamlessly from one mode of communications (voice) to another (text, collaborative conferencing, work sharing, etc.).

4. Enterprises won’t be buying and focusing on all the separate elements that make up communications today, such as a server, a PBX, a gateway, or a wireless device. The solutions will be integrated, carrier-provided / hosted, and based on simple architectures to address all many of the common deployment problems. There may still be a small box on the premises, but that box is likely to be for routing to the network.

5. Service providers will deliver strong customer service … or else. Although service perceptions are an issue with some carriers today, this will have to change. Carriers will have to be exceptionally good in delivering the communication and collaboration enterprises demand, since their role will broadly expand in the next few years. The network will have to be absolutely dependable, and the carrier will have to be incredibly responsive to each enterprise customer’s changing needs. Those carriers that aren’t good at customer service will have failed or be failing.

6. We’ll still talk to one another. Voice will never go away entirely. We may find more nifty ways to seamlessly collaborate that will be attributed to UC, but rest assured we’ll still make voice calls. In fact, we will always make voice calls, because for many needs, they remain the most efficient way to do things. It may seem hard to believe, but even five years from today, voice will still be the “killer app” driving UC.

For end users, this will mean we won’t have to make choices as to what is the best way to communicate. The optimal mode of communications will be part of the model…specific to that time, place and circumstance. If you’re speaking on your wireless device, and the person at the other end is available via text, then that is how they will receive your communication. Users won’t have to choose among separate e-mail accounts or communications devices; they’ll just communicate. What could be easier?


Steve Parrott is guest blogging on behalf of Sprint’s Seamless Enterprise blog (seamlessenterprise.com), which focuses on unified communications, convergence and related enterprise issues.

You can follow Steve on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/Stevenparrott

Posted by jeff at 02:55 PM | Permalink

Alon Nir: The Story Behind @TheKotel

A great session from the 140 Characters Conference in Tel Aviv.

Learn how an economist unwittingly started a Twitter sensation with the launch of @TheKotel, and was, himself, blessed beyond measure.


Video Produced by: GoGlobal New Media Marketing


Conference Hosted by: Afeka College of Engineering

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Posted by jeff at 08:00 AM | Permalink

December 27, 2009

Jeff Pulver Beaches About Social Media Jungle CES 2010 #SMJCES

Yesterday afternoon Jeff Sass (@sass) interviewed me about the upcoming Social Media Jungle conference taking place on January 6, 2010 at CES in Las Vegas.

For more information about Social Media Jungle and to register, visit the event on the CES website and follow the registration process and select Social Media Jungle as the registration option.

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Posted by jeff at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (365)

Jeff Pulver Beaches About Social Media Jungle CES 2010 #SMJCES

Yesterday afternoon Jeff Sass (@sass) interviewed me about the upcoming Social Media Jungle conference taking place on January 6, 2010 at CES in Las Vegas.

For more information about Social Media Jungle and to register, visit the event on the CES website and follow the registration process and select Social Media Jungle as the registration option.

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Posted by jeff at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (210)

December 26, 2009

January 2010 #140conf Meetups:

Please join me at one or more of these upcoming #140conf Meetups in January:

Jan 12: #140conf Philly Meetup

Jan 19: #140conf NYC Meetup

Jan 21: #140conf London Meetup

For more information regarding future #140conf meetups, please visit: http://www.meetup.com/140conf/.

For more information regarding future #140conf Conferences, please visit: http://140conf.com.

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Posted by jeff at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (233)

December 24, 2009

Recap of the first #140conf Los Angeles Meetup

Since the launch of the #140conf events, one of the amazing by-products from the conferences has been the launch of local #140conf Meetup groups in a growing number of cities.

On the evening of December 14th, the first #140conf LA meetup took place at the Yahoo! offices in Burbank, California. Eric Greenspan helped with the co-host duties. Eric and his MakeItWork team came down from Santa Barbara and worked together with a number of volunteers and helped produce the first #140conf LA Meetup. Special thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the event.

The speakers included:
@adventuregirl who spoke about “Sharing and Caring”;
@marlooz: - “Love 2.0” and the "tweetfunding" of her laptop.
I enjoyed learning about how the advent of social media brought forth an era of coopitition on the Sunset Strip during the "Sunset Strip Tweet Crawl" talk given by @Alflamont (The Comedy Store) + @N8theSk8 (The Viper Room).
@BethFrysztak, @3Lunches, @momsofamerica were part of a lifestreaming discussion they called "Playing in Traffic."
And my friend @evanlowenstein spoke about the "Evolution of communication between artists and their fans."

A number of the people who attended the meetup shared their commentary / feedback on their blogs. For a more complete recap of the event, please read the following blog posts:

- Justin Moore-Brown: The 140 LA meetup
- Yahoo! Advertising Blog: 140 Conf Meetup @ Yahoo!
- Vanessa Rivers: "OSN101: Learn to Surf Like A Pro!"
- Ricardo Bueno: Recap: #140Conf LA Meetup
- Victor Caballero: Los Angeles Yahoo 140 Conf Meetup
- Greg Pincus: Tweetups and Meetups and Conferences (Oh, My!)

I look forward to returning to California in 2010 and having an opportunity to attend additional meetups.

Video archive of #140conf LA Meetup (special thanks to: @marlooz).

For more information regarding future #140conf meetups, please visit: http://www.meetup.com/140conf/.

For more information regarding future #140conf Conferences, please visit: http://140conf.com.

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Posted by jeff at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 22, 2009

Guest Blogger: The Coming Tidal Wave of Video - Dan Jacobson

With the popularity of YouTube and the ability to watch video on mobile devices, video phones are no longer something from science fiction. The video phone concept was actually introduced five years before the Internet, by AT&T at the 1964 World’s Fair. We’ve come a long way since that visionary day when the Picturephone was unveiled. When visiting with my friends at Sprint we talked about video applications for social media and the enterprise. Dan Jacobson, one of the seamlessenterprise.com bloggers took time to blog about what we discussed. 
 

Note: If you’re reading this blog, you should assume that I make money from some posts I put on this blog from advertisers. Some links on this blog are paid links. All banner advertising on my blogs are paid for by advertisers.

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The Coming Tidal Wave of Video 

By Dan Jacobson 

Driven by a video generation soon to be entering the workforce, along with the increasing power of video in all types of social media, it’s fair to say that enterprises will be dealing with much more video within the next several years. 

For most companies, video has been limited to a few training videos on the company intranet, or the occasional videoconference. But judging from the consumer side – and to an increasing extent the business-to-consumer side – video will no doubt be the Next Big Thing. 
Look at the growing number of companies that plug their products and services with video, either on their own website or on sites such as YouTube. That’s only going to grow. There’s nothing better than a funny or poignant video that catches fire, generates millions of views, and presents a positive view of your company or positions you as a creative, “cool” organization. There’s also the consideration of dealing with consumer-generated videos – hopefully positive in showing ways to use your product, but potentially negative, like the couple who sang about how the airline broke their guitar earlier this year. A company has to be ready to respond with its own videos, if needed, in such situations. 

For an enterprise, video is one aspect of collaboration and working together on a common project. It is actually one area that I believe will grow the fastest. In this instance, I’m talking more about two-way video sharing, not just pushing out a video to employees or consumers or business associates. This is something that Unified Communications – by enabling connectivity anywhere and anytime, in order for users to drive business value – can make possible.  
For example, let’s say employees are in a video meeting, but one of them has to leave to travel to an appointment. That employee, en route to her car, could remain part of the meeting via her mobile device. This requires integration of the mobile and corporate networks, but this integration is something that more and more companies are embracing. 

Video not only needs mobile integration to work effectively, but also networks that are robust enough for employees to get the bandwidth they need wherever they are. Video does chew up bandwidth pretty quickly, so enterprises have to be sure that their corporate networks have the capacity for them, and that they are taking advantage of wireless networks – such as 4G – that can deliver the needed bandwidth. 

As Jeff Pulver has pointed out, for the millennials, the generation that is just now entering the workforce, video is intuitive. It’s the standard way of doing things. Their arrival in the workforce, coupled with the growing power of video in marketing and promotion, is creating a Perfect Storm if you will, launching a tidal wave of video washing over business as we know it. 

Dan Jacobson is guest blogging on behalf of Sprint’s Seamless Enterprise blog (seamlessenterprise.com), which focuses on unified communications, convergence and related enterprise issues.  
 
 

Posted by jeff at 09:10 AM | Permalink

December 21, 2009

Guest Blogger: FWD Nova Trial: HD Communications via a Web Model - By: Daniel Berninger

The FWD Nova Trial tests the utility of a web like business model for enabling HD communications. Telephone companies connect end points for a fee tied to the location of end points and the duration the connection. Browsing the web involves connecting nd points to a server for the cost of a broadband connection and a computer. No one considers the location of a web server before clicking on a link. The Nova Trial connects HD capable end points to a virtual location (the Nova). Two or more parties visiting the same Nova get connected to each other. Trial participation involves a one time $100 setup fee, but Nova owners incur no costs associated with the location of end points or how long one end point remains connected to another via the Nova.

Getting connected involves meeting at a Nova rather than dialing a telephone number. The telephone becomes a mechanism for accessing a Nova location rather than a destination, so one shares the location of the Nova rather than the device telephone number. Creating a Nova for a specific person, business, or family conversation gives communication a dimension of context absent from traditional telephone calls. Caller ID helps establish the context of a telephone call, but Caller ID does not always work and the existence of a telephone number makes unwanted telephone calls inevitable. Accessing a Nova may involve dialing a telephone number, an access number and code, a SIP URI, clicking a URL, a voice command, posting Twitter message, or any other means capable of connecting an HD end point and a Nova server via the Internet.

The Nova offer of unmetered, high definition, and contextual connections addresses a voice intensive need not met by existing communication options. HD offers an experience closer to in-person communication than a standard definition telephone call. Internet enabled options from email and instant messaging to Twitter and Facebook do not offer the same emotional connection as voice. Video options from the prohibitively expensive telepresence, championed by Cisco CEO John Chambers, to the relatively cheap casual video, associated with PC video cameras and free software (e.g. Skype), have their place, but the Nova gives stand alone voice a long overdue boost.

Setting up a Nova does not translate into communication until someone visits the Nova. Creating a Nova like posting a website arises from a "build it and they will come" attitude. Getting people to visit you at a Nova requires awareness of the existence of the Nova, a HD capable device, and navigating the device configuration obstacles. The latter two represent startup only obstacles. This mirrors the state of affairs in the early days of the web when there existed very few people with Internet connected computers and very limited web content. The hope is to replicate the virtuous cycle (new audience attracts new content and new content attracts new audience) that produced ten fold annual increases in the number of websites during most of the 1990's.

Nova startup costs are modest compared to the cost and complexities of connecting a computer to the Internet in the early 1990's. However, the current landscape is already crowded with a long list of options competing for the finite amount of time people devote to communication. Implementing a Nova represents a new option for anyone seeking the closest approximation to being there in-person. Even beyond the utility of high definition voice, the absence of usage based charges can mean leaving a Nova connection up all the time and a sense of presence not available by any other means. In any case and as with the early days of the web, the case for participating in the trial rests as much on the promise of a Nova based model as on the cost benefit merits of HD communications as it exists today.

Submit an application to participate in the trial via the web form at
http://www.siptosip.net/content.html

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Daniel Berninger is CEO, FWD. His bio can be seen here.


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Posted by jeff at 11:04 PM | Permalink

Announcing: #140conf Barcelona - February 15th (during Mobile World Congress)

The 140 Characters Conference: Barcelona will be taking place during the afternoon of February 15th, 2010 at the Opium Cinema.

Since the launch of the #140conf events, conferences have taken place in: New York City, Los Angeles, London and Tel Aviv. At these events we have explored the effects of twitter on a wide range of topics including: Celebrity, “The Media”, Advertising, Politics, Music, Education, Public Safety and Public Diplomacy.

The #140conf events provide a platform for the worldwide twitter community to: listen, connect, share and engage with each other, while collectively exploring the effects of the emerging real-time internet on business.

Some of the speakers at our Barcelona event include:

- Cathy Brooks, Raconteur
- Rob Conway, CEO and board member of the GSMA
- Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO, Kodak
- Jon Landau, Producer of Avatar and Titanic
- Jeffrey Merrihue, Chairman, MoFilm
- Jeff Pulver, creator, #140conf
- Babs Rangaiah, Vice President, Global Comms Planning, Unilever
- Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO WPP

For more information and to register, please visit: http://barcelona.140conf.com.

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Posted by jeff at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (442)

December 20, 2009

My Favorite Hotel in the World: The Hotel Montefiore in Tel Aviv

These days, when someone asks me “Of all the hotels you visit each year, which is your favorite hotel?”, the answer is an easy one. My choice?, The Hotel Montefiore in Tel Aviv.

Description (from their website):
"The 12-room Hotel Montefiore, set in the heart of Tel Aviv’s White City nabe (already home to some 2,000 original Bauhaus buildings). The meticulously renovated 1920s mansion has been updated with more contemporary indulgences, like a haute Southeast Asian eatery on the ground floor. Upstairs, rooms have private balconies and original period furnishings—think chairs, tables, and sofas by German designers Thonet—and art by the city's contemporary up-and-comers. The recently opened Bauhaus Center is just a short stroll away; as is its aesthetic opposite, the beach." (and the wifi is free.)

For the past year and a half, every time I have traveled to Tel Aviv, I have stayed at the Hotel Montefiore. And each time I have stayed at the hotel, I was assigned room 26. After a while, I started to get that familiar feeling whenever I stayed there and at this point, the Hotel Montefiore feels like my home in Tel Aviv.

The team at the hotel has always been polite, professional and are always available to serve. Over time, staff members have become my friends and I feel more comfortable staying at the Hotel Montefiore any other hotel I’ve ever visited. Then again, this might be why I feel like I’m at home whenever I’m there. :)

I am not aware of any other hotel in the world that provides as much personal attention to guests like me as the Hotel Montefiore does. For instance, on the days that I schedule back-to-back meetings at the hotel, I can rely on the hotel staff to act as an extension of my own staff and help queue the people waiting for my meetings.

I discovered the Hotel Monteifore because I am a big fan of the Brasserie in Tel Aviv and when I heard that the Brasserie’s owner, Mati Broudo, was opening up a hotel, I figured I just had to stay at it.

In fact, when it comes to personal service, I am not aware of another hotelier who does it better than Mati. During my recent stay at the Hotel Monteifore, when I checked in to room 26, I couldn’t help but notice that there was a sign on my room door, “Jeff Pulver’s room.” To complete the experience, the room key for room 26 had the Hotel Montefiore name on one side and “Jeff Pulver’s Room” printed on the back. While I have been traveling for business for many years, this is the first time I have ever experienced personalized service like this.

If you are traveling to Tel Aviv on business, you owe it yourself it make it a point to stay at the Hotel Montefiore. And when you call to make a reservation, tell them that Jeff sent you. :)


Friends visiting Tel Aviv should also make it a point to visit Mati’s other venues, coffeeBAR and Rothschild 12.

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Posted by jeff at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

December 16, 2009

Guest Blogger: Laying the Technology Groundwork for Social Media - Steve Parrott

I recently met with Steve Parrott and two other Seamless Enterprise bloggers and discussed the role of social media in Corporate America. Steve has already shared his thoughts from a cultural perspective, and here’s his second post with thoughts on the technical issues. 
 

Note: If you’re reading this blog, you should assume that I make money from some posts I put on this blog from advertisers. Some links on this blog are paid links. All banner advertising on my blogs are paid for by advertisers.

Laying the Technology Groundwork for Social Media 

By Steve Parrott 

When I talked in my previous post about the challenges social media face in the enterprise, I emphasized the organizational and cultural considerations. But these are only some of the issues an organization faces. In fact, even if you prepare and overcome the organizational and cultural considerations, it doesn’t mean that implementing social media is a snap from a technology standpoint. 

There are several things that IT departments need to do to lay the groundwork for a social media initiative. For starters, the enterprise network has to be powerful enough, and robust enough, to handle the increased load and different type and style of communication that social media brings into the business. For instance, depending on how a company uses social media, there may be a lot more video traffic involved than ever before. Or more communication using the Internet. Or even the need to reconfigure your firewall to account for the new usage patterns and traffic destinations.  

Video may be generated by the company for posting it to its Facebook page. Or the company may encourage customers to send in their own videos for promotional or other purposes. Or the increased use of video could be strictly internal, linked to an intranet-based wiki, for example. But a company that has gotten by with a single T1 to its various locations – and most companies still do that (or worse, a fractional T1) – will find that 1.5 Mbps just doesn’t cut it when videos start moving around.

It is also critical to remember that much of the success of social media in the enterprise presumes that communication occurs anywhere and at any time. This means that wireless networking also becomes more important. Social media only works when all the individuals involved are able to stay in contact with the company, with customers, with partners, or with fellow team members, virtually anytime. The enterprise that embraces social media must also embrace mobility in all its forms. Not just voice, but also instant messaging, status updates, presence, and collaboration. As Jeff emphasizes, the State of NOW is essentially an instantaneous environment. The old saying, “Time waits for no man,” is now more like “Twitter waits for no one.” And Facebook only waits for your next update. 

Another network consideration is how mobility becomes interweaved within the enterprise network. Since it is impossible for an employee to always be at their desk, again, this comes back to the need to make everyone involved with social media fully accessible at any time, and give them the ability to work fully effectively wherever they may be.  

Most critically with social media in the enterprise the technology solutions must match the expectations of the medium. If you are using front line employees to successfully communicate your corporate message through social media, those employees must have the network resources they need. Salespeople, for instance, often work from remote offices or from home, as do many contact center people who may have an increasingly important role in monitoring customer feedback. This means having sufficient bandwidth, wireless or wired, and the ability to be totally integrated into the enterprise network in order to participate as they should in the social media revolution. 

Finally, one early step – something that companies should frankly be doing regardless of their social media plans – is to implement some sort of voice trunking such as SIP or VoIP. These solutions can replace the local telephone company trunks with access via a single converged network that can easily handle all voice on the same “pipe” as your data, and video circuits. It is an efficiency and money-saving move in its own right, but also an essential step toward implementing Unified Communications and social media tools effectively. 

The good news is that any and all of these are technologies that companies can put in place today to support social media and real-time internet. Then all they have to worry about are those pesky organizational and cultural issues.   

Steve Parrott is guest blogging on behalf of Sprint’s Seamless Enterprise blog (seamlessenterprise.com), which focuses on unified communications, convergence and related enterprise issues.

You can follow Steve on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/Stevenparrott

Posted by jeff at 10:55 AM | Permalink

December 14, 2009

Guest Blogger: When Social Media Meets Unified Communications - Dan Jacobson

As part of my discussion with the Seamless Enterprise bloggers, we chatted about the enterprise, or IT, side of social media. We agreed that social media is changing how we work – and even driving the type of networks companies implement, such as unified communications. Some may not recognize unified communications as social media, but if you look at its capabilities, it’s about bringing the enterprise together into the Now. With UC, corporate America can be part of the social media revolution.

Note: If you’re reading this blog, you should assume that I make money from some posts I put on this blog from advertisers. Some links on this blog are paid links. All banner advertising on my blogs are paid for by advertisers.

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When Social Media Meets Unified Communications

By Dan Jacobson

Uniting social media and Unified Communications (UC) is essential if an enterprise wants its people to be able to collaborate whenever and wherever they need to. But because UC is not always the clearest of terms, let’s start with a UC definition from a fellow guest blogger and colleague Steve Parrott:

“UC is the integration of wireless, wireline and collaboration solutions enabling a business and their end users to control how, where and when communication occurs through a consistent interface regardless of mode or access method. An effective UC deployment provides the business simplicity through common end-user interfaces, value through significantly improved network and IT infrastructure efficiency, and productivity in improving interactions between users.”

My own super-simple version of this is that UC is how we enable connectivity anywhere and anytime, in order for users to drive business value. Tie that to social media, and it leverages one of the greatest benefits of UC, which is collaboration. UC allows users to be fully aware of each other’s status and location and to instantly get into contact using the best means available at that moment. It may be a text if someone’s in a meeting, a mobile call if they’re away from their desk, or an on-the-fly video meeting if that is what is needed and if all the parties are available.

One of the key ways social media can enhance UC – and vice versa – is through presence and location. When you look at Twitter, for example, it’s all about where I am and what I am doing right now. That’s a function of presence and location. On the corporate side, if I know you’re in a meeting and unavailable, I won’t waste time trying to contact you, and will know to try you later. If I can establish that you and the other members of my team are all available, we can quickly arrange a collaborative conference to complete a project.

Sure, some of this can be done today via emails and calendar updates, but presence makes it all happen faster and more efficiently. Also, social media tools such as corporate wikis or Facebook-style intranet features can make the information that we need for our collaborative conference much more available. And with UC, a key part of which is mobile integration – the blending of mobile and wired networks – these are accessible anywhere.

No effective enterprise social media initiative is going to succeed without a heavy dose of mobility. People – particularly the front-line people who are critical to making their companies immediately responsive to what goes on in the Twittersphere and blogosphere – just don’t work that way anymore. They are on the move, and they need to be able to access and engage social media wherever they are. For them, mobility is truly the foundation of the State of NOW, and UC extends the benefits of that mobility and the collaboration it enables throughout the organization.

Dan Jacobson is guest blogging on behalf of Sprint’s Seamless Enterprise blog (seamlessenterprise.com), which focuses on unified communications, convergence and related enterprise issues.

Posted by jeff at 01:28 PM | Permalink

December 13, 2009

Event: Jeff Pulver’s #140conf NYC Holiday Party: Dec 17th

On December 17th in New York City I am hosting a Holiday Party at the Village Pourhouse starting at 6:30 pm. Friends interested in attending click here to RSVP.

Costs: $20 in advance, $25 at the door


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Posted by jeff at 10:01 PM | Permalink

Register TODAY for Social Media Jungle @ CES 2010

I am looking forward to returning to CES 2010 to produce “Social Media Jungle” at CES. This year I will be co-hosting the event with Dave Taylor.

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Social Media Jungle Description: (from CES Website)

It's wild out there in the social media jungle! Unbridled growth and tens of millions of "addicts" have made social media an unstoppable force that's changing the way we live and work. Sit in on state-of-the-industry updates, and get a candid look at how social media disrupts the workplace by empowering companies to lower burn rates. Plus, you'll learn how companies can use social media to motivate consumers and drive product sales without increasing costs. This year our underlying theme is: “How the consumer electronics industry can benefit from social media.”

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This event costs $295 in advance and $395 on-site. If you are thinking about attending, please take a moment register for the event today by visiting: http://www.cesweb.org/sessions/search/results.asp?categoryID=1883. Remember to choose the "Social Media Jungle" registration option.

Hope you can join us at the Social Media Jungle @ CES. I would appreciate your help in sharing awareness of this event with your friends.

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Event Schedule (as of December 13th)

Wednesday, January 6 LVCC, North Hall, N256
(event runs from 8:30 AM to 12:15 PM)

8:30-9:00 a.m.   “Real-Time Social Networking”

9:00-9:10 a.m.   Welcome to the Jungle, Jeff Pulver

9:10-9:30 a.m.   Consumer Marketing in the State of NOW, Jeff Pulver

9:30-9:45 a.m.   Social Media Reputation, Dave Taylor

9:45-9:55 a.m.   Brand Engagement in Social Media, Chris Rauschnot

9:55-10:20 a.m.   Effects of twitter on Consumer Marketing, Jeffrey Sass

10:20-10:30 a.m.   Building Trust in Social Media, Eric Weaver

10:30-10:50 a.m.   What’s Next in Social Media? Robert Scoble

10:50-11:00 a.m.   Social Media ROI, Ben Grossman

11:00-11:10 a.m.   Social Media Reciprocity, Warren Whitlock

11:10-11:25 a.m.   Digital Presence in the NOW and Beyond, Dean Landsman

11:25-11:35 a.m.   Effective PR Strategies in the era of Social Media, Susan Etlinger

11:35-11:45 a.m.  Leveraging the Livestream in Consumer Marketing, Kevin Sablan

11:45-11:55 a.m.   Social Media Lessons Learned during 2009, Justin Levy

11:55-12:15 p.m.   Evolution of Trust Agents, Chris Brogan

Follow the speakers at Social Media Jungle @ CES 2010 by subscribing to this twitter list

(schedule is subject to change without notice)

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To register, visit the CES Registration Page and follow the registration process and select Social Media Jungle as the registration option.

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Posted by jeff at 09:59 PM | Permalink

December 12, 2009

Event: #140conf Los Angeles Meetup - Monday December 14th

On Monday December 14th I am co-hosting the first #140conf Meetup, together with Eric Greenspan, taking place at Yahoo's office in Burbank, CA.

This meetup is an opportunity to discuss the emerging Real-Time Internet and the effects on business. A monthly gathering for friends of #140conf to get together and discuss issues of the day.

Schedule:

5:00 - Registration / Networking (early bird giveaway)
5:30 - Welcome & Childbirth on the Real Time Internet from @ericgreenspan
5:40 - Jeff Pulver, Welcome to the State of NOW

Speakers include:

- @adventuregirl - Sharing and Caring
- @marlooz: - Love 2.0 and the "tweetfunding" of my laptop.
- "Sunset Strip Tweet Crawl" - @Alflamont (The Comedy Store) + @N8theSk8 (The Viper Room)
- @BethFrysztak, @3Lunches, @momsofamerica - "Playing in Traffic"
- @evanlowenstein, "Evolution of communication between artists and their fans"

7:30 - Wrap up / Networking

8PM - AFTERPARTY (open to public)! (sponsored by Make It Work and New Media Vault) (RSVP here)

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*** Special thanks to Eric Greenspan and his team for the support of the Los Angeles #140conf Meetup. ***

For more information regarding this meetup, please visit: http://www.meetup.com/140conf/calendar/11868810/.


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Posted by jeff at 09:24 PM | Permalink

Yossi Vardi at #140conf Tel Aviv

I had the honor to interview my friend Yossi Vardi on the morning of December 6th at the 140 Characters Conference, Tel Aviv.

This was one of my favorite sessions at the conference.



Video Produced by: GoGlobal New Media Marketing
Conference Hosted by: Afeka College of Engineering

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Posted by jeff at 04:44 PM | Permalink

December 10, 2009

Jeff Keni Pulver: Keynote at #140conf Tel Aviv - “The State of NOW”

On Sunday, December 6, 2009 I hosted/produced the 140 Characters Conference in Tel Aviv. The following is the speech I gave when I helped open the conference.


Video Produced by: GoGlobal New Media Marketing
Conference Hosted by: Afeka College of Engineering


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Posted by jeff at 12:10 AM | Permalink

December 09, 2009

Guest Blogger: Doug Mohney - Five reasons to get thee to the HD Voice Summit at 2010 CES

Five reasons to get thee to the HD Voice Summit at 2010 CES

By Doug Mohney, Editor-in-Chief, HD Voice News

On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, the HD Voice Summit at the 2010 CES will take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Here are five reasons (and one bonus factor) to sign up today--

Reason #1 – Proliferation – HD voice is here and spreading around the globe a lot faster than many people think. Europe is implementing HD voice services on broadband and wireless services at a rapid clip. France Telecom has over 500,000 HD voice broadband users and has recently launched mobile HD voice service in Moldova; other carriers are following suit.

Numerous service providers in North America ranging from Phone.com to Optimum Lightpath have launched HD voice services this year. Ooma – yes, the guys with "The Talker" commercials – is quietly rolling out HD voice service on its second generation telo hardware in North America while 8x8 will have around 50,000 SMB phones using HD voice once it finishes its firmware upgrade by the end of the year.

Reason #2 - Policy & Politics. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is calling for comment on how to structure a regulatory path to move the legacy PSTN into an all-IP world and moving USF money away from "yesterday's communications infrastructure" and into broadband.

HD voice is bound to be on the list of "Must have" features for an all-IP voice network as the phone system moves into the 21st century and dumps outdated audio standards established in 1937. (Yes, 1937!).

Reason #3 – Technology: Just what defines HD voice? Is Skype's new SILK codec "more" HD than the established G.722 standard? How do those two play with AMR-WB, the emerging standard for mobile HD voice traffic? And how do you transcode and interconnect all of those formats with each other and the legacy PSTN? Panels will delve into the full technology chain of delivering HD voice.

Reason #4 – People. Over 20 of the top HD Voice "players" in the telecommunications industry will be participating in the HD Voice Summit, including Polycom CTO Jeff Rodman, Skype GM Jonathan Christensen, Ooma CMO Rich Buchanan, Ericsson VP Patrik Ringqvist, Panasonic Communications Company of North America President Bill Taylor, DSP Group VP Mike Rude, and GIPS VP of Engineering Jan Linden. There will literally be a couple hundred of decades of experience of IP communications experience in one room and you'd be well advised to listen to what they have to say.

Reason #5 – Focusing and Face-to-Face: Webinars have their uses, but there's a big difference between listening to one while you've got three to five windows running in your office and taking an afternoon to commit and focus on HD voice. And I've yet to meet the webinar that spurred spontaneous discussions among the participants during a session and in the hallway following the event.

What's more, you can follow up with the people and participating companies on the CES exhibit floor the following day, getting your hands on the products and people who are making HD Voice happen around the world.

The Bonus Factor -- Hammered by the recession and the "You shouldn't go to Vegas because it looks like you're having too good of a time" factor, most Las Vegas hotels are cutting rates and offering deals to get CES conference attendees in their rooms. Check out www.harrahs.com/geekout and the official CES hotel reservations page for some interesting comparison shopping.

For more information and to sign up for the HD Voice Summit at the 2010 CES, please visit http://www.cesweb.org/sessions/search/results.asp?categoryID=1882

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Posted by jeff at 01:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (237)

Recap: 140 Characters Conference (#140conf) Tel Aviv

In the end, the 140 Characters Conference: Tel Aviv (#140conf) turned out to be one of the betters days of my life. There was an energy present in the room which was pretty amazing which I am still feeling as I write this. I am also still processing everything that I saw and experienced but I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who was a part of #140conf Tel Aviv before I return back to the States in a few hours.

#140conf brought together a community of people with diverse backgrounds from across multiple industries from across Israel.

While the event brought together over 250+ people to the Afeka College, another 6,464 people from around the world watch the conference during the course of the day. (the sessions were broadcast on Ustream - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/140conf-tel-aviv - and a much higher quality version will soon be available for viewing.)

One of my goals of creating and producing #140conf was to in effect help cross connect communities which are using twitter/Facebook as a platform to communicate for their business but would have otherwise have never had any reason to meet each or connect with each other.

I believe the “State of NOW” represents a big shift in the nature of how we will use the Internet and I look at just about everyone who is a member of the #140conf community to be a pioneer in this new field.

Special thanks to: Afeka College of Engineering, Mel Rosenberg, Sharon Ariel and the team at Afeka, Roniet Berci, Gilad Zirkel, Chaim Goldman, Orli Yakuel, Yotam Troim, Maayan Minzly, Meir Pinto, Marc Fishman, Geo Geller and Sharon Kuper for their help with the event.

I am looking forward to producing #140conf Tel Aviv again.

Friends are invited to join the #140conf Group on Facebook.

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Posted by jeff at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (237)

December 08, 2009

Guest Blogger: The Business Culture of Social Media - Steve Parrott

I recently met with Steve Parrott and two other Seamless Enterprise bloggers and discussed the role of social media in Corporate America. Steve will be sharing his thoughts from a cultural and technical perspective. Here’s the first of his posts dealing with the cultural aspects of social media as it relates to business. In a future post he’ll share his thoughts about the technical issues for all of my IT followers.

Note: If you’re reading this blog, you should assume that I make money from some posts I put on this blog from advertisers. Some links on this blog are paid links. All banner advertising on my blogs are paid for by advertisers.

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The Business Culture of Social Media

By Steve Parrott

The challenges to social media usage in the enterprise aren’t necessarily technical ones. It’s pretty straightforward what technology is needed and how companies need to integrate mobility into their network in order to be sure that their employees have the anytime-anywhere access to the social media tools. Instead, the challenges are really organizational and cultural.

People talk about the “intersection” of social media and business as if it’s still coming, as if it is something that hasn’t happened yet. That is simply not true. The degree of intersection may vary by company and industry, but it’s clear that this intersection is taking place right now. Business, it’s safe to say, has entered the Age of Social Media.

At its heart, social media is about messaging, location awareness, presence, and collaboration, and despite minor differences, those concepts are the same from a business standpoint. Social media as we typically think about it involves individuals communicating better with their friends, families, and acquaintances. On the business side, the rationalization is different. It’s about better communications among employees, team members, partners, and customers. And in particular, doing it anywhere and at any time.

So far, the most attention has been on the external uses of social media. Like airlines using Twitter to inform followers about special fares, service providers of various types using it for customer care and service, and entertainment companies leveraging bloggers and Tweeters to spread the word about their latest productions.

Moving beyond (or perhaps, more specifically, moving among) these budding uses of social media is where the challenge lies in the enterprise. A company has to take a close look at how it gets its people to embrace social media concepts and how it can evolve the process-oriented aspects of business to the more fluid and collaborative nature of the real-time internet. Not only is it an organizational shift, but a cultural one as well.

Companies taking advantage of customer-facing social media also have to ask themselves what they are going to do with the feedback and information they get, and how they will deal with the commentary generated in the Twittersphere. If they’re going to be successful, they have to have the right people in place who can react appropriately to any negatives and who are prepared to go all out in leveraging the positives. They have to be instantly responsive, as well as instantly effective, in their response. This means tearing down any bureaucracy that stands in the way of that responsiveness.

However social media is used, it definitely cuts horizontally across departments and divisions. While customer-focused social media will probably be driven by marketing, there are sales, product management, legal, and IT aspects to it as well. Because social media can be whatever the enterprise wants it to be, it will require each organization to define it, draw some parameters around it, and either meld it to their culture … or transform their culture to fit it.

Steve Parrott is guest blogging on behalf of Sprint’s Seamless Enterprise blog (seamlessenterprise.com), which focuses on unified communications, convergence and related enterprise issues.

You can follow Steve on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/Stevenparrott

Posted by jeff at 04:51 PM | Permalink

December 07, 2009

Introducing HD Telecom and the HDConnect Market Trial

HD communications luminaries including executives from Polycom, Dialogic, WydeVoice, and DSP Group will help launch the HDConnect Market Trial in Washington, DC on December 10, 2009. HDConnect will host a seminar on the emerging HD Telecom category and introduce the HDConnect trial from 10:00AM to Noon. (Contact Daniel Berninger -dan@danielberninger.com for logistics.) The choice of Washington, DC arises from a belief HD offers common ground in the telecom policy wars. It brings me back to Washington, DC for the first time since the FCC's 2004 adoption of the "Pulver Order" declaring FWD an unregulated information service.

HD provides a way for incumbents to reverse the decline of voice revenues and a basis for continuous improvement in telecom. It provides a way for everyone to start rowing in the same direction. Catching up with the rest of the world in broadband will not restore the country's telecom leadership credentials while a mandate embracing high definition very well could. The US can embrace HD now or create another category where the the country finds itself playing catch-up. HD already enjoys support in the rest of the world with France Telecom counting 500,000 customers and Orange making HD available to cellular customers in the entire country of Moldova.

The first generation of HD offers twice the fidelity of standard definition and the first substantial advance in voice quality since the 1950's. The effort involved in setting up HD rewards the caller with an experience that more closely approximates an in-person conversation. Voice communication remains a foundation for nearly all economic activity, so improving voice quality offers the same economic benefits motivating the Obama administration's embrace of broadband. Given half the world's oil consumption goes to moving people from one place to another, improving on standard definition telephone calls reduces the need for travel which in turn serves to reduce global
warming.

HD sets up a change in paradigm that goes beyond simply improving voice quality. HD finally ends the flawed assumption built into the PSTN of equality between all users and uses. Everyone in the world using a telephone suffers the same voice quality without regard to need or willingness to pay. President Obama does not enjoy better voice quality in conversations with world leaders than teenagers planning their social agenda. This is even true for the hotline between the White House and Moscow set up to reduce the threat of nuclear war. HD represents the first attempt to align service quality and need since the invention of the telephone. This in turn represents the best prospect for restoring growth of voice services which remain 2/3's of telephone company revenues.

The benefits of HD calling require both parties to have HD devices, where as, pitches for cheap minutes or cool devices need only address one side of a call. The HDConnect Market Trial addresses the two sided nature of the problem by framing the HD offer as a hotline. The PSTN equality assumption does to reflect a reality where the desire and
frequency of communication can vary dramatically. A lot of relationships are sufficiently strong to justify the time and money necessary to setup a HD hotline. HD typically gets mplemented as a VoIP service with global unmetered termination, so an HD hotline can prove the least expensive option in the case of heavy usage or international calling.

HD moved from being a secret to getting on agenda of every conference in telecom over the last twelve months. This counts as incremental progress, but the goal in 2010 is to convert the curiosity into deployment. The promise of HD deserves the attention of everyone in the telecom ecosystem from the incumbent wired and wireless service providers to the independents and cable companies to the telecom regulators and consumer advocates. December 10th happens to coincide with the 23rd Annual FCBA Chairman's Dinner at the Washington Hilton. The event provides the only time each year where the entire telecom policy community gathers in one place. HDConnect reserved a table at the event in hopes of hearing something other than business as usual.

Request meetings with representatives of HDConnect, more info about the trial, or RSVP for the December 10th HD Telecom seminar via email to Daniel Berninger - dan@danielberninger.com.

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Posted by jeff at 11:13 AM | Permalink

December 05, 2009

Watch #140conf Tel Aviv - LIVE on December 6th

The live broadcast of #140conf Tel Aviv will start at 10:00 in Tel Aviv on December 6th and run until 13:00. The 2nd Broadcast will start at 14:30 and run until 18:00 (These hours are 0900 to 1200 CET and 1330 to 1700 CET; 3AM to 6AM EST and then again 7:30 AM to 11:00 AM EST)


Video chat rooms at Ustream


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Posted by jeff at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (518)

So why Tel Aviv for the 4th 140 Characters Conference in 2009?

After producing the 140 Characters Conference in: New York City, Los Angeles and London, I chose to do the next event in Tel Aviv because when I look at the evolution of twitter and Facebook and the commercialization of presence, the roots for these platforms can be traced back to the people of Israel.

In the mid 1990s the consumer internet communications industry was born in Israel. Looking back, it was the launch of Internet Phone from VocalTec and the launch of ICQ from Mirabilis which had the most significant contributions to what has evolved into what we know as social media. These platforms popularized concepts that were a prequel to the core features seen in Facebook and twitter today - (i.e. features like: on-line status messages, presence, groups.)

When I look to the future of what's next in social media, I don't know of a better group of people to engage in the conversation than my friends who lives have been touched by the evolution of these technologies during the past decade.

I believe at #140conf Tel Aviv we will have a chance to better understand "The State of NOW" and the impact living in the now will have in the near future.

I am looking forward to producing/hosting #140conf Tel Aviv tomorrow.

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Posted by jeff at 05:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (154)

December 02, 2009

Guest Blogger: Christopher Glenn - Business Enters the World of Now

Following is the first of several blogs you’ll see over the next month from Sprint’s “Seamless Enterprise” bloggers. Sprint’s work in converged networks and mobile integration is helping pave the way to the new “Now” world of borderless or “seamless” communications, shattering barriers, changing the way we work, learn and play. The series will explore the reasons fueling the communications revolution, the technologies and ideas behind it, and the challenges and opportunities for global businesses and IT.

Note: If you’re reading this blog, you should assume that I make money from some posts I put on this blog from advertisers. Some links on this blog are paid links. All banner advertising on my blogs are paid for by advertisers.

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Business Enters the World of Now

By Christopher Glenn

Ask 100 people what they want, and you’ll probably get 100 different answers. Ask them when they want it, and you may only get one answer – NOW! We are increasingly living in a world where even the milliseconds it takes for a web page to load can create stress. Unfortunately, as more and more information is created, speed alone will not satisfy our craving for having things Now – we have to discover new ways to filter information to create our own unique streams of consciousness.

Social media such as Twitter, FaceBook, wikis, and blogs, are just a few examples of how social context (the pre-defined affiliations we have with other people, groups, and organizations) is becoming the most important tool for filtering and organizing the information we receive. Only social context can bring this invisible hand into the information world, replacing the bureaucratic, hierarchical structures that historically have determined who needed access to what information and when.

Just as Communism fell at the end of the last century, centrally-controlled information paradigms like Web 1.0 and email are falling under the sheer volume of information being created. This is why I have been predicting the end of email as we know it. Only when a stream of information is filtered through an infinite number of variables that track your friends, your interests, your demographic, your job rank and role, your clubs and group affiliations, where you are and where you've been, etc., can you make sure that what you need is delivered Now. This kind of contextual filtering can’t happen with today’s centrally-controlled information world, because the stream of information needs to be based on who you are and what you are doing right Now.

More and more people are embracing this “State of Now,” as Jeff Pulver has christened it, as they interact with friends and family. But to come full circle, companies must embrace this social revolution in how they interact with us as customers and between themselves and their employees if they want to thrive. The communications tools to keep everyone connected, virtually anywhere and anytime, are there – in terms of mobile wireless connections powerful enough to handle whatever voice, data, and video streams are being sent. The challenge for companies will be in re-engineering business processes to empower the front-line people in a way that frankly scares corporations to death today.

But the front line is already winning out. Customers now Twitter the latest problems with new smartphone devices within moments of going on sale and the wireless carriers’ customer service agents are monitoring Twitter to collect, organize, and remedy the problems in a fraction of the time it used to take. This saves millions of dollars in lost sales, returned merchandise, and service and repair expenses.

When I started in business, we use to write 10-year plans. Then, we did 5-year, 3-year and now 1-year plans. Strategic planning for companies will never go away, but it is becoming more and more obvious that a company’s ability to respond to things that it did not plan for may well be more important than to execute against those plans it did make.

Converged wireless and wireline communications networks are the foundation for the transformative changes we will see in the next few years in the way people and companies interact. The State of Now demands instant responsiveness, allowing users of social media to seize any and every moment by making sure they can get what they want as soon as they want it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a customer buying a product or service or getting a response to a complaint, or employees sharing sales, marketing, or customer feedback data. Companies must start living in the State of Now, because many of their customers already are.

Christopher Glenn is guest blogging on behalf of Sprint’s Seamless Enterprise blog (seamlessenterprise.com), which focuses on unified communications, convergence and related enterprise issues.

You can follow Christopher on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/NetThink

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Posted by jeff at 01:50 PM | Permalink

The 10 Minute Jeff Sass Interview of Jeff Pulver

A few days ago I met Jeff Sass (@sass) for breakfast and he captured the following interview:

Related blog post: 10 Minutes At Breakfast With #140conf's Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (307)