There are many online tools that enable us to connect. Traditionally these tools usually require users to use words to be engaged. But what about something more visual? What about sharing your experiences and ideas with photos? Online photo sharing applications (i.e Flickr) allow you to do that.

For more detail on how these tools work, take a gander at Commoncraft’s video, Online Photo Sharing in Plain English. If you want to see an example of how an organization uses photo sharing, check out the account for one of our clients, Ford Motor Company.

Social Media Group is proud and pleased to be one of the lead sponsors of tonight’s Toronto Case Camp 7. If you’re not familiar with CaseCamp, it is

A free communications and social media unconference. Fantastic networking and interactive art in the bar, followed by four 15 minute case-study presentations.

It’s a great opportunity for social media practitioners to meet, network and share, and it’s organized by the fine Eli Singer.

Tonight’s event will feature:

1) The TD Canada Trust Facebook Story Sue McVey, VP Marketing Planning, TD Canada Trust

2) Boxing Day 2007 at RedFlagDeals.com Derek Szeto, Founder of RFD.com

3) Story2Oh!, Evolving TV Storytelling to Social Networks Jill Golick, Executive Producer

4) Radiothon Diaries, Harnessing YouTube for the Hospital for Sick Children

According to the latest reports, it will be a full house tonight – if you’d like to attend, please register on the wiki & we’ll see you there!

For those of you who don’t know, Chris Anderson, author of the acclaimed book The Long Tail, is also the editor of Wired Magazine. Like so many journalists (and increasingly these days, bloggers) Chris is inundated with email pitches from PR folks, many of which are completely off target.

It got to the point where he decided to take a very public stand on the matter, writing this post on October 29th, 2007,

I’ve had it… Lazy flacks send press releases to the Editor in Chief of Wired because they can’t be bothered to find out who on my staff, if anyone, might actually be interested in what they’re pitching. So fair warning: I only want two kinds of email: those from people I know, and those from people who have taken the time to find out what I’m interested in and composed a note meant to appeal to that. Everything else gets banned on first abuse.

He then published, in their entirety, the email addresses of offenders from the previous month.

What have the consequences been? Well, the post generated a lot of discussion and garnered dozens and dozens of comments, negative and positive, some from former staffers lamenting the fact that, “Everyone in the world aims their spam guns at Wired and the volley is deafening.” The consequence for PR folk has been that it has become incredibly difficult to get placement in Wired; the pipeline just got a whole lot smaller, and fear of being banned has created a chill.

Since throwing whatever you’ve got against the wall and hoping some of it will stick is not longer an option, what are the other opportunities to get the attention of writers and editors at one of the most influential publications in the world?

How about letting them pull the content they want from you?

On April 18th, Wired’s Autopia section ran a story called “Econoboxes Come Roaring Back With Flair”, noting that,

The Ford Fiesta (photo after the jump), which has been kicking around Europe for more than 30 years, gets a redesign based on the Verve concept car. At long last, it will be coming to North American in 2010.

The article used assets, information and linked to the Ford Fiesta SMPR.

Since we can safely assume that the writers and editors of Autopia have figured out the whole RSS thing, they will be automatically notified of updates to the Fiesta SMPR, and that when something is of interest to them, they will run a story on it.

No spam email required.

I’m attempting to do something I have lately been doing solely via Twitter – that is, live blog content from an event. In this case, it’s the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) New Comm Forum being held this week in Sonoma.

This morning’s keynote was a conversation with Richard Binhammer (aka Richard at Dell). In case you’ve never heard of him, Richard is

part of Dell’s Conversations, Communities and Communications team with responsibilities for listening and learning online. Basically, [he] listens to bloggers and engages in conversations about Dell.

Dell has been doing this – officially and consistently engaging, since 2006 and so have considerable expertise and wonderful information to share. Here are some key points – if there’s something you’re particularly interested in, leave a comment and I’ll expand on the topic.

Richard, since I know you’re going to find this – please let me know if I’m off the mark/have missed anything you think is key!

There are many ways of creating and sharing information on the web (like this blog, for example). The best part is that anyone can be a creator and share their interests and experiences from anywhere in the world. Podcasting is no different. In a nutshell, podcasting is TV or radio on the go.

If that explanation doesn’t clear it all up for you, check out another informative and entertaining Commoncraft video, Podcasting in Plain English.

In Canada, we have a seasonal, cultural tradition known as the Roll up the Rim to Win. Though I’ve never won big, I will usually have a few rolls where free coffee begets free coffee which begets free doughnut. But this year, not so well. Over the month that the Roll up the Rim contest was underway, some 30-odd coffees earned me only a couple of doughnuts. So I was quite jealous when Zoe revealed to the office that she was 100% for Roll up the Rim season. A full month and she had perfect wins on every cup. Unheard of!

Turns out, she had only had two cups over the course of the month, so her winning streak … not so much of one.

Context is everything when it comes to measurement.

Individual datum is a puzzling enigma. Your podcast had 1,000 downloads. Without any other points of reference, you can look at that number a dozen different ways and be no clearer as to what it means.

The more data you capture, the clearer the picture will become. Your podcast had 1,000 downloads today, 50 downloads last week and 45 the week before that. Put into context against the previous days, and suddenly your measurement is no longer a meaningless figure but part of a story. Set your numbers against something and you will begin to gain a sense of proportion.

But even then, the picture may be distorted; a funhouse mirror representation of the truth. Your podcast had 1,000 downloads today, but it resulted in only a handful of positive leads for your sales staff. Last week, with fraction the number of downloads, you had twice the results. The reason being that the bump in traffic came from a popculture site with millions of visitors that found an aspect of your program amusing, and linked to it. None of those people were nor would they ever be customers of your custom molded pipes. And this upcoming weekend being the big plumbing supplies conference, your typical audience is likely on the road.

Now, at last, the picture is clear. Context is everything when it comes to measurement.

It seems that all things on the internet now have a ‘social’ aspect to them and bookmarking is no different. You might use a site like del.icio.us, ma.gnolia or Stumbleupon to keep your sites in order, either way they all share the same basic principles.

To learn how to get started and to make the most out of your social bookmarking skills check out the Commoncraft video below, Social Bookmarking in Plain English.

The subject of collaboration has been on my mind a lot this past week. I have been lucky enough to have been part of teams that have clicked on certain projects only to flounder on others for no apparent reason. Despite all the great Web 2.0 tools available to us, successful collaboration still seems to be an elusive thing. As I noodled on this on the way home one day, with Wes Montgomery, playing his heart out on my headphones, I starting thinking that jazz may very well be the ultimate example of successful collaboration. A lot has been written about the conversation that takes place between jazz musicians. It has been used as a metaphor for Organizational Improvisation, it has even been the subject of a blog post to describe the similarities between jazz and Social Media. The tune I was listening to was from an album called “Smokin’ At The Half Note” which has been called “…the absolute greatest jazz guitar album ever made” by Pat Metheny. It was recorded during a series of live performances with the Wynton Kelly Trio and when I listen to it I hear a band that’s totally tuned in to each other. It is probably one of my favourite albums but it is only one example of what jazz musicians do every day the world over.

So what are they doing that makes it work for them so consistently and how can we incorporate their formula into making collaboration work in business? I started thinking about what they do so well and this is what I came up with.

1. They all speak the same language

• They have taken the time to learn the vocabulary. Knowing the language allows them to contribute and collaborate as equals.

2. They listen, truly listen

• Without prejudice. Their response is based on what they hear, not what they’ve been planning for the past 12 bars while they wait for their turn to solo.

3. They are all totally committed to creating something special

• Until Wes calls for “Four on Six” in G minor, they are just a good band playing scales. Even great musicians need direction and when they get it they give each other the space and respect necessary to create art.

4. The sum of the whole is greater than the parts

• I happen to think that Wes Montgomery is the greatest guitar player that ever lived, but if the Wynton Kelly Trio didn’t swing as hard as they do on this record, it wouldn’t be half as special.

5. They know when to stop

• Wes plays a nine chorus solo on Impressions that I think works because he stops at nine. He knows his audience and he knows when an idea has run its course.

6. They are willing to be amazed

• They don’t let their egos prevent them from hearing great musical ideas from the rest of the band.

I’m sure there’s a lot more but that’s all I could think of. Nothing earth shattering, nothing new, nothing lots of people haven’t been saying for years, yet successful collaboration in business remains a hit-or-miss proposition. So why do we sometimes, despite all our best efforts, end up with “Kenny G Live” but every now and then we get “Smokin’ At The Half Note”?

I’d love to hear your thoughts and some of your secrets to successful collaboration.