The Most Amazing Piece of Internet Content Ever Produced
I was over at Mashable.com and discovered an interview with Will.I.Am. He talked about how he basically produced a song and video with collaborators in less than a week (John Legend did the production). It was inspired by Obama’s “Yes We Can Speech” he gave in NH. I had a chance to take a look at the video which has received 10s of millions of views over the Internet in just a few days. I was blown away at the production value, the time it took to produce, the amazing viral growth, and most importantly the positive message it has for America. Here is “Yes We Can”:
I stayed up all night on Super Tuesday and watched as Hillary Clinton dominated non-black minority and low income votes. The change we are talking about is unifying change. The hope we are talking about is unifying hope. To all my Asian, Native, White, Latino, African American, rich and poor brothers and sisters… Vote for hope, prosperity , and unity. Vote for change now! Support Barack Obama for President! WE ARE ALL AMERICANS… AND YES WE CAN!!!
My support for Obama isn’t blind though, there are many holes in his policy. It is our job to point them out. I produce an environmental comic called “The Oliver Report”. Check this last episode out: Clean Candidacy
Revver Is In Trouble
Looks like is under some hard times as reported by this CNET. The company based out of LA raised around $13M during the crazy Internet video boom in 2006. Now it’s having a fire sale and trying to sell for $300-500K plus $1M in debt, OUCH! Why do I care? I care because at one time I thought their model was actually pretty cool and I downloaded and integrated their Wordpress plugin.
Their WP plugin allowed a blogger to embed videos from Revver on his site and also allowed subscribers to the blog to upload their own videos that could be used in the comments section. The best part of this is that all of the revenue generated from embedded ads was shared. One potential problem I think I see with what might seem like a brilliant idea was the actual split:
- 40% for the creator
- 20% for the sharer (the person who embeds the ad)
- 40% for Revver
So here is the problem. Revver is taking a pretty hefty cut to be just yet another technology provider. I mean there are other platforms that individuals could use where they could a significantly larger slice of the pie; Blip.tv comes to mind. I guess this is an unfortunate side effect of taking all that money. Blip also secured a funding of an undisclosed amount, but for some reason they seem to be doing OK. When are these Internet firms going to learn that you live and die by the performance of your sales team. There are sales teams out there selling 1K eyeballs a day at $20 CPM.
My advice to Revver… if you still have your developers package up your tech so that it can be hosted on Amazon EC2 or a couple of DV servers at MediaTemple. Make it easy for startups and large companies to take your tech to add video to whatever offerings they have in the works in their own data centers. Sell that bad boy with support. Make it easy for bloggers/vloggers to be able to control their own data and distribute it. Basically rent video lockers in your data center and also sell lockers (software licenses) to larger players. It’s all about razor blades at this point. Look at Ning.
Boston Obama Rally ‘08
I was at the Boston Obama Rally Monday and it was an amazing experience. It was the first time that I was involved in something like that in my life. I voted for Deval Patrick for Mass Governor, but I never felt compelled to see a politician first hand. I waited outside in the cold for over three hours to get into the Seaport Convention Center to see Obama. During the wait I met some really cool people and had some laughs. So here are some pictures from my night. I have also included audio and video of the man himself - I did the best I could with my Casio Exlim.
Boston Rally Part 1 [13:32m]: Download (28) Boston Rally Part 2 [9:03m]: Download (27)
Obama Big Finish: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (101)Four by Four Life Meme
Chris Brogan tagged me on this life meme challenge. He also gives a concise explanation of why they are important in an online social context. So here is my 4×4…
Four jobs I’ve had in my life:
- At 14 I worked as a shoe salesman at Hush Puppies. I knew exactly how Al Bundy felt.
- I spent a summer with my cousin Vincent busting up concrete. He had a sledge hammer called “King” and a female Doberman named “Vicious”. I remember her because she was really a sweety at heart (her ears weren’t cut, so cute)
- One of my most fun jobs was during high school working at Radio Shack. Bob, the store manager, ran the Chestnut St. store in Downtown Philly. He taught me everything I know about selling myself — whatever you are peddling is secondary.
- There is always the first job that gives you a taste of the future. Working at the MIT Media lab during undergrad was my taste.
Four Shows I DVR:
- ABC Nightline
- Nip/Tuck
- Smallville
- Beyond the Boardroom
Four Places I’ve Been:
- Jamaica when I was a kid. I was visiting my uncle who was there on assignment in the FBI. Duns River Falls is burned into my memory as one of the most pleasurable experiences of my life, even though I lost my glasses.
- I had a great time in Hong Kong while on business for the first time in China. Great town to work in a westerner, but now the pollution is getting so bad I wouldn’t wish is on my worst enemy. Air quality is a big deal in China.
- My mom’s got a place down in Titusville, Florida that I’ve been to a couple of times. Its near Cocoa Beach and not far from Orlando either. Peaceful and lazy is how I would describe it.
- Las Vegas with my ex. It was my first time in Vegas and we did pretty much everything there was to do on and off the strip. This time I lost my glasses on a jet ski on Lake Mead.
Four Favorite Foods:
- My mother makes killer Manicotti with options for ground turkey, beef, or spinach
- Chinese Dim Sum in Downtown Boston at Grand Chow Chow
- Freshcetta Naturally Rising Supreme Pizza. For five bucks you can save yourself a trip to PizzaHut
- Kellog’s Frosted Mini Wheats. My best friend Femi put me on to these in ‘98. Taste great and an excellent source of fiber, LOL
So that’s it for me. I guess I’ll forward this along to:
- Eric Rochow of Garden Fork Fame
- Anna Hackman of Green-Talk
Some Photos from WebInno Boston Twitter Meetup
I thought I would share some photos from the WebInno Twitter Meetup in Boston on 1/29/08. Had a blast and was able to catchup with a lot of cool people like Matthew, Pistachio, and Chris. Also met some new cool folks that I hope to see more of in the future. I still need to get all my proper tools in place to stay up to date on Twitter. I feel like I miss everything.
