Community Guy – Jake McKee

Apress – Doing It Right

It’s easy to talk about those companies who don’t get it, or aren’t doing things like they should. There’s plenty of examples out there. But the good companies, the companies doing it right don’t often get as much attention as they should.

So in an effort to rectify that, I’ve added a new category to the blog – Doing it Right.

The first example is the tech book publisher – Apress. Explore this site for even a few minutes and you’ll find:

• Links to, and a portal for all the blogs that their current authors are running


• Alpha & Beta books – giving Apress fans the ability to checkout what’s in the works, and how far along it is, and goes so far as to ask for feedback from users


• Forums for open discussion on their main book subject matter subjects


• Calendar of relevant events


• User group support


• RSS feeds


• Articles

In addition to trying to sell you books, they’re clearly trying to help you be smarter and better informed, as well as providing a means to help you share that knowledge. As a tech publisher, they’re saying to techies “we’re in this together”

Bravo Apress – I look forward to seeing how you grow this effort.

Logo Content – Update!

OK, OK… I know it’s been a month since I posted the original logo contest. You’re great feedback has, well… only confused me more! So many great points… so I’ve sent number 7 back to my designer buddy to further develop.

The winner of the contest: John Moore! (I’ll contact you via email John for your winnings)

Latest Snapcast!

Once again Lee, Chris, and I all got together for a brief discussion via Skype. The discussion this week is the Kryptonite story, specifically my email interview with the Kryptonite PR person.

It was a great discussion, and probably the last you’ll hear from me on the subject for a while. Here’s a few links that we referenced in the discussion:

• Johnnie Moore


• Nalgene gives brain damage!


• Bigha blog

All three of us would love to hear your feedback, as well as suggestions for the next podcast.

You can download the file directly, or subscribe to the RSS feed (lower left of this page).

Podcast heads to the airwaves

One of my buddies just passed along a like to KYOUradio.com… 

KYOURADIO is the first radio station in the world to get all of its programming from podcasts. Everyday we’ll feature new, innovative and cutting edge programs produced by people like you. Your original thoughts and sounds will be broadcast in San Francisco on the revolutionary 1550 KYCY-AM and streamed worldwide at KYOURADIO.com.

Maybe you’ll be hearing the Community Guy podcast on your local FM radio sometime in the future!

And speaking of podcasting, the MixCast Live folks posted a link to the Freesound Project on their blog. Looks to be a cool project.

DayJet

 Another interesting article from Robert Cringley…

The idea behind DayJet is a lot simpler than the technology it takes to make it happen. Many regional travelers are spending whole days going to airports, sitting in airports, flying to hubs, changing planes, and sitting in more airports that they could almost drive faster to their final destination. By going point-to-point when the passenger wants to fly, DayJet replicates that driving experience, but with a chauffer and at over 400 mph.

The difference between DayJet and a traditional aircraft charter is that all you’ll be chartering is the seat you are sitting in. That means if you take a friend it costs twice as much, but it doesn’t mean that you are paying for seats you don’t use. And unlike a charter, DayJet won’t charge for sending the plane to pick you up — only for when you are actually in that seat.

Only time will tell if this concept is successful. I’m for it. Imagine skipping security lines and regional hubs and going right where you want to go.

What I find more interesting is looking at DayJet as a network application. In many ways, the Internet looks a lot like a typical large airline route map. Users connect to points-of-presence that link to ISP hubs at huge peering points that are, in turn connected by long distance backbone pipes. But until recently, the problem that makes a DayJet necessary hasn’t also affected the Internet. That problem is simply hub scalability. O’Hare, Atlanta, and Los Angeles airports have finite capacities, and they’ve all shown that pushing past 80 percent utilization causes huge glitches and cancelled flights. One way around this problem is bigger airplanes, hence this week’s first flight of the monster AirBus A380 double-decker. But another answer is bypassing the hubs altogether, hence DayJet.

For more on DayJet, check out their Web site.

Simply put, DayJet will make it easy for you to travel point-to-point between those hard-to-reach regional markets by providing a personalized air transportation system that responds to your needs. Upon receipt of the necessary government operating authority, DayJet?s “Per-Seat, On-Demand” jet service will give you the freedom to travel where you want to go, when you want to go, and bring you back again on your schedule, not ours. You decide. All at a price comparable to that of an overnight stay (including airfare, hotel, and per diem).

BzzAgent and jumping sharks

The more I watch BzzAgent, the more the idea, the company, and their attitude turns my stomach. In a recent Community Guy podcast, Chris, Lee and I round table discussed BzzAgent as a concept. None of us were all that impressed with the concept. In my opinion the company, under the premise of helping their client better understand consumers, does nothing more than help build taller, thicker walls between the company and consumer.

Recently, when BzzAgent hooked up with Creative Commons, there was a bit of a blow up when Balter posted Bloggers as Liars.

With this type of reporting (whining?), it’s no wonder many consumers are going back to reading fact-checked business magazines.

How long until consumers hold bloggers up to the same standards of truth as they’d expect from word-of-mouth interactions?

Excuse me, I need to pause a second until I stop laughing out loud. OK, back.

This from the guy who started an entire company dedicated to the practice of creating false, designed word of mouth? But wait, there’s more.

He then posted an open letter to Lawrence Lessing, who had requested feedback on the CC deal. From this letter, Dave says:

As a marketer, I?m angry at the fact that I?ve learned to filter out 95% of the 3,000 ads I see each day. I?ve learned to not believe what I see on tv or in print. I?ve been trained to wonder about product placement and celebrity endorsement at every turn. We wonder if there?s a world where marketers can utilize honest opinions instead of tag lines.

So his way of addressing this problem is to try to create an environment that further allows old-school thinking companies to continue to build walls between themselves and their consumers. To create an environment where in addition to not trusting ads, companies, and marketing in general, we’ll not be able to trust our friends either? That is how he proposes to fix the problem?

I also love that Dave builds a business on the backs of the online blogging community, then gets upset when the spotlight is turned on him.

I’m not saying anything new. Others are saying the same thing. And like most self-created PR disasters, once the tide turned for Dave, he posted an apology, of sorts. (And Suw, who kicked off this tirade of Dave’s, has accepted the apology. It’s worth reading)

I’m on the front lines of community wrath every day. Today was such a day. But that’s the job. It’s your job not to loose your cool. Dave went ballistic and called the blogging community “liars” because the don’t use fact checkers, then barely apologized. He started a company based on an ethically questionable concept, and simply has to expect that it’s going to be a rough go.

Whatever, Dave. Whatever.

By the way, I’ve signed up and tried the process of BzzAgents. I’m not speaking without research. I tried it. I don’t like it. As the Cluetrain Manifesto said so well – Markets are Conversations. When I was doing my BzzCampaign, where was my conversation with the company I was buzzing?