I came across this a week or more ago.. I’ve been super busy getting things in order here so I haven’t had time to post much (I’m in Utah working with the team as we speak).

This caught my eye mostly as it relates to xposted. Here’s a juicy nugget from the comments:

Bloggers are not journalists in general, except for what we report about our own lives, and then there is no verification, there is no fact-check, there is no responsibility to anyone but ourselves. To compare bloggers in general to the print newsmedia is just… apples and oranges. Now, bloggers who report the news? Sure. Hold them to account, ask the big questions. But the woman in Sheboygan writing about her pansies? She could n’t care less about her “mandate” or the “group voice” or “undermining the mass media.” She’s just telling stories the way her grandmother did. It’s just that now — and this seems impossibly lovely to me — others can benefit besides her intimates, if they wish.

It may be amateurish, but giving individuals a voice is never a bad thing.

Source: Scott Rosenberg’s Links & Comment, “Blogs: threat or menace?”

I think this question is on the minds of people from both sides of the fence - mainstream and social media. The answer is surely not definitive considering the many shades of truth that exist around any particular story or experience.

I use tech.memeorandum.com almost daily lately. There are times when it’s a great way to find something new to read. Today, however, is not one of those days.

If you take a look at the home page you’ll see something, well, stupid. What is it? It’s a river of news about Google Finance. Now, I love the chance to bash on Google when given the opportunity, but this is insane.

You have to scoll down all the way to the end to find something different. Should I be led to believe that all that’s going on with tech today is about Google? Is everyone that impressed, depressed, or repressed about Google Finance that no other topic is worth discussing?

Hence, the problem with the secret sauce. Quick, add some more spices and stir that pot.

This has been a public service announcement. *beeeeep*

When I was first drawn to the meetings and event industry, it was the conversation that pulled me in. Which conversation? The the one whispered during presentations, the one in the hallways, and, of course, the one screamed out during the cocktail parties.

From the beginning, I saw events as a living, breathing social network that lacked any of the topology that we are used to in the online world and, well, I wanted to fix that problem. I’m often amazed when I speak with people from the business and it seems like the first time they’ve heard this, though, I know they know it inherently. Sometimes it just takes someone trying to sell you something for you to realized just what it is you already have.

Today, Sue Pelletier, of Face2Face Blog, has a nice reminder of why I went into this business in the first place. As she observes:

While Kathy Sierra is talking about why the teens today are so hooked on the social networking site myspace, what are meetings if not social networking sites in real time and real space? And if you want to meet the needs of your next generation of attendees (who, by the way, sound like they will insist on being participants, not attendees), think about what they like about myspace.

[…]

That’s setting a pretty high bar for live meetings, if they can get all this in cyberspace. Can you imagine a convention where events can turn on a dime, based on constant monitoring of feedback and somehow psychically being able to intuit what they’ll want next? If not, just wait a few years and you’ll see it start to happen. Because if it doesn’t, they most likely will give the whole meeting scene a pass, mentally if not physically.

Source: Face2Face, “Is your meeting ready for the next generation?”

That psychic ability that Sue mentions, well, it’s not that far off. In fact, it’s been there all along despite our lack of sensitivity to the data. The surge of interest in unconferences and Open Space Technology are finally blowing the doors off the building. Seemingly, these new formats provide the “edginess” of myspace for real world events.

Indeed, we want to be participants. Perhaps more interesting to consider, though, is this: Did we ever say we wanted to just be “attendees” or did someone designate us that role?

We’ve been making significant strides on the code side of things and we’d like to up the ante for participating publishers. Next week some time, assuming I get enough time this weekend, we should have a new release of the code live.

I’ll save the details for next week, but, essentially, you will be able to actually try x:posting content from your blog to another with a couple of clicks.

In the meantime, if you haven’t signed up yet for x:posted, go ahead now and get your blog registered with the system.

Mike May has an interesting commentary on how to better compensate citizen journalists for their work - treat ‘em like people!

• The value of citizen publisher content to advertisers or sponsors should be no less than the value of freelance writing contributions for publishers. The industry standard for freelance writing is $1 per word. Blogs, then, should be valued, on average, at $1 per word.
• The word-count contributing to this value is to include comments on the site. Blogs richer in conversation are considered valuable by all measures, and the writers who stimulate and sustain that conversation should be likewise compensated.

Source:Eventing.com, “A Buck a Word”

I think that Mike makes an interesting point, however, I think that the two things need to be separated to a certain extent. Specifically, perhaps we should consider two points that buyers might “use against” a $1 per word model (I’m only playing Devil’s advocate):

• Intention - The $1 per word rate, I am assuming, is for works that are intentionally prepared for a source. I’m going on my past experiences with copy writers. We had a specific need for a piece of content, we provided a high-level view of the key points we needed to make, and they delivered a finished work, with multiple rounds of edits, that satisfied our need.

  A blog post surely could operate on this level of scrutiny, though it’s not the norm just yet. To that end, we imagine that there will be a need connect buyers to sellers that can produce commissioned works.

• Ownership - To sell it means to own it. It’s not clear that in all cases, comments are owned by the owner of the site. If they were sold, I’d rather see that money go to the commentator.

  I don’t think Mike is saying that he should sell those comments. He’s more asserting that the value of the author, and hence their works, is greater when that author is able to generate conversation and dialog.

  We fully support this notion and it is a core part of the system. Ultimately, we are not in control, though, since the owners of the content are free to choose whatever pricepoint they deem appropriate. The market will determine if it gets bought or not.

What’s your post worth? How much per word? Would you even charge per word?

I’m joining the x:posted community. Yes, even I have to get approved the good old fashioned way - by linking to my profile so I can prove that I own this blog.

If you’d like to see this publication’s profile, check it out here:
http://xposted.com/publications/show/15.

Doc Searls has a really interesting piece up regarding, as he calls it, the Intention Economy. What does it mean? How’s this:

The Intention Economy grows around buyers, not sellers. It leverages the simple fact that buyers are the first source of money, and that they come ready-made. You don’t need advertising to make them.

The Intention Economy is about markets, not marketing. You don’t need marketing to make Intention Markets.

The Intention Economy is built around truly open markets, not a collection of silos. In The Intention Economy, customers don’t have to fly from silo to silo, like a bees from flower to flower, collecting deal info (and unavoidable hype) like so much pollen. In The Intention Economy, the buyer notifies the market of the intent to buy, and sellers compete for the buyer’s purchase. Simple as that.

Source: Doc Searls’ Blog, “The Intention Economy”

It’s that last paragraph that really grabbed me however (I think the whole idea makes sense and have had my own share of issues fully grokking the Attention Economy). x:posted is developing exactly the type of market that Doc is describing - in our case we’re connecting buyers to the intellectual property they are seeking via a centralized repository.

As Doc puts it, “The Intention Economy is about buyers finding sellers, not sellers finding (or “capturing”) buyers.” That’s exactly how our system works. We simply ask who is willing to sell up front, but have no further expectation UNTIL a buyer has selected that seller.

Thanks to Stowe for the pointer - now go finish verifying your blog for us!

Last month, we hinted that we were working on an alternative solution to monetizing blogs - that is a way that doesn’t involve advertising. Today, we’re ready to start sharing more of that with you.

Overview

The site header says it all: “x:posted is a marketplace for buying and selling online content”. That’s pretty much what we’re trying to do. x:posted (read crossposted) is meant to give you a way to connect directly with potential buyers of the content you are already creating.

Who’s It For?

We’ve got two audiences in mind - buyers and sellers. Sellers include any and all bloggers, photobloggers, podcasters, vloggers, and any other hybrid format that might come along in the next 30 seconds. If you’re making content today, you’re eligible to be a seller.

Buyers include anyone that’s interested in lightening the load of maintaining a blog with hungry readers. We’re focusing initially on the conference, trade show, and association marketplace. In the end, anyone with a credit card and a need for content is a potential buyer.

Why Do This?

Good question. Basically, as we started having conversations with more and more groups, we realized that they were scared of blogging - specifically about the committment it required. Seeking a solution, we realized that if we could connect them to the bloggers of the world, there would be a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Plus, we knew that lots of bloggers were interested in how to cover their costs, time, etc. and advertising splattered across their site just wasn’t an option.

What Content Do You Want?

Wrong question. It’s actually a question of what content do our Buyers want. We’re here to connect you to them. You can sell text, photos, audio, video. It’s up to you. The only requirement is that you actually own it.

What’s In It For Me?

Better question. Essentially, we’re going to charge a transaction fee. It will start out at 25% of the price but we’re working on lowering that if we can get the payment processing tweaked the right way. The prices are always determined by you, not us.

Cool, Where Do I Sign Up?

We’re glad you asked. Currently, any publication (aka blogger) can Nominate their work. We’ll get in touch as soon as we have a Buyer.

Buyer’s are on a more restrictive pathway. We’re doing a private alpha with some of the beta clients we have for the time being but we’ll be opening the gates on this soon to the world at large.

The world of meeting and events is about to experience a period of tremendous fluctuation in the next year or two. The reason? Competition - from the edges. For more than two years now, I have been keenly watching two formats, primarily - the conference and the unconference. In the last 9 months or so, there’s also been a surge in the Camp model. Both Unconferences and Camps are stirring the proverbial pot and have many in the Meetings Industry wondering whether or not the formats are viable for their own uses.

Background on Unconferences

Yesterday, Dave Winer, creator of the Unconference format (though not the name itself) drafted a manifesto of sorts. The piece, titled “What is an unconference?” has many useful points and I have to agree with pretty much all of it. Here are a few useful excerpts:

First, you take the people who used to be the audience and give them a promotion. They’re now participants. Their job is to participate, not just to listen and at the end to ask questions. Then you ask everyone who was on stage to take a seat in what used to be the audience.

…

I’ve heard it said that there is no advance prep for an unconference, not in my humble opinion, there’s lots to prepare for. The idea is to fully explore a topic from all angles. Every person in the room is responsible, in an ideal unconference, for understanding what’s been said before on the topic at hand, much as a panelist at an old-style conference would be, if they took their job seriously. I always spent a couple of hours, at least, on the phone with each discussion leader before the unconference.

Source: Dave’s Wordpress Blog, “What is an unconference?”

The “Whole” Spectrum

Unconferences have become quite popular in the last year or so - at least the concept of them. As best I can discern, the term itself is sprinkled on essentially any event that’s not a “large production” or conference. In fact, that’s probably not really a fair assignment.

Here’s the spectrum, more as we see it here at syncPEOPLE.

So where are people going wrong? I think many people consider a lack of structure to be indicative of an Unconference. In fact, that’s more a hallmark feature of an Open Space meeting - quite similar to that used in the Camp model. If you’ve ever been to a BloggerCon, for example, you are quite aware that there is quite a bit of organizational structure applied before the anarchy discussion sets in.

A Different Set of Sliders

One of the larger problems is that we continue to assume that these models are at odds with each other. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

My partner in crime, Stowe Boyd, has written up a great review of the various sliders that dictate the success of an event. Here’s just the list, but read the full post:

• Podium Height
• Scale
• Scope
• Technology
• Social
• Format
• Locale
• People
• Sessions

Source: Conferenza, “Unconferences: But Aren’t There More Dimensions?”

I agree entirely with Stowe’s list. If I were to add anything to the discussion, it would be to raise the roles of profit and passion to the equation. I’m going on a limb here (which I am sure someone will come and saw off soon) to guesstimate that the warm, fuzzy feeling that comes from things down spectrum (social conferences, unconferences, and open space meetings) stems from the passion the individual participants have for the subject matter. However, note that I am not saying that traditional conferences are packed with impassionate zombies, just that the format and atmosphere are suffocating that energy.

The profit side - well that’s an argument I will save for another day.

The Truth Is In the Middle

I’m fond of working through problems by balancing equal parts of the parties involved. I don’t think any one side is every completely telling the truth - hence, the truth remains somewhere in the middle.

Dave’s assertion is that once you go to an unconference, you won’t want to ever go to a traditional one again. That’s flat out wrong. You can scan Stowe’s list of levers to see that there are more things at play. You can scan the room and tally how many people actually participate versus those that simply listen. Are those people simply lemmings that don’t get it or perhaps they’re there to learn by listening?

Here’s what Scoble had to say on the matter:

One other thing? My favorite sessions have been where the speaker has some structure, and a point to make, and then goes into the audience Oprah style to get the audience involved.

Maybe the best conference is 50% old style conference mixed with 50% unconference?

Source: Scobelizer, “The Unconference”

I think I agree.

Enter Social Conferences

In fact, I agree so much I’ve dedicated my business life to building just that solution. When we started looking at this industry, we saw immediately that there was a need to bridge these two formats.

SocialConference.com provides a platform for deploying these types of events. What kind of event you ask? That’s up to the organizer. We see this as a spectrum where an event can be anything from “mildly socialized” to “completely socialized” and anywhere in between.

The traditional conference business has been around for quite some time. In many, many ways, they are run very conservatively - don’t fix what ain’t broken is how I have had it explained to me. Fortunately for us, and for participants everywhere, is that increasingly organizers of traditional events are starting to see the way that things could be - and they like it.

Naturally, that doesn’t mean that they want to jump in head first - which is where we come in. We make it possible for little baby steps to be taken. We’ll test the value of these systems in some piecemeal manner until more is warranted/desired. Anyone who thinks this is easy hasn’t spoken to an organizer with 100K members and a annual event that brings together 20K of them.

Best of all, we’re almost there. We’re deploying our first socialconferences this week and next and we’ll post some updates for you to get an idea of how this can and will work.

Next month, we’ll open up the platform and anyone will be able to create their own social conference in a few minutes - just add participants :)

To go with our new branding, we’ve also re-launched the web site. As part of that launch, and in many ways because of it, we have also added a section for Downloads.

Why? you might ask. Well, it’s been known that we are working with Ruby On Rails (if not, we’re working with Ruby on Rails). In that time, we’ve created some seriously amazing code and we’ve given it back to the world. Don’t believe me, search for these:

• acts_as_taggable
• bundled_resource
• syncPEOPLE on Rails TextMate Bundle

It’s that last one that got us really going on the new site. Just look at what people are saying (we’re beyond flattered):

All of you Rails developers using the wonderful Textmate editor may want to sit down for this. Duane Johnson has been on a roll creating the greatest Textmate Bundle ever - syncPeople on Rails. - Jack Baty

i can’t praise the syncpeople bundle enough. if improved todo lists, the migrations snippets, and inline partials aren’t enough for you, let me tell you of the joy that comes from ‘intelligent go to file’ and ‘txm footnotes’… - ian

Which got us to thinking.. we’re building all this stuff and we’re not letting anyone really know we’re doing it. That had to change. So yesterday, Duane and I whipped out the new site mostly so we could launch our new screencasts (320×240 - 11MB, 640×480 - 59MB) Duane made to show people how the Bundle works.

Find out more here. Download it here. Enjoy!