October 3, 2008 by Colin Temple, in Social Media
Last night was the English debate for the Canadian party leaders, as well as the VP candidates debate in the United States. I don’t know who decided to schedule them both at the exact same time, but it certainly kept Twitter busy. Throughout the debate viewers on both sides of the border were all posting about the election to Twitter — as were some of the candidates.
The Canadian party leaders participating in the debate.
In Canada, New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton (@jacklayton) brought pieces of the debate right into Twitter. He apparently had a team working behind the scenes to offer NDP responses to some of the things said by the other leaders (mostly Harper). During the debate, several “fact check” tweets were posted, linking to various statements on the NDP website that offered the NDP account of what really happened.
Most of the other candidates have Twitter accounts too — Prime Minister Stephen Harper (@pmharper), Green Party leader Elizabeth May (@ElizabethMay) and Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe (@gillesduceppe) are all up there. The only Canadian leader who doesn’t seem to have an active Twitter profile (at least not one that I could find) is Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. @stephanedion isn’t following anyone, and has only a “Hello Twitter!” statement from over a year ago.
I’ve followed all of the leaders, but so far only Jack Layton and Stephen Harper have followed me back. (Seeing “Stephen Harper is now following you on Twitter!” pop up in my email was amusing to me.) I’ll be disappointed if Elizabeth May doesn’t follow me, but she hasn’t posted a tweet since the debate, and it looks like she genuinely manages her own Twitter account.
I do hope that whoever becomes Prime Minister does keep using Twitter.
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September 18, 2008 by Colin Temple, in Random
The past couple of days, I’ve been having trouble with my iPhone. I thought I’d post the answer here, in case anyone else encounters this — or to make fun of myself, because the solution was surprisingly simple.
I was repeatedly seeing “Call Failed” when I tried to make or answer phone calls. I would answer my phone, for example, and a few seconds later it would abruptly drop the call. At first I assumed it was Rogers’ fault… just because it usually is. But in this case, it was not. The solution is simple.
Turn your phone off.
The iPhone is a computer, and as you’re probably aware, computers suck. They don’t always work like they should, and after some time, they need a restart. Powering off the phone and turning it back on seems to fix the problem. I’ll try to remember to restart my iPhone each time I charge it. (Thanks to the guy in the Rogers Plus store for letting me know.)
I’ll admit, I felt a little stupid after that. Normally, when I call a support desk or ask for help, I’ve already tried the obvious stuff like restarting my PC, checking all the cords, etc. For some reason I wasn’t expecting the same with my phone.
I hope this helps someone.
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September 2, 2008 by Colin Temple, in Web
I’m writing to tell you that I’m not writing about Google Chrome.
It’s not surprising. It’s not exciting. It’s not interesting.
I just don’t care.
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August 17, 2008 by Colin Temple, in Blogging, Marketing Strategy
It’s past three in the morning, and this post is a bit rantish. I feel it’s important to issue that warning.
I’m not normally impressed with blogs that spend their time repeating what the “A-list” bloggers say. It seems that every time a blogger like Seth Godin opens his mouth, half the blogosphere reports on it. It’s awfully repetetive.
But now you’re going to have to excuse a moment of hypocrisy, because I’m compelled to comment on what Seth said today on the topic of blog conflicts through advertising, if only because it mirrors some recent decisions I’ve made.
I have to chuckle a bit at bloggernoob.com, where that site’s author (”the noob”) wrote earlier about an over-emphasis on content. He likens the stance of the “blogging purist” to a misunderstanding of the blogging economy. My grin comes from the fact that the next day, one of the most famous bloggers in the world (who quite obviously understands the blogging economy) posted about how he doesn’t sell space on his blog, specifically to make it “as pure an exercise as [he] can”.
Don’t get me wrong — I have no problem with ad-supported sites. I still run several of them. But sometimes, a site’s revenue is less direct, and ads can actually pull away from a more valuable opportunity.
Seth makes money from his blog by giving the world a glimpse into his mind. The very fact that we know his name shows that he’s a good marketer. The fact that so many bloggers agree with, and repeat, everything he says shows that he’s either very smart, or very charismatic. Either way, it earns him a living as people pay him to talk or write.
I’m not getting paid to give seminars or write books (yet), but I profit from my online ventures in a similar way. I’m entirely self-taught. Over the past ten years or so, I’ve learned how to design, develop and market websites. Aside from some high-school courses in basic programming, I’ve never been formally trained in these activities. I learned what I know by putting up websites, getting people to them, and measuring results.
Now, my clients pay me for that experience. I do a variety of things, from coding Wordpress themes to running AdWords campaigns — from writing email copy to developing full marketing programs. These skills didn’t come from nowhere: I’ve learned what does and doesn’t work through years of experimentation, both on my own and through employment.
So when I relaunched my Philosophy Index site this week, I decided to remove all ads from the site. Considering how little they make, relative to my other forms of income, they’re really a burden. They take up space and distract me from what I actually love about that site. (I’m starting work on a Philosophy degree this fall, so reviving the site has a double meaning to me.)
I feel really good about the decision, and I’ll be honest — reading Seth’s blog post did re-affirm that feeling. It’s not a “holier-than-thou” thing, like the noob says. It’s a choice thing. I want content to be my focus, and I want this blog (and my sites) to be all me. If I were writing short content in simpler language with pictures of models, my blog would be horribly inauthentic. I’m not after the idiots with wallets. I’m looking to work with smart people who can use (and will value) my services.
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August 15, 2008 by Colin Temple, in Blogging, Social Media
Last October, bloggers around the world were called to join together and raise awareness of a single topic on one day. Blog Action Day saw thousands of blogs writing about a single socially relevant topic: the Environment. I wrote on a few of my blogs, including Xbox Living, where I offered some tips on saving energy with the Xbox 360.
This year, Blog Action Day will focus on another global problem: poverty. Bloggers from around the world are called to write a post about the issue and publish it on October 15 to raise awareness of global poverty and work together to help the problem.
I’ve just registered Work, Web, Play to participate this year, and I’ll be writing on my other blogs where I can. It looks like I made it into the first 100 sites to register. Be sure to get your blog registered on blogactionday.org and join in the cause on October 15!
This year, it’d be great to see some more corporate blogs take part as well — social awareness is always a great trait to see from the corporate world. This is a great opportunity to promote your business as a socially conscious, forward-thinking organization.
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