Todd Sattersten :: Astronaut Projects

When I think open source business...

When I think of transparency and operating as an open source business, I think of what BzzAgent is doing with their blog.

The latest example is the post asking where they ask their stakeholders "Who Would You Hire?" They provided descriptions of the two finalists' backgrounds and looked to readers for their feedback. This week Bzzagent announced the person they hired and gave reasons for the decision.

Back in May, they shared an internal memo that included their cash burn rate and plans for obtaining additional capital.

I think what they are doing is bold.

Mmmm good

I have been trying to get my head around what was so cool about del.icio.us.

Mr. Ruebel helps explain social bookmark sites with this post. Steve tells the story from a PR angle, but you definitely get it after reading his thoughts.

I went over, got registered, and am now participating. I am starting to see the cool.

More soon...

IP in the game industry

First, add Scott Miller'sGame Matters to your RSS aggregator. It is a great blog about the video game industry. It has a great macro business perspective.

Second, read his post today called The IP Game -- Part One. Scott excerpts from an article from an industry magazine that talks about how intellectual property is handled in the video game industry.

Discouraging blogging

Scoble has an anecdote about bosses who discourage blogging.

In my previous post, I got caught up in the institutions and abstracts of "branding" and "companies". I am quickly reminded it is people who protect the history of a company. It people who protect the image of a company. Often, it is only people trying to protect their egos.

And it takes conversations to change those attitudes. So, we'll just keep doing what we're doing and wait for the rest to come along.

What is open-source marketing?

Steve Ruebel wrote last week about Mozilla and open source marketing.

First, I like what Mozilla is doing with the Spread Firefox campaign and am supporting it. I would describe the NYT ad campaign as fund-raising though. Nothing more. Yes, it is for open-source and the response has been great, but it is not open-source marketing.

Did Mozilla go to their evangelists and say, "How can we launch 1.0 with a bang?" I don't know. I would love to see in the FAQs how they came up with the idea. They do have a forum for Marketing Ideas, but like many forums, it is hard to see what it bubbling up and being used.

They have hired a PR agency to help with the ad placement and managing the story. Did they ask if the community wanted to help? I think they could have pulled together a stable of professionals who would have loved to help with this launch.

I want to say again I like what Mozilla is doing. I want a different definition and better examples for what open source marketing is.

More soon...

Branding and Blogging

All this talk about branding lately.

James Tauber says:

Recently, Doc Searls made the observation that the companies known for their brand don't have nearly as many bloggers.

I was all ready to embrace this meme that blogging and branding were opposing when I stopped and thought—hang on, Tom Peters blogs. Tom, more than any other person taught me the power of the personal brand.

Then it dawned on me. Blogging builds your personal brand. Perhaps people that (are good at or want to) build their personal brand don't sit well in companies that have a strong corporate brand.

I like James' thoughts. I think he is exactly right. Blogs only work if they are written by people who have identities. Over time, those identities become brands. Apple wants you to think about the Steve Jobs brand or maybe Jonathan Ive brand, not a program manager developing the next release of Mail. I agree with Mr. Ruebel. Apple is not going to have people blogging any time soon.

Why is the assumption that bloggers will distract and not enhance these mighty brands?

How much longer can companies keep employees from doing this very natural thing of talking customers?

It's hard

There is lots of buzz about the Mazada psuedo-blog [the site has been taken down].

I agree with everyone else. It doesn't work.

My first thought was to say that corporate blogging is hard, but that is not true. It really isn't that hard. There is no lead-time needed before you can do it. There is no technology barrier.

Maybe, it is hard for companies to talk to people. Without the veneer. Without the lawyers and message makers in between.

Companies don't need an ad agency to figure out how to talk to people. You do need to decide how you are going to go to market, but then talk to people. If you are trying to figure out to talk to them, you are thinking too much.

[End Rambling]

Podcasting 101

iloveradio.org is putting together a great resource going called "Podcasting 101: Illustrated Tips for Newbie Podcasters"

Also check out "I Was Nearly Peter Jennings' Love Child".

Give you a little more

Evelyn said I short changed you on this post from a couple weeks ago. Consider this quote:

The best musicians are like the best programmers – and like the best bloggers, although notice I didn’t say the most popular bloggers – they do it because they can’t not do it. They write and/or play music for the same reason a writer writes: it’s how they breathe. And it’s as involuntary as breathing. Most of them can’t tell you why they do it. They just do, and they love it.

This may help you consider reading the whole post.

BBBT #5 - Final Day

Michele at Wonderbranding is hosting the final day of the Business Blog Book Tour.

I want thank all of the stops on this tour. I want to thank Al and Laura for taking the time to chat with all of us about the new book.

The book is The Origin of Brands. Be sure to go check it out.