Jim’s guest is Deanna Zandt, author of a social media book. They talk about how she got a book deal, raised money to fund it, and how she got free pizza.
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Deanna Zandt is the author of the new book, “Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking” which you can find out more about at her website, DeannaZandt.com.
During our interview, we talk about the following topics:
- How the former corporate employee and self-proclaimed ‘webmonkey’ went from independent consultant to author
- The process she took to turn her training seminars into a book idea
- The “Jedi Mind Trick” philosophy her publisher uses, and how she used “the force” of social media to raise funds in order to work on her book
- How she used crowdsourcing on everything from the title to the cover — and how people reacted to it
- The free software program she used to dramatically ramp up her productivity during the writing process
And yes, she explains how she scored a free eye exam and free pizza along the way.
Jim interviews the guys from Whiteyboard.com, a simple product with a unique marketing spin.
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I love me a good whiteboard.
And why not? I’m a marketer, a creator, a speaker, an idea guy, and a project manager. I like mockups. I like sketches. I like seeing how a process could flow, and then erasing it with a napkin (can never seem to find that damn eraser) and then sketching it out again. That is what whiteboards are born to do.
Apple’s iPad is flying off the shelves. Jim gives his real-world results after 30 days with it, reviews the Wired Magazine app, analyzes market share trends and asks, can it be beat?
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iPad iPad iPad.
Everyone is talking about the iPad, and so am I. Lets take a look at three things today:
1) My experience with the iPad 3G after one month with the iPad
2) My thoughts on the Wired Magazine iPad app
3) Analyze Apple’s historic marketshare and drill down to see the future of tablet computing and if the iPad can be beat
Note: All thoughts are my own opinion and not that of Wired or Apple. I have no affiliation with Apple and was not compensated.
Summary of the podcast below. Listen to the entire show for the full experience.
OK, so I’ve had the iPad for 30 days of real world testing.
I’ve installed various apps: the Entertainment Weekly Must List and Weather Channel (good, but could use some work), ones with solid functionality (Kayak, Pandora, MLB at Bat), ones that I normally wouldn’t use (Marvel’s comic book reader and games such as Asphalt 5 and Labyrinth), and Conde Nast’s own (Epicurious, GQ, and Wired).
In this episode, I interview entrepreneurs Michael Lewis and Tim Kress-Spatz from Suite Arrival, a new business that lets you be discreet, get a treat to eat, and keep your travel plans neat.
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We’ve all been there
Admit it, the TSA and the terrorists have combined to make it much more difficult to travel. Long gone are the days of rolling up to the airport for that 10:15 flight at 9:45.
Oh no… you’ve got to get there early, have all your IDs ready, make sure your bags are not too plentiful (the fees! the fees!) or too heavy, watch out for metal belt buckles, take off those shoes, remove those jackets, and take out your laptops (which can only add to the fact that 10,000 laptops are stolen from airports PER WEEK).
This episode is an interview I did at SXSW with Matthew Inman, the author of the popular web comic called The Oatmeal. Find out how he went from social media favorite to a book deal.
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Background
Matt got his start at online marketing and SEO firm SEOMoz. He went from there to coding an online dating site completely by himself in just 66 hours, and then turning around and selling it in only six months. The key discovery while he was there? The comics, quizzes and viral content he used to market the site were even more popular than the site itself. And thus while concentrating on just the viral comics themselves, The Oatmeal was born.
We made it everyone! 100 episodes! I’ll cover 10 lessons learned, the big party, and give some shoutouts.
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Wow, 100 episodes – pretty amazing. I’ve been at this for more than 2 years, week in, week out, whether I was tired or sick or excited, I carved out a little time to try and share some thoughts with you.
Listen, I’m an oldest child, I’m a Leo, and obviously I like to hear myself talk. But I try to be aware of that and not get TOO full of myself. I realize this isn’t 21 seasons of the Simpsons or some of the other social media guys with millions of followers. It’s not the frontpage of the NY Times, the cover of Wired, and it’s not even a video podcast. Even 2010, some people don’t even know what a podcast IS.
In this episode of The Hopkinson Report, Jim talks with Brendan McManus of Wildfire. The Wildfire guys have developed a streamlined, cost-efficient, and user-friendly way of integrating promotions into Facebook fan pages.
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The numbers are overwhelming…
- Facebook has 400 million users and just keeps growing
- Users are joining at least 4 fan pages every month
- Traffic from Facebook to websites is increasing
Whoa, we’re up to Episode 97! Time for a ranting recap of my 5 days at the SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, TX.
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Topics Covered:
- Happy fans, Happy sponsors: How a brand like Wired throws a killer Happy Hour for hundreds
- Sponsored events: Integrating top-tier sponsors into an event
- Using social media to ensure a great user experience
- How Twitter was like Jessie Jackson
[Above: I give away Wired swag to the Wired Happy Hour Crowd]
- Twitter vs. Foursquare: The similarities between the two products is eerie
- Fourwhere? Jim takes a deep-dive look at the geolocation darling, and what it means for you and your business
Other quick hits:
- Jim meets Four Hour Workweek author Tim Ferriss
- Gary Vaynerchuk: Thoughts on the most energetic speaker that Jim saw
- Clay Shirky: Jim retells Clay’s story comparing an old woman on the street to teenagers and music piracy
- Networking: It’s all about the people, people
- Work-life balance: Do you know when to turn it off?
- Runner recommendation: Check out the documentary film “Hood to Coast,” which looks at the 200-mile relay race held in Oregon each year
- I’m selling my netbook! The netbook is dead! Long live the netbook!
- I’m sold on the iPad! WIRED Magazine creative director Scott Dadich and Jeremy Clark from Adobe wowed a packed room with their vision of what our product on a tablet will look like. Sign me up.
- Anti-social Media: Is it going to keep getting worse before it gets better?
- “The Hoodie Culture” … my take on the new breed of internet entrepreneurs. Young, poised techies like Chris McCann, Brendan McManus, and Ethan Block are driving new media. Best of all, they’ll all be on upcoming episodes of The Hopkinson Report.
- Iterative Development: Why the design/develop/deploy/feedback loop is getting faster, and what it means to rapid web development
Mega rants:
- Gen X vs. Gen Y throwdown… do you know who ZZ Top is? And as a bonus, what is the name of their drummer?
- The bartender conundrum. Please, please someone tell me why a bar doesn’t bring in enough bartenders around major events to maximize revenue. I just don’t get it.
It’s Academy Award season, so we’re going to talk movies and entertainment with Jennifer Sargent, CEO of Hitfix.com.
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Ah, the movie season. It’s been a good one, filled with blockbusters, dramas, and a controversy surrounding the producers of “The Hurt Locker.” I recorded a podcast on March 2 with entrepreneur Jennifer Sargent, and we discuss everything from the favorites for who will be thanking the academy, to how different industries approach piracy.
Topics covered:
Describe your unique path from Electrical Engineering student to the CEO of a cool entertainment company.
Jennifer explains that she wanted a more social career than being stuck in a room as an EE looking at microprocessors, so her path led her to investment banking, focusing on the intersection of media and technology. She later went to Doubleclick to learn about monetizing online brands, but wanted to start her own company.
Like any good entrepreneur, she focused on how she could use her skill set to work on something she was passionate about. After Harvard Business School, she worked at the parent company of Variety, growing the traffic on entertainment sites, and loved the combination of entertainment and technology.
She founded Hitfix in December 2008 to bridge the gap between gossip sites (like TMZ) and trade publications (like Variety).
In a crowded entertainment area online, what does Hitfix do to distinguish itself?
Two tracks
1.     Team of proven journalists that break news about TV, Music, and Movie coverage (insider scoop without the gossip)
2.     Event forecast calendar technology (location-based tool that lets users discover new events, set reminders, download to calendars, and sync news with events)
Example:Â The Spiderman franchise reboot. First they break the news: Tobey Maguire is out, shakeup of the storyline. Then, the event: Release date is no longer September 2010, instead, 2012. The action: Set your calendar!
Does a great pair of earbud headphones for the iPhone exist? I sure haven’t found one, but lets find out.
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“Whoa it just got so freaking loud, are you in a wind tunnel?”
“I’m sorry, I just caught about every third word that you just said.”
“What? Can you repeat that last part? Your father is kissing a lizard?”
“Hello? Hello? I think I lost you.”
“Oh my gosh your phone is the worst thing ever I hate your damn phone it is HORRIBLE and I hate you and your damn phone please don’t ever call me again with that stupid phone.”
I don’t know about you, but those are just 5 of the types of things people say to me as the owner of an iPhone. By the way, the reference of “Your father is kissing a lizard” came from the sitcom Good Times, when they were on the phone and mishearing things, and then they figured out – and were devastated – when they realized the other person was saying “You father is stuck in a blizzard.” That’s right, I just made a Jimmy Walker joke. Dynomite.
The podcast and blog this week is being done to accomplish three things, as we set out to find best earbud headphones for the iPhone.
1) On the personal side, after 2 years the right earbud on my iPhone 3G headset stopped working, so I need to replace them, hopefully with a model that cuts down the complaints above.
