It’s been awhile. I won’t make excuses other than to say, yeah, it happens. I’m sorry.
So why the rise from the ashes? I attended a Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada conference today on Social Media Marketing + Web 2.0 by Mitch Joel. It was invigorating. It was empowering. It was an excellent reminder why blogs, podcasts and other social online tools are so important: It’s not only the reality in which we live, it’s also the future.
In the past, I’ve struggled against traditional media folk who like to believe that anything outside of print is supplemental, second-class, the poor cousin. For awhile I’ll admit that I started to cave: “Okay, okay – enough of the beating. I’ll believe whatever you tell me as long as you get off my back.” But what I forgot is that people tend to fight hardest when they know they’re dying. And that world – not print media but the old-school dinos in which inhabit it – is dying. A slow, painful death, but an end to their existence none the same.
I’ll probably blog a lot more about Mitch, “The Tall Bald Guy,” as he calls himself because I want to share this sense of empowerment with every other web journalist, every other online content developer, every other interactive marketer who struggles against those who will not either give up the ghost or recognize they are becoming ghosts themselves. These are my phoenix feathers, and they are strong.
Mitch ended his nine-hour presentation with the following Youtube video – an excellent example of the online community at its best.
