Month: December 2006

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Today Joanne, Chuck and I are out in New Orleans for a Rocketboom exclusive.

We just filmed John Edwards’ first announcement that he is running for president.

It’s actually an announcement of an announcement, so to speak.

I then uploaded the video to YouTube and there ya have it folks, the rest is history.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1etlZaf6zUw

We also got an interview with him which I will post early in the morning on Rocketboom, well before the rest of the press will meet him for his formal press announcement:
http://www.rocketboom.com

(BTW, it may look like a photo op, but Edwards has been working out here all day and has been providing major support since last year when Katrina hit).

Joanne and I are heading back to NYC and Chuck will follow Edwards around the US till Friday to shoot footage which we’ll edit for the official John Edwards website.

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Ive spent quite some time investigating Podshow and Podtech. I’ve watched both of them form and grow. I’ve met the people behind the businesses and I’ve asked a lot of questions.

In my investigations, I have spent the most time getting to know content creators. I’ve met and pal’d around with a lot of them over the last few years and most of my best friends “have a show”.

I’ve shared in discussions about their visions and dreams for their shows and I have heard and shared in a lot of frustration, concern and uncertainty.

The typical scenario is much like a band who “signs” onto a label for all their business and production support.

So whats wrong with these new networks? Nothing is wrong with them! They seem to be working. I’m very thankful they exist because my friends have jobs doing what they love to do and the audiences are happy.

It’s just that these networks appear to be more focused on ad sales than generating content.

This is not very exciting to me. I don’t want an ad sales business. Why try to enter into a market with another one of the same thing? Think Zune – there was nothing that the Zune had to offer consumers that they couldn’t already get.

If I did want an ad network, I would prefer one like Federated Media. FM stands to make a percentage of the ad sales but only needs to spend on generating ad sales.

The typical new network stands to make a percentage of ad sales but must spend on a whole lot more to provide adequate support, such as bandwidth, design, production, talent management (drama), IT, PR, legal, to name but a few.

All of this added expense requires a lot more share in the ad sales and show equity for the network to make it.

It then becomes natural for the network to provide weak support in areas beyond the ad sales.

This leaves many content creators stuck in a box and disgruntled.

Abbey Corps is about enabling content creators by building community.

When the emphasis is shifted towards supporting great quality content and the options for monetizing that content remain open to outside partnerships and community support (as well as our own in-house options), the health of the organization and thus the quality of the content can continue to grow in the most natural direction.

As with Rocketboom, there is no need for Abbey to compete against anyone. When there are so many good support services like YouTube, Revver, GoogleVideo, Blip.tv, Podtech, Dotsub, TiVo, iTunes, Akimbo, Federated Media, Datagram, MoveDigital – it’s silly to isolate yourself. One show may work great on YouTube and another one may not work there at all. One show might enjoy a wikia wiki and another might have it’s own.

There is no one answer and there is no umbrella that has it all.

Thus Abbey is not intended to be a brand network for shows, it’s a creative studio for people.

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Joe Lewis at WebProNews picks Joanne as a top Web 2.0 personality.

“When it comes to researching topics and reporting breaking news in the Web 2.0 world, one has to be careful to avoid falling into the trap of monotony. Sometimes, the news isn’t all that exciting, but it’s often the people associated with the story that makes all the difference.”

“[Joanne] is sharp as a tack, charming, and has a delivery style that you simply can’t teach; it’s just a gift. ” – More.

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One thing that I kind of like about Rocketboom is that I have never
done any press releases. I also dont have an email list; Until now, I’ve always
just fielded the incoming. I’m not against that kind of outreach, it’s just
interesting that there has never been any.

Well all of that is about to change.

I’m going to post some news on my blog! ?

I’ll post it in pieces over the next several days. I’m calling it
blog post suspense.

And so, since Rocketboom began, the biggest most important step of my
independent career has been made.

Clue #1
Jeff Pulver and I have co-founded a new studio network.

And so begins Abbey Corps.

My next clue will reveal which other shows are a part of the studio
and then I will go on to explain why I believe it’s a much better business than
Podshow or Podtech.

Onward and Upward.

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At first I thought it was one the 200 daily spam mails, the subject of this one read “Windows Vista: A Present”.

After glancing the body, I noticed the word Rocketboom and looking a little closer, the email said “I wanted to give you a heads up that Microsoft has sent you a laptop with Windows Vista for your use, no strings attached.. . .The laptop was sent to Rocketboom’s mailing address.”

When I noticed the “no strings attached” part, I knew something was up. The email was sent from Edelman, and then a followup email confirmed that the laptop had already been sent. That is, in fact it is true, they really did just send us a laptop.

When I mentioned this to Joanne she said “Shall we start dissing other companies too and see if they respond with freebees?”

Quite the olive branch, thanks guys. I’ll post again when the computer arrives.

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Bigger than Eat It, White and Nerdy has been played over 20 million times online and is Weird Al Yankovic‘s #1 top selling single of his career.

As one of the most downloaded videos on the internet, with a peak in popularity over the last couple of months, it might be worth it to take a deep look into the character of this video. There you can see the core root of internet culture today. The white and nerdy guy embodies the quintessential identity of the largest faction of the English speaking audience demographic online.

Even if you consider yourself a far cry from being this guy, can you relate?

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No need to get into the details, but worth mentioning that today I am the 100{303de987cc6916da36e13969c33ddde86941a7a7dd0e4e1455e523d98097d3da} owner of Rocketboom.

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