My web presence- getting it all to hang together.

Yesterday I posted the news that I have a new site in the process of being designed built and to ensure it not only launches smoothly, but works hard for me, I have been reviewing how all of my social media strategy hangs together.
Frankly, it's less than ideal. Here's my bad photoshopped image of what currently happens.



How it all works.

• The whole shebang hangs off RSS. Without the RSS feeds from the content services, then it would all be manual- a total nightmare.
• TwitterFeed is a brilliant service (I have donated) and is the hub I use for content processing into Twitter.
  
• Thomasr.org posts are checked every three hours and then posted into Twitter as "Blog Post". The RSS feed automatically shoots into Facebook as a "Facebook Note". Facebook only allows one RSS feed. It's tempting to process all the feeds into Feedburner and then feed the whole lot into Facebook- but that's untenable and Facebook Spam (FBS).
• Flickr pics also go into TwitterFeed, but are processed slightly differently. As I have varying degrees of Flickr use- occasional pics from BrightKite as well as whole car/bike sets that can number 50+ pics per car, I use the TwitterFeed feature to limit the RSS checking to once a day and 2 posts at any one time. FBS reduction right there.
• I use BrightKite mostly on my iPhone as it can post pics to Flickr (and importantly geo tag them) and send onto Twitter as well. If I'm not using BK for pics, then it works well as a Twitter client and I use it when I want to tell everyone where I am (especially for public event hosting and similar).
  
• My YouTube channel videos update once a day and one video to TwitterFeed. No need for updates more often than that as I have never posted more than one video a day and I doubt I ever will!
  
• My 3AW blog posts are rare, but also update via RSS. This is a once a day thing and one post gets sent to Twitter.
• My CarAdvice and BikeAdvice posts do not have an unique RSS feed. I think if I got to the bottom of Yahoo Pipes, I think I could feed the raw RSS into Yahoo pipes and filter it so only the podcasts and my articles make it to TwitterFeed. In the meantime, I write up a blog post pointing to the article and that starts off the Thomasr.org chain of events and that suits me for now as it gives my all-important paid work a double dose on Facebook and a single run on Twitter.
• Two services for links I use are my Del.icio.us and Google Reader shared items and these feed into Twitter almost on the spot, though I do limit them to a maximum of 3 at a time.
  
• All that done, the tweets start to automatically appear on Twitter itself.
  
• My Twitter feed goes straight into FriendFeed, which also aggregates my YouTube and Blog posts independently but is smart enough (something Scoble says a lot about FF) not to double up.
• FriendFeed then sends all aggregated (And not doubled up) content to Facebook via a Facebook app.
  

That last point is no longer true, but it's important to note that it was once the case. The problem now at Facebook is not one of double ups, but rather over saturation. Every single Tweet goes to Facebook. Per my previous post, I took my own advice and I'm not letting Tweets set as FB status, but it is appearing in all my friends timelines. Not all are happy:

Quite. I had a feeling this was the case, but as you can't really see when you are creating "noise" on a friend's Facebook page, I just kept going. (Not to be rude, but the more friends you have on FB, the less spammy my FB timeline appears as I am woven into the general fabric of Facebook)

Ok So what's this all mean?
The Web 2.oh services are evolving and so too are the users. In fact it's user expectation and user demands that are driving me- I think not so much about what can be done, but what's best for my readers/followers/friends. So I turned off the feed into Facebook. But I do need some sort of feed into Facebook as it is a content cul de sac (Content goes in, doesn't come out) and is very important as my friend base on Facebook increases.

So I'm going to set up a Feedburner account and aggregate most content apart from Twitter posts into Facebook as notes. It's not a huge amount and certain services like Flickr will now be handled by a Facebook App instead of FriendFeed.

Where's the conversation?
This is super critical. Corvida's post on ReadWriteWeb was very clear and I believe it.

While there's no formula for success, there are three keys to a killer web service: search, aggregation, and conversation.

So search is taken care of and I nearly have the aggregation situation about right. But it's conversation, the third and possibly most compelling element- where will that happen?

Thoughts on conversation:

• Not on my blog as it stands. I generate a fair few followers and readers, but few comments. I'm not that sort of blogger.
• On places of content origin. That's a mixed bag. YouTube- you have to be kidding. Flickr- very occasional. BrightKite- rare. on 3AW, CarAdvice and BikeAdvice a lot of good commenting takes place and should stay there as these sites are focussed on conversation.
  
• On Twitter. That tends to be short: "Good post" "nice pic" etc. Not really conversation, though it can be. Twitter conversations can be intense and real time, but also tend to disappear into the Twitter ether due to the non semantic nature of Twitter.
  
• FriendFeed. I don't think so right now. Scoble may be right and FF might go mainstream, but that's going to take a while and meantime FF is silent.
• Conversations on my content. Absolutely. So much so, that I have resolved to do two things: employ Facebook Connect on my new blog comments area and open up my friends list to Scoble-esque proportions.

So there's a bit to do and of course it's ongoing.

And it obsesses me.

My web presence- getting it all to hang together.

Yesterday I posted the news that I have a new site in the process of being designed built and to ensure it not only launches smoothly, but works hard for me, I have been reviewing how all of my social media strategy hangs together.
Frankly, it's less than ideal. Here's my bad photoshopped image of what currently happens.



How it all works.

• The whole shebang hangs off RSS. Without the RSS feeds from the content services, then it would all be manual- a total nightmare.
• TwitterFeed is a brilliant service (I have donated) and is the hub I use for content processing into Twitter.
  
• Thomasr.org posts are checked every three hours and then posted into Twitter as "Blog Post". The RSS feed automatically shoots into Facebook as a "Facebook Note". Facebook only allows one RSS feed. It's tempting to process all the feeds into Feedburner and then feed the whole lot into Facebook- but that's untenable and Facebook Spam (FBS).
• Flickr pics also go into TwitterFeed, but are processed slightly differently. As I have varying degrees of Flickr use- occasional pics from BrightKite as well as whole car/bike sets that can number 50+ pics per car, I use the TwitterFeed feature to limit the RSS checking to once a day and 2 posts at any one time. FBS reduction right there.
• I use BrightKite mostly on my iPhone as it can post pics to Flickr (and importantly geo tag them) and send onto Twitter as well. If I'm not using BK for pics, then it works well as a Twitter client and I use it when I want to tell everyone where I am (especially for public event hosting and similar).
  
• My YouTube channel videos update once a day and one video to TwitterFeed. No need for updates more often than that as I have never posted more than one video a day and I doubt I ever will!
  
• My 3AW blog posts are rare, but also update via RSS. This is a once a day thing and one post gets sent to Twitter.
• My CarAdvice and BikeAdvice posts do not have an unique RSS feed. I think if I got to the bottom of Yahoo Pipes, I think I could feed the raw RSS into Yahoo pipes and filter it so only the podcasts and my articles make it to TwitterFeed. In the meantime, I write up a blog post pointing to the article and that starts off the Thomasr.org chain of events and that suits me for now as it gives my all-important paid work a double dose on Facebook and a single run on Twitter.
• Two services for links I use are my Del.icio.us and Google Reader shared items and these feed into Twitter almost on the spot, though I do limit them to a maximum of 3 at a time.
  
• All that done, the tweets start to automatically appear on Twitter itself.
  
• My Twitter feed goes straight into FriendFeed, which also aggregates my YouTube and Blog posts independently but is smart enough (something Scoble says a lot about FF) not to double up.
• FriendFeed then sends all aggregated (And not doubled up) content to Facebook via a Facebook app.
  

That last point is no longer true, but it's important to note that it was once the case. The problem now at Facebook is not one of double ups, but rather over saturation. Every single Tweet goes to Facebook. Per my previous post, I took my own advice and I'm not letting Tweets set as FB status, but it is appearing in all my friends timelines. Not all are happy:

Quite. I had a feeling this was the case, but as you can't really see when you are creating "noise" on a friend's Facebook page, I just kept going. (Not to be rude, but the more friends you have on FB, the less spammy my FB timeline appears as I am woven into the general fabric of Facebook)

Ok So what's this all mean?
The Web 2.oh services are evolving and so too are the users. In fact it's user expectation and user demands that are driving me- I think not so much about what can be done, but what's best for my readers/followers/friends. So I turned off the feed into Facebook. But I do need some sort of feed into Facebook as it is a content cul de sac (Content goes in, doesn't come out) and is very important as my friend base on Facebook increases.

So I'm going to set up a Feedburner account and aggregate most content apart from Twitter posts into Facebook as notes. It's not a huge amount and certain services like Flickr will now be handled by a Facebook App instead of FriendFeed.

Where's the conversation?
This is super critical. Corvida's post on ReadWriteWeb was very clear and I believe it.

While there's no formula for success, there are three keys to a killer web service: search, aggregation, and conversation.

So search is taken care of and I nearly have the aggregation situation about right. But it's conversation, the third and possibly most compelling element- where will that happen?

Thoughts on conversation:

• Not on my blog as it stands. I generate a fair few followers and readers, but few comments. I'm not that sort of blogger.
• On places of content origin. That's a mixed bag. YouTube- you have to be kidding. Flickr- very occasional. BrightKite- rare. on 3AW, CarAdvice and BikeAdvice a lot of good commenting takes place and should stay there as these sites are focussed on conversation.
  
• On Twitter. That tends to be short: "Good post" "nice pic" etc. Not really conversation, though it can be. Twitter conversations can be intense and real time, but also tend to disappear into the Twitter ether due to the non semantic nature of Twitter.
  
• FriendFeed. I don't think so right now. Scoble may be right and FF might go mainstream, but that's going to take a while and meantime FF is silent.
• Conversations on my content. Absolutely. So much so, that I have resolved to do two things: employ Facebook Connect on my new blog comments area and open up my friends list to Scoble-esque proportions.

So there's a bit to do and of course it's ongoing.

And it obsesses me.

First review for BikeAdvice.com.au

Just done my first review (with pics!) for BikeAdvice.com.au

See it here.

Tom Reynolds to race Factory Honda in 2009 Motocross series

DSCN1896, originally uploaded by thomasrdotorg.

-------------PRESS RELEASE----------

Woodstock Thor Honda and Thomasrdotorg are pleased (some might say "fully stoked") to announce a one year deal for Melbourne motoring journalist Tom Reynolds to race in the factory Woodstock Thor Honda team aboard a special one off Japanese prepared CRF450X.

Team owner Yarrive Konsky: "After Tom's startling performances in last year's Dirt Bike Master's we were ready to look at a full year deal. His performances showed us we had found a rider for the over 50's. Of course he's 'only' 37, so that did make things a little difficult- but we'll sort that out in due course. All jokes aside, we were pleased with the races he competed in where he didn't crash- and that was a special one. The race where he crashed and broke two ribs showed us that he was a special rider. Very special. Of course at the time, we didn't know the full extent of the damage and we were very, very worried. It was only later we discovered that it was a triple clamp setup, a set of handle bars, a full set of plastics, an exhaust and two marshals."

Yarrive continues:
"After looking at the team members for 2009, it was clear we were going for a youth policy, so bringing Tom into the team will help to raise not only our spirits, but also the average age. We've gone from an average of 18 to 29 by adding just one rider."

Tom Reynolds:
"There will naturally be some people who see this as a decision that is not based around talent, but more around whether I can get Yarrive a drive in an Aston Martin for the weekend. The answer is yes; anytime Yarrive wants a drive in an Aston I can organise it for an hour or two."

While the deal has only just been finalised, Reynolds rejects any suggestions that he will not be fit enough for this weekend's opening round at Albury Wodonga. "I won't lie, at 37 it's a struggle to get to a racing weight and Honda have been very supportive by providing a rear suspension setup straight off a Gold Wing. Meanwhile I've been hard at it for months. I'm on a semi strict diet of hops, barley and wheat delivered by liquid infusion. In time I've been on said diet I've gone from 72kgs to a race ready 97kgs."

At time of writing, the final hurdle is an ASDA supervised drug test, due to be completed this afternoon 1 April 2009...

------------------ENDS----------------

11:59am STOP PRESS UPDATE:
Woodstock Thor Honda regret to announce that Tom Reynolds has been released from his racing contract for 2009 effective immediately after failing a drugs test. Details at this time are sketchy, but it is understood that an excessive amount of oestrogen was found in his system, rendering him not only unable to compete in the men's division, but a threat to other team members safety.

-------ENDS------

Thomasr's Twittering gets him in Mainstream Media

the-age-30-3, originally uploaded by thomasrdotorg.

Wait, yr doing it backwards!

Thanks to Suzanne Carbone for having the vision to include a few paras about me at the F1 GP tweeting like an OCD sufferer (without the suffering bit!)

No... where are those offers of Social Media work? HUH?

Mick Doohan thinks World Superbike is shit

Last night at the Premiere of "Love The Beast" I had occasion to chat with former 500cc Champion Mick Doohan.

POst chat about things film related, I moved on to chat about MotoGP this season and we wandered into a MotoGp v WSBK discussion and then the sparks started flying. I dared to suggest that that WSBK- with its field of 35, close racing and keen fans might eclipse MotoGP as a spectacle in 2009.To say Mick was NOT convinved would be an understatement.

Here's how I saw the discussion:

Me: The fans want to see close racing, big fields and skill playing an important role (over say, traction control). MotoGP might struggle as there are just 18 bikes on the grid this year to get the fans fired up.

Mick: MotoGP is the pinnacle of the sport. World Superbike is not. Therefore MotoGP is better without even referring to field numbers, fan interest and closeness of competition.

Listen to the discussion here.

Love The Beast podcast interview with Eric Bana » Australian Car Advice | News Blog

New podcast has gone live at CarAdvice.com.au Click here to check it out!

Love The Beast podcast interview with Eric Bana » Australian Car Advice | News Blog: "CarAdvice was invited to the red carpet premiere last night at Crown Casino’s Village cinemas of Eric Bana’s documentary on his ‘74 XB Falcon Love The Beast that stars Eric, Jeremy Clarkson, Jay Leno and Dr Phil McGraw."

Melbourne Motorshow Podcast

The Melbourne Motorshow has begun and I was there for the media day. Alborz Fallah and I did a podcast walkabout and review most of the various stands and features.

Hit the link to hear the podcast and check out CarAdvice.com.au, Australia's number one independent car site.