I am totally pumped about this. I mean really. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about….

…a browser plugin.

Hot off the presses, the DoGooder plugin was released to the world this morning, and in my opinion, it IS going to change the way we think about online advertising.

The concept is deceptively simple. You install the FREE plugin, which takes about 10 seconds, (compatible with Safari, Internet Exploder AND Firefox) and suddenly, all of the ads in web pages you visit change. For the better (way better!).

You see, the ads don’t just change to anything. They change to everything that’s good – as their web site says,

“…thoughtful green initiatives, philanthropic calls for action, and health and wellness ideas to help make the world a better place.”

The ads are simple, clear and interesting. Things like “An urban garden is a pretty GOOD idea.” “Hugging a tree? Not so good. Planting one? A GOOD idea.”. The long term plan here is to also incorporate “green” advertising and ads for charities. For now, the wonderful messages just make me feel GOOD. And that’s a GOOD thing. And, you can keep track of the GOOD ideas you are seeing as you browse – a small icon in the lower corner of the browser window diligently keeps count of the GOOD you’re doing.

The best and most brilliant part of the DoGooder plugin is that 50% of all of the profits from DoGood go directly to charitable organizations. Yep. The guys at DoGood are not only promoting doing good – they are DoGooders themselves.

Now before you start jumping up and down and saying “but wait – they are REMOVING ads from my page? Can they get away with that?” – this plugin is totally adaptable to your browsing needs. At any time you can right click on a page and see the actual ads on the page, or exempt a web page from DoGood. You can also email them directly and suggest a new cause to support.

So how does this potentially change advertising? Well, until the Web, advertising was a forced thing. As a consumer of media, I have no say in who advertises on the TV shows I watch or radio programs I listen to. Even on the web, I don’t typically get to decide which ads I see. With tools like DoGood, the choice is put in the hands of the consumer, which is great for the consumer, but also a tremendous opportunity for advertisers. They can target messages directly to the people who are interested in seeing them. If I’ve installed the DoGood plugin, it automatically means I’m interested in seeing messages with an environmental or philanthropic twist. Now, the advertiser KNOWS they have a captive audience.

I wish the guys at DoGood all the success in the world with this project – they are the very definition of changing the game.

Download the plugin here – and start doing some GOOD.

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This morning I’ll be heading to Toronto for a weekend of connecting, sharing, learning and of course, fun at Podcamp. It’s been a long time since I’ve been really excited about attending an event. Perhaps it’s because I don’t get to go to many events. Perhaps it’s because I’m getting the chance to meet up with some people I haven’t seen in a while, and actually meet some people I’ve only known online until now.

The whole thing has me thinking about this online social community that I’m privileged to be part of.

I’ve been fortunate throughout my life to live in many different cities, be exposed to many different cultures, and work in many different industries. As a result, I have friends from just about every walk of life you can imagine. It’s terrific. Some I am very close with. With others I’m more of a good acquaintance. Each of them are special to me in their own way.

But there’s something about this relatively new group of friends I’ve discovered in the past couple of years. For some reason, even though I haven’t known these people for that long, and even though I don’t see them every day, or have even met some of them face to face, I feel very close to them. And today, it occurred to me why the Web allows for these close relationships to happen, in spite of the lack of geographical or physical connection.

You see, when you meet someone the traditional way – at work, through a mutual friend, or even by chance – the connection is very one on one. The relationship is built through a series of individual conversations. Often you only get a certain perspective on a person at first. You get to know them only in the context of your own interaction with them. But in the world of social media, we’re many. Talking to many.

So, not only are you getting the one on one stuff, and connecting on that level – you are also seeing many other dimensions of the person at the same time. You see their creative expression on their blog. You see their business side through their business-type profiles (think LinkedIn). And perhaps, most importantly, you are privvy to their conversations with others. You see how they interact, many different facets of their personality appear at once, depending upon who they are talking to.

The result? You get to know the person a lot better, a lot faster than you normally would.

And this, I think, is the primary reason why my online friends mean so much to me. Because I see all of them. And they see all of me. And that, is why I love this place, and why I love these friends.

Looking forward to seeing you again, meeting you finally, and getting to know you if you’re new.

Love,
Suze.

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I have a confession to make.

I, Suze, don’t watch TV anymore. In fact, I’m pretty much turned off of just about every show out there. It’s an interesting irony, really. After all, I produce TV. Right now I co-produce a series that airs on our local cable station. We have a bunch of other shows in various stages of development and pre-production. I contribute directly to the industry, but I don’t really participate as a viewer.

Here I am, on a Friday night, flipping endlessly through the hundreds of channels that I have available to me on my digital box. And aside from one or two interesting documentaries, a few movies, the odd cooking and home reno show and, well, our show, of course :-) …I can’t get over how little actual, good content there is on mainstream television anymore.

Now, before I continue, I must admit that I have never been a dramatic series watcher. Aside from the occasional episode of Law and Order or CSI, I really have never been able to commit to watching a series week after week. I do appreciate that there are some good series out there – Lost, Heroes, Grey’s Anatomy to name a few – but if you look at the current lineups of the major networks, even those types of shows are becoming the minority.

It seems to me that the major networks and U.S. specialty networks are obsessed with drama. And I don’t mean “E.R” kind of drama. I mean the staged, exaggerated, over-the-top “reality-based” Drama Queen type of drama that makes up a good majority of mainstream television these days.

I love video. I always have. It has the power to impress, to entertain, to really move people to change for the better. But these “reality” shows are an insult to the medium and frankly, an insult to my intelligence. These programs seek only to bring out the worst qualities in people – they are stories about greed, revenge, deception and negativity. Why anybody finds this sort of show entertaining is really beyond me.

The more time goes on, it seems, the more shows like this are becoming the mainstream. Obviously, somebody is watching them. Why they are so popular puzzles me greatly. As much as I love the medium of television, I’m losing faith in it, fast. More often than not these days, I am turning off the TV and turning on my laptop.

The Internet is so ripe with awesome content, it makes me want to burst. I can watch shows about any topic imaginable, produced by people who have skill and talent and heart and passion. I can do it on my own schedule, from my bed, my livingroom, my coffee shop or my backyard. Through the Web, I have regained the capacity to be impressed, entertained and moved by video.

And that’s where I start to see hope for the future.

What do you think? Where does TV sit in your life these days?

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I’ve been fortunate to spend a good chunk of time in Newfoundland and Labrador. Even though I’m not from the Eastern part of Canada, I feel very in tune with the people there. Perhaps it’s in my blood, because my Dad is from New Brunswick. Perhaps I can relate to the culture because I grew up on an isolated island on the West coast. Perhaps it’s my family’s Scottish roots. Whatever the reason, I have a really special place in my heart for that part of the country.

One of my favourite things to do in Newfoundland is go to kitchen parties. The best parties always end up in the kitchen. The East coast kitchen party is a legendary event. It’s all about friends, music and stories. Kitchen parties can happen at any time of the day or night, and it’s a come as you are kind of affair. People drop in and out as they please, have a drink, say hi, meet new people, see old friends, and share a laugh or a story. Everyone is welcomed with open arms to participate, whether it’s telling a story or playing a tune. It just makes you feel good to be there.

Not unlike the social network.

In a social network, I can show up when I want and leave when I want. I can talk to my friends or make new friends and bring them into the conversation. I can do it any time of the day or night. I can tell stories. I can listen to stories. It definitely makes me laugh often and hard. I feel welcome in this space. I am encoruaged to share my stories as much as the next person. And I feel good being there.

When I think about what really motivates me to be involved in social networks, I guess it’s because I get a lot of the same things out of it that I get from going to parties. I’ve never been to an East coast party where I didn’t meet someone new, learn something new, hear wonderful stories and laugh my butt off in the process. And it seems like with my online life these days, I meet new people, learn new things and hear really great stories every single day. And I absolutely bust a gut much of the time too.

So, I believe the essence of both the kitchen party and the social network is to connect people.

Lately, I’ve been working on some ways to teach people who are new to the concept about social networks and social media. Technology has a tendency to be very impersonal. To the outside world, there is a lack of understanding about how much of a connection one can really make through a keyboard and mouse.

Comparing the social network to something everyone can relate to, like a party, starts to foster some kind of understanding of what the real benefits are. It doesn’t matter if you are a blogger, a Twitterer, or an Instant Messenger…just like it doesn’t matter if you’re a late night kitchen partier or an afternoon barbequer. It’s about the incredible things that can happen when people connect with each other. And that’s something anyone can understand.

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“A light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence.” — Marshall McLuhan

I’ve been thinking a lot about WHY people choose certain mediums to communicate. In McLuhan’s day, the options were much more limited. Not by their ability to tell stories, but by their accesibility to the general public. At that time, we relied on “professionals” – journalists and authors were the only ones that had access to the medium, therefore they were the ones that told the stories.

Today, that’s no longer the case. There are abundant options now for people to tell their stories. Blogging, micro-blogging, and podcasting are prolific and available to anyone with an Internet connection and an inclination.

Yesterday, social media monitoring company Radian6 launched a new concept called a Twebinar. The concept was to present an online seminar that encouraged participation and interaction using Twitter. A lot of the discussion revolved around what the point was of integrating Twitter to the mix, instead of just using a regular chat window. But what I was compelled by was the use of video. I was fully expecting to see presenter Chris Brogan giving an hour long talk on his subject, and I would use Twitter as a sort of side conversation. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to see Chris playing the part of roving reporter, running around with a camera crew, talking to a wide variety of media experts about some really cool and interesting stuff. Then he’d pop in on live video in between segments and talk a bit. The Twitter conversations were the backdrop but the use of video stole the show.

The Twebinar was a great example of choosing the right medium to convey the message. When McLuhan talked about the lightbulb, he meant that the lightbulb itself doesn’t contain any content. It’s simply a vehicle that enables content (i.e. provides light that people use to create spaces in what would otherwise be darkness).

Choosing the right vehicle to enable your content is key. The Twebinar could have been approached differently. Chris could have just talked for an hour. He could have just compiled all of the information from his interviews into a blog post or eBook. But it would not have had the same impact. Instead, seeing a live breathing human engaging with other live breathing humans allows us as viewers to feel the energy and passion of the speakers. It connects us to them. And the result? People want to talk about it. They want to explore it. They want to share their own experiences. And that’s where Twitter comes in. See how it all works? It wouldn’t have made sense to tell this story any other way.

Everyone has a story to tell, and social media has burst the art of storytelling wide open. However, the medium you choose to tell that story is critical. The medium serves to set the tone, attract a certain kind of audience, and generate a certain kind of response.

So the next time you come up with your next great story, spend some time figuring out the result you want. Do you want to encourage feedback? Conversation? Do you want immediate results? Determine the best medium to use to tell your story to get your desired results. Only then can you ensure that your message gets across.

Hmmm… I wonder what Marshall McLuhan would have thought about all this social media business, anyway?

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