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Yeah, I know– talking about web ecology one day and then dance music the next. I’m not sure what’s going on with Julien, either… but listen up.
(Thanks Pitchfork, thanks Véro!)
Filed by Julien at 7:19 pm under download, music, trends
2 Comments
(Due credit: I first saw the phrase social currency on Aaron Wall’s blog, SEO Book, which is really worth a visit.)
First, listen to the audio. That’s where the meat is.
I don’t think it’s a secret that, over the past several months, my traffic has increased tremendously, and that my income has been increasingly earned online. So I wanted to take advantage of what I have learned to help others build trust, or social currency, online.
Social currency is the raw essence of relationships. In an economy of abundance (aka, a post scarcity economy) such as the web (aka, “there’s always enough to go around”), none of us are playing a zero-sum game; if I send some visitors to you, it doesn’t mean I’m losing traffic, links, or listeners. In fact, it’s often quite the contrary.
The idea that, once you have placed a significant amount of your reputation and resources online, it is no longer necessary for you to deal in real dollars– that dealing in relationships is now the key to your success.
Honestly, this was a very difficult subject to write about, so I ended up having no choice but to record audio to express it, which I suggest you check out (just click the link to download or listen).
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So what’s the lesson, what’s the point of this post? As I see it, one thing, and one thing only. I invite you, dear reader, to stop thinking in terms of earnings through your blog or podcast– stop thinking about sponsorships, AdSense, or anything else, and start thinking in terms of relationships. I believe the rest will take care of itself.
Other relevant links: Social capital, Post scarcity economy, Google economy, Content as a medium for interaction. Additional: Anji recommends Why Paris Hilton Is Famous.
Filed by Julien at 12:56 am under podcast, trends
18 Comments
We see them every day. We type them in when we comment. Now, this idea for combining captchas with advertising. Loic seems to like it, but personally, I am repulsed by the idea. In fact, let me phrase it as straight up as I can:
Filed by Julien at 11:49 am under trends
6 Comments
Holy crap, this is nuts. Talib Kweli, a conscious rapper best known for his work in Black Star with Mos Def (but also his albums Quality and The Beautiful Struggle), just joined Second Life.
Go read it on his website. This is nuts. Here’s his island.
Filed by Julien at 12:23 am under community, hip hop, trends
1 Comment
Power moves and how to make them.
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Filed by Julien at 4:16 pm under download, hip hop, podcast, political, trends
7 Comments
Ok, I’ve got a podcast coming out with this guy’s music, but I seriously couldn’t wait to get you guys in touch with Howard Lloyd, the Brooklyn emcee who just sent me his Quickie EP. Go check out his site and download the stuff there – and I’ve got a new track from him which I’ll assault you guys with in a bit. Now go friend his ass on MySpace. Peace.
Stephen Levitt of Freakanomics talks today about the difference in viewing habits between blacks and whites in modern day America. There is some subtext in the entry that needs to be discussed:
If this one week of data is a good indicator (and I think it is), there has been a remarkable convergence in television viewing habits. A few years ago almost all the top black shows featured predominately black characters and most were not even on the big four networks. Now, there is almost a perfect match between what blacks and whites are watching and while many of these shows have black characters, none feature a predominately black cast.
He mentions previously that, while Seinfeld was very popular among white viewers, it never hit the top 50 for blacks. What does this homogenization of viewing habits mean?
To make an analogy, it had long been theorized in capoeira, a Brazilian martial art I practice founded in the culture of African slavery, that certain deviations, notably capoeira regional, were no longer truly African in their movements. They incorporated Asian martial arts movements in the 1930s, making the game more outwardly aggressive, with ‘squarer’ attacks in order to ‘whiten’ the art, and therefore attract more middle-class Brazilians to the game (who tended to be paler in skin tone). Guess what? It worked out great. Capoeira is now practiced almost exclusively by white people, and most of those who practice it practice the ‘white’ form of the art.
(See two examples of capoeira play for a demonstration of this: Regional (‘white’), Angola (‘black’).)
The same could perhaps be said of hip hop. Do we feel that hip hop is becoming whiter by appealing to the majority of their audience (aka, white people)? Hip hop has changed a great deal since the 70s. What happened? Does 50 Cent appeal to white listeners, or black ones?
Filed by Julien at 2:12 pm under capoeira, hip hop, trends
1 Comment
I’m fascinated by this interactive drama that Yahoo7 has launched called PS: Trixi. It’s an engaging mix of stories and radio, a veritable JenniCam style site for 2006. Despite this, I have no idea what it is. Clicking on the radio link reveals they are accessible via Firefox, so I don’t know what they’re trying to sell me, aside from maybe a Toyota. Nonetheless, the site has been open in my browser for over 48 hours.
All I know right now is I have an urge to makeover my website into something of its style. I find the thing captivating because it represents everything that a digital personality really should be. Problematically, the people involved are fiction, and the stories are made up. This does not mean, however, that it can’t be done for real.
More to follow…
Filed by Julien at 3:29 pm under podcasting, trends
2 Comments
Je viens de faire une entrevue sur les flashmobs avec Dominic Arpin, qui paraîtra ce soir entre 17h et 18h à TVA. Bienvenue aux nouveaux visiteurs vennant de là et de son blogue; allez voir mon podcast ici sur iTunes, ainsi que quelques un de mes billets et podcasts favoris:
I just did an interview about flashmobs with Dominic Arpin. It will appear on TVA between 5 and 6 PM tonight. In case you’re a new visitor, check out my podcast on iTunes, and here’s a few you might enjoy:
Billets/Posts:
Entrevue avec Philippe Martin
This Fragile Earth
Wants and Needs
Podcasts:
Hip Hop Set #5
Having Sex on a Bicycle
How To Keep Your Kids Off 50 Cent
Filed by Julien at 3:02 pm under flashmobs, trends
1 Comment
eMusic’s service has become the second largest in the world, proving once more that independent, DRM-free music is what more music consumers are looking for. eMusic “sells monthly subscriptions, and those numbers have doubled since December, to 200,000. The company averages downloads of 5 million songs monthly,” as USA Today reported Sunday. The free downloads when you start up must be helping, too.
As for me, I’ll be making slight changes to this blog’s layout in the coming few days, adding a bunch of albums into the sidebar that I’ve been feeling recently. I’ve always felt that some of the music I play is under-represented in terms of airplay – I try to play as much of a variety as possible, and rarely play an artist more than two or three times. So this’ll be a way to remedy that and, whenever possible, I’ll try to link to eMusic – I love that they provide an alternative that basically proves the record industry wrong in terms of what can and cannot be done.
