I’m going to be a guest of CJME Morning News on News Talk Radio, Regina, SK this morning. I’ve been invited to talk about my analysis of the digital side of the current Saskatchewan provincial election (see my earlier posts here and here). This post is to make sure I’m talking about the most current [...]
There just isn’t enough space in my brain to make sense of all of my creative projects including those for my clients and my own hobby pursuits. I made that realization during a brainstorming session with Andrea Friday afternoon. We were in a Bridgehead coffee shop coming up with creative ways to help a client [...]
In Collateral damage, a post I published a few weeks ago, I lamented a bleak future for a political system that smears candidates for their online activities, particularly where their activities have been specifically and maliciously spun out of context. This is a serious concern. We’re starting to see the emergence of political candidates who are [...]
Perhaps Jamie Hubley’s death doesn’t have to be in vain. Perhaps Jamie’s gift to us is that we’ll finally move beyond talking about bullying and finally do something to end it. Perhaps he will motivate us to stand up to bullies everywhere whether classmates, colleagues, supervisors, family and even teachers. A movement is beginning to [...]
When I last checked in on the Saskatchewan election just two days after the writ was dropped, Brad Wall was the most mentioned leader and education the most talked about election issue. There are just 10 days left in the campaign. It’s time to see how things are going. All analysis was performed using Sysomos Heartbeat [...]
I had the privilege of joining Dan Robertson and Katie Telford on a panel titled Deconstructing Election Campaigns. It was an event organized by IABC Toronto that took place last night. The discussion was fascinating. I’m constantly reminded how politics provides ample fascinating examples of why digital and traditional methods of engagement and communication need to [...]
Jim Karygiannis was in the news a few weeks ago, promoting the need for speed limiters following a horrific car crash in Toronto believed to be street-racing related. Part of the online attention included a powerful video produced by The Toronto Star which he posted to his YouTube channel. And so, Mr. Karygiannis becomes the subject of [...]
Stephen Hardiman and I launched ReturnOnInfluence.com on February 22, 2007. It was nearly a full year since we’d met at the Corporate Podcasting Summit in San Francisco where we heard Michael Geoghegan share his thoughts on a new concept in ROI. We liked the idea and talked at length about it. Those conversations led to [...]
The TED and TEDx conferences have become synonymous with outside-the-box thinking designed to motivate people to think or act differently. There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with organizing a TED event. Merely taking on the challenge is substantial, though not enough. Success hinges on a lot. I have to admit I had some concerns about [...]
When this photo showed up in my Facebook newsfeed this morning, I decided I have to find a way to work it into my presentations about the use of digital in election campaigns…just have to figure out where it will have its greatest impact.
I’ve completed an initial review of online content, looking at digital activity and trends from the recent Ontario election and have come to a realization. Aside from validating a number of my theories about the role of digital in Canadian politics and providing a few interesting stories and some good case studies, it was a [...]
I wasn’t planning on doing a second digital makeover in the same week. However, this MP has been in the media lately and I figured there was relevance in doing a makeover of this MP now. I’m talking about Labour Minister Lisa Raitt. Ms. Raitt is the MP who had to publicly apologize for referring [...]
With apologies (and thanks) to Arrested Development for the title of the post. After a coffee meeting earlier today, Mark Poirier said he thought he’d heard IOS5 and Apple’s move to SIRI had crippled Dragon Dictation. Shocked, I unlocked my iPhone and called up the app. Admittedly, I haven’t used it in a while. “I’m standing [...]
This is the first in a new series of posts I’m going to publish. In each, I’ll do an assessment of one politician’s web presence. To be clear, each of these posts will examine and make recommendations for the MP to have a greater impact online. I am not going to redesign their websites. In [...]
I’ll be joining Dan Robertson and Katie Telford on a panel called Deconstructing Election Campaigns. This IABC event is taking place Tuesday, October 25, 6-8 p.m. at the Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel in Toronto. The panel is described as follows: In the past 12 months, we have seen municipal, federal and provincial campaigns drive the news agenda. [...]
Oh wow! Whitney Hoffman called me early last month eager to get my opinion of an innovative new children’s book experience. “It’s called The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore,” she said. “I’m really interested in what you think.” Andrea, my wife, and I ran a podcast and blog about children’s books and their creators. We [...]
Yesterday’s post about OC Transpo has attracted a fair bit of attention, citing it as a measure of the already large and growing public relations problem the public transit service faces. I’ve been asked me to highlight some of my “favourite” tweets. Rather than share them, I thought I’d offer something more interesting. A buzzgraph. [...]
This is a banner autumn for political and social media enthusiasts. And Canada thought kindly of us, planning a staged cool down from the hype. After a concentration of provincial and territorial elections this past week, Saskatchewan has arrived to transition us into a life of strong, stable (?), political watching. The writ dropped in Saskatchewan this [...]
I’ll be a guest of Talk Ottawa on Rogers Cable Television for the first time this evening. We’ll be discussion election results, some of the potential problems our political system faces with democratized media and, on an unrelated note, the problems faced by OC Transpo. The Ottawa public bus service seems to be pretending public [...]
As one election wraps up, another gears up. Newfoundlanders will elect their next government today. It’s expected they’ll elect a majority Conservative government – the third in a row and the first, ever, female Premier in the province, Kathy Dunderdale. And, the writ was dropped in Saskatchewan, yesterday. They’ll vote on November 7th, wrapping up [...]
A fantastic essay by Anthony Marco on campaign spin and the bleak future for a political system that scrutinizes digital lifestyles.
It’s Canadian Thanksgiving, today. Which means there are a whole bunch of Canadian social media folk publishing their thank you lists. I find that as sincere as they may all be, the lists very quickly start to look the same — public declarations of love for family and friends. I believe it goes without saying [...]
In his book “Wild Thing”, new-wave-breaking booking agent Ian Copeland recalls Sting’s reluctance for The Police to make the shift from performing in relatively small-large venues to arenas and stadiums. Sting was concerned about losing connection with the audience. It was only when The Police were taken to see Bruce Springsteen perform at Madison Square [...]
Enough is being said today by analysts and the media of the abysmal voter turnout in yesterday’s Ontario election. I don’t know that I can add anything else to the discussion of a broken system and who or what is responsible for the overwhelming endorsement of apathy. The real question is what message are politicians [...]
In honour of Steve Jobs, I bring you one of my all-time favourite, Onion reports, Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard. This Apple fan enjoys the jab.
Online reaction to the G8 draft report leaked during the federal election was quick and decisive. People weren’t happy. Tweets on the issue reached a fever pitch. It seemed like this would be a campaign killer. For about eight hours it was near impossible to follow the flood of tweets. Then we all went to [...]
I’ve done a lot of analysis of the most actively discussed issues as part of the online chatter about the Ontario election. What about some of the lesser talked-about issues? I should clarify that there are certainly issues that received even less online attention during the election than those I’ve identified below. I had to make some [...]
Tim Hudak dominated online mentions (the number of times a leader’s name or Twitter handle was mentioned online during the election) among the leaders of the four major Ontario parties during this election campaign. It’s important to note this analysis doesn’t consider sentiment. That means, without manually assessing the content and tone of each tweet, [...]
It’s election day in Ontario. Which means it’s time to begin looking at the election as a whole. There’s definitely lots of digital analysis that can be done. Rather than throw it all in to a single post, I’m going to issue a few posts over the course of the day. By the way, all [...]
A few weeks ago I put out a call to the leaders of the four major Ontario political parties. I invited each to share what “social media” means to them. I received replies from Dalton McGuinty, Tim Hudak and Mike Schreiner. I never heard from Andrea Horwath. I followed up with each respondent, inviting them [...]
Ontarians go to the polls tomorrow. Which means that I’m making my election night television debut tomorrow night. Sandra Blaikie will be hosting and I’ll be in the studio doing mostly analysis of the role of digital in the election campaign, and some political analysis. We had our production rehearsal this afternoon. This video captures [...]
My Ontario election report cards have been very popular. So, I thought I’d subject myself to a few long nights and some hard core analysis of the use of digital channels by candidates representing the four major parties within the nine ridings of the Ottawa-Carleton region in the 2011 Ontario provincial election. That’s right, 36 candidates. It’s [...]
I was stopped on the sidewalk today by a very kind woman who asked if I’m in “that kids’ TV show.” I was confused until I realized she was talking about Smitty from the Imagination Movers. I first became aware of Smitty when Dave Delaney published Separated at Birth 2: Mark Blevis vs. Imagination Movers [...]
The buzz on Twitter is not particularly good for Tim Hudak and his Ontario PC party. They’ve broken negative sentiment records for this election after Twitter lit up with outrage over the party’s anti-gay flyer. Using Sysomos, I’ve captured and analyzed 750 such tweets issued in the last 24 hours (1,053 in the last 48 [...]
It’s election day in Manitoba. So, Here’s a rundown of the online chatter surrounding that election. All analysis was performed using Sysomos Heartbeat. Twitter leads mainstream media in online conversation about the election There was a healthy conversation about the election on Twitter and Facebook also figures heavily into the election dialog. Mainstream media remains a significant [...]
This American Life‘s Ira Glass is featured in the latest of Search Engine‘s ”Thinking About the Internet” video series. It’s short, simple, and insightful.
As islanders head to the polls, here’s a rundown of the online chatter surrounding the election in PEI. All analysis was performed using Sysomos Heartbeat. Islanders are generally not participants in the online conversation PEI is not as digitally engaged as other provinces. It’s the only province I’ve been tracking in this election season which has more [...]
It seems to me most of us identify with being from a particular city or country. Which means, when I’m asked where I’m from, I typically say Ottawa or Canada. Rarely, if ever, will I ever say I’m from Ontario. Like many, I focus on municipal politics because it affects my immediate environment and federal [...]
I was drawn in to a Twitter conversation about election results a few minutes ago. The dialog was kicked off when one tweeter suggested if the outcome of the Ontario election was determined by which leader had the most “likes” of their Facebook Fan Page, Tim Hudak would win by a large margin. Another noted [...]
