As the video’s description states, we should actually not make fun of Bryant and Katie. The Internet was so new to all of us at the time. In 1994, I had just started using email, and probably didn’t visit a website until late 1995 or 1996? Anyway, enjoy this previously unaired Today Show blast from the past.

“What is the Internet, anyway?”

ESPN reports that the team did get approval from the NLL before making the jersey change. Here’s the NLL’s story on the game, which didn’t mention the jersey change much save for the opening line. Here’s a better story from the Toronto Star. Looks like the jerseys were auctioned off for the American Cancer Society, raising over $13,000.

I wish this had been my idea!

Gary Vaynerchuk tweeted and Facebooked about his first live appearance on Spreecast, a social video platform similar to Ustream. He used to hold Ustream chats and was excited to reconnect with fans. During the live Spreecast, he said that he’s been advising the firm, and this became obvious as he struggled to get the service to work. Spreecast hustled.

When I first jumped on, I couldn’t log in, couldn’t hear Gary, and couldn’t type anything in the chat window. Apparently no one had sound. At 7pm EST, Spreecast called Gary’s mobile to help him work out the problem. With their help, he got it working and almost 200 people joined the get-together.

Gary then brought me on to chat, and we were experiencing echoes. We weren’t sure how to fix it, and Spreecast again called (pic below). After they told him that I needed headphones to make the audio work, he gave me the royal boot. I made a sad face.

Once the technology was worked out, it was a pretty cool platform. It is possible that they would not (be able to) provide the same personal customer service to lesser-known users, but I was nonetheless impressed. Not long after the Spreecast ended, I received an email that said “This Spreecast has been archived and is ready for viewing.” I was then able to not only embed it below, but grab the screenshots you see above (I wasn’t fast enough when we were on live.)

I look forward to holding my own Spreecast sometime soon.

I know there are various versions of this floating around the web. I like this one because:

1. It involves donuts.
2. It includes newer sites like Pinterest and Instagram
3. The G+ one is funny and unfortunately true (I’m still rooting for you Google+!)

Source: Three Ships Media. I originally received it via a Falk Harrison coworker’s email.

Fact: You guys collectively make me smarter. You’re my crazy think tank / insights generator. So… thank you.

— Olivier Blanchard (@thebrandbuilder) January 27, 2012

Playing the role of Internet DJ, here are four great blog posts worth reading.

1.) Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says that social media is a bright spot in the challenged world economy. “This is about growth, jobs and empowering people.” App makers, advertisers, small businesses and civic groups are all using Facebook to promote their work and connect with people. And Facebook is the number two driver of web traffic (guess who’s #1).

2.) Author and friend John Morgan offers 10 reasons we won’t support your business. So much of it seems like common sense, but alas, it is not. See numbers 2, 7 and 10.

3.) Mitch Joel is thinking smarter. He asks us to think about where our learning is taking place. The digital generation (which I just barely squeaked into!) is learning on their iPhones and iPads. As Joel writes, “Every day, new content comes online that can and will make you smarter.” For example, if you want to know how to start a t-shirt company, you can ask me “How did you start your t-shirt company?” Or you can thoroughly research the subject via Google and ask me the very specific left-over questions you have. Technology has made it possible to “set your own curriculum,” Joel says. Do that!

4.) Chris Brogan gives a fantastic list: 97 Ideas for Building a Valuable Platform. I read this from a personal branding perspective. Your personal brand is being more heavily weighted by employers every day. There will come a day (we’re close) when CPA firms will hire junior auditors and consider their social graph when doing so. If I’m hiring, I want to know about your valuable platform and how you plan on using it to help me advance my business agenda. It’s less about being a clock-watching cog in the wheel and more about being a team member. For me, this piece is another “Beethoven’s 9th Symphony” post from Brogan. Read it twice.

I was talking with Jason Williams at lunch and told him my litmus test for Google+: I want to be able to say something meaningful on Google+ and get some kind of response within 5 minutes. Either a reply comment or a +1 would do. I can get that on Facebook. I can certainly get that on Twitter. I was getting that on Google+ when it debuted, because we were all on Google+ trying it out. Daily social media users are not sufficiently using Google+.

REALLY AWESOME POSTSCRIPT
After completing my blog post, Marc Brooks brought this doozy to my attention (sorry, ignore the repeat of the image above):

@RizzoTees … that’s nothing… how abut 924K > 794 for the VW Star Wars Invite twitter.com/IDisposable/st…

— Marc Brooks (@IDisposable) January 19, 2012

Yes, as of his screen capture, 924,000 people had Facebook liked the VW Star Wars Super Bowl invite, and 794 had +1′ed it. That’s over 116,000% more Facebook likes than +1′s. Google Hangouts are quite amazing, integration of Google+ in search results is neat, but these numbers are surely causing consternation at Google.

I am also chuffed that our Save Pratzel’s campaign was nominated for “Best Use of Social Media for a Civic Campaign.” Falk Harrison won a BMA-TAM award for this work, and we’d be thrilled to be honored again.

Congratulations to all the finalists. We are up against some stiff competition. I am hoping and praying that the winners receive supercool circuit board sculptures like last year!

Several things of note:

1. Sorry for all the background noise. It was loud in City Coffee, and since I was a little self-conscious about doing a video, I didn’t speak loud enough.

2. Sorry for the up close shot. I suppose my forehead IS that big.

I am celebrating two anniversaries today – one traditional, and one less so. I started at Falk Harrison one year ago today. Thank you for keeping me on board for an entire year! I am so happy to be here and hope to get even more done in year two.

And thank you to David Siteman Garland, otherwise known as The Rise To The Top. Two years ago today, I met David for coffee, and he said something to me that changed the direction of my career. We were talking about social media, thought leadership, his career, etc., and I expressed a hesitance to offer my advice and expertise on the subject of social media. I was still a CPA at the time, living in secret at my old CFO job. I told him that I didn’t feel qualified to offer advice, because I had not accomplished anything yet – had not “hit the big time” or whatever. Because of that, I wondered why anyone would listen to me. David said, “Chris, who cares? You know your business, you know about social, so there’s no time like the present. Start sharing now. People will want to hear from you.”

From that moment on, I thought of myself in a different way. He convinced me that there was no perfect point in the future, with “X” amount of success achieved, to begin blogging and giving speeches and offering advice. Since then I’ve done almost 200 blog posts and have not looked back.

David, thank you for the advice. And Falk Harrison, thank you for the job.

P.S. The video below was shot exactly one year ago. I looked a bit different back then!

Amazon affiliate links to each book:

The Art of Client Service: 58 Things Every Advertising & Marketing Professional Should Know, Revised and Updated Edition

The Thank You Economy

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose