Another Emmy-award-winnning performance by the handsome fat man in today's Daily Idea:

I waxed philosophical about the future of social networking over on SocialMediaExplorer.com. Will we all one day flee Myspace?

Check it out.

J

There's a new post on SocialMediaExplorer.com discussing the problem with a client's timing issues interfering with the appropriate approach to a social media release. Stop by and chime in!

Click here..

I am literally writing this in a knee-length Blackbeard frock jacket over a swashbuckler shirt under a buccaneer hat, my brass nautical telescope before me.

The keyboard looks mighty dirty through this thing.

When Todd Spencer, the CEO of Doe Anderson, the agency for which I work, asked me to take on the role of something he was calling "Interactive Trends Analyst," I told him I would only agree if I could change the title. Social Media Explorer is much more romantic and interesting. Guess the copywriter in me shines through sometimes.

Well, Todd didn't laugh me out of his office, in fact agreed that it sounded attention-getting and ordered my business cards. I then told him it would be a good idea if I could blog about my experiences since he would be sending me to several conferences, putting me out there to find ways to start a conversation, or be invited into one, with consumers about us, our industry and, of course, our clients. Fortunately, he didn't look at me like many CEOs and say, "Blog? Isn't that what they call it when phlegm builds up in your throat and you cough a lot?"

SocialMediaExplorer.com is officially up and running. It will not only feature my own explorations into the worlds of social media, social networking, social bookmarking and all the various and sundry other online experiences, but also insights and opinions about the advertising world in general from my colleagues at Doe Anderson. Todd even posted the first entry on the blog – an "internal" announcement of my new position.

We would be honored if you stop by, subscribe to our feed, bookmark us and so on. And please, join in the conversation. Comment on articles, email our links to interested friends, etc., etc. Exploring social media is my job, but I don't want to do it in a vacuum. Join me.

Good stuff here:

I got an early invite to try a new Facebook application over on that other networking site. I blogged about it at The Straight Pitch. (Click here.)

My agency is involved in the ShareLouisville branding project. The radio commercials hit the airwaves this week. Give them a listen on the Share Louisville website (http://www.sharelouisville.org). Look for the radio spots in the lower center of that front page.

The point of the campaign at this point is to build community awareness and pride in the effort to share the city and all its ammenities with the rest of the world. While the humorous approach as brought some criticism, the target audience (upwardly mobile younger adults ... 25-40) seem to agree the campaign is ballsy, fun and exciting.

Let me know what you think. If you're interested, sign up there to be a Friend of Lou.

I love the community of MySpace. I also love the fact that there are several niche communities within the community. Bloggers are especially clique-ish here, with interesting subsets of communities.

What I'm interesting in finding out is what other social networking, social media, blogging communities and mutlimedia communities you're involved with, why you use them and how often. I've listed all mine below with similar information.

If you're on one of these and haven't friended me yet, please do.

Where to find Jason Falls

Social Networking Sites
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jasonfalls -- Primary personal networking with some professional contacts mixed in there. Log in everyday.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=506404414 -- Close second to MySpace, but mostly professional networking. Everyday.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JasonFalls -- New to the fascination, but enjoy following some thought leader types in my industry. I just try to be funny/entertaining on mine. Everday.

Pownce: http://www.pownce.com/jfallsman/public/ -- File sharing community where you can send MP3 files to friends and not get busted (since they're friends and you're not making the files available to anyone). Share music with a group of about 20 friends or so. Every couple days.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonfalls -- Professional networking popular with paranoid net users since it doesn't have all the messaging and blog functions. It's a place to put your resume and show everyone how connected you are. Couple times a week.

Mash: http://mash.yahoo.com/jfallsman -- Invite only for now, but will go public soon. Yahoo's attempt at creating a MySpace clone. I'm trying it out. Email me if you want to be invited and I'll send one along. I'll need your real email address.

Yuwie: http://www.../profile/?id=74516 -- I got invited last week and signed up. It appears to be Amway on social media. The offer money to blog, friend, recommend, etc. Can't imagine a "community" based on making money alone is going to be popular in today's community-driven web world. I'm not giving up on it, but I'm skeptical.

Social Bookmarking

Del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/JasonFalls -- Where I catalog interesting stuff I read online. A) For quick reference and B) Because some people are interested in what I read (or so I like to think). Everyday.

Reddit: http://reddit.com/user/JasonFalls -- A good way to draw some interest to your blog entries and find other interesting ones to read. I use it to promote my own work and work of others I hope get famous doing this 'net thing. Couple times a week.

Digg: http://www.digg.com/users/JasonFalls -- Same as Reddit. Couple times a week.

StumbleUpon: http://jasonfalls.stumbleupon.com/ -- Same as Reddit. Couple times a week. Although if I'm surfing and just looking for interesting stuff, I'll use the toolbar and randomly go to webpages the service allows me to "Stuble Upon" and vote whether I like it or not.

Multimedia Networking

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JasonFalls -- I vote on others videos. I'll eventually upload my own ... got some ideas churning on some PR/Social Media type interviews. Once a week.

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/people/themarys -- Post pictures of my son and friends of mine and me at ballgames. Originally signed up because everyone else was. I enjoy seeing my friends' photos. I don't use it too often (do my son's photo galleries myself in Photoshop) but will update with a couple shots from time-to-time. Once a month.

Blog Community

Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/people/technorati/JasonFalls/ -- It's the gold standard if you want to see how successful your blog is. I use it and others below as ways of favoriting and visiting others blogs hoping they'll do the same with mine. Everyday.

MyBlogLog: http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/Jason_Falls/ -- Neat way to find similar blogs and blogger. I use it as a way of favoriting and visiting others blogs hoping they'll do the same with mine. 2-3 times per week.

BlogCatalog: http://www.blogcatalog.com/user/JasonFalls -- Like previous, a neat way to find similar blogs and blogger. I use it as a way of favoriting and visiting others blogs hoping they'll do the same with mine. 2-3 times per week

Okay ... where are you, why and how often!

Last week brought about significant changes for me. I was offered an opportunity to interview for a position within my company that would shift my roles and responsibilities and have me working for one of our oldest and most exciting clients. The interview was with the client, who was looking for a unique combination of experiences and abilities in this new role.

I got the job.

My new role at Doe Anderson, one of the nation's oldest (and finest) advertising agencies, is now that of Social Media Explorer. Yep, that's my title. Leave it to the ad business to come up with a John Wayne-y title. I actually suggested it as a joke and my CEO loved it.

What I will be charged with is designing and implementing social media programs -- blogs, MySpace activity, Facebook activity, etc. -- to allow the brands we work with to be represented and a part of this online conversation and community we enjoy. Sounds cool, right? I'm sure it will be. But it will also be a challenge.

My personal theory on social media, in terms of brands, not people, treading those waters, is that it must be done with care and respect for the community. We are not here to be advertised or marketed to. We are here to make friends, connect with like minded people and have a sense of community around our hobbies, professions and other commonalities. A brand or company is welcome to that community, so long as they want to communicate with it, not to it.

Keep in mind that bands or TV shows or even commedians are also brands. How many of them are you "friends" with?

All my theories are nice, but it holds no water without input from the community.

What I would like to know from all of you, and the more the merrier, is how you feel about befriending and communicating with a brand or company in the online world. What's on and off limits? I will be advising clients not just how to do it, but how to do it well.

The only people qualified to help me define that are all of you.

I wrote a little recap (intended to be fun or even funny) about this morning's Google World presentation by Dr. Craig Nevill-Manning, Google Sr. Research Scientist & New York Engineering Director, at IdeaFestival over on MoreThanDerby.com. Here's the permalink:

http://morethanderby.com/?p=591

There's a link there to Ethan Zuckerman's live blog archive, too, in case you want to get all geek-heavy on it.

Enjoy!