Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

Happy Birthday and a Present for You

Day One Hundred Twenty NineSo as I mentioned in my previous post, it’s been pretty quiet around here this week as I’ve eased in to a new project.

So quiet, in fact, that I never realized that this blog’s one-year anniversary had come and gone on September 30.

To be honest, it doesn’t feel like a year. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but it seems only yesterday I decided to go full-on self-hosted blogging as opposed to the Blogger and WordPress.com ones I’d run before. Guess it’s true that time really does fly when you’re having fun. And it sure has been fun so far!

Looking over the archives, the blog’s evolved since the very first post. So here, in no particular order, are some of the highlights of the last 12 months.

Stats and Facts

  • 354 posts (including this one) with 4,598 approved comments so far
  • At time of writing, 3809 subscribers either by RSS feed or email
  • 5 theme design changes, with the most recent moving from Thesis to Headway
  • Google Page Rank of 5 and Alexa Rating of 75,598 (at time of writing)
  • Featured in the AdAge Power 150 list
  • Syndicated through the iEntry, WebProNews, Newstex and Social Media Today networks

While I’m nowhere near the big numbers and lists that other bloggers have or are featured on, I don’t think it’s too bad a start. Besides, numbers are just to keep calculator makers happy. I’m also only too aware and grateful of how big a part you guys have played by visiting, reading and subscribing, so thank you sincerely for continuing to pop by.

Favourites, Funnies and Fights

Of course, a blog’s made up of three main things – posts, readers and comments and there sure has been an eclectic mix of all three over the last 12 months. Again, in no particular order, here are some of my favourites from over the course of the year. Be warned – some comments include fruity language!

  • Favourites. Probably one of my favourite personal posts was Pale Blue Dots. I’m always looking to be inspired and the video inspiration behind this post is a prime example. The same would go for Celebrating the Mountains, I guess, where I suggest we all encourage each other. I’m also really grateful for the conversation that opened up around Virtual Stalking – A Real World Problem. A viewpoint can instigate change and there are some great ones on display in that post. Speaking of viewpoints, the ones that were shared on Are You Abusing Your Social Media Voice? were brilliant, and another reason why companies need to look at the bigger picture in this space.
  • Funnies. Life can be a serious thing – we can be swept up in our work, personal issues, financial worries and more. It’s good to laugh now and again, and Sue Murphy offers that with You Know You’re Not a Social Media Guru When… Back in July, you could also take part in the Social Media Drinking Game (which could get you very drunk, very quick!). There’s also some decidedly obvious bullshit at play when someone says My Gift to You – Hurry, Offer Ends Soon! Be wary of the sales pitch…
  • Fights. I guess a blog isn’t a blog unless there are some scraps along the way, and this one’s no different. One of the first was when I asked Does Twitter Monitor Its Brand? The comments came flying in, and are (I feel) a good example of open comment policy. People have points of view – if you’re going against something, offer supporters of that something to have a voice too. The most recent was my Response to Barbara Talisman’s Misinformed 12for12k Post, which saw an amazing show of community for which I can never say thank you enough.

Combine guest posts from amazingly talented people, interviews about social media, videos, and even a Blog Talk Radio addition, and it’s been an eventful first year to say the least! So, where’s this present for you, I hear you ask?

To celebrate the first year (and hopefully many more), I want to offer a little thank you. As I mentioned, I now use the Headway Theme for my blog. I’d like to buy someone a copy for their blog (note – it has to be self-hosted and on WordPress). Just leave a comment why you’d like Headway for your blog and the best reason gets the theme – simple! I’ll also help you get it up and running on your blog.

I’ll leave this open for a week from today. Additionally, the second best comment will receive a copy of Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents, and the third best comment will receive a copy of Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation.

Thanks for joining me on the ride so far, guys, I really appreciate it, and hope I can keep you coming back for more of what you’d like to read.

Cheers!

Creative Commons License photo credit: Dustin Diaz

Note: This blog no longer runs on the Headway framework. Instead, it’s a custom WordPress design by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer Graphics.

Something New, Something Old

It’s been a little quiet around here the last few days. And, for that matter, on Twitter as well (not so much Facebook, as that’s not one of my more popular haunts). Anyone that knows me will know this isn’t normal fare – I’m usually much more vocal (although the silence may be preferable to some!). The last week or so has been hectic, hence the silence.

Here’s why.

Following some conversations with both Shannon Boudjema and Maritz Canada, I’m really happy to announce that I have accepted the role of Social Media Strategist for Maritz. This is an in-house project (contracted) for the next six months, and will see me help lead Maritz Canada forward into the social space, as well as help with client strategies and campaigns.

The role was held by Shannon, but she’s moving back to the UK for family reasons. Shannon’s been key in developing how the next six months will look as well as helping to put in place in-house set-ups to make the transition as smooth as possible. I can’t thank Shannon enough for all her help here.

So, what does that mean here? Not much, to be honest. I’ll still continue to write about the topics I feel can help you gain the most benefit from the space, whether that’s tools, platforms or, most importantly, people. I may add in the occasional example from my new gig, if it’s relevant and acceptable to the companies involved.

I guess the main change is updating some bio/disclosure information and ensuring there are no conflicts of interest. But that’s a given anyway, so hopefully it won’t come up too often.

Anyways… now that I’m settling into the role and the crazy hectic days of early role changeover is becoming less manic, expect to see me back prowling an online corridor near you. I hope we can continue to learn together and here’s to some fun and interesting times ahead.

Get the Gist About Your Most Important Contacts

For anyone that struggles with managing contacts, new online service?Gist may be just the thing you’ve been looking for.

Working out of Seattle, Gist is a new start-up that takes the hassle out of connecting your online dots. It collates all your contacts – email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more – into an easy-to-manage web portal that then gives you a whole ton of features to prioritize which ones you keep track of.

What makes Gist interesting is the pedigree behind the company. Engineers from companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Jobster, Infospace and more are the key minds behind Gist, and this shows with the sheer weight of information available to you once you sign up. It’s also incredibly user-friendly – another sign of the expertise putting the show together.

So what’s Gist all about?

From the company’s own description, Gist works by “connecting your inbox to the web.” So basically, anywhere you have an online contact, Gist transfers them to one point of contact to help you manage them better. Once you set up an account, you can then import your connections from the following services:

  • Email services Outlook and Gmail (with the option of importing others via IMAP)
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Salesforce

You can also upload Excel or csv files as well (so, Yahoo Mail contacts for example). Basically, your most useful social connections and email contacts are covered.

Once uploaded, you’re then offered a dashboard area which is where the real fun begins. Depending on the accounts you’ve linked to Gist, you can then see the latest blog posts, tweets, news and more about and from every contact in your list in the What’s New section. It’s like an RSS feed on steroids, and gives you an incredible amount of information.?There’s also a Google Search box open, so any information you need on a contact or connection is right in front of you.

The admin area is where Gist’s potential shines through. There are three sections – Dashboard, People and Companies. In the Dashboard area, you can tick boxes to check people, companies, blogs, tweets and news from the last 24 hours up to 90 days old. In the People section, you can see when you last contacted someone as well as the date of the most recent article about them. The Companies section offers pretty much the same as the People one, but ties them all under their respective corporate roofs.

The benefit of all this information is clear:

  • Get the most up-to-date information about a sales lead before a meeting or call
  • Send a solution to a problem as it’s mentioned, building your connection to that person or company
  • Expand your connections via shared contacts
  • Jump in to defuse situations and respond to both positive and negative feedback as soon as it happens
  • Keep in contact with your connections, customers and clients on a more regular basis, strengthening the relationship

Gist combines these features with the ability to prioritize which contacts are more important via a slider option where you can increase or decrease relevancy.

It’s clear to see that Gist has come out of the gates flying. The guys behind the company have realized that not everyone is a great project manager and that having an all-in-one solution to some of that is an attractive proposition.

The service isn’t quite perfect yet – it could offer more social networks, for instance, and I noticed some duplication of contacts from the same list when uploading. However, these are minor quibbles in a service that is still in open beta at the minute. As a first run, Gist is already looking like it could be one of my most used tools for connecting people, both personally and to each other.

Check out what founder and CEO T.A. McCann has to say, then have a look at Gist yourself. I’d love to know what you think of it.