Actor and author Stephen Fry has a blog post today about his experience with Twitter. After a recent interview on BBC TV, during which he discussed the microblogging application, the number of Fry’s Twitter Followers surged past 80,000.

Fry sings the praises of Twitter, and its ability to showcase the best things about human interaction: “I love how Twitter confirms …that most humans are kind, curious, knowledgeable, tolerant and funny. The absurd constraints of the 140 character tweet seem oddly to bring out the best in wit, insight and observation.”

As one might expect, though, trying to keep up with your 88,260 followers, and also your 32,000-and-some people you follow, can be a little daunting, says Fry.

So he offers a set of guidelines, which may be helpful not just to the Uber-Followed, but also to schmoes like us, with a paltry thousand followers and followees.

“There are just one or two suggestions I would offer to make life easier,” Fry says. “By no means are these house rules or commandments, the spirit of Twitter should reflect the spirit of the internet which has always been – to some of us at least, one of openness and freedom.”

Fry’s suggestions, dubbed ‘The Fry Standards‘ by one of the post’s adoring commenters, and framed by Fry as “[n]ot a manifesto or rulebook, but perhaps useful, especially to new followers” are these:

1. If you are mystified by a reference, it’s best not immediately to post a “WTF?” “Please explain” tweet, but rather to look back along the timeline (http://twitter.com/stephenfry) or even to use good old Google or your search engine of choice to chase down the reference….

2. I am afraid I cannot respond to any professional/speaking/interview/public appearance requests through Twitter. I would ask you to go through the usual channels if there are any enquiries you want to make. <snip> It’s important to me that Twitter is a friendly, sociable entity <snip>where business and PR are excluded.

3. <snip>….I am absolutely not looking to use Twitter as a market stall. I will mention but not push new ‘products’, just as most Twitterers do and just as we all do when we announce any posting to our websites or blog spaces. For me Twittering is not a commercial or PR activity, it’s a fun and fascinating way to interact with all kinds of people who have so much to say. Since the primary function of Twitter is to answer the question “what you are doing?” my tweets will sometimes, obviously, involve news of publications or openings or events. Just be assured I am not using Twitter to advertise!

4. Please don’t be offended if you Tweet or DM me with a direct question and hear nothing back: as you can imagine it is very easy for me to miss the traffic of tweets. Incidentally, while I like to be DM-ed, public tweeting and replies are the default and preferred way to use the service: save DMs for genuinely private or personal messages. Although I will often myself respond to a public tweet with a private DM, you can choose to reply through either channel.

5. I like to follow as much as be followed, but I am afraid the numbers are getting so high that it is almost impossible to follow each of you individually. <snip> If you ask me and I catch you asking and I am using a Twitter app that allows me to (or a web browser) then I will probably consent and follow you, but don’t be offended if your request passes me by.

On first glance, one could read these “suggestions” as “I’m-Too-Famous-To-Talk-To-You” guidelines. But thinking a little more about it, I’ve changed my mind.

‘The Fry Standards’ (cracks me up to say that, like it’s an established policy, like the Monroe Doctrine or Glasnost or something)…. The Fry Standards are a nice articulation of how many of us Twitter users look at interactions with our followers, and with people we follow.

If you were going to explain how someone’s Twitter experience might be improved, or advise a new user how to get the most out of the application, what Twitter “guidelines” would you spell out?

John Havens, Director of Partnership Marketing & Integration at Blog Talk Radio, has an interesting lineup for his “Tactical Transparency” show, Friday, January 30.  He’ll be talking about “Transparency in Social Media,” plus the specific return-on-investment of his guests’ on- and offline marketing and community work.

Havens’ guests this episode are John Andrews, New/Emerging Media at Wal-Mart; Scott Monty, new media at the Ford Motor Company; and Maggie Fox, CEO of Social Media Group.

In talking with him Wednesday, Havens told me that he’s especially interested in what Wal-Mart is doing with their 11 Moms program, and the social media endeavors Monty is doing with Ford.

In addition, Havens says, “I’m very interested in what drives social media at large brands:
– Do brands think social media campaigns are a must or no?
– What social media applications/campaigns will branded spend money on and how do they justify ROI?
– How are they working to be transparent and authentic to really engage customers and employees?”

Havens is also the author (with Shel Holz) of the book “Tactical Transparency.”

The live show is Friday, January 30th at 4PM Eastern. You can listen here or call in (347) 215-8467 to listen by telephone or ask questions of the panelists.

Video sharing site Openfilm has announced that it will recognize top filmmakers with a $500 reward every month. Openfilm is an online community of independent filmmakers, film schools, festivals and audiences, which launched in July 2008. Ten winners are selected every month, based on various criteria including technical execution, the quality of narrative and acting, the overall popularity and audience feedback.

“Whether [filmmakers] submit their content directly to us or we receive it from one of our film festival or film school partners, we understand the time, effort and passion that went into creating the work. This monthly award is our way of thanking them for their contribution to Openfilm and to support their craft,” said Alan Melikdjanian, Openfilm Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer. “As a filmmaker myself, I know the money will come in handy!”

The prize program is a precursor to the launch of Openfilm’s ad-revenue-sharing program for content providers.

For more information, visit the Openfilm website or email to info [at] openfilm [dot} com.

Veronica Belmont takes a look at the awesome Spykee robot – a mobile, self-recharging, Skype compatible robot that allows you to spy on your home from anywhere in the world using the Internet and Skype’s free video service.

Manufactured by Meccano and sold under the Erector brand, the robot is combination remote spy, home security monitor, mobile VOIP phone, MP3 player and more.

Unfortunately, the Spykee is not available for order yet.

The New York Times reports that YouTube is working with Hollywood talent agency William Morris on a deal that would place the company’s clients into made-for-the-Web productions:

The deal would underscore the ways that distribution models are evolving on the Internet. Already, some actors and other celebrities are creating their own content for the Web, bypassing the often arduous process of developing a program for a television network. The YouTube deal would give William Morris clients an ownership stake in the videos they create for the Web site.

Two people close to the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by their companies to speak publicly about the deal, described the arrangement as YouTube’s most sweeping attempt to date to add professionally produced videos to its Web site, which mostly features amateur videos uploaded by users. The people cautioned that the deal had not been completed. Representatives for YouTube and William Morris declined to comment Wednesday evening.

The agency represents a number of prominent clients, like the actors Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe and the producers J. J. Abrams and Michael Bay.

Key points:

• Hollywood sees YouTube as direct competition, forcing YouTube to go straight to star talent;
• If YouTube can make this work, it will cut many of the people in Hollywood out of the picture;
• This will put the squeeze on smaller video destinations, like Will Farrel’s Funny Or Die!
• Fred’s going to get some serious competition.

While YouTube has to explore all options in order to become profitable, this move is likely to bury user-generated content.

Will this be the death of YouTube as we know it?  Or do you think that people will still be able to rise to fame from their bedroom?

TechMeme has announced that it is officially incorporating Twitter into its process for gathering and publishing news.

According to TechMeme’s Gabe Rivera:

Often there are Techmeme readers aware of great stories that have fallen through the cracks, or are taking too long to appear on Techmeme. So I’ve long wanted to enable news tips, but the question remains: how best to receive them? Though forms or a special email address might work, today we begin by receiving tips over Twitter.

If you’ve been reading Techmeme, you know all about Twitter, which lets you send short messages to other Twitter users who have opted to “follow” you. It’s like blogging but with the immediacy of instant messaging, plus a whole stable of desktop and mobile applications built around the service. While Twitter isn’t as mainstream as Facebook, it’s already mainstream among bloggers and many people ahead of the curve on breaking news.

Techmeme already posts headlines to Twitter, through Twitter accounts Techmeme, which includes only the bigger stories of the day, and TechmemeFH (Techmeme Firehose), which includes every main headline that hits the site (the clear choice for tech news junkies). But until today the tweets have gone one way: from these accounts.

To send a tip to Techmeme, just include “Tip @Techmeme” in your message along with the URL of the news story you’d like to appear.

Tips will be processed through a combination of automated and manual means, and if you were the first person to tip Techmeme about a story url, your Twitter id will be credited on the homepage of Techmeme if the story is posted. The credit will appear beneath the posted headline, after “Discussion” links.

TechMeme is already one of the most interesting hybrids of software and human news gathering and publishing, and TechMeme Tips promises to make Techmeme even more timely.

Watch for a new class of TechMeme Tip superstars to rise up, much as you see on Digg.

Do you think TechMeme Tips will be an important part of the future of newsgathering? Or is this something that only tech geeks will care about?

FluidTunes is a freeware application for Mac OS X that lets you control iTunes through a camera with gestures, using your hands, head or feet:

• Swipe your hand from left to right or right to left over the screen center to scrub.
• Wave quickly at buttons to activate them.
• Without using a keyboard or mouse, you can navigate through your music and play or pause songs.

Check it out in the demo video above. You can find out more information about FluidTunes, or download it, at the FluidTunes site.

via HipYoungThing

Marc Cuban has published a provocative post at his Blog Maverick site, The Great Internet Video Lie.

In it, Cuban argues that new media producers that think that the Internet is democratizing video are suckers that have bought into a big lie:

The Great Internet Video Lie is that the internet opens distribution to compete with the evil gate keepers, cable and satellite.

In reality, if you have a desire to deliver a large number of streams, and you want to compete with another internet video provider to offer a large number of streams, you are not in a very good position. You are at the mercy of 3 or 4 CDNs, the ultimate internet video gatekeepers

The internet is not an open video platform. Video distribution of any scale places you at the mercy of just a very few CDNs. You literally have to compete for timeslots for very large events.

If you have dreams of competing with traditional TV network viewing numbers using the internet, dream on. You cant afford it. You have been sucker punched by the Great Internet Lie.

While there’s a lot of truth to what Cuban says, he’s judging the success of new media by old media metrics.

Much of what makes new media so interesting is that you don’t have to play by the old rules and you can judge your success by your own measures. As a result, there are people that are making from their bedrooms and getting millions of views.

What do you think? Is Marc Cuban right? Is new media for suckers?

Image: halycon

Business Week published an article this morning about “The Pool,” a shared project among advertising agencies and several large media networks, to agree on a standard format for online video ads. The group aims to solve the perceived dilemma of advertisers and networks “tailoring their various ads to a host of different standards, and then come up with a way to measure the effectiveness of a broad range of approaches.”

“Pool” members include mostly big, mostly old, media networks: Yahoo!, Hulu, Discovery, and CBS. Advertising-marketing concern Starcom Media Vest spearheaded the project. Big advertising buyers like insurance giant Allstate, along with Microsoft, Applebees restaurants and credit card purveyor Capital One were brought in to help winnow down the list of thirty types of advertising to a more manageable list of five “most effective” types of spots.

The Pool project began staging viewer panels last week to test the top five ad types. However, research results and ad-format recommendations won’t be disclosed until February 2010.

A year seems an awfully long time to wait before seeing recommendations of the working group, especially in light of the fact that other organizations, the Association for Downloadable Media and the Interactive Advertising Bureau among them, have already researched and recommended standards for advertising units (ad formats/types) and for measuring their reach and effectiveness.

Furthermore, the list of “Pool” participants conspicuously leaves out other major ad and marketing agencies, internet video metrics people like Tubemogul, as well as ignoring established Internet video networks like Revision 3, Wizzard Media, and others.

What are established Internet TV shows on professional Internet video networks already doing in terms of advertising? Take, for instance, Revision 3. Rev3 is an Internet television network and home of popular (and advertiser-supported) Diggnation, a weekly tech/web culture show based on the top digg.com social bookmarking news stories.

I talked with Revision 3 CEO Jim Louderback, right, earlier today about his perspective on, and experience with advertising in online video.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin, Podcasting News: This newly launched research project is looking for the most effective ways of advertising in online video, in order to recommend standard formats and units. You’ve been placing ads in your Internet video shows for years. What sort of ad types does Revision 3 sell to advertisers?

Jim Louderback, CEO Revision 3: We use pre-rolls, overlays and post-rolls, all work to some degree, but the most effective is the in-show sponsorships, and brand integrations that are delivered by our hosts.

Elisabeth Lewin: How do advertisers find your shows? Do you have a sales staff that goes out soliciting advertisers?

Jim Louderback: In general, yes we do have a sales staff that solicits advertisers.

Elisabeth Lewin: What works best for you?

Jim Louderback: We use the in-show sponsorship model because it is both the most cost effective, and the most effective in driving awareness, intent, purchasing and action. For example, 48% of our audience has purchased a product or a service from one of our sponsors.

Elisabeth Lewin: If you could tell prospective advertisers what they need to know about placing ads in online videos, what would you tell them?

Jim Louderback: When you place ads in online media, first take a close look at how the ads are measured.  How do you know how many views you are really getting ?

Second, to really be effective, be prepared to give up control over the message.  An authentic message, delivered by a trusted host in his own words, really does drive results.  But you have to give up a little to get these results.

And finally, match product with audience and show.  This may sound basic, but if you have a choice of scattering across user generated content, or going deep on a show that talks directly to your target, go deep, not broad, for best results.

What would you tell video content producers (and the networks who promote them) about attracting and pleasing advertisers?

For video creators, follow your passions, identify those companies that share those passions, and then show [prospective advertisers] how they can leverage the power of your audience to align their products with your passionate hosts and viewers!

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In a recent blog post, Louderback talks more about advertising in Internet video’s ability to go beyond the “reach and frequency” of ads in traditional tv and print/text, adding a new third dimension of depth:

The text web has been built on CPC.  But the video web is as different from the text web as it is from traditional television.  It’s a new medium and it provides marketers a new weapon in the battle to convert consumers into paying customers and brand ambassadors.  Just as the web gave rise to interactive marketing agencies that built core competence on SEM and CPC marketing, the video web will create a new discipline, and a new way to reach audiences by layering a third dimension onto the Reach and Frequency graph.

The Garage Punk website and Garage Punk Podcast Network are looking for podcasters who would like to help produce the Garage Punk show. Prospective hosts should be experienced podcasters whose shows are already part of the Garage Punk network.

Garage Punk proprietor Jeff Kopp (Kopper) says <excerpted by me>:

I’m going to open the floodgates to anyone out there that thinks they may be able to produce a podcast for us on an ongoing basis (looking for one new show to post every three weeks and possibly another to post less frequently than that). BUT it’s gotta be good.

Looking for someone that can mix things up musically (esp. regarding mixing the cool, timeless old shit with great NEW bands) and deliver it all with excitement, gusto, and some creativity.

We need to hear your personality coming through in both the music you choose to feature as well as your “on-air” delivery. Extra points if you’re Canadian (we’ve lost both of our Canadian shows recently) or Australian (I would LOVE for someone to start doing an all-Aussie/NZ show for us… any takers?).

Kopper, who also produces the Savage Kick podcast explains that the Garage Punk gig is not a paying one, but that the Garage Punk podcast has a “rather large audience with typically over 1,200 daily subscribers and downloads of around 3,000 per episode.”

Interested punk podcasters should submit their current show here. More information about applying to host the Garage Punk podcast is here.