Project Rethink

Chris Brogan wrote a great post today entitled “You’re Doing it Wrong”.  This fit so well with a post I had drafted last night I decided to turn it into a follow-up post.

Spend 5 minutes on Twitter and you are bound to find an expert, guru, or maven in just about any field; especially social media, marketing, and SEO.

Look at the list Chris put together and you’ll notice a common theme.  Rapid expansion and aggressive marketing is not the secret behind social media.

Social media is not the place for instant celebrity.

But even if you’re not doing it wrong, sometimes it feels like thinks aren’t working. Why?

There are 2 key principles to social media. Two reasons why people often start out doing things right, but end up doing things wrong:

1. Patience, slow growth wins over aggressive expansion
   
2. Build relationships along the way, interact and engage

We don’t like to wait.  The catch-22 of Twitter is it’s speed.  It’s tempting to join a network like Twitter and follow everyone under the sun because it’s easy and that feels like success.  But even if you pick up 500 or 600 auto-follow’s or a few polite follow-backs, you’ll quickly find you’re not the success you think you are.

Social media works because people talk to each other.  Aggressive expansion only results in one-way communication; and that will get you nowhere. 

There are a lot of really good posts about Twitter.  I’m sure you’ve read them, but if you haven’t this is a good starter list: (please add in the comments below more great posts on Twitter and social media)

• Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan): Newbies Guide to Twitter, 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
• Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki): How to Use Twitter as a Twool
• Laura Fitton (@pistachio): Getting Started on Twitter

My latest read was Remix by Lawrence Lessig.  Simply put this book describes an “hybrid” economy where commercial and non-commercial business models co-exist and actually thrive off one another.  When a need surfaces, commercial entities create a means, communities build the content and both benefit from the solution.  The commercial entities often see a return on their investment, while communities continue to grow and benefit from the other value created by content.  Lessig argues that these communities create culture though original works and through the remix of works created by others; essentially adding to the value created by others.  He challenges modern-day copyright and intellectual property right laws, and presents a strong case.

Argue as you might, this book is backed with all of the supporting evidence one would come to expect from a distinguished law professor.  I’ve read much of Lessig’s work, and I must admit I agreed with his premise going into the book; but there is an interesting dynamic in how he presents his case.  This book is hardly theoretical, many of the examples he uses (Flickr, Youtube, Redhat) are all working  examples of everything he presents.

Lessig’s argument is not that these entities can exist, but that they should continue to exist and should be encouraged in the years to come.

Remix Reviews

Based on the nature of the book, I thought it appropriate to bring some reviews by other critics

Lessig’s proposals for revising copyright are compelling, because they rethink intellectual-property rights without abandoning them.

Briefly Noted, The New Yorker.

“A public intellectual of zealous spirit, a skilful polemicist engaged in the discourse of law, politics and the worldwide web – Lawrence Lessig is a prophet for the internet age.”

Lewis Jones, The sharing generation, in the Financial Times.

“It is not easy having a calm conversation about media these days. … The most potent bombs have been thrown by Lawrence Lessig, a law professor, litigator, and author.”

L. Gordon Crovitz, Remix by Lawrence Lessig, in Commentary.

Lawrence Lessig on The Colbert Report, January 8th 2009.

The Bottom Line

There are people who agree with this book and people who don’t; I just happen to be one of those people who does agree with this book.  But it might not be the reason you expect.  Lessig presents an excellent argument for the hybrid economy, but the most compelling evidence to date is the world around us.  

Look at the “breakout” companies of the last 10-15 years. Google, Youtube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter; all centered around the idea that the community adds value.  Lessig quotes a gentleman in his book, and I apologize I could not find the reference (if someone finds it please comment below) who says, “20 years from now this won’t even be an issue”.  His point was simply that, 20-30 years from now the managers choosing the projects, the venture capitalists signing the checks, and the CEOs driving major corporations are going to be people who were born this digital world of remix.  The companies won’t be breakout companies forever. They thrive on community created culture.

If the Google’s and Facebook’s of the world are in fact “breakout” companies and startups, their CEOs are merely breaking out from a pack of likeminded individuals, who 20-30 years from now will catch up and hybrid will become the norm.

Remix Links

This week RC Concepcion gave Project Rethink a shout-out on Layers TV. I’m a big fan of Layers TV, so it was a pleasant surprise. The connection was made through twitter, I just happened to be tweeting while they were recording their latest episode (you can watch it here).  RC asked, I responded.

It’s no secret I am a Photoshop nut. I love everything about digital media and spend much of my day in various Adobe products. 

This has little to do with innovation, it’s just to have a little fun. So in celebration of Layers TV, here are 5 simple steps to the perfect photoshopped Santa hat avatar.

Step 1: Find a good Santa Hat

If you’re looking for quality stock photos, check out istockphoto.com or sxc.hu. This Santa hat is from Stock Exchange.

Step 2: Isolate the hat, quick selection

Open your Santa hat in Photoshop to mask out the background. There are many ways you could remove the background of the hat; however for this purpose I’m just going to use the quick selection tool. Simply paint around the outside of your hat with the brush to select.

Your selection will most likely bleed into hat while you paint along the outside–no worries, that’s normal. Simply hold down the option key on a mac, or alt key on windows, and  the center of your brush will turn to a ( – ) symbol.  This will allow you to paint over the areas you have already selected and deselect them.

Adjust your brush size as needed to fine tune your selection, this may take some practice. When you are finished, your hat should look something like this.

Step 3: Free Transform

If you haven’t done so already, double click the background layer (in your layers pallet) of your Santa hat to turn it into a normal layer, this will allow us to remove the background from the selection we just made.  Once your Santa hat is a layer, simply hit the delete key to remove the background.

Open up your target image and drag the newly isolated Santa hat layer.  The first thing you want to do is free transform the hat to a realistic position.  You can do this by hitting Command + T on a mac, or Control + T on a PC; or by choosing Edit > Free Transform.

By setting your width to -100%, you can flip the image along the vertical axis (or just drag the controls from one side to the other). Also, by holding down the command key you can independently skew the corners.  Position the hat so that it is in a realistic position. Don’t be afraid to rotate or skew the hat as needed.  For more advanced transformations, you might try Liquify tool (Filter > Liquify) or the warp tool.

Step 4: Levels, Gradient Overlay

If you are trying to photoshop two images together, be it a Santa hat or adding yourself to a photo, one of the most important (and easiest) steps is your levels panel. It will be very obvious that your pictures don’t have the same lighting conditions, so take the time do do this quick and simple step.

With the Santa hat layer selected hit Command + L, or choose Image > Adjustments > Levels.  This will open up your levels panel.  Your goal here is to match the levels of your hat to the levels of your photo. Since my photo is darker, I am going to move both the left and middle slider to the right.  This will deepen my reds and increase my shadows.  You can decrease the highlights by lowering the white output level.

Finally you’ll want to add a gradient overlay to add depth to your lighting conditions.  Looking at my picture, I can see the my face gets darker top to bottom.  A low opacity gradient overlay set to multiply does the trick nicely.  I also added a subtle drop shadow, inner shadow, and inner glow to help blend my picture to the background. Experiment and have fun with it.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

You can add snow, text, antlers or a beard–go nuts. Just be sure to have fun.   

I want to thank RC and Corey over at Layers TV.  I watch you guys every week, you’re great. Both of you are on my list of people I’d like to meet someday, looking forward to PSW in Boston this year. The same goes for Matt, Dave, and of course Scott Kelby (The Photoshop Guys).  I am a bigger nerd because of you guys.

Like I said, this blog entry was the result of a few tweets.  Here are some good photoshop people you should follow on twitter, as well as some good links. If I miss anyone, please don’t hesitate comment, email, or twitter me @shawnwelch.

Below are the results from my survey, “How do you use Twitter?”.  You can download the raw survey data here. I didn’t have time to correlate all the data, but if someone wants to take the raw data and correlate how “new” twitter users use the system vs “old” twitter users, I think that would provide some additional insights.

Results:

To follow people I know personally
No   Yes	1 - No 29 11% 2   13 5% 3   32 12% 4   11 4% 5   20 8% 6   16 6% 7   25 9% 8   29 11% 9   8 3% 10 - Yes 83 31%

To follow people I respect in the blogosphere
No   Yes	1 - No 5 2% 2   6 2% 3   3 1% 4   2 1% 5   12 5% 6   13 5% 7   31 12% 8   51 19% 9   33 12% 10 - Yes 110 41%

For social media, to connect and interact with people of similar interests
No   Yes	1 - No 13 5% 2   10 4% 3   8 3% 4   10 4% 5   13 5% 6   16 6% 7   32 12% 8   56 21% 9   34 13% 10 - Yes 74 28%

To broadcast or promote my latest work
No   Yes	1 - No 28 11% 2   23 9% 3   19 7% 4   13 5% 5   40 15% 6   23 9% 7   29 11% 8   30 11% 9   19 7% 10 - Yes 42 16%

I use twitter to follow political news
No   Yes	1 - No 74 28% 2   30 11% 3   33 12% 4   15 6% 5   23 9% 6   26 10% 7   20 8% 8   24 9% 9   6 2% 10 - Yes 15 6%

I am more likely to follow people in my geographical area
No   Yes	1 - No 77 29% 2   30 11% 3   30 11% 4   11 4% 5   32 12% 6   24 9% 7   18 7% 8   20 8% 9   9 3% 10 - Yes 15 6%

I use twitter search to find people of similar interest
	Yes   172 65% No   94 35%

I use twitter grading services
	Yes   82 31% No   184 69%

I’m new to twitter
Nope, I’ve been here a while.   Yes, I am new	1 - No 67 25% 2   27 10% 3   41 15% 4   26 10% 5   28 11% 6   19 7% 7   15 6% 8   26 10% 9   9 3% 10 - Yes 8 3%

Thank you to everyone who participated. If you would like to download the raw data of this survey, click here.

Again, thank you everyone.

@tiffanystrobel, @josephrueter, @vanina, @ignaciosilva, @iKangaroo, @pmcwaterrock, @blissink, @olexa17, @juicecowboy, @erinely, @LaniAR, @sapslabs, @kittell, @andyconley, @franpro, @davidedicillo, @steaner, @dormbuys, @RPMurphy, @vegasgeek, @rachem, @corey_smith, @stagewmn, @pgsvensk, @thorrenkoopmans, @AlbertMaruggi, @obilon, @johnflurry, @MissLynn13, @jborow, @blahgirls, @Angelita27, @alexlefley, @bruway63, @BritishFemaleVO, @pubkevin, @Islandidea, @kursaaltom, @gdruckman, @jake_brewer, @Mizlb, @dvirreznik, @zingaro25, @amazinggreis, @Military_Mama, @jonathanbentz, @ThePacha, @aprildunford, @friskygeek, @tmansi, @beerwars, @beelarge, @prstini, @debrouillard, @terr93, @robpaller, @arunmenon, @martim, @charlottecarey, @agentjason, @thinkerdog, @ddiament, @CompanyConvos, @Othella, @alecorreo, @motherpucker, @artofthespa, @karagines, @drwright1, @dhempe, @anilalur, @batwood, @eperry, @windo, @rlacis, @dan_patterson, @yellowstoneshel, @Chookooloonks, @r0guewarri0r, @bennewton999, @snachodog, @foo, @evakl, @FabianPattberg, @misskatiemo, @sbarton1220, @maczter, @CMPR, @prmaria, @sndrspk, @fredkzk, @kariquaas, @immunity, @tyronem, @m3mo, @yoopertechgeek, @chroma, @paulhorne, @alexnautilus, @GlobalBasecamps, @jeremy_hayes, @sparktmarketing, @hkremer, @jhaubein, @knightsicre, @snazzydee, @joeharper, @LizzyVal, , @kyegrace, @alexanderf, @glossyveneer, @sambasel, @kitson, @jenharris09, @guitarlawyer, @ktatfohboh, @andymurd, @lee, @aquaski, @typegirl, @604homesguy, @twochairs, @gaganjain, @bdecker, @amoxcalli, @AntwonDavis, @backpacktobuggy, @luiscabrera, @karthikg, @scottadamson, @jeppeskjerning, @JohnMangan, @ericherman, @mparks, @lisacolton, @zztype, @mcurie, @johnhaydon, @JavaVoodoo, @palehorse, @bgswanson, @janowski, @songguy, @Peter_Richards, @leetorrens, @mbleigh, @mothermusings, @FranMagbual, @ivarsmas, @DaniBevins, @sgdean, @amcreynolds, @johnnyhalife, @BlogKingGuy, @tsuvik, @silvina_g, @djwaldow, @covati, @lauterhaus, @dimplemonkey, @Jazze, @saalon, @MikeMueller, @ccl1111, @silvapedro, @ellieeille, @JayOatway, @suziecheel, @anna_mcg, @loothi

Thank you for clicking even though you were asked not to! As many of you know I am very interested in all aspects of the modern web, in this case why people click.

If you would like to link to this entry, I ask that you tell your readers not to click on the link and then link them here:
http://www.projectrethink.org/2008/10/23/do-not-click-on-this-link

If you’re a twitter user, you can just retweet the link:
RT @shawnwelch: Do not click on this link: http://is.gd/4Ez2

Thanks for your help,

-Shawn

*As always, the results of this survey will be posted at projectrethink.org