Fire-Wired Blog

This article was first published by  dmcityview.com When you run down the reasons for being on different social networks, so many are clear as day; Facebook connects you with friends and family, Twitter gives us insight into public discourse, and Pinterest illuminates the creative works of the world. For these and a handful of others, the utility of their site is obvious. However, for every thriving network, there are half a dozen useless sites. Topping the list of trivial online communities is LinkedIn Before you get indignant, I freely admit that I — like 300 million others — have a profile that I occasionally update on LinkedIn. At first blush, the utility of the site makes sense: a network for job seekers and business professionals allowing them to network (in the way your dad and college career counselor champion). Thousands of companies use the site to promote their brand and allow job seekers to follow their career opportunities. The problem is, outside of providing a ...

This article was first published by  dmcityview.com One thing that denotes a city from a major metropolitan area is an extensive mass transit system. While Des Moines’ labor force may worry about our daily “rush minute,” cities like New York and Chicago have to worry about bus and rail schedules, not to mention full-on gridlock. Maybe Des Moines will someday grow large enough to warrant a rail system of some sort, but if a recent rash of ridesharing networks has anything to do with it, it may never be necessary. The real bane of traffic jams worldwide is single-rider vehicles, miles of four-door cars with only the driver’s seat occupied. Hoping to fill those seats with would-be carpoolers, social rideshare networks have popped up, thanks to smartphone applications such as Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. These applications enlist willing drivers to rent their vacant car seats to passengers. Rather than having to choose between braving roadway congestion or the horrors of public transit, ...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com After years of swimming against the tide, I finally broke down and bought a tablet last week. While I still feel they have little value outside of watching videos and surfing the Web, tablets are an extremely convenient way to share multimedia content and cut back on paper use. Outside of practical concerns, one perk of purchasing a tablet is Flipboard, an application that turns virtually any Web content into personalized magazines. It’s no coincidence that tablets are roughly the size of the average magazine, and reading Internet content on them is extremely easy. Flipboard takes both those virtues and turns the Internet into a bottomless pit of reading material, tailored to the reader’s interests. Plus, like the random magazines that drift into our lives, Flipboard is a great way to discover content that sits in the periphery of our interests. Launched in 2010, Flipboard allows mobile device users to search the Web and subscrib...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com How many social networks can one person use? Facebook? Of course. Twitter? Sure. Pinterest? Sounds fun. Google Plus? Maybe. Pheed? What now?               For those not following the trends in social networking, it appears tweens and celebrities are refashioning where it’s cool to share every second of your life. Now, only 4 months old, the social website and app Pheed.com has rocketed to the top of Apple’s Free Apps chart last week and, by all accounts, now has millions of users posting status updates, photos, music, videos and more. What sets Pheed apart from its social predecessors is the ability for users to profit from their content.               For years the business concern about social startups was, how will they make money? MySpace sunk itself by cluttering its site with too many advertisements. Facebook is just now starting to publicly report profit...

Last night I filmed an ISU student event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, "Universities for a Better Iowa." The short and sweet is students from all three major Iowa universities have banded together with the Governor's office and the State Board of Regents to lobby legislators to either increase higher ed spending, stop state funding cuts and/or slow funding cuts. Obviously the preferred action would be the increased funding. There were roughly 300 people attending, mostly made up of students, and over half of them were University of Northern Iowa students. If you know anything about what's been going on at UNI you know they've been dealing with cuts in hard fashion recently . Considering my employer and as a product of a public university - Go Cylones! - I am absolutely on board with their mission. The problem is they are going about it in a very old fashion way; Public events, state tour, lobbying at the state capitol building... These are all smart i...

If you know me outside of the information super highway you know I am no longer a television producer. That's right I quite my job and as of January 9, 2012 I am the Multimedia Specialist for the Iowa State University Foundation. Hooray! The new gig is very similar to what I've done in the past; filming events and putting together videos. The main difference being now my work is used to promote Iowa State and cultivate & steward donors for the University. Of course there are other responsibilities but this is the quick and easy explanation. I wish I had an example of my work to share with you but projects take a little longer to perculate here than a TV station. This post isn't to tell about my new job, no it's more about HOW I got my new job. Like the social media maniac that I am, I'm proud to say I discovered the Foundation's position through Linkedin. That's right I'm one of the 16% of job seekers who found their new gig through th...

Mixed media is king. That is exactly what I've been saying for years and now there's research to back it up. AND OF COURSE! ... the info comes in fun video, behold: This past April when I attended the National Association of Broadcasters convention I sat in on a lot of social media seminars -not so much for the information, but for verification. Every sessions mentioned if you want eyeballs, and loyal web visitors, you need mixed media. What is the #1 media they recommended? Video. If web visitors only spend 48 seconds on your site  how are they gonna remember you? Not from your boring text. Video hooks em. They want to know what you're showcasing. If it's short, they want to rewatch it. If it's long, and interesting enough, they'll share it. And if you're consistent showcasing quality, they'll return over and over and over... These are the bedrock reasons for why when I shoot a video for an organization I push for them to put it on th...

Vacation. There are very few better words in the english language. One of those words higher on the pantheon of awesome is "free." Who doesn't like vacations? Who doesn't like free things? Well how about -brace yourselves- free things on vacation . Oh man, talk about Christmas in May. Well over Memorial day my wife and I were lucky enough to go on a TWO WEEK VACATION up and down the California coast. It was awesome. Saw some family, hit LA, Laguna Beach, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Berkeley, Wine Country, and many more. Now unless you're going to a trade show you probably wouldn't put tech and vacation in the same thought, and my vacation would have been no different except for a pleasant little surprise I stumbled upon in the Russian River Valley portion of Wine Country; Foursquare Specials. Incase you aren't familiar with the platform, Foursquare is a location based review and reward network that uses your phone application. Kind of like a mix ...