It’s been a long time of yearning to video blog.  So here we go!

Please leave your comments and questions below!

Yesterday, I watched/listened to a fantastic discussion on Privacy & Publicness from Supernova 2010 featuring danah boyd and Jeff Jarvis.  It was a casual and very informative conversation about an important social issue, with powerful consequences on how we decide to live.

What Is Privacy?

If there’s a buzzword out there, it’s privacy.  Both Boyd and Jarvis agreed that “privacy” doesn’t have a concrete definition.  There’s no consensus yet on what “privacy” means when one is talking about Internet activity.  Now, that’s a problem — not having a consensus on the definition.  However, there is a great opportunity here.  Now we can have the much-needed social and cultural conversation about what “privacy” means to people when they’re carrying on their lives online.

Boyd explained that “privacy” as she’s discovered through her research, seems to comprise three general spheres for people.  One privacy sphere is security.  Privacy depends on a system and the promises made to people who use the system.  Another privacy sphere is identifiability — all that data that is collected about us when we do anything electronic.  The last sphere is “personally embarrassing information” — the things that one doesn’t want others to see or know.

I like Boyd’s description of these different meanings for privacy because, well, it shows that the elements of privacy depend on expectations in different spheres.  What’s the information that a person wants to protect?  How does the information flow into the world?  Those are the questions that may influence the decision about what kind of online and/or electronic interactions in which a person may choose to participate.  What is at stake?  The answers to such questions will determine what privacy is going to mean to different people, about different information, and in different forms.

Jarvis examines privacy as a legal concept.  The privacy concept grows from a fearful response to the unknown, which is new technology in this case.  People start hollering about privacy when they don’t know what is going to happen to information about them or created by them or created for them.  People want to control what is revealed.  When a technology appears that challenges this control, lawmakers can act irrationally and against the public interest, even when the lawmakers believe they are acting in the public’s best interest.

What Is Publicness?

I had never heard this word before listening to this discussion.  (It’s as if they had to make it up because “publicity” was already taken, and has so much attached to it anyways [press, marketing, TMZ.])  I would define publicness as a status or a position in which information and data are available and accessible instead of hidden.  Publicness is the default option for people who believe (complete) transparency should be the default.

Now, that sounds a little scary to me.  Jarvis, however, described publicness in a way that is more well-reasoned and nuanced than by others who claim almost everything should be shared and available to anyone who wants to see it.  Jarvis explained that the increased emphasis on privacy would actually harm the public because privacy reduces the size of the public sphere.  Privacy reduces the quantity, and maybe even the quality, of public goods available.

Jarvis believes publicness provides benefits to society.  His examples include public spaces, public/social education on cultural issues, and the public domain (in a non-copyright sense.  Although, it still works in a copyright sense.)  He advocates transparency as the default position because it protects the public generally, whether through the accountability of governments or corporations or through the “theory of mutually assured humiliation.”

Now, I agree that transparency should be the default with some institutions, but I don’t think that will work for individuals.  Consequences for an individual seem so much heavier than consequences for government and corporations, which are protected in ways that an individual isn’t.  (Basic example — physical violence).  Corporations and governments are only as powerful as we legally allow them to be.  We can create them, so we can demand that they be transparent.  The same is not true for individuals.

A very thoughtful example that Jarvis gave of an irrational government/legal reaction to technology was Germany’s issues with Google Maps’ Street View.  German legal authorities stopped Google from taking pictures of buildings, and even I thought that maybe that was a good thing.  But Jarvis made an excellent point: the government was telling people who could take pictures of buildings on the street, things that didn’t have intellectual property protection, things that we can all see with our own eyes.  Right now, they’re foiling Google in what they believe is society’s privacy interest.  Would they foil the citizenry next in what they believe is society’s privacy interest by telling people that they can’t take pictures of things they can see with their own eyes?  What an excellent example of the shrinking public sphere.

Failed Expectations

Of course, Facebook’s privacy settings were a topic in this talk.  The controversy, according to Boyd, arose when people’s expectations did not gel with reality.  People believed that only their friends, within the Facebook community, could see what they were sharing, even though a little examination of their settings and Facebook’s stated policies would have indicated otherwise.  People had notice, and they still got mad.

Once expectations and reality clash, then the privacy policy fails, even if it is explicitly posted somewhere.  I agree, because in this country the customer is always right.  Business has to respond and adapt, and Facebook did.One could argue that just by putting things on the Internet, that any person’s expectation of privacy is simple-minded.  I wouldn’t completely disagree, but Facebook presents itself as a network of friends, and there is privacy among friends.  One could also argue that Facebook is hypocritical because the Facebook public is not the general public.  People have to be members; if Facebook advocates sharing everything with everyone and widespread sharing and transparency, then why the membership requirement?  It’s an issue of the public vs. a public.

So What Now?

We demand a lot from our online experiences.  We want control over our information, our original content, our thoughts, and our reputations.  We want control over who can access this information.  We want safe online spaces to share information with select people.  We want to avoid crime and humiliation.  We want to learn.  We want to protect.

Perhaps we are demanding too much when it comes to privacy and the Internet.  Maybe we’re trying to have it both ways — putting personal/private goods into a very public arena and expecting those things to stay personal.  The privacy discussion is where we can really figure out what realistic responsibilities and expectations are.

Start with this talk.

Since Facebook’s colossal milestone of 500m users, there has been a quite positive shift in the sentiment.  People have been very doubtful of the social network, however their loyalty is uncanny.

Too many people think that Facebook is not an important place to promote business, other than having a page where people can “Like” a business.  I beg to differ. (And that’s a blog post for the future.)  In the meantime I would love to provide you with some simple tactics that will increase the awareness of and engagement with your brand through Facebook.

• Create a survey with PollDaddy.com
• Engage with recent customers on Facebook page or group
• Create simple and engaging social ads.
• Develop a Facebook application that is relevant to your community
• Analyze fan data to see a correlation or pattern between individuals
• Join similar groups and fan pages and engage with those communities
• Search wall-posts for key words to hyper-target conversations

Do you have any examples of tactics that work on Facebook?  Please let us know in the comments.

• As much as I love the innumerable ways we can use technology to solve problems, I hate the innumerable ways that technology causes problems.
• I don’t want an iPad. I want a Kindle.
• The Google/Bing thing — is the world on its head, or is it just me? When did MSFT become the upstart?
• Texting gets on my nerves, unless I’m doing it through Gmail’s SMS/Chat feature (See Gmail Labs.)
• Nothing keeps me anchored to the world like my mobile device.
• Smartphone. Stupidme.
• There are places in the world where people do most of their social networking through text messages.
• Aren’t you totally sick and tired of the word “app?” Don’t you wish we had come up with something cooler?
• Brand loyalty makes certain people buy a certain expensive phone that requires an expensive data plan and runs on an unreliable network. Note that.
• I like being limited to 140 characters. I like Twitter more than Facebook.
• Isn’t “DailyBooth” the sketchiest name for a picture website?
• I really like this product called Glass, but I am not sure they’re gonna make it if only Firefox users can experience it.
• Does anyone remember what she used to do before the Internet came along?
• I want an electric typewriter, and I want to take it out with me to coffee shops. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?
• We need more of the older generation to be using the Internet and mobile technology. Stop touting how a product is easy enough for a kid to use and start touting how a product is easy enough for grandparents to use. That’s a victory.
• Cell phone quality is so mediocre. They’re overpriced and don’t last. Funk that.
• Even with Facebook & Twitter, I still don’t know what the hell my friends are doing. Maybe it’s because I only go to my page. (So vain.)
• I have an Android phone, and I use a PC, and I am very happy with that. Everything Apple costs too much.
• If you keep your wireless earpiece in when you’re not on the phone, I’m allowed to punch you in the ear.
• We don’t talk enough about Digital Divide issues in the US. Internet access and/or broadband access can make a serious difference in people’s lives.
• Foursquare is so cool. Gowalla is cluttered.
• Virtual commerce is a huge business. If anyone out there wants to pay me for giving her nothing, I am all in. I WILL GLADLY SELL YOU NOTHING!
• I love citizen journalism, and I thank social media for speeding along its development.
• Blog posters, please write intelligently. I beg you. Don’t you want to sound as together as possible? You don’t have to use big words or anything like that. Be coherent and organized. Make it a pleasure to read what you have to say.
• If you’ve made it this far, you are awesome. Follow The Prince thanks you.

The Future of Independent Digital Movie Making is now.  As we take each step, there is a new form of technology that is enabling people to create more efficiently.  The issue is that studio’s like Warner Brothers & Paramount are not willing to adapt.  The connectivity of the internet and growth of technology are creating a limitless opportunity for independent entrepreneurs of the future.

Here’s the path a film usually takes to get to your local theater:

• Someone has an idea for a movie.
• They create an outline and use it to promote interest in the idea.
• A studio or independent investor decides to purchase rights to the film.
• People are brought together to make the film (screenwriter, producer, director, cast, crew).
• The film is completed and sent to the studio.
• The studio makes a licensing agreement with a distribution company.
• The distribution company determines how many copies (prints) of the film to make.
• The distribution company shows the movie (screening) to prospective buyers representing the theaters.
• The buyers negotiate with the distribution company on which movies they wish to lease and the terms of the lease agreement.
• The prints are sent to the theaters a few days before the opening day.
• The theater shows the movie for a specified number of weeks (engagement).
• You buy a ticket and watch the movie.
• At the end of the engagement, the theater sends the print back to the distribution company and makes payment on the lease agreement.

“Each print typically costs about $1,500 to $2,000 to make, so the distributor must consider the number of theaters a movie can successfully open in. Many of the 37,000 screens in the United States are concentrated in urban areas. A popular movie might fill the seats in several theaters in the same city while another movie would have a much smaller audience. Since opening a movie on 3,000 screens could cost $6 million for the prints alone, the distributor must be sure that the movie can draw enough people to make the costs worthwhile.” – howstuffworks

This old method includes an army of gatekeepers and middlemen that are only focused on Profits and Losses at the end of the day.  Let us take a look at an alternative model of movie making.

The Alternative Future of Movie Making

• Someone has an idea for a movie
• They create an outline and use it to promote interest in the idea via the internet
• They build a community by targeting people they think would be interested
• People are brought together to make the film (screenwriter, producer, director, cast, crew)
• They utilize the community by providing them tools to collaborate in producing, micro-financing, marketing, and distributing.
• The community is the distribution, marketing, and finance
• Theaters then license the property based on targeted-geographical data analysis to guarantee sales
• At the end, the people have a part and say in what they are choosing to view
• The content creators benefit by connecting and creating with their audience.

The cost of traditional film and distribution is inefficient in terms of delivering valuable content to a targeted audience.

The Platform

The future platform is in P2P/IP TV.  Imagine your video console, computer device, or digital top box that deliver’s ALL content to you.  Like Kid Cudi says, “The Evolution of the revolution”.  Let us face it, children are going to be projecting HD via their iPhone5 during recess.  This technology has been in the talks for year, but now people are empowering themselves with on-demand control.  You can already get started with AppleTV & Boxee.

Creating Revenue

Youtube is just one example of how a “lo-fi” production like iJustine or Natalie Tran can drive an average of 500,000 to 1,000,000 views per video post.  Which ranges from $5,000-$20,000 per month depending on your demographic based on those views per month.

This model is only one of the models until developers start creating dynamic algorithms and technology starts to adapt towards the user viewing the content.  Imagine interactive roll-over product placement pieces that fluidly allow you to engage simultaneously.  Think of all the meta-data from your Facebook account & Google Searches that have been data-mined since your early internet days.  Thus enveloping a choose your own interactive adventure, per say.  As the restraint of technology, ideas, and accessibility decrease, then innovation will become abundant.

Reason why I’m writing this

I’m sharing this article for many reason.

1. Put things into perspective from my perspective.

2. I am creating a movie and this is a perfect blog post entry

3. Sharing these ideas could be beneficial for movie makers and entrepreneurs

4. I need to blog more

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below!  Thank You!

Sharing

I love sharing anything I have.  Whether it be an idea, song, or the shirt off my back.  There is no greater feeling in the world when someone feels even a little bit more happy, intelligent, or a part of the experience.

We have been extremely busy building websites, connecting the public, and growing brands.  Precisely juggling these projects requires some experience and a nifty set of tools.  These are some of the best ones we have used and are currently using:

Hosting

MediaTemple – They are the most solid bang for your buck.  I’ve used 1&1, godaddy, rackspace, & bluehost.  Customer service is intelligent, while the uptime is 100%.  No random charges.  I just love this place.  You can sign up here.

Google Apps – If you want to reduce IT costs and empower your employees, then use this platform to run your business, school, or organization.  Everything within the Google Apps system is suggested in each category below.  The best thing is that $50/year will get you the Premium account.

Amazon S3 Servers – Need some serious storage for your developers?  They provide a simple web service interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web.  Unlike a server that you have to pay all this upfront cost for, they pull content on a pay-as-you go basis.  Simple huh?

Communicating

Gmail – If you want the best e-mail on the planet, then you should get this.  There is no reason a person should not have a gmail account.  It would be like having a choice between a Lemon or an Electric Tesla…  The choice is apparent.

Skype – Free Skype to Skype calls over the internet aka the new “AIM or iChat”.  200m users keeps this community thriving + they pay for international calls and a personal phone number.  All you need is a wifi and you can use this service on your laptop or Iphone/Ipad!!!!

Google Voice – This is why Skype might need to merge with facebook *wink*wink*

MailChimp – The BEST mail service.  I’ve used them all and even Mashable uses this.  Your first 500 subscribers are free and this integrates with multiple services.  Analytics are beast.  They crack me up with their funny messaging.

Google Wave - Google’s version of project management via e-mail.

Knowledge

Mashable – The #1 Social Networking News blog on the internet.  They have how-to and DIY resources, so as an entrepreneur you can stay up to date on the newest ways to help increase your productivity and efficiency.

ReadWriteWeb -

NPR: All Tech Considered

Silicon Alley Insider -

Organizing

ManyMoon – The Best Free CRM available.  Also, the first

Basecamp – This is great if you have the bucks to spend, however there are some serious issues that myself and many other project managers have.  However, I still feel that they belong on this list compared to the rest of what is out there.

Yahoo Pipes – Introduced to me by twitter powerhouse @IamKhayyam.  The ONLY thing except yahoo movies that I use from this archaic staple.  You can filter newsoutlets and information kind of like Google Alerts, but way better.

Drop.IO – Simple Private Sharing at its best.  This is the biggest sleeper application listed on this page.  Free voice mail, conference calling, and real-time presentations are just some of the unique features that this tool provides.  They are simply revolutionary and essential to the future of communication.  They just took a huge leap as facebook made some recent decisions.  Follow The Prince loves you guys.

Evernote - Create and edit notes from literally anywhere.  Great #GTD tool.

Socializing

Facebook – 500m Users is enough said. Or they are the second internet.  Although, they may own your conversations, pictures, and videos but they ‘hopefully’ will not use it against you.  Facebook is here to stay.  Do not listen to the skeptics.

MySpace - One of the first millionth users.  Great until Rupert got his hands on it.  Now they have decided to hire technicians to fix the problems the marketers started.  I think Sean Percival will turn things around.  Good luck Sean.

Twitter - 140 Characters or less keeps things clear and concise.  Not sure how much longer this company will last, but they have opened up some doors and ideas for us to move forward.  Open Source baby.  R.I.P. 4.17.2010

Amiando – Offline is a key component of socializing your business online.  The best full service package for planning events.  Expensive, but great.

Eventbrite – Great for small to large events, however if you are planning conferences I would suggest the latter.  No upfront costs and you can do just about anything.

Plancast – The easiest way to share upcoming plans with friends.

Google Reader – Share your knowledge with your friends.  That simple.  Also you do not need to go to all these websites and be bombarded with advertisements.

FourSquare - You might want to check after you leave, but this tool comes in handy when a business wants to provide geo-location incentives.  iAD + iPAD + FourSquare + 3rd Party App + @Square = Social Shopping

Yelp – Allows the community to really give their voice to local business.  Forget the BBB.  Yelp is much better.  Real People and Real Voices.

Analyzing

Google Analytics – The #1 tool to give you insight on your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.

Facebook Analytics - This will be just as if not more useful than Google Analytics.  Hard data from REAL people.  You can’t get much better than that.

Site Meter - An easy way to skim how your doing on a very broad level.

Twoolr – The sweetest twitter analyzer available.  They are from France!

KissMetrics – Just found this tool, but it is like GetSatisfaction, but I like this better.

Please let us know how you feel about these tools.  Any suggestions?  I’ll make sure to add it in the revised version in a couple months.

“These connections aren’t just happening on Facebook, they’re happening all over the Web, and today with the Open Graph we’re bringing all these things together,” Zuckerberg said.

This is the 3rd year for F8 and things could have not went better.  Every year, Zuck showcases FB’s most recent cool things.  This year’s F8 breaks down to 3 simple objectives:

• Open Graph
• Instantly Social
• Simple Platform

OPEN GRAPH PROTOCOL

Open graph is a unique way for the developers to build this new society.  Think of what twitter did for the semantic web, but more sweet!

Facebook’s Bret Taylor also just announced the Open Graph protocol, a new way of structuring data on the web with semantic markup. For example, represents the movie “The Godfather”. When that object is marked up on a website, Liking it will place it in the right place on the user’s profile, and mousing over it in the feed will show a hovercard that links to the source object off Facebook.com – for example, IMDB.

In addition, publishers who use the Open Graph markup will be able to publish updates to users after they Like the object on their site. More details on that shortly.

Graph API

Finally, with the Graph API, developers will able to get information on any object in the Facebook graph. With the Open Graph, each object has a unique ID. You can download the JSON representation of any object in the graph simply by going to:

http://graph.facebook.com/[ObjectName]/[ObjectType]

where ObjectName could be a user or Page ID (like PrinceBoucher or FollowThePrince), and ObjectType could be photos, videos, notes, etc.

This is going to be simple because of their initiative to use OAuth 2.0!  Now you ask, what is this?  Just another programming language that is more simple.  Let us compare it to English or Spanish in relation to Latin.

So Enslish is to  OAuth 2.0 as Latin is to PHP.  Does that help?

Instantly Social

Social Plugins are the name of the game.  Forming connections through META data will form new experiences during your engagement .  Imagine when you enter IMDB, Pandora, or Amazon and you are being referenced your network, in convergence with all the data on the website to best qualify what you might like.  Cool eh?  They basically took the Google Docs idea and made it more social.  Like really social.  Also, imagine or just go to Pandora and see the seamless connection to how you relate to certain music.  Pretty sweet!

Simple Platform

Another facelift to create more efficiency and productivity for the communications between networks and node’s.  People might be pissed, but don’t we all thank our parents for setting presence sometimes?

“We’ll serve 1 Billion Likes on the internet in the next 24 hours”

“The world can be a lot better and we are going to make it that way.”  - Mark Zuckerberg

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

New Creative Digital Group Optimizes Social Media to Help Sexual Abuse Survivors

Tackling what isn’t sexy.

Los Angeles, CA/April 20, 2010 — Prince Consulting & Services announces the launch of Follow the Prince (www.followtheprince.com), a one-stop shop for myriad social and digital media marketing needs. Follow the Prince (FTP) combines creative marketing tactics, social media smarts and entrepreneurial principles to provide businesses with the tools, ideas and support required to develop and spread their unique brands. The group assists entrepreneurs, established businesses and individuals in becoming highly visible to their audiences.

The Angela Shelton Foundation is a non-profit organization that teaches sexual abuse survivors how to heal and lead joyful lives. Collectively, they converse about thewhite elephant in 27% of living rooms in America. FTP and the Foundation have released a bevy of tools for social conversation about the truth of sexual abuse. Initiatives include encouraging survivors of sexual abuse to change their profile picture to one depicting themselves at the age at which they were abused and a centralized blog that various survivors are able to share their experience.

More than being cathartic, the Foundation believes that the only way to eradicate sexual abuse is to remind every survivor that no one can make himself or herself a victim. Currently there is a growing blog network, The Survivor Manual, organized by the Foundation and powered by Follow the Prince to allow survivors to reach out and grow with other survivors who are apart of the community, that they may not have otherwise known. These are a combination of outreach & social media marketing services implemented by FTP.

Christopher Prince Boucher from FTP realized that perpetrators were infiltrating seemingly save havens. They provided custom solutions and tools to train the Foundation’s Army of Angels to diffuse the power of ambient lurkers and teach the survivors critical tactics in Speaking Up and Speaking Out. This was an Outreach Package that has been a staple service and why brands like BermanBraun and Angela Shelton have Followed the Prince.

Shelton is Following The Prince and his techniques by producing a weekly instructional and inspirational live USTREAM to help survivors inspire and empower their lives. She covers topics from “how to find your voice through blogging” and “setting up a safe twitter presence”, to how to deal with reoccurrence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Follow The Prince has facilitated these practices through their Social Media Marketing services.

About Follow The Prince

Follow The Prince honors integrity, sustainability, and the community growth. Because we understand the diverse nature of relationships, we work with various individuals, small business and corporations. Our clients include entrepreneurs, technologists, entertainers, and activists. We believe that the use of social strategy is the best way to engage humans and technology in order to benefit unique brands.

Contact:
media@followtheprince.com

Contact:
Christopher Prince Boucher
p: 646.727.0530 | e: chris@followtheprince.com
www.followtheprince.com

Download the PDF

Since this is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Follow The Prince & The Angela Shelton Foundation have been working on several ways to provide awareness, recognition, and support for the SAAM community.  Their solutions ignited the following:

• Changing Avatar to age of abuse
• Outreach in community boards to sweep perpetrators
• Story-telling via twitter
• Online Art-Auction for art
• Army of Angels Blog-A-Thons
• Live-Streaming Fundraiser Event

Leading up, Angela will be speaking at Jeff Pulver’s 140 Conference in NYC.  Where she will tweet her speech in real-time on how 1 tweet can make a difference.  Then starts The Angela Shelton Twitter Week which is a time to share stories of healing and transformation.  We will follow 3 powerful stories of male and female survivors for the whole week.

Angela Shelton will start us off during her live Sunday Show on April 24th and recap on the following Sunday.

We will be using the hash tags
#NEVERAGAIN
#ITOLD
#ASDAY10 for Angela Shelton Day 2010
#AOA for Army of Angels

Follow @angelashelton @survivormanual and @thearmyofangels

This event is free to be a part of Angela Shelton Day but to get an official Angela Shelton Day Twitter Ticket - give whatever you can to support the foundation. No need to buy a ticket if you don’t have the money. Twittering is free!

To follow up and extend this into May, which is my birthday month , The Foundation is having an auction, dance party, live music, live art, and fundraising!  Please donate to the event and join us on Eventbrite.