The Jazz Show #23

Visit the website, jazz.thepodcastnetwork.com or stream it below.

[audio:http://jazz.thepodcastnetwork.com/audio/tpn_thejazzshow_20070329_23.mp3]

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Would you be the one Gene Simmons calls?

Today I was watching a re-run of Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Nothing real interesting, except that unlike Ozzie Osborne, Gene isn't falling all over himself and speaking in tongues. But, there was a part in the show where Genes family makes him go on a vacation. The first thing Gene does is call a business partner and tells him "I want to meet the most influential people in X city; the Mayor, business leaders, the real estate guru. Make it happen."

It occurred to me after he said this, would I be the on Genes business partner called? If not, why?

If you're in business for yourself, word of mouth is probably your best marketing tool. But are you visible enough to be THE one who is called? I asked myself that question and it's an astounding NO. But why? I imagine the answer is varied based on your capacity to handle new customers or your desired growth.

Think about where you are or where you want to be and decide if you want to be the one Gene Simmons calls when he is looking for the product or service you provide.

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Utah Blogger Dinner

Just found out, yes just a minute ago, there is a geek dinner in Draper, Utah. You find out more on Robert Merrill's Utah Tech Job site. I'm going to attend, first time I've done something like this. Should be interesting.

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Twitter vs. Blogging, what’s going on?

If you are a Twitter user, then you probably understand what all the hype is about. If you're a blogger who doesn't tweet, you probably also understand.

I've been tweeting some over the past few weeks. I have a few friends, mainly people who's blogs I read, I also subscribe to their tweets.

Tweeting is kind of as you go thoughts, links, what's on your mind. Blogging isn't really designed for that. Blogging takes some thought, organization, and more time. Tweets are fast and can get a point or thought across without all the formality of blogging.

I've seen Twitter used in a couple of ways. Some just through out random thoughts or actions as they are doing them. Some pass on tinyurl.com links to cool sites or even their own blog posts. Half the time I forget to tweet about what I'm doing. Mainly because I don't think anyone who sees my twits gives a crap about what I'm doing.

So you're basically left with two types of tweets, ones that are random thoughts which most people won't care about, or ones that have something of value that someone wants to share with an audience. But isn't that what RSS is supposed to accomplish? Yes, but only for blog posts.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about. Chris Pirillo sends (used to) links through twitter to his and other vids on the net. Chris Brogan is also very good at sending links to very cool content.

I don't think this was the original intent of Twitter. However, I think making quick twits has value just like a blog post can. It's all in what you deliver.

Join me as a friend on Twitter.

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Salt Lake Tribune looking like USA Today

I read a copy of the Salt Lake Tribune today. First time I've read a newspaper in years. I get most of my news from the Internet and TV.

But today I picked up a copy of the newspaper and started looking through it. Wow, I'm impressed. The format is completely changed since the last time I looked at it. This could have taken place years ago for all I know. But it looks a lot like a USA Today paper. Bold colors for various sections. Lots of pictures, catching headlines; it looks really good.

I also noticed this morning on KUTV Channel Two in Salt Lake City that a reporter from the news paper appears in a short segment telling viewers about hot stories in the days paper. At first I wasn't sure what value that gave viewers. But basically TV news can't cover every news story, not even a fraction. The newspaper does a pretty good job of that.

While I'm still going to get a majority of my news online, I will check out a Sunday edition to see what other cool things I find.

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