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I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but all the anti-Leaf vitriol all over the social feeds is nonsensical. I’m not sure at what point it was decided that hating makes you a better fan. 

All this talk of choke and collapse takes so much credit away from the Bruins, who probably had more playoff games played on their top two lines than the whole Leafs roster. The way they smothered the last two minutes with the extra man was amazing. Horrifying, but altogether impressive. They made Toronto look like the untested underdogs that came out to be destroyed in Game 1.

This youngest team in the league, a postseason longshot for many at the start of the year, projected to be outclassed and knocked out in 5 or 6 by the more seasoned Bruins, clawed back from 3-1 and came within a couple minutes of doing the impossible. 

Proud all the same. And next time, I’m sure they’ll have a much better understanding of what it takes to close out a series in this amazing sport of ours.

So, the re-imagined, re-invented BlackBerry Z10 was released to the world today. From what I’ve seen of the launch event and early BlackBerry Z10 reviews, the consensus goes something a little like this;

Is this the best Blackberry yet?

Yes.

Is it enough to save RIM Blackberry?

We don’t know.

I’ve said before I’ve got a huge soft spot for BlackBerry, despite having moved pretty much all-in with Apple since my Crackberry-carrying days. It’s a soft spot so deep and wide that I’m on the fence about ditching the iPhone and giving BlackBerry another chance.

Everything I’ve seen of BlackBerry Flow, Hub, and what seems to be the best virtual keyboard you can find has me itching to try it. Just looking at the device in action at the launch event, by comparison iOS seemed so incredibly stale and bland. BlackBerry really has put together a pretty solid package to bring them back to the playing field, and with the BB10 operating system they seem to bring the focus onto the smartphone as a communications device first.

But… with the vast App Store and iTunes, my iPhone is much more than that. So much of my usage is app-centric, and the App gap for BB10 is pretty large at the moment. They’ve got a strong showing on the media store front, and as nice as carrier billing seems, I’m already invested in the iTunes ecosystem, and iCloud certainly makes managing purchases & related media simple, having new items pulled to all devices.

So, still on the fence. I’m itching to get a BlackBerry Z10 in my hands to see how it feels, and flows. In the meantime, it’ll be interesting to watch the response to BB10. I’m sure I’m not the only one trapped between optimism and skepticism, but compared to the previous generation of BlackBerry devices, and considering all the turmoil and struggle they’ve been through over the last few years, everything about BB10 and the Z10 should seem like an incredible triumph for BlackBerry. I hope for their sake, they see their efforts rewarded when the tech media dissects the sales numbers.

What happens when 3 Telco’s control more than 3/4 of the market for internet services from coast to coast?  

A not-so-lovely little picture painted below.   

Full infographic available here as well if you’d like to see more of the gory details. 

I can’t speak to the data one way or the other, but from a consumer’s perspective, I can’t help but corroborate that as a Canadian it feels like I’m paying an exorbitant amount for services that pale in comparison to other regions, and there are quite honestly little to no alternatives to choose from.  

The OpenMedia folks have put together a great amount of content in their Casting An Open Net plan, detailing cultural, economic and technological reasons supporting the need for a more open and affordable Internet for Canada.  I’d encourage one and all to take a peek at their action plan; worthwhile reading.

I stumbled onto a piece by Benetech today, announcing their support of the Social Enterprise Alliance on countering the efforts of Salesforce.com trademarking the term “social enterprise”.  

The group and their supporters are rallying against a for-profit company like Salesforce.com monopolizing the “social enterprise” term, deeming it against public interest and threatening a global movement for good.  

Chief amongst the SEA’s arguments against Salesforce is their preferred meaning of the very word, social —  “advancing the welfare of human beings in society” — and how that adjective has been generally used globally to describe companies with a social welfare intent.  

All told, it’s a very interesting argument.  

A Social Enterprise vs. The Social Enterprise

From quick perusal* of wikipedia, A Social Enterprise is an organization that looks to drive  human and environmental well-being through their efforts.  These enterprises may include non-profits, charities, for-profit groups, or just about anybody, really.  In this context the notion of A Social Enterprise (be they for-profit or not) is simply that social aims are primary and profits are secondary. 

From the Salesforce point of view, The Social Enterprise is another kettle of fish altogether.  

The social web has changed the way we live and work and how we communicate and engage with other people, companies, and organizations.  

In the context of how an organization does business with customers and prospects, The Social Enterprise goes beyond basic contact information, and builds customer social profiles to include likes and dislikes to have a more complete picture of customers and prospects, and connects the company to the broader social web to better understand and engage with their audience.  (I’m oversimplifying and under-selling, but that’s a thought for another day).  

What Is Social?  

Obviously, there some ambiguity around the word social itself that’s leading to two very different definitions of a combination of words.  

But stepping back, in today’s hyper-connected world, what does the word social really mean to people?  

I did a quick and utterly unscientific query to Facebook/Twitter/Google+ audiences to do some word association.  When asked for the first word or phrase to come to mind, friends fired back suggestions like “network” and “media” most prominently, along with others like “butterfly”, “strawberry”, and even “beer”.  

I understand that asking the question on a social network (and ones where others’ responses are seen and can influence) introduces so much bias that the point it makes doesn’t hold water… but I can’t help but cling to the notion that the word social leans more to interacting and engaging with people and communities than it may have in the past.  

When Words Don’t Mean What They Used To

But even if common use of social has evolved, and Social Enterprise may take on new meaning now, does it make copywriting that established term reasonable?  Is it potentially harmful to the social enterprise movement? Is there a better way to frame the terminology to remove ambiguity?  But considering how much both ‘movements’ have invested in building up the value of the “social enterprise” to their respective causes, can either side compromise?

I’m interested to see how debate over the Social Enterprise shapes up.  I can honestly understand both sides of the argument.  

Either way, I enjoyed spinning my wheels a bit on the notion of semantic drift, and how words and their meanings and interpretations change over time.  As a lover of words, it’s an interesting rabbit hole to go down.  

For a potential few eye-openers, I recommend the following for some light reading;  

• 10 Words That Don’t Mean What You May Think They Do 
• Top 10 Misused English Words
• 9 Words That Don’t Mean What You Think ~ via Cracked, so be warned, crude and potentially offensive humour within if you’d rather avoid that sort of thing. 

*tongue-in-cheek reference to one of the many examples of semantic drift and misused words noted in the links above.   

On Friday Coldplay filled Montreal’s Bell Centre for the second show in as many nights on their Mylo Xyloto Tour, and I’ve never seen a crowd so engaged as I did there. From the floor to the highest reaches of the 400’s, every able-bodied person in the cavernous arena was on their feet dancing, clapping, chanting and singing along.

I can’t help wonder how brands and marketers might drive this kind of engagement from their own legions of fans…

Coldplay sure know how to put on a show. One of the more impressive parts of the night was how in connecting with the audience and putting themselves out there, they managed to remove as many barriers as possible for people to enjoy it.

The stage and catwalk were open enough in concept that most seats in the house had a solid view of the action. Even the obstructed seats behind the stage had a large enough opening to see through, and the stage design included a raised ramp around the back that was used frequently enough to give some love to the folks seated back there.

Mammoth circular screens set up around the arena - not just bookending the stage as in many other arena rock shows, but hanging from rafters facing various angles - made sure the odds were in your favour that you’d be able to see what you came for.

The audience invested time and money to be there; similarly, your audience is investing their time and attention to be “there” for you - what are you doing to remove barriers and be as visible as possible for them?

Intimacy on a Massive Scale

For the encore, the house lights came up and the band set themselves up at a small makeshift stage at one of the back corners of the audience, just above the floor. (at the front of our section, a half-dozen rows directly below us, no less!)

Gone were the light show, canned videos, confetti explosions and fancy stage setup. Just the band and their instruments remained, in the middle of the crowd performing and extra song or two.

The change in setup forced everyone in the audience to affix their gaze somewhere other than where they had for the majority of the night, and somewhere they wouldn’t expect to be looking in a concert environment. The changing of perspectives solidified the feeling of the more intimate vibe, leaving us feeling all the more connected to what was being presented to us.

Where you can you take your conversation with your audience to create a more intimate vibe to foster building relationships?

Gimmickry

As every ticket holder entered the arena, they were greeted with a pair of wristbands of various colours emblazoned with a twitter logo and the hashtag #coldplayfilm to affix to each arm. With little explanation as to what purpose they served, it ratcheted up the curiosity and level of anticipation for the show, and how these new accessories may fit in.

When the house lights dimmed and Coldplay started their set, the wristbands all lit up turning the audience into a glowing, blinking sea of neon light. It was an incredible moment to be in, seeing the amazement in the faces of my neighbours, and adding another layer to the elation of the kick-off of the show.

During and after the show, attendees took to twitter to share thoughts, photos, reactions and thanks with the #coldplayfilm hashtag. The wristband gimmick not only worked to put a new spin on the concert experience, but helped introduce more fans to the social discussion on twitter, and provided fans a place to congregate and share feedback.

Not every gimmick is going to work this swimmingly, but what creative twists can you add to your user/fan experience to help enhance their involvement?

Crafting A Chorus

For seemingly every chorus the crowd was crushingly loud. Even more overpoweringly loud were each of the support vocal sing-along parts (the Ohhh and Oooooh bits cleverly worked into tunes), where even casual fans who may not have known all the words could still jump into the fray and sing along.

The sing-song elements are like a dramatic over-simplification of parts of the songs, distilled down to just a hook or melody - letting that purest, most emotional part of the music grab the audience. Like a hashtag or slogan, you hope it’ll help spread beyond your core audience to fringe fans, and have them supporting your message, pulling them into your world.

How can you distill your message to the simplest, most engaging, most sharable pieces?

Don’t Forget Your Roadies

Every band needs roadies. These are people toiling behind the scenes to make your show a success, doing it not for fame or riches, but more often than not out of love of your work.

After the show, one of Coldplay’s roadies took to their blog to share thoughts on the Montreal show, noting;

“Given that I’ve seen them do this show coming on for a hundred times now, the idea that I’m actually entertaining the idea of spending time watching a film of it is pretty remarkable.” ~ Roadie #42

Brands need roadies too. You may already have them. Take a peek at your social mentions, retweets, likes and shares - you’ll likely find a dedicated and active group of fans that are standing by ever-faithful to help your cause.

Don’t take roadies for granted. As the ultimate measuring stick and the choir you’re preaching to, it takes a special kind of performance from you to really impress them.

Strive to impress the hell out of your roadies - if you do, you know the folks from general admission to the nosebleeds will have gone home happy.

The Electrical Storm of Engagement

“This kind of audience reaction sends the band into another level performance-wise and the crackle back and forth between band and crowd becomes its own electrical storm.” ~ Roadie #42

And crackle it did. Even after the couple hours it took to fight our way through the parking lot, traffic and road back to Ottawa, I was still riding the buzz from the show, ears still ringing, feverishly refreshing Tweetbot. Electrical storm, indeed.

So, what are you doing to foster that kind of positive experience and engagement to make an electrical storm between you and your audience?

In hindsight, No Code may be my favourite Pearl Jam record.

It isn’t by any stretch the one I feel is their best work… but every time I put it on, or hear a track from it, it elicits the most vivid emotional experience. No Code is a disc I had a vociferous response to upon release, that I’ve since warmed up to. I guess the catharsis endears No Code to me so much more than any other disc from their incredible portfolio.

Pearl Jam was one of my favourite bands in my formative years. I still remember hopping on my bike to ride to our local Sam the Record Man to pick up my copy of Ten in ‘91. I was hooked from there.

When No Code hit shelves in the summer of ‘96, I similarly found myself racing to the record store to grab myself a copy. Getting home, flipping through the replica Polaroid pictures (the album cover was a collage of 156 photos, with each CD coming with with 9 replicas with lyrics printed on the back), as I listened to the album the first few times, I was left feeling disappointed. Only Lukin - the shortest and most frantic track of the lot - stood out to get repeated replays (and mainly to try to decipher the lyrics, since it was one of the tracks for which I didn’t get the matching Polaroid).

Continued plays of the disc left me more and more let down. It swung from angst to lullaby from one track to the next. The record felt disjointed, inconsistent, incoherent. Worse, there really didn’t feel at the time like there were any “big” tracks that sunk their hooks into me to make the record worthwhile.

I was hurt. I was a teenager who wanted more Ten and Vs., and ended up with a mishmash of what I felt was filler.

“If I had known then what I know now”

As time passed, my appreciation for the record grew. Tracks of the lighter variety like Sometimes, Off He Goes, and Around the Bend that I had considered “filler” in earlier listens eventually grew on me as they showcased an emotional and musical range I hadn’t really considered before. I can’t listen to the disc today without being drawn into the melodies and harmonies.

What’s more, lyrically, themes of spirituality, morality and self-examination became more relatable than they were to my 16 year-old self. Having matured, new ways to appreciate the disc bubbled up to the surface.

Now with each listen, I’m reminded of my foolish teenage self, and through my own self-evaluation get to ponder all the many things I’ve been I’ve been wrong about in my innocence and ignorance over the years.