Christmas in Lakeway, Texas 2009

Movember Helped Me Confront My Fear of Cancer

Movember is a movement in which men grow moustaches during the month of November to create awareness of mens' health, in particular prostate and testicular cancer. It was founded in Australia in 2003 and first supported cancer awareness in 2004.

“The month formerly known as November is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men's health.”
- Movember Foundation United States

Many technology and marketing professionals in my hometown of Austin are active participants in Movember. People like Aaron Strout and Simon Salt are active on a local team named Team SocMed Austin. While Joe Flowers up in Dallas is a leader for Team International Sexy. I followed and supported these teams throughout Movember, and I encourage you to do so today by making a donation and by promoting them to your networks on Facebook and Twitter.

Meanwhile, Movember has a deeply personal meaning to me. About a decade ago, I lost my father to prostate cancer at the far-too-young age of 65. He died as the cancer was detected too late, because he did not want to go to the doctor for an exam. This meant that my now 14-year-old son only knew this wonderful man for a brief time.

Movember to me meant that I could not shave until I got a prostate exam. I hope moving forward it means this to all men over the age of 40 or in a high-risk group. I had my exam on Monday, November 23rd. The doctor gave me the results: “I found a nodule. I need you to see a urologist as soon as possible.”

Thanksgiving was a wonderful holiday with family and friends. Yet it was filled with periods of intense anxiety and concern, especially when I was alone. I know I am a young man at age 43. And I know that I am healthy, as my recent physical indicated. Yet when you hear news like what my doctor told me, you can’t help but have your mind wander to scary questions.

What if I have cancer? What if it is severe? How will it be treated? Will my insurance cover it? Will I be around for my wife and son?

My visit to the urologist was earlier this week. He confirmed my primary physician’s findings and ordered a blood draw to test my PSA level and scheduled a biopsy for this Friday. Yet, there was some relief in that the urologist told me “I’m betting you don't have cancer, but even if you do it will be early stage and fully treatable.” I asked how and he explained that surgery would be the appropriate course for someone my age. OK I thought, that sounds manageable.

Yesterday I received a call from the urologist’s office. My PSA levels are normal. Wheh. Relief.

Next Movember, I will see my doctor again for another check up. In the meantime, I will enjoy every moment of life and time with my family just a bit more.

Thank you Aaron, Simon, Joe and everyone else who participated in Movember. I hope to see many of you at the Austin Movember Gala Parte tonight at Six.

New Year's Day by Slaid Cleaves, Saxon Pub in Austin

Slaid Cleaves performed live at Saxon Pub in Austin, Texas the night before Thanksgiving November 25, 2009. I went with my sister Tamara and brother Rick from California. It was a great show and a fabulous night topped off with pancakes at Kerby Lane Cafe. And we've got the syrup to prove it! You can ask Man Ray.

Here's a video of the last song he played that night. New Year's Day is beautiful song with fantastic lyrics.


After the show, I asked Slaid if I could post some videos I took on YouTube. He replied "Sure thing, you can't stop it anyway." I commented that it helps promote your music. So if you like what you hear, please check out more of Slaid's music at www.slaid.com, go see his shows and buy his CDs.

In the picture below, my brother-in-law Rick asked Slaid to sign his CD for his wife. Slaid asked "what's her name?" and I interjected "Rick." We all laughed. Good times, good people and good music.

Get Off Your Computer & Love Your Life

Four weeks ago my wife and I quit Farmville and a bunch of other time eating online activities. During this period, I have rarely touched a computer on the weekend. My free time has instead been spent with my wife and son in the backyard creating a family sanctuary. Looking back, it is amazing what we can accomplish in just one month of weekends.

Here's a pictorial record of the creation of Love Life Gardens in the back yard of our home at the west end of Austin in the Texas Hill Country.


Consider how you spend your free time. If you're connecting more with Tweeps and Facebook friends than your own family, I suggest you step away from the screens and look those you love in eye. Go for a walk, pull some weeds, play a board game... connect with the few people who matter most in your life. I bet they miss you.

The Day the Music Thrived on the Social Web

The music industry shone brightly Monday on the social web with a wide variety of highlights occurring simultaneously across a diverse set of social networking sites. Perhaps these events are indications of a change in tide for the oft-beleaguered industry.

It's been a full decade since Napster changed music distribution forever. That seems like a long time to wait for a good solution, but progress is happening. Just last week, industry leaders including Amazon, Apple, Nokia and Universal Music Group signed a potentially historic online distribution agreement with the 27-nation European Union.

Ultimately success for the music industry is reliant upon its ability to deliver quality content to consumers in compelling ways. This is precisely why it is great to see such a variety of innovative music momentum across the social web today.

U2 360 Concert Broadcast Worldwide via YouTube
Sunday night in Pasadena, California, U2 performed in front of a Rose Bowl packed with 96,000 fans. Also in the stadium were four dozen cameras and the latest in video technology used to broadcast the concert live to millions of fans worldwide via YouTube. A rebroadcast of the U2 Live from the Rose Bowl concert can be seen on YouTube.


Guitar Hero is the First Videogame with a Million Fans on Facebook
Activision announced an industry first today when Guitar Hero surpassed a million fans on Facebook. Considering that The Beatles: Rock Band recently topped the heavyweight, this was good cause for celebration. It's interesting to watch how entertainment such as music and gaming can be combined to drive success.

Alice In Chains Launches Black Gives Way To Blue iPhone App
I was quite impressed with the extent of content and diverse functionality featured in the iPhone application launching tomorrow in support of the new Alice In Chains release Black Gives Way To Blue. In addition to music, photos and video, the app lets you check out tour dates, buy concert tickets and merchandise, and share via Facebook, Twitter and email. There's a nice demo of the application on the Music Ally blog.

Meanwhile, iconic rockers Metallica release a not so innovative finger-tapping music app called "Tap Tap Revenge: Metallica" Tuesday. This is a game in the style of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Developed by Tapulous, it is similar to apps previously released to promote Lady Gaga, Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails.

MySpace & Amazon used for Them Crooked Vultures Pre-Release Teaser
The much anticipated album by rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures won't be released until mid November. The band features an impressive line up including John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme.

DGC/Interscope gave fans a taste of what to expect by launching an exclusive single premiere of "New Fang" Monday on MySpace. The page includes a "Pre Order Now on Amazon.com" call to action in the main hero graphic. This pre-launch effort is presently supported with a simple web site, YouTube channel, Twitter account and Facebook page that already has over 50,000 fans.

#MusicMonday All Abuzz on Twitter
With music industry activity like the things discussed above, it's no wonder people are talking music on Twitter. The phrase #musicmonday trended in the top two spots all day long on the leading micro-blog site. People include the tag in Tweets about music they like. Some use it to identify what they are listening to at the moment, while others post links to songs or videos.

"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."
~ General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Social Keeps Pushing Innovation in Music Distribution & Sharing
Online heavy hitters Google and Facebook are making moves to enhance online search, sharing and sampling of music. They're leveraging services like Lala, iLike and Imeen to power their offerings. Keep an eye on Lala's Facebook presence over the next few months. Brad Stone covered the story for the New York Times last week "Hot on Heels of Google, Facebook to Take First Step into Music." Facebook's own Will Chen recently offered a sneak peak of their approach to gifting music in a blog entry entitled "A New Tune for Facebook Gifts."

Considering how Facebook came out of nowhere to outplay everyone in the photo sharing game over the last two years, I'll certainly be keeping a close eye on how they integrate music into the world's leading social network.

Gaming Goes Social: Farmville Thrives on Facebook

Farmville has enjoyed explosive growth since being introduced on Facebook on June 20, 2009. Currently, over 56 million people play the game each month according to an article published last week by USA Today. "For social networks, it's game on" details the killer combination of casual games and social networks. I suggest you read the article, as it offers great insights and statistics.

"An estimated 100 million people are recent devotees of social games such as FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Sorority Life and Bejeweled." the USA Today article explains. These games are easy to play and fun; and they're free for the most part. Yet the industry is generating significant revenue via micro-transactions of game add-ons as well as ad revenue from display banners.

For marketers, this is one more example of how important Facebook is becoming as a means to reach consumers. Marketing on Facebook is fishing where the fish are.

So it's quite apparent that I am not alone in my recent effort to reclaim time in reality that was temporarily lost to social gaming: read "How do we best spend our time?" In fact, a Google search of Farmville addict returns 170,000 results. And results on YouTube are significant as well, with admissions of addiction, Farmville interventions and even an interesting take on what Hitler would do if he found out about the rotten eggplants.

Personally, I'm happy I quit Farmville. The family and I actually planted a real farm this last weekend. Well, we built and installed three above-ground gardens. It was a lot of work and a great family activity. I will share more on my real-world farming adventure soon. Until then... have fun in the digital space, but stay well grounded in the real world.

Facebook Supercharges Brands' Digital Marketing

Facebook is burgeoning. Over 300 million active users with 50% or more logging on each day. Hitwise recently clocked its traffic being in the neighborhood of a 60% share of US-based social activity. Last summer, Mashable reported that people share more content via Facebook than email (source: AddToAny).

Brands like VW and Bud Light are savvy to this. They are integrating and leveraging the power of Facebook into their marketing. Notice how they use custom tabs on their pages to present fully controlled messaging. Importantly, brands can leverage the data power of FBML within this controlled presence.

Try the VW "Analyze Me" tool and you might be shocked at what it immediately knows about you.

While these pages aren't replacing their brand.com sites, they are at the forefront in connecting with consumers online; and serve as an important touch point and traffic driver. If your brand targets consumers and isn't doing this kind of social media marketing, you should be considering it now.

I love this shift! This continuum in the evolution of communications is what makes my career invigorating. I love learning the lay of the land in emerging media; and then applying classic business and marketing principles to them.

I am fortunate enough to work with some amazing visionary clients and fantastic people at BOSSdev to create compelling Facebook solutions. I'm tipping my hat towards you, Mr. K. Alan Robbins.

Are you creating branded presences on Facebook for your company or your clients? Are you planning to do so? I would love to hear your stories and opinions.