sebastian troen

Fortunately I don’t have to try answering this question for you… though god knows I’ve tried before (usually a few whiskies down). But check out this cool slideshow that I came across in my marketing class that explains it much better than I could…

Those of you who are slowly switching all your online communications from email to Facebook messages (like I have), take note. Facebook has been caught censoring messages. And not unauthorized spam either, but rather messages from one user to another that includes a link to torrent files.

Now it gets tricky for Facebook because torrent files aren’t actually illegal in and of themselves, in fact they are often used for the sharing of legal information (as well as lots of sharing of illegal content), but Facebook claims to have the right to sniff out links that it finds to be dubious.

Where this gets tricky is that Facebook is quickly becoming the de facto messaging standard on the web. I read somewhere awhile back that Facebook messages now account for more messages than web-based email services, such as Gmail and Hotmail. That’s dangerous if and when Facebook decides to act as ‘Big Brother’. At least with public email, I can send my friends anything I want, without worry that Google is going to block my messages.

It’s a slipper slope and it’ll be interesting to see how Facebook manages this situation. Meanwhile, don’t close that Gmail account just yet.

Facebook’s E-mail Censorship is Legally Dubious, Experts Say | Epicenter.

Hulu’s a pretty cool service. I’ve been using it off and on for a while now, through Hotspot Shield and it’s been a great, new alternative to the old model of watching television. We all want to watch what we want when we want, and finally, it seemed that television broadcasters were getting this.

Only thing that sucks about it is their restriction to the US. Which is why I’ve had to use workarounds like Hotspot Shield. Well, rather than trying to open things up to Canada and other markets, they’ve decided to go old skool and lock things down tighter. Why?

Seriously people, the Intertubes is a global thing. Figure out your damn licensing restrictions so we can all get on Hulu and turn it into the successful thing that can save your archaic business. If I can watch The Celebrity Apprentice on cable on my television set, why can’t I watch on the Net? Seriously?!

Control Freaks: Hulu Now Blocks Anonymous Proxies Too.

Last night’s offer by RIM founder, Jim Balsillie, to buy the Phoenix Coyotes (contingent upon relocation to southern Ontario) for $212.5 million (USD) was a shocking surprise twist to a day that found the Coyotes filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. After more than a decade in the Arizona desert, I think it’s time to recognize that the Phoenix experiment didn’t work out. That’s not a knock against the NHL’s southern expansion, there’s been success in several other southern markets, like Atlanta, Carolina and Tampa Bay, but Phoenix never really took off the way that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had hoped when he moved the Winnipeg Jets to Arizona in 1996.

Though Bettman has been opposed to Balsillie’s previous attempts to buy and relocate an NHL franchise (the Pittsburg Penguins in 2006 and the Nashville Predators in 2007), I think it’s time to let Jim buy a franchise. He’s clearly a passionate fan, has enough money unlike many of the owners in the league (estimated net worth: $1.6 Billion) and he wants to bring the team back to Canada and to a part of the country that is passionate about hockey.

Since I live in Vancouver, I have no real desire to see yet another Ontario hockey team. As it is we’re inundated with news about the Toronto Maple Leafs, whether we care or not (we don’t!) or even if it’s newsworthy or not (trust me, it usually isn’t). But wouldn’t you rather have a team in Ontario where fans would be passionate about the team and more importantly, keep it financially stable than in Phoenix where season tickets are going for as little as 50 bucks a month (in Vancouver fifty bucks gets you one game). Remember that the league has a revenue sharing agreement in place meaning that teams like the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs that sell out every game end up sending money to teams like the Coyotes that can’t sell out even with dirt cheap tickets.

So I say give Jim his franchise. Relocate it to Kitchener or Waterloo or wherever, create an exciting new rivalry in southern Ontario (if New York and Los Angeles can support 2 teams, why can’t southern Ontario, the cradle of hockey?!) Shane Doan will be the captain of a Canadian team, Wayne Gretzky will get to coach a professional team in his ‘hometown’ (ok, close enough, Brantford is nearby) and Canada will get an exciting new 7th team. That seems like the right thing to do.

As  for those of you calling for another team in the prairies, though Winnipeg would like to get their team back, the reality is that they can’t support an NHL team. With only 700,000 inhabitants, it’s roughly the size of Hamilton whereas London and Kitchener and Waterloo together have over 900,000 and that’s not counting the Hamilton fans. More importantly, Winnipeg’s average income is only $29,145 whereas it’s $33,946 in Waterloo. There’s more disposable income in southern Ontario, income that can be spent on things like high-priced hockey tickets.

In any case, it’ll be interesting to see the real life drama unfold over the next few weeks as the NHL goes to Bankruptcy Court in Arizona to defend its right to determine where its franchises are located and Balsillie fights for the right to buy the Coyotes and move them back home to Canada. If you’re interested in supporting the campaign for a 7th hockey franchise in Canada, check out makeitseven.

Over the past few weeks Twitter has pushed itself into the mainstream. In the span of a few days I came across references to it on the Daily Show, over scotch with friends (mmm, scotch!) and even on CNN. It’s clearly breaking through to the mainstream now and I’m getting lots of questions from friends and colleagues about this “Twitter thing” and whether or not they should be on it. Here’s my quick overview on what it is and why you should be on it (or not):

Microblogging: What the hell is “micro” blogging… I barely know what blogging is, why do I need a smaller version of it? Microblogging is a miniature version of that early Oughts (yeah, I said it) phenomen, the blog (which stands for “web log”). Blogs sprung up by the thousands and millions over the past decade and there are truly amazing blogs out there that are worth their weight in gold. But just like not all of us are not interesting or eloquent enough to write magazine or newspaper articles, most of us don’t have enough interesting things to say to write a blog and today most bloggers will admit to being incredibly negligent about posting (including me). But we all have thoughts, ideas, rants, raves, etc. all day long and microblogging allows an outlet for that thought. It started with the status line on your MSN Messenger, then proceeded to the Facebook “Sebastian is…” status, then without the “is” and eventually to Twitter messages called “Tweets”, simple, short, not-always-eloquent thoughts and ideas, limited to 140 characters.

140: Why limit a Tweet to 140 characters? Because Twitter was originally intended to be mobile and SMS was the (still is actually) prevalent mobile texting platform. Today, with iPhones and Androids and Berries flying about, the SMS medium is less important to the digital elite, but the benefit of having a limited text entry field is that you’re forced to be concise with your idea or thought. No room for extended rants… that’s what the old fashioned blogs are for

Facebook vs Twitter: Ok, I finally joined Facebook. I get it. I can see my friends’ photos and poke them whenever I feel like it. So why the hell do I need Twitter? First of all, you don’t need Twitter. Wheras Facebook has developed into an online representation of your real life social graph, and everyone has that, not everyone needs their own channel to voice their thoughts and ideas to the (online) world. Where your Facebook friends are people you (probably) actually know in real life, many (if not most) of your Twitter followers are bound to be people who have shared interests and decided to follow you in the hopes that your insights or ideas may be of interest to them.

Using Twitter: It’s really quite simple to use Twitter. After setting up an account, you simple type in whatever you want to share with your followers. It could be a joke, a link to a video or an online article. Hit “update” and bam, you’ve “tweeted”. But be careful, it can get addictive. Now comes the fun part, following other people. Start by searching for friends who are tweeting. Or your favourite authors, musicians, interest groups, news outlets, etc. Once you’re on their Twitter page, click the “Follow” button and their Tweets will appear in your Twitter stream.

Keep It Real, Yo: What’s important to remember is that just like Facebook represents the real you in an online social environment, so does Twitter, so make sure you act appropriately, respect others and contribute to the community. Even though you may not know most of the people that are following you, they are all possible friends, colleagues or acquaintances, so remember to represent yourself as you would if you were in the same room with them.

Who Should Use Twitter: Where Twitter is going is still up in the air, but a lot can be inferred from who’s using it currently. Anyone with an online voice, from news outlets like the NY Times to politicians to technology and marketing strategy consultants. If you’re the kind of person that frequently updates their status message on Facebook with links to videos, articles or just posts thoughts that you want to share, Twitter could be a good tool for you. If you don’t buy in to this whole online thing and believe in real world interactions, that’s fair enough, feel free to skip Twitter. It won’t kill you. I promise. Most compaies are getting on the Twitter bandwagon because it’s an easy, cheap, non-intrusive way to strike up a dialogue with their customers and partners and allows them to develop a thought leader position in their space.

So Many Cool Apps: One of the main reasons for Twitter’s explosive growth over the past year is that they’ve allowed any developer to plug into Twitter. This has led to a proliferation of Twitter-related apps, from monitoring what people are talking about to mapping it based on user’s real world locations to integrating Twitter into other applications like Firefox or Apple OSX, these (mostly) free apps have extended the usability of Twitter well beyond the ideas that the Twitter company could have imagined possible. The first one I’d recommend is adding the Twitter application to your Facebook account so you can post to Twitter and have it automatically update your Facebook page. A second one for Mac users is Twidget, an OSX widget that lets you view and update your Twitter account from your Mac Dashboard.

I’m going to stop there, but I hope this was informative to those of you thinking about Twitter and wondering if it’s for you. I can honestly tell you that once you start Tweeting, it’s hard to stop. You’ve been warned