Four Links — 03.15.07 — Fire Watch on Flickr, Define Viral, Write for WIRED and Come Around to Twitter

1) Los Angeles Fire Department’s Flickr Stream:   Russell Davies
Why would Joe Corporate want to post photos online and share them with the world?

Does Joe’s company do anything that could be considered even remotely cool or interesting? Posting images to an online photo sharing site allows Joe’s company to share these experiences with quick, visual stories.

2) It’s Viral! In a good way:   Multiple Sources
The first time I saw the word viral used in the online context was to explain Hotmail’s success. The free e-mail’s mandatory sig file advertisements encouraged recipients to sign up for their own account.

Since then viral’s meaning has been disfigured more than Joan Rivers. Gapingvoid’s Hugh Macleod credits “certain top-down meatheads in the ad biz” for giving viral a bad name.

Ad Age’s Ken Wheaton points to the perfect example of its misuse while Feed Company tries to correct the situation with their Social Video 101 presentation (Via Adrants). Download and study up.

3) Assignment Zero:   PressThink
Wanna write for Wired Magazine? Assignment Zero is the latest pro-am journalism project from NewAssignment.Net. Check out the web site and the news release for more information.

Yep, an online citizen journalism project issued a news release. Hah!

4) Twitter Love + Hate:   Logic+Emotion
David Armano, the undisputed king of the infographic, shows me why Twitter is worth trying out. Once the giddiness over it dies down perhaps I will give it a go. The whole thing smacks of time drain, short attention span theatre. Super-related, bonus link segue: Wired Magazine on One-Minute Media and the Minifesto.

Car Into Pool in Woodland Hills uploaded by LAFD

tags | viral video | Twitter | Assignment Zero

Comments

[J Pody]

Agreed

http://www.studentbunk.com

[Eric Reid]

Regarding the Flickr photos, I think posting photos are a great idea if the company in question has something to show. The LAFD certainly does, but what photos would a law office show?

I love using Flickr for clients if they have the content to support it. The Milwaukee's Best Beer Cannon videos on YouTube were neat, but weren't at all about their product and didn't promote their brand - so they didn't help the company sell more beer. They are a great example of a company that shouldn't post viral content. (And yes, that phrase makes me a little queasy too. I always thought expired canned ham was viral content.)