So we're back with part 2 of our talk with Rick Calvert of Blog World Expo.
In this segment, we get into broader issues of web diversity, net neutrality, communication and more.
Welcome back Rick. Let's get back into it.
11. Do you think blogging and social media have helped or hurt our ability to communicate with each other?
It has definitely helped. It isn’t all peaches and cream. There are bad bloggers, and bad things about blogging, but you have to remember these are just a set of tools that allow us to produce content and communicate with each other in a two way conversation. Just like the pencil, the printing press, telephone, email, radio and television. Anyone can write a letter, but not anyone can print a newspaper. Not just anyone can start up their own radio show or radio station. At least not before new media came along. Now virtually anyone can start their own magazine, or newspaper, or TV show overnight for next to zero investment. That in my opinion is a very good thing.
12. How much time do you spend online?
Way to much these days. Probably 16 – 20 hours a day, but I am a rare exception. This is my job now; I have to be online to keep up with the industry. I certainly enjoy disconnecting and getting away from the interweb too. And I am going to do exactly that after BlogWorld is over September 22nd. I’m heading to the mountains for a few days with some friends and not looking at the web.
13. How Wired are you? What gadgets/tech goodies do you use most?
I am pretty simple. Desktop, Laptop, and blackberry world phone. The phone allows me to check email, the web and twitter pretty much anywhere. I have an iPod as well but rarely use it. My wife is the big iPod fan. She takes hers everywhere.
14. iPhone or Blackberry?
Blackberry. I am not a Mac fanboy at all. In fact I am a PC person (like most of the world) and never really got the whole goofy Mac thing.
I went to Mac world one year and it really seemed “cult like” to me. I do like the new Mac commercials with the Mac guy and the PC guy. I think that is by far the best demonstration of the difference between the two. PC’s are for business and Mac’s are for fun. Web 2.0 is changing that though. All those apps you used to not be able to get on a Mac are now web based. That could be a very bad thing for Microsoft and the PC.
15. Twitter or IM?
Twitter. I missed the whole IM and text messaging thing. I just signed up for a text plan today in fact.
16. Where do you think marketers are going wrong in terms of reaching people online?
They are thinking 1950s marketing and that just doesn’t work as well anymore. Ever see the TV show MadMen on A&E? A Brilliant program that points out just how ham-handed marketing used to be and too often still is. If I want something I will go looking for it. Most likely on the web, and then to the local retailer. If I like it I will buy it. We are all sick of being bombarded with marketing messages.
17. Do you think Second Life the world will ever become all that it was hyped up to be five years ago?
I never got second life either. Maybe I am spoiled from my Everquest, World of Warcraft and Battlefield 1942 experiences. Why would I want to enter a virtual world that is just like the real world? I can do to a real bar down the street. I can buy a real car in the real world. But I can’t get in a time machine and land on Omaha Beach on D Day. I can’t enter some fantasy world and fight dragons in the real world. That’s fun. That’s fantasy, That’s an escape from real life. Second life is a lame virtual version of real life. I just don’t see the value in that. I could be wrong. /shrug
18. Is the blogosphere and podcasting replacing print and traditional media?
A lot of people think so, but I do not. At least not yet. They are enhancing print, radio and television. They are integrating with all forms of traditional media and making them better. Could they some day replace all print and terrestrial radio and TV? Maybe someday. I can’t see the future but to me it looks more like an integration of the web, and TV, and print.
19. Is there enough cultural/ethnic diversity in the blogging/social community industries? Do you think we are doing enough to draw from the intellectual capital of different communities?
Yes and no. The blogosphere is more diverse than traditional media (someone has actually studied that) and that isn’t just a matter of ethnicity or gender. That includes points of view and the focus of the content. You can find blogs about anything, from trout fishing in Montana http://willfishforwork.com/ to a blog solely about African American Politics http://africanamericanpolitics.wordpress.com. Do a search on either issue and I promise you will find lots of choices.
20. What’s your favorite quote—what words/philosophy do you live by?
"Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present."
I’m told Eleanor Roosevelt was the first to say it, but I first heard it from Mike Ditka on NFL today hehe.
