Internet Geek Girl

(Jason Calacanis and Stephanie Agresta at the Bellagio Hotel, Olives Restaurant)

Go ahead, try to deny it. It would be tough. Jason Calacanis has been doing this his entire career – beginning with Silicon Alley Reporter, then Weblogs, Inc. and now with his latest venture, Mahalo. The Affiliate Marketing industry was lucky enough to harness Jason’s “outsider energy” last week in Vegas at Affiliate Summit West 2008, where he gave the keynote speech. Never before has a keynote speaker created such a flurry at this show. I suspect Shawn and Missy knew of Jason’s history at another marketing show, and were eager to start an important dialogue in the community. That’s how they roll.

I like it when the feathers fly. I suspect, so does Jason. He challenges assumptions, keeps an open mind and is great at calling a spade a spade. I like that about him. Oh yeah – he also has superior taste in television shows and cars.

In the last week there has been a terrific swirl of conversation in the blogosphere about Jason’s take on the industry and the future direction of affiliate marketing in general. For background, I suggest you read Sam Harrelson’s live blogging entry at ReveNews. You can also catch some of Jim Kukral’s video coverage here. Or listen to the keynote on Webmaster Radio. Jason did an great job documenting his experience as well, and capturing the follow up comments.

Basically the world fell into a few camps. The “offended” ones; the defiant ones; and the grateful ones. I’ll save my feedback for them for their blog comments (everyone could use some more blog comment activity).

I find it interesting that this conversation mostly stems from the publisher perspective. It’s true that advertisers are less likely to pipe up, but let me try to speak on their behalf. Advertisers are interested in working with REAL PARTNERS. Not people who hide their identity and their methods. Much like a PR firm that connects with media outlets, our agency “pitches” new merchants to established communities of publishers (affiliates) that are adding real value to their consumers, such as Upromise, Ebates, iGive, and Kaboodle. Check out the list of “good guys” that have been collected on Jason’s site. I agree with Shawn Collins that it’s time for the NETWORKS to step up to the challenge of being better gatekeepers.

Well – we all have lots of action items to attend to. I’d like to personally thank Shawn, Missy and Jason for making the keynote so meaningful.

And now onto the networking, InternetGeekGirls’ favorite part:

As Jason Falls knows, offline events are the best way to make connections with people. Affiliate Summit is THE SHOW for the performance marketing industry; always has been. Check out my flickr stream and Tris Hussey’s flickr set for some amazing shots from the event. The ShareASale party was also a highlight (big congrats to Brian Littleton for winning the “Legend” Award and to his staff for a fine display of community and energy). The party was full of great conversations with the smartest people in the space. I had the chance to talk to Lisa Picarille of Revenue Magazine, Kristin Fox from Gaiam, Steve Rosenbaum from Magnify.net, JP Werlin from Downtown Ecommerce and Wil Reynolds of SEER Interactive.

As a social columnist focused on style and substance — the big loud clubs aren’t exactly my scene. I prefer the smaller, more intimate affairs. The blog lounge, sponsored by B5Media, was full of cool people – in particular Karen Jackie and Dana Rockel of ContentRobot. However, I have to toot my own horn for a minute and say that the Social Media Panel, moderated by Sam Harrelson, was probably the most fun I’ve had in a long time, or at least in the prior 2 weeks.

I’d like to give a shout out to Affiliate Summit first-timers: iJustine, Tris Hussey, Rick Calvert, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Deb Schultz! Thank you all for your energy and support.

Hat tip to Affiliate Summit for giving us all the opportunity to come together to build our businesses, exchange ideas, have some fun, and most importantly – spend time with the people we work with day in and day out to enhance affiliate channel sales.

My fellow New Yorkers are in for a treat this summer. The next Affiliate Summit is in Boston [sign up now and save - this is not an affiliate link]. A bit closer than Vegas (or Florida). With Cory Booker keynoting, right before the Democratic national convention, I hope more feathers will fly.

Ok, ok…I know I haven’t posted in awhile. And I truly feel bad about that. It’s been a whirlwind of a few weeks – jetting from NJ to SF, Silicon Valley, Santa Barbara and back. Stay tuned though, because there are changes in the air for InternetGeekGirl. I got some very good advice from a leading editor in the tech industry, and a re-launch will be happening on my 1 year anniversary – March 9! As a side note, (and I’m happy to have deep philosophical conversations about this), I have been Twittering the whole time.

NB: See all the cool pics and reviews of “InternetGeekGirl and her bub.blicio.us friends Meet in Palo Alto to Fill the GapingVoid and Have a Conversation!” (here and here).

In other news…it’s time for Affiliate Summit! I’ll be arriving in Vegas this Saturday, and excited about the Social Media Panel, which I will be on with the following Twitterati: Sam Harrelson (moderator), Deborah Schultz, Chris Brogan, Tris Hussey, and iJustine. Don’t forget to follow @AffiliateSummit and @asw08 (group account) on Twitter.

We will be giving away t-shirts from cool, web2.0 start ups during our panel – so if you’d like to send yours along to the Rio Hotel – feel free. Here’s the address (make sure it arrives no later than 2/24 and goes to my attention):

Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino

3700 W. Flamingo Road

Las Vegas, NV 89103

1-800-Play-Rio
ATTN: STEPHANIE AGRESTA (AFFILIATE SUMMIT – ARRIVAL DATE 2/23)
Cell: 646-408-3318

InternetGeekGirl will also be the hostess with the most-ess in the blog lounge, so we’ll pass them out there as well.Refreshments provided by B5 Media.

BTW – don’t miss Andrew Wee’s Affiliate Summit Las Vegas Survival Guide!

See y’all in Vegas!

Social media has the power to heal. From the Frozen Pea Fund to the stories of support and friendship that pop up on Twitter – I see daily examples of how important this medium has become to our social fabric.

Lance Armstrong and The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) team have long used the Internet to drive grassroots support for their charitable efforts. Many of you know that I’m all about LIVESTRONG. Well – Lance is on the road again, and he and his team of awesome volunteers will be in New Orleans on January 29th and 30th, helping to build new homes for cancer survivors and their families. Working with Habitat for Humanity (HFH), the LAF team will relocate New Orleans-area families who have faced the twin challenges of fighting cancer and displacement by Hurricane Katrina.

Can you believe it’s been almost two and a half years since Hurricane Katrina and there are still so many people lacking basic shelter? To use a favorite geek phrase: WTF?!? This is truly one of the great tragedies of our collective journey these last few years. I hope that our country elects a President that can start showing true leadership and unite us in efforts to improve ourselves and the world. Let’s not wait until November. Let’s start using our energy, skills, resources and talent TODAY to help those around us and send out positive vibes every where we go. Please make a donation to help Lance, LAF and HFH build homes for cancer survivors in New Orleans. Even $10 makes a difference.

There is no question that social media has the power to transform markets, communities, culture, and news. And let’s not forget the impact it has had on plain old socializing. Like all powerful tools, it can be used to harm and to heal. I choose HEAL. I hope you join me in the effort to make things just a little bit better. I realize we all don’t have time and resources to give of ourselves every day, but every little bit counts so please give something, no matter how small. Your support can come in many ways. The LiveStrong Facebook App (which Scott and Jeff Rozic developed) has over 80,000 users! That’s 80,000 small acts that have added value and support to hundreds of thousands of REAL PEOPLE. Please do whatever you can: yes, give some $, but also consider adding a social cause app on your facebook profile, telling a friend about your favorite charity, putting frozen peas in your avatar, VOTING, smiling at a stranger, bringing food to a food bank, hugging your family! Spread the LOVE.

Lance, Susan, Chris B (my house buildin’ pal), and all the cancer survivors out there that are using the Internet to help others HEAL – we are with you!!

And what a year it has been. I am grateful for all my awesome friends and colleagues. Hope you enjoy these shots from the many industry conferences and networking events I attended this year. Thank you all for your support. Have an awesome holiday and successful 2008.

I look forward to seeing you next year!

Last week Hugh Macleod used his cartoon defibrillator and his witty word smithing to revive blogging! Last December at this time, the analysts at Gartner made their predictions for 2007 and they said that blogging will peak next year and all the hype will fizzle out. They weren’t the only ones writing about the death of blogging. Hugh on the other hand has provided us with quite a different view on this (still emerging) media:

If you have something to say, then a blog offers a cheap, easy global medium in which to express yourself. This is as true now as it was three years ago, regardless of what the groovy cats in Silicon Valley may be up to.

Whether you have the time and the talent for it, “i.e. the skill and the will”, is another matter altogether. Also, whether other people will want to read it, is something one has little control over. But in both cases, the same is true for all other media.

This got me thinking – and truthfully – feeling quite guilty for not blogging lately. Blogging is not dead for me (as the title suggest, I’ve just been insanely busy). I suppose Twitter and Facebook serve as creative outlets for the time-deprived. [NOTE: I posted my 1000th Tweet on Nov. 5th, which means I did about 230 Tweets in a month.] Yum… metrics! Bottom line here is – in 2008, I commit to making more time for me and for blogging! (Are they one in the same?!?)

I think my Twitter, Flickr and Facebook are important tools that go hand and hand with this blog (not separate from it). In fact, I think all marketers would benefit from maximizing the cross-promotional synergies of blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Magnify, Utterz, Seesmic, , and all the many social networks out there. Hey and let’s not forget off line expression. Be creative and build your micro brand (or macro one!)

If Marshal McLuhan is right and “the medium is the message,” the focus should be on the various ways human beings extend themselves, and how these extensions affect our relationships with others (and as a marketer I would add, with companies).

You may *prefer* one form of extension to another, but IMHO if you’re not making use of the depth and breadth of what’s out there, you’re not doing a good enough job. Fear not – there are lots of people out there to help you.

In addition to my (now relieved) guilt – the real message here is that Hugh’s work really cracks me up. I love his clever cartoons and bon mot. I know, so do lots of people (1840 Followers as of 10 pm EST on 12/7) . I’m just a fangirl! Oh yeah – I’m also just the cutey-pie you met in a bar.