Holtz Communications + Technology

The end of the year brings three profound examples of the mainstreaming of social media.

First, there’s the Frozen Pea Fund and all related conversation around Susan Reynolds’ battle with breast cancer. Thousands of dollars have been raised through ad hoc campaign that cost essentially nothing, based on a connection made with people who had never met Susan personally. The grass roots…

Have you ever wondered how the fearless band of For Immediate Release podcast reporters actually records their contributions to the twice-weekly show?

Wonder no more as Dan York, FIR’s correspondent in Burlington, Vermont, USA, shows how it’s done.

The report Dan’s recording in this seesmic video is included in FIR #303.

Nice work, Dan!

[Later] Dan’s also posted about his video recording experience.

In episode 278 of For Immediate Release, I reported on a brouhaha erupting over Facebook’s deletion of a user’s account that included a photo of her breast-feeding her child.

A variety of actions followed Facebook’s action (you don’t want to mess with lactivists), including the production of a protest video uploaded to YouTube—where it was banned. Not about to be silenced, The League of Maternal Justice…

Someone wrote recently—I didn’t make a note of who it was—that social media is an inappropriate venue for business because contracts are the language of business and therefore businesses cannot speak with an informal, authentic, human voice. What reactionary bunk. Corporations may be legal entities but they won’t exist without people. But the business world is populated by a lot of like-minded people who…

I’ve been pondering the route “Quarterlife” has taken to network television. The series (which ABC rejected) became a Web-only series, where it grew so popular that NBC has picked it up as a midseason replacement.

While many have touted “Quarterlife” as a first, it’s worth remembering that “South Park” got its start as a short film the show’s creators developed for a Fox executive to use as an emailed video Christmas…

I’m particularly sensitive right now to the burden carried by U.S. soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Tomorrow, my 26-year-old son, Ben, leaves for 25 days at Ft. Benning followed by 400 days in Iraq. Ben served a three-year enlistment with the 101st Airborne and was in Iraq for a year as part of the invasion force. He’s been out of the Army…