Like I’ve said before, if you’re not taking advantage of the social media you have access to, you will get burned by your competitors in the future. People want to interact with each other – plain and simple. Don’t focus on pushing your customers to buy your product. Instead, focus on providing value and use your business as a fun excuse for people to connect with one another.

And make sure the experience you give them is worth talking about.

9/17/08 – UPDATE: Will someone please leave a comment below explaining the wild upswing in popularity of this article?  I have no idea where this surge of traffic is coming from or why.  And yes, I am aware that you’re reading this article because you love Metallica, and not me.  That goes without saying.

When Napster was around, Metallica strongly declared that they were against the sharing of music. So much, in fact, that they were releasing decoy songs on the P2P networks.

Now they’re trying to stop bloggers from reviewing their newest album. Seriously. I thought it was a joke at first, but one of the blogs removed the article to protect the author’s career. It is pretty mind-boggling that Metallica could make this kind of mistake twice.

Once again, Metallica’s image will be tarnished in the eyes of the people who truly matter: the people who talk about them. They’re the ones who will spread this story, making sure all of Metallica’s fans and haters hear about it.

The beautiful thing about the Internet is that anyone who works at it can have power. Power to critique, analyze, sell, etc. to a certain group of people. When someone tries to stop those who earned that power, it upsets the people who care the most.

Leverage the medium, don’t try to hinder it. Paradoxically, the best way for you to gain control is to make it seem like everyone else has some control. So give all the power to your customers/fans. Encourage discussion: your community will appreciate it, and you won’t lose credibility. Those are the rules. Learn to play by them.

http://www.bbctraining.com/onlineCourses.asp

Naturally, the BBC is on top of things. Aren’t they the greatest?

The cool thing about the Internet is that it makes a lot of awesome stuff free.  You can essentially get a masters’ level education by watching classes on your iPod (if you have the patience and willpower to do so).  But there are always a few industries that lag behind because they want to maintain control.

I couldn’t find anything that didn’t charge, so correct me if I’m wrong, but why are there no free online film schools?  The web was made for something like that.  I envision a retired film professor giving video lectures via YouTube, then starting up a supplementary discussion forum.

Film schools are super expensive, and I’ve read that a lot of film students don’t think it’s worth it.  It will make you a better filmmaker but that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a spot in Hollywood.

Find a way to teach this stuff effectively and for free, and you will gain a following in a hurry.

I love the concept behind this. It takes the user updates from Twitter and shuffles through random sentences that begin with specific phrases. For instance, I saw a sentence in the “Hate” category that said “I hate… ordering panini sandwiches because I have to say panini.”

This site is very simple. It’s colorful, slightly cluttered (yet aesthetically pleasing), and it has small punctuated movements. But most importantly, it’s remarkable and entertaining. It feeds our desire to get a small taste of other people’s thoughts, even if they’re total strangers. The name of the site (Twistori) is perfect, too.

Twistori is an experimental site, and I have no idea how/if they make money. But the design and content of the site are both great. It could evolve into a voting site, where you get a ‘Best of Craigslist‘ deal and all the funniest twitter updates are shown. Or Facebook could replicate this with their own “Facebook Tales” and have the best status updates shuffle through. I know that probably won’t happen, but who knows.

Keep the design of sites simple. If there’s going to be movement, it should complement or enhance the experience, not detract from it (I’m talking to you, every flash ad ever). And most of all, make your content personal, entertaining, and remarkable.