Thanks to @seanpaune, This is Now My Desktop Background

It just doesn’t get any better than this.

And if it does, someone, please bottle it, sell it, and give me royalties. We’ll be rich.

I’m Over Here Now [FAQ]

As of last Friday – the only place to get regular updates from me is here at rizzn.com. Change your email address for me to guesswho@rizzn.com.

Unfortunately, given the amount of buzz going on around the tubes at the moment, I can’t publicly address or answer questions regarding the nature of my departure for my former position. None-the-less, at this point I don’t bear anyone any ill will, and still treasure the time I’ve spent blogging the last fifteen months or so.

It was a great opportunity, and a great learning experience to see what the media world looks like from atop a mountain instead of always being in the unseen trenches.

The questions I’ve seen that I can address and clear up is what’s on the horizon for me next (or at least I can attempt to clear that up).

What Am I Going to be Doing Next?

That’s a real good question. As many of you know, I’m in the midst of a move to Dallas that’s set to conclude the 27th of this month. As such, I’m very interested in what sort of opportunities I’m going to find there.

What’s even more interesting has been the flood of very cool and enticing offers that I’ve seen in just the last few days. This is a brand new experience for me – generally, I’m used to scraping and clawing for every consulting gig I can come across.  Now that word is spreading that I’m a free agent, I’m getting people actually trying to compete to employ my talents.

This, needless to say, is awesome, and contributes to my already over-sized ego.

Because I have a glut of opportunity now doesn’t mean I’m not interested in your proposal.  Email me with it <guesswho@rizzn.com>. All reasonable offers will be considered (“Let’s cut a deal!”).

For other ways to contact me, just hit up the site. There’s a ton of contact links on it now.

This Site Looks Really Different, By The Way

Yeah, thanks for noticing. This whole thing is a custom coding job I’ve been slowly evolving for the last several months, with a bunch of major additions that I’ve been slipping into the background over the last two weeks in anticipation of this move (yeah, I sorta saw some writing on the wall).

As many of you know (if you’ve been paying attention at all), I tried to launch a web series called “TENtech,” which was a great idea in theory. Problem was, it’s Christmas-time. People are busy. Out of the many contributors that I had signed on to help out, only a few of them ended up being able to contribute.

So as a result, I’m going back to the basics. My favorite thing to do over the last fifteen months was the interview podcast series. I’m going to do the same thing here.  I’m going to interview interesting people on camera, most likely via remote video, and display the raw feeds here on Rizzn.com.

On that note, if you’re a CEO or in the PR for a cool tech company and you have a webcam, drop me a line, and let’s get you on the show.  I have a ton of subscribers, and I’ve been told I’m pretty fun to talk to.

I don’t have the feeds set up yet, but if you’re subscribed to any of my past video feeds, you’ll likely be getting the show as it comes out.  If not, just check back here at the site, I’m sure the details will be prominently plastered everywhere.

Also, New Blogs: Social Networking and ROBOTS!

I’ve been regularly updating a blog that only a few people read, “Rizzn’s Robots” (feeds.feedburner.com/rizzn/robots). It’s something I’ve been interested in doing for a long time, and for some reason never got around to getting done.  I’ve found that the updates are easy to do and flow out of me quick, so I think the site will be sustainable from a passion perspective.

If you like robots at all (and if you don’t, what the hell is wrong with you?), I’d strongly suggest you subscribe to it, or at least scroll through what’s there.

I’ve also launched a new blog called “Rizzn’s Socnets” (feeds.feedburner.com/rizzn/socnets). It’s essentially the sort of social media news I’ve been posting the last fifteen months, but here and not there. There aren’t a lot of bloggers that still religiously cover the podcasting and video beats like I do, so I wanted to keep a place where the neglected stories can get some coverage here.

As of last night, I’ve also signed some deals to have at least two new writers come and work for Rizzn.com, and there’s word of me getting an intern as well, so hopefully I’ll be able to foster some community here at the site as well as making it a bit of a destination for the news in the style I like to convey.

So until someone else hires me into some sort of exclusive relationship to talk about those topics, I’ll be updating that feed here with whatever’s rumbling around in my head on the topic.

So Are You Signed With Another Outfit Yet?

No, not yet. I’m still fielding offers at the moment, and there are a number of enticing opportunities, but nothing has progressed far enough for me to say exactly where I’m going to land yet.

The Sappy Stuff

I’ve saved the sappy stuff for the end, because most of you are likely interested in the news of what I’m doing next and why I’m leaving and all that other mess.  Not to mention that for those of you interested in the personal angle, you hafta read through all my other self-promotion to get to this part.

All my former co-workers had an impact on my life, but I wanted to make special mention of the folks I had the closest contact with, the editorial team.

Pete Cashmore has been one of the most interesting folks to work for in my long history of having interesting bosses. He and I always had whirlwind conversations, and I’ve admired his insight and unique perspective on social media. Of all the bosses I’ve had, he’s been one of my favorites.

Adam Ostrow was a great Editor in Chief, and was cool to work w
ith this past year. He’s got a laid back style that made conflict resolution a breeze (because there’s always some sort of conflict to resolve). That didn’t prevent him from relentlessly executing, and his expectations of his staff caused me to strive to constantly improve. I like to think I succeeded at that.

Stan Schroeder was an awesome editor. He always has a penchant for going straight to the heart of the matter and saying in five words what I take five paragraphs to say. His insight and feedback was something I always valued.

Sean P. Aune was probably the guy on staff with whom I had the most contact, and someone I count as a friend first before I count him as a co-worker. He and I had a blast doing the video version of our podcast, but what was the most fun was commiserating over IM on whatever was the latest thing to vex we cranky bastards.

All the other writers and content producers who’ve worked directly for me over the last year also have been great additions to my life, most of which I also now count as friends and reliable business contacts. In no particular order (I hope I’m not forgetting anyone): Steven Hodson, Alana Taylor, Doriano “Paisano” Carta, Kristen Nicole, Art Lindsey III, and Saha.

As for all the PR people I’ve worked with over the last year – definitely keep me in your rolodex.  I’ve actually struck up rewarding friendships with a number of you, and I’ve enjoyed being kept constantly in the know by just opening my inbox.

Get Off My (Virtual) Lawn!

Just another cynical observation today, but it seems that with the election out of the way, and all of us settling into a routine of living in the world of our current “Great Depression,” it’s time to trot out the tired old tropes of the social media punditry world. 

• Pick some well established and known aspect of social media or Web 2.0 that’s a primary focus or recurring topic for the blog they’re writing on..
• .. talk about how poorly it’s monetized or harp on every single failure that company has had over the year(s)…
• .. and then somehow tie it into cynical overtones of how there’s a culture of stupid with a trite quote mangle like “Dude, where’s my business model?” or “Honey, I Shrunk the Payroll!”

I’m not naming names, but I’ll be honest, there are very few people in my business that have earned the right to write articles like that. Most of the ones who tend to write these articles either live and participate in the Silicon Valley culture… 

You know what? Skip that thought. The irony is that these people don’t realize that they absolutely require high levels of technology euphoria to continue in perpetuity if they want to keep collecting paychecks. The thing that they lazily work to undermine every day is what’s responsible for their lifestyle.

That never seems to prevent them from jumping on the bandwagon every single time Steve Rubel puts up a blog post with the Kool-Aid guy in it, though.

As a total aside to the point of this blog post – did anyone ever stop to ask what the hell Steve was trying to alude to when he made that post? The title was “The Web 2.0 World is Skunk Drunk on Its Own Kool-Aid.” What does that mean?  Is it an allusion to cults? Like Jim Jones, drinking the Kool-Aid?  Is it saying that the Web 2.0 world is hick-ish or redneck-y (skunk drunk is a southern or rural colloquialism). 

Does Steve even know the answers to these questions? Everyone just started quoting it (including me) as if it made any sort of sense.

To try to bring it back to my original point, I think that form of “critical opinion piece” is the laziest form of editorial (and I know a little bit about lazy – and editorials). It’s essentially setting up a straw man, something easy to knock down, but for the purpose of no greater cause. 

In debate, a straw man fallacy is typically used to prop up some sort of overarching point or position, but too often I see it used just as a way to sound like they’re adding analysis to a story. 

“Oh look, YouTube is putting full length movies up but guess who forgot to set up a business model!”  And then comes the “Oh, when will Google start making money?”

Anyone who’s ever,  I don’t know, looked at a Google quarterly income report or even a traffic report on YouTube.com knows that the company is probably making more than any two or three other video purveyors on the net combined. Is it a perfect business model? No. Are they best utilizing their assets? Probably not.

But actual analysis is too hard for these people, so they just toss up a couple lines about how Web 2.0 is known for not having business models and call it a day.

This isn’t me calling out insightful cynics like Steven Hodson, Sean Aune, Loren Feldman or even (on occasion) Drama 2.0. All of these folks either work in the actual trenches of this business or have the age and thus the perspective to make these sorts of calls. I’m talking about the pundits for which this bubble/bust cycle is their first rodeo, and the ones that don’t seem to have any particular area of expertise yet still talk about all aspects of Web 2.0 as if they know everything.

It’s annoying as hell. Heck, I know I’m wrong on occasion, and I know I annoy a lot of folks. My goal is generally to stick to criticizing things where I know what I’m talking about though – and I wish it were a rule more people stuck with. 

I’ll put it another way, and then I’ll stop banging this drum: I remember a time when the blogosphere’s most highly read blogs and indie news sites were places where you could find accurate and informed information – stuff that put to shame the Old Media stuff. I mean, those of us doing this five or ten years ago would look at what would pass for tech news at the New York Times, CNN or on MSNBC and generally laugh our asses off.

These days, I’m even seeing local Dallas network TV and newspapers doing tech news that rivals in quality what shows up in parts of the supposedly “respected tech blogosphere.”

That’s something to think about, if you do this for a living.

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5 Friggin' Fantastic Blogs

BlogDay this thing thought up by some folks who want bloggers to honor bloggers. I’ve been blogging since the 90s, and this is the first I’ve heard of it. I’m pretty much already on the outs with anyone who owns a computer, these days, since I’m not a card carrying Democrat. That pretty much means I’m required to participate in these sorts of memes so that folks can take breaths between meltdowns induced by my political beliefs (real or perceived).

The idea here is that I recommend my readers 5 others blogs that I read/like/would recommend. Get your clicking finger handy, here they come:

Sean Kennedy : You wanna talk crazy politics? This is your guy. He’s one of the founders of RantRadio, and is probably most famous for instigating the Wog movement (that is, anti-Scientology) and his Suicide Rant. He’s currently the host of the NewsReal podcast and is finishing up his latest novel, an adaptation of the Afternow audio drama. Links to all that crap are on his blog. Eat it all up.

StarterTech : Remember that thing I said about early adopters? You know I was right. We all know or are related to folks who just don’t get it. Sean P. Aune, fellow writer at Mashable, does this site and gets it right (and gets it so that the newbs can understand).

WinExtra : You know Steven Hodson. Why aren’t you subscribed to him yet?

Chris Brogan : Dude just rocks. He knows everyone, knows darn near everything, and seems to get along with everyone. If you don’t like Chris, there might be something wrong with you.

Michelle Greer : Based on what I’ve read and who I’ve met about and in Austin, if you want to get into the scene there, you need to know her. I put her on the 13 important tech blogs of Austin list, and I got a bunch of accolades for it. Her blog is updated on a similarly frequent-but-inconsistent basis mine is. She’s busy. That’s a good sign.

I Appeared on ScatterCast

As many of you know, I’m some sort of podcasting fanatic. On a typical day, I’ve recorded at least two podcasting sessions, either for me, for Mashable, or as an appearance on someone else’s podcast. If I’m not on a podcast, I’m blogging about podcasts. Sometimes I have phonecalls with other companies about their podcasts. I have podcasts coming out my nose.

Sean P. Aune, one of my buddies who works with me over at Mashable and does the Mashable Conversations video podcast with me had me on his podcast: ScatterCast:

This week I brought on Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins that I work with over at Mashable, and he has his own blog at Rizzn.com. Mark has been involved with podcasting for years, so we have a nice discussion about the history of the format, why it’s become popular and where he sees it going in the years to come. He’s probably forgotten more about the format than most people have ever even known, so it’s an interesting look into the thoughts of one of the biggest advocates of this style of chat show.

We had a good time – definitely worth a listen. Also a subscribe.