Whenever I travel, I like to stop and watch the street performances different cities have to offer.  Whether it is an improvised drum corp on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, an acoustic guitar soloist in the Union Square subway station in NYC, or kids dancing at Jackson Square in New Orleans, I’m intrigued by the idea of putting out an empty hat and putting on a show. 

The successful street performers have great talent and are unabashed in sharing it with you before you even throw coin their way.  In fact, they probably wouldn’t make much as much money if they made you pay before the show started.  I’m willing to guess street performances have been around pretty much as long as we’ve had streets.  So is it any surprise to see this concept alive and well on the internet?  

The recent YouTube awards announcement offers a fresh example.  I stumbled upon the series “The Guild” a few months back and had forgotten about it until I read that it won the “Best Series” award.  It’s a funny series of shorts chronicling a group of hardcore online gamers and the comedy that happens when their real lives mix with their online lives.

When I went to their site to catch up on the latest episodes, I found their pitch for donations so they can shoot the next episode.  That’s the power of the internet.  Small groups of talented people can get together and create something that anyone in the world can stumble across.  

For those of us who connect with it, we also have the ability to throw a few coins in the hat to keep the entertainment flowing.  No one is stopping the show to shill their product in your face.  Instead, those who like it can pitch in.  Those who pause for a moment and don’t feel compelled, can keep walking.   

This approach is also working for musical performers and corporations.  We each have the ability to package up a great performance, put it out there, and let people connect to it.  Whether it’s a viral video or some cool desktop widget, your organization can showcase its talents, inspire people to act for your cause, or spark new thinking in someone who knows you already.

What type of street performance can you bring to this corner of the internet?    

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Can you tell I’m feeling a bit emboldened now that I am a Media Mogul?  I can see a difference in the way doors are opening up for me.  They’re swinging open left, right, and all around me.

Within the past two weeks, I have launched my own social community, created two YouTube channels, produced and distributed five videos, had politicians cave to my demands, covered my first presidential campaign rally, had my first government leak, fielded emails from as far away as Australia, and have become personally acquainted with the local press.  

How much did it cost me to launch my media empire?  About $25.  That’s right, I reached “medial mogul” status for less than the cost of tank full of gas.  I’m not kidding.

So what’s my secret?  I’m connected.  Oh, and I developed a strategy that involved Ning.com’s free social community platform, YouTube’s free global video distribution, my MacBook Pro’s software, and my digital video camera.  The only cost I incurred was paying a minor monthly fee to remove Google ads from my Ning site.

Check out the 150+ member social network I launched to persuade the local school district not to relocate their high school softball complex to the recreation fields at our nearby elementary school.  Or watch three videos we produced to raise awareness and make our point.  [Keep in mind - I have no programming skills, no website development skills, no videography training, and full agreement that I belong in business development - not on the production studio team.] 

If that’s what I can do by myself, imagine what an aspiring organization like yours can pull off when it partners with the true digital media experts we have here at Mediasauce.  

What kind of revolution do you want to start?

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I was born in the shadows of the home of the late William Jennings Bryan, three-time Populist presidential candidate famous for his “Cross of Gold” speech and an unshakable belief in the common man.  Maybe that’s why I like rooting for the underdog.  Yes, I get teary-eyed at the climax scenes of Dead Poets Society and Hoosiers.  (Just thinking of the line ”Oh Captain, my Captain!” sends shivers down my spine.)

So it’s pretty easy to see why I’d want to highlight how the Broadband Revolution balances the playing field for the proverbial little guy.  A veteran of alumni associations, neighborhood associations, and school boards, I have folded, stuffed, and hand-delivered my share of newsletters, calls-to-action, and meeting invites.  That’s a lot of work and can be a great excuse to stay on the couch watching TV, instead of doing something in the name of justice.

This week, I’ve been inspired by the small town of Whiting, Indiana.  The home of Pierogi Fest is in danger of losing its city status, due to an unintended consequence of state legislation.  On Sunday night, they launched a website to get their case heard by the state legislature before it completes its session this week.  In the first three days, they have already obtained 3,000 signatures and generated an untold amount of emails sent directly to politicians and journalists. 

How can you do something like that? 

With our help, they launched a “Call to Action” website with five ways a person could very quickly voice their opinion and get others involved. Knowing we could leverage the power of peoples’ existing relationships, we started with a small email database and asked for their help in spreading the word. With a few keystroke and clicks, the movement has multiplied.

That’s the power of digital media. 

With just one day left in the legislative session, you can help by going to www.SaveWhiting.com and rally the cause.  

You can’t say it’s too much work…

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It was this past Wednesday morning as I was driving with two of my colleagues when it hit me.  This decade is almost over.  Has it really been eight years since people wore those “2000″ party sunglasses in Times Square?  

It does seem like a lifetime ago that the main technology topic was the Y2K bug.  Now that 2001: A Space Odyssey is further away than its sequel, how far have we come?  

One word – convergence.  

As I bounced from Cincinnati to Indianapolis to Chicago and back to Indianapolis this week, I accomplished the same amount of work with my iPhone and laptop from the road than if I had been anchored to an office and desktop computer.  In some ways, I accomplished more.  

Thanks to the creation of advanced web applications like YouTube, Salesforce.com, Google Apps, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Ning and the ability to connect to these websites from my iPhone, I am able to connect to others and contribute my thoughts and ideas from anywhere that has cell coverage.  What’s amazing to me is that everything in this paragraph hasn’t been around longer than three years.   

Here’s just a sampling of I what checked off my To-Do list from the road:

• Started a neighborhood social network website in twenty minutes;
• Created a sales presentation slide show and exported it to my iPhone;
• Researched prospective clients using LinkedIn and other websites; and
• Found the website of Hot Doug’s, a gourmet hot dog place in Chicago, and got driving directions from the street corner I was standing.

 Pretty cool especially when you consider I have no programming skills and average computer skills.  If that’s possible now for a person like me, what do you think will the next three years bring?

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Somewhere along the way I heard this observation:

People are shaped by the friendships they keep, books they read, television programs they watch, and audiotapes they listen to.  

Even though it’s a bit dated (what are audiotapes?), the core message remains the same.  Each of us are influenced by the connections we have with the rest of the world.

A few news items caught my attention this week that underscores this point. First, NPR ran a story on the declining importance of newspaper endorsements in the presidential election. Makes sense when you consider how the internet has created new avenues of news gathering and opinion sharing. That’s why the candidates are investing greatly into communicating their messages directly to the voters and grassroots volunteers. [See techpresident.com for more.]

The second news item was the New York Philharmonic’s performance in North Korea. Part of the agreement was that the performance had to be broadcast live and uninterrupted on the government radio network. That had to be something to go from isolation to hearing Gershwin’s American in Paris. To put it in context, take a moment to view a satellite photo of North Korea at night.

For those who understand the power of connections, digital media offers great opportunity. Let’s start by updating the original quote:

People are shaped by the Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections they accept, websites they frequent, YouTube channels they watch, and Podcasts and RSS feeds they subscribe to.

And, perhaps even more important, people are being defined by the contributions they make to the internet. My colleague, Sarah Robbins, spoke about this concept on Friday at our Social Media Mania event at IUPUI. Companies and organizations are no longer satisfied tracking how many people visit their website and open their emails. They are growing more interested in seeing who joins their social network groups, responds to blog postings, posts YouTube content, and engages with them in other ways.

With that in mind, what connections are important to you? What connections define people today?

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