Topics for 1/17/10 Show

Here are the proposed topics for this week's episode of The BeanCast. Please feel free to send in your thoughts and questions.

You have two ways to get in touch: 1) Send an "@" reply or DM on Twitter to @thebeancast, or 2) send an email to beancast@gmail.com

Please keep your comments succinct. Wordy comments need to be interpreted and I may not capture the essence of what you are asking. That's why I encourage the Tweet option to help keep the question or thought targeted.

This week's panel will be Bill Green (MTLB), Joseph Jaffe (Powered), Åsk Wäppling (Adland.tv) and Dave Wilkie (Where's My Jetpack?).

TOPICS

Fundraising Proving Tech: We just did a story last week on this being the year of mobile, and then the Haiti earthquake happened showcasing both the power and limitations of the tech. First, let's talk about the good stuff. Joe, how has mobile really shined in this crisis? How did the mobile campaigns work? What will be the long-ranging implications of these fundraising successes? Is this a good PR success story for the mobile carriers as well? Why and why not? What are the implications to for-profit businesses? What limitations became painfully obvious this week? What dangers do both fundraisers and contributors need to watch for? How did social media play a role? Could the mobile success have happened without the social part of the equation? What can non-profits take away about the role of social in their efforts? And we should probably promote the most well-known of the efforts. If you'd like to contribute to the Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, just text HAITI to 90999 and $10 will automatically be charged to your monthly bill.

The NBC Debacle: Our friend Mr. Jaffe has been crowing for two weeks about having been right in predicting the failure of the Leno 10 o'clock experiment. But, Joe, could you have imagined the debacle that has resulted? Where did NBC go wrong? Was this ill-considered or did they just not have enough tolerance for the risk they were taking? What about the PR aspect of things? Can the Tonight Show recover? What does Conan do now?

An Online Show, Shows The Way: Speaking of plays Conan could make, could he make a play for an online show? The success of the Ikea backed Easy To Assemble is being heralded as the first online success on par with broadcast success. What makes this effort particularly interesting is it's ties to branded entertainment. Is this effort replicable? Will we see more successes soon, or is this still years off? In terms of Conan, Google obviously had half a billion to throw at Yelp. Why not throw a portion of that Conan's way to feature a nightly show on YouTube? Is America ready for this? Would advertisers follow?

Google Exits China: God, more Google news! Google is trying to take the high road in China, citing privacy and human rights issues after a recent coordinated hacking attack from within China as their reason for pulling out of the country. Is this coming a little too late to be genuine? What's troubling about all these events, both in terms of what China did and what Google has been so slow to do? What about the broader cyber attack by China? Why is this concerning.

Twhite Twexy Tweethearts: I don't know why we expect any better from Vanity Fair, but their Twitter Tweethearts piece is causing some backlash this week for two reasons. First, there's the issues of why were there were no, as Hadji Williams says, "People of Color?" An Ad Age piece on the subject points out that the trending topics of Twitter are dominated by black culture. Is this just another example of living in a Twitter bubble? Hadji commented on the Ad Age piece that this is another example of white people being credited as the source of authority. Is this a fair charge? The other controversy was the picture that was used. All these women featured, (social strategist Julia Roy (31,000 followers), publicist Sarah Evans (33,000 followers), travel journalist Stefanie Michaels (1.4 million followers), actress Felicia Day (1.6 million followers), lifecaster Sarah Austin (24,000 followers), and marketer Amy Jo Martin (1.2 million followers)) were featured wearing only trench-coats and high-heels. Does this trivialize the roles these women play as well? Is it example of the shallow way most people use/think about Twitter?