just tristan.

milestone! 4sq’s first commercial. Love Love Love this

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:26:50 -0800

milestone! 4sq’s first commercial. Love Love Love this

we made the NY Times, mom! :)

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:48:42 -0800

we made the NY Times, mom! :)

Crunchies! Me, Ron Conway (Ron = Awesome) and my buddy Ryan Amos...

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 01:31:25 -0800

Crunchies! Me, Ron Conway (Ron = Awesome) and my buddy Ryan Amos (co founder at Daily Booth)

baby’s first big big big partnership!...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:51:27 -0800

baby’s first big big big partnership! :)

dpstyles:

foursquare:

As you may know, every checkin on foursquare generates points and we display the top users on the leaderboard. Users from city to city compete using this “high score board for exploring your city” as a baseline.

About a month ago, we made some noise to trying to find a sponsor for our NYC leaderboard. We had this idea that if we could turn points into dollars, we could probably find some way to turn those dollars over to local charities.

And here we are, a month later, announcing a leaderboard sponsorship with Pepsi to do just that!

This week (starting last night, thru Sunday Dec 13 @ 11:59p), every point added to the foursquare leaderboard will be lead to Pepsi donating $0.04 to CampInteractive, an organization that helps empower inner-city youth through technology skills and mentoring.

We are *super excited* about this, not just because this is a great way to tie foursquare points into something in the real world, but *just like that* we’re about to raise about $10,000 for a great organization (btw, we capped the donation at 10,000 points / $10,000 as things can tend to get out of hand with foursquare :)

A quick round of thanks to our leadererboard sponsor Pepsi and to Adam Gillman & Simon Kirk at Techies Give Back (these two made it all happen!)

Also of note: Techies Give Back is holding an ice skating event this Sunday December 13 where every ticket sold allows a child to have a day out and another day of mentoring. You can buy tickets here. We hope to see you there!

SO SO SO RAD! foursquare: marsbot: Foursquare pins. Who wants...

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:13:10 -0800

SO SO SO RAD!

foursquare:

marsbot:

Foursquare pins. Who wants one?

baby’s first partnership deal! stay tuned for more of this...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:09:27 -0700

baby’s first partnership deal! stay tuned for more of this stuff!

well done. simply awesome.

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:49:01 -0700

well done. simply awesome.

Photo

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:48:29 -0700

...this is, without a doubt, a game changer

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:46:00 -0700

@jack, I agree. I love this iphone app. I mean, i absolutely love this app. If you havent downloaded this app yet, you are missing out, big time. Retail merchants, pay attention. This service will change the way you interact with consumers and build brand loyalty. My work on the twttr 101 sparked my obsession to help local businesses offer an innovative, unique customer service value proposition. 4sq is that channel. It’s live, and it’s real time. This is going to be big. more later.

architectural porn. this office is so dope.

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:11:00 -0700

architectural porn. this office is so dope.

...twttr 101.

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:09:00 -0700

finally finished my first year @stanford business school. learned a ton, and had the opportunity to meet some really dope people. also, had an amazing time working with Twitter this spring, under the guidance of Anamitra Banerji, the new Product Manager there, and Santosh Jayaram, head of Business Operations. Two brilliant guys with a great vision for the company. I led a team of three GSB students to help twitter develop its 101 for business. Here it is: business.twitter.com. Check it out. Even my favorite TechCrunch writer liked what he saw! #win!

“Another thing that immediately jumps out about Twitter 101 are the case studies. They come from the likes of Dell, JetBlue, Teusner Wines, Current, Tasti D Lite, CoffeeGroundz, Etsy, NAKEDPizza, America Apparel and Pepsi. They are pretty well done…” — MG Siegler

ill take a “pretty well done” from MG Siegler any day.

later.

this is what keeps me going every, single day. so inspiring.

Sun, 17 May 2009 20:36:56 -0700

this is what keeps me going every, single day. so inspiring.

another shot at citizen journalism. take 2.

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 09:17:00 -0800

You know, it’s funny. I never thought I’d be thinking so much about the news industry, but each day I hear about reputable orgs going (or soon going) under (rocky mountain, sf chronicle, etc). And it’s sad. The industry is in shambles and needs a savior. But you know what? I really believe that the organizations, themselves, can be their own saviors.

Richard Gingras visited the d.School to chat about the future of journalism. And the man knows what he’s talking about. I sat, listened, put pen to paper and then let my mind run wild. Let me know what you think.

——-

Richard and I both strongly believe that news organizations really need to rethink the content architecture. The content, itself, is just fine. But major news orgs have to answer the following questions:

1) What is the day-to-day role of the reporter when creation and publication can be in the reporter’s own hands?

2) What is the day-to-day role of the editor in an edition-less environment, with a crowd of participants to lead, guide and harvest?

New organizations can start to answer these questions by no longer thinking of ephemeral streams of articles. They need to start thinking about articles as living resources (which Wikipedia does so damn well), always changing. Like Wikipedia, the companies can (and must) leverage the trusted crowd to create rich, compelling content. Richard would definitely agree. He says “Sure we will see some chaff but also a hell of a lot more wheat.” News organizations should learn to harvest high quality, self-determined work. They have the power to lead work into areas of interest or need and can certainly provide guidance on ethics and style. If they can then develop appropriate compensation models, there will be a huge benefit to those who develop the skills and processes to do this well.

At the end of the day, I am a true believer that ‘people trust people, and not institutions,’ and institutions are shrinking!

So, how can this be done?

1) The organizations’ value and values should be clear.

2) Delineate ethical policies and editorial processes.

3) Author’s bio/past ’work’ & contribution history. (this is something I have always wished Wikipedia would incorporate into their service. I would like to know how reputable the source is through some kind of feedback loop/system). Show the name of everyone involved, including the editor.

4) Give the editor ownership of their page/article.

5) Encourage the content providers to bring their followers to help in the creation of their content

6) Database Journalism. This is key. Create databases and build ongoing resources that are ever-changing

7) Pay based on page views/traffic

8) Watch the Marc Andreessen interview with Charlie Rose (about 17 times…and then 4 more times after that)

9) Read # 8 again.

Here it is. No excuses.

Peace.

a little twitter humor.

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:23:00 -0800

shameless plug: you can find me on Twitter @tristanwalker

peace.

saving journalism from newspapers.

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:36:31 -0800

This blog post was written by a partner of mine (Burt Herman) over at the d.School. We’re both taking the “Redesigning Journalism” (note prev. blog entry) class there with the goal to launch a venture within the journalism space. What follows are some some key tidbits from a presentation at IDEO by Gannett’s VP of innovation, Michael Maness, speaking from an old media perspective as one of the largest U.S. newspaper chains and publisher of USA Today:

“The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed.”

“The last old media brand has been created: Yahoo.”

Old media has focused on the “lean-back” audience of older daily newspaper consumers. The new audience is “lean-forward” who don’t merely consume but also produce media.

Average daily media consumption of a regular user is 8 hours, 40 minutes a day.

On old media: “We still value perfection over momentum.”

“The future is pro-am.”

“The new objectivity is built from multiple subjectivies.”

The “mode of information needs to match the channel.”

“Content must become simple, easy to share objects” that can move easily through distribution channels.

“We must shift from being a destination to enabling distribution.”

Audience and media need a “symbiotic relationship instead of parasitic.”

“Journalism needs to be saved from newspapers.”

Peace.

-(check out Burt’s blog here)-

out with the old. in with the new (media).

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:08:00 -0800

Studio execs need to wake up. The media industry is broken and the studio execs are left trying to pick up the pieces.

Today, the New York Times revealed that William Morris Talent Agency is close to signing a deal with YouTube that would allow its clients take ownership in the videos they produce by using YouTube’s massive distribution platform.

This deal is game changing. And it’s a win-win for both companies. The deal would allow clients of William Morris (i.e. Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Snoop Dogg, etc) to completely bypass studios and TV networks for content they wanted to create for the web. This offers a great opportunity for talent to get paid for content at a time when studios are greenlighting fewer and fewer films and cutting fees. The deal also would be a natural progression for YouTube because it allows the company to expand its professional content product offering from older cataloged content, to newer, fresh content. William Morris would also lure major consumer brands to YouTube’s programs as sponsors, which would be great for YouTube as they have been struggling to balance their massive viewership with the little ad dollars they receive against user generated content.

Previously, it may have made sense for studios to be reluctant to offer their best content in an ad-supported model, and instead distribute their content through Netflix-like channels. Well, at least until the Netflix Watch Now platform started its expansion program. The New York Times recently reported that the service will eventually allow users to watch any movie they want, at any time and at no extra charge. Studio execs just don’t get it. Who will need HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax on demand services when companies like Netflix and YouTube will eventually be able to stream any of the professional content (both cataloged content and fresh content) that we want to watch, and be able to do so cheaply?

Studios are losing control, and good for them. They are deserving. They are leaving too much money and too much opportunity on the table. Netflix and YouTube are cracking the code. Who wants a piece of the pie?

Peace.

great design that can make you 'smile'.

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:03:00 -0800

sick design from the guys over @ web design firm Studio Psyho.

This is just great design that works.

Studio Psyho needs to get this in stores. Immediately. I’m a buyer.

Peace.

tweetdeck. love it.

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:04:00 -0800

For those who need Twitter, here and now, and can’t see themselves having to use the standalone Twitter web application,Tweetdeck is the answer. TweetDeck is a dashboard application from Adobe Air that allows users to access Twitter directly from their desktops. Since its launch last summer, the service has been downloaded over 250,000 times with over 120,000 tweets per day, and for good reason. TweetDeck is the best Twitter experience out there. Hands down.

TweetDeck scooped up nearly $500,000 in seed funding from Betaworks. The service is one of the few apps (i.e. Twirl, Summize, Tipjoy and Stock Twits) developed within the Twitter ecosystem reported to have either secured funding or been acquired by another company.

If you haven’t tried TweetDeck yet, here’s why you should:

Tweetdeck just flat out works well. It’s clean and intuitive. Managing Twitter streams can really be a pain, but Tweetdeck makes it so easy. The application helps users organize tweets into different columns for general tweets, direct messages and replies. I can create separate sub groups of the people I follow on Twitter. The tweets that come into my stream from Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, Mashable and other bloggers are displayed in a column that is separate from my best friends’ tweets.

I can reply, retweet, and DM seamlessly with the hassle of having to copy and paste. The app even allows me to shorten your tweets if you go over 140 characters! Tweetdeck also supports other popular useful third party services, like TweetShrink,Twitscoop and 12Seconds. Never used 12seconds but now that I think ill give it a test run now.

So what’s next for TweetDeck? A Pro version for the twitterazi. I would love to see TweetDeck sync with other services Facebook and also allow for users to view multiple accounts within the application. Not like I have multiple accounts…but still. And how about a mobile app? But I won’t ask for too much!

TweetDeck is simply awesome. Period…

later.

hello.

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:46:00 -0800

So here I am. Taking a shot at this blog thing. Musings, Blurbs, Annonations. And some shameless plug action.

later.