Several Changes

It's funny, but even my best friends don't seem sure about just what it is I do for a living.

I stepped out of PR seven years ago. Since then, my income has come from diverse activities: consulting, speaking, writing and more recently online video.

Much of the work has been ad hoc. Someone said, "would you be interested..." and if it interested me, I'd get involved. I guess I've always enjoyed roller coaster rides.

There has remained a central theme, ever since Scoble and I wrote Naked Conversations in 2005-- to follow social media wherever it has gone. On this blog, over the past three years, I have written and posted video of more than 100 people in at least 34 countries on five continents. I estimate that I have written more than 120,000 words on this subject, not counting the 80,000 words contained in Naked Conversations.

Much of this work has been in the form of the SAP Global Survey on Social Media, Culture & Business.  SAP has encouraged me to follow the topic and that has given me the good fortune to talk with people as diverse as Michael Dell, whose company is using social media as part of the solution to an unfavorable situation and Wael Abbas, who posts videos of Egyptian police brutality on YouTube so that the world will understand what kind of "democracy" runs his country.

SAP has been a great sponsor. They have given me a free hand in selecting topics. They have encouraged me along the way. They have paid me to do what I would have probably done on my own anyway. But after one year, they have elected not to continue and I wish them well.

Effective July 1, the SAP Global Survey will become the Global Survey. I will continue. Hopefully a new entity will step up to sponsor this ongoing exploration. Meanwhile, I will continue to seek out new stories about how social media is changing just about everything. In fact, I will be expanding topics to also cover issues of Green and Corporate Social Responsibility. If you have either a story or an interest in sponsoring, please contact me.

Meanwhile, my relationship with SAP is far from over. They sponsor WorkFast, the live online video program I co-host each Friday with Robert Scoble, over at FastCompany.TV. The new show seems to be off to a solid start. Additionally, TheConversationGroup, which was instrumental in the Global Survey sponsorship deal has just contracted me to start a new, less-public research project for SAP as well.

That brings us to GlobalNeighbourhoods.TV (GNTV), my other online video program. Unlike WorkFast, GNTV is my baby, is an extension of not just the Global Survey, but Naked Conversations as well. As many of you know, GNTV was launched in March at FastCompany.TV, and--shall we say--had an inauspicious start.

When GNTV launched, I was not quite ready for prime time. If I was an actor, I would say I was prepared for a summer stock script reading. When the curtain went up, I found myself instead at center stage of an opening night on Broadway with some determined hecklers in the audience who managed for a while to distract me.

Most people seem to agree that I got better. After 14 episodes, I think GNTV has proved its value and professionals hungry for insights into how they can use social media in their businesses have found GNTV to have more than a little value.

A few weeks back, however, FastCompany granted my request to take back GNTV, to remove it from their site and to eventually relaunched it o a smaller scale on this site. Primarily, with FastCompany as a partner, the cost of sponsorship was too high for a new program. Here, I can charge a sponsor significantly less dollars and have great flexibility in the sort of deal I can offer. Here, I am the sole decision maker.

GNTV will go on a brief hiatus, until perhaps mid-August. I need to deal with the complexities of AV, production, storing, hosting, compressing, measuring, etc. Because some of these costs can be quite significant, I also need to have sponsorship before I restart.

 

Prior to relaunching GNTV, I also want to complete a long-overdue project, which is the redesign of this site. I am actively looking for affordable, creative and technical talent to help me modernize this site and make it better suited for video.

 

Now, let's get back to the original question of just what it is that I do for a living. I now have a more focused, if not totally succinct, answer:

• Primarily, I am an independent online journalist. I write and produce video stories about social media and its impact on culture and business. My primary revenue comes from sponsorships.

• I'm also available for freelance video and text journalistic projects. Recently, Scoble & I collaborated on an eBook called, "The Conversational Corporation" for Dow Jones. It was an assignment I loved and welcome similar assignments. Several organizations have recently contracted video personalities to do interviews for enterprise projects and I would be happy to be considered for them in the future.

• I speak. I speak at conferences and in enterprise settings. I am also available to come in for a half or full day to be part of a corporate conversation on social media issues.

• I advise. I am interested in joining advisory boards. While much of my time recently has been spent with large enterprises, I have spent more than 20 years advising startups and feel the wisdom I have accrued in that area goes beyond social media.

Declaring myself an independent online journalist is liberating in several ways. There is a restriction in trying to be too many things to too many people. This week is going to be a bit of a navel-gazing period for me. I welcome comments, proposals and new ideas. 

Comments

[Bill Cammack]

Wow.

Good Luck.

[shel israel]

For people who don't know Bill Cammack, he is an Emmy-winning freelance editor who was very helpful to me during the early, controversial days of GNTV. Thanks Bill. I hope our paths cross in the real world.

[Tom Guarriello]

The whole episode with Loren was an integral part of much of happened during the period you're describing here. I hope you've learned something from this whole episode, 'cause you've definitely paid the tuition.

Best of luck, Shel.

[shel israel]

Tom,

Could you tell me what the lesson you think I had to lean from Loren was?

[michael arrington]

Shel, based on your last comment, i can pretty much say you didn't learn much from the loren situation.

[Brian Korner]

I certainly hope Shel has learned to ignore churlish comments like yours, Michael.

[LuisCarlos]

I only want to say that I save this page to remember how strong and dedicated can be a journalist. Thanks!

[shel israel]

Michael, I have learned one thing from you. People should be extremely wary, when you call them a "friend" in your column. There's no telling what sort of "friendship" they'll find in the following paragraph. Take care, old buddy.

[Adrienne Brawley]

Shel, I wish you success in whatever your next venture may be. Till then, I'll be watching you on "WorkFast" with Scoble!
Best-

[Mark]

Oh F' off Arrington you arrogant, scheming, backstabbing little worm.

[/pd]

Shel, all the best . I am confident that whatever you do , it will be a success.

While at it, ask yourself the question-How far would Moses have gone if he had taken a poll in Egypt ? :)-

Your are the type of person, who is good at heart and certainly passionate about what you are doing, so just go for it.

"never let the fear of sticking out get into your way" -Babe Ruth !!

[michael arrington]

yes, shel, you finally figured out that we are all secretly out to get you. It all began when I threw a party in my back yard to launch your book in 2006, just to lure you in to trusting me.

Someday when you look back at all of this I hope you realize that if you had just ignored the puppets and focused on your work (as I did when loren first attacked me on his video blog), it would have gone away. When I called you to discuss the situation before my first post, you said you did realize that. My guess is that now you've convinced yourself that you had nothing to do with this whole mess, and that it is everyone's fault but your own.

[shel israel]

Michael,

I don't think I could have thanked you more times for the TechCrunch Party three years ago. But I do not see how that has to do with this current situation unless you feel I am forever obliged to you for that act of hospitality.

In this case, my perception of your behavior is considerably less hospitable. You called me up and interviewed me for 25 minutes and the used precisely three words from the interview "I went ballistic."

You wrote three articles about Loren in three days, in two of them you opted to skewer me after you called me a friend in print.

Are you now saying that because you threw a party for Naked Conversations, I should now say "thanks, Mike" when you call me a friend in your column, then treat me more harshly than anyone ever has in your following paragraphs?

I did make a mistake in terms of Loren. I should have ignored him. But Mike, you of all people should understand that it is human nature to fight back when someone attacks you. You have probably done it more times than anyone in the Blogosphere.

I expected you to write a piece that was not on my side. You even told me that I was not going to like "some parts" of what you were going to write. Well, what parts of your article do you think I should have liked.

No, I do not think you were out to get me. I think you had a house gust who filled your head full of crap, who showed you one side of a longer--much longer story. Then you decided you were going to go beat up Shel Israel on behalf of your little friend.

But please, spare us the sanctimony. You have been in more scuffles and name-calling than anyone.

I left a strong comment on TechCrunch last week because the hypocrisy struck me. On one hand you wrote nasty things about me on behaf of your houseguest. You wrote with no pretension of balance. And then you go after the New York Times for it's three-day coverage of the AP story, saying they have a conflict. Michael you covered Loren three days in a row. Was that not a conflict? Was the assent of your puppet friend as big a story as AP going after bloggers for using content.

If you are going to preach from a high moral ground Michael, you should try standing on that high moral ground for a while, Michael.

[/pd]

"if you had just ignored the puppets and focused on your work ,[..] it would have gone away" -

yeah real Big Deal- forked tongue talk. Iggy the problem is like the ostrich syndrome - head in the sand. I can count the number of ways that you, Mike, have stirred the pot and certainly you thrive in that environment. There are many times that I have read your post and muttered under my breath "Et tu, Brute?" -

[Jared]

Is everyone suddenly back in high school? Did I miss something?

[Mark]

Arrington is full of it. The other week a startup company dared to not know who Techcrunch was. Arrington's ego bruised, he wrote a scathing attack on the company for not giving them details of their finances.

[Adele Mcalear]

Shel, you are passionate about what you do and you are brave enough to try new things in the public eye. Not many people can make those claims. I respect what you have done and I wish you continued success in all that you do. I look forward to following all of your future projects.

[George Carlin]

Anyone consider that it might not be Mike writing the comments?

[Bryan]

I was really saddened to hear of SAP's decision which I don't think was a wise one. It seems that the Shel Israel puppet is attracting some of the blame for this, but I can honestly say that I read Shel's blog more often and viewed more of Shel's videos because of the puppet. It didn't really seem like negative branding to me -- if anything, watching the Shel puppet in action only made me curious about what the real Shel was up to at the moment. I know that there is some genuinely bad blood between Loren and Shel, but I think a lot of users like me just enjoyed the over-the-top character of the puppet and felt no malice towards the real Shel. I imagine a lot of people had never even heard of Shel before encountering the puppet; how many must have Googled "Shel Israel" and found this blog as a result?

Here's hoping that another sponsor steps up to the plate as soon as possible. SAP's loss could be another company's gain. Personally, I think the best thing that could happen here would involve a new sponsor stepping in PLUS the continuation of GNTV's partnership with Fast Company.

[Tom Guarriello]

Shel,

I'm not going to pretend to know what you might learn from this episode; it's very complex and I don't know the history between you and Loren. My comment wasn't an invitation for you to cite any specific, facile "lessons" (e.g., "I should have ignored him") but a belief that there must be something, maybe lots of things, you've learned from this. Take those learnings and move on.

Tom

[Peter]

sorry for all the trouble.

[Peter]

Shel - if you thought Arrington was ever your friend, think again. And Loren should realize that he's the ugly kid in the group of cheerleaders.

You keep feeding Loren like a moron. Seriously Shel, stop it. Why do you continue to feed into him on Twitter? You see Loren has a loser bunch of followers and they love when you put out a nice fresh cake or pie for them. And you keep baking, day after day. Look at how Julia handles him for a great example.

Loren is a loser who tries to use the "freedom of speech" to cover up whatever he does. He has no real talent and would have no viewers except for him doing arrington for some posts.

Stop feeding him Shel. And to be honest, you should stop working with Scoble as well. Scoble eggs on Loren making the situation worse. Get away from that entire crowd.

[Susan Beebe]

I wish you the BEST! i've enjoyed your tweets, posts and wisdom. I think you and Scoble are 2 of the smartest social media minds out there! my respect level for you is really high. I am confident you'll do great things :-) If I have projects / opportunities in Social Media, I will contact you!

@smbeebe / Susan Beebe

[admin]

move on and do something you like.
I actually thinks that Feldman is a very talented entertainer. A muppet show full of tech pundit will be terrific.

exposing your person (not your brand) to the internet is not risk free.
People cheer, complain mock you eventually like you.
This is some kind of celebrity status that you have not always easy to handle.
You sounds like a very honest guy, but you need to put your armor when you hang out with the tech sharks [arrington/scoble/feldman/VC]
Whatever they say they are all after power and money.
They can claim to be your friend but their meme.com comes 1st.

Anyway my best wishes Shel.

[J.B.]

I know very little of Shel Israel, but I do know a lot of the people who have given the interviews to the fake Shel, and I think they are all taking part in the destruction of a person's professional life. If this was based on something Shel did to the Internet community, then I might not mind, but according to the guy wielding the fake Shel doll, this is all about a revenge grudge--it is NOT about social media, or whether Shel knows what he's doing or not. Just because someone doesn't know how to effectively silence a bully doesn't mean they don't deserve to continue to do work. The guy who has a grudge against Shel has a history of racist and sexist hate speech, so I am not really surprised or taken aback by his actions.

But seeing Silicon Valley leaders (including Kevin Rose, Kara Swisher, CNet, and others) helps this slime ball get revenge on Mr. Israel is shocking. I knew the Valley was a fickle, high school-like club house, but this is the most damning proof I've ever seen. People who egg on a bully are low. I am so glad I no longer live and work in the Valley, because the community is very toxic. If anyone's true nature has been revealed as a result of these events, it is the Silicon Valley community's. They are fickle, and most lack the courage to call out a bully. The irony is, I'm sure that the bully knows what I'm saying is true because he's proving it everyday--and now he's getting paid money to do it. Amazing.

To Shel: Please take the following advice seriously. Now that the fake Shel guy has 1.scored major interviews with tech elite using your name and 2. gotten a job at the top tech site (in terms of traffic) using your name, I think it is time for you to take matters into your own hands. Take all the fake Shel videos, package them on a DVD and offer them for sale on Amazon. And be sure to actively PROMOTE the sale of this DVD. I'm serious. If people begin buying the DVDs, then that guy is essentially working for "for." If he tries to sue you--bingo!--welcome the court date with a smile. Few judges would deny you profiting from someone trying to destroy your name by "using" your name (something he has admitted to in writing). I know you might think it will promote him, but remember, he's already using YOUR name. You have a right to profit from these works. Go for it. It's really the only way to stop him while simultaneously finding an innovative way to leverage your personal brand. I've watched this thing from day one, and thought long about this. Please take these words and strategy to heart.