Corey Graham 2.0N Biz Blog

This Blog has been Moved!!!

corey — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:25:25 -0200

This blog is now hosted at www.coreykgraham.me/bizblog - As you can expect I am ever evolving and when its time to move its time to move.

Now if you are reading this message in an RSS Reader it would mean that you are not subscribed to my feedburner feed. This means that when I change feeds you would not have a seamless transition and you will have to subscribe to - http://feeds2.feedburner.com/coreykgraham.

Subscribe to my feedburner feed! It helps me to know who is reading which is certainly a motivation to keep writing.

This move is going to be a pretty silent one, no big splash.

Subscribe in a reader

Brewsters Road Taught Me A Marketing Lesson!!!!!

corey — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:05:16 -0200

Brewsters Road Crew reinforced a valuable marketing lesson I learnt at the start of this 2008 summer period during my time under "house arrest".

Summer didn't quite turn out as I had envisioned it. As a Vincy Mas Virgin, I was looking forward to my "first experience" of Vincy Mas 2008 then I was anxious to return to St. Lucia Carnival 2008 for a second consecutive "first experience" lol.... but it was not meant to be.
Without any warning I was reduced to BirdMan 2.0, just 2 weeks before Vincy Mas final weekend. I officially had Chicken Pox and was confined to my bedroom for 2 weeks!!!!
Those trips to Vincy Mas and St. Lucia Carnival morphed into distant dreams, the shadows of a former reality .... into just another episode of 'wishful thinking'.
I could really appreciate how those Olympic hopefuls feel, when they manage to injure themselves just before the Olympic Games. Their dreams crushed. Well hmmm, maybe its 1000 times more magnified for them.. Anyways I made the most of my appointment to the BirdMan 2.0 post, once I had that a lifeline to the internet I was happy! Once I could communicate and blog.

BIRDMAN 2.0

Illustration by D 2.0 FX - Jaryd Niles Morris
http://www.behance.net/Jaryd540

(Backstage manager - stop rambling and "showing off" - just get to the blasted point - Corey Graham 2.0 or whatever u call yourself.. )

CG 2.0 - Alrite!!!

During my daily online sweep as Birdman 2.0, I came across a speech delivered by one of my favourite bloggers & marketing gurus, Seth Godin at TED : Ideas Worth Spreading.
(TED is an annual conference brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes)Click here for more info on TED)

Seth Godin's speech, on making ideas spread really hit me hard, and got me thinking. I posted almost immediately to this blog. And then I saw it play out with Brewsters Road Crew extraordinary success over the Crop Over 2008 season.
Let me share the perspective with you.

It would help alot if you watch the video first,

Click here for video of Seth's speech

I strongly recommend that you take the time to watch the video. Its highly recommended by Corey Graham 2.0.

Brewsters Road Crew (www.brewstersroadcrew.com) are known for their hardcore partying during carnival season. This was what fueled their concept for their events. They wanted to create events that hardcore partiers like themselves would enjoy.
The party would not end till 8, 9, 10, 11 am the next day, it was to be wall to wall soca. All soca, and All Party. There was even a cage made to lock up people who did not party hard enough.

Brewsters Road Crew focused on the people on the fringes. They focused on those people who are passionate about carnival, they focused on hardcore party people. They didn't try to be mass market. They chose a niche market and focused on it. I am sure that those persons enlisted to assist them, were clear on the vision for the events. And it spread...
Their idea spread. It caught on like wild fire, like the ipod or the blackberry. They were able to cross over into many different markets and age groups simply because they had something which was REMARKABLE. They had something worth talking about.

It was definately worth talking about. It was REMARKABLE. I would never forget going to Brewsters Road this year.

Its packed from 11 pm and the crowd just kept coming.
At 3 am - 4 am when you usually expect the crowd to lessen, it just thickened. People left other events and went to Brewsters Road after.
Door closed at 2 am, with tonnes of people still outside, and the venue is big!
Event organizers had big headaches just trying to get artistes slated to perform through the mob of people outside trying to get in.
Waiting outside in a line to go in a fete at 2 am is something foreign to Barbados, but for brewsters road, closing the door at 2 am as a standard

Brewsters Road the best thing since sliced bread? Maybe .. spread the idea.

Brewster Road On BoomTribe.com
Video Interview With Brewsters Road Spokespersons

Review of Launch Event

Photogallery of Launch Event

Photogallery - Brewsters Road Paint D town Red

Photogallery - Soca and Water

Crop Over is finally Over

corey — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:11:15 -0200

Crop Over really took over my time and did as it liked with it, and most of my blogging turned to www.coreykgraham.blogspot.com.
You can check it out for some quick sights and sounds from the season, and see what I have been up to.

In the coming weeks you can expect to hear and see some more innovations in the blogs and also some announcements on things I am doing.

Corey Graham 2.0
www.coreykgraham.com/blog

2008 Summer Heating up at BoomTribe

corey — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:56:11 -0200

The pressure is mounting, my things to do list is getting 10 times longer. SummerTime 2008 is here! The new Soca tunes are carnivalising my inbox. Tickets are being booked, promoters are getting their premium events in gear. BoomTribe wise that means things are getting hectic, time is drying up. Of course not too hectic to let my subscribers now what's on for the summer with BoomTribe.

Friday Night Clubbing at Jumbies, St. Lawrence Gap, Barbados
At the end of April we closed out "Happy Fridays", to bring something new and fresh for Summer 2008.

SEXXY its called. Its pretty simple. Every lady desires to be SeXXy and deserves to feel that way. So on Fridays we say Ladies take some time to let down your hair and be SeXXy
The first 12 groups of 4 ladies coming through the door enter free entry and get bottle of wine free!!!

Hmm ?
Now that's part 1

Part 2
We take photos of the SeXXy guys and gals on our SeXXy wall at Jumbies. The top SeXXy ladies and top 5 SeXXy guys photos are posted online. In a poll! That's right we let the BoomTribe Community choose who is the Sexxiest!

The top guy and the top gal get to bring 4 of their friends the following week along with a gift voucher at a clothing store!

Poll Week 1
Poll Week 2
Poll Week 3
Poll Week 4

BoomTribe Radio Show & Top Ten Countdown
We have reached the 100th Radio Charts, and that called for a little celebration. Yours truly intro'ed a little video clip of the 100th show - hilarious stuff!
Video 1
Video 2

Radio forum

Of course we have the top 10 charts still going strong and now proving their accuracy. Look our for more developments there. Just look out!

Thanks to Nurse Karen for accepting my invitation to be on the show last week. She gave up the insight to the already buzzing Summer Soca Season.
You don't know Karen? www.coreykgraham.com/search
Search for Nurse Karen see what you find!

BoomTribe.com
We are ever evolving, after a recent upgrade on the site, things are getting back to business as usual. We are turning back of the steam and taking it to the next level.
Check out our latest video productions -
BoomTribe Visits Red Boyz Studio

Baje Launch

Live Blogging from Final Challenge

Roamin on CBS
We are preparing to close out season one of Roamin regionally and start the second season by the end of July.
Thanks to those of you across the Caribbean for watching and texting!
The big thing to talk about here is the Next VJ contest, I would like to congratulate Carlos Barrow and Keann Walters for winning the competition. Lots more info at www.BoomTribe.com/vj

And finally
AWOL and DreamLand, Yup these are our major events for the year
AWOL is a military themed event and Dreamland the ultimate Drinks Free event!
AWOL Flyer

DreamLand Flyer

Yup, I just had to be sure I kept you updated with what's going in the office.
Of course I work directly with the website, and getting this information available to you on BoomTribe.com

That's what's up with me. What's up with you?

CG 2.0 Reviews New Crop Over Website Ahead of Its Official Launch

corey — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:11:16 -0200

Early in the morning when ah just wake up.... says Mad Dog in his big tune for Crop Over 2008. Its been mashing up the fetes here so far.

Yesterday morning though, I found myself previewing the official Crop Over website soft launched on a brand new domain www.CropOverBarbados.com.

I know what ya thinking! That's ridiculous Crop over is just over a month away and the site only now launching!! West Indian people boi!
Let me try and save the NCF (National Cultural Foundation) before the public criticisms have them singing " Hard Times hit we, Hard Time hit we, we gine and drink something now."
Its was only after the Barbados General Election on January 15th, that the NCF were once again commissioned the responsibility to produce Corey Over 2008. I'm going to leave it at that. I not writing ah calypso. This is just a new blog post.

Right so I found myself wearing my "Web 2.0 / Entertainment Blogger hat" looking over the new and improved Crop Over website. The site was engineered and constructed by the same web architect behind this blog and www.coreykgraham.com. Stan Armstrong of Amitage. Stan is the Man.
In his words,

Honestly, I hope I play my part in enhancing the festival experience to all who the site touches

Overall the site is good, I like the way things have been arranged and alot more information available from the website.
Stan boi, you got real props for the inclusion of a "festival blog" into the site! As a blogger its good to see that the governing body of a major Caribbean carnival is going to blogging. Yeah i all for that! Blog and wuck up. Hmmm, that sound like a good hook for a Crop 2008 tunes. lol,. right so I am all for the the festival blog. Its a godo way to get information out on the festival and there is the opportunity to build a relationship with Crop Over fans worldwide.
(read my recent post on why start a blog? To learn more the whole notion of blogging).

I think it would be even better if the rss feed has the body or the articles in it, then it will be a winner, well at least in CG 2.0 book,

Before I go on you can to take a look at the old site here - Old CropOver Site

The new site is definitely more eye catching and also easy to use. Most of the info on the site you can get to easily directly from the homepage. The homepage also has a summary of the latest news, latest photos, latest announcements and even streaming audio of the latest Crop Over tracks. ITs impressive stuff. NCF Launches its own online Radio station? And listen pod for new tracks?
This is interesting though as Bajantube.com now the new hot spot online for anyone wanting to listen to Crop Over 2008 music, in fact BajanTune is boosting of being #1 Bajan website accordiing to Alexa. Check it out here

I don't want to say too much on the actual content. As I understand there is still much to be added, as the site starts to take shape. However based on what I am seeing I am wondering if NCF would be able to keep up getting all these articles, photos and video on the site. Time will tell.
Based on what I am seeing now, the content seems a little bit more of a general entertainment site, than that of a governing body for a festival

Media accreditation forms
Rules for competitions, application forms for artiste
Press Releases
Prominent Links directing persons to book tickets and reserve their accommodation

The press releases and media accreditation are the bigest ones for for me, because
you want to get the maximum exposure for the festival.
Having the press releases available on site would make it easier for journalists around to work to write compelling and accurate news articles on the Crop Over Festival.
Having a clear media accreditation process outlined,is an open invitation for media companies to and cover Crop Over 2008. The more media entities that come to cover Crop Over, then the more exposure the festival will get.

All in all the site is looking good do far, with some the fine tuning and more relavant content, I think it will be a bit hit.

Corey Graham 2.0
www.coreykgraham.com/blog

Caribbean Entertainment Set to Boom When New Regional Tourism Marketing Plan Gets Under Way?

corey — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:00:16 -0200

It seems my idea for a Cruise of the Caribbean Carnivals might become a reality sooner than I thought!
I literally just finished reading a news article from the St Lucia Star Newspaper that has me thinking I might be seeing this dream for Caribbean Carnivals Cruise materialise sooner rather than later.
I had to stop what I was doing and take the time and share this thinking with you - my loved readers and subscribers!
(Thanks to Barbados Tourism Authority Corporate Communications Specialist Christal McIntosh for bringing this article to my attention!)

In a nutshell, the Caribbean tourism market share declined in 2007 and it is going to continue to face challenges for the following reasons -
- increased competition from new tourists destinations in Europe and Asia
- higher oil costs which will cause reduced air lift to the Caribbean
- climate change which can destroy the beaches and so on the tourists enjoy.

Industry experts are saying that the Caribbean Tourism Industry should look to its largest untapped resource - the Caribbean Dispora. Yup that right, start to niche market the Caribbean as a tourist destination to Caribbean people around the world. Yea I serious, the set theme of the 12th Annual Caribbean Media Exchange (CMEx) Symposium on Sustainable Tourism was "Embracing the Diaspora: Connecting Communities."
I just love the way that sounds? I wonder who wrote that! I know if Corey Graham 2.0 had to come up with something, it would have been - "Embracing the Diaspora: Connecting Communities Through Web 2.0 Technology" hmmm wait but that sounds like a good title for another post! hmmmm, I making a note of it. RIGHT NOW.
You should also note that one of the key reasons for this market going untapped for so long, is due to the lack of available data on Caribbean people living in developed countries. These Caribbean people in the world who are earning top dollar and there have the largest spending power. The lack of info on these Caribbean people is because there is no provision for "Caribbean" in the American census exercise for example.
I guess that makes it a bit of a risk to invest in that market right? Lack of Info on the market - that is good reason right ?
I wonder though is it really that big a risk? When so many people in Caribbean entertainment bet their businesses on these markets? Artistes, Promoters, Carnival costume designers, webmasters? All the players involved from Caribana in Canada to Labour Day in New York to Nottingham Carnival in England to Trinidad Carnival and Crop Over in Barbados.
I mean its not all rosy and plain sailing I have heard many say "There is a lot that is left to be desired"
I wonder if those persons could put a price tag on "There is a lot that is left to be desired". I wonder if US$188M would be the number they will call. I wonder because that is the price tag on the proposed marketing blitz for this niche marketing campaign which is to be discussed at the Caricom summit in July.

Hmmm and if we want more caribbean people to travel to the caribbean, I am guessing that means more money thrown behind entertainment and carnivals, festivals and Christmas in the Caribbean? What about Independence days?

Talking about Christmas,its an election year in US and usually US business drops by 20 - 30 % between Sept - Dec. Its an Olympic year too that always has a negative impact on tourism too?

Yeah that is something to think about!

Other options to be considered are the faith tourism market and the eco or green tourism market, which would go beyond just the Caribbean Disapora. So all the eggs might not be in just this one basket.

Now let me be honest with you Corey Graham 2.0 ain't no guru on tourism but I a little about marketing...So we want to entice Caribbean people to travel to the caribbean.
Hmmm, let me see ok ... its coming to me, its coming, wait wait I got it!! Party, Rum and Wuk up/Wining all with some FREE food?
LOL, but seriously Caribbean people are going to want to take part in the culture entertainment, food, cricket, sports, playin mas, festivals, church, independence days and other historic events etc.

I know what you are asking how do you cash in? Listen to what I am thinking. Lets build a Wining Season resort - complete with a golf course? Ohh Ohh you can get a complimentary rum when you check in?

I know you like it give me a call but only if you serious and have lots of money to spend hmmm ... sorry I meant to say money to INVEST of course. All others I invite you to comment share your thoughts.

I thought this Caribbean Rap would really fit this post - take a listen to Champions by Billy Kincaid

Check out the St. Lucia Star article here

Corey Graham 2.0
www.coreykgraham.com/blog

Launching My Caribbean Entertainment Search Beta

corey — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:24:19 -0200

Bring out the food and drinks to this nice cocktail party on my blog. This is the time for the Beta launch of another Corey Graham 2.0 innovation. Its an invitation only launch party. Lots of important and influencial people attending. These are my blog subscribers. Also appreciating the value of your time I am going to keep this launch within 5 mins. So let's get started.

Meet and Greet and Getting seated (1 sec)
Most of you are already sitting

Opening Remarks - (2 sec)
Hi

History Behind this Moment - (2 mins)
The Caribbean Entertainment Search started out as a personal tool which I developed to make my job easier. Its really a personal tool that I created around Trinidad Carnival time (February 2008). The list of websites to check for the info I wanted was getting a little long. I am good an google search but it was a bit annoying when searching for certian thing especially names of people in the Caribbean entertainment world. It was a bit of a pain sometimes to find some info you wanted quickly. Accomodation, car rentals, music producers, artiste managers etc. were definately not always the easiest thing to find. I used the Google Custom Search to tweak my search results so that I could see all the things I really want to see, in a single search.
After a little testing, it proved to be worth its salt from there I essentially built my own personal Caribbean Entertainment Search Engine. I only shared it with a few people who might ask for my help to find Caribbean Entertainment related info.
These ranged from people in the entertainment business to persons planning trips to Carnivals and other Festivals. One person who I gave the site to contacted me about a week ago ranting and raving about how useful the search was. It was then it hit me that I should share this search engine with other people wanting to find Caribbean Entertainment Information.
After all it will be one of the things which could go a long way in creating a more tangible Caribbean Entertainment Community, by allowing people to find the relavant information more readily.

Feature Presentation (1 mins)

It took some time to package up, and it not perfect however its a useful tool. And I am constantly refining.

And now I present to you

The Caribbean Entertainment Search

Give it a try right now and add your comment !

Its also available at

http://caribbeanentertainmentsearch.googlepages.com

Click here to add it to your iGoogle here

Vote of thanks (1 min)

I would like to thank you for attending this launch. I hope that My Caribbean Entertainment Search make life easier for you. I would like to also thank Out Of The Box Thinking for their continued support of my blog and different initiatives.

Thank you for coming see you at another of Launch Event before 2009! I just know there is going to be some other idea.

Corey Graham 2.0
http://www.coreykgraham.com/blog
http://mobile.coreykgraham.com

Summer Time 2008 - What's De cool?

corey — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:08:40 -0200

Yeah, yeah

Well summer is officially here.

My research department tells me that we in the Caribbean have 2 seasons, a dry season and a wet season. The dry season is from November - May and the wet season is from June - November (when we are likely to have tropical depressions, storms or hurricanes which generally means ALOT of rain!

Looking at this you would think that conventional wisdom would dictate our the summer falling somewhere in the dry months of the year especially when there is not much of a possibility of a hurricane. Another angle might be to argue that the longest days of the year must be summer. This would mean out summer is in the right place May - July months. Its possible though that the summer comes from a learned habit from our past European colonial masters? All the students in the caribbean have their longest vacation period during these months ... My research department is digging deeper. I will let you know if we uncover anything else...Something to think about.

Right so as I was saying summer is here, and lots going on Vincy Mas, St. Lucia Carnival, Reggae Sumfest (JA), ATI weekend (JA), Great Fete(Tobago), Crop Over (Barbados), Antigua Carnival, Spice Mas (Grenada) and tonnes of other shows and parties. I feeling the theme song "Out on De Road" by Zan

"I out on the road...
I dey with my friends
If you looking for me
You will find me again
I right round de bend"

There is alot of buzz going on about this years summer, there are going to lots of new events and new chunes in abundance. My personal phrase for this summer is

Whas de cool?

Click here for the first Corey Graham 2.0 Podcast -

It that simple,

Oh I have to give it a meaning?
hmmmm let me see

How are you toning down all this summer HEAT?

For those of you who might want to use this coooool idea - email me and get your cheque book ready we can talk.

Let me know what you think of my first real effort at a podcast

Corey Graham 2.0
http://www.coreykgraham.com/blog

FaceBook's Impact On Caribbean Entertainment

corey — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:20:56 -0200

Facebook has been changing the rules of engagement of entertainment in the Caribbean in a fundamental way, which we might be taking for granted.

The Promoters Take on FaceBook

The more established promoters might be saying,

Yeah CG 2.0, I know what you mean.

Facebook is allowing for alot more small time/first time promoters to put together a campaign that attracts the kinds of numbers they are not yet prepared to handle.
What ends up happening, is that lots of party goers are going out to these parties and having bad experiences. This is making it harder to get persons to come out to events. In some cases people are associating a particular venue with flop parties ... and they are tonnes of similar reasons.

Not Quite the Fundamental Shift
Yes this is happening ... but that is not the fundamental shift I am talking about.
That's already happening with music production, video production and the list goes on and on. Technology is making lots of things easier for the average person to do. Its doing a good job of lowering the overhead costs to get started, and as a result, more people are doing it.

Here is The Fundamental Shift

FaceBook has brought a deeper Web 2.0 experience to Caribbean Entertainment.

What is Web 2.0?
For those of you who don't know about web 2.0 you can read all about it here on how stuff works.com. I would advise that you do read about it. Its very, very interesting.

In my own words -
Web 2.0 is a term used to dub the developments in the internet, primarily when it comes to social networking websites, and the idea of connecting people together. Basically it defines the move of the internet away from websites which you visit to get or give information, to websites which you can interact with, you can interact with with other persons online and build up or be a part of a community.
Elements of Web 2.0 on the internet today would be

comments. Persons commenting on articles e.g. regular newspaper articles now allow comments online.
blogging and RSS feeds where users generate the content
owning your own piece of internet real estate free e.g. Myspace pages - click here
users rating products
sites for users of a particular product/skill/hobby. A good example of this is the rapidly growing Digital photography school

Other buzzwords that are associated are collborations, user generated content, viral, community oriented and lots more.

In terms of business, web 2.0 is causing companies well the tech savvy ones to build their websites in such a way that their customers and fans can form their own mini community where the customers

interact with each another
share their experiences
post their problems
suggest solutions to problems to each other
notify the company of issues
help the company in developing new products by providing feedback to new ideas or coming up with the ideas themselves
and lots more.
Its an eco system really more on that in a future post.

Web 2.0 In Caribbean Entertainment - FaceBook Events

This exactly what is beginning to happen to each promotion company in entertainment.
FaceBook Events has now become the standard across the Caribbean. Facebook Events are a vehicle for Caribbean party goers to connect with each other and have a conversation relating to the event no matter which part of the world they are in! Even an ordinary club night is on facebook events.

It used to be a little harder for the average person to tune in on the buzz for a particular event. Now, its just a few clicks away on your facebook. You can hit up the event wall and see what people are saying, drop a comment of your own and see how people respond. You can check out how many people are planning to attending, and look at who is not going. And we all know how much that info will help us decide if we are going or not

This is a big, big difference from looking passively at a flyer on

www.BoomTribe.com
www.whaddat.com
watever.com
www.islandMix.com
www.toronto-lime.com
www.triniscene.com
Kadooment.com
www.Bajandancehall.com
www.partyaccess.net

The next step was calling 10 friends or talk to your neighbourhood entertainment guru to try to get feeling for the vibe of the party. The problem is that sometimes your entertainment guru is employed to by the event so it hard to tell if the event they are suggesting is really the happening thing. Whose is when your friend looking for some action and just going to the party to meet up a new "friend". You going to hear how great the party is going to be, because they want you there for "support". I don't know about you, but I not big on that kind of "support". lol lol.

Spread the Virus

Anyways, FaceBook Events is the way its going down now. The 3 weeks of marketing blitz radio, websites, tv and newspapers ain't going to be enough anymore.

Its not that simple anymore, people are talking to people and listening to what they are saying about the event.
Its about getting out early so that you can allow for the viral element to kick in. Yeah, watch your event spread like a virus. Let the people to interact - decide if they going - get excited and sell your event to other people.
You can keep your ear tuned into the conversation on your event wall and find ways to get people more excited and talking more.
Just like you would in a bar when you hear people talking and your eavesdrop to hear what they think of your event. Street talk makes you tweak your promotion/event to fit your market better. It's the same with the FaceBook Wall Talk.

I consulted with an event last year, it was on facebook early, a full 5-6 weeks in advance.
The artwork was not done, sorry it was not even conceptualused yet. We were early and we let the viral element kick in. Its influence spread like a virus with each connection made. It was supported with some small things that kept people excited. The little things activated more conversations and developed new strains to the virus.

It grew and grew and grew steadily, and evolved each week, by the time week 3 came, its momentum was unstoppable, radio ads were just another a formality. It was going up against another event with a major artiste performing in the same venue the following night. This first time event without a big name artiste and much less radio presence was holding its own.

In fact the second event asked for the artiste to show up and do a small set to promote the party the following night.
I knew the event was safe when a brand manager of a popular alcoholic breverage actually wrote a request to be contacted on the event wall. Yeah that's right and it was 1 week before the event!

I also watched it happen again and again with other events. All in different islands.
The events were out early and let their value build and build like a virus. In some cases some more established events were struggling because they didn't work facebook as hard.

I'm just calling it how I am seeing it.

New dimension to The Game

Yeah and like if all that was not enough, today facebook chat finally hit the caribbean 2 days ago.

It was actually launched almost 2 weeks ago, but it was slowly rolled out to the different networks over time.
Anyways it finally landed hit the Caribbean this week. t was the "talk of the town".
I heard people who are not very technie asking for a mobile version to the all new FaceBook.
That got me thinking hmmm, facebook might be in the number 1 spot as the Most popular mobile site in the caribbean? yeah hmmmm.

Another interesting fact is that Facebook's mobile application for blackberry is doing well too reaching 1 Million on April 1. the App was launched on Oct 24th
Download from www.facebook.com/blackberry and www.blackberry.com/go/facebook

The FaceBook Chat Experience

Its actually alot smoother than I expected and rather easy to use. It was alot easier to use than the google talk broswer based chat. I was impressed.
Everyone seem to be very excited about it. Talking about moving away from msn messenger etc. Only time will tell if facebook chat will adopted over msn or other im programs. Time will tell, time will tell.
The clear advantage facebook has in its corner though are the connections. Many people have more FaceBook friends than they do on msn or any other chat programs. And your facebook friends list is ever growing.

Let's schedule a follow up post in August sometime to talk about it! I would have said July, but July is the month with 3 carnivals in it! Vincy Mas, St Lucia Carnival and Crop Over.

Talking of summer carnivals, facebook chat might add another dimension.....
So now we have facebook chat, Lets say you have a profile dedicated to customer service for Mas bands and events, add the profile as a friend and people can ask their burning questions all day long!

Think about it - we are talking about Global customer support !

Cost?
Well that would be a grand total of $11 million dollars to set up, this system.
$0 to actually set up and $11 million to CG 2.0 for the idea. lol just kidding my ideas are priceless and never ending.
Enough of me.

For those of you with light bulbs going off in your head, just remember its not only customer support, but you can find out the concerns of your customers and fix them before you hit the road. Or have a good backup plans in case things go wrong.

I found out today that one Caribbean Business I actually incorporating FaceBook Chat in their marketing, Its actually a photo printing business Photo Finish. They are advertising support for their online ordering on facebook, using facebook chat.

Lots of food for thought. Lets see how it will evolve.

Corey Graham 2.0
www.coreykgraham.com/blog

Open Your Mind - Break Your Routine!

corey — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:53:12 -0200

Break your routine! Just for a day, do something you won't have normally done.
You will be amazed at how refreshing it could be! Corey Graham.

Try it! Seriously! Try it!

I believe that as annoying and disruptive some breaks can be, there is still a lot of good in them.
Well that is if you doing freak out and complain and complain and complain. Just keep your basic plans in front of you and enjoy it!

Breaks can really

enlargen your perspective
give you totally new perspective.
get a glimpse of what your future holds on your current path
You might get to see your skills in action. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you are capable of

Give yourself permission to take breaks.

I learnt this last year when I went to St. Lucia Carnival at the height of 'Festival Fever' for Crop Over in Barbados.

I was a bit skeptical as to how the trip would turn out, especially since I didn't have many real links in St. Lucia.
However, I ended up having a blast and realising how small and yet how similar the Caribbean is.
Yet still how far apart and oblivious we are of each other....
It took 9 months for the St. Lucian Road March to leave Wave FM and reach Bajan airwaves of Mix FM 96.9, Hott 95.3 and 98.1 FM The One....
'Caribbean Integration' will be a future post. For now I wanted make the point that the trip expanded my mind to appreciate that I am a really Caribbean Man from Barbados. And now I can look at this coming summer from a much broader perspective.

Yes, Yes small islander still having to hunt for my food ...but now in a concrete jungle.

Since then I have given myself permission to take breaks and life seems all the brighter and more fulfilling for it

Break the Routine up a bit. Don't expect chaos, Just some perspective. Allow yourself be refreshed!