Change Agents

Alexander H. Williams "teaches people how to break the rules and create vibrant online community networks with blogs, podcasts and magic bus rides." He also shoots video and makes podcasts and stuff. In one of his recent efforts, Franz Maruna, CEO at concrete5, opens up about the web development process and how traditional agencies are ill equipped to handle the work. why agencies suck so bad at making web sites …

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The New York Times ran a feature piece on Fred Wilson's venture capital firm in yesterday's edition. On his blog, Wilson says, "The last thing we needed was a puff piece saying we were the best VC out there or something. I've had that story written before and when it turned out not to be true, I've had it rubbed in my face." I don't think Fred has much to worry about this time around. The Times points out that three …

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The Pirate’s Dilemma by Matt Mason tells the story of how youth culture drives innovation and is changing the way the world works. According to the author, it offers understanding and insight for a time when piracy is just another business model, the remix is our most powerful marketing tool and anyone with a computer is capable of reaching more people than a multi-national corporation. The book is available for …

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Joi Ito, an activist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist, spoke at Fortune's Brainstorm event in Half Moon Bay last week. Rebecca MacKinnon, frustrated with the blind optimism found in Silicon Valley, wrote about it. Joi warned that not all kinds of capitalism lead to greater freedom or spread wealth and opportunities to everybody. "The capitalists aren't really that helpful, generally," he said. It depends on the …

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Reid Hoffman is an interesting guy. He's head honcho at LinkedIn, and an investor in Facebook, Digg, Flickr and Six Apart. According to Los Angeles Times, he's also an Oxford-trained philosopher who peppers his conversations with lively references to literature and film. Hoffman became self-reliant at an early age, persuading his father to send him to boarding school in Vermont, where, in addition to classwork, he …

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Scott Goodson, Founder, CEO and Chief Creative Officer of StrawberryFrog, is not content making ads. Far from it. For Goodson and his fellow amphibians, it's all about inspiring "Cultural Movements." Cultural Movements is the StrawberryFrog way. It is our process to come up with innovative strategies for our clients. Cultural Movements is the StrawberryFrog competitive edge, our DNA. It sets the course for all the …

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Copywriter, blogger, cartoonist and marketing consultant, Hugh MacLeod, has a book deal. His online manifesto, "How To Be Creative," has been picked up by Portfolio Books. I am happy to report that I have just signed a book contract with Portfolio Books [a Penguin imprint] to develop it into a book. Portfolio, by the way, is the same imprint that publishes Seth Godin's books. We even have the same editor, and I'm …

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Wired's running a feature called "Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business." Nat Ives of Ad Age spoke to Chris "Long Tail" Anderson, Editor of Wired, about the free economy. There's much to absorb in Anderson's thinking. Like this: The third model of free is the gift economy. This is what used to be called freaky, Berkeley, hippy-commune stuff and now is the basis for Wikipedia, the blogosphere, Craigslist. There is …

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