Cathy Brooks is a journalist, creative media strategist, and host of the Social Media Hour live podcast. She blogs at Other Than That, which is also the name of her consulting firm, and she has worked for companies like Tech TV (now G4) and Seesmic. In last night’s The Social Nerdia Show! I spoke with her about media, journalism, newspapers, technology, business, and much more. Cathy is not only highly entertaining, she is also incredibly insightful and thought-provoking.

Listen to the entire conversation with Cathy on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe to us on iTunes, stream from mobiles on Stitcher, and listen to upcoming shows LIVE on blogtalkradio.

Cathy’s tagline for her podcast is ‘it’s not about the tools, it’s about what you do with them,’ and it very well reflects her views on technology. She has much appreciation and enthusiasm for “the way that technology is used or not, successfully or not, and the impact that has on the way we buy things, share information, communicate with each other, and just evolve as carbon based life forms.”

The Two Medias

The fact that Cathy has much experience in traditional media led me to ask her about the now very widely use ’social media’ term. She responded that there are two kinds of media, “media with a capital M and media with a lower case m.” The first one is ‘the media,’ and it includes outlets from large organizations like News Corporation and The New York Times Company, as well as blogs like The Huffington Post and Tech Crunch. “Lower case m (media) are the platforms, the technology, the things we use, the social networks, the real-time stream things like Twitter, Blogtalkradio, Facebook, YouTube, and the list goes on and on,” she explained.

While some would argue that the concept of media is not much more than a channel or a means to deliver some form of content, Cathy think that media has always been social. “Social media to me is a rather redundant term as opposed to an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp. Media is by its nature a social thing and it has become more so in its interactivity, crowdsourced nature, and user generated contributions,” she told me.

The Case for Journalism

There has been much talk about the death of the newspaper and the traditional media organization in the last few years, but Cathy thinks this has been “greatly exaggerated.” She continued to say that while “some of these types of media outlets, some of the mediums, may either die or change greatly, the need for journalism has never been more important.” (more…)

Rick Marini is the founder of SuperFan, a site built around the idea that people are passionate about all kinds of things, from bands and celebs, to brands and video games. In short, SuperFan is a social hub for the things you love. It’s also a great way for companies to get acquainted with their true fans. It is no coincidence that Rick, an experienced entrepreneur and Harvard MBA, has gained not only loyal super fans, but also advisors like Dwight Howard and Shawn Fanning. Below are some questions that Rick answered for Social Nerdia. Enjoy!

1. How do you define the word “fan” and why do you think it has become such a key element of the social web?

I define a “Fan” as someone who has a genuine interest or passion for something and is proud to be associated with it. People around the world are passionate about their favorite music, sports, entertainment, games, books, places, products, schools and so on.  Everyone is a fan of something.

2. From Second Life to World of Warcraft and $1 gifts on Facebook, virtual currency is becoming.. normal. What is the future of online currencies and micropayments?

The future of “Web 3.0” will be centered on social games that utilize virtual currencies and micropayments.  Most of these games are free-to-play but also include special features where players can enhance their playing ability by purchasing virtual currency to exchange for virtual goods.  Some examples of virtual goods include clothes for an avatar, plants for a virtual farm or garden, power-packs for more energy, or tools/weapons to complete game tasks faster.  The virtual goods market in the US will be $1 billion in 2009 and is expected to be $1.6 billion in 2010.  The Asian market is already at $5 billion in 2009.

3. As a Harvard MBA, what do you think post-recession MBA programs could do to better prepare technology and business leaders?

“Post-recession MBA’s” have the benefit of experience and that should be applied to business leadership.  The risk-reward ratio was out of line for the past several years and that drove short-term greed.  I think great business leaders have a long-term perspective.  They understand that there can be bumps in the road but they also realize that getting to the final destination takes a lot of hard work and taking short cuts rarely works. And sometimes those short cuts can have an enormous impact on the ability for everyone to drive towards those long-term goals.  We are now digging out of that unfortunate situation. (more…)

Facebook has finally done it. The company not only reached the 300 million user mark but it also achieved its positive cash-flow milestone last quarter (ahead of schedule), according to Mark Zuckerberg’s blog posting on Tuesday. Here’s a look at five smart things they did right  to get to where they are today.

1. Opening Up to Everyone

Facebook started as a social network for Harvard students in 2004. After signing up over half of the Harvard undergraduate population in one month, the site opened up to other Boston and Ivy League universities. The site continued to spread through schools around the nation (including my very own SMU) and opened up to High School students by 2005. Today, Facebook is not only open to anyone around the world, but it has also opened itself so that its users are searchable by nonmembers. More importantly, Facebook grew in both features and popularity by opening itself to others. Mobile web sites and apps are available on all major mobile OS platforms. Developers have created apps like iLike, Scrabulous and Fan Check. Companies like Apple and Microsoft have leveraged Facebook’s API to connect to the site through products like iTunes and the Xbox 360. Thousands of web sites like Hulu and blogs like Mashable have allowed users to leave comments using their Facebook accounts via the now multilingual log-in system that we’ve come to know as Facebook Connect. And let’s not forget that it was Facebook Connect that enabled the last push for Facebook to surpass MySpace’s traffic in the U.S.

2. Becoming the Anti-MySpace that Doesn’t Sell Itself Short

Michael Arrington once said that Facebook had become the “Anti-MySpace” by deciding to open itself up. Just as Facebook didn’t follow in MySpace’s paranoid footsteps (remember how MySpace was so threatened by PhotoBucket that it acquired it in 2007?), it also did not flirt with large corporation that would swallow it. With rumors of Friendster being interested to pay upwards of $10 million, the News Corp. acquisition of MySpace in 2005, and Yahoo!’s offer of up to $1 billion in 2006, Facebook must have felt a little tempted. Still, Facebook focused on its site and its users and Zuckerberg’s words on July 17, 2007 have been proven to be true: “We’re not really looking to sell the company… We’re not looking to IPO anytime soon. It’s just not the core focus of the company.” With 1000 employees and a predicted $500 million in revenue for 2009, it is clear that MySpace is history. (more…)

Gord Weisflock is a Marketing and Business Development Manager for Kodak in Asia Pacific. Working on the B2B side of Kodak, Gord focuses on demand generation and building relationships in the largest market on Earth. I was able to speak with him on The Social Nerdia Show! and you can listen to it below, on blogtalkradio, or as a downloadable podcast on iTunes).

I was excited about this conversation because China is going through an incredible shift from manufacturer to creator and designer, and because Kodak is a great example of a company that is thriving in social media. Gord, who called in through Skype from Shanghai, told me about doing business in China and about his role within Kodak. While most of us know Kodak for its cameras, film, and printers, the fact that 75% of the world’s newspapers use Kodak products is only one example of the impact that this company has from a commercial point of view.

Gord explained that “a lot of companies see China as a huge market, a huge opportunity, but there are definitely some unique challenges. You have to understand the market, you have to understand what it’s like to walk in the shoes of people that live and work in this country… The Olympics were a great experience for the world to see how China operates and also a great opportunity for China to show how they do things themselves.” (more…)