Scobles in Amsterdam!

Scobles in Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by pvantees.

Last Sunday, Sinterklaas had just left the building and the kids where still playing with their new toys. I am going through my RSS feeds and there is a post by Robert Scoble. He is in Amsterdam en is looking for people interested in having dinner on monday. This is a once in a lifetime chance. So I left a comment. And later that night I got an email: he's interested! So the next morning I called a couple of friends to see if we could set up an interesting group. It was a bit of a short notice, so we only had a small group that would be able to make it. For fellow CMBO board members and colleagues it was interesting enough and a great chance to meet this blogger and his wife. It turned out to be a nice evening, talking about different subjects. It was great meeting these two 'famous' bloggers. Thanks!

Robert Scoble and his wife Maryam both work at Podtech.net, a startup company all about podcasting. Scoble has his own show (Scobleshow) and Maryam works as an event-organizer. She has her own weblog and is a regular speaker at shows etc. Until June 2006 they both worked at Microsoft. Scobleizer, Robert's weblog attracts 30.000-45.000 readers on a daily basis. He is a familiar face in Sillicon Valley and the technology world. He has written 'Naked Conversations' with Shel Israel, which is a best seller for marketeers worldwide.

RSS adoption is at 1%. Messages are popping up that users feel RSS is too technical en therefore not suitable for mainstream use. Scoble thinks that 1% is more than enough. When people started using PC's 30 years ago it was considered useless technology and look around now ... This 1% are the early adopters and they have a lot of influence, they are important. But Scoble has the same problem I have: obessive feed-reading. He uses Google Reader and the "J" key is wearing out (J is a shortcut in Google Reader to go to the next item).

Crossmedia is not a mainstream term used in the US. Scoble thinks that 'consolidation' or 'convergence' are more appropriate. The main part of publications will be done by the large media companies, but niches will be taken by strong specialists and there will always be demand for it. Crossmedia is more about technology and content management than a 'movement'. Convergence, where we talk about a lot in The Netherlands, is less of an issue in the US.

User generated content or 'citizen journalism' are the future of and driving force behind the internet. The main problem is in 'trust'. Trust has to be the unique selling point. Why do we trust an article in a newspaper more than a well written post on a weblog? Traditional thinking is the main cause. Think about the time when newspapers came out for the first time: who trusted these news items? It was new and therefore not to be trusted. He names Youtube as a tool NBC uses to promote it's shows. At the same time the same tool (technology) is used by a 14-year old kid to publish a fun movie clip: the world is flat and it's getting flatter and flatter.

Venture capitalists are looking for the next 'Youtube'. which idea can be brought to market and will be ready for a take-over in a short time? This development has a negative impact on innovation and new ideas. So many new things are coming out that is very similar or based on a successful cases from the past. But a successful case does not work twice. If it's been done it is no longer interesting. But new variations (and therefore aimed at a niche market) are exceptions and can be very successful.

Scoble wrote here and here and Maryam also blogged about the evening.

Robert and Maryam, correct me if I am wrong and ... what happened in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam!