On a more pure social collaboration level, Stage 32, a new site for filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, crew, agents, etc., is quite live and active, with over 10,000 members in more than 120 countries.  While getting funding is part of what the site enables with networking, it’s also about casting, getting crew, finding directors and classes, and just getting advice.  We love the registration via Facebook and how easily it’s integrated there.

The founders of Stage 32 are in the filmmaker’s corner.  The two are Richard “RB” Botto, a screenwriter/actor/producer and Curt Blakeney, president of Edge Public Relations.  They’ve made it a very personal experience, with your home page containing all the things you have added and want to add, suggestions of networking, wall communications.

We’ll be watching in the months ahead to see how it grows, but it’s certainly active, with multiple projects being added at all hours.  Any social network is only as strong as the socializing it attracts, but the tools are here on Stage 32 for filmmakers to connect in meaningful ways — not just in a contest.

Thoughts to get your brain stirring:
- I believe 88% of all people know about Facebook, but amazed Twitter is already at 87%.
- It’s surprising only 40% of people on Facebook follow a brand.
- It’s really surprising only 25% of people on Twitter follow a brand.
- Wait, do they count celebrities, publications, influencers as brands? I would.
- Activity on mobile devices is pretty believable.
- I’m amazed 49% of Facebook users that follow brands, follow brands they don’t buy.
- I can’t believe over half of Twitter users Tweet on a daily basis. Higher than I imagined.
- I thought we’d see more youth on Twitter by now.

Friends of Urgent (also formerly of Current TV), Chloe Sladden and Robin Sloan, are changing the way we watch television.  Fast Company came out with a juicy article today that features the pair as major players in the development of Twitter as the interactive platform for TV.  With the incorporation of Twitter in TV programming and large-scale event production like the VMA’s, Twitter has secured its standing as the ultimate “real-time information network.” The right side of Twitter’s redesigned interface –a new tool that allows users to integrate pictures and video–ushers in a platform for TV business and advertising in the way of promoted tweets and real-time audience interaction.  The promise of interactive TV is a game-changer for Twitter as much as it is for the corporations and televised events that will implement new strategy.  While at Current TV, Chloe was already leveraging symbiosis between live TV, tweets, and hashtags during the 2008 electoral debates. It’s true that Robin and Chloe’s efforts are transforming the way people use and perceive twitter as a social network.  Instead of the internet rendering TV irrelevant, the synergy between Twitter and Television bridges the generational gap for technology in an interesting and compelling way.

One of my first freelance gigs out of college was to write SEO-friendly articles for a company that sold Mexican auto insurance to Americans driving across the border. Yes, I was really desperate for cash and it was easy work for an english major. However, I hated that I was polluting the internet with absolute bullshit.

That’s why it made me really happy to read this article posted by Ben Elowitz (guy in the photo) on PaidContent.org. The gist is that SEO is dead and the real focus should be on social media optimization (SMO). As I’ve mentioned before, tools like Facebook and Twitter give you the strongest personal content streams these days. It’s because they are human powered. SEO tactics, on the other hand, require specific keywords and links that tend to hurt the content itself – like the random articles about Mexico injected with forced keywords. The SMO mindset is that it’s all about featuring great content that people will enjoy so much that they post on their Facebook walls and Twitter streams. This isn’t a mind-blowing discovery, but it needs to be said…and it’s said really well in this article here.

Mashable posted today that Facebook has surpassed Google as the most-visited place on the web with U.S. users spending 41.1 million minutes cruising the site in August (according to comScore). Though Google’s use in August is not far behind at 39.8 million minutes, Facebook still has a lot of room to grow. These stats reinforce how things are changing online. Portals like Facebook and Twitter are housing a constant flow of information from our friends and family, that for many is becoming their main source of information. One person might search for, let’s say, a skateboard blog through Google and share it immediately, which, for Google, kills the chance that his/her other friends might make that very same search and discovery. Instead, his/her friends on Facebook are clicking the link right to the blog. I admit Google is still vastly important for web use, but let’s face it, the conversations are happening elsewhere.

Remember LonelyGirl15? YouTube’s 5th birthday was last week and I’ve finally gotten around to watching the “YouTube Stories” series they produced– 2 minute interviews with select creators about their successes with the medium. The stories, and this interview with the director, contain interesting little insights about creating for YouTube that are worth checking out–

What kinds of techniques do you use to make these videos look so good and feel emotional?
When we all make YouTube videos, we’re creating for a screen size of about 630 by 350 pixels, so go in close. Use eyes, use foreheads, look at the way people move their mouths when they talk…all that says a lot, beyond just the words. Use that emotional power of the face to amplify what they are saying. Shoot as close to the face as possible, because we’re trained by thousand of years of evolution to respond to those movements of the face. And don’t forget hands, which can speak in the opposite way…or in sync…and reveal much. In the end, we want viewers to feel they’ve had a chance to meet these subjects over a cheeseburger or a beer and really feel them viscerally.

What is something about YouTube users you didn’t know before you started this project?
What I didn’t fully understand was how much the content creators have given their lives over to communicating with others. They’ve found their mission. Sharing their talent or passion with the world. Despite realities of family obligations, old jobs, the need to learn a bit more about technology, the people who shine come through because of sheer passion and faith. They believe that what they are doing on YouTube will change the world, and the effort that belief inspires in them usually gets to a positive outcome.

– Inside the Making Of “My YouTube Story,” interview with documentary filmmaker Stephen Higgins

The story behind LonelyGirl15

Everyone will find something to love in this treasure trove: voyeurs will enjoy peering into the luscious, hyper-intimate moments of others; travelers will relish in the whimsical journey across cities and landscapes; thinkers will find inspiration in the historical and philosophical aspects of the experiment–all the photos on the site were taken in a single day by individuals, then stacked according to geographic location.

The result is a monumental collection at once important and utterly fleeting.  I am, admittedly, a dreamer, but to me it is a unique artistic demonstration of power of the world wide web and its ability power to harness a wealth of information that is emotional, dynamic, populist, and individualistic.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this exhibit speaks volumes about global experience as we know it.

In an evermore complicated internet landscape of blogs, vlogs, networks, and languages, these sites will actually simplify your life.  Amen.

Check them out for yourself:

5. FreshDV

A nice cross-section of expert opinions, tutorials, tech news, etc.

4. IndieGoGo

A crowdfunding website for independent film and art projects.  Allows you to create a profile, upload content, and build a community around your film while letting the cash flow directly to your bank account.

3. Reboot.FCC.gov

We were all wondering the same thing–when will Obama finally grace the FCC with his magic political touch?  The time is now.  To enhance your government-regulated communications experience, check out the new FCC beta site: keep up with policy and news on the official blog, or get involved in one of the FCC’s important new initiatives: Broadband.gov, OpenInternet.gov, the Future of Media Project, and more.

2. Massify.com

Massify is the ideal social network for filmmakers wanting to move their online creative community offline.  Job listings meet content management meet production opps.  Start a project, upload a script, reach out to collaborators, and build your film’s community all on one site.

1. F.A.T.

According to its site/blog/webspace: The Free Art and Technology (F.A.T.) Lab is an organization dedicated to enriching the public domain through the research and development of creative technologies and media.

They run an open-source microblogging service called FuckTwitter, and are basically all about making art and technology as free and fun as possible.

The photographer has collaborated with his “super tech friend” Craig Swanson to launch creativeLIVE.com, which is hosting the first Live creative instruction on the ‘net.  Offering everything from Watercolor 101 to Adobe CS5, they claim that what keeps the classes free is that after they air you have to pay to download or re-visit them.  While I recall my BFA from NYU costing slightly more than the iTunes .mp3 of RBL Posse’s A Lesson to be Learned, I’m a sucker for making arts education more accessible.

So the next time you write off professional instruction due to budgetary concerns, remember–no more excuses.