Well, what if I told you that a blog post here may have encouraged a Boston City Councillor and Mayoral Candidate to not only re-vamp their strategy, but to do so in just one day?

Would you then begin to appreciate how social media (and that includes blogging) breaks down communication barriers and helps important issues bubble to the top and get fixed quickly?

Michael Flaherty Talks To Us, Not At Us

Because that might be the situation; just one day after my article from last week about how Michael Flaherty’s campaign failed to engage on Twitter, his Twitter stream began to become populated with @replies, RT’s and followees.

To jog your memory a bit, last week I wrote that:

When your Twitter stream has nothing but updates from you, meaning zero replies, zero ReTweets, zero interaction, and you’re following zero people, you fail. You come across as an automated yes-bot.

It was a swipe at the Flaherty Twitter stream, which as of that article was following zero people and was broadcasting instead of communicating. Then, just one day later @mffboston09 began talking to us, instead of talking at us. And today, we see the Twitter handle following 240 people, talking to those people, and RTing others.

Take a look at the new and improved Twitter stream from Michael Flaherty:

Michael Flaherty, now engaging on Twitter

Much better! Do note that now that he/his team is engaging with us I’m now following him.

Did we sway a Boston mayoral candidate?

When discussing the power of blogs to enact quick change in the political scene, we don’t need to see yes we can, instead we can proclaim yes we did! Sure, this revamping of Michael Flaherty’s Twitter profile may have been a pure coincidence and my blog post had nothing to do with it, but I think it played some role, even if it just re-affirmed to the campaign team that they needed to communicate, not broadcast.

Note: After writing this post, Michael Flaherty’s Twitter profile responded to my inquiry and stated my article had nothing to do with the change in approach.

But more importantly, it wasn’t just this blog post. It was you, the people who ReTweeted the post, shared it on Google Reader and linked to it. Thanks to all of you!

While we’re at it, let’s send some commendations to Michael Flaherty and his campaign team for listening, improving, and engaging. The real moral of the story is that none of us are perfect. If we approach social media with an open mind, we can all learn how to improve ourselves and connect with the people around us better.

Whether my post and your awareness helped drive this change or not, the change is a good thing and that’s what really matters. It’s a good thing for the City of Boston and its residents to have our mayor and mayoral candidates utilizing social media to communicate with Bostonians. Let’s hope this change is a small sign of things to come.

Thanks to jungledrumsonline for the photo.

This iPhone Can’t Tweet

Most Bostonians are familiar with his campaign, he’s got signs and advertisements everywhere comparing the incumbent Mayor Menino to old technologies and himself to new technologies. Like the picture above, where Meninino is an old-school blocky cell-phone from the 80′s, while Flaherty is a slick new iPhone.

It’s a really slick marketing campaign, but when you don’t back it up, you fail. It makes you come off as all talk and no walk, and worse makes your campaign seem disorganized and discordant. When you say you are new technology, but then fail to utilize new technology effectively, your proposed image and actual implementation end up contradicting each other.

How does Michael Flaherty fail?

In numerous ways, but for today’s example we’re going to focus on Twitter, something the “iPhone candidate” should be up to speed on, right? I mean, they do sort of go hand in hand. They’re both the latest hot piece of technology. The iPhone is a portable, handheld internet enabled computer while Twitter is one of, if not the, most popular online social messaging systems. Sure, every Twitter user does not have an iPhone and every iPhone user does not tweet, but the majority of the hardcore users of both likely have at least a base understanding of each other.

Twitter is for Communicating, not Broadcasting

There’s a huge misconception amongst many people that Twitter is for sending out inane updates about what you had for lunch or broadcasting your product to the masses. It is neither. While sending out tweets about your product or food choices can be effective at generating sales and showing your personality, if that’s all you do it shows a clear lack of understanding about the core of Twitter. More importantly, it likely won’t work. There’s exceptions, but for the most part, if you don’t engage no one will listen.

Let me break it down simply, for everyone, Twitter is a communication platform.

Twitter is not a:

• billboard
• lunch menu
• bullhorn
• something only web geeks do

It’s actually an immensely simple idea that got out of the way of people and allowed them to communicate quickly, easily, and freely.

When your Twitter stream has nothing but updates from you, meaning zero replies, zero ReTweets, zero interaction, and you’re following zero people, you fail. You come across as an automated yes-bot.

Take a look at Michael Flaherty’s Twitter stream:

Michael Flaherty's Events Calender/Twitter Stream

As you can see it’s basically his events calendar.

Wow Michael, you just got out of a city council meeting, that’s amazing! Thanks for informing us that you’re doing your job!

Let’s Talk, Not Stalk

The problem which Michael’s tweets, is that I don’t care about any of the information there. If I wanted to know where he’ll be, I’d check his web-page and look for an events calendar. Twitter is for communicating, and when used correctly could be a potential revolution in how constituents can interact with their government. When used to broadcast messages one way, it shows a complete failure for even the most basic of understandings about how the system works.

Don’t talk at me, talk to me.

You know what, that last sentence is so absolutely crucial to using Twitter well, and being a good Mayor that I’m going to repeat it and highlight it.

Don’t talk at me, talk to me.

Look, I don’t expect Michael Flaherty to ingrain himself in the Twitter community but I do expect him to bring someone in who gets it and to get advice before just throwing up random content (by the way Michael, if this article hasn’t completely turned you off, I am available for social media consulting sessions).

Now, if Michael didn’t brand himself as a candidate that is an improvement over the incumbent, then I wouldn’t care much. You don’t need to use Twitter, but if you brand yourself as the equivalent of an iPhone and do brand yourself as an improvement over the incumbent, then I would expect you to tweet well.

In this case, Mayor Menino’s Twitter stream is done well. Sure, it’s done by a staff member, but I could care less. If a tweet gets sent that needs the Mayor’s attention, the staff member can relay it on. I’d rather have an intermediary do it well than to have whoever do it poorly.

What’s worse, is that Flaherty doesn’t understand a relatively simple piece of technology like Twitter. What does it mean when the 80′s cell-phone uses a new piece of technology better than the iPhone?

Yelling in my Ear in Real Life

At the Dorchester Day parade, Flaherty’s campaign was the only one that brought a truck out that had a guy inside yelling loudly into a bullhorn:

VOTE FOR MICHAEL FLAHERTY FOR MAYOR OF THE CITY OF BOSTON FOR 2009. MICHAEL FLAHERTY MICHAEL FLAHERTY MICHAEL FLAHERTY

I get it. Your campaign thinks Michael Flaherty is a swell guy, but here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter. Personally I could care less about the candidate, his attributes, his personality and his accomplishments. Frankly it doesn’t matter because at the end of the day, it’s not about the candidate, it’s about the constituents.

Michael Flaherty may be a god amongst men, but what does that mean for me, a citizen of Boston? Whether Flaherty wins or not, we won’t be living in Flaherty land, we’ll still be living in Boston. Whoever wins will not be managing the entire city, their staff will. The direct impact of the person who’ll have the title will be minimal. How he interacts with his staff and how both interact and work with the citizens of Boston will determine how effective the mayor will be.

Someone who talks at me, not to me, does not sound like a team player. Someone who thinks it’s all about him, not about me and the other citizens of Boston, will fail. Someone who doesn’t realize it’s a good idea to ask someone with expertise in a field before diving in sounds like an egomaniac who will refuse to listen to outside ideas. That, to me, is not a mayor, it’s a dictator.

1. Call out Politicians

In my opinion, one of the most important roles of a newspaper is to keep public figures honest. The Globe does that, on occasion, such as when the Globe called out Mayor Menino to push for MBTA reform. I’d love to see the Globe take a more active role in pushing politicians to pursue positive policy change. A great start would be having a section that lists all the politicians, their campaign promises, and what they’ve done to fulfill those promises.

2. Promote Local Bloggers

As someone who received the Boston Globe bump, I know first hand that the Globe does try and promote the little guys. They could do a better job, by creating an archive of bloggers linked to before (to preserve the link juice), but being featured on the Globe’s homepage is a start and can be a launching point for Boston bloggers. I’ve heard from many other bloggers who wish their local paper had a similar feature, so kudos to the Globe for sharing some of their massive traffic with Boston bloggers who also help drive traffic to the Globe’s site.

3. Easy to Read Design

I’ve heard from a lot of people that they hate the Boston Globe’s design. Don’t count me as one of those people. For all their faults, in my eyes their web site’s design is not one of them. Sure it’s a bit cluttered, but it’s a newspaper. They have tons of content they want to showcase and in my opinion, their design accomplishes that without completely overwhelming readers. Plus, when you click through to a single article their typography and layout is spot-on and makes for a pleasurable read.

The only change I’d like to see happen is a section that showcases local news. I know the Globe does write about local stories, but they’re often buried out of sight off the homepage. Having a Boston stories section would help the Globe and Bostonians stay in touch with what’s going on in the City of Boston.

4. Social Media and Community Building

These two areas are places where the Globe gets kudos for effort, but they could stand to improve both areas. A few months back, the Globe rolled out a community feature, where commenters can create a profile describing themselves a little bit. Looking through some comments, I’m not even sure if this feature is still around, but at least they’re trying to give commenters a persistence presence.

An area where the Globe really excels though, is not just using social media to promote their articles, but more so using social media to promote news within their articles. During the MBTA crash at Government Center, the Globe had a running Twitterstream that showed the latest tweets coming in about the crash. Knowing that they couldn’t possibly match the real-time tweets, the Globe reported as much as they could and also gave readers the option to view the stream to get up to the minute updates.

It’s great to see the Globe reach out to the community for some citizen journalism, though the un-filtered stream was filled with duplicates and even a few tweets that shouldn’t have been there. It’ll likely never happen, but I would love to see the Globe allow commenters to link to their sites. It would provide a background on the commenter and help drive traffic to good commenters’ sites. And if they use Disqus, any SEO worries could be averted.

5. Humor

As yesterday’s crossword puzzle shows, the Globe does have a humorous side. OK, sure, one of my main critiques against the Globe is not focusing on the truly important news, but hey, everyone could use a little laugh in their day.

None of these positive aspects of the Boston Globe are perfect, but I feel they’re ahead of the game compared to most mainstream newspapers. Hopefully they’ll take some of the advice here into consideration. Instead of just ragging on the Globe, my efforts going forward will be on ways to improve the paper. Having the best newspaper possible benefits all Bostonians. That doesn’t mean I won’t call out the Globe in the future, but I’ll try to temper it by also offering ways to improve.

What are some areas you think the Globe does well? Where could they improve?

While talking with Stuart Foster of The Lost Jacket yesterday, Stu admitted a bit of concern that no one will show up to his discussion as he’s talking opposite C.C. Chapman and Marta Kagan. Well, isn’t the whole point of an unconference, especially one revolving around new media, to hear new ideas from fresh faces?

Further, didn’t we all get into social media because it leveled the playing field and allowed everyone and anyone to have a voice? I know that’s a big part of why I love new media, it allows good ideas to rise to the surface no matter where they come from. So at PodCamp Boston 4, I do want to hear from the “A-team” but I also want to hear from the under-voiced. I want to hear from the new. I want to hear from those whom I haven’t heard from yet. I want to hear from the up and comers, the revolutionaries, the diamonds in the rough. This is your chance to shine. Your ideas are just as if not more valuable than the stars of the show.

Here’s three topics I’d love to talk about at PodCamp. Anyone and everyone is welcome, whether you’re a big superstar of the social media scene, a newcomer, or somewhere in between. Tweet at me or give me a call, 617 418 1055 if you’d like to meet up and discuss any of these topics.

How to Use Social Media to Implement Positive Hyper-Local Change

To me, social media is wicked grassroots. All it really takes is an internet connection and a computer, and even those two requirements can be obtained free of charge with a library card.

So, anyone and everyone can hop online and let their voices be heard. How can we leverage the never before seen freedom of voice we all now possess to push positive change on our streets, neighborhoods and cities?

Does Content Want to Be Free and If So How Can Content Producers be Paid?

I’m betting a 100% of the people at PodCamp produce, or at least consume, lots of content for free. And I’m betting a lot of those people would concur that when content is free (as in beer and as in speech, but mostly as in speech), it’s quality is better than paid, restricted content. The power of content comes not only from the content, but also its ability to be shared, analyzed and improved upon.

But, if the ideal mode of content is free, how can we ensure content producers are paid for their time so that they continue to pump out value? As newspapers and other media outlets turn to paid content, this issue will grow in importance. For our communities, free content is ideal but how can we balance that with the need for content producers to eat?

Does Social Media Have a Cult of Personality?

Bringing it all back, a big feature of new media is its ability to give anyone and everyone a powerful voice that can challenge and even supersede the mainstream media. But, as social media has taken off, have we become guilty of replacing one big voice with another? Is that OK, because the new big voices are more open to discussion, or have we fallen back on some of the old traps of old media?

Are big ideas drowned out by big names, and if so what can we do to reverse the course? Are we devaluing our medium by creating new mainstream voices? Or are we showing its true power to allow anyone to make their voices heard across the globe?

Personally, I think it’s a mix of the two. Some voices have gotten mainstream big and might be drowning out others, but at the same time those same voices have propelled the medium into the limelight. I think we need big names to act as leaders and representatives for the medium but also have to be constantly looking for big ideas from the voices that might not (yet) have a huge audience. We should look at the ideas that come out of new media, not necessarily where they come from.

These three topics revolve around things I find interesting. They’re mostly off the cuff ideas, some of which may lack good discussion points but hey, it’s still a bit early in the morning and I’m mostly trying to get the creative juices flowing. If any of the above talking points strike you as interesting or valuable, hit me up and let’s talk! Above all, my biggest goal for PodCamp Boston 4 is to meet and talk with some new people, connect with some online friends in-person and re-connect with others, no matter the context of those talks. Looking forward to some interesting discussions over the next two days!

Twitter: @AdamPieniazek
Google Voice: 617 418 1055

I also grabbed a few vanity URLs for some clients and friends. In the end, it doesn’t really affect me much since I use fbadam.com as a short, easy to remember and spell way to tell people about my facebook profile. Still, it’s nice to clean up my facebook URL and get rid of all that profile=”lotsofrandomnumbers” mess.

Did you get the facebook vanity URL you were hoping for?

If you haven’t yet picked out a username, hop on over and give it a try. Quick note, the period does not matter and your address will resolve with or without a period. AKA, facebook.com/adampieniazek and facebook.com/adam.pieniazek and facebook.com/a.d.a.m.p.i.e.n.i.a.z.e.k all take you to my facebook profile.

in the mill building right next to the river, look for the Museum under the smokestack

Love it! We eventually figured out that one girl in our randomly assembled group at the parking lot entrance actually knew where it was, so we followed her lead. Once we got inside, we were all awed by the cool industrial stuff in the museum, from 100 year old bicycles to old engines, watches, and a very old school and very cool fire pump that may or may not have been pulled by horses (note to self, do not touch anything).

As for the actual networking and product showcase event, well it rocked! Met great people and witnessed some very innovative technology products. Without further ado, here’s the three innovative products I enjoyed the most.

Top Three Innovative Products at Mass Innovation 3

In no particular order, here’s three products that I found useful, innovative, or just plain cool and slick.

1. Chatterbox

I met one of the members of Chatterbox at Tuesday’s tweetup event, where I heard a little about Chatterbox, but seeing the software live in person left me even more impressed.

Chatterbox [@ChatterBoxApp] is a “collaboration platform for social media teams and power users”. In essence, it’s a piece of software that allows you to pull information from your social networks, organize it, delegate it and share it easily. Todd Clayton from Chatterbox was nice enough to hook me up with a beta invite so look out for some hands on analysis in the coming days.

2. World Computing Grid

Remember SETI@home? It’s the largest distributed computing system in the world. SETI stands for the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence and a few years back I used to run their SETI@home program all the time in the hopes of helping them find some aliens (what self-admitted geek wouldn’t help with that cause?).

Well, IBM’s World Community Grid is also a distributed computing system (meaning it splits up computer tasks and sends them out to computers around the world to crunch the data, then sends it back to the home server). They differ from SETI@home because the WCG is really a platform that allows researchers and organizations to implement a distributed computing system into their projects.

Any research project can submit a request to get free help from IBM setting up a grid to crunch their project’s data (submit a research proposal here). It’s a really cool system and is extremely customizable. You can set it to run in the background and utilize a certain percentage of CPU power, or simply run when your computer is idle as a screensaver.

The list of research projects utilizing the World Community Grid includes:

• Help Conquer Cancer
• The Clean Energy Project
• Nutritious Rice for the World
• FightAIDS@Home
• and more research projects
3. Canson PaperShow

The product that was most likely to make peoples jaws drop. In essence, it’s a piece of paper that you can draw on and it instantly gets transferred to your computer screen. It’s designed for digital flipcharts and interactive presentations.

From the piece of paper, you can select colors, brush styles, and other editing tools. Yes, from the piece of paper. Canson Papershow has tiny microscopic points embedded into each piece of paper. Inside the pen, there is a tiny camera which transmits data via bluetooth to a USB dongle connected to your computer. It’s really quite seamless and needs to be seen to be truly appreciated.

To that end, here’s two videos showing Papershow in action:

Canson Papershow is available now from Staples for $199.99.

Thanks to all the presenters at Mass Innovation Nights #3 for a great time. All your products were innovative and cool, these three just caught my eye and fit my interests the most. And thanks to Bobbie Carlton [@bobbiec] for putting everything together!

Sign up for #MIN4, held on July 8th today. And here’s the wrap-up post from the Mass Innovations blog.

Tweetups are basically events that are organized and attended by Twitter users [Twitter + Meetup = Tweetup]. As you might suspect, there’s a healthy amount of Bostonians on the micro-blogging platform so Boston tweetups are usually well attended and are a great way to meet awesome people in your industry.

Rooftop Tweetup

@Sarah Merion organized a rooftop tweetup for tomorrow, June 4th at the Rattlesnake Bar and Grill (hashtag is #roofup). The roofup runs from 6PM to 10PM but there will be a lot of people attending this one so try to get there early!

The roofup is also co-hosted by @BostonTweet [aka Tom O'Keefe] and @URWingman [aka Thomas Edwards].

The Rattlesnake Bar and Grill is located at:

384 Boylston Street
Boston, 02116

Here’s a few great reasons to attend:

1. Good People
2. Yummy drinks
3. You get to hang out on a roof
4. You might win a Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt
5. You might win an Annie Mulz t-shirt
6. You’ll get to eat some Kickass Cupcakes
7. You might win a RUNmyERRAND.com giftcard

Sounds like a blast, @AdamPieniazek will be there for sure! Join me and a ton of other great Bostonians by registering for the roofup at eventbrite.

Tweetnetworking

Mark J Carter, founder of Tweetnetworking, organized the Tweetnetworking event, a tweetup for Boston social media users and those interested in learning about social media. The event is being held June 9th at the Red Sky Restaurant & Lounge from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

The Red Sky is located at:

16-18 North Street
(Near Faneuil Hall Marketplace)
Boston, MA 02109

Networking for a Cause

Mr. Carter also organized Networking for a Cause Boston, an event where non-profits meet with professionals who are willing to help non-profits out for free. It’s a great event that connects skilled indiviuduals with non-profits who need help in web design, social media, marketing, computer programming, and other skilled professions. The event is part of the Networking for a Cause organization.

NFAC Boston is also being held at the Red Sky Restaurant & Lounge on June 11th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

The 42nd Estate will be giving away a four hour social media consulting package at the event to one lucky non-profit. The package will include a review of the organization’s current web-site and social media campaigns and include advice on how to improve their outreach efforts and streamline their marketing tasks. If you’re not a non-profit, check out our unrelated concert where we’re giving away three free hours of blog/social media consulting.

The tweetup event will also feature a social media audit giveaway from John Haydon. 4 copies of the book “Saving The World At Work” by Tim Sanders will also be given away at the event.

I’ll be attending all three events and hope to see you there! If you know of any other Boston tweetups happening in the next two weeks, let us know via the comments below.

One of the tricky parts about Google Friend Connect is finding other blogs with Google Friend Connect installed. Sure, there’s a Google Friend Connect Directory but it’s a bit sparse at the moment. So, I wanted to share with you seven eight great bloggers who have the Google Friend Connect community widget installed. Check them out and join their community. They’re all very solid reads. While you’re at it, scroll down and join my Google Friend Connect community in the right sidebar. All you need is a Google account. Over time, as I add some Google Friend Connect features (recommendations looks interesting) you’ll already be setup to use them.

Before we dive into the list, let me point out a great resource for finding out more about Google Friend Connect that one of my commenters pointed me to. It’s written by Chris Lang (who also appears on the below list) and is a very well put together guide to installing and utilizing Google Friend Connect.

Bloggers with Google Friend Connect

1. Stuart Foster – The Lost Jacket

Stuart blogs about the social media trends, techniques, and best practices at The Lost Jacket. Not only is it an informative read, it’s often quite hysterical too.

2. Justin Wright – Life of Justin

Justin is a digital nomad and member of The 42nd Estate. He writes about blogging, traveling, technology and the digital nomad lifestyle at Life of Justin.

3. Marko Saric – How to Make My Blog

Marko delivers tons of great tips about how to style your blog, write great content, and promote it effectively. For anyone with the Thesis theme, How to Make My Blog is a must read as he delivers tons of great tips on how to customize Thesis. Marko just recently added Google Friend Connect and gave me the scoop that he’ll be writing a post about his implementation of it soon.

4. Jim Gaudet – SEO and Web Design by Jim Gaudet

Jim is an IT guy living the good life as an expatriate in Costa Rica. He blogs about SEO, web design, his adventures on the beach and random cool stuff he finds online at SEO and Web Design by Jim Gaudet.

5. Mike Volpe – Marketing with Mike

Mike is a Vice President of Marketing at HubSpot, an inbound marketing firm. He writes about inbound marketing (shocking, eh), social media, conferences, SEO, and other good info at Marketing with Mike.

6. Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer

Jason is the Director of Social Media at Doe Anderson and an all around knowledgeable dude. He pumps out great content on marketing and branding in the social media age. It’s a real solid read and he usually goes into a good amount of depth on each topic. The 500 words or less post is a bit of a rarity at Social Media Explorer (that’s not a bad thing when the content rocks).

7. Robert Scoble – Scobleizer

Skipped over the Scoble the first run with this post, but as Chris noted in the comments, Robert has been using Google Friend Connect on his blog since his new design. Scoble blogs about the social web and hypothesizes about where it will all lead. Scobleizer is a great read for anyone who wants to read about how Web 3.0 or the 2010 Web will look and feel like.

8. Chris Lang – Google Friend Connect Tactics

Chris’ blog is one I just discovered via his comment below on my blog. Google Friend Connect Tactics is a perfect addition to this list as Chris writes about using GFC, new features, and other Google and social news.

9. Jack Humphrey – Friday Traffic Report

Jack is a late addition to this list but is another great blogger with Google Friend Connect enabled. He writes about blog marketing strategies, including SEO, link building, and social media at Friday Traffic Report. Note, the Google toolbar only came up for me when I visited his individual posts, not his homepage. So if you don’t see it immediately click through to a post.

10. Coree Silvera – Market Like a Chick

Coree comes from a sales and marketing background and over time migrated into network and internet marketing. She writes about marketing (of course!), social networks, and female bloggers and entrepreneurs at Market Like a Chick.

Do you have a blog with Google Friend Connect enabled? If so, share it below in the comments so we can check it out and connect!

Living on the Edge

As an internet TV evangelist and huge fan of Hulu I had to set Mr. Gilbert straight. Yes, as you’ve likely realized I own a 24″ SoYo widescreen monitor that I picked up for less than $300 at Office Max. Since scooping up this relatively decent monitor at bargain basement prices, I’ve tossed my television set and view 95% of my television via my computer. On my couch. With an Apple remote in hand (tied into Sofa Control) for maximum sloth effect.

According to Mr. Gilbert, I’m living on the edge of technology, blazing a path through the streaming TV frontier.

We live in that in-between moment when our TV screens and computer screens are still in separate locations – literally and psychologically. Maybe you, like me, have a tech-savvy friend who has already connected his HDTV to his laptop and streams TV shows from the couch; but most of us still have designated screens. That means the people who are watching TV online are doing so at their desks, or in “desk mode.”

Yes, it is immensely difficult to connect a laptop to an external monitor (HDTV included). Even more difficult, is googling for “hook up laptop to HDTV“. That simple search drained my technological prowess so much I may not be able to finish this post.

The Future is the Now

The crux of Gilbert’s article is that top quality shows deserve to be watched in our living rooms on traditional television sets. Let’s put aside that all of that is already possible via streaming video from the internet. He states that when we watch shows on our television sets we give more of our attention to the show, which the show’s creators deserve. Well, I actually devote more attention to a show when watching the online version.

Here’s why:

• Less commercials.

An obvious but when there’s less commercials the show gets more of my attention span.

• Laptop is devoted to video, can’t browse and watch.

Since my laptop is hooked up to my external monitor, I can’t have it sitting in my lap browsing the web while watching TV (though, there is the iPhone, but it interferes with my computer speakers so no deal).

• Can pause easily.

If the phone rings or I need to go use the bathroom or get the urge for a sandwich, I can easily pause my internet TV, take care of business and come back and hop right back in. Sure there’s DVR but with internet TV this capability is built-in.

• Can share easily.

If I’m watching a great show, I don’t need to call my buddies and tell them that they have got to watch this episode. Instead, I can finish watching and then send them a link afterwards.

• Recommendations.

I don’t waste my time looking for new shows online. Instead I let Hulu’s built in recommendation do the job for me. It’s not perfect but that’s where applications like Glue step in to give me personal recommendations based on my likes from people I share similar interests with (more to come on Glue soon, if you already have Glue my username is AdamP). Easily finding the next show to watch keeps me engaged instead of mindlessly flipping through channels.

When stuck watching traditional TV (mostly for sporting events), I find my mind drifts and wanders and I actually pay a lot less attention to whatever is on. I am relatively tech-savvy and skew pretty high on the geek radar amongst most of my friends, but honestly connecting your laptop to your TV is not that difficult.

The future is now. Internet TV will only continue to increase in viewership. There’s already a large number of baby boomers using Hulu. It’s only a matter of time before we’re all streaming video into our living rooms, iPhones and virtually anywhere via the internet. It’s already possible, today. It’s just a matter of doing a little bit of research and connecting a few wires and devices and you too can be on the bleeding edge of internet TV.

Do you pay more or less attention to shows when viewing them online? Have you hooked up your computer to an external monitor (computer or TV)? What’s your preferred way of viewing the boob tube?