Top 10 tips to learn a language
When it comes to starting anything new, including learning how to speak a foreign language. So here’s my top 10 tips on how to hack the language learning process using the web:
- Watch free youtube lessons on speaking your preferred language. They’ve got ‘em all.
- Follow native speakers of that language on twitter. Here frequency & brevity is your ally.
- Comment on blogs in that language to practice your written form.
- Makes friends on-line with people from that country who want to learn English.
- Organize skype chats with your on-line friends to practice each others language together.
- Download one of the many free apps to practice in down time or while waiting for people.
- Offer free on-line English lessons to speakers of the language you desire to learn.
- Watch kids shows (cartoons etc) from your home country that have been translated on-line (see youtube)
- Set your browser, mobile and web apps into the language you are learning.
- Bonus Analogue tip – go to local restaurant and practice with waiters…
There’s never been a better time to start something worth starting.
Aziz Ansari – another digital direct disciple
After the blog post from yesterday I happened upon a Cool Hunting interview with young comedy powerhouse Aziz Ansari. His approach has also been one of going direct to fans and paying attention to the changes in the digital landscape. His interview below has some cool insights, and a few laughs to boot. Oh, by the way, the Youtube channel from Cool Hunting is worth following as well.
What other entrepreneurial examples of web first & direct are you guys seeing?
Big think
Lately I’ve been totally loving the Youtube channel Big Think.
Basically it is some of the worlds leading thinkers, scientists, artists, educators et al, giving their views on important questions in a global society. Heavy kind of social, geo techno political issues. Often they are in short soundbites of under 5 minutes. For me it a nice TED alternative for bed time watching on my iPhone, or car listening (also via my iPhone which is streaming it from Youtube) – which makes me wonder is their a Youtube ‘radio’ app – where it streams only the MP3 file? If not there should be one. Gee, I might have to build it myself.
Check out Big Think – it is big awesome. Over.
The moving target & radvertising
It’s easy to think that our target audience is the same people it has always been.
18-24 year old influencers
Main grocery Buyers
Retirees
Primary School kids
But sometimes, that target market evolves. Some times it is the exact same people it was 20 years ago – except they are actually 20 years older. Case in point is Ice Magic. Yes, that chocolate coating dessert that is scrumptious when spread all over ice cream. These guys who run the brand found out that a whole bunch of big kids (35 year olds) were reliving their child hood and sharing photos on line. They even invented ‘ice Magic Day’ an annual event where pics of the choccy treat are shared on twitter and flickr.
Rather than fight it, they embraced this underground brand community and where it is going. And the end result is this uber cool graffiti piece.Which I am really digging because I am one of the members of the community. Enjoy
Another brand having fun – Pringle
The thing I really dig is brands that are honest. No point being uptight. Pringle Scotland does a good job of this. Hat tip to Big Red of Haul.
My dad’s chevy
Every now and again a brand crosses the chasm. A brand goes from being a thing, to being an emotional ingredient. These moments are usually personal, they are hard to capture and share. But occasionally it is captured, and it takes us to an entire new understanding of what is possible when we create things with the end user in mind. In this instance, the car was first created with driver in mind. And then, the acquisition was created with a dad in mind.
Another example of great narrative that would not be possible in the limited media of yesteryear. What a beautiful brand story to share – Kudos to all involved.
Technology spoofs
I just happened upon this great Siri spoof. Just very funny.
What new technology can you spoof to promote your brand, idea, business or startup? It’s a simple time test method – Get on it.
Home Made Advertising
Sometimes it is hard to make out if an advertisement is actually as it seems, or if it has been ‘gamed’. I came across one such advertisement recently. Chuck Testa had me in stitches (pun intended) with his Youtube advertisement that has now had over 7 million views. What is really cool, is the internet meme that has quickly developed on its coat tails. You can see many of the mashups here on youtube… and just for good measure I’ve posted my favourite below.
…and this Songify version…
The lesson for startups is simple. Have a crack at something funny to gain brand awareness. If it works you win. If it doesn’t, no one sees it anyway and you still win. Have a crack.
60 seconds on the web
The world moves fast. When we we’re unconnected the speed of change went unnoticed. Now that we all have digital footprints, we can track all that happens. This amazing and statistically rich infographic is solid reminder of the world we live in. It’s also very cool that most of these business are startups that aren’t even teenagers yet. I’ve pulled out the numbers and got the pic below.
60 seconds on the web:
- 12,000+ new ads posted on Craigslist
- 370,000+ minutes of voice calls on Skype
- 98,000+ tweets
- 320+ new twitter accounts
- 100+ new Linkedin accounts
- 6,600+ photos uploaded to Flickr
- 50+ wordpress CMS downloads & 125+ plugins
- 695,000 facebook status updates, 80,000 wall posts and 510,040 comments
- 1,700 firefox downloads
- 694,445 google searches
- 168 million emails sent (of which 92% is spam)
- 60+ new blogs & 1500+ new blog posts
- 70+ new domains are registered
- 600+ new Youtube videos are uploaded. 25+ hours in duration
- 150+ questions are asked in Question forums
- 13,000+ iPhone apps are downloaded
- 20,000 new posts on Tumblr.
- I new definition added to Urban Dictionary
- 1,600+ reads on Scribd.
And here is what it looks like:
2 minutes of Screen Culture
Our lives are increasingly being influenced by what I like to call ‘Screen Culture’. Which I posted a piece on here. I thought it would be worth showing the idea in action – hence the video I made below. Many of the statistics to support the concept were garnered through ‘Eye on Australia‘ which is an annual Grey Advertising study on consumer sentiment. The video explores the impact screens are having on our lives in the geographically specific & connected world. Enjoy!
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