Garrett French…A Tribute

It’s been almost 2 weeks since the departure of our friend Garrett French. We’re through mourning, and we’ve decided to provide a tribute in true Garrett fashion.

The Top 10 bits of knowledge that we’ve learned from Garrett French:

10. Full beards are sexy.

9. You don’t have to be into D&D to enjoy MMOGs.

8. An “all you can eat buffet” should be taken as a personal challenge.

7. The only thing better than interviewing a CEO from an up-and-coming company is posting it on your blog in a War and Peace style, 2,500-word novelette.

6. When you're right you're right and when you're wrong you're right.

5. Every tattoo has a story behind it.

4. Conversations that start with “hey, you got a minute?” usually end up as philosophical dissertations.

3. It is absolutely possible to be punk rock and geek chic at the same time.

2. YouTube, MySpace and LinkedIn, in the right hands, can be a strange weapon.

1. Being passionate about Roller Derby is just as important as being passionate about media creation.

In all seriousness, we both miss and respect Garrett tremendously. He has an unmatched passion for social media and interactive marketing. We’re much stronger for having known him and we continue to reap the rewards of the knowledge that he provided to us.

Garrett’s vision was to have SEL contributors from all walks of our company. Over the next month you’ll find that we’re honoring Garrett’s request and picking up where he left off. You’ll find frequent posts with not only a marketing focus, but a technical and business intelligence focus as well.

Thanks for continuing to support The Lowdown.

Jon Revill | permalink | +marktd |

 
Outside.in Takes WaPo's Hyper-Local ReadExpress Nation Wide
Outside.in is neat. Should users adopt it as a means of finding and sharing news about their neighborhoods it could become an enormous media force.

At my first glance it strikes me as a ReadExpress for the whole of the US, though it lacks the hand-tooled quality of ReadExpress (WaPo hired someone to more accurately map the precise neighborhoods of their coverage).

I think we have to watch for a multiplicity of marketing opportunities for the hyper-local though... there's already Merchant Circle, Yahoo Local Listings, and Sterling notes that many local businesses (in Kentucky) are finding value from their MySpace profiles...

I forget where I saw it first, but psfk reminded me of Outside.in today.
Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

 
SEL Fieldtrip: Taping Craig Silverstein at UNC
I'll be heading out of the office a bit early today to catch Google's Craig Silverstein at UNC.

Two and a half years ago I heard Silverstein go off about Google brain implants, so I look forward to what he'll level at us this afternoon ;)

Special thanks to Davak of the community techipedia known as Tech Recipes for the ticket hook ups... he even went so far as to get us into the VIP section so I can get some close ups of Silverstein's nose hairs.

Geek out over on Davak's blog.
Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

 
Google's Confidential Ethnographic Research on YouTube
I've been reading through the astounding posts of Grant McCracken and stumbled up on this:

Confidential Google Research on YouTube

Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |

 
InkyAnswers... Answers: an Interview with NLS Developer Lance Bradley
I posted questions for natural language search engine InkyAnswers' Lance Bradley last week. He responded.

Check out InkyAnswers: a New Natural Language Search Engine (beta).
Garrett French - MarketSmart Interactive | permalink | +marktd |