This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
>> Return to the Small Business Branding front page <<
I love that phrase … The Annotated Life. It’s really a growing trend isn’t it? It began with the web in the late 20th century, but never really gained steam until the last few years. Especially with the explosion of mobile media gadgets, blogging, and more recently, podcasts (also see screencasting coming soon to an RSS feed near you). The smart companies see this trend, although they don’t necessarily call it "The Annotated Life."
Nokia is one of those smart companies. Check out Nokia Lifeblog. Here’s the summary from their very cool looking website:
"Nokia Lifeblog creates a diary of all your mobile phone’s
photos, videos, text messages, and multimedia messages. It’s the living
timeline that’s easy to browse, search, edit, and save – on both your
PC and mobile!"
So you’re an avid fisherman and you like to snap pics of your latest catch? You can do that with your Nokia camera phone and post them to your blog (like this guy). You can also have others submit there own pics to post on your blog (like this guy).
Some might see this trend as egocentricity. And it may very well be that in some cases, but I think it’s more than that. On a personal level, there’s something about sharing your life that makes it all that much more meaningful.
On a business level, there’s something appealing about a company or person who’s open and willing to share themselves on more than just a commercial level. It’s the relationship thing again.