Dollowers

Dollowers

Social media addicted the world to pops of dopamine that came in the form of a friend request or clickable reactions to content. With a single click, likes led to more followers, which added attention and became a metric to support an entire industry of online influencers. The temptation of fame for anyone had many doing whatever it took to keep engagement flowing and follower count growing, but the audience we often yearned for was never truly owned.

Followers are controlled by tech giants and guarded by unseen algorithms. They can vanish without notice. To play the game without being bamboozled, diversify your online presence and add layers of dollowers who pay to stay in tune.

Dollowers pay with their wallet, affiliation, and attention. As you grow an online audience, transition followers into dollowers with segmented email lists, a fleet of products, digital assets, speaking engagements, creator compensation programs, books, affiliate marketing, online courses, and a website to call home base. This gives true fans a sustaining way to show lasting support beyond today’s favorite fad.

Brewed From Within
#75 📖 Technology

By Ben McDougal, ago

Rock & Radio

Max Schaeffer is an Iowa Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame Inductee jamming on a new kind of mic. EP79 features a professional conversationalist sharing insight from 40+ years in radio!

This influencer is also an award-winning theatrical director, actor, and producer. Ben and Maxwell discuss timely vs. evergreen content, regulations of radio, metrics that matter vs. opinions of estimates, and curating dollowers beyond passive followers. After the break, we explore how to lead by doing, radical ways for radio to remain relevant, and then Max… as he’s done so many times, in so many ways, closes things down in style.

LISTEN on APPLE PODCASTS
LISTEN on SPOTIFY

BONUS MATERIALS

Maxwell’s Iowa CoffeeCast

https://BenMcDougal.com/content-creation

http://Rock-Radio.YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

EP48 – Consistency Counts 🎙️ Michael Libbie

EP59 – Agents of Change 🎙️ Amner Martinez

EP69 – Generative Humans 🎙️ Chris Snider

http://YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

http://CollectorHardbackEdition.com

http://BENBOT.ai

By Ben McDougal, ago

Phygital

Blending a physical reality with digital depth is something humanity has carried out for decades.

Catchy names, memorable phone numbers, short URLs, and QR codes are simple methods that guide a physical interaction to details online. Augmented Reality (AR), Bluetooth, Near Field Communication (NFC), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), biotech, and smart materials all take it up a notch. Each technology paves a path to provide phygital experiences.

To spin some yarn, let’s stitch this nerdy good term into the world of fashion. Phygital clothing now has passive chips embedded behind a patch or hidden in the garment. When tapped by a phone, the tiny washable chip is given enough electricity to pass data. This prompts a notification that links to digital destinations. The destination may be a website just for fun, but for brands with dollowers who like to collect stuff, the criterion for loyalty is given all new levels. Imagine the status game of a global fan base that unlocks digital assets by working together. An elbow bump from someone wearing your favorite brand can now highlight ownership and unlock gamified layers.

With ownership determined by code and real-time incentives connected to the owner, this nerdy good phygital term quickly becomes a part of the web3 taxonomy. That said, the flex is not about being high-tech. It’s about introducing a remarkability factor.

When remarkability matters, as it often does, phygital twists offer an edge. There are endless examples of digital depth revolutionizing every industry. Computers and smartphones link a physical device to digital experiences, and the first smart vending machine in 1982 would lead to an entire microcosm we call the Internet of Things (IoT).

Today’s chips are cute, but nanotech (think, a computer on every cell) and neurotech (think, brain-computer interfacing) represent a direct line where input and output will require no physical movement. Edges dull as new becomes commonplace, so the time to get phygital is now.

As industries continue to be phygitized, more physical products will be mirrored by digital counterparts, ownership will be obvious, and augmented experiences will be increasingly invisible as our perceived reality is reinforced by the phygital world all around us.

Brewed From Within
#79 📖 Technology

By Ben McDougal, ago

Munch Munch

Computer science, the global datasphere, machine learning, computer vision, and language modeling have embedded artificial intelligence (AI) into every conversation. Machines have long used human logic to automate routines, and AI is not new, but this form of knowledge engineering was transformed as compute was enriched, storage became boundless, and AI learned to speak human. We may not have invented a new species (yet), but language modeling taught our digital counterparts how to articulate what it already knew, and conversationalized AI made science fiction real for everyone all at once.

Anytime innovation threatens the status quo, a common response is fear followed by complacency. This is evident in the argument that AI will take all our jobs. We may not be able to depend on clocking in to climb a ladder built on compliance, but this willingness to play it safe has long been a choice that makes anyone easy to replace with cheaper labor and faster tools. This advancing technology reduces the need for humans to turn knobs, but the efficiency will create new jobs and reward remarkability. When clever counts, remain indispensable by letting AI devour the dull and stay ahead by pulling the levers of ingenuity.

History teaches us that any frontier introduces opportunity, but the void that creates also attracts misunderstandings, dangers, and false realities. As we explore frontiers, be vigilant and don’t assume truth. When every business pitches innovative metamorphosis and everything is “powered by AI,” realism is easy to dilute within the noise. Transcend hype by tinkering with internal tools. Reward continuous execution and keep exploring in and outside your industry. This forms wisdom to reinforce more external interplay.

Futuristic forefronts will remain intimidating, especially when cultural changes occur in a sweeping way. This makes it easy to feel forgotten. When this sensation intensifies, avoid being left behind by taking action before you know the destination. Fresh knowledge may be required to lower the bar, but for leaders who use curiosity to stay prolific, it becomes impossible to compete with being you!

Extra Shot

BEN BOT went online April 1st, 2023. The Roasted Reflections NFT Collection would allow token-owning dollowers to connect with each other and 24/7 access to our conversational AI that provided BENergy in its replies and link to influence source. Later, it would even quietly co-host 100 episodes of You Don’t Need This Podcast!

Let AI munch on the mediocre. We’ll continue to build without a map, do things for the love of it, convert haters, and care enough to fail. In times of constant change, we obliterate fear and complacency with infinite dexterity and a devotion to keep leading with no permission required.

Brewed From Within
#80 📖 Technology

By Ben McDougal, ago