DISQUS

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

Good luck with this move, Robert. Here's to hoping you can help make this new brand a household brand beyond us core geeks. We'll be watching.

Boring Market · 1 year ago

You seem to have a firm set of logic and I Think you answered every question anyone would ask you. I wish all the best, your content will only get better!

meanguy · 1 year ago

Focus on your interviewing skills. Watch the earliest Letterman and Leno shows and see just how horrible they are. Learn to let the personality of the interviewee come through. And get some tech writers behind you to brainstorm questions ahead of time. When you cover hardcore tech (which will be less and less) it needs to be razor sharp.

Dania · 1 year ago

Good luck Robert! Hope to see you at the LIFT conference. Cheers from Switzerland :)

Hans Bjordahl · 1 year ago

Congrats and good luck!

Jerry · 1 year ago

Hmmmm...is it irony or lack of conviction?

http://scobleizer.com/2006/09/05/stuff-printed-...

money quote: "I don’t read newspapers or magazines anymore either."

But yet your write a column for Fast Company? And now go work for a company most know for "printing stuff on dead trees"? It's a riddle wrapped in an enigma (to quote Churchill)

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

Jerry: just because I don't read the dead trees doesn't mean other people don't. Plus, did you miss that all my Fast Company content is available online?

Greg · 1 year ago

Good luck! Looking forward to your new venture and continued Qik videos. Cheers.

Teresa Valdez Klein · 1 year ago

This sounds like the perfect fit for you, Robert. I'm truly enthused to see what you'll come up with next. Mazel Tov!

Victor Agreda jr · 1 year ago

Glad to hear it Robert (although you told us earlier today :)
Best of luck, and we'll see you on the intertubes!

Frank Koehntopp · 1 year ago

Good look with the new Job, Robert!
Looking forward to that.

Simon Brocklehurst · 1 year ago

Just chiming in with the best wishes for your new job! Look forward to seeing the new shows...

Roy Blumenthal · 1 year ago

Wow, Robert!

What a mag group to work with!

When Wired started getting tired, I found Fast Company to be a more compelling read. Was disappointed when it went through some sort of recession. Glad to hear that it's getting better again.

You'll probably turn me into a Fast Company fan again. Yay!

Thanks for being the pioneer you are.

And thanks for introducing me to all the new tech you've been playing with.

If you ever need illustrations, please think of me. (And I'll be more than happy to come and do live visual facilitations of your chats as a sidebar live-cast.)

Blue skies
love
Roy

Krish · 1 year ago

Congrats Robert. I am sure you are going to rock. Looking forward to March 3rd.

SearchEngines · 1 year ago

///Both Mike Arrington and Om Malik (and others) urged me to start my own company. But, when I looked in the mirror I just didn’t have that passion for doing it all myself. Why not?

It does not have to be a 'doing it all' scenario...
this top 100 blog is a business - it just depends on how much you profit from it:

Look at how: Techcrunch, Mashable, Problogger, Shoemoney, Endagdget - have all started off with blog and took it to the sky.

Rachel Clarke · 1 year ago

Congratulatios Robert, sounds fun. Just curious though as Fast Company says you're going to be Managing Director. Doesn't that role still have to do a lot of the things you didn't want to do if you were starting your own company.

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

SearchEngines: and I've watched TechCrunch spend four years getting to where it is with tons of business advantages (he's a lawyer, for one) that I don't have. Also, starting a business in the face of a recession (and entrenched competition) isn't as easy as it was when the industry was rapidly expanding, as it was three/four years ago, and when there was a new niche that really had very little competition (remember, I was the first one to link to TechCrunch when it started up).

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

Rachel: yeah, some of them, but not as many as if I were running my own thing and certainly I wouldn't be able to hit the ground running the way I will be here.

shannonclark · 1 year ago

Robert,

I congratulated you earlier this evening in person but here is a written note to add to the chorus - awesome move and congrats!

One immediate suggestion - talk to the folks over at the Berkman Center & Global Voices - as you go to large venues like the World Economic Forum & Lift talk with about who else/where else you might go to get a truly global set of stories, companies and people.

(happy to make many intros there if you need any)

Shannon

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

Shannon: great idea. I've been talking to lots of people about Davos, the more the merrier!

Nicole Simon · 1 year ago

Congratulation to your move, I think it will be a win win for everyone. As you said: You need to be happy with it. And at the moment Fast.TV _is_ much more compelling than doing a startup to yourself.

Especially with your two boys, who will want to see something of their daddy - not to speak of your wife.

Outsourcing: You will need to spend a bit more though than Tim is suggesting in his book as his numbers are quite optimistic ;) Though it will be totally worth helping you move forward.

Nicole

dsifry · 1 year ago

Congratulations, Robert, you definitely deserve it. Gret seeing you and PAtrick tonight, looking forward to hanging out with you and talking about many other new things together... :-)

Give my best to everyone in Davos - it is a WONDERFUL time, you're going to love it...

Dave

Neuromancer · 1 year ago

Good luck with the new venture

Karyn Romeis · 1 year ago

Reading through your 6 points, I find myself nodding in sage agreement. What a pity no-one is bashing down my door to get me to work for them on a similarly exciting venture! Sigh.

Congrats and all the best.

I'm sure your family will appreciate it - especially if it means you have the time to attend sports events, science fairs, concerts and award ceremonies.

Ed Sussman · 1 year ago

As Managing Director, Robert will help FastCompany.TV create its entire editorial line up, not just his own shows. He'll also work with us to choose the right video technology for the site, the right design, and the best way to offer the video offerings to the one million plus readers of FastCompany.com. And he has an important say as to the role our sponsors will have on the video network. But we'll take care of almost all of the more mundane non-editorial tasks (negotiating and writing contracts, doing payroll, billing sponsors, preparing sales presentations, serving ads, buying software, finding distributors for the shows, etc.) to clear up Robert's schedule for reporting. As a company with 170 employees, owned by Joe Mansueto, the billionaire founder of Morningstar, we have all the resources in place to support a solid business. We're also a company laregly run by journalists who believe editorial excellence is our primary mission. We're very excited Robert decided to join us. (I'm the president of Mansueot Digital, which runs all our websites.)

Dan York · 1 year ago

Congrats on the move! Your points on why you are NOT starting your own business definitely resonated with me. I recently went through a job transition and seriously looked at going out on my own, but for reasons quite similar to yours (as well as the outrageous quotes I was getting for self-employed health insurance!) I, too, chose to NOT go that route and am now extremely happy to be able to focus on what I enjoy doing.

Best wishes to you and your family and team as you go down this new path. I'll look forward to seeing what you produce!

Dan

Garth · 1 year ago

Good luck.

Loretta Donovan · 1 year ago

You've done amazing work in the past and will in the new shop too. Thanks for outlining your thinking . . . wish more folks were that genuine about their career moves. Probably the same honesty is why we're all devoted to tracking your ideas.

Kevin C. Tofel · 1 year ago

Best wishes and thanks for sharing the insights, Robert. I left my 15-year IT career last May to write, blog and create video content full time. Your thoughts echo many of the considerations required for a start-up... even on a smaller scale. Looking forward to seeing what you & your team produce!

Alan Levy · 1 year ago

Best of luck with Fast Company. I interviewed Ed Sussman at the Network Journalism Summit and he is an impressive individual. Oh yeah, the offices in 7 World Trade are awesome!!

Halley · 1 year ago

Bravo man, and best of luck which you have LOTS of I've noticed!

Jeff Crites · 1 year ago

Great post ... an insiders view on your decision making process, which was obviously well thought out and through. Best to you in this new venture.

I've been a firm believe that 2008 would be THE big year for established media companies to make their big push into the New Web. Sounds like Fast Company and Inc, both mags I enjoy very much (yes, I still read paper), are forward thinking. Good for them, good for you. Now, I just need to send you guys my resume. :-)

Christian Delvaux · 1 year ago

Good luck in your new job!
I am sure it will be a great success with a lot of high quality content.

Gerald Buckley · 1 year ago

Robert, congrats to you and Rocky. Great choices!

Not to pick on your new employer... Tried to comment on Lynne's blog and it errors out for no obvious reason. Might try it yourself just to see if your mileage varies. If we're going to participate in a discuss/attention driven relationship... Either I'm going to have to get better at understanding what I did wrong on the blog there or they're going to have to wrench on their tech a bit. I know I can change! Please give me another chance? ;)

Jeremiah Owyang · 1 year ago

Congrats on this new move Robert!

Vlad Mazek · 1 year ago

Best of luck in your new venture Robert!

-Vlad

Mike Riley · 1 year ago

Congratulations. Fast Company/Inc is a good company. Look forward to seeing this new venture.....

Bill Cammack · 1 year ago

Congrats on the move. Looking forward to seeing the difference between the FastCompany videos and the PodTech videos.

steve garfield · 1 year ago

///The thing is that the new technology lets you PARTICIPATE with the people who are in front of the camera. You got a taste of this while I was walking around CES with a cell phone and you could ask questions WHILE I WAS FILMING LIVE. That really changes the equation a lot and that’ll be a key differentiator on FastCompany.tv. After all, if we’re talking to Fast Companies, why shouldn’t they answer YOUR questions live as well as mine?

Hey Robert congratulations!

My experience up in NH covering the primary with Qik really got me excited all over again about the PARTICIPATORY aspect of this. I love that it's one of hte things you are focusing on.

I've experimented with Mogulus and hope to try some LIVE broadcasting with it. Finding the right technical solution that works is the tricky part here. I've tried a lot of the live streaming solutions at Boston Media Makers meetings and most times there have been issues that keep the stream from working. Computer issues, configuration issues, bandwith issues... I'll be experimenting more with these technologies to find something that works for me all the time.

And finally Seesmic. Although the videos are recorded, they are live. Alive with people, and timely. On New Years Eve Carol and I had dinner with the world as we watched everyone celebrate and recorded our own toast.

2008 is going to be an exciting year.

See you in the internet and in person...

--Steve

JWest · 1 year ago

Congrats Robert! I've been following the journey since Channel9 and enjoying your content over at Podtech, and I can't wait to see what's coming in March. Best of luck and looking forward to it!

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

Steve: yesterday Qik's executives say they are working with both Seesmic and Mogulus. Like you said, 2008 is going to be an exciting year! Hope to see you soon and thanks for the support!

Jim Walton · 1 year ago

Congrats, Robert! I look forward to continue to keep up with the new things you will be doing as you expand your reach and build on what you have already started.

Jim Walton · 1 year ago

Congrats, Robert! Looking forward to continue following you as you break new ground again.

Paul Roundy · 1 year ago

Good luck Robert, this moves sounds like more of a winner for you. Plesser mentions that you will be selling add space on the blog now. What kind of adds?

monkeyleader · 1 year ago

Robert,

Like podtech will you again be focused on interviews / startups and communities in the usa? Any plans to have the viewpoint from Europe / UK?

Nige

marshal sandler · 1 year ago

Robert there is very interesting quote from the Talmud ! " We don't see things as they are we see things as we are !" In the final analysis no one can buy judgement, but our own decisions right or wrong add to our structure ! In my opinion NY is the center of the world. A New York office with a line into the East Coast Media Market is worth a move to a new firm ! Your content generated in CA and piped to the Apple it shall Deck the Halls of Great institutions like the Stage Deli ! Millions will stand in Times Square watching Scobie Of Ca on the Big Screens ! Puede Ser !

Nickie · 1 year ago

Best of luck in your new job! I'm excited to see what you do.

Dan Blank · 1 year ago

Good luck Robert! It is nice to see the perspective you have taken in this decision - taking into account the needs of your WHOLE life, not just the temptation to follow money and stardom.
-Dan

paul · 1 year ago

FastCompany.tv is still a parked URL, so get to work and establish something wonderful!

saran · 1 year ago

this is a smart move Robert, congrates!

Chris Hargarten · 1 year ago

Robert -- GREAT move. It's clear you spent a lot of time thinking through the framework for a decision and it's also clear you made a great choice. Best of luck from Michelle and I. (Btw, you looked great on Donny and Fast Money!)

Michael Markman · 1 year ago

Onward. Congrats. Great success to you, Rocky, and the team you will build. Looks like you'll be in good Company.

Daniel Shaw · 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing Robert. It was very interesting and insightful to read the process you went through to arrive at your decision.

Best of luck to you!

jonnygoldstein · 1 year ago

Congrats. Your reasoning makes perfect sense. I can totally relate. Interviewing is a blast, and live just adds energy and allows for real time interactivity.

Break a leg.

And I'd love to book you as a guest on my show one of these days!

Rock on.

Victoria · 1 year ago

Congrats Robert. I look forward to hearing about this new chapter in your life.

Jim Storer · 1 year ago

Congrats Robert! Thanks for (1) sharing the process you went through to make this decision and (2) having the courage to recognize the path that will make both you and your family happy.

Good luck in your next journey!

Jim

Peter Semmelhack · 1 year ago

Hey Robert - congratulations on the new venture. I'm sure you'll make it a huge success. Looking forward to following your progress :)

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

monkeyleader: I will be in Europe three separate times in next three months, so yes, we'll have lots of content outside of the United States.

>Paul Roundy: we're still working through what kind of ads, and what kind of redesign will happen to my blog. More details to come closer to March 3.

Loren Heiny · 1 year ago

Good luck with your new endeavor! Looking forward to watching it unfold.

Tom Raftery · 1 year ago

Robert,

that's fantastic news, congrats on the move.

And remember, if Fastcompany are looking for anyone to help you in Europe, I'm in the market for work at the minute(!)

Rocky Barbanica · 1 year ago

Congratulations, Robert! I look forward to working with you and Fast Company. Thank you for your loyalty and friendship. You're truly the best.

Rocky-

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

Tom, thanks for the kind words and, I'd love to talk.

Rocky, back at ya buddy!

Orville Chomer · 1 year ago

Doing something new is always exciting! Like everyone else: congrats - looking forward to new content you generate this year.

On another subject, I'm dying to find out what you thought about the annoucements Steve Jobs made at MacWorld! Especially regarding Apple TV. Do you think the changes they made will cause you to use it?

I tried out the position locator button in Maps on my iPhone and it works pretty darn good! It's only about a block and a half off!

Anyways, all the best.
Orville

Herschel · 1 year ago

I look forward to seeing what you can do in your new position. I wonder how this move will change your blog, it at all?

Are you going to consider your assets, blog and FastCompany.TV as one outlet. If so, will your blog reflect a higher standard of journalistic professionalism?

You know, one thing that keeps your viewership around is that you come across as a type of reporter who doesn't elevate the technical content so high that it seems out of reach for most of the viewers. I'm sure that most of your current viewers are indeed technical and enjoy the casualness of your approach. We deal with very technical issues all day and you give us a break from the gritty details.

Now, sometimes this works against you when you go off on a tangent and try to hard to get too deep into the details.

But anyway, good luck on the new journey... we look forward to the next chapter.

Oh yea, and here's an idea for content. Give your son a show about MACs. Use his passion and let him turn on the younger crowd to Interenet based media!

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

Herschel: my blog is still going to remain my blog: unedited and my own, but I'm thinking about what to do with it in a more professional context, yes.

Good idea about my son! He was on Dave Winer's podcast yesterday and did great.

Aaron Strout · 1 year ago

Robert - Congratulations. Sounds like a perfect fit. Based on the podcast we did a few weeks ago (http://tinyurl.com/3e5kx3) I can't say as though I'm surprised by your choice although I still think Google could still benefit from your "breath of fresh air" approach -- engineers be damned!!! LOL

Tony E · 1 year ago

Good luck! Looking forward to watching Fastcompany.tv, which I hope will offer something unique online.

drew olanoff · 1 year ago

Sounds exciting. I agree on all fronts, you handle the content, let the business people handle the business.

Michael Krigsman · 1 year ago

Congratulations - look forward to seeing your new work!

James McCormick · 1 year ago

Robert - best of luck to you and Rocky with your new assignment. I have enjoyed working with you over the past few years.

Deepak · 1 year ago

Argh ... one more video network to keep an eye on.

Just kidding of course. Congrats and good luck.

geekmommy · 1 year ago

Sounds like you've done all the analysis and come to an excellent conclusion!
Good Luck - and will definitely look forward to the new work! :)

Sree Sreenivasen · 1 year ago

You're no David Pogue.

Dick Carlson · 1 year ago

You're very lucky to have identified (and acted upon) your passions. As someone who spent years trying to get better at stuff I hate (payroll, managing employees, selling) it's amazing what you can accomplish when you give yourself permission to let go of all that.

It took me a lot more years. I'm a little jealous.

I'm expecting you and Oprah will be partying together at the mansions.

Christian Grantham · 1 year ago

Congrats, and look forward to seeing what you can do over yonders. ;)

Aaron · 1 year ago

Best of luck with the new job!!! Sounds like a great opportunity. I can't wait to see what you do with FastCompany.TV and the content.

Will Pate · 1 year ago

Good luck Rob, looking forward to FastCompany.tv

Andrew · 1 year ago

Congrats Robert, looking forward to March 3. I can't say I've paid attention to FastCompany but I will now.
Cheers

Todd Defren · 1 year ago

FastCompany seems like a perfect place for you, Robert. Best of luck. We'll all be watching (literally) and rooting for ya.

Ontario Emperor · 1 year ago

Robert,

Good luck in your venture.

One minor correction - you don't NEED Steve Jobs to invite you to the keynote. If you haven't heard, it's possible to hack the MacWorld site to get a VIP pass for free. Not to discount connections, but there are other ways to get things (if you ignore the question of legality). Not sure whether this fits into the category of a stunt Woz would pull... :)

Noam Lovinsky · 1 year ago

Congratulations Robert!

Out of curiosity, who are you guys using for your video infrastructure? Is it a homegrown solution or are you partnering with someone?

Josh Guttman · 1 year ago

Nice move. Fast Company is on the rise. Good luck with it!!

There's no rss access from your homepage (only on articles). Maybe add that?

dawnkey · 1 year ago

Love the airplane idea...a captured audience full of business travelers. Perhaps you could cut a deal with Travelocity or somesuch company. Then when I buy a ticket from them, I have the option to download your content so that my laptop is full when I get on the plane and need something to do.

Good luck with it all! Dawn

Minic · 1 year ago

I miss the old Company of Friends face-to-face meetings...

Anyway, congrats on your new gig, Robert.

shel israel · 1 year ago

Let me be the 101st person to congratulate you.

Rodney Rumford · 1 year ago

And me the 102nd. Way to go Robert! I am excited to see how this takes off for you... And I am sure it will take off quite well.

Cheers!

Philip · 1 year ago

Good luck and thanks for the video at Podtech. Hope you get some share options that vest early! Keep laughing and keep us having fun!

Sandmax · 1 year ago

Nice detailed post with an honest title! :)
Good Luck!

Lane Hartwell · 1 year ago

"#Revenues. If you don’t have them, it’s hard to buy cameras, lights, microphones, or take the time to do things right. Yeah, you can bootstrap for a while like Rocketboom did in its early years, but at some point if you don’t have cash coming in you’ll need to find a real job and stop working on media production." -Robert Scoble


Yeah, kind of like what I have been going through trying to create my business as a full time photographer. I've spent easily 20K in the past year on equipment and I worked multiple jobs to earn it. I tried to explain my very similar dilemma to the public over the Richter Scales drama a month ago - how I need to be able to earn a living off my work so that I can continue working. Yet you were one of my most vocal opponents insisting that I should give my work away for free and criticized me for trying to charge for what I do and maintain control over it.

I thought you were going to give everything away for free? I thought you were against the idea of people creating original content and selling it. Are you volunteering your services? Does Fast Company know that you think copyright is dead and that you want people to "steal your content"? Did you tell them you plan to give it all away?

Your hypocrisy is astounding.

mika li · 1 year ago

Well done... it's time to move on. Good luck on your new venture.

BillVick · 1 year ago

You have been an inspiration Robert and good luck. Fast Company is lucky to have you.

Susan F. Heywood · 1 year ago

Congratulations on your new gig! Looking forward to watching.

frmad · 1 year ago

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Carlo Maglinao · 1 year ago

Congratulations Robert!

Best of luck on your new venture. We look forward to a Scobleizing year!

mikecane · 1 year ago

Well, good luck. Sounds intriguing. I'm sure I'll pop in to see what's up.

Rob Greenlee · 1 year ago

Robert, This is great news about your new opportunity. Fast Company is a very good brand to build on and I wish you the most success. Don't forget to send me your video podcast feeds when they are ready and I will get them in the Zune Podcast Marketplace. Rob Greenlee

Karen · 1 year ago

Hey Robert,
Congrats on the big news. Your points are very thoughtful and encouraging. You made a great choice and are joining a great company with huge potential. Can't wait to see how you shake things up. Looking forward to meeting you in person in March.
*Cheers!

Red · 1 year ago

Congrats on the new gig! FastCompany rocks. Love the mag and site. Looking forward to FastCompany tv!

Jeff Sass · 1 year ago

Congrats to both you and Rocky! Sounds like a great move for all the right reasons. Being an entrepreneur does not necessarily mean being on your own. You can have an entrepreneurial experience within a large organization if the setting, culture and opportunity is ripe and right. Sounds like that is exactly what you have before you. I look forward to watching!

David Dalka · 1 year ago

Congrats!

askbusinesscoach · 1 year ago

Scoble Doeble - great opportunity to move business forward. YOU CAN DO!

Best of LUCK!!!

Ronnie · 1 year ago

Congrats on the new position. Looking forward to hearing your stories about the new job.

wholefoodnation · 1 year ago

Congrats to you, Robert and Rocky! Good you took the Om Malik happening to heart.

Rocky - I have those new Whole Food Multis for you (and Robert) to test. Where shall I send them?

We need you boys around for the next 70 years, at least.

Kim Klaver Kimklaver[at]mac[dot]com

Cate Colgan · 1 year ago

Congrats! - Love the 6 points you cover - Going to bed now and will be doing a vlog interview with myself about what you covered............Best, Cate & Crew ImGay.tv where you don't have to "Try Out" you just have to "Be Out"

vinodi · 1 year ago

Dear Robert,

The profile on your blog needs to be updated. You are clever, yet I am reminding you.

Jim "Genuine" Turner · 1 year ago

As I sat reading this I couldn't help but think about your new Year's post about what you would do and what you would better etc. Then I wondered if this wasn't something that Maryam said you should definitely do. If she blessed the move, there is no way it will fail. Good luck Robert and I'll add you to my thoughts prayers as we all jump into 2008.

Tech For Novices · 1 year ago

not covering digg reel ?

jennifer jones · 1 year ago

Robert, PodTech will miss your laugh and Rocky's hanging out in his office cutting your work. Cheers, and good luck.

Jerry · 1 year ago

@7. Yes, of course Fast Company's content is available online. But, where does the bulk of their revenue come from? Dead tree advertising/subscriptions or online? Point is, you are going to work for "Old Media". Will you still be a member of "Media 2.0?"

I found this interesting from the beet interview:

"Although he will continue to own and run Scobleizer blog independently from Fast Company, he is entering into agreement with the publisher to sell advertising. This would be the first time ads, besides banners for his book, have been sold on the influential blog."

Did you agree with Microsoft to sell advertising when you were working for them and had your "personal blog"? Why are you selling out your blog to your current employer? You can maintain all you want that it is independent, but advertisers will want something for their money, so you will need to be more careful who you skewer. Never can tell who your advertisers might have relationships with.

Chris · 1 year ago

I gotta agree with Lane Hartwell's post.

You really blew it on that issue.
You still might think about saying you were wrong on that issue.
I wish you the best on your new job.

frmad · 1 year ago

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Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

>Yet you were one of my most vocal opponents insisting that I should give my work away for free and criticized me for trying to charge for what I do and maintain control over it.

Lane and Chris,

I do give everything almost all my content for free. You might visit http://www.qik.com/scobleizer -- I did 17 interviews yesterday and several more today, including some with some very hard to find people (like the CTO of Entertainment Arts).

I make my money from sponsorships.

You should read my post again. I didn't say that YOU should give everything away for free. I just differentiated myself from your approach -- you want complete control of ever image. I don't -- take my stuff and steal it please and watch what we do at Fast Company.tv (the companies that hold tight control to their stuff won't do as well in this new world as others who let their communities have a bit of leeway). I give away MY stuff for free, which gets me more distribution and then I put my sponsor's name on SOME of my stuff. I've found this has made me MUCH more money than trying to tightly control everything. You might look into how RadioHead did when they let their fans decide the price for their work. Some, yes, didn't pay, but lots did to the tune of more than $10 million now.

I've spent more than $5,000 on my photographic equipment, and have more than $10,000 in computers and thousands in video gear too, and got a lot of professional training in photography too (I was in the photojournalism program at San Jose State University where one three-unit class now costs thousands of dollars). So, congratulations on investing in your career the way I have too.

I don't try to make money with every image and, indeed, all my Flickr photography is given to the public domain so you, even, could reuse it if you find fit to.

I did seven years of blogging without even putting an ad on my blog, either, and I've read hundreds of thousands of feed items -- all for free over the past few years.

If that's hypocrisy, so be it.

Albert Maruggi · 1 year ago

The clarity to see your priorities as you outlined them at a time when a decision needed to be made is, as they say, priceless.

I think a lot of people who start businesses either don't have that luxury, skill, or temperament.

Will you have downsides? sure everything does, even families. Well no my wife's perfect, but the rest of my five kids are not.

For the rest of the social media world this signifies two things, 1) the mainstream media is not fighting social media, but embracing it and 2) The New Influencers are getting a seat at the table of the old influencers a sign of respect for the work of pioneers.

All the best

Joshua Feinberg · 1 year ago

Congratulations! It's nice to hear some good news in the IT publishing industry for a change... especially given the big-picture macro-gloom-and-doom being painted by mainstream media.

As someone who watched so many great IT trade pubs fail during the bubble-burst, it's great to see Fast Company and Inc still alive and kicking.

And you definitely went through the right thought process of deciding whether building your own venture, vs. joining a bigger-ship, was the way to go. So many people just make the decision by the seat of their pants without thinking through pros/cons, personal likes/dislikes, family issues, etc.

Looking forward to tuning in with your broadcasts real soon!

dawnkey · 1 year ago

Robert, you too want control over what you want control over. Just like in this post, you said content producers should be able to keep their content off link blogs:
http://scobleizer.com/2007/09/11/techcrunch-lin...

Clearly, if somebody tried making a mirror Scoble blog so that they could run advertising on it, you'd be up in arms and you know it.

Copyright isn't dead, but it IS dying because people like you keep ringing it's death chimes and making people feel like it's okay to steal other people's content while deriding those who stand up and say no.

Note: Nobody is "stealing" your content when you allow them to have it for free. If you don't want them to do that, if you've made it plain that you don't want them to help themselves to your stuff, THEN it is stealing.

vinnie mirchandani · 1 year ago

Robert, congrats. Clearly when it comes to gadgets and widgets you will continue to be on top of things I hope though you do focus a bit broadly. On my other New Florence, New Renaissance blog www.florence20.typepad.com I track innovations in over 50 categories from virtualization to telemetry...yes many of those applications are in boring old enterprises, but we need innovation in our corporations even more so than in our consumers...good luck

Elliott Ng · 1 year ago

Robert,

First of all, congrats on your new start! Its great to have self awareness and above all I have your family as a priority. You have some gifts of information filtering and connecting that need to be fully leveraged. I've been thinking about how I can cultivate those skills as well (or are they simply natural talents that some people have and others don't?)

Also, thanks again for your encouragement around blogging about the Chinese blogosphere. We opened hour blog at http://cnreviews.com and will get in touch with you about stuff you might find interesting. Thanks again for your good ideas and inspiration.

and an early wishes to you for a great HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

Dawn: there are already half-dozen people who reprint my blog in a splog type situation and I really don't give a hoot.

TranceMist · 1 year ago

It's good to know what you like to do and equally important what you don't want to do.

I wish you lots of luck. I've really enjoyed your shows.

dawnkey · 1 year ago

Perhaps your new employer will give a hoot, given they are going to be putting ads here.

Robert Scoble · 1 year ago

Dawn: no, they won't. Here's why. Copies never get very much distribution, nor trust, nor audience.

By the way, we put our entire book up on our blog. Did that affect sales? Yes, it is still the #1 blogging book, outselling all other corporate blogging books combined. Why? By giving the thing away it created market interest.

And, yes, I've discussed this with them.

Also, there's ways to embed advertising into the content so it's hard to remove if you're using automated copying tools.

Does an advertiser really care if you see their message here or there? No.

dawnkey · 1 year ago

Robert, I wish you would stop for five minutes and listen to what you're saying, which is:

1) You can only make money from the Web if you can personally create a large audience.

Do you really think you would have such a large audience if it wasn't for the fact that you worked at Microsoft and were one of the first bloggers? I honestly like you, Robert, and I think you deserve your success, because you were in the right place at the right time and took the right actions. Nobody handed success to you, you made it.

But let me just ask you something: If you were starting today in the techfield, and you had zero contacts and zero visibility and nobody knew you from Adam, do you honestly think you'd make it so high now? If you do, then I think a lot of people would like to hear how you would do it and how long you think it would take to get back to where you are now if it all went away tomorrow and you started from zero.

I still strongly believe that people who are not A-type personalities, people who just want to create and not be salesmen, should have as much opportunity to make money from the Web as you hyper-social guys do.

2) You can only expect to make money from digital content if you can get it into material form somehow, like your book. Give it away digitally for free, but sell hard copies, because PRINT copyright is still valid, but online copyright doesn't count. Like you often say, "copyright is dead."

Just think about the longterm consequences of your stance as print continues to decline. Why will people buy books for the The Kindle, for example, when they've been trained by you not to respect copyright law?

Look, newspapers could have stolen content, too, way back when they formed. But they didn't. They paid people for it. There was A CULTURE OF RESPECT for creatives. Even now, online newspapers will pay me $250 and up for an editorial cartoon, but places like TechCrunch (which makes a lot more money than a lot of online newspapers!) have NO expectation AT ALL of having to pay for content they use.

And why? Because of your "copyright is dead" attitude that puts unrealistic expectations on creators, MOST of whom are not salesmen like you are.

I do think I have the solution to all this. My company is going to work hard to resuscitate copyright and I do think we'll be successful, though it's going to take us a few years to get fully there.

In the meantime, it just upsets me that we can't be on the same side here. It's like you're making me your enemy and vice-versa.

Esstentially, this is what you're saying, Robert: Give it up, *I* have *my* dream, but yours died with copyright law."

Is that REALLY what you want???

John Cass · 1 year ago

congratulations on the move Robert. Isn't it great when you get to follow your passion, and do interviews with great people!

Chris Murphy · 1 year ago

Congratulations, Robert. Life balance, passion and purity of spirit - along with the clarity you shared on the decision you faced - clearly shows very well.

I look forward to viewing more Qiks and those from the FastCompany.TV on March 3.

alexander katzeff · 1 year ago

If FastCompany is looking for video production talent, I would suggest checking out Ricky Montalvo from Yahoo! Developer Network, he is their video producer and has a lot of skills behind the camera. His fresh look at how video for tech can be made interesting is what we need more of. Congrats on the new gig!

Christa · 1 year ago

Hi Robert,
I learned about you through my boss, Bob Giampietro. I am currently reading your book, Naked Conversations, and was happy to hear about this new assignment you've taken up with Fast Company. It's one of my favorite magazine - I read it religiously and it completely makes a difference in my career. All the best on your new adventure.

Christopher Coulter · 1 year ago

Well, congrats. Least more stable (mentally, politically and fiscally) than Podtech, and the Scoble Curse, at least here, has more fuel for the eventual burn-out rate. Wish you woulda been here, before. No more crazy start-ups for you. Sigh. :)

My advice (for what it's worth) in no particular order.

1. Make them buy you a Steadi/Glide cam. Tripods are so directional limiting. And plus, Steadicam's allow cameramen to get away with your jump-hop style.

2. Stop surrounding yourself with 'worshipping' yes-men. It's nauseating and self-defeating. Rocky (and others) should rake over coals, over the hyper-active puppy-dog lapping. As they say, iron sharpens iron.

3. Walk-Thru's and Demo's are better than talking-heads.

4. Run-on mega-paragraph sentences are bad, as are, videos.

5. No inside baseball games. I don't give an iota of a care what Mike Arrington or Om Malik had for breakfast.

6. Think Subject Matter Experts, over Tech Celebrities.

7. Incestuous navel-gazing is bad. Moving photo's of people taking still photo's, wheee. Stop covering the bloggers/techies covering themselves, covering themselves.

8. Impossible perhaps, but background yourself. Let the work speak for itself. Edit as if you aren't there. Conversations are endless and pointless. Focus and cut. History Channel over mindless never-ending Charlie Rose.

9. Prepare. The 'who are you' fumbling dumb Scoble Show questions, makes for a rough start. Do thy homework and get to the point, fast. Elevator pitch'es, if they can't do it, they have to learn.

10. Go documentary thematic, over personality-cult-of-the-moment.

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Jeffery Jay · 1 year ago

Anyone know what ihype.com is about. I am getting many calls from them about signing up

Brad Phillips · 1 year ago

I think anything that exploits us and gets us introduced to others is helpful!