#talkingtecher

[fredseibertdotcom]

Behold, the king of online cartoons

Ex-Hanna-Barbera whiz Fred Seibert blazing a trail with YouTube network

A couple of times over the years, then-USA Today’s entertainment and tech reporter (and photographer) Jefferson Graham was nice enough to feature me in an article about the cartoons I was producing. First time was in the late 90s with “Oh Yeah! Cartoons,” but in 2015, with streaming video finally reaching the mainstream press (Channel Frederator actually started in 2005) and Graham’s animator son joining our network, he revisited.

Thanks to animator Michael Hilliger, who sent over his copy of the article in 2024.

By Jefferson Graham USA Today July 17, 2015

LOS ANGELES — Fred Seibert wants you to have his card.

And his phone number. He even won't mind if we print his fred@frederator.com e-mail address right here in USA TODAY.

Seibert, 63 is the online toon king, with 400 million views monthly to his Channel Frederator network on YouTube, but he's never sure where his next hit will come from.

So he's always out there looking, at schools, industry gatherings, book signings. You name it.

Next weekend, he'll be at the Vidcon convention near Los Angeles, a gathering of folks who make their living off YouTube, which is where most folks see his online `toons.

"I have no ideas," he says. "But I recognize talent."

That's for sure. Seibert, then president of Hanna-Barbera's cartoon studios in the 1990s, is credited with discovering Seth MacFarlane, the creator of the Family Guy, fresh from college, when he hired him to work on Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

For Seibert's "What a Cartoon!" series for the Cartoon Network, Seibert hit ratings gold, signing up the creators who churned out hits like "The Powerpuff Girls," "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Johnny Bravo." Their series debuted as shorts for first for Seibert's series.

He still serves as executive producer of "The Fairly OddParents," a TV series he began producing in 1998 when it debuted on his "Oh Yeah, Cartoons," series. It's been running ever since on Nickelodeon.

Seibert's biggest audiences, however, have come from online, to the tune of some 1.9 billion views for 'toons like the Bee and PuppyCat and Bravest Warriors.

We had Seibert as a guest on our #TalkingTech podcast in June. At the time, he was averaging 300 million monthly viewers to the Channel Frederator network. Now he's already up to 400 million monthly viewers, and predicts he'll top 700 million by year's end, and 1 billion by 2016.

The reason for the massive growth is that unlike before, when animation was targeted just to young kids, either for Saturday morning TV, and kid-based cartoon TV channels, anyone of all ages can view `toons online.

Seibert's Cartoon Hangover, a Frederator section where he shows the best of his `toons, bills itself as the channel for "cartoons that are too weird, wild, and crazy for television."

“Bee and PuppyCat,” about a young woman with a hybrid dog-cat, is written by Natasha Allegri, a woman in her 20s, about a character in her 20s, and thus, obviously not targeted to the traditional animation crowd.

"No matter what your interest online — whether it be anime, or science fiction or comedy cartoons, there is a place for you," Seibert says. "TV has a tough time supporting the sub-genres. Online is all about sub-genre."

Channel Frederator is what's known as a multi-channel network. Cartoons run on YouTube, but his network promotes them, sells ads and distributes the proceeds to some 2,000 of his video makers.

Through Frederator, the channel makers learn about which color to make their thumbnails to find larger YouTube audiences (he recommends yellow) and which keywords to use in the descriptions ("funny" always works, he says.)

"We give them the tools to grow their performance," he says.

Dominic Panganiban, a 24-year-old animator from Toronto, joined the Frederator network in November, and has seen his subscriber base grow ten times since.

He had been working with Full Screen, another multi-channel network that works with YouTube creators to help them monetize their videos and attract larger audiences.

"Frederator was a better fit, because they cater more towards animation channels," Panganiban says. Because Frederator attracts folks who enjoy cartoons, "I have more potential here."

By being part of the Frederator network, Australian animator Sam Green says he's learned about how to better promote his cartoons, and gotten access to a database of free music and sound effects to use in his cartoons.

He too has seen a spike in traffic.

Being with Seibert "helped me move from my mother's garage to affording my own apartment in the big city," he says.

How did the traffic for both creators go up so dramatically?

Seibert promoted the cartoons to his audience. With 2,000 cartoon makers, that's a lot to choose from. He says he'll plug as many of them as "show an interest" to growing their audience. He looks for people who post new work regularly, stay in touch, and ask "what we can do to help them more."

And despite the massive online audience, Seibert isn't making money yet, and doesn't think he will for another three years. 

"Our cartoons are 3-4 minutes long, and the average American watches 6 hours of TV a day," he says. "We have a long way to go to even that out."

Photography by Jefferson Graham, July 2015

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Aiwa EXOS-9 AMAZINGLY LOUD 200 Watt Bluetooth Speaker #TalkingTech

[outsidetheknow]

Verizon has the fastest and best network, study reveals. via /r/technology Verizon has the fastest and best network, study reveals. Submitted July 16, 2019 at 04:58PM by AdamCannon via reddit

[rebeccavosborne]

A day on one page! Discussions mapped and illustrated while they happened 😃 Drawn live in front of the audience at @norfolkchambers #talkingtech event last year in #Norwich 😃 #throwback #graphicrecording #livevisuals #addedvalue #legacy #lovemyjob https://www.instagram.com/p/ByCkKX3n97v/?igshid=1meyrk43bw1l3

[posttexasstressdisorder]

“Video games don’t cause any harm...evil Nazi shitbags infiltrating video games and playing PSYOPS do.”

[is6621]

Target Marketing: Tracking or Listening? -Emily Jennings

Last week, my sister and I had a phone call about startup ideas. Among the many different topics and trends we discussed, the Shae Center for Entrepreneurship came up. As a recent graduate of Boston College, my sister has not thought about, read about, or searched for any information of the Shae center in months. Yet immediately following  our conversation, my sister received a targeted ad via Instagram promoting one of Jerry Doyle’s seminars. We got into a debate whether the ad appeared because of an algorithm or simply from listening in our phone call. I wanted to uncover this bizarre phenomenon that is making some of us paranoid. I also wanted to see how this paranoia is affecting our likelihood of purchase. Are these targeted ads effective or just creepy? 

Tracking vs. listening

I think we all know that Facebook and Instagram keep a lot of tabs on us- from the pictures we like, the videos we watch, and the external links we click on. But I think users are unaware of  exactly how much information is going into their algorithms. In a New York Times article, it was disclosed that a woman’s location was used to understand her spending habits and interests. Because Facebook had access to the woman’s location, they were able to see exactly where she was and for how long. Through collecting and tracking her day-to-day activities Facebook saw: she is an active member of Weightwatchers, the exact hiking routes she liked to go on, even the fact that she spent the night at her ex-boyfriends on occasion. Facebook was able to predict her behavior based on this information. Beyond tracking your location, Facebook and Instagram also have access to your friends and your networks. Although predicting someone’s behavior off of another individual is not always accurate, it is scary when the algorithm gets it right. 

    Because of the accuracy of these targeted ads, many wonder if Facebook and Instagram are actually listening in on our conversations. Facebook released a statement that completely denied these claims. Saying, “We show ads based on people’s interests and other profile information – not what you’re talking out loud about.” Facebook qualified this claim by announcing, “We only access your microphone if you have given our app permission and if you are actively using a specific feature that requires audio. This might include recording a video or using an optional feature we introduced two years ago to include music or other audio in your status updates.” So Facebook does have access to this information based on the different accessories embedded into the app. Upon further investigation, I found out the Facebook and other social media platforms are listening- they just aren’t listening to everything. Facebook is coded to only pick up on certain buzz words. If you are having a conversation with one of your friends and you happen to be talking about a certain topic or idea, the target engine is signaled and will spam your newsfeed. 

Targeted ads and their effectiveness

As a person who focuses on where my targeted ad comes from rather than the actual product Instagram or Facebook is trying to sell me, I wanted to see if this method of ad recommendations works. Unfortunately there is not a lot of qualitative data to support or oppose target marketing because it is fairly new technology. But by combing through different articles centering around the topic of targeted ads, I was able to get a sense of how these ads are affecting the market place.

 In a case study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, undergrads were more interested in buying a product when they thought an ad was introduced to them because of their specific demographics. In further analysis, the case demonstrated that buyers feel like they are “sophisticated consumers” when a product is recommended to them based on their search history or information revealed on their social media pages. It seems like consumers want to be a part of a larger network that they are buying from.

 On the other hand though, there is a lot of push back about target ads. As I scrolled through articles about target marketing, I read headlines such as “rogue algorithm” and “Delete all of your apps”. The sense of paranoia is very apparent. People no longer trust Facebook and Instagram to simply connect them to the rest of the world. There appears to be a lack of appreciation for these target ads because they expose our most intimate details. Will Facebook and Instagram usage decline as the truth about app listening comes out? My guess is probably not. There are a lot of solutions to this problem such as turning off your microphone or location tracking. This seems to put some users’ worries to rest. But I think more so, we are all just going to get comfortable with data sharing. Maybe one day we won’t care that Facebook and Instagram know everything about us.

   Sources: 

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/wjbzzy/your-phone-is-listening-and-its-not-paranoia

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/06/27/does-facebook-listen-to-your-conversations/1478468001/

 https://newsroom.fb.com/news/h/facebook-does-not-use-your-phones-microphone-for-ads-or-news-feed-stories/

 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5zap3/delete-all-your-apps

https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/instagram-ceo-says-app-doesnt-listen-to-conversations/

[jobsfordyslexics-blog]

Amazon Prime Day is over but Audible is good for dyslexics of all ages. Reading a book the traditional way can take months but listening and reading along can take no time at all.

[dragoni]

Tumblr, don’t allow them to spread their hate and lies!

Twitter suspended the personal account of the "Infowars" host for violating the social media company's rules against inciting violence after Jones tweeted a link to a video on Twitter's Periscope service calling for supporters to get their “battle rifles” ready against media and "antifa" activists. “Chicom operatives” 

"They can take our Facebook, Apple, Spotify, Tunein, Youtube, Stitcher, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Flickr, Vimeo, Sprout, Mailchimp & Disqus but they'll never take our...........Tumblr!" Infowars tweeted Tuesday. The tweet includes a link to the Infowars Tumblr page. 

Never forget Jones’ lies and calls for violence: #Pizzagate #SandyHook #QAnon

Tumblr, BAN Inforwars and Alex Jones. Free Speech does not include #HateSpeech #IncitingViolence  

[gpjdigital]

Artificial intelligence could be the “key ingredient” to making your food taste better. 

Finding the perfect recipe involves adding and subtracting ingredients, with up to 150 iterations of a product being changed before it’s “commercially” ready. 

An AI system could use machine learning to find what ingredients work best together.

[jaimesocialmediamkt]

Blog 6: Twitter looking to remove 'Like' button as a way to improve debate on social network

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/10/29/twitter-like-button-removal-ceo-jack-dorsey/1806271002/

        Twitter is reportedly considering removing the famous ‘Like’ button. The button has been around since the inception of the website and is one of the most popular ways to interact with Tweets. Personally, I make use of the button on a daily basis. I use the ‘Like’ feature to show that I liked that tweet or to save it as a memory or to show friends and family. It’s a good way to keep my account organized as without that button, I would have to retweet the tweet instead and there’s many instances were the stuff that I like are tweets I do not want on my timeline. I don’t want to annoy my followers by putting all these tweets on their timeline if there’s no need to and the removal of the ‘Like’ feature may cause me as well as other users to be forced to do that.

        According to USA Today, Twitter’s CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey said at a recent Twitter event that the platform is considering removing the ‘Like’ button “soon” as a way to improve debate on the site. A Tweet from an official Twitter account commented on the situation as shown in the photo below. 

          While the removal of the ‘Like’ feature is not set in stone, it is a thought to note. The like feature was introduced a few years ago when it replaced the star shaped ‘favorite’ button a few years ago. That change did not remove or add any feature instead just changed the icon to make the site easier for new users to understand so it does differ from what the company is proposing at the moment.

        The article from USA Today goes on to mention how the removal of the ‘Like’ button may be due to fake accounts and improper use of the site that affected the latest US presidential campaigns. Dorsey acknowledge that they are aware of the the way Twitter is currently used and that the loudest and most agitative voices are the ones rewarded with likes and retweets. It makes them question if that is the right thing. Clicking a like or retweet button doesn’t promote healthy conversation which is what Twitter wants from its users. The focus is now on health conversations with Twitter users and Twitter wants to find the best and effective way to promote this. This is why the thought of removing the ‘Like’ button is in the air and could be a possibility.

        I think it’s not a good idea to remove the ‘Like’ button. I feel that Twitter users already engage in conversations with other users whenever they feel the need to do so. I’ve seen countless of interactions on popular tweets with thousands of likes and retweets and these interactions may improve with the removal but that remains something to be tested and proven. This relates to class as Twitter is part of the Social Community and by implementing this change it is trying to increase the number of conversationalists in their Social Technographics and also increase its use of Twitter as an online community. 

[mallorypaul]

Sunday, January 31

This morning I woke up at 6 am to get ready for work. I immediately made a cup of coffee because I was feeling extra tired. I got ready in my uniform and put on some makeup before making a bagel and heading out to drive to work. When I got there, I worked on planograms and reset some of the displays. I did this for most of the day in combination with some videos to learn more about the brands and worked the sales floor.

When I got off at 2pm I purchased a Hair Texturizing Spray by IGK. I then went back to my apartment to shower and did some laundry before making a second cup of coffee with creamer and cleaning up my room a little bit. After that, I watched TikToks, scrolled through Instagram, and Snap chatted some friends for about an hour or so and took a nap since I was still pretty tired from my morning shift. 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/08/16/twitterverse-not-happy-new-snapchat-logo/2025063001/

When I woke up from my nap, I worked on some Microeconomics homework while listening to some music on Spotify. After working for about an hour or so I made dinner for myself. I heated up some frozen vegetable potstickers from Trader Joe’s, made rice, and microwaved frozen broccoli. After this, I chatted with my roommates, made my bed, and worked on some more homework. After working for another two hours I was ready for bed and read some Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets which I started before second semester and haven't gotten much time to read. 

IGK Texturizing Spray: $21

Total: $21

[chaunceyandchumleysdad]

Article in the USA Today talks about how streaming music services are struggling to turn a profit. With their all-inclusive business models, it appears that Amazon Prime Music and Apple Music are positioned to be the long term survivors. Other companies may fall by the wayside unless they are acquired by larger companies that can operate under the Apple and Amazon business models. It will be interesting to see how Spotify will do if it decides to go public.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2018/03/04/these-may-best-days-streaming-music/387390002/