“Do affiliate marketers really think small or is it just the nature of the business that keeps us thinking small.  After all, we’re really just selling other people’s stuff for a cut of the action…

The entire model of affiliate marketing is built off an affiliate working off the back end of somebody else.  Which pretty much sums up the wrong thing to do when you’re talking to somebody about starting a legitimate online business—or at least that’s what we’re taught.

So I think the question really is: is it viable to build a multi-million dollar business off of selling other people’s stuff. Of course it is but therein lays the real point I’m trying to make… Jason, I don’t want to own a $25 million dollar business… I don’t want to own a business with tons of employees… deal with venture capitalists… I hate having to deal with investors and bankers and accountants and other people who want to suck the soul out of my body and make me sit in a cubicle, go to meetings and do all the other things that I hate doing—THAT’S why I like affiliate marketing and THAT’s why I don’t want to have a $25 million business!”

Commenting on Google’s recent “YouTube Videocracy” event in NYC…

“Google made a good investment. Just a few years after launch, the platform has radically changed the media consumption ecosystem. Unlike other acquisitions in the space, YouTube provides value to the end user like no other platform does. The democratization of video consumption and creation might not thrill the big networks, but it is here to stay.”

Sara Holoubek
via DM News

Because people have developed trust, they are communicating as open human beings and making connections. Twitter, Second Life, Facebook, etc. are all just conduits and catalysts for this rather wholesome process. Don’t worry about the purpose, or getting it right (there are better approaches, but just play a bit; you don’t even have to be yourself… people will help you along). 

You really can’t screw it up too bad because how the platforms are used will be radically different from person to person. Like Second Life—just stop mass marketing.  Start creating or sponsoring wholesome and good things and let nature take its course.  Evangelists, fans and friends will form if you are just receptive and make an investment into the people. Loosen up—let them have control.”

Wayne Porter
Social Media & Security Researcher
Co-Founder Revenews.com

“Today, they (marketers) are at an intersection of opportunity and challenge. Their opportunity is to become content producers on par with the mainstream media that have long been the gatekeepers. The challenge is that the online marketing world still lacks consensus on how to measure online success…

The ever-increasing influence of search and recommendation engines only raises the stakes as Google has become the universal home page, an army of consultants has sprung up to figure out how to beat the system. Marketers that hew too closely to their recommendations risk delivering boatloads of traffic to content that is, well, junk.”

Paul Gillin
Social Media Expert & Author, The New Influencers
(via B2BOnline)

“When you look at places like Myspace and Facebook… the teenagers aren’t scared of pedophiles.  They aren’t running away from people that can exploit them that way—they’re running away from marketers and advertisers.  That’s one thing that we have to be respectful of and aware of… as business people, marketers or people that want to get word out about organizations or causes… so that when we approach these different networks we do it in such a way that it’s not offensive. In some cases it can be offensive by us just being there…

Innately the people who participate in these networks—right off the bat—do not want this to be a place where businesses go in to try and sell them something and conduct business.  This is a place where they go for refuge… to socialize… to meet people and to share ideas and build relationships with people personally.”

Giovanni Gallucci
Social Media & Online Community Expert
Gallucci.net
(via Phil Windley’s IT Conversations interview)

“I was surprised when getting involved with this conference how many people could not distinguish between strategy and tactic.”

Kevin Ryan
Incisive Media / Search Engine Strategies