This morning was an eye-opener for me. For the first time I really stuck it to my boss publicly without losing my job.

After attending the AppNation Conference this week, former editor-in-chief at CNET and my current boss at NetShelter Patrick Houston, made the statement that“everything is an app” and that all publishers are software developers.

Clearly he’s dead wrong. And today, in blog battle format, I responded on Netshelter’s company site. It was liberating.

This exercise was refreshing –not just because I’m the clear victor — but because there’s a chance here for me to contribute as an individual rather than as a cog in a machine. Everybody talks about company-wide engagement, employee influence and enacting open leadership, but how many executives are comfortable with getting publicly bested for the transparency and exposure of the company?

Embracing the Truth: Good and Bad

We can talk about all the warm and squishy things social media and blogs can do for us, but when Pat decides to let me taunt him in my own voice, or guys like Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh leave the employee Twitter page up after laying off 8% of his staff –that is open leadership.

Decent leaders aren’t threatened by an employee’s version of the truth. They let them express themselves and look for ways to improve an organization from all levels of the organization.

The best thing about social media is that it cuts through hierarchy and gives everyone from the wage slave to the CEO a chance to creatively decompress. Embracing open discussion, extracting lessons, and finding recommendations create a healthy culture — one where I’m not scouring Linkedin or job boards.

My recommendation to Pat: Keep doing what you’re doing.
His probable recommendation to me: Good job kiddo, but try not to be so smug.

——————————-

Dana Oshiro is the Senior Media Analyst and Publishing Strategist for NetShelter Technology Media – a company that works with more than 180+ mobile, IT and consumer electronics publishers including VentureBeat, IntoMobile and MacRumors. She is also a contributor to ReadWriteWeb’s Startup Channel and she updates her personal blog Villagers With Pitchforks regularly. You can reach her by pinging @suzyperplexus or emailing her at dana@netshelter.net.

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words and pictures by Brian Solis

Every month, Dave McClure organizes Startup2Startup, one of the most helpful and valuable events designed to help startups excel through connections, advice, insight, and experience.

This month, S2S featured none other than Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. Hsieh, as you may or may not know, transformed a meager startup into a $1 billion brand phenomenon.

Tony is a gifted individual. He has the ability to captivate and engage people through heartfelt, peer-to-peer interaction. His simple message of spreading happiness and memorable customer service is powerful as it resonates throughout the business sector. His vision of a people-focused, service enterprise will transcend the company from an online shoe wholesaler to a global brand that may one day rival Virgin – a company that serves as inspiration for Tony.

I recently had the opportunity to work with Tony and the Zappos team, along with Stephanie Agresta (my partner in The TechSet) and Steve Rosenbaum of Magnify.net. Our mission was to showcase ecstatic customers who capture and share the happiness that Tony Hsieh and the Zappos team have worked so hard to package in every box. The result, Zappos BoxBreaks, which debuted at SXSW.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Dave McClure

Tony Hsieh shares his company culture

Mazy Kazerooni, uStream

Beth Kanter

Daniel Brusilovsky, TeensInTech

Loic Le Meur of Seesmic

Larry Chiang

Cyan Banister of Zivity shows us her new ring

Christine Lu and Dave McClure go barefoot for SamaritansFeet.com and the Charity SMACKDOWN

Mark Schulze of Quantcast

Frank Gruber

Pascale Diaine

Tony Hsieh and Brian Solis

For more pictures from Startup2Starup, please visit my album on Flickr.

Also, please read Mark Hendrickson‘s post on Tony Hsieh’s presentation on “Delivering Happiness.”

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

by Brian Solis

Zappos boasts one of the most loyal and enthusiastic communities of customers on the Web. Prior to SXSW Interactive, Steve Rosenbaum of Magnify.net, Stephanie Agresta, and I brianstormed ways for ecstatic customers to capture and share the happiness that Tony Hsieh and the Zappos team have worked so hard to package in every box.

The idea debuted at SXSW. To kick things off, we invited several of our friends to help mark the occasion by ordering something special from Zappos. We shipped the boxes to Austin Texas where they allowed us to capture their BoxBreak on camera. Guy Kawasaki, Tara Hunt, Kevin Rose, Erica O’Grady, Frank Gruber, Erin Kotecki Vest @queenofspain, Chris Brogan, Cathy Brooks, Shira Lazar, and others shared their happiness with us and now we’re hoping you’ll do the same.

The video from the event is currently hosted on Zappos.tv

Introducing Zappos BoxBreaks…

BoxBreaks are an emerging phenomenon on the Web that features video of someone opening a box using a simple Web or Flip cam and sharing what’s inside the box with everyone on the Social Web.

In honor of the successful debut at SXSW, Magnify.net and Zappos partnered to host a BoxBreak contest for ALL Zappos customers. Just shoot a video of you opening your Zappos box and share it at Zappos.tv. The contest is already underway and ends on April 30, 2009. Results will post on May 1st.

Enter here.

Rules here.

Long live Zappos and the Zappos BoxBreak! Share your happiness with the world!

Pictures from the live BoxBreaks at SXSW in the TechSet Windws Mobile Blogger Lounge…

Chris Brogan

Guy Kawasaki

Tara Hunt

Erica O’Grady

Tony Hsieh

Additional pictures are on Flickr.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook

by Michelle Lentz

Everyone’s favorite online shoe shoppe, Zappos.com, has partnered with social video site Magnify.net for a “Box Break” campaign, accessible from Zappos.tv.  Zappos wants its consumers (hey, that’s me!) to engage by creating a video community around their brand. They are encouraging consumers to film the experience of opening a Zappos box upon arrival, and then upload the video to the Magnify.net channel. Customers can then interact by voting for the best video. The most popular video each month wins a $100 gift certificate to Zappos.

Magnify.net offers social features on each of its video channels, including integration with other video sites, Flickr, and Twitter. Users can create their own profiles, friend other people with similar interests, and subscribe to the feeds of their friends.

Considering the sheer number of unboxing videos on the net, I see no reason why shoes should be any different.

According to TechCrunch, Zappos and Magnify.net are officially launching “Box Break” at a SXSW party on Friday (although the site is already live). The party features a variety of the biggest names on the web, including Guy Kawasaki, Kevin Rose, Chris Brogan, and more – all of whom will have their own Box Break videos. I hope they get some good shoes.

__

Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

by Brian Solis

Intel, along with Sarah Lacy, Frank Gruber, Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos.com), yours truly, and the Intel Insiders, kicked off 2009 with a bang! Hosted at the former 40/40 Club at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, the party merged industry veterans with a new generation of bloggers, influencers, trend setters and thought leaders. Together we celebrated innovation in the consumer electronics, new media and digital industries. To say that it was one of the highlights of CES would be a complete under statement. Hundreds of amazing people shared experiences and forged and also renewed relationships throughout an evening that progressed that thankfully seemed to last all night long.

Thank you Intel, Sarah, Frank, Tony and the Intel Insiders!

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Julia Allison and Sarah Lacy

iJustine

Jeremy Tanner and Cathy Brooks

Sarah Perez of ReadWriteWeb and Illija Ognenovski if worldsings.com

Jason Goldman, Jeremy Tanner, Andrew Hyde

Frank Gruber & Jessica Berlin (Justin Levy & iJustine background)

Joe Said and Efren Toscano

Justin Levy, Jennifer Klein, Chris Brogan, Karin Klein

Ken Kaplan of Intel and Joshua Pollack

Ilija Ognenovski & Ashley Biever

Frank Gruber and Tony Hsieh

Ted Murphy of Izea

Jeff Pulver

Kenneth Hong of LG

MC Hammer and Sarah Lacy

For more pictures, please visit my album on Flickr.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook