This weekend, Lollapalooza is finally upon us in Chicago.

And for anyone keeping score, this marks the first summer where fans can connect directly with the vast majority of artists, in real-time, using Twitter. Here is a list of all the Lolla acts and their Twitter names (those not on Twitter left blank)…

A-Trak – @atrak
Alberta Cross – @albertacross
Amazing Baby – @AmazingBaby
Andrew Bird – @ANDREWBIRD
Animal Collective – @Arrrrgh
Arctic Monkeys – @ARCTICMONKEYS
Asher Roth – @AsherRoth
Atmosphere
Band of Horses – @Bandofhorses
Bassnectar
Bat For Lashes – @BAT_FOR_LASHES
Beastie Boys – @beastieboys
Ben Folds – @benfolds
Ben Harper and Relentless 7 – @BenHarper
Blind Pilot
Bon Iver
Boys Noise – @Boysnoize
Cage the Elephant – @CagetheElephant
Car Stereo (Wars) – @CSwars
Carney
Chairlift – @chairlift
Coheed and Cambria – @Coheed
Cold War Kids – @CWKontour
Constantines – @theconstantines
Crookers
Crystal Castles – @CRYSTALCASTLESS
Dan Auerbach – @thadistrict
Dan Deacon – @dandeacon
Dark Wave Disco
Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam
DeadMau5
Deerhunter
Delta Spirit – @deltaspirit
Depeche Mode – @depechemode
Eric Church – @Ericchurchmusic
Ezra Furman & The Harpoons – @ezrafurman
Federico Aubele – @FedericoAubele
Fleet Foxes – @fleetfoxes
Friendly Fires
Gang Gang Dance
Glasvegas – @glasvegas
Gomez – @gomeztheband
He Say, She Say
Heartless Bastards – @thehbastards
Hercules and Love Affair (DJ Set) @HerculesLA
Hey Champ @heychampmusic
Hockey
Hollywood Holt
Ida Maria
Jane’s Addiction – @janesaddiction
Joe Pug
Kaiser Chiefs – @kaiser_chiefs
Kaskade – @KASKADE
Kevin Devine – @KevinDevineTwit
KiD CuDi – @KiDcuDi
Kings of Leon – @Kingsofleonfans
LA Riots
Langhorne Slim – @langhorneslim
Living Things – @LivingThings
Los Campesinos! – @loscampesinos
Lou Reed – @LouReed
Lykke Li – @lykke_li
Manchester Orchestra
Miike Snow – @MiikeSnow
Moneypenny
MSTRKRFT – @MSTRKRFTMusic
Neko Case – @nekocasefans
No Age – @NoAgeLA
Of Montreal – @ofmontreal_fans
Other Lives
Passion Pit – @passionPit
Peter Bjorn and John – @PeterBjornJohn
Portugal. The Man – @portugaltheman
Ra Ra Riot -@Rarariot
Rise Against – @Riseagainst
Robert Earl Keen
Rye Rye @thaRealRyeRye
Sam Roberts Band – @samrobertsband
Santigold – @SANTIGOLD
Silversun Pickups – @SSPU
Simian Mobile Disco
Snoop Dogg – @snoopdogg
STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9) – @STS9
The Airborne Toxic Event – @Airborne_Toxic
The Bloody Beetroots (DJ Set)
The Builders and The Butchers
The Decemberists – @theDecemberists
The Gaslight Anthem
The Glitch Mob – @theGlitchMob
The Green Cards – @thegreencards
The Henry Clay People
The Killers – @_thekillers
The Knux – @theknux
The Low Anthem – @thelowanthem
The Raveonettes – @THERAVEONETTES
The Virgins
Thenewno2 – @thenewno2
Thievery Corporation – @ThieveryCorp
Tool
TV on the Radio – @tvontheradio
Vampire Weekend – @VAMPIRE_WEEKEND
White Lies – @whiteliesmusic
Yello Fever

(Anyone I missed? Let me know in the comments.)

This week I was asked to speak at the Social Media University conference in Milwaukee about “viral video” on the web. I don’t believe there’s a special formula to follow that magically equals viral distribution, but I think there are many things you can do to set yourself up for success.

In the slide deck below (the one I presented at the conference), I discuss the following topics:
* Where we are today with web video (scale, how we consume it, how we share it, etc.)
* Examples of certifiably viral videos (some are good for companies, some are bad)
* 3 components of a video strategy to extend your reach
* Creating video: Some things to consider
* Sharing video: Hosting, embedding, share buttons, and distribution
* Tracking video: Analytics packages to track your video success (helps you prepare for the next one)
* The future of video on the web: Mass distribution and real-time streaming

The presentation was video taped, so I’ll place that here as soon as it’s ready. I would love to hear what you think in the comments, or on Twitter. Be sure to view the presentation in full screen mode.

File this one away with my series of posts focused on Information Overload…

One major gripe I’ve had with Twitter for some time now (and I know I’m not alone here) is the inability to group the people you follow into certain categories. Let me explain.  Currently I’m following (receiving updates from) upwards of 600 people on Twitter.   It can be assumed that they are all worth listening to from time to time – otherwise I wouldn’t have clicked “follow” in the first place.  But the experience of watching a big newsfeed tick by with the updates from all these people is a little daunting, and clearly inefficient.  How can I focus with all this noise?

Right now, some of my main interests are startups, photography, Milwaukee (”represent”), and business intelligence.  Sometimes (almost all the time actually) I’d prefer to read about only one of these subjects, not all of them at a time.  For example, if I’m in a creative mood, I could be eager to see what people are saying about photography or design.  Now, I could do a twitter search for “photography”.  While this might return some decent results, it just shows me a list of recent tweets mentioning “photography”.  This completely negates the time I’ve put into finding people who actually know what they’re talking about.  I’d much rather just see the recent updates from all the people who I consider experts.  And now I can – using the Tweetie iPhone app, with the process described below. [note: This works just as well with Twhirl for the desktop if you don't have an iPhone]

Tweetie is like many iPhone Twitter applications that allow you to see the recent updates from the people you follow.  What sets it apart is that Tweetie allows you to use many different Twitter accounts.

Here’s how it works:
1. Download Tweetie (it’s $3, but worth it)

2. Make a list of topics you’re into.
Maybe include on the list some people on Twitter who clearly know what they’re talking about when it comes to that topic.

3.  Create a new Twitter account for each topic
(in this example, i’ve appended “a_” to the name.  It will help my list of accounts sort nicely alphabetically later)

4. Log into the account created for a topic, and follow the people who say interesting things about that topic. For example, with the account I created for Photography, I followed @simonmcconico, @jakedavidrohde, @RachelK, @photocampmke as a good start.

5. Add your real account, and your “topic accounts” to Tweetie

Now you’re all set!  In my example, I can pop into the Photography account to see what the photography tweeps are talking about…

Or if I want to see what’s going on in Milwaukee, it’s as easy as checking the Milwaukee account…

One critical feature of Tweetie is the ability to reply with any of your accounts.  So If I’m viewing all the Milwaukee updates, I can still reply as @blakesamic.

Just another battle won in the war against Information overload.  Let me know what you think in the comments.

How’s this for a pop-culture, sign of the times item? A coffee mug with all the people you’re following on Twitter. You can pick one up for $12.95, at sxoop.com.

“Subject: ‘______’ is now following you on Twitter!”

Are you sick of the Twitter follow back process?  You know, the one where you get a dozen emails from Twitter and you have to go into each one to figure out if all these people are worth following?  The process is pretty inefficient if you think about it.

What if there was an app that could show all your recent followers, and give you relevant info about each one?  You’d be in and out, and you would make more informed decisions.

I think an app like this should have the following features:
* show a list of all recent followers you haven’t reviewed yet
* give bio info for the selected person
* show the last 5-10 tweets from person
* show which of your friends are following that person

All of these give a quick idea about the credibility of the person.  Having it all on one page would be MUCH better than the current process.

The app could pull all the info in by receiving those Twitter emails (you would reroute them).  It could even send you a weekly digest email, showing you all the followers for the week [instead of one email per person].

Of course, what would be EVEN better, would be to have an existing app like TweetDeck do this.  That would be ideal.

My camera mysteriously stopped working a few weeks ago.  After sending it back to Casio and having them not honor my warranty (I won’t get into it here, but if you want the details, I’ll tell you), I have decided that I’ll probably have to buy a new camera.  My hand feels lost without one.

With all this social media at my finger tips, I decided to get some feedback from friends (Facebook) and followers (Twitter).  I put the message below out to both the networks and as you can see in the Facebook example, I had some quality feedback almost immediately!

This is very interesting because instead of going to some camera site and reading reviews from random editors/consumers, I am getting great recommendations from people I know and respect. It’s safe to say I’m leaning towards a Canon. They must be doing something right. Word of mouth is still the strongest advertising…

Thanks for all the advice!