Steve chats with Jon Crowley about his upcoming talk on how Social media has changed the entire relationship we have with content. They also talk about what Jon's currently working on and how excited he is to head back to Vancouver this July.
Transcription
Steve Fisher
Hey, well we're back for another interview for the Design and Content Conference, and we're here today with Jon Crowley. Jon, why don't you introduce yourself to the crowd. I know you're not brand new to us, but it'd be great to hear from you again.
Jon Crowley
Okay. Hi, I'm Jon. I work in strategic planning at an ad agency called Publicist. We've got offices everywhere, but I work at the office in Toronto, and most of what I do is really about kind of understanding people and why they do the stuff they do, so we have a chance to create content and create ads that really resonate with them a little bit more.
Steve Fisher
Oh, that's great, and super relevant to the people coming the conference. Now, maybe tell us a few things that you're working on right now, or something that you're passionate about currently.
Jon Crowley
Well, I've got a couple of things going on that I'm really excited about. One of them is I'm planning a wedding for next year.
Steve Fisher
Woohoo!
Jon Crowley
It's hard not to be super excited about that, and it also eats a lot of my free time.
Steve Fisher
Congratulations. Yeah, that's exciting.
Jon Crowley
Yeah, it's one of the big things, but in terms of more work-related stuff, two big things I'm working on are trying to develop a little bit better an understanding of some foundational philosophy stuff, so I'm reading a bunch of very old, very kind of meandering things. Right now I'm reading Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, which I wouldn't recommend if you want an airplane read. And then I'm dealing with a lot of day-to-day client work in the telecom sector, with a home improvement retailer, and a couple of other companies.
Steve Fisher
Oh, cool, cool. So, you're coming again. We're really excited that you're coming back, and you're gonna be talking to us on I think a very, very timely subject matter, and your talk title is Beyond the Filter Bubble, how social media is changing what content means and how it works, and I think we've all seen it have a pretty big impact over the last while. Maybe tell us a little bit about what you're gonna be sharing and your thoughts around that.
Jon Crowley
So this has been absolutely fascinating for me to dig into. It's been something that's been a pet interest of mine for the couple of, couple of the last few years, just really getting a better understanding of how kind of the mediums we're using is shaping the message, for lack of a better word, but one of the things I've seen is that no one's really explored it from the angle of how do we make better content for these platforms, how do we create stuff that's supposed to live this way, rather than just worrying about how an algorithmically-dominated feed might be changing the way people even interpret information, why don't we flip that question on its head and kind of wonder how we should be shaping our information for those feeds and those experiences.
Steve Fisher
Yeah, it's definitely very timely, when we're seeing a lot of big companies struggle with this, and so we're really pleased that you're doing some thinking around that and that you'll be sharing with our crowd, but also that they'll have a chance to really interact on that. Now, you're coming back to Vancouver. I know you've been here before because I've been here with you, but I'd love to hear what you may be excited about coming back this summer.
Jon Crowley
Well, honestly, I love the community that's been built at the Design and Content Conference, so I'm really excited for that, but one of the things I'm really looking forward to is I haven't been to Stanley Park in the summer since I was 17 years old, and I'm really excited to go just walk around and enjoy, really just enjoy the environment, enjoy the beauty, go for a long walk.
Steve Fisher
But yeah, that's a good plan. I think it was Trip Advisor voted, it was voted number one park in the world. I don't know if that's really true or not but we'll take it. And we're even thinking about maybe doing just a morning fun run this year.
Jon Crowley
Oh really?
Steve Fisher
And by fun, I mean like, not too serious, in the park.
Jon Crowley
Sounds great. I'll pack my shoes.
Steve Fisher
Yeah, that's great. Yeah, you've got some shoes, I know that. I've seen some great photos online. Well Jon, thanks for taking a moment to chat with us today, and we're really excited to have you come back out to the Design and Content Conference this summer.
Jon Crowley
Thanks so much. I'm really excited to be there.