Social Media strategist, New Media Publisher and Web Provocateur

G’day readers. It’s time to get a little more serious with my blog.

Please allow me to introduce myself….

I am a Canadian expatriate based in Groningen in the northern Netherlands where I ‘work’ – mainly remotely – with a number of startups and clients globally, utilizing social media and community to add Web 2.0 to their projects and businesses.

My background is in the print media and I have worked in far flung locales from the Arctic to the Caribbean as a reporter, editor and publisher of ‘old school’ paper products before making the jump to digital in 1997, when I formed my first community online in the Dutch West Indies.

Though I have worn a few different hats in my days…

I now operate a very small company and consultancy here in Holland with my wife and we do quite a few different things, many pro bono and personal and others for pay.

PRO BONO – We are active politically as progressives – and like to think we are part of facilitating change and disseminating new ideas with a group of sites at the Free Press Group – which has over 300 progressive and like-minded writers from around the world (20% hold PhD’s) who contribute in an Open Source Journalism format. We swap coverage on Google News (we are three of 4000 official Google News sources in English) for copy. They get fresh eyeballs and we get material – it’s a great barter. And I get the chance to write myself as well as create political Photoshops for the sites. We also host several of them at www.safehost.nl.

And despite losing money (hosting bills etc.) over the years, the connections I have made with many brilliant writers has brought an immense amount of satisfaction personally – as well as added professionally to my personal brand – at Linkedin for instance – where I have had several writers offer their recommendation.

More recently, I have been involved in a couple of web campaigns that rocked the boat for two corporate entities…

Actually posted this resume at Associated Press’ Job site.

Now I wonder if the human resources jockey on the other end reading this will laugh? I Actually posted this resume at Associated Press’ Job site.

Objective

To see if AP would actually consider the idea of hiring a Social Media analyst that was such a pain in the ass to their PR department.

Summary

Founder of Unassociated Press dot Net – Richard Kastelein proved to be a thorn in the side of AP when he rallied bloggers online to protest an asinine decision by someone at AP management (a lawyer no doubt) who decided that taking on a small volunteer blogger over copyright laws was a ‘smart’ litmus test.

It created glowing headlines like:

The AP, Hot News and Hotheaded Blogs – New York Times
DMCA takedown tiff not a battle the AP should be fighting
Here’s Our New Policy On AP stories: They’re Banned – Washington Post
AP faces copyright row with bloggers – guardian.co.uk

and the inevitable…

AP Backs Down on Blog-Posting Crackdown

Aside from that… my career as a web provocateur – I am also the publisher of www.freepressgroup.eu and work with over 400 writers under an ‘open source journalism policy’ designed on the GNU. See www.expathos.com for more details on me.

Specific Skills Area:

Advising companies on how to handle social media – both internally and externally.

Work Experience

Managing Director – Founder
Position Type:directHire
Employer: Expathos
Groningen, Groningen