Tod Maffin
Encyclopedia
Tod Maffin is a Canadian digital marketing strategist(11 June 2011). Hard labour: job burnout, Financial Post ("Tod Maffin, a digital marketing strategist at Vancouver consultancy tMedia Strategies") and keynote speaker specializing in social media, mobile marketing, and viral marketing, as well as using social media for employer and school recruitment.
, Canada
area. He began his career in journalism, working for KBS radio in Creston in the early '90s as a reporter and weekend anchor. He then moved to the Sunday Press, a community newspaper based in Sechelt, B.C. as the lead civic affairs reporter.
Maffin left IMEDIAT to start his own web strategy consulting firm and, in 1999, developed the concept for an artificial intelligence engine that could rank the subjective mood of public opinion. He and three other partners launched MindfulEye.com, developing Maffin's idea into a technology service ("Lexant") which began selling services to major brokerage firms and securities commissions. The Lexant engine was used to perform syntactic analysis on public opinion comments posted on the Internet and aired in the media, in order to provide a “mood monitor” of stocks. MindfulEye.com began trading publicly in 18 months through an RTO of a Nevada firm. The firm initially raised three rounds of venture capital but got caught in the "dot com bomb" and had to close down when it was unable to secure additional funding.
's live interactive national radio program "todradio.com" on CBC Radio One
for two seasons beginning in 2002. The series aired live across all of Canada's five time zones using five separate shows, each unique to its region. It was co-hosted by Tamara Leer.
Maffin also spent four years as a national producer on CBC Radio One
's Definitely Not The Opera
magazine program. During this period, he authored "From Idea to Air: A Field Guide to Freelancing for Public Radio". He also hosted and produced a short-lived radio documentary program called "Real Life Chronicles" which ran regionally as part of CBC Vancouver's North by Northwest
weekend arts program. It was later picked up by the network and aired during CBC Radio's flagship morning program "Sounds Like Canada."
As part of the network's coverage of the 2004 federal election, Maffin crossed much of the country in the CBC's "Canada Votes" election bus which traveled Canada producing stories and short documentaries about Canadians' reaction to the election campaign. He then began weekly television reports on technology on CBC Television
's Canada Now national newscast and also worked as CBC Radio
's national technology columnist. During the CBC's 2005 labour dispute, Maffin produced a blog and podcast which became the focal point for news about the labour dispute, generating more than 10,000 unique visits a day near the end of the lockout. After the lockout, the CBC hired Maffin to create and author its official blog, InsideTheCBC.com. In 2008, Maffin handed the editorship over to Paul McGrath, a CBC employee.http://books.google.com/books?id=33kfAQAAIAAJ&q=Tod+Maffin&dq=Tod+Maffin&hl=en&ei=HNQPToDuFojv0gHP1vH9DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg
Blogtv.com also hired Maffin to do a live, weekly webcast program on technology, todbits.tv. The program covered trends in business technology, web strategy, and consumer electronics.
to develop the network's podcasting strategy and internal publishing tools.
He launched and managed CanadaPodcasts.ca, a national podcast directory, and started the Foursevens Podcast Collective, a network of podcasts he thought represented the best in content, eventually turning CanadaPodcasts.ca over to the Rogic Network when he ceased producing podcasts.
Background
Maffin was born and raised in the VancouverVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
area. He began his career in journalism, working for KBS radio in Creston in the early '90s as a reporter and weekend anchor. He then moved to the Sunday Press, a community newspaper based in Sechelt, B.C. as the lead civic affairs reporter.
Technology
Maffin became the Director of New Media at the Haibeck Group, a Vancouver-based public relations firm, developing the early web strategies for large corporate clients. He joined the Internet services firm Emerge Online in 1995 as its Senior Strategist and, later, Vice President of Marketing. In 1997, Maffin moved to Emerge's competitor, IMEDIAT (later rebranded as communicate.com) where, as Executive V.P. of Marketing, he led the company's rapid growth into new markets.Maffin left IMEDIAT to start his own web strategy consulting firm and, in 1999, developed the concept for an artificial intelligence engine that could rank the subjective mood of public opinion. He and three other partners launched MindfulEye.com, developing Maffin's idea into a technology service ("Lexant") which began selling services to major brokerage firms and securities commissions. The Lexant engine was used to perform syntactic analysis on public opinion comments posted on the Internet and aired in the media, in order to provide a “mood monitor” of stocks. MindfulEye.com began trading publicly in 18 months through an RTO of a Nevada firm. The firm initially raised three rounds of venture capital but got caught in the "dot com bomb" and had to close down when it was unable to secure additional funding.
Radio and television
Maffin is a regular commentator on technology and business trends in the media. He co-produced and hosted the Canadian Broadcasting CorporationCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
's live interactive national radio program "todradio.com" on CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One is the English language news and information radio network of the publicly-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial free and offers both local and national programming...
for two seasons beginning in 2002. The series aired live across all of Canada's five time zones using five separate shows, each unique to its region. It was co-hosted by Tamara Leer.
Maffin also spent four years as a national producer on CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One is the English language news and information radio network of the publicly-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial free and offers both local and national programming...
's Definitely Not The Opera
Definitely Not the Opera
Definitely Not the Opera is a magazine-style radio program focusing on aspects of pop culture. The program is broadcast on CBC Radio One on Saturday afternoons, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. . An abridged version of each weekly program is available for download as a weekly podcast...
magazine program. During this period, he authored "From Idea to Air: A Field Guide to Freelancing for Public Radio". He also hosted and produced a short-lived radio documentary program called "Real Life Chronicles" which ran regionally as part of CBC Vancouver's North by Northwest
North by Northwest
North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau...
weekend arts program. It was later picked up by the network and aired during CBC Radio's flagship morning program "Sounds Like Canada."
As part of the network's coverage of the 2004 federal election, Maffin crossed much of the country in the CBC's "Canada Votes" election bus which traveled Canada producing stories and short documentaries about Canadians' reaction to the election campaign. He then began weekly television reports on technology on CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
's Canada Now national newscast and also worked as CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
's national technology columnist. During the CBC's 2005 labour dispute, Maffin produced a blog and podcast which became the focal point for news about the labour dispute, generating more than 10,000 unique visits a day near the end of the lockout. After the lockout, the CBC hired Maffin to create and author its official blog, InsideTheCBC.com. In 2008, Maffin handed the editorship over to Paul McGrath, a CBC employee.http://books.google.com/books?id=33kfAQAAIAAJ&q=Tod+Maffin&dq=Tod+Maffin&hl=en&ei=HNQPToDuFojv0gHP1vH9DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg
Blogtv.com also hired Maffin to do a live, weekly webcast program on technology, todbits.tv. The program covered trends in business technology, web strategy, and consumer electronics.
Podcasting
Maffin's podcasts have included the series Egg McMaffin, which highlighted Maffin's picks in public radio short documentaries. It later changed focus to feature informative tips on doing tasks people take for granted, becoming the How To Do Stuff podcast. Maffin was an early supporter of podcasting, and at one point embarked on a national tour of eleven cities to evangelize the technology. Holding "meetups" in each city, Maffin assisted new podcast producers. He also was hired by CBC RadioCBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
to develop the network's podcasting strategy and internal publishing tools.
He launched and managed CanadaPodcasts.ca, a national podcast directory, and started the Foursevens Podcast Collective, a network of podcasts he thought represented the best in content, eventually turning CanadaPodcasts.ca over to the Rogic Network when he ceased producing podcasts.