Dan Janal, president of PR LEADSFor all of you who have experienced “butt dialing,” the unconscious art of having your cell phone make a call while it is firmly lodged in your pocket  or purse, wait until you hear this!

Call it Meerkat, Periscope or live streaming, instant video will be the hot new thing this year. Basically, with these services you will be able to use your phone to broadcast video over the Internet. This happens primarily to your Twitter followers but I’d expect every social media platform will support this new feature soon.

This app will have huge, beneficial implications for journalists and citizen journalists who can broadcast images and commentary of news events, so you need to pay attention to it.

Speakers should benefit if they livestream their events. Let the whole world share your knowledge. That’s a benefit. Who was it who said, “My speech is my best marketing tool?”

Of course I can hear the uproar now. Some speakers will say their intellectual property is protected and they could lose control of their brand. I think they should get over how “wonderful” they are.  There is a school of thought that says that you should share your best content so you stand out from everyone else.

Then again, there are people who will steal your content. Chances are, they already have!

That’s a decision every speaker will have to make individually.

However, I fear that speakers will misuse this new tool if they:
1.     Show videos of their lunch. No one cares what you eat, except your mother and she isn’t going to hire you to speak.
2.      Repeat quotes by famous people. No one will think you are smart or inspiring or original if you quote Einstein or Steve Jobs.

One final word of caution: Since “butt dialing” proved that anyone can make a phone call without realizing it, please make sure your phones are OFF when you go to the bathroom or to the bedroom.

Yes, there is a point of TMI – Too Much Inf