Lately I have been reading a lot on-line about customer service, particularly about social media and customer service. You may have followed a few news stories that covered how someone's tweets very quickly managed to get the attention of a large company. Then recently Chris Brogan discussed "guest experience design" and he followed up by touching on another new catch phrase "experience facilitators" (you might think "hotel concierge"). All of these discussions really are about marketing: marketing our businesses, marketing ourselves as employees, marketing ideas to our employers, marketing ideas to and for our clients, the list goes on. As I thought about all of this, it occurred to me that I would give you my take on "Guest Experience Design" and it might be fun to look back on some national advertising campaigns and see how effective these have been as "experience facilitators" over the years. This will be a multi-post personal walk down memory lane, because like the Meg Ryan's character in "You've Got Mail" said: "Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal."
Disney Resorts and Windows 7
Today I am going to combine two national advertising campaigns: Disney Resorts and Microsoft's Windows 7. I am a consumer of both and; therefore, an expert of sorts. Have you seen the latest Microsoft Media Campaign? It is "Windows 7 Was My Idea!"
This is a very clever ad campaign, but did you ever think that if Windows 7 is a commercial failure, like Vista was thought to be, Microsoft will have all of us to blame? All of the consumers that submitted suggestions, complaints, ideas, will be doing battle with thst MAC guy! Microsoft is trying to reach the people, the consumers, and thank them for their input on the ultimate guest experience design.
Now you are probably wondering how this campaign ties into Disney Resorts. I like to think that Disney's Fastpass was my idea. Historically I have been visiting Disneyland in Anaheim, California since 1955. My parents would drive us from San Diego, before Interstate 5 existed, when Orange County was really all orange groves. But there came a time in April 1994 when I visited Disneyland with Dennis (my husband), Aaron and Dan (our sons then 13 and 10) and my mother-in-law (then 82). In those days the Disneyland entrance had a huge sign that said "The Happiest Place on Earth". As a little girl, as a teen-ager, even as a young adult I never gave those words a second thought, but on April 17, 1994, I knew I was not in the happiest place on earth. The park was so crowded and really congested that one had to wait anywhere from 45-90 minutes to take a ride. In six hours we managed to ride four of the major rides and my children turned to us and said "can we leave now?" When we returned home from our long planned vacation I wrote a letter to the Magic Kingdom. I didn't yell, scream, or belittle the Disney staff, I didn't even ask for my money back. I calmly told them my story. I opened with this sentence: "On April 17, 1994, Disneyland was not the happiest place on earth." I pointed out to them that my mother-in-law was in a wheelchair sitting in the shade of a tree by the Matterhorn, waiting for us to disembark from the Matterhorn, when suddenly a man fell out of the skyway ride and into the shade tree! The day went downhill from there. My overall approach was not to just complain about the crowds, but to offer a solution. I suggested that Disneyland consider controlling the number of tickets sold per day, similar to a National Park (Yosemite) or any concert/special event venue. Then everyone would be able to enjoy that which they had perhaps saved for a lifetime to enjoy. About two weeks later I received a very nice letter from Disneyland. They thanked me for my suggestion and asked me to send them a copy of my receipts for all that we had spent at Disneyland that day. I sent them the receipts, two weeks later I received a gift certificate in the amount of $350 and in 1999 Disney's virtual queuing Fastpass was introduced. So you see I like to think that the Fastpass was my idea and maybe in some small way my ideas did matter to Disney. I like to think so.
Final thoughts and questions
In today's world I might have tweeted about my Disney experience in the moment and Disney would probably jumped right on my Tweet. But would they have had the opportunity to think through a resolution that would improve the experience for every potential guest? What do you think? Do you work on your "guest experience design"? Do you facilitate your guests' experience? Does the design control the guest's experience or does the guest's experience control the design?
News Flash: I follow Chris Brogan on Twitter. A few months ago I attended Blog World Expo in Las Vegas. I wrote about it. I promised that I would try to apply what I learned. One of the first things I did was to begin following Chris Brogan. Don't get excited. I am one of 124,385 followers. (To put this in perspective I have 41 followers.) You are probably shaking your head and asking "is Judy nuts?" But to that, I say: "Does me being one of 3,400,000 TIME Magazine weekly subscribers or one of 6,685,684 National Geographic monthly subscribers shock you or make you question why I would even think of "following" these honored publications?" I hope not. I subscribe to these publications, local newspapers, SEO/SMO on-line newsletters for the same reason that I follow Chris Brogan - each opens avenues to useful and timely information that can impact my business, Webconsuls' clients, and my personal life.
This past week Chris mentored: Don't Forget the Little Side Streets. Exploring side streets with Chris Brogan is quite a ride. I hope you will take the time to read his post, he offers really good insights and, unlike a few, Chris is optimistic and looks for ways to extend the expiration date for some of these "streets". For example, when was the last time you:
examined your "YELP" reviews
verified your Google Local Business Center Map
updated your Bing Local Listing Center
checked out Yahoo Answers
refreshed your Facebook Fan page
responded to a Trip Advisor review (negatively or positively)
tweeted something of positive value, as opposed to a rant
Navigating and maintaining these "streets" takes time. But the beauty of the Internet in general and social media in particular is the fluidity and vitality that you can manage to. Every time you think you don't have time I want you to find a business person who can recall the angst of designing and ordering a brochure. Trust me. Before the ink was dry the area code had been split in two, your AAA rating had changed for the better or the beautiful maple tree that graced your front lawn had fallen. Yes, maintaining your "streets" and exploring side streets takes time, but you can do it on your time and make your journey as interesting as you want. There really is nothing like a road trip.
Here is my favorite photo of a real "side" street.
No Name Street 2000
This post is dedicated to Chris Brogan, thanking him for inspiration.
Web 2.0 and social networking may not be for everyone! Living in a world of "avatars" and mood status updates is not as important to some people as it is others. One finds this out after they have already taken the time to set up detailed accounts about themselves. Thousands of people have found that closing a Facebook, Myspace, or LinkedIn account isn't the easiest task. Sure you can turn your account off or deactivate it, but all of your personal information and pretty much everything you have typed in is archived somewhere along the vast information highway. Killing one's virtual self has been quite a burden, almost equal to the burden of living it. So then, how does one commit virtual suicide?
Now, you can use the Web 2.0 suicide machine to completely scrub your Internet presence. The program will use the log in information you provide and go through all your social networking accounts deleting your existence. "Suicide Machine has assisted more than 1,000 virtual deaths, severing more than 80,500 friendships on Facebook and removing some 276,000 tweets from Twitter", according to TIME Magazine. Suicide Machine is so popular that thousands of people are waiting their turn for their own "cyberoffing". "Our server is so busy handling the requests," says Suicide Machine co-creator Walter Langelaar. Whether for a good or bad, there is no turning back or second chances at life; once you have committed to the deletion it will take nothing short of an act from God to reverse the procedure. When the suicide process is complete you'll receive a "cybermemorial" on the site. "RIP, 2.0. We'll miss you".
Facebook, so far is the only social network in up in arms about this new service and feels that the company is breaking the law "citing violation of users privacy", which is impossible because the individuals voluntarily submit their information to Suicide Machine; LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter have not yet publicly made a comment about Suicide Machine. Earlier this month Facebook blocked Suicide Machine from accessing its site. However, that has not slowed down Suicide Machine's creators, the euthanasia goes on. "Compared to the more than 350 million users [on Facebook], we think deleting a few hundred is not very impressive, but they picked up on it as a potential threat", says Langelaar.
If people are waiting in line to have their Internet lives deleted for good, then it will be interesting to see if the trend continues. So many people open social networking accounts and never once go back online to use them, so then deletion makes sense in that they would no longer want their information out there.
What is it about Twitter? A simple question, a simple program, a complex answer - maybe even unexplainable. If you were to type "twitter" into a Wikipedia field you would find this: "Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications". If you have a basic understanding of the World Wide Web today you probably understand words like blogging, add a micro- to the beginning and you have tiny blog posts, called Tweets. Simple, Right! What isn't so simple is why one would ever want to broadcast short transmissions about their day-to-day activities; why would I want to ask questions, and take interest in what a total stranger is doing with their life?
Twitter has been around since 2006, it quietly gained steam at first while people figured out its potential and spread the word. Twitter grew exponentially worldwide and although it has slowed down in the last year, its user numbers are in the millions! Twitter is a tool for the 21st century speeding up the flow of information, allowing people to tap literally into the resources of the entire world. Twitter has no time zone, no deadlines; it is not bound by conventionality! We don't have to check our favorite news websites to know when a story has "dropped" anymore, no more one sentence emails either - Send a Tweet! Web 2.0 is about life, interaction and feeling like the impossible is possible; the World Wide Web is alive and constantly expanding, now it even has a voice.
Can anyone explain why Twitter has been so successful in such a short period of time? Maybe not, but I do know that in general people want to feel like they have a voice; now, everyone can guarantee an audience, hopefully a full house. The fact the Bill Gates signed on board yesterday says a lot. In eight hours he had over a 100,000 followers!
With the holidays upon us, we wanted to take a few minutes to wish all of our clients a happy and healthy New Year. This newsletter will take you down memory lane as Webconsuls turns 10 years old, spotlighting those clients who have been with us for those 10 years, welcoming new clients and sharing some milestones.
Webconsuls turns 10!
Dick and Dennis actually met at an ARCO Business Seminar in June 1981; however, their careers took them on different paths. It was not until October 1999 when Dick and Dennis met again and decided to form Webconsuls.
Dennis likes to recall how Webconsuls came to be...he was recently interviewed by http://www.arcoalumni.com/ and here is their article:
ARCO Alumni Dennis Helfand and Dick Fay built entirely new careers post ARCO. Their focus is to help commercial clients "generate new and/or additional revenues through web presence marketing." Says Helfand, "We transitioned from a 'hobby' to a serious business enterprise very quickly. Webconsuls currently has about 90 clients across the US and a few based in Asia and Europe".
Having been Director of Public Affairs and Field Operations, at ARCO, Helfand took the 1985 Early Retirement Package at ARCO Alaska, "my wife and I bought a 120-bed country inn resort in New Hampshire's White Mountains National Forest area, which we operated from 1986 until 1997. In the mid 1990's, while at the inn, I became interested in learning about marketing the property via the Internet and pursued this activity with great interest. When we sold the inn, we were already realizing quite a bit of revenue from internet-generated leads."
After relocating to Newport Beach, CA, a number of my former NH-based competitors (friends nonetheless) contacted me to market their facilities over the internet. This became a sort of hobby, earning a few dollars here and there in the process. Then two serendipitous events occurred.
1.An inn owner and close friend had been trying to sell his property through Realtors. There were very few prospects and not a single serious buyer. I suggested selling his property over the Internet for a "marketing fee." This was in 1998 and I believe it may have been one of the first commercial property sales via the Internet. Best of all, my web marketing fee amounted to just about one percent of the total sales price!
2. The second fortuitous event was meeting my former Crude Supply Manager for lunch in 1998. I asked him about Dick Fay (W. Richard Fay) from ARCO Transportation Company. He said Dick recently retired and was looking to do something new and interesting.
The rest is history. Webconsuls.com was established in 1999. We formed an LLC and got serious very quickly. On-Line courses and technical publications gave us new skill sets and we gradually acquired outside specialists to assist us as our business grew. My wife Judy, a business analyst in the information technology field joined Webconsuls in November 2006.
We have seen our business thrive and look forward to continued growth and new experiences.
Clients come and go...
Over the past 10 years Webconsuls' team has had the privilege to work with over 300 clients in a variety of industries. Each client is unique and that is what makes web design, SEO and SMO so interesting and vital. Judy recently looked back to see which clients started with Webconsuls in the Fall of 1999 and of those which ones are still our clients. Interestingly enough, there are four! They are New Hampshire Campground Association, Motorcars East, Newport Channel Inn and Edna Deeb Law.
Here are some interesting facts from Webconsuls first business quarter: 22 clients, nine California clients, nine New Hampshire clients, four Connecticut clients, 31 invoices!
New Clients round out our base...
We are happy to introduce you to our newest clients and we invite you to check out their websites.
Dick Fay remembers how when they first started in 2000 Webconsuls could make some small changes to a site and viola!the site would be on the first page of Alta Vista. The number of competitors to most sites was measured in the hundreds, pay per click was in its infancy with something called Overture, Google was an upstart, and no one had heard of Social Marketing. Potential clients were trying to decide if they "needed" a web site. Websites themselves were usually static and straightforward.
Now some clients face thousands or millions of competitors for key terms, Google has about 70% of the search engine marketplace, pay per click is huge and requires expert management to be successful. Clients are deciding when to redesign their web site to keep it up to date with the available technology. Facebook, Twitter, blogs and video are staples of many successful businesses whose owners work hand in hand with Webconsuls to grow their business.
Webconsuls Grows and Evolves
Webconsuls has also grown and evolved over the last 10 years. We have added a third partner, Judy Helfand. The entire team keeps up with the latest in Search Engine Optimization. We have added specialists in web design, pay per click, social media, and link building. We have redesigned our web site several times to reflect our growing business. We have added a blog and links to news feeds on Search Engine Marketing and Social Media. Check them out:
Let us know if you have a twitter account and would like us to follow you.
Webconsuls' Team News...
As most of you know Malik Moosa-Soomar, our web development specialist and designer, was married to Zaheen Allibhoy on April 11, 2009. Dennis, Judy, Dick and Fran were happy to attend their wedding celebration in Austin, TX. Speaking of weddings, Dick and Fran were married February 20, 2009. Keith Hansen, our pay-per-click specialist, and his wife, Diana, welcomed a baby boy, Layne, on April 26, 2009.
We are happy to welcome Alycia Kaczuwka as our new Social Media expert. Alycia is working with our clients focusing on brand-building using tools like blogs/RSS, Facebook, Twitter and social bookmarking. She brings her extensive background in audience development and website design to social tools to keep the SMO process in focus as an integrated part of a web-based marketing plan. In addition, Alycia has a comprehensive background in web analytics using Google Analytics and Omniture to measure campaign performance and return on investment.
Happy Holidays
This year rather than send a small gift to our clients we are making donations to the following:
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Midcoast Maine The vision of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Midcoast Maine is successful mentoring relationships for youth in Knox, Lincoln and Waldo Counties, contributing to better schools, stronger communities and brighter future.
The Promises Foundation Miriam's House
The Promises Foundation is committed to restoring hope for families by creating a safe environment for mothers and their children to grow and develop the tools they require to live meaningful and self-sufficient lives.
It seems it is almost impossible to keep abreast of all the SMO and SEO news. You can scan the headlines on Google, Yahoo, your favorite newspaper or tech magazine and the amount of information is astounding. Just today I again realized I have an account with Google Reader which automatically sends me more information. I signed in and saw my Google Reader inbox had 851 items! I guess you now know I have been too busy for Google Reader. But this post is not about the Google Reader, it is about how to keep our Webconsuls' clients abreast of internet marketing news. Turns out Webconsuls set up SMO and SEO news feeds for you and our clients over two years ago. So again I ask the proverbial question: Is anybody "listening" or in this case reading?
The experts keep talking about Twitter. I have a Twitter account, I follow and am followed; however, there are a few things about Twitter that annoy me. Today I will just mention two: (a) some people provide TMI (too much information) or should I say information that is redundant (since they have more than one account) and useless information; (b) it often takes two to three clicks to get to the meat of the message. Let me give you a real life example. Today I signed into my Twitter account around 6:30AM (MST). I read a Tweet that said: "6 Reasons to Embrace Social Media Today Web 2.0 Journal". So I clicked on the link, but instead of being taken directly to the article I was taken to a TweetMeMe page that listed 65 Twitterers who had RT (retweeted) this article. I then click on the original link and I am taken to a blog post by Web 2.0 Journal. I read the article, it was interesting, but didn't really provide too much new information, it was more one writer's opinion. Just like my blog post today, is basically my opinion.
Here is my advice for today. If you want to go to one place and read the headlines for SMO, then I invite you to visit Webconsuls' SMO in the News Page. There you will find the current SMO headlines and you only have to click once! If you want to read the SEO news then visit Webconsuls' SEO News Page.
P.S. If you want to find me on Twitter, click here.
P.P.S. If you are wondering about today's photo...this is from 1974 when I was employed by the Cal State Los Angeles University Newspaper, The University Times, a daily paper in those days.
This year I had the opportunity to attend BWE09, better known as Blog World and New Media Expo 2009. This event took place from October 15-17 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unlike many of the 2500 attendees this was my first year participating. And unlike many attendees I did not spend my days there blogging, tweeting, or otherwise updating my friends and followers. I just tried to take in the process, that is I tried to listen and learn. And hopefully, I will be able to care for and serve some, if not all, of Webconsuls clients. I actually thought about writing this post as soon as I returned home or even while I waited in the Las Vegas Airport, but then it occurred to me that it would be better to really write about BWE09 looking in the rear view mirror. So here are some of my "bytes" on BWE09.
While I have been participating in blogging for about two years and I am on Facebook and have a Twitter account, I would not rate myself as someone that knows everyone in the blogging and new media world; therefore, attending this event was not about hooking up with old friends, but meeting new people and learning from the "experts."
The exhibitors were varied and engaging. I enjoyed talking to people from all over the world, like the Zemanta team from Slovania (and, yes, I intend to learn more about their product). The ArmyStrongStories.com team was engaging and they had a great display. And then of course, I enjoyed speaking to Robby Berthyme who was representing wheretogetengaged.com (timely, insofar as Aaron and Alli became engaged on October 15, 2009!).
Brian Solis moderated a good keynote discussion about the "New Celebrity" with Anthony Edwards, Jermaine Dupri and Robin Antin. All of these participants made it very clear that if you are using Twitter, Facebook, etc...you need to be yourself, engage with people, and manage your own accounts (don't hire a staff to do this). Write about yourself or your cause, don't just keep re-tweeting!
One "outtake" from this keynote discussion is that I found it incredible how rude 70% of the audience appeared to be behaving. This was an hour long presentation and it was beyond me why people could not just sit and "listen", as opposed to working on their laptops, running their fingers over their iPhones or thumbing it on their Blackberry. This behavior was annoying and to top it off, even though they were really not paying attention, they would join in the intermittent applause like robots or dummies.
Dave Peck of LSF Interactive was interesting and provocative in his conference "How to Socialize Your Content". I just discovered that he posted many of his "rules" here for the small business owner. His advice I intend to try to incorporate into Webconsuls and to share with our clients.
I really enjoyed the conference "How Twits Lay Golden Eggs - The Art of Social Engagement for Business"...Chris Brogan and Laura Fitten had a lot to offer and they did not make the audience feel inept, but offered real guidance.
Dan Helfand attended this conference for Webconsuls also. It was interesting to watch Dan, who had not been to Las Vegas since he was 13! It was great to attend the conferences and then share what we had learned.
Las Vegas is an aging city and I don't think it is aging gracefully. As we rode the marvelous monorail I noticed that many of the buildings look dated and dirty on the outside, almost as if the original architectural plan did not allow for majestic aging. Many strange and vacant lots can be seen as you ride "behind" the strip.
I don't think I am the only BWE09 participant that questioned the parties that BWE09 sponsored. As one person said on Twitter: "bwe09 parties are a lot like Twitter - noisy, loud, dark, and ineffective at organizing communication". I couldn't agree more! Imagine being at the Mirages' Jet Night Club with many of the same people who could not put down their laptops and iPhones during the keynotes, only it was too dark to read their nametags and the music was too loud for introductions. Another person echoed these sentiments: "The parties at #bwe09 remind me of college. How old are we? Where are the real parties?"
Flying Southwest Airlines will be a subject for another post.
Finally, I would like to thank the three ladies that shared a Hilton Limo with Dan and me. We were attempting to get a taxi to go to the airport and we found ourselves sharing a limo with Kim Rowley and Joanne Dinslage of Key Internet Marketing and Maarika Neudorf of Enterprise Estonia. We had a fun ride and got to meet three more BWE09 attendees.
Ok, that is it for today. I am going to get busy learning how to apply all that I learned - stay tuned. In the meantime enjoy the photo of Dan with the BWE09 "Change Girl" as he wins the iPod Shuffle.
The last few weeks your Webconsuls' team has been busy and our blog has been quiet. I don't know about you, but it is amazing what you can learn in a month's time. Here are this month's five most interesting bits of information that I learned and I want to share with you:
1. Did you know that Gmail has a send limit? About a week ago we received a call from our client saying that she was sending out an email broadcast to her customers asking them to participate in a fundraiser for the victims of the earthquake/tsunami. All of a sudden she noticed that she could not send any email or receive any email. She called us and here is what I learned:
"In an effort to fight spam and prevent abuse, Google will temporarily disable your account if you send a message to more than 500 recipients or if you send a large number of undeliverable messages. If you use a POP or IMAP client (Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail, e.g.), you may only send a message to 100 people at a time. Your account should be re-enabled within 24 hours." (Go here to learn more and keep in mind that many email services have a send limit, this is why some clients like to stay in contact with their clients by a newsletter service like or similar to Constant Contact.)
2. Twitter 2.0 seems to be just around the corner. Rather than have me rehash what someone else has discussed so eloquently, I will point you to the article. "Are We Ready for Twitter 2.0?"
3. Blogger does provide great on-line support. The other day I was on their site and I saw a section called "Recommended Articles and Discussion." One of the discussions was entitled "Too Many Good Bloggers are Giving Up" . Now, this caught my eye!!! So I clicked on it and enjoyed the conversation. If you have a blog and you have given up or you are thinking about giving up, I invite you to read the posts and join in the discussion. You might just refresh yourself enough to keep on BLOGGING!
4. During the past few weeks our team has been discussing the nature of our Webconsuls' blog. The questions raised are these: Should it be more technical? Or, do our readers want to learn more about the team as people and read anecdotal stories, as well? I will tell you that the team was split on this, but today I read an interesting article on an SEO/SMO newsletter. The article had to do with Social Networking pitfalls the 4th pitfall to avoid was this: "It's not about sell, sell, sell! If all you're doing when you visit the various sites and post your updates is pitch your latest program, product or service then it's no wonder you're not seeing results. Share information with your network, whether that's your own information or you're passing along information from clients and colleagues. The more you share, the greater your results will be. Whichever social networking arena you're active in (and it may be more than one) remember the "social" in social networking - it's to build relationships, make new contacts, and socialize. Inform your network, not sell to them." I think based on this guidance and our own practical experience from being part of Social Networking sites, new clients may come to you naturally.
5. Finally, as this Columbus Day Weekend gets underway, I know that our New England innkeeper, hotelier, restaurateur, livery, and entertainment clients will be busy beyond belief as the autumn brides and mountains blush and foliage season peaks; but won't they be surprised to learn that Tucson, AZ has its own foliage season! And yes, Mt Lemmon is 2869 ft taller than Mt. Washington!
This week's photos are from my days in New Hampshire. The one of the children is of Aaron and Dan enjoying a "Tom Sawyer" moment with children who were guests at the inn. Aaron and Dan were "teaching" them how to rake the autumn leaves and make Leaf People!
"Teach Us to Delight in the Simple Things"...Rudyard Kipling
Let me know what you think of Judy's "bytes"...see you next week.
I was always a bit thrown by the term "augmented reality." A brief glimpse at the definition in Wikipedia clears the terminology up.
"Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time."
In our video a new application, TwittARound, still in beta and may soon be available in the iPhone app store which encorporates "augmented reality" and Twitter.
GPS, compass and camera show where Tweets are coming from. You can literay see those Tweets coming at you!
Today is July 4th, our federal holiday celebrating 233 years of Independence. While I wish all of you a Happy Fourth of July, I would like to highlight Lady Liberty. Happy 4th of July Lady Liberty!
This July 4th is special for Lady Liberty. For the first time since shortly after September 11, 2001, a limited number of visitors will be allowed to climb the spiral staircase to the crown. Have you ever been to the Statue of Liberty? I will tell you that of all of the majestic places I have visited in our United States, Liberty Island is by far the most awe inspiring, more so than Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite, the Golden Gate Bridge, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, St. Louis Arch, Hoover Dam, Denali, Everglades, Washington, D.C., Arlington National Cemetery. But enough about my travel guide.
I invite any of you who have the opportunity to visit New York City, even those of you who live in New York City, to make time to visit Liberty Island and Ellis Island. If you are unfamiliar with Ellis Island, it served as a federal immigration station for steamship passengers from 1892 until 1954. But I digress...as you approach Lady Liberty on the ferry you might recall great movie scenes from Titanic, Funny Girl, to name a few...it is amazing.
Beginning this July 4th, 30 people per hour will be allowed to climb up and down the 346-354 (but whose counting) steps to the crown, that is about 250 guests per day. I have never been to the Crown, but my sons have. I believe it was the spring of 1990...here is my Picasa web album of one of my trips to see the Lady with Aaron and Dan.
Take a minute to watch this NBC Nightly News video of a trip to Liberty Island and the Crown.
Today I cannot begin to impart all that you can see and learn when you visit both Liberty and Ellis Islands. But you can stay in touch with The Lady, as she does Twitter...and Flickr. She is a social lady!
P.S. If you really want to have some fun, then visit the Ellis Island Foundation and search for your relatives who may have immigrated to the United States through this station.
This week we are the world. The world was all a twitter with tweets about the death of three American icons. These were three people from three generations.
On Tuesday our blogger honored Ed McMahon, who passed at age 86. McMahon was a gentleman that we welcomed into our homes for more than 30 years as Johnny Carson's sidekick among other roles.
Yesterday, our blogger honored Michael Jackson, who passed at age 50. This iconic legend who most of us have watched for the past 40 years, from a little boy to a grown man, always surprised us with his talent and creativity, among other things.
I will not let the week go by without honoring Farrah Fawcett, who passed at age 62. For those of us who are Farrah's peers by age, we remember her smile and her gorgeous hair. All the women wanted hair like Farrah and all the men wanted the women in their lives to have hair like Farrah. She was a fine actress and you would know this if you saw some of her more serious movies. Now she will be remembered as a brave woman who was willing to share with all of us her struggle with cancer to the end.
In this world filled with technology...twitter, plurk, tagged, YouTube, my space, facebook, emails, blogs...today is Saturday and it is just a day to remember that in January 1985 Michael Jackson collaborated with Lionel Richie and produced with Quincy Jones a song that touched us all. We are the World! (United Support of Artists for Africa) We listened intently, we bought the album and together we tried to help save a continent, most particularly Ethiopia.
As this day closes, I will remember that Dennis and I played this album with our children when they were quite young. The album is still in our home carefully preserved for whatever reason. Maybe because it made us think, hope and assure ourselves that we are all part of this world and this week We Are The World making a choice.
Enjoy this remarkable YouTube video of the studio recording of We Are The World. I'd would love to hear from you!
....change can only come...when we stand together as one!
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week you know that Twitter has moved from being a noun to a verb with the help of CNN & the Iran Election. With all western news services, internet & phone service cut off the people of Iran are the only news team in town, complete with spies and counter spies.
Twitter users everywhere have shown solidarity with the protesters by turning their Twitter icons green and changing their location to Tehran to thwart searches for protesters by Iranian security forces.
On 9/11 we were all Americans, as the protests unfold on Twitter, we have all become Iranian.
The World & CNN are watching from Twitter. Here is how you can too.
If you have not done so already go sign up for Twitter.
After you have your account go to http://search.twitter.com/ there you can see the top 10 trending topics.
You can click these topics to see what is being said in real time on Twitter about each subject, or you can search for your own from the query field.
Once you get the results page notice in the top right "Feed For This Query" copy that link to your http://reader.google.com/ account click "Add A Subscription" and paste the link into the field and have your search come to you!
You've seen the Digg button on most blogs but how often have you seen a tweet button?
Twitter has been growing since it was developed and is more of a social trend to be on twitter more than anything else. Now you can allow your business or personal blog posts to be tweeted.
Here is how it works, Website http://tweetmeme.com/, allows you to tweet a specific page or a specific blog post and provides the code for it (very friendly). What it does not show you is how to add it on a blogger template.
Here is how you can modify your blogger template to include a tweet button how we have here (look on the top right).
1) Locate the following line: <BlogDateHeader>
2) Place the following code: <div style="float:right;">
<script type="text/javascript">
tweetmeme_url = 'STEP-3';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"> </script></div> </script>
3) change STEP-3 to <$BlogItemUrl$>
A bit of HTML or blogger template experience may be required.
Contact Webconsuls to get a FREE quote on a custom personal or business blog.
INQ Mobile released a Facebook phone last year and plans on releasing a Twitter phone by the end of this year. No information has been released whether the phone will be released in North America or Europe. It should have a QWERTY keypad to easily post a 140 character message on twitter but not confirmed.
The phone will cost less than $140 and given the price, you can't expect to have any high-end features on this device.
Personally, I feel that phones with the web browser allow you to access social networking sites. The only thing this phone has going for it is the price and somehow making it a reduced monthly fee for using the data plan on most service providers.
Will this handset last in the mobile market or has the Twitter trend run its course?
4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks The Greater Los Angeles Area, to all newbies to our state we don't really get worked up untill they hit magnitude 6 or 7. Not to worry, the buildings here are build to withstand these little rollers like we felt last night.
Here is the rub, Today Monday May 18 we have a 1 in 20 chance of having a larger quake.
Let's all take this time to review the above video, posted by me to this blog 2 years ago and still true today.
Where did Lisa and I go after the quake to see where and how big? Twitter, where size and location information was being shared 1 hour before the ticker tape scrolled across the screen on survivor.
Send a Direct Message via twitter to @safeandwell with contact info, how and where you are. The Red Cross will enter you on the Safe & Well site. http://disastersafe.redcross.org
It is a great way to see what is hot right now because it shows you what is being retweeted the most, and you can Retweet any cool tweets you find right from the app!
How Twitter's spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses
Serendipity the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.
What is Twitter? Is it a status update? Is it a Social Network? Or is it a search engine akin to the Minority Report? I guess you could say it is all of these things and more, but you will not get "Twitter" unless you use it.
A meme (pronounced /mi:m/ - like theme) is a unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices; such units or elements transmit from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word mimema for mimic. Memes act as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.
Ok Great Darin, now we know what a meme is, and we have heard about twitter on tv, but seriously, how do you use it?
1) If I find a good link, movie, app, picture I tweet it.
2) If I need help on a project that I am not an expert in, I tweet it,
3) If I want to find out more on a current event (Like TED or SXSW) I search and follow those that are live "onsite"
4) If I am at a current event, and I want to keep track of old friends like http://twitter.com/Roebot, or find new like minded folks, I set up a feed of the twitter search in reader,
5) If I want to know what the hive mind is buzzing about, I check out http://twitter.com/trendingtopics
These are just a few of the ways that I am using Twitter, I hope they give you a reason to play with this "Tool / Meme" so that you can find some serendipitous uses for it that you can share back with us.
It is Saturday, March 7, 2009, and I have a lot of work to do. And because I have so much to do this will be a very short blog post. I am sure you are relieved. This morning when I thought about what to write about, it occurred to me I could remind you that tonight most of you will have to remember to move your clocks forward one hour. Thankfully, living in Arizona I can scratch this task off of my list as most of Arizona does not participate in daylight saving time. Yeah! I won't be losing an hour of sleep tonight, unless I decide to read every-one's Twitter posts or tweets. Following Twitter posts can be exhausting and for the most part a waste of time.
Do I have a Twitter account? Yes. Why? Because one of my team members "hinted" it would be a good idea. Have I ever tweeted? No! Why? Because I don't have time and I am sure my 20 Twitter "followers" (notice Twitter calls them "followers", not "friends" like on facebook) could care less about what I am doing or thinking at any given moment.
So today I will just offer an observation: Twitter has been around since 2006. But, of late, it seems that one cannot just watch the news on TV or follow a news website for headlines, you must also follow the Twitter account for the newscasters. In 140 characters we are suppose to understand the essence of the tweet. Great! So let's see: you have the television on and you better be watching the television while sitting at your PC or with your laptop in your lap or with your Blackberry or iPhone in your hand. God forbid you would miss an important "tweet".
Now most politicians are tweeting. Hmmm...I am amazed they have time to tweet, given our current state of affairs. Priorities!
I have one final thought before I get to work for our clients and prepare the paperwork for my personal income tax return: Have you ever looked up the meaning of "twitter"? As a noun the #1 definition for the word "twitter" is "a trembling agitation." By the way, an agitator is "one who stirs up public feeling on controversial issues". Imagine if Twitter's inventors chose to call Twitter "agitator"? Twitter sounds so much more innocuous, we tend to think of that cute little beloved "Tweety Bird". So, today, twitter away or tweet with your followers...I have work to do.
The point of this video is how to make your Twitter account more valuable to marketing efforts.
Here at Webconsuls, we take pride in providing this type of 'guru' knowledge- based on and customized to your business, your market and your goals.
If there is 1 thing that is clear in internet marketing, it is that 'cookie cutter' strategies are not effective. Personalization in the marketplace allows for someone to set themselves apart from the pack in a desired manner. Contact us for tips and strategies in Twitter or any other marketing medium that you have heard about, but you are not fully utilizing. This is what we do.
Have you seen He's Just Not That Into You? This film opened yesterday and since today is Saturday I thought I would provide a little preview of this romantic comedy. Technically speaking, He's Just Not That Into You, was not on my to-do list for February 6th, so I have not yet seen the movie, but I have seen the previews. I think this is one of those films that I might be able to convince my husband, Dennis, to see. Why? Eye candy! There are enough "big" stars, both men and women, in this film to keep everyone happy for 129 minutes. For your convenience, I have included a trailer for the movie in this post. You will see that the producers feel that the basic interactive groundrules for men and women are established when we are very young children, which is "he says one thing, but means another" and "she hears what she wants to hear". As an aside, I remember my first little boy "friend". In 1954-55 we walked to kindergarten each morning holding hands. His name was Raymond Wood. I think he was always nice to me!
Ok, here is the scoop: He's Just Not That Into You is based on a self-help book that was written by Greg Behrentdt and Liz Tuccillo. No, neither Greg nor Liz is a psychologist. Both were writers for Sex and the City, they based this book on a famous line from the 6th season episode called "Pick-a-little, Talk-a-little" which originally aired July 13, 2003(yes, the episode title is the name of an annoying song from The Music Man). Six years later and with a reported budget of $25,000,000 we now have a romantic comedy that will either make you laugh or help you escape today's crazy technical world for two hours.
Probably the most poignant message in He's Just Not That Into You is this: In today's world, unlike when I was wondering "why doesn't HE call?", a person can't just expect to hear from someone via a landline phone, they need to worry about every known "SOCIAL NETWORK": myspace, facebook, youtube, plurk, plugoo, brightkite, ping, twitter, yammer, and the fatal text messaging via the cell phone. As Mary, played by Drew Barrymore, says: "It's exhausting!"
The fact is love, or what we hope will turn into love, makes us do foolish things. We are all guilty of this, we are human. In 1965 Martha (Reeves) and the Vandellas released "Love Makes Me Do Foolish Things", it never made it to #1, but many of us loved this song, because in 1965 and for a long time after that, our social networks consisted only of a phone and the Friday night mixer (dance). This song made us cry and if we were really lucky that special someone would ask us to dance and we would forget all our troubles. Escape!
So for this Saturday: Dance to this music,take a break and go away with your friend. Go to the movies or rent a movie,love the one you're with, and let me know how this works out for you, write a comment on my blog post.
P.S. For the record, if you are wondering what happened to little Raymond Wood. We continued through grade school together as friends. After that we lost touch. In 2006, my mother passed away. As I stood outside the church waiting for her funeral to begin, I looked across the crowd and there stood Raymond. He walked over to me, put his arms around me and said "I wouldn't miss being with you today." Precious memories, indeed!
Forty years ago this month I entered the real work force. A real job with Wells Fargo Bank. I was all of 19, recently married and had dropped out of the University of San Francisco. This real job had the same grade and pay of a teller, but the Human Resource Officer who interviewed me thought I might be better suited to a desk job with limited "face to face" contact with the public! I was paid $370 per month. (Let me save you some time, that computes to $2.13 per hour.) I was assigned to the Monthly Payment Loan Center as a Payoff Clerk and my desk was located on the 3rd floor of the Wells Fargo Bank World Headquarter's building at 44 Montgomery, San Francisco, Ca. The building was new, completed in 1966 and it was the tallest building in San Francisco between 1966 and 1968. While my blog today is somewhat personal regarding my resume, I want to dedicate it to Lilly Ledbetter. We should all thank Lilly Ledbetter for her relentless pursuit of justice which resulted in the eventual passing and signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. It has been a long 40 years!
If you are not familiar with Lilly's case against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, then I invite you to read about it. After the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was passed most Americans probably felt protected by the law, but for women in the work place there has been an undercurrent sometimes barely noticeable, nevertheless palpable. Let me explain how this phenomena works. When you are hired by a large company, a well established company (Wells Fargo was founded in 1852), there is a presumption of trust. After all this is a bank and we all know that the basis of banking is that of a fiduciary. So is a 19 year old woman suppose to see red flags when in the interview process she is asked what kind of birth control measures do you use? Should the 19 year woman question why as an employee of the company she has no maternity insurance coverage, but the wives of male employees do? Should the 19 year old woman question her manager (a man) when he reminds all employees that they will be subject to termination if they meet with union leaders?
By 1972 I did start to ask questions, but I didn't have the time or money to fight for the cause...so I resigned from Wells Fargo and returned to college full time. By 1974 I received my B.A. in Social Work and went back into the work force, only to find myself once again in the banking industry. In 1978 I was hired by Crocker National Bank and by early 1979 (at the age of 29) I was an Assistant Vice President of Consumer Loan Administration. I worked in the Crocker Bank Tower located at 611 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA. By this time, no one questioned my birth control measures (except my immediate Vice-President when he promoted me to AVP and then said with a chuckle: "Now, don't get pregnant!"), women employees now had maternity coverage, and unions just never came up in conversations.
In late 1980, I gave birth to my first son, Aaron. I resigned from Crocker Bank in the Spring of 1981 and it was purchased by Wells Fargo in 1986. I did not return to the banking industry until October 1985. By then I was 36 years old and we had just relocated to Conway, New Hampshire, with our two young children. Dennis and I met with a Commercial Loan Officer of Indian Head Bank North to discuss purchasing a country inn. After reviewing our business plan and resume, the gentleman looked at me and said: "Can we set this loan application aside and talk about hiring you?" He had me! After all, we were new in this community and if one of the most prestigious banks in the state was willing to offer me a job as a loan officer, two blocks from our home with medical benefits for the whole family then why not accept it?
I worked for Indian Head Bank North, was promoted to Vice President, and continued there even after we purchased Cranmore Mountain Lodge in 1986. But in 1988 Indian Head Bank was purchased by Fleet Bank and by 1989 most of the senior officers had been offered a severance package. I resigned my position in November 1989. Fleet Bank was purchased by Bank of America in 2003.
What you need to understand is that I always suspected that I did not receive equal pay for equal work in the banking industry. And now you are probably wondering why didn't I pursue it. The answer is complex: First, most companies use what are referred to as pay grades. According to Wikipedia a "Pay grade is a unit in systems of monetary compensation for employment. It is commonly used in public service, both civil and military, but also for companies of the private sector. Pay grades facilitate the employment process by providing a fixed framework of salary ranges, as opposed to a free negotiation. Typically, pay grades encompass two dimensions: a "vertical" range where each level corresponds to the responsibility of, and requirements needed for a certain position; and a "horizontal" range within this scale to allow for monetary incentives rewarding the employee's quality of performance or length of service."; Secondly, in most large companies you are subject to termination if you discuss your compensation level with other employees. So there you have it in a nut shell, put the woman in a pay grade that is the same as the men performing the same job, but start her in the bottom of the pay range and then make it clear that if she discusses her compensation she will be fired; Third, if you really want to keep her in tow, then give her a title, like Vice-President. It is all about TRUST!
Tonight I had the opportunity to read about Lilly Ledbetter's suit. As I read through the history of the case, I finally came to the Supreme Court's ruling against Lilly. Again, according to Wikipedia: "Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the court. The Court held that according to Title VII, discriminatory intent must occur during the 180-day charging period. Ledbetter did not claim that Goodyear acted with discriminatory intent in the charging period by issuing the checks, nor by denying her a raise in 1998. She argued that the discriminatory behavior occurred long before but still affected her during the 180-day charging period. Prior case law, the Court held, established that the actual intentional discrimination must occur within the charging period. The Court also stated that according to those prior cases, Ledbetter’s claim that each check is an act of discrimination is inconsistent with the statute, because there was no evidence of discriminatory intent in the issuing of the checks." So basically, they ruled against Lilly because she did not file her complaint within the 180-day charging period.
As I read this decision I immediately thought of the standard operating procedure for most companies, you are subject to termination if you discuss your compensation level with other employees. That being the case how could one ever hope to meet the requirement to file a complaint within the 180-day charging period?
It took the only woman on the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, to point out the idiocy of this ruling by presenting the dissenting argument. Quoting from Wikipedia: "Justice Ginsburg dissented from the opinion of the Court, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter, and Breyer. She argued against applying the 180-day limit to pay discrimination, because discrimination often occurs in small increments over large periods of time. Furthermore, the pay information of fellow workers is typically confidential and unavailable for comparison. Ginsburg argued that pay discrimination is inherently different from adverse actions, such as termination. Adverse actions are obvious, but small pay discrepancy is often difficult to recognize until more than 180 days of the pay change. Ginsburg argued that the broad remedial purpose of the statute was incompatible with the Court's "cramped" interpretation. Her dissent asserted that the employer had been, "Knowingly carrying past pay discrimination forward" during the 180-day charging period, and therefore could be held liable."
So here's to Lilly. She fought the fight and she won the battle (not necessarily the war). On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (With the revised statutory language, the majority opinion's interpretation referenced above is no longer valid, and the law now conforms to the interpretation advocated by Justice Ginsberg in her dissenting opinion). Lilly will never be financially compensated by Goodyear or any government agency. She led a fight for all of us and for that we should be thankful.
P.S. Today's image is a collage of some of my business cards from over the years. What a hoot...great titles, with almost always unequal pay! And for the record, over the years I fought many battles with my employers over equal treatment. In 1989, I refused to sign my severance package under threat of non-payment. The reason? It contained a clause that I was not allowed to discuss the terms of the agreement with fellow employees. I wonder why? Could it be that the packages were not equal? I knew they were not, I didn't sign, but they paid me my severance. To think how the battles might have been waged differenly with the Internet, YouTube, Facebook, Blogs, Twitter...dare to imagine!
On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, I for one will break from work and watch as Barack Obama takes the oath as the 44th president of our United States. I expect it to be a hope-filled day, one that I will share with my husband and children. We as a family and nation will be passing the torch on January 20, 2009. As I write these words it occurs to me that there are very few inaugurations that I clearly remember. Some I was too young to remember (Eisenhower-1953), some I choose to forget (Nixon-1969, 1973; Bush-1989, Bush-2001, 2005), some I cannot forget (Johnson-1963; Ford-1974), and one that will always "light the corners" of my mind (Kennedy -1961).
Last evening I re-read John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address from January 20, 1961. Most of us know some of the memorable lines like "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans", but how many of us remember the rest of this passage? I am sure not many, so let me share them with you here:
"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans-born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage-and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world."
Videos of Kennedy's speech are remarkable to view.
President Kennedy's strong hopeful words are still applicable today, sans "born in this century", as now we are in the first decade of a new century. On Tuesday I will listen carefully to President Obama and I will hope that somewhere in his speech there will be inspiring words that my children will be able to remember and quote 48 years from now.
Yes, there is a lot of excitement about President-Elect Obama's inauguration. Newspapers, magazines, radio, network television, cable television, the Internet, YouTube, My Space, Facebook, Twitter are all participating in this magical event, cashing in on "hope." Yesterday I learned that Microsoft is partnering with CNN to "photosynth" the inauguration and they want your assistance. You can be part of history by submitting your captured photos.
The torch is passing to you, to our new President, to our future. Let's make the best of it!
P. S. This post is dedicated to my father, Joseph Raymond Eagen. He was born January 17, 1918, eight months after John F. Kennedy(May 29, 1917). Like President Kennedy, my father was born to first generation Irish Catholic Democratic parents and he served as a Naval Officer in WWII. It occurred to me this morning that the very first time I posted for this blog I wrote about my father as being an original social marketer. Daddy, Happy Birthday!
Social Media has gone mainstream and one needs to look no further than Youtube, or Twitter to see that. With a budding new war in the middle east Israel has taken to these social media sites not just to get their message out but to also to take part in the conversation. The democratization of information is in full swing folks, if you are waiting for someone else to get your message out, WHO ARE YOU WAITING FOR? With tools like Blogger, Youtube and Twitter anyone can easily take part in the conversation.
In 2009 don't be shy, click the comment button, take part in the conversation, you will be glad you did.
The Oxbow World Longboard Tour came to town last week, And Webconsuls was there to cover the show. Surf legends and 44 of the worlds top longboard surfers were treated to hot and glassy surf for the entire contest. This year the event was located on the historic Surf Beach at San Onofre, the heart of Aloha on the US mainland. The winner, Bonga Perkins, was kind enough to sit down and answer all of the tough questions for our littlest interviewer. For more from the Oxbow World Tour 2008 San Onofre Championships please visit, LBChampionship.com. Video By Ella G. McClure, Questions By Ella G. McClure
For help with getting your live event on the internet,
Via Blogs, Youtube, Twitter, and other social media venues please contact us here at Webconsuls.
Spam comes at us from many directions. It is estimated that on any given day 88% to 98% of emails sent across the internets are spam or virus laden. That begs the question, how good are your filters? Do you get 1 bad email a day? an hour? a week? Or has email become such a wasteland of spam that you no longer bother to read it and go directly to instant messaging or Facebook and Twitter. It looks to me like Sarah Palin needs to check her filters, as no "Flapper" should have ever let that kind of call thru. (a Flapper being the human equivalent of a filter.)
As Sarah found out, it is a good idea to check your filter regularly. Like your car, not just to see what has been caught, but also to decide if too much junk is getting thru.
Here at Webconsuls we use GMail for our domain email. Today I bet Palin wishes Google had a service that could filter her calls, perhaps when Grand Central comes outa beta.
.
We had and excellent time meeting up with old and new friends.
Blogworld07 vs BlogWorld08? Last year CNN was there to watch everyone arrive, this year no TV coverage from what I could tell. Last year a great pajama party with an open bar, roast beast, and a chocolate fountain, this year was a scene from Napoleon Dynamite with bad red wine and a quesadilla bar. Last year, the buzz was about Stumble, This year Twitter? We were wondering what the next big thing was going to be but this year seemed to be about rehashing old memes. I was very happy to be able to stoke out my photographer friends with a link to Photosynth.net they missed those blog posts I guess.
Webconsuls.com always on the lookout for that next big thing.
It's an addiction that threatens our economy, our environment and our national security. It touches every part of our daily lives and ties our hands as a nation and a people.
The addiction has worsened for decades and now it's reached a point of crisis.
In 1970, we imported 24% of our oil.
Today it's nearly 70% and growing.
As imports grow and world prices rise, the amount of money we send to foreign nations every year is soaring. At current oil prices, we will send $700 billion dollars out of the country this year alone — that's four times the annual cost of the Iraq war.
When out and about, Lisa and I are "Life Streaming" using Brightkite, Twitter and Plurk.
It added a whole new dimension to our trip to Tucson.
By sending a SMS message to BrightKite with our location, @ Blythe for instance, Then sending shots we were taking with our iPhones via email to BrightKite where they were then tagged with that location.
As BrightKite posted the picts they tweeted them for us so those that were following would be notified of new content. (HI MOM!)
With the actual conversation taking place on Plurk, where we could use the direct link to all of those iPhone/BrightKite images we took the time to share.
Next we get home and slam everyone with our Nikon shots...
Verb. plurk - To chronicle the events of your always on, action-packed, storybook, semi-charmed kinda life...
Microblogging is where it is at today, and with all of Twitter's recent downtime many of the Internets crash test dummy's, (like yours truly,) have jumped on the Plurk bandwagon, and here is why,
1) It has a time line, and inline reply's to your "Plurks" 2) It's up. 3) You can put your friends in groups. 4) It's up. 5) I has "Karma" 6) It's up. 7) The Mobile version is boss! 8) Did I mention it was up?
April 10, James Buck was going to head back home from a three-week assignment studying the Egyptian blogosphere.
"I was trying to take some photos of this small protest and trying to be very clear that I was not in the protest, It was very tense." - James Buck
As Buck tried to leave the protest in a taxi, He was chased and then detained by Egyptian police. As he was driven to the police station under the direction of the police, Buck was able to sent out a single-word message from his cell phone to his Twitter account: Arrested. .
Today across the bloggispheir everyone from Seth Godin to Nate Ritter are bemoaning the problem of the signal to noise ratio going in the wrong direction.
Being that any social network is only as strong as the people who call it their own these posts got me thinking about something that has been running around in my head for some time. Twitter for me has become my Search Tool of choice. If I need a Guru, I can ask the folks who use twitter for help.
So, here is my idea, and it is far from new, Nate rightly called it "Pay it Forward", but let's also make it into a game!
We Twitter users LOVE games!
Got Twitter? Ask a question, get REAL answers from REAL people.
Then, Become the Guru and answer a question, want bonus points? answer 2 or more questions!
We could track thru hashtags, so
#1to1 would be 1 point,
Think this would work?
What else would you do to make Paying it Forward on Twitter fun?
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle, or Getting your head around Twitter.
Ok, you just got twitter and you are completely lost as to what to do with it.
First, follow some people with your interests, you can do a search or use twitter tracking to find the buzz from people with your interest who are already using Twitter. (A "How-to" for another blog post, this walk thru is about using Twitter via the web.)
We all start our day at home and that is as good a place as any to start your day twittering.
Here you will see a "Recent" tab, these are messages from the people that you follow and this is where you are at at Twitter when you are at home.
Next you will see a "Replys" Tab, these are messages the have been made by other Tweeters that reference you in some way, a reply or a remark, @DarinRMcClure would be about me for instance.
The "Archive" tab would be everything that you have publicly posted on Twitter, and a great way to see where your were, or what you were doing on any given day.
I like to tweet cool quotes, or links that I want to be able to check at leisure, and this is where we get to the Meat of Twitter,
Then go back "Home" since you only followed "Groovy People" you should see some interesting to REMarkable things in your public timeline, from Haiku's on the smell of the person in front of you at FiveBucks, to classic rockers coaxed out into the twitterverse.
Want to really have fun, get your family on twitter, friends, coworkers. You will get to know them in ways that you may never have before. Who got fresh powder in Utah, Who is competing in an around the world adventure for charity, who is stuck in traffic, or thinking about a great new mashup.
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