I planned to write a post for this Monday about Google+. I’ve grown fond of this new entry in the social media mix and wanted to share how I’ve found it useful since it’s introduction. Then there was the earthquake. Now, I lived in San Diego for 5 years and happened to be in Napa for the 2000 quake, so I know a quake when I’m in one. Yet Tuesday’s quake snuck up on me and my friend Bonnie as we ate lunch at Brunswick Square mall. First, we thought someone moved the row of booths. Oh, wait, we were the only people in that row of booths! Then Bonnie noticed the lamps swaying. We looked at each other and asked, “Earthquake?” because we get a lot of interesting experiences in New Jersey but earthquakes aren’t...
Locked.
My Twitter account is now locked. I did not make this decision carelessly or without forethought. Some readers will be surprised, others understanding, a few will tweet passive aggressive messages that condemn but don’ t mention me by name, and most people won’t care. So why did I make my account private? Back in the summer of 2008 when I signed up for Twitter, there weren’t many people I knew using the service, and the only way to really build a Twitter community was with a public account. When I organized the AsburyPop event, I created an additional account to spread the word and build the brand, a goal that’s success depended upon an account being public. At the time, I engaged online only on Twitter and didn’t open a...
Life.
Almost 3 years ago, when I started using Twitter, most people were baffled by my enthusiasm. Granted, I experimented with just about every social media platform springing up like weeds at the time (a student of mine even wrote a poem about it), but Twitter definitely became my social media BFF. Now, just about everyone I know is on Twitter – and, yes, I’ve commented that it’s like Elaine’s overrun with kids from Jersey – so I’m truly surprised when I read tweets, posts, and comments that separate virtual from real life and note that if you’re on the former, you must not have much of the latter. Of course, using social media to make this point is definitely ironic to a Marshall McLuhan fan like myself. Putting that aside, I return once again to...
WordPress
I really wanted to call this post “WordPress: the One Your Mother Warned You About”, but after this yesterday’s discussion regarding the need for brevity in titles, I removed the clarification. However, it is what this blog post is all about. Until this past weekend, my current blog lived at wordpress.com. I created a few blogs on that platform in the last couple of years; it’s easy to set up, if you write a post about being “this close” to Martha Stewart you might be featured on Freshly Pressed, and let’s face it, blogging should be about content not design so modifying one of the standard themes offered wasn’t a deal breaker. As I began not only to blog regularly last fall but also consume a steady writing...
In Praise of Ravelry
Got your Google+ invite? Yes? Created some circles, placing people where you think they belong in your life then moving them about every time someone else you know appears on the site? Wish the circles would overlap because you just can’t resist a decent Venn diagram? Want a Ninth Circle of Google+ where you could banish those people you never want to interact with? Well, I can’t help you with any of those questions but asking them got me thinking about how and why I use social networks. Maybe it goes back to those chat rooms when AOL was the only game in town and I had two kids in diapers (not to mention the two huge dogs and one large husband to care for) so uninterrupted face to face chats with friends over coffee or at a bar just weren’t...
My Foodtown needs Foursquare
On Monday, I attended The RealTime Report in New York. I’ve been blogging about the various case studies over the past few days, but today I’ll take a look at one of the many informative panels. Another part of #RLTM was the panels on various real time topics. My personal favorite was “Real Time, Right Place: Getting Customers to Check In” especially since I’m conflicted about the value of geolocation social networks like Foursquare. The best observation of the day came from this discussion: Groupon deals encourage new users, Foursquare rewards loyalty. From a marketing perspective, that’s brilliant (and simple), and for a consumer like me, this clarified their use and makes it easier for me to know when and why to use...
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