Archives for July 2009

From Twitter to Blog – #FollowFriday Vol. 6

Recently I wrote why I was moving my #followfriday recommendations from Twitter to this blog. So, without further ado, here are my recommendations for this week.

I hope you check them out ? they?re all worth getting to know.

1. Community. Kim Woodbridge (@kwbridge). I use WordPress for my blog as I love the whole WordPress community, and Kim Woodbridge sums up why perfectly. Always sharing great blogging tips through her wonderfully named (Anti) Social Development blog, Kim is wise, smart and uber-friendly.

2. Ladies of Twitter. Libby Unwin (@LibbyUnwin). Libby makes me laugh. She always has a witty quip ready for you, and she’s such a “girly girl” that it’s refreshing (and I mean that in the nicest way!). She clearly loves her family and anyone that hates bad grammar but can consistently forgive my typos is always alright by me!

3. Gentlemen of Twitter. Jon Aston (@JonAston). Jon could easily fall into the Marketing category, but he truly fits into the Gentleman one. He’s a continuous source of support, inspiration, knowledge, smarts and wit. He has time for everyone, and I mean everyone, and he’s probably the best mix of a post-hippy punk you could ever meet!

4. Non-Profits. Lotay Yang (@Lotay). Some people might say that Lotay already has more than 50,000 followers so why add more. It’s not about the numbers, though, it’s the person, and Lotay is one of the best. A businessman that created the Black Card Circle Foundation, encouraging affluent business people to combine for social change, Lotay is a true leader in the non-profit field and a constant inspiration.

5. Marketing. Anne Sorensen (@marketingisus). I love Australians. They’re some of the most laid-back and friendliest folk around, after Canadians, and Anne is no exception. Yet she’s also a great marketer that founded Marketing Is Us, and is one of the best examples of marketing and new media/technology coming together.

6. Public Relations. Narciso Tovar (@Narciso). What can I say about Narciso? Okay – he’s an outstanding PR pro. He uses amazing music analogies to tell the? stories on his blog. He writes in capital first letters on Twitter (love this trick!). He is a bundle of fun and energy. He’s friendly with a capital “F”. And much, much more… Go check him out already!

7. Social Media. Sarah Evans (@PRSarahEvans). Yes, Sarah could have sat nicely in the public relations category, but for the way she’s using social media to advance PR and more, she definitely falls within social media smarts. Just look at how she’s bringing journalists, bloggers, PR and others together with #journchat as an example. Or her use of social media to raise more than $100,000 for a local shelter? Awesome.

8. The “Everyone Should Know” Wildcard Entry. Lee Safar (@leesafar). Hey, another Australian – cool! Lee is a singer/songwriter that I only recently got to know via 12for12k. She has a great sense of humour, a really cool voice, a very cheeky attitude and is quite simply a blast. Just don’t mention webcams and dial-up technology to her…

Cheers, guys, for being who you are every day of the week.

Hyper-Connected or Disconnected?

Phone > Email > Text > SMS > Blogging > Facebook > Video > Twitter: that?s a quick & dirty look at the basic evolution of our communication channels over the past few years. We?ve grown faster, smarter, technologically savvy, and more efficient with the tools and services we use to communicate with one another in this digital era.

This sort of hyper-connectivity leaves seemingly little time-waste when it comes to responding to one our colleague?s tweets or a friend?s message (or numerous fan page requests) on Facebook. But as we continue to get deeper into the social media realm, I?ve heard just as much talk that our hyper-connected lives have actually made us become disconnected, with the real world.

I?ll be the first one to admit that I?m a technophile and practically sleep with my laptop and iPhone. People who know me online (and off) realize that I am constantly connected online, have a finger on the pulse of what?s happening in the social media space, and studying how companies are utilizing it successfully, or not. It?s who I am, it?s in my genes, and it?s what?s helped me get this far in my career, as I continue to try to make waves.

With that though beckons the questions of this lifestyle:

? Are we sometimes too hyper-connected?

? Do we pass up opportunities in real-life because we?re tending to online activities?

? Are we not spending enough time away from technology?

We?ve built respected communities online that we connect with on a daily basis, but that doesn?t necessarily mean they?re no more real than the people and activities we take part in outside of our home. Where should the line be drawn and a balance created with our online activity and ?outside-the-internet? lives? Or has that line evolved into a blur?

What I?ve come to realize is that this tech/social media world isn?t for everyone. It pushes people to different levels ? working on nights & weekends, creating proposals, continually writing fresh content (as I write this on a Sunday night), responding to tweets all times of the day ? the list goes on. Hyper-connectivity has become somewhat of a prerequisite in this industry and can be seen as unbalance or overwhelming to the outside eye.

But what?s your perspective ? how do you see your online activity? Are you bettering your experiences & skills and building trust within your circles through constant activity, or do you think those who question the technophile?s lifestyle are right? Do you feel that we should find a better balance between these respective worlds?

This is a guest post from Sonny Gill, a social media strategist and community guy whose passion for this space can be well documented through his career experience, as well as via his blog SonnyGill.com.?You can also find him as @sonnygill on Twitter, and writing for his second passion, basketball, at RockinTheRim.com.

Phone > Email > Text > SMS > Blogging > Facebook > Video > Twitter: that?s a quick and dirty look at the basic evolution of our communication channels over the past few years.

We?ve grown faster, smarter, technologically savvy, and more efficient with the tools and services we use to communicate with one another in this digital era.

It?s who I am, it?s in my genes, and it?s what?s helped me get this far in my career, as I continue to try to make waves.?With that though beckons the questions of this lifestyle:

Are we sometimes too hyper-connected?
Do we pass up opportunities in real-life because we?re tending to online activities?
Are we not spending enough time away from technology?

We?ve built respected communities online that we connect with on a daily basis, but that doesn?t necessarily mean they?re no more real than the people and activities we take part in outside of our home. Where should the line be drawn and a balance created with our online activity and ?outside-the-Internet? lives? Or has that line evolved into a blur?

What I?ve come to realize is that this tech/social media world isn?t for everyone. It pushes people to different levels ? working on nights and weekends, creating proposals, continually writing fresh content (as I write this on a Sunday night), responding to tweets all times of the day ? the list goes on.

Hyper-connectivity has become somewhat of a prerequisite in this industry and can be seen as unbalance or overwhelming to the outside eye.

But what?s your perspective ? how do you see your online activity?

Are you bettering your experiences & skills and building trust within your circles through constant activity, or do you think those who question the technophile?s lifestyle are right? Do you feel that we should find a better balance between these respective worlds?

What the Cool Kids Can Teach Us About Selling Out

My friend John Haydon shared a link with me to a video by Youtube user italktosnakes (Kristina Horner). It’s a video response to another Youtube user, nerimon (Alex Day).

In both the videos, each discuss the merits of being paid to advertise products on their Youtube channels. What’s interesting is their take on how companies are approaching this. Kristina praises Ford for its Fiesta initiative (which she’s part of) while Sanyo’s “insert here” example by Alex shows a company still getting to grips with the new tools.

Each video also acts as a nice rebuff to marketers and advertisers who say that Gen Y aren’t worth dealing with as they don’t have the influence or business savvy of older media users.

How about you? Would the approaches talked about in the videos work on you? How can businesses reach you?

The Business of Dating

Dating is a tricky business. Building up the courage to ask someone out; the nerves of the first date; the choices that you make deciding whether you’ll have a second date or not; and keeping conversation flowing being just some of the hazards.

Then you have to worry about the success of the second date. And the third. And so on. Then (if you’re lucky) it becomes a relationship and you can begin making long-term plans together.

Are you treating your customers like a date? Are you keeping the conversation flowing and making the right choices to keep them interested in you? How are you building the long-term relationships with them?

Dating is a tricky business. How successful are you in the dating game?

It’s Still Your Blog – Isn’t It?

There’s a bit of a hullabaloo floating around the Internet at the minute concerning the Momdot mommy blogger network and their proposed PR Blackout for one week in August.

The topic is being discussed on Twitter pretty vocally and bloggers and PR pros are coming out with their take on both sides of the argument.

Indeed, the flak got so bad that it led to a follow-up post on Momdot asking who’s more whiny, PR or bloggers?

I’m not going to get into the whole “she said, they said” argument as there’s enough of that in the comments of both Momdot blog posts, as well as via the Twitter discussion and other bloggers. The Momdot admins say it wasn’t an attack on PR per se, and reading the original post I believe them.

But here’s the thing.

While the reasoning behind the PR Blackout is sound – giving moms more time with their families and reclaiming their blogs – should it even have come to a blackout call in the first place?

A blog is, ultimately, your baby. Your voice; your home from home. What you do with it is up to you. It can be a personal blog, a business blog, or? you can try make income from it, either part-time as most review bloggers do, or full-time as a professional blogger. But the key thing is this.

It. Is. Up. To. You.

If you want to be a reviewer of products, you’ll be contacted by PR companies. If you want to make money blogging, it is going to be hard at times – it’s one of the sacrifices you make when working for yourself, knowing that hours are no longer straightforward nine-to-five.

Heck, even being “just a blogger” with no reviews and giveaways is hard work and why so many give it up within six months. But how hard blogging is is up to you.

You don’t have to say yes to every review. You don’t have to say yes to every PR pitch. Over at Momdot, Trish makes a point in her Last Word video message that for every one PR pitch you agree to, you get six more.

That’s only if you let that happen.

I know there are crappy PR pros that harass bloggers constantly with pitches, follow-up calls and deadline blackmail. They tell you that you’ll be taken off their blogger list and that their clients won’t be sent to you. Here’s what you do with PR “pros” like that:

Tell them to go f*ck themselves.

If they’re so crap at their jobs that they have to harass the people that are putting their clients in front of thousands of eyeballs, they’re not worth dealing with to start with. Let them go; find the great PR companies instead and work with them.

Make it even easier for yourself – have a visible page on your blog that explains to PR pros how to pitch you, and the process after that. If they can’t adhere to your instructions, then they only have themselves to blame for being blacklisted and ignored.

Blog communities need to do their bit too. If you’re hearing from your members that a PR agency is causing issues, speak with the agency in question and voice your concerns. Good PR pros know the importance of blogger relations – if they can’t accept and work with your concerns, then your duty lies with your bloggers. Stop accepting that agency’s pitches and blacklist them and only put your bloggers in touch with approved agencies.

The buzz (for and against) the Momdot PR Blackout shows there is a growing problem with burned out review bloggers and that’s sad. No-one likes to hear of people’s health and relationships suffering.

But a little bit of me can’t help but feel that if you keep control of your blog, the issues being talked about at the minute would be a lot less visible. No?

photo credit: Daquella manera