Sep 11
Love0

Why “My Bad” Isn’t an Apology

By Communications

My favorite “my bad!” was from Cher Horowitz in the movie Clueless.

This post may not reach its intended audience. I doubt any of my regular readers commit this grievous error, but I have no doubt that they’re hearing it from others. Saying “my bad,” is not the same as saying “I’m sorry.” In fact, it’s more like saying “oops!” “My bad,” is completely insincere and flippant, but you know that, and never ever use it to actually apologize.

Here’s what I’d like us to do — let’s not continue to let “pardon me,” “excuse me,” “I’m sorry,” “I apologize,” devolve into “my bad,” permanently. Instead, the next time someone utters that phrase to you, just ask: “Is that an apology?”

Some language evolution can’t be stopped (see: YOLO, lolz, the verbal hashtag and more), but I think this one can. Don’t take for an apology what really isn’t.

Aug 29
Love0

Taking the Social Life Too Seriously

By Communications

I had a moment I’m not proud of last night. No, I’m not about to confess something awful, but I’m not happy about a reaction I had because of social media. I discovered, by accident, that a family member has unfriended me. And I cried a little. Not torrents, just a few tears, but it upset me. I mean, technically, I guess this person is a former family member, being the relative of my ex-husband. (I am recently divorced.) But I’m still in the stage of thinking of them as family and certainly, still, as a friend.

As soon as I had that minor meltdown, I staged an intervention with myself. SERIOUSLY, I said to myself, you care about what your connection is to another human being on FACEBOOK?

Naturally, I was right. Whether I’m connected to someone on a social platform or not does NOT define how I feel about them. It doesn’t color or shape how often I think of them, or whether I think of them with fondness or indifference. If someone feels the need to sever our ties on a social network, I think that is less about me, than it is about them. Whatever they need to do to manage their social life is fine with me.

What do you think? Does it matter to you when someone in your life unfriends you? How seriously should we take these online relationships?

Aug 23
Love0

Does your 14-year-old Need a LinkedIn Profile?

By Social Media

linkedin for educationThink about it. Kids who are 13 have Facebook profiles. They navigate the social web personally (being kids, being themselves) interacting with friends and posting content on Vine, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and more.

Why NOT a LinkedIn profile? After all, we know that the college application process includes admissions offices peeking at kids’ Facebook and Twitter presences, Googling the names of applicants for any evidence of university acceptance unworthiness; why NOT begin positioning yourself (as a kid) or your (hopefully) college-bound offspring with professional online credentials, instead of just goofy duck lips pictures and fandom effusiveness?

To attract the high school set, LinkedIn announced University Pages, a concept that is overdue and welcome. Kids should not just be comfortable using social media personally, but have a full understanding of how they present themselves online, and what impact it can make on their futures as students.

Aug 20
Love0

Nextdoor: A Practical Application of Social Media for your Neighborhood

By Social Media

My friend Sean Tubbs, a reporter for Charlottesville Tomorrow, is, like me, always interested in emerging forms of media. Sean mentioned a new application he was trying out in his neighborhood, Nextdoor. Sean and I are not neighbors, but I was very curious about whether the platform could be useful in bringing my own little neighborhood together and to help keep us better informed and acquainted.

I’m really delighted with the way Nextdoor has worked so far. The first challenge was to get enough of my neighbors to join the group — there were only a handful for which I had email addresses or who were friends with me on Facebook. I also had the application send invitation postcards to the addresses within the physical boundaries of my neighborhood. A few days in, 29 neighbors have joined (out of more than 300 households) and the group seems to be taking off. To get the site launched, we had to have a handful say “yes,” — if you have fewer than eight neighbors you might have to consider a larger community.

My neighborhood, and our HOA have been embroiled in some controversy  and a neighbor was recently arrested for embezzling from the association. It’s good for us, the neighbors, to have a robust platform to stay connected and communicating during this difficult time. In cheerier news, it’s a great place for us to share references for lawn mowers, babysitters, walking buddies and the like.

If you’re an iPhone user, and several of my neighbors are, the app on the phone is really good, and a great way to get to know those around you. I’m not being paid to endorse it, but I do! Try out a Nextdoor network in your neighborhood and let me know what you think.

Jul 30
Love0

Managing a Personal Brand

By Communications

5524408188_08c33f123c (1)When I’m not running a reputation management business, serving client needs in communications, public relations and social media, I do other stuff. Yes, I’m a human being. I live in a house, I have a dog. I am a mother. I have friends. I have blogged, personally, and in recent years, a lot about my hobby of competitive pie baking.

The pie baking has become a big part of my personal brand. People gravitate toward it. It’s interesting, in that not a LOT of people are competitive pie bakers, or even pie bakers for that matter. It’s easy to understand and it’s not particularly controversial. (Although, I’m told, some prefer cake.)

The “pie thing” is a good aspect of my personal life that I can share freely online. It’s not private, or so intensely personal that I’m not willing to let people know about that part of my “off the clock” time.

Once, in invaded a client conversation in a way that made me uncomfortable. Once. It was in the middle of a new business conversation with a potential client who, in one breath was asking for a proposal, and in another, encouraging me to bring a coconut cream pie to the meeting to win the business. NOT COOL.

It’s fun to go down the road of talking about pie, or what I do or am personally, but that can’t be a detour from the business at hand. While I am comfortable sharing the human side of me and my business, let’s stay on communications, or get back to it, while we’re working together.

I’m glad to have an outlet outside of work. Everyone should! But I’ve had to be careful not to let the “pie thing” overshadow what I do professionally.