Category

Social Media

Jun 17
Love0

WTF? Friday: The Five People Who Make Me Nuts on Twitter

By Social Media

WTF FridayFrom time to time I review the list of Twitter users following me. There are many I’m fully aware of and engage with on a regular basis. There are a lot though, that leave me shaking my head.

I’m enjoying the new Klout extension for Chrome , a handy tool that allows me to scan through my list of followers quickly to see who really cares that they’re on Twitter and who’s just screwing around. Anyway, today, my scan through my list and the revelation of  dozens of disengaged followers has really fired me up. Therefore, I give you . . .

The Five People Who Make Me Nuts on Twitter 

You look great! Is that a new haircut? Have you lost weight?

  1. The egg. Really? You’re an egg? Awesome. I’ll be sure to recognize you at the next Tweetup. Please get a photo in there or get out.
  2. The person with no content in their bio. NOTHING. I have no idea who you are, what you’re interested in, where you are or in short, WTF you are doing on Twitter.
  3. The person who set up a Twitter account more than a year ago because, oh, I don’ t know, someone probably told them they needed one, but has never tweeted a single thing. Don’t lurk; engage, you creep. What might actually be worse is the user who has attracted followers and yet tweets maybe once a month or so and never, ever replies to other users.
  4. The person running a Twitter account for a business whose tweets are protected. Kinda ruins the point, doesn’t it?
  5. Here’s a phenomenon I can’t even begin to understand: the user following me because we have the same first name. Can you imagine if my name was Jennifer?

If you’re a Twitter user (with a Klout score of 20 or better), what makes you nuts?

Jun 15
Love0

One Politician Using Social Media the Right Way: Mayor Dave Norris

By Crisis Communications, Social Media

Dave NorrisLest anyone get the impression that all politicians are complete dopes about using social media,( *cough* Weiner *cough*) I’d like to point out one guy who really gets it, and always uses social media wisely.

Dave Norris is the mayor of Charlottesville. I’ll admit to total bias here because I love Charlottesville and Dave is a personal friend. Nevertheless, I think most who know him will agree that Dave does a spectacular job engaging with the community online.

Dave has neatly set parameters around his personal life and decided exactly where he will focus his engagement efforts online. Dave doesn’t use Twitter — rather, he devotes energy to Facebook. This is smart because there are more Facebook users than Twitter users and Twitter users are, by and large, also Facebook fans. (By the way, I asked Dave if it was OK with him that I write this post and feature his use of Facebook. He gave me the OK.)

Dave uses his personal profile more than the page he set up for campaign purposes. A popular guy, Dave has more than 1,400 friends — just on Facebook. I’m certain it’s hundreds more in real life. (Side note: I find it sort of amusing that Dave and I have 132 friends in common. We should never co-host a party; it would be huge.)

Dave uses Facebook to give an ongoing report on the life of a city mayor. Updates, often uploaded from his phone, include photos of those he’s meeting with, city events, and sometimes, his family members.

Dave is responsive, engaging in conversation with people commenting on his profile. He interacts with the hundreds of friends he has by commenting on their posts as well. He helps support local businesses by making sure he clicks the like button when that business establishes a Facebook page. Savvy enough to keep up with Facebook changes, Dave also makes sure to tag Charlottesville businesses when posting an update that includes them, so the post shows up on their page as well.

He’s an ambassador, online and off, and has a community grateful to be allowed to follow him in his daily work, including a recent trip to Charlottesville’s sister city, Winneba, Ghana. He’s mastered the art of being transparent and personal enough without ever crossing the line into what should be private.

I’m impressed with that — it’s not an easy skill to master and to keep in balance. We’ve seen so many lose control of that ability, that it’s time to appreciate those who do it well.

I’m featuring Dave primarily because of his online engagement, but Dave definitely shows up in person, whether it’s a Snoop Dogg concert (video evidence: Dave meets Snoop at 2:13) or in support of candidates for city council.

Spend any time in Charlottesville out and among its people and you will meet our mayor.

I think it’s really important for politicians to not only have this really clear definition of the difference between personal and private, but also to have an extremely good sense of humor. A politician who can’t laugh at themselves is not one I want to support. My favorite incidence of this, blogged about by my friend Steve Whitaker came during the whole Weiner/weiner scandal, of course.

Politicians at any level can learn a lot by watching Mayor Dave Norris.

He’s genuine, funny, opinionated, smart and highly engaged in his community.

What else could you really want in a politician?

Thank goodness there’s someone out there doing this right, and I’m just lucky enough that he’s the mayor of MY town.

Jun 14
Love0

How Weird: our Lives Online

By Social Media

My dear friend Alice Richmond is someone I’ve never met in person, but I simply adore Alice. Are we friends? Heck, yes.

Alice sent me a video via Facebook today, that had me snickering all the way through. Sure, when you step back and look at our online lives it DOES look pretty funny. Enjoy!

 

Jun 14
Love0

Blogging: What Inspires You?

By Social Media

Gini DietrichMy friend Gini Dietrich is such a jerk. She’s the only blogger I’ve ever known who can write a blog post about absolutely nothing and get more than 350 comments. So while I’m seething with professional jealousy, I’m also thinking about inspiration, and the process I go through when I’m stuck and can’t think of anything to write.

For the most part, I rely on my feed reader. I read other posts and ideas bubble up; before I’ve finished my reading I have several ideas for future posts.

I go offline a lot, too, reading magazines and books, making notes or even, sometimes immediately creating a first draft of a blog post.

Lately I’ve been trying a few other avenues to boost creativity. I’m curious, though . . .

What do you do to find inspiration?

P.S. Gini, you know I love you!

 

Jun 06
Love0

Scales, at Last, Tip Colleges and Universities into Social Media

By Social Media

This week, our youngest child graduates from eighth grade, goes on to high school and has nothing to do with us again till she’s thirty. As a graduation gift, she asked for a guide to colleges and universities so she can begin planning her future. You know; the future that’s still four years away. She’s a planner, that one. Since we have done this dance before with an older child, and due to the work I’ve done with universities providing public relations, marketing and social media support, I’ve kept close tabs on what online tools and communities are available for those beginning the search and navigating college admissions.

A tool I like a lot and our daughter spent hours playing with yesterday, is the college search query from College Board. Quiz-style, the user selects parameters important to them, e.g. public, private or no preference; distance from home; academic programs and more. The more strict you are with parameters, the narrower the results (our daughter had to loosen up her demands to get a few more search results).

We’re obviously a few years away from it, but I’ve been delighted to watch schools progress in their use of social media for admissions information. I did a very thorough review of college admissions blogs for a client at one time; the practice of engaging online has been widely adopted since then, to the benefit of students, parents and the universities themselves. Check out the Top 50 College Administration and Admission Blogs to get a sample of what’s being done.

My only hope is that, as our daughter begins to really focus on a smaller handful of schools, those she’s most interested in will have easily accessible information, clean websites and strong managers of social communities, available to engage with us and provide the answers we seek. I’m certain if that’s not the case, my frustration will influence her choice of colleges.

Cav Dog at UVa Photo Credit: Jeannine Lalonde

No post on this topic would be complete without a mention of Notes from Peabody: The UVa Admission Blog created, maintained and updated with humor, style and consistently helpful information by my friend Dean J and her trusty sidekick Cav Dog. Notes from Peabody has existed since 2005 — long before most universities recognized that blogging was a valid way to communicate with prospective students. I applaud Dean J. for getting out there ahead of the pack and for keeping up with an excellent blog for longer than it takes a student to earn a degree.