Tag Archives: ultimate blog challenge

Starting Over With Social Media

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The more I look at the Social Media space and the more I play around in it the more confused I become.

The Personal Network

On one level, it’s supposed to be about being social. You know, sharing personal moments in your life that used to be reserved for those occasional face-to-face meetings with your friends.  It was during those encounters that you might share a bit of gossip or pass along a recommnedation for a good book or movie or share some photos you took of your last vacation.

Now, of course, the world is a lot different.  You can share photos of virtually anything instantaneously. You can go online and post a status update or comment on one of your “friends’” status updates, notes or blog posts (pssst. comment on this one).

But…do you really want to share all that you’re sharing with as many people as you’re sharing it with.  Forget, for a moment, that advertisers and the “Social Media” itself are collecting data about you.  Let’s pretend that you just really want to keep in touch with your college buddy who lives across the country.  Or your cousin who you really like but only see at weddings and funerals.

Yet, for some reason your friends and your Twitter followers number in the hundreds, if not thousands.  Who are all these people anyway?

Mixing Business With Pleasure

Many people see Social Media as a way to reach people who might buy their product or service.  Surely, that’s one of the reasons I started blogging.  Sure.  I like to write but I also wanted to attract enough people who might click on a link or a graphic.  So I started being everyone’s friend and follower.

It’s really kind of amazing how many people will find you if you just put out a few interesting key words or, more importantly, accept their invitation to connect.  It doesn’t matter if it’s Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.  I have had hundreds of people who don’t know me from Adam want to connect.  And I let them.

I figured that it might be a mutually beneficial arrangement.  Looking back, I’m not sure I made the right decision.  I haven’t made my million bucks and, worse, I have all these people who, theoretically, know whatever thoughts I care to share on the Internet (again, I understand online privacy is an illusion).

So. I’m connected with lots and lots of people that I don’t know and, worse, aren’t creating the type of network that would be financially beneficial to any of us.

The Social Media Reset

Here’s where I’m facing a dilemma.  Do I hit the reset button and start over from scratch…or not at all?  Or do I soldier on with a little bit more discrimination as to whom I connect with in the Social Media space?

Cheryl Phillips of The Daily Blonde fame recently deleted her Twitter account with 24,000+ followers.  Surely, there was a golden nugget in there somewhere. Evidently not and evidently it just got to be a bit too much.

To be sure, there are people that I have never met, in person, that I have met through Social Media like Cheryl Phillips that I’ve come to like and enjoy.  There are many others.  But for every Daily Blonde there are literally hundreds — and, on Twitter, that number is thousands — with whom I have zero engagement and zero involvement.  They are just numbers to me.  I’m sure I’m just numbers to them.

At some point, do you just stop connecting?  Do you delete the account and start over? Do you just go back to phone calls and personal e-mails and the occasional visit on holidays?

Explaining the Foreclosure Crisis

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This video has been making the rounds and it deserves it. With over 91,000 views thus far it is a rational explanation of why we are in the mess we’re in.  The beauty of the explanation, in no small part, is that it is short and to the point.  No fancy spin.  The only downside is that the explanation of the outright fraud being committed by our financial services industry is being delivered by a politician.

Too bad.

If this were some well respected economist or other neutral figure it would carry a lot more weight.  It deserves to be listened to and it’s only 7 minutes and 49 seconds.

Here’s the deal: Tea Partiers and other people screaming for the government to get off our backs may be right up to a point but this foreclosure mess is what happens when the fox is guarding the hen house.  Or worse, when no one is guarding the hen house and the foxes have full and unlimited run of the place.

I keep saying that the Tea Partiers are directing their anger at the wrong people.  The politicians are only doing what their financial masters are telling them to do.  When they get uppity and think they can really create some change the people with the money — elected by no one — bankroll “political movements” to move new puppets into places of supposed power.

But I digress.

Watch this video.  It’s worth it.

Blind Faith – Contractor Edition

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Ever have a plumbing problem and you thought you knew what it was but just didn’t have the skill to fix it yourself?  So you call in the plumber to do his job.  The plumber guy gets there and says, “Sure.  I can fix this but the real problem is this other thing and you really should get that fixed.” Or, maybe, “Hey, I fixed your problem.  While I was working on it I noticed this other thing that you should really have fixed while I here (or not very long from now).”

Electrician? Roofer? Auto Mechanic?

Hey, it doesn’t matter who the contractor is or what their specialty is, you know and they know that you don’t know what they know.  You know. As a result they make all kinds of suggestions and some of them may be valid and some may be designed to make them a couple of bucks.  How do you tell?

The fact is: for most stuff you really can’t tell.  You have to do a little calculus in your head that involves trusting the guy (or gal), maybe a little bit of how much money you have and how immediate it really sounds.

This happens to me with auto mechanics all the time.  I take my car in for an oil change and they always find belts that need to be replaced or some other thing – major or minor – that needs some repair in addition to the original oil change.  It never fails.

I’ve had it done to me by an electrician and almost by a plumber.  After all, these guys are supposed to know what they’re doing and if they make a recommendation it might be something important. In reality, most of the stuff is usually fluff that they ad on to make money. But, you never know.  You have to take it on faith.  Blind faith.

Movie Review – The Social Network

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I like Facebook, Twitter and all the rest of social media as well as the next guy.  Maybe more.  I’m all over Facebook and Twitter and a few other social connection sites and I blog like crazy (especially as part of The Ultimate Blog Challenge).  So, I’ve “bought into” the who social media thing.

The Movie

Now, I know that movies are always highly fictionalized.  After all, they’re entertainment.  Or supposed to be.

This movie, for me was far from entertaining.  Maybe I’m just too old for it.

First there isn’t a sympathetic character in the movie.  No one to root for.  No one to cry about when things didn’t go right.  Even at the end when the Mark Zuckerberg character is trying to “friend” his old girlfriend (who he trashes at the very beginning of the movie) you can’t really feel sorry that he screwed up. There’s no one else that I can even think might possibly be sympathetic.  Sorry.

Second, the freakin’ parties.  Hey, just because this is Hollywood’s idea of a good party doesn’t mean they actually exist at Ivy League schools like Harvard. The women stripping down to their lingerie, making out with each other, etc. and so on.  I don’t like to think of myself as a prude but these parties were a little over the top.

Finally, the plot device of the flashbacks between Mark Zuckerberg being deposed by high powered lawyers and the chronology/story line of the genesis of Facebook.  Sorry but that just didn’t work for me.  Especially, when people get some flash of inspiration and then race immediately to the nearest computer to write code for hours.

I guess I’m just not the geeky type.

Capitalizing on a Trend

Facebook has done a lot of the expansion of the Internet and the interactivity of the Internet but I can’t help but feel that this was Hollywood’s way to capitalize of a hot trend.  If Facebook is hot, hot, hot 10 years from now, people will look back on this movie as a cute anachronism.  If it eventually fizzles out or is replaced by Facebook 3.0 or whatever, the movie will be eminently forgettable.

So, here’s the thing.  A lot of people like it, reviewers like it.  I’m wondering if they’re just afraid of not being “cool” (a word used in The Social Network a lot).  For me, I’d rather see a good action flick any day.

Sidenote

By the way, as I was looking at the official site I noticed they had a link to Tumblr and a very nice blog about the movie on Tumblr.  Did I miss something or does Facebook own Tumblr?

Go ahead.  Tell me what you think.  Did you like the movie?

The Power of the Headline

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You’ve seen ‘em.

  • LOSE WEIGHT IN YOUR SLEEP
  • MAKE $10,000 OVERNIGHT
  • GET SO MANY TWITTER FOLLOWERS IT’LL CRASH THE TWITTER SERVERS

Even the most outlandish headline will attract someone’s attention and, more than likely, attract a lot of people’s attention.  Newspapers and magazines have known this for a long time.  Heck, walk through any checkout counter in the grocery store and you’re being bombarded with screaming headlines that promise to make you rich, thin or both rich and thin.

Why Do Headlines Work So Well?

This is one of the most baffling aspects of the human psyche I have ever encountered.  Even though we know, rationally, that the ice cream and cake diet can’t possibly work, we read on.  Who knows?  Maybe if all I ate was ice cream and cake I would lose weight (or die!).  If I buy a certain type of sneaker, I’ll never have to go to the gym.  If I just buy this one program that promises to make me $100,000 in two days (note: results not typical. This may not work for you. Blah. Blah. Blah) I’ll be set for life.

As the old saying goes, “Hope springs eternal” and these headlines speak to that hope.

A Recent Example

This was bought home to me with yesterday’s post about putting together the proverbial “bucket list” – the things you want to do before you die. Typically, this list includes things you’ve always dreamed of being able to accomplish or people you always wished you could meet.

Instead of headlining it something like : What’s on Your Bucket List? or My Bucket List Only Has Two Things on It or Things You Must Accomplish Before You Die! I had a pretty lame headline that most people probably thought was a blog post about time management or organizational tips.

So, it didn’t go anywhere.

I’ve learned my lesson.  Eye catching headlines work.  I’ll need to subscribe to Cosmo or something to keep the ideas coming.

The Big “To Do” List

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BY now everyone and their brother has either seen The Bucket List or heard of it.  Two geezers looking at death in the face go on a journey to do all the things they never did when they were younger and had the chance.

Now, it seems, people are making lists left and right with things they would like to do if they:

  • had more money than God
  • all the time in the world
  • and a way to do it all

I’ve actually been to a seminar where the leader talked about writing down the 100 Things to Do Before I Die. Evidently, some famous guy – long dead – made such a list and accomplished almost everything.  Some of the things I wouldn’t think were possible in my wildest dreams.

Of course, you have guys like Richard Branson who will do just about anything he wants but Richard does, in fact, have almost as much money as God so he can do just about anything he wants.

I guess at some level its about being fearless.  At another level, though, it’s about knowing what you want.  That’s the big catch for me.  What do I want?  Is it true that the more one acquires the more one wants and that, after a certain point, it doesn’t matter anyway?  Lots of questions.  Very few answers.

So, here you go.  Don’t list your top 100. List your top 1 or 2 things that if you could do it or have it you would go for it.

It might give me some ideas.

Why Are There More WAHMs Than WAHDs?

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Or maybe the question could be: how come people who work at home are parents?  Aren’t there any childless people out there working from home or wanting to work from home?  It’s a mystery.

I know. I know.  Women tend to stay home to raise and nurture the kids while the guys go out and deal with the corporate world.  So it makes sense that more women (Moms) would be home, making the Internet business thing work as much as possible.  Heck, there’s this whole Internet Infrastructure around mommy blogging or WAHM blogging or just plain women.

Not so much for the guys.  At least, not that I can see.  And childless people?  They can’t all be single and on the dating sites.  Surely, there are happy couples with one person at home while the other battles the “outside world”.

Maybe I’m looking in all the wrong places or their all hanging out in testosterone filled places like the Warrior Forum or something.

Chain E-Mails, Politics and Bizness

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Many years ago, I attended a conference and struck up an acquaintance with one of the attendees.  We were in the same business, just different geographic locations.  We got along fine.  I wouldn’t necessarily invite her over for Thanksgiving dinner and I know she isn’t planning to send me any Christmas presents.  Still.  We got along fine.

Some time passed and I got interested in buying a rental property out near her neck of the woods.  A nice, little place that might see some appreciation over the years and create some revenue. She helped me find a place and she also took over property management since I had no desire to be a landlord from a distance.

So, that made us business associates.  In fact, it made me her customer/client as well as a casual friend.

Working on the Chain Gang

Sometime later — maybe six to eight months — I started getting the chain e-mails. You know the type.  Pass this along for good luck.  Or pass this along because it’s so true.  Or pass this along because it’s so funny.

Others had a decidedly political bent or a heavily religious slant.  It is true that some of them were of the inspirational variety but most of them let me know in no uncertain terms where this lady stood as far as politics and religions was concerned.

That would have been OK except I’m on the other end of the spectrum.  I have to believe she doesn’t know this because every time we talk, in person, neither politics or religion comes up.  Of course, I never bring it up either.  She’s good at what she does for me and I have no desire to cause a fuss over something that has nothing to do with how she handles my business affairs.

Is There Such a Thing as Too Authentic

But, I have to wonder.  Is it cool to be so “out there” with politics and religion with people you do business with?  I know the whole buzz nowadays is to “be authentic” and “be yourself”. I certainly think she’s entitled to her opinions and lifestyle choices. Honestly, it doesn’t bother me…that much.  After all, that’s why God invented the Delete key.

So, what do you think?  If you were doing business with someone and you felt you had good rapport with them, would you share your religious and political biases with them?  Would you send chain e-mails?  Does it matter given the person is doing a great job otherwise?

Just How Long Should A Good Webinar Be?

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We’ve all been through them. Good ones. Bad ones. Ones that could have been good but were bad. Live. Pre-recorded.

Yeah.  I’m talking about webinars and their first cousin, teleseminars.  And I’m wondering just how long they should go.  While I’m at it, I’m also wondering which ones are more effective — live ones with the ability for participants to ask questions or the pre-recorded ones that are similar to podcasts where you just sit and listen or watch.

I’ve been on all kinds.

There is the pre-recorded webinar with the Powerpoint slides and the webinar producer speaking in the background as each slide is presented.  Once the slide show is done…so is the webinar.  Others that uses products like Go To Webinar or Go To Meeting are able to get some participation which may lengthen the time alloted for the webinar.

Whoops.  What Did I Miss While I Was Tweeting?

But what about the attention span of the person attending?  I know that if I’m in front of the computer it’s easy for me to click around to do various other things while I’m “listening” to the webinar or teleseminar.  Facebook.  Twitter. Answering e-mail. Then, of course, there’s the issue of how much time you can grab from the person you’re trying to reach.

It’s all a confusing calculus of giving the most value as possible to the person attending the webinar so they’ll come back for more (assuming this isn’t an employment based webinar/teleseminar) and keeping them from wandering away or getting bored.

So, tell me.

What is the optimal length for a webinar or teleseminar?  At what point would you personally get bored or busy and want to move on?  Just add your opinions to the Comments section.  I’d be interested to know.

Searching For A Good WordPress Theme

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Yesterday I gushed about the great experience I had signing up with HostGator and getting them to transfer my existing blog from “Brand X Hosting” (GoDaddy) to the HostGator servers.  It was seamless, flawless and painless.  What a deal!

A Blog In Search Of A Theme

Now, I’m in search of the perfect WordPress Theme.  For a number of reasons — all bad — I went with the Papercut Theme from Woo Themes.  I though it looked cool and would be a great, eye catching theme with a lot of that stuff people call “ease of use”.  I was wrong.  It’s might look cool (at least, to me) but it’s really not that easy to use as far as adding sidebar features or widgets and my guess is that it really isn’t that “SEO friendly”.

The real deal, though, is the back end.  The stuff behind the curtain, so to speak.  It doesn’t allow a lot of flexibility and, worse, some parts of it are downright clunky and a pain in the butt to use.  So, I am now on the search for another theme.

Premium or Free?

As I bounce around WordPress Theme-land, I can’t help but feel a sens of overwhelm.  There are literally thousands and maybe tens of thousands of WordPress Themes both free and for money.

Yes.  There a re a ton I can eliminate right off the bat.  For instance, I’m not a big fan of the WordPress Themes that have dark backgrounds where you can hardly read the text.  The leads me to the next criteria.  I’m mostly a text blogger.  Not a lot of video.  Not a ton of photography.  So, the themes that put video and graphics front and center probably won’t work for me either.

The other part of this is that I’m wondering if the Premium WordPress Themes are really worth the money.  Obviously, I’m not all that thrilled with Woo Themes.  Worse, I bought it or, rather, it was purchased for me, by a guy who did the original blog installation awhile back.  So, I’m not even the real owner of the theme.

What Are Your Suggestions?

Now, I’m at a crossroads.  Since I joined The Ultimate Blog Challenge I was hoping to really fine tune this blog on a number of levels.

  • I want to be able to find a consistent blog voice and/or direction
  • I want to be able to monetize (the word du jour) the blog which means being able to add elements to the sidebar and/or text in an attractive and productive way
  • I want it to be SEO friendly
  • I want it to look nice

Any suggestions?  Just place them in the Comments.  I would love to know what works for other bloggers.