social media

When my company started doing social media for our clients – whether as a PR “add on” or a standalone social campaign, it was time I joined the fray. So I signed up on Facebook and then started Twitter. I made a vow that all my friends on FB would only be “real” friends. Twitter, follow away, but I did block things like NYC Towing. We just don’t have that much in common.

My early tweets were nothing to write home about, usually a little cryptic and often written after a glass of wine. Sometimes they had a musical score to accompany them, written after dinner, often after I’d turned up my music and traipsed out on the balcony to watch the city lights. “Sooner or later this happens to everyone” was an oft-repeated tweet. Cheesy. I know. Then, my tweets started reflecting my day-to-day life, which I try to separate from my business world. Eventually, some of my business acquaintances became “friends” on FB. Things were getting complicated. Add a second stream of tweets for Brand Building and one’s head begins to spin.

What’s the moral of this little tale? Keeping your various “streams” organized can be daunting, but it’s worth trying because as my managing director likes to say, “That’s social media lady, deal with it…”

Today mine is beige and if you look on thousands of Facebook status updates you'll find out what color theirs is too.... I'm talking about bra colors of course. I know, I know it sounds a little perverted, but I promise it’s for a good cause.

If you're like me and have been wondering what all these random colors stated on Facebook mean, let me clear things up for you. To help raise awareness for breast cancer, people are spreading the word by updating their status with the color of their bra. This has quickly become a Facebook craze and at first may be a little confusing. But, now that you are in the know, join in. So I guess the only question left is, what color is yours??

Yes, that's right ladies and gents...according to PopEater some celebs including Britney Spears and P. Diddy are getting paid upwards of $20,000 PER TWEET!!

As a company who uses social media daily to not only promote our business but our clients as well, does this really come as a shock to anyone? I feel it's a genius idea....we all know that in today's society celebrity influence is HUGE with consumers...but I can’t help but wonder, do these celebrities really need this money?? Wouldn't it be great if instead of taking the money for themselves they were obligated to donate it to a charity of their choice?? That would be a win win for all! Who’s with me?!

Source: forbes.com

At this point, it's clear that social media is here to stay, but instead of asking what social media can do for you, let's consider what you can do with social media.
 
Our first natural instincts are to shamelessly promote ourselves with social media, and if you're in the selling business, you're looking for the best ways to market your product/client. Today we can get the word out quicker than we can get a cab, so this all makes sense. I get it. Recently, I’ve been thinking that maybe we should dedicate a week to doing good with our savvy social media skills. This week, let’s shamelessly promote a great cause to help those less fortunate in our community. And, I know just the cause: A Box of Love from Here’s Life Inner City.
 
Here’s Life Inner City New York is a non-profit organization we work with that is dedicated to helping the poverty stricken members of the inner city. From now until November 11th, they are hosting a campaign to sponsor Boxes of Love. What is a Box of Love? For only $36.71 a box of filled with all the trappings for a Thanksgiving feast is delivered to families in need just in time for Thanksgiving, and each Box of Love feeds a family of six!
 
In the past, this campaign has been wildly successful, but this year they want to make a greater impact – they want to reach 7,000 families. Seven thousand families means reaching 42,000 people - people you see everyday on the Subway and walk next to on the street. Just imagine, we could impact the same amount of people that it would take to fill Madison Square Garden twice!
 
So, together let’s use our amazing social media skills and make a difference. Blog about it, tweet about it, become a Facebook fan. Let’s make a difference! Donate a Box of Love today http://bit.ly/gBu8Q.
 

Everyone talks about the next Twitter. Not sure what that is going to look like, but of course things do change. For now, though, Twitter is the go-to medium for sending out mini missives about you, your life and what you think. I have to be honest, I'd tweet more if I wasn't in so many meetings. Well, maybe that's not exactly true, and it's not as if I don't have things to say, but tweeting isn't always top of mind.

One of the fun things about Twitter is following celebs, you feel like you're getting the inside scoop, silly ideas, misspelled words and all. Celebs, they're human! But, apparently, some celebs are calling it quits. Let's consider why...

Tweeting, too difficult in between make-up artist sessions and fittings (plus lunch with high roller agents).

Tweeting, gosh what the heck to say?

Tweeting, yikes, now they know what I'm REALLY thinking, will this be bad for my image?

Tweeting, I'm not really doing it myself anyway, so who cares?

Tweeting? Hey, I forgot, why am I doing this again?

And that brings up the point. Why do we tweet? Because we CAN! Rock on Twitter. Give us that place to talk it out. Celebs, do what you do, be famous. Twitter will live, with or without you. Ah, the world is right again.

Source: alloy.com
 

I am making a bold step and “exposing” a little bit of myself in this blog… so here goes.  For the last few months (!!) I have found myself involuntarily thinking and processing my life events in 140 characters or less: “Kelly often wonders why people on the streets of NYC act like people can’t see them when they are picking their nose in public.” “Kelly knows the day is going to be good when the trains on the morning commute are totally in sync.” “Kelly wishes she was outside enjoying the amazing September weather today.” This happens regardless of whether or not I actually post the information in my status.  My internal editor processes the content and then it goes through the “is this interesting enough for an actual update” phase.

I was secretly ashamed that I have been so overtaken by my social media (and a little worried that I might be going a little loopy) and thought I must be the only person that is doing this. The internal pressure to be clever, inventive and “create reaction” was almost overpowering. Then, breakthrough. In a casual conversation with friends the subject naturally came up and my friends admitted that they were doing the exact same thing. I at once let out a big sigh of relief and we all half joked about how Facebook, Twitter and the likes have changed the way we process our life experiences… what is too much to tell your network of 300+ friends? What is funny and are we really becoming “too social” when broadcasting all of our virtual dirty laundry?

It is undeniable the power of social media and for the hundreds of millions of users in the world it has created a platform for not only information sharing but for self-expression and promotion. I am not an anthropologist, philosopher or behavioral scholar, but it seems very clear to me (at least in my own head) that the “status update” mentality will forever change how we think and share information with our friends/followers.

Source: buildamovement.com
 

Predictions are always tricky and often dangerous. But in our business, we make it our job to predict the latest and greatest trends and tools in the social media arena. Granted, we may have some missteps along the way, but why should that stop us?

So, here it is folks, the new up-and-coming social media space – TUMBLR! Although it may not be the newest platform, it is definitely the one with the greatest potential – the new “Twitter”, if you will. Tumblr has everything you could want in a social media platform: bookmarks to easily grab content from the Internet and post to your site, a popular iPhone application, audio posts, and the option for tons of free themes to personalize your space. It’s essentially Facebook, Twitter and MySpace all-in-one.

This hybrid of popular social media outlets allows Tumblr enthusiasts to ‘reblog’ each other’s posts (in much the same way that retweets distribute content on Twitter), monitor ‘Tumbularity’ (follower scoring system), pull content from those they follow (similar to Facebook and Twitter), and broadcast a ‘Tumblelog’ (essentially a blog). Using Tumblr has been described as ‘lifestreaming,’ and with all these features it is easy to see why.

Over 7 million users worldwide have jumped on this band-wagon including Katy Perry, John Legend, and Josh Groban. Tumblr is near the tipping point – all it will take is a few news/tv/celebrity mentions to catch fire.

You heard it HERE first, now go out and become part of the next big thing!
 

Source: raincoastermedia.com

Remarkably this site was named the #1 site covering the social web—now that’s a pedigree. The site was launched by J.D. Lasica and CNET named the founder one of the top 100 media bloggers in the world after he launched Ourmedia.org—the first video hosting and sharing site. The site highlights news, trends, tools and resources around social media, social networks and Web 2.0. What is really exciting is the upcoming launch of their sister site Socialbrite.org. This site will work with nonprofits to help them achieve maximum impact with their social media strategy and campaigns (this is all from the horse's mouth, but I have no reason to believe this isn’t going to be the next big thing, so stay tuned).

All in all, a veritable smorgasbord of social media opportunity. Please do check it out!

Source: nytimes.com
 

RotorBlog is a blog founded by Maris Dagis in 2006 that focuses on social networks and online communications. Dagis (from Riga, Latvia—now that is a country I’d like to visit!) started this blog to provide the LATEST in Web 2.0 news and startup reviews (according to his blog). The blog reaches 160k readers a month (are you one of them?). It’s a great resource for anyone that uses the Internet to communicate, which sounds like a crazy understatement since WHO, honestly, doesn’t use the Internet to communicate these days… But, be that as it may, this is a fab place to stay up on what's trending now. So check it out!

This week I am going to blog on blogs. I recently took a look at a smattering of my favorite beauty, fashion and chocolate blogs. This week I am “reviewing” (take this word lightly and keep in mind that if I am writing about something it generally means I like it) a variety of blogs in the social media arena. Let’s start with Mashable.com.

Mashable.com is the world’s largest blog on Web 2.0 and social networking and includes articles, news and features on a variety of related topics. The blog was founded in 2005 by Pete Cashmore and has been rated one of the top 10 profitable blogs by the blog ranking service Technorati. If you aren’t interested in the blog, get interested in Pete. Besides being ridiculously smart, he’s ridiculously hot. From publishing real breaking news to offering up great leads on resources and guides in the social media sphere, this is the place to be. I follow Mashable on Twitter (again, great for breaking news and updates on timely perspective).

If you can, try to get yourself to one of the Mashable meetups in LA or NY. And whatever you do, check it out!
 

Source: facebook.com, mashable.com