So…..I was robbed this past Friday.  Someone actually kicked the door in of my apartment, ransacked the place, and stole about $5000 worth of stuff.  I am still in shock and totally scared.  This will forever be known as the Christmas that I was robbed….I can see my self 15 years from now looking at my husband (who is currently my boyfriend) saying “Honey, do you remember that Christmas back in 2007 when we were robbed?…..yeah…that really sucked!”  Well maybe those won’t be my exact words, but I’m pretty sure it will go something like that.   

I still can’t believe it!  Thank goodness no one was there and the dog was in his crate.  The thing that hurts the most is they stole jewelry that had been passed down from my grandparents….items that can NEVER be replaced.  This whole thing feels like a poorly scripted cop drama.  The police actually dusted by things for fingerprints (which, by the way isn’t the easiest stuff to get off!).  I felt like I was in an episode of CSI or something.  

 I really hope this feeling of uneasiness goes away very soon.   I can’t bear to be at my apartment by myself and every little noise I hear freaks me out.  Like all people who have been robbed I feel completely violated.  It’s the weirdest feeling to get into bed and know that someone you don’t know has touched your mattress…..or find something on the floor that you know you didn’t put there.   I will say that it has made me realize how important it is to be aware of what is going on around you.  I have always tried to do that, but I think I had become somewhat lackadaisical about it…..well, not anymore!  After something like this happens to you I think you will always look at things a little bit differently.   

The fear and apprehension of being along in my apartment will pass and things will get back to normal, but I will never forget how this has made me feel and how it has changed my life forever.

  

Socon08

Sherry Heyl has asked me to help out with Socon08.  I had such a incredible time at Socon07 and I am so excited to be a part of the upcoming event.  When I received the email I  was filled with overwhelming excitement.  Partially because I love to help plan things.  It’s always something that I have enjoyed and helping plan the Atlanta Integrated Marketing Summit was one of the best times!!  The biggest reason I am excited about helping out with Socon08 is I can’t wait to learn from all of the individuals involved.  I’m going to be like a sponge running around, soaking up everything that I can about social media.  It’s going to be GREAT!!!!! 

Faith in humanity

I was having lunch the other day with Sherry Heyl and we were talking about her company What A Concept! (amongst other things).  We got on the topic of employers looking at potential employees profiles on various social networking sites.  Up until that conversation my general attitude towards this was why should they not be able to?  If you make the choice to put the information out there then obviously you understand that it is as accessible as you make it…that is you can set your privacy settings in a way that allows only certain individuals to view your profile. (this may not be the case with some social networking sites, but I will say it is with the ones I am apart of)  So if you choose to put it out there and set the privacy settings to allow everyone to view it then how can you feel violated when a potential employer looks at it?  And why would it matter in the first place….people, for the most part, are decent human beings…..they award jobs based on merit and the candidates skills….they don’t judge you because you have a gay sister, or an incurable disease, or because you’re a single mother with 2 children….right!

 

WRONG!!  I was sitting there and I had one of these “DUH!” moments.  Sherry brought up such a great point…what if someone wants to join a community for people with MS and they are discriminated against and not hired for a position or what if a mother puts pictures of her children up and is not hired because of it.  Some of the basic ideas behind Web 2.0 are that of transparency, breaking down communication barriers to promote knowledge share and interactivity between groups or communities at levels that were never possible before.  People shouldn’t be made to feel ashamed about who they are or fear that if they are totally honest about themselves they will be persecuted for it….this would go against some of the fundamental ideas that makes social media great in the first place.

 

But unfortunately that is not the world we live.  People judge and are judged…..we jump to conclusions about individuals before even meeting them…..we stereotype…we base our opinions about people on things that have nothing to do with there character or what they stand for….we talk behind people’s back…..we gossip and talk about other people’s business.  There’s no getting around it…we have ALL been guilty of it at some point in our lives.  It’s sad but true….

 

I’m not really sure what the solution is or what the right answer it…..I guess to somehow alter human nature so that people get things because they deserve them and everyone is accepted for who they are….yea…that’s what should happen (by the way, that’s sarcasm)

Social Media Promotes Social Responsibility

I have recently been evaluating the way that social media has changed my life.  One of the most profound differences that it has made in my life is that I am extremely more aware of who is capturing what and what they are doing with it.  What I mean by that is who is taking pictures of me, who is recording me on a video camera or an audio clip, and what am I talking about or doing during it.  Something I will never forget is sitting in an auditorium at SoCon07, Atlanta’s first social media conference, and Sherry Heyl saying “Everyone remember that the person sitting next to you with a computer in their lap is blogging and this entire event is being podcast, so anything you say or do can end up on the web”.  I never ran around being wild and doing crazy things because there wasn’t the possibility of it finding its’ way onto the web, I just find myself being even more cautious of it now.  Which brings me to my point.  Is this a feeling that is shared by many and if so what kind of impact has it made on society as a whole?  How amazing would it be if a drop in crimes rates could be contributed to social media practices or if people became more enviornmentally friendly because the fear of being caught on tape doing something horrible to the earth was substantial.  Are people held more accountable for their actions because the risk of getting caught and the whole world having access to it is greater? I sure would like to think so.

Who Blogs?

An article written by Beth Synder Bulik at Advertising Age titled Who Blogs? discusses the credibility of blogs and incorporates the poll below that breaks down the blogosphere.

Constantly Linked

It feels good to be back to my blog. I has been a little over half a month and tons of stuff has been going on in my life. Through a lot of it I was unable to have convenient access to the internet. I know it seems crazy but it is true. It really got me thinking. I have always been the type of person who has enjoyed any technology that allows me to constantly stay linked and in touch with what is going on. I can’t remember a time when the internet was not a huge part of my life. I am sure there was between diapers and kindergarten I just can’t recall it. After spending a week on vacation without accessing the internet and only a few occasions a cell phone it truly shed a little perspective.

I love social media platforms because it has given me the opportunity to learn from individuals all over the world. I have created online relationships that have been extremely rewarding and that I have taken a lot out of. But where do you draw the line between online relationships and your real world social circle. I know that many individuals often times merge the two. I have not yet taken that step. Maybe that is out of fear or perhaps because on some level I still hold on to an old school way of thinking that attributes a negative connotation to meeting people online.

Either way I have been so focused on building online relationships that I forgot that I can learn a lot from the individuals that are and have been part of my physical life. The real point is that no matter where the interaction between individuals takes place something can always be learned and taken away from it.

MySpace, Safe Haven for Sex Offenders?

During an internal investigation it was determined that thousands of sex offenders have profiles on MySpace and now 8 attorneys general have requested the profiles of the sex offenders present in their state. It does appear that MySpace is taking the right steps in ensuring the security of its’ users by cross referencing their database with that of a sexual predator database and deleting profiles that match up. What, if any, ramifications will this have on the perception and on going acceptance by the mass market of social networking sites. On the one hand I think that it could be detrimental because MySpace is the largest, most talked about, social networking site out there and the one that many others are judged against especially by individuals who do not actively participate in social networking. On the other hand I think that many individuals (users and non-users) have at times had the perception that MySpace was or is unsafe and that this perception does not carry over to other social networking sites that they may be a part of. For example of I know several Facebook users who think that MySpace is corrupt and dangerous and therefore have refused to join.

Then there is the part of me that thinks that parents should be more actively involved in what there children are doing on or off line. I have ran across some extremely provocative pictures of what I consider children (13-16 yrs old) on MySpace and often said to myself “why in the world would their parents let them put these kinds of images up?”

Either way I think that there will always be bad people out there that want to harm others. These people exist in the online/virtual worlds as well as the real world. It is up to each individual person to stay aware of their surroundings and take responsibility for their own safety. Think things through and try to always make smart decisions. I am going to use my better judgment and not walk down any dark alleys late at night by myself, and I will always try to translate that same cautiousness into all of my online interaction.

Personal Responsibility

I normally do not pay much attention to the happenings of Hollywood, especially that of socialites like Paris Hilton. But I am almost blue in the face over hearing of her latest debacle. There is a little something in this world known as personal responsibility. It is not up to your mom, dad or PUBLICIST to take responsibility for your actions. I think that so many people today live without consequences that they have developed a skewed vision of the way the world really works. So Paris it is not cruel or inhumane to send you to jail for breaking the law. That is what happens to criminals. That is why we have the judicial system in the first place, to protect innocent people from the asinine and harmful decisions of others. It is not the universe’s or the judge’ s or the lawyer’s fault that you live with the notion that you are untouchable. So get your head out of the clouds come back down to earth and realize that things you say and do have repercussions.

Honestly it is probably not the fact that it is Paris Hilton that makes me so mad, rather the realization that  people live their lives like this everyday. Walking around not realizing that what they say and do has an impact on themselves and very often other people.

Phoning It In

My absence from posting has been filled with contemplation and evaluation.  Ever since the birth of my blog I have struggled with the inability to just let go.  Most of the previous post were absolute nonsense (maybe I should change the name of this blog to that:-).  They had no meat or substance, and that had nothing to do with my lack of interest in the topic.  Believe me when I say that I usually have an opinion about everything and very often share it without solicitation.  The biggest problems that I find myself having is where to draw the line and how to phrase things in typed text so that they are not misinterpreted.  Properly communicating face-to-face with people is a skill that most of us practice from birth.  Face-to-face communication is often unambiguous.   There are a multitude of factors involved that aid in the interpretation of the message from they way a person is holding their head to the tone in their voice.  This is not always the case with virtual communication.   These are probably concerns and apprehensions that a lot of bloggers have at first and I just need to get over it.  I am just going to keep putting it out there and see what happens.

(Hey look at that…..I wrote something real)

American Idol & Ford

It is very apparent that the days of interruption marketing are over, in fact there have been several posts on this blog alone alluding to that very fact. With that said the next logical deduction is that marketers are having to become more creative with their ad placement. I personally think that Ford has definitely “hit the nail on the head”. I am an avid American Idol watcher, and I am constantly impressed with the way that Ford’s commercials integrate in to the show. Take last night for example, the Idols came together and participated in what appeared to be a very traditional style music video, but it centered all around Ford vehicles. It was the perfect way to entertain the audience and feature the cars.  I found it extremely engaging because I enjoy American Idol. They have done things like this all season, and if my memory serves me correctly they do this every season. It is no shock that they drag the show out FOREVER before telling you who is going to be kicked off, so it is refreshing to see a commercial during the endless breaks that is fun and entertaining. It is such a creative way to incorporate a marketing message without the viewers feeling taking advantage of.