The Internet

I Luv Teh Internetz, Lolz.

After yesterday’s post on my foray into online dating, I got to thinking about how much I really do online. It’s gotten to the point where I do almost everything online now.

I currently don’t have internet in my apartment so, for the past two nights, I’ve had to find coffeeshops that have internet long enough for me to check email and get some writing done. That being said, I’ve actually gotten more done in the four hours I’ve spent at coffeeshops over the last two nights than I would in four hours in one night at home. I’m embarrassed to browse ModCloth or PerezHilton within view of others, so I’m actually getting writing done… as you can see from the regularly updated blog!

I shop online for clothing, shoes, and, sometimes, even groceries. If I am going to do some in-store shopping, I check the store’s website first for any specials or coupons they might have and to see if there’s anything online I like so I spot it quickly when I’m in the store.

I work online. My entire job is to be the online communications department for our nonprofit. This means spending a lot of time on Twitter, updating our website, researching what’s going on in the environmental field, and keeping track of my favorite green bloggers.

I communicate more online than through any other method. Yes, this is the case for many people, but I use the Internet to communicate through Facebook, Twitter, and email for both work and personal things. I feel like 90% of my awake time is spent either on Facebook and Twitter… or with it in another tab. I’m never more than a click away from Twitter.

I read online. As previously stated, I do a lot of reading on environmental trends for work. On top of that, I come home and read all the news I don’t get to read at work. This includes CNN.com, PerezHilton.com, a few blogs, and Twitter links I favorite throughout the day. Oh, and occasionally, I’ll email myself reading material for the night. I used to be a writer whose work appeared in printed publications – like magazines and newspapers (remember those?). Now, I’m a sucker for a flashy – but not flash-based – website.

I share my hobby online. As stated in another previous post, I love to knit. One of the best social networks online right now (IMO) is Ravelry. If you’re not a knitter, of course, it’s completely useless. If you are, it’s the best thing you’ve ever gotten your fiber-obsessed fingertips on. I can browse any pattern based on a particular type of yarn I have, get pattern errata from hundreds of people who’ve done the same project, and then share it with others! On top of that, people who sell their patterns on Ravelry have made over $1 million.

I buy/watch music/movies online. I used to love buying an album, putting it in my car stereo, and memorizing all the lines before I got home from the mall. I can’t even remember the last full-priced CD I bought. Now that I haven’t had a car or a CD player in nearly 7 years, I have no need for it. My computer doesn’t even have a CD burner. … I can actually name five albums I bought on vinyl in the past year, but haven’t bought a single CD.

Movies are a different story. I mostly watch movies online through Netflix. Occasionally, I’ll rent a 99¢ movie on iTunes or catch up on a TV show that way, but I still buy DVDs. That said, I have lived in my apartment since September and haven’t hooked up my DVD player. I play everything through my computer.

Yeah, I know. None of these things are unique to myself. But it’s just incredible to think how lost I was for the 20 minutes I thought I wouldn’t have internet or computer access after 5:30pm on a week night.

When you think about how much time people do spend online, it’s intriguing to think about the first truly digital politicians we might have. The ones who had personal Facebook profiles in college or found their wives/husbands on eHarmony or Match.com. We think there’s an abundance of information out there for people to dig up on our politicians… just wait until people from the digital era start running for office!

Breaking up in the digital age

Breaking up is hard to do. Really. It’s a song title for a reason.

My former boyfriend and I were together for nearly three years before I ended the relationship about a year and a half ago. We kept talking for another month until I cut off all communications one day after a fight.

For the last little bit of our relationship, he lived in California while I lived in DC and much of our relationship happened online. He’d email me in the middle of the night while I was sleeping and I’d email him in the morning when I woke up. Then, on those rare occasions when we were both sitting at our respective computers at the same time, we’d gchat for hours.

At that point, I was barely on Facebook (only checking it when someone friended me which rarely happens because I’m highly unsearchable), didn’t have a MySpace profile, and Twitter wasn’t big yet.

A friend in New York was on tour with a band and offered her two-week sublet to me so I took the opportunity to go on a vacation. While on vacation, I wound up finding a job and an apartment and uprooted my life from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. to Brooklyn.

Just a few months later (then the height of the economic crisis until about a month later when it got worse again), I got laid off. When I was laid off in April, I really got back into social media… mostly because I finally had the time to.

I also saw rebuilding my personal brand as an opportunity to get a job in social media and I slowly started joining/rejoining various social networks that I hadn’t kept up with in years. Most of the social media platforms have features in which you can import contacts from your email and quickly have a large list of followers before you even get started. This is excellent for people looking for a lot of their friends to new online network. However, this is not so excellent for people who haven’t talked to their boyfriends in 9 months.

When I joined Twitter, he was the first person recommended to me based on my email records. I also regularly get friendly “reminders” to join his network on LinkedIn or become his friend on Facebook because we have multiple mutual friends. Now that Facebook has expanded beyond college students, I’m getting this with a lot of friends from high school and middle school as well.

I’m not really sure how to make this stop … other than to email friends constantly to make them appear at the top of my “suggested friends” list whenever I join a new social network or block him from every social media platform I join. All I know is, when Neil Sedaka wrote “Breaking up is Hard to Do,” I don’t think he envisioned just how difficult it might become in the future.

Twitter Terms of Service

A week or so back when Twitter announced their new Terms of Service, I was pretty amazed at how minimal their updates were yet how much attention it garnered.

No, it didn’t draw the same amount of attention as when people found out Facebook was willing to use your photos in advertisements to your friends just because you didn’t opt out of a privacy setting you didn’t even know existed. But it still did inspire this post from Social Media Today.

The title “Why you should be worried about Twitter’s New Terms of Service” is quite ridiculous to me. Why would someone need to be worried about a website’s terms of service that they’ve basically already agreed to? If you find out you don’t agree with them, you stop using the service or adapt what you publish on it. It’s that simple.

The author’s first point is how Twitter has the right to “adapt and modify” your tweets through various methods of publication. To be concerned over this is kind of ludicrous because your words are already published on all over the internet and anyone can do whatever they want with them and you’ll probably never find out. But if the service that you’re using wants to do this do people seriously go, “whoa, buddy! Back off!”

Also, I personally don’t think you can’t own tweets even though Twitter says you do. And I don’t believe they’re intellectual property. If that’s the case, then shouldn’t we receive royalties from anyone who RTs one of our tweets? Or does that qualify under Fair Use? And, really, how valuable are 140 characters?

Finally, why wouldn’t you think that Twitter (or anyone else for that matter) won’t republish your Tweets in a book, blog, or whatever? Journalists are now using them for story leads (God save us all) and not citing people as sources or calling them “experts” and paying them the same salaries or fees as pundits.

People are putting their stupid, vapid, unnecessary thoughts out on to the most heavily trafficked website on the planet and they expect privacy and protection? Give me a break!

The thing that concerns me (which the author doesn’t even address) is the advertising aspect of Twitter that they’re leaving open. I don’t EVER want advertisements on my Twitter account, nor would I want to pay for Twitter to not have advertisements either on my page. It’s bad enough that there are porn spammers all over the place using real pictures and attaching fake names to accounts. We don’t need advertisements on the sidebars either.

I don’t want Twitter turning into MySpace, FaceBook, or Pandora (the only service for which I’ll cough up 99¢ a month).

My take on Social Media Sins

There are those moments in every writer’s life where you come across something (or many things) that you wish you’d written yourself. This article by Blair Enns about Social Media Sins is one of those things. Since he stole this idea from me before I even thought it (kidding), I’m going to do my own take on his top social media sins.

1. I’ve never used an RSS reader and I don’t see why I should.

I lived this way for a very long time. When you compile a e-newsletter every other week, you do need to be tapped into news. I do not, however, read the same blogs or resources when doing so for work and thus I don’t feel as though any one stream of information is constant in my reading. I appreciate the McLuhan reference and am positive Marshall is rolling around in his grave every time CNN uses Twitter to compile a news segment or ends a story with “Just Sayin’”. Where has responsible reporting gone?

2. I have read and benefited from many of the “rules” of social media, but the truth is they are just conventions.

This is one of the truest things I’ve read in a long time. I’m just starting out in my career and it happens to be in social media. While I expect this to take me far, I know that the popularity of social media is a fleeting movement that could die as quickly as it started. There are dozens of webinars, top ten guides (or anti-top-ten-guides), and resources out there, especially for nonprofits, on how to leverage social media to get what you want. They all attempt to establish rules and general guidelines for how you should steer your conversation. Everyone peddles them off as facts or tips of the trade, but really, they’re not secrets. Everyone knows these “rules” and either follows them or throws them to the wind every chance they get. No set of rules works for any two people establishing their web personas… much less for any two organizations.

The truth is, the people who’ve gotten lucky on social media are those who’ve worked the hardest. There’s no steadfast rule on anything in social media. I don’t mean that just anyone can “strike it rich” in social media either through a single viral video or a cross-platform campaign just because they work hard. But, there is some luck involved. You could do all the right things, follow all the right people, post all the right content, and wait around for followers. But sitting back and worrying about statistics and deliverables doesn’t put fresh content on the page… doesn’t keep you connected with your constituency… doesn’t keep you focused on your mission (ya know, that thing that got you started in social media in the first place).

3. I like that life, work, learning is now one big conversation, but sometimes I don’t want to converse

Today, while compiling news, I came across an article about aerial wolf hunting [WARNING: SCARY PICTURE BEHIND THE LINK!]. Normally, I don’t read the comments on articles on MNN because they skew toward my demographic, bleeding heart liberals who want to save the world, but something drew me to the comments. Below, someone commented about how liberals are hypocrites. We want to kill unborn babies, but we don’t want to kill wolves. We want to harbor illegal aliens, but we don’t want to kill wolves. (I think you get it)

I had that kneejerk reaction to comment – something I’ve never actually done on a blog – but something held me back. Instead of accepting that temptation to take the bait and join the conversation, I held my comments to my self and thought about how I actually felt about the issue. For instance, is it ethically possible to be both pro-choice and anti-animal violence? Could I be anti-wolf killing and pro-meat eating at the same time?

Instead of hashing those thoughts out to the world, where it could consume several minutes or hours of my time because I could debate those people for hours on end, it was more important to me to make sure I really understood how I felt about the issue aside from my kneejerk response. I wound up having a great conversation IRL (in real life for those of you not living in 1995 with Sandra Bullock in The Net) with two friends about these issues.

7. I think it’s okay to blog every day for a week, then not at all for a month – as long as you have something of meaning to say.

If you take what your mom told you when you were little (if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all) and apply it to social media… I think you have an appropriate content strategy. I completely agree with Blair on this. We live in a world where at least 6 separate channels I can think of broadcast “news” 24 hours a day; where MySpace and Facebook became too formal ad we needed to communicate in fewer characters with more limits; where a “medium” that involves sitting in front of your computer at 1:21 am on a work night is called social. The world does not need constant updates of everything you do.

Tailored content – either around your needs or your audiences needs – are far more effective than a steady stream of content. In the blogosphere, you don’t need to be the first one to have the article written. You just need to have the best content at the end of the day. Exclusives rarely, if ever, exist so accuracy and quality should rule over speed.

10. There’s going to be a backlash to all this full-time conversation.

Despite the fake news that Jeff Goldblum died, I don’t think we’ve seen the worst our 24 hour, constant stream of information will do to us as individuals and as a society. We’re currently seeing misinformation about the healthcare “discussion” being rapidly spread. There’s a new death panel, death book, or death match ready to deny seniors health care every few hours. With the media unwilling to report anything other than the fact that some one else said it… we’re in for a very long road ahead.

Finally, a little about the future of online reputation. A conversation with a former coworker led to some deep thought about what we’ll be willing to accept in a president when we’re in our 50s or 60s. By then, Facebook, Twitter and all the other ones (yes, they can be lumped in one category in my opinion) will be long gone, but the individual’s online reputation won’t. What will dominate headlines (if there are headlines then…):: “Senator has an affair with someone his own age!” or “Ancient Blurkn profile shows President doing kegstand while underage”?

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I don’t have a conclusion but would like to thank Blair for his excellent insight on social media that will make me rethink my own (even though he’ll never, ever find this blog… nor care to read this far).

Brand Urself

The best lesson I’ve learned in life is to insert your personality into everything you do. I got laid off from my former job at the beginning of April and immediately began applying for jobs and internships. After sending out dozens of resumes and cover letters without any responses, I applied to be a strategy intern at Big Duck.

Shortly after starting at Big Duck, I quickly realized I needed to do my own branding if I wanted to get a job. I previously maintained only a sparse, unsearchable Facebook profile and a blog (this one) I updated irregularly. By injecting a little of my own personality into my public postings, I realized I could encourage prospective employers to get to know me before I even walked in the door.

I made sure to invest only in platforms that I would update regularly, would have a wide audience, and could use to cross-promote each other.  Then, I toyed with a few themes for my online presence with the top two being “humor” and “job resource” and I combined the two. I decided to maintain just a blog and a Twitter account and remove any non-job related statuses on my Facebook.

Other key aspects to building my online personality and brand were keeping consistent usernames across all platforms and using my full, real name in profiles. If an employer were to do a google search of my name, they’d immediately find my LinkedIn profile, blog posts, and Twitter. Without keeping consistency across all sites, it could be difficult for them to tie the LinkedIn to the blog to the Twitter.

Next, I focused on content. So many people use social media to post their gripes and annoyances, but that just tarnishes your personality on and offline. Additionally, posting for the sake of posting doesn’t help your cause either. For example, whether you’re building a personal campaign or one for your organization, would you want a follower to know that you are fighting with your parents or you called someone a bad name because they upset you in line at the Gap?

No. You wouldn’t.

I made sure to post mostly about the trials and tribulations of the job hunt, retweeting tips from and communicating with career experts, and funny things that pop into my head. I may veer off this path every now and then, but I always make sure to never post something I wouldn’t say to a potential employer in a first or second meeting.

My short-term career goal is to build online campaigns for nonprofits. By building my own personality and brand across multiple platforms, I effectively built a campaign that I can promote and use as an example to potential employers.

Last Friday, I had an interview at a nonprofit looking for an online communications assistant. While I’m not sure yet if I’ve gotten the job, I know my online personality made a positive impact on my interviewer. She had my blog and articles I wrote in college up on her computer screen when I walked into her office. Staff members had shared my Twitter and they recognized my name when I began following them. Knowing she liked my online personality gave me the confidence to help sell my efforts as a legitimate campaign that gave me experience to help her organization.

Whether you’re looking for a job or just partaking in social media for the fun of it, make sure to inject your personality into everything you do. The results are only limited by what you do – and how strategic you are – with these emerging platforms.

The Best Tweeps I Know

Note to readers: I apologize in advance for any twoveruse of twitterfied twords that might occur.

In my few weeks on Twitter, I’ve noticed there are a lot of different uses for Twitter depending on who you are. There are the people who use it simply to be twopular by following trending topics and attempting to talk to celebrities. There are those post every single thought running through their head. There are those who use it for networking personally or professionally.

In my experience, there are two groups who seem to use Twitter the best: nonprofits and comedians. I know this might be a stretch, but I’m going to try to make the connection

The best tweeps I’ve come across truly engage their audiences. Several of the nonprofits I follow tweet regularly about their cause, but don’t overdo it. They use Twitter not just as a promotional tool, but also as a communications tool to talk to other nonprofits and thought leaders. The twommunity they’ve formed is strong and growing.

Comedians do this incredibly well, too (my favorite is @mindykaling). Although I choose not to follow celebrities on Twitter, they provide some of the best content (I try to stay away from their tweets because, otherwise, I’d read nothing else).

Both groups get that you need to post regularly to keep your followers. Most nonprofits or nonprofit professionals I follow tweet a few times a day (at least a few times a week) so I keep them in the back of my mind. The more they post, the more twonnected I feel to their cause. Celebrities, of course, have a leg up in this category because… well… they’re celebrities. They often don’t even need to tweet in order to retain followers.

Additionally, they use Twitter as a tool to further their goals. Nonprofits have built a community in which everyone has their own expertise and is ready and willing to share their knowledge with others in the nonprofit sector. If they have a question about how to build a subscriber list, they can post it to twitter and answers instantaneously.

The best celebritweeps are those that don’t write about what club they’re going to or being in the record studio… they’re the ones that write about their daily lives. They are able to communicate about their work (when we’re most familiar with their end-result) and make it relatable to normal people. Musings about daily life that we come across as well make them more relatable and more popular in the twitterverse and IRL (had to throw that in there).

The absolute best thing about Twitter is that it allows you to become whatever you want to be. More than anyone else, these two groups seem to get it.