Sparkle Obscura: Public Art

Location: Florence, Italy
Date Taken: July 24, 2004

[Currently] 500th post.

This is my 500th post! I started blogging in August, 2007 and have written a post every other day since. That seems like a lot, doesn’t it?

The process of documenting your life through digital forums is pretty fascinating to me. My blog writing plus photos, Tweets, Facebook status updates, Goodreads list, Epicurious recipes, Amazon purchases, Pandora favorites, Delicious links, search history and every other digital footprint I have made is out there to be understood. (By the way, some people call all of that your “lifestream“. And I definitely foresee a day when it will all be aggregated and easily searched.) My family (and really whoever wants to) can have a better understanding of who I was and am because of this blog and everything I document. And given the fallibility of memories, it’s a way for me to remember for myself what was on my mind back when I was 27.

I think blogging is a pretty powerful medium. There is a thought process and curation that happens, and I’ve learned a lot about by doing it. Here’s to 500 more!

[Infovore Links]

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

10 Easy Ways to Super Charge Your Small Business’ Yelp Presence | Hubspot.com I love small business who engage customers via Yelp (and other social media outlets). I like that they go out of their way to participate!

The Missing Google Analytics Manual | FutureNow This is going to be helpful in my Web 2.0 class next quarter.

Location Based Social Networking | Whrrl SlideShare Whrrl presented this at a Social Media Club Seattle event last week. I’m now addicted to their iPhone app!

BUSINESS & RELATIONSHIPS

Exiting a Conversation Gracefully | Harvard Business Review Somebody used one of these techniques on me while I was explaining Twitter to him today! And the technique worked – no offense taken.

Practice Good Business Kharma, You Might Be Rewarded | Puget Sound Business Journal Lynn Parker was a mentor for a group of 1st year MBAs this quarter. What she says in this article is very true.

Be Lucky – It’s an Easy Skill to Learn | Telegraph Yes.

How to Sell New Innovations Without Killing the Excitement | FastCompany.com I love this… A communication tool to keep in mind.

Warren Buffett’s Tip for the Rest of Us | WSJ.com Thanks Warren!

PRODUCTIVITY

Configuring Google Calendars on Your iPhone | Robert Chien Now I can know where Scott is 24/7, not just 18/7.

Easy Scheduling & Meeting Planning | Doodle.com I love this tool – it’s a way to vet meeting times, which is seriously handy among business students who all have different calendaring systems.

GADGETS

Microsoft Courier | Engadget.com I think this is cooler than the iPad! I said it.

Pantone Huey Screen Color Calibration | Amazon.com Mmm. Gift idea! I think the color on my new monitor is funky. This would be really helpful to have.

Current: Happy Hour and RCRG

I’m on the #8 bus on my way to happy hour at the Melting Pot and a Rat City Roller Girls bout at Key Arena. I was planning on spending the evening studying and prepping for an interview. Next week is the last week of the quarter and it’s going to be hectic. The sunshine is toxic though, and after studying all day, I have no brain power left to devote to anything but roller derby.

I was also convinced by the chance to use a new iPhone app called the “Cocktail Compass”. It finds nearby happy hours based on your location. I know other apps do this, but this one in particular was rolled out by the Stranger. And it seems very comprehensive, including an option for calling a cab that also gives you your current location. The app is free so it includes (fairly unannoying) ads.

Playing with adults.

I went out last night with my friends Casey and Jason… Now that I’m a student, I like to say that I’m “playing with adults” when I’m doing anything non-MBA related. While my classmates are also adults, our conversations are centered on our classes, professors, Spring Break, TGs and Pub Club, and foosball tournaments. We really are students. I like to get out of that space whenever I can for a little perspective.

Our original plan last night was to get food at Txori and then attend Ignite Seattle. Txori worked out and was delicious. Their La Abeja (rum, honey, lemon, thyme) drink is a new favorite. When we made it to the Kat Theatre for Ignite, there was a line out the door and around the corner. None of us wanted to wait. So we changed our plans and went to an art show instead.

I feel especially adult saying that I went to an art show! They are not normally something I seek out, but this show was featuring some artists I know through Scott’s work. Augie Pagan was one of them and had my favorite piece of the show. The tribal theme reminded me of a lot of the imagery we saw in Peru. Afterward the whole group headed to the Elysian for more adult conversation, and then I crashed at about 10:30pm due to all of the excitement!

Social media marketing is a wicked problem! (PR+MKTG Camp Seattle)

I attended the PR+MKTG Camp on social media yesterday to augment some research I’m doing in the MBA program. (And because I love social media!) I was hoping the format of the conference – a series of conversations about very open topics with a wide ranging audience – would help me see what issues with social media are most top of mind to PR professionals and marketers. No such luck.

One of the panelists at the conference, Tac Anderson, called social media marketing a “wicked problem”. Go ahead and click on the link… I had to look it up too. A “wicked problem” is essentially an issue that keeps growing as you learn more about it. This is exactly what I have found in my research of social media marketing. Opening the door to the topic is letting in a fire hose of information about opinions.

The channel is still very undefined, and there are a lot of voices participating, trying to come up with a common language and approach. Another attendee likened the current state of social media marketing to the negotiation phase of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. (I also had to look that up…) “This phase is characterized by several incompatible and incomplete theories.” Yes, exactly.

I really appreciate the topic of how to integrate social media into a holistic marketing strategy. I’m trying to put a stake in the sand on some of these issues, including:

1. Where should the social media function lie in an organization – is it marketing, PR, customer service, or something else?
2. How exactly is social media used in terms of messaging and customer engagement?
3. How is the success of social media marketing campaigns determined? What are the measurements and tool for tracking progress?
4. Are there common practices that can be applied to all businesses? Or, as mentioned today, do businesses just need to try social media to see what works for them?

Let me just say that none of these questions were answered definitively today, but the conversation was good. (Even if my brain still hurts.)

Sparkle Obscura: Mini Horse

Location: Brisbane, Australia
Date Taken: August 5, 2009