Social Media

I mentioned last week that my daughter made her first appearance right after the Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl. Wow. 17 years. And by this time next year, she might have a decision where she’ll be going to college in the Fall of 2012. I hope we’ll be done with the college application process. Looking at the list of things to do during the junior and senior years is the fastest way to give a heartburn to a parent. I think Tums is calling me. (I prefer Dicarbosil, but they’re no longer on the market.)

As hard as we might live in the moment and appreciate each day, time races on at high speeds. (That’s the best I could come up with to avoid the tired “Time flies.”)

Best headline from “North Texas” ice week: “Snow MG!”

Speaking of OMG, Bitrebels listed me as one of Twitter’s Top 75 Bad*bleep* Women. (I have three kids, you know. This is a safe for work website. *grin*) I followed over half of these great women before the list came out, so I’d say it’s a valid list — not another popularity thing. Me and popularity never go together. OK, better stop with the self-deprecating business before it spins out of control. Anyway, thank you, Bitrebels.

Lots of brain food this week! Not to worry,  it won’t take up your weekend.

Brain food…

• Nancy Pearl’s Rule of 50 for dropping a bad book: Writers, another reason why those first few pages must grip readers. Readers, we have so many books to read — don’t waste it on the ones that don’t captivate you. [Link: Daphne Gray-Grant]
• Amazon Kindle Firmware 3.1 Update: Right now, the update is only available to the latest generation of Kindles (third). I hope they plan to make it available for earlier generations as I’ve been longing for print page numbers. If I can upgrade to 3.1, it’ll be another reason to like the Kindle. It’s growing on me.
• 40 Ways to Build Trust in Your Brand: Excellent tips for every business.
• How Your Name May Cost You at the Mall: Fascinating. Those of ya with last names R through Z (women, go based on your maiden name), what’s your experience? Thinking about it, I don’t recall doing anything in alphabet order other than lining up for 5th grade and high school graduations.
• How the Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie Can Help You Improve Your Problem Solving Skills: I remember trying to read this book in high school as I’m an Agatha Christie fan. I couldn’t get into it. But of course, that could change today. Anyway, I love Avil’s use of the book to share lessons learned.
• Post Super Bowl Twitter Hangover: Frank’s experience of using social media too much during the Super Bowl is a lesson we need to learn. This is one reason why I stop participating in Twitter chats. It took time away from family and getting things done and didn’t pay off enough to make these sacrifices.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• What Lies Are We Telling Our Loved Ones: Hmm… don’t think I’ve committed these… am I lying to myself now? [Link: Guy Kawasaki]
• Chart: It’s Valentine’s Day. What Should You Get Him? Not Kosher, but funny.
• The Social Media World Before Twitter and Facebook: I used bulletin board systems (BBS). In fact, I met my husband through one. I wouldn’t tell people this in the ’90s, but thanks to the Internet and social networking — I shout it from the social media rooftops.

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My second child and older son turned 12 this week. Wow. Last year of the tweens. It won’t be long before he’s taller than me (5.5″ to go). E Since he loves to play video games, I’m sharing this article I found on his birthday: Factoids of the day: Game not over. The article highlights how games make us better. It’s all true, but we still need to limit video game time for kids or else they’d play all hours. Gotta get ‘em movin’!

The Challenger disaster happened 25 years ago today. I was in school, but I can’t recall how I found out. The only thing I remember feeling stunned while watching the explosion in front of a clear blue sky and seeing the looks on the family’s faces that looked neither happy or sad because they didn’t know what happened yet. AP asked Facebook readers where they were on this day. It’s a chilling read.

Brain food…

• 22 Social Media Marketing Tools: Apps for managing multiple social media IDs in one spot. [Link: Alan K'necht]
• Ten Useful Hacks to Make Things Happen: Another winner from Valeria Maltoni.
• If You Think Someone Is Mentally Ill: Loughner’s Six Warning Signs: I believe it’s important we’re all aware of these signs. Unlike sinus infections and diabetes, mental illness is an unseen illness — and a very real one that needs treating infections and pneumonia.
• Five great Gmail timesavers: I didn’t even know about Smart Mute, but then I don’t fall into too many group conversations — thank goodness.
• Thsrs: The shorter thesaurus.
• Kill Your To-Do List: Some people just need to dump to dos altogether and try this one. Be sure to check out the comments for more great advice.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• This is the web right now: Another winner from Oatmeal.
• iPad Game for Cats: Smart doggy!
• Social Media Guru Robbed after Using Foursquare: This is actually a parody of a very serious problem. I stopped using the service months ago after reading several true horror stories. I loved the service, but it’s just not worth the dark side of it… [Link: t2]
• 36 Facebook T-Shirts to Match Your Status Update: First it was Twitter tees… now FB. LinkedIn far behind? Nahh… too serious of a social network.

I’m grateful to live in a time and a place where we treat people for who they are inside not what’s visible.

Brain food…

• Authors: How to write a press release for your book: While press releases aren’t the best route for marketing a book, you can make sure that the PR you do is the best possible with these tips. [Link: Jane Friedman]
• How to Write Copy that Connects using a Tried and True Formula: One thing I work to do… avoid “we” or “company name” and make it about “you.”
• Social Media Measurement 2011: Five Things to Forget and Five Things to Learn: I love this article. It’s not your usual social media metrics article. For one, it says forget about following numbers. Agreed. People ask me, “How did you get so many followers?” That’s not the point. The point is whether they’re the right folks. Of course, if you’re looking for a social media expert and see a self-proclaimed expert with 20 followers — pass.
• My Favorite Question: Makes you think about a company’s strengths. “If brand dies tomorrow, and you had to deliver its eulogy, what would you say missed the most? What would make you genuinely sad?” This helps writers who work on content for companies.
• 5 Tips for Freelance Mentor Relationships: Some of you may have  gotten emails from newer writers asking for advice. At first, it may frustrate you because you’re thinking, “I worked hard by myself to get where I am. Why don’t you Google that?” True. But put a positive spin on it. The person contacting you sees you as a success and that you have the answers.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Should I Work for Free? Debated whether this was brain food or fun. It’s both. [Link: Karen Swim]
• Pac-Man Ghosts: Another mashup. Inky, Blinky, Clyde and Sue replaced by Waldo, Stormtrooper, Superman and Megaman.
• Apple’s Rise to Number 1 Infographic: How Apple went from Homebrew Computer Club to number one.
• 15 Funny Exam Answers: Makes me wonder how my teachers would’ve responded if I had given smart aleck answers. Probably just mark ‘em wrong.
• 10 Most Curious Birth Stories: I would’ve love to have a kid born in 09/09/99, 03/03/03 or 05/04/03 (missed by one week), but it wasn’t to be. Fascinating stories.

Credit: sxc.hu user branox

It’s hard to ignore when a Twitter user tweets about the latest edition of “[Your expert topic] Daily” and mentions you in the tweet because one of your tweets appears in the latest edition. While every Twitter user loves a mention, these feel phony. A Twitter paper — often automatically generated using a service like paper.li — can easily include 30 tweets. (I randomly selected a newspaper and counted stopping when I hit 30.)

It doesn’t take long before I figure out the deal after my first Twitter newspaper mention. The newspaper generating service posts a tweet that says, “The latest newspaper is out! Top stories today by @you, @him and @her.” This automated sentence is misleading. The folks mentioned didn’t write the stories. They wrote the tweets that appear in the newspaper.

It’s one thing for people generate their own newspapers so they have a place to start reading the news. It’s another to drag us in so they can get “goodwill” points for mentioning us in a tweet just because our tweets appear in the edition. (You can stop mentions from paper.li.)

Most successful Twitter users share one or two resources in a tweet. Sharing a newspaper leads us to 20+ resources. Too much. It’s easy to see why some like these newspapers especially when the user creates one that focuses on a specific topic allowing users to create their own alltop.

Here’s a Twitter discussion of the good and bad of Twitter newspapers sparked by Freelance Folder’s post on the pros and cons of Twitter newspapers. (Edited for spacing.)

shakirah_dawud: Actually I’ve found I don’t get much benefit from them–they’re mostly retweeted by people mentioned so…

TXWriter: At this point, it may be too early to tell if it is a fad or a trend. The drawbacks are real.

shakirah_dawud: Yeah–and then as soon as you said that it hit me that the app may develop more. Right now it’s alpha stage.

TXWriter: That’s my take too. It may develop more. I can see why it might be considered noise, though.

shakirah_dawud: I only include folks who tweet good info in it, like @TXWriter. I already follow & respect them.

TXWriter: @shakirah_dawud I’ve read yours, btw, and actually clicked through on posts I probly wouldn’t have read.

shakirah_dawud: Yes, but–and I’ve been asking myself this–would you have if you’d not been mentioned ? Once, maybe.

merylkevans: Even alpha, feels like RSS roundup. But I won’t say never as it may surprise us.

TXWriter: True. I didn’t *get* Twitter at first, and now I use it every day.

shakirah_dawud: They do have a sidebar plugin, but it’s too ad-like. I didn’t think people would click, so took it down.

shakirah_dawud: But I’ve been thinking about adding the link to my navbar. It’s organized; with right content, impressive.

TXWriter: Yeah, I know. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do. Experimenting might be the only way to find out.

9swords: I really like RSS roundups, I use paper.li, twitter search, feedly etc.. to find what I want to read.

merylkevans: All for roundups, just not when you tweet @mentions those whose tweets appear in paper.

While people found resources in paper they would not have found without a mention, I stopped clicking through tweets that say I appear in the latest edition. If I see a link to the paper on a site covering a topic of interest, then I’ll read it — not because someone tweeted my ID.

This is still a young tool and future releases will probably give you more control as Mathew Ingram explains the service. Simply put, Twitter newspapers look like a prettied up RSS roundup of topics using resources selected by its creator. RSS lets you import content into your favorite reading resource like Google Reader. Sharing a roundup is fine by simply tweeting the title, topic and link. Avoid “badwill” and keep your Twitter rep intact by skipping the @mentions of whose tweets appear in it.

What do you think of Twitter newspapers and tweeted mentions of folks who provided the resources?

The mysterious Paul in this case is my husband! And he arrived this very day in the year Star Trek debuted. I’ve mentioned him before, but I don’t expect y’all to memorize details in this blog. Anyway, he and the Super Bowl are the same age, so I never have to convert the Roman numerals into English. Or rather, I brush up on them using his age.

I’ve been out all day. Just finished talking to second graders about college and careers. Went well. Whew. Talking to my kids’ classmates always makes me feel uneasy until I explain to them that I’m deaf and have an accent. After that, it’s a smooth ride. We discussed writing as a job, so I had one child write a sentence on the board:

“My dog ate my homework.”

What a great sentence! At first glance, it didn’t need editing. However, the class worked together to make it better.

“My golden retriever scarfed down my homework.”

I hope this taught them the value of editing even when the original sentence has no grammatical errors.

Brain food…

• Free Ebook: Time Management for Writers: Thursday Bram shares unconventional tips to better manage your time so you can write a few thousand words a day.
• Lending Kindle Books: Brilliant. Now if we could check out Kindle books from the library. Maybe without having to go to the library to get it? [Link: Scott Stratten aka Unmarketing]
• How to Balance Twitter with Writing: Be mindful of your social media usage. It’s very easy to blur the lines of useful activity and just wandering ‘n tweeting.
• The case of Rob Sgobbo, and why writers cheat: Even if you know you won’t get caught, can your conscious handle it?
• Why You Should Never Search for Free WordPress Themes in Google or Anywhere Else: Yikes! That’s a problem for nonprofits.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• My Week of Eating Nothing But Candy: Reading this may make you feel better about limiting your candy intake. Robb says candy didn’t fill him up and it didn’t help with his mental stability. Would you know it? He lost four pounds on the candy diet. However, reading his experience… it does not feel good to be loaded up on sugar even with a peanut butter thrown in.
• Never said about restaurant websites: I may not eat out often, but I’ve seen more bad restaurant websites than good ones. On a recent visit, one was so bad that I immediately left the website.
• Top 10 Miniature Animals: Panda cows, foxes, tarsiers, oh my!
• 9 Breathtaking Natural Wonders: They are. [Link: Margie Kinney]
• From Brad Shorr: “S.C. man loses snowball fight: the funniest headline I’ve seen in ages.” May not be safe for work, but a great laugh!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Twitter chats entrenched me in conversations without losing track of the topic and reading everyone’s lips like a tennis match gone wrong. I understood every single person in the chat. I turned into the listener I’ve always wanted to be: focused and catching every word.

At the peak of my joining Twitter chats, I spent at least two hours per night on three or four evenings every week. Because I work on a computer all day and have a history of eye pain, the expected happened. Eyestrain and pain knocked me out of the chat game. After my eyes felt better, I had an “aha” moment and didn’t return to the chats.

I realized two things: the chats ate into family time and they didn’t lead to opportunities despite months of chatting, helping others and building deeper connections. One chat invited me to be a guest expert. Even though the opportunity came about because of chats, the appearance didn’t lead to anything.

Despite learning a lot and meeting talented folks, the time invested didn’t justify continuing. This taught me that social media is a great medium, but you still need to evaluate its effectiveness for you and your business. 10 minutes a day in Twitter is just as effective as one or two hours in a Twitter chat.

In those 10 minutes, I do all I can to help others and share useful resources while limiting self-promotion — typically no more than once per day.

How do add value to your business using Twitter?

Credit: The US Army

My dad was a veteran. My husband is a veteran. True story: They both worked at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, which was how they came to Fort Worth where my mom and I eventually met them. Mom met Dad through a mutual friend while I met Paul through a bulletin board system (BBS).

This sounds old — but I was swamped this week as I had a lot of volunteer stuff going on yesterday and today… so letcha getcha hot links now.

Brain food…

• Rockmelt Is Facebook’s Browser?: I read about Rockmelt and wondered why anyone would want to create another browser even with Netscape’s Marc Andreesen behind it. Also, it only works with Facebook. My prediction: other browsers will adopt some of the ideas presented in Rockmelt. Can’t see Rockmelt joining the biggies. [Link: Alan K'necht]
• Getting Your Foot in the Door with Fillers: Less pressure to come up with a full fledged article and a good way to build up a little portfolio. Key: READ the publication before you query. Can’t tell you how many times people (that I don’t consider writers) break that rule.
• 5 Staggeringly Simple Ways to Create Custom Facebook Landing Tabs: I need to think about how I can help a nonprofit org do this. Ah… time.
• Stick a Fork in Me: I’ve been fortunate to have payment issues only twice in the 10 years I’ve been in business. Disgusted at how Lori’s clients are treating her. Every writer should read this post.
• What Will the Future of Business Cards Look Like: Just wrote an advice column on this topic. Need a cross-platform solution.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Coin Sofa. Well, that’s something I can do with my dad’s coin collection… build things. [Link: Guy Kawasaki]
• 25 Nostalgic Photos Comparing Past to the Present: If you could do one of these… what would you choose? I’d choose my childhood home in Fort Worth.
• 15 Hilarious Newspaper Mistakes and Apology Notes: Bonus points for the first one. Gotta be a cool crew because they can laugh at their mistakes.

One final note… I’m disappointed in my local newspaper. They won’t print a free weekly TV guide anymore. Now they’re charging $0.75 per week. No, thanks. At least, I still subscribe… you should be happy to have subscribers … not add another reason for us to stop reading.

How do you start your day? I still start mine with print newspaper and a small cuppa coffay.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

Ah, I love Halloween. Costumes, pumpkins, candy corn, the annual neighborhood Halloween party. My youngest carved this pumpkin (of course, with Dad’s help) at his scout camp out. Goes to show you how he and my older son are different. The older son — camp out and all around the same age — did skull and crossbones.

The pumpkin I am most proud of is Snoopy. OK, I cheated and used a template. Still, I was amazed how well it worked and how accurate it looked. I do love Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. In fact, my lawn has the Great Pumpkin decoration along with two signs, one with Charlie Brown and the other with Snoopy. Got my Snoopy Halloween sweatshirt on and my Peanuts Halloween shirt underneath. (First chilly morning.)

Brain food…

• 10 Tips and Tricks for Your Business’s Facebook Fan Page: Excellent article that even shows you how to hide a page from non-fans to encourage them to “Like” to reveal what’s behind the curtain. [Link: Cathy Larkin]
• Facebook Marketing: The Busy Person’s Cheat Sheet: Demographics! How to reveal a tab AFTER people “Like” your page.
• The 1 Degree Difference: Powerful post that uses great examples to show how one little degree makes a difference. [Link: Joshua Johnson]
• Libel threat a good reason to moderate comments: It’s not that bloggers are afraid you’ll say something negative about their posts — they have to protect themselves especially when people say something about someone else.
• 15 Killer Google Chrome Features You Might Not Know About: I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t know about most of them.
• Why It’s Time to Say Good-Bye to Free Wi-Fi: Scary stuff. Scarier than the most haunted house on Halloween.

For fun because we’re allowed…

• 26 Sexy Halloween Costumes That Shouldn’t Exist: Seriously right… (No nudity or anything, but probably best not to view in an office or around young’uns.) [Link: Diana Adams]
• Pumpkin Wrecks from Cake Wrecks: This is the kind of site I wish I had thought of. I love cakes, but I am not a baker. Best of both worlds.
• 200 Pumpkin Carvings:  Simpsons, video games, Star Wars and much more.
• The Many Variety of Beers: Not a fan of ale, lagers or any of that. But a fan of this chart.

Share a favorite Halloween or Jack O’Lantern memory.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

Driving the "A" train to nowhere

I used to repeat the Columbus poem over and over to tease my social studies teacher in elementary school. Really, I didn’t know the rest of the poem. I thought the next line was “In 1493, he brought back something-something and tea.” But I couldn’t find anything like it.

Anyway, sometimes I wonder why we have a Columbus Day in the U.S. other than to give a day off to government works and the U.S. Postal Service. Heck, America isn’t called Columbica, is it? There’s a lot of controversy surrounding Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci.

My family went to Plano’s International Festival last weekend for the first time. (And I had been trying to get there for the past few years.) The neat event has performers, art, food and children’s activities from a variety of cultures. My sons took a greater interest in the Interurban Railroad Museum located next to the festival. And of all things to pick for a snack, they chose ice cream. Then again, ice cream was the cheapest option.

We actually plan to go to the Texas State Fair this year! I think the kids will enjoy it more especially with the auto show. My older son loves all things cars. I will report on this later. Keeping this short as my brain’s circuits are in slow mode today due to a bad night’s sleep. It happens.

Brain food…

• You’re Already Perfect: I love Zen Habits’ stuff. It digs deep and helps you change. While I may not have ears that hear, I know I have eyes that see and couldn’t imagine life without eyes and ears. I’m appreciating the little things about myself better than I used to. How about you?
• Missing Frank: This sad, but important post teaches the importance of depression screening. If you know someone that can’t “snap out of it,” please get help. If you don’t know how to help the person, ask someone for advice. Don’t let it go on. You’d be surprised how many amazing people you know that have depression.
• How to Backup Your Social Media Accounts: Facebook now has an export feature. Don’t fret if you can’t find it. It’s not available to everyone yet.
• How to Handle Difficult Client Situations: Eight possibilities. Eight solutions. [Link: Leslie A. Joy]

For fun because we’re allowed…

• The new mobile Twitter: So all pay phones will turn into Twitter phones? [Link: Diana Adams]
• If you do this in an email, I hate you: Another winner from The Oatmeal. Only thing I wonder about are the three social network links. Hmm… that’s my call to action. To connect at one of ‘em. [Link: DJ Waldow's What's In Your Email Signature?]
• 6 Things Your Body Does Everyday That Science Can’t Explain: (Yawn) I know why I am yawning more today. I didn’t sleep well last night.
• Favstar: Popular recent tweets.
• 200 New Species of Frogs, [ick], Mammals and More Discovered: Gold mine of a find for scientists.

Who is your favorite explorer? Why?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

I had planned a post using my trip, but I struggled to recover from my vacation all week. Although I didn’t think I needed a vacation from my vacation, my body thought otherwise. It wiped me out that I kept going to bed early and allergies took over. I had to modify my schedule to get things done. My body was probably in shock that I took the first real vacation in almost a decade that it didn’t know what to do when I returned.

The short version of the trip: Loved seeing and experiencing Boston while catching up with family in Nashua, NH.

Hope I get back in the swing next week… it may be tricky with holidays on Monday and Thursday. Happy Labor Day to all. And do take the day off. Everyone deserves a break.

Brain food…

• Make the Most of Your Memory: 10 Tips for Writing About Your Life: I ask family to fill in gaps when trying to recall a memory. People writing memoirs won’t get it perfect, but they can take steps to complete the picture.
• a brief guide to life: Trying to declutter and enjoy life more…
• Why & How Freelancers Should Exercise (from Fitness Expert Scott Tousignant): When I returned from Boston and Nashua, I felt out of sorts and had a hard time returning to my routine. While my exercise routine was off — I exercised for at least 40 minutes daily — maybe not what I usually do that day or as hard. The point was to do something and feel like I accomplished something.
• See How They Did It: 104 Social Media Case Studies: Not all 104 are on this page — it links to others elsewhere. Good resource for both B2C and B2B.
• Author Headshots: Also applies to any professional photos. I’m trying to schedule my family’s annual photos and get my professional headshots while at it because mine is from 2005. The hard part — finding the right tops for the family (we wear jeans) and for my professional photos. This part isn’t going well, but I might get some shots in my meryl.net tee (which I happen to be wearing in the photo).

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 50 Best Websites 2010: According to Time. NO resource can truly name the best websites or best anything online… but at least, you discover a few goodies.
• Stay: From the 50 Best Websites. Wanted to bring this one out so I’ll have it for myself for the next time I travel. (By then, they’ll be 10 newer, better sites.)
• 12 Geekiest Fashion Accessories: Fun stuff, but I wouldn’t wear ‘em all.
• “Set” has the most definitions of any word in the English language: 464! Better make sure we clearly communicate what we mean when we use “set” in our writing.