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Feb 12 2012

The RIP Storm: Whitney Houston's Death Shows the Agility of Social Networks

Category: social media,social media marketing,tech opinion — jmacofearth @ 11:26 am

"How would I know…" she sang. Sure she was a huge icon when I was in high school. She had a voice, beauty, poise, and then a way-messed-up boy friend. Sometimes the most beautiful are the least self-confident. In the end we will find out that Whitney Houston was killed by her own fame and loss of that fame. But what we learned this morning was TWITTER smoked the Main Stream Media by 27-minutes on breaking the Whitney Houston story.

I call it the RIP Storm: An artist dies (always a tragedy) and the social media announcement machine roars to life.

Even if the sentiment is nothing more than "RIP Whiney Houston." It seems like everybody has to say their few tweets about it. Here's why some of it is worth paying attention to.

27-minutes before the "press" got to it, Twitter was on the scene! That's practically a day on the internet.

Okay, you say, "So what."

Let's look at a few of the posts that might give you a little respect for the RIP Storm.

2.5 million tweets an hour as news of Whitney Houston’s death spreads (topsy labs)
Twitter Breaks News of Whitney Houston Death 27 Minutes Before Press (mashable)
Whitney Houston’s Death Brings Social Media Together in Record Time (Kat's Corner)
And a little love for the artist who left us: Milestones: Whitney Houston (New York Times)

So which ever side of the issue of artist tragedy and drug abuse you come up on, the power of the social networks is more evident this morning. And silencing the RIP Storm by filtering out "Whitney Houston" won't do anything to stem the flood. But I don't have to pay attention to it.

Blessings on Whitney and her family.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://uber.la/2012/02/rip-storm/

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Tags: artist dies, most tweeted, RIP storm, social media, social networks, twitter records, whitney, whitney houston

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Feb 12 2012

Crazy Little Thing Called Love: If You Can't Say Something Nice… Well, Shout It

Category: community building,executive learnings,social media,social media marketing,teaming & leadership,tech opinion,trust & reputation — jmacofearth @ 7:05 am

People call it going negative. Others understand that people don't forward a boring email or promote a vanilla Pinterest PIN. Well, think about it, do you?

My motto has been, if you aren't failing you aren't learning. If you don't lose followers on a regular basis, then they are not paying attention and you are not making yourself clear. I am not for everyone, call it an acquired taste; Like a David Letterman (the 80s – 90s version, before he got bitter and regretful) or the Onion, either you get me or you don't. And if you don't follow, that's cool.

But… And here's where the kid gloves come off: If you attack me (long form {comment} or short form {tweet}) be prepared to defend yourself. My weapons are facts, figures, references, documents, historical participation on social media sites like LINKEDIN, and mainly your own content. Like where you put your attention? What is it that you are constantly going on about?

I've done a bunch of posts on sentiment, or how negative am I really. And this past summer, I had a moment (five weeks) of silence where I contemplated exactly what I was going on about here. (and on facebook and twitter and google plus) And what I decided, and am aspiring to, is remaining exclusively on the positive side of the discussion. If I dish out criticism (Losing My Way on Dell.com) then I try also to offer the solution. (How To Fix Dell.com – And Dell's Branding Crisis) That's my plan.

In general I am an up and happy person who shows up on the sunny side of things. Until I'm down. Then I see dark clouds overhead, I rant a bit, and I go dark myself and don't surface for days.

THE BIG A-HA: in social media it doesn't really matter if your right. Nuance and subtle humor do not translate to 95% of the people. And most of those who think they are getting it, are probably taking it the wrong way. So… Stop the sarcasm, never use cynicism, and if you go negative then close with the solution.

Now I am not saying I'm right, or that my techniques and linguistic dexterity is always ON or appropriate. What I am saying, is that if you say something back it up with Passion AND Facts. If you attack, be prepared to meet the ninja in me.

Don't take the easy road. If you're going to criticize, do the extra work and offer a solution. Make it fiery. Nobody "promotes" or shares boring content. (Oh, if you can help it, don't drop the f-bomb.)

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://uber.la/2010/01/shout-it/

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Tags: @laniar, @omarg, about me, And don't drop the f-bomb, cynicism, dark clouds, david letterman, dell, don't be boring, don't drop the f-bomb, emotional response, f-bomb, facebook, facts, fk, go dark, going dark, going negative, goingnegative, IMFHO, inappropriate, kid gloves, linkedin, lists on twitter, NING, nuance, offer solutions, passion, paying attention, remain passionate, sarcasm, sniper, social media, social media is not hate, social media ninja, social media rant, staying positive, subtle humor, sunny side of things, tech opinion, tech reviews, the onion, the twitter matrix, the twitter way, tools, twitter lists, twitter matrix, twitter tools, twitter way, twitterlists, twitterway, vanilla digg, wrong way

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Feb 01 2012

Sh*t Social Media Strategists Say (the viral version)

Category: just for fun,social media,social media marketing — jmacofearth @ 3:26 pm

You've seen the viral post. You've laughed your social head off. Here's more, and more, and more.

Watch directly on YouTube: Sh*t Social Media Strategists Say

USER SUGGESTED ADDITIONS:

VinTank: "these wines made me pee." @James Jory
Forecast, "I'm going to pee here later" – @John Refferd
Instagr.am, "Here's a film-based photo of my pee" – via other web version
Yelp, "This was the best pee ever, five stars."
CitySearch, "Looking for a place to pee?"
Siri, "I can help you pee. Just a second."
Google Maps, "The best place to pee within 5 miles"
Rotten Tomatoes, "There was nothing but pee, pee, pee. It was awful."

From today's Urban Dictionary: Peehicular Manslaughter While using urinal and the piss splashes back at you or the guy standing next to you.

Thanks for making me viral. I'll pay you back later.

Here's my little poke at myself. Since the video does not provide a still, I have taken to rotating out to my Steve Jobs drawing. It kinda looks like me too. So there is the THE SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST in contemplation of this video. Hmmmm….

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://uber.la/2012/02/sht-social-meme/

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Tags: funny video, humor, humor meme, sh*t, sh*t meme, sh*t social media strategists say, social media meme

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Feb 11 2012

Another SXSW – Another Dollar; Unless Somebody Else Is Paying, I'm Not Going

Category: social media,social media marketing,tech opinion — jmacofearth @ 8:39 am

I'm not paying for my own badge to SXSW. (Clarification: I'd love to go, but I'd rather have paying work.)

Therefore I have only a couple of ways to actually get into the biggest interactive conference of the year.

Volunteer
Get invited to be on someone's panel
Beg Hugh Forrest
Get employed and have them pay
Get a client to pay
Steal a pass

While the conference is massive and cool, I believe the value is in the people you meet. I'm still merging and jamming with the folks I met in 2009 and 2010. And some of the ideas I learned are still part of my toolkit.

The truth is, however, it is a wonderful schmooze fest. When I was a panelist in '09 it was a beautiful thing. They didn't pay me, but they almost did. I got my badge free and it said "presenter" on it. (Impressive, right?)

The next year, I was between contracts and I was looking to boost my visibility and I bought my own ticket. And I worked the hell out of the show. I didn't really do the parties at night. How in the world could I do those and make it back to the 8am sessions? The quote of the conference for me was some gentleman talking about all the young people from his company at their first conference. "I told them, I didn't come here to party. Have fun. Knock yourself out."

Now it's 2012. Last year I missed the conference completely. And you know what? I didn't really *miss* it. I followed some of the discussions on Twitter and looked at some of the presenter presentations. It looked like a great conference. But I enjoyed the Austin weather, where I live, and instead I hung out in the hammock and read, went offline and played tennis, hung out with my kids who were on Spring Break, and rested up for the rock'n'roll that would follow the close of the interactive festival.

I think this year I might be a #SXSbed participant again, and take Spring Break as a break.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://uber.la/2012/02/another-sxsw/

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Tags: 2012 sxsw, austin, interactive festival, missing sxsw, missing sxsw in 2012, sour grapes, sxsw, sxsw 2012, sxsw film, sxsw interactive, sxsw music, sxsw sour grapes, sxswi, texas

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Feb 10 2012

Mental Jujitsu: Nothing Ever Works Out, Get Over It and Get to Work

Category: executive learnings,social media,teaming & leadership,trust & reputation — jmacofearth @ 11:11 am

In the end things are not going to work out between us. We can agree that eventually we will go our separate ways. Business, friendships, marriage, even true love will eventually fail us. That is not a pity party. It is a point of strength. Let me explain.

"Embrace Change." is one of those rally cries that never really got to the heart of the matter for me. Sure things will change, this wonderful position we've created inside of a large corporation will eventually be reset and you will be sent across to another department and another manager. Good luck with that. I don't want to embrace the change. I want to fight against it. I want to attempt to keep things just as they are, when things are good. Of course, it's a futile effort.

So if we start the relationship without expectations that things are going to work out, we can get right to the questions: 1. what do I want; 2. can you help me get it?; 3. can I help you back in any way?

We are all motivated by what we want. And every relationship (yep, every single one) contains some value proposition between the two parties. In one-to-one consulting the arrangement is pretty straight forward. After a few brainstorming lunches, if there are no benefits, the relationship will fade. Or if one of the parties tries to introduce or promote the other and the efforts are not reciprocal, it's pretty simple. If we are not related and we are not in business together… AND eventually things are not going to work out between us, we can get right to the pros and cons.

Pros: working with someone else offers more ideas, comeradrie, additional experience, additional skills, positive momentum.

Cons: working with someone can be a pain in the ass, they have expectations, the project requires twice the budget to feed both of you, they can be late, they can NOT offer the reciprocal leads.

We've had them both. We have "colleagues" who we are still in touch with, ten years after we worked together. And we have "colleagues" who we won't add to our LinkedIN contacts list.

So let's assume the failure in our relationship is not the fatal kind, but one of opportunity and convenience. It takes a lot of energy and effort on both sides to make a relationship go. And when one party's interest begins to wain, the mutual balance is upset and before you know it it's been six months since you spoke to them.

For now, let's assume that we are not going to be doing business together in six months. Then let's take the time we have and compare notes and see what benefits we can offer each other. While so much of today's "business networking" is WIIFM (what's in it for me) we need to understand that the ultimate answer is NOTHING. And from there we can decide if we want to walk into that next pitch meeting with or without this new "partner."

I've had some business relationships that are maturing on 10 and 15 years now. I have failed them. They have let me down. The ones that still show mutual benefit and effort are still rich and fruitful. We may go through a long period of silence, but once you have found a true PARTNER, even if things don't work out, they will always be ready to try again when the next opportunity comes up.

Can you fail your partner and still pick up the pieces to remain partners? Is partner too strong a word?

Bottom Line: Let's agree that we are going to break up right now, before we sit down to have coffee. Then let's explore what connections we share RIGHT NOW. There is no time to wait around and see if things work out. They won't.

But if there is a white hot opportunity that you and I can do together, today… I'M ALL IN. 100% IN.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://uber.la/2012/02/nothing-works-out/

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