Sick of The Blogosphere

Okay, it’s official.. I am sick of reading blogs.  I no longer want to read “social media” or “SEO” type blogs because they are honestly not saying anything new.  When I was first starting out, they were great, but now it is just the same old thing for a popularity contest.  Once something new comes out that is embraced, like Plurk, everyone rushes to their blog to be the first one to talk about it.  That’s fine.. and I get it but… I am too busy to care about blogging about these new tools and sites.  When something comes out, lets just assume I am using it!

I am also kind of sick of SEO blogs that are written in complete buzz words. Everyone is afraid of blogging seriously now because they might be accused of using poor strategies.  My opinion, if you a good strategist… you are probably too busy WORKING to blog.

I really respect bloggers who have slowed it down a bit and have decided to discontinue reading those bloggers who create bad SEO link bait to get traffic.  Sorry… I am too busy working to read these blogs now.

By no means am I upset about any of this.  I love my Twitter because I can see my peers links to their blog posts with titles and if I am interested, I will read it.  I no longer have to even go to my RSS reader.  In my opinion, if it is a Social Media or SEO blog and it is not using Twitter, than it is a bad blog. However, I am still reading some entertainment and music blogs through a reader.

From now on I am only going to use this blog when there is something really worth writing about.

Executing Social Media L.A. Wrap Up

The Executing Social Media conference this year has produced many strong connections and have proved many wrong. A lot of people had great experiences being able to sit in on round-tables that discussed exactly what they needed to talk about and for others, it was just going over a lot of the same buzz words over and over again. But the great thing is that everyone participated. Whether you played the role of a teacher or a student you gained a ton of knowledge on socializing on social media which is topic I feel many people have a hard time explaining.

Got to meet Brian Solis of PR 2.0 who explained social bookmarking and networking sites and potential PR disasters and successes within them.

The one issue that really struck a chord with me is, Where is all of this going? The Future of Social Media, written by Jackie Peters for Mashable. Peter Shankman spoke on a lot of topics that I am sure people are thinking about with clear minds now. Everyone is always so consumed with how unorganized social spaces are, and naturally as an expert in his field, he reassured us that there will have to be a method to the madness soon. His thought, the future of social media is one grid, one feed, opt in or just watch. It’s really fascinating if you think about it.

One very important thing learned and reinforced by the pros is the necessary purchase of the Flip TV camera. First pointed out by Phil Gomes when he shared an interactive review of the ESM Live Will it Blend of a Rake. Showing how 3 minute videos are more powerful than commercial, more engaging, and can be put into interactive forums with communities like PR Open Mic.

Mental Note- order Flip TV Camera before getting back to NYC!!

To see the Twitter feed of what things were being discussed at ESM, check the Summize of #ESM. Additionally, I have posted some videos on the Frozen2Late YouTube Channel.

On the plane ride back to NYC I am going to write some more in depth posts for the Morpheus Media MLog and the SEO- Chicks.

Is there anything you want to hear about specifically?!

Executing Social Media, Interactive Conference

I apologize for the lack of updating, I have been super busy at Morpheus Media. We are working on some amazing things over there, and in the midst of it all I have neglected this blog!

This week I will be attending Executing Social Media, Interactive Conference & Workshops in Los Angeles, California.  I was really interested in this conference, not only because it is purely about Social Media, but because it is an intimate conference with round-tables called; “How can brands survive in the new media universe?”, “Best Practices in Creating Online Communities”, and “Don’t Just Join, Participate and Contribute.”

Those titles definitely get me excited!  Additionally, Brian Solis will be speaking. I have been reading his PR 2.0 blog for quite some time now.  You might know him for Bub.blicio.us.

I am very excited because this will also be my first time in Los Angeles, California. And I am definitely interested in getting out of NYC for a little bit.

Definitely expect some more posts out of me here and over at SEO Chicks during the next week!

Social Media Mafia: The Big Sitdown in NYC

Last night was definitely a fun night.  Conversations made more sense than the last episode of The Sopranos, thats for sure.  Might be because I got to have dinner with the Conversation masters, members of the Social Media Mafia.

I got to meet a lot of wonderful people who were all in NYC for PodCampNYC. I love meeting Twitter efficient people who live cast and know how to bicker back and forth.

It was definitely a please to meet Chris Hambly, founder of the Social Media Mafia.

Fellow musician Jody Gnant from Pheonix who livecasts on Ustream about her life and her music.

David Blumenstein, who lives in one of my favorite neightborhoods and  assured me he has been involved in the internet since the 70’s (which is awesome).

Marshall Sponder, artist and web analyst from Brooklyn who handed me a really neat looking card with a self portrait on it.

Christine Cavalier & Annie Boccio, who from what I hear on Twitter is awesome at PodCampNYC.

And Julia Roy, who I have been following on Twitter and Facebook for a while and definitely was a pleasure to meet and share pizza with!

…Hope I wasn’t in too many Qik videos!

Pownce Me

If you didn’t hate this guy enough already….

Digg founder Kevin Rose launched Pownce to the public this month. I discovered that I already had profile, and logged in. I must have had an invite and signed up and forgot about it. So I do what I always do when I am faced with a new social media site, I looked at every possible page and got lost in it for an hour. Then, I started adding friends… the usual suspects.

If you don’t like Twitter, you will most likely hate Pownce. It has the same concept, except Pownce is more tied into Digg, almost shamelessly. In my opinion, it is a really quick way to ask all of your loyal friends to Digg your stuff in a “Twitter” style. The Scobleizer wrote a good comparison of the two.

Twitter for sure has better expressions, like “Tweet”, “Twittle”, etc. Pownce is kinda lame in that sense. This matters in my opinion because it all becomes part of our vocabulary, our langauge. Twitter also has that cute little bird.

I jotted down some things about Pownce:

• Really easy find friend/ add friend feature.
• Comment system that is easier to follow than Twitter.
• To improve your Pownce you can Upgrade for $20 per year .
• You can add your Profiles on other Social Networks, Screen Names, and Websites on your main page.
• You can Forward other people’s posts to other friends.
• Displays Youtube videos on posts. (I wish I could call these Tweets but it doesn’t work!)
• There are advertisements/ sponsors every 5o posts or so with discount Pownce codes. (Eliminate this with Upgrade)
• You can post a file up to 10MB (upgrade = 100MB)

Obviously, I get the idea but it’s not as good as Twitter in my opinion.

Social Media Hair Dye

As some of you might already know, I recently dyed my hair blonde (rather I am in the process). The first thing I thought about when dying my hair is how this might affect my Social Media avatars. There are so many reasons having a recognizable avatar is important. It is how you are seen on the web.

In most cases, I use a picture that was taken of me at a family function by my cuz Elizabeth.

I have had black hair for years. It is the avatar for 95% of my Social Media Profiles. Many people don’t even recognize me with blonde hair.

Here is my blonde hair in progress.

So here is my dilemma: What should I do? Do I change all of my avatars to a new picture or leave my old one? Will this change the way I am viewed online? Or even worse, will this make me unnoticeable at conventions and meet ups?

All advice is greatly appreciated.

Social Media is Fattening!

Warning: This is a RANT. It is completely my opinion. There are no calories in Social Media…..

In every effort to keep the holiday spirit alive, I have been doing a lot of research on New Years Resolutions and how it played a big role on Social Media websites. Personally, I have made many New Years Resolutions not only for my usage of Social Media, but personally.   How lovely I can intertwine the two!

Call me a pessimist, but I feel that Social Media has a huge impact on my energy levels.  I notice that I have seriously put all of my energy and thought into Social Media.  It tires me out… I look at the time on my laptop and it is already 11PM by the time I am done with my nightly updates. I Sometimes choose to check my readers instead of working out, or walk the dog.  Now this is a contradiction to my Resolutions!!

How does one make Resolutions to do a better job of understanding and keeping up with over 25 Social Networks, reading more blogs and Working out more & Living a Healthy Lifestyle? I try to practice healthy balances… How does everyone else do it?

I saw this post once on Edgadget of a laptop on a treadmill…

I wonder how the people in my office would feel if I moved this into my cubical?!

Vote for Me to be a Social Media Ninja!

                

I am running for Social Media Ninja over at Collective Thoughts.

Even though I am a baby in the community… I would really appreciate if YOU could vote for ME.

Here are the contest rules:

1 - Please only vote for one candidate.
2 - Votes must be received by Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at midnight GMT.
3 - Candidates cannot vote for themselves.
4 - The decision of the Collective Thoughts team is final.

VOTE HERE!

(What are my chances of winning with this goofy picture!?)

PS: I think it is pretty cool to be best known for Mixx.

Kina Grannis, “Gotta Digg” Update

Kina Grannis is the Social Media Superstar of the month!

According to Snarfd, Kina Grannis popular song “Gotta Digg“, which I wrote about earlier this week has exploded on Digg and all around the blogosphere, has landed Grannis major attention in the music industry.

She recently appeared on The Drill Down, a show frequented by top Diggers and social media enthusiasts, where she spoke about the success of her video on Digg landing her management deals.

Her blog, (born Dec 15th, 2007!) was originally created to enter her in the Super Bowl Contest, is Two Weeks For Kina. Kina’s You Tube (born on November 14, 2007) video has acquired her Social Media success!

Stats:

• You Tube Views: 186,566
• You Tube Comments: 592
• Favorited: 991 times
• You Tube ratings: 1816
• Channel Subscribers: 632
• Channel Views: 18,106
• Blog Backlinks: 1,000
• Digg Votes: 6,065

Go Kina!

10 Websites that Lived in my Tabs during 2007

2007 was a huge year for Web 2.0 and my Firefox browser! Becoming almost unbearable, there are multiple sites that must be updated and checked on an hourly basis. Thank goodness for RSS readers. With the uproar of Social News, Social Media, and the overwhelming number of blogs to read, I thought it was about time to pay homage to the sites that have been living in my Firefox tabs.

1. Facebook- As I discussed in my latest SEO Chicks post…this was the year of Facebook.                                                                                                                            
2. Stumble Upon- This great tool can generate huge traffic spikes or keep you entertained for hours. Don’t forget to “Stumble” all my posts. There is also a topnotch Facebook application for Stumble Upon users.
3. Digg*- Such controversy that I can’t help but to partake. Digg is often fun but also really annoying. I keep it open in my browser because I have a lot of friends articles to digg. “Gotta Digg”                                    
4. Twitter- I’m really on the fence about Twitter. I get it and its fun and a great attention getter for 5 minutes… I’m not sure if I could ever get used to doing it. I tried doing it from my Blackberry, from IM, from the website, and I just don’t think it’s for me. However, I keep it open to read about my friends who love twittering.
5. Sphinn-Quite honestly one of the most addicting Social News Sites to pop up. It’s like an instant update of the industry. If I missed something while reading my daily feed, I get caught up on Sphinn. And of course its great to be able to give friends and mentors the props that they deserve. It’s like a huge community that is feeding each other!                                                                                                                                  
6. Mixx- Even though this site is still very new, and I don’t see the word “beta” dissapearing anytime soon, it’s fun! It has fresh appeal to me and in my opinion is a lot easier to use than Digg, so it lives in my tabs!
7. Mashable*- A social news blog that updates so frequently, I am forced to read and re-read daily. Because I tend to get fustrated when I see the number (319) in my feed headline, I usually revisit Mashable during the day outside the reader!                                                                                                              
8. Engadget- The insanely popular gadget blog that in my opinion is as important to read as any blog. I’m a gadget fiend, and I love reading about new technology… I just wish I could afford half of the things reviewed on this blog.                                                                                                                                                     
9. SEO Book- The guy who wrote the book, Aaron Wall, has such useful website and blog! I research keywords using his tools all the time as well as use his SEO plug-in for Firefox. I keep his latest research tool open all day long.                                                                                                                                
10. Gmail/Chat- OK, this is a given…but it lives in my tabs and on my Blackberry! I am a big fan of G-mail and G-Chat. A few weeks ago AIM integrated with G-Chat and now this is the most important tab on my browser. Last week, I had an issue with my Gmail account and I couldn’t sign in…. I felt like a part of me was missing.

* These sites are most often read using my Bloglines reader.