With Birthdays Come Great Responsibility
In the old days, like back in 2007, birthdays came and went with little online fanfare. Sure, you got phone calls and voice mails that needed to be returned. You might even have gotten some email birthday wishes that needed to be replied to. But the main celebration revolved around real life friends and getting together.
Today, and in fact, it really is today for me, you must monitor your large social networks for birthday wishes. I am connected with many more people online than I would see in person on my birthday. In my case it started with Facebook messages yesterday, and continuing with many more today. I also received messages on Twitter from friends and bots. And it is my responsibility to keep up with the messages all day long and thank each and every person for their wishes. They are truly appreciated.
Happy Birthday to Blog
I will take this occasion to wish my blog, and me, a happy birthday. It is now 4 years old. I am somewhat older. Recent milestones of my blog include the migration to Wordpress in the spring and my 1000th post a couple weeks ago. Lots of things going on other places, so check out my other sites at the right and my social profiles for a fuller picture of what’s going on. Cheers.
Talk Social News: The Lost Guest Co-Host Edition
My friends, Wayne Sutton and Kipp Bodnar, produce a daily video podcast called Talk Social News, a show about the latest news in technology and social media. Read more
Girls Rock North Carolina
Last week Grace attended Girls Rock NC. The girls were put in bands at the beginning of the week, and they chose a band name, wrote a song, made posters, t-shirts, learned instruments, practiced their song, and made rock zines. She had a great time. This is a tremendously empowering experience for these young girls. Below is the video of Grace’s band in an extra performance. Tonight she performs at Cat’s Cradle, a well-known indie rock club in Carrboro.
Here are photos from the last day of camp rehearsal and here are photos from the Pittsboro show.
My Smiling Avatar
Almost 2 years ago I signed up for Twitter and needed a picture for my avatar. I took the picture on the left, made it black and white, cropped it and went with it. I am not a huge fan of posed pictures, and when people smile in pictures I prefer it to be natural, rather than posed. So I used a picture where I was not smiling. It was fine at the time. I did not want to be smiling.
As I joined other social networks, I used the same picture. I understand branding and this picture was part of my personal brand I was building. My twitter name and many other profiles referred back to the name of this site, Digital Papercuts. Twitter did not let me have enough characters, and I actually delayed joining Twitter for about 3 months until I was happy with my abbreviated username, @dgtlpapercuts. Friends still struggle to spell it after all this time. What letters are left out, they would ask for the umpteenth time.
Time went on and this picture became more and more ingrained as my personal identity. As other people who knew me joined my online communities, they would comment on the picture. You look so serious, they would say. But it was my personal brand and I was unwilling to change it. The best comment I ever received about my avatar was via Twitter. I was speaking at a Triangle Tweetup event and someone tweeted, “@dgtlpapercuts is not as badass in person as his Twitter avatar.”
And not only did I never change pictures, I never decorated my avatar either. I never wore a Santa hat or a red nose, and I never turned it green.
It became such a brand statement that I even put the picture on my business card. There is nothing more cheesy to me than a picture on a business card. But every time I was ready to revise the card and remove the picture, someone would remark upon receiving my business card, Oh I know who you are from Twitter. It meant I had succeeded in creating a personal brand that people recognized.
Well, recently I have heard the rumblings about my avatar. Why aren’t you smiling? It’s not a good picture of you. You should take a new picture. You look so serious. Want me to take a new picture of you?
Last week I did a survey of my followers, asking if they were smiling in their avatars. The response, although small, was convincing. People smile in their avatars because they are happy. People would rather engage with a smiling, happy person, even over the internet. The social aspect of social networking overwhelms everything else and many people eschew the traditional business portrait look in their avatar.
I interviewed my friend and business partner, Wayne Sutton, last week and asked him the smiling avatar question. He is not smiling, but he is trying to create a professional impression after transitioning from a caricature avatar.
I took a new picture where I am smiling. Since I take a picture of myself every day, I take lots of different kinds of pictures. Sometimes I even smile. I made it black and white for consistency, but I did not crop it as tightly as the old picture. For the time being I am only changing my Twitter avatar and background, so I can get used to the new look. If this new photo seems to work, and resonate with my followers, I will begin to change the picture on my other social networks.
And if major brands can change their logo, I can change mine too. Let me know what you think of this change in the comments. And let me know if you change your avatar frequently, occasionally or never.
Managing Twitter with Wayne Sutton
I talked to Wayne Sutton, social media strategist, about how he manages his Twitter followers, his multiple Twitter accounts and why he’s not smiling in his Twitter avatar. Read more
Musical Protection
There is something infectious about this song that makes me want to listen to it over and over. I am not normally a fan of dance music, but I really dig the beat. I am also not a big fan of the message, either, and I can chalk that up to being a parent, or maybe just leading a relatively boring life. But there is one redeeming feature that is actually a product placement. Trojan condoms took the unusual step and paid to be included in this video by Cobra Starship, featuring Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester.
According to an article in the NY Daily News, “even though Trojan is a regular advertiser on cable channels such as MTV, Comedy Central and Spike, Jim Daniels, vice president of marketing for the brand, said he is frustrated with restrictions the major broadcast networks continue to place on condom ads. ‘We have these media barriers, and so we are looking for ways to broaden our reach,’ Daniels said. ‘If this is effective, we will look at doing more of it.’ ”
This is one more instance of the blurring of entertainment and advertising due to the fragmentation and dissolution of mass media. Bands can’t get their music heard, so they license it to advertisers for use in commercials, and now brands are paying musicians to feature products in their videos so they can reach the band’s audience.
(Hat tip to Brand Freak)
I Lego NY
Illustrator Christoph Niemann blogs for the New York Times blog, Abstract City, and he recently posted a series of representations of New York using Lego. He currently lives in Berlin and he posted “During the cold and dark Berlin winter days, I spend a lot of time with my boys in their room. And as I look at the toys scattered on the floor, my mind inevitably wanders back to New York.”
My initial expectation when I clicked on the link was that I would see a series of notable NYC landmarks or complex Lego cityscapes. But what he did was create the smallest details of New York in Lego. Anyone who has spent any time in New York will recognize the difference between Starbucks and street vendor or deli coffee cups above. And just a note, regular coffee in NYC comes with milk and sugar. This post is a reminder that even the biggest things are made up of a series of minute details. Here’s a link to the post.
Arizona Quarter Completes Collection
In 1998 the US Mint started its 50 State Quarters program. They changed standard quarter designs to ones honoring each of the 50 states. The designs were created by each state and produced five per year for ten years. Early on in the cycle, I got 2 coin books to keep all the quarters. My son had just been born and I got a second for his future sibling.
A few weeks ago we went through a tin of state quarters and finished out the books with the quarters from 2007 and 2008. We were missing one single quarter: Arizona. Well, yesterday I got an Arizona quarter as change to finish off these the second of these two books. I showed it to Grace today and she was excited.
A ten year collecting project is finished. The US Mint has started releasing District of Columbia and Territory Quarters. There is no room in the book, so we will not be collecting those. Do you have a ten year project that you have completed?
hesketh.com is Hiring
Raleigh-based strategic web shop, hesketh.com, is hiring an online strategist and a blog post with an embedded video seems like a much better way to apply for this type of job, rather than a boring cover letter and resume. Don’t worry, Mom, I sent them an email with a resume. too.
Here are some links to things I mentioned:
Triangle Tweetup Recent community building event with 250 attendees.
Raleigh Twestival Local version of worldwide event to raise money and awareness of global clean water initiatives. We raised nearly $2300.
Triangle Social Media Club Helped revive local chapter to share social media knowledge with community.
North Carolina Wine TV Online video show reviewing North Carolina wine, creating awareness of North Carolina wine industry and building online brand.
And if you want to see the formal job stuff, here’s my LinkedIn Profile. Contact me via email, phone or your preferred social network.
UPDATE (7/8/09): I had a phone interview today, and I though it went pretty well. We’ll see if I have a follow-up interview.