Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Blog Gone
January 25, 2010
As I slog through the 2000+ unread emails in my inbox at 4 a.m. it occurs to me that the emotional well I’ve been falling into for the past two months is much, much deeper than I’ve been admitting to myself.
I’m about 1/3 the way through December and pausing to write this because I need to do it right now or it will simply be another blog post that I’ve thought about and haven’t written.
I haven’t really looked at my inbox since December 1st, 2009.
No, really. From December 1st through today, January 25th, I have let everything in my online life pretty much do the metaphoric equivalent of “Go To Voicemail.” I didn’t even know I was capable of doing that.
What happened?
Oh, I suppose I could say it was a combination of seasonal depression, a series of disappointing revelations about other people and relationships, the feeling that somehow I failed miserably at my last job, and a dozen other issues piled one on top of the other until it just snowballed into me ‘checking out.’
But the end result was pretty much that I hit a level of apathy and depression that let me just walk away.
The thing is – it’s this horrible spiral. You don’t let people know that it’s not just their emails you aren’t answering because you’re not seeing those emails at all. And they start to think there’s something wrong that is specific to them. Then there are repercussions.
Too many things fall through the cracks. You realize even from a huge emotional distance that there are probably things sitting in your inbox that are long past the point of “easy fixes” so you just avoid the inbox with more determination than ever and more things & people fall through the cracks.
I’ve never really experienced this sort of thing before.
I’ve been wired for so many years that it’s second nature to me to open up the computer and close out the rest of the world when I’m withdrawing into myself… In the past, it was phone calls, social events, and in person contact that fell by the wayside. I’ve never just ignored my email for weeks.
Then there’s the blog thing.
Oh, the blog thing.
It’s another “I just can’t face it today, I’ll try again tomorrow” area. Why? In my head, blogging but ignoring email is sort of the same as not showing up for work, not calling, not explaining why – but sitting in the coffee shop in the lobby of the building where you work pretending that there’s nothing out of the ordinary.
How could I write here when there are people who have sent me dozens of emails without so much as a “Lucretia is out of the universe right now, please leave a message at the sound of the beep and she’ll get back to you when she stops spiraling out of control” response?
So no email, no blogging. What else fell into the apathy well?
Twitter. Meaningful interactions online. Work. Projects I’d committed myself to but haven’t even touched. Pretty much everything that had to do with the computer except, oddly, mindless Facebook games. Oddly, if it was something that consisted of repetition without strategy or conversation, I’ve been fanatical about it. Given that I’m usually attracted to the opposite, I’m still trying to figure that one out.
What didn’t fall into the well?
My family. My daughter and my husband – and a number of my extended family. A few good friends. Getting up out of bed, eating, getting through the bits of the day that are really necessary if you’re not going to live in a dark closet.
What a switch that is, I tell you. As far back as I can recall, when I’ve had to drop some of the balls we all juggle in life, work, family and everything else, I’d retreat into either books or my online world. Then again, those were usually much shorter periods of time. A few days, a couple of weeks. Never before has it been quite this extended.
But today I’m unleashing my secret weapon against my own apathy & depression: anxiety.
No really. It turns out that if you let anxiety out of the box you’ve been stuffing it into for so many years you find that a good, solid panic attack can do wonders toward getting you back in the game.
I say this because I’m at 1443 unread and working my way down. I’m deleting outright the things that I know don’t need my time… I’m letting myself know that I have to face the music in a lot of cases and that some of the things that fell through the cracks will be unrecoverable. I’m using fear of what happens if I don’t do it nownownow outweigh the wall of apathy that has let me pretend that I’d “start doing things right tomorrow” only to ignore it again.
I’m not sure what that means for this blog, honestly. I really have a lot of stuff I want to write about – just as soon as I take care of the things that I absolutely must address first. But here? I’m not sure. I’ve clearly got some stuff to work out in my life before this ball can definitely be picked up and put back in the ones that I’m keeping in the air right now.
But at the moment, I have to get back to that inbox. Those 1443 unread emails are not going to magically disappear if I don’t. And I want my online life back. So first things first.
If you’re reading this and you’ve emailed me since December 1st? I apologize – expect to hear from me shortly, part of which will include a personal apology. And thanks for bearing with me long enough to read this despite my resounding silence in the other arena.
If you’re reading this and you want to email me? Can you hold off a bit? I promise not to make you listen to nasty, homogenized, crackly hold music if you can’t – but I’m not promising I won’t hum ‘Girl From Ipanema‘ if you insist on hanging on the line.
Twitter Lists – Hot or Not?
November 1, 2009
This week the rest of the Twitterverse got a look at the long anticipated Lists feature. Despite the polite request by Twitter for the beta testers to keep it mum, rumors had naturally leaked about their existence. The careful systemwide rollout by the Twitter team heightened the anticipation and excitement as more and more users logged in to see that the new feature had been added to their account.
The technorati have been weighing in with mixed reviews. Some folks like Robert Scoble love the feature and others like Chris Brogan find it to be less than desirable.
In the next few days to weeks, there will be dozens of posts on Lists – because it really is a radical change in the functionality of Twitter and will continue to have ramifications the effects on the usage of the platform.
Of course, like any good GeekMommy, I’ve done my own tests, research and analysis. And like any other blogger out there, I’m ready and willing to overshare share my findings with you.
Pros and Cons
For the sake of clarity, I’m resorting to ye olde bulletpointed list. It seems that embedding analysis in long paragraphs tends to get the information skimmed and comments pop up that get stuck on misconceptions.
On the Plus Side
I find it good to look for the positives first. After all, tools are created to be useful, right? And if I’m being candid, this tool can be really useful. Used beneficially, I can see where it’s very appealing.
- Sharing Great Resources – Lists make it easier for you to share good resources with someone who isn’t as familiar with the people you follow. If you’re a political wonk and know that 2 dozen people out of the thousands you follow already are the ones to read when it comes to current politics? Making a list for those who wouldn’t know which ones you’d suggest is an awesome tool
- Filtering Your Own View – granted, most people who want or need viewing filters have already switched to a 3rd party application such as Tweetdeck, Tweetgrid or Seesmic that allows them to create groups. But this is built in Twitter integration. The benefit of which is that all of those 3rd party apps will have to incorporate the ability to view Lists, so you don’t have to rebuild your groups if you move from app to app. The groups will now be lists and only have to be built and maintained in one place.
- Viewing Other Peoples’ Filters – Twitter used to have an awesome feature that you could view someone else’s twitterstream the way they saw it. Many of us used this as a good way to find new people to follow – you’d go to a user’s profile that you liked/respected/found interesting, click on the tab that let you see their stream and see what they saw. When that feature went aways it was a loss, because you could no longer put yourself in someone else’s seat. Now, with the ability to follow someone else’s public List, you can regain part of that functionality. Since Lists are currently limited to 500 members though, if the author of the List follows more than 500 people, at best, you can get a partial view. Still, if the List mirrored someone’s “preferred view” you might see what they look at most of the time in one of those apps like Tweetdeck.
- No Commitment – presently, when you follow someone else’s list, you’re simply giving yourself a link to that view, not following any of the list members. Again, it’s more like clicking over to see someone else’s stream than actually adding people to yours. Sort of a try before you buy. You can always click to view the members of the List and follow or unfollow folks from there.
On the Minus Side
- Noble Intentions Are Not the Norm – the potential for abuse/misuse of Lists is high. Let’s be candid, shall we? There will always be people who use something with the best of intentions and there will always be those who use it with the worst of intentions. If the beneficial uses outweigh the destructive ones? Then it’s a good idea. But relying upon people to not abuse something or use it for harm is naive. Let’s talk about how this feature can be abused, shall we?
- yes, this is a real troll lister
1) Negative Lists – it’s all well and good to find yourself on the “Really Smart People” list, it’s not exactly a joy to see your name on the “Stupid Egotistical Ass” list. Sure, we can say that people “shouldn’t care” or “should grow thicker skins” but ’shoulds’ and ‘ares’ are two different things. The truth is that most people are hurt when people say mean things about them. Especially in public. Worse yet? What if that list comes up on the first page of Google? Sure, it’s not supposed to mean anything really – but what happens when the HR person Googling your name comes up with a bunch of links to lists that are vile? Do you really think that impression won’t linger in the back of her mind?
2) Gaming Lists to Swindle the Unwary – for quite some time now, there has been an element on Twitter that has used high “followers” numbers to indicate to potential clients that they were some sort of “social media expert” and the unwary were not clued in to the number of tools that allowed people to ‘game’ that number using loopholes that allowed them to artificially inflate those numbers. Lists will be even easier to game. That the number of lists one is on is shown on a users profile page is a weakness that will be exploited. “I have over 50k followers and am on over 300 Lists for Social Media Experts” is a phrase that we can expect the unwary to hear as they are pitched by these “experts.” How can you game them? Far more easily than getting 50k followers. Each account is able to create up to 20 lists with up to 500 names on the list. Expect to see services that say “join this service and create 20 lists with names of other users and you will be on thousands of lists yourself shortly!” Yes, this will happen. Yes, the knowledgable will discount the influence of number of lists quickly. But just like people still think that number of followers means something as a metric, so too, they will look at number of lists as one.
- Unintentional Hurt or Offense – Chris Brogan covered this thoroughly in his post so I’ll just outline it simply. I know that we’re all supposed to be emotionally secure adults, unaffected by inclusion or exclusion from being put on someone else’s Lists. I know that more than one person is going to comment about that below. But can we drop the pretense? Even the most secure, well adjusted person feels a little twinge of disappointment when s/he isn’t included by someone s/he respects and thinks values them back. Sure, I don’t care what a stranger on the Internet thinks of me – but I sure as heck do care what someone I respect and value thinks of me. If I don’t make your “really awesome cool people” List? I probably won’t say anything, because I’d rather pretend that it was accidental rather than intentional… because finding out that it wasn’t an oversight? That would hurt.
You know what? I don’t want to hurt or offend or exclude anyone I care for. And I know I would. I know that at some point, someone I care about would feel left out or disappointed. I don’t want to be “that gal” – the one who left a dear friend off of the list and didn’t find out until years later that she was hurt but didn’t want to say anything.
- People Are Subjective, Not Objective – so you set out to make a list of “Thought Leaders” in your area. You’re adding people to your list when you realize that @UserX really should be on the list. S/he is generally considered a thought leader after all. But damn it all, you *hate* @UserX! You think s/he is a fraud. You just can’t bring yourself to endorse @UserX. What do you do? Pay lipservice to @UserX and add them? Or leave them off the list knowing full well that you are being less than honest with your list? Tough call, isn’t it. Emotions can and will play a factor in most peoples’ Lists.
- Changing the Twitter Ecosphere – this one I know won’t make a lot of sense immediately, but it will in a couple of months. Lists will change the way people engage on Twitter – and probably not for the better. The ability to follow someone *else’s* list without actually having to commit to anything will change things in the long run. As a new user, I now no longer have to commit to following someone to see them regularly. I can follow a list they are on and read that list whenever I choose. Do you know I’m interested in what you are saying? No. Do I know you exist? Not necessarily. Currently, if you follow me, I get notified. I go and look at your twitterstream and decide if you’re real, not spamming me, and not offensive. If so? I follow you. Now, you follow a list that follows me. You might @ me, I might @ back – but if I click through to your stream and see you aren’t following me? The likelihood I’ll follow you is slim. Have we engaged? Do we have a relationship? Nope, not really. What will this do in the long run? Not sure exactly, but relatively sure that it’s not going to help me connect with new people. The value of Twitter for me has always been in connecting with people and I suspect that value is just about to be diminished.
Well That’s Most of My Story
So honestly, if you made it through all of that (wordier than I intended again) I think you might understand why I am opting out of the whole “List creation” experience. I certainly don’t think it’s “evil” – but I think the negatives outweigh the positives.
I kind of hate the fact that I’m going to have to monitor the Lists people put me on semi-regularly to see whether or not I have to block some trollish attempt to put me on a derogatory list. Every moment that I have to spend doing that is one that I don’t get to interact with people I want to on Twitter. But I’m also not going to wait until Twitter figures out how to monitor their own nifty feature to see that it’s not abused.
I appreciate if you love the positive aspects of Lists. I just hope you now appreciate that there are negative aspects which I doubt Twitter considered when they implemented the feature.
What did I miss? Something positive or negative that hasn’t come up yet?
Add to my perspective please. But if you’re just going to say “people shouldn’t be offended”? Yeah, don’t waste your time. I already addressed that above under Negative Lists.
And then there was silence… But now? Not so much!
September 17, 2009
Someone asked me the other day if I was a blogger.
I didn’t really know how to answer that. I mean, the last time I actually updated this blog was back in *cough* June.
It’s not that I didn’t think about writing. I did. I thought about it hard every night as I fell asleep exhausted. It turns out that being a full-time mom and working for a startup is harder than it sounds.
My daughter was home all summer and yet, there were still things that had to be done. So of course, something had to give — unfortunately, in my case it meant writing on my blog.
But my little Buttercup went back to school at the end of last month, so I really have no excuse not to get back into blogging. Except for that part where I’m still presently working for a startup. It’s amazing how “spare time” becomes “not a second to spare” in that case. I kind of forgot. But then, the last startup I worked for was pre-kidlet. Sheesh. A lifetime ago! That would’ve been 2001!! Whoa.
Still, there are some many things I do want to write about and share with y’all. So I’m going to have to just make the time, huh?
Much travel coming up. As usual? I’ll bring my camera and it will live in my suitcase. Good thing I’ve got an iphone now and can embed Whrrl stories in my blog!!
Whrrl ? Oh, you’ll see… they’re my favorite obsession of late. You know how I was talking about Twitter back in 2007 and y’all thought I was crazy? Yeah, well… if you’re not using Whrrl by 2011 I’ll be surprised.
Check it out. Pretty awesome. I think hey deserve a full write up of their own. Aha! Something to write about this weekend!
This Whrrl story was created by me and some of the Whrrl guys and friends out in Detroit at the MARS home office. We were there for a visit. What an awesome day! Wish you could’ve been there with me, but this is the next best thing! 
Consistently Inconsistent
June 10, 2009
If today’s Wednesday, this means I’ve posted 3 days in a row.
Are you back up off of the floor yet? Yeah, I know, it knocked me for a loop too.
I’ve been saying for a very long time now (months really) that I was going to get back in the saddle and start posting regularly. But I think it started being sort of a running joke amongst my friends and a bit of a lie that I told myself so that I could pretend that I wasn’t suffering from blogging burn-out.
Why lie to myself? Well, I think it’s kind of like a mid-life crisis — you don’t want to admit that you’re buying the Porsche and shopping at the hipster clothing stores because you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and it seems you’re a little soft around the middle and crow’s-feetish around the eyes.
I expect I’ll see a large number of my friends over the next couple of years going through it themselves. There’s a point in your blogging career where you have to tell yourself that one post a day is actually sufficient (thank heavens Twitter seems to have helped a lot of folks burn off the excess urges!) and a point where you feel like a day isn’t complete unless you’ve blogged. Then there’s the point where you start wondering if you’re running out of interesting things to say. Then the point where you wonder if anyone would notice if you skipped a day.
And then…
The mid-bloggylife crisis comes when you get to a point where you start arguing with yourself that the reason you aren’t posting today is because you were too busy, too tired, too uninspired, too something… But that you’ll totally post tomorrow. Or maybe Monday. Or maybe you’ll take a hiatus and come back fresh and ready to post. Or maybe it’s just that blog – if you closed it and started a new one…
But the truth is that like anything creative? No matter how much you love doing it – it’s possible to burn yourself out and need recharging. And no amount of resolution or self-deception is going to change that.
So here’s what I did — about a year and a half ago, I closed down multiple blogs I’d had for 7 or more years — claimed this one as my primary blog, and spent all of my time on Twitter.
What’s that? Oh, I spent all of my time on Twitter because it was a different type of creative outlet. A new shiny toy. If I had been a musician instead of a word-chick? Blogging would’ve been my guitar and Twitter would’ve been my side-trip being obsessed by sitar. (If you’re not Beatles obsessed or old enough or to remember? I’m invoking George Harrison here.)
Where am I now?
I think I’m over my burnout. I’m hesitant to say that, because let’s be honest, 3 days in a row does not a regular habit make. But it’s a start. So is admitting that I seem to have rediscovered the joy of writing something that doesn’t limit me to 140 characters and lets me have really in-depth conversations with folks in the comments section.
Okay, so I’m a little squidgy around the middle, and I have “laugh lines” so deep that you have to wonder what the heck is so darn funny. But there’s nothing wrong keeping the Porsche and having a mini-van that sits beside it in the driveway, is there?
Before we get too lost in metaphorland, what I’m trying to say is that I believe I’m back to blogging and twittering at the same time. Yeah, I know that doesn’t seem so amazing to some of you, because you’ve been doing that all along. But I promise to be sympathetic and not tell you “I told you so” when you hit your own mid-bloggylife crises.
After all, sometimes a few months of metaphorical sitar lessons are good for the soul…
Why Mom Bloggers Aren’t Flipping for Just a Sample of Your Product
June 9, 2009
We’re back to one of my favorite topics — Bloggers and Compensation.
There’s a few folks out there who will tell you that if you ever pay a blogger for anything, you’re violating some ‘purity code’ – some imaginary Blogger Code of Ethics that we all got to vote and agreed upon (there isn’t one, getting bloggers to agree on anything is like herding cats.)
The thing is? There are different types of commercially related blog posts. There are reviews (where a blogger gives you her opinion on a product, company or service), there are announcements/informational posts (similar to press releases, usually just a heads up – but sometimes links to deals or sales) and there are contests/giveaways (where opinions don’t necessarily enter into it, but prizes are given away on the blog that are supplied by a 3rd party.)
But these are *very* different types of posts from the blogger’s perspective.
Even though it may take someone about the same time to read each of them? It doesn’t take the same amount of time to create or maintain them.
We constantly get emails from PR people that seem to think that all we really ought to post are the announcement type. It seems that they often mistake bloggers for “new reporters” and think all we should do is repackage whatever info they email to us. (Come to think of it? There are some blogs that do seem to do just that… but not most.)
We also often get emails that say “we would like to send you a sample of our product or service for your review if you are interested.”
But lately, increasingly, companies are turning to the contest/giveaway model and approaching bloggers to see if we want to hold promotions to give away either samples, trial-codes, or prizes to our readers in order to promote their company or products.
Some of them get what it is they’re asking for and some don’t.
We don’t have “web guys” who do the work for us. Hosting a contest? Means figuring out the details, creating all of the content, posting the contest, running it fairly, monitoring entries for validity, choosing winners and notifying them, plus either fulfilling it by shipping at our cost, or acting as a go-between for the company and then posting the winners.
But it seems that there’s people out there who think that all that work isn’t really work. That they shouldn’t have to pay bloggers for doing the same work they would have to pay the guys in marketing, PR, and those who do their own websites.
If you, as a business, went to your web guys and said “we need you to run a contest on the site – create the design, the contest rules, the elements and the content, run it, monitor the entries for validity and to make sure no one is cheating, then contact the winner(s) and get back to us with that info – oooooh, yeah, and we can’t pay you your salaries this week, but would you like some free laundry detergent or diapers instead?“ They’d laugh their butts off. Well, before putting in a complaint with the local labor board and putting their resume on Monster.com, that is.
Yet that’s what keeps repeatedly being asked of us. “Will you work for free?” And for many of us, the answer is now becoming “well no – I’ve got this other company over here who is offering to compensate me for the same work and isn’t treating me as if being a blogger and/or a mom somehow made me lose my business skills and common sense.” Because seriously?
Yes, I love helping my readers experience new things and potentially win something… but I’m not going to be the only person working for free in this equation.
And that’s not because I’m some sort of prima donna who thinks I’m important. Yes, you can tell me that there’s “a ton of mommy bloggers who would jump at this opportunity.” But all you’re telling me is that you will take advantage of anyone you can. Whether a blogger is an “A-Lister” or someone who is still building her audience? They still have to do the EXACT same amount of work. Essentially, you’re asking people to work for free for you “for the exposure” or for “a product sample” but you? Yeah you there offering me this wonderful opportunity for my readers? Are *you* getting paid? Or do you just do that PR & marketing gig out of the goodness of your heart because you love it so?
How much is a bottle of laundry detergent or a package of diapers? Somewhere between $15-25 depending on the size? That’s just horrid. It works out to about $2-5 per hour or less if you run a contest right. One that isn’t just a few lines of “hey, company X is giving away a year’s supply of potpourri” or “this author wants me to hold a contest to give away 5 copies of his new book comment here to win.” One with no promotion, no concern about running a fair contest, no checking to make sure you’re doing a good job.
Would YOU work for that?
Sorry – I just needed to get this out there. When bloggers ask to be paid to host your contest on their sites? We’re not being demanding or unethical – we’re getting fed up with being treated like “mommies” or clueless bloggers who don’t know any better. You’re sure as heck getting paid by whatever company you work for or are doing PR for. Are *you* being demanding or unethical expecting someone to value your time and effort?
And yes, I love being a part of the chain that gets awareness about your client, your product, or your business to your potential customers – but while I may write for the love of it? That’s different than working for you for free.
In the interest of disclosure? This post was in no way contributed to or sponsored by anyone. These are my own thoughts & opinions and I’m more than willing to give you this piece of my mind for free. Or, well, at least for the price of the bandwidth that I’m paying for and the server hosting that I’m paying for and well… you get the point.
It’s Not About the Mommies, It’s About the Criminals
May 26, 2009
There’s this little drama that keeps swirling around the blogosphere. It involves paid-blogging, product reviews, honesty, transparency, integrity, liability, blah-blah-blah…
You can go debate it elsewhere if you like. There’s a ton of bloggers sure they have the answer and it’s whatever position they happen to hold on the matter. Do a quick Google and you’ll find a lively argument and people ready to verbally eviscerate each other over what you should or shouldn’t do. Or skip it – it’s getting kind of old, honestly.
But lately, every time you read one of these, they bring up the fact that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering revising their guidelines (for the first time since 1980!) and that it’s looking at Bloggers and how Social Media is impacting marketing.
Unfortunately, this is usually being dragged out as some sort of threat to “Mommy Bloggers” and whomever dredges it up tries to use it to imply that moms who blog product reviews “better watch out!”
Okay, seriously people. Let’s get to the real, shall we?
1) Moms (and Mommy Bloggers) aren’t the only ones out there doing product reviews. It’s just that they’re the latest group to get focused on by mainstream media and by marketing bloggers. But Tech Bloggers have been doing reviews for years. Magazine writers have been doing product reviews for years. Did you think that every one of those beauty & fashion magazines that tout the latest boots or makeup haven’t been sent samples? If so, you are living in fantasyland.
Companies have long been sending product samples to those who review – be they old-school magazines, bloggers, or even the currently-hot-but-totally-misunderstood-and-mislabeled “Mommy Bloggers.”
2) The FTC? They’re trying to revise their guidelines so that they have the power to go after criminals. That’s right, I said criminals. Those perpetrating fraud on consumers. Those guys. The bad guys.
Don’t know who they are? Here… let me show you.
Now, given that I don’t want to drive traffic to scammers, I’m not linking these websites, I’m just doing screenshots. Each small image links only to a larger, more detailed capture of the sites.
Now, what’s the difference between these “blogs”? The names (Alexandra vs. Claudia) and the locations (Georgetown, TX vs. Aurora, CO) – but other than that? Not much. Same pictures, same text, same everything.
As I said, I’m not about to drive traffic to these scammers – but you can see from the URL’s in the image above that they aren’t presented as marketing sites – they come across as blogs. Mommy Blogs.
I suspect that like many of these scams, these particular sites will disappear soon enough – to be replaced by the exact same everything but on new URLs. So I deliberately linked the images above to a basic scroll capture. For whatever reason, SnagIt couldn’t get the “comments” that are at the bottom of each page — if you’re really curious? They are simply text that is the exact same on both sites with the exception of the names, and are designed to imply that people have tried these and they work.
So why would the FTC want to be able to go after these guys?
Because if I’m a woman desperately trying to lose weight, and I come across one of these sites, I’m probably only getting in so far before I give up. What $50? $100? Then I’m certainly not going to tell anyone I got scammed. But I’m also not going to take the time and money required to sue them. Besides, how do you sue a con artist successfully?
This is where the FTC comes in. If they have not only the ability but the mission to “get these guys”? Well it benefits us all. Because “these guys” are going to keep suckering people in by pretending to be “moms who just stumbled on this amazing secret!” and it doesn’t do any of the real Mommy Bloggers and Product Reviewers any favors.
I’ve never known a real Mommy Blogger who claimed that she lost 25 pounds in 2 weeks using a miracle cure. But these sites above? I’ve seen their ads on Facebook and on Google. In fact, that’s where I first saw them. I clicked through an ad because it said that someone “near me” had discovered this “free” miracle weight loss method. I was curious what the scam was.
But I knew it was a scam before I clicked… My heart goes out to the overweight woman who gives it a try only to find out that she’s signed up for “autodelivery” and auto-billing… or given her credit card information to some guy in Malaysia.
So enough with the scare articles about the FTC coming to get us all, okay? Honestly, they’re just trying to make the Internet less scummy… and Mommy Bloggers? Not scammers. Not scummy. Really.
Nielsen Top 50 Power Moms in Digital Media
May 11, 2009
May has been a rough month for me blogwise. (Didja notice??)
A week long battle with the Flu in our house followed by 8 days on the road – oh yes, there are blogs coming from those 3 events as well!! – meant that the first time I could even think about blogging something coherently was this past weekend. Annnnd I didn’t.
But on Friday May 8th I got the most unexpected and welcome surprise. I woke up to find I was on the Nielsen Top 50 Power Moms in Digital Media list. (page 5 under Tech Moms – it’s an MS PowerPoint presentation – if you need a free viewer go here)
What does that mean? Well, according to the report:
Nielsen Online’s Power Mom 50 is a collection of leading voices in the mom blogosphere based on a blend of blog posts, comments and link love developed through ongoing monitoring of more than 10,000 mom and parenting blogs as tracked by Nielsen Buzzmetrics. In addition to site engagement, number of Twitter followers, ratings and other metrics were included in the calibration to provide a comprehensive sphere of authority and influence.
I was a little stunned, truth be told. Because I have been so absent from this space of late. But then looking at the stats clearly shows that… In fact, it was just the push I needed to get blogging again.
Then while I was perusing the list of other Moms, two things occurred to me:
- I know a lot of those women. Most of them, in fact. And I’m completely in agreement with Nielsen that they are amazing, influential, insightful Moms and social media voices. It’s just an amazing honor to be listed amongst them. Almost as much of an honor as it is to know them and to work with them in this space.
- This isn’t really about me – it’s about you. Without those connections I have through this blog, through Twitter, and through other Social Networking sites, I might as well be standing in an empty field shouting to myself. This is really not just about me… it’s about US. You and me together, and all of the people we interact with all over the Internet. I’m in awe of the power of technology to bring us all together and give us this voice.
So I want to take a minute right NOW (before writing another post or updating another status) to Thank You. Whether you’re a reader, a fellow blogger, one of the companies I work with or even just someone who Googled your way here? This would never have happened if it weren’t for you too.
You are amazing – and I aspire to live up to your faith in me. Thank you.
Knock, Knock – Anybody Home?
April 30, 2009
Yes, I’m still alive…
I just, apparently, am in over my head right now!
I’m in Chicago for SOBCon. I just left Cleveland where I was for the Stouffer’s Blogger Round Table event #LetsFixDinner. I will be in Arkansas on Monday next week for Mind of Moms. I should be home some day Wednesday.
Between now and then it is my intention to *try* and get up to date (partially) as I have some amazing stuff just sitting here in my head (and half-written on my hard drive) that I really want to share with you all.
But I’m brain dead and going to sleep to get up in 4 hrs to finish some overdue work before I have to leave this hotel in the a.m. and go check into another one.
Can someone please send me a couple of clones to get these posts up? No? Okay, how about just some people better at posting about why they haven’t been posting lately?
Yeah, I know, ever the optimist!
Bit of administrative stuff before I close laptop and crash?
Congrats to Alba Geuvara whos tip “@GeekMommy My Green Tip is for everyone to convert to using kitchen towels instead of paper towels#11MOMSGREEN #GMContest was randomly chosen from all valid entries for the Earth Day contest for a Brita Water Pitcher.
Thank everyone. More soon. Promise. And also promise it won’t be another “why I haven’t posted” post. I don’t have time for any more of these!
G’night!
Back In the Saddle Again…
April 22, 2009
I didn’t mean to fall off the face of the blogosphere!
Somehow, 2 weeks slid by when I wasn’t looking. I swear, it went by in a heartbeat! I had this Hannah Montana post all written in my head and set to go (yeah, no – you’re not getting out of that. There will still be a HM post – those of you without Miley-Cyrus-wannabes in your households can just skim on by. Those of you with your own little diva will appreciate it.) All I know is that one minute it was “Easter weekend” (which for those of you without kids in our school meant 4 days off, not 2) and there was skiing, egg-hunting, over-doses of chocolate, and lots of family time. That was followed quickly by Buttercup’s first ’sick at school’ event. GeekDaddy’s tire blowing out in the rain on the way to get her. The weekend (plus) of Family Flu.
All culminating in yesterday – the Tuesday-which-should-never-have-dawned. Buttercup’s third day of 102° fevers and trip to the pediatrician with GeekDaddy was only outdone by my waking up to find out that my upper right molar had shattered and I had apparently swallowed 1/4 of it without noticing. 1.5 hours at the dentist freaking out (more on that later) resulted in my being referred to a specialist for a “particularly tricky” root canal. And coming home to no back fence – because our neighbors apparently decided to tear it down yesterday to replace it – with absolutely no word to us. Hopefully they’ll replace it today – otherwise the dog has 2 yards to look for stinky things to roll in.
Did I mention I’ve written and published this post twice now? Yeah, the aether ate the other one. Wednesday isn’t boding to much better than the rest of the week so far.
But I’m determined!!
There will be blogging, my friends – oh yes there will! I apologize in advance if it looks like I’m the only one in your feed reader. But it’s good stuff, I promise. And come on, you know you missed me!
You did miss me, right? 
So You Want to Know Why I Twitter?
April 7, 2009
The other day, I wrote a quick email to someone I’d met at a conference who was still trying to “get” the appeal of Twitter. I realized that from the outside, it’s just a confusing mass of people posting what could seem like endless noise & then telling their friends “it’s so amazing! You would love it if you understood it!”
So what’s to love? Well, I think I broke it down pretty well – so rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I’d post it here. Granted, there’s a little tweaking so it’s more ‘blog friendly.’ But here you go.
The Basics of Twitter’s Appeal
The thing about Twitter is that it’s so powerful as a tool, it’s almost daunting. Because you *can* do so much with it, it’s often hard to know where to start. I liken it a bit to a Swiss Army Knife – the uses are endless – unless you don’t really have a goal in mind, then it’s just a series of complex little do-hickeys that pull out and push back in.
For me, I primarily use Twitter on a number of levels:
1) Networking
2) Information
3) Sharing
4) Socializing
1) Networking — I’ve met so many people via Twitter that I would never have had ‘access to’ under normal working situations. From “A-list” internet folks to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to “celebrities” – people that I couldn’t just walk off the street and say “Oh hi! I want to meet you!” and have that become a reality. Additionally, I’ve found that I have formed bonds with many of these people despite geographic distance.
2) Information – you know that little news ticker at the bottom of CNN? In a way, Twitter is like that for me – only customized. I don’t get repetitive news about something I don’t find important – but rather I get breaking news, industry relevant news (like upcoming conferences!), information that is coming out of a specific conference, information about people and their current experiences. The wealth of information in one place is amazing – but it’s tailored to my interests, because if I don’t think someone provides value? I simply don’t follow them.
3) Sharing - if I’m someplace and someone says something I think should be shared with my network? a few keystrokes and a send and it’s shared. Rather than thinking “oh! I have to remember that so I can tell everyone later” and running up against “how did she say that? I forget” – I’ve already shared it and I can reference it myself later. Anything that I think would be useful, entertaining, or informative? It gets twittered.
4) Socializing – sometimes, it’s more conversational – not necessarily earth-shattering information, or work relevant even. Just touching base with my friends and being social. A lot of people take issue with this use, saying it shouldn’t be used “as a chat room” – my reaction is simply “then don’t use it that way.”
The thing about Twitter is that everyone uses it to the ends that best suit them. A lot of folks will tell you how they think you “should” use it (or shouldn’t) but in the end – it’s always a customized experience.
There’s no right or wrong way to use Twitter – there’s just ‘more effective ways’ to use it to get out of it what you want. This is by no means a comprehensive list of how folks use Twitter to meet their needs – it’s just a simple ‘why I, GeekMommy, find it appealing and worth so much of my time.’
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