Social media

A Brave New World – The New Facebook Timeline

December 20, 2011 By DanaJ Leave a Comment

My senior year in high school we read Aldous Huxley’s futuristic novel Brave New World. At the time, I thought the book was out there – in a good way of course. It was all about this future that in 2004 I couldn’t imagine. Somehow, in 1931 Aldous Huxley imagined up this future society in the confines of his mind. The book is really spectacular and by far one of my favorites ever. Just thinking about it makes me want to get back into science fiction books.

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Babies are now exposed to all sorts of technology while in the womb. After looking through the new Facebook timeline, it made me reminisce on this book. The new timeline is supposed to get us ready for the future. See, many of the children born from the last 7 years or so will have their entire lives documented on Facebook if they like it or not. The new timeline design is for the future. That future when everything that has been done in a person’s life will be documented on the site. I have friends with photos ranging through the entire timeline of their lives. From prom to high school graduation through the birth of a child. I understand we all don’t go in that order, but regardless of order it’s all documented on Facebook. Here are some things I really like about the new design:

1. I like how Facebook has recognized important life events and lets you post them in your profile. Some significant life events that you might want to tell your friends about like buying a home, losing weight, travel and new tattoos. Other random stuff that Facebook has listed: telling your followers when you get contacts or glasses. I guess that would be significant if it was a huge dramatic change. But still a slight stretch.

2. The Facebook Cover is a great new addition. I appreciate being able to have a more unique Facebook profile now where I an add a personal photo. Right now, mine is a photo from Thanksgiving with my grandmother.

3. The year timeline on the right side of profiles is a great addition. I had a great time reminiscing on my experience cheering in college and reading old comments.

4. Nosy people have less stuff to search through while looking at Facebook. Come on now, everyone that has a Facebook is at least slightly nosy. And now the timeline helps you see where people were 7 years ago. As if that makes a huge difference on how they are now.

I hope with the new Facebook timeline, Facebook will also improve their apps. My iPhone and iPad Facebook apps had to be deleted because they wouldn’t cooperate. That’s another post though, of course.

How do you feel about the new Facebook timeline?

Filed Under: Marketing & Social Media Tagged With: aldous huxley, brave new world, facebook, future, marketing, new timeline, Social media

Silverpop Agent ROI Atlanta event recap

December 1, 2011 By DanaJ 1 Comment

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the Silverpop Agent R.O.I Digital Marketing Tour 2011 at Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead. The event lasted about half of the work day. Silverpop pulled out all of the stops and the hotel offered us a wonderful lunch, snacks and cocktails. I had lots of white tea to keep warm and I even picked up my first HonestTea to try later. I found out about the event on Twitter after seeing a tweet from Silverpop. We (FiPath) are also new customers. Here’s a gift they sent us last week:

Tootsie Pop and PopRocks were inside of the cup. I like the “pop” theme and the mug is perfect for tea.

I learned so much great information about how to create an effective email that our members at FiPath would love to read. One of my responsibilities is to manage and create content for the email. Or as Meg Heuer describes it, I am a Content Strategist. Sounds snazzy right? I really enjoyed being in a space with other professionals who experience the same frustrations as me. There’s no “how to” book for this crazy social space. I guess now it’s “mocial” now (social + local + mobile) as described by Loren McDonald. I took some great notes and I won a prize for most unique tweets! Below I have a recap of the top 5 takeaways:

1. The “forward to a friend” email option is dead. - This got me thinking. When was the last time I did this? Umm…well over a year ago. Nowadays, I share emails via Social media sites before I press forward to a friend!

2. Don’t make all of your emails a hard sell - Ask yourself, do you want an email that always says “Buy this” “Deal here”.

3. Care enough to send the very best email – Don’t send what you think people want to see. Or what someone tells you people want to see. Research!

4. Do not re-purpose advertisements and direct mail pieces – This one made me chuckle. I hate seeing re-purposed ads in email form!

5. Be human – Please and thank you aren’t called the magic words for nothing! These relational words make emails more human.

Filed Under: Marketing & Social Media Tagged With: email marketing, future advertising, interactive, marketing, mocial, silverpop, Social media

I Lied

July 18, 2011 By DanaJ 3 Comments

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I have an apology to make. I apologize to my readers, and to myself for being dishonest. I haven’t been 100% transparent. I know a while back I wrote about my summer bucket list. I left out one huge goal I’ve had for a long time and that would be to find a new job. I didn’t put it in because I work in social media and I didn’t want to be unprofessional. I signed no contracts or non competes stating I couldn’t tweet, blog or use LinkedIn in any capacity that I so desired. But out of respect, I didn’t make a public spectacle of things. But to keep it real I have not been happy in that role since late 2009.

Fear kept me there. Security kept me there. Sometimes things got better but overall they didn’t. I’ve been on interviews and had offers that just weren’t what I wanted. I articulated my unhappiness but nothing changed. I said I was overwhelmed, and I asked for help and nothing changed. I closed up. I sought advice from others who work in social media like The BrokeSocialite and Gyant. They understood my frustrations and encouraged me to go. I got advice from mentors, friends and other professionals who also encouraged me to leave. Even my own coworkers noticed the lack of appreciation and some even spoke up on my behalf. But I kept having doubts, and again that feeling of fear. Can I do this? So last week, something did change. Thursday was my last day. It happened in such a convoluted way I don’t even know where to begin describing it. But after it happened I felt relieved. I was tired of being in limbo and waking up every day to go to a place where I could no longer be productive. I was stressed out to the point where my eyes were looking like this:

Okay, maybe not exactly like that, but they were red from being stressed out. I’m sure there are some other directions I could take with this post and direct blame at people, address the issue of passive aggression and a host of other things. But really, that’s not needed. It’s also not professional or classy and it’s just not me. I’ll just keep all of that to myself. The point is I stayed somewhere I didn’t want to be far too long to the point where it showed. That’s my fault and I couldn’t hide it any longer. I’m not a good liar and I’m not phony. I learned a lot and I reached my potential, and now it’s time for bigger and better. What exactly that bigger and better is….I’ll share it with you.

Have you ever stayed in an unproductive environment out of fear of the unknown?

Filed Under: Life & More Tagged With: career, job, life, Social media, transition

Celebrities on The Web

April 14, 2011 By DanaJ 1 Comment

What do Jay Z, Jermaine Dupri, Russell Simmons, and Tyra Banks all have in common? They all have their own social networking websites. This week I found out about Jay Z’s new social networking website Life + Times. And in a previous blog, I did a spotlight on Tyra’s current web project, Type F. But lately, I’ve noticed many celebs are increasing their web presence.

One of the main things I wonder is “Why?” I mean, don’t they do enough already? All are entrepreneurs with many different roles. But to an extent celebrities are just like the rest of us out there trying to expand our web presence. I’m sure there’s no way that we all can listen to Jay Z or Jermaine Dupri songs all day long. Eventually, the America’s Next Top Model reruns go off. But the internet doesn’t go off. By creating these website, they can expand their personal brands.

Check out each one of their websites:

1. Jay Z – Life + Times

Lifestyle site featuring sections on Fashion, Leisure, Sports and Technology

My take: I like the simple layout and the plethora of information

2. Tyra Banks – Type F

Fashion and beauty customized for individual readers

My take: I really like TypeF in particular the Daily Look section where readers can upload their look and be featured on their Facebook page and also let’s you shop the look.

3. Russell Simmons – Global Grind

Global Grind describes itself as the world according to Hip Hop

My take: Global Grind features some thought provoking articles and stories that I often bookmark. I also like that the site goes from hard hitting real news, to less heavy topics like Celebrities, Entertainment and Fashion.

4. Jermaine Dupri - Global 14

The site is a “discussion based” website built to stimulate discussion with over 500 groups talking about relationships, music, cooking and education.

My take: This site reminds me of Ning.com a little bit. I would sign up for it. But I’m not sure if I would come back frequently.

Have you heard about these celebrity driven websites? Which of these sites would you go back to?

Filed Under: Marketing & Social Media Tagged With: branding, celebrity, global 14, global grind, life + times, marketing, Social media, TypeF

Tyra Banks launches typef.com

March 16, 2011 By DanaJ 2 Comments

Yesterday Tyra (formerly known as Tyra Banks) launched typef a site featuring original content in the categories of beauty, fashion and “ultimate style confidence”. What makes Tyra’s site stand out is the fact that it will feature original content and powered by Demand Media. In doing a little research I found out that Demand also powers Livestrong, eHow and GolfLink.

I felt like the orange really stood out and the logo was simple and to the point. I’m curious to see more original content on the new website. I think that it’s a great idea and that there is room for a website like this out there. I also like that typef offers customized content based on your skin/eye color/face shape. Since it just launched there isn’t much content yet, but I think the concept has great potential and I can’t wait to see where the site goes in the near future. The video production is more sophisticated than regular social media sites. I like how the video is informative, well edited and not a regular low quality YouTube instructional. Here is a clip with Tyra and Andre Talley Leon talking about all about trench coats: