Doug Haslam

Social Media Top 5: Twisney’s onto something: where next?

As if any blogger or social media addict needed ego-inflation, the kind folks at Utterz called me an “immortal” among mobile podcasters. Apparently I’m a mobile podcaster. Ok, I’ll buy that. Immortal? well, that would be cool:

In a social media world wheree even the unassailable Steve Rubel has to admit he was “Wr-wr-wr-wr-wrong” (as Fonzie might say)*. I know that immortality could easily become a burdensome responsibility. I am ready.

OK, on to the social Media Top 5.

Well, as I discovered on vacation, someone went and did it– I tried to get away for a week and someone (a Mr. Scott Mitchell I believe) went and made it so Walt Disney world is no longer a Twitter-Free zone.

At the risk of stretching last week’s “disconnecting” theme past it’s limit, here are the next five previously peaceful places that will soon be violated by Twitter API.

1. Mt. Everest - Climber615: Leaving Base Camp: Will Tweet from summit. 15 days ago from Mobile
2. Mall of America** - I’ve never been there– do they have a Monorail? I bet those Tweets would be indistinguishable from Twisney Tweets.

   (update- holy smokes I just looked at the Mall of America site– they have an amusement park and everything! might as well be Disney)

   

   Bjorn: Uff da! Sven got sick on the flight simulator dere. Off to Nordstrom’s 10 minutes ago from Mobile

3. Church***:

Parishioner3-16: Pastor reading from Jeremiah this Sunday, and Mrs Barnes won;t take her scremaing baby out of the sanctuary- again. I see a connection. 3 minutes ago from Mobile

4. Airlines finally let cell phones on planes. If you think Twitter is full of Combine Twitter addictiveness with 6 hours of nothing to do, and we’ll start breaking Twitter all over again:
   • DougH: Plane now over Detroit 37 minutes ago from Mobile
   • DougH: Plane now over Flint 40 minutes ago from Mobile
   • DougH: Plane now over Saginaw 43 minutes ago from Mobile
   • DougH: Plane now over Lansing 46 minutes ago from Mobile
   • DougH: Plane now over Battle Creek 49 minutes ago from Mobile

That’s not five, but I’m jet lagged still. Feel free to fill in the blanks for me :).

* The same Fonzie responsible for the term “Jump the Shark.” Just sayin’.

** Hat tip to Paul Swansen

*** Hat tip to “Icejunkies”

Technorati Tags: socialmedia, twitter, twisney

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Utterzcast: Long distance relationships

I spent a big part of the week in LA meeting with a new client. In the PR biz, our clients often aren’t in the same local area, necessitating ‘long distance’ relationships. Face to face meetings are the best to have whenever possible, but in the face of travel time and expense we must be creative and flexible. one client we actually met frequently in Second Life!
How do you manage your long-distance relationships?

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Utterzcast: Keeping routines- or breaking them

Like most people, I have routines, and I find that traveling messes them up. For example, I didn’t have my ‘alone time’ in the car to catch up on Utterz and post a ‘cast. (I know, poor me)

One thing I do to wake up and get going on the road is to get to the gym and work out. It gets my blood flowing and gets me set straight for the day.
How do you right your routine whe is upset?

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Utterzcast: What space do you own?

When I am a pedestrian, I own the crosswalk. When I do PR, I try to ‘own’ social media. By that I don’t mean as an exclusive domain, but as a differentiator for which I’m known. Not, of course, to the exclusion of other important parts of the practice.

What do you ‘own?’ Professionally, personally, doesn’t matter. How do you own it, and how do you keep well-rounded?

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Utterzcast: We never stop learning

Just had a quick thought about learning. We don’t stop learning just because we leave school, do we? I learn by talking to people, listening and reading, and social media helps that immensely. How do you learn?

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Social Media Top 5: The Present and Future of Disconnecting

I just returned from a vacation in which I was somewhat successful staying offline—or, at least kept myself from being immersed in my personal Web 2.0 multimedia world at my usual ridiculous level.

Returning home, I got to thinking; how might different types of New Media makers disconnect on vacation, assuming they were capable of it? For my back-from-vacation edition of the Social Media Top 5, I took a stab at some guesses, as well as some possible future solutions (some of them admittedly extreme).

1. The Blogger:
• Current Method: Letting the blog lie idle while you vacation, perhaps letting a guest blogger fill in if your blog actually has regular readers
• The Future: “Idea Free” zones, where blog post-type thinking is discouraged, perhaps even punished. Want to relate Disney customer service to Web 2.0 marketing methods? Stop it!
• Choosing which rides to go on remind you of life-altering career changes? Cut it out!
2. The Flickr Fiend:
• Current Method: Self-discipline; waiting until you return home from vacation to post pictures online
• The Future: “Image free” vacation spots where there is absolutely nothing interesting to photograph, and your family is forced to wear drab clothes
3. The Twitterer:
• Current Method: Actually doing things, which tends to keep most of us too busy to tell other people about it—for the most part, anyway
• The Future: EMP resorts, in which focused electro-magnetic pulses are periodically unleashed to knock any Twitter-capable devices offline
4. The Video Seesmic/Qik/Ustream “Artist”
• Current Method: You know something, I can’t figure out anything that has kept people, especially Qik video streaming users, from live-streaming at the drop of a hat
• The Future: Hiring extremely ugly people to follow you around and remain within Webcam view at all times to discourage audiences, the fuel for any video artist
5. The Lifestreamer:
• Current Method: Disengages from social media by not doing anything; i.e., not having anything to stream. In all but the most extreme cases, breathing is allowed
• The Future: “Hypersleep” hibernation as vacation—with complete sensory deprivation and REM sleep (which may be deemed life-streamable) optional

Ok, so I wrote this blog post on the plane home. That doesn’t count towards “disconnecting,” does it?

Technorati Tags: socialmedia, twitter, flickr, vacation,

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Utterzcast: Nice guys don’t finish last

Just back from a Disney World vacation, and one thought I had was: a business policy of being nice is a winner. This is a particularly contentious idea in my profession, public relations, in which many people think being obnoxious (which too many misinterpret as aggressiveness) is the way to go.

The Disney way? Being nice to all constituents sets a mood in which even the customers are nice to each other- and puts them in mind to come back and spend more money.

So what? Try nice vs. nasty and see what it does for your long-term results. I have long been an advocate of ‘nice guy’ PR, And my experiences tell me this is the way to go.

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Utterzcast: Can you drop off the grid?

After a day off spent largely off the grid, I wondered: are we worried about a power loss for our online presence? Will a day away kill you, digitally? It’s actually refreshing to disconnect priodically, even if it’s not 100%. You don’t read my crap every day anyway. Don’t worry, I don’t read yours every day either. But I do keep coming back…

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Utterzcast: preparing for your marathon

With the Boston Marathon just past, my thoughts turn to: how do you prepare for YOUR marathon, that event or task that looms on your calendar? Are you methodical? Do you wing it? Something in between?

With the Pan Mass Challenge approaching in August, certainly thinking on this.

By the way if you care to sponsor my ride, use the ChipIn link on the right at http://doughaslam.com/

Donations benefit the Jimmy Fund, fo research and treatment of cancer in children.

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Pan Mass Challenge: Start of Outdoor Training

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