The Facebook 3-Strike Rule
I’ve blogged about Facebook etiquette before, and have since gotten a bit lax with my denial of random would-be friends who don’t give me any reason to know who they are or why we should be connected. Well, my laziness has come back to bite me in the tush, so I’m putting a stop to it and introducing the Facebook 3-Strike Rule. With me?
Lately on my Facebook account - and I know I’m not alone - I’ve been getting tons of requests to join this cause that has nothing to do with me or my life experience, to be a fan of that brand I’ve never heard of, or to attend an event for some acoustic guitar performance in a town 500 miles away put on by some guy who knew a girl I may have taken a class with my junior year of high school… No thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Facebook enemies “friends“ who engage in this kind of Fb invite spam: cut the crap, please.
And to help with the crap cutting, here’s what I propose. If you invite me to join your page, group, game, app, quiz, etc., three times (um, clearly I rejected the first two invitations, genius, and I’m not interested), I’ll be de-friending you, plain and simple. And the thing is, we likely don’t know each other at all anyway, so I probably shouldn’t have been Facebook friends with you in the first place.
If you’re reading this, I encourage everyone to enforce the Facebook 3-Strike Rule with me. There are enough annoying things in everybody’s day, so come on, I really do not need to log into Facebook to see yet another invitation to the Oh Nuts! fan page that has no relevance to me - and if it for some reason does, I couldn’t see it because the sender gave zero context.
When it comes to Facebook, always remember:
- Be polite
- Respect people’s Facebook pages
- Do not blindly invite your friend list to be a fan of your project
- Friend-request people with whom you have a reason to connect
What do you guys think? Helpful rule?
You Can Find Me in the Shower…
Seriously - because I have amazing new soap!
The always elegant Shelley Greenberg, perhaps better known as @thespottedduck, recently did a giveaway on her blog that got me pretty excited. To a commenter chosen at random, she was giving away a bar of soap from DeShawn Marie, a Boston-based artist/magician/creator of all-natural, gorgeously unique handmade soaps. Needless to say, I asked Shelley if it would be OK if I entered 1,000 times, since I love cool soaps (and fancy soaps, too, RL), but to be fair I could only get one shot. Well, toss me in the shower and pat me dry, I am one lucky girl - I won the soap!
I chose Grapefruit Orange. I love citrusy scents in the spring and summer; consequently, my favorite lotion of all time, space and energy is Jo Malone Grapefruit, so I figured DeShawn Marie’s Grapefruit Orange would be a perfect complement. My lucky bar arrived today, so naturally I had to take some pictures. Check ‘em out:
The scent is heaven - I can’t wait to lather up! Thanks to Shelley and Deshawn Marie for putting together a wonderful giveaway. And everyone should definitely check out DeShawn Marie’s other products as well. I know I’ll definitely be trying some different types - she makes all sorts of handrolled soaps that are really pretty - so take a look yourself. And geez, stinkbomb, take a shower.
Oh Yeah, I Live in New York
So, it’s been a while since your favorite brunette bee posted a legit update here - well, I’ve got one that I’m sure you already know, but just in case:
I live in New York now.
But let me be crystal clear: I do not live in NYC. I go there to attend tweetups, visit museums, and meet up with friends and colleagues, but I don’t spend every day and night in NYC.
So when you ask “How’s life in the BIG CITY today?” or “Have you seen the Cupcake Truck yet?” or “How’s NYC treatin’ ya, kid?” for me it’s like, “Oh, yeah, hey, um, I live in a village on Long Island - the closest thing to a cupcake truck is Peapod.”
But you know what? I think I’ve got the best of both worlds here. I lived in Boston for 4.5 years, relying on the T (gag me), cabs and my own two feet, and having few chances to really escape from the sounds, smells and sights that came with living in an urban area. Here, I’m in the greatest spot because I have all the perks of suburbia (malls, parking lots, grass) coupled with a quick (less than an hour-long) train ride to the City right outside my door.
What’s great too, is that I am still part of SHIFT Communications, and I get to work virtually with my amazing team of PR stars from Boston. I’ve been growing and learning with this particular team for the past year and half, so it’s a blessing I get to continue working with these enthusiastic, creative and hilarious people every day. Big thanks to SHIFT for wanting to keep me around.
Plus, obviously the Gregory aspect of the move makes me smile! Goes without saying…
I am really loving my life here, and I’m excited to show you some sweet snippets of what my new world is like here on SHC.
Just Say No?
It’s all about conversation these days, but that’s a two-way street. And I know it can be tough.
As PR people, we strive to do our homework; we investigate what you’ve been writing, we craft a pitch we think will catch your attention and have relevance to your readers. We understand that sometimes you get too many emails to really read each one, we know that there are days when you’re super busy. But if and when you do get a chance to check out our emails, and you see something that just doesn’t fit with what you’re doing, what stops you from just saying no? In the long run, it’ll help us help you, and it’ll save your inbox from extra notes that you’d rather not get.
Is this unreasonable? Is it a nice idea but just too far-fetched? What would make it easier for media folks to just say no when the pitch doesn’t quite work?
South By Social Honeycomb SXSW Recap
I’ve always heard that things are supposed to be big in Texas. And you know what? It’s true. SXSWi was huge. My first experience at SXSW Interactive was full of big conference rooms, big conversations, big cameras, big parties, big meals and big personalities.
Most of people I talked to weren’t able to catch a ton of sessions (poo-poo on you), but I’m glad I was able to hit six interesting panels and conversations while I was there, which I’ll post about over the next few days. These sessions spanned topics from augmented realities on mobile, connecting with and empowering your audiences online, getting girls interested in video games and technology, and the ethics of blogging your sex life. A little something for everyone.
Outside of the sessions, I spent a lot of time doing the tweet-n-greet, let’s-share-a-power-strip thing in the TechSet Blogger Lounge, with peoples like Brian Solis, Steph Agresta, Aaron Brazell, Corvida Raven, Aaron Strout, Brett Petersel, Steve Hall, Peter Kim, Geoff Livingston, Allen Stern, Jason Falls, Giannii, Laura Fitton, Justin Levy, Steve Woodruff, Uncle Brogan, Melissa Pierce, CC Chapman, Loren Feldman and some guy with a cane.
I also had the pleasure of dining on some delicious Texas BBQ at Iron Works with Jane Quigley, David Armano, Kaitlyn Wilkins, Doug Meacham, Paul McEnany… and about two tons of beef. Greg and I also managed to have a date night, during which I had my very first steak and grits at a restaurant. Thanks to Lambert’s in Austin for making it memorable and delicious.
Oh, and then there were the parties. (P.S. I know anyone who’s at Music right now is rolling their eyes…) As photos will attest, I made appearances at the Brown Bar tweetup (honoring Mr. Verdino, of course), TechSet, Diggnation, All Hats No Cattle, Mashable, and UNLISTED.
What a full, fantastic week. I’ll be writing more about my takeaways from the sessions I attended, and I hope to keep the great conversations going that we started down in Austin.
After all, that’s what this stuff is all about, right?
Amanda, Buzzing Bees, Events, Social Media, Tech | Comments (2)
Fashion for Real People
There are times when I’m reading through ELLE or Glamour, and I’m looking at these amazing editorial photo shoots and incredible clothes, shoes and accessories, and I think to myself, “No one looks like this! No one in real life can pull this off!”
Then I hop from the glossy to the screen.
While I’m not exactly giving up fashion magazines (Hell no–a girl can dream!), I get a healthy dose of fabulous from LOOKBOOK.nu each day. The site celebrates real people and their style, and showcases homegrown photo shoots from fashionistas around the world. It’s all about sharing your style inspiration with a hip and happenin’ web-based community. There’s something very poetic about it.
If you think you’ve got the hotness, apply to join the community–and subscribe to get the goodness.
Let’s Say Howdy at SXSW
I can’t believe March is already here. This means that SXSW Interactive is finally right around the corner! w00t.
Are you going? I’m hoping I can meet a lot of new friends and influencers while I’m there, and connect with others I haven’t seen in a while. I’ve never been to SXSW before, so I’m super excited to see some great sessions and hang with the coolest geeks around, including, of course, the Verdino party machine.
So if you’re going to be there, let’s say hello, tweet, high-five, clink drinks, chat about our work, take some “tiger” pics, practice our Texas accents, whatever.
Thanks again to Mashable for the Interactive pass. Can’t wait to see everyone there!
Are You a Chicken?
I definitely identify with the feeling of running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I think a lot of us do, and Greg mused about it in a post today. We all need a little nudge to remember to take a deep breath sometimes, so I’m reposting. Enjoy.
You can find Greg’s original post here, along with tons more brilliance and chicken pictures, on his marketing blog.
Hey chicken, where’s your head?
No doubt, you’re familiar with the phrase “running around like a chicken with its head cut off.” In fact, if you work in media, marketing, advertising, PR or (let’s face facts) just about any industry at all you’re more than just familiar with the phrase – you might be a living embodiment of it.
For the past few years, we ran around trying to get ahead of the proverbial topple of “old marketing” and get up to speed on all of the new media goodies we now had at our disposal — from web video to social media, and everything in between. Sadly, for many this amounted to little more than a series of pointless sprints across the shifting sands of early adoption. We’d read an article about some hot new Web 2.0 tactic or catch wind that a key competitor was trying something “innovative,” and we were off and running. But rarely did we look where we were going, or even look around to figure out where we were starting out. I can’t even count the number of times I ranted (on this blog) or advised clients to slow down and take a more measured, more strategic approach to new marketing — not to the detriment of progress, but for the betterment of the business.
And now we’ve got the current round of economic woes to deal with as well. They’re certainly cause for concern. Budgets are being slashed, people are losing their jobs, entire companies are going out of business. Scary times. Client-side marketers are scrambling to cut-cut-cut-cut-cut. All of those experimental tactics that they couldn’t wait to try before the recession are now being left on the cutting room floor. If you’re an agency-side marketer (whether traditional, digital, social or PR) you’re probably so afraid of being slashed along with those cutting-floor-things that you’re killing yourself to over-service your clients for less money than they paid you last year.
I get it… Times are tough, and we all need to do what we need to do in order to survive.
But here’s the sad truth about chickens with their heads cut off — they can run around all they want; they’re still gonna die.
The good news is that you’re (probably) smarter than a chicken. If you’re really smart (and the company you work for is smart too), you probably already had a hard times plan in place long before the economy took a downward turn. You exercised a bit of foresight and managed to keep your neck away from the blade — maybe you had a few feathers plucked but at least you still have your head.
Now might be a good time to use it. Stop running around in a state of panic. There is plenty of chaos already (in the world, in your industry, probably in your company as well) — nobody needs you to create more chaos. But others can probably use your help in creating order.
Try this:
- Take a deep breath.
- Think about what needs to get done.
- Come up with a reasonable plan to do it.
- And then do it… and do it well.
As I read those four sentences, they seem laughably simple. But is there really any other way? Has there really ever been any other way?
OK - end of rant… :-)
