Social Honeycomb

Amanda Gravel: Meme Killer

So, PR superstar and friend Sandy Kalik recently tagged me with the “8 Random Things” meme. I saw it flying around in tons of blogs lately and honestly expected it to die before I got tagged, but here we are, memin’ it up.

Since I’m a brat, I’m breaking the rules. I used to get those silly chain letter emails that were like, “Scroll down to see if your crush will fall in love with you!” And then you’d scroll down for like, 20 minutes and get to the bottom where you were slapped with some ominous message that if you didn’t send this on to 10 people, no one would ever love you. I don’t think I ever passed one on, and I didn’t become some social pariah with no friends or boyfriends.

Meme gods, I laugh at you. Honestly, though, I’ll tell you eight random things about me, but I’m not tagging eight more people to do the same. I don’t think anyone will really mind. Right? I am Amanda Gravel: Meme Killer.

Maybe you didn’t know:

1.  I hate soda. Despise it. No Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Orange, Grape, Cherry, whatever. It’s all disgusting and the bubbles hurt my mouth.

2. Scary movies legitimately give me nightmares. When I was 16-17, I had a night-light in my bedroom because I had been so scared of the movie Red Dragon. Thanks, Ralph Fiennes.

3. I have my license, but haven’t driven a car in about 2.5 years.

4. I went to an all-girls Catholic high school and graduated in a class with 78 other chicks in 2004. We had no uniforms–sorry.

5. I will never order a steak in public. Ever. The thought of it gives me anxiety. I eat meat and like steak, but I just cannot order it in public. Don’t try to make me, because I won’t do it.

6. When I was in the 6th grade, I didn’t watch TV for a year in exchange for $365. My parents made a bet with me, and it was all or nothing–if I watched TV on the last day, I would have gotten $0. It was so hard! I actually made it the whole year, too. I guess $365 seems like a lot of money when you’re 12.

7.  I have a thing with numbers. I heart even numbers and dislike most odd numbers, other than 5. I like 5 because it divides 0-10 in half and I visualize 5 as creating two halves. Prime numbers are the worst, because nothing goes into them–they’re mathematical rejects in my eyes. Odd numbers that are squares, like 9, 27 or 49 aren’t as bad as other non-square odds, because I can visualize the number as a four-sided shape, thus giving it some evenness… I maintain that I’m not crazy.

8. When I was little, my dad told me that adults grew wings at night and flew around whenever they wanted. I believed him and couldn’t wait to grow up.

Did you learn anything new about me?

RIP 8 Things Meme. 

We Were Born Between 1978 and 1988. Oh, and We’re Bloggers.

I recently joined the Ning community Twenty Something Bloggers. You may have noticed the little badges in my sidebar, proudly displaying that I am in my 20s and a fan of that there blogosphere thang.

I think it’s important that young people not only spend time reading and consuming the content that our older blogging (podcasting, vlogging, etc.) mentors are creating, but that we make sure to look around and see what our twenty-something counterparts are producing as well. NOTE: for the sake of clarity, the word “older” in the previous sentence simply refers to the state of being 30+ years old. This term should not be confused with the word “elderly” or any synonym thereof…

If you go to the site and browse the members, you’ll find that there are a lot of different interests and focus points within this community. One thing I love about blogging (cheesy as it is), is that we can all open each other’s eyes to new perspectives and ideas. I mean, I’m hearing music I never would have known about, reading about things I would never say publicly, feeling connected with people I never knew existed–blows my mind sometimes. I’m really looking forward to making new friends in this space and getting an inside look at what my peers are passionate about. We’re all becoming adults and truly finding our voices together, which makes for a very sexy place.

Join us?

Yay for Career-Starting

I can haz jobs?

All My Yum-Yums in One Place: How I Use Del.icio.us

So, I’ve met a bunch of people lately who don’t use del.icio.us. This sort of surprised me, because I find del.icio.us to be a really useful tool. My guess is that people use del.icio.us as a place to store sites and posts they want to revisit. In lieu of a bookmarks or favorites within their browser or something. But most people who want to find their favorite stuff easily already use an RSS feed of some sort to aggregate Web content, so why spend time updating a del.icio.us account too?

I use my del.icio.us account as a Web portfolio–a place where an interested follower, client, friend or employer can easily see what I do on the Web in an easy, one-stop-shop format. I save and tag my social profiles and some of my favorite blog posts from this blog and On the PRowl, as well as content my peers have created about me. I write a few sentences in each description to give a taste of what I tagged and why the link is meaningful to who I am on the Web. I also make sure that every tag I use is bundled. So, if you want to check out what I’ve done with my own content, you can look in the MyContent bundle, and if you want to see what my friends have to say about me, you can explore what’s in the WebFriends bundle, and so on. Maybe I’m just making it easier for people to stalk me, but I think that for young people especially, having a place to showcase what you’ve been working to build is very useful. Gotta show all the rockstars we look up to what we’re capable of and why we’re awesome.

As you build your career and your reputation, I recommend creating a purpose-built personal del.icio.us page as a public portfolio of who you are on the Web. But your own content alone doesn’t fully capture who you are socially–including what other people say about you gives a clearer picture of your personality, so potential employers, new friends and content consumers can see who you are on the Social Web. I tell my peers to be themselves in their various social profiles and to create content they can be proud of, but I also encourage students and young professionals to make it easy for the established rockstars out there to check us out and see all the great things we do on the Web.

How is del.icio.us useful for you? What do you think of using del.icio.us as a portfolio for your social presence?

Today’s Honey: January 14, 2008

As I said before, I like art to tell a story. And as you probably noticed from my fundraiser in November, I love dancing. I recently stumbled upon this video, which was written, directed and edited by Allison Leigh Schultz and danced by Kaitlyn Conley and Teddy Forance. Through dance, it tells the story of a relationship beginning and ending, and I think it’s very honey.

I Would Have Failed College…

When people get scared and confused, they do some crazy ish sometimes. If I had a professor who banned her students from using Google or Wikipedia as sources of information or avenues for research, I would have dropped the class, no question. She’s have horrible ratings on ratemyprofessor.com and I doubt that many students would sign up for her class in the future.

So, I’m glad I didn’t go to this school or have this professor, because I would have failed. Big time. I’m that girl who went to the library twice throughout my entire stint in college. Come on, profs- embrace reality.

clipped from mashable.com University Of Brighton Professor Places Ban On Google And Wikipedia University of Brighton professor Tara Brabazon claims that students have grown too accustomed to taking “the easy option when asked to do research.” The easy options being the popular Web reference Wikipedia and that quaint, mischievous little search engine known as Google. And she has now supposedly disallowed any students currently partaking in her course(s) from using any of the two utilities. A number of specialists in certain fields of study – be it history, literature, science, etc. – see the open source landscape of the Web and are frightened. They see chaos. They see so many variables, and so many loose ends, that it appears unsafe to them. So they revert to the trusted resources of years past and completely discount anything new and “officially unapproved.”

Fire, Beer and Tigers, Oh My!

Last night I had the pleasure of attending Chris Penn’s 2008 New Year’s Goal Setting party. It was such a great way to take a step back and really think about what I want to achieve this year and how I can actually make it happen. It was refreshing and different to sit quietly in a room with some of Twitter’s chattiest people and reflect on our hopes and objectives for the year. I’ll remember the image of everyone watching the fire burn and think of my friends and their secret goals often. 2008 is going to rule.

Also, I just want to put it out there that Pistachio gives great advice about avoiding DUI charges and that C. C. Chapman–who I finally got to meet and with whom I will someday eat quesadillas–is a cool guy for not publicly repeating what I said out loud when I thought I only whispered to Maria under my breath. And sorry to everyone who wanted me to do “the tiger” last night. You’ll have to accept that you got the llama instead.

I adore spending quality time with awesome people. Thanks to everyone for making it fun and meaningful.

Loving

All you Mac people were right. I’m falling. P.S. I don’t know why I blink like that either.

Social Media Vocab: Engagement

Two of my dear friends just got engaged. When I heard the news, I was so excited for them, but also incredulous at the thought of being in the age bracket where your friends begin to mate for life. Their engagement came when I was without a computer, so it got me thinking about what it means to be engaged and about engagement itself as a word and a concept.

Engagement is an obvious social media and mar-com buzzword, but its meaning takes on different forms and meanings for different people. To my friend Jenna, engagement means a diamond ring on her finger and an outdoor wedding in the summer of 2009. To me it means a potent give-and-take in social conversation and brand awareness… Until now, I had never really stepped back and thought about how many ways this word is used.

Exhibit A: The American Heritage Dictionary’s list of definitions for “engagement.”

en·gage·ment (en-gaj’ment) n.

1. The act of engaging or the state of being engaged.
2. Betrothal.
3. Something that serves to engage; a pledge.
4. A promise or agreement to be at a particular place at a particular time.
5. Employment, especially for a specified time.
6. A specific, often limited, period of employment.
7. A hostile encounter; a battle.
8. The condition of being in gear.

Some of these definitions are really interesting to me. It is so strange that the same word can mean an intention to get married and a “hostile encounter.” But I suspect that some married (or divorced) people aren’t surprised that these two definitions are connected, haha. More than that though, the definitions that jump out to me are 3, 4 and 7.

I really like the idea of engagement being a pledge. I think in social media and public relations, this makes sense. Engagement is a two-way commitment. It isn’t enough to just pop into Twitter, say hello once a month and consider that meaningful participation in social conversation. By joining this conversation and by making this space part of your life, you are, in a way, making a pledge to be involved and active on the Web. It’s about feeling connected and giving others an opportunity for connection. We are making a choice to join the community on the Web, and when we choose to take ownership of our presence here, we really do make a pledge to engage with each other and with the technology we use. This relates to the No. 4 definition as well, in that by establishing ourselves here, we sort of promise to contribute on a regular basis and enhance the environment we are all constantly creating. Our agreement is to be active on the Web in our daily lives. Our pledge is to be engaging and to engage. (Diamonds sold separately.)

Since my old Dell laptop kicked the bucket right before Christmas, I spent more than a week without a computer to call my own. Consequently, I felt very disengaged. I wasn’t able to live up to the pledge I made in wanting to be engaged with my blog, my socnets and my social media pals. Now that I have my sleek, new MacBook Pro (w00t!), I’m back in the game of engagement. I haven’t had a chance to really catch up on all my blog reading yet, but I really liked the Resolutions post Jason Falls made on Social Media Explorer this week–really good advice on how to kick start or re-energize your engagement in 2008, plus you get the use of the word “tech-tard.”

So, I’ve been disengaged. My darling friends Jenna and Thomas got engaged. I’m about to begin my professional engagement at SHIFT. I’m looking forward to several social engagements coming up in the next few months. Oh yeah, and I’m getting in gear.

What does engagement mean to you and how are you engaging or being engaged?