Do You Sound Like A Twitter Stream?
Me: Eww, it’s too hot out. I’m walking home and a bird is chirping so loud! Ugh, I’m so tired. My sleeves are kind of big today; they show I mean business.
G: OK…
Me: Oh my god. The way I talk in real life just turned into a Twitter stream. That’s not OK.
G: Baby, that’s sad.
See You at (Social Media) Breakfast!
If you’re in Boston, I hope you’re going to SMB8 in the morning. I love me a good Social Media Breakfast. Will I see you there?
Mornings are tough. I might make this face at you.
Mashable Wants Your Twitter Bloopers
You’ve all probably sent a few DMs you would be horrified to see in your public timeline. Perhaps you’ve sent a personal tweet to the wrong person. Maybe, like me, you responded to a DM on your phone thinking you were just texting a friend back who said she had an “emergency” and needed your mobile number. And then a few random phone calls later, you realized… Whoops.
If you’ve done something like this, Mashable wants to know. Write a tweet with “twitterblooper” in it and confess your biggest Twitter blunder. Don’t be shy–I did it!
The Newest Bostonian
Many of you know my lovely friend Alexa Scordato. Today I just wanted to express my excitement that she’s officially a Bostonian! Welcome home, Alexa. <3
Alexa with her Boston roomie and awakener of media Maria Thurrell
(Photo by Chris “Uncle” Brogan)
eBoy Brings Us Artwork 2.0
My coworker “The Mighty Fearon” shared an interesting link with me today. Lorcan Dempsey’s blog featured two of eBoy’s posters that take reusable pixel objects and turn them into works of art. I checked out the eBoy site and found that they make posters, t-shirts, toys and some really sweet iPhone skins with their sweet artwork.
How cool is this?
Who Even Are You? Facebook Friend Request Etiquette
Who are you people?
Over the past couple months, I’ve been getting friend requests on my Facebook profile left and right from total strangers. You may not think you’re a total stranger if you follow me on Twitter or if we have 28 mutual friends, but I have no idea who you are. If we’ve never spoken or if there is no evidence that I know you, you’re a stranger, plain and simple.
And here’s the thing: I might want to be your friend. In fact, I probably do want to be your friend. But when you request my friendship without saying how you know me, anything about a mutual contact, why you think we should connect, etc., you just look like a sketchball. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it’s true.
Look, it takes one minute to write a little message that attaches with a friend request. If you want to be my Facebook friend (or ANYONE’s Facebook friend–this is etiquette that should be universal) spend 60 seconds saying why. However, there’s a right and a wrong way to approach this.
Examples of appropriate messages:
- Hi Amanda, I follow you on Twitter and wanted to connect on Facebook, too.
- Hey Amanda, we met at a Tweetup in Boston. It was great meeting you in person–Facebook friendship is the next logical step, right?
- Hi, I’m Friendston McFriendinator. Small world–I work with Friendiana Friendelton and she told me you’ve been buds since you were kids. She said you’re a good person to know.
- Hi Amanda, I subscribe to Social Honeycomb and think your blog is rad. Wanna be friends?
Examples of inappropriate messages:
- hi your hot LOL
- I tried poking you but you didn’t poke me back. Can we be friends now????!?!?!!
- I’m visiting Boston next month and you looked like someone who knows how to have fun, if you know what I mean…
- Hi, you said on your blog I had to do this or you wouldn’t accept my friend request. So, yeah.
You may think I’m being facetious but people really send idiotic, vapid stuff like that^.
Or worse, nothing at all.
And I’ll be transparent: I’m guilty of not saying anything with friend requests to people I don’t personally know sometimes, too. Usually it’s with someone who’s a “twelebrity” or something totally absurd and stupid to say like that, but I’m going to make sure I take my own advice from now on in all friending situations. Please, please take my advice, too.
If you’re the type of guy person who sends blank friend requests to girls people you don’t really know, take a minute and ask, “Do I want her to think I’m a sketchball?” Hopefully the answer is “NO” and you’ll send a qualifying message with that “Add to friends” clickety click.
Today’s Honey: June 17, 2008
Dance has always been an important part of my life. I start teaching my summer dance classes next weekend, and so the honey I’m sharing is a performance I love with a song I adore. I know half of you enjoy the dance videos I share and half of you probably don’t, but this is just beautiful and I hope everyone can appreciate it.
Music: “Swans” by Unkle Bob
Dancer: Lauren Garrett, Steps Dance Company
Choreography: Calen Kurka
“Swans”
Video Pearls of Wisdom from the Pub Club Panel
I managed to capture a video at the end of the Pub Club “Buzz Word: New Media” panel on Wednesday night, and I wanted to share it with my readers. Brian Reich set it up, asking the panelists what PR pros should read or sign up for as a final word of advice. The speakers took the prompt in different directions, and I think there’s some good insight here.
Adam Ritchie thinks you should compare your company’s blog to industry leaders’ blogs and take a look at what’s missing or where you can learn from best practice examples.
Mike Volpe thinks that beyond reading something or signing up for something, every company should blog. He thinks if your company can’t blog, there’s something wrong because you should always have something interesting to share.
Patrick Richardson recommends that PR pros use the Internet as the marketing research tool it is. As he said, your customers are out there, opting in to conversations about your brand. His advice is that using RSS feeds is a great way to listen to these conversations and learn about your consumers.
Mark McClennan feels that too many companies are mute, but that the bigger challenge at this point is too many companies are also “blind and deaf.” There are effective, free ways to listen to and learn from all the things people are saying about your clients online. He also highlights that there are tons of PR pros sharing insight and information on the Web, and it’s important not to overlook these conversations as well. His parting words: You gotta listen and you gotta see.
Also, I won a copy of Brian Reich’s Media Rules. Share in my glee!
Quickie Time: Friendships Edition
Ready, set, go!
1. Have you ever lost touch with a friend but still had things to say to them?
2. Do you have a best friend?
3. Who was your best childhood friend?
4. Are you a good friend?
5. What are the key qualities you look for in a friend?
A classic example of friendship.
A Little Feedback Can Go a Long Way…
Yesterday I had an interesting experience.
A PR professional from an agency elsewhere in the United States sent me a pitch over email for the blog. It, um, wasn’t a great pitch. The subject line was a bit confusing. She let me know she liked one of my recent blog posts but then copied and pasted some stuff from a press release that had nothing to do with what she said she liked and also nothing to do with things I write and care about. There was a big typo in there somewhere. It just wasn’t a good pitch for me.
Because I’m a PR kid and a blogger at the same time, this pitch made me upset for two different reasons. As a blogger, it was a little upsetting to receive a pitch so off the mark. As a PR pro, it was upsetting to see someone sending out pitches like this one and know she’s probably not just sending it to me. It worried me that another public relations practitioner was running the risk of getting blasted on some blog for sending spam-like and lazy emails.
I called her up.
I told her who I was and said I had gotten her email. I let her know that as a fellow PR person, I wanted to call and talk about what may have worked better for pitching me. We ended up having a great conversation about the how difficult it is to always make the right decisions when reaching out to bloggers and we discussed some better approaches. I let her know that with me, if I’m on an outreach list, but she isn’t totally sure that her news is a puzzle-piece fit for me and my blog, to just say so and be honest. I told her not to waste any minutes of her busy day writing out a big flowery pitch and including paragraphs of information. Just tell me honestly why you’re reaching out, let me know what the news is and give me a few short bullet points with things like links so I can find out more before I write back. I stressed that while this is a good approach for me, it might not work for everyone, and it’s important to remember that. It’s a good idea to reach out to bloggers you want to befriend and ask them how they’d like to be pitched (if at all) and what types of things they are open to receiving.
The thing that makes my experience interesting is that this PR pro was really appreciative of my call. It’s so rare to receive constructive feedback in this business, so I think we both hung up feeling a little better. I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t threatening. It’s important to me that PR professionals improve their skills and understanding when it comes to social media. This was just one little way I felt I could help someone and by extension, the profession.
Here’s my call to action. We all get pitches we think are less than awesome, but so many people either ignore them or humiliate the person who sent them. Once in a while, give some constructive feedback. Remember that this person probably doesn’t want to annoy or offend you–they’re still learning how to respectfully and effectively reach out in this changing media landscape, and sometimes they need some pointers. Be pissed off for a minute, but then spend a minute thinking of how this PR person could have done a better job or how they could better approach you in the future. The profession as a whole will have an easier time improving and moving forward with a little guidance and a bit of feedback. You may be surprised at the difference it makes.
