Social Honeycomb

The Opening Lines of My New Book…

Jeanette Winterson is my favorite. Her books are totally gorgeous. I just started reading Gut Symmetries, and the way it starts is so awesome:

November 10 1493. Einsiedeln, Switzerland. Sun in Scorpio.
First there is the forest and inside the forest the clearing and inside the clearing the cabin and inside the cabin the mother and inside the mother the child and inside the child the mountain.

Sarah Palinks, Gettin’ All Mavericky

If I could wink at you, America, I would.  Check out the linky goodness below.

Sen. Biden and Gov. Palin go head to head: SNL nailed it

SM4SC Song Winner: @AaronWhite w/ DoInk.com: Rebecca Corliss sings for a cause

Report: New MacBook to be Cut from Brick of Aluminum: Sounds pretty sleek; DailyTech says so

Spotted on the R Train – A WALKMAN!: Maria Garcia shows ASL readers the cassette-playing maverick she spotted on the subway

Today’s Honey: October 1, 2008

It’s been a while since we’ve had some good honey. I love this dance and song, so I wanted to share it with y’all. Emily Shock and Applause Studios are an inspiration–every routine tells a story in the most beautiful, intricate way. I’m Amanda Gravel, and this is what I like.

Song: Near to You by A Fine Frenzy

Car of the Future, or Car We’ve Already Had?

Via Popgadget, via Engadget:

The Chrysler GEM Peapod might be the car of the future, or it could be just the grown-up version of the coolest toddler toy evah. They look like they’re about the same size, anyway…

You be the judge:

Chrysler

Little Tikes

Bacon Tastes Like YouTube

Bacon + weird = the following. These videos are weird and silly–I have no idea what sort of viral campaign they’re for, but sometimes that doesn’t matter. Sometimes you just like watching weird ish cuz you enjoy weird ish.

FACT: The giant strip of Bacon hitchhiking reminds me of last Christmas when I saw a man dressed as Grover from Sesame Street hitchhiking at home near my parents’ house. Nothing like that to get you in the holiday spirit.

You can thank Mr. Brian Solis for sharing these gems with me, and thus, you.

SM4SC & U

This week, my dear friend Rebecca Corliss told me a bit about Social Media for Social Change (SM4SC), and what the new organization is up to. I think it’s great.

SM4SC is an online grassroots movement started by Boston’s Gradon Tripp to rally social media participants and influencers in support of a common cause. We’re all using new media and marketing tools to talk about brands, products, services, business… The focus here is on social change and helping people.

Gradon and the group tell a pretty inspiring story: “SM4SC is powered by the influence that individual people have within their own online communities to work together and make something happen. We’re utilizing the communal nature of the Internet, which can cause a YouTube video or blog post to reach millions, to raise money for crucially important charities and help fix real-world problems.” Pretty refreshing stuff, don’t you think?

The group is hosting its first fundraiser event on October 10 to benefit Jane Doe, Inc. It looks like there are a few tickets left, so move fast if you want to attend.

How will you help?

Want! Villainess Killer Beez Soap

I love cool soaps.  Love.

Sabon is one of my favorite stores on the planet–if you haven’t been in person, get yourself there and indulge in one of their complimentary first-timer well water scrubs.  Now that I’m checking out Villainess (thanks @HollyGrande), I’m finding myself saying over and over “want” “want” “want.”

First on the list?  Killer Beez soap:

Mapping the Traits of the States

Today I checked out a really cool WSJ article, “The United States of Mind” about differences in personalities by state and region across the country.

In my opinion, there were some really surprising findings about the various traits of people in the United States.

• As for high-anxiety states, that group includes not just Type A New York and New Jersey, but also states stressed by poverty, such as West Virginia and Mississippi. As a group, these neurotic states tend to have higher rates of heart disease and lower life expectancy.
• The flinty pragmatists of New England? They’re not as dutiful as they may seem, ranking at the bottom of the “conscientious” scale.
• High scores for openness to new ideas strongly correlates to liberal social values and Democratic voting habits. But three of the top ten “open” states — Nevada, Colorado and Virginia — traditionally vote Republican in presidential politics.

The article aptly mentions the “chicken-and-egg” idea here, too. Are these traits developing due to existing cultural and social factors, or are like-minded people drawn to each other and create culture based on the traits they already share?

Fascinating stuff.

The article also features an interactive map that ranks each state based on Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness.

If we look at Neuroticism, it’s almost shocking to see that West Virginia beats out all the other states, including New York, which comes in at No. 3, just after Rhode Island. However, when it comes to Agreeableness, I’m not surprised that almost all the New England states are pretty far down the list.

What do you think? Does your state’s personality surprise you?

[Hat tip Sandy]

State of the Blogosphere 2008: One Girl’s Impressions

Some of us have been wondering what the hepcat Technorati has been doing lately, and it seems they’ve been working on the State of the Blogosphere 2008 report, the first installment of which actually imparts some very interesting tidbits.  Here’s what jumped out at me:

Blurry Lines

I really like the section of the report about the lines blurring between blogs and mainstream media. By now, unless you’ve been hibernating while living in a cave that’s under a rock, you know that blogs are viable media outlets and sources of information, entertainment and inspiration, and contribute greatly to the colorful media landscape we get to enjoy today.

As a young PR pro, I am sometimes baffled to hear of clients who so sharply draw a line between traditional and new media outlets, and want their dollars to pay for only one or the other. The reality is that there is no one or the other anymore. It’s becoming harder and harder to justify separating the two into distinct categories, which is brought to light by Technorati, “Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere. In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs.” Let’s face it: mainstream is one ingredient and blogs are another–they mix well and all belong in the same online alphabet soup.

Yes, People Are Talking About Brands

It’s been said a googolplex times. People. Are. Already. Talking. About. Your. Brand. The blogosphere gives you so many opportunities to jump in and talk with people who are already discussing your brand, your company, your product, your whatever. And they have been for some time now, in lots of places and in lots of ways. The ’sphere just makes it easier for you to dive in and participate, too. I think the report captures it: “Whether or not a brand has launched a social media strategy, more likely than not, it’s already present in the Blogosphere. Four in five bloggers post brand or product reviews, with 37% posting them frequently. 90% of bloggers say they post about the brands, music, movies and books that they love (or hate).”

And with 1.5 million blog entries posted in the last 7 days, on some of the 133 million blog records indexed on Technorati since 2002, that’s a lot of brand-centered conversation you might be missing. Don’t miss out.

Girls Against the Boys

For some unknown and slightly annoying reason, I’m always interested in gender and the behavioral factors that divide and unite the sexes. The State of the Blogosphere report shows a table with a gender-focused data breakdown which I think is pretty neat. I find it extremely interesting that only 9 percent of female and 15 percent of male bloggers surveyed were between the ages of 18-24. I had no idea I was in such a tiny minority of the age slice of the blogging population. I think people often think that blogging, Web 2.0 and all those crazy social networks are dominated young people, and that the 18-24 crowd is at the forefront of these sociotechnological trends. (And yes, that’s really a word.) It’s clearly a very misguided and skewed perception.

Have you checked the report out? Looks like there’s more to come, so I’m interested to see what else T’rati has to say. Did anything surprise you?

Photo: “Blurry Lights” by gregverdino (but really taken by me!)

It’s a Pirate’s Links for Me!

It’s National Talk Like a Pirate Day AND National Respect Day.  Let’s celebrate!

I don’t usually do this, but I call the shots around here, so I’m posting a few links.  Think of it as randomly finding really cool, honey-flavored pirate treasure on the Internet.

HP gets glitzy with the Vivienne Tam designed Digital Clutch: when your laptop becomes your hottest accessory

Thoughts on Airplane Mode and (Dis)Connectivity: when does a phone stop being a phone?

Send Your Respect in a Text!: when SMS becomes part of National Respect Day [Arrrrrrrrrrr (e, s, p, e, c, t?)]