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Are teens today lacking in Interpersonal and Communicative Skills?

Image by BdwayDiva1

Are Texting & Social Media Platforms causing teens to lack in Interpersonal Communicative Skills?

I received a text from my oldest son last week that was very disturbing. He was obviously too freaked out to discuss the topic with me face-to-face and instead chose to tell me this uncomfortable piece of information via text messaging. I feel I’m a very "with it" mom when it comes to these things. Especially since being involved in Social Media is pretty much what I specialize in. But, after this particular text I was left wondering….

“Are teens today lacking in Interpersonal and Communicative Skills?”

Generations have been dealing with the change in Technology for Decades…

Rock-n-Roll
Television
Record Players
VCR’s
Telephones
Computer’s
Internet
eMail
Cell phones
Web 2.0
etc…

I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for any generation to make the transition and today’s generation is no exception. I use text myself, but I don’t use it to replace normal everyday conversation, but it appears that many of our teens do. Many of my friends and colleagues I spend time with online have children and I’m very curious of their thoughts on this…

Is Mobile Technology and Social Media taking away what our Children should be learning during face-to-face Communication?

When I was a teen growing up I was forced to discuss things with my parents face-to-face….. even the uncomfortable discussions. And, through each of these discussions, as difficult as they were, they each were a learning experience. Could Instant Messaging and Text be robbing our children from learning some social skills?

Teens are breaking up with boyfriends and girlfriends over text…. and this is completely normal. These uncomfortable discussions that all of us hated to have were all a learning experience for me. Mostly, I learned tact and empathy. Are our children growing up more selfish & cold because they can avoid these conversations entirely?

I was never an overly brave teen. I didn’t have as much confidence in myself as others and this made confrontation much more difficult for me. If I had social media platforms and mobile devices available to me back then I’m positive I would have been using them instead of how I had to deal with things.

Maybe I wouldn’t have succumb to peer pressure. Maybe I would have been braver in what I told my peers…. in saying, "No!!". Or, maybe I would have dealt with confrontation in ways that maybe teens are dealing with it now… "text and Instant Messaging".

This might not sound like a major issue, but after the text from my oldest son I’m not so sure about that.

I believe that many of the uncomfortable situations and confrontations I dealt with growing up taught me many things and made me into the person I am now. Who knows…. maybe I’m reading too much into this. But, I really don’t think so.

Teen Crushes

As I mentioned earlier I lacked a certain amount of confidence growing up, so certain things were especially difficult for me. For example, telling a boy I liked him. I remember having crushes growing up and the boy never knew. By the time I was in Junior High I was still extremely nervous to tell a boy I liked him, but I would try very hard to push through the fear. Making a point to talk to him, pausing by his locker, dropping something nearby to see if he would pick it up, and dialing the phone to call him. I say dialing the phone because unless one of my friends was calling for me I don’t think I ever stayed on the phone long enough to talk to the boy. Most of the time I would dial the phone number and once someone answered I would hand up. Thank Goodness this was before *69…. otherwise, I would have been busted for sure.

How would Texting & Social Media changed this process? Well, I wouldn’t have had to be brave and start a discussion… Simple texts are so much easier than real words. I would no long have to worry about blushing in front of a boy. He wouldn’t even have to know how nervous I was. There is no way via text he could hear my shaky voice, see my knees tap together from nerves or see me blush from fear. This fact would have given me the confidence to flirt via text.

What learning experience would I have missed out on? Over the years of pushing through my fear of talking to guys I built confidence. I learned what worked for me and what didn’t work for me. I realized that guys thought I was sweet when I blushed. Actually, over the years I wasn’t nervous to talk to most guys at all. My confidence increased enough that I could easily talk to a guy. Would teen develop this confidence if they were doing all interaction between themselves and guys via digital methods?

Breaking up with a guy

Okay, if telling a guy I liked him wasn’t bad enough….. breaking up with him was so much worse!! I hated making someone unhappy or feel bad about themselves. I am still horrible at that, but disappointment is a fact of life and dealing with it is part of it. Break ups can be some of the most difficult conversations to have, but to move to the next relationship… break-ups must be done.

Many of my friends were broken up with by notes in school. I was mortified by this and fortunate enough that this never happened to me. However, in High School I was in the middle of a long distance relationship, so all of our communication was via phone and "snail mail". We would see each other only on weekends.

How would a Break-up have been different if I had text or Social Media Platforms?

What makes a break-up so difficult is the confrontation. It’s usually not an easy conversation because many times the other person feels a bit under attack or defensive. Texting a break-up (which let me just state…. is cowardly and never okay in my book) erases any face-to-face contact. No confrontation. As a matter of fact you don’t have to answer any further calls or texts. This is an easy way out. There is something to be said about "closure", people!! How the heck do you get closure from a text or instant message? Unless, of course, the entire relationship was done via text or Instant Message then a break up should NOT be done in this fashion. I couldn’t imagine sending a text like….

"Have I told you just now how much I’m in love with U???
No??
Chew on it, have a nice life… "

Check out these other "Break-up Texts" . They are unreal!!

But, texts like the one above are being sent to innocent (or not so innocent) boys and girls everyday.

What I have learned from having to break up in a face-to-face way…

Break-ups hurt
Break-ups are an end to something that you might not be ready for
tact
empathy
sensitivity

Dealing with Friends and Social Life in High School

I know that Social Life in High School means a lot to teens. It meant a lot to me and still means a lot to kids. But, I also know that the peer pressure and saying, "No" can be a sticky situation. I would never want to go back and do high school over again due to the peer pressure I experienced. I dealt with the peer pressure the face-to-face way, but how are the kids dealing with it now-a-days?

Teens are using Social Media Platforms to deal with Peer Pressure.

They use text and instant messaging to say what’s on their minds. It not as confrontational. Sounds less threatening, right? Nope!! To get revenge these teens sometimes are using malicious ways to deal with their anger such as YouTube videos, MySpace & Facebook public messages, non-private instant messaging and other embarrassing ways. My thoughts are that because of the convenience of social media ways of dealing that these same platforms are giving teens a convenient & easy way to get revenge. This is making Peer Pressure tons worse than it was when I was growing up.

What I have learned from dealing with Peer pressure face-to-face?

knowing you have to deal with them face-to-face makes you be choosy who is your friend
Over time I realized what/who makes me happy
I don’t always have to say, "Yes" to everything
Could shut down the peer voices after school…. with text, Instant Messaging & other Social Media platforms this is much more difficult.

I’m wondering if the lack of closure causes a teen’s need for revenge? Could it be that communicating verbally face-to-face with someone forces closure? Maybe with text and instant message there is no "end".

Telling Parents Bad News

I would like to think that conversations with parents hasn’t changed much since I was growing up. But, even I know that’s not the case. I already admitted that my son text me a message that he should have talked to me about in person. Why did he do this? Because he felt it would be easier. Was it? Well, probably. Temporarily anyway. And, probably by the time he approached me in person I calmed down quite a bit. Did he learn as much from the whole experience…. I’m not so sure.

And, I have some fond memories of when I was growing up of conversations with my mother. I also have some memories of scary conversations with my mom. But, bottom line…. they were face-to-face conversations. They were banter back and forth that I believe made a difference in my life. Not only did I learn something from it, but I also bonded with my mom. And, there is one other thing that it left me with… something I can smile at later. Embarrassing situations that I can smile at because I survived. Something I can laugh at by myself or conversing with my sister.

I look back on those moments with my mom fondly…. now. However, had I had the opportunity to get out of a sticky situation in an easier fashion I totally would have.

Which brings to me back to the question, " Are teens today lacking interpersonal communicative skills?"

What do teens have a fear of??

Confrontation
Rejection
Disappointment
Failure
Embarrassment

What are they missing out learning??

tact
sensitivity
empathy
respect
anger management
communication skills

I asked the following question to my friends on Twitter, "What would have been different 4 you had you had text & IM as teen? How would Break-ups, dating, peer pressure been different?" This were some of the answer I received: Click on the image to see in full size & with Profile Links

What are your thoughts? Are teens today lacking interpersonal communicative skills?

Posted in Facebook, Parenting, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics | 23 Comments »

Do you want to be my Facebook Friend?? Stop Threatening Me!!

Thursday, April 17th, 2008 |

Image by Miky Jpeg

I have been a little disappointed in Facebook lately. Well, maybe not Facebook directly, but instead some of the people that I have agreed to Facebook Friendships. And, due to the tactics these people are using on Facebook to pass the word about things they feel strongly about has caused me to not spend as much time on FaceBook in general.

In case you aren’t aware…. it was only a few months back that I was singing my praises about Facebook. I spent a lot of time there. I was able to do my social networking in ways that I couldn’t do in other Social Media arenas. I love Social Networking in all different ways, but what is so cool about Facebook is some of the very cool Applications that Facebook has. Some of these applications helped me interact with fellow marketers and bloggers that I didn’t know too well before facebook, but due to the fun networking via these applications caused me to take a closer look at their websites and blogs. But, recently something has started to happen that has not happened to me in this last year of using Facebook until recently…. "Chain Messages."

I’m not sure if Chain Messages is what this "thing" is actually called. But, this is what I’m going to call it. Chain Messages reminds me of a chain mail, but is is done through Facebook Applications. These Chain Messages are rude, forceful and threatening and I’m more than a little bit irritated that they have entered my Facebook space.

Here is an example of a message I received earlier today that has me so upset. I have removed a couple things from this screen shot. I removed the name of the person who sent me this FunWall post. I have also removed the name of my Facebook Friends from the "forward to:" section.

Now, this isn’t the first Chain Message I received, but this one really has me bothered. I’ll get into the reasons why this particular Chain Message has me irked, but in the meantime let me list what makes a Chain Letter a Chain Letter, so we can compare the Old Fashioned Chain Letter to this Chain Letter 2.0.

Wikipedia tells me that a Chain Letter is…

"A typical chain letter consists of a message that attempts to induce the recipient to make a number of copies of the letter and then pass them on to as many recipients as possible… Common methods used in chain letters include emotionally manipulative stories, get-rich-quick pyramid schemes, and the exploitation of superstition to threaten the recipient with bad luck or even physical violence or death if he or she "breaks the chain" and refuses to adhere to the conditions set out in the letter."

Wow, that definition sounds very much like the FunWall Post I received above. Let’s check out another. The following is from FraudBureau.com. Here they explain the Anatomy of a Chain Letter.

"Every chain letter is comprised of three components:

* The hook. The letter will try to grab your attention so that you will read the rest of it. Some common themes are "Get Rich Quick", to appeal to our desire to make money or "Virus Alert" to hook us by arousing our fears.

* The threat. Once you are hooked, the letter arouses your fears by telling you about the terrible things that will happen if you do not continue to keep the chain in tact. The threat is usually realistic enough to get you to continue the chain.

* The request. The request is usually the demand to distribute the letter to as many individuals as possible. "

Ahhh, so there are three components to every chain Letter. Very interesting. Well, Let’s see if there are three components to this Facebook Chain Message…

The Hook - "Someone will either call you or talk to you and tell you that they love you." Not a get rich scheme, but definitely something that many people are desperately looking for.

The Threat - "I better not see anyone breaking this one or see deleted." Well, I know this is not a specific threat, but it is an empty threat at least. It is playing on the fear of many people with social networking…. not having other’s support.

The Request - "These are ribbons for Soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pass it on to everyone and Pray." Definitely works on the emotions of many.

Hmmmm…. very interesting. Seems like this FunWall Post has all the makings of a Chain Letter to me. Dress it up whatever way you want to, but it is what it is… a chain letter.

What has me so upset about this particular Chain Message is the fact that it plays on the emotions of many people. We all know and love someone who is helping fight wars in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. And, this message is using our emotions to get us to do what they want us to do.

You know what really gets me is that I might have helped passing around the support ribbons to my Facebook friends had I not felt threatened. But, after reading the entire FunWall post I didn’t want any part of it. I wonder how many others who received this same FunWall post felt the same way I did and didn’t forward the message to their Facebook friends as well.

And, that brings us to another topic which I won’t delve to far into at this time….. friends made online. Should they have the same qualities of real life friends? OF COURSE!!! The social skills and etiquette that your mother and father taught you should still apply online. No parent in their right mind would teach their children the skills of threatening their friends. So, if you wouldn’t treat your friends in the real world with threats then don’t do it online.

You want to be my friend online?? Stop threatening me!!

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0 | 16 Comments »

51 Favorite SU, Sphinn, Twitter & Facebook Posts of 2007

Friday, December 28th, 2007 |

Photo by luc legay

2007 will be ending in the next few days and 2008 will be beginning. It has been an amazing year for me. It was In 2007 I became very involved in Social Media Activity. I am looking forward to 2008 and everything that it has to offer, but before I can simply say Hello to 2008 and Goodbye to 2007 I wanted to list my favorite posts from all of my favorite Social Networking sites…. StumbleUpon, Sphinn, Twitter, and Facebook. *Keep in mind that these posts are my favorites and nothing official.*

Favorite StumbleUpon Posts of 2007

StumbleRank - Ranks the Top StumbleUpon Users.

A Comprehensive Guide to StumbleUpon: How to Build Massive Traffic to Your Website - Maki of DoshDosh wrote this mini guide on StumbleUpon because he thought StumbleUpon has enormous potential in maximizing brand exposure while fitting nicely with a long term site building strategy.

How to Use StumbleUpon for Your Business: The Definitive Guide - Tamar writes this great post for 10e20.com.

The Why, How and Who of Marketing in StumbleUpon - Garrett French writes this very in depth post regarding StumbeUpon and using it for Marketing purposes.

Building Your Blog With StumbleUpon - A ProBlogger Guest post by Skellie showing how to use StumbleUpon to increase your Blog Traffic.

Stumbleupon mathematics for stumblers - Tim Nash gives us his thoughts on how he believes the StumbleUpon algorithm works.

How to Use StumbleUpon to Promote - David Risley of WebbyOnline explains in detail how to Use StumbleUpon.

StumbleUpon Will Love Us Even When Google Doesn’t - Brian Wallace writes about the effectiveness of StumbleUpon.

5 Tactics For Driving Traffic From StumbleUpon - Cameron Olthuis writes for Search Engine Land showing you how StumbleUpon is a great way to bring large amounts of traffic to your site…. at times even bringing more traffic than digg.

How to Set Up a Domino Effect of Traffic - Vandelay Design writes how he greatly increased his traffic by setting up a Domino Effect with StumbleUpon.

25 Reasons You Get Thumbs Up - Andy Beard comes up with a list of 25 reasons why you might get a Thumbs Up on StumbleUpon.

Analysis: StumbleUpon’s Top 50 Stumblers - Glen Allsopp felt there wasn’t a lot of information on StumbleUpon on how to become a Top Stumbler. Glen researched and posted his findings.

6 Reasons to Love StumbleUpon - Marty tells us the 6 reasons he loves StumbleUpon.

Writing for StumbleUpon: High Impact Content “Above the Scroll” in Four Easy Steps - Muhammad Saleem points out that with StumbleUpon having your important content above the scroll is extremely important.

How Important is StumbleUpon? - Rose Sylvia shows us how to use StumbleUpon to its fullest.

Favorite Sphinn Posts of 2007

Sphinn - The Social News Site Every Search Marketer Should Be Using - Rand writes in detail 10 reasons why Every Search Marketer should be using Sphinn.

Please Don’t Ask Me to Sphinn Your Stories (and How to Use Sphinn and Similar Social News Websites) - Tamar writes this excellent post about Social Networking Etiquotte.

Why Sphinn Needs a Dumbass Button - Digg has a "bury it" button…. Greg Boser suggests a "Dumbass Button" for Sphinn.

Fool Proof Sphinn-Bait Tactics to Reach the Front Page - Kelvin Newman writes in detail how to reach the front page of Sphinn.

A 5 Pack Of Sphinn Interviews - Todd Mintz Interviews 5 members of the Sphinn Community.

How to Dominate Sphinn in 4 Easy Steps - David Harry comes up with the Sphinn Domination Plan.

The First (un)Official Sphinn Awards - Day 1 - Jeff Quipp at Search Engine People offers days 1 of the (un)Official Sphinn Awards…. freakin hilarious.

The (un)Official Sphinn Awards Part 2 - David Harry Holds Part II of the Sphinn Awards at his site and it is equally as funny as Day 1.

A Very Beginner’s Guide to the Sphinn Network : Tips and Tricks - Mack offers up some tips to New User’s of Sphinn.

Sphinn: In Depth Traffic Analysis And Advice - Matt Jones did his research and offers his traffic analysis and some Sphinning tips.

20 Top Sphinners You Should Know - Here is a list of 20 Sphinners and their sites that you might not know, but should.

Sphinn Google Gadget - As if I didn’t adore Pat of SEOish enough he comes up with this amazing Sphinn Google Gadget.

Favorite Twitter Posts of 2007

The Big Juicy Twitter Guide - Caroline Middlebrook puts together a very detailed guide to Using Twitter for Marketing.

Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR - Lee Odden puts together a great post with tips on using Twitter as a Marketing Tool. Lee’s community offers tons of wonderful Twitter Tips!!

The Several Habits of Wildly Successful Twitter Users - Bren at Slacker Manager offers tips and advice for Successful Twitter Wanna-be’s.

Eight Ways Twitter is Useful Professionally - Anne Zelenka offers 8 ways to use Twitter Professionally.

Use Twitter To Boost Your Marketing Strategy, No Really - Chris Bennett offers his ideas to user Twitter as part of a Marketing Strategy.

The Top 5 Ways Smart People Use Twitter - Sharon Sarmiento suggests focusing on these 5 smart uses of Twitter to keep from falling into the Twitter abyss.

Is Twitter TOO good? - Kathy Sierra writes this post showing her struggle with Twitter…. In this post you can see her struggle with Twitter being a waste of time and the rest of the world chanting Twitter’s wonderful goodness.

Twitter vs. Pownce: Who Pwns? - Tamar takes a close look at Twitter and Pownce and compares the two.

Twitter is Paying My Rent - Marshall Kirkpatrick writes how he uses Twitter to come up with stories to blog about. At the time of this post 6 out of his 7 last posts wint to the front page of Digg… the same stories he came up with thanks to Twitter.

Twitter CAN be Useful! Who Knew? - Due to Twitter coverage of the fires back in October Jennifer Laycock saw an incredibly useful way to use Twitter….. Her brother and his wife were able to subscribe to the Twitter Feed and quick and easy access to instant updates as they drove across the country safely.

Favorite Facebook Posts of 2007

The Facebook Marketing Bible: 24 Ways to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook - If you are looking on exactly how to Market on Facebook this is a "Must Read" by Justin Smith.

12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally - Judi Sohn explains why Facebook can be a great addition to your web working toolbox.

How to use Facebook to Promote your Blog - Brian Wallace compliles some tips on how to promote your blog using Facebook.

Not many people know this, but I invented Facebook - Lyndon says, Let us all rise up and shout, “I INVENTED FACEBOOK.”

Your Private Facebook Info Isn’t So Private - Lisa Barone shows why adjusting your Facebook privacy settings may not be enough to keep people from seeing inside your Facebook Windows.

Seven Steps to Graphing Your Facebook Strategy - Dave McClure offers an indepth look at Facebook. This is a great post for anyone new to Facebook.

A Successful Facebook Marketing Campaign - Social-Media-Optimization.com compares a successful Facebook campaign (Target) with an unsuccessful campaign (Walmart).

How to Develop a Hit Facebook App: 29 Essential Tools and Tutorials - SoftwareDeveloper.com comes up with Resources to help you build a successful Facebook app that users will love.

You too might be a Facebookaholic, if: - Dave McClure gives us 17 hints that we might be a Facebookaholic.

Who needs Google? Facebook’s stealth ad system - ValleyWag gives us the details on Facebook’s Ad System.

Mash Pets, SuperPokes, Vampires, or Zombies? What are Your Social Network Ice Breakers? - Mark Laymon shows us how he uses certain Facebook applications to "Break the Ice".

A Girl’s First Time….. being Poked - Ok, this post is one of mine. Sorry, I just crack myself up.

Is The Horde At Facebooks Walls? - Tim Nash writes this post for Clicks.ws. on the how-to’s of Advertising on Facebook.

Web Strategy: What the Web Strategist should know about Facebook - Jeremiah Owyang tells us what we need to know about Facebook as a strategic marketing channel.

Technorati Tags:social networking, social bookmarking, stumbleupon, sphinn, twitter, facebook, 2007, social media, social media marketing

Posted in Facebook, Humor, Link Love, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Twitter | 19 Comments »

My Love / Hate Relationship with Social Media

Monday, December 17th, 2007 |

Photo by Fabbio

I love you so much I hate you!! Or, I hate you so much I love you!! Oh boy, is my head Sphinning!! I keep Stumbling over things and getting Mixxed up because my head is totally in the Social Media clouds. Let me explain my battle a bit…

I love you, Social Media…. Let me Count the Ways:

People – I have met so many people from all over World. Many of these people I would consider a dear friend and/or Colleague.
Traffic - With the correct Social Media Marketing Strategies you can bring a lot of amazing traffic to your site.
This is Work?? - I can call Social Media part of my job, but yet it is so much fun.
Voyeurism - I can be a Voyeur and it’s okay…. Watching where my friends have been and what they did while they were there. (StumbleUpon, MyBlogLog, etc…)
Conversations - Conversations via blog comments, Instant Messaging, blog posts, facebook, twitter, blah, blah, blah.
De-Stresser - Take my mind off of my Stressful Work / Life.
Not all about Google - No longer have to rely on Major Search Engines for all of my traffic.
Keep Updated - Easy to keep up with new and updated information on the topics that interest me. RSS Feeds
Link Building - Building Links is fairly easy with Social Media and a lot of fun. No more emailing for link exchanges.
Creativity - I feel More Creative now than I ever was.
Sweet Dreams - I love Social Media so much I even dream about it at night while I’m sleeping.
Opportunities - Joined in on projects with fellow colleagues I have met online
Standing Out - Social Media Activities can make you Stand Out - A successful Article or Blog Post can do very well on Social Networking Sites which can make you stand-out in your Niche.
Social Media Fame - Having a Blog with a Readership can make you feel like a Superstar.

I hate you, Social Media… Let me Count the Ways:

Pressure of keeping up the Pace - Feeling if I slow down I will get lost and no one will be able to find me.
Inevitable that someone will be unhappy - This is very difficult for a people pleaser such as myself. Unable to make everyone happy. If you make someone unhappy you might hear about it in a follow-up post or a blog comment.
Voyeurism - Just like I can watch other people travel through the Blogosphere, people can watch me too. Knowing this makes me feel a bit weary about popping on to someone’s blog or StumbleUpon Profile too many times in a row. Not sure why, but it does.
This is Work!! - Social Media is very time consuming. And, even though it is a lot of fun it is so much work!!
People - Most people that I have met online have been wonderful!! But, not everyone is as nice. Some people pretend to be your friend because ultimately they want something from you. Don’t use me!! I hate that!!
RSS Feed Reader is Too Full - As I mentioned in #8 above I use a RSS Feed Reader to keep updated. However, my Feed Reader has become so full that lately I have been missing important posts. Because my Reader is so full I tend to read the Titles of the Posts to see what sounds interesting enough to read and landed up missing some really wonderful posts.
Poor Time Management - What little Time Management Skills I have had in the past have totally went down the toilet since I added Social Media Activity to my To-do list. UGH!! I think I’ve already complained about this in the past, huh?!
Productivity - Productivity on some of my other duties has begun to slip.
Sleepless Nights - Don’t get enough Sleep. Even my dreams are overcome by Social Media Activities.
Social Media Pressure - The pressure to achieve a certain Social Media Status or keep this status is incredibly intense. Sometimes it is hard to enjoy the fame due to the constant fear of losing it.

I will be following this post up with other posts detailing the specifics on each of these Love/Hate dilemmas.

Technorati Tags:social media, social networking, social bookmarking, sphinn, stumbleupon, social media marketing, blogging

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Humor, Mixx, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Time Management, Twitter, Web 2.0 | 21 Comments »

12 Cool Analogies to Help Explain Social Media

Friday, December 7th, 2007 |

Yesterday I wrote a Post on Collective-Thoughts, Wow, Social Media is a lot like High School!! . It is a humorous look at how Social Media has many similarities to High School. Both Social Media and High Schools have Popular Crowds, Clubs, The Bad Boys, Rule Breakers, Goodie-Goodies, Parties, Peer Pressure, and Gossip. I hope the readers enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I’ve learned that using analogies is a great way to explain things that are normally difficult to explain. There are many people on the net that find Social Media and Web 2.0 very confusing. Analogies help explain something confusing to an individual by comparing it with something they already understand. So, here I have listed 12 articles that use cool analogies to explain different aspects of Social Media.

Join the Conversation or Break Into the Conversation? - Sean at Grin & Grumble compares Social Media being a Pool and Bloggers being the different types of swimmers in the Pool of Social Media.

The “symphony” of social media - Dee Rambeau at CausePlanet.org writes a creative analogy comparing a symphony orchestra with social media.

Why Corporations Should Blog (Hint, it’s not SEO) - Josh Hallett at Hyku uses your love for your significant other to prove a point.

Marc Canter’s vision of the open social network - Chris at Particls Blog comparing Facebook and other Social Networks are like Shopping Centers.

Fly-Fishing Where the Fish Are - Ann Handley at Marketing Profs Daily Fix writes about fishing using flies was not unlike marketing using the tools of social media.

Social Media, the Pond Analogy and the Old Media Disconnect - sean at Scrollin’ On Dubs compares Marketing with the spreading of ripples in a glassy pond.

The Ethics Of Social Bookmarking - xrayspecs at The Internet Marketing Neophyte compares a new site to a piece of driftwood.

Social Media Marketing is Similar to a Fishing Tournament - Mark Laymon at Collective-Thoughts

Bookmarking Solutions: Quick Access vs. Long Term Storage - Jay White at Dumb Little Man compares Social Bookmarking to paper filing systems.

Advertising Tips (with Sex examples) - talisman.org explains what marketing is using Pick-up Lines and the such.

Online social networking, an extension to human evolution? Arun Radhakrishnan at TechRepublic talks about the relation between social networking and human evolution.

The Virtual world and the Real World - An Analogy - Karthik Vijayakumar at Water Droplets compares The virtual world to the real world.

Technorati Tags:social media, social bookmarking, social networking, analogies, social media marketing

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Humor, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Websites | 8 Comments »

Help Me… Social Media is Trying to Take my Life!!

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 |

Social Media is an important part of my daily routine. Since I started adding Social Media to my Daily Schedule I’ve seen an increase in daily traffic, incoming links, sales on my Preschool Curriculum eCommerce site and I’ve met the most amazing, brilliant people that enjoy the same interests as I do.

It sounds wonderful, right? Well, up until last Friday I would have said an energetic, “YES!!” Now, I’m not so sure.

Last Friday I was comparing what my goals were for that week and what I actually accomplished. I was horrified to see that I fell short on many of my goals for that week. For me, that rarely happens. I am ridiculously structured. I need to be… I run a business out of my home while taking care of three children. Schedules and "To-Do" Lists are what helps keep my crazy busy life a bit more sane. So, when I saw my list having tons of items not crossed off I was determined to see where all of my time was going. This is what I came up with:

The following times aren’t exact, but gives you a rough idea of the time I spend doing particular daily duties.

7:30 am

Get up and start getting my 5 year old ready for School and make sure my 11 year old is awake and getting himself ready for school.

8:30 am

Feed 4 year old Breakfast.
Check email
Print off ABC Home Preschool orders for the last 24 hours
Process all Credit Card transactions
Email Customers with their ship dates.

9:30 am

Use my Feed Reader to check out the new Posts on my Favorite Blogs
Stumble and Sphinn posts appropriately.
Comment on any Posts that I feel I can contribute to.
Bookmark posts to come back to later.

10:30 am

Check out what’s new on Sphinn. Sphinn items I find interesting
Stumble and/or Bookmark items I find interesting from Sphinn.
Comment on Sphinn items.
Check what’s new on FaceBook. Respond to FaceBook messages and Notifications.

11:30 am

Quick Stop at MyBlogLog to see who stopped by my Profile
Reply to Messages
Quick Thank-you emails for Stopping by.
Check what pages StumbleUpon friends sent me to check out…. Respond to each.

12:30 pm

Lunch for 4 year old and myself.
Work-out and Shower.

2:30 pm

Finish Writing a Post for one of my Blogs

4:00 - 9:00 pm

Dinner, Homework and Family Time (Trust me, this time is not a break…. I’m sure you Mommies and Daddies know what I’m talking about.)

9:00 pm

Begin online research on the next days post.
- Make Notes on the direction I want to go with post and any outbound links I want to use

10:30 pm

Process orders for ABC Home Preschool
Package Orders for tomorrow’s shipment

12:00 am

Go through Feed Reader once again
Make Posts and Comments on other Blogs
Sphinn / Stumble Posts
Go thru Sphinn once again
Stumble a bit
Twitter
Try to finish catching up on emails

Bedtime is between 1 am and 3 am. Lately it is closer to 3 am.

Keep in mind a few things about the above generalized schedule:

Nowhere did I mention any interaction or quality time with my children. I have a 4 year old who spends his days with me. So, the work I mentioned above is done around my time with him during the day.
I mentioned nothing about extracurricular activities for my children which happens at least 3 times a week in which I also attend.
In addition to this blog I have many other sites that I work on.
On a daily basis I speak and / or chat with the people I network with online. This must be squeezed into my daily schedule.
Daily tweaks and article writing for my static websites

The above schedule was just to give you a very rough idea of how my basic work day goes. And, how much time, at a minimum, I work on Social Media. My plate was full before Social Media entered my life. Today my plate is over flowing. I love Social Media I just need to learn how to manage my time with it better.

If I attempt to keep going at this pace with a schedule like this I’m sure Social Media will take my life. I am determined to come up with a Time Management Plan for Social Media that works for me. As it is something that is not only working for my business, but that I love very much.

During my research in the past couple of days I came across three wonderful posts that offer some time management skills when it comes to Social Media.

My Half Hour Social Networking Plan - In this three part series Kevin Palmer gives us the details of his 30 minute Social Networking Plan. Kevine breaks his plan down into three posts 1. The First Ten Minutes 2. The Second Ten Minutes 3. The Final Ten Minutes
The 10-Minute Daily Guide to Building Your Social Media Profile - Ben Yoskovitz offers some of his amazing Time Management Tips for Social Networking.
7 Ways to Own Social Media Before it Owns You - Brian Wallace explains that Instead of suffering from social media overload, look at a few other disciplines and tips for help.

So, please…. please Help Me!! Social Media is trying to take my life…. Do you have any suggestions? I would love to hear them.

Technorati Tags:social media, time management, social networking

Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Time Management, Twitter, Web 2.0, Web 2.0 Basics, Websites | 23 Comments »

A Girl’s First Time….. being Poked

Friday, November 2nd, 2007 |

A Funny Look at my First Time Being Poked on Facebook

Anyone who is a fan of Facebook has probably been poked. Maybe you have even been lucky enough to be SuperPoked!! I know I have. Normally I am not a person to have been poked and tell, but I’m sure you can be trusted to keep this a secret.

I remember my first poke. His name was Michael. He was so sweet. He even asked permission before poking me.

He and I joined Facebook around the same time and both of us had no idea what being poked was like. We agreed to try poking each other to see what would happen.

I must admit, it was quite disappointing. I’m sure it was not Michael’s fault. After all, it was his first time too. But, I was left saying to myself, “That was it? What was all the fuss about?” He and I shared a nice conversation on each other’s wall after that. But, held off poking each other for a bit.

Then, something changed. I discovered SuperPoke. This changed everything. Once I tried SuperPoke I couldn’t stop. This was so much better than being just poked.

He and I have superpoked many times since then, but I must admit there have also been others since Michael. And, not just poking. I have been high fived, spanked, shanked, thrown out a window, goosed, body slammed, chest bumped, and drop kicked. I have even had a chicken thrown at me. But, there was something about Michael that kept drawing me back to him. I’m guessing it was because he was my first.

One lonely night after not hearing from him in a while I drunk dialed him. I’m pretty sure Michael was pissed. Either that or he was aware of my superpokes with others. Within moments after I drunk dialed him, I got a facebook notice that he took my sexy back. Oh, I was not happy!! I trout slapped him, threw a cow at him and even body slammed him. But, he just wouldn’t give me my sexy back. I wrote on Michael’s Wall demanding he give it back to me…. After all, it was the weekend and no girl should be without her sexy for the weekend.

What happened next I am not very proud of… I Dry Humped Michael via SuperPoke that night. Needless to say, I got my sexy back. A girl has to do what a girl has to do.

Don’t worry. I have since got Michael back for what he did to me that night.

"I hope the Vampire that I sent after you, Michael, didn’t hurt you too bad"

Technorati Tags:facebook, superpoke, humor, social media

Posted in Facebook, Humor, Social Media | 16 Comments »

Social Desire