Why Should You Build Your Business on Social Media?

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Kat

Raise your hand if you have a Twitter account. Keep it up high if you also have a profile on Facebook or MySpace. Can I find you on LinkedIn? Does your name appear on the hallowed pages of foursquare, YouTube, digg or Flickr? What about your work? Is your business on social media? Think about this for a moment. YOU likely have a carefully-cultivated and active social life online. Your friends, family and co-workers have these same accounts. Guess what, folks? Your customers – and those people you want to be your customers – are hanging out and checking in to all of these same sites. Why isn’t your business there with them yet?

To be completely frank, you are completely insane if you haven’t begun to put your business out there in social-land. I don’t know about you, but I do almost everything online now. If I need to buy something for my home, I research the various brands online before purchasing online. I rely on what others say far more than I do on whatever propaganda the company wants to spin on their own site. Past customers are going to tell the truth about whatever it is you’re selling. If your product or service is hot, the world is going to know. If you flat-out suck… we’re all going to know that, as well. People talk – a LOT – on social media sites. Word spreads like wildfire. Companies are literally made or broken all the time simply by what their target audience has to say about them.

This may make you leery, and more afraid to take that plunge. If you believe in what you’re doing, though, why aren’t you putting yourself out there? You obviously started that business or created that service for a reason, right? Isn’t your goal to sell something? How the heck will you ever DO that if you don’t let people know how to find you?

The most important tip I can give you is to never – EVER – treat your professional social media profiles as nothing more than link-bait. Don’t sit there and post links to your specials, sales or blog posts. People will not pay attention. You have to engage your community. Talk WITH them, not at them. If you’re running a special this week on tennis shoes, ask your audience what type of shoe they feel works best for them, followed by a simple link to your sale page. Asking a direct question will nearly guarantee conversation, feedback and clicks.

Personally, I hate the word “followers,” along with the term “fans.” I don’t want either of those things, thanks. I prefer to have friends – and you should, too. Even if you are trying to sell these people something, you really want to engage them as though they are a friend. Draw them in to your circle. Make them feel a part of whatever it is you are trying to do. Let them know their feedback and ideas are important. You are going to win a hell of a lot of loyalty this way, and your community will begin to grow.

Always keep in mind that building a community is NOT about connecting people to you. It’s all about connecting them to each other. Give them the tools and platforms that they need to collaborate and watch the magic unfold. We’ve all seen how one person can make a difference in the world. Can you imagine what can happen when a group of people come together under a common interest? They literally would have the power to change the world.

Shouldn’t your brand be right there cheering them on?

Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

2010 Elections From a Teenager’s Eyes

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Kat

Election Day 2010 was an interesting one across the country. We watched Prop 19 fail. We witnessed a woman’s $130 million dream go up in smoke. Many citizens sighed in relief to see the House turn red. Still others were angry at this change in color. Rumors were slung like so much mud through the intertubes. Speculation was rampant across Twitter. Rants and outright cursing fits splashed their way across the world.

I spent my evening focused on a State Senate race for a state I don’t even live in. Joe Pirillo, dad to my boss Chris, was making a run for the Iowa State Senate in District 21. I have gotten to know Joe and his wife Judy very well in the nearly four years I’ve worked with Chris. They are GOOD people. Joe ran for office because he passionately believes that his state needs to make some serious changes in the way they are spending their money. With his Accounting background, he felt he was better suited to sit in that seat than the incumbent. I rooted for him to win with my whole heart.

A few hundred of our community members hung out together in the chat room. We followed the election results for Joe closely, cheering when he pulled ahead and cursing when he fell behind. We listened to Chris’ varying reactions each time the results were updated. If I had to guess, I’d say more than fifty percent of those participating in the political discussions tonight were under the age of eighteen. Within just a few moments, I noticed something that had my mouth nearly on the floor: it was the teens who were far more passionate – and educated – about this election than the adults.

You read that correctly. These kids understood the issues. They knew the candidates. They had researched the various bills. I watched in complete awe as these young people debated each other – respectfully – over the hot topics of the day. It was the adults in the channel who sat around not really caring. Most of them didn’t participate, other than to mock something or someone. Finally, I commented about this on Twitter. A friend of mine – who happens to BE a teenager – responded simply:

“You know why? More than ever, they want a voice, because they are sick of whats going on. This is an example of good doing something, giving evil a run for its money.”

To which another friend responded:

“That’s why the kids of today are truly scary. Most of the time, they don’t care. As soon as you get ‘em to care, they’re unstoppable.”

It was a truly awesome adventure tonight, seeing the way the minds of teens today work. They care about today’s politics because they know that they are the adults of tomorrow. The decisions we made with the votes we cast today will affect them “tomorrow.” These kids know this, and they are determined to have a voice in everything we are doing.

If only more adults would care this much – our government might not be quite so screwed up.

Posted in Politics, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How To Fix Your Service and Make it Work

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Kat

It takes an awful lot to frustrate me to the point of tears. I am a fairly calm person most of the time and you won’t often see my feathers ruffled. However, I have reached the point of no return. I even mentioned on Twitter that I needed a white flag to wave and was throwing in the proverbial towel. The point of no return has come and gone. Why the hell can people not LISTEN for once? If you are in charge of the response team for your product or service, stop patronizing me. Yes, I’m talking to you. If your junk doesn’t work, it’s not me – your customer – you should be blaming. When you cannot figure out what the hell is wrong, you don’t turn around and flippantly tell your client that it must be “something on your end.”

I’m not going to name names or point fingers. The service I am ticked off at doesn’t really matter because I’ve seen this happen too many times to count. I have been having issues with your service for more than a year now. I have tried using it on multiple computers, using every browser ever built and even from different locations (with different ISPs). Since the problem exists 99% of the time, I can pretty much guarantee it’s NOT ON MY END.

In the past year, I have spent a countless number of hours on the phone with your technicians and engineers, and an even larger number of hours buried in emails back and forth. I don’t get paid for the time I spend trying to make YOUR service work. In fact, I tend to lose pay since I’m not getting other things done that I could be invoicing for. Each time we publicly complain about your service (on Twitter or Facebook), your latest mouthpiece acts very concerned and attempts to help.

It doesn’t help, though, when you have zero records of ever having talked to us before. It doesn’t help me when you have an entirely new team in place since the last time. It doesn’t help me to have to waste my time telling you my browser of choice, operating system and computer specifications. This is NOT an issue due to my computer. How will it benefit anyone to dredge our way through the same old routine tests and useless information to get to the same point? At the end of the conference call with your engineers tomorrow, I am sure I will be once again told that since THEY cannot replicate the issue, there is nothing wrong. My screenshots, concise explanations and screen captures don’t convince you there is something wrong.

I want your service to work – period. There’s nothing more to it. You jump down our throats if we dare to state that what you do is not worth recommending to others, yet you cannot be bothered to take a serious interest in the needs of your customers. I don’t expect perfection or even spectacular and amazing things from you.

I just want your shit to work.

Posted in Rants | 1 Comment

How NOT to Deal With Internet Trolls

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Kat

For the past three years, I have had to deal with Internet trolls on a daily basis. I have had threats made against me for perceived wrong-doings, been called every name in the book (and some that I believe were made up!) and been told that I needed to kill myself to put the world out of its misery. When I first started working with Chris, I admit that these little idiots got to me. They really hurt me and made me question the work I was doing on more than one occasion. I quickly learned how to deal with them. I realized that they are nothing more than inconsequential morons who hide behind the anonymity of their computer connection. Their goal in life is to project their anger at the World onto others by attempting to hurt them. Realizing this was freeing: I took away their power to hurt me.

My daughter, however, is a different story. Anyone who knows me knows that you simply do NOT mess with my girls. I have been to hell and back in my life. I can tolerate and survive nearly anything that Fate throws my way and come out on top. Attempt to hurt my kids, though, and you’re going to pay for it. They are my life, plain and simple. They are the reason I get up every day and do the things I do. They are what drives me to be a better mom and a better person.

Recently, Chris sent me his iPhone 3GS after he had received his new iPhone 4. I was totally excited. I’ve never owned a smartphone of any type, so this would be completely new for me. Chris asked me to record an “unboxing video” to place on his YouTube channel. Those of you who know me at all know how much I LOATHE cameras, and why. I reluctantly agreed, knowing that the trolls would be out in full force. I was so nervous, though, that I asked my oldest daughter Ashley to join me in the video for moral support. She’s 21 years old, but still quite “new” at this whole Internet thing. Sure, she has a Facebook and uses Twitter occasionally. She’s never been subjected to most of the things that I do – and I’ve never told her about the trolls. Perhaps I should have.

One little asshole in particular chose the wrong person to mess with. The child (yes, child – he’s 14!) commented on the video and informed my daughter that he “hacked” us (which I KNOW isn’t possible) and knew where we lived. He claimed to her that he knew her phone number… and that he planned to rape her sometime this week. Needless to say, my kiddo freaked the hell out and rightfully so.

I admit it, y’all. I handled this badly at the start. I flew into a rage. I did not know at the time that this person was a young teenager. From all appearances on his own YT channel, he was an adult. That doesn’t matter, though. I couldn’t see past wanting him to hurt and be afraid the same way my daughter was. I turned to close friends on the IRC network, and asked them to troll him back. I wanted him to receive a taste of his own medicine. I wasn’t thinking clearly – or at all.

Before trolling the troller, my friends looked at his YouTube account. That is when they learned how young he is. By this time, I had calmed down considerably and knew that I did NOT want this handled this way. I wanted to take care of it properly – by contacting the authorities (and YouTube). Thanks to the power of the information people so willingly post on the Internet, I was able to turn over his full name, address, IP address, printed copies of the comment he left and more. The police have more than enough information to track the dreadful child down. I’m sure his parents will be amused to find out what he’s been up to online. And I sincerely hope he gets the professional psychiatric help he obviously needs. What 14 year old child goes around telling women they are going to rape them? Hello!

The moral of this story is that I blew it, gang. I KNEW better than to fly off the handle. I KNOW how to handle these situations. I have no excuses, other than the fact that when it comes to protecting my kids… I apparently act first and think later. I’ve never been faced with a situation before where THEY were threatened in any way. When they were, I turned into some type of mad woman for a short time. I apologize sincerely to those of you who were disappointed in my reaction. I learned a few lessons tonight, and hope that they will help someone else should they ever find themselves in this awful situation.

Ashley – remember what I told you tonight. Little pieces of slime like this mean NOTHING. Picture them with their little sandwiches in their mommy’s basement just like Chris said. They are people who have nothing better to do with their life than to make an ass out of themselves online. As the saying goes: you can’t fix stupid. ;)

Posted in Personal, Rants, Social Media | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Facebook, Calacanis and TechCrunch: Where Does the Truth Lie?

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Kat

Earlier today, I read a story over on TechCrunch where MG Siegler wondered why Jason Calacanis’ profile still showed up on Facebook. As you can see in the embedded video, Jason deleted his Facebook page back on May 22nd, 2010. He has publicly bashed Zuckerberg and company for their “shady privacy practices,” lack of ability to export content and not having an easy way to delete a profile completely.

Siegler reported earlier that more than the two weeks have gone by, and Jason’s page remained visible. When called on this, Calacanis appeared to be angry. In an email to Zuck, COO Sheryl Sandberg and TechCrunch, he blasted the company. Jason claimed that his page must have been reactivated by a third-party service or app. The site complied and immediately shut down his page, and the ordeal seemed to be finished.

Not quite.

TechCrunch just published a post with a headline that claims Jason is lying. After reading the original article today, Facebook engineer Mike Vernal left a comment stating in part: “In this situation, we’ve investigated and concluded that all of our policies were followed. We don’t get into specifics about individual users but in theory, the only way someone would be able to log back in to Facebook or another website with their Facebook information is if they had canceled their deletion request before the 14 day window expired.”

In a later email exchange with Facebook VP of Communications Elliot Schrage, Siegler learned that there is no way possible that the page stayed active for the reasons Calacanis listed. Either Jason – or someone acting on his behalf – told the site not to cancel his account. In the updated posted by MG on the TechCrunch site, he concludes:

Facebook is effectively saying that Calacanis is lying. They’re saying that there’s no way a third-party site could have kept his account active. And there’s no way he could have kept it active by logging into a third-party site (through Connect) without him explicitly canceling his deletion request first.

Sure sounds fishy to me. Perhaps Jason wanted to keep his Facebook account after all, but didn’t have the guts to say so after the public whining he’s done?

Posted in News, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Is Arrington the Devil in Disguise?

Posted on June 7, 2010 by Kat

I suppose that this post could get me into some proverbial hot water. It’s a good thing, then, that I tend to enjoy showers that nearly scald the skin off of my back. I’ve never been afraid to speak my mind in the past. I’ve oft wondered lately why I keep yelling things at my Twitter client instead of writing them down. It’s time I stop hiding what is rattling around inside this rock attached to my shoulders. If I don’t win any friends, that’s okay with me. I’m not trying to kiss up to anyone. I just feel it is time that I speak out on a subject that gets me fired up nearly every single day.

Being a girl behind the scenes doing what I do is honestly probably more fun than it would be were I the one in the spotlight. It’s also a whole lot easier. I don’t have to constantly take flak and have bullshit flung at me every time I write or speak. I can research and write about technology and social media to my heart’s content and not have to worry about what everyone else thinks. That’s the beauty of being a ghost-writer. I can write the news and stories, publish them and know at the end of the day I did one hell of a good job.

Being a community manager for Chris Pirillo, I spend a lot of time keeping my eye on Twitter. Where else will I get scoops on all of the latest news and hot stories? There are also a lot of interesting tidbits to be found there, if one is inclined to pay attention. I’ve noticed lately that there seems to be an even larger amount of bashing of Michael Arrington than usual. Sure, he’s controversial. You bet your ass he tells it like it is. He pulls no punches. If he thinks something, he’s going to say it. Personally, that’s why I follow the man. I could care less that he’s the boss of TechCrunch. I don’t care if he’s worth a dollar – or a million of them. I find his honesty and willingness to speak his mind refreshing. I disagree with him often. Does that mean I should slam him publicly? Should I start ranting and calling him names every time I think differently than he does?

We seem to have forgotten that it’s a GOOD thing to disagree with someone. Listening to what others think is a great way to expand our own minds. It helps us to look at things with a different perspective than we might have otherwise. Why has this become so taboo? I see people pointing fingers and saying some damn nasty things every time Arrington dares to open his mouth. I admit that a few things he’s said have ticked me off. Instead of throwing a temper tantrum, though, I end up trying to find out WHY he thought the way he did. You just never know when you might learn something new.

Michael Arrington isn’t the devil. He’s just a guy who likes to tell the world what’s on his mind and doesn’t really give two shits if you agree or not.

Posted in Personal, Rants, Social Media | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Young Girls Dancing to Single Ladies is Just Wrong

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Kat

Where do I even begin? This story and video disgust me so much that it has taken me two days to calm down and be able to compose my thoughts. As a mother of girls, I am repulsed by the style of dancing these young girls are doing – and by the clothes they are wearing. I honestly don’t care if that style of dance is what is “popular” these days (thanks a lot, Beyonce)… for an 8-year-old CHILD to dance this way is just plain wrong.

The daddy to one of the tots defended the dance on the Good Morning America show. He claimed the girls’ performance was “completely normal for dancing” and that the girls were just “doing something they completely love to do.” Two other parents spoke to Inside Edition, expressing their shock and outrage at the negative reactions around the Web. They claimed that the moves in the video are not “overly sexual.”

My oldest daughter, Ashley, is an amateur dancer. At age 15, she choreographed a dance to a then-popular song and performed it at the local fair talent show. Ashley was dressed in long “workout” type pants, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. She wasn’t dressed promiscuously, and she didn’t act that way, either. I watched as she worked up the routine for months ahead of time. I approved – or disproved – every move she made. To her credit, I only had to shake my head no for one single motion. She knew inherently what was considered to be appropriate for her age and the setting.

There is no way in hell a child of mine would dance like this… especially not at the age these little girls are. Let’s not even discuss what type of heaven the pedophiles of the World are in right now. I shudder to even think those thoughts. I’m far more concerned that the parents of these kids felt this is okay. Did they seriously not watch the performance with their eyes open? How can they not see their little darlings grinding their hips and thrusting them around in overly sexual simulations? What planet did they come from where it is acceptable for children to act this way?

“There’s something kind of disturbing about these images, otherwise they wouldn’t be all over the Internet,” said Jay Reeve, a clinical psychologist in Tallahassee, Fla. “It’s pretty clear that this dance is erotic in a way that would be more appropriate for girls post-puberty.”

Right on, Mr. Reeve! “Disturbing” is one of the mildest – and socially acceptable – words I can think of to describe this video.

Posted in Rants | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Is There an Age Limit on Twitter?

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Kat

Earlier tonight, my eldest daughter Ashley (she’s nearly 21) said something downright hilarious. After laughing for about five straight minutes, I decided to tweet what she had said in order to share it with my friends. I had no idea that tweet would end up on the front page of Twitter after having been re-tweeted hundreds of times. A few hours after I had posted, some random girl started yelling at me through the popular social media service, claiming I was “too old” to be on Twitter.

Wait. What? Young Lauren feels that my tweet is “indicative of everything that is wrong with Twitter.” She further claims that my timeline is “filled” with tweets about my children and grandchildren, and that I need to protect my tweets so the world isn’t subjected to them.

A quick perusal of my timeline will confirm to you that I don’t spend all of my time talking about my children. There are many sides to me… mom, nanna, tech writer, ghost blogger, community manager, Microsoft MVP, music junkie. Why, then, should there not be many sides to the “me” found on Twitter? Am I supposed to find out what exactly every person in the world wants to read and only tweet about it? Can you begin to imagine how boring that would be?

In contrast to what Ms. Montano thinks, I believe that tweets like mine show why Twitter WORKS. We don’t limit ourselves to only discussing “relevant things.” Who the hell is to say what is “relevant” to the world in general? It certainly isn’t me, and I highly doubt it’s my newest friend, either. Being a mom doesn’t define me. However, it IS a part of what makes me… ME!

Maybe Jason Calacanis should protect his tweets. Perhaps his 94,000+ followers should drop him. After all, he dared to talk about his child on Twitter! Oh, wait… maybe my friend Robert Scoble should make his timeline private! After all, he did tweet all through his wife’s labor and delivery to keep us updated.

Maybe my good buddy Mark Horvath should get off of Twitter and stop helping homeless people. After all, he’s older than I am! Kirstie Alley happens to be one of my idols. However, she, too, is older than I am. She dares to tweet about her family at times.

The thought that someone should not talk about their lives outside of what one person deems to be “relevant” is ludicrous. I wouldn’t want to live in a world where that happened. In fact, if Twitter started mandating that we cannot add something funny or personal to our accounts I will pack up my computer and cancel my Comcast.

Posted in Rants, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Music Heals Your Soul

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Kat

I’ve been in Seattle for nearly a week now, due to attending the Microsoft MVP Summit. I’ll be writing more on that later. I’m very tired from all of the activities, but I was moved to tears tonight by an experience I had, and wanted to get my thoughts down in writing while they’re fresh.

My boss, Chris Pirillo, picked me up yesterday morning when the conference ended. I am spending the weekend with him, just hanging out and having fun. Usually when I’m here, we’re batshit crazy busy with Gnomedex, and we really don’t get to visit. Chris decided to take this opportunity to have a small get-together at his house, complete with live music. I had no idea what was in store for me.

Around 7pm, these two guys show up. Their little duo is called Hejira. One of the guys is a guitar player. The other is a cellist who once played an impromptu concert on a street corner with Justin Bieber. They set up their instruments, and tuned up. We all gathered around… and then they began to play.

If you know me at all, you know what a huge role music has always played in my life. It is a part of my soul. I don’t know how else to put it. I play it. I sing it. I listen to it. I live and breathe music. That is truly where my greatest passion lies.

As they began to actually play, I sank down to sit on the floor and just stare, open-mouthed. Within about ten seconds, I had tears in my eyes. I have never heard anything like this before, of course, since no one plays anything like this. I was blown away, and there they sat… not more than ten feet away.

The cellist is from Egypt originally, and sat first chair in the Cairo Opera House for sixteen years. He is a man who feels the music deep in his soul, and his heart comes through his fingers and out of the instrument as he plays. They take songs and put their own flavor into them, such as hits by Michael Jackson. It’s really impossible to describe. You just have to listen.

I have been struggling with some deeply personal things for several weeks, many of which came to a head very recently. My emotions have been dragged through the mud and the muck, and I’ve had a lot of trouble trying to bring myself back up. I have cried a lot, and tried to make sense of my World most of the time.

Listen to Ashraf play the cello tonight spoke to my soul. I could feel myself begin to heal a little, finding some inner peace for the first time in what feels like forever. I only wish I could find the right words to explain to you how amazing this experience was.

Please. Listen to their music. Close your eyes, and open your mind. Let the music into your heart.

Posted in Personal | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

No, I do Not Want an iPad

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Kat

I am a tech writer. I write all day – every day – about technology. Today, for the first time, I honestly wish I didn’t do what I do. I am honestly so tired of having to come up with unbiased articles about the iPad. I am not impressed with the device in the least, and I’m tired of being asked repeatedly if I’m going to buy one.

NO. I DO NOT WANT AN iPAD.

Is that clear enough for you? I’ve never wanted an iPhone, nor an iPod. I don’t NEED any of them. Too many people think they “have” to have the newest devices. For example, I had one person tell me today they will die if they don’t get one right away. I asked them why they felt so strongly that it was a “must-have” item. The answer nearly made me whimper out loud… “it’s cool! and new! and everyone else wants one!”.

Seriously? Have we sunken so low as to need items, simply because they are cool? What ever happened to needing an item because it would help us be more efficient and productive? Where do our brains go every time something cool looking is introduced into the marketplace?

In my eyes, the iPad is nothing more than a cross between an iPod and an eBook reader. I prefer to actually go to the library and check out books I can curl up in bed with and hold in my hands. I cannot read them on some tiny-assed screen. I don’t see a need for an iPod, either. I have music on my computer, on the television and on the radio. Yes, I know I could get Apps. Whoopie! I can do the very same things right here on my TouchSmart, as well.

The funny thing is that I’m not some anti-Apple person. I applaud Apple for many things that they have come out with. I don’t believe the iPad is worth clapping over, that’s all. There’s no SD Card slot. How huge of an oversight is that? There’s no Flash capability… which is going to turn off a LOT of people, mark my words.

I guess my biggest gripe today is simply the fact that people don’t seem to care anymore if a device will fit their needs, and be right for them. Too often, consumers simply see the next big thing, and have to have it. In this economy, is that really such a good idea people?

Posted in Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments