Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
A tweet here. A tweet there. Everywhere a tweet tweet. What began, as every other social media marketing strategy did .. a way to communicate with friends, micro blogging is morphing into a most interesting business communication tactic.
On this muggy almost summer day for Friday Fun I wondered what businesses in my town of Hot'Lanta were tweeting. Doing a search on Twitter for ATL and Atlanta I found the following. Most surprising was Fulton County Office of the Sheriff.
Sidebar: Interesting though none had direct message opened. Direct message is a private email option that takes place within the platform.
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
Today's Friday Fun is for the Divas. The girlfriends - Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda - are back in a Sex In The City film. For me SITC means shoes shoes and more shoes. Well okay throw in Mr. Big, some great fashion, cosmos, friendship and fun in NYC too.
Meghan Cleary, aka Miss Meghan, The Shoe Therapist, is running a Sex In The City Designer Shoe Contest. Once a week, from now until the SITC opening (May 30th), Miss Megan will be giving away a pair of designer shoes. Very special is that all are women-owned luxury shoe designer brands who are taking the footwear industry by storm: Tashkent, Diana Broussard, Goldenbleu and Eileen Shields.
"Things don't always turn out to be your fantasy that's why you need friendships that are real to get you through it all." - Carrie Bradshaw. Divas, life can find a way of getting in the way of life. So take out your calendars or blackberries and schedule a GNO with your best girlfriends. Maybe, as suggested by Mary one of my dear GNO friends, a SITC movie and beverage night. Perhaps you'll even be wearing
designer shoes ;-)
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
CK said I had to go. But it would be taking time and $ from the budget. Marianne said I had to go. But I might have a project due. Drew said I had to go. CB and Ann and Lori said so too. But what about if .. if.. if..
It was the most amazing, magical weekend with conversations starting in the middle of paragraphs, as you would expect would happen with "old friends." Take a look at the fun ..
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
Today's Friday Fun is being turned over to Mugsy, Iris, Suzanne and Suzanne, a few of the women who are the heart of the the WowOWow - Women on the Web site. However, Girlfriend, they are not the founders (media celebrities: Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans). Nor are they are paid employees. Nor are they are formal volunteers. In fact, they have had little to no interaction with the women who launched WowOWow. And that was what mystified and intrigued me.
A little background .. early this week I wrote a post about three social networking communities, Dove, Shine by Yaoo! and WowOWow - Women on the Web, that are targeting women .. and not only "mommy bloggers." A couple of the WowOWow women reached out to me to tell me their reasons for being involved and committed to a community where the founders/contributors seldom engage with their peeps.
I had several reasons for this post. I wanted to share these four
amazing women with the Diva Marketing community; and in doing so, give
them a platform to tell their stories about their WowOWow experiences.
The learnings about how to build social networking community is
evolving and we continue to learn from each other.
At first I thought the post might find its way to the ladies who lunch, the founders, and perhaps help them understand/encourage them to be more "social"
within their own community. However, as the emails flew back and forth
among the vintage vixens (Iris' term .. love it!) and myself I began to understand these
smart, savvy women had created their own community. They didn't need,
nor were they really interested in, extensive interaction with the
founders (altho I'm sure it would be nice).
Organically they have assumed the role of
community managers. As anyone who has been involved in online community knows influence grows with interaction. The vintage vixens want to be
involved in the development of what they consider to be "their community." It would be wise of
WowOWow to listen and engage directly with these women.
It with pleasure that I turn Diva Marketing over to
Mugsy Peabody, Iris Odonata, Suzanne de Cornelia and Suzanne Conti
Mugsy Peabody
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis? Mugsy Peabody:
When else in history have women over 40 been actively asked to express their opinions about anything in public?
I mean, since Seneca Falls, which was when? 1848? I have always been interested in what women say when they are in a space to speak safely and honestly about their lives. Reminds me of my grandmother's kitchen on the farm, when the men were off somewhere, and the women were cooking together, telling the truth about their lives because they knew they would be heard.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site? Mugsy Peabody: What I found lots of women like me out there. It helps with the cosmic loneliness of having Mensa IQ without an interest in hanging out with a bunch of snobbish winos who smoke too much.
I really am amazed that the wowowow people didn't realize we'd want to get in touch with each other and build community.
But most of them don't just make friends with folks; they get handed "suitable" people by others to evaluate, so they probably wouldn't know what the rest of us do to hook up. Like George Sr. not knowing what a grocery scanner is.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only adding comments but engaging other women in conversation? Mugsy Peabody: Good conversation is one of the great rewards for dressing up our eternal souls in this human suit and lugging this corporal body about the planet for whatever alloted years we have. It's a skill I learned early on, growing up in a family not unlike J.D. Salinger's Glass family. Three brothers (one actually a rocket scientist) and parents whose brains were incandescent, and an adopted sister who glowed with smart genes. My sister-in-law is a big shot techie at NASA, e.g. All sorts of people used to gather at our house just for such conversation.
So I get some of that juice from the wowowow site -- not necessarily from the contributors or the owners (two separate sets of people) but from the posts of these amazing women who are sharp enough to have found the wowowow site in its beta state.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question .. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the convos? Mugsy Peabody: For starts, the authors aren't necessarily the most interesting women on www.wowowow.com. (And I think that really surprised them!) So we're not really talking with them alone. Certainly if they want to join in, fine. Second, I'm honing my "voice" for my own web efforts, retrieving my humor writing skills. I must say, I've been really touched and gratified by the reception I've received in this community. And, third, who knows? The WowOWow women might just learn something from the rest of us.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take an active role in the conversation? Mugsy Peabody: Make it really interesting for us. For example, we loved Joan Julia Buck's piece on Ms. Streep. And Jane Wagner's Care-Toons on the earth were so fabulous. Women over the age of 40 are some of the most experienced, inciteful, "smart" folks on the planet. Even though retired "soccer moms" are routinely ignored as being an interesting demographic, that is a serious error, a blind spot on the radar, because those women are the best organizers we have, and they determine where the household dollars get spent.
I know Ms. Tomlin can get down with "just folks," but I seriously wonder how many of these people are democrats with a small 'd'. And, P.S., for godzakes, don't try to BS us, because we have BS radar for days.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give to the founders? Mugsy Peabody: Hire
me to help them get on track. Just one example: Whoopi Goldberg is the
only women of color on the masthead, and she hasn't bothered to fill in
her profile. Of course, that gets "read" as them saying, at the last minute, "Oh, we'd better get Whoopi, cause we'll drop a big piece of the audience if we're all white."
(Well, guess what, ladies? The whole dern rest of the country is
actually serious about pluralism! [Ms. Tomlin's support of Richard
Prior earns her a lifetime street cred on this issue.])
And of course, they've already dropped the Asian demo -- and trust
me, that's where their lack of inclusion will hurt them, cause my
Asian-American friends drop more cash at Tiffany's and on designer
bling bling than anyone else I know. As to today's blunder of talking
about how they"confuse" their "hired help" with "friends," oh, well, where do you even start with that? Hire me. I'm worth my weight in gold.
A little about Mugsy Peabody
I'm 61 years old, and live in Oakland, California. I've lived in the Bay Area since I came here with flowers in my hair, 38 years ago, and used to play pass tag on the Golden Gate Bridge with Janis Joplin. While I may walk a little slow, I still have god's own rock and roll in my soul. I don't disclose much personal information on the net, since what I have to offer here is my written stuff, and you've already got that. My beta blog site, Mugsy Peabody Online, first posting. Sidebar: Mugsy's writing is absolutely as refreshing, funny and as smart as you would expect!
Iris Odonata
Greetings Miss Toby:
Where to start, where to start. Saw Mary, Leslie, Liz and Joni interviewed by Diane Sawyer on GMA at very beginning of site launch. Decided to visit and see what was up. Had only posted infrequently on a couple of other sites. Got drawn in by the idea of us vintage vixens having a forum for our voices. I have been awaiting this source of energy finally finding it's spark ...
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis?
Iris Odonata:You have and you must admit there are some of the most erudite contributors. Smart, funny, irreverent, brilliant, giving, educational and generous. Paying it forward and helping each other evolve. I am not speaking just of the Masthead Mavens. I am speaking of us just regular folks. This is Upstairs/Downstairs, Gosford Park stuff.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site? Iris Odonata: Same reason I read on continuous basis. Plus, if I can get to half of Suzanne de or Mugsy or The Old Crone's brain power. These women are mentors in a way I could never have dreamed possible. I always knew I would be late bloomer. These AMAZING! woman are a gift.
This is accelerated, cut-the-crap, no nonsense practical and pragmatic information on just about any subject you could possibly want. Suzanne de may just single-handedly jump start activism again. That woman is one force to be reckoned with. Plus, there is "culture" being discussed. Gaudi/Gehry. Feadships? Learned something new on that one.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only adding comments but engaging other women in conversation? Iris Odonata: Learning, teaching, being. Nice to be asked to the table. We've discussed the disappearing bees. Me thinks they are in our bonnets. This site is thought provoking and endearing, humbling and hubris busting. X marks the spot. X chromosome that is and this site will not only earn gadzillions, it'll let the boys in power know (who might be trying to learn their opponents weaknesses) swarm behavior is unpredictable. Swarm goes where the queen goes and each of us is a queen.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question .. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the convos? Iris Odonata: Yes that is a big question. Do they care? Don't they? Set the cat among the pigeons, eh? I think they'll end up with the precise focus group they want as us "first posters" start make off-line contact. We may become more watchdoggish ourselves.
The Ladies who started this aren't really in control of it. They just own it and it's going to go where it goes.
I e-mailed Mugsy this a.m. and said this site is deliciously layered, just like Baklava. There are many many threads in this web. The convo twixt the foursome yesterday, will be read much differently "those" of their "echelon." Made me think of the famous Cavafy poem, "Barbarians At The Gate."
I don't want anyone dying to get a peep like me active in convo. This site has taught me that 54 years on the planet now comes with a users fee. So yeah, make it worth my while. Either compensate me financially or engage me emotionally. If it ain't got heart, I ain't interested.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give to the founders? Iris Odonata: Get this thing more organized ASAP. We need a
venue just for continual/ongoing conversation, seperate from the
content exploration of daily question or brand promo. I think they get
that they are not dealing with dummies, irregardless of our
educational/geographical backgrounds. They also need to be upfront as
to why they want our input. You yourself are probably receiving scads
of useful information here so you can advise your clients as how to
best capture their market share.
A little about Iris Odonata's
Iris Odonata's bio....I am writing her memoirs now. I let you know when they are ready for publication. Sidebar: Yes, Iris please let me know when your memoirs are ready for blogging! Love your phrase vintage vixens also!
Suzanne de Cornelia:
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis? Suzanne de Cornelia: I
admire the founders' highly successful media careers, and that now in their
50s-80s they are undertaking an entrepreneurial venture. I wanted to be at
the party.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site? Suzanne de Cornelia: As a former
designer I find the clean architectural look and white/black/red scheme appealing and snazzy. The content is well organized and runs the gamut
of glitzy fun to topical and serious. It forces you to reexamine your
beliefs.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Why the active, very consistent participation in not only
adding comments but engaging other women in conversation? Suzanne de Cornelia: Three reasons
really. 1) I'm very sporty and techy and just shattered my foot and am confined to bed-rest. So the chatty site is a godsend. 2) I've been an
activist and involved in major projects my entire life, and like to help grow
things and to support and also challenge other women. 3) Because my novel
"French Heart" will be out the end of the year and I'm also relocating to
France I want to develop an online network. The women who've thus far emailed
me from the site are Francophiles like me, including a writer who lives in
Provence where I'm headed.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question
.. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the
convos. Suzanne de Cornelia: Theoretically, I'm partly using the site as a focus group for my
book, and building word-of-mouth. In practice I wind up shooting myself in
the foot by feeling obligated to respond to factually false responses on
things like unregulated derivatives trading and how it propelled the
foreclosure crisis, then wind up pulling freight for free. The
founders need to either become more involved in the conversations, or hire
a moderator. When Mary Wells said on Charlie Rose that they are spending all
their time on this, I thought, "Hello?!" I know nothing compels me to do
it besides some feeling of responsibility in me when I see something posted
that demands an affirmation, acknowledgement,
or correction.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people
building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take
an active role in the conversation? Suzanne de Cornelia: Match the site to a passionate market.
The political, celebrity, society gossip, wine blogs, and other specialty
sites from cats to Joan of Arc garner that kind of readership. Look at the
Top 100 Blogs on Technorati and the Yahoo Groups for clues. Mainly I think
it is something that you need a real passion for yourself otherwise you'll
burn out.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give
to the founders? Suzanne de Cornelia: The most popular class at Harvard today states the
recipe for happiness is finding activity that is pleasurable and purposeful.
From what I gather, WoW will be making some technical adjustment to make
maneuvering through the site more pleasurable, and will be developing the
Change the World section in a manner that will make visitors feel more
purposeful. Those two things will really add to the site. However, there's
a certain dissonance the founders need to clarify: They write about their
lives tooling around glitzy locales, attending First Nights with
celebs, sponsors are high-end, and the weekly financial column is a summation of trends that would benefit those with hefty well-portfolios. But
when hundreds of readers responded to an economy-related question they
clearly wanted pragmatic advice.
There's a dichotomy between the
demographic they want to attract, and the one that is showing up and
demanding they be more diverse and inclusive.
Sidebar: The Change the World section launched on Thursday. It's my understanding this was one of the first times when the vintage vixens were
asked their opinions about how a feature should be developed. The energy
and excitement of helping to create the site comes through loud and
clear in comments.
A little about Suzanne de Cornelia: I managed $1 billion
in major design and construction for Fortune 100 firms and top
universities. Then an accident cost me $700K and my 20-year career. I
retrained in the UCLA writing program, wrote my novel, and live in San
Francisco where I belong to two Web 2.0 groups. Sidebar: Suzanne authors a delightful site My French Heart.
Suzanne Conti
Toby/Diva Marketing: What attracted you to read WoWoWow on a continuous basis? Suzanne Conti: The caliber of the women contributing their comments - they were well informed, witty and I felt similar enough in views and characteristics to mine that we could have a real discussion of kindred souls. I enjoyed the amount of differences and new aspects in thoughts presented that stimulated serious consideration on my part on the issues. There was enough common ground to relate to each other, but not so much as to be clones.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What do you like best about the site? Suzanne Conti: That this site brought me together and allowed me to meet and have dialog with these fascinating accomplished blogging women who have and continue to make an impact on the world. I am not a “lunch” lady - I have been too busy working at a demanding career. But I do want to join with other women to make a difference.
The whole sexism issue coming back to light with Hillary’s campaign has raised my hopes that the activism of my generation of women would be reignited. Since I started my lawsuit against my employer in 2004 for glass ceiling, unequal pay I have been deeply disappointed (not surprised though) in women’s lack of willingness to do anything about their oppression – other than whine. I have also witnessed women’s unwillingness to support other women, to unite for progress. I was hoping this Wow site would be a mechanism to unite women willing to finish the women’s liberation we started decades ago.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The big question
.. why do it when the WowOWow authors seem not to be paying attention to the
convos. Suzanne Conti:
I am not a celebrity chaser and really could care less if they join in the conversations. I am there to talk with other women of substance who log on. These women have renewed my faith in humanity. I had no idea such thinking witty women were out there since I have spent most of my life in a male world of work as well as at home – brothers, husbands, sons.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advice would you give people
building communities who would die for peeps like you who organically take
an active role in the conversation? Suzanne Conti: It is all about the quality of the conversation, I am too busy to invest time reading and blogging back to small minded people and have no interest in just chatting – I am a doer- that is how I have achieved all that I have in my life I am not an idle chatter.
My husband is highly accomplished and my sons – one got a full ride scholarship to University of Michigan’s medical school and the other got a major scholarship to an art college on the east coast and was honored at Carnegie Hall for winning art awards, he also won an award that sent him to France for 3 weeks to study art there. I do not want to discuss what I sleep in and how many people I have slept with - Career women concerned about their professional reputation do not discuss such crap.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What one piece of advice would you give
to the founders? Suzanne Conti: Reduce to a minimum - the gossip Cosmo type
trivial articles or come out and tell the bloggers what your vision and
mission statement is so we know if we are in line with your goals. Recently, I am beginning to feel WowOWow is an oxymoron – wanting
intelligent, accomplished, women of substance to log in and then they
present such trivial, gossip, superficial topics. In all honesty I had
my concerns when I saw Liz Smith was one of the founders, but had no
idea she was going to be the dominant celebrity contributor – and
apparently nobody crosses Liz Smith!
A little about Suzanne Conti: At a time when women were traditionally in administrative positions Suzanne spent the majority of her career in a management positions in the male dominated auto industry. True to her husband's assessment of her as triple A type personality Suzannewas even the youngest buyer at a major Big 3 company .
In this world of social media we continue to learn together. Toss of a
pink boa to Mugsy, Iris, Suzanne and Suzanne!
Liz Smith, Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Mary Wells and Joni Evans .. here's the secret .. you may have jump started
the convos but you are not the heart of your own
community.
My advise .. hire these amazing women to continue doing what they have been doing .. building community. Let the vintage vixens know that you are listening and involve the community in the creation process. It might be nice if you reached out in the digital world and in the offline world. However, a bit sadly, that's not really necessary.
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
On this sunny in Hot'Lanta second day of spring I had time to skip
around the blogosphere, read some twits and open some email that I had
neglected. In my virtual travels I found some cool stuff. Girlfriend,
put your extra secs into shakin' up a dirty martini or putting the
'company' coffee on to brew and then relax for a few and enjoy my finds
for you.
Matt Dickson at Techno//Marketer shares the Future of Advertising presentation, complete with audio, that he developed for the Minneapolis Interactive Marketing Association.
Could be this be the first Twitter proposal? If so .. congrats! Looking forward the wedding Twits. Twit from @jowyang
In metro Atlanta and haven't sent your mom Easter flowers give Banana Florist a shout out or drop by their blog or take a peak at a fun video. Love the logo. Bloggy disclosure: I received a lovely bouquet of perfect red roses along with a perfect banana.
For the SEO crowd a new CGC review site by Search Marketing Standard. SEMCompare it's a ratings and review site covering SEM agencies powered entirely by consumers. Only clients need apply please.
Another elegant and inspirational post from the Diva of Conversation - Valeria Maltoni. My favorite line - You are always good enough and ready.
Jane Genova shares the lessons she learned in her post on how to use blogs as a tactic for influence with the influentials.
You've heard of movie trailers but what about trailers to promote books? YouTube has dedicated a site just for book trailers. Awesome! This one from Jeffe at People Support.
Cool widget calendars. Check it out at Sponge Cell.
If you missed WECAI's Virtual Woman's Day you can download the audio files of the great interviews. Once again Heidi has put together a beyond wonderful program.
Stephan Spencer has taken over the reins at the classic business blog, begun by Rick Bruner, - Business Blog Consulting .. or BBC. Bloggy disclosure: I'm a contributing author. Stephan a post is on it's way .. promise.
Free, secure web browser software for parents for their children - Kidz CD.
A few dollars saved here and there and before you know it you've saved up for a new pair of Jimmy Choos or at least a Starbucks coffee. Deal Locker a new coupon site may help drop a few pennies into your piggy bank.
SOBCon08, the social media event by the Queen of Social Media - Liz Strauss is booking up. May 2-4/08 are the dates you want to be in the Windy City.
In his post - Talk Is Cheap For Business - Chris Brogan explores the business proposition of social media. Great convo in the comments too.
If you have not found the sk*rt .. the women's digg .. it's a must click. The Queen of Spaincalls sk*rt the Digg for Chicks. Guy Kawasaki has a bit of the backstory.
.. and with that Friday Fun and just slipped into the wee hours of Saturday!
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
Red rover red rover send me right over. Recently I was tagged by two BBFs Peter Kim and Cyndee Haydon to play in a couple of memes. Peter's game is 4x4 Things About Me and Cyndee's is called 7 Facts About Me.
Ann Handley, who recently launched her very own diva fabulous blog - Annarchy - had this to say about why join in the game -
So why would you publish these few revealing details for strangers to gawk at? The short answer, of course, is that none of you are exactly strangers; and, what’s more, it’s all about getting to know a bit more about each other.
It's rather nice to be asked to play (sometimes - smile) and I don't think Peter or Cyndee would mind if I followed Ann's example and combined both into one mega meme. So here goes .. and it might be nice to have your beverage of choice near by.
For Pete: 4 x 4 things about me
Four jobs I've had in my life: Brownie Leader - in Boston's Back Bay and Beacon Hill. (I think volunteer work should count!) Cashier at a a swimming pool - high school summer job. so much fun. crushes on the lifeguards! Hawked the Boston Phoenix newspaper - college pick-up $ Georgia Lottery - great fun giving away $$
Four places I've been: Belize City, Belize River - boat ride through the jungle was amazing and so surreal I thought I was in a Disney movie Paris, France - perhaps the most beautiful city in the world Hydra, Greece - wonderful, warm people, fabulous food. time seems to stop. New York, NY - it's more than a city .. it's a state of mind.
Four TV shows I DVR: SNL - a classic SITC - wouldn't want to disappoint you! Iron Chef - love the creativity under fire Desperate Housewives - great escape
Four favorite foods: Ice cream Lobster Fried clams - with bellies Hot corned beef sandwich with lots of pickles
Peter asked for 4 people to be tagged. Red rover red rover send Rick Short, Jason Kapler, Jack Yan, Robert Bruce right over. Sidebar: Since Cyndee asked for Seven Fabulous Women it seemed only fair to tag guys for the 4x4.
For Cyndee: 7 Facts About Me
1. Wine or beer - wine 2. Dog or cat - Dog 3. Mountains or ocean - ocean 4. Coffee or tea - Coffee 5. NYC or LA - NYC 6. Summer or Winter: Summer 7. PJs or nothing - ??? ;-)
If you still want to know more .. I had the honor of being part of Kevin O'Keefe's LexBlog's Interview Series with Rob LaGatta. The interview is split into two posts - one and two.
Speaking of honors, a belated but heartfelt thanks to Holly Buchanan for including Diva Marketing in her 2007 Best Marketing To Women Blogs.
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
Question: What do you get when 103 bloggers from all over the globe collaborate on a book?
Answer:
Innovation, Fun, Mind Candy .. and New Friendships! The back-story of how a guy from the farm lands of America and a guy from "down under" inspired a global partnership among people from 24 states and 10 countries. What could have turned into a Tower of Bable is a cohesive and important book about the changing ways business must communication in this digital age. All of the profits are being donated to the Variety Children's Charity.
and Gavin Heaton, are challenging bloggers once more to work together to create Part II. They want our input on the content direction of the book - even if you don't want to participate as an author- add your vote on what you would like to read. Deadline for voting is Jan 31, 2008.
Marketing Manifesto -or-
Why Don't People Get It? -or-
My Marketing Tragedy (and what I learned)
For all the details about how to join the rag tag group of ultra cool folks (you don't have to write a blog or podcast or vlog or even a twit to play along) and the link to the survey go visit Drew!
I'm in! Are You?
Sidebar: I have just one question. Where is Curious "Age of Conversation" George? When last seen Steve and C.B. and C.K. were showing him Manhattan.
All work and no play makes for a dull diva and divo! After working in the virtual wouldn't it be swell to toast an appletini or a Scotch or even a cup of the old java in the non digital world? CK thought so too. She's hosting the biggest non conference, or perhaps it's the first Blogger Social for her social media friends in NYC. We're going to skip the streets of Manhattan with people we've come to know through 140 character tweets and blogs vlogs and podcasts and of course blogs.
Deadline to sign up and run that plastic through the works is February 15th. For the nitty gritty details visit CK. Thanks to Mario Vellandi for the poster and to Mark Goren for the video .. I love them both!
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
As we wrap up Friday Fun for 2007 seems appropriate to chat about memories.
Here are 1 - 2 - 3 digital memory-photo ideas for you to take into 2008.
1. How organized are you when it comes to your photos? Do your digital photo files remind you of that system that is a favorite of many ..
an old show box? How do you find that smashing photo of you in your pink silk jacket that you saved in a special file with a name or you just new you would remember but now forget? Guess it's the old hunt and search method now.
Girlfriend, have I got a thing for you - Photology. A few smart scientists and engineers got together, using artificial intelligence and data processing, they created a ultra easy, cool way to find photos on your computer. No tagging. No playing hide and seek. You use simple filters like face, sky, color, location to search your digital photos. Photology can search through 10,000 photos in less than a second to
find 3,000 photos with plants, or 1,000 with beaches, or 56 with just
the right shade of purple.
It's not free but there is a free trial and there is a sale through Dec 31. Enoetic (the company) plans to give back part of every sale to charity. If you know of an established, reputable charity that wants to build a partnership relationship give Enoetic a shout out please.
2. Although we love our friends at the "Big F" there are many, Many, MaNy more options. A Google search for photo sharing pulled up 105,000,000 hits for photo sharing. Let me introduce you to an online photo service that is afamily affair - SmugMug. The MacAskill family's success is a great entrepreneurial success. Cousins, siblings and now friends have built a thriving business. Revenues doubled every year since SmugMug's launch in 2002. In 2007 revenues reached $12 million. Not only that but they sure seem like they're having fun! Read more in the LA Times article.
3. Your photos are organized and even to your critical eye you think they're pretty darn good. While you're waiting for Sony or Canon or Pentax or Konica Minolta to tap you for a blogger relations program perhaps you can earn a few $$ for your efforts. Phototrade is a new photo sharing site that pays users each time a photograph is viewed. This site, still in beta, combines the best of photo sharing, stock photography, and
photo sales plus the ability for users to earn ad revenue.
Phototrade also gives back to the community .. and in this case the social media/blogging community. A donation was made to the Frozen Pea Fund. A fund that was established for breast cancer research to support Susan Reynolds. Read more in Diva Marketing post - A Pea Green Twitter Miracle of the Heart
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly.
This Friday Fun - let's play tag! Remember when "tag" was a fun innocent game that children played at recess. Do you remember recess?
Divas and wonderful bloggers Nettie Hartstock and Tammy Lenski "tagged" me in a virtual game/meme .. book tag. Rather goes along with what has been the theme this week books for holiday gifts on Wednesday and an interview with new author Geoff Livingston.
Here goes...
How many books do you own? I have not a clue. Hundreds. Thousands. I started to count and gave up at 500. Books are friends. I love to collect them and to share them too.
What was the last book you read? The Artist Way by Julie Cameron It's a book that you can only read when the time is right for it in your life.
What was the last book you purchased? Age of Conversation. I bought 6 copies today. Last day before the price doubles. Read about the Bum Rush set for 12-14.
What five books are most meaningful to you? -Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin. I just know Elizabeth Bennett would be blogging. -Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. So many good lessons and a wonderful love story too. -The
Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Okay, so it's not really 1
"book" but it's one book on my book shelf so I'm counting it as 1! -Moments of Truth by Jan Carlzon. Guess I should throw in one biz book and this is simple, practical and powerful. -Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss. How can you not love Dr. Seuss? Great "present book."
What is your most obscure favorite book? Julie Harris Talks To Young Actors by Julie Harris and Barry Tarshis. I recently found this book in a box far back in a closet. It's special because my dad sent it to me when my dream was the theatre. Tugged inside was a small white card with this note - I hope this book will be a little help in realizing your goals. Dad
The rules says I have to tag five people. The following five have dropped recent comments on Diva. So in the spirit of getting to know you better .. Tag You're It!
How many books do you own? What was the last book you read? What was the last book you purchased? What five books are most meaningful to you? What is your most obscure favorite book?
diva-ette Jenna, presented me, Hally Suitt and Margaret Adam aka Akma with the first Webkinz-as-Women-Bloggers award! 
Toby The Tree Frog. I'm thinking perhaps she needs to be assessorized with a pink boa!
