Step 14: How to Help in Haiti

I’ve been watching the news unfold around the tragic earthquake that shook Haiti to the core on Tuesday afternoon. My friend, Ellie, just returned on Sunday from a mission trip to Port-au-Prince and to hear about the news of the Earthquake only 48 hours before the earthquake struck was an eye-opening experience. I could very easily have lost my friend if her trip was just a day or two longer.

CNN and NBC have done a tremendous job getting the word out, showing the images and telling the stories of the people in Haiti, encouraging the much-needed generosity of the world to pour into this tiny country. In 24 hours, a cell phone text campaign raised millions of dollars. Thanks for social media, it takes so little effort on our part to lend a hand, and in this situation every little bit helps.

I’m finding it difficult to go about my usual business in light of the disaster. I just don’t feel like I’m doing enough. The images are haunting me and are never far from my mind. I keep visiting internet news sites to get the latest updates. In an effort to do more, I wanted to post today’s step on this blog to list four ways that we can all get involved in the relief efforts right now:

1.) Twitter users can quickly get word of the latest updates and relief efforts, particularly from people on the ground in Haiti, by searching #Haiti, #haitiquake, #RedCross, #CARE, #ONE.

2.) Give much needed funding to the efforts of organizations like the American Red Cross, HealingHaiti.org, and CARE. While there is a desire to give goods in these types of situations, monetary donations are more efficient because relief agencies can use the funds to buy the most-needed items in bulk. Cash is the best way to give during disasters of this magnitude.

Anybody with a cell phone account with a major carrier can donate $10 to the Red Cross by texting "Haiti" to the number 90999. The donation appears on the giver's bill. Online fundraising company mGive launched the campaign yesterday together with the State Department and the Red Cross.

3.) Does your organization offer a charitable contribution match? If so, donate through your organization to make your gift go even further in Haiti. Better yet, contact the head of philanthropic giving at your company to see if a communication can be sent to employees. The company will likely not request donations, though the communication could just serve as a reminder that in these types of situations, company matching of charitable dollars is a wonderful employee benefit.

4.) This will be a LONG TERM relief effort in Haiti. While it is tough for anyone aside from military, media, and search and rescue teams to get to Haiti, many organizations will be organizing volunteers in the coming months, perhaps years. HealingHaiti.org and the American Red Cross are great places to start if you’re interested in lending a hand on the ground with any vacation or personal time you may have.

The situation in Haiti prior to the earthquake was dire. Now it’s reached catastrophic proportions. Extraordinary circumstances can lead us to help others in extraordinary ways. We have the opportunity to do something extraordinary today, right now. The people of Haiti need our love and support now more than ever.

The image above is not my own. It depicts the tragic devastation of Port-au-Prince. Photo Credit: AFP

Step 13: Off the Screen, Into the World

My involvement of social media has led to some amazing friendships in my life. I'm certainly better off for them because they inspire me, support me, and keep me going in pursuit of my dreams. My friends, Col, Laura, Phyllis, Amanda, and the lovely ladies of Owning Pink are examples of this phenomenon. There are amazing people across the globe who are my kindred spirits, and social media has allowed me to connect with them.

One of my favorite outcomes of this process is getting to meet these amazing virtual people in person, when I get to read their witticisms online, and then realize they are even more fantastic in person. Tonight I got to meet up with Amanda, one of my favorite social media friendship success stories. Long-considering a move to New York City, Amanda began looking for creativity focused blogs by New York City authors. Amanda found my blog via random search, and then we discovered that we went to the same college, graduated the same year, loved yoga, performed, and were writers. Tonight we got to meet in-person for the first time, and 2.5 hours later, we still had loads to say. What a great feeling!

There's been a lot of criticism of social media because some consider it so impersonal. "It's replacing real-world interaction," some people say. "People spend too much time in front of a computer and not enough time living their lives," others say. Both valid arguments, though I've found such a rich, contrary existence in social media. It's allowed me to connect with people whom I may never have met otherwise, people who enrich my life and share my sensibilities and dreams. Social media's brought me friendships I never expected, and for that I am incredibly grateful!

My Year of Hopefulness - Teaching at Hunter College

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater." ~ Gail Godwin, American novelist

"If you have stage fright, it never goes away. But then I wonder: is the key to that magical performance because of the fear?" ~ Stevie Nicks

Today marked my first college class teaching. My friend, Jamie, teaches an introductory political science and an elections class at Hunter College. He asked if I would come in and guest teach on the topic of social media and popular elections. With a great amount of nervousness, I accepted and went this morning at 10am to teach 2 sessions.

I have a secret - I have an awful case of stage fright. I've been known to get sick to my stomach several times before making a presentation or acting in a performance. I have a few techniques I have tried over the years and only one really seems to work: quit whining and just do it. It's amazing that once I get to the stage or the front of the room, I'm completely fine. It's the anticipation of performance that brings on the butterflies.

And so it was at Hunter. I had made copious lecture notes and rehearsed in my apartment. I was wringing my hands a bit, and worrying. Would I add any value? Would the students think what I had to say was relevant? What if I couldn't answer a question? And here's the truly terrifying one - what if there was no reaction at all from anyone? What if all I heard was crickets amid a sea of empty, expressionless faces? Ouch.

True to past experience, none of these things happened. The classes were engaged, interested, and interesting. I learned as much as they did in the course of the preparation and the class itself. Teaching is exactly like theatre with an added component of more front-loaded research, and theatre and research I know I can do. What surprised me most is how much I loved teaching a college class. Truly loved it. The time flew by, and when I was finished, I wanted to teach another session. Yes, the PhD-route is certainly the right one for me. Now I know that for sure.

In preparation for the class, I have had the great fortunate of amazing professors as clear examples. At Darden where I got my MBA, professors teach the case method. No lecturing allowed. The professor's job is to draw students out, to engage them immediately, and keep the dialogue flowing non-stop for close to two hours. This is no easy task and for two years I had the privilege to sit with masters of this teaching method like Ed Freeman, Robert Spekman, and Alex Horniman.

I have also been watching and studying Michael Sandel, a professor at Harvard who teaches a wildly popular class entitled simply "Justice". For the first time, the class is being shown on-line for free at http://www.justiceharvard.org. Every Thursday a new class is uploaded. Sandel, like my Darden professors, is a master teacher that manages to engage and facilitate discussion in a very large lecture hall. Watching him made me re-consider teaching as a profession, and reignited my interest in going back to school and getting a PhD. I must remember to send him a thank you card.

I have just created an account on slideshare.net and uploaded the presentation I gave this morning at Hunter. I build presentations as guides for a discussion and not stand-alone documents. I'm glad to walk anyone through the presentation if they're interested!

My latest post on Examiner: Interview with Phyllis Neill, Founder of WeMentor Social Media Marketing

Meet Phyllis Neill. Phyllis and I met almost a year ago via Twitter and we’ve been social media pals ever since. After running her own business and working a full-time day job for nearly a year, she has taken the entrepreneurial plunge. Her business is WeMentor Social Media Marketing - http://www.wementorsmm.com/. She develops social media strategies for businesses.

Previously, I featured Phyllis in this column with her business SheMentor, a service that focused on executive coaching for women. Phyllis spoke with me recently about her new business, balancing a day job and a start-up, and her company’s change in focus. My thanks to her for sharing her insights and advice.

To read the full interview with Phyllis, click here.

NY Business Strategies Examiner - Interview with Lissa Rankin, Founder of Owning Pink

Meet Lissa Rankin, an artist, writer, gynecologist, mother, and all around bundle of positive energy. I met Lissa on Twitter, and once I read her brief bio I knew that I had to feature her in this column.

Lissa has made it her mission in life to help others get their mojo back, and particularly to empower women to do whatever and be whoever they want to be. To foster this mission, she created the company Owning Pink, a place where women can connect and support one another in their pursuits. Owning Pink offers classes, workshops, and mentoring to further these connections.

A courageous, empathic, inspirational role model, Lissa is exactly the kind of person this world needs more of.

For the full interview with Lissa, click here.

NY Examiner.com: Interview with Manny Hernandez, Founder and President of Diabetes Hands Foundation

I met Manny Hernandez, Founder and President of Diabetes Hands Foundation, on Twitter. He started to follow me on Twitter and when I took a look at his profile, I realized he'd be a perfect fit for this column. From the personal challenge of being diagnosed with diabetes, Manny has grown his foundation and the two social networks (tudiabetes.com in English and estudiabetes.com in Spanish) to help people who are also grappling with this disease. Like so many successful social entrepreneurs, Manny took his skills of web product management, on-line community building, and writing, and combined them with his personal passions to find a cure for diabetes and to help people living with the disease manage their lives.

I was honored to get to interview Manny about Diabetes Hands Foundation, his personal connection to diabetes, and his leap of faith into entrepreneurship.

For the full story, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d28-Interview-with-Manny-Hernandez-Founder-and-President-of-Diabetes-Hands-Foundation

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: "You're the Boss"

The New York Times has a new blog about entrepreneurship called "You're the Boss". Covering a wide range of topics, the blog's authors hope that they can create a place where entrepreneurs can "compare notes, get advice, learn from one another's mistakes, and keep up with the important changes coming out of Washington."

For the full post, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d18-Youre-the-Boss--a-new-blog-about-entrepreneurship-by-the-New-York-Times

My Year of Hopefulness - Mayo Clinic & Social Media

Incorporating the world of social media into an existing business can be challenging. And scary. You want to get involved and building community, but where do you start? How do you start? Which tools and materials are the most relevant for a specific business? The number of choices is overwhelming and growing all the time.

If you have a start-up, it's easier to bake social media plans right into the initial marketing and communications strategy. Established businesses have a tougher time -- they've made significant investments in brand building and customer loyalty that didn't involve social media. A few efforts in social media that lack authenticity and the business will be hung out to dry by every power that exists in social media land.

I was tooling around on slideshare recently and found a presentation by Mayo Clinic that described their journey into the uncertain world of social media. With a brand this powerful and with so much debate swirling about patient privacy, Mayo Clinic took a risk by testing social media's potential to increase their impact and reach. A few of the key points touched upon in the presentation are key for any business interested in a similar pursuit and they're good reminders for all of us whenever we take on a large project in unfamiliar territory:

1.) Start small. Mayo Clinic could have came into the world of social media guns a-blazin', hopping on to every social media service available. They didn't. They first assembled a space on their website that tracked all of the stories about them showing up in traditional media, and gave people a way to respond to those stories through comments on their own site. The branded this site 'Medical Edge'. Smart - they got a lot of great feedback and leveraged written material that already existed.

2.) Use what's free and available from others first rather than building your own platform from scratch. Mayo Clinic took advantage of the iTune platform to first create radio mp3s. Then it graduated to podcasts, more and longer podcasts, and then eventually built its own platform at podcasts.mayoclinic.org. Rather than jumping right in and building their own platform, they wanted to see if there was even any interest in this type of material and they experimented with length and topics. Might as well learn on someone else's platform before you build your own.

3.) Use what works. For some organizations, a blog and a Twitter account are the best vehicles for building community. Others find that Facebook Groups work really well for them. For Mayo Clinic, it's videos. That shared experience by real people who are a part of the Mayo Clinic global community provided the most bang for the buck. And with a Flip video camera, the interviews became very easy to record, edit, and post - first to YouTube and then to their own sharing platform at sharing.mayoclinic.org.

These small tips added up to big impact for Mayo Clinic, an established brand that found a way to make social media work for them by taking small steps forward. They are flourishing in the world of social media and can be found participating in multiple outlets. They went slowly, and took the time to discover which path suited them best. It's a wonderful framework to consider. Find it at http://www.slideshare.net/LeeAase/mayo-clinic-best-of-blogwell09

The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein

When I read, appropriately enough on Twitter, that Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein had written The Twitter Book, I couldn't wait to scoop up a copy. Literally. So I sent a message to the book's Twitter account and asked if I could get an early copy to review. The book is so clear and concise, so necessary to the social media world, that I wondered why on Earth it has taken so long for this kind of book to be written. Tim and Sarah are the perfect people to publish this type of work, both experts in the tool itself and in the art of communication. We're lucky to have them.

The Twitter Book is appropriate for people who've never heard of Twitter, who don't understand it, who like the concept though aren't sure how to use it, and for Twitter addicts like me. Whether you're an individual looking to build your own personal brand on-line, someone who is considering starting a business, or part of a large company, the book is chock full of ideas, resources, and helpful advice.

I recommend getting a copy of this book and using it as a constant reference the same way you'd use any top-rate how-to guide. I also found that it was incredibly helpful to have my computer in front of me so I could actually experiment with the different tips and resources that Tim and Sarah suggest. Within the pages of the book I also found a few other great people to follow on Twitter.

From a personal brand building stand-point, I found dozens of great ideas in The Twitter Book. (For those interested in how The Twitter Book helps business brand building, please see my Business Strategies column on Examiner.com.) Here are three of my favorite ideas to give you a flavor of what awaits you in this book:

1.) Twitter gives you the opportunity have superhuman powers you've always wanted: you can read people's minds and overhear conversations as if you're a fly on the wall.

2.) The art of brevity and timing is priceless. Highest traffic days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, business hours in EST. That's when the most links, ideas, and thoughts get replies (direct messages - dms - or @ messages) and passed around ("re-tweeted"). People need to see your message ("tweet") within 5 minutes of you posting it or they likely won't see it at all. And make it concise and interesting because you've only got 140 characters to get your point across.

3.) Jargon explained. I hate to be in acronym city. I think a lot of people use acronyms and catch-phrases to make themselves seem better informed than anyone else around. It annoys me. Twitter is no exception. A lot of people scratch their heads when they hear words like "tweet", "tweeple", and "tweetup". I don't blame them. I did the same thing and for a long while the jargon scared me off. I belonged to Twitter for a year and was mostly inactive before I figured out why it mattered and how it could be useful to me. The most valuable reason to pick up The Twitter Book is to have experts Tim and Sarah explain the jargon in very straight-forward terms, and then show you how the tool can be a very powerful part of your overall brand-building toolkit.

Before Tim and Sarah even get the discussion going in the book, they ask for suggestions to improve and enhance the content. The book has given me a lot of great ideas and I want to return the favor to them with a few ideas to consider for the next edition.

1.) For people brand new to Twitter, a glossary of terms would be very helpful.
2.) A set of easy to reference lists in the appendix would be handy. Common mistakes to avoid on Twitter, top companies using Twitter effectively, etc.
3.) An expanded section on how non-profits can use Twitter. It is briefly touched on in the book and I'd love to learn more from Tim and Sarah on new ideas that are particular to nonprofits that would help organizations increase awareness through Twitter.
4.) A resource directory, divided up into sections, in the appendix would be handy. For example, a list of third party programs, resources to help trim messages that are over 140 characters, etc.

An easy and endlessly helpful resource, The Twitter Book will accelerate the growth and power of Twitter. Generous and honest, Tim and Sarah skillfully help their readers take part in the conversation. The Twitter Book will be available in hard copy on May 26, 2009.
It is available in e-book format now at: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596802813/

My Year of Hopefulness - YouTube for Medicine

My mom told me yesterday that one of her knees has gotten so bad that it looks like she will need a total knee replacement. My mom, by nature, is an incredibly upbeat, positive person. The tough part about her is that she tends to grossly underplay any serious news when it comes to her health. I know that this type of surgery is very invasive and serious so when my mom said she'd likely be back at work two weeks after the surgery I almost fell off my couch.

I immediately called my friend, Ken, who works in physical therapy and is one of the dearest people in my life. he has an incredible bedside manner and is a wonderfully caring therapist who is also honest and straight-forward. "No way, now how is she going back to work after two weeks." We talked some more about the procedure so I would know what to ask the surgeon when I go with my mother to get a second opinion (and we are getting a second opinion, and a third and a fourth is necessary.) "Oh, and one more thing," Ken said. "Go to YouTube and type in 'total knee replacement' so you understand the procedure. Just don't tell your mom to do that or she'll never get it done."

I followed Ken's advice, of course, and went to YouTube. 729 hits for "total knee replacement". I was able to understand the process in both long and short formats, understand the immediate post-op and recovery process, and have a list of questions to ask the surgeon when my mom and I met him or her. Ten of thousands of people are viewing the health videos I checked.

YouTube is a treasure trove of medical information. "Cancer" yeilded 123,000 videos on YouTube. "Heart attack" - 39,300. "Diabetes" - 20,700. "First aid" - 36,900. I am by no means suggesting that we begin to use YouTube to self-diagnose or diagnose others. When it comes to collecting information about our health, I ere on the side of wanting more than my fair share of information and data. Social media sources like YouTube are changing the way we view our bodies, our health, and our healthcare system. This is serious cause for hope and thanks.

The above image and video on total knee replacement surgery can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Aoo_nFpDd4

My Year of Hopefulness - The Power of Passion

By nature, I am a passionate person. I get excited about charitable causes and I enjoy sharing my excitement about them. I often write about them on this blog and on my Examiner.com column. On occasion, I wonder if anyone's listening or if anyone reading shares my interest and excitement. I guess that insecurity is normal for writers though I've never been able to be comfortable with it, particularly when I'm writing about something that I care about deeply.

Today, I received an email from a friend of mine that eased my sense of insecurity and re-energized me. Recently, I put together a post about a cause that I'd like to support. I'm not sure how to support the cause as it's not one that is talked about frequently, at least not in the circles I travel in. My passion for the idea and my desire to make a difference in this area prompted me to put the idea out there into the world, hoping that I'd attract people to it who are as interested in it as I am. For a while, the airwaves have been silent but today, all of that changed with my friend's email.

As it turns out, he and a friend of his are also very interested in this cause. They've been in the process of creating some content to support the cause and have been searching for someone to do the business framing around the idea. Perfect! I've got the business framing in mind and have been searching for content.

In addition to finding out about this shared interest with my friend, I also learned a critical lesson about social media. It gives us a way to howl and find our pack. It gives us a way to connect and explore new interests in ways that are far-reaching and previously impossible. It gives us a way to unite, collaborate, and innovate in extraordinary, immediate ways.

My Year of Hopefulness - Do Something with Squidoo

There is a statistic in the news that has been bothering me so much that I am telling everyone I know about it. In January, the number of suicides committed by the US soldiers was higher than the number of US soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. I can't get over that fact. It's haunting me - what could be causing this and why did it have to get to this level to get national attention?

So how does a story like this make me hopeful? I feel hopeful because I feel empowered to do something about it. I was talking to my friend, Richard, about it this week and he helped me to realize that if someone, anyone, can find a way to help in this situation that the implications for our country and for the many people who serve this country would be immense.

If ever I wanted a cause that would have impact this would be it. Consider how much energy, time, and funding goes in to training a soldier what to do in a war-torn region. And now consider how much energy, time, and funding goes in to helping that transition back into normal civilian life. The discrepancy is criminal.

So what can I do? Could I start a movement? Could I reach out and offer my help? And to whom? I started tonight be creating a lens on Squidoo. I've followed Seth Godin for a long time - his is one of the blogs I read every day. I have to admit it took me a while to figure how or why to use Squidoo. Now I get it - when you want to provide detail on a specific topic, event, or cause, Squidoo is your tool.

Feeling passionate about wanting to help these US soldiers transition back to civilian life and wanting to get a dialogue going about the topic, I started the lens. To see the lens and offer your ideas and support, visit http://www.squidoo.com/helpUSsoldiers

Photo above taken by Rafiq Maqbool, AP.

My Year of Hopefulness - Shementor.com

The wonders of Twitter - the connections I've made on there never cease to amaze me. If you're not using it, hop to it - the conversation that is happening out there is invigorating and worthwhile. My latest good luck on the site was meeting an incredible woman, Phyllis, who runs a company called Shementor. 

In this economy, I have been feeling badly about my career - its security, my heavy school loan debt, future prospects for new opportunities. It seems that everywhere we look we see doom and gloom. Enter Phyllis - a bright, vibrant personality who is about building women up and giving them hope. We've been messaging via Twitter for a few months, following each other's tweets, and just today I finally took a look at her website. I have been missing out BIG TIME!

Recently named as one of the 101 Women Bloggers to Watch, Fall 2008 WE Magazine, Phyllis's mission is to build a community through her website to support and strengthen women managers and women who aspire to be managers. Here are some of the great assets available on the site: a free e-course, read her blog posts, executive coaching, and her frequent posts on Twitter.   

This is a call to action for every woman in business out there, employed or not, manager or not, satisfied with their career or not: we all have important things to learn from Shementor that will improve not only our careers but our lives as well. 

Is it quantity or quality?

The debate continues about quantity versus quantity in the world of social media. Do you want more Twitter followers or are you more concerned with having followers who are interested in your life, share interesting articles and activities with you, and building dialogue? The same is true of traffic on a website: do you care more about how many people subscribe to your newsletter and blog feed or how many people actually read it rather than tossing it in the recycle bin without even opening it?

The best possible scenario for trying to build web traffic is to have a lot of brand advocates who are passionate about the site. However, if I had to choose between a small group of people who really care about the site and visit it often and a large group of people who stop by once, maybe subscribe to a feed or newsletter, and rarely read my writing, I would absolutely choose the former. It goes back to that time-honored phrase, "take care of your people (in this case, your community members) and they will take care of the brand (in this case, the site)."

Now sites like Facebook are in that rare crossroads of having a lot of followers who are very passionate about the brand. I am one of them - I LOVE Facebook. I'm on there all the time, poking around, updating my status, emailing friends far and near. Most sites will never get that kind of traffic so they usually have to choose: lots of surface conversations or a small group of meaningful conversations?

Let's be realistic - my blog is never going to be Facebook. And that's fine - that's good, actually. I have a small group of readers that I love who read and comment on my writing regularly - some on my blog, some in person when I see them, some in very kind emails that they send me. They are extremely special people to me. I know a little bit, or a lot in some cases, about them and we have a good dialogue and exchange of ideas. If this blog were Facebook, I couldn't devote the time, care, attention, and honesty I do to the fun part - the writing. I'm one person writing about topics and people I care about. And that is a blessing to be able to do.  

New York Times Customized Widget

The New York Times just released a beta version of "build your own widget". It's a bit simplistic in its current stage, though I imagine they wanted to launch it, see what readers and social media users create, and then make modifications. If only all organizations could take that view of building a prototype, testing it in the market, and then making adjustments without beating themselves up and creating drama for product developers: we'd having many more higher-quality innovations in short-order!

Very easy to use and post, you have only two sets of choices: 1) Select the top articles from a certain section of the paper or use a specific keyword. 2) Choose between 3 and 10 headlines to post in the widget. Then just click "Add to site", choose which social networking platform you'd like to use (currently a very limited selection), enter your log-in info for that page, and it's posts automatically for you. I created an "Innovation News" widget with the top 10 innovation headlines of the day from the New York Times to post to my blog (you can find it in the sidebar on the right-hand side of this page) and to my iGoogle page.

What I love best about the widget is that it will be helpful for my blog readers and many of them also work in or are interested in innovation. It's also very useful to me to get a quick daily snapshot of what's happening in the innovation field. (When I boot up my computer in the morning, iGoogle is my first log-in.)

A few improvements I'd make: 

1) allow for greater customization. For example, I want to pick and choose with more discretion. I always read three NYT columnists: Kristof, Friedman, and Krugman. I'd like to see the top story from the arts, business, health, and world news sections, the innovation article of the day, the Magazine cover story, and a cartoon.

2) make the widget available for more social media platforms. I'd like to post it on my Facebook page and add a link to that widget to the signature of every email I send.

Create your own New York Times widget at http://www.nytimes.com/services/timeswidgets/

Social Media Primer

I spend so much time on-line that I have grown into one of those people who thinks everyone on the planet understands and appreciates the power of social media. I'm deluding myself. Many people are not involved and know next to nothing on social media. So if you're looking to learn a bit more about social media, or know someone who's interested in learning more, here's the contents of my Social Media Primer, hot off the presses:

A Social Media Primer
(This list is by no means comprehensive of all the channels of social media, but it’s a good start)
October 31, 2008

Blog Search Engines:
Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com/
A search engine that utilizes the power of the top five internet search engines. Also know as “metasearch”.

Technorati
http://technorati.com/
As the leading blog search engine and most comprehensive source of information on the blogosphere, Technorati indexes more than 1.5 million new blog posts in real time and introduces millions of readers to blog and social media content.

BlogCatalog
http://www.Blogcatalog.com
BlogCatalog is a social community for bloggers and one of the largest blog directories on the internet.

Google Blogsearch
http://blogsearch.google.com
Blog Search is Google’s search technology focused on blogs. Blog Search enables you to find out what people are saying on any subject of your choice. Your results include all blogs, not just those published through Blogger. The blog index is continually updated, so you'll always get the most accurate and up-to-date results. You can search not just for blogs written in English, but in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, Swedish, Malay, Polish, Thai, Indonesian, Tagalog, Turkish, Vietnamese and other languages as well.

IceRocket
http://www.icerocket.com

NBCNY
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/
Just released in BETA this week, this site strives to be a one-stop shop for news on a variety of social media platforms.

Blog Publishers that you can search:
Blogger (owned by Google)
http://www.Blogger.com

Typepad
http://www.typepad.com

Moveable Type
http://www.Moveabletype.com

Twitter
http://www.twitter.com
(micro-blogging)

Wordpress
http://www.wordpress.com

Wikipedia
http://www.wikipedia.com

YouTube (owned by Google)
http://www.youtube.com
(video blogging)

Hulu (owned by NewsCorp. and NBC – being hailed as the new YouTube)
http://www.hulu.com

Helium
http://www.helium.com/
Every day, this diverse community shares information on everything from politics to parenting advice, to pop culture, to the environment and more. You’ll find Helium rich with quality content, different points-of-view, and expert insight.

DailyMotion
www.dailymotion.com
Dailymotion is about finding new ways to see, share and engage your world through the power of online video. You can find - or upload - videos about your interests and hobbies, eyewitness accounts of recent news and distant places, and everything else from the strange to the spectacular.

Metacafe
www.metacafe.com
Metacafe is one of the world's largest video sites, attracting more than 25 million unique viewers each month (according to comScore Media Metrix). They specialize in short-form original content - from new, emerging talents, and established Hollywood heavyweights alike.

Piczo
http://www.piczoinc.com/
Piczo empowers teens worldwide to creatively express themselves, build personal communities, and share ideas and experiences with their friends in a safe online environment. Since its launch less than three years ago, Piczo has grown to roughly 10 million monthly unique visitors and over a billion monthly page views solely through the viral efforts of loyal members. Rave reviews from these members claim that Piczo is unmatched in the control, ease-of-use, and flexibility it offers them when building their websites.

Piczo's customizable content, colorful graphics, glitter text, video, and photo tools spotlight member creativity without requiring technical skills. Members share their life stories with friends by designing their sites with multiple pages featuring photos, graphics, videos, music, comment boards, games, and more. Each site can be linked to other friends' sites and users can interact with them and their friends, and meet new people online. And, the "first of its kind" Piczo Zone allows members to share their customizable content with the rest of the Piczo Community.

Yahoo!video
http://www.video.Yahoo.com

Google video
http://www.video.google.com

Sharing Technologies
Del.icio.us
http://delicious.com/
Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage, and share web pages from a centralized source. With emphasis on the power of the community, Delicious greatly improves how people discover, remember, and share on the Internet.

Digg
http://www.digg.com
Everything on Digg — from news to videos to images — is submitted by the Digg community either directly on the site or by clicking on the Digg icon at the bottom of many news articles. Once something is submitted, other people see it and Digg what they like best. There’s also a conversation that happens around the content.

Reddit
http://www.reddit.com

Stumbleupon
http://www.stumbleupon.com
A relative newcomer to the scene of sharing technologies.

Yahoo!Buzz
Http://www.buzz.yahoo.com

Buzzup
http://www.buzzup.com
Caters mostly to the Tech community

Sphere.com
http://www.sphere.com
Provides a way to pull a thread through a variety of different articles and platforms on a specific topic

Mixx
http://www.mixx.com
Allows you to connect to others with interests similar to yours, or to create your own niche network

Newsvine
http://www.newsvine.com

Blogmarks
http://blogmarks.net/
A mashup of a reader, bookmark bank, and a social network. You store URLs, tag them, and then are able to share them with the network

Social Networks
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com

MySpace
http://www.myspace.com

BlogHer
http://www.BlogHer.com
The largest social network of women bloggers

Gather
http://www.Gather.com

Linked In
http://www.linkedin.com

Blogcatalog
http://www.blogcatalog.com
This is a social network for bloggers

Helium
http://www.helium.com/
This is a social network of self-described “experts” and “thought leaders” in a variety of fields. Largely a community of writers.

Bebo
http://www.bebo.com/
Largest social network in Europe

Hi5
http://www.hi5networks.com
The third largest social network in the U.S. behind Facebook and MySpace. Very young company, though growing quickly. Strong emphasis on Spanish-speaking countries and Hispanic US population. Recently featured in Fortune:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/13/technology/hempel_hifive.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008101512

Ning
http://www.Ning.com
This is a network of social networks where you join niche networks (or start one) based on common interests. Recently featured in Fast Company:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/125/nings-infinite-ambition.html


Reader / Aggregator:
Readers and aggregators allow you to “bookmark” blogs you want to keep up with by subscribing to those blogs’ RSS feeds. The feeds populate your page in the reader and then you log into the reader to read the new posts on the blog you follow.

Bloglines
http://www.bloglines.com

Blinklist
http://www.blinklist.com

Blogmarks.net
http://blogmarks.net/

Make it easy for me to participate

See that blog post just below entitled, Root for Your City? I didn't write it - not a single word of it. A handful of clicks and it was posted for me. American Express ran a program called "Root for Your City". 8 cities across the country are competing for the largest share of 1 million tress to plant in their cities. By using my Amex cards (I am now up to three of them as of yesterday!) at participating stores and restaurants, I am contributing to the effort in my city.

I went to the site after receiving a customer email (1st click) and clicked on the button "RootforNYC.com" (2nd click). After arriving on the home page for the contest and learning a bit about it I clicked on the button "Spread the Word" (3rd click). There was a tab titled "Post to blog" (4th click). I checked the "Blogger" button (since my blog is hosted by Blogger), entered by username and password, clicked "sign-in", and then click "post" (5th, 6th, and 7th clicks). That's it. Done. Posted up to my blog with a link to the contest's site and a pretty picture. A clean, easy to follow, aesthetically-pleasing process. (It was so easy that I felt like I was visiting a site designed by Apple!) Now that is service.

This tiny event was a big lesson for me. In this day and age of messaging and the need for mass participation, the organizers of events, efforts, and campaigns need to make participation easy. Companies need advocates now more than ever. Give a customer a good experience and they're with you for life. This is the age of customer service, when finally customers are given their due as valuable, cherished members of a company. And the companies that will come out ahead when it is all said and done are those that not only call their customers kings and queens, but treat them like that as well.

Spinning the web: Making the most of the final two weeks at a job

I never expected that anyone would much care that I was leaving my current job for a new opportunity. I figured people would pat me on the shoulder, wish me luck on my new adventure, and send me on my way. Just the opposite. People have gone out of their way to connect, to learn about my new job, and to make sure that they have my personal contact info correct so we can stay in touch. And these aren't just my friends from work, but senior people whom I greatly respect and admire. It is nothing short of flattering. Of course, there are a few odd responses - people who have written me off before I'm out the door and those who have even chosen to ignore me altogether - but those are the very small minority and are people I never hoped to stay in touch with going forward.

While I have sometimes dreaded winding down my time at a job, and know many others who have had similar experiences, this time around I am glad to have over a week remaining. Closing these loops and ensuring their long-term stability are important. I now understand how professional networks and webs are built, and absolutely see that they are at least as valuable, if not more so, than the actual experience from a job. These days, everything seems to be about relationships.

The dawning of the age of social networking tools also eases the sting of leaving a job. I am a self-admitted sap. I think I've cried every time I've left a job. Though this time with these new tools at my disposal, it is easy to see that the many wonderful people I have worked alongside of will be in my life for years to come. It's not a "good-bye", but a "see you around the bend". All the more reason to make sure those bridges remain whole and intact.

The Wisdom of Crowds on Apple Forums

At the outset, I would like to be honest that I love the Apple Store and the Geniuses that work there. Truly. I'd be interseted in marrying one. I get fantastic service every time I walk in the door, they're kind, understanding, and go out of their way to be helpful. Plus, they have t-shirts with funny sayings on them.

I took my Macbook into the store on 5th Avenue on Sunday because I couldn't get my iWeb-designed website to open on Internet Explorer. At the Genius Bar, I was told that's just the way it goes - Internet Explorer can't read iWeb properly; it's iWeb illiterate. I walked away feeling very frustrated and upset by all of this - I bought my Macbook expressly for the purpose of easily creating a website in iWeb and uploading it to my own URL. Now, it appeared my efforts were for naught.

My friend, Ken, a fellow Mac lover, suggested I try the on-line forums. I was hesitant. I mean, who knows more than one of Apple's Geniuses at one of their premiere stores? Well, it turns out that a lot of people are Geniuses in their own right, and they love posting advice and tips to those forums. One in particular had the exact same problem I was having and after much fiddling found an easy fix for it. My pictures had a reflection and shadow that I chose for stylistic purposes. Turns out that the code that creates those edits in iWeb makes Internet Explorer choke. I removed the reflection and shadow from each picture and now the pages load perfectly. My website was saved! All by the kindness of a stranger who posted to one of the forums.

Geniuses are everywhere...

My new website is up and running! http://www.christainnewyork.com

Hooray! After a steep learning curve and months of agonizing over every word, photo, and design decision, my personal website is up and running. I created the website to drum-up freelance writing work and to grow my practice of helping small business effectively use new and emerging media to augment their marketing strategies. Launching my website today was the first step down the road to this new and exciting venture. The website links heavily to this blog and I will continue to maintain this blog with near-daily writing. I'd love your feedback on the website! http://www.christainnewyork.com

It is a scary thing to put myself out there alone. While secretly I consider myself an expert in communications, now that sentiment is out there in the world. While I've contributed to efforts via a company I work for, this is the first time I am putting my own talent and ambition out there, entirely on my own. That website in a very real sense says who I am, what I do, and what I believe. While there's a tremendous freedom that comes with that kind of action, there is also a fair amount of fear and trepidation. "One step at a time," I keep telling myself.

I must recommend the kind people over at GoDaddy.com, where I registered my domain name and purchased their hosting service. Their website, while very cluttered, is fairly easy to navigate after a bit of practice. What won me over is their fantastic phone support. I talked to a real person (!) three times this morning, no waiting, and very few menus. Great customer service!

I bought my new Mac earlier this year for its web design capability with the iWeb program. Love it! They saved me the pain of learning anything beyond my rudimentary html knowledge. I applaud people who can write code elegantly - I just have no desire to do it myself and Mac understands that.

I must especially thank my dear friend Dan for his wonderful photography and all of the advice he gave me when I was considering the design of the site. 

I have so many friends who gave me ideas and encouragement as I've considered free-lance writing and this small consulting practice. In brief: Alex, Kelly, Steve, Monika, Katie, Amy, Lisa, Trevin, Brooke, Ken, Heather, and Richard. And to my great family who always believes in me.