Social Media is a hot topic these days. I have a small tech business centered around publishing my content on social networks. I have many faithful readers, followers, commentators and posters. I’ve been using social media to reach people for a while because I’m passionate and eager to learn from them.
I speak at many conferences, seminars, webinars, universities and tweet-ups on the topic. I also get many requests from other companies seeking advice and, in the spirit of social media itself, we have been open to sharing. To that end, I put together a blogging code of ethics.
There’s a lot of controversy in the blogosphere about izea/pay-for-post and the general issue of companies paying bloggers to generate content about them. While some people feel it’s perfectly fine, as a more traditional journalist, I’m one of those who does not.
Here is my top 8 list for blogging ethics:
1. Fact Check: Don’t spread rumors. Double check your facts.
2. Update: If news changes or stories progress update old posts and text with current and relevant information. When you make a mistake or make incorrect statements reverse and update them. Don’t update and erase. Update with a line through or note.
3. Tell it how it is: If there are stories, images and/or videos being posted, mixed-mashed, photoshopped or damaged report those findings in ways that could have a false representation of the event that actually took place.
4. Disclosure: Avoid letting advertisers influence content. If a company is paying for posts that needs to be disclosed.
5. Ego: don’t ever begin to believe that you’re better, smarter or more priveledged than your audience. they will see it as arrogance and you will lose them, quickly. your fans are everything. without them, you’d be nothing.
6. Minimize harm: Don’t call names. Have integrity and credibility
7. Honest and Fair: Don’t plagiarize, link to where you get your ideas
8. Be accountable: Treat others how you wish to be treated, have a mission, admit to mistakes and typos, be wary of doing favors for advertisers so they don’t influence the content.
What do we look like? The diversity of colors on the American Flag doesn’t represent the diversity of backgrounds and cultures present int eh US today. Everyone here came from a different place and at some point immigrated here. That’s why it’s important to try to understand the people of all walks of life. Tolerance is a virtue.
The best metaphor for a melting pot in the United States is the grocery store check out line. No matter who you are or where you live you shop for groceries. Well that’s not entirely true if you live in New York City. Actually, we leave the New York melting pot to the subway. Thus, I restate, the best metaphor for a melting pot in the United states is the grocery store and the subway.
(Caitlin Hill and I on the subway)
The check out line in a grocery store brings everyone together. Just like they say in Ready Set Bag, a documentary about grocery baggers, some people are dressed to the nines and others are showing up in their slippers. I’m working with the creators of this documentary to make a brand extension web show on blip.tv.
There are 8 million people in New York and most of them live in NYC. I lived in New York City for a few years and took the subway almost every day as my primary mode of transportation. There are thousands of languages spoken on the subway every day. No assumptions are made.
You never know what you are going to get with the variety of culture; however, certain elements remain for the same. For example, young and able people get up when a pregnant woman or elderly person enters the train cart and they give up their seats. People with strollers are assisted by other people when going up and down the stairs. People try to mind their own business and help out. There are hustlers and you must be on guard to watch your purse, and you will be tolerant and respectful of other cultures.
If the United States were like the New York subway or a grocery store in every small town, nook, and cranny we wouldn’t right and the wisdom of the crowds would prevail. St Jean Crevecoeur is an American farmer who wrote “What is an American” in the second half of the eighteenth century. The point of view in his letter is similar to my point of view because we both believe that tolerance is the key to world peace.
Today’s the Stanford Women in Business conference, I Don’t Know to CEO, hosted at Stanford University, California. The panel, moderated by Larry Chiang, was half about mentoring and half about branding, however, it was supposed to be mostly about branding.
I went because my sister, Rebekah Austin, wanted me to go there for her and report on the speech by activist Ruth DeGolia prior to the panel. The mentor discussion would have been great for Rebekah to have participated in.
Poornima:
-tweet them questions or follow up on twitter
-Use tools like LinkedIn and facebook to contact them
-Brevity is key
-Play into being a college student if you are a student
-always ask for someone else to talk to
Cathy:
-Make it organic. Asking for someone to be your mentor is like asking someone to be your friend.
-Use the subject line in an email and make bullet points in your email
-Ask for a skype call instead of coffee
Rob:
-always try to meet face to face
-be persistent
-make your contact initiative volume driven
-get out there and don’t be shy
-maximize contacts
Larry:
-social engineer your contacts by playing dumb:
-contact them several times pretending it’s the first time you contact them
Who’s excited for the iPad?! The New York Times looks to Technology research firms for an in depth analysis of the current market for the iPad. “One firm, NPD, found in a study that 18 percent of consumers expressed interest in owning an iPad.” If about one in 5 people want an iPad then it’s not the next iPhone.
I’m skipping out on this iPad because I don’t need it and it’s first gen. However, if and only if the iPad becomes more like a Mac would I want to wait in line for a release. It will be interesting to see how Apple decides to improve features like incorporating USB, camera with video, matte finish larger screen, updated OS X, and basically everything else that makes it more like a computer than an iPhone.
What makes brands different and unique? Are all brands trying to reach the same people? These are a couple questions startups ask when marketing their product and trying to stand out from their competition. In the above video I talk about some of the brands that are using social media as a way to differentiate and reach subculture in social media looking to Ford, Nikon and the NHL as examples. What makes one company different than the next is the companies ability to offer something of value to one subculture over the next based on that brand’s ability to market differently. Each brand has a unique message and market.
In a personal interview with Scott Monty, I asked what makes Ford different? He said, “listening is so important to us.” Social media provides a two way communication for customer care and communication. Ford stands out because they listen and care what people are saying. Testimony to their success, Ford won the prestigious PR Week Award for Best Use of Social Media!
Scott gives credit to Sam DeLaGarza for his excellent communication and management skills working as the Ford Fiesta community manager. The Fiesta Movement Chapter 2 involves 20 teams with 2 people on each team spread out across 16 US cities. Each team is like a micro ad agency contracted for 4 months. They are throwing fun events and parties in their cities while competing with the other teams.
Be sure to tune in tomorrow as I continue this segment with a follow up interview. Mooncricket, aka Beto Lopez, is coming on Pop17 Live to discuss Fiesta Movement Chapter 2. He is one of the few agents selected from Chapter 1, a Justin.tv micro-celebrity and creative genius.
The YouTube gathering for Vlogvetica was so much fun! I got to hang out with all my best friends and meet my favorite vloggers!
Jesse Draper is really cool, fun and sweet. Her vlog, Valley Girl Show, is a must see.
I’m so proud of my sister. She really has come a long way. In collaboration with Pop17 the US Department of State will be vlogging and blogging about microfinancing! Yay! Hilary Clinton is running this program and personally reached out to us. My sister, Rebakah Austin, is going to make a real change in this world.
I’m off to SXSW with Watchitoo and Nikon. Check out twitter for when I go live and post about all the great stuff from Austin, Texas.
Michael Agnes, Editor in Cheif of Webster’s Dictionary, named the word of 2008 to be “overshare.” They said they chose it because of current trends of sharing current information and the good/bad effects of the practice. Overshare is the equivalent of “too much information,” slips of the toungue, and letting people know about the intimate details in your life. Online profiles show your interestes and habbits so it’s often easy to overshare. The bad part is that the information is there for all to see and can have deleterious side effects on your life.
Oversharers describes it as, “anyone who publicly shares embarrassingly intimate–or gross and disgusting–details of their lives, right out there where anyone can read them.” It’s a pretty funny blog with tweets and facebook posts.
I learned about this word in 2007 and 2008 when I started lifecasting on JTV. Justin Kan offered me the opportunity to stream live to thousands of people watching the ultimate reality TV show. 24/7 raw, live and uncut. Myself and several others became lifecasters on the beta site. This experience changed my life and taught me about live video on the web. It was so cool to be the first to do something so cool! I’m one of the first live streaming lifecasters popularized by JTV. Today, I lifecast in a more professional and brand safe way on various websites. Lifecasting doesn’t have to be 24/7 live video of every detail of your life.
Today I’m here to announce that I’m hosting segments on Justin.tv for Pop17. Pop17 is a web show highlighting trends, internet culture, and micro-celebrity. You can expect Pop17 live Monday-Thursday PST starting this Thursday. I look forward to seeing you there! Here are the best submissions for the design contest:
Vote on the winners in the comments:
A. Branded Kirkman
B. Rudy Cuestas
C. Leon Bacud
I will send the winner a Poken. A poken is your ‘social business card.’ it’s the easy way to share your contact details and online social networks in the real world. just hold two poken palms together – high4! – and you’re connected.
As a young child, I was self motivated to learn because I wanted to overcome my challenges. I’ve had the privilege of having great mentors in my life and the drive to succeed when faced with obstacles. My parents brought my family out to Marin County, California, after leaving the small town of Rogers, Arkansas when I was a small child. At the time, both my parents highest education degree were a couple highschool diplomas. When I moved to Tiburon, California because my Dad had a job offer for some construction work, the scene was totally different from Arkansas. Parents in Tiburon had trust funds and college swag for their children before they made it to grade K. The liberal environment of Marin was a change too. The spirit of the community gave me inspiration and motivation to learn and tackle my obstacles in school.
I had a learning disability called dyslexia. For me, the words would move around the page and I couldn’t get them to stay still in a straight line with my eyes. In 2nd grade I started to attend special education classes outside of regular class. Thus, I was working twice as hard as my peers and constantly falling short in the classroom. (Dyslexia is actually pretty common and many great minds have struggled with it like Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill, for example). It took a while for the school to figure out what was going on with me, but because of their fine resources and small teacher to student ratio I was able to get the help and assistance I needed early on. At the time the California school system had funding and dedicated those resources toward my education. Ironically, I wasn’t able to read until 4th grade, however, by 6th grade I graduated special ed and my teachers started to give me B’s and C’s for my work without additional help. I have my mother and the once funded California school system to thank.
In 9th grade I was recruited to apply for a leadership and mentorship program targeted at low income/high potential youth called Summer Search. I applied and was accepted for telling my story and being myself. It was pretty great! The founder, Linda Mornell, personally mentored me through high school. She gave me scholarships for summer learning programs, a college counselor, and after school tutoring for my college aptitude tests. Upon graduating high school I wrote my college essay about how Summer Search was like a family.
By the time I finished high school, much of which I spent home schooled, at Stanford University and a in the wilderness, I graduated with honors and was awarded seven scholarships to Ivy League’s and Colleges back east like Emerson College and Mount Holyoke. Linda Mornell and my college counselor, Sandy Pebbels, encouraged me to attend Mount Holyoke so I went!
Today I value my accomplishments in school. I have a 3.85 GPA as I’m currently getting my MBA in Business Management at Dominican Universities Pathway program for working professionals. Dominican has the most perfect program for me and is located close to my home town in Marin County, California. Ironically, it was my father’s suggestion to go back to school because, while I was away at college on the East Coast, he went to a similar program at Saint Mary’s College of California where he earned his BA in Business Management.
If it were not for the encouragement I received from my community in Marin County, my mentor Linda Mornell, and all of Summer Search I probably would not have had the opportunity to overcome my learning disability and go on to higher education. If I had stayed in Arkansas I would have found little motivation to learn because I wouldn’t have had the stimulation there. As I complete my MBA at night and on the weekends, I decided it would be a good time to take on anouther mentor. I’d like to proudly announce my new mentor, Larry Kramer.
Larry Kramer is local to Tiburon, California and a pioneer in digital media. He served as president of CBS Digital Media and prior to that founded MarketWatch. I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to work and learn with Larry.
Albert Einstein once said, “according to this conception, the sole function of education was to open the way to thinking and knowing, and the school, as the outstanding organ for the people’s education, must serve that end exclusively.” Einstein may or may not agree with Malcolm X. You decide! In the essay “Homemade Education” Malcolm X talks about how education changed his self perception and the perception of others. Malcolm X is the perfect example of how the pen is mightier than the sword because he used his homemade education to achieve greatness and become one of the most memorable public speakers of our time. All this he did by himself in a jail cell. Getting an education and getting a degree are two similar yet different propositions. Getting an education is based on one’s interests and what makes him or her happy. People who get an education do so because they want to live in freedom of the mind. Getting a degree is different because it’s about going through a process and finishing with an ending.
Getting an education has no ending. It will go on as long as the mind wants to consume. Education is stepping into the light and learning about things we were ignorant about before. The “light,” according to Plato, is being educated. It is being able to see the sun and being in the right place to do so. Getting an education is similar to getting a degree because they will both bring you into the light and open opportunities.
When I first became involved with technology I did not learn about it in school. I was 12 and did not have a computer so I used the computers at school at lunch break and after hours. As a teen, I learned about tech by going to meet-ups, informational conferences, and social gatherings around tech in the Silicon Valley and Bay Area. There was nothing that could get in my way because I was so passionate about the power of technology and the possibilities of social media.
By the time I was 21, I attended 32 different conferences internationally and nationally, interviewed over 200 technology leaders, created over 300 videos about tech, and wrote 182 blog posts about tech. By the time I was 19, people started calling me a technology leader. This happened because I had an education, but not because I had a degree in technology. Getting a degree is similar to getting an education because they both will take you places.
Steve Wozniak, who didn’t get a degree, ironically wrote my college letter of recommendation as he told me I didn’t need to get a degree. He said that with my experience and leadership I wouldn’t have a problem getting a job, however, the only reason I should get a degree is so I can tell my kids to get a degree. (So many hires want at least a Bachelors degree). I have always looked up to Woz as a leader in tech along with Jobs and Gates. Woz would agree that getting an education is just as good as getting a degree.
Getting a degree is similar to getting an education because along the way to a degree one does become educated. You are forced to see the light. The difference from getting an education and getting a degree is when you get a degree you finish with an ending. You take required classes along the way and graducate with a single sheet of paper that says you did it. Getting a degree is important to many and unimportant to some.
p.s. As many of you know, I’m a full time student with an end goal. I like the structure of school and the joy it brings every day. For part of my high school experience I was home schooled. I learned that I didn’t need anyone else to help me learn. That’s why I decided to take education into my own hands. Be it in school, the real world, or both, education will set you free!
Hi Everyone! Welcome to SarahAustin.com. I’ll be publishing blog posts here now. As many of you know, I’m a writer, producer and blogger who first became popular with my Silicon Valley tech show, Party Crashers, where I notoriously crashed into TechCrunch. After that, I went on to become one of the first lifecasters on Justin.TV as well as Livestream, Flixwagon and Watchitoo (my current sponsor). Currently I’m in the alpha stage of a super secret new show set to launch in February of 2010 in conjunction to my efforts as creator and host at Pop17.
I’m geeky and looking for ways to express myself in tech. Having sponsors to help is what makes what I do possible. Ford Motor Company, Watchitoo, Media Temple and T-mobile are doing their part to sponsor me and Pop17. If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring then see the sponsor page for more information.
I want to enable people to come together for a common purpose to help humanity. I want the right parts of tech to come together . That’s why I’m doing my part to help humanity with SummerSearch mentorship programs.
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What is an American?
I Don’t Know to CEO Conf...