I came to a realization last week, I've been bugging my Facebook friends with my Twitter posts about Social Media..and that ladies and gentleman is no good, no good at all.
It's crazy, but on the one hand I have this personality on Facebook, that is informative, a bit crazy, irreverent and entertaining (or so I believe) and then there is the Twitter side of things. On there, I am a bit crazy, entertaining and informative, but I'm also very interested in Social Media and it's potential, not just for me, but for the future of how we deal with each other and how businesses deal with each other and their customers.
My mistake was in trying to keep EVERYBODY informed of ALL aspects of my interests, when in reality it really should have been kept apart.
I feel like it cost me some in terms of my friends on Facebook, most of them don't get Twitter and most of them might not want to get it, and that's OK (there have been converts, hell I am a convert) but sending them post after post of my findings on blogs, articles and news about the latest in Social Media probably left them with a WTF attitude about who I was on Facebook.
My friend @decanblue on Twitter noted that when I mentioned I thought my friends on Facebook probably hated me for inundating them with Social Media articles, especially when most of them got no comments, had no "likes" and yet people seemed to enjoy the articles I RT or posted on Twitter.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, two different animals, two different audiences (audiences that could overlap mind you but different nonetheless) with one perhaps not caring any less about the latest articles from Mashable, bkmacdaddy or Twittercism (to name a few), unfortunate yes but in the end they are my friends and I have to be sensitive to that fact. If I'm not then all I am is a pitch man coming across for all intents and purposes like a salesman. Who likes salesman? If done wrong, not many and I don't want to be taken wrongly.
So for now, I'm going to keep my two "lives" separate, at time they will crossover, but not always, and that's OK, and I hope it's OK with both/either of my friends on both/either Twitter and Facebook.
Now if you will excuse me, I'm tired from unpacking and I have three cats I need to share a bed with :-)
Showing posts with label Manuel Rangel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manuel Rangel. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Do you get it?
I'm often asked by my friends why I'm twittering all the time, to most of them it seems like a waste of time, or they don't get it.
True enough, when my friend @decanblue mentioned it to me in conjunction with working on our @impossiblebox project, my response was, "Huh" and "Why?" Honestly, when I tell people I tweet their response usually is, "Oh I hate twitter!" Trust me, I was in the same boat.
And then...I used it, I expanded upon it, true in the beginning I faltered along, but then it hit me.
I can get information this way, I can share my thoughts we people ANYWHERE, I can converse in a global conversation.
Initially it worked out that I could link it to my Facebook and Myspace account, and I don't have a fancy web phone, but that doesn't stop me from getting Twitter and Facebook replies to my posts.
Most people that know me, know I can be...bizarre to say the least, and it it's a great forum (Twitter) to get my voice out there, especially when your working on a project like the one my friend and myself are working on. But then I began to learn more and to see posts about Social Media and I began to READ them, and with @decanblue it all gelled as to what possibilities are out there.
We are looking at a medium of information that with it's 32 million users (Webbiquity: http://ow.ly/19LVa ) has a global reach and potential unmatched (as I see it) beyond what Television can accomplish.
With it you can reach out to new customers, provide links to interesting content, influence those you interact with, be influenced, participate in marketing ebbs and flows, get news, be heard, be noisy and so on.
With this knowledge has come a leveling out of my tweets, I'm still bizarre (I can't help it), but there has been a paradigm shift to an awareness of the self in proportion to my Social Media self. They are one and the same, but as "I" grow, so does that persona grow until eventually they reach equilibrium.
Why do I do it? I asked that question and am asked that question.
Because I have a comic I want to push, I have ideas I want to push, I want to learn, I want to be weird, I want to be noticed. I have an insatiable need to "out" there and anybody who get's twitter and gets it correctly knows what I mean.
All of us, in some fashion are narcissistic, even the corporations who have their own Twitter pages, and they go out and say what they have to say but say it with interest and with interesting content.
The person or person who is/are narcissistic, but doesn't get it only puts down what is simply a log of their life and if your interesting enough, then that is sufficient. If your not, well then we're treated to, "Took dog for a walk, saw a squirrel, got home, now eating oatmeal." To illustrate this, I will sometimes tweet that I am doing something specifically to laugh at myself, to laugh at Twitter and to laugh at how silly it can be sometimes.
The person or persons who take their narcissism seriously, well...they just don't get it. They are the ones who give you the sale of the moment, tell you they have specials, spam you with get rich schemes and "methods" and YOU NEVER GET TO CONVERSE with them, almost like it's really just a robot sitting there spitting out goo of info. To those, I simply turn of their feed, how sad is that? Your a company, you want people to follow and buy your product and instead of getting to know your followers/customers you tell them what they already know instead of saying "SPOTTED Extreme Pogo: When you're pulling off front flips on a pogo stick, you might want to wear a helmet." from @Delllounge where they post about music, videos and games (as an example). Dell talks to their customers, they listen to customer tweets, they monitor them because like anybody who is narcissistic, they want to know who if anybody is talking about them and what they are saying.
Most of us on here are here because we want to be noticed, we want to know if anybody notices us and we want to know what people are saying about us, from the individual to the company we WANT TO BE NOTICED.
So why do I tweet? I have a need to be noticed. Do you get it?
True enough, when my friend @decanblue mentioned it to me in conjunction with working on our @impossiblebox project, my response was, "Huh" and "Why?" Honestly, when I tell people I tweet their response usually is, "Oh I hate twitter!" Trust me, I was in the same boat.
And then...I used it, I expanded upon it, true in the beginning I faltered along, but then it hit me.
I can get information this way, I can share my thoughts we people ANYWHERE, I can converse in a global conversation.
Initially it worked out that I could link it to my Facebook and Myspace account, and I don't have a fancy web phone, but that doesn't stop me from getting Twitter and Facebook replies to my posts.
Most people that know me, know I can be...bizarre to say the least, and it it's a great forum (Twitter) to get my voice out there, especially when your working on a project like the one my friend and myself are working on. But then I began to learn more and to see posts about Social Media and I began to READ them, and with @decanblue it all gelled as to what possibilities are out there.
We are looking at a medium of information that with it's 32 million users (Webbiquity: http://ow.ly/19LVa ) has a global reach and potential unmatched (as I see it) beyond what Television can accomplish.
With it you can reach out to new customers, provide links to interesting content, influence those you interact with, be influenced, participate in marketing ebbs and flows, get news, be heard, be noisy and so on.
With this knowledge has come a leveling out of my tweets, I'm still bizarre (I can't help it), but there has been a paradigm shift to an awareness of the self in proportion to my Social Media self. They are one and the same, but as "I" grow, so does that persona grow until eventually they reach equilibrium.
Why do I do it? I asked that question and am asked that question.
Because I have a comic I want to push, I have ideas I want to push, I want to learn, I want to be weird, I want to be noticed. I have an insatiable need to "out" there and anybody who get's twitter and gets it correctly knows what I mean.
All of us, in some fashion are narcissistic, even the corporations who have their own Twitter pages, and they go out and say what they have to say but say it with interest and with interesting content.
The person or person who is/are narcissistic, but doesn't get it only puts down what is simply a log of their life and if your interesting enough, then that is sufficient. If your not, well then we're treated to, "Took dog for a walk, saw a squirrel, got home, now eating oatmeal." To illustrate this, I will sometimes tweet that I am doing something specifically to laugh at myself, to laugh at Twitter and to laugh at how silly it can be sometimes.
The person or persons who take their narcissism seriously, well...they just don't get it. They are the ones who give you the sale of the moment, tell you they have specials, spam you with get rich schemes and "methods" and YOU NEVER GET TO CONVERSE with them, almost like it's really just a robot sitting there spitting out goo of info. To those, I simply turn of their feed, how sad is that? Your a company, you want people to follow and buy your product and instead of getting to know your followers/customers you tell them what they already know instead of saying "SPOTTED Extreme Pogo: When you're pulling off front flips on a pogo stick, you might want to wear a helmet." from @Delllounge where they post about music, videos and games (as an example). Dell talks to their customers, they listen to customer tweets, they monitor them because like anybody who is narcissistic, they want to know who if anybody is talking about them and what they are saying.
Most of us on here are here because we want to be noticed, we want to know if anybody notices us and we want to know what people are saying about us, from the individual to the company we WANT TO BE NOTICED.
So why do I tweet? I have a need to be noticed. Do you get it?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Social Media Minefields
So what happens when you get someone like Kevin Smith (and a Twitter user @ThatKevinSmith) who you may or may not know was asked to get off of a Southwest airlines plane for being "to fat".
Kevin used his twitter account to recount the events transpiring:
http://mashable.com/2010/02/14/southwest-kevin-smith/
A PR nightmare for @SouthwestAir (also on Twitter) and while you might say, "Well what did they expect? It's Kevin Smith!" That shouldn't matter and doesn't matter, not in this day and age of Social Media awareness and REACH.
What happened? Well Southwest apologized...in a fashion (read about it here: http://silentbobspeaks.com/)
Again, it's Kevin Smith right? What bone heads right? Right. But like I said above does it matter that it was Kevin Smith? Hell no! It could have been anybody! Some people on Twitter have upwards of 1000+ people following them, and of those they might have some 1000+ people as well, that is REACH.
That Southwest handled that incorrectly was irregardless of who they are and who they slighted because in the end it could have been anybody with enough REACH into the Social Media ether.
That knowing it was Kevin Smith might have stayed their hand in how they handled it could have saved them this embarrassment...but it wouldn't save them from an Internet known person, one who thousands of people may know online but exists in relative anonymity in the real world. In a sense similar to the Matrix movies or the Shadowrun games where one may be an incredible within the Matrix but a "normal" outside of it.
As Mashable pointed out this has in a sense created a minefield for companies, because you could have a "persona" on board who if treated wrongly (whether it was perceived honestly or not) could let a whole slew of people know just how much you suck, and they'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends and so on and so on...
Companies who believe Social Media to be "fluffy" who don't take it seriously may laugh or not "get it" but the fact is they should, if they don't then I guess they get what they deserve.
I can only imagine how events might have changed at Sensory Sweep if people had used Twitter or Facebook to post the way the company was treating them, would they have changed their attitude, their policy?
Would an artist looking to get hired on to a "Sensory Sweep" withdraw his application? Would he warn other artists?
Would a company doing business with a "Sensory Sweep" think twice about continuing a project with them, knowing the possible negative impact it could have in Social Media circles?
Tweeting, despite how much some people may know hate it, is a viable tool for getting oneself across to a vast potential of people, whether your a company or an individual. In the hands of the right person, this "tool" can be a companies worst nightmare. Their choice in how they respond is then consequently watched (especially if they are hooked into the Social Media network) to see how it will be handled.
This phenomena, this "fad" will only go away when we no longer have computers and we have returned to the pre-Computer Age, until then watch out for those land mines.
Kevin used his twitter account to recount the events transpiring:
http://mashable.com/2010/02/14/southwest-kevin-smith/
A PR nightmare for @SouthwestAir (also on Twitter) and while you might say, "Well what did they expect? It's Kevin Smith!" That shouldn't matter and doesn't matter, not in this day and age of Social Media awareness and REACH.
What happened? Well Southwest apologized...in a fashion (read about it here: http://silentbobspeaks.com/)
Again, it's Kevin Smith right? What bone heads right? Right. But like I said above does it matter that it was Kevin Smith? Hell no! It could have been anybody! Some people on Twitter have upwards of 1000+ people following them, and of those they might have some 1000+ people as well, that is REACH.
That Southwest handled that incorrectly was irregardless of who they are and who they slighted because in the end it could have been anybody with enough REACH into the Social Media ether.
That knowing it was Kevin Smith might have stayed their hand in how they handled it could have saved them this embarrassment...but it wouldn't save them from an Internet known person, one who thousands of people may know online but exists in relative anonymity in the real world. In a sense similar to the Matrix movies or the Shadowrun games where one may be an incredible within the Matrix but a "normal" outside of it.
As Mashable pointed out this has in a sense created a minefield for companies, because you could have a "persona" on board who if treated wrongly (whether it was perceived honestly or not) could let a whole slew of people know just how much you suck, and they'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends and so on and so on...
Companies who believe Social Media to be "fluffy" who don't take it seriously may laugh or not "get it" but the fact is they should, if they don't then I guess they get what they deserve.
I can only imagine how events might have changed at Sensory Sweep if people had used Twitter or Facebook to post the way the company was treating them, would they have changed their attitude, their policy?
Would an artist looking to get hired on to a "Sensory Sweep" withdraw his application? Would he warn other artists?
Would a company doing business with a "Sensory Sweep" think twice about continuing a project with them, knowing the possible negative impact it could have in Social Media circles?
Tweeting, despite how much some people may know hate it, is a viable tool for getting oneself across to a vast potential of people, whether your a company or an individual. In the hands of the right person, this "tool" can be a companies worst nightmare. Their choice in how they respond is then consequently watched (especially if they are hooked into the Social Media network) to see how it will be handled.
This phenomena, this "fad" will only go away when we no longer have computers and we have returned to the pre-Computer Age, until then watch out for those land mines.
Monday, February 8, 2010
My Birthday
It's my Birthday
It approaches, silently like a lover
It reminds me of my short time here
I spurn it
I don't need its reminders
The sore legs, the sore back
They tell me more about my age than any date could
I laugh at the pain
The laughter is my defiance
I will laugh until my last breath draws
Content that no matter what
I lived despite the benchmarks of age
I lived the life young, inside my head
I lived the life young inside my heart
Even as the body crumbles, I will live the life young
I will only surrender when the heart stops beating
I will only surrender when my brain ceases to fire its neurons
Only then will I allow age to win
It's my Birthday
It approaches, silently like a lover
It reminds me of my short time here
I spurn it
I don't need its reminders
The sore legs, the sore back
They tell me more about my age than any date could
I laugh at the pain
The laughter is my defiance
I will laugh until my last breath draws
Content that no matter what
I lived despite the benchmarks of age
I lived the life young, inside my head
I lived the life young inside my heart
Even as the body crumbles, I will live the life young
I will only surrender when the heart stops beating
I will only surrender when my brain ceases to fire its neurons
Only then will I allow age to win
It's my Birthday
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Job Woes
So I've been a contract worker for Rockwell Collins for 11 months now through Donatech. Being that I only had a month to go, I felt it was important AND necessary to talk to my lead about my future with the company. I.E. will I renew my contract, get hired on as a permanent employee or not continue on with the company.
It turned out to be the last thing on the list above. Due to two projects (with projected hours above 20000 for each) being cancelled or delayed there isn't enough work to keep ALL of us contract workers there.
All four contract workers are being let go by mid October. It was a shock to a couple of my friends who are employees and too the person I am answering to for this marketing demo we are preparing for the beginning of November.
You see they expected me to be there until the end of October for the crunch period, which this changes.
Can I say that my motivation went out the window, I think I spent a half hour in shock, then talked for awhile to the other contract workers about the situation. I contacted Shreyash who is my liason with Donatech to start looking for jobs anywhere he can (meaning out of state, because in UT there are no prospects). I also am preparing to give my Mazda back to the bank and walk away from it and take out the last of my mutual funds to buy a POS car to replace it with.
I have a $467 car payment which with rent and other bills will not be payable on Unemployment if I don't get a job.
My drop dead date is October 19th which is a Monday.
I didn't feel like working on Impossible Box stuff or on anything for Miah or April and barely scraped together the desire to turn in another business card design tonight:
It turned out to be the last thing on the list above. Due to two projects (with projected hours above 20000 for each) being cancelled or delayed there isn't enough work to keep ALL of us contract workers there.
All four contract workers are being let go by mid October. It was a shock to a couple of my friends who are employees and too the person I am answering to for this marketing demo we are preparing for the beginning of November.
You see they expected me to be there until the end of October for the crunch period, which this changes.
Can I say that my motivation went out the window, I think I spent a half hour in shock, then talked for awhile to the other contract workers about the situation. I contacted Shreyash who is my liason with Donatech to start looking for jobs anywhere he can (meaning out of state, because in UT there are no prospects). I also am preparing to give my Mazda back to the bank and walk away from it and take out the last of my mutual funds to buy a POS car to replace it with.
I have a $467 car payment which with rent and other bills will not be payable on Unemployment if I don't get a job.
My drop dead date is October 19th which is a Monday.
I didn't feel like working on Impossible Box stuff or on anything for Miah or April and barely scraped together the desire to turn in another business card design tonight:
Instead, I went over to Chris H's house to watch Battlestar Galactica: Caprica, have some yummy fish that he cooked up for us and a salad as well. Then Erin joined us and we watched House.
I needed that, I needed to just center myself and be with friends to bring me to Earth. If I had been alone I probably would have kicked the crap out of my punching bag (not a bad idea but is that really productive, wait neither was what I just did).
So, tomorrow is a new day where I work to take a negative and make it into a positive.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The monkey see monkey do syndrome
Here is what I think is amusing...I submitted a design for a logo at 99designs.com for a company called Statrad. The image at the link below represents the artwork previous to my entry.
http://99designs.com/contests/27446/entries/91
Then came my design:
http://99designs.com/contests/27446/entries/91
Then came my design:
Most entries previous to this were eliminated. After that this is what the designs ended up looking like:
See a pattern? This happened after I got some positive comments on my design. My design is still in the running but so are all the ones afterwards which look like :-/
So much for originality on their part eh?
This is the final design based on their requests for a difference in color and removing the dots, which some people afterward didn't pay attention to.
Not sure if it's any better.
Shaving a penny here and a dollar there.
Trying to survive financially in this economy blows let me tell you. I'm trying to pull some magic spells here to help. I've reduced my gym membership to a pinance to just keep it open and locked at the rate it's at now, I'm getting rid of my storage unit and going to stuff it all into my one bedroom, I was able to do graduated payments at SHC and I'm negotiating my auto insurance to shave off $30-40 there as well. Once I finish paying off this new phone my cell phone payments should drop another $60 as well.
All in the name of pinching money and surviving. If this works out right, I could save almost $200, which turns into $100 once my loan payments start back up again.
To top it off, I begin my annual pilgrimage to any bank including my own to see about refinancing my car so that I can get lower paymens (that's what's really eating into my finances-$467 a month is a big gouge).
I'm sure you can understand.
All in the name of pinching money and surviving. If this works out right, I could save almost $200, which turns into $100 once my loan payments start back up again.
To top it off, I begin my annual pilgrimage to any bank including my own to see about refinancing my car so that I can get lower paymens (that's what's really eating into my finances-$467 a month is a big gouge).
I'm sure you can understand.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday-NOT just a day for rest
Great Day! I got lots of stuff to do and it all involves sitting in front of my Mac, documents to write, responses to request to write, research, t-shirt artwork, freelance work hustling, and some personal writing to do.
Again I must make note, that it is the desire of humans beings to find a need to NOT have idle time, or perhaps it is a sign of age, a means for the mind to combat the fuzzies that come with age.
Certainly, as I've gotten older, I have found more time and desire to be personally productive than to have leisure time.
That being said, I'm Hispanic, Mexican-American, it's in my blood to be social and have fun, as my cousin's husband in Mexico put it to me once, "You Americans live to work, we Mexicans work to live."
I have to include myself in the former, and I am pretty sure he agreed as well. It doesn't mean Mexicans are lazy, it means that they recognize that "fun" is important and without it, you have burnout.
So...I must continue to dance if at all possible, even if that means in my kitchen to music on my headset (April you know what I mean) and I must go out occasionally to be social. It's very easy I see now to become like my father or mother, or even my grandmother. A recluse, a being with the simple desire to be left alone to his/her own devices. It's there, I can feel it, and a part of me wants it.
Enough rambling, get back to work!
Again I must make note, that it is the desire of humans beings to find a need to NOT have idle time, or perhaps it is a sign of age, a means for the mind to combat the fuzzies that come with age.
Certainly, as I've gotten older, I have found more time and desire to be personally productive than to have leisure time.
That being said, I'm Hispanic, Mexican-American, it's in my blood to be social and have fun, as my cousin's husband in Mexico put it to me once, "You Americans live to work, we Mexicans work to live."
I have to include myself in the former, and I am pretty sure he agreed as well. It doesn't mean Mexicans are lazy, it means that they recognize that "fun" is important and without it, you have burnout.
So...I must continue to dance if at all possible, even if that means in my kitchen to music on my headset (April you know what I mean) and I must go out occasionally to be social. It's very easy I see now to become like my father or mother, or even my grandmother. A recluse, a being with the simple desire to be left alone to his/her own devices. It's there, I can feel it, and a part of me wants it.
Enough rambling, get back to work!
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