Have you heard the latest? Partnering with MTV, Foursquare recently announced a brand new badge to let the world know you’re checking in to be tested for STD’s. According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, when people following MTV on Foursquare unlock the GYT (get yourself tested) Badge, they become eligible to win a trip to New York City and backstage passes to an MTV show. The objectives? To encourage more people to get tested, and remove the stigma attached to it.
So, there’s a stigma attached to being tested for STD’s? Honestly, I didn’t know that. I always thought the stigma was attached to actually having an STD. My bad.
No matter. Foursquare and MTV just may be onto something here. Foursquare already has quite an array of badges, ranging from the general, such as checking into a venue for the first time, to specialized badges for specific venues, as well as the coveted title of Mayor. It’s a fun and competitive way to recommend places you frequent to others, and businesses are beginning to capitalize on Foursquare’s ever-increasing reach to bring customers through their doors. Given these uses, it stands to reason that Foursquare can evolve to promote responsible personal behavior. And make no mistake, getting tested for STD’s is a wise decision for many. Abstaining from the types of risky behaviors that lead to getting STD’s in the first place is even wiser. So where’s the love and equal time? I have my suspicions on that one, but that’s another Blog post for another day.
How about this: An IJA (I just abstained) Badge to encourage more young unmarrieds to abstain from sex, and remove the stigma attached from doing so openly. If a GYT badge can be an effective means of encouraging openness, detection and treatment for STD’s, (and that’s a big ‘If’) who’s to say an IJA badge couldn’t work for the prevention side as well?
But back to being onto something: Consider the even broader spectrum of opportunities for badges that promote behavior that is responsible, moral, and for the general social good. How about badges for all types of medical tests and procedures: immunizations, mammograms, cancer screenings, giving blood, etc. Badges for volunteerism such as mentoring, working in homeless shelters, donations of goods and services, etc., are another idea. These are but a few examples – the possibilities are mind boggling.
Foursquare’s opened a big door here, and stuck its foot just over the threshold. The question now is: Will they walk through it?
It is with more than just a little embarrassment that I write this Blog post. Why? Well, check the date of my last one. Go ahead – scroll down – I’ll wait for you.
Did you see that? July 13th. Almost six weeks ago. Not good. I know all too well the value of business blogging. It is a great way to establish yourself as a thought leader in your field, share worthy ideas with others, and boost your search rankings. Content is king; therefore, it’s important to feed your website and other online presences with fresh information so you’re more readily found online. I love to share what I’ve learned; the how-to’s, the lessons learned and the “I’m-not-sure what-this-is-yet, but keep reading.” (Pssst….that would be this post.)
I’m not going to make excuses about why I haven’t been here lately. If you’ve ever blogged, you know what those excuses are (think Life 101 – stuff happens) and have probably experienced them yourself. And guess what? None of these things are usually the real reasons people stall in their blogging efforts. My theory is that people who enjoy writing stall out because they’re just not ‘feeling it’ for some reason. (Hand raised.) Whether for business or pleasure, what you write has to really matter to you on some level. And, there has to be a bit of you in it. Even if it’s for business – yours, or a client whose Blog you maintain. A bit of your personality and know-how should permeate each post you write.
So, I’ve come to a few realizations about what it will take for me to ‘feel it’ and contribute here much more often. My goal is once a week minimum. (Feel free to hold me to that.) While the main thrust will still be social media marketing – a subject I love – I’m not necessarily going to tackle such widely addressed topics as Social Media ROI or The Explosion of Mobile Geolocation Networks and What It Means. Yes, they’re important, but you can Google them as I have for a wealth of great info. There’s no need for me to add to the noise. I’m just going to write about what helps and moves me, with my own unique slant, and the goal of helping and moving you, too.
I’d love to hear from you on ways you’ve re-ignited your own writing, or any other related insights you’d like to share. See you again real soon. I promise. (Oh, and please click ‘Read More” to go to comment section.)
That’s the thought uppermost in my mind as I write this Blog post.
Losing a job is never easy, whether due to a layoff or one’s shortcomings as seen by a superior. I had both types happen to me in 2009.
The first was a layoff from an engineering firm due to the economic downturn. I had been with the company for over three years, and succeeded in transforming a fragmented marketing effort into a well structured and effective vehicle. I loved the varied aspects of the job: relationship building, writing, ROI measurement, speaking engagements, PR, branding work and strategy development and implementation. I had a terrific boss and support staff with whom I still keep in touch. While not without periods of stress, it was for the most part both challenging and fun.
The second job loss is best described as an unfortunate situation due to a few things: my own shortcomings, perhaps not the best fit of responsibilities to core strengths, and what I believe was honest mis-communication between a superior and me on a couple of key tasks. This company provides traditional PR and Social Media Marketing, and consists of a great group of talented folks. I’m very grateful to have worked with them. My role was to manage and oversee a social media campaign for a client. It was a successful effort with a very happy client, and I am proud to have played a key role in that.
The first job loss made me go out and relearn how to market myself. We can all get a little too comfortable and complacent at times. Dozens of resumes sent out, many interviews, and many “so close and yet so fars” can make you quite adept at selling yourself. I learned so much from this process that I use every day.
The second loss lit a fire within. I love social media marketing. I have found my niche. Period. It’s great fit for me – a natural online extension of what I’ve been doing, and am quite good at if I do say so, for over twenty years. No way was this loss going to stop me from mastering some technical aspects of this field I needed to improve upon, (check!) and then developing some great clients (check!) to do great work for. Game on.
With all the folks hurting out there that have lost jobs, I truly hope you, too, can at some point sincerely say: “Thanks for hiring me, thanks for firing me.” I’d love to hear from you on how a job loss (or two) has benefitted you in some way.
I must be a little slow on the uptake today.
I was pondering how Apple could have made such an utterly avoidable goof – bringing a 4G iPhone to market that has the significant receptivity problems this one has, according to reports that began swirling in the last few days. A lot of us are scratching our heads over this one.
Then I realized the joke is on us: How could we be so naive as to think they wouldn’t bring it to market regardless?
With the competition becoming increasingly fierce in the Smart phone market, the race to create devices with superior speed and functionality has been eclipsed by the race to get the “first to of its kind” to market before your competitors do. Apple, to its credit, has always been the innovator and standard bearer in this regard, so we have expectations bordering on the delusional where their offerings are concerned. I love their products and am awed by them. I admit it.
Still, we should have gotten our first clue that something might be amiss when Jobs introduced the 4G to a salivating audience a few weeks ago, and it had a receptivity problem then. Supposedly it was too many people on the network. Could this happen to anyone and not be indicative of a larger problem? Of course. But this is Apple, and they’ve done this enough that it should have been Clue Number One for us to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. For Apple’s part, let’s also consider their well publicized zeal to get their 4G to market before or simultaneously with HTC’s 4G EVO.
Ahh, hindsight.
No question in my mind Apple knew of this problem a long time ago. They also know that we, the buying public, are so enamored with their products that we’ll bend over anyway. After all, we can simply hold it differently, since we’ve been doing it wrong all these years, (what WOULD we do without Jobs to guide us through this thorny jungle?) or just buy what amounts to a fitted rubber band to solve the problem. And guess what? It’s immediately available – how amazingly convenient – at $29.00 a pop. Chaaaaa-ching.
Ok, being the first to have the latest and greatest “handheld brain” is way cool. But is it necessarily smart? Or so important that we can’t wait just a little while for the “bugs” to get worked out? That’s what our parents taught us.
I’m not sure what’s more troubling to me: What this issue says about Apple, or what it says about us. Hate to say it, but I’m going to have to go with the latter.
One of the things I love about social media is its accessibility anywhere you have a mobile device or computer with internet access. I manage social media sites for businesses, in addition to keeping up with my own sites. It’s nice being able to work/play from anywhere!
With this sunny outlook, I arose Sunday morning and checked in on Twitter. I love Twitter, and regard it as one of the most useful social media tools, which you already know if you read my last Blog post. Coffee in hand, I logged in, ready to do all the things Twitterholics and Social Media Managers love to do.
And there it was – and I admit to a bit of hyperbole here – what I now affectionately call the Red Text Rectangle of Death. This Twitter account had been SUSPENDED.
Friends, it gets better – this was a CLIENT account.
Oh. My. God.
Now, since I’m in this business, I’m well versed in Twitter Rules and Best Practices, as well as Twitter 101 for Business. I suggest you read these, too! Operating from this mindset, I couldn’t imagine that I’d done anything wrong. The form email received only listed possible reasons, such as: rules violations, being reported for spamming, number of others blocking account, etc. Still, as I reviewed both the rules and tweets again, I wondered: Was it POSSIBLE? One rule says you can get suspended if your tweets “consist mostly of links.” I felt this account had a good balance of updates with and without links. Then, I remembered an odd email earlier in the week requesting verification of an email change. The email hadn’t been changed, so I didn’t respond because the ‘from’ address didn’t look legit. I also didn’t click on the link provided, wary of where it might lead.
What to do? Step One was to visit the Suspended Accounts page. There, you I filed a ticket to appeal the suspension. Step Two was to inform the client immediately so that they heard the news, as well as recourse already under way, from me. I told them Twitter will sometimes do this as a precaution to investigate “strange activity,” and that I believed this to be either that, or an error, as happened to numerous accounts last summer. Lastly, I assured them this was just a temporary setback and that I get it resolved as quickly as possible.
So, why was the account suspended? According to Twitter, it got caught in a “spam cloud.” Apparently, a spammer sent quite a large number of unsolicited @username messages, which included this account. Since Twitter tends to take a “shoot first, investigate later” approach to spam control, they suspended all accounts messaged. Ouch.
What exactly is a spam cloud? After considerable googling, the best definition I have is the scenario I described above. If anyone out there has a better one, I’d love to hear it.
I’m happy to report the account has been fully restored, and in just over 24 hours! Big shout out to Twitter for their rapid response – rightly so, since the error was theirs. Whew! Never have I made a happier client call than that one! I also recommend becoming a follower of these verified Twitter accounts: @spam, @twitter, @safety, and @support. These keep you up-to-date on all things Twitter, and are an easy means for reporting spammers and problems such as missing tweets, a current issue. One final point: Do an account check of your followers and those you follow. If you see a Twitter account with a long succession of @username updates only, they are probably spammers. Block them. Likewise, accounts that are not well known names such as brands, news orgs, or celebs, where the number of those being followed vastly exceeds number of followers, should also be avoided. They’re likely spammers, too.
Have any of you ever dealt with this issue for your personal, business, or client accounts?
I’d love to hear your stories, as well as insights I may not have thought about.
Social Media Management