digital optimism

I often watch my son grab my iPhone from wherever it may be, unlock it, and start opening apps. My son is 18 months old.

The way he gravitates toward technology – whether it be my iPhone, computer, camera, anything – got me wondering what K-12 schools will look like in a few years. In fact, it has me wondering what K-12 schools look like now. I remember having computer class. When I see my son and even my four-year-old niece, I realize they aren’t going to need computer class in the traditional sense. They live on computers as it is.

It seems to me that technology is an incredible asset to learning. The children in my life have really benefit from playing learning games online. How will this change the way children learn? To consider some extremes: will kids even know long division in the future? Will writing class be what computer class once was? Will iPods or Kindles replace books?

It’s probably obvious that I don’t know any parents of K-12 aged kids attending school right now, but I’m interested in how technology has already changed the educational experience that I remember. Something tells me schools will not be quick to adopt more technology. Whether or not that is a good thing, I’m not sure. If anyone cares to share some insight, I’d be very interested to hear.

I will never forget the day I listened to my first Beatles album. My uncle bought me Revolver as a gift. I still have it in my CD collection, which has been neglected for years thanks to my iPod. That album changed my life. My adolescence was spent learning as much as I could about music. And it all started with Revolver.

This Christmas, my husband gave me a CD. I cannot remember the last time (before this) I’ve been given a CD as a gift. We had just seen Mamma Mia! and I had been saying how I wanted to have the songs on my iPod. It was a great gift and I was very happy to get it. The first thing I did, however, was load it on to my iPod.

My husband wanted to give me something he knew I would love. He didn’t want to give me an iTunes gift card because it lacked sentiment. Since I began downloading music online (whenever Napster started), I haven’t purchased a CD for myself or anyone else. In the past, I often purchased CDs for friends and family. I now give iTunes gift cards, knowing that most everyone close to me has embraced downloading music.

In my experience, the standard of downloading music has taken away from giving it as a gift. I love music, and I miss getting it as a gift. An iTunes gift card is not the same thing as an album you’ve been waiting for. Has anyone else felt this way? How can one restore giving the gift of music in this digital age?

Photo by Jeremy G (Flickr)

This post was inspired by a tweet or two from Cydney Wuerffel about using quotes from Twitter in research papers. Cydney asked a great question- whether or not these quotes from Twitter would be acceptable in academia. Initially I thought, “hm, not sure about that.” Then I reconsidered; why wouldn’t a tweet be fair game for a quote? This brought up a bigger question. What is it about digital media that creates a sense of informality?

For whatever reason, communications via Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, etc. are perceived as less “acceptable” than traditional forms of media. I’m making a rather large generalization by saying that, but personally I’ve gotten that sense from myself and others. This is especially visible inside of organizations, where leaders often believe the only people on Facebook are college students posting their drinking pictures. I see blogs being received as less authoritative in comparison to a newspaper, or even an online edition of a newspaper. I recognize that the writing is generally more conversational in blogs and on social networks, but why would that make the information less valid? If Albert Einstein were (alive, and…) posting theories on a blog? What is it about digital that makes conversations less real? Is it the lack of face-to-face interactions and, if so, will video change that?

Photo credit: umbex (Flickr)

And why wouldn’t they? It’s the equivalent of a socialite in the real world. Lately a lot of “social media strategists” have started following me on Twitter. I want to know what makes a person a “social media strategist.” What makes them different from all the others? I want to know what about you is different from Chris Brogan and Jason Falls. Every time I see it my reaction is the same- “yeah, yeah, yeah…” My advice (whether or not you care to hear it): Go with another title, if possible.

Photo credit: ogilvyprworldwide (Flickr)

Technically, I missed tonight’s Conversations About the Future of Advertising presentation from Kristina Halvorson – but I didn’t miss much. I caught the most important points via Twitter.

This got me thinking about the future of presentations and conferences. Are people going to be more selective with what presentations they physically attend? Are event planners going to be able to get away with charging attendees the same amounts of money in the future because of this? Anyone can join the conversations without actually showing up now, thanks to the power of Twitter and the web. I recognize that participating online is not the same as physical attendance, but it’s a pretty great substitute when you can’t make it to the show. Anyway, just some conversation fuel.

What do you think?

Photo credit: Andrew Feinberg

The difference in standards online vs. offline are of great interest to me. Somehow, certain things are acceptable in cyberspace that are not (normally) accepted in the real world. A friend once sent me this video rendition of how Facebook would be in real life. And it’s funny for a reason:

Why is it that some actions are not only easier, but often commonplace, in an online social setting? For example, following the lives of complete strangers on Twitter. Please don’t get me wrong; I have met amazing people and learned so much from being active on Twitter, and if you read any other posts of mine, you know I praise and enjoy this network, among many others. What I’m really looking at now is peoples’ real-life reactions to online behavior.

I really enjoyed this article from Newsweek by Steve Tuttle in which he explains why he is quitting Facebook. His daughter was very seriously upset about his jumping on the Facebook bandwagon. Perhaps this isn’t as far-fetched from reality as I originally thought; after all, no self-respecting teenager would ever let their parents be present in their social life offline. A co-worker told me his daughters laughed when he told them he was on Facebook. I know my parents hesitate to “friend” my friends on Facebook. I wonder: Why shouldn’t they? They are friends offline, aren’t they?

It seems like there are a set of unwritten standards for how to interact on Facebook and other social networks, and nobody has really talked about them in depth, but they are there and everyone knows about them. In a conversation with Adam Metz about social media strategy, we talked about how potential business prospects would be offended if contacted via Facebook. But LinkedIn and Plaxo are fair game? Now there’s another set of standards for how to interact on different networks?

This really does make sense to me. What’s interesting to me is how online seems to be a reflection of life in general. Facebook is happy hour with your friends. LinkedIn in a professional organization or industry conference, and Twitter is… some sort of platonic speed dating? Book club, maybe? Life online is almost a catalyst for discussing reality.

Random thoughts of mine. Please feel free to share yours. I think this would make a rather interesting conversation. Thanks for reading.

“I found my long lost daughters through Facebook.” I cannot say this personally; but my uncle-in-law (is that a term?) can. This is a true story.

My husband’s uncle, Francisco, was once married with twin daughters. When they were just three years old, his wife left with the girls, and he never saw them again. But that is about to change.

Curious as my sister-in-law is, she searched on Facebook for her cousins, whom the family has spent nineteen years trying to find. Facebook search yielded success and there they were; same last name, the appropriate age, and located in Argentina- just where the family thought they would be. (Sidenote: my in-laws are from Chile, and this runaway ex-wife was originally from Argentina)

To be certain she had found the right girls, my sister-in-law contacted them for some more information. Long story short, it was them- born in Chile and moved to Argentina when they were three. Their mother told them that their father didn’t want them, which of course was a lie.

God and the ex-wife only know why she abandoned Francisco, depriving him of his daughters and their entire childhood. The amazing thing for me is that after nineteen years of looking for his children, all it took in the end was a simple Facebook search. Lucky for him, his daughters are of an age now (22) where they can decide for themselves whether or not they want to meet their father. Luckier for him, they want to.

My husband and I have not spoken with Francisco yet. I can only imagine the blitz of emotions he is feeling right now. We are all hoping for a drama-free reunion for him and his children. I am truly hoping for the best possible outcome. I can tell you one thing: I cannot wait to hear what happens next.

I felt a bit relieved when I found out this ad campaign was put to rest. At first I laughed. It was certainly creative- a way to engage consumers with a brand, which I generally praise. But I believe CP+B and Burger King tip-toed the line of acceptable/unacceptable here.

I’m a big girl and I could care less if someone “unfriends” me on a social network. But not everyone on Facebook is like me. I have the thousands of middle/high school-aged Facebook users in mind as I write this. This kind of rejection, at least for adolescents, really does matter. And just because this rejection was online doesn’t make much difference.

School violence is an issue I’m extremely passionate about, so that might explain why I’m having this kind of reaction. I’m reminded of psychological research studies on ostracism by Gonsalkorale and Williams. They specifically considered “cyber ostracism” in a research study. The abstract from their research paper states:

We manipulated ostracism using Cyberball, an on-line ball toss game. Ostracized participants reported lower levels of belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence, and more negative mood, than included participants.

I won’t go too far into detail, but if you are interested, you can check out this presentation (PDF) on some of their work. This is even better: Ostracism: The Kiss of Social Death.

The point here is that this application may have been on the web, but that doesn’t change the impact. This research proves that ostracism is detrimental, whether it be online or in person. It’s like telling a ninth grader to alienate 10 of their friends for a free burger. Would BK approve of that? Perhaps I’m overreacting, but I personally believed this whole ‘Whopper Sacrifice’ campaign to be, in the end, irresponsible.

Seriously, though. I have visited a few blogs recently, some of which are very good, that don’t include an “About Me/Us” page. I’ve seen more than a few of them lately. Of course, now that I’m writing this I can’t think of which blogs I’m referring to; but I don’t want to point fingers anyway. The point is simple: I want to know who is writing all of this good stuff.

Corporate blogs especially, or blogs with multiple authors. Who are these people and why are they blogging? This is super important to me. I rarely visit a blog without clicking on the “About” page. That’s what a blog is- a webpage written by real people, in a real person’s voice. And I want to know who these real people are.

One of the VPs at Questar just received some blog feedback from a colleague; “It would be nice if the source of the post (you or Liz it looks like) were more obvious, rather than just ‘other posts by…”

No kidding. This was supposed to have been done months ago, but that’s another story. So please, if you have a blog and no “About” page, go and add one. Right now. Make it simple for me to find. I want to click on your name and see who you are and what you do. And don’t be obscure, either- that is not cool and will not keep me coming back. I went to a blog last week that was like, “Girl. Blog fanatic. Favorite color green. ” Something silly like that, and not at all interesting. Give me some specifics. I don’t need your life story, but I do need the basics.

So there. That is my blog tip.

Recently, friends/family have made comments that confirm, in my mind, that online marketing can do what traditional media no longer can. A few weeks ago, a friend told me that he noticed my Dad on Facebook- not as a contact, but on an advertisement for those in need of a Realtor*. He told me, “it was a refreshing new ad among the rest which are usually for mail order brides.” And today, my Mom told me “I’m tired of all the weight loss ads I see on Facebook. The diamond ads are okay, though…” I’m so proud of my tech-savvy family. In fact, three of my grandparents are on Facebook! The point is, though, that people really see these messages and have a response to them.

Even as a person who loves marketing/advertising, I find myself switching channels when commercials come on TV. I flip right past ads in magazines unless they really catch my eye. I know for sure that my sister cannot stand commercials on TV. In general, we are conditioned to ignore these messages. I think the only time people actually look forward to commercials is during the Superbowl. So to me, it’s fantastic to hear that people see advertisements online and actually have a reaction to them.

Unfortunately, my Mom was hoping she could turn these Facebook ads off. Luckily she can’t (ha!). But the important thing is that she is seeing them and reading them. And someone is really on target with the diamond ads, because nobody likes diamonds more than my Momma. I really believe that web marketing reaches people in a way that traditional ads no longer can. It is so difficult now to really get and keep someone’s attention in a print advertisement or in a commercial.

And in conclusion, just for fun, I came up with a little list of awesome things I found out about first from social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.):

 -Joe Biden as Obama’s pick for VP 
-Pancheros Mexican Grill 
-Mad Men (TV show on AMC, I’m addicted)
-Free Dr. Pepper for release of new GNR album 
-Free Starbucks coffee on Election Day
-Free Ben & Jerry’s on Election Day
-The Google phone
-Gmail video chat
-Starbucks gold card

I’m sure there are more, but those are the things that come to mind first. Who knows what will be added to the list in a few weeks? I’m sure I will add more as they come. Let me know about the important things you learned about first from social media. I’m certain that social media-types could come up with a seriously impressive list.