The Voice- finally TV is getting into Social Media

So, I’ve never seen an episode of American Idol.  I found it dull and predictable, with too much of a focus on the theatrics and looks of those being featured.  That said, I’ve been really into The Voice because it started with blind auditions.  But what has continued to impress me is the level of integration with social media during the show, with not only the judges, but also the performers.

I’m going to do some research, I’d like to learn more about how they are measuring metrics, as well as what trends they are seeing.  Keep an eye on this post being updated in the future.

Weiner’s Big Problem…Do we all risk our pants being down?

So news just broke that Anthony Weiner was in fact engaging in sexting and other less than desirable communique via social media (Twitter in particular).  While the debate is open as to whether or not he should step down, I think there is a larger debate to be had.

As we move through the digital age- it seems that more and more people are sharing their lives on different social mediums and in doing so are letting personal and work lives bleed together.  Take this blog, for example.  I make it no secret who I am or where I work in my About Me section, and I do this for the sake of disclosure, feeling it is much more important to share who I am than have it figured out later and worry about possible backlash.  I refrain from talking about anything directly related to my company or our competitors- including the industry that we are in as a whole.

But, that get’s tricky when I start moving into the personal space of my Facebook account.  I’ve adamantly protective of my Facebook friends, choosing only to accept the friendships of those I wouldn’t mind grabbing a beer with and sharing stories with.  Facebook is not a place for sharing business relationships.  That can be done on LinkedIn with gusto.  Why am I so adament?  Because, for one, it seems like something that should be a sacred space.  But another reason for it, is that we simply do not have a mature enough public discourse that treats things done on Facebook and Twitter as personal business rather than business business. Obviously, should one choose to post something on Facebook or Twitter, it should be expected that people will see it (depending on your security settings).   But should we really condemn someone for a mistake made and documented on Social Media?

As we start to become real life adults (doing momentous things) who documented the so called “best times of their lives (aka college)” on Facebook, when will we stop judging the decisions people made when they were 20?   When do we start realizing that personal life does not reflect on one’s ability to perform their job.  When I was in recruitment, it was something talked about in hushed tones- should employers and recruiters actively peruse Facebook before hiring?

I would argue that as older generations leave the work place, we will hopefully see a more forgiving workplace environment that will not criticize personal behavior on Social Media.  It reminds me of similar arguments around tattoos- which in younger demographic-ed offices, are no longer controversial, but welcomed topics for conversation even.

So, while what Anthony Weiner did was morally not my cup of tea, nor was it the wisest social media use (note to cheaters and scandalous behaviorists- please learn how to use your security settings), I feel there is an extent to which we really can’t throw stones, lest we be in our own glass houses.

First Week Blogging

Well- I’ve been blogging everyday for almost a week now, and jeeze is this hard to do.  Between figuring out topics and finding time (especially on the weekends when I get to see my boyfriend) I’m still trying to get the hang of this.

So tonight’s post, is going to be short.  Tonight’s season finale of Doctor Who was crazy and unexpected. I can’t wait to see the season re-start in the fall.  It was a lot of awesomeness packed into 50 minutes.  I would highly highly recommend checking it out if you are at all into sci-fi.

 

 

Doctor Who and NES

I absolutely love Doctor Who and I love this NES rendering of the theme song. Awesome!

How marketing technology is kind of like marketing RxDrugs.

In Technology, there are so many ways to market the product. You can choose serious and efficient, cool and cutting edge, human and relevant. Intel, which in theory makes one of the least user facing pieces of technology (what I mean by that, is that their primary products are not the actual item that people purchase but rather a tool within those items), does the best job of giving a human face to their technology and quietly reminding us that they are integral to their life.

 

I love Intel’s advertising because of they focus not on the technology but rather on the human. The human is honestly what sells me on an Intel processor more than any other brand. They are using their human capital to drive technology forward and they love poking fun at their own image.   I also love that their commercials end with their “engineers” doing the little theme song.  This is why Intel’s latest effort takes Social Media and makes it personal and insightful, while again, targeting their brand proposition that they are the human tech company. They may be building robots, but dang-it, those robots are also human.

Technology meets Politics-these are the things I geek out about

Today, news broke that President Obama’s re-election campaign hired the former CTO of Threadless to be their Re-election Campaign CTO.  Like President Obama or not, if you are at all into the internet, you should at least be able to appreciate the way he has embraced the web and the critical mass it can produce.

Tungle.me, one of my favorite tools!

If you’re at all like me, you may have migrated away from outlook and have been riding the gmail wave for a long time.  Or maybe you still use outlook, but still have multiple people to schedule with multiple time zones, either way, Tungle.me is an awesome tool to help with your scheduling needs.  What I like most about using Tungle.me is that I no  longer send over a couple of suggested times for meetings in an email (sans invite) wait for an email response from the invitee before turning around with a new email invite.  Instead, I send them 1 link- asking them to take a look at the calendar and suggest a few times that would work for them.