Do you Twitter?

At work on Friday, a co-worker came over to me and asked to see my iPhone. He’s a pretty smart kinda guy so I handed it over to let him play with apps and fritter away a little time on a quiet Friday afternoon. He was mostly interested in games and just poking the phone a bit as he is considering buying one. No big deal. As he’s sitting there, fiddling away, he looks up and asks me the very last thing I ever expected to come out of his mouth. “Do you Twitter?”

To be honest, I just kind of looked at him for a few minutes. See, while I do work in an IT field and I am surrounded by geeks of various degrees, they are usually different kinds of geeks than I am. I don’t really get to talk about new media, and virtual worlds and Twitter at work. Finding someone who does understand those things is out of the ordinary at best. And downright weird really. For example, in my humongous agency, I have found a total of 2 people who use Twitter in the past. Two. Now I’m sure there are people I haven’t found yet, but you get my point. It’s not common.

Finally I got my wits about me enough to say that yes, I do indeed Twitter. And that’s when the conversation got even weirder. He told me he didn’t really use it, but he’d just gone on last week and reserved his name. So no one else could get it. No intention of really using Twitter… just saving his name.

I was startled. Has Twitter become so popular that this is what we do now? Is it like domain names, where common knowledge is to snatch yours up before someone else can? Is Twitter mainstream?

I’ve been pondering this all weekend now, and I’m not really sure what the answer is. I know it’s the most popular microblogging or status update or whatever-you’d-like-to-call-it tool out there. I know that it is accessible and usable by folks who are not hard core techy geeks. I know it is popular. But how popular is it?

What are your thoughts? Is Twitter mainstream?

Great Marketing

As I grabbed my banana and ran for the door this morning, I stopped for a second look. In place of a sticker declaring it to be organic or Chiquita brand, I found this. And ad for the movie Space Chimp. A movie ad on my banana.

Now, I have no desire to see the movie, unfortunately. But now I almost want to because of this outside the box approach to advertising it. Just to prove that non-traditional advertising is often the most effective. Almost, but not quite. Sorry Space Chimps. But kudos for originality.

(As an aside, imagine a survey given to Space Chimps moviegoers. “How did you hear about this movie? If ‘other’ please describe.” My answer: “Other – From an ad on my banana.” Priceless.)

A confession

You know, I considered being coy about this. But this place is all about change and journey, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t be sharing my own personal change and journey with all of you. It seems somehow forbidden to tell you about the things I struggle with. Like it’s going to make me an outcast or it’s wrong somehow. But I just finished telling you all about how I run with scissors, so I’m going to start living the tag line. It may seem small to some of you, but things look different depending on where you stand sometimes.

I don’t have a resume. That’s right, I said it. I don’t have a resume. And what’s worse… I don’t know how to write one. I have been a government employee ever since I graduated from college. In the government, we fill out a form to get a job, and a form to apply for a new one. I have lots of forms, but no resume. Right this very second, I’m relying on the kindness of friends to help me create something and fine tune it. Because not only do I not have a resume, I have no idea where to even start.

At my age and in this world, that seems shameful to me. But it’s probably not. It’s a product of circumstance. A circumstance I am investigating right now with an eye towards the possibility of change. I feel like it might be time for my own personal shifting of gears. It might be time for a change in not only a job, but in my philosophy of the way I handle my professional life. And right now, it’s going to start with a resume.

But seriously, don’t even get me started on the cover letters.

A tale of two cities

So this morning I was at Jeff Pulver’s Social Media Breakfast in Baltimore. It was great to have the event on our own turf and to meet Baltimore people that haven’t necessarily traveled to these things in the surrounding areas. It was a very different experience from the DC breakfast, I found. And several others commented on the same thing. The DC breakfast was huge and almost intimidating. Okay, at least intimidating for me… but that’s just how I am. Believe it or not, I don’t function well in large crowds, especially large crowds of strangers. It’s something I’m consciously working on. But in the meantime, large events like that can be mildly anxiety-inducing.

But back to the point. The Baltimore event was smaller and more intimate. And the benefit for me was that I had a chance to connect with people on a more local level. As I met people and talked about what they do and what I do and what there is to be done, a common theme emerged. Baltimore is like a city on the verge of something, but it isn’t quite sure what. It doesn’t have the energy and drive of DC. It lacks the tech savvy of northern VA. But there is still an active scene of social media and entrepreneurs if you know where to look. It’s like a tale of two cities. One is old school media and PR. And it’s secret little sister is this social media cutting edge sort of thing just laying in wait.

I think as a group we could really make something in Baltimore. If we were able to join together, pool our resources and knowledge, and well…. just have some fun. I think we could take these two cities and two schools of thought and join it into one really cool area. Do I know exactly how to do all of that? No, no I don’t. But I think there are enough people covering enough different areas of knowledge that together we could have the answer.

One thing I have to say about these social media breakfasts is that I leave each one energized. Some conversation or piece of it makes me think. On this Tuesday morning, I’m grateful for that. I’m hoping that some of the people I met can turn into new contacts and new friends. I’m hoping maybe we can all be the change I’m thinking of today.

As an afterthought, and a post script to my last entry, I should also tell you I did indeed come up with that personal tag line. These days I am “Runs with scissors!” I grew up believing there are two types of people in this world…. “Plays nice with others” and “Runs with scissors”. On the surface, running with scissors seems uncooperative. Kind of like the dangerous version of “Eats paste”. But I see it a bit differently. To me it’s not a matter of cooperation, it’s a matter of looking at things differently. In my job I spend a lot of time doing things the way they have always been done because that’s the way to do them. Often I don’t agree with the way, but there’s not much I can do about a lot of it. I play nice, I am diplomatic and tactful and all of that. My bosses aren’t afraid to let me loose in public or anything. But I do have a slight edge to me. I do buck against process solely for the point of process. I want to find new an innovative ways to do things. I want to look at things differently and enjoy change. I run with scissors.

Insert Personal Tag Line Here

Ever since I RSVPed to Jeff Pulver’s upcoming social media breakfast in DC, I’ve been having heartburn over this personal tag line. The invitation clearly states that we are to come prepared with a “Personal Tag Line” to be placed on our name badge. Of course, name badges are no one’s favorite accessory but I do understand the need for them. And I’m also sure there is a nifty use for the personal tag line to be placed on them. But in my little head right now, all I can think of is the fact that I have absolutely no idea what my personal tag line might be. (And somehow I’m thinking that writing “I have no idea what to put here.” will not make me one of the cool kids.) What would my personal tag line even be? How personal should it be? How can I manage to sum myself up and be witty on a name badge, of all things?

First I thought I wanted to collect suggestions from my readers, but that poses a few interesting problems. First of all, I might not get a darn thing out of you. Second of all, well…. I’ll keep that one to myself. After I hit that dead end, I decided maybe I should ask you all what your personal tag line is. Don’t worry, I promise not to copy your work. (Although, you know, I’m still open to suggestions.)

Anyway, back to the point. If you would be so kind, please insert your own personal tag line into the comments of this post. I promise not to call them my own, and I’m interested in what you have to say.

Empty

It would have been better if I hadn’t had to come back. Seeing it
empty reminds me of when my first husband and I bought the house
almost 6 years ago. So much has changed since then. It just makes me
sad.

I had so many dreams of what my life would be like here. And none of
them came true.
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Fireplace Kitty

Someone likes the new fireplace and it apparently isn’t just me!
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After move carnage

Well, it was spacios and gorgeous for a little while at least! Still,
I think this isn’t bad considering I moved from a three bedroom two
bath house with a fullbasement and attic! I pared down a lot.

The living room furniture is due on Friday.
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Merry Christmas!

Peace to you and yours no matter what you may celebrate (or not) this
season.
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The castle lighting for the holidays in the Magic Kingdom.
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