DISQUS

Kristen:

I get your confusion! BlogWorld Expo is definitely worth the investment in your career. Especially this year! There will be even more tracks to choose from and even more speakers that be there sharing knowledge that they usually charge clients a lot more money for! :)

The best part of BWE though is that there is no "best part" -- some conferences are all about the daytime scheduling but leave much to be desired when it comes to socializing, while others are the reverse. BWE is strong on all fronts. In fact, you will not be able to fit it all in! (Trust me, I overscheduled myself last year and found that I need to leave a lot of wiggle room in my plans this year!)

I know that budget is always a concern when you're working for yourself -- but if you're taking the trouble to go? Don't miss the panels.

As for dragging a spouse along? Well if you're going to have to go along on something you're not that interested in, Las Vegas is a great place to do that! There's a lot to do there even if you don't gamble.

I'm with Rick though - go for the Hilton - at $69/nt it's really reasonable and it's a nice hotel. Plus (and for me the most important part) it's on the monorail line - so it's just one stop away from the convention center (trust me - that's such a bonus when it's hot - and it is) and makes it really easy to get down to the strip for nighttime stuff!

I'll be staying there again this year for sure!!

If there's anything I can do to help answer questions for you? Just let me know - I wouldn't miss BWE for anything. Even though I live in Denver, I consider it my 'home show' - because it's just so much fun but it's also full of information!!
.-= Lucretia Pruitt´s last blog ..My New Gig =-.

Oooh looks nice Mr. Brogan.

Have to admit I've been working outside the homebase more than not of late... It's hard to get in a rhythm when the environment isn't always conducive for me. Look forward to insights.

Dude. Take 2 minutes. Try clicking a link or two. Quit trying to school me in things I actually know considerably more about than you do.
You've seen the databases - I've written them.
You talk about infrastructure - I've certified (or decertified it).
You work as a webmaster for a diocese - I coded for nearly 2 years for the Archdiocese and did all of their Y2K remediation on COBOL backends that ran their entire financial, charitable and cemetary systems and then mapped that to visual front ends for Windows from HP mainframes.
You talk about mission critical systems - I know the guys who have the ability to bring them down and go to DEFCON every year.
It takes about 2 seconds to find out that I used to be a CIS professor who taught coding, logic, and business systems and that I've done high-end, speciailized Source Code review on every major electronic voting system out there and know more about their processes than 99.99% of the folks out there... but you're trying to lecture me on this?

Good change management remains good change management - the fact that no one at Twitter is remotely familiar with how to implement it doesn't disappear because there are other issues in the world. It's a logical fallacy that I'm not about to fall for.

Then again, you have managed to waste considerable amounts of my time with this frivolous and nonsensical path of yours... so in a most basic, trollish way, you win. The Interwebs are yours...

Fortunately? My own usenet experiences gave me the fortitude long ago to walk away from a thread when I realized that the person on the other end of it is all bluster and no substance.

Have a nice time worrying about whether or not the hackers are coming to get you. Oh, and when you're done? Consider dropping by to enter the contest to win an Ethical Hacking certification course on my site - it seems you might enjoy the enlightenment that the EC program could bring you.

Used correctly, hashtags are brilliant ways to stimulate conversations and enable those who engage with large number of folks to pinpoint a specific relevant conversation. I can't imagine that being "useless" to good marketers.

I love following the "hashtag nights" like #blogchat #journchat #gno that happen weekly.

Tools like http://www.tweetchat.com enable people to "see" a topic without losing the twitter stream. I think of it at Picture-in-picture for Twitter. :)

<abbr>Lucretia Pruitt’s last blog post..Earth Day Twitter Give Away</abbr>

Done! :)

And well done!

Awesome!!

I realized I had successfully "kicked" the habit that I've had since I was 3 years old... (yes, 3!) after I saw a commercial the other day where the sales/actor says "how much did you spend on coffee this morning? okay, how much have you spent on coffee so far this year?" and my answer to both was "absolutely NOTHING!!!!"

Go you!! It's hard, but it's worth it!! :)

Firstly: congrats to you and Maryam!!!

Next: you've just tried to argue away the entire premise of Social Media engagement for companies... not buying it. Listening is one thing, giving control over is another.

Your old boss may have given the Porsche/Volvo example - but what he didn't follow through on is that if Porsche doesn't identify why its buyers choose Porsche over Volvo and emphasize that? Then they will eventually lose customers to Volvo - who will capitalize on the "you say you want leg room, smooth ride and trunk space? Well we've got it and they don't."

Listening and responding is NOT the same thing as "rule by committee."

Which just goes to show why tech entrepreneurs do not make good marketing strategists. ;)

I will never cease to be amazed at how many "social media" companies simply don't get their users or support the idea of social networking.

It's just bizarre.

Thanks for the heads up Robert - I can't believe you had to write something like this AGAIN - and that FB is silly enough not to have remedied the issue behind it in the first place.

Well that explains the outbreaks we had with my older brother as a child.
The labeling has come a long way... my older brother (now 44) grew up with a deadly peanut allergy in a time when awareness was zero. Who knew that the "secret" ingredient in M&M candy shells to keep them from melting was peanuts, eh? I mean, they were labeled "plain" and "peanut" so you'd think you were safe.

As the mother of an almost 6-year old daughter with deadly peanut AND tree nut allergies, I'm always on the lookout for suspect foods. Fortunately, my brother's family & I share when we find new places that you wouldn't suspect it would pop up but it does.

Unfortunately, there are many companies that seem to be using the label "may contain traces or peanuts or tree nuts" simply as an anti-liability ploy rather than as something that is accurate. Valentine's Day is a nightmare, because just about every candy manufacturer does that.

Still, Girl Scouts needs to get the message that promoting responsibility rather than just warning people to stay away is more important. FIX the issue, don't just report it.

Great article, thanks for linking me this way!

Awesome!!!

If you don't go with Jeremy (#14) you're doing yourself a disservice... at the recent Thin Air Summit (thinairsummit.com) his session was so full that it was more than Standing Room Only - there were people in the hallway trying to see in.

Jeremy has a way of making people not only take notice, but to buy in as well. If I could afford him, I'd hire him myself.

Hope you guys have a rockin' CES - and hope you take him along with you to see for yourselves.

Put me in as voting for #14

~GeekMommy

Great list - but I think you misspelled my name! ;)

Ooh now this seems to have hit home Jim... Look at all these comments on both sides of the issue!

For me, I've only experienced that twice and both times I felt weird about it. Sure, we all use the "better" pictures of ourselves rather than the "dear heavens, how sick were you?" pictures - but if you go beyond reality, what else are you denying about yourself?

I wear makeup. I color my hair (randomly!) and use other 'appearance enhancing' items, including clothing. But while I do those things to enhance my appearance, I have no desire to go down the Michael Jackson route of altering myself beyond recognition with plastic surgery - so why do it with Photoshop either?

That said - I will admit to having gained some weight even since the business portrait I use was taken in September... I plan on losing that and more this year. When I do? New photo.

Same old wrinkles tho... I won't ever be 19 again! :)

while even... stupid typo

Only geek moms would truly appreciate this - but I totally would've worn it during pregnancy - for a couple of days that is... then i would've probably gone hormonal and declared a loathing for it that bordered on psychopathy. But it would've been cool for a little wile.

Well I blogged my astonishment at the kerfuffle and my position here already as you know Chris.

Personally, I think teakettle was an apt choice of description. One of the things pointed out to me by some 'MommyBlogger' friends was that that community has already dealt with this issue and moved past it.

There will always be those who blog "as a hobby" and those who make money doing it.

The issue, as has been said repeatedly, is one of honesty and transparency. If it says "sponsored" all over it, then you can read it with the understanding that the blogger in question was in some form compensated for the post. If that makes you trust their judgment on that specific topic less? Then don't bother reading it. If it makes you trust their judgment on another blog in another arena less? The issue is yours alone, my friend.

I'm wondering how much of this is an American issue though. I think of the number of a-list American celebrities that go over to Japan to hawk everything from beer to cologne for huge fees but wouldn't be caught dead doing that in the States because their fans might 'think less of them.'

Does Sarah Jessica Parker really do her hair color at home with a $7 box of dye? I doubt it. But even so, what the heck does that have to do with whether or not she's a good actress?

Whatever. My point getting lost as I find the soapbox firmly under my feet again is that you did everything by the book. You were honest, transparent, disclosed everything, and *gasp* even benefitted the readers over on Dadomatic who have a shot at getting a $500 K-mart giftcard. What the hell else do people expect? For you to be some sort of ennobled, broke, bearded version of Mother Teresa of Social Media?

Sheesh.

Honestly? The reason I prefer Twitter over "longer form" platforms like Pownce, Tumbler, FriendFeed, [insert one of dozens here] is that it does force people to get to the point.

All that taking the 140 character limit away does is encourage people to blather on for longer than they would otherwise.

Can't see using a service that loses the strength of twitter but doesn't have the functionality of a full-blown blog. So nope, not staying on my radar.

adjix.com which has just started out is growing quickly
kirtsy.com is still growing (albeit it dipped in july - it's on the rebound)
alltop.com slowed down but still growing (seriously - you invoke guy kawasaki and leave alltop off the list?)
twine.com seems to have gone off the charts in the past couple of months, but it technically was around before this year
soup.io similar situation to twine.com - suspect the impending demise of pownce is responsible for that.

All in all tho, I like both your list & Louis's - but I'm still not a friendfeed fanatic.

Not too long before the ASCII art, internet memes and posts of "First!" start showing up and doing an even better job of highlighting why things like this will always sound great on paper but fail in execution.

Obama's team apparently didn't realize that if the wisdom of crowds were really prevalent on sites like Digg and Reddit, we'd be looking at President-elect Ron Paul (who was apparently the only person worthy of it if you read Digg for most of 2007 & half of 2008.)

~GeekMommy

@Tom - don't assume that excellent speakers have no stage fright! I know a few that actually physically get sick beforehand every time.
It's more a matter of channeling that energy into your audience.

The 3 things I've noticed about great speakers? Passion, anecdotes, and an ability to go 'off-script' without feeling lost (when something from the audience needs addressing) but still getting back on their track.

I so want to post a video response to this saying "Oh my gawwwwd if we're ever at the same conference and you don't know me? Please don't come say hi... go talk to Chris Brogan instead, he's nice and I'm so not..." but then nothingnothingnothing could ever top Todd's (@tsands) reply and besides, it's late and someone would probably take me seriously. ;)

But I'm still just going to sit back and throw ice cubes at you from behind the 6-deep crowd that always surrounds you - because I've already met you and it seems only fair to give others a sporting chance! Oh, I mean... because I'm evil like that!!

Great article Chris!!

I see you mentioned the 'write a kick-ass proposal' in the comments here, so I won't add that.

One thing I would add though? Don't think that something is beneath you. If you are asked to moderate a panel? Go for it. It helps you connect with other speakers, conference organizers and other people. if you remember to focus on making your panelists look good than worrying about how you look? They'll be more likely to put in a good word for you if someone else asks what they think of you. Even the a-list speakers I know moderate interesting panels. If you're asked to speak at the 'podunk local conference' and you can do it? Do it. You never know who will be in the audience or reading about it on Twitter or a blog... If you want to know more about how a conference works before you start speaking at them? Volunteer to help out at one for the admission so you can see what kind of speakers do well and what kind of sessions do well. Plus, again, you make connections.

As usual though? A killer post. And I'd come listen to you speak any day!

Wow. This is brilliant.
Kind of tragic in a way - because we know that when the 'mainstream' rushes in, the early-adopters and geek set tend to drift away - but inevitable, I guess.

I'm not so much as thrilled at the idea of 'interacting with celebrities just because they are celebrities and I can' but I'm not the norm, either. I followed and continue to follow people like Wil Wheaton & MC Hammer because they are interesting and intelligent and use the space well. Colbert? Unfollowed for lack of use. Shaq? Unfollowed for lack of personal interest. In the end, the beauty of Twitter has always been for me that the quality of a person's interaction determined the conversations... age was irrelevant - people from 15 to 70's on my list... fame was irrelevant - people from all walks of life... where they are, what they look like, how much money they make? not important compared to what they said.

Looks like that will get drowned out by 'how cool are you in pop culture terms?' and that's depressing from my standpoint. But I guess that's the price of success.
Congrats to Twitter on their success.

My head spun around in circles trying to figure out the difference between Commons & Platform... and then I realized that if I was having issues understanding it, this means that it's wayyyy too complicated for the average twitter user to remember on a regular basis. Why? Heck, we have problems remembering on the go how to D someone correctly, how to 'unfollow' someone (off - not unfollow - has caused many a moment of embarrassment) and when we with all the time in the world, the whole "see all @s" thing confused tons of people.

Honestly? I think most people have been addressing this issue through the use of multiple accounts or hashtags.

I'm still of the opinion that the reason Twitter has stayed so appealing is the simplicity...

Getting caught up (yes at 2 a.m. when else am I supposed to do this?) and this made me smile.
I already knew they both ruled - but now? Well they are both in the awesome-book-of-awesomeness!! :)