Disqus - Latest Comments for crystallyn

Re: COOL: New Gmail Themes Align With Nature, Video Games

crystallyn — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:35:00 -0000

It's about time they added a couple more themes!! Wonder when they plan to expand theme creation like they did for iGoogle?

Re: Can Blogs Help Drive Purchasing Decisions?

BlogFromItaly — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:34:58 -0000

Writing regularly is not easy - it takes time and no small amount of discipline. Enthusiasm and a love of writing does help. And using humour at times can take the chore out of writing too, or so I find.

Goings on in Italy provide no shortage of content ideas either. I could write full time, but the income the blog generates does not justify this, yet. However, blogging has opened a few, unexpected, doors for me, and these doors are leading to income. This just needs to grow.

And comments like 'excellent content' help keep me going too! Thanks for the encouragement, and for subscribing.

Your books sounds interesting. Is it fiction or non-fiction?

Hope you do manage to make it to Italy next spring.

Alex

Re: Can Blogs Help Drive Purchasing Decisions?

crystallyn — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:13:55 -0000

Fresh content is definitely key, which is why I always feel perpetually guilty about my sporadic updates here!

And yes, I was recently at your blog and have subscribed via RSS. You clearly know about excellent content because that's what I've consistently found there! http://www.blogfromitaly.com/ for others who may be reading. We're planning on going to Italy in the spring (and I'm writing a book about a 1st c. Roman) and I have a few Italians in my life, so am very interested in the country and culture. I love that there are blogs like yours to help fuel that interest!

Re: World of Warcraft is the new MBA

crystallyn — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:19:54 -0000

Great post! I've not succumbed to WoW (graphics are just too cartoony for me) but having played other MMORPGs I can attest to all of this. I am in constant awe of people who can navigate the broker systems to become wealthy, who can manage the complexities of leading a raid, and even those who can 2 or 3 box and stay alive and excel.

And on a side note, for me, it's nice to know that gaming isn't as geeky as it used to be!

Re: Top Social Media Marketing Tactics in an Economic Downturn

kmonaghan — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:18:04 -0000

Good point about #1. I like several B2B companies but I sure don't want them on my Facebook page. Thanks for the reality check. I'll rethink that.

Another thought: set up an automated search for your company and products with Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com/). Whenever someone writes about you, be sure to comment, even if it's just to say "thanks for the mention!".

Re: Top Social Media Marketing Tactics in an Economic Downturn

crystallyn — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:53:45 -0000

Good ideas here. Will have to dig in further to the webinar tools. As for the fan page, I think its a great idea for B2C companies in particular but I think B2B companies may have a harder time when it comes to finding fans. I mean, I just don't see many people becoming a "fan" of say, Accenture or Sun.

Your #3 really does bear repeating. I think that most people forget that personal touch. Social media is great for connecting but it can't take the place of putting name, face, voice and a handshake together.

Re: No, I'm Not Ignoring You

crystallyn — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:28:44 -0000

I feel a little bit weirded out when I get random empty requests on Facebook. I don't typically advertise my Facebook in my social media locations because I feel like it's far more personal than I may want the broad world to know. I'm pretty out there on the Web, but FB exposes particulars about my relationships with friends and family...things I may not want strangers participating in. I may respond back asking how I know them...t

Context means everything. I liken it to meeting people at a party. You don't see someone interesting and just starting following them around like a puppydog. You need to interact, converse, introduce yourself. It may not go much further than that, but that initial context is extremely important, IMHO.

Re: Google and Twitter could screw up your life, here’s how to protect yourself

davedelaney — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:03:08 -0000

Thanks Crystal. I have two small kids, so the family photos are so important
to me. That's my main concern. It sounds like you're doing a great job
keeping most of your content backed up though. Good luck.

Re: Google and Twitter could screw up your life, here’s how to protect yourself

crystallyn — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:05:31 -0000

Thanks for the Outlook/Gmail links. Since this week's outage I've realized that I need to do the same in the way of backup.

I do backup everything to my external hard-drive (mostly I was concerned about my massive music library). But you are right, thieves would be likely to take the whole kit and caboodle. Then again, the way my poor puter is wired around everything it may be more of a pain. Having a desktop can have its advantages!

The one thing that is most important to me, however, is my writing, which I back up on USB, Google docs and two computers. I take the password protected USB with me everywhere I go. But I hadn't thought about those pictures...it is true. Getting those back would be hard to do.

Re: The Death of America’s Favorite Brands

crystallyn — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:34:02 -0000

At the risk of being a little flip...I'm not terribly sad at the death of those particular brands. Although I did spend many many late night/early morning hours in Perkins when I was in high school.

That said, I spent much of my early career working in startups and as a result I'm extremely cautious in deciding where to go, who to trust and the subsequent actions to take. I've also got a little bit of a thicker skin than I used to. I've learned to pick my battles. But mostly, I realized that ultimately, I'm the one in charge of my own destiny despite whatever it is that might happen with any company I'm in or anyone I may work for. It was a lesson learned after many times of being burnt.

Now the National Enquirer question...I'm sure we're all wondering what inspired this post. And yes, it's ok to leave us all wondering!

Re: It’s the little things that matter

crystallyn — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:35:13 -0000

I worked at Disneyland (Calif) for awhile and they truly are the masters when it comes to creating a memorable experience for their guests. In New Orleans square they went to New Orleans to bring back the wrought iron for the balconies. There are fire insurance plaques from the turn of the century on every building in that area...those were the plaques that would tell the fire dept. which buildings could be saved by their company as they were all working with specific insurance companies. They even went so far to rub dirt into the cracks of the stucco to make it look older and more authentic. No detail goes untouched. It's like how when you are housecleaning--your guests may not notice what you do to make things clean but if you didn't do it, they would definitely notice.