groundhog dreams

I've been meaning to link this essay from Wired for months, but frankly, I rarely blog anymore.

If you know me in real life or if you follow me on Twitter, then you've likely heard me harp about blogs and how passe I find them to be. Who needs blogging when you have microblogging? Why read 500 or 1000 words, when I can get the message in 140 characters?

And yes, I know, sometimes we need more than 140 characters to wax poetic or dissect a particular topic, and that is one of the reasons that blogs are good.

And yes, there are some blogs that I will continue to read, but for the most part, they are webrity blogs that are long established (long for the blogosphere, that is), like: Gawker, Deadspin, Perez, the700level and a few others.

Because I work in social media, I research blogs and keep up with the Jones' out there in the blogosphere, but my daily personal interest reads include very few blogs.

So yes, for the most part, I agree with Wired's essayist. If you're thinking about launching your own blog now, don't bother.

It's been years since I've been "tagged" in a meme, and that's a bummer because I do love a meme. It's like Mad Libs for Bloggers. Prefab content you customize. Loves it.

So, thank you Brian Branca, for tagging me! This meme requires you to post seven things about yourself that others might not know. Here I go:

1. I was a Research Assistant in the British House of Commons. I worked for Tory MP Piers Merchant. During one of the IRA bomb scares there at that time, I was sheltered in 1 Parliment St., provided a phone to call my parents overseas to let them know about the situation and shown what to do in the event of an explosion. I was 20 ys old.
   
2. I was on MTV's "Choose or Lose" in the 90's. Al Gore was the candidate/guest. During a commercial break, I was able to get Gore's attention. He came over to me and asked me if I wanted to be a politician. I said no and he told me I should consider it because I had a knack getting myself noticed. He also autographed my copy of his book.
3. I was afraid of men with beards and booming voices when I was a child.
   
4. I was removed from a car by the jaws of life after a bad accident in high School.
   
5. For most of my childhood, I wanted to be an archeologist when I grew up. My favorite book as a child was a book my parents bought for me in the museum shop at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology after we saw the mummy exhibit. I was 6 or 7, too young to be able to read or understand all of the adult text, but I pored over the book for years.
   
6. Michael Jackson invited me to meet him/take my photo with him when I was 11 (it was "Victory Tour"). In a private event prior to his show at the VET, my family was baffled when I refused the offer to meet him with no explanation why, because I couldn't find words to explain that he freaked me out. I've since learned to trust my instincts.
   
7. When I was a child, I swallowed a purple litebright peg. I'd hoped that once inside of me, it would light up my tummy like it lit up the screen. I'm still disappointed that it didn't work.

And now I have to tag 5 other bloggers that I'd like to respond to this meme. I choose:

Valeria Maltoni
Scott McNulty
Dave Parmet
Beth Harte
Leah Jones

(Sorry if any of you have done this meme before.)

No time for blogging. This should explain everything:

Charlie Brown Ad Agency

This is a VERY IMPORTANT blog post.

Please watch the embedded digital short created/produced by colleagues at Red Tettemer. It's not often in the world of consumer marketing/advertising that we have an opportunity to work on campaign that is so important, so meaningful, to so many people.

It is my honor and my privilege to be a part of this educational, technologically-groundbreaking campaign.



PS - If you liked this and want to see more, go to RedTettemer.com and click the "droppy" on the home page. Then click thru the icons at the bottom of the next page to see all the interactive fun.

Maybe this is Goodbye

Here's something that may surprise you: I've been thinking about shutting down my twitter account. I've been looking at it a number of different ways. I could go on hiatus from my account, delete the account, or start a new anonymous account following new people.

It's no secret that I am anti-hashtag and that has always been something that aggravates me about twitter. It's also not a secret that I was repelled by AMC's agency's use of Twitter to fanjack and promote the TV show "Mad Men." What's been eating at me lately in twitter is the echochamber. The same social media voices tweeting the same social media cliches. People interested in building "personal brands" rather than just being people. Evangelists who petulantly bang their fists that clients should stop demanding metrics for social media because conversation can't be measured. Really? Conversation can't be measured? Then make it measurable. Attach an action or metric. Setting goals and defining success are part of our jobs, regardless of those who think social media is about winning a Facebook or Twitter popularity contest or gathering the shiniest collection of widgets and gadgets.

Maybe this is part of a Phillies malaise, but it is something that's been on my mind for some time now. I just want a community where people communicate like real people to other people and not as "experts" or "authorities" or as "knowledge centers" doing their personal note-taking using a # sign and an abbrevation. I just want twitter to be what it used to be when I joined in February 2007: a place where I meet people near and far, learn what they are doing/thinking, find or lend support, and sometimes, just a place to escape - like that rabbit hole into Wonderland.

The Wall Street Journal covers Twitter today, covering the same old businesses that always get covered - zappos and comcast. Yes, they both do a great job, so do the tons of other businesses on twitter. Don't know who they are? Check this twitter Brand Index.

And of course, a plug for the Phillies! Go Phils! Check out these shots on Deadspin. That's Broad street, you can see my office building in the shot, at 1am this morning.

1. More. Game.