Over the course of my marketing and advertising career, I have provided marketing, branding and communications strategies for many. Since 2000, I have been working with companies and people helping them understand and grow social networks that suit their needs and wants. While news of our failing economy was breaking in the fall of 2008, I became to realize I am advocate for two themes: Transparency and Accountability. These themes along with a devotion to social networking naturally combined to put me in position to understand and teach people about social media and how to use it. Although my passions have remained consistent, I have found myself getting really disenchanted by articles and conversations about social media because the bulk of the information people are sharing is misleading. Actually, disenchanted might be understatement. At one holiday luncheon of career minded peers, I actually found myself so disgusted by a conversation about Twitter and Facebook I contemplated excusing myself to sit alone at the bar. (Never a good sign in the middle of a day on a work day) I stayed of course, because my colleague’s feelings were more important to me than my discomfort. Trying to settle my discomfort and draw from a positive I realized their conversation promoted a voice in my head that said, “Time to Get Naked!” Well not literally but just as Dr. Phil asks people to “Get Real,” I really wish the overload of misleading social media information will go away. Social media is here to stay. I would like to give everyone a fair shot to understand and use it in a way that best suits their individual needs. Hopefully the information below is helpful to you. I encourage any comments that will further demystify the space as I am sure I have left some things out. read more »
published January 4, 2010
