Social Media; I’m in…

Absolutely Incredible! That’s the only way I can really describe what is taking place in Social Media right now. There are a couple of companies that have been absolute GIANTS in the industry for quite some time now (Google, AOL, MSN, Yahoo: the trend seems to be search engines), and each of these companies are doing there best right now at either: A. Acquiring social media platforms; B. Creating Social Media platforms; or C. Attempting to recreate the existing user interface to feel more like social media. I can’t say that I disagree with their ideas, after Facebook decided it was going to capture 1/10th of the entire internet population it seemed as though you have to meet that demand for easy access to OTHER PEOPLE.

Recently I have been reading a lot about how sites like facebook and twitter plan on adjusting their business plans to create an easier UI, or just become more entry level friendly. In facebook’s attempt at doing so they basically copied Twitter (can’t blame them, twitter is taking off like the Florida fires of ’98 and has no business model, oh well). No need to worry though, where there is one copycat, there is another. Just today I read an article on AOL has plans on implementing an idea it’s been designing that will be very similar to that of facebook. AOL just recently purchases a social media outlet and is already attempting to “test” it currently. It basically is just a way that will connect AOL users to OTHER AOL users like a facebook newsfeed.

With all of this social media buzz going around I just wonder how long it’ll be until someone designs a WELL done one stop application to serve all of those needs. Something that won’t take up me Start Menu toolbar (ie having AIM open, facebook, linkedin, twitter, etc). Why doesn’t someone come up with an idea for a system that will put all of those things in one toolbar that can sit on the right of my monitor. I understand there are buddy list consolidators but nothing that will stop me from having open windows for facebook and twitter. Oh well…it’ll happen and I’ll be in line.

Social Media…what a concept. Soon enough I will be using those resources to make money also…I’ve seen it done. We should start teaching social media marketing in schools (college). The online game gets left out of TOO many college level education these days. In a hurt economy the internet is something that can still strive and still needs employees to serve, so let’s teach our youth THOSE skills. Just a thought…

Power of numbers

I’m not sure that I know, or anyone knows for that matter, what President Barrack Obama will actually accomplish in office. Don’t get me wrong, I like our most recently elected President and I think he was the most qualified for the position. What strikes me the most about what he’s ALREADY accomplished is that he was able to take a country that was in the middle of it’s worst plummet since the great depression, and made us think that “Yes we can!”. At first you look at the message he was portraying and you might think that it was just a tag line, or gimmick to get people to vote for him. I find it mesmerizing how he was able to take that 3 word sentence and actually derive validity from it….Let me explain…

Working in the Internet Marketing world I spend 8-10 hours a day online. During the course of my work I have gained benefit from Social Media sites like Twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc. (I saw etc. because I haven’t gotten to xing, myspace, or countless others). While perusing through these social media networks I have been quite intrigued by Twitter, and for several reasons. Yes, I do like the fact that I can update all of my 64 followers as to when my company loads in new campaigns, has a good weekend for numbers, or even just accomplishes something in house that makes us feel good. However, what I am most intrigued about is the fact that I have noticed SO MANY of the people I follow are posting very positive messages. Once I started to notice these quotes about never giving up, never failing, never say die, I then opened my ears and eyes to the fact that there are a lot of positive messages floating around in multiple different media ends.

I was inspired to write about this positive vibe I am getting because I feel like it was my turn to connect my link to the chain when this morning I was skipping through a couple radio stations and all of the morning talk shows were I could find were talking about positive goals for the future. Maybe it’s just me, maybe I have been reading the wrong peoples information, or listening to the wrong radio stations, receiving the wrong newsletters, or even talking to the wrong people; on the other hand, MAYBE this actually is a small step for the American people in a direction of joining together and helping each other create a better environment. I don’t want anyone to think I am ignoring the negative side of this economic tsunami, because I am definitely not ignoring it. I, like many others, have lived through it and have been knocked down by it. I just think that with President Obama’s mass appeal and his media spread that maybe he is actually spreading a little bit of hope through the grapevine that is our towns, cities, and neighborhoods. For wahtever reason is actually making people believe that we can get out of this alive, and that we can actually come out of this horrible recession we are in sometime before we all have passed our legacy on to our children. 

I guess the point of this post is to pass on what positive vibe I can. I didn’t want to bore EVERYONE that might stumble across this with all the different ways that I have been approached with this ora of “Yes we can”…I do think it’s important to explain, in short, the time table of these events which led me to thinking I needed to say SOMETHING. 

I started noticing a multitude of positive messages on social media ends, read a book I was introduced to by a business professor (who said “if you only read one book for the rest of your life, read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill”, so obviously I read it) and in this book it talked about creating your own “luck” and about a week after having read the book I received a phone call that made me believe Napoleon Hill was correct, I spoke with someone who has dedicated their last several months to being a missionairy and have heard how tough it is in other countries and that person remains very positive, and I have heard endless radio broadcasts about giving positive energy. All of these things have happened since the beginning of the new year and today it culmentated into these words you just wasted your time reading. 

So please, if you take nothing more from this message, take this….I really do think that luck is something you can create. I also believe that as a majority we did not cause this horrible economic crisis. I think we all need to have faith in the fact that President Obama can help us back to our “glory days”. So basically I am trying to help lengthen this movement of hope because I believe in it. So take away the desire to continue this hope/ faith idea and vocalize it however you know how….And eventually…through the power of numbers we might actually be able to create something positive (kinda like in Elf when the people started to believe in Santa Clause again, his sled was able to fly again)…