tweet tweet

Image by Zesmerelda via Flickr

Been twittering for several months now and am just about twittered out. Really have nothing to say. Few do. Most of the "peeps" (people) I follow twitter about new media, which interested me when it was new to me. But now it's not. Yes, it's a sea change. Yes, it's a revolution in the way we do business, but it's just a tool. I'm familiar with it now and I use it, but it's just another tool in my toolbox. Time to move on.

Books and their covers

By now, everyone's seen Susan Boyle, the over-40 singing sensation from Britain's "You've Got Talent" show.
She's the new poster child for "You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover" ; the antithesis of every 40-something woman on reality TV: un-retouched, un-botoxed, uncut by cosmetic surgery, unassuming, unpretentious, yet wonderfully talented.

Who woulda' thunk? Not Simon Cowell or any of the audience members caught rolling their eyes.

As I left a new media group this morning, I realized that to the assembled interactive marketers, I looked like Susan Boyle; over-40, unpretentious, un-retouched, unbotoxed, entirely forgettable. Wonderfully talented, but they'd never know because my packaging is so... un-remarkable; overweight, middle-aged, just plain. They don't even see me. I'm invisible to them.

So they won't hear me sing.

Three month anniversary

Three months ago, adrift in a sea of new media, I began blogging. Struggling to keep my head above water, I stumbled upon (not in the 2.0 sense) Phil Wilson's list of 20 things journalists should know now or learn very, very soon on his aptly named website, RemainComm.  (Good advice when you feel overwhelmed.) The list became my roadmap.    Blog?  Check.  Embed pix and videos?  Check.  Domain name?  Check.  RSS reader?  Check.  Advanced searches, wikis, blog conversations, Facebook, LinkedIn, recording audio, finding experts, keeping personal info safe online, securing laptop, limiting access for kid, All done.   Being honest and real online?  Trying hard.  Shooting video?  Not done.  I don't even have a camcorder...although my little camera shoots video, doesn't it.  Better try that next.

Onward.  In the meantime, mazel tov to me on my three month anniversary.     

Congressional tweets

Image via Wikipedia

My Congressmember, Erik Paulsen, is on twitter. And MySpace and Facebook and LinkedIn and YouTube and pretty much everywhere a person can be networked. Good for him. I'm glad to see my Representative using new media.

But how is he using it, to speak or to listen?

I tweeted him. Impressed with Obama's State of the Union call to set aside old partisan politics, I asked Paulsen how he would work with the President. No response. Paulsen (or someone in his office) had time to continue tweeting, posting a link to a newspaper story about Paulsen. Subsequent Paulsen tweets posted links to new YouTube videos, as well as a request for questions to ask at a Financial Services hearing. So I tweeted, "How will you insure banks don't use TARP money for lobbying?"

The demands of Twittering can be intense, and Congress has important work to do. But if my Congressmember has time for Facebook and LinkedIn and YouTube videos; if he makes time to offer his comments to traditional media, he can use the new technology to listen to and respond to his constitutents. I follow my Congressmember. Should my Congressmember follow me?

New Media, Old Message

Michelle Obama's Arms Inspire At Presidential Address (PHOTOS)

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Intriguing headline from the Huffington Post.  Michelle Obama's Arms Inspire.  Because she reached across the aisle?  Lifted someone to safety?  Embraced an outcast?  

No.  HuffPo says Obama's arms inspire because they're fit and toned.  Same old, same old, this time from new media; new media run by a woman.