What Do You Think Thursday* with Skinny Scoop: It’s All About Me

*And by Thursday, I mean Friday.

This week was a fantastic week in the Social Media Stratosphere (which just about makes up for the non-fantastic week in my personal life . . .expect more of this in next week’s post).

In case you missed it, not only did I have a great timefilling in my for my friend’s social media class, but I was retweeted by TheToday Show.  Little ol’ me.  By The Today Show.  In which I have been a fan since I was seven (anyone else out there remember the Jane Pauley and Bryant Gumbel years? *sighs wistfully*)

As if it couldn’t get any better, I had the chance to connect with one of the fabulous women at Skinny Scoop as we chatted about all the wonderful things going on at Skinny Scoop, like this new feature in My Covet List blog.  It’s amazing and inspiring how authentic connections can be made in social media.  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, while at the same time, solidly confirms my feelings that I just might be on the right path.

So I decided to do a fun post to celebrate such an awesome week.  Skinny Scoop has a new quick-list feature that allows you to answer fun questions that create a list.  I created a fun Things about Me list.  (You know it’s a fun list when both Madonna and Scott Conant make appearances).

So check it out and be sure to leave a fun fact about you in the comments section.

Things About Me

Have a happy weekend!

Throwing Stones in the Pond Until I See Ripples

Yesterday, I put my teaching hat back on (you know, the job in which the state of Michigan officially certified me to do until I signed up for this full-time SAHM gig and started chasing my dreams of being a blogger).  My friend teaches a social media class at Walsh college, and I filled in for her.  I was a *bit* nervous looking at all those faces as I literally watched the minutes tick by until I started speaking.

Once I got rolling, it was kind like riding a bike.  And by a bike, I mean standing behind a podium in a lecture hall with HUGE screen . . . which is not the same as a classroom full of junior high students looking as if they might actually die of boredom as I animatedly describe the difference between being subject, object, and possessive pronouns – this was SO MUCH BETTER!

Talking about why I love blogging and social media is way more fun than talking about the fine points of grammar – who knew?!  (Answer: 90% of the population;  the other 10% are composed of reading/writing enthusiasts such as myself, my mother, probably my Aunt Diane, and maybe my cousin, Ashleigh).

A question about Twitter came about, and although I can’t remember the exact words the student used, it was something along the lines of, “I don’t get Twitter.  It seems like a lot of noise.  How can anyone find you there?”

To which I responded, “This is exactly why it took three times for me to like and use Twitter.  One of the hardest things about using Twitter is that it is in real time.  Which is great if you can devote your undivided attention to it.  However, this is impossible given I have an active three year old who thinks pummeling himself onto pillows from the arm of couch is a good time.”

Then I continued with this analogy, “Social media, especially platforms like Twitter, is like throwing stones.  Often times you don’t see the ripples in the water.  But if you are consistent and patient, one day you will see those ripples, and you will be heard.”

For me, that someday was today.  As I tried to block out Thomas’s persistent cries to watch Imagination Movers, I was watching my English boyfriend, Ricky Gervais on the Today Show as he charmingly promoted his new podcast on iTunes.  I was going to tweet about it (as I usually do when I watch The Today Show), but I didn’t have his handle.  I searched through my stream, knowing that someone must have already tweeted about this.  But, to my surprise, no one did.  So I put a quick tweet asking anyone if they were watching Ricky Gervais and commenting how fun he was on the Today Show.

And this is the result of that one, little tweet:

O.M.G. The TODAY SHOW RETWEETED ONE OF MY TWEETS.  I have been watching this show since I was seven years old.  I tweet about it frequently.  And finally, I saw a ripple from one of my very own stones.

In the jubilant words sung by the inspirational group that is The Fresh Beat Band,

“It was a great day.
It was a super day.”

Have you seen any ripples come your way?

Edge of Civility – My Thoughts on Facebook

I love social media.  LOVE. IT.

Obviously, right?  I blog.  I use Facebook and Twitter to promote my posts and connect with readers.

I use Facebook to check in with my close (and not so close) friends and family.

To some, it might seem like I share everything, but that is not true.

As much as I love social media, I am old-fashioned girl at heart.  I still believe that a phone call is the best method to deliver important news to my inner ring of family and friends.

If I am close to you (or as I perceive to be close as in by law or by blood, which my perception might be the root problem), and I find out on Facebook that you are pregnant, a new mom, married, divorced, moving and/or dead, I will be upset.  Probably more like hurt since I have just found out in front of the whole internet that our relationship is totally not what I thought it was.

When it comes to important stuff like that, I still believe a courtesy call is best before making an announcement on social media platforms.  If I have a big personal announcement to make, I like to treat Facebook as a press release to my 170+ friends.  If it’s big and I perceive our relationship to be one that is close in nature, I will call you first to spare you the shock and/or humiliation that you “found out on Facebook.”

I just don’t think that the person I graduated from high school who I never talked to then but somehow are friends now should find out something personal at the same time and in the same manner as my mother, my close friend, or my husband.  

Social media is great, but boundaries and respect and, most of all, manners are essential.  I feel that the Over-Sharer or the Attention-Seeker or Cryptic-Message Sender abuse their Facebook right and are in breach of the common courtesy contract that we as all humans share. (Or should share.  Or what I believe is common courtesy.  Which again, my perception might be the real issue here).

Some people play it too close to the edge of civility where their social media updates are concerned.  It’s upsetting.  . .yet like a train wreck, I cannot look away.

So let me ask you this:

View this question on Skinnyscoop

 Have a great weekend!