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The Dichotomy of Social Media

Posted on by Linda Anger

F. Scott Fitzgerald said, Intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing thoughts in your mind, maintain tension between the two, and be able to function.

Here is the dichotomy of Social Media:

  • Social Media eliminates human contact and thus we, individually and as a people, suffer from isolation.
  • Social Media draws reaction from other humans and thus creates and strengthens our sense of community.

It is true—both are true.

In her book Alone Together, MIT Professor Sherry Turkle says that social media is dumbing down society, creating a society of people that have no idea how to function in a society of people.

Consider the plight of Simone Back, a British woman who posted her impending suicide on Facebook. Her 1,000+ friends held a lively discussion about the appropriateness of her post. One commented: “She ODs all the time and she lies.” None of them tried to contact her directly. Police weren’t notified until someone sent a text message to Simone’s mother 17 hours after her initial message was posted.

Can a Tweet or Facebook post take the place of a hug or a phone call, or save a life?

No.

And Yes.

There is the truth that Social Media draws reaction from other humans and thus creates and strengthens our sense of community.

While I was in treatment for endometrial cancer back in 2009, Social Media kept me sane and in touch with the people and networks I could not physically visit. On the days I spent seven hours in the chemo chair, I posted “chemo day, send me jokes,” and the jokes rolled in all day long, keeping me, the nursing staff, and the six or seven other people attached to IV poles laughing and having a great time, instead of withdrawn and obsessing about the poison coursing through our veins and the proximity of our ultimate demise.

And so Social Media—Tweets and Facebook posts—were my conversations and hugs and kisses for the better part of a year, and played a huge part in saving my life.

It’s been two years since my last day in the chemo chair. I’m beginning to have days in which I no longer associate my life with cancer, days in which I am absorbed in generating business, writing better articles and stories, helping my friends be the best they can be—days in which I actually feel the energy and creativity of the “ME” before I was diagnosed.

I posted the message you see below this paragraph after a recent check-up. In less than 6 hours, there were 85 “Likes” and 57 “Comments.” Since I grabbed the image below, the messages have continued to pour in. Each time my iPhone “dings” to tell me there is yet another response, I smile, pump my fist, and scream, “YES!” as loud as I can.

I am so grateful for the amazing people who surround me, even when I’m not aware that I am in their thoughts as much as they are in mine. I am so grateful that they showed up in force on Facebook yesterday, and reminded me.

Maybe the real isolation inherent in Social Media isn’t isolation from each other. Maybe, for many of us, it is isolation from ourselves—the distance we create between our feelings, hopes, fears, and the community in which we live.

Intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing thoughts in your mind, maintain tension between the two, and be able to function.

The answer may be just a click—or a phone call—away.

851 Pixels of potential Facebook Trouble

Posted on by Linda Anger

A New Zealand company lost 20,000 followers and their Facebook Fan page recently, all because they broke a cardinal rule attached to the Timeline Cover Photo function on the site.

The Cover Photo, generally 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels high, has its own set of rules which you agreed to when you created your page or switched over to Timeline. While  the lively debate across the internet questions what is appropriate and how far one can stretch the rules, business page owners and admins might want to take another look at the “terms and conditions” agreed to when the page was created. Here they are, straight from the Facebook Help Center.

Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not contain:

  • Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website.”
  • Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s “About” section.
  • References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features.
  • Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

Apparently, Facebook is not kidding about this, and has already pulled the plug on a number of businesses across the planet. Will yours be next?

What do you think about these rules? How does your Cover Photo fare against the rules? How far are you willing to bend the rule

3 Simple Tips for Effective Online Marketing

Posted on by Linda Anger

Effecting marketing generates momentum, right?

It generates buzz, builds your online friends, Twitter followers, the number of folks who “Like” your Facebook Page, and, eventually, fills your pipeline and bank account.

And, it’s a circle game. As you create and refine your marketing plans, keep these three things in mind:

The 80/20 rule: 80% of your Tweets and FB posts should be informative or educational material your prospects and clients really want to read. Only 20% should be “promo” material for your goods or services.

If you are posting the same info multiple times over several days (such as an event notice), change up the title or lead-in material.

The Momentum generated by Marketing should ALWAYS come back to YOU—that is, to your main website, blog, email, or some other “call to action” location.

Not sure how to generate Momentum for your business? Contact Us.

 

The Dropout Hall of Shame

Posted on by Linda Anger

So there you are, loaded with years of experience, capable of way more than most in your field, and every job posting you see that fits you to a “Tee” lists some sort of degree as the first qualification.

And, that would be the degree – any degree – that you don’t have.

Throw your discouragement out the window. You’re actually in great company.

Here are the top six on my list of current-day dropouts:

  • Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College after six months, saying “I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life or how college was going to help me figure it out.”
  • Peter Jennings,  top news anchor on ABC, flunked out of 10th grade and went to work as a bank teller at age 16.
  • Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell, Inc., dropped out of college at 19.
  • Bill Gates was 10 points away from a perfect score on the SAT. He dropped out of Harvard College after two years and never went back.
  • Steven Spielberg was denied acceptance to film school and dropped out of California State University in Long Beach.
  • Simon Cowell, TV producer, dropped out of school at the age of 16.

And then there are the Degree-less from History:

  • Henry Ford never completed high school.
  • Andrew Jackson, 6th president of the United States, never went to college.
  • John D. Rockefeller Sr., the first American billionaire, was a high school dropout.
  • Andrew Carnegie, one of the first mega-billionaires in the U.S., dropped out of elementary school.
  • Thomas Edison joined the railroad at the age of 12.
  • Benjamin Franklin had less than two years of formal education.

If they could succeed, so can you.

Einstein once said that he was no different than any other man except for one thing– that he never gave up, and stuck with a problem till he solved it.

Ray Bradbury, the gifted author of Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, and so many other brilliant novels, said “I never went to college. I went to the library.”

Now please, go to the comment box below, and leave your thoughts. There’s also a box you can check if you’d like an email notification when a new post is added to this blog.

 

The Places that Scare You

Posted on by Linda Anger

“We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice.” (Pema Chödrön, The Places That Scare You)

The next time I catch myself grumbling about the weather, the jerk who just cut me off on the road, or the “imperfection” of some part of my body, I’m determined to grab my copy of The Places that Scare You by the American Buddhist Monk, Pema Chödrön, because she reminds me to practice rejoicing in my good fortune. She says thing like this:

“It is easy to miss our own good fortune; often happiness comes in ways we don’t even notice. It’s like a cartoon I saw of an astonished-looking man saying, ‘What was that?’ The caption below read, ‘Bob experiences a moment of well-being.’ The ordinariness of our good fortune can make it hard to catch.”

What good fortune has been hidden in the ordinariness of your days?

 

The Law of Attraction: Carport #35

Posted on by Linda Anger

On the late September day I signed the apartment lease, the manager said, “The waiting list for a carport is really, really long, a year at least, but I’ll put your name on it just the same.”

I was OK with that, I thought, way back in the early weeks of October. The apartment is the perfect size and configuration for me, the community is lovely and quiet. I can live happily without a carport, I told myself, even though the 13-year-old Jetta that saw me through corporate jobs and layoffs, a decade of self-employment, and a year of cancer treatment had never spent a Michigan winter totally exposed.

The days grew shorter; the night air grew chill and frosted the windows and door handles.

Each morning my little Jetta took a bit longer to cough awake. I’d let her sputter and groan into a reasonable driving temperature, all the time with my eye on Carport #35, second from the end right outside the door of my building. It was empty every morning, like a black hole begging me to enter, and empty in the evening when I walked the circumference of the community.

Carport #35, I kept thinking all autumn and into the winter. I should ask about Carport #35. But the days would get busy and I would forget to make the call. Still, each morning, I would stare  into the darkness of Carport #35 as I scrapped ice from my windows and fought to open the doors. I imagined how it would feel to drive into it; I visualized my Jetta snug inside while a storm raged, and smiled in thinking how cool the steering wheel would be on the hottest summer day.

One January morning my car door was frozen shut. It took ten minutes to get it open, another ten to scrape the thick frost off the windows. Carport #35 was empty.

A few days later, on the damp and cloudy day just before the first measurable snowfall of the season, the apartment manager phoned:  A carport had just opened up—was I interested?

You bet I was.

My Jetta now purrs awake even on the coldest mornings. She’s never dressed in frost, her doors open easily, and I smile every time I see her sitting patiently—in Carport #35.

A Gourmet Meal is Always Served in Courses

Posted on by Linda Anger

Well-crafted, relevancy-rich blogs are like gourmet meals: they’re served up in stages.

Attention spans are short. Demand for relevancy is high, and everyone needs a bit of time to digest one course before going on to the next one.

The best blogs are short and intellectually or emotionally nutritious. Just enough, ruthlessly edited for readability and comprehension.

Here’s an example from Seth Godin’s Blog.

When you think you have a lot to say, say it – then edit it down by half. If it’s still more than three or four short paragraphs, break it into a series of posts, spaced a few days apart.

Just like a gourmet meal.

 

Marketing Facts and Fantasies

Posted on by Linda Anger

HubSpot’s research shows that 39% of B2B companies has acquired new customers as a result of their activity on Twitter.

Over on Facebook, the number is 41%. It’s a coin toss between the two, but the fact is, business is taking place among all the chatter.

Did you know that 25% of the addresses on your email list will “expire” each year?

Watch the slideshow for more. Marketing fact vs Marketing fantasy

 

Iced Water with a Twist of Time

Posted on by Linda Anger

Water is the basis of life, the element that defines 90% of our body and without which we cannot survive. How it moves from snow to rivers to oceans to clouds and back again is an amazing meditation – watch this video!

And when you’re done, read the poem below. I wrote it in 1996 after reading an article on water in a Zen magazine. It was first published in Touchstone Journal, and earned an honorable mention in Current Magazine’s fiction & poetry contest.

ICED WATER WITH A TWIST OF TIME

 © 1996, Linda C. Anger

This drink,
iced and purified,
once touched the lips of
Australopithecus Afarensis –
Lucy in her first bipedal steps –
3 million years ago in Ethiopia.

Drawn from lakes, released
from faucets, evaporated, rained,
recorded, invoked –
billions of gallons,
rivers of thought,
around and around
in endless recycle.

This same water was sipped
from Buddha’s cupped hands
along the Ganges, cleansed wounds
on the beaches of Normandy,
fed cornfields in Kansas.

The quiet pond at my center
knows what Lucy knew;
the fluid touch and
illusion of time,
life’s undertow and current.

Like water, I roll down crooked paths,
drop to the depths of myself
and swallow,
a ripple in liquid history.

 

5 Tips for Beautiful Blogs

Posted on by Linda Anger

Content is King, it is true. Your blog must be an easy and informative read or viewers will click off in the blink of an eye.

But Content isn’t Everything.

The visual side of your blog is important, too. Here are 5 Tips for Beautiful Blogs:

  1. Choose and stick with a single font face, or at most, two complimentary fonts.  Use a sans serif font (like Arial) for headlines and sub-heads, and a serif font (like Times) for body text. Too many fonts and colors are visually disturbing.
  2. Use images to enhance your content, and set them to work proportionally with  and enhance your content. Clutter is nasty, balance is beautiful.
  3. Use simple, bold headlines to make your point. Edit down to five words or less.
  4. Keep your content short and informative. Anything beyond 300 words becomes a chore to read on the fly. If you have more to say, break it into multiple posts.
  5. Make your subject line enticing. If it’s not, the chances of people clicking through go way, way down.