Internet Geek Girl

(photo credit: Howard Greenstein)

Those of you that know me know how much I believe in the power of Social Media, Conversational Marketing, and the Relationship Economy. This past Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007, I saw that power in action at my Birthday 2.0 event.

People make a party (and a social network for that matter). We had a great crowd. It would be too hard to mention everyone, but big thanks to the following colleagues for joining in: Ted Shelton (my partner at The Conversation Group), Brian Shaler, Howard Greenstein, Steve Rosenbaum, Courtney Darling, Karen Jackie and Dana Rockel, Adam Broitman, David Berkowitz, David Blumstein, Allison Keisman, Bonnie Halper, Jay Bryant, Vidar Brekke, Marty Secada, and those that I can’t find URLs for: Sondra Stewart, Gerry Beyer, Cathy Campbell, Polly Lieberman, Swetal Petal, Yana Lyubovitsky, Keith Knight, Roma Sachar, Carrie Kaufman, Tim Keelan, and EVERYONE ELSE!

The early bird “unconference” discussion focused on usage patters on Facebook. Brian Shaler did a great job summarizing some key points. Read his blog here. I’ll be expounding on this topic in another post soon!

In addition to my party, I felt the web2.0 birthday love with almost 50 wall posts on my Facebook, many skypes, text messages and of course, the Twitter messages wishing me birthday greetings in under 140 characters. I also have to give a big shout out to all those that donated to my fund raising efforts for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and to Chris Brewer at LiveStrong for all his support. I am grateful for all my amazing friends, family and colleagues. Social media birthdays show us the power of this medium and ultimately the true power that comes from people connecting!

Featured Flickr pics are here: InternetGeekGirl and HowardGr!

One last post script. Julia Allison unfortunately did not make the party. She went wasted two hours at the Google event in NYC instead. I don’t know Julia personally. If I had known she was going to have such a bad time, I would have made sure she knew about Birthday 2.0! Julia - you have an open invitation to all future events with Stephanie Agresta and The Conversation Group!

This week proved to be quite exciting at the DoubleClick Performics Client Summit, hosted at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago. For two days, an intriguing mix of multi-channel retailers, emerging technology companies, affiliate publishers, search gurus, Performics staffers and industry leaders gathered to discuss the “Age of Ingenuity.” Regardless what you may think about web2.0, there is no denying that there is an abundance of ingenuity driving our industry right now. Kudos to DoubleClick Performics for leading by example, not just words.

David Rosenblatt, CEO of DoubleClick, and Stuart Frankel, President of DoubleClick Performics, both provided road maps and inspiration for the audience and emphasized their dedication to staying on the cutting edge. [Check out the DoubleClick Nerve Center to learn more about their year ahead and see some groovy video!]

In addition to panels on affiliate marketing, search optimization and mobile marketing, DoubleClick Performics had presentations from motivational speakers, academics, and authors, such as Lisa Fortini-Campbell, Steven Levitt of Freakonomics, and Robert Spector. The Second City troupe also stopped in to provide some comic relief. On a personal note, I really appreciated the 6:30 AM yoga session on Tuesday morning which I attended with a handful of other brave attendees. You know who you are.

One small note on being green. Those of you that know me know I care about our environment and do my best to live green (could be better, but I’m trying…). The Tuesday afternoon mid-day snack / networking break delighted both my environmental and aesthetic sensibilities — green food — ranging from melon and apples, edamame and broccoli, guacamole and spinach dip. A clever hat tip to the new performics logo.

In a recent Facebook Note, Dave McClure of 500 hats, reflected on his Gnomedex experience last week:

just reflecting on the past week & pleasantly realizing how much i’m impressed by technology & the people who make it happen, all the wonderful HUMAN things we have the potential to do with it. simply amazing. and, reassuring

really love the people & the world i’m living in. it’s a blast.

I couldn’t agree more. I love being in this industry and working with such cool, smart people. Last night in the President’s Club at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, surrounded by business travelers waiting for delayed flights, I reflected on the effort we put in to travel and meeting up with our colleagues across the country and the globe. Social media and online networking will never replace the knowledge, connection, and synergy that comes from real life conferences and events. Personally, I’m a big fan of both!

Big thanks to Chris Henger, Kristin Hall and their fine staff for the hospitality, inspiration, and for bringing us all together. Don’t forget to check out the “flicka” pics!

Happy Facebook Birthday to you. Happy Facebook Birthday to you. May your wall grow with well wishes and free gifts too.

I first noticed how cool birthdays were on Facebook on Esther Dyson’s Birthday. On her wall she wrote,

Facebook adds a whole new dimension to birthdays! I have never gotten quite so many greetings…. And, with all respect to all of you, I think Frank Paynter has it closest - all of France and all of Facebook! What a day!

yes, I am going up to a party in Sebastopol… stand by for some Flickr pics.

And she does have some very fine pictures up there. Chock-full of our industry’s best and brightest. I especially like the one of Anne Wojcicki, Martha Stewart and Sergey.

During last night’s New York Tech Meetup we had a great group of people discussing “Influencer Marketing.” It was an unconference format, and I was excited to lead a conversation about how social media is impacting personal brands, corporate brands, and marketing strategies in general. A big shout out to some of the rock stars who participated in the conversation: Laura Allen from 15SecondPitch, Jay Bryant of LiveWorld, Tajee Tajima of Voice-Bank,Inc., Barbara Osach from Entrepreneurs NOW, Inc., Esther Park at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Matt Arnold from W.W. Norton & Co., and Jim Davoust from whonk.

Have an awesome time at Gnomedex Tajee! Big hello to all my friends out in Seattle. I anxiously await your Twits.

So as Andy (no business card) picked up on: Yes, I’m really into Facebook. It sure helps me wish my friends Happy Birthday. But more importantly, it is (at least for now) a great platform for business networking, personal branding, online marketing, charity fund-raising, news, entertainment and political discourse. Oh yeah.. and making sure your niece and nephew are being good citizens.

Network on!

P.S. - Save the Date - October 3rd. I’ll be celebrating Birthday 2.0 (actually 3.7), on Facebook and at a big bash in NYC. Details coming soon!

A recent New York Times article pointed out a phenomena which I’ll call the cellular divide. It seems that some people, especially the young (or Yutes as we say in New Jersey), tend to restrict their cell phone usage to those inside their network, thereby saving money and minutes. The article sheds light on how these nasty little customer acquisition tactics are unraveling our social fabric: it seems we are unintentionally breaking off relationships with friends on competitive networks and forming “faux friendships” with those with the same carrier! Aghast!

According to the New York Times:

That is most true for people younger than 25 because they are the ones who see the cellphone as an extension of themselves. They are constantly sending text messages, making calls, checking the time, scheduling appointments, calculating math, taking photos, playing games or looking up something on the Internet.

That.. and oh yeah, they can’t afford high monthly plan fees. Believe me, I realize I’m lucky. I have an amazing rate (competitively speaking) on a SprintPCS plan that gives me 2500 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends starting at 7 pm and unlimited text messaging (who could live without that!). I’m glad I’m not on a college kid budget anymore. But $$ aside, I find it fascinating that kids today look at those cell phone networks, much in the same way I look at my friends on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Flickr! The fact is, I believe in networking and all the tools that help us do it. Scoble has it right.

And, by the way, I do try to keep up with the kids. The reporter, Angel Jennings, also dug up some great stats:

Those who talk the most on the phone are ages 18 to 24, according to a study of cellphone use by Telephia Inc., a San Francisco research firm that follows cellphone trends. In the first quarter of 2007, this group sent and received on average 290 calls a month, the study found. Text messaging was highest, Telephia said, among 13- to 17-year-olds, who averaged 435 messages a month. By contrast, cellphone users 45 to 54 years old spoke on the phone 194 times, on average, a month and sent only 57 text messages.

It seems I out “text message” the average 13 - 17 year old by over 50%. My Jun 15 - Jul 14 statement says I had 673 text messages. Yeah.. I’m cool!! Um.. I also logged 675 calls (that’s 132% more than you’re average 18 -24 year old). Thank goodness I’m too tired to figure out how many emails, Facebooks, Twitts, IMs, etc I sent during that same time period. How do you stack up?  Check out your bill from same or similar time frame and let me know.  A small prize will be awarded to the commenter with the most text messages in equivalent time frame (verified of course).

Fake Steve Jobs thinks the cell phone companies suck and has great sympathy for the average Joe/Jane consumer. He envisions a world where we won’t have to wax sentimentally about our long-lost friends on other cellular networks, or have phones that are exclusive to 1 network (Perhaps Daddy Google will save us?). However, he’s a bit harsher than my Zen language patters will allow, but I liked the sentiment:

Honestly, this is why Google wants the FCC to free up the wireless spectrum and let customers put any phone on any network. Well, okay, that’s not really why Google wants that. But anyway. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Cell phone carriers suck. They’re orifices. They’re yet another example of an industry that thrives only by exploiting customers and treating them like shit. Lock-in, two-year contracts, screwing you on every little feature. Damn. Someday, I hope not too long from now, we are going to look back on this era of wireless telecom in horror, not believing we ever had to put up with such bullshit.

There is some good news here. Despite our hyper-communication habits and crumbling friendships, academics and experts assure us that text messages are actually, “symbolic gestures of friendship.” There is love underneath all this… LOVE.. that’s what I’m all about man!

I dedicate this blog post to my “text message friends.” You know who you are. Thanks for helping me to “stay gold.” I thank you (day and night via text message), and my cell phone carrier thanks you!

Today marks the Fourth Annual LinkShare Golden Links Awards and my Third Annual Pre-Party to the Golden Links (I don’t know why I missed that first year).

This is a week powered by LinkShare! Tomorrow is the “X” Annual LinkShare Symposium in NYC. I can’t recall exactly how many years ago I began attending, but it was a very long time ago. As LinkShare describes:

For more than ten years, LinkShare merchants and affiliates have convened at the LinkShare Symposium to forge new business relationships and discuss issues facing the industry at large. Experience the power of the LinkShare Network to learn from industry veterans and network with the who’s who of the Internet community. This is the must-attend event for performance marketing professionals!

I couldn’t agree more. I have been part of this community for over 10 years and I value the opportunity to spend time with friends, partners, clients and colleagues. LinkShare has been a catalyst for supporting these connections, and they do so with a huge sense of style and elegance, making this one of the best events I attend each year.

Deb Schultz, my good friend and social media maven, speaks often about the Relationship Economy. We all attend so many conferences every year that it’s easy to forget the important role these events play in fueling our relationships. As Deb points out, it’s important for us to question how we weave in and out of these worlds:

* What is our intention with all these communities?
* How do we interact in a meaningful way with all of these connections?
* What is “meaningful” in this landscape?
* What is the definition of Community when affiliations are so loose and easily coupled/uncoupled?
* How do we build applications to maintain a good flow between clusters?
* What is the role of attention in the Relationship Economy?

I’ll be sure to chew on all this while networking and attending the excellent panels that will address the key issues facing performance marketing today.

I am sorry to be missing SuperNova this week. I still haven’t figured out how to be at two community events at exactly the same time. Big shout out to all my friends on the Left Coast! I’m sure we will be Twittering back and forth all week.

At the next event you attend, think about how you can maximize your time building better relationships and enhancing the quality of how we interact within our communities!