social media: How does one get here from there?
- 06/24/16 08:18 AM
It comes up on occasion and kinda smacked me this past week. ;O) I’ve been all over the Puget Sound area all week from Seattle to Bellingham and busy enough that every time I took a minute to think about my next blog post, my brain was a total blank. Well duh... Like I haven’t heard it before... “Life’s talking at you every waking minute of every day. Why not post what people actually ask you about.” I know, I know, obvious right? It’s too obvious someday’s yet still I blow right by those emerging thoughts. I’m obsessed it has to be … (25 comments)
social media: Wrapping it up for the year...
- 12/13/15 01:57 AM
It’s been an amazing 2015 and already it seems I now find myself at the end of the year. Christmas is just two short weeks away and it’s time to wind things down. No more travel until mid January and now it's to finish up those year end projects that’ll be launched in 2016. One of my important goals this year was to get a new class off the ground and build a program around it. I’ve been swimming in the social media pool since its inception and one of my passions is understanding how it’s changing everything and keeping up (or … (26 comments)
social media: Twitter laughs with Mac & Cheese
- 05/27/15 04:35 AM
Okay, not so wordless this Wednesday. But the photo says more than I will... I was in Spokane, Washington to teach a few classes May 14 and 15. One of the things I love to do is crack a few jokes before I start a conversation about Twitter... Many who don’t tweet do share a myth. “I don’t use Twitter. It doesn’t make any sense. Like why should I care what you had for lunch?” Of course Twitter is much more than sharing photos of a meal, but I like starting the convo this way because it breaks the tension and gives us … (15 comments)
social media: So... What is the ROI of your mother?
- 02/03/15 01:43 AM
I like Gary Vaynerchuk. And I credit the title of this post to him. It’s a line of conversation he uses in his talks and presentations to make a very valid and poignant point about social media. Like him, I too have been asked (and/or confronted with) the great ROI question. I have a lot of respect for Gary... Yet I do have a slightly different way of looking at life, the universe, and everything, and I don't want to buy the New York Jets. Yet, I am a student of life and I do my homework and take notice. This funny … (22 comments)
social media: Pink Flamingos in Glass
- 12/05/14 02:31 AM
We're on a location scouting trip November 24, 2014 for our new 3 clock hour social media class, Mobile Communication Boot Camp. My good friend and coworker Jill Bell and I are doing a first walk through for a second class location at Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila.
click the photo for full size view on Google+ We had a couple of hours and roamed the mall to visit every store possible for this new scavenger hunt type class. I had a blast with the photo opportunities here and the Pink Flamingos in Glass was one of my favorites that … (8 comments)
social media: The Road to Ubiquity? Who'd a thought.
- 10/02/14 02:56 AM
I was combing through one of my external backup drives looking for a particular set of images and I kinda sorta remember when they were taken...
If I can just find them! Looking through the tree (more like a forest) of folders I finally found them way way back in 2007 and started laughing, “Did you just hear yourself think?” Way way back in 2007, huh?” Like I was looking through photos of my family from the 1930s.
I was writing a series of articles, The Road to Ubiquity. There wasn't nearly as many places to be online back then … (17 comments)
social media: The Golden Heart of the North Star Borough
- 12/13/13 11:22 PM
I was in Fairbanks, Alaska last Wednesday evening and Thursday (December 4th and 5th, 2013) with my coworkers Terry Bryan and Deb Moore to teach clock hour classes at the Greater Fairbanks Board of Realtors. Since there’s a lot of travel involved no matter where you go in Alaska we do a full day of classes, usually starting at 8:30 am and teach back to back sessions until late afternoon, stopping around 5:00 pm, depending on flight times back to Anchorage. We got to Fairbanks a little after 5:00 pm on Wednesday. Sara Johnson, Marketing Director at Yukon Title, our affiliate, … (10 comments)
social media: The Pumpkin Theory of Social Media Marketing.
- 09/27/13 03:44 AM
I’m a local guy and I enjoy my ability to connect via the social platforms to practically everyone on the planet. Afterall, it's how I got to know most of you. I love my little burg, Renton, Seattle, the Pacific Northwest, and what's going on immediately around me. I don’t ignore other places by any means, but having said that I think and attribute my media strategy to John Lennon. “Think global act local.” Now John may or may not have been the 1st to have actually said that and I don’t care. And, I may be a little old … (2 comments)
social media: Dark Social
- 05/13/13 03:44 AM
I remember those early days of the www before web crawlers. In the 1980’s we were using BBS sites like Usenet, then AOL in the early 1990’s to share links of our findings online with each other. Then in 1999 the term Web 2.0 emerged and gained a lot of exposure through Tim O’Reilly via the Web 2.0 conference in late 2004. Yet, that’s not my point or my axe to grind today. Dark Social means off the grid, sort of speak. We get all kinds of analysis these days about our ranking, visibility, engagement, hits, referring sites, yet this doesn’t … (7 comments)
social media: Car Sticker Social Media
- 09/22/12 11:34 AM
I love the social media that is car stickers! Like bloggers, they can convey a lot with a few words and images. I'm on Capitol Hill in Seattle driving up 12th Ave E last Friday morning for a social media get together at Roy Street Coffee & Tea when I spot this Volvo station wagon a few cars ahead of me. It has Washington plates, but it still proudly displays its Canadian license on the bumper with numerous stickers on the back window. I'm thinking it's a student because they turn into the Seattle University campus parking lot at about James … (20 comments)
social media: Social Media and Grandma's Secret Meatloaf Recipe.
- 12/12/11 12:01 PM
Attraction and influence, are two key principles of social media that can not be forced. If your conversation online is engaging, interesting, truthful, intuitive, informative, and with good intention, it will be found, and it will be heard. But that in itself is no guarantee that it will equate to a transaction. I get asked all the time by new arrivals to social media (in terms, but not literally), “How much of this crap do I need to do before I see a deal? What’s my ROI?” As Gary Vaynerchuk put it, “What’s the ROI of your Mother?” The decision when … (10 comments)
social media: We are not going to Mars today
- 03/27/11 01:20 PM
I love talking about Social Media and lately I’ve had some great conversations that started with the question: “What is social media?” With that said it went suddenly quiet and I looked across the room of concerned faces staring back as if to ask, “Is that a trick question?” No, I laugh. Not at all. Then the responses began to chime out... Facebook Twitter Blogs FourSquare Linkedin Activerain Biznik Youtube... But these are the tools and the platforms. They are not social media and even though these new technologies placed us smack dab in the middle of the biggest paradigm shift … (18 comments)
social media: Glory in the Morning...
- 08/26/10 04:09 PM
Driving south on Meridian Ave E (at Sunset Blvd E) into Graham, Washington about 9:30 AM on August 24, 2010. This morning is absolutely gorgeous and one of the most beautiful mornings I've seen this summer. I've already rolled down the windows so I could enjoy the breeze. Our coastal westerly's from the Pacific Ocean create rich blankets of oxygen rich moistened air and the sun light dances through it as if it were a kaleidoscope.
It looks as if it were but a short hike right up to that old Mt. Rainier from here. As I pull up to … (3 comments)
social media: Please Don't Outsource Your Personality...
- 06/12/10 03:22 PM
A local company in town claiming to be social media experts has recently offered a service to real estate agents that will take care of your Tweets, Facebook updates, Linkedin, and blog content for a small monthly fee. They’re offering you a social media system. (Isn’t that an oxymoron?) Dear valued clients and all real estate professionals: Please Don't Outsource Your Personality... When I give social media conversations I frequently get asked “Is there a Big Easy Button that I can update everything everywhere online?” "Because social media looks like a lot of work and I didn’t get into real estate … (12 comments)
social media: Ghost Writers? I think not.
- 02/15/10 07:21 AM
OK, I have to chime in on this one, but my thoughts are too long for just a comment. Anyway, that is where my blog subjects most often come from, the online conversation. Don’t miss Jessica Sulliman’s great blog entry: Pay Per Blog is it Kosher You’ll find a great thread of opinions and conversation… My answer to Jessica’s question regarding the use of Ghost Writers for your Active Rain blog; “So, fellow ActiveRainers, what's the word? Kosher or No Good?” I say, “No Good”, here’s why… As Nick from DotLoop commented, “After all, a blog is a ‘web … (9 comments)
RE Barcamp is going to be held in the Northwest Rooms at the Seattle Center on March 19, 2010. A great in city location right next to the Key Arena with plenty of parking, hotels, and restaurants within walking distance.
Looking from the Northwest Rooms SE over the Key Arena.
Click for: Seattle Center Map… (#2 on the map) At Warren Ave N and Republican St, Seattle WA 98109 Join the RE Barcamp Seattle Facebook page for the latest information. … (9 comments)
social media: What was the very first personal technology you owned?
- 01/28/10 11:10 AM
I was thinking the other day about the technology in my life and how it has shaped me. That took longer than I thought; several days in fact. I became fascinated (actually obsessed) about the lineage of electronic devices I’ve owned over the years and that prompted me to ask, “What was the very first personal technology I owned?” My quest had a simple premise: 1. It had to have something to do with the electronic medium and connected me to the world in some way. 2. It had to be mine. I owned it. In the summer of 1958 our … (169 comments)
social media: Social Media, old school...
- 10/11/09 07:38 AM
Social Media, old school... This past couple of months life has been a race with not only a busy work schedule but even busier weekends. One of my oldest friends, Dave Hoskin, called me last week. His voicemail was funny, "I know your really busy and you probably can't go, and you're probably working, but I'm headed up to the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair this Saturday and thought you'd like to go." I laughed thinking how typical that message was. Dave and I have been friends for about 40 years. We met when I just started College. We were both in music. … (10 comments)
social media: The More Important More Important Theory...
- 10/08/09 01:30 PM
I kind of do several things at a time, but really I know I juggle them. It's not really true multitasking. I'm not doing two or three or more things simultaneously. It's more like I have a cluster of things going on and I jump from one to another, back and forth, randomly selecting which one to nudge next towards the finish line. In the Title world I learned these skills very well in customer service. The phone would ring off the hook (as they use to say) and every client that called (especially Friday afternoons) was getting ready for a listing appointment … (11 comments)
social media: The Asynchronous Conversation in Social Media...
- 08/22/09 11:24 AM
I love the visual you get when you observe the life cycle of a dandelion. It perfectly demonstrates a very important aspect of social media marketing. The asynchronous conversation.
Regardless if you blog, tweet, facebook, or email, you are participating in asynchronous conversation. When we participate online in communities (like Active Rain) by joining in the conversation we’re very much like the dandelion. A seed of thought occurs and takes root. The idea grows and blossoms into a conversation we articulate to the community. Like the single dandelion blossom that randomly scatters its hundreds of seeds to wherever the wind … (4 comments)
I'm a teacher, artist, blogger and public speaker who lives in the Pacific Northwest. My passion is the evolving social media environment and how it is profoundly changing the way we do life and business.
I'm a certified clock hour instructor who really enjoys teaching social media marketing and emerging technologies to real estate professionals. I work for the First American Title Real Estate School of Washington.
I also enjoy teaching social media strategies for entrepreneurs and small business in the continuing education department at Bellevue College.
It comes up on occasion and kinda smacked me this past week. ;O) I’ve been all over the Puget Sound area all week from Seattle to Bellingham and busy enough that every time I took a minute to think about my next blog post, my brain was a total blank.
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