officialgaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/very-sekrit-passphrase.html

"We think they should come over to the merch table and point to this poster...




...and say 'That chick in the yellow corset crowdsurfing looks kind of hot. I wonder if she's dating anyone?' And then they get something for free."

ebonypearl

( Read more... )

marta
paidmembers

• You can now add a Note directly on the Add a friend page - handy if you'd like to mark down where you met them or another name you know them by!
• On the Ban and unban users page (under Account -> Privacy) you can now add a Note, including to a group of users all banned at the same time (so that next year you won't need to ask yourself "hey, why did I ban these guys?")

• When you're viewing your existing Notes they're grayed out; click in a field to activate it to change the text (this page can be found from the header by using Profile -> Manage Notes)
• Changes to editing:
  • When you're going to create a new Note but one already exists, you'll get a warning that you're editing an existing Note
  • You can now delete a note from the "Edit note" pop-up in the hover menu
  • You can now delete notes for multiple selected users on the Manage notes page
  • When you change Notes on "Ban|unban users" page, they can be edited and saved with "Save Changes" button

teriel

Originally published at Imagine Your Reality. Please leave any comments there.

When I talk with businesses about social media I see one of two reactions to it:

The first reaction I see is one of resistance and fear. The new technology seems intimidating and the idea that the business needs to learn how to use social media to promote themselves, on top of whatever else they do just feels like one more task on top of an already sizable list. These people feel overwhelmed and also simultaneously hostile and resigned to social media. What they really want is someone who can explain how to use it and make it more manageable for them.

The second reaction is one of confusion and over eager enthusiasm. These are the businesses that have jumped on the bandwagon of social media, without developing a consistent message or strategy for using social media. Their use of social media is either inconsistent, or worse they come off as spammers. They don’t really understand why they aren’t getting responses from people, and are starting to get frustrated by using it.

Both reactions are valid ones to have. The problem, however, is that businesses approach social media with a desire for an automatic guarantee of business, but often don’t implement the strategy or tactics that will allow them to actually get business from social media. They also get caught up on the technology, while forgetting that the technology is only facilitating communication in a different medium.

Ultimately the problem boils down to developing a realistic social media marketing plan that allows a business to successfully communicate with people in a consistent and non-spammy way. To create such a plan you’ve got to spend some time answering some questions that can help you figure out what social media sites you should be devoting your time to.

The first question to consider in your social media strategy is simple: Who is your ideal audience/clientele? In other words, who are the people who come to you and what problem are you solving for them? You’ll want to spend some time looking for specific patterns for these people, such as age range, what kind of business or profession they are in, do they have hobbies relevant to what you do for them, etc. Until you know your audience, you can’t really know if they are on social media sites, and just joining any old site won’t necessarily put you in touch with them.

And added question to ask is: Who are my power partners, aka, the businesses that tend to refer clients your way. Again identifying these types of businesses may be very useful in determining what social media sites you should be on.

In part 2, we’ll discuss the next question to consider in your basic social media strategy.

officialgaiman

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/11/radio-books-violin-lessons-also-haircut.html

The Blue Room had in prehistoric times been added to by taking in a superfluous passage, and so not only had the advantage of two doors, but enabled us to get to the head of the stairs without passing the chamber wherein our dragon-aunt lay couched. It was rarely occupied, except when a casual uncle came down for the night. We entered in noiseless file, the room being plunged in darkness, except for a bright strip of moonlight on the floor, across which we must pass for our exit. On this our leading lady chose to pause, seizing the opportunity to study the hang of her new dressing-gown. Greatly satisfied thereat, she proceeded, after the feminine fashion, to peacock and to pose, pacing a minuet down the moonlit patch with an imaginary partner. This was too much for Edward's histrionic instincts, and after a moment's pause he drew his single-stick, and with flourishes meet for the occasion, strode onto the stage. A struggle ensued on approved lines, at the end of which Selina was stabbed slowly and with unction, and her corpse borne from the chamber by the ruthless cavalier. The rest of us rushed after in a clump, with capers and gesticulations of delight; the special charm of the performance lying in the necessity for its being carried out with the dumbest of dumb shows.

Once out on the dark landing, the noise of the storm without told us that we had exaggerated the necessity for silence; so, grasping the tails of each other's nightgowns even as Alpine climbers rope themselves together in perilous places, we fared stoutly down the staircase-moraine, and across the grim glacier of the hall, to where a faint glimmer from the half-open door of the drawing-room beckoned to us like friendly hostel-lights. Entering, we found that our thriftless seniors had left the sound red heart of a fire, easily coaxed into a cheerful blaze; and biscuits—a plateful—smiled at us in an encouraging sort of way, together with the halves of a lemon, already once squeezed but still suckable. The biscuits were righteously shared, the lemon segments passed from mouth to mouth; and as we squatted round the fire, its genial warmth consoling our unclad limbs, we realised that so many nocturnal perils had not been braved in vain.

"It's a funny thing," said Edward, as we chatted, "how I hate this room in the daytime. It always means having your face washed, and your hair brushed, and talking silly company talk. But to-night it's really quite jolly. Looks different, somehow."

"I never can make out," I said, "what people come here to tea for. They can have their own tea at home if they like,—they're not poor people,—with jam and things, and drink out of their saucer, and suck their fingers and enjoy themselves; but they come here from a long way off, and sit up straight with their feet off the bars of their chairs, and have one cup, and talk the same sort of stuff every time."

Selina sniffed disdainfully. "You don't know anything about it," she said. "In society you have to call on each other. It's the proper thing to do."

"Pooh! YOU'RE not in society," said Edward, politely; "and, what's more, you never will be."

"Yes, I shall, some day," retorted Selina; "but I shan't ask you to come and see me, so there!"

"Wouldn't come if you did," growled Edward.