We may not always have an agenda filled with bullet points when we sit down to record these podcasts, but we generally will have a few ideas in our heads when we hit the record button. Not this time…
What types of topics do suppose come up when microphones are in our faces and even we don’t know where we’re headed? Broadway musicals? IT folks? Real Housewives of New Jersey? The idea of a Geek Girls Guide bookmobile? Thomas Edison and/or Jefferson? Yes.
It’s been a while since we’ve Digitwirled (Sorry! We’ve been busy!) but this one was a must-share. Just last week I was looking at my laptop wondering if there was a computer detailing service that could help me de-crumb the keyboard and wipe the smears from my screen. Not to mention pondering how many germs lurked on my iPhone which quite literally goes everywhere with me. Yes, everywhere.
Carley to the rescue, with some simple and helpful advice on how to keep your tech toys shiny and clean. Enjoy! (Oh, and she’s been nominated for a Webby! Help a sister out and give her a vote.)
Over time, dust, grime and gunk can wreck your tech, not to mention boost the “ewww” factor (let’s not even discuss that most phones tested in a recent study show trace levels of E. coli— gross). Needless to say, cleaning your tech well and often is just as important for your health as it is for the tech itself. Before you give your smartphone a flea dip, though, it’s important to know how to clean it the right way. Whether it’s your TV or your laptop, there’s plenty of things you can do to keep them free of dust and running smoothly.
Watch this Twirl, and learn all my favorite tips and tricks, including how to make a gadget-cleaning potion with stuff you probably already have in your house (Hint: no expensive store-bought “electronics cleaners” required).
Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems. In 3-minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step. Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur. Subscribe to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at Digitwirl.com, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at @digitwirl
We had planned on talking about Klout and social media influence scores, but that’s gonna have to wait until next time. Don’t cry. We promise we’ll get to it.
44 is the magic number! In our 44th podcast we expand on our interview at SMBMSP, and answer some of the questions we were asked via Twitter. You can watch the whole interview video with Mykl Roventine below!
@quick13: you have talked about agency side but what about managing interactive projects in diff culture of big corporations?
@amandaesque: Q: how can interactive PM be recognized in change-averse orgs? (or where change is verrrry slow)
@rasherman: Can’t wait to read book. Wonder if you considered making it interactive w/ video & animate?
@bridgetmonroe: would love to hear about the “process” part of the book title and how digital process is being improved/refined.
@mickivail: So, any way to back-pedal? @smbmsp #question RT @annikahanson: Biggest mistake agencies make is committing to estimate in proposal #smbmsp44
@jimmesick: Question: have some of your projects failed? If yes, why?
@clewisopdahl: Have you worked on a #digital project that never took off?
@kristinlenander: Tips for finding the job, office and coworkers as awesome as #clockwork? I hope you realize how luck you are!
Two podcasts in two weeks? That’s right! Our “weekly” podcast is dropping the quotation marks for now, which, according to a new study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, could mean we are “socially disruptive narcissists”.
Two podcasts in two weeks? That’s right! Our “weekly” podcast is dropping the quotation marks for now, which, according to a new study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, could mean we are “socially disruptive narcissists”.
Lifehacker: The More Facebook Friends You Have, The More Unhappy You Probably Are
Location-aware technology is blowin’ up these days, which will inevitably lead to another wave of privacy concerns. As a user, it’s up to you to learn what messages each of them will send out to the world. Don’t be surprised when you go out for the night and your phone finds your friends before you do.
P.S. What are you doing the morning of Friday, March 30th? Join us for some bacon and coffee while we discuss our new book, Interactive Project Management at Social Media Breakfast MSP! Buy tickets here. UPDATE: The event is sold out, but you can still get on the waiting list!
Highlight
Pinterest & Legal Concerns
GetGlue
Path
Foursquare and the Mystery of Meghan’s 5k Badge
Shutdowns
It’s been a hectic 2012 so far. We finished our book, Interactive Project Management: Pixels, People, and Process, and it’s now available for pre-order from Amazon! Or, add it to your Goodreads list so you remember to read it later!
This is also our first podcast of the year (sorry!), so allow us to be the last people to say Happy New Year to you. We hope it’s been great.
In this podcast, we’re talking about Pinterest (hey, who isn’t?!) and the idea of anonymity and privacy online.
Lordy, Lordy, look who’s 40! It’s our “over the hill” podcast and we spared no expense with this one…on sound effects. Because they’re free.
As usual, topics were wide-ranging. From Meghan’s sister’s wedding (also known as Purminerny), an almost-finished book, owning the term “girl” to about two seconds of a Styx song, and our annual freakout about all the Christmas shopping we haven’t done, this podcast is full of reasons to celebrate. Happy Holidays! (And yes, we recorded it on December 22 and then didn’t get around to posting it until January 3. That’s how we roll.)
For the last few years we’ve been doing a lot of public speaking for a wide variety of audiences. We’ve talked about everything from traditional vs. interactive design, to privacy and security in the digital age, to work culture and user experience. But the one topic that we get the most requests for is still social media — for both business and personal use. But Meghan and I don’t try to teach people how to use social media tools. Instead, we spend our time talking about how to think about social as it relates to telling our stories; telling our personal and professional stories, and our company stories. We talk about being deliberate and thoughtful about the creation of those stories, and that approach seems to resonate with so many people. And it’s surprising because you’d think that the subject of social media would be worn out and over by now. I mean it’s been the topic du jour for the last couple of years. How can there possibly be anything more to be said?
At every one of our speaking engagements, we met people who’d ask us where they could buy our book. We actually pitched a book about social media to Peachpit, but the feedback was what we expected: there couldn’t possibly be any interest in our book because the subject of social media was exhausted. Still, people asked for it. Last year we did a series in-depth workshops for the Minnesota Regional Arts Council. We didn’t just want to talk to these folks about how to think about building and supporting their arts organizations with social, we wanted to create some useful tools to guide them through the process. So we assembled a workbook to accompany the presentation and it was pretty well received. From there we realized that this was the point of difference: we could provide value in the steps to thinking about social, along with instructional context to illuminate the kinds of possibilities that existed there.
For the last six months we’ve been refining that approach, and the content, and we’re proud to announce our first e-book, Social Media For Humans: Minding and Managing Your Personal Brand Online is now available to download. Publishers may not have seen the value of another social media book, but people were asking for it. We couldn’t ignore the pretty constant demand for an easy, digestible, overview of social media and personal branding.
In recent weeks I’ve seen some pushback around the concept of people being brands. I get that. We live in a culture where we tend to commercialize everything and the idea that people could be deliberate about their brand stories suggests a lack of authenticity. That’s not at all what our book encourages. It’s not about over-promoting yourself as an individual, or being contrived or less than genuine about the stories you tell. Instead, what we hope our e-book does accomplish has more to do with encouraging people to be thoughtful about how they are represented with content online. We take time to think about how big companies and brands should be perceived. Yet when it comes to ourselves — we just jump in blindly with no rhyme or reason, and then we act surprised when privacy settings change or our friends post content and we are somehow misrepresented. If businesses have social media strategies and plans why can’t individuals be at least sort of mindful? We think they can be. And they should be. That’s why we put together our workbook and called it Social Media For Humans. (You can also read a related blog post that Meghan wrote in 2010 to help explain our approach to social media for individuals.)
We are pretty proud of this book. We hope you enjoy it. Tell your friends. Send them our way. Download the book. It makes a great holiday gift! As always, any questions, comments or feedback are more than welcome. And thanks for spending time with the Geek Girls Guide.
The following post was written by Angie King, a longtime friend and supporter of ours. She reached out to us after witnessing Dan Wheldon’s crash in Las Vegas and was interested in writing a post about how Twitter introduced her to Indycar and how it affected her life in the days afterward. It’s a powerful story about how social media connects us as human beings — both in our mundane, everyday lives and during the course of extraordinary events.
As surprised as you are to find a blog about Indycar on the Geek Girls Guide, it was equally as surprising to me to become an Indycar fanatic. After years of resisting any sort of sports fandom, this year I found myself obsessed with Indycar. It was a natural progression; something I didn’t question yet was a little embarrassed by around friends. Mostly because I couldn’t explain it.
Since witnessing the fatal crash that took driver Dan Wheldon’s life on October 16 in Las Vegas and experiencing more grief than I could ever have expected, I started reflecting on why I feel so connected to Indycar. Besides the excitement of the sport, the talented and colorful drivers, and sharing a passion with my husband, I realized that Twitter has a played a big role. It’s one of the reasons my interest in Indycar grew into a passion this year, it helped me get through the 2 hours of waiting between the crash and when they finally announced Dan’s death, and has helped me grieve and cope with his loss in the time since.
To say I was surprised by the breadth and depth of the Indycar Twitter community is putting it lightly. After working in the interactive marketing world for a number of years, this is the first time I’ve experienced the true potential of social media. I’d thought the global, egalitarian, virtual community was purely idealistic. But in Indycar, they’ve made this goal a reality. Drivers, fans, media, and thought leaders all interact with each other like one big family.
#Indycar
I first learned about the Indycar Twitter community while watching races on Versus TV with my husband. The Indycar commentators devoted entire pre-race segments to driver tweets. The weight put on things happening off the track on Twitter intrigued me. I started following a driver’s list (@indcyar/drivers-indycar) so I could be in-the-know before the TV crew reported on it trackside.
Some memorable moments from the drivers this year on Twitter include:
But it’s not just the drivers that I love on Twitter. I also started following the #indycar hashtag with fervor. The fans, bloggers and media personalities that use this hashtag provide article links, insight and commentary that I wouldn’t find anywhere else. And the best part? I feel welcome to interact with them, even though we’ve never met, and will likely never meet. Being a fan and having opinions is the only requirement to being accepted into this worldwide community.
#vegasindycar
My new #indcyar friends got me educated and excited for our trip to Las Vegas for the World Championships, with many posts tagged with #vegasindycar. In return, I promised those that couldn’t make the trip that I’d keep them updated on my experience. But 140 characters were not enough to express the sheer thrill of meeting Dan Wheldon on qualifying day.
A fan favorite, Dan had won the Indy 500 (for the 2nd time) earlier that year. His vibrant personality, golden boy good looks, and reformed-playboy-turned-family-man core would send any girl’s heart a-flutter. Thanks to a new friend on the inside, I got to meet Dan, shake his hand, and see that incredible smile in person. It was only a moment, but it’s a moment I will cherish. Because less than two days later, Dan was dead.
#PrayersforWheldon
Seeing the horrific 15-car crash live was like watching a horror movie in real life. We’ve seen bad crashes on TV before, but both my husband and I got sick to our stomach after witnessing this one. The track announcers reported that every driver involved was in good condition, except one: Dan Wheldon. Soon he was transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital. But no one, not the track announcers or the IMS radio broadcast we were listening to on our scanner, had any details.
Naturally, I turned to Twitter for information. During the 2 hour wait, I saw everything from worry (#prayersforwheldon became the trending hashtag), to speculation (someone had seen driver Danica Patrick crying), to hope (Ashley Judd {@AshleyJudd}, wife of driver Dario Franchetti, tweeted that Dan had left the raceway unconscious, but with stable vitals; fans retweeted her post, clinging to this shred of hope from someone in -the-know).
However hopeful others were, I kept looking back at driver Tomas Scheckter’s (@tomasscheckter) tweet. The only driver involved in the crash who had posted anything to Twitter immediately following, his post was grim: “Leaving track don’t want to hear news seen enough / Walked past something I pray never to see again.” And sure enough, about 2 hours after the crash, CEO Randy Bernard announced Dan’s death.
#RIPDanWheldon
After we left the Las Vegas Motor Speedway that afternoon, my husband and I tried to console ourselves with drinks and gambling back at our casino. But in between each hand of video poker, I was refreshing Hoot Suite on my phone to see what drivers and other fans were posting. The trending hashtag had quickly changed from #prayersforwheldon to #ripdanwheldon. It was heartbreaking. We called it an early night, but the next morning before our flight home, I was back on my phone catching up with everyone’s reactions on Twitter.
Following the posts from drivers, fans and others has been heart wrenching, consoling, and frustrating in the week since Dan’s death. The frustration comes from posts reflecting comments made by people outside of the Indycar community and in the mainstream media who have been sensationalizing the crash and condemning the sport. For example, when Star Jones criticized the safety of Indycar in the wake of Dan’s death on The Today Show, the #indycar community (rightfully) threw a fit. And much was made over NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson’s (@JimmieJohnson) comment that Indycar shouldn’t race on ovals.
Many posts are both heart wrenching and consoling. Especially from the drivers, who have been reacting in their own personal ways:
#lionheart
And then there’s the 100s of news and tribute articles tweeted and retweeted in the #indycar stream. I can’t possibly describe or link them all, but many have brought me to tears (including this one). Overall, I feel an overwhelming sense of a community pulling together to get through a very difficult time. The strongest sentiment—next to one of sympathy for Dan’s family—is one of continued vitality and life in Dan’s honor.
Many tribute tweets are now tagged with #lionheart, referring to the image Dan Wheldon had painted on the back of his race helmets: a mural of King Richard the “Lionhearted,” who was known for his bravery and heart. The consensus on Twitter is that Dan’s legacy will not be how he died, but how he lived. With an energetic, friendly, caring and playful approach off the track, and a focused, determined and fearless drive on the track.
The optimistic posts in the face of trauma remind me to greet each new day with the enthusiasm Dan showed in his final tweet. Just one word, the color of the flag that starts the race: “@DanWheldon Green!!!!”
If you feel inclined to support Dan Wheldon’s family or his passion for curing Alzheimer’s (a disease his mother was diagnosed with), there are a number of ways to contribute. Visit DanWheldonMemorial.com for details.
For more information on Dan Wheldon and his tragic death, Speed.com has posted comprehensive recap of articles that are worth a read. Read their Dan Wheldon Coverage Recap
Angie King manages content and social media for Bachmans.com, a Minnesota-based floral, gift and garden center. Outside of work, she’s a pop culture addict, jewelry maker, urban farmer, Rock Band and Las Vegas enthusiast, and a novice Indycar fan. Her Twitter handle is @angiewarhol.
When you do a Google search for “Celine Dion”+”Steve Jobs”+”Pop Tarts”, 1,630 sites pop up. Here’s number 1,631.
Wondering how our book is coming along? Interested in hearing about our weekend at AIGA Design Camp? Curious as to why Steve Jobs, Celine Dion and Pop Tarts are somehow all mentioned in a 30 minute podcast? Well then, this podcast is for YOU!
Our e-book, Social Media for Humans: Minding & Managing Your Personal Brand Online, is seriously going to be available like, really soon. IF ONLY WE KNEW SOMEONE WHO COULD BUILD WEBSITES.