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Corporate Social Media Reading List

Koka Sexton — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:26:43 +0000

I’m a huge fan of social media. I joined Twitter on June 30 2007 and after a few bumps in the road, I was addicted and even wrote a set of top twitter tips. I try to follow the trends and news around social media as best I can. Really more of a hobby and fascination to me than anything else. I would have loved to get a job in something social media related but that quest always evaded me. That is until recently. I work for a growing software company and they don’t have much of a footprint in the social media world. Like many companies, they didn’t know the difference between Twitter and a blog or that Facebook was for more than keeping in touch with their friends and family.

Knowing that getting into social media and doing it right was needed, especially for a technology company, someone had to step up to the keyboard. That someone was me. I created the Paragon Software Twitter profile and a Paragon Software Facebook page and started looking for inspiration. I know my way around the popular sites. I’ve grown a healthy network of friends and followers. What I needed was a crash course on corporate social media tips so I did what any self respecting geek would do and typed it into Google.

What I found were a collection of sites and posts that spoke to my social media needs. I’m not Howard Stephen Berg but I could probably learn a few things from him. After scouring the internet for information, this is the super list of social media posts that I came up with as a reading list.

Building an Effective Business Profile on Twitter
From TwiTip: As the popularity of micro-blogging continues to grow, it’s going to become a tool used by advertisers and marketers. In the same way that running a corporate or business blog is different from running a personal blog, running a corporate or business twitter profile is different from running a personal twitter profile.
Why Brands ABSOLUTELY DO Belong on Twitter
From Mashable: Article discussing the benefits and value of brands using Twitter.

Social Media Marketing News, Tips, Videos, Articles, Tools and … http://bit.ly/4xx54q
2010: The Spotlight on Social Media ROI | Mark Evans Tech http://bit.ly/4AA20H
Four Social Media Marketing Lessons | Lava7 – A Digital Engagement … http://bit.ly/4oUD5f
HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter
From Mashable: 10 tips for using Twitter to grow a community which benefits you (and your audience)
10 Traits of Highly Effective Twitter Users
From Twitip: Some habits of effective Twitter users that beginners can use to help expand their network.
FOLLOW FAIL: The Top 10 Reasons I Will Not Follow You in Return on Twitter
From Mashable: List compiled by a Twitter “power user” regarding the major reasons why he will or will not return a Twitter follower’s follow when it happens.
99 best social-media and PR posts of 2009 – Holy Kaw! http://bit.ly/85IsrP
The Art of Social Media Optimization http://bit.ly/7dwoMb
8 Social Media Marketing Tips for Companies http://bit.ly/6DMxfD
5 Low Cost or Free Social Media Monitoring Tools – Online … http://bit.ly/7RB62U
How to Convince a Company that Social Media is the Way to Go http://bit.ly/5dp9Nw
Social Media Marketing – Who, What, When, Where, Why and How?
From Louis Gray: Another great getting-started post from Louis….if you’re just looking to get started in social media or deciding if it’s right for you and/or your business, he helps you ask the right questions to make your decisions.
The Essential Guide to Social Media
From Brian Solis: Download this comprehensive PDF ebook that provides an executive guide to Social Media for PR, Customer Service, Product Development and Marketing.
Social Media Marketing Campaigns: How to Set Goals and Define Your Target Market
From DoshDosh: This article talks about the most common goals for social media marketing and includes suggestions on how you can determine your target audience.
10 Secrets of the Best Social Media Users
From Digital Labz: Here are 10 steps to creating a successful social media marketing strategy.
How Social Media Marketing Can Build Your Business | Blog Fully http://bit.ly/4DgCqm
Social Media Marketing- the Top 10 Mistakes People Will Make in … http://bit.ly/8sNZ1G
Social Media Marketing- 11 of the Most Critical Words to Use in … http://bit.ly/5PMa8c
Why B2B Companies Should Be Using Social Media | Socialmedia.biz http://bit.ly/5SP34s
Starting a Social Media Strategy | chrisbrogan.com
From Chris Brogan: Solid advice and ideas on things to consider when starting to plan your social media strategy.
Social Media Starter Pack
From Chris Brogan: Advice on the most important social media tools you’ll want to use when getting started in social media.
50 Ways to use Social Media, listed by Objective
From Forrester Analyst Jeremiah Owyang: 50 ways marketers can use social media to improve their marketing segmented into Forrester’s 5 social computing objectives (e.g. Listening, Talking, energizing, supporting and embracing).
35 Tips for getting started with social media
From Mike Fruchter’s blog- My Thoughts On Social Media: Useful steps and advice for those just getting started with social media.
40 Key Elements to Getting Started In Social Media
From Louis Gray: Social media is more than just the tools, it is about the human element. This post touches upon 40 key elements to aid your success.
Practical Guide to Social Media | Small Business Marketing Blog … http://bit.ly/6Z3YRs
Social Media Isn’t Enough: Why You Need a Dedicated Web Presence … http://bit.ly/7qfNXi
How Dell handles customer service and sales through social media … http://bit.ly/55eZzL
Best Practices in Social Media
From the Society for New Communications Research: 6 Best Practices Tip Sheets for: Developing a Social Media Policy , Corporate Blogging, Co-creation, Blogger Relations, Online Press Releases and Using Social Networks
Social Media Strategy- The Planning Stage
From Chris Brogan: Good list of elements to consider when building a social media strategy for your organization
Twitter for Business Reading List
From Pistachio: Excellent selection of articles covering toipcs you need to know about Twitter for your business.
How Companies Use Twitter to Bolster Their Brands
From BusinessWeek: Good article that is part of Business Week’s CEO Guide to Microblogging.
Superlist of What Not To Do In Social Meda
From our own collection of casestudies and articles about what not to do in social media- mistakes, blunders, failures, etc. .
Comparing Six Ways to Identify Top Blogs in Any Niche
From ReadWriteWeb: A comparison of the pros and cons of six different services to identify top blogs for your business.
Social Media Strategy – Aligning Goals and Measurements
From Chris Brogan: Discussion of importance of aligning goals and measurements to social media strategies.
Defining Twitter Goals: A Tip for Successful Use of Twitter
From Twitip: Useful advice and thoughts on setting specific goals for your use of Twitter.
10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners
From Twitip: Not sure where to begin with Twitter? This article provides simple step by step advice to become Twitter savvy.
The Top Ten Reasons for Building an Online Community in 2009
From Vovici: If you don’t currently have an online community, and you are not thinking of building an online community next year, you should be. Here’s the Top 10 reasons why.
Comparing Six Ways to Identify Top Blogs in Any Niche
From ReadWriteWeb: How then can you identify the top blogs in a particular niche field? There are paid services you can use to identify influencers online but they are expensive and not appropriate for quick hits in a new topic. Here’s a comparison of the pros and cons of six different options that are fast and free.
The Social 7
An informative (and fun!) weekly video newscast/conversation that covers the week’s top 7 stories in social media marketing from Nick Mendoza, Alex Miller and Andrea Nowack.
Secret Underground Guide to Using Social Media for Organizations
From Colin McKay of Canuckflack.com: A free PDF guide for exploring the world of social media and building support for social media in a large organization.
Twitter Handbook
From Deb Micek and Warren Whitlock: Get this free PDF e-book, a comprehensive introduction and overview on Twitter and how you can use it to improve the way you do business and market online.
Developing Your Twitter Muscles
From Twitip: A few easy ways to bulk up your Twitter presence that don’t require much, if any, heavy lifting.
Five Ways to Use Social Media to Reach People Who Don’t Use Social Media – ReadWriteWeb
From ReadWriteWeb blog: Great advice on five strategies for using social media to reach people who don’t use social media along with a list of specific tools you can use to do it.
How To Identify & Target The Right Niche Social Media Sites
From Search Engine Land: How to identify these sites and make sure that you won’t just be wasting your time.
Your Brand’s Checklist for Twitter
From A New Marketing: A few things that every brand can do to enhance their Twitter account and make sure that they reach their goals with the program
How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business
From Copyblogger: Article reveals how bestselling authors and business professionals use Twitter to grow their business and offers advice on how you can use Twitter to achieve your goals.
How to: Build a Social Media Cheat Sheet for Any Topic
From ReadWriteWeb: Step-by-step instructions, with screen shots, for a process to get up to speed on the social media activity in your field or market as fast as you can.
Use Twitter for your Business the Right Way
From Twitip: Some tips to rub your Twitter followers the right way. Soon you’ll find out how loyal and supportive these people can be if only you took the time to get to know them.
18 Ways To Engage Users Online (A Guide for Community Managers)
From Angela Connor: A Free PDF ebook with advice on how to get people to engage and interact with your community.
Social Media Marketing Tactics By Site
From SEOmoz: Review of the benefits and drawbacks of 30 of the top social media sites
Practical 101s: Tips For New Twitter Users
From Dave Fleet: 8 suggestions for how to get the most out of Twitter.
HOW TO: Win Friends and Twinfluence People
From Mashable: 10 tips on winning friends and twinfluencing people using for those still somewhat new to the service.
Develop a Twitter Landing Page
From Problogger: A twitter landing page is a page on your blog or website that is specifically written for those arriving at your blog having clicked on the link in your twitter profile. Advice on why and how to develop one.
How Do You Build An Online Community?
From Feverbee: Fantastically rich post on getting an online community up and running successfully with hyperlinks to detailed information.
50 Ways Marketers Can use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing
From Chris Brogan: List of 50 solid ideas of ways companies can use social media to enhance their marketing and PR efforts
10 Ways to Spy on Your Competitors
From Sitepoint: How to Use the Internet and tools like Twitter, Blogs and Bookmarks to spy on Your Competitors
25 Ways to Build Your Community
From Chris Brogan: 25 solid suggestions for building your blog and community.
Free Report: Twitter Jump Start – The Twitter Guide for Small Non-Profits
From CorporateDollar Blog: Download a free comprehensive guide to Twitter for non-profits.
A Minimalist’s Guide to Using Twitter Simply, Productively, and Funly
From Zen Habits: Advice regarding different ways you can use Twitter without spending too much time doing it.
Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki Maintains a directory of Fortune 500 companies that have active public business blogs. The blogs are listed along with links to reviews of the blogs.
Now is Gone List of Case Studies Geoff Livingston, author of the book Now is Gone maintains a list of social media case studies on his blog of the same name.
The Corporate Twitter Awards List
Forrester’s Groundswell Awards
List of 75+ Big Brand Corporate Blogs
Ignite Social Media’s 26 Social Media Marketing Examples In Depth
The Twitter Brand Index
NewPR/Wiki’s List of Corporate Blogs An extensive A to Z list of corporate blogs on this Wiki, a collaborative tool for PR professionals
300+ Cases & Examples of Social Media Marketing
Society for New Communications Research Award Winning Case Studies
40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them

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Concordian Interview

Koka Sexton — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:39:07 +0000

Last month I met with a writer for a local Concord Ca. paper called the Concordian. The Concordian has been around a really long time. I should have asked the date they started. I couldn’t find it on the website.The paper was mailed to everyone in the city. It was a free monthly newspaper that talked just about our not-so-little city. Not to be confused with the local blogs like Mayor of Concord or Claycord that fill the internets with news. Recently the paper has had to stop the mailings but still prints thousands of copies and places them in Concord, Pleasant Hill and surrounding area.

The writer André Gensburger who is also the co-publisher for the paper first entertained the idea of talking with me a few months ago. He said my background would be something interesting that the community may want to read about. The topic of the article was to talk about how I have adjusted post Iraq. I agreed and thought this would be a nice thing to talk about. The last time I was interviewed by the media for Iraq was after coming home and talking to reporters that had read my Last Letter From Iraq.

The email letter was written about 30 minutes after being extended again and was sent to my family as a way to vent. It was forwarded around and I started getting email responses from complete strangers showing their support. It made its way onto a reporters desk and then the requests to talk started. Only so much could be explained while I was still deployed, but once I got home I got my 5 minutes of fame. I was on the news and written about in the SF Chronicle. It was nice to see my name in the paper and my face on the TV. My family got a kick out of it also.

I met André at the local Starbucks, sat down with my iced venti quad mocha and waited for him to pull out a pad of paper. I figured he was going to take notes because any other interview I have ever given that’s what the reporter did. Even when I was being video taped for the CBS News, the reporter had a note pad. André pulled out a tape recorder and asked if that would be cool. Sure. I thought “what could it harm?”. Other than the fact that I may run off on a tangent or say something I shouldn’t, there was nothing to fear. Sorry André, I was a bit intimidated by the recorder but I thought I was a good sport about it.

Instead of taking notes, trying to catch quotes or other information. Why not just have a conversation, see where it goes and then pull from it for the piece. It actually makes a whole lot more sense that way. Again I was concerned I was about to foot my foot in my mouth. As my wife can attest, I have a tendency to do this often. André made it clear that if there was something I didn’t want in the article after I say it, just ask for it to be removed. I have seen this play out on TV more than once. “oh…Ya…off the record…”. Then only the stuff you wanted stricken from the interview is published. Thankfully there were only a couple episodes of ‘foot in mouth‘ and nothing all that bad, just not something I wanted printed for complete strangers to read.

We spoke for about an hour and the entire process was almost too easy. We started talking about Iraq then moved into some background about me and my family. We covered a lot of ground in an hour and at the end he turned off the tape recorder. By the end I had completely forgot he put the recorder on the table. I really started wondering if I had commented on something I should have redacted. Too late now.

Andre sent me a copy of the article that was sent for print. I was more than a little excited to see how the entire piece turned out. He had asked for some pictures for the article and I pointed him to my online photo Flickr account and told him to use what he wanted and pointed him to some of my favorites. He got a picture of me and Grayson in the article. That made me smile. I read through the entire document a couple times. Sure, it’s all about me but considering Andre and I spoke for about an hour, he pulled pieces from the conversation that were scattered through the time line and wrote them all out as if in a chronological order. He did a great job. Andre mentioned he would get me a nice copy not on newsprint that I can put away for safekeeping. I still plan on getting copies of the Concordian around Concord just for family. The print version isnt released for a few more days so I’ll wait to post the entire article.

If you happen to get a copy and read the article, leave me a comment. I’m excited to hear what anyone thinks.

Additional Posts you may like:

SOCOM Sales Redesign

Koka Sexton — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:02:41 +0000

Tweaking my websites and blogs is actually really fun for me. I love finding a new theme and getting into the code to make it my own. Since my online sales tips blog hasn’t had a real refresh since February 08, I spent some time making it look a bit more clean. I used the same theme as HyperLocal Edge since it seems to be my new favorite.

SOCOM Sales started off as a way for me to blog about my journey as a sales person and has morphed into a blog that covers a bunch of different topics. I was getting such a great responce to the site through comments and emails that I even wrote a Channel Sales Playbook to explain how to run a channel sales team. The e-book is free and there are plans to put together a more detailed and expansive e-book covering channel sales in a very simple format.

SOCOM Sales was my first professional applicationof using social media. Besides having a blog with over 300 posts on sales tips and selling skills, I manage a Twitter profile called Sales tools that has grown to a following over 1000.

Most of that growth has been in the past month. I was happy with the followers before but I figured since I am currently out of work I would spend more time building my sales tools network and using social media to fill my time looking for a new place to work. Getting to know more of my sales tools network has been fun and I have met some very professional sales people through Twitter I never would have known before.

I put together a Facebook page for the site as well. Really I just wanted another Facebook page to test my skills on. Since this is in a different niche that the HyperLocal marketing site, there will be a seperate set of tabs and information that will be broadcast on the SOCOM Sales Facebook page. I need to do some more customization to the fan page but I am gad that I have gotten a few fans already even though a few of them are collegues of mine from work.

Additional Posts you may like:

Everything you ever need to know about Twitter

Koka Sexton — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:51:10 +0000

I recently wrote about Twitter saying “Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (or “tweets”; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service [SMS], instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific.” I thought I would put together a post for people to reference on everything you need to know about Twitter.

A great place to start is a video on YouTube called “Twitter in plain english.” This is a great overview for the people that ask “WTF Twitter?” and gives you a 10,000 foot view of what the possibilities are with it. By now you should have an account and you may even be following a few people that you know. Step out of your comfort zone and start following other people.

Twitter Tracking

A great way to find people on Twitter that have the same interests as you is to use the Twitter Tracking feature. Start tracking some keywords that interest you like “Starbucks” or “Earthquake” and when ever someone puts that in their update across the entire Twitter network, you will get a message. Then you can choose to follow them or not. I find people all the time that I want to follow from using Twitter Tracking. Valleywag wrote about how Twitter Tracking takes all the fun out of stalking. I say track away and hear what other people are saying about your favorite celebrity, product or city.

Follow people and be followed.

Initially I was only following about 10-20 people that I had already known from other sites but by tracking comments and digging through my friend’s followers, I built up a decent list of people to follow on Twitter. Thats when Twitter becomes interesting. As I followed more people, I started seeing that they would follow me and then some of their friends would start following me too. This started a spiral of following and followers that has incrementally increased over time. People like Robert Scoble has upwards of 15,000 people he is following.

Now you don’t need to get notifications on your phone for everyone, you can select who you want to interrupt you while you are out and about by turning off the device updates in your settings. This way you can make sure you never miss an update by the people you actively want to follow.

Common list of Twitter commands

@username + message

directs a twitter at another person, and causes your twitter to save in their “replies” tab.
Example: @ijustine I love that song too!

D username + message

sends a person a private message that goes to their device, and saves in their web archive.
Example: d krissy want to pick a Jamba Juice for me while you’re there?

WHOIS username

retrieves the profile information for any public user on Twitter.
Example: whois jack

GET username

retrieves the latest Twitter update posted by the person.
Example: get goldman

NUDGE username

reminds a friend to update by asking what they’re doing on your behalf.
Example: nudge biz

FAV username

marks a person’s last twitter as a favorite. (hint: reply to any update with FAV to mark it as a favorite if you’re receiving it in real time)
Example: fav al3x

STATS

this command returns your number of followers, how many people you’re following, and which words you’re tracking.

Once you start getting more involved with the Twitter you will see that it is really a community of people that just want to give constant updates to people that are following them. Why does someone want to get an update if you’re stuck in traffic? Maybe they will give you a call to pass the time or send you a direct message of a funny joke to lighten the mood. don’t think this is weird, it’s happened to me.

Twitter Etiquette

As any community will tell you, there are unspoken rules of etiquette that you should follow. This has been talked about on several websites like MWGblog, Global Geek News Blog, and WebProNews. You could always Google Twitter etiquette and see more. The top 3 I will mention are:

Keep it clean. Unless you are foulbastard (Why would anyone follow him, I don’t know) don’t be vulgar in your updates. If you have something off color to say send it as a direct message or don’t update it.
Don’t bash other Twitterers. Why would you want to start a Twitter war and pit people up against one another? If you want to do that, again use the direct message.
Don’t post the same update across multiple services. I was doing this for a while with Pownce and got hit with a few direct messages that said it looked like I was spamming them. Sure they can always unfollow you but is that what you want?

Get involved in the conversation

Sure you can just lurk around with all the people you are following and just keep track of what they are doing but thats boring. Start replying to them with the ‘@’ command and start a dialog. Most people are too busy to have a full conversation with you but if someone you are following says something interesting, respond. There is nothing better than getting an @ reply from your followers. I’ve watched conversations last for several minutes with some people writing back an forth. Some think that is excessive but who the hell is any ‘user’ to say what Twitter should or should not be used for. Just don’t break etiquette.

Advanced Twitter

Chances are you have a blog or are online a lot if you have been exposed to Twitter. There are ways to integrate Twitter with your every day online lifestyle with some simple tools.

Twitterfeed: Performs a useful service. It can take almost any blog and feed it into a Twitter account, so you see new items when you’re on Twitter or using any of the Twitter applications. Webware has a good explanation of ways to use Twitterfeed.

Shareaholic: This is a Firefox plugin that lets you send a Twitter update. Found something awesome online and can’t wait to pass it on? Tired of copying and pasting endless URLs? Shareaholic allows you to share, bookmark and e-mail web pages quickly without leaving your browser.

Twittervision – a Google Maps/Twitter mashups that lets you see Twitter updates on a world map. Works only for users who have their location set up in Twitter preferences.

TwitTwoo Another Wordpress Plugin that displays Twitter status in the sidebar of your Wordpress blog. It’s nicely designed, and it displays your Twitter avatar next to the tweets.

EmailTwitter – allows you to post Twitter updates and retrieve your Twitter timeline via your cellular phone or other e-mail enabled mobile device, without incurring SMS fees.

Twitter Badges: This comes straight from the developers of Twitter: Flash badges intended to be displayed on your website, showing your latest Twitter posts

TwitterBuzz is an interesting tool that turns Twitter into some sort of simple Digg. It displays a list of most popular links on Twitter. You can see all the Twitter messages mentioning the link.

TwitterFeed – a service that combines OpenID and Twitter to let you feed the entries on your blog to Twitter

Twitterholic keeps a top list of users based on how often the post, how many friends they have, and other factors.

Twitteromatic – a tool that posts all sorts of information (weather, Firefox updates) to Twitter automatically.

Twit This is a badge similar to the popular “Digg This” badges, which help the visitors of a web site to quickly include its URL into a Twitter post. It’s available as a Javascript snippet, a bookmarklet or a Wordpress plugin.

TwitterSearch Simple Twitter search.

I am sure there are a lot more than this as far as Twitter Tools go. Leave me a comment of any other you know of.

Twitter resources

There are many resources available online that give you a deeper insight into Twitter if you are interested. Here are some of the onces I know of. What are others?

What do you think? Is this a good resource for Twitter users?

Please add any other tips or suggestions you have in my comments.

Additional Posts you may like:

Super list of 50 social media links

Koka Sexton — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:55:55 +0000

Have you ever wanted to know more about how to make a huge impact in social networking? From Blogs to Twitter and everywhere in between. I have collected a Super Link List from around the blogosphere for you to be all that you can be online!

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Generation YOU.

Koka Sexton — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:12:28 +0000

Needless to say the internet has made a revolution in the ways people in a modern society communicate, collaborate and express their needs, wants and desires. The speed of new technology brought to market seems to be quicker than most can keep up with. Even for the die hard there is only so many social networking sites and posts in their online journals that they can make in the normal day. This does not seem to be a deterrence though.

Blogging is now a front line rival to commercial journalism. Everyone seems to have a blog of some type these days. Maybe just a blurb on their Facebook.com or MySpace.com page and for the dedicated, an entry into the WordPress or Blogger account. If you really want, you can always Digg it too. I remember when I was blogging my time overseas, I got an email from a reporter for the Los Angeles Times who wanted to use some of my information in an article she was using. I was flattered to say the least, but it goes to show that reporting as it was once known has made a revolution. Everyday people are deciding the next new headlines and not a boardroom of stuffy editors trying to design the world news.

With internet speeds becoming much faster and more affordable, people jumped at the opportunity to post videos on YouTube of their crazy antics or one sided conversations about their life. Then the launch of sites such as uStream have become the next evolution. No longer happy with just the printed word, young and old alike are now streaming their life in real time over the web. Besides the cost of the DSL or cable connection, all you need is a decent computer and webcam and you can broadcast your existence to hundreds or thousands of viewers at once. This technology has been commercialized for the use of everything from relationship advice to technology discussions and is completely interactive with IRC chat rooms and phone calls that have made normal media pale in comparison.

It would seem that the next evolution would take a bit of time to emerge, but not far after a college graduate named Justin Kan enter the scene, did the lifecasting generation poke through the fields. Justin’s start up Justin.tv has brought lifecasting to the masses. Not just a video log of past events, but a real time in your face experience of what everyday people are doing on a minute by minute moment. Starting off as just a single ‘channel’ and making the opportunity available to other people ready to stay on the edge of the web, it wasn’t going to take long to get some takers on the next generation of web2.0 junkies.

A prime example of these pioneers is Justine Ezarik from Pennsylvania. She is a web design and video editor that looks to have gotten her start filming videos on the street, parking lots and even in the corners of Wal-Mart along with her best friend and roommate Desiree. Justine or iJustine as she is known to her thousands of friends and online fans, took after the internet in a fury. She was part of the national Yahoo talent search and just doing a Google search of her name generates approximately 200,000 links to various blogs, video sites and news clippings of her work and exposure on the web. She once claimed during a brief interview on ABC’s Nightline that she was born with an Apple Inc. logo birthmark. It seemed natural that a creative and charismatic Justine who openly jokes that she “is the internet” would enter the 24/7 world of lifecasting. In May of 2007 she hooked a camera to her hat and the iJustine.tv show was born.

Justine Ezarik can be seen hanging out at her apartment watching the entire 4 series of LOST while doing her video editing and her viewers can travel along with her to Los Angeles, San Francisco and where ever else she finds herself. Some days are boring with the camera sitting on a table as we watch Justine edit one of her many videos or when she needs a bit of privacy, we get to see a great framed picture of Steve Job’s the CEO of Apple Inc that she keeps on her desk. Most days are pretty eventful. Regardless of if she is at home working or on the road, she gets into the chat room and talks to the fans, telling stories to the camera or just talks about what ever is on her mind at the moment. Sometimes acting silly just to watch the viewers go crazy writing messages on the board of how great she is. This level of interaction combined with the ever so subtle product placements could be the next venue of advertising if done right.

With online applications like Twitter and Pownce which allow for constant communication like a mashup of IM and file sharing being integrated with a personal web site that can give detailed adventures. People can keep in touch with their friends, business partners and fans easily through web, sms or mobile web applications that make being out of touch almost impossible. Most applications have alert systems that can notify you through IM, email or txt messages of what any of your connections are doing ay time of the day or night.

It seems that anyone with a computer today can claim their piece of the fame market share. Some will actually see the finish line where ever that may be. This generation of people that live their lifes online through blogs, video and full interaction is still in the beginning phases and in the next few years I think that the talent pool of lifecasters will triple. Once the integration of the web gets more seamless people will be able to check in on anyone they have access to 24 hours a day. The YOU Generation is upon us. Where do you fit in?

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Soldiers life: Were not done yet April 15th

Koka Sexton — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 03:54:00 +0000

Five days before I was supposed to get on a plane and return home from the Sunni Triangle, an order came down from General Sanchez himself that the 341st MP Co. from San Jose Ca. was going to be extended yet again after their 365 days had been fulfilled. Most of our equipment had been handed over to our replacements leaving us with our individual weapons and our belief that our year long tour had finally come to an end.

Fortunately the unit had only had to send home a few soldiers to minor combat related injuries and with the constant fear of the next roadside bomb or ambush tarnishing that accomplishment, almost being done and getting off the dangerous roads made us all take a deep breath of relief. With the footlockers closed and put away and the final preparations being done, our unit was ready to send our advanced party back to the US to get things ready for our homecoming.

Just hours before that happened the phone rang in our day room as I watched the morning news about the war that was taking place outside our gates. The commander took the phone and his tone immediately changed from pleasantries to swearing at an imaginary person standing over him. He hung up the phone and told everyone in the dayroom to get the troops together because we had to have a company formation.

People were woken up and some were interrupted as they sat outside their dusty tents talking about what big trips they were planning in the coming weeks. We are now being sent to a prison facility and our unit is being re-classed to prison guards at the countries central holding facility for prisoners of war. The extension will be anywhere from three to four months on top of the 13 months we have already been on active orders. People took the news like they were hit by a truck. But most of us were not surprised, we haven’t caught a break in this country since we drove our humvees across the border. From weeks at isolated relay stations in 130 plus degree heat filled with sand storms to finding out the news of our second extension orders throwing us in the middle of the Sunni Triangle driving daily convoys and patrols down the most dangerous routes in and around Baghdad and now to this.

The emotional rollercoaster these soldiers have gone on is a ride nobody should have to take. The families of the soldiers have almost been brought to the breaking point as we were given tentative dates to redeploy in September 2003 then to January of 2004 and again when the final extensions were handed down to keep us in Iraq a total of 365 days. Marriages have ended and babies have been born that wont see their fathers until they are over a year old. Its difficult for a soldier to understand how so much bad fortune can fall on one group so consistently and its intensified when a person needs to tell their families and children that they need to cancel the welcome home festivities because they were handed a piece of paper saying their services are needed for another few months over and over again.

Our company First Sergeant had a white board hanging from his door that had a count down to the day we would be done. The day we hit double digits was a night of celebration and watching the numbers get below thirty made the light at the end of the tunnel seem surreal. Soldiers that had accepted the high tempo of working fifteen to twenty days in a row before a day off had finally allowed themselves to relax. The infantry unit that took over our mission showed up early and eagerly took over the job and the redeployment numbers dropped from 25 days to 15 overnight. We couldn’t believe that we had made it. We had achieved the status of being the most senior Military Police company in theatre as well as becoming the second most senior unit to still be on ground. Now as I’m told it seems that in a week we will become first in both categories. Soldiers need to call home yet again and tell their loved ones that even with five days to go that the Army has changed its mind. I don’t know how I’m going to do it and by the look on people’s faces after the news, I would guess no one else does either.

The 341st Military Police Co. has some of the most resilient troops I know. I alone have been hit by numerous explosives along the convoy routes and had to react to ambushes by men armed with AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades shooting from rooftops and crowded markets. I’ve had to tend to the serious injuries of civilian contractors that had their vehicles ripped apart by roadside bombs and other attacks and collect the personal effects of the men that were not so fortunate to live through them. My heart goes out to the families of these brave souls that wanted to help the war effort in whatever way they could, relying on us to protect them. Watching the morning news as a couple of contract truck drivers from our base talk about the brutal attack on their convoy that we had been escorting that day made me realize how fortunate they truly were.

Every soldier in the 341st has collected stories like this in the time we have been in country. Most of us have become numb to the carnage we experience on an almost daily basis and until the news this morning I had been sitting around some of my closest friends trying to discuss how we would ever be able to put this place and its events behind us. It will be more difficult for some than others. No other modern war has kept troops in a combat zone longer than a year because of the instability it can cause.

The memories of the chaos and bloodshed will stick with us forever no matter what we do about it. We are now going beyond our duty to fill gaps in the military that should not have been made. Its like a draft has been enacted on the Reserve and National Guard troops and there is no escape. People’s entire military contracts have been served and yet the Army can still hold them and then we watch as active duty soldiers get on planes because the same obligation applies differently to them. There is no feeling of “The Army of One” in Iraq.

I feel sorry for the Army and the military as a whole if this trend continues as it seems likely for the next few years. Retention in the armed services will plummet and our national security will suffer. There will be no reason for budget cuts to close down bases and downsize the military when the citizen soldiers just stop going to drill after being disgusted with the accepted disregard of their status in the Army.

Reserve and National Guard troops make up over half of the military and we get treated like unwanted stepchildren while we perform the same dangerous missions as our active counterparts. I and the troops of the 341st will persevere. We are now going to serve in a prison, guarding inmates that are being held for placing the same bombs along the roads, ambushing convoys and firing rockets or mortars into the bases that have taken the lives of our over 600 brothers and sisters. This is going to be one of the most difficult transitions we will have to make but we will make it. I don’t expect this letter to change anything for my unit. We are upset from our situation but we are prepared to answer the call.

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