so… this morning, i took the liberty of asking those great twitter folks what the first four things they opened in their web browser in the morning. mine are simple, gmail, twitter, facebook and 4mations to check what’s been going on overnight. the answers you gave were quite interesting and only go to prove that google rule the world! lol.

1. gmail
2. google reader
3. twitter
4. facebook
5. google analytics
6. basecamp
7. skysports
8. own website
9. bbc
10. igoogle

the other sites, which all drew include delicious, techcrunch, randommel (bless your hearts!), flickr, online banking, google calendar, google docs, times online, lynda.com, forums, wikis, google alerts, magicseaweed, freelanceswith.com, visto.com, phpmyadmin.

on a completely different topic, i’ve had too much coffee today already and am a little over-excited about those interweb fairies again. i’m thinking that i want to do more with my site - post more regularly and mix it up. I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP. i’ve considered life casting (but my life isn’t all that interesting), i’ve considered product reviews (but i kinda love them all) and so i’d love to hear from you what YOU would like to see - after all, it’s all about you. i’d really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave your comments below.

thankyou mucho xxx

background

okay, so for those of you who haven’t been, sxsw is an awesome festival that takes place each march in Austin, celebrating interactive, music and film (not necessarily in that order, but we all know i’m a geek!). it’s by far one of the most fun events that i’ve ever been to and i’ve made some amazing friends and had some amazing hangovers as a result.

a change

now don’t get me wrong. i don’t have a drink problem, i don’t go to sxsw just for the parties. i do actually attend the presentations and boy, there have been some amazing ones - from the Zuckerberg keynote to the lifetime of secrets with Frank Warren where i actually cried (not many people know that, i blamed it on hayfever, sorry if you’re one of those that i fibbed to).

now, i’ve got the partying off pat…. i can do it rather well… i no longer fall asleep on people or lean on poor Ryan King to hold me up. i know to take plenty of paracetamol and water ready for the next morning and it always helps to have you outfit pre-picked so that you can sling yourself from the shower straight into your clothes and off you go. you see, i’m a bit of a pro.

this year though, i thought how much i’d love to not be able to drink one night and be “one of those” that have to be sensible because they have a panel the next day. so i set about submitting my panel ideas and they have been accepted for the panelpicker. excitement doesn’t describe the emotion when i found out and my smile was stuck for a good day and a half (i think people thought i had wind).

the panels

i know that i’ve already pimped it out and to be honest, short of flashiing my gnashers one more time, there’s not a lot more i can do with that. but, i did think that it would be good to give you some more background about the panels themselves (always helpful hey?).

walking the tech runway in stilettos

Lickle old me, Aubrey Sabala (digg), Tara Hunt (Citizen Agency), Sally Strebel (Best Party Ever), Kirstie Wells

all about being a girl in a boy’s world. and succeeding. a fun and lighthearted discussion that prepares females for greater success by helping them get comfortable in their own shoes. 5 panelists share the lessons learned on their journey toward success. plus i have some amazing stilettos lined up to wear if this gets through!!!

clear your ears for instant success

Lickle old me, Aubrey Sabala (digg), Tara Hunt (Citizen Agency), Sally Strebel (Best Party Ever), Vero Pepperrell (That Canadian Girl)

it’s a well known fact that whilst you’re in a conversation with someone you’re often thinking about what you’re going to say next rather than listening. this can be the same for businesses too. this panel discusses the skills it takes to have effective communication with your users and the benefits that brings.

and…

i’ve also been honored to be asked to speak on a further 2 panels that have been submitted by the lovely sally strebel. 5 Common Misperceptions of Technological Creativity and Climbing the Corporate Ladder in a Mini Skirt. i’m really excited about these panels as they’re both something that i’m passionate about. you can find full details here.

so, if you’d like to see me with my sensible hat on (for the whole of an hour), oh heck who am i kidding - it will be me being me, joined by some truly amazing women, i’d really appreciate you taking a couple of minutes out of your day to support us.

now to work out how i’d actually get there if the panels are successful… maybe i’ll party a little harder and save on hotel costs?

btw

thanks so much for the support that you’ve shown so far. things like this and this below really make me glow inside (even more than buying great shoes!!!). thankyou.

the one and only vero pepperrell kindly pointed me to an interview that the guys from freshbooks did with me at fowa miami earlier this year. i’m actually speaking in this video and it might give you an indicator as to why my weekly videos are done in mute!

oh you should probably know before you watch that i’m incredibly drunk, although you probably would have sussed that for yourself.

now yes, i can hear your chuckling. i know i was terribly drunk. i know that i could hardly stand and yes, yes, i know that texas is not north america… it was humour in my drunken state.

i hope that it made you chuckle, even if it was at my expense… taxi!

community bricks

i’m currently working on the social strategy for a really fun project. it’s challenging and rewarding. it’s what i enjoy and it’s something that i’ve spent a lot of time developing. as such, i’ve gone through what i consider to be the basic steps of building a successful community:-

1. establishing who the community is that you serve
2. deciding what problem it is that you’re solving and how you plan to solve it
3. working out where your community are having their conversations and how they want to be communicated with
4. finding out what it is that interests the members of the communities, what it is that bonds them, what tools they use etc.
5. what it is about your service/product that is actually going to distinguish you and make them give a damn

the company thang

having done that and established the networks i believed our users have adopted, i created corporate accounts on a number of sites that people who were interesting in what we were doing could connect with us on. for me, the benefit to this was that they’d easily be able to identify the tone and character of the brand and creates something for the company that anyone can use, rather than just myself. that makes sense right?

well why is it then that i still find myself updating content on my own networks as well as the branded networks? you’re guaranteed if i post a link on twitter i’ll get more than ten times the response as if i were to post it on the corporate twitter account. fact.

reputation

the change in our culture of late has meant that people zone out when they’re being marketed to - they rarely listen to ads, hate sales people (especially those of the stripy suit variety) and can see through thinly veiled social media attempts from the old boys trying to be cool.

someone that i barely know can recommend something on twitter or save a link on magnolia and i’m way more likely to check it out than a company persuading me to do so.

do your job

Brian Oberkirch recently wrote a really interesting piece about consumers not wanting to be talked to all of the time and i couldn’t agree more. for me, the perfect combination is having a company that let’s me have a nose (without that annoying person on your back asking if they can help until you have enough and leave) but is still on hand if you get lost and need a little point in the right direction.

the perfect company is one that uses their products and services as much as you, knows it inside out and is part of the conversation because they truly have something interesting to contribute, not because they feel they need to be seen to still be in the loop.

the insider

if the truth be known i think that people want to know who’s behind the scenes, they want to interact with someone that they know or have heard of, they want to know you’ve got flaws as well as sheen (why do you think so many mags sell when there’s pics of celebrities with blemishes - people don’t like perfection).

i realise for corporations that brings with it issues. you can’t rely on your marketing coming from a few individuals, after all what happens when those people leave? i’ve thought about this issue long and hard and i’m still not sure that i know the answer to be honest. it is a risk, but it’s a risk that you need to take, at the beginning anyway. surely it’s better you have people doing a bloody good job and getting your product or service out there into the domain and cross the other bridges when you come to them - after all, the hope would be that the brand would be well recognised by the time that happened?

the solution that i’ve settled for is to use both personal and professional. i converse with community members using the corporate name, encouraging people to recognise that there’s a human voice behind it. however, those same community members are also more than welcome to talk to me using my personal accounts. on twitter for example, my followers know if they follow me, they’ll hear about good days, bad days and the days where my heel snapped on the way to work. if they follow the work twitter account, they’ll hear about website developments, legal issues and exciting launches.

it becomes a different issue again when you throw seeding companies into the mix… but i won’t even get into that here. maybe i’m a small town girl with small town ideas but i’m going to stick with my beliefs. my beliefs that if you’re genuine, you care and you want to make a difference, your community will build. have nothing to hide, don’t be afraid to wear your heart on your sleeve and willing to share (collaboration is much more fulfilling than the feeling of hiding your ideas to keep that competitive advantage!).

onwards and upwards

it’s really not an easy situation to tackle and i think you need to remain open and flexible with your approach. be okay with the fact that you’re learning and developing - you’re on a journey and given time, your community members will be coming along for the ride too. i’d be really interested to hear how others approach this issue…