BlogHer Business vs. SXSWi = My thoughts

This has been a very busy start of the year for me.  I fulfilled some personal objectives and made an effort to be social, not just online but in person.  To this goal, I attended two very different conferences, SXSWi (South by Southwest Interactive) in March, and BlogHer Business (BHB) at the beginning of April.  I got done with SXSWi, and while it wasn’t perfect, I was happy that I went there.  That is, until I went to BHB and saw what a conference could and should be.

Don’t get me wrong - a lot of people GET SWSW and what they’re trying to accomplish.  I heard many times that I shouldn’t expect too much from the sessions, and SXSW is “all about the hallways.”  But why did I come out of those 4 days feeling like I had wasted a lot of time, after spending 2 incredibly productive days with the BlogHer crowd?  Three main areas of comparison come to mind:

Sessions - At SXSW, I got the feeling that a lot of them were winging it.  The session I always come back to as the best example of “phoning it in”, literally and figuratively, is the one on creative mobile content that featured Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Heuer and Chris Brogan.  These are thought leaders, people who have blogs I follow religiously and often quote in my own dealings.  No offense guys, but your session was useless.  Essentially, they broke the audience up and took us out of the room to “create”.  My group stood in the Bloghaus while Jerimiah talked with someone into what looked like a tape recorder.  I didn’t get any perspective into why he was asking the questions that he was (if he even was asking questions).  I got the feeling that Chris Heuer was trying harder, but still, it wasn’t working for me.  I didn’t see Brogan, so I can’t say what he was or wasn’t doing.   When you put the thought leaders of social media in a room, you expect more.   I got really angry when I realized that I was missing Kathy Sierra’s session, and after about 10 minutes of staring at this, I headed to Kathy’s well-prepared session (and learned a ton).  

In contrast, all of the BlogHer Business sessions were focused, information packed, and productive.  Plus, they run on time!  Speakers spend a great time planning what they are going to say, whether they have powerpoints or not.  Moderators add value by directing the conversation and adding their own viewpoints where appropriate.  In the two days at BHB, I got enough inspiration to last me at least a year.  Until I next BH event, I suppose!

Focus - SXSW is huge, and offers a lot for more than just me.  So, truth be told, you may be an interactive designer, or some other field than marketing and really would get more out of SXSW that I can.  BHB is totally focused on me and what I do - it’s for marketers, PR folks, advertisers and the like.  For that reason alone, I found myself at home there. 

Socialization - OK, so SXSW is all about the hallways.  But I have to tell you, I made more connections, and more valuable connections at BHB in 2 hours of meet and greet than I did in all my time at SXSW.  I’ll pull BHB’s hallways up against SXSW’s any day. 

I’m sure I’m opening myself up to some flaming and negative comments, but BlogHer Business was such an amazing and productive meeting for me, and I really wanted to give Jory, Elisa, Lisa and Kristy some love for making that happen.  I also want people to know for next year, when I have a choice, I’m going to BHB and skipping SXSW.  Anyone looking to better understand women bloggers and learn how to make connections with them cannot afford to miss BHB.   

Soapbox dismounted.  Flame away. 

 

BlogHer Business Day 1

Well, I survived to tell the tale.  I’m not talking about the most excellent BlogHer Business conference in NY.  No, I’m talking about commuting home on MetroNorth.  Mr IT took his usual 5:30 train, and I took a 6:15 train, figuring I would take a cab home from the train station.  Once we got out of the tunnel, I got an email from him telling me that his train was stuck due to brake problems.  Net net, I got home 20 minutes before he did.  Little IT was at play practice, and then at the science fair, so she hadn’t eaten dinner.  We got take away from our local Chinese joint and all sat around the dinner table to decompress.

ANYHOW, back to the matter at hand.  I continue to be impressed at the quality of a conference BlogHer puts on.  Today was a review of the state of social media today and presentation of successful case studies in using social media and engaging bloggers.  The speakers were thoughtful and inspiring, and ranged from a true small business (a farmer who sells worms online), to mainstream marketers from GM and Method, to bloggers from Microsoft.   I was fortunate to experience these speakers surrounded by my co-workers, who were alternately inspired to do more in the social media space, and freaked out/frustrated that we aren’t doing more as a group in this space.  But we’re here, we’re listening, and we’re learning how to join the conversation.

Most of the case studies focused on how a company had a product or service they wanted to promote, and how they decided to court bloggers to help promote it.  The stories were charming in some cases, belying the fact that these are very savvy companies looking to push their products.  This was downplayed in almost all cases.  “We want to engage the bloggers, but not dicate to them.”  “We never tell the bloggers they must write about us.”  In a sense that reminded me of when Amazon first came online.  I would email their editor (editor singular - they have 50 or so, but back then there was only one) with suggestions for books to promote on the site.  They were always selected around a theme, but they were not always Wiley books.  Todd was always happy to take ideas into consideration and often did feature books I suggested.  Now, of course, there’s a 50 page manual that details the cooperative marketing plans involved in something like this.  I can’t help but think that the next time GM approaches someone like the Manic Mommies to provide complimentary transportation for their escape weekend that they will be more savvy (or cynical, take your pick) and present them with a “sponsorship” plan involving beaucoup bucks. 

Right now, we have a small window of time where the bloggers are happy with the engagement these companies are getting into.  Individual bloggers all tell tales of the thrill that came when someone offered them something for free for the first time.  Now, many of them have stacks of products lined up that they have little time to review.  Virginity in the blogosphere dies hard.   

Overall at the conference, there is less networking than at SXSW, but that’s more because it’s a smaller group.  However, the quality in attendance is the cream of the crop.  The people here are a mix of PR and marketing types, true bloggers, and folks in the media business.  I feel I like I made better contacts on line for lunch than I did in a day in Austin.   And I look forward to more of the same tomorrow.   

 

Borders - this doesn’t make me smile

I was particularly bummed to see the articles about Borders mulling a possible sale.  It’s never a good thing to lose any bookstore, whether it’s the small corner store rapidly going the way of the do-do bird, or #2 chain in the US.  It’s a losing proposition for authors, publishers, and readers. 

There’s a school of thought that says that it’s ok, more customers will buy books online.  But if you think about it, that doesn’t always work that way.  Think about it.  Any time the retail locations diminish, so does the customers ability to buy the product.  OK, I can’t find a book at my local bookstore, or my local bookstore has gone under, so I have to buy online.  I have a choice - find another bookstore, buy it online, or just go without.  Unfortunately, reducing the amount of retail locations that sell books has been leading to people to make the last decision. 

It’s especially unfortunate because Borders seems to be making a move into social media.  Facebook has a Borders fan page online for big Borders and Books ETC.  Borders NY also has an event page that’s really handy.  I had no idea Alton Brown would be signing books this week until I saw that - thought you should know in case anyone wonders why I am taking Thursday off :-). 

I was depressed enough when the Borders near my house closed.  To think about the chain going away in any way, shape or form is something too horrible to even conceptualize. 

 

Getting ready for SXSW 08

I just realized that it’s *5* weeks until South By Southwest (SXSW) begins.  I’ve got my hotel room, and almost have my flights picked out.  They’ve just posted the panels by day and it looks like there are going to be a lot of great sessions to attend.  Also of note is the book reading schedule - Wiley* has quite a few authors participating in this, including:

Andy Beal (Radically Transparent)
Susannah Gardner (Blogging for Dummies, 2nd Edition)
Joelle Reeder & Katherine Scoleri (The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie)
Lisa Sabin-Wilson (WordPress for Dummies)
Daniel Terdiman (Entrepreneur’s Guide to Second Life)
Gina Trapani (Lifehacker: Upgrade Your Life)

I’ve never attended before, so I’m not sure what to expect.  I’ve only been to Austin once, and it was a last minute trip scheduled because an editor in the group who was supposed to be going to a conference quit two weeks before the start of the conference, and guess who had to show up to man the booth.  All I remember of Austin was:

1. Allergies-   I have never been so clogged up nasally speaking in my life.  I remember going back and forth from the hotel to the convention center clutching huge boxes of tissues because the pocket packs only gave me 10 minutes worth of snot control.

2. Damn good food - BBQ, Mexican, Southwestern, you name it.  I bet we could even find blueberry soup somewhere, Lisa…

 3. Bats - you’ve probably seen the travel shows about the bats in Austin that live under the bridge and fly out at dusk.  Well, I missed them.  Went to some overlook and everything, and missed them.  I won’t this time, and I plan on watching them with a batini.  In between SXSW sessions, OF COURSE. 

So if you’re going to SXSW, and want to attend a meet up or are having one yourself, please let me know.  I’ll bring the batinis…
*my apologies if you are a Wiley author I left off the list.  You might have a book from another division that didn’t immediately ring a bell with me.  Leave me a comment and I will be happy to rectify my mistake.

 

The Social Media Toolbox

For those on the dull side of the cutting edge (not my quote, but I love it) Jeremiah Owyang does a great job of trying to differentiate between blogs, forums and social networks. 

I’ve decided that people I work with must think I have split personalities, a short attention span, or a little of both.  Once hyped up on MySpace, I spend a good portion of a meeting extolling the virtues of Facebook.  Last week, I got all geeked out explaining Twitter to a group of marketers planning our BookExpo booth (I tweet, but I am not sold on it 100% yet) .  These things happen as new technologies some along and the community migrates.  Of course, I have no issue how this makes me look at all.  I used to post on The Source, way back when before it got eaten by CompuServe, and frequented multiple Usenet groups for fun ages ago, so I feel like a veteran around these parts anyhow. 

 

Some (IT) Girls Are Bigger Than Others

I’m currently trying to put together responses to two conference speaking requests that I’ve received.  Yes, I am insanely popular, but it still costs $6 to get across the bridge on the way home, so I don’t feel all that special. 

Anyhow, I’m trying to put together a brief synopsis of what I have to offer to conference attendees who might choose to listen to me, and I’m in need of a bit of feedback from the masses out there. 

What I do - I’m a marketing director at a publishing house that has put out quite a number of technology and business books, including many on social media.  Plus, I can mix a mean pitcher of Sangria. 

What I can talk about based on that experience - should you consider writing a book, how you work on getting published, do you need an agent or not, and how can you best work with your publisher (or on your own if you chose to self-publish) to insure that your book gets the maximum visibly in the channel.  I’m also prepared to dash your dreams about how your book will make millions, you’ll get on Oprah, and get to quit your day job as you buy that dream house in Malibu.  Also, I’m not afraid to tell you never use cheap wine in Sangria, because that’s just bad advice that will hurt you in the end.

For those who have attended meetups and conferences like PodCamp, BlogHer and the like, if you had the opportunity to talk with someone in the publishing field, what questions would you want answered?  

 

Name that bookstore section!

When we bring a new book proposal into the publishing house where I work, we often spend a lot of time talking about what the right shelf for a book is.  It’s not always an easy thing.  For instance, back in “the day”, circa 1995 or so, most books on the Internet, regardless of topic, went on a “General Computing” shelf.  So you had your how to hook up your computer to the Internet books sitting along side your Internet business, Internet marketing, Internet job search, and online dating books.  Over the years, these books have migrated to more topic specific shelves in other areas of the store.  Still, in the new era of social media, we’re often faced with a quandary when it comes to these titles.  Is a book on social media marketing best shelved in technology or in business?  We tend to make the decisions based on a number of factors:

* How techy exactly is the book?  Does it require basic knowledge (setting up a WordPress blog, opening a twitter account) or does it expect you to understand more intricate procedures (hosting your own blog, creating widgets)?  Techier books tend to go in the Technology section, while books without many screenshots and procedures go into Business.  It sometimes breaks out to theory books vs. practice, but it’s not always that cut and dry. 

* Where is the target customer going to be most likely to find the book?  The answer is rarely “at the front of the store”.  Even if we did get a front table or cash wrap placement for a title, a rare thing indeed for most tech and business books, that isn’t a category for shelving and every book needs one.  If the customer is more likely looking for similar books in tech rather than business, that’s our shelf.

* Where have other books we’ve done that are like this book gone, and how well have they sold?  A big consideration, results in the field do often sway our thinking, but the shelf is not static, and prior results are no guarantee of future performance. 

There are more considerations, but those are by far the most frequently referred to.  Now, I’m not a retailer, but I would love to see our bigger bricks and mortar chains come up with a section for social media books.  One where we could find “Naked Conversations” next to “WordPress For Dummies“, one shelf over from “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” and stuff like that.  Me, Ellen, as a customer is reading all types of books like this.  I’d love to find them on one hot, juicy social media shelf.  Not tech strictly, or business strictly, but my stuff.  This kind of stuff.  Not having to go all over the store to find it, but having one special place where it all resided.

The issue is irrelevant on Amazon, BN.com and other online retailers.  It’s in a physical store where books can only be shelved in one place where this really matters.  So I ask you, dear readers, what would you call the shelf where you can find all these books?  Social media, social networking, digital lifestyles, the cool books that everyone should be reading?  I’d love to make the pitch to some bricks and mortar retailers to create such a shelf, with the right name, of course.  The right name will give the signal to the customer that this is where they can find these books, but be in some senses lowest common demominator so as not to confuse or worse, scare away any prospective book buyers.  I think social media is great, but does everyone book buyer know what the prospect of a shelf with that header means?  Is Digital Lifestyles too 1999?

So, feel free to comment away!  Vote early and often. 

 

Did you miss it? Huh, huh? Did ya?

I was going to start this post by saying that majority of us are back from our winter holidays, but a quick glance around the perimeter of my office tells me otherwise.  I however, am back at work, and for the most part, am happy about it. 

As expected, I blogged, Facebooked and tweeted only sporadically during the holidays.  Family, both nuclear and extended, was the focus of my time the past two weeks.  In the world online, I saw some people take the full time off, and others were going just as strong.  The majority of people I follow, however, seemed to throttle back but did not completely remove themselves from the social media milieu. 

I wonder what these folks are thinking having come back. 

“Damn, I missed my twitter!”

“It was a lot easier to check in on my neighbors than it is to keep up online!”

“So THATS how I spent my time before Facebook!”

“My Google reader has 259 new entries!  Let’s get to work!”

I do hope that the preponderance of folks, myself included, cherished the time with our friends and family, and learned something about how to best balance our online and offline worlds so as not to lessen our impact in either of them.  I can’t say I missed following tweets, or signing up with new applications in Facebook, but I am glad to be reading more vivid blog entries from people I care about.  It’s good to know what matters.

 

The only Spock in my life is Mister

So, what’s the deal with Spock?  It seemed like a good idea months ago when I got the invite.  I corrected some information that was in there (hey, how did they get that info, anyhow?) and invited a friend or two to join.  About 3 weeks ago, I got another invite.  Hmmm, thought I was in there already.  Whatever.  I go back in and correct some more incorrect, ill-gotten info, and see they now have a friend adder where, much like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc, they go through your email accounts to find other friends on the service.  I do this for LinkedIn, since Gmail’s connection to Spock was down (a blessing, as I would soon find out) and it apparently sent Spock connections requests to every single person in my LinkedIn network.  That’s over 200.  And if it had done it in Gmail, it would be to over 1,000 people.

The annoying thing is that the connection request happened so quickly, it barely confirmed or even said, “Are you sure?”  It just pulled the trigger and sent out all that bac’n.  At least it’s holiday time, so the perplexed contacts on my LinkedIn list got to wish me a Merry Christmas while they yelled at me for inviting them to the mess that is Spock. 

I also figured out that I am there as my work email and as my gmail, with no way to connect the two.  I never signed up as my work email but since Spock apparently trolls around gathering info on people and putting them in there, even if they don’t want to be, that will happen.  Unlike sites like Zoominfo, you can’t correct that, combine multiple listings, or even opt-out.  I don’t know what purpose Spock is supposed to serve, but other than giving me a rant to put in a blog entry or a worst practice case study for social networking, I don’t know what it is. 

 

The return of Dummies Man to Facebook and the Beginning of My Identity Crisis

Some time ago I blogged about Dummies Man’s profile being pulled from Facebook.  I’ve got some good news and bad news about this. 

The good news is that my efforts with Facebook customer service have paid off and the profile for Dummies Man has been reactivated. 

The bad news (ok, maybe not bad, but not good, at least in my book) is that Dummies Man has a new name.  His name?  Ellen Gerstein.  Search for Ellen Gerstein on FB and you’ll see two of me.  One with my beautiful shining visage, the other with D-Man.  OK, there are some other Ellen Gersteins, but they don’t count here.

Here’s how this played out.  I wrote to FB and asked why “Dummies Man”, a character we own, is not permitted to maintain a profile.  This is the note I got in return:

Fake names are a violation of our Terms of Use. Facebook requires users to provide their full first and last names (i.e. no initials). Impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited. Nicknames can be used in the form of FirstName ‘NickName’ LastName, but only if they are a variation on your real first or last name, such as ‘Bob’ instead of ‘Robert’.

If you would like to use this profile again, just get back to us with your real name, and we will reactivate the account for you.

So, in an effort to save the profile, which our intern Joe lovingly created, I got back to them as me, Ellen Gerstein, and asked them to reactivate it.  Then, I went into the rejuvenated account and tried to change the name.  Dummies Man/Ellen Gerstein was a no go.  As was Ellen “Dummies” Gerstein.  And many other variations.  Why?  Because…

Before confirming your name change request, please read the following.

• Your Facebook profile must be attached to your real name.
• You must include your full name.
• Celebrity names, nicknames, or other fake names are not allowed and will not be approved.
• Obscenity, curses, and swear words are not allowed and will not be approved.
• ISn’t~ ThIs <3 AnN0YiNg 2 ReAd? Non-standard capitalization and special characters are not allowed and will not be approved.
• Do not try to combine sentences into one word; Jane Lookatmysupercoolnewnickname Smith will not be approved.
• We review all name changes, so this may take a while.

This is getting really complicated.  Any suggestions for a name that ISN’T necessarily mine that could be used for Dummies Man and not be in violation of FB rules???  And, again, Fake Steve Jobs can be on the site as Steve Jobs, and Dummies Man gets banned?  Really!