Let’s be honest, in this day in age, the writing market is saturated with those looking to get their feet wet, and they will do just about anything to keep them moist.  Most of them take corporate work to pay the bills and that’s great because people who are out there every day building connections are getting the opportunity to continue doing so while building their portfolio. But that’s not what I’m focusing on.  I’m talking about the people actually running that corporate blog. The people paying those writers.  They’re missing out on all the fun!

From my experience, there are two groups that usually control corporate blogs: the marketing/PR department of a company or their online marketing agency.

Some places do it right.  I’m not going to say this is that state of the internet, but there are still many that try really hard and just can’t seem to get off the ground.  I have worked on both sides of this equation and wish I could formulate the words needed to improve both methods. (side note: If it takes you more time to construct a blog post than it does for the topic to stay relevant – there’s an issue and you should check yourself.)

All I can say is “have a blogger run your company blog”.  If nobody in your company is a blogger, encourage them to get a Twitter and Tumblr account and just have at it.  They’ll learn.  If anything, they’ll learn how online posting works and the interaction that people have with each other.  It may seem like a one way dialogue at first but in time (and with patience) it can turn in to much more.

Do your research.  So what if somebody has already posted on the topic you were thinking of.  There are probably 100 other versions out there somewhere.  What will make each one unique is you.  No two people can write the same exact blog post.  If so, then there’s something wrong with both of your approaches. (or something really awesome is going on – call Stephen Hawking!)

Working internally, I realized one of the most difficult hurdles for a company to overcome is “who blogs for us?”  I don’t mean literally, I mean “who’s name are we going to slap on these posts?”  The best thing they can do is slap the name of the actual writer on there, but most readers don’t want to listen to Frank, the social media coordinator – they want to hear what Frank, the CEO has to say.  (it depends on the company, Frank the social media coordinator might be more interesting)   I’ve seen some CEO posts though, and, well.  Just because you post something on a blog, doesn’t make it a blog post.  Too much text, too much jargon, too much bluah.

The CEO might not have time – okay.  I can see the argument.  I’ve bought tape recorders and have asked people to just sit there and talk.  That’s it. No time constraint other than just talking.  From there, I would transcribe their thoughts, write it out and then distribute it as I know how to do.  Teamwork! Success! Bloggggggging!

Make it a collaborative effort.  Let everyone contribute the components they know the most about.

From the agency side, I have been asked to “train” blog contributors on how to blog.  The thought of this blows my mind.  Why so dramatic, Frank?  Well, here are a few reasons:

Those who ask “how to blog” typically already have a writing style that works for them and they probably don’t really want to change.  Is this good, bad, ugly?  I suppose some jargon lover somewhere loves their style – but it doesn’t translate well to the rest of the online world.

Even after you walk some people through examples of how a blog should have a voice and consistent point of view, the sterile machine steps in and bleeches their words.

That’s when it comes back around to more training.  We must have missed something the first round, so if we go over some more aspects of blogging then we are sure to get it. No,we won’t.  Just let me handle it. For the sake of your company and your sanity.

Blogging is a state of mind.  It can be learned, sure, but it takes an open and willing mind.  If anything – blogging can be learned by just stopping the brain, throwing some words out there, chopping it in to lists and segments and then being okay with it not being Pulitzer Prize winning work.

• Differentiate between Reactive Work and Collaboration & Community
• Follow your energy
• When guest posting, don’t forget to monitor your work and respond to comments
• If you’re interested in organizing a tweetup, take a look at who is holding tweetups, those who attended them, etc. etc.
• When a brand sponsors an event, they should remain just that – a sponsor – and ensure that the event is a great party for their community
• Think of “what’s the craziest thing we can do to get our point across”, “what will people remember” then boil ideas down to what makes sense and which are feasible with your given capabilities
• Think about how people will describe you (when creating content)
• Within 15 seconds of your online video the viewer should know who you are, what you’re about and why they should keep watching
• Youtube.com/Creators
• Take comments as recommendations on future content
• Use Action Method to organize thoughts and projects
• Develop from creator to curator
• Fill out your surveys! Somehow, the klepto that is suppressed inside forced me to leave with a few fresh survey forms that I didn’t fill out.  Sry.
• My favorite new technical term coined (by @meganberry) is “medium awesome”
• As in, “consistently be putting stuff out there and make it at least medium awesome. “
• The photo on this post is totally medium awesome

I want to live in a world where everybody creates and collaborates. Attending conferences such as the 20sbsummit, filled with people from my generation who are all doing awesome things, really supports my belief in that future.  It’s not a matter of waiting to create the perfect piece  - it’s the act of just creating something because you want to and sharing the emotional drive you had in creating it with your community.   There’s a way that we can treat each other as artists and poets who do work because we love to do it without expecting a big payoff. If you’re asking why you aren’t famous yet then you’re in it for all the wrong reasons.

Speaking of artists, I’m huge in to the realtionship between social media and improv.  Given they’re both form of communication,  I bolded some of the improv AND social media related items above. Think about it.

**I hope there were tons of errors in this.

Lost in Space blasted off on October 16, 1997.  In all actuality, the months before this date President Bill Clinton barred funding on the research on human cloning, Princess Diana died in a car crash and on October 16 itself, the first color photograph appeared on the front of the New York Times.  So it’s needless to say that we made real strides to reach the expectations set forth by a generation fascinated in space exploration! I am super excited about all of the advancements in technology I’ve seen over the past 10 years but we seemed to have dropped the ball on some of the big picture, awesome science fiction type stuff.  I blame the government.  They ruin everything.  I should be on a space shuttle traveling the universe right now, or even better, cryogenically frozen and being transported to Alpha Centauri.

What They Thought We Should Have by 1997

Deep Space Exploration Vehicle

 What We Had But Got Rid Of

Shitty Space Shuttle that Barely Left Earth

Reality Check:  It’s not that shitty.  It was a step closer to having the awesomeness displayed above.  What are we left with?  An awesome color photo that was most likely plastered on the cover of the New York Times.

Other Freaking Awesome Form of Transportation They Expected

Jetpacks.

What We Are Ashamed To Have In Comparison

The smart car. *sigh*

What They Saw As Being A Realistic Enhancement to Household Appliances In 30 Years

A 30 second laundry machine that not only rinse, wash and dries – but also folds and packages your laundry in to neat individual packages.

What We Have

FRONT LOADING WASHERS!

What I Don’t Understand They Used When They Built Intergalactic Flying Machines

A Journal?  Come on guys.  I know it was only 2001 when you woke from deep sleep and you didn’t have access to the latest Apple products but I think you would have managed to at least come up with the concept of a netbook.

What We Have That Would Blow 1965′s Mind

The iPad.  Eat it up.

Reality Check:  We still don’t have a space ship. How’s angry birds feel right about now?

What We Both Agreed Would Be One of The Most Important Things to Have In The 21st. Century

ANIMAL CLOTHING!!!!!!!!

What They Got Right (And I Guess We Did Too :/)

An old white man as President.  No shocker here though.  Blah.

Know what?  Those aren’t the only things that were either predicted or seem to have turned out the same.  There’s an awesome theme of sexism that you don’t even need to watch for – it jumps out at you. For example, young Will Robinson treats his sister Penny just awful. ”You women are always getting lost.”  Now women don’t have the best sense of direction (they’re right about sexism in the 21st century since I’m making a sexist comment right now that I can neither prove or say that I support) but he’s pretty young to start treating women like that.  He hasn’t even learned for himself how some can be. My favorite line in the pilot by far is Will yelling to Penny, ”Quit your squakin’, I’m alright.” AFTER he yells “Penny Help!!” and she runs after him (after he falls through a wall) and merely asks if he’s alright. Even in the intro when the narrator is announcing the Robinson family, they all have very a prestigious education and a certain level of experience announced after their name (yes, mom too!) except for Judy and Penny who get almost back-handed micro bios:

Judy is postponing a career in the musical comedy field (wtf?)

-AND-

Penny has a hobby of zoology

Marking the first time in history, anyone but an adult male has passed the international space administrations grueling physical and emotional screening for intergalactic flight.

Ah.  So, going back.  I still blame the government.  I mostly blame George Bush and his wars.  I know NASA has issues too but it’s easier to blame a single white man (if only they had gotten that wrong and Sarah Palin would have gotten elected in 2000 – it would have made the sexism jokes a lot more fitting here).

To sum it up: if our society decides to retire the iPad at any point then we progressively AND officially suck. (Officially being determined by the standards set forth by 1960′s America.) Don’t get angry at me for wasting my time away watching countless Science Channel shows and repeats of Lost in Space or Battlestar Galactica until real life can fill the void in my heart left for advancements in science.

Let me start of by saying that Google+ looks great and it’s super easy to share content with different audiences.  It’s clean, pretty simple to navigate and it’s Google so pretty much all your information is there.  Right?

Wait, no.  It’s not.  That’s my biggest problem with Google+ right now.  Hardly any of my actual friends are there and the services that integrate with it are only Google related ones.

When I look for a new social network I’m hoping it will solve a need that I don’t know that I have or it specializes in a niche area that major social networks (such as Facebook and Google just shouldn’t focus on).  I want all of my online stuff to integrate.  Case-in-point.  

A lot of the friends that I do have in there love the Idea of the “circles” that Google+ has only I wonder how many of them stay around after setting them up. It does help with “clutter” I suppose. I don’t think Facebook is as crowded as everyone makes it out to be though.  It’s your decision to be friends with people and it’s your decision to accept / deny all of those pesky app invites.  They have the same grouping functionality as Google+ only it’s harder to find it.  

I know that Google+ has just been released and it’s pretty early to call sides for or against it so I want to make it clear that’s not what I’m doing. I may be though, you can be the judge.

What I find funny about Facebook’s announcement today about their video chat capability is their partnership with Skype. To me, it’s like, “Hey Google- you can try and do video chat, that’s fine – our video chat is powered by the number one video chat component in the world.” Now, Google+ does have the “hangout” capability that allows group video messaging and when the CEO of Skype was questioned about that functionality in Facebook he basically said “Nobody chats that way.” SO Google may be serving a need that isn’t there (most likely) or trying to create a need that people didn’t know they have.

Now back to me. I can’t even fathom using group video chat in Google+ because nobody I would really want to chat with is on there nor will they probably be anytime soon.

This makes me think back to the ICQ / AIM days. It seemed then that the region you live in decided which service you would use. I think this is sort of the same situation (granted Google+ isn’t a flop (oh how I miss Google Wave and Google Buzz still sucks)) only now it’s based more on your location and interest online. So it’s moved from your geographical presence to where you’re at digitally.

It’s the way of the world. I still love both these companies but I’m really banking on Facebook for long-term communication platforms. They integrate well in to mobile and given our digital age I think that’s one of the most important factors. As soon as they release the @Facebook.com email address to the general public I think it will completely change the way that people look at email. If email doesn’t die soon, it will be drastically changing. It’s as if Facebook took the social platform and email and are backing their way in to a really sophisticated communication method that involves crazy apps and interaction right in your mail box.

Lets see where this goes, for now I’m staying on the Face train.

• I don’t understand the words to this rap song.
• I know the lyrics to ‘Rapper’s Delight’
• That’s gangster
• I hate gingers
• You’re such a tool
• Did you guys hookup?
• Dude, I shit you not
• This fruit is delicious
• You fucking dipshit
• You were so wasted last night
• Dammit, I forgot my livestrong bracelet
• Dipping is a way of life…
• Don’t even get me started
• Lock The Door , Just In Case
• Thanks janky
• Check out this song
• Dude, we should buy a bar
• Totally awesome dude
• Let’s sit down and talk about this
• I’m not racist, but
• I’m not racist, I voted for Obama
• I enjoy not getting racially profiled by the cops
• Well there goes the neighborhood
• pshhh please
• You’re white as a ghost
• I know my rights
• Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay you back
• Its the bees knees
• Lets Get Fuccccckkkkeeeddd Uppppp
• Dude, hold my beer and watch this crazy shit.
• How is that not reverse racism?
• Hey man what’s his deal?!
• I’m going home to drink some beers
• I kid you not
• That was epic
• I’m firing up the ol’ BBQ
• He is gonna rip me a new asshole
• Well, that’s a bummer
• That was sketch
• Move that over just a hair
• It’s so gross, here, try it
• Don’t let the cat out of the bag
• Let’s go have brunch
• Put it on my tab, I’ve got the next round
• We’re gonna be late!
• Looks like I missed out on…
• I only dance when I’m drunk
• Help is on the way
• Good ol’ fashion…
• If the shoe fits…
• I really have to tinkle
• All the Mexicans are stealing our jobs
• I love “cultural” events
• Put yourself in their shoes
• Geez Louise
• Size doesn’t matter
• It’s what’s inside that counts
• Holly molly
• No offense, but…
• It’s hot as balls
• No, you eat it
• Hey pal, knock it off
• Over yonder
• I sure can go for a cup of warm milk
• Go stand in the corner
• Save your money
• Put some duct tape on it
• You dick
• Get er done
• Alrighty then
• Beg your pardon?
• For crying out loud
• For the love of god
• Kill two birds with one stone
• I despise you
• When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade
• To die for
• His rims cost more than his car
• He may have a huge dick, but I bet I have a better credit score and job
• Turkey on rye, please
• You should know by now that I only tell you I love you when I’m drunk
• I’m going to write a formal complaint

Thanks white people!

First of all, I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan of the name.  I’m assuming Consol Energy had a lot of pull in the naming.  Beyond that, who thought it was a great idea to make the logo a rip-off of the Power Rangers logo?  Oh, Pittsburgh.