Have We Run Out of Things to Say? Or Are We Saying Too Much?
I watched a baby’s birth on Facebook this morning. Not via webcam — thank goodness — but with each centimeter that this high school friend’s wife dilated, he told the world about it. We weren’t really that close in high school. I didn’t feel like this is information I should have. And, why wasn’t he enjoying those moments with his wife and new son instead of Facebooking each and every second away from them?
There’s “too much” and then there’s “not enough to warrant a post so just keep it to yourself”.
I’ve been seeing one-word tweets and Facebook updates quite a bit lately. “Sigh.” “Sleepy.” Even “ugh.” Is this a call for attention, a soft scream for someone to jump in and ask “what’s wrong?” Maybe it’s the need to have the top status update in our friends’ stream.
Or it is simply the fact that we’ve run out of things to say because the conversation and noise are continuous and we still feel the constant need to be a part of it?
So, because I don’t want to over-share or talk just to hear the sound of my own voice, I’ve decided to adopt three new social media rules:
- Does it benefit or help someone else? Could someone else learn from the link I’m sharing? Could a homeless pet find its perfect family? If so, I’ll be tweeting and Facebooking it.
- Does it lift someone up? If I can introduce two people that should be BFFs or show gratitude for something, I’ll do it.
- I’m not CNN. I won’t ever be the one to break national, state or even local news, and I’m not going to even try.
I’ve been on Facebook for years. It’s been a great way to keep up with friends and family who are miles away. But over the last year, I’ve really discovered Facebook’s purpose for my social and online life: dogs! Homeless dogs to be exact.
For almost three years, I’ve been volunteering as a writer and photographer for Austin Pets Alive! I also volunteer as a dog walker and continue to learn and add to my skills to help out on the Behavior Team. My moments big and small with these dogs are really the most fulfilling times during my whole week. And I’m not alone.
There is a huge network of volunteers at APA!, and many of them are on Facebook. I’ve seen dozens of volunteers come together in a matter of hours to find a lost dog in their neighborhood after seeing a simple post on Facebook. We share photos and videos across our networks to help dogs get adopted. We post about how well certain dogs did on field trips, being able to add characteristics like “good with young kids” to the list of things we know about certain dogs. Volunteers have even joined together to bring lost dogs home across state lines. It starts with simply sharing, but as we work to save these dogs by getting them into great homes, it beccomes much bigger than that!
I realize that Facebook serves a different purpose for each user. For some, it’s simply social interaction that they may not be getting face-to-face. For others, it helps them find jobs or recruit new employees. For a few, it’s simply about sharing what their kids wore on their first day of school.
As much as we gripe about Facebook and its (ever-changing) policies, I forgive it a little because of the lives I’m able to have a very tiny part in saving through the connections I have there.
Last Tuesday makes it two years since Daddy passed away. I miss him like crazy, but I can still hear his voice in my mind. I’m so thankful for that. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the little isms he had when I was a kid. This was one of my favorites. And he was so right.
I learned to sew when I was in junior high. I was good at it — and fast my mother tells me, but I never really loved it. A couple of years ago, I took it up again. I’m still fast, and I can sew a straight line like nobody’s business. And this time around, I love it!
Now, I’m not going to be designing my own clothes anytime soon, but if you need an apron, a dog bed or a custom pillowcase, I’m your girl. This week, I also added dog leashes to my repertoire. I have four completed dog leashes in my hands that will be donated to Austin Pets Alive! the next time I’m there. They were actually very easy to make!
If you wanna make one or four or ten, here’s all you’ll need for each one:
- two yards of nylon webbing, 1″ wide
- two yards and two inches of ribbon, 5/8″ wide
- coordinating all-purpose thread
- a 1″ swivel hook
Step 1. Center the ribbon along the webbing with about one inch of ribbon hanging over each end. I don’t even pin the ribbon down. I tried pinning on the first one, but I had to do as much re-adjusting and re-centering as I did when I didn’t use pins.
Step 2. Sew along each edge of the ribbon, securing it to the webbing.
Step 3. Make a small loop on one end of your soon-to-be leash and slide the swivel hook on. Tuck the loose ribbon in and close the loop with a box stitch or any other stitch you’d like to use to secure the swivel hook. I back-stitched every little bit to make sure my loop and hook were secure.
Step 4. Make a larger loop on the other end — mine ended up about seven inches long — for the handle. Again, tuck the loose inch of ribbon in and close the loop with a box stitch. I made sure that my hand would fit in the loop and that it would rest comfortable on my wrist. That’s just how I walk dogs — loop around my wrist, resting the leash in my hand.
Step 5. Walk your dog!
Or at least Dan Roam wants me to believe that I can.
I’m signing up for his Napkin Academy today after hearing him speak at Confab last week. I’ve seen him speak before — entertaining, dynamic, smart — but this time, he had me believing that I can really take pen to paper, draw pretty things and make magic happen.
I think in photographs and words, but not necessarily in visuals alone. Dan believes that any problem can be solved through simple pictures. Can I solve content problems for clients? Can I better manage my (limited) time? Can I fix the overcrowding problem in Austin’s animal shelter?
I’m going to learn how to draw and test his belief myself. I’ll keep you posted!
“I’d like the link to this press release to be bigger font and in a different color. And when people hover over it, I’d like it to blink and maybe even have some audio that actually says ‘click here’ out loud.”
Yep. That was a real request that I received from a client several years ago. I wish I could remember the topic or event that the press release was covering, but truth be told: It was just a regular press release, and I posted a new one for this client every day.
Once I picked my jaw up from my desk — did she really just ask that? — I was able to tell them that I couldn’t do that with this particular link, and I explained why. I pointed to specifics in our style guide and even talked a bit about accessibility. I asked about the urgency of this press release and who exactly she was trying to reach so that I could come up with an agreeable alternative for the request.
According to a talk I heard from Colleen Jones this week at Confab, I’m proud to say that I successfully nudged this client.
As part of her presentation on content making a difference and what she called Content Science 101 — which included some awesome Star Wars references — she explained how to nudge:
N: Need. When nudging a client, clarify their specific need. With this request for a large, blinking, audible link, what did my client really need? What were they asking for?
U: Understand. Dig deeper into the reason behind the request, resisting the urge to just ask “why?”
D-G: Direct to Governance. Put simply, governance is the set rules around which a website is published. It includes accessibility, specifics in the style guide, tone, voice, etc. Where does a request fit within all of the pre-defined parameters?
E: Encourage. The nudge wraps up when an alternative solution is explored and agreed up.
With the example of the large, blinking, audible link, I was able to make the client happy by referring to the site’s style guide and our desire and need for consistency of tone, voice and message across the site. An alert on the home page of the site made her happy. And I nudged her into it.
I just uploaded photos from our February trip to Colorado to Flickr. It’s May 5th.
In years previous, vacation photos were uploaded the day after we got home. I wanted the world (well, my mother and a few Internet friends) to see who we had seen, where we had been and what we had eaten. I painstakingly took the time to tag my photos well, and thoughtfully constructed my descriptions and titles. I’m not doing that with Flickr these days, and I believe it’s Instagram’s fault.
By the time we got home from Denver, many friends and my mom had already seen some of the highlights — thanks to Instagram. I’d take my phone out of my pocket, take a picture and add a fun filter, and with a single press of a button, my picture was out there for the whole world to see. No waiting until I got to my computer. No downloading and then uploading. No lugging the “big” camera in and out of my bag.
I’ve always loved the interactive, social element of Flickr, but Instagram has that too.
I’m torn now. Does Flickr become storage only? If everyone has already seen a piece of Denver (or New York or wherever) on Instagram, do I need to bother showing them any more on Flickr? What’s a girl to do?!
Aside from being a cool use of video and illustration, this is a powerful and easy message for living healthier.
A couple of weeks ago, a Twitter friend of mine and writer for the Austin American-Statesman, Omar Gallaga, asked a question: “Do you behave differently online than you do offline?” I do not.
If you read Omar’s story and/or watch the video that accompanies it, you’ll see that some do handle themselves differently. Some have more confidence, some feel more freedom to debate and argue issues, some flirt more online than in person.
I have always tried to be as much me as possible both online and off. I interact with clients, friends, coworkers and family all regularly online, and I think someone in that group would quickly call me on it if I wasn’t being authentic.
I have though, since getting online for the first time back in the mid-late 1990s, always conducted myself using one filter: my mother. As I told Omar, whether online or offline: “As long as my mother wouldn’t mind, I’m going to do it.”
Do you behave differently online?
I’m sitting at my desk in my office, keeping one on eye two computers and one eye on the street out front. I’m waiting patiently for my first bushel delivery from Farmhouse Delivery. This week’s delivery is full of sweet corn, pears, sweet potatoes and fresh herbs, all from local farms.
I just learned about Farmhouse Delivery last week, but I’ve been following one of their competitors on Twitter and getting their e-newsletter for over a year now. I would read the contents of the competitor’s delivery basket each week and tell myself “I should sign up and do that.” But I kept hesitating for some reason I never really explored.
So what made me dive head-first into a purchase with Farmhouse Delivery? Same to-my-door service as the competitor. Locally grown produce just like the competitor. Pretty much the same price. I opened both websites side by side and I knew in an instant what it was. The photos. Farmhouse’s photos made me jump and hit the “join” button.
The photos scattered throughout their website — some of vegetables I can’t even identify — made my mouth water. The photos are clean and uncluttered. They look professionally done, not just snapshots thrown up to fill space. I just couldn’t resist having what those photos are selling.
Photos do so much! Good photos can make customers out of casual readers and can make super-fans out of regular customers. They can illustrate, tell a story, evoke emotion, encourage action and rev up the senses. Photos shouldn’t be overlooked or ignored to then later be considered as an afterthought in the design and content planning process.
One year of visiting a competitor’s website and not doing a thing. Two minutes of my time on Farmhouse Delivery’s site and I’m staring out the window like a kid waiting on Santa. I’d say photos are a very important piece of the content puzzle…
