I am writing an article about online dating and have been out of the dating scene for about 14 years. Luckily, I have lots of friends that are finding love (or not) online via Match.com, Yahoo, etc. and have a lot of stories that run the gambit from inspiring to just plain weird. I’d love to hear more stories about online dating experiences if anyone would like to share. All names will be confidential. Just ping me if you’d like to share - I’d love to hear all the “details”!! Thanks!!
I have to rant for a few minutes about the whole Facebook - Friends You May Know feature. I can honestly say that out of the dozens of people that pop up in that little box, I’ve known 3 and only been inclined to add 1. Who are these people? Where do they come from? Why does Facebook think that I want to be friends with these strangers? I find it all very odd.
On a happier note - FlogBlog on my Facebook profile is finally updating after months of staleness, so I’m pretty excited about that. However, I just noticed that its not FlogBlog anymore. Now its Simplaris Blogcast. Who knows? At least its working.
Enough ranting. Have a great night!
I must admit that I joined Second Life to try to figure it out. What’s the appeal? How can businesses use this? What’s the value? After a month, I have to admit - I’m no closer to answers but…Second Life (SL) is just plain fun.
My avatar (Cordelia Gothly) is young and beautiful and wears cool clothes. I get to shop for things I would never wear in real life (RL). I go to dance clubs, listen to cool tunes and dance longer than I ever could. And to date, I’ve spent about $40 on clothes, tattoos, shoes, jewelry, cool hair, gloves, clubbing, you name it. Imagine getting all of that for $40 in real life! While my husband raids on Mondays and Wednesdays on World of Warcraft, I sit in my chair listening to tunes, dancing and hanging out in Second Life.
I have to also note that the people that I’ve met are incredibly nice, helpful and respectful. I’ve been mostly having fun at The Blue Tattoo and have found several places that I like to shop including Pretty N Punk, Goth1c0 and Divine Divas.
My next steps are to delve into the Non-Profit Commons so I can start to explore the non-profit angle and take some DJ classes so that I can spin my own tunes in SL.
It’s fun, cheap and opens up a new, limitless world of friends, possibilities and fun (did I mention fun?)
Shock of all shocks - Google has decided to jump on the virtual bandwagon with its own virtual world - Lively. I decided to check it out and the overall feedback from others playing around is, that at this point, its a glorified chat room. And maybe that’s all its intended to be. You have a few avatar options to choose from and a few pieces of clothing. The service is web-based, so you just need a Google account and to download the small desktop appliance to use it. Avatars can set up chat “rooms” fully furnished to converse, dance and even puke on their fellow “roommates”. While at some point Lively may compete with Second Life, I don’t think that it will be any time soon. Moving from room-to-room is a little clunky and it seems that every link opens a new browser window. Lively has a lot of room to grow. It will be interesting to see where Google takes it.
Happy 4th everyone! We’re headed to a friend’s house in Arlington for some burgers and beer. I think that an important part of blogging is getting to know the author. So, while I want to keep my blog as close to its purpose as possible, I often have opinions, ideas and general thoughts about life. I thought that I’d use Fridays to tell you a little bit about myself so you get to know Beth the person as well as Beth the social media junkie.
On Wednesday night I found myself in a haze of nostalgia. When I was a kid, my parents (who were very young themselves) loved to crank up the stereo, sending out waves of Cream, Eric Clapton, Traffic, you get the picture. I was very fortunate to have been exposed to great rock ‘n roll at a very young age and have carried my love of music throughout my life. I’ll admit it - I’m a music elitist. So, the other night I decided to download those tunes from my childhood from iTunes. I downloaded The Very Best of Cream and Feelin’ Alright: The Very Best of Traffic and grooved to Sunshine of Your Love and Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. It really took me back to a time when I felt safe, warm and happy. It was a good thing to do and I’m glad that I did it.
What did your parents listen to when you were a kid? When you listen to that music, how do you feel? Nostalgia is good - and lately I’ve felt a need to embrace it.
OK, so I joined Second Life last night - my toon is named Cordelia Gothly. Despite waiting over an hour for their servers to allow me to login, I finally made my way “in world”. All I can say is, weird and surreal. I met a lovely “furry” who gave me a bunch of avatars and clothes, helpful tips and sent me to my first landmark. I haven’t quite figured out how to make my avatar look “normal” (if there is such a thing in SL), so I currently look like a Japanese anime character. I met a few nice folks who helped me figure out what the hell I was doing and one even gave me 100 LindenX. After a few hours, I took the leap and spent $9.77 on 2500 LindenX (SL’s form of currency). When I logged off, it still wasn’t in my account, so we’ll see what happens today.
All that said, the concept is really interesting, surreal and overwhelming. But I think I can say with honesty, I’m hooked. If you have SL stories to share, please feel free. It’s going to take me awhile to figure out what this is, let alone what it all means to me and potentially to non-profits. But I think it will be a fun journey and I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
And, please, find me in SL - I’m lonely! CORDELIA GOTHLY. See you “in world”!
OK - although this has nothing to do with non-profit strategy, I found this website morbidly intriguing and felt a need to share - MyWonderfulLife.com. I just keep coming back to it. Don’t miss “Featured Funerals“.
Although I’m only 35, I often wonder whether its time to draft a will. You never know, right? I think I’ll start here. It freaks me out a little but I’ll see where it takes me.
Anyone else ever used this site? Anyone else get a weird vibe from this?
Each June, the Reston Chamber of Commerce organizes Taste of the Town, an event that brings local restaurants together for a food extravaganza. I’m helping the Chamber with their social media strategy, so please check out the event and stop by if you are in the metro DC area!
Today Diane Rehm had a great show on social media featuring Gina Bianchini, Andy Carvin, Josh Bernoff, Manuel Hernandez and Amy Worley. Check out the podcast!
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Beth consults with businesses and non-profits on social media tool selection and strategy and helps her clients find effective ways to leverage these new mediums to meet business goals.