Best etiquette should rule, especially in social media

A public relations firm I was familiar with was looking to expand. I had attended a seminar given by one of the partners and was really impressed with the technical skill set of the speaker as well as their compelling presentation style. They said they were easily reached in many online forums and preferred to be contacted through one of these, I imagined, as a test the applicants social media proficiency. This emphasis on social media savvy found me helping a colleague redesign her resume to include links to both personal and client social media projects. She also linked past employers to their respective websites. She chose to submit her reformatted resume with a cover letter describing how she had come to know of their work. She then dropped notes to both indicating her interest through traditional email and two separate social media forums. She followed up after about 10 days with a “checking in” message. She has never received any type of response.

What made this particular situation especially annoying was the very transparency that social media prides itself on worked against these potential employers. Through the various social media platforms, we followed as rather snarky comments were posted about applicant’s cover letters and resumes. The very transparency that was carefully crafted and channeled for the benefit of clients had been disregarded when the client was, in fact, themselves. A simple indication of the start of a new employee or an acknowledgement of the abundance of applicants would have been sufficient to communicate with those applicants following through social media, a requirement of this position. When discussing this with another colleague, we concluded that lack of experience had probably been most responsible.

With all the lists that have appeared about the dos and don’ts of social media, the predominating sentiment is “Play Nice” and “Do unto others…”. These are also the most basic tenants of real life socially preferred etiquette. This should be even more important when what is written is chronicled and archived online. It will be there forever. This experience of my friend has certainly forever changed how I now view this public relations firm that I once considered a professional leader.

Sundance Airs Great Fashion with "The Day Before" Series

Photo courtesy of Sundance Channel

Sundance Channel is once again airing some quality fashion based television. Loic Prigent is adding to his documentary roster with a new 4 part series “The Day Before” which chronicles the 36 hours leading up to the fall 2009 runway shows of Sonia Rykiel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler, and Karl Lagerfeld for Fendi.

Prigent has previously produced Signe Chanel in 2005 and Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton in 2007 which offered insight into the creative process of Marc Jacobs who has single-handedly renovated the Louis Vuitton label and redefined luxury handbags. Prigent’s last projects involved shooting footage over a six month period and this new series was born because he was looking for a shorter time frame that would be considerably easier to edit.

These new episodes of “The Day Before” offer moments of levity as well as tension. “The Day Before – Sonia Rykiel” premiers Wednesday, September 9 at 9p.m. central and subsequent episodes air Thursday, the 10th through Saturday the 12th.

Websites offer Fun Photgraphic Effects to your own photos.

With all the social networking sites I find myself using, especially for work, I have been grappling with privacy. I only show my face in one place, and I do that because I joined as a means to connect better with my niece. I do not use my face despite most forums advising that you upload a photo of your face because people will respond and interact better with you if they see your likeness.
I have always used a picture I purchased on the Internet. This photo is distinctive enough to be memorable and I think if it as my personal brand logo. It tastefully shows a great set of legs wearing very high heels and a fur coat. I think of this photo as my alternate self - the person I wish I could be who wears fabulous sky high heels for long periods of time.
However, lately as I have been interacting with a more conservative client, I feel that for some things this might not be a business-like image. I, of course, have used my redesigned business logo as an avatar, but in some forums I use the voice of an individual, not of my company, as an industry professional.
My niece had come across a website that places a picture of you in interesting environments: at a gallery as an Andy Warhol quartet, on scenes of billboards, and in a store display. There are dozens of variations and I'd been meaning to spend some time there fiddling around. Today I did it. The keywords that yielded the best results were "photo effects".
There are four sites which were all a gas to play on: PhotoFunia (described above), Rollip, WishaFriend, and BeFunky.
Rollip offers a limited selection of templates which turn your pictures into old fashioned Polaroids. The finished product even has a ring from a coffee cup. I love the Polaroid format and this makes the conversion easy.
WishaFriend's primary business appears to be custom background for MySpace. Along the left side, on top of a long list is a link called "Fun Photo Effects". This takes you to a gallery of more than a hundred images which all have the Mona Lisa inserted in them. Substitute your face and you get the idea. The upload is easy and saving can be accomplished with a right click "Save As". This way doesn't require joining or signing up.
BeFunky was my favorite. Along the left are categories and once this is chosen, another set within the category appears in the upper left corner. Once you've uploaded your picture from your computer, (you need to know where your photos are stored, usually in Owner's Photos or My Photos) you can apply dozens of effects to the same picture in a matter of seconds. It is worth the time to see them all, even if they sound uninteresting because within each category there are very different filters. Again, you may save to your computer without signing up using BeFunky's own interface options.
All these sights offer the same diversity you find in Photoshop but without the complicated filters and many layers. Just a single click will initiate the transformation. These distinctive new images could be used for greeting cards or for fun family archives. They will even produce an image suitable for business, while still maintaining my privacy.
You might want to simultaneously open a photo viewer which shows the image to first identify your pictures. These sites only recognize and display file name, which can be tricky if you download directly from your camera with only numbers used to identify different pictures. I am in the process of compiling some Photographic tutorials aimed at the novice computer user. Once completed I will link to them from this blog. Spend some time fiddling around on these fun websites: PhotoFunia, Rollip, WishaFriend and Befunky, and you'll find tons of uses for your newly designed photographs.

Fresh Figs? Oh My!

I have lived my entire life in climates that produced snow except for the 3 years I spent in Dallas. My experience as a gardener was the basis I used to chart the many differences of life in The South. Spring arrived in March and equaled June becuase the irises were blooming. By early August, all summer blooms were spent(annuals were too tall and tired to continue in 100 degree heat) and a 2nd planting was added. Winter, where nothing grew, only lasted 3 months and rarely dipped below 30.
Of course, there's a very scientific system in place to categorize this called the United States Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness zone map.
Two things I most remember about southern living were Caladiums and fresh figs. I was first served fresh figs at a grocery store tasting. The grower was present and had paired the figs with fresh marscapone cheese. It was heavenly. Of course this was no ordinary grocery store - this was Central Market: the bastion of foodie worship.
Yesterday, while shopping at Wauwatosa Sendiks I spied about a dozen small baskets of fresh figs almost hidden on a very low shelf. Half were deep plum and half were light green and I immediately took one of each. Fresh figs are terribly fragile and correspondingly were terribly expensive, but having not seen a single fig in 5 years allowed me to know this was a time to be extravagant. I then wandered back into their cheese aisle and found both a good marscapone and a triple creme brie(when tossing cholesterol to the wind go for the the whole package!).
Upon returning home I was as excited as if I'd just procured a new pair of shoes. I quickly unpacked everything else then sat down to some smooth eating - slighly sweet and so creamy - while watching a tape of one of televisions guilty pleasures. I was 2 for 2 in the guilty pleasure department. Fresh figs - oh my!

My Pictures and Voice in this commercial!

Ever wonder what I do to keep out of trouble? This is one of the fun parts of my job.

The Perfect Summer Day

I have a friend who loves being outdoors. He often works sitting on a bench near Lake Michigan. His favorite spot is barely a block from his house, which is also located near Lake Michigan’s shoreline. He is a pen and paper guy but just recently received a laptop as a gift so this has enhanced his ability to work outdoors. When planning activities together, I often fail to take into consideration this outdoors factor. It has surprised me to find my preferred location seems to be indoors.

I lived for 18 years in Colorado, an outdoors epicenter. I loved Colorado, and spent the last 9 years on a spectacular piece of land with a great house. Since I lived alone, I could craft my environment as I chose to and by the time I left, had remodeled the first and second floors and installed extensive gardens. Gardening found me outside every day and when the day ended, or more accurately when my energy waned, I was to be found on my back porch with its corresponding deck. This extended nearly the width of my house and I had furnished it with rugs and comfortable weather resistant furniture.

My favorite place was a garden bench that my grandmother had given me. With cushions and pillows, this was perfect to recline and read or merely zone out as I gazed at my gardens which were terraced up the back of my yard. Extensive and mature landscaping was provided by numerous tall aspens mixed with silvery Russian olive trees. What I remember most was the sound the large, flat aspen leaves made as the wind moved through them. Everyday, as the heated ground met with the cool air flowing down from the surrounding mountains, there would be late afternoon breezes.
I recently realized that almost by accident, I have been able to rather effectively recreate those conditions where I currently live. I reside on the second floor of an old house surrounded by mature trees. Old house means no central air because radiators provide the heat. And old house also means windows which are missing screens and sometimes, barely open more than a few inches. Because of this, every available window is always open. I do, additionally, have 2 porches and a sunroom with French doors. And because I must, by necessity, open as many windows and doors as possible, I find I can hear the trees’ leaves rustling and feel the cross breezes and I’m reminded of my favorite Colorado porch. However, the greatest value lies in replicating the porch’s serenity while sitting at a computer screen. I can work efficiently while in a formerly leisure related environment. I smile as a breeze moves across my keyboard and work to the calls of the birds that nest in the curve of the old rain gutters.

This integration of outdoors and indoors has minimized my need to maximize planned outdoor activities. I feel as if I have spent my entire day outdoors while my friend associates his office and house with closed windows which will contain the cool air generated by the central air system. When he says, “Wasn’t this perfect weather?” I can reply “Yes” because despite working a full day at my desk I was serenaded by the breezes and bird songs of my surrounding landscape. It was for me, too, a perfect day.

Time is Precious - Who Knew?

About 6 weeks ago I blooged about my parents (see June 7 - Time is Precious). Little did I know that a month later, my active, young at heart father would be facing his last day with us. Our family, small but with all 3 generations present, stood and prayed with the Priest after last rites and with each other as my niece held her bible (the bible itself was also a surprise.) It's been 14 days, and my father is returning from a rehab facility to his home.

The doctors are amazed, as are we all. Yet as I spoke with the doctor in ICU, I kept referring to the ways my Dad's surprised me recently. Well, needless to say, never more so than in his return from that precipice.

Thanks Dad. I wasn'y ready yet.