PurpleCar

Lots of people are ‘mommy bloggers’ (I’m not one of them). There are dozens of sites that rank mommy blogs. There are entire conferences, marketing plans and outreach initiatives all centered around the phenomenon. But that’s not in ‘reality,’ exactly. That’s in a place we social media folk like to call the bubble.

The book is hard to get through. It will take me weeks. So instead of one huge review months from now, I’ll just take you all along on this deciphering adventure. I’ll break out my Sword of Sense and slash through the thicket of pompous writing, chapter by chapter. It’s a journey to page 319 (the last page including after notes) of Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody.” Come along. It should prove interesting.

When I picked up the book, I recognized the ‘famous’ name. I was looking forward to absorbing some insights into social media and human behavior. Instead I was hit with self-indulgent prose filled with enough buzzwords to choke an elephant.

WSJ gives overview of Harvard researcher’s opposition to Anderson’s Long tail theory.

An article in yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer about the school district provided me with an excellent metaphor for how Twitter’s lack of maturity can set back the entire realm of social media by about 5 to 10 years.

Dear Reader,
As many of my family and close friends know, I have joined the ranks of the caring men and women who have military pen pals currently serving tours in Iraq. Through Twitter, I learned of Email Our Military (@MailOurMilitary), a volunteer service that grew out of a national security measure that banned [...]

So I’m a podcaster now. The craze that is taking over GenerationXers across the world has grabbed me in its ubiquitous talons. I will tell you the whole sordid tale so you may avoid the imminent danger and my suffering can take on some deeper meaning.
A few weeks ago I was Skyping [...]

How many people are ‘in’ this thing?
How many people do you think are really active in the social media profession/community?
Millions use different social media sites, but they aren’t ‘in’ it (’Gotta be in it to win it - as my Atlantic City fan mother-in-law says). The millions on MySpace and Facebook aren’t the early [...]

Today in the public library of quaint suburb of an old American city, images of blissful toddlers were being live streamed to the internet. Parents unwittingly wandered in and out of the shot. Librarians played along politely while trying to work. The cameraman’s friend plastered on a nervous smile and ducked [...]

Social media is hard to explain to non-participants. Now we have an article from a ‘trusted’ resource, CNN, to which I can point in case anyone asks why I want to meet up and break bread with a bunch of strangers, why I’ve become a Jeff Pulver fan in a matter of months, or [...]