Kiki’s Korner

I was putting a presentation together recently on Social Media Club (’SMC’) and needed a current count of all the cities that had an active chapter, as well as cities we were working with to launch a chapter.

I am pleased (and surprised) to report that as of July 1, 2009 – SMC crossed 150 city mark with chapters in over 15 countries. Wow.

Even more surprising (to me) is the fact that we have reached all these cities through word of mouth activities (only) via friends, attending conferences and personal travel. Crazy. Makes me wonder what we could do if we put some real marketing effort into it!’

When Social Media Club launched three years ago (March 2006), neither Heuer or I had any idea how big it would become, or where it would go. We are thankful for the 400+ folks who have supported SMC’s activities through paid memberships and hope to see that continue to grow as we launch new educational programs and an infrastructure to help the global community come together.

SMC continues to be a labor of love project that I volunteer about 30 hours a week to, trying to put light structure in place so we can continue to grow and connect people interested in Social Media around the world. I’ll admit, it is tough some days, and SMC absolutely takes a hit when my client work requires more of me.

To solve for this, we are working to hire an Executive Director and light staff to help push the organizational pieces for SMC forward as it kills me when balls get dropped and emails go unanswered. Getting someone in here to take the reigns is high on the list and will allow Heuer and I to take a step back and focus on the media literacy and chapter related projects we wish to see get off the ground. Focus baby. Focus.

The TO DO/wish list is a mile long and there are a 1000 moving pieces at any given time. With that, I know there are exciting times ahead, and I cannot wait to see where the organization is 12 months from now.

Heuer and I spent last weekend in the Santa Cruz mountains surrounded by a handful of lovely ladies (and one gent); sipping wine, grilling filets and sharing our life stories with one another. We call this gathering ‘Woolfcamp’.

Part barcamp, part writers guild, part poetry slam, part cooking show. All awesome.

Our heartfelt thanks to our fabulous pal Grace Davis, for hosting us again this year. We will be back.

Think it is time to mix things up a bit in my following list.

I have been trying to rotate the information sources and people I learn/hear from in a very systematic way as the Libra in me wants everything to be fair and balanced, but as I go through the list of people I have been following – I see about 1/3 of them rarely post tweets so I am hearing from the other 2/3, a lot, which kind of defeats the purpose of diversifying my network.

So in this rotation…I am going to break out of the system and go for recommendations.

I would like to get back to 400 people that I follow (for now), so I am looking for the one person YOU follow on Twitter that you think I should be too, and will add the first 40 names that come my way.

I would also love to know why they strike a chord with you as that is a quick easy introduction into their life for me. Do they make you laugh? Have you learned something from them? Are they pushing the curve in their industry? Do they have an interesting story to tell? Are they best friends with @davejmatthews and can get me front row seats to any show I want at a reasonable cost?

Alright, alright – the last item might be reaching a bit….

There are a lot of smart, interesting folks in Twitterland and I hope this experiment exposes me to different industries, occupations, likes and dislikes – providing me the opportunity to learn something new every single day.

All I ask, dear Universe, is that all 40 are NOT Marketing/PR consultants. I might just lose my shit if that happens.

In my semi-recent post discussing my Twitter experiment, a couple of questions came up on my process, so I thought I would elaborate a little bit on ‘why’ and the ‘how’ as this ‘following’ thing can leave some folks feeling slighted, and I want to eliminate any hard feelings that might be brewing.

First the ‘why’. In my original post, I noted the following:

For a while the list of people I followed was intentionally kept small (under 150), as I am a big believer of the Dunbar Number and the power of small(er) tightly connected networks. Over time, I allowed it to squeak up to 225 which made the conversations more interesting and diverse, but also required a bigger investment of time as I try to stay attached to my ‘community’ (yes, I am one of the nut jobs who likes to try and read every tweet from the people I follow).

Fast forward eight months and I have extended my network so I now follow 400+ people, but truth be told, I am finding it extremely hard to ‘keep up’ with what everyone is doing now. There is also a sense I have lost some of the intimacy I once had when only following 150 people, but I have to admit, back then there was also a feeling I was living in the ‘echo chamber’ as my network was not very diverse – so this experiment has exposed me to a multitude of industries, beliefs, customs and ideas. While some of my new relationships may not be as deep as those in the past, I am extremely happy where this is going right now.

UPDATE: In my original post, I forgot to mention that I also manage the Social Media Club Twitter account (14k followers) and the my6sense Twitter account (not as many followers [yet]), which adds to the lack of attention mix. I swear, sometimes I wonder how I manage to keep up.

What about the ‘how’: I am still trying to do this systematically to keep it as fair as possible. As for who I am following – I started out rotating 50 people every 30 days, but found trying to rotate contacts that often is tough and does not give me enough time to learn about anyone, so I have pushed the rotation back to every 60 days. The process for the 50 people I add has been tweaked over time, as I used to add every 4th person but realized I needed to dig deeper into the follower list so now I add every 25th person from my following list to get the first 35 people. For the next 10 people, I continue along the every 25th person in my follower list, but instead of following them directly, I go into their account and pick the 5th avatar showing up in their followers list and add them. For the last 5 slots, I add a name of someone I recently met or have heard of and add them (some of them have been people that got cut from previous rotations, liked what they had to say so wanted to bring them back into rotation). It sounds complicated, but honestly, it is a simple process that simply takes a bit of time to put into effect, but has given me a well rounded information source.

For the cutting list – this is the part I absolutely hate, but realize I needed to strip emotions out of it completely to ensure a fair process. It is a bit easier than the add piece as I dig into the list of people I am following and cut every 25th one on the list. As for preserving anyone, no. Not even my husband. If he came up 25th in line, I would remove his tweets to allow for someone new to come into my view, and I have unfollowed several people I feel are close[r] friends to me – [for example] @pistachio, @chrisbrogan, @missrogue and @jowyang…so no one receives special treatment.

I have removed two people mid rotation as they were posting items I felt offensive to my belief system. I also removed @jasoncalacanis and @scobleizer mid rotation as they both posted so often, that it made it hard to keep up with everyone else. Other than that, I follow my group until the next turn.

I am trying to be as fair as I possibly can, and I thought my system allowed me to do so.

I know I have hurt people’s feelings as I am not following them. It sucks, and all I can say [right now] is ‘I am sorry’ as I simply cannot follow 1000 people and get *what I want* out of this ‘tool’. For me, I am looking to expand the network of people I know, and following a smaller group allows me the time to get to know a little about them. I am not here to build a large following list. I am here to build meaningful relationships and expand my knowledge base.

The other interesting piece in evaluating my little Twitter experiment is I started looking into how I am using the other networks I belong to and I thought I would share that with folks as well:

* Facebook – This is by far, my largest ‘network’ as I am adding anyone who friends me there. I don’t join every group and I hate throwing snowballs at people or being poked, but I am using Facebook to experiment with how big can I grow a network and still feel like I can say a name and know where they come from and how I know them from.

* LinkedIn – This is my business network. If I have worked with you, met you in real life or had a conversation with you and I want to make sure we stay connected in a professional level, I make sure to add you into LinkedIn. If you and I have never spoken before, I will not accept an invite.

* Ning – Same as Facebook, I connect with anyone who reaches out.

* Dopplr – If I know you or have some kind of personal contact with you, I am happy to share where I am spending my time with you.

* Flickr – I follow the Facebook rules here, for the most part. I have blocked a few people as their tastes drastically differ from mine and I just do not want to become a photo on their wall, but my life is pretty much an open book and searchable via Google – so friend away.

So there you go. I will continue my experiment for as long as I feel I am getting value out of it, and look forward to connecting with folks in various ways along this journey.

Another month, another rotation on my Twitter stream. It continues to be an interesting experiment for me, one I will continue for a while longer as it is exposing me to new people, thoughts and ideas…and I kind of like it outside the echo chamber.

The only negative, per se, is that I have found the amount of conversations I have within Twitter has slowed drastically as the number of people I follow grows (added 250 since April 29th). And while 250 may not seem like a lot to some folks (I have friends who follow 1000’s of people), it is a huge number to me (remember, I am a Dunbar number kind of girl and I like to know a lot about the folks I follow, aka: my personal ‘network’), so I end up spending more time just reading about them and what they are writing than responding or contributing to their conversation. Maybe I lose out on some things, but I think I am becoming richer (personally) for the experiences.

So it will continue…as long as my sanity allows it.

It has been a somewhat long two years, trying to get our labor of love project off the ground and running on its own without requiring full time efforts from Heuer or me. There were times we were able to put love into it, other times our personal and work lives made it impossible to keep up. More times than not, the latter happened.

This makes me forever grateful for the founding folks who believed in the vision of SMC and helped our baby grow from a 14 person kickoff meeting in Silicon Valley on August 16, 2006 to where it is today – a worldwide organization consisting of 200+ paid members, 17 active chapters, another 25+ chapters (today) on the verge of launching, and 1000’s of people who have gotten together to share their knowledge with one another.

/me sheds another tear of pride

While we could simply let people self organize around a wiki, that model doesn’t help our mission to get the local chapters conversing with one another – sharing their knowledge, promoting ethics, working on standards and making sure we ‘lift all boats’.

So today, we put a stake in the ground to show our commitment to the people who believed in us from day one and announced the formation of an interim board to chart strategic direction and advance the goals of SMC.

Now, I know the number of folks on the interim BOD (41, soon to be 42) might seem crazy to some, but there is a large list of things we wish SMC to accomplish, and everyone involved has a ‘day job’ and other responsibilities to tend to, so I think the number makes sense. The problems of the past have always been trying to do too much with too few people involved, and as Heuer mentioned earlier, we will not need consensus on every little item, we will be split into working groups with different responsibilities so I expect us to be successful and able to push projects forward.

I am really looking forward to the next 4-6 months and seeing what this group can do together. Getting the national organization set up correctly and working efficiently is a key focus, as well as making sure the local chapters have what they need to flourish. Other projects on our plate will be shared later, right now…I need some infrastructure in place…like ASAP.

It is crazy to think it has only been two weeks since my last day of work at Joyent, and the support and outreach I have received from the community around me can be described by one simple word: Incredible.

Thank you.

The time has flown by; filled with phone calls, emails, text messages and meetings – all focused on opportunities being presented to me from people who respect the work I do, and wish to see me succeed.

Thank you.

The challenge for me now is figuring out what I want to do. It is an important question to ask oneself, and surprisingly, a question I am finding harder to answer than I thought. An easier thing for me to nail down is I know what I do not wish to do, and I know the environment I do not wish to work within so I am sure the what I want to do will come out of that.

So I am taking a little time to breathe, to soak it in, as that will ensure the next role I jump into is the right role…for me. All I know is I am happier than I have been in a long time…and I have the community of people around me to thank for that.

Thank you.

Yes folks, I am back on the market. Start the bidding process now.

I have met some really wonderful people, both online and offline, over the last 15 months at Joyent, and I am happy with the role I played in pushing the company forward to where they are today. It feels good to know I was instrumental in making some needed improvements in many of the customer facing aspects of the business. This included setting processes and guidelines in the Customer Care department, launching new outbound communication programs to better inform our customers, organizing local meetups, managing promotional programs, handling our event sponsorships, representing the voice of the customer in company meetings and most of all – ensuring we did a better job of looking after our customer’s needs.

I am thankful for the offerings of love and support I have received from the community and would like to send a big ‘thank you’ to Adam, Ed, Nick, Mickael, Garrick, Larry, Dustin, Kelly, Andrew, Matt, Linda, Walter, Christopher, Allan, Jacques, Noel, Ken, Michael, Elle, AJ, Mark, Jim, Tom, Trevor, Eugene, Robert, J.J., Tim, Jamie, Elliot, Jim, Tiffany, Kris, Eric, Michael, Jordan, Sid, Arthur, Joe, Tom, Thomas, Jamie, Joel, Ray, Jim, Ngungo, Kjell, Sebastian, Adrian, Philip, David, Jeremy, Robert, Arthur, Tim, someguy, David, Chris, Chuck, pet, MrDale, and Heuer – for your love and support through this, which was both planned and unplanned all at the same time. Thank you folks, you rock.

I would like to extend an even deeper thank you to a handful of my Joyeurs – Matt, Peter, Geoff, Noel, Peat, Eric, and Eugene – for going the extra step and offering up a recommendation for me on LinkedIn. That is awesome – nothing says ‘job well done’ better than your customers giving you some love during a time like this. Thank you thank you thank you.

For the record, I am unemployed. I need a job. What am I looking for? I would love to work for a company that respects and values its customers. My ideal role would enable me to serve as a Customer Advocate, Community Wrangler, Connector, Communicator, Social Media Maven, and/or Event Planner. I like diversity in my daily work, but really need a consistent ability to help people, especially customers.

And to my @joyeurs, my clan. Shall you find yourself in San Francisco, or if I happen to be in your town, I shall look forward to raising a pint with you, so let’s make sure we keep in touch.

This weekend confirmed everything I thought about my Canadian friends…they all ROCK…and I am super thankful I had a chance to spend a little more face:face time with them at Northern Voice.

It was the first time I made it up North for this event, missing the two years before due to ill timing bouts with the flu bug, and boy oh boy am I glad I got a shot this year. The weekend was filled with great dinners, amazing conversations and enough geekiness to be able to write the trip off as a work expense. Ha.

Seriously, I don’t know if it is the Canadian water or the fresh air coming off Whistler mountain that makes Vancouverans so darn nice, but thinking every city could use a little bit of what they have as every time I am around these guys, I want – scratch that – I need, more.

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I find it fascinating how little customer loyalty seems to mean these days. My latest dose of reality on this point came from my recent dealings with Wells Fargo Bank.

———I have been a Wells Fargo Bank (’WFB’) customer since 1992, a respectable 15+ years. I have had two car loans with them. I have several accounts with them, all in good standing. I rarely go into the branch, or call their customer service line so I am not a drain on their resources. I think I have been a pretty darn good customer.So when Heuer and I got to discussing the need to consolidate our personal finances, I naturally leaned towards WFB as they have always done right by me.Until now.I called customer service spent about 45 minutes reviewing our options and guiding me along the path of checking accounts, savings accounts, CDs, personal finance services, consolidation loans, etc.When we got to the topic of consolidation loans, my ears pricked as one thing I would really like to do is clear Heuer and I from some of the high interest rate cards we somehow accumulated. Don’t know when it happened, but somehow his American Express went to a whopping 32%. 32%!!! One of my Visas was 27%, another 24%. Neither one of us noticed when the rate increases happened, we just kept making payments until recently when it all came to light. Needless to say, we were both shocked, so a lower interest rate consolidation loan could really go a long way to ensuring we get our fuzzy butts out of debt – much more quickly than we can now.So after some lengthy discussions with the customer service rep, I applied to WFB. Two hours later I received word I was denied. When I called in to ask why, they gave me several reasons (at my job less than a year, Chris is an independent consultant, blah blah). They recommended I contact another department within WFB and try for a different loan. Ok. So I go through the whole process again only to find out I am denied. Again. When I asked why, I was given the same exact reasons. Crazy I was recommended to this second department when they had the same exact requirements to get a loan. Even worse for me, both departments tapped my credit report which is something I was trying to minimize as it does affect your credit score (trying to keep mine at a decent level).So I decided it was worth the effort to plead my case. I explained I had items we could post as collateral, they didn’t care. I mentioned I have had two car loans with them, both paid in full (one even paid early), they didn’t care [one had even been more than the consolidation loan I was applying for]. We seem to be square pegs trying to fit into their round holes.  In the back of my head played Janet Jackson’s “What have you done for me lately” and made me realize my 15+ years of loyalty to them meant nothing.With their simple decision to deny my loan, WFB ensured ISo I will be. I don’t need my hand held, but I do expect that 15+ years of business would