You Might be a SM S-head If... (SM Swelled Head)

The whole strategy of tapping social media for business marketing is to listen to what the world is saying about you or your company. Then, by being smart, or funny, or a good resource when you participate in online conversations, earning a good reputation. Just like the popular kid in school. I hate to say it's like the George Burns quote, but it IS sort of like what he said about acting:

"it's all about honesty. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

You work on creating a well rounded perception of your brand, your brilliant thought leadership, your trustworthiness, etc. and you hope you get people to talk TO you and ABOUT you (hopefully in a good way!) -- drive digital word of mouth.

All that is great and helps add some soul to a CEO or more lifeblood to a business. We've seen the success stories of the Zappos customer service, Dell's course correction, and Obama central become over-Tweeted parables of bar-raising expectations.

Where I start to get concerned, and believe me I'm no exception, is when we start confusing our personal value and when we're always thinking or promoting our value as a "brand." We start to measure our own worth by the number of followers, friends and alerts, and turn what should be our more personal dialogues into crafted multilogues.

When did even my personal pages or Tweets become a race to be the first to post the cool link? I mean, heaven-forbid you DON'T include some valuable nugget these days?? Who needs that kind of pressure on, say, Facebook? Can't I just hang out by a wall?

But the world is a great big sheet of cellophane now, so poster beware. (And yes, I WILL stop taking your feeds if you think I am titillated about your lunch choice today.) It's a fine line between being more professional in our personal life online, and starting to drink your own Kool-Aid, believing tons of people are really listening as we try to come across more personally in our professional life.


It's easy to confuse hitting the first few hundred or the thousand mark on Twitter (@mossappeal, ya'all) with real people who will hang on your every word at an actual cocktail party. I've heard lots of stories of groups with hundreds of fans on LinkedIn or friends on FaceBook using it exclusively to post an invite to an event...only to have lots of leftover pigs in a blanket because of no-shows.

It takes time and it also takes a little humility to promote yourself on every platform and remember to find that balance between your personal and professional brand.

So I offer these Warning Signs.

You might be an S-Head on Social Media (Swelled Head, that is) IF:

1. You think you can stop Dating and start D@ing. Worse, you try to set up a first date via a D@.
2. You think your friends want to know your opinion on the state of crude and your followers want to know a crude joke, and you blast all the same feeds to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn .
3. You try to get a reservation at a hot restaurant by assuming they, too, think 1000 followers makes you A-list.
4. You're incensed when no one Diggs you, man.
5. You truly believe your last 23 Q&A answers deserved "Best Expert" status.
6. You are stunned that Mrs. Kutcher isn't following you.

...And the 7th sign you may have a SM S-head?
Your blogs are way too long because you enjoy expounding and are sure that since there are a billion people online now, at least a million will hang on your every word. ...whoops.

And by the way, I hope you tweet this blog or link it to your profile, because I'm -- I mean, it -- is really smart and funny and resourceful, don't you think?

Fueling Disney

In a recent blog, I wrote about a terrific documentary, FUEL, and what I'd learned from it about biofuels.

Yesterday Disney released its most comprehensive corporate responsibility report ever, and in the section on the environment, I saw this:

They are running their little theme park trains on vegetable biodiesel! Go Disney. They also list "Long-Term Goal #7" as:

Inform, empower and activate employees, business partners and consumers to take positive action for the environment Through the years, Disney's environmental efforts have touched the lives of millions of people directly and indirectly. Going forward, we will seek not just to build awareness but to empower and activate employees, business associates and consumers to take positive action for the environment.

It's really key to green from the inside out. Educating employees will make them aware, and influence the changes they make and home, which will educate and influence their families, which will educate and influence friends....and so on. And as we ramp up that eco-education on an ONGOING basis (this is not a static situation), we'll ramp up a new generation of eco-evangelists. And they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends..... (Loved that Breck commercial.)

To get started, bring me in to do an eco-education seminar and/or produce ongoing internal green communications!

A Platinum Letter Day

Last week I did a presentation on green marketing, and in the cab back from the airport (trip somewhat offset with the help of Terrapass), I found a platinum wedding band. It made me a little sad on behalf of the owner, especially since I never got an inquiry to the lost and found notice I posted. Dang... PLATINUM.

The next day, I had another platinum find: the story of the new National Audubon Society headquarters in NYC. I was invited to attend a screening of the before/after video about their office space, which received the highest point total of any commercial interior in the world evaluated for LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Platinumest of the platinum. Dang!


The teamwork and the thought and planning that went into making this a crown jewel of environmental design was truly inspiring...even the very story itself: the 15 minute video by Grandview Island Productions helped earn them a point towards the rating as an eco-education aspect. But a lot of people put a lot of thought into this project. They had the blessing of building owner Trinity Real Estate, and FXFOWLE Architects went to work with some insights from YRG Consulting on sustainability and engineer brainiacs from Flack & Kurtz.

I think the thing that impressed me most -- more than the raised flooring that accommodates an air distribution system...or the handcrafted conference tables and paneling made from salvaged barns or fallen walnut trees...
... or the lights that automatically dim to adjust to the daylight present -- was the responsibility and innovation everyone on the team seemed to show. Some of the vendors were new to the world of sustainability, but were selected in part for that reason: they learned from experts, and now there are more sustainability pros out there making impact.


I've been a fan of one of the team companies for a long time: Herman Miller, who did the furniture. The before/after video was screened at their LEED gold certified showroom and I was kind of drooling at my surroundings. Happily, though, they are updating their Web site soon, so it should do a better job of showcasing online just how much thought they put into a triple bottom line.

Plus they had some chairs there that looked like something out of Batman VI. I love my vintage 1928 office chair, but my back is reminding me that ergonomics have improved in 80 years. So, in channeling The Secret, I'm just sayin':

Socially Transmitted Dis-Ease

I've been putting together a How-to deck on participating in social media at the request of a client. I feel like the guy on that commercial whose wife comes downstairs in the morning to find him up all night, sitting slack-jawed and messy-haired. He tells her that he just got to the end of the internet.

Only we, of course, never do.

It's an addiction. A compulsion. A necessity. As an advisor or resource, staying one, or preferably three, steps ahead of the average guy's knowledge is like being in a constant race to a never approaching finish line. So over the next few days or weeks, I'll try to share some of the elements I'm going to share with my client as I pull together reframe some of the basics for them.

Overarching Rules for Social Networking Participation Part 1:

• If you don’t know anyone, but want them to know you, blog
• If you don’t know them, don’t friend them on Facebook
• If you don’t know them, but wish you did, try to connect with them on LinkedIn
• If you don’t know them, but they are a good resource, do follow them on Twitter (@mossappeal )
• If you don't know what they're saying about you and want to know (which we all need to know before diving in for business reasons), by all means, ask. And I do mean "by all means," like Google yourself, set Google alerts, Monitorr yourself, and pose some questions!
  

Have at it.

Madder than Bette

I read an infuriating (to my bleeding heart (see previous post) sensibilities) response to an op-ed piece co-authored by founder of the NY Restoration Project/singer/actor, Bette Midler, and Connie Roosevelt, in the Daily News. And for all the social media know-how I've acquired techno-snafus on the News's site got the better of me and I couldn't reply on that site. So, just to channel my fury, thought I'd share here:
Bette's appeal was for the stimulus package to support and encourage more green-collar jobs, particularly to the benefit of her pet project: NYC Parks. The lame response posted by "woodrose" was that that was like "redecorating a burning house."

"Really, Woodrose?", as Seth Meyers might say.

MY response to Woodrose is to consider what we're facing, pal! We have to think beyond our current paychecks (or lack thereof) and current generation. The benefit of keeping the city green is more than for beauty's sake (though that might help soothe that savage beast!)
As the parks dept site DOES say: "NYRP's work in parks and community gardens directly contributes to achieving four of these – Goal 3: Ensure that all New Yorkers live within a ten-minute walk of a park, Goal 7: Reduce global warming emissions by more than 30%, Goal 9: Clean up all contaminated land in New York City, and Goal 10: Open 90% of our waterways for recreation by reducing water pollution and preserving our natural areas." And sorry for the reality check, but by way of reminder, some facts I saw promoting a lecture by Gus Speth, Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, founder of Natural Resources Defense Council and World Resources Institute, former Administrator of the UN Development Programme say:

1. We need to confront the American people with how bad environmental conditions are:
“We (i.e., Americans)… are living a dream. We need to be reminded of the nightmare ahead. Here is the truth as I see it: we will never do the things that are needed unless we know the full extent of our predicament.”

2. We need to confront the public not just with climate change but with the full panoply of severe degradation of global ecosystems. “The rate of deforestation in the tropics continues at about an acre a second. About half the wetlands and a third of the mangroves are gone. An estimated 90% of the large predator fish are gone, and 75% of marine fisheries are now overfished or fished to capacity. Twenty percent of the corals are gone, and another 20% severely threatened. Species are disappearing at rates about a thousand times faster than normal. The planet has not seen such a spasm of extinction in 65 million years, since the dinosaurs disappeared. Over half the agricultural land in drier regions suffers from some degree of deterioration and desertification. Persistent toxic chemicals can now be found by the dozens in essentially each and every one of us....[There are} 200 dead zones in the oceans due to overfertilization….….Freshwater withdrawals doubled globally between 1960 and 2000, and are now over half the accessible runoff….[Major] rivers no longer reach the oceans in the dry season.”

3. Today’s environmental strategy will not succeed because: It works within today’s system of regulation and legislation. It works incrementally and accepts compromise. It allows the public to believe that problems can be solved at acceptable economic costs, without significant lifestyle changes. It tries to save global ecosystems without changing political systems. It does not organize the public. It overly depends on bureaucracies, e.g., EPA, Dept. of Interior, UNEP. "

Want to take some action? Call your senator today.

Greening My Reading?

Kindle 2 and Google Books just don't smell like Barnes & Noble or my old public library. I read most of my news online, weaning myself down to the weekend NY Times only in print, and even putting THAT on "vacation hold" pretty often to make that diet (and budget) even more strict. They make it hard to find the e-edition or the Times Reader or whatever its called, but I finally mastered how to grab the little corner of the virtual paper with my mouse and drag, vs. turn a page. But I miss holding the crossword puzzle in my hands. Of course, that means I can't berate myself for never understanding the theme clues. (If there's a question mark after the clue does that mean even Will Shortz doesn't know the answer??)

I don't miss the size of the piles of papers I can't seem to get a handle on of section I absolutely, positively have to read and never seem to. I buy most of my books all at once at the annual Goddard Riverside Book Sale, when publishers donate new releases, calendars, and books on tape...er, make that CD...er, make that DVD, and they're sold at 50% of list with proceeds to benefit the center. Having never been able to pass up a bargain, especially when tempted by that good old smell of ink and paper, I walk out with canvas totes filled with bargains. But since I read so slowly, consuming every word, I have books I absolutely, positively mean to get to this month from the sale four years ago. So now I'm on a serious book diet, too.

(Except for my step-brother's new book, "Humpty Dumpty was Pushed" which we ALL must get when it comes out in March! Here's a sidebar note: Marc's the guy who wrote the human chain anthem "Hands Across America", and his step-daughter (yes, my "step-step niece," works for Riverkeeper that fights to keep the Hudson clean, so bleeding hearts run in the family and extended extended family! And, just to make your head spin, one of his songs was a clue in a NY Times puzzle. I didn't get THAT one either.)

Sigh.

So, by the time I am done with the physical books and ready for the next gen Kindle, eschewing bargains and scents for the sake of the trees, it will probably be the Kindle 17. Great...That'll be MORE tech ramp up I'll need to learn.

2/8 Postscript: Just found this JOOST link to a 48 min movie on Riverkeeper

CNG - Can Natural Gas Be Good?

You bet. Just took a Compressed Natural Gas car service to JFK. Granted, I have to offset the big old jet flight I took, but at least my C02 to/from the plane was basically nil. For a good overview about this alt fuel, check out About.com .

Kudos to US Limo for working with LimoGreen and incorporating several CNG vehicles into their fleet. And what I really thought was pretty cool was that their drivers are "pumped" about it as well. One of them got out of the car to show me where the tank was and explained about the almost zero emissions. He almost went as far as to put his mouth by the tail pipe to prove it, but I held him back. (Granted, some don't want the calls for rides requesting it because the fuel stations are few and far between still. For private cars there are still only two in Manhattan.)


I'm no scientist, and I tried reading a bunch of stuff on CNG, but you're better off comparing for yourself. What I take away is that it is certainly a lesser evil (less "particulate emissions" if you must know), and a great place to start is on all city vehicles in part because the fuel tanks for these babies take up a lot of storage room in passenger car trunks and conversion kits are available but pretty costly.

BUT - I've always been of a mind that the kind of enthusiasm that driver showed is what we need (hence my blog!) to keep the word spreading. T Boone is doing a good job of evangelizing CNGs with his Pickens' Plan. We can't afford to fall down on the job right now.

Oh, and can we get a few MORE cars into car service fleets? Start requesting them if you're going to the airport and create some demand for good.