Last night, in my opinion, was one small step for Late Night TV, one giant step for Social Media!
Lately, more and more buzz has been seeping into the mainstream world about Twitter. My friends and family have asked about it, people have brought it up to me at bars or in casual conversation and many talk shows and news shows, outside the tech and internet genre, have begun talking about it and using it. Last night Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht of Diggnation were guests on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and they introduced a whole new audience to Twitter and Digg. They conducted an experiment where they attempted to make an audience member (Bryan Brinkman) who was new to Twitter, more popular than Barack Obama (on Twitter at least). Last I checked this morning he has more than 23K followers from 7 the previous day. For those who still don't get it, that means he can now communicate instantaneously with 23k people from all over the world and engage in an ongoing conversation with these people.
In my opinion, Mr. Fallon has the right idea by choosing to gear his show towards the techies of the world. Twitter's active users have grown 900% in the past year. Digg.com gets more than 35 million hits a month. It's no secret that the brilliant minds and key influencers of the world are spending their time on these sites. I've always been a huge fan of Jimmy Fallon since his days on SNL, but now, thanks to his Twittering and his new tech-focused show, I am joined by millions of other tech-savvy, innovative individuals. I was lucky enough to attend a taping last week and had a great time. The Roots are quite possibly the best house band any show has ever had, and Jimmy's awkward charm is even funnier in person.
Since Jimmy has begun tweeting I have heard Twitter being mentioned more and more on TV. Just in the past day, Ellen DeGeneres has joined Twitter and already has almost 70K followers. Jay Leno mentioned it on his show last night as well and this morning, Martha Stewart was at it again trying to become "twitter-famous." She has been on Twitter for about a week, has almost 100k followers and I have to give her credit for trying to turn her typically less than tech-expert audience into loyal Twitters. This morning she asked for a show of hands as to who Twittered and about 5 people raised their hand. She did her best to explain it and probably contributed to more than a few first-time users jumping on the bandwagon.
In my opinion, Facebook has already become pretty mainstream and even the technically challenged folks are more willing to join it than Twitter. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on Good Morning America and other talk shows recently and will be on Oprah this Friday. Even my Dad is joining the Facebook cult!
But at least among the people I know, folks seem more hesistant to start Twittering, and don't seem to fully understand how it can benefit them. If you're still skeptical ...just ask Bryan Brinkman!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
For Love or Money?
Lately, in my quest for my dream job, I have been struggling with the familiar internal conflict of a job I love, or a job that will make me rich. Which is more important - money or happiness?
I have always been a firm believer that happiness is more important than money. I have further been a believer that doing something I love will eventually bring the money. Call me a dreamer, call me ignorant or just call me plain crazy, but ever since I was young, I always thought I'd be rich and famous for something. When I was really young, I wanted to be a marine biologist, mostly because I thought dolphins, sea lions and whales were really cute. That dream died when I found out that being a "marine biologist" wasn't just swimming with dolphins every day, and oh yeah, I was really bad at science...
When I got a little older I realized that I was a born writer. I started writing a Nancy Drew type novel when I was in elementary school called "The Adventures of Jillian Rhonda." The yet to be published mystery was tragically accidently erased from our old computer and was never recovered...
When I was in high school I decided that I would be an investigative reporter or a war correspondent. It was then that the alias "Allie Waters" was born. I was sure I would be on CNN with bombs exploding behind my head or writing for the NY Times.
When I got to college I found my niche to be more of a feature writer. I wrote for our college newspaper for a couple semesters as a news editor but longed for more interesting assignments beyond campus construction and the played out "dry campus" controversy. It was then that I developed an interest in public relations and marketing. I had a great professor, Gail Alofsin, who runs the Newport Yachting Center in Newport, RI who taught me about the wonderful world of PR and event planning. I even interned there in the summer and helped promote music festivals, food festivals and boat shows. It was a learning experience and sparked a new interest for me beyond journalism.
After college I took some time to find myself, taking various jobs from marketing at a hotel, to waitressing at a slew of hot spots on the water in RI. In my spare time I was a freelance writer for The Newport Mercury which was the closest thing to my dream job I've had to date. Only problem was that it paid barely a 100 dollars a week. It was more of a hobby than a career but brought me more inspiration and pride than I had felt in years. Having people read and praise my quirky articles about bars and restaurants in town was an amazing feeling.
So flash forward to the present. I had a good run working at a boutique PR firm, excelling at the creativity and social media aspects of the job. I found a new love for blogging, social networking and technology.
So now, as I try to determine what the perfect job for me will be, the job that will make me rich AND famous (and by famous, I mean well-known and respected in my field and invited to fun events and parties, not like "Paris Hilton famous") I continue to wonder, If I stick to what I love and what I know I'm good at, will success inevitably follow? Is it really that simple, or will I have to at some point, give up on my dreams to make the big bucks? For now, however naive it may sound, I am sticking to my guns and holding out for a job that will allow me to do what I love...and from there...I know the money will come! Until then, you can find me tucked away in a coffee shop writing on my laptop by day, and maybe waiting tables at a local hot spot near you by night...
I have always been a firm believer that happiness is more important than money. I have further been a believer that doing something I love will eventually bring the money. Call me a dreamer, call me ignorant or just call me plain crazy, but ever since I was young, I always thought I'd be rich and famous for something. When I was really young, I wanted to be a marine biologist, mostly because I thought dolphins, sea lions and whales were really cute. That dream died when I found out that being a "marine biologist" wasn't just swimming with dolphins every day, and oh yeah, I was really bad at science...
When I got a little older I realized that I was a born writer. I started writing a Nancy Drew type novel when I was in elementary school called "The Adventures of Jillian Rhonda." The yet to be published mystery was tragically accidently erased from our old computer and was never recovered...
When I was in high school I decided that I would be an investigative reporter or a war correspondent. It was then that the alias "Allie Waters" was born. I was sure I would be on CNN with bombs exploding behind my head or writing for the NY Times.
When I got to college I found my niche to be more of a feature writer. I wrote for our college newspaper for a couple semesters as a news editor but longed for more interesting assignments beyond campus construction and the played out "dry campus" controversy. It was then that I developed an interest in public relations and marketing. I had a great professor, Gail Alofsin, who runs the Newport Yachting Center in Newport, RI who taught me about the wonderful world of PR and event planning. I even interned there in the summer and helped promote music festivals, food festivals and boat shows. It was a learning experience and sparked a new interest for me beyond journalism.
After college I took some time to find myself, taking various jobs from marketing at a hotel, to waitressing at a slew of hot spots on the water in RI. In my spare time I was a freelance writer for The Newport Mercury which was the closest thing to my dream job I've had to date. Only problem was that it paid barely a 100 dollars a week. It was more of a hobby than a career but brought me more inspiration and pride than I had felt in years. Having people read and praise my quirky articles about bars and restaurants in town was an amazing feeling.
So flash forward to the present. I had a good run working at a boutique PR firm, excelling at the creativity and social media aspects of the job. I found a new love for blogging, social networking and technology.
So now, as I try to determine what the perfect job for me will be, the job that will make me rich AND famous (and by famous, I mean well-known and respected in my field and invited to fun events and parties, not like "Paris Hilton famous") I continue to wonder, If I stick to what I love and what I know I'm good at, will success inevitably follow? Is it really that simple, or will I have to at some point, give up on my dreams to make the big bucks? For now, however naive it may sound, I am sticking to my guns and holding out for a job that will allow me to do what I love...and from there...I know the money will come! Until then, you can find me tucked away in a coffee shop writing on my laptop by day, and maybe waiting tables at a local hot spot near you by night...
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