Digital Marketing Specialist, Social Media Consultant,
and Tech Geek at Heart

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Fifteen Years of Online Social Interactions

May 19, 2008

Many tech geeks will often say that their first forays into cyberspace began with a 300 baud modem and a BBS. I’m a little younger than that (finally, I can say that!), but I was an early adopter of social networks from when I first opened my 3.5″ floppy of Promenade (later to be called AOL) and signed up to use the service.

I used Prodigy, but I never was a fan of the randomly generated alphanumeric username and didn’t stick around. On the other hand, my first ever interaction on AOL was with someone who was separated from my social network by only one degree. I was 12 at the time, it was 1993, and AOL cost $5.95/hour (after a flat rate of $9.95 which included 5 hours of online usage).

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Should You Stop Sending Newsletters and Focus on Blogging?

September 5, 2007

Mug of EmailMy ever-so-brilliant BFF wrote an interesting piece about whether blogs should be a primary marketing initiative or if email newsletters should still be in play. Lisa’s question was prompted by a blog post by Dawud Miracle which poses the same question. And Yaro Starak believes he has the answer: no.

I’m with ya, pal. Lisa writes about how Bruce Clay has both a blog and a newsletter. She says that the newsletter (surprisingly!) has more readers than her oh-so-personable blog. Surely, you’d think more people want to read Lisa’s humor and wit. I sure do.

But Lisa has a point. And yesterday I had a phone conversation with Gary Price about how podcasters are so immersed in their shows that they lose sight that the average person is not familiar at all with podcasting technology. To be completely frank, I still have doubts about the lifespan of podcasts and think that the multimedia overload is still too much to handle. (That doesn’t stop me from making occasional guest appearances on one social media podcast, though.)

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Coping with the Winds of Change

January 21, 2007

Return to Sender MailIn the fifteen years since I became an active online user, I realize that only once did I make a drastic change in my online life — an email switch in 1999 when I canceled an online service. When possible, I try to avoid making it difficult for people to find me, as I can totally relate to the disappointment that people who call my cell phone looking for Nancy feel when they realize that I am not her. (I’ve had my cell phone number for six years and counting, but people still call for Nancy to this day.)

A few days ago, I reconnected with a very old and very good friend of mine. Since he is slightly “older” than the MySpace/Facebook generation and hadn’t discovered the appeal of online networking, I couldn’t locate him, but fortunately I was able to find him through a younger sister who is active in these communities.

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Online Dating: Content isn’t Everything

December 12, 2006

Online DatingHere’s a little known present-day fact about me: when I was 15, I had an “AOL boyfriend.” (My parents, had they known, would have freaked.) In my high school yearbook, I was voted most likely to have an online wedding.

Back then, it was strange for people to grasp the potential of online networking. It was geeky. (I never minded.)

Fast forward 11 years. I’ve been married for nearly two years. My husband and I met the old-fashioned way. “AOL boyfriends” are not so abnormal. Online relationships are flourishing and people going great lengths to meet their dream dates that they met online.

Online dating communities are very active and people often make their own assessments of an individual based on an online profile followed by a few email exchanges and maybe a phone call or two.

I’ve seen successes and failures with this model. I’ve had a friend from Falls Church, VA meet his “AOL girlfriend” who lived in Seattle — after meeting, they decided they were meant for each other. I believe they’re on their 7th or 8th year of marriage now.

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Gmail to Replace University Email System?

October 24, 2006

The Georgetown Hoya reported today that the university is considering a Google alternative to their internal mail system due to the Georgetown mail servers being unreliable.

The new system would run off the Google Apps for Education platform, enabling students to use … essentially, Gmail. Emails would be routed through Google’s server, preventing issues such as bounced messages or internal downtime or outages.

Will this have any ramifications to academic freedoms that students in well-known universities are entitled to? Will this be a breach of security or violation of privacy? We all know that Google does a good job based on data, but will Google be doing more than just “hosting” email?

Granted, from a system administration standpoint, Google Apps for Education does sound tempting. But it is an entirely different issue if the data that resides on a student account is “used” in any way.

Having just graduated from college myself (I still maintain my college email account having previously worked at my college computing), I know that I need not be concerned about the security of my college email account. The only people who would be able to access my account are those who have root access to the server upon which my mail resides. I know that my university isn’t data mining my mail, looking for ways to optimize for the “best user experience,” which is something that Google takes pride on offering to the public.

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