Halloween Party with some old Eightbar Buddies

I just got back from a Halloween party - a virtual one with some of my old Eightbar colleagues from IBM (incidently, many have moved on to form their own companies such as Feeding Edge by Ian Hughes / Epredator).

It was on Almaden Island in Secondlife hosted by IBM Virtual Universe Community (VUC). A special thanks to the current guild master of the VUC Mary / Sharon Schmertzin for hosting and DJing.

Believe it or not, it was great to reconnect with people I have not talked to in a while from across the globe. I think virtual worlds are the next logical step in Social Media, an extension if you will of Facebook or Twitter. If you have not tried out Secondlife, I highly recommend you do and give it a chance (it does have a learning curve and sometimes the technology can be some what flaky). Look for me, Jeffrey Fanwood is my avatar name in world.

Some pictures of the event:


Me before I put on my costume - kind of a MJ Thriller thing going here.


That is me in the purple leather pants rocking out to Thriller actually.


Buggy Rich and Subdigit playing the piano - I like that painting in the corner too.


Another spooktackular scene.

Well, that is about it folks. Tomorrow is the real Halloween party at Jessica and I's home, we are expecting a time so good it will be scary (yeah, that is a bad joke).

Jeffrey

Social Media is not Social Marketing

I was reading the discussions groups on LinkedIn recently and one caught my eye under the group "twitter innovators Innovation & Creativity Network of Tweeters".

It was 5 questions to ask your Social Media Consultant by Andrew Ballenthin
President of an Integrated Marketing Consultancy, Writer, Speaker, Community Marketing Blog Founder. I have reprinted the questions here:

5 Criteria For Qualifying Social Media Consultants

Social media has been around for over 10 years. The role of Social Media Consultant is a term that's much younger. How do know if someone is qualified in this field as a professional? Here's 5 questions to think about (for more details http://tinyurl.com/yfeqcam ).

1. How many years have you been practicing social media?
2. How many years have you practiced for clients/business?
3. What are your accomplishments with monetization, PR, database buiding?
4. What is your past business background?
5. How did you achieve your greatest accomplishmnet?

What experience and expertise do you look for with someone who offers social media services?

Well, I love social media. I have been playing with facebook, twitter, plurk, for over 3 years and blogs for at least 6 years. Web 2.0 is Web Deux or Web DO (as in Do something).

That said, I am skeptical. To build a viral buzz seems to be the goal of many social media consultants and it is akin to trying to capture lightening in a bottle. When done purposely, it almost always misses the mark.

How do you overcome insulting the intelligence of your user and make this a viable asset? Social media is not social marketing and I hope many the social media consults don't think the two are the same.

My suggestion is to tell the users they are being marketed too and act accordingly, while adding some value.

That is the real question, what is the value add a consultant of a social media campaign providing to the user? After all, it is all about the user.

Amphibian Guacamole

Ok, I was kidding. We are not having frog based Mexican foodstuffs. Actually this little critter has taken up home in my avocado tree.



He leaves from time to time, but always seems to come back to this same leaf.
I am not sure what it will do once the leaf falls off, hopefully for Jessica, he finds another he likes.



That said, he has kind of become her wild pet. She had a toad once before (and not me!) and this tree frog she finds fun. He is really docile, and even let me pet him.




Here he is, just hanging out (with his eyes sort of open).

Be well,

Jeffrey

System of the Down cover with Hot Electric Violin Ladies

These Hot Violin Chicks are rocking out with this System of the Down cover Toxicity using electric violins and drums. What would one expect from an Asian female violinist? Pun intended, you all know I am not sexist or racist, but we gotta know there are differences. Anyway, check out this video from Today's Big Thing website.



~Jeffrey

(Z)Xebras loose in Fort Myers

We went to the Edison last night for $1 hamburgers (actually they were OK for a buck, but you should really get the normal burger - much much better).

Well there was this strange car in the parking lot called a Xebra. Interesting enough, it was only 3 wheels (which might explain the motorcycle style license).





Of course the venue, it would have been better to get the car in the shot, but the angle was just not right.


If anyone that reads this blog knows the cars owner, it would be cool to get the full story behind it to publish here.

Jeffrey

Down Town Fort Myers

In the last couple of years, Fort Myers has tried (and in my book succeeded) in getting their downtown district (now known as the River District) revitalized. I think they have succeeded. These few shots were on the corner of Front and Hendry.



Cigar bar above.

One of the downtown Theatre's



These 2 are of the new Cafe Matisse (it used to be Liquid Cafe - the new incarnation is much more inducive to an identity than Liquid Cafe).


I will post more pictures of various downtown Fort Myers places as I take them. I only wish Cape Coral would get their act together for our downtown (but I will not hold my breath - our city council seems to be "stuck on stupid").

Italian Fest - Fort Myers

Being Sunday afternoon and wanting to get out of the house for a bit, my lovely bride and I decided to hit the Italian Festival on McGregor Blvd Today.

The band was actually not too bad, if a little loud.


Oh course my lovely smiling bride.


Tents and on lookers.


Folks watching the band, and in the background the great "corn hole" competition. When I first came to SWFL 6 years ago, everyone thought I was asking about some strange "sexual" game. In reality, it is a more like a bean bag toss, played similar to horse shoes (actually that is the nickname - safe drunkard horse shoes).



The reason I really come to Italian Festivals - sausage and peppers.


Where I went after the sausage and peppers (kidding of course).



All and all it was not a bad time, but we didn't stay too long. It was much too hot (even in October, it still gets a tad warm here mid-day).