“Before launching a social media campaign, you have to know
what kind of online activities your target audience participates in.
But if you don’t know yourself, how can you get to know anyone else.
Based on the Social Technographic profiles in “Groundswell” by
Forrester analysts Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li, this fun quiz will
help you learn about yourself, while also learning about these key
internet behavior profiles.

How involved are you
in the groundswell? Are you at the top of the social technographics
food chain? Discover your social media savvy and find out whether you
are a key influencer in just a few minutes with this fun quiz!”

I’m a joiner – well obliviously – you’re lookin’ at the results. I dropped this in a post because I think more telling than the results – are the questions. Living and working in Houston, which is rumored be one of the leading cities when it comes to Social Media… I mean Guy Kawasaki actually sought out a speaking gig here, I am pretty in the know when it comes to all the fun social networking stuff out there. What I became aware of from the questions in this quiz are all the places I know about but am NOT participating in. Not that I am saying I am going to do it all… But there are a few more places I would like to put more energy. Course, I was just thinking this morning that I need to get up earlier, so I can do more social media, so I can be more connected, so I can get up earlier, so I can do more social media… you know how that goes.

I gotta learn how to do this!

@ericaogrady sent a link to this site: http://ma.tt/ on twitter – and I LOVE it.

Check out the bottom.

I have been seeing a lot of sites with this sort’of design aspect.

The Satsu site is another great example of using a fabulous background with some awesome layering and you know how I love swirls and spirals.

This final example is the one I really want to figure out how the hell they do that!

I mean I dig it something major.

The content is presented so well and clean. Very easy to navigate, great use of CSS to control
content, so it looks wonderful and at the same time search engines pick up all those keywords.The thing I gotta figure out is how they make it work even as the window resizes.

So, I am off to do a little poking and experimenting. Will let you know what I find.

Recently, I got to walk with Dinosaurs. No… really! Well, I didn’t walk WITH them, I sat in a seat between my 2 boys and some other guys walked around with the Dinosaurs… but I do have tickets stubs that say “Walking with Dinosaurs”. The show was awesome… I mean a life size T-Rex walked over and roared in our faces…  how does it get any better??? Seriously???  I have 2 boys (4 & 6) who play “Don’t fall in the water (carpet) with the Sarcosuchus. (and yes I just Googled Giant Dino Crocodile to figure how the hell to spell that!) They know more about Dinosaurs than I do… but that could be because they changed all the dang names since I was a kid.

While on the way to the show I was reminded how much I like the diversity of our city. And I know difference is sometimes the catalyst for friction… I spent a good chunk of my childhood in East Dearborn, Michigan where we were seriously in the minority. Still, 2 weeks ago there was this crystal moment on the way to the show when I was shown, once again, that we are all human just the same.

On the elevator in the parking garage was gathered the most American Melting Pot group of Houstonians… we had what to my totally untrained ears sounded like a Russian Family, an African-American family, a young Hispanic gentleman and me and my kiddos who are just about as blond and as fair as they come. The elevator was all glass on one side – facing out into the street – and we were 6 stories up in the air – and this is where the fun began. There were 6 little ones, noses to the glass, clutching the railing for dear life. The elevator started it’s decent and you would have thought we were on the largest roller coaster Astroworld ever had to offer. They all let out this spontaneous gasp and then squeals of joy and fear. At first the adults weren’t quite sure what to do with ourselves… do I shush my kid who is only doing what is a truly natural response to the experience?  I mean, they all did the same thing at the same time. The garage was full of people on the way to the show and we had to stop at each floor. By the 3rd decent… we were all in it! The kiddos squealed, the adults laughed, the elevator stopped… and rinse, lather, repeat… for 3 more floors. Even the guy who didn’t have any kids, who is in that young adult, I don’t think I want any of those rug-rats stage of his life (and his face gave all that away when he first got on the elevator with us) was won over in the end. And that’s it – the magic of children. Their laughter, their innocence, their fresh look at the world. The elevator ride was more important that the color of the skin on the nose leaving it’s mark on the window next to yours.

I was reminded of what in the beginning of this whole ifest journey (and I promise I’ll stop talking about it soon) really got me excited about the project – educating kids in Houston about other cultures. And now that the journey is coming to an end (ifest is this weekend) I love that I have been given a beautiful experience to come back around full-circle. So, hopefully I will see you this weekend.

~ JJ