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October 23, 2009

I judge wine with words like "good" and "bad," so Wednesday night when I had the opportunity to go to a wine tasting with some folks who actually know the difference between tannins and acidity, I jumped at the chance. The fact that they wanted us to bring our laptops for some real-time reviews and connecting online made it that much more appealing.

Gary Vaynerchuk, author of the new NYT best seller "CrushIt" and host of Wine Library TV, and Lindsay Ronga of Cork'd held the special wine tasting for a handful of Austinites. With almost 40 people in the room, the conversation was lively and non-stop. We talked about the wines in person, and we also reviewed and rated them on the Cork'd site. Cork'd is a community of wine lovers, winemakers and those who want to learn more about wine.

There were three vintages of one of the wines we tasted -- the Lamborn Family Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon -- 2004, 2005 and 2006. Several folks sitting near the windows sampled the 2004. Those sitting near the door received the 2005. I tasted the 2006 along with the rest of the participants at the table in the middle of the room. I wasn't a fan. My online review actually says, "My tongue feels dirty."

Within seconds of posting my review, I was also able to see everyone else's review. We compared notes, and from the average scores, it sounds like the 2004 vintage was a good one. I then kinda forgot about my review and Lamborn.

But when I got home, I got an email from Cork'd saying that Lamborn Family Vineyards had left a comment on my review. They graciously thanked me for at least trying the wine; they actually thanked me for taking the time to leave a less-than-stellar review.

They get it.

They get that not every comment and review will be great out there in cyberspace, but they responded in a positive way still. They reach out to consumers where the conversations are already happening. They let me know that they are listening. It's about joining in on the conversations, and leading them when you can.

So, they're back on my mind. And because they reached out, I'm anxious to try something else from their menu. I wonder if they make a nice pinot noir… Or cupcakes?!

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September 4, 2009

I have to admit: I have a little crush on Dr. Walter Bishop from FOX's messes-with-my-head show Fringe. I'm so excited about the new season starting this month. I watched last season without missing a single word, and I plan to do the same with this one.

Last night -- you have may have seen it -- FOX ran a rerun of one of the episodes from last season as they lead up to the new one. They called it a "Tweet-peat" and plugged tweets onto the screen during the episode. I didn't know what to expect. It had the potential to be cool, or really, really bad.

They kept only two tweets at a time on the screen so as not to distract too much from the show, and most of the conversation -- happening in real time on Twitter too using the hashtag #Fringe -- was between the actors, producers and crew. But here's what worked for me about this little experiment: They interacted with fans and fellow tweeters! They answered questions about favorite scenes and episodes, and they alluded to inside information about things to come, maybe.

You can tweet all day long, but unless you're actually listening to those who follow you and interacting with them, you might wanna reevaluate the way you use Twitter.

I kept watching (and hoping) for Walter (played fabulously by John Noble) to send me a special "I love you too" message on my TV screen. I guess I just must've blinked and missed it.

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July 30, 2009

We all face writer's block from time to time. I actually had a Word document open for four days last week before I was ever able to form a coherent sentence to complete my article and meet a deadline.

So let me tell you what a "word nerd" I felt like this morning when I squealed with excitement at seeing Liz Strauss' 25-word writing project on Twitter. Her blog post inviting everyone to participate says it all: It's about inspiration.

But for me, it turned into a little writing game. I just let the words flow into a complete sentence, just as she suggested.

31 words.

I edited one verb that I wasn't very thrilled with.

33 words.

I removed a couple of instances of a word that I had used three times.

30 words.

Then, a couple of sips of coffee and it came to me. My 25 words on social media were complete!

When miles don't matter, ideas are shared, problems solved; when people you might never meet cross your path, that's when it is worth every second.

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May 13, 2009

Many of us here at Hammock Inc. have been using Twitter for more than two years now – a couple of us pushing two and a half – and we've learned that Twitter does lots of things. It allows telecommuters to keep in touch with the "home" office; it affords small businesses the opportunity to reach out to potential customers free of charge; it encourages conversation on hundreds of topics at any given moment; it allows news organizations to reach their audience before the 5 p.m. telecast; and so much more. And, it's teaching me to be a better writer.

How, you ask?

Twitter forces you to keep your tweets to 140 characters. Now, I've never thought of myself as long-winded, but it's tough to keep my thoughts concise enough to fit within that constraint. So I have to work at it. I have to always keep the pages flipping in that thesaurus in my mind. Why use a word with 14 letters when a different word with just six will work?

I have to remind myself not to use flowery language, but to stick to the point without the fluff. Short and sweet is key.

Twitter also forces me to proofread, and read again, and read one more time before I hit the post button. I don't want to be the girl who uses "there" when I meant "their." Twitter is conversation in an instant, and you can't take those little mistakes back. Sure, I can delete them from my own page, but if someone has looked at that particular tweet as it was posted, they instantly think I can't spell.

If you haven't joined Twitter yet, I encourage you to do so. Be sure to look me up there too, I'm sure I'll have something short and sweet to say. And I'll do my best to spell each word correctly!

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April 17, 2009

Thursday evening, I sat in on a panel discussion called "Old Media Rises From the Dead." Sponsored by Austin's Social Media Club, the discussion brought together panelists representing three local news outlets and one of Austin's most-read blogs.

Moderated by Omar Gallaga, Austin American-Statesman journalist, tech culture writer, and a funny, funny man, panelists included:

• Chelsea Stark, web producer, Twitter lead for KEYE and video game champ
• Robert Quigley, Internet editor and the Twitter face for the Austin American-Statesman and a super nice guy
• Elise Hu, political reporter and blogger for KVUE and fellow dog-lover
• Elizabeth Stoddard, news editor for the Austinist who doesn't want her mother to follow her on Twitter

There were several questions they were hoping to answer:

• Some outlets are doing better jobs than others at adapting to the social media shift, particularly some in Austin, but is there still more they can do?
• What changes do mass media outlets need to make to survive, and what can they bring to the table that bloggers can't?
• How are members of the new guard getting changes made to their newsrooms, and what kind of resistance are they meeting?
• Are journalism schools preparing graduates to deal with the many forms of online journalism, or are they losing some relevance?

As Omar asked these and many other questions to the rest of the panel, a couple of key words emerged: agility and adaptability.

"Trying to evolve as social media grows" is key, said Elise. And the rest of the panel agreed. Newspaper readers and television viewers aren't going away. Social media just gives these news outlets a new mode of communication for reaching them. If they'll embrace it.

Statesman editors witnessed the power of social media during Hurricane Ike in September 2008. Robert created a Twitter account specifically for tracking the hurricane, an account that also pointed followers to the Statesman's coverage of the storm online, generating more than 300,000 hits from Twitter alone. Robert joked that those numbers got him a "play-on-Twitter-free pass" with his bosses. Since then, Robert has used Twitter to engage with followers and readers to create real-time weather maps and cute-dog galleries and to work directly with the community on breaking news stories.

Why the success?

"It's because I'm listening," Robert says. Getting involved in social media is not just about throwing your information out there; it's about conversation, and it works best if the conversation is a two-way street.

The folks on the panel – and most of us in the room – understand that. And for old media to truly rise from the grave, they'll need to grasp the concept as well.

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Summer Huggins

Conversational Media Director

o: 615.690.3428

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