tammyoler.com

Technical Difficulties… Solved!

I’m glad you didn’t adjust your internets, gentle readers.  Comments are now working and feed issues should be resolved.  Hooray, technology!

When It Comes to Social Media, You’ve Got to Think Big & Act Small…

… No matter how big or how small you are.

I had the good fortune of catching a number of great sessions at the IABC Social Media Conference in New York last week, many of them by representatives of large companies like Nokia and Virgin USA. Many of those sessions reinforced the importance of a high-level approach that integrates social media with marketing and communications strategies when developing and maintaining a social media program. To echo the smart words of Julie Cottineau from Virgin: You don’t need a social media strategy; you need a brand-building strategy. This is something I find myself emphasizing to companies of all sizes, but especially to smaller organizations.

Because smaller organizations often forego strategy, it’s easy to believe they’re at a disadvantage as social media evolves. Not necessarily true!  In fact, being small has a real upside when it comes to social media. ok

Book Report: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (with Bonus Lovecraft!)

The Book: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1965)

The Goods: Generally credited as the origin of the true crime genre, In Cold Blood is a Truman Capote’s non-fiction novel detailing the grisly 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, as well as Capote’s study of the two killers.

The Report: Despite the face that we’re living in an age awash with all things true crime, book club was impressed with In Cold Blood, and found the experience of reading it chilling and a little creepy.  Nonetheless, many of us found it impossible to discuss this novel without discussing how it was written: Capote’s methods, his interpretation of the events, and his relationship to the real-life killers. ok

The Gloves Are On.

We’ve fallen back now and I’m wearing striped mittens about every other morning.

It takes so much energy - Sam Brown (www.explodingdog.com)

The cold creeps in and I have to reassure myself that I can’t actually feel the days getting shorter.  I think it’s important to write about this, right now, as part of internal winterizing that has started to feel necessary in preparation for the East Coast between November and March.  I will spend the next few months putting on more layers, poking out of some ridiculous pom-pomed hat to tell people, “I’m a Western Girl.”  I say it like it’s a proper noun.  This becomes shorthand for people, who understand: There’s not enough sun here for me.  I get nostalgic for mountains, clean snow, and wearing sunglasses on Christmas Day.  I’m allergic to wool, so I will never sport the proper pea coat and hugging people in stylish sweaters makes me a little bit itchy.

Still, New York is something of a cold weather marvel.  We’re all in this together.  Or, at least, we’re all in this train together.  In our hats and coats.  This year is the first time I’ve commuted into midtown on a regular basis.  The fancy hotels have heat lamps under their awnings and the doormen wear booties on their hats when it rains or sleets.  The holidays are a mad rush of a mixed bag.  I feel like people will walk faster for the next couple of months, if that’s possible.  It’s alternately invigorating and exhausting.

I remind myself: last year was better than the year before.  And this year will be better than last.  Better than sun lamps is the actual morning sun, which starts to feel kind of magical right about now.  If I crawl out of bed early enough, I can get outside to a quieter Williamsburg and get a dose.  Squinting in the sun is a bother in August.  It’s such a blessing in January.

The to-dos are simple but important: good hats, hot drinks, lots of stretching, spinach, (itchy) hugs, exercise, mornings, good media, looking out from beneath the pom pom, and sending out lots of love to the universe.  That last bit is what really makes us warm, anyways.

Technical Difficulties!

Do not adjust your internets, gentle readers!  I’ve discovered a few issues related to comments and my feed here at the tammyo blog that I’m hoping to resolve soon.  Thanks for reading!