Though it seems like it’s fairly easy to be a blogger, that’s not always the case. As you may have read before, sometimes I lose motivation, run out of new post ideas, or am simply just too tired. There are a lot of reason why I might neglect my blog but there are more important reason to keep moving forward.

One reason is that I love writing, but the other more important reason is that I love writing for you.

Yes, you the readers.

Without you, this blog would only be an online diary, words floating out and getting lost in cyberspace. Half of writing is keeping your audience in mind and that’s you. I do know a select few of you who are reading religiously and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for your support. You keep me going and I hope that I can add something to your day, however small that may be.

(As the holidays are upon us, I’m falling into an even slightly less formal mood…)

You’ve probably heard that at Microsoft, we spend a lot of time on user experience design.  Many iterations, lots of psychological evaluation (of the software, not the engineers), and some pretty sophisticated usability laboratory testing.

Up front, we also develop a number of conceptual mockups (screenshots or slide decks) that demonstrate to everyone the vibe that we are aiming for.  These serve as inspiration throughout the product cycle.

For PowerPivot, we also took the extraordinary step of identifying a screenshot of what we wanted to avoid.  Check out this controller guide from a recent video game:

OK, not really.  This was created by the guys at Penny Arcade, one of my favorite reads.

But the spirit is the same.  How many manuals have you opened, seen something that essentially looked just like this, and then immediately put back down?

Happy Friday

At the recent Acts 29 AMBITION Conference, sponsored by Sojourn Community Church,  in Louisville KY, I had the opportunity to talk with Ed Stetzer about knowing when to quit, “Christian Hollywood,” and knowing your audience. Just like in the first part of this conversation, Ed offers much helpful wisdom that we should all take to heart.

Listen. Learn. Tweet.

Today’s a big day for me… (drumroll please) I have officially moved my wordpress blog to my own domain. (http://www.rockinrobync.com/) I’ve been theatening to go live for about a week now. Everytime I am about to pull the trigger, something happens. One of the things that’s been keeping me from going live is figuring out how to get the picture of the elephants in my header in my wordpress blog, in the header over here. I know it sounds like a small thing to you but it’s huge to me. (And I’m sure you’ve noticed I’m still working on that). So, I’m inserting them here.

Those elephants mean a lot to me because they remind me of my trip to Kenya last summer and my desire to return. I learned many lessons in my short time in Kenya related to community. I often say it’s the trip that keeps on giving.

What you are about to watch is video I was able to capture as we were stopped for lunch. You see, we are stopped by the side of the road taking a break, on the road from Amboseli National Park to Nairobi and its treacherous road. While stopped for lunch, up over the hill coming towards us are some Masaii shepherds  moving their cattle.  The Maasai live a very primitive life and it centers around their cattle. Cattle are a primary source of food and a symbol of wealth for them.

The video doesn’t do this moment justice. So what’s my point? For a very brief moment we took our eye off the shepherd, and missed that he needed assistance. We took for granted that he knew that a bottle of water has a plastic wrap and it has to be removed before he could open it. We were caught up in the moment not noticing that someone in arms length needed just a little assistance. The good news is that we looked back, and saw he needed assistance and were able to help.

So my question to you today is have you taken your eye off your community? Is there someone in arms length that you could help?

When I worked in IT, one of our US clients, who was completely unaware of that variety of English often referred to as ‘British’ or ‘International’, wrote to us to say, “If you can’t even spell properly, how do you expect us to trust your products?” 

While I struggled to formulate an appropriate response my manager said, quite simply, “Give him what he wants.  In fact, let’s adopt US English for all of our collateral, to reflect the fact that we’re international players.”  I needed to lie down.  “What about our British clients?” I pleaded.  He pointed out that we didn’t have a single customer that would object to US English but at least one, possibly more, who needed it.  He was right of course; I was so busy indulging my fondness for the mother tongue that I had forgotten to pay any attention to my target audience. 

Whether writing for a mass market or a limited niche, it is important to appeal to as many of your readers as you can and alienate as few as possible, even if that means writing in a style you’re not accustomed to.  I am sure that the local authorities that controversially “banned” Latin expressions such as ‘QED’ and ‘quid pro quo’ were simply trying to put this principle into practice.

Another manager of mine took this one step further and asked me to avoid using certain words of Latin (Romance) origin, suggesting that “prior to” could be replaced by “before”.  I was taken aback at first but finally conceded that he had a point, I was writing a technical manual after all.

Part of the beauty of the English language is that it has such a rich variety of influences.  The downside is that it can offer us too many choices!  Indulge your passion for rich and flowery words and you risk sounding pompous; simplify your message too much and there’s a danger of patronizing your readers.  If you are struggling to set the tone, why not see who else is writing successfully for your target audience and the type of language they are using? 

My dad writes a regular magazine column.  When writing a feature about conkers one day, he spent far too long agonizing over whether to use the word ‘quad’ or ‘quadrangle’.  Eventually, he settled on ‘playground’ and I’m sure that 99% of his readers would have approved!

As this week comes to a close I realize I am embarking on a new exciting journey. I started a new gig at Cliqset and there will be lots more to come about that in the upcoming days and weeks. Stay tuned because there are some very exciting things in store on the Cliqset front.

Another high point of my week was the Atlanta Chicks Tweet Up or as we refer to it on Twitter #AtlChix. This was the inaugural tweet up of this group held at the St Regis in Buckhead and quite an evening. It was really nice to meet so many of the great women I follow on twitter in person. From the minute I arrived to the minute I departed, I felt welcomed and engaged. Although many of us had never met, there was a tie that binds that is critical to building and maintaining community.  And while Twitter is what brings us together, it is authenticity and a real motivation to connect deeper that holds things together.  I enjoyed every minute of it – as a matter of fact I cannot wait for the next one.  So for all of my non Twitter friends reason # …hmm oh wait I have lost count now – let’s just say yet another good reason to be on Twitter.

Now that brings me to my final point. I am asked constantly about why I tweet, what is the value, do you really care that someone you know is about to get a pizza? Over the last weeks and months I have responded in various ways:

1. You can’t deny the power of Twitter – the US government intervened and asked them to hold off on maintenance during the Iran elections.
2. China, acknowledging the power of such a vehicle, shut down Twitter as the anniversary of Tiananmen approached.
3. More often than not, the community on Twitter scoops the media with breaking news.

These are just a few tangible examples not only of the power of such a vehicle, but the power of community as well. You see without a tie that binds, engagement dissipates as well as the power.  Twitter is a communication vehicle that many choose to deploy in a variety of ways – just like the telephone or email. At the end of the day, it’s all pretty straightforward – Twitter is what you make it. Now that may sound cliché, but that’s the simple truth. It’s only a vehicle; the people, message, engagement and authenticity make the community. So next time your inclination it to question or knock it, take a minute and engage – you might be pleasantly surprised.

Over the last several weeks I have closely followed the election process in Iran as I am sure many of you have. On any given day I have been concerned, mesmerized and even in shock. It’s been incredibly difficult to watch the violence and the protests. However, I have been encouraged by the community and support that has been consistently rallying on the social networks. I have even decided to show my support for the people fighting for democracy in Iran and change my twitter avatar to green along with 160,000 other concerned people.

I am amazed and excited about the community of support building globally. As a social media evangelist (my friends say twitter addict) daily I come into contact with someone who has nothing but negative things to say about Twitter, Facebook or the social web. Many times these are people who are not engaged in the social community at all and they have gathered their information from some naysayer.

The facts are that the US government recognizes the power of the social web -they reached out and asked twitter to hold off on maintenance. And I was thrilled to see Twitter agree to wait on their maintenance. The Iranian Regime sees the power of the social web or they wouldn’t have fought so hard to suppress and censor it.

But at the end of the day it’s not Twitter, or Facebook, or even MySpace that’s so powerful. It’s really community! It’s the masses that are willing to stand in support and willing to put the word out. It’s the message and there’s a large audience that not only hears and identifies with the message but is also willing to act. All in all, I think it’s the 1,2,3 punch that makes the social web so powerful: 1)community, 2)the message, and 3)the medium. In just a matter of seconds, you can mobilize a community or a country for support.

Can you imagine how much swifter things might have moved if our forefathers had such a powerful communication tool? They had the community, the message, and the medium. However, it took years to get the message out and rally the support.

When writing for an audience, it is important to know who your audience is and what they are expecting. As many will attempt to write their essays required for college admittance, it is important to read the given prompts and answer it accordingly.

Many ask, “What if the prompt is open-ended or not specific?” To that, I respond that this is a good thing. It gives you an opportunity to shine. Here you are able to discuss what you wish without the hindrance of randomly tying in circumstances in your life that “kind of” fit the prompt. You are free to discuss your encounters, endeavors, goals, or trials to your heart’s content- all the while showing how you have overcome unfortunate circumstances, of course.

But how do I do that? For you to write an essay that both answers the prompt and presents you in the best of lights, it is important to investigate your own reasons for pursuing higher education. The use of “my parents want me to go” or “in a bad economy, this is a great back up plan” is not going to cut it. Instead, you must think of your end goal and work backwards.

Whatever your goal, whether it is to become a doctor, attorney, engineer, biologist, or journalist, a degree can help you achieve those objectives. Think of the career you wish to have and then think of what it takes to achieve that position, or perform that type of work. This is thinking from the end.

With this answer, you can now begin to form your own thoughts on why you feel that is what you wish to do. That is your essay. And that is how you write with purpose.

The Axiom Of Respect

Individuals Demonstrate Valid Behavior

By Treating Themselves And Others

Respectfully And Respecting

Only Those Who Earn It

PETA’s new ‘Veggie Love’ ad, which features scantily clad women using vegetables suggestively with the tagline “studies show vegetarians have better sex,” is causing quite a stir. It was meant to be run during the Super Bowl, but NBC has rejected it for being too explicit. In order to form your own opinion, you really need to watch it yourself (if you are 18 years old or over), so I have provided a link to it below:

‘Veggie Love’: PETA’s Banned Super Bowl Ad

As an aside, I’m not sure how PETA expects this ad to influence people to “go veg.” You remember it, sure, but mostly because it’s so over the top, it’s almost funny. In fact, the ad really doesn’t do PETA any favors, as it lowers their credibility and thereby damages their cause. Nevertheless, how they wish to represent themselves is their choice, (and I would guess that their whole point was to generate publicity by intentionally making the ad too provocative).

Proponents of running the ‘Veggie Love’ ad claim that other advertisements, such as those for Victoria’s Secret, are just as risqué. True, Victoria’s Secret ads are always of women in lingerie, but what pushes the ‘Veggie Love’ ad from borderline inappropriate to completely inappropriate for the Super Bowl (and network television in general) is what the women are doing.

According to Magna Sententia, we need to treat others respectfully, which includes knowing your audience and having discretion. The Super Bowl is a family event, and PETA ought to have taken this fact into consideration before developing their commercial. The ‘Veggie Love’ ad is far too mature for young children, and while this doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for their ad, it does mean that the Super Bowl certainly isn’t it.

Discretion is an important concept to remember as we go about our daily lives: What we choose to say and do, and how we choose to say and do it, impacts those around us. We must be aware of who is able to observe us, especially when it comes to children. Although parents are responsible for protecting their children from adult content, adults are responsible for their behavior in front of children.

When you know children are watching, please try to be a positive role model.

Ellie Sherise
Co-Creator of Magna Sententia
Co-Author of Magna Sententia: The Logical Cure for Our Society

Here are some quick notes about the first panel I am attending at SXSW 2008 (Knowing Your Audience):

1. The internet has created huge amounts of white noise for marketing bands
2. It is hard to find good artists due to traffic
3. You should find someone that can help you package your presentation in order to maximize your exposure
4. You should know your message that you want folks to carry for you – you crystalize your message before contracting someone to carry the message for you.
5. Artists are able to go direct to audience for funding
6. Suggest finding folks on the internet that are creating their own channels, once you have a channel of over 200,000 people you are advertising to a group of people the size of an average radio station.
7. Target existing groups that already have an online audience that are fanatics for your genre
8. There have been no links promoted in the panel so far
9. Some good math: 1000 fans X $10 is $100,000. And 1000 fans isn’t that many.
10. It is easier to make money as a music artist now… in the old days labels took the procedes so you made money touring. Now artists are closer to the source of the money.
11. Organize your listeners to “bum rush the charts” so that you can get a top exposure in places like iTunes