UPDATE:  Need another reason to choose Gowalla as your LBS at SXSW?  Facebook has partnered with them too.

(Full Disclosure:  I'll be at SXSW as part of the Chevrolet SXSW team and we've chosen Gowalla to work with to provide a cool experience for those at the festival.  Chevrolet is an official sponsor this year of SXSW)

This year will be my first South by Southwest Festival experience. 

As the legend goes, Twitter had its debutante party at SXSW and this year it's all about location based services.

So what's a girl with an iPhone to do with quite a few options? 

I'll admit, Foursquare is pretty cool and has lots of users.  In fact, I have switched back and forth between Gowalla and Foursquare a few times.  For Gowalla, wins for me were the interface and the fact that I could "play" while still being a homebody (being Mayor of anything besides my office was looking unlikely).  However, A LOT of my friends - both online and off - use FourSquare...so it's been hard to choose. 

However, I'm going to be using Gowalla exclusively.  If SXSW is all about location and location is all about being local, then Austin-based Gowalla is the way to go.

The social gaming aspect of location based services is very cool, but I'm thinking it will also be extremely helpful if I lose my friends in a crowd or want to find out where the hottest parties are via the volume of check-ins.  Also, since my husband will be following jealously along at home, I can share the experience with him, too.

Plus, Chevrolet and Gowalla have quite a few fun surprises in store.

I look forward to catching up with friends and making new ones at SXSW this year.

Let's connect on Gowalla so we can make those connections happen.

You can find me here.

And in the meantime, follow the Chevrolet Road Trip teams as they  make their way to Austin, plus all the action at the festival by following the #ChevySXSW hashtag because while location based services may be the "it" factor this year, Twitter is still sharing the spotlight with them.

What Location Based App will you be using? 

Basically, I was told that if the community decides to take over the conversation, especially when it comes to a brand, then it is their right to do so.  (I'd argue that there are people, yes, real human beings, that work at these companies, and YES!  even like their jobs...but I digress).

The comments started to give me pause, because it seemed they were moving in the direction of validating being aggressive and forceful.  The rationale was because the "minority" online was saying nice things about a company that the "majority" online had a big problem with and they wanted them to address that problem RIGHT THEN.

When force, intimidation, or mockery becomes involved, the notion of community disintegrates.   That happens online AND offline, no matter what side of the coin you're on.  Communities are not a new development here, we just have new channels for creating, fostering and...well, destroying them if we're not careful.  Human behavior continues to translate online...even if one is behind a computer instead of in a large crowd of people.  From my observation, the only change I've seen is that aggression can become more amplified.  But then again, so can the outpouring of support.  

I've seen more positive outcomes from community movements online when there's been positive intentions behind it.  Perhaps there's something to that.

Think about how what we've learned, where we've been, and how we've built our careers could leverage these experiences to enhance and, in some cases, ensure another person's success.

When I graduated from the University of Maryland in 1999 right at the peak of the internet bubble, I had no idea how much having a mentor would impact the next ten years and counting.

I was lucky.  In 1999, jobs were plentiful.  My first job was an "executive support person" (yep, you're right, a glorified assistant) for three senior vice presidents at a business and technology consulting firm.  However, after three months, I found myself helping to open up a brand new office in another city, sitting in on high level executive meetings, and building an office from four to forty in a matter of months.  After the office was up and running, I went and worked with the user experience group at the same company and soon after that was positioned to rise in the ranks of the client relationship management track.  Those were the days of stock options, stock splits, making the S&P 500 as a digital company (that was not a common feat back then), and riding the wave of a growing high profile organization.

Then the bubble burst.  And about half the company got laid off (along with thousands of others at interactive and tech agencies around the country and the world).

But I learned a lot in those two years and it was because I had incredible mentors.

Mentors that taught me to:

• Ask for what you want.  I would have never gotten that experience working with the amazing people in the user experience group had I not initially asked for it.
• Ask forgiveness later if you're confident in the results.  You can be sure there were quite a few people that thought a "green" employee like me had no right to be doing some of the level of work that I did.  But my mentors trusted me and my skills.  That gave me confidence to get it done.
• Trust your team.  There were days when I felt so unbelievably out of my element I wasn't sure if I could deliver.  The team I was on pulled me through.  And we did that for whomever needed it.  Every time.
• Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself.  Back then, there weren't a whole lot of women in technology.  In fact, at one point I was one of only two women on the team.  And I was young.  And I got ribbed.  But I learned to laugh along WITH them and dish it out every once in a while.
• The sky's the limit, you own your professional development.  I have never forgotten this.  If I start to get comfortable with what I know...well, then I know this:  It's time to start challenging what I already know and learn some more as much as I can.  And I'm not just talking about what's offered internally.  Diversity in where you obtain your knowledge and ideas is key.
• It's all about relationships.  With your teams.  With the people who support you.  With your clients.  With your partnerships.  Relationships are the foundation of everything.

So, when I was asked by the folks behind #Happo if I'd volunteer to review a resume as part of a giveaway they were offering, I did not hesitate to take the opportunity.  It was just last summer that I had returned to the corporate world at Fleishman-Hillard and I'm no fool...good karma keeps breeding good karma.

I was introduced to Brianna Fisher, a stellar senior in the PR program at Temple University.  Their PR program includes a student-run agency and Brianna's hopeful for landing her dream job after graduation this year.  I could tell you how the process went, but she does it so well here.

I've told Brianna that I look forward to being her mentor moving forward if she wants and I'm committed to being there as she continues her job search, makes decisions about offers, and advances in her own career.

I've got mentors in my life now who I can turn to...whether it's a gut check or a major career decision.  And being a mentor to people gives me purpose and keeps me grounded, too.  So it's win-win.

If you're interested in being a mentor or you are looking for a mentor or simply want to share your story about the importance of being or having a mentor, please share in the comments.

Image Source: PCsightings.com

I know what you're thinking right now...

"Really, Jessica, a post about spam?"

Maybe it's because I've gotten more of it recently in comments here on this blog.

Nope.  While true, that's not it.

It's because I'm seeing people engage in spam-like behavior, sometimes inadvertently, and sometimes in the name of their agenda.

You see, spam is not just the product of that person we picture sitting in a dark basement hoping to make a quick buck or an easy power high by invading our inboxes.

It is, in my opinion, the invasion of other's people space to exploit, to antagonize, or simply humiliate.  Whether it's highjacking a hashtag or sending an auto-DM on Twitter.  Or using the comments in someone else's blog to put yourself on a soapbox about a completely unrelated topic.  Or checking in to places on FourSquare or Gowalla despite you physically not even being there.  To me?  That's spam.

We can look at spammers in two ways.  The voice and the vehicle.  The voice is the person who has the intention of spam, the vehicle is their means of spreading said spam.

Over the past week, I've received easily six different spam messages in my direct messages on Twitter.  However, those six messages were sent by countless people.  Now I'm sure many of them did not realize that clicking on the link in the direct message (DM)  they received promising...well, I won't go into what some of those DMs promised, but either way...it was then passed on to all of their friends.

The person that wrote that script that would hack and compromise each person's Twitter account?  They're the voice.  All those people that clicked the link and enabled the viral spread?  Vehicles.

So, please. I implore you, please refrain from being the voice or a vehicle.

Are there other examples of this you can think of?  Please leave them in the comments.

But if you want to talk about your low rate loans or your essay writing services or your erecticle dysfunction treatment...don't bother.

Just this week one high school friend and I reconnected on Facebook and he wrote on my wall:

Nice to see your face. So, catch me up to your life in Five lines or less. Can you do it?

For a split second I thought there was no way.  But then it immediately came to me.  Answer with blog posts!

So here's what I wrote back:

Married my prince charming
have the most amazing 4 year old boy
love love love my job
but still the goofball I always was
and i'm always trying to stay grounded 

Did I kind of cheat?  Yes.  But still...five lines or less.

So, now I challenge you to tell us what you're all about in five lines or less.  Can YOU do it?

Either blog on your own blog and link here or leave your five lines as a comment.

Image Source: FinancialHack.com

In the meantime, for those in PR and marketing there's a grassroots stimulus package developed just for you.  And luckily, this stimulus doesn't have to go through the House and Senate for you to start getting the benefits.

Introducing HAPPO, or Help A PR Pro Out.

Brought to us by the wicked smart Arik Hanson and the amazing Valerie Simon, HAPPO brings PR practitioners and the companies that need them together for what I can only call delicious career goodness through social media.

Last summer, I decided to return to the corporate world and landed my job thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  I used the hashtag #hirejessicaknows and in less than a month, in this economy no less, I landed a job as a Vice President in Fleishman-Hillard's Global Digital Practice Group.

This is not to say that a hashtag will automagically lead to a job offer...you have to have the resume and experience to back it up.  But it does mean that if you've got your LinkedIn account updated with your relevant experience and a few key recommendations with credibility in the industry? It's just a matter of making sure that company with your dream job knows you exist.

This Friday, February 19,  join #HAPPO on Twitter 10am-2pm CT.  Use the hashtag #HAPPO to connect with PR pros, job seekers and opportunities.

In the meantime, become a fan of #HAPPO on Facebook.

And if you're happily employed like I am, find out how you can Help A PR Pro Out by doing what you can to help someone land a job.

If you're a job seeker feel free to leave a link to your LinkedIn profile here in the comments.  To support the movement, I'll use random.org to randomly choose 10 of those listed in the comments to tweet to my 28,000+ followers during the #HAPPO event on Twitter this Friday.

Happy Job Seeking!

But for my husband and I it eventually led to us being the husband and wife we are today.

So in honor of our first date seven years ago, I'm going to tell the story.

Mind you, Robbe and I did not meet seven years ago.  We actually met about 17 years ago at a high school party.  He and I grew up three miles away from each other in the same town, only he went to private school, and it was only because one of his best friends and neighbors went to public school, too, that a girlfriend and I were at said fateful party.  Robbe and I talked for about an hour at this party but alas, he did not ask for my number and I was not about to offer it up (didn't want to look "pressed" as we used to say back in the day).  But I never did forget Robbe.

Fast forward ten years...those ten years brought us other relationships, only a couple serious, but most?  Not so much. 

At the time I was working temporarily at a foreign policy think tank in Washington, DC (because that's how one transfers their skills in DC after the internet bubble bursts).  The controller at this organization went to high school with Robbe and when he mentioned his name in passing one day at work, I said, "I know that guy, we totally met at a party a long time ago and I always wondered what happened to him."

At a benefit party one night, a large group of us were all socializing and Robbe was there.  This group started hanging together at Chadwick's and Smith Point in Georgetown, Clyde's Tower Oaks in Rockville, and a number of friends' homes in and around DC.  Let's just say I would have had a lot more check-ins on Gowalla back then.  And my Facebook mobile uploads would see a lot more photos.

Admittedly, there was a part of me that really liked Robbe and couldn't help but wonder if it was fate bringing us together after meeting all those years ago.  At the same time, I loved our motley crew of friends and thought that if we ended up dating and...gasp...breaking up, well it'd be awkward for the group and at the time, the camaraderie was what movies like St. Elmo's Fire (set in Georgetown) are made of.

I had also just started dating someone but wasn't sure where it was going to go.  Well, that guy, fortunately, made that decision for me and, finding myself unarguably available, you'd think the answer would be obvious, but I somehow knew that if I shared my feelings, there was no turning back.  And that was scary.

I shared with my friends that I was no longer dating the other guy, including Robbe.  And two days before Valentine's Day, Robbe calls and suggests that since he knows neither of us have plans for that night, why not go to dinner together?  The way we discussed making plans was very platonic in nature but after rehashing this story, as we always do on Valentine's Day, neither of us knew what it meant.

Thanks to a friend who could pull some strings to get us a reservation at Old Ebbitt Grill near the White House, that is where we shared our first date.  By the middle of dinner and after a few glasses of wine we both confessed that we were hoping that this would be the first of many dates.  We shared a few kisses in the cab to Old Town Alexandria to meet friends.

The next day, I did something unprecedented.  I deleted, permanently, the phone numbers of ex-boyfriends from my cell phone.  (No seriously, this was unprecedented, my best friends were horrifed, worried, and excited all at the same time.) Had we been on Facebook back in 2003, we probably would have changed our status to "in a relationship" within a week or so and seven months later in September, our Facebook status would have been changed to "engaged".

A year after we were engaged we were married in the chapel of the private school that kept us from ever being in the same Algebra class or any other class, for that matter, together.  And his best friend that brought me to that party?  He flew out from California for it. 

And that motley crew?  They were all there, too.

PS.  Wedding photos by Emilie Sommer, follow her on Twitter

Marc Fireman is a vice president for Fleishman-Hillard's digital practice and is a lead digital strategist in the Fleishman-Hillard network out of the Boston office. With nearly 15 years of experience in digital marketing, ecommerce, digital and emerging media, and advertising, he specializes in developing integrated marketing programs and architecting multi-channel marketing campaigns. 

He has deep consumer marketing experience, focusing on marketing to women and youth-directed campaigns., and is responsible for digital strategy and implementation for clients ranging from Procter & Gamble to iRobot.

Before joining Fleishman-Hillard in 2008, Mr. Fireman was the global head of digital marketing for Reebok, where he worked for more than a decade creating digital marketing strategy, driving ecommerce sales, and implementing integrated marketing programs around the world. Mr. Fireman is an emerging marketing expert, having executed marketing programs in mobile, iTV, and the video game arena, While at Reebok, Mr. Fireman won numerous awards for Reebok including the 2007 MITX marketer of the year and the 2003 Ad Age Interactive Marketer of the Year.

You can follow Marc on Twitter at @firedog909

I need to vent about something that is getting out of hand.  Look, Edelman is a competitor and I respect that the Trust Barometer has been out there for an eternity so it’s a great way to look at consumer trust year over year, but recently, an insight has been pulled and is spreading virally that I believe is not accurate.

This is the statement that peer trust is declining and that consumers don’t trust their friends as much as in previous studies.  I know, flies in the face of everything we have heard or read about consumer behavior, word of mouth, and that trust in family and friends is the strongest of all media spreading vehicles.

However, let’s take a closer look at the research.  First, the survey was conducted by phone interviews, and focused on age groups 25-34 and 35-64.  Also, key demographics were college educated, household income in top quartile for their age in each country, and read or watched business news/media several times per week and public policy issues.  This was also conducted in multiple countries (20 I believe)

So, clearly, the audience is a highly educated consumer that is interested in business and government issues. 

Second, let’s look at the question posed.  “How credible do you believe each of the following as a source of information about a company?

Conversation with friends, peers is 37% and #5 on the list.

Stock or industry analyst reports are #1 with 49%

And it also states that all other media is down as well.

Kind of makes sense when looking for “information on a company”.

Taking this question and posing it as consumers don’t trust their friends as much anymore is complete bunk and a little irresponsible.  How does the question of not using peers for business information translate to not peer trust for other WOM llke products, movie or tv recommendations, baby products, etc?

Also, there are no criteria as to what a friend is in the social media space.  Is the lack of trust with your core group of friends where you are asking them questions over a beer, or is it a twitter fan in your extended network? 

Doesn’t mention any statistics by gender, or country, or specific industry of business. 

So, now folks like Silicon Valley Insider and Ad Age have now picked up on this nugget of info and has spread everywhere.  I can understand why Edelman, as a PR Firm, would want to milk this coverage for all it’s worth, as they appear to be thought leaders in the space, but its misleading information that they will have to explain to their own clients!

Of note, there are two additional studies that have recently come out from Emarketer refuting this claim:

Hispanics Go Online for Trusted Info

Moms Place Trust in Other Consumers

Both studies say that friends and peers among the highest influencers in purchase decisions for these demographics.

What this also shows the danger of posting either unqualified or half-baked ideas out there (Johnny Depp’s demise) without verification or face checking will spread with no challenge at all. 

I hope that after reading this post, everyone will check out the Trust Barometer methodology for themselves, and then do their part to set the facts straight.



Image Source: WestSideSports.com.au

As more and more people use social media, blogs, and local online news sources such as the Examiner.com, being influential is no longer limited to those early adopters.

Now that our offline friends have come online, we're more likely to heed their warnings or accolades about products and services...along with musicians, movies, and restaurants.

And with influencers now getting more attention from traditional media, it's not out of the realm of possibility for your favorite blogger to become a subject matter expert on the local news or radio, too.

We're also seeing a rise in conscious capitalism.  Companies are committed and often passionate about giving back to their customers' communities and to do so, that means going more micro in their cause marketing campaigns.

Influencers are no longer just celebrities and web-lebrities.  They are your influencer next door.

I'm paying attention to this and I can only imagine others in the digital marketing and advertising space are as well.

On a personal level, I'm paying attention because I feel an affinitiy to those who are passionate about giving back.  I also think that while relationships with the consumer online are extremely valuable...making those relationships relevant to the consumers offline life is priceless.  By engaging with influencers on a more local, micro level we not only add another touchpoint, but in some cases, that touchpoint becomes stronger.

Local influencers may or may not have lots of traffic to their blogs.  However, they are more likely to be at events in the community.  They are passionate and knowledgable about their city and take an active role in creating stronger communities at the local level both online and offline.

Are you a local influencer?  If you are, I invite you to list yourself in a new directory I'm introducing to JessicaKnows.com with this post.

Local Influencers.  You might write for your local paper, be head of the city's moms' group, a Yelp Ambassador or Elite Yelper, President of your PTA, front-man for your neighborhood's garage band, a volunteer at your local food bank, organizer for the annual Fourth of July picnic and parade, or a long standing adopter of a local stream or highway.  You are passionate about your community and you're the kind of person that waves hi to everyone - your neighbor and the stranger at the grocery store.

If you are a local influencer, I invite you to list yourself in the Local Influencers directory here.

Now, if you didn't see my full-disclosure in the sidebar, it's important that you know that I work for a global communications firm.  I also have a lot of readers who work in public relations, advertising, marketing, and foundations...so it is possible that myself or others may reach out to you.

Whether you list yourself or not, I'm going to ask a favor of you.  I'm conducting a survey and I would be extremely grateful if you offered your insight by taking the survey about local influencers for me.  I will be publishing the results in a later blog post.

But when @jdbasketball on Twitter cheered on the Terps with me, I did that time. And what I found out about him, led me to approaching JD about letting me interview him on this blog. Obviously, since I'm writing this, he said yes...and well...while this post is long I hope you learn as much as I did from someone who has been able to marry what they are passionate about with a commitment to change make a positive change in the world.  Here's our interview.