If I have sought out BBC America, a channel which many people do not know exists, and am watching Dr. Who on a Saturday night, then it is highly unlikely that I am unfamiliar with the series. I DON’T NEED THE INTRO! I KNOW WHO AMELIA POND IS! ALSO, HOW DARE YOU NOT HONOR THE MEMORY OF ROSE TYLER BY MAKING IT SOUND LIKE AMY’S THE ONLY COMPANION HE EVER HAD!

It just makes me think that BBC America is not considering their audience. I get why you may have to introduce a British show on American television, but not this one. It’s iconic. And your audience is watching the BBC, not ABC, so they probably know what’s up.

Also, the season 6 finale was… ah.may.zing.

This is the intro in case you were wondering:

I was at the Belmont for a wrap up party for SXSWi. There were a lot of people there and it wasn’t exactly easy to navigate through the crowd. I admit I am tired and stressed. My friend Kelly and I were making our way to the exit when a girl rudely shoved me in order to pass me. I turned to Kelly and commented on how it sucked that people from outside of Austin come to SX and then are so genuinely rude. Right as I say this I get shoved. Really hard.

My reaction was immediate. I didn’t think, my action was not premediated, I just pushed the person who pushed me back. I don’t know how hard it was. I’m sure I threw weight into it, but it was such a tight space that no one even had room to move. The person I pushed was a man. A muscular man.

I wish that my first reaction hadn’t been physical. I do. I regret that. As I sit here, still shell shocked by what happened next, I can still think clearly enough to say that I do regret that.

Next thing I know this guy shoves me back. He shoves me so hard that thirty minutes after I have left, I am currently sitting at home in my house, I can still feel where his hand touched my arm.

We were already walking towards the exit. He, being the person right behind me, is also moving towards the exit. When he pushed me, he shouted loudly, “BITCH I DIDN’T EVEN PUSH YOU!”

After he pushed me, I looked back at him, sneered and countered, “What the hell!?”

He followed me in the crowd and yelled at me. He followed me. I walked through the exterior Belmont gate, and he was less than a foot behind me, screaming obscenities at me as we parted the crowd. He followed me for a minute. I didn’t look back. I honest to God thought he might deck me in the face.

And I was really afraid.

I looked at my friend, I kept my head down and I walked through the crowd quickly.  I tried to talk quickly to Kelly to get my head past this, and to ignore the fact that this guy was screaming “BITCH” repeatedly at me as I moved past a lot of people I didn’t know who were watching the scene unfold.

We get a block between us before I can begin to process what just happened. A half hour, maybe forty-five minutes ago, and I still can’t process what just happened.

The first thing I felt was guilt. I thought, “He was probably right. I was probably wrong­—he probably wasn’t the one who shoved me.” Then, as I’m thinking this thought, the part of me that responded to him in the first place thinks, “Like hell. You felt him push you in the first place.” Continuing on the guilt spiral, I thought about how wrong it was that I responded with any form of physical retaliation. The me that pushed back in that moment felt justified. I felt like I didn’t deserve to be pushed around.

I walked that next block, preoccupied with small talk with Kelly, thinking of how I could still feel where he shoved me. I tried to rationalize how I was in the wrong, despite being pushed harder than I could have shoved and being publically humiliated.

I thought about how vulnerable I felt in that moment when I could feel him right behind me, without even seeing him. That feeling of a threatening presence right behind me. I thought about how I didn’t think any one of the thirty people I walked through as he yelled at me might do anything to lessen that threat.

And I thought about all of the women whose stories I hear at my job. I admit that I have moments where I am desensitized. Moments where I think to myself, “How could that have possibly happened?” because some of the stories I hear are so thoroughly terrifying.

But in that moment, I’m reminded of how prevalent this issue actually is. Violence against women. I thought he was going to hit me. I really, really did.

How could I dare expect people to be open and transparent with me, and share their stories for the good of the cause, if I couldn’t share mine?

As I type this, I fear that my readers will side with him. I fear they will think I deserve it. I fear that they will say, “Well, you were at a bar. So there was alcohol involved.” Which ultimately doesn’t ever justify any abusive behavior. But it’s one of those convenient cloaks we use when we want to hide the issue at hand. The issue that at its core is the idea that one person can want to violently hurt another.

I thought about not writing this because it will scare my dad. And then I think about the women at The Helpline or the Hotline who don’t say something against abuse because they fear how they will be perceived. How they fear they will be misunderstood.

I thought about not writing this because it will make me seem like less of a professional. I thought it might skew my blog. What if people remembered this post and not all of the previous posts?

These are the thoughts I feel in the immediate aftermath of an altercation with some guy that I will most likely never see again. If these are the thoughts I feel in my one-off experience with abuse, I can’t imagine experiencing this with someone you love. I can’t imagine how this feels when everything—every part of your reputation, your family life, your very home—is on the line.

I am deeply disturbed right now.

As Kelly and I walked to my car, we started sharing stories about times where we or someone we knew had been violated by a guy. Kelly would say one, and then I would think of one. Why do we have a depth of stories to share in the first place? Kelly told me about a time when some punks cut her in line. Guys cut her in line. Kelly protested and they started getting in her face. Another group of guys intervened and the cops were called. And they arrested the guys defending Kelly.

As Kelly tried to explain to the cops that they had punished the wrong set of men, the cop told Kelly that she needed to be quiet or that she would get put in the back of the cop car. Kelly protested further only to hear, “Ma’am, this isn’t Cops.”

I don’t usually cuss on my blog. I try to keep it professional. After all this is my brand and what not. But this time, I have to say it. As Kelly and I walked, all we kept reiterating to each other was, “That’s f_ed up.”

Because it really, really is. The fact that we have a wealth of stories for such an occasion as this is really, really messed up.

I’m not writing this to have you feel bad for me. I’m writing this because this is what we as a society need to talk about. I’m writing this because we need to do better, and women and men need to share their stories in order for us to get it.

Thanks for listening.

I will say that yesterday was pretty brilliant. We brainstormed all day on how to apply these bits of info to our organization– even at night. You know you’re in a good creative mindset when talking about work at a bar is exactly what you want to do.

—

Highlights of the conference:

At the Tocquigny party, strange man approaches Brian as we’re about to get in the elevator and starts rambling and asks a question. Brian’s response? “I’m anything that will get me through this elevator ride.”

OH: a 20 something couple, guy says to girl, “Your demographic is cool and all…”

Talking life lessons and religion at the back corner at Casino El Camino.

Having Kelly B. become a solid part of our entourage.

Core convo where the presenter didn’t show so we hosted it ourselves and it rocked

—

More to come

It was a core conversation with Cathy Brooks and Ellen McGirt, the latter is a senior writer at Fast Company. Both women were witty, relevant and enthusiastic. The conversation focused on identity and self-narrative within social media. We had insightful people in the room and people really participated. On the one hand, it was wonderful to share thoughts and common issues with people who understand. I joked afterwards that it was essentially a Social Media Anonymous meeting– all of us finding the support we are looking for in those around us. The only issue is that every single question we asked was virtually unanswerable.

Now I’m all for theoretical knowledge and animated intellectual debates, but this was just frustrating for me. I understand why we’re having this conversation here. The people at this conference are the ones who have –and will– shape the media itself and how we use it. It’s important that we ask ourselves these questions. Questions like: what are the rules for managing our multiple selves on multiple platforms–can we be exclusive? Can there be a work you and a personal you that do not exist in your reader’s mind simultaneously? For a writer, does your online, personal voice weaken your authority as your brand’s voice? The last one was my biggest question.

The issue is that we can’t answer these questions. I don’t think we can ever answer these questions because it’s on an individual basis and these are issues that will evolve as social media tools evolve.

As I continue thinking about that panel, one thing does strike me as interesting. One man started talking about how Millennials and younger use new media. He was saying that he worries that we are completely unaware of how marketers are using data collected through our social networking to sell us things. The concern of Millennials/young adults/teens sharing too much information came up too. Part of my frustration may stem from the fact that the conversation is often about Millennials, but rarely with Millennials.

And that may be our fault.

I know the reason that SXSWi skews older– passes are damn expensive and if you’re lucky enough to have work pay for it, they’ll probably send someone more valuable than the new kid. Makes sense. I’m feeling very fortunant that I get this chance. I guess I would just like to feel like we could have more of a voice in some of these sessions. Especially since tech moves quickly and soon these issues will be ours to a further extent than right now.

Anyways, this post was a stream of consciousness. My frustration may just be that it’s almost 2 and I haven’t eaten. The bottom line is that these questions (and that SXSWi session in particular) are ultimately good. We just need to find a way to turn these endless questions into more than a dialogue.

And on with SXSWi I go…

Coffee all over me.

It was my own fault admittedly. Thank God Brian travels prepared and had a mini bottle of Oxi Clean in his backpack. (No joke) A few minutes later, a performance by that blessed cleaner worthy of any infomercial and I was restored to normal. Nothing, nothing in the world, can deter my excitement for the ultimate geekfest- SXSWi.

Day 1 was good. I’m quickly learning that the greatest assets of this conference are not necessarily the presenters but rather the attendees. I had a few “but of course” presentations where the information given was pretty much common sense, but the crowd quickly increased the value with their insights and questions. I think the biggest take away idea from yesterday was to let interns develop the intern guide for the next batch. Simple, I know, but it was something I hadn’t thought about.

The parties have been cool. I got to see Pains of Being Pure at Heart at an awesome range, met some AWESOME people (I’m looking at you fellow Kelly) and got to tour Toquigny (spelling?) at the top of the Frost tower. The conclusion from the Toquigny party was that every work space should have thinking pods. Just saying.

All in all, a very good day.

We’re seeing old ads on TV. As in, pulled out of the vault, dusted-off 1980s ads.

I wish I could remember the first example of it happening but my brain mostly likely got rid of that memory in order to process the FreeCreditReport.com new band search. The most striking example that proves I’m not seeing things is a wonderfully nostalgic Era spot.

Note! IT’S NOT THIS SPOT. I googled endlessly but couldn’t find it. It’s a lot like this ad, except with this song.

Pretend you can envision this ad. It has a gravy boat overturning. It has wine glasses spilling. It has a Laura Ingalls Wilder-esque floor-length dress on a woman (no heads of people are ever visible). Then, like a beam of light breaking through the clouds, comes Era — spelled out for the viewer directly on the stain, E-R-A, the one thing that can save the clumsy, stain-prone population. Then two water jets criss-cross over one another, showing Era’s impressive spot-removing ability.

Part of what I love about this ad is that EVEN THE VERSION RUNNING NOW is unabashedly dated. The dress’ collar. The fuzzy graphics. The corny, frenzied orchestra piece it’s set to. There was little to no attempt to bring this ad up to modern speed.

And yet here it plays in 2010, when a middle-schooler with a MacBook and his iPhone could probably replicate the ad AND place it on Youtube in under a day.

My first reaction to this ad is, “Hey- I remember this!” which almost leads me to wonder if that’s what the Era team had in mind when they unfroze it from its cryogenic chamber. Were they banking on the fact that we may get a cheap thrill from recognizing an old ad? Or were they trying to remind us about how they’ve been around for a while, always helping us with our stubborn stains?

Maybe they’re running this ad because we’re in a tough economy and there are still many elements to this ad that ring true about the brand. I always particularly liked how they spell out the brand name in the detergent and a magic “E-R-A” is spray-washed clean through the built-up stains. It’s memorable and does, in a weird way, make me believe that Era can get the job done. Not to mention, if they’re saving money in the creation of the ad, they can focus more on placement.

In some ways, this is what Coca Cola does when it annually unpacks the polar bears and lovingly restores them to our TV screens. And there’s always that Christmas M&Ms commercial that I can recite by heart. “He really does exist!” “They really do exist!” THUD! Maybe Era is simply mimicking these brands. Unfortunately, these spots are perfectly paired holidays, when nostalgia is not only at a premium, but particularly effective. This Era spot has no season in the editorial calendar helping it out.

It’s interesting to see old spots run. I hope to see a few more trickle through so that I can yell “AHA!” at my screen, while feeling as if I just ran into an old friend on the street.

Thrillist. Delivered promptly at 4:50 with everything I should be doing if I was a cool little socialite.

I don’t know what these things are. Because I’m never actually fully awake. Most of their emails come before 6 AM. Several have come before 5 AM. I may see one mention of a resturant I should check out, but usually at this point in the morning I’m so tired that I’m struggling to believe that my bed isn’t the plane seat I was just on in my dream. Usually I slump back into my pillows and fall asleep, phone still in hand. Email opened on the screen. Until the other phone goes off telling me that I have to get up.

Thrillist is banking pretty hard on the primacy effect, and although I’m losing sleep over it, I have to say it’s working. Theirs is one of the few magazine-ish emails that I open during the day. And I know their name. I can tell you what they do even if I can’t recite their chosen hotspots. I know they’re funny. I vaguely remember thinking something was witty (without actually laughing, mind you, because it was 4 something in the morning) before passing out again.

So it’s interesting to see when people send emails. A company has many options. Pull a Thrillist and hit them before they’re awake enough to ignore you. And be consistant with it. Or pull an Ad Age and pepper someone’s email with so many varaitions of your publications that a person can’t scroll without seeing something you’ve written recently. Or wait until later, hoping that recency effect is correct and that people remember things at the end of the list more. And by list, I mean an exhausting inbox.

My time as a publicist made me paranoid about email scheduling and sending emails in general. Forget Fridays, forget Monday mornings. Make it early, but not too early. You don’t want to compete with emails sent late the night before. Make the subject line snappy. Bullet or number if you don’t think they’ll read it. I’ve read Chris Brogan’s blog posts about it as many of us have. Handling a full inbox is pencil-gnawed-like-a-corncob stressful. So what’s right when it comes to timing?

I’m completely ignoring the people who don’t check email on their phones. In which case, Thrillist would be buried. But that’s not their audience. I’m their audience. They go after people who sign up for things like email magazines. The active and young. Excluding my friend Jamie who is so tech resistant that she doesn’t have texting, and my friend Alex who jokingly scoffs at people with “fancy” phones, everyone I know is armed with a blackberry, iPhone or something similar.

Thrillist might be on to something with primacy effect. I must say- it’s surprising that I don’t hate them. They wake me up and I’m not a morning person. And I’m an irrational brand-hater. I refuses to eat at Thundercloud Subs because I hate that damn jingle so much. And yet, I kinda like Thrillist. It’s part of my morning routine now.

So there it is. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a rendezvous with Hugh in the Gryffindor common room.

1. I started a new job.

2. I *just* got internet at my house.

I just finished week three at my new job- a marketing specialist position at an anti-domestic violence nonprofit. So far I LOVE it. I get to do all sorts of things like run the teen dating twitter/facebook/website (which includes a blog), write articles for newsletters, proofread, brainstorm different ad campaigns, etc. Best part, I’m so proud to say I work there. These people (aka my coworkers) are doing such meaningful work. And they’re hella smart.

As for the internet, I feel like this is similar to a magician saying that he never actually owned a white rabbit. Or an Aztec Tomb (if you catch that reference, you get 10 points and we’ll most likely be friends). How could I, Ms. Millenial, wanna-be-blogger and Twitteress, not have internet in my own home? How can a fish survive without water?

Well, by constantly swimming in coffee cups at various cafes.

It was actually kind of horrible. I don’t recommend vagabonding it in search of wifi. Also, don’t trust Flightpath. Their internet will go out at the exact moment you have to send something every time.

Anyways, I’m rambling. I’ll wrap it up with this. A lot of people talk about social media fatigue. We’ve all heard people compare Twitter to an addiction. What about the sense of obligation that is attached to social media? I know I’ve said it to my friends in advertising, “Seriously- you’re not on Twitter?!” or “You should really start a blog.” Which of course is my reiteration of what people have told me.

-Which, by the way, I’m really very thankful for. I should be writing. I like to write. I love Twitter. I have a community there.-

But sometimes I think things like- what about work/life balance? Isn’t everyone saying that these days, with flex hours and whatnot, that we were actually almost starting to move towards a European, healthy understanding of when to work and when to shut the laptop? It doesn’t really seem like it anymore, with people using Twitter/blogs/Facebook not only for self-expression but also to advance their careers. What about the fact that everybody has some lack of resources–be it time, lack of internet, etc–that prevents them from engaging in social media sometimes? It’s tricky. What do we sacrifice in order to develop “a strong online platform” ? (I’m starting to gag when I hear those words these days btw)

Who knows. All I’d like to know is how you crazy bloggers/professionals pull it off. I know @TWalk blogs in chunks. I know other people who designate a time to crank a blog post or two out. You writers out there- when you’re already writing/editing/blogging all day, how do you find the energy to then blog for yourself? And still have time and energy to go to the gym, cook yourself dinner, have friends, go out, do laundry, wash the car, etc.?

Give the newbie tips. You know I love hearing from you.

To tie you over, I laughed when a friend drew my attention to this case of an intern manning a corporate FB account:

http://www.facebook.com/TGIFridays

No, this doesn’t help my case that interns are trustworthy w/a company’s social media campaign. Just know that while not all interns are capable, not all professionals are either.

Maybe we should initial everything we do, like CJ here. It would be like we’re artists, claiming our work.

-KS

I was cruising Twitter today when this blog post caught my eye- Interns Make Coffee Not Social Media Strategy.

Cue to sigh. Where to begin?

Let me start by saying that I understand where the author is going. I understand what the chapter in this book that the post is referencing is saying.

But what a way to say it.

In the spirit of full disclosure, let me say that I have not read this book, which means I haven’t read this chapter. My response is based on what is presented in this blog post. Which, in all honesty, may not even be enough to even HAVE a response to. I get it- you can call me out on that and I acknowledge it completely.

But I still thoughts on this one.

Allow me to quote (aka copy and paste) Richard Meyer paraphrasing Liana Evan’s chapter:

In the chapter on “Interns make coffee not social media strategy” Ms. Evans says:

* Interns don’t really know your brand
* Interns don’t know your ethics of brand philosophies
* The have no real vested interest in your brand
* They might know Facebook but do they really understand and know marketing?
* Can they relate to your target market?

Sigh. Ok, let’s dissect.

“Interns don’t really know your brand/Interns don’t know your ethics of brand philosophies”

What? Yes, I recognize that interns come in all shapes and sizes and with various mental capacities, but your intern is probably educated. Your intern is probably even a marketing/advertising/PR major. If your intern- or anyone writing for your brand- doesn’t know your brand, it’s your fault.

Provide a proper education. Did you give them a brand breakdown of any kind (perhaps my personal favorite, the brand doughnut)? Did you give them a style guide? Did you select interns who displayed knowledge of your brand’s core values?

I was a copywriter intern for an ad agency. Did it take a few tries to get the right tone for the different brands I worked for? Yes. Did I eventually get there? Yes.

“They have no real vested interest in your brand”

Another headshake-inducing statement. I believe interns do have a vested interest in your brand, just as much as the other employees. Why? Because they have the most to gain. They probably want to get hired by you. They probably want to use this work in their portfolios. They probably want to actually learn.

Salaried employees care about a brand because it will help their career progression. Why do you think people intern? Same reason.

I like this one- “They know Facebook but do they know marketing?”

Who’s to say your seasoned account manager really knows marketing? Not to mention someone with more experience might not understand the vernacular of Facebook enough to get the brand’s message out there appropriately. You need someone who understands both the strategy and the medium. Who’s to say a bright up-and-coming intern couldn’t see the thought process behind the message?

Also, schools are teaching new media now. Not only could your intern know Facebook, they could know some of the psychological pulls behind social media that are responsible for people’s usage of these sites in the first place. So not only could they know Facebook, but they could have studied it to an extent unparalleled by your more senior employees.

“Can they relate to your target market?”

This is particularly rich since this could go for anyone, regardless of age and experience level. How well can a 35 year-old man write for a denture cream user? How well can an atheist pen copy for a Bible manufacturer? There are a thousand different combinations of mismatched experience types with brands- a good writer makes it work.

Also, an intern can research a brand just as easily as anyone else can. Maybe better- they’re probably a digital native.

This all being said, I side with these authors at the core of what is being said- don’t give your social media strategy to someone who doesn’t fully get social media. Fair enough. I know brands will sometimes seemingly pawn off social media on an intern. My point is that it’s not necessarily the handing the job to an intern that’s distressing. It’s the idea that the brand is pawning off social media, and so, not recognizing its importance. That’s where someone wiser can intervene, hand them a copy of Liana Evan’s new book, and educate them on why they should care about it more.

It may seem strange that my response to this post is an impassioned defense of the abilities of interns. It’s partially because I’ve been an intern, and not too long ago. It’s also partially because I’ve had interns, and to say they’re incapable of wrapping their minds around social media strategy is a disservice to them. And finally, it’s because I have really smart friends who, because of the economy, are still stuck in internship situations even though they are capable of doing more.

After all, aren’t interns just potential future employees? Their early involvement in social media could be profitable to the company that eventually hires them.

Related Article:
Forbes: From Intern to Employee