Eleven Social Media Rules

I'm not a social media expert, but I play one on TV. That's not even a little bit true, but as a frequent user of social media, I offer these helpful and easy to use Facebook and Twitter rules. You'll find other more comprehensive lists; these are my basic guidelines:

1. Social media, especially Twitter, is for interacting with people - not just for selling your new book, SEO service or webinar - a good ratio is 10 to 1 - ten Tweets should be you having conversation and sharing other people's great info. The 11th is your blog or seminar or jewelry sale. Some would say 12 to 1 is even better.
2. Don't post every little detail of your day - share a funny story, a great song, an interesting photo, or a topical new article. Talk to us. Have a conversation.
3. Your profile photo or avatar represents you -  choose it wisely.
4. Google yourself to see what's out there on the web about you - it may help to know how the world sees you.
5. Be nice - debate is welcome, nastiness and name calling just beget more of the same.
6. It's okay to share problems or challenges - I can't tell you how many wonderful people are out there who have helped or supported me with kind words, connections, and even graphic design assistance.
7. You don't have to follow or friend everyone who reaches out to you.
8. Say thank you to those who comment or share your thoughts and ideas with their connections.
9. My Facebook friends are just that - family, friends and a few special connections from Twitter whom I now consider friends - think about whether it's wise or helpful for your business and personal connections to mingle on FB.
10. There may be those who want the intimate details of your love life - I'm not one of them. Or maybe I am, but I recommend you make it a private message and not a wall post or Tweet for all to read. 
11. Facebook privacy rules continue to evolve - we'd all do well to pay attention and adjust our privacy settings as needed.

Packaging on Twitter

If you have a specialty in occupation or avocation, you want to find others who care about it and have conversations with them - share what you know. Through them, you meet new people to talk with or listen to. It doesn't matter whether your forte is establishing a food empire one cookie at a time @jbchang, teaching young women how to enhance their self-esteem @KathleenHassan, taking beautiful photographs to tell the story of how women age @BeautyofWisdom, writing and performing richly layered and memorable music @TheVanBurens, or whatever you love.  Your goal is to do your work, your art, and find your audience - the people who will provide that give and take.

When I began my first Twitter account in October of 2009, I never expected to find so many smart people who are interested in packaging, but they're teaching me, sharing information, and supporting me daily. Here are some of the many insightful packaging experts and organizations who share my philosophy of give and take on Twitter:

@PackagingDiva  JoAnn Hines:  Answers, Advice, Results from GO TO person in packaging. I speak, blog, educate, on all things packaging and support those who support me.

@packagingdigest  For nearly 50 years, Packaging Digest has been the packaging industry’s best known, most trusted and most widely distributed information resource.

@cnvcurmudgeon  Mark Spaulding:  Bloggist for The Converting Curmudgeon; associate publisher; chief editor of Converting Quarterly; web-processing industry bon vivant.

@packageSPEAK  Package SPEAK is THE place for consumers like you to share your likes, dislikes, frustrations; ideas about packaging. Take notice, share; impact an industry.

@PackagingKid  Lex Cisler:  Packaging and Corrugated expert here to keep you updated on market trends, solve as many warehouse problems as I can and bring an edge to the packaging industry

@PMMIorg   Trade association serving packaging and processing machinery manufacturers. Your official location for#PACKEXPO info. 

@packfutur   Thoughts on the future of packaging by Leading Futurists LLC principals Jennifer Jarratt @jenjarratt and John Mahaffie @jbmahaffie

@Pack_TV   Simon Twilley:  Love Packaging, love TV, so launched a WebTV Channel about packaging!

@thedieline  The World's #1 Package Design Website 

If you'd like to connect with more packaging experts on Twitter, follow my Twitter Packaging list, which continues to grow as I find more smart people in the packaging business. Follow and DM me @laineyd7 if you'd like to be added.

The (MacBook Pro) Honeymoon Is Over

I love my MacBook Pro, don't get me wrong. It's just that I'm no longer infatuated with it. You know that first blush of attraction you get for a new electronic gadget? It's gone, kaput, fizzled. My MacBook Pro (affiliate link) is reliable, smart, and gets things done on time and under budget, but I no longer snuggle into bed with it each night to chat on Facebook or Twitter, or watch my favorite shows on Hulu. For months after I purchased my MacBook Pro I would have separation anxiety each time I left the house. It would wait patiently in its neon pink zippered scuba-gear sleeve and I would long for the moment I could return to power it up and label my photographs, download music, or see who had posted new grandchildren pics on Facebook.

The Mac software, like Garage Band, iPhoto, iTunes and iWeb is used daily. I'm learning something new every month or so with my One to One or Workshop sessions at my favorite Apple Store (Derby Street in Hingham, - hi, Steve and Andy!).

The honeymoon is over, but the comfort level is high. My MacBook and I are together for the long-term.

Seth Godin's Road Trip 2010 -Preheat Mode

Seth Godin has been my daily inspiration for about a year. I subscribe to his newsletter, and each morning I add another of his pieces to the puzzle of the how and the why. Seth has an unusual gift for identifying the behavior of individuals and groups, and providing ways one might challenge or capitalize on said behavior, depending. Seth doesn't profess to know everything, but he offers a highly accessible playbook, for business or for life, in "Linchpin: Are You Indispensible?", teaching us how we can make a difference. Isn't that what most of us want - to make a difference? That's my take on it.

When Seth Godin makes a public appearance, it's generally a private audience. Seth recently asked his followers to help him create events in some major cities and a grass roots effort by many (clearly indispensable) Seth fans has resulted in Seth Godin Road Trip 2010 - Fight the Lizard or as it's known on Twitter, #sethroadtrip. First stop, Boston on June 17! A fortuitous side effect of the Seth Road Trip support is that small communities of Godin fans are getting to know each other. I'm sure he planned it that way - tickets are going fast, so click the Road Trip link above and join in the fun.

Hibernation Consideration

In grade school we learned that chipmunks, bears, and other warm-blooded animals hibernate in winter, which allows them to survive the colder temperatures. I've been thinking a lot about this: perhaps New Englanders should strongly consider hibernation. A good time to begin may be as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are washed and put away. We'd snuggle into our caves with full bellies, our body temperatures would drop and we'd survive on our stored body fat until Spring, to awaken just in time for the Boston Marathon. The long-suffering residents of Hopkinton would need to emerge early to get ready for the onslaught of racers, but at least they'd be well-rested. The remainder of us would be content to lie drowsily on the sofa watching the race on TV while replenishing our body fat stores with whatever snack foods we'd squirreled away. Halloween candy?

Perhaps you'd rather a modified hibernation; staying inside, but not sleeping the winter away. Technology lets us perform most of the tasks of living in society without ever leaving our homes. Work, chatting with family and friends, purchasing shoes from Zappos, choosing furniture or groceries for delivery, sending flowers to Mom or paying bills - all can be accomplished online while ensconced in a comfortable chair. We'd save on dry cleaning by dressing in our cozy, machine washable, sweatpants. Wii Fit games and yoga on DVD would help us stay in shape. Unlimited music, movies, Sporcle, and Seinfeld repeats would keep us entertained and if we wanted to learn, online courses for credit or otherwise are plentiful.

There'd be a Facebook fan page for hibernation where we'd compare notes and upload photos from our Blackberries, and #hibernate would trend on Twitter. New iPhone apps would abound.

It's a little late in the season to start now, but let's talk about it after your summer vacation and work out the details for next winter. And if you'd rather not participate, would you please shovel my front walk while I hibernate?


The gorgeous photo of the bear came from:

Native Americans

First People is a child friendly site about Native Americans and members of the First Nations. 1400+ legends, 400+ agreements and treaties, 10,000+ pictures, free clipart, Pueblo pottery, American Indian jewelry, Native American Flutes and more.

Thank You For Listening

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate." I'm sure you've heard that one. Famously uttered by a very young Paul Newman in the 1967 movie "Cool Hand Luke" it's become a much-used catch phrase in our American lexicon.

The reason I bring it up is that I'm wondering, with all of the sophisticated tools we have for communication, if anyone is still listening. We have email, IM and Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, WordPress, SMS, MMS, Blackberry and iPhone, PC and Mac, laptop and desktop. Etcetera.

With all of these tools for communication, it sometimes feels like a lot of noise with no one listening. We need to remember that it's human nature to want to be heard and understood. Think about the people you enjoy having around you most - the family, friends, and co-workers that listen to and understand you. Remember to return the favor.

What Do You Do When the Internet Is Down?

We just spent an entire five-hour span without internet service. No email - no anything. What did we do before the Internet? Did we talk on the phone? Read? I cannot imagine - it seems like eons ago and I must have been busy baking bread and doing laundry with my washboard and ringer.

I think we acquired our first home computer about 15 years ago and I recall being a little afraid of it, like it was a dog that might turn on me unexpectedly. I felt so very sophisticated when I learned to use whatever word processing software it had (it was not Microsoft Word) and it all seemed so complicated and uncomfortable. I never dreamt I'd fall in love with email, and Facebook and Twitter and Google. Nothing else for it; I'm smitten with the Internet.

What about Google Wave?

I've finished reading a blog about Google Wave by Lars Rasmussen, who, with his brother, Jens, developed this astonishing new software that links all of the communications we (some more than others) use: IM, text, Twit, email, etc. all onto one gigantic "wave", to which you can continue to add connections. Lars notes that after two years of development, the product is not quite ready for public release and he's inviting developers to a "sneak peek".

The thing sounds really cool and Lars wonders whether this new Wave is the "be all end all" (my words) in communications. I seriously doubt it, and not because it's not great, but because of our need to do it better than the last guy. That's what's great about science and technology, music, literature and art.
Why do we keep at it? Because we can and it makes us happy.