Social Media Stardom

After attending both NetRoots Nation and Blogher last week, it appears that I am making waves toward becoming a “social media starlet.”

As I become known for the fanatical use of my Blackberry, the ability to Tweet and Flickr from anywhere, in addition to jet-setting at web 2.0 conferences - I begin to wonder: is this really the best use of my time, and intellect? What is the greater cause at hand? Am I really helping anyone beyond myself in these ventures? At this point, well, no, not really. While I can use my skillz for work at New Media Strategies, sometimes it all feels like one big vanity project. But then I think - maybe at 23 that shouldn’t be a concern? And maybe it takes a little self promotion to actually get yourself to the point of being able to make a difference in the first place.

The Vanity Validator: using Google's PageRank technology, you can scan trusted sites to measure your Internet fame on a scale of 1 (unknown) to 100 (ubiquitous).

These introspective thoughts stemmed from reading the Wired cover story featuring one of the most self-aggrandizing social media starlet’s: Julia Allison. The piece basically described how she was able to make herself go from nobody to somebody by using social media promotion and exploitation of her life for content. Ms. Allison realized that she could conquer the nerd universe as a sexy-brunette, merely by showing up and using the medium at hand. While many will criticize her methods, it is ultimately working in her favor to earn her some cash, some fame and catapult her business career.

And while I’d like to critique her seemingly shallow methods to gain notoriety, it also seems that Ms. Allison has subscribed to my theory about women using every asset they have - physical and mental - to break through the male paradigm.

For Ms. Allison, her method to madness comes down to a smart business strategy. At the end of the day, she did what she wanted to do: she earned press about her newest internet portal, www.nonsociety.com, in a major magazine within the tech community. This will ultimately be a lucrative venture and create greater exposure about her endeavors.

But will it get her any closer to her dream - of being a published book author?

Apparently, yes. Or at least that is the plan.

Morra Aarons-Mele wrote a great post on Blogher today, praising Ms. Allison’s ability to wear her ambition on her sleeve. Unlike men, this is something that many women shy away from. While Morra also sees the Catch-22 of Allison’s seemingly shallow and opportunistic online ventures, she points out a very interesting caveat:

Turns out, Allison is the Paris Hilton of the Internet. Through Twitter and constant blogging of her sexy twentysomething life, she’s famous. I was half jealous and half disgusted. When I was a moderately sexy twentysomething, it never would have occurred to me to make hay from my exploits. Who would take you seriously? And how could your ambition be that naked? Then I read the follow up email Julia sent to Wired editor Chris Anderson. Explaining her path to celebrity, Allison writes,

“The true goal was never “fame” at all. I wanted two things: 1) editors to publish my work, 2) people to read my work. I wanted to be like Nora Ephron - able to exist creatively with an audience and relative financial freedom…”

Ah-ha: classic female tactic. Allison claims her ambition is driven by a larger purpose and to fulfill a larger more socially acceptable role. She doesn’t want to be famous for nothing- she wants to be a writer. But still, I have to give the girl credit for creativity. It’s really hard to break through to that editorial page (84% of op-eds are written by men). If Julia Allison can get her body of work quickly noticed by using the virtues of other body parts, well, then I have to consider that. It’s not often you hear a woman so baldly cop to wanting to get ahead.

So, in the end, I do appreciate Allison’s objective to blaze a path in a world that is ultimately not always in her favor. In promoting herself and her femininity, she has ultimately created a new throne in an overwhelmingly patriarchal society.

My question now is once you earn the power, the fame and the money - what will you decide what to do with it? Will Ms. Allison ultimately do good for others, or just herself? To me, that will be the ultimate judge of her character, in addition to the industry that made her a social media starlet in the first place.

Hunter S. Thompson Tribute Now in Theaters

In case you weren’t aware, Alex Gibney’s latest documentary, “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson” has finally arrived in theaters. The film honoring the raccoon eyed, booze bandit journalist and inspiration of all things nonsensical - Hunter S. Thompson - premiered this weekend. While I have yet to see the film, HST is one of my favorite absurdity agent provocateurs; his words always seem to describe the bizarre and wonderful better than anyone else. If anyone has inspired my peculiar appreciation for the dangerous, the absurd and a twisted love of schadenfruede - it is him. Here’s a small literary tribute to the man, the legend and the myth now finding a immortality in a big screen biography:

“Being shot out of a cannon is always better than being squeezed through a tube.”

“Lets get down to the brass tacks. How much for the ape?”

“A cap of good acid costs five dollars and for that you can hear the Universal Symphony with God singing solo and the Holy Ghost on drums.”

“I feel the same way about Disco as I do about Herpes!”

“Maybe there is no Heaven. Or maybe this is all pure gibberish— a product of the demented imagination of a lazy drunken hillbilly with a heart full of hate who has found a way to live out where the real winds blow— to sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested…Res ipsa loquitur. Let the good times roll.”

“If you’re going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you’re going to be locked up.”

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive…” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: “Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?”

“So much for Objective Journalism. Don’t bother to look for it here—not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.”

“Jesus! Where will it end? How low do you have to stoop in this country to be President?”

“First, there’s a huge difference between being arrested and being guilty. Second, see, the law changes and I don’t. How I stand vis-à-vis the law at any given moment depends on the law. The law can change from state to state, from nation to nation, from city to city. I guess I have to go by a higher law. How’s that? Yeah, I consider myself a road man for the lords of karma.”

(Photo: Associated Press)

Joining the Partay with Jonny, Jeremy and Jason

It was a gathering of minds and media last night at the home of @jonnygoldstein where he hosted his live weekly show, “Jonnys Partay” featuring the story of “Perpetual Beta” through the eyes of Jeremy Epstein and Jason Schwartz. I was lucky enough to be the featured live audience of one, where I tweeted about the live show and was joined by the likes of @Koa, @JillMZ and @DCConcierge in the chat room. At the end of the show, Jonny graciously allowed me to get some face time on camera, where I basically expressed my hidden desire to be more famous than him.

If you didn’t get a chance to watch the show, be sure to check it out here for the next week or so until it is removed from the archives. For those who haven’t watched Jonnys Partay before, it’s like Waynes World meets Social Media - very fun and entertaining 411 on the media, marketing and tech industry, with a side of wacky that everyone can appreciate.

The Social Circuit

Well, if it seems that my blogging these days is events based, it’s because in addition to spending a lot of my time online, I also have the semblance of a real life.

Last night I stopped by The She Spot book party and met Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen in person - both of whom are fabulous ladies. The party was a success - with loads of interesting people there from PulitzerCenter.org, Center For American Progress, and the Washington Post. The books flew off the tables, which was not only a good thing for Witter and Chen as they make their way around the country on a book tour, but also because 20% of the book proceeds went to Women for Women International and MomsRising.org.

Tonight, I continue my social carousel with an event at 1223 Connecticut that celebrates all things good in social media: an event with Robert Scoble, Gary Vaynerchuk, put on by Capitol Valley Media, in addition to help from Frank Gruber and the Social Times.

By the time Thursday comes around, I should be sufficiently over-socialized. But that isn’t going to stop me from helping to put on a fund raiser for the New Leaders Council at Capital City Brewery on Capital Hill. The NLC event will honor Mark Walsh, a former AOL executive, who also created Vertical.net, a successful early online advertising company and served as Chief Technology Officer of the Democratic National Committee before becoming a co-owner of national progressive radio network, Air America. Walsh was just selected as Chairman of NLC’s national Board of Directors and currently serves as CEO of GeniusRocket.com.

Hopefully, I’ll still have some energy left for the weekend’s festivities which include a romp through Space with my favorite DJ-duo cutting it up with some “heavy servings of classic and modern hip-hop bangers with sides of vintage reggae and dance hall.” Check out some beats that will be blowing up the Space this weekend, featured on The Wackness Mix Wit.

Have You Found “The She Spot”?

Have you found “The She Spot” yet? If not, well then I feel really sorry for you. And no, I’m not talking about a new female erogenous zone. I’m talking about the new book written by Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen.

Tonight, I get the pleasure of attending a book launch party for The She Spot: Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World — And How to Reach Them, which aims to show “politicians, activists and cause organizations what consumer marketers already know — that when it comes to affecting change, women are not a niche audience; they are the audience.”

Witter, one of the co-authors of the book, was introduced to me through a WIPT friend of mine, Morra Aarons-Mele, who noted my recent thought leadership in the arena of politics and female oriented marketing. Morra guessed that “The She Spot” would be right up my alley - and if the reviews are any indicator, when I do get a chance to read the book, it will confirm my current suspicions about what is missing in politics: a targeted political strategy directed for and at women.

The presser for “The She Spot” reports that women are an ideal demographic to target because:

• Women control more than half of all personal wealth in the United States

• Women account for roughly 60% of socially conscious investors

• Women make contributions to twice as many charitable organizations as men

• Since 1980 women have turned out in higher numbers at voting booths for Presidential elections

• Women are online and blog more often than men

Seems like a few good reasons for marketers, politicians, and business to embrace women’s ability to spend, vote and bring in ROI.

I’ll report back tomorrow to let the readers of Absurdities! know how the event went and if Witter and Chen are really onto something. I have a good feeling that I may have already experienced a bit of the “she spot” at the recent CHANEL and Sex and the City events; now if we can just get the men to be able to find the G-spot, err I mean, she spot, then we’ll really be on to something.

McCain Does Not Know How to Use a Computer

There really wasn’t a catchy headline I could think of for this story - mostly because the truth of the matter is just so absurd.

Really? I can’t believe there someone is running for Commander-in-Chief who does not know how to use a computer? That is just ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the idea that George W. Bush cuts his own brush.

I heard this news a long time ago when I was doing research for the WashingtonPost.com on the primary candidates for each party. I thought this story would have gotten more attention by now in the mainstream media.

The Daily Kos, however, did report on it saying when McCain was asked whether he is a Mac or PC person, he answered: “Neither, I’m an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance I can get.”

Al Gore must be stomping around madly whenever he hears this fact. And Howard Dean. The Democrats better destroy the GOP this election cycle, otherwise that is just going to be a sad day for politics and a sad day for the Internet.

This whole thing also reminds me of the movie Zoolander - I can see McCain almost saying, “I’m going to Googlize her” and “The files are in the computer!”

Let’s elect Obama - at least for the sake of the World Wide Web. Hollar back IP address - if only you had a ballot you could cast.

Sex Goes To Washington

Today, I got the chance to start a discussion with the members of WIPT about two of my favorite things: Politics & Sex and the City.

With the SATC movie premiere and a potential decision about the Democratic Presidential nominee all happening this weekend - it seemed only natural to intertwine the two subjects.

In a conversation dissecting HRC’s seemingly misogynistic approach to the campaign trail, a few of us thought it might be a good idea for future female politicians to take notes from the oh-so-sassy females of Sex and the City - especially when it comes to hitting a target voter demographic.

“We can’t remember the last time a movie has created so much anticipation among female moviegoers from their 20s through their 40s,” said Harry Medved, a spokesman for Fandango, the online movie ticket site.

If Hillary chose to act a little bit more like Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda - could she have taken the nomination for the Presidency? It’s hard to tell - but certainly something to think about as we try and push more female leaders into the political spotlight.

But then - within discussion about powerful females using stillettos to get elected - a catalytic idea was suggested by a wise Courtney Sieloff - how about actually getting women registered to vote while they attend the SATC premieres over the weekend….???

Brilliant, right? Actually, it was.

Only the women of WIPT could take an idea in an email exchange and turn it into a call to action. Per Courtney’s suggestion, Heather Cronk got in touch with Maya Enista, the CEO of Mobilize.org, and a small movement was born:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Christina Gagnier, Chief Information Officer

Mobilize.org - (510) 717-3022
MAY 29, 2008

“Sex and The City, and a side of Voter Registration”

Join Mobilize.org staff and volunteers across the country in an evening at the movies, with a side of voter registration. When you go see Sex and the City (or Indiana Jones) this weekend, please print out a couple copies of the National Voter Registration form (PDF) and ask those in front of you, and behind you, in line at the movie theater if they are registered to vote. If not, ask them to! That site also includes information on how to turn in forms, and the Mobilize.org staff (if on-site) will be more than happy to collect and process the forms for you.

Take a picture, take your friends and send us texts or pictures and we’ll post them online and hopefully, we’ll be able to connect you with one another in cities around the country. To sign up, or for more information – please email movies@mobilize.org. We’ll be giving out prizes, including popcorn and movie tickets for your next show, t-shirts and CD’s!

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the show!

PS – If they don’t want to fill out the form in line, please remind them they can visit www.mobilize.org and use our Rock The Vote registration widget to register to vote online in the comfort of their own home!

***

So - if you’re a lady in love with politics and Sex like me - make sure to not only take your attitude to the box office this weekend, but also your ballot.

Another Beat For Obama

So, I have sort of realized that my passion for music and politics have totally converged with Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Thanks to my friends at RH2028, we have yet another one for the record (pun intended) by Taz Arnold (AKA TI$A), the front man to underground hip-hop group SA-RA Creative Partners.

Just repeat after me: “This is for real and not for play, Imma vote Obama way. We good, we voting, [and] we throwing it up.”

The music video titled “Vote Obama” features cameos from Kanye West, Jay Z, Chris Brown, Travis Barker, Shepard Fairey, and Apple of The Black Eyed Peas. Sit back, enjoy and please don’t be like the Obama Girl - go out, register to vote and actually cast a ballot.

Absurdities! Takes It To The Streets

In a moment of being taken seriously, the two contributors of Absurdities! were seen outside the realm of ridiculous at the DC TECH Cocktail last night. Check out the snazzy photos from the event and thanks to the sponsors for throwing such a GeekChic bash! It was nice to catch up with some of our Twitter followers offline and make some less anonymous contacts once and for all.

Countdown to Earth Day 2008

I hope everyone is as excited as I am for Earth Day 2008. The Earth Day Network is spanning the continent with a myriad of free concerts, events and speakers for Earth Day 2008 starting on Friday, 4/18 and lasting until the evening of 4/20. Green Apple Festival is the catalytic force behind the events and so far, the speakers and bands lined up for the National Mall in DC look pretty dope:

In Washington DC on the National Mall, 19 Recordings/Jive Recording artist Jordin Sparks will perform the National Anthem. An acoustic set by members of rock band O.A.R. will kick off the festivities at noon and the Roots will headline with multi-platinum three-time Grammy award winning artist will.i.am, Ne-Yo, Doug E. Fresh, Talib Kweli and Chrisette Michele.

Other cities can view their line-up here. For those who were just planning to get green on Sunday, make sure to check the scheduled performances so that you don’t miss out on any earlier events.

Here are a few suggestions to reduce your carbon footprint on Earth Day -

1. Keep lights and AC off all day.
2. Unplug all unnecessary electronics.
3. Limit use of water - quick showers, or none at all. (This is your chance to be smelly for a cause)
4. Don’t drive. Walk or metro or bike.
5. Bring a reusable bag to the grocery store.
6. Pick up miscellaneous trash off the street.
7. Recycle !!! Pay attention to what containers and plastics can be recycled.