Category Archives: Social Media

Marketing, Social Media

NostalgiaChat Turns 10, marking a Decade of Nostalgia

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NostalgiaChat was conceived on May 30, 2012 as a side conversation during another Twitter chat called ToolsChat. We started talking about retro computer technology like floppy drives and dialup modems, and realized this could become its own chat. We adopted the #NostalgiaChat name and hashtag after Kelly Singh made sure it was available.

Beki Winchel and I agreed to host the chat, and the first official NostalgiaChat was on June 6, 2012 for 30 minutes. A few weeks later it was expanded to an hour, since a half hour proved just too short.

The time and date were shifted a few times over the years to accommodate participants. In 2017 Beki passed the co-host baton to Terry Porter.

We now get together for an hour every Sunday at 4 PM Pacific / 7 PM Eastern / 11 PM UTC. (UTC is Midnight in Winter and 11 PM in Summer due to Daylight Saving Time in the majority of North America.)

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General, Marketing, Social Media

Spectacularly Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns for the Arts

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In these challenging times any kind of good news is welcome. I recently received outstanding updates from three separate crowdfunding campaigns I have supported. I’ve backed nearly thirty such crowdsourced funding campaigns over the years, and some have worked-out better than others.

Campaigns supporting the development of technology products can be dicey for a variety of reasons. I’ve had much better luck with crowdfunding campaigns for the arts, with media such as TV and movies, documentaries, and books.

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Customer Service, General, Social Media

Why I Donate Blood

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Folks who know me know I give blood, and do it as often as I’m allowed to. (That’s every 56 days, which means six or seven times a year.)

One morning the staff double-checked my stats and told me where my unit of blood was going: Straight to the hospital, where it would be used for a baby’s surgery. How can that not warm your heart?

What is your Favorite Cause?

When GeekWire selected me as their Geek of the Week, they asked about my favorite cause. That was an easy choice: “Blood donation. You donate a pint of blood and around an hour of your time, and you give a gift that’s priceless.”

Lately a related mini-cause is the Blood Donor Emoji (like the ones at the top of this post). As the sponsors explain:

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Marketing, Social Media

Happy 15th Birthday WordPress!

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Fifteen years ago today the first version of WordPress became available for download. Today WordPress powers over 25% of the world’s web sites.

WordPress.tv and Me

I’ve been tinkering with HTML for 17 years, but when I started to get serious about blogging I moved my site to WordPress. That was in 2012, and WordPress was already nine years old. I made lots of newbie mistakes and came-up with all kinds of ways to break my site.

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Marketing, Social Media

WordCamp is a Playground for WordPress People

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I just got back from WordCamp Seattle 2017, and it was the best I’ve attended so far. WordCamps are regional, annual gatherings of people with a shared interest in WordPress. This blog runs on WordPress software, and it’s in good company: Over 25% of the world’s web sites run on WordPress.

This year I was an attendee, a contributor, and a speaker. I enjoyed that four sessions were available to chose from every hour, and on Sunday one of those sessions was the Contributor Track.

The One-Man Focus Group

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General, Marketing, Social Media

Historic Agreement between Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians

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For several years, the Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians and several other sports teams have been accused of team names that are insensitive to Native Americans. In a historic agreement, each team will change their official name and mascot simultaneously. The date for this change has not yet been agreed-upon.

Sports Teams Come Together

Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld, Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Mr. Jim Folk, vice president of Ballpark Operations discuss the "Chief Wahoo" battle flag that was flown on the now decommissioned USS Cleveland for nearly a decade. This flag was given to Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee and World War II Navy veteran Bob Feller on August 30, 2006. (DOD Photo By: U.S. Army Staff Sgt Sun L. Vega, Joint Staff)
Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld, Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Mr. Jim Folk, vice president of Ballpark Operations discuss the “Chief Wahoo” battle flag (DOD Photo By: U.S. Army Staff Sgt Sun L. Vega, Joint Staff)

The three teams hope to set an example for other teams. Each will change their name, mascot, and logo. The Chief Wahoo logo has been particularly contentious and will be the first to go.

In some cases that will even include discontinuation of gestures, such as the Tomahawk Chop.

This will involve a complete overhaul of team marketing, including their social media presence. As previously mentioned, the logos are expected to change. However, the team colors will not.

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