Social Media: Value vs. Hype

Today, May 19th, marks a day that a social media company's stock--LinkedIn-- began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

What some Wall Street estimators said was nothing more than a "bubble" reminiscent to '99 and 2000.....the thinking is what goes up, must come down.

LinkedIn opened with a stock price of around $45 per share and quickly jumped up to $125 per share. While the stock has settled, it currently hovering around $92 per share.

Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, put alot of trust in what CNBC said was going to be a historic day, and the company has superseded expectations.

Now, with LinkedIn going public, it's only a matter of time before Facebook looks to do the same.
But the question remains: Are social media companies a good buy or are they hype created by CEOs and board of directors looking to cash in on what we as human beings naturally do?

DPW& P: Let me Notify You!

One of the issues I've had for some time is the lack of communication from the various offices in the City. 

Back in 2007, after my family and I had moved to our new home off Granite Street, I noticed a foul odor that permeated the air on an unbelievably warm day for January. (The date was Jan. 6, 2007, and the temperature set a new high of 65-degrees.)

It took a month to get to the right person, namely DPW&P Commissioner Bob Moylan, but when I was able to speak with Moylan, he said that he'd look into the issue, and he certainly did.  He formed a Compost Advisory Committee and held meetings at the DPW&P office, took the group on two site visits to educate and show the group how composting works along with its benefits, and what his staff was doing to alleviate the foul odor from returning. Hat tip.

Now, with a forecast that looks like Worcester County is in store for another major snow storm, I'm glad to see that DPW&P is notifying residents that Wednesday's trash pick-up is being postponed until Thursday, and subsequent pick-ups will be pushed back a day,

Also, the Winter Parking Ban is in effect, but for some reason, the notification refers to the winter parking ban from Friday, Jan. 7th. (Hey, nobody is perfect.)

So, the notification process has gotten better; we still have a long way to go, and Konnie Lukes still needs to admit that she was not getting her proper daily dosage of caffeine when she commented to Daily Worcesteria, when referring to Worcester blogs, that, "they aren't worth paying attention to." (It's alright Konnie, I still like refer to you as 'Da Face' on the City Council.)

Worcester Blogger Coffee Pictures

I was planning to post pictures of the Worcester Blogger Coffee on Sunday night once I got home, but I got lazy and decided that I'd post them on Monday.

Well, Monday came and then I was graced with footwear marketing campaign that I wanted to be involved with but thought the company and their team wanted to go with an advertising outfit in New York City.  Thus the delay with posting the pictures.

I do believe that everything happens for a reason and, while I don't completely know the reason at the moment, when I began to review the pictures, they brought a smile to my face and confirmed that we have some great Bloggers in Worcester who are passionate and, at the same time, don't take themselves too seriously.  And that is a good thing.

 

While I didn't note the folks in the pictures, believe me when I write this, these are just a few of the cream of the crop of writers in the Worcester Blogosphere.

Worcester Blogger Coffee 10/17 (Excitement plus some)

Remember when you were about to celebrate you're 10th birthday and you were so excited to tell people that you were 10-years-old? (Yes, it was a BIG deal for me. It was all about celebrating a double-digit birthday and you couldn't tell me otherwise.)

Well, I'm excited and looking forward to Sunday's Worcester Blogger Coffee, which is taking place at Cafe Nu, on Chandler Street, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

You see, I started the Worcester Is MAJOR! blog with the premise of writing about the City of Worcester and all the things that I saw that were good, bad and in between.

I'm looking forward to putting faces to names or the blogs to the people that write some unbelievable posts, from their perspective and how it may impact people here.

So, if you have a blog or don't have one, please join a good crew of folks at Cafe Nu on Sunday.  I can guarantee that the conversations will be lively and you might hear some information from folks who are passionate about Worcester.

More YouTube Time

The rumor mill was churning and once the topic kept popping up on various tech websites, I knew there had to be some truth to it.  YouTube's video time limit is increasing from 10-minutes to 15-minutes.

As part of the upgrade, YouTube is hosting a contest where everyone can have their "15 Minutes of Fame" by uploading a 15-minute video to YouTube and tag it as "yt15minutes" by Wednesday, August 4, 2010. Videos that are selected will be highlighted on YouTube's front page.

Now, City Manager, Michael O'Brien, and Mayor Joe O'Brien can go all out marketing the City to attract new businesses and residents.

Marketing a Country, State, City & Territory

Alright, we live in an unbelievably technological world and yet some people and cities don't know how to use it to their advantage.

I grew up in the Virgin Islands where 75% of the economy is dependent on tourism and my biggest complaint has always been that the Territory did a bad job of marketing itself, a US Territory that any American can travel to without the need for a passport.

Read any Sunday newspaper Travel Section and you'll read that every country, island and city is advocating for you to spend any of your disposable income there.

Yesterday, Queen Rania of Jordan took to the Internet, scratch that, let me be more specific, she took to TwitVid to kick-off a contest where she wants people to upload videos stating why you'd like to visit Jordan.

The Virgin Islands, recently, signed a new deal to market the Territory to people in the continental United States and you can expect to see more television ads when it's cold in the Northeast.


In the news today, we know that President Obama and his family is heading to Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine, and everyone is getting excited.  I'm sure we'll see some candid pictures and videos of the First Family walking, talking, shaking hands and even eating on their visit to Maine.

Here in Worcester, we're hearing more from City Manager Michael O'Brien as he gives his vision for a vibrant downtown filled with stores, art galleries, bakeries and restaurants through the Creative Economy Initiative.  Before the stores and other establishments can be built and opened, we all know that the first step must be the demolition of the former Worcester Common Outlet building and the construction of City Square (fingers crossed).

I wonder if O'Brien is ready to offer his own challenge to Worcester residents?  Imagine if he proposed to City residents to submit videos on ways to market Worcester, with the winning submissions being highlighted along with the winners serving on the City's "Creative" board?

Sports: Crafty Krafts (New England Patriots)

If you're a die-hard New England Patriots fan, then maybe you already know about the "Help Vince" scavenger hunt for Vince Wilfork's 2004 Super Bowl ring.

Again, with the help of the social media application SCVNGR, the Patriots are allowing fans to venture to over 200 places in Boston to find the "lost" ring (which was said to be stolen by an angry Jets fan).

Each location comes with a new adventure and an opportunity to earn points, badges and prizes. The grand prize — a private lunch with a Patriots player — will go to the first person to find the ring.

While the Super Bowl ring isn't actually lost, this is a creative way to tie-in SCVNGR, a Boston start-up, with the 2010-2011 New England Patriots season.

Let's the games begin!

The Boston Globe: Boston Scavenger Hunt

With subscriptions to newspapers falling faster than a fat man down a flight of stairs, I find the fact that The Boston Globe is using a scavenger hunt, social media and technology to hold a contest and have people learn about the City of Boston.

Know Boston like no one else? Prove it!

If you're a top scorer, you could win one of these great prizes:

• Red Sox Tickets: A pair of Green Monster tickets for a September game
• A romantic gondola ride for two on the Charles River
• 2 Showcase Cinema de Lux tickets to the movie of your choice, plus a $30 concessions voucher
• a $50 Apple iTunes gift card
• Beantown Excursion: A four-pack of tickets for the Beantown Trolley and the Pru's Skywalk Observatory this September
• a $50 gift card to treat yourself to something special!

Top overall scorers in the Boston Globe Trek are entered into a drawing to win one of the above prizes. Game closes on 9/3/10 at 11:59 p.m.. Winners will be notified via e-mail beginning on 9/7/10.

Worcester TweetUP: 4/15 @ Canal 7-9pm

Meet some of the areas' Twitter users face-to-face, have a few drinks and socialize.

There's ample parking and get your night started with some very cool people.

We look forward to seeing you at Canal!

Social Media Gone Wrong

When the students at Miscoe Hill School in Mendon started a Facebook page encouraging their peers to join a Facebook fan page stating that, “If 1,000 people join I'll slap Mrs. Meyers,” referring to Miscoe Hill School Principal Ann J. Meyer.

Yes, some of the kids may have been reprimanded and even suspended, but I wonder what the larger message being sent is?

Social Media: The Middle of the Road

As more folks around the world Tweet and reach out to their Tweople (read: people someone follows on Twitter), many companies have created a social media policy that is being enforced, and, in some cases, an employee could loose their job for violating the policy.

With applications being released on a daily basis for all sorts of smartphones, particularly the iPhone and the Blackberry, more people are sharing information not solely via email, but through Facebook and Twitter.

I wonder how many people that read the many blogs that cover the news in Worcester and Worcester County use some form of social media?

Let your voice be heard and post a comment or email us at WorcesterIsMAJOR@gmail.com.

Twittering might help you find a JOB

In a wild and crazy economy, people have resorted to all sorts of ways to landing that job interview. Just last week CNN reported that the number of people lying on their resume rises when jobs are scarce.

Now, in the era of 24/7 news reporting channels and the unending plethora of information available on the World Wide Web, in enters social media darling Twitter.

For those that are not familiar with Twitter or wonder what all the hype is about, please read this article, which I found very straightforward in explaining why Twitter is so popular and important, at the same time.

The key with Twitter is that it's not solely about micro-blogging, but rather it's about the people who use the service and the information that they share.

Well, now folks are using Twitter to gather job leads and gathering information about the company.

Jazzing up the Joint!

Saw this post on the 4Rilla blog and thought I'd check it out and post on Worcester Is MAJOR!.

Paulie's New Orleans Jazz & Blues Festival 2009:



Benefiting the National Autism Association's FOUND Project!