Over at Our Westwood (http://westwoodblog.org) I recently expressed my frustration that candidates in the upcoming September 14 primary for U.S. Congress and State Senate were unlikely to debate. I have a proposal for doing this online that will serve our communities, respect the candidates and voters, and increase participation and interest in the political process.
This [...]
From the category archives:
Social Media
A Modest Proposal for Online Debates
by Dave Atkins on August 19, 2010
in Building Community, Essay, Local to Boston, Politics, Social Media, Technology How-To
BeeTagg Localizes Content
by Dave Atkins on June 4, 2010
This past weekend at the Burlington, VT ECHO Center, I saw this curious sign:
Once I downloaded the app reader described on the sign and pointed my iPhone camera at the honeycomb pattern, the software decoded that pattern into a web address and started playing a video about a tree planting with the Missisquoi River Basin [...]
Take Responsibility for Spam Comments on your Blogs
by Dave Atkins on January 11, 2010
Comment spammers are relentless. I spend time every day just deleting the comments that make it through Akismet and other spam filters.
The spam-filtering service Akismet defeats most automated spam, but I suspect there is a class of low-wage human-powered spamming going on based on some internet marketer’s idea of link building.
The reason some people post [...]
You’ve Got to “Crush It!”
by Dave Atkins on October 20, 2009
in Business Planning, Creative Life, Personal Brand, Social Media, Work/Life
Last Friday night, I attended an unconventional book-signing/networking party in Boston that brought together Gary Vaynerchuk, Jeff Cutler, and Mike Langford along with the usual suspects of the Boston social media scene. I picked up a copy of Gary’s book and then–because I missed the earlier train home, had an hour and a half to [...]
Media, Message, and Personal Branding
by Dave Atkins on March 23, 2009
I’m looking forward to a social gathering and speech tonight where Dan Schawbel will talk about “personal branding”–how you market yourself to other people. I’ve had an amazing amount of interest in my story of using social media in my search for work, including a number of media interviews, most recently a front-page story in [...]
I don’t spend a lot of time watching TV but I find the subtle evolution of commercials fascinating…an evolution that tracks my own gut reactions pretty well. I should document more of these because these subtle corrections happen all the time…not unlike how things worked in Orwell’s 1984. We don’t notice most of the time…but [...]
Find Passionate People to Execute Strategy
by Dave Atkins on March 11, 2009
Yesterday’s Social Media Jungle in Boston was full of great discussion and ideas. One discussion leader, Justin Levy, advocated the need to stop talking about social media and start doing. But many of us are trying to figure out how to help others who aren’t ready to “do” yet.
Justin has used social media to help [...]
Light and Darkness
by Dave Atkins on March 11, 2009
in Advice to Unemployed, Creative Life, Essay, Social Media, Work/Life
This economic downturn is different from 2002, especially in the tech/internet space because of how people are responding to it. I was speaking with a reporter from TheStreet.com yesterday who was interviewing me about my layoff situation, and it struck me that perhaps my outlook is not uniquely optimistic, but shared by many others. I’m [...]
How I Use Social Media in my Search for Work
by Dave Atkins on March 11, 2009
in Advice to Unemployed, Creative Life, Essay, Personal Brand, Social Media, Work/Life
I had the opportunity to speak with a local reporter about my layoff and search for work. One of his questions was whether I had advice for other people.
I was hesitant. I don’t have a complete success story to tell yet, but I can describe what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. I think [...]
The advice from many on Twitter these days seems to boil down to a desperate quest to build a massive following. A tweet this morning promised a way to generate something like 20,000 new followers in a day. Then there are e-books about how someone built a massive following…by writing a book about how to [...]