Also… about making real-life friends, have you guys seen the Dentyne Ice commercial “Make Face Time” ?!? I know it’s about selling gum but I think it has a really rad message.
Social media is great but use that social media to try and create some “face time”. Get together at a coffee shop, bar, or someone’s house. Get to know each other that way. It’ll help take your relationships to a new level.
One conversation that I’ve been seeing more of is – how do i get more people to follow me on Twitter? Well, Ryan Carson of Carsonified just posted his top 5 tips and especially hit the ball out of the park with one of them, “Make real-life friends.”
I’ve gotten to know a lot of the leading figures in the web industry – people who are really influential on the Twitter space. I didn’t have some sort of Machiavellian plan – these were just the folks who were speaking at FOWA and FOWD. Once I was trusted by people, they were happy to connect me and recommend me.
The important thing is that I wasn’t trying to use people – I have a genuine interest getting to know them and be of help if they need me for anything.
One of the biggest parts of my job is getting out there, extending the size of the company’s community, and making new friends. Twitter works perfectly as a mechanism for me to stay in touch with those friends… to know what’s going on with my “global neighborhood.” Often, they want to stay in touch with me too and they’ll follow me.
The New York Times has a really cool article, “Battle Plans for Newspapers.” In it, they have grab 8 industry experts and get their opinions about the current and future state of the newspaper. Its a pretty good read.
Looks like Craig Newmark gave a killer talk at the User Generated Content Expo. He spoke on “Unlocking the Secrets to Building Community.” ReadWriteWeb has a great write up of his talk. Definitely worth a read.
For a long time now, I’ve been saying that DC has been blessed with some of the best baristas in the business. They can be found at Murky Coffee and Peregrine Espresso. Well to prove it, 2 baristas from each of those establishments grabbed up the top four spots at the Mid Atlantic Regional Barista Competition. Read more about it at We Love DC.
Today, I had the pleasure of attending the press preview for the Library of Congress‘ new exhibit “With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition.”
First off, I was pleased to see two of my other DC blogging brothers there with me. I look forward to see the analysis of Frank Gruber from Somewhat Frank and Tom Bridge of We Love DC. They’re both outstanding bloggers.
During college, I was a student under RIT Professor Joseph Fornieri, a renowned Lincoln scholar, so I definitely understood the history, importance of his presidency, and how he was able to hold the union together. What was incredible about the Library of Congress’ exhibit is that I was able to see that history sitting before me.
You walk through the hall and you get to see documents, drawings, photos, and books that tell the story of Lincoln and the time which he lived.
Right before you there’ll be things like the Bible that he was sworn into office on (Prez. Obama too), a draft of the Gettysburg Address, contents of Lincoln’s pockets when he was assassinated, the first draft of the Emancipation proclamation, Lincoln’s Farewell Address, his first and second Inaugural addresses and much more.
Throughout the exhibition, you’re greeted by a variety of video screens which help to provide you with the context of what you’re seeing.
Overall, I think that if you have the opportunity to see this exhibit DO IT! It opens to the public on February 12th at 5pm. It really is a treasure trove that you get to see and interact with in a way that you may not get to do again for a long long time.
If you don’t live in Washington, DC or you won’t be visiting, there is an online companion to this exhibition. It looks like the first half of it is currently available with the other half coming soon.
As a history nerd, these exhibitions make me giddy. I could have spent hours inside the room looking at all pieces but the sad part is it ends. The exhibition is a bit like a roller coaster ride. You leave the room and you’re like “now what?” It’d be great if the Library of Congress could find a way to extend a visit to a exhibit into a relationship between me and the institution. It’d be great if the exhibit was just the beginning, where over time they continued to feed me more and more. I’ll write up more on this later.
So… go see this exhibit. It’s very rad. You won’t regret it.
Check out…
So… my current iPhone app addiction has a competitor for my attention, Mafia Wars. It’s a Facebook game from the folks at Zynga.
The functionality is almost EXACTLY the same as Mafia LIVE. Would be interesting to see who came out first.
While this game is awesome, I like that Mafia LIVE is based on the iPhone because then I can play it during the down time that I have that’s not infront of my computer.
I’d love for Mafia LIVE to take a cue from Mafia Wars and pull Facebook Friends into it when Facebook Connect comes to the iPhone.
So which of these Mafia games are you playing? I see that SGN just released a Mafia game for the iPhone. I’m going to review that one next.
In preparation for the upcoming Lincoln Bicentennial, the Library of Congress has uploaded a set of photos of President Abraham Lincoln to their Flickr account. The photos are AWESOME. Would recommend that you check them out.
If you live in the Washington, DC area, you should check out the brand new Lincoln exhibition, “With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition“, which opens to the public on February 12th. They’re letting me into the press preview tomorrow, so I’m going to try and grab as many fun tid bits for you all as I can.
If you don’t live in Washington, DC, they have an online version of the exhibit.
I guess there was one more hoop that Apple had to jump through to get a retail store into Washington DC’s neighborhood Georgetown: the Old Georgetown Board. Apparently, Apple’s proposals have been rejected.
The Washington Post’s Paul Schwartzman reports from the Old Georgetown Board meeting today, and says that the board has indeed rejected Apple’s storefront design for a fourth time. While insisting they are eager for the store to open on Wisconsin Ave., the board expressed frustration with Apple for again submitting a design that included a wide, all-glass entryway. Deputy mayor for planning and economic development Neil Albert didn’t mince words: “We’re extremely disappointed with today’s decision.” For it’s part, Apple says it is still committed to making the Georgetown location work and will once again go back to the drawing board.
This sucks.
It’s fun to watch as Twitter continues on it’s journey towards being mainstream. A blogger at The Economist is starting to explore it. I find it fascinating to read his thoughts.
Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp's blog 