From One Character To Another. One Tweet At A Time.

Hoot, Hoot…Tweet, Tweet…

I attended the 140 Character Conference in Boston making a few stops across the country teaching, tweeting and teaming up people who have embrace social media. People are using the 140 characters of Twitter, and other new media platforms to improve the exposure of their business or cause, share an experience, and make new connections.

I had the opportunity to mix and mingle with a few familiar friends and new characters face-to-face, while others tweeted back and forth their insights. Today, the New Twitter hatched with a new interface that incorporates the opportunity to share video and photos. They also collaborated with partners including DailyBooth, deviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube. Say that 10 times fast! The new Twitter will also include information about the author and provide a page that’s much easier to navigate. This will improving the level of engagement and hopefully the adopters of this technology tool. From delivering news to people about what’s going on in the world, or influencing someone else with one tweet at a time.

We the People, For the People
The People Have Spoken

Could this new Twitter launch turn out to be a new form of Facebook, my iGoogle page, or transform altogether social media and make it a community search engine as a place for the people, by the people?

Don’t be shy, say HI! In this new social media revolution, everyone has a voice. Use it! Whether you were once in prison for 27 years and decide to do some good to create Youthturns.org that helps families of prisoners to get back on their feet and find the support with positive influences. Or, if you’re Erik Proulx, who after being laid-off multiple times by ad agencies, decided to pool together people using his contacts and Twitter to interview others that had lost their jobs to discover how to make profit in his new documentary LemonadeMovie.com. These are just two examples of people who have turned around their lives one tweet at a time to make a change, help others, and advise the crowd at the conference that 140 characters is the start to make 140 steps towards a new direction.

Steps To Be A Social Changemaker

• Create a goal and go after it
• Follow, listen, share what others have said and take a stand
• Connect with people next door and far away
• Always make media
• Engage your community
• Ask others for help
• Create a grassroots effort around a cause
• Volunteer

Good Resources to Review:

http://www.nextbillion.net/

http://www.socialedge.org/

http://ashoka.org/

Go Throw That Glitter in the Air

I heard this great new song by Pink called Glitter in the Air.

Pink, Glitter in the Air

She sings, “Have you ever wanted to take a fistful of glitter and throw it in the air. Have you ever wanted to stare fear in the face like you just don’t care!”

It’s a beautiful song that I started to sing. We are human with feelings, frustrations and desires. We need to be open-minded to learn from our mistakes and encourage those to take risks and not be afraid of the unknown. For the most part people do care and wish to help others. Things will turn around one way or another and the struggles in life we will conquer.

Keep the faith. Embrace all the beauty in this world and its imperfections. You’ll start to appreciate the little things in life. Soon that argument you had the other day, the rejection in a relationship, or perhaps a business deal that went sour seem less important. You must get back up to tackle that next opportunity or challenge!

“Have you ever hated yourself for staring at the phone?
Your whole life waiting on the ring to prove you’re not alone.”

Feeling valuable, recognized for your talents, and able to contribute to help others is what most of us strive for success. It hurts to feel alone and not know if someone out there cares. This new digital age allows us to connect with people from around the world, but it also has a way to isolate us from those true interpersonal connections. Pick up the phone to say hello. Next time consider writing a personal letter rather than sending an email. Make sure to keep busy exploring your strengths and improving upon your weaknesses.

“Have you ever wished for an endless night?
Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight.
Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself.
Will it ever get better than tonight?”

The orange sunset painting a glorious picture in the sky, the first kiss with someone special, or that minute you make a new discovery. There are times that we want to capture a certain moment, but there are other moments we stand back and wonder why? Life is precious. Each day can bring a new miracle, or could frighten us the next testing our limits and abilities.

“Have you ever invited a stranger to come inside?”

This past year we’ve seen many examples of people offering a helping hand. As 8-year-old girl Abby creates a business for her brother’s illness to raise money states in her slogan, “If life gives you lemons, COLOR!” Whether, it’s people reaching out to help those from the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. It’s the devastation again in Louisiana with people across both coasts coming together to help stop the oil spill. Perhaps, the Touhy’s story inspired you in The Blind Side, as they opened their heart to share the love and support to a stranger that became their adopted son and later a successful football star.

“There you are, sitting in the garden.
Clutching my coffee, calling me sugar.
You called me sugar.”

God has a way to test us and surprise us. It’s those struggles along the way that make one appreciate how hard it was to get there. It’s those little moments on a Sunday morning sharing that first cup of coffee watching the world wake up. It’s those people coming together through adversity to hope for a better day.

It’s knowing that others care whether your family, friends and loved ones are there to call you sugar, babe, call me, come join us, and you’re so much fun! We’ve come to appreciate the hugs, smiles and other little gestures to know we can stare fear in the face together.

“Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry?”

After hearing Pink’s song for the first time. It made me value the greatest gift of them all is ourselves to each other, the world and making it a better place.

Lyrics from Glitter in the Air. © EMI BLACKWOOD MUSIC INC.; PINK INSIDE PUBLISHING

Joan of Arc In the Making

An article last year in eWeek,“Why Are There So Few Women Tech Entrepreneurs?” featuring a report from Business Week that was showcasing the best young entrepreneurs in technology most likely to shape the world’s digital future. Of the 45 entrepreneurs only three were women. It still rings true today, where I’ve noticed a gap with many online start-ups dominated by men with engineering backgrounds who continue to gain the attention and support by the media and venture firms. There are a select group of women professionals who have gone out on a limb and have been noted for their accomplishments in technology and digital developments. Well, maybe it’s a matter of time more women come together to highlight the accomplishments of other women.

Joan of Arc was a peasant girl, who despite her circumstances around an army of men felt obligated to help lead the people of France to defeat the English. At a time of battle, she was capable of raising the spirits of the French troops securing control of Orleans.

Many times women are the brainchild for new ideas and unfortunately aren’t given the recognition or taken seriously for their work as some men. Center for Women’s Business Research (CWBR), reported that 10.1 million businesses are owned by women and this accounts for 40% of all privately held firms in the United States. These women run operations attribute to generating 1.1 trillion dollars in sales.

Is it really still a boys club and can’t the gals play with the venture capitalist crowd? I’ve thought it would be a great alternative to create a women owned VC firm that supports women driven businesses. Forbes magazine selected some of the top women with the Midas Touch to support the growth of new businesses after going out on their own to create their own firms. Many are tired of an all boys club and decided it was best to be entrepreneurial as well. Myra Hart, a retired Harvard professor, conducted a report alongside Patricia Greene of Babson College, and other notable women researchers with the The Diana Project. They reviewed many of the myths for women entrepreneurs seeking venture capital funding. In the report, “there was a noticeable trend where women received a disproportionately low amount of the venture capital available in the United States,” as reported in eWeek. During these tough economic times it has created new challenges for both men and women entrepreneurs to seek the necessary funds for the growth of their business.

Why is it some men work together and become mentors for one another, while for the most part some women compete often against one another? Women need to bond together as much as men to move the army of talented individuals to the forefront of the battleground to win. I was considering today that there are few resources promoting their success stories, as well as hearing the challenges for women in the digital space. It would be great to share these experiences first-hand with others, or help connect people that want to make a contribution to new developments. It always interests me to create programs that can cultivate new talent to thrive, brings together people of different backgrounds and areas of expertise to inspire new ideas, or provide the proper tools to improve marketing, sales, and create further awareness. I would like to join the ranks of women in leadership to make a remarkable and memorable change to empower people, while celebrate our similarities and embrace our differences.

I continue to work towards leading others, or learning from other leaders including men and women. It’s about time that more organizations such as Girls in Tech have started to develop local chapters to support women of all ages that seek advancement and resources.

For some reason the competition between certain women in power remains strong and not supportive, while men look beyond that with their colleagues in the workforce. New programs for women is a positive thing! However, there is a much needed focus at an earlier age for young girls and older women to change the old attitudes about competition and be in touch with t he concept of collaboration and mentor one another.

Are you a Joan of Arc in the Making? Or, do you know of one? Let me know!