industry trends

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Recent Updates.

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I haven't been able to write as much as I usually do the past couple of weeks, so I thought I'd catch you up on a few highlights. 

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, ways to contribute and important updates.

Like half of the US, I did the ALS ice bucket challenge.

A friend of mine has ALS, so whether or not you decide to do the challenge, I encourage you to donate to his film. He's an epic storyteller and I cannot wait to see his film. 

Learn more about my friend Patrick. 

Learn more about my friend Patrick. 

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT...THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT...THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT...

Secondly, Patrick uses a computer that is controlled by his eyes to communicate. This is how he talks. It is his only way of communicating. New Medicare laws won't allow computers like his to access the internet or have special software installed on them. If his current computer breaks, he will no longer have the ability to communicate with his friends and family. Please read about this and sign the petition.

You read that, right? IT IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Voting opened for SXSW 2015 (and I'd like your support).

The community voting period for 2015 SXSW panels has opened up. Community support is an important part in getting your panel accepted. I would LOVE your support. Please read about my panel and watch the amazing video one of my co-panelists put together.

Please vote for 'Enhancing human functionality with technology.'

Please vote for 'Enhancing human functionality with technology.'

Holly, Elliot and I need your support.

And while you're at it, I recommend voting for these worthy panels:

Done voting for everyone? Read more about my interest in the topic. 

I sang karaoke with Jeremy. 

We sang Weezer (2x) and I WAS wearing pants. They were red. 

Jeremy and I have a long history of performing in karaoke bars until we no longer have a voice. Since we haven't lived in the same city for 12+ years these karaoke reunions are noteworthy. 

I named five baby hedgehogs.

My friend Cristina Love named her hedgehog after me after I bullied her into it at our 20 year high school reunion. Well Ms Anna Virginia Picklesworth has been a busy girl and had 5 babies. 

I can probably hook you up if you're looking for a new pet. 

I can probably hook you up if you're looking for a new pet. 

I embarrassingly narrated a bear incident. 

Thanks for reading! My travel scheduled is a bit busier than usual this month (and last) but I will be posting more soon. 

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia. 

My quest to become a visual thinker.

I am not a visual thinker. I have to write things down and talk through things to understand how to solve a problem. 

The web is getting better at parsing images everyday and as a communicator I want to be able to use as many communications tools as possible. As a result, I have been making graphics to convey ideas.

I'm still not a visual thinker, but I am getting better at understanding my capabilities. This week I'll be reviewing a few recent examples of my work. 

A birthday card for a comedian friend. 

A birthday card for a comedian friend. 

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia.   

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Taylor Swift, visionary.

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“In the YouTube generation we live in, I walked out onstage every night of my stadium tour last year knowing almost every fan had already seen the show online. To continue to show them something they had never seen before, I brought out dozens of special guest performers to sing their hits with me. ”
— Taylor Swift

You see this at every kind of show today. Taylor embraces the evolution and works to make each show a little bit different. This gives Taylor the opportunity to keep things interesting and allows the audience to feel like each performance is special. Maybe even tailored to the location. Savvy bands like Pearl Jam have been releasing official bootlegs since 2000 for the exact same reason. 

“I haven’t been asked for an autograph since the invention of the iPhone with a front-facing camera. ”
— Taylor Swift

Who hasn't seen the photo of me with Dolly Parton? Who has seen my autograph from Carrot Top? I think I threw it away. I think that makes my point.

“A friend of mine, who is an actress, told me that when the casting for her recent movie came down to two actresses, the casting director chose the actress with more Twitter followers.”

Is that really so bad? This actress may have been unfairly cast because of her number of Twitter followers. Sadly, life is a popularity contest and people are routinely chosen for reasons we don't understand. In this instance the reason for the decision is backed by "data" for all of us to see. 

Perhaps the actress with a lot of Twitter followers does a good job engaging with her fans. That makes her a more valuable asset. I find it highly unlikely the reclusive, extremely talented Daniel Day-Lewis will ever join social media and Ashton Kutcher isn't winning any roles over him.  

What do we get moving forward?

I think she's right.

But before we start lamenting the loss of what we used to have, maybe we should look at some of the opportunities we now have. Non-famous people have access to celebrities in a way they never have before. With social media, celebrities can interact when they want to (and we can impact their choices). 

“And I’d also like a nice garden.”
— Taylor Swift

This is a simple wish that could be uttered by anyone.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a new era of celebritydom. One where we see people who make movies as humans. If Taylor Swift is documenting all of her activities over the 4th of July weekend, do we really need the paparazzi to stalk her? 

The more she does, the more she gets to control her brand. Which allows her to increase her fanbase. Which means photos taken by the paparazzi or those looking to make a quick buck won't be as valuable -- better yet -- Taylor's community might even defend her. 

 

Taylor is savvy at business and was smart to post her article in the WSJ - not Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Slate or any other music/culture/online publication. The affiliation with the WSJ will reach a lot of her base - or at least influencers of her base - and gives a certain amount of weight to her words. The WSJ article is another stamp of approval for someone who has largely made her career on what the general population thinks of her. 

The industry is changing. We can lament change or embrace the opportunity in front of us. Because Taylor Swift has a lot of influence, her article is getting talked about. Isn't that what's important? As long as the talk leads to solutions, I'm game. 

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia.   

SquareSpace Hack: including Twitter handle as default text for sharing.

Social media is about conversation. Many people spend so much time promoting ourselves and things we are interested in that we forget the conversation part. 

I use a browser plugin so I can easily share articles around the web when I read them. When sharing content from my own site, the default text was always the article title and my name, Virginia Carter Ingram. 

Sites like Medium include the author's handle in their default Twitter share button so authors can easily have conversations with the people who are sharing their articles. 

The default shared text on Medium includes the author's Twitter handle. 

The default shared text on Medium includes the author's Twitter handle. 

I love, love, love this.

I frequently converse with authors of articles I like because of this feature. 

Every time I used my browser plugin to share an article from my site I would get annoyed the default text said Virginia Carter Ingram instead of my Twitter handle, @gingin. 

Default sharing text for VirginiaIngram.com prior to 6/18/2014.

Default sharing text for VirginiaIngram.com prior to 6/18/2014.

I started writing a feature request to SquareSpace, and then I realized where I could go to make a hack-like change. In settings, under basic changes you can chance the site title/tagline to include your Twitter handle. 

You can change the default information for an article in the Settings/Basic Information section of SquareSpace CMS. 

You can change the default information for an article in the Settings/Basic Information section of SquareSpace CMS. 

And here is a screenshot of my new default text.

New default text. 

New default text. 


Yay! My Twitter handle is now a part of the suggested default text that comes up when you share an article!

I left Virginia Ingram in the default text so search engines would still prioritize this information. In an ideal world I wouldn't have to hack it. SquareSpace would include it as an option. (hint, hint SquareSpace...)

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia.   



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Resources for working remotely.

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Over the past four+ years I have done a lot of work with remote teams. My remote lifestyle has worked as an employee for a company where most employees were on site and as a consultant with national and international partners and clients. I've found working remotely becomes easier, almost daily. 

Here's what I've learned:

Face-to-Face meetings are different.

The nature of my face-to-face meetings have changed. Routine meetings can easily happen through video chats and calls. Many of my in-person meetings happen in casual scenarios, frequently over lunch, a coffee or a beer. 

Video chatting makes meetings more productive.

Recent changes to Google Hangouts have made the hangouts easier to schedule and join. This has increased the number of video chats I have on a weekly basis. When video chatting, I often forget that my collaborators are in another state -- or country. 

Collaboration tools make sharing ideas more fun.

Sure, Google documents are helpful, but my collaborators and I have also enjoyed using Doodle for scheduling meetings and MindMeister for brainstorming.  

Project management tools are plentiful.

I use Harvest and Toggl for time tracking, Trello for project planning and Basecamp to help keep track of time and the status of projects. 

Social media continues to help.

Twitter and Facebook still help with the water cooler conversation you miss when you are not in an office every day. Twitter and Facebook continue to be just as much of a distraction as a really fun, smart co-worker. Geo-location tools like Foursquare continue to help co-workers keep up with your location. 

Infrastructure investments are worth it.

Cloud computing, a tiny laptop for travel and a giant desktop for my office make it very easy for me to keep files organized and readily available. Some airlines are redesigning their space to make it friendlier for traveling workers.

Computer/tablet friendly desk at Delta gate in Laguardia Airport.

Computer/tablet friendly desk at Delta gate in Laguardia Airport.

 

Location flexibility.

Since most of my partners are in another city, where I am working doesn't matter. I frequently work from home, co-working spaces and at the offices of my clients. 

How has technology helped you collaborate with your team?

Thanks for reading. All of the articles on VirginiaIngram.com are by Virginia Ingram, a freelance writer, account planner and digital strategist who is consulting in the marketing, social media and caregiving world. She writes regularly here and on Medium.com. If you would like to read something similar, choose from the tags and categories below. If you need help communicating to the people most important to you, you should hire Virginia.