1. I hate mushrooms. They are a fungus. Don’t you realize you are eating fungus people?!?
2. When I sleep alone, I sleep with a night light on. My house burned down when I was 16 so I have an intense fear of waking up in the middle of the night to that burning smell and not being able to see anything. I’m extremely clumsy and it is multiplied ten fold in the dark.
3. My favorite author when I was a little girl was Mary Higgins Clark but I would read whatever my father put in front of me. This included an array of literature spanning from Reader’s Digest to The Stephen King Dark Tower series. I think this has contributed to my fantastic imagination and belief that everything is a mystery. Give me a book and it will be consumed in two days flat.
4. I have been 25 for three days and it totally weirds me out. But I don’t really know why?
5. I took the Myers Briggs test last week and just finished with my consultation. I am an ENFP which means my “preferences” are extroversion, intuition, feeling and perceiving. My life goal is discovering my identity.
6. I am one of those freaky people that LOVE LOVE LOVE and adore their jobs.
7. My little sister and my mother are my best friends in the entire universe. MommyMac is an audiologist for a non-profit and AliMac is in vet school. They are some of the most brilliant and funny women I know. I thank God daily that they are in my life. Especially when Ali leaves me 45 minute voicemails in an entirely British accent or when my Mom emails me her daily “You are loved” forwards. You know the ones. They feature a slide show of puppies or babies with a Celine Dion song for background music.
8. I had to add some random cheese because I HATE odd numbers. Do you know if you turn the volume in your car up to an odd number you are at risk of getting into a fiery crash? True story. Even if David doesn’t believe me.

Yes. I totally cheated. I changed the name to the Meme and added a extra “weird” fact. So for the Eight people I tag, just know you only have to come up with seven wacky little known facts about yourself and you only have to tag seven people.

I am passing the Weird and Wacky torch to:

1. David Stagg, because he rides with the top down.*
2. Monica Danna, because she is interesting as hell.
3. Gwen Bell, because she is amazing.
4. Katie Laird, because she is happy.
5. Fayza Elmostehi, because she is a monkey.
6. Kathleen Forbes, because she is inspirational.
7. Jenni Rebecca Stephenson, because she is an artist with words.
8. Princess Mia, because she is cuddly.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it?

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

*Hm. David is the only dude I tagged and the least likely to do the meme. Coincidence?

But really, I’m only kidding (a little). The truth is, the secrets only seem vast when you encounter certain Twitter-isms for the first time. Trust me. I had some pretty interesting and random thoughts when I first saw the following shortcuts and acronyms scroll across my computer screen! Some may even call my blunders “comical.”  I hope to help you avoid all of that!

1. The Hashtag

“What is the point of all the poundy-signs?”

Oh Twitter. Why you gotta be so intricate?? Really… what the heck IS a “hashtag”?

A hashtag looks like this: #. If you are new to Twitter, you may be thinking the same thing I was when I first saw this. “Why the f$%k are people attaching the number sign to words?!? Am I supposed to be randomly be doing that when like something??”

At this point, most normal people would have Googled “# sign on Twitter” but oh no, not Maggie. I asked Fayza, the Internet know-it-all, the above question. I got a really loud laugh before she sweetly explained to me that this “poundy-sign” was in fact called a “hashtag.”

So here we go. Hashtags are simply Twitter tags (or meta tags) that you add inline to your tweets by affixing a pound sign to the front of a word.  It functions by making that word stand out. Think of your hashtagged-word like a bookmark. You are putting that bookmark on a specific post. When people are tracking topics or conversations on Twitter that are related to your bookmark, your tweet will appear.

For example, during Hurricane Ike, many people attached a “#ike” to the end of their tweets. You can then see what everyone is saying about Ike when you search #ike on twitter!

There is an actual hashtag site that was created to track real-time conversations within the micro-blogging community, but it is no longer operating. If you try to search anything there, you invariably get a “504 Network Timeout.”  This is sad, because it used to provide users with some really cool reports and indexing features. Until it is back up again, stick with search.twitter.com.

Real tweet using a hashtag:

2. Tiny URLs

“How do people fit million-character posts in this tiny box?!”

My first day on Twitter, I tried to follow the sage advice of Monica , and be useful to my followers. Except every time I tried to post a useful link, it was too flippin’ long! Since I didn’t want to provide comic relief to anyone this early in my Twitter journey, I decided to obsessively click refresh on my browser until someone else tweeted a link  (I know, I know…I should have Googled it).

After a few people tweeted, I noticed they were almost identical, and lo and behold, they were TINY URLS! Tiny URLs?  Yes!  A place to make your URLs tiny!!! All you have to do is cut and paste your million-character URL into a box, click “Make TinyURL!! and it spits this cute little link back at you.

Need something even smaller? You can use is.gd! With both TinyURL and is.gd, the links are unbreakable and never expire. Perfect for tweeting!

Real Tweet using a TinyURL:

3. The Retweet

“RT your what?”

The simplest explanation of a retweet can be compared to using a quote in a high school term paper. If you use someone else’s words, you have to attribute them right? Well, with the “retweet,” or RT, if you liked what someone tweeted, you can post their tweet for your own followers to take advantage of, with clear attribution to the original tweeter.

On a more complex level, the RT really touches the base of what makes Twitter so amazing. For example, let’s say I tweet something that I think is super important, and I really want to get the word out about it; my followers will all catch that tweet. Chris Brogan happens to follow me, and he has a bajillion followers.  If he thought my tweet was interesting enough to retweet, then I have the ears of a TON of people I never would have been able to reach before. How cool is that?

Here’s how you do it: You type RT + @the tweeter’s name, and then cut and paste their tweet.

Real Tweet using a RT:

That being said, I have never blogged about Nintendo or even my Wii before. Tweet about ‘em? Sure. But dedicate an entire blog post to the thing? Never thought it would happen. My second run-in with a real life Nintendo Enthusiast and the events that transpired last night proved me wrong.

Let me backtrack a little. I first heard the term “Nintendo Enthusiast ” from an Enthusiast herself, Gwen Bell. She kicked off her reign with a Nintendo DS party in Boulder that she invited HappyKatie and me to attend. Sadly, we did not get to go to Boulder, but we got a second chance at Nintendo-Party-Dom when Nintendo dubbed Katie herself an Enthusiast.

“Woo-Hoo!” I thought when I got the Wii Fit Party Evite from Katie. “This party is going to be a blast!”

And it was.

Five sweet Wii Fit girls took over Katie’s house and plied the guests with healthy fare from Whole Foods and white wine sangria, while they walked us through various activities using the Wii Fit Board. It was truly one of the most enjoyable evenings I had in a long time. I went home quite sated and VERY sore. The icing on the cake? I also went home with my very own Wii Fit Board, Wii Yoga Mat and Wii Yoga outfit compliments of Nintendo!!!! How sweet is that?

It is only today that I realize no matter how much I got out of last night’s party, Nintendo probably got more because they have truly tapped into the Social Media groundswell. Clearly they understand that the groundswell matters. You put ten chicks in a room that are addicted to Twitter, and you are going generate buzz and content online.

What I think the most important thing to note about the whole party was that we were tweeting about Nintendo before the party even started and long before we got our unexpected gifts. No one forced us to tweet. No one held us down and said, “You can’t have any more white wine sangria until you tweet!” We just did it out of our own volition. And I would venture to guess it was mostly because we were all just so darn happy!

I mean, how could I NOT be happy listening to Monica talk smack about her balancing abilities or while I’m laughing and poking Fayza while she’s attempting the tree pose.  I watched in awe as the Wii Gamer Chicks racked up 900 rotations in the Hula Hoop game and I talked David’s ear off about it all when the party was over. Nintendo racked up a lot of Karma Points with me last night. That is why I’m talking about them today.

Crazily enough, I think there are lots of ways for organizations to mirror what Nintendo is doing, even without spending the big bucks. Why? It is all about garnering good will!

How can your organization use Social Media to make your peeps happy? Here are a few ideas:

1. If you’re having an event for your organization and you’re charging for drinks, offer everyone in your Facebook group a free one. This means you’ve gotta start a Facebook group first!
2. Broadcast discount codes on Twitter.  Then your followers benefit and feel the love. This will also boost the number of people who follow you, because you will be posting content that people actually want!
3. Send out newsletters that include tips and tricks for whatever industry your subscribers are in. Don’t make your newsletter all about you! These helpful tips will make your subscribers more likely to forward your newsletter on (Jeffrey Gitomer’s is a great example of a helpful newsletter).

The thing to keep in mind with Social Media is this:  BE good people, and good people will talk about you!

* I gave the Wii to David as a gift so it is not technically “mine” but whatever.

** Now I know you were dying to ask about my Guitar Hero skillz, so I will just go ahead and tell you the answer: I totally kicked Satan’s ass playing “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” on GH3…. I’m just not going to tell you how many tries it took

The last six month’s have been an absolute whirlwind. I’ve crammed so much Social Media and Personal Branding knowledge into this brain of mine that I’ve been on the verge of bursting for the last month or so.

Tonight I will get my chance! I am speaking to the DigiCom Student Association at Houston Community College on Personal Branding and The Art behind the Personal Branding RockStars.

I. Am. So. Excited!

Check out my slides, let me know what you think! I always enjoy and learn from your comments

Never fear. I’m here to tell you some silly stories about my mistakes so you don’t repeat them! I’m going to start a series of posts on fun words and acronyms that may frighten those new to the internet or to Social Media. Internet Speak: Part One is going to mostly focus on twitter because twitter can be tough.

You have to use short hand in twitter because you only get 140 characters to say what you want to say. Some of the Internet Speak used on twitter is NOT intuitive no matter what the know-it-alls say

1. The follow:

Follow you WHERE???

When I first heard about twitter I had a hard time understanding the concept of following someone. Monica and I had many comical conversations regarding “the follow” as I was really over thinking the whole thing.

When you choose to follow someone, it means that their tweets will show up, along with all of the other people’s tweets that you have chosen to follow, on your home screen.

If you follow someone, they may or may not choose to follow you back. This is NOT a terrible thing. People follow people for different reasons. I follow A LOT of PR and Social Media people on twitter because I’m interested in what other people in my chosen field have to say. I probably would not follow a… botanist. Unless of course they were hilarious.

2. The “@” Tag:

You want me to @ reply you?

When using twitter, in order to respond to someone directly and have their name be clickable, you HAVE to attach an @ symbol to the beginning of someone’s name when referring to them. This is your way of telling twitter that this is a person using twitter and that you’d like their name to be linkable. If you do not use an @ symbol before someone’s twitter handle, it won’t link. I know this because I did this A LOT when I first started using twitter.

When someone asks a question or makes and statement and says in their post “@ reply me,” they are simply asking for your thoughts. If you start your post with @soandso it will show up in the @Replies section on their home, whether or not they follow you.

Keep in mind that you can @reply to someone on any occasion. Agree with something they just tweeted? throw an @reply at them! If they don’t already follow you, it may result in a new follower!

Remember that “@Replies” tab in the right hand navigation on your homescreen. Like I said, I have discovered some really cool people to follow through this feature.

Real tweet using an @Reply:

@she_eats: So…I cut my own hair tonight. As it turns out, there’s a reason why people pay professionals to do that for them.

I replied with: @she_eats one time my little sister and I cut and colored my hair. I ended up with a neon orange pixie cut. Mom still blackmails me w pics! 

3. The OH tag:

People on Twitter sure love Ohio!

Day one on twitter and I’m thinking… these people LOVE Ohio. OH this, OH that. What is with Ohio?!

OH stands for overheard, NOT Ohio, although I still laugh at myself about this and am kind of glad I made this particular mistake as it makes for a funny story.

OH can be used to tweet random funny things you overhear strangers saying on the street or you can tweet random funny things your coworkers say without totally calling them out. When you OH someone, you don’t have to use their name or even KNOW there name. I have read some pretty darn funny OH tweets. People say hilarious things!

Real tweet using an OH:

MagsMac: OH “If we made Warren Buffet the quarterback of the economy… what?! I’m trying to talk in your language!”

Whew…

I know this post was super long and I want to thank you if you made it till the end. The reason I decided to break this post up into a series was because it was originally much MUCH longer. I know… collective sigh of relief

If there are any other twitter-isms that baffle you, leave them in the comments!

Let’s put the brakes on this post so I can quickly explain what personal branding is. Personal branding is a concept that says you YOURSELF are just as marketable and brand-able as say… Target. The example I like to use is George Foreman. Ever heard of the George Foreman Grill? I bet you have. The man slapped his name on a grill originally marketed using middle of the night infomercials and now he and his grills are this crazy international brand with like six different “lines” of grills. I didn’t even know you could have more than one line of grills… much less six! I digress…

I am really trying to understand every facet of this personal branding thing. Really, I am! But sometimes the whole thing gets extremely daunting; I get really unsure of what direction to take. I have found a perfect solution to this sensation though… When I start to get overwhelmed I put on my headphones, turn my music WAY up, and turn to the blogosphere. I always find I feel much much better after my trip.

Well the whole point of starting this blog was to help others learn through my stumblings. At work yesterday I was talking to our awesome new hire, Alexis, about some of the things I’ve learned and a few of the places I go on the interwebs for inspiration… and realized I’m past due on a post on this very topic. It defeats the purpose of this blog if I’m not sharing the things I find! And I don’t want to be one of those posters who just posts to have another post.

Below are some AWESOME blogs that have really helped me out in my search for answers; some of them are extremely Social Media related while others are a bit more personal. If you are a newbie like me, I hope they  save you some time in your search… but more importantly, I hope they inspire you as well.

Drumroll please

1. CosmoPolitician: Monica has somehow managed to become this crazy force in Houston and it seems that everything she blogs about turns to gold. A must read for info on Houston events, travel and random stories about ghastley surgeries appendicitis. (And come on. You knew she was going to be number one on my list.)
2. Gwen Bell dot Com: Gwen’s blog is an inspiration to anyone getting started in Social Media. She touts balance in every aspect of your life and warns against getting so caught up in the interwebs that you merely count the number of friends or followers you have instead of focusing on the gifts you have to share. Gwen was voted one of the 50 most powerful +influential Woman in Social Media but even so, she is lesson in humility.
3. GoingStagg: David writes fearlessly about whatever topic he happens to find interesting on a given day; be it design, sports or energy drinks. His blog has shown me that there is no such thing as being timid online. Why not say what you want and write what you know?
4. Oat.org: Matthew Inman is an awesome graphic designer who has built an amazing personal brand on the foundation of his pretty pictures and even prettier code. He has kicked off several successful projects, including the free dating site Mingle2… and let’s be honest; the boys blog looks GOOD!
5. crowdSPRING: The company was created to help creatives from around the world mash up with people seeking those creatives. Their blog houses tons of amazing Social Media posts but my favorite is a weekly post where Angeline does a recap of all the cool links she tweeted the prior week. This wrap up post is where I have found some of my other favorite blogs!
6. Chris Brogan: This guy posts A LOT. I don’t like all of his articles, but the majority of his posts contain nuggets of Social Media gold.
7. The Personal Branding Blog: Dan Schawbel has dubbed himself “the leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y” and while I’m not sure if he is the “leading expert” I do really like his blog. He understands that jobs and job searches are changing and that a personal brand can be a a job applicant’s most important asset!
8. Web Strategy by Jeremiah: Jeremiah is a Senior Analyst for Forrestor research, a company devoted to providing their clients with insight into what THEIR clients want to know. Forrester research is also the company that my favorite Social Media books, Groundswell, sprang from.
9. Web Ink Now: This is one of my favs. Don’t really know why, maybe because it’s one of the first quote un-quote Social Media blogs to populate my Google reader? Anyway, David Meerman Scott is the author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR and his blog is a great resource for both personal branding AND Social Media ideas. He also provides great insight into what practices you should be avoiding.
10. and of course, Fayza. I’m not really going to go into a lot of description here. Fayza makes fun of Britney. People love her. People know her. And she’s not just sitting at home behind her computer plotting how she will take over the internet.

So those are my top 10 blogs! There are many other great GREAT blogs out there, but these are the ones I personally favor. I hope you find yourself inspired by at least one of them!

<whispering> I also love Perez but I already blogged about him once and you all know how I feel his Social Media/Personal Branding prowess. </whispering>

Ready… set… donate! Help MommyMac raise awareness for Hearing Loss!! (while she walks it out).

As many of you know, my dear sweet Mom is an audiologist for a non-profit.  Over the past 20 years (or so?) she has changed the lives of many deaf adults and children by guiding them on their path to hearing again and she absolutely LOVES her job. I would say that it is probably this love and devotion to her life’s work that makes MommyMac so amazing at what she does.

Not everyone understands or is aware of how many people are actually affected by hearing loss. On November 1, MommyMac is going to be participating in the Hearing Loss Association’s Walk4Hearing and she asked me if I could help her raise money for this great cause. Check out her ChipIn page!! The goal of the walk is twofold: to increase awareness about the causes and consequences of hearing loss and to raise funds to provide info and support for people with hearing loss.

Nearly 55 million Americans suffer from hearing loss and many of them have no idea where to turn. My mom has dedicated her life to helping people who are affected, and I figured I would, in turn, reach out to all of you for help. MommyMac’s goal is to raise $1000 and she won’t be able to do it without rawkin peeps like you!

When I was a little girl, I LOVED going to work with my mother. I loved “helping” out in the office and watching this amazing bunch of ladies bustle around. There was ALWAYS laughter at the Houston Ear Research Foundation. So here I go again… Maybe now that I’m a little older I can do more that just pretend to help

Wanna help out MommyMac? Check out her ChipIn Page!! No amount is too small (or too large, for that matter!)

Many of you know I secretly LOVE Perez Hilton.  I think his blog is great.  And amazing.  And fantastic.  I consider it a great source for news I need to know.

Lately I have had to defend this love quite a bit so I decided to compile a top 20 list of why I love Perez Hilton.

Why Perez rawks:

1. Perezzers is always in the know
2. He announced that the new Macbook was being released on October 15 before anyone else
3. and he always has his finger on the pulse of the next big thing in music
4. In fact, Perez got to world premiere the first Leona Lewis song (not MTV!!)
5. He really cares about the Dalai Lama
6. and world peace (and you should too)
7. You can count on him to monitor the stock market for you
8. Or for up to the minute daily updates on that state of our economy
9. He really cares about your oral hygiene
10. and totally thinks you should NOT smoke
11. Perez is a huge proponent of voting
12. and is just as obsessed with Sarah Palin as Fayza and I
13. He even reminds our Canadian neighbors to vote!
14. I actually have a lot in common with Perez…
15. Perez and I both think Andy Roddick is sexy
16. hmmm… come to think of it, we have the same taste as in most men
17. and he loves dogs
18. Despite popular belief, Perez does a lot of good
19. He blogs about a non-profit once a day and encourages donating
20. Our own Houston Food Bank was actually featured post-Ike

The moral of this post? Don’t knock the Pretzel till you try him.

Then from 5:30-7:30 pm it will be time to consume said donations at a very worthwhile event: the kick off party for the Art-the heART of Houston viral video campaign. Come play with us at the HAA Space125Gallery for more details on this totally crazy and creative three month ride we are about to take with Houston’s best artists. There will be wine and artists and merriment to be had by all. And you will be home in time to watch the presidential debates!  Which I always find a bit easier to stomach after copious amounts of wine… but that is just me.

After HAA, I will be meeting up with David to enjoy a night at the theatre! Like the HAA party, the opening of Cyrano de Bergerac was delayed because of Ike, but in an amazing twist of fate that delay will make the night even better! David’s brother, Barry, is now a backstage hand at the Alley Theatre and got our tickets moved to the night of the 15th. What is so much cooler about these tickets as opposed to our original tickets? There is an after party with the cast and crew! I don’t tell many people this, but in the 8th grade I was historian of my junior high’s Thespian society and secretly wanted to be a Broadway star. So this is all very exciting to me… Which means my non-cheesy boyfriend and his brother managed to get me the most perfectly-cheesy-anniversary present ever I only hope I don’t faint at the feet of a cast member…

I really just cannot wait for Wednesday.

My “big sister” CosmoPolitician has been the biggest force behind me getting involved in the internet.  I was her intern at Mikel Marketing and admitedly a little terrified of computers.  Monica made me helped me create my first myspace page, and I ended up having a blast with it.  Myspace was also instrumental when I broke up with an ex because he didn’t want to believe we were really broken up until my status said “single” but I suppose that is another story.  Myspace may not be as big as it once was, but I am still in debt beacuse it ignited my love of the interwebs.

Next came Facebook.  I spent some time attending the University of Salamanca in Spain and met some truly amazing girls from Canada, Caitlyn and Christina.  Apparently Canadian’s were already too cool for Myspace so they taught me all about Facebook.  In order to stay in touch with them (and other countless people I met while overseas) I created a profile and was immediately addicted.  It has been three years since I drank vino blanco in the plaza mayor and stayed out all night dancing, but I am still in touch with two of the most kick ass chicks I have ever met.

My Flickr and twitter accounts were born more recently and Monica also arbitrarily signed me up for those.  I still remember the random confirmation emails appearing in my inbox… and cracking up over the completely inappropriate random passwords Monica came up with.  I am not so adept at Flickr, but twitter is my constant companion.  Through the twitterberry application on my phone and twhirl on my desktop, I am constantly aware of what the people I love (and the people I want to avoid) are up to.

So I don’t understand why people, or even companies, balk at signing up.

Social Media is not about sitting behind a computer.  It is about creating and maintaining relationships with people you may not otherwise get a chance to know so deeply otherwise… and in turn giving them a chance to get to know you.  If you don’t ever step out from behind your computer and take part in the “social” aspect of new media, then this concept is probably lost on you and it is no wonder you think Social Networking sites have heralded the demise of life as we know it.

If it was not for Social Media, I would not have met the lovely @gwenbell at the grand opening of the Caroline Collective party nor would I still be in touch with her.  I would not be able to write on the wall of the fun Australian chick I met at @kapachino’s wedding and I would not have gotten to know Fayza well enough to have constant sleepovers…  Or, for that matter, been victim to the “cupcake shots” that will go down in infamy.

I would never have been the contributing editor of Barstool magazine or interned with the Houston Dynamo.  I would not have my current job and would not get to drag MommyMac to Stag’s Head once a month in the name of knowledge sharing.  So it is to the people I have met (and the people I have YET to meet) that I say.. I love you… and you have been a blessing in my life.  And I thank Social Media for you.

Social Media has given me a voice.  And I don’t understand why anyone would not want to be heard.