happykatie :: katie rocks out the interwebs

Thanks AMA Houston Tech SIG for the Business Blogging conversation

The AMA Houston Tech SIG hosted a great Blog Forward presentation today with 3 panelists of various Blogging heritages including myself (www.happykatie.com and Schipul), Greg Price (of PKF and www.fromgregshead.com) and Michael Berry (of Ops Manager at Clear Channel and of KTRH blogs).

Many thanks to Rob Roberts and the AMA Tech SIG crew for hosting the event.  I'm hoping that participants walked away with some actionable Blogging ideas for their own business online marketing adventures.   Scroll to the end of this post to view my presentation slides or visit me on Slideshare here.

In the end, it's all about the right people and the right content.  Once you have those right, the possibilities are limitless.  Recruit from within, grow your peoples' personal brands and BLOG!!  I highly recommend checking out this article by Ed Schipul on what to do when starting a Social Media program for additional background.

In case your geekery meter hasn't overloaded yet, here are some links that I shared while on stage:

Blogging Tools

1. Typepad (which Schipul uses and I use for 2 blogs):  www.typepad.com
2. Wordpress (a great free blog platform that I use for 1 blog):  www.wordpress.com
3. Movable Type (a little more complex, but great for group blogs):  www.movabletype.com
4. Blogger (free, but I'm not a huge fan):  www.blogger.com

Blog Analytics Tools

1. Google Analytics (free and greatly improved!):  www.google.com/analytics
2. Feedburner (free tool to track your RSS feed #s):  www.feedburner.com
3. Stat Counter (another freebie):  www.statcounter.com

Link Grab Bag

1. Flickr (online photography community):  www.flickr.com
2. Slideshare (like YouTube but for Powerpoints):  www.slideshare.net
3. Technorati (a search engine for Blogs):  www.technorati.com
4. Del.icio.us (social bookmarking site that rocks):  http://del.icio.us

Thanks to all who participated - I look forward to seeing you on the Blogosphere :)  And, of course, feel free to drop me a line sometime:  happykatie at gmail.com.  Photo thanks to Ed Schipul - click here for more AMA Houston pics!

| View | Upload your own

SxSWi 2008 was awesome (aka: pimping)

SXSW Interactive Festival 2008 was super, as always.  While the quality of panel content wasn't as consistent as I would've hoped, the people, events and general camaraderie  were outstanding.  As were the beer, wine, Nuclear Tacos and the 400 times we ate at Iron Cactus.  Also as were (if that even makes sense), the awesome fuzzy pimp hats and bling we indulged in for Ed Schipul's 'Pimp My NonProfit' panel.

I live blogged several panels and updated them this evening with photos, better descriptions and general grammatical edits so as not to appear a complete lame-o poster.  Specifically:

1.  Weird Turn Pro panel with Derek Powazek
2.  Henry Jenkins opening remarks
3. High-Tech Craft session moderated by Natalie Zee Drieu

Feel like you missed out?  Some ideas on getting your SXSWi 2008 fix: Flickr, Technorati,  re-visit Meebo chats or check out Pulse SXSW for video clips.

To all of the friendly new faces I came in contact with, you really made this a special weekend.  Thanks for the giggles, jokes, advice and brilliant ideas - I'm constantly inspired by every single one of you.

Find the above SXSWi 2008 mosaic in my Flickr stream here - also thanks to CC loving Flickr photogs techslut and wangjy!

A good start to 2008: tethered-happykatie

So I'm not going to lie, I feel sad that this is the first real post I have written in 2008.  But no worries, this isn't going to be one of the apology lame-a** posts.  Instead, I have some beautiful things to share with you:

** Currently I am quite blissfully happy looking at photos taken at Avant Garden of a beautiful show, NeoFormalism1.  Ed Schipul took some beautiful photos (please see above) that are posted to his Flickr account.  Rose and Olive were there of course and I got to meet painter Terrell James, Jenny-Beck (of Nova Arts Project) and Varina (of Arts Houston), as well as hang out with my fave office neighbor / morning commute stalker pal Jonti.

** Today, not only did I get to hang out with Jenny the Bloggess and Laura (aka: The Queso) but I also got to meet Karen (of Chookooloonks) for the very first time.  She was awesome and is now pretty much Ella's favorite new person :)  I love being with intelligent, fierce Blogging chicas!

** NetSquared is going to be amazing this month on Tuesday, Jan. 8th with Kelly McCann of the AIDS Houston Foundation.  Free booze and amazing conversation - RSVP online here!

**  My cheeky new art club, Houston Dr. Sketchy, is holding its first event next Sunday, January 13th from 2-5pm at Avant Garden.  It's  an awesome art geek gathering with a killer DJ (Low End Theory), fun contests and a different life model every month (this time we get a little Burlesque with Ann Berlin).

** Houston is getting its very first Social Media conference on Jan. 17th with the Got Social Media? event.  There are some great speakers (Ed, Laura, Erica and Kelsey among them!) and is one more awesome way that the Houston tech community is growing in leaps and bounds.

Things have started out crazy-busy, but very good, in 2008 - I'm looking forward to starting at Boston University early this year, Adam is about to move into some great studio space at his ceramics shop and (absolutely, 100% most importantly) Ella/happykiddo is blossoming into an even more beautiful and hilarious little sparklette. 

Hope your year has started out smashingly well :) Drop me a line and let me know what you're up to!

Threadbangers - DIY with love from YouTube

I'm so in crafty-love with Threadbangers - a killer online DIY network full of how-to crafty videos, forums and brain candy for those that want to re-fashionize their wardrobe and look fah-bulous doing so. 

There are oh-so-many dedicated crafty and DIY fashion sites out there right now, both for selling/purchasing handcrafted goods (or gleaning ideas and inspiration from) and for learning how to make them yourself. 

Here are just a few of my fave Crafty/DIY sites (don't hate me if I left you off - this is seriously off the top of me noggin):

• Etsy (www.etsy.com)
• Get Crafty (www.getcrafty.com)
• Burda style (www.burdastyle.com)
• The Anti Craft (www.theanticraft.com)
• Not Martha (www.notmartha.org)
• Fitz Patterns (www.fitzpatterns.myshopify.com/collections/free)
• Pink of Perfection (www.pinkofperfection.com)
• Craft Sanity (www.craftsanity.com)
• Shana Logic - formerly PixelGirl (www.shanalogic.com)

How to customize your Typepad design (even when you're a slacker like me)

I have to brag on my company's Creative Director Tim Newton, as he has pumped out a couple of really killer tutorials in the last week.

First it was How to Design Email Newsletters for Outlook 2007 and more recently he threw up a super-easy Typepad Blog design customization tutorial.  As long as I have been using Typepad (since back in 7/2003... how the years do fly) I have consistently gone the easy route and used the standard layout with a random happykatie header.

Actually, I kept the exact same look and happykatie header for years and years and years - you remember the one, the 50's diner-esque with hipster kids in cool sneakers hanging out?  Good times.  Now I'm stuck with 2006's autumn theme (my plan was to change seasonally like the always adorable ljc and other fave blogs), but my how seasonal I look now!!  Right?  Right?  Anyone?

Sooo...  check out Tim's great Typepad design tutorial.  And don't judge me for last year's Fall colors.   Mmmmkay?

IntenseDebate brings commenting to the next level

I love being on sites and online communities that have really active comments and forums - it's such an interesting way to see people interact with each other and a great way to get extra links and tidbits.

That being said, comments are normally disappointingly one-dimensional - sometimes you get to subscribe to comment updates, but on the whole it's an unsatisfying way to connect with people across other networks and sites.

So that's where IntenseDebate comes in, providing a full service kind of commenting system:

• It makes it super-simple to track comment updates on a particular post -- but also lets you track your friends' commenting activity across all sites.   
• You can create IntenseDebate profiles so that your social profiles info and avatar is always visible (branding anyone?).
• Just to make sure you're not a jerkface, IntenseDebate lets other users vote your comments up or down -- giving you a commenting reputation of sorts -- and also moving the more popular comments up in rank.  Trolls beware...
• They've also got handy badges/widgets to let you showcase your commenting community that much more
• And they're OpenID friendly - it doesn't get much better than that

Do check it out -- and leave some comments so we can try this puppy out for real already :)

Artful Blogging - getting purdy in the blogosphere

I splurged a little bit today and bought a cool Canadian magazine called Artful Blogging.

It is a beautifully designed magazine with an eye out on the blogosphere looking for talented bloggers and crafty types.  Do give it a read through.

Meet Heliomag - my favorite corporate Blog

So you've probably noticed that I'm a pretty big Helio fan these days.  My Helio Ocean is great, my customer service experience with them has been fantastic and now I'm hooked on their blog:  Heliomag.

Talk about a company doing that Social Media hat dance right - Heliomag is actually a place that real people like to visit and doesn't try to bore me to death with thinly veiled corporate policy blahblah and other ridiculousness.

Heliomag gives you cool interviews, sweet art exhibit and creative news, tips and tricks for your Helio,  music reviews and oh yes -- a link to the DVORAK zine. dOOd.  In short, their company Blog is a universally interesting place that offers regularly updated unique content, which in turn makes Helio look cool and informed, which in turn makes me - the consumer - feel cool and smart for giving them my money.

I like feeling cool and smart - how about you?

Battle of the big boys - Sony-san starts a blog and kind of sucks at it

It's interesting to see big corporate players start Blogging - at one point it was exciting, but now I feel a bit... skeptical... jaded?  I don't know, just less stoked. 

Corporate Sony JUST joined in on the Blog action this week (surprisingly late) and so far the results are lackluster.  Here's why I'm not excited:

1. Uhmm... a corporate Blog launch with just one post?  Strange strategy... give us a little post padding here!  I need something to chew on, to see that a company blog has really established its voice and focus. 
2. 2 posts in 5 days makes me think you just don't care.  Especially if the Blog is only 5 days old... seriously...
3. Pimp it!  I can't say exactly what the Sony blog traffic is looking like, but I am only seeing like 60 comments per post.  For a Sony blog?  Sony!!  Looks like someone needs to jumpstart the old buzz machine and start kicking out some decent content.
4. For a Blog that's supposed to put a face on a huge company, this site is decidedly uncreative and  cold.  Seems like the design, name and even URL could be given a little TLC to put a little social in the new media.

Popgadget interviewed Marcy Cohen from Sony on their foray into Social Media Land, who said:

"With the growth and impact of the internet, we realized we needed to be more proactive and have a dialogue with the customer " says the 6 and a half year veteran of the company. "It gives a face to the company and also helps us learn about the customer through unfiltered comments. Besides comments and feedback, we'll have regular contributors ...guest bloggers. Ultimately, we expect it will benefit the consumer."

Ya' think?  Ho freaking hum.  Hope things pick a bit, although it was interesting to hear a little more about Sony's DSLR plans.  Hopefully they'll take a hint from the PSP Blog and make it a little more snazzy and connective.

Ch-ch-changes in the happykatie blogosphere

Change is good, but sometimes a wee bit difficult.  This week I said goodbye to my fellow authors at the Houston Metblog.  I've been the captain of the city for almost 4 years now and it has been a very fun exercise.

Lots of friends, roller derby outings, glasses of beer, random Houston tidbits and silly gossip have sprouted from my time at the Metblog.   The bloggers there are super great and I intend on remaining a daily reader and commenter.

Many thanks to the Metblog dudes in LA - Sean Bonner in particular.  Watching the international Metblogs connect the global community is a tremendous and significant thing to watch - especially in countries that might not have any other open communication channels.

There are other things on the horizon for me, but I'm really happy to have such good memories to look back on.  Cheers guys - see you at Onion Creek :)