Sparkatopia

Tommy and Lisa talk about choosing when to disclose on social media personal news. Is it ever the right time? Lisa also mentions her good news!

Red Shoes Speaks #41, Oh By The Way… from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Jess dishes on her top 5 iPad apps with Tommy. Let us know your favorites!

Red Shoes Speaks No. 36 Jess’s 5 Top iPad Picks from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Tommy shares his example of a big brand looking for feedback. Do you think more companies are getting better at social media engagement?

Red Shoes Speaks No. 35 Listening in Social Media from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Lisa and Tommy discuss a photograph he took while having breakfast at a local fast food restaurant. A group of senior’s having coffee. Could this be the origin of the first tweet-up? Social media really isn’t all that new now is it…just ask your grandpa who went to the corner store for a cup of coffee and some chat time with a bunch of old friends.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 32 The Origins of the Tweetup from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

We would love to hear if you have ever sold a major item, like a house, on Facebook. Jess Dennis shares her thoughts about why she decided to “list” her home with her Facebook network.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 29 For Sale by FaceBook from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Jess shares her insights from the Ungeeked Conference that was held last week in Milwaukee. The group also discusses knowing and understanding your audiences online, strategies and intermingling posts on different social media platforms.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 28 Ungeeked Conference from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

The best part of spring time is the ability to open the windows and clean out the closets. While you are taking care of your home, why not look at your social media home, too. Are you getting endless email newsletters and alerts? Are you friends with people who you don’t engage with? Lisa & Tommy discuss the need to take some time to do some social media “digital” spring cleaning.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 27 Digital Spring Cleaning from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Lisa & Tommy talk about Lisa’s column in The Post-Crescent newspaper about QR Bar Codes. QR or Quick Response bar codes have been a hit over in Japan for years. Now business are starting to take notice of this print to web technology here in the states.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 23 QR Quick Response Bar Codes from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Here are Tommy and Lisa’s thoughts about how social media could play an important role in letting loved ones know if you and your family are OK when disaster strikes.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 22 Social Media Role in Disaster Communications from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

This post is in response to a fellow N.E. Wisconsin, Kate Unger , who was looking for feedback on her recent blog post titled: Twilebrities, Comets and Tweets.

It’s just funny how good things happen. Everything seems to happen for a purpose and  the old adage that my father used to say, “Good things happen to great people” fits here- I’m not sure exactly how, but it does. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to take a look, a good look, inside myself to see why I do the things I do and where I find the time to do them.  Before I can help you understand why I handle myself the way I do in social media, I think it’s important to have some background information.

I’m the oldest of 7 kids. To this day I have the best parents anyone could ask for. My mom and dad spent so much time showing me how to love, teaching respect for others and to appreciate the things around me. Sometimes it was hard to do those things due to the fact I got picked on so much in school. There were days it was so hard to go at all. But I rarely, if ever, showed that negative side of life. I never wanted to be the one to make a wave or cause issues. I didn’t try to hide it; I just kind of became oblivious to it. Kids at the elementary age can be so cruel. I too had a hand in that. It seemed that every jab that came my way; I sent two or three more out back at others.

This was not how I wanted to live my life. There had to be a better way to deal with my frustrations. Slowly over time I became to see the error in my ways. I’m not sure whether it was, 7^th or 8^th grade, but my outlook started to change. I started to see that comic relief was one way of coping. I have always laughed since I was young, but in high school things started to evolve and in college I took my love of laughter to a different level.  From that point, making people happy has been an end goal of mine. I look at it as one key for my “meaning of life.”

How do you make people happy? Well, what do people desire and crave? We all want attention, to be listened to, and for someone to find interest in us, even if only for a moment. Whether it’s a technology problem someone is having or simply wanting to celebrate success- everyone wants to be acknowledged and heard.

Fast forward to our social media discussion… Social media is the perfect place to be heard and recognized.  It is an ideal way to be “part of the conversation”.    I want to be part of the conversation, but how do I do it? I have made social media part of my daily tasks. With tools like tweetdeck, pluggio, foursquare,  hootsuite on my iphone, and a simple Kodak Zi8 video camera, I can create videos and keep others informed on where I am,  what I’m doing, and to chat with others. I have made social media an integral part of my daily routine. I imagine social media is just like a huge party. You can’t chat with everyone all at the same time, but you can jump in here and there and add to the conversion at a moments notice. Twitter fits that bill perfectly. I have over 28,000 followers and very few are online at any given time, but I can jump into any conversation, add my 2 cents and then just keep on going. I make sure to reply to comments of tidbits that hit my timeline and DM’s. I keep my tech following up to speed on the latest happenings along the way and it just works for me.

Like Lisa Cruz said, there isn’t moderation in all things… but I need mrstommytrc to know she’s #1. I try to work my social media efforts around her and the family. It is important to be considerate of sacred dinner times and weekly date night. I know this may not always happen as planned.  I know that every so often I need a reality check, but I try. I try hard to keep things in check. My family is very tolerant of me and my social media habits… it’s a balancing act I’ll always be working on to be better- for my followers and for my family.