S.E.O. is payback for teenage freaks

Today I was catching up with my colleague Haig Armen when he asked me if I knew Steve Andersen. “You mean, Steve Andersen from Salesforce?” I asked. [“You mean, Steve Anderson of Open Media?” my husband asked later.] “No, Steve Anderson...

5 commandments for your digital fast this Lent

I’m not really a Lent kinda gal. (It may have something to do with me being Jewish.) But for the past few years, I’ve felt increasingly Lent-aware, because of the sheer number of people who now seem to give up Facebook for Lent (but then tweet about it),...

Focus on your priorities with O.M.F.T.

Last night I was delighted to participate in a panel hosted by Canadian Women in Communications, speaking alongside Rebecca Bollwitt (aka Miss 604) and Gillian Shaw of the Vancouver Sun. CWC President Stephanie MacKendrick did a terrific job of eliciting our...

How much social media is enough?

Today’s practice: Focus on quality, not quantity. Today’s tweets are full of references to New Year’s resolutions: “Tweet more”. “Tweet less”. “Blog more”. “Blog less.” “Check Facebook no more...

Learn to listen online by lurking silently on one social network

Today’s practice:  Practice your listening skills by choosing one social network where you’ll pay active attention, but not actually contribute. My friend Jason Mogus likes to say that we teach what we need to learn. I have long taken this as the single...

Learning about online graffiti from bathroom graffiti

Today’s practice: When you find an online comment or contribution that truly annoys you, put it on your desktop or bulletin board. It’s your own personal classroom for learning about difference, and practicing tolerance. When companies, organizations or...

9 ways the Internet can cheer your mood when you’re feeling sad

A rough day: we all have them. Yet no day is so rough that it should shake your faith in the Internet as, if not a universal cure, than a widely applicable balm. Here are 5 ways the Internet can cheer you up when you’re blue: Create something. Upload a picture....

What you can learn from your tech defeats

When I was a small child my mother dropped me onto a hard, stone floor. Miraculously, I was uninjured.  As soon as I stopped crying, it seemed, I was as good as new. It would take years before the long-term repercussions of this fall became apparent: the tumble had...

Leaning into online struggles

The fourth time I got a call from the principal’s office, I knew I had to rethink our school year. One of our kids was having a tough time in class, and I had already made several visits to the teacher, the classroom and the principal’s office. Not only...