Wow, thanks Jonathan! But as a fellow Huffington Post blogger, I have to tell you:

I think this is a lame move and that you’re a weenie for doing it. (Forgive me, I have teenage children – we talk like this on a regular basis).

In case you haven’t heard, Tasini is a former Huffington Post blogger who filed a lawsuit and is seeking class-action status on behalf of HuffPo bloggers, claiming at least $105 million should now be given to the bloggers. According to Jonathan:

“The Huffington Post is nothing without the bloggers who created the content.” As previously noted, I strongly disagree. In fact, I disagree so strongly, I thought I’d write a letter.

My Letter to Jonathan Tasini

Dear Jonathan,

I’ve been blogging for Huffington Post for a couple of years and, unless my experience was drastically different from yours, no one put a gun to my head and forced me to blog. Did Arianna Huffington or one of her evil minions cast a spell on YOU to make you write 216 blog posts against your will?

You agreed to blog for free. For one of the most influential and most successful websites on the Internet. You are NOT a victim and you do not deserve a zillion dollars for your 216 blog posts.

The last time I checked, America was a free country. You could have chosen not to write for the Huffington Post but, for some odd reason, it was cool beans as you zoomed through those 216 posts.

As a fellow writer, I don’t have an issue with the non-payment because the Huffington Post has a huge audience.  The website is an awesome media platform. And because of the great community of bloggers at HuffPo, I get to work with writers like Nora Ephron , who edits HuffPost Divorce, where some of my blog posts are published. I don’t know about you, but I don’t bump into world class authors and Academy Award nominated writers every day, so I consider it a perk. A big one.

Here’s a news flash: I didn’t write 216 blog posts. I agreed to work for free at Huffington Post and, in return, they gave me access to one of the largest online audiences in the world. I am still blogging for HuffPo and I’m not mad about it. I’m an adult and I take responsibility for my choices. And the exposure – and the audience – that HuffPo has and does give me has been invaluable.

And so, Jonathan, imma say it again, I think this is a lame move and that you’re a weenie for doing it. I learned a long time ago that life was not fair. I also learned that all choices have consequences. You must’ve missed that memo, but I’m here to tell you—get over it! Quit griping about it and go start your own publication. Go to therapy. Do whatever you need, but please, GROW UP.

Regards,

Michelle

Photo: DavidandGoliathTees

Huffington Post Lawsuit: Why The Decision to Sue is Lame is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

The world wide web makes it possible for  your New Year’s wish to drop from a piece of confetti in the Times Square ball. Each year, when the confetti drops out of the Times Square ball, the contents of the ball hold New Year wishes and greetings for the next year on a piece of the confetti. I didn’t know this until this morning but check out the details on how to submit your 2011 Wish.

So if you can’t make it to Times Square for New Year’s Eve this year, you can still include your New Year’s Wish online and will be included with more than 2,000 pounds of confetti that will drop tonight.  Pretty cool, huh?

We hope you and your family have a fabulous and Happy New Year!

Countdown to 2011: Submit Your Wish to Be Dropped in Times Square Ball at Midnight is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

YouTube Trends

The geeks people behind the new trend spotting initiative, YouTube trends is “a destination for daily insight into the zeitgeist of the world’s largest video site” and, in the words of YouTube’s Kevin Allocca:

The idea behind YouTube Trends is that it spots the viral and newsworthy content people love to share and packages it in an easy to digest format. With over 35 hours of video now uploaded to YouTube every minute, we wanted one place to distill the videos people were sharing and discussing with their friends as well as understand what YouTube could teach us about our culture and current events.

In the holiday spirit, and because tonight TLC is airing Invasion of the Christmas Lights, the best/worst holiday show ever, I’m sharing a video I found on YouTube Trends today.

Dig, if you will, a YouTube video from my hometown of Wichita Kansas: Incredible, synchronized Rock Chalk Christmas lights. You can thank me later, or not, depending on your state of mind.

YouTube Trends, Rock Chalk Christmas 2010 is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

“Get on the bus.”

Yesterday at the Web 2.0 Summit, Zuckerberg disclosed that Facebook has 500 million members and over half of these members use Facebook DAILY.

That’s over 250 million people logging on to the social network every single day.

If your business isn’t using social media to reach customers, Zuckerberg’s message should be a wake-up call.

The world has changed and your business needs to get on the bus—-or get left behind.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg: ‘Get On the Bus’ is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Football Fanatics is an online retailer for—football fanatics–and they know how to use the power of social media.  The company is a privately owned sports merchandise company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, offering one of the largest selections of officially licensed team and league products on the web.

Football Fanatics has an awesome footprint in social media—almost 5000 followers on Twitter, nearly 20,000 Facebook likes and an active company blog.

Before you start whining about how your business isn’t football or sports related—STOP!  The reason this company is so successful in their social media efforts has nothing to do with the fact that they are a sports-related business.  The reason this brand is successful is because it was started by sports fanatics and is staffed by sports fanatics to give football fanatics their fix when they need NFL or College football SWAG.  The company is authentic and it shows.

We get lots of calls from businesses who want to jump into social media marketing.  Shelly and I ask potential clients WHY they want want a Facebook page or a Twitter profile.  We tell them that good social media marketing is simply an extension of a strong brand message—it’s not a silver bullet.  We don’t recommend using social media for the sake of social media—it has to be a part of a bigger plan.  It’s not the answer people want to hear but it’s the truth.

The brand message of Football Fanatics is true and crystal clear.  THAT why this company is kicking ass in social media marketing. You know instantly know what the brand is about once you land on their website.  The company is full of crazed sports fans who love to serve other crazed sports fans.

I stumbled upon the Football Fanatics site because one of my college friends, Scott Williams, is president of the company. The other day I looked up my friend, saw his company website and stayed.  Since my favorite part of a football game is the tailgate party, I thought it was an example of good marketing.

If you dig football, you’ll be in heaven at Football Fanatics:

• Visit the website Football Fanatics.com or check out their company blog, WeAreFanatics.com.
• Like Football Fanatics on Facebook
• Follow Football Fanatics on Twitter
• Find Football Fanatics on YouTube

Football Fanatics Uses Social Media to Kick A** is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

According to ABC News, 570,000 people watched the online live video stream of the Stewart-Colbert rally.  In Washington, more than 200,000 swamped the National Mall on Saturday.  The music and laughs ended with Jon Stewart making a very passionate speech for American unity and decency.

Huffington Post has a great recap on the Rally to Restore Sanity. Below you’ll find a quick clip of Jon Stewart’s send off to the crowd at the rally plus an excerpt from his moving plea for Americans to be decent to one another.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXmbzLI3pnk

And now I thought we might have a moment, however brief, for some sincerity. If that’s okay -- I know that there are boundaries for a comedian / pundit / talker guy, and I’m sure that I’ll find out tomorrow how I have violated them.

So, uh, what exactly was this? I can’t control what people think this was: I can only tell you my intentions.

This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear--they are, and we do.

But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus, and not be enemies. But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.

The country’s 24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the dangerous, unexpected flaming ants epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.

There are terrorists, and racists, and Stalinists, and theocrats, but those are titles that must be earned! You must have the resume! Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Party-ers, or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult--not only to those people, but to the racists themselves, who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate. Just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more.

The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker--and, perhaps, eczema. And yet… I feel good. Strangely, calmly, good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us, through a funhouse mirror--and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist, and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead, and an ass shaped like a month-old pumpkin, and one eyeball.

So why would we work together? Why would you reach across the aisle, to a pumpkin-assed forehead eyeball monster? If the picture of us were true, of course our inability to solve problems would actually be quite sane and reasonable--why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution, and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own?

We hear every damned day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate, and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done. The truth is, we do! We work together to get things done every damned day! The only place we don’t is here (in Washington) or on cable TV!

But Americans don’t live here, or on cable TV. Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done--not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.

Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do. Often something they do not want to do! But they do it. Impossible things, every day, that are only made possible through the little, reasonable compromises we all make.

(Points to video screen, showing video of cars in traffic.) Look on the screen. This is where we are, this is who we are. These cars. That’s a schoolteacher who probably think his taxes are too high, he’s going to work. There’s another car, a woman with two small kids, can’t really think about anything else right now… A lady’s in the NRA, loves Oprah. There’s another car, an investment banker, gay, also likes Oprah. Another car’s a Latino carpenter; another car, a fundamentalist vacuum salesman. Atheist obstetrician. Mormon Jay-Z fan.

But this is us. Every one of the cars that you see is filled with individuals of strong belief, and principles they hold dear--often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers’. And yet, these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze, one by one, into a mile-long, 30-foot-wide tunnel, carved underneath a mighty river.

And they do it, concession by concession: you go, then I’ll go. You go, then I’ll go. You go, then I’ll go. ‘Oh my God--is that an NRA sticker on your car?’ ‘Is that an Obama sticker on your car?’ It’s okay--you go, then I go.

And sure, at some point, there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder, and cuts in at the last minute. But that individual is rare, and he is scorned, and he is not hired as an analyst!

Because we know, instinctively, as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is there will always be darkness, and sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land.

Sometimes, it’s just New Jersey.

With the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear drawing such huge audience numbers, do you think anyone in Washington will be listening?

‘Rally to Restore Sanity’ Draws Huge Audience, Will Washington Listen? is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Addiction is still a topic that it is hard to find conversations about online.  It makes sense.  Most people want to put their best foot forward on Twitter, Facebook and Linked In.

Even in 2010, there’s still a stigma attached to addiction, depression and mental health issues.  Even in a Web 2.0 world, it makes people squirm to openly talk about drug problems or alcoholism. It’s not a crowd pleaser if you tweet:

My sister has a pain-killer addiction! Know any rehabs in the Tri-State area?

One of our clients here at V3 Worldwide is Challenges, a drug and alcohol addiction treatment facility in Fort Lauderdale Florida.  Working with the amazing team at Challenges is interesting and eye-opening in many ways.

But developing a marketing and social media strategy for Challenges has shown our team that many of the old stigmas still remain about addiction and mental health issues.

For example, it’s a fact that addiction and mental illness are both brain diseases. A person vulnerable to one type of brain disease (addiction) may also be vulnerable to another. They involve the same pathways, molecules, and chemicals in the brain and Mental illness and drug addiction often occur together.

Some people begin abusing drugs or alcohol as a form of self-medication for other  problems such as depression or bipolar disorder and other issues. Drugs of abuse may temporarily relieve some of the symptoms associated with mental illness, such as stress, anxiety, social inhibitions or depression.

But in our research for this client and as we monitor this topic online, I am stunned by the number of people who still think addicts could quit “if they wanted to” and look at mental health problems as character flaws.

As society uses new technology to communicate,  human behavior needs to catch up to the technology so more people will get help.

Addiction, Depression and Social Media? is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Jennifer Saranow Schultz has great tips and resources in her article, What NOT to Tell Facebook Friends.

Go to the New York Times to get the whole scoop but a few of the tips from identity theft experts include:

• Keep your child’s date of birth private.  This one is pretty easy, as we all want to keep our child’s sensitive information from potential identity thieves.
• Don’t post your address  or your mother’s maiden name.
• Don’t post details about when you’re out and about.
• Don’t publicize when you are on vacation.

John Sileo’s website is another credible resource for online safety tips.  Sileo has some very simple instructions for editing Facebook Places settings and other tips that everyone should read.

Social networking and the world wide web is amazing.  The geek girls here at V3 are addicted to the ‘net but we all need to remember to be careful out there.  I give my children the following advice—please feel free to roll your eyes like they do:

If you wouldn’t say it or do it at the local mall—-don’t say it or do it on Facebook. You have friends on Facebook but you also have strangers watching.  Use common sense.

What Not to Tell Facebook Friends: Online Safety Tips is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

Spiral16′s CEO Tracy Panko wrote a post last week on the Spiral16 blog about breast cancer.  Spiral16 is one of our clients and we used TweetReach to analyze the Twitter activity of Tracy’s breast cancer post.

Just a quick overview of the last 50 tweets for that blog post shows how powerful Twitter can be.   Tracy’s post reached 190,055 people—with just 50 Tweets.

I discovered this fabulous app from Brian Solis, who is fairly knowledgeable about social media.  According to Solis:

“TweetReach is an essential part of any digital influence program.”

So what are you waiting for? Check out TweetReach! Oh, and go ahead and follow Tracy Panko on Twitter while you’re at it, why don’t you?

TweetReach: Practical Tool to Prove Power of Twitter is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency

For those of you who don’t follow high fashion, Fashion Week kicked off last week in New York and ends tommorrow.

But the biggest story during Fashion Week 2010 isn’t about the chic designers but about high technology.   The fashion forward have embraced tech and social media in a big way.  High fashion has gone geek, further proving that @shellykramer and I are way ahead of our time.

ClickZ reports on how American Express has increased their social media marketing during Fashion Week:

Jessica Igoe, director of global sponsorship marketing, says American Express created the hub because of previous interest in social media.

“Last season, we really saw social media spike during Fashion Week when we introduced the first multimedia Twitter wall in our American Express lobby space at Bryant Park,” she says. “The American Express Twitter hub is just another place where fashion lovers and social media enthusiasts can join the conversation, get up-to-the-minute information and feel the energy of Lincoln Center no matter where they are in the world.”

AMEX is also doing “Twitterviews” – interviews on Twitter with fashion elite.

Mashable has an excellent recap of all the places to find the cool kids online during Fashion Week and I’m loving the commentary over on Huffington Post Style this year.

You can follow the last day of fashion week on Twitter via  @fashionweek.  Just look for the #NYFW hashtag, it’s pretty interesting.

Geek is Chic: Social Media Influence and Fashion Week is a post from: V3 Kansas City Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency