Now you may ask why I’m such an advocate of this ever growing, microblogging social network?

Because I’ve experienced it’s impact first hand for the last three years since signing up March 31st 2008 (Shout out to @womenwhotech).

I will continue to say that Twitter has been the most effective networking tool I’ve ever used in my entire life and Twitter landed me more business than 10 years of in person networking.  That’s why I use it, speak about it, am interviewed about it and train companies on how to use social media to be present and available in the lives of their customers.

But why?  What is it about Twitter that gives it so much juice?

Twitter is used by a core set of people who focus on giving. This attracts people seeking who seek help, direction and affirmation.  From career choices, coffee makers and cars to religion, raising children and raw food, you can find advice for it via Twitter.  Twitter is a giant weather vane composed of millions of tiny weather vanes helping you navigate your world.

Five Questions To Add Value To Your Twitter Stream

The most important think I’ve learned about Twitter is that it’s all about connecting on a deeper emotional level with others.  When you share something that resonates, people will respond.  You can brighten someone’s day without ever knowing it.

You can make them smile, snort or chuckle with delight.  You can give them perspective, courage and hope so my core advice for Twitter to be successful is to give with the intent of changing someone else’s reality.

1. Are you sharing original thoughts?
2. Are they focused on positive life events?
3. Are you sharing news stories (that everyone else is also sharing? yawn)
4. Are you reading the streams of other people and replying with a share?
5. Are you making a sincere effort to improve the lives of those who follow you?

I encourage you to:

• Participate more openly if you’re already on Twitter
• Join Twitter if you’ve heard about it but not created an account
• Discuss the impact of Twitter on your life, business and family
• Share offline how you use Twitter and find out what others think too

In recent weeks, I’ve seen my Klout score climb to 68.  Klout is an independent site used to measure influence on Twitter.  I passed the 5,000 follower mark in May so along with the new score, I feel grateful and happy for this “social proof”.  Since people like you are voting with their “tweet” (haha, get it, “feet”?), I wanted to write a post to help you think about adding value to your tweets.

The geeky twist I provide via consulting is to look at all of these networks, platforms and tools in the bigger picture of your business workflow, create a technology blueprint and centralize communications whenever possible.  Feel free to contact me with interesting projects and speaking opportunities.

Summary

Everyone feels frustrated at first when they start using Twitter.  They’re not sure how to “act” or “behave”.  Some people reflect their true thoughts and feelings, others put on a show.  Some choose to follow the rich and famous while others choose to follow friends, collegues and family members.  The beautiful thing is Twitter can enrich anyone’s life and you have the direct ability to create your own experience in Twitter.

What is one thing you’re going to change about how you use Twitter?

What do you want to see me tweet about?  I setup a poll last week to let people vote so let me know what you want to see more of!

Last night I presented to a group of entrepreneurs participating in 100 Urban Entrepreneurs and it turned out to be an amazing session!  I shared how I entered the field of technology and what helped to me to decide I wanted to an entrepreneur.  I stepped the group through my discoveries of what worked and the obstacles I encountered.  Finally I recommended three essential web apps that were instrumental in helping me grow and manage my business.

Here’s my presentation which I created in SlideRocket (love this tool!)

A Business Built On Communication

My key points were:

• Communication can make or break your business
• Make it easy to do business with you
• Your goal as a business owner is to make the customer feel at ease
• Make sure what you deliver matches the customer’s expectations
• Be available pre and post sales
• Focus on making the ordering process easy for your customers
• Billing should be straightforward and clear
• Your customers are your biggest marketing tool
• Use WordPress to build your business website

3 Essential Communication Tools For Entrepreneurs

After I shared my personal story of becoming my own boss, I moved into a toolkit to help these budding entrepreners professionally manage their interactions with prospects and existing customers including:

Google Apps

Professional Domain email plus shared calendar, documents and virtual phone number with Google Voice

Highrise

Contact Relationship Management tool to keep track of who you talked to and when.  Keep all your staff in the loop and close more deals

Harvest

Online time tracking, invoicing and reporting with support for Quickbooks, Paypal and reoccurring billing

QnA Resources

There were a TON of questions from the entrepreneurs after the presentation!

Everything from SEO to marketing strategies.  I’m listing the links I covered during the QnA here:

Question: How can I market my online cupcake business and not spend a lot on marketing?

• #nomnomnom on Twitpic – This was used to illustrate that you can follow and participate in conversations on social media platforms for a specific vertical like food (cupcakes to be specific)
• Flickr: A Food Photography Experience! – Use the power of a visual experience to drive traffic and interest to your site
• Food porn – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Research internet phenomena using Wikipedia
• Niche Food – Follow the lives of interesting, passionate and influential people online who love food.  Reach out to them
• Amazon.com: The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman – Selling a spice?  See if you can incorporate it into a recipe listed in best selling book like the one by Tim Ferriss

Takeaway: SEO zen is happens when both Google and people agree your content is valuable.  Focus on what your visitor’s needs are and answer it with great content.

Question: How can I grow my membership site and figure out what my competitors are doing?

• iDevAffiliate – Affiliate Tracking Software – Affiliate Program Software – Take advantage of affiliate networks.  Use software to create and reward people for referring new members.  You can also hold offline events and ask existing members to bring new members, rewarding them with say, 50% of their renewal for the next year.
• Compete – Compare your site traffic to a competitor.  Visit similar sites and understand how visitors at the other sites are engaging with the content…and each other.
• “Do you want to grow your membership or your profits?  More members doesn’t necessarily mean more revenue.”  <– everyone liked this reply I gave!

Question: How can I get more exposure for my product?

YouTube – Channels – Show people how to use it.  Record interviews of people who should be using it.  If it’s food, show people how to cook with it.  Be visual.  Make your product fun.

And more links as the QnA continued:

• SlideRocket – Excellent tool for creating beautiful presentations
• We Love WP – Get ideas on just how amazing WordPress can be by viewing this WordPress showcase
• But You’re A Girl – My tech blog
• WordPress ecommerce and member management plugin | Cart66 – Shopping cart plugin for WordPress
• BigCommerce Ecommerce Software & Shopping Cart Software – An excellent and flexible hosted shopping cart solution.  Has a WordPress plugin
• Volusion Ecommerce Solution – Hosted shopping cart solution.  I put a client on Volusion and they generated over $40,000 in sales their first month
• TheCASHFLOW – Organization behind 100 Urban Entrepreneurs
• Membership Plans « Freshworkshops – My technology training site
• WordPress › Blog Tool and Publishing Platform – WordPress.org homepage
• WordPress Jobs – Find freelancers and list your WordPress jobs
• WordPress Meetups near San Francisco, California – WordPress Meetups – San Francisco – Find WordPress developers at your local meetup group
• Farm Fresh To You – Order organic fruits and vegetables online.  Allows you to filter out things you don’t like (I don’t <3 grapefruit)
• Search engine optimization – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Use Wikipedia to decode the world of technology

The tweets were super awesome:

What is 100 Urban Entrepreneurs?

This is an excerpt from the website that Ryan Stoner provided to me.  He’s the one who contacted me a year ago about helping with this mentoring initiative and I am really proud of how it’s developed and it was an honor to be involved and I’m looking forward to more involvement with this organization!

100 Urban Entrepreneurs (100urbanentrepreneurs.org) is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to helping provide a meaningful, long-term economic boost to urban communities throughout the United States by supporting
entrepreneurship and risk-taking businesses at their earliest stages.

The primary goal of 100 Urban Entrepreneurs is to identify, fund and mentor 100 of the most promising people who might otherwise lack access to startup capital and a professional network. The urban community in particular has always exhibited an abundance of entrepreneurial spirit and good ideas, and our goal is to provide the tools to help talented young dreamers create viable, profitable companies.

The 100UE Funding and Mentoring Program is the leading partner for young urban entrepreneurs who are looking to start and build a business. Our aim is to break down the barriers between you and professional success — improving your company by exposing you to the business-building essentials, valuable resources and expert mentors you need to fuel your growth.  At 100UE, we pride ourselves on our accessibility — we’re here to help you start your business, and we’ll support you when you encounter obstacles. We know what it’s like to be a first-time entrepreneur who needs guidance and assistance.

Once you’ve “graduated” from the program, you’ll become even more deeply integrated into the 100UE family — encouraged both to rely on and to assist other graduates and those currently in the program as well.  The 100UE Funding and Mentoring Program is an eight-week bootcamp in startup entrepreneurialism. We’ll help you develop your idea, enabling it to get to the point where it’s ready for additional outside financing — or whatever further steps you decide to take. You’ll be paired with other entrepreneurs in your incoming peer group; once you’ve successfully completed the program, we’ll pair you with a graduate entrepreneur group specific to your industry.

The presentation was recorded and I also recorded the audio so if they send me a copy, I’ll post it otherwise when  find time (oh, that oh so precious commodity that continues to elude me), I’ll post it here.

I’d also like to spend time exploring some of the interesting businesses the entrepreneurs have created and how they can save money by reinvesting marketing efforts in their core customers.

The goal of this program is to prepare these new business startup to have the right mindset to be successful and which is managed by the organization, The Cash Flow.

What makes us share a funny video, forward an email or tell a story to a friend about something we read?

A shift in perception and awareness according to Epipheo, a company that creates video content for companies.

A we gathered around computer monitors tonight discussing if WordPress could be used for the websites my roommates Alex and Tyler were thinking about, each shared a funny video from YouTube that made them laugh.  The tangent developed from me pointing out the “Ninja Say What?!” video I posted to my blog.

Have you seen these viral YouTube videos?

After watching these quirky, cute and slightly disturbing videos, I asked Tyler what him share the video. What feelings came to mind?  Happiness, smiles and laughter.

The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger

Baby Monkey Backwards On A Pig

What motivates us to share videos with each other?

We share things that bring us joy and allow us to change the direction of our awareness towards a more pleasant feeling. YouTube isn’t the #2 search engine by accident; it’s a breeding ground for happiness, discovery and new states of awareness.  We can escape from the daily grind of work for a good laugh, learn how to fix something that’s been broken and see how others feel about things in their world.  YouTube allows us to be part of the experience by uploading our own videos, sharing our discoveries with friends, commenting, rating, creating playlists, sending out personal messages and even adding annotations to a video!  It all makes us feel like an active participant vs a passive viewer which I think gives us a level of satisfaction akin to playing football vs watching it from one’s couch.

Passing it forward: Sharing “mind shifts”

I came across this video last week by Epipheo Studios which just made the new promotional screencast video for About.me. In here Epipheo explains people feel compelled to share information they come across which sparks a shift in perception.  You become eager and excited thinking about how the person you share the video with will feel and react upon seeing it and you can then share the same feelings all over again when you ask them about it.  To know we were the vehicle by which a smile was delivered is almost as good as being the one who made the video since we feel just as clever!

“We are on the internet to have a shared experience.”

We want to pass along the feeling, the change in perception and awareness to others.

“A new way to learn, communicate, think, live, work, love, discover, be.”

The focus of the video is to question if moving advertising methods for television to the internet is really the best marketing choice for companies and instead encourages, no wait, challenges us to consider video content creation to be about creating this shared experience with a focus on educating the potential viewer (consumer) and provides value from the perspective of the person who clicked the play button. I completely subscribe to this viewpoint and my YouTube videos reflect this way of thinking so than you for making a video to raise awareness for a better way of connecting with video!

The new video Epipheo did for the new social profile site, About.me, features Veronica Belmont’s character in need of a centralized place to send people so they can learn about who she is and what she stands for without the frustration of piecing together her identity online.

My first viral video at work

But before YouTube, people would just upload videos to their hosting companies.  I remember at American Express in the SOHO network support department, we went absolutely crazy over the Rathergood video, “We Like The Moon“.

Between the 30 of us, we would play this song upon arriving at work, several times in the morning, during lunch, after lunch and all through the afternoon until we went home!  This was about 2004 and I also remember a game we all used to play where we were mafia folks selling alcohol, buying guns and stuff (Bootleggers.us?).   Those cute little Spongmonkey’s went on to promote Quizno’s sandwiches.  Thinking about it, Quizno’s was probably one of the earliest companies to run with the success of a viral video and convert the interest into product sales way before social network marketing became all the rage.

The first YouTube video shared with me

One of the first YouTube videos I was emailed that went viral was “Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama” posted March 17th, 2006 and sent to me March, 20th, 2006 with 17 million views to date.  I signed up for YouTube July 26th, 2006.  (Thanks Jonathan!)

Summary

So marketing folks, here’s your secret sauce:

Foundational elements of a successful viral video

A YouTube video with absurd scenarios, upbeat music and interesting character interactions but don’t forget; you still need to make sure to provide a value-based, educational “mind shift” for viewers.

Do you remember a specific video that caused your “Ah-ha!” moment with YouTube?

I attended the Women Who Tech (@womenwhotech) afterparty here in San Francisco and had an amazing time meeting women from the Bay Area actively making the world of technology a better place.

It quickly reminded me of how far I had come in just two years since attending my first Women Who Tech Telesummit Conference in the spring of 2008. I will be forever grateful for the encouragement, support and wisdom the conference generates through it’s focus to provide women with role models and a central place to come together and connect!

Thanks for encouraging me to join twitter March 31st, 2008!

Transcription

Ok, Geek time!  I love the video quality on this new video!!!  It’s from the new Logitech Pro C910 (Amazon affiliate link) I picked up this month to replace my aging Logitech 9000 Pro I’ve had since November 2008 and wow is there a huge difference!!!  More on it later.

What I did here was extract the audio and then use Macspeech Scribe to transcribe it to text for me.  I had to do a bit of clean up but wanted to post it here for those of you interested in following along with the video and also to show the power of Scribe which I’ve been dying to use for audio transcription of my videos!  Eventually, I plan to transcribe my training courses at Freshworkshops and this all came out of meeting someone at a Wordcamp who was deaf and asked about taking my training!

Here you go:

Hi folks as they do and I want to say hello from San Francisco, it’s Septembe.  I just got back from the Women Who Tech AfterParty.  WomenWhoTech.com is a virtual conference it happens every year and the goal is basically to help women step into technology boldly and fiercely.

On their web site here they have three goals.  Their first statement, women are under represented in technology and they want to change that.  The second one is they have this summit to break down barriers so it doesn’t seem so hard.  I know last year I struggled with tech conferences because to me, every time I went to one, it was just a bunch of tall White guys, you know? And their third goal here is to mobilize a network of women.

I want to say I had a fantastic time tonight and I was really touched to realize that it’d been a little over two years since I first joined Twitter.  The reason I joined is because I went to this Women Who Tech tele summit conference March 31st, 2008 and they said, “Oh you need to get on the Twitter” and I thought that Twitter would be like some kind of live chat thing and I would get to talk with other people but that didn’t really happened. I think I sat on my own Twitter page because I didn’t know how to use it.

I’ll tell you, I’ve come really far in two years; tonight’s even was great!  I loved the food that they had.  It was all Middle Eastern stuff and lots of  wine because we’re in San Francisco and I met a lot of interesting women.  I mean it is so refreshing to go somewhere and have people be like, “Oh yeah I work on Debian and Ubuntu” you know and another person’s like, “I work for Creative Commons.  Yeah, it’s a nonprofit organization, I actually work there”.  I’m like, “That’s cool!”.  I mean there were just so many interesting folks and we had real conversations it just really touched me as to how far I’ve come in life and this wonderful network of not just women but of people in general attending conferences, being encouraging…folks I’ve met on Twitter…all these women in tech who are fighting for me, for us, for the future…love it!

So I thought I’m long overdue to make a video.  I’ve been making a couple but then I don’t post them.  I am recording this with my new WebCam which I think is quite fancy versus my old one.  This is also a Logitech camera.  It is the new HD Pro C910.  You can see that there.  I’m going to check on my other monitor.  Anyway I think it looks clear vs the other one which is my Logitech 9000 Pro.

Anyway, I had a great time chatting with folks.  Cheryl was there.  I’ve seen her at several conferences so glad that I have been able to connect with her and no truly get to know her as a person, she’s very cool.  I went up to another woman tonight and I said, “Hi!  I want to introduce myself because you are a Brown woman and so am I!” and it went well!  I’m going to keep doing that because I have felt that kind of, “Am I the only one here?” type thing and so I really want to be that person to walk up and say, “Welcome”.

So I just want to encourage you if you’re on Twitter, if you’re in social media, makes you getting out and doing real-life networking events.  Now I know the word networking has a negative connotation but I’ll tell you these people in tech, especially people who are blogging, it’s not the same, it’s not your mom’s networking group, let’s just say that.  I just want to say that I’m so grateful for my opportunities in life, I’m glad, I’m speechless with my decision to move to San Francisco it was the right one and you know what people keep saying me over and over – “Adria, any given night there’s several things going on; you can’t do all of them.”  So that makes me feel good because it can feel overwhelming every single week is a conference, there’s an event, there are parties, I mean I don’t know.  There are people who do several some folks like to go to another event tonight.  I was thinking, “I’m going to do one event and I’m good to go”.

So anyway I say if you’re on you’re out there, you’re starting a business or thinking about pitching a business idea, a start up idea, you’re getting into in the software, you’re working with hardware, open source, content management systems, e-mail, whatever it is… go for it!  Find other people are interested,  reach out on Twitter and connect with people because is worth it.  I cannot wait to see the future holds for me and for everyone else!  I am so committed to shaping the future I see in my mind into reality that I’m willing to step out of my comfort zone to do that.

So with that, I hope you have a wonderful night and I’ll see everybody later. Take care and thanks for the positive Tweets!

It’s experiences like these that make me have faith in a higher power.  It’s moments of connection between the handshake and the eye contact.  It’s realizing that I’m one of many in a long line of women who will benefit from events like this so that our daughters can have an easier time for decades to come being able to just…be.

Want to take your blog to the next level?

Find out first hand from successful Black Bloggers what you need to do to take your blog from a distracting hobby to a platform that delivers your message and builds your credibility.  If your content is unique and provides true value then you have the potential to generate revenue and qualified leads too!

Want to submit feedback about this panel?  Send an email to inter@sxsw.com

Thanks to Anjuan and Amani for the video recording and production help!

Panelists

Maurice Cherry @mauricecherry (SXSW Panel organizer)

J. Smith @jbrotherlove

Gina McAuley @BWBConference

Deanna “DeDe” Sutton @clutchmagazine

The discussion was about taking your blog to the next level.  From hobby to professional.  This included monetizing blogs, networking outside your blog topic, trying out new themes and functionality. It was great!

Gina Maculey of Blogging While Brown

Deanna illustrated how she tries out new things to see what works and what doesn’t.  She saw some blogs were using Seesmic which allowed you to leave video comments. She added this, excited to see what sort of movie comments her readers would leave. Turns out her readers weren’t that hot on the technology.

Gina talked a lot about the disenfranchisement of Blacks in blogging and how they need to realize the huge potential to earn money via content. She covered direct ads on the blog, funding for political blogs, funding for 501c3 and direct solicitation.  I hear Gina on this because after I heard Angel speak at last year’s Blogging While Brown, I stepped up and began testing out ways to monetize my blog.

Do Only Black Bloggers Care About Getting Paid?

I see a comment on my blog saying something to the effect “Are these Black blogging issues only?”

No they’re not.  Compensation for skill/time/value is a huge discussion in terms of content.  Especially content created on the web.  Women are also a group that isn’t compensated equally to what men make.  People are taking real life inequalities to the web.  This doesn’t have to be so.  The first step to equality is to discuss the imbalance.  The second step is to plan.  The third step is to act.

Summary

The panel was wonderful!  Full of detailed stories, passion and solid advice.  I was tweeting up a storm and will grab those tweets to insert here.

After the session, there was a big line at the microphone of people who had comments and questions. Baratunde was up first and thanked Maurice and the panel for the session. If you don’t know him, he’s a pretty big deal on the internet, on television and in real life work so I’m going to grab his bio from his site:

Baratunde exists at the intersection of comedy, politics and technology. His official duties include Web & Politics editor at The Onion, co-founder of Jack & Jill Politics and host of PopSci’s Future Of on Science Channel. Basically, he’s a smart, funny, extremely handsome dude.

I Belong Here

I saw a lot of people I had met at other conferences and that was really, really nice since I originally hated going to conferences.  Why did I hate them?  Because I went to conferences where everyone seemed to be socially awkward and not like me.  I felt unwelcome and out of my element.  This is a common feeling for women and Brown people in technology.

While googling, I couldn’t find any stories or posts on Black people or minorities feeling excluded or alienated from technology conferences.  I talked to two women last year who were in tech, active in social media, had serious technical skills and had attended conferences where they not only were in the minority but got that sort of “Why are you here?” type look.  It’s a hard look to face but talking with other women and Brown people has made it so much easier for me that now I simply look back and smile thinking, “I belong here.”

Adria Richards (me) and Corvida Raven

Faith Dow

Twanna Hines and Nichelle Stephens

Adria Richards (me), Twanna Hines, Anjuan Simmons, Liz Burr

Would you like to make it easy for people to share your content on your blog?

Things just got easier thanks to ShareThis!

Last night, they sent out an email saying you can now list out your favorite social networking sites with their new update!

I’ve created a tutorial on how to add the new “multi icons” into your WordPress blog over at Freshworkshops.

Why Sharing Buttons?

When you read something you like, you want to share it.    In the past, we would read the newspaper or a book and then tell someone.

With email people began to send links to each other.  They would copy the URL from the address bar and then paste it into an email.  That has gone the way of the slicing your own bread; not many folks are doing it.

Now people can simply send articles right from websites, blog and even on mobile devices!

If you’re reading this at ButYoureAGirl, you’ll see the new icons! If you’re reading via RSS, come on over!

Here are some examples from popular websites:

New York Times

Example on their site

Here we can see that they offer the option to:

• Sign in to recommend
• Twitter
• Sign in to email
• Print
• Request reprints
• Share (offers LinkedIN, Facebook, Digg, etc)

Mashable Sharing Buttons

Example on their site

They offer you the choice to:

• Tweet it
• Share on Facebook
• Digg it
• Email
• Share (Uses ShareThis as well and offers email, Facebook, Twitter, Bookmark, Stumbleupon, Delicious, Slashdot, LinkedIN, Reddit, Technorati, Friendfeed, etc)

Huffington Post

Example on their site

For some reason you have two different sharing areas to choose from (testing purposes?).

They invite you to:

• Digg
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Stumbleupon
• Reddit
• Delicious
• Buzzup
• RSS
• Print

What if I don’t use WordPress or have a blog?

No worries!  ShareThis supports regular websites built in HTML as well as other Content Management Systems (CMS) like Joomla and Drupal.

In most cases, you will be adding code to your theme/template/design and allowing the buttons to be automatically generated when the page is loaded.

There is also support for hosted blogging solutions like Blogger and Typepad too!

I first tried out sharing buttons on my blog and website July 2008. The first one I tried was ShareThis so I’m happy to see so many improvements made!

I got to thinking tonight about how people view other people in social media.  I realized that a lot of love songs from the 90′s fit the bill.

“I’ve been watching you baby, for a very long time”

If you’ve ever been talking to someone and the two of you start talking about someone who is “Internet Famous”, you may have experienced feelings of euphoria, amazement, wonder and curosity.  I think many of these same feelings are like infatuous love (yes!  I’m going to use that word even if it’s not a word).

I’ve seen people get into a frenzy about meeting celebrities, regardless of origin.  With SXSW around the corner, I’m sure I will be meeting all sorts of folks again.  To me, everyone is a person and I look forward to understanding a bit of them and who they are vs spewing back what I’ve read about them.  This worked out well on a plane ride back from Atlanta when I sat next to a player from the Vikings.  We just chatted about the sort of things young adults chat about: career, work schedules, exercise, goals, freetime, tattoos and blogging.  I usually sleep on plane rides but had a great and authentic conversation.

photo credit: feiticeira_org

Social media allows us to feel “close” to someone we’ve never met.  This is known as “ambient awareness” and is very much like overhearing a conversation on, let’s say public transit for 40 minutes.  By the time you get off at your stop, you feel you have a good sense of the topic and how the two people feel.

You may have even been tempted to interrupt and offer information.  I know I’ve done that at a coffee shop before hearing two people talk about technology!

A great first step to take your initial meeting from fanboy/fangirl to something more authentic is to greet the person, share your name and shake their hand.  I still get, “I follow you on Twitter!” and have been confused about how to reply to this sort of statement.  Figured it out last month and  I now say, “Tell me about your blog”.  This allows me to redirect the focus and learn about the other person.

The key to networking is the same as love; be relaxed and sincere.  Spend time listening.  Bring something interesting that you’re doing to the table.  Connect with meaningful stories that contribute concepts of value.

I think Jodeci’s song, “Come and Talk to Me” says it all:

I’ve been watching you baby, for a very long time,

I’ve got my eyes on you

I’ve been watching you for so very long,

trying to get my nerve worked up to be so strong,

I really want to meet you but I’m kind of scared,

cause you’re the kind of lady with so much class,

I get my thoughts together for the very next day,

but when I see you lady I forget to say,

your eyes and hair, such a beautiful tone,

the way you dress and walk, it really turns me on,

Chorus

Come and talk to me,

I really want to know you

Can I talk to you?

I really want to know you

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

There you are again, with the same smile each day,

I want to know what it is to make me feel this way,

I wish I could grab you, tell you what it means to me,

to see you walking my way, it really makes my day,

before I go to sleep and dream about you, I’m a single man and I hope that you’re single too,

my <what?>, something inside my mind <what?>,

cause curiosity <what?> out of me,

talk to me, talk to me, talk to me baby,

Chorus

Come and talk to me, (my baby)

I really want to meet you

Can I talk to you?

(uhh, and you know)

I really want to know you

Come and talk to me, (you know, you know, baby)

I really want to meet you

Can I talk to you?

I really want to know you

I want to know, you want to tell me your name

(let me play your game)

I want to know, you want to tell me your name

I want to know, you want to tell me your name

I want to know, I really want to know you baby

Come and talk to me,

I really want, I really want, I really want to know you

(and you know)

I really want, I really want, I really want to know you

Come and talk to me,

I want to know you

(more reps of this chorus in different ways)

Song lyrics hand typed by Adria Richards
See a lyric I need to correct?
Let me know!

Why are there so many Black people on Twitter?

This question came up again when @nukirk retweeted @blackcanseco’s tweet that mainstream media (NBC Chicago) picked up that there are Black people in Twitter. What the heck!? Yes folks, not only is Twitter being used by people of all races

updated 3/14/2010
Of online adults, 19% have reported using an online update service like Twitter.  Of that segment, 26% report their race as African American (Non-Hispanic)
(thanks @shanselman for the factual correction and then @baratunde for pointing out the 26% is a segment of the 19% who report using an update service!)

Ok, now that we’ve covered that, let’s explore some thoughts on the issue that I’ve had inside my mind since joining Twitter in March of 2008:

What does it mean to be Black on Twitter?

Some people on Twitter who are Black talk about issues related to race; some don’t. Some use slang; some don’t. Some are just who they are. People bring their interests to Twitter, some find new things to enjoy via Twitter.

Cool! Black People are on Twitter!

The first Black (Brown) person I followed on Twitter was @WayneSutton in North Carolina. I quickly realized there were a lot of Black people on Twitter who were about technology, news and were “givers” who were actively sharing links, resources, information and experiences. I had never encountered this type of environment where people were all about results and success in such a concentrated way regardless of race but the fact that I was finding so many folks just-like-me, blew me away! Now I didn’t know I could share this sort of stuff on my blog last year but now I’m sharing!!! I began following more Black people by seeing who was following Wayne and who he followed. That’s how I found @Kenyatta in NYC. I began to follow more people but made a special effort to ensure I followed Brown people who I felt a connection with. My circle expanded outside of technology to include people who focused on politics, breaking news, music, social media, education, health care, legal, mommy bloggers.

You can read my post where I share how I didn’t know there were Black bloggers on the Internet until I heard about the Blogging While Brown conference.

How Black people use Twitter

I remember when I met Senam at Blogging while Brown and she said, “My goal is to get all the black people on Twitter connected!”. Her handle on Twitter is @tweetmeblack and she proceeded to explain the benefits of creating a directory and resource of Black Twitter folks. I thought it was a great idea but more importantly, I was happy to see how enthusiastic she was about community and technology. I’ve never been one for “community” but quickly learned that in the blogosphere, bloggers are like an extended family.

Are they (Black people) aware of their own presence and impact on Twitter?

Some people watch, monitor and comment on trends, some do not. The same thing applies here. I am glad there are sites out there who are paying attention to this.

Social Media is about community

The important thing about Twitter is your ability to connect with other people just-like-you. That applies to your race, gender, hobbies, marital status, sexual orientation, career, political standing, religion, pet ownership and your favorite TV shows.

My first taste of the Black technology community was at Blogging While Brown which was amazing! It was a fundamental turning point for me regarding my attendance to technology and blogging conferences and made going to other conferences easier. I felt completely at ease as soon as I arrived.

Who’s monitoring Black people on Twitter?

I was over a Technicultr which is a new website focusing on marketing to multicultural communities and technology. There was an article posted about a PEW research study showing Blacks and Hispanics make up 40% of online status updaters so there you have it.  Black people like using Twitter and companies are starting to notice!

Black people “voyeurs” on Twitter

It also seems there are people on Twitter who like to watch Black people interact with each other. Is this the technology version of the Cotton Club where people who are White can watch Black people without direct interaction and maintain their stereotypes about them?

Is everyone who says they’re Black online really Black?

I’ve talked with several people about sharing your race online. I know I felt uncomfortable with it for my consulting work and finally decided I was going to put myself forth I was: A Black and Jewish Female. People would either accept it and contact me for technology consulting or click away from my website. When I made this choice in 2008, I got immediate positive feedback! You might wonder why it would be such a big deal to have an avatar (cartoon representation) of yourself on your own website…

read on…

This girl…she did experiment in the virtual game, Second Life, where she changed her skin color to see if she was treated differently. And was she ever! People ignored her, some people stopped being her friend and she was sexually propositioned.

The Skin You’re In

Normally Erika Thereian is blonde and California tan, an avatar hybrid of Jenny McCarthy and Pamela Anderson, nothing less than the archetypal white girl of the world’s dreams. Recently her friend Chip Midnight asked her to model his latest “skin”– not an unusual request, since Midnight is a long-established master in the creation of customized avatar skins that Residents make, buy, and wear, when they’re going for a look that Linden Lab’s avatar adjustment sliders can’t achieve. She’d wear Chip Midnight’s latest skin around Second Life to build up word of mouth, and generate sales. “I often throw her my new stuff to take for a spin,” Midnight explains to me. “She’s very social, so she’s a good way to get feedback.” Viral marketing at its most immersive.

But when she wore one of Chip’s recent skins, it also became, as Erika tells me, “[A]lmost a Black like Me thing.”

She spent three months in the skin of a black woman. Some of her friends shied away, she believes. Then there were the “guys that thought I was an easy lay, for lack of a better term. It scared me honestly, some of the assumptions made. Especially here where everything [in avatar appearance] is changeable with a click. I lost a couple of what I thought were good friends [who] stopped IMing and chatting. They were polite to a fault when I showed up, but [it] was weird. You know how you interact and something changes and no one tells you. Some were subtle, some weren’t.” She laughs without mirth, recalling how some friends would ask her questions such as, “‘[L]ike, when you going back to being you?”

Frustration of an Ethnic Avatar in Second Life

I’m shocked by the amount of effort it takes finding a skin with features, details, traits that are common in real life. While there are many “tan” and “dark” skins, many (if not all) are darker representations of their lighter counterparts. They lack certain characteristics to accurately represent ethnic people. An example is scalp hair, which is drawn on the scalp of the skin as a way to represent short hair. In real life, many Hispanics and Blacks have very short hair, but in Second Life, not all ethnic skins have this option. The few that do, the hair tends to be brown and not the more common black. There’s also a lack of hair style, low shaved heads are usually clean cut, some include a ‘widows peak’, others are faded, or military cut (cut low showing the scalp). This example may seem like a very issue, however this is one of the most important aspects that should be available for those wanting an ethnic avatar. I purposely avoid skins that lack this trait regardless of their quality.

Hair style may not seem important, but it is a major representation of ethnic identity. Dreadlocks aren’t grown just because they are cute, there’s a reason, a commitment and a story behind them. There are some very well done and authentic dreadlocks in Second Life, however it’s one of only three black hairstyles that seems to exist; afro’s and cornrows are the other two. While these hairstyles are the most distinctive they are not the only ethnic hair styles. Creators may want to take a look at other styles including the flat-tops, buns, and fro-hawks to add more diversity to their hair designs.

The choice of avatar clothing further exasperates this issue. “Urban” clothing doesn’t seem to represent urban clothing at all, most of these items are city clothing (jeans, faded t-shirts, etc). “Ethnic” clothing tends to be stereotypical Hip-Hop/gangsta’ replicas of actual clothing that are poorly designed. A middle-ground does not exist and the true style of urban clothing is void in Second Life. Clothing and accessory designers have created style-like virtual replicas of boots, loafers, and shoes; yet I cannot find a good Timberland boot style. Design styles of popular urban clothing, such as Fubu, and Ecko, aren’t seen often enough (if at all) in Second Life.

The Skin They’re In: Writing About Second Life and Race, 2008

To see if things have changed in nearly three years, my writing students recently spent a week as another race or gender (in some cases, both). Here are a few standout posts, with links to the students’ project pages in the class wiki. One tentative claim stands out from several students’ projects: newness to SL and the degree of customization, more than any racial or ethnic characteristic, get an avatar accepted or snubbed.
For Rae Belgar, switching race to a tall, dark-skinned woman led to little attention of any sort, Once she clad the same avatar in a sari, however, compliments and attention came her way.
When Deklin Windlow became a black man, he did not receive negative attention, though in many cases he got no attention at all in places where his white male avatar had been noticed. At the Public Orientation Island a group of older avatars, including some hero in a Batman costume, simply walked away when Deklin asked for assistance.

Nukirk’s Tweets Caught My Attention

“Why is black people on Twitter? What do we gotta gain from this?” Next thing, they gonna ask if we’re plotting to have political parties.about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

What’s with the “theories” on why Black people is on twitter? Why is it everytime WE do something, people gotta research it?about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

Mainstream Media: There’s Black People On Twitter!http://bit.ly/2eKShy (via @blackcanseco)about 3 hours ago from TweetDeck

BlackCanseco is the king of the Twitter question

• NBC just realized that Black People Use Twitter http://bit.ly/2UutFM
  about 7 hours ago from web
  
• BREAKING: NBC will now sprinkle their tweets w/”urban” vernacular to target Twitter’s surprisingly big Black population…(cont)
  about 7 hours ago from web
  
• I can see it now: “@NBC Yo’! The Office gon’ be back on they -ish tonite. Y’all twiggas gon’ watchit?”
  about 7 hours ago from web
  
• @Incilin Twitter’s following among urban audiences is pretty big. It’s free, it’s flexible—you can use your phone or laptop…
  about 7 hours ago from web

This guy is one of my Twitter hero’s because he’s real.  He says it like it is, he’s clever, reflective, persistent and on point!  I got to meet @BlackConsaco (Hadji) at Blogworld and like I thought, he’s extremely nice and personable; and reminds me of a teddy bear *smile*.

Breaking racial stereotypes with technology

Black people in America were brought here against their will and put into slavery where they weren’t allowed to learn how to read or educate themselves or barely even pray for a long time and then even after slavery was allegedly abolished there was sharecropping which is basically a form of slavery because you could never earn enough money to get out of it and then slavery and sharecropping were abolished but Black people couldn’t get hired on for good jobs so this sort of deprived state set Black people back not just financially but conditioned them to avoid success. Now not everyone was affected in the same way or to the same degree but it’s left a lasting impression on Black people whose roots are slavery.

Let’s take a quick look at Fredrick Douglass who was born a slave but became a super awesome figure in Black history:

Born a slave in Talbot County, Maryland 1818

Separated from his mother when he was still an infant.

When Douglass was about twelve, Hugh Auld’s wife Sophia started teaching him the alphabet. She was breaking the law against teaching slaves to read. When Hugh Auld discovered this, he strongly disapproved, saying that if a slave learned to read, he would become dissatisfied with his condition and desire freedom. Douglass later referred to this statement as the “first decidedly antislavery lecture” he had ever heard. As detailed in his autobiography Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), Douglass succeeded in learning to read from white children in the neighborhood and by observing the writings of men with whom he worked.

As Douglass learned and began to read newspapers, political materials, and books of every description, he was exposed to a new realm of thought that led him to question and then condemn the institution of slavery.

When Douglass was hired out to a Mr. Freeman, he taught other slaves on the plantation how to read the New Testament at a weekly Sabbath school. As word spread, the interest among slaves in learning to read was so great that in any week more than 40 slaves would attend lessons.

Fredrick took it upon himself to continue his education after he received a glimpse something that held promise for a better tomorrow: knowledge. This same thing is occurring with technology in the Black community as it does with humans in general. People who are White have clouded vision about this due to the history they created enslaving others.

So this expectation that black people can’t use technology… that’s what I really want to get to because it’s this isn’t almost a carryover from “all black people don’t like to read” and “black people aren’t educated”. Well if you spend a couple of hundred years having negative reinforcement that you know you’ll get whipped, sold off from your family or have thumb tacks applied for reading of it becomes ingrained in you to avoid that sort of thing.

This isn’t a “Black” thing, it’s a slavery thing.

I say this because I’ve seen and experienced how Black people born in Africa approach education, success and their careers vs Black people with generations in America. For example, Senam of BrownandBridal / Tweetmeblack and soon to be Sista TV was born in Ghana. She has a bubbly personality, is very positive, values family and has a strong vision about her future as a maven on the Internet running a series of successful business ventures. I know she’s going to make it.

I was going to just write this part out about what I thought but I had the chance to chat with Senam today! She confirmed that her family’s support of her interests has helped keep her focused on her business vision. Her father was a computer programmer and encouraged her when she showed interest in graphic design and website development. I told her about the book, Outliers, where Malcolm Gladwell cited studies that showed when parents pay attention, advocate on behalf of their kids and find ways to grow their children’s interest, the kids turn out to be more successful. There are fundamental differences between Black families and White families here. We need to close that gap by nurturing children, ensuring parents have support and encouraging everyone to find their voice. This is why Twitter is awesome.

I know education is the key to success. I know technology is the door that unlocks that success.

To be very successful and very motivated requires support. I think people are finding that via Twitter.

People who do not have slavery as part of their generational background don’t really understand the impact of a systematic, extended period of negative reinforcement on the educational opportunities to Black people. If your children’s lives were in mortal danger from picking up a book, how would you protect them? People who are White have not had to consider this. There are Black and Brown who feel uncomfortable thinking about this, discussing it or acting on things in their lives which hold them back from success.

If you’re Black and on Twitter, you’re headed in the right direction embrace success. Take it upon yourself to get 1 new person to sign up for Twitter. I often think of myself in different time periods and how my behavior would be the same and what struggles I would face. Take yourself back to 1820, before the Emancipation Proclamation, about 40 years before slaves were “freed”. I would of been right there helping people read, helping people embrace a better life, just like I do now.

Why do Black people like Twitter?

I think black people like twitter because it’s fast you can you can get reactions from other folks instantly. With the trending topics you are contributing to something that is bigger than yourself and it’s neat for people to see. Black people like to get together just like people of all other races. Discussion is an important part of Twitter. When Michael Jackson died for example. Now I don’t have a TV so I couldn’t actually watch the BET awards but I was able to experience them vicariously through Twitter because were just talking about it. The gist of it was the tribute to Michael Jackson was done last minute, was lacking logistics, the performers were acting up and it seemed BET was just selling out in general. I had to chuckle as people exclaimed surprise, promised to never watch BET again and made all sorts of jokes.

Black people stereotypes don’t match Technology use

Many people are just afraid of Black people. They feel uncomfortable around Black people so many avoid direct interactions vs exploring this. When confronted with a belief that doesn’t match, many people will create an “exclusion” vs evaluating their belief. This is what allows people to hold onto stereotypes based on rumors, urban legends and racism.

Technology is great because it’s new to most everybody. It levels the playing field. The whole thought that “racism is not okay is new”. We just had the civil rights movement in the 1950s where the government basically, “Ok, we agree that you can’t treat people different because of their skin color” but that was 100 years after they “gave” slaves their “freedom”. Maybe “restored original human rights” would be better than “freedom”.

Point is, many families and individuals are still holding onto things they learned as children and are taking those beliefs to the online world.

Photo Credit: Tweetmeblack.com

Audio has been posted from the webinar I did with Chris Pirillo, What Every Geek Needs To Start a Company

direct mp3 link

We had a great time discussing all the basics of starting a geek business and the audience had great questions!

• Good and bad logos
• What if your client always pays late?
• What makes you uniquely geeky?
• Great business cards bring great business
• Letters of Agreement as informal contracts
• GTD ways to digitalize receipts
• Why you need an accountant
• How to get better at networking in a crowd
• and much more!

To get notified of the next one, sign up for the newsletter which goes out once a month.

I’m looking for a conference sponsor for the upcoming BlogHer Conference and I want to promote your company!

I will be attending BlogHer ’09 in Chicago at the end of the week.  BlogHer is a gathering of women who blog on all sorts of things and this is the 5th year!

Your Market Is Out There

photo credit: jdlasica

I know women who enjoy technology, gadgets and web 2.0 apps.  We don’t need everything to be pink.  We want to buy technology we enjoy using, fits our lifestyle and that make us feel (and look) smart!

Being a geek, I’m most happy in my element of solving problems and helping people.  I smile when people thank me and say, “Adria, when you explain it, things make so much more sense!”.  I put in time to learn new technology, talk with developers and work to stay active in the technology community.

I’ve always enjoyed wearing my Firefox t-shirt and having people comment on it because they recognize it as an awesome browser!

How I Will Pitch You At BlogHer

photo credit: journeyscoffee

I offer a unique opportunity.  For thousands of years, we’ve told stories around campfires.  The same holds true today where people end up buying things once they hear that personal story of how it adds value to someone’s life.

I will tell your story through one to one conversations with attendees

Forget “live blogging” and banner ads on sites.  I will make authentic and lasting connections with people that leave them thinking about your products long after they’ve have flown home.  Get your Google Analytics ready to track the hits from BlogHer!

Want to know more details of how I would position your t-shirts, screenshot software and business cards in conversations I have with other women bloggers at BlogHer?

Contact me and we’ll discuss it in detail.

I’m a good investment to promote your company because:

• I’m quite effective in persuading people to embrace new technology
• I attended WordCamp Chicago and Blogging While Brown in June 2009
• I explain things in terms that people understand and feel comfortable with
• People on Twitter thank me a lot for my help, suggestions and links
• I understand how technologies work together in a variety of businesses
• I understand hardware, desktop software, web apps and mobile devices
• I have 10 years of IT experience with several certifications
• I do a live, online, weekly technology show at AskAdria.com
• I have a sincere passion to help empower people through technology
• I’m learning how to sell things I believe in
• My “About” page is chocked full of information on my deeds to make the world a better place

Website Traffic Stats for Unique Visitors In The Last 6 Months To This Blog

(Google Analytics reports available upon request)

• July 4,257
• June 8,727
• May 1,677
• April 2,365
• March 8,689
• February 1,509

Recent Public Speaking Sample

Women Venture – St. Paul, MN
Panel “Women In Technology”
7/9/2009

ThinkGeek: Cool stuff for your desk and geeky t-shirts

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jACFVmFK1Fc[/youtube]

Extra Credit
I own 4 shirts from ThinkGeek: Geek code, I’m Tweeting This, Slide to Unlock and No I will Not Fix Your Computer
Video: How To Use A Crossover Adapter [ThinkGeek]
Video: How To Use An Ethernet Loopback Adapter [ThinkGeek]
Video: Thinkgeek BlogHer T-Shirt Pitch

Techsmith: Effortless screen captures and video recordings

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wjxj8zq0fY[/youtube]
Extra Credit
Blog Post + Video: Techsmith Delivers Best Tools for Creating Screenshots and Video Tutorials
Blog Mentions #1, #2, #3,
Tweets #1, #2, #3

Moo.com: Elegant and unique business cards

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CRVgLfZizs[/youtube]
Extra Credit
Blog Post My new business cards from moo.com arrived!
Twitter #1, #2
Flickr photos of my Moo business cards

People Buy Things I Talk About

photo credit: thevoyager

Time and again, I’ve shared products and services with people.  I passionately explain the benefits (save time, save money, more professional) and people signup, buy and subscribe.

I’m quite passionate about:

• Gmail
• Timebridge
• Twitter
• Clicky web analytics
• Skype
• WordPress
• Open Source
• Harvest
• Western Digital hard drives
• Firefox
• OpenDNS
• Google
• Zendesk
• Flickr
• ThinkGeek t-shirts for women
• Content Management Systems (CMS)
• Dell computers
• Mozy online backups
• Keepass
• Drop.io
• 37Signals Highrise CRM
• Google Apps for your domain
• Lifehacker
• Apple iPhone
• and much more!

Who Are These People?

photo credit: thus

In an average month, I connect with a variety of people who are decision makers, influential people on the internet and regular folks looking to learn more about technology.  I am honest, patient and helpful with all because I keep in mind how much I would have appreciated help and guidance when I was still learning about technology.

• Business Owners
• Developers
• Company Founders
• DIY Folks figuring out technology
• Bloggers
• IT Folks
• Friends

Why I Picked You

All three companies provide products that help women authentically express their inner geek.  One of the most important ways to “show your geek” is to walk the walk.  I will be selecting one sponsor for the entire event so I can focus on delivering your message in strong and consistant way.
I’ve selected you 3 because:

• I enjoy your products
• Have detailed information share about my experience
• Understand the value you provide
• Can go into vivid detail about why I enjoy using your products
• Know that you’re the best in your markets
• Enjoy answering technical questions BlogHer attendees will have about your products

How To Sponsor Me

Pick Up The Phone
Call 612-246-4568 or drop me a line and we’ll discuss in detail how I plan to deliver your message.

Promote Your Sponsorship
A coupon code would be a great way to encourage attendees to followup as well as track the effectiveness of my efforts!

Prepare Your Schwag
Do you have good stuff for me to hand out? Let’s brainstorm on what items will get folks excited!

photo credit: Liz Henry

Why This Is Important To Me

Being a female in technology, I sometimes need to remind people that I’m just as capable as a guy.  I learned this from my hero, Valerie Aurora who is an outspoken Linux developer at Red Hat.  She taught me to stand up and speak up for myself in my career.

More About Blog Her

photo credit: happykatie

Excerpt from website:

Founded in February 2005 as a labor of love by three bloggers, BlogHer’s mission is to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment. Today BlogHer provides the number-one community for and guide to blogs by women, reaching more than ten million women each month via annual conferences, a Web hub, and an publishing syndicate of more than 2,700 qualified, contextually targeted blog affiliates.