aliza sherman rants and raves

25 Of The Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media 2009 - Ron Hudson

It’s time to celebrate! Please congratulate 25 of the Most Powerful & Influential Women in Social Media that were hand-picked by folks on twitter. Yes, 25! I decided to shorten this year’s list because of time constraints. Congratulations ladies and thank you for all that you do...

via immediateinfluenceblog.com

I'm always heartened to see awesome women getting kudos for their achievements beyond their own circles and beyond "women's" circles. And the list of 25 of the Most Power and Influential Women in Social Media is a good thing to see.

I can't help, however, question the criteria for this list. Or any list of Top Anybodies for that matter. Having helped compile some of these lists in the past - and having been on some of them as well - I know the truth behind the lists. They are almost entirely arbitrary.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to be a wet blanket here, and I'm not trying to diminish the power of both having these lists and being on these kinds of lists. Heck, I'm still milking the fact that Fast Company magazine included me on their list in February 2009 as one of the Most Influential Women in Technology. And yes, I'm still convinced there is a drop or two of juice to wring out of the list in 1995 that I was included on - one of only 5 women - put out by Newsweek magazine called The Top 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet. We do what we have to do to try to best showcase our work and skills, right?

But when you dig more deeply into these lists, you realize that there is often little rhyme or reason to who is on them other than who is on the listmaker(s) radar. Sure, they may try to publicly throw out their formula, their well-researched and implemented methodology, but when you get an honest answer from the listmakers, more often than not they admit it was a totally arbitrary process based on who they knew, who they knew about, and who people they knew also knew.

Back in 1995, when I found out I made the Newsweek list, I called the magazine and asked why more women weren't on the list. While I was incredibly psyched to be on it, I was also keenly aware of some of the women - my peers - who were overlooked. The answer I was given?

The staff at Newsweek couldn't find any other women working on the Internet other than the ones on the list.

Five. Five women total.

"Why didn't you just call me up and ask the women who you chose for your list? We all know one another and other women who would qualify!" I retorted. Duh.

When I thanked the women at Fast Company who were responsible for compiling the list, I was told that I was included because of one of the women on staff knew me from my past work on the Internet and felt I should be on the list. I am grateful for that recognition but found it so curious that ultimately I ended up on their sub-list for Influential Bloggers - which I'm really not - and in connection with one of the blogs I write for - Web Worker Daily.

Hey, I love the fact that I'm affiliated with Web Worker Daily - they are a great group of people to work with and we work hard to produce great content. But I'm certainly not the only woman blogging there and by far not the most prolific one nor the one with the most popular posts on the site.

Which brings me back to list of 25 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media 2009. I know several of the women on the list and they are incredibly accomplished and very deserving of this recognition. Some of them are - like me on Web Worker Daily - just one of many who have made the site they are affiliated with what it is. This list will certainly direct attention to them, and that is a fantastic thing for them. The list is also a great thing for women in our industry overall because any recognition or kudos that women in social media get is a win for all of us.

But at the end of the day, being on these lists doesn't actually better position any of us in actual business dealings. It may be a shiny object we can wear to attract attention - and we can polish up all those older, once-shiny objects in hopes they still have some flash - but the bottom line ends up being the bottom line.

No number of lists that I've been recognized on over the last decade has actually translated into higher paying speaking engagements or being invited to the more influential circles in our industry. That kind of industry integration and financial positioning takes a lot of hard work, a lot of major sacrifices, and women are still being held to a different standard than men and still making far  less money than men whether it be in consulting fees or speaking engagement fees or even book deals.

Believe me when I say I'm not whining or complaining or trying to diminish the power of these lists. I just want there to be a recognition that a list is just a jumping off point. When you get on a list, leverage it in positive ways.

When you see someone on a list, get to know them better because they are someone you should know. Do business with them if it is relevant. Hire them. Book them as your conference keynote. Help to make them more visible. These women are role models and inspiration for others. They bust their butts to do good work. Pay them well. They deserve it.

What do you think about these lists of people? What do you - or can you - DO because of these lists?

Finding Dead Friends Online

I've been working on a personal history project, and while searching for some people from my past, I put in the name of a woman I knew back in the early days of the Web who I know passed away a few years back...just to see what I'd find.

My search easily yielded three mentions of Eva Shaderowfsky:

her personal web site

her page on the Women's Web Consortium Company (WWCoCo)

and

some of her photograms on a web site from 2002 called SherryArt (by artist Sherry Miller)

From her bio:

On America Online, my screen name is EvaS. I'm the moderator for "Evenings with Eva," a women's issues conference series currently held in women2women.

I first met Eva on America Online in 1992. I had recently logged in for the first time, picking the name "NYCwriter" because it was gender neutral and the early 90s was a time when women made up less than 10% of the online population so using your real name or one that revealed you were female was risky.

Looking for other women to speak with about the Internet and women's issues, I was directed by several people in random chat rooms to contact EvaS. I did, and she was immediately welcoming to me, a total stranger. I wasn't yet used to the idea of making contacts, much less friends, on a service like America Online.

I began attending "Evenings with Eva," live moderated chat sessions held in AOL and led by Eva. I started calling her "The Oprah of the Internet" for her easy way with conversation, moderating and with interviewing guests. At one point, she had me on her "show" as a guest to talk about my work to promote women's issues online and support women on the Internet.

In those early days - the "Enlightenment Era" of the Internet, I was doing several things to turn my Internet hobby into something more:

1. The Women's List - I started an email list (using America Online email, mind you, not a listserv-type software) called The Women's List. I emailed all the women I knew online and asked them to provide me with a description of who they were, what they did, and what they needed. Then I compiled this list into a very long email in the form of a directory of sorts and then emailed it out to all the women participating so they could meet one another and network. Remember, this was pre-Web so I couldn't build a web site to post this information for easy access.

2. The Women's Pharmacy - I was working with a girlfriend of mine - someone who I had also met online on a national BBS called Women's Wire - to do some market research on her new business idea called The Women's Pharmacy. She wanted to bring women's health information and women's health and beauty products together in a package and was hoping to get feedback on a "Starter Kit" she was developing for pre-teen girls full of information about getting your period along with some sample products including tampons. I helped her organize email and group discussions online with women not only to discuss her business ideas but to have open discussions about menstruation and memories of our first periods. It was a very safe space where women felt they could be incredibly candid which was surprising because of the rampant sexual harrassment that was going on in most online spaces.

I met Eva several times in person, first in a small cyber cafe in the East Village where the first Webgrrls met face to face. Later, she invited me to her home in Upstate New York. I learned over time what it meant to have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and how it kept her often confined to her home and was interfering with her creativity. For Eva, the Internet was a salvation, her connection to the world, a place where she could still be active - if only in mind and spirit - while she was bedridden.

EvaS was my inspiration. She was my mentor. She taught me the art of online chat for more than just socializing but to be harnessed as a powerful communications tool to bring people together for valuable conversations. She taught me that the Internet was not only a place to showcase your creativity but a place to be creative.

And she taught me that true friendships can be formed online.

Over time, the Internet became my own lifeline on many occasions. But I never would have trusted its power to connect if I hadn't first connected with EvaS.

Who do you know who has passed away but who still has a presence online? Stories welcome.

Diversifying Tech Conferences

After all the intense discussions about the lack of women represented as keynotes at major technology conferences, I'm heartened by what I've seen most recently at important industry events such as Blogworld Expo and 140 Character Conference. While I'm sure we'll never achieve the "perfect mix" of sex and race, clearly just a little extra effort on the parts of event organizers can make all the difference in the world.

Smart conference organizers are taking notice of the mix of speakers they book, and perhaps the online and offline discussions about the lack of females is in the backs of their minds. I know from casual conversations with the Blogworld Expo organizers that the concept was actually front of mind, and it shows. And knowing what a mensch Jeff Pulver is, I'm certain that he is incredibly welcoming to a very diverse selection of speakers - they just need to put themselves out there and let him know they are interested in speaking.

Having recently attended the Blogalicious Weekend blogging conference for women of color in Atlanta, I heard an important concept articulated - something that was never in my own point of reference. One of the speakers said that women of color are "Double Outsiders." She talked about three "levels" of influence and put them in this order:

1. White men (and more and more I'd add Asian American men who get pretty good representation at the top in tech)

2. White women and black men

3. Women of color

Since we all view everything in the world through our own personal lenses, and I admit I view much of the world under my lens of "female," I also have to admit I wasn't noticing the dearth of women of color at tech events. For being so keenly aware of the female quotient, I was still neglecting my sisters of color. Speaking recently with Shireen of Digital Sistas, this "outside" layer of women still struggling to get representation floored me. How could I have forgotten this?

To help encourage an increased diversity at major tech conferences, we should continue to have these conversations but not in accusatory ways, not pointing fingers of blame. Instead, we should celebrate when conference organizers get it right or at least make a great attempt.

When we see a particularly good example of keynote or panel diversity, we should call it out and praise it like C.C. Chapman did at Blogworld Expo:

If we're one of the "lucky" ones who get to speak at these conferences, we should take a moment to see who else is on the roster, and if we aren't seeing diversity, we should offer to introduce the event organizer to our diverse contacts.

It's easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Celebrate diversity represented at tech events;

2. Make introductions between tech event organizers and your diverse contacts;

3. Praise the events that change their speaker landscape.

Rinse. Repeat.

What are YOU doing to encourage more keynote and session diversity at tech events?

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• Women bloggers of color: How are we doing? (citymama.typepad.com)

Why I Blog (thoughts inspired by Blogalicious 2009) | Funkidivagirl.com

I just got back from Blogalicious 2009.  This was my first blogging conference so I didn’t quite know what to expect, but I was very impressed by the conference as a whole; the venue was beautiful, the food was fantastic, the sponsors were generous, the swag bags were overflowing, the parties were jamming and the lovely hosts from MamaLaw were gracious and efficient.  The information that I obtained was varied and rich and the women bloggers that I met were interesting and smart.  The keynote speeches from James Andrews (my husband) and Karen Walrond were inspirational, while sessions like Taking Your Blog to the Next Level and Secrets to a Successful Blog provided good answers, but I left the conference also asking myself more questions.  Questions like: Am I blogging with purpose?  Am I passionate?  Am I even doing this right?  And mostly…Why do I blog?

via funkidivagirl.com

Inspiring, smart post by @funkidivagirl who I met briefly at Blogalicious 2009. And so inspired, here is why I blog:

1. To speak the unspoken - I blog to talk about the things that most people won't talk about because the topics are still taboo or the various risks too great. I put myself out there and say things that others wish they could say, talk about things that others wish they could voice, and in doing so, I hope I help others feel like they're not alone. Selfishly, this is also my way of finding community around the tough issues such as miscarriage and post partum depression and embarrassing but real issues such as hair loss from hormonal issues.

2. To share lessons learned - I love to teach, and I love to share what I've learned and experienced over the years. If I can help others to avoid mistakes - either those that I've made or those I've seen others make - I want to try. If I can help others succeed at what they want to do, I'm psyched.

3. To inspire - I've been blessed to be inspired by so many incredible people - many of them bloggers - and I hope what I put out there in my blogs can touch people's lives. I have to smile when I say that because I still have a piece of paper from grade school where when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and why, I wrote "a writer so I can touch people's lives."

4. To share life stories - We are all living our own powerful stories and by sharing those stories, we can make connections, inspire others, teach important lessons, and honor who we are and what we have done. The first chapter in my book "PowerTools for Women in Business" was "Tell Your Stories." Most importantly, women must tell their stories so they are not forgotten.

And as @funkidivagirl said: I blog to save the world from mediocrity.  We’ve got to keep the bar high people.  We’re all fabulous; let’s live it!

Right on, sista, right on.

Why do YOU blog?

27 Things To Do Before a Conference

If you’re attending events over the next several months, you might give some thought to a quick checklist that might help you better accomplish your goals. As I’m not entirely sure of your goals, I’ll list a bunch of ideas, and you can just narrow it down to what you think works best for you. Feel free to add more ideas to the comments section.

via www.chrisbrogan.com

27 Things? I can't keep up! Here is my list:

1. Pack.
2. Take Airborne.
3. Make sure I have wallet, passport, and moisturizer.
4. Load some Mad Men and Saving Grace into my iPhone to watch on plane.
5. Tweet to connect with old and new friends to see.
6. Board plane.
7. Breathe a sigh of relief.
8. Contemplate having some wine on flight.
9. Decide to have wine on flight.
10. Cab to hotel, check emails, Twitter and try to get good night's sleep before presenting Thursday morning while the rest of Vegas parties.

Then have a rockin' time at Blogworld Expo & get me some Tech Karaoke.

That's about all I can handle!

What do you do to prepare for conferences?

The Truth Will Set You Free: A Story About Webgrrls

I don't know what got into me today that led me to tweet a snarky comment about @Webgrrls. Maybe it was the tweet by Webgrrls NYC chapter leader and Chief Technologist Nelly Yesupova mentioning the Webgrrls booth.

Or maybe it was 10 years of painful, ugly history that just weighed down on me, and I snapped. My apologies - it was probably inappropriate and wrong of me to do that. But now the cat is out of the bag, on Twitter at least, and only to those who were listening or following the @webgrrls handle. I could let it settle down and disappear under the carpet with all the dust bunnies because that is what some people do when they feel defeated by a terrible situation larger than themselves that is beyond their control. Wimper, whisper, disappear. That makes everyone much more comfortable, in fact.

I'm tired of disappearing and of accepting rewritten history as fact, especially my history. Below, I've pasted the history from the Webgrrls.com site with just a few details rewritten in yellow highlight. This is only the beginning of me taking back my history and regaining my self-esteem. I hold no anger or bitterness here, just intense sadness and pain. What is done is done. What is done cannot be undone.

But I truly believe that if I speak up, other women who have been in similar situations - and there are far too many - will have the courage to speak out without the fear of being blacklisted because we told the truth instead of accepted lies.

Thank you for listening - or not. Thank you for accepting my attempt at setting a record straight - or not. If this angers you, it should. If this makes you angry at me, I hope you will never have to face what I have, and I wish you well.

History of Webgrrls International - Dispelling the Myths

In January 1995, upon realizing the potential of the World Wide Web, Aliza Sherman and Kevin Kennedy launched Cybergrrl, Inc., focusing on building websites and online resources for women to help them propel their personal and professional lives forward. Aliza also offered consulting services to corporations focused on the women's market. Her background was varied - from promotion of heavy metal rock bands like Metallica to executive director of a nonprofit group creating awareness of domestic violence. Her lifelong dream, however, was to be a writer. Kevin Kennedy was Aliza's boyfriend at the time and occasional personal trainer. He would sometimes carry Aliza's computer equipment on sales calls. She would proceed to set up the computer, make the presentations, and then often the potential client would turn to Kevin and ask him all the technical questions. Being a personal trainer, he didn't have any technical background so would defer questions to Aliza by saying "I'll let Aliza field that one." People were left with the impression that Aliza was his assistant. His background was equally as varied - from athlete to entrepreneur, competing for the United States Track Team in Taiwan and playing professional tennis to building a graphic design company and a software training company.

As Cybergrrl.com continued to grow, people read the content and started responding through email. Aliza started linking other women's websites and because she had called herself Cybergrrl ("cyber" from one of her favorite books "Neuromancer" and "grrl" for "girl with attitude" and a hint of "Riotgrrrls" and drawing a cartoon of herself with a hot pink cape), she called women with web sites we called those women "Webgrrls," drawing a cartoon character to represent them that was modeled after her sister Leah Sherman. One day, It was decided that the "women of the web" should Aliza searched for and found several women with web sites who were based in NYC and invited them to meet.

A meeting was arranged at a New York City cyber cafe on April 29, 1995. Six women showed up. While their jobs were different -- from a writer to a Unix programmer to a performance artist to an editor at a publishing house -- they shared a passion for the Web and technology that bridged their differences and united them as women trying to succeed in a brand new, yet already male-dominated, industry. 

They had a great time at the first gathering and decided to meet again. This time twelve women showed up. Fast forward to July 1995 -- fifty women got together to listen to an accountant and a lawyer answer their business questions. Aliza had been chronicling this saga on the website, which attracted more women. By November 1995, 200 women attended the Webgrrls meeting (in iVillage's original offices), and they knew they had to get organized!

Partway through the same year, Kevin and Aliza sat in John's Pizzaria on the Upper West Side having dinner out as they usually did. Aliza, naive to the ways of business, did know that her boyfriend had been really supportive of her efforts to start her own company (after the two were held up at gunpoint, and Aliza quit her job running a nonprofit). He had paid for her meals, made sure she had cash in her pocket, even paid some of her bills.

Aliza was now in a position to purchase some used computer and office equipment from another Internet company that was going out of business. Kevin offered to put everything on his credit card. In exchange for 50% of the company.

Aliza protested because even though she didn't know a lot about business yet, it didn't seem right that anyone - much less her own boyfriend - get such a huge part of a company that she ran entirely on her own. But he persisted, suggesting that if she didn't capitulate, he didn't see any reason for them to be together any more.

Realizing that her relationship was in jeopardy, she began to sob in the restaurant.

"Okay, we can split the company 49/51 , and you can have 51% so it can be a woman-owned business," said Kevin.

Fearing losing her boyfriend of nearly 3 years over a company, Aliza relented. Kevin had friends of his who were lawyers draw up the papers and late one night in the offices of a Manhattan law firm, Aliza signed the papers turning over a major portion of her company to a boyfriend who said it was for the best. Aliza sobbed again and her hands shook as she tried to sign the pages. She couldn't read any of the paperwork because of the tears.

"This is all for the best," she tried to convince herself. Kevin had already convinced her to keep their personal relationship a secret, and he had controlled who she spoke with and who she was friends with, so she was isolated and didn't know where to turn.

Meanwhile, other women on the web were discovering the websites and decided that Webgrrls sounded like a great thing to get involved in. A woman in Seattle - Betsy Aoki - called emailed Aliza and wanted to know how she could get involved - and the second chapter of Webgrrls International was born. Other chapters followed, as women emailed and said, "Hey, this sounds like a great idea. Can I do it, too?"

Aliza and her staff at the time developed the Webgrrls mission statement was developed to clarify their aim, which was at its heart to empower women through technology and to give women a local forum, with a national and international reach, to meet with, support and encourage one another, share job leads and find strategic alliances and explore business opportunities.

While Chapter Leaders shared their ideas and experiences with one another, they each created a Webgrrls chapter based upon the needs of their communities, and the organization grew exponentially. In NYC, Webgrrls International created the Team Webgrrls outreach program to encourage young girls to use the Internet and also began offering HTML and Photoshop classes, organized speaking events and presentations for members, and fielded calls from the media who were fascinated by this incredible grassroots organization for women in the exciting new media industry.

In October of 1996, the NYC chapter organized a technology expo that highlighted the achievements of women in new media, and Mayor Rudolph Guiliani made a surprise appearance, proclaiming10/22/96 as "Webgrrls Day" in New York City.

By October 22, 1997, there were over 100 Webgrrls chapters around the world who together celebrated the first International Webgrrls Day to acknowledge the accomplishments of women in new media worldwide. They joined voices using Internet Relay Chat, CUSeeMe and Wordcasting technology to connect with one another online and featured special guests, chapter launches and website debuts from the real-world chapter celebrations, offices and homes of Webgrrls around the world.

By October 1999, after intense and painful power struggles with her business partner and boyfriend over control and direction of the company, Aliza finally weighed what she wanted in life. Kevin had promised that they would start a family, and now in her 30s, Aliza wanted that more than anything else - a good relationship with a life partner and a family. So unable to take the ugliness of the business - which hurt so many other people in its wake while simultaneously helping so many - she decided to walk away from the business she worked so hard to build.

She wrote a letter of resignation, giving all of her shares back to the corporation. No money exchanged hands, and Aliza walked away broke and broken. She soon realized that Kevin didn't really want to continue a relationship with her. Maybe she should have realized that years before as he compulsively slept with countless other women, some of whom confronted her as if SHE were the "other woman." She knew at this point, however, that he had moved on to his next conquest.*

We, as Webgrrls, are growing an incredible organization for women around the world who want to be empowered, want to help one another succeed, and are taking charge of technology for their personal and professional gain. This part is so true - but the saddest part of this story is that this wonderful group was built on top of the efforts of women who were not properly compensated and a founder who was stripped of all of her rights to anything she created. This story is not atypical. I hope other women who have been there will speak up, too.

I apologize with all my heart to the women who I hurt along the way. No matter how many 1000s of women I may have inspired, it's the ones who were crushed under the weight of the power struggles and emotional stress who I think about.

I know Webgrrls is an amazing resource and hope it will continue to be that to women worldwide. But please take a close look at what is behind everything, ask smart questions, and do not be intimidated.

*edited at the request of party involved.

So where ARE those darn women at tech industry events?

I've been commenting pretty vocally about the issue of lack of diversity - and lack of women - on the podium of tech industry events for over a decade. The recent groundswell in blog posts about this issue is...sad but necessary. Still.

Here is the content to two of my comments and the posts that compelled me to speak up yet again.

Women Snubbed in Top Ten Speakers List, Industry in General

by Geoff Livingston

My comment...

I am once again floored that this is the same discussion we had in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999… and let’s not even talk about how bad it has been since 2000.

As always, we’ve come a long way and haven’t even taken a baby step at the same time.

In the 1990s, I attracted a lot of media attention because I started the first woman owned Internet company in Manhattan. But could I get a top speaking gig at a tech (or business) forum? You’ve got to be kidding! I was relegated mostly to the women’s conferences, the women’s business schools and women’s universities, the women’s organizations, the women’s tracks.

Today, I’ve been rejected over and over at conferences when I want to speak about topics OTHER than women’s issues online. I’ve been invited to speak at non-gender specific tech events but am asked to speak about reaching women. Yes, this is what I used to do in the 90s, but today I’m less focused on women’s tech issues and more focused on deep analysis of Internet strategy and the integration of new tools and transformational ways technology has affected the way we communicate and market over the last decade.

When Newsweek listed me as one of their 50 People Who Matter Most on the Internet in 1995, I was 1 of 5 women on the list. When I called the magazine pissed off that they didn’t include more women, they said they “couldn’t find them.” Bullshit, I told them, all they had to do was ask any one of the 5 women on their list, and we’d lead them to amazing women to add.

When I founded Webgrrls in 1995 and had women-only Webgrrls events, I was criticized for “ghettoizing” women. “Do we really need events for, by and with women only? Yes, I argued, because every other forum in technology that is not gender-specific is by default all or predominantly male. I wonder today if I didn’t contribute to treating women as an “afterthought.”

I absolutely love the New Media Boys Club with good human beings like CC Chapman and Chris Brogan. But I’m still pretty annoyed that even I am hard-pressed to find women who are being celebrated in that same way. I wonder if it is partly our own fault as women: constantly apologizing for our achievements, tip-toeing around self-promotion, cringing when another woman puts herself out there boldly (”who does she think she is? Bitch!”)

I don’t have strong answers or ideas for changing something that is so entrenched but do think that continuing the dialogue openly between all of us (yes, guys, you are part of the problem AND the solution), we can make genuine change.

I’d like to think that the New Media Boys Club is made up of a new wave of males who are so secure with their own identities and place in this industry that they always reach out to others consciously - both women and men - who deserve to be in the spotlight as well. I know CC Chapman has referred to me in his podcast and recommended me as a speaker, a seemingly easy thing to do but it takes thinking about it first, broadening one’s network, then being a true and generous connector.

This isn’t a call for “affirmative action”-type guidelines. This is a call for a greater awareness of the imbalances and a conscious generosity in spreading the “wealth” and opportunities around.

Where are the Women in Tech and Social Media?
BY FC Expert Blogger Allyson Kapin

My comment...

Allyson, ditto what Mayra said. Thank you for continuing the ongoing conversation that I helped to start...oh, about 13 years ago when I started Cybergrrl, Inc. and Webgrrls International. I'm one of the women in tech who has been regularly rejected by Web 2.0 Summit since I made my "comeback" after 7 years hiatus from the Internet industry.(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/2002/01/16/maney.htm) I've actually been accused (mostly by other women) of being TOO aggressive in my pursuit of a place at the panel table and podium. But there are several things I try to do - and I encourage other speakers - women AND MEN - to do:

1. When you are invited to speak at an event, examine the balance of diversity. If you see a lacking, provide the organizer with some personal contacts to help them fill out the program - with a pointed statement about how you'd like to see more diversity at the events where you speak.

2. If you are accepted as a speaker after submitting your proposal, do the same assessing and making referrals to quality, qualified, diverse speakers.

3. If your panel idea is accepted for an event, assess the diversity on your panel and without using tokenism, expand the gender and color to expand the voices in the conversation.

4. Keep the conversation going. The more everyone talks about this, the more we can all impact the diversity of our industry and industry events.

This is not a "fringe" and "just a feminist" issue. This is about making sure we properly reflect the diverse landscape of the world around us and not allow the high-tech, high-growth industries to be the domain of one color and one gender.

What do YOU think about the continuing saga of the representation of women in tech event?

What social media consultants need to know

The other day, I came across a question posed on Twitter by @markdavidson that I felt compelled to answer. Mark said:

Given those two choices, I was stuck. Neither seemed to be the right answer to me.

On the one hand, knowing how to use social media tools seemed like a given, sure. But is knowing the way tools work fundamental to using social media well?

Understanding what drives human behavior? This option scared me. As an Internet strategist specializing in social media marketing, I'm not sure I think about human behavior in this way. This sounded too "mice in a lab in a maze under observation" to me for some reason.

So I responded this way:

Here's how our tweet dialogue continued...

After this exchange, we kept missing each other as I boarded planes on my way back home. Mark commented that he'd like to continue the conversation. I DM'd that maybe we could post this as a blog post and continue the discussion that way. He agreed.

So Mark, what's your next question or comment?

I warn you that when given two choices, I'm never one to pick the "lesser of two evils" but instead create a new choice. Because in this new wave of marketing through social media, I think the old choices and old ways of thinking have to be challenged.

And of course, we welcome other voices and opinions. This is, after all, a conversation.

Anatomy of a Twitter Scam

I'm fed up.

I've had it up to here with scammers swooping in and luring unsuspecting newbies to social media over to the "dark side" of social media marketing. In the same way that email scam marketers grabbed thousands of emails addresses from unsuspecting Internet users to hawk unwanted and often pornographic wares, the new wave of social media marketing scammers are preying on the desire of every new Twitter user to be "popular" and "successful." And they are making a bad name for the reputable, thoughtful and legitimate marketers.

How can a newbie -- or any of us really -- discern legitimate marketing tactics from abusive scam?

Breaking Down the Scam

Let's take apart a typical scam promotion:

"We have a service where you can input your Twitter information and it will follow other people selected from a huge database that we've built over several months. These people are very likely to follow you back. They are very likely to retweet. People that don't follow back or block other users are flagged so that no one follows them again."

So basically, this offering is an automated system that forces your account to follow other people in their database. Be suspect of anyone who claims their database contains "the right people" who will most likely do what it is they want those people to do. Always beware of people who accumulate contacts and then abuse their databases.

This service runs for you every day, rain or shine. You can take an account with no followers to about 10,000 followers by the end of next month completely on autopilot.

The damaging word here is "autopilot." Twitter is not about being on autopilot. It is about finding the right balance of engaged listening and participation to build an avid and active following as well as genuine relationships. Everyone does have their own reasons for using Twitter, and that's fine. However, gaming the system hurts all of us, not just the ones who are abusing these tools.

Getting Down to Brass Tacks

While communicating via Twitter isn't for everyone, I do believe that each of us can benefit from learning to use Twitter. Twitter changes the way we formulate our messages, forcing us to be concise and compelling in a small space. This form of communications - while often foreign to many of us - is a great exercise in distilling what is really important in what we are trying to get across to others.

This is going to make a lot of "Twitter Gurus" out there angry, because we're going to give you some secrets for free that they're making a living selling via their ebooks.

Spamming Twitter tools and services don't make "Twitter Gurus" angry because they give away secrets. What makes those of us who love Twitter and know how to use it with integrity hate most of all is that scammers are preying on people's lack of knowledge or weaknesses to perpetuate a scam and glut the "system" with empty and meaningless automated activity.

Everything we do is completely white hat. We don't do anything that violates the terms of service of Twitter. All of our contact with Twitter on your behalf is done through browsers. While we can't guarantee that you won't get banned since you'll still have control of your account and you could still do something that draws their ire, we've never seen an account banned with these methods.

I know I'm not the only one who sees this gigantic red flag flapping in the wind here. One would think - or hope - that everyone at this point would run away from this scam when they realize that there is the potential of getting banned from Twitter if you abuse the system. But just today, I saw that a travel blogger tweeted (automatically) that she was using this very system and sang its praises (again, probably a canned automated promotional message). I was so tempted to unfollow her immediately as I make it a practice to do when I see someone I've followed abuse Twitter and perpetuate scams. But I gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought I'd blog about this issue instead.

Twitter is all about credibility. If you have just a few thousand followers you're not going to be taken seriously. People will be a lot less likely to follow you back, click on your profile link, click on the links you tweet, or retweet your content. Once you get to be a major player you'll start to grow even faster because people will start to follow you just for being a big player.

Here is what I agree with in the above paragraph. "Twitter is about credibility." But the rest is ridiculous and not just misleading but patently false.

How do you feel about the Twitter scams out there and what should be done about them? What can we do about them?

Viva La Twitter Revolution from our armchairs

Over the last week, I've felt like an armchair revolutionary. I'm not sure how else to explain it. I can't claim any credit for doing anything revolutionary, however. Still I - along with fellow Twitterers - have been engaged in a communications coup that in part helped lead to a groundswell of international support and awareness of the Iran election protests.

For me, it all started with a retweet. I noticed that one of the people I'm following retweeted something about #iranelections by another Twitterer @persiankiwi. He (and I use "he" only out of convenience as I don't know who this person is) had 200 followers, no bio but location was set at Tehran.

I didn't know what to do, but knew I had to do something. I wasn't sure if retweeting someone whose identity I couldn't verify was a good idea. I sent out a tweet to see if anyone else knew if @persiankiwi was legit. No response. Still, I felt that I had to do something. I decided to do a little investigation of my own with my limited resources (and even more limited experience investigating someone).

All I really could consider were:

1. Content of Tweets - I read back on past tweets to see what they were tweeting about. It seemed to be someone who was actually in Tehran and gradually beginning to engage in what was happening around him.

2. Nature of Tweets -There was nothing overtly inflammatory about his tweets. He didn't seem to be instigating anything but instead participating because he seemed to have some computer/Internet knowledge that was facilitating his access to Twitter.

3. Followers - He only had 200 followers at the time but they seemed to be diverse, international and then some in Tehran as well.

4. Following - He was following predominantly Twitterers identifies as being in Iran, however, he also had a mix of some recognizable names on Twitter.

5. Gut - At this point, all I could do was follow my gut. I had no idea who this person was but his information seemed steady, correlated with what we could find out via the news (which at this point was minimal) and informative.

I followed him. Then began to retweet him.

At that point, I didn't know if my 4500 or so followers would be of any real benefit to him, but I knew the exponential power of Twitter meant that it wasn't necessarily just my actions alone but the subsequent actions of some of my key followers that could make things happen. And if others out there in the Twittersphere felt the same way as I did and did the same thing as I was doing, something could REALLY happen.

Within less than 48 hours, @persiankiwi was up to 20,000 followers. And the media had taken notice of what we were doing on Twitter (and Facebook) including the swell of media bashing as we desperately sought out current and "reliable news" from our "trusted" news sources. I was floored at how much digging I had to do to find anything but not surprised.

Ann Curry from NBC talked about this at the 140 Characters Conference in New York City last week. She talked about the struggle journalists have to get the "real" story out there. I have felt for a long time now that our U.S. news programs are more about entertainment and ratings than a reporting of global events. That's why I've turned more often to the BBC for world news than any American network.

But on Twitter, despite the risks and potential for deceipt - and misinformation - there is still the chance to tether a line between us and them, between Americans/the world and Iranians in the midst of a simmering revolution. We were there. Yes, we were sitting in our armchairs at Internet's length from the fray, but we were a part of what was happening and not just inactive observers.

Then what? Many people changed their locations to Tehran in hopes of thwarting the efforts of the opposition to track down the Iranian Twitterers. But Rita J. King of Dancing Ink who spoke at #140conf talked about both an ethical issue with replacing our locations and also a confusion we'd be causing for the Iranians searching for others in their proximity - we'd be making it harder for them. So I used that information to decide not to switch my location.

Next we were given instructions for changing our Twitter avatars to green. I did this immediately because I had to do something and this seemed to be the Twitter equivalent of waving a flag in solidarity and support on a potentially global scale.

But now what? As I read the news now coming in regarding #iran elections, I'm disheartened to see the ruling powers working to crush the Iranian people, to silence their voices, to snuff out their efforts. I don't know if I could have mustered the courage to do what they have done - and are doing - putting themselves in harms way for a cause they believe in. That is an amazing quality of courage.

@persiankiwi is now at over 30,000. He has a photo of a child behind bars in green as his avatar. His bio reads:

If any do fail to judge by that which Allah has sent down, they are tyrants - Allah Akbar yare Mohammad (s)

He has placed a link to Mir Hossein Mousavi's Facebook page.

And we still do not know who he/she is, but he/she is our touchstone to another people in a faraway land who are doing what many of us do not have the courage or wherewithal to do but we can do something. Something.

What else can we do? We are safe and comfortable in our armchairs, boasting our green avatars, retweeting, paying attention, but how long will this last? How many people will be injured? Disappear? Die? And how do we know that we are retweeting the right things?

What are we doing, and how can we do it well from this distance?

I don't have any answers. I just jump onto Twitter and retweet what I can in between going about my life and my daily work. Is that enough? Is it still making a difference?

What are you doing, and do you know what else we can do?

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• #CNNFail: The revolution is being Tweeted and Facebooked (blogs.suntimes.com)
• Facebook Launches In Persian Earlier Than Expected (allfacebook.com)
• Facebook, Google Go Persian, Helping Iran's Activists (wired.com)
• Iran clamps down on Twitter in attempt to control images of election protests (telegraph.co.uk)
• How #iranelection became the place to see the Twitter revolution (timesonline.typepad.com)