Share on Saturday: Why 4 easy steps ensure popularity on Facebook

I could have published this post early Thursday morning. Instead, I'm listening and waiting for this blog post to hit Facebook on Saturday.

That simple step might be key to spreading the word on Facebook. Think weekend, numbers and sex. Or post about Facebook.

Hat tip to the News Leadership Blog through the Knight Digital Media Center for its summary in 3 tips for getting your stories shared on Facebook

But head to Dan Zarrella's blog for a post on "Data shows on Facebook sex sells."

Learn why it pays to post on weekends if you're looking for something to spread. Here's a hint: How many employers now ban Facebook and other web sites?

Be stunned to learn that digits in headlines help in popularity.

Then find out why including Facebook, why or world  make a post more likely to get shared on Facebook.

(By the way, these blog posts are now flowing onto my Facebook page. The page  was created in 2007. I dusted it off as I ramp up to more Facebook work. It's much easier and safer to experiment with FBML and other things there instead of on the clients' site.


Some pages grow faster then others - Soyla's Mexican Cuisine is up to 60 fans/likers while the main Facebook page for Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan is around 1,800 fans/likers). Meanwhile, I'm working on revising the Facebook 101 classes - again! -- and adding a Facebook for Small Businesses 101 class. That's one setting where Dan's research will come in handy.)

Simple explanation very inviting

Isn't the simplicity of this web page stunning. Even at the end of a long day - yeah, not the best time to evaluate anything - I'm just blown away by the simplicity of instructions.

I grabbed a snapshot because sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Note: If you want to know about the service and its preview head over to LouisGray.com for Regator Revamp Adds Blog Tremds. Monitoring, More.

Seriously, you thought you could hide forever

I am sure my mother had eyes in the back of her head. I am sure the sun will rise tomorrow. I am equally sure that if I say or do something on a computer or device connected to a network I give up the right to privacy.

Perhaps it comes from growing up in a community where many eyes watched and reported the moves of members. Or maybe I learned that private actions are limited while digging through reports, listening to speeches and asking questions to create articles for newspapers, the web and books.

Or maybe I've lived through enough private networks becoming public, seen enough innovations wipe out previous practices and endured company ownership changes that render lifetime guarantees useless.

Teach privacy impossible

So Facebook wants to take over the world.So Facebook will learn more about me if I share my likes within  and off site. We already knew our reputations are dead.

Rather then worrying about teaching people how to keep their behaviors, thoughts and actions quiet why don't we teach them the basic truth that if you share it online someone will find it.  Yesterday it was Google. Today it is Facebook. Let's see who is next.

That's a long way of saying I don't see why someone  would be gleeful that they've managed to fool Facebook by listing concepts and values as interests and activities, a move that ensures useful ads are not served. I don't get playing hide and seek on Facebook.

One last time

I actually like those programs that tell me who I'm following across social networks, that serve up suggestions of what or who I might like.

I agree with Chris O'Brien in the San Jose Mercury News that the benefits of a Facebook monster is that I don't have to keep reinventing my profiles.

Says O'Brien in Sorry, Google, but Facebook is the Web's most important company now:

"The problem with the social Web until now is that each time you joined a new site, you had to create a new identity and refind your friends and drag them along with you. That's a pain, and each time you really had to think about how much time you wanted to invest. You had to build dozens of social networks, try to manage them and remember to check them."

But the changes mean, O'Brien explained, that "now, your Facebook network will just travel with you seamlessly across the Web ... This will make social networking far simpler and more effective for the vast majority of users."

It does means Facebook has a ton of information about me. I'm OK with that. So does my credit card company, Comcast and a ton of others. Unfortunately, a Freedom of Information Act request won't let me know what all they know.

Just go, will you?

I'm OK with Tyler Romeo "not to be a copycat or anything but I'm leaving Facebook." He's going to leave a lot of things through the years.

Nothing in the conversation that followed when Louis Gray shared it on Google Buzz persuaded me to follow Romeo's example.

I still believe don't say it or do it if you don't want to see it on the front page of your "local newspaper." It's just that these days my "local newspaper" has morphed into a global online network.

More citizen journalist initiatives starting at Michigan newspapers

Looks like Michigan's Oakland Press will get help in expanding its citizen journalism pool.

Plus more Michigan communities will start relying on neighbors to help cover the news.

The Journal Register, which owns the Oakland Press, Macomb Daily, Royal Oak Daily Tribune, Morning Sun in Mt. Pleasant in Michigan and 13 other daily newspapers in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania, partnered with SeeClickFix

A shared item on Facebook let me to this article in the Dearborn Press and Guide:
Newspaper group starts citizen journalist initiative.

"The partnership provides SeeClickFix portal pages on JRC Web sites that will allow users to observe, report and follow issues in their communities. Web site users will be able to create watch areas and track items ranging from poor road conditions to blighted buildings."

Think of it as a community neighborhood watch group for news.

The Oakland Press launched a citizen journalism academy in late 2008, even gained circulation when other Michigan newspapers cut back. But the move brought plenty of attention to the Oakland Press.

The company believes this partnership will benefit the communities by:

• Encouraging the audience to use the SeeClickFix platform to alert fellow residents of impact issues.
• Empowering residents to work with the company’s journalists to address community needs.
• Highlighting those who participate and make a difference through news reports.

How's that for a press release reprinted in a newspaper as if it were a story.

The press release at the company site says:

The company expects to expand its network to its other properties, including the other weekly newspapers in Michigan. Those include the Advisor and Source in Shelby Township, Voice Newspapers, Southgate News-Herald, Heritage Newspapers and Morning Star Network, according to the company website.

Meanwhile, the Rapidian on the west side of Michigan is going strong.

Create or die

We are also about a month away from a Journalism That Matters unconference in Detroit.

The idea behind the event is "How can we reshape journalism so that it engages and serves all people & communities?"

A Facebook announcement said:

"A focused, three-day gathering of results-driven journalists, entrepreneurs, programmers, technologists, bloggers, videographers, funders, venture capitalists, artists and educators to discover, assess, shape and create new enterprises and new approaches to participatory media and civic journalism. We'll meeting in St. Andrew's Hall, a National Register-listed former church, with
state-of-the-art TV production facilities next door, and dormitory suite or hotel accommodations.

Learn about Detroit's changing economy as a metaphor for the journalism change and opportunity. Arrive Thurs., June 3, at mid-day, begin with an afternoon orientation, buffet dinner and evening program. Share/work Friday and Saturday using circle-round and break-out 'unconference' collaboration; wrap up and commit to next steps on Sunday morning."

Some expectations:

• New and unexpected cross-sector collaborations
• Broadening a community of practice among people who care about journalism innovation
• Nurture and develop journalism entrepreneurship especially for underserved communities and people of color
• Learn from stories of successful projects
• Discover and engage financial/funding sources to seed new projects

Developing the program has started, but much of it depends on who shows up.

I'm registered to go, expecting to work behind the scenes capturing and then sharing some of what is discovered at the event. A few obstacles for me to overcome, but I think some exciting conversations will happen.

You can play hide and seek on Facebook

A recent rash of invites to see who has visited my Facebook profile and now a post on how to "stay invisible on Facebook" leaves me confused.

Personally, I want people to visit my profile. I want them to see what I said and I want to read what they write, share, or comment about. I'd love to know how many people just drift by my wall without leaving a shadow.

I never quite got why creating a collage of mug shots of visitors was an application that appealed to so many of my Facebook friends.

Robb Montgomery calls it staying invisible on Facebook.

He sees it as desirable as his lack of traditional interests listed in his profile ensures he keeps his data. After all, how many advertisers are seeking those intersted in "Truth, Grace, Redemption ...."

It means none of the Facebook ads are likely to garner a click from him.

Personally, I'll share some interests and even look at some ads as a way to ensure Facebook stays in business.

I once only shopped at businesses who advertised with my employer. I only used coupons delivered through my employer. It was one small step to assure advertisers that their ads and coupons worked.

I don't want to - and won't - pay a fee to Facebook.

Robb says:

"The choice to have your data sold and traded by people who are not paying you for it is up to you. If you want to lower your Facebook “book value” - your advertising revenue profile - then simply take a look at your profile details from a marketer’s viewpoint and remove specific types of information that identify your branding preferences."

I practice good privacy efforts. It's OK for a business to make money from me.  They always have.

Moving on: Cleveland.com exec moving (to) Sideways

Advance
Internet

Adventure is calling an Advance Internet executive who enjoys creating new experiences online. She'll move from the news business to the book business. Or is it she's moving back to a familiar place.

Eliza Wing, president and CEO of Cleveland.com, is the new president and COO of Sideways, a software company based in Cleveland that wants to convert books into multimedia experiences to take advantage of the iPad and other mobile devices.

New look at books

Launch of Sideways, founded by the founder of books.com, is 27 days away, according to a company web site.  Wing gave cleveland.com  more details, saying the new company would formally launch at the BookExpo America conference in New York City on May 25.

It must be hard for Wing to leave Cleveland.com, a site that she helped form after moving from The Cleveland Plain Dealer's editorial department. She was named editor-in-chief for Plain Dealer New Media in 1996 to work on the development of a news and information site for Cleveland and named president and CEO in 1997.

Sweet reunion

But, in some ways, it must be a comfortable move. Wing was editorial director for book.com, the first Internet book store, from June 1995 until February 1996.

No successor was named, according to a cleveland.com article where she also said:

"I think cleveland.com is at a place in its history when its ready to take the next step and I'm excited for the company. We're exceeding our revenue goals and our audience is continuing to grow. There's just so much more to do. That was part of what made the decision so hard."

In the past

Wing worked at Rolling Stone and New York Woman before following her then-husband to Cleveland for his new job at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's when the mother of two started in the editorial department of the Ohio newspaper. That soon led to what became cleveland.com, the online affliate of the Plain Dealer.

Learn more about Eliza Wing, including the first time she lived in Ohio, how she started in the news business, and the fine art of "juggling the workplace as a hockey mom" in a 2005 profile on Clevelandwomen.com.

Online and active

We've met through the years at Newhouse events, new media conventions and, of course, online.  She tweets. has a Google profile and she blogs (just not lately.) She graduated from the University of Michigan, but let's not hold that against her.

Regret the error, not repeat the error

Poor Matt Millen. He can't win.

Rob Otto over on mlive.com ensures that Millen's mistake - a comment about who likes fried bologna sandwiches - isn't limited to ESPN watchers. He found a YouTube video with a label that deserves another round of apologies. He shares it in a Ottoman Empire post under the headline "Matt Millen discovers whole new way to embarrass himself at the NFL draft."

Otto should share the embarrassment with his choice of videos.

One of my first bosses at The Flint Journal pounded into me the importance of not repeating an error when publishing a correction. He's also the one who shared the web address with me, knowing I'd smile and start thinking about blue skies and perfection.

Like: Facebook’s ambition to sweep the web

The new "like" feature that jumps off Facebook and onto other sites on the web should pull even more organizations and small businesses and off the web and into Facebook.

Although this week's announcement focuses on companies like Pandora getting the shared like button, I think the move will increase the need for the smaller businesses and organizations making sure they are a part of the Facebook network.

Creating a page/mini-site within Facebook will be the easiest way. Still, for many organizations even this will be a challenge as the requirements for Facebook success goes beyond words and visuals. Regular updates and frequent interactions are keys to success.

A Facebook site is not something to just hand off to a third-party for design and implementation. It takes integration within the organization. It means making interaction part of the company's daily infrastructure. It means making openess more then "my door is always open" from the top executives.

Lots of talk on the web, but technical evangelist Robert Scoble pulls together a good summary of the news, what it means, links, and video in a s post on Facebook’s ambition. The man who Facebook dropped for 24 hours once explores the scariness of the new effort and shares a conversation with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg:

"Today I told Zuckerberg that he now has the modern-day railroad in his grasp and challenged him to both win our trust and not abuse the major power he’s going to aggregate."

Scoble suggests that the Facebook moves completed "a major piece of commerce infrastructure that would affect our lives for decades" and compared it to the completion of the railroad tracks across the United States.

"It opened the west. Made new careers possible. Let fresh food from California get to Chicago before it spoiled and all that. But it created an organization that had a LOT of power that wasn’t always used well."

It's up to businesses, organizations and people, whether they are friends, members, fans or likers, to become the check on Facebook. You won't get that by staying away or by jumping in only to answer random quizzes and play games.

Updated April 26, 2010 to fix typo in Scoble quote so that it now reads new careers, not few careers.

Right word won't roll off tongue or keyboard for non-conformists, new products

What do you call experimenting journalists without newsrooms?

What do you call a product that will bring together diverse information and publish it many forms?

How much baggage does a new word carry when it is created from old words?

If you were fast, you read that I called Dan Paecho an ex-journalist in a post on his newest venture of presenting the news, a venture called FeedBrewer.

I called him that based on a conversation months ago when I was struggling with how many months out of the newsroom makes you an ex-journalist. The conversation was prompted partially by Wired Journalists decision to limit its network to only journalists.

Over on Twitter, we "discussed" how seeing the ex-journalist in the headline got Dan to "realize I'm not ready to ditch the "journo" description" even though he had for a short time at least.

Indeed, his Twitter bio once again just says journalist, with no sign of the former journalist label that was there. So I changed the headline to read journalist before Dan said that was unnecessary.

Dan says:

"Ex just sounds so final. I prefer "former" (although I since removed that too). I'm all mixed up."

Perhaps "journovator?"

Indeed, Dan is mixed up, mixed up in trying to innovate within a traditional field. He's not alone - check out a Twitter list he maintains and you'll see the names of people who have spent time in and out of newsrooms experimenting with different ways to find the news, define the news and present the news.

I can't tell you when a person needs to give up the journalist title.

And no one could call Dan a traditional journalist. His new venture, FeedsBrewer, will take him further out of the newsroom. Says Dan:

"We need a new term for people who help journalism happen all around them, vs. the traditional definition (only doing it yourself)."journo" description. Perhaps "journovator?""

Although there are people with interests in journalism and innovations, I'm not ready to bless journovator. Can you say it with a straight face?

Dan's Tweeted reply was:

"I dunno, I think "journovator" sounds like it was made for t-shirts -- which is the litmus test for good names."

I think there are terms for people who help journalism happen - publishers, editors, advertisers, news sources, etc. None of those fit  what Dan or his journovators are doing. But I don't have a better idea.

Brewing information

I also don't have a better name for his new venture even after talking about it on Twitter. I started with:

"What we should talk about is @feedbrewer The name generates an image of cooking up RSS feeds"

The Feedbrewer logo (which I've mangled above with words) should inspire thoughts of brewing coffee. Twitter talk also suggested comparing the venture to the act of brewing beer or coffee.

From Dan comes this:

"Think brew as in beer or coffee, not witches' brew. Who knows, perhaps we will make homebrew for a launch party :-)"

I'm sure they've done research and Dan says:

"Personally, I think FeedBrewer rocks as a name. It brews feeds into delicious eye candy. One day, maybe beverages, too."

But when I hear FeedBrewer, I think of RSS feeds pulled into one device for reading. Or perhaps I'm thinking of Feedburner.

I understand I'm in the minority just by knowing of RSS feeds and Feedburner. I know no one put me in charge of language today. But this language thing boggles my mind.

Perhaps InfoStew better reflects this new product, new venture. I can serve stew with its mixture of vegetables and meat in a bowl, over rice, or a mound of potatoes. The product delivers information in a write once, read many ways and places. (Wasnt't write once, read multiple places the dream of the website language html?)

Guess I need to wait for the product to understand what is being said on Feedbrewer's web site and Facebook page.

Crusading for print?

Or perhaps I'm just ornery right now. Another cross platform conversation - started on Twitter, moved onto Facebook, then switched to email - on my crusade for print journalism - ended with an equal amount of frustration.

I never thought of myself as crusading for print, more for journalism, more for the sharing of information in interesting ways, or the telling of stories in multiple mediums.

Look at my past. Even while working for a newspaper company, I pushed for delivering news and information via phone, fax and online. My non-work time went to creating a community computer network that remains alive (barely) 16 years later, to putting Girl Scout information on an email list, on gopher and then the newly World Wide Web.

Crusading for a title

Look at my now. I'm pulling and pushing for information on Facebook, on Twitter, on FriendFeed for Girl Scouts, small businesses, and class reunions.

My eyes now light up as I talk about social gaming and figuring out the puzzles presented by FarmVille for those who call me guru, boss and expert.

I get excited (still) about new product launches, ideas for ensuring a community's stories are shared, and the restructuring of organizations that didn't realize soon enough that most women work now, often for businesses that release work schedules on Friday for the next week.

Now, if only I could find the right word to describe who I am. Retiree ain't cutting it with me.

Let's start over, please

It was a rough morning. Too much too wrong. Too dark inside when I can see that the sun is trying hard to peak through the crowd. It tumbled into a rougher afternoon.

Funny. I just wrote peaking through the crowd when I meant clouds. Or did my fingers know what my brain sometimes forgets.

The first status, posted on Facebok on April 13, 4:30 p.m. said:

Days like today help me understand how stereotypes begin. I don't like that. But I'm not real happy with many males today either!

Go ahead. Imagine the type of behavior that would encourage me to understand why males gain a reputation for being uncommunicative, or bossy or easily amused by unfunny experiences. Or how many times they speak in sports language, expecting the non-athletic to understand the secret language created on courts, courses and fields. I can probably top what you thought with what took place.

Still, that's not the thinking I want to encourage or the people I want to hang with so I decided to change the only thing that I can: My attitude. That led to this Facebook status at 5:44 p.m.:

OK. Let's start over. Good morning world.  

Who said my day had to start in the a.m. or when sun popped up.

The status prompted responses such as:

"Good morning. have you had your V-8 yet? A good way to start your morning.
Hey, sunshine. Good day to you!"

 and, despite what I just said, my favorite one of all:

"OK, so like in golf. We should get, say, 6 mulligans a year."

I can get by with  do-overs a year. Can you?

Success breeds CEO role for journalist

Outside the box thinking has led to out of the newsroom work for Dan Pacheco for a number of years. Today, I learned he's using the success of his Printcasting project to jumpstart a new business - FeedBrewer.

The new business, like the old project, is a way of delivering content in an efficient way. It also recognizes that publishing once on a web page is not wise for news organizations, businesses or any non-profit.

From the About Us page:

"FeedBrewer is a one-stop shop for quickly creating beautifully-designed content that is instantly published to multiple platforms -- including tablets (such as the iPad), mobile devices, and even printable PDF magazines. Simply provide the RSS feed from any blog or content management system, choose a design scheme, and we'll do the rest. You can also add content manually by posting text and uploading photos."

Dan is the new CEO for the new company. Here's his explanation for Printcasting:

"About two years ago, we wrote up an idea for how to leverage standardized Web content to create locally-targeted publications with less time, money and software than ever before. The technology and content would be digital, but the output would be optimized for physical distribution as printable PDF magazines. That concept became Printcasting and it earned us a Knight News Challenge grant."

And, hey, he's done a great job answering how Feedbrewer differs:

"Sounds a lot like Printcasting, doesn't it? It should, because we're simply expanding the concept of print publishing to portable publishing. In our new thinking, printable content is subsumed under the mobile meme. That may sound like a stretch to some, but it makes sense if you think of print as the original mobile / portable format."

Read the rest of his post for details.

I have signed up to be a beta-tester for this project too. I found working with Dan when Printcasting was in its early stages to be rewarding personally and professionally. I especially like how receptive he was to suggestions and how well the project communicated with potential fans and customers.

Dan is an impressive guy with experience as an online producer at The Washington Post, a multimedia producer at Knight Ridder Tribune Interactive, a product manager at AOL, and most recently senior manager of digital products for The Bakersfield California.

All of that, plus his experience with the Knight Foundation grant and Printcasting, should help ensure success of the project.

Now about the name, Feedbrewer ... I have to think about that one.

Note: This post was updated to remove ex- from journalist for Dan about 4:30 EST April 20,2010. His Twitter bio says he is one. No insult intended. I misunderstood a long ago discussion about when a journalist stops being one.


I've mentioned Printcasting before:

• Dreamers can help publishers keep offering luxury of 'unplugged content' March 22, 2009
  
• Is any sabbatical ever long enough? Can we overstudy this journalism thing? June 25, 2009
  
• Who can "reboot the news" or create a supply store that will survive financially? April 22, 2009

Getting with it: One Twitter replaces community in One Book, One Community

I really like this idea of Twittering folks reading the same book. I was active in at least four rounds of One Book, One Community in the Flint, Michigan, area. Nothing like discussing a book with total strangers over dinner, on the bus or at the gym.

I picked up some friends and insight after reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham (written by a Flint person), An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood by former President Jimmy Carter and The Color of Water by James McBride and Memories of Summer by Ruth White.

I hope to do both with this new effort: One Book, One Twitter.

From a Flint Public Library release:

"The purpose of One Book • One Community is to encourage a sense of community through the shared experience of reading a book that serves as a stimulus for discussing community issues. "

Not that we need a reason to talk on Twitter :) But it could be interesting to see what's up.

So head over to Wired.com and help choose the book for our summer reading and Twitter chatting for summer. Just posting this idea on my Facebook page helped me get to know someone better, a plus in my book.

From Wired:

"Want to spend the summer following John Joseph Yossarian trying to survive World War II, or with Holden Caulfield on his misadventures through New York City? Maybe you’d rather endure the bombing ... "

read the rest online and vote there too.

Over on Twitter, follow @crowdsourcing and #1b1t for upates. Find me @mcwflint And don't forget to vote for a book. Here are some under consideration, with a link to entries in wikipedia.org

• 1984
• Brave New World
• Slaughterhouse Five
• American Gods
• Fahrenheit 451
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Catch-22
• The God of Small Things
• 100 Years of Solitude
• Song of Solomon

Only three I haven't read - American Gods, The God of Small Things and 100 Years of Solitude. I voted for 100 years, but I'll read what the rest do. I'll even twitter. What about you?

Image from free twitter bird icon set

On recess and still making me laugh

Some people can't resist making a story better. Count my fellow blogger and encourager Jim of L-Town among them. He's off chasing fun in his barely used RV and shared this in a recent post:

Front page headline in the Canton Repository: "No jail for man who urinated on Walmart steaks." He does have to pay $688 for the steaks and do 100 hours of community service. Here's the link.`

See, even when he's free from "Free from Editors" he's still has an eye for the interesting.

By the way, while fumbling around on the Internet I found some of James L. Smith' Offbeat posts. Ignore my name, it is a quirk identifying who posted the item online rather then wrote it. Enjoy the source that used to provide a weekly laugh.

Looking for ex-employees of Flint Journal, Michigan newspapers, Advance .... you get the idea

Inside/outside
newsrooms

I'm interested in blogging about where people are after the layoffs, buyouts, etc. from The Flint Journal, Michigan newspapers, heck, even the Advance Publications.

I'll do hello to the new folks who got/get the jobs too.

Drop me a line on Facebook, or email through the address below or call. Or tell all by leaving a comment. Thanks.

Brief message leads to obituary, reminder of impact 1 person, 1 journalist can have

I hate catching up with people's lives through obituaries, especially people who are younger then me. I love stumbling across reminders of how important local journalism is.

A friend's note and an Internet search let me know what happened to a colleague who started at The Flint Journal the same day I did. Sadly, I learned:

Mercury News writer Holly Hayes dies of cancer - San Jose Mercury News "

She was 53, diagnosed with a rare cancer in June. The obituary in the San Jose Mercury News, the newspaper she was working for shared just a glimpse of her heart and love for community. A blogger shared the reminder of the impact one person and local journalism can have.

5 on the 5th

Holly was one of the  Sept. 5, 1978 Five  at The Flint Journal. Holly and I were hired in what some called the "real" newsroom and the three other women were hired as lower-tier weekly reporters. Two of us stayed until we were bought out in 2008, changing jobs frequently throughout the years. One returned for freelancing for a short time.

One of her first journalism jobs was at the Flint newspaper, where she covered the United Auto Workers union, among other assignments. She graduated from Central Michigan University in 1978.

I had caught up with her once when she was a features editor at The Fresno Bee, as that is near where my mother was living. In 1990, she moved on to the Mercury News as an assistant features editor.

Still writing

Linda Goldston wrote the obituary that highlights how Holly kept working and writing even after being diagnosed. That didn't surprise me.

Neither did learning that she was still into gardening. We lived in the same neighborhood for a few years and often talked about gardening and art as well as journalism.

I also remember how disappointed, and yet supportive, she was when I decided a trial separation was going to be permanent. She had planned on moving into the house I had, with its neat little backyard and tiny garden. But despite her disappointment, she helped me realize I was making the right move.


Read the obituary and the guest book  for more about her and her generous heart and ways. I like that the newspaper has a tradition of flying its flag at half mast during the days between death and a memorial service.

Be like her

A California blogger also wrote about how Holly, through her columns, had become an inspiration and a friend:

"I would daydream about leaving my high tech marketing job, flipping off the man, and living a life immersed in soil, food, sunlight and writing. I daydreamed about contacting Holly Hayes and asking if I could be her protege. Could I follow her around and learn how to be like her? "

I wonder if Holly knew what an impact she made:

"She was a big piece of my perfect moment puzzle. My peace. My sitting there, coffee in hand, reading about her gardening advice and adventures. She inspired me, made me feel like I could be an even better version of myself. She allowed me to daydream about a life with my hands covered in rich, sweet-smelling soil, digging for worms in my compost, with my son, a life where I provided the perfect, organic eggplants for my family to eat."

There's more in the blog post and comments. But I like remembering this from the blogger:

"This, I realized, is the importance of local journalism. Holly felt accessible to me. She felt like a friend. We lived in the same area, we worked the same soil.

That's the impact a journalist who has friends outside the newsroom, who participates in the community and who loves what they are do can have.

What a wonderful triute.

Could jellybeans help me meet new goal?

Help! How many Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans with Real Fruit Juice and enriched with Vitamins A, C and  E equal 1 fruit serving?

That was a recent status update for me on Facebok, where I got answers ranging from three beans to three bags.Or this:

"I would think the correct answer would be .... As many as makes you feel like a fruit. The beans for sure deliver a bigger amount of sugar than a real apple or orange. But the jelly beans are easier to pop into the mount. Therefore reducing the amount of water and soap used to prepare the fruit and cleanup afterword.

Long story short. I have not had a Jelly bean since last year."

or

"I've had so many jelly beans this season that I"m sure I got a serving or two in."

Seriously, I am trying very hard to eat at least 1 serving of fruit per day. I'm almost into three weeks into this so it should be a habit soon. Right?

I was delighted to find these goodies in the Easter basket at my house: Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans made with real fruit juice. Plus look I get extra Vitamin A, C and E.

The Easter Bunny was smart and brought me the originals, not sour, so I'm eating a few Grape, Cherry, Apple, Strawberry, Lemon and Orange flavored beans.

Healthy is goal

I have always tried to eat healthy but sometimes convenience wins over nutrition. Then, a few years ago I discovered - OK, my doctor and I discovered with the help of prick tests and elimination diets - I am allergic to some food.  Some things I loved almost always triggered a migraine. Other foods made life miserable other ways.

Unfortunately, the list includes about 20 things. I've even stumped two professional nutritionists who tried to work with me on a balanced diet. If you've seen me, you know I'm not starving. But go ahead and try to avoid nitrates, pears, pickles .... I"ll stop boring you.

Cancer changes diet

When my daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer and moved back home, we worked at hard at eliminating as many unpure foods as possible. That meant becoming a regular at Whole Foods and trying to eat as little processed food as possible. We read labels to avoid hormones and preservatives. We tried new recipes. Some very interesting meals turned up.

My daughter even learned to make bread from her grandmother and tortillas from her then boyfriend's grandmother. Unfortunately, she's living 1,000 miles away so we've lost that option here.

Researching our family's history as part of my daughter's care means I've learned that celiac disease runs in the family. From the Mayo Clinic:

"Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients."

New allergies

Also, unfortunately, I've learned that sometimes when you recover from allergies new ones show up. I'm almost done with a no-dairy diet, where I've learned I eat and cook with a lot of cheese.

Or maybe old ones come back. I've learned I was picky as a baby and finally learned to live with goat's milk. I suspect some of that was because I was my parents first.

My youngest brother's first bottles were filled with a powder we mixed with water to create milk. The doctor assumed after five kids my mom knew what to serve an infant, my mother was too busy to remember formula, or at least, whole milk.

So what was in your Easter basket?

Sharing of plea for safe makeup uncovers good practice of conversation

Considering the number of women who cover their faces with powders, lipsticks, lotions, etc., I was surprised when I first read Dear Cover Girl: We Want Non-Toxic Products in a blog called Crazy Sexy Life. You mean lipstick still has lead and other cosmetics use cancer-causing toxins? Who knew?
And though I know the majority of people who follow me, friend me, fan me, read me are male, I shared it via Google Reader, which also feeds my Google Buzz, with this comment:

"Wish I could find a way to make people care about this. Beauty is skin hurt."

Richard Walker, musician, programmer, editor, skeptic at self employed, left me a few ideas of how I could do that beyond sharing the post with a new audience.

Then he did a simple thing that I admire: He "copy-upped the comments to the post."

That led to a new conversation (the beauty of Buzz) on splitting conversations and included this from Richard Walker:

"You can put a positive spin on it by imagining I wouldn't have seen the post but for your comment, and your encouragement got the comment to the right place. Splitting, or filtering? Who can really say!"

I like that "copy-upped," especially for those non-techie or non-early-adopters bloggers who don't use BackType, or Google searches or whatever the latest/greatest/best pull-it-together conversation aggregation tool is.

I also would like it if you would check out the shampoo, conditioners, lipsticks and other potions you're putting on your body.

Cosmetics are overlooked in our struggle to live healthy. Stacy Malkan shares more detail on her guest post, more on her site, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and in her book, Not Just a Pretty Face, the Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.

By the way, Crazy Sexy Life is by Kris Carr, who had cancer in her 20s. Her blog and books helped/helps me a lot with my daughter's breast cancer battle. But let's be honest. I'm still reading it. I'm still being challenged to do what I can to make sure no mother, wife, daughter, father, husband, son finds cancer shoving its way in.

Nice tool could help forgetful journalists

Note-taking web service

Those looking for another way to take notes might want to check a new service aimed at journalists: LedeLog  It's especially good for those of us who forget to save - this application does it automatically every 10 seconds.

It's equally good for those of us with a lot of drafts.. You can tag the notes/articles/blog entries and then search by tag or full content. A list of the most recent notes hangs on the right hand of the screen.

I like the option of sending your saved text to an email address, handy for those newsrooms set up to receive stories that way.

Use your Google account, or an OpenID, to sign in and rest assured that your data is your data. (OK, there is one warning that something critical might require sharing of data. From the site:

"nobody will view it unless a critical bug requires doing so"

Oh, one more thing. It's free for now but a note over on Google Apps Marketplace says pricing coming in three months. That's where you''ll also learn "professional journalists" have been using it since January 2009. No names and the quotes around professional journalists are mine. You know why.

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Tip of the hat to Louis Gray for alerting us through Lede.Log: GoogleApps hosted Media Workflow Launches He even tested the app by writing that blog post about it on it.  Follow some of the conversation and reaction on Buzz and on Gray's post.

Imagined conversations not always right; real talk can lead to hack

Some of my high school days have caught up with me. So has some carelessness that had me posting a favorite movie.

Through the wonders of Facebook connections, I talk regularly with some I went to high school. Many of us enjoy competing on FarmVille, something to bring us together after a 30-year lull.

Still, I was surprised when I learned that a friend regretted how we parted and wanted to explain why. Too bad we didn't talk about this years ago as we could've said each other a lot of grief. We still would've ended our relationship - for one, I wasn't allowed to have those in high school.

But, he has helped me remember things I had forgotten about and helped me discover how I still do some things I did then.

The conversation soothes, but it also makes me want to seek out others to ask why. Perhaps, just like with this one, I am wrong about the reason why we no longer communicate, much less are friends. Simple misunderstandings? Perhaps.

Sudden silence stings

It's hard for me to understand how for many days, even years, you share insights, able to talk about anything, everything, and the then suddenly silence. Unfortunately, if you share friends that silence becomes loud in the real world, or, as I'm learning on the Facebook, people do notice when suddenly posts and sharing stops.

I've also learned that it doesn't take years to make a connection that hurts when it breaks. Even when your head knows how ridiculous it sounds to be hurt about broken promises, I am. I want to believe the other person is the party who did wrong, not me.I'd even like to believe those who tell me he's the loser, losing out on the opportunity to know me. But I'm the one who misses the questions, the contact, the debates, even the struggles.

Still, that friendship led to good things - new friends, a reminder of how this one movie influenced me, and what some of my forgotten dreams were. I learned some amazing things about myself through his questions and statements.

Watch what you say

Perhaps the worse thing I learned is how easy it is to become lax on the Internet - bad passwords, staying logged in, and being trusting of software programs, web sites, and networks. It is easy to say things here and there and forget that someone with search skills and desire can figure out to hurt you by hurting those around you.

A recent thread on Facebook asked what your first concert was. As people started sharing, someone reminded folks of a web service that uses that question and answer if you forget your password. Oops.

I think it was a favorite movie that allowed someone to slip into some of my accounts recently to send off some incredible, unbelievable messages and postings. Still trying to determine if the person knows me well enough to know that movie or if it was spotting it on a web site.

Either way, let me assure the hills are no longer alive with the sound of music when I'm answering security questions.

Mixing it up: Newspapers, Twitter and talking back

Odd that the same day I realize why it is hard for me to work my way through the newspapers still delivered to my house is the day I find a likeable, newspaper-like presentation of my Twitter feed.

Honestly, I did start the day determined to make my way through some of the newspapers that are piling up, demanding to be read or at least tossed. I made it through two front pages before I had a question and went to the Internet.

Next thing you know I've slipped into Google Reader, skimming, reading and, slap of the forehead, commenting. I had quickly marked 36 posts as worth sharing, or, thinking about. Most now carry a comment or a question.

Sample Google Reader items with my notes

•  How to Know You're Hungry (and Avoid Eating when You're Not) (See Peeps photo) I want this photo! I want my Peeps.
• 
• Computers Just Keep Getting Cheaper and Better and We Should Eagerly Await the Days Ahead -CARPE DIEM  Mark's explanations help  the problem when items increase gradually over time.
• How Social Media Makes Live Events More Vibrant than Ever Contrast this with "too many nonprofits" post. Is it we have too many BIG nps and not enough niche ones? Is the cost of events a good use of $$ that could be spent elsewhere.

Paper is limiting

It was while I was racing through Google Reader that it dawned on me why I find it frustrating to read the newspaper - commenting is tough and clipping articles for commenting later takes a system, takes effort.

That idea of the appeal of contributing to an article was reinforced as I skimmed a new Pew report on the news habits of Americans.  I am stopped by the idea of the growing percent of people - now 37% - who see news as place to participate, who make news a social experience.

"People use their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess, and react to news."

They contribute to creation of news, comment or disseminate via postings on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. In fact, the report also says that more then 8 in 10 online news consumers get or share links in emails

OK, back to Twitter.

I've been drifting from Twitter lately, almost overwhelmed by the speed at which things flow past. But then, something draws me to the site and one Tweet leads to another leads to another leads to another. I'm talking with people as fast as the fingers will fly.

Today I was trying to figure out what someone from London meant when he used the word cow twice on Facebook. His explanations were not helping. I knew a few Twitters might be able to help. (I was wrong.)

Next thing you know an hour or two has slipped by and I have had a grand time on Twitter.

Fat fingers

But Faceback was calling, the obligations of pages, groups, and games. Oh, friends and family, too.

Slippery fingers, however, mean I keep clicking on Facebook ads accidentally. But this time what turned up was a "newspaper" created from the tweets of people I follow on my mcwflint Twitter account. How could I resist playing?


(Above is my mcwflint account. That's a mix of journalism, social media people, a few geeks, and ... ? Below is one from mcwgs Twitter account - it is the account where I follow mostly people involved in Girl Scouts.)

Perhaps it is my past involvement with newspapers but I like this presentation of the Twitter stream.The pulled-in content from shared links made it easy to consume a lot of content quickly.

It is pulled together from SmallRivers, a "privately held startup incorporated in Switzerland (Lausanne) and located on the Swiss Institute of Technology EPFL campus." Find it at http://paper.li

The shortcoming is that I can only get the "print edition" once a day. But it is something to ponder. (But I'm not doing so well on working my way through the newspapers.)