Adventures in Social Media with Ashley

Blogger Crush of the Week

adventuresinsocialmedia — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:43:26 +0000

Anyone in the JustMeans New York office knows I have many crushes in the blogebrity community. My first crush was Acumen Fund and NextBillion man Rob Katz, who is an upcoming featured blogger for All Things Reconsidered (!!!). He’s got passion and pizazz, I can just tell.

Then, after I discovered my favorite EarthFirst.com’s Top 25 Hottest Guys in Green list, Muhammad Saleem entered my life. Boy, he is dreamy. However, he didn’t respond to my emails and refused to return my Twitter follow. Bad form, Mr. Saleem.

Now, I’m on to Daniel Altman. He’s a Harvard grad, globalization expert, multi-book author, founder of a non-profit consulting firm and the youngest member of the New York Times editorial board….ever. Marry me and take me away to one of your three homes in Buenos Aires, Hong Kong or New York. Please.

So which blogger will be next to trip my fancy? Suggestions are welcome.

My Brain Exploded!

adventuresinsocialmedia — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:24:00 +0000

Check out my new post on All Thing Reconsidered:

See some cool material from Zach and Marcus too:

Could Technology Make the Age Gap Grow? Zach

Efficiency = Good Design Marcus

Dinner Time

adventuresinsocialmedia — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:40:37 +0000

Today I put up a post on All Things Reconsidered about some of the driving forces behind the global food crisis. Take a look at it here.

Food insecurity, whether global or local, is one of the issues I devote a lot of time to through research and volunteering. For the past 2 years I have been venturing outside Penn’s campus to screen people for food-stamps because it is easy to forget that while Donald Trump’s daughter might be sitting next to you in class (yep, she went to Penn), there are hungry people 2 blocks away.

Here’s the report that Mary Summers of Penn’s Fox Leadership Program published a few years ago. It’s a little outdated now, but the findings and stats helped to convince me that the global food crisis isn’t only happening across the world, but next door too.

Washing Up Greenwashing

adventuresinsocialmedia — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:33:31 +0000

Yesterday I posted a blog on JustMeans All Things Reconsidered called Shades of “Going Green.” It covers a Wharton conference that explores some strategies that companies use to become more environmentally friendly and benefit financially. I briefly mentioned “greenwashing” as an interesting topic in the green economy, but didn’t investigate further. Greenwashing can be defined as “the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government, a politician or even a non-government organization to create a pro-environmental image, sell a product or a policy, or to try and rehabilitate their standing with the public and decision makers after being embroiled in controversy” (from SourceWatch).

Here’s a video that shows the TerraChoice study that revealed that 99% of the researched companies were guilty of some form of greenwashing.

Here are what TerraChoice considers the Six Common Sins of Greenwashing:

1. Hidden Tradeoff

2. No proof

3. Vagueness

4. Irrelevance

5. Fibbing

6. Lesser of Two Evils

So what does this mean for consumers and companies? Because most businesses aren’t abandoning the bottom-line any time soon, it is up to consumers to research, ask questions and hold higher standards for the companies that sell us their products. Consumers should look beyond advertisements, packaging and branding, and start using social media to engage companies in a critical conversation about their joint environmental impact. At JustMeans, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to get companies to join the conversation, but it is up to consumers to make this dialogue interactive, important and ongoing.

Generational Divide?

adventuresinsocialmedia — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:51:54 +0000

I read this from BBC News today: “‘Oldest’ blogger dies, aged 108″. And it got me thinking…

In the JustMeans office, we often confront the “generational divide” when trying to explain ‘new media’ to ‘old business.’ The younger staff joke about how our parents don’t have any clue what we spend our days working on, but isn’t that a problem? Neither of my parents can even text message, so how do we encourage the “less-than-fresh” generation to use, engage in and meaningfully contribute to a social media platform like JustMeans?

While we are waiting for corporate social networking and consumer-generated media to take hold, nursing home bloggers give me hope.

Not that kind of del.icio.us…

adventuresinsocialmedia — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:53:20 +0000

I found this article from UK’s Daily Mail. The title says it all, “Summit that’s hard to swallow – world leaders enjoy 18-course banquet as they discuss how to solve global food crisis.” Do winter lily bulb or kelp-flavoured beef even taste good?

UK On The Brain

adventuresinsocialmedia — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:37:31 +0000

Since I’m moving to London for a few months in the fall, I’ve been looking around for news on social enterprise in the UK. After doing some networking on UnltdWorld, I’ve discovered that Londoners and other Brits are pretty down with the whole social entrepreneurship idea. Here’s my All Things Reconsidered posts on some cool news:

Social Investment in UK: Good Deals Conference

Social Entrepreneurship in the UK Resonates

Solar Enegy, Public Health and Olympic Sport

adventuresinsocialmedia — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:57:23 +0000

Check out my new blogs on JustMeans All Things Reconsidered:

General Motors Solar Energy in Spain

The Environment’s Impact on Health

Smell the pollution? Nope. Smell the Peking.

Out of a job or not?

adventuresinsocialmedia — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:27:45 +0000

I just posted a new entry on the JustMeans “All Things Reconsidered” blog collection. It’s called “FIRE! Interview from Fast Company with Charlene Li on Groundswell” and covers some of the author’s ideas on social media and business. In the interview she stresses the importance of employing a social media strategy that engages a company with people and NOT technology. I understand Charlene Li’s suggestion of discussion forums and interactive blogs as, ultimately, a new job market for web networkers, social media gurus and professional bloggers. Maybe I’m wrong, but in order to engage people in a constructive, corporate, yet personalized conversation, companies must build up their social media teams with smart people who can navigate the invisible.

So this brings me to my next, Fast Company reference. I recently read the article “Six Jobs that Won’t Exist in 2016” that suggested my highly anticipated career in blogging may be soon be obsolete. So, grappling with Charlene Li’s message to develop a well-researched and personalized corporate social media approach, where is my job as a blogger going? Get your story straight Fast Company, the caliber of my parents’ rest home depends on this.

Be Eco-Friendly: For anyone, including your dog

adventuresinsocialmedia — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Before I start my Fourth of July festivities, I thought I would leave a list of links that will help just about anyone be a little bit greener…

For The Businessperson

For The Stay-At-Home Mom

For The Child

For The Fashionista

For The Dog-Lover

For The College Student

For The Alcoholic

For The Drug Addict

For The Food Addict

For The Sex Addict (see boys, see girls)

I definitely fit into a few of these categories (however, I’m not saying which…), so I’m going to try to be a little bit greener this weekend and I hope you do too. Happy 4th!