China, The Biggest Losers At This Year’s Olympics
It was reported yesterday by the NYTimes that China is restricting foreign journalists from accessing certain websites during the Olympic games. Despite promises that this would not be the case, reporters from all over the world are finding certain web sites off limits, specifically those that address the controversy surrounding Tibet. 
When China was granted hosting privileges for the games 8 years ago, it promised to improve its human rights record. Now that the time is here to deliver, they are failing on all fronts.
Rather than secure positive press coverage of the games, the Chinese government took the fastest route possible towards accomplishing the opposite. They essentially tarnished the harmonious spirit of the Olympic games and flat out embarrassed themselves as a result.
Unlike prior instances of reported censorship (flickr, google searches, etc), this case is different because it effectively offends major International organizations like the IOC and Amnesty International. Media conglomerates and corporate sponsors are affected as well.
As awful as the reality of this situation is, can good come as a result?
Is this the straw that will break the camel’s back in the sense that WE as a global community are finally going to pressure China enough to adopt our values? (I say our values in the least patronizing, non-hegemonic U.S. way possible)
I want three things from China:
· I want them to participate in global conversations.
· I want their citizens to be taken care of.
· I want them to enjoy the liberty of using the technologies that they’re responsible for manufacturing.
Are this year’s Olympic games enough of a PR debacle for the Chinese government where they’re finally going to reconsider their practices as a nation?
UPDATE:
Apparantly the Chinese government isn’t the only culpable party. Members of the IOC secretly conspired with them! This just keeps getting worse…
photo by: news.yahoo.com
Thoughts on A Successful Life
In my last post, I blogged about a rocky start to what has been an intense past two weeks. Luckily, I’m still alive so you know that I was neither fired nor beaten to a pulp as a result of my mishap the other week. There are tons of things that I could write about right now, tons of things that I will write about in the future, but I want to start at the beginning.
At a very early age, I figured out that it was important to excel at school. My early successes were in the form of A’s on report cards and the satisfaction of never having my parents monitor my study habits. As time went on, I then began to see the value of learning itself, something beyond standardized tests and college acceptances. These successes came to me in the form of books and an expanded worldview; a new set of tools that would help me understand human interaction and endeavor. Then senior year of college happened and suddenly, success seemed neither definable nor attainable. It was due to neither lack of ambition nor lack of resources, but rather the fact that I could no longer define what success meant for me.
As I began to think about life after graduation, I would talk to my parents about potential career paths and then scan job listings. May drew near and I found myself prescribing to a definition of success that was neatly packaged in the form of a job title and salary. I desperately wanted to break free from this mindset, but I took a job in the meantime that would allow me to think about who I was and what I wanted in a very safe and familiar space.
I began working as a Staff Recruiter in Barnard College’s Admissions Office where I had been employed as a student. It was here that I observed the state of higher education in America, listened in on conversations between parents and their kids, and conversed with hundreds of students, many of whom reminded me of myself. During serveral interviews I conducted, I often found myself frustrated as I listened to students describe their GPA’s, SAT scores, after school activities, and weekend community service hours. They were all part of the same system that I had departed from, one that left me asking myself everyday, “I’ve done so much already, but so what?”
How was I, Alexa Scordato, supposed to change the world? How was anything I had ever done in my scholastic past relevant to others? I was now working with a blank slate and that realization was daunting. After processing this reality, I put aside my past accomplishments and accolades and began to think about what I wanted in life and who I wanted to be as a person. At the root of it all, I said I wanted the following:
- I want to help others.
- I want to provide for myself and those I love.
- I want to go to bed everyday feeling like I accomplished something.
I wasn’t sure how to go about achieving those goals, but I saw the potential within the world of social media. Unlike most industries I had observed, I found everyone in the space to be happy, passionate, and well-intentioned. Around every corner, it seemed like someone was always wiling to help someone, constant collaboration. Although no longer a student, I was determined to school myself on everything there was to know about the social web. When I wasn’t in the office 9 - 5 or commuting on the Long Island RailRoad, all my time was spent doing one thing: playing on my laptop. I was managing forums, teaching myself HTML/CSS, playing with Wordpress, reading blogs, beta testing social networks, and listening to podcasts. All the while I was wondering how I could harness this interest of mine into a professional career.
Come spring, I departed from my job at Admissions and headed to Boston for two months, the mecca of what I believe to be social community at its finest. It was a temporary experiment, one that I believed would provide clarity and guidance when I returned to New York. I spent the spring inspired by folks like Chris Brogan, Bryan Person, Laura Fitton, Maria Thurrell, and Amanda Gravel, who encouraged me to pursue this route as a career path. The rest of my spring was spent freelancing and working for incredible friends and mentors like Stephanie Agresta and Steve Rosenbuam.
After reading about Aaron Strout’s Hiring and Getting Hired in a Web 2.0 World, I returned to Boston where I knew he would be speaking. For many reasons, I wanted to work at Mzinga (more on this in a later post) and I followed Aaron’s advice on how to make that happen. I polished my social network profiles, blogged, and followed up with him in the best way I knew how to - through Twitter. It was only within a matter of weeks that I found myself packing what little belongings I had and moved into my new Coolidge Corner home.
Although there is still more figuring out to do, I now have a working definition of success that I’m happy with. For me, a successful life is one that allows you to choose. It’s a lifestyle where you’re in control of your destiny, making situations happen for yourself, and fully aware of how your actions can impact those around you.
I think back to those three organic wants of mine that I isolated last year and already I feel like I am well on my way.
In terms of my desire to help others, I’m in a position where I help someone every day. In order for me to get this job, I had to write a memo that was titled, “Change the World by Helping Barry Libert.” I’m now on a two-person team now where our purpose is to help each other and help Mzinga, theoverarching goal being to teach the world the importance of social communications with respect to business, technology, and education. Words cannot describe how excited I am about what is to come as a result of this partnership.
As for my desire to provide for myself and those I love, I can officially say that I am independent. Minus a few payments I have to make to my parents for backdated credit card bills, I’m financially on my own. It is going to be impossible for me to give back what I have been given because I will forever feel indebted to them. However, this is a start to what I hope will produce dream vacations and happy retirements for the two people I love the most.
Lastly, my desire to go to bed feeling accomplished is most definitely checked off. Although I feel perpetually behind on the many tasks that I have on my to-do-list, working in an industry that I love allows me to feel productive every day. Whether most people realize it or not, this for me is the root of why Web 2.0 is so appealing. It allows individuals to think, create, and give - to produce content that showcases individual thought and share it in a way that collectively inspires and helps change the world, one post at a time.
How do *YOU* define success?
Messing Up and Moving On
Today I felt like the biggest fail whale ever. 
As much as I want to say mistakes happen, I have a very hard time processing disappointment (This is in reference to my mistakes by the way, not other people’s). I easily forgive and forget, but when it comes to myself, I am my harshest critic.
This morning, I was supposed to board a plane with my new boss, Barry Libert. We were scheduled to meet at 5:10 at Hascom Airfield, and I completely overslept. When I looked at my watch this morning, the time read 5:15. I immediately scrambled for my phone, which I saw was flipped open next to my pillow. My eyes darted to the alarm clock resting on my nightstand, and my heart dropped when I saw it set to the snooze position.
Somehow, my body had failed me.
I managed to sleep through two alarms and even dismissed the text messages that my friend in Las Vegas was sending me as a wake up call. Frantic, I dialed Barry’s number and delivered the news that I wasn’t going to make it. I couldn’t tell whether he was angry or not, but his voice was steady and his instructions firm. ”Be at the office by 7:30.”
The majority of the morning was spent processing what had happened and worrying about the consequences of my behavior. What if the limo didn’t show in Philadelphia? What if the papers I was delivering were important? What if this project or presentation was something that would affect other initiatives in the future? I had a million and one questions, but one weighty feeling - disappointment.
It is rare that I don’t deliver and when that happens, I think about it for days, maybe even weeks. It’s one thing if you forget a friend’s birthday, but in an environment like the one I’m working in, I feel like the magnitude of a slip-up is amplified to the max. Multiple parties are involved, money is at stake, reputations, etc. It’s really just not something you want to be associated with and the realization that you are the person culpable is daunting.
As for timing, this was a disaster for my second day. Instead of starting off on the right foot, I feel like I took a step backwards and tripped over my own shoelaces in the process.
Anyway, I was sitting here in my little cubicle reading supportive DMs from friends and talking to Matt Knell, who is an amazing human being. We were having this conversation about the work we do, who we are as people, and what matters in life (not bad for a 9 AM cup of coffee chat). Amongst other words of wisdom, he told me ”If you can’t change it, don’t worry about it. If you do the best you can, you’ve done all you can do.” This “let it go girl” pep talk put my mind at ease and kept me composed the rest of the day.
I look at Matt’s random act of kindness, something as simple as taking the time to talk to a friend, and realized that tiny gestures can make all the difference.
I’ve spent the rest of my day trying to do some little things to make up for this morning’s debacle and plan on bringing my A-game from here on out. Hopefully I’ll rack up enough + points over time to redeem myself, but for now, I’m keeping a positive attitude and looking forward to a fresh start tomorrow**.
(**Sidtenote: Watch the video directly on youtube to see the cool new annotations feature in action.)
“It’s going to be okay. Tomorrow = New day!” (The message I wrote to myself on my dry-erase board.)
Thoughts on Jobs After My First Day at Mzinga
How many people can say they love their jobs? How many people actually like their coworkers? How many people out there are working in a profession where they feel like they’re making a difference?
I feel incredibly lucky that I can answer YES to all of the above. Can you?
Hair today, Gone tomorrow!
I’m so behind schedule, but I have to blog about this. I just cut my hair 11 inches! I’ve done this before, but each time it’s uber scary. (I didn’t have my microphone configured correctly when I recorded this video so you can’t hear me, but look at the hair!! ahhhh)
FireFox Download Day: Killer Social Media Marketing
Firefox 3 is out today and I downloaded it along with millions of other smart, sensible web users (;)). We’re trying to set the world record for most software downloads in a single day and so far, it looks like we’re gonna pull it off. I’ve been using the beta for months, and in addition to loving FF3, I have to say that I’m thoroughly impressed by Mozilla’s marketing efforts. If you go to wakoopa.com/downloadday, you’ll see a live update of number of users who downloaded FF3. As I write this post (about 12 hours into DL day), it’s currently at 4,932,609. Incredible!
Mozilla’s Download Day initiative is a true example of killer social media marketing. The site SpreadFireFox.com has an easy-to-navigate layout and clearly invites visitors to be part of a greater *community* initiative. It’s not a team of employees who are making it happen; it’s an entire web community who believe in their product.
What they did right:
- Incorporated dynamic content on their main page. Successful websites today need to take on a life of their own. This is done by the community or site visitors who act like oxygen, breathing air into a site with their content and conversation. On sharefirefox.com, there are elements like a forum, live comments, and a photo stream that reflect this.
- Initiated and engaged in community-based conversation. The creation of a forum completely invites users to talk amongst each other as well as interact with actual peeps from FF. Props to the Mozilla team for having the sense to be responsive to the discourse and maintain a fairly updated FAQ.
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Invited users to help. The beauty of social media marketing is that once you give users the tools, they go out and do all the legwork. Check out all the ways Firefox users could help spread the word about download day: Host in-person download day parties, share on sites like facebook, bebo, and myspace, and post badges onto blogs via affiliate codes. They even created a Twitter account! I predict we’re totally going to set the world record as a result of these efforts. I’m ecstatic because I am such a FF fangirl. Some folks like IE, but every time I engage in a conversation about the better web browser, I liken the conversation to arguments I had in Middle School:
12 Year-Old Alexa’s Conversation
Me: “Nsync is so the better boyband.”
Random teenybopper: “Nu-uh. Like, Backstreet Boys ALL THE WAY!”
Me: “Who’s your favorite member?”
Random teenybopper: “Nick Carter”
Me: “We can’t be friends.”
21 Year-Old Alexa’s Conversation:
Me: “Firefox is SO the better web browser.”
Random person: “Nu-uh. IE FTW!”
Me: “No way. What version are you running?”
Random geek: “IE6.”
Me: “We can’t be friends.”
(Seriously IE6 folk… Why?! I can’t believe I’ve evolved into this big of a geekette that I’m blogging about a web browser, even worse that I’m comparing web browsers to boy bands, but that’s me.
A few notes about the browser itself: I’ve used FF3 on both Windows (Vista and XP) and right now on my Mac. Surfing the web is fast and friendly. Little nuances make the entire experience better, like the way url’s are cached as well as the cute little star in the address bar that serves as a bookmark icon. All my extensions are upgraded and work fine (web developer, tiny url, piclens, bettergmail, delicious, etc.).
If you haven’t downloaded FF3 already, DO EEET!!!! If not for the browser features, do it because Mozilla’s marketing efforts should be rewarded! Oh, and also because FF3 totally gives new meaning to the Justin Timberlake song, “SexyBack“:
33: Pimping Out Startups: How I’m Helping Magnify.net During Internet Week
For the past month or so, I’ve been doing some part time work over at Magnify.net, an exciting start up in New York that provides video solutions to publishers that want to integrate and aggregate video content on their existing websites. My daily tasks range from answering support tickets to strategizing company initiatives, and most recently, running around the streets of Manhattan with a big orange alien man cutout.
As part of InternetWeek NY, I am pimping out Magnify’s brand and I’m doing it through a blog I created titled, “Internetweek.tv.” For the first time ever, the city of NY in cooperation with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting, is putting together a seven day smorgasbord of startups, meetups, panels, and parties, all in celebration of one of my favorite things ever - the Internet. Steve Rosenbaum, Magnify’s CEO was looking for something fun to do as part of the festivities and I suggested the creation of this site. Not only does it increase exposure to Magnify’s brand, it also gives New Yorkers an opportunity to get some solid Internet Week coverage (there’s no official internet week blog…weird right?). Last but not least, this also gives the Magnify team, in particular me, a really great opportunity to go out, listen, learn, engage in conversations, and just have a good time. it’s called putting the social in social media.
As the head of Magnify’s Internetweek.tv initiative, I’m literally turning into a one woman media machine. I’m going to events, taking photos, recording videos, conducting interviews, and then blogging, uploading, flickr-ing, editing, tweeting, promoting, etc. I live for this stuff. What makes me so happy is that in the past, I would normally be out there doing this stuff anyway, and now I actually get to say that it’s my job to do it.
When you’re in high school and in college, you can only hope that you have a career in life that allows you to do something you love. I tell myself that I’m lucky to be doing what I’m doing every single day.
This is just day 1 of my Internet Week extravaganza and I’m looking forward to more media madness that will ensue throughout the course of the week. I’m determined to take our little Magnify cutout man with me everywhere and have him pose with famous NY landmarks and all the cool people I meet along the way. He’s officially my new boyfriend.
You can follow my progress on the Internetweek.tv blog and get some behind the scenes insight here.
Oh, and last but not least, a big thank you goes out to my buddies B & E, who were nice enough to help me theme the site and prep it for launch. You guys rock my socks.
34: I want my MacBook Pro Back
So the other day, by beloved MacBook Pro crapped out on me. I went to turn the machine on and I heard the start up chime, but the screen stayed black. “Maybe I just need to let the battery charge,” I thought. Nope. “Maybe I just need to restart in safe mode.” Nope. “Maybe I need to connect it to an external monitor and play around with my install discs.” Nope.
I researched on various Mac forums for a solution and went down to the Apple store on 14th street. My logic board is hopeless and there’s a sibling error on my harddrive. Apparantly the crazy dent I have on the lower casing voids my warranty and 3 year apple care so I’m looking at a price tag of $1240 to have my baby fixed.
It was impossible to stop the tears from welling up in the store. I was having one of those dilirious episodes in my head too where I imagined that the guy really meant $12.40. I went to Tekserve for a second opinion and they gave me an option that still resulted in sending my laptop back to Apple.
I am frustrated beyond belief. I’m currently working on an Acer laptop running Vista and I pretty much want to shoot myself in the face. At this point, I don’t know whether I should just buy a new MacBook, invest in the MacBook Pro repair, or even buy a new MacBook.
My parents think it’s silly to invest in another Apple product, but I’m convinced that once you go Mac, you never go back.
35: Balancing the Personal and the Professional
Ever since I dove into this whole social media thing, I’ve heard the following messages on repeat:
- Your blog is your resume
- You must establish your personal brand
- You must use your site as a storefront, a store where you’re selling one product - yourself.
As a result, I feel pressure to write posts about “smart” things complete with”smart” commentary. I feel the need to write about topics related to the social media landscape, all from the perspective of my twentysomething viewpoint. I feel the need to cater this blog to an audience of people who I want to get to know me, people who might hire me, who might work with me, people who I respect and admire. Like the bullet points on any job description, I want my posts to showcase who I am and what I do.
At the same time, I still have to embrace who I am outside of the social media bubble. I am a person, a young female who has insecurities, doubts, and dreams. I can’t write like the A-list bloggers I read because I simply don’t have the experience or the authority to project that same voice. I want to blog about my friends and silly stupidnes that ensues when we get together. I want to blog about how much I enjoyed Iron Man and how much I cried when I went to watch Sex & the City at midnight on Thursday. I want to blog about my relationships, the move I’m about to make to Boston, the absurdity of politics in America, the ignorance of the average person, the awesomeness that is Wii, and also how desperately I want to get my nails done today.
Most of the time when I don’t post, it’s not because I don’t have a lot to say, it’s because I have too much to say. I get wrapped up in thinking about what I *should* write, that I skip over what I *feel* and *need* to write, to the point where I just don’t do it at all.
I realize I acknowledged this in previous posts I wrote, but it’s so much easier to dish out advice than execute it yourself. That said, I’m remotivating myself to be a better blogger by posting more. I think I can establish myself professionally without having to compromise myself personally. Hopefully both voices will be heard in the posts to follow.
I’ll leave off with an excerpt from one of my favorite movies, Across the Universe:
“What you do defines who you are.”
“No. Who you are defines what you do.”
“It doesn’t matter what you do. It’s how you do it.”
36: Is this Generation Epic Fail?
I ran out to Barnes & Noble today to pick up Mark Bauerlein’s book, The Dumbest Generation. I took an interest in the title after reading a couple of Amanda Chapel’s notoriously snarky comments on Twitter:
The book is clearly stirring up controvery and it’s not just on my timeline. Last week, Boston.com published a list of 8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation and the link received 2015 Diggs. As referenced by Chapel in her tweet above, the Wall Street Journal also wrote about the book while CNET mentioned it in a blog post.
It’s doesn’t surprise me that there’s this much talk about the topic since Bauerlein is essentially targeting the most vocal demographic of Americans out there - loud, opinionated, and highly communicative Generation Y-ers who he might as well rename “Generation Epic Fail.”
According to Bauerlein’s thesis, no one under the age of 30 can be trusted. I am a member of this so-called “dumbest generation”, someone who is supposedly stupefied by excessive amounts of time in front of my computer, and engrossed in activities that deplete my intellectual curiosity and impede my ability to communicate like a real human being.
Under most circumstances, I’m open to constructive criticism, but I’m having a hard time reading this book with an open mind. I want to point out that based on what I’ve seen in the introduction alone, Bauerlein’s thesis is inherently flawed because of the framework he uses to discuss his argument. To paraphrase, Bauerlein says that his book is not about the cultural attitudes and social trends of today’s youth. Instead, it is only focused on asserting the fact that intellect amongst this generation is severely lacking.
Now according to Merriam-Webster, intellect is defined as, “the power of knowing as distinguished from the power to feel and to will : the capacity for knowledge.
Bauerlein argues that while this generation has a great expanse of knowledge readily available at all times, the majority fail to actually access or process it. Instead, individuals are immersed in a series of meaningless, impersonal exchanges, consisting of passed on, unprocessed bits of information. We can retrieve data whenever we want to, but our failure to recall it is a skill we sorely lack. In other words, we are plugged-in, but mentally tuned out.
I don’t think I’ll ever accept any argument that categorizes me as being dumb or destined to fail. That said, I’ll keep reading and look forward to the discussions that will ensue. If you’ve read this book or plan on it, I’d love to hear what you think.
Follow up posts will happen along the way…
