Pamela Poole

life as a lipstick geek

May 16, 2010 • 10:56 am 1

Unliking Facebook

In the US, 25% of the web pages viewed are within Facebook. (That’s just so beyond sad.) This may partially explain why, when I told Facebook people I was leaving the site because I thought it was an unscrupulous and untrustworhy company (and asked them to connect with me on LinkedIn till something better came along), one of them, an educated woman, said “I am not sure what facebook is doing that you are troubled by, but do share!” and another one, who considers herself a web entrepreneur, just asked “Why are you leaving facebook?”

Upon reflection, I was surprised that I was surprised that people had no idea that Facebook has, from Day One, been subject to scrutiny and criticism for its morally questionable actions, blatant fuck-ups and lack of respect for users and their personal information. Of course (lightbulb)! Ordinary people don’t read about the Internet, they just jump right in and use it. And Facebook banks on that kind of lemming-ness.

Read the entire post on frogblog.

Filed under: apps, social media, web life, web trends

March 13, 2010 • 3:56 pm 0

Oversharing has never been so easy

My latest article on WebWorkerDaily is about how quick and painless it is to use Posterous to share the treasures you find on the Web across your many online social apps. Using the Posterous bookmarklet, you can send goodies to all your social apps at once, or pick and choose where you want things to go in literally a minute or two.

But although Posterous makes it easy for you to spread your Internet finds around, this doesn’t appear to be its primary goal. I have reason to believe that the people behind the app don’t want you to use it solely as a personal “cloud,” even though that’s how I suggest it be used in my article. The fact that all the content you send to your various social sites also appears on a Posterous site tells me that Posterous wants to be a blog unto itself and a stand-alone element of your online presence. Plenty of people do use it that way.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: apps, social media, web trends , ,

January 28, 2010 • 8:10 pm 0

Fatigue

There is a common theme to the last two posts I wrote for Web Worker Daily (which has a spiffy new design, BTW, check it out). One was about how to use a great little app called Tweepi to manage all your followers and followees on Twitter, and the other was about what to do when you are in over your head on a  project. I seem to write about managing chaos a lot. Hmmm… I am feeling very fatigued.

Speaking of fatigue, I saw the expression “social media fatigue” for the first time in a while the other day, just a few days after announcing to my husband “I’m bored with the Internet and Twitter right now.” Maybe that’s what I’ve got.

And of course, with what’s happened in Haiti, the expression “compassion fatigue” is on my mind, especially since I can’t seem to inspire even 188 Francophilia members to donate five bucks each to reach my $1,000 donation goal for earthquake relief. Inspiring is hard work. It’s making me tired. They must be fatigued too…

Filed under: apps, social media, web life , , ,

December 5, 2009 • 7:11 pm 0

Fondatrix

I’ve just created a Facebook group for women startup founders and management. Just a few weeks ago, I started talking to The Next Women in London about doing some blogging and interviews for them. To do that, I need access to women entrepreneurs. So I took the plunge and created Fondatrix.

It’s something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while now. You see, I’ve been on the web/tech/startup circuit for a couple years here in Paris, and the girlpreneurs are just not visible enough IMHO. And I have a very good idea about why that is… Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, tech events, web life , , ,

November 17, 2009 • 3:20 pm 0

You need a plan

Do you have a content strategy for your own social media presence? If you’re a professional, you probably should. Too many small business/startup blogs and Twitter feeds are too inwardly focused, all about features and updates or the founder’s views and activities.

I give some tips for getting a plan and making your content valuable in my Web Worker Daily article Taking Content Strategy Personally.

Content Strategy Forum 2010 — 15-16 April

Don’t know what content strategy is? Find out in Paris next April at Content Strategy Forum 2010, “for anyone who develops, manages, or delivers content within their own organization or for their clients: user experience designers, information architects, business analysts, technical writers, web project managers, documentation managers, translators, web marketers, practicing content strategists, and those looking to break into the field.”

Filed under: social media, tech events, web life, web trends , ,

August 29, 2009 • 12:51 pm 0

What does the Web say about you?

Everybody seems to have at least two cents to contribute to the apparently endless discussion of online identity (or personal branding, or e-reputation, or whatever you want to call it). I have plenty to say about it too; I even give talks on the topic. And since personal branding was the theme on Web Worker Daily last month, I contributed two articles that you might find interesting. Or not. But I do talk about Big Bird and pastries in an attempt to keep you from being too bored…

Filed under: social media, web life, web trends , ,

August 15, 2009 • 8:51 am 5

Burned by a client…

voleu2r

Everybody who knows me knows I’m a champion of French startups: on my own blogs, on Web Worker Daily, and IRL. But I’m on the verge of being really pissed off. There’s a French startup that owes me around 300 Euros for a translation I did, and they’re six months late paying…

The merde is about to hit the ventilateur.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, translation, web life , ,

July 27, 2009 • 3:09 pm 0

What will the Web be when it grows up?

…I’ve spent a few years with my finger on the racing pulse of the Web and I’ll tell you what. There’s a whole lot of crap out there. There are so many utterly ridiculous concepts that have managed to find programmers and investors, so many brain-wasters helping to speed along the decline and fall of Western civilization… We could be doing so much better. It can get depressing sometimes. But the reality is just this, and it will never change:

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, web life, web trends , ,

July 13, 2009 • 6:44 am 3

Miscellany. What else is there, right?

firefox

This week I’m launching an e-commerce site to accompany Francophilia, the social network for francophiles I founded. It’s running on the Zlio platform. It has some limitations, but I’m pretty happy to be able to offer my francophile members one-stop shopping for French and French-themed products!

Just found out my personal blog, frogblog, is ranked 42 of all blogs in the “France” category according to invesp consulting. And I’m in some pretty good company! But you know what they say about stats.

Got my blogging pass for LeWeb ’09. I’ll be there for Web Worker Daily again this year. I discovered some exciting startups to write about there in ’08.

I have a new dog. Well, actually, he’s a “used” dog. I even wrote about one of the reasons why someone with my lifestyle should get a dog on Web Worker Daily the other day. It was published on the day I got him from the shelter! His name is Wiley. But we also call him Firefox because he looks like a fox. And, of course, we are Firefox fans.

I got an iPhone! Like Wiley, it’s used — Vincent gave me his 2G when he got a 3GS. I spent Saturday morning playing with it in bed…

Filed under: social media, tech events, web life , , , ,

April 30, 2009 • 6:22 am 0

There’s something to be said for severing ties

Mark Morford on Facebook:

Old girlfriends, lost loves, long-forgotten friends, high school sweethearts, band mates, roommates, old nemeses, lots of former cheerleaders turned born-again Christian megamoms, and everything in between. All those old connections, those lives and chapters and periods of my life I thought I’d left behind so cleanly, so decisively, way back when? Here they all are again, like a living scrapbook, constantly renewing and updating itself. What a thing.

From: The vampires of Facebook: Could it actually be dangerous to connect with everyone you ever knew?

Filed under: social media, web life ,

April 27, 2009 • 7:49 am 0

Women Who Tech TeleSummit May 12

womenwhotech

This is not a ladies luncheon, girls. No cucumber sandwiches. Instead, the Women Who Tech 2009 TeleSummit offers a dozen different panels on hot topics moderated by women who know what they’re talking about (from SlideShare, BlogHer, YouTube, MoveOn and more). Panels include Launching Your Own Startup, Social Networks and Diversity Barriers, and Innovation and Tech Career Reinvention. $10 per panel. I’ll “see” you there!

Filed under: social media, tech events , ,

April 22, 2009 • 7:37 am 2

French men and fashion: Ooh la la !

ykone

Oh lucky me! I discovered Ykone, a sizzlin’ French startup last night when I saw their presentation at the Keiretsu Paris investors’ meeting. It’s a social network built around fashion brands that has really taken off in the couple of months since they launched. Delicious site (visually and in terms of interactivity), impeccable concept, an encyclopedia—literally—of content for the fashionistas. This is one to watch. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, tech events, translation, web life , , ,

March 31, 2009 • 1:33 pm 2

Twitter: one size does not fit all

francotwitter3

You must get separate personal and business Twitter accounts. Stop being lazy and do it now. Stan Berteloot, Marketing Director at KDS, gave the same bit of advice during his talk, “Follow Me on Twitter” at the STC France annual conference, where I gave a keynote address recently. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: apps, social media, tech events, web life, web trends , , , , , ,

March 24, 2009 • 8:03 pm 1

Champagne and tech writing

stcmanual2

I like teaching and public speaking because I love opportunities to share things that I find exciting.  I gave my latest talk, The Sum of Your Parts: The Importance of Online Identity, as a keynote address at the annual conference of the Society for Technical Communication – France. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, tech events, tech writing, web life , , ,

February 22, 2009 • 5:27 pm 0

The end of the free love fest

freelovesaas2

Web 2.0 was all about social and free, kind of like the Haight in the 60s. We tossed our inhibitions to the wind and let it all hang out. Alas, groovy people, the pendulum is swinging, as it inevitably must do. A sure sign: I had to pay WordPress money to change the CSS of this blog. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, web trends , ,

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