re-post "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

In honor of Santa Claus I wanted to share this editorial I came across posted on a Facebook friend's wall.


Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.


"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.




For the post please visit - http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/

If video killed the radio star, then Jersey Shore killed American entertainment

While searching for a relevant and timely topic for my next blog post, I came across Chris Brogan's 100 Topics I hope you write. Number 38, MTV Changed the World in the 80s - Here is What Comes Next, totally jumped out at me. Mostly because this past January I caved and watched an episode of MTV's newest "reality" show Jersey Shore. By now it's no longer "new" - they are now onto their second or third season - woopy-do!

While in Miami working on my own tan, guess who decided to stroll onto South Beach while we were there? That's right - the "ladies" of Jersey Shore. I even have the pleasure of having my back photographed and posted on some tabloid blogging site! Oh joy!

It's an art, with no right or wrong formula, so just go with it....

Social Media is a marketing channel, with the potential to create a viral* campaign. Social media allows you the ability to engage your audience (and potential customers) in valuable conversations about your company, product/service, brand, and upcoming promotion and/or event.

The social media marketing umbrella includes:

• Social networking sites/ online communities
• Blogs
• Online forums/ discussion boards
• Review sites
• Video and photo sharing sites

For effective social media marketing you want to be anywhere** (online) that enables and engages you with your audience.

Social media can increase your web presences, drive traffic to your website, expand brand awareness, generate exposure, and provide SEO benefits.

Social media has no tangible ROI, per se, but it can and does offer:

• Brand management
• CRM
• Product development
• Reputation management
• Customer interaction, feedback and support
• Community building
• SEO

Effective social media marketing can result in brand equity and loyalty that ultimately can affect sales and revenue. It may not be as direct as a salesperson closing a deal but WOM from a trusted friend of colleague is more of a seller than a salesperson's selling pitch.

*Please note that "going viral" is not an end-result goal to have with any Internet marketing campaign. Marketers are not the ones to determine if something will go viral, your audience and users do.
**With all marketing initiatives, you need to start with an objective first, and then decide which method and strategy to use to approach the goal at hand. Not all social media platforms are going to be as effective if the online community is not the niche market you are looking to engage with.

Mixing Personal with Professional

Not everyone is on the same page when it comes to social media and how to use it effectively in the professional setting. Many people still don’t get it, and most think it’s a fad and can’t be taken seriously when conducting business. Similar to billboards, radio and television, social media platforms are just another outlet to get your message out there. Social media is the new media and many “gurus” state different rules to follow for effective social media marketing. One thing they all have in common is that the objective of a social media marketing strategy is to get online and LISTEN. Funny, because that tip is similar to what women have wanted men to do forever - JUST LISTEN!

Most people advise you to just start using social media, join any and every group and start engaging and connecting with people, mostly because it’s a free medium. Honestly, that’s not a great idea. Like any strategy you must start with your objective. What is it you’re looking to achieve? Who is your target audience? Research, develop your message, and then join. Not all social media platforms hold the same value with what your objective may be. Not all target audiences are enrolled in every platform, granted 73 percent of Americans say they use the internet, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project report.

Blending Brands

Merging your personal “brand” and professional “brand” when it comes to social media is not a good idea. You take a risk similar to when a corporation uses a celebrity to endorse a product. Humans make mistakes. For instance, when a celebrity is endorsing a product and their image becomes tainted due to a recent arrest or illegal activity the product’s organization usually drops them pretty fast. Personal image can cross contaminated into your professional brand’s equity. Your personal brand should not be your professional brand, unless you’re trying to be famous for having no talent (i.e. Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, etc.). If you are trying to position yourself as an expertise in a particular field, that is still your professional brand as a person. You must learn and know how to keep that message consistent when doing so. How you conduct yourself in person should reflect in cyberspace. Although this is a very gray area and many will argue for blending your brands.
Strong recommendation is when using social media have your organization be its own entity on the social media platforms you utilize.

For example, if you’ve decided that Facebook is the platform you need to be on to engage with your target audience; create a fan or group page with your company’s brand name and message. Don’t use your personal Facebook page to get your company’s message out there. Keep the focus away from your personal “brand”. Joining the group or becoming a fan of your company’s page is encouraged to drive others to the page. But mixing the two is never a good idea.

Tweet this....

For those of you that do not know The Power of Twitter:

Twitter is a micro-blogging service and social network that allows users to post up to 140 characters per Tweet. According a report by Complete there are approximately 3.5 million unique monthly visitors to Twitter (http://siteanalytics.compete.com/twitter.com/?metric=uv). As of March 2008 total Twitter users was 1+million (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/29/end-of-speculation-the-real-twitter-usage-numbers/). Similar to that of text-messaging or instant messaging, questions and answers are updated instanteously allowing followers on Twitter to receive information almost before anyone else knows about it.

Case in point:

While attending a meet-up of The Boston Area Internet Marketing and Advertising Group back in July 2008, guest speaker Zach Hofer-Shall, independent Social Media consultant discussed the use and benefit of corporate blogging. During his lecture he mentioned that he knew about the July 2008 California earthquake seven minutes before it hit the news, because of Twitter.

An article from the 60Second Marketer on September 22, 2008 reported that one of the followers of 60SecondTwitter sent a Tweet alert in regards to a suspicious looking piece of luggage at JFK. She checked on CNN and MSN and had seen no other mention of it at the time. Another 60SecondTwitter follower stated that the Twitter commnity is also ahead of the online versions of the NY Times and MSNBC (http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2008/09/22/twitter-reports-news-faster-than-cnn-msn-nytimes-msnbc/ ).

Twitter has also helped get an American man out of an Egyptian jail in April 2008.

Twitter has helped build brand loyalty and increase traffic to company websites and blogs. Zappos and Comcast are the top two corporate brands that are most referenced in regards to Twitter success case studies. In the cases of Zappos and Comcast Twitter is used for brand monitoring, customer service, and reputation management.

Tweeters can have their Twitter page ranked using Twitterank, a Page Rank for Twitter uses. It uses ''back references'' to determine how valuable of a ''tweeter'' you are in Twitterverse (http://new.twitterank.com/).

Twitter language and definitions

l Twitter — noun. mirco-blogging site at Twitter.com
l Tweet — verb. act of sending a message via Twitter (one who tweets is a Tweeter)
l Re-tweet — verb. to repost another Tweeters tweet via your own twitter page (Tweeters often re-tweet)
l Tweeters — noun. people who have a Twitter account and Tweet
l Tweeps — noun. people who Tweet
l Twitterverse — noun. The world of Twitter
l Twitterville — noun. Twitter.com community
l Tweople — noun. People who Twitter

Learn something new everyday....

Via an email chain this afternoon, I found out what the 12 Days of Christmas and a Partridge in a Pear Tree stand for and wanted to pass it along.

"From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember."

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.

-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

Merry (Twelve Days of) Christmas!

Brighton, Massachusetts is a great college city minutes from Boston. The amount of restaurants and bars in Brighton make it a great destination when you are looking for Boston fun, but without having to pay those high Boston prices. Parking is free on the street at night and if you live close it’s about a $10 cab ride, at least from our apartment it is.
The past two Saturdays we’ve found ourselves at The Green Briar located on Washington Street in Brighton. It’s a quaint little Irish pub with good fun and live entertainment on the weekends. I never got the name of the band that played Saturday night, but they were really good. And my friend was pleasantly surprised to find out they served Magner’s Irish Cider.
According to their website http://greenbriarpub.com/greenbriarpub/ there’s traditional Irish Seissun on Mondays, Prime Time Trivia on Tuesdays, and College Quiz night on Wednesdays.
After last call there we all hopped a cab and headed to the Last Drop to finish off our night of drinking then someone mistakenly mentioned IHOP and we all ended up there and ran out of money………………..until next weekend!