Dino Baskovic Can’t Lose

It's simple, really. I will blog about whatever the first 10 people tell me to blog. Ten posts in all, first come first served according to datetime stamp. Even if I haven't a clue as to the subject matter and I have to ad lib as I go.

The only stipulations are that you must tweet me your suggestion at @ProfessorDino via Twitter, and only one entry per person, please. No changing your mind, so make your tweet count.

Nothing's off the table here, and I can't guarantee you'll like what I write. But I will of course credit you for your suggestion.

So, what say ye?

Down to two business cards left, from months of networking and travel, it was time to restock.

My official title is "Manager, Social Media and Online Public Relations and Public Relations Services." Exactly. My old cards simply read "Manager, Social Media + Online PR."

This time, I decided to be simpler. And drop the cutsie plus sign. Enter: "Manager, Public Relations."

PR pros, at least the real ones, know that social media is no longer trendy. I tell people up and down that, guess what, it's just part of who we are and what we do. No longer a value-added add-on or whatever, we blog, we tweet, we meetup, we connect with people through social networks and iPads and PlayStations and on and on. Execs get it, editors get it, and eventually you will too, you so-called self-proclaimed social media gurus.

From one reformed guru to another,
DB

ESPN blogs about the Tribe Social Deck, an experiment to drum up excitement (with apologies to John Adams) and boost attendance for Cleveland Indians home games.

The idea is to select Tribe fans that will gladly trade their score cards for press credentials in anticipation that they will cover games online and generate positive buzz. Even though the Indians could stand for more wins than bloggers, it's a worthwhile experiment that costed their PR team virtually nothing to produce.

Being a Cleveland boy myself, it will interest me to see how the Tribe Social Deck plays out. At least one local blogger and the Waiting For Next Year site have sounded off, and I wonder if other sports venues will follow suit.

For now, my Tribe is four games behind the Twins in the AL Central. Tweets are great, but so are stats.

Mr. Sachin Agarwal
Chief Executive Officer
Posterous.com

Thinking I'm done with Tumblr and torn between keeping Posterous or moving back to WordPress for my own blog.

Get this through your head now: there is no room for racism. Not in 2010, not ever and certainly not on my Wall.

Yesterday, I posted the following status update to Facebook:

Dino Baskovic just sent in his U.S. Census form. Have you?

I was pleased to see so many "yes" responses. Then one of my friends asked why the 2010 Census form uses the term "Negro" when asking for one's race. It was a legitimate question that has raised some ruckus in recent months, which led the Census director to blog about the matter back in January. Agree with it or not, that is what appears on the current Census form.

Being an open thread, I wanted to see whether any other respondents would offer an answer, even a mere link to a Census site FAQ. I went back to work, only to regret having left the thread open as long as I did. An otherwise good soul left an unfortunate, racist remark in bad taste (I won't honor the comment by reposting it here).  I immediately deleted the remark and later offered an apology to the thread, going so far as to "unfriend" the individual in question.

I felt the remark was in poor taste and wholly offensive. Perhaps in some areas of the country, as we can be painfully reminded that times have not a-changed, such speech is acceptable. To me, that kind of schoolyard "humor" ended after recess a long, long time ago, and it wasn't even funny then. Truthfully, it was shameful then as it is now.

Such are the perils of social media. From time to time, you invite the occasional, unintended numbskull that you so badly want to sit down with behind close doors, smack them on the back of the head and ask, "what on earth were you thinking?"  Of course, you have a reputation to protect, even if they themselves don't. My advice? Act swiftly. Apologize profusely for the action, as I did, and make no apologies for removing said comment, even banning said poster if warranted.  

Luckily, the respondents appear to understand what was an isolated incident. It saddens me to no end that someone who is otherwise a nice person would think in such terms--or not think as it were.  Sure, we all make mistakes and I have expressed myself online in ways I wish I could take back in retrospect. But some lines you just don't cross.

Some forms, however, you do cross. At least fill out, like the Census. There's still time to do your part, no matter your race.

Image courtesy of J.DoyonPhotography's photostream on Flickr

As I lamented on Facebook earlier this week about my pathetic foraging for rabbit food (fennel to be exact), an old high school chum chimed in with her shared disdain of my sissy snack habits.  We scoffed at people that drink organic beer, because really, organic beer?  C'mon.  Carefully stuck into our cursory exchange of witty banter was a simple question:

"And what is with the blog?"

My reply:

"The blog is my soap box: half personal, half professional. I get paid to play with social media for a living. And I smell good."

Smell good.  Soap box.  Get it?  Ahem...

Lately, my blog feels like a soap box.  Which is fine, 'cuz I have been paid to stand on one for the better part of my career.  Still, I can't help but feel like I need to shake things up a bit.  Admittedly, I'm losing interest in half of what I write.  If I write one more diatribe about social media I am going to gouge my own eyes out.  More than enough maharishis rant about why the web is this or that, and this is one swami sick of the same elixir.

I need new material.  Not that I will shelve the social stuff altogether.  After all, it pays the bills.  But this happened once before, long ago, in a magical land where there were no blogs or citizen journalists.  Just brazen geeks with a text editor in one hand and a Dortmunder in the other.  I had a pretty lil' web site with a respectable readership, I got bored with it and let it whither on the vine.  Why?  Many reasons, but namely I got bored with it.  Why?  Because after a while, I felt like I had nothing interesting to say.

Blogging means being compelling, engaging, intriguing.  You know, interesting.  Enough people tell me I am interesting.  I choose to believe them.  My writing at times reads like I am trying to sound interesting.  That's dangerous.  Then I am blogging just to blog.  That serves no purpose.  Like people that tweet every itch they scratch.  That sucks.  Less filler, more barley.  That doesn't suck.

Time to get off my soap box.  Time to make things interesting.  This will be fun.

Here are ten joints you may want to reconsider before checking in on Gowalla or Foursquare:

1. Adult "entertainment" venue, and I don't mean Applebee's after 9 o'clock
2. That place you see your paramour, and I don't mean the band
3. Rival gang turf
4. Border patrol if you are a spy
5. Dark alley to interview, only later to reveal, an anonymous source
6. Your bank, after hours, in the vault, holding power tools
7. Hot job interview while gainfully employed
8. SXSW when you're not actually there, poser
9. Betty Ford, or that place Tiger checked himself into
10. Jail

The subject of geolocation sparked some interest during yesterday's social media presentation I gave to InterCom Kalamazoo. The independent consultants, recent college grads and transitional career types in attendance were certainly no strangers to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Yet they struggled with the value of status updates in those social networks. "Tell me again why I care that my friend is drinking coffee, or a certain brand of coffee, or whatever?" was the general consensus. (I'm just as guilty, bearing my soul to my Facebook friends that I've switched to decaf. Do you really care?)

Some connections do care, and according to Mark Zuckerberg, you do more than you think. So do marketers, though they're not so concerned about you as they are your connections and how they interact with you. No so much my taste in coffee but the brands that my friends, and their friends, consume, how often and, these days, where. Reigning geo champ Foursquare just announced a joint promotion with Starbucks on the heels of its Bravo deal:

Heavyweight contender Gowalla is not far behind, with multiple brand deals, its own promo with the Travel Channel, sponsorships of the recent Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Haitian earthquake relief efforts. Both rivals are a hot topic in Texas, speaking of SXSW. Each are accessible on multiple mobile platforms, and are consuming more of my mindshare than I care to admit. The optimist in me sees geolocation becoming a permanent fixture in social media. The pessimist sees the fervent adoption this latest bandwagon and then thinks back to Second Life.

Regardless, geolocation is a game changer. Google wants in on the action with its Latitude and Buzz apps. Twitter just added geo-location to tweets and Facebook is not far behind. Somewhat related, I brought up Blippy to yesterday's lunch crowd, and they immediately scoffed at the notion of broadcasting their credit card purchases. Given the inherent privacy concerns, I can't blame them one bit. Still, one of my points yesterday was to "fear not the cosmos" and for all we know, they could be managing geolocation campaigns for their companies or clients in the not too distant future.

On a personal note, I've played with Foursquare and will inevitably get dragged kicking and screaming. Tagging my "20" isn't my current cup of tea, but don't be surprised if I'm chirping about some chai concoction over wi-fi before long. Had the "First Mama" had Foursquare, she may have even allowed mobile check-in at the boozey bin. But I digress. Grab a cup of joe and a mobile app and see for yourself whether geolocation is right for you and your cause.