Tag Archives: twitter

Just be yourself

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Last night while I waited for David to get close to Tulsa so I could go pick him up, I was perusing my twitter stream. This is what I saw:

First I saw my friend Erin Patrick say that it takes courage to become who you really are. I barely even had time to let that roll around in my brain when I looked further down and saw my friend Bernice’s tweet about letting go of perfection.

And it hit me.

That was when I finally had the courage to be who I was always meant to be. When I finally let go of perfection.

No one is perfect but I spent so many, almost tortured, years of my life trying to be just that. It was only when I finally realized I wasn’t, and would never be, perfect that I was able to be me.

And guess what? I like me! šŸ™‚

If you struggle with trying to be perfect all the time, you might want to read Bernice’s blog post. It’s good.

One of my favorite songs is The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. Some of the best words are:

Live right now, yeah, just be yourself
It doesn’t matter if it’s good enough for someone else

True, true, true!

Take it from me, letting go of the stress of feeling like you need to be perfect is such a relief. And it gives you the courage to be who you’re really meant to be.

Now go forth and be you! šŸ™‚

Why I LIKE the new @klout algorithm

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So I log into my klout account yesterday and I see that I’ve lost some serious pointage.

Just the day before, my klout score was 67 and I was classified as a Pundit. I liked that.

I look into my twitter stream and I see everyone is up in arms because their klout score has gone down. Well, I’m not too interested in my over all klout score.

I was never going to use my “klout” to get some poster or other little trinket. (Note: if they offer me a new Chevy Camaro as a klout perk to get me to tweet about what I’m getting, I sincerely will consider it).

But what I really like to see is my true reach number. That’s the one that’s important to me. I’m on twitter to meetĀ peopleĀ and build relationships so I feel that my true reach number should be relatively close to what my follower number is.

As I looked over this whole klout situation taking place in my stream, along came @mrautotweetwhitenoise (name has been changed so as not to insult anyone directly). I have blogged about him before. He, to me, is someone who just doesn’t get twitter.

Back when I first blogged about him, he had 50,000 followers and now he’s almost doubled that number.

But check this out:

My twitter follower count

His twitter follower count

And the very best thing:

Whoa! I have a higher klout score than he does, I have larger network influence, I have a larger true reach. Woo hoo!

Social media at the very minimum should be SOCIAL! It used to bother me to see @mrautotweetwhitenoise carrying a higher klout score when he was simply not present. Not social.

I feel vindicated, justified. I feel like my theory has been proven out. So, while you may bemoan your loss of klout points, realize that correction may provide a more accurate reflection of your true social media influence.

At least I’m going to go with that even though I still feel sad not to be classified a Pundit anymore. šŸ™‚

Knowing me, knowing you

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For the five years I directed the Mrs. Oklahoma International Pageant, I drove five Mrs. Oklahomas to the Mrs. International Pageant in Chicago.

Given how much “stuff” you need to compete for a week and the fact that Chicago is a pretty easy drive, it seemed to make a lot of sense. I always joked with the girls that the twelve (give or take) hour road trip with me was the prize they were looking forward to the most.

What I found was that thisĀ uninterruptedĀ time with each other helped us to form a bond that would carry usĀ throughĀ the year of her reign and beyond.

So I’m not sure why it is that I’m always so blown away when I receive a gift from one of these amazing gals that is just so right on the money.

We had a dinner last week to introduce the girls to Kristin, who is the new director for the pageant.

I wasn’t expecting any presents other than another opportunity to spend time with “my girls”, but Autumn, Mrs. OklahomaĀ InternationalĀ 2011, came bearing gifts.

First, there was a canvas wine bag with the saying, “So much wine, so little time!”

If you’ve been following me around twitter, facebook or in real life, you’ll know that I’m trying all kinds of new wines to try and get my fill since there is no alcohol allowed in Saudi.

Inside the wine bag, is a bottle of Middle Sister Rebel Red wine.

I am totally that sister down to the platform shoes! šŸ™‚

Then came the hand painted Queen wine glass.

Of course we all know that I am the Queen. šŸ˜‰

And last, but certainly not least, came the beautiful Willow Tree sculpture called “Grandmother”.

This just made me cry. Joyfully, of course.

The girls know me and Autumn is no exception. I love it and I love them.

Thank you, Autumn, for your beautiful, heart felt gifts.

xoxo Lauri šŸ™‚

A great resource

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All I know is just what I read in the newspaper. – Will Rogers

A few months ago, a new platform for sharing information on twitter and facebook came out in the form ofĀ paper.li.

Almost over night it seemed like everyone had their own newspaper. I looked at a couple of them but wasn’t terribly impressed.

But then my friendĀ Ron Hudson wrote a blog calledĀ 50 Social Media Phenoms. This list includes some of the usual, big name, suspects but it also includes people like…me!

People that Ron has actually developed relationships with and considers friends appear on this list. I was completely humbled to be included with such an amazing group of people, many of whom I’ve also developed friendships with via various social media avenues.

But then, Mr. Hudson took his list one step further and created a paper.li calledĀ The SocialMediaPhenoms Daily.

This, I read.

Not only did Ron collect a nice list of knowledgeable folks, he combined them into a really great resource. There hasn’t been an issue yet that I have not clicked in to at least two of the articles it contains which is about my average for a print newspaper like The Tulsa World.

The information I find in Ron’s paper, however, is more up to the minute and useful than any I would find in a print newspaper.

I encourage you to giveĀ The SocialMediaPhenoms Daily a look. There’s a lot of terrific information to be had and you don’t even have to look hard to find it!

Tweet tweet tweet tweet auto tweet

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I saw this tweet come through my stream last night:

I love this time of year-cool air, family & football!

Hmmm. In the 7 1/2 years I’ve lived in Oklahoma this is, without a doubt, the coldest winter ever. Ā The air isn’t just cool, it is by most accounts FRIGID.

And football? Well, the season is almost over. The Super Bowl is on Sunday.

An odd sentement to read yesterday to be sure. I wonder when it was set up to automatically tweet? I wonder if we’ll see it again in, oh say, June?

Twitter is for engaging. Actually being present, talking to the followers you have and those you are following. That is how real relationships are formed and sustained.

This is a particular soap box I like to climb on when I get the opportunity because the auto generated tweet confuses me. There is no engagement going on. When world events cause everyone who is actually present to be talking about that particular event and then you see a tweet like the one above come through, you just know that person isn’t really there.

So what do they gain? I just don’t know.

Happy birthday yaaaawwwwwnnnnnn

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The phone rang this morning and it was the car dealer where we bought Brandon’s car. Of course I was on the other line so I wasn’t able to get the call and it went to voice mail. When I retrieved the message it started by wishing Brandon a happy birthday blah blah blah.

Well, that’s a nice sentiment but my attention span is about 3 seconds long and the birthday wish wasn’t for me. Even if it was, I’m not sure I would have listened to the whole thing.

It’s a new day Mr. Car Dealer.

If I were the car dealer, I’d get myself a twitter account and a facebook fan page. I’d blow up my customer’s birthdays on those two social media outlets which would make them feel really special because I would have tons of followers/fans and they would feel like a celebrity being called out in such a public way on their special day.

Then I would invest in some way cool birthday postcards that are relatively inexpensive to produce, address and mail so that if they didn’t know I was making them a celebrity on the internet, my customers would have a birthday card in their hot little hand to know just how important they are to me.

But that’s me. And since I don’t own a car dealership, this is how I treat my contestants on their birthdays. Because I love them and they are important to me. And I want them to know it.