Thankful for Synergy

In light of the holiday, I thought it appropriate to take the time to express how overwhelmingly thankful I am. Of course I am grateful for my family, friends, and health. But beyond that, I'm appreciative to have found a career AND a job that pushes me to the limits as a strategist, marketer, and creative. It's never a dull moment.

The craziest bit about it? It's only been a month - 42 days to be exact - and yet I've learned more about myself in these last 6 weeks than I have in the last 6 months. I'm never one to brag, but I just have to give thanks to my mind, body, and heart for working as hard as it does each and every
day.

I think the picture below sums it up best:

And let me tell ya, it is awesome when you can get paid for doing what you love and what you're good at - especially when the entity genuinely believes in changing the world for the better.

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Kim K. and the Photo that Melted One Thousand Phones

I swore I would be better than this. I swore I would not give in and write about Kim Kardashian. Ever.

But the stunt pulled yesterday forced me to give in and weigh an opinion on the matter.

One thing I will say is "kudos" to her PR team and Paper Magazine for 'breaking the internet' yet again, making her the most tweeted name in the last month.

Don't believe me? Here are the stats (according to Topsy):

• On Nov. 8, just an average day, Kim Kardashian was tweeted about 12,000 times;
• Two days later, it was reported that she had made $43 million on her app, and she received 20,000 Twitter mentions;
• And then world caught a glimpse of that infamous derriere, and she was tweeted about more than 200,000 times.

Paper Magazine editor, Kim Hastreiter, said the issue was a conceptual art piece slash commentary on virality, audience and the power of social media and the enormity of the superstars that own it.

I get it. It's supposed to be artsy, it's entire purpose was meant to cause a stir. But an entire spread of nude photos, really? Kim, you are one of the biggest household names (regardless of how that all came to be), already live under a microscope, and are constantly under scrutiny. Above all of that, you are a mother to a beautiful baby girl who will one day ask questions about your life choices.  Or worse, try to emulate them.

Does being a celebrity make you less of a role model? Are you that depraved of attention? Obviously, the aforementioned stats say otherwise, so I'm sorry...maybe it's the feminist in me. Or maybe I'm way too conservative. All artistic concepts aside, this is when the virality of the internet really makes me cringe. They speculate that in a week's time, her cover will have been seen by ONE BILLION people. It's already this uncontrollable behemoth, and yet the audience continues to feed the beast. 

But I digress... I guess nobody believes in leaving anything to the imagination anymore?

/rant

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Oh, how far we've come...

I'm an avid follower of Sean Gardner, author of The Road to Social Media Success, and I wanted to share an infographic that he tweeted this morning. It's pretty self explanatory about the way office tools and technology have changed in the last 60+ years. 

I touched on the importance of reflecting on our past in order to appreciate/anticipate the future, but I have to say - it's fascinating to see just how far we've come in the way we conduct business. To say that we are dependent on technology is an obvious understatement. 

Infographic from CloudTweaks.Com

The infographic speaks to our "I want it now" mentality, since there is very little (if any) waiting to be had with the internet constantly at our fingertips. It also makes me appreciate the fact that I can communicate with colleagues across the country without the cost of a flight. There are some of the tools from the past that I refuse to give up just for nostalgia's sake (handwritten, snail-mailed letters, anyone?).

Do you find that some office tools are harder to rid of than others? Tell me which ones and why below!

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