Don't be artisocial

Has artificial social eroded the exponential adoption trajectory of social media and social networking?  It's time to back off artisocial.  And what does this even mean? 

Artificial could be defined as lacking spontaneity or forced and Social as devoted to or characterized by friendly relations; and in the sense of social media and social networking, collaborative and seeking or enjoying the companionship of others.

artificial + social = artisocial and could be defined as unnatural devotion; companionship that was not generated from spontaneity. 

Arguably, some of the best things about the social media and social networking environments, tools and features are their collaborative, crowdsourcing and social propagation components.  Key examples are “like” buttons and hashtags such as #Stampthispostingwithahastagsootherscanfinditeasily.  Artisocial marketing has started to erode these core engaging and likable aspects. The “Like” button works so well because it is juvenile and with the click of a single button one can identify themselves with a brand, idea or concept amongst their social peers.  The insertion of the marketer and that a reward will be given for liking something not only erodes this natural and organic social activity but actually destroys the foundation of being spontaneous and natural.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Marketer, Please stop asking your customers to “Like” you.  Have you considered that they may not be that valuable to you if they are only liking you because you have asked them to or are giving away a prize?  Please direct them to your product or your social media page and let them “Like” you naturally.

In addition, just because your organization started a blog under the guise of a well respected leader doesn’t mean that some of your intended readers won’t see right through the false figurehead authoring.  Blogging also needs to be real with a real author behind the content in order to produce the desired outcomes.  Otherwise, it is also artisocial and eventually will lose respect.  Make calculated choices about others authoring content for someone else and publishing it through a blog forum or risk wasting a lot of time and energy.

Much of the true success of social media and social networking has been due to the dedication and engagement from the pioneers and social ambassadors having a clear understanding of what social is.  Artisocial may sincerely cripple this.  Don’t be artisocial.

Milestones and Changes

200 posts and 20,000+ pageviews in my first 4 1/2 years.  Not overwhelming by any means but still chugging along.


I apologize for any broken links and trouble surfing to and around my blog for the coming weeks.  I have made a decision to realign my online digital presence by creating a new simple homepage to serve as a menu for my online profiles and activity.  This change forced me to commandeer my domain of michaelmakis.com to point to my new landing page instead of my blog.  My blog will retain its original michaelmakis.blogspot.com address for now until I can find a way to claim michaelmichael.com (owned by someone else who is not currently using it and doesn't want to sell it) or michaelmichael.blogspot.com to match my blog's title with the URL.

Thanks for reading!

Time: Best Blogs of 2011

reblog:  The Best Blogs of 2011 from Time Magazine

Check it out...lots of good finds here.  I was alerted from my favorite burger blog, AHT.

My personal favorites:
A Hamburger Today
The Everywhereist
EDC
Cool Hunting

Me, Myself, and I

I have been failing my self challenge to not mention myself in my recent blog posts.    

After reading a post by Geoff Livingston on 26 December about 'not talking about myself' I agreed and thought, how obvious, but yet I still am floundering.  I guess I need to put a sticky note on my computer screen with instructions.

Back to the drawing board.  No, or at least less, references to myself.

HERE is a link to the article.  You'll probably enjoy it too.

Julie & Julia - 2011

I'm not much into new year's resolutions, but I did get re-motivated by watching Julie & Julia last night.  I've probably even written this same article before.

I remembered how happy I was the first time I saw this movie and how much I could relate to Julie's experience.  Of course, I never have been this involved or passionate with my own blog, but that's the whole thing.  I'm going to see what I can do to start authoring more articles, posts, and rants in an effort to carve out a deeper little tiny corner of the internet.

If you haven't Julie & Julia and you are a blogger, get on it.  If you haven't seen the movie and you like cooking, rent it.  And if you like movies, you will probably enjoy it too.

tablet pen

Search words: tablet pen touch Wacom USB peripheral Bamboo

respite

For the 4 lonely followers that I have...Don't worry, I haven't retired. I have many more things to say, a lot more burgers to eat (and report back on with bad photos with poor lighting), and soon enough I will have killer photos from the fairytale like honeymoon I am going on.

Oh, and for those who have not noticed, AHT ran a bracket contest of burger chains and Five Guys won. Hell yeah! I just don't have it in me to vote for the left coast In-N-Out family. Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for what they offer, but for chains I am a Steak 'n Shake guy first then a newly ordained Five Guys follower.

Back to the honeymoon. I am so excited I can't even begin to tell you. Forget that! I will. We are starting ... this is probably a repeat post, but so what, it's my blog and I can do what I want. I need a Flip camera for our trip. Anyways, we are starting out in San Diego. Reasoning = finish any wedding leftovers in the states and there were no flights on certain days to our real destination. I wanted to go old school and leave the wedding site straight to the honeymoon so we are leaving from Detroit. Instead of brunch we are buying a block of bleacher seats for the Detroit Tigers game. Hell yeah. From San Diego driving up PCH for a one nighter in Santa Monica right by the pier and close enough to LAX for am easy departure to French Polynesia. We are staying in over water bungalows each night - the kind with a partial (actually small section, smaller than my tv) glass floor and our own sun deck to jump into the water and then a ladder back up. The day to day debate at home is who is jumping off first. Can you tell that I am excited? The first island we are venturing to is Bora Bora, then to Moorea, and finally Tahiti.

It could very well be the best vacation for the rest of our lives. If not, it will be a challenge to top.

Interests no longer linked in profiles...

Unfortunately, the ability to quickly link to other blogs on Blogger with similar interests by going from profile to profile by keywords is currently not working. I can't wait until this is fixed as I like to surf among my fellow "Gator Football" fanatics to see what they are up to.

Here are 2 links providing updates from Blogger.

-1-

-2-

What am I doing?

After admiring Sacha Chua's blog today, I realized I have to get off my butt and write a bit more. Worst case scenario I post public thoughts about not all that much and someone stumbles upon them in the years to come wondering why I even had a blog. But then I realized I need to pursue why I launched my blog in the first place...now why was that? Just Kidding, JK for the youngsters and texters.

I started this whole thing to connect with those who have similar interests and to grow my microscopic footprint on the internet. I want to meet other consultants who live in hotels. I want to exchange pics and addresses with other burger aficionados. I want to hear about you rad bicycle that takes you places. And did I say I want to connect with others? I want to learn and get better at what I do. I have switched from a technology consultant to a implementation consultant, to a senior consultant, to a managing consultant, to a wannabee web 2.0 / enterprise 2.0 consultant while laying the groundwork for a performance consultant...so yeah, I'm headed in the right direction. Or at least a path that makes me happy. But there is nothing wrong with getting better.

I'm going to step it up. Thanks for the pep talk Sacha. You can find her article on Magic Beans here if you want.

Oh, and I have been working on the mini garden my fiance and I have in ceramic pots too.

Absence

My lack of posts lately has by no means a lack of ideas or thoughts, but merely a lack of time. Back and forth to Louisville every week and weekends full of catching up have filled most of my time. I have a stock pile of pictures to go through and potentially post. South Florida Chili Cook Off, Louisville vs. UCONN basketball game, and a trip to Puerto Rico coming up, the BCS National Championship, and a gambling cruise out of Palm Beach.

Desktop Wallpaper

Check out this blogger's site...

I'm not sure who this person is, but their wallpaper images are pretty cool. Nearly something for everyone. I haven't taken the time to read through his posts and have no idea if they are creating the graphics or just finding them all and posting them in a central location.

Anyway, good site to pass on.

Click HERE to check it out.

21 great tips on writing blogs

- 21 Must-Read Tips To Write Better Web Content -

Click HERE to read this great article I found on del.icio.us recently. The author, Abhijeet Mukherjee, goes on to list 21 other great articles on what to do and not to do when authoring your blog articles.

It's like a Cliff Notes for perfecting your blog.

Enjoy.

Michael Michael

My personal web log about my life of non-randomness. I just switched the title as attempt at a bit of humor from my name Michael Makis to Michael Michael. I discovered a few years back that the double is my actual name. My given name is Michael. And my last name is Makis, which actually translates to Michael in Greek. Go figure...Michael Michael.

Starting Off...

I finally decided to start my own blog. I've been looking into it for a little bit now. I guess I finally decided it's time after my recent experiences with A Hamburger Today by Adam Kuban and Hamburger America by George Motz. I figured I could post about my own personal cheeseburger experiences and add some pix about my travels once in a while, throw in some good internet links and talk about football. Either way, get on board, throw in your 2¢ and we'll see how it goes.

I am going to try and keep it as professional as possible so the content can stay public, but social and personal at the same time.

Start blogging...