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You can now find me over at nathaneide.com

Social Media Breakfast-Twin Cities 11 - Job searching and social networking

Today was another outstanding episode of Social Media Breakfast - Twin Cities. Paul DeBettignies (@MNHeadhunter) led a presentation and discussion on using social media in your job search. As someone fully embedded in a job search, I have been using many of the techniques he outlined as he and I had a great talk soon after I found myself unemployed. It really shows the power of the community when professionals get together to offer advice and assistance in tough economic times. Paul also started another blog and community to assist people in their job searches. www.beyourownheadhunter.com is a great resource to find many answers and helpful suggestions to people trying to lock-down their next position.

Another great part of the social media breakfasts is the community building. I love the hours immediately following smbmsp. I make so many connections and find so many people to follow through the discussions, networking and by following the twitterstream at search.twitter.com that my social network builds with people who bring with them a breadth of knowledge, expertise, wit, opinion and information.

So, thanks to all. And without further adieu, here are my followers (thanks to Walter Higgins at Sxoop Technologies).

Hope has come to Washington

I have been saying for months that I wasn't truly excited about the regime change inherent with the coming of President Obama. I am way too cynical, assuming that the corporations, fat-cats, and free-market worshipers will maintain their authority and continue to control too many facets of American (and global) society.

I was bothered by the number of mentions of this "historical" day, wondering why race was such a factor in the inauguration coverage when it was seemingly removed from the campaign. Wondering if Hillary Clinton had been elected would there be this type of "historical" coverage for the first female president. Assuming that the coverage for a McCain presidency would be minuscule in comparison. This, all from an Obama voter.

That being said, seeing the Twitterstream, international news coverage, blog comments from the US and beyond, watching the inauguration, hearing how many people took time away from their busy lives to watch the inauguration coverage, I was moved.

President Obama can orate. I mean, Cicero would be envious of Obama's ability to capture the attention of a crowd. The rumors are out that speechwriters created four different drafts of his inauguration speech. Obama, not satisfied with any of them, then spent hours upon hours rewriting them and ended up with something that was mainly his own doing. I hope he continues to take control of tough decisions in this manner. I hope he takes the advice of his inner circle, then comes forth with his own opinions and decisions.

President Obama's speech was nothing short of brilliant. He invoked science, believers, non-believers, renewable energy, violence, diplomacy, global alliances, service, denouncing greed, oversight of the economy and hope for a future generation.

The word cloud of the speech speaks volumes to me:

Look at the words he used. New, Nation, People, America, World, Common, Today. Those words evoke a feeling of togetherness not seen since September 12, 2001. Not just togetherness in a jingoistic, nationalistic paranoid sense. But a true sense of international harmony. Togetherness in the sense that we all must work together. People of every nation, and every generation looking for peace. Prosperity and freedom can only come by working together. We all must give a little to gain a lot. All of us, men, women, children, white, black, brown and yellow must work together, with an unnerving spirit to secure the future. Be proud to be American, but be prouder to be a member of the human race. Don't look down on others. Don't speak at people, speak with them. Communicate. Listen. React. Engage. For only together can we overcome the ills of society and move into the future.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

For the complete text of President Obama's inaugural address, check out the Minnesota Independent coverage.

At the Table with Anthony Bourdain

This weeks episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations was a change from the original recipe. At the Table is a concept where Tony sits down for dinner with a few big-shots in the food world and they discuss food, food service, travel and culture. Of course, since it's Tony Bourdain, it isn't surprising that they cover a wide variety of topics and many war stories will be discussed.

For the first episode, Tony is joined at Wylie Dufresne's WD-50 by writer Bill Buford, "Nightlife Queen of New York" Amy Sacco, Ted Allen, and magazine editor and former gossip columnist Chris Wilson (he wrote his own blog for Tony). They talk about the morality of an $1800 meal, whether we should feel guilt for eating certain foods, the most disgusting things they've seen in a restaurant/bar, the place of celebrity chefs in the world and the typical chef question ... what's your last meal?

Oh, and if you're looking for some of the recipes from Wylie, look no further. Grilled Corn Pebbles, Lime Mayo and Scallions or Foie gras, Fennel, Malt, Sherry and Vinegar Jam or Sweetbreads, Peanut, Beet-pomegranate and Pickled Sweet Potato.

This was a fantastic episode, and I'm disappointed that it's only a one-off (or two or three-off).

I tweeted the entire episode, and here are the things that really caught my attention:

• Anthony Bourdain's new show's pilot is hosted at WD50 with Wylie Dufresne. So.Jealous.
• "Is it ethically okay to blow $1800 bucks on dinner?" Bill Buford argues that dinner serves 2 purposes, nutrition and culture, making it ok
• Love Bourdain's blog: http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/read/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-food
  
• Ted Allen: "$1800 will get you one hell of a hooker"
• Why does the US lack the streetfood scene so prevalent in the rest of the world? Ted Allen thinks it's the lawyers and nanny state mentality
• Bourdain counters saying that there is no more oppressive nanny state than Singapore, and every night govt agents watch the hawkers clean
• Amy Sacco blames fast food corps for killing the street-food vendor. That makes sense. I can see how corp america could kill street food
• Ted Allen: Too many Americans think the only way to eat cheaply is to eat crap in a box filled with high-fructose corn syrup and chemicals
• @donmball Exactly. There are maybe three outside vendors in St. Paul. One hot dog guy, the grill outside of Dunn Bros and another
• These four believe London is the new European home of cutting-edge cuisine.
• Should shame or guilty pleasure be an important part of a fine meal?
• Ted Allen: "The critter should have the best life it can have" Bourdain: "A happy animal more often than not means better food"
• Chocolate is like salt, cod or coffee; a prime mover of civilization. Hmm, methinks Mark Kurlansky has a new subject for his next book!
• Hmm, Amy Sacco says that celebs are much better customers than the regular public. Protecting her clients maybe?
• Is the celebrtiy chef phenomenon a good thing? Bourdain says post Rachael Ray probably better than pre-Rachael Ray, though he hates to admit
• Ted Allen: Anyone encouraging people to get in the kitchen, make good food and use natural ingredients has made the world a better place
• Wylie Dufresne says a blessing and a curse. Turned a lot of people onto cooking better at home. Created a lot of egos though.
• As citizens of the world, should we know how to cook? Should you be mocked if you can't? No, but don't just eat fast-food and crap
• Great section! When asked what they would make if having company over: Risotto, Meatloaf, Texas BBQ, Roast chicken. Comfort food wins
• More and more men are watching Food Network and cooking well. Does this mean fewer women? And if so, is it a change in gender roles?
• Last meal? Amy Sacco-Mom's spaghetti & meatballs. Backup-KFC or Popeye's. Ted Allen-Baby back ribs.
• Biggest sellers in New York? Comfort food. Ted Allen says New Yorkers need a hug.

ExactTarget's new study misses the point of social media

In a study released by ExactTarget, and done in collaboration with Ball State University’s Center for Media Design, provides new insight into the media consumption habits and marketing preferences of six commonly targeted groups. They argue that email and direct mail is more impactful in purchasing habits than social media. I argue that they're missing the social media point.

“One of the key findings in this research is that 18- to 34-year-olds claim they are more likely to be influenced to make purchases based on e-mail marketing messages and direct mail than from marketing messages on social networks,” said Mike Bloxham, director, insight and research, Ball State University’s Center for Media Design. “It is too easy to assume that the media consumers choose for their own news, information and entertainment are, by default, the best media to use for marketing messages. This is a dangerous assumption to make in a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their level of control over their media experiences."

Read the release on the study here.

My Take:
The original study didn't differentiate if they were testing B2B or B2C. The advantage of email is that using in collaboration with a powerful CRM, you can target the message based upon the purchasing profile and demographics of the individual. Social media (facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc) doesn't offer the specifics, nor closed-loop metrics of email and CRM combined. It's scalable, and targeted, but in order to be taken seriously, needs to be personal and manual. Social media is better suited to be used to develop a sense of community. Zappos, Comcast, WholeFoods, for example, have done an exceptional job in the social media world, and Amazon has developed a community within their own site (reviews, etc). However, I feel the study is flawed because it doesn't test the main purpose behind using social media as a marketing/PR tool.

In addition to what I see as a flaw in the overall concept of the study, one needs to evaluate who conducted the study. ExactTarget, while an exceptional email marketing and one-to-one marketing tool, makes their money on email marketing. It would be in their interest to skew the study to achieve the results they desire. Of course they would want to say email is much more efficient at delivering the message the customer wants to hear and to drive sales. It's in their best interest. If they were to find that social media marketing drives sales better than email, they would have to change their entire business model.

Now, email marketing isn't going anywhere. I'd be in trouble if it did. However, that doesn't mean that social media isn't as powerful, or in certain cases, more powerful than email, but what this study examines is simply the wrong usage of social media marketing.

Blog Action Day 2008 - Poverty

Many posts today are about causes of poverty, anecdotal evidence of abject poverty, maybe even grandiose ideas of how government or non-governmental agencies should be required to end poverty before building bombs. Frankly, they'd all be right, and I completely support the causes behind the posts. I, however, will be looking at possible solutions with much more granularity. How can we affect change to the world if we can't affect change in one person's life?

Growing up, my father was the executive director of an emergency food shelf and clothing closet. Through the United Way they also ran a meals on wheels service to seniors and the housebound. In his 15 years at that organization, he took them from a place to go when people had no other place to go to a place where the abject and working poor were able to work toward self-sufficiency. They met with case-workers, received assistance to obtain vehicles, shelter, holiday gifts, back to school clothing as well as assistance writing resumes, taking ESL classes and prepping for interviews and learning work skills. This was a strange concept in the Minneapolis metro area at the time. Most places wanted to get people in the door, feed them, clothe them and send them on their way. Dad wanted to help these people so they could pay it forward. He learned that concept from his father, as I did from him. So, how can I pass this on to others?

Hubert H. Humphrey once said "compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism" and "it was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." What kind of Minnesotan would I be if I didn't echo the thoughts of the great statesman?

As government fails to figure out how to stop its own bleeding pocketbook, how can we expect it to support those who need help? It's time to turn to the people of affluence. Now, you may not consider yourself affluent, but compared to billions across the planet, you are, based upon the simple notion that you are able to read this post, hell, that you know how to read! You can affect change, not necessarily on a wide-scale, but individually, you can touch the lives of people who need your help. I'm not talking about those in need of emergency assistance, but rather those who wish to strive toward self-sufficiency, but need a little push or a little hand-holding along the way. Do you want to be the change in the world? Try microlending. Here are a few examples of ways to donate using microlending. For those who aren't exactly certain what microlending entails, here's a bit about it.

Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to the unemployed, to poor entrepreneurs and to others living in poverty who are not considered bankable. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit. Microcredit is a part of microfinance, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services to the very poor.

Microcredit is a financial innovation which originated in Bangladesh where it has successfully enabled extremely impoverished people to engage in self-employment projects that allow them to generate an income and, in many cases, begin to build wealth and exit poverty. Due to the success of microcredit, many in the traditional banking industry have begun to realize that these microcredit borrowers should more correctly be categorized as pre-bankable; thus, microcredit is increasingly gaining credibility in the mainstream finance industry and many traditional large finance organizations are contemplating microcredit projects as a source of future growth. Although almost everyone in larger development organizations discounted the likelihood of success of microcredit when it was begun. The United Nations declared 2005 the International Year of Microcredit.

Some of the many purveyors of microcredit are:

1. Kiva
2. Make Poverty History
3. Poverty Fighters
4. Microplace
5. FINCA International

The vast majority of the clients of microlending are women in developing countries. However, some microlending agencies (like Microplace) actually allow you to specify the level of poverty you would like to help, your financial return, terms of repayments and location. So you can actually help a family in the delta build a fence, whether it's the Mekong Delta or the Mississippi Delta is completely up to you. Hopefully some day that person can pay it forward to help the next generation. As Hubert H. Humphrey (yes, again) said, "the impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbor."

The Omnivore's Hundred

Here's the game:

The Omnivore's Hundred is an eclectic and entirely subjective list of 100 items that Andrew Wheeler, co-author of the British food blog Very Good Taste, thinks every omnivore should try at least once in his life.

His rules:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here , linking to your results.

I impressed myself with my list. I guess growing up in a family where "strange" foods were the norm and when Michelle and I travel, we try to eat locally as much as possible (haggis, black pudding, aloo gobi, chicken tikka masala, etc).

However, I don't think I'll go out of my way to eat the things missing from my list, except maybe jello shots.

Here's the list:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake