Try the Spanish Word of the Day
Study a new palabra (word) daily from these resources:
Follow Spanish language-related #hashtags
Want to include children?
Track Twitter en español
¿Listo? (Ready?) These are just a few of the AMAZING Spanish language learning possibilities Twitter offers. You can either follow my referenced Twitter users (plus add your own, of course) or just search for their user names to view what they tweet. Additionally, you can participate in the conversation by retweeting good Spanish language content or tweet a question. Why not practice aloud in Spanish? Best of all, you can transform Twitter into your on-demand platter of delicious Spanish language appetizers, like I’m doing. P.S. How do you use social media to learn Spanish? What are your Twitter Spanish language tips? What is your favorite Spanish word or phrase? Mine is ¡Feliz Cumpleaños! (Happy Birthday).
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The Fourth of July is almost here and I've compiled a roundup of social media articles and tech tips that caught my attention. As we celebrate our nation's birthday with family, friends and fireworks, use these posts to enhance your knowledge.  Image by Flickr user Morgan Frederick; All Rights Reserved. Happy Fourth of July!
 Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Darlene Ewing As 2013 starts to settle in, I extend a "Happy New Year" wish to all who spend some of your online time with me in this space. In planning for this year's posts, I am launching a series featuring Subject Matter Experts to help us understand "Social Media Trends 2013." I am curious about how organizations, various industry and groups use social media. How has it changed their communication strategies and tactics? What metrics are used to measure social media? You get the idea. This series will be posted periodically throughout the year. I look forward to your feedback. My inaugural post features an audio (turn on and up your speakers) interview with Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Darlene Ewing. We chatted New Year's Day 2013 at the elected official swearing-in ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dallas, TX. Ewing is a Dallas political guru and family law attorney. Follow her organization at @dallasdemocrats. Q: Give us a sense of how your organization used social media to reach your target audiences in 2012? Q: Do you guys have any metrics that you use to measure the effectiveness of these resources? Q: What 's ahead for 2013? Q: As a result of the response on Facebook, are you changing other media that you were using in the past? © 2013 Harvest Reapers Communications; All Rights Reserved.  Flickr photo by Jeroen Steeman Melinda Guravich, director of Marketing & Communications at The Dallas Foundation, recently sent an e-introduction to me and Scott H. Cytron, ABC, president of Cytron and Company. Guravich and I were introduced via the same process by Ken Smalling, APR, vice president of Global Communications at Kimberly-Clark. I introduced myself to Smalling after learning that he was a fellow recipient of Abilene Christian University’s Gutenberg Award. These stories have the following in common: -- We used social media and email for initial introductions. -- We really ‘connected’ by talking on the telephone and/or meeting in person. -- In other words, we are establishing professional relationships that are mutually beneficial by being genuinely interested in the other person. While you may be groaning “this is really obvious” surprisingly, it’s easy to forget these insights because of technology. Really listening and being interested in new connections or friends and family, for that matter, radiates warmth and caring. And that’s memorable. 4 Lessons to Enhance Social Media Connections Here are some lessons that might help you when making new business connections via social media and email: 1. Find commonalities such as mutual friends and professional interests. 2. Talk to each other either in person or via telephone or Skype. 3. Listen to each other. 4. Keep in touch. Other Blogs About Social Media Also of Interest:
-- Check out this post, “5 LITTLE-KNOWN, POWERFUL LINKEDIN TOOLS,” from the Absolute Cytron blog, by Scott H. Cytron, ABC, president of Cytron and Company. -- Read BlogAdda's Purba Ray's Confessions of a Social Media Addict. 
Celebrating with Bishop T.D. Jakes at The Potter's House's 16th church anniversary picnic at Circle R Ranch 6.30.12
First, let’s use the Babylon Business Dictionary’s definition of the word “innovator.” “n. one who innovates, one who makes changes, one who introduces new methods or procedures” Innovative megapastor, entrepreneur and author Bishop T.D. Jakes is preaching memorable sermons that can be translated into strategic lessons for innovators. The July 1, 2012 sermon “Commitment” coincided with the 16th anniversary of The Potter’s House’s founding. Jakes issued a call to service for members in the 30,000-plus megachurch. The July 15, 2012 sermon “Is There Not a Cause?” provided insight into the damaging effects of narcissism. Using that backdrop, here are 12 lessons for innovators that I gleaned from listening to Bishop Jakes, whose comments are in quotation marks: 1. Step out on faith – “You will get a great return because there’s been a great investment.” 2. Embrace sacrifice; make it work for you – “Be sacrificial of your time [and] resources.” 3. Put everything into achieving your dreams – “People won’t believe in your dream unless you do.” 4. Find something beyond you to contribute to –“Do you believe in anything other than you?” 5. Give your way through –“I put my whole check into my first church. I didn’t have but seven members.” 6. Keep your promises and commitments—“What do people get when they get you?” 7. Pay the price to be great—“Greatness costs what it costs.” 8. Share in the responsibility AND the benefits –“You want the benefits but you don’t want the responsibility.” 9. Expect no reward – “Stop expecting to be rewarded for [doing] what you’re supposed to do.” 10. Demonstrate that you value relationships by reciprocating -“Any relationship that has no reciprocity will die.” 11. Use social media intelligently – “Say something that makes me want to follow you [on Twitter].” 12. It’s not about you – “Marriage is about sacrifice.” Also of interest: 4 insights gleaned from the friendship of Bishop T.D. Jakes and Rev. Joel Osteen SharePoint 2010 – Level 1 In an effort to continually expand my technological education, I am pursuing a Project Management certification. Recently, I completed a SharePoint 2010 – Level 1 class and plan on taking SharePoint Level 2. And speaking of SharePoint, I was especially interested to see this headline: From PCWorld: NewsGator to Integrate Its SharePoint Add-on With Yammer My Summer Reading/Listening List Tony Award nominee and funnyman David Alan Grier’s “Barack Like Me: The Chocolate-Covered Truth” audiobook caught my attention during a recent library visit. It’s a frank and edgy breakdown on President Obama’s election to going ballistic after being voted off of “Dancing With the Stars.” Flickr photo by Alipyon  PR measurement guru K.D. Paine spoke to the May 31, 2012 Joint Communicator’s Luncheon at Thanksgiving Tower (Tower Club), where I bought her book " Measure What Matters." It’s an excellent resource for anyone engaged in marketing, social media and PR. Photo from Ms. Paine's Twitter profile  I discovered strength strategist, author and researcher Marcus Buckingham on the “Oprah” show and his audiobook “The One Thing You Need to Know About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success” is a keeper. His research is sound and this is an excellent tool for innovators. Photo from Mr. Buckingham's Twitter profile View my other book-related blog posts
From http://www.slideshare.net/nasa
First Lady Michelle Obama recently touted the strides of Let’s Move!, a national campaign to combat childhood obesity, during stops across the country. She carried that message directly to her audiences and along the way, got her dance on. Meanwhile, 100 people will be invited to a tweetup in Cleveland at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. The tweetup is in advance of a March 2 NASA event commemorating the 50th anniversary of spaceman John Glenn’s first U.S. orbit. Glenn, 90, achieved that milestone when he orbited the Earth on Feb. 20, 1962. Obama and NASA are heavyweights focused on one word: progress. They are intensely interested in creating and celebrating progress around their causes. They wield sustained adoration by carving new paths, thereby proving, with apologies to Marshall McLuhan, “the message is the medium.” Here are two social media insights gleaned from the progress-focused titans. Really Care About Your Audiences According to a 2009 blog authored by Neal Wiser, NASA’s goals for Twitter are: “To connect and communicate with people interested in what NASA does.” NASA has been in the tweetup business for awhile and it’s definitely working for the space agency. Two years ago, Obama launched a national initiative designed to increase healthy food options for America’s children, who are at the center of an obesity epidemic. Let's Move! also wants children to increase their physical activity. According to D Magazine’s SideDish Food blog, Obama recently said that more than 150 Dallas schools had found ways to serve healthy meals and get kids moving. She said 78 of those schools earned Gold Awards because they met "the highest levels of standards." NASA and Obama consistently demonstrate genuine interest in their audiences. Be Comfortable Having Lots and Lots of Fun The dancing in the YouTube video above happened during the first lady's recent cross-country stops promoting Let's Move!'s second anniversary. As a dancer way down in my soul, it thrills me to see the first lady giving it all she's got and hanging strong. Just imagine what the kiddos said when they went home that night? Oh, did I mention NASA has a Facebook game app? NASA is clearly enjoying itself as demonstrated by its Twitter feed. Check out the screen capture (below) from 2.17.12 
Screen capture taken 2.17.12 from @NASA's Twitter feed; Graphic by Regina L. Burns
 At a Meetup on 12.21.11 hosted by Dallas-based LevelTen Interactive, Tom McCracken gave an excellent presentation on results oriented Web content strategy.
Here are 4 ideas I found especially intriguing: 1. Hire journalists. He said journalists are his favorite people because we can “blend the art of storytelling (literature) with the science of reporting (journalism).” Amen brother. I could not have said it better. Beyond that nice pat on the back, the craft of gathering information through interviews and other sources, preparing it and sharing it with targeted digital audiences is essentially New Media. 2. Focus on your target audiences. This is standard practice. McCracken divided this category based on the primary audience, secondary audience and tertiary audience. I was interested in his advice to set objectives for your content, such as "getting revenue or generating excitement." My goals for this blog are to generate sales, especially for my consulting services, and to educate my audiences. 3. Use visuals. Video and photos generate more interest, McCracken indicated. Check out this Yahoo! eye-tracking study about the way people browse webpages: http://goo.gl/pxzO. It will be helpful in developing your content. 4. Promote your content. McCracken touched briefly on search engine optimization and social media for promotional purposes. He said he planned to delve deeper at the next Meetup. Some practices I found beneficial are: sharing content on Twitter and other social sites, paying attention to the uniqueness of each platform and speaking the lingo accordingly. Another tactic is to use highly searched keywords. More Resources The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani I heard Shama speak at a Social Media Club of Dallas event on 4.22.10. I bought and quickly devoured The Zen. It's a must-have because it's practical and filled with effective case studies. World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers That Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories by David Meerman Scott This summer my brother turned me on to this book and it's a gold mine because David's ideas are fun, first of all, and unique. He, too, says "hire a journalist." Yay! Hello New Year and greetings to the online community. I'm excited to join the ranks of bloggers everywhere. This blog will cover various topics such as digital media, video, audio, writing, journalism along with ex-journalists and a host of other interesting tidbits. I'm an avid reader too sometime I will share my thoughts about books I have read or am reading. Now, on to the main event. Almost a year ago, I recorded a resume videotape and posted it on Youtube. It's time to bring it home to my blog and talk about the process of planning, scripting and posting a resume video. First, I reached out to a good friend who is a videographer. He had access to a great studio. He generously donated everything so I had no out-of-pocket expenses. Thank you!! My goals were to transfer my broadcast background to Youtube and to see what happened. That was it. I thought through the short script, which I initially wrote on index cards, then I memorized it by practicing aloud. I had a lot of fun recording this -- we did it in two takes as I recall. |
About the Author:Regina L. Burns, M.A., Project+, is an award-winning multimedia editor and journalist, specializing in Black history and African American stories at Harvest Reapers Communications. Her work has been published in Texas Highways magazine, WFAA-TV, The Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as well as The Commercial Appeal, the Tri-State Defender and The Flyer, among others. Archives
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