Yahoo Shine - Social Media Made for Women?

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Yahoo! recently launched a new social media portal called Shine aimed squarely at women. It’s a potentially brilliant move if it’s executed well. Women tend to be naturally more into the whole “social” aspect of social media than men on average. Even so, with a few notable exceptions, blogging and social media have been dominated by men to date.

However done poorly it could end up as nothing more than a footnote on the way to Yahoo! being bought out by a larger company such as Microsoft.

Promoting the Launch

To promote the launch of the site Yahoo hosted invitation-only events in Atlanta, Boston & Chicago. I’ve spoken with two ladies who were at the promotion events in different cities.

They said Yahoo wants Shine to accomplish three things.

1. Provide timely information for women
2. Have a place for women to comment
3. Offer a platform for women to have their own blogs

Ultimately Yahoo would like to see an even distribution of content on the site from three different sources: Shine staff writers, members blogging on the site, and articles written for other Yahoo sites. As far as the topics of that content, here’s what the site’s About Us page says.

So what you won’t find on Shine: Advice on how to please your man and diets that urge you to “lose 10 pounds fast!” What you will find on Shine: Why buying an expensive “It Bag” is a waste of money; how to make a meal in 30 minutes; how to make a face mask out of last night’s 30-minute meal (okay not really but you get the idea), how to de-stress at your desk; sharp, opinionated takes on the news; and finally, that you aren’t alone in your “Dancing with the Stars” obsession. We get it.

So the question is how are they doing? Read more

Contributing to The Age of Conversation: Why Don’t People Get It?

About a year ago Drew McLellan and 100 other bloggers collaborated on a groundbreaking book called The Age of Conversation. With such a distinguished contributer list and all the proceeds of the book benefiting Variety - the Children’s Charity it was a fabulous project.

If you’d like to get an insight on how some of the thought leaders in social media are engaging in conversation during the course of their businesses grab yourself a copy of the book. You’ll be helping a good cause while you’re at it.

Head Down

While all this was going on last year I was up to my eyeballs in SOBCon07 preparations. Between that and general life craziness I didn’t even catch wind of the project until it went to publication. I was head down focused on my business.

Perhaps that was a good thing because I was pretty stretched out at the time. Adding one more thing might have pushed me over the edge!
Read more

Your Reading Stack Meme

Got tagged by Director Tom with the Page 123 meme. He tagged me via Twitter, which is a new twist.

The point of this meme is to take whatever book you are reading right now and share sentences 6-8 on page 123. Here it goes.

Right now I’m reading Who Are You Really, and What Do You Want? by Shad Helmstetter.

Gorgeous and I had a chance to meet the author a couple years back in Nashville. Actually Gorgeous had lunch with him, if I remember right. He even signed her copy of the book, which is the one I’m reading at the moment.

Anyway, here’s what is on page 123:

Tagging Others

What good is a meme if you don’t share it?

I’m sure some of y’all have been tagged with this already.
That’s OK. You should be onto a different book by now anyway.

• April Groves
• Robert Hruzek
• Marcus Goodyear
• Agent Sully
• Dann Lewis

Sandra Yancey Speaks at Savannah eWomenNetwork Event

Sandra Yancey the CEO and Founder of eWomenNetwork came to Savannah this week to speak at the local eWomenNetwork chapter’s monthly Accelerated Networking Event.

Her talk was fabulous and I’ve got to say that Sandra Yancey is a tremendously good public speaker. She had the whole room captivated for the entire time she spoke and the audience was silent for the entire time. Getting a room full of 80 women to be quiet for a few minutes can be an accomplishment but Sandra spoke for nearly an hour and a half! The time had passed so quickly while she spoke that it felt like less than half that time to me.

Starting a New Business

Sandra spoke about some of the struggles it takes to get a business off the ground and running profitably. She shared how close to failure she’d been at the beginning of her business and how she was able to acquire the skills and knowledge she needed adapt her business turn it into a successfully growing venture.

As Sandra Yancey spoke she filled her talk with stories and anecdotes ranging from her own personal experiences to relating the classic children’s story of The Little Engine That Could.

Most Valuable Asset

Sandra shared what she thought was the single most valuable asset in her business career, and it wasn’t what I expected. It wasn’t capital reserves, marketing savvy, or the ability to come up with earth shaking new ideas. Read more

Gorgeous on TV

Gorgeous and I were up early this morning. I set the alarm for 4 AM because we had to be down at one of our local TV stations by 6 so that Gorgeous could be interviewed about her upcoming eWomenNetwork event.

The event Wednesday will be a big deal because eWomenNetwork founder and CEO Sandra Yancey will be here in Savannah as this month’s speaker. With over 113 eWN chapters in the US and Canada you can imagine that Sandra can only attend a very small percentage of the events in any given month.

We’re fortunate here in Savannah that Sandra will be paying us a visit and sharing her insights into how to network with folks who can help entrepreneurs and business women expand their business vision and attract new customers and referrals. It promises to be another top notch event. Read more

A Lifetime of Odd Jobs

HighCallingBlogs has a group writing project underway. Marcus Goodyear is hosting on his page Lessons from Odd Jobs. He’s updating the list as entries are submitted and there is no hard deadline so if you want to add your take on the subject feel free.

Here is mine.

An Unusual Career Path

Even though I’ve had wide array of jobs in the 20 or so years I’ve been in the work force I’ve never been one of those fortunate people who could successfully describe what they do for a living in a word.

With job titles like Naval Flight Officer, Marine Manager, Port Captain, Vessel Planner, Stevedore, Marine Surveyor, and now Social Media Consultant I’m used to folks either guessing completely wrong about what I do or giving me that awkward look like a heifer staring at a new gate. {Blink. Blink.}

Either way it invariably takes about a 10 minute conversation to explain what it is I really do.

When I was in the Navy the conversation would go something like this. Read more

I Caught a Cold at a Redneck Wedding

Gorgeous and I attended a redneck wedding this weekend.

Now before you get all scandalized about my using the term “redneck” you should know that’s how the bride and groom described it. In fact the bride actually came up to us at the reception and asked, “So, have you ever been to a redneck wedding before?”

In point of fact, we hadn’t.

The ceremony was held in an outdoor chapel. The bride word flip-flops. The reception was held at the home of the parents of the bride. There were two tents pitched in the front yard not too far from the bonfire. One of them had a sign that said, “Honeymoon Suite”.

The food at the reception included the requisite dinner mints, mixed nuts, and pulled pork bar-b-que. And to top it off the bride and groom arrived at the reception on a tractor.

Culture Everywhere You Go

Gorgeous observed that when some people complain that there that there is no culture in whatever city they’re in, as some are prone to do about Savannah, what they really mean is the established “fine arts” may be a little lacking.

In actuality there is culture everywhere you go.

Sure it may not be as refined as some are looking to find. Even so, there is still culture, a way people do things, just about anywhere there are people.

Our friends are wonderful people and we saw a culture that we’d only heard about, usually in mocking connotations before. It was a little foreign to us. But they are wonderful folks and we were honored to be invited to their wedding.

Big Temperature Drop

Unfortunately the temperature dropped about 25 degrees during the 4 hours we were at the wedding & reception. When things kicked off it was about 82 degrees and that’s the weather we were dressed for. By the time we got home that evening it was 57 degrees and windy.

I brought a little sinus crud back from Colorado but had nearly kicked it before I got my self thoroughly chilled at the reception.

The key word there is “nearly” because it all came back with a vengeance and by yesterday had developed into a full blown cold. It is bad enough that I cleared my calendar for two days and spent most of yesterday on the couch.

I am just starting to do a little better now with all the cold remedies I have on board.

Oh, and here’s a photo of the happy couple arriving at the reception.