How To: Enjoy SXSW (Without Being at SXSW)...

Over the next couple of weeks, you may be hearing and reading a lot about SXSW (read: South by Southwest). In the real world, it may not be that big of a deal, to many in the tech, film or music worlds, it is a must place to be to see the latest and coolest things happening and mingle with those making it happen.

Coming Soon: An Interview with YOU!...

As the blog's readership and community have grown, I'm continually impressed with all of you. I'm pretty sure that I've learned far more from you than you have from me. You share your thoughts by commenting on blog posts, sending emails and tweets, and participating on my Facebook fan page. Through all of my activity online, I've met so many fabulous people I never would have met otherwise.

Do You Have a Digital Business Card? (Register for .tel for free)...

We all want to be found more easily online when our friends, potential clients and employers Google us. We've set up our LinkedIn profiles, started blogging, created websites, invited others to be our friends on Facebook and tweeted like crazy on Twitter. With all of these fragmented presences online, wouldn't it be nice to have a directory of all the places we can be found, plus the option to include our email address, phone number and tags which help the right people find us and get in touch?

Ready for Yet Another Social Platform? Here Comes Google Buzz...

Are you ready for a new social platform? Here comes Google Buzz, which brings social elements right into you Gmail inbox. With so many of us using Gmail, this just might stick. It will be rolling out over the next week. You'll be notified when it is live for your account.

Happy Holidays! Please Enjoy This Spam...

Over the last few weeks, I have been inundated with holiday cards and greetings of all types. While this is typical at this time of year, this is the first time I received so many automated cards and emails, most of them from people I don't really know.

What is Your Favorite “Real-time” Tool?...

The theme of LeWeb '09 was "The Realtime Web," but what exactly "is" realtime? And, at what point, do realtime tools stop being new toys which only geeky people use and start becoming so embedded into our everyday lives that we don't really think about them, but can't imagine living without them?

LeWeb Bingo! Watch and Play Along!...

Here in Paris, the excitement about LeWeb is palpable. While the actual conference will take place over the next two days, there are many pre-conference parties and activities today. For those of you who aren't lucky enough to be here, the entire event will be streamed live. If for any reason, that link doesn't work, just go to the LeWeb homepage, I'm sure there will be an updated link, if needed. Whether you are participating in person or via the web, I invite you to have a little fun with the content by playing LeWeb Bingo. If you've never played bingo, it works like this:

Moments and The Power of Not Laughing...

I didn't know what to expect. The guy was a complete stranger, yet here we were having a delightful and very natural conversation. We talked about our kids, observations about life and social media. A few days prior to our meeting, I saw a tweet from this guy saying he'd be in the Bay Area and asking if anyone wanted to get together.

13 Signs That You’re At a Tech Conference...

Having had a very long career in the corporate world before plunging into social media, I've attended conferences of all types. While I truly love the energy and content at tech conferences, I'm struck (and, at moments, slightly entertained) by the differences in style and etiquette between the entrepreneurial tech events and those with a more traditional, corporate bent. It is with the greatest love, respect and true geek-envy that I offer the following observations:

I’m Engaged! (4 Tales of Accidental Twitter Friends)...

It's true, I'm engaged. No, not that kind of engaged. I'm virtually engaged - listening to conversations and building relationships online. As with other networking platforms, I use Twitter primarily for business purposes. Still, as we all know, even when we network and use social media for business, we don't talk about business 100% of the time, right?