By now the word has gotten around the Internet about the practice that some employers have adopted of asking employees for their passwords. This has been in the news for at least the past month and has sparked multiple Twitter debates among advocates of free speech and privacy. I was even under the misconception that current labor and FCC laws protected the employee in this matter and that asking for an employees’ or prospective employee’s log in and password information was illegal. Unfortunately the recent failure of the proposed FCC amendment proved me wrong.

It outrages me that in this day and age of technical savvy individuals it wouldn’t be seen as an act against one’s privacy (and not to mention First Amendment) for a corporation to request an individuals’ social media passwords. As a professional in the social media world this also alarms me and would not only be a breach of my personal privacy but of the privacy of a variety of Facebook and Twitter accounts I manage.

For instance, since Facebook’s Terms of Service require you to connect to Facebook Pages via a personal account, there are multiple pages I manage that are connected to my personal Facebook account. Not only do I manage pages for my current employer but for a variety of nonprofits, a freelance client and friends who I help with social media, I also am an admin on multiple professional groups for the new media (and transmedia) industry. For me to give someone my password would require me to hand over not only my trust but the trust of many others. That I would be asked to do this would go against my moral code.

My only hope is that, until something can be agreed upon on a national level, that individual states with amend their legislation to uphold the rights and privacy of the individuals they have sworn to protect. Otherwise, I can only see even worse invasions of our privacy that would be coming in the future. And that is something no one would want to see happen.

I’m not writing today because I want to redefine the term geek – I think that has been done multiple times. I just feel like the discussion in question has missed an underlying point of what I viewed was the core of Tara’s original entry.

Much of the criticism being brought against Tara’s post is based on the question: Who should have the authority to “label” someone a geek and what does that entail? Personally I think this completely missed the point of Tara’s article. Her frustration (and that of other geek girls I know) is with people who knowingly mislead their audience/clients/fans into thinking that they are geeks for the sole purpose of marketing themselves and ultimately making money.

It seems that being a geek is now cool. And if you are an attractive female that claims to be a geek you can potentially make a name for yourself. And for the record there are some legitimate geek girls that are making a name for themselves. People like Felicia Day, Casey McKinnion, Veronica Belmont and other wonderfully geeky girls are doing what they love and making a name for themselves by doing so. They aren’t doing it because they know “geek” is trendy – but because they believe and love what they are doing.

Personally, as a female who has loved uncool things since she was young (I grew up on comics, fantasy, and scifi), I feel that those people who identify with geek culture just to extort those that follow them give the rest of us a bad day. We love and want to share our love of things because it is what we are passionate about – whether or not that comes with an audience, money, or marketing plan.

So really – wouldn’t the true message of all this be the following:

“Be True to Yourself, No Matter Who You Are”

Whether you are a geek or not – being true to yourself and authentic with your audience is what I think truly makes a connection with them. Being something you aren’t just to get attention makes that connection weak and ultimately, if the truth gets out, can lead to a marketing disaster.

I guess first I should explain. I dropped of the face of the planet due to the day job (Social Media for a pizza franchise) as well as multiple side jobs (Social Media Manager for the IAWTV, Social Media Director for TransmediaLA, and Marketing Director for Wyrd Con). I also realized I’m learning a ton about social media that I’m not necessarily sharing with people because outside of my recent visit to SXSWi I didn’t feel as though I had people to share it with.

Then I had the epiphany: That’s the exact reason I had this blog in the first place! So please expect more about my journeys, trials and tribulations in the world of Social and New Media.

Also – I give all of you permission to harass me via twitter (@Lhriangel) if I slack on this blog again. Because sometimes everyone needs to be accountable to others.

Coming in the future:

• My first SXSW experience
• SXSWi Panel blogs (once I recover my notes from work)
• Information about the ARG Kickstarter Project by TransmediaLA (including myself)
• Google+ Best Practices and maybe even some Social Media themed HangOuts
• Pinterest (everyone is using it – but should brands be?)
• And eventually a complete website redesign with new look

So please, feel free to comment below and leave me suggestions. The more people I know interested in my ideas – the more I’ll be excited to share them.

WyrdCon is an interactive theater convention. From my understand, Interactive theater covers LARPS (Live Action Role Plays), RPGs (Role Playing Games) and ARGs (Alternate Reality games). In my opinion these genres are types of entertainment that will only be more relevant to the general public with the convergence of various media forms. One of the important aspects of interactive theater is that it plays on the notion of escape and wanting to become someone else. Everyone wants to escape and be someone else at some point or another and this is a way to do so. To learn more about what exactly WyrdCon is you can click here for the mission statement and here for a Day in the Life of a WyrdCon organizer.

For the first time Wyrdcon will be hosting a Transmedia panel. This panel will be a Transmedia 101 of sorts to examine the different ways that various new media platforms can be used to enhance participants role and participation in interactive theater experiences. Personally, I’m extremely excited for this panel because it will be my first time moderating a panel! And I have some awesome people on the panel. If you are in the Southern California area and are interested there will be tickets sold at the door. Come by and say hi if you can make it, it is sure to be a great weekend.

And our WyrdCon Transmedia panels are…

• Scott Walker
• Lauren Scime
• Bret Shefter
• Alistair Jeffs

Hope to see you at WyrdCon!

For our final projects we were to pick a non-profit organization and fulfill some need of theirs. My non-profit is Create Now, an arts mentoring program for very at-risk and high-risk kids in Southern California. The majority of these kids are in foster care or group homes, and have undergone many challenges in their lifetimes. To help the organization Jill Gurr, the founder, her AmeriCorps volunteer Laura and I came up with the concept for a talent showcase that would feature some of the kids that Create Now supports. There has been many trials and challenges on the way to getting this event accomplished but after long last it is here! 17 kids will be performing a mix of original and contemporary pieces and there will be music from a featured band, A Welcome Distraction, to cap the evening off. Please considering coming out to support these kids, you’ll be glad you did! Tickets can be found here, and hurry because they are only $12 until Friday at midnight.

The first understanding must be that various types of social media satisfy certain needs in our lives. Some examples of this are:

• Twitter – microblogging at its best. Best uses are to keep in touch with online acquaintances, businesses, celebrities and the latest news.
• Facebook – social networking in all it’s glory. Best for maintaining personal relationships with friends and acquaintances.
• LinkedIn – professional social networking. A must in the professional world of social media.
• YouTube – Social viewing. Watching and discussing online content and short videos.
• WordPress, Blogger, Blogspot – personal blogging software. Lets you expand on thoughts too long for twitter and facebook.
• Tumblr, LiveJournal – visual, short blogs. A tool for those who want something in between Twitter and a blog.
• Niche specific sites – bring together communities based upon a common interest.

The above list is by no means expansive. There are some sites that duplicate others (such as Vimeo being similar to YouTube), however it does give you the gist of what I mean about social networking sites each having a purpose and focusing on fulfilling that purpose. Some sites (such as Facebook) are trying to converge a variety of purposes under one roof. The problem with this is that it is harder to do many things well then do one thing excellently.

Personally I’d rather have applications (such as tweetdeck) that allows me to combine my social media in a way that I want to. For instance when I post this blog I can decide if I want to retweet it on my Facebook and LinkedIn pages.  I like to have this control because I can decide exactly how I want to promote myself across the different media.

All this comes around to me explaining what brought this along. With my final semester of grad school, job hunting, various outside projects, part time job, and life my mind gets a bit cluttered sometimes. And I don’t want to put my clutter here, because this if for my social media related posts, and I don’t want it on my Efficient Creativity blog because that’s for creativity related projects. Hence, I have decided on trying out Tumblr to see how it differs from other blogging software and as yet another tool to add to my toolbag. The link is along the side if you wish to join me on my journey.

This drastically conflicts with the warnings that many studies have gone to great lengths to prove, namely that if people use too much media and entertainment technology it will result in society becoming anti-social.

While I can get tired of the word “social” being thrown around so much these days I will say I think that technology has allowed us to become more social rather then creating an antisocial subculture. Think about it this way- People tweet to keep in touch with people they are interested in, they use Facebook to plan events with their friend and share online material including pictures, videos and articles. People use YouTube to create and post their own videos and comment on others. People have turned video games into a social environment where they can talk to others while they play. Even TV is slowly becoming an environment where you can connect with other fans (see Fox’s new Glee SuperFan player).

So while the word “social” may be getting a little played out I do think it is an adequate way to explain the current phenomena. We are becoming an even more social world – one in which it is possible to share almost anything at any time.

The question I ask you is – when does the sharing become too much?

Let me know what you think about the social new phenomena by commenting below.

So over the years I wondered to myself, why don’t I have a website in order to market myself. I have a blog about creativity (and whatever else I want to write about), I tweet, I facebook, I link in – and yet I haven’t had my very own space on the web… until now.

I have reposted most of my social media and new media communications related posts from Efficient Creativity. I will be continuing to post here on topics such as:

• New Media
• Social Media
• Social Entertainment
• Career Development
• The Job Hunt
• Advertising, Marketing, and PR related topics

This will also be my new home base. If you want to see any of the other sites I participate please look to the “Follow Me” tab on the right side of the screen.

Thank you for visiting and please enjoy my little piece of the web.

Today I wanted to talk to you about something that occurred last night that may have an adverse effect on the web television community. Yesterday the Second Annual Streamy Awards (like the Oscars, but for the web) was streamed live to a large home audience for the first time. Now, I don’t watch many awards shows but due to having some friends in the industry and being interested in the current entertainment trends I decided to tune in.

Now, I want to point out that despite all that occurred throughout the show, which I will detail later, I did watch the entire broadcast. This may be important at a later date.

I will acknowledge that there is always some risk in broadcasting anything live. However, I don’t think the audience (both online and at the theater) was prepared for all the “risks” that they would have to endure throughout the evening. Below are some of the risks that appeared and my take on them:

• The choice of presenter. He may be famous but was he the correct choice for the audience at hand? The presenter made frequent risque and what some though (as seen through the twitter stream) vulgar jokes. He also continuously insulted the web community and the internet in general. I feel like this undermined the quality of the show and what the Streamy Awards are trying to accomplish which, in my mind, is to legitimize the web as a means of original entertainment.
• Technical failure. I felt so bad for the Fine Brothers when the tech failed in the middle of their video. They had worked so hard on it and that was one of the main reasons I was watching the awards show. I honestly think that they deserve an apology.
• Streakers. Okay I’m not sure if this was planned… but it was in poor taste, in my belief. Also, it seemed to prove the lack of maturity that kept getting mentioned throughout the event.
• Technical failure. They thought they got the tech fixed, they forgot to fast forward the DVD though. And why it took them so long to figure it out I will never know. Also, tech failure at an awards show that is about new media seemed a bit ironic to me. Did anyone else feel this way?
• EDIT – Also the constant background talking that was audible throughout the stream was unprofessional and irksome as well. I had forgotten about this point until a friend reminded me.
• In my opinion these things were a list of what can go wrong will go wrong. Also, it seemed like all the things that can NOT happen at other entertainment awards shows did happen here including, constant cussing without beeping, unintentional nudity, and seriously technological failure.

I don’t want to neglect the people and things that I thought were well done.

• Felicia Day: From her presenting of an award to her acceptance speech she was true class. She showed the rest of the world how it should be done, in my opinion. It also touched me when she said her Streamy was for “All Geek Girls”. Being one myself it made me smile and think of her and just that more amazing. Also, she stated something in her speech that is basically my hypothesis for a paper I’m writing for my entertainment and society class. Which gives it that much more legitimacy in my opinion.
• The Fine Brothers: Yes the tech failed during their video but they tried to keep things together as much as they could. This was definitely to their credit.
• Half the presenters: The presenters during the second half of the show (after all the unfortunate events) shrived to put the show back on track through their professionalism.
• Autotune the News: Their performance during the show was amazing, their acceptance speech in song was even more so. I had only caught a few of their youtube videos before this, now I want to go back and watch everything they’ve ever done.

So were the 2010 Streamy Awards a complete disaster? It depends on who you talk to. To the winners, I’m sure it wasn’t. To the audience, it depends on their view. While there were many cringe worthy moments for me and I thought some of the sketches stretched a bit too long it was nice to see people being recognized for the innovative work they put in for little to no money in an entertainment outlet still in its infancy. I just hope that people do not judge them, and all web entertainment, by the awards show.

Next year, and I hope there will be a next year, I hope the Streamys learn from this year and ensure things run smoother. I also want to say good luck to them, the entertainment world can be harsh and have a long memory when it wants to, hopefully this is not a time when it wants to.