Archive for the ‘Celebrities’ Category

Posted on February 13, 2012 - by Wayne Sutton

Day 13: People of color impacting the social web – Baratunde Thurston with Video – #29DaysofDiversity

As we all know, February is Black History Month. It’s a month where we honor those who have made an impact on American culture for equal rights, those who have invented, those who have a helped others and those who have inspired everyone to be the best they can be, not only as a person of color but as a human. For the past two years for Black History Month, I started an online series called 28 Days Diversity where I would feature someone new everyday during the month of February for just being awesome in their own right. Even though it’s black history month, the goal for 28 Days of Diversity is to feature not just African-Americans but other minorities in the web/tech space. Also note that 28 Days of Diversity is not a popularity contest or an influencer list but a list of thought leaders in the social web sector, including entrepreneurs, bloggers, conference organizers, IT professionals and friends not ranked in any particular order who I have either met in person or followed online. Each post will include a picture, bio, two links from the selected person and this paragraph.

For 2012 I wanted to not just feature individuals but also ask a question to where each featured person could share their passion with others. For 29 Days of Diversity 2012 each post/person will answer the question “What motivates you to become successful?”

For the next 29 days since 2012 is a leap, come back to visit SocialWayne.com/tag/28daysofdiversity and/or 28daysofdiversity.com to see who’s on the list. For day 13, I would like to introduce to some and present to others:

Baratunde Thurston

Twitter: @Baratunde

Website/Blog: http://baratunde.com

Book: How To Be Black

Bio

Baratunde Thurston is a technology-loving comedian from the future who cares enough about the world to engage with it politically. Yes, he votes. Regularly. With an ancestry that includes a great-grandfather who taught himself to read, a grandmother who was the first black employee at the U.S. Supreme Court building and a mother who took over radio stations in the name of the black liberation struggle, Baratunde has long been taught to question authority. It helps that he was raised in Washington, D.C. under crackhead Mayor Marion Barry.

His creative and inquisitive mind, forged by his mother’s lessons and polished by a philosophy degree from Harvard, have found expression in the pages of Vanity Fair and the The UK Independent, on the radio waves of WNYC, where he is a regular contributor and on the screens of news networks such as CNN, MSNBC, BBC, Al Jazeera English and This Week In Tech. He even hosted his own show on Discovery Science called Popular Science’s Future Of.

Far from simply appearing in media, Baratunde is also helping defining its future. In 2006 he co-founded Jack & Jill Politics, a black political blog whose coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention has been archived by the Library Of Congress. For the past four years, he has helped bring one of America’s finest journalistic institutions into the future, serving as Director of Digital for The Onion. In 2011 he was a judge for the Knight News Challenge, a media innovation contest which funds experiments in the future of news. His book, How To Be Black, will be published by Harper Collins in February 2012.

His most significant expression, however, is probably his own creative experimentation with new digital platforms. He was named Foursquare Mayor of the Year for holding a real-world rally to defend his virtual mayorship. Every year he live hate-tweets the Twilight movies to his 100,000+ Twitter followers, and in 2009, he embodied the swine flu with a Twitter account of that name.

His wide range of experience and activity has earned him an equally wide range of praise. The ACLU of Michigan honored him “for changing the political and social landscape one laugh at a time.” He was nominated for the Bill Hicks Award for Thought Provoking Comedy. The Root added him to its list of 100 most influential African Americans. Fast Company listed him as one of the 100 Most Creative People In Business. Then-candidate Barack Obama called him “someone I need to know,” and YouTube user “mooospot” referred to him as a “dumbass liberal crackhead welfare sucker.”

When he’s not staring at a glowing rectangle, Mr. Thurston, which he goes by near the end of his bio, travels the world, speaking and advising on the subjects of our digital future and storytelling, satire and democracy, and race and politics. In the past two years alone he has spoken at South by Southwest, Google Atmosphere, the Online News Association Conference, Netroots Nation, the Mashable Awards, Web 2.0 Expo, Personal Democracy Forum, Internet Week NY, Social Media Week, TribeCon, the ACLU Annual Dinner (Mass., Mich. and Okla.), Surf Summit 14 (Mexico), The AtlanTech Dinner (Paris), The FD Summit (Amsterdam) and Digital Directions (Australia). In May 2011, he spoke at the presidential palace in Tbilisi, Georgia (the country) on the role of satire in a healthy democracy.

Baratunde performs standup comedy regularly in New York City, resides in Brooklyn, lives on Twitter and has over 30 years experience being black

Video Interview

What motivates you to become successful?

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You can follow the status of 29 Days of Diversity 2012 on http://28daysofdiversity.com, http://socialwayne.com/category/28-days-of-diversity/ and syndicated on BlackWeb 2.0.

Posted on May 17, 2011 - by Wayne Sutton

How to manage social media success like American Idol 2011 contestant Scotty McCreery

I’m not a huge American Idol viewer as a matter of fact I don’t watch a lot of TV outside of V (now canceled), Smallville (series just ended), sports and news. But when a North Carolina native makes it on the big screen especially in a reality contest I try to tune in and support. This year for American Idol, Scotty McCreery from Garner, NC is one of the top three finalist. Scotty is the third North Carolina native that has made it to the top three joining Clay Aiken from Raleigh, NC and Fantasia Barrino from High Point, NC. As I stated in my Ignite Raleigh talk a few years ago “we own that show”. Regardless if Scotty is crowned the next American Idol he has won in so many ways already .

This past Saturday Scotty returned from Idol headquarters to provide his Garner hometown fans with a concert. During his return Scotty signed a lot of autographs, put in a few miniutes at his old job at Lowes Food and gave a lot of hugs to screaming fans young and old. There even was a short but packed Scotty / Garner, NC parade. It was suppose to rain Saturday so I was staying in but decided to watch some of the Scotty mania on TV and check to see if any of my friends were tweeting from the event. Yes, Scotty’s concert was broadcasted live on WRAL and from Twitter I saw that @isellmoney and @lisasullivan were in attendance… I think. Also on twitter were a few Scotty McCreery hashtags to follow such as #Scottystock, #goscotty and #garnerNC. During “Scottystock” aka the live concert Scotty McCreery was surprised by country music star Josh Turner. Over all it was a great day for Scotty McCreery, American Idol and Garner, NC.

While watching Scotty’s success going from a small hometown grocery store cashier to now national superstar it reminds me of how … wait for it… yes. It reminds me how some businesses can succeed in using social media. After a business/brand has use social media to gain new customers, get more followers/fans if that’s their goal or increase sales numbers how does a business manage the success? I’m glad you asked. Here are 10 ways you can manage your social media success like Scotty McCreery.

1. Be Humble

Scotty thanked everyone for voting him in to being one of the final three American Idol 2011 contestants.

2. Stick to what you’re good at

Scotty, did try a few songs outside of his natural element but he knows what he’s good at and doesn’t stray to far from it. After you find a winning formula build off of it but don’t forget what lead you to your success.

3. Act surprised when you meet the rock stars

I not 100% sold if Scotty knew Josh Turner was coming on stage or not but when you meet an experience veteran it’s good to show a little respect and try to think about way you can work together unless they call you a clown.

4. Thank Everyone

Scotty knows that without his fans he wouldn’t have made it to the final three. The same for your social media success. Every now and then you need to just say thanks to your blog readers, Facebook fans/likes, twitter followers and/or friends who share your content.

5. Give “free” Hugs

Everyone loves a good hug. We’ll almost everyone. Regardless you may not be able to give your social media supporters a free hug but you may have a group discount or a free product to over them for supporting you. Information is also considered valuable. Continue to provide good valuable content that lead to your success.

6. Work the media

When you have the media’s attention let them have full access. Let the media help you tell your story but always remember everyone is watching so be on your best behavior.

photo via Idol chatter

7. It’s ok to cry

Showing a little emotion shows that you’re human and helps builds relationships.

8. Be awesome all the time

It’s hard but the phrase is called “being on” after you become successful everyone except the “haters” think you’re awesome. Always remember that. From that point on… be awesome all the time or at least do you best faking it.


photo via Idol chatter

9. Live up to the hype

After you have some social media success the expectations bar has been lifted and the world is waiting to see what will you do next. I’m not sure how Scotty is going to preform this week but he has a lot of hype to live up to and I wish him well. Also think about this in terms of the Old Spice commercials, they were cool and funny at first but now I’m ready for something new.

10. Use the right tools

Scotty is active on Twitter sharing his experiences with his followers around the world. I think he is actually sending the tweets. I’m not sure if he’s using Facebook or other platforms but for him right now Twitter helps him share his story in real time and hopes help him win American Idol.

11. Keep it simple

K.I.S.S.

Scotty from one NC guy to another good luck. You know you’re already a winner.

How do you manage your social media success?

Posted on December 5, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

infographic – If Web Browsers Were Celebrities, I’m using Samuel Jackson

This is a funny infographic by the guys at Walyou comparing web browsers to celebrities. I’m currently using Safari so that would Samuel Jackson. The funniest is IE 6 which is Betty White and I like the no browser version which is Keanu Reeves (Matrix version).

If Web Browsers Were Celebrities is brought to you by Wix.com
Use creative design to make a Flash website.
You are most welcome to share this infographic with your audience.

via If Web Browsers Were Celebrities [Infographic] | Walyou.

Which celebrity browser do you use?

Posted on November 23, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Video: What’s on Oprah’s favorite things 2010 list? The iPad. This is better than any iPad app commercial

First Twitter had it’s Oprah moment, then Mark Zuckerberg made an appearance on the show and today, no it wasn’t Steve Jobs but the iPad. During the Oprah show today, the queen of all media announcing her favorite things 2010 list dropped down a floating iPad with what looked like either Victoria Secret wings or Angle wings, either way the iPad had wings! Before Oprah even announced that everyone in attendance was receiving a free iPad the crowd was going crazy! Steve Jobs couldn’t make a better iPad commercial if Apple tried. Take a look!

Oprah also stated how she plays her favorite game on the iPad, which is Scrabble and you can now read the O magazine on the iPad as well.

What do you think? Is this the best iPad commercial of all time that’s really not an iPad commercial?

Via: TUAW

Posted on November 22, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Spotify USA Playlist from Kanye West Day on Twitter

If you’re one of the lucky Spotify USA beta users and a Kanye West fan, I created a play list of the songs from Kanye West day on Twitter. As I stated in the tools and tracks post Spotify was one of the apps that help me create the tweets. Also it looks like Kanye was wondering if Spotify was working in the U.S. yet. Not yet Kanye!

Regardless here’s the Spotify USA Playlist from Kanye West Day on Twitter. The widget was provided by http://www.spotidj.com

If you’re using Spotify and have Spotify social enable, use the image below to find me if you want to share your tracks.

Are you looking forward to the Spotify USA release?