I'm Moving to Hong Kong!

It's official - my husband and I are moving to Hong Kong! I'm excited to embark on a new phase of my career in which I will take on the role of Regional Strategy Director, 360 Digital Influence, Asia-Pacific. What a mouthful!

The demand for digital continues to grow at an amazing rate, in nearly every region of the world. I am honored to join Thomas Crampton, Scott McBride and John Stauffer in APAC and can't wait to meet the rest of my new colleagues from halfway around the world. Here's a glimpse of the social media equivalents I'll be working with in China (thank you, Thomas!).

To all of the wonderful colleagues, bloggers, companies and clients I've worked with in the U.S. - please keep in touch! Though I am sad to leave San Francisco, I look forward to the challenges and learning opportunities that lie ahead :)

The above photo is from Goway.

2011 CES: Is It Still a Man's Show?

I had the pleasure of attending the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on behalf of a client this year and was both excited and scared to face an onslaught of crowded spaces and long cab lines. Despite the worry, I have to admit: I had a blast at CES!

Though I wasn't able to see as many celebrities or play with as many gadgets as I had hoped, I did enjoy spending some time with real women in tech (like the awesome mom and tech bloggers you see in the above photo). Read my take over at Ogilvy PR's Womenology blog on "CES 2011: Where are the Women". I share my conversations with Mia Kim, founder of Popgadget, and Beth Blecherman, founder of Silicon Valley Moms Group, TechMamas and co-founder of CoolMomTech.

Why I Liked The Social Network

After 'boycotting' The Social Network for months, I finally allowed myself to be dragged to see the movie along with my friends from Ogilvy PR. I'm not the biggest fan of Mark Zuckerberg, so I wasn't keen on supporting a movie about the guy. I'm SO glad I put my biases aside!

The truth is, it's amazing to watch just how quickly Facebook grew and how it was nearly impossible for the founders to keep up with it. One day, there was no Facebook, the next day, there is one. Months later, there are a million users on Facebook in multiple countries. It's incredible.

Having been in college when Facebook was created (I actually 'boycotted' it then, but was finally swayed to join by friends who couldn't stop using it) to now working as a digital strategist who uses Facebook daily to reach and connect with people - you have to hand it to Mark and team. They've changed the world. Plus, the movie trailer has a great soundtrack!

I encourage you to check out the movie while it's still in theaters. It's very well done, the characters are pretty well developed (I don't know if they're portrayed truthfully, though), and I found myself wanting more at the end.

When Birds of a Feather Flock Together - #360DI Summit

Great things happen. At this weekend's 360 Digital Influence Black Belt Summit in Washington, D.C., 50+ strategists from N. America, the UK and France convened to discuss the latest trends shaping social media marketing and communications.

After two intense days of brainstorming, redstorming and thunderstorming, we all left a bit pooped. Chris Graves, Ogilvy PR global CEO, helped uplift the crowd with a thought piece on influence.

As a social media marketer, I spend day and night thinking about influence. How to inspire a group of consumers to learn about a product? Share a post with a friend? Write a positive review? Conducting business is contingent on the ability to influence potential customers. It's no surprise influence lies at the center of any social media program.

Graves touched on several interesting theories behind influence and human behavior:

1. The Strength of Weak Ties
"Individuals with few weak ties will be deprived of information from distant parts of the social system and will be confined to the provincial news and views of their close friends," (The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited, by Mark Granovetter; download the full paper to read more).

Pope Jumps on Blogging Bandwagon

This just in: The Pope is encouraging priests to leverage digital media to spread the Gospel. The rest of the story is available on Yahoo! News via Associated Press.

I think this is a really cool move, particularly given the conservative nature of the papacy. Given how successful President Obama's campaign has been in creating a movement via social media, it is not that surprising that the Pope would encourage Catholic practitioners to connect with their followers online, too.

Josh Sternberg says: "Religion has always been at the forefront of new communication technologies; think Martin Luther and his 95 Theses that were printed with the newfangled printing press; think Jerry Falwell and his use of the newly-launched cable satellite system."

For more on religion and social media, check out:
Social Media & Religion: Even The Pope's Online! (by Josh Sternberg)

Paying It Forward - How Do You Build Community?

I was surprised by my co-workers yesterday with an office celebration for my birthday (which was technically Monday, but I worked from home that day to edit some videos and therefore wasn't in the office to receive cake, flowers and singing on my actual birthday).

Though I promise not to prolong my birthday too much longer by blogging about it repeatedly, when yesterday's offline surprise turned into tweets, Twitpics and Facebook posts, it made me want to blog about community and how companies go about building them.

This weekend, I blogged about how Anthropologie builds community by bringing customers into the Anthro lifestyle. Along similar lines, Catch Up Lady recently blogged about how Patagonia builds community for the eco-conscious outdoor enthusiast. I was also privileged enough to hear Kristian Bush from Sugarland talk about building community in a declining music industry through homegrown YouTube videos and authentic fan interactions. I think it's also safe to say that Apple has not only built a community, but a whole culture around its brand.

2010 Ford Fusion Launches with American Idol Houseparty

Ford Motor Company* has been receiving some really good press about about My Ford Touch (video demo here), which was shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show last week. Ford has been leading the automobile industry in building intelligence into automotive systems, but it's also pretty progressive when it comes to social marketing.

For example, I attended an interesting presentation by HouseParty during the WOMMA Summit last November that covered how Ford leveraged an existing sponsorship with American Idol to drive customer conversations and brand immersion across the social Web. The HouseParty case study made me think of a tupperware party on steroids, but the results were quite intriguing.