Take a look around you. It’s probably the first time in a long time that you have looked at the world around you, really looked at it.

Most of us spend our day glued to our computer screens; answering e-mails, updating our calendar or writing reports. And when we are away from our computers, we have our iPads and our smart phones filled with apps that help us do, find and learn everything. So you would think that as soon as we got some downtime, a break from the chaos that is our lives… we would “tune in, turn on and drop out” as they used to say. But we don’t. We have found a new drug. Salivating over the newest pins… scanning the latest status updates…  snickering over blurbs no longer than 140 characters.

So what makes us so connected to these networks?

Over the last 6 months I’ve been asking myself… what is it that that makes us so addicted to this “drug”?

The answer is this: jQuery Masonry The word “Masonry” is something we see and use everyday. It’s this concept that makes humans connect strongly with platforms like, Pinterest and Gentlemint. With our society craving fast content, our brains are also craving an easy way to digest all this content and we probably don’t even notice it. What is it about this layout that makes us scroll for hours and continue to build highly durable data constructions.

While geeking out with my soon-to-be-hubby, @markhayden he says “jQuery Masonry arranges divs of dynamic size within a predefined area similar to how masons meticulously choose various sized bricks to create a solid wall, a piece of ux art”  I love this quote and show off some of his smarts

Here are a couple visuals to make this blog post look sexy:

Also here are a couple links that have this same concept:
https://www.clipboard.com/

http://fab.com/feed/

http://www.thefancy.com/

Big thank you to @Brillskymedia and @markhayden for helping me with this post #PandaLovesYou

Do you remember when Facebook launched Deals? And how similar it looked to foursquare? This concept didn’t last long nor was it user sexy…

Facebook has launched a new concept called Offers. My first interaction with this concept was with Sprinkles Cupcakes (of course) my good friend Hallie claimed this offer and it popped up in my News Feed!

So. Of course. I had to claim this bad boy because… well I love cupcakes! I was super excited to see how this new concerted worked…

The experience was smooth and my whole network saw that I claimed this one FREE cupcake. Now, did I go and get this offer… um NO! #FAIL, right? But I will say this experience was easy and viral…

Check out what my good friend Joseph said about this concept:

Have you claimed am offer? If so what was it and how was the experience?

I can not express how excited I am right now! Checked my phone when I got up this morning… I jumped out of bed (after reading a couple tweets) and ran to my laptop

Please enjoy and give me your thoughts/comments…AND Merry Christmas to all us social geeks!!

I need to get back to packing (LOL)

Here’s a sketch I did couple weeks ago…

Resource links:
https://developers.facebook.com/roadmap/

With all this buzz about how popular Pinterest is, I want to share a personal experience I had…

The experience I’m going to share is one of the best experiences I’ve had with a brand:

The kicker to this experience is that Tory Burch not only gave me easy access to a money-sucking Facebook Exclusive App, but she — well her marketing team makes it incredibly easy for me to share Pins to My Style board without making me leave Facebook.

Lovin’ the new Facebook photo lightbox update

Yep — that’s me (no big deal) ((Check out the site here))

sto•ry•tell•er
noun
a person who tells stories

The truth about Pinterest is that it gives every women, man and brand a chance to tell their story through imagery.  The secret sauce to this social network is having the ability to not only share your stories but to learn about friends, fans and advocate stories! Follow their boards & engage with their pins. Ask yourself  ”can their pins be linked to your brand?”  If so mingle —  like it and than repin & share this content on your “Fan’s Shown’ Love” board. This instant connection between your brand and your fans will develop into a deep and interactive relationship.

Think of it as those old school inspiration boards you and your girlfriend would share with each other on the weekends. You build trust with them the same way… just more in a digital way #WOM

I learn so much and get influenced everyday by the people I follow…. my girlfriend Ashley shares her wedding story by pinning an image of her vanilla three tier cake. ToyWatch shares timepiece stories and most of the pins on this board are not their product — they’re sharing their love for time. My favorite (not because I created it) is sharing each staff members story, you can follow sitewire on Pinterest and create a story that Andrea from Media really LOVES different bowl designs or that Britni account manager and I share the same love story for SHOES

Photos are worth a million pins/words — so start sharing your stories!!

Still not sure how brands are not looking into mobile and video — is it because it takes time to produce? is it because they feel a video needs to be create/edited like an Oscar winning film?

eMarketer Daily shared this information this morning:

Brands Continue Limited Mobile Site Offerings
Smartphone usage is quickly becoming more the norm than the exception, and consumers expect anytime, anywhere access to websites—including brand and retail offerings. But many marketers are still offering only limited functionality and options on mobile-optimized websites and marketing materials –

Why are you not giving your user a quick, 30 second product video?? We have the ability these days (with technology) to be in every customers hands EVERY SINGLE DAY! Look at it this way your user has invested in a “billboard” — a moving, glued to their hands kind-of-a-billboard. All you have to do is produce a 30 second video with daily tips or tell us a personal brand story.

My takeaway tip: S3 – Simple, Short and Several.
Start with http://tout.com/ << Your brand MUST at least start here!!

people think in different ways

people talk with their hands

people chat in 140 and 63,239

humans connect in different ways…  but no matter how you talk/connect/educate your audience they’ll “get it”

I have a very visual way of thinking and found that my audience is attaching themselves to this…

I use paper, iPad, table clothes, napkins… really anything I can draw arrows/stick figures/air bubbles and write out a couple words on. Some how this works for my crazy panda mind and some how it connects with the people around me.

mind & hand in my case connects best when I have a sharpie drawing my randomness social strategy  on paper OR table cloth (lol)

How do you connect? How do you get across your thoughts? How do you use mind & hand?