Outdated and Tired

The old logo.

My friend Jamie Turner recommended that I crowdsource the logo.  I had no idea what that meant, but it was intriguing.  Although I know many talented graphic designers, I also have an eye toward new trends.  Plus, I'm not always the easiest client and since I wanted to maintain those relationships, crowdsourcing really appealed to me. 

Choosing the Crowdsourcing Site

For the unintiated, crowdsourcing is the process of setting up a contest and having graphic designers compete to design your logo.  There's a multitude of crowdsourcing logo websites, and each has a staple of designers willing to compete and submit designs for your logos, based upon your specifications.  You choose from designs, request revisions, and eventually select a winner.  These sites range in price from $99 to $399 for a logo.

The inspiration logo.

So, I set up my contest and set the price at $110 to hopefully entice more designers to participate ($99 was the lowest).  I chose to make mine a guaranteed contest (paying up front to guarantee payment upon completion) and another $19 to make it a "featured" contest (getting more traffic from designers).  I provided the inspiration logo as well as guidelines for what I wanted, set the duration as 5 days and off we went!

The Contest Begins!

At first, only a few designs were submitted.  Some I really liked, while others I truly hated.  The inspiration logo actually had an apple, and in spite of the fact that my instructions said "speech bubble", many designers submitted logos with apples in them.  After a few days, I started wondering if crowdsourcing was a good idea.  Then around Day 3, I noticed I could invite designers to participate.  I researched the list of top designers on 48HoursLogo.com and studied their body of work.  One designer in particular (jones12) caught my eye, so I invited him to participate.  He promptly submitted a design and moved up to the front of the line.

At the end of the 5th day, I'd received designs from more than 25 designers from around the world.  I selected 3 finalists (not a difficult task), and provided specific instructions about revisions.  Once I had revised designs in hand, I took a screenshot of them and posted it on my personal Facebook page to get feedback from my friends.  This turned out to be an inspired idea.

The middle design… people said it looked like a cow's udder.  Eliminate.  I was told the 3rd design looked like a tornado.  And the first design, many liked it but hated the capital letters in the name… didn't capital letters in social media equate to YELLING???  I also had asked the designers to add reflections of the speech bubble beneath the images, but my friends said they looked like shark fins.

A Finalist Emerges

In the end, I chose the design by Jones12.  Many people think the graphic in the center of the speech bubble looks like a film strip.  Actually, I thought of that graphic as my clients' message and branding, being pushed out towards the different social networks (the little squares).  But since it did sort of resemble a filmstrip, I decided to change my job title to "Executive Social Media Producer," because I help my clients tell their story.

Interestingly, after posting the 3 candidates on my Facebook wall, one of my friends (a graphic designer) sent a private message, sharing his discomfort with the whole concept of crowdsourcing for a logo.  He said, "is that how you propose your social media services be sold?  By people winning a contest?"  Well, no… but what I provide is a monthly service in which we create and post different content each month, whereas graphic design for a logo is a one-time thing. I understand some may see this as a cheapening of the graphic design industry.  But to me, I saw this as a way to get access to many designers that I might not otherwise have found, and for a very reasonable price.  And to be honest, it was fun!

So that's the way, it became the new Project Social logo!   

Welcome to the new world order… today, Facebook hosted another news conference to unveil (shocker) yet another redesign!

Sometimes these announcements tend to elicit yawns (ahem, Graph Search), but today's presentation demonstrated many opportunities for marketers using Facebook to further their business purposes.  The live conference was broken up into 3 sections:

Richer Photos

Facebook acknowledged that when arriving at the homepage, the majority of Facebook users pay most attention to the newsfeed.  Not the list of apps on the left side, the ticker, and certainly not the ads.  So, Facebook has made the newsfeed much larger and in doing so, all photos will also be much larger, as will photo albums.  Posted links will contain larger images, longer descriptions, and the logo of the publisher.  When you hover over the name of a friend or page, the Cover Photo will appear even larger than before.  And you'll be able to see who has shared videos and links much more easily.

Courtesy of AllFacebook.com

What does this mean for marketers?

1. If using photos in your Facebook marketing hasn't been a main strategy for your business, it's time to shift gears.  A photo-centric marketing strategy on Facebook has been important for awhile, but this adds extra emphasis.
2. Hey bloggers and publishers, the selection of photos used in your articles is even more important.  Facebook will be automatically attaching the publisher's logo, which means you better have a good and recognizable logo.  Also you'll need an engaging and great description for your post, to entice fans to click on the link.
3. Cover photo – It's going to get even greater exposure, so make it a good one.
4. Videos – People will be able to see which of their friends have shared this, along with their photos and comments they have made about the video.  Make them engaging AND shareable!

Choice Of Feeds

Those of us struggling to get our companies' content into the newsfeeds of ALL fans (as opposed to the 16% that blasted Edgerank gives us)… your prayers have been answered.  Well, sort of.  Fans can now choose from a variety of newsfeeds (seen below) and will be able to see all posts from all friends and/or pages!  Here are some of the feeds:

1. All Friends – You can now see posts from everybody, not just the top friends.
2. Close Friends – This helps you to weed out the dreck… you know, those friends who sent requests and you didn't want to accept but felt you had to…
3. Topic feeds – music, sports, etc.
4. Photos feed – Just what it sounds like… if you only want to see the photos shared by your friends, this is for you.
5. Following feed – You can now see posts for all the pages you are following in chronological order… hallelujah!
6. Current feed – They are revamping this to include everything – all posts from friends and pages.  Awesome!

It seems that all of these newsfeed changes would take away the importance of Facebook ads, and promoting posts so your fans can see the content.  I guess the impact on ads and revenue for Facebook remains to be seen.

Mobile Consistency

The view of Facebook's newsfeed, on all devices, be it desktop/laptop, tablet or mobile phone will now all be the same.  This provides for a consistent user experience, no matter how you access Facebook.

1. The new design allows for the chat tray on smaller devices, for those of you clamoring for this feature.
2. “New stories” box will appear at the top of newsfeed on PC, just like you’ll see on the iPhone or iPad.

Coming soon…?

This all sounds great, right?  Can't wait to use it, can you?  Well, you're gonna have to.  Go to this link, scroll to the bottom, and join the waiting list for the new and improved newsfeed on the web.  It will be rolled out over time for tablets and mobile devices.  Who knows how long it will take, but I think it will be worth it!

What do you think of the new design?

Circa 1987. That’s me on the right with my good friend Debbie.

Over the years, I’ve watched friends switch to Apple as I continued to buy PC after PC.  My Apple friends kept telling me, “You REALLY should move to Mac.” But I was quite comfortable with PCs, specifically all the Microsoft software and didn’t want to learn a whole new system or pay a lot more for my computer.  And yet, when I moved into the social media profession, every single person I met was using MacBooks.  Maybe there was something to this whole Apple thing.

My latest notebook was an Acer with Windows 8 and a very cool touch screen. Seemed like a good deal and it came from Costco with its 90-day return policy and access to their “Concierge” service.  The Acer looked like a MacBook, but acted like a PC.  Yet halfway through the 3^rd month of owning this Acer, I was fed up.  I’d already done a major virus removal, a system refresh (not restart) to resolve a “jumping cursor” causing me to lose all my software, AND I had persistent Wifi problems.  I realized this was the prime opportunity to finally switch to Apple.

Switching Teams

After visiting my local Apple store and getting a tour of a MacBook Pro by one of their Geniuses, I decided to make a leap of faith.  I purchased the MacBook, and would return the Acer to Costco before the 90-day window closed.  I figured the serious love for this laptop would come later, as Apple’s fans are hopelessly devoted.  I purchased Apple’s One-to-One plan (full year of unlimited lessons), and was encouraged to make appointments to learn how to use my MacBook. 

I made 1-2 calls to Apple for some set-up issues and was pleased to find no long hold times, calls lasting less than 10 minutes, and talented, enthusiastic support staff clearly located in the U.S.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind speaking to an overseas customer support person, as long as they can fix the problem.  But Apple’s customer support was outstanding so far.

Microsoft Office For Mac

I wasn’t convinced I’d be able to use all of Apple’s software (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) to edit my documents created by Microsoft Office, so I purchased Office for Mac.  My one major problem was setting up email accounts in Outlook.  So I called Microsoft customer support and wound up speaking to somebody clearly located in Southeast Asia, who claimed her name was “Kristin.” I figured Kristin could tackle this in 20-30 minutes using remote access to configure my email accounts (only 2).  Wrong!  Try 90 minutes. 

With Apple’s customer support, I dealt with consummate professionals.  But honestly, had somebody given me some direction, I probably could’ve figured it out myself and taken less time than Kristin.  At one point in the call, I did research on my Acer and I gave her the solution needed for proper configuration!  She was very polite and tenacious, but oh so slow!  That’s 90 minutes I wish I could get back.

Deactivating Microsoft Office

Throughout the week, I moved my data from Acer to MacBook, and my Apple love began in earnest.  Yes, there’s a learning curve, but not nearly what I’d expected.  Finally, I was ready to do a system restart on the Acer and return it.  But first, I wanted to deactivate Office on the Acer… after all, somebody else in my house might need to use Office for PC since mine is the only Mac in our house.

After researching, “how to deactivate Microsoft Office”, a Microsoft website told me to call their Fix-It number.  I thought “great, more remote access and they can deactivate it for me.”  10 minutes on hold and a customer support rep (who sounded like he was from the same call center as Kristin) said, “Certainly, we can help with that.”  He had me launch the remote access module, and said a tech would come on momentarily to help me.  We waited and waited for more than 10 minutes, and no tech came on.  Suddenly, the module shut itself down.  What the…? The rep said, “No problem, let’s try again.”  We did and got the same results.  He said, “We’re having unusually high call volume right now.  Can you call back tomorrow morning?”

So I did, and after another 10 minute wait, the new customer support rep said, “Of course, we can help you do that.”  We launched the module again and this time a tech came on.  The guy on the phone hung up, and I was left dealing with the “chat rep.”  “Gene” explored my system, and after 5 minutes, announced he was transferring me to another rep who could solve my problem.  Within another 5 minutes, “Donald” came on, spent another 5 minutes searching my system, only to tell me I would have to call customer support to get help with this.  At this point I was furious… wasn’t I already dealing with customer support?  Donald refused to respond to my questions and disconnected the session.

I almost feel sorry for the poor guy whom I spoke to next on the phone.  He listened to me rant and rave about my terrible experience.  He politely informed me that I couldn’t deactivate Microsoft Office.  But the next time I tried to load Office on another computer, I’d just have to call them and get somebody to issue me a new product key.  I couldn’t believe I’d wasted another 1.5 hours dealing with this nonsense, only to wind up with nothing.

Let’s Return This Baby!

It was finally time to return my Acer to factory settings.  This time I called Costco’s Concierge Service and they walked me through Windows 8’s restart process.  She said, “it might take about an hour to do this.”  I was anxious to get started, so we forged ahead.  No, not one hour, SIX hours.  The only pleasant part of this entire experience was returning the Acer to Costco and getting my money back.

So far, all my experiences with Apple have been excellent  I’m dealing with competent enthusiastic people who genuinely want me to learn to use their products.  I’ve had 2 personal training sessions (one for email and one for Keynote) and I’m thoroughly impressed.  My daughter is getting a MacBook for college next year and I can’t wait to help her out… I truly understand the Mac love now.  I can’t imagine EVER going back.

As a Facebook page administrator, it's quite disheartening to think that only 16% of my fans are going to see my content.  It seems unfair, but that's the way Edgerank (Facebook's infernal algorithm) works.  It can become a battle to ensure that your content is seen by your fans, and of course, Facebook offers the perfect (and many think "cynical") solution… buying FB ads!  While this can be an excellent method to ensure your content is seen, many businesses don't have the budget for purchasing FB ads.

However, Facebook has some neat little features built right in that can make your life easier, don't cost anything to use AND can boost engagement.  Let's look at a few of these:

(1)  Embed Your Links

It used to be that if you wanted to post a link on Facebook, you had to post the full link into the status box.

This could make for a very long, clickable link in your post, in addition to the link that appears at the bottom of your post.  This looked especially messy if you had one of those extremely long links!  Now, you can insert the link, and once the "link box" appears below, you can just go ahead and delete the link.  Makes for a much cleaner look!  This is how it looks when posted on the wall, without the link:

Fans will be more likely to click on your link if the entire post looks clean and uncomplicated.

(2)  Change the Link Photo, Description and/or Headline

Have you ever posted a link and thought, "Uggggh, I don't like that description at all!"  Or, the link came up with a photo that really didn't match with the content?  Even the headlines sometimes don't match up.  Facebook allows you to change these items, before you publish them!  Here's how you do it:

After inserting your link (and then deleting the link once this image populates), look to see if you have Thumbnail choices.  You can easily scroll through the choices and select an image that better matches your content.  OR if none of them match your content, you can simply choose "No Thumbnail."  I would love to see Facebook add a feature that allows you to upload an image of your choice, because let's face it, sometimes the image choices kind of stink.

After choosing a better image, you can then change the description, simply by clicking on the text there.  It will initially turn yellow, and then a box opens where you can write a more engaging description:

Finally, you can edit the headline in the same way.  Simply click on the headline, it will turn yellow, and then you can enter a more engaging description.  The benefit of making all these changes is that by customizing your link in ways designed to draw the reader's attention, you have a much better chance of getting people to click on your link.

(3)  Post an Engaging Photo Instead of Using a Link

Although posting links is one of the simplest things to share on Facebook, links rarely get the same kind of engagement that images do.  It's just a fact.  So let's look at the 2 posts below and analyze what's different:

In the first post, Esri has included an engaging image and instead of using the link box which Facebook automatically populates, Esri has posted an image from this article and inserted the clickable link into the post.  This is a simple and very popular technique which almost automatically gets you more engagement.  It's considered a universal fact that images get more engagement on Facebook than most other forms of shared content.  The second post is a standard "we just shared a link" post on Facebook.  

By looking at the number of Likes, Comments and Shares, you can see which method is more effective for boosting engagement. Of course, this doesn't take into account the question of "perhaps one article was just better than the other" factor, or even the timing factor (some times of day are better for posting than others – although in this case, it looks like both were published at the same time).  But clearly, posting an image with your article gets more engagement.

(4)  Tag Other Facebook Pages in Your Posts

If you post content, then by design, only your fans are going to see it.  Once you get more engagement, then the posts can be seen by others virally.  (If a fan clicks LIKE, shares or comments on a post, then the post will be seen by that fan's friends in the newsfeed or the ticker.)  But, if you can tag other Facebook pages in your posts, then the content will appear on the wall of that other page, and all of their fans will see it too!

In this example, the post was published by Broken Sound Club.  But they also tagged "Boca Raton magazine" (who created the video) and "Allianz Championship" which is the golf tournament being held at Broken Sound Club.  By tagging all of these different pages, it guarantees that this post will show up on the wall of the other pages as well, and therefore will be exposed to the other fans.  Tagging is simple… all you need to do is know the correct name of the page, and then type an "@" right before the name.  Facebook will provide a drop down menu of choices you can select for tagging.

(5) Facebook Post Scheduler

As a page admin for many accounts, this one tool is essential.  Ever since Facebook introduced this feature, I have never used HootSuite or any other 3rd party posting service for my posts.  The feature allows you to schedule posts for up to 6 months in the future, and you can see how the content will look before it is ever published!  To use the FB Post Scheduler, begin typing a status and you'll notice a little bar appears at the bottom: 

Just click on that little clock in the bottom left- hand corner, and Facebook immediately offers you year, month, day, hour and minute options for posting:

After you've made sure the post looks exactly the way you want it to, click on "Schedule."  Facebook will then show a dialog box, telling you that your post has automatically gone to the Activity Log where you can see how it will look when posted.  To get to the Activity Log, go into your Admin Panel and click on "Edit Page".  In the drop-down menu click on "Use Activity Log" and you can see all Scheduled Posts:

Once you are in the Activity Log, you can make a few changes… by hovering near the top right corner of a post an arrow appears.  If you click on the arrow, you can change the time when it will be posted or delete the post all together.  I hope Facebook is listening, but I would love to be able to edit a post in the Activity Log instead of having to delete it and start all over again.

The Facebook scheduler makes life so much simpler and again, it adds to engagement because you can make a post look exactly as you wish and schedule it to post exactly when you want.  It's a powerful tool that costs you nothing to use.

So there you have it… 5 tricks or features that you can use to boost engagement and cost you nothing to use.  Let me know if you have other tricks that you use!

Yesterday was a milestone in our house, a rite of passage.  Elsewhere in the country, there was an unimaginable tragedy.

For the last 2 weeks, I had been researching buying a vehicle for our 16-year-old daughter.  Although she had been lamenting for months that she was perhaps the only 16-year-old in Johns Creek, GA without her own car, my husband and I held out. Neither of us had gotten our own cars until we were seniors in college, and we didn't feel a need to keep up with the Jones'.  Nonetheless, in the last month or so, we'd decided to go ahead.  Our daughter had worked so hard on her school work and was beginning to take part in more extracurricular activities.  It just seemed like now was the time.

After conducting much research on "the best used cars for teenagers", we had finally zeroed in on a 2010 Hyundai Elantra.  It had most of the bells and whistles that she wanted, was extremely safe, had good gas mileage, and was in our budget.  It seemed like the perfect first car for a teenager… we didn't want her first car to be so souped-up that she would have nothing to look forward to.  On Thursday, I had located the actual vehicle that we wanted to buy and had even test driven it… I was very impressed and ready to proceed.  At this point, all we needed was to learn whether our daughter would be awarded a parking permit by her school for the spring semester.  That decision would be announced Friday morning at the school.

Friday, December 14

At 8:24 Friday morning, I received a 3-word text from my daughter that would begin the process: "I GOT IT!"  At 9:00, my husband contacted the general manager at the dealership to get the process rolling on buying the car.  The manager was in a meeting and promised to call back shortly.  According to their website, the price of the car had inexplicably dropped another $200 overnight, and we were concerned that at this price, it wouldn't last.  He finally called back (around 9:30), only to give us news we didn't want to hear…the car had been sold the night before.

Rats!!!!!!  It was time to start over.  I guess we didn't need to buy a car that day… our daughter wasn't going to be able to park it in her school parking lot the following week anyway.  Was it really necessary?  Yes, we had the car bug and the irrational impulse within me said it was time to keep going.

Somewhere else in the country, a horror was beginning to unfold.  We were so focused upon ourselves, we had no idea.

I started searching online and found another 2010 Hyundai Elantra at the "sister" location for this particular dealership.  It had 6,000 fewer miles and cost more, but it was certified, had a clean Carfax report and the color our daughter preferred… silver.  I contacted the dealership and after a conference call with my husband, the general manager agreed that I could come pick it up, drive it around, and bring it back later in the day with my daughter.

Heading Towards Destiny

Normally, I listen to CNN on XM when driving in my car.  Today, I was so focused on the task at hand, that instead I wound up talking on the phone to my mom.  I told her where I was heading, and we got the giggles over a huge coincidence… my mother's car lease was up and she was on her way to the dealership to get a new car as well.  How funny, that grandmother and her oldest grandchild were likely getting new cars on the same day!

I arrived at the dealership, signed the paperwork and inspected the car.  I was pleased with what I saw, and as I was getting ready to leave, my husband called.  Would I be willing to drive the car to his office?  His colleague, who works at Autotrader and was an expert on cars had agreed to inspect the car for us and tell us if the car had ever been in an accident (despite what the Carfax report said).  I hopped in the car and headed towards his office. 

Again, a strange coincidence kept me from hearing the terrible news of the day.  Although this car had XM Satellite radio, it hadn't yet been activated.  I spent the whole drive over to my husband's office, cursing how much I hated Atlanta radio stations.  It seemed my choices were rap music, Christmas music, or hard rock.  I dodged 18-wheelers and marveled at what great handling the car had.  My husband's colleague inspected the car and was very impressed. He showed us that indeed, the car still had all of its original parts and he claimed that this was a female's car… you could see marks on the trunk where the owner had clearly been placing her purse.  All cosmetic damage could easily be buffed out.  He gave us his seal of approval.  We were psyched!

The News Sinks In…

Half an hour later, I finally arrived home.  I had one hour before I needed to pick up my daughter at school (a special treat… she couldn't wait to see the new car).  I made myself some lunch, turned on an episode of "Walking Dead" on Netflix, and went on my computer to do a Facebook post for a client. While doing that post, I saw something strange appear in the ticker…

A friend of mine posted something about the NRA and "given the news of today, it's time to take a serious look at gun control."  What the heck did that mean?  I then clicked on my newsfeed and was shocked that almost all of my Facebook friends were talking about a tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut and innocent children dying.  Finally, I switched over to CNN's website, only to learn of the horrific events which occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.  The facts were staggering… 27 dead, 20 were children.  Very young children.  I was struck cold.

I spent the rest of my time at home, learning as much as I could and letting the news sink in.  It was almost too much to bear.  How had I missed this story?  Usually I'm so tuned into what's happening in the news, and yet on this day, I was so focused on my own life that I almost felt guilty for not paying attention to more important things.

TIme for Pick-Up

I finally left to pick up my daughter.  This time, I listened to the AM radio stations and heard President Obama discussing the tragedy.  He spoke, in halting terms, about all the milestones these children would miss… graduations, weddings, their own children.  Suddenly I got chills thinking about 2 other milestones… their first car, and the milestone of buying their own child their first car.  I was facing a milestone on this very day, and feeling terrible about all the families for whom these milestones wouldn't be possible.

When I arrived at my daughter's high school, all I wanted was to hug her.  She was brimming with an innocent excitement, even after we discussed the shootings in Connecticut.  When we finally got home (after I allowed her to test drive it, during which time she fell in love with the car), I pulled her into my arms for a long hug.  Ironically, neither of us let go for a longer time than usual.  It just felt so good to hold her, and realize how incredibly lucky I was that my child arrived home safely that day.  And to know that we were on the brink of a milestone for our family too.

Although we were anxious to head out to the dealership to buy the car, I wanted my son to arrive home from school first.  I stood in front of the house, waiting… something I don't normally do.  As he walked up the driveway, he got excited when he saw his sister's new car and realized what was going to happen.  Some kids would have been jealous of their older sibling, but my son was never like that.  He was always genuinely happy for his sister's accomplishments and good fortune.  I brought him into the house, told him about the shootings, and then I hugged him for a long time too.  I just needed to see him and tell him how much I loved him before leaving with my daughter.

The End of a Long Day

I had warned my daughter that buying a car always took a few hours and she should be prepared.  I tried to include her in the process, explaining what all the itemized costs meant on the invoice, as well as explaining that a few of the items still needed to be negotiated.  She was horrified when I told her that if things didn't go our way, we would have to threaten to leave and I needed her to just get up and follow me out without complaint.  She looked shocked and almost with tears in her eyes, she said, "But Mom, I REALLY  want this car!"  I told her not to worry, that it was simply a negotiating tactic.  I wanted to educate her on the intricacies of being an adult, because I desperately want her to become an adult who will someday be teaching these same things to my grandchildren.

Fortunately, our negotiations went well and we didn't have to leave.  Nearly 3 hours after leaving our house, we pulled away from the dealership… me in my car, and my teenager driving her own first vehicle.  This time, I listened to CNN in my car and caught up on the news of the shooting.  The details were simply unimaginable… I was caught up in the collective grief I know our country feels for this tiny Connecticut community.

And so I end this post, again feeling terribly sad for these children, these parents, this community.  On the day when we reached a milestone in our house, perhaps a thousand other milestones were lost in this small town.  My thoughts and prayers go out to Newtown, CT.

Just for the record… this is NOT a partisan post.  It is merely an observation of a social media phenomenon.  It does not indicate my political preference in any way.

The speed of social media continues to impress and awe me.

During the debate, in an effort to express his support for women, Republican candidate Mitt Romney used an awkward phrase.  He said he knew "binders full of women."  Here, you can watch it yourself.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Q7hONqQBk[/youtube]

Before the debate had ended, the following new social media accounts had been opened:

Romney's Binders Full of Women – Facebook page  – 41,052 Likes

Binders Full of Women – Facebook group  – 298 members

RomneysBinder – Twitter account  – 3,167 followers

Binders full 'o women – Tumblr page 

Let's face it… binders are the new Big Bird.

Tragedy in Pakistan

I was horrified recently to learn of a terrible incident that occurred in Pakistan just this week.

A young girl named Malala Yousafzai, was riding the bus on her way home from school.  Malala was no orderinary teen in Pakistan.  Since the age of 11, she had been writing a blog for the BBC about life under the Taliban in the Swat Valley area of Pakistan.  She has been interviewed on television and was very interested in education for females. 

Unfortunately, none of these activities are approved by the Taliban.  In fact, it goes against everything the Taliban believes in.

So on this day, they stopped the bus and climbed aboard.  They asked which child was Malala, and upon locating her, they shot her in the head and neck.  Malala underwent surgery to remove a bullet near her spinal cord and as of the writing of this post, she has not regained consciousness.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility, and announced that if they get the chance, they will try to finish the job.  I don't have the proper words to express what I think of this, but you can read the whole story here.

Presidential Elections

This shocking turn of events made me stop and think… it made me incredibly grateful that I live in a country where I don't need to worry about such things.  With the presidential election occurring in the United States in just a few weeks, it would be easy to dwell on what a mess things are here.  Just turn on the TV, read articles online or peruse the newsfeed on Facebook or Twitter… full  of denouncements of how awful things are in the United States (and how badly the candidates will muck it up once in office).

I'm not going to sit here and say that we don't have a lot of issues here, and plenty of problems that need to be addressed or solved.  I'm also not going to say that the two candidates for the United States don't have some fundamental differences in how they would address our nation's problems.

But let's be honest… when Barack Obama took office from George W. Bush in 2009, nothing completely dramatic occurred overnight that said, "Hey, somebody from another party is in office now."  And if Mitt Romney wins, I expect the same thing to NOT happen in January 2013.  Frankly, the Democrats and Republicans have more in common than not (when compared with political parties in other countries).  My mom likes to say that one of the great things about the U.S. is that we always have peaceful transitions between presidents… we've yet to have a revolution when a new president takes over! 

Free to Be, You and Me

Which brings me back to the main point of this blog… another great thing about our country is our freedom of speech.  For some reason, this horrible shooting in Pakistan makes me even more thankful than ever to our Founding Fathers.  Yes, if I post something on social media that ruffles feathers, I'm going to get instant feedback from the social sphere.  But do I worry that I'm going to be physically attacked because of anything I say?  Absolutely not.  Because of the First Amendment to our Constitution, I have the ability to work in social media and say whatever I need to on behalf of my clients… and even to publish this post!  And I'm certainly not worried that my government is going to come after me for talking about life here in the burbs. 

Poor Malala Yousafzai.  That is EXACTLY what happened to her.  She tried to speak up for the basic rights of young girls living under the thumb of the Taliban in Pakistan.  She paid the price for her words. 

So to get back to the Presidential election in the U.S…. no matter who wins for President, I'm not worried that I'll be a victim of my words spoken on the Internet.  I'm sure (if she recovers) that Malala and all of her peers would LOVE to come live here, and they wouldn't dream of using the winner of our presidential election as a qualifier before making that choice.  (Can you imagine: "Sorry, Romney is president, so I can't live there.")

I would choose living here in the U.S. any day, regardless of whether our next President is Mr. Obama or Mr. Romney.  And I'm so grateful to have the rights to speak freely.  Let's all say some prayers for Malala Yousafzai and hope for a speedy recovery.  Let's also pray that the Taliban hasn't put out a bright shining light.

We’ve all had those moments where we think, “That’s it… I just can’t take it anymore!!!” At some point, somebody has gone just too far. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back has you pondering… “should I unfriend this person?” or “Should I unlike this page?”

1. Too political/opinionated – Sheesh, with a presidential election coming up in the United States, as well as other issues taking their turn on the hotplate (Yes, you Chick-Fil-A), extremely political discussions are becoming more and more ubiquitous. People are using social media to vent and spout off their opinions, and often those opinions are strident and can alienate people. I actually try to stay away from political discussions on social media (although it definitely can help with flagging engagement), simply because I find that people with strong opinions will routinely find your post and take you down a notch if your opinion isn’t in line with theirs. Further, they cannot be swayed or persuaded that others are entitled to their opinions. Not a polite way to behave on social media.
2. Posting too often – It has been said that a post on Facebook will often die (okay, not literally) within 3 hours if nobody has clicked “Like” on it, so it really is okay to post multiple times a day. But how many times is too many? One page that I follow is Cox Communications, and they have an outstanding community manager. Cox’s fans have multiplied rapidly in the last year, so I see their page as a successful role model. Generally, they do 2-3 posts per day, and their posts are ridiculously viral. If yours are not as viral, it’s okay to post more often. On the other hand, if you are posting 7-8 times per day and fans are leaving, that’s a good sign that you are posting too much.
3. Posting too infrequently – Occasionally, I’ll review my Likes page to “clean it out”, and I’ll come across a page and think, “Why the heck did I ever Like them?” If you are not using your Facebook page and you are not on the radar for your fans, you are a prime target to be unLiked. I mean really, why waste a “Like” on a page that has nothing to say to you? Being irrelevant is the death knell in social media.
4. Too self-promotional – Social media, by its nature, is somewhat narcissistic… I mean, aren’t we supposed to be posting about ourselves? If you’re not posting about you, your services and products, then what is the point? While this is all true, there’s a fine line between letting people know about your company and being too self-promotional. Nobody wants to come to your page and all you have there is “Me… Me… Me!” You can also use your page to serve as a resource and to educate or inform your fans about the issues that matter to you.
5. Offensive – It should go without saying that you don’t want to offend your fans and your friends. An old friend of mine posted a photo the other night of the staples in her son’s head. I’m genuinely sorry that her son had this injury, but must EVERYTHING be shared? Really, we don’t need to see such things. If she weren’t such a lovely and sweet person, I’d be trying to figure out how to handle our FB friendship. Also in this category, you need to be cautious about crossing the line with sexual innuendos, racist comments, or overly religious statements which might cause your friends/fans to feel uncomfortable.

Another Option

While most of us don’t have a problem with Unliking a page, it’s a little trickier when it comes to friends. My favorite trick, in situations like this, is to hide a person’s posts. It’s actually somewhat passive-aggressive, because you don’t need to let a person know they are annoying you, but at the same time, you don’t have to read their posts. Nonetheless, it serves your purpose of minimizing your contact with that person, while not insulting them. You can hide posts in the following way:

When you see the person’s post, click on that arrow in the top right corner of the post. A drop-down menu appears, and you can click on “Hide Story” (like I could have done with the photo of the staples in that kid’s head) or “Unsubscribe from status updates” at the bottom. That will do the trick! In the meantime, page managers should consider what they are posting if their fanbase is disappearing.

“Warp drive, Captain!”

If you haven’t been following him on Facebook or Twitter, these are the words that most people remember George Takei by, as Mr. Sulu, the swashbuckling pilot on the original “Star Trek” series in the 1960s.

In recent years, Takei has taken on new significance. First, he has become a trailblazer in the homosexual community, becoming one of the first to marry his longtime lover (Brad) in the state of California during that short window when gay marriage was allowed. More recently, George built a new fanbase when he appeared on the “Celebrity Apprentice” this spring. His elegance and gentlemanly manners set him apart from the usual contingent of foul-mouthed celebs (or semi-celebs) who populate the show. He quickly became a fan favorite. When Donald Trump fired George early on, fans (new and old) were very sad to see him go.

George Takei, Social Media Maven

But George has distinguished him once again in a way nearer and dearer to my heart. He is, no questions asked, a social media maven. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve told to follow him on Facebook, saying, “for an old guy, he REALLY gets social media.” As a caveat, I don’t really think of George as old, but considering that he is probably a contemporary (age-wise) of my parents, he is certainly more savvy than most people of a certain generation… you know who I’m talking about, those who see social media as an evil that will take away all your privacy.

Nope, George isn’t bothered by any of that. He is an open book, and uses his social media presence to boost his celebrity by connecting with fans. His most recent post on Facebook (see below) looks like this:

The stats on this post are astonishing: 58,000 Likes, 29,000 Shares, and 1,600 comments. What makes this even more incredible is that this is not even unusual for George Takei. Many, if not most of his posts have stats like this. George has 2.1 million Facebook fans, he loves them all, and clearly they love him back.

Learn from the Master

So what can we learn from what George does so well to help in our social media campaigns?

George recently posted this on Facebook.

(1) Visual is king. Much of what George posts are visual images… in fact, I can’t remember the last time he just posted a link, a video or even a quote. People like visual images (which explains why Pinterest is so hot), so that’s what you should be posting.

(2) Humor is queen. I’d say about 90% of what George posts is funny (or is intended to be funny). Occasionally, he’ll post something that I completely don’t get, but clearly others do when I see the stats on them. People love to interact with posts that are funny. By the way, it’s not just the images that are funny… it’s also his clever comments that go along with them.

(3) Be passionate about what you post. What George posts that is NOT funny usually is political, and is (much of the time) about gay rights. Even if you don’t agree with what he stands for, it’s obvious that he cares very much about what he’s posting, and he just puts it out there whether it’s politically correct or not. While I think that is a personal choice, people respond well to passion.

(4) Post often. I see George’s postings several times a day (and at least several times a day, I see “XYZ friend has liked George Takei’s photo” in my ticker). The guy is prolific and I have no idea how or where he finds the time to post all the time, but he is truly committed to social media and he is a master of the art.

(5) Share posts you like, and give credit where it’s due. George admits “Sent to me by a fan” all the time. People like that. And can you image how honored you would be if George posted something you sent him?

I’m constantly amazed at what George Takei has accomplished on Facebook, but by following some of these steps, perhaps you can achieve some of this success as well.

My son celebrated his bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 5, 2012. Phew… I’m still recovering from the weekend, although in a good way. Jared was flawless, and proved to be everything two parents could ever wish for in their children. We are immensely proud.

Part of the bar mitzvah ceremony (for those who have never been to one) is for the parents to speak to their child, and impart some wisdom to help guide them in their future life.

I got the sappy speech. My husband got the clever and funny one. That’s how life always seems to be. So, for your reading pleasure, here are our speeches to Jared:

My Speech:

From the moment you arrived on Mother’s Day in 1999, you’ve captivated my heart completely… first with your adorable face, then with your charm which (believe it or not) was very obvious from the time you were an infant, and then with your kindness, sensitivity, generosity, polite manners and thoughtfulness… traits that are obvious to everybody who meets you.

One of the formative moments in our lives occurred on October 18, 2005 when you fell from your bunk bed and we ended up at Children’s Healthcare for a week with a traumatic injury to your arm. That first day in the ER, the doctors told us they were just trying to save your arm. How could any of us have known in that darkest of moments that this event would shape you into the incredible young man standing before me today?

Over the years, your dad and I watched you take that awful injury and use it to become tenacious and determined, qualities which will ultimately help you to succeed in life. You also learned to think of others first. For years, you always thanked me for staying with you in the hospital and taking you to your doctor appointments… which frankly always amazed me. As if I would have chosen to be anywhere else.

I know how hard you’ve worked, not only on your bar mitzvah but also on your mitzvah project. Wow, 100 rock walls… as somebody who has never even climbed one wall, that is certainly an accomplishment to be proud of! Your motto in life, which seems to be “I’ll try my best” really came through for you today. I love how devoted you are to our religion, and I cannot tell you how proud you’ve made me because the words just don’t exist.

Lots of parents use this moment to list their child’s many accomplishments, or to plot a course for their child’s life. I’m not going to do that, because I don’t have any specific ambitions for you. You have so many gifts; you could do anything, really. I want to tell you that it’s not so important to set the world on fire, but rather to kindle love in people’s hearts and to be a force for what is good in this world.

Jared, I wish you an extraordinary life, one filled with the everyday miracles of love, friendship, children, useful work, and a sense of how precious it all is. You have been a wonderful son and brother, and you will be a great man – a great husband, father and friend. I am so happy to have a front row seat, and I’m so grateful to be your mother.

My Husband’s Speech:

Jared, you and I share many passions. And what’s great is we have access to all of our passions within easy reach. That’s why we have a tennis court in front of our house, a basketball court behind our house, and in the middle, cereal… LOTS of cereal. About 30 – 40 boxes at any one time.

And as you drew life lessons from the slaughtering of goats in your Torah portion, I got to thinking about something else that comes from goats: milk, and of course we all know what milk is good for: cereal! This connection between your Torah portion and cereal DID NOT go unnoticed by me, and inspired me to ponder: how cool would it be to also gain some life lessons from those colorful characters on all those cereal boxes in our cabinet?

So I selected a few of those mascots that personify some of your finest qualities—and I wanted to highlight a few of them now:

Determination…

Best personified by the Trix Rabbit, who never gives up. He shows dogged determination by pursuing Trix cereal, despite continuous set-backs, until the kids bust him by saying “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!” But that doesn’t deter him… he is unstoppable, and so are you! And like Rabbit, your determination is what enabled you to come back from your arm injury so you could become a competitive rock climber and tennis player, achieve excellence in your academics and Jewish studies, as evidenced by your outstanding performance today.

Treating others how you’d want to be treated…

Like Cap’n Crunch. He always went the extra mile to rescue kids in danger with his pirate ship and the sweet crunchy taste of Cap’n Crunch. In doing so, he put his ship and crew in great peril. Jared, your manners and the way you put others’ needs before your own truly sets YOU apart. I can’t tell you many times we’ve heard, “Your son has great manners. You really did something right.” I wish we could take credit for it, but it’s all you. Remember, there’s never a rush hour on the road to the extra mile.

Passion

Go coo coo for Cocoa Puffs like Sonny the coo coo bird. Just like Sonny always went coo coo when he finally got his Cocoa Puffs, harness your inner coo coo bird in everything you do. Your passion inspires others to follow… like the passion you showed by climbing 100 rock walls and raising $2200. I saw your passion, and sometimes pain, toward completing the goal. You and Sonny make a great team!

And last but not least, BE GRRREAT!!

Like Tony the Tiger, always keep your positive attitude, while striving for excellence in everything you do.

Jared, it’s truly amazing what wonderful traits you have in common with a silly rabbit, a crazy pirate, a coo coo bird, a happy tiger, and even an old goat. Ultimately, it’s all about being a good human being, which you already are, and treating people with respect and kindness.

I’m so proud to have you as my cereal buddy, my sports buddy, my son and my friend, I love you.

What do the following countries have in common?

• Great Britain
• United Arab Emirates
• Myanmar
• United States
• France
• South Africa
• Indonesia
• Canada

And how about these states?

• Georgia
• North Carolina
• Utah
• Washington
• Kansas
• Texas
• Delaware
• Arizona
• Maryland
• Arkansas
• Minnesota
• Colorado
• New York
• District of Columbia
• South Carolina
• New Jersey

It’s humbling when I think about it, but these are all of the places where our 60 Second University students live… after only 3 days! So far, the feedback has been very positive.

A Question for Us

Here’s one of the questions Jamie and I received the other day:

How does your course differ from those offered by Social Media Examiner?

Our friends at SME do a terrific job, and as somebody who has taken their courses, I can say that without reservation. However, 60 Second University differs in the 2 following ways:

(1) 60 Second University is more action-oriented and how-to oriented. In other words, we provide specific details about how to set-up, run and manage a social media campaign. Each day ends with a list of Action Steps.

(2) Social Media Examiner’s classes are live and take up to one hour each. If you aren’t available during the time a class is presented, then you have to wait until they re-broadcast the video, and hope you remember to take it later.

With 60 Second University, Jamie’s training videos are 10-15 minutes each. You can watch them from our website whenever you choose. The MP3 expert interviews are 10-15 minutes. You could download those and listen to them on your iPhone/iPod when you’re on the treadmill, or in the car driving somewhere. And the bonus PDFs you can download and digest whenever you choose as well.

Give it a Try!

We offer a 60-Day Money Back Guarantee, so you really have nothing to lose. $99 is an incredible value for all of the great information you’ll learn here! Click here to learn more: www.60seconduniversity.com.

Are you looking to use social media to help grow your sales and revenue, but don’t have lots of time to spend learning how?

Perfect… 60 Second University is for you!

After months of hard work, Jamie Turner (the 60 Second Marketer) and I have developed a course that allows you to learn to use social media for your business.  Our course is called “15 Days to Social Media Success” and it is launching today!  Learn from the comfort of your own home… whenever you choose. 

Save Time & Money with Our Couse

I’m sure you’re busy in your day job, trying to run your business.  Perhaps you are a small- to mid-size business and have tried using social media and it’s just not working.  Or maybe you work for a large company and they’ve just handed social media responsibilities to you… But how do you learn what you need to know?

This course is for you.  We have sorted through all of the unnecessary details to get right to the heart of the matter.  We give you action plans, and teach you what you REALLY need to know to run your social media campaign.

What Will I Learn?

Here is the schedule for the course:

Day 1 – Setting Yourself Up for Success

Day 2 – Meet the Big 5: A Quick Start Guide to Get You Going Fast

Day 3 – Essential Secrets: How to Be Likeable on Facebook

Day 4 – The Inside Scoop on Twitter: It’s Not Just For Celebs and Justin Bieber Fans

Day 5 – YouTube for Business: More Than Sneezing Pandas and Dogs Chasing their Tails

Day 6 – Keys to the LinkedIn Kingdom: How to Unlock Networking Secrets

Day 7 – Google+: Making Search Social

Day 8 – Blogging: Your Hub for Content, Search and Social

Day 9 – Your Secret Weapon: Social Media Management Tools

Day 10 – Listening Tools: What Are People Saying About You or Your Brand

Day 11 – All Roads in Social Media Should Lead to ROI

Day 12 – SEO and Search: Getting Yourself Found on the Internet

Day 13 – Email Marketing: Sending Your Message, Loud & Clear

Day 14 – Mobile Marketing – The Next Big Thing

Day 15 – You’re Cleared for Take-Off!

Can you spare 30 minutes each day to learn how to grow your sales and revenue?  Included in each day is a training video, bonus PDFs that go into greater detail, and MP3s of interviews conducted with social media experts. 

Learn from the Experts!

We have interviewed social media experts to get insider tips on using social media to help grow your business.  Here is the line-up of experts in the 60 Second University:

• Erik Qualman – Author of Socialnomics and Digital Leader
• Amy Porterfield – Author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies
• Jay Baer – Author of The Now Revolution
• Neal Schaffer – Author of Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales & Social Media Marketing
• Kristi Hines – Founder of Kikolani.com, noted expert on blogging, SEO and Social Media
• Jesse Stay – Author of Google+ for Dummies
• Sean Malarkey – Creator of “Twixplode!”
• Steve Garfield – Author of Get Seen! Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business
  
• Kate Buck, Jr. – Founder of Let’s Get Social, training for social media managers
• Cindy Krum – Author of Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customers No Matter Where They Are
• Adam Naide – Social media strategist for several major brands
• Eric Enge – Author of The Art of SEO
• Toby Bloomberg – Author of Social Media Marketing GPS

How Much Does it Cost?

A course like this SHOULD cost thousands of dollars.  But we are only charging $99 for hours of videos, expert interviews and helpful bonus PDFs. 

Better yet, we are offering an introductory price (for the members of the Project Social community) of $79 through March 16, 2012.  That’s a 20% discount!  After that, the price goes up to $99. 

Click here to get started on your journey to social media success!

Timeline for Brands

Last fall when Facebook unveiled Timeline for personal profiles, I was excited but also a little apprehensive.  After all, it was clear they would eventually migrate business accounts over to Timeline as well.  I always liked Timeline, but wondered… what were they going to do with all of the custom landing pages that businesses have created?  It was one of those things that would only be revealed in time.

I’ve always been a big fan of landing pages, and even wrote a blog post about them last year (read it here).  Most people considered landing pages a best practice.  Scores of businesses and graphic designers were making a living off designing and implementing Facebook landing pages.  What would happen to those people?  Surely, Facebook would find a solution that would allow these people to stay in business!

So when Facebook announced in late February that Timeline was being launched for business pages at the end of March, I was alarmed to learn the news that default landing pages were going away.  (And don’t call me Shirley.) 

Now what?

I’ve been watching over the last 2 weeks as Facebook and all of the other landing page vendors have tried to backpedal and act excited.   (“You can still do landing pages!”  “We are excited about the changes!”  “They’re even MORE visible now!”) 

The "Welcome" button is my landing page.

It seems like the outcry over default landing pages was short-lived… maybe all of us in social media land have taken this message to heart:  Facebook is an ever-changing organism, and they almost never listen to customer feedback, so get on with your life because there’s no point in whining. 

I’ve always taken that message to heart (and wrote a blog about it last year).  So why do I still feel like whining?

I am really going to miss these landing pages.  After all, you could adjust your settings so this was the first thing that fans saw when they arrived on your page.  You could design it however you wanted.  You could use whatever message you wanted.  Granted, most of the time the landing page was only seen by customers once… when they first came to your page and liked it.  But still, it was a fantastic way to build “Likes” and therefore get your posts into the newsfeeds of your fans. 

Yes, landing pages can still exist on your page, and yes, they will be slightly more visible as one of your custom apps beneath the cover photo (instead of a tiny image on the left).  But nothing can require a potential fan or customer to view that landing page or to click “Like”.  Actually, I take that back: if you use a 3rd party app and you purchase Facebook ads, you can send new fans to your landing page which will enable you to fangate (i.e. offer content that can only be viewed if people click “Like” on your page).  Nonetheless, the simplicity of the old landing page system is gone, and Facebook has just given you yet another reason to feel compelled to buy Facebook ads.

No matter what Facebook and all of the other vendors say, nothing is going to replace default landing pages.  Why would they throw away such a valuable tool?  In fact, Facebook is feeling less and less business-friendly these days.

Cover Photo Craziness

Another example of Facebook’s less-than-friendly-to businesses policy is the cover photo.  On the face of it, they sound and look great.  Who wouldn’t love a huge banner with your commercial message across the top of your page?  I had all kinds of ideas for what to do with mine… until Facebook announced all of the restrictions on cover photos: no commercial messages, no calls to action, no contact info.  Yes, it does push people to be more creative, but really, what’s the point?  

Project Social's cover photo

Client Recommendations

So now, as I try to advise my clients about how to capitalize on the Timeline layout, I’m trying to puzzle through it in my mind… how does all of this really benefit them?  Should I suggest they stick with landing pages?  What can we use for the cover photos? 

I realize now this post has been more about venting than providing valuable info.  But if any of you can explain why they honestly think all of these new changes are truly better for businesses, please comment below.  I’d really like to get some other opinions.

Worried about retrieving a lost iPhone or iTouch?  Using 1 app and 3 websites, you can figure out exactly where it is and who has it in less than 15 minutes without ever leaving your house.  Here’s the story of how I know.

The App

The app that’s a MUST is the “Find My iPhone” app.  Newer models come with this app, so be sure to enable it on your device.  We’ve used it many times in our house to locate missing phones or iTouches.  From another phone or device, you can send a loud beeping sound to any other phone or device attached to your iTunes account, allowing you to locate it.

On Wednesday 1/25, my son misplaced his iTouch in the morning on his school bus.  We used the “Find My iPhone” feature on my iPhone and I sent a message several times to his iTouch hoping if it had fallen from his backpack, he’d be able to hear the beeps.  But he couldn’t hear it and the app couldn’t locate it either.  The next morning, our wonderful bus driver confirmed that he hadn’t found it during his daily sweep.

People Are Still Honest, Right?

Even in the face of these circumstances, we were still hopeful it would be turned in, as it was identified with stickers with our son’s name and phone number.  Plus, it was really old… 2nd generation.  Who would want to keep it?  This would be like keeping a MacBook produced in 1999.

But then… a miracle.  Thursday evening, my husband received an email from Apple.  Apparently, if you send sounds to the device (as I had the previous day), the moment that device is connected to Wifi, Apple sends you a message to let you know.  My husband promptly used the “Find My iTouch App” on his iPhone and suddenly, we could locate the iTouch!  From the map that showed up, we could see it was in a neighborhood approximately 2 miles from our home.

Then, using the hybrid of the map and a satellite image,  we knew exactly which house had the iTouch.

3 Websites

Armed with this image, I went to the first website…

(1)  Zillow.com – This real estate site allows you to see satellite images of streets and neighborhoods.  I was able to find an identical image on Zillow to the one that we had seen on the “Find My iPhone” app.  Then, Zillow filled in other info, including the address of the house!

(2) County Tax Assessor website – Most county tax assessor’s offices have a website with a search mechanism: if you input the address of any house in that county, it gives you the name of that property owner.  Within moments, we now had the name of the people who owned the house.

(3)  Switchboard.com – Next, I put that person’s name into the online phone directory, and (if Switchboard’s directory was up to date) we now had the phone number for the people who had my son’s iTouch.

I checked the school directory to see if anybody by that name at that address attended my son’s school.  No luck.  I quickly realized this house was NOT on my son’s bus route.  It was in his middle school district, but it was also in a neighboring elementary school district.  So how did these people come to get the iTouch?

Our bus driver drives two routes each day, and our son is on the driver’s 2^nd bus route. After my son left the iTouch on the bus in the morning, the driver next went to the elementary school to do his afternoon route.  Perhaps a child on that bus found the iTouch and took it home, which is why my son was unable to find it when he got back on the bus later that day.

A 4th Website

Unsure of the next steps, we contacted our local police to ask for their assistance.  An officer came to our house at 11:15 Thursday evening to discuss the matter.  He advised us NOT to call the phone number and instead told us to contact the middle school and ask them to get involved.  The schools have a shared information office, and he was confident the schools could locate the student living in that house and get the iTouch returned.

Friday afternoon, the police officer from the middle school contacted me, saying they had some leads on the person at that address.  He asked for the serial number, saying that when questioned about it, more than likely the child would try to claim the iTouch was his/hers.  They could remove cases, stickers with name and phone number, games, etc.  But the one thing they couldn’t change was the serial number.

(4)  Apple Website: This being an old iTouch, our hard copies of such records were probably long gone.  I learned that apparently, if you log into your iTunes account online and click on “Support”, you can find a list of all the devices on your account along with their serial numbers!

A Happy Ending

The officer called me later to tell me the iTouch had been located, and would be returned to us on Monday.  Apparently, somebody claimed to have “picked it up at a bus stop” (WRONG!) and it had passed through many hands.  I asked if possibly we could pick it up now… we were all concerned that just to spite my son, the person holding onto it would smash it.  He said, “Oh no, it’s sitting in the safe at the high school.”  I asked, “The HIGH SCHOOL?  How the heck did it wind up there?”  He said, “As I told you, it passed through many hands.“

So today, my son’s iTouch will be returned.  Many thanks to the administration at my son’s school, and especially to the police officer.  The moral of the story is to ALWAYS enable the locator software on your Apple products.  You never know when it will come in handy!