Kopper(left), Bill Streeter(right)

Bill Streeter and I have known each other about two years and change. We started running into each other before we were formally introduced. It turned out we were both bloggers. Bill had worked up Lo-Fi St. Louis to a full fledged multi-media blog and go to sight for the local music scene.

Bill has moved beyond creating and chronicling social media in St. Louis on his own to writing for the Riverfront Times. He’s now a regular columnist for the online version, covering the who, what, when and why of folks like myself, and events, such as tweetups, interactive festivals and more.

Imagine my excitement when St. Louis Social Media Report chose him as the first interview in a series. The Report will be interviewing social media types in the greater St. Louis area, but I think Bill was perfect to go first.

The interview with Bill Streeter gives us a bit of his history, what he’s doing now, and where he thinks St. Louis is headed. Some interesting insights he has. You may not agree with everything, but I wager you’ll find it a good read.

My only complaint? Not enough questions! Maybe you have more questions for Bill? Share them here and I’ll pass them on. Or if you have a story to tell, I’d love to hear it.

Cheers,

Todd

Links:

St. Louis Social Media Report

Bill Streeter at the Riverfront Times

Lo-Fi St. Louis

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Chris Snow may have a genetic disorder and a deadly one at that, but nothing keeps him from being the master of Moonlight Bay at night. Fear Nothing is the story of Chris Snow, his dog, Orson, and their friends as two dramatic days pass in Moonlight Bay.

The story begins with the death of Chris’s father at the local hospital. Chris soon discovers bodies going unexpected places ad well as an unexpected extra body. Of course he takes off on adventure into the night to uncover this mystery.

In spite of being a story that takes place over two days, it doesn’t move very fast. Oh, there is action, including chases, gun fights, and a few deaths, there is a much more in the way of inner conversation. The narrative takes place mainly inside Chris’s head. We see all other characters’ actions through his eyes.

The actions taken by Chris in this story are definitely unbelievable. He may have a genetic issue, but he’s managed to become a successful author, an accomplished surfer, and find a hot lady for a girlfriend. We find he also has an affinity for animals. All of those take him from one act in this novel to the next with him surviving relatively unscathed.

It turns out Chris is not just a bystander either. He’s central in several ways to the plot of the story, not just as the random guy caught up, though until later in the book he doesn’t get that. It seems his friends don’t get it either until the end.

In my opinion, not one of Dean Koontz’s best novels, but still not a bad read. The narrative is slow, and some of the characterization, though wordy, is shallow. The characters leave possibilities open but the way the book ends you’d think things wouldn’t end up well for Chris or his friends.

If you’re a die hard Koontz fan, pick this up. If not, skip this one.

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• Hiragana

Hey, it was 4th of July weekend, it was a Friday night, and there was no parking. Still had a turn out of 19 folks that signed in and several more that didn’t.  Some of the non tweeting folks opted not to sign in along with some that were new.

The event, hosted by @Rex7 and @Prebynski, was billed as the Largest Tweetup in St. Louis.  They were shooting for the Guinness Book of World Records. Let’s just say this event probably didn’t make it.  Was it waste? I don’t think so.

When first asked by Punching Kitty I was a little shy about panning this event as a big plus for St. Louis. After a couple of days to process, my take is definitely improved. This event will definitely lead to social networking growth for the local scene.

Any tweetup that doesn’t end with bad vibes adds to the momentum and the interactions.

People are talking about it.  Good or bad, it’s conversation that wasn’t happening before.  Some folks are even taking sides for or against Rex and Brandon.

Newbies were given a chance to meet and great with some of the more seasoned folks in social networking, at least in St. Louis.  People doubled their connections with individuals they’d actually gotten to meet in person.  A couple of folks are going to start blogging and now have some new friends to ask for help.

Another venue has been introduced to a tweetup.  This is big.  Once social networking meetups become part of the everyday conversation, it spreads like wildfire.

Did I come away doting over Rex and Brandon? Heck no; they’re just guys.  They bet big and didn’t totally go broke. That’s a win in social networking circles.

Should we be calling them out as hosting a flop? Yeah, sure for a few minutes. They deserve a bit of rib jabbing this go round.  Maybe next time they’ll talk less and do more.  If we beat them down now though, we don’t add any value.

Rex took time out to share follow up comments with the St. Louis Social Media Report.

Rex and Brandon, guys, let’s agree that in between now and the next event that you two will make some serious inroads into the local social networking groups. Also, I challenge you guys to drop some followers and follows between now and the next time we meet. Go ahead. I promise it won’t hurt.

For the record, I’m tojosan on Twitter.

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Rizzo Tees brought out my favorite shirt of the season, props to my tweeps.

Chris has agreed to give you a chance to sport one of his tees. In conjunction with Rizzo Tees, I’m having a simple contest to get your chest in a witty shirt, guaranteed to
get you all the attention you could want.

Giveaways rock. Chris is offering a $25 USD gift certificate to one lucky blog reader.  The contest isn’t going to limit you to which tee you choose either.  So you might choose Chris’ favorite, I hate pants.

The Giveaway: a $25 USD gift certificate/credit to Rizzotees.com.

Required Entry: For your chance to win tell us what your favorite Rizzo Tees tee is. You can earn only one entry for this method. Visit Rizzo Tees, and come back and leave a comment with a link to your favorite.

Extra Entries: The following are all extra things you can do for more entries. Leave an additional comment for each thing you do to earn extra entries.

• Blog about this giveaway on your own blog (please don’t copy my entire post onto your blog though). Leave the direct link to your post in your comment for an extra entry.
• Subscribe via email to my feed and let me know in a comment for an extra entry.
• Subscribe to Rizzotees.com and let me know in a comment for an extra entry.
• Become a fan of Rizzo Tees on Facebook, and of course leave a comment about it.
• Follow me on Twitter @tojosan and send a tweet about the giveaway. Leave a direct link to your tweet  in a comment for an extra entry. Here is a tweet you can use (or make your own): Win a Rizzo Tee from @tojosan http://bit.ly/11r5zi

Rules: Only one of each entry method listed per person/family/household. No entering on behalf of others, using extra identities or others identities, no automated program entries, etc. If I catch you cheating you will be banned from this and all of my future giveaways! This giveaway is only open to those in the USA, ages 18+ only. All entries must be received by 11:59 pm Central Time on Friday July 31, 2009. I will pick the winner and email them and they have 48 hours to claim the prize. If no response, I will pick a new winner. Good luck!

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Seth challenges the traditional notice of birthday gifts. Likely when it’s your birthday, you’re expecting cards, gifts, and maybe being taken to dinner. These are all about making you feel good and the person that provides those things for you good as well.

Why not give a donation or do an act of service on your birthday. Seth puts out that your friends and family could buy gifts for themselves or someone else if you’re into shoes. I’m supposing the same would go for books, my favorite right now.

Pointing out examples like the 4th of July, and Martin Luther King Jr day, where folks are supposed to celebrate in certain ways, Seth shows us traditional alternates to gift giving and receiving.

Social networking is all about giving. Causes on Facebook has made giving something besides traditional gifts easy. Causes allows you to recommend your friends and family to donate to your favorite cause in lieu of presents for you.

Visiting the causes page, you’ll find a link to donate your birthday to a cause.

What would you donate your birthday to? I’m following lots of causes and they’re all great. It’ll be hard to chose but I’ll definitely be doing that. Several of my contacts have already selected their favorite causes.

Chip-in is another good tool for something different on your birthday. Charities are starting to get on board with easy donation tools such as Chip-in, but even if they don’t, you can set up your own and donate the proceeds to your favorite cause. Chip-in is flexible for payment options, is easy to install on your blog or website, and easy to share a link for.

Ask folks to donate? Ask them to feed the homeless? Whatever it is, maybe Seth is on the right track. Why be selfish either in receiving or giving.

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One reviewer is right, this is a single idea book. It fleshes out the idea of what sways our decisions, specifically how we are swayed to make irrational decisions.

The authors define irrational as being out of line with well reasoned and logical choices. These are those cases where the pilot takes off without clearance, the woman is tempted to go around a car stopped at a light into oncoming traffic and more.

Explored are a handful of factors that do the swaying. The book doesn’t just list them though, nor are they even in bullet points of any sort. It’s a rather meandering course as we are taken from example to example and back again. It’s as if the authors felt the need to weave a tapestry of thoughts and experiences, perhaps to make the text more fluid. I found it distracting.

In spite of enjoying the book overall, and honestly, having my eyes opened, this could have been a shorter work The references could have been more on point. The sections in each chapter should have been more clearly defined.

If you enjoyed Blink, and books like it, then you’ll enjoy this as well. I recommend the paperback.
It’s also generally an easy read; you won’t need a dictionary to get through this.

Buy Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior.

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The truth is though that’s a skewed view. Blogging is changing in it’s use. In a way, some folks are taking it back to its roots, the self centered story. Blogs have long been personal bandstands and stories. Tech focused blogs or real estate blogs are really still on the edge of the curve in my opinion.

What’s really happened is that folks have found more effective methods of sharing links, stories, and pictures. They’ve also discovered video, podcasts, and other formats. The push to push out all your ‘content’ via the blog is changing. Blogs aren’t the end all and be all, they’re just another tool in the box.

Myself? I’m actually not lifestreaming via the blog. That’s what I do with Twitter and Facebook. The blog is more focused on a few topics. As a matter of fact, I actually have a few blogs and contribute to a couple other parenting focused blogs. Less anecdotal.

How about you? Has your blog taken to being a life story, an aggregation of your other output? Or are you still blogging on topic?

Jeremiah’s original article

Please consider my ebook on Social Networking.

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So you’ve joined up on some social networking sites and nothing seems to be happening for you. The contacts aren’t flowing in, the customers aren’t finding you, spammers fill your stream.

Ready for some friendly guidance? Want to learn some tips and tricks to be successful using Twitter and Facebook? My ebook is now available:

Sunday Guide to Social Networking

It’s the first in a series of guides I’m writing, bringing you strategies, tips, and tools to make your online networking time fun and profitable.

In this one, I’ve collected articles from the Sunday Social Networking series, along with two additional articles on specific services, Utterli and Twitter.

Some of the topics:

• Search for social networks
• Cultivating relationships
• Sharing what you love

The ebook only costs $6 US because I want many people to have the opportunity to enjoy the it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Please see the payment button below to buy it. Thanks!

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