Just for fun -- DubSmash
My kids were at their grandparents the last week and so to keep in touch we did a series of "dubsmash' videos to communicate.
Yes, we discovered this through my Brother and Sister in Law and have had a blast doing it!
Just a fun Wed tip!
Go to the AppStore and look for DubSmash. It is fun!
IBM Partners with Girls Who Code to Build Women in Tech Pipeline
On Monday, we kicked-off of our summer immersion program with Girls Who Code – an amazing national non-profit organization that seeks to inspire, educate, and equip girls with computing skills for the 21st century!
IBM will host female high-school students in New York City for an intense, 7 week summer immersion program. These students will experience a robust curriculum of daily classroom instruction, workshops, demos, and talks by a team of remarkable female IBM leaders and more. We’re empowering these girls with hands-on training on the latest and greatest IBM Cloud has to offer! That means instruction on Bluemix, our premier PaaS solution, and a host of other Cloud technologies. They’ll receive more than 250 hours of superb training in a variety of computer science disciplines, including:
· Robotics
· Graphic design
· Mobile apps
· Data structures and algorithms
We’re also providing these girls with career advice, along with help developing their presentation skills, and inspiring their entrepreneurial pursuits. We’ve also lined up some technical experiences through field trips, including, a tour of Astor Place — home to some of our coolest IBM Cloud technologies.
This partnership demonstrates IBM's commitment to helping close the gender gap for women in technology. Currently, women hold 25% of jobs in technical fields. When deciding a college major, 0.3% of girls choose computer science.
We’re so excited to teach these young women using the latest tech from IBM Cloud -- especially Bluemix. Our goal is to enable women around the world across a variety of STEM fields and I can’t think of a greater first step than this partnership with the amazing people of Girls Who Code.
“The gender gap isn’t just a Silicon Valley issue anymore,” said Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code. “The shortage of women in technical roles, whether it’s retail or entertainment, is a massive crisis both in terms of innovation and socioeconomic equality throughout the United States. Girls Who Code has established a successful track record of empowering girls to pursue majors and careers in computer science, and we’re inspired that so many diverse companies have invested in taking our movement to the next level this year.” IBM hopes that along with Girls Who Code, we can see a reverse in this trend, and a move toward balance in the future.
In 2015, Girls Who Code will host 57 programs reaching close to 1,200 girls in nine cities nationwide throughout the summer, representing a significant increase from the 19 programs serving 375 girls in 2014. We’re proud to join this critical effort to close the gender gap in the computing and technology sector!
Effective Social Media Communications - 3 Tips For Friday!
I am riding in the car today with my 16 year old daughter. She was looking for a specific song on the radio. While constantly switching stations she was listening carefully but selectively scanning out the 'wrong' songs. Station after station was rejected until she heard the familiar song she was seeking.
This experience made me think of social media communications. How do you break through all the other "stations" out there and have your audience search for yours?
Here's 3 tips for our Friday!
- Make it noticeable. The song my daughter was searching for had a certain beat. Does your message have the characteristics that will help it to break through the barrage of messages that bombards everyone every day. Should you use video? a Podcast or a blog? How do you express yourself? Make sure you have listened to the right influencers and plan purposefully the message.
- Make it targeted. If you use channels creatively and mix them well, you're much more likely to get your message to those for whom it's intended. The channels have to be ones that your target audience is exposed to. My daughter's song was on her favorite rock station, not my jazz station. Make sure you are where your audience is.
- Make it crowd sourced. Testing your messaging can help you really ensure that you nailed it. I heard that Taylor Swift gets many bits of feedback on her songs from focus groups, family, and informally with fans. Sometimes you think you got it, but you missed something of importance!
TGIF: Don't automate the personal touch!
Our Friday Short piece of Social Advice is Let your brand shine through!
I love this advice that came out of the Social Shakeup in Atlanta! " Never automate the personal touch, When you put out content, your personality and value comes in and you don’t want to automate that."
You can automate amplifications, but you cannot automate relationships.
How do you let your personality shine through? Identify your power users and influencers, understand who they are and build real relationships with them.
Your Secret Weapon: Video is about engagement and retention!
I love video blogs! Video is so trusted and engaging! Now I know that retention is also stronger!
Use video whenever you can !
