Kaizen Inspiration

In an earlier post I talked about inspiration and I would like to go back to this topic. In my analysis of this blog I have realized that the major thing it lacks is inspiration. This blog doesn’t know what its is, and neither does its readers!

I didn’t have a “personal brand” when I started my digital presence. I still don’t, but I’m getting there. Even though I haven’t made as much progress or as many connections as I had hoped,  I have learned that it takes more than 5 or 6 weeks to accomplish these things.

I was definitely not comfortable putting myself out there when I first started. But though the process I have learned: Don’t try be someone you’re not. Just strive to be a better person every day, in even the smallest ways and I promise you they will add up.

I recently discovered this theory called “kaizen” by the Japense. The idea is to strive for 1 % improvement everyday. It is the new inspiration for my blog (in case you haven’t noticed the changes). I have a sincere interest to study this concept further and apply it to my life, and document my findings through this blog in the process.

It Gets Better Project

“Your life can be amazing. But you have to tough this period of it out and you have to live.”

I was catching up on Glee today ( I haven’t watched it in awhile, but I’m unfortunately sick and sat on the couch all day), and this Google Chrome commercial came on. This 90 second spot packed a powerful message.

The “It Gets Better” Campaign

Last September, gay rights activist Dan Savage launched this project and the It Gets Better YouTube channel to solicit inspirational and supportive videos to send much needed positive messages to struggling LGBT teens.

The Google Chrome Spots

The Google Chrome team put together a compilation  (using mostly celebrities)  of the uploaded videos to create this commercial.  Glee was an excellent place to air the commercial, as the characters and plot often deal with LGBT issues.

The Future of Commercials?

Its refreshing to see media giants such as Google embracing social responsibly and showing off their ethics.  This activism seems to be an emerging trend in commercials and the Google “It Gets Better” campaign is one of the best examples I have seen yet. The world may become a better place if this inspiration catches on!

What are your reactions and thoughts? Please share!

Under Construction

After 6 weeks, I’m still not where I want to be with my blog and my personal branding process.

So, to give my blog new life, a am launching my new theme: Just Be You (only better).

There will be more to come very soon!

If you follow my blog, you may have noticed the format and theme has changed a few times. Please bear with me as I finish the construction of both my brand and blog.

Integration of Social Media Platforms

We tend to be narrow-minded when it comes to the various social media platforms. There are the obvious “sharks”  such as Facebook and Twitter, which dominate the sea that is the Internet. However, there are other social network sites, or “fish”, in this sea.

However, if you don’t actively search for them or travel outside US for extended periods of time you may never learn what other SM platforms are out there which might be more popular in other countries.

Through research on Social Media networks by the numbers for my current class, I recently discovered two new social media sites: www.bebo.com which is most popular in the UK and Ireland as well as www.qq.com, which is popular in China.

Although I do not have a personal account for either, I hope to learn more about these platforms and utilize them in the time I will spend abroad this summer in both China and the UK.

Brief Description

www.bebo.com – Bebo combines community, self-expression and entertainment, enabling users to consume, create, discover, curate and share digital content in entirely new ways.

www.qq.com – Aims to provide its users with a rich and creative online life. Tencent Inc., the company that founded QQ.com, states that QQ is dedicated to becoming trend-setting and mainstream Internet platform with the greatest communication capacity and interactivity.

Both of these sites have an unique approach in that they integrate many different social media platforms. By combining the services and platforms as referenced above, these sites offer a “why can’t we all get along?” attitude to online media.