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Vine, a mobile app that allows users to record and share 6-second videos, launched for Android today. In short, it’s like Instagram but for videos.

To celebrate the Android launch, we had some fun creating HTC’s first Vine. Props to Nick Sherrill for writing, casting, directing, and producing this video all on the HTC One.

Also, props to Vine for having an easy-to-use embed option built into each post!

WordCamp Portland was amazing. This was my second WordCamp as an attendee and a speaker. I traveled with my friend and fellow blogger, Harmony Hasbrook of 100 Days or More. 300 WordPress users and developers attended the daylong conference with the majority of people from Portland but there was a nice representation from Seattle too.

The content and atmosphere of WordCamp Seattle back in May was geared towards how to use WordPress for business. The talk I gave included heavy marketing strategy, so naturally the conversations I had with attendees after my talk were about business and how to market your blog. It was also the first time that I gave a solo talk and as I attended the sessions before my own, I was very nervous and kept to myself.

At WordCamp Portland, the atmosphere was less about the tools and more about the people of the community that has formed around WordPress. The talks created this theme, as did the layout of the venue, the questions the attendees asked of the speakers, and how they mingled with each other. I also had a much better experience at WordCamp Portland because I was more open to talking with other attendees than I was at Seattle (way too nervous). (more…)

There’s a trend going around and it’s one that I’ve had the fortune and misfortune of being on both sides of the table. It’s the one that’s illustrated above and if you aren’t like those bunnies that did it intentionally, it can be embarrassing or infuriating when someone calls you out on it.

I’m talking about mistakes. Not the ones that you make quietly and no one but your inner critic notices, but BIG and little mistakes that everyone notices and brags loudly in a public forum.

And what really sucks about the state of the Internet is when we see things as small as a misspelled word or as large as an inappropriately timed tweet, we’re are so ready to jump out and publicly declare it to be a fail.

Mistake #1: Grammatical Errors

There are two sides to this story – the first is a grammatical mistake. Those are simple errors that anyone can make and can be solved with a simple, private email that points out the error in the same way as a good public servant would.

Editors are the biggest participants in calling out this kind of mistake. If they could live off of the errors they find in marketing collateral, they would.

An editor is motivated by one thing and that is saving and protecting the English language. Grammatical mistakes and misspellings are black and white. Those things have rules that should be kept and rules that should be broken. And if you see one happen, be a decent person and send an email or a private message to the person who made the error instead of calling them out publicly.

Mistake #2: Social Media Fails

But then there are the larger missteps that are usually labeled as “social media fails.” These are the tweets, Facebook posts, and blog posts written by people who apparently don’t “get it” and the mistakes they make are at the expense of the brand they represent. The innocent fails like Red Cross getting slizzard or Discovery Channel’s long commute are usually powered by an overworked, multitasking social media manager who forgot which profile they were logged-in as.

Then there are the epic fails that are usually the result of a team executing a strategy that is restricted by corporate policies that came before the brand started playing in social media. And as a result, the repercussions from those kinds of fails can be detrimental to the brand.

Why do we like to point out other people’s mistakes?

Mistakes in social media happen very publicly, painfully, and usually before anyone can get the resources they need to handle it “correctly” before the crisis spreads like wildfire. I’d say that social media fails spread faster than social media successes.

I understand why editors have the desire and need to point out grammatical errors, but what about the rest of the population who are quick to call something a fail and label it as a mistake? What motivates them?

So I ask, why are people so quick to point out when someone is wrong?

Photo Credit: Shoebox (comic)

There comes a time in every bloggers life when then come out from behind the computer and take the stage and become a speaker. That time came for me last weekend when I presented at WordCamp Seattle. I’ve been on panels before, but this was the first time that I actually took the stage and shared my own ideas solo.

WordCamp is a locally organized conference that covers everything related to WordPress with sessions ranging from basic WordPress tips to very advanced development tricks. This was my first time attending and speaking at WordCamp, so I had no idea what to expect. But what I discovered was 300 people who were all very passionate about using the WordPress publishing platform to get their ideas out there, which makes for a very friendly community.

Slides: How to Promote Your Blog Without Losing Your Soul

My talk was in the afternoon and in one of the smallest rooms. But even so, I counted somewhere between 60 and 70 people while I cleared my throat and anxiously waited for when I was supposed to start.

My talk was called, “How to Promote Your Blog Without Losing Your Soul.” It offered an overview of why you should build a community for your blog before you need to promote your blog and a checklist for how to get the word out about a post after you publish.

I came up with the idea for this topic after knowing a bunch of bloggers who write really amazing posts but are horrible at marketing themselves. Usually it’s because people who have a blog are writers, not marketers. And while marketing is a skill, a lot of it is a process that you repeat and iterate on as you go. Plus a lot of this methodology comes from what I’ve learned running and promoting my own blog and that of my employers (current and former).

Here are the slides from my talk – I will post the video as soon as it’s available from the folks at WordPress.tv.

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After responding to all of the sweet, awesome, and thoughtful messages my friends left for me on Facebook last year, I had this wild idea – what if you woke up on your birthday, logged onto Facebook, and no one left any birthday messages for you?

That would be the worst birthday ever, right?

As I learned from my parents when I was younger, if you have a bad dream, tell someone about it so that it won’t come true.

Thank you to my amazing husband, John Kimball, who drew this comic and helped me bring this concept to life.

P. S. Today is my birthday.