Manatee Mentors 2014 CLOSED Thread 2 (Page 35)

And I will expand a little on instagram in terms of how to use it.

You can take a photo of whatever you would like. For the sake of an example, let's say it's a flower.

1. Now you can  post the picture of the flower for you followers to see, simply because it's beautiful. OR you can do a couple of other things.

2. Hashtags: You can hashtag it to basically connect it with other like items. Say #beautiful #rose #red #seattleroses etc. Basically it is adding your photo to each of those buckets. Someone else can search for that bucket (Say, #rose) and see everyone else's photo that has gone into that bucket.

3. @: You can also link to other instagram "people" (or companies) with the @ sign. So, maybe you want to do a little shoutout to your beloved local nursery where you bought the rose bush, or the fertilizer.  You could post your picture followed by @SeattleNursery (or whatever their instagram name is) and now they are linked to your photo.

Suddenly you have a little web of connections. You don't have to use it that way, but it's pretty awesome. 

Here is my take on all things Social Media/Internet based, with a little Instagram story as a free add on.

1. Think before you post.
2. Be smart about what you share. Drunk dialing/texting can upset one person. Drunk posting can multiply that.
3. You'll get back 10 fold what you give on social media. Be nice and receive nice. Be mean...
4. It is the Internet, don't try to win. 

My niece just posted a pic on Instagram taking a shot at a boyfriend's friends. It was "aimed" at a past boyfriend. She was taken to task by her current boyfriend's friends. Whole thing got ugly. She now has no boyfriend, which bums her out because she liked him a lot. If she followed #1 above, she'd be a happier person right now. Of course, I think she is better off without the guy, so there you go.

Salty is right. "#" is pretty powerful right now. I get likes for sunrise picks from people in Korea. The first time it happened I nearly fell off my chair. But, like all things powerful, you must be careful not to overuse the "#". When I see a pic with a ton of hashtags, I move on. I think it is an obvious attempt to get gratification for your "work".  I've seen stuff tagged with completely unrelated hashtags. 

One of my favorites right now: http://instagram.com/fosterhunting

Originally posted by amd723

Originally posted by cdban66

Originally posted by ponderingfox

Originally posted by jmkizer

 As an aside, we now have a Manatee group in Strava.  We tried to invite all of the Manatees that are on Strava.  If you were missed, please let Chris or me know and one of us will invite you.
http://www.strava.com/clubs/manatees

I'm on Strava, but I don't really ever use it.  I use the MapMy---- app all the time though, and do friend requests through that.  Another tri group I'm apart of uses that pretty consistently, so all in all it's a good idea.

I think Strava, really all of the fitness sites, are a niche kind of thing. If you have one that you use, for whatever reason, then keep on using it. My LBS that I ride with on Saturdays has a number of guys on there. And I've found a lot of cyclists from BT use it, so it ended up being the one I use. I have found that it gives me ideas on what I can do to improve, pushes me with segments and such. And I recently tied it to my instagram account, so pics show up from my rides sometimes.

I hate to admit this, but I'm not really sure what Instagram is! I think I need a kid to explain it to me

I know what it is and I know generally what Strava is but I'm kind of behind the times and don't use either , nor do I do Twitter, Tumblr and all those other social media thingies.  Facebook is as far as I got and then I gave up.  I occasionally think about following people on Twitter but just haven't mustered the energy to figure it out.

Yeah. Boy, we should all consider ourselves lucky that we didn't grow up with this. I think I would have likely made some very bad and possibly permanent decisions! 

Yeah. And I am kind of offended by hashtags outside of twitter or instagram. That's probably personal though.

It's really cool for following an event like Ironman or a track meet because not only do you get the mainstream media's perspective but you get EVERYONE who used the #

example: ESPN does live coverage and is using instagram and twitter to cover as well. They post pics and updates with #BostonMarathon. Joe Schmoe is standing on the 26 mile marker, taking photos with his phone and also posting to #BostonMarathon. When you search #BostonMarathon you get to see and read from a HUGE swath of perspectives, from ESPN to Joe Schmoe. 

Our actions can have a long range of results. Not always the ones we want. And yeah, I think back to some of what I did. Goodness knows how lucky I was that smartphones were not around then 

I did this during Boston this very year. #BostonStrong got me all welled up with tears. You want funny? Try watching any awards show and following it on Twitter at the same time. You can basically follow anything and get a myriad of points of view on it. 

RIght!?!

Social media can be leveraged in a very beautiful, powerful and amazing way. 

Thanks.  I think I understand.  If you saw my facebook page you'd know I'm not much into social media (besides BT), so it is not anything I will probably ever use, but I'm happy to finally know what it is!

If smart phones were around when I was growing up i probably wouldn't be employed where I am now!

Also keep in mind you can use it without contributing, too.

Per Chris's example, you can just browse pictures of sunsets all day without ever submitting one yourself. 

well, I am good at lurking!

In other news, did you all see Vibram's big settlement? Yowza! 

creep

ha ha, maybe.

Yeah. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Seems to me that many shoe manufacturers make the *same* shoe. Should they all be penalized? It seems a little over the top to me and sets a bit of a precedence. "My feet hurt in these new shoes, I must have been sold a crappy product" kind of thing.  I also wonder what kind of insurance they have at Vibram? How much of that nut is actually paid by the insurance company? It all seems like a slippery slope to me, one that takes personal responsibility out of the equation.

I blame Chris McDougall 

haha!... I took it personally when people started doing it in FB.

I get tired of every stinkin thing being #. I counted 17 on an acquaintance's twitter post a couple of months ago. Seriously? #dog#house#bed#toy#fido# (it actually wasn't about a dog. it was her "marketing" headbands and gym and such.)

And then to have to click a link from a tweet to an instagram pic seems like double "work".

I have topics/people I follow on Twitter and Tumblr, but at a certain point I feel like I'm juggling so much everyday cyber info. 

Yes, without a doubt. I am currently testing HootSuite for myself. It pulls multiple streams from multiple sources into one place. So, my Twitter, Facebook Instagram and Linked In are all in one spot. At some point I found something on the 10 best tools for that sort of thing. I'll see if I can find it, if anyone cares for that sort of thing.

You are plenty right though, it can get out of hand quickly. Thank goodness that My Space died, or I'd have another one to follow!

Truth.

One thing I wonder about pulling multiple sources into one is the hashtag thing. Instagram has the ability to post to twitter and facebook but I really don't like having hashtags on facebook. I also use FB more for friends and family and try not to bombard them with running crap. 

I knew I missed something earlier: Goooo Racers!!!

Mine isn't really a race, but a fundraiser for the High School Football Boosters. The bank is a sponsor, so I get a freebie.

I'm in the same boat. Twitter is for my interests, while FaceBook is for family and friends and Linked iIn is for work. I see all, but only post to some. So, a good tool will let you pick and choose. In (y)our situation, you can put them all into one app for viewing, then only post some stuff to one or the other. 

BTW, Janyne hasn't weighed in on this and she is the person that got me started on it all. I blame her for this vortex I'm in. I'll be really interested to here what she says after her class/seminar thing.

It's more of a races and events listing.  Tour de Cure is not a race and I'll be listing that next week.  So what if you do an "event report" in your training blog and not race report. 

Yes! And while I'm pretty sure I could "cash in" being that there is a pair sitting in my shoe room, I think they are like most shoes...work for some and not for others. I've seen plenty of people running/exercising in their Vibrams...they didn't look dissatisfied.

Of course Vibram made claims about their product, that's what marketing is about. And by settling, no one will know the real research and numbers. I think a few of the details here http://ahcuah.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/details-on-the-vibram-settlement/  are interesting:

"So, what was the settlement?

First, of course, Vibram admits no wrongdoing.

Next, the settlement is for $3,750,000.00. That includes fees for the lawyers, and any administrative fees for handing out the “awards”. However, the attorney fees are limited to $937,500.00, with expenses limited to $70,000. Nice work if you can get it.

Oh, and Bezdek, the person who filed the original lawsuit, gets $2,500,
“to compensate the Plaintiffs for efforts and risks taken by them on behalf of the Class.”

What about everybody else? As I predicted, as part of the class-action settlement, they get a small cash payout. That is officially limited to $94 per pair of Vibrams bought. However, in reality that is limited further by the total amount of the settlement. In reality, based upon the usual responses to these sort of lawsuits, the settlement says

Based on the experience of similar settlements of class actions, it is reasonable to expect that Class Members may receive payment in the range of $20.00 to $50.00 per pair."

Historically, class action lawsuits make the lawyers rich while providing very little money to the members of the class.  These types of payouts make me think I practice the wrong kind of law!