A couple months ago I had the opportunity to lead a small workshop at the CrushIQ conference here in Washington DC. My session was on managing social media channels for your brand. If you’re interested, my presentation is below. I focused a lot on how to make content engaging – too many times we post information that WE want others to know about our brand or organization, instead of putting ourselves’ in the reader’s shoes and asking whether this information is valuable, useful, or entertaining to them.
Though I didn’t blog here much in 2011, I hope to do so more in 2012, and I’ll be writing about more of the things that interest me – media, tech, careers, and especially women in tech and media.
In the mean time, here are a few links to things I was proud to be a part of in 2011.
I’ve always loved commencement addresses and every year around this time I seek out a couple of the most noteworthy ones. Although they might be somewhat corny, I love that they’re a rare opportunity to hear from successful people about what made them successful. And about who they were before, how they got to where they are, and what they’ve learned along the way.
Arianna Huffington at Sarah Lawrence College
“I desperately wanted to have kids and he wanted to have cats. So, I did something that I was at the time terrified to do, I left him. I left this man I was very much in love with, and because I didn’t trust myself to leave him and stay in London, I left him and moved to New York. The rest of my life — my children, my books, the Huffington Post, the fact that I’m standing here speaking to you on your commencement day — would not have happened if this man had married me. So, my whole life happened because a man refused to marry me. So, remember that, okay? In life, the things that go wrong are often the very things that lead to other things going right.”
Amy Poehler, at Harvard
“You can’t do it alone. As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, and spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”
Sheryl Sandberg, at Barnard College
“So my hope for all of you here, for every single one of you, is that you’re going to walk across the stage and get your diploma. You’re going to go out tonight or maybe all summer and celebrate. You deserve it. And then you’re going to lean way into your career. You’re going to find something you love doing, and you’re going to do it with gusto. You’re going to pick your field and you’re going to ride it all the way to the top.
So, what advice can I give you to help you achieve this goal? The first thing is I encourage you to think big. Studies show very clearly that in our country, in the college-educated part of the population, men are more ambitious than women. They’re more ambitious the day they graduate from college; they remain more ambitious every step along their career path. We will never close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap. But if all young women start to lean in, we can close the ambition gap right here, right now, if every single one of you leans in. Leadership belongs to those who take it. Leadership starts with you.
The next step is you’re going to have to believe in yourself potentially more than you do today. Studies also show that compared to men, women underestimate their performance. If you ask men and women questions about completely objective criteria such as GPAs or sales goals, men get it wrong slightly high; women get it wrong slightly low. More importantly, if you ask men why they succeeded, men attribute that success to themselves; and women, they attribute it to other factors like working harder, help from others. Ask a woman why she did well on something, and she’ll say, “I got lucky. All of these great people helped me. I worked really hard.” Ask a man and he’ll say or think, “What a dumb question. I’m awesome.” So women need to take a page from men and own their own success.
That’s much easier to say than to do. I know this from my own experience. All along the way, I’ve had all of those moments, not just some of the time; I would say most of the time, where I haven’t felt that I owned my success. I got into college and thought about how much my parents helped me on my essays. I went to the Treasury Department because I was lucky to take the right professor’s class who took me to Treasury. Google, I boarded a rocket ship that took me up with everyone else.
Even to this day, I have those moments. I have those moments all the time, probably far more than you can imagine I would. I know I need to make the adjustments. I know I need to believe in myself and raise my hand, because I’m sitting next to some guy and he thinks he’s awesome. So, to all of you, if you remember nothing else today, remember this: You are awesome. I’m not suggesting you be boastful. No one likes that in men or women. But I am suggesting that believing in yourself is the first necessary step to coming even close to achieving your potential.”
But the harsh reality is that there is a dearth of women in tech. Just look around Silicon Valley—you don’t see many blacks there, or Hispanics either. Until recently, I didn’t know of even one black woman CEO (though I had heard a rumor that one or two existed). Yes, I know that few women and members of ethnic minorities study engineering; that some women can’t deal with the stress and just want to raise children; and that this is not Mike Arrington’s fault. It is noteworthy that blacks and Hispanics constitute only 1.5% and 4.7% respectively of the Valley’s tech population—well below national tech-population averages of 7.1% and 5.3%.
At an event I attended this week, called Alley to the Valley, at the overpriced Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel in Menlo Park, I discussed this subject with 50 very successful women. Half of the attendees were from the east coast, and half were from the west coast. We agreed that the best way of supplying this dearth is through recognizing that there is indeed a problem; providing mentoring, encouragement, and assistance to all aspiring women entrepreneurs; and showcasing the successes.
I have already presented hard data that show that there is a problem, and I’vesuggestedremedies. Now I’ll showcase some successes—black women CEOs that graduated fromFounder Labs, a pre-incubator for emerging entrepreneurs and from a related organization, Women 2.0. I’ll let them tell you their own stories.
The rest of the article goes on to spotlight some great women of color tech executives and entrepreneurs, a group that really is rarely noticed. Definitely worth a read.
According to research by American University’s Women & Politics Institute, female lawmakers have composed 13.5 percent of the total Sunday show appearances by all representatives and senators this year.
The suggestion that the Sunday shows are less hospitable to women has prompted a debate over who’s to blame among network producers, Capitol Hill political operatives and women’s advocates.
Some academic researchers and press secretaries for women in Congress say the network bookers have a men-in-suits mind-set that leads to familiar faces appearing over and over — and vital women’s voices being muffled on Sunday shows that historically are an important platform of Washington power.
The shows’ producers bridle at the criticism, saying that, despite their strong interest in booking more women, the shows must be topical and reflect the reality that men still hold more of the most influential and newsmaking positions in Congress.
To which I have to say: yeah! But this isn’t really new. This has been a problem a lot of people have been complaining about for years. I’ve written about it dozens of times. So have many other women. Media Matters did a study on it in 2007. So, I don’t think it’s particularly groundbreaking news to us; however, I know of many white dudes in Washington who are completely oblivious to this. And those are the dudes that read Politico. So at least, it’s encouraging to see a very mainstream, well-read publication like Politico devoting a full-length feature to this topic.
I have a piece up at Politics Daily on Helen Thomas, published yesterday shortly after Helen’s retirement was announced. Yes, I know her remarks were offensive and antisemitic and I don’t defend them. But I don’t think she deserved to be forced into retirement for speaking her opinion when her job is to be an opinion columnist. She issued an apology, as most opinion columnists do when they say something stupid. If you’re interested, the full piece is here (my first piece in Politics Daily!).
For all the outcry around the Israeli flotilla attacks, perhaps one of the most important things to come out of it is that the world is finally paying much-needed attention to the longstanding Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Ultimately, the international uproar coming out of this situation is not the product of one isolated incidence of violence but of a series of actions that have taken place for years in Gaza and have, until now, been largely ignored by most of the world and certainly by the United States. Israel has imposed an embargo allowing only food and humanitarian aid into Gaza – nothing else. Which means that they can’t build any homes, schools, hospitals or other infrastructure in Gaza because no supplies can get in.
This, in turn, has kept Gaza in a terrible state of poverty for years. And this situation has been going on for far too long with much of the world ignoring it – so maybe now, as a result of the Monday attacks, international attention is finally being turned to Gaza.
As Foreign Policy magazine writer Marc Lynch tweeted today: the focus of coming days should be on Gaza itself, not just the boat.
UPDATE: This extremely interesting graphic from The Economist shows just what is and isn’t blocked from getting into Gaza.
I don’t have anything particularly new to say about the Flotilla incident. I think the killing of innocent civilians is absolutely terrible and despicable and there should be a full investigation into what happened and why. My inbox is blowing up with emails about protests all over the country.
Furthermore, one point I want to make is that a lot of people are saying: “This time Israel has gone too far.” Well, Israel has been “going too far” for a long time in how it treats Gazans — this isn’t the first time. But I’m glad at least it seems like the mainstream media and citizens are taking note this time and are equally disapproving of the events that have taken place.
If you’re looking for additional coverage on the issue, here’s a roundup of excellent posts and analysis from some of the smartest bloggers on the topic, in my opinion:
It hardly seemed possible for Israel — after its brutal devastation of Gaza and its ongoing blockade — to engage in more heinous and repugnant crimes. But by attacking a flotilla in international waters carrying humanitarian aid, and slaughtering at least 10 people, Israel has managed to do exactly that. If Israel’s goal were to provoke as much disgust and contempt for it as possible, it’s hard to imagine how it could be doing a better job.
It looks to me as if the Israeli government has again replied to a gnat with a bazooka. The disproportionate use of force, the loss of life, the horrifying impact of the blockade of Gaza in the first place: it makes Israel look like a callous, deranged bully, incapable of accepting any narrative that it cannot control and responding instinctively with disproportionate violence.
The suicide continues … and US aid to Israel, especially military aid, should be suspended until the Israeli government starts acting like something other than a rogue state.
I’m not going to try to keep up with the breaking events, as world governments and publics scramble to figure out how to react. Instead, I’ll just say that the bottom line for Washington is that the U.S. can not ignore this or try to hope that it will pass quickly so that it can resume business as usual. It is rapidly spiraling into one of the most intensely galvanizing issues in the Arab media — and around the world — since the Israeli war on Gaza itself. If Obama goes ahead and meets with Netanyahu as if nothing happened, then his administration’s outreach to the Muslim communities of the world is effectively over.
My second question is: “Will the Obama administration show some backbone on this issue, and go beyond the usual mealy-mouthed statements that U.S. presidents usually make when Israel acts foolishly and dangerously?” President Obama likes to talk a lot about our wonderful American values, and his shiny new National Security Strategy says “we must always seek to uphold these values not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.” The same document also talks about a “rule-based international order,” and says “America’s commitment to the rule of law is fundamental to our efforts to build an international order that is capable of confronting the emerging challenges of the 21st century.”
Well if that is true, here is an excellent opportunity for Obama to prove that he means what he says. Attacking a humanitarian aid mission certainly isn’t consistent with American values — even when that aid mission is engaged in the provocative act of challenging a blockade — and doing so in international waters is a direct violation of international law. Of course, it would be politically difficult for the administration to take a principled stand with midterm elections looming, but our values and commitment to the rule of law aren’t worth much if a president will sacrifice them just to win votes.
…Over the next few days, keep an eye on how politicians and pundits line up on this issue. Which of them thinks that Israel “crossed a line” and deserves criticism — and maybe even sanction — and which of them thinks that what it did was entirely appropriate? Ironically, it is the former who are Israel’s friends, because they are trying to save that country before it is too late. It is the latter whose misguided zeal is leading Israel down the road to further international isolation — and maybe even worse.
Yesterday’s murders were an unwarranted attack on civilians by elite units of one of the most fearsome and best-equipped army in the world. It’s not a “blunder” or poorly planned attack — the decision to raid the boat is itself illegal, immoral and is what needs condemning.
Before I talk about the diplomatic aftermath I would like to first of all throw in my opinion on this, though it’s probably self-evident and those of you that follow this blog will already know it. Israel deserves nothing but condemnation in the strongest possible terms for what it has done here. There was absolutely no good reason for it. At this stage, I do not believe that the activists on the boats were really armed. I believe that they may have tried to defend the ship from being boarded, but consider that it was in international waters at the time, I don’t see what’s illegitimate about that. Boarding a ship in international waters may well constitute an act of piracy thus making self-defense perfectly reasonable.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was that I would post on this blog more. Well, better late than never.
On Postbourgie, Shani highlights an interesting study from the Chronicle of Higher Education blog. The study found that children who grew up in a house with 500+ books stay in school three years longer than kids who grew up in homes with fewer books.
Thus it seems that scholarly culture, and the taste for books that it brings, flows from generation to generation largely of its own accord, little affected by education, occupational status, or other aspects of class … Parents give their infants toy books to play with in the bath; read stories to little children at bed-time; give books as presents to older children; talk, explain, imagine, fantasize, and play with words unceasingly. Their children get a taste for all this, learn the words, master the skills, buy the books. And that pays off handsomely in schools.
It definitely worked for me. I was a bookworm to the max as a kid, reading so many books my parents sometimes asked me to read LESS and go spend some time outdoors playing kickball or whatever. Until high school, when I became too busy with academics and extracurriculars, reading for pleasure was one of my favorite things to do. In summers, I’d take a book and read outside. And when the weather was too hot to handle, I’d seek refuge in the air-conditioned library, full of hundreds of books and magazines.
Shani also points out in her post that not everyone can buy hundreds of books, and wonders where library memberships fit into this research – I’d have to agree that I wonder if kids whose parents hold library memberships and take them to the library regularly develop the same appreciation for reading and ideas. For me as a kid, getting to go the library was always a treat ; my parents took us almost weekly, and moreso in summer to help stave off boredom from not being occupied with school all week. Taking me and my brother to the library regularly was a good thing for them because it helped keep their kids occupied so we wouldn’t drive them up the walls at home. For us, though, I think it had a profound impact on how we grew up and what we value now. It instilled in both of us an interest in learning about the world around us, and taught us to question everything.
Today I’m on the internet almost all the time, but still have a lust for reading… I’ve just put a large part of my reading efforts into Google Reader. But I still love buying and reading fresh, clean, new books from bookstores, and think it’s incredibly important that today’s kids and students are still being encouraged to read books, and not the iPad kind. By the time I was in high school I was reading less books for pleasure – presumably because I was busy with academics, extracurriculars, and with trying to get into college, but I wonder if it also had something to do with the fact that the internet was growing in popularity by then. In high school I would much rather spend the hours after class IMing my friends (remember AOL ?!) than reading a book; the only books I managed to read through those four years were the ones assigned to us in school.
I’ve written before about my questions on what will happen to books in an increasingly digital era; given the new research that’s out there about the impact books have on children as they grow, it seems books are more important than ever. I don’t think it matters whether the books are at home or in a library, as long as kids have access to books on a regular basis and are encouraged to read for pleasure, both by parents and teachers. That, I think, is what it takes to develop that “scholarly culture” found in bookish families – not just access to lots of books, but also encouragement from adults to kids to spend their time reading books.
In case you missed it yesterday, the White House released a new album of Flickr photos of the last year in health reform that has been burning up the internet. My Twitter feed today has been filled with people ooh-ing and aah-ing over the photos.
White House photographer Pete Souza captures a glimpse of behind-closed-doors moments at the White House from this past week and the past year as the White House worked to pass the health care bill — and they are, well, heartwarming. We see Hillary Clinton hugging President Obama; White House staffers cheering, applauding, and hugging as they watched Congress vote on the bill late Sunday night; Obama fist-bumping a young doctor who grins ear-to-ear; Nancy Pelosi holding her grandson and grinning next to Obama a day before the historic House vote.
Flickr is not a new tool; people have been using it to share their important moments with friends and family for years. But the Obama White House is the first White House to use Flickr to share their photos and are publicly documenting private moments that, until now, had remained hidden from the American people.
On another note, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs also recently got on Twitter and though he started off slow, he has adjusted to the medium pretty quickly. This morning he cracked jokes with the rest of the Twitterverse, telling his followers that this video of a misguided White House staffer who bears a resemblance to Gibbs was most definitely not him. And then, perhaps most notably, after the historic bill-signing ceremony today, Gibbs responded to Vice President Biden’s earlier f-bomb in his excitement over the health care bill with a tweet remarking “Yes, Mr. Vice President, you’re right…”
I lead social media strategy for Travel Channel. I'm passionate about changing communications, media, and journalism with social media, and my career has been focused on helping brands and media organizations navigate the social media space.
I have written about media and technology for a variety of publications including The American Prospect, AlterNet.org, Mediaite, Poynter, and more, and my work has been profiled in Forbes and Brazen Careerist.
All opinions expressed here are my own! Email: nchittal [at] gmail dot com / work email: nisha.chittal[at]travelchannel dot com
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