I have boxes of writings under my bed, in my closet and on bookshelves.  I have desk drawers full of keepsakes and special momentos.  Our bookshelves at home are lined with photo albums and our home movies are neatly stacked in our video cabinet.  All of this “stuff” from my past is there if I need to access it.  But, in the digital age, I have lost track of where my more recent ”stuff” is.  I know I can get to it on any computer with Internet access – but that’s not really where it is stored.

Most people now store personal pictures, videos and writing (blogs, facebook updates, tweets, etc.) online.  Sites like Photobucket, Flickr and Vimeo make it easy.  If you’re like me, you don’t give much thought to where all of that information is actually stored.  CNN’s John Sutter knows — and he does a fascinating report on it today.

If you’ve heard the term “cloud computing” and didn’t know what it was all about, watch or read his report.  At least you’ll know where you put all of your stuff.

Katie Granju, our Social Media Director here at Ackermann PR, offers some interesting advice on her personal blog today about using social media for networking locally.

In her thoughtful post (which she promises to be the first in a series) she compares the effective use of social media to the “valuable face-to-face networking that takes place at civic clubs such as Rotary and Civitan…” It’s an interesting comparision.

Do you see the use of social media in the same way as a professional networking tool? Or, do you have a different opinion you’d like to share in the comments below.

I’m finding more uses for Facebook all the time…and this past week it literally hit me like a ton of rocks.

With apologies to poet Robert Frost, my “Road Not Taken” last week was I-40 East over to Asheville. Last Sunday a huge rockslide closed both sides of I-40 around the N.C./Tennessee border. And, as luck would have it, I was due to travel to Asheville three days after the rockslide for some meetings…and starting to dread the longer roadtrip.

So early last week when I pondered my impending drive, I put out the call on Facebook re: folks’ favorite alternate routes across the mountains into N.C.

At least 10 friends (many of them current and former newsfolk) quickly weighed in with their opinions and best advice for the drive. It was invaluable for determining how to go and what to expect…and it all happened within a few hours of my question on Facebook.

Okay, this method of soliciting advice isn’t new for many of you out there….but it’s a real eye-opener to someone like me who’s been accustomed to contacting “organizations” like AAA, or TDOT, or even the various chambers of commerce, etc. On Facebook, I got informative “word of mouth” from my peers who knew me (not from faceless organizations who just needed to direct volumes of vehicles a certain way). Using Facebook circumvented my going to multiple websites, getting the “corporate line” or making any phone calls, etc. (although exploreasheville.com had some good routing info I saw a couple hours before leaving). My Facebook appeal was practically effortless (and fast!!)

The outcome? The trip from Knoxville to Asheville took exactly three hours late Wed. afternoon by going I-40 E to I-81 to I-26…(it should have been a half hour less, but rush hour confusion for the “detour drivers” really snarled up I-26 at the I-240 junctions). The Blue Ridge fall foliage was absolutely stunning in late afternoon (when the sun hit all the colorful mountainous peaks and valleys). And when I drove back the same route to Knoxville on Friday, it DID only take two and a half hours…traveling before rush hour began.

Ultimately, friends who advised me to take my time on 11E or go through Bulls Gap or the backroads of Cocke County were disappointed that I took the interstate. (Hey, I just wanted to quickly get from point A to point B.) Maybe I’ll be more creative next time…

And for those of you who said they were putting off a trip to North Carolina now….big mistake. Contrary to how we perceive it “over here”, the rockslide hasn’t closed down our access to western North Carolina. It’s just making us think a little more “out of the box.”

Asheville still sparkles like the gem it is….The Grove Park Inn is beautifully decked out in autumn decorations, the Biltmore still inspires awe with its majestic architecture,and the art and crafts scene in downtown Asheville is just as lively.

Asheville hasn’t changed…but we (over here) just have to adjust the way WE think about getting THERE!

In The Whuffie Factor, Tara Hunt explores the many ways social networks can be used to build or expand your business. One of the most insightful comments I read from her interviews with various success stories comes from Jake Nickell, co-founder of Threadless.com, the wildly successful community-based t-shirt company. Jake in describing the relationship his company has with its online community makes his point pretty bluntly, “The community could kill Threadless. If the community thinks we deserve to die, we probably deserve to die.”

Jake understands that his company’s success is built on listening to the needs and wants of the audience and providing a real benefit to its community. If it fails to engage the community and serve its needs, they’ll go elsewhere. Or, in Vaudeville terms, they’ll give Threadless “the hook.”

Funny girl Fanny Brice knew the value of engaging the audience from her days on the Vaudeville stage. Fanny, who was born on this day 118 years ago, could have written the social media mission statement when she said, “Your audience gives you everything you need. They tell you. There is no director who can direct you like an audience.”

Fanny and other vaudeville stars of the era were quite familiar with the concept of building community as they traveled the circuit. They also understood the importance of taking the feedback from their audience to improve their act and build a more successful brand. If they ignored their audience or failed to engage them, they knew their career in the footlights would be a short one.

It’s a brave thing to step onto the stage and risk the catcalls and rotten tomatoes and “the hook.” But, it’s undeniably exciting, too, because the potential is also there for applause and ovations and the rush of laughter and community that washes over you like a wave when your onstage performance is connecting with the audience.

Fannie understood that there was and is a place for the director and stage manager in her theater world, but she also knew the audience played a significant role. A well-directed performance that does not engage its audience is not a successful performance. Fannie — like Jake at Threadless and other success stories from Tara Hunt’s book– understood the role of performer, director, and audience in building a successful brand.

If “Current Popular Culture” were a category on Jeopardy! (The greatest TV show ever) and I were a contestant…well, lets just say Ken Jennings records would be safe. OK…they’d probably be safe no matter what categories they used. But that’s beside the point.

So my posting something that involves Kate Gosselin is strange. To be honest, I’ve never seen her TV show. Current plans call for me going to the grave from old age with that statement still intact. Don’t much care about her and care about her hair even less.

And yet our brilliant Social Media Director, Katie Granju, does care about stuff like this. And actually discusses it on her Mom blog “Mama Pundit” which is widely read. So widely read that she is quoted today in the LA Times. Read it here. How cool is that?

All this is causing great amusement here at Ackerworld with a current e-mail chain discussing getting a Katie Gosselin reverse mullet wig for me to wear around the office. It won’t happen. First off, you don’t mess with a classic like the mullet. Secondly, hair is so overrated. I moved past it years ago.

OK…everybody back to work.