Blog hunting: my search for new blog estate

Location, location, location.  It has finally come to this on my little blog.  When I first started blogging on Blogger about a year ago, this space was perfect for my needs.  All I cared about at the time was finding a place I could publish content quickly.  I wasn't hung up on customization or features or granite countertops.  A countertop is a countertop is a countertop, right? Blogger was just fine for me - it worked, it met those needs - it was a good starter home.

However, now that I'm part of the blogosphere, I've come to critique blog spaces more closely and have noticed that WordPress and Tumblr offer some features that are highly appealing.  I could get creative with designs on those sites in ways that I can't do on Blogger.   Plus I have found out that I agreed to Terms of Service which allow Blogger to delete my blogs without warning - shocking.   So I've decided to go on the hunt for new blog estate - I may even set up shop on a WordPress or Tumblr site for a while.  Still, my history is here.  If I make a move to a new Blog neighborhood I will put up a sign - er, link - and let you know where I've moved.  

21st Century Barbie's Brand Story: A closer look at the way Mattel is using the Web and social media to tell the Barbie story

One of my oldest and dearest friends recently posted a link on her Facebook page to Computer Programming Barbie - the link featured a picture of the blonde icon sporting black thick frame glasses and a t-shirt designed with binary code.   My friend captioned the post: “Nice try Mattel, but I’m still not buying Barbie for my girls.”   Well, I thought that was great and immediately “shared” the link on my Facebook page.   I had no idea at the time how much response this would elicit.   Some of my friends rushed to defend Barbie claiming that they loved her as a child.  Others agreed with me that they wouldn't be buying Computer Barbie for their daughters in the near future.  

On the side of defending Barbie, one woman wrote that she believed Barbie was a good toy for girls and encouraged imaginative play because she didn't have a story behind her like some of the famed Disney icons such as Snow White.   In response to that I pointed out that Barbie's creators have most definitely created a story for her.  I think it’s very clear that even though Barbie doesn’t have a major motion picture to her name like the Disney Princess set – she is definitely a brand with a distinct narrative of her own.   

Even automobile manufacturers create narratives around different models of cars.  One might be hip hop like the Kia Soul or quirky and youthful like the new Volkswagen Beetle.  Regardless, branding teams endeavor to tell a story about the kind of person that drives their car.  The brand managers over at Mattel are no slouches either - they have a story, an image and a name to sell and it isn’t exactly a non-profit.  Witness how they tell the Barbie story at www.barbie.com and www.twitter.com/barbiestyle.

I’m also not terribly impressed with Barbie’s wardrobe changes – so she wears a t-shirt with binary code and sports glasses.  To me this “change” is still relatively superficial – kind of like McDonald’s marketing the Big Mac with a whole wheat bun.  Ok, it’s slightly more healthy, but by and large it’s still the same old junk food.  Not exactly the kind of nourishment that I want my daughter to grow up consuming or thinking is healthy.  Then there’s the Barbie “ideal” body image – but that’s an easy slam  - her tiny waist is totally unrealistic – enough said. 

However, while the image (Barbie’s physical appearance) is definitely part of the story,  there are also her words – yes, thanks to social networking, 21st century Barbie speaks.  Great move by the brand managers at Mattel - Barbie is on Twitter @BarbieStyle

Ever wonder what this new “modern” Barbie is thinking?  Check out her tweets @BarbieStyle - it’s a brilliant example of Barbie’s most socially relevant thoughts on the world today. “Downside of chilly weather in Malibu? Less beach time. The upside? More cashmere!  Swoon.”  

Barbie’s rabid consumerism, obsession with pink, her hair and addiction to shopping are dominant themes as evidenced by this tweet: “Online shopping…a great thing or the greatest thing?” 

Or "Ken might be my soul mate, but Christian Louboutin is my sole mate!"  Good. grief.

Don’t even get me started on @OfficialKen.  

To put it mildly, today’s Barbie exhibits the gravitas of a gnat.   She might be an outstanding candidate for America’s Next Top Model or a stylist on the Rachel Zoe Project, but I don’t think she’s winning any awards for a groundbreaking PhD thesis.

Finally, while we can sit here as educated adults and deconstruct Barbie, a young child does not have the same analytical skills when viewing a TV commercial or reading a highly commercialized Twitter feed.  This is one of the reasons why advertising to children is controversial.   


I’m choosing not to put my daughters on a diet of Big Macs and Barbies – not because one or two servings is going to clog her arteries or stifle all creative thought, but because it’s fundamentally junk and there are much healthier alternatives.    

Selling (and Settling) for Less in the Walmart Toy Aisle for Girls

I’m not sure what to get my daughter for her 2^nd birthday, but I am sure of this - I will not be getting her a toy from the little girls toy aisle at Walmart.  The girl’s toy aisle isn’t labeled “girl’s toy aisle,” but you get cued into the fact that it’s the place to find girl’s toys because the walls of the aisle are shaded pink and lined with doll after doll.  And to top it off, there isn’t even a great variety of dolls – the choices are basically babies or Barbies.

Now, let’s start with the toy babies.   Maybe it’s just me, but I think that childhood is a time to encourage  imagination and a world of infinite possibilities.   Parenthood is a wonderful gift to be sure, but there is more for the imagination to explore in childhood.   Now don't get me wrong - I love babies.  Certainly keep some of the babies in the toy aisle.  However, there are so many creative toy designers out there that I just can't believe babies and Barbies are the only options Walmart could find to put in the girls toy aisle.  At the very least, shouldn't there be a little more of a selection?  Walmart has considerable power when it comes to negotiating with their suppliers, why not use that power to encourage innovation in the toy department and create a greater selection of toys that would really encourage imaginative play?  (By the way, the Hobby Lobby has the best selection of science kits for kids that I have seen.)  

As for the Barbies on display…  I was hard pressed to find a non-Princess Barbie, but when I looked closely I found a box with career Barbies from the new “i can be…” collection.  The selection in the box at Walmart was: Pet Vet, Chef, Doctor and Ballerina.   Doctor is an admirable career to be sure. I’m impressed by that aspiration.   However, the doctor’s outfit on the Doctor Barbie was like no doctor I’d ever seen.  Barbie "i can be...Doctor" is wearing a short red skirt above mid-thigh length and a form fitting white lab coat accentuating her small waist with a colorful shirt underneath.

Wait a second, I did see a doctor like in the Victoria’s Secret catalogue.  Sure, sure!  It was part of the Sexy Little Things Halloween collection.   

As I left Walmart and looked at the motto “We sell for less” writ large upon the side of the building, I couldn’t help but think it should really say “We settle for less… especially when it comes to toys for girls.”

Barbie I can be Doctor...

Seriously?

Twitter for me, a regular Jane

I am not a politician, a revolutionary, a business, or a person selling stuff.   I am just a regular person.

I'm writing this note to explain how Twitter works for me because I’ve started to notice that when I talk about Twitter most people look at me like I have three heads.  I can just hear the storyline running through their mind -  it’s the same line that my husband says to me out loud “what’s so great about twatting or tweeting or whatever you do?”  

Ok, look – I get it.  I understand why people don’t “get it. “ I didn’t get it at first either.  The fact is, it’s kind of hard to explain.

According to Twitter, Twitter is:

“a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting.”

And that means what exactly?  What is a “real-time information network?”  Is it like instant messaging? Not quite.

For me, the fourth time was the charm with Twitter and there's a good reason why.  Even though I thought I “got it” the first three times – I didn’t really “get it.”  

Ok, let me explain:

My First Time –  no one cares that I’m drinking White Castle decaf

The first time I got on Twitter, I got discouraged because I tweeted and had no response.   I thought this was supposed to be like the BestBuy commercial where the lone person stands in a stadium field, asks a question and a million people scramble to answer it as fast as they can.  That is not how it works.  So that didn’t happen and I was disappointed.   Apparently no one in the Twitterverse cared that I was drinking White Castle decaf and heading to Indiana for the weekend.  So I thought, “forget you” Twitter.

Second Time – hookers or something

The second time I got on Twitter, I simply composed more uninteresting tweets.  Then I started to get followed by what appeared to be hookers harking their personal sex site.   I’m still not sure who those people are… in any case I found it creepy and quickly lost interest.

Third Time – business tweeting thrice daily

The third time I got on Twitter, it was because I was mandated to promote the startup mobile advertising business that I worked for…  our CEO directed the sales team: “thou must tweet thrice daily!”  And so we did… more or less.  However, when the company went out of business I stopped tweeting.

Fourth Time -  topical comedy is the charm

Finally, I returned to Twitter a fourth time on a whim.  This time I did something different: I started following people for fun such as Albert Brooks and Steve Martin.  And oh by the way,  if you like topical comedy (comedy that relates to current events) @albertbrooks is really really funny.   Then I found that @albertbrooks was following @NellSco and I got hooked on her too.   This was good stuff.  This was starting to get fun.   

Then I did something different too – I thought, 'if I’m going to say something I need to make it more interesting than a Facebook status' – after all, the people reading my Tweets aren’t necessarily my friends who find everything I say hilarious (right friends?)   

I resolved to hold my Tweets to a higher standard.  I resolved to try and make them interesting to a person who may not even know me.  As it turns out, the way that I feel most comfortable doing that is to inject a bit of humor... and so was born my Twitter voice.

Famous People Versus the Ordinary Joes and Janes (like me)

Famous people who start using Twitter get followers fairly quickly and people want to respond to what they say.  They actually have conversations.   This makes adapting to Twitter very easy.  

But for most of us – those of us who don’t have a lot of friends on Twitter and who aren’t famous – it can be somewhat discouraging to Tweet and feel like no one hears you other than the @amallnearyou that wants you to come and shop with them.   For the regular Jane like myself, not many people follow us or respond to our tweets.  So there you sit just talking to yourself.   However, I’m having fun on Twitter now because I’m entertaining myself and my husband with my Tweets at the very least. 

The other value is that I get to pick up on some interesting conversations. My experience on Twitter is that it’s kind of like sitting in  a noisy café listening to different people talking - however, this is no ordinary café – its filled with millions of people.   Pick the ones you like and take a listen. 

Yours Tweetly,

@akberry

Mozart was born in Salzburg. What, you don't believe me? I was at his house two weeks ago!

Today I took my daughter, Journey, to her second music class at Mason’s Gymboree in Snider Commons.   The class, designed for 18-24 month olds, was celebrating European music month.  This is going to be great, I thought.   

I was impressed up until the point that the teacher informed us that Mozart was from Venice.   When I piped up with "actually he's from Salzburg"  she paused and looked confused for a moment.  “Really?” she asked. “Yes,” I said definitively.   Still not appearing totally convinced, she looked around the room for a second to see if anyone was agreeing with me.  The Mom from Germany was nodding her head.  “I just visited his house in Salzburg,” I added, hoping that this would put the issue to rest.  Then she turned to the class and said, "oh that's right - Mozart is from Salzburg, but a lot of people think he's from Venice because he spent so much time there." Umm, actually no… most people do not think that… I’m pretty sure that’s just you.   The Mom from Germany and I just looked at each other and smiled.   I wanted to say "are you sure you're not thinking of Vivaldi?" but I let it go. 

Then (it gets better) after the class she made a point to proudly inform me that she was a Music Studies major in college and couldn’t believe she made that mistake.  However, she wasn’t done making mistakes yet.   She then told me that Mozart had moved to Venice when he was four years old and had composed “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” when he was three.  Wrong and wrong.   I really think she is confusing Mozart with Vivaldi who actually was born in Venice, but the names sound nothing alike so I’m not really sure how....  

In any case, just for the record – the tune from “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is from an old French melody titled "Ah! Vous Dirai-Je, Maman" that first appeared without words in Les Amusements d'une Heure et Demy by M. Bouin in Paris in 1761 (no, I did not remember that particular fact off the top of my head - I had to look it up).   The words came from an English poem called “The Star” written by sisters Ann and Jane Taylor.  Twenty years later, when Mozart was 25 or 26-ish, he composed a set of 12 improvisations on "Ah! Vous Dirai-Je, Maman" (yes, I looked that fact up too - just to be sure.  If I'm in error I hope someone will let me know). 

Now it is probably true that more people inaccurately attribute “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Mozart,” but to think that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart came from Italy…what can I say? Ma va la! Mamma mia! Oh puh-leeze! 

I’m not sure we are welcome back to that particular music class, but I think went easy on her considering.


So here's the deal: to all the kids just out of college teaching Mommy & Me classes this summer - don't think that just because we're stay-at-home Moms that you can feed us (and our toddlers) some line about Mozart being from Venice.   We may be fluent in baby talk and totally sleep deprived, but we have not entirely lost our minds.  We're not having it... and we will fact check you.  


Mom Power!