First before this post, I want to do a shout-out to my blog redesign partners. While I try very hard to learn design and coding everyday, I can’t ramp-up to be a designer! In the design world Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and building a site quickly and properly is tough to do, so I leave that up to the professionals. It’s the same as a designer or developer implementing an internet marketing campaing, the disciplines are very different.

Matt Shepard and Jonathan Goetz from Shepard Advertising & Design made my blog weblift happen! I’m the cobbler with bad shoes and when it comes to helping people with their businesses, I generally put my company site on the back-burner. I’m confident this is true in many industries and it’s why outsourcing makes the world a "happier" place. I’m excited to blog now!! My blog has been going since 2006 and I’ve been burned out on the same design. Now with my weblift, I want to write, write and write more! While I still have some content issues, Matt and Jonathan have given me a fresh start. And that goes a long way!

My inspired blog post is because of my redesign. I started thinking about when I started blogging and then the memories came back. Following is my progression into blogging and understanding the communications are changing and will continue to change. Staying on top of the changes are our jobs as marketers, business owners and participants.

First Blog Post Since Shepard Redesign:

Let’s remember when blogging (officially) came out: Google purchased Blogger it was 2003. For those of us that remember when Yahoo! was the top search engine, we remember the word “weblog” from 1997 when Jorn Barger coined the saying. I remember 1997 well; reading the posts and speculation regarding citizens having a “voice”; people buying products online (Oh Gates you didn’t say that); video and audio communications and the rest. Back in the day these ideas seemed ridicules. And today, these technologies are reality.

While I was reading all of these non-mainstream blog posts, I became worried about blogging and being transparent on the web. Fast forward thirteen years and I’m available at the click of the mouse.
It’s not easy blogging; accepting your name (not identity) will be easily accessible; taking your personal experiences and crafting them into journalism worthy articles; stepping out on a limb and dealing with criticism. While this may be mainstream for Hollywood, it’s not for me. I’m a technology person not a journalist.

What I see now are people like me blogging and reporting “news” worthy information and the downfalls are typos, grammatical errors and fast pace communications. Here is a great article on the 4 Grammatical Mistakes that can Enhance Your Copy. And this is how information technology has changed the current communication dynamics. You aren’t dumb when you write, you are creative!!!

As a consultant, my intentions are to put my best foot forward when it comes to communications, but now we talk in 140 characters and that’s where things get strange. 2010, the acceptance of grammatical errors, second phase we are OK with not understanding anything?? When I held an IS Analyst role at a company, I remember being in a meeting and the lead of the meeting used the Palm OS Graffiti while communicating on a white board. In my opinion (IMO) this is rude. Today, I make a point to spell out acronyms because I want people to understand. The hashtag is a joke In My opinion (IMO) because search functionality should eliminate the need. With all the communication hoopla now days, a new graffiti has been born; See You Later (CUL8R), Oh I See (OIC), Got to Go (G2G), Be Right Back (BRB), Sign on the Dotted Line (SOLD) haahaa, Ta Ta for Now (TTFN), Too Good Too Be Forgotten (2G2B4G). I fear these slang acronyms will creep into my work life and end up on a whiteboard and I will sit and be clueless and OK – it’s all good (IAG). Do people make themselves feel better when they write using code and/or acronyms?  There are two ways to think about meetings filled with acronyms; first the people use the acronyms to feel bigger and better; second, it’s in their dialect. Be forewarned there is new Graffiti in the works. How it will affect the conference room is still to be determined. I will cry if I go into a meeting with hashtags!

Here is a list of Top 50 Twitter Acronyms, Abbreviations and Initialism

I need your help! Give me your top 2010 acronyms so we can all stay up-to-date (UTD) hee hee, much love – Anne