Josh Shear

You recognize that you need to be on social media. Your neighbor business to your left is bringing in new business after spending a year meeting locals on Twitter, then in real life, and the referrals just keep rolling in. The neighbor to your right is killing it with coupons they upload to their Facebook page and ask customers to print out. The folks across the street have had these Foursquare stickers in their windows for weeks and you see everyone who walks through their door whip out a mobile phone.

You haven't lost when it comes to social media, you're just not winning. You're behind, and you don't have the time, the inclination, or the knowledge (or some combination of those) to get going now. You'd like to bring someone in-house to be your community manager, but how do you find these people?

On the one hand, that person might already work for you. If you listen to your employees' conversations and you've heard words like "Twitter" and "location-based" sprinkled between the words you understand, you might have yourself a community manager.

On the other hand, talk to your customers. If you have customers who have been coming through your door for four or five years, you recognize them, you might make small talk, you might even know a lot about them. The one thing you can be sure of, though, is that these customers are loyal to your brand. They like you, your products, and/or your prices. Something about your business keeps those customers coming back. One of them might be the perfect brand ambassador for you.

I've recently taken a job as a community manager at the Gold's Gym franchise in Dewitt, New York. I've been a member there for five years; I really believe in what they do. I like the way they operate. I like the people. I'd already known many of the staff members and already recognized a lot of the gym members when I joined the staff. With the exception of the details (logging such-and-such in this book, using UPC A in Case 1 and UPC B in Case 2), I already had a good idea of how the gym operated.

In this case, I approached the gym; if someone who fit that description approached you, knowing you needed the social side and willing to do other things you needed, you'd likely have a hard time saying no. On the other hand, could you just reach out and ask someone? Try it. It might get you far.

No blogging this week. And in fact, I wrote this post last week, so despite appearances, I'm not blogging today either.

» How to schedule posts in WordPress

According to Wikipedia, which means it must be true, we celebrate Labor Day because if we celebrated May Day instead, we'd be burdened with unhappy memories of the Haymarket riots and other worker's rights protests. Sketchy, but that's how we roll.

I'm in Massachusetts this week celebrating a cousin's wedding and welcoming the new year. It seems a good time for pause and reflection. L'shana tova if you're celebrating this week. See you the 13th!

Most of us really need to just slow down a bit.

Via Chris Brogan

Some of you know me as someone who charges straight at a project and does everything in my power to not only complete it, but to go beyond expectation with it. Whether it's coming in ahead of deadline, or coming in on deadline with extras worked in, or to make it even prettier than you thought it would be, I always put in the extra time.

That's my promise with That Josh. Let's work together and see how I can wow you.

You may have noticed the funny not-exactly-bar-codes looking things I dropped on the Contact page. That's called a Quick Response bar code, or simply a QR code.

I've been learning about them and their various applications for a little while now. Seems they've been in use in Japan for quite a while, and now they're making their way to the U.S.

You can do quite a bit with these things: Simply drop a URL or a text message, for instance, or embed a bunch of contact information. Or an ad, or a coupon, or information about a painting at a gallery.

And the fun part is any smart phone with an auto-focus camera can read them. BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 and newer even comes with one built-in, if you're only including your BBIM or a URL. There are other apps out there that will read more complex messages.

I've been using Barcode Scanner by ZXing for my Android phone; it's free and handles a lot of 1-dimensional (standard product) bar codes as well. I've also been recommended QuickMark for the iPhone and iPad (99 cents).

I wouldn't know what to get for the BlackBerry or Palm, but I know there are apps out there. Stick a link in comments if you're using a good one.

There are plenty of free QR code generators on the Web, as well; I've been using the one from ZXing for contact info and the one from Kaywa for URLs.

I've made a conscious effort to post something every workday of 2010, taking off only the New Year's holiday and weekends. But I'm going to indulge myself for two weeks.

As many of you know, I have decided to accept a fantastic opportunity with Data Key Communications as of February 15. I end my 4.5-year tenure at syracuse.com on February 11.

I'm making myself concentrate on the transition by not blogging for my final week at syracuse.com and my first week at Data Key. I'll see you Feb. 22.

I started doing number 7 in the fall. Next up is number 2!

via Chris Brogan

I rang in 2010 with a great crowd of people: Mike, Frank, Nicole, Mel, Joe, Geoff and Rochelle.

Every one of those names up there is linked to a Twitter account. I met all of those people thanks to Twitter (either connecting on Twitter or having them connected to someone I had connected to on Twitter), and all of them in 2009. I know there are still nay-sayers – people who think that Twitter is just a bunch of nerds chatting online who couldn't hold a conversation in real life so they're hiding behind a utility – but as I mentioned last month, Twitter leads to more in-person interaction, not less.

I'm not the only one who made this observation about our new year's eve gathering.

I know the other question on your mind is: Were we talking or tweeting all night? I just went through all of our Twitter streams. Frank tweeted 3 times while we were out; one of those was a photo from our night out. Rochelle tweeted once; it was a photo of our night out. I posted once; it was a scheduled happy new year tweet I had created two days prior.

So, we were either talking to each other, or we were standing around in awkward silence. And there was no awkward silence.

Here it is, another December 29. Our 2009 calendars are running out of usefulness. The aughts are nearly gone, and we'll soon be writing 2010. It was last year at this time that I was writing:

I will, in no uncertain terms, not miss 2008. It began with a major snowstorm, a storm which has not abated for 363 days and counting.

I went on to say

My hope for you, dear reader: a happy and a healthy 2009.

My mom took time out to agree.

2009 was a really good year. There were some health problems in the family, but everyone's alive and working and progressing and moving forward. I got to take personal days at the end of the year to relax, rather than spending them on funerals. I'm calling it a win from a healthy perspective.

Mitch's year-end post is about growth, and for me, 2009 was about growth, and 2010 likely will be as well.

I set these goals for 2009:

• Take more photos for the greater good, not necessarily for sale. I’m hoping to put at least three new photos on flickr each week.

• Publish something in Corpse. It’s a publication I both enjoy and respect, and I’d be honored to be on their contributors list.

• Make this space here a lot prettier, more professional, and more useful. That includes better (more frequent, more informative) posting, and more creative use of space.

I took more pictures, but put them on Twitpic and Tumblr instead of Flickr. And it was more than 3 a week.

I did not publish anything in Corpse. To be honest, in mid-June they still had a note up that they would begin accepting submissions in May, and I haven't checked back since.

I overhauled this space twice, more recently moving it to WordPress. While I still really like Blogger, I've learned that WordPress is a more professional platform, and I'm likely going to be taken more seriously by the more serious social media folks.

I moved in January to a smaller apartment that fits me better. I'm a short walk from almost everything I need; I'm closer to work. I've stepped up my social media efforts and really reached out to meet some new people in 2009. See this nearly ridiculous post about Twitter for a look at that. I've grown my LinkedIn network. I've launched an effort to help raise money to fund childhood cancer research.

In December, I launched two group-written blogs, one (just getting started) about collaboration and one about a lifelong passion, music.

I've begun coworking in the spaces of a local non-profit that supports urban sustainability.

I've designed new websites, I've talked people into blogging, I've helped organizations with social media tools. I've spoken to a couple of media groups.

I haven't outlined specific goals for myself for 2010. They are more general than perhaps I'd like them to be, but I've been doing, more than planning the past six weeks or so. Here are three things I want to do in 2010.

• Collaborate. I'd like to start and maintain projects I'm passionate about. I've taken a running start at this, but I think more is going to come as I learn the intricacies of collaboration and relationship-building.

• Write. It seems like every year I wind up saying I want to write more, and what really ends up happening is that I take on the technical side of more things and write less. Not in 2010. I will be spending more time writing about what's going on.

• Drop 12 pounds. That might sound like a weak weight-loss goal, but it's realistic and achievable. When I graduated high school in 1994 I weighed 115 pounds. When I moved to Syracuse in 2003 I weighed 215 pounds. I now weigh 170 pounds – that's a 45-pound drop from my high. And while I haven't lost weight this year, I've lost two inches off my waist, which means I'm gaining muscle, which is heavier than fat. Twelve pounds allows me to keep gaining muscle, but forces me to make healthier food choices.

My wish for you is the same as it was last year. Have a happy and a healthy year.

I turn 33 years old today. And I think 33 is going to be a good year for me.

I didn't feel like 30 was a milestone year. And with ups and downs along the way, I think 32 was a good upswing.

I'm learning more about myself. I'm more conscious of what my body is telling me, and while I won't be reaching for my walker any time soon, I'm recognizing that I take longer to warm up, need to stretch more often, and wind up with more creaks and pops in the morning than I used to.

If Harry Chapin is a model – and he's as good as any other, I guess – 33 is the year you kind of stop kidding yourself (read all the way through that song; it's worth it).

Poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats were both dead before they turned 33, as were rockers Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly and Kurt Cobain. New York Giants great Tiki Barber had retired by 33, and both Mozart and Charlie Parker were in the last two years of their lives (Parker died at 34, Mozart at 35).

Those were all people who had great impacts on their professions, and for the most part, they had stopped affecting anything well before they were 33. I don't find that depressing so much as I see it a call to action.

So, here's to me, but here's to you, also. I plan to have a great year, but I can't do it alone. You're coming with me.

Cheers.

Photo by emmyboop, used under a Creative Commons 2.0 By Attribution license. And the song is, of course, by Cracker.