All posts by Mitch Mitchell

I'm an independent consultant in many fields, so I have a lot to share.
Black Web Friday

Black Web Friday – 2/17/12

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Welcome to the next edition of Black Web Friday. I start out this week with an interesting development from this week that I think comes across as ridiculous, yet something that I’m going to address anyway.

Black Web Friday

In a community group on Empire Avenue, I decided to mention that I was writing these series of Firday posts on black people that are in social media and that blog. I only got one response, and it was kind of strange. The person who wrote it stated that maybe writing this series helps my blog, but it could hurt those I’m linking to by being associated with being known as a black “whatever”, since the web is supposed to be for everybody.

Of course my immediate reaction was if the web was truly for everyone I wouldn’t have started the series to begin with. As I looked at another list this week of 100 important blogs people we should know that had at least 2 black people on the list (both have been featured here in some fashion) and thus comes to a whopping 2%, I’m thinking that at this juncture any positive publicity is good publicity. Still, it’s possible that some of the people I’ve named and others I haven’t named yet but are thinking about might not want to be identified as a black blogger. Just because I think I’m doing a good thing doesn’t mean that someone might not disagree if it’s applied to them.

Therefore, if you’re a black blogger that wants to make sure you’re not mentioned on this blog ever, please check out my contact page and send me an email and I won’t mention you, and you can stay anonymous by not having to “out” yourself in a comment. Your removal frees up a spot for someone else and makes a part of my life easier; and there won’t be any hard feelings because, trust me, I actually would understand.

With that out of the way let’s get to our listing for today. The first site I’m going to introduce today is called Black Business Space, which is kind of a black blogging/networking site that reminds me of the now defunct BloggerLuv site. People can sign up and network with other black business owners, create their own blogs on the site, advertise, join communities, and the like. The site looks popular but I’m not going to lie; it has some formatting issues if you ask me and I’m not crazy about the fact that it doesn’t have an About page. But I’ve talked to the guy that created it in the past, Lee Green, and he’s a good guy with vision, so I hope the site is doing everything he’s hoped it would.

The next site I’m highlighting today is called Traffic Coleman, written by a guy named Antonio Coleman. What’s really strange is that I’ve seen him all over the blogosphere and he’s had to have seen me, yet we’ve never talked and this is really the first time I’d ever visited his blog. Of course it’s possible I’ve visited and not stayed because he has a Disqus comment system, which I won’t comment on, but that doesn’t detract from the rest of his site. He calls himself the “Black SEO Guy”, so that pretty much tells you what he writes about often enough, although I found a lot of articles on writing, marketing, and things that have to do with being online. Knowing that he’s been all over the internet and lots of blogs, why he doesn’t show up on anyone’s lists outside of this one escapes me.

The final site I’m mentioning today is called That Tech Chick, written by Jessica Benton. She not only talks tech but fashion and social media, and I like the clean design of her site. She uses the WordPress commenting system and her writing style is really engaging. I found her most recent post about Pinterest interesting because I’ve been wondering whether it’s a fad or something that will stick around for awhile, especially since there’s already been a new release that’s geared towards men called Gentlemint. The stuff people come up with!

There you go, 3 more black social media sites and blogs worth your attention. Check them out, and be sure to tell them how you found them if you decide to comment on those sites; well, at least the last two, since you can’t really comment on the first. Enjoy your weekend. 😉
 

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Blogging, Social Media

Participating In Social Media Takes Courage

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A few days ago, I had a post that also had a video where I ranted about MLM schemes. I can’t remember if I mentioned in the video that what prompted the rant was something that happened on LinkedIn or not, but that was the genesis for everything.


by Scott Feldstein via Flickr

One of the strangest things that came out of all of that mess, which continued until late yesterday afternoon when I finally decided my participation in the “conversation” had to end, is that the overwhelming majority of people who agreed with me wrote me privately rather than put their disgust out in the public like I did. As Sheriff Bart said in Blazing Saddles, “I’m quickly becoming an underground success in this town”. I got as many supporting messages in private as the guy who started the post got on the post itself; it did and didn’t help me, as you can imagine.

I’ve stated on this blog before that one of the gutsiest things a person can do online is court controversy, whether you started it or got yourself in the middle of it. Social media can be dangerous as much as it can be fun. This weekend another friend of mine posted something on his Facebook page that I kind of took exception to, so I commented on it. He said he had a right to express his beliefs, and I agreed with that while also saying if you have the guts to put out a belief like that in public you have to have the guts to take criticism for it from people who don’t agree with your position. I never heard back on that one.

How many reminders do people need before they realize that free speech really isn’t free? If people want to rant about things without giving others the opportunity to comment, set up a blog, don’t accept comments, and get on with your bad selves. 🙂

Unless you’re a big name once people realize they can’t leave comments they probably won’t come back, but you probably don’t care at that point. As Seth Godin seems to feel, sometimes getting your point out is more important to you than getting feedback. I find that sort of thing incredibly useless and selfish (I refuse to visit his blog or read links people share on Twitter), but to each his own.

Here’s my overall point. If you’re always afraid you’re going to create controversy, you’ll never be a good blogger. Controversy can pop up in the strangest places on the strangest topics. There is no safe topic, from babies to puppies to chocolate cake to the Muppets to weather. There’s always the possibility someone might not like what you said or how you said it. I once wrote a positive post where I mentioned my dad’s history and suddenly I was being attacked for talking about my dad being in the military. Didn’t see it coming, but I didn’t back down either, though eventually I had to block the guy because he became a major league troll; strange indeed.

Blogging isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re skittish your blog will be unreadable. Being flexible enough to see someone else’s point of view, even to the point where you sometimes might change your mind, doesn’t mean you don’t get to express yourself in your own way. Deciding not to change your mind and sticking up for your point of view, while trying to do it in a nice way, doesn’t mean you’re not flexible. Sometimes you have to adopt the position that my wife learned from Jack Canfieldone night: “What other people think of you is their problem.”

So, who’s ready to start blogging?
 

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Blogging

Repurposing Your Own Blog Content; Good Thing Or Bad?

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I’ve been thinking about repurposing some of my previous content. Repurposing is an interesting concept; using articles you’ve written before on your intended subject, maybe editing it a bit, and putting it out as brand new blog content. It can work well for those people that have written a lot of stuff, as I have, when they don’t have lots of time to write new things, or have a new audience to see some of what they’re written in the past.

by Cheryl via Twitter

Something I’ve wondered about lately is what the rules are, if there are rules, for repurposing your own content. What if you wrote something years ago that’s still pertinent and would benefit from being talked about again, especially since after a few years most of us will have content that the search engines have forgotten about?
Continue reading Repurposing Your Own Blog Content; Good Thing Or Bad? →

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Business

A MLM Rant

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I’m tired of seeing them; the sneaky messages that never tell you what you might be getting yourself into, the ones that promise the world. Yes, I’m talking about MLM schemes, and they’re all over the place. These things waste my time and yours as well. And you’re not going to make all that much money from it.

I’ve written before about watching out for scams far and wide. Just last week I wrote about an email/internet scam that got sneakier the further I got into it.

What caused my rant? What do I recommend? What’s my opinion on it all? You know I did a video about it, right? Take a look, then let me know your thoughts:


 

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Black Web Friday

Black Web Friday – 2/10/12

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Welcome to another week of Black Web Friday. Remember, if you’re so inclined you can go to Category and find this as one of the options to look back at the previous weeks, of which there are 3 at this point. No long lead-in today, so we’re just going to get into it; enjoy!

Black Web Friday

The first site I want to highlight today is called Black America Web, which is an entertainment website that was initially created to highlight the Tom Joyner radio program, but has grown way beyond that. Though it mainly talks about entertainment there’s are news and opinion sections on what’s going on as it pertains to black people. There’s also a link to the Tom Joyner Foundation, which collects money to help send college bound kids to traditionally black colleges and universities; I can’t tell you how many millions they’ve raised and how many kids they’ve sent to college, but it’s a good thing.

Next we have The Hustler’s Notebook, the website and blog of JK Allen, who’s a favorite of a lot of bloggers. He writes a lot about business and marketing and he recently wrote a book titled Driven To Learn, Learning To Win. He’s a very entertaining and smart guy and of course talks a lot about hustling, which in this case means working hard to succeed. And you can easily comment on his blog; you know I love that.

You can also easily comment on this next blog, Adria Richards But You’re A Girl. I like her site because it’s very conversational and personal, offering consulting services for technical issues, and her blog offers both technical tips and commentary but every once in awhile she talks about more personal things and, well, that’s what I do on this blog. Recently she talked about applying for a job at Google, and I have to say she looks good in the shirt. 😉

Because I didn’t have a real introduction, and because it’s Black History Month, I decided to add a fourth blog to the mix and explain my reasoning. I also think it’s the first Blogspot blog I’ve highlighted here, and y’all know I don’t like these blogs, but this guy’s done very well with it. His name is Wayne Hicks and his blog is called Electronic Village. He highlights issues that are of interest socially and politically to black people, and I originally discovered his blog many years ago when he used to publish a once a month listing of the top ranked blogs on Technorati, based when one could easily check such things. As it happened, around the time they changed is around the same time I started making the list; those weasels! lol Anyway, though he talks about issues pertaining to black people, he doesn’t only concentrate on black people, as he’s talked a lot over the past year about the tasering of people by the policy, many of whom don’t survive, including this guy whose family has filed a lawsuit against them because he didn’t survive. This is definitely a blog worth visiting.

That’s it for this week. Please visit these blogs and if you get a chance, let them know where you heard of them; it might give them a bit of a smile.
 

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