Today marks YouTube's 7th Birthday!!! To celebrate, they put together a short video to celebrate this awesome occasion.
This is what YouTube has to say about their birthday and video -
"On Monday, May 21, we celebrate seven years since we first shared
YouTube with the world. To commemorate this occasion, here's an updated
video with some of the crazy statistics and incredible things you've
been a part of in that time. Thanks for the amazing things you watch,
create, and share!"
Khalid el-Hakim turned a 500-piece personal collection of artifacts into a 5,000-piece collection that he shares nationwide. / Photos by JARRAD HENDERSON/Detroit Free Press
The G.R. N'Namdi Gallery in Detroit features artifacts from el-Hakim's "Drum Majors for Justice" exhibit Saturday. They include slave chains, racist postcards, magazines and other items from the Black History 101 Mobile Museum.
"Some collectors feel a duty to history. Some have an urge to enlighten the public. Detroit's Khalid el-Hakim calls his collecting a spiritual mission. As proprietor of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum, el-Hakim has become an in-demand figure at college campuses and events across the Midwest and, increasingly, nationwide. His single-room exhibits -- featuring artifacts from the slave era through the Obama presidency -- are customized to a variety of themes and often draw several hundred patrons in a single afternoon." read the entire article here
So begins a wonderful write up of an awesome young man doing great things in Detroit and around the country. In a time when Detroit doesn't always get a good "rap", there are several folks who are turning it around. Khalid is an ex-Detroit Public School History teacher who is following his dream to success. A newlywed and new dad, he takes his dream on the road to help other school districts and schools teach hands on lessons to the young and the not-so-young. The museum is broken down into "era" rooms of information, giving educators the opportunity to focus in on specific periods of time or genres to help drive a lesson home. el-Hakim continues to add to his collection while pursuing his Master's Degree from Michigan's Western University.
I remember when Khalid was just a troublesome little guy, terrorizing the likes of his older brother and his sister. Even then, he knew how to think outside the box to get what he thought was important done. I won't tell any embarrassing stories or let out any secrets (there really aren't any ^_^), but don't tell him...I've got to have something to hold over his head!
Gotta have em, don't we? I mean there have always been icons for things, the "golden arches", the "swoosh", the "big boy" and so on. But in today's media market, it's unheard of not to have these little symbols lurking around your webpage, blog, shop, etc. I've seen them on CNN, CNBC, ESPN, and of course, ETSY. Soon, we'll have another new language, move over text speak, here comes Icon-talk! Yes, I know you noticed the shameless use of AcronymSpeech, but hey, that's from MY era of shortcuts. According to WebDesignLedger.com contributor, Henry Jones,
"The ability to easily bookmark or share content on popular social media platforms is now a must have feature for web sites. It’s also important that this feature isn’t over looked by web site visitors. So it’s always a good idea to use icons when linking to social media sites. They get peoples attention and the logos are immediately recognizable."
(Henry has) "taken the time to round up what I believe are the best free social media icons out there."
This isn't all there is, by no means. This isn't even all the ones, dear Henry gathered up, but I figured you get the picture...I mean, the ICON (bah, dum, dum), by this point. So go on, dress up your sites with pretty little pics (yes, icons) and connect, connect, connect - this word "connect", it's IconSpeak for "talk to via electronic message transmissions". Connect is so much easier, isn't it?
How many little guys trail around your sites or are you feeling a little Icon Envy? No need, just snatch a few freebies and you'll be in Icon Heaven in no time!
About ten years ago, I came across this motivational site while looking for something to help motivate my students to achieve more, to give their 250% all the time. I lost track of the site when I had my computer stolen about 4 years ago. Recently, I was working on my dance ministry blog and was moved to look for this site again...and I found it.
I want to share one of the most beautiful messages given to me.
During the month of November, I participated in a campaign sponsored by American Express called “Small Business Saturday”. It occurred on the Saturday after Black Friday and before Cyber Monday. It was a push to draw the consumer to invest some of their holiday spending in small businesses. Part of the campaign included $100 (one hundred dollars) of Facebook Advertising. For FREE. I applied and my little ad was accepted and then, quite honestly, I forgot about that part of the push. I put up information on my Facebook fan page, business page and my personal page. Tweeted about Small Business Saturday and placed signage about it in my booth during the Christmas Wonderfest in Detroit.
I have had an increase in sales (slight, but still even one new sale is better than no sales, right?), but I still didn’t make any connections to AmEx and their campaign. Yesterday I received the following email (excerpted here) :
We are happy to report that with your $100 in free Facebook advertising, your campaign reached 134,036* potential customers. (*Reach is defined by the number of unique impressions delivered within your geo-targeted area.)
To keep the momentum going, American Express OPEN offers a variety of helpful resources on OPEN Forum®, including social media tips and tools for businesses like yours. It is all part of our ongoing commitment to the success of small, locally owned businesses.
Wow!!! The ad ran on Facebook for approximately 15 days (I got in on the deal late) which meant I was able to spend more per day than I ever would be able to afford (almost $7 per day)on a regular basis. At the same time, Facebook offered a 50% match of AmEx’s $100.00, again FREE, so that meant I was virtually spending $10.00 per day in Facebook Ads- YOWZA!
Of course, I am, indeed, a small business and so obviously could not keep those ads running. I cancelled my ads, but I have had an increase in my Facebook fans and more specifically, a request from an international company to possibly market one of my products!!! Double YOWZA!!
Check out the open forum and think about saving some of your advertising dollars for one or two times a year to invest in Facebook Ads. You never know how the results will pay out in the end!
I'm baaaaccccckkkkkk! I've been out of the office for what seems like FOREVER, but I'm back with an adorable little video from Pixar Films because its...
Fun with Music and Video Mondays!!
I hope you enjoyed this one! See you tomorrow with updates on why I've been away so long!
So here I was, on a blogging roll when this fabulous 10 day show popped up on my calendar of events. Ten days?!?! Low booth fees?!?! How could I not be there? Aahhhh, but how do I communicate this information to my local customers at the last minute? How do I tell my online customers that I'm having a sale to commemorate this awesome event? I could try phone calls or individual emails, but where does that fit into the production schedule?
Let me let you in on a secret, I recently discovered to handle this. Okay, not so recently discovered, at least not in the big scheme of things. I know you've seen those signs everywhere saying "TEXT _______ to _______ and receive ________". I know I have. I get text coupons from Cold Stone Creamery and Payless Shoe Source just for sending a code text to some random code. Great for big business, but what about us little guys (and gals) who want to do the same thing? Enter the WWW (world wide web, for you non computer geeks)!
I started researching services and found some serious information out there. Customer service runs the full gamut from basic "you-run-the-whole-thing" to ultra supreme "just-tell-us-and-we'll-make-it-happen-for-you". One of the companies I checked out is Textingly. Textingly is a online based text message software. It's like having instant messenger with all your customers at one time. Customers can respond to you and you get real feedback in real time. You manage the messages from your computer. Better yet, you can try the service for free....yes, that what I said, FREE.
Soooo, now you've seen the video, your interest is peaked and you're wondering what to do next...it's easy. Try it out, click the link on my sidebar or the one right here and see for yourself how you can utilize the service. Me? I'm trying it out for my holiday specials, so if you want to find out what they are, email/convo me your cell phone number and you can get a second hand look at how it works. Don't worry, you can always opt out and never hear from me again, but what fun would that be (tee hee)?
Okay, so that's it for today's Fun with Music and Video. I know it's not Monday, but I promise I'll be back in full swing on Tuesday!
Happy Holidays and remember, we can celebrate Thanksgiving everyday of our lives by appreciating all the people and things we have around us.
