Girls In Tech

As we venture into 2010, I can’t help but get excited about new and innovative internet tools and resources that will launch this year, which will help us become more efficient, effective and productive, both professionally and personally. In 2009, there were certainly a lot of cool tools that served as fantastic resources for my very active lifestyle, and I’m sure that they will continue to be useful in the coming years. Check out my list and please comment on sites and web resources that were useful to you this year!

Be a Better Networker

LinkedIn

Facebook

Squidoo

Ning

Twitter

Organize Your Finances

LearnVest

Mint.com

BillShrink

Find That Perfect Vacation

TripIt

RUBA

Tripwiser

TripCart

TripAdvisor

Kayak

Entertain Yourself

Yelp

Craigslist

DapperUp

Bargain Shop Online

Shopittome

Sale.com

Weardrobe

Chictopia

GiltGroup

Polyvore

As many of you know I was in a rear end accident two weeks ago. I was stopped at a red light and the other driver (probably on his phone), slammed into me going about 30 miles per hour. Over $10,000 in damages to my car and many doctors and x-rays later, I am still not feeling 100%. As an avid tweeter http://www.sysomos.com/insidetwitter/and facebooker http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/02/02/fastest-growing-demographic-on-facebook-women-over-55/, I decided to take to the internet while in my state of bed rest. I complained about the accident and the pain I was in and was moved by the loving responses of so many family and friends.

About a week after the accident, I continued with my online conversations remarking on the ongoing pain and headaches, as well as the irony of living in LA, and the fact that the gentleman who hit me happened to be marginally famous. A friend from high school commented on one of my facebook posts with a warning. She had been in a similar accident a year prior with another more famous actor. She told me (off my wall) that during the discovery process for her case, the opposing attorney entered her facebook updates as evidence that she was in fact filing a fraudulent claim. I immediately removed every accident related post and tweet.

I began to get angry with the thought that something that so drastically affected my life was something that, for legal purposes, I should not share with my family and friends on my social media properties. Heeding the warnings on my employment 2.0 blog posted several months ago, I found that for the first time, I had to censure myself on the web and I didn’t like it one bit.

The fact remains that twitter and facebook information is in the public domain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain and there is no expectation of privacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expectation_of_privacy. This means that if you have been involved in a car accident and claim that as a result you can no longer participate in the activities you normally do, a smart defense attorney will do a background search on you online and determine whether or not you have posted incriminating information about yourself in the lawsuit. So be warned once again, information that you put online will likely be discoverable, so do so at your own risk.

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement yesterday about the changes being made to Facebook’s privacy structure, it looks like #privacy is about to have yet another run as the trending topic du jour. Well, that and that couple that crashed the White House dinner — as Demetri Martin would say, they’re like the herpes of hyped up news stories. Scheming social climbers aside, privacy is one of the web’s biggest concerns. As girls in tech, we talk about it all the time. Are our identities safe? Are our personal and professional brands secure? Are the kids in our lives making smart choices when they surf?

Months worth of memes have been made out of relatively minor changes to Facebook’s privacy policies in the past, and the comments are already piling in to the Mashable Article discussing this most recent development. It’s easy to understand why people get so worked up over what happens to their information on the internet. From cookies that track our every click to the fact that between docs, mail, maps and search, google knows more about you than your parents probably do, it’s clear that there’s plenty of reasons to make even the sanest surfer paranoid about what they post. As the product manager at a growing user generated content site, I deal with difficult decisions having to do with privacy all the time. What our decision making process always comes back to is a simple question: what would we want someone else to be doing with our data? Nine times out of ten, the answer is simple: give the user as much control over their content as you can.

Of course, as a user, it’s up to you to take advantage of that control. Fortunately, there are as many tools to track the people tracking you as there are mistresses in Tiger Woods’ skeleton closet. There’s google privacy dashboard, which allows you to see all the data points that google’s got about you. You can also set up a google alert that will let you know when new content about you is indexed by the search engine’s spiders. Keotag lets you put in a key word, and see what people are saying about it everywhere from Technorati to Twitter. And, Boardtracker lets you do the same sort of thing across multiple comment boards. Which means you can post your complaints about the new Facebook privacy policy today, and see all the trolls’ responses tomorrow.

It ain’t exactly privacy per se, but it’s pretty powerful stuff nonetheless.  At the end of the day, I strongly believe that the best privacy policy on the web is still the one you set up for yourself by watching what you post, where you post it and what gets said about it after you leave. However, if that’s too complicated for you, then just remember this simple rule: if you’re going to crash a White House dinner, don’t post photos of your uninvited self shaking hands with the president on Facebook. Unless, of course, your personal privacy policy involves a camera crew from Bravo and a hefty chunk of reality show change. In which case, I’ll see you on Thursdays at 10 in my living room.

I normally do not write a post-event blog, but due to the success of our Tech Etiquette event Monday night, I felt it was necessary. It wasn’t the fact that we had a massive turn out, because it was Yom Kippur and a chilly Monday night. It was the fact that the topic was so interesting on multiple levels that it made for one of the most lively, dynamic panels we have had for the LA Chapter.

I felt our panel represented women in key areas of the technology sector. Marsha Collier has been in the tech industry since Web 1.0. She is the foremost author on eBay having written 15 eBay For Dummies books, selling over 1 million copies worldwide. We also had Lynn Langit, Developer Evangelist for one of the largest technology corporations in the world, Microsoft. Finally, Brette Borow is a young entrepreneur who founded Girlsguideto.com to give 20-something women a destination to share their stories, ask their questions and get advice in an environment that they feel safe being open and honest.

The topic was “Tech Etiquette – How Much Can You Say Online & Not Tarnish Brand”. The event started at 7PM with some mixing and mingling and the panel started at 7:45. The plan was to talk for about 30-40 minutes, then do a Q & A. Well, we decided to incorporate the Q & A as we went along and before I knew it, it was almost 9PM!

Our panelists spoke about how employers are going beyond the resume when hiring young people and checking them out online. Lynn specifically mentioned how important it is to do a search on your name to see what comes up. If you are careful about what you display online about yourself, nothing incriminating will pop up. She said and I quote “when in doubt, keep it out”. Then the discussion turned to using the different platforms and which ones people preferred – Facebook vs Twitter. Both Marsha and Brette felt that they can have a much more dynamic, engaging level of communication on Facebook. Someone in the audience asked, “well then, is Myspace dead”. Marsha said no, because she also uses the MySpace platform to engage with that audience. Then the next question was “is it important to use all the different social media platforms for your business?” The answer, “use the ones where your target market lives”. We also spoke about having a personal Facebook account versus having a “professional” one. Also, is discussing politics online or getting involved with political issues, such as what went on in Iran during their elections, proper protocol, our panelists’ opinions were a resounding no.

In light of this event and how great it was, we are looking forward to organizing a part II some time early 2010. I not only want to thank our panelists for making this event such a success, but also a big thank you to Fox Audience Network for allowing us to have our event at their offices. Finally, a massive thank you to Epicurean Umbrella who provided the most amazing appetizers. For those of you that live in LA and love food, you must check out their Underground Chef Tastings. There is one tomorrow night which is $48 per person and you experience a three course meal with wine and a DJ! To RSVP, email info@epicureanumbrella.com with the following information -  your cell number, either the 7PM or 9PM tasting, if you want to eat steak, pork or fish, and they will respond with the location details.

And remember, mind your online manners …

September 28, 2009
7:00 pm	to	9:30 pm

We all know someone who shares too much — that girl who tells the whole office about her bad breakup or the guy who insists on going into gory detail about his latest extreme exploits. But most of us know when to draw the line when it comes to lunchtime discussions at the office, chats around the water cooler or meetings with management. It’s a lesson most people learned way back in the days of bologna and bag lunches: different people merit different kinds of discussions. You wouldn’t tell the playground bully the same deep dark secrets you’d spill to your best friend, and you definitely wouldn’t let the teacher in on the stuff you were passing notes about during class. From our first experiences with socialization, we’ve been conditioned to understand the unspoken societal rules that dictate what’s appropriate to share, when it’s appropriate to share it and who it’s appropriate to share it with.

But, social media is a whole different ballgame – especially now. At first, it was easy to know when to share what on the web. Your facebook friends often mirrored your real world friends, and it was easy to insure that the things you shared with those friends didn’t also get broadcast to your boss, your parents and your future potential employers. Now, with cracks beginning to show in the walls around Facebook’s garden, and the burgeoning open web movement connecting your tweets with your status updates, your blips with your blog, it’s become a lot harder to ensure that what you say on the web stays between friends.

So, how do you protect your professional brand while still staying true to your personal identity? How do you maintain a presence on the social web that complements your career goals instead of impeding them? How do you balance a personal web brand with a professional one? These are just a few of the questions we’re just beginning to grapple with as girls in tech — and as the tech industry as a whole. Lately, it seems like every blogger and big name pundit is issuing their own treatise on the topic, and a google search for “tech etiquette” returns over 6 million results, with articles from big names like CNN and Forbes just to name a few.

Clearly, this is one discussion where everyone has an opinion. So, how do you synthesize all of those opinions into a strategy – not just for your company but for yourself? How do you balance the demands of constant connectivity and personal and professional courtesy? And how do you figure out what the right answer is for you? Those are tricky questions, but they are quickly proving to be key components in determining the best social media strategy for yourself and for your brand.

Fortunately, you don’t have to grapple with these issues alone. Since this is a topic on everyone’s minds at the moment, Girls in Tech LA is hosting a discussion about all of these issues and more on September 28th. The event, called “Tech Etiquette – How Much Can you Say Online and Not Tarnish Your Brand” will feature a discussion by the following guest speakers:

*Marsha Collier – Author of 15 “For Dummies” books on ebay/commerce, Host: KTRB Computer & Technology Radio

*Lynn Langit – West Coast Developer Evangelist, Microsoft

*Brette Borow – Founder, GirlsGuideTo.com

Event Details

When: September 28th 7 – 9:30PM

Where: Fox Audience Network

2500 Broadway, 2^nd Floor

Learn More & RSVP

Hope to see everyone there!

In this classic novel, 1984, George Orwell described a society in which the government had almost total control over the people. The ruler of the party was called “Big Brother”, and he utilized the “thought police” to invade the privacy of all citizens.

In a social climate where getting a job is a major coup, keeping it could be a just as challenging if you aren’t monitoring access to your information. In our tech-driven, social networking saturated society, nowhere is this concept ringing more true than in the area of employment law. Workplace privacy protection has become a major area of interest for both employees and employers.

Employers are utilizing Facebook and other social networking sites more and more in all stages of the employment process, from application and hiring, to firing and even in the defense of lawsuits. Human Resource departments are more frequently searching an individual’s social networking pages for inappropriate pictures and interactions before hiring. In the same vein, companies do the same as a reason for firing, an even easier task as most employees are at-will to begin with. Companies are seeing these sites and individual pages as a reflection, real or imagined, on the company as a whole. These lines of privacy are being further blurred by current litigation that is creating precedent in this area of law.

Recent case law has gone both ways. Some Federal Cases have held that an employee’s personal information is not protected in a lawsuit if he or she utilizes the internet to search sites, check personal e-mail and go on social networking sites during office hours. What most employees fail to notice is that a majority of companies now have explicit policies restricting to their information, history and passwords. The real underlying question remains: Do employees have a reasonable subjective and objective expectation of privacy?

Whichever way you answer this question, the fact remains that telephone, computer, and electronic mail and voicemail monitoring have become much more common in the workplace. What is even more challenging is the limitation this puts on social networking sites and the perpetually hazy lines being overstepped by co-works and bosses.

The lesson to be learned is relatively simple but crucial. Make sure that you have privacy settings in place on your personal networking pages so that not just anyone can see them, make sure you are filtering what you put on your page and what you let others post, and make sure you know who has access to your information on these sites. This is a particularly important issue for the younger generation of people who have not yet seen the value in these sites for business purposes. Similarly, be aware of what you are doing online on company time, as this information and your right to privacy may soon no longer be protected. So consistently clear your cookies and search histories and never save passwords at work because big brother is watching, and thanks to the law, may be able to watch you in ways you never imagined.

Laurel Kaufman, Esq.
Co-Founder, AK Consulting Group
www.ak-cg.com
follow me on twitter @LaurelKaufman
facebook: Laurel Kaufman

The AP reported this week that Hillary Clinton and the US Department of State are embracing new media to spread the word about American foreign policy and help restore Washington’s image.

Its refreshing to see that the State is experimenting with social media to help carry out their mission of creating a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for Americans and the international community.  We saw this work successfully for Obama during the campaign and it will be exciting to see how “Government 2.0″ progresses in the coming years.

Here are some of the changes Hillary’s team took since taking office:

• They have revamped the department’s Web site (http://www.state.gov) and the Gi blog (http://blogs.state.gov and http://twitter.com/dipnote) with a fresh array of features, graphics and colorful posts.

• Users can track her foreign travel on an interactive map (http://www.state.gov/secretary/trvl/map/?trip–id5)

• They can keep up virtually with her every move through Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/statevideo).

• They can pose questions through an “ask-the-secretary” column (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ask/secretary/117297.htm) that recently was revised to “text the secretary.” (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/ask/secretary/120236.htm)

According to the article, Hillary’s staff says they also plan to venture further into the realm of social networking, an animated online world called Second Life, and cell phone technology.

Having moved to the Silicon Valley area in 2007, just as Twitter was emerging and Facebook opened up registration to non-college students, it’s been very interesting to see the progression of these tools to mainstream. Its essentially history in the making and we’re all watching it happen.

The Bay Area exploded at the seams this past weekend relishing in the Mod Scene of Andy Warhol, starting with the Factory Party Friday night in the East Bay and then continuing to the De Young where Warhol Live turned the average museum trekker into a multi colored wonder, screen printed on canvas.

After leaving the exhibit, I decided two things. One: I’m growing my hair out like Nico and two: I want to go thrift store shopping, like NOW! With the lack of time and energy lately to devote to searching through Ebay or digging through racks and racks to find two amazing bargains, I decided to hunt online for sites devoted to vintage wear and accessories. After all, everything else is ‘2.0’, why not vintage?

Immediately in my search, I came across HookedonVintage.com and was drawn in by the great selections, like these oh so fun sunglasses and adorable prints straight from the 1920’s to the 1980’s. All items are handpicked by the owner, Lisa, and she did an amazing job finding rare, unusual and flash back pieces that would add that certain flair to a wardrobe all of us Girls in Tech would love to have.

Then I came across Tialet Vintage, complete with Twitter and Facebook, which is just amazing! It’s the perfect combo of meshing the past with the future, the aged clothes are displayed with a modern edge through modern technology. So fun to search through the new items they post on here, changing all the time, you never know what you’ll come across! Now I have to check my online bank acct… see what I can splurge on today!

Last Wednesday was the start of Lent, and every year I give up something food or alcohol related. I am not religious per se, but it’s a nice way to test myself. This year, however, I pondered cutting the cord to my overly connected life. And I wasn’t the only one – there were a multitude of Facebook statuses and Twitter polls – even GeekSugar –asking people, regardless of their religion, what communications tools or technology would they give up if they had to.

This struck me – we are at a time where people are so addicted to mobile devices, laptop keyboards and 140 characters that we need an intervention to even consider separating ourselves from frantic typing and constant updating. The more tools we have available, the greater our need to communicate. We have taken all that is wonderful about the Internet to an extreme, and we have irrevocably changed our lives. There are few out there, and not a single Girl in Tech, that can easily separate themselves from their cell phone, inbox or social network of choice. We have become a world of multi-taskers, paying half attention to life around us with one eye on the screen and a finger affixed to our phone’s thumbwheel. While this has made us open up more of our lives and has arguably enabled us all to broaden our perspectives, does communicating more actually make us better as people?

Even more interesting, while we are reaching out more than ever and to people from all corners of the globe, we are retreating from actual verbal or face-to-face communication. Even with my improper technique, I can type faster than most, my finger hitting the return key like a cowgirl with a hair trigger. But, I also crave a good phone call or chat over coffee, the back-and-forth conversation complete with facial expressions and tangible emotions.

I had to do some serious soul-searching: what could I give up? Would it be lovely Twitter with it’s conversational @ replies and crowd pleasing RTs? Or my friend Facebook, the first site I open each morning, reading my friends and acquaintances status updates to get a pulse on the day ahead? Perhaps giving up one or all of my four email accounts? Or, gasp, my cell phone?

After careful consideration and much anguish, I decided that I just couldn’t do without any of them. Communicating is what I do best, whatever vehicle I use, and it’s just not something I can separate myself for 6 weeks. A short vacation maybe, but no extended breaks any time in the near future. I have given up wine instead.

Big thanks to all who came out to yesterday to the Girls In Tech Incubator event featuring Circle of Moms.  For those of you not familiar with our Incubator events, they are usually smaller, informal events where we speak with the founder of a company to learn more about their business, how they got started, challenges they faced and lessons learned. The events are largely driven by the audience and what they want to know. In addition, it’s an opportunity for the company to solicit feedback and ideas from Girls In Tech members.

If you happen to miss last night’s event, here are a few takeaways:

1.     You don’t need to be your own target demographic; it’s all about the user. It may seem ironic to some that Circle of Moms was founded by two guys, neither of which are fathers, but last night we learned that falling outside your key demographic target has its advantages.  According to founder Ephraim Luft, the team is only responsible for building the technology, but it’s the mothers and the relationships they share with each other that make the site a success.  Being male forces the company to come up with product features based on the actions of their users, not by assuming they know what the user wants.  They are dependent on listening to and understanding their customers’ needs.  Focus groups, surveys and user behavior on the site all help to drive new features.

2.     Don’t be afraid to evolve your product into something different.  Something I didn’t note above is that the two male founders did not set out to build a site geared towards mothers.  The site was originally called Circle of Friends and was a place for everyone to connect.  As Circle of Friends grew, Ephraim and his partner realized that their most active and passionate users were mothers.  Being the analytical, methodical business people that they are, they decided to capitalize on this and focus their attention on mothers.  They began building a product that truly caters to the needs of mothers and the site evolved into Circle of Moms.

3.     It’s all about Word of Mouth.  One thing I found particularly amazing about the company is their viral growth.  The company did not do any direct marketing or PR yet still managed to build up over 850,000 registered users.  So the question is- how did they do it?  Obviously there is no simple answer to this question as every site, product or company is different.  According to Ephraim, the company focused on getting users to market the service to one another.  They spent a lot of time looking at data and user funnels to come up with an effective system to allow users to market to one another.  Of course the Facebook application helped, as well as their community manager, who is a mother herself.  All of this has lead Circle of Moms to great success since the official launch in October 2008.

4.     Circle of Moms is hiring! Job openings have not been posted anywhere yet, but if you are looking for a job in business development, marketing or product management email jobs@circleofmoms.com.  Bonus points if you are a mom

If you attended last night’s event and you have any takeaways you’d like to share, please do so in the comments.  If you are a Circle of Moms member, you can provide feedback on the site at feedback@circleofmoms.com.