Please leave a comment there if you enjoy. It’s a very cool crowdsourced project, and highlights great writing about people’s daily lives.

Playing a Game of Telephone with the Whole Internet

In just a couple of days Tomorrow, I leave for the mega-conference called South by Southwest, a multi-track event with a focus on interactive media, music and film. I’ve wanted to attend SXSW since 2007, but am just now in a position professionally and financially where it makes sense. I’m paying my own way, as my focus and goals while there are geared towards making the best connections and absorbing the most knowledge I can for my future endeavors on Mouth of The Border.

I frequently share live updates from public events I attend, whether it be a food- or cocktail-focused event, tech or social media gathering or one of my company’s conferences. I don’t do it just because it’s fun. I do it because it might be interesting or useful to someone, and also because sharing live “on the scene” it what I was trained to do.

Many of the people I’ve met over the past few months aren’t too sure of what I do now or what my professional background is. I’m a former journalist with degrees and experience in newspaper, magazine and broadcast journalism. I now oversee events high end events for marketing and advertising executives, but journalism was really my first love in terms of career paths.

The most fulfilling and compelling aspects of the job for me were centered in the journalist’s personal responsibility to his or her community to report news and events in an honest, ethical and easy-to-understand fashion. As a reporter, I recognized daily that I was awarded access to people, places and events that most of the people I was serving would not have access to.

I was on the scene of drownings, fatal car accidents, fires, major criminal trials, special elections, closed board meetings, at hospitals, in politicians’ homes and on the other end of the phone with relatives of people who had just died. I owed it to the people I was reporting for to not only get the information that was relevant to them, but also to share it in a way that was useful to them.

I’ve taken many of those habits as a journalist into my next iteration as a “life reporter.” I report on the things I do now with as much zest for an online audience as I once did for a few thousand newspaper subscribers and TV viewers. Even though most of the things I share about are fun or lighthearted or just timely, I realize that I still have a great deal of access where others don’t. I live in New York City. Just due to where I’m located, I’m able to meet people and participate in experiences that many will never enjoy.

Which brings us back to South by Southwest. Yes, it is well-known as Christmas for Geeks or one massive party. Yes, I will participate in the ridiculous at every opportunity. Yes, I will absolutely have a blast. But I’m taking with me a sense of responsibility for the access that I’ll have to people and content and connections that others don’t. I will get to connect with a handful of people whose work and content I’ve admired for years.

I’ll get to play with technology and applications that won’t be available to the general public for months (if ever). So, when you see my tweets, videos, photos and blogs, know that I’m sharing because I’m experiencing something amazing that I know someone in my social circle or audience can benefit from.

If I tweet that I’m hanging out with C.C. Chapman or Sarah Prevette, it’s not because I’m a name dropper. It’s because I love connecting people and I want friends to let me know if someone I’m hanging out with is someone they want to meet. If I’m raving about a panel I’m sitting in on, it’s because I know people who couldn’t come because they’re at home on the grind as an entrepreneur who would benefit from catching up with me about that panel when I get home.

You’ll see a ton of content from me over the next week as I experience SXSW. Feel free to delete, unfollow or unfriend me now if you don’t care or if it gets to be too much. Sharing is just one way I’m acknowledging how lucky I feel to be at ground zero for tech entrepreneurs and interactive media movers, doers and shakers.

On the other hand, if you want to follow along, here are a few places where I’ll be posting:
Twitter (livefeed)
Tumblr (microblog, photos, links)
Pegshot (photos, videos)
Foodspotting (Austin food photos)
12Seconds (short videos)

If you’re at SXSW and want to connect in person, you can track me down here:
Gowalla
My panel schedule (Wanna sit by me? Click here)
My party schedule

Go Direct:
Email me
Click the widget below to call me (Google Voice)

My original Twitter username in 14K gold and rubies from @TheHippest

I don’t remember how I first heard about the platform. I didn’t use it much for the first 8 months and after a year and a half, I still mainly shared with a small circle of people … maybe 300 people followed me and I followed half of them back.

Sometime over the summer of ’08, I became friends with Jack Dorsey, cofounder and the idea guy behind Twitter. On one of his visits to NYC in October, I went to my first Tweetup (being hosted by a friend of his) and experienced the power of the hashtag.

Me and Jack, Oct. 08

By following the hashtag before the get together, I connected with Brian Simpson (@Bsimi), fellow Sox fan and New England transplant. It was right before he joined the staff at The Roger Smith Hotel (@rshotel).

When we met at the event, Brian introduced me to the lovely and whip-smart Julia Roy (@juliaroy). Julia sent me my first DM the next day. Everyone else I followed at that time could just text me so they never saw a need for a direct message. This direct contact by strangers was new and exciting.

October and November saw an explosion in usage for Twitter as we participated in the most historic Presidential election to take place in our lifetimes. I found great joy in watching the debates at home with my roommates, livetweeting my reactions and enjoying everyone else’s.

Fast forward to ’09 which, for me and so many other people, was The Year of Twitter. The thing blew up.

In February, there was a five-course beer pairing at the Roger Smith Hotel, where the newly minted food & beverage director (Mr. @Bsimi) gave away 10 spots on Twitter. All of us dinner guests were strangers to one another, but I left having met three women who would become cherished friends: Karen (@vanillabean45), Katie (@misskatiemo) and Patrice (@patricec). It was also our first introduction to the now-famous Roger Smith Hotel bacon.

Karen, from the time we taped a live episode of Wine Libraby TV with @garyvee

In June, Jeff Hayzlett (@jeffreyhayzlett – a client I knew independently of Twitter) did something that really opened up the door to show me the power of Twitter. He and I were at a cocktail party with my boss and he turned to my boss and said, “Emily needs to be at the 140 Conference.”

I went to the first day of the first #140conf event and was really impressed by the openness of the discussion and the quality of the content. More than that, though, I made several great connections with people like me who are multimedia creators, connectors and people who leverage social media to build theirs brands.

These connections, and the ones I’ve since made through the L.A. #140conf and the monthly get-togethers have been integral to my learning process.

Other fun moments include the time I won a coveted comfy bathrobe from my favorite hotel (@kimpton) just for tweeting.

The Awesome Bathrobe the Hotel Kimpton in SF sent me after a Twitter contest

And the time Dominos (@dominos)  gave me a free “new pizza” to review.

My favorite Twitter memory so far is still the time when a handful of friends saw me asking for help on Twitter as I was about to miss a flight. People I’ve never met looked up an alternate flight for me that I would not have seen on my own. Then @vanillabean45 stepped up to the plate, hopped on the phone with me and booked another ticket.

People I first met through Twitter in turn introduced me to other amazing people. The first example that comes to mind is when my friend Clay (@clayhebert) introduced me to one of my marketing industry icons, Seth Godin.

I met about half of the guests at my housewarming party first through Twitter.

In three years, Twitter has had a quantifiable effect on my life on all fronts. It’s made me more private about my personal relationships, it’s packed my calendar and it’s put me in touch with an amazing network of entrepreneurs that are so willing to help me as I look a few months and years into the future. It’s even changed how I work: Today my colleague and I booked the first speaker that we’ve reached out to first via Twitter as opposed to traditional channels of communication.

The platform itself will morph and buckle depending on what its users ask of it. Regardless of the value you see in Twitter, the openness and immediacy of interaction, the pulse and flow of intimate information available on one another, what a reporter once called “ambient awareness” is here to stay.

Domino's New Pizza

A few weeks back I read this article in USA TODAY about how Domino’s was actively implementing social media to promote their new pizza formula. This line caught my attention: “Domino’s will reach out to food bloggers and others who have criticized the brand in the past and ask them to comment live on the Domino’s website about the new formula.”

I tweeted a link to the article because several of my connections on Twitter are involved in studying the uses of social media for marketing and advertising. The people who run the Domino’s account on Twitter saw my mention of them and asked me to follow them, so I did as I was curious to see how they were using Twitter. They also were kind enough to send me a coupon for a free pizza so I could try the new pizza myself.

First of all, I will put it out there that it’s almost blasphemous that I’m reviewing Domino’s pizza here. I live in NYC, specifically in Brooklyn, which is known the world over for having amazing pizza provided by locally owned establishments. My favorites for whole pies are Lucali in Brooklyn and Two Boots in Manhattan. By the slice, my favorite place is a hole-in-the-wall joint near my office on W. 40th St. called Siena’s.

But every few weeks, my boss will order up a few pizzas from Domino’s for the office for people working late because there is one nearby. I figured I should see if the pizza was markedly improved since I do find it on my list of food options every so often. Also, a lot of my friends don’t live in a city with a lot of options when it comes to pizza but almost all of them have access to Domino’s. I thought they’d appreciate it if I tested it out for them.

So I ordered up a pie last night with pepperoni. After doing a little research, I saw that Domino’s truly made a commitment to rebuilding their pizza formula. Everything is new – new crust, sauce and cheese blend. The impetus behind the pizza makeover? 2010 marks Domino’s 50th year in business. I also think the nightmare earlier this year in 2009 with the gross video of their employees on YouTube (I’ll spare you the link) probably drove them to think of innovative ways to improve their image and their market share.

I got a kick out of using Domino’s Tracker to see where my pizza was last night. I didn’t know there was a franchise in delivery range of my apartment, so I learned something new because of all this. It took about 45 minutes for the pizza to arrive, which was inside the delivery time range they promised. The box clearly proclaimed the contents inside:

Domino's New Pizza Box

For starters, I never thought the “old” pizza was horrible. I’m very picky about pizza sauce and I always thought their sauce was fine. Based on the what the box was promising, I prepared myself for more cheesy, more spicy, more garlicky and then dove in. I had two slices to make sure I really got my tongue around what was going on there.

Verdict: The new pizza was good. Not amazing or a revelation, but good. It’s an improvement. I felt the biggest difference was in the crust. It is markedly more flavorful. Actually, it was almost TOO flavorful for my taste. I prefer thin crust anyway, so I wouldn’t typically be eating this style of pizza from them. The crust was soft and chewy and very garlicky and buttery. If you like saving all the crusts for last and dipping them in sauce, then this may be your perfect pizza.

Regarding the sauce, it is still good. I can’t remember the flavor of the old sauce well enough to say whether this new sauce is much spicier, but I still like it.

And as for the cheese blend, it does taste a bit more flavorful. I think the old pizza’s cheese was bland, but it was usually covered in a mix of veggies, so it wasn’t as prominent a part of the taste for me when I ate Domino’s. But here on the pepperoni pie, the more flavorful cheese was noticeable and appreciated.

So, there you have it. The new pizza is a better pizza and if you enjoyed Domino’s before, you will most likely like this one. If you didn’t like Domino’s before, I think you should give it another try and see if you like it now. Unless you live in NYC.

If you live in NYC, I think you should go support your family-owned shops and get a real New York slice.

Thanks to Domino’s for the opportunity to try the new pizza for free. I appreciate your efforts to use social media to reach out to people and let them know what you’re up to!!

So, what are your thoughts on pizza? Where is your favorite place for a slice or a pie? How many times do you order pizza for delivery. Leave me a comment and say hi!

More on Domino’s New Pizza:

Domino’s New Pizza Recipe: What Does it Taste Like? – Review on the Slice blog at Serious Eats

The Pizza Turnaround – Domino’s website with info on their new recipe and a display of live tweets on what people are saying about them.

My Foursquare checkins - I'm all over the map. Literally.

Above is a map of all of the places I’ve visited and checked in over the past year using the location-based social network Foursquare. The application allows you to gain points, win “badges” and share your location with people that you’ve allowed to see your checkins. It has also recently become another way for local businesses to award its loyal customers with discounts or freebies after checking in.

I’ve been an avid user of Foursquare since Spring and love being able to see when my friends are nearby. I’ve even been in neighborhoods I don’t know that well and opened the application to find restaurants, bars and boutiques that are close to me.

I occasionally look at my Foursquare stats and it shows me a few interesting details about my travel and consumption habits. Businesses would kill to get this kind of data on its consumers. If I told you how many times I checked at coffee shops, it would make sense for you to want to send me coupons or free coffee-related products.

In addition to simply conveying your location to your friends, you can also add details to your checkins as far as what the occasion is or who you’re with and share that information on Twitter, Facebook or your blog. If you saw the number and types of restaurants I visit on a weekly basis, or the types of parties I attend, it would give you a good sense of my social circle and tastes in bars and eateries.

At the very least, I can see from the map above that I’m exploring Brooklyn and lower Manhattan like it’s my job. But Harlem and Astoria still feel like the ends of the earth for me! Here’s to pushing my boundaries in 2010.

Where To Find Me on the Web

Foursquare

Gowalla

Twitter

Tumblr

Yelp

12Seconds

YouTube

Flickr

Blip.fm

Blip.tv

Delicious

Pandora

Posted in Social Media, Technology Tagged: branding, foursquare, Life, nyc, socialmedia, socialweb, Technology ]]> http://emilycavalier.com/2009/12/21/emily-all-over-the-map-and-the-web/feed/ 3 Emily Cavalier foursquare http://emilycavalier.com/2009/12/11/love-via-fuzzy-bathrobe/ http://emilycavalier.com/2009/12/11/love-via-fuzzy-bathrobe/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:10:16 +0000 Emily C. http://emilycavalier.com/?p=667 Continue reading →]]> Have you ever been rewarded by a company (brand, entertainer, etc.) for being a fan of their product or service? That happened to me today.

A hotel I love sent me an oversized, comfy zebra print bathrobe – the kind you always want to steal but even better – just because I follow them on Twitter and engaged with them.

Note says "Thanks for following us on Twitter. Congratulations!"

In June 2009, I traveled to California for the first time. After a weekend in San Diego, I headed to San Francisco a day early for my business trip just to hang out and explore the city.

I don’t choose my hotels when traveling on business because my office books my trips. Since I was booking for myself for my one free night, I wanted to stay in a fun but elegant hotel. I asked for hotel recommendations on Twitter because many of my connections are frequent travelers. Right away, three people recommended I check out the Kimpton family of hotels, and one person specifically mentioned Hotel Palomar.

I checked out the hotel’s website. The photos looked great, the site projected a fun and funky vibe and the reviews were overwhelmingly positive. I booked it.

As soon as I walked into the hotel, I felt pampered and truly welcomed. They had an ice cream social in the afternoon and a wine reception that evening. When I saw my room, the first thing I did was drop my bags and take pictures to later share with my friends.

Coolest modern color scheme, comfy bed

Beyond the funky color scheme, incredibly comfy bed and enormous bathtub . . . what really caught my attention were the bathrobes.

I love bathrobes. I especially love over-sized fluffy robes at hotels. And there, in the closet at Hotel Palomar, were two of the most fun, fluffy-looking hotel bathrobes I had ever seen!

Hotel Palomar gives you choices. Zebra or leopard?

After I checked out of the hotel, I was still so tickled about the robes that I even tweeted a picture of the one I wore. They really embodied the whole vibe of the hotel; fearless, classy, fun and funky.

I always try to learn more about companies that provide cool products or services, both for my own benefit and for the benefit of friends I constantly share with on Twitter, Facebook and on my websites. Before I checked in, I joined the hotel’s free loyalty program because you enjoy free wifi in room if you’re member.

After I checked in, I found Kimpton on Twitter, and followed them to stay updated on what’s going on with the brand. They have several hotels all over the country, and I enjoyed hearing the news on fun things they have going on at their properties.

After having followed their tweets for months, a fun one popped up last week when I was running an errand.

Oh my gosh! They're giving away the awesome robes!

I happened to be out and about and responded immediately. And I was one of the lucky 20.

@Kimpton Gives Away a Robe!

Today, it arrived, just like they promised.

Late night enjoying my new bathrobe.

Thank you, Kimpton.

Before you gave me a free robe, I had already recommended your hotels to an entrepreneur friend who flies all over the world for a good part of the year.

But thank you for taking a few minutes to reach out to your fans and do something cool for us. It’s things like that that make sure I will never forget your hotels no matter what city I end up in.

You’ve got a fan for life, and I bet the whole effort (between tweeting, tracking and shipping) took no more than a couple of hours to execute. I hope more brands start using social media like you do. You rock!

Friends: If you want a robe of your own but aren’t planning on traveling for awhile, don’t worry. You can buy your own fuzzy animal print robe on their website.

*Related: Hotel Chains Trying New Ways to Earn Loyalty

At the #140conf NY VIP Party in June 09. Click for more pix.

Zooooooooom. Check out more info & background on the event here: http://lax.140conf.com/

I am SO FREAKING EXCITED. I can’t even tell you how amped I am to be there, meet new people, learn from them and push our real-life connections deeper. I know you’re reading me here but this site > click < is my focus. In L.A., I’ll be focused on meeting people who create content around food & booze, or who are doing innovative things with video. and I can’t wait to learn from other people who are running their own businesses and leveraging social media on how to do that better and more consistently.

• Going to #140conf L.A.? Check out some hotels near the event venue > here < (link courtesy of @PAWeissenstein via @geogeller).
• If you’re going to L.A. and want to connect, please say hi @EmilysPearl.
• Not familiar with Twitter yet? Read my post about it here.

See you in L.A.!!!

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: cali, LA, losangeles, socialmedia, travel, twitter ]]> http://emilycavalier.com/2009/10/16/zooming-140-characters-at-a-time/feed/ 0 Emily Cavalier IMG_0915.JPG http://emilycavalier.com/2009/09/29/twitter-birds-of-a-feather-helping-one-chick-take-off-literally/ http://emilycavalier.com/2009/09/29/twitter-birds-of-a-feather-helping-one-chick-take-off-literally/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:36:26 +0000 Emily C. http://emilycavalier.com/?p=570 Continue reading →]]> I’m a passionate user of the social networking site, Twitter. I’ve been sharing short, personal updates on my life, AKA “tweeting” at @EmilysPearl since March 7, 2007 and on a separate account for work (@ECava) since September 2008.

People frequently ask me why I use Twitter. Because the site limits updates to 140 characters or less, people seem to enter the discussion with the viewpoint that they could get the same mileage out of scanning friends’ Facebook status updates, reading their blogs or shooting them a text message.

I have one recent story that illustrates both the beauty and utility of Twitter in my own life.

First, I want to share four quick points on why Twitter is my social networking tool of choice.

Four Points

1) Community: I follow about 700 users between my two accounts, and have about 1,500 people who follow my updates on those accounts. I share updates mainly about food (random pics of what I’m eating/drinking, or in relation to my website MouthOfTheBorder.com), music, social media/marketing or tidbits on my beloved neighborhood in Brooklyn. I follow real-life friends, fellow food bloggers, other Brooklynites and many folks in the social media.

Although many of these are people I’ve never met in person, Twitter allows me to have a conversation with them and learn more about what they’re reading, listening to and thinking about right at that moment. My Twitter community keeps me up to date and inspires me with the breadth and depth of its available resources.

2) Ease of Use: At the beginning of 2006, after having been a member of several niche social networks since 1997, I became an avid user of MySpace and started blogging publicly. I moved from New Hampshire to Brooklyn at the end of that year. After taking a job with a start-up company, I found that I had no downtime. Being surrounded by people on public transportation, I had no privacy for phone calls when I did have downtime. It was a challenge to even find the time to reply to personal emails.

With Twitter, I found I could quickly share what I was doing or thinking with everyone at once. I could post a photo, shoot out a link to an interesting article I read or share a song I just heard. No painful HTML coding, no blog categories, no trying to remember to include everyone on an email. Boom. Update complete.

3) Instant connection and feedback: All you have to do is search Twitter for @EmilysPearl to see that it literally takes a second to get in touch with me. People see what I’m saying and are able to immediately provide thoughts, help, inspiration. If a friend asks for help with something, and I can respond immediately. Or I can “retweet” it and share it with my network of followers to try and get them help. That is immensely valuable. Had Twitter been around when I was a newspaper reporter, I would have been the first user to sign up for it.

4) It just rocks: I have a limited amount of free time. It comes in spurts, but that shouldn’t limit the opportunities for me to stay connected with friends, stay on top of trends and news pertaining to my career or to just be silly and post a picture of my delicious cheeseburger. Twitter lets me do any of those things in five seconds. No other platform accommodates my lifestyle as efficiently and elegantly.

Why Use Twitter?

On September 18, ironically the 1-year anniversary of the day I opened my second Twitter account, the utility powerfully demonstrated why it’s the best social platform to connect with a group of people who matter to me.

It started when it looked like I was going to be late for a flight to Phoenix.

A couple of minutes later, after getting off the phone with Delta a second time:

Less than a minute later, my phone is ringing. I’m still stuck in traffic from midtown Manhattan on the way to JFK airport. A friend I met through Twitter and now cherish in real life saw my tweet and says, “What do you need?” iPhone to my ear, I use my Blackberry to keep my followers updated:

At the same time, I receive 3 direct messages (these are private tweets sent only to me). Two are from people I’ve met in real life due to Twitter, and one is from someone who follows my updates, but whom I’ve never met.

Without taking some online relationships into real life, Twitter wouldn’t be nearly as powerful. I had a great friend on the phone looking stuff up on her computer and another friend who found a flight that we would have missed without his help. Someone else who I’ve never interacted with also selflessly provided information that helped me:

After arriving at the airport about three minutes too late to board my plane, and after Delta told me it’s going to cost me $744 book a morning flight with a layover in Salt Lake City, I feel like my options are dwindling. I let Twitter know I missed the flight, and here’s the response:

And then, she actually did it!

Every aspect of why I use Twitter came together for me that day: Community, Ease of Use, Instant Feedback and It Just Rocked.

My flock of Tweeters literally helped me take off. All told, they got me back in business in less time than it took a Delta call-center employee to tell me there were no more flights to Phoenix that night.

Twitter’s not just social. It’s usable, elastic and expansive. It brings people and information into your life when you need it, and allows you to contribute to others’ lives when they need you. It’s beyond networking, viral this or that or data. It’s a personal connection with a heartbeat, and it’s incredibly powerful.

* Once again, many thanks to my fantastic friends who helped me get on a flight that night. @vanillabean45, @PassionMD, @syntax_ and @bigkelleh, you are part of why Twitter is amazing.

You can view all my photos from this event by clicking here.