Why Having Staff Be Facebook Emissaries Is a Bad Idea

Lately I've been seeing social media pros suggesting that, in light of recent changes to Facebook's algorithm, organizations start focusing less on Facebook Pages and more on having staff members use their own Facebook profiles to promote the organization's agenda. Call me cranky, but I think this is a terrible idea.

The rationale behind this suggestion is that, as Facebook changed its news feed algorithm last fall, admins began to notice that posts from pages were appearing in fans news feeds less frequently than posts from individuals to whom people were subscribed. What does that mean, exactly? It means that where a year ago, Facebook Pages for brands were where it was at in terms of Facebook success; now, not so much. I personally have noticed that the effectiveness of the pages that I admin has tanked, at least in terms of Facebook's own metrics. Facebook used to display impressions per post; however, since the algorithm change caused that impressions number to universally plummet, they conveniently replaced "impressions" with "reach," to try to convince brands that they didn't just cripple the functionality of pages with these algorithm and insight changes. They spun it as "impressions are down but engagement is up." But now more and more page admins are starting to notice the dip in page effectiveness and the clear favoring of subscriptions by Facebook's weird algorithm. And since, at this time, only personal profiles and not pages have this snazzy new subscription capability, the concept of brands/organizations having staff people use their own personal Facebook profiles to get their org's content back into people's news feeds was born.

Here's why I think this is a terrible idea:

1. Once upon a time companies Facebook Pages were inextricably linked to an individual profile. Which meant if that person got fired or quit, the company was SOL. Facebook finally realized tying a brand's whole Facebook presence to an individual was not a good/workable idea, and added the ability to make more than one person the admin of a page. So now going back to tying your org's Facebook presence to individuals....still not a good idea for the same reason it wasn't a good idea back then: people leave companies. And if they leave, all their subscribers go with them. Do you really want to encourage your company's customers/members/constituents to follow an individual who, for all you know, six months from now will be working for a competitor?
2. Especially in this day and age, jobs do not last forever. People have personal lives then they have jobs--the two are not the same, unless they own the business. Asking them to mix their personal Facebook presence with your company's Facebook presence is, in my opinion, taking advantage of them and presuming a lot--that they'll forever be in your company's employ, that they personally endorse all aspects of the business, and that they are, essentially, paid spokespeople for the business. Sure, there are people who feel passionate about their jobs, but there are equally many for whom a job is a job. They are getting paid to do that job, not advertise the company on a social networking platform--there is a difference, IMO.
3. Facebook's privacy settings are a moving target. You could recommend to these staff spokespeople that they adjust their Facebook profile settings so that if they post personal stuff they make it visible to friends only, and they set privacy for company updates to public. That, in my opinion, is playing with fire. You're really willing to risk your employee not accidentally setting those drunken photos or political private updates to public, and having them seen by all your company subscribers? That's asking a lot of technology (Facebook's iPhone and iPad apps are horrible and setting any privacy settings when posting from them is a bitch) and human error, not to mention Facebook's own constant breeches in terms of "oops" moments where they "accidentally" display content that's supposed to be private to a different audience, or when they, without warning change their settings so that previous privacy settings are wiped out.
4. Facebook's Terms of Service forbid multiple accounts for individuals. I know you were about to offer the suggestion that you just ask staff spokespeople to create a new personal account, one that just represents them as a spokesperson for your company, so all these pesky privacy settings are a non-issue. Right? Wrong. Facebook's Terms of Service specifically forbids individuals from having more than one account:

Please be aware that managing multiple accounts is a violation of Facebook’s Terms of Use. If we determine that an individual has more than one account, we reserve the right to terminate all of their accounts. (from Facebook Business Account FAQs)

My advice? Hold steady with your Facebook Page. Chances are that within a few months, the situation will change yet again and pages will either be granted subscription capability or some other magic bullet that will again propel your page's updates into fan's news feeds. Analyze the content you're posting on your page--what's working, what's not, and tweak your strategy accordingly. Or focus on building your company's presence on Google+--maybe your time and money is better spent doing that in light of their new search algorithm changes.

Honestly, the situation is not that dire--your company will not go out of business because of Facebook's algorithm changes.

Community Manager Appreciation Day

Photo by elkokoparrilla, on Flickr

Unless you are a community manager (and maybe not even then) you probably don't know that today is Community Manager Appreciation Day (CMAD). Well, guess what? It is! Two years ago Jeremiah Owyang suggested that the fourth Monday of January be a day to "take the time to pause, recognize, and celebrate the efforts community managers around the world to improve customer experiences."

Three and a half years into my career as a community/social media manager, I can attest to the fact that it's a demanding, exhilarating, exciting, and life-encompassing job. It's customer service and marketing and content creation/curation/management and who knows what else, all rolled into one job that, in most organizations, is new and often not well understood. It's at the same time an established profession, as there are community managers who have been at it for over a decade, as well as such a new one that there's a ton of confusion still about what tasks the role includes, what pay grade it should be, which department it belongs in, and even whether it is a role worth paying someone to do in the first place.

In honor of CMAD, here are a few links about community management--the fun of it, the trials it involves, and just some fun resources:

• The Incredibly Difficult and Important Job of Community Manager 
•  A Day in the Life of This Community Manager
• Community Manager Appreciation Day cards
• Community Manager Burnout

Ok, those are just a few--please feel free to add others in the comments.

And, if you're a community manager--happy CMAD!

Movie Recap 2011

Photo by ToastyKen

 (I originally posted this on my other blog but am reposting here)

It's that time of year again...time for my movie recap. In case you don't know this about me, I'm obsessed with going to movies. Not watching movies at home--too many distractions. But going to the movie theater. In 2008 I saw 50 movies. In 2009, I saw 53. Last year I made it to 57. So my number to beat this year was 57. Did I make it?

Of course I did! This year's total? 64 movies. Gulp. Next year is going to be a bitch having to top that.

Let me just preface this by saying that if you didn't go to a lot of movies in 2011, you really didn't miss much. It was a pretty crap year as far as movies go, especially the second half of the year.
Ok, so here we go. In case you haven't read my previous year's movie recap posts, this is my rating system: sucked, rocked or meh, followed by best and worst movies of 2011.

1. The Rite-- rocked
2. True Grit--rocked(ish)
3. No Strings Attached--cute and better than meh, but can't really say rocked
4. The Company Men--rocked is a bit strong, but I did like it
5. Country Strong--sorry but this movie rocked. Have seen it three times.  
6. Just Go With It--rocked(ish)
7. The Mechanic--rocked. I mean, of course Jason Statham rocks.
8. The Eagle--rocked(ish)
9. Unknown--actually Rocked, with a capital R.
10. Battle:Los Angeles--action parts rocked, and if you like loud movies, you'll like it.
11. Insidious--ROCKED--if you like scary, this is a must-see.
12. Limitless--Rocked--I love this movie, although it starts great and kind of peters out.
13. Soul Surfer--Better(ish) than meh, sort of. Cute for teens/tweens.
14. Hanna--Sorry but this looked like it was going to be great but in reality SUCKED.
15. Scream 4--Ok, yes I saw this and of course we all know it SUCKED.
16. Prom--Utterly forgettable so I'm going to go with cute for teens. Yes, I have one, which is why I saw it.
17. Thor--Meh plus.
18. Bridesmaids--HILARIOUS. ROCKED.
19. Hangover 2--Meh plus. Nowhere as near as good as the first, but some funny parts.
20. X-Men--I want to say "ok" but that's not a rating, and meh is a little low, so I'll go with rocked(ish)
21. Pirates of the Caribbean 3--the mermaids ROCKED; the movie was rocked(ish). First Pirates movie I've seen, btw--I only saw it for the mermaids.
22. Midnight in Paris--Rocked. Even my kids liked this.
23. Super 8--rocked.
24. Cowboys & Aliens--Meh. What did you expect?
25. The Help--ROCKED. I was worried this wouldn't be as good as the book, but it really was.
26. Captain America--can I just give this a sigh? Patrick (my husband) loves those Marvel movies, but I"m personally over them. This was actually pretty good, but please, 2012, no more Marvel movies, ok?
27. Crazy, Stupid Love--Meh. Maybe I'll throw a plus on there for Steve Carrell and Julianne Moore
28. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--I'm giving this a meh on principle--seriously, can we stop with the two part movies Hollywood?
29. Rise of the Planet of the Apes--ROCKED. Ceasar better win an Oscar.
30. Bad Teacher--ROCKED. Raunchy but hilarious.
31. Friends With Benefits--Meh plus. I liked it but can't bring myself to say rocked. Cute though.
32. Green Lantern--another sigh. And a meh.
33. Horrible Bosses--Meh. Jennifer Anniston as sexy just does not work for me.
34. Transformers 3--Meh.
35. Contagion--Meh, and a big disappointment--this looked like it was going to be good.
36. I Don't Know How She Does it--I'm going with Meh, because I can't remember one thing about this movie.
37. Drive--fun if you like action, but meh if you are looking for a great movie.
38. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark--SUCKED. This was just freaky and creepy and sucked. AND had Katie Holmes in it, who is meh personified.
39. The Change Up--Rocked.
40. Sherlock Holmes 2--Meh. Yeah, really.
41. Young Adult--Meh plus. Was really slow, but decent if you don't mind really slow and some random details just thrown in there with no real tie-in.
42. The Sitter--Meh, and a big disappointment--this looked like it was going to be awesome.
43. Mission Impossible 4--ROCKED. Especially in Imax, something I'd never shelled out for before but now I'm a convert.
44. Dream House--Meh.
45. Jumping the Broom--rocked, if for no other reason than the house. But even my kids liked it.
46. Paranormal Activity 3--Call me crazy, but I thought this rocked, and even saw it twice. I like scary.
47. Twilight 3--There is not a big enough font in the world to convey how much this movie SUCKED. But I need to find out what happens so of course will have to go see the second part, which just makes me hate it worse. And no, I'm not going to read the book.
48. Fast Five--Meh
49. The Dilemma--Meh minus--this was another big disappointment--looked like it would be great and totally was not.
50. The Roommate--Fun in a Single White Female kind of way, but Meh.
51. The Ides of March--Yet another disappointment--they're getting really good at making great trailers for not great movies. Meh.
52. Immortals--Rocked-ish for action, but as with Marvel, no more greek god movies in 2012 please.
53. Sanctum--Meh minus. Utterly forgettable.
54. I am Number Four--this was actually pretty good, but I can't really say it rocked. How about enthusiastic Meh plus?
55. Hall Pass--rocked. I've seen it at least three times and would see it more.
56. The Lincoln Lawyer--rocked--this was pretty good, but not so good that I actually remember much about it other than that I liked it.
57. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules--I had low hopes for this movie after the first one, but this was actually pretty good. Can I just go with Good?
58. Sucker Punch--HORRIBLE. SUCKED. But the girl was super cute.
59. One Day--Long, drawn out....Meh.
60. Moneyball--not as great as I thought it would be but still pretty good. Too long, though, and slow. But rocked. With a small r.
61. What's Your Number?--Cute and funny--but I don't know if I'd say rocked. But better than meh.
62. Jack and Jill--Sigh. Yes, I saw this, and it was bad as I thought it would be. Could be fun-ish as a rental.
63. New Year's Eve--Cute, if predictable. Meh.
64. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--I had high hopes for this but have to give it a solid Meh. WAYYYYY too slow. Just read the book. I haven't seen the Swedish version, but I would imagine it's better.

Ok, so worst movie of 2011? It's a close race between Sucker Punch and Twilight 3. The girl in Sucker Punch is so cute....but ultimately that movie was just BAD. So Sucker Punch.

And best movie of 2011? I have to say that I hardly want to name one because the year as a whole was so meh, movie-wise. I will give a nod to Midnight in Paris because it was Woody Allen and cute, and another to the Help, because it was pretty good, but for sheer movie enjoyment and pretty tight plot, I'm going with Unknown. Patrick said I couldn't say Mission Impossible 4 was the best movie of the year, but it was pretty awesome.

So there you have it. Here's hoping 2012 will be a better movie year.

I Will Stop the World From Ending in 2012

Ok, sike, but I couldn't resist that headline, because the subject of the world ending in 2012 has been a hotly debated subject in my house for the past three or more years, ever since my daughter (now 15) saw the trailer for the movie 2012 on YouTube and became obsessed and freaked out. Did I mention she's a little OCD? All I know is that the world BETTER NOT end in December, or I'm going to have hell to pay for assuring her, time and time again, that she has nothing to worry about.

So enough beating around the bush--I was really, really hoping to hide from this meme about what I'm going to do to change the world in 2012 because I had no idea how I'd respond if tagged. I figured, ok, if I do get tagged I'll just write that I'm not going to change the world. But then Jeffrey Cufaude scooped me (awesomely, I might add) so there went that option. Then Elizabeth Weaver Engel tagged me and here I am, racking my brains to come up with some way that I'm going to change the world in 2012.

Somehow lists seem to help when I can't think of anything to say, so let's try the "three things" thing and see what bubbles up:

In 2012 I'm going to:

1. Take it offline. In case you haven't noticed, I tend to spend a lot of time online. A LOT of time. Which obviously can interfere with the rest of life that takes place offline. If the world does happen to end in December, I don't want to have missed friendships or opportunities because I was busy blogging, playing Plants vs. Zombies, or sitting on Facebook. So I'm going to work hard to foster relationships offline. Call my sister more than once every many months. Finally arrange that monthly movie club with neighborhood friends that I've been thinking about for two years now. Make the trip down to DC for various social or professional events. 
2. Be a stigma buster about mental illness. 2011 seemed rife with cries for help within the social media bubble--the suicide of someone in the social media big-wig bubble, several instances of other social media types using their Facebook pages or Twitter accounts to announce, in essence, "goodbye cruel world"--thankfully usually met with an outpouring of support from friends and family to get the person the care they needed. And of course The Bloggess's recent post about her ongoing battle with depression and self-harm--a beautiful, heartbreaking post. She points out "When cancer sufferers fight, recover, and go into remission we laud their bravery.  We call them survivors.  Because they are," but that those who battle depression mostly battle alone because of the stigma associated with mental illness. I know I do, and I know that there are many others out there who do too. I'm a veteran at this battle--I've been fighting for over 20 years now, yet mostly people don't know that about me. So I'm putting it out there, just as I'd put it out there if I were a cancer survivor or victim of some other disease--if you are depressed and don't have anyone to talk to or don't know where to turn, feel free to connect with me. I'm not a shrink, obviously, but if you feel like you're the only one who has ever not known how you'll make it through another day or not known where to turn for help, you're not. Sadly, there are plenty of us out here, fighting with you, and it sucks--but having to suffer in silence only makes it suck worse.
3. Embrace change--or at least shake hands with it. It's hard to make changes, especially when a situation is comfortable and works well enough. But sometimes comfortable isn't actually comfortable. It may work and it may pay the bills, but is that really all we want to ask of life? Is ok good enough, or is amazing out there waiting to be had? And how will you know if you don't try something different? So this year I'm going to go beyond my comfort zone and see if I can't find amazing, or at least beyond comfortable.

Ok, there went my Saturday morning....now it's someone else's turn to grapple with this meme--I'm tagging these five people (and ducking their ire at being tagged):

1. Jessica Smith-- who said she wants to get her blogging mojo back--what better way to start? ;)
2. Cassie Soofi-- my sister, who hasn't blogged in ages, but who is an awesome writer and, as a speech language pathologist,  is doing a lot more to change the world than I am.
3. Janet McNichol-- my friend and coworker, as well as fellow association person.
4. Mandy Stahl-- I know she doesn't have a blog (or maybe she does and we don't know about it?) but maybe she can do a post on Acronym--or a guest post here?
5. Kem Foley-- another association peep who is active with a very underappreciated set of professionals, in my opinion--administrative professionals.

If This is What Being an A-List Blogger is, I'm Happy to be on the D List

I swore I wouldn't write about this and send traffic to her blog, because that's the last thing I want to do. But I can't stop thinking about it and feel stupid for being so affected by something written by a person I don't even know--or at least barely know (I did meet her once). I'm sure people will accuse me of linkbaiting, but honestly I don't care--the last thing I feel like is getting into a debate about whether or not it's ok to post pictures of practically your genitals (and I'm not kidding, so be forewarned before clicking that link) on what's supposed to be a business blog. Or whether it's ok announce to the world that you're in a violent marriage--you and your two kids--but are ok with that and are sticking with it.

In my book, it's not ok. To share it with the world and profit off it, that is--"it" being domestic abuse that involves children. You want to stay in a relationship with a guy who leaves bruises on you? That's your choice. But sharing graphic photos on your blog and explaining how it's partially your fault and maybe your kids are actually better off if you stay in the marriage? And promoting that rationale as career advice? No thanks. It's not like she's the first women to rationalize abuse--but most women who do it probably are not making money off sharing that opinion. But Penelope is--she runs ads on her blog and offers an online course "Secrets of an A-List Blogger" for $196. Several of her posts are sponsored by the American Cancer Society (ACS), which is very weird because those posts had nothing, really, to do with cancer. I'm wondering if ACS has pulled their advertising from her blog, though, because the blog used to feature banner ads for them and they don't appear to be there now. In fact, originally that's what this post was going to be about--is it a bad PR move for associations to run ads on blogs which feature controversial content--but when I went to check out the ACS banner ad on her blog I saw, instead, the A-List blogger ad, which prompted the title of this post.

I get that the blogosphere has gotten increasingly crowded and to get traffic you need stand out from the millions of other bloggers. I get that Penelope's old standby--being controversial and oversharing stuff like her miscarriage at work, her sex life, the abuse she endured as a kid and a teen--has been replicated many times over by other bloggers. I get that she's gone from career woman making tons of money to mom homeschooling her kids and is conflicted about it. I get how her identity is tied up in being a farmer's wife--not to mention her income, as her blog now pretty much centers around photos taken on the farm. I even get how her self-worth has become tied to the amount of attention she gets from readers--she readily admits that her closest relationships are with her kids and with her blog readers. But what I don't get is how the company she founded and is still part of in some way--Brazen Careerist--still wants to have anything to do with her or wants pictures of her bruised ass in any way associated with their professional brand.

Mostly, though, I'm sad. I used to revere Penelope. I can't even count the number of times I've blogged about her because the search feature on my old blog doesn't work anymore. I loved that she wasn't conventional, and that her brazen-ness was what was responsible for her success. I didn't mind reading her overshares about getting Brazilian waxes or posing for nude for her dad. It made her human and, somehow, likeable. Maybe it made her strong in my eyes, for surviving so much abuse and craziness, and succeeding in spite of it. But this new tangent--her as farm wife homeschooling her kids and making excuses for staying in a physically abusive marriage? There's nothing inspiring about that. Women like that are a dime a dozen--women who marginalize themselves and allow their husbands to degrade and demean them, and who tell themselves that it's better for the kids to have two parents and to live in a beautiful house and have a mom who is home instead of toiling away in an office. I used to be one of those women--not the abuse part--except for one time--but the dependent part. It sucked.

I'll digress, because I don't even really know what it is I'm trying to say--other than that if being a successful blogger means becoming so dependent on the attention and pageviews that you'll do anything to get either or both, I'm happy to be a crappy blogger.

Association Swing and a Miss--CEA Tech Enthusiast Membership

Last March, I got an email from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) informing me of a new member category they had just created: Tech Enthusiast. I believe the dues were $30 a year and the benefits included the following:

As a CEA Tech Enthusiast (TE) member you will receive hot deals and incredible opportunities from our corporate partners. These include free and discounted products, advance product launch information, access to industry events, and beta testing opportunities. As a TE, you are privy to some very exclusive information.

What the hell, I figured--it was an interesting concept, and for $30 I thought I'd give it a try and see how great the "hot deals" and "incredible opportunities" were, not to mention "beta testing opportunities." I paid up and....crickets. A few emails...and by few I mean really few. No beta testing opportunities that I recall. A circa 2000 online discussion board. That's about it.

Last week I got an email from them announcing that they are ending the new membership category effective January 31, 2012. Wow, really--not even giving it a year? I guess on one hand I applaud them doing what few associations do--cutting an ineffective program. But on the other hand, it feels like they just threw it out there to see if people would pay and devoted basically no staff or resources to it succeeding--what did they expect?

In my opinion, there are a few things they could have done to make this program more of a success:

1. Technology--I know I'm possibly more the exception rather than the rule, but IMHO, it's 2011--why would you launch what is basically an online membership category and use online forums instead of an online social networking platform? It's one thing if your members are old-school or not that interested in online discussion, but for the demographic they were targeting, why did they think members would want to interact with each other on an online bulletin board while their other online interactions are likely on Facebook or something similar? Yes, it would have cost more but it also would probably have been a lot easier to use, and would have hopefully fostered better member engagement. That said, there are absolutely some successful discussion forums out there--having a Facebook-esque platform is definitely not a guarantee of success. But in this case...the forums were just a fail.
2. Communication--We've all heard of "build it and they will come" syndrome when it comes to social media, but a whole member category basically built on pay your dues to join then figure it out from there? Obviously it didn't work out so well in this case. Not that people necessarily want to be inundated with even more email, but seriously--this was the total opposite of too much email: barely any email or any other communications. No newsletter. No magazine. Pretty much no anything, period. How are people supposed to feel part of something if they forget they're even a member because nobody is driving the bus? I heard more from people I haven't seen in 30+ years on Facebook this past nine months than I heard from CEA about the thing for which I was paying to dues to belong to. How about a Facebook presence driving me to the website or reminding me of the "incredible opportunities"? Oh, wait--there is one...which I never knew about until I happened to look it up when I was writing this post. How about a phone call from someone there checking in to see how I was liking my membership and what I felt was lacking? A survey? How about something, anything, other than crickets?
3. Advertising/Revenue--I have to admit I'm kind of sad to see this thing fail because I think it could have been a success. I get that CEA is a huge association with much bigger fish to fry than some lowly "tech enthusiasts" at $30 a year per, but I thought a consumer membership was a cool idea and could have been a great way for them to connect sponsors and corporate members to consumers like me who spend a lot on tech products. What if they had gotten sponsors/partners to offer free membership to their customers, or had stores like Best Buy or RadioShack offer free memberships in stores or fliers? They could have potentially gotten a lot of members and, in turn, could have probably made decent money through advertising opportunities. What if they had offered some kind of weekly or daily deal concept to members? Granted, I'm the first to admit the daily deal world is already pretty saturated, but something that hooks in members on a recurring basis and both offers them a great deal and reminds them of the organization they're part of? Seems like it could have been a decent source of revenue and a good direct-to-consumer way of advertising.

Ok, I'll stop there. I don't know--I guess the "fail fast" thing applies here and they were just trying to cut their losses, but as someone who thought this seemed like a cool concept and was willing to pay to see how it panned out, I'm surprised how bummed I am to see this fail so fast. As a member, I feel kind of discarded or something. Is there such a thing as failing too fast? 

5 Predictions; 5 Resolutions

What would December be without the obligatory predictions post? Or, for that matter, the new year's resolution post? I'm kicking it FIO style and combining the two into one post.

Predictions:

1. Hiring for community and social media managers will continue to rise. And confusion about the differences between the roles will persist.
2. Burnout and disillusionment among social media/community management professionals will rise. All those new hires? Will have to work their asses off to justify their existence and will realize that the job is more than rainbows and unicorns and will decide that the job sounded a lot funner than it is. (And yes, I know perfectly well that "funner" is not a word. I choose to use it anyway.)
3. Google+ will not be a game-changer. Facebook is where the traffic is and their pages offer more functionality. Sure, some brands/organizations will do great on Google+, but ultimately it won't be worth the time or effort for most orgs to set up shop on one more social network.
4. Facebook will abandon Timeline. Ok, this may be more wishful thinking than prediction but I HATE the Timeline design.
5. Foursquare will flourish. I was *this close* to being a Foursquare quitter after I reached 1,000 checkins and, instead of a free t-shirt, got a coupon for 40% off a t-shirt. Seriously?! I was DONE. But strangely, checking in 1,000 times was apparently the magic number of times it took for me to admit my addiction to Foursquare. So despite lack of free stuff or even any decent specials, Foursquare has become a social network for me, as well as probably just a nervous habit, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. Also, now that Gowalla has been acquired by Facebook and will be shutting down in January, all those Gowalla users will have to go somewhere, and who wants to give Facebook access to their checkin data?

Resolutions:

1. I will commit to the Social Sanity Manifesto. I love this manifesto, and have already taken step 1--deleting my Klout profile. I've already experienced the anxiety and overload Rachel Happe talks about in this awesome post and I think the 10 commitments laid out in this manifesto will go a long way towards helping to roll back the anxiety and overload caused by spending too much time online on too many sites connecting with too many people.
2. I will read more--and not for business. Business books are great, but especially in the social space, everyone and their brother either has written, is writing, or plans to write a book in the near future. That's great and all, but let's be honest--not everyone was meant to be a writer and many of these books are crap. Some, of course, are not, but they are few and far between. So I will spend more time reading books I want to read and less time reading books I feel I'm supposed to read because some social media A-lister is marveling about them.
3. I will not be sucked into the numbers game. This basically is a replay of #1, but think it bears repeating, if for no other reason than to drum it into my own head. I hate it that I thought twice about deleting my Klout profile because I had bought into the idea of being graded on at least some level. Seriously--who gives a shit about "online influence" except people trying to sell you shit, or who want you to sell their shit--for free?
4. I will try yoga. I tried it once--about 20 years ago--and the teacher told me, basically, that I was too hyper and/or spastic for yoga. So I never tried it again. But I'm kind of into the idea that people shouldn't limit themselves based on narratives they just play and re-play inside their heads (e.g. "I'm bad at math") so I'm willing (sort-of) to try yoga again. Even as I type this every fiber of my being is saying "seriously?" and laughing, but I'm going to resolve to try it anyway. 
5. I will try not to be this person. Because, sadly, I can own at least half of those 54 things. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but let's be honest--I'm a 43 year old woman who lives in the suburbs. My chances of socializing IRL are not enhanced by being this person. (Or, frankly, by saying stuff like "IRL.") Although I admit that my favorite new friend of this year was someone I inadvertently insulted in a blog post a few years ago, actually met in real life last spring and now am good friends with offline. Even if much of what we talk about is stuff that happens online ; )