Google+ Homecoming Tour with NBA stars is a strong move for the social network
Social technology is defined, more than anything, by the people who use it. Harking back to days long ago, I vividly remember there were two specific groups of people when I was in middle school: AOL Instant Messenger people and MSN Messenger people. It wasn't based on their technological preference, but sometimes really came down to what type of person they were. Even now, it never surprises me when ask someone which they used after raising this observation.
You can even see it now. Facebook is the everyman's social network; there's a lot of noise but you can use it effectively to stay in touch with friends and family, while also creepily monitoring the activity of acquaintances. Twitter, on the other hand, is the network for content producers, for celebrities and members of the media.
In order for Google+ to be successful, and not go the route of Wave, Buzz and whatever, it has to be the social network of someone, even if it isn't the one they use exclusively. With the announcement of the Google+ Homecoming Tour, they seem to making creative efforts to get move in that direction.
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It's all too often you'll see someone ask "How should _____ use social media?" How should sports marketers use it? What about journalists? If you were a police commissioner, how would you use it? And if you were a restaurant owner?.jpg)
For me, getting scorched in the dome with a foul ball borders on being inevitable. See, when I go to Mariners games I usually sit about 20 rows up from third base and spend an inordinate amount of time on my phone because, in-between batters and innings, I am constantly checking my 
For those of you who didn't know, today marks the last day of existence for AOL Fanhouse as 
It seems as though every time I venture onto a NBA or NFL team's official site, I'm shocked by the amount of video content I find. I don't know why I should be; with the number of interviews, behind-the-scenes access and other stuff, that's probably about the amount of content I'd have up there if I were somehow running the show. But still, I'm shocked. 
Out of context, the accompanying image is pretty lame. It's a fax machine, and someone holding a piece of paper it had just spat out. On college football's National Signing Day the fax machine becomes just a little bit more exciting. When that image of a fax machine is actually a live stream, and watching it print out a document is accompanied by University of Washington head football coach Steve Sarkisian announcing on his Twitter feed that's it's a letter of intent from highly touted Seattle-area wide receiver Kasen Williams, then that lame antiquated piece technology becomes pretty damn cool.
It's inevitable, this social media wave will eventually crash on the rocky beach that is reality. While I look forward to the day the self-titled "social media consultants" get their comeuppance, I also dread the undue skepticism and criticism the true professionals and evangelists will eventually face.
Ask 10 people what they think of Kanye West and at least six will respond with something close to "he's an idiot." 
Following a borderline embarassing defeat at the hands of The Ohio State University, Miami Hurricane football players were banned from using Twitter by head coach Randy Shannon. The coach said 
Last night, a colleague of mine successfully dragged me to a social media meet-up on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Generally, I hate these things. It's awkward; there's the people who already know each other, random loners being led around by their smart phones and, if you're lucky or buzzed enough, you may even get the opportunity to passive aggressively question the validity of someone's job. It's a hoot. And every single time I go to one of these I get into the same argument.
We've seen all too often that college athlete athletes—or 
Manchester United of the English Premier Leage, quite possibly the most popular professional sports team in the world, has 
