Facebook Status O'El Dia

 

Some kids decided to challenge me to a water fight. I'm just updating my status while I wait for the kettle to boil.

This has been an actual Facebook Status Update. Read more here:

#NerdsUnite: What's up Boston!!

Wow-o-wow-o-wow ... I had an AH-MAZING time last night. Like ahhhh-mazing. I guess the secret to Boston is having an "in" with someone and going from there. Super duper rad peeps, will post more on it later. But yah! This is my last "going out" night in Boston. My flight is SUPPPEEERRRRRR early on Monday (6:30 am), and UUGHH just found out the T doesn't run that early, so now I have to sleep in the airport. Not my favorite thing ever, but whatevs - I will do it. Just gotta do what you gotta do to get shit done.

So, if you're in Boston and wanna kick it tonight - hit me up on Twitter @JenFriel or on Facebook. If your eye balls hit this site I'd love love love to meet you! Don't be shy! I only bite if you're into that kinda thing.

RAAWWRRR!!!

#peaceloveandlollipops

#NerdsUnite: The Most Epic of Epic #PRfails

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Megan. She recently just graduated from SDSU and is now entering the world with a fresh pair of eyes in a stinky economy. In these series of posts she will discuss her thoughts and discoveries as she ventures out into the real world. Hit it Meg!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @MegCorbs

Last night I stayed up later than expected because I couldn’t seem to look away from the shit storm that was hitting BrandLink Communications.

But I am getting ahead of myself here let me explain what happened.

One of my all-time favorite bloggers, The Bloggess, received a poorly worded pitch about one the Kardashian’s wearing nylons and that she needed to care about this (in not so many words of course).

Jenny (the bloggess) is known for showing the hilarious ineptitude of traditional PR companies when dealing with bloggers. If they took even a second to read her blog they would see that she never has sponsored posts, giveaways or reviews so pitching a product to her won’t get you anywhere. Especially this kind of product which has nothing to do with anything she EVER talks about.

She is known for her snarky and amazing humor on all things random. Like the time she bought a GIANT metal chicken. I personally love her because she is so open about her anxiety issues (something that I have a history with) and got me through some shitty times with a smile instead of a sob.

Well anyways back to the #PRFail. Jenny thought of a brilliant way to combat the random celeb hawking random item thing. She emails them a link to this. Wil Wheaton (who she has become friends with via twitter) collating papers.

Here was the initial response:

    Hi there,

That wasn’t very nice. We send certain pitches out to people so they have the chance of getting more hits on their page. We’ll make note of this email in moving forward and remember if we have any advertising opportunities with any of our clients not to go through you.

    Best of luck to you.

    Best,
    Erica

Snarky and poorly written but whatever The Bloggess was snarky first so it’s fine.

Then the V. EFFING P. of the company hit Reply All with Jenny attached and called her a “fucking bitch!”

TECHNOLOGY FAIL!

This amazes me on so many levels but most importantly why would you even email that. I know first hand how much shit PR people have to put up with and this was funny and not mean hearted at all

Jenny, being Jenny and not putting up with shit responded with this:

    Hi. This is sort of why “reply all” doesn’t usually work well for
    companies. Unless, of course, you decided that “What a fucking bitch” was
    a great response from a public relations company. Personally, I preferred
    the “Best of luck to you” one, which was much more honest and cutting,
    while still being professional.

    If you’ve read my blog you would know that a great deal of my blog deals
    with the importance of public relations companies doing research before
    sending form letters to bloggers. Specifically, I’m very vocal about
    ridiculous pitches involving celebrities using products. So much so that
    I made that actual Wil Wheaton collating paper page to combat this very
    sort of thing in a quick and painless way. My blog has nothing to do with
    fashion, the Kardashians or pantyhose…none of which I understand, to be
    honest. Plus, you’ve sent me this form letter TWICE today. I only point
    this out so you can delete this *ahem* “fucking bitch” from all of the
    mailing lists you have me on, rather than just one.

    Also, I apologize if you were offended by my email. Honestly, I’ve been
    sending that thing out to PR people for the last year and this is the
    first time I didn’t have someone respond with either a laugh, or with a
    simple “No problem. We’ll remove you from the list.” In fact, many PR
    companies have turned this entire thing around and sent really hysterical
    exchanges to me, which I’ve used to promote their great work in
    understanding (and working with) the unique personalities of the very
    bloggers they’re trying to reach out to. Just a thought.

    Hugs,
    Jenny (aka “fucking bitch”)

She still hadn’t made a post about it until Jose’s response came in:

    Jose: I get it and I was out of line by saying that however you put way too much effort
    into your approach. A simple “I don’t cover this, no thanks” or “Please remove”
    would suffice. To go out of your way to be snarky and rude is a little
    inappropriate. Again, I should’ve been less harsh – but I also feel like your email
    was rude and unprofessional as well. We will do a better job to research who we are
    pitching but maybe you should be flattered that you are even viewed relevant enough
    to be pitched at all instead of alienated PR firms and PR people – who are actually
    the livelihood of any journalists business. Don’t be offended, you started the
    cursing game so maybe we should all just laugh it off and plan not to work together
    in the future.
 
Who does he think he is?! You cannot talk to people that way. The line “You should be flattered that you are even viewed relevant enough to be pitched at all.” Is he serious? First of all Jenny has over 160,000 followers on Twitter with VERY loyal fans. But that doesn’t even matter, the fact that this guy is even in PR is astounding.  A simple “I’m so sorry” would have sufficed, but no this douche had to keep digging a bigger hole for himself.

I interned at a PR firm for a little bit and I know all about the ineptitude behind pitching to bloggers. You just create a huge spreadsheet with influential bloggers and send them a pitch. No personality behind it. It’s sad but they don’t consider bloggers as influential as magazines, tv shows, etc.

We are in a new generation where we know this idea is just silly. I mean you all are reading this now, from a blogger.

People resonate with bloggers more because they take about THIER lives, not celebrities, and have a face behind their brand. When I was a community manager in order to get bloggers on board with our clients I was talk to them on twitter about things that THEY’VE posted about. By treating them like human beings is the best PR move you can do.

Jenny’s response has to go into the books:

    “You should be flattered that you are even viewed relevant enough to be pitched at all.”
    You sure know how to flatter a girl. Are you even in
    public relations? Am I on Candid Camera? Because I’m kind of baffled.

    Please stand by for a demonstration of relevancy.

She posted this blog and then the shit storm began. Wil Wheaton (1.8 mil followers) and Neil Gaiman (1.6 mil followers), and yes my nerd brain is exploding with those two, tweeted about the #PRFail and now it’s taken on a life of it’s own. She was trending in the US and Canada and still has hundreds of tweets coming in by the minute. MANY people think this situation was the reason twitter crashed last night!

Instead of Jose apologizing and keeping quiet on twitter for a bit, he tweeted about how awesome his life is and how he was going on a trip soon.

Dude, you REALLLLLY don’t get the power of social media do you? JUST SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

Dear PR companies, don’t mess with the masses, doesn’t matter how big or small a blogger may seem to you, social media has a way of grabbing you by the balls and making you realize that EVERYONE deserves to be treated with respect.

Now excuse me while I bask in the awesomeness that was Jenny’s statement “Please stand by for a demonstration of relevancy.”

xoxo,

Another “Fucking Bitch” blogger

#nerdsunite

Click here to follow Megan on twitter!

#UGH: Excuse me, your Boston is showing

Seriously Boston ... I've been here for less than 24 hours. COME ON!! 

So, I just hit up Trader Joes for some beef jerky which is part of my editing pre-requisite (currently shooting and editing season 3 of VidBlogger Nation) ... 

I walked to the store, picked up the jerky - all while wearing my snow leopard spirithood ... 

Dudes, it is in the FIFTIES HERE!!!! So so so effin cold. 

I walk in, and everyone in the store is staring at me. 

Whatevs, I'll own that. 

But then, I get up to the register, and the lady behind the counter goes - "you lucky I don't have red paint on me right now." 

Rather than getting angry I take this as an area of opportunity, and explain to her that Spirithoods is actually pro animal using only high quality faux fur, and they even donate to Pro Blue. 

She shot me this look of - wtf, and said "that look too real." 

People started to turn around even more at this point, as this woman was seriously saying this shit with some hardcore disgust. 

I say, they're run by a bunch of hippies in downtown LA, and they're amazing - maybe they're just not your cup of tea. 

Yeah, whatever. She said as I continued to pay. 

Dudes, if for no other reason, I was at least a customer - was that really cool, man? From this point forth anytime someone is a douche to me I will tell them that, "Excuse me, your Boston is showing." 

Completely unacceptable. 

I travel all over, and never in my life have I met such a collective of close minded individuals. 

God, lady, way to be such a ... 

I. Hate. This. City. 

T-minus 3 days til I'm home. 

#thankyougod

#NerdsUnite: @ItsMeJoolie 's big dating adventure!!!

Nerds, I need your help. @ItsMeJoolie, my roomie and writer of the series of posts Confessions of an Unwed Bride is in a funk. 

A baaaaaadddd funk. 

So, as you all know, she and her duderino broke off their engagement last year - but after talking to Julie, she revealed to me that she's never even done the "dating" thing. She was with her guy for almost 8 years, and prior to that another duderino for a few years - the girl hasn't ever dated someone without it turning into a relationship!! Como say WHHAA???!! 

Seriously! 

So, it's not even that she can't date anyone new (she has yet to go out on a date with someone other than her ex), she doesn't know how. 

This is where she needs our help. 

I have given Julie a task. She has 30 days to go out on at least 3 dates with duderinos from the site OkCupid. We sat down the other week and helped revamp her profile - all that jazz - so she's set there, but what she needs now is our support and love in kicking her in the butt to get her to respond to dudes and actually arrange a meet up. 

This is one thing I learned with my night of being a wing girl with Neil Strauss' students - it wasn't actually about "getting the girl" it was about understanding social dynamics. Julie doesn't know the social dynamics to dating. She has no idea that it's totes awesome sauce to go out on one date and not have to call the guy back. It's DATING!!! Easy peasy. But again, I say this after going out on 103 dates in 9 months. It's easy for me to think this way because I do it - for her, this is a hurdle. 

Whattya say we help her break through this nerds??? What do you say Julie?? Are you game?? Are you brave enough to document 3 dates in the next 30 days to better help you understand the social dynamics in dating?? 

#thisisyourmissionshouldyouchoosetoaccept