I’ve always been able to fall asleep at night. After a hard day of work, I’m usually able to let head hit pillow and I’m out. My wife marvels at how quickly this sometimes happens. Also, I have always awoken in the middle of the night, at least once a night, and maybe more. I never sleep straight through. If I ever have, it’s because I went to bed at 3am and got up at 6am! Waking up in the middle of the night like this used to not bother me; I’d just fall back asleep. I used to laugh at coworkers that would complain of a rough night of sleep. Well, I wouldn’t laugh to their face. I just never had any sleeping problems at all.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve found it more difficult to get back to sleep. When I lay down at the end of the day, I can still fall asleep no problem, and then I have 4-5 hours of incredibly deep, restful sleep. But when I wake up at 1-3am, my mind is racing and I can’t stop thinking about the next day, or the previous day.

Recently, I started using a new trick, and for me, it’s actually working! I don’t count sheep. I just count. This is just one man’s solution, but I felt compelled to share it with you. Watch the video and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Google+ is a point of contention among social media nerds (like me). “It’s a ghost town.” “It is NOT a ghost town – if you spent some time using it, you’d figure that out.” “There’s no one there.” “There are 100,000,000 active monthly users.” “I can’t get any engagement there.” “I have deeper, more meaningful discussions on G+.”

In the 3 or so minutes I had, I tried to paint an accurate picture of the current state of Google Plus. What do you think?

BTW, here’s a great Google+ thread (WITH interaction) on my Fox 2 appearance, started by one of G+’s biggest champions, Dano Hart.

Here’s a link to the video on Fox 2′s website, in case the video embedded above doesn’t play.

We used to sacrifice humans to appease the gods.
We used to think the Earth was flat.
We used to have witch hunts and we’d burn the ones we caught.
We used to practice bloodletting, extracting tiny quantities of blood from a patient in order to cure disease.
We used to often lobotomize crazy people, and shock them with electricity too.
We used to enslave Africans.
We used to take some of those slaves as concubines.
We used to allow children to work long hours in factories.
We used to prevent women from voting.
We used to involuntarily sterilize people for eugenic purposes.
We used to have teachers that would hit the backsides of unruly students with rulers.
We used to throw people in internment camps.
We used to tell consumers smoking was cool.
We used to make black people drink out of a different drinking fountain and give up their bus seats to white people.
We used to ban interracial marriage.
We used to do all of these things, and more.

Why don’t we do these things anymore? Why not?
Why were these things so right, until they were wrong?
Does the human race just get progressively smarter as it moves along?
We thought we were just in our beliefs, and some kicked and screamed as these practices were changed or abolished.

What are we doing today to marginalize our fellow human being?

Thanks to Chris Brogan and Joe Sorge for inviting me on the show. This was my third appearance on KTCO, and it was unlike the first two. This one seemed a bit more unstructured, or as I told Bob Burg on Twitter, “happily discombobulated.” They emailed me a show outline beforehand, and we didn’t stick to it at all! For me, that made it a blast.

Thanks again guys.

Link to the show, in case the embedded video above does not work for you.

image courtesy of CatherineKaputa.com

I prefer “new media strategist” or “social media strategist.” Those both sound reasonable, and that’s what I’ve been telling people lately. What are the best and worst social media job titles? Are there any reasonable choices down in the list below? (I believe there are a few good ones). Which ridiculous ones am I missing? Please let me know in the comments section below. I’ll add good (and bad) ones to the list.

(Note: the Twitter handles you see next to some of the names are not necessarily the job title that person holds. I’m just giving credit to the individuals that offered me that particular name idea)

Social media strategist
New media strategist (my preferred self-descriptor)
Social media expert (many provided this one)
Social media specialist
Online media specialist (the great Court Sloger’s job title)
Social media consultant (how could I have forgotten that one @suebmoe?)
Social media director (Thanks Ken Earley)
Social media maven
Social media ninja (@Nick314 wants credit for this and cried about it on Twitter a bit, so here you go)
Social media sensei
Social media samurai
Social media genie
Social media guru (many offered this one, including @PrincessGraceUS and @courtsloger)
Social media community manager
Social media planner
Social media editor (thanks @ericasmith)
Social media coordinator
Social media missionary (so sorry, forgot who gave this one to me)
Social media vixen
Social media rockstar
Social media magician
Social media alchemist
Social media jedi
Social media sniper
Social media guerrilla
Social media commander
Social media Vulcan (I suppose this could also be “Social Media Klingon” or “Social Media Cardassian”)
Social media evangelist (thanks @JennaPet)
Social media geek (thanks @Gerrytonic)
Social media influencer (thanks @RobustWineBar)
Social media wizard (thanks @KimGlickert)
Social media whiz (or wiz)
Social media sorcerer (thank you @alglatz!)
Social media honey badger (@alglatz again)
Social media concierge
Social media black belt (makes Six Sigma people throw up in their mouth)
Social media honcho (courtesy of @RickyShambles)
Social media hotshot (thank you @reverendfitty. I consider you to be one lol)
Social media scientists or Socialsphere scientists (thanks @MoRandazzoMB)
Social media curator (thanks @megtalla)
Social media genius (thank you @AuthorsEmporium)
Social media analyst
Social media proselytizer (thanks @JennaPet)
Social media zealot (thanks to @DrDeadline)
Social media czar (yes! @theharryadams)
Social media worker bee (thanks @TheLunaLounge)
Social media aficionado (thank you @kirstiehamel)
Social media maverick (thank you @jacqsays)
Social media chump (I came up with that one, obviously as a joke)
Social media maniac (I had this in my Twitter bio for a brief time. I’m better now)
Social media champion (thank you @mizzoudavis)
Social media drone (a lame one I came up with)
Social media monster
Social media stud
Social media dictator
Social media engineers (thanks @ricardosstl)
Social media unicorn (not sure about this one @jeremywaite, but you win anyway)
Social media wrangler (thank you @itsjuststarla)
Social media overlord (thanks again to @itsjuststarla)
New media dude (@joshuaarnao loves this one)
Social media coach (Thanks @Daman)
Social media monkey (courtesy of @citylifematt)
Social media Lord or digital lord(thanks @kenrearley)
People herder or social media people herder (thanks to @jaceanderson)
Social media nerd (good one @gbussmann)
Social media phenom (good one @ow_a_hand!)
Digital interactionist (@suebmoe)
Social media borg (you will be assimilated)
Social media socialite (@MitchInThomWest)
140 character jockey (no way. yikes. Thanks @Igloo_Ad)
Social media dragon slayer (found it here)
Social media mastermind (thanks to @FreeRangeCookie)
Social media butterfly (courtesy of @DACARSTAR)
Social media mercenary (@notjustanotherj is certainly one)

(I got the idea for this post from this article, which also seems to be located here.)

Hmmmmmm, maybe I should have just used this website to come up with ideas – The Social Media Job Title Generator

Would you like to pick my brain for an hour? There is a magic Paypal button below that can make this happen!

Maybe you’re just starting your business or nonprofit. Or maybe you’re already operating but just need a little push in the right direction. You can’t afford a huge branding strategy or a team of social media people… you’re bootstrapping, so you can’t afford much, period.

My role at Falk Harrison most often involves large engagements – big strategy, several meetings a month, and a total of 10-40 hours a month per client of intense work. I enjoy a big challenge, and plotting strategy for large multi-national corporations is certainly that.

Truth be told, though, I really do love working with small organizations too. Unfortunately, our cost structure at Falk Harrison does not allow for one-hour engagements. Judging by the number of requests I get for brainstorming coffees, lunches, after-work drinks and pick-your-brain meetings in general, I can tell there’s a huge need out there. I wanted to find a way to help everyone, while still feeding the family and being true to myself as a professional with a unique skillset.

For $125, you get an hour of great advice on the phone or via Skype (preferred). In the right circumstances, for St. Louis-based people, I can get together in person for a coffee. No matter how we meet, I can drop a great deal of knowledge on you in a hour’s time. I’m generally regarded as one of the top new media strategists in St. Louis, and my background as a CPA and CFO lends some real-world realistic thinking to the advice I give.

There are three steps in this process:
1. Submit payment via PayPal by clicking “Buy Now” below.
2. Send me an email at rizzotees [ at ] gmail dot com and let me know you’ve paid. Also, please provide me your contact info and a synopsis of what you’d like to discuss with me.
3. Prepare for our call. Create an agenda, or at the very least, have a list of questions prepared. Know what you want to talk about for the hour, and please email me any prep documentation you complete beforehand so that I can be prepared.

Only $125

Pay Chris $125 Using Dwolla

 
OR
 

I look forward to helping you out.