Super Cool: User-Generated Greatness = Suzi Blu + To-Do List blog

Most of you know about the run-away success of blogs like PostSecret, which just won the 2007 Weblog Award for Best Blog, but I wanted to share two of my favorite user-generated successes that are under the radar that exemplify the humanness of web 2.0 - isn't that what this is all about?

Suzi Blu's How To Keep an Art Journal (YouTube Series)

My rejuvenated artistic side and my love for Moleskine notebooks has brought me to Suzi Blu's endearing web series. Along with keeping a weekly vlog video, she has a little mini-series called "How to Keep an Art Journal" that was inspiring and charming. Suzi is sweet and very encouraging, and I found her own artwork and mentality about art and life inspiring. Check out her website (where she links to her eBay auctions of her original works) and her blog.

To-Do List (Blog)

Similar to PostSecret in that viewers can submit their own work, this blog features scanned hand-written to-do lists about anything and everything from groceries to "should I ask her out?" pros and cons. The submitted works are addicting to read (usually a marker of a web success) and now the creator of the blog (hosted by Blogger and featured in their "Blogs of Note"), Sasha Cagen, has published a collection of these lists in a book a-la-PostSecret. Sasha has also been featured on NBC as a result of her work.

Who are the web 2.0 stars in your eyes?

Super Cool: "Citizen Marketers" co-author Jackie Huba talks to our class

Today in class we were lucky enough to have Jackie Huba, co-author of "Citizen Marketers: When People Are The Message," visit our class to talk to us about using social media in PR, marketing and in the corporate world. She showed us clips and examples from points brought up in the book then generously took several questions from us students.

We discussed the ethics of companies and bloggers working together, such as when companies send free gadgets to bloggers asking them to write about them - do they keep the gadget? Can the bloggers give an honest review? Will the blogger need to add a disclaimer to the post?
When asked about reasons why a company may be hesitant to have a public blog, she said the concerns she heard most frequently were that they were concerned about consumers using the blog as a soundboard to vent all of their grievances on, or that having a blog would take up to much human power to monitor it. Ms. Huba suggested that while it is true that readers may leave many negative comments on the blog, at least these issues are being told to the company's face. Consumers are already voicing their issues and concerns about products and services anyway, so you as the company might as well hear it straight from them so that you can decide what to do with all of the instant feedback you'll receive, for better or worse.

The hour with Ms. Huba passed quickly - she was engaging and had intelligent, insightful comments and answers for us. I really appreciated her coming to talk to us, as well as for signing a copy of my book. :)