I’m pleased with how my Interview with Rae Hoffman aka “Sugarrae” went. I’m a working mother with spouse, house, pets, and lots of commitments and responsibilities. I’ve long dreamed of having my own office outside my home. Rae has achieved milestones and worked harder than most might in her set of circumstances.

On affliliate marketing, Rae states:

I see those who “get” the challenges coming up getting pretty damn sophisticated at what they do, myself included. I see those who refuse to evolve watching their checks get smaller and smaller as more time passes. I definitely see the opportunities for people who understand affiliate marketing in addition to audience development and SEO growing, even if I don’t see the number of people taking them (or who have the skills to take them) doing so.

I invite you to get to know her in Smart, Driven and Air Guitar Ready, Sugarrae, view the videos and if you’re a member, take the interview for a Sphinn.

One of the reasons Rae stands out is she speaks her mind. She, like me and many of us, may at some point say something that others disagree with. I’m becoming more and more convinced that online communication is an art form, or at least, something to be taken seriously if you want to be understood the way you intended.

This article, Putting our Hot Heads Together, by Carolyn Wood, discusses forums and blog communities and how to discuss or debate and still be civil. It’s one of the smartest articles I’ve seen on this topic. As she says, it’s more than understanding and applying basic netiquette. It’s understanding when private should remain remain private. We can ignore trolls, grumps and “people who’ve got some sort of wedgie problem goin’ on”. She writes:

Even when we disagree with the author, we don’t need to take the directly opposing view—even if the author is cruisin’ for a bruisin’. Like taco drive-ins and 401K programs, arguments in online magazines offer more than two choices. We can go for the prize behind Door Number Three: the Great Idea or small suggestion that actually moves the conversation forward, that clarifies or sharpens the points in the article and suggests an even better way—one that transcends two bitterly different views. It’s here, at the juncture of opposing opinions and a third alternative, or a fourth, that we may come closer to a truth that improves one corner of the web.

A List Apart, always a premier source of intelligent, thought provoking articles, has also released Deafness and the User Experience (Discussion at Cre8asiteforums in our Usability Forum here.)

To provide better user experiences for the Deaf, we need to stop thinking of deafness as simply the inverse of hearing—we need to understand deafness from both a cultural and linguistic perspective. Moreover, to enhance the online user experience for the deaf, we must understand how deafness influences web accessibility.

Don’t forget - The Survey For People Who Make Web Sites, which closes August 26.

With online reputation management topics being hot, this may be of interest. Blogger sued for $20 million for calling a business a “scam”.

The legal rights of bloggers are murky. What rights belong to Leslie and bloggers like her who express opinions and review products and businesses on the web? What does the First Amendment mean to bloggers and do bloggers need protection beyond the rights protected by the US Constitution?

And finally, when you Tweet, it could end up on some news site somewhere.

My 5 seconds of fame.

What a wild year. I hit an age milestone and one child has grown up and is training me on how to be the mother of someone who has her own car, job, boyfriend and still never makes her bed.

School is almost out for the summer. Already my son finished the baseball season for team number one, and now he’s on his second team, where they play into July. They’ve only lost one game so far. Freshman high school football camps and practice for him start the week after school ends. Hockey in the morning for him ends this Friday. No more waking up at 5:30 am! Yay!

We’re replacing carpet, painting rooms, building another deck, and making way for a hot tub given to us by a friend.  I still haven’t finished the veggie garden, so we’ll have harvest in December.  No vacation or trips to conferences, but I’m helping to plan a local SEO gig for the Fall.

While home life is complete chaos and I’m officially “old” and not sexy/attractive anymore (according to marketers and porn sites), I’m still working and supplying web site usability support to search engine marketers and web site companies and enjoying my volunteer local web site projects (doc.).

As some of you may know, I’m also creating and building a new web site called Akesana.com. A MySpace page for Akesana was set up to blog on the progress.

A wee bit of a tease…

Akesana.com is the brain child of Kim Krause Berg, aka “Cre8pc”. World weaving requires an open mind and the capacity to love. We’re not just talking about selective open minds. We’re not talking about regulated love. To understand Akesana is to walk into a world where touch and connections are not taboo and energy is creative, curious, and welcoming. You may be surprised to find string theory, art and web site design - all in one site. Few will understand Akesana. Some may have the courage to visit but few will remain there. Because what we’ll create is going to be painful.

My friend, Donna Fontenot, has some new projects going too. One of them is for SEO and related bloggers.

Do we still need Meta Keywords?. I just about forgot we ever used them. Ammon Johns delights with:

There is a (sneaky) use of keywords however. You use it to deliberately mislead your competitors keyword research.

Did you know Cre8asiteforums has a Tech News Reporter?. We never stop trying new things there. This idea was started by a member and we supported him.

Of course, you have to still believe in forums. I do.

The May 2008 issue of the Journal of Usability Studies is out now.

The Search Engine College has a new course Article Marketing and Distribution! (And will have more if I ever get my act together and write the two I proposed, in addition to my existing Web Site Usability Course.)

I’m Reading (Thanks to a lot of birthday gift cards from those who know I’m a bookaholic!)

The Elegant Universe. Weird how this book came into my life. I have no recall on how I came to know the book but it fits perfectly with what’s been going on in my head.

Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now and A New Earth, because so many people recommended them.

Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by Luke Wroblewski. I couldn’t wait to buy his book. Nobody knows forms better than Luke.

Building powerful and robust websites with Drupal 6.

In the “Nobody Cares Kim Department”

I love to stir-fry and my step-son chose a new Wok to give me for my birthday. This pork stir fry idea turned out well. If you have any favorites, I’d love to hear about them. It’s the easiest way to get veggies into the kids. Except for zucchini. The youngest one thinks I’m trying to kill him when I make zukes.

Graduation party on Saturday night with family. Then “senior week”, where my kid opted to go to Canada rather than the beach. (Free place to stay sells.) I squished out more funds to help her buy her first car. A 1995 Saturn coupe with 50,000 miles on it. It’s not the Eclipse she wanted. Poor baby.

Her college forms are almost done.

Can hardly believe I’m sending a kid to college who begged for a Hannah Montana Toothbrush last Christmas.

I got a message from Facebook today. Someone indicated I am “hot” in one of those “Compare” applications. I accepted this word graciously offered to me and clung to it like a cat pouncing a mouse.

Facebook has been interesting to explore. MySpace has a cluttered, chaotic user interface that confuses the hell out of me. Facebook is organized and loaded with more ways to connect with and keep track of friends. Not a day goes by where someone is stuck in a bus or elevator, having a terrible day, promoting a blog post, breaking up, or matching me in my taste for food, sex, life, movies, books, and what I’d do if I could start all over again in life.

If you’re sensitive, not being voted as “hot”, “most desirable”, “pretty”, “handsome”, “most want to date” or “best hair” can ruin your week. Facebook can boost your ego and kick it down. Since I’ve never been voted “hot” before, I’ve had some days where this really ticked me off. Am I too old? Am I not pretty enough? Am I fat?

And then there’s Twitter. I gave it a shot. I don’t think I’m cut out for it. You see, when I “talk” to somebody by name, and they don’t respond to me, I wonder what I did to deserve being ignored. Not everyone is on Twitter when you are. Chances are, I didn’t do anything to be snubbed, but communication online may not be what human beings were designed to do.

Not me, anyway.

I’m one of those energy and vibration persons. For me, I get more information by what’s not spoken. I do the soul-to-soul, look into a person’s eyes kind of contact. For me, the Internet has always been a constant communication lesson. It’s also an experiment in how or if I will adapt.

Maybe it’s younger people raised on the Internet who need less human touch to understand another person?

I’m old school, from the days of hippies and wild, vibrant colors. I hug. I touch. I ask tons of questions of someone who fascinates me. When I really like someone, it’s because I admire something about them and want to learn whatever they’re willing to teach me. This may be why I’ve kept Cre8asiteforums going for so long (it debuted in 1998 in an earlier form). I can’t physically sit with all the people I want to know but I appreciate whatever they’re willing to type and share.

In a forum, people develop a sense of community. They bond. In Facebook and Twitter, I don’t sense this same feeling. In Facebook, for example, there is a Top Friends application. If someone claims you are a “top friend” and you don’t even know them, what do you do? With Twitter, there are “followers” and those you “follow”. You don’t have to follow those who follow you, but if you don’t, doesn’t that feel rude?

And then there’s times when you had a Facebook or Twitter friend, and they suddenly dump you. How do people today define “Friend”?

For me, a friend is someone who talks to me and doesn’t make me guess what the hell is going on. In real life, friends can sit with you. You can look at them. See their face. Study their vibe. You can tell when something’s up. Not online. It just was never intended to work that way.

Sometimes I think I’m not cut out for the Internet. It’s far too easy to be misunderstood when the thing that separates you from another person is a keyboard. Even a user interface can put roadblocks in your way. Twitter doesn’t allow emoticons to help express the meaning behind words, for example.

I can tell that I surprise some people when they meet me for the first time. I can be professional. I can be corny. I’ve noticed that some people will talk to me in person but won’t respond to me online. Mike Grehan recently wrote,

I remember arriving and bumping into the wonderfully warm and huggy Kim Krause (yes, the very same Kim Krause spotted on stage singing in a New York nightclub last week!).

It’s easy to be “warm and huggy” when I’m in a situaiton where I know that Kim won’t freak out anyone. I still make the mistake of touching a knee and scaring the crap out of the person because they’re not used to being touched. It’s not like I just jumped into their lap or anything. It’s a knee and I was likely laughing my head off at the same time, not drooling or begging for a wild night in bed.

Which brings me full circle back to Facebook and not being “hot” enough. How would anyone know if I am or not?

With social networking web sites, we can put up anything we want to. We can present any persona we want to. I like to mix my professional identity with the rest of me because in my work, much of me leaks in anyway. I really do care about the web sites I work on. I really do care about my clients and helping them. I really do appreciate their trust and faith in me. I’m loyal to my return clients and give them discounts. I really do refer my partners to companies seeking good help.

Clients don’t want me to be “hot” and I understand that being hot won’t bring me in new business. User generated content and feedback like games, comments, testimonials, and remarks about you are validating, however. Some days you just want to know you’re more than words on a page.

I often wonder about the “social” web and what we’re trying to create with it. I may never be satisfied with the Internet user experience.

It has yet to be able to give me a real live hug.

I caved. I knew I would, once I read Jennifer Laycock’s series, From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too. Anything that sidetracks me from work is a threat in my book. However, Twitter isn’t so bad.

The final push for me was that I miss my friends. Travel for me this year is all up in the air. There’s a lot going on at home with my college bound daughter and highly involved sports and musician oriented son. Not to mention a heavy workload. With Twitter, you can control the conversation and how it gets to you. You don’t even have to participate. You can be surrounded by your friends and just listen (read) the conversations.

Within the first few minutes of joining Twitter, I reconnected with an old friend, John Rhodes. As I began to see who among my friends is already setup with Twitter and I watched for awhile, it occurred to me that Twitter is like walking into the local bar.

Kinda like the TV show “Cheers”, where the regulars were like family. I keep waiting for someone to yell out, “Norm!”

I balked at Facebook, and ended up liking it. I balked at Twitter and so far, it’s been nothing but fun. I’ve picked up some leads to articles and other things related to work that I may have missed if not for Twitter.

The Grumpy Stubborn Kim act isn’t very convincing, is it.

Twitter folks can find me here.

Bring pretzels.

I was approached by a friend with an idea. It went along the lines of “What if we get a group together to promote this cause ….” and from that point on my imagination soared with what-ifs and can-we’s.

And I wondered about the can of worms we might be opening.

Those of you in Facebook know from experience that when someone who is your “friend” joins a cause, everyone gets a notice about it. After awhile, we begin to get a sense of what our friends are interested in, besides work. We can gauge how well matched we are, how different we might be from each other and see sides of friends we never knew about.

Also, in Facebook, we get alerts whenever someone signs up to be a fan of someone or something. We pick who is the “Most Beautiful”, “Who is Funniest”, and rate everything from smiles to who we’d like to marry. Some of it’s fun and games. Some of it is honest insight, such as when a friend backs a certain politician and it’s announced to everyone on their friends list.

When you do business with peers or are friends with CEO’s and company owners who have Facebook pages and profiles, is there a point where you think to yourself, “I didn’t need to know that” when they post something they’ve joined? If someone’s “status” is, “I’m naked in bed with my laptop”, is this TMI (Too Much Information)?

I remember how freeing it was when Threadwatch ran a long thread a few years back about SEO’s who work from home. It was a coming out party of men and a few women who admitted to working naked or in their PJ’s, odd hours and in varying environments, from home to Starbucks to heck, likely a few bars.

Is Social Networking Coming at a Price?

The social media networking phase of the Internet experience has allowed us to meet and talk to each other. It also lets us share bits and pieces of ourselves as if we were eating lunch at the same table at school and sitting with our group, or attending a company picnic and throwing horse shoes with fellow employees.

In other words, we’re starting to hang out together, as well as also doing business with each other. We’re moving beyond a professional networking, spell checked, politically correct version of ourselves and into a “This is the real me” version, where we’re more willing to share our interests and life events outside of work.

Instead of rows and rows of employment “cube farms” where you pop up over the wall to share potato chips with your neighbor and gossip about the manager, there’s now IM and Twitter. It’s easy to type that spontaneous thought begging to be leaked out and in seconds, it’s out there and going all over the place to who knows who?

Does this matter?

If a group of your industry peers banded together to support a cause you don’t believe in, would you not do business with them?

If a group of your industry peers supported a political view or candidate, set up a web site and promoted themselves as supporters, and you strongly disagree with that view or candidate, would you feel differently about them? Enough to not associate with them? Work with them? Refer work to them?

In some ways, this is like joining a forums where you feel you fit. You like how you’re treated there and the people have similar beliefs or attitudes as you do. I’m reminded of blog writing, when we had asked if it’s proper to write about our personal lives in our business or professional blogs.

Whenever we remove our mask and people see the real us, there’s a risk. How much of yourself are you willing to reveal? Is it important to doing business online?

What do you think? Does someone’s choices in their personal life alter your opinion of their business services?

Would you have the courage to stand up and defend a cause you believe in, and bring attention to it in your web site or blog if you could, even though it has nothing to do with your business, products or services?

Added: Discussion Could What You Stand Up For Detract From Your Reputation?