3 blogs, 2 Ning networks, 3 meet-ups and 3 Twitter accounts later, I admit defeat. It is folly. Something’s gotta give. Perhaps it’s a good time to kill off Girl about Web. Would I rather debate the London internet scene or the superiority of cowboy over English boots? You know the answer. See you at the Horselicious blog when it’s up.
June 28, 2009
May 16, 2009
Ning vs Meetup
Building a casual riders social network on Ning - FAIL. Creating a horse riding weekend meet-up on Meetup - WIN. Silicon Stilettos on Meetup - 300 passive members, on Ning - 113, but it’s a vibrant community. Do I grudge paying Meet-up £50 every six months? I don’t. Small price to pay to ‘eliminate the barriers to participation’. Could I have successfully built the Silicon Stilettos network without Ning? Doubtful. My web design skills are appalling. Sometimes trying a different platform really pays off.
So if you are a women in tech, start-up, social media, tech PR etc., join us at Silicon Stilettos on Ning.
If you want to go riding with a group over the weekend this summer - whether you have ever ridden or not, then Horselicious on Meet-up is where you should be at.
April 20, 2009
New home for my blog
I have been waiting for this moment for almost a year. Finally, Girl about Web is sitting on my own virtual server. It will take a few days for me to decide on a new theme and plug-ins, as well as fixing all the pics that seemed to have disappeared. Bear with me.
And since it’s all ‘changes, changes’, I will be making this blog a little bit more personal and publish some non-tech posts from now on.
April 3, 2009
March 24, 2009
When women ruled the world
This whole Ada Lovelace Day gave me a bit of a headache. You’d think to write about one woman in technology that you admire is a doddle. But I am not easily impressed. I hold many of my fellow tech ladies in awe: Amanda for organsing the global Twestival; Sarah for taking her GirlGeekDinners to places like Tauranga and Skopje and Gina Bianchini for freeing me from web development (Yay! I am building Silicon Stilettos on Ning).
Today, here’s to a very special lady who set up her first profitable company at 16. She used to ‘rule the world’ at Omnicom. Now she rules ‘one world’ from a shed in her parents’ garden. One who parties as hard as she works: who could possibly keep up with 50 networking nights in a row?
Ladies and gents, I give you Sophie Cox of Worldeka. If I managed to achieve as much as Sophie when I was her age, I would’ve been running my ranch in Colorado by now.
March 23, 2009
Bring back Das Mutterrecht!
I’m all for Kant’s categorical imperative , but this is taking the biscuit.
First-time author Megan Basham who produced ‘how to kill your financial independence for women’ is doing PR-rounds in the UK.
Amazon calls it: ‘a guide offering an alternative for women who do not want to join the corporate rat race explains how women can work from home by helping their spouses pursue a joint financial goal.’ Basham claims that women can opt out of the nine-to-five by and instead help their husbands’ careers and get ‘more fulfilment’ as a result.
Ready for the stats yet? ‘Men whose wives aren’t employed earn on average 31% more than single men, but for men whose wives have full-time jobs, that number drops to 3.4%.’ Apparently more traditionally marriages are less likely to end in a divorce. Bollocks to this.
We seem to have made no progress since the 19th century. Next year’s Amazon bestseller: ‘Women should give up their right to vote – ignorance IS happiness’
I weep.
January 15, 2009
Do you trust Paul Walsh?
Having been out all day in meetings today, I almost missed the ‘You’re a fuckwit. No, you’re a fuckwit’ palaver/exchange between @paulwalsh and @2it. I refer you to the Twitter Search for a full transcript.
Can you damage someone’s reputation over Twitter? I guess if you have a few thousands followers, you can have a pretty good stab at it. Imagine: your name and a ‘knob’ being retweeted a couple hundred times. Archived, never to be forgotten. It gives me goosebumps.
On the other hand, isn’t it your moral duty to warn a naïve flock of followers about the evil dentists, builders from hell and demonic recruiters? There are TV production companies that make a living out of this, you know.
Should you trust one person’s opinion just because they are an expert in the field or have a lot of contacts in the industry? Hey, I wouldn’t trust myself. Granted, I don’t recommend even my best friends for the job when I know they can’t handle it. Perversely, I don’t endorse those who fit the bill plainly because I hate their guts. Call me fickle. I’m only human.
My advice to you is trust ‘no one’. Well, maybe your mum. Before choosing a supplier, getting a new business partner on board or signing up a PR agency, ask as many people as you can. At least then, you will be safe in the knowledge that you’ve done everything possible to prevent a potential catastrophe.
@2it has lost no followers due to today’s debacle, on contrary he gained quite a few. See you tomorrow (oh dear, tonight!) at OpenSoho?
December 15, 2008
To lube or not to lube?
A few weeks back Durex’ PR agency contacted me to check whether I’d be interested doing something with them around Silicon Stilettos. I am yet to hear if they sponsor any upcoming meet-ups, but in the meantime I was offered 20 Play Os to give away. Recession? Freebies? Sure, I’ll take them.
And then, it struck me. I’m no sex blogger. What am I doing accepting Durex lube? Am I going to get people upset? Is it even appropriate? How different is a tube of lube from a moisturiser? What sets the Rampant Rabbit apart from the iPhone? In the end, I gave myself a massive headache. If only every girl read BitchBuzz…
Is Durex’s Play O worth me getting a migraine? You will have to judge it for yourself. There are 20 samples up for grabs. To get one, all you have to do is either post a comment or DM @huddlesuz, or drop me a line at zuzannaAThuddle.net.
December 9, 2008
Does your mother know?
I’ve just got back from a weekend visiting my parents. It went something like this:
Mum: So who do you do PR for these days?
Dad: She doesn’t work for a PR agency any more. She does marketing now.
Mum: No? Huddle doesn’t do PR? What does it do?
Dad: It’s an online system for knowledge management.
Mum: Oh really? I didn’t know.
Almost one year on and my mother has no clue what I do for living. And I thought explaining Twitter was going to be a challenge. My mother is a very well-educated woman. She’s not a complete technophobe either; knows how to send an email and owns an MP3 player.
How can I start telling her about Silicon Stilettos, Twit or Fit or even this blog? At least, we will always have Pushkin, Mum.
Я вас любил: любовь еще, быть может,
В душе моей угасла не совсем;
Но пусть она вас больше не тревожит;
Я не хочу печалить вас ничем.
Я вас любил безмолвно, безнадежно,
То робостью, то ревностью томим;
Я вас любил так искренно, так нежно,
Как дай вам бог любимой быть другим.
December 3, 2008
Secrets, Twitter and lies
They thought it was a joke. They said we would not go through with this. Yet, a ’secret project’ I have been involved it has got a launch date. All will be revealed on Monday, 15 December at Twinterval when Twit or Fit is officially launched.
If you have followed conversations between a small number of Twitterati about a month ago, then you should have a vague idea what our ’secret project’ is all about. Want to try it out before anyone else? I have 25 super special beta invites. Drop me a line at zuzannaAThuddle.net or @huddlesuz.
I can promise you one thing - you will have a lot of fun!
