2 Social Networking Peeves

You know what I’ve noticed? Social networking has become, like, the hub of our collective lives. Or, well, the dramatic parts anyway.

Take Facebook, for instance (just one of a great many examples). I can sign on at any time of the day, and with a few minutes of scrolling, figure out what’s going on with a lot of people. Theoretically, this should be the best possible place to get news or information about the people we care about.

Except for two things. (Well, there’s probably more, but I’m just going to highlight these two.)

1. Some people have discovered that these public forums are a good place to whine about their poor, sad existences in order to garner instant sympathy.

2. Others have discovered that these same public forums are a great place for publicity, and so they fill every post with, “buy my___” or “I’m doing this, come see me” or “I know you’re so excited about me, me, me”.


Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to post about each of those subjects occasionally, sparingly. But I also think it’s important to have other updates in between. Let’s face it, no one wants to see how poor picked on you are 100% of the time, and if you never post anything entertaining, or of value to others, it’s highly likely you’re about to get unfollowed, unfriended, or hidden. Or in the worst cases, maybe even blocked.

The same rule applies to self promotion. Social networking sites are perfect for it. But if the only comments you ever make are all about your book or product, and you never take the time to give back to your collective following (chat, say something funny, comment on the weather or other people's statuses, whatever), people are likely to be more annoyed than glad for your potential success.

But I’m not an expert. This is strictly an opinion (or rant) based on my own experiences and observations. So I’d love to hear what you think about this phenomenon. Do you think it’s important to balance our social networking updates or posts?

My Book is Here and a HUGE GIVAWAY for Charity!!!

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here! Today, I got a box of books. Guess who’s names are on the cover? Mine. And my co-author’s, too. But my books are here! Check them out.

Awesome, right? Don’t forget, you’re all invited to the launch party for a rare opportunity to buy your copy and get it signed by both authors, as well as a few of the story contributors. And if you can’t make it to the launch, no worries. Cindy and I will also be signing in various locations in Utah during the month of December. Check out the sidebar for dates and locations and come see us!

For all you out of state people who are dying to get your hands on a copy, you can buy a copy here, or look here to find out how to get an autographed copy for a limited time.

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the big giveaway of the Original Scrapbox! This is by far the coolest, biggest giveaway I’ve ever participated in. And you, my fair readers, have a rare opportunity to enter to win.

The Original Scrapbox Gives Back with the 12 Blogs of Christmas December 4-11, 2009 GRAND PRIZE WINNER announced December 14, 2009

There are 12 ways to win and 12 blogs to visit to enter with a special way to help The Original Scrapbox give back!

Enter to win a NEW EZ View Desktop and an entry in the Grand Prize Giveaway for a NEW EZ View Craft Desk from www.theoriginalscrapbox.com for FREE! Your entries will help The Original Scrapbox GIVE 2 of these desks to charity!

Yes—these are two separate items. The desktop is not a desk, it is designed to sit on a table or desktop and the drawers can be pulled open from either end. Click here to see more pictures and details of the EZ View Desktop.

One of the newest products at The Original Scrapbox.com is the EZ View Craft Desk. This desk is designed with a clear, glass-like top and the dimensions are 50"W x 25" D x 31" H
The desk is big, with 4 drawers with built-in partitions for easy organizing on any home project. How would you like one for FREE? 

Enter this giveaway for a chance to win a FREE EZ View Desktop and for a chance to be put in the grand prize drawing for the EZ View Craft Desk.

Contest ends December 11, 2009 at 11:59pm

The drawing for the EZ View Desktop will take place on December 12th.

The Grand Prize Drawing for the EZ View Craft Desk will take place on December 14, 2009.

How will The Original Scrapbox give back?

We will be tracking web traffic to The Original Scrapbox during the giveaway. When we reach 12,000 hits during our giveaway The Original Scrapbox will donate an EZ View Craft Desk to the Friends of Utah County Children’s Justice Center. This charity helps abused children.

‘Tis the season of giving and The Original Scrapbox wants to give back to a charity of your choosing. When we reach 25,000 hits during our giveaway they will also donate an EZ View Craft Desk to a charity nominated by you!!

Would you like to nominate a charity to receive this spectacular gift? Please send an email to RachellewritesATgmail.com with the name of your charitable organization as well as a description of what they do. We would like to choose a charity that will be able to utilize the EZ View Craft Desk in their program. Tell Rachelle why these products would benefit your charity.
Email the charity organization name, description, and contact person for receiving donations to
RachellewritesATgmail.com

Rachelle will review all nominations and The Original Scrapbox giving board will choose a recipient.

When you visit the website to choose your favorite product and enter the giveaway, you’ll help us get one step closer to our goal.

Enter to win:

You may earn 1 entry each for doing the following (Please make a separate comment for each entry-I'll be checking.)Make sure your contact info is easily accessible so I can contact you if you win: No purchase necessary to enter. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.

*Note: the contest will be open to residents of UK and EU countries as well as the United States and Canada.

You must at least do entry #1 to be eligible for this contest. Visit the website--every hit counts toward our goal to help The Original Scrapbox give back for Christmas!

1. You must visit The Original Scrapbox website to be eligible for this contest. Choose your favorite product. Leave a comment here and tell me what your favorite is and how you would use this product.

2. Become a Facebook fan of The Original Scrapbox here. Leave me a comment telling me you did this—and as much as I trust you all, I promised the company I will actually check that you actually did this.

3. Facebook the contest and share the link back to this post.

4. Tweet about this contest with link backs here (copy and paste http://nicholegiles.blogspot.com/ right into the text box).

5. Follow me on Facebook (Click on my Facebook box in the sidebar). You can also become a fan of Mormon Mishaps and Mischief on Facebook. I'll count two if you do both.

6. Become a follower on my blog (yes, this one) and add http://nicholegiles.blogspot.com to your link list.

7. Sign up for my newsletter-- email: writenicholeAT gmail.com with subscribe in subject box.

8. Add my button (available on my sidebar) or my Scrapbox button or banner to your sidebar/blog.

9. Comment on any non-contest post (must contribute to the conversation).

Receive 5 entries for the following (Make 5 separate comments so I can keep track of the entries. Thanks!)

10. Blog about this contest with a picture of the Workbox and the EZ View Craft Desk. If you have a private blog, it will not be eligible for this part of the contest. In your blog post, please use the tags: The Original Scrapbox, Scrapbook storage, Workbox, EZ View Craft Desk, and Nichole Giles. Link back to me, http://www.nicholegiles.blogspot.com/ and / or any of the other 11 bloggers participating. We all appreciate it!

There are 12 ways to win and 12 blogs to enter with a special way to help The Original Scrapbox give back!

There are 11 other awesome bloggers holding a contest to give away an EZ View Desktop (Yes, 12 EZ View Desktops will be given away—one from each blog!) and at each of these blogs you can also enter for the GRAND PRIZE-- EZ VIEW Craft Desk. Stop by their blogs and enter for more chances to win:

LifeasLou

Vanilla Joy

PriscillaStyles

Capadia Designs

Crafty Makes

Just Me,My Soldier and My Two Little Chicks

Rachelle's Writing Spot

Auntie Thesis

Park City Girl

Lovely Little Handmades

Queen of the Clan

Get as many entries as you can by telling your friends about this contest and stay tuned to my blog for more incredible giveaways! Good luck and remember to follow the rules correctly to earn more entries in the contest. Contest ends December 11, 2009 at 11:59pm.

On December 12, 2009, I will announce the name of one winner of the EZ View Desktop available in black or vanilla color from my blog. That winner will then go on for the grand prize drawing of The EZ View Craft Desk at Rachellewrites. If you are the winner, I'll email you and you must respond by December 13th or a new winner will be selected to go on for the Grand Prize.

Then on December 14, 2009, Rachellewrites.blogspot.com will hold a drawing using Random.org to select one winner from the 12 entries to win The EZ View Craft Desk! That winner will need to contact her with their shipping info by December 16th or another winner will be randomly selected. Sorry, there is no Christmas delivery guarantee.

*All comments on my blog are moderated, so if yours doesn’t show up right away, don’t panic! I check all comments before I post them to my blog.


**One prize per person.  Each entrant may only win one EZ View Desktop and one entry into the grand prize drawing. 

If Life Were Like Facebook

©By Nichole Giles

If life were like Facebook...

Poking someone you’ve only ever met once would be a perfectly acceptable form of greeting.

You get to choose whether or not to be friends with someone—and you can take all the time you need to decide. Confirm or deny?

Hitting your family and friends in various body parts with different types of food would be considered a daily dinner ritual.

No one could make the claim that they had more friends than someone else unless it was really true.

Everyone in the world could be friends with a celebrity or two. Or fifty.

Psychics would lose their jobs because people could tell their own futures, including day and time of death, by taking a quiz.

You could ignore people without being obvious.

Single people would never again have to endure those tired pickup lines. Instead, the dating ritual would be reduced to super-soakers filled with love potion.

You could easily hide that obnoxious person who drives you crazy. They could keep being themselves, and you wouldn’t have to know about it.

You never have to wonder where your friends are, because everyone always checks in to tell you where they are and what they’re doing. Ex: So-and-so just went to the grocery store to hit the big toilet paper sale.

Having someone kidnap you to a foreign country would be considered a gesture of friendship.

TV would become obsolete as the world watched real-life personal drama unfold on their newsreel.

When someone made you mad, you could get back at them by tagging them in an embarrassing photo and sharing it with all of their friends, and yours too.

It would be completely acceptable to write on people’s walls.

And finally, everyone you know would have a successful, thriving farm.

You Too, Can Make a Difference

This week's random stuff:

It's been a while since I gave something cool away. I recall promising to give away a gift certificate to a Utah restaurant a few weeks ago--however, said certificate has temporarily disappeared. (Hazard of owning more than one purse and having to swap contents regularly.) In any event, I still have other things to give away until that particular prize shows up again. So, keep reading to find out what I'm giving away this week and what you should do to enter.

Okay, next, I'm getting excited about the release of Mormon Mishaps and Mischief: Hilarious Stories for Saints. It doesn't hit shelves until December, but that'll be here before we know it. Come find us on Facebook, or read updates about our book at the Humor Blog. (Our being mine with my coauthor Cindy Beck.)

Also, today I blogged about making tough decisions over at LDS Writer's Blogck. Check it out and leave me lots of comments. (Because, all bloggers just love comments.)

And best of all, in honor of last night's wicked awesome Nickelback concert, I'm posting this video. I truly believe that we all have the power to change the world, so this is inspiring to me.







Now, about the contest. This week I've decided to give away a fun book of mazes called The A-MAZE-ing Book of Mormon by Arie Van DeGraaff. This book is super fun, and full of mind-bending mazes that will keep you / your child busy and quiet for hours. Plus, the illustrating is amazing. Oh, and it's autographed.

To win, you can do a few things:

1. Leave a comment here telling me what you can do to change the world--even if it's just for one person.

2. Check out Arie Van DeGraaff's website or blog and leave a comment telling him I sent you. (Following him is also a great idea.) Oh, and then make sure you tell me you visited--so I know.

3. Log onto Facebook and become a fan of Mormon Mishaps and Mischief. (That's my book that will be released in December!) We love fans! Ooh, and one extra entry for everyone that invites lots of their friends to become fans too. Yes, definitely.

Do one or all of these things by no later than midnight next Wednesday, September 3rd, and you'll be automatically entered to win.

Just in case lady luck is not with you this week, and you want to buy your very own copy of this awesome book for children, click here.

That's it. Good luck everyone!

Nichole