I was recently interviewed by Alexa Lee of The Daily Universe, Brigham Young University’s student newspaper, for an article she was writing about twentysomethings who are successful at using new media as business ventures. I have provided a sneak peak of the article below.

(Please note: This is the first in a three part series – for the next two weeks I’ll post an additional questions that I was asked along with my answers.)

What got you started in new media?

I’ve always been an early adopter of technology and have found the internet to be a powerful place to connect with people in my offline social circle as well as to expand my network by finding people around the world who share the same interests – both personally and professionally. That being said, for me, exploring new media was a natural progression of trying online tools as they emerge. First it was instant messaging, then blogs, RSS feeds, social networks, etc.

Why do you think people use new media, why do you use new media, how do you use new media?

I think that people use new media for all the same reasons people use traditional media. These reasons include staying up-to-date on current events, connecting with friends, all sorts of research, etc. The fundamental concepts are all the same, it’s just that the tools have changed.

I use a variety of online tools to strengthen and to expand my network. Using Facebook and LinkedIn, I stay in touch with classmates, colleagues and other contacts I’ve made along the way. Through Twitter, I discover people with similar interests in my area and around the world and have immediate access to world changing events as they happen. Each site, in its own unique way, enables me to connect with thought leaders to create a community of professionals sharing resources and ideas, and that is truly empowering. Finally, my website serves as my online epicenter where all my online interactions come together. The blog I have there allows me to document my life and share my views.

I date. I dig Social Media. And I spend a lot of time thinking about both. Because the problem is, like I always say, that in dating and in social media, it’s the blind leading the blind. 

So when two articles came across my desk (well, my computer screen, to be really precise) yesterday about dating in a digital world, I was reassured that I’m not the only one grappling with questions such as Do Technologies Like Facebook, Twitter and Cellphones Affect Dating Compatibility? and Has Facebook has ruined the first date?

Well, now, I think it’s time to pin down some answers. And that is what has inspired the latest feature of “The Misadventures of Julie”: Dating 2.0 – DOs & DON’Ts.

Each week we’ll tackle a dating situation made sticky by this wired world we live in. I’ll ask for your opinion. I’ll give you mine. It’ll be fun, I promise. And maybe we’ll even set some standards along the way.

Without further ado, I give you this week’s digital dating dilemna:

You meet someone. You become Facebook friends. You want to get in touch with this person. You realize that he/she has his/her phone number is posted on his/her profile. Can you call him/her using the phone number found online? Or contact him/her in a different fashion and ask for his/her number that way? What do you think?

Read on to see what I have to say:

Julie’s Take:

I say it’s a “DO”. If a person’s information is available, he/she should be aware of the potential that others will find it.

For example, I have my phone number on my Facebook profile, although only for my friends and those I have met in real life. On the other hand, my address is much more protected and a more select group of people have access to it. 

However, use some common sense and take a second to think about how this person will react to your phone call. Does he/she know who you are? Has he/she expressed an interest in getting to know you better in any way? We may live in a Dating 2.0 world, but Dating 101 remains the same.

Have a Dating 2.0 question of your own? Submit it here and you may just see it on “The Misadventures of Julie” in the future!

I have recently been receiving quite a bit of traffic to this website from those who have specific questions about Facebook functionalities. If YOU are one of those people, I am more than happy to do my best to answer your question. To do so, simply submit it here.

If you’ve talked to me lately, you’ve probably heard about my frustration with Facebook status updates.

When the updates were first added as a Facebook feature during the Spring of 2006, the site was still only open to those with .edu addresses.

In fact, I distinctively remember first discovering status updates. I accidently put “Julie is Jeff’s” rather than “Julie is at Jeff’s” as one of my first statuses. They were that new that it was before I instinctively translated my thoughts into third-person snippets and formatted them to fit the “Julie is…” standard. I didn’t catch the error until Jeff pointed it out to me. And I remember being hugely embarrased by my Freudian slip. But I digress…

In the Spring of 2006, Facebook was still unknown to the general public and only used by college students. Status updates were to social networks what away messages had been to Instant Messaging services… And users weren’t afraid to push boundaries and include “not-for-adult-eyes” content since, well, there weren’t any adult eyes to see it.

But, here we are, three years later, and the landscape of social networks has obviously changed. Our safe playground is no more.

Currently, my status updates can only be seen by my “wide inner circle”… I’m still defining what that means, and I promise it’s the subject of a half-written blog post on Facebook privacy, but let’s just say that these are the people who are my “friends” and/or my high school and college classmates. Family members, colleagues and professional contacts compromise the majority of those excluded. Now, let’s be honest, as someone whose profession is the mastery of social media, I understand the consequences associated with anything created online – whether it has been restricted to certain users or not. As a result, my updates have evolved to be, for the most part, pretty benign. But I still don’t think my colleauges need to know when I’ve had a late night out and am struggling to keep up in the morning. (Not that I do that… frequently.)

But, by restricting these updates, I’m effectively limiting the power of Facebook since the focus of the site has shifted to exactly this feature  in the latest redesign. And the whole thing is compounded by the fact that Status and Shared Link privacy is a single control (also the subject of an upcoming blog post). Everyone who can’t see my statuses also can’t see my shared links. Let’s take a step back and think about this – a lot of the content I’m sharing on Facebook is local, since that’s what affects my daily life. Now, guess which of my Facebook contacts would benefit most from this content? Would it be the high school and college classmates who have now scattered all over the country, or would it be my colleagues and professional contacts who are DC-based? You see what I’m getting at?

So why not just give in, realize that Facebook has evolved, and open up my status to everyone? Well, because, that’s not how I’ve chosen to use Facebook. Instead, that’s how I leverage the power of my Twitter account. I use Twitter primarily in a professional capacity, sharing useful links and remembering that I must be well-behaved and well-spoken at all times. My Facebook friends DON’T CARE about developments in my industry. They want to know what’s happening in my personal life – presicely the information that my professional contacts don’t need to see…

What it comes down to is that I’m struggling, as is everyone else, to find a balance between managing my personal and business contacts. And when things are so interwoven (since you can bet that everyone in the Social Media space is on Facebook), things aren’t so easy.

I have recently been receiving quite a bit of traffic to this website from those who have specific questions about Facebook functionalities. If YOU are one of those people, I am more than happy to do my best to answer your question. To do so, simply leave your question in the form of a comment on this post. Hope this helps!

A few days ago, I had written a whole post (which is still in “draft” mode on my computer) about how every time Facebook changes its design, people get unnecessarily upset. The post went on to say that it’s was really a reflection of how it’s human nature to be inflexible and resistent to change. But, that was all before my account was updated with the new layout…

So, now, let me say that I am extremely disappointed in the latest redesign. I’m usually an avid Facebook supporter and could see the power of previous updates. This time around, I think Facebook has strayed from its core mission to make connecting with others easier. 

I really think that Facebook had almost perfected the “lifestreaming” concept. (In lifestream, your actions from within a site and from around the web are broadcast in chronological order – it really is a snapshot of the path you’ve taken on the internet.)

In this update, Facebook has segregated the way I see my friend’s actions on my “home” page. Status updates (and comments left for other people in the form of wall posts) are the primary focus, while joining of Groups, posting Photo Albums, and organizing Events are secondary. I think Facebook would have been wise to leave the home page alone except for having the page self-update. (This was previously possible to achieve by choosing the “live feed” option rather than the standard “top stories”. The page would automatically update as Facebook contacts took actions on the site.)

With this update, the way my actions are displayed has changed on my profile as well. I HATE the way that the “recent activity” is lumped together. Again, I liked that people could see that I had posted something, added pictures, joined a group, etc. Now the main focus is on comment and status updates. (A smaller point is that they’ve removed the option to pick how visible stories appear – before you could choose how prominently and how much information/space was given to each action.)

During the last redesign, individuals who so chose were able to provide feedback on upcoming changes. I wish that Facebook had leveraged the community once again this time around — maybe that would have helped flesh out some of the more misguided updates.