SAFUN

One of the coolest things about working in my industry and doing what I do for the Rackspace Cloud is that I get to see all the innovative things people are doing on the Internet. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in America and since everyone needs a place to a host their website, I am fortunate enough to work with many of these passionate and talented people, including San Antonian, Magaly Chocano.

Back in August, I came across a TIME article titled “New Ways to Create iPhone Apps on the Cheap.” I had just purchased my iPhone so any iPhone app article interested me. The company was SwebApps. After reading through the article, I noticed that they were a San Antonio based startup. I was instantly proud that we had a tech start up right here in San Antonio. Then I thought, “I wonder where they are hosted?”  Turns out they were a Rackspace Cloud customer. I invited Magaly, CEO and Founder of SwebApps, to the Rackspace Cloud office. What a treat! I had the opportunity to interview her and do a blog posting. Turns out, we knew many of the same people through various connections.

Just recently, she entered in our Super Bowl Contest and submitted an extremely cool video. Magaly is not only a successful businesswoman but a talented musician. The contest asked customers to submit a video on why they have the coolest business on the Rackspace Cloud and this is what we received from SwebApps:

There’s something about the Weston Centre in downtown San Antonio.  Louis always waves to you as you enter the parking garage, Morris and Hilton always greet you with your first name as you walk to the elevator and Bee from the café, Panache, always has a big smile on her face. It’s a warm and familiar place and doesn’t feel like your typical office building. In an upscale law office high rise, Rackers stand out like sore thumbs.  In my 7 years of working for Rackspace / ServerBeach, my job has taken me back to the Weston Centre 3 times.

As a Racker, you learn to be a nomad. I started at Rackspace in the Broadway building for 3 months, moved to the Paragon building to work for ServerBeach for 6 months until we moved to join the rest of Rackspace at the Weston Centre. I remember literally rolling my desk chair with all my belongings down Pecan Street to the Weston Centre building.  We worked at the Weston Centre until we outgrew the space. Rackspace moved headquarters while ServerBeach stayed at the Weston Centre. I left with Rackspace. After a year, I actually came back to the Weston Centre to work for ServerBeach again. ServerBeach finally outgrew the space and moved headquarters. After working for ServerBeach for 4 years, I returned to Rackspace but this time working for the Cloud Division. And guess where The Rackspace Cloud was living? That’s right, the Weston Centre.

Rackspace is moving headquarters to the refurbished Windsor Park Mall which we have renamed “The Castle.” The Rackspace Cloud’s last day at the Weston Centre is today. This time, I think my move away from the Weston Centre will be permanent. A Racker wrote this really kind email to The Rackspace Cloud staff with his thoughts on the move (I reposted to The Rackspace blog). I actually got teary eyed and that might be because I am an emotional person to begin with but nonetheless, it brought back memories. So what are my special memories from the Weston Centre?

1-     This is the place where I met Jason, my husband. Sounds so cheesy but I do remember the first time meeting him.

2-     I attended my first Rackspace holiday party at the Weston Centre. These were the days we’d always end up at Daven Port’s.

3-     The days when you didn’t know what to eat and ended up at Lula’s

4-     The fabulous Fiesta party the Weston Centre puts together for the River Parade

5-     Panache bean and cheese tacos are the best!

6-     Most recently, my long but fun walks to Starbucks with my marketing team

7-     Morris & Hilton– The friendliest guys I have ever met. They are always laughing about something.

8-     Rubbing shoulders with lawyers and feeling so under dressed.

9-     Even though I never went to Bill Miller’s I feel like did go because every day at least 1 person picked up Bill Miller’s.

10-  I can’t forget every weekend going out on the town and parking at the Weston Centre!

The Weston Centre is definitely a special place in San Antonio and will be missed!

The term “cloud computing” is becoming more mainstream (it’s on today’s Dilbert comic strip!). In the 90’s, it used to be that only IT professionals knew anything about building an infrastructure in a data-center, developing web applications and serving data over the web. For everyone else, the extent we knew about computers was to create word documents, spreadsheets, and maybe store photos. We always kept our data stored safely on our computer at home.

Today, more and more people are signing onto the Internet and utilizing platforms like Facebook or Twitter to communicate, Flickr to store photos, Wordpress for online journals, eBay or Craigslist to sell items. With cheaper hardware, faster networks, tech-savvy entrepreneurs are building platforms where end users can easily upload their data to share with the world. Most importantly, these platforms are developed with simplicity so anyone can virtually use them. My grandmother,  who didn’t grow up in a world with computers, very easily created herself a Facebook account. So every time you upload a photo to Flickr, send a message on Facebook, update your status on Twitter or write a post on your WordPress blog, do you wonder where it’s going? Many people don’t really know or care until their data is either gone or their information has been compromised.

When you hear the term cloud computing, this is the place where your data is going. If your data is important to you, it’s important that you know where your data is going. In some cases, it’s worth paying for a service to ensure your data is backed up and secure.

Here’s a link to a video (couldn’t embed) that CNN recently produced explaining cloud computing in it’s simplest terms. (I also encourage you to read the entire article):

My father called me yesterday and said “Hey did hear about the blog and advertising regulation?” He was listening to NPR and they were covering a story on the recent Federal Trade Commission announcement regarding rules that require bloggers and tweeters to publicly disclose if they are being paid by advertisers.

Any news regarding social media, Rackspace or technology in general – a family member will always contact Jason or I. Forget about me checking Virl.com everyday – I have my family to keep me posted!

So I checked the article he was referring to and read about the updated FTC rules. Basically if you are blogging or tweeting for money, you need to make that clear to your readers and followers.

First, let me just say that my blog: safun.com is a personal blog and nobody pays me to write anything. I write because I like to write. What I choose to write about are strictly personal interests and experiences.

Before the Internet, word of mouth marketing was simply one individual telling another individual in person about a product they used and liked – it was maybe over lunch or coffee or at a bar. More than likely, that person was not getting paid to tell their friends about a product. The Internet, and specifically these new social media platforms, allows people to do word of mouth marketing at an exponential level. Rather than telling one person, you can tell 100 at a time.

Companies have been catching on and are shifting from traditional advertising to a more grassroots approach because it’s now easier to do so with all the latest social media tools available. However, it’s unfortunate because advertisers are paying the well respected popular bloggers and tweeters to promote their product and aren’t making it clear they are getting paid to do so. The Internet allows you to be very deceiving.

Do you remember one of the first YouTube video blogs – LonelyGirl15? It was this girl that video blogged from her bedroom. She was this cute, innocent looking girl that talked about her simple, but real life and all the drama that came with it. People were drawn to her and she grew a fan base quickly. After episodes of watching, people became suspicious of her realness. Turns out, she was an actress! Bummer! It just shows how easy it is to not tell the truth on the Internet and yet seem very believable.

I think the FTC won’t be able to control everything simply because the magnitude of the Internet; it just doesn’t seem doable. However, I do believe that it is important that anyone adding content to the public Internet, if they are doing it for money, they need to make that clear. It’s not fair for readers to not know.

And readers, make sure you know what you’re reading. Advertisers are taking over and the charm in social media platforms is slowly diminishing. Although I do think Facebook has done it right so far. (Can you believe I didn’t say Twitter?)

I had the opportunity to attend the Twitter Conference in LA this past week. You may not get Twitter so you may wonder, what the heck is a Twitter conference? People come together to talk about this disruptive platform Twitter – how does one use Twitter, why does one use Twitter, best & worst practices on Twitter, tips and tricks for Twitter. It’s a Twitterathon and it’s lots of fun!

A Twitter conference in Los Angeles is a bit different than any other Twitter conference, I’m sure. We had celebrity guests such as Tony Hawk, Chamillionaire, Dr. Drew, Levar Burton (my childhood idol), Tyrese and yes, even Pee Wee Herman (Jason’s childhood idol) himself made a guest appearance. I actually got to witness Pee Wee Herman do his very first Tweet. I took a photo and here is also a video that Scott Beale of Laughing Squid took:

Twitter is making a lot of noise and it can be overwhelming to keep up with. I really liked Tony Robbins speech and he said that he likes to think of Twitter as more like a “Trigger.” It’s an opportunity to initiate a connection but doesn’t substitute for a human relationship. And it’s easy to get so consumed with all the noise but he said “Don’t let technology use you; you use technology.” This sat really well with me. You may have read my previous post on Twitter but if not, I’d like to just reinstate why I use Twitter. I think it’s an opportunity to help, inspire and connect with others. Often times, we get so consumed by the negative coming out of the media that it overshadows the good in the world. Yes, many do use Twitter to spread negativism but because I can choose who I follow and what I want to hear, I see more positive than negative. And for me, I can now influence others even outside my own local community. The way we communicate is changing and we are able have an impact others at  an exponential level. However, the fundamentals of human relationships remain the same.