Socialize!  Find us here--->>
GANEPossible.com
  • Welcome!
    • #Write2TheEnd
    • Press / Media
    • GANE Possible Calendar
  • GANE Momentum
  • GANE Insight
    • GANE Insight Blog

GANE Insight: Kim Jorgensen Gane's Blog

I'm no longer directionally challenged--I have a clear vision to celebrate #MOREin2014 via GANEPossible.com. Preempting my novel in progress, Bluebirds, I'm very close to releasing my first GANE Possible publication (prescriptive "Dr. Mom" nonfiction), Beating the Statistics: A Mother's Quest to Reclaim Fertility, Halt Autism & Help Her Child Grow From Behavior Failure to Behavior Success. I'm also working on completing my memoir, My Grandfather's Table: Learning to Forgive Myself First.

It took a lifetime to get here. This blog documents my quest to self-fulfillment through my writing, and ultimately to shifting my focus to Beating the Statistics & My Grandfather's Table and speaking about them. They are the wellness and the memoir parts of my journey that had to be told, so that Bluebirds can one day be the meaningful, but fictional *story* it aspires to be.

Follow Kim on Facebook

Open Letter to Sheryl Sandberg: Crackbook Saved My Sanity but Now We Need to LEAN on Other Platforms

4/14/2014

4 Comments

 
Dear Sheryl (I can call you Sheryl, right?):

You were a keynote speaker at BlogHer ’13.  You celebrated the influence and the power bloggers have.  We cheered for you.  You asked us what we could do if we weren’t afraid.  You impacted the words and homes of over 4000 women bloggers in attendance and countless others who listened after, now that we're talking about whether or not to refer to girls as bossy. (I'm not into banning, however. I'm more for empowering. I'm in the #OwnBossy camp, myself--why fight a battle we can't win? Let's reframe the word, and grow girls who know how to lead effectively.)

Yet just a few short months later, you’re using your Facebook muscle and multitudinous mulah to pi$$ on bloggers by making it very difficult to get traffic to our posts—many of us for whom not a penny is made from blogging.

I don’t get it.

You have our attention.  But I’m afraid it’s not in a good way. I mean, when is enough, enough?

I’m glad I'm a procrastinator and didn't immediately buy your book in the post BlogHer '13 glow.

My love affair with Social Media began in earnest when I was living in San Diego.  Three time-zones and an entire country separated me from my daughters, my mother, my friends, my posse.  Facebook was all I had when on many days I felt as though I lived in a foreign country.  I was the too large, too short, not blond enough Midwestern Interloper who often didn't garner enough interest for people to remember my name, or that we'd met before.
Picture
Image: by dvsross (Burning Man 2013)'(DVSROSS uploaded by russavia) [CC-BY-2.0(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Enter Twitter: Facebook's racier, hipper, #twerkier cousin, who it turns out a) teaches a writer-type to be more judicious with her words, and b) much more quickly breeds (do it organically) contacts, promotes fantastic writing and business tools, promotes opportunities for learning, and promotes one another. But Twitter isn't known for conversion rates, that is, converting from delivering free information to putting dollar$ in your pocket.

And then there's Google+.  Social Media powerhouses like Guy Kawasaki, also a BlogHer ’13 keynote speaker, and the woman behind the man, Peg Fitzpatrick, encourage folks to use the platform, and thus it looks more and more appealing all the time.  Here's the rub: like it or not, Google is the algorithm ruler of Internet Kingdom, and if you wish to have any kind of a presence, be any more than a microblip on the a$$ of humanity, have any kind of influence--staying power--apparently this is something equally, if not more, necessary.  Yeah, yeah…we’re grudgingly on board.  Maybe soon to be gratefully so, with the introduction of friends, Lisa L. Flowers' & April Welch's, Google+ Newbie Group, where your questions are actually answered. You might want to ask to join.

You know where I mentioned INcome?  Despite the odd day when I may spend as many as 16 hours at my computer, I haven't actually found a way to make income happen on any of those magical pathways to...all I'm NOT accomplishing.  I’ve had a couple posts picked up by Yahoo!—and made four whole dollars.  I need balance in my life.  It’s time to work smarter. Because it turns out actually BE-ing obsessively on social media doesn't put ca$h in your pocket unless you're willing to sell your (soul) web space to the devil, or you agree to write meaningless words on topics that don't matter about companies with deep pockets that lack any manner of good social intentions. 

I haven't yet mentioned Pinterest, but since it's where I share all my favorite gluten free and GANE Empowered Wellness: GANE Possible resources, including recipes, brands and products, it more than earns mentioning.  Again, however, I've yet to turn all that pinning into income for Momma to help pay for expensive gluten free grub for my growing tween. Good gluten-free gravy, what in the world will I do when he does meet teenagerhood?!  

So, Facebook, fan of yours though I was, I need to start EMPLOYING all the articles I've read and teleseminars I’ve watched.  I need to maintain some sort of Social Media Free Zone.  I need to actually produce, choose one of my umpteen projects, finish a book, APE it, or query and SUBMIT, rather than merely hope someone Stumbles upon me (SO not ready to go there).

I hope you understand.  And I hope you will still be there for me, ready to help me pass the time waiting for my kid in line at school, or when I need a good laugh, or when I miss my cyber friends too much.  We'll still hang out.  But my smart phone will spend less time in my hands. They'll be too busy typing words that matter.

So, all those ad$ you’ve schnockered businesses into paying for?  That’s not where I’ll do my shopping, thank you very much, or ever have quite frankly, which might actually explain a lot.  I’ll likely do that on Pinterest, or most habitually via a Google search, where a much higher conversion to dollars spent actually occurs--because I'm looking for it! And maybe that will prove true for image-driven Google+, too. 

I, and many of my multitude$ of #MidlifeBlvd, highly-influential-demographic blogger friend$, have all but abandoned our pages, and many of us will not PAY Facebook to sponsor, boost or otherwise promote our posts.  You have made more than enough money from all the ads (for singles? I’m married.  To play GAMES?!  Who has time?) we can’t avoid.

And most of all, I require human, face-to-face interaction like I require air to breathe.  I'll teach humans and small businesses that deserve a shot how to use and derive benefit from social media all day long, but to me there is no substitute for doing that in a way that allows me to look them in the eye, maybe even a la Google Hangout one day soon.

Which is why my website saw an overhaul in the first quarter of 2014, when West Coast Posse—my effort to make a dent in the B.S. gang$ta attitude toward women that is so disturbingly prevalent in popular and social media—became GANEPossible.com.  

My focus is positive. It's on my local community, which I love so much that my family and I came back to Michigan after being in San Diego just less than two years (even though it’s friggin’ freezing again right now!).  I will do community outreach, I'll speak, and I’ll host healthy cooking demonstrations.  I feel we are on the cusp of some very important wellness messages spilling over, and that's a difference I hope to promulgate. I’ll be networking with other businesses both in person and online to achieve that end. I've adjusted and readjusted my strategy, and am working hard to complete my first book which I hope to have published at the beginning of May 2014. 

My belief is that small businesses need to band together.  We need to collaborate, share with and promote the gifts we all possess--we need to support one another.  We are so much more powerful together than we are on our own.  I know this from my beautiful Midlife Boulevard friends.  I know this from when my husband and I owned our restaurant and I co-created the Benton Harbor Marketing Initiative (BHMI) among downtown Benton Harbor, Michigan, businesses, back around the turn of the century—and look at what Benton Harbor has become since!  

Patience and supporting one another is how we will survive and thrive, despite what the government, the economy, healthcare or Crackbook decides to do, TYVM.  I am no longer afraid.  And I will be an influencer.  I hope you’ll get back on board, Sheryl, and stop making life so hard for the bloggy buddies we almost were in 2013.  

A la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, maybe we will soon hold up our glittering bags full of time and better-invested effort and say, “Big mistake.  BIG!”

I’m so sorry, but I have a feeling that in the end, 2014 might hurt just a little for ya.

Signed,

--Kim Jorgensen Gane of
GANEPossible.com
4 Comments
    Write2TheEnd | 

    Kim Jorgensen Gane

    Author|Award-Winning Essayist|Freelance CommercialWriter|GANE
    Empowered Wellness Advocate, Facilitator, Speaker

    Kim is a freelance writer, living and working on Michigan’s sunset coast with her husband, youngest son, a standard poodle and a gecko. She’s been every-mom, raising two generations of kids over twenty-seven years. Kim writes on a variety of topics including parenting  through midlife crisis, infertility, health and wellness, personal empowerment, politics, and about anything else that interests her, including flash fiction and her novel in progress, Bluebirds.  Oh, and this happened!

    Kim was selected as a BlogHer '13 Voices of the Year Honoree in the Op Ed category for this post, an excerpt of which has been adapted for inclusion in the book, 51%: Women and the Future of Politics, to be released late 2014.  Visit her Wordpress About page to see her CV.
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    BlogHer '13 Voices of the Year Community Keynote Honoree
    Picture
    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
    Picture

    Subscribing is sexy, and may be fortuitous!

    Join our list!

    * indicates required
    Email Format

    Archives

    April 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Featured on BlogHer.com

    Categories

    All
    2013
    2014
    911
    Abortion
    Add
    Adolescence
    Adoption
    Amanda Bynes
    Amtrak
    #AmtrakResidency
    #amwriting
    Amy Jo Burns
    Ann Imig
    A Novel
    Anthology
    Asperger's
    August Mclaughlin
    Author
    Autism
    Ava Chin
    #BacktoSchool
    Back To School
    Beauty Of A Woman Blog Fest
    Benton Harbor
    Bigotry
    Blended Families
    Blended Family
    Blogging
    Blogher
    #BlogHer13
    BlogHer '13
    Blog Hop
    Bluebirds
    Books
    Brain Health
    Breast Cancer
    Brownies
    Budget
    Bully
    Bullying
    Challenge
    Change
    Children
    Children With Disabilities
    Choice
    Choices
    Christmas
    Cinderland
    Costume
    Crackbook
    Ct
    Cyber Bullying
    Cyber Friends
    Dairy Free
    Destiny
    #DF
    Discrimination
    Disney
    Diy
    Dog Puke
    Dr. Lissa Rankin
    Eating Wildly
    E Books
    E-books
    Education
    Empowerment
    Empty Nest
    Endometriosis
    Enlightened Middle
    Exercise
    Facebook
    Face To Face
    Face-to-face
    Fall
    Family
    Fear
    Featured
    Feminism
    Fertility
    Festive
    Fifty Shades
    Flash Fiction
    Flash! Friday
    Friends
    Galit Breen
    Gane Possible
    Generation Fabulous
    #GF
    Girlfriends
    Giveaway
    #Giveaway
    Gluten Free
    Glutennazimom
    Google+
    Government
    Government Shut Down
    Grief
    Guy Kawasaki
    Halloween
    Handmade
    Haven
    Heal Healthcare Now
    Health
    Hepatitis B
    Hepb
    Hillary Clinton
    Holidays
    Holistic
    Homework
    Hope
    Humblebrag
    Humblebraggart
    Humblebragging
    Humor
    Immunization
    Income
    Infertility
    #Infertility
    Influencer
    #ItGetsBetter
    It Gets Better
    Jim Denney
    Judy Blume
    #JudyBlumeProject
    Judy Blume Project
    #JustWrite
    Just Write
    @KimGANEPossible
    Kim Jorgensen Gane
    Kim Singing
    #KindnessWins
    Language
    Laura Munson
    Lean In
    Life
    Lindsay Lohan
    Listen To Your Mother
    Local
    Low Cost
    #LTYM
    Math Facts
    Md
    Mental Health
    Michigan
    Midlife
    #MidlifeBlvd
    Midterm Elections
    Miley Cyrus
    Mind Over Medicine
    Mom
    Montana
    Mother
    Mothering
    Moving
    Nablopomo
    Newton Ct
    Obama
    Obamacare
    Online
    Oprah
    #OwnBossy
    Parenting
    Patty Chang Anker
    Pcos
    Peg Fitzpatrick
    Pinterest
    Platform
    Poem
    Poetry
    Politics
    Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
    Popular Media
    Poverty
    President
    Progress
    Puberty
    QueenLatifah.com
    Racism
    Rain
    Reading
    Reality Tv
    Recipe
    Reclaim Your Fertility
    Religion
    Reproductive Rights
    Retreat
    Review
    Ruth Curran
    #SABD13
    Sahm
    San Diego
    Santa
    School
    Self Discipline
    Self-Discipline
    Self Esteem
    Sex
    Sheryl Sandberg
    Simplifying
    #SingleMom
    Single Mom
    Single Parenting
    Social Media
    #SomeNerve
    Some Nerve
    Soup
    Southwest
    Southwest Michigan
    Spring Forward
    Stay At Home Moms
    #StepMom
    Step Parenting
    Step-parenting
    Submission
    Suicide
    #SuicidePrevention
    Suicide Prevention
    Support
    Tablet
    Tea Party
    Technology
    Thanksgiving
    The Bachelor
    The Book Thief
    The Hunger Games
    This Is Not The Story You Think It Is
    Thrift
    Timebenders
    Time Change
    Time Warp Tuesday
    Train
    Twitter
    Unexposed Talent
    Vaccination
    Vmas
    War On Women
    Waxing
    Whitefish
    Women
    Workshop
    #Write2TheEnd
    Writers
    Writers Workshop
    Writing

    RSS Feed

*GANEPossible.com is an anecdotal website and in no way intends to diagnose, treat, prevent or otherwise influence the medical decisions of its readers. I am not a doctor, I do not recommend going off prescribed medications without the advice and approval of a qualified practitioner, and I do not recommend changing your diet or your exercise routine without first consulting your doctor. These are merely my life experiences, and what has and hasn't worked for me and my family. You must be your own best medical advocate and that of your children, and seek to find the practitioner with whom you have the best rapport and in whose advice and care you can entrust your health and medical decisions.


Mailing Address:
420 Main Street, Suite A
St. Joseph, MI  49085
Please email to schedule a consultation,
Hours by appointment:
kjgane(@)ganepossible(.)com

I Blog with Integrity, please treat my content with integrity: Copyright © 2020, Kimberly Jorgensen Gane, This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License..