Your online profile photo(s) is a great form of self-expression. Even if you’re not intentionally trying to communicate a message, the profile photo you choose is communicating one for you. It is powerful and selecting a photo is typically a subconscious thought process to most.

One could argue, what you choose as your profile photo, reveals what is most important to you. For example, some people utilize their profile photo for their: pets, kids, cars, hobbies — but essentially it’s something that illustrates “them” or “you”. It’s also one variable in the formula to your personal brand.

Yesterday, I updated my profile photo on Facebook and I wanted to share it with you. Last year, I took it upon myself to make a t-shirt on zazzle.com (great website btw) using our company logo. I’m proud of where I work and I wanted capture that in a photo. I posted it to flickr also. If you want to learn more about where I work as a web consultant, hop on over to www.digitalev.com for more info.

FYI, this wonderful red backdrop in the photo is actually our kitchen. I was pleasantly surprised with the results, it was fun experimenting with my Canon 40D and this rich color as a background. I’m trying to get better at photography and add more to my photo portfolio.

I believe Facebook at the ‘flip of a switch’ can position itself to be a strong competitor to Twitter.

The power of a users’ status update on Facebook is strong — it’s not only been amplified in terms of prominence and attention on the website redesign, but more importantly it has socially been habitual by users to be updated frequently.

If you think about the fact that Twitter is now mainstream and people not entrenched into the tech industry (like my sister and my Starbucks barista) are now being introduced accepting this concept of real-time status updates wherever they go (a.k.a microblogging). Right now, this socialization or concept of receiving real-time updates is being facilitated by Twitter, it’s a “learning curve” for the masses (much like FB Newsfeed was when it was first introduced).

That said, I believe that if Facebook waits for Twitter to go through it’s life cycle of popularity — when ready they could activate the sending of status updates to Facebook users’ phones. Right now, users are required to complete the complex task of editing your ‘mobile’ settings and manually adding specifically whom you’d like to receive status updates directly to your phone.

Imagine if when you added a new friend you were prompted with “Would you like to receive mobile status updates from this person?” Or, what if, in the Newsfeed, next to users’ status updates, an icon appeared that instantly added them to your preferred mobile updates list when clicked?

technical rendering drawing done by Ramsey

While I understand Twitter is much more robust in terms of how it can be used, I’m wondering if this is in the works for Facebook? I would be a BIG fan of this feature. My social graph is much more trusted on Facebook. This is because I’m a huge proponent of keeping your Facebook social graph “clean”.

My point is; Twitter might be doing a great service to Facebook- which is socializing the real-time status update concept to the masses — and ultimately Facebook can add-in feature sets reminiscent (if not identical) to Twitter when they want to. The question is, how long should they wait to add it in? Or should they even do it?
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There were some great abstracts from the presentation I gave regarding “personal branding” to the Social Media Club of Kansas City. First — let me start by explaining MY definition of the phrase: Personal Branding is about building and managing the associations/images the public has in regards to yourself about a specific field(s) or topic(s).

The focus of of my presentation was centered around 4 fundamentals to maximize your success in your personal branding efforts:

• Authenticity
• Consistency
• Sharing
• Adding Value

I felt the discussion was fairly interactive in the sense that the group asked lots of questions. Each principle listed was questioned, rationalized and ultimately one, if not the biggest takeaway was naturally extracted by the group discussion: “following ALL and not just 1 or 2 of these principles is essential“.  In order for these principles to work, they must be exercised in tandem.

If you’re looking for more, I have a lot more to say about the concept of personal branding in a previous blog post. Or you can check out the 5 slide PowerPoint from my presentation at the meetup.  Enjoy!  As always, I love to hear your thoughts, so drop a comment below or send me an email.

AMC invited local bloggers to come preview their new theater in Downtown Kansas City. AMC Mainstreet, the theater, orginally opened in 1921, but now has been renovated and upgraded (to say the least). They gave me access to the new theater and I willingly decided to shoot a vBlog to give everyone a ‘preview’ before it’s open to the public. Check out my video blog for a complete tour of the place, it’s not your typical movie theater. I also snapped a few photos with my camera which you can view on my flickr account.

Here is the quick bottom-line about the new theater in my opinion:

• Truthfully the food (that you order in the movie theater) isn’t amazing. It’s like bar food — not gourmet.
• In my opinion, the audio setup, screen-size and seating comfort justifies the higher price you pay to watch a movie.
• The seats all have speakers in them that rumble when action scenes appear in the movie. Cheesy as that may sound, when I watched a movie there it was freakin’ cool to watch actions scenes with your seat shaking.
• You can order beer and they bring it to you = cool
• You’re able to reserve specific seats online or by phone so you don’t have to show up extra early to get a good spot.

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So I’ll admit it. I haven’t always cared about the environment. In fact, I haven’t thought twice about it until recently.

Some of my most recent website projects, climateandenergy.org and Timberland’s “Earthkeeper” movement (still in progress) both are focused on taking care of the enviornment and taking action. So recently I’ve HAD to educate myself. I’m not someone who knows enough to preach or evangelize about the importance of protecting the enviornment — but I do believe in the principle that there is value making small changes in they way you live, which when aggregated on a large scale, can truly affect change for the greater good.

…so I decided this year for Earth Day I would put together a video blog. Ideas started flowing in after seeing the Green Apple Fest video contest (+plus my roommate Lauren and I had fun coming up with ideas for the vblog).

fine print: It was pretty funny to see how people responded while filming this. So check out the video blog! (below) Annnnd don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel too.

1 of my goals I blogged about for 2009 was: “try new things out with my video blogs”. And I’m doing exactly that. Aaron Barnhart from the Kansas City Star has followed www.ramseymohsen.com and my vblogs for a while and we’ve only just exchanged thoughts on various topics over email. An opportunity and idea came up and we both agreed it would be fun to try out a video blog and meetup. FYI, I wasn’t paid to do the vblog. All my vblogs I’ve done have been always been by a concious choice to do them for free. I enjoy it.

What I felt was the most interesting is reflecting on the collaboration between an independent blogger/new media type (myself) and the old media (Newspaper publication). While the results and feedback have yet to roll-in and be evaluated, I’m happy with the results and the experience.

There are several conversations about the possible need for ‘next gen’ journalists needing skill sets that allow them to grasp, utilize and execute over all forms of media (online/blogs, print, video, audio, etc.) but there are not many conversations and/or strategies about how collaboration between the old media and new media have the potential to do great things. One could argue, journalists and bloggers are fighting for attention — why not work together?

What do you think? Can journalists and independent bloggers co-exist? Collaborate?

The video blog we shot is in regards to the Tea Party rallies that are going on across the country today. More than 300 locations in all 50 states will hold rallies to protest higher taxes and out-of-control government spending. In the vblog, Steve and Aaron debated if the Fairness Doctrine needs to be restored by congress. The Fairness Doctrine was struck down in 1987 and required broadcasters to present both sides of controversial issues in a manner that is honest, equitable and balanced.

My new roommates and I are FAR from even being brilliant chefs above average cooks, but we decided, what the heck — why not throw something together for Easter dinner. Each of us took portion of the meal to cook for dinner. I foolishly decided to take the main course; a baked ham. For those of you who know me well (or just ask my parents) the kitchen isn’t anything I’m too familiar with …in fact I’m pretty much clueless when it comes to cooking food period.

Needless to say, dinner turned out great! The ham was del-cious. I snapped a few pics of dinner and you can view them on my flickr account or watch a slideshow.

Check out my new lenses!  I got the 50mm and the 17-40mm Canon lenses for my 40D! I’m pretty stoked to start shooting with these. At first I was really timid about getting out and shooting — now I’ve just embraced the attitude to get out there and go after it.  It’s the only way I’ll get better.

Twitter is getting popular. There is no denying that. A couple weeks ago, I blogged my opinion about the primary source of it’s popularity, I think it’s because of the surge of people who already are thought influencers, large companies or celebrities — they have starting using Twitter (e.g. Shaq, Obama, CNN, Lance Armstrong).

On my Twitter stream today — I shared my blunt realization regarding these “popular” celebrities:

Twitter is only as valuable as the people you choose to follow. What I’ve been finding is that my expectation that following these celebrities would provide value to me — but it hasn’t been fulfilling at all!  I was hoping to get an inside access to the thoughts of these celebs and their daily lives, but the majority of celebs aren’t utilizing it in that way (note: I do realize some celebrities are great on Twitter, but I’m speaking about the generalized majority).

The people you follow define your experience on Twitter.  If the people you follow suck, Twitter sucks. If the people you follow provide value, then Twitter is a valuable resource you’ll keep using. So what’s value mean to me?  In my mind, there are 3 things that define “value”:

• Timely: messages that address current topics, events, issues and news.
• Relevant: tweet topics need to some how affect me or have reason for me to be aware of them.
• Intimate Insight: if 1 of the 2 are not satisfied, then tweets need to provide a “personal” revelation or insight about you — humanized candid information that allows me to get to know you better.

Twitter is just one communication channel. The real-time component is powerful and unique — but only if you’re using it correctly …and that fundamentally comes down to following the right people. What are your thoughts? What celebrities are doing it right? What is your definition of value on Twitter?
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Those who know me well know I’m big on inspiration. Inspiration makes all the difference. Each dose of inspiration fades, but once you figure out how to continual reignite that spark — it’s addictive… in a GREAT way. I came across a great quote that reiterates that principle:

“The only thing worse than starting something and failing… is not starting something.”
-Seth Godin

I believe you can never be to busy to search for inspiration. Your elementary teachers and mom & dad had it right when they told you, having the right attitude is essential.  Make sure you are not only inspired, but inspired frequently.

I’m not “that guy” who is always playing practical jokes at the office — BUT I did want to share with you a quick and easy 30-second prank you can play on April Fools Day. It’s perfect for the office. It’s clever enough that it will leave them frustrated, but not steaming mad at you. All you need is the following:

• 1 post-it note
• scissors
• tape

…for the instructions on how to complete the prank, watch the quick video blog I threw together (see below). Happy April Fool’s Day everyone! Also, I hope you get a kick out of the someecard on the right too, I thought it was hilarious …in this economy