Broadcasting Brain

Shana Albert (aka TheNanny612) is shining brightly in the blogosphere! I’m pleased to have secured this Q&A session with the author of Social Desire, who was recently featured in a blog post by ProBlogger Darren Rowse.

Catch the brainwaves!

1. I suppose you get this question a lot, but where does your social media nickname come from? Does it have anything to do with Fran Fine (aka The Nanny”)?

Unfortunately, it has everything to do with Fran Fine (The Nanny). In the 90’s my friends and family use to pick on me that I looked like Nanny Fine. TheNanny612 @_____ became my first email address and this name kind of stuck.

Then last year when I started signing up for social networking sites I used TheNanny612. Had I known much about branding at the time, I would have chosen a better profile name. But, now that everyone knows me as TheNanny I won’t change it now… it just wouldn’t make sense.

2. Do you consider yourself more of an E-Business entrepreneur than a blogger or vice versa?

Excellent question, but it’s not as simple as I am a Blogger or I am an E-Business Entrepreneur. Let me explain.

I am an E-Business Entrepreneur who is evolving. I’m adapting to the times. In my profession I have to wear a lot of hats. In order for me to be a success I must adapt and that’s what I have been doing. In 2001 I became a Web Designer and a Webmaster. In 2003 I developed a Preschool Curriculum? and started my first eCommerce site. That didn’t stop me from designing more websites and maintaining them as well. In 2006, I started blogging by adding a blog to my eCommerce Website. In the Summer of 2007 I started adding other Social Media Activities to my daily to-do lists. Blogging is an extension of me as an E-business Entrepreneur.

My Social Desire blog is different than my other blogs because it is not an extension of a static website, but instead it is me writing about my passion for Social Media. But again, blogging for me just fits into my entire Internet Business profession. For me it’s not one of the other (Blogger or E-Business Entrepreneur).

3. What was the first computer that you ever owned (or used, if that’s more relevant)?

Haha!! My first computer was an IBM PC jr. It was 1985 I believe.

Most people didn’t have a home computer at this time, but a few of my friends did. The one that they had & I wanted was a Commodore 64, but my mother wanted a computer that she could do some work on and my sister and I could use for reports. So, she purchased the IBM PC jr. Within a year they stopped making the IBM PC jr and the software to go with it. That sucked!! It wasn’t until College in the early 90’s that I spent any quality time on a computer again.

4. Have you had the opportunity to meet many of your social media/blogging contacts in person? If so, did they match your mental image of them?

Yes, I was fortunate enough to meet quite a few of my Social Media contacts not too long ago. I attended the Internet Marketers of New York Charity Party back in October. Keep in mind that at this point I had been using Sphinn for only a few months, and my blog Social Desire had just gone live earlier that week. I was really new to this!

The party was amazing and I was totally star-struck. I got to spend quality time chatting with Marty Weintraub, Brian Wallace, Tamar Weinberg, Chris Winfield, Brent Csutoras, Li Evans, Kim Krause Berg, Neil Patel, Jason Falls, Brian Prince and Danny Sullivan. To me, This was huge and it helped motivate me to blog like I do now on Social Desire. Meeting some of the people I looked up to played a huge part in me being successful today, I believe. Not to mention, that after meeting Brian Wallace I now write for Collective-Thoughts, so I know that meeting these amazing people was important professionally for me.

And yes, these contacts exceeded my mental image of how I imagined they would be.

5. In your opinion, how much of your identity is defined by the place where you live (city, state, country)?

For me, I don’t think the physical location of where I live defines me too much. But, more of how I lived and how my parents raised me. I moved around a bit when I was growing up and a bit more as an adult. So, for me, location is really just the place I reside. However, my parents brought me up with excellent morals and values. It’s what I teach my children today. And, I think that defines my identity more than my location.

6. You make references to having children through various social media. Do they understand what you do for a living (i.e. E-Business and blogging)? What do they think about it?

E-Business and Blogging is not my only career - I am a full-time mother as well. I think I mentioned earlier in this interview that I wear many hats. It’s true.

My children are aware that I earn a living when I work on the computer. They are also aware that a lot of the websites I go to have my picture on them. They think I’m famous, which is really cool. I love when I hear my kids telling their friends that their mom is famous… It’s their way of saying they are proud of me. Of course, I’m not famous, but I’m not telling my kids that!! I want them to think I’m cool for as long as I can.

What’s really funny is that my 4 year old and 6 year old think I know Sebastian, the crab from The Little Mermaid. Actually, it’s Sebastian of Sebastian’s Pamphlets. He uses the Avatar on Sphinn of the crab from The Little Mermaid. My kids think he’s way cooler than me and they are totally right.

7. In one sentence: what advice would you give to a new blogger?

Blog about your Passion!!

Unless you are passionate about what you are writing your readers will pick up on that. Find what you are truly passionate about and write about that. If you choose your topic based on what you think will make the most money… you then chose the wrong topic. Your readers are way too smart for that!!

8. Do you think blogging will still be around in ten years?

Yes, I do. It might not be in the format it is right now, but yes, blogging will be around.

In my mind blogging has been around years before the Internet was invented.
Blogging is an online journal for the most part. Anne Frank had kept a written journal while she was in hiding from the Nazi’s in the 40’s; I kept a written journal in my teen years which I open up often and laugh at; my father used to keep an audio journal of my sister and I. He would take a tape recorder and microphone and ask my sister and I questions which we would answer. Parents have been recording video journals of their children for years and years as they have grown.. And before that parents would
photograph their children and record a visual journal of them: a photo album.

So, yes I believe that blogging will be around for many years to come. It might be called something different, it might be done on a different media, but I don’t see it going away any time soon. As long as humans want to tell a story… it will be told.

9. If the Internet was destroyed overnight, what would you do the next day?

Ok, man.. Did this interview really have to go to my “Unhappy Place”? Did it really come to that?! Lol

The answer would be.. I would adapt. I am a work-a-holic. I get bored very easily. So, I couldn’t sit still and just relax. It’s just not in me. I would immediately start brainstorming to figure out what I could do professionally with my life.

Most probably the first thing I would do to keep making money would be to take my eCommerce Business and transform it into a real world business. I would sell my Preschool Curriculums in established bookstores, Homeschooling Stores and established Preschools. The ultimate answer to your question, as scary as this would be, is to evolve and adapt.

10. Scenario: the politician of your choice gets a blog. What would he or she write about (or pay someone to write about, whichever.)? What kind of a Page Rank would they have within six months?

First of all, all politicians should have a blog. What better way is there to get your word out than to do it with a blog? Social Media is going to play such a huge part in the 2008 Presidential Elections!! And, I believe that more young voters than ever before will be out placing their votes due to Political Officials using Social Media to get their word out.

Blogging is a great platform. A politician can write exactly what they stand for, what they are going to change, why I should vote for them. It just makes sense for any Political Official in this day and age to have a Blog.

As for Page Rank - Blah, blah, blah. Who cares about Page Rank, just blog.

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Thanks to Shana Albert (aka TheNanny612) for providing these great responses for this Q&A session!

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