Tee Morris

Writer, podcaster. and streamer

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If Social Media Is So Easy, Why Is It So Hard?

I’m a little worried if I’m a canary and the people I work for are running a coal mine.

Let me explain…

Recently, I accepted an opportunity where the client’s entirety of a social media strategy was Twitter and a blog, both posting updates when time allowed. (In other words, infrequently.) I was asked to not only work with the tools given, but build on them and make something better, provided the resources were free. While I was there…

  • Twitter went from occasional updates to three tweets a day, on average. The content included news stories, promotions over upcoming events, and special tweets featuring the client front and center.
  • A new LinkedIn page launched, reaching a completely new audience from Twitter, also posting two-to-four updates throughout the day.
  • On the dates of special events, both platforms would host images, quotes, and, if possible, video.
  • Video, a medium completely new to this client, had reached enough demand for a Vimeo channel to launch.
  • The client’s blog went from “a post when time allowed” to a managed editorial calendar, offering original weekly content.

After a lot of positive feedback and encouragement during my stay, I was told by my superiors they wanted a fresh start and new perspective on their digital strategy. Yep, I had been replaced. I respected their decision, left behind a detailed Communications plan (which included a look ahead to what I was planning), and hoped their new social media manager would take their digital presence to higher levels.

Within a month…

[Read more…] about If Social Media Is So Easy, Why Is It So Hard?

Why Fake News Works: Internet Audiences Cannot Be Bothered

Yesterday, I had a pretty rattling exchange on Facebook. (I know — a bad back-and-forth on Facebook?! Inconceivable!) The headline reading “Hollywood Film Depicts Trump Supporters Being Hunted for Sport by Liberals” appeared in my feed, and immediately my “Peter Tingle” kicked into overdrive. I went to Google and looked up “The Hunt, 2019 film” as that was what this news article (not flagged by Facebook, mind you) was pertaining to. The official plot of The Hunt is as follows:

Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are, or how they got there. They don’t know they’ve been chosen… for a very specific purpose … The Hunt. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, a group of globalist elites gathers for the very first time at a remote Manor House to hunt humans for sport. But the elites’ master plan is about to be derailed because one of the hunted, Crystal (Betty Gilpin, GLOW), knows The Hunters’ game better than they do. She turns the tables on the killers, picking them off, one by one, as she makes her way toward the mysterious woman (two-time Oscar® winner Hilary Swank) at the center of it all.

[Read more…] about Why Fake News Works: Internet Audiences Cannot Be Bothered

Tales from a Shock Jockey: We See Them Rollin’, and Hatin’…

truck_rollinCoalWhen I first heard about it, I was convinced it had to be a joke.

It had to be.

No, this is a thing.

On Facebook. On Tumblr. On Instagram.

And now, in the air.

As reported by Vocative, a new protest against President Barack Obama and environmentalists has taken to the streets: Rollin’ Coal. The Facebook page reads as “for all the diesel lovers out there” but this community has apparently evolved into a statement against green drivers. How Rollin’ Coal works—keeping it to the basics here—is modifying a pick-up truck to intentionally spew thick soot either from massive exhaust pipes or smoke stacks. The Rollin’ Coal folks call this “Prius Repellant” and post both video and memes celebrating their “victories” on the road. The kits and the modifications, Slate reports, are legal (although the EPA disagrees); but as one Wisconsin vendor tells reporters:

“I run into a lot of people that really don’t like Obama at all. If he’s into the environment, if he’s into this or that, we’re not. I hear a lot of that. To get a single stack on my truck—that’s my way of giving them the finger. You want clean air and a tiny carbon footprint? Well, screw you.”

Modifying your truck to protest clean air initiatives? That’s about as smart as staging a protest of “I don’t like khakis, so I’m going to wear my blue jeans and fart in your face because khakis.” Such is this the latest protest against our President and environmentalists.

Okay, setting aside the American Cancer Society’s findings to diesel exhaust attributing to adverse effects to one’s health, let’s look at another possible reason why people choose EVs. [Read more…] about Tales from a Shock Jockey: We See Them Rollin’, and Hatin’…

You Know I Can Hear You, Right? — Revelations about the Internet and the Lesson of St. Fu

“I think the Internet is a grand arena for poorly thought out words.” — Philippa Ballantine, 2/18/2014, on Facebook

1000px-Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1895Presently, The Science Fiction Writers of America are at odds with one another once again, its members still in a brouhaha over the divide between men and women in the business. It’s hard to say when this rift started. I know this debate has raged for a long, long time as I remember people engaging in spirited conversations about this when I first entered the publishing game in 2002. There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about feminism, misogyny, old guard mentality, new blood in SFWA, and the like, especially in the wake of the 200th issue of the SFWA Bulletin which attempted to harken back to nostalgic days of the Red Sonja-esque fantasy covers.

It all boiled to a fever pitch yesterday when John Scalzi posted this quote on his blog:

“The problem is that the ‘vocal minority’ of insects who make up the new generation of writers don’t scramble for the shadows when outside lights shines on them—they bare their pincers and go for the jugular. Maybe it is a good thing that SFWA keeps them locked up. The newer members who Scalzi et al. brought in are an embarrassment to the genre.”

— (name withheld) on SFF.net, during the recent unpleasantness.

 Wow. Just…wow.

I have a lot of opinions about SFWA, about the Bulletin, SFF.net and LiveJournal (where a lot of this discussion has raged), and about women in the business; but that is not what is driving me bananas. What I find to be completely and utterly nuts is this fallback position “professionals” (and when you think comparing your experiences with a celebrated Science Fiction author to “your irrational fear of dogs” is a good analogy I use the term “professional” loosely.) are taking. These defensive crouches range from a First Amendment-“I have the right to freely express my opinion on this…” argument to “I’m calling my lawyer!” which, I bet, the lawyer is thrilled to know you’re pulling them up on speed dial.

I have a piece of free advice for these professionals: Please, for the love of God, shut the fuck up. You’re making asses of yourself on many levels, the highest of these being—and let’s be blunt—that you honestly don’t know how the Internet works. [Read more…] about You Know I Can Hear You, Right? — Revelations about the Internet and the Lesson of St. Fu

Endless Possibilities 2014 Blog Tour: An Introduction

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Yes, the blog has been quiet, just like the podcast. I hate it when things like that happen, and this time it was for reasons good and bad.

Instead of delving into the bad (which was all the chatter on my Facebook, if you were curious), I want to hold on to the good. Oh now, don’t you worry — I will always have room for a good, old-fashioned rant here, but this blogpost is more about rising to challenges and keeping a hold of what works…

This blogpost is also to welcome those of you new to my side of the blogosphere. S’up?

Yes, I’m on board at the opening of this new year with a blog tour aimed to introduce myself to new reader, be they readers of my blog or readers of my works. And what a day to introduce myself to people — on the ninth anniversary of the MOREVI podcast going live. Where did the time go?

But I digress. Let me start from the beginning. Introductions? By all means…

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On the Arguments of “Cosplay Is Consent” and “Fake Geek Girls”

So I’m about to leave Facebook to get back to editing when this image from Being a Geek (via Lauren Harris) popped into my feed…

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I now post this for creative ladies like Lauren, Raven, Riddle, Jenn, Jean, Alexia, Freddie and cosplayers everywhere.  Some of these incredible creators I know. Some are total strangers to me. All of them are fans through and through, dedicating their time and talent to bring their favorite characters of comics, film, and television to life.

And no, they’re not doing it to get attention, score dates, or lure you into a bed strewn with roses. These ladies—and the guys who also cosplay—do what they do for the love of the genre and for the love of those characters.

They are also writers, gamers, and artists.

If you believe this, stop this sort of sexism when you see it. Whether it is Dragon*Con, Comic Con, or an entirely new convention, this kind of idiocy needs to be called out. After all, that is what the Science Fiction-Fantasy-Horror community is all about — acceptance.

Time we start practicing it.