Typos, people, typos

We all know social now plays a huge and important role in an organization's overall marketing these days. We all know the benefits to creating that online, social community around your product, brand and/or organization. This post is not at all about that. Rather, this post is about all of those posts. A rant - my two minutes on the soapbox. Here goes.

We, as social media specialists, have, in my mind, a responsibility to our communities to use proper grammar and spelling. Nothing irks me more than to see typos (intentional or unintentional) on an organization's social post. An unintentional typo means you did not take the time to proof your post before making it live. That is just lazy. An intentional typo means that you are giving into this whole idea of a "new" "texting" language. Please. Please, please, please, please, please. Nowhere, ever, is ur acceptable. It is not acceptable from a teenager. It is not acceptable from an adult. And it is certainly not acceptable from an organization. The other big (huge, really) pet peeve of mine is the non-use of apostrophes. Dont is NOT a word. Stick an apostrophe in there, for crying out loud!

Recently, I encountered two Facebook posts by companies I respect, containing ridiculous typos. The first caused annoyance, because I did not notice the typo in the URL until after I clicked on the link and was taken to a "Page Not Found." Clearly, this company's social media person had manually typed the URL (first mistake -- cut and paste, my dear. EVERYONE knows that!), and then did not take the time to review the post before publishing. To make it even worse, the typo in the URL was within the company's name. Really? Really??

The second one I came across was a common, simple mistake that we have all made one or more times: hte. Yes, reversing the h and the t in the word "the" -- most likely it happened because the individual was typing quite quickly (this happens to me all the time). I can understand this typo, most definitely. I cannot, however, accept it. Again, proof your posts before you publish them!!

My rant is over. Please resume your normally scheduled day.

(Note: I proofed this particular post close to 100 times before I published it! J) 

Best. Job. Ever.

I am a Disney fanatic. I was as a young girl. I was as a teen. And as a young adult. I am today. But the best part of my Disney addiction today is that I get to see it through the eyes of my children. Which, and Disney sure knows this all too well, somehow makes it more magical. I like the characters. I like the movies. I love the parks. I am ecstatic on the cruise. My favorite, though, are the princesses. Maybe because I'm a gal. Maybe because I have a young daughter who is "waaaay into the princesses, mom." Perhaps it is because, as a mom, we all sort of feel like Cinderella every now and then (as my dear friend reminded me just this past weekend). Or maybe because I am a hopeless romantic and flat out just love love. Whatever the reason, you can imagine this social media specialist's excitement when I tumbled deeper and deeper into the Facebook world of Disney and peeled the many, many, many layers back to reveal that EVERY princess has her own Facebook page. GET OUT! Sign me up for that gig, NOW!

Let's break this down. Some lucky Disney employee out there gets to be a princess every day. Live the life of a princess through the fabulous (and, as Disney now makes it, magical) world that is Facebook. While this social media manager Facebooks all day about the legal industry. Or send out tweets about our wonderful achievements. Wow. The comparison is just too freaking sad for me to contemplate any longer. So, for the time being, I will just "like" all of the princesses' Facebook pages and continue to live magically through them (and that lucky, lucky dog who gets to be them every stinking day!).

Check them out! Tell me this wouldn't be the ultimate job! (well, if you are a crazed social media person like I am!)

Ariel (my red-head's favorite princess): https://www.facebook.com/TheLittleMermaidAriel

Cinderella: https://www.facebook.com/Cinderella

Sleeping Beauty: https://www.facebook.com/DisneySleepingBeauty and Princess Aurora: https://www.facebook.com/SleepingBeautyPrincessAurora

Tiana: https://www.facebook.com/PATFPrincessTiana

Belle: https://www.facebook.com/BeautyandtheBeastBelle

Rapunzel: https://www.facebook.com/TangledRapunzel

Jasmine: https://www.facebook.com/AladdinPrincessJasmine

Snow White: https://www.facebook.com/DisneySnowWhite

There are more... the list goes on and on! But to make it easy on us, there is one page for them all! https://www.facebook.com/DisneyPrincess

So, when you are feeling more like the Cinderella before the ball, visit any of these pages to be magically transformed into a princess!