mnmlist: The Week in Social: Accentuating the Positive

This week is about stealing positives from negatives.

Andrew Mason, Groupon CEO fired

People of Groupon, After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today.

Things have been a bit shaky for daily-deals site, Groupon, of late. So, when their CEO and founder, Andrew Mason, got his marching orders this week, he posted his classy, witty goodbye online.

When microblogging (or lifestreaming) service, Posterous, announced it’s to shut down, a few accusing looks were aimed at its rival tumblr. Both platforms are extremely simple to use and it is this simplicity that has unexpectedly facilitated support groups for users with cancer:

“Your whole life feels like it’s at a standstill while you wait for a doctor to call, or test results to come in, or the chemo drip to finally stop,” [blogger Mandy Johnston] explains. And so the blog was catharsis.

last.fm stats Leah KardosIn 2005, the world was supposedly listening to Mariah Carey’s ‘We Belong Together’ and Pussycat Dolls’ ‘Don’t Cha’ but in a parallel universe the real no. 1 was The Postal Service’s ‘Such Great Heights’ according to London startup last.fm. One of the first of the ‘web 2.0’ success stories, last.fm lets users keep a record and share listening stats. Spotify, Deezer et al may have stolen last.fm’s thunder, but there’s still a thrill to be had in geeking out with the stats. On Facebook, Leah Kardos (whose mesmerising Machines is out today) gives us the – joyful – perspective of the artist:

It’s hard to put into words. It’s because the highest compliment anyone can give my work is to want to listen to it closely. That’s the reason why we make things: to share them. On Last.fm just this minute I saw a girl in Slovakia was listening to my music repeatedly and I got that feeling again. How can these ideas and pieces that I cook up in my little room here in Bedford have reached her all the way over there? Out of all the beautiful and terrible music in the world, she doesn’t have to listen to mine and yet she does. And I feel humbled to have her ear for a short time and so thankful that I have the resources and circumstance to do what I do.

When a 70-year-old ex Royal Marine James McConnell passed away with no known family recently, the local vicar was concerned that no one would attend the man’s burial. Rev. Bob Mason prompted the Royal Marines Association to put out a call for support on Facebook. The results are… is it a bit dusty in here?

See you in seven.
Enda Guinan is a consultant and trainer offering advice on social media strategy and product delivery for individuals and small businesses. Get in touch to see how you can make the best use of your time and energy as you put together your social media plans.