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As many of you know, I’m that crazy guy in the Fez, always on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and many other social networks. Why? Because I’m a people person. I love talking to people and learning about their thoughts and opinions. So when I’m curious about what people are saying about something,Twitter tends to be my social media medium of choice. I do a quick search at search.twitter.com to get the lowdown.

For those who don’t know, this week marks the last week of the Crossfit Games Open. After this week, the athletes who advance will head off to their respective Regional games and compete for ~50 spots per gender to advance to nationals.

So last night, I obsessively refreshed my iPhone to find out what the 12.5 #WOD was. And just like clockwork, the Games page refreshed and there it was, “Escalating Fran”. It was the first time I’d seen Fran that way and, having not had the chance to do Fran yet, was a bit excited. Naturally (for me), I almost immediately popped over to Twitter to find out what people thought.

Now, as a people person, I understand it’s human nature to complain. And last night, Twitter seemed all “up-in-arms” that 12.5 was 11.6 all over again. Some even went on to whine that  “Escalating Fran” wasn’t in the spirit of “constantly varied” since it was done last year.

I’m going against the nay-sayers on this one. I’ve got say kudos to Dave Castro and the programmers of the #Crossfit Games. In fact, I hope that “Escalating Fran” to end the #Crossfit Games becomes a yearly tradition.

Unfortunate as it is, for thousands like myself, this week is the final stop of on the journey that is the Open. I know, it’s crazy to think that I won’t make regionals. Not quite enough burpees the first week and the toes-to-bar really hurt me this year *cough cough*.

The main reason I signed up for the open was to measure myself now so that, in a year, i can really look and see how far I’ve come. “Escalating Fran”, in the context of the Open, allows me to do that. One chance, one shot to give it everything I’ve got this year.

And don’t get me wrong, competing and seeing my rank against the thousands of other participants in the games is great. But I compete against me on a daily basis. The chance to compete with myself, from a year ago is just too good of a chance to pass up.

And what better message to send to the #Crossfit community than for Dave Castro and company to say, “Thanks for competing, here’s how far you’ve come this year. Come back and do better next year.”

As for the Tribe, I know what Spring has officially sprung around Birmingham which means more outdoor events should be popping up soon on the Events calendar. Looking forward to seeing what brutality…err…WODs Luan and company have in store. And looking forward to meeting and competing with you soon, (insert your name here).

And I’ve had my fair share of debates. Mac vs PC vs Linux, iPad vs Laptop/Desktop, and even Cloud vs Local Computing are just a few of the debates that I’ve fought. Believe it or not, I’ve even fought on both sides of most of them. But one thing I’ve always advocated is the fact that technology isn’t useful if you’re not going to use it. I’ve talked people down thousands of dollars simply because they were not going to use that much.

This is Elizabeth Murphy. To her many friends and family, she’s known simply as Ome. She loves Scrabble, trashy romance novels, and the Golden Girls. She’s been in the hospital since Wednesday of last week and she’s getting a pacemaker later today. Though she has one, she’s by no means a computer power user. Her fingers aren’t as agile as they once were, so typing is tough. But using an iPad to play Scrabble keeps her mind sharp and makes her have to use her hands. It’s part of her workflow. It’s what she does. When I first suggested to her that she use the iPad to play games, she laughed and said she could never learn it. But when I showed her something she knew, she took to it like a moth to a flame. She can play Scrabble to the end of a full charge on an iPad, which is pretty impressive considering the battery life.

Technology only works for people if they see the value in it and decide to use it. It’s taken me sometime to realize, but that’s my passion. I love helping people discover the value in technology. There’s nothing like taking 20 minutes after a meeting and showing people apps for their Mac. Their faces light up because in that moment, they just realized how much more powerful their computer has become for them. I still get chills when I talk to people about iPhone/iPad apps that help them capture moments, memories, and thoughts that would have otherwise escaped them.

So, with that said, some housekeeping. You may have noticed a few subtle changes here. While I’m not changing the name, I am moving this blog to more of a personal format. I’ll be focusing on living my life as a digital advocate, living my life as an example to people of the things that they can do with technology. It won’t be all tech all the time by any means, but I’m interested to see where this new format goes. Over the past two years since re-booting SocialMediaBirmingham.com, it’s helped build relationships, create new opportunities, and helped me discover entire new ways of thinking. For that, I thank everyone. Here’s to the next two.

Thanks to the men and women who sacrifice of themselves so that we may do what we do.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I admire Bruce Ayers and his bringing world-class comedy acts to Birmingham. The machine he’s built that is The Comedy Club, Stardome is impressive for sure. And it’s great to have the occasional open mic nights, here and there, but we’ve got major comedy talent right here in Birmingham, and it’s a shame that Birmingham isn’t getting out to see it.

For instance, last night, I got to attend my second performance of Ugly Baby Improv, a group of improvisors who just get together and perform. Their shows are free and the funny level is off the charts. Their off the cuff jokes are witty and smart. Improvisors have mastered accents to fit any scene. Not to mention that every one of them finds a way to make the others in the scene that much funnier. Their last two performances have been at Matthew’s Bar and Grill on Morris Ave, the perfect setting for the edgy antics of Ugly Baby.

In the mood for something a bit more traditional? Not to worry, ETC Bham has you covered. Lead by Birmingham native and UAB Grad Douglas O’Neil, Jr., this group of improvisors perform semi-scripted improv stories. Most of their performances are housed at Birmingham Festival Theatre, a perfect venue for the in-your-face improvisors to involve their audiences in their “Never the same show, twice” style.

It’s a shame to think we have to go to the local movie theater to laugh on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night. Folks there just isn’t enough comedy in Birmingham! I would love to see other bars and venues stand up and host open mic nights and provide venues for the very talented performers we have right here in the Magic City. And if you think you have the stuff to make people laugh, find an outlet. Find others who have the passion for making people laugh. They are out there if you look. Trust me, I’ve found a few of them.

And driving home after an audition on Sunday with a local improv troupe, I contemplated just how similar the two really are. And when it really comes down to it, what I’ve been doing with social media is nothing more than improv. Here are a few improv “guidelines” that I’ve bent a bit show you what I mean:

1) Don’t Deny (Ask Why) – One of the key reasons why improv works is momentum. The continuous moving forward of the scene by actions and words. By denying your partner(s) what they ask, this can stop the momentum short and kill a skit. The same can be said with social media. By not attending to comments, regular posts (guilty as charged), and just getting out there and participating regularly, you’re denying your audience. One of the things that I do when I get stuck in improv is I ask why. The same can go for you and your community. Make sure to include calls to action at the end of your blogposts, ask Twitter questions posed to you in real life, and get out there and play with the new networks to help find and interact with your audience.

2) You don’t have to be funny – Shocking I know. Yes, this is an actual improv guideline. It may be taught differently, but the key concept is the same. It’s not about you, it’s about your audience. It’s not about you, it’s about your partners. It’s not about you, it’s about your content. You don’t have to be concerned about saying the right things. In improv, sometimes it’s better to just say something to move the story along than to find something funny. I know that on Twitter, I try and do this by saying something to multiple people, where I see a connection. The connection maybe form a tweet I saw days ago or a conversation I had a few minutes ago, offline. The people may or may not be connected on Twitter, but that’s part of why I do it. Move the conversation forward to help the discussion and contribute to the communal feeling of sharing perspectives.

5) Guide the story – In improv, you’re setup with a (usually ridiculous) scene. And a “scene” is nothing more than a fancy way of saying “story”. When I’m improving, you can usually see me close my eyes several times during the performance. Why? Because I’m imagining the story unfolding in my mind. Usually just the next few lines at most, just enough to understand where the story wants to go. When interacting with your community, no matter what you do, always remember what your story is. Ask yourself with every interaction, does this tell my story? Does this forward the plot of the story? Will my community find that value that I’ve set out for them from seeing this? When you’re doing that, you’re telling your story. And believe it or not, there is someone out there who wants to hear that story.

So my question to you is how are you exemplifying these rules in what you’re doing online? Please feel free to answer any and all of these questions in the comments:
1) How are you keeping the momentum going with your online efforts?
2) What things are you doing to make your online efforts about your community?
3) How are you telling your story?

Without getting any more political that I have to, I figured it would be fun to take a look at what the social media strategy that the White House used for this year’s “State of the Union”. Here’s a list of some of the elements, which can be seen here.

1) The slogan: “Watch and Engage” – something very simple and subtle , but gets the message across and really sets the tone for page

2) Youtube: Live Stream and Enhanced presentation – I’m probably going to end up watching the #SOTU address again, and it’s because it will be nice to see facts and figures to back up what the president is saying. Echoing the address, transparency is crucial, and this is a great start.

3) “After the address” timeline – This is a great example of bullet-by-bullet engagement. From the post-address panel of senior White House officials to the Facebook roundtable, The White House is encouraging discussion, not directing it.

4) The Mobile App – If you’re a political person and you want to keep tabs on what the Obama administration is doing while you’re on-the-go, there’s really nothing better. And coupling it with the engagement that’s being driven to the #SOTU page, I would be interested to see just how many people downloaded the app last night, for the first time.

I have to give kudos to Kalpen Modi, White House Office of Public Engagement and Sarah Bernard, White House New Media, for doing a great job at using new media tools and engaging people through these new mediums. I’m really excited to see just what comes next from them.

UPDATE: Looks like Fast Company agreed with me. Take a look at their article “State of the Union, the Digital Party” – Thanks to @eric_andersen for the link!

From now on when people ask me what I “do” I’m going to say life insurance… Telling them Social Marketing/Media is too painful at times.

My suggestion was simple. Carry a short case study in your back pocket and show them the value. Her response was short, but it got me thinking…

…It’s not fair to have to always prove what u do is valuable.

And she’s right. It’s not fair. But if you believe in what you’re doing strongly enough, you can show the value to others and educate them on your way of thinking.

As many of you know, I worked for three years at the local Apple Store. On a daily basis, people would come in and question products, ideas, and processes. And everyday I would stand firmly behind my Apple Logo and defend against the attacks, point for point. Why? Because I believe in Apple. I believe in their products. I like their ideas about how things can be done. I understand that their processes are not tailored just for me, but do have some wiggle room.

And I wasn’t always successful at what I did. There were many people who didn’t buy. However, there were only three people in those three years that I recommended a PC. Yes, the managers knew about it too. A Mac just wasn’t for them. And you know what, I was ok with that.

As professionals who work with social media, we have to remember that we’re on the bleeding edge. Being on the bleeding edge of technology is rarely fair. Deciding to live on the bleeding edge comes with responsibility as well. It’s up to us to show the value of these technologies to the public at large. Why? The “public at large” aren’t motivated about technology like we are. But they are motivated about quilting, reading, metal fabrication, and forestry. Tie the value to their interests and let them play. Trust me, they will.

How have you helped people learn the power of social media? What tactics did you use? Please share your stories in the comments.

When I was just about to concede the losing battle, RockMelt came along. Like the good little beta tester I am, I picked it up, played with it for a second, them moved on relatively unimpressed. Then, after seeing more murmuring about it on Twitter, I decided to give it another go. After all, I work for a web design company. At the very least, it’s another browser that I can have running in the background.

For those of you who haven’t heard of RockMelt , it’s a browser based on Google’s Chrome that actually requires a Facebook account to run. It has “Edges” that allow you to add social interaction and notifications. On the left “edge”, you can add people you chat with through the Facebook chat system. On the right “edge”, you can add predetermined feeds or other RSS feed that you add yourself.

Now, I’m not that huge of a Facebook fan. I’m still bitter about them going public from college only. But I still use it to keep in touch with people. I could really care less about what your favorite book is, or to see what photos you took during you last beach trip. But it is very nice to have people I like to have easy access to on that left “edge”. Takes me back to the days in college when people would blow up my cell phone if my AIM away message didn’t change every twelve hours. The right edge pulls in those crucial few RSS feed that I need during the day to keep up-to-date on all the latest news.

In the weeks since I’ve been using RockMelt , it has become my primary browser, taking the top spot away from Chrome. It’s great because not only does it do a good job of bringing all the information I want, it does it in an unobtrusive way, with simple notifications. I love the fact that I can get the information that I need, without having to constantly bounce all over the place.

There are just a couple of things that have irked me using RockMelt . When checking notifications, I have to click the actual text in the notification, when it feels like the entire notification should be linked. And It was incredibly difficult to get the correct RSS feed for my @socialmediabham notifications on Twitter. That should have been one of the optional feeds for the left “edge”.

Final Thought:
RockMelt is a good browser with great potential. Definitely a beta, but on it’s way to be widely used by social junkies all over the world.

A few weeks back, I was asked to be a project manager for GiveCamp, an event that gathers professionals together to build web presences for deserving charities. This is the first year that Birmingham has hosted a GiveCamp, and I’m excited to see what comes from it. If you’re able to help, please make sure to signup here or show up to the Friday night event.

I’ll be managing the project for an organization called “My Father’s House Foundation”. Martha Bouyer, founder of MFHF, told me the story of Cory, a young man who was aging out of foster care. The young man, Cory, had little to no of the life skills that you and I take for granted. That inspired her to start teaching those in foster and group home care about what life will be like and the decisions they will have to make after they are emancipated from the state. I had the chance to spend last Saturday in one of the classes, conveniently titled “Moving out on your own”. It was a great refresher for me and I know several people who would have benefited from that class.

I’m humbled and honored to be running this project and to have met such a worthwhile cause. But I’d like to do a little bit more. While I appreciate a beer on my birthday as much as the next guy, I’d like to ask you to donate the $5 for that beer to MFHF. My goal is to raise $1,000. Simply click on the red donate button to the right of this post. All money raise will go directly to MFHF. Monday, I’ll update everyone with their brand-new website.

Thanks for helping me celebrate my birthday, my way.
–DW

Not long after, Glee came on. Having been a show choir geek throughout middle and high school, I haven’t missed an episode yet. Last night’s episode wasn’t one of their best. After all, Gleeks like myself are used to the cast being a rag-tag group that banded together to fight the oppressions of high school.

But last night, for nearly the entire episode, everyone seemed out for themselves. They wanted nothing more than to be individuals, not part of the group. At the end of the episode, after putting down their egos and (spoiler alert!) banding together to win sectionals, one of the characters was reminded of a quote she made in the first episode, “Being part of something special makes you special”.

I believe, far too often, we fail to realize just how lucky we are to be a part of something special. We can’t all be in the limelight, front and center. It takes a quite a few people working together to pull off the amazing feats we do everyday. Sometimes, we just need to take a step back and realize that the feeling of knowing just how special that moment is enough, victory is inevitable, and realizing that the team is greater than the sum of it’s parts.

Take the time to soak in that feeling. Don’t let petty tiffs and egos get in the way. Bask in the fact success is built by hard work and measured by the people you influence, directly and (in our case) indirectly. I challenge you, today, when making decisions or taking action, consider what’s best for the team before you consider what’s best for you. More often than not, you’ll see that what’s best for the team ends up being better for you down the road.

As some of you know, @lizzybeth1437 and I moved into our new apartment last week. (Special thanks goes out to Spencer and Robert for helping us move) I can’t express how awesome our first weekend in our new place. It has been so nice, in between unpacking and taking out the trash, to not have to share a kitchen, vie for TV time with 5 other people, or worry about someone using your favorite hair pomade. I’m really excited now that Thanksgiving is over. I can’t wait to start having friends over for dinner, drinks, and conversations reminiscent of the ones I had in college.

It is so nice to have something to call your own. Something that you’re worked hard toward. Something you’ve sacrificed your time, money, and effort to be able to say, “This is mine”. Speakers like Gary V and Chris Brogan have made a career out of telling people to get out there and create something of their own, on and offline.

But what I admire most about people like Brogan and Gary V is that they have taken the something that they have created and invested back into their communities. They have continued their success by basing it around the success of others. It’s no longer just a something of their own, it’s a something that they freely share. And that’s a great feeling to be a part of, whether you’re on the giving or receiving side. Either way, you know you’re a part of something very special.

I get that feeling every time I get the chance to head out to Lunch Bunch. A group started by Stacey Hood, it’s nothing more than getting people together for lunch. Most find out via Facebook invite or in their feed in Twitter. It doesn’t cost anything more than lunch and it’s just a great way to renew online relationships offline. Seeing so many online folks together in one spot for an offline gathering makes you have to step back on realize just how powerful a simple get-together can be.

I’m curious to know if you’ve built something and how you’ve been able to share it? Even better, what have you taken part in that someone built that gave you that feeling that you just had to be a part of it? Please share your stories in the comments.

Courtesy: http://www.thecomingkingfoundation.org/

Now, after working in the private sector for nearly 5 months, there’s one thing that I’ve noticed. Or better yet, I haven’t noticed. And that’s a servant’s attitude. It reminds me a lot of my high school days. It’s that idea of “what can I do to scrap by” and “what have you done for me lately. Frankly, it’s getting old really quickly.

During some leadership training years ago, we were talking about what qualities to look for when evaluating performance. For instance, if a person showed up 15 minutes early to work everyday and the expectation was for them to be at work 15 minutes early everyday, on a performance scale of 1 to 5, they would score a 3.

Why a 3? Why not a 4? Because they were only doing what was expected of them. Nothing more, but nothing less. And that’s the attitude I’m seeing. People are not willing to go the extra step, without being told to do so.

You see this happen quite often in sports. While they’re always around, the Yankee‘s of the sports world don’t win all the time. Why? The team is made of individuals. Individuals look out for themselves and aren’t interested in taking the extra step to make others better. Don’t get me wrong, they’re going to be good. But they’ll rarely, if ever, break the threshold of being brilliant.

It doesn’t have to be a lot, just enough to make someone else’s day better, whether they notice it or not. It’s taking upon yourself that little bit of extra responsibility and getting nothing more from it than knowing that you made someone’s day just that much better.

A great example of this locally is Henry McBride. Henry has organized the last 3 Ignite talks, not to mention BarCampBirmingham this year. While I don’t know for sure, I don’t believe anyone asked him. And while I can’t be a hundred percent sure of his motives, I’m fairly confident he did it for no other reason than he believed it needed to be done. I know that I appreciate what he’s done. The different viewpoints that people have been exposed to because of Ignite have sparked conversation here in town where there was none.

So I challenge you to take a servant’s attitude. Go one extra step for someone, everyday. By the end of the year, you’ll have taken 43 investments towards making those around you better.

While it’s great to have place of our own, it’s even better to know that I have friends who can share the experience with me, right then. A simple tweet, that takes 2 minutes and only slightly annoys the leasing agent (not new media savvy, if you can tell) gets well wishes from a handful of local Twitterati. Soon, we’ll have our own Foursquare location with maybe a picture or two. More and more, it’s starting to feel like home.

And isn’t the one of the great things about social media? It makes us feel right at home with (as @eatbhm puts it) “future former strangers”. You know, those people who share similar interests and ideas that we haven’t quite met in person yet, but have managed to make a connection using some social media tool. Some of the best conferences I’ve been to have only been enhanced by looking at the attendee list weeks ahead of time and being able to start conversations that carry right over to the conference. And it’s not surprising that so much of their personalities bleed through the text on the screen. Social media tools can make you feel like you’re getting back together with a group of friends that haven’t seen face-to-face in years.

Though I slightly annoyed our leasing agent, I added to the excitement, celebration and conversation that will take place next time I meet a few of my fellow Twitterers in person. I’ll take that trade any day.

Share your stories about how you’ve gotten that homey feeling using Social Media tools. Was it a tweetup with strangers? Or maybe you found a friend’s parent’s house using foursquare? I’d love to hear about it. Please leave your stories in the comments of this post.

Courtesy: http://www.homestarrunner.com/

Back in my college days, money was tight since my mother was trying to put me through college herself. My odd jobs around UAB helped, but I had to take a couple of loans (government and private) to be able to cover the gaps, like most of those who head off to college.

But my lack of enthusiasm in financial matters coupled with the college loan industry’s collapse and stagnancy led to a less than enjoyable phone call from an attorney from one of my lending institutions last friday. While all ended well, I guess the most relief I got from the conversation was that of the “student loan beast” being exposed and dealt with. No longer do I have to worry about this unknown thing hanging in the back of my thoughts all the time. Thinking that every dollar spent is one less dollar I would have to use against it.

I guess I always hated and admired one of my buddies in college who had perfect credit. I mean 800+ credit. He not only paid off all of his student loans, he also bought a houses by the time he was 25. Not kidding. It was great hanging out at this place, thinking of how great it would be to have all of that.

But now, looking back, all of that took an enormous amount of responsibility and confidence, neither of which I had much of at the time. Fear can do that to you. It’s a debilitating device that is used all too often. In my case, it was the fear of not being able to manage living the life I wanted to live. But by recognizing the fear, confronting it, and understanding it, it’s no longer a fear. It’s a reality. And reality can be dealt with. Maybe not always the way we want to deal with it, but we at least know what it takes to move past it and move on.

Image Courtesy: http://www.nataliedee.com/

Let me back up. Last night I attended the Birmingham Entrepreneur event, where barry Thomason discussed “The Unintentional Salesperson”. One of the graphs he used was a Venn Diagram that showed just a sliver of overlap between salespeople and marketers. He even went on to say that it’s rare to find someone who can do both well. After a few tweets with @garrett98 I let it go. But this morning on my drive to work, the idea crept back into my mind.

Looking at everything I know about sales and marketing, which is no where near that of many of the people I know, they really only have one fundamental difference. That difference is scale. I’ve racked my brain. There isn’t anything else that I can think of that one does that the other doesn’t that isn’t a product of scale. A couple of examples for you:

Qualifying

Sales managers implement tools to qualify good leads. Analysers, surveys, and questions generally do this job. Marketers (should) use tools such as studies and reports to decide where to spend their time and efforts. An added bonus with marketing is that (done correctly) you’re actually helping pre-qualify leads for sales increasing their efficiency, increasing sales, etc, etc…

Educating the Customer

One of the things I loved about working at an Apple Retail Store was that when I was on the sales floor, it was not about selling Macs. It was about educating our customers. And I think that holds true for both sales and marketing. By educating your customers and assuming you have a good product, you’ll automatically show them value. Marketers do this on a broader scale. Take the newest iPad commercials. They show 10-12 apps that get you interested, generally enough to make your way to a retail store. Once in the retail store, the specialist (aka the Salesperson) can take the time to get to know the person and show them more apps that would interest them.

Can you come up with any use cases where the jobs of sales and marketing aren’t differentiated by scale? Please leave some examples in the comments section.
–DW

Case in point: Jennifer Galbreath and Charlie Todd

Now I’m betting most of you don’t know what they have in common. They like causing a scene. Oddly different, yet strikingly the same.

A little background for you. To all known knowledge (i.e. Google) flash mobs have really never been seen in Birmingham. I would say Alabama, if not for a really creative campaign against Binge Drinking. At it’s core, a flash mob is nothing more than a group of people who get together, cause a scene, and leave pretty much without saying a word.

Why do such a thing? People, as a whole, love being in the know. From a tip from your buddy who knows a guy, to catching something that everyone else seems to have missed, it’s fun walking around, repeating in your head, “I know something you don’t know”. And being in the middle of a group of people dancing, acting out a musical, or repeating the same actions over and over, can really make you feel like you don’t know something.

So, generally people will do anything to get “in the know”. And I guess that’s why it’s a pretty effective marketing tactic. Queue Jennifer Galbreath. Jennifer is the Director of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama, an organization that keeps the money in Alabama, giving most of it’s money to researchers at UAB. I could tell you more, but I think their website tells a better story than I can. She also organized the largest flash mob in Birmingham, AL, to date (10.7). Don’t believe me? Here’s the proof:

Now, how does Charlie Todd play into all of this? Well, for those who don’t know who he is (and I’m not sure who that would be), he started a little group called Improv Everywhere. And after hearing him speak at the UAB Lecture Series (and being a part of the the UAB MP3 Experiment), I admire him even more.

He really told the story of Improv Everywhere, from a simple social experiment to something that has been engrained in social vernacular. But his driving force is that one only matched by an old scouting motto: Leave the place better than when you found it. Toilet paper, balloons, and other props withstanding, Charlie’s driving force was simply to give a great experience to strangers. And with every mission, Charlie and the rest of his IE agents do just that. A simple chuckle from a passerby, the thousands of people who have just shown up, and millions online, have been bettered by a simple guy who moved to NYC, looking to be an actor/director.

Not bad work, Charlie. Not bad at all.

And now, if you’re curious to see footage of the MP3 Experiment from yesterday at UAB:

Birmingham Skyline from Railroad Park

But it is. I know that during my travels to other regional cities like Chattanooga, Memphis, Atlanta, Nashville, etc, I’ve been struck by awesome feats of architecture and stunningly designed “common areas” downtown for the city to converge on. After walking around the park, seeing not only how vast it is, but how much thought was put into design, location, and function, it seems apparent to me that Birmingham is moving forward. We can have nice things such as this. And maybe that downtown ballpark isn’t as far down the road as I thought it was this time yesterday.

I’m not one to “rahrah” around an idea, despite my days as a college mascot. But this one excites me, kinda like Christmas mornings when I was a kid. What’s next for Birmingham? How do we show people that Birmingham is the “Magic City”? After all, this city did just “appear” from seemingly nothing to become one of the South’s largest cities. Could this new plan by the Birmingham Business Alliance be the “Magic” needed to move our city forward?

I think it has a chance to be. So, in that spirit:

I was kinda curious what Twitter thought of chiropractors and I got a lot of great responses. Here are some of the highlights:

@macsmarts
they’ll just squeeze you for money.
September 4, 2010 11:22:18 AM CDT

@andriajensen
I love the chiropractor! It helps me sooo much.
September 3, 2010 10:59:16 PM CDT

@L2IT
I’m on the yes side. But you have to be careful not to get a quack.
9:31 PM Sep 3rd

@StaceyHood
Little late to the party, but I think chiro’s are great, but they’re “supplements” not cures IMO.
7:42 PM Sep 3rd

@creding
I’ve experienced both ends of the spectrum, there is a good one in harbert plaza, but there are more bad than good
7:32 PM Sep 3rd

@willieljackson
I have friends who swear by it.
7:19 PM Sep 3rd

@toddbob3
I don’t know ab everyone else but mine really cracks.. me up!
7:17 PM Sep 3rd

@inthemiddleMy chiropractor rocks! He’s the cure for what my desk job does to my back.
7:12 PM Sep 3rd

@wilsonsway
Stay far away. One made my back worse 3 years ago. Most of them think they can ‘fix’ anything wrong with you. Be cautious!
7:05 PM Sep 3rd

@amandacdykes
I have. I see it as a temporary fix. If u het a catch in your back etc. But PT is the way to go for a permanent fix.
7:02 PM Sep 3rd