Hi, I'm Margie Newman. I blog about public relations, social media, careers, productivity and geek stuff.

What happens to your digital doppelganger when you die?

This is a morbid, buzz-killing topic, but it’s really important. My January Her Nashville Chic Geek column pushes you to  think about who–if anyone–will take over your online identity, accounts, etc. when you leave this world.

Here’s teaser; read the full thing at HerNashville.com:

If I should die before I wake, my Facebook password my husband should take. Oh, and an auto-reply message on my Gmail he should make, but my TwitterLinkedIn,eBay, and PayPal accounts he may forsake … Read More…

In my seventh month of D.C., Mother Nature gave to me…

A blizzard! (And a reason to figure out how to add several photos to one post without them looking pitiful.)

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FlackRabbit.com now available on Amazon Kindle

E-book faithful, rejoice! The public relations, social media and productivity ramblings you read for free here at FlackRabbit.com are now available for a monthly subscription fee of $1.99 on the Amazon Kindle (affiliate link)!  If you choose to have FlackRabbit delivered to your Kindle, I’ll be ever-so giddy! And I’ll get like 50 cents or something.

Screen shot 2009-12-17 at 9.23.46 PM

We’ll file this one under “this is so freakin cool.”

Oh, and if you are interested in adding your own blog to Amazon Kindle, you can submit it for approval here. Be prepared to give over your tax ID and bank info; they need to be sure you’re legit and whatnot. After you submit your feed, masthead, screen shot, etc., you’ll be told it will take 48-72 hours before your blog is available for subscription. It took them 11 days to approve mine–but it was worth it because this is really neato.

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Fun with Google Analytics

Image representing Google Images as depicted i...

I love that when one searches for things like “tea cup poodle,” my blog is offered up as a search result in Google Images. It makes sense, of course, because Georgia is kind of a big deal.

It’s also funny that my February 2009 joy over finding the perfect shade of natural nail polish at Walgreens is one of FlackRabbit’s top posts of all time. For real, Google, Bing and Yahoo send the nail polish needy here just about everyday.

From the FlackRabbit search term referrer log:

December 9, 2009 22:07:51 tea+cup+poodle
December 8, 2009 17:59:33 Maybelline nail polish walgreens
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Every page you surf, someone’s watching you

Big Brother 2009 (UK)
Image via Wikipedia

From LinkedIn profile peeping to blog surfing, nothing you do on the Web is a secret. (Nor “semi-private,” as the Mayor of Arlington, TN will tell you.) It’s not that Big Brother is spying on you, it’s that everywhere you go, your Internet browser leaves behind a trail.

A recent example: a White House staffer reads Suburban Turmoil and Lindsay Ferrier has the screen shots to prove it.

Is it cool and fabulous that a person inside the most powerful office in the world reads Lindsay’s blog? Um, totally! Did he for one minute think the author of the blog would ever know, much less write about said visit? Nope.

Know this: nearly all Web authors–including this one–check their Google Analytics and/or StatPress-type visitor logs. We’re curious about the number of folks who find our writing interesting, how often you come back, etc. It’s actually sort of an obsession akin to watching a Chia Pet grow.

We can’t see your name or street address, but we know your city and state. We can’t see the name of your company, but we usually can see the server upon which you surf (state/federal employees!). We can even see what search term you used to find us, what Website referred you, how long you hung around and what links you clicked on.

If knowing content managers are spying on your stats makes you feel a tad icky, I’m sorry I’ve made you feel uncomfortable. That said, you know how I feel about your Web wanderings: a healthy dose of caution is always a good thing.

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Internet validation

I love the Internet for many reasons, but one of them happens to be its ability to provide third-party confirmation of random truths. Here are a few…

When you look up how to find people on Twitter, my profile is the example they’ve used for a couple of years now. I’ve no clue why:

How to find people on Twitter

D.C. is not only a town where snow is frequently predicted, it actually happens:

It snows in Washington DC

People really do read your blog:

Link luv and proof folks read blogs

Amazon affiliate links can earn you some cash for things you forgot you linked to:

Amazon affiliate links really work

Speaking of Amazon links, from here on out I’ll be following those links with a note that says “affiliate link.” This means that if you buy something from Amazon using the link I’ve provided, I’ll get a penny or two. Unless you buy the Harry Potter paperback box set (affiliate link), in which case I get $2.00!

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Someone please give this TN mayor a lesson on how the Internet works

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Shopping

Image by K!T via Flickr

Good grief. The mayor of a tiny Tennessee town outside of Memphis is throwing a tantrum about missing the end of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I love Charlie Brown as much as the next guy, but seriously? Does this really warrant publishing a Facebook rant about how the President of the United States is a Christ-hating, Charlie Brown-interrupting Muslim?

I’m embarrassed for three reasons:

A) this guy is an elected official, and

B) he is making important decisions on behalf of folks in my home state, and

C) dude clearly doesn’t understand there is no privacy on the Internet. Not that he was seeking privacy when he posted this insanity for 1,600 “friends” to see. Read More…