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Thursday, 14 July 2011

Jaycee Dugard's 'A Stolen Life' -- the first 100 pages

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Jaycee Dugard's 'A Stolen Life' -- the first 100 pagesJuly 13, 2011 | 2:00pm

Jaycee Dugard tells her own incredible story of survival in the book "A Stolen Life," out now. The book, which is now in my hands (thanks, Simon & Schuster!) is still at the top of Amazon's bestseller list, where it has been since her television inteview Sunday.

In some ways, Dugard's story is every parent's nightmare. She was an attractive 11-year-old girl on her way to school who was snatched off the street by two strangers. Stories like these often end horribly. Wednesday in New York, for example, the remains of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, who walked home the wrong way after camp, were recovered in Brooklyn. It's no wonder that some parents have told me they cannot bear to open Dugard's memoir.

Dugard suffered unspeakably at the hands of her kidnappers, Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy. But she survived 18 years of captivity. She survived. And in this way, it is a nightmare with a happy ending.

The book is more than just a horror story with a recovery at the end -- although it is that -- because Dugard's survival shows such extraordinary fortitude. In the book, which we'll look at on Jacket Copy in two parts -- the first 100 pages today, the rest tomorrow -- Dugard both portrays her mind-set in the moment and takes time to address the reader from the present, with clear and focused emotions.

"I don't believe in hate," she writes in an aside before plunging into a particularly grueling passage about her abuse. "To hate wastes too much time. People who hate waste so much of their life hating that they miss out on all the other stuff out here.... If all my heart were filled up with hate and regrets and what-ifs, then what else would it have room for?"

That place is a remarkable one for anyone to have reached, and readers themselves may have a hard time keeping up with her. On the next page, when she describes -- in the brutal sexual terms Garrido used -- the crystal-meth-fueled multiday marathon of abuse, the hate-meter in my brain zipped immediately to maximum. I'll hate this guy for you, I thought, and then I realized how important her perspective must have been to her survival.

That perspective makes this book worth reading.

"Something inside that frightened little girl made her a survivor and she has made me the person I am today," Dugard writes. "I would make up stories in my head to pass the time. It was easy for me in those early days to escape into my dreamworld because I had always been a dreamer and had my head in the clouds a lot. I used to lose all track of time and it helped to keep me from going crazy."

Another thing that kept her from going crazy were her pets. In the first hundred pages, which conclude with her at age 13 and pregnant with her first child, she has a succession of several cats. With a notebook she'd been given she created a journal for a cat she called Eclipse; the journal was recovered after her discovery and is reprinted in photographs in the book. She welcomes the cat's companionship, chronicles its likes (raisins) and dislikes (a messy litter box) and tries to read love in its eyes. She had the cat for six months before Garrido took it away.

Garrido often lied to Dugard; she repeats those lies as she understood them at the time and then debunks them in later sections. "I believe I shouldn't be ashamed for what happened to me, and I want Phillip Garrido to know that I no longer have to keep his secret," she writes in the book's introduction. Garrido is now serving a sentence of 431 years in prison for his crimes.

More than once Dugard notes that she learned not to argue with Garrido because "every argument ended up with me wrong and him right." Which shows that she had the fortitude to argue, and the intellegence to mute anger or frustration, emotions that might have put her in jeopardy.

During this time Dugard alternately lived in a music studio and in a separate, slightly larger structure they called "next door." Initially handcuffed and confined to the studio's control room, she would eventually earn small benefits: the handcuffs were removed, she was given a TV, crayons, a Nintendo video game console. She writes of being terribly lonely, and being bored.

After an initial time of having contact only with Garrido, Nancy comes into the picture. She becomes responsible for bringing Dugard food -- almost always junk food, except on the occasions it was a holiday meal prepared by Phillip Garrido's mother. The Garridos spent time with Dugard, watching movies together, sleeping in a bed in her shelter while she slept in blankets on the floor. At one point when Dugard was about 12, Nancy informed her that Garrido would be away for a month. "Wow! A WHOLE MONTH WITH NO SEX! I am so excited inside," she writes. "But she looks so sad I just say, 'Fine.' "

As awful as that is, the little things are perhaps more heartbreaking. You suddenly realize that after being held captive she had nothing to wear but a towel -- for days, or even for weeks. Then she describes the kind of hooks that he used to attach her legs to the wall just so.

"A Stolen Life," has the easy, digressive flow of conversation, the technically incorrect construction of verbs both past and present, and some awkward prose that indicate Dugard herself is the sole author of the book. The editorial choices not to smooth these things out, as they might have done in another book, allow Dugard's voice to come through.

And by the end of the first hundred pages, that voice occasionally demonstrates a wry humor. "Although I've always loved writing I'm not the best speller," she notes about the cover of her cat Eclipse's "Jounal." And about Christmas 1993: "My plans for the day are: 1. Watch the Today show, 2. Play a couple hours of Super Mario Bros., 3. Take a nap, and 4. Hopefully by then it will be dinnertime. My day. Very exciting."

More Thursday on Jaycee Dugard's "A Stolen Life."

RELATED:

Jaycee Dugard memoir No. 1 on Amazon

Narratives of captivity

Book review: 'Room' by Emma Donoghue

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Jaycee Dugard during her ABC interview. Credit: Jill Belsley /ABC News

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Monday, 4 July 2011

Debunking the Facebook Hype - How to Use Facebook Pages in Your New Media Strategy

The flood of traffic Facebook enjoys as the number 2 most trafficked site in the world makes them appealing for business for this reason alone. However, the lack of control over your content, non-business reasons people use Facebook, and their obtuse user interface are all cause for concern. Learn how to use and how not to use Facebook Pages so can create a "Pages" strategy that gives you the best market to medium match.

Everywhere you look companies have Facebook Fanpages: No wait; Facebook Pages. Companies are asking you to become Facebook Fans: No, I mean Facebook Likers (we need a new English word for this one!) For those of you who are blissfully unaware of the Facebook Pages musical chairs, Facebook replaced the Facebook Fan button with a Like button. And therein lies the problem: Facebook owns and controls the platform and severely restricts your ability to manage or remove your content. They give no guarantee whatsoever over how you will be able to use their platform and your content in the future. To put this in perspective, I recently retweeted an article from the Wall Street Journal that discussed the results of a survey: Facebook ranked just above the IRS in customer satisfaction. Ouch!

5 Things the Facebook Evangelists Forgot to Tell You

While Facebook is number 2 in global traffic, only 1/6 of the Facebook users have any interest in using it to follow companies or brands. I discuss this in-depth in my Twitter for Business Article. Their change from the Fan to Like button is intended to broaden that appeal. We will have to wait and see how the Like change effects usage but I believe it will broaden the Page appeal.
Maintaining a Company Page is a significant time commitment for a small business. Not every business model will necessarily get a positive ROI unless they can use Facebook in a very specific way. I do suggest you at least create a Facebook Page account and reserve your business name to keep your options open.
Do you have a strategy for how to use a Facebook page that is unique from your website or a blog strategy? If you are just reiterating tweets, blog posts, or videos that are available elsewhere, your Fanpage will add little value to others or your business. You really need a unique strategy to make a Fanpage work. Paul Colligan uses his Facebook page to host his podcast. Since this is the only place you can subscribe to it outside of iTunes, this is great strategy and his Fanpage has regular updates and adds unique value. My company created a Fanpage for one of our clients that will feature their "stars of the month." Since they are a Performing Arts Company, this is an extremely compelling and engaging use of their Fanpage. And only people who have "Liked" their page can be considered for this monthly feature so this also creates a unique value proposition for joining their Page.
Facebook controls all aspects of the content you post on their site. Perhaps you have heard how Blogger, Squidoo, and other blogging platforms can and do delete entire sites (without warning) for violating their terms of service whether it is done intentionally or not. If your business relies largely or solely on these blogging platforms or Facebook Pages you are taking a risk. However, just hosting a podcast provides little risk since your RSS feed can be self-hosted on an Amazon S3, uploaded to iTunes, and if anything happened to your Facebook Page, subscribers to the Podcast would still receive their content and the podcast subscription page could easily be moved to a different website.
Do not feel you have to use Facebook Pages if it does not fit your business model. I do however highly recommend Twitter since it is both easy to learn, use, understand, and 51% of users follow companies and brands versus 16% for all other social networking sites. Twitter also complements a blog perfectly. It can easily be set up to automatically tweet (micro-blog) a 140 character headline and summary of your new post to your Twitter followers.

The Fad-Myth and Reality

When octogenarian Betty White says, "I am on the Facebook," in her latest commercial, it gives you perspective into the depth of the Facebook craze. Everyone, including businesses, are jumping into Facebook and committing significant resources to Pages. But few have any idea how it will benefit their business. Facebook Pages can work amazingly well for some companies. Pepsi demonstrated the power of Facebook Pages with their wildly successful "Refresh Project". However they were successful because they were very focused on a niche project that allowed their Fans (now Likers) to vote on exactly what Pepsi would do with their Refresh Project; a compelling social campaign that gives back to communities.

What Facebook Fanpages Are Not

I am a believer in social media as a marketing and social networking but I have recently read several articles stating that Facebook Pages will replace blogs as the center of the new media business universe. This statement demonstrates a lack of business acumen and demonstrates how fads can overwhelm reason. While Facebook personal pages are clearly the place of choice to connect with your personal friends, I can tell you with absolute certainty that Facebook business pages will never be the center of the new media universe. As long as Facebook has absolute control over how businesses use their own content, Facebook will never be the center of their online strategy. Not to pile on but their obtuse user interface and indifferent attitude toward their users make them less than appealing for a central business strategy.

How to Use Facebook Business Pages Successfully

If you really want to leverage Facebook for what it is best at, you will need to use it to focus on one important social aspect of your business and build a strategy around it. It must be fun and emotionally engaging. Whether it is a podcast or a customer spotlight, it needs to be social and allow your customers and "Likers" to socially engage and participate. Remember how people use the Facebook platform: They go to Facebook to socialize with their friends. If you develop a Facebook strategy that meets this need, you will succeed on Facebook and build a strong Fan base of loyal "Likers".

What is your experience with Facebook Pages? Do you like their user experience, are they intuitive to build and use, and what do you like or not like about Pages?

http://www.increasingleverageblog.com/

Zachary (Zach) Smith writes, blogs, speaks, and consults with entrepreneurs and businesses based on his years of experience planning, marketing, and implementing complex business campaigns and projects. Zach uses a strategic process of improvement he created called Increasing Leverage that combines his 15 years of sales, marketing, and supply chain and total quality management experience and education. Increasing Leverage combines elements of corporate strategy and continuous improvement, with new media and social media marketing. Zach's system introduces businesses to interested audiences by strategically targeting the proper niches, directories, and media of prospects of interested buyers. If you want to create a professional blog, succeed with SEO, create a custom social media strategy for your niche and business, and use the internet to market your business and connect with your audience, then receive the Increasing Leverage RSS feed so can read the latest Increasing Leverage marketing and blogging strategy special reports at your leisure. Download his free RSS feed at the link below:

http://www.increasingleverageblog.com/get-the-feed

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Facebook Business Pages Demystified for Business Owners

Facebook is so popular that business owners can simply no longer consider it a site only appropriate for socializing and game playing. In fact, in September 2010, Facebook surpassed Google in regards to the amount of time users spent on their site. Facebook states that users spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook!

With 500 million active users, Facebook is the new behemoth on the Web. With its popularity across diverse age groups, integrated email application, and new Bing search integration, a Facebook user may simply no longer need to visit Google for Web searches or log off to use an email application. They may be able to experience the Web fully all from inside Facebook. With more than 50% of the active users logging into Facebook every day, according to Facebook, Facebook is now so important to your potential customers' lives that it make sense for you as a business owner to have a presence where your prospects are hanging out on a daily basis.

Let's clear up a few things that have confused business owners about Facebook. First, a Business Page is not to be confused with a personal profile. They are two separate entities and offer different options and ways to interact with friends and colleagues.

Are Facebook Busines Pages also called Fan Pages?

Many of you that have been using Facebook for a while will remember that Facebook used to call Business Pages - Fan Pages. Additionally, it used to be that someone "fanned you". Now they "like you". Don't get confused in thinking that a Fan Page is a different product than a Business Page they are one in the same.

All Facebook Pages start with the set up of a personal Facebook profile. That's right, a personal profile! You can't just jump to Page set up. The email address and name you use for your personal profile must be one tied to a person and not a catchall email like info. Remember, that if you have an employee set up the personal profile portion for your Page, that you don't want them to tie the new account to an email that you will not have access to if they leave the company. If they do so and leave your employ, you could lose access to your Facebook Page, all of your accumulated fans, and information without recourse.

For set up I typically recommend that one of company owners create a new email address specifically for Facebook set up. Once you have set up the personal Facebook profile, you are ready to get started. But, don't take time to add information like education other details in this special account unless you plan on using it for your own personal use. You are just setting up this account to have a platform to launch and access your new Facebook Page. While logged in to your new personal account, visit the Facebook Business Page Link. It will take you to the Facebook Business Page creation tool to actually create your new page.

On the right side of the creation page select under the heading the "Official Page" and mark "Create a Page for a:" and then finally select "local business". Enter your page name and then tick the box next to the statement that says you are a legal company representative and allowed to own the page. It is important to understand that the name you choose for the title of your Facebook Page will appear at the top of your finished page.

I recommend using proper spelling and no use of hyphens or underscores in your selected name. It used to be we had to enter hyphens or the spaces would show as non-HTML characters in the page name and URL, but Facebook has grown beyond that need now. For example, enter in "My Comapny Name" (note the proper use of spacing and capitalization), not "My-Company-Name". This name will appear in your new Page URL as well. Once you click create, the next page you see will be your brand new Facebook Page. It is that simple. Later after you've had 25 people "Like" your page you will be able to select a vanity URL, but we'll talk about that later.

Do my personal updates show on my Business Page?

After you have set up your Facebook Page, you can "lock down" your personal profile that was used to launch your Page. To do so, just you alter the privacy settings in the personal account to not show your personal information to others who are not "approved" friends.

When Facebook was first created many business owners including myself, started with a Facebook personal profile for their business. Now that Facebook has created Pages, you can easily change the privacy settings on your old personal profile to funnel your business traffic to your new Facebook Page keeping your old personal profile now just for family and close friends.

When you change the privacy settings on the personal profile attached to your Business Page, it does not impact who can view information about your Business Page. Just as equally, if you post pictures of your kids on your Facebook personal profile that is the launch pad for your Business Page, and you have your personal profile limited to "friends only", your kids' photos will not appear on the wall of your Business Page.

Why exactly would a business owner want a Business Page and not just use a personal profile?

Several reasons to have a Facebook Business Page are: the ability to contact all people who "Like" or who "Fan" you with newsletter type notes with one click, interact with discussion questions like a forum, set up events and invite fans to attend, and even create specialized welcome and shopping pages. Your Business Page can almost be a mini website!

Creating your Business Page vanity URL

Once you have 25 people that have clicked that they "Like" your Business Page, you can select a short easy to remember name to use to promote it on your website and business card. You can have vanity URLs for both your personal account and Business Page.

It is very important to understand that once you have selected your vanity URL you will not be able to change the name, so select carefully. Best practice tips for keeping your new Facebook Business Page updated.

No one wants to be spammed, but sometimes new Business Page owners get excited and post what seems like a constant flow of information on their wall. It is important to understand that what you post on your wall is posted on the wall of the people who have clicked "Like" on your page. We encourage our clients, when they are doing status updates themselves, to be courteous and post about twice a day. Facebook is not Twitter and so 5 to 10 status updates a day could get you blocked or hidden by fans when they feel you have inundated their wall with your daily or hourly updates.

Conclusion

I hope that this white paper has helped to introduce you to Facebook Business Pages in a way that helps you to feel that you can easily set on up and have fun doing it. If you haven't set up your own Facebook Business Page, now's the time to consider setting one up. Facebook is only getting more popular and is actively seeking to woo the business community into their portal with demographic based pay per click advertising and the new integrating search with Bing.com.

If you feel that you need professional help in setting up your page or maintaining your updates and to interact with Fans, we ask you to consider our Facebook service offerings. I know that you will find us responsive and affordably priced.

Nancy McCord is the founder and President of McCord Web Services LLC which provides blog writing services, Twitter and Facebook status updates, and Google AdWords services. Since 2001, Nancy McCord has developed a national reputation as an expert on blogging and how businesses can harness the power of Web for profit. You can visit Nancy and her firm at www.McCordWeb.com.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Indicate

Thursday, 14 July 2011

Jaycee Dugard's 'A Stolen Life' -- the first 100 pages

Monday, 4 July 2011

Debunking the Facebook Hype - How to Use Facebook Pages in Your New Media Strategy

Facebook Business Pages Demystified for Business Owners

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