Happy New Year everyone! After almost two weeks away I finally got caught up and back to blogging. It was great to be in warm weather - Puerto Rico is fantastic this time of year. The temperature hovered around 80 degrees in the daytime while I was there, then dipped to the 70's at night, and it rained only once!
Those are pretty good conditions for jogging, which I try to do wherever I go, and luckily my mother's apartment where I was staying is close to one of the prettiest trails ever. It's the road that leads to Old San Juan, which still maintains its centuries old, colonial architecture and Spanish charm. I just had to take my camera along a few times to capture some of the beautiful scenery, as you can see from the photo above. For a complete visual log of the palm-tree lined promenade by the sea where I did my runs, visit my Facebook page.
Even though Puerto Rico may often lag in terms of the latest business trends, I was happy to see that new media has made its way there. If you do a search for "Puerto Rico" in Facebook you'll find over 500 pages, including ones for the main newspaper (El Nuevo Dia), three universities, afew radio stations, one for entrepreneurs (with 887 members), one for a major contemporary art musuem, one each for Apple, Walmart and Best Buy, one for a website that sells locally made goods (Antojitos), and one for a restaurant (Payá).
One thing that struck is that back home, networking is done more naturally - even a trip to the supermarket or to the bank will result at least one or two "hellos" and a bit of conversation, which is typical of small towns. I grew up in San Juan and came to the states to go to school when I was 14, so I still have many friends and acquaintances from back then. It seems that everywhere I went I bumped into someone I knew or someone that knew one of my four siblings, who all live there. I can't say the same thing happens to me in New York. It's seldom I'll see a friend on the streets or at an event, unless I expressly plan it that way. Here everything has to be arranged in advance, and God forbid you just drop by a friend's house uninvited! I definitely miss that feeling of community now that I'm back, so I'm grateful there's so many online social networks that exist, even though they may be second best!
How do you connect with friends and business contacts? Share your thoughts!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
New Media in Puerto Rico
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4 comments:
Carmina,
I just discovered your blog from an article in NY time. LOVE it- you are fabulous. Networking....as someone eeking toward goddess jewelry mogulship, abandoning my career as a music professor for 14 years with a sigh of relief, I spend lots of time trying to get myself out there. THis might sound basic, but I just learned about Flickr-a friend took some great pics of my jewels, posted them on her established site, and I got a sale. That's all it took. While you have to keep the salemanship aspect of things down, I find I have been adding contacts each day, and broadening my glimpse of what's out there in a big way due to the pictures. Blogs can only go so far with the visual aspect of things. I have a myspace page but its neglected, and I have shunned Facebook previously because that's where you could find all my students. Another day is dawing I see. I am amazed how different things are outside of academia and that's part of my big wake up call this first year of unempoyment-following my calling. World renowned experts in their fields have bene DENIED tenure at places like Yale for their blogging successes- one example I'm thinking of in particular corals about 1 million posts a month (or is it a day?)-you get the picture. Good bye Ivory Tower. Anyway, was glad to know about LinkIn, and am really looking forward to getting you blog in my head- keep up the good work. I've linked you on mine- and if you ever need a Mogul-worthy necklace featuring natural stones and sterling silver, look me up! Ciao, Janice
ps this it the longest comment Ive ever written.
Hi Janice,
Thanks for your comment. I tried to link my photos to Flickr but as far as I can see it doesn't allow you to organize more than 3 sets, and I don't want people looking at all of my pictures. Facebook lets me create many albums so it's easier to direct people to a specific batch of images. I'd love to find out more about your friend's site. Does she have a premium account? How does she organize her pictures? And I have seen people put images on their blogs very effectively and beautifully...check out Tables and Toast. Please keep in touch and let us know how you're progressing!
Carmina,
I first heard about you through an email I got about mogulettes in the making. I stumbled upon this posting, and couldn't help but leaving you a comment given it resonates somewhat with my background. I'm really proud and excited about what you're doing, and I continously spread the word about you. I just moved back to PR three weeks ago, and yes, people do visit uninvitedly (and drink your coffee in the morning too) and you're always running into familiar faces at the same places you go (supermarket or walmart...hee,hee). However, I'm an artist, and I'm working on a screenplay. I just started a blog last night to sort of chronicle my journey ('cause it definitely feels like a lonely journey, especially now being in PR where it can be very boring seeing everyone is busy raising a family or trying to move to the states). Whenever you have a chance, check out my first posting (bit of rambling), but I was just sharing whatever was on my mind (josettezeno.blogspot.com).
Hi Josette,
Thanks or your womderful comments. Welcome to the blogoshpere! I read your inaugural post and was very impressed with your courage. You rock! Keep us posted on your screenplay.
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