Look at the fabulous new shinny thing!  It’s a great new social media platform called Pinterest.  People go to their favorite blogs and websites and just “pin” images or video to their own “boards” which then allows them to automatically share those “pins” with their followers.  Dress designs, cupcakes, exotic locations, celebrities, favorite quotes and infographics. An endless amount of possibilities to share with others. Businesses got involved too and now Pinterest allows them to visually pull you in to what their brand is all about.

A corner has been turned though. What’s being “pinned” isn’t “favorite things”, it’s more like “everything”. As if someone went to a furniture website and “pinned” everything on the site, instead of just the main pieces that they love or appreciate.  You’ve seen those accounts haven’t you?  The ones where the person goes to a travel website and they don’t choose “A” or “L”, but instead choose to pin, “All of the above”.  Flooding their boards and thereby flooding the boards of everyone following them with their “I love everything and I hate nothing so that you notice me” Pinterest strategy.

A person can have a lot of passions and interests that catch their fancy. Instead of one color, they might love the entire spectrum of colors. That’s great! In social media though, we don’t need to or are we asking you to share EVERY idea, thought, image or video that comes to mind or to your attention.  Share the “choice” pieces of life. The highlights of life.  In sports there are 2 announcers, the play-by-play and the color commentator. If you treat your social media accounts as doing color commentary of your life, you’re going to have far more success than if you do play-by-play postings. Help make Pinterest less Pinful, or painful. Make it fun!

How do you see it?

It’s been a number of years since I’ve had a frozen yogurt with anything on it. I just haven’t had a craving for it, and I haven’t missed it much either. Lately though, with all of the frozen yogurt shops popping up all over the Twin Cities, I decided that I would try one of them and find out what they’re doing to create interest in their frozen treat. My journey took me to the northwest corner of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, to the Yogurt Lab. (FYI – They just announced that they will be opening up another location in the 50th and France neighborhood.)

So what to try? Would I try one of their more exotic flavored yogurts, or would I go with the standard vanilla yogurt and then and pile on the toppings? I did a little bit of both. I went with vanilla, but not plain vanilla yogurt, I tried the Tahitian Vanilla. Then I added some blueberries, kiwi, granola, cherries, Reese’s pieces, brownie bites and few other sweet toppings. It was very good and very filling! I’ll have to make a return visit to try out some of their other flavors of yogurt and experiment, as scientists do when they’re in their lab, and make some other concoctions of flavors, textures and tastes. :)

So to sum up, I would definitely go again. I’d imagine as the temperatures get higher in the Twin Cities, and they will, this place is going to be packed with people after going for a run, ride or walk around Lake Calhoun, as well as those who drive by while cruising down Excelsior Blvd on a great Spring or Summer day. To learn more about Yogurt Lab, be sure to check out this video tour.

Zoe Francois is a very accomplished and successful pastry chef and author. Not only has she done well locally in the Twin Cities with her work at a variety of restaurants, but she has also done well globally in launching 3 very successful cookbooks dealing with baking, and baking that’s done in only 5 minutes as all of her book titles will tell you.

So how did she get to be so accomplished in her work? What future plans does she have? In her video interview, Zoe Francois talks about the origins for her passion for baking. She then talks about how she became a cookbook author and why her books encourage speed and simplicity. She ends this segment by talking about future books and writings that she’s currently working on.

Stephanie Meyer is a true socialite when it comes to food and entertaining. She does writing and contributes her high quality photography to several food blogs, such as the Food & Wine blog with friend and Travel Channel star, Andrew Zimmern, to Minnesota Monthly magazine’s TC Taste blog, and to her very own food blog entitled, Fresh Tart.

In 2011 she took it upon herself to organize a group of bloggers called the MN Food Bloggers. They encourage, assist and support each other as well as spotlight local restaurants, cooking styles and various dietary focuses in eating and cooking. In Part 1 of her interview, Stephanie talks about her family, modeling and how she developed her photography skills. (Part 2 on WED and Part 3 on THU.)

In Part 2 of her interview, Stephanie shares what the focus of her blog is, how life as a person on a Gluten-Free diet has been for her and then she concludes by talking about her experience in organizing the MN Food Bloggers group.

In Part 3 of her interview, Stephanie shares what her favorite kinds of restaurants are, what inspires her blog postings, where she enjoys eating outside of her home state of Minnesota and then ends with talking about how Social Media has really changed her life.

@JoelECarlson – Hello everyone, and welcome to the Twitterview of @MNTimberwolves web-guy @JonahBallow. Lets get on the court!

@jonahballow – Good morning to everybody on this Twitterview!

Q – #1    So @JonahBallow, where did you grow up, where did you go to school and how did you end up with the @MNTimberwolves?

A: I’m from Denver, CO. Graduated from KU & joined the @MNTimberwolves after 4 yrs in Kansas City sports radio

Q – #2    I see. Now I need to ask this today, is their any concern regarding the #TargetCenter roof collapsing?

A: Ha! I think the #TargetCenter has a more sound structure

Q – #3    Whew, I don’t know how many road “home games” #MNsportsfans could take in 1 year.What/who got you interested in sports?

A: My father was the podiatrist for the Nuggets when I was a young child & I was instantly addicted to #NBA & sports

Q – #4    Fun! Now when you were at KU, what did you major in, and which sports did you cover?

A: Mainly broadcast journalism – starting w/ play-by-play of KU bball & fball but also focused on convergence

Q – #5    Having studied journalism, how did you learn about the internet/web design & social media?

A: The technical aspect of Web design / HTML intrigued me, so a KU friend taught me how to design & work w/ photoshop

Thanks to @liozzi, during my time w/ the #Twolves (3yrs) I started to learn more about social media & integration

Q – #6    So what are your duties with the @MNTimberwolves, and do you travel with the team as part of your work?

A: I create & manage Web content & co-host halftime on @WolvesRadio. I join the #Twolves on 1 road trip a month

Q – #7    How do you think the @NBA & their teams have taken to social media as a way to connect with fans? On the right track?

A: The @NBA is the best league (out of the big 3) @ social media interaction (over 2 million followers)

Not only is the @NBA on the right track but paving the way for other sports leagues & traditional media

The @NBA’s growth over the last couple of years is due in large part to its large presence on twitter & facebook

Q – #8    Right on! When it come to new technologies, how are the @MNTimberwolves using #iPads to help the players?

A: The VID coordinator loads up gm content on all the players/coaches personal #iPads, so they can watch on #Twolves plane

I need to figure out a way for the #Twolves to hook me up w/ an #ipad. Any thoughts?

Q – #9    Lets switch a little time to you. You favorite: restaurant, birck/mortar store, winter activity and gadget.

A: My favorite restaurant resides in Denver, CO – Sushi Den. I love going to Best Buy & my PS3 is my top gadget

Q – #10    Huge fan of the @MNTimberwolves, so I wish we could Tweet more, but to close…what advice or mantra could you share?

A: I think it’s essential for traditional media to embrace & change its process regarding sports coverage

Fans have become the analysts & should be integrated into more of the general sports coverage

Expect www.timberwolves.com to push the boundaries & offer the best multimedia of the #Twolves Thanks

@JoelECarlson – Thank you SO MUCH for your time and comments today @jonahballow! See how busy he is here -   http://www.youtube.com/user/mnwolves

@JoelECarlson – Hello everybody, and welcome to #jectv Twitterviews. Today’s guest is @WarehouseMedia, so we have a LOT to cover. Let go! :)

@WarehouseMedia – Ready and willing, good sir!

Q – #1    Great! First off, how did you come up with @WarehouseMedia as your Twitter handle, and were did you grow up?

A:    My Twit handle is an homage to my HS football coach who LOVED screaming “WAREHOUSE” to get my attention (Ware is my last name)

I grew up in Cold Spring (just outside of St. Cloud) Minnesota.

Oh …and Warehouse Media Service is the little company I own and operate (Shameless plug)

Q – #2    Does it get warm in Cold Spring? :D Seriously though, what led you from school to what you do today for work?

A:    Graduated from the #UMN in journalism and worked as a TV reporter/anchor for about five years. Got a job at the U…

…doing PR, which quickly morphed into video-based social media work. Now, I’m out on my own doing the same work.

Q – #3    I see. So what kind of clients (fields) do you typically work with, and what kind of videos do you create?

A:    My focus is on producing bulk-rate video content. To get noticed and to keep people coming back, you need a lot of good video.

Of course, good video can be expensive. Since I’m a lean (one-man) operation, I can produce video for less if I have a long-

-term commitment from a client that says they’ll be sticking with me for several months’ worth of videos. Clients range from

…renewable energy organizations, to non-profits to education institutions like the U of M.

However, the “bulk-rate” video plans aside, I’m also happy to do single video projects for an hourly rate!

Q – #4    As a small biz owner, how have you been able to use Social Media to assist you? Which tools do you use?

A:    Good relationships with many pple are imperative for small biz owners. Soc med helps create/build those relationships

I have my hand in as many tools as possible, but my main focus is on YouTube, supported by Facebook, blogs & Twitter.

Q – #5    That makes sens. Who are a few people that yo follow on Twitter that you find you benefit from connecting with them?

A:    A couple tweeters who’ve gone out of their way to help me include: @AgencyBabylon @JRChris (follow them!)

I learn a lot from dozens of tweeters I follow – Too many to name, but I retweet them as often as I can!

Q – #6    ReTweets are good, if done properly. Now for your FAVS: Favorite – restaurant, store, summer activity and gadget.

A:    Fav restaurant: Se Salt — store: REI — summer activity: Skiing in the Andes (cold & snowy in the south hemisphere summers!)

If I have to stay in Minnesota? Fav summer activity are Twins games or something on a lake/river.

Favorite gadget? Inspector.

CORRECTION! The favorite restaurant’s correct spelling is Sea Salt (In Minneapolis’ Minnehaha Park)

Q – #7    Nice place! :) If you could invite 1 person (dead/alive) to dinner, who would you invite and why?

A:    Jesus. So I could record the conversation, post it and have the only interview with Jesus on @YouTube. :)

Q – #8    Oh my! Well to end today with (Justin Ware) @WarehouseMedia, what encouragement of mantra would you like to share today?

A:    Whatever you do, never do anything in your own self interest if it causes hardship or pain for someone else.

@JoelECarlson – Thank you @WarehouseMedia for your comments and time today. Have a great afternoon and see you at @Caribou_Coffee on 9/21.

@WarehouseMedia – Much thanks to @JoelECarlson for todays Twitterview! #jectv For an archive of past Twitterviews, check out: http://www.joelsviews.com/