C.C. Chapman's Blog, page 34

You Can Build a Community, But You Will Never Control It

Since the earliest days of the Internet, communities have been set up for a variety of topics.

Some are formed organically as like-minded people naturally find one another. Others are formed by brands or organizations around their products or services.

I’ve been a part of all kinds of communities over the years.

Doesn’t matter if it was a Usenet group formed around Prince bootlegs or a private group on Facebook on social journalism. At some point the community was formed and then it became what...

If Titanfall is the Future of Gaming, I Won’t Be Playing Much

This week Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment released Titanfall.

Rarely do I get as excited about a new game as I was for this one. After playing the BETA and seeing first hand how amazing this game was I couldn’t wait for it to arrive.

This morning I popped the disc in and began to play the campaign.

For those of you who are not gamers, the campaign is the storyline you play through. You are given a character and you play through the story until you win the game.

These are living movies t...

The Words Will Always Be There

Many mornings and late nights, this is the view I find before me.

As a writer, I spend hours of quality time with my keyboard and computer. As a creature of habit I tend to sit here when I write rather than kicked back on my leather couch with a laptop. Routines make it possible to write. At least that is what I tell myself.

A fellow writer was having a rough moment on Twitter just now and I encouraged him to walk away because the words would always be there waiting for him.

I pondered that for...

Saturday With My Samsung NX300

When I first joined the Samsung Imagelogger program the first camera they gave me was the Samsung NX300.

It has a funky retro look and comes in several colors. They gave me the brown one.

I’ve tried to love this camera because of the tilt out screen on the back making for great angles and the interchangeable lenses. But, for some reason the auto-focus hasn’t performed as well as I would like to see.

But, after seeing so many of the other Imageloggers using it with great results. (me and the team...

Buying Brand Loyalty Is Very Expensive

The Internet is still buzzing about Ellen’s Samsung Selfie during the Academy Awards.

I remember laughing as I watched it and thinking how smart of a marketing move from Samsung it was to pay for product placement on such a big stage. Ellen’s approach to hosting and understanding of social media made it feel more natural than it might have with a different host.

Of course, if you read marketing and advertising sites like I do than you are also seeing all the conversations about how she might ha...

Snowshoeing at West Hill Dam

The text message from my wife simply read “Do you want to go snowshoeing tomorrow with Ted and Eric?”

My answer was “Hell yes!”

So, Saturday morning I grabbed my Lumia 1020, we strapped on my snowshoes and hit the trail at the West Hill Damin Uxbridge, MA.

Yesterday, I put together a photo essay using the Storehouse app because I’m really enjoying their easy to use platform to quickly tell a visual story.

Of course, I also wanted to share my favorite photographs from the day here as well.

Definite...

Finding the Positive in a Messed Up World

Looking around, the world frustrates me.

The fact that we have a State that wants to discriminate and every day I see a new company get more money than they need while other organizations are struggling to survive angers me.

With all that and more going on, how is it possible to keep my chin up and a positive attitude?

I don’t know, but that is what I wanted to discuss when I fired up the microphone today to record the latest episode of Managing the Gray.

Be sure to please order one of the Mercy...

When a Crazy Idea Becomes a Beautiful Reality

My brain never stops creating.As long as I can remember, my imagination has been in overdrive and rarely do I have a truly silent moment in my life.

For years when working with clients or organizations I’ve been the guy who will start a statement with “this might be a crazy idea, but what if we…” and then you never know what might come out.

So, when I saw a random tweet from Bentley University referencing Ghana and beads, I had to find out more.

After a couple of emails I’d find myself sitting d...

A Warm Walk In The Woods

This time of year I always get the itch to get outdoors.

It was unseasonably warm this past weekend and I looked down at my hiking boots and they were crying out to get some dirt and mud on them.

There was too much snow in the woods, but I knew Hopkinton State Park would have cleared roads to walk through the woods on.

So, my daughter, dog and I went for a walk. Of course my camera came along for the walk. I wouldn’t be much of a Samsung Imagelogger if it didn’t.

Don’t forget to get outside and a...

The Art of Saying Hello

This weekend I found myself thinking about the beginning of email. When every new message arrived it was exciting because it was a note from someone you knew or someone looking to know you.

We didn’t have tons of emails yet and spam was out there, but it was a rarity compared to today’s constant stream.

I wrote a long email to a few close friends updating them on what was going on. It was the sort of stuff we’d put into letters to friends and it felt good.

Then, I decided to take it a step furth...