As a former New Yorker, living on the Jersey side had an ideal view of Manhattan until I witnessed the destruction and the second plane hit the Twin Towers. I remember being down at Frank Sinatra Park all day into night, crying and hugging friends and worried about all those people lost. Like most that were there live, we were in shock from the sensory overload. The visuals (buildings destroyed, gone and smoldering), the sounds and feelings, (the ground rumbling), and the smells (burning, smoke, and who knows what else).

Last week, I attended a photographic exhibition and film documentary by Sandra Sweider, titled, “From Across the River” at Art House Productions. It was hard to look at 9/11 images again, but Sandra showed her artistic expression and perspective as she focused on the waterfront, the local community gathered, emergency workers, and changing skyline. Her documentary includes interviews with the emergency workers talking about their experiences and was so moving.

I plan to visit WTC just as soon as possible to see the memorial space. For now, I watch over NYC from the Heights section on the hill of Jersey City as a new Skyscraper emerges.

Read the interview I did with Sandra Sweider and share her story.

Today, we still receive direct mail postcards and brochures about upcoming productions and exhibitions, but there’s nothing better than having that information stored in a place we visit everyday. It’s a great way to be reminded as the event draws near.

Facebook also lets us feature our lastest videos so business owners can feature a new brand or product, actors can show a clip from an upcoming show, and musicians can feature their latest song.

We have the ability to create custom pages (iFrame apps) and they can include audio, video, forms, basically anything you can put on an html page and then you can set any of those custom pages as the landing page for newcomers. You can grab the link to that custom page and post about it, sending people to check it out. You can even load a store custom page and sell products right in there as well.

So okay what’s the ROI (return on investment)?

Since Facebook is FREE, I’d say the ROI is pretty amazing, but here are a few stats just from my own experience.

In the past two years my Facebook friends have tripled. It’s amazing to me sometimes over these many years just how many people I’ve met and know from the last! I have been invited to many more exhibitions, webinars, teleclasses and events, and by knowing about them and attending them (some in person) I have been introduced to so many new people.

As a creative, the larger your reach, the more opportunities will come your way.

As for Twitter, it has been a different experience. The sharing of bits of information can be a wonderful resource for news and meeting and learning about new people has it’s benefits, but so far I don’t see the ROI as much as on Facebook and I think it’s because the dialog on Facebook is much more personal and engaging. The conversation can be among lots of people at once, rather than just a dialog between two.

On LinkedIn, I have been using this networking site for a few years and have built a great business posse. My connections have also probably quadrupled. It’s a great place to share information with like-minded individuals and groups to have engaged discussions. When looking for companies to pitch to, or people who might help you, you can’t beat it’s database of millions of professionals.

I have a channel on YouTube and I can subscribe to other people’s channels… then YouTube sends me notifications when those people have uploaded new videos, as others get mine. I can embed a video in a blog post or just share it with my friends and colleagues on social media.

Savor The Success is a growing community of women entrepreneurs across the planet (15,000+) and I have been a member since 2010. This has been a very valuable resource for me. My visibility and clients are expanding due to this exceptional online community.

In the past few weeks, I joined this new community, Social Buzz Club, and I can see now how being a charter member and soon blogger of this new social media community is going to explode it all for me and super charge my online visibility. The sharing of valuable content between colleagues, having brand advocates in your corner for your own business, and being able to share that information with friends, what could be better?

Today I joined Google+ and so far it’s pretty great! Once I joined it instantly pulled together all my information for me… my profile photo, links to website, blog and social media, even all my company details. Now I’m connecting with people I know and you share on the wall like in Facebook or Twitter. I’m wondering why it recognized my YouTube account but doesn’t seem to load any of the videos there? Also it’s not immediately recognizing people but these may be kinks in the new system they are still perfecting. Check it out!

So, you know what? That why blogs were born, so here you go, a first hand account with photos. Anyone who finds this blog post and wants to chime in or add video and pictures, the more the merrier.

I left my house in Jersey City Heights at about 9am, to meet Bike Hoboken at Pier A park in Hoboken at 9:30. I was proud to have made a donation to Lose the training wheels.org, an organization Bike Hoboken was supporting for the ride.

We were about 10-12 strong and off we rode to Exchange Place to meet the rest of the riders ready for the 2011 tour. We arrived at about 10:15 and checked in. Every rider must check in, get their bib number and this way Bike JC can gauge how many riders there are.

Lots of parents with kids, bicycles built for 2 and 3! Lots of bicycles with trailers and kids in them. For a kid to ride alone they must have been 10 or older. All sorts of bicycles from $20 recycled racers, to hybrids like mine, to fancy, hand-painted and customized bikes.

We all started to move into position as the tables were starting to be set up (Made with Love, yum!), so when we arrived back, we’d be able to drink and eat!

Off we went by motorcycle police escort at the “horn” sound at 11am. We went at a pace of between 12-20 miles an hour, there were some hills, but mostly a leisurely ride on a beautiful Spring day. We passed through all the wards of Jersey City (Ward Tour) and after 15 miles of scenic areas, including Lincoln Park, Saint Peter’s College, Journal Square, The Heights and more, we arrived back at Exchange Place.

Upon arrival riders locked up their bikes and it was time to listen to music, eat and drink… many vendors, but I headed to Lucinda’s creperie, (OMG! Vege crepe, woohoo!) and some awesome beer. There were other trucks and tables set up like, Sava Polish Diner, Krave Korean BBQ, Made With Love, but I was focused on the vege healthy, light eating after a 15 mile ride (more like 23 from my house). There were bands playing, The Bad Parts, The Defending Champions (who were playing when I left…) and after that, The Audio Bodies, and Kiwi…

There were tables for non-profit causes such as, East Coast Greenway Alliance, Embankment Coalition (who came over to explain their mission and I signed their list), Friends of Liberty State Park, Liberty Humane Society and Uptown Crew!

Bike stores: Grove Street Bicycles, Easy Riders JC, Jersey Cycles.
Jersey City and Hoboken Bicycle Clubs: BikeJC.org, BikeHoboken.org

Anyway, here are some photos and maybe in the 3rd annual ward tour in 2012, we’ll get some media coverage? Geez! I heard 760 people had registered, if you didn’t come out, make sure to ride next year! Just amazing and so fun!

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