I know I haven't blogged for a few months but I've been busy determining what my future should be and restructuring my business life to accommodate some significant changes. A little background. In early 2007, I felt called to begin the process of preserving the art legacy of my father, Professor Emeritus Dana C. Chandler, Jr., a world-renowned and often controversial activist artist.* This is work I love because I grew up in my father's world with his work, colleagues and friends. My father was my first professional employer--I learned media relations strategy and audience development watching and then working for him.
But, the enterprise isn't yet profitable and, needing to make a living while preserving my father's legacy (a lifelong endeavor), I decided to return to past work, that is, journalism and media strategy. However, having taken a hiatus from journalism from 2005-2007 to develop spiritually, when I returned in September of 2008, I noticed that there had been a significant shift in the industry. I also realized that I had lost my fire for journalism--not media--just journalism and the massive changes in the business didn't stoke the dying flame.
So, when the economy tanked (something I predicted in a November 2004 article entitled, "Are You Ready for an Economic Downturn?), I had to revisit whether or not I wanted to expend so much energy in a business for which I'd lost my passion. Blogging about social media helped me decide that I did not.
Thus, recognizing that I wouldn't get passion back for the work and that the industry had changed in ways that would make the impossible (driven, in part, by social media), I made the difficult decision to terminate my journalism career once and for all. I will remain in media business as an arts and entertainment media relations and audience development strategist, in part because I truly enjoy the work and in part because it's more consistent with my work as an artist representative for my father.
What does that mean for this blog? Well, it means my blogging will change focus. I will launch a new blog focusing on how those in arts and entertainment can and do use social media to develop an audience for their organizations, events and individual careers as well as how public relations professionals can maximize social media for their clients and organizations. Many of the articles here will be reslanted to fit that new direction.
And, no, it won't be a celebrity blog, though, at some point, celebs may be interviewed for the blog. The focus will be social media as a business development tool for A&E professionals, organizations and public relations practitioners, especially independents.
Keep in mind that much of what A&E industry professionals do is transferable to business since fans are customers--they buy tickets, books, records, memberships, Mp3s, CDs, DVDs andother entertainment-related products and services. Moreover, public relations professionals, especially small shops, use social media for career and business development. So please don't think there will be nothing in the new blog for you. Just read and see.
The takeaway for you is that you've got to know when it's time to change direction whether personally or professionally or with your social media strategy. Be honest and make the shift. Otherwise, your personal, professional and social media success will reflect your new mindset and that may not be a positive for your personal, professional or business life, especially in economy that demands change from all of us.
Surviving this crisis still means leveraging new technology and social media to make you a valuable contributor to your organization and keep your business afloat, not putting it on the "back burner" until this crisis is over.So, stay tuned--my social media evolution continues!
(*Visit BAPsody in Blue, Inc. to learn more about my father and our enterprise.)
(c) 2009, Dahna M. Chandler, Fourth Estate Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Do not reprint or redistribute any content on this site without attribution to or permission of the author or creator. Please email me to request written permission to reprint my blog articles for commercial purposes, to request inclusion on my blog or if you have an article idea or question on using social media for career, professional, nonprofit fundraising and/or business advancement. Also, visit my website, The Savvy Publicist, LLC to learn more about my media relations and audience development strategy services.

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