The Planet Blog

A couple of years ago I wrote a three-part series about the Internet social scene. (”Three-part series” makes it sound very official and important, doesn’t it?) I really enjoyed writing it because … let’s be honest, I’m a social butterfly. And I love the Internet. We’re like two great tastes that taste great together. So when Kevin asked if I could do a follow-up about how the game has changed, I was stoked.

Today, social sites have become a huge part of our culture. They are how we communicate, how we receive information and how we socialize on a daily basis:

• We keep up with friends and acquaintances via status updates and photo uploads.
• News stories spread like wildfire across Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr feeds.
• RSS readers let us know immediately when a Web site posts an update, whether it’s a blog, news source or promotional feed.
• Smartphones are now the equivalent of pocket-size computers that allow you to surf the ‘net, get your e-mail and check all of your social networking sites from anywhere.

It’s a 24/7 information blitz that keeps us plugged in, informed and juiced up on more information than we can process. It’s overwhelming at times … even for a junkie like me.

The social networking landscape has changed a lot in the last two years, the biggest change being its acceptance as a genuine, measurable, and necessary addition to the way people and businesses market themselves. The power of a successful social networking plan is undeniable. For the first time, we had a presidential candidate who embraced new media and used it to elevate his campaign to a level never before seen. Blogs, e-mail blasts, a modern Web site and the use of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook helped his campaign message resonate with a growing social media generation.

I’ve seen firsthand what a great social media strategy can do for a business. Coffee Groundz is a coffee shop/bar/café/hang-out that opened two years ago in midtown Houston. The owner’s dream was to create a community atmosphere that was conducive to both hanging out and business meetings … a place that simply felt like home. To kick off his business, not only did he create a Web site, but he signed up for Twitter and Facebook. He began hosting “tweet-ups” for his “fans” and “followers” that have become huge events. He brings in live musicians, exhibits local art, holds charity events and hosts social networking breakfasts. He built his business as a community – harnessing the power of social media.

As a side note, he also chased a bank robber through midtown and handed him over to police, so he’s sort of a superhero. News of the robbery and pursuit spread via Twitter and Facebook within minutes of his tweets about it – long before any news outlets reported on it. That’s power.

We can’t deny the importance of social media any longer. Turn on the TV and you’ll probably see:

• Congressmen tweeting during sessions and votes
• Advertisers replacing Web site addresses in their ads with Twitter usernames
• Shows like “Entertainment Tonight” covering Twitter stories
• Letterman and Conan often referencing – sometimes cynically – the social media sphere
• CNN constantly posing questions to their Facebook and Twitter followers
• Companies offering Twitter- and Facebook-exclusive deals and promotions

Imagine harnessing all that power for your business. How many people could you reach? The evolution is happening, and if you haven’t embraced it, you’re already way behind.

Do you know what the best part about it is? It’s free. Sure, it costs man power and time, but those are two things you already pay for. When has there ever been a time that an advertising tool was basically free? Who ever heard of free billboards or radio spots or TV commercials or newspaper ads?

Embrace it. Use it. Make it a required part of the way you market yourself and your business.

You know what I do remember? When people thought Web sites were unnecessary and the Internet was just something to “play” on. Ha!

Follow us on Twitter: @theplanet or http://www.twitter.com/theplanet

Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theplanet

Become a part of it!

-Ali

The year is winding down and the holidays are around the corner. As a nice reward for a year of hard work, the big bosses decided we’d have fantastic holiday parties in both Houston and Dallas welcoming our families, friends and business associates to The Planet. Thus The Planet Holiday Festival was born.

Tuesday was the Houston party at headquarters downtown. We had tons of activities for the entire family. You could hear Santa’s “ho ho ho” and children’s squeals all over the building.

Outside we had snow! Yes, it did snow in Houston – but that was the day after the party. On party day, we imported it. We had a fun snow pile for snowball fights and a great big snow hill to slide down. I can honestly say the big kids had just as much fun as the little ones.

Santa was a big hit. He got everyone’s gift requests, posed for pictures and brought smiles to everyone’s faces. We were all very thankful that he could take time out of his busy schedule to visit our little soirée.

CEOs have holiday wishes, too!

Just like little girls do.

There was food everywhere! Kid-friendly snacks like pizza and chicken nuggets were available in the break room with more “adult-friendly” fare fair in the Bayou Room and out on the patio.

Other activities include face-painting, balloon animals and gingerbread men cookie decorating, along with a professional photographer who was on hand to take family photos.

Like father …

Like son.

Big kids!

Here is a shot from the professional photographer of a few of us in the Marketing department. Go figure … of course we’d be the ones to do a group shot and ham it up!

By the end of the night, I saw lots of little ones crying because they were tired and didn’t want to leave while very happy parents waited for their cars. It was a wonderful party that really showcased what the employees of this company really mean to senior management. This is a fantastic place to work, and this is just one of the examples of it!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

-Ali

For more party photos visit The Planet Flickr page.

Welcome To The Planet!

We pride ourselves on welcoming new faces to the team. We’re a tight-knit group here but we always do what we can to make sure that all the newbies feel welcome . Right now, we‘re gearing up to welcome our newest team members from Indiana. With the addition of the Touch Support — building our new Planet Alpha Advanced Services — we’ve gained some new folks who are eager to move to Houston and start their careers with The Planet. A few have already settled in, and we’re busy building cubes and making space for the rest. We’ll have this place in tip-top shape when they get here — desks, chairs, computers and white boards (oh, how we love our white boards) all ready to go.

The new Alpha Advanced Services staff seem to be in a state of shock-and-awe from the red-carpet welcome going on here (as shown here by Tim).

Before you know it, they’ll be joining in on our daily sing-a-long, Kumbaya-style. Hold hands, everyone!

We. Are. Fam-i-ly. I got all my cube-mates with me…

Bayou Place, that is. Home of The Planet’s corporate headquarters.

Warning: This blog will contain strange language that those outside of Louisiana might not understand. I’ll provide definitions and maybe someday I’ll do a video blog so you can hear how these words should be pronounced. If you know what a Cajun accent sounds like, you should read this blog in that voice. Cuz Sha, it sounds a whole lot betta dat way.

Being a native of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, (or a “transplant” as we so often get called) I love me some crawfish. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was one of the first grown-up foods that I ever ate as a child. I can still remember my momma peeling a bunch of tails for me at family crawfish boils. She’d make a little sandwich with some dip made with ketchup, mayonnaise and Tabasco sauce. Yes, Tabasco. I was probably around 2 or 3 years old. I don’t ever remember not eating them.

You see, Breaux Bridge happens to be the crawfish capital of the world and my family raises them. It’s my heritage and in my blood. So imagine my glee when I was asked to create an invite and flyer to pass around the office for the crawfish boil we were having. I did a little dance to Wayne Toups in my head.

So we sat out on the patio downstairs grubbin’ on crawfish on a breezy spring afternoon in downtown Houston. For those of you who have never had them, you are seriously missing out. They are boiled with spicy seasoning and usually have potatoes, corn and sausage thrown in. They are messy little suckers so don’t wear your Sunday best while eating them. You’ll probably even need a bib and lot of wet naps. It takes some patience and work to fully enjoy crawfish. It’s an art, really. Best consumed with an icy cold beer, but we were at work so we had to make do with iced tea and lemonade. I could go into the graphic detail of eating them (sucking the heads and all that) but maybe I’ll save that for an instructional video the next time we have one.

See? Messy.

We mixed and mingled, and everyone enjoyed themselves. I’m sure we were a sight as the cars drove by; a bunch of people eating crawfish on the sidewalk/patio outside of a downtown office building at lunch. I can’t imagine the myriad of banks, accounting firms and oil companies that surround us doing the same thing. But this is The Planet and that’s how we roll.

Some folks here aren’t really crawfish kind of people. (I don’t really understand that but I pretend to.) So we had hotdogs and Frito pie for those who weren’t, along with chocolate cake and carrot cake for desert. To really add to the atmosphere, we ate to the sounds of Zydeco music. We almost had a fais do-do going on here. I wanted to get my Cajun two-step on, but I didn’t have a dance partner. Maybe next time I’ll teach someone in advance.

Also, as a bit of lagniappe, CEO Doug Erwin announced the beginning of Hawaiian shirt weather. We had a few people eager to participate.

A beautiful day, good people and good food. What a fantastic way to kick off spring. As we say in Louisiana, laissez les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll)!

-Ali

According to Time Magazine’s blog, yesterday was the 40th birthday of the beloved Cubicle. We’ve all had them at one time or another. Some good and some … well … I’d rather work in a hole.

At The Planet, we have an open-concept work environment filled with fabulous “newbicles”—cubicles that are neither drab, dreary or soul-sucking. We have shelves, fun white boards and a really large workspace to spread out on.

I wasn’t sure I was going to be thrilled with the arrangement when I first heard about it, but I’ve grown to love it. They are big enough that we aren’t squished on top of each other and the white noise that’s piped in really helps give you privacy. I like being close to my team, too. I just have to roll around on my chair to talk to them!

So, in celebration of the birth of these little gems, I thought we’d pay homage to our friend the cubicle—picture style.

Some prefer a really business- like atmosphere. *cough* …Accounting… *cough*

Some like to show off achievements. (Hi Phil!)

Others prefer to decorate with some panache… (Guess whose sits there? w00t!)

Some need a sufficient place to primp or get food out of their teeth.

Most love to display their collectibles (better known as toys).

Note: We obscured some super-secret plans on the white board.

Beware of this dude. He’ll pelt you with that giant koosh ball or nerf gun when you least expect it.

Never fear. Scully and Mulder are here to protect us from the abnormal… well, extra abnormal.

Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler…

Happy Birthday, cubicle! Don’t worry, 40 is the new 30. You still look fabulous.

-Ali

Dec 12, 2007: The Planet Day. The day we debuted our new office space to employees, colleagues, customers and friends. The day we finally saw the new place we’d call home, and the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for The Planet.

We captured the events on film — the speeches, the awards, the ribbon cutting… lunch. (mmmm, lunch.) From that we’ve made a little montage of the day — the 2 minute and 30 second version if you will. We highlighted pieces of Doug’s speech, shots of the office, but most of all, the people who work here. At the end of the day, that’s what matters. The people make this company what it is. We work hard because we believe in what we are doing for our customers and for this industry as a whole. We enjoy what we do and where we do it. That’s The Planet difference. It shows through our work, the products we offer, the services we provide and the pride we take in our company.

CEO Doug Erwin often illustrates his ideal work environment with one simple phrase: Yabba Dabba Doo! He wants his employees to jump out of bed every morning ready to go with their feet hitting the ground running just like Fred Flintstone.

Here’s a glimpse of what makes this place so special. Yabba Dabba Doo, indeed.

-Ali

P.S. Here’s the YouTube link for your embedding pleasure: The Planet Day on YouTube

And boy do we know how to throw a party! Well, at least our customers do. New Year’s Eve Nation, a new startup company out of New York, plans for one event 364 days out of the year: a national New Year’s Eve party spanning four time zones and eight cities. That’s one hell of a party.

Ex Spin City producer-turned-entrepreneur Jann Yogman has been throwing New Year’s Eve bashes in Manhattan since 1997 and is the genius behind the event. Last year, he decided to go national with his soirée and did just that using live feeds via the internet. Yogman connected five cities and allowed party goers to interact with each other via text messaging and video — all of which is broadcast on plasma screens at each location.

Last year, there were five cities. This year, it was bumped to eight, including New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston and Detroit. 8,000 people attended the party billed as “8 Cities. 4 Timezones. 1 Outrageous Party.”

So what hosting company with world-class datacenters and the most reliable network powered the event?

That’s right.

Not only did this party welcome in 2008 with a serious bang, it also gives back by donating 10% of the net profits to Micheal J. Fox’s Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

You can read more about the event and the goals for the future on CNN.com or the New Year’s Eve Nation website.

Happy New Year, Y’all!

-Ali