I don’t have much to say for introduction other than thanking Cheryl for agreeing to participate on such a short notice as well as being very timely with her response. She is a communications strategist in Columbus, Ohio with focus in social media technology. She is also my social media interview candidate for the series. She serves as the Tactical Lead for Social Business Strategies and has been actively using social media for more than 10 years, having worked professionally as a community manager and interactive strategist. Hope you enjoy getting to know her.

Who are you and what do you do? Where can we find you online?

Cheryl Harrison: I am a good idea! I’m work in the communication space with a focus on
using social media tools. I’m currently working as the Tactical Lead
for Social Business Strategies, consulting with companies to develop
an interactive strategy and establishing internal teams to implement
that strategy.

And where CAN’T you find me online?! I blog at Being Cheryl,
Greatest City Of All, Tapped In TV (the last two being Columbus-centric). I’m also active daily at cherylharrison (Twitter), cherylharrison (Facebook), cherylharrison (LinkedIn) and cherylharrison.yelp.com Though frankly, if the network exists, I probably have/had/will soon have an account on it.

Obviously twitter plays a huge part in your daily life anymore. Who would you recruit first for a twitter army to fight the bad practices of the social web?

Cheryl: I would recruit RedHeadWriting (Twitter) because she’s sharp, snarky and offensive as hell. Our smartass redheadedness combined, we could rule the world. Or at least the interwebz.

Over the past year, location based social media has grown in leaps and bounds. Where do you see this going in the future? What are some of the benefits of location based social media vs. the notion of privacy?

Cheryl: I love the trend towards location!
For individuals, location is great for knowing where your friends are, discovering new businesses, meeting new people, getting sweet discounts and just plain ol’ fun – gaming mechanics like badges for collector-types and leaderboards for competitive-types make the game a good time.

For businesses, location is great for advertising – and free, at that (the “nearby special” notification that pops up is free for small businesses to set up currently), consumer insight and taking advantage of the influence your customers have within their social networks.

If you were to write your twitter profile url in the sky, what font would you have the pilot use for the task?

Cheryl: Tahoma. Simple and understated.

However, If I were to write my MySpace URL in the sky… Comic Sans.
Anyone still use MySpace? Seriously. Anyone?

Say you were given the chance to work with and help improve any top name brand for one month, which brand would you choose and why?

Cheryl: Woot.com. Not that they need me to improve their stellar brand, it would just be seriously fun. Hey Woot, did you hear that? Call me up
to contribute some of your brilliant copy, cool? Send me some free wine.woot while you’re at it.

The social web is in an ever changing state at very rapid paces. Where do you see social media in 6 months?

Cheryl: Everything is trending towards localized and niche content – even broad networks like Twitter and Facebook are integrating geographic-focus features – and I think that trend will continue. It’s cool to chat with someone from Australia while in Ohio, but it’s really cool to connect with like-minded people who live around the corner and can meet up in real life.

Do you go sailing on the high seas as a social media pirate or do you stick to stealthy social media ninja moves?

Cheryl: Arrrgh matey. I have no idea how else to respond to this. Next.

It shows that you truly love your city of Columbus, Ohio. What are some of the city’s strongest assets, especially as it pertains to people in your career line?

Cheryl: Columbus has a very creative, tech-savvy culture, which is a perfect fit for me. Oh, and uh, we have a lot of readily-available craft beer… which is a perfect fit for me.

What is your favorite social media stereotype? Why?

Cheryl: The whole idea of working in “social media” has been tainted by douchebags who want to make a quick buck and scam small businesses out of a few grand to “set up a Facebook page.” I cringe every time I see another smarmy sales guy/gal who signed up for Twitter last week and is qualified to TOTALLY CHANGE THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS FOREVS!!!11!!

…some poor sap is gonna hand him/her a bag of money, too. (Speaking
of which… any and all bags of money can be sent my way via PayPal or
FedEx.)

In your opinion, what is one of twitter’s primary weaknesses that could dethrone it in the longrun?

Cheryl: Aside from the big “WTF is our revenue model” issue, Twitter.com is Twitter’s primary weakness.While they have been slowly unrolling features to make it better (lists was a great one) the site pales in comparison to third-party services like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and
Seesmic for functionality and usability.

Would you consider yourself an android or do you lead an iLife?

Cheryl: I’m an Apple fangirl fo’ sho’, but I use Google so heavily that it would realistically make more sense for me to do the droid thing. Mostly, I’m stubborn.

What website, with any focus you want, do you want to promote here and now because you believe it deserves more users and more people knowing it exists?

Cheryl: Haha, this is such a random answer, but when I read this question I thought of Kingdom of Loathing (kindomofloathing.com. It’s a MMORPG…kinda? With stick figures. And sarcasm. And meat as currency. And absurd character types like “turtle tamer,” “disco bandit” and “seal clubber.” It’s seriously hilarious. I used to play it alllll the time, but haven’t really touched it in a year (which is why it is such a random response) – but occasionaly when I get sad or really, really bored, I go back for a couple hours of poorly drawn laughs.

Is the Columbus beer stein half full, half empty, the glass is too big, or “wtf, who drank half of my awesome Columbus beer?!?!?” ?

Cheryl: MY Columbus beer stein is always half empty, but it’s ok, because there’s always a freshly brewed refill waiting for me at Columbus Brewing Company or Barley’s or Elevator 😉

What job has been the one you have liked the least since entering that whole “working world?”

Cheryl: My last job as the Digital Content Manager for three local radio stations. But it was also my favorite! The disconnect was in the way that stations are structured – the on-air staff and the programming
directors were awesome. I was totally invested in the stations’ brands and enjoyed communicating with listeners online and coming up with creative new ways to do so. I wish the energy had been the same on the sales and business side of the organization.

At the end of the day, how much of a good idea is being Cheryl, really?

Cheryl: I’m not sure, but have someone else claim “I am a good idea” and watch how fast I slap their ass with a lawsuit! Ha, yeah right, like I afford to file a trademark or hire a lawyer. I’m just ok. 🙂