This week I stumbled upon 313Dlove on Facebook and I instantly felt my heart swell with pride and love.

**A side note to those who are not familiar with Detroit, 313 is the iconic area code for the city.

Just from a quick glance at their Facebook page and you can tell that these guys are genuinely passionate about the city and it's people and culture. It's absolutely beautiful.

As I dug deeper to find out more about 313Dlove and the method behind their maddness I came across a familiar name, Terry Bean. I, like many others, are probably familiar with this name based on Terry's involvement with TEDxDetroit. Terry Bean is the Executive Director for 313Dlove. This is destined to be a recipe for success.

So here's what I've figured out...

Previously 313DLove was an online "trend." At 3:13 p.m. people tweeted a positive message about Detroit with the #313Dlove hashtag. Detroit would often trend locally for a few moments and that was it. Detroit was strong, united, and sharing their passion with the world for 60 seconds.

But this year everything is different...


This year, as Detroit celebrates it's 313th birthday, things are different. Terry and fellow 313Dlove supporters have organized a huge event at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on Thursday, March 13.

There will be speakers and attendees of all backgrounds that will be coming together to show their support and love for the city of Detroit. They are leaders in business, thought, non-profit and spirituality and they will take the stage and share their heart. They will discuss why they stay in the Detroit area and execute on big ideas like: Entrepreneurship, Community Forgiveness, Creativity, Leadership and more. This will be an amazing day full of great connections, inspiration and positive energy that will ripple throughout what was originally known as the 313. As an added bonus, a portion of the proceeds will be shared with four local non-profits.

And the goal is to trend #313Dlove on Twitter WORLDWIDE for the entire day in order to spread positive messages about Detroit and its community throughout the world.

“I get frustrated by the limited thinking,” Terry told the Detroit News. There’s no impulse control in some quarters, no recognition of the greater good, no understanding that “you can get yours and I can have mine, too.”

Among the goals of #313DLove is to provide “some direction, some inspiration, dare I say it, a kick in the butt,” he says.

Here is some other advice from Terry on how to help Detroit trend worldwide later this week:

At 3:13 pm on Thursday, March 13, #detroit will break #twitter by saying what we love about our area & tagging it #313DLove
— Terry Bean (@terrybean) March 10, 2014

Some Tweet sized messages you could share about #313DLove event http://t.co/gGoctYVZz5
— Terry Bean (@terrybean) March 10, 2014

How to get involved in #313Dlove

• Buy your tickets for the event, here
• Like them on Facebook, here
• Show your support on Twitter, here
• Learn more from their website, here
• Follow Terry because he's awesome, here

It's all about the numbers:

• 313 is the historically, iconic area code for Detroit
• 313Dlove will be celebrated on Thursday, March 13, 2014 -- 3/13
• The event costs $31.30 to attend
• Attendance is limited to 313 guests
• This year, 2014, marks the 313th birthday of Detroit

If there’s a science to Dr. Seuss books for teaching children to read, my hypotheses would focus on the comparison and contrast of the words used in rhyming.

For example, from Green Eggs and Ham:

“I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere.”

The rhyme demonstrates visually and typographically, the difference between here, there and anywhere. It’s a simple way to soak up vocabulary in a fun and memorable way. 

HootSuite recently published an infographic titled A Dr. Seuss-Inspired Guide to Twitter, which struck me both as creative marketing and an effective way to reach and teach the basics of Twitter. As the infographic says, citing the Lorax: It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.

 Here’s my call to action: If there’s someone you know that should be using Twitter that isn’t — send them a link to this infographic. They are not going to use it. Unless. Here’s the complete infographic:

Click to Enlarge

For those of you who follow this blog regularly, you may have noticed my lack of engaging posts. I apologize for that and I would like to share with you what has been filling a lot of my time for the last few months.

Other than handling my own PR and running a social media "street team" of fashion bloggers, this new hobby is pretty far from being a social media or tech endevour in which I'm typically involved.

With that being said, my new hobby is no less creative...


I present to you, Urban Solstice -- a minimalist jewelry company.

Statement Rough Cut Diamond Ring

I have been designing jewelry for myself, off and on, for about a year or so. I had never really thought much about starting a business around it since I already have a career in social media and public relations that I am very busy with and dedicated to. Then in December I started designing more as a way to combat cabin fever (Michigan’s winter has been brutal this year) and in January I opened up shop. Being in the jewelry business is no stranger to me. I worked through college for my uncle who is a traditional jeweler handling his sales, customer service, and inventory. I guess you can say jewelry has always been a love of mine.

Three Stone Natural Jade Necklace

My inspiration
I find my inspiration in the stones themselves. Having previously worked with my uncle who is a jeweler I’ve spent a great deal of time around beautifully cut gemstones and other precious stones, but there is something to be said about uncut, imperfect, rough and raw stones. They are so naturally beautiful even with their imperfections so I try my hardest to find the best way possible to showcase each of the stones’ unique qualities. I’m also inspired by minimalism and geometric shapes which I think you will see a lot of in my work.

Crackle Quartz Nugget Bracelet

The difference
One word: Quality. I try my hardest to source the best quality stones and metals to ensure I am providing my customers the best product at the best possible price.

Petite Rough Cut Diamond Ring

Here's what you may have missed:

• Ellen’s Oscar Selfie Most Retweeted Tweet Ever - Ellen DeGeneres’ “Oscars” super-star selfie is now the most retweeted tweet ever — beating out President Obama’s “four more years” tweet from November 7, 2012, the night he was re-elected.
• Kickstarter Surpasses $1 Billion in Pledges - Kickstarter on Monday announced it surpasses $1 billion in pledges, more than half of which was pledged in the past 12 months.
• LinkedIn’s New Feature to Increase Brand Eminence - LinkedIn’s revamp of ‘who viewed your profile’ has given its members the opportunity to increase their commercial exposure on various social networking sites.
• The Oscars Gobbles Up The Walking Dead In Top 10 Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings - The 86th Academy Awards was seen by 43 million people – about three to four times The Walking Dead‘s audience – and for once that mass appeal also registered on Twitter, and then some.

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