Do you know what today is? Vampires Get Social Day

57 years ago, the world lost a master craftsman. His repertoire on stage and screen was legendary.

I am of course talking about Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó, better known to you and I by his stage name, Bela Lugosi.

Yes he had off screen issues, but what Hollywood actor/actress doesn't? The Vampires represent so much of what is wrong in our world, the xenophobia, the lack of understanding, the limitations imposed by outside forces are not just how we see them, but really how we see ourselves as well.

I have a new post over at the IBM Social Business Insight Blog and since I did not think IBM wanted to commemorate Bela's untimely death, I figured I should.

Here is the introductory paragraphs, please go enjoy the rest of it, especially the postscript on the IBM site.

Fear is a strong motivator, sometimes for change and other times for stagnation. Even if you’re afraid to move forward, eventually you’ll need to act. If your organization is averse to using social media for business, does that come from management, your culture or the individuals themselves?

Maybe the reason we have no vampires in modern times is because they have become afraid of social media. Bela Lugosi, leveraging his authentic looks and natural voice, could scare people really well - but even monsters have an Achilles’ heel. Dracula's downfalls were fire, sunlight, garlic and supposedly wood stakes to the heart. However, something even more insidious was at work that brought the vampires down: it was modern man.

*No vampires were harmed during the course of writing this blog post. Any inference of living or undead is purely a coincidence and at the whim of the author. You can register as prey at www.preyforvampires.com where replies will be swift.