Does Social Networking border on voyeurism?

My brother recently asked me this question -- which got me to thinking: Do I actually need to know what somebody has on their grill or how they've scored the their top five 80s hair bands (although I fully intend to rate this myself)?

I know there are security controls but one of the things about these sites, Facebook in particular, is that whatever response you place up there in the cloud, it's a pretty good bet that it's going to read by not only hundreds of your friend's friends, but potentially their friends, and so on. It's like about the 2 or 3 degrees of social networking. And most of it sure looks like personal release to me.

This fascinates me, because of all the relative infancy of the technology, how it's proliferating so quickly and how to use it best. I think the opportunities here are enormous to connect and communicate. But one has to know the potential pitfalls as well.

Great Lakes water levels improving

This chart from the Corps of Engineers and NOAA shows that the 2009 water levels on lake Michigan will rise nearly a foot between April 2009 and September 2009 -- welcome news for the economic climate and the recreational boaters alike.

Destination ImagiNation

One good program, http://www.idodi.org/. My wife led our daughter and her team to 1ast place and an appearance at State finals. Way to go!

The Pendulum is Swinging

Isn't it fascinating that all of your friends in their 30s, 40s and 50s have suddenly come out of the woodwork and embraced social networking such as Facebook, Twitter and even LinkedIn? I firmly believe that there is a pendulum effect at work here. Social attitudes and cultural acceptance follow a rather predictable swing from being all about the one, to being all about the group, over a course of time throughout histroy. This theory is well documented in the book Generations by Strauss & Howe. This dictates many things, including your marketing strategies and the tailoring thereof to arrive at maximum benefit based at which point of the swing we are at.

You see, the kids are always the one to culturally embrace the new; the newest music genre, the latest fashion, and emerging technologies. So it's no wonder that what started with the kids a few years back has now blossomed into use by their parents and even grandparents. And now we're on to the business applications of social networking and thus completing the full acceptance of the new, by the old(er).

A Few Good People

When you work in an organization , particularly a larger organization with many complex processes and solutions, you're surrounded by lots of mediocrity. And it can be very frustrating. I'm talking about the kind of people that don't share the same passion for making things better and making things right. That's when it's good to surround yourself with a few good people to go to for nearly anything: advice, consoling, an energy boost or brainstorming. Of course, this takes some time to cultivate, but once you've got a few good ones in your back pocket, you can recharge and move forward a lot more quickly.

Elevate your game

The business of higher education continues to be elevated by driven and committed folks who push new paradigms.

(I'm a little biased).

Re-Do

...decided to give U.S. Cellular one more try tonight -- same result.

That's some really good marketing dollars down the drain...

Do as I say, Not as I do...

There's this great company called BzzAgent based in Boston that's essentially a word-of-mouth organization that has a small army of marketers as "agents "to produce word of mouth on various products and campaigns. I am one of those agents. They send you something to try and then you "bzz" about it.

The latest campaign I'm a part of is for U.S. Cellular. They sent me a free, gitchy little Motorola phone and you get free service for a month or whatever to try it (and then talk about it). A slick brochure came with it that says, "Activate your phone by calling 888-xxx-xxxx for Immediate Customer Service". Called the number at 8:30PM on a Tuesday night, having just returned from a late business meeting (like any other average professional). "The average wait time is over 15 minutes..." said the recording on the other end.

Ah, no thanks. I'll try again -- maybe. If you're going to execute a promotion and need to cover a higher call volume, you better be prepared to commit the resources (labor, in this case) to getting it done.

If you're gonna print it, you better be prepared to live up to it...

Google Talk

Pretty cool IM gadget.

Change in Strategy

I recently finished reading the latest book by Seth Godin entitled, The Dip. It's a very quick read, a little book, actually. It talks about and r aises some very interesting questions about quitting bad things and continuing through tough times with good things/ideas/plans/programs.

We're going through a Dip in the coffee business. It's an incredibly challenging time right now as we're staring a lot of growth in the face, ramp up with new talent and the like. We also recently had a major shift in sales strategy that we basically bet the farm on.

But if you have faith in the product or service, you'll be nimble enough to change direction on a dime to get through the Dip to the end game: success of your business or program, product, marriage -- whatever. Sometimes it takes sheer strength of will to quit what you're doing poorly, learn from it and head in a totally new direction.