Comments

I'm being a tad pedantic here Cathy, but I think you'll find you mean the ADS. (Acronym Decoder Site...)

Posted by Mark JF at July 3, 2009 12:50 PM

Hey, I was just reading about that bookstore, and the print-on-demand machine, maybe in the Boston Globe? I'm still a fan of paper. And I don't complete trust the long-term effects of reading (30 to 50 hours/week?) from a blinking screen.

Posted by John O'Leary at July 3, 2009 1:09 PM

That's why I listen to books. Sorry bookstores...

Unfortunately, there aren't that many new books in audio and sometimes you need to see the tables and reference material, but all in all, I get through SO many more books by listening than I ever did by reading them.

Posted by RandySpangler at July 3, 2009 3:40 PM

I hear you, Randy. I used to get through entire Gladwell books-on-tape on LONG drives on Canadian highways to remote client locations. Long live books on tape.

Posted by John O'Leary at July 3, 2009 4:09 PM

Tape? Is that the stuff that drives my iPod?

Posted by Mark JF at July 3, 2009 4:14 PM

Mark - I remember the first present I bought myself with my own hard earned money when I started my first full time job at 16 years of age in 1969 was a Philips N4307 Reel to Reel 4 Track Tape Recorder .... I think I paid a pound a week for 40 weeks by mail order. The beginning of my own personal credit crunch I guess. I've been in debt ever since :-) ...Ahhhhh Memories :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 3, 2009 4:24 PM

4COL Cathy @TEOTD AWGTHTGTTA Its TEOTWAWKI

Best wishes from England :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 3, 2009 4:36 PM

I had the good fortune of self-publishing a book. The process was wonderful and the product is so much more friendly to the environment. There was also a recent article in Smart Money (I think) that discussed the relevance of self-publishing and instantly credibility with those who choose to go down this path. Another benefit-----no big publishing house is going to provide a dope like me an opportunity to publish. Trafford Publishing, albeit from Canada/England, was exceptional to work with.

Speaking of gender differences...nice to see that the lynch mob finally ran Palin out of the Governor's office. She was treated horribly by the media. Even though Obama stated that family should be off limits, wasn't the case with Palin. Kinda sad from my perspective...

Posted by Scott Peters at July 3, 2009 4:36 PM

Sarah Palin is a joke! Senator McCain is a joke too and maybe he should step down for nominating such a one who could have been a heartbeat away from the presidency. Perish the thought! Give me a break! She's a joke!

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 3, 2009 4:44 PM

And having read it (and told many friends) can I add what an honest, superb book "Dropping Almonds" is. I encourage all TP commenters to order Scott's book. As Scott is far too modest to blow his own trumpet let me say on his behalf you can see details here:

http://www.droppingalmonds.com/

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 3, 2009 4:45 PM

The rules are easy about FREE; the recent book from Chris Anderson; I will buy it; however it is common sense that people (Me) I do not want to pay for something that does not add value to my life; for example I was subscribed to Barron's and WSJ - however every other day (or week) I would miss a delivery (issue); I would call customer service and the answer was - well this is the way it is; if you do not receive the daily issues (WSJ) the printing departmen is at fault no us (The customer service dept). Bottom line they never delivered my daily issue and I did not re-ordered the paper another 12months - I still get the information via the internet....why should I pay? Why should I go thru that terrible experience? - because when you pay for a service - you expect the service. Why should I worry about them (WJS employees) losing their JOBS?

Posted by Juan at July 3, 2009 6:20 PM

Randy, our buddy Tom usually manages to "double dip" from my checking account: I often buy an audio book, then I want the printed copy to scribble notes in and highlight, so it's BAAAACCCCKKKK to the bookstore (or Amazon.) Sometimes it's the other way around: I enjoy the book so much that I buy the audio book to listen to on longer drives. It's not fair. Just package the things together and give me a discount. LOL.

MarkJF, I can NOT believe you'd ask such a foolish question. EVERYBODY knows what tape is: that's what they use to seal the box when they ship it to you. "Ya buy 'em books and buy 'em books..." LOL. Hell, I've still got around 100 8-track tapes in nice storage boxes (including a few by the Eagles -- Trevor will be pleased to know.) But my more prized possessions are a LARGE box of 45 RPM records. My great grandmother ran a restaurant in the small town of Oneonta, AL a long time ago. Whenever a new record was put in the jukebox, the technician wrote the date on it (usually.) When they were taken out of the machine, she got to keep them. I have everything from Elvis Presley to the Beatles and can tell you when a lot of them were first put in. Some nostalgic conversations get stirred by those old records.

In the way of tape, I also have some 3-inch VTR (yes, 3" inch wide videotapes that could only be played on an Ampex VTR1200 machine that takes up a room.) Among those are some original "George Wallace for Governor" campaign ads that were loaded on a machine, played once for transferring to other tapes (like 3/4" U-Matics), then sealed back up and never played again. Might be worth something one day -- assuming there's still anything to play them on. Last I knew, there was only like one guy left in the country that could repair one of those machines. I know because we paid handsomely to fly him to Alabama and back during his vacation once to fix our 1200 at the station. That wasn't a nice experience at all.

Posted by Dan Gunter at July 3, 2009 10:47 PM

Was anybody else disappointed that Moroney's response to Amazon's business model proposal was to go to law to defend his slice of the old, old pie? That is, instead of looking to define the pie radically differently (yet again) in a way that would put his organisation (maybe in a very different shape) back in the driving seat? He has content (at least for the time being), any of which he could choose to offer with/to/through a variety of partner channels. But from what I can see (and forgive me, Mr M, if there is a whole lot more behind the scenes) he appears to have decided to sell the family silver and now be resentful that he is being offered a derisory sum for it. Thing is, he's already conceded defeat - this battle is merely over the terms he can squeeze from the victor. It's the evolutionary process in action. Amazon's model is no more "free" than Moroney's, so some small, smart, lithe, warm-blooded rodent can still come in and make them all extinct. Ah, I'm in the land of mixed metaphors again...

Posted by RobCH at July 4, 2009 4:10 AM

Dan - I'm a vinyl man myself. I've got The Eagles' "Hotel California" playing on green vinyl as we speak.

The funny thing about my old records and tapes is that I can't bring myself to bin 'em, even if I've got a cd or mp3 of them. And with my old cassettes, all I've got to play them on is an old Walkman (albeit wired into the hi fi) so it's not exactly high resolution.

I'm no luddite: I download some music, I've got an iPod Touch etc. But there's something about vinyl: the tactile and ceremonial business of getting the record out of the sleeve, carefully putting it on the deck, reading the legible sleevenotes and then of course the wonderful, wonderful sound.

Who needs convenience when you can have quality?

Posted by Mark JF at July 4, 2009 5:49 AM

"Who needs convenience when you can have quality?"

Nice, but is it not possible to have both?

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 4, 2009 6:08 AM

"I've got The Eagles' "Hotel California" playing on green vinyl as we speak."

Mark - I have always said you are a man of great taste :-)

I love the vinyl records too. The first vinyl record I bought around 1967/68 was "Waterloo Sunset" by The Kinks my all time favourite British Band. It cost me less than ten bob (50p in new money). Hope the sun is shining as brightly in Bedfordshire as it is here in Shakespeare's County.

BTW Is there anything more boring in sport than yet another Williams/Williams final at Wimbledon? I admire them both tremendously but the fact is they are both just too good by about 6 levels for all other women tennis players on the planet.

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 4, 2009 6:14 AM

Judith - if you can invent something that sounds as good as vinyl and has the convenience of an iPod, I'd probably be first in the queue. Until that trade-off is resolved, I'll carry on using both.

Posted by Mark JF at July 4, 2009 6:30 AM

Good point, MarkJF. But one could not carry vinyl records around comfortably, nor the record player itself. When my father passed I was in college and was given hundreds of his vinyl recordings of great symphonies and operas conducted by many of the great conductors, including Toscanni, of times passed. The only problem is that I have never personally had a record player.

Many years later just flipping through them I found vinyl records of my parents, him playing and she singing, in the beginning of their marriage when they had four of their twelve children. A friend had a record player and I listened to them; some were of rehearsal sessions so I heard all of the attention to detail and the jest. They are priceless and the sound amazing. Of course, the speakers must have influenced this too; they were Boise.

Trevor - So true about the Williams sisters. I'm a huge tennis fan, as I am of many sports, and watched them typically demolish their opponents. Although, Dementieva gave Serena a run for her money in the semi-final. What a match! Venus steamrolled Safina, the number one. Now, that's a real joke! Their mental toughness, power, and overall game is just superior to most.

Sorry in a way to see Muarry lose yesterday, but was quite happy for Roddick!

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 4, 2009 6:54 AM

Murray did well and his day may come in the future I hope but Roddick was better on the day by quite a way. I like Andy Roddick and I wish him well tomorrow n the final. He deserves to Win Wimbledon and is very popular over here. Roddick is a real gentleman - a credit to the US and to sport in general - as of course are the Williams sisters. I wish there was someone in the women's game who could stretch them to play above second gear. :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 4, 2009 7:57 AM

Better luck next year. The Williams sisters also seem to be popular there and everywhere. Perhaps there is some envy too. But those girls were raised well and are typically very gracious, especially when they win.

Another thing, as competitive as they are, their matches against each other are generally anything BUT boring! We'll see how it goes today, but I think we're in for a good match.

Great players perform in all situations against any opponent. That's what they do! The Williams sisters' love for each other off the court is quite evident too.

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 4, 2009 8:14 AM

Dan, I was at a conference two weeks ago and the guy sitting next to me starts blogging and pulls Re-Imagine out of his bag to quote it. I ax him about the book and he pointed out several rather interesting passages. I pulled up Audible on my notebook and immediately ordered and downloaded it, then loaded it onto my iPod. When I got back, I checked three bookstores for the book and eventually ordered it off of Amazon for 8 bucks! (Sorry again, bookstores... I tried.)

If had to read the book, I probably wouldn't have made it past p. 20. That is reality for me. But, in two days, I got through it in audio and now I have a reference guide on paper and a wild piece of bookwork to boot.

Plus... I got to hang out with likes of you TP groupies. Serendipity at its finest!

I was going to ask if any of you are on Twitter, but I know that Judith couldn't be. I don't think she could clear her throat in under 140 characters ;-)

Anyway, Happy 4th to all of you, at least for 49 more minutes, here on the east coast.

Randy

Posted by RandySpangler at July 4, 2009 10:12 PM

Randy, LOL. Actually, I am on twitter. Folks don't see a lot of tweets coming from me, though. I try to always ask myself "Is this something many people would be interested in knowing about?" before I'll even send one. I err to the cautious side and imagine everyone having the mobile device feature turned on as I do for only a handful of the people I follow. If my gut tells me it would be seen as an interruption and not something worth being bothered with, I just don't send it.

On the subject of hanging out with "Tom groupies" -- been there, done that. MANY times. LOL. You'd think he was Jerry Garcia or something. I've had a lot of great conversations that centered around Tom's work. But it's NOT his writings, speeches, etc. that turn out to be the focal point of the best conversations (sorry, no offense, Tom) -- it's the dialog about HOW we've used his ideas, or the various roads we've taken that he not only pointed out to us but gave us that "push" to try traveling that really gets exciting.

I think a lot people who badmouth Tom's work are really pointing the finger at him as a means of justifying their own lack of execution. Quite often it turns out that their real problem is that they don't have the passion, the drive, or the guts to take the next step and actually DO something. Admittedly, much of what Tom proposes --whether it be dead serious challenges (which some of his ideas are), or words intended to challenge us to think on a different, deeper, broader level (which he's also thankfully notorious for doing) -- can be damned hard to execute. But if you've been reading his stuff, watching his stuff, and listening to his stuff for 25 years or so like I have and you HAVEN'T actually put any of it to use, then it doesn't take a genius to figure out who the real idiot is in the village. As Alan Webber puts it, "KNOWING it ain't the same as DOING it." [emphasis mine.] Tom's like a combination coach, offensive coordinator, one-man cheerleading squad, and booster club all rolled into one ranting, raving, snarling package. Somebody's gotta do it. I'm glad he's there to do all that, otherwise, this quarterback would have hit the showers and called it a season a long, long time ago.

I hate hearing people spout off things like "This stuff is useless. It won't work" but when you ask them HOW they tried using his ideas, they get this stupid look on their face, as if to say "You mean you actually have to DO something with it? I don't want to DO anything. I just wanted something to argue about -- I wasn't looking for things to do."

I say "If you're looking for ideas on how to actually get started on things that matter, check out Tom. If you're just looking for someone to argue with, friggin' call Rush Limbaugh, or maybe Savage." Those guys don't (and shouldn't) really expect you to do anything because they don't do anything worth mentioning themselves. Plus, not too many people that I know take them seriously anyway. I have about as much respect for their opinions and words as I do for Jerry Springer. At least Springer will stand on stage while fists are flying, instead of hiding in a small room behind a radio console.

Limbaugh, Savage, et al: "If you're reading this, thank you for the Excellent ego boost. While you're reading my words, trust me, I'm not hearing yours."

*** Perhaps we'll soon know if Tom's blogs and comments get crawled and indexed by Google? ***

Posted by Dan Gunter at July 5, 2009 1:26 AM

Oh, Randy! - From briefly perusing your blog I see that you're a fan of SP. Man, I feel you. But I'm sure you weren't feeling my words about her. I see that you have tried to justify her abandoning the people of Alaska and quitting the governorship with some lame excuse.

I suspect you also believe in SP's "higher calling" mission that she spoke of today. If so, you guys are all taking some serious stuff the likes that MJ may have never taken, undoubtedly resulting in "TrendyTopics," replacing him with her. Funny, man!

SP is a joke and John McCain is too for nominating such a one as his VP. With this choice, he loved himself way more than his country, wanting to win at all cost. Of course, now he is seeking to disassociate himself from her. But the deed was done.

It was quite painful then and quite painful now, especially on such a day as today that honors our country, that a veteran such as McCain chose SP as his VP candidate considering her sheer lack of intellectual vigor or policy prowess, not to mention that by quitting she is showing us who she is.

You think she would have quit as VP because of a media pressure and prodding that she intiated in her own bulldog devisive attacks during the campaign? Nobody (save a comedian) is talking about her children; she is!

By the way, you wondered about my tweeting. Yes, I am on Twitter and, yes, I barely tweet. But I did find a few of yours. With the likes of these, why would anyone waste their time?

"Ran two LARGE tree's branches thru a 6" wood chipper. Nan helped. We won't be able to move tomorrow. Getting old sux!about 4 hours ago from web"

Do people really care how many branches you ran through your wood chipper or the size of each? Don't answer that--please.

Here's another:

"Did Sarah Palin choose today to use MJ as cover... or to prove she could knock the King of Pop off of TrendingTopics?7:52 PM Jul 3rd from web"

I suppose you think the latter is true. But it really doesn’t matter. Did I mention that SP is a joke?

I see she's following you of Twitter. How nice is that!? I guess those 140 characters about which you spoke is probably about all that she could say. But they will undoubtely not say much.

On second thought, Twitter could never work for SP as she is found of rambling nonsensical passages that end in such statements as "it's all about job creation" and "in what respect, Charlie?"

SP is a joke AND an embarrassment, a quitter too! But I do wish her luck on that reality show. I'm sure she has a ghost writer.

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 5, 2009 2:20 AM

Judith - please contact Randy directly with your opinions on his tweets. We'd prefer you refrain from personal attacks in this space. Thank you.

Posted by Shelley Dolley at July 5, 2009 7:01 AM

No doubt so that we can better concentrate on important stuff like Wimbledon, Sarah Palin and The Eagles? Good grief... :)

Posted by RobCH at July 5, 2009 7:34 AM

Shelley - As desired.

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 5, 2009 7:35 AM

I do wonder whether a decade (or sooner) from now, book publishers will be singing the blues to a tune similar to that of present day newspaper publishers? The web and "free" more or less caught newspapers off guard. Paper book publishers are hopefully already seeing the handwriting appear on the wall. With technology such as the Kindle and even cell phones with massive memory, I'm wondering if printed books are headed down the same path as vinyl records, cassette tapes, and big, floppy, inconvenient newspapers? Book publishers, distributors, and authors have a slight advantage: we do expect to pay something for books. That is, unless advertising companies start going after the authors and publishers pushing the idea of selling advertisements embedded in the electronic versions, which could underwrite the (much, much lower) costs associated with electronic books, potentially making it possible for the publishers to give the books away.

That would be an interesting shift. Instead of "page views" and "circulation" numbers, advertising agencies would have to start selling on their history of "placement in best sellers." Perhaps they price the ads similarly to how Google does their Adwords, or the way a lot of banner ads get priced: pay by the number of books actually sold. Could be an interesting experiment anyway.

Posted by Dan Gunter at July 5, 2009 8:29 AM

The more I think about it, the more I suspect my last idea in the post above might really not be that far away from happening. Television networks are borderlining that with their shows already. I have not turned on the television to watch "HawthoRNe" on TNT yet. What I have done, though, is watch it on their website, complete with embedded video ads. That's only one step away from debuting a "web only" series. Free to the viewer, sponsored by the advertisers. So what would be so hard about embedding ads in a Kindle book and making the download free, with Amazon getting a percentage of the ad fees for each download? The only problematic issues I see in the doing this would be (1) "forcing" the reader to actually view the ad, and (2) preventing "sharing" or pirating of the electronic versions (which would still result in the ads being seen but not paid for.) Theoretically, that last issue would be one of scale -- if it's hot enough to be pirated that heavily, you would think it would also be a proportionally bigger seller in terms of legit downloads.

Can I get a patent on this idea? LOL. I would imagine someone is already working on it. Maybe it is actually being done and I haven't gotten my head out of the printed books long enough to notice. I could be WAY behind in this thinking.

Posted by Dan Gunter at July 5, 2009 8:41 AM

Wow, an embarassment of riches in subjects with this thread! I will not adhere to the 140 character limit on my response.

Judith, no offense taken on any of that. I figure if an intelligent individual (I hope I am one of those) puts his/her thoughts out on the web, you have just figuratively "dropped trou" for all of eternity, or at least until Google and Bing have a massive server #fail. If you don't realize that with every post you make, then do it at your peril.

Dan, I have 'mainlined' serious numbers of books like Tom's in the past two years. Like nuclear radiation, the effects are cumulative and I feel that all of this gained knowledge makes me more apt to "Do Something." In fact, I am preparing to launch a re-org of my business this very week based on some of Tom's work, some Ken Blanchard with Jesse Stoner for "The Vision-thing", some Made to Stick for message stickiness, brevity provided by Guy Kawasaki, context added by Malcolm Gladwell, study of human nature by Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational), business-success ideas from Napoleon Hill and a big kickstart three years ago from Michael Gerber.

As as small business owner, we don't always have the luxury of inertia and deep pockets to do some of the 'breakage' that Tom Peters espouses. When you make a serious, radical change, it had better be very close to right, or you may not recover from it. I think that this, as much as any other reason, is why so many people don't make needed change. Status Quo may be painful, but it pays the bills.

As for the never-resolved issue of new media vs. old media, I have always been an early adopter of all sorts of new media. I remember downloading "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Rage Against the Machine. I was on dial-up back in '97 or so and I thought that was the coolest thing. Interestingly, I wasn't very aware of RATM, and this download gave me that awareness. This 'awareness-raising' has occurred thousands of times hence. I feel much richer for the experience and I have attended concerts and bought music from artists that I never would have, had I not 'stolen' their music from them in the first place.

I think an analogy can be drawn between climate change and new media. Hear me out on this one. It is my contention that those of us in our 30's through our 60's have experienced a rare lull in the rather tumultuous history of climate and weather. Most everyone's idea of how things should really be harken back to their childhood when things were always much simpler. Our collective experience is hot summers, cold winters. If you look back even 500 years you can see how we emerged from a mini-Ice Age and if you look back 900 years, you can see how Iceland and Greenland were green islands before the mini-Ice Age just about wiped their humanity out.

If you compare the music and entertainment industry, it has only been since the mid 60's when artists and performers wrested control from the big studios, big sports team owners, big music labels, etc. to become very wealthy people in their own right. BUT, this is what we/they all believe now to be the norm. Can I understand why they would choose to fight to maintain this status quo? Of course, but it is not really their choice ultimately. We, the consumers of said entertainment will choose how we will consume their output and since there is SO MUCH stuff to choose from now, their slice of the pie is becoming smaller and smaller, and hence, their monetary take.

I think that blockbusters in the future will be more organic than contrived. Popularity will be viral and those that can last longer than a click-thru or a play on YouTube will continue to be popular, albeit with a potentially MUCH wider and dedicated audience. Thus my groupie statement. It was not meant to deride, but to underscore how important community is in this digital age. (My biggest problem now is keeping up with the disparate communities and their platforms, on a regular basis.)

Finally, Twitter and Social Media. I swore that I wouldn't talk about my cat rolling over or what I am cooking for dinner, but if you are going to be out there, you need to be interesting. Is it interesting to repeat the same tweet that you can make $$$ via MLM or that I can help you with SEO? I think not. Is it interesting that I chipped up a bunch of wood in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains? Maybe... if you have an interest in what I am all about. Having stickiness with your 'peeps' involves personality as well as facts and opinion. Too much of any of these will usually turn people off.

I think we are in the post-What-hath-God-wrought and the post-Mr.-Watson-come-here era, but the science of Social Media is nowhere near settled. I want to be in on the ground floor as we figure this crazy thing out.

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(No comment on Sarah Palin. Too toxic at this time, plus I think something will happen real soon that will catch us all off guard.)

Posted by RandySpangler at July 5, 2009 11:30 AM

"Wow, an embarassment of riches in subjects with this thread! I will not adhere to the 140 character limit on my response.

"Judith, no offense taken on any of that. I figure if an intelligent individual (I hope I am one of those) puts his/her thoughts out on the web, you have just figuratively "dropped trou" for all of eternity, or at least until Google and Bing have a massive server #fail. If you don't realize that with every post you make, then do it at your peril."

Randy - There is NEVER any shame in my game. So, thanks but no thanks" for that bit of unsolicited advice.

Here is an excellent read: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/opinion/05dowd.html?_r=1

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 5, 2009 11:55 AM

Randy, thanks for going to the trouble to share your thoughts. You touched on a "two edged sword" of a subject in regards to radical change in small business. On one hand, if your business is based on a small number of clients, putting even one of those client relationships at risk by trying a radical change could be devastating; however, the flip-side of that coin is that you have no hierarchy to struggle with. No three inch thick employee handbooks and policy and procedure manuals to revise. You can "turn on a dime" if things don't turn out as you planned. It might be wise to actually let your potentially affected clients know what you're up to and even why. If it's about creating a better relationship with them and being faster to respond to particular needs (just examples) tell them so. Bring them in as a partner in the effort. Don't just blindside them and leave them asking "What the hell happened? We were used to such-and-such and now everything seems to be different." If whatever you're doing in a small business (especially in a small business) affects the way you run it, it's most likely going to be felt by the clients. Keep them in the loop if possible. Let's face it, they ARE your business partners in one way or another.

As for figuring out what's good to tweet and what's not, you're absolutely right that the dust hasn't settled from the initial storm. And I could turn out to be wrong over time, but presently I deal with too many people that are already stressing from information overload. They're already tuning out much of what they see and hear. They want relevance to their lives, needs, and futures. Sure, we all like to feel like someone is sharing something personal and interesting now and then, but I'm not convinced that the benefits of sending certain information in the interest of doing so outweighs the risk of them thinking "Who cares?" and bye-bye follower, blog subscriber, etc.

Perhaps you caught a bit of undeserved tongue lashing over the wood-chipping thing. At this juncture we all have our own ideas about what is a good tweet or a bad tweet. The jury is largely still out on that. But I err to the cautious side while trying to accomplish the same objective of being interesting and showing interest in the followers, while at the same time trying to be interesting within the context that we both inhabit. In short, I try to make it fun AND keep it on established common ground.

"A river with no banks is a big puddle." -- Don Shula.

Posted by Dan Gunter at July 5, 2009 2:42 PM

Randy and Dan – Maybe the use of Twitter depends on one’s view about networks and relationship building. I have probably 10 main contacts in my business. I figure if I keep those folks happy with what I do for them that will save me eating the two dogs for another six months. I have yet to be convinced of any business benefit of Twitter – I see lots of ego stroking. For me - and I accept not for everyone - the development of meaningful, trusting relationships with a handful of solid clients/customers wins every time. But hey maybe I’m just getting old guys :- )

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 5, 2009 3:22 PM

Trevor, I do actually like Twitter within certain (admittedly self guided and self-imposed) parameters. On second thought, they are NOT totally "self-imposed," as I've been driven to them. Allow me to elaborate.

Let's pick on Tom Peters as an example. If he were to start using Twitter as a means of letting me know when he has posted new blog entries, I would be delighted to get those notices and would sign up immediately. Even on my mobile device. That's because I am interested in a large percentage of his posts. That is why I would elect to "follow" him on Twitter to begin with.

On the other hand, if he were to send out tweets saying things like "The flowers are blooming in Vermont" constantly I'd end up cutting him off. An occasional one as a way of saying "Sharing something I think is interesting with all of you as friends" I could possibly deal with. But too many people abuse Twitter, sending far too many totally irrelevant tweets, leading me to the knee-jerk reaction (habit? rule? policy?) of knocking folks off my "follow" list at the first indication that they are tweeting simply because they can.

I know that a LOT of people commit this (what I see as a social networking) "sin" because they're stuck in the old "top of mind" way of thinking about advertising. Just the sort of thing Tom Asacker is trying to get folks to get out of their head -- with good reason. It likely does more harm than good nowadays; whereas, in the past it was almost a necessity and possibly the focus of most advertising efforts. Repetition meant recognition then. Now, repetition means one more straw on the proverbial camel's back. 186 totally useless tweets coming at me a day is 187 too many. Maybe (in our hypothetical example) Tom Peters only sent ONE of those, but he could end up being judged as "guilty by association" and sentenced by the jury of "ME" to serve 20 to life in "Blocked Tweeter Confinement." Many people I've discussed these issues with at length lately have reached a similar level of thinking and reacting: "Make it count or I'll make you go away."

"Making it count" is a tough call sometimes. But "I'll make you go away" means you probably just lost a customer." And when a friend asks me why I'm looking at my phone and cussing, what do you think I would end up telling them? We do like to point the finger, don't we? "And I used to think he was such a cool guy. Hmmmpppphhh."

*** T.P., you're a good sport, even when you aren't aware you're participating. Thanks in advance. If you're reading this, in all fairness, I will admit that when I first started Twittering, I caught myself leaning toward just the sort of thing I'm speaking of. So I'll admittedly acknowledge that I'm already guiltier than I hope you ever will be. I just had to force myself into rehab and develop the program at the same time. I pray it is working ;-) ***

Posted by Dan Gunter at July 5, 2009 3:57 PM

It is good to hear comments from some place other than the "Amen Corner".

Dan, great point about letting my clients know how a change would affect them.

Trevor, I have created a personal and a 'corporate' Twitter personna and it is my absolute belief that the corporate side should only be things that are relevant to the business. My personal tweets allow me to be social, blow off a little steam and be a human with those that know me personally even if we also have a professional relationship. I think that it IS a multi-dimensional thing and the rules for drawing the line are not even written yet.

As for Twitter itself, I unfollowed David Allen (of Getting Things Done fame) for the very reason Dan cited about the theoretical Tom. Literally. He really had nothing to say about GTD and tons to say about his flowers and his family. Maybe I just followed the wrong personna. So be it. Gone.

The other big problem is managing streams of interest. I call Twitter a "Waterfall of Information". (Yes, you can attribute that to me...) It truly is like a waterfall, with information continuously rushing by and if you miss it, it is pretty much gone. The trick is to try to segregate the streams based on content. This can be done with limited success with TweetDeck or other tools, but they are still immature and are Beta releases (v 0.26.3 for TweetDeck.)

One feature of Twitter (and I suppose a few other social media as well) that should be especially useful for business is the ability to search postings for keywords and to reply directly to the post-er if you have special knowledge that can assist them. This doesn't scale well with some traditional businesses, but many newer businesses have goods or services that are not restricted to local sales, and it can be a great way to extend your AOI (area of influence.) buy viagra generic online

Many dismiss it all without due consideration. Plus, to bring things back around to the original theme of this discussion, they are almost all free. Unlike bookstores, Twitter, et al, are not displacing any old-school institution, but it does reinforce the notion that everything on the internet should be FREE.

Posted by RandySpangler at July 5, 2009 10:23 PM

I enjoy Trevor's little "publication" about NASA. Has anyone NOT notified NASA & the State department about Trevor's quote regarding the "Russians out smarting the USA in the space race with a pencil"? 1st of all it was the Soviets that the USA beat in the space race & then out dueled to drive them into their 2nd world status - not the Russians. If TG ever can afford a USA trip - there shall be a fine welcome for him by his USA State department "fans". Hopefully some day soon Russian peacekeepers will occupy beloved England to keep us safe from the nefarious cult of Trevor. :>)

Posted by UK Love at July 6, 2009 5:20 AM

Randy, the creation of separate but related Twitter identities is a smart move. You can always invite the folks that want to know the fun little everyday, personal stuff to follow that profile as well. Otherwise, they can stick with the "strictly business" one.

UK Love, Trevor has clearly pointed out another good example of getting "one-upped." We (the U.S.) invented the automobile industry. Japan, et al, turned around and outsmarted and outperformed us. Similarly with everything from VCR's to microwave ovens. They probably didn't whip our butts at refrigerators simply because the things are too big and expensive to ship. If I were a U.S. manufacturer of those, I wouldn't go daring them, though. As many cargo ships as they send over here a day, they could start by slipping a few in and next thing you know, we'd be seeing names like Mitsubishi and Matsushita on refrigerator door handles all over America. I really think they've outsmarted us in those, too. Most of us don't have a clue where the components for a lot of our "American made" appliances (and darn near everything else) get made. That's why I rejoice over seeing so many factories being opened in our area for parts suppliers of Kia, Hyundai, etc.

I did have an odd little thought about all the foreign owned factories popping up around here like mushrooms after a bad rainstorm. The phrase "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" seems to have given way to "If you CAN beat 'em, then seed 'em, feed 'em, weed 'em, and eat 'em." Meaning, now that foreign companies have become the dominant players in the auto industry, they've established the industry as their territory and wield lots of power and influence in the job market here. It is at least having some desirable effects in education, albeit painfully sobering ones that we are not yet dealing with well.

Schools in our area are becoming aware of the fact that these companies thrive on people with technical skills. This calls for increasing competencies and skills for the kids graduating from public education if they want to even have a shot at a job in these new factories. Unfortunately, drop-out rates are increasing at many of the schools. At times it makes me wish that our Korean benefactors, Japanese, and others would go ahead and build their own K-12 schools. That's one area in which I'd be delighted to have someone demonstrate to us "a better way" of doing things. Or, one might say "If you can't beat, then humble yourself and then learn from them." The notion of a global economy has landed right here in our backyards -- literally. I see it as opportunity, not a threat. I can imagine many folks in Detroit would love to see this many auto industry related jobs springing up around them.

Still sad (if not downright embarrassing) to think that it was America's own W. Edwards Deming that helped Japan kick our collective corporate butt. What does the Bible say about a prophet in his own country? I sure can't argue that one.

Posted by Dan Gunter at July 6, 2009 6:52 AM

Look at Toyota as a perfect example of what Dan is talking about. There is a HUGE Toyota ecosystem in the US... From the corporate office in CA to the design center to their testing facility. Manufacturing plants, suppliers, dealers with all of their workers, salespeople and technicians, transportation workers, support businesses that work for dealerships (this is bigger than you could imagine), etc.

Sure, the top-line profit goes back to Japan, but look a all of the taxes on a local, state and federal basis that we Americans take advantage of.

Not quite in the same effect as Chiquita hiring local workers in Costa Rica to harvest bananas, is it?

Posted by RandySpangler at July 6, 2009 7:32 AM

Randy, well put. I was recently in a discussion with some friends about the condition of education in our area vs. the needs these new companies (make that "employers") have. The reality is that they sort of went out on a limb building here. I see a huge gap in terms of education. Auburn University (just ten miles or so down the road from my house) turns out a lot of talented, well educated students. But these Hyundai and Kia owned or related plants need a diverse collection of workers. There are jobs to be had for students who graduate from high school and go on to get even two year technical degrees. But the gap between the high school dropouts and those who progress to earn degrees is becoming greater and greater.

To wit, I am often troubled by the fact that the Governor of our state (Alabama) is frequently traveling overseas to meet with companies in hopes of luring them to Alabama. Within the past three weeks or so, the Mayor of our city (Opelika) did the same. We hear about these industry recruitment trips constantly. But what about education?

I would like to see some of our local and state tax dollars invested in sending people to other countries and places where education is more effective. Find places with fabulously high graduation rates. Excellent performance in terms of academic skills. I'm talking about the equivalent of public K-12 education, not colleges. Find out how they manage to do it. Recruit the hell out of some of their experts and get them here to infuse some of that thinking. Would it mean major changes in the public schools in our state? I certainly hope so.

Given that we have these foreign companies investing in the plants and infrastructure to create these jobs and revenue, it would be in our best interests to start doing the things necessary to be players in this new game. Otherwise, I couldn't and wouldn't blame our wonderful Korean friends and others if they starting importing whole families and creating their own micro-schools so that they can be assured that they will have the talent they need to actually operate.

To put it in terms of a fable...

Let's imagine you and I agree to start having Saturday cookouts at your house. The agreement is for me to provide the grill while you provide the steaks. But you fail to bring the steaks and I have to go find them myself, I ain't gonna feel like this is "our" cookout for very long. If you keep failing to keep up your end of the deal, sooner or later, I'm taking my grill back to my house or to a friend's house. You're going to get very hungry, especially when you smell those steaks that one of your neighbors and I are grilling out there in HIS backyard.

Posted by Dan Gunter at July 6, 2009 8:00 AM

On education, the pendulum swings wide. The initiative to test (and therefore, teach to the test) is a direct result of lackadaisical and far-out education ideas of the 70's and 80's. I guess the kids, now, are voting with their feet and not finishing high school. I cannot imagine that sitting in a class full of disinterested students where there are SO many more distractions than when I was in school (1960-1972), listening to a teacher teach stuff that you 'need to know' to pass the various mandated tests (plus SATs), taking home hours of homework (remind me why you are doing all of this homework) can be rewarding and fulfilling.

(No, I wasn't taught about run-on sentences...)

I had (and still have) an insatiable appetite for learning, but there were few classes in school that really kept my attention. I have always thought that there should be at least two tracks in high school, one preparatory and one vocational. Who gets to decide which student goes where could be a problem, but what about letting the student decide? If he/she goes into the wrong track, let them switch back. They would still get core training in either track, but the vocational side would be seriously designed to teach 'trade' skills, not be a dumping ground for problem kids.

But, like everything else in this great country of ours, there are too many 'interests' involved in education. That is why Charter Schools barely have a prayer of success.

Sometimes I think that the system is too broke to fix (and I am not just talking about education, either.)

Sigh...

Posted by RandySpangler at July 6, 2009 9:13 AM

UK Love – Sadly I cannot claim credit for this NASA story as I was of course reproducing Bob Walkers wise words from here on TP Blog. I did of course credit Bob on my Blog so it looks like both Bob and I need to look out for the Russians. If I can ever afford to get to the US I hope you will put me up for a week or two – a garden shed will be fine - as I am penniless.

Yours hungry and homeless

Trevor :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 6, 2009 11:56 AM

"Russians out smarting the USA in the space race with a pencil"?

that's a great story, but it's just that, a story. Here's what actually happened.

http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

Posted by thor at July 6, 2009 12:41 PM

Here is Liz Trotta, Fox News analyst, on Sarah Palin. No truer words could have been spoken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvj-Xr0irhE

Trotta is the winner of three Emmy awards and two Overseas Press Club awards.

Thank you! Thank you, Liz Trotta! Your honesty is so appreciated. This is old school patriotism, honor and gravitas.

generic viagra usa canada Posted by Judith Ellis at July 6, 2009 2:40 PM

"Bob Walkers wise words" - 1st you rat out Bob while you have quoted the same story yourself before and 2nd - you call it "wise words"? Hilarious - your infamy brand spreads daily - next we'll release your scathing e-mails about TP & Judith?

Thanks Thor for the snopes.com find. Meanwhile the Russians are more bankrupt than the UK & almost there with the USA. 2010 World Cup opening ceremonies - may be when Russians invade our beloved UK? :>)

Posted by UK Love at July 6, 2009 7:25 PM

Yeah, thanks thor! Cool bit of history there.

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 6, 2009 8:29 PM