Apr 14, 2008 | blog
I suppose I should be upset by the current wave of tools & services like shyftr that aggregate blog content and also host commenting features for that content. In essence, these services could be accused (and are) of stealing content.
I guess the short of it for me is that I hope people read my feed, visit my blog and comment because I’m providing some piece of information that has value for them. Like many bloggers, I may have had ideas of being a professional blogger and deriving my living simply by blogging – I’ve long since dropped that assumption. I blog because I want to participate, or want to voice my opinions or ideas. If what I have to say is important, people will show up at my blog.
There are legal aspects to these arguments, but I’ll need to think about it a bit longer.
UPDATE: What I really think this trend means, is that its time to change. When the playing field is altered, the players need to adapt. As such, new perspectives on blogging and conversations need to be adopted.
Apr 12, 2008 | blog
I’d like to congratulate my friend Thomas Knoll on becoming the new Seesmic Customer Service and Community Support person. Thomas has a great interest in helping people use technology, and an easygoing manner that will benefit Seesmic’s growing user base.
Kudos to Loic Le Meur as well on hiring one heck of a great social media enthusiast!
You can find Thomas on Twitter and Seesmic as “dydimustk”.
Apr 12, 2008 | blog
Today was the second Social Media Breakfast in the Twin Cities. We had a great turnout for the small space that I had booked. I won’t make that mistake again, even though it worked out ok. Albert Maruggi commented awhile ago on how much talent and interest there is here in the Minneapolis & St. Paul area in social media. I have to agree as our meetups keep backing up that interest with really great, dedicated, intelligent people who want to get involved for so many great reasons.
The group here in the northland has a mix of great perspectives and intentions – I honestly am honored to be able to spend time discussing new ideas and opportunities with this group and encourage anyone interested to check out the social media site for our meetups. We’ll be hosting more meetups and I’m planning on keeping it interesting and helping the group in whatever direction it wants to go.
UPDATE: Connie Bensen had a nice recap & comments on the video feed that we set up for this event. You can visit her post here.
Apr 10, 2008 | blog
So I just found out that Hugh MacLeod of GapingVoid deleted his Twitter account today. There is bound to be talk far and wide on how this is a sign that Twitter’s popularity is waning. I’m going to disagree with those assessments, but I do know one thing – Hugh says that he “found it too easy”. I’d agree with that – it’s too easy to just Twitter the day away.
I can relate. There are days when I think I’ve wasted too many hours, too many creative ideas on Twitter. I’ve even tried staying off Twitter for a week back in December. I finally think I’m finding the right mix of Twitter attention for myself. However, I can easily understand why anyone would simply leave Twitter if they believed it was interfering with their work.
Hugh, we’ll miss you on Twitter, but I’ll be following up at www.gapingvoid.com!
UPDATE: It seems that Hugh couldn’t stay away! He’s back on twitter. You can find his Twitter profile here.
Apr 10, 2008 | blog
I want to see you succeed!
It’s that simple. I want to see people rise to their full potential and reap the rewards of their efforts. Why more people don’t work towards their goals rather than their employer’s is confusing to me. So in this post I’m going to share a few thoughts that I hope will inspire you to leverage the most important resource in your arsenal: You!
Security
It’s comforting to have a secure job, one that you can count on being there a month or a year from now. However, without careful planning, you can easily get trapped in the mindset of climbing the corporate ladder. I should take a moment and admit that it’s not entirely a bad thing if it fits your career plans and life goals. I also believe that in many situations it reduces your chances for personal success.
The Matrix
Often, I like to compare the corporate environment to “The Matrix”. Companies do provide a framework for people to not only produce for the company, but to move forward as well. Good companies know a bit about this and work to change that perception. They create an environment that is safe to share ideas. They build teams. They help people grow in their careers. They reward hard work. They also make it easy for a person align their personal goals with the company’s. For the most part that’s good, but it also tricks the employee into believing that they key to the success of the team/company. That is what makes it hard to work towards your agenda.
Awakening
At some point though, many people come to an awakening. They realize that there is nothing more to learn at a given organization. People find that their “secure” position at “the company” has become too easy and has actually become detrimental to their success. They figure out that they’ve been working towards the company’s agenda without much regard for their own. Even if your ultimate goal is some “Chief” level corner office – you still need to have an agenda of your own and work towards it aggressively.
What’s Next
Start thinking of where you want to go in the future. Find your specialty and start working on how to capitalize on it. Odds are that you’ll identify something that you are passionate about. Look around in your current job, watching others to find out what skills you still may need to acquire before going out on your own. Make sure to have a support network of friends and associates that you can offer suggestions and answer questions. Prepare to have money put aside to live off of while getting going. Don’t burn any bridges – that former employer may be a prospective client at another time.
You
Where are you in your career? Have you made a move, planning to do it sometime in the future, or content in where you are? What can you share with others to help them succeed? What is your next move?
Photo credit: true2source
Apr 9, 2008 | blog
Today I was curious about business cards. I asked my Twitter friends just how simple (or minimal) in design or information they felt they could go with their business cards.
Of course most businesses include their corporate or brand logo and color scheme on the business card. Information on the business card has grown from the traditional company name, tagline, person’s name, title, and phone number.
Now you’ll find people’s business, mobile and sometimes home phone numbers. You’ll sometimes find more than one fax number. Most often there are more than one email address. Add to that the corporate web address and the space has gotten quite cramped.
For us social media types, you now start adding things like a Twitter address, or your LinkedIn, or Facebook URL. Some people may feel that their FriendFeed, Plaxo, or Xing URLs are of use to people requesting their business card.
With all these things taking up the limited space on a business card and you can see why full color bleed to the edge, and use of both sides are features offered by professional printing services. Seems like too much information to me.
Here were some answers from my Twitter friends to the question “How simple are you willing to go on your biz cards?” (Clicking on the the links below will take you to the individual “tweets” on Twitter.)
As you can see, we had a pretty good conversation on business cards with a number of great viewpoints and ideas. Wondering about that card of Brian Shaler’s that Ryan Kuder mentioned? Check it out here.
Want to have some fun with your business card? Check out GapingVoid where Hugh MacLeod draws “cartoons on the back of business cards“.
What am I thinking of doing on an upcoming version of my business card? I guess this is a first rough draft.
Those of us in the social media sphere have the luxury of expecting people to know how to find us. Google is our friend!
For the rest of the business world, however, the expectation that their time is valuable. That they shouldn’t have to go searching for the information that a “proper” business card should provide. My belief is that there is more information about me that I want a person to find by searching than I can add to my business card.
What’s your take on the topic of business cards? How simple or complex are you comfortable with?
Artwork credit: Hugh MacLeod
