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check out this clip … all about innovation + startuppedness

i wonder what you alL think of what the batch of startuppers here had to say … i think the small team w/ the right people aspect makes sense … you need to be nimble + it cannot, apsolutely canNOT, be about the whole ‘design by committee’ thing … or somebody in the cSuite doin’ the whole ‘i get to be the Creative Director ha ha ha’ thing that happens w/ a LOT of companies ‘out there’ … ya know? … we all need to be smart + reasonable … understand the limitations of our interdisciplinary talents + scope … + we need to realize how, when + where we pass the ball around to the next amazing teammate on this side of the net … ya know?

cool

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Making Friends - Marketing Cartoon
Image by HubSpot via Flickr

I just bumped across a cool post on the B2B Social Media group up on that there LinkedIn. I felt compelled to add to the thoughtStream, so here’s the original post with a little link to an awesome article on IttyBiz with my little follow up trailing after. Enjoy.

No more ‘harnessing the power of social media’!

I ran across this story on one of the blogs I frequent. Something about it really hit home. Everyone is trying to ‘engage’ consumers in order to create a relationship that will hopefully lead to sales. While I am not denying the power social media has to strengthen current b2c relationships (in the form of customer service) is a company really going to get a new customer because they have a spiffy Facebook page?

http://ittybiz.com/social-media-marketing-sucks/

Here’s my comment added to the discussion …

Thanks for posting this … and thanks for pointing to the IttyBiz article that your thoughts grow out of

I think a very pertinent point to take into consideration … the current mindset of the user … I particularly enjoyed the concept ( in big red letters ) in ‘Social Media Marketing Sucks’ that ‘Interacting is a social activity. Buying is a commercial activity’ … you need to take the initial mindset of the user into consideration every step of the way and determine which activity they are originally engaged in and then cater your online behavior to the user

For instance, I bet if done wrong, the interactions you might engage with could be perceived verymuch like that superPushy salesperson that’s just sort of lurking in the aisles of the store, springing on you at the first opportunity … total turn off for me … I bet the same turn off for SO many others

Very important to make each and every one of these experiences user-centered … and to realize that as the marketer, as the businessperson, as the potential snake draping down from a branch of a tree, well … you need to be there for the user more than you’re there for you or the company … give without expectations … interact without expecting any guarantees … just be there for them … most of the time people are just on the social web to just be social

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facebook myspace orkut bebo linkedin
Image by .Andy Chang. via Flickr

aight … just got the delayed message from a good friend ‘out there’ on Facebook … the answer to a question i posted on the veryPublic LinkedIn Answers pages that went something like this …

Every single thing we post online adds to or detracts from the online extension of our own personal brand … true or false? … or somewhere in between?

some other details follow the main Q at this little link

… but then I get this little link sent to me … a special kind of ‘ya shoulda woulda coulda’ type a thang? I’m not sure. I have to say, I sometimes use the social web as a little experimental playground to discover the hidden rules. Some of the rules could be the elephant on the table. Some are the change that falls outta yer pocket and is between the cushions of the foldup sleepingsofa. And some of these rules are neither, but instead are just part of good old analog social conventions that have been around for years and years and decades and centuries and forever maybe even. Or not.

I like to make it a little provocative. I seem to stimulate a good rise outta some people. Its fun. But its not recommended that we all do this sorta thing now, is it?

Now read this!

Do NOT blogorrhea blebbidy blah bleh all over the social web! No selfish self-promotion! Don’t name names if you’re going to be negative! And, if you can help it, don’t be negative!

I have to say, I do agree that when I am cartoonishly positive about things, the reactions I get make everyone feel good. Special. Ya know?

But seriously folks, sometimes ya just gotta lay into ‘em. Tell ‘em like it is. Blogging is not the nightly network news! Let’s not put this powerful tool to sleep for us. Not yet.

Read the following … but remember … you’re free to do what you want … this is the web … just be ready for the consequences of what you click on and what you leave ‘out there’ as your personal thumbprint online brand …

http://thefussymarketer.blogspot.com/2009/09/curing-blogorrhea-and-other-mysterious.html

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PALO ALTO, CA - APRIL 21:  San Francisco Mayor...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

ha HA!

for some reason i couldn’t post this to yer Facebook Wall, so here goes …

..:: *** :: original Facebook Wall message to Rick :: *** ::..

Rick … what up?

Hey, sorry we didn’t get to golf t’gether recently … maybe that Mike guy’ll set us up fer some fun again soon before the season is out … just remember, I snck supremely … but its fun to get ‘out there’, right? ;]

Quick Q fer ya … on the IA side a life … dialogs that come up all the time in an app include:

1. unfortunately, error messages come up a lot and its good to have a pattern + styles for them
2. warning, will robinson, warning … what’s the delta between an error and a warning though, right? that’s part of the challenge
3. messages … from the system … these could be informative and edutaining, or simply things you need to relay for whatever purposes ( i can’t dig up the theory right now from the recesses of my mind )
4. loading … when the system needs to think a bit between pockets of dataDisplay, its always courteous to let the user know everything is still okay and they’re headin’ in the right direction … keep ‘em in the know and they just might stick around
5. what else? just trying to get to anything else i haven’t thought about yet on the AI + IxD = ‘good, thoughtful design thought’ side a life ;]

a LOT about thought … i repeat the word too many times, but i’m keepin’ it just like that … this isn’t a fr!kken novel, right? not even a novelization … just a Q fer ya on this fine Wednesday morning …

[: peace out :]

lou

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Jelly's in full swing!
Image by Amit Gupta via Flickr

i went to a Work Jelly @ The Betahouse just outside a Central Square proper out in Cambridge in like late July and i have to say … i think this is truly the wave of the future …

some rules for the road on How to Start a Jelly, like right here …
http://wiki.workatjelly.com/HowtoStartaJelly

so, here’s the vision, right?

you’re an independent professional ( but anyone can do this too … keep that in mind ) and you typically work in a home office or something, maybe form a café or something, ya know? well, then you find out about a Work Jelly … a local company is basically opening up a space in their office to invite people in for the day to conduct their business on site …

so, for me, i forget how i found out about it, but i found out that Betahouse in Cambridge was having this Work Jelly open house workday thing on a Friday … @ the time i was an independent design consultant … off i go

i enter a nice open communallike space, some subtle backdrop music playing, wifi key on the whiteboard … everyone brings some snackage … laptops all around, people focused on their work for the day … a little light banter and some introductions … i got a LOT done that day … and i caught up w/ a good friend from * and hopefully helped her straighten out some rumors that were being spread around the office @ one of my previous places of employ … but mostly, i got a LOT of work done, met some amazing people ( a trademark lawyer and an interaction designer … and many more ) … we talked a little shop here an’ there … got a nice middle eastern sandwich for lunch up the road ( it was raining like crazy @ one point though, a very strange an’ rainy day toward the end of July from my own recollections, not someone else’s ) … amazing

you gotta check one a these out, aight?

and if you can, you gotta put one a these on … it just makes sense

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GK shows ‘em a piece a his mind … don’t chew be dissin’ Twitter, aight?

http://holykaw.alltop.com/why-facebook-is-good-and-twitter-is-bad-for-y

‘Stop looking at me swan!’

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...
Image via CrunchBase

woah, y’alL get the note there from Biz Stone or whatever on the new Twitter terms a service an’ all that?

my favourite take away from it so far was the little warning that what you say instantly goes around the world ( sfx: SNAP! ) just like that ;]

What you say on Twitter may be viewed all around the world instantly. You are what you Tweet!

that’s some inspiring and important sh!t

and now here are some other tweetsy thangz to think on a bit as you social web your way into the next millenium ‘minute by minute by minute by minute by,’ as Michael MacDonald might tweet it up :]

think about Shakespeare
i get that question from a LOT of social web newbies lately … a friend will hop onto Facebook after leaving the resistance an’ all in their decadeLong avoidance of the inevitable step into the fold, right? we gently friend each other and i give ‘em the old ‘welcome aboard captain’ trekkian salute via Facebook message or statusy ‘What’s on your mind?’ entry field

the question that follows very shortly after the FB surrender is ‘do i need a Twitter account too?’ …

a concept we might all want to consider … is to think about Shakespeare and ask ourselves ( as individuals and as professional organizations { and sometimes unprofessional organizations } ) :

‘To tweet or not to tweet, that is the question’

my first reaction is something like … ‘it depends’

or, depending on the person and the context from which i might know and understand them, i might just come flat out and say ‘no, you’re all set w/ The Book, and here’s why …’

but i think that almost everyone can find some value in using Twitter … all depending on your own interests and how much you want to follow or be followed ‘out there’ on the web

when tweeting ( or when participating in any social web activity for that matter ) we ALL need to realize, like it or not, we are contributing to a personal or professional ( and hopefully both ) online extension of ‘brand’ … if you’re currently reading the new and amazing ( i highly recommend it ) book ‘Trust Agents’ written by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith … i think you’ll see very quickly on that the social web can be used to influence perception and help people make important decisions about a myriad of things in your realSpace life … you are your own Trust Agent, and you will either strengthen or hurt your own brand ( depending on your particular brandBuilding intentions and activities ) with each an’ every tweet, with each post to your LinkedIn Answers, with each status update, tagged YouTube clip, entry on Delicious, etcetera and so on dot com into eternity

so, uhm … watch what you tweet … watch how often you tweet … show that you give a tweet about quality and value ( value and quality ) by making every tweet count … make these tweets ‘retweetWorthy’, right? … think of your audience every step of the way …

on Twitter, audience = followers … and that’s an important concept to follow in itself

tweeple will follow, not only your tweetStream of links, quips, ideas and such … but they will also follow, at times, and in a slightly scary ‘Oprah’ kind of way, what you have to say through behavior …

f’rinstance … you tweet up a tr.imLink over to a book on Amazon an’ i betchya at least 3 followers are gonna not only check out the book at that there link, well … they’re gonna pick it up … they’re going to click on something, fill out information an’ have that sh!t come right to their doorstep! powerful stuff

so remember

you rule

you influence the world

you have power

an’ right now, its all for free

twitter me this, twitter me THAT!

be careful what you tweet for ;]

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Image representing LinkedIn as depicted in Cru...
Image via CrunchBase

Wisdom Teacher Elaine Springer asked the following question today out on LinkedIn Answers …

How can we make the memory of 911 into a positive experience?
http://tr.im/911li

I have included my response to this rather interesting question below and encourage you to go out and respond directly on LinkedIn or post comments here on the old SMN blogSite …

I think that if we focus on the amazing way that the people of NYC came together very shortly following the tragic events of that day … if we look at the pre-marketed honest and tremendously giving community of people from the neighborhoods that were directly hit and effected … THAT’s the story that shows the power of humanity and the decency and respect we can all have even during a truly horrific circumstance.

After that though … it quickly all turned to propaganda. All this Giuliani bullsh!t. All this near pre-idiot Dubya stuff. And then, of course, war.

I think a more powerful and positive ( but nearly impossible ) response for the US would have been to hold back our natural, prehistoric urges to kill back at ‘em and just hold our head up high, focus on our own people and rebuilding our strength, courage, determination and that set of festering holes in the ground. If we didn’t fly divebomb Afghanistan and then if we didn’t quickSwitch hoof it over to Iraq ( clearly NOT linked at all to the events of the terroristic attack ) to settle some delayed score or debt from 1992 or whatever … I think that if we just took it on the chin ( as unrealistic as this would have been, I guess, knowing the unfortunate nature of Mankind and ‘civilization’ at large ), THAT might have been a more powerful example to set for the world. Nationbuild at home first. RegimeChange the mindset of our ‘civilized’ leaders. Show the world that we understood the precarious and elusive nature of Al Qaeda as a loose band of terrorist cells ( very much based on the elusive nature of a corporation, a thing that exists as a target only on paper ) and that to attack unaffiliated nations of people would be more of a disservice to the notions of freedom, liberty and ‘The American Way’ than a good thing for the world. Maybe then we wouldn’t be so entrenched in horrible, ridiculous reality television while talented droves of young people, so full of positive potential for our nation and the world, get sent over to defend us and our freedoms ( freedom to use cellphones, freedom to update my status 3 times a day, freedom to go from Dancing with the Stars to House to repeats of Boston Legal, freedom to judge and be judged, freedom to stop people that are in love from getting married ) at the risk of being maimed, hurt, killed … or even worse yet … emotionally scarred and changed forever to only return home and feel like a walking stranger in their very own communities.

I hope its not like that for everyone … I don’t know … I guess I try to imagine and empathize ( as a user experience design, empathy is extremely vital and necessary … we can’t improve without feeling something for our users’ pain ) … but I know I could never truly know or understand the plight of our brave soldiers … soldiers going over without adequate defense at times, without full and adequate training … but, even though the bitter aftertaste of what has happened since the attacks on New York can ruin that amazing spirit that immediately followed the events of that day, the bravery and spirit of these young ( and sometimes not so young ) American people extend that feeling … they are trying to protect us and simultaneously bring peace to a land ( whether its wanted or not unfortunately ) that has been so twisted up in hatred and constant chaos that I fear we’ll never truly see the day peace comes to the world to shake us all awake and make us feel united, as one global people.

We should all act like the brave people on rebuilding missions overseas and like the phenomenal people that came together to help each other on the days following the events of 091101.

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Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain, quatrain poem a...
Image via Wikipedia

I just posted to the DMI Seminar 2 blog ‘out there’, check out this quote today:

i think my point is that, with the incredible level of disorder and disfunction we encounter in our greater ( heh ) worldSystem … a rather undertrusted, underrated force … like the power and message of poetrycould be the real answer … NOT political intrigue … NOT war … NOT diplomacy … NOT anything else … just little ole poetry, sitting there the entire time, RIGHT under our nosesdmistudio.org, Design Seminar 2, Sep 2009

Read the whole article when you get a chance …

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Pray for Fiction
Image by _saturnine via Flickr

aight … just wanted to share this little diddy witchyaz …

i found this right up there on JungleG … oh yeah … all about bloggin’ up your novel progress right to the web … they’re callin’ it … duh duh dunnnnnnn

guess

a Blovel

nOOOoooOooOOOOOooOOOOooooOOooo :|

;]

here’s the post yo …
http://tr.im/jgblovel

read it an’ tweet :]

ha HA!

seriously

enjoy!

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