Stardust Global Ventures

Many of you have read or seen the interviews I did about the Chile earthquake. I thought I’d tell you in my words what happened and then I’d like to share some thoughts on what social media really is from my perspective.

Saturday, February 27th, 2010 I awoke and got a cup of coffee. It’s the first thing on my agenda after a quick stop at the washroom. I had a few slurps and then went to the office to get phones. This is a common routine for Ken and I. Coffee then phones.

After getting phones, I look to see how many emails and messages there are, clearing them from my phone as I go. Then I typically open tweetdeck. Tweetdeck is the twitter client I use most often on my iphone. Once I have looked at twitter I head to facebook, because while I have a facebook app on my phone it doesn’t show me my pokes and my goal as a rule is to clear up anything that is an action item. Pokes are action items.

Saturday began like any other day, but I got stuck at tweetdeck. Both Ken and I noticed a number of tweets regarding an earthquake in Chile. My brother’s wife is there so our ears perked. We started searching google for news, looking at trending topics on twitter and in general seeking any information about the status of the people in Chile.

Once we saw the magnitude of the earthquake, 8.8 is HUGE, we started wondering if we should contact my brother to find out if he heard anything. I decided to attempt to call Chile to see if maybe all was ok in Santiago, which is where Maria was, and of course couldn’t get through. Call failed. Call failed many times and by now I was getting nervous. I looked at Ken and asked if he thought I should call my brother. We agreed I should.

I woke my brother up from a sound sleep to give him horrible news. An earthquake had occurred and we had tried to reach his wife and couldn’t get through. He said he would start trying. He was so distraught! There is nothing like having to share with a family member bad news. Really bad news. My heart went out to him but I believed it was better he know what happened than to wake and hear it elsewhere.

My brother and I quickly got off the phone with each other so he could start his long vigil while trying to find out what had happened to Maria. In the meantime, I too went to work to see if I could find some answers.

I can’t tell you how often I have been asked what hashtags are and how to use them. I have certainly used them for basic searches before this, but they became a lifeline.

Quickie def. of hashtags: A hashtag uses the hash symbol [pound sign] on your keyboard to draw attention to a specific topic or word.

When I was looking at the trending topics I quickly saw patterns. #Chile was big, #chileearthquake was too. #terremotochile was the biggest one at the beginning of my search so there I went, to http://search.twitter.com/search?q=terremotochile
I noticed a lot of people had many other hashtags so back on twitter I started posting random tweets, at first with no hashtags, moving to hashtags.

I honed my tweets and eventually started getting responses from people until the final response that really was a game changer for us. This one, from @jpcoderch:

We soon worked out the details and he went to work in Chile trying to call my sister in law. It took approximately two hours until he finally got through to her. Maria sent a message back with the code word twinkie, a pet name she uses for my brother so we would know it was really her.

The rest is really history. The interviews I did with the BBC as well as CBS Miami and even the conversation I had with a person from MSNBC which led to a story on their blog, that’s all easy enough to discover and share and it has been shared enough that I do not feel compelled to again.

What hasn’t really been talked about, though each of the news stations attempted to put their own spin on it, is the value in social media. I’m not talking about the communication potential or the way we might all find our next job, but the life altering value I have personally experienced. It also changed perceptions for me.

Prior to this incident, I had relationships with a few fairly well known web-celebs. Do you know only a handful of our moderately well known friends communicated any interest in what was happening or offered on any level to put the word out, and none of them, unless pointed to our situation offered support of any sort? Does this surprise you? I was not surprised, but it did give me pause to consider who we align ourselves with and what value are they in our lives if when something that really matters happens they aren’t even be in the audience as silent support. How engaged is that? I’ll save that for a later post.

Is social media important? Yes. Is it really important? Yes! Social media empowers it’s users to find their own information, to seek out people and ideas to enhance their lives, and provides opportunity to gain perspective. Prior to now, we were fed our ideals, socialized by big media, and brainwashed into believing all was as we were told. The innovators of the world didn’t buy into it and created tools that we can all use today to find what the real truth is. It is also much more as our story clearly demonstrates. It is an organic connection to the whole planet that allows us to see there is more than just us.

My thoughts have been building. I am in the process of writing a much more detailed post about engagement and social web celebs. For now, let me just say thank you to all who helped us and encouraged us through an incredibly trying and frightening time. We were very lucky to have the tools we have to be able to get to a result that was ultimately a gift. We found our family member alive and safe.

We hope all whose paths crossed ours during the awful Chile earthquake have had the kind of outcome we had, and for those who did not – our hearts grieve with you for all you have lost.

Technorati Tags: #terremotochile, #Chile, #earthquake

First the written news:

Friends, Family Go Online To Find Loved Ones

MIAMI (CBS4) ? Amid the devastation in Chile is a communications meltdown leaving people with few options. There are virtually no phone calls, but lots of digital messaging.

Moments after hearing about the earthquake, tweeter Sheryl Breuker in Walla Walla, Washington tried reaching her sister-in-law in Santiago, Chile. When she couldn’t get her on the phone, she turned to Twitter.

“So I gave out her phone number to a couple people. About two hours later, we received notice that she was safe, she was OK,” Breuker told CBS4’s Gio Benitez over the phone.

Total strangers went out to find her sister-in-law in Chile. They found her.

“What I learned was that the person helping us was also missing family and had not yet heard from his family, so it was a pretty big deal, and pretty awesome, honestly,” said Breuker.

Today, phone lines did not connect families, but fingertips did.

“You’re pretty much a social media expert, in a sense. I see you have like 18,000 tweets, did you ever expect something like this to happen?” asked Benitez.

“Absolutely not. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and you hear these stories of people having these experiences, certainly nobody I know,” said Breuker.

Follow Sheryl Breuker on Twitter here.
Follow CBS4’s Gio Benitez on Twitter here.

Note: Moved the CBS video below the fold to stop it from running every time people hit the web site. You can see it below (more…)

Imagine awakening only to learn there’d been a major earthquake in Chile, where you have family. We did.

Many of our friends know Sheryl’s brother Brian and his wife Mariali. We’ve all been friends for quite some time (Jaiku, Facebook, Twitter), but now we’re also family. She lives just outside Santiago, not far from where the big earthquake hit this morning.

We immediately tried calling, texting, online, but no contact. Power, water, and phones are out there. In many areas the devastation is severe. We simply didn’t have any idea. We reached to social media. Everywhere.

People responded, mostly by retweeting. The power of the retweet is something we take for granted. A man we didn’t know in any way sent a simple tweet that he was in Chile and
asked how he could help. We scrambled to give him every bit of useful information that we could come up with.

He messaged several times that phones were out and he couldn’t get through. Then, amazingly he said “as soon as I get a chance I will go to the address you gave me.” Through Twitter, we made contact with someone in another continent, but close enough to go physically check on our family.

If that isn’t magical enough for you, if you really don’t understand the power of human communications through technology, the power of what we can do together, within two hours of our first contact with this man, I got a DM in Twitter than said “found her! she is OK…. she told me to tell Twinkie to stay cool, she is fine!” And an email with more info on how to try to contact her directly.

Twitter’s a tool. The power is in the people, but the reach and potential is far bigger than you understand. Until your life is personally and directly impacted, you simply can’t truly appreciate that power.

Technology gives power to communications tools. Communications tools give power to people. People impact one another and change the world.

Our deepest heartfelt thanks to @jpcoderch. You are our hero of the Santiago earthquake JP. Now we’re connected. At some point Sheryl and I hope to visit Mariali in Chile. It’s a part of our family. I hope we can take you to dinner one day and get to know each other in person as well

Side note: Many of you know our dearest and best friend, JP. What an interesting bit of serendipity that our new friend and hero is also JP. John Paul and Juan Pablo. Two gentlemen and friends who touch our lives.

Social media = ROTC or Return on Trust & Credibility. I grabbed that from friend, Shashi Bellamkonda and think it incredibly compelling. One of the things we all look for when trying to understand the value of social media is a way to define it so it makes sense en masse. In attempting to define the ROI it gets a little sticky because there are so many different sets of analytics and no one can agree on a standard. For more on my thoughts on that here is an article I recently wrote for Women Grow Business in Washington DC – Replacing ROI’s Old Monetary Vision.

Last night I was pointed to a great article that actually helps remove some of the mystery around social media and the value it has in the world we live in today. One of the biggest indicators is that social media investment is minor if anything at all, and your return is potentially huge. I’m sharing from the article but I hope you’ll go and read it in it’s entirety.

The SBSI found that nearly one out of five small business owners are actively using social media in their business. Small businesses are increasingly investing in social media applications including blogs, Facebook® and LinkedIn® profiles.

And further to that is this next paragraph by small business owner Dr. Alan Glazier.

“In order to meet the growing challenges of a tough market last year, I was forced to consider alternative options to keep my business visible,” says small business owner Dr. Alan Glazier, CEO and Founder, Shady Grove Eye and Vision Care. “With a very small investment in social media marketing, I was able to generate new business opportunities. Our Google® ranking is consistently number one for many of the phrases people use to search for eye doctors in and around my city and we have received a “bump” in terms of new visitors to the site. My blog has been picked up by different news sources and led to media interviews. I am now recognized as a thought leader in social networking within my profession and lastly but most importantly, my marketing budget has been reduced by more than 80%.”

Let me just reiterate, the cost of social media is minimal. As stated above, Dr. Glazier lowered his marketing cost by 80%. What could your company do with that 80%?

Of course, it’s not enough to simply create a presence in the online world of marketing venues. People want to have a relationship with those they hire. I would caution you that engagement must be a part of your marketing campaign. Broadcast messages will not build a customer base. You must use tools, video, audio, and messaging systems to encourage a relationship.

Today, small business is winning. It’s winning because they are resourceful and far more attuned to their clients. During an economic downturn such as we have been experiencing for the past 18 + months, small business success is a key indicator of the value in social media.

Yesterday Ken wrote here on stardust three key factors to success. Adapt, Adopt, Adjust. This should be every small business’ mantra. Social media must be included in that.

Remember, Social media = ROTC or Return on Trust & Credibility. We build our trust through social communication. Credibility will follow with engagement.

Something to keep in mind when reading this, I didn’t do a technical review. If you want that, you’ll have to wait for Ken to write something. These are personal experiences and feelings from a pseudo geek.

You’re probably aware of the queries both Ken and I have thrown out about iPhone stuff. We’ve been such strong proponents of RIM, I’m pretty sure most of you can’t fathom us switching sides. We didn’t, at least not exactly.

We got iPhones.

I know, that’s got to be the big shock of the year. So how come I said we didn’t switch sides? To switch sides implies we are no longer rooting for the other team, and no longer view them as quality and that simply isn’t the case.

We took a little road trip this last weekend and our friend Dameon, aka @phoneboy called while we were in transit. Something I thought about while talking to Dameon was how much I still loved my Blackberry. My Blackberry Bold found a new home with my son who swears it’s the best phone ever – that coming off the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic phone which we loaned him a year ago and he LOVED.

What I loved about my Blackberry.

Both the Blackberry curve and bold are impressive devices. They thread messages wonderfully, their messaging service works almost flawlessly, to send both text and mms is super simple, and the apps for basics like twitter and facebook work better than their native platforms work most of the time.

I also loved typing on Blackberry. Typing on a qwerty keyboard is so much easier than a non qwerty, and when I say that I mean it beats hands down my use of the iPhone. If I had to say one thing would make me think twice again it would be that feature, or lack of a feature that could cause me to rethink.

The Blackberry messenger service was incredible. The iPhone may have over 100k apps but nothing I have found touches what Blackberry messenger could do, from basic messaging, one on one, to group messages, as well as file and picture transfers I simply don’t see anything in iPhone that comes close.

Multi tasking is yet another feature the Blackberry does well. With the Bold I was able to have multiple applications running at the same time, and did. I could have a call up, apps running, all while web browsing, something I’ll talk about later.

There are a few apps on the Blackberry that I miss but the truth is, if I were to shift back to that device I would miss some apps from the iPhone. Still, worth a real mention here is an app that I used in beta called socialscope. There has not been another mobile app that remotely functions the way socialscope does. That one app is a struggle and why it took me a while to buy the tweetie app on iPhone, something I wish I hadn’t purchased because I don’t find it better than anything else on iPhone that’s free. I remember hearing how fabulous it is and all I can say is, those who said that never had socialscope. ‘Nuff said.

Now web browsing. If all you’ve ever had is basic browsing like those non-smart phones offer, the Blackberry browser wouldn’t seem bad at all. I know because that is all I ever had pre Blackberry. However, once you have experienced other types of browsing you quickly see that RIM has a lot of catching up to do in order to provide a comparable experience. I’m not sure they can, actually. It’s unfortunate because so many things about the blackberry are actually superior to the iPhone. The appstore and browser make all the difference in the world. So let’s talk about that.

Experiencing the iPhone.

Many of you know that about a year ago Ken and I both got an ipod touch. Why that matters is because getting an iphone meant we already had a clue how to use it. Using the iPhone isn’t quite like using other phones or pda’s. It simply behaves differently, has a unique interface, which ultimately anyone can use because you don’t have to tell someone what to do to use it, it’s incredibly intuitive. It functions and works so easily and that is one of the great things about it.

We spent a year using ipods yet were pretty hesitant to get an iphone. There wasn’t any one straw that broke this camels back, it was many things.

First, while we don’t much care for the typing experience on iphone, something I’m sure we will eventually not have is a keyboard. Certainly not in the way we have them in current iteration of computer systems. I think touch, and ultimately voice will be our interface. We both think it likely.

Second, we are growing more and more mobile. Down sizing if you will. We want a device we can use in more ways than just to text or im and talk on the phone. Certainly I was able to watch youtube on my Blackberry, but if you put the Blackberry screen next to the iphone screen you can quickly see that there’s much better ability to see things on the iphone. I don’t have to squint as much and that is a big deal as I rarely have my glasses. Ken wears bifocals which also makes the iphone much more user friendly!

Third, the browser. There is not enough white space to talk about how brilliant the browsing experience is on the iphone. I LOVE the browser so much! It is the BEST browser on any mobile device I have ever used, and I have used several. I like that you in essence get tabbed browsing, and so far I haven’t found a limit to the number of windows I can open.

I love the ability to both pinch the screen to make it smaller or bigger, depending on need. The way I can scroll so seamlessly across a page not optimized for mobile browsers.

I don’t like the way my messages are threaded in the message box. It has made it impossible to respond to pokes much of the time. If I get a poke from someone and immediately following get a message, the message can be addressed, the poke can not.

I also don’t like that I literally have 3 different inboxes for mail. They all fall in the mail section but are separated there into 3 different boxes. It is more tedious and  I don’t care for it but it’s certainly doable.

The appstore, that’s incredible. If you’ve tried to use an appstore for any other platform you can appreciate a simple click and install process and how nice that would be. Blackberry appstore would like to be good but it isn’t. It’s a real pain.

Itunes on the other hand makes everything awful. I do NOT like itunes. Now, I will grant you that maybe I don’t use it to it’s best advantage, so that could be user failure. But many people I talk to despise the itunes interface and I wish it wasn’t so annoyingly cluttered, or processor intensive. I also wish there were better directions for how to prevent your non DRM’d media from becoming owned by itunes. I know how to do it should I need to, but it is a non-intuitive process. Funny how all the rest of the things about the iphone just work on an intuitive basis but not itunes. Not sure what happened there but someone clearly dropped the ball.

The sum of the total…

I wish I could tell you all that I wouldn’t change back, but that wouldn’t be fair. I probably would in the right circumstances. But for now, I’m an iPhone user and it’s not that bad. It’s not perfect, but I’m still learning. I’m sure I’ll have more to say as time goes by. I’ve only had it for a couple of weeks and I have a lot to learn.

Gosh people get so upset about a gadget that not only isn’t in their hands but isn’t supposed to replace current devices. This is supposed to be a new category of device. Why are people so tied to knocking a product or putting someone else’s opinion through a meat grinder?

My first thoughts on the iPad hold. I think it’s COOL! I want it. I can’t wait to own one. I would definitely be a first generation owner if I can justify throwing some money at it.

I think there are some perspectives missing from this whole discussion. Mr. Jobs said this is not a netbook, it’s not a phone, it’s not a pc, it’s something in the middle. A whole new way of doing stuff. Maybe not to the iphone user, though from all things I read and heard yesterday, there will be new things for those of us who already are familiar with that device.

I was on someone else’s site responding to comments yesterday about how I don’t think we should undervalue this new device. It seems to me, this is the future, not the past and to compare the two is not possible. They offer different strengths.

Ken made some great points to me this morning. He said this isn’t a computing device this is a connecting device. I hadn’t thought of it quite like that but that’s worth some consideration.

What about other possibilities? How about a holder that will keep it protected in the kitchen while you look up recipes? Or in the workshop where you might need to know what tool you need to do something? How about sitting on the coffee table so you can read the newspaper or as the remote for your home theater system so you don’t have to shell out 200 bucks for a remote to run it all? How many 200 dollar gadgets can it replace in an all in one new device that also happens to do some other really cool things?

Where are the futurists? We aren’t going to be sitting with a keyboard and mouse the whole rest of our lives. We’re going to be changing and evolving. We are going to be swiping screens and using our voice to do things that to now were just possibilities on the horizon. Tomorrow we’ll be doing a wide array of things we can’t even fathom. The iPad is a step toward it and a step away from where we’ve been. Am I the only one who sees that?

And another thing, to loosely use one of Steve Jobs statements, the processor in this new device was not meant to compete with a 3.8 hyper-threaded or quadcore anything. It is a different animal altogether. It is apparently as fast as anyone has seen anything run. I say WOW and COOL because it won’t heat up at the same rate as a traditional computer, won’t need the cooling system attached, and will in general require less power to run, which is FABULOUS!

Like many other people I sat on my sofa watching as patiently as possible for what was coming for Apple. Having recently switched to an iphone from a Blackberry, I had high hopes and great expectations. And I also made the assumption that many others did that there would be a tablet on their horizon. I wasn’t wrong but that wasn’t the big deal. Not in my opinion.

140,000 apps at your fingertips. From day one.

Right now, iPad can run almost 140,000 of the apps on the App Store. It can even run the apps you’ve already downloaded for your iPhone or iPod touch. Learn more

That is certainly a big deal. It’s super cool, and I’m probably more aware of how cool it is having used my new iphone for a couple weeks. But that’s just the beginning. The new iPad Also has the ability to dock to a keyboard. If you haven’t paid attention to me ranting about this in the last year, you won’t know one of the big reasons we didn’t choose an iphone sooner was no physical keyboard. I do miss it and this makes me really happy. Productivity will begreatly enhanced with this.

Watch out Kindle!

Another game changer from my perspective is iBooks. A beautiful, easy to use virtual bookshelf, the book reader and bookstore ‘just works’. Kindle over priced themselves, making their devices more expensive than many netbooks, and consequently their lack of extra abilities will make it impossible to compete with this new device. It’s unfortunate that they will be collateral damage but they will and so will all other book devices.

Unlimited 3G Data? YES!

If I had to pick a single part of the Steve Jobs News Cast this morning that really turned our world upside down, it has to be the 3G data plan for $30 a month, no contract, cancel anytime! I won’t repeat it but do think this will change the future landscape of mobile computing because this one statement invites competition that we haven’t seen for a long time. Competition will be good for our pocketbooks.

Now you’ve seen some of the neat pictures, I’d like to ramble for just a minute. I love this device. This is a device that in my mind is just about the coolest thing I’ve seen, since the pc. I was practically drooling, largely because I see how much this will change the future, our future.

Of course with the good comes the bad, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a couple of things that are lacking or outright missing. There is no camera. You can’t do video. You can watch it but no creation. Also, the storage ability, or lack there of makes it impossible to make this a primary computing device.

All of that said, the iPad has so much potential for putting something that was typically a tool associated with mac centric geeks in the hands of everybody. It will force us to change our computing behavior thereby creating acceptance of new ideas to further enhance our lives.

I’m so excited!

Technorati Tags: iPad, Apple, Steve Jobs, Kindle

My 2 cents, for what it’s worth. I don’t get all this hub bub about how scary it is to share your location with the world. We used to put our addresses in the phone book. OH NO! Who hasn’t been ’stalked’?

Just today I saw no less than 4 posts about the geolocation craze. I’m in it and loving it. My favorite quote comes from Euan Semple.

Euan wrote:

I am always surprised when people write as if they were victims of technology rather than in control of it – I guess it is a bit like email!

Why do I like this? It points out that with technology we have more choices and more options to control what we take in, or to better filter things. Expecting everyone else to accommodate us is a little arrogant. Certainly we should try not to be too disruptive, but we really do need to better handle what we take in and stop expecting others to handle it for us. Filters are a key component to our sanity in a world where we are inundated with too many choices and too much noise.

Just a little piece of my mind. I won’t be leaving too many lying around. I need them.

Technorati Tags: geononymity, sheryl breuker, filters

Many of you know, Ken’s phone, a blackberry curve, went kaput just prior to the Christmas holidays. Ken and I have been predominantly Blackberry users since my arrival in the US 2 years ago. My initial experience could have had me forever a fan girl, actually, it did leave me a fan girl. I am a Blackberry fan. I don’t think that’s in danger of changing anytime soon. And why would it? So many things to like.

Of course, what I realized as time went by is that the things I most appreciate about a blackberry are things any smart phone could have offered me. It really comes down to the connectivity. The ability to connect to a variety of people and places from virtually anywhere. The form factor was fantastic, the QWERTY keyboard, outstanding, the multi-tasking superb. Even the browser, though certainly not what many have come to expect, still brought me to the world in ways I hadn’t conceived of 5 years ago.

Today my world is different. I look to the future with a different set of eyes. Eyes far more attuned to possibility. Where is mobility heading? I listened to a webinar by Gartner, an analyst group who has a lot of gifted people sitting in their offices studying trends, people who take real data and make smart projections and predictions based on a variety of factors. One of their projections struck a chord in me.

Gartner has suggested that by the year 2013, 3 years from now, the mobile browser will overtake todays browser in a pc. This makes a great deal of sense to me. It makes sense because the smart phone industry on a global level is growing at a huge pace. People will be browsing on their phones, or whatever we call the next device we pocket that we can use for voice and data.

Something else that has been on everyone’s mind, the Apple tablet. Who knows if they have one up their sleeve or not, I think it entirely likely, but whether they do or not, what is likely is somebody is making one and it will more closely approximate the apple iphone than it will a blackberry curve or bold.

Now, why would I say that? One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to have enough perception to know that the swoosh of a finger on a screen beats the hell out of a mouse. Do you remember what it felt like the first time you used a mouse? The inability to control it perfectly, the way the cursor would run all over the screen, and how you felt incredibly inept? The mouse hasn’t changed much in all these years and the lack of control, with practice yes it got easier, but what could be easier than touch with your finger and being that exact? What about voice controls? These are both things the iphone does well and are really the beginning of a new way of computing. I realize all of you who have been using an iphone for what is now nearly 3 years, are laughing and thinking, DUH. We already knew that. But that thought shouldn’t take away from the fact that other devices have had a lot to offer as well.

But the times, they are a changing, and with it our computing habits, and that brings us to devices that also must change to keep up.

I don’t know what you all read on the web, but everywhere I look there are articles talking about smart phones and tablets. These are almost buzzwords today. A few short years ago if you had a mobile phone, all you really cared about was whether it would give you the ability to talk to someone when you were out. Then it was all about text. How many stories have you read about the massive cost of not having unlimited text plans? Today with global travel so prevalent, it’s data costs. What is data? It’s the web pages you view, the things you download, the newspapers you read, the youtube video’s you watch. And we all do watch and read those things, or anyway it would seem so. In a few years it really will be world acceptance, not so different than what the telephone became as it caught on, the only significant difference is the speed that it will do so.

So today I write this on a netbook. The little 10.1 inch screen a far cry from my desires a few years ago to sit in front of a 21 inch screen. No my eyes haven’t improved and I haven’t gotten a stronger prescription of eyewear. What I have gotten is a device that is mobile, handy, wifi enabled, capable of doing basic computing ’stuff’. Beside me sits my trusty Blackberry Bold. But waiting for me in my living room, bleeping away is my new 32 gig iPhone 3GS. It’s ready for me to do what I will. Will it take me to the next iteration of technology? Of course it will. That’s all it can do. But it isn’t perfect and I’m pretty sure there isn’t a technology out there that will wow me the way I could have been wowed a few years back. Technology is too much a part of my world. I can’t see the future, but I have it on good authority we’ll recognize it when it happens.

Technorati Tags: blackberry bold, iphone, technology, sheryl breuker

This morning I received a message from Andrea Weckerle.

Andrea wrote, “I promised I’d tell u about my new project: CiviliNation/cybercivility See WSJ op-ed I wrote w/ JW. Would love ur thoughts & support!” Of course I went straight away to see what she said.

I read it and think Andrea hit on something that’s incredibly valuable, so much so I wanted to not only share what she wrote but some of my own thoughts on this as well.

Class: Whatever happened to it?
We’ve become a crude and crass global world. It’s as though we’ve stepped back in time and all become what once was called the lower class. Cue the music for the song that was cut in the musical Chicago. The words are definitely raw, but in a sort of tongue and cheek way, they hit the nail on the head.

Click the words above for the rest of the song, but you get where I’m headed.

No longer does anyone stop and consider how what they have to say may impact others. Which is rather ironic because our individual reach has grown and as our arms have gotten longer, we have used less decorum. It’s almost as though we’re determined to hurt others as much as possible. Or are we?

I’ve thought about this a lot and I’m guilty of saying things I regretted later. Andrea makes a really great point when she says this:

Just as we’ve learned what is deemed appropriate face-to-face communication, we need to learn what is appropriate behavior in an environment that frequently deals with purely written modes of communication and an inherent absence of nonverbal cues.

I’m not entirely convinced we want to hurt so much as we want attention. Any kind of attention, but attention none the less. I’m reminded of children and how in an environment where they are not given enough positive feedback or boundaries they frequently rebel and become aggressive. Is there a corollary? Is it possible as a society we have stopped behaving well because there are no longer well defined boundaries, or is it something else?

Enter video.
We’ve been dragging our feet to adopt video, but what video has the ability to do is remove the barrier to those visible cues Andrea talks about. I think video might be a tool that has great potential to influence our relationships with those from other cultures, and even those in our own who would otherwise misconstrue our words.

It’s interesting that one of the topics of academic boards is how our kids are failing at language skills. Yet, most are involved in communication daily online. How do we give them the tools to communicate and be understood, so what is written is actually not misinterpreted? Video.

I don’t want to get so long winded you all no longer have the energy to go read the article by Andrea. I merely wanted to put out a couple of thoughts, incomplete though they are and stimulate some thoughts or dialog from others.

If I have one suggestion, it would be to treat each other kindly and with respect. That you have a voice or the ability to think and type out words doesn’t give you the right to be cruel. Be thoughtful. Maybe think of that as a New Years Resolution? I am terrible with metaphors and quotes, but treating others as you would wish to be treated isn’t such a bad idea, is it?

Technorati Tags: Andrea Weckerle, Jimmy Wales, WSJ, Cybercivility, CiviliNation, Sheryl Breuker

A little over a year ago I posted to this and believed that while it might be good to have a twitter presence it certainly wasn’t right for all businesses. Today I have modified that thought and here’s why.

This week has been rather interesting in the world of technology. LeWeb, the conference held in Paris, is an opportunity for startups and entrepreneurs to come together and present, learn and coexist in an environment that offers collaboration as well as partnerships, providing both funding and help in building towards a funding stage. It also allows advisement to those unsure of how to proceed and really offers much more.

What’s interesting about this particular iteration of LeWeb is what happened when Robert Scoble met several entrepreneurs and asked the basic question, “Do you have a twitter account?” When he was told they did not he blew up at them. Hmmm, well, it raised a really good question about necessity in my mind.

Robert suggested that every business should have a twitter account, but in my opinion an opportunity was missed. He suggested that without a twitter account he can’t promote the company. I don’t completely agree. What would be wrong with twittering out a web address? After all, whether you’re on twitter or not, doesn’t every company have a web address? Another question to answer!

I’ve talked to several people recently and felt compelled to quote someone I respect for having pointed out that in todays world without a web presence you simply won’t exist to the young adults who are quickly moving into the business world. But I digress.

I think Robert missed an opportunity to educate, inspire and influence others with his current belief system. Rather than get annoyed and take it personally, Robert could have talked to these people and expressed his opinions, both why he thinks it’s important and what he thinks they should be doing. I understand that Robert is a big name in the world of technology, and I understand he may not feel it’s his job to teach, but whether he takes that as part of his job or not, people do follow his lead much of the time so he has a responsibility to his network to be an example.

Yes, Robert has a twitter presence and he uses it, today, but he also vacillates much of the time, moving to the next big shiny and frequently balking at the very things he claims are necessary today. Much of ‘09 Robert talked about how great friendfeed was and how it was much more powerful than twitter was. Then, once friendfeed got bought up by facebook he switched and started posting more to twitter talking about how it was worth 5-10 billion dollars and the best, most important tool out there. It’s not a good testament to the value of having your business on twitter.

Having just chastised Robert, something good came of his behavior and the much discussed berating he gave the people in France. I started thinking about my own views, I also came across some other articles that sort of support my own thinking and I’d like to share those with you and let YOU make up your own mind.

The first article I read this morning was – a berry business blog hosted on Chicago Now. The blog post that set things in motion was, To Tweet or Not to Tweet.

I recently took a meeting with a potential corporate partner to discuss an opportunity for co-branding and quickly found myself in a heated discussion about social media and its effect on our respective company’s brands.

“You don’t tweet?” I asked, in disbelief.

“We don’t tweet. Corporate is nervous. Too much room for discussion,” responded my associate.

“But that’s the whole point!” I exclaimed.

The rest of the story is here.

People still aren’t sure what they should do, which is one of the reasons I think Robert should have been a little less harsh. Just because he does it, and he gets it doesn’t mean the rest of the world does. They do have an obligation to learn, but it takes time and anytime we try to force our ideals, our views down someone else’s throat without giving them an opportunity to understand the value or make up their own mind, we essentially say to them, if you don’t agree with me, you are not worth my time. That’s a huge mistake. What business would exist if that were the perpetuated mindset?

In reading the article, To Tweet or Not to Tweet, what occurred to me was the value in having a twitter presence that is a representation of the company’s views, a visual helpdesk, a persona people can identify with and a LINK to the website for the company. It’s becoming the norm to see all across the web the twitter equivalent to a web address by using a ‘@’ in front of a company logo or name like this: ‘@so-and-so’, or in my case, @sherylbreuker .

We used to believe that aggregation was where it was all going, and while there may be some value in having a single point of reference for all of that, that was still about sites like friendfeed or jaiku where all your blogs, all your weblinks could be found in one place. Great as that is, what has changed is now people look for you on twitter, and will click through to your blog via the sidebar. My sidebar very clearly shows a Web address which directly links to my website. It’s a lot easier to have a single name, @sherylbreuker, for instance.

Today as a company trying to stay afloat in the business world, you have to meet your customers where they are. Twitter is powerful. Twitter isn’t all, though, and you need to seriously consider a presence not only on twitter but every other place there are potential customers for you. The web is bigger than anyone could have predicted. Existing there, is the only way to stay alive.

The next article I read that also gave me food for thought was by Ari Herzog. Ari posted a Case Study of 4 Companies on Twitter. The opening paragraph is, in my opinion, a fabulous directive to all companies sending one of their own into the marketing realm of twitter.

Short of the official Twitter rules and usage guidelines left and right, it is the choice of each business to either emulate best practice or test how to write and respond to 140 character updates on their own.

I have long believed if a company is to succeed on twitter, they need to keep in mind a couple of basic rules:

• Reciprocity is mandatory and should be written into a company policies and guidelines, under rules of engagement
• Authenticity, another critical piece of the corporate pie today, largely because people can smell a rat and if you’re simply sending a front person into the lines and provide them a script, it’s not real and they will be eaten alive
• Trust is what you gain by allowing for the above to take place and there is precious little else as valuable

Having said that, what is more important today, even than engagement is protecting your brand. A future proofing of sorts. Having a twitter presence and growing organically a following is just as valid as seeking the instant gratification so many large corporations expect and desire to prove ROI.

Today I rescind my past assertion that not all business should be on twitter. I embrace the need to look toward a future where all things are based on the web. Even the small town business will need to be findable. Why? Geo location services/devices will not find you and someone just passing through will be pointed to a competitor. Many twitter clients offer location services and people are using them.

Twitter is no longer a flash in the pan, or fluff. Twitter is one of the most powerful tools in the industry.

I have something on my mind, and you get to read about it.

This morning scrolling through twitter and google reader I came across several posts/comments all surrounding who the influencers in social networking are. What’s implied is that there is a set group of influencers and they are all that matter. I think that’s hogwash. Seriously.

We all live in this world, and are surrounded by a myriad of people. Some we come into contact with daily, some we see on special occasions, and still others we may never meet in person but due to social networking and media we invite them into our lives in some form or fashion. These people, all of the above, are our influencers. That doesn’t negate the reality that we are also influenced by the big screen or tv ads, but in our network those we communicate with are our influencers. I don’t care who influences my pal in Ottawa. Who he is influenced by may not be the same as who I am influenced by and it doesn’t change our relationship that we have other people in our network influencing us. it simply means we are a diverse grouping of people with a variety of influences.

But I took offense at the idea that there are a select group of people influencing the greater numbers of us. Is that true? Possibly, but it isn’t the whole story and that’s what I want to talk about.

I really do have a friend in Ottawa. He’s so incredibly special, and it’s reciprocal. Outside of Ken and my kids he probably has more impact in my life than anyone else. Most people who have paid attention to me know JP is not only special to me, but he influences a great many people in my world. JP is friends with many of my friends. JP and I go back to my days in Canada. He pre-dates Ken. Still, we live miles apart and live very separate lives, so why is he able to influence me? The same reason anyone is. Because I acknowledge him in some way to be worth listening to and value his opinion even if we disagree.

JP is not the only person who influences me. I would suggest there are a great many people who influence me. Every single person I have a conversation with has influence of some sort. This past week is a great example of that. I was in Washington DC. I arranged meetups with a number of people. Each of them was an influence on how I spent my day. Dinner Monday night with Chris Abraham gave me an opportunity to go to a restaurant another influencer suggested. Tuesday I took my first metro ride alone to visit with Michael Sanders down by the Capitol. Wednesday night dinner at Vapiano’s with Shashi Bellamkonda, a place I would never have found on my own, and an added bonus meeting with Mike Holden. Thursday lunch with Glenn Manishin, getting to see where he works and his prized bonsai. (I spelled it correctly, Glenn!) Friday traipsing around Adams Morgan where a friend suggested we would see ethnic diversity, he was right. And finally, Saturday morning coffee with Jim Long, someone I’ve known for a long time online, had many great thoughtful conversations with, but never met in person.

All of these people have been influences in my life or I wouldn’t have made plans to meet them. Jim is who suggested many of the places I wound up, from Georgetown to Adams Morgan. Chris showed me a Sculpture of Einstein that I probably would not have seen otherwise, Michael pointed out the proximity of the Library of Congress to the Capitol, and with so many huge government buildings I might have overlooked it. Dinner with Shashi brought us in contact with yet another person, Mike Holden. I had only recently come across Mike on twitter so he wasn’t on my radar but he’s doing some great things and well worth paying attention to. Glenn shared himself very personally, touring us through the inner workings of his law offices, and then took us to lunch at the Hotel Monaco, where the lunch conversation was wonderful, dessert was FABULOUS, the company incredible. Coffee with Jim was a long overdue meeting with an old friend. Comfortable. We shared pics from his recent tour of Asia with President Obama, I shared some of my pics, (I hear the song Copacabana playing in the background – her name was Lola)  and in general it was just a special time laughing, catching up and enjoying each other.

I had another encounter, one I haven’t shared yet, but I think is important and indicative of the diverse set of people influencing us. I met a homeless man. His name is Montana. Ken was in the hotel and I had gone down to the pharmacy. Montana was offering help to someone who was trying to get into the pharmacy but the doors were closed. It’s a 24 hour pharmacy and one set is closed after a certain hour, so Montana was directing this person to the other side. Montana made a comment to me and I responded. I am a bit ‘gabby’ after all.

Being gabby, I started asking him questions. He answered and before long he was telling me his story. Montana has been on the streets for a while. One of those people who got nailed with the economy falling apart. It doesn’t matter why so much, what mattered to me was hearing how he lives today. He had all his ’stuff’ in a bag which was stolen from him. Then some group in DC was handing out blankets and he got one, but the rain came and his blanket got soaked. He was trying to find a way to dry it out because, as he said, ‘it got that mildew smell.’ He told me how he figured out a way to get into a public washroom and lock it so he could get cleaned up. He talked to me about his struggles to find any sort of job that would pay him something so he could eat. He was very happy because one of the hotels let him do some sweeping and paid him. He was a nice, articulate, funny, considerate man who fate or whatever brought him to a life he certainly never envisioned for himself. Yes, Montana influenced me.

I went upstairs and went through my purse. I found all my 1’s and my only 5, and grabbed Ken. We went down but Montana was gone. I walked around the building and there he was. Moving on, because he can’t stay in one place or he’ll get tossed off the property. He said to me, “Did you come looking for me all the way around here, really?” And I told him I had. He influenced me, yes he did. You see, I could see myself in Montana. oh, I’ve never been homeless, but I’ve certainly had struggles not shared with anyone other than closest friends. I’ve walked the streets alone, trying to access my situation, wondering what to do and how to do it. His walking is forced on him for reasons only he knows, but we’ve both done it which makes us the same.

All of these people influence me. They aren’t the only ones but I am clear on who they are. Nobody telling me there is only a select group of influencers will change the fact that these men have influenced me. It’s time we stop looking to the outside world to tell us what we think and start using our common sense to make up our own minds. Who influences you may be people who influence me. They also may not be. And that’s ok. I don’t want you to be just like me, influenced only by the people I am influenced by. I like our differences. That’s another reason you’re in my influencer list. People I am influenced by teach me.

Technorati Tags: shashi bellamkonda, mike holden, jim long, newmediajim, chris abraham, glenn manishin, sheryl breuker

This morning I was reading an article posted on a fairly well known web hosting blog. That set things in motion with regard to this post. Why? Well the article was about Jeremiah Owyang’s discussion on the future of social media and business. A piece of that was how important it is for businesses to listen to the conversation, instead of pushing their sell message. Jeremiah has a list of 8 objectives I don’t want to detract from, but there is a bigger picture here.

Jeremiah is a well known analyst. I’ve had a couple of interactions with him, all online and he always struck me as incredibly bright and thoughtful. Just lately I’ve noticed a couple of things, not just about Jeremiah, about the bigger names in this social media world, and it occurred to me they reach a point where they no longer listen to regular people, no longer engage in typical conversation, no longer participate in collaboration with anyone in the ranks. Occasional evenings with a glass of wine may inspire a bit of open conversation but that seems to dissipate as they reach the peak of what I call the place where the snowball effect happens.

Picture if you will, a hill that is very steep and requires quite an effort to climb. Once you reach the very top, obviously you sort of hang out there for a while to catch your breath, putting on your ski’s, preparing for the steep decent, and there it is ahead of you. You move toward the edge and push off, slowly at first, gaining speed as you go leaving a wake of snow dust behind. Part way down the hill you realize you aren’t really in control anymore, your speed is at a rate you weren’t prepared for but you can’t do anything about it but try to stand up and stay in the tracks of those who went before. And then it happens. You hit a clump of ice and down you go! You’re not stopping because your momentum propels you forward, instead you roll and become a human snowball, moving faster and faster, bowling over everything in your path, so fast you don’t even care what is in your way you only hope you get to the bottom soon and that you haven’t injured yourself or anyone else too badly. Your goal, to survive, and survive well.

This is how I view the Social Media Moguls. The big names in the world we’re all creating and moving around in. The Leo Laporte’s and Robert Scoble’s, or Jeremiah Owyang’s. There are quite a few I could cite, and many may take issue with my plunking Robert into this category but hear me out. Robert is a nice guy, I’m taking nothing from him for putting him here. What he is, and he owns it, is elitist. He pays more attention to us minions because that’s his job, but he rarely heeds us heading off in his own direction stirring the dust behind as he pushes through. Is he engaged? Certainly to some extent he is, but he many times spews his message, and then rushes off leaving everyone to fight amongst themselves. It’s a bit macabre, almost puppeteer like. 

You see what these men, and others, have in common is they’re speeding down the hill and haven’t yet recognized they are headed for a collision. They don’t equate themselves to the monster media companies that have died out from past era’s. They don’t see the correlation between how they started to the newspapers that are dying today. They’re still enjoying the swooshing they hear as they race down the hill at breakneck speed. They still believe they have control, and they definitely don’t think they’re broadcasting a message instead of engaging in conversation.

Broadcast. It’s an interesting word. Most of us have been seeing that word used for old media, and why it’s failing. We now have choices and we don’t want to be preached to. We want to get facts, sure, we want details, sometimes, but what we want more than anything else is to be involved in the conversation and feel like we make a difference too. The people racing down a hill, well they can’t even see us as anything more than a blur. Sad really. Sadder still that they have to hit something to stop their out of control plummet.

At some point, what our social media moguls have in common with each other is they stop listening. They can tell others what to do and how to do it, but at some point they no longer heed their own words. They’ve reached such a state of speed they simply don’t have the ability to hear what their audience has to say. They become insensitive to those around them and are surrounded only by similarly positioned people. It happens to them all. When did you last see Brian Solis talking to a regular person on the street? And he’s mister nice! How about Mike Arrington? Never happens. Soon, Robert Scoble will be like that just as Leo Laporte has become that. Their occasional forays into their audience to provide perceived reciprocity simply isn’t enough.

Just something to think about. That’s all.

 

I’ve been thinking a bit about influence and what that all means. Let me tell you what started this train of thought. I’ll try to keep it short.

Earlier I was looking at friendfeed and noticed one of Leo Laporte’s updates for his show and listed his guests. Most of you know I’ve been a Leo fan for many years. Leo invited me to visit his show and I went. Now I’ve told that story often enough I won’t go back into it, but what matters is that I am an original fangirl. I watched him on tech tv, listened to his radio show, have followed him from his early days in internet stardom to his growing empire today, and what struck me was that on his show one thing has remained constant. His guests are almost always the same. Oh sure he has a fairly large pool to draw from and he does switch it up when a new star hits the horizon, but it’s sort of like a green show. He recycles all his guests from year to year, other than those shiny new stars, like Ev or Biz.

The last couple of weeks twitter got a new feature called lists. We now have the ability to create lists where we get to categorize people where we want to see them or where we think they fit. Tonight Robert Scoble tweeted:

I agree. Not everyone should be in such a list. There are several reasons that’s the case but the most important one is because not everyone is a social media guru. However, if Robert wanted someone in his list to be there, that is certainly his business.

Still, this created yet more thoughts and I even tweeted back to Robert a couple of them: following up with: Which brings me to my basic thought processes and something that came to me all at once.

Robert Scoble is a nice enough guy. He is what most people would term fairly influential. So is Leo Laporte. Both nice enough guys who work pretty publicly and influence a lot of people and even get them to change their minds. What they aren’t is always right. They are human. They are fallible. They may have influence, what we see as clout, but when it comes to making a list the same people will be on their lists. The same people will be invited to their parties, and hang out with them at the bar in the *name a famous hotel* in Half Moon Bay or Petaluma. They both appear to be real people who really engage, but you and I both know there is a limit to that engagement. If you don’t live near them, don’t attend the same parties, don’t regularly socialize in the circles they socialize in you aren’t one of them and you won’t be on the massive insider list that only they have the ability to build and create influence with.

That’s a fact. Dispute it, disagree but it is what it is. We aren’t the insiders. We are regular people who may be every bit as intelligent as the people on those lists, but through whatever forces that be, aren’t as influential. I own it. Do you?

Technorati Tags: Robert Scoble, Leo Laporte, Sheryl Breuker

A little tongue in cheek was required here. I have been a fan of the iPhone since it first hit the stores. I still don’t have one, but last year I did get an ipod touch. I enjoy many things about it, particularly the browsing capability and also the integration with itunes and the app store.

Having said that, I read everyday something not good about it. While we’re all familiar with the great things about the iphone, the bad seems to get pushed down. Or does it?

It occurred to me this morning as I was reading a post on VentureBeat, it may be a lot more about just being part of a craze and not so much about the greatness of the phone. Everyone I talk to says how great it is, and they extol the many virtues, but when pushed with any amount of force, they will acknowledge the much more stable quality of the rim devices and also how comfortable email is on a Blackberry as well.

There are a lot of things about the iphone no one wants to admit. The inferiority of call quality, email etc. etc. Sure, Apple pointed us to a better set of features and functions a phone could and maybe should have. Now, why doesn’t Blackberry or another phone integrate some of those great features and let’s put the iphone behind us?

Apparently one has. I can’t wait for revues on it. Have a look at what TheBoyGenius Report has to say about what the new DROID phone will do, that the iphone doesn’t.

Technorati Tags: theboygeniusreport, droiddoes, iphone, apple, blackberry, sheryl breuker, matt marshall