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There Is No “MySpace”

“There is no ‘MySpace.’ I have all my spaces.” – Dean Landsman

Great point from Dean. Trying to pull all of one’s personae into a single representation feels unnatural. Different parts of ourselves are relevant at different times, in different places, in different contexts, with different people.

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Clue Unit #3 Show Notes: February 7, 2007

(click here to listen – MP3)

(click here to subscribe to this feed)

Episode 3, about 30 minutes.

Today’s Topic – Fear:

For this episode, we focused on a single topic:  "Business fear of connecting with communities online."  What is it that prevents businesses (especially, it seems, larger ones) from connecting with customers on line.  Is it cultural?  Legal?  Educational?  Our thoughts in here, would love to hear yours…

(crossposted from http://www.clueunit.com)

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Do You Get A Bonus For A Long Term Commitment?

Steve Garfield: “I subscribe to people.”

Bryan Person elaborates:

“Video blogger extraordinaire Steve Garfield, whom I ran into last night at a meetup of the Web Innovators Group, has a saying that I realy like: “I subscribe to people.”

And I’d suspect that most of us would say the same. While the blogs I read and podcasts I listen to need to offer compelling content on some level for me to say interested, what also ensures that I keep reading and listening are the people behind that content. As you get to know the content producers as people — either through the tidbits about their lives, interests, and passions that are revealed to their audience along on the way, or the personal relationships you develop with them on your own — you can’t help but want to read about and listen to those passions day after day, week after week.”

Ditto. Not just for blogs and podcasts. For business, too.

And life.

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Clue Unit #2 Show Notes: January 30, 2007

(click here to listen – MP3)

(click here to listen – M4A)

(click here to subscribe to this feed)

In this, our second podcast, we bring back…

  1. Introduction
  2. Announcements — conferences, news, etc.
  3. Focused Topical Discussion
  4. Conference Chatter — Anything goes

        

Today’s Topics:

  • Our inspiration to get into the business of online communities
  • What would you say to a marketing manager if you had 5 minutes to talk about online communities?
  • The controversy surrounding Microsoft sending bloggers free Ferrari laptops loaded with Vista.

    • Continue reading “Clue Unit #2 Show Notes: January 30, 2007”

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    Got My Mojo Workin’

    Tara Hunt, on some things that contribute to the intangible aspect of being “on” and having your mojo working:

    “1. Have a higher purpose. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s essential to mojo to believe in something beyond your own needs.

    2. Don’t be a commodity. Commodities don’t have mojo, they compete on price, efficiency and speed. Mojo is terribly inefficient.

    3. Work as a team. If your employees aren’t feelin’ it, your customers won’t either. Treat your employees as members of a team. Reward passion.

    4. Be part of the customer community you are serving. Use your own product, interact, use competitive products, work to further the industry you are in.

    5. Operate on passion, not ambition. Ambition is great for making barrels of money on undercutting and destroying your competition, climbing to the top of the corporate ladder, etc. It ain’t mojo.

    6. Give a damn. This is kind of tied to everything else, but people with mojo never have to have “because it’s the better thing to do” explained to them.

    7. Commit to excellence. Obsess over details. Experience. Be bothered by one customer’s bad experience. Work hard to do better.

    8. Get slow. Ever notice how people with mojo never seem to be rushed or distressed? They seem reflective, introspective, they take their time. Think slow food, slow marketing, etc.

    9. Believe in your gut. Stop thinking 100% with your head. Fritz Lang once said, ‘The mediator between head and hands must be the heart!’”

    Nice list, Miss Rogue. (Although I do think #5 can be an “and,” not just an “or”…it’s possible to have both passion and ambition simultaneously.)

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    Create-ivity Study

    Microsoft’s Treb Gatte (blog#1 and blog#2-with-a-much-better-name) writes in…

    “My personal friend, Dr. Amy Randel, is a Management Science professor at San Diego State University and is conducting research on creativity and drivers of creativity. She is looking for volunteer pairs in the technology industry to fill out a survey in January. Please note, a co-worker will also need to fill out a survey. I volunteered to help spread the word as I see this as an interesting study.

    Creativity has not been well studied so you will be greatly expanding what is known about creativity and its contribution in the workplace.

    If you are interested in this voluntary exercise, please send an email to the following address: [email protected] A email will be sent to you with the survey link information. This process is being done to validate who is filling in the survey.

    Here’s the study overview from Amy.

    ‘We are conducting a study on types of creativity and drivers of creativity, including motivation and personality. As part of this study, we are looking for participants to complete an anonymous 20-30 minute on-line survey and to have a co-worker complete a short 5 minute on-line survey.

    Participants can receive a summary of results (with confidentiality protected) upon request. Participants in this study also will receive the benefit of participating in research on creativity. As recent articles in Business Week and Fortune have described, creativity is an essential ingredient in the global economy. This study will contribute to the small, but building body of research on creativity in the workplace.

    The two primary professors working on this study are Amy Randel, Ph.D. (San Diego State University) and Kim Jaussi, Ph.D. (SUNY Binghamton). Both professors regularly publish studies based on survey research in companies.

    Data collection for this study is expected in Spring of 2007.

    Amy’s bio can be found here: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~cba/facdev/randel.html. Kim’s bio is here: http://som.binghamton.edu/faculty/jaussi.htm‘”

    Treb, happy to help out.

    Bonus create-ivity link: You Keep Using That Word…I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

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    Airline Customer Follies, Episode #7,325

    United Airlines (via Joseph Jaffe):

    “United – The Thinking Airline – has decided to drop snacks on flights less than 2 hours (which PS equals about 5 hours when you factor in travel and wait time)

    According to the geniuses at United, they figure this move will save them $650,000 this year. I guarantee you they’ll LOSE more than $650,000 with passengers that choose alternative airlines in the process.”

    American Airlines (via Mary Trigiani):

    “Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, is a heavy piece of melodramatic fiction. Or so I thought. Then I was stranded two weeks ago in O’Hare Airport. I realized about six hours into my 18-hour ordeal that one of the themes of the book — the decline of the railroad industry — was coming to life before my very eyes. Only this time, it was an airline.”

    On the other hand, Shel Holtz calls Southwest one of his favorites.