Marc on "Technology and Communication"

Lack of communication skills: Totally agree with you there, but I think that for the generation coming up behind us, they don't understand any kind of distinction. In other words, they don't see a "lack" of communication skills because they don't know that there is any other kind of communication environment other than informal. It's easy to blame it on schools, but I think they are certainly contributing to the problem. Kids don't have to treat teachers like we did. But a lot of it (as with many other things) can be traced back to how children are taught at home at a very young age. When we were kids we all knew that when we talked to adults, we had to speak differently, address them differently, and even use a different tone of voice. We learned that from our parents. We called our aunts and uncles "Aunt whoever" and "Uncle Whoever". We said yes sir and yes ma'am. From a very young age we were taught that different situations required different types of communication, and that there were consequences if we were out of line. I'm not sure that kids are taught that these days. I personally can't stand it when our friends' children say, "Hey Marc." It should be "Mr. Marc."

Handwritten notes: I think they mean something simply because of the time factor involved. ANY gesture that takes a little bit of time (as opposed to the 8 seconds it takes to send a text or one-line email) is going to have more impact. Also, I would add that regardless of the time it takes for the gesture, the true value of it depends on the relationship that has been cultivated prior to the gesture in the first place. Admiral Mullen, who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could send me a handwritten note and I would say, "Wow, that was a nice gesture." But in the long run he doesn't know me, and I don't know him; there's no relationship. As a result, it's value is limited.

Companies spending money of social media: I don't have an MBA like you smarty pants, but I'll give you an amateur's perspective. In this world of internet shopping, it's not enough to get a quality product on the shelves, because I (the consumer) may never go to the store to see it sitting there. So, let's just say I'm looking for a bike trainer (which I asked you about the other day Brad). If I plug in "bike trainer" on THE GOOGLE I get 4,160,000 hits and who knows how many brand names. Where do I start? Well, if I've been exposed to a certain brand through social media, that might be the brand name that I recognize and take a look at first. Or, I may even plug that name in my initial search to limit the results. I won't even see the other brands. That's the value of social media. I'll agree that I don't think you can quantify it easily, but I can see the value.

Technology & communication

This thread is very interesting in how the two topics of technology usage and communication have blended together. It would appear the sensitivity in this group is to improper usage of technology as a means of communication. I'll share a few thoughts, although they not be directly related to the previous comments:

I'm generally appalled at the lack of communication skills that young people have these days, which I attribute to usage of informal media like FB, twitter, texting, and email(although that is arcane for people under 20). Whether I'm volunteering in a high school classroom or teaching a college class, one of the basic lessons I spend significant time on is professional communication. The biggest offenses tend to happen on email, and people mistake email as a place where basic grammar and etiquette do not apply. Big mistakes for sure...

I am not a fan and not a user of THE FACEBOOK or THE TWITTER, although thank goodness for Al Gore who invented THE INTERWEB so I could use THE GOOGLE. It sure does make it easier to find movie quotes and order pizzas. I do use LINKEDIN, which basically is facebook for professionals. The reason I don't use FB is there just aren't that many people with whom I want to communicate, and those I do I have their email and phone number.

Although using technology for communicating sure is convenient, there just isn't a substitute for a good old fashioned handwritten note. I have personalized note cards and one of my 2010 goals (that's another well-debated family topic) is to write at least 3 personal notes to someone each week. In my experience a handwritten note solicits the greatest responses of appreciation of any way of communicating. Standing out to a potential client, impacting an employee, or lifting the spirits of a friend going through a difficult situation can be as simple as a 5 minute investment writing a note.

Companies are spending big dollars using social media. See a link here to an editorial on the topic. This is a question I've debated at length with so many people: How do companies actually make money by using social media? Aside from a very soft marketing benefit and perhaps enhanced brand awareness (although likely to people that already know your brand) how do they benefit? I'd like to see what some large companies are spending for social media consulting and use and how they calculate their ROI for those expenses.

To quote "the level headed one": I think I've gone on long enough for this round.

Marc on Technology

I agree that technology can be abused. After all, that's the plot line of so many movies, right? Some awesome technological discovery, could be used to do so much good, evil guy sees dollar signs through some evil use of said new technology, battle for the new technology ensues. Inevitably, there is always discussion about whether new technology is "good" or "bad", which of course is always an over simplification. I don't think technology itself is inherently good or bad, but rather its application can be good or bad.

Email, which amazingly is "old school" by today's standards, is a great tool. I can still remember trying to write a letter and feeling like I had to fill two pages front and back to make it a respectable letter. That standard (thankfully) didn't translate to email. Sending a two or three-line email is totally acceptable, and therefore it makes it much easier to keep in touch. I think it helped people communicate more, because rather than NOT writing letters, at least they send an email occasionally.

Ed addressed the misuse of email. "Shit sludging" (I just coined that phrase) is the worst abuse. Some people spend their lives never composing anything on email, but instead FORWARD loads and loads of crap. In reference to the cheesy email that we all got the other day, I always wonder who the person was that spent all the time to put it together! At any rate, there is no shortage of people that will forward all manner of crap to every email address they have stored in their address book. That's just one abuse. There are also solicitation emails (thank god for spam filters), phishing scams, outright lies (Barrack Obama refuses to sing the National Anthem), and other nuisances. So, any user of the technology that is email needs to have a good understanding of it and how to properly use it so that they don't fall victim of its abuse, or become abusers themselves.

Let's talk about Facebook (FB). Brad, pay attention. You might learn something. FB is not the same as a letter. It's not the same as email, and it's not the same as a phone call or anything else. It's a unique technology that has its own set of rules. And it's very frustrating when people don't understand those rules.

First, the very appeal of FB is that you can "keep in touch" with hundreds of people at the same time. Not the "keep in touch" of our Mom and Dad's generation. A majority of my "friends" on FB are people that I will never call on the phone, they'll never get a Christmas card from me, and they'll never come over for dinner. FB is a means to "keep in touch" with people through one-line interactions on totally random subjects.

People use FB to post different types of information. Some of it I like, some of it I don't. A great thing about FB is that it provides the "hide" tool. If you don't like seeing what some people post, you can simply "hide" them. You are still friends with them, and although you'll never see anything they post, they are none the wiser! It prevents a potential awkward situation of having to tell someone that you don't want to hear from them anymore. I only bring that up because I've offended real-life friends in the past by asking them to remove me from their email list (I got tired of all the stupid forwards). You don't have to do that with FB. Some people I interact with fairly often on FB because their comments spur my thinking, make me laugh, or are just plain entertaining. Those that I "hide" are usually people who are overly political (constant right or left-wing rants), over-the-top sappy (my wife is the sweetest 50 times a day), exceedingly boastful (today I ran 17 miles, then saved a drowning puppy, then taught my 2-year-old how to read), or tediously boring (I'm going to eat some toast, wash the dishes, cut my toenails, then walk my dog). For all I know half of my "friends" have hidden me. I'm okay with that. I don't have an expectation of level of contact on FB.

Now for my personal frustrations… I use FB as a totally informal tool. So when I "talk" so someone on FB, meaning that I made a comment on someone's post or they commented on mine), it doesn't mean that I have chosen that person as some kind of special friend. It's almost like small talk passing someone in the hallway at work. I don't expect that EVERYONE else will know about it. But at the same time I recognize that posting on FB you have to assume that anyone else COULD see it. A good example was last week when my "friend" in Spain (I haven't seen him since about 1999) made a comment on one of my posts asking if we were still planning on visiting Spain this month. I had made a comment to him in October (on FB) that we MIGHT be going to Spain in November and that maybe we could meet for coffee if we did. Mom read that and felt "out of the loop" because she didn't know we were considering going to Spain. We didn't really tell anyone else that we were thinking of going, but since she saw on FB that someone else knew about it, Mom thought she had missed out. She assumed that a passing comment to a FB friend meant that I was keeping him "in the loop" on my life and leaving her out. The problem is just that I don't think she understands how people use FB. I don't use it as a news outlet, and the people that I talk to through FB have no exclusivity or special association for me.

I think I've gone on long enough for this round.

Our Impersonal Virtual Communications

I want to preface this blog by saying I've done absolutely no research, and the content of this post is limited solely to my humble (ok, not so humble) opinions. But in a feeble attempt to match one of Marc's rants, I have some views on how our society is making use of our new virtual communications world.

First, I like and find value in most of the tools available to me today. But there are exceptions. I pride myself on staying somewhat current with the available technologies. I have Facebook, iTunes, Linked-In, yahoo (email and fantasy basketball) and we (I have to include Holly in this last one) also have several on line accounts with virtual retailers and suppliers - everything from paying our car or electric bill to perusing eBay for the latest "deal". But I don't use any of these tools to the degree some others do. I would consider myself to be somewhere in the range of novice to moderate in terms of usage.

Nearly all of these tools offer some level of CONVENIENCE and FEATURES/BENEFITS that are the reasons why people use them. But like all good tools with various bells and whistles, sometimes they are utilized for purpose that they should not.

Napster was a classic example of music downloading gone awry. On line marketing represents a nuisance in some of these applications, and a royal pain in the a$$ in others. After all, who wants 12 emails a day from Pottery Barn announcing their latest sales. Not us!

But business and businesses are the only guilty parties when it comes to mis-use of such tools. Sometimes friends and families are the culprits. You all know what I mean. Those harmless little twits/tweets/emails that are forwarded with little or no personal touch. So, personal touch has also been automated, optimized, and outsourced - and to whom? I'm not sure, really. Who actually comes up with Power Points synchronized to Enya music (thanks Brad) with catching stories, poems and pictures to emit a particular closeness among friends and family.

I can't help but reference my Grandma Strempke here. She doesn't even like cards from her relatives that are just signed! No, she wants a personal note! She doesn't want to read what Hallmark came up with to share sentiment and love. She wants to hear it from her family and friends that sent her the lousy card! Now, I'm not always aligned with my Grandma Strempke's views of sending technology, innovation and advancement of the modern world to a screeching halt by relying on your postman, milkman and newspaper for staying connected to the big world around us ... but on this one she has a point!

And that point is simply ... it's only a personal touch if its personal. That means you wrote it, you created it, and you sent it. You can tweet/twit/facebook/email to your hearts content, but please ensure that the message includes what you thought, what you wrote, and what you wanted to share. Not someone else's recycled (albeit entertaining) message.

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone who has sent such a message. Admittedly, I've sent a few. But I'm rebelling against it and we'll see how long I can hold out. The only people I was intending to offend were the authors of these crappy forwards in the first place. One word of advice for them - GET A REAL JOB!

That's it, I'm out. Brothers? Your turn to speak out against further atrocities of our virtual world and our obsessions of mis-use.

Dumb things we do...part 2

As my wife stared at me with her mouth wide open, I taught my 2 year old daughter Sasha how to jump on furniture. I followed that up with encouragement. From the ottoman to the floor, from the couch to the ottoman, these are essential skills for a 2 year old right? I don't know what the heck I was thinking.

Actually I do know what I was thinking. Sasha can be a bit shy and timid at times. So I try to find ways to encourage her to be a bit more adventurous and outgoing. In this case, I'm sure I'll regret my efforts soon enough.