Have you gone to the movies lately? I am obsessed with going to movies and go pretty much once a week, if not more often. Anyway, if you go as often as I do you've probably been subjected to many different versions of the "Don't talk during the movie!" message. How about the one where the screen is black except for those jumping soundwave lines and there are a bunch of loud noises going on at once: a baby screaming, people talking, cellphone ringing, etc. Do you know the one I'm talking about?
If so, you know how that commercial makes you want to pull your hair out because it's so annoying? Well, take that feeling but replace those noises--baby crying, talking, etc--with Twitters. Imagine that instead of reading everyone's "tweets" or incessant chatter about Twitter you can actually hear them. Lately that's what it feels like inside my head.
Don't get me wrong, I love to twitter (I prefer to refer to it as twittering, not tweeting). Nothing more entertaining than constantly spitting out 140 word witty insights or random thoughts. Ditto reading other people's twitters. The twittering itself is not the problem.
The thing that's gnawing at me is reading a million blog posts ABOUT twittering. It's one thing to read someone's actual twitters; it's another to read blog after blog after blog after blog about Twitter this, Twitter that, Twitter as a business tool, Twitter shaping social media, etc, etc. Enough already--we get it.
It's like Twitter is a new religion or something--people discover it and feel like they've uncovered a new frontier or something. Not like I'm a veteran myself or anything--I've only been doing it for a few weeks--but I don't feel it's so revolutionary that it warrants constant "Hey--look at me--I'm twittering!" blog posts or conversations.
Imagine if it were the phone--fine, everyone's talking on the phone. But what if everyone then started blogging about how they're talking on the phone, analyzing every little shred of why they're talking, what they're talking about, why it's good to talk on the phone, etc, etc. Probably wouldn't be all that interesting to read about, right? Ditto writing about Twitter.
There are only so many ways you can analyze Twitter. Granted, I myself am guilty of exactly what I'm criticizing others for: blogging about Twitter so I'm one to talk.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Yet More Reasons Why Americans Are Broke
A month ago I wrote about Americans who, despite carrying an average household debt of $8,500, continue to spend, spend, spend and rack up further debt. It's apparent--at least to me--that we have no problem spending money, even if it's money we don't have.
With that post in mind, do you recall recently getting a letter from the IRS informing you about the new "economic stimulus plan" and the resulting $600 (single) to $1,200 (married filing jointly) check that will soon be coming your way? Clearly the way out of the economic toilet this country is in--which, by the way, is a direct bi-product of Americans spending more money than they actually have--is to encourage people to spend MORE money.
God forbid the IRS send a letter saying that the reason the country is perched on the edge of a recession is because you people don't know handle your money so we're going to send you $600 and you're to put it towards any credit card debt you have or, if you don't have any debt, deposit it immediately in your savings account.
No, instead our fearless leader tells us that if we go spend this money it will "boost our economy and encourage job creation." Uh, yeah. For many American families it will play out like this:
The government knows that if they give people any length of rope at all, many of them will use it to further hang themselves financially. What a masterful plan: using consumers as pawns to "stimulate" the economy by saddling themselves with more debt--and acting like you're granting them a great favor in the bargain.
Oh, and how about the irony of the whole thing: this generous government subsidy comes at a time when Federal budget deficit is already up more than 60% over last year--$263.3 BILLION as of March 12, 2008.
Hey--it's only money.
With that post in mind, do you recall recently getting a letter from the IRS informing you about the new "economic stimulus plan" and the resulting $600 (single) to $1,200 (married filing jointly) check that will soon be coming your way? Clearly the way out of the economic toilet this country is in--which, by the way, is a direct bi-product of Americans spending more money than they actually have--is to encourage people to spend MORE money.
God forbid the IRS send a letter saying that the reason the country is perched on the edge of a recession is because you people don't know handle your money so we're going to send you $600 and you're to put it towards any credit card debt you have or, if you don't have any debt, deposit it immediately in your savings account.
No, instead our fearless leader tells us that if we go spend this money it will "boost our economy and encourage job creation." Uh, yeah. For many American families it will play out like this:
"How are we ever going to pay off this $25,000 of credit card debt?"
"Hey--a check for $1,200 just magically showed up in the mailbox. Let's go buy a new TV! And everyone knows you can't get a good TV for less than $2,500 so let's just put it on the credit card and go do something fun with the $1,200."
The government knows that if they give people any length of rope at all, many of them will use it to further hang themselves financially. What a masterful plan: using consumers as pawns to "stimulate" the economy by saddling themselves with more debt--and acting like you're granting them a great favor in the bargain.
Oh, and how about the irony of the whole thing: this generous government subsidy comes at a time when Federal budget deficit is already up more than 60% over last year--$263.3 BILLION as of March 12, 2008.
Hey--it's only money.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Social Media for Old People
I remember being 16 (um, I mean 21) going to shows in DC and smirking at the “old” people lurking like they had any business hanging with a bunch of teenagers. How pathetic, my friends and I would say—don’t they realize they are OLD and don’t belong here? It just seemed so depressing that they had no life other than trying to blend in with a bunch of kids half their age.
Ok, so yes, I have since been that pathetic grown up at a club trying to act like I belonged there…but I digress.
Today it seems like the world—including the business world—is being led by the “younger set” (30 and under), putting “old” people like me (older than 30…to put it mildly) in a weird place. You don’t want to be the wannabe “cool” parent who’s “down” with the times and all that, but in this day and age, it appears that not doing just that could ultimately cripple your career.
For example, I was writing a news item at work this morning and linking to a story on a well-known website. There, below the title was the now-requisite row of icons: little leaf, “f” in a blue box, little cartoon baby face, little orange square—you know, the ones that appear somewhere on more and more web pages of all kinds. Some of these things I already know—the orange square means RSS (although the reader part is still a little sketchy to me), the “f” stands for Facebook, and I know the terms Digg and technorati even if I can’t describe to you exactly what they mean. In fact, I use them in my blog and STILL can’t really tell you what they mean.
Newsvine, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Flock, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Skype…the list seems to grow every day. List, that is, of applications/technologies/whatever you want to call them that are second nature to kids and 20-somethings yet are mysteries to almost anyone who isn’t hip to that particular lingo, so to speak. These things are not just fads like Tamagotchi or something; they are being used more and more in the marketing and business worlds. In fact, if you subscribe to the theory that social marketing is the wave of the future that will crush traditional marketing as we know it, you know that if you don’t start learning about this stuff and fast, you stand a good chance of becoming a dinosaur in the work world.
I’m taking my own advice here and diligently teaching myself about all things social media and web 2.0 and beyond. Yes, it’s interesting and yes, I do like feeling that I’m witnessing first-hand the changing of the guards from Boomers to Millennials. However, it’s hard to not feel a little like the grown up who’s trying too hard to be a kid—what with my Facebook page and Twitter posts. It’s like playing Webkinz—ok, here I am, in my pet’s room and I’ve made the bed, bought some food and some new clothes—now what?
Ok, so yes, I have since been that pathetic grown up at a club trying to act like I belonged there…but I digress.
Today it seems like the world—including the business world—is being led by the “younger set” (30 and under), putting “old” people like me (older than 30…to put it mildly) in a weird place. You don’t want to be the wannabe “cool” parent who’s “down” with the times and all that, but in this day and age, it appears that not doing just that could ultimately cripple your career.
For example, I was writing a news item at work this morning and linking to a story on a well-known website. There, below the title was the now-requisite row of icons: little leaf, “f” in a blue box, little cartoon baby face, little orange square—you know, the ones that appear somewhere on more and more web pages of all kinds. Some of these things I already know—the orange square means RSS (although the reader part is still a little sketchy to me), the “f” stands for Facebook, and I know the terms Digg and technorati even if I can’t describe to you exactly what they mean. In fact, I use them in my blog and STILL can’t really tell you what they mean.
Newsvine, Del.icio.us, Reddit, Flock, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Skype…the list seems to grow every day. List, that is, of applications/technologies/whatever you want to call them that are second nature to kids and 20-somethings yet are mysteries to almost anyone who isn’t hip to that particular lingo, so to speak. These things are not just fads like Tamagotchi or something; they are being used more and more in the marketing and business worlds. In fact, if you subscribe to the theory that social marketing is the wave of the future that will crush traditional marketing as we know it, you know that if you don’t start learning about this stuff and fast, you stand a good chance of becoming a dinosaur in the work world.
I’m taking my own advice here and diligently teaching myself about all things social media and web 2.0 and beyond. Yes, it’s interesting and yes, I do like feeling that I’m witnessing first-hand the changing of the guards from Boomers to Millennials. However, it’s hard to not feel a little like the grown up who’s trying too hard to be a kid—what with my Facebook page and Twitter posts. It’s like playing Webkinz—ok, here I am, in my pet’s room and I’ve made the bed, bought some food and some new clothes—now what?
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