It’s funny how regular writing for this blog has put me into a reflective mood lately. And concentrating on my surroundings, what I like, and what I don’t like really gets the juices flowing.
As it directly applies to life in the technological world, it turns out that dealing with people online isn’t that much different than IRL (in real life). You still have to treat people with respect and this is even more important when you can’t see their faces to gauge a reaction or if you’re posting a Twitter item with a 140 character limit! When it comes right down to it, you have to be even more circumspect because an electronic message can be instantly forwarded to people you never intended as an audience
Armed with this realization, I decided to put down some thoughts that I could use as a daily guideline for my interactions with people:
Every day, be the best person that you can be for that day.
Devote yourself completely to what you do.
Good luck is made. Bad luck is just everyday life.
Don’t take anyone or anything for granted.
Every day, seek out one person and say or do something kind.
Don’t ever let your family down.
Never be afraid to admit mistakes. Apologize and move on.
Be aware of where you are and how you present yourself.
Try not to dwell on absolutes because they marginalize people.
Humor can make a grim situation easier and a happy occasion memorable.
Except on rare occasions, you are not the most important person in the room.
You don’t have to make a contribution to every conversation.
Speak clearly. It’s your job to make yourself understood.
In much the same way that writing this blog on a regular basis is sometimes difficult, I’ve found that applying these principles in my daily life is easier said than done. When you live in a world where communication is instant and many things are delivered to our door, remembering to utilize our own words often takes a back seat to more pressing issues. Maybe I should add this as my wallpaper or create a random email generator to send me one item each day.
Is anyone out there addressing this issue? If so, please drop a comment on what you are doing.
So That's Life? 
You’ve Got Another Thing Coming
04/16/2009The learning curve for Twitter is a fine dividing line between growing pains and outright fraud. On the one hand, the concepts and usage guidelines are being written as you read this. On the other is common sense and integrity of the user. In the on-the-fly-world of Twitter, one misstep can spell disaster.
As it pertains to this idea of proper usage of Twitter, two recent items caught my eye. The first is a national story where some gay and lesbian book titles disappeared from search results on the Amazon site. The second is a blog post by Ryan Ozawa detailing the startling growth in Twitter followers by Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hanneman.
In the Amazon saga, authors whose books were suddenly unavailable immediately began a Twitter campaign to voice their outrage over the perceived slight. Almost immediately, a hacker claimed credit for the “glitch” and a new round of tweets began making the rounds. In two days, the rancor grew so loud that Amazon issued a statement saying that they were implementing new measures “to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future”. As for the hacker, it appears that the claims were false and that a hoax had been perpetrated on the Twittersphere.
Meanwhile, out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it seems as that Mayor Hanneman’s Twitter followers increase from around 40 to 28,000 in the blink of an eye! Upon closer inspection, it seems that these new followers were gained through placement on a Twitter “suggested user” list. The fallout over this situation has yet to play out but, in my experience, Mr. Ozawa’s keen observations are usually followed (no Twitter pun indented) by legions of less subtle critics.
Both could easily be chalked up to innocent missteps and been dealt with through quick responses. For Amazon, the nearly 3 days of Twitter chatter grew to a cacophony that just couldn’t be ignored. Circumstances forced them to take action and that action was completely dictated by their critics. For the Mayor, the idea that 28,000 tweeters (mostly outside the state of Hawaii) had decided to follow him is being viewed with a jaded eye. Just as important is the fact that since none of these people can vote for him and they don’t have any direct contact with Hawaii residents, who really cares how many followers he has.
The Twitterverse moves fast. If you’re not careful, it will run you over and leave you for dead. In both of these examples, I think it’s clear that decisions were based on reactive rather than proactive thinking. So beware! If you don’t plan your course of action in our tech-savvy world and think you’ll skate by just because you’ve adopted new technology, you’ve got another thing coming.
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