1. I ended up reading threads of related items in reverse order sometimes, unless I skip down more and then read up.
2. I find myself only caring out current stories – sometimes remembering a news item I would like to no more about – but since it’s not recent I don’t see it.
3. Sometimes I find myself skipping (also in Facebook) links to articles/blogs (i.e. depth) as I don’t want to take the time to read them – just give me a quick bite of information…

So the interesting effect is that if it’s not recent it’s as if it doesn’t matter.  I’m not reading/learning what’s most important – but what’s most recent.  Maybe this is a larger trend in media – that started with “headline” news.

But for me when I think about it it’s a little disturbing – if it’s recent and short it’s real – otherwise it doesn’t exist.  I’m robbing myself of  critical thinking, of learning opportunities.  Maybe that’s why I still read real physical books (also because they are free at the library) to counterbalance that trend…

Overall it’s a book worth reading – but it’s a little dry.  There is a lot of research that the author references to make his points – a lot of sociological research.  While I’m not fully on board with the author – I think it’s worth considering how the world is changing how to market to customers.

Like in some of my other Book Reviews – I will talk less about the book and more about some observations about it.  I see some of what the author sees – as the growth of online communities is large and growing.  I’m on Facebook a lot, read Twitter posts a lot and support a number of online forums (from a technical perspective).  I see trends in TV watching – that people are using the DVR, watching things online – that old days of everyone watching the same thing are over.

One of the fascinating things the book points out is the human need to form groups – to find a sense of community.  One of the things I find fascinating is how much money (hundreds, even thousands of dollars) people will spend on their hobbies.  I can’t imagine spending that much money (probably because I don’t have it) on a hobby – but I see it over and over across many hobbies.  I’ve often wondered why that much money is spent – is it just because they enjoy the hobby that much – or is it about a sense of community?  About how by joining other in that hobby – of that shared passion – they find identify and comfort in that shared community.

Another area that’s interesting is how the business environment has changed – in that the cost of doing business in many ways is drastically lower.  The Internet allows cheap and pervasive advertising – technology allows customization (print on demand), small one-person shops to compete, etc.  You can “broadcast” cheaply, sell stuff on eBay or Amazon, create a “FAN” page on Facebook for free, advertise on Twitter,  craigslist (also all for free!).

If you’re a large established company with a large cost structure your new competitors (especially those overseas) can be a definite challenge.  Look at traditional media companies – especially newspapers – and you have an example in the making.  The future will likely require companies to be more nimble to adapt to the marketplace – to engage with their customers – not just talk at them.  For those companies that adapt and engage- the future will be fascinating - for those that don’t it will be frightening.

1. I needed access to the following.
   • 2 Twitter Accounts
   • Personal Facebook Account
   • Multiple Facebook FAN pages
2. I wanted the ability to have a combined view of all these accounts – so I don’t have to switch panes, etc.
3. I wanted the ability to view comments/add comments in the client.
4. I would have liked to have my LinkedIn account also tied in – but I noticed all I got was this person connected to this person – which wasn’t very meaningful to me.
5. I would like to have Google Buzz tied in – but I don’t think any of the clients support this yet.

So here’s my personal strategy:

1. I will have Seesmic client open – which consolidates all of my feeds into one timeline panel.  It won’t display the updates like Tweetdeck (which I liked) but I can scroll down the list to where I left off – or if I’m logged in does provide a discreet notification.
2. I post most of my content via this blog – which takes care of my main twitter account and Facebook FAN page. I use ping.fm to do the push and LinkedIn is connected based on a tag in the post.
3. For my secondary Twitter/Facebook FAN page I’m creating a “page” on this site and manually posting it to Facebook – which pushes it to Twitter.
4. For my groups on LinkedIn I think the weekly notifications are a prompt to login and interact with others.
5. For the Google Buzz experiment I’m just manually posting a link to these – I’m still not sure about Google Buzz as the default view of all comments expanded is driving me crazy.

Comments about Tweetdeck:

1. I was actually using Tweetdeck for some time and quite happy with it.  I liked the pop-up notifications and the overall GUI.
2. Unfortunately when I built a 2nd Twitter account it didn’t flow well as I couldn’t configure it well.
3. I think I also noticed that the “tweet” notification sound was occurring on my wife’s login – which was kind of annoying

Comments about Hootsuite:

1. I don’t have as much experience with this one as the others.
2. One of the key differences of this tool is that it exists totally in the browser – as opposed to a desktop client

So that may influence my evaluation of Buzz – as it’s integrated into Gmail.  Frankly I’m pretty confused by Buzz – as it’s a bit overwhelming.  Right now I don’t think I can get past the expanded comments  - the long, long string of comments.  I’m used to seeing status updates with comments not taking over the screen.  Also I can’t seem to find any settings to control this – so it’s hard for me to use.  I haven’t researched how to use Buzz yet – but I’m wondering if I should have to.  I can still see how the key feature is that it’s integrated into gmail – a kind of one stop shop…

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out the best client to keep up with my social networks – as I now have 2 twitter accounts, personal facebook account, linked in account, multiple facebook fan pages.  I’ve been using Tweetdeck- but it doesn’t seem to easily support a 2nd twitter account.  I’m also trying Hootsuite and Seismic – which seemed to have unique features in each one.  My goal would be to have a client that easily supports all my different accounts – easily showing me updates from all the accounts – and letting me reply/retweet/comment on the posts (and see the comments).  I’m not concerned so much about posting – as I usually do that from another place (usually this site via ping.fm).

So to conclude I don’t totally get it – I’m a bit lost in the tool.  In fairness this is a brand new tool – has it even been out a week?  It may change soon for the better – Google tools will improve over time.  If you’re already in the Google stack (gmail, docs, calendar) then this could be a nice add-on.

1. I started with a basic rectangle that was 1600 x 1200 – so that it fills most monitor screens without repeating.
2. I added in a 200 pixel wide rectangle on the left.  This represents the maximum size my custom sidebar can take up. (I left this in place for demonstration purposes).
3. I then added a rectangle as the background.  In my case I picked a color off the header of my website (a bluish color).  I then picked a gradient option for that fill color and played around with gradient points to get a decent look.
4. I then started adding my own content:
   • I put a picture of me in the upper left-hand corner (unfortunately this doesn’t look as good as I hoped)
   • I put the logo of my corporation toward the bottom
   • I added in a catch phrase for my businesss
   • I put my website name vertically along the side
5. Here is the initial version of the background:
6. I wasn’t happy how that came out so I played around with it some more.
   • I made my picture smaller as it was too grainy.
   • I moved the website name to the top so it’s along the left edge – but starting from the top.
   • I made the logo smaller and moved it underneath the picture.
   • I then made a box around my picture, logo, etc. that had no interior but a hazy white exterior.
   • I removed the corporate log – as it was extraneous
   • I also then applied a “pattern” to the background rectangle to make it more interesting.
7. Here is the 2nd version of my custom twitter background

I did all my graphic editing in Macromedia Fireworks (now owned by Adobe) – but you could do this in pretty much any picture editing suite – except for paint.  I’m definitely not a graphics designer – so I’m trying something pretty simple…

Here are some other guides I found:

http://www.twitip.com/custom-twitter-backgrounds/

http://www.mytweetspace.com/

For my own sake (and hopefully yours) I will now note some of the items I really learned from this book:

The Internet (especially Google) has a disruptive effect on the business environment

• One of the profound things the internet has done is to fundamentally alter the business environment – especially in terms of the money involved.
• Example #1: – Craigslist has changed how we advertise.  I have a client who rents houses – Craigslist is one of the major ways he advertises rentals.  Great for him as it’s free and effective – bad for newspapers as the classified ads were a major source of revenue for them.
• Example #2: Anyone looked in a yellow pages lately -the physical book?  I never look again – but always look on the internet.  Good for me as it’s both convenient and building web pages makes me money – bad for the companies who make the yellow pages as business don’t want to pay them large fees for little benefit

Cost of doing business is changed forever

• Jarvis has a fascinating concept:  Instead of charging as much as the market can bear you need to charge as little as the market can bear.  The concept is that if you charge little you can’t be undercut
• Some of the success companies of this age have chosen the path of low (or free) cost in exchange for rapid and large scale growth
• Example #1: There are many new broadcasters such as one of my favorites – TWIT – that produce content at a greatly reduced cost than ever before.  You want to broadcast?  Get a camera and a laptop and you too can be a broadcaster.  Technology has changed this equation significantly.
• Example #2: You want to sell something – you don’t need inventory anymore to survive.  There are services like cafepress.com that let you sell items without overhead – they print on demand.  You still have to do work – but don’t have to have large amount of capital to start a business.
• Strangely enough I just started reading a book on Lincoln that uses the peers of his age to put his life in context. One of the comments they made was that it was an age where men created their own opportunities.  I wonder if this Internet age is creating a new golden opportunity for America and the world.

Customers are your partner – not just someone who gives you money

• Customers are paying attention more than ever before – not just to you but to each other.  The web has opened up avenues of communication in scales that never existed before.
• Customers can be your best friend or your worst enemy – they talk about you  – and they listen to each other.  Jarvis mentions his incidental rant about Dell that turned into an internet phenomenon
• Customers can participate with you in new ways to develop your product.  Technology has allowed that process to be both more effective and more timely
• Customers are to the point where they expect you to listen to them – and respond to them. Not just for them to listen to you.

Middlemen must provide value equal to their pay

• The power of the web has made it easier for a consumer to go directly to the source – middlemen don’t control the world like they used to.
• Jarvis takes issue with Real Estate Agents in terms of the cost (6% commission) vs. the value they provide
  • I’ve had a good experience with a buyer’s agent when I bought my first home – for me they provided lots of value – but then again I didn’t pay for it.
  • I’ve also used a seller’s agent – but I was uncomfortable with the fees and was able to find one with a lower rate.
  • If I was paying an agent full commission I would expect them to work very hard for that commission – doing more than just posting it on the MLS – but doing open houses, networking, etc. – a marketing machine.
  • I also think part of the reality is that too many Americans (not that I’m an exception) couldn’t come up with a up-front fee for an agent.  The commission comes out of the sale of the home – so the seller doesn’t have to front any money.
• If you think about a lot of retail sites they aggregate items from many manufacturers to provide me with lots of choice – so they add value.  What I wonder is if a company like Amazon goes through a distributor or if they go directly to manufacturers…
• I also know of a company that was looking deep into their supply chain – all the way to China – to more directly source their products and understand clearly what the costs are – not just taking a distributor’s word for it.  Good for the company – bad for the distributor.

Power of the Extensible Network

• Jarvis talks a lot about the power of the network – using Google and Facebook as examples.
• Amazon is another example of building a network – a platform – for more than just yourself.  Amazon doesn’t make these products – it sells them for other people.  It also has extended to create an platform – the marketplace – for others to sell.  In fact, when you locate an item there may be other choices available.  Amazon both makes a cut of their sales and extends it’s product inventory without doing the work themselves – but allowing others to build onto it.
• This also goes to his point about control vs. trust – do you want to own the whole thing or do you trust others to work with you.  It’s the case of Google vs. Yahoo – Google gets you where you want to go – Yahoo is a portal where they want you to stay – the destination.  Which is bigger and more profitable now?

Understand what business you are really in

• In this age of disruption if you really don’t know what your business is, what your value is you can be in big trouble
• Many companies are not what they appear to be – what really is Amazon?  A bookstore, music store – or is it a platform for distribution and marketing?  It’s been so successful that they allow other people to sell there.
• Do you sell a widget or a service?  Do you just sell or rent houses – or a certain experience and relationship?

Mass vs. the niche

• The printing press really began the era of the mass market – with bring a single source of information to many people.
• In the past the costs of distribution and content creation were high – so only a few could supply the information
• As technology has improved the cost of distribution has lowered
• When I grew up I remember starting out with just network TV, then came what we call “lifeline” cable – which was great at the time.  CNN and TBS were new things.
• Then cable TV grew in #’s of channels – to the point of confusion.
• Now the Internet is a new source of entertainment – with shows to watch there – new content that never existed before
• Retail has also changed – the mall is not the only place to go anymore (even though teens still haunt it).  Ebay and Amazon have exploded the marketplace with lots of options.  Many new very small retailers exist for niche products – something a small group of people care about – as the cost of selling goods is so much cheaper now.
• I agree with Jarvis that there will always be the “mass” of the market – as if it provides the best value it’s still important.  However I think it’s great that there are so many more opportunities for people to create their own businesses

I think I will be absorbing the message and observations of this book for some time (I may even buy it – sorry Jeff – I went to a library).  It’s an exciting age for many people – as the opportunities evolve.  The risk is if you don’t pay attention as the involving marketplace can leave you behind.

Actually they are the inverse list – followers vs. following…. but the UI is very similar.

I also remember just listening to Windows Weekly (TWIT broadcast) and they made an interesting comment – that we’ve gotten to the point where a computer is not worth using if there is no Internet.  I think that’s pretty profound – as  that’s not the way it used to be – even for me.  I wonder if this will be a new kind of digital decade – where the entire decade is based around computers, the Internet, etc.  We’re putting our lives online – banking online, etc.  With the growth of broadband connectivity there’s a whole new realm of content becoming available.  I wonder if the by the end of the decade TV will be changed as we know it – no tuning to cable, etc. – but it’s all content on the Internet.  We see our media rapidly changing – newspapers are dying in front of us.  There is a fight right now over whether content that has traditionally been free should be charged for – even broadcast TV.

For the US it’s not been that great of a decade overall – but the Internet charged forward full-steam with the growth of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Google has grown in it’s reach – well beyond just search.   Microsoft is no longer dominant like it was – even though they make plenty of money.  Netbooks have come into being – pushing PC sales – Apple has made a comeback and is a dominant force in the industry (got an iPod?).  Cell phones are rapidly make the “home” phone obsolete, texting has replaced talking for whole segments of the population.  Microsoft released an operating system I can recommend, Google proposed a browser as an operating system….

So what will things look like at the end of the next decade?  Can we imagine it?  Will it make us better as a people or worse?  Will talking in person become retro?

Does that mean I’m addicted or is this a cultural trend? I’m not sure that I’m always spending my time in the best way – as I may be missing some of the quality things in life.  I know silence is valuable but I have such a hard time with it.  Of course, as I write this I’m watching  a football game – as I can’t just sit and watch the game….