Is Social really JUST all about the "gee-wiz" technology and convenience?

Don't get me wrong, I like "gee-wiz" technology and convenience as much as the next guy; but is there an opportunity being overlooked...

"How Restaurants Are Using Technology to Deliver Better Customer Service" 
           - Carol Tice, Contributor, Forbes, 12/07/12

Outside of the "wolf it down 'cause I'm f'n starving and on the way to a meeting" restaurant experience; my "dining" choices are made, primarily, on the basis of three factors.

1) I've eaten there before, and I like the food
2) I've heard really good things about the place
3) My friend (or friend of a friend) owns and/or cooks there

Each of these are weighted moment to moment by my mood. Each apply to restaurants from my local MacDonald's to that hidden gem in the Village I stumbled into one day because I spent months watching the owners restore rather than renovate a long closed establishment.

Can social embrace these factors?

This speaks to my "mom & pop" argument. I recently put together a package for A&W (which unfortunately, never made it past their damn ADvertising oriented head-hunting 'gate' keeping hiring agency). My proposal suggested my agreement that A&W had a lot of work to do on "first level" social, ie simply getting the A&W message out across the "channel" into the stream as it were...

I also proposed, bravery...

Social affords far more than just another channel down which to 'pump' the continuous drone of the AD driven message. Seeded within' social is the ability to develop a stronger connection with your customers. Mom & pop didn't need the technology but were expert in the use of social long before it became... technology.

Here's what I'd like from a restaurant with respect to "social service". For the most part I get these from the "sole proprietor" establishments I haunt...

• I'd like to know the name of the owner/manger and feel I have some form of access to them to register a complaint, make a suggestion or extend a compliment.

• I'd like a restaurant that appears to keep track of my participation in their service.

I find "spreadsheet driven" coffee cards, coupons and pre-packaged promotions dis-in-genuine for the most part, especially when used by sole proprietor; in those cases, I tell them so, and I usually get my free-coffee/extra falafel sause bump on a pretty regular basis...

There is NO reason why A&W, especially most of those located in smaller urban locations cannot apply a more personal, less systematic, seemingly friendlier tactics used by mom & pop. It requires only commitment, firstly to your customers, secondly to the employees you "carefully" select to service your customers.

My Mom & Pop argument... Look beyond the "AD-pump" channel aspect of social; be brave, ie have enough confidence in your offering to invite relationships, accept comments and complaints. (Social IS CRM and CRM is quickly filtering its way down the economy scale... more on that continuously in 2013).

Certainly... changing your relationship with your employees, a key factor in this model, is NOT easy, but improving your relationship with your customers IS a simple notion, NO? - Listem if we are going to settle on a service economy, why not focus on service, AND why not train and trust our employees to be... friendly. My guess is, given licence to be friendly, they'll be better employees...

Gee-wiz... ain't social simple? (but get over it, social ain't easy), just ask mom & pop.

I've always suspected that contract lawyers have this "code", a line of legal-eeze copy they use to signal the other lawyers the "size" and stupidity of the fish they have on their line... "If we keep hammering this claus, we can milk these two fish for another 6 or 7 drafts", "let's go"...

What a great day to be the lawyer for a "nice" kid who has a "great" idea for a so called "social" start up! "We can mis-write and re-write this TOS forever!".

Imagine landing a gig with a bunch of "nice" kids, with great ideas who don't quite understand the only way to make cash is to do things that customers perceive to be a bit "ruthless". Customers who by nature are simply "good" folks who don't really understand that, well first off, they ARE customers and that this "great" idea ain't a public service, this "great" idea cost real money... AND at some point in time, some "nice" guy is going to be... OWED.

Remember all those exciting headlines you read a few years, months, days ago... "nice-kid closes $2M in early round financing from some "nice" guy"... 

Here it is in the simplest terms possible... the "nice" guy who gave that $2M to that "nice" kid, well he's the "nice" guy that all us "good" folks are posting and re-posting all those 99% mean memes on the "nice" kids idea. And as much as this "nice" guy likes a "great" idea, and probably chuckles along reading our mean memes, well, his "big" idea is that that $2M will turn into $10B some day... as, he's been told it, each of those mean memes of ours is worth supposedly $0.05... to some "dumb" Ad-guy. 

OK, you knew that (didn't you?); and you also know (or I hope you know) that on top of the suposed $0.05 that "nice" kid is collecting from the "dumb" AD-guy to one day give back to that "nice" guy; his "great" idea allows him to collect "cool" data... This is were it seems to get less simple but really, it's not...

Turns out that mean meme of ours is really only worth $0.02... and the more mean memes we post only makes these mean memes worth less (on pretty much every level). So, the "nice" kid sits down with the "dumb" AD-guy who tells him he can get more for our mean memes, if he let him use his "cool" data to better direct the flow from his "shit-spigot" (see earlier posts on said shit-spigot)... cool.

Not really...

Wind the clock forward a few days, months, years... The "nice" kid's been hanging out with "dumb" AD-guys for quite some time now... he finds himself in a room full of "nice" guys... the "nice" guys ask him, nicely, "what's the word on our $10B?" - The "nice" kid looks at the "dumb" AD guy, turns and says... I gotta, er, well... a "good" idea...

...even if they're not; which really, they aren't. The "good" ideas he tells the "nice" guys ultimately  appear ruthless to us "good" folks. We enjoy using the "great" idea but refuse to see the cost, nor understand that the "great" idea now belongs to the "nice" guy. The "nice" kid is flailing around for any "good" ideas that the "dumb" AD-guy assures him can be sold at a price that may satisfy the "big" ideas of the "nice" guy... The "nice" kid starts throwing the "nice" guys money around to other "nice" kids with "great" ideas; the "nice" kids GET these "great" ideas 'cause really, it's not been that long since they were simply one of us "good" folks; But the "dumb" AD-guy, keep holding up that "shit spigot" in front of the "nice" guy, and the "nice" guy keeps asking the "nice" kid... can we get more of that? Until finally the "nice" kid says... OK, enough all ready... and even though the "good" folk in him knows its gonna look ruthless... he goes with the "dumb" AD guy's "good" idea...

...and calls his lawyer.

...and so: It's a "great" day to be a "nice" kids lawyer; but really... if you're a lawyer, every day is a good day... especially if you got that "code".
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And... by this time; none of this is all that social any more.

One month down this raod...

Receives email, check... receives txt, social messaging and phone calls check. Sound quality, image quality, acceptable...

Oh sure there are a lot of apps that do not work as expected; but if I think back, same was true during the first month when I switched from my BB to the iPhone.

So, the primary advantage, the reason I switched wins the day; the bigger screen is darned luxurious (even IF many apps do NOT really take advantage of the real estate. The second motivator; integration into my Google Enterprise... eco-system. So far, enhancements have been minimal... BUT... Seems to me, I'm with the right operating system to see this improve.

...on another anecdotal note. I was at a function that had me hooking up with a group of old pals and business associates, diehard MAC/Apple enthusiasts, eh, even borderline fan-boys. Each of whipped out a Samsung in one form or another. So, Apple, when are you going to give us a better choice? More real-estate? Until then... I do need to replace my tablet one day, soon...

Why I Killed my iPhone PART ONE
Why I Killed my iPhone PART TWO

Every so often (to often really), I stumble across an article that makes my inner contrarian-d-head want to just, go... pop. But I've learned its better to let this stuff stew; give it a few extra hours, days, perhaps a week to see if maybe, read another way I can find the good nugget of advice the author was trying to present. And HEY, of course, I can only hope that from time to time the blather I leave here elicits a similar response in someone...

So... YES, I agree with this author; Maybe Social isn't for YOU! - It certainly isn't if you are listening too closely to what your ADvertising agency is saying when they are completely missing the point of what Social is. What Social can do and how it can be incorporated within your business practices... How about a little read-and-respond... You can click on the pic above and read the article intact and leave it at that; OR follow along below as I take sucker punches as the primary points... Either way...

Hey, Small-Business Owner: Maybe Social Media Isn’t For You

It’s now conventional wisdom that if you have a small business, you should be regularly earmarking time to cultivate your fan base on Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps you should post news that’s relevant to your product or service. Funny pictures are also good for increasing those “Likes” and circulating your business’s name to new, potential customers.  However, not everyone is buying this argument. A recent survey of 500 SMBs by online marketing firm Vertical Response found about one-third of small business owners would like to spend less time on social media. If you’re among them, rather than feeling shame about your lack of zeal, consider the case against trying to become the next George Takei:

Any article that opens with a reference to my most favorite Facebook punching bag, Mr. George Takei, especially if the article is in relation to doing actual, real hard work in Social for business, well it's already off to a bad start...

1. Time you spend on social media is time you’re not spending improving your core business. Say your job is making bicycles. Are you better served by making sure that everyone who buys a bike at your store is insanely happy with it by increasing your PTAT rating on Facebook? Imagine for a minute that you decided that you’d only use Facebook and Twitter as a digital billboard for your business and you spent zero energy trying to cultivate new fans. Instead, you took all the time and thought that you would have spent marketing on Facebook instead on providing the best customer service possible and making sure that no one left your store unsatisfied. Would your customers then be motivated to say nice things about you on Twitter and Facebook? Isn’t that type of interaction preferable to merely liking a funny photo you posted?

RESPONSE: Or, do both. AND what's this Digital Billboard??? Funny photos??? Is this what your ADvertising agency is offering, how they are suggesting you incorporate, Social?... It gets worse...

Any Social Media consultant who advocates spending time on Social at the expense of your "core business" is an idiot, plain and simple. Social must become part of this core activity. Lets parse this further. YOUR GOAL, making money, is supported by another of your goals, making your customers "insanely happy". Absolutely and agreed! Indeed, providing your customer the best product and exceptional customer service is a pretty huge core objective of any good business. Obviously you must think of ways that Social can augment and enhance this core activity… Sure, insanely happy customers is A core objective, but THE core objective is, cha-ching... If Social is not putting money in your till, you are not incorporating it, properly... get back to work.

And, really what good business man isn't focussed on "providing the best customer service possible"? You know, a very good place to start to incorporate social into your business IS in customer service. It's only natural that IF your objective is to establish and nurture a relationship with your customer, doing so with those with whom you have shared that most 'spiritual' of business moments, the transaction, seems… well basic. Where better to seek insights into your customer service practice than from those who have, well… DUH, please, excuse me, been served.

Time IS an issue, agreed… Indeed, Social is not EASY! And Social is time consuming; you will need to find hours; and you MUST NOT steal these hours away from… your CORE BUSINESS (cha-ching). Doesn't it beg the question, when you were creating flyers and posturing the town in that first and early marketing campaign, did you consider taking time from "fixing bikes" to do this? - When you sat chatting to your best customer for an hour one day, did you feel this activity hurt your business? Did you learn something... did he bring a friend in one day... Time. Is always best, well spent.

We read on...

2. Apple doesn’t do social media. Apple was the No. 2 brand on Interbrand’s Top 100 Brands list this year, and it lacks both an official Facebook Page and a Twitter account. Consider that Apple was No. 41 on the list in 2005, before the social media revolution began in earnest, which means that Apple has profited mightily by ignoring the rise of Facebook and Twitter. Apple is a great example of a brand that’s too busy—or likes to present itself as too busy—for social media because it’s improving its products. The strategy works because fans are so excited about the products that they do the heavy lifting. 

Small businesses can enjoy the same kind of lift from providing a product or service that consumers are authentically interested in. Ed Keller, CEO of Keller Fay, a marketing research firm, says that nearly 90 percent of discussions about brands happen in real life and the rest are occurring online. “There’s no question in my mind that good experiences are what spark word of mouth to a greater degree of just about anything else,” he says. Keller adds that while he believes social media outreach is important, if it’s a case of limited resources, “I’d focus on the experience.”

RESPONSE:  Really, using Apple as an example of how SMBs should manage their marketing let alone Social bandwidth? Apple quietly spends more on marketing than all North American SMBs earn, combined, likely in a decade. PLUS... Apple IS the most Social business on the planet!

Until recently, Apple had something like $18 trillion in the bank and; Apple, routinely spends trillions subtly marketing, advertising and feeding the press, making sure that your mind is always on, engaged with or longing for, Apple product. Their legions of customer service representative, Geniuses is a Social operation to DIE for. When I walk into an Apple Store, there is a Genius at my shoulder ready to ask, answer and SELL me.

REPEAT: Apple IS the most SOCIAL company on the planet, possibly in the history of Social, which in reality is simply the history of... Business. They can simply afford to ignore Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, et al, why? ...because they have built a Social live and in person retail operation which is the envy of anyone who has ever been in retail  - You, on the otherhand DO NOT have, nor will you ever have this budget, these resources. But you do have, and can use... Social.

(...what a gawd-awful and foolish way to try and make a point)

Let's continue to use Apple as an example of good Social. What's your impression of Apple? Do they know you? Do they care? Well, let's see, they constantly create the products you instinctively know how to use and love… WHY, because they ARE Social. They listen (intently). They've spent four decades, many of which were years under water designing, building and testing "the computer for the rest of us". As a digital business man, always with a Mac at my side; I have never marvelled over their success; never wondered how they bottled their brand of magic and always got it right; I watched them look and listen and launch products that came from within my community. They haven't invented anything, Apple has simply made the things people said they needed. They acted upon requests, they quickly dispensed with their mistakes, built the "walled garden" we all asked for and invited us in to… enjoy each others company; their company.

They didn't set out to prove themselves the BEST geek with the BEST most technically sound and advanced GEEK toy (ask any Linux-head to back this one up). They saw us wanting to carry around our music; and gave us an iPod… a MP3 player that worked. AND then they marketed the shit our of it. They told us, stroked us and then reminded us, we were cool if we had one. I always laughed at my Micro-Linux pals who scoffed at Apple's simple little backwards devises… they never got it; nor ever will. Apple listened to what we wanted, and gave it to us, simply.

Yup, be like Apple, but for goodness sake; if you are going to model your business upon a successful business model... Understand the model.

3. You’re not a publisher. It’s commonly accepted wisdom in social media marketing circles these days that all brands are publishers since they fill the role that publishers have, traditionally. For instance, Coca-Cola now has 50 million fans on Facebook, which means it potentially has a much bigger audience than The New York Times. However, it’s reasonable to ask why this means that Coke should now put some of its energies towards publishing. After all, that has nothing to do with Coke’s core business. Instead, you might ask why Coke doesn’t just buy ads on publications with which it wants to be associated rather than trying to become those publications. That’s the way that advertising has worked for 80 years or so. Why reinvent the wheel? If you argue that Coke would save money by enhancing its Facebook and Twitter feed rather than buy ads, consider that it takes money to create compelling content and that to reach all of your fans you still have to buy ads on those platforms.

RESPONSE: Agreed! NO, you are NOT a publisher… REPEAT, YOU ARE NOT A PUBLISHER. Social  is NOT a publishing venue… REPEAT SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A PUBLISHING MEDIUM… And this is a huge point here, (dammit)... ALMOST EVERYONE IS DOING SOCIAL WRONG!

Will some one please tell me, when and why did anyone ever come to believe that Social is a publishing medium? Why, because, that's the MOST creative thing their ADvertising agency could come up with in response to it. "Look, here's another channel to pump our high-priced content crap down." Pour their poop, their 15, 30 and 60+ second pieces of highly produced garbage onto the heads of the still unsuspecting potential "customer". Your ADvertising agency sees this as a continuation of their "impression" based business model, WHY, because, thats what the KEY measure their BILL is based on… Social is not about the impression; its about your customers impression… of your business.

Now, if you think for a moment that PUBLISHING a steady stream of this "me big expert" documentation of your service or product is going to sell; you ARE an idiot. Oh, sure publish the credibility pieces; publish and re-post articles that lend credibly to your argument, keep your argument top of mind; hey publish other folks "me big expert" publications about their product our service IF you have the confidence that YOUR product AND service are superior. But, don't waste these aforementioned precious bits and pieces of time on doing ONLY this. PUBLISHING is not social, recommending a good read to your customers, is... providing its highly relevant... providing it serves your... core business

Social is NOT about "me big expert"… its about, "so what do you think?" "How are we doing?" "Are you happy?"… "what can we do BETTER". Social Media is listening, LEARNing and responding, then listening some more. Have you ever had a conversation with someone who doesn't, shut up? Do you do business with these people? Would you hire one as... a sales person?

Now here's the human nature… 99% of the time we listen ONLY to respond; we wait for the point in the conversation in order to insert OUR point. STOP, LISTEN, LEARN. Social allows your customer an opportunity to contribute; if they applaud, thank them and then describe how you will take the compliment into consideration to do better. If they complain, thank them and describe how you you will take the complaint into consideration and how you will use this to do better. - simple?

SOCIAL IS NOT EASY, its contrary to the fact that you are, by nature, A pompously successful businessman... but, please take the time to be wrong, and get it right.

4. Truth will prevail on the Internet. One argument for keeping a social media presence is to correct critics of your brand who are in the wrong. However, while the Internet acts as a petri dish for rumors and misinformation, it also has a self-correcting mechanism in which consumers act as a truth police and aim to disabuse readers and consumers about such bunk. Consider how much effective it is when a fan of yours comes to your defense instead of you. Not surprisingly, Brian Solis, principal at Altimeter Group, a marketing consultant, takes issue with the idea that small-business owners can ignore social media. In Solis’ view, getting fans to talk about you in social media is “incredibly rare.” Solis acknowledges that updating your Facebook Page may be a chore, but then again, so is marketing in general. Businesses, he points out, should funnel 80 percent of their profits into marketing or they will soon be out of business. Says Solis: “Solely focusing on what you do very well is not going to benefit you if no one knows about it.” Rather than posting funny pics on your Facebook Page, Solis recommends connecting with the passion that prompted you to start your business in the first place.  Fair enough. But not everyone is gifted in transmitting their passion via Facebook. 

RESPONSE: "Truth will prevail on the Internet." Sit back and let your reputation happen. Is this person gawd-honestly nuts? Do you think anyone cares about you? They certainly DO NOT. AND they really really DO NOT care about you, if you do not CARE ABOUT THEM.

As for marketing: There’s no reason why that 80 percent can’t go into ads instead of Facebook activity. At the very least, it might be worth taking a break from Facebook to see if it really does harm your business. Perhaps if you don’t build it, they will come.

RESPONSE: And....

Here's where the TRUTH in this article is outed. "Why not take your Social Media dollar and buy Ads…" How about this instead... Why don't you STOP asking your ADvertising agency to do something they know absolutely nothing about...

You know your business; you know how to apply Social to your business; every good business man does. The first step. Stop listening to folks who tell you what Social is; you already know. Your business already IS social.

OH AND... Social is WAY more than Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, et al... As a matter of fact, these tools, although useful are barely social at all (more on this, upon request).
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This is a tiring article... I have a thousand more points I'd like to make. But really, scoot around the site and you'll find many of these points sprinkled here an abouts. I'll keep adding to all this, and I'm always up and ready for a conversation...

Eh, anger... I've been watching flame wars blossom into digital fist fights on these here internets for some 25 years now. Heck, I've been directly involved in some absolutely epically silly episodes myself.

I can only assume that there is a pile, an immeasurable stack of countless psychological and anthropological studies that have been published on the nature of these virtual tiff tiffs over the years... Funny, I've never searched on this as I do find it fascinating.

I recall the days when all of a sudden MySpace allowed a whole-whackingly huge crowd of fresh-meaters, unaccustomed to the routine, etiquette and techniques for calling out your buddies on their dick-headedness (I've been called out on this countless times, many perhaps even most, I will easily admit to being called out correctly on)...

I also recall, perhaps more fondly, that for the most part, before MySpace, it was punch & stick on our old-school BBSesez. I mean, where could you go... I guess to another BBS, but... there weren't many and that other one over there, it was run by and populated by geeks and dweebs (and teenagers).

MySpace allowed for new responses to the tiff-tiff, one combatant was able to AND might resign simply from the friendship, avoid contact with the other combatant for hours, days, weeks, months... rarely years. The equivalent of taking your ball and going home... This was a very public gesture as IF you were so inclined, you could keep track of who amoung your friends was friends with who...

Facebook's introduction of the ability to "remain" friends but simply "tune 'em out"; I find this kind of insidious... I mean, are you my friend are ain't ya; oh well, so be it. I remain here with my personality complexes, assuming that at least 75% of those 339 great, good and wonderful pals of mine have tuned me out over some regretful comment... eh, my rambling on during my 5+ year psychotic "love affair" with the Bush Administration alone, was tantamount to my spraying this friends list with agent orange... I'm sure there are countless old chums out there seething in the belief that I actually believe any of this :-)

Personally, I do NOT de-friends friends secretly NOR have I ever formerly de-friended anyone (except when I was legally bound to do so)... eh, its part of the "empathy policy"... Oh sure, at this very moment, I consider you to be a freaking duechebag; but you're my pal, ultimately some good will come outta ya, you silly misguided blow-harding windbag... if I wait and I usually DON'T have to wait too long, I always end up wanting to give the old chum a great big hug and hello one day.

AND, you know what... IF I were to cut out those with whom I disagreed, and only listened to those with whom I agreed, well that's called stagnation if my "religion". Argument is 50% of learning, it can help you to re-think and solidify an opinion OR poke enough holes in an idea to send it back to the drawing board for major, minor revisions or a massive overhaul, no?

THEN, there's the "nuclear resignation"... I love this one. Well actually, I find it a bit unsettling....

Some one posts an opinion, a contrary thought is posted; cynicism sarcasm and ironic stupidity abounds ...A big fight breaks out; you wake up the next morning, ready to re-join, contribute, or perhaps attempt to help calm your fighting friends only to find one of the characters GONE. And I mean gone... no traces, not angry footprints galloping off to another corner of pals on the playground. 

It's the "I'm sick of Facebook, I'm leaving, taking my ball, deflating it and tossing it into the back of the closet; jumping on a plane, changing my name and moving to... the closest place I can find with no internets" manoeuvre (this used to be that sad little chair in front of the TV until the smartphone came along)...

Sadly, I've had to live through 3 or 4 of these "nuclear resignations"; happily, they seem to last only for a few months... then that good ol' stick in the mudder pal-o-mine is somehow drawn back; welcomed in AND usually right back at it, flingin' in the fray... In one rare occurance a pal disappeared for years (or so I thought), oh he was gone for only a year, but by the time I re-found him, he'd come back, re-incarnated as a rasta-shaman and had a whole huge new-weed whackin' circle of pals I'd never even knew woulda or coulda existed :-) ...funny enough, you got it, he's still my brother. (that's a wholy separate story from the motivation for this one).

So... we lost another friend one last night. He lit the preverbal third match... gone, but not forgotten.

I think this one may be a little more interesting than some of the other "nuclear resignations"... The fella involved can be quite stubborn when he wants to BE, is extremely brilliant, AND has the ability to invent his own personal class-cases-in-study on the behaviour he's trying to prove is human nature by baring it out upon himself... the clock starts ticking... NOW.

Ya know...

Anger is a wonderfully useful emotion. Outside it being ones greatest defender of ones pride. It grows a big-bad-bubble in your soul that when finally popped it forms a void, creates the space to sit, think and realize just how silly and stupid you've been. Certainly anger is painful when in "the thick of it", and it's misuse can have long lasting repercussions. The reciprocal anger it creates in other is simply unmanageable, really its something you simply have to put up with lest let it create a spiralling reciprocating anger that last years or sadly even a lifetime. Me, I've settled on a very simple antidote to long lasting anger, and yes its a HUGE part of the aforementioned empathy policy... I simply allow myself to... get over it.

pop.

A new thought boiling up in all this thinking about websites: As weary as I've groan after years of continuously nagging folks that their web sites are crap, meaningless and as organizationally damaging to their marketing objectives as that ad-guy they have, sitting there, on retainer...

I am getting sick of having to YELL at people, day in, and day out. YOU DO NOT HAVE a Facebook page; there is NO SUCH THING AS A FACEBOOK PAGE... we are not launching a stinking facebook version of your stupid web site!

Facebook is a stream... your message in motion! - The only people who visit your Facebook TIMELINE are people with too much time on their hands, OR... good folks who want to review and get a sense of the items you will be "running through" their newsfeed.

My own mistake in a lot of ways... but really, for the next 17 years please excuse me when, each and every time someone around me say the words FACEBOOK page. As, like the old man on the porch; I intend to WAG my finger and bitch...

...sigh, youth is wasted on the wrong people!

The notion that you simply CANNOT have any level of business success in social UNTIL your business becomes social has been NAGGING me for years. Really, how can you expect to build truly open and honest relationships with your customers until you have an open and honest culture within your organization? AND I do mean TRULY, HONEST and OPEN culture, your "temp" joe-jobbing intern MUST be pals with the CEO, or at least, have access... troubling.

And here's the REAL trouble in all this... this is the ever nagging thought stuck inside the head of every pompous business person, whether they think they are oh-so-clever and open, or whether the wallow in their own "top-down" success...

"Social networking has the potential to run away from you. Look at Facebook or Twitter and you'll certainly see activities, posts and other things that are absolutely not appropriate for a workplace. Additionally, the sharing of content over a platform has certain compliance implications, particularly for regulated industries and those responsible for maintaining a Chinese firewall between departments. Consider social platforms that have the governance and security features you need to allow sharing and connections without jeopardizing your regulatory compliance or HR standards."

I'm not foolishly naive enough to expect or imagine a free-formed hippy-dippy out of control free-love enterprise freak-fest; BUT setting out to build your Enterprise Based social network with "governance and security features" top-of-mind is simply a recipe for disaster. It will simply be one big laughable cluster-fuck; you'll promise your employees (your second greatest asset) nirvana and serve them a gulag...

And your customers (your greatest asset), they'll SEE right through it.

Good article...

PART TWO: Stuck in the iMiddle of all iThis (with iOU?)

So, I figure I'm exactly where I expected to be, deserve to be in this someone silly mid-life migration to Android... Frustratedly-disappointed?

Key learning: Unlike mama-Apple, this Android fella allows me to create any personality I'd like for this big-assed phone of mine. Unfortunately with this opportunity comes a level of personal responsibility (and a whole lot of tiresome, learning) I'm not quite used to.

Oh, sure mama-Apple did go and let me re-arrange and organize (clean my room)... but at the end of the day, she'd always be there to remind me... where my toys go, and where & when my homework is to done.

Playing this analogy a few notes along the staff... I feel like a drunken stupid college kid, laying all hung-over like in the middle of my bombed out dorm room. Oh sure, I can reach over and under that big smelly pile of dirty socks & underwear to find the tools I really need; but this place is a stinky, dirty... smelly and still very ugly, mess. AND my ass-hatted dorm-mate's no help and basically gone AWOL.

Realizing I'd become far too accustomed to Apple-mama's tight-as-nails organizational beauty AND with the thrill & knowledge that I can "build my own" operating environment, I've gone in search of the best of the best. I've re-arranged this and that app across, what are these now, home page(s) ...employed, resized, downloaded and re-jigged a big useless pile of what-are-these-widgets all in a seemingly endlessly stupid attempt to do things I never used to do, OR needed to do when I was still at home with mama-Apple...

I've GO launched one big mess and SPB Shell(ed) that mess into another bigger, 3D no less, other mess... I've got this-app and that-widgety-thingy strewn here, there and underwear.

I guess I could cry out "enough" and pursue a sense of "good old days" normality... (see: 15 ways to make your Android look like an iPhone)...

...but, where's that going to get me?

I guess I'll start going to class, stop being homesick, say good bye to my Android-Frosh-Week buddies and hit the books. OH, if anyone has their notes from last week classes, OR has this terms "cheat sheets"... I'm in the market! :-)

Thanks!

Why I Killed my iPhone PART THREE
Why I Killed my iPhone PART ONE