To Understand, Don't Be So Smart

Over the past several months, I have immersed myself into the specifics of online communication, email, e-marketing, interactive advertising, blogging, search strategy, optimization, SMS, collaboration, RSS, Podcasts, social applications, lenses, tags, Internet trends and forecasts. It's easy to become overwhelmed by it all with the frantic pace of (r)evolution.

This morning I deviated from my routine of reading every breaking news article about industry happenings and just sat at the computer with a cup of standard black (with some milk of course) and took a breath. The fact is, ordinary people don't do this. Most Internet users don't take the time to look beyond the image on their screen. They aren't interested in the strategic alliances between Time Warner, MSN, Yahoo! and AOL. They don't give a hoot about click through rates, deliverability, key words, organic content, sample rates, optimization or strategy. They just log on to get the information that they need.

You see, the majority of Internet users are normal. They're not like me. They don't want to know where the Internet is heading or who will own what part of it next year. They just want it to work so that they can find that recipe or job or product or friend.

In the lead up to the launch of messagingtimes.com, I placed an introduction to the site on the domain and invited people to advise me if they were interested in receiving notification of its launch. For a while, I was frustrated by the amount of people who failed to insert their email address before clicking "notify". Last night, I realized that this is the reality of the Internet today. The majority of Internet users don't understand how things work. But that same majority of users are also the majority of subscribers, buyers and community members online today.

Understanding this is very important for anyone who wishes to communicate effectively with people online today. It's important to step back every now and then from the whirling merry-go-round and think of the Internet in terms of the normal user. They're language is different. Their routines are different. They have other interests and motivations.

To really understand the big picture, don't be so smart.

Messaging Overload?

Via The New York Times

In interviews and surveys many parents say that their children spend too much time in front of computers and on cellphones. Some parents worry that long, sedentary hours spent at a computer may lead to weight gain, or that an excess of instant and text messaging comes at the expense of learning face-to-face social skills. Some complain of having to compete for their childrens' attention more than ever.

A report on teenagers and technology released this summer by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that teenagers' use of computers has increased significantly. More than half of teenage Internet users go online daily, up from 42 percent in 2000, the report said; 81 percent of those users play video games, up from 52 percent.

Instant messaging has become "the digital communication backbone of teens' daily lives," used by 75 percent of online teenagers, according to the Pew report. "Parents are really struggling with this," said David Walsh, the president of the National Institute on Media and the Family, a nonprofit educational organization in Minneapolis that began a program this year to help families reduce screen time and increase physical activity. "As the gadgets keep evolving, they keep consuming more and more of our kids' time. Our kids need a balanced diet of activity, and the problem is that it's getting out of balance. I don't think as a society we're dealing with it yet."

Read Parents Fret That Dialing Up Interferes With Growing Up
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Email: Still the 'Killer App' for Online Communication

Several years ago, email was considered the killer app. Even with the emergence of RSS and other automated content delivery mechanisms available today, it still is. Why? Because marketers understand the importance of controlling the distribution of their message. Successful marketing involves targeting market segments; and new content-delivery technologies, like RSS, fail to wow many online marketers because it puts control of content into the customers' hands. That's not to say that RSS, podcasting, blogging and other modern vehicles aren't valuable. They provide additional channels for marketers to get their message across; and they provide a great value-added service to customers. They don't, however, allow online marketers to control who receives their message or when they receive it. Email remains invaluable to online marketers, because it enables them to communicate their message one-to-one with targeted prospects and existing customers.

The fact is, email software has evolved over the years in pace with emerging applications like RSS, podcasting, and blogging. Today's email marketing software is not like anything that was available years ago. Remember the Stone Age, when we used the "Bcc" field to distribute our message to groups? Take a look at some of the features that make today's email marketing software the killer app for online communicators today by visiting one of the leaders in the email marketing field: Infacta's GroupMail

Communicate: efficiently, effectively, affordably!

Collaboration: The Small Business Vaccine for Loneliness

According to a recent poll, small business leaders feel that they are [on their own] when making important business decisions; with 43 percent confessing to loneliness and two-fifths reporting feelings of detachment. With my history of of start-ups and small business experiences over the years, this doesn't necessarily surprise me. At the same time, the solution seems clear. As small business operators, it is essential to collaborate with other professionals with similar agendas to ours.

Perhaps this is a perfect time to invite everyone to visit The Messaging Times website, which will be launched in the not-too-distant future. At the moment, you can provide your e-mail address on the site and will be notified when the community goes live. The Messaging Times will be a collaborative online community for small business professionals and anyone else who communicates online.

Don't be lonely. Collaborate, communicate and innovate!

For more about the study, read: Clearly Business: Small Firms Crave Advice

People Power: Back on Track

It's been a while since I posted to HR Success. I have been busy developing other projects at The Messaging Times and E-Marketing Today, and I'm afraid that like so many other business bozos, have managed to leave human resources behind. I'm also in the process of launching a small business resource site at The Messaging Times; which will include a blog, articles, stats/research, interviews, and resources for those of us who communicate online. I'll post a note here when the site goes live.

Interestingly, these new pursuits deal with communicating efficently and effectively online; and are, in that regard, HR related. But, alas, like so many efforts today, they deal more with the processes than the people.

I will make a serious effort to keep this space alive to balance the equation and provide a home for those of us who advocate people power!

The debate continues...

It seems that some people around the Internet are becoming increasingly frustrated by a growing mass of people who are demanding accountability for the slow and unorganized response to Hurricane Katrina, which directly affected 3 States and is causing subsequent stress to several others involved in the relief effort. There seems, for some reason, to be concern for their call for an inquiry into the poorly orchestrated government response in this disaster.

Firstly, let me make it clear that my desire to discuss the lacklustre national response to this catastrophe is in no way politically motivated. I am a non-partisan world resident (having lived in Europe for the last 9 years, Mexico for one year and the US for the remainder of my life) and don't have too much time for politicians in general; be they Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, Labour, or Sinn Fein! I judge people by performance not affiliation. So my disillusionment with our National response in the wake of this disaster is objective, and strictly in terms of my observation that loss of life could have been prevented by swifter more purposeful action on all parts, but mostly through an organized effort orchestrated by my government.

I am not interested in blaming any specific person, agency or party (in Washington, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama). I just want us to be better prepared for tomorrow's disaster. The fact that it might be tomorrow makes the urgency of review critical. Belive me there are plenty of strategists and analysts in our government NOT on the ground in New Orleans or Mississippi too busy helping out. We can multi-task and start reviewing simultaneously.

Obviously, there were and are many people working hard to help people and they are doing it selflessly. But the fact remains that for some reason, there was a delay in adequate response during the first 3-4 days; and in a disaster, every hour is precious. I read about at least 3 babies that died before being evacuated from the dome becuase of the delay. They weren't killed by the storm, they were killed by waiting too long without food or water or transport to proper medical services. Many deaths that occurred after the storm had come and gone were preventable. To this day, there remains confusion about who is orchestrating what and it seems apparent that there are huge gaps in our disaster recovery strategy. A strategy that we were supposedly strengthening over the last 4 years.

I do understand that there are many people with agendas blaming this person or that party; and I agree wholeheartedly that doing so is as lame as doing nothing. It is unproductive, emotional and divisive.

It is also unproductive and impractical to say that hey, we shouldn't expect much from our nation in times of disaster. Talk about poor customer expectations! Goodness, we talk so often about how the customer is king and deserves good service. Well, guess what, I am the customer of my nation's representatives and I expect them to do everything in their power to help me and my family in times of crisis. I will certainly be doing my best to survive and help others to. Every woman for herself is not the best that our government can do for us. We live in a nation that cares for the well being of its people, or at least we did when I lived there 9 years ago. We regularly provide international assistance and relief because we care about plight in the world. I have expectations that we would do the same in America to the best of our ability. It is not a casual issue. If we didn't have the resources or capacity to react better, this wouldn't be an issue. But this is what we do best, or perhaps my perception is based on a good PR and propaganda campaign and we don't really have the capacity that I thought we did. Maybe I've been watching too many movies where America saves the day?

As for people demanding accountability not being part of the solution, well, I suppose we could say the same when people take the time to write about other things like sports and business and other topical issues around blogland. Taking the time to raise concerns about the cluster*&%! of a national response to a storm that devestated a big chunk of our country isn't any worse that sitting around, having a coffee and discussing business theory unrelated to the disaster. Neither are going to help the people suffering today. But at least raising concerns about our national safety might expedite improvements that will help people the next time around. And the next time around could be tomorrow, or the next day. We don't have the luxury anymore to be complacent about inadequacies in our national security and safety systems.

I agree, it's not about politics, it's about Human Rights.

Katrina Aftermath: Delaying a Political Response

It is interesting to see the Katrina debates surging throughout blogland, across the media, and in every nook and cranny on the internet. The most obvious divide amongst us is clearly a political one, with many people writing defensively about the President's role in the catastrophe and other's demanding his accountability. Another, perhaps related issue that echos regularly in the cyber debate halls is one that involves the timing of demands for accountability. Some say that while there are still people suffering, nobody should waste time pointing fingers.

Many of us are doing whatever we can to help in the midst of this catastrophe. Being in Ireland, I was only able to donate financially to the Irish relief effort (Isn't it interesting to note the contributions from Iran, Afghanistan and Cuba by the way!). This is seen internationally as a massive disaster, and many politically-minded people in the US are saying that the leader of New Orleans boy scout troop 201 didn't do what they could have. This is a national issue and must be addressed immediately. Put party politics aside. I don't care if you have a poster of Bush or Kennedy on your wall, we must objectively get to the bottom of the response fiasco ASAP! Catastrophe doesn't wait around for us to get our act together. We need an effective plan TODAY!

There is plenty of time to discuss the hard issues while simultaneously doing what we can to help. We're all in here blogging. Is it more productive to write "stop talking about what went wrong" than "As a citizen witnessing this atrocity, I demand an explanation!"? It is through public outrage that accountability will be eventually forced. If everyone stayed quiet, this would sweep over and tomorrow would come as it did yesterday. Do what you can and say what you must!

I haven't heard anyone suggesting that the disaster could have been prevented, save environmentalists that equate the force of recent storms to our constant exploitation of our environment. I think that we all respect nature and its power. What many people are saying (listen to the pulse of the media, listen to the pulse of the discussion boards, listen to the pulse of blogs) is that our national response to this catastrophe could have saved lives, many lives perhaps, if it was orchestrated rapidly and professionally. And it wasn't.

Solutions will only come when the hard questions are asked. If I could reach down right now and help someone get out of the flood water, I would be doing that rather than writing this. But I can't, so I write.

One solution might be for someone to consolidate every blog entry written about this horrendous event and publish it for historical record so that the event isn't neatly polished in our grandchildren's text books. All procedes from the book could go to the victims of this catastrophe.

Cultural Icons

From Tom Peters! Dispatches From The New World of Work

With the tragedy of New Orleans and a still-blooming insurgency in Iraq, do we really need Donald Trump and Martha Stewart as our primary cultural icons?

I believe we are indeed at war (four years next week), and as many have said, the shared sacrifices, save the spike in gas prices and $1 "support our troops" bumper stickers, are about zero.

My Response

It's good to be back! Just returned from my daughter's heart operation and all, thank God, went well and she is doing great! I mention this, because when you spend several days in a Children's Hospital, it puts so many things into perspective.

Regarding cultural icons, the two mentioned fall very short from being any real danger to our society. They do, however, like many others (Snoop Dog, Barbie, etc.), demonstrate our attraction to money and image. Donald, because he represents our desire for financial success and Martha because she represents our desire to impress friends and neighbours with our ability to entertain well.

It is our unbalanced concentration on superficialities that gives these characters in society icon status. The reality is, we breed these desires from an early age. To make a real change, we cannot simply 'select' new icons, rather we must honestly look at what we are feeding our young. Who are their cultural icons and how do those icons affect their view of the world? Our penchant for image, wealth, power, etc. does not spontaneously occur on our 21st birthday. We are habitual beings, and our tendencies for plasticity develop long before we can vote!

I agree with some of the comments that we might not want to get puritanical or stuffy as a society; but if we want more substance in our culture, we must accept that substance is something nurtured from a young age, and not switched on overnight.