Resolution Revisited

I was sifting through some archives to review my year-end lists from last year. This year's lists will be on Dec 31 and Jan 1. Here's something that was originally posted last December. Have we gotten anywhere yet?

Widgets: Take your seats.

If you read this space once in a while, you probably have a couple social media profiles and tweet and read up on the topic of social networking and see the constant battle between tools and talk. We can drown in discussion and it’s time for us to move.

Activity does not equal progress. Most of us have learned that lesson the hard way.

Twitter will never make you Hemingway, website design templates will not guarantee you a career in user experience and a MacBook Air has yet to give birth to the next Steve Jobs. We need talent. A lot of it. Now. Let’s actually collaborate and make some decisions. Let's get creative and spend 100% of our time on the projects we want to do with the people with which we want to do them.

If you have some time off over the Holidays, sift through your network and make a list of the people who you can help and who can help you.

Make another list of the people that compliment your skills and could make potential collaborators on projects. Toss that box of what-if’s, self-doubts and no ways immediately. You will be far too busy for that.

Learn the tools, have fun with the tools, discuss the tools, embrace the tools, then let's get some stuff done. You in?

knealemann | email


image credit: istock

Resolution 2010 | Let’s Get Stuff Done

Widgets: Take your seats.

If you read this space once in a while, you probably have a couple social media profiles.

Perhaps you tweet and read up on the topic of social networking and see the constant battle between tools and talk.

We can drown in discussion and it’s time for us to move.


And activity does not equal progress - most of us have learned that lesson the hard way.

Twitter will never make you Hemingway, website design templates will not guarantee you a career in user experience and a MacBook Air has yet to give birth to the next Steve Jobs.

We need talent. A lot of it. Now.

Let’s actually collaborate and make some decisions. Let's get creative and spend 100% of our time on the projects we want to do with the people with which we want to do them.

If you have some time off over the Holidays, sift through your network and make a list of the people who you can help and who can help you.

Make another list of the people that compliment your skills and could make potential collaborators on projects. Toss that box of what-if’s, self-doubts and no ways immediately. You will be far too busy for that.

Learn the tools, have fun with the tools, discuss the tools, then let's get some stuff done. You in?

@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy

image credit: octagonpartners.net

The Social Economy

Imagine the Internet is your investment portfolio.

There are an estimated 1.7 billion people online. That’s one quarter of the world’s population.

There are over 400 million in Asia with Internet access and three quarters of North Americans are online.

We're Rich! We're Rich!


The number of people on the Internet is increasing at just shy of 20% annually. Venture capitalists are frothing over these numbers and it is the reason why some of our favorite social channels receive more funding.

Media are/is Mediums.

We can officially stop making the distinction between "traditional" media (print, radio, television, outdoor/transit) and digital media. What is paramount is our ability to navigate all of the available mediums as well as the communication between companies and customers.

A flag and an anthem.

With a population of over 300 million, Facebook would be the fourth largest country on the planet where 1.6 billion pieces of content is exchanged every day.

Blogger, Digg, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter get over 900 million daily visitors. We can safely put the apples and oranges away and call it all media and mainstream.

Social Media are the mediums in which we socialize.

We all too often forget what it’s like on the other side of the counter. We are all customers and we are all service providers. But the connection often breaks down when discussions surround building online communities with a business application.

If you could see a 20 point increase each year, would you be interested?

If giving up control to your customers would increase their spend, are you still reading?

Are you willing to let your customers have the ability to have actual direct contact with you?

Are you ready to put some time and resources and sweat equity into your Internet portfolio?

@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy

image credit: doorsofperception.com

UX BizPlan Vending Co.

The vending machine is marvel of retro technology which thrives in our digital hi-tech portable world. Not only can you order items on your cell phone, you can now buy a cell phone from a vending machine!

But let's stick with food for a moment.

Will you hover over your selection just that extra half second to insure you don’t accidentally get black licorice when you wanted cheese doodles?

Dinner In A Bag


It can be stressful when you made the decision to work late and replace dinner with a few handfuls of deep fried potato slices.

Snack food is a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry. There are companies making money hand over chips as we toil late in to the wee hours searching for sustenance.

Conformity and Choice
How can we learn from the vending machine while running a business?

Some say if we are left with too much choice, we make none at all. But if we think we are too restricted, then we are unhappy with the choices presented to us.

User experience must be – by definition – designed for the user. We customize our phone backgrounds and voicemail, we can modify our computer color schemes, choose from the long menu of options for our car and fashion is an individual choice.

Why do we conform in the workplace?

Could it be beneficial to examine the tastes and desires of each member of the team? Is it possible to find a more co-creative workspace by incorporating the choices made by each person involved?

If we all liked the same things, shirts would only be available in blue and the parking lot would be filled with the same make and model of car.

No Rules. No Conclusions.

This is not to suggest you create an atmosphere where everyone chooses and no one makes decisions - that's just as unproductive as a benevolent dictatorship.

If you work with clients or run a business, give some thought to the abundance of knowledge and experience of everyone involved. You may find some surprises along the way and not blindly feed them black licorice when they’d prefer cheese doodles.

What's your selection?

@knealemann
Helping you create your best business
marketing and social media strategy.

image credit: askdavetaylor.com