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Aug 30 2010

facebook POP QUIZ #3: Why So Many SETTINGS Pages? Can You Do It In One?

Category: facebook fails,how do i?,lifestreaming,social media,speed the web,tech opinion — jmacofearth @ 10:38 am

As facebook gets slower, the time we spend "hunting" for certain settings gets exponentially longer. Maybe facebook needs a pref/settings control panel like Firefox or Chrome. Cause this pulldown, open page, hunt for setting, pulldown different page, hunt for setting… I can tell you I'm on a pretty fast connection and it just about makes me want to give up facebook.

So you might want to familiarize yourself with these pages:

1. Account Settings – general stuff, like your account name, contact info and stuff.

2. Privacy Settings – I have recently changed from friends only. While I am an open book if you look for me, the stuff I do on facebook is a bit more personal. I don't want to know who you are. But there are a few folks, who… let's just say, "it's complicated." And I'd suggest you turn off a lot of the stuff in this area. facebook, in an attempt at being innovative has gone overboard with sharing and re-sharing features. It's almost too much to keep up with.

3. Application Settings – where you can limit external applications from posting stuff on your wall. A couple of them started rewriting my status message rather than just updating my wall. And that sucked. (see: blip.fm's facebook integration)

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/FB_popquiz_3

previous facebook POP QUIZes:

Tags: application privacy, are you concerned about your privacy?, facebook pop quiz #3, facebook settings, facebook settings failure, facebook sharing, hunt for setting, over-sharing, posting on my wall, privacy, privacy settings, re-sharing, what privacy?

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Aug 30 2010

Managing for Monday Morning: How Do You Hit the Week Running?

Category: about me,executive learnings,how do i?,lifestreaming — jmacofearth @ 9:58 am

My Monday AM View

One of the most memorable scenes in Office Space is when the lead character is having a rotten start to his week and one of his coworkers asks if he's having a "case of the Mondays." It really is kind of like fingernails on a chalkboard.

But the question of Monday mornings and quick-start routines might be illuminating if we can determine some winning strategies. Here's my current thinking and Monday start this week.

Even if you don't have to get up early, get up early. (Law of productivity: get up earlier.)
Even if you don't have an office or a cube to show up at, show up somewhere. (Home offices are really nice, but for me Monday mornings are for connecting and hitting strides that I will attempt to fulfill during the rest of the day, and if done well, the rest of the week.
Set a few simple goals. (Your goals are not your todo list. Start with 3 goals for the day. If that's too many drop back to ONE GOAL. Until you accomplish it.)
Consult and update your appointment calendar. (This seems like a no-brainer, but often things find their way on to our calendars that are not essential to our goals. If you can't define the purpose of an appointment on your calendar, delete it. If someone else put it there, ask them what the purpose is.)
Be amongst your people, but don't be distracted. (I like being around people. I have headphones that take me whereever I want to go sonically, and then it's a matter of picking a location with good coffee and good people watching. And if I have a full agenda, a place with a good lunch as well.)
Refocus everytime you find your mind wandering. (Sure, it's a proven fact that daydreaming is actually a highly aroused state, but there are better times for spacing out besides Monday morning.)
Connect and reconnect. (Who do you need to contact. Just do it. Sales connections. Send the letters/emails. Old friends pop into your mind, send'm a note. "Thinking about you." That's enough.)
Don't schedule for the entire morning. (Set a time limit. When the time is up, it's time to get to work, whatever that work may be.)
Pause between mental leaps. (We are so quick to change our attentions or activities. Instead of letting your rapid mind make those choices, notice when you are about to jump the rails into another task. Then… PAUSE. Make sure the new direction is toward a goal and not just a response to boredom. Then take a breath. If the choice still seems wise, the go. If you find yourself questioning your mind's choice. Then you have reached a higher level of consciousness for a brief instant. Be grateful.) — this concept is expanded here: A Deep Breath

That's all I've got. Time's up. I need to get on with another task/goal, and YES, it's a good time to put a bow on it.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/Monday_Rituals

even more uber.la wisdom:

Tags: business connections, case of the Mondays, connect, get up earlier, Law of productivity, make mondays work, makin it work, making mondays work for you, monday calendar, monday morning, monday morning quarterbacks, monday rituals, office space, quick-start routines, reconnect, rituals, show up, starting off on a monday, who do you need to contact

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Aug 20 2010

Why Wouldn't I Share My LinkedIN Strategy With You: My #1 Blog Tip

Category: community building,connections,how do i?,teaming & leadership,tech opinion,tools — jmacofearth @ 11:30 am

I'm about to reveal my number one professional blog tip: LinkedIN Groups are your friend.

I tweet a lot. And I can tell you Twitter is about half as effective as LinkedIN group postings and much less effective as a Facebook link.

One of my last steps, when writing a post is to use my own social sharing links on the post page. And the one that really pays off is linkedIN

And once you've used the LinkedIN button here's what the sharing screen looks like after I've added all the groups I'm part of.

And there are two tricks here as well. You can only post to groups you are a part of. (Note: don't post non-cancer releated info to Livestrong, they will ask you to stop: makes sense.)

Always add a comment. What that does is it posts your link with link info, then it makes a comment by you about the think, why you are posting it. It shows as activity to the other members of the group.

Now I will confess, I don't read much of my LinkedIN group email. But I promise you others are reading and linking to the posts. Don't spam the groups with non-business related information. But if you work the system correctly you could find a HIT post in no time.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/pro_blogging

Tags: blog tip, business networking, business networks, linkedin, linkedin strategy, professional sharing, sharing strategy, social networking, social networks, social sharing, your network

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Aug 16 2010

The Six Pillars of Online Reputation and Brand Management

Category: career,community building,connections,executive learnings,how do i?,social media,tech opinion,trust & reputation — jmacofearth @ 1:54 pm

Legitimacy
Currency
Documenting Work
Interactive References
Hooked into Communities
Know What Google Knows

Social Media might be a buzz word, but one thing it is not is a get rich quick scheme. Those trying to use it as such are quickly dropped, unfollowed and unfriended. So what makes up a good social profile?

1. Legitimacy only comes from continuous participation and conversations. Yes, you can drive a ton of connections on LinkedIN, and you might even get a bunch of people to "trade" recommendations with/for you. But the legitimacy comes from ongoing participation and contribution. It cannot be faked. And this is a good thing.

2. Currency. What have you created, written, managed lately. Most people don't want to hear about "back in the early days." Everything is about now, here, and this moment in history. And watch for the question, "And what was your actual contribution on this project." Cause Sr. titles and uber-cool monnikers are only good for identifying you not bringing any currency to the discussion.

3. Documenting Work is the process of building process. While you were doing all this cool work, were you also putting process into place? At Dell process was valued over people. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but I did come out of my two years there with a healthy "process mind." And I don't think you can build business without it. If you can't scale here in the US with a local team you have no chance of scaling in Latin America or India. Process is king when talking about execution and content.

4. Interactive References go hand in hand with currency, but they are a little different. So you've got some friends and followers. And you have a few good references on LinkedIN who have actually worked with you. Now what? Pay attention to the people you have done "interactive" work with. Make sure you keep the contacts warm. And even better, make sure you offer to support them often and long before you need their support. When you need the job reference, it's too late to ask for one.

5. Hooked Into Communities equals participation. Where do you belong? Where do you comment, where do you write? (You do write, don't you?) In the same way you cannot build a LinkedIN profile over night, you cannot build a history of content and social participation over night. You have to start now. And if you don't blog, or comment, or participate, you'd better be prepared for me to ask why. And if you have nothing to say, well, maybe you should go into a different line of business. The "interactive" part of interactive media is being online and communicating your voice.

6. Know What Google Knows about you. This final law should be a weekly activity. The expression "Google Yourself" may sound funny, but if you don't know what the web is saying about you, you might be missing some opportunities and perhaps even some barbs. I have a Google Alert set to email me a link anytime it comes across my name or my unique Twitter ID. And if I control the top 50 listings about myself in Google, my detractors are going to have a hard time putting up anything of value to degrade or contradict me.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/six_pillars

A few other winners:

Tags: blogging, building community, connecting, do you blog?, go google yourself, google search, google yourself, honest, interactive portfolio, interactive resume, legitimacy, linkedin, online reputation, online trust, where do you participate

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∴ A Collaborative Space: WebEx, Go-To-Meeting, Skype, Basecamp (Teaming/Meeting Tools)
∴ Twitter Problem: How do you find enough interesting people to follow? Then how do you keep up with them?
∴ The Agile Mind: Construction, Evolution, Care, and Feeding Instructions for Mental Flexibility

Contact John McElhenney - All content ©2006-2010 - Theme by Tommaso Baldovino - Mod by Rick B | my flavors connector

uber.la

facebook POP QUIZ #3: Why So Many SETTINGS Pages? Can You Do It In One?

Managing for Monday Morning: How Do You Hit the Week Running?

Why Wouldn't I Share My LinkedIN Strategy With You: My #1 Blog Tip

The Six Pillars of Online Reputation and Brand Management

∴ A Collaborative Space: WebEx, Go-To-Meeting, Skype, Basecamp (Teaming/Meeting Tools) ∴ Twitter Problem: How do you find enough interesting people to follow? Then how do you keep up with them? ∴ The Agile Mind: Construction, Evolution, Care, and Feeding Instructions for Mental Flexibility

Contact John McElhenney - All content ©2006-2010 - Theme by Tommaso Baldovino - Mod by Rick B | my flavors connector

∴ A Collaborative Space: WebEx, Go-To-Meeting, Skype, Basecamp (Teaming/Meeting Tools)
∴ Twitter Problem: How do you find enough interesting people to follow? Then how do you keep up with them?
∴ The Agile Mind: Construction, Evolution, Care, and Feeding Instructions for Mental Flexibility