Answer Guy Central

If a sentence falls on your computer screen and you don’t read it, did it make a sound?

In order to do my job, I listen a lot. I talk a lot, too, but if I don’t pay attention to what’s going on around me I really can’t be the kind of coach and mentor my clients need.

So I read. All the time. That’s great, because I really enjoy keeping up on what’s happening in the business and technology communities. Having it be a big part of my job makes everything even better!

It isn’t always easy, and the way I approach the task of keeping up on all that reading varies (as it should). Some things get mailed to me. Some show up in my e-mail or browser. And others come to me through an RSS feed (you can receive this feed by subscribing here) and land in my Droid SmartPhone.

Lately, there’s too much.

I don’t mean there’s too much for me to keep up with. What I’m saying is that there’s too much repetitive noise. On my Droid, I receive 300-400 articles each day, and a similar number of tweets from the people I follow on Twitter. It sounds like a lot, but I drink my own Kool-Aid and just as I put business management systems in place for others I have an information management system in place for myself that lets me get through that without missing much.

But I’m noticing that the 800 or so items each day are actually about twenty items worth reading re-issued over and over again, plus another dozen or so pithy remarks that catch my attention. I like the pithy remarks. But seeing the same story come across my plain of vision thirty times just tells me that there are too many people whose job it is TO TRY AND GET MY ATTENTION, instead of actually having something to say.

Yesterday, The New York Times announced that sometime next year they will start charging for access to their web site. They aren’t talking about what that will look like, other than to say that it will probably involve giving everyone a limited amount of free access, after which they will have to pay if they want to read any more that day/week/month.  They also aren’t saying how much it will cost.

The question now is this: will The Times and the rest of the “serious journalism world”  get us to pay, and will that spell the end of the amateur or underpaid blogging world, or will the opposite occur and we’ll be thrust into a world where more and more repetitive but mostly useless information is what we look at?

I hope paid content wins. You know that old line about “you get what you pay for?”. The words of bloggers are feeling more and more like they’re worth what we pay for them. And while I’m sad saying it, that’s a business change we all need to root for.

Does it matter if Bill Gates follows you on Twitter? You’d best hope not, because as of this writing he’s being watched by just under 200,000 people, but following just 40 in return. Here’s what DOES matter:

Bill Gates started tweeting just yesterday. He had 30,000 followers after fours hours, 100,000 after eight, and now, at approximately the twenty-hour mark, that number has doubled again. So the growth has slowed, as it does for everyone.

Most of the people Mr. Gates follows are not people at all, but charitable foundations. Makes sense; he’s the world’s largest philanthropist, and people watch those who are like them.

Bill also follows Steven Levy and Kara Swisher, technology journalists from way back. I’m a little jealous, since I actually dined with the then-Microsoft-Chairman twice back in the day, but Steven and Kara have stayed on the same path they were on once upon a time, while I went in a different direction.

And he follows Ashton Kutcher and Ashley Tisdale, which makes my head hurt.

Since the closest I’ve come to Bill Gates since about 1993 is when he and I went back-and-forth on LinkedIn last year I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m not in “the 40″. What I’m surprised at is that many otherwise-smart business people who tell me they understand the need for business change and the use of social media still aren’t doing this newfangled Twitter thing.

No, you aren’t likely to score 200,000 followers in twenty-four hours, and the chance of Bill Gates ever being one of yours is slim. But if that many people are looking, then you need to be in the place where they look.

The Business Change of Twitter, and social media. What are you waiting for? Lessons? Help? Guidance?

Please. You know where to look for that.

Heads Up: I’m about to tell you more about business and this web site than you wanted to know. Please pay attention, because your business survival in the 2010’s depends on it. Your next business change could be “no more business”.

On Christmas, I received a gift that I’m going to share with you. It’s this blog post. Read it, right now. I’m serious.

Here’s why that post is so important: it shows what’s about to happen on the internet, and if you aren’t committed to enacting real business change, you’re about to get lost.

Have you ever wondered why this web site is arranged the way it is? We gets lots of compliments from writers, graphic designers, and business types, and thank goodness, because as business change consultants we’d better look good to lots of different types of people. Go a step further: we don’t only do business coaching and change management, we also do technology and computer support, hire out virtual assistants to do pretty much whatever your business needs done, and even produce some media. And Our Virtual C.O.O. Services will run your entire business for you.

It’s a tall order, and we need to appeal to lots of people and come off as the experts we are in several seemingly disparate fields. And while the exact talents needed differ, the things we do are tied together by our clients need for a way to get real help simply in an ever-more-complicated world.

So now look again at that post I mentioned above. By all means think about how good it looks. Or if you’re like me, react instead by noticing that it’s highly stylized—maybe too much so. It’s like . . . a magazine. On paper, remember those?

We’ve all spent the last few years trying to figure out how to do things differently, and that post . . . that one darned post . . . says something else. We need to be doing exactly what we did for years, and it has a lot to do with the way we present ourselves.

Think about the other web sites you visit, and how much alike they all look and feel. How can someone who doesn’t know the difference tell one from another? The great content or writing? Hopefully, but there are literally millions of those “me too” sites out there, so you need to have something else.

Something tangible, but not easy to describe.

“Feel”.

For the third time, I’m telling you: look at this post. Look different. Sound different. Be different. Because all the big companies who can afford to do things the way this article suggests are doing so, and you need to figure out how to survive in a world where the big guys are communicating like little guys.

Wow. Two Kim Kardashian references in one week. I’m getting ready to call a moratorium on celebuntantes.

A couple of days ago I pointed out that Kim Kardashian might be in hot water with the FTC over her non-disclosed paid-endorser schtick for Carl’s Jr. on Twitter. The topic of business change is even more germane with today’s news that Pepsi is abandoning its long-held position as an advertiser on the Super Bowl.

Remember: in the earlier piece I pointed out that Twitter would reach people for about one-third the money that a Super Bowl advertisement costs, and that the eyeballs being delivered were of a higher quality because they had opted-in to Ms. Kardashian’s messages.

Seriously: why spend $4 million per thirty seconds of exposure plus pay for production costs and inflated salaries for people like Britney Spears? Social media lets you spend way less, and get more. Done.

Of course, if you’re still looking to “throw everything against the wall to see what sticks”, ads in the Super Bowl could be the right way to go. But fewer and fewer smart businesses see that as the right answer, and now even Pepsi is on board.

Merry Christmas. Now go commit some business change.

Yes, it’s true. This guy updated his Facebook status and used Twitter to tell the world (or at least his world) what had just happened . . . in front of his new wife, the (in on the plan) minister, friends, family, and God.

Thanks to Michael Arrington, who I generally enjoy picking on.

Did you know a policeman can order you to Tweet, and If you refuse you can be arrested?

Got your attention, didn’t I? It’s true; at an event promoting the actions of one of the latest teen sensations, the crowd got out of control. One of the people responsible for the event was asked to use Twitter to help reign in the hysteria, and failed to do so. Result? Stainless Steel Bracelets.

Speaking from my not-a-lawyer-or-a-police-officer-or-government-official position, I’m trying to wrap my arms around this, and having a hard time.

We all have legal responsibilities that govern our behavior. For example, your right to free speech ends, as the saying goes, when you yell “fire!” in a crowded theater. But that’s what you can’t say. I’ve never heard of being in a position where you must say something.

The event “custodian” could have used the microphone on stage to ask people to calm down or disperse. Or if he didn’t wish to participate directly in the effort he could have allowed the peace officers seeking his help to use the microphone, megaphone, or whatever was at his disposal. But compelling someone to speak personally? Yikes.

Let me be clear: I think he should have helped. Now ask yourself again how important Twitter, Facebook, and other tools like them are, and whether you have an effective strategy for using them.

Have you ever said something you wished you could “take back”? Of course. Have you done it on Facebook, Twitter, or another social media site? Good luck. Social Media extends the limits of “no backsies” to a level we never thought of as kids.

Lately, it seems that everything around us is being tested that way. Gwen Stefani and her No Doubt bandmates have sued video game company Activision for the way their likenesses are used in Band Hero. The latest iteration in Activision’s karaoke-like music game series, Band Hero paid for the right to include No Doubt music and images of the band’s members in the game. Problem is, the band didn’t like the way the likenesses are used. And the suit actually uses the words “transformed No Doubt band members into a virtual karaoke circus act.”

Umm . . . yeah. What did they expect?

I don’t care who wins the suit, and let’s face facts: it will end in a settlement. What interests me is that the way we do things now is an invitation for post-communication remorse, and there’s less and less chance to think about our actions. The world has changed. So what’s to be gained from trying to enforce old rules?

Instead of carefully thought-out positions and controlled reactions to the world around us, we’re communicating in 140-character text bites. And once they’re out there, they can’t be taken back; Twitter, Google and Facebook memorialize then instantly.

If you try to live with that reality but also avoid confrontation with “the old ways”, you’ll paralyze yourself. So accept change. Embrace it.

And rock on, Hollaback Girl.

Here’s a tough one:

What if you know about an amazing piece of software, but you don’t use it because it adds to conflicts that other software has with . . . everything? Do you choke it down and use it anyway? Do you recommend it to others?

In my case the answer to the first question is no, but I’m so impressed with the software in question that I’m reconsidering. And my answer to the second question is a resounding “yes”. Go out and get Xobni, right now.

Xobni works inside Microsoft Outlook (the troublemaker I was talking about above) to make your e-mail better. Seriously.  I don’t make statements like that very often and generally The Computer Answer Guy steers its clients away from extra things that muck up computers’ inner workings. But Xobni is that good.

Let’s go a step further, since they just have: Xobni plays the business change / social marketing / social networking game incredibly well, which will help you do the same. And now, Xobni puts Twitter streams inside your e-mail. Big deal? Heard that before? Well how’s this: Xobni doesn’t just show you a string of Twitter noise, it displays tweets of the person whose email you are reading, whether or not you follow them on Twitter.

That’s right: current, <ahem> pertinent information about people you know, in your e-mail software, without you having exchanged recent e-mail with them.

Sure, it’s a little stalker-esque, but it’s also intelligence in an era where we’re all trying to figure out anything we can to grab an edge. In short, it’s the definition of social media / social networking. This version of Xobni is business change.

Now if only there was a viable alternative to Outlook, and if only Xobni didn’t require it . . .

Imagine you’re in business, and you want to keep in touch with all your clients, friends, contractors, and everyone else you’ve ever touched. What do you do, write a newsletter? Do you mail that? Does anyone read it?

Today, of course, it’s likely that you don’t mail your newsletter, or even most of your promotional pieces. You send them out by e-mail (using permission-based standards, of course!). Or maybe you realize that even that’s become inefficient and ineffective, because most of your recipients never open those e-mails. Check out the article “FREE IS BAD” here. I wasn’t kidding when I wrote this!

Enter Social Networking. There’s never been a bigger business change, and I’ve never seen a better starter example of why you must begin thinking about these methods than this one.

Sometimes called “Social Networking”, Social Media has gotten a tremendous amount of attention at sites like Twitter and Facebook. And much of that attention—and rightly so—has been bad. But take the idea of Social Media / Social Networking in the right direction and you see something else: not only is “everyone doing it”, but it’s become the most effective way of keeping in touch with people. And keeping them interested in what you’re doing.

Get it? Want to? If you have any questions, just reach out; we’re here to help.