Controlling Social Media

I think it is silly and sad that larger companies are trying to "control" social media through fear and intimidation in this day in age. It really shows that they are afraid of this new world where they are not in control. I say it's about time!

I can understand trying to protect your corporate image or intellectual property. But really Nestlé, threatening your Facebook "Likers" with post deletion just because they did a mashup of your logo is just petty and wrong.

And the whole thing about people losing their jobs just because they posted a comment or had the wrong photo on their Facebook page is pathetic.

If companies think they can control people's personal Facebook pages: good fucking luck. It is the 21st Century and "power to the people" is the new standard in this, the Information Age. Facebook is simply a tool for sharing our personal photos and comments with our friends and family. Yes, these comments can be seen on the internet and depending on your privacy settings, possibly by people other than your family and friends.

Complaining about your boss and bitching about work are as old as jobs themselves. We all do it or have done it. That's how some folks deal with it and relieve the stress of their day, and these days we are all more stressed. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer this to hearing of another worker going out with a gun and shooting people.

And thinking you can control what photos people post to their profiles, again: good luck. Just because I have a drink in my hand in a photo doesn't mean I have a drinking problem. The fact that I have friends and enjoy my free time with them should be a plus, not a minus.

While what we post to the internet is "forever", just remember that my personal comments and photos are just that, even if the distribution is public. My comments represent me, not anyone or anything else. I don't represent any company or entity except for me.  Photos and comments from 10 or more years ago may not reflect the person I am today.

Maybe you should try and talk to the me of today to see what I'm like now, you might be pleasantly surprised. And, more importantly, get the hell off of Facebook/Twitter/whatever and go out and live your life. There's more out there than these few pixels on the interwebs.

Seven Questions for Leaders

I'm a fan of Seth Godin's daily blog. Most if not all if his posts are though provoking. I really appreciate how he keeps looking forward and urges each and every one of us to do the same. If you aren't reading his blog, you should be.

He recently posted the very thought-provoking "Seven questions for leaders".

I'll wait while you go check 'em out.

Done? Good.

Here's my personal addendum to his post: if you are going on job interviews you need to be asking these seven questions. If the answers are not to your liking, then you don't want to work with those folks. Move on and either find another company or better yet, start your own.

Theory Thursday: Urban Farming

National Geographic had an interesting article in a recent issue talking about how some urban centers are transforming their rooftops into green rooftops and the positive environmental impact this might have. You can read the article here.

While reading this article, a thought occurred to me regarding farming and how I had also recently read that we might not be able to grow enough food if the world population keep growing at its current rate. And with all the recent issues with food-borne illnesses, how eating local might become more important now. But where would we get enough farmland to tackle these issues? I have a theory: Urban Farming.

I don't know about you, but in my town I have quite a few developed areas (shopping centers and the like) that have been abandoned for one reason or another. Why not reclaim this land and turn it back into farms? This would do 3 things: 1) employ people and 2) green up otherwise wasted and ugly space, and 3) would also allow more folks to eat locally grown food.

Is this solution perfect? Probably not, but it's a start and I think it would be beneficial to everyone while helping Mother Earth out a bit too.

Theory Thursday: Shrinking Attention Spans Cause Expanding Waistlines?

Ok, not a design related topic this time around, but it's my blog and well, I can do whatever the hell I want! :P Promise to get back to design next week!

I have a theory. Not sure what exactly prompted this one, but it sorta popped into my head one day. Could it be that the shorter our attention spans get, the larger our waistlines get?

It sounds contradictory, I know, as you'd think all the running around people do nowadays we'd all be skinny as rails. But think about it: we run around, faces glued to our Blackberries or iPhones or whatever and we don't have time to eat a meal, so we go for the high-fat fast food that we wolf down in as few bites as possible. Some folks don't "have time" to excercise, so they skip it. When we do sit, we sit for hours glued to TVs, computers, or some other device. So all that high-fat food just gets added on to, well, us.

I'm sure there are holes in this theory, and I'd love to hear what you think about this topic!

(hmm. it appears that today is not Thursday, whoops!)