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Twitter Follower Culls and Other Delights

I keep hitting Twitter’s 2k follower limit. Perhaps I need to garner a massive number of followers and achieve uber-Twitter status. At this point, though, I need to sort through my lists and drop a few. Some choices will be easy. No tweets in an extended period of time? Gone! A topic I lost my interest in? Likewise. Just a few of my criteria.

So, I hope nobody takes being unfollowed personally. I find myself trapped by my technology’s limits, just like most folks.

The Untapped Potential Of The Tablet

Last night I read, as I often do, a Kindle book on my Nexus (The Manga Gen, if you care). The app magnified the particular frame I to be read. “Clever”, I thought to myself. Yet, as I also do often, I wondered “what else can we do with these?” How can the devices transform the reading experience? Some ideas: animation, links within the document, perhaps an audio track? All kinds of quick, off the cuff possibilities. What would be wrought with a focused, detailed analysis? I know there are myriad opportunities, and think it would be grand to be part of that innovation. Who knows…

Webrings and the History of the Web

My random web thought of the day: remembering the webring. For it’s time, a very powerful tool for finding related content. I spent many an hour perusing sites under a variety of topics: fantasy literature, science, science fiction, politics….the possibilities were extensive. Seems they still exist, but connecting to them a lot less critical. Seems few people drift through webrings now. Rather, they move through Google search results. I wonder, though, if webrings provide any SEO benefit? That would be my expectation, at least.

So, the point? Tastes change, behaviors follow, culture modulates and we both find ourselves reacting, as well as leading.

Thinkup : Social Media Innovation?

I want to dive a bit deeper into ThinkUp, but like what I’ve seen so far. Give Mr. Dash a few minutes of your time. Then let me know what you think. I’ll be here…

Thoughts on Omidyar & Greenwald’s New Journalism Venture

Just read “Why Pierre Omidyar decided to join forces with Glenn Greenwald for a new venture in news” over at Jay Rosen’s PressThink. So much of this makes me near giddy. The potential: amazing! Combining key stakeholders within both the online business sector (Pierre Omidyar founded eBay, for you who don’t know. And I’d like to think any reader here would know Glenn’s work. If not, here’s his Wikipedia article. These are the higher profile collaborators. Read the article for a more in-depth list).

Not many details released yet, I expect that these are getting hashed out as we speak. their motivations, though, and the backgrounds of the collaborators are what give me the most excitement. This combination of talent presents an amazing opportunity to deeply innovate this space. Both from a financial side (let’s face it, modern news has struggled with finding a sustainable financial model) as well as deeply utilizing elements of the modern web culture, and, lastly, bringing a renewed focus on the core of journalism’s power: investigation. Watching the watchers, pushing deep and holding our society’s leadership accountable (note: not just government) is critical, but a weakened force right now.

Anyway, these are the thoughts that roll off my keyboard this morning. I look forward to learning more as this gels.

Utilizing Social Media

I’ve seen a large array of “build your business with social media” ideas. All based on the great canard of getting rich quick and easy. They’re all lies. 

Business can be grown and developed with social media. Not, however, by hopping from one bright shiny to the next. It’s continuous engagement, consistent updating and regular use that makes the long-term win. 

PayPal+Customer Service+PR=Longevity

I posted this on my other blog a few weeks back, then thought it would be more relevant over here. So, without further adieu…

Reading this at Venture Beat just annoyed the crap out of me: GlassUp raised $100K on Indiegogo — but PayPal is refusing to pay up. This isn’t the first time PayPal has dealt with similar issues, even to the point where their president publicly intervened in a resolution. This troubles me regarding PayPal’s future.

 These rules need to significant repair if PayPal wants to remain relevant in this space. StartUps, heck, any business CANNOT operate with random and inconsistent access to funds. I think PayPal’s growth as a purchase transaction processor might be the root of these aggravations. At a brief glance, I see vigorous efforts to protect buyers from fraud. Noble, but hampering these transactions that vary from that model. Policies need to evolve with market changes. Especially market shifts that reflect your company’s goals and objectives.

David Marcus has publicly tried to change this, to better align themselves with the startup community’s needs. However, high profile breakdowns like this run the risk of major damage to the brand. And, I guarantee you that someone out there is getting ready to come in and out innovate PayPal. PayPal has been a disruptive innovator in their field, and have brought a lot of value. However, these gaffs have eroded trust and that goodwill will be hard to earn back. These are ripe fields for competitors to come in and win.

<updated content> PayPal has made a updates to their service plan, and I haven’t had the chance to review them yet. I recognize the importance of that so will do so soon.

Typeset and Font Alignment Thing Of Hatred

Am I the only one who hates justified text? I find the cleanliness of the aligned ends to be more than offset by the weird spacing. I’m sure it can be made to work with forethought and focus. That brings back memories of fiddling with typeset, adding up all the characters and spaces, figuring out how to word the thing in order to best utilize the space.

Anyway, just being a little snarky in response to an e-flyer I received today. Perhaps just being a bit too cranky and perfectionist. Maybe I just need another cup of coffee.

#Facebook Business Page Fun – Anybody Else Dealt With This?

I’ve come up against a unique problem. One of the other admins for a business page I manage is unable to invite her friends to “like” it. When she clicks on “invite friends”, her whole list is grayed out. One of the challenges I’m facing with diagnosing the problem is that we’re ~30 miles apart, so I’m relying on voice to communicate the visual issues. I’ve found a few others with this issue, but no conclusive answer.

My basic research shows that the main culprit for these issues is that they’ve already been invited (like this page mentions).  However, in this instance, there are people who haven’t been invited that are appearing grayed out. These appear to be unrelated issues.

A few additional details: 1) my view is fine. I can invite everyone in my network except those who have been invited. In other words, the way it’s supposed to look. 2) We have verified that she is logged in as herself, not as the business page.

I’m leaning towards a few possible answers. Perhaps she inadvertently invited everyone at one point. Hard to imagine, but I guess it’s possible. Another is that all her friends have a privacy setting enabled that blocks these invites. Again, statistically unlikely, but, hey, I’m grasping here.

Have any of you seen this? What solution did you find?