Like a lot of people I’ve spoken to in the tech industry, I never really intended to be in this sector. In graduate school, I was obsessed with Moby Dick and was writing a lot of unrequited love poetry -- it was only when I was offered the position of online editor of the school paper that I started to dip my toe in the sweet waters of the web world. It has been almost four years now, and I have been involved in managing and architecting technical projects both largish and smallish.

I’m also about to turn the page again, having just accepted a position as technical project manager at a large company.  This is the first time I really feel like I am past the – whaaa happppeeennn thoughts -- and instead am completely committed to learning and growing in this field. It's a really great feeling to be personally invested in what I am doing, actually, it makes all the difference. Unless you're one of those biologists or sociologists obsessed with ants, maintaining passion and interest all my yourself while working full time can be really difficult. I see now that it is in the interest of owners and managers to help cultivate and sustain that level of professional curiosity and hunger in their employees.

But don't take my word for it, instead listen to this TED talk by my bff Chip Conely riffing on one of my favorite concepts in the world…designing in a way that sets people up for success.  In this speech, hotel owner Chip Conely argues that we’re often quantifying everything except what matters in an organization – the actual happiness of both employees and clients. I would love to help architect the analytics software that measures emotions instead of conversion rates…just because we’re participating doesn’t mean we’re having a great experience.

I have recently read Dan Zarrella’s, “The Social Media Marketing Book” and “Twittfaced” by Jacob Morgan and Josh Peters.

This isn’t a traditional review, but I will talk about aspects of both books and use the content to talk about publishing in this field.

Both of these books are incredibly similar. I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing. All of the authors are on the forefront of their fields and so the tone is fresh and the content bleeding edge. These are both fairly short books and skip a lot of the filler, going straight for the tools and strategies.

They both cover all the things you’d expect including;

History of social media, blogging, Twitter and Microblogging, Social Networking, Media Sharing, Social Bookmarking, Ratings and Reviews, Forums, Virtual Worlds, Strategy, Tactics, Practice and Measurement

They are both quick reads and will turn the light on for those in the dark on what’s going on right now in social media. But which one is better you cry?! Well, I think Zarrella's is layed out cleaner -- the imagery really breaks up the page and helps contextualize things for the novice. That being said, even though "twittfaced" is something of a smaller handbook, Mr. Morgan's and Mr. Peter's cover SEO and ROI at much more length.

Beyond which is "better" though, it seems to me the struggle with writing books on this topic is that people in the management and marketing fields are at all different levels of expertise. So my main beef or comment is not with the books themselves, but it’s with their delivery.

I understand the allure of getting a book out there, but these topics are entirely web based so it’s almost funny to see this content on paper. Zarrella actually had pictures of websites illustrating his points, it seems counterintuitive. I argue that to be most effective and timely, both of these books should be presented in an entirely different way – mainly as interactive books online.

I know this is not a popular view, but there were so many points where it would have made sense to actually click on something. These books are set a part from the very technology they are discussing. At the very least, it would help to have a companion website to go along with these. And many I am just missing it, but I couldn’t find a link to that anywhere.

The real problem goes much deeper, and that is the culture of quick production and publishing – especially when covering tech trends. Having a successful blog does not necessarily mean that the content will translate into a successful book. And not because it’s not interesting and wonderful – it’s just that living and breathing online is fundamentally different than existing in the print world.

To close, I just want to give all the authors their propers, as a book is incredible difficult to write and distribute. So all in all I say, Ole to you!

If I was looking to hire a social media strategist, the most important question I could think of asking the candidates is -- do you love my shiz?

If he/she didn't love it, then they wouldn't make the cut. I want someone who is absolutely head over heals in love with whatever it is I am bringing.

Because if they are not, then the insincerity that comes with having to sell or support something they don't completely believe it will come through.

And it's only with sincerely that real magic can happen. If you honestly love the product, the people, the service -- I mean the whole package that an organization is trying to deliver, then you can commit 100% of your energy and focus.

We've all been in relationships that we weren't fully committed to and in those you start messing up. You forget a date, forget to call, forget her birthday (damn you Kyle!). Whatever.

Point is, when your head's not in the game eventually you drop the ball.

It doesn't matter how connected your organization is if the people around you aren't invested in what it is you're trying to get the rest of the world invested in. Your staff are the first people you need to get on board and if you can't get them (and I mean really really get them -- not because they're paid to), then how do you expect to get anyone else?

So here's the truth that blocks creativity and makes it impossible to produce any meaningful content -- the bald-faced fact that breathes at root and drags like a claw across even the tinest heart }

your product, your mission is completely uninspiring.

A good leader treats people well and can create a postive culture around their purpose (like selling shoes for example). But a great leader unites and inspires the people for a purpose much much greater than themselves.

So if you're starting a business, I dare you look at your product/service right in the eye and ask yourself if it's something worth rallying for. Ask if its value is worth the enthusasim, work and intensity that you are going to ask your staff to come in day after day, year after year and generate for it.

I dare myself too.

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as an extra bonus for making it through this post, you get to watch the ten worst tech ads of all time

http://en.onsoftware.com/the-worst-tech-ads-of-all-time/

Warning, this post does not get sexy until the end!

At my current job, the developers get up three times a day – once to get a cup of coffee in the morning, then to get a Jimmy John’s sandwich at lunch and finally to leave. Worried about everyones’ health, I tried to organize walking breaks and the ole group stretch. It was a no go.

So it went on and on like this until finally Ray got sick and was out of the office for two weeks at a time when we really needed him (but let’s face it, he manages all the databases so we always really really need him).

The things that are happening on the great internets in the sky are amazing. However, I think is equally incredible how much time we are spending sitting down and staring at the screen (across all age groups on average 8.5 hours a day). People are spending more time with their computers than their spouse.  

If a company wants to survive, it would do well to encourage a kind of environment where people are strong in mind and body. If you don’t want to depend on the organization for that, here is a tool that will help you schedule breaks in your day

Most things that we are working for still exist in a physical world, so it’s important to stay connected to that.

Sometimes I think the tech world loves making up words for concepts that there are already words for. Semantics matter, and right now I’d like to call something for what it really is.

Social Media to me just means being honest, opaque and inclusive.  Perhaps the designers are sick of the look & feel of Web 2.0, but the shift was bigger than just more white space and bigger buttons, there was also a change in the tone that organizations projected.

I could give a thousand examples, but just take the about page for this design company. The tone here is amazing – it’s completely open. Also there are pictures with quotations from each of the employees! 

For all you skeptics out there, yes it’s totally possible to have a warm conversational tone but to still be rotten at the core. However, I will argue that language shapes thought and it also shapes peoples’ expectations of how you will behave in the future.

Blogs, imagery from people actually in the organization (imagine that), clear & accessible mission statements, links to twitter and facebook, clear paths to contact, a friendly tone, community, forming lasting relationships, compassionate customer support – I think all this is more than a trend. It's a state of mind.

Or, dare I say that this may be a movement? Maybe not as dynamic or systemically changing as say civil rights, but I do feel like these small shifts in consciousness matter. 

Now if I go to a site and the company doesn’t have a positive image and is not trying to engage me in a meaningful dialog, I wonder if they love what they do and if they don’t, why should I?

You can call it social media, I call it emotional evolution.

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Inspiration for this post came from the Valeria Maltoni's writing here...
and Stowe Boyd's post here...

Content Management Systems are terrific, they give people freedom, control and a better overall understanding of their site. And I know people have blogged to death about them, so I will only make two points

1) The UI for most of these are horrible

Even the good ones are pretty bad. There’s lots of innovation going on for the front end – mainly because the front end is sexy. It’s like, who wants to make lipstick for the lower intenstine? Well, I would love to. Having the opportunity to redesign one of these interfaces would be a dream for me.

Maybe it’s not important to the person buying the new shoes, but I can tell you that a well-designed CMS (especially for ecommerce), can improve speed, efficiency and overall moral. Have you ever talked to someone trying to manage a large online newspaper or magazine? If not, you should, odds are there are aspects of their CMS that make their job miserable. Some are functional, but some really could be fixed by an elegant design.

2) Using a CMS limits what you can do with design

Yesterday my little brother told me about an idea used in the cartoon Fullmetal Alchemist. It’s called Equivalent Exchange and basically what is says is that Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. In other words, to obtain, something of equal value must be lost. A basic CMS can dictates elements of the design. The navigation often has to be fixed, the columns clearly defined.

At every step, the design must take the CMS into consideration. I am not saying a site that has a CMS can’t be beautiful (I am sure Puma has a CMS for their store and that is a kick ass site…but probably cost a pretty dime) – I am just saying that often clients don’t understand that a lot of times to get something for their project, they have to give some other feature away. And really, who wants to have to be the one to tell them that?

Most clients (not all) have a vision for exactly what they want people (I’m trying to use this noun more instead of the ubiquitous and impersonal “users”) to accomplish on a certain page or pages. Buy. Sign up. Friend me. Follow me. Convert, convert, convert! Sometimes when I get a little stressed from focusing on those end goals too much, I take time out to do a little drift.

I got the idea from my friend Amira, an artist who organizes events where everyone meets up a starting point and then drifts off together with no destination in mind. There’s a foot of snow on the ground today, so I was thinking I would do my own virtual drift.

Here are the constraints (self imposed):

1) Someone other than you must provide the starting word and then google it (or bing the heck out of it if you are trying to take down Google for some reason).

In my case the word was provided by my sister and is TICKLE

2) Roll two dice, add the numbers up and go that many entries down on Google – this will be the first link that you will start your drift on.
I rolled 6 total, so I went to the 6th entry in Google which is a Wiki entry on how to win a tickle fight / http://www.wikihow.com/Win-a-Tickle-Fight

After a ½ hour, I ended my journey here…

Next time I will do a flow chart w/comments showing a more graphical representation of my path – I know that’s what you really want.

Call me crazy, but throughout this drift, I really did fell something pulling me along. It wasn’t anything anyone one designed or intended, it was just the current that sometimes catches hold of you on the internets.

As designers, I think it helps every once in awhile to free ourselves from the concept of the end game. Even the cleanest, most rational site might just be serving a lilly pad for someone to make it to a picture of an elephant in the womb. And that’s not the end of the world.