Category Opinions
“Few people have the imagination for reality.” & a few more of my favorite quotes
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
Every now and then I like to share quotes that I think are inspiring, funny, or worthy of contemplation. I’ve published many over the past few months and would like to share these too.
“Swing hard, in case they throw the ball where you’re swinging.”
– Duke Snider, Baseball Player
“Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.”
– Stephen Covey, Author and Speaker
“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse.”
– Florence Nightingale
“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”
– Willie Nelson, Musician
“Envisioning the end is enough to put the means in motion.”
– Dorothea Brande, Writer
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Wishing is not enough; we must do.”
– Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Posted by Tom Polanski in Opinions on April 28th, 2009
Economy back? Gene’s gonna miss the recession. Here’s why
By Gene Marks
Rats. Looks like this recession thing might be turning around. The market’s been rising. Houses are beginning to sell. Durable orders are up. Banks are detoxifying. Bernie Madoff and Jim Cramer have (finally) been publicly humiliated. Is this the beginning of the end of the economic downturn?
If it is, I’m going to miss this recession.
Make no mistake. I’m not talking about such unfortunate events as the frozen credit markets. Or that sick feeling I get before opening my 401(k) statement, or news anchors and talk show hosts screaming “catastrophe!” and “meltdown!” every time I turn on the TV. I’m definitely not going to miss knee-jerk mass layoffs of good employees by profitable companies. Microsoft, for instance, had net income of $4.17 billion in the most recent quarter yet unveiled plans to slash as many as 5,000 jobs. Microsoft — really?
But as a business owner who buys and sells technology, I find the end of the recession marks the end of some pretty good times for me.
For example, those of us with a few bucks left in the bank have been picking up bargains galore. Like oceanfront properties in Florida and $2-a-gallon gas. When it comes to tech, we’re loving the rock-bottom prices of new computers, servers, and other hardware. The global demand slowdown has depressed manufacturing costs and fueled a surge in unsold inventories. Truckloads of liquidated equipment chugging out of Wall Street have driven down costs for the survivors. Thanks, Bear Stearns.
My negotiating power has exponentially increased. When I need to buy a new server, I shamelessly press for discounts. When times were better, sellers would laugh in my face. Now, instead of pleading poverty, I can blame the economy. Hardware salesmen make sympathetic clucking sounds and whip out their erasers. Software reps, never known to show much spine, simply cave.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Opinions on April 3rd, 2009
Not a shocker, folks: Facebook is forever
By Bob Sullivan, The Red Tape Chroicles
I know a computer science professor who runs the same Facebook experiment every semester. He invites his students to stand up in front of the room and show everyone their Facebook page on the big screen. No one has ever taken him up on the offer.
Why? They’re embarrassed, of course.
Moments later, the irony sinks in. Every one of them seems happy to share all those funny photographs, witty Wall postings and status updates with everyone on the planet. They just don’t want to do it in public, in person.
Facebook puts a lot of people in a lot of twisted situations, including those who try to rationalize their use of the site (Want to be safer on Facebook? There are tips below).
Studies show that about two-thirds of Americans say they care a great deal about their privacy, yet fewer than 10 percent ever do anything about it, such as destroy a store loyalty card or browse the Web with an anonymizing tool.
So it is with Facebook. This week, a dust-up — no, a tornado — hit the service when users found out about a subtle change to Facebook’s terms of service. A blogger at the Consumerist Web site posted the change, noting that Facebook now asserts the right to “copy, publish, store, retain,” anything you contribute, and that the firm’s rights to your material survive “any termination of your use of the Facebook Service.”
In other words, whatever you put on Facebook cannot be deleted. Even closing your account, removing all your pictures, and “de-friending” your friends doesn’t get your data back from the Facebook.
Everyone seems shocked by the idea that Facebook is forever, but that’s nothing new. In fact, I believe Facebook deserves some kudos for finally fessing up and including this concept in its terms of service. I’m thrilled that people are now discussing this issue.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Ethics, Facebook, Opinions on February 20th, 2009
Other aspects of the Facebook phenomenon
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
Over the years we’ve compiled a large database of contacts who did not respond to our attempts to engage them regarding our services. Last month we decided to try and connect with these, “not viables”, through the social media site, Facebook. We weren’t expecting much. However, much to our surprise, 98.2% of those business contacts, those who already had Facebook pages, people who wouldn’t return an e-mail or a voicemail, accepted our invitation to be “friends”; thereby allowing us access to intimate details about their lives, families, and friends.
To be clear; we didn’t, and still don’t, try to hide the fact that we’re marketers; it’s right there on our Facebook page under the “Info” tab. We were, and still are, stunned by the positive response to our invitations. Why would they do that? Why invite us into their private worlds when they wouldn’t, otherwise, give us the time of day?
Maybe people just automatically respond to a “friend” request. There’s a likelihood that the branding process we initiated with our repeated attempts to contact them achieved enough of a familiarity where that person felt they probably knew us. I suspect that there’s no easy answer. However, Facebook has succeeded in creating a positive experience which, in turn, breeds trust. Another key driver may be the need, particularly when times are tough, to feel good about ourselves. Membership in a community and the accumulation of lots of friends, who without fail will post positive comments about our pictures, and musings, is a way to do that.
Speaking of which; we’ve yet to see a negative comment from, or directed to, any of the hundreds of people who are now in our circle of “friends”. This attests to the power of “Social Proof” which means we determine what is correct by what other people think is correct. The downside is that, as Walter Lippman put it, “Where all are thinking alike, no one is thinking very much.”
Posted by Tom Polanski in Ethics, Opinions on February 18th, 2009