the webthinking blog

I have almost finished reading Ahead Of The Curve by Philip Broughton. Since “change” was an important buzzword in 2008, I want to capture an interesting definition mentioned in Broughton’s book:
Change = function (Dissatisfaction * New Model * Implementation Process) + Error

I have pulled out some interesting usage charts of the two main social networking tools - LinkedIn and Facebook.

Turns out most active day of the week among my LinkedIn connections is Monday. Makes sense for a business tool.

Everyone needs some fun and relaxation by Wednesday, which seems to be the most active day on Facebook.

Good. Folks, just don’t let Facebook take over your week-end. Or entire week. Please :)

I’m not a big fan of widgets, but I’ll take the compliment: Chris Brogan says I’m a Rockstar!

Chris, you are the star – some of us are just rocking along. I know, I owe you big. Thank you again!

I have spent a great deal of time over the past week scouting for prospects on LinkedIn, to backfill a newly created position on my team, at work. I need someone really good, with a large set of skills, a “hybrid” if you will.

What really struck me was more than a dozen of good profiles with absolutely no contact information: no email, no website, no portfolio, nothing. I was looking for a web savvy person, not a doctor.

How can that be? Why bother creating a detailed online resume if you provide no means of contact what so ever?

If you have created your profile just because you have received ten invites from your colleagues and people you know or if you are just trying to “score” connections, set some time aside and update your profile. Be real and transparent, you have nothing to hide or to loose.

As a side note, other questions came to mind: how can you improve your keyword search results, so that your personal profile shows up on top of the list? What does “keyword relevance” actually mean for LinkedIn?

So I walk into Indigo the other day, looking to buy Godin’s Tribes. I look it up on the computer to find its locations in the store: 20 items in “Business General” and I find the proper shelf, but guess what? No “Tribes” there. Well, the computer said there are still 20 items available. I go ask for help - the fella was pretty quick - ah, they are still in the back, we just got them today. Bingo, I was happy and lucky, I still had a chance to walk out the store with my own copy. $22 later, I was part of the “tribe”.

Later that day, I find out the “book” is available over in iTunes, as an audio book. Narrated by Seth Godin himself. For less than $1. Genius! And a Kindle version is in the works with Amazon, too.

So, I paid $23 for the book - paper and audio. Now I want to consume it as soon as possible. Where do I start?

The little one was napping in the his stroller for about an hour now, in the park, while I found myself noting my head several times *listening* to Godin reading the book for me!

I got home and could not wait to pick up the “book” and continue “reading” it, starting directly on page 52.

Knowing my limited time, I hope to be able to finish reading or listening to it over the next couple of days. I can do that while I’m driving or sitting on the train.

Seth, thanks for making me feel part of your “tribe”, I consider myself being lucky. On the same note, I have met *in person* at least three of the sneezers (have you read Purple Cow?) that got their picture printed on the back cover. After all, I have learned about this amazing book through a podcast I’m subscribed to. That’s another “tribe”.

55 minutes on new means of expression. Enjoy!

Michael Dell: Today there are about 1bn people attached to the Internet. Everyday, about 500,000 new ones come on the Internet for the very first time in their lives. So that means, the Internet population in 3-4 years is roughly gonna double. About 85% of the growth comes from emerging countries.

I’m close to finalizing reading the book “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. Awesome book by the way! A good part of it touches upon outsourcing jobs to India, especially call centre jobs.

So, here’s my story: Bell Sympatico DSL users have been experiencing major service disruptions in the Toronto area over the past few days. This affects me as well, living in Richmond Hill, always hitting a Toronto server and an IP address that had a reverse name as “basXX-torontoXX.dsl.bell.ca”.

I pick up the phone to call Bell and ask them “How much longer?” An extremely polite Dominique answers my call. “Sir, before we go any further, just in case we get disconnected, is there a number I can call you back?”

Uh, ah, I thought I was talking to Bell - the phone company. Why should I get disconnected?? Because the ‘net is not working for me?

So my question to the Rep was “Do you mind if I ask where are you located?”

“No sir, in Southern part of India”. Ahaa, just as Friedman’s stories from the book I’ve mentioned above.

After convincing the person at the other end (of the world) that my modem was actually powered on - I get a new challenge.
“Sir, how can you possibly experience connectivity problems related to the Toronto area when you are living in Richmond?”

Hmm - I get it. Now I have to convince him that I live in Richmond Hill, ON and not Richmond, BC.

Two days later Bell has not fixed the problem yet. I’m posting this through my BlackBerry. Lovely!

To Bell: in addition to all screen captures of modem types in use posted on that intra/extranet, you should make available a at least a Google Maps lookup tool, as well. :)