DygiScape

Texas Instruments to Occupy Fmr. AOL Dev and Saves Buildings in TUC.

Just wanted to let you know that Texas Instruments will be the new tenants of the buildings previously built for AOL Development and Saves departments in Tucson, AZ. The buildings are located at the Williams Circle (5400 E block of Broadway and Craycroft). More »

Big Business VS. Small(er) Business

Having come from a large corporate empire to a smaller, mid-sized company, I’ve seen a lot of polar opposites when it comes to getting work done. Read on for a side-by-side comparison of these two work environments. More »

Calacanis Sheds Light on ‘Death by Blogging’ NYT Article

NYT jumped the snark by writing a piece on the stress of professional bloggers, leading the reader to believe blogging in itself leads to premature death. I disagree with this assumption, since blogging can be just much of a freeing and constricting feeling. More »

Unloading the E-Mail Overload

Jeremiah at Web Strategist blogged about the how e-mail is consuming us in today’s business culture. Often, a lot of employees in almost any sized organization, are bogged down doing e-mail instead of getting work done. There is some hope — some technical solutions and some process improvements. More »

Insight Into Yahoo’s Exiting Employees, Comparison to AOL

Boris Epstein of BINC, a professional headhunter service, blogged about some of the troubling thoughts from former Yahooligans who left the company in the past few months. The upcoming merger with Microsoft is only hemorrhaging employee morale even more. Check out the original blog entry listing the top nine reasons why talent is being lost out the front door of Yahoo. More »

It Feels Good To Be Home (Again)

My intermission of blogging has ceased. I feel at this point I am finally “home,” back in Arizona, with my new employer. (Before I fully disclose my employment status here, I think it’s a good idea to run it by the bosses to let them know before they Google me and find out that way.) It was a fun, long and enjoyable three weeks of packing and traveling across the country to re-establish myself.

It was somewhat frustrating though because as I left, the weather where I lived became livable at 60F. Only those who live in NoVA would understand, that 9/12 months of the year it’s cold, overcast and it’s disappointing to be homebound for all that time. In addition to the fortunate weather pattern, there were many headlines that broke that I would’ve loved to dish my two cents on. Well, I digress from that, and will opine on the following headlines that I recall:

• Hillary Clinton Allegedly Releasing Adverse Photos of Barack Obama — Alright, I know it’s politics, but I find it incredibly disappointing that another opponent in the same political party would release photos of someone who was in a cultural ceremony, wearing a Turbin, completely playing on the fear of Muslims in America, further, denying all knowledge of it.
• Use of Barack ‘Hussein’ Obama by the Tennessee RNC — In a campaign speech (dare I even call it that), Bill Cunningham, said numerous disparaging statements with exaggerated Armageddon-like references against Barack Obama. McCain rightfully responded that he disapproved of those statements and intends to conduct his interactions with other candidates with respect. It’s disappointing to see that all it takes to attack someone in this day is to use their middle name.
• Gas Prices Expected to Soar Above $4.00/Gal. — While not surprising, it’s interesting to see that despite the upcoming (or present) recession, Gasoline continues to increase while Exxon rejoiced in their highest 4th quarter earnings, record breaking at that. What about that whole “blood for oil” thing that people were talking about? In any case, I live two miles from work, so I won’t be truly affected, but I do feel for those who have to sit on the 495 or commute in excess of five miles daily.
• Barack’s Pastor’s Remarks, Racially Motivated — While I do question Obama’s mechanics on how he plans on resolving healthcare, social security and the economy, I do not doubt his views. Since when is it appropriate to bring someone’s pastor into the media and chastise a politician on someone else’s remarks? I agree the Pastor made some rather radical statements, but I do not believe those are necessarily anything that falls into Obama’s agenda. So far, all three attacks on Obama all based on fear, insecurity and race — are we still stuck in the 60’s?
• Hillary’s ‘Who do you want to answer the call at 3am’ Propaganda — I usually try to cut Hillary some slack, but her TV commercial crosses the line. She has no right to claim “fear-mongering” from the right, when her own ad insinuates another terrorist attack at 3am, and she somehow believes she is in a better position to answer the phone. Sorry, Hillary, McCain is probably a little better equipped to handle a Military situation than you.

I don’t claim to be a political pundit by any means, nor do I believe I have all the answers, but I just want someone to shrink the size of government. This will accomplish two things: force people to become independent thinkers, lower taxes and once again restore the very qualities that makes America the best, freedom. I’m tired of empty promises, facist propaganda and corporate interests in DC! As I ponder this deeper, expect a future entry dissecting the very values of the two political parties, since that too is on my mind.

Another topic that I’ve had some time to think about — Photo Traffic Enforcement. For those who may not know, Phoenix was one of the first cities to deploy technology that combated Red Light Running (since, they’re #1). That technology eventually matured to include speed enforcement. I think it’s a great idea to make intersections safer and a good way to exploit technology to allow human resources (police) to handle higher priority matters. On the contrary, I disagree with speed enforcement, since speeding is subjective since it varies with the conditions of the road. My five priors are evident of this belief, but I must say the enhanced Radar speed limit signs that blink when you exceed 5MPH are keeping me off the gas pedal. Also, I am less likely to accelerate to beat the yellow mainly since if I get tagged, I will get two tickets in the mail and I wouldn’t exactly want that.

My new apartment is very spacious, good views, good neighborhood (sans theft) and I’m loving my Cox Cable package. The results speak for themselves:

I feel I got out what was on my mind for a while. My apologies for the lack of any pictures. Most of my driving took place at night, and there really wasn’t anything that interesting on the way. When I eventually get my pictures off my camera I’ll post them.

~Joe

Customer Service is More Than Just Call Centers

Customer service is a term frequently used among service providers which is often delivered in the form of call centers. It’s important to understand that customer service applies to many different horizontal and vertical business applications and is crucial to achieve success no matter what market you’re serving. More »

Things to Do

Now that I have completed my last day at AOL, I was thinking of things to do. In the interest of full disclosure, here goes:

• Relax. Anyone who has worked with me for any amount of time knows that I invested a lot of my personal life into work life; and have made sacrifices along the way. Having worked a little over three years for the company, I need to relax and explore my other hobbies.
• Get my Amateur Radio License. I’ve always been interested in amateur radio and now that I picked up a nice transceiver, it’s expected that I know how to properly communicate. I intend on using my knowledge and licensing to become an emergency radio operator. Oh, and I like those snazzy license plates with their FCC call-sign, too.
• Volunteer. Probably one of the things I was meaning to do for a while while I was working at AOL, but I never got a chance to do. I want to share my expertise and skills and help teach some safety and security fundamentals to folks who need to learn it.
• Catch Up in Car Maintenance. I’ve been bad, I haven’t done my timing chain, water pump or motor mounts yet. I also need to do transmission flush and inspect my brakes. I imagine with my newfound time, I can put it to constructive use. I’ve also got two front speakers to install since mine blew out a while ago.
• Blog More. I intend to blog more frequently providing my visitors (old and new) great value from my blog. So, if you have any suggestions on things that you might be interested in, drop me a comment or an e-mail.
• Visit my other Online Communities. Some of my “fanclub” knows me from the Computing message boards on AOL. I’ll see if I can spot some time to helping folks out again. I also was found on Extreme Overclocking a lot, too, so as I build my next rig, I shall be there quite a bit.
• Upload and Organize My Photos. Organizing my photos is always a challenge. I have different categories, tags and descriptions for photos and also the retouching to make them stand out often takes time and some planning so I’m not caught re-organizing the reorganized. Yes, I know that’s redundant. Flickr, here I come!
• Visit the Spy and the NRA museums. Two places I wanted to visit, but I just never found the time. I’m intrigued by national espionage and I also have a passion for firearms. Expect a lot of pictures when this happens.
• Redesign my Web site. Personally, I’m probably the most dynamic person when it comes to Web site aesthetics. What I like one week, I’ll likely toss out the next. I intend to clean it up, add a few little things here and there and make it look good. I can probably spend more than an afternoon tweaking the CSS so it looks just right.
• Exercise. Earlier last year, I attempted to try a high-protein diet and work out. It was good for about a month, but it just wasn’t sustainable. My long work hours often handicapped my ability to make it to the local gym to work out. With more free time, I plan to go more often and become a little healthier.
• Read. AOL was really good about keeping their folks keen to industry related news and topics. They would often host conferences where a guest speaker comes in, shares their presentation and give their book to employees. I have several books I acquired that I can actually read, not just skim through in between projects. Additionally, a friend gave me a gift certificate that was good for Barnes & Noble, so I picked up a few books, too.

That should cover most things, among landing another gig doing what I like to do in Social Media. I’ll try to keep myself busy and productive. I should have Instant Messaging available, so feel free to IM me on AIM at JVManna. Thanks again to everyone who supported me. If you’d like you can subscribe to my blog and you will be e-mailed when I post new entries automatically.

~Joe

Last Blog Entry for Work

I’ve finally posted my last blog entry on my employer’s blog. I’ll be leaving the company tomorrow. I just wanted to thank everyone that supported (and challenged) me along the way. I look forward to carving a new path for myself.

This decision was one made outside of my control, and I will truly miss my time at AOL. That is, all the customers, the workers and the technology.

Thanks,
Joe

10 Win-Wins for Social Media Adoption In Your Organization

I enjoy the discussion about social media, so you’d expect I was exhilarated when I read Ten Common Objections to Social Media Adoption and How You Can Respond. It inspired me to share my insight as to how social media could benefit an organization, whether it’s large or small.

Social Media is used to describe the genre of blogs, micro-blogging, social news, social networking and other Web 2.0 variations found on the Internet. You can read my non-whitepaper on Social Media, if you’d like. Compared to traditional media (e-mail, print, television), consumers have a choice and it offers unparalleled communication mediums for anyone.

For anyone who’s even just a little curious about Social Media, I aim to list 10 win-wins for both your business and consumer. I know there are more mutually benefitting reasons, but I wanted to really hit on the big ones that count.

10 Win-Wins for Social Media Adoption within Your Organization:

1. Communicate with Customers, not to.
   Participating with consumers will help you not only appear to be on their side, you will be, by listening and advocating their concerns. A lot of companies who genuinely care about consumers are rewarded with highly-engaged, viral, and let’s be frank — high margin — customers. Although, companies who failed at social media (read: misleading PR, Wal-Mart) have been at the mercy of their consumers who can see right though to the PR snakes. Ultimately, if you want to listen to your customers, being accessible to consumers is key to gain their trust and honest feedback and social media allows you to build new relationships with users.
2. Learn More About and Define Your Audience
   A lot of companies can often reach out to an untapped demographic via social media — and further, allows any demographic to learn more about your products and services. Being social in social media allows you be dynamic and adapt with your varying audiences. This is mutually beneficial, because consumers can identify themselves with a company who supports their ideals and passions; while the company can reach disrupt their competitor’s online territory silently.
3. Earn Trust and Better Control Your PR Communications
   The biggest misconception is that a company controls their reputation on the Internet –which is anything but true. Traditional public relations, doesn’t work in a progressive world. If you gain trust by building strong relationships with industry leaders (and consumers) you can better project what you want to project without appearing insincere or (even worse) misleading. When you have a track record of being honest and upfront with your consumers, they will reward you by listening and even spreading the word.
4. Build your Internal and External Social Media Strength
   In many businesses, the ideology that is preached, “Treat your employees well and they will treat your customers even better.” The same characteristics can be made internally at your organization. If you reward the internal talents, they can bleed outward to other external social media interactions. Likewise, the additional benefits for internal/external social media, would be the growth of ideas and the free-flowing exchange of information from engineers to directors to CEOs (not necessarily in that order).
5. Traditional Media is Changing, You Need to Be Ready
   As consumers turn on their computer and check e-mail when they wake up, the TV get’s turned on less, the newspaper gets picked up less, and they gain more power as a consumer when they specifically choose their sources of information. Any media organization will tell you that their Web site has more traffic than ever; which leaves traditional media being served with even less desire compared to 20 years ago. Being accessible in both traditional and progressive social media allows the company to embrace all the needs of their customers.
6. Cost-Effective
   It’s relatively cost effective to participate in social media on the Internet, because it’s underpinnings are to be human — be social. To be social, you just need to facilitate communication and embrace the fine art of it. Blog software is practically free, Web servers are cheap, and your social media ambassadors are the ones found blogging all day (where you walk by and think they are just surfing the Web…). This benefits consumers because their words aren’t collated in expensive data collection, such as administrative fees in market research surveys. Literally, an organization can obtain more ROI if they invest themselves into Social Media than traditional media.
7. It’s Alright to Mess Up, Consumers Will Forgive You
   In traditional media, companies are more often than not being talked about negatively in some form of a scandal or another. In social media, the tone of the discussion is more neutral — if not positive — than traditional media. Embracing this allows companies to try new things and be dynamic with their products and services. While this privilege is great to have, it wouldn’t be too prudent to be caught with your pants down too much.
8. (Smaller Organizations) Can Now Have an Industry-sized Voice
   No more does a smaller organization have to waste resources with PR publication services; they can disrupt their industry with a breakthrough product or service easily with social media. Not only does social media attract consumers, it falls within earshot of industry insider’s who are waiting to root for your company. Likewise, this fosters more free enterprise, and more targeted advertising to be spent, if you reach the right people searching for your industry’s keywords (See: Google AdWords).
9. Exploit the Heck Out of the Pareto Principle
   The Pareto principle is the 80/20 rule (also varied as the 90-9-1 theory) that describes the participation inequality. This theory holds true for any News or broadcast-like entity who wants to enter Social Media with a bang! Essentially, embracing exploiting this rule to your advantage will bring incredible results. Look at Digg, Propeller or Reddit. All their content is created by mostly a minority of users to serve the majority. Really this benefits consumers because it allows competitive free voice so your users are competing for attention on your Web property, thus raising engagement.
10. Using the Right Tools Will Help You Better Prepare for More Information
    When your organization uses the right tools (RSS, for example) your ingraining the very essentials to Social Media success. Further, when you facilitate an online Wiki, you are rewarding employees for building content with their name attributed to their contributions and people get to see their work grow. When people begin to change their thought process (even just a little), you can build amazing ideas with everyone’s contributions. Ideally, a successful company in social media would be strong internally as well as externally; and would be a mash pit of rock-solid ideas that benefit the company and the consumer.

Feel free to mull this over and share your concerns about Social Media in your organization in the comments to me and I’ll see if I (or anyone else) can help you out. Continue this conversation about social media, and write your own response and link to my entry! Do it… now!