Archive for February, 2010

The mother filter

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

My mom doesn’t approve of most of the things I do.  Since the seventh grade I have seemed to make it my life’s mission to act in a way that she finds unacceptable.  However, after over 20 years she has learned that I am going to do things my own way and that is (usually) okay.  So as I go through my life I am happy to share with her all the details that she may or may not approve of.

When I started participating in social media several years ago I thought about what information I would or would not share.  I looked back to my relationship with my mother.  Beneath the disproval of my actions, there seemed to be a genuine appreciation of the honesty.  And so I applied that open book policy to social media.

Yes, I do and share things that some people may not agree with.  I am a young man and I like to work hard and play hard.  There are no apologies about that.  But even after years of allowing an open book approach to my life, I occasionally cringe at the thought of sharing certain information.  However, I take a deep breath and remember that even the worse of me, is still me and even if people one hundred percent disagree with me, they can at least appreciate my honesty.

So when people object to the thought of sharing information, I instinctively wonder what it is they have to hide.  Don’t get me wrong, I get where people are coming from.  I understand the desire for privacy and not wanting certain people to know certain things about you.  Believe it or not, I am a fairly private person that doesn’t generally like to mix my business and personal life.  However, I am me, one hundred percent of the time.

For the people that do question about what they should or should not share with the social media world, consider the mother filter.  Would you share the information with your mother?  If so, I say go ahead and let the world know about it.  If it is something you would not want your mom to know about, it is probably best kept off the internet entirely.  Once something is posted to the internet you should assume the entire world, your mother included, can see it.

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Posted in Observations, Opinion, social media | 2 Comments »

Who is to blame for my frustration?

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

As hard as it is for me to comprehend, there are people that disagree with me.  I’m not sure what these people are thinking but apparently they don’t wholly and unquestionably accept my worldview.  I’ve grown accustomed to this from a personal side of things (I’m a pretty unique character!) but when it comes down to business, it is still down right frustrating.

Now, I’m not saying I have all the answers; there are a lot of things that I suck at in life.  However, one thing that I know I do not suck at is using social media to help companies grow.  Therefore, when people question my tactics and procedures I am immediately defensive.  This is what I do day in and day out, this is what I eat, breath and sleep, this is how I make my money, this is all I do!

Don’t worry; the point of this piece is not for me to grip.  I point out my frustration because it is an internal obstacle I have to overcome from time to time.  The fact of the matter is that when I am frustrated at others for not seeing my point of view, I should really be frustrated at myself for not properly explaining myself.

I am going through one of these internal/external struggles right now.  A client of mine is not too pleased right now because they have received some negative response throughout the social media community.  However, I am very used to negative responses and I simply see them as an opportunity to disprove critics.  My client does not so easily accept the public criticism.

My initial reaction was to wholly reject my client’s objections and tell them to trust in my expertise.  But then I realized that this does not really handle the issue at hand.  What happens when more negative comments come?  What happens when they disagree with something else?  Telling them to simply ignore it will not suffice.

I need to take responsibility for not properly informing the client what a great opportunity a negative response presents.  It will be my job in our phone call tomorrow to properly illustrate my worldview to the client so they can share my vision.  Any frustration that I feel is simply because I had failed to do this earlier.

It is easy to become frustrated when others disagree with us.  However, instead of pointing the finger outward, look inwards and you will most likely see who is to blame for your frustration.

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Posted in Observations, Opinion | No Comments »