Trust. It’s not a very nebulous term. Yet in social media circles, it has lost some of its shine, some of its clarity, sort of the way Stairway to Heaven and Free Bird have due to overuse and overexposure. Trust, as a concept is, nevertheless, a fairly easy idea to digest. In much the same way we allow the time-tested, the reliable and the faithful access to our fragile and emotional squishy parts, consumers allow brands access to their wallets, if again, trust is and has been present.

Easy right? Not so much. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m concerned about the purity of the conversations undergone in blog comments. I’m concerned that many are not all that pure after all. I’m finding that often blog commenting appears to be something akin to a bunch of people not-so gingerly exchanging business cards and PowerPoints and even worse, trite and banal ass-kissing.

Yawn.

What if hundreds of comments on a blog you love were actually nothing more than a mirage? The post was terrific, but the post’s comment mojo was less the result of the post’s quality and more the result of self-important opportunism and profiteering? What if the 100 comments can be reasonably likened to a pack of hyenas scrambling to snag a bite of the feast the author has laid out by virtue of her blog’s popularity? Popular blog, popular blogger, hmmm? Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, a friend and I grabbed lunch at that wildly popular, 2.0 eatery, Chipotle. Yummy. Anyhow, as I was devouring their killer and yes overpriced guacamole, my lunch companion began telling me of his plans to launch an online portfolio for his creative works. I said, “Cool. Why?” He went on to explain that the site would showcase his creative brawn as an artist and creative director. Said my friend, “It’s a place to point people who may be interested in my skills.” So I said to him again, “Cool. Why?” And he smirked, noting my snarky approach to emphasizing my original question.

I said, “well, if you’re going to go through the work of putting up a site, why not fully realize the idea first, ultimately making more of your site than a typical online display case?”

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If the times we spend between seeing a child grow are vast, our response to his growth is typically one of stunned disbelief.

“How’d you get so big?” “Where has the time gone?” And so on.

We experience the personal and professional growth of others in much the same way.

“How did you do that?!”

But often we sit in awe of others’ growth, as if a gun loaded with accomplishment bullets were fired at that lady, this dude or those businesses. Maybe it’s frustration with the daunting nature of our own journeys that limits our ability to think beyond a resolute notion that someone anointed him or her with success.

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I had the worst night two days ago.

In general, life’s felt more like work than anything else lately. Ok so I went to a party the other night. Gir! I never go to parties. I hate them. For me, socializing with strangers is an unnerving experience every damn time. At this shindig there was even the token drunk sports fanatic. Wasted and loud, some dope ranted in the corner to his friends about how the New York Rangers bought the Stanley Cup in 1994. 1994 gang! I mean come on. Add to that the fact that when I do engage strangers, these enemies of my solitude, I’m really only interested in getting them to do what I want them to do, agree with what I believe and consume the truths of this world as I see them. The party obviously sucked and I got the hell out of there at the moment my exit could qualify as discrete. My life’s been fundamentally lousy though, peppered with unsatisfying human interactions that bore me quickly.

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