Jim Seybert - Strategic Planning Retreats - Strategy Audits - Executive Coaching

As I continue to consider the most effective application for each of these platforms, my thoughts have been on what I am looking for when I visit each.

I recently posted that about 50% of what I get on Twitter has no value to me, and a friend asked me to describe my criteria. At the time, I didn’t have one - so here is where I am in the process. Before I decide what types of tweets are valuable to me, I need to filter out those that have low value:

16 - There are some people whose Tweets are seldom anything but a retweet (RT) of someone else, or the URL to a site with no comment on WHY they posted it - LOW VALUE.

17 - Tweets that are a random quote from a noted author or speaker usually lack the context necessary to give them real meaning - LOW VALUE.

18 - Some users will dump a half-dozen or more tweets all in a row. That’s like a conversation with someone who won’t shut up - LOW VALUE.

19 - Those whose tweets are never anything but an advertisement for their service or product tend to become an annoyance - LOW VALUE.

20 - Tweets with too many abbreviations show the person needs to distill their thought a bit more. A few shortcuts are OK, but don’t overdo - LOW VALUE.

So, I am trying to be a multi-dimensional Tweeter, with a mix of personal and professional content. If I forward a URL, I will always add my comment. When I send a RT, I’ll almost always say why, or add something.

If you want to follow me - http://twitter.com/jimseybert

When my internet connection goes soft, there’s a series of steps I take to determine where the problem is:

1) Close and reopen Safari. Usually does the trick.

2) Reboot the Mac. Yes even Mac users should reboot occasionally.

3) Repair Permissions. PC users, never mind. You can’t do this.

4) Restart the wireless router. Unplug, count to 30, replug.

5) SMS someone and ask them to try the same URL. To see if it might be the website’s problem.

At this point, I’ve usually determined the problem is not on MY end, so I find something analog to occupy my time. Calling the cable company has never proven to be an effective move because they have an automated system that tells me to do all the things I’ve already done. (And even I feel stupid cursing at a robot).

This time, I tried one new step - using my BlackBerry, I sent a Tweet “Is anyone on #Charter having issues in #SLO County - Arroyo especially?”

Within minutes, I got a Tweet from @Umatter2chtr letting me know Charter had a router problem and that engineers were already working on it.

Amazing

That one little Tweet from a tech at Charter’s service center in Missouri, let me know they were working to restore the outage. Case closed. Once I knew someone was “on it” I went about my day knowing they would fix it as fast as they possibly could.

If you’ve been wondering about the usefulness of Twitter - this proves it for me. Today Charter (and Twitter) got BIG GOLD STARS in my grade book.

Microsoft has applied for trademark registration for a new logo that will be used to identify the company’s new retail outlets.

One of the first two stores will be in Mission Viejo, CA in the same shopping center as an established Apple store. (The other planned opening before Christmas is a store in Scottsdale, AZ).

I am an admitted Mac Snob, but I’m also a student of consumer attitudes and my big question is:

Do consumers who use Microsoft products have the same giddy passion for their supplier as do Mac users?

There’s a serious emotional connection between Apple and Mac users. The Microsoft retail store concept might work - but it won’t be for the same reason. I don’t see people lining up for hours and hours before a new Microsoft product is released.

We’ll see.

Review: I am taking  measured and intentional approach to developing my personal strategy for Twitter and Facebook.

I want to take advantage of each platform’s unique strengths, just as I do with my own. My first 1o Observations led to the strategy of Twitter being the place where I network and establish connections that are primarily professional with little or no casual, personal interaction.

Here are my latest Observations:

Observation 11 - Arnold Remtema commented on the first installment asking if I’d considered the “feedback ratio” on Twitter and Facebook. I have not but that’s a good question.

Observation 12 - Tom Pryor, in Texas, wondered why I hadn’t included LinkedIn as an element in my process. Fact is, LinkedIn was my first social network but it’s never really happened for me. If anything, it is ALL business with NO personal connection.

Observation 13 - Many Tweets are decent quotes from famous people, and I feel a sense of loss when the poster doesn’t make some sort of comment about it. There is value in context.

Observation 14 - There’s a certain of discomfort when two (or more) people are engaged in what is clearly a personal conversation on Facebook. Private dialog should happen in the “send a message” tab, not on one’s public Wall. Think about those public cellphone users who let everyone within earshot know their brother has toe fungus.

Observation 15 - It’s easy to get caught up in a numbers game, yet Twitter is a numbers game. Having thousands of followers is certainly valuable — if you’re engaging with them.

So - as my Strategy continues to develop:

1) Focus the majority of my Twitter activity on professional networking and mining for interesting new people.

2) Be intentional about my Twitter content. Post items of value for the audience.

I happened across Seth Godin’s blog this morning.

Hadn’t been in a while and wanted to see what his incredible brain was up to. I’d thought of him because I intend to re-read THE DIP this weekend as I prepare for some changes in my consulting practice - but more about that in a few weeks.

Anyway - one of Seth’s recent entries he asked the question -

How often do you tweet instead of retweet? Invent rather than exploit?

His premise was an encouragement for people to step up and make things happen and the reference to Twitter worked well for me.

As I look at my TweetDeck log, there are a fair number of folks who never have anything of their own to say - unless they’re telling the world what they had for lunch or how much their feet hurt. When they do have something worth paying attention to, it’s a RT from someone else.

Zoom out and catch a wider view - everyone in the world can’t be leading or there’d be no one to follow, but for goodness sake we need more folks willing to stick their necks out, to take a chance, to suggest something different.

We all ReTweet. We all pass along something we’ve learned or experienced. The books I write are giant ReTweets of stuff I’ve learned from others, passed through my own filter and organized between covers. But, the real jewels come when someone says, does or thinks something that’s never been said, done or thought before.

Let me RT myself: RT @jimseybert - The real jewels come when someone says, does or thinks something that’s never been said, done or thought before.

My StrengthFinder themes are Ideator, Strategic, Future, Maximizer and Communication so I am inextricably drawn to new things - I can’t help it - and I am always on the lookout for people who can yank my leash into the future.

Are you one of them?

Something Cali Lewis mentioned on a recent GeekBrief episode flipped a switch in my brain and sent me off on a wild goose chase of ideation*.

See if this provokes any different thoughts for you.

Cali reported that Twitter was changing it’s basic question from “What are you doing?” to “What are you thinking about?”

THAT restarted a mind game I play with myself - Am I a human being or a human doing? Am I more about what I do, or more about who I am? Am I more effective when I focus on activities or ideas?

Thinking? Doing?

Seems that the DOING part comes from the left side of my brain and the THINKING part is managed more by the right side. Or is it the other way around? What would Dan Pink say?

Does the logical and linear left side actually control my THOUGHTS allowing the sensitive and aesthetic right side to play with activities?

Am I a Doer?
Am I a Thinker?
Do I think about doing?
What do I do when I think?
What do I think about doing?
Do I sometimes do without thinking?
Do I sometimes think without doing?
Can I think one thing and do another?
Can I do one thing while I think another?

What do you think I should do?

* Ideation is one of my StrengthFinder themes, if fact it’s my number one theme. People with this theme tend to enjoy the exercise of exploring ideas that might not go anywhere. They (we) generally cause others to shake their heads and walk away. If you come into contact with one of these people, they (we) are mostly harmless and when left to our own thoughts we can come up with some pretty interesting things.

In another good example of thinking differently, Alain de Botton offers an enjoyable 15-minute TED presentation on societal influences behind success and failure.

I don’t recall ever having heard anyone speak with humor about anxiety, envy, snobbery and losing.

Bottom line: Success comes from doing well what you do.