Blog-a-licious
“I feel the burn.” That’s what Bob said to his peers after being crowned the text message king of his department. The burn he was referring to was in his thumbs, because he just equaled the world record for text messaging, an astonishing 35 words per minute – without any errors mind you.
Different means of communication are springing up all the time. So today, we take a look at two of the most popular: text messaging and blogging.
Text messaging has grown in popularity and in the process has become a big deal. So whether you have hitched your electronic horse to this bandwagon or sit idly on the sidelines, you should be aware of some hazards and benefits of this frenetic activity.
The hazards:
1. It’s fast. Sometimes professionals fire off a text message, look at their phone, and then verbalize expletives because they misstated some facts or sent it to the wrong person. Text messaging often catches people when they are busy, distracted, or in the heat of the moment. Sometimes our response is not consistent with our usual manner or language. Thus, our correspondence comes across as odd and unprofessional.
2. Plain Jane. Unless your text messages are being run through your computer or server they may not have the professional appearance of your typical email responses. This can be construed as rushed or unimportant to the receiving party.
3. No Spell check. Again, if your text message is not run through your computer or server it may not be privy to spell-check and grammar-check. This can be catastrophic to people who spell like, well, me.
The benefits:
1. It’s fast. You receive a message, and next thing you know, you have fired off a response. Just like that – boom, it’s done. Nice.
2. Responsive perception. Who does not value the perception of being a quick responding professional? No one, that’s who – and the perception you seek may be enhanced by the ability to quickly respond to customers and team members who need and value your input.
3. Filled in cracks. By responding to messages promptly you minimize the risk of forgetting about a message or accidentally deleting it – and thus not responding at all. Any tool that can reduce the odds of something falling through the cracks is worthy of investigation.
So it’s up to you to decide if text messaging business correspondence is for you. For now though, we move our attention to the world of blogging.
Blog-a-licious
A web log or ‘blog’ is a website where an article, concept or idea is displayed and then additional entries (comments) are displayed in reverse chronological order, following the original entry. According to Technorati, a blog search engine, as of December 2007 there were in excess of 112 million blogs worldwide, and I expect the number of blogs to double within the next two years.
Blogging is a means of communication that is gaining incredible traction. If you do not already maintain a blog, the concept is most worthy of your investigation and consideration. Setting up and maintaining a blog is easy. It is something you can set up yourself or delegate to your favorite technologist or geek.
The question then becomes, just why the heck would I want to blog anyway? A fair question that is best answered by listing the benefits of blogging:
1. It serves as a convenient method to connect with an array of people regarding your thoughts, their feedback, and ancillary concepts and ideas that are sparked by the resulting interchange.
2. It spurs responses from a broad audience. Because people can respond to a blog, yet remain anonymous, there are great numbers of people who are comfortable participating in blogs. Remember, when the possibility of confrontation has been taken out of communication, the scope and size of the audience skyrockets.
3. There is a rawness and authenticity that makes a blog a very real experience. Due to the anonymity factor, people do not hold back. You will receive verbiage that reeks of sincerely and, occasionally, peppery language.
Are there drawbacks to blogging? Possibly a few:
1. You don’t know what you are going to get. There are quite a few whack jobs out there and a nice cross-section of them will undoubtedly visit your blog. Be prepared for a few entries that will make you say ‘hmmmn.’
2. Minimal editing. While there are tools that you can employ to edit or truncate certain blog entries, you must be very selective about editing the responses you receive. Be careful about too much editing – blog enthusiasts can smell censorship a mile away.
3. Cruelty. Because people can respond to blogs and remain anonymous, certain respondents tend to be more critical or cruel than they would be otherwise. If you don’t have thick skin, don’t blog.
Communication is king and the new big gorilla on the block is the blogger. Whether you are an entrepreneur or in the corporate world, I strongly encourage you to blog – take some melanin as well, it thickens the skin.
Different means of communication are springing up all the time. So today, we take a look at two of the most popular: text messaging and blogging.
Text messaging has grown in popularity and in the process has become a big deal. So whether you have hitched your electronic horse to this bandwagon or sit idly on the sidelines, you should be aware of some hazards and benefits of this frenetic activity.
The hazards:
1. It’s fast. Sometimes professionals fire off a text message, look at their phone, and then verbalize expletives because they misstated some facts or sent it to the wrong person. Text messaging often catches people when they are busy, distracted, or in the heat of the moment. Sometimes our response is not consistent with our usual manner or language. Thus, our correspondence comes across as odd and unprofessional.
2. Plain Jane. Unless your text messages are being run through your computer or server they may not have the professional appearance of your typical email responses. This can be construed as rushed or unimportant to the receiving party.
3. No Spell check. Again, if your text message is not run through your computer or server it may not be privy to spell-check and grammar-check. This can be catastrophic to people who spell like, well, me.
The benefits:
1. It’s fast. You receive a message, and next thing you know, you have fired off a response. Just like that – boom, it’s done. Nice.
2. Responsive perception. Who does not value the perception of being a quick responding professional? No one, that’s who – and the perception you seek may be enhanced by the ability to quickly respond to customers and team members who need and value your input.
3. Filled in cracks. By responding to messages promptly you minimize the risk of forgetting about a message or accidentally deleting it – and thus not responding at all. Any tool that can reduce the odds of something falling through the cracks is worthy of investigation.
So it’s up to you to decide if text messaging business correspondence is for you. For now though, we move our attention to the world of blogging.
Blog-a-licious
A web log or ‘blog’ is a website where an article, concept or idea is displayed and then additional entries (comments) are displayed in reverse chronological order, following the original entry. According to Technorati, a blog search engine, as of December 2007 there were in excess of 112 million blogs worldwide, and I expect the number of blogs to double within the next two years.
Blogging is a means of communication that is gaining incredible traction. If you do not already maintain a blog, the concept is most worthy of your investigation and consideration. Setting up and maintaining a blog is easy. It is something you can set up yourself or delegate to your favorite technologist or geek.
The question then becomes, just why the heck would I want to blog anyway? A fair question that is best answered by listing the benefits of blogging:
1. It serves as a convenient method to connect with an array of people regarding your thoughts, their feedback, and ancillary concepts and ideas that are sparked by the resulting interchange.
2. It spurs responses from a broad audience. Because people can respond to a blog, yet remain anonymous, there are great numbers of people who are comfortable participating in blogs. Remember, when the possibility of confrontation has been taken out of communication, the scope and size of the audience skyrockets.
3. There is a rawness and authenticity that makes a blog a very real experience. Due to the anonymity factor, people do not hold back. You will receive verbiage that reeks of sincerely and, occasionally, peppery language.
Are there drawbacks to blogging? Possibly a few:
1. You don’t know what you are going to get. There are quite a few whack jobs out there and a nice cross-section of them will undoubtedly visit your blog. Be prepared for a few entries that will make you say ‘hmmmn.’
2. Minimal editing. While there are tools that you can employ to edit or truncate certain blog entries, you must be very selective about editing the responses you receive. Be careful about too much editing – blog enthusiasts can smell censorship a mile away.
3. Cruelty. Because people can respond to blogs and remain anonymous, certain respondents tend to be more critical or cruel than they would be otherwise. If you don’t have thick skin, don’t blog.
Communication is king and the new big gorilla on the block is the blogger. Whether you are an entrepreneur or in the corporate world, I strongly encourage you to blog – take some melanin as well, it thickens the skin.
posted by DVD Consulting at
6:53 AM
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