Ghost Twitterers

I was always skeptical about the use of Twitter by celebrities. Countless blogs and news articles opined about the use of twitter as a tool to bring people more closer than any other social networking site., how you can follow famous people without intruding space and get insights into their ideas and philosophy

But wait a minute, are you really following the celebrity you thought you were following. Chances are that you might not. Apparently, celebrities are employing people for tweeting on their behalf, a third-person to keep their Twitter page live(just like they did with the other social networkig sites) in a new marketing job position that sprung up, what is being termed as a "Ghost Twitterer". Check the article in NYTimes here that dwelves into the issue.

Now this is fine for getting updates about a celebrity's schedules and latest news. But definitely NOT for getting an insight into their thoughts and ideas because they aren't the real person's but a third-person's who tweets just what she interprets and not what she thinks.
I don't see a point in following such ghost twitterers who just tweets continuosly. All she would want is post interesting articles that get re-tweeted and thus increase the followers' numbers and consequently, the popularity.
Twitter has been very careful about spammers and fakes and has been deleting their profiles quite often but can they do anything about this. Definitely not I guess.

So, it's upto you to follow the "celebrity" whose tweets arent always his/her own thoughts

Seeing an Opportunity

I always think how only a few people see an opportunity and succeed when there are potentially millions trying for the same elsewhere, how only a few people are meticulous enough to notice all things around them while others simply run behind one another

An interesting anecdote that made me realize this.

I regularly visit a friend of mine a few miles away. On way to his home, there's a turning where the road is terrible with a huge pothole right at the crossing. I was wary of the road condition and used to slow down at that point and tried to squeeze my bike towards the narrow end of the road where there was little asphalt. I used to feel elated at times when I carefully managed to traverse it.

Little did I knew(atleast for 2-3 weeks) that the other half of the road was clean without any major crack. I always took this half as it reduced my distance(barely by a few meters) and I actually violated the rule by doing so - driving on the wrong side. Suddenly , when I noticed the lane I was supposed to take, I was surprised that I didn't need to slow down , worry of any damage to my bike or worry about any traffic in the opposite direction.

I wondered whether that's how we see opportunities in life too, trying to squeeze past the mundane ones and neglecting the really good ones. Always stuck in a disinterested job and unaware of the interesting ones. Worrying about the obstacle ahead rather than trying to find a solution.
I guess that's why only few people reach the top and others are left behind wondering why they couldn't.

Why you should have a corporate blog?

I guess this is one of the most blogged about topic. But I guess, I'll post my comments too here which I incidentally sent to my colleagues urging them to blog on our corporate blog

Now why blog and what you can blog.

First, the Whys

1. A blog is our company profile out in the world-wide-web, not the lengthy text we write in the content.

2. A blog reflects our company’s attitude and work-culture.

3. A blog creates a better first impression with prospective clients.

4. Blogging compels you to be more creative, at all times.

5. Blogging changes you. It changes you by letting you introspect when you look at your own posts.

6. Blogging makes you a better communicator . It forces you to be clear. If you write something that's confusing, you failed to communicate to your visitors.

7. Blogging is documenting your ideas and opinions. In other words, blogs give rise to new ideas that can be built as products !

8. A blog is a better tool to find customers and employees.

9. Blogging lets you be more open , so it lets you collaborate better with your team.

Then, the Whats

If the above reasons are compelling enough, blog about the following

1. New technology or new development in the technology you work on.

2. Limitations and issues in any tool/framework/language you use.

3. Tips and tricks in any tool/framework/language.

4. How to improve Design and Application Usability

5. Customer Behaviour.

6. Day-to-day issues and how to solve them

7. Learnings from different aspects(anecdotes, project implementations, client interactions etc)

8. New ideas

9. Everything else not listed above

Policies and Guidelines

I have come across various establishments that drive a customer crazy(me being one of them) by uttering the words "it's not our policy to.."

Policies are created to guide any action taken by an organization and avert any outcomes not in favor of the company. They are essential too. But there's the catch. Policies look good when you are aiding the customer or for a better example, protecting a customer's information like the privacy policies of websites that ask for your personal info. But they are dreadful when policies rather than helping a customer , irritate him.

I remember when I had an issue with customer care for my cell phone. It suddenly stopped functioning and as it was under warranty I gave it for repair at the service center. They said it was a bit complex and sent my phone to their head office in another city. Even after 3 weeks, I got nothing, not even a response after continuously calling the service center. Irritated, I took my case with the cell phone company's customer care. They escalated it 6 times but nothing happened. Finally, I asked the cust care lady to let me talk to some senior personnel to enquire what's wrong. But she wouldn't let me. ,All she said was that it's not their policy to provide contact information of required personnel and gave the same recorded reply that my cell was not working(which as if I didn't know).
She didn't know the root cause nor she let me know it. Whoaa! If you don't know the issue and you can't let me deal with it, who is going to solve it??
As a last resort, I had to threaten to sue them to get a new phone as they couldn't repair it.

I guess some policies are meant to be more of a guideline rather than a strict adherence to the book. One cannot have irate customers and think of doing good business.

Partners and Associates

When it comes to startups, your partners shouldn't your subordinates or your superiors. There is bound be an unknown , unacknowledged gap that neither can fill in. It again may boil to a situation similar to your old office where one passes the decisions and the other does it without question.

But startups need conflicts. Conflicting ideas, conflicting ways of implementation but the same principles and passion and urge to be successful. Conflicts that will weed out the unwanted stuff and let only the most wanted and most useful things remain.
And those conflicts will be less discomforting when the people involved have a camaraderie and less ego over those conflicts like friends, colleagues, classmates or even a mentor-mentee but if you've shared a boss-assisstant relation, it could get pretty difficult.

Frustration

A piece of advice about frustration

"Frustration is ambivalent.It can be good and bad at the same time. It is good in letting you find new ways out provided you channel it effectively and it is bad when you take too much of it to your mind and allow yourself to be stressed adversely affecting your physical and mental health.There are numerous cases where frustration has led to devastating results in peoples' lives.

Frustration is caused by many things, frustation on your boss, your wife, the government , in fact everything that can be named on the planet.People try to find ways not to fight the things that cause frustration but to escape from them, but the key to letting it out is to use the energy wasted in the frequent fearful thoughts caused by frustration to do something useful for your own personal good."

So , Confront and Fight, don't escape or oblige !!

Customer Hype

I guess I need to introduce the background before I start this post. I work for a start-up and am trying to generate some for my company through a few projects.

Lately, I've been noticing a trend in customers' behavior(at least among those I meet). Most of the customers that I reach out to for a project proposal ,presentation or initial discussions, seems to create a lot of hype about his knowledge of the internet and web and the technologies involved to develop a web application. He/She boasts about their knowledge of web much before Google started or how they've learnt using email much before I knew it or how even with a lack of programming skills or experience with a technology firm , they understand the intricacies involved in developing a functionality. Then there's another kind that simply thinks software isn't real estate or a factory, so it should be pretty cheap. As cheap as his monthly electricity bill.

All they want to say is - "We've seen it all"

All this seems to me as a ploy to indirectly tell me that - "Hey, I know what the hell you are trying to do and I very well know how much time it takes and how much it costs. So , beware, don't fool around with me".

Now, how do I get a customer out of this mindset and tell him that I'm there to help him and not milk him? Iam struggling at that.
Tough thing aye !!