Paralysed by Twitter

I was reading “Politicians twitter throughout address to Congress like bored schoolchildren”, and liked the following observation:

 

It’s bad enough that Americans are paralysed by economic jitters. Now the President has to deal with politicians paralysed by Twitter. At a time of national emergency, when America needs the focused attention of contemplative and reflective lawmakers, they are dispatching rapid-fire thoughts in 140 characters or fewer.

 

How can we expect our politicians to be any different from the general population when it comes to technology distraction? We can’t. Again from the article:

 

But to view the hodgepodge of messages sent from the House floor during the speech, it seemed as if Obama were presiding over a support group for adults with attention deficit disorder.

 

On many previous occasions I have wondered about the business benefits of Twitter. Used incorrectly, like email, it is simply another way that we are giving away our time and attention for free. It amazes me that anything gets done these days with all the distractions we have allowed to pollute our lives. Strangely enough people are complaining even more loudly that they don’t have enough time to do things. HELLO? Can’t you see the linkage here? if you spend all your time Twittering what you do every five minutes how the hell can you expect to get anything done?

 

Technology like email and Twitter have their place and can be used effectively but you have to know how to use them effectively. Most people simply do it because ‘everyone else is doing it’. They don’t take the time to learn and understand where the technology can be applied and where it provides the most leverage.

 

Unfortunately, it seems like the majority of our population is doomed to be constantly distracted by technology. If you don’t want to be one of those people and you want to have a real life then maybe you should look at some of the training that I offer to help you become more productive. Have a look at www.doemailless.com and http://www.ciaops.com/smarterproducivity/index.htm for more information.

Delayed sends

So here’s another You Tube video that focuses on Outlook. In this case the video will show you how to configure Outlook so there is a delay when you send emails.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u5aNLPc_K8

Why would you want a delay? By default, Outlook will send an email as quickly as possible when you hit the send button. What happens if you make a mistake or want to delete the email prior to it actually leaving your mailbox? What about if you realize that perhaps you shouldn’t have sent the email? If you do that after pressing the send button chances are you won’t have the opportunity to do anything since the email will probably be well on its way to its destination.

 

By inserting a delay for all sent emails you get an opportunity to recover from error or stupidity much easier. It doesn’t take much to configure this in Outlook as this video shows.

Outlook notifications

By default Outlook will notify you via a variety of means that a new email has arrived. This can be very distracting and greatly reduce your productivity as I have eluded to many time here before. As such I have created a new You Tube video that shows you how to disable these notifications.

 

Death of dreams

I’ve just read “Shop owners shut doors on their dreams” which details how a small business of 21 years in the US shut up shop. It also highlights how this story is becoming more and more common. With every closure more pressure is placed on other business around that depend on that business for trade.

 

Now, we may all feel pretty smug that the same won’t happen here in Australia but are you will to take that risk if you have your own business? Most small businesses are establish as dreams and run as hobbies rather than as a business. When times get tough many do not have the structure or the resources to cope. This can put extreme pressure on those running the business that could mean they end up losing more than just the business.

 

No matter where you are the current economic issues are going to have an effect. You need to ensure that you are suitably prepared if you want to hang onto your dream. This means planning and discipline and perhaps facing up to tough decisions. That’s why in many circumstances it helps to tap an outsider to give you help, one who is not directly connected with the business, one who can give you an honest and objective opinion.

 

So if you need an objective and honest opinion about your business or assistance in any way please do not hesitate to contact me (director@ciaops.com) for further information on how I maybe able to help. Even if you just want someone to chat with about your situation please do not hesitate to drop me a line.

Serios

What’s a Serio? It’s an imaginary email currency that helps you prioritize the value of emails you send and receive. It is available from a company called Seriosity who provide a plug for Outlook that allocates you so many Serios which you apply to outbound emails. As the system learns about your contacts and they start using Serios as well you can establish costs for sending each other emails about certain topics. So, to prevent lots of trivial replies or CC’s you simply hike up the cost for people to send you email on that topic.

 

There’s a neat little video on the site that takes you through all the major aspects. The product is in beta so you can download it and try it out.

 

Personally, I’m a little sceptical because it really requires for your major contacts to opt in. I can see how it would work in a large corporate but on the general Internet, ummmmm, I kinda don’t think so because it seems to require extra effort and people aren’t into that are they? I also think that in some ways it really doesn’t change people’s bad email habits but it would certainly make them think more about sending emails if they only had a limited supply of Serio currency.

 

I applaud Serioisty for the idea and their development which has a very sound base. If every email you sent cost you 1 cent (like a postage stamp) then we’d certainly have a lot less spam for starters and perhaps less frivolous emails as well. Such an idea has always fallen down because it is firstly too hard to get all the software people to agree on how to implement it and second who collects all the money you pay for sending emails? Great concept, tough implementation.

 

Maybe Seriosity, their software and imaginary Serio currency can solve these issues. I wish them every luck because it would certainly help reduce the overload most people face.

The good

What most people conveniently overlook about the Internet (or any technology in general) for all the good there is also bad. However, here’s an example of where the good makes an impact.

 

I recently highlight the changes Facebook were planning to their Terms Of Service. It now seems that after a ‘backlash’ those terms have been rolled back as this story highlights. The global Internet is a very powerful thing and as a business you need to realize you can potentially have millions (if not billions in the case of Facebook) examining your every move online. Once the word gets out it moves at the speed of light so there isn’t too  much change of slipping one past all those people these days.

 

Would I still trust Facebook? No. Would I put all my personal stuff up there? No way. My privacy is worth far more than that I’m sorry. I realise that most people still don’t appreciate that but, hey that’s going to be their problem going forward isn’t it? Why? Because, simply, information wants to be free – once you realise it, chances are it’ll never come back!

Mobile security

Almost everyone these days has a mobile phone. A significant number know what a problem it is if you lose your mobile. Some of these people only now understand how expensive it can also be if someone gets hold of your mobile and starts placing calls to Tibet and Greenland. But consider this, with more and more of our personal information on our mobile devices what security do we have in place to protect that?

 

Do your emails get delivered to your mobile? Do you have other sensitive information on there (i.e. PIN numbers, passwords)? What about customer information? Stop and have a think about what information your mobile would divulge if it fell into someone else’s hands. Now think about how much damage that information could do both personally and commercially.

 

Worried? Well you should be. Even the bosses at Telstra get their mobiles stolen and like this story highlights it can represent a huge commercial risk. Not only to you personally but also your customers. If you have a mobile device that holds data that you want to remain private then make sure you secure it. Make sure you know how to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. Many devices these days have the ability to be remotely wiped if needed but also look at things like encryption to protect sensitive data.

 

As more and more data ends up on mobile devices that get smaller and smaller (read easier to steal), then they become just like the PC on your desk. Now, you wouldn’t want that to fall into the wrong hands would you? So maybe it’s time to look at how secure that little computer you carry around with you everywhere is!