Do you know the different between Networking and Connecting?

Barton George tweeted about an article on connecting.

Barton George
Forget Networking. How to Be a Connector  <- Im down with this :-)
6 Feb Favorite Retweet Reply

The article is a good one to think about.

Forget Networking. How to Be a Connector

SecondAct.com
BY  | January 29, 2012|
171
Forget Networking. How to Be a Connector
Photo courtesy of Josh Bycel
Connector Josh Bycel raised $50,000 in three weeks to fund a medical clinic at a refugee camp in Darfur.
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We all know people like them, people who seem to know everyone. They're always able to help -- or if they can't, they know someone who can. You meet them for the first time and in 15 minutes, you're talking with them like you're childhood friends. They're successful, smart and funny, with a likable touch of self-deprecation. And they're interested in everything.

How do you find a connector?  look for three traits.

Traits such as energy, insatiable curiosity and a willingness to take chances seem to be the common thread among connectors -- as well as an insistence that connecting is not the same as networking.

Do you want to be a connector?  Can you do this?

Perhaps one of the most important attributes of a connector is a willingness to help and to reach out even if there is no obvious or immediate payback.

Consider how much this article has been shared.

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10 years of blogging, 10 lessons, Om Malik shares his learnings

I've been blogging for 4 years, and have learned a lot along the way.  Om Malik has been blogging for 10 years and shares his 10 lessons.

My 10 years of blogging: Reflections, Lessons & Some Stats Too

By  Nov. 26, 2011, 8:04pm PT 26 Comments

Ten years is a long time. Sometimes it is so long that one forgets a lot more than one remembers — like the fact that it I have been blogging for a decade. I would have totally forgotten about the amount of time that has passed, had it not been for (what else) a blog post from Fred Wilson, one of the more engaging and rigorous bloggers on the web. It just so happens he is a venture capitalist, but he would be a great blogger without the VC tag as well.

Om buries his 10 lessons in the bottom of his relatively long post.  So, let's bring them to the top and you can see them here.

Here are my 10 lessons learned:

  1. Blogging is communal: In 2008, I wrote that “blogging is not just an act of publishing but also a communal activity. It is more than leaving comments; it is about creating connections.” That is the single biggest lesson learned of these past 10 years. Every connection has lead to a new idea, new thought and a new opportunity.
  2. Being authentic in your thoughts and voice is the only way to survive the test of time.
  3. Being wrong is as important as being right. What’s more important — when wrong, admit that you are wrong and listen to those who are/were right.
  4. Be regular. And show up to blog every day. After all you are as fresh as your last blog post.
  5. Treat others as you expect yourself to be treated.
  6. (In 2006 I wrote this and it is worth repeating) Doc Searls once told me, and it has been one of the guiding principles for me: blog if you have something to say and respect your reader’s time. If you respect their time, they are going to give you some time of their day.
  7. A long time ago, Slate’s Farhaad Manjoo asked mefor some tips on blogging and here is what I told him – Wait at least 15 minutes before publishing something you’ve written—this will give you enough distance to edit yourself dispassionately.
  8. Write everything as if your mom is reading your work, a good way to maintain civility and keep your work comprehensible.
  9. Blogging is not about opinion but it is about viewing the world in a certain way and sharing it with others how you look at things.

The tenth lesson comes from Kevin Kelleher when he was writing for us back in 2010. In his post, How the Internet changed writing he noted:

Many bloggers tailor headlines and posts so that they’ll surface at the top of search results, making them at once easier to find and less enjoyable to read. And this decade, a lot of other bloggers mistook a strong writing voice for caustic irreverence. But most eventually learned that writing with snark is like cooking with salt — a little goes a long way.

If anything, avoiding that trap Kevin mentioned is the biggest lesson of them all.

Is it time for unbiased journalism to end, what happens if writers have opinions? More interesting news?

One of the classic rules of media journalism is being unbiased.  But is unbiased journalism real?

The Illusion of Unbiased Journalism

The title is not a misprint. There is no such thing as unbiased journalism, just like the term "political science" is an oxymoron. There is no quantitative scientific formula for winning an election, for the variable of the voter's mind is too inconsistent, and thus there is no such thing as unbiased journalism because of that same human factor.

GigaOm writes on the issues of Twitter and Journalism.

Twitter and journalism: It shouldn’t be that complicated

By  Nov. 8, 2011, 9:34am PT No Comments

The Associated Press caused a minor furore recently when the news-wire serviceupdated its social-media policy and forbid its writers from expressing any opinions on Twitter, including implied opinions caused by retweeting others. In the wake of that controversy, Jeff Sonderman at the Poynter Institute has suggested thatjournalists could use their own Twitter shorthand to prevent anyone from getting the wrong impression when a reporter retweets something. But as I’ve argued before, all we really have to do is admit that journalists of all kinds might have opinions, instead of trying to pretend that they don’t, or trying to force them not to.

Anyone who thinks journalists don't have a bias hasn't had a lengthy conversation with one in a bar.  Most have very strong opinions, but when they write for their job the "unbiased journalism" rules kick in.

I have lost the articles I found that discussed how part of what got unbiased journalism its start is when a newspaper became a monopoly in area news it was in its best interest to tell both sides of the story to maximize readership which then maximizes subscriptions and advertising.

But in this day, monopoly news is out.  People want to hear opinions.  And it is what they expect.  How many times have you read something expecting some good points and are disappointed there is no clear opinions.  I know many who have had media interviews spent a lot of time explaining their issues, and then when the article comes out their expert opinion is compared to a nobody, but a nobody who has the opposing view that allows the journalist to appear unbiased.

By pretending that their journalists don’t have opinions, when everyone knows that they do, mainstream media outlets are suggesting their viewers or readers are too stupid to figure out where the truth lies, or too thick to consider the facts of a story if the reporter happens to have retweeted someone or joined a Facebook page. Given that kind of treatment, many of those looking for news are likely to migrate to sources that admit they have views on events, rather than continue to be talked down to by newspapers and TV networks that pretend they are above that sort of thing.

GIgaOm highlights the power of Twitter.

But all that reinforces is how media entities like CNN are missing the point about social media, or seeing only the potential negatives instead of the positives. As journalism professor Robert Hernandez noted on Twitter:


Robert Hernandez
The thing is RT/Twitter/social media is working fine. It's traditionalists that don't get it and want to 'fix it,' aka control it.

Fire the customer, example someone texts in the movie theater

I am sure some of you agree some customers are not work the effort, you want to fire them.

Here is a good example on a customer you would want to fire.  http://hun.ch/nfe3Bd

This customer exhibits many of the signs of one you want to fire.

· The Chronic Complainer. This customer constantly speaks negatively about your product, prices, or service, but still buys from you. Address the complaints, but don’t let it continue.  If someone is complaining to you, s/he is probably complaining about you to others, hurting your brand.

· Captain Rude. No one should have to endure verbal abuse. Don’t be afraid to set clear boundaries with this customer. Communicate your expectations about rudeness, and if this customer breaks the rules, say goodbye.

· The Other Guy Does It Better. Some customers constantly talk about your competition. The really brazen ones may even tell the competitor they’re playing a back-and-forth game with you. If this happens once, it may be worth working through, but again, if it’s happening often, this customer may not be worth the trouble.

...

· Can they be converted? Say a customer is giving off a “maybe I’ll change my mind” vibe. If you sense a potential behavior change, retention efforts may be wise even if the math doesn’t say so up front.

· Does this customer mistreat your employees? This must be a consideration – always. If a customer is verbally abusive or harassing one of your employees, let them go in a hurry.


i am sure many of you have fired a customer and agree on this view.

Firing a customer is not an easy decision. After you work hard to earn their business, the idea of cutting them loose may seem counter-intuitive. Check the math and consider the ramifications of keeping them around.