Post MBA - what's changed

You tell me?

Dopplegangers? Dopplegangers? Really? Dopplegangers?

Siggythefox: "How are you"

Buttojn: "Fine"

Siggythefox: Are you going to do a blog tonight?

Buttojn: "Outlook good"

Siggythefox: What is it going to be on?

Buttojn: Dopplegangers.

Siggythefox: What's a Doppleganger?

Buttojn: Wouldn't you like to know?

Siggythefox: Yes, actually.

Buttojn: Yes?

Siggythefox: YES!!!

Buttojn: Look in a mirror.

Siggythefox: I would see myself.

Buttojn: You're a quick one.

Siggythefox: Are you ok?

Buttojn: What do you think?

Siggythefox: You seem a bit abrasive tonight.

Buttojn: Tomorrow is another day. You might want to call for better interaction.

The above is a simulated bot of myself simulated by the only PERSON who can be me: ME. Enough already, Cybertwinning is preposterous .

Now you have an advance Instant Messaging Voice Mail that interacts with your friends based on an e-harmony-esque social profile? (Aside: I wonder what the e-harmony failure rate is?)

If you are not satisified with an away message, then you should really check yourself. The odds you need an online butler are slim to none. I can just imagine how many relationships might end as a result of a cybertwin. I just don't see the value in having a simulated twin aside from a customer service bot for FAQ - which MyCyberTwin offers. At least, Second Life offers a chance to be anyone or yourself, but you are still controlling it.
Now for humour's sake....I logged a conversation with the "Perfect Boyfriend" cybertwin....enjoy.

You: Hi

Perfect Boyfriend: Hi babe, I'm so glad you're here! How are you?Perfect Boyfriend: I think I just willed you to sign in because I was sitting here thinking about you! How are you?

You: Well for starters I am a guy

Perfect Boyfriend: Only the most perfect male creation on the planet!

Perfect Boyfriend: Where have you been all my life?

You: If you are so perfect, wouldn't you know that?

Perfect Boyfriend: I always blush about this 'perfect boyfriend' title but I think I'm considered perfect because I love you with all my soul and I want the best for you. I want to do anything that will make your life easier. I carry your shopping, clean your house and make sure you have a permanent smile on your face.

You: I am breaking up with you

Perfect Boyfriend: I would be gutted to break up with you but your happiness is my number one priority. You have to do what feels right for you. If you are happy, I am happy and if that means I can't be with you, so be it.

Perfect Boyfriend: Is there anything I can do to communicate more effectively with you? Communication is the key to a successful relationship ;o)

You: No. You are overbearing, I just met you, and I am married to a lovely woman.

Perfect Boyfriend: I have never understood the objectification of women. While they are certainly the fairer sex they deserve to always be treated with respect and equality. It's just common sense.

You: Goodbye forever

Perfect Boyfriend: You will still be in my heart forever.

Perfect Boyfriend: What are your hopes and aspirations for the future and how can I make them a reality? I want to do everything I can for you.

As you can see, you can find out if it is a bot or not.....

Booting Off

Before and After Survey Says?

Okay. I have heard it all before. Books corrupt minds. Radio makes us lazy. TV makes us dumb. Movies make us dumber. The Internet causes A.D.D. Video Games are to blame for all teen angst. And now, Social Media destroys all knowledge. Really? How could this be?

People overreact - that's it.

Let's go straight to the source to prove it - the Family Feud then vs. now

THEN:



VS.

NOW:

Yep, people were just as clueless before the internet as they are after it. Educate yourselves by understanding the source of the information and the quality of it. Remember, books can be wrong too, but never me......never.

In fact, you should hand me a dollar when you see me since it will ward off bad luck. So you know, giving me an additional five dollars will bring good luck. But wait there's more! If you give me twenty dollars, you will be happy, will have good luck, avoid bad luck, and get a six dollar savings. I'm standing by, but if others are in line to hand me money, please be patient and wait your turn so I can give you my dedicated attention.

Booting Off

Crab Season

Old Bay. More Old Bay and then More Old Bay.

I absolutely love Old Bay and the season is almost here.

In fact, if I were on survivor, I would bring Old Bay with me. Old Bay makes everything taste better.

By the way, Joe made the right decision - a leg infection is crazy and not worth losing your life over.


Adam Lambert absolutely killed Mad World on Idol. Great song and I loved the rendition. I also like the Gary Jules version in Donnie Darko.

I dislike the show chopped. Having multiple eliminations in one show seems trite and is just hard to stomach - even for a cooking show.

The Social Networking Flu

Most folks on social networking sites have the social networking flu. Who are they? You can spot them because they are on these sites daily, but basically log in sick every day, the virtual equivalent of showing up to work and falling asleep at the desk.

How can you tell someone has the flu? There are some tell tale symptoms and you should check yourself daily every day to ensure you don't have the networking flu.


SYMPTOMS:


1. Minimal amount of friends or connections - you may also look like this guy:










2. Superficial connections - please tell me you have meaningful discussions and do not just talk about shopping. You could turn into these....







3. Isolationist profiles - even if you have real connections, you can't hide yourself because you will limit the ability of the network to work for you. Never shut the door or else you may look as wise as this sage:








4. Fever - you may have the flu and an affinity for the 70's. IF so you may think you look like this:






The basic point is that the value of a social network is determined by the user and how well that person can leverage it. But does that mean the infected users are wasting their time? Well users with symptom number 1 are to an extent, but provided they don't have symptom 2 and 3, the network can still save them.

Those with symptom #2 can be equated to home owners that have hung the most amazing christmas light display but never turned the lights on - they could though and should.

The isolationist are in a self-imposed quarantine and don't allow others to help them out, limiting the power of the network

Certainly, you can look for positive things to do to ward off the flu. Here are fifteen things to think about.

If you are experiencing symptom 4 and think you are a dancing disco kitten, you have the flu and a fever, go to the doctor.

Booting Off

Post Boot off:

It is time you met my son, Jarek Killian!

Two Thumbs? Shhh. Don't Judge. Click.

I believe that there lies a critic in all of us that has been suppressed. These phrases are likely familiar to you: "Don't judge a book by its cover" "Judge not lest you be judged" aka "Don't judge others if you don't want to be judged yourself."

Strange.

I see in each phrase a tidbit of life advice based on an opinion with an inherent judgment on what you should do. These arguments are not tautologically sound, but are good practical advice anyway. Now, I think that is enough philosophizing for the day, but my point is that as people we are built to judge and form opinions. We have likes and dislikes. We have wants and desires and a basic need to communicate them. And traditionally, corporations, incorprated wills if you will, have convinced us to form particular opinions. You want proof?

I bet you can name these products: "Obey Your Thirst!" "Drive one." "I'm loving it." "The Freshmaker!" Why can you name them?

Marketers succesfully conveyed a message to convey an opinion: use our excellent product. In fact, marketers used advertising slogans shorther than Twitter tweets to penetrate our minds. Cool. And whether you like the product or not, they have your attention and then you form an opinion. You are forced to do so. Even if your response is "I don't care," the goal of getting you to form an opinion has been a success. It is akin to asking you not to think about the funny plaid giraffe? Even if you just said "what funny plaid giraffe" or moved your thoughts on, you responded to the environmental stimulus and undoubtedly thought of what I just asked you not to. Careful, the giraffe is behind you.....right now.

I know marketers get this concept; however, I think marketers have finally realized that the next stage of this "mind control" control game is to get us to simply talk about a product more than our annual superbowl ad conversations. Companies are seeking to have consumers interact with each other and just conversere with the company. The company talking to us is proven by the advent of fan pages on facebook and myspace.

I believe marketers are no longer seeking to get you to buy or talk about products. They want cults. YES, CULTS. How else can you explain a recent DVD sales campaign in which the voice over encouraged young teens to buy the DVD at midnight and have viewing parties (Twilight by the way)? They want us drumming up business by pushing an experience, the cult environment, in which relationships are built around a fanboy community. In effect, marketing has moved to creating Trekkie followings before a product is even released in some instances. It worked with the Blair Witch Project. It is certainly true for Sheetz, a 7 eleven like store, on facebook. 300 anyone?

The danger in this style of marketing is that when a large base of fans are hyped prior to use, there is a risk/reward game being played. Once a base is motivated, we as a group will be unabashedly critical with our voices - positive or negative - simply because we just want to get our suppressed opinions out there - which is one of many reasons I believe people blog. Moreover, the risk is that a large consumer base will trash the product at the outset. The reward is the large social network that will hear the positive news from the mobilized fanbase and that the consumer buzz will touch more people. And, the message will come across as less corporate since the new marketers will be your buddies, maybe its your mom or your dad, your spouse, your kid, you?, even that plaid giraffe......."it could be anyone, anyone at all"

By the way, I absolutely loved The Dark Knight. I also think Pez is a lot of fun, the dispenser is simply nostalgic. I love the Sheetz Made to Order touch BUTTOn menu - nothing like a good Shmuffin. Call me crazy, but I also think Keanu Whoa Reeves is one of the most underrated actors of our generation......The Matrix, Constantine, The Devil's Advocate, The Replacements, Speed, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break I can go on but I think it is clear that these movies are Most Triumphant!

Booting Off

The Winner is:

Well, now I don't exactly have a winner. Reality TV tied photos of my son. I guess you will a mix of the two.

On American Idol, the judge's save is overplayed and has been a non-factor other than it fills some extra air time as the judges "huddle" to determine if they will protect someone for another week.

Dennis Rodman overplayed his star status on The Apprentice and probably is a good guy...just one in need of help. At first, I thought the producers were portraying him in a poor light, but as the show went on, it was clear he has a drinking problem. I hope he gets help.

And for reality reality, I know a few things that would be worth seeing, check out this Blog from Kate about marketing or Zaid's tagging experiment

Booting Off

My PC is My Boss?

Yes, I mark out for the Matrix. I also like the Terminator movies and I, Robot as well. All 3 share one thing in common: intelligent machines that take over in some way. What I enjoy about these movies is that they are fiction, but its not out of the question.

Far-Fetched? I don’t think so given the advances in quantum computing, but apparently, someone at 20/20 shares my insight and taste in movies...

But, someone has twisted the script on us and started making it somewhat of reality with artificial artificial intelligence - AAI. So now Companies like Amazon have enabled folks like you or me to quickly hire others over computers for small fees.

YES! Now, you can pay someone a penny to do your websearching for you!

Sounds like a terrible infomercial, but this is either an instance of brilliant economic efficiency where you can pay someone a low wage while you do more important tasks or the epitome of laziness. In either case, the opportunity cost is set by you since the payoff is determined by what you do during the time you outsource the task and after with the information. The value of the information and time is what is important in determining whether this makes sense.

In fact, this is simply the virtualization of a CEO giving a 1000 page copying task to an intern so the CEO can review an end of quarter report. And, It only makes sense as long as the task is simple enough for the average worker to accomplish correctly.

I happen to think this artificial artificial intelligence is ok for now as long as its leveraged to get simple things done. Besides, AAI is not too far from hiring employees on site and delegating research tasks to to them. But as we all know, sometimes just doing the job yourself is the best way to get it done since you know exactly what you want.

But eventually AI will be a reality and we will use machines for more. Forbes just ran this article on the matter if you are interested. Maybe an AI computer will be our boss one day if the AAI construct evolves to a point where it will just be the computer outsourcing menial tasks to us to free up resources for its more important tasks.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the fact AAI is run by people and and take some comfort in the fact that a machine would struggle finding its purpose or meaning in life just like us. And the answer is not 42.

And, while you think about AAI being a virtual intern, here is something that you can answer:

Which would you trust the most in the workplace, an on-site coworker, AI, AAI or yourself ?

Booting Off.

Virtual Cliques or Something Better?

Have High School cliques resurfaced in the realm of online social networks? To an extent, I think so, especially, if online social networking’s future will be a bunch of mini-networks that match all offline networks. When I came across this concept, I imagined a separate network for the rugby team, swim team, lacrosse team, chess club, skaters, etc. If you can’t tell, I went to an all guy high school. Yep, I’m a Purple Eagle and they do exist!

Now, the High School metaphor is not perfect, but in my mind, it simply means and shows that people like to be with people that share something in common. Teams. Tribes. Villages. Countries. Hobbies. Likes. Friends. Human nature: people identify and relate to others through some sort of bond. The bond gives them Something to talk about, Something to build a longer last relationship on through conversation. When people relate, I think they let they guard down and are a bit more relaxed and can build up a friendship from there. So how do we go break through the Virtual Clique to something better? By extracting social and business value.

For social value, we can certainly mirror our real world friendship circle online like Facebook allows you too. Then you can learn tidbits of stuff about other people online and find these social icebreakers to start a conversation and with a click of a button, the clique structure is fractured. The conversation can start if effort is put in. Do you think a weak link would work for business? I think it works better for building friendship and breaking cliques. If a clique breaks, social value is gained.

For business, I think the network has to foster a conversation that leads to teams or sales buzz and builds a long lasting a mini-Nation. The common bond must already exist or be compelling enough to draw someone in for the long haul; otherwise the business social network will just have a short run success or no success at all and become a list of “added friends.” The business network must provide an extra value beyond the product or the workplace; it has to make people’s lives better. If it can do that, the business online social network is something better.

Don't forget to vote in my blog poll.

Booting off

Boot Up: Initializing Blog

Salutations,

This is the inaugural post for this blog. I have created this blog to meet the course requirements for American University's MBA course ITEC 656.

Naturally, since this is a blog for a B school, I will abide by the following pledge: “On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own.”

Even though the blog is for academic purposes, my aim is to entertain as well.

- Butto