Yikes! Somehow I've found a new addiction.
How did this happen?
Innocently enough, as addictions usually do... An simple email invitation from my girl, A.
I thought, Twitter? What the heck is that? A quick visit to the website did not tell me much. But when I finally figured it out and suddenly received a text message from my great friend, I thought, "hmm.... okay, pretty cool".
Come to find out, you can search for anyone in the world and "follow" them, assuming their account is open to the public. I found myself searching on Bill Gates, George Bush, Martha Stewart. As of yet, it seems to be that the majority of the members are techie geeks or savvy bloggers who want another medium to express themselves.
I am now following Guy Kawasaki, the Silicon Valley VC maven and a bunch of other technologists. The way it works is when folks post to their account via email, web, IM or text message, everyone who follows them receives that message either on the web or via text message. It's like instant messaging for the world.
So now, suddenly, I am being bombarded with a constant stream of information. I gotta say, I'm LOVING it. I'm getting great information that will certainly be valuable to me as a technology sales person and it satisfies my obsessive - compulsive need for constant stimulation. I find myself constantly hitting refresh to get my updates on the web. My favorite followee alerts are set to be sent to my blackberry.
I probably need to weed down my followee list, otherwise, I may lose my job due to the fact that I'm spending all of my time learning random stuff and not selling my existing technology solutions!
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
4.21.2008
Wiki
What a fun word. Makes me think about Hawaiian dances or something. I spent some time on various "Wiki"s this weekend... let's see, there's Wikipedia, Wikihow, Wiktionary and a bunch of others. The concept is each site is a giant online resource that can be edited by virtually anyone. So it's a continually evolving project.
Anyhoo, I wanted to do some research before showing up to the Seder, so I searched on "Passover" and "Seder". I found myself reading an article, "how to be a respectful Non-Jew at a Seder" -- perfect! It actually wasn't terribly useful given the article was geared for a more traditional Seder.
I found myself getting sucked in big time. You can read about one topic and they always give you links to other "similar" topics. Somehow, I found myself reading, "how to be liked" (!!!) and "how to be popular but not mean". Are you kidding me? If ONLY Wiki existed when I was in high school. Kids these days really have it easy.
I'm off to read about "how to pass time when bored." I'll keep you posted.
Anyhoo, I wanted to do some research before showing up to the Seder, so I searched on "Passover" and "Seder". I found myself reading an article, "how to be a respectful Non-Jew at a Seder" -- perfect! It actually wasn't terribly useful given the article was geared for a more traditional Seder.
I found myself getting sucked in big time. You can read about one topic and they always give you links to other "similar" topics. Somehow, I found myself reading, "how to be liked" (!!!) and "how to be popular but not mean". Are you kidding me? If ONLY Wiki existed when I was in high school. Kids these days really have it easy.
I'm off to read about "how to pass time when bored." I'll keep you posted.
4.04.2008
The power of the 'net
I am following a discussion list thread on my favorite social networking site, Yelp. I think I'm addicted to this freaking site, but that is the topic for another blog entry. : )
Yelp has this feature called, "talk". Anyone who is a Yelp member (free of course) can post topics for discussion, open to public viewing and response by other members. I love it. I have seen some random posts like, "what should I cook for dinner?", "Things to say to the UPS man" or even a recent post, "I just got dumped via text message". I find myself getting sucked into the most obscure topics of discussion. It fascinates me the power of the internet to facilitate such discussions and of course the key driver here is that folks aren't "discussing" face-to-face.
As such, you can imagine there are many pretty risque conversations which develop....
A couple of weeks ago, a woman posted a talk entry titled, "Help find Bongo!! Please!!". With your profile, you can include a picture and next to this woman's entry displayed the most adorable fluffy white with black patches dog. Naturally, I had to read the thread.
Apparently this woman went on a trip to Florida. Her dog, Bongo, missing her so, went on a mission to find her. She learned that the dog had run away while away in Florida. Feeling helpless 3000 miles away, she posted on Yelp to request the assistance of other San Franciscan Yelpers to aid in her search. This posting triggered hundreds of Yelpers to respond, offer condolences, and promises to help find Bongo. I added my two cents: something along the lines of, "as a dog owner, my heart goes out to you... blah blah blah".
I found myself continually searching for the thread to see if any new updates had emerged. It almost became an obsession. And I wasn't alone, I started to see the same members writing in snippets of good thoughts and suggestions, "put up fliers at all of the dog parks", "Bongo will be back, keep the faith".
Although I'm sure Bongo's mommy will not be content until Bongo is safe and sound at home, but I'm sure it must be a great feeling to continually receive such support.
The other day, I found a new feature on Yelp Talk!.... it's a little check box for each topic enabling you to be emailed anytime a new entry is posted. Nice! So, I added checked the box for Bongo's thread. Now I get the replies sent directly in my inbox.
Now, every time I get a message from Yelp re: "Help Find Bongo!!" I have to stop everything I'm doing to see if Bongo has been found. Obsessive ? A bit. But, come on, these days with technology and the internet changing the way people work and interact socially, any means toward a sense of community is a good thing in my opinion.
It's been two weeks, so I'm sure either Bongo has a new home or he's in doggy heaven, but I am still thinking positively for Bongo and his mommy.
Yelp has this feature called, "talk". Anyone who is a Yelp member (free of course) can post topics for discussion, open to public viewing and response by other members. I love it. I have seen some random posts like, "what should I cook for dinner?", "Things to say to the UPS man" or even a recent post, "I just got dumped via text message". I find myself getting sucked into the most obscure topics of discussion. It fascinates me the power of the internet to facilitate such discussions and of course the key driver here is that folks aren't "discussing" face-to-face.
As such, you can imagine there are many pretty risque conversations which develop....
A couple of weeks ago, a woman posted a talk entry titled, "Help find Bongo!! Please!!". With your profile, you can include a picture and next to this woman's entry displayed the most adorable fluffy white with black patches dog. Naturally, I had to read the thread.
Apparently this woman went on a trip to Florida. Her dog, Bongo, missing her so, went on a mission to find her. She learned that the dog had run away while away in Florida. Feeling helpless 3000 miles away, she posted on Yelp to request the assistance of other San Franciscan Yelpers to aid in her search. This posting triggered hundreds of Yelpers to respond, offer condolences, and promises to help find Bongo. I added my two cents: something along the lines of, "as a dog owner, my heart goes out to you... blah blah blah".
I found myself continually searching for the thread to see if any new updates had emerged. It almost became an obsession. And I wasn't alone, I started to see the same members writing in snippets of good thoughts and suggestions, "put up fliers at all of the dog parks", "Bongo will be back, keep the faith".
Although I'm sure Bongo's mommy will not be content until Bongo is safe and sound at home, but I'm sure it must be a great feeling to continually receive such support.
The other day, I found a new feature on Yelp Talk!.... it's a little check box for each topic enabling you to be emailed anytime a new entry is posted. Nice! So, I added checked the box for Bongo's thread. Now I get the replies sent directly in my inbox.
Now, every time I get a message from Yelp re: "Help Find Bongo!!" I have to stop everything I'm doing to see if Bongo has been found. Obsessive ? A bit. But, come on, these days with technology and the internet changing the way people work and interact socially, any means toward a sense of community is a good thing in my opinion.
It's been two weeks, so I'm sure either Bongo has a new home or he's in doggy heaven, but I am still thinking positively for Bongo and his mommy.
3.25.2008
Hello my name is Sheila. I am an Internet Junkie.
This made me laugh today,
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/87251
It is actually a notion I've thought a lot about and even pondered if I might be afflicted myself. I do have that intense need to be connected at all times. I feel genuinely lost without my "Crackberry" and it makes me crazy if I haven't checked email in the past hour.
Who knows what nuggets of information may be sitting in my inbox as of yet undiscovered?
The reality is, we're usually talking about a marketing email inviting me to check out the newest gadgets at Crate and Barrel or another "MyPoints" email presenting me with yet another opportunity to add 5 points (just for reading!) to my growing loyalty program account.
There is no better feeling than to receive an email from a friend inviting me to lunch, or an email from my favorite "email buddy", Kathy, with an update on what's going on in her life. Akin to winning a hand at BlackJack, I feel like a winner whenever I check for new mail on my cell phone and see the note "inbox: 1 of 5" signifying 5 new messages are coming in!
So, what do you think? Do I need to start thinking about going to Internet Junkies Anonymous? Maybe... but can we meet online instead?
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/87251
It is actually a notion I've thought a lot about and even pondered if I might be afflicted myself. I do have that intense need to be connected at all times. I feel genuinely lost without my "Crackberry" and it makes me crazy if I haven't checked email in the past hour.
Who knows what nuggets of information may be sitting in my inbox as of yet undiscovered?
The reality is, we're usually talking about a marketing email inviting me to check out the newest gadgets at Crate and Barrel or another "MyPoints" email presenting me with yet another opportunity to add 5 points (just for reading!) to my growing loyalty program account.
There is no better feeling than to receive an email from a friend inviting me to lunch, or an email from my favorite "email buddy", Kathy, with an update on what's going on in her life. Akin to winning a hand at BlackJack, I feel like a winner whenever I check for new mail on my cell phone and see the note "inbox: 1 of 5" signifying 5 new messages are coming in!
So, what do you think? Do I need to start thinking about going to Internet Junkies Anonymous? Maybe... but can we meet online instead?
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