At the risk of being repetitive, I think it’s worth deciding which direction to take when choosing between depth and reach, which have an inverse relationship. Part of the attention paradox is that reach is often traded for depth. It’s easier to develop a following with prank videos, motivational quotes, and through controversy. The surface level […]
How Smart?
I read that you shouldn’t compliment your children on how smart they are as they will begin to rely on their intelligence and will cease to work as hard. “Smart” I knew plenty of kids in high school and college who were traditionally “brilliant.” They understood chemistry and math, they read philosophy, they had exceptional […]
Proven Social Media Strategies
Many of you who read this blog, know me from my work as a social media strategist and speaker. You probably even first came here to learn more about how digital marketing works. You then quickly realized a few things: that I spoke a lot less about success strategies for Twitter, than I did about […]
The Rules of Media
We should look at the traditional rules and norms of journalism and reintroduce them as part of how social media should operate. YOU are part of the media. However, you can’t just say whatever you want and call it news or journalism. In the past they had names for that. That’s editorial at best, and […]
Sing alongs and habits in the age of the trite
We could march to the same beat or sing the same melody. Look to your left, look to your right, just copy the person to your side. INSPIRE When Sam Parker started Inspire Your People, it was a unique marketplace for corporations to buy inspiring content like DVDs, posters, and books. Then, everyone started hanging […]
A la carte ideas
I think, far too often, we bundle ideas together and then make it inseparable. We do good ideas a disservice when we do this. Good ideas are not dependent upon other ideas. We can extrapolate individual components of a theory or philosophy without taking the entire idea wholesale. This is the difference between critical thinking and […]
Self Defense?
You can say anything on the internet. But sometimes the things you say have serious consequences…just ask Rosanne Barr. Sometimes, the things you say will just mean that you’ll either have to defend saying something stupid, or walk back your comment and admit it was dumb. Let’s say you decide to say something stupid. Something […]
The Attention Paradox
Without attention, you are publishing to yourself in cyberspace. Your words will lack weight or consequence. When just one person gives your their attention, the potential energy of your words grow. If they share your words to their networks, the results can grow exponentially. The more people give you attention, the more your potential impact […]
Occasionally Irritated by Internets
I know I said that I was going to be squashing my inner hater, but I gotta just get a few more things out. The internet has done some amazing things for human beings. Seriously, we have 24/7 access to a vast majority of the world’s information. But we’ve also created some monsters… Monsters of […]