Each year for my birthday, I spend part of the day riding one mile for every year old I am that year. Yesterday was my annual birthday ride, and since I’m getting older (or, maybe just old!) I had to go a ways: forty-seven miles, to be exact, to hit my goal (yes, I made it!).

During my ride I found myself in the middle of a large charity ride, which included a longish (3-4 mile) climb to a small town near Boulder. Sadly, it was obvious many of the participants were not adequately prepared. I was reminded that cycling is not easy. I ride an average of 125 miles weekly in the summer to prepare for long rides.

Most things require work and preparation. It occurred to me that social media is no different. That is, there are no easy ways to build a community, no short-cuts, and it’s not something you can just dive into and be successful. It’s hard work and requires preparation in order to be successful and attention over the long term to grow what you’ve built.

I cringe whenever I see programs that will “get you followers while you sleep” or “double your Facebook friends tomorrow” or any other variation of snake oil. Can you get a bunch of new Twitter followers with some programs? Of course. But, much like many of the people I saw on Sunday trying to climb a hill with the wrong equipment and too little preparation, you won’t know what to do with this new-found “wealth.” You might even find yourself suffering a little. Or a lot.

Think about Community Access Television. Just about anyone could get time, but if the program was unwatchable drivel, it was like shouting in the wilderness. Social media gives us all easy access to a myriad of large networks, much like Community Access Television. Same idea here. Let’s say you get 10,000 Twitter followers through a short-cut of some kind… now what? What are you going to talk about? What does your “community” want to hear about and, better yet, have a conversation about? If you don’t know that first–and build a community based on that, not on auto-follows and other tricks–you’ll find yourself shouting in the wilderness, and your 10,000 followers will soon by 9,000, then 8,000, and so on.

The act of buying a bicycle alone does not prepare you for a four-mile climb, just as having 10,000 Twitter followers is not all it takes to build and maintain a community.

Every day I get a handful of follow requests from small businesses who simply seem to want followers. I’m sure your bakery in Cleveland is lovely (I made that up so as not to call anyone out!) I might really like it. But I don’t have any plans to be in Cleveland in the foreseeable future, so daily (or more) snippets of news from you doesn’t sound all that interesting. If you found me because I mentioned the Cleveland Browns when talking about football, you’re misusing a short cut and you’re wasting your time and mine.

Before you dive in to any social media network, ask yourself: what are my goals? What value will I try to provide? What can I offer to those who follow me? How can I find those who will appreciate what I have to say, and will want to have a conversation with me? And if you want to use a tool that helps you find people who might have an interest in a bakery in Cleveland, connect all the dots and use the tool correctly. The smart pilots only use the auto-pilot programs when it’s appropriate.

A username and a password does not mean you’re ready, just like buying a bike doesn’t mean the Tour de France is in your future. It just means you’ve taken the first step, and there are no shortcuts.

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There’s lots of banter in tech circles and the media of late about net neutrality. I firmly believe this is one of the most important issues facing how we communicate today, yet it’s often misunderstood, even by by lawmakers who may be asked to determine how everything will finally shake out.

Why is net neutrality so important? Simple: the Internet is taking over much of the way we get information and entertainment and how we communicate with one another. Twenty-five years ago, the radio stations I listened to, the television stations I watched, the newspaper I subscribed to and the magazines I purchased all got to me in very different ways. Now, if the Internet goes down, I’m cut off from the bulk of my news, information, entertainment and even the ability to reach out to friends and colleagues.

Read/Write Web did a great graphic presenting both sides of the net neutrality discussion here. The point I’d like to make in this post is that net neutrality is not some “techie” thing that’s over most of our heads. Instead, it’s critical that we understand and take a stand on how we would like to see the flow of information regulated—or not. Your stand may be different from mine, but the public discourse is critical for this enabling and important technology. This is one critical business issue that must not be decided by lobbyists voicing the business interests of a handful of large corporations.

Neutrality Must Not Mean “Don’t Manage Your Network”

Potential legislation, in my opinion, must be well written in order to keep the Internet from slowing down for all of us. I’ve heard net neutrality advocates boil this issue down to “all bits, regardless of what they are, must be treated the same.”

I disagree.

There is a difference between network management and net neutrality. For example, if I’m making a call on Skype, I want my Internet provider to give a higher priority to a voice packet, even if that means a web page I’m loading or an email I’m sending is delayed a fraction of a second. That makes for a better Skype experience, and I really won’t notice a slight slowing of my email. That’s intelligent network management that makes the available tools work better for all of us. The slippery slope is introduced with an example like Internet Service Providers (ISPs) having the opportunity to take a potential next step and prioritize their own paid voice packets over my Skype call to encourage me to use their service. Worse, what if Skype was blocked completely by one or more of the ISPs that service my market?

Clearly, any potential regulation must not be written in such a way that prevents providers from managing and optimizing their networks, but, I believe, it should should ensure equal access to any public URL.

The End of the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet

Comcast got in some trouble, but eventually prevailed in court, for throttling BitTorrent streams. To me, the issue is not as simple as “to BitTorrent or not to BitTorrent,” and if network congestion is truly an issue, as it seems to be, we need to start paying for that second slice of pie.

In the case noted above, Comcast was wrong in my opinion because they violated their own contract with their customers. They offered unlimited access for one monthly fee, then played dirty tricks on customers that became bandwidth hogs. Sorry, but you don’t get to do both. Either you can offer all the time/data/pick your measure you like for one fee, or you can offer a pay as you go plan, and that needs to be up front in the agreement. After all, Xcel Energy doesn’t just hook up electricity at my house and let me pay one lump sum for all I can use, regardless of my consumption. But, if they did, it would be wrong of them to just cut my service when they thought I was using too much power. It’s “A” or it’s “B.” In the end, it’s OK for heavy users to be charged more than light users.

What I Believe About Net Neutrality

You don’t have to agree with me, but I hope you’ll consider this issue as important is I do. Bad legislation, no matter how well-intentioned, could severely stifle growth of one of the most important elements of our economy. Here are the points I believe to be true in this discussion:

• There is a difference between optimizing all traffic across a network and giving special service. The former should be encouraged and the latter, in general, forbidden.
• I recognize that these are networks that were, to a very large degree, built with private investment (that is, non-government money). But just as television stations, for example—non-government entities, to be sure—must follow certain guidelines and demonstrate work in the public interest to continue to receive a broadcast license, I believe the same holds true for those that carry the Internet to our homes and businesses. In fact, I think it’s more important because of the myriad of information the Internet provides.
• Just as I pay more for cable if I get more channels coming in to my home or business, I should pay more for Internet service if I wish to use more bandwidth than others. Conversely, my mother-in-law should pay less since she her Internet use pretty much consists of checking email once a day (but perhaps she should pay extra for some of the things she chooses to forward!).
• Just like me, content providers should pay ISPs based on their bandwidth consumption. If I sell widgets and my sales go up, I need to ship more widgets to more people, so I will pay more to my selected carrier to send out more widgets. Same idea here. If 1 million people each month want to download my podcast, I need to pay more than if only 10 people wish to.
• What is premium content and what is not premium content should be decided by the content provider, not by the carrier. If the Wall Street Journal, for example, wants to charge me to look at a story, that relationship should be between me and the Wall Street Journal and Qwest, my ISP, should stay out of it. And, per the point above, if my content is wildly successful, my ISP will share in my good fortune by making more money because I pay more in access/transfer fees.
• Special offers and relationships do not violate net neutrality per se, and legislation must be written to protect free enterprise. For example, if the Wall Street Journal (which seems to be my example of the day) choses to give a free 30-day subscription to the premium content to anyone that signs up with a certain ISP during the next two weeks, that’s great and should be allowed. That’s called a trial promotion, not a violation of net neutrality. I would consider it a problem, however, if the Wall Street Journal and an ISP cut a deal making the Journal available exclusively on that ISP, or if the Journal was delivered better/faster/more reliably on the network than the local newspaper because they paid that ISP more money.
• User agreements are contracts, and contracts need to be honored by all parties concerned. If I don’t pay my ISP, they will shut off my service. On the other hand, if they tell me I have unlimited bandwidth, they need to honor that even if I’m downloading high-definition movies 24/7 as long as I’m adhering to the contract. If they would like to alter the terms of the contract once it is expired, fine. Maybe promotions like “price for life” will go the way of the buggy whip.
• I believe that more and more of us will get more and more Internet access through mobile devices, and I believe that what I’ve outlined here holds true for those devices as well. The bandwidth issues are even more sensitive and tend to impact other users even more, so we need to establish the rules now.

I fully recognize this is a complicated issue, but just as not understanding the complicated U.S. tax code is not a defense for not paying your taxes properly, the Internet is changing the way we are entertained, the way we do business and the way we communicate. It is incumbent upon us to understand the issues and to insist those who are making policy understand our wishes.

I’m sure many of our readers have opinions about this, and I would welcome and encourage a robust conversation. Here’s my volley—please join in and leave a comment–pro or con.

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One of the great aspects of social media is the ability for far more people than ever before to get involved in communications, but this represents a fundamental change for newspapers. Instead of printing a few letters to the editor each day, representing a tiny fraction of the readership, nearly every online story on most newspaper websites features the ability to comment. Individual stories often receive dozens or even hundreds of comments, even in smaller markets.

That’s usually a good thing–but it can be a bad thing. Sadly, it seems our own Boulder Daily Camera is an example of how this is becoming a bad thing. This problem isn’t limited to the Camera, but because the paper is in our town and I try to read it every day, I’m throwing down the gauntlet: I’m challenging you, Camera: clean up your comments.

Simply, you’ve lost control of your own living room. The comments are often more ridiculous than valuable. It’s time to kick the serial smartasses out of the party and see if your community is able to conduct itself in a better way.

I’m not talking about profanity, threats or other egregious violations. If those things are happening, they do seem to be getting shut down. And I’m certainly not talking about honest, open and respectful disagreement. That is the very best part of an open forum. It’s the myriad of feeble attempts at comedy coupled with mean-spirited comments that don’t further the conversation, but ruin it.

Here are some recent examples:

The Emich sisters, former owners of Boulder’s Trilogy Wine Bar, are looking at opening a new business combining wine, yoga and other elements. Comments like this (taken from the Camera website) are just plain ridiculous:

“There are already too many yuppie Yoga places, coffee shops, and health clubs for egocentric stay home moms. Boulder men need to put down their man purses and run these wenches out of town.”

Or:

“What about tofu, granola bars and bean sprouts? Got to get all that no-MSG, all natural, range-fed, no artificial coloring, all organic, unsalted, no sugar, no preservatives food in order to survive in a world that will soon be crowded with windmills and solar machines. Haight-Ashbury, 1968. Bleeeeeeech!”

This is just a sampling of the mostly critical comments following this story. Are these thoughtful or an extension of a good discussion? The story talks about three women (full disclosure, friends of mine) who ran a business in Boulder, paid rent, employed people and contributed to the local economy for nearly 10 years, and you’d think from the comment thread they were planning to open an Opium Stand outside of a local grade school.

The point? I certainly don’t get it. Disagree with the concept, comment on the service–good or bad–once it opens or ask an honest question. But to just jump on and tell the world you hate something–to be clear, something that doesn’t even exist yet!–is narcissism at its worst.

Comments following the coverage of how cancer recently claimed rock legend Ronnie James Dio were mostly respectful. But Xenu007 (who seems to think none of the rest of us in Boulder can enjoy any story without his pithy input) left this gem:

“Who?”

Perhaps if you would have read the story (which is from the Associated Press) you wouldn’t need to ask. But really, it’s a waste of electricity to even fire up the computer and type that.

A June 25 article on the mosquito problem at a city softball facility has attracted 27 comments so far. Twenty-seven comments on mosquitos! Most of them are nothing more than snarky remarks, some even criticizing the players and the sport they choose. Bottom line: not much worth reading. Certainly not the best our community has to offer.

So what do I recommend? Let me stress again: differing opinions should be encouraged, not squelched, but there’s a difference between differing opinions and random ridiculous remarks. Honestly, an occassional, very clever quip can further the conversation, but I see precious few of those. Here are a few thoughts:

Eliminate anonymous comments. Nearly every newspaper requires that letters to the editor be signed. Occasionally the identity of the writer will be withheld from print, but such a decision is made with the consent and consideration of an editor and typically only when there is some sort of serious issue (whistleblowers still working at the target or similar). Allowing people to completely hide their identity behind names like Xenu007 (his/her avatar is a photo of John Travolta) practically encourages bad behavior.

Moderate more strictly. Let’s not just wait for profanity or the report of another user. Let’s use your skills as editors and reporters. Comments like “let’s run these wenches out of town” simply don’t have a place on the Daily Camera’s website. To wait until something really bad happens is a bit like pulling over speeders in a school zone only after a child is injured.

Set up a system to alert you to users that comment constantly, and watch their content. Readers leaving several comments on several stories every day are certainly engaged in the community, but are they good comments or simply random snark? It’s easy to jump on and leave a derogatory remark for nearly any story, and that seems to be activity of many of your most active users. Five good, conversational comments are far better than 50 dumb remarks. Encourage people to engage with quality content, not simply quantity of content.

Engage your community to help. I realize you’re facing shrinking revenue and lower payrolls, and here I am recommending additional work. Perhaps volunteers from the community could serve as a frontline defense. Try putting something inappropriate on Wikipedia and an army of volunteers will have it down in minutes. Again, the goal is not to squash disagreements, but to allow discussions of all kind to flourish in a respectful environment. I’ll bet there are many members of the community that would volunteer to monitor the posts and remove the stupidity.

Shut down comments on stories that get out of hand. When a string runs amok on any given article, shut it down and remove the offending string. This will make it clear you’re serious and will help strings stay on focus. I remember one string about a domestic incident resulting in death in Boulder that started out thoughtful and interesting and devolved into a running commentary on the couple’s tattoos. Shut that stuff off when it happens and before long it won’t happen near as often.

Some stories simply shouldn’t have comments available. Do we really need to accommodate the potential for issues with every single story? Turning off comments on certain sections would eliminate the need to monitor them. Take Milestones, for example. Do we need to open up potential problems for the announcement of an engagement or, worse, a death? This would allow you to focus on areas that deserve comments but require moderation.

Spell out the rules, and stick to them. You’re inviting people to your house. Insist on respect in your terms of use and eliminate those who don’t follow the rules. Set forth your behavior parameters and, just like a bouncer at a bar, remove the patrons that want to ruin it for everyone else.

The comments are far enough out-of-hand now that I carefully consider recommending to a client that we contact the Camera for a story, and that’s pretty sad. Your reporters are good to work with, and the coverage itself is often beneficial. I’m more than happy to have a thoughtful discussion about my client’s story follow–even if the comments are not all favorable. I’m not willing, however, to subject my client to thoughtless, often stupid comments from the most obnoxious among us.

Your thoughts, Daily Camera? I’d love to get this discussion started. I just ask that we all treat each other with respect in the conversation.

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We’ve all got ‘em—the things that make us crazy. Ever followed someone with their blinker on for 15 minutes on the freeway, and they never moved lanes? This is what I’m talking about. Five things that really bug me in the social media communities I participate in the most. I’m not really saying they’re terrible or even wrong, but I’d like to encourage everyone to consider the different ways social media is used, and ask yourself if you’re irritating others with your habits. Most importantly, are your habits moving your conversations forward? If not, time for a rethink.

So, here’s my “following the endless blinker” list:

5. “Thanks for the follow!” direct messages on Twitter. I let direct messages on Twitter come directly to my phone because many clients and colleagues communicate with me that way. The last thing I need is a bunch of texts on my iPhone that say nothing of value. Even worse? “Get my e-book here!” I give a nearly instant un-follow & block to those folks.

4. “As a person I trust, I’d like to add you to my network on LinkedIn. Please. Take a minute to erase the stock LinkedIn verbiage and jot a quick personal note. It doesn’t have to be long (in fact, it shouldn’t be), but since you’re asking for my time to connect, can’t I get 10 seconds of yours to ask me personally? Also, sometimes I don’t recognize the name of someone I just met at a conference, for example. A brief “nice to meet you at…” is not only polite, it can avoid getting bounced as someone I don’t know—a big no-no on LinkedIn.

3. Twitter streams that are nothing but “I’m at…” from Foursquare. I enjoy Foursquare, but when I follow someone that plays Foursquare and puts every check in in their Twitter stream, I find it gets really old really fast. If your check-ins are one in 10, perhaps it’s not so bad, but in general, “I’m at…” is no more interesting than “I’m eating yoghurt.” Not what I’m looking for.

2. “Since we’re following each other on Twitter, let’s be friends on Facebook.” Maybe, maybe not, but don’t just assume. We all use social networks differently. Just because we’re connected on one doesn’t mean we should be on another automatically. I don’t mind an appropriate invite through Facebook (or any other), but I do mind an immediate invite to visit your page when we’ve been friends on Twitter for about 30 seconds. One does not mean all.

1. And my #1 Pet Peeve: Playing the numbers game. Social media is not about having tens of thousands of followers or friends or fans or whatever. It’s about developing and engaging your network. In my opinion, it’s nearly impossible to truly use a tool like LinkedIn if you have tens of thousands of connections. I’ll take my few hundred—all of which I know personally. I have no problem asking for a favor or returning one for any member of that network. How can you know where to draw that line with 10,000 (or more) connections? You can’t, plain and simple.

That’s my list. What’s yours?

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posted by Doyle

I picked up my iPad on the first Saturday they went on sale at 9:15 (true to Apple customer service, everything was right on time). If you saw the news at all, you can guess it was crowded—but fun. I saw at least a half dozen friends there.

So, those of you who know me know that my first weekend with the new toy was pretty much consumed with playing the with iPad. Here’s a rundown of the good, the “needs improvement” and the “I’ll see if I get used to that” categories. For the record, I don’t think I’ve found anything to put in the bad category yet.

The Good:

Overall, I think the tablet category is showing promise, and I agree with Steve Jobs’ assessment that the net book won’t be long for this world (in a major way) with the introductions of this technology. The interface is intuitive, so even folks without computer skills can easily run the device. While I’ve not had a chance to examine pending offerings from HP and others, I believe the competition will be good for the category as a whole.

Even though apps don’t run in the background (yet), that’s not a big problem. It would be nice to be able to play Pandora, for example, while doing email, but that’s not there yet (you can use the iPod feature in the background). One of my concerns before using the iPad was the ability to quickly switch back and forth between, for example, email and calendar in order to set a meeting. The A4 processor on the iPad makes this just about as quick as moving between two open windows on my MacBook Pro.

The selection of applications native to the iPad (meaning, they can take full advantage of the outstanding screen) is not yet overwhelming, but it’s decent. The Apple Bookstore is lots of fun, although the section is not yet where it needs to be. One of the most pleasant surprises for me was the ability to bring over every book I’d ever purchased on the Kindle Store—and even purchase new books there—for use through the Kindle app on the iPad. In fact, my daughter now has my old Kindle.

Four of the more pleasant surprises are the three iWorks apps (Numbers, Pages and Keynote) along with the Wordpress app (which I’m using now) to update my blog. At just $10 each (Wordpress is free) they’re a great value. They’re not 100 percent—and I’m less than blown away with how the iPad handles fonts—but I can do enough work that I have not carried my laptop away from my office now for two weeks.

One note on carrying the iPad vs. my MacBook Pro—it’s not just the difference in the weight of the two devices. With the MacBook, I carried a cord (no need with the true 10-hour battery on the iPad), a second battery (again, no need), and various other accessories. For the iPad I pretty much need—the iPad. In fact, I often just carry my iPad, Sprint Mifi unit and Apple bluetooth keyboard in a small InCase travel case, saving my a large briefcase and probably 10-12 pounds.

Needs Improvement:

As I mentioned above, the native font selection is far too limited, in my opinion, and I hope that improves.

Like many, I’m a little perplexed at the lack of a camera of any kind. The iPad is great for calls over Skype, but I do enjoy using video Skype to talk to my family when I’m on the road. Without taking my MacBook Pro along, I can no longer do that. (If the photos of the “leaked” iPhone are accurate, maybe Apple didn’t want a camera in both devices. I do find I use my iPhone less since getting the iPad.)

I’m still trying to learn to type well enough on the on-screen keyboard to leave everything else behind. At this point, I use that for brief emails but use the Apple bluetooth keyboard for longer documents. I’m not sure yet if that’s a learning curve or a keyboard limitation. I plan to keep playing with it to decide.

Again, as I noted, the App Store for iPad is still a little thin, but I’m confident that will move along quickly.

The lack of Flash support is becoming less of a problem every day, but it’s still annoying. There are many things I have to watch in my office simply because they are Flash based. As HTML 5 takes over, this will be less of an issue, but Flash is still pervasive. I wish the feud would end.

I’m very disappointed that Hulu is not available yet. I have to believe it’s coming, but I miss not being able to grab a quick episode of “The Office.” The Netflix app, however, almost makes up for this. It looks great, is smooth and easy to use, and the streaming videos are completely watchable.

There are few small glitches that I’ve noticed on various sites, but nothing really significant. In the end, I can do well more than 90 percent of what I need to do on the iPad, which is more than enough to leave my laptop behind.

In general, I’m more impressed than I thought I was going to be. It is a smooth device, it’s fun to use, and the battery life moves it from good to very good in my book. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.

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Find out if you have an attention span “problem” by taking a quick 10-question test from Psychology Today.

So how did you do? Well I have nothing to compare it to because I didn’t even make it through questions #4.

So what does this have to do with anything? It’s because I am a pretty average person. That is, I am a consumer, between the age of 18-30, do most of my shopping online and I I’m heavily involved in social media/networking. If this sounds like you, or someone you would want to market to, listen carefully:
To market to someone like me you need to be quick on your feet, stay up on the latest trends and be very creative.

Some ways you can keep my interest:

Videos
I love videos…well, I love the first 60 to 90 seconds of a video. If you are trying to get more people to your site or blog, try putting up some videos. Keep them short and to the point and don’t host them yourself. Use YouTube – it’s easier and viewers can share and embed the videos for others to see. Edit them so that the most compelling stuff is the first thing viewers will see. It will help keep their attention and keep them watching, and did I mention to keep videos short?

Pictures
It’s like a video only a lot shorter, so you can’t go wrong with pictures, images and other visuals. It not only helps to tell your story, sell your product, etc. but compelling visuals will also help keep my attention and my interest on whatever it is that you may be sharing. Also, it gives the option to share and use your photos elsewhere, which will help bounce people back to your site.

Banner ads and flashy interactive ads
These work only if I like the product. The trick is to find out what I like. Use demographics and stats that Google will offer you, or try the interactive, fully customizable Facebook ads. Give me something that I enjoy or may look to purchase based on what you know about me. For instance, I’m a male, so electronics, gadgets, girls, cars, sports, fitness, clothes, etc. would generally be something that would interest me. I’m probably not interested in the latest makeup or beauty products out on the market. Be creative and targeted in your approach in order to see the best results and perhaps keep my interest on your site.

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Dear Mr. Stephenson:

I’ve been pretty vocal with my displeasure about your company in some pretty public forums of late. I thought I’d take a moment to tell you why, as well as offer a suggestion for fixing your problem.

Here’s the issue: I hire you to provide me with one product — the voice/data service on my iPhone. Your company is doing a terrible job with that. Nearly 50 percent of my calls drop. Some days, it’s more than 50 percent. My 3G connectivity for voice and data is spotty at best. In short, I’m not happy with your service, but because I signed a contract with you that seems to say you can do whatever you like and I just have to take it and continue to pay you, there’s really nothing I can do.

That said, I also realize the massive technological issues you face in running a nationwide wireless network. Boulder is probably tough — lots of hills, and it seems we’ve got a high penetration of iPhone users that take up lots of bandwidth. I get all that, and I’m willing to cut you a little slack. But you know what I expect from anyone I do business with?

The truth, Mr. Stephenson. I expect the truth.

I’ve personally been told a number of different stories by several of your customer service people. Three of them — sethbloom, ATTSusan and ATTJohnathon — have reached out to me on Twitter. The problem? They don’t have the information they need to help me. I want to know three things:

• Why has my voice service gotten so bad?
• What are you doing to fix it?
• When may I expect improvement?

Many of my friends and colleagues also have iPhones and are experiencing the same issues. We’ve been comparing notes. Here’s a sampling of what we’ve been told over the last few weeks by various members of your Customer Service group:

• The 850 overlay should fix everything, and I’m told it will be complete on Friday (that would be Friday, Sept. 4. If it happened, nothing got fixed).
• The service has been bad because we’re working on the system, but that will be done within a few days (that was early September).
• We understand there are problems, and we’re investigating them and hope to have things corrected within the next few weeks
  (so, you’ve not started?).
• Six towers are down in the Boulder area, and the rest are overloaded. We’re working on it. (Did they just tip over? All at once?)
• We don’t guarantee service in buildings (OK, but this person had no coverage in their front yard. For 911. Ouch).
• You might need a new SIM chip (Done. No difference).
• Are you turning your phone on and off at least once each day? That will make a difference (my phone usually goes off when I throw it against the wall after three or four drops in a row. And, no, that’s not the problem. I’m kidding about the wall — but not by much).
• We’re putting in a number of new towers and should be done within a couple of weeks (that was August. Again, if it happened…).
• And, my personal favorite: “You must not be having too much trouble, you talked for 18,000 minutes last month. ” “Do you mean 1,800?” I asked. “No, it says 18,000!” (I’ll let you do that math, Mr. Stephenson.)

I don’t think these are bad people. I simply think they’ve not been given the information they need to do their job. Think how different things might be for you if you’d have sent your Colorado Front Range customers a letter with our bill (credit where credit is due, you’re very good at sending those out) that said something like this (I made up the details, but you’ll get the idea):

Valued Customers:

The Boulder/Denver area needs more capacity to provide you with the kind of service we expect. We know this, and we’re working on it. Over the next three months, we will be adding five new cell towers in Boulder County and 10 in the Denver Metro area and we will be changing over to the new 850 spectrum. We’re completing these upgrades in stages, but we expect to have them all complete by Oct. 31. At that time, we’re confident the service quality will increase dramatically on both voice and data.

We know service issues are frustrating. To thank you for your patience as we upgrade, we’ve enclosed a $25 gift certificate good for any purchase at any AT&T Store or online. Again, thank you for being an AT&T customer.

It’s simple, really, Mr. Stephenson. I’m an adult, I know that cellular networks are big, complicated things, and sometimes they don’t work like they’re supposed to. That said, I do expect people that I pay to be honest with me. The iPhone voice/data plan is one of the most expensive available, but you’re treating me like I’m an annoyance instead of a customer. That’s why I’m angry.

If I worked for you, I’d be angry as well, Mr. Stephenson. Sue, Johnathan and Seth seem like good folks that really want to help, but someone in your organization isn’t giving them the information they need to get that done. It’s not doing your customers any good, and I have to believe it’s frustrating your employees. You’ll lose good people that way, Mr. Stephenson.

Until someone gives me some information, or until the problems improve dramatically, I plan to be an online thorn in your side. Maybe if enough of us let you know we’re not happy — publicly and often — we’ll be presented with more options than counting the days to the end of our contracts.

Sincerely,

Doyle Albee
President
Metzger Associates
Boulder, Colorado

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My daughter received a text on her cell phone (T-Mobile is our carrier, but to be clear, not responsible for this) telling her that T-Mobile was concerned about repeated attempts to access her account from an IP address in India. Wow, way to play on some fears. My daughter is in high school — translation, I pay for my daughter’s cell phone — so she forwarded the message to me.

It seemed irregular, but I wanted to check. First I called T-Mobile, and they assured me it was not a message from them. (Their only fail here is a complete lack of concern that a phishing scheme was using their name.) I couldn’t resist, so I called the number, and got a robotic voice announcing that I had reached the “security center” (how official!) and repeating that my “account may have been compromised.” It then immediately asked for me to enter my 16-digit credit card number for verification.

Um, I don’t think so. But I was curious, so I entered 16 bogus digits.

Thank you! The voice asked me for the expiration date. More bogus digits.

Now, the three-digit code on the back of the card. More fakes. Just to keep me honest, I guess, this time a different voice told me I made an invalid entry (hey, that’s not my first, pal!). So I punched in three more goofy numbers, and they went right through.

But we’re not done: now they want my PIN code. Sure! “1234.” (No, it’s not.)

The voice then thanked me and told me that a security representative would contact me within five business days. That’s going to be a good trick, since they don’t have any contact information whatsoever.

Much like my post on Craigslist scammers, I’m writing this to hopefully alert others of this issue. Sadly, unlike my good friend Ro Ju in my last post, this is pretty clever and diabolical. Had I even entered a credit card number, I would have caused myself all sorts of problems, but these guys came up with something reasonable compelling with the text (enough to make me check it out) and then quickly asked for all the information they need to wreak havoc.

Pretty sad that the bad guys are using all the communication tools the rest of us are just to be bad guys.

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Twitter must be official now — the lawyers have gotten involved.

While this may not be the first lawsuit over a tweet, it’s the first one I’ve seen (thanks to Liz Strauss for the tweet on this topic today). The suit, which is asking for $50,000 in damages, alleges a Twitter user “maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the Tweet to be distributed throughout the world.”

The tweet in question? “You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s OK.”

Horizon Realty Group was not amused and filed the complaint (link to a copy above) and is asking for $50,000.

I guess I should be hearing from United Airlines soon! (Sorry, United gets no link. I’m still mad at them.)

Kidding aside, this brings up some important points for discussion:

1. Tweets, Facebook posts, etc., are typically public. You’re not sending a private email to a friend. Even though this tweet was an @reply, the conversation was public. As users, we need to understand that.
2. I’ve been called the King of Snark on Twitter, but I also know that I’m responsible for what I say — and every user should hold themselves to that standard. If you make a statement, you should believe it, even if it’s a smart remark, like this clearly was. If this person can document a mold problem and that the proper channels have been informed with no acceptable results, this comment can certainly be justified and probably even defended. If not, perhaps the remark was premature and perhaps out of line.
3. For Horizon, if this person has been provided with the service they believe to be appropriate based on the situation and continues to complain — now publicly — and they truly believe it is unjustified and malicious, perhaps a lawsuit is the only answer. I do hope it was considered as a last resort and not a first shot across the bow. My recommendation would have been some conversation on Twitter first — perhaps, “We were at your apartment yesterday at your request and found no evidence of mold. May we take this offline?” While the lawyers might not agree with that tactic, the online conversation is forcing us to “think different,” as Apple used to say (see my post on a similar point here).

In the end, it’s hard for any of us to say who’s right or who’s wrong here, but I think the conversation is important. Be responsible for your words, and companies need to understand there is a very public channel for comment emerging. The complaint rightly notes that the tweet could be “distributed throughout the world.”

Easy prediction: this won’t be the last lawsuit we see based on comments made on Twitter or Facebook or Yelp or other social networks, but I also think the knee-jerk “file a suit” reaction will need to be re-thought, as will the flippancy of comments and complaints made in these very public forums.

Your thoughts?

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In case you missed it, more and more of us are relying on the Internet and mobile devices for information and communication (yes, I’m being sarcastic). A couple of recent events have me a little spooked, however.

iPhone users were unable to use their phones during this year’s South by Southwest due simply to too many users and too little capacity from AT&T. More recently, Michael Jackson’s death nearly broke the tubes we’ve all come to rely on. Google even thought they were under attack at one point.

Should we be concerned? I think so.

Many of us have come to rely on these devices for everything from basic communication to news and information. My iPhone is my alarm clock, primary telephone, best way to reach my kids (IM), newspaper and, in some cases, my television. But there are 10 million iPhones in use today, and there were zero just more than two years ago. Even thought that’s not 10 million new phones, I certainly use far more data on my iPhone than any device I’ve had in the past. The infrastructure is straining to keep up. And if a geek fest in Austin and a dead celebrity can tax the system to the point of nearly breaking, what will happen during the next 9/11 kind of event?

The problem is one of two-way communication. No matter how many people tune their televisions or radios to a given station, it doesn’t change the signal requirements — it’s the same whether one person or 100 million people are tuned in. Internet connections and cellular networks, however, are two way, so every additional call, stream, etc., requires bandwidth to serve it.

Clearly, it would be economically unfeasible to build and operate a network that can handle every possible connection at all times. Nevertheless, as more of us turn to the Internet and our mobile devices to both get information, then pass it along, how long before we break the Internet?

Do we need some kind of emergency broadcast system for the new broadcast systems we now all rely upon?

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