Work. Family. Life.

I am considering getting the Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2EV4VGJ1ZQMQ7

Windows..."Trust Me"... really?

What do you do first thing in the morning?

Mashable The Social Media Guide asks an interesting question this morning...

What did you do first this morning: eat breakfast, or turn on your phone, your laptop or desktop computer to check mail, text messages, Twitter () replies, Facebook () messages and the rest?

Since I am generally not considered to be a breakfast person...my answer to this question is obvious....so is that good or bad?

More on the 140 Character Conf - about Twitter and the conference

PCQ seeking a laptop...can you help??

Parents for Choice & Quality are seeking the donation of a laptop to support their summer student position.  You can learn more here...can you help?

Good things to check out

Here are a few things worth a look at:

David Armano's blog Logic+Emotion has a great post on the value of traditional websites vs. interactive blogs - check out Kill Your Website.

I am giving Seesmic a try to manage my Twitter and Facebook updates...

Listen + Reply Get live updates from your friends on Twitter and Facebook.

Share Easily and quickly share links, pictures
and video with your friends.

Organize Group your social contacts into lists like family, co-workers and best friends.

This week I downloaded TBUZZ to try with my Twitter account and I really like it.  I have used it a lot to quickly post quotes and links from other places on the web.

Understanding the generations

This discussion on Robert Scoble's FriendFeed really caught my attention over the weekend. 

Did you know?

Results of Alpha Inventions experiment

Over the last 24 hours or so I conducted an experiment regarding hits to this site via Alpha Inventions and the related comments and blog related interactivity that may or may not result.

Here are the results:

Certainly there were quite a lot of hits that took place - however there were no comments that were left as a result of these hits.  Further much of the traffic seemed to happen in multiple hits over a series of time intervals from the same IP address.  Kind of makes me wonder a bit...here is an example...which I have cut short.

Mahopac, New York, United States, 0 returning visits

Date	Time	Type	WebPage
15th March 2009	09:44:38	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : More on Alpha Inventions...
15th March 2009	09:49:31	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : More on Alpha Inventions...
15th March 2009	09:54:19	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : More on Alpha Inventions...
15th March 2009	09:59:23	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : More on Alpha Inventions...
15th March 2009	10:07:45	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : More on Alpha Inventions...
15th March 2009	10:12:49	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : More on Alpha Inventions...
15th March 2009	10:17:45	Page View	alphainventions.com/

So in the case of this blog, there was an increase in traffic; yet no increase in comments or blog related interactivity.  Other users of Alpha Inventions...what has your experience been?

Does interaction come from Alpha Inventions hits? We will see....

If you arrive at this post via Alpha Inventions please leave a comment - this is an experiment!  I am trying to determine how much true interaction can come from Alpha Inventions referrals.....

Here is some background:

Tonight, just after I made this post I noticed a significant increase in hits to my site in a very short period of time.  I have noticed this before; especially when I post in the evenings.  So where did all of this traffic coming from?  Alpha Inventions.  Have you heard of this site yet?  It is a kind of neat concept. I admit, though, that I am still trying to figure it all out...especially about the interactive quality of the traffic.

Here is how site creator Cheru Jackson describes Alpha Inventions:

Here is how it works. (simple as possible I hope).. Ready?

Let’s go…

If you update or publish your blog at the same time my visitors are browsing blogs in my site then my visitors will get a chance to see your blog in real-time. BAM! (the entire blog is in their face instantly) It’s not even annoying to watch.  Is it alpha addicts??

I also provide a link to your blog in case they want it to open your blog in a new window, or bookmark your blog . The links provides your title, and description to help my visitors get a better understanding on what your blog is about, and get more interested. Alphainventions.com is useful for wordpress.com , typepad.com, spaces.live.com, and blogger.com I love it, and want to grow it like a tree. Yahh!

To get more traffic from alphainventions.com just keep your blog updated or go to the homepage, and notify readers about your blog. It’s so simple.

So after this increase in traffic tonight, I decided to look for other blog posts on Alpha Inventions.  Clearly other bloggers are noting an increase in traffic as well - but at the same time there is also  debate about what exactly all those extra hits are achieving.  Are they just momentary hits?  Are those who arrive at blog posts via Alpha Inventions actually reading content?  Are they commenting?  All good questions. I certainly have been wondering about this. To date I have not had any comments (that I know of) as a result of Alpha Inventions; but I have had return visitors to my site via this referrral source.  Here is an example of one returning visitor from my stats page. (I use StatCounter - which I love!)

Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, 0 returning visits

Date	Time	Type	WebPage
28th February 2009	21:59:22	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : Sign of the times
10th March 2009	21:08:31	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : Outstanding child care providers - BC
10th March 2009	21:09:10	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : Outstanding child care providers - BC
14th March 2009	23:37:12	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : Empty child care spaces...sign of the changing economy
14th March 2009	23:38:37	Page View	alphainventions.com/ Work. Family. Life. : Empty child care spaces...sign of the changing economy

One post that I came across on Build Your Traffic caught my attention.  Here is a portion of that post:

QUESTION: AI seems to be very very effective in getting my blog loaded and offers the potential for the person watching to pause long enough to be tempted to engage.

On the times I have made use of AI I have been quite impressed with it’s effectiveness - but alas I have not seen that been translated into consistent readership outside of AI and better still interaction through comments - which to me is what I am interested in.

Have you seen this translation?

ANSWER:  My statistics say, YES!

I am running statistics on my traffic through wordpress which shows me the referral sources that brings people to my sites; the number of total views (which includes each time your page displays on Alpha Inventions, I am pretty sure) and also the number of pages that are visited.

 I am seeing several things:

1. Alpha Inventions has brought me huge traffic views when the topic is eye catching (eg Dolphin Slaughter in Japan - 1900 in one day);
2. Alpha Inventions brings additional traffic after you write about them in your blog - even if you have not submitted your site through them on that occasion
3. A submission to AI always brings some additional traffic (views)

Another post on seasons of the heart said this:

My blog counter had been going haywire again laitly.  I was silly enough to head over to alphainventions and condron.us again the other day, to browse through some blogs while holding my cranky teething baby.  (i don’t normally have time for this, i promise!  LOL).  Well, needless to say, that ended up brining me heaps of visitors here.  Apparently when you are on their site, and you have your site open on your computer, they feed your site through theirs for others to view and thus, providing you traffic.  Interesting and complicated process…so needless to say, my counter shows many hits that I wouldn’t count as real traffic.  I don’t consider myself real traffic to a site that passes through their system.  Only when I click on a site to actually read it’s content do I consider it a hit.  Regardless, i’m feeling mighty popular.

So it is interesting...clearly Alpha Inventions results in hits - which is good if all you are doing is looking at your numbers pure and simple.  If, however, you are looking for actual reads, comments and interaction it would appear that not all are convinced that this increased traffic is of interactive quality.  I am not totally convinced - one way or the other yet.  I will post this and see what happens....I will report back on my hit levels and we will watch the comments section to determine interaction levels! 

Wait...I was just about to hit Save on this post and decided to have one more look at other posts on this topic....

I am so glad that I came across this one on etre...

I’ve come to understand that lots of traffic isn’t necessarily a good thing can actually generate some quality conversations when you echo what others are noticing.

Of the 4000 12000+ hits I’ve received in the last couple days, thanks solely to alphainventions.com, I’ve received 0 around 40 comments.

I’ve always preferred dialogue to monologue. And I still think that alphainventions.com is a really cool idea. However, just because a blog gets huge boosts in traffic (some by actual humans) doesn’t mean it’s actually contributing to the conversation. If “hit count envy” is something that afflicts you, then by all means, alphainventions.com is a potent weapon supporting your ultimate dominance. But I would suggest that a high hit count alone does not make any statement about the quality of your contribution to the conversation.

From the stats that WordPress provides, I can see that folks are actually clicking around through some posts, clicking some links out of the blogroll… but no one is saying anything. Of course, that could be simply because I don’t say anything of interest to them…

Well, well, well...maybe Alpha Inventions does actually work for hits AND quality conversation...we will see what happens here! Pressing Save now...

Really understanding the "social side" of social media

Just a great presentation by David Armano of Logic+Emotion.

The Micro-Sociology of Networks

View more presentations from David Armano.

Looking to expand my horizons....

More and more I find my consulting work and related projects are incorporating social media and online technology in larger ways.  I am working differently than I used to because of how I can collaborate using social media tools.  I am starting to feel the need to really expand my professional development horizons.  I find myself wishing that I was at Fast Forward 09 ...unfortunately not this year.  Will follow online and via Twitter - ffc09.  Also interested in SXSW Interactive - it looks really great and is not until March - so you never know, maybe I can make it there... 

Here is a list of other conferences that are coming up this year.

Good job Typepad

Well Typepad went down a short while ago...I had three posts die in the process of saving....yuck!  However all is now back up and running.  All in all the problem was resolved quickly...

TypePad Service

Update 2:32 PM PST: TypePad is back! We're continuing to keep a close eye on TypePad.

2:20 PM PST: We're getting closer. Thanks for your patience!

2:06 PM PST: The problem has been determined, and we are now working on fixing it.

2:01 PM PST: We're starting to see errors in multiple areas within the application. We're working on it, and we'll have another update shortly.

1:51 PM PST: TypePad is online, but you may encounter errors in some areas of the application. We are working to correct the issue as quickly as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.

February 04, 2009 at 1:51 PM PST

Also Typepad support staff were fast in replying to my reports....

Hi Jane,

Thank you for the report. We're sorry, but we are experiencing some
unexpected issues at this time.

You can keep up to date on the situation at:
http://status.sixapart.com

We appreciate your patience while we work on this.

Thanks,
Kymberlie

Hi,

Thank you for the report. Sorry, this looks like it was a temporary
problem on the server.  Are you still seeing the error?

Please let us know if you have any problems still.

Thanks,
Zalary

Good job Typepad folks!  Glad I blog with you.

Facebook at work? Well, actually....yes!

From So You Recruited Me from Facebook, But I'm Not Allowed to Play with Facebook at Work? -

HR and IT pros both have struggled with the question of whether to allow access to or the use of social networks in the workplace. Let's come up with a policy and regulate use or ban it! But I'd argue that this isn't the appropriate response. More rules and policies won't fix the problem. And that is, if you consider this even being a problem. Are they getting the job done? If yes, well then... 

Besides, to recruit using social networks and then try to ban or reprimand the use of such during work hours? Well, that would make you a bit of a hypocrite. But hey, that's just my point of view and I'm a millennial, after all, so maybe my perspective is colored. You tell me what you think though and while you're doing that, I'll be over on FB checking to see what my friends are up to on the live feed. 

When does the BlackBerry become the CrackBerry?

Over on The Juggle there is an interesting discussion going on regarding the boundaries and limits with respect to BlackBerry use.  When does work interfere with family?  Does this technology actually make balance of multiple responsibilities easier? 

From this blog post by Sue Shellenbarger -

But there’s evidence that President-elect Obama’s BlackBerry habit has crossed some private work-family boundaries too. Last summer, news cameras recorded the candidate pulling out his BlackBerry at his daughter’s soccer game, only to have Michelle Obama slap his hand. He promptly returned the gadget to its holster.

When does your BlackBerry become your CrackBerry, damaging family life? The WSJ documented the trend of “BlackBerry orphans” a couple of years ago. One parent’s incessant e-mailing so exasperated her four-year-old that the child tried to flush Mom’s BlackBerry down the toilet.

Another Wall Street Journal reporter tells the Juggle he tried with his wife to set a no-BlackBerry rule in their bedroom. But the plan crumbled this summer, when the financial crisis plunged him into nonstop reporting deadlines.

Followed by many telling comments.  Here are just a few that caught my eye.

 will never forget the time we went camping 2 summers ago. It was a beautiful day, and the kids were wading in a creek that flowed into a little pond. My husband and I were also in the creek, to supervise. I was totally enjoying the day, watching the kids skipping rocks, and feeling the water. And then I noticed my husband, standing there in the creek, furiously scrolling his Blackberry. And what was he doing? Was he dealing with some work crisis? No! He was checking baseball scores every 15 seconds, like a Skinner rat.

Comment by ratgirlny - November 18, 2008 at 12:29 pm

 

I think a BB has really improved my efficiency and my overall level of self satisfaction. Now I actually feel better about being out of the office, because I know I’m still in contact and people can still reach me. Virtually any kind of activity has some down time associated with it, and you can fill that with catching up on your BB: waiting at stoplights, riding escalators, standing in line at Starbucks, whatever. I never check it when I’m in conversation with someone (that’s rude), but I don’t see that checking it on my off time is really that intrusive, when if I didn’t have it I might be in the office and not have off time at all. Or if I trouble sleeping, it’s a great way to kill time while waiting for the Zzs to start again.

Comment by Every minute counts - November 18, 2008 at 2:16 pm