April 2008 Archives

I have a confession to make. I am an introvert in the online environment. Meyers-Brigg has me straddling the border between introvert and extrovert in reality, but in the online environment, my introverted tendencies prevail. Perhaps it's writer's block getting in the way in this still largely text-based environment. Perhaps I am intimidated by the lack of inflectional cues and body language that help me appreciate the deeper meaning in others' communications, and the fear that my own meaning will be missed without these cues. Whatever it is, it has kept me from fully participating in the many social networking tools that many of my colleagues embrace.

That being said, I'll come back to the reason for this post. I've been alternatively ignoring, lurking, or even occasionally participating in Twitter. Aside from the aforementioned introvert factor, part of what's been keeping from being a full participant is the fact that I've been waiting for a really good use for the tool to come to me. I will probably not ever feel comfortable tweeting a lot about my personal life (get to know me and let's go have a beer if you really want to know). But I have occasionally experienced a need to bounce an idea around for feedback and Twitter was the handiest thing around to do so. Colleagues and like-minded people (or not so like-minded people) might have a different angle or perspective on a problem that I might not consider on my own.

So there - I've found my killer app for public brainstorming.  I promise to try to hang around Twitter should the opportunity come to return the favor. Alas, there will inevitably be times when I'm in "off" mode rather than "lurker" or active participant. When these times come, don't worry about little 'ole me - I'm just hiding in my little virtual corner, nurturing my introverted side. Maybe you'll see me out 'n about and more than likely, I'll be delighted to talk about your cool new idea.

OK I've officially been hoodwinked into my first April Fools Day joke. I subscribe to the rss feed of the blog of Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Work Week. Among other things in his lifestyle design recommendations, Tim recommends various methods of "personal outsourcing" as ways to save time and cut corners in our world of information overload and alway-on expectations. Well yesterday he revealed in a posting that he had outsourced his blog to two individuals and that it had been a year since the real Tim Ferriss made a post. WHAT? I alternated between feelings of betrayal, and being distinctly impressed by the fact that such good advice came from the blog in this time period, including such great productivity tips as using a bigger computer monitor (I would add the option of a dual-monitor setup) and only checking e-mail twice a day (I'm working on getting it down to 3X a day anyway, and skipping the autoresponder - would probably be a turnoff to my colleagues and stakeholders).

Thank you, Tim, for owning up to your prank.