Recently in communication Category

Lately, this blog has been under a massive spam attack. I've been getting, on average, 24 - 36 spam comments a day -- which means I also get 24 - 36 emails notifying me of spam comments in my inbox. This is a rant, and I know it's a rant, but roll with it for a moment, okay? Because it occurs to me that I do not understand the first thing about spam. Who does it help? What outcome is anticipated by spammers that they will flood blogs with random text? Do they really think we're going to be all over clicking that link for new watches or generic viagra? I tell you, I am clueless about what they think is going to happen when they spam a blog haphazardly written by a third-rate technologist who is about as far from cutting edge journalism as one can get. What do they hope to accomplish?

This week, our director did something that was typical in any organization: He sent an email and asked us to list our own accomplishments so he could compile a list for the annual report he was writing. Now this is the first year I've been with this group, and I was a little unsure if I actually had any "accomplishments" that would qualify for an annual report. When I clicked on the link in the email, it took me to a Google form that fed into a spreadsheet behind the scenes.

Robin2Note: This is a blogpost I wrote--and then sat on--after watching the destruction that was danah boyd's keynote speech at Web 2.0 Expo on Nov 17, 2009. I was horrified to watch this happen to such an amazing speaker, because I truly felt it was devastatingly undeserved. I'm publishing it now because 1) enough time has passed that it is no longer has the kind of sting it did initially; 2) perhaps now that the brouhaha has died down, it can be heard and have some relevance; and 3) it actually feeds into a panel discussion I will be a part of at this year's Web 2010 Conference, which I hope you attend. Not because I'm really that excited to be dancing in front of a big audience, but with the explosion of social media, I strongly feel we need to address the broader picture of the backchannel's contribution to conferences and events. I will also tell you that until an hour ago, I had not read danah's own analysis of what went wrong because I did not want it to color my own thoughts and observations. Having said that, I've now read her post, and I'm even more convinced that we need to understand how the crowd in the cloud and the sage on the stage can coexist to create an environment of engagement, respect, and conversation. It's about the openness of the dialogue, folks, and we need to do it better than we do it now. 

In my personal twittersphere, there has been an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with being unfollowed by certain people in certain circles. Okay, specifically Brad J. Ward, a young gun who is a very focused wiz and entrepreneur. I myself have been followed by, then met in real life, then unfollowed by this guy, so I understand why others in the same circle might be miffed. Today Brad wrote a post about how he uses Twitter and you should read it. Yeah, it's like everything else Brad does: it's serious, it's intense, it comes with charts and graphs, and is pretty much waaaay over the top in trying to explain why he has unfollowed people. But it is also a really good description of how he uses this social media platform, and it closes with a great question: How do you use Twitter? In fact, it has me so fired up that, despite the fact I have a huge amount of work to do today, I feel a pressing need to answer the call to respond. While Brad makes some very good points, he is dead on: the way he uses twitter is not the way I use twitter.

Last night I got home and was immediately hit with "Can I borrow the car?" from the Senior Teenager In Residence (STIR). I really didn't mind, as the only plans I had for the care was to run it through a car wash to get some of the winter grime off now that it is a bit warmer out (I can't seem to get it out of the garage each morning without brushing up against grunge). "Sure, as long as you get it washed before you come home. I'll even give you money." A win-win solution, I thought, as he could drive to his basketball game, and I could stay home and focus on work while still getting the task accomplished.

Fast forward to this morning. I get dressed, grab my stuff, and have a happy mental moment of joy as I walk around my clean car in the garage, all ready for a full day. (Yes, folks, it's the simple things.) On time and ready for work. Right?

Wrong.

Seriously, this is kind of creepy, and one of the reasons I am happy that my twitter feed is protected. Yesterday we discovered that State College Police Dept has joined the twittersphere as @StateCollegePD. Now they are stalking following everyone and anyone in the local area:



Now, I know they've been on Facebook for years, using the collective data on there, but I think I'm at a bit of a loss as to why I would a) want them to follow me, b) want to follow them, and c) even have a reason to use their tweets as a resource? Their initial explanatory tweets state: