The Real Bruce

With most new technology there are cycles. Things start out slow with just a few early adopters, then you start to see things build, finally the masses join, and then the thing comes crashing down. I my opinion Facebook is very close to this final phase.

We have all seen this before, so it should come as no surprise. Remember when all anyone could talk about was MySpace? It was kinda cool. You could log in. Update your page. Talk to a few friends. Then came the masses. People started designing horrendous pages. Then the ads started to appear. Then it just became bogged down with too many features and too much junk.

About this time Facebook opened its doors to everyone and we took the bait. It was easy to use. Clean design. We could reconnect with friends easier. And, at this time, the masses hadn’t come yet. It was not uncommon to do a search for a friend and not find them. That was good, though, because it was a smaller community.

Then came the masses. Today I pulled up my Facebook page. The ads are there. I don’t really mind these because Facebook has done a good job of keeping them out of your way and they are more targeted. Yet, they are there.

As I glanced through my news feed. I saw someone woke up tired, I saw someone else had taken 100 quizzes about people I know, and to top it all off apparently everyone else has been playing one game or another that has the word “Farm” in it.

Yes the masses are coming dangerously close to ruining Facebook. No one wants to know you woke up tired, or what you had for dinner.  Have our lives become so boring that is all the information we have to post?

Also who are the people who have time to play these games on Facebook? And how long do you have to spend to generate the millions of posts that show up on my wall every day? Obviously Facebook has recognized this is huge problem for their users and has given us the ability to block these from our feeds. (Great move by the way)

However, I have the feeling there is another wave on its way that will ultimately lead to Facebook’s demise. The masses are continuing to join and soon it will become such a cluttered mess, it will be hard just to interact as we once did.

Then the cycle will start again. A small little network with some new features will pop up and some early adopters will sign off of Facebook for the last time and move on. I, for one, am hoping that day is coming soon and that they ban all games that use the word “Farm”.

Let me know what you think. Are you ready for something new?

Tomorrow is the big day. That’s right, you can place your order for the “magical and revolutionary product at an unbelievable price”. The iPad, Apple’s version of the E-reader on steroids is available for pre order from the Apple store.

As a technology junkie, I have been trying my hardest to justify the $499 price tag.  I have come up with my own list and maybe this will help you decide whether to be an early adopter or not.

Reasons for me to buy the iPad.

1. I was one of the people who paid $599 for the first iPhone. This is 100 bucks cheaper. What at Deal!
2. I tried a netbook and took it back. Was it a laptop? No not enough power. Was it a e-reader? No it had a keyboard and was cumbersome.
3. I wanted a Kindle, but this has color display, plus video and all the other features.
4. I have seen some of the iPad versions of Wired and other magazines and they are unbelievable.
5. My daughter will love to watch movies on it while we are traveling. (Ok, actually I will like to watch movies)
6. There are going to be thousands and thousands of applications that will make it even better.
7. The Kindle with the same size screen and no color and no other features is $489 bucks.
8. And finally, it looks really, really cool.

Where will the iPad fit into your life? Will it replace your e-reader? Will it act as a netbook? Is it a whole new category. I would love to hear your thoughts.

As for me, I will log on in the morning and place my order.

I spend all day working on a computer. Saving files, sending email; the usual. As I went about my daily routine today, I realized how much we have become dependent upon the “cloud”. Whether it is email, our personal finances, or even saving files, more and more we are relying on the cloud for our computing needs.

It has almost snuck up on us. Slowly but surely we have become more dependent on this magical cloud out there. It supplies our storage, our applications and soon all of our computing needs. I can envision a day where all we have are Internet appliances. No desktops will be needed. All of our computing needs will reside in the cloud.

Does this scare you at all? It does me. We are putting a tremendous amount of trust in the companies out there. There is Dropbox, Google, Mozy, not to mention the millions of applications now available online. All of our data floating out there, somewhere.

What happens if our connection to the Internet is lost? What happens if one of these companies goes out of business overnight? We have seen this happen in the Internet age. Web sites here one day gone tomorrow. How do we know who to trust? Who will be around? Who will securely house all of our precious 1’s and 0’s?

I love the convenience of these services. It is great to be on my laptop, at any coffee shop, and being able to access all my important files and info. I can conduct business from anywhere. How great is that?

As we move forward, more and more relying on this magical cloud, how comfortable will you be? I would love to hear your comments and thoughts on the matter.

While I may use these services each and every day, at least for now, I will always have a terabyte hard drive, stored at my house, backing up each and every file.

Last night I experienced the power of social media first hand, and it came from a very unlikely source, General Motors. Yes, that’s right. The company that just months ago was working through a bankruptcy is now using social media to improve their customer service.

Here is what happened. Yesterday my service stabilitrak light came on in my Trailblazer. Since I am not a car expert, I had no idea what this meant. I called my local Chevy dealership and made an appointment to get it looked at, but from that point, a huge knot began to grow in my stomach.

What kind of cost would I be looking at? Would this be under warranty? Is this a big deal?

With all these questions in mind, I headed to the fountain of information, Twitter. I posted a simple message asking my followers if they had ever had this problem and would it be expensive. I used the # tag when mentioning Chevy, hoping to get multiple opinions.

Within 5 minutes of my tweet, I received a Direct message from @GMCustomerSvc asking me to direct message him with more info, so he could help me. I was amazed, not only with the speed of this reply, but also that he offered to help me.

Over the next few minutes we exchanged tweets, but we soon found it cumbersome to limit our messages to Twitter’s 140 character limit. That is when my new GM buddy asked me to switch our conversation toFacebook. He sent me a friend request, and within seconds, we were chatting away about my situation.

At the end of the evening, Jared the GM Twitter Specialist had confirmed my appointment, assigned me a follow up case number and verified that the Stabilitrak was not under warranty. As much as that news disappointed me, I was happy at the service I had received.

This whole episode really illustrates the power of Twitter and the way social media can be used to improve your customer service. Instead of me going to my appointment today already worried and dreading the wait, I was armed with information, comforted that someone cared and confident that I would get good service.

How can you use social media to improve your business? Can you interact with customers through social media?

Most of us love to talk. We want to be stars or the center of attention. That is why we love Social Media. We love to tell people what we are doing and what is important to us. We also all believe that people actually care.

With that in mind as businesses, it gives us a fantastic opportunity, TO LISTEN. With all of these followers, friends and fans, we have access to a huge database of information, thoughts and ideas. Best of all, these thoughts come from people who are interested enough to have made the initial connection.

We now have, at our fingertips, information that has never been available before. Instant updates as to when someone might be hungry or when someone is out shopping. We can know if someone is looking for a new car, or just ate at the restaurant we own. If we just take the time to listen, we can learn a lot.

After listening, we need to act, of course. Thank the customers for their business, send them a link to a car you sell, or invite them to your next function to get to know them better.

There are many tools out there that make the listening easier and can help you interact better, but the main point is to listen. Social media is a very powerful tool, but sometimes we use it incorrectly. Try changing your approach–Talk less and listen more. It will pay you dividends.