Monetizing IP Communications - Social Business Archives

Hipsters' Love Hate Relationship with Technology, Maybe

2013-04-27T10:33:10Z

Obsessed with a desire to avoid the chaotic, social technical life of modern society, hipsters find themselves in the state of "maybe" that Carly Rae Jepsen is famous for, but instead of about a lost love, it is about technology and the relationship of people with technology.

Hipsters ride fixed-gear bikes, shoot pictures with Polaroid SX-70s, swear by Craigslist, use Viber or Vippie to talk (not Skype) with a faux analog handset plugged into a cell phone, and wear flannel shirts and kitschy cable knit sweaters from the local thrift store or Aeropostal (shh). They exude the age old inner conflict in the hearts of woman and mankind between the group and the individual, but favoring the individual. To opt out or to embrace? Don't try to second-guess them.

Some present-day philosophers believe that the popularity of hipster culture may be important for American economy. How? The US needs to more high school graduates with potential, attitude, and curiosity necessary to be software engineers, graphic designers, and Wikipedia editors ... who mix the best of the old with who knows what is new.

Life as a hipster is complex. They keep online sex diaries and play with Instagram incessantly on old Tandy desktops (or Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the lastest i-Whatever when no one is looking) in an Occupy Low-tech/analog Media and Device World. Institutional management in growing a country's economy may be detrimental and claustrophobic, at best and counter-productive to a world that needs more ideas and shockingly practical innovations, but self-starters like hipsters could meet this criteria, maybe ... especially with social media mass surveillance as is, in place, but not really.

A Cracked magazine writer's words about Hipster Douchebags (coined by the Slays), "This is about looking like you traveled back from the not too distant future. A future populated by douchebags."

If you are 25 - 35 years of age or act like you are, have larges sums of disposable income and have not bought a house yet, then you are the demographic that Apple markets to. You could be a hipster. If you mostly use your smartphone on speaker mode in public, you are not hipster material. They only do that in private. If you watch Doctor Who and listen to George Jones in your attic and, LOL, suddenly have an epiphany of who you really are, you should have been a hipster. They wear ear plugs at concerts and wear their skinny jeans with hems folded neatly three times under and tucked up behind that great big tongue on Chuck Taylors.

Study Slavoj Žižek. He is the most popular philosopher of hipsters. Wikipedia writers share that critics believe he "constantly recycles old ideas which were scientifically refuted long ago." Like low-tech gadgets, that is seductive. It saves hipsters from information-overload, massive stimulation, and the often depressing anonymity of fast-paced city life. Besides, no matter how often people say we are never alone with Facebook, online social networks do not replace street corner, front porch, and neighborhood cafe conversations and community. In fact, hipsters are not afraid to strike up conversations with people they do not know, and they don't mind sitting at communal tables German-style at restaurants. Pass the currywurst, maybe.

Speaking of German things, the July, 2012 Hipster Olympics was held in Berlin. Over 8000 opt-out kind of people gathered to cheer on lackadaisical participant competitions. What did they do? They built mustaches out of duct tape, cello tape and construction paper. They sprinted around turntables. They did the standard broad jump with relaxed textile shoulder bags. This year 2013, they should add a pseudo Mash-Up event where each participant brings found low-tech and high-tech materials with an objective to create new wearable tech that doesn't look like tech. (Opposite of steam punk fashion!)

It's hard to look back at you, baby, but here's my number (to my favorite thrift store), so call me, maybe.

Sharing Experience with First Computer Purchase

2013-01-16T04:04:54Z

My freshman year Introduction to Computers class professor told me I had no future in computers and not to take the class again. I was depressed for several weeks. Then, I saved up until I could buy my own computer. I bought a Tandy 1000 HX which had a 3.5" floppy instead of a 5.25" one. I was ecstatic. It had DOS 2.11 in the ROM, so I didn't have to start the computer with a boot-able disk. It had a clock speed of 8088 CPU as I recall but could clock down to 4.77 MHz for compatibility with the older applications. I used the Basic program to create a different version of a Sorry game and had success. I never could get it to work in my college class.

I remember buying a dot matrix printer also and hating it because the holes never matched up. The computer's memory could be expanded to 640 kb. This would be accomplished by placing a memory expansion card, which came with 128 kB, in the expansion slot and adding another 256 kB (for a total of 384) kilobytes in memory chips to this board. I brought this Tandy 1000 HX into my English and gifted studies classes at G.W. Carver Middle School. We actually practiced taking it apart and putting it back together whenever discipline got really bad and also many times during a Power Puff Mechanics class. ;-)

I wonder where that computer is now? I don't even remember what I did with it, but I miss it sometimes. Where is that Introduction to Computers teacher?

The only reason I wrote about this is that Denzil Daniel, my Facebook friend and engineer, based in Dubai, was talking about negative experiences can actually inspire. I agree ... if you let them.

I heard that my Introduction to Computers class professor is in his 80s and lives in Atlanta. I think I'll sign up for Peachtree Petals' Atlanta Floral Gift Club and set up one reddish-black rose to be delivered to him on a monthly recurring basis with, "Thank you so much for telling me I would never be able to understand computers."

Need Eight Arms to See Social Media ROI nbm

2012-12-17T22:24:18Z

What keeps so many companies from using social media? The boss asks important questions, "Where’s the ROI of social media? Why should I gamble my marketing team's time? How do we make the most out of the world's vast volume of digital data in the area of social media?"

Oktopost, a hot, new social media marketing platform for business looks like it fits the "effective use of social media" bill. It enables you with the least effort to publish social messages, converse with prospects and generate leads. It lets you use its computational techniques and software in the cloud for analyzing huge volumes of data that even the best multi-tasker in your organization could never begin to achieve.

Oktopost enables companies for the first time to say “This new customer came from this LinkedIn post (or this tweet).” Oktopost enables its users to track closed sales back to the originating social media interaction (e.g. tweet, LinkedIn post).

Several of my industry friends at DIDX, at conferences I participate in, on Skype, Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube and TelecomYou have recommended Oktopost to me, so that is why I checked it out and am now sharing it with my readers. My friends talk about how difficult it is for most of them to use social media effectively and how Oktopost has made their work lives less stressful and more productive. Most of them normally feel lost in the swamp of LIKE, FOLLOW, PIN, and THUMBS UP or DOWN and would love for trusted, automated algorithms to take over.

Perry Nalevka, a friend of mine since his MobileMax days, works with Oktopost, so I have some inside information about how it works. He gave me a tour which showed some great features such as truly leveraging all of Linkedin's best networking and business development tools that most of us do not have time to work with.

Oktopost saves time and effort and gives promising leads that we don't even realize are waiting for us in social media. Also once a company sets up an Oktopost account with the social profiles of all the people associated with the company, each of those people can participate in posting to the company account. In turn, Oktopost enables one to post to all connected Linkedin individual accounts and Linkedin group accounts that one is allowed to access.

Let's say we post to 100 different Linkedin groups a certain discussion question. The Oktopost social inbox would collect those messages. Instead of wasting time, logging into Linkedin and opening each Group and each message from any Individual; all is collected in one place on Oktopost. We can answer each from Oktopost, but those answers post back to the correct location in Linkedin. Cool!

What is the difference between Oktopost and Hootsuite or Oktopost and TweetDeck? Social inbox and post to call to action to leads' conversion, for one. Oktopost seems to pay more attention to detail, almost as if its automated algorithms are smarter. I mentioned how much easier that Oktopost is to use than other platforms like it that I have tried. It has scheduled messaging available and in addition, a message manager where one can save message templates to use over and over.

The analyses tools are the best such as the ability to see how many clicks on each message, see which social media platform is more effective for each type of message, which Linkedin groups were most interested, and to keep track of one's calls to action and the resulting leads. How does Oktopost do the last item? It gives the Oktopost user some code to include on their website and elsewhere that automates the conversions! What would normally take a marketing teams days to complete ... can take as little as ten minutes with Oktopost.

It is also possible to integrate Oktopost with Sales Force, Google Analytics, BaseCamp or Marketo.

I think Oktopost will not take the place of a company's marketing team regarding social media, but it will make it so much more efficient, ROI-friendly, and able to convert "calls to action" to leads. Social media is big data that is begging to be mined for the benefit of businesses and their customers.

Since ITEXPO East 2013 in Miami Beach is right around the corner, why not use it for that. I'll be at booth 337 near DIDX, Xorcom, VoipSwitch, Five9, BlockDos and the Spiceworks Exhibitor Lounge. Sign up now for a free Oktopost trial at http://www.oktopost.com/?aff=suzannebowen. (For each sign up through my link, I will donate money to Big Brothers Big Sisters whose mission is to help children reach their potential by providing professionally supported, one-to-one relationships that have a measurable impact.)

Also let me know also if you plan to run the ING Miami Beach marathon the weekend before ITEXPO. I am doing the 1/2.

A Story about Leaving Latvia in the 40s, Cars, and Technology

2012-07-27T19:17:35Z

Once there were a pair of Latvians, husband and wife, in the mid 1940s, who fled in the middle of the night from their country to safer territory. Who knew their fearful flight would eventually lead them to one of the most positive and exciting entrepreneurial stories of Ottawa? Of all things, too ... cars, one of the most important purchases one can make and a big part of consumers' sense of identity!

In fact, a car purchase is usually the second largest purchase after a home for most people. Jeffery Mierins, who we interview here, comes from a third generation of successful car dealership experts and owners. He owns Dow Honda automobile dealership and several others in the Ottawa area.

(Stream the car podcast, or download it.)

Keep in mind, the number one selling car for the past 14 years in Canada has been the Honda Civic. The 2004 model, which is exactly one of my cars, won the KBB Award # 1 Best Used Car under $8000, the Honda Fit (Jazz) is #7 among Coolest Cars under $18,000, and the Honda Crosstour is # 2 among top 10 Head Turners.

Mr. Mierins says, "If you asked me my favorite car ... I drive a Honda Pilot because I have four kids and a dog ... it's one of the only sports utility vehicles that fits eight people. But if you want to talk about a favorite car, how about the S2000? It is not produced right now, but it is a convertible and was available a few years back ... Honda was able to get the most horse power per liter of any regulated * aspirated car which means it didn't have any turbo chargers. This enabled high fuel efficiency and really high horse power ..."

We discuss the hottest car technologies in 2012 and forward such as navigation tools, ability to plug in one's iPod, back-up camera and back-up assist, heated/cooled option seats, awesome traction control systems, satellite radio, and dual audio and video entertainment such as audio in front seat and video in back seat at the same time. The back-up camera and back-up assist set-up, for example, is plugged into the navigation system. There are two choices, to see downward behind your car or straight across. It saves time and provides increased safety.

Jeff discusses the Honda Jazz (called Honda Fit in North America). The one that is currently available is not an electric car. He mentions Honda's hydrogen vehicles being tested in California, but with the cold weather of Canada, the car's tail pipe that would normally drain water, would instead be filled with a big popsicle stick. Plus the infrastructure for electric cars and hygrogen cars is not quite universally ready.

About a decade ago, Mr. Mierins visited the Honda development site in Tochigi, Japan. This is the the world’s first indoor, all-weather, omni-directional, vehicle-to-vehicle crash test center, built to increase research in safety technologies that will help vehicles withstand real-world traffic accidents. Jeff saw and was able to discuss first-hand the progress of the hybrids and other futuristic Hondas. The most important difficulty in the hybrid and electrical cars is finding charging stations to "refuel." The 120 volt electrical system in the typical North American home is not compatible. A vehicle would need to complete charging in an overnight period! A minimum of 600 voltage is necessary to charge in an hour or less.

An interesting bit of Canadian automobile trivia is that the Honda Civic was the first hybrid to be introduced in the nation of Canada.

Jeff compares the marketing and fashion strategy of Toyota Prius and Honda Civic hybrid introduction. (First person to comment correctly to this blog post as to the two tell-tale signs if a Honda Civic is hybrid or not ... will receive a complimentary @AstraQom ball cap. Jeff gives the answer in the audio podcast around the 12.08 mark.)

Want to know the basics of success in selling, buying or trading a car? The advice Mr. Mierins gives is no-nonsense, practical and so true: keep it clean, maintained and avoid smoking in it.

A side track we took in the conversation is concerning the issues of SMBs in the middle of peripheral road construction, the tax perspective, and the detrimental effect on sales and customer visits. We discussed a KPMG business report showing Halifax, Trois-Rivieres, and Charlotteltown as the top three cities in Canada, but obviously there are extra layers of bureaucracy in Ottawa which slows business momentum. Those layers are municipal, provincial and federal even, since Ottawa is the Capital of Canada.

As an aside ... I accidentally called Mr. Mierins' company ... Dow Jones when informing the AstraQom CEO of my plan to itonterview. Jonathan Sowah's jaw dropped when I said I was interviewing the owner. ;-) Dow Jones? The Dow Honda dealership is open for service at 6:30 AM and for sales at 9 AM. They have extended hours during pre, during, and post "snow days" for tire changes. Dow Honda's website is http://www.dowhonda.com, and its popular Facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/DOWHonda.

Expect more interview collaborations with Jeff Mierins on his Mercedes Benz (love my C280 4matic) center and power vehicles dealership! We'll cover communications and IP technologies and applications in relation to cars also. Isn't the ITEXPO West 2012 car giveaway a hot blue convertible Mustang?

People Power Behind Everything IP

2012-07-27T18:44:45Z

During my first fifty three years of life, I have had this obsession with people, their lives, why they do what they do, what they are good at, how they react to success and failure, what they create, and what I can learn from them ... and from there ... share with others. I still do. When I say this, I don't mean as in reality shows. People power is real.

I remember getting in trouble on a regular basis for having a biography book in my lap to read between assignments during my twelve years of public and private pre college education. Another work sheet will be slapped on my desk and the book would be confiscated by the instructor until after class.

I only bring this up to explain why -- during my (so far) thirteen year career in telecommunications and later IP communications -- I create and share so many video interviews, audio podcasts, and articles and why my focus is on PEOPLE in relation to technology, science, and such.

How do people monetize anything using IP? How did they get started? Who influenced them? How do they balance career with family and social life? Share the failures and the successes and how both make each one who they are today.

Geeky about people! That's me.

Kindle Fire Book Sauder Diaries Written by IP Communications Monetizer

2012-03-20T22:03:33Z

I have a secret. Open source geeks do sometimes monetize IP communications, and when they do it well, geeks and non-geeks benefit. Michel Vaillancourt is one of those.

He is the CEO of JKL5 Group who offer innovative telephony services, but he is also a steampunk book genre author. Today, I finished reading the book the second time completely through. It's called the Sauder Diaries - By Any Other Name.

The main character of Sauder Diaries Hans Sauder is a gentleman from a well-off German family, and I have always been fascinated with what makes one man a gentleman and the next one ... not.

I like how Hans describes people such as calling Blackheart a "pillaging homicidal accountant." He describes Annika as having a "work-toned derriere." Who couldn't picture that clearly? He describes Arietta Itala, the Chief Engineer of the Bloody Rose and every other woman he meets in such a way that one imagines him to see the beauty and finds apprecation in every one of them for purely aesthetic reasons. Even so, he asks the obvious question many a man I know would ask about Arrieta of how much she actually knows about engines and aeronautics, or if she is merely an attractive face for the Captain at the upper deck mess table?

I laughed at this because I was asked many times during my travels in the Middle East and South Asia as CEO of Super Technologies if I was really the CEO or was I a girlfriend to the other co-founder? If they only knew how much industry research, business development and other types of complicated work I participated in for the company and its services in about 10 - 14 hours per day 6- 7 days per week for a total of 12 years.

I have never been a fan of mathematics. Science and engineering have never been fields that my teachers in early life ever recommended I pursue. But ... I am an avid student of both, for the fun of it. Concepts -- such as EMIPALE, mentioned in the book, which creates local resistance to Earth's natural magnetic field generating lift -- are music to my mind. Keep educating us in such a natural way, Michel!

A bit of foreign language (one of my hobbies) is tastefully sprinkled here and there in Sauder Diaries, such as the Italian phrase, "Divertente, sì?" Nice.

Now, my husband Michael, who is a Social Studies major and a history nerd, enjoys most the fact that the stories is set in 1888 after the Crimean War ended but with a complete twist. Instead of the Allies' clear win, the war ends in a stalemate. We wonder if Mr. Vaillancourt had read as many Choose Your Own Adventure books as we have.

Because of rogue mad science experiments, outcast armies and self-serving bandits, supposedly big chunks of what is known as 'civilized Europe' cannot be traveled safely. The seas are filled with pirates who are hired by governments and/or who work for themselves. At the beginning of the steampunk novel, Hans is captured when his airship is attacked by the Bloody Rose, one of the most advanced pirate crews with a scary reputation.

Does Hans Sauder continue in his virginity to the end of this first in the Sauder Diaries series? Will he ever be reunited with his family back in Germany? Does he give in to the Darwinian level of human sexuality he describes? Will he move up or down the ladder of importance of the Bloody Rose or will he be booted out or killed by his new compadres? Will being a pirate corrupt his mind and heart? Or will it make him a better person ... if he survives? Will Arrieta or Annika or both of them become his girlfriend/s? Or should he take his father's advice given earlier in life: "personal affairs and professional spaces are horrible combinations."

No answers from me, but I do hope that Mr. Vaillancourt will keep up this series, educating us on ships, science, history, love, culture, and language? Does he need any investors? :-) Oh, and here is a very cool interview between the Steam Wench and Michel. Follow Michel Vaillancourt on Twitter.

Whoever is first to comment here and quote the reference to * telephony about 80% through the Kindle Fire version, I will send that person a $5 Amazon gift card. It's pretty cool.

Monetizing IP Communications May Take Some Special Tweeting

2012-03-07T18:23:28Z

LisaMarieDias's blog post "Who to Follow, and Not to Follow, on Twitter – That is the Question" caught my fancy because of what I agree with but even more so, what I don't agree with. The 51 comments she has received so far as just as controversial and thought-provoking as her original post. Twitter is used in serious manner for business, friendship, learning, teaching, collaborating, promotions and giveaways, newsfeed, video channel, photo gallery, comics, and more.

Lisa's Twitter workshop clients ask her how to get more Twitter followers, and she replies, "Who should you follow?"

She shares concern over following a bunch of people who just spam. But ... spam to one person is knowledge and potential business development for another.

How to define the type of people and organizations you want to follow? You define it. Not me! And don't feel bad when someone you follow ... does not follow you. For example, some people who I do not Follow on Twitter, I have added to a Specific Twitter List because this way I can read particular lists and see everything in that particular category I want to know about.

1. Those you feel you can learn from.
2. Those you want to develop business with.
3. Those you think you can help.
4. Those who you think ... make you laugh when you need it.
5. Those who have the kinds of networks you want to have.
6. My current or even potential friends, employees, team members, customers. It's your decision.
7. People who have the same interests I have: foreign languages, international travel, empowering homeless, biographies, steam punk reading, New Orleans, voip, m2m, mobile anything ...

What about Lisa Marie Diaz's client's first question? How do you get people to want to follow you? Here are a few ideas.
1. Use the Twitter search and type in words or phrases that have to do with your area of expertise. Why? Find the people describing issues and asking for help in this area, and propose answers to them. You don't even have to Follow them before you click REPLY and answer.

2. Thank people when they are helpful to you on Twitter and try to add something solid in the "Thank you" Tweet that will help others who read it. Don't just say, "Thank you, @juliefogg." Even better might be, "Thank you, @juliefogg. You are one the best Twitter examples of mixing personal, social and professional very well."

3. Show appreciation for those you enjoy following by doing a #FaveFollows or #FF (Follow Friday) Tweet once per week or even just once in a while. My most recent were @ayeshaambreen (bright telecom engineer and social networker) @grattonboy (just plain funny and informative same time, @JulieAnnMorris (digital entrepreneur and educator), @HarvardBiz (needs no description), @rossdawson (interesting infographics and stuff on crowdsourcing), @martingeddes (like his RTs and how he "words" things), @truvoip (one of those in my industry who has helped me most and I appreciate it ... awesome voip blog reviews) , @michelv69 (steam punk author, good friend, and very helpful).

4. I know that some people Tweet many times per day, and it works for them, but personally I don't want to Tweet more than 5-6 times per day. I don't want to wear out my welcome. Even when I do Tweet, I try to make sure it is about something that I think people, especially those who follow me, will want to read.

Have I ever made any money from Tweeting? I've gained new customers for DIDX in the past and still match more organizations who need wholesale DID with them. Many of my followers and those I follow have sent me potential business for AstraQom and other companies I represent and vice versa. At least half of those referrals become vendors or clients of ours or for them.

I get referrals from my Twitter network to write press releases and blog posts, complete audio or video interviews, and MC as well as represent people and organizations at exhibitions, conferences, workshops, and other events. I do get paid most of the time, in addition to travel expenses. So ... you never know where your Twitter network will take you.

Five to six times per year, I meet many of those in Twitter network and because I know them virtually, we connect more easily in person, have a meal, go to networking sessions and help each other with our exhibits and in gathering content for our blogs and podcast channels.

I'm no where near being a Twitter Queen, but I seem to gain on average about 3-7 new Followers, RTs, replies, and such per week. Out of 1,088 Followers, some people Unfollow me which is okay. "Unfollowing" will be a topic for another blog post. ;-) Merry Tweeting.

Other TMC blog postings about use of Twitter:
http://blog.tmcnet.com/gossip-from-the-hallways/2012/03/the-dangers-of-the-twitter-facebook-streams.html

http://blog.tmcnet.com/on-rads-radar/2012/03/churn-predicted-by-social-influence.html

http://astraqom.com/blog/2012/02/16/random-twitter-tip-for-business-from-astraqom-geo-trends/

The Purchase of Rapportive by Linkedin was ...

2012-02-29T20:31:13Z

How would you fill in that blank in the blog title? Shocking? Smart? Cool? Like why didn't Google buy Rapportive? Or TMCnet? Or Dun and Bradstreet? I even left a blank there at the end of my video talk on the Linkedin acquisition. Click and watch me explain what Rapportive is and why I like it and have since January 2011, the month it began. The most popular business networking platform bought the Gmail Plugin and two year old startup Rapportive this past month.

Rapportive shows you an "at a glance profile" of your contacts right inside your Gmail inbox, and that is exactly what I like about it. No more searching for the Tweets, Linkedin profile and Youtube profiles of the people you do business with or who you want to do business with.

I was so impressed in early 2011 that I did my best to get Mr. Vohra to let me interview him for DIDX audio podcasts. Too busy! I can imagine. Visit http://www.rapportive.com; connect with me and others on http://www.linkedin.com. I blog, podcast, represent at business events such as conferences for AstraQom and other companies, too. Inquiries for such kind of assistance? Just message me on Linkedin.