ARI HERZOG

My Personal Blog

Archives for March 2011

Tweet Once More and Lose Your Job

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P.J. Crowley and Gilbert Gottfried were fired this week because of insensitive and tasteless tweets.

These aren’t ordinary men. Crowley served as press secretary at the U.S. Department of State, and Gottfried was the voice of the duck in TV commercials for the American Family Life Assurance Company (more commonly known as Aflac).

To the uninitiated, here are videos featuring both Crowley and Gottfried.

While the offending tweets have since been deleted from their respective @PJCrowley and @RealGilbert timelines, everything lives forever on the web.

Crowley’s tweets must be approved by the State Department. This one was not and was subsequently cited across the wires in poor reflection of the Obama Administration:

“We have been watching a hopeful tsunami sweep across the Middle East. Now we are seeing a tsunami of a different kind sweep across Japan.”

Tasteless tweet by RealGilbertGottfried wrote a series of tasteless tweets, archived at this page of his 10 worst about Japan (some of them are not safe for work).

Both men are hardly alone. They are not the first to be fired and they won’t be the last.

Chrysler saw itself in heavy oil last week when an individual tweeted an improper message and that person was subsequently fired. And last month the American Red Cross confessed on their blog after an unintentional tweet was sent. While it was an honest mistake and nobody was fired, the takeaway is one that strikes every person representing every organization on the planet.

The role of a spokesperson extends beyond the 9-5 hours of each day. Tweets and other media communicated by a spokesperson will always reflect the organization whether or not disclosure exists. Marking your Twitter account as “personal” is no excuse for bad behavior. Perception is reality, and these three words I recognize every day in my role as an elected city councilor. It’s a shame that Crowley and Gottfried got fired in this down economy, but they should have known better.

T-Mobile G2: My New Mobile Obsession

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It’s funny what 12 months does to a person.

Nearly one year ago, I mused about replacing my BlackBerry Curve 8330 with a simpler phone with basic functionality. My rationale was I didn’t want to be electronically tethered to the internet around the clock.

Fast forward six months and I insisted I would downgrade, going so far as wondering whether my pre-BlackBerry device could be reincarnated.

I chuckle as I look back.

I didn’t downgrade. I didn’t stay with Verizon Wireless, my cellular provider for over a decade, either.

My new obsession is the T-Mobile G2.

Here’s a picture I snapped of the two phones side by side:

BlackBerry and G2: Side by Side

Launching last fall to many positive early reviews, the phone runs on the open source Android operating system and is pre-installed with every mobile application in Google’s arsenal. This works great for me, as I already live and breathe with GMail, Google Voice, Google Maps, and YouTube. I’ve since downloaded a handful of free apps — from Yelp to Bonsai Blast.

Once I recognized I didn’t want to downgrade as I really needed an internet device to do business wherever I went, it came down to signal strength (if I went with another provider) and cost. I visited stores and felt different phones, but I really wanted a qwerty keyboard which is why I didn’t buy the iPhone; the G2 has a slide-out keyboard in addition to the screen keys.

Asking people around my town what they thought of T-Mobile, their responses were generally favorable. So far so good.

At the Wireless Advocates kiosk at a local Costco warehouse store, I asked my remaining questions and bought it with a 2-year contract for the reasonable rate of $139.99 (over $100 cheaper than on T-Mobile’s website). I also signed up for a monthly $79.99 plan for 1,500 minutes of talk time, unlimited text messages, and unlimited web data transfers.

I then spent several days and tested the G2 in my apartment and at my favorite haunts to ensure the signal remained strong, calls didn’t drop or distort sound, and data transfers remained fast. Nothing failed.

People fall in love and out of love with different cellular manufacturers and providers. Some people switch in and out of different phones or different carriers every few years. I stuck with Verizon Wireless since 1999 when I bought my first cellphone with them.

Last night, I ported my 12-year number to T-Mobile.

Be Very Simple When Selling Online

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If your product is clearly displayed on a website, people will buy.

People will also raise awareness — as this blog article intends.

How to sell a product online.

First, this is an ingenious product for restaurant owners to purchase.

Second, this website layout is so simple it is a mystery why others don’t emulate. If you have a product to sell (and this works best if you only sell one product), show some pictures or a video of the product in action, include some large-font and easy-to-read text, and make it a cinch for the web visitor to buy.

If you think the website is too simple or too in-your-face, then visit the toepener blog which also is so simple that it could act as the website itself.

Inc. profiled the college students who created the toepener. It’s remarkable and memorable, two adjectives that every product ought to be described. If there was an affiliate program, guess who’d sign-up?

Deciphering @CharlieSheen and his #fastball

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Anyone care to translate this psychobabble?

Wait a few seconds for the video to load.

(If you’re reading this by email, click here to watch in full.)

His tweets are full of it, his Youtube channel videos about Sheen’s Korner are similarly ripe with monologues, and now he’s taking his act or whatever you want to call it on the road. Two dates are confirmed so far.

If he makes it to Boston, I might be tempted.

11 People Share Why They Follow My Tweets

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Two years after asking my Twitter followers why they followed me, I decided to ask it again.

This time around, instead of embedding multiple screenshots of people’s responses from a random moment in time, I introduce a social media tool called Storify — which enables sharing of tweets, Facebook updates, Youtube videos, Flickr photos, and other social content — to tell a story.

If you can’t see it, here is the physical story link.

The takeaway today is no different than in 2009. You follow me because I provide value to you.

It is no different why I follow you.

Feature Friday: How iGoogle is My RSS Feed HQ

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The following is a written by Chris Apple. His profile links don’t work anymore.

I don’t know about you, but as a real estate blogger, I tend to read a lot of blogs during my workday. Some of the blogs I read on any given day range in topics from SEO blogs, real estate blogs, social media blogs, and blogs about blogging. Say that three times fast!

You may be asking yourself, “How does he stay current with all of those blogs?” Enter iGoogle…

What is iGoogle?

iGoogle is an Ajax-based personal web portal. Basically, it allows users who are signed into their Google account to customize their homepage with lots of cool stuff. You can add RSS feeds, YouTube subscriptions, personalize it with custom themes, and even view your Gmail inbox, all in one place.

Offering a wide range of useful gadgets, including calendars and calculators, and even a joke-of-the-day gadget, iGoogle’s custom features can easily be added to your homepage with the click of a button.

As you can see, I use iGoogle for all of my RSS feeds. It is a great way to get a quick snapshot of all of the blogs that I subscribe to. When a blog that I subscribe to publishes a new post, it shows up right there on my iGoogle homepage.

How to sign up for iGoogle

First, you’ll need a Google account.

Don’t have one yet? Sign up here. After you register and log into your account, you will be able to access all of the features that iGoogle has to offer.

How to make iGoogle your homepage

This is really easy. Click this link and follow the directions.

Once you have a Google account and made iGoogle your homepage, the fun begins!

How to add RSS feeds to iGoogle

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Almost all blogs have some form of RSS feed that syndicates their content out on the web.

The next time you are online and find a blog that you want to subscribe to, like mine (shameless plug is at the bottom of my article), click on the RSS icon and you will be asked to add it to your Google homepage or to Google reader. Choose ‘Google homepage’ and the feed will be added to your iGoogle homepage.

How to change iGoogle themes and add gadgets

Another cool feature of iGoogle is the ability to customize your homepage with themes. They even have artist themes, designed by Look, for the Change theme and Add stuff links in the upper right-hand corner of your iGoogle homepage.

iGoogle helps me organize and save time

Staying up-to-date with all of the blogs I read can be a difficult task and a serious waste of time with bookmarks alone. In my search for an easy way to organize and manage all of that information, I found that iGoogle is a serious time-saver and a great place to store feeds.

If you are looking for more in-depth information about iGoogle, I suggest watching this video.

Do you use iGoogle?

What is your favorite theme or gadget? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.