So, I got to try out Google Buzz this morning, like thousands of other people today. I can see how it can become useful, perhaps. Not 100% sold on it yet, but I’ll play for a little while longer.

I like how it kinda takes the good things about commenting, Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging and puts it all together. We shall see… we shall see…

At any rate, within only a few hours of creating my first “buzz” I saw that it was “liked” – it was my brother. How sweet ;). But then, it was “liked” again… and I thought Hmmmm… was it really *that* interesting? It really was kind of mundane. I looked at who it was that was liking what I said and it was a gaming company, as in video games etc. I don’t do video games… I mean, sure, we have a Wii and I (*cough* used to *cough*) do a fair amount of DDR, and, well, I might play Mahjong a little too much on my computer, but I don’t recall any of my contacts being gaming companies. So, out of curiosity, I clicked to look at their profile. Sure enough, they were following people left, right and centre – they had followed well over 1000 people already and only had maybe 50 following back. (As of this writing, they were following over 6000 people and 115 following back).

They then “liked” another random, mundane buzz of mine. This is when I clued in; they found a way to get eyes onto their profile – put your business URL as your profile name and go around and “like” as many people’s buzzes (buzz’s? buzzi? er… whatever the plural is…) as you can. It’s not actual SPAM spam, but in this Web 2.0, relationship-driven, contact-enhancing roll we are on, it seems counter-productive.

Randomly liking people’s statuses/updates/whatevers doesn’t make me want to do business with you, my friend. I’m sorry. If you want to engage me, well, then engage me: add to the conversation, ask me questions, ask my opinion… be *authentic* (sorry… over-used current social-media buzzword there… but it fits).

Essentially: don’t walk in to the club double-gunning everyone you see in the hopes people will see you as cool and want to come sit at your table. Because they won’t.

Let’s not even TALK about your popped collar…

Read this, and had to share:

“…there has probably never been a better time to be in a creative business. So, stop the fear and negativity. The more fearful we become, the more we will fall back on tried and tested formulas for what we do – and that would be the kiss of death. It’s a brave new world – and it requires courage to move beyond our comfort zone.”

Full post by Terri Rogers.

So… people have been joking about the Apple Tablet’s new name: iPad. I thought it’d be fitting to have an appropriate wallpaper, don’t you? ;)

Click for full iPad screen resolution size of 1024x768

There’s a nap(kin) for that…

I started poking about Steven Seppinni’s site today and saw some things that I liked, specifically this article: Economy Down-Entrepreneurship Up. It is very true; there is risk in everything, including having a job. However, we do need to remember that running a business is not an easy way out. Believe me. I have been doing this for 11 years (well, minus the break wearing a hard hat in the middle). When it’s good, it’s fantastic. It’s like nothing else in the world. It means picking up the kids from school and attending every play or ceremony. It means no commute (sometimes). It’s the joy of walking into your high-school reunion and when people ask “So, what do you do now?” you can answer “I own an international company.”

In the bad times, however… yeesh. It can mean going a week surviving on 3 hours of sleep a night just to get done what you think will bring you money. It can mean not having cash to buy groceries, so you end up using your Large Chain Store credit card to feed your children (who think it’s the best thing ever to eat macaroni and cheese, and Ichiban all the time, but you worry about fresh vegetables…). It can mean scrambling at the 11th hour to try and find just one. more. thing. to sell so that you can make rent. It can mean not making it to one of those school activities because you can’t afford the gas to make the trip. It also means no sick pay, nor benefits, nor unemployment benefits… so if you run out of work or if you’re sick for too long… tough. No corporation there to bail you out.

But oh… those up times. That insidious Hope that keeps us going; that sweet, sweet taste of triumph when you sell your first book/hour/course. The Dance of I Am Awesome when you land that new contract. The look on your little boy’s face when he looks back at you from the stage, holding his newly-earned Certificate For Being Awesome in Math… That is so worth a couple of weeks of Ichiban.

I am an Entrepreneur.

Rawr.

About an hour ago, Tweeter @yukarip asked where to go for the “best Wordpress themes” and @funkyplates said she should talk to me. Oh, no pressure at all ;) (but thanks!)

The short answer is “there is no best place.”

I can hear some people now: “Ya, but…”

Ya but nothing… It’s kind of like asking “Where’s the best place to eat out?” You know that people will follow it up with “What kind of food do you like?” and “How much do you want to pay?’ or “What time of day are you going?” even “How many people are going?” as well as “What part of town?”.

Truth is, you sometimes need to go to a dozen restaurants before you find your own, personal Cheers.

Before you can go searching for your own “best place to find Wordpress themes” you need to know many, many things about your site – and yourself – like:

• What colours do you want to use?
• Will you be having a lot of pages?
• Are you comfortable installing plug-ins or widgets if the theme requires it?
• Are you able to recognize an “almost what I want” theme and either tweak it yourself or get someone to fix it?
• Who is the audience?

The honest truth is, it’s probably best to spend an hour or five going through many, many, many different themes (and you’ll start to see duplicates on different sites). Download lots, install lots and go through all the previews using your own site. Most of them look really sexy before you download, but once you have your own things up, you either find it doesn’t fit well or you’re going to have to install 5 plug-ins or widgets to make it look like it did “on the box.”

What do I do? I simply go to Google and start my search with “free wordpress themes” or “free wordpress templates” and spend some time poking about there. Then I move on to places like Theme Forest or something quite robust like Headway (which I’m still playing with…).

To start, I’d go up and down the aisles, find a lot of free ones and do a lot of taste testing; how do you know you’re going like something until you nibble?

I have a general bone to pick with anyone who wants to tell you how you “should” be using Twitter. The only rules I think everyone should follow fall under basic civility, decorum and kindness (oh, and no spam-ness). Other than that…

Who.
Freakin’
Cares.

That being said, if with Twitter (as with Facebook, or blogging or site-building or… hammering a nail) you want to accomplish something specific – you have a certain goal in mind, then by all means, model, copy and emulate those who have gone before you. Ask for guidance. Read books.

Imagine you’re using a spoon. Doesn’t matter how you use that spoon. It’s your spoon. You can use it to pry thumbtacks out of the corkboard. You can use it to scrape the peel off of ginger. Use it to spread filler into old picture nail holes. It would be very rude to have a staunch soup-eater come up to you, unannounced, telling you that you’re using your spoon wrong.

If you WANT to eat soup, great… learn all you can about how to hold that spoon and move it. However, it was still rude of the soup-eater to approach you and say “you’re doing it wrong.”

Go ahead – scoff at the rules! Use your spoon to fling broccoli across the room! Dig to China! Eat Nutella out of the jar! Hang the damn thing off your nose! When you’re ready to eat soup, look for the people who say “Oh! Awesome! Let me know how I can help – and, what kind of soup do you like?” and learn from them.

I don’t care what you do with the spoon…

If you’re doing something that interests me (like, say, eating Nutella) I will follow you. If not…

…someone else will come along and be in awe of your spoon bending.

Trust me.

:D

Those of you familiar with Facebook already know what a ‘poke’ is in that context. For the uninitiated, a ‘poke’ is the equivalent of a wave across the office, a hello, a “yoo-hoo! I see you!” or a “hey, you know what, thinking about you.”

It’s used either when you don’t actually have a full idea to share/thought to articulate or to be cheeky; akin to someone looking at you, sticking out their tongue and both of you giggling.  A pull of the pigtails, a tap on the shoulder, then walking away – with a smile, mind you, and a hint of a “hey, engage me on some level.”

Those of us who use Facebook as part of our social media “strategy” (or probably more apropos: our “Procrastination Strategy”) have become accustomed to this even more fly-by way of connecting with people. Now that we have included Twitter in the buffet of staccato communicating choices, what’s a poor tweep to do when all we want to do is poke?

Earlier this morning, I got a friendly ‘poke’ from @GDGeek to which @VicTriviaQueen replied “Twitter totally needs a poke equivalent. Maybe a Flap or Flyby to tie it in with the bird theme?” @GDGeek had some ideas: “Maybe a “buzz” (low-flying bird) or a “squawk”"

I thought about this… twoke wouldn’t work. Twickle? Twouch? Twab? Twush?

My reply?

“I kinda fancy the term “goose” ;)”

After some social proof of approval for the term, I hereby announce that we can all start goosing our twitter friends.