Focus

Distractions are a distracting factor;

Procrastination delays the matter…

Does it matter? Get there faster?

More to-do we’re chasing after.

(laughter)

A quick photomontage of a candle I shot along with a macro view of my eye. For a full-size look at this and others like it, check out the Photomontage set at my Flickr gallery.

Musical accompaniment for this post: Incubus – Made for TV Movie

Related articles

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• Why and How To Overcome Procrastination (healthylifestyleplus.com)


• 10 Shortcuts To Defeating Writing Procrastination In Record Time (kristinnador.wordpress.com)


• Procrastinators of the world unite….. Tomorrow? (pantsontheoutside.wordpress.com)


• Determine to do as much good as you can, for as many as you can, as often as you can, for as long as you can (knuthblog.wordpress.com)


• The Complete Guide To Procrastinating At Work (lifehacker.com.au)

Evernote, Three Months In

At the beginning of this year I made it a point to get in the habit of using Evernote. I’ve kept reading its praises and since I’m in the world of collecting ideas for future blog posts, it made enough sense to give it a try.

I should say that I’ve previously relied on emailing myself ideas, links, images and other content, filing them away under “read later” or “ideas” in Gmail. This has kinda worked, but I don’t really find myself going through that content often. The idea of a standalone app dedicated to capturing ideas and organizing them at least makes sense to me for that reason. I get the concept, but it’s still taking work to make myself use the program.

Part of the adoption curve for me is having content actually in Evernote. Without many notes to search, there’s not much to draw from, so I can see how some users may get turned off if, say, within a week or two they aren’t reaping tremendous benefit.

But so far for me, it’s been at least good for peace of mind, knowing that all the stuff I’d otherwise be emailing myself is now tagged and easily referenced. In fact, it was the process of going through my notes in Evernote that led to this blog post, so hey… there’s something! I’m interested enough to keep using it, and I’m surely only scratching the surface, given the capabilities some of its power users explore. There will be more to come on this for sure.

What do you think? Do you use Evernote or a similar service? What’s your process for capturing ideas, to-dos or things go investigate later? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• The Ultimate Evernote Guide, Part 1: Getting Started with Evernote (teleread.com)


• Evernote-branded device coming. Wait, what? (bizjournals.com)


• Evernote Promises Its Own ‘New, Magical’ Hardware Gadgets Are Coming (embargozone.com)


• Evernote is my Everything (raventools.com)


• Three Third Party Evernote Apps for iOS (centralisious.com)


• Why You Should Be Using Evernote As Your Go-To Place For Remembering Everything (TimeManagementMagazine.com)

Citigroup Eliminates 11,000 Jobs in History’s Most Corporate-Jargony Paragraph Ever

Hoo boy, this is some incredible corporate-speak – as in, “repositioning” out of the company… (via The Atlantic):

Image and link via: Citigroup Eliminates 11,000 Jobs in History’s Most Corporate-Jargony Paragraph Ever – The Atlantic by Derek Thompson.

My heart kind of goes out to the person/team who had to draft this statement – an unenviable task, ripe for ridicule, no doubt subject to hours of agonizing revisions and edits. My heart goes out even more to the newly “repositioned.” But the fact that this missive captures this much attention (mentions on The Atlanticand Twitter, for example) says something – somehow, a nerve has been touched…

It Is What It Is

This is just a lose-lose all around. The company has to do what it has to do, and no amount of careful wording will lessen the blow. Companies can’t stay alive if they have more staff than they need – that’s just a reality of business. And it’s a lousy reality for the newly-jobless that isn’t helped at all by corporate-speak. Maybe there would be less flak coming in if Citigroup at least expressed some kind of gratitude or regret – but would that really have made a difference? Maybe there would be fewer blogs or tales of PR about it, but the repositioning just “is what it is.”

Man, do I hate that phrase.

What do you think? Ever had to be the bearer of grim corporate news? What are your favorite corporate-speak phrases? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Citigroup leads finance world in bullshit-generating capacity (boingboing.net)
• Citigroup Eliminates 11,000 Jobs in History’s Most Corporate-Jargony Paragraph Ever (theatlantic.com)
• Citigroup to cut more than 11,000 jobs, close some branches (stltoday.com)
• It’s OK to Talk About How Women Dress (femination.wordpress.com)

Foursquare: Do or Die Time?

Here’s something interesting: I often look to the media for blog post ideas, but this time it seems to have happened in reverse. Case in point: a few weeks back I heard a broadcast from Marketplace Radio speaking to Foursquare’s CEO. Amazingly, just a few weeks prior I asked this very question on LinkedIn: “Has Foursquare’s time passed?” There were several good answers and a general consensus that it’s too early to tell.

Not long after I posted my question, Foursquare released a major update to its mobile app and got its PR machine cranking. What’s interesting here is that both Marketplace and I shared the same thought: Foursquare was introduced in 2009, gained massive popularity, and has been gradually cooling off ever since. Is that a sign of its having peaked already or just the fleeting attention span of the digerati?

Life After Death of the Check-In

“Life After Death of the Check In” -Jon Mitchell via ReadWriteWeb

Earlier this year, months before any of this, Jon Mitchell of ReadWriteWeb did this excellent and provocative article on the death of the check in. He rightly notes that it can be overkill:

…it’s a mundane performance of “I’m at the grocery store!” which is annoying noise to one’s friends and followers.

I started using it in early 2011, out of curiosity and to have something to do – like taking photos – while waiting in line at places or making art out of routine trips to places like, well… the grocery store. Hey, at least I try to make my activity interesting – but I sure as heck do NOT post every single update to Twitter, Facebook, etc.

I took all these photos of my local grocery store with my phone for Foursquare check-ins.
I always try to include a photo with each one. Hey, it keeps me entertained.

Businesses Could be Using Foursquare Better

Here’s the secret ingredient: Photos. Include fun photos of your storefront, employees (smiling, preferably), specials, or a behind-the-scenes view of what’s going on. These kind of unique details draw people in, and it can certainly be endearing to customers. I’d love to see an “ask us about this photo” post at some place I check in, then feel like an insider when I take them up on the offer. I’d be getting to know the business better, and maybe even getting a special deal.

I’m glad to see Foursquare innovating and I look forward to what’s next. The real test will be adoption. It won’t be genuinely interesting  until more businesses and users get in on it and get creative. I just hope the next major developments don’t take as long – and with any luck they won’t. I’m sure Foursquare itself has also surely noticed its buzz decline, like Marketplace and your humble author.

What do you think? Are you on Foursquare? Have you been on it and lost interest? Have you ever gotten a deal somewhere because through the app? Let us hear from you in the comments!

Related articles

• FourSquare Anyone? (nickisnook.net)
• Location, Location, Location: Your Business and Foursquare(trozzolopassinglane.wordpress.com)
• Foursquare Encourages Action With Promoted Updates (v3im.com)
• Portland Maine Is Better at Foursquare Than You Are(chapmanchapman.wordpress.com)
• Find Out If You Should Stay Until After the Credits with New Foursquare Connected App (webpronews.com)
• 10 ways to get the most out of Foursquare (Kyle Lacy)
• This Is the Best FourSquare Perk Ever [Wtf] (gizmodo.com)
• Leo Laporte: Why Apple Should Buy Foursquare (readwriteweb.com)
• 8 Celebs With Surprising Foursquare Mayorships (mashable.com)
• Luxury brands cozy up to Foursquare (greatfinds.icrossing.com)
• 5 Brands Testing Foursquare’s New Ads (adweek.com)

Tide Turns Tide with PR

I love it when fiction and real life intersect in clever, funny, or serendipitous ways. I especially like seeing that happen to the mutual benefit of everyone involved – including the public at large – in terms of culture jamming.

That’s what happened this week with Tide and The Onion. The publication ran a faux story on a product that doesn’t necessarily translate perfectly to social media releasing a “cool new viral video.” About… detergent? You get the joke.

Tide Turns Tables on The Onion

It just so happens that the actual company noticed this post and, in what must have been a Herculean effort of corporate teamwork, crafted a brilliant, self-aware response. And they even publicized it via a promoted tweet. Here’s the video and The Onion’s response.

Kyle Ryan@Kyle_Ryan

So @TheOnion wrote this onion.com/Lc7F52, then @tideresponded with this youtu.be/clt8cjOgUbI. Well played, Tide, well played.

2 Jun 12

• Reply
• Retweet
• Favorite

I hope other corporations can enjoy and learn from this as an example of PR done right. Keep the funny videos coming, Tide.

What do you think? Was this the right move on Tide’s part? Have you heard of the story elsewhere, or does publicity like this actually amount to anything? Let us hear from you in the comments!

P.S. I really love embedding tweets. That’s awesome, Twitter.

Related articles

• Tide Detergent Releases Viral Video In Response To The Onion Spoof(mediaite.com)
• The Onion Describes ‘Cool New Tide Video’ Before Digitas Creates It(adrants.com)
• Check Out This Cool New Tide Detergent Video (adweek.com)
• Tide, P&G, Embraces Onion Lampoon of Their Viral Videos (reelseo.com)
• Tide creates ‘cool new’ video in response to The Onion article (Ragan.com)

Stuff You May Have Missed: March 2012

When I do a photo exhibition, it will probably be called this. For accuracy.
To make sure I stay on track with blogging, I’ve set myself the goal each month of writing at least one major post about each of the categories covered here at rsmithing.com. Early on, I didn’t even bother with categories, but as the amount of my posts grew, it made sense to, well, categorize them. Doing this inWordPress makes for an easy navigation menu, and that’s a blogging best practice: including navigation to give visitors a sense of what the heck your site is about.
I’ve done this successfully for three months now, and since you may be a follower, you might be interested in at least one of these posts (and if you aren’t following, consider signing up at left like all the cool kids are doing). Whether recent or from way back four or so weeks ago, your comments are very, very much appreciated, because, well, you rule for reading this.
Seriously: Thank You, from all of us at rsmithing.com (i.e. me and the cats). And now, the rundown:

Photography

• Single Image Sundays: The Emerging Dog (Detail)
• Single Image Sundays: Moth At The Door
• Single Image Saturdays: Spring is Springing
• Single Image Sundays: Skull Pendant

Social Media

• How to Talk About Social Media In Business: 5 Points, Video Interview

PR

• Homeless Hotspots? What Could Go Wrong?

Technology

• Digital Ancestry: an iPad Forerunner

Music

• iPhone Video Editing: The Black Keys Live

Writing

• Blog Post Artwork

What do you think? Should I keep doing this every month, or have you already seen all the posts here? If so, which was your favorite? Want me to comment on a post of yours? Just share your link in the comments below or at the posts listed and let’s do this!

Related articles

• WordPress is Best (rsmithing.com)
• Blogging about Blogging: Tips, Motivation, Free Blog Images(rsmithing.com)
• Photography, Technology and Connections in the Name of Art(rsmithing.com)
• Social Media Week, NYC 2012 Recap(thesocialsonictraveler.wordpress.com)