Is Internet access a human right? A United Nations special report last June on "the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression" talks about the indispensable nature of the Internet: "Given that the Internet has become an indispensable...
@dariasteigman Re: @Nationals Would following back 26K people really a sign of anything? That never impresses me if a brand follows me back. — Jonathan Steigman (@MagicPeaceLove) February 22, 2012 So I went on a mini rant yesterday about my hometown team's...
Years ago, my friend Ellen* confided in me that she wasn't sure whether to accept a promotion because it would put her in the role of supervising her friends. My question to her: If you don't take it, will one of your colleagues snag the job? She accepted the...
No one would call me an introvert. I'm the person who will almost always choose the room where I know no one over the room where everybody knows your name. All that moving around the world growing up made me comfortable talking with strangers. But I also have the...
I was watching Shark Tank the other night when entrepreneur and inventor Eric Corti walked in pitching a balloon pump designed to take the air out of an open bottle of wine. He was looking for cash in return for a stake in his business. I’m no oenophile, but I know...
This is what I found when I popped over to Google the other day. Obviously not every company can customize its logo for its customers. But what about: Sending a "happy birthday" postcard (as did one of my doctors)? E-mailing a "happy birthday" greeting (race...
This should be obvious, right? [Insert BIG SIGH here.] There's a lot of talk these days about "empowered consumers" and what this means for companies. It's an issue for pricing and sales, and for what consumers want and expect from the brands we...
I cleaned my Twitter house recently, dropping off over 200 people whose streams never grabbed my attention and/or with whom I rarely or never engaged. This was not a lazy mass unfollow; I looked at every single account. One by one. (No, it didn't all happen in one...
Want to know the fastest way to shut down conversation on your blog? Moderate comments. (And if you're going to hold comments, you should at minimum have a process for getting them approved quickly.) Case in point: I followed a link to a terrific blog post the other...
I had a conversation with my mom recently about an apparel retailer that is going out of business. She had attributed their fate to a declining economy. My own take: the clothing was staid--and there's a limited market for boring. The company never took a risk. It...