No Cash, No Worries

I don’t carry much cash. In fact, right now I have $1 in my wallet, and that’s it. I don’t visit ATMs with any frequency, either. I’ve just been a credit card carrying consumer (say that fast five times…). In a break from the majority, however, we pay off our cards every month. So I don’t think I’m abusing credit. I’m certainly not overspending my cash!

If you’re at all like me, here’s something that may be of interest to you: the trend toward using phones to pay for services and purchases. With the advent of the smart phone, it is easier for stores – and consumers – to use a mobile device for a transaction.

My last trip to the Apple Store bore this out. When I had the software I needed, I asked where to pay. The friendly-guy-in-the-cool-t-shirt looked at me with a smirk. “Right here,” he said, as he pulled out his iPhone, I gave him my Mastercard, he swiped it on a little attachment to his phone, and we were done in about 40 seconds.

“Cool,” I thought.

Read this to learn more about the cashless — and cash machine-less — future. It’ll be here very quickly.

Have A Tweet Plan?

No, it isn’t a multi-marketing scheme. It is just a common-sense, think-ahead, plan to grow your Twitter influence – and to use it wisely.

Check it out here.

If you like that advice, consider following me. It is the kind of practical stuff I try to bring to the Twitterverse on a regular basis.

Okay, that shameless self-promotion is over…

Bye Bye Birdie?

“Facebook, yes. Twitter, no,” he said.

My oldest son, a college student, told me today he has taken some drastic measures to manage his social media use. Like, shutting down Twitter. That’s fine, I can understand that. He did so because he didn’t see the utility of the tool, and he also found it too distracting. It isn’t that he sees no value in the micro-blog/news and info burst that is Twitter. Rather, he doesn’t care to engage in reading – or sending – tweets. He has other things to do, bigger things (like big reading lists and papers, and people, too).

I thought this was interesting, since I’ve been reading some things lately that indicate Twitter is tending to be an older person’s tool (apologies to the “older” 30s readers).  There is research that younger web users are not flocking to Twitter (pardon the pun):

8% of Internet users ages 12 to 17 use Twitter, but…73% of wired American teenagers use social networking sites (like Facebook)

Anecdotal evidence from other parents affirms what my 18 year-old son has told me: Young adults “just aren’t into Twitter.” Sure, they use Facebook, but not Twitter.

I’ve yet to really figure out the reasons for this. But I’ll admit that I’ve got a little voice inside my head that tells me they might be right here. “Maybe you’re fooling yourself about all this Twitter-mania. Maybe it isn’t ‘the next big thing’ that you hoped. Maybe you’ve been an early adopter on a losing technology/tool.”

Now, I’m not ready to give Twitter up yet. And I’m not suggesting that Twitter users don’t have other things in life, and so they waste hours a day broadcasting the littlest activities and thoughts.

I tweet a fair amount myself, although I am hardly a power user.  And I think the benefits of Twitter are here to stay, much like this writer in the New York Times.  At times I do wonder, however, if there’s going to be a positive, lasting effect to the time spent on Twitter.

Now, don’t share my self-doubts with my wife, please. She already disdains much of the web’s offerings, and I don’t need to validate any of her assumptions.

I’m not ready to say, “Bye bye, Twitter.” In fact, I’ll be tweeting a link to this post! But if you have thoughts – either way – about Twitter, I’d love to hear them.

First Aid App Helped Quake Survivor

Wow! Pulled from the rubble, Haiti survivor’s iPhone’s first aid app helped him stay alive. Story here.

Social Media Is great, But Does It Work?

With all the buzz these days about social media, have you ever considered how you can determine if your Twitter feed is really worth maintaining? Or if that company blog is important enough to continue? Does this great new world of interconnectivity (is that a word?) really work?

Here’s an article which captures 100 different ways you can measure the effectiveness of your social media effort. For instance, here are a few of the items listed:

• Downloads

• Uploads

• User-initiated views (e.g., for videos)

• Ratio of embeds or favorites to views

• Likes / favorites

• Comments

Check out the entire piece, and I’d especially point out the comments at the bottom.

Black Friday “Cheers and Jeers”

I didn’t go shopping on Black Friday. I’ll admit, though, that I did buy some items – online. Maybe you did, too? One of my favorite websites, DealNews, offers their perspectives on stores and sites that served customers well – and some that didn’t – last week. You might be surprised by some of their conclusions!

How Many Tweets?

According to Harvard Business School study, most Twitter users sent an average of only one tweet in their lifetime.

Excuse me. In their lifetime? I’m not sure that qualifies an individual as a “Twtiter user.” More like a “Twitter try-er.”

From what I can tell, the Tweeps I follow post anywhere from 1 Tweet per week to 1 Tweet per hour. So, how many Tweets do YOU post in a week? In a day? Tell me you may win! Here are the easy steps:

1. Answer the poll below!
2. Send me a Tweet! Just cut-n-paste this: @FullerJohn I want to win so I answered your poll at http://FullerMedia.com

That’s all there is to it. I’ll pull two random entries from those who answer the poll and post a Tweet to receive a flashdrive loaded with “Okay,” the 2007 award-winning album by my friend Jeff Caylor, who has just released two new albums.

Alright, how many Tweets?

Surviving Information Overload

In an age of extraordinary information overload, tuning out has become a basic means of survival. Interference has become so relentless that it is very difficult to discriminate between the message and the noise.

William P. Robinson, Leading from the Middle

Funny Video – LED Technology and Art

I don’t know why, but this video makes me laugh. They’re sheep, for goodness sake! http://bit.ly/13tBGZ

Research Q: Blogs and Podcasts

Out of curiosity, do you read many blogs? Download and/or listen to many podcasts?

If so, tell me, please, what blogs you like? How often you check them out? Why? The podcasts you listen to – and if you do that right from your computer or if you put them onto an MP3 player?

Wondering about our own team, and your usage of technology for info and entertainment.

Send a comment by clicking the link below, and thanks!