Author Archives: Jeremy Toeman

I try to avoid re-posting content, but this list of ways to deal with email overload was too good to ignore.  Original source is CNN/reuters:

1. Admit that e-mail is managing you. Let go of your need to check e-mail every ten minutes.
2. Commit to keeping your inbox empty.
3. Create files where you can put inbox material that needs to be acted on.
4. Make broad headings for your filing system so that you have to spend less time looking for filed material.
5. Deal immediately with any e-mail that can be handled in two minutes or less but create a file for mails that will take longer.
6. Set a target date to empty your in box. Don’t spend more than an hour at a time doing it.
7. Turn off automatic send/receive.
8. Establish regular times to review your e-mail.
9. Involve others in conquering your addiction.
10. Reduce the amount of e-mail you receive.
11. Save time by using only one subject per e-mail; delete extra comments from forwarded e-mail, and make the subject line detailed.
12. Celebrate taking a new approach to e-mail.

I’ve actually adopted #1 and #7 in the past two weeks, I must say, it’s been wonderful.  I’ve come out against CrackBerries BlackBerries many times before, and I’m starting to really crystallize my thoughts on what it is I don’t like about the most recent innovations in communication technology (especially IMing, SMS/texting, email, mobile email, and even things like call-waiting): these are all forms of communication which are all about being interruptive.

So my auto-email updater is now off.  IM is on, but I ignore it a lot when I am focusing on something, and I may soon turn it off more often.  I like SMS, but can also easily ignore it.  I do try to avoid call-waiting (except when the wife calls) as much as I can.  I’m not perfect at any of these things, but I’m trying.  I think I feel like I’m fighting an uphill battle, it seems as if the world is shifting into a mode where interruption is not just happening, but accepted and even encouraged.

I’d like to hope that we’re at the extreme end of the pendulum on these behaviors.  I’d like to think people will shift back toward the middle.  A little less phone calls in the movie theaters and at the restaurants.  A few fewer Swiss Army Knives mounted to peoples’ ears at all occasions (psst, I mean bluetooth headsets).  Maybe the little red blinky light on the BlackBerry can just keep going off throughout dinner?  Or we can try to stop saying “hey, hold on just a sec, I wanna grab this call.”  Can we please?

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

My name is Jeremy.  It’s been 9 minutes since I’ve checked email, and I have 411 unread emails in my inbox.

Last week I put up a link to win a free Shuffle (the winner hasn’t been drawn yet…).  If you’ve already got one (Already got one?  Yes, it’s very nice!), or you just want to get as many MP3 players as you can without shelling out a dime, how about a free Zune?

MSN is running a very simple promo: make MSN your home page (use this link), and you can win one of fifty Zunes (or is that Zuni?) they are giving away.  Normally I don’t like home page-related promos, since it is an annoyance to some.  After scanning through the official rules, it turns out you don’t have to leave it changed for long.  Pretty much just long enough to fill out the form…

Back at the evangelism event I attended last December, a member of Microsoft’s evangelism team mentioned the company employs 800 full-time evangelists.  My friend Michael Gartenberg (yes, THE Michael Gartenberg – you know, the one who understands consumer technology and convergence?) announced today (old blog, new blog) that he’s joining Microsoft as an “enthusiast evangelist.”  I like that title, its quite appropriate for Michael, as both words describe him well.

For those wondering “why Microsoft?” (or the equivalent phrase, “why not Google?”), I think it’s a great opportunity.  In my eyes, Microsoft (and Yahoo! for that matter) are getting further and further overlooked in today’s Google-dominated media world.  Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s much either company can really do with regards to public perception until they show major innovations, technologies, products, and services.  Michael’s the kind of guy who likes this kind of challenge (since he’s not known to actually sleep, ever).

But for Michael’s answer to “why Microsoft?”

There’s a revolution going on. A battle for the hearts and minds of consumers in terms of their digital lives. I firmly believe that Microsoft is the only company that will enable the seamless transition for users to move in and out of the different aspects of their lives. In short, no one else comes close to presenting a complete, unified and integrated view of the digital home of the 21st century.

I’m very happy for Michael, who I know fairly well.  I think after 5 years of being on the edge looking in on the world of consumer technology, spending time looking out will be a good new challenge, and one that’s right up his alley.  I’m also happy for Microsoft, who has seen numerous recent blunders in their approach to enthusiasts and bloggers (cough, Acer Ferrari, cough, Edelman, cough), and can learn a lot from Michael.  I really hope they listen!

More congratulatory and welcome remarks from: Mary Jo Foley, Robert Scoble, James Kendrick, fellow evangelist (and today’s lunchmate) Thomas Hawk, Marshall Kirkpatrick, and Microsoft’s own Jeff Sandquist.  The news was big enough to be top spot on TechMeme today.  I guess when I left my job to, well, sit on my couch, that wasn’t as compelling?

Got a minute of free time?  I could use a bit of your help.  It’ll take one minute.  Here’s a survey that I need some help with.  In one minute you’ll be done.  All results are 100% confidential (assuming of course that the technology provider’s infrastructure doesn’t get hacked, or they are a bit more competent than our federal government’s intelligence bureau is at not losing laptops).  Did I mention it’d only take a minute.  Free iPod shuffle (the new and improved one, not the old and inferior one). One minute only!

In case you missed it, here is the survey link. 

Thanks again for the 60 seconds!

I like the Oscar’s a lot, and having won a technology Emmy this year (I’m such a show-off), I’ll most certainly watch them.  I’m not all that big into the Grammy’s, but I know there’s a performance by the Police, and there are supposedly a lot of other exciting acts tonight.  So I’ve got the show recording right now, with the intent to watch it a little time-shifted, so I can skip long speeches and boring commercials.

Just before starting, however, I hopped on to my My.Yahoo page, to notice the headline “xxx takes tearful Grammy spotlight” (I am hiding the name for anyone who might happen to read my blog yet not want to know anything that occurs at the show in advance, which is probably about 1.3 people). The article, from the AP (here’s the story if you want to read it), also reveals many other big winners at the show.  Did they really need to push the story to the wire quite so soon?  Really?

This sucks.  Not so much for me, because I really don’t care about this particular outcome, but it sucks that thanks to the power of the Internet for the rapidity of information dissemination, it’s nearly impossible to be surprised by a non-live event anymore.

It’d be great to have some option inside My.Yahoo or any other RSS feed reader that includes some field that determines whether the publishing time should correspond to the local time zone or originating one.  It’s probably just wishful thinking, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea, and can’t be that hard to introduce.  Can anyone help me out with this?

Anyone?

Bueller?

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “The Wizards of Buzz” wherein the WSJ profiled some of the top posters to Digg, Reddit, Netscape, and other social bookmarking sites.  In talking about the trends related to these sites, the authors write

[it’s] giving rise to an obsessive subculture of ordinary but surprisingly influential people who, usually without pay and purely for the thrill of it, are trolling cyberspace for news and ideas to share with their network.

Also in the article are references to several Web sites who have seen their traffic levels spike since being Dugg or StumbledUpon, and the newfound success of these ventures.  Ross Dawson, Webomatica, and Michael Arrington also covered the article, and Mike made the following observation:

For readers familiar with Digg and the others, the article won’t tell them anything they didn’t already know. For those unfamiliar, they may be left somewhat confused by the whole crazy ecosystem, and the fact that twelve year olds are now helping to define what “news” is. Interesting times we live in.

As a consultant doing influencer marketing campaigns for several clients, I find it particularly interesting how much of a challenge these sites can be to predict.  Sometimes the most mundane or archaic news articles or Web sites find themselves being regurgitated on the front of Digg.  The other issue here is really evaluating the real value of the traffic that comes via these sites.  It seems fairly accepted that Digg and Netscape are more ‘guilty pleasures’ than genuine ‘news sources’. 

For example, I was “Dugg” back in October which sent me a ton of traffic for about 48 hours.  But in the grand scheme of my readership it was a tiny spike, and within a week my numbers were only a few percent above where they were before.  In other words, despite tens of thousands of people becoming exposed to my blog, barely 1% of them found my writing compelling enough to come back regularly.  Now I don’t take this too personally, because 99% of these people don’t care about what I write.  Guess what, 99% of the population doesn’t care about what any given person writes!

You can actually see these results for yourself across multiple bloggers.  Just review Alexa ranks of various blogs and trace traffic spikes to Digg articles.  So in a long-term view, the so-called influencers on Digg, Reddit, etc aren’t really causing influence, they’re causing Web traffic.  When I compare the value of inbound links from people like Robert Scoble and Dave Winer, they’ve caused a permanent increase in my traffic and subscribers. Why, you might ask?  Well, they are both influencers in the general technology space, and I write a blog in the technology space.  Easy one, eh?

As you think about your viral marketing programs, think about who your influencers are.  Got a Web 2.0 company?  It’s clearly Michael Arrington.  Got a consumer electronics device?  Get it to Ryan Block (well, and myself of course).  Have a new DSLR digital camera or lens?  Send it to Thomas Hawk.  But if you have some cool new purse that you want to build buzz around, here’s a free tip: don’t send it to any of those guys, they don’t care, and nor do the people they influence!  Need more advice?  Get in touch.