Facebook Timeline Ads: A Gift to Google+

Well this morning I checked my Facebook Timeline to see if my latest social apps are still working.  I don’t want to recommend my clients use these features then only to find out that they are not working. So we test … test … test.  In this morning’s testing I find I have new intruders, dare I say interlopers, in my Timeline stream.

Exhibit One – The Interloping Ads!

Ads Are My Friends

I know this sounds strange coming from a person who counsels small and medium sized companies on how to use internet advertising to their advantage, but putting things in MY STREAM seems like a violation to me.  I fully understand the left or right hand side of the page (depending on which Facebook page you are looking at) will hold their ads.  And i want those ads to be relevant, or contextual, to the content that is on that page.  Actually, I’m counting on it.

I and admire Facebook for allowing me to turn off the setting which shows my name under ads.  Even though I may have liked a product, if I’m not getting paid to promote it, why give them that for free.

What does bother me is showing ads in my stream.  The ads so far have been nothing about me.  Nothing about the story i am trying to tell about me.  So why does Facebook now think it’s going to make me want to use their product more to continue to build that story?

In Walks Google+

I see Google+ as walking away with a win on this.  I think this violation will cause many to search out alternate solutions to telling their story.

What do you think?

Related articles

• Facebook timeline your whole life – Lifebook anyone? (marketing.yell.com)
• Facebook Timeline – what it means for your business (simplybusiness.co.uk)
• The Facebook timeline feature and what it means for your page (marketing.yell.com)
• Using Facebook Timeline for Online Branding (blogherald.com)
• Facebook Timeline for Pages: Why is this so hard? (alainawiens.wordpress.com)
• Here’s what your Google+ posts would look like in Facebook’s Timeline view (thenextweb.com)

6 of Apples Greatest Mistakes

With all the ‘Steve Jobs‘ posts flooding the internet, this one caught my eye.  It is not a Apple bash piece but rather a great object lesson for those that get caught up in the “Aim, Aim, Aim, Ready, Aim, Aim, Fire” mode.

By Scott M. Fulton, III / October 6, 2011 2:03 PM

Image via Wikipedia

This is not an Apple-bashing piece. It is also not an attempt to cut an American icon down to size at a time when were remembering the magnificent contributions of its fallen founder. This is about how failure makes us better.Ive lost count of the number of times Ive heard, seen, or read comparisons of Steve Jobs to Thomas Edison since early yesterday evening. Jobs did not invent anything – not the personal computer, not the MP3 player, not the tablet. But besides that fact, there are certain other stark similarities. One: Jobs, like Edison, was a fierce competitor who sought to control not only the delivery channel for his products, but the market surrounding those products. Two: Like the finest scientist, Jobs studied his failures and Apples very carefully, and unlike Microsoft, built his next success upon the smoking ruins of his failures.More Steve Jobs Stories6 of Apples Greatest MistakesSteve Jobs Legacy In the Pantheon of Great American InnovatorsFrom Silicon Valley to Bahrain, the Web Mourns Steve JobsA Great User Experience: The Web Legacy of Steve JobsWhat Steve Meant Back ThenReaders will likely remind me that certain of the

via 6 of Apples Greatest Mistakes.

Marathon Not Sprint

As I mention in my “Failure is not a Title” post, we need to look at things as a long process that we learn from, a Marathon if you will, not a 100 yard dash.  Yes, the above mentioned items are on the bottom of some outhouse of ideas, but the industry learned from then and evolved into what we have today.

Good Hunting

Related articles

• Think Different – The Legacy of Steve Jobs (legallyeasy.rocketlawyer.com)
• Steve Jobs Reinvented What It Means to be Human (forbes.com)
• An Analogy of Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs (nytimes.com)

Failure is not a Title

Not to long ago, I got into a pointless debate with my brother (you know the kind, where one brother takes one side and the other takes another and you’ll be damned if you let him win an argument) about the topic of people’s desire to change their lives.  We began talking about how “some people just don’t want to succeed” because they don’t try hard enough.

My point was that fear of failure is a strong driving force to those that want to change but don’t want to risk failure.  Even the thought of failure can drive someone to avoid a positive experience by suddenly finding hours of busy work. People wants to have a better life but the fear of failing at something drives them in a direction that produces exactly the opposite.  Then I found this post from Seth Godin and it rang true with me, they take the failure personal.

How else are you supposed to take it?

“Don’t take it personally.”

Image via CrunchBase

This is tough advice. Am I supposed to take it like a chair? Sometimes it seems as though the only way to take it is personally. That customer who doesn’t like your product (your best work) or that running buddy who doesn’t want to run with you any longer…

Here’s the thing: it’s never personal. It’s never about you. How could it be? That person doesn’t truly know you, understand what you want or hear the voices in your head. All they know is themselves.

When someone moves on, when she walks away or even badmouths you or your work, it’s not personal about you. It’s personal about her. Her agenda, her decisions, her story.

Do your work, the best way you know how. Is there any other option?

via Seth’s Blog: How else are you supposed to take it?.

Learn not Burn

I would advise people to learn from the experience and not get hot over it.  I caught myself the other day taking this advice.  I had someone standing before me very mad (and yes your natural assumption is to assume ‘what did I do to deserve this?’) but I stepped backed and asked myself some questions in the heat of the moment while trying to listen to the person vent:

• What is exactly going on here?
• How did we get to this boiling point?
• Did I really do something to bring this on?
• How can I learn from this?
• What can I do to make this a teachable moment and return the person to the topic of accepting my offer.

We do take things personal.  There is no doubt about it.  If we can learn that we are in a long process and not a one time event, we have the ability to step back and learn from each event.

This is why you’ll hear me say, “Failure is an Event, not a Title”.

Good Hunting

Related articles

• Failure is a Prerequisite for Success (socyberty.com)
• What failure can teach you (iowabiz.com)
• Seth Godin Is Weird (twistimage.com)
• 3 Marketing Lessons from Seth Godin’s New Book “Poke the Box” (hubspot.com)
• Celebrate Failure Since Failing is What Most of Us Do (psychologytoday.com)

Recommendation: Venture Voice

Recently, I reorganized and reprioritized my podcast library and listening preferences.  It’s been about a year and some of the material wasn’t doing it for me any more. I won’t get into the reasons or the methods right now.  Just know, I started poking around iTunes, my podcast subscription tool of choice. and began sampling several different podcasts.

There is a lot of free podcast  content out there and most of it is worth the price you pay for.  But occasionally, you can run across some work that is truly valuable and insightful.  I wanted to share just such a find.

Venture Voice

This is taken from their about page at Venture Voice:

What does it take to start a successful business? We’re working the phone to find the answers by calling on entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and their friends and foes. This podcast (or, for the uninitiated, Internet radio show on demand) features our conversations. Listen to the voices of those living the entrepreneurial life. The excitement, trepidation and ambition heard in their tones gives us a feel for what they’re going through.

We’re interested in people in all types of industries — those who’ve already made it big and those who will soon. We want to hear about failures as well as successes. Start-ups have effects on personal lives in addition to professional lives; we explore both. If you would like to suggest someone to be interviewed, or have feedback for the show, please contact us.

Host and Executive Producer: Gregory Galant

Associate Producer: Eddie LeBreton

Founding Designer: Aaron Quint

My Time is Valuable …..

So why do I think spending time listening to 1 hour interview so worthy that I would want to pass it along to you.  Just in a short time I have gained valuable insights that I believe will help even the most modest of achievers among us.

Here are some of the insights I’ve gain:

• All these people in the success stories we hear about are people just like us!
• All had mentors that helped them in the process of moving forward
• All failed … some more often then others … but all did.
• Some were visionary, Some were leaders, Some were lucky …. all tried and refused to give up.
• Some had great answers to difficult questions.
• Some seemed clueless and you end up wondering how they made it so far.

Generally speaking that if you want to become better at something then the time you spend must complement this.  After all:

• If you want to become thin … don’t do what fat people do.
• If you want to become rich … don’t do what poor people do.
• If you want to become better … don’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

Here’s a Sample of Titles:

I wanted to share with you some of the episodes that I recently listened to.  Now keep in mind, I don’t agree with every point of view these people claim to be important.  Rather I listen to their thought process and try and understand how did they end up making the right choice and what created sustainable success.

• VV Show #56 – Joel Spolsky of Fog Creek Software
• VV Show #55 – Graham Hill of TreeHugger
• VV Show #54 – Tim Westergren of PandoraVV Show #53 – David Cohen of TechStars
• VV Show #52 – Sam Wyly of Maverick Capital, Green Mountain Energy, Michaels Stores and Sterling Software
• VV Show #48 – Frank Addante of The Rubicon Project
• VV Show #46 – Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp

Conclusion

I’d be interested in knowing what your thoughts are of some of the interviews.  Please drop by again and leave a comment. If there are other podcasts that you think are also valuable then please leave a comment here as well.

Good Hunting,