Different Drummers

Being Thankful

It's Thanksgiving and I'm about to head out the door to make the 1 1/2 hour drive down to Mayo.  Yes, mom is back in the hospital.  We think she has an infection but, we don't know what it is yet.  They are running a lot of tests as well as ensuring that she doesn't have Graft vs. Host disease.  That is when the transplanted stem cells begin fighting her body (the reverse of rejection when he body would fight off the transplanted cells).  Its been a long, bumpy road aleady.  The transplant seems to be going well, we are now in the phase of trying to repair her body that has gone through so much in such a short amount of time.  I can tell you that it is scary seeing someone who is very vibrant and active become frail and weak over a matter of months.  It's harder for her.  I know she is wondering if she will ever become the person she once was before the Leukemia.  At times, we all ponder the signs of aging - this has been 10 years of aging compacted within 3 months. 

However, I'm thankful.  We still have hope that she is going to pull through this ordeal and recover well.  It may not be 100% of where she was before, but, I think we would all be thrilled with 70%.  I'm thankful for my in-laws who have been staying with me since this happened in June.  It's been six months of their lives that they have given to us.  I know they have received so much back being around the grandkids, but, its still been a blessing.  And I'm thankful for my husband who left his job in Kansas City to come up here and be not only caretaker for the kiddos, but, has been my mom's caretaker too.  He's made sure that she takes the 13 different medicines at the right time during the day and gets her back and forth to Mayo and meets with the doctors.  Starting a new job and relocating is hard, but, having this situation on top of it would be impossible if it weren't for the support of my family. 

Happy Thanksgiving.

What will cause Twitter to fail

This has been a terrible week for spam.  And yes, I admit that I've been the culprit. 

My Twitter account was hacked two days ago. 

It all started innocently.  I received a direct message from a friend (who by the way works at Google) with an electronic site link.  Given that I'm now in retail e-commerce, I thought my friend wanted me to check out something cool that they are doing - so I clicked the link.  Now, for two days I've been spamming all those who follow me with direct messages. I did change my account password so I'm hopeful that the spam will stop.

I've been pretty vocal about spam and the negative impact it has on social channels.  Just check out my prediction about social media on ZDNET (before my account was hacked). So maybe it serves me right, that I get to live my prediction.  This incidence just reinforces my belief that social media channels will be diminished by spammy behavior.  I say spam behavior because even up-standing brand marketers can be unwittingly participating in spam by trying to get their message out into the social space without understanding that social media is about relationships not broadcasting. 

Here's some simple suggestions:

1) Make your brand/product word of mouth worthy and you won't have to trick people into seeing your message

2) Engage in listening and conversing.  Broadcasting is not a listening or conversation tool.  It is talking to people, not with people

3) Be real and authentic.  Trying to trick people into viewing your message is just wrong.

A final apology for all of you who received spam or even worse clicked on the link and now have been hacked as well.  I just can't apologize enough (I'm afraid to see how many people un-followed me!)  

However unless Twitter to get the spam significantly reduced, I am afraid that it will be their undoing.