Archive for February, 2010

A Discussion of Ethics & Blogging for Disaster

My sense of ethics is as hot as my coffee this morning. One one side, I’m appreciative of blog posts like 20 Incredible Pictures From The Chile Earthquake (from Forrest Kobayashi) and Chile Earthquake Pictures: Twitter Photos Tell the Story (from Mashable) for covering the earthquake in Chile and the pending tsunami warnings in almost 50 countries.  In our house, the only television access we have is driven a digital receiver box that allows us to pick up about 4 channels.  If it weren’t for the two blogs above and trending topics on Twitter, I wouldn’t have even known anything was happening Chile at all.  It’s a terrible tragedy. Artie Isaac taught me the dangers of consuming too much TV a long time ago, and so we’ve opted out of cable and hours of mindless starring.  The downside is that we don’t have CNN or MSNBC or ESPN.  Bummer. On the other side, I’m troubled.  I’m troubled by the apparent intentions of these blogs.  I ask myself this: For bloggers that normally cover topics surrounding technology and the web and social media, why the sudden shift in content?  Why is it suddenly so important to cover a tremendous natural disaster thousands of miles away? The answer is simple.  Tragedy, death and destruction mean one thing on the Interwebz: increased search engine queries on related keywords.  For a smart blogger, that means an opportunity to capture more search traffic. For instance, look at the post titles versus the actual title tags that sit behind the page where the search engine crawlers do their work: Mashable Title Tag: http://mashable.com/2010/02/27/chile-earthquake-twitpics/ Kobayashi Title Tag: http://www.forrestkobayashi.com/496/20-incredible-chile-earthquake-pictures These titles have been strategically (and intentionally) optimized, especially Mashable’s title.  Think about it.  What phrase would you Google if you wanted to see what happened in Chile? Everyone [...]

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How Do You Define a Technologist?

The term “technologist” is perplexing.  My friend, Will Burrus, has been called a technologist.  I’ve heard a few people call Dave Culbertson and Joe Payton technologists. Wikipedia defines technologist broadly: A technologist is a specialist who is trained to perform work in a field of technology. In some countries, there is a clear definition defined by law, and only individuals who have graduated from an accredited curriculum in technology, and have a significant amount of work experience in their field may become registered technologists. Depending on the country, a technologist’s recognition may be in the form of a certification or a professional registration. Canada has Certified Technologists and the United Kingdom has a professional registration for engineering technologists, known as Incorporated Engineers. The Sydney Accord and the Engineering Technologist Mobility Forum (ETMF) are two international efforts to improve cross-border recognition for technologists. An Engineering Technologist is sometimes called an Engologist or an Ingologist in Continental Europe. In the United States, a technologist is synonymous with Applied Engineering as defined by the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering. By this definition then, a technologist is defined by certification from a specific organization, depending on the country in which you live.  Okay.  For me, that still leaves three small disconnects: The standards and focus of the specific organization govern the definition.  In the cases above, a technologist would most likely deal in some type of engineering. Associations often offer accreditation and certification as a means of generating revenue.  That’s not a bad thing at all, but it is a driving factor. Technology is now changing at a more rapid pace than ever before. What about experienced web designers or WordPress gurus?  What about the small sector of developers who have taken on learning FBML?  What about bloggers and other content creators who [...]

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ROI of a Sandwich & Why Katzinger’s Deli Knows Customer Experience

On all fronts, Columbus-based Katzinger’s Delicatessen is the best in the world.  At the very least, they’re the best in the Midwest.  Hands down, their sandwiches and other foreign delicacies are absolutely worth talking about. But tonight, they caught me off guard.  One human being working behind Katzinger’s counter made my entire evening better.  Please watch… How do you measure the ROI of one single sandwich and one side of macaroni salad with a total cost of about $13.00? One glowing Yelp review (it matches nicely with the other 52 positive reviews for Katzinger’s) Three delighted tweets singing praise for a wonderful experience A pleased and newly-crowned Foursquare Mayor (thank you, Cheryl Harrison) One blog post to a fairly good-sized reader base in the local Columbus community, but also with readers across America, the U.K., China and Germany (brought to you by the wonders of Google Analytics) A long-term future of ongoing client lunches, prospect meetings and family outings where multiple sandwiches will be purchased, along with soft drinks, chips, potato salad and the occasional chocolate brownie The story you see in the video will be presented to audiences at multiple speaking events across the U.S., as a glowing example of how businesses can gain long-term benefits by focusing on customer experience and not just on short-term dollars and cents One happy and loyal customer who works right down the street and will visit frequently Thank you, Katzinger’s.  You made my night… nateriggsLike what you just read and want to get my posts delivered to your inbox? SUBSCRIBE HEREMore Posts Follow Me:

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