Scott Berkun's Blog, page 89

My surprising inspiration (death!)

My friend and artist Teresa Brazen is running an interesting project, called What moves you?

Anyone can drop by and post what it is that gets them going. Here's what I wrote:

I know this sounds morbidly strange but when I'm bored or frustrated or out of sorts, thinking about dying has a surprisingly positive effect on me. When I realize I will die someday, and try to visualize it, imagining the notion this will all be over, my senses vibrate in a way I can't explain. It's a crapshoot to be...

How to call BS on a social media guru (event)

Next week I'm speaking at Seattle's social media club, on How to call BS on a social media guru.

The basic idea was this: what happens if you combine this post with this one, and make a talk out of it?

I'll be putting the talk together over the next few days, but if you were to give advice to someone about this topic, what would you advise? How can someone who doesn't know much about social media tell the difference between someone credible, and someone selling snake oil?

Event details:
Date – M...

How I found my passion

In a series of posts, called readers choice, I write on whatever topics people submit and vote for. If you dig this idea, let me know if the comments, and submit your ideas and votes.

This week: What specific, objective things can you do to find your "passion"? Assuming it's possible to make a career out of pursuing your passion(s), how do you narrow that down to one or a few things?

This is a great, but strange question. I don't think there is a way to do this. If there is I d...

Why the world is a mess: a theory

I'm not looking to pick a fight here about whether the world is a mess or not. I agree with Penn Jillette -  the trend line is positive. But there is a basic observation here for why anything at all involving people might be fucked up. Families, groups, companies, countries, cultures, etc.

People don't listen. I don't mean that their ears aren't working, I mean it's rare for person A to genuinely try to understand what the person B is trying to say. Instead they're waiting for their chance to...

why the world is a mess: a theory

I'm not looking to pick a fight here about whether the world is a mess or not. I agree with Penn Jillette -  the trend line is positive. But there is a basic observation here for why anything at all involving people might be fucked up. Families, groups, companies, countries, cultures, etc.

People don't listen. I don't mean that their ears aren't working, I mean it's rare for person A to genuinely try to understand what the person B is trying to say. Instead they're waiting for their chance to...

How Private are Facebook Executives?

Thanks to the New York Times, I got a chance to ask Elliot Schrage, VP of Public Policy at Facebook, about his own settings on FB.

I'd like to ask Elliot, and all the senior staff at Facebook, what are the privacy settings for their own personal Facebook accounts? Can you share the settings (not your personal data, obviously) with the NYT and Facebook users? –Scott Berkun, Seattle

Not surprisingly, Facebook senior staff reflect a broad cross section of preferences for sharing and privacy...

Obama vs the iPad (information overload)

At a recent speech at Hampton University, President Obama had this to say about our web 2.0 information age:

With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, – none of which I know how to work – information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.

There is simply no worse argument for or against something then the fact you've ve never used the thing.

And although I agree with him, without trying...

Do sci-fi movies impact the future?

Today I was reading yet another article about how a movie, in this case Iron Man 2, shows a possible future for computing. I think its kind of silly to put much faith in devices designed for movies, but that's not a surprise since I think the future of UI will be boring.

My point is simply that filmmakers use technological ideas in movies to serve narrative and stylistic purposes. They are designed for how cool they seem to watch someone else use, rather than for actual use. Things that are...

Mistakes Critics Make (and Solutions)

It's foolish as a writer to criticize the critics. I know this. But regardless of what happens to me after this essay, it's hard to argue with the observation most reviews of most things are not very good.I suspect even most critics will agree, since, after all, they're critics and one assumes they're as critical of each other as of the rest of us.

Critics and reviews on the web seems worse than print, at least in part because of volume. Now everyone is a critic on amazon.com or yelp.com or...

Gears of War 3: My wishlist for Horde

I own an XBOX 360, but only play a handful of games. Most games I've tried these last years are so annoying in their UX/gameplay, that despite amazing graphics they are a chore to play. Since I don't like chores I refuse, no matter what reviews, sales or friends say. That is, except for two: and one of them is Gears of War 2.

Oddly enough, I don't play the core game – I gave up on the single player campaign halfway through (I was bored, which happens to me often in video games). However I do f...