Joel Comm's Blog, page 38

Being Human in the Digital Age – A TEDxMileHigh Talk

In the last 10 years, technology has changed the way we engage and interact more than in any other period of time. Mobile and social have connected us in ways we never imagined possible. While there have been many advantages to the advances we are experiencing, there are also many dangers. How do we use the power of social and mobile in a way that maintains and enhances our humanity? I recently had an opportunity to present at TEDxMileHigh in my hometown of Denver, and I’m pleased to share with you my complete talk titled “Being Human in a Digital Age”. I hope you enjoy it and I’d invite you to share it with others.

The Future is Yesterday

At IBM Social Business​’s #NewWayToEngage event in San Diego a few months back, I had the opportunity to deliver an Ignite Talk alongside a number of other VIP Influencers. A 5-minute talk consisting of 20 slides which automatically change every 15 seconds, I chose to focus my talk on the marketing aspects of how brands successfully engage. In a whirlwind tour of clever and humorous examples, I demonstrate that regardless of technology, it’s ultimately great storytelling that is memorable and gets the job done. Brands featured include Foot Locker​, Sharpie​, BMW i USA​, Occulus Rift​, Uber​, Nikon​, Frontline flea and Tick control​, WestJet​, Budweiser​, Powerade​, Joe Boxer​ and Carlsberg​. Give it a view. I think it will inspire your marketing! Have you encountered memorable marketing, whether hi-tech, low-tech or no-tech? Please share your experience in the comments below!

6 Vintage TV Clips Reveal the Web of the Past

It’s hard to believe that it’s been twenty years since I registered my first domain name. The year was 1995, and after having been on dial-up services for 15 years, I heard about this new thing called the World Wide Web. After attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that January, I knew that I had to create this thing called a website. I had been publishing an ezine featuring software reviews and setting up a website seemed like the next logical step. The domain I choose was called WorldVillage.com, and it featured family-friendly content which included software reviews, related articles and online games (primitive though they were.) I recently discovered an old VHS tape in my WorldVillage and early online-business memorabilia box. I discovered a way to digitize the content and have uncovered a number of vintage television clips that featured me or my site. What was it like in the early years of the web and what did I have to say about it? Let’s take a look… The oldest clip was from CBS News Up-to-the-Minute, a national program that featured a segment called The Digital Drive. In this piece, CBS mentioned WorldVillage as a family-friendly site and showed a few of the pages. The quality of the video isn’t very good and even drops out at one point, but it is entertaining to see how rudimentary the pages were and how slowly they loaded. Back in 1996, I was one of the first to create a system where people could send a digital greeting card to another via the web. It was created for Mother’s Day and was called the “Digital Hug.” PC-TV picked up on the feature and mentioned it in this clip. While living in the Dallas area, I became acquainted with a show called NetTalk Live. It was hosted by a guy named Jovan and his sidekick Laura Lewis. Leveraging a very early version of Mark Cuban’s AudioNet service (soon to become Broadcast.com), the show billed itself as the first Triplecast. That is, a broadcast simultaneously aired on TV, Radio AND the Internet. In this longer piece, I was invited into the studio to talk about my website and my first published book, Internet Family Fun: The Parent’s Guide to Safe Surfing. As the popularity of my site grew, I was contacted by other broadcast networks. In this clip, I was interviewed for a PBS special on child safety. They wanted to speak with me for a segment on how parents can keep kids safe on the internet. While living in Edmond, Oklahoma in 1999, one of the lead Oklahoma City networks (KOCO-TV) featured me in this piece. And finally, a Denison, Texas TV network came out to my place to interview me about my online business. It’s amazing how quickly time has flown by, and I have to laugh a bit as I see myself all those years ago. But it also excites me to know that I had the privilege of being a part of something new and exciting at the very beginning. Here’s to the next twenty years!

I’m Disappointed in You

His book had transformed my life. As a young man searching for answers, his work came along at the right time and I found what I was looking for. So when I ran into him outside a conference he was speaking at, it was only natural that I couldn’t wait to shake his hand and thank him for what his work meant to me. I walked up to him with a grateful smile, expecting that he would be eager to hear the story of how his book meant so much to me. Instead, he grunted a careless grunt and moved on, apparently on his way to meet with someone more important than I. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. The encounter didn’t change how his work had impacted me, but it did change my opinion of him. If you’ve lived on this planet for even a short time, you’ve been deeply disappointed with someone you greatly respected. It may have been someone close to you, like a parent, sibling or friend. Or perhaps, like me, it was one of your heroes. Disappointment hurts no matter what. I used to take it personally when someone I valued disappointed me. I believed that perhaps I wasn’t worthy of their time and attention. However, as I received more recognition for my own work, something interesting happened to me. Life got hectic. The demands became greater. The people wanting to shake my hand and share their stories with me occurred more often. And their faces and stories began to blend together. Now don’t get me wrong. I LOVE meeting people and really enjoy hearing the stories of those whose lives I have somehow managed to touch. Whether a talk they heard me deliver, an podcast interview I appeared on, a blog entry I wrote or something out of one of my books, it’s always rewarding to hear feedback that what I do mattered to someone. But the accolades can begin to blur together as well. And I guarantee that there have been times that someone has approached me to thank me for something that I said or wrote, only to be greeted with an apparent response of indifference. And I disappointed them. Oh, it’s not speculation. It’s happened. I know because people have told me. One guy (who is now a friend) told me that when he met me many years ago he felt like I didn’t give him the time of day. It wasn’t until years later when we shared a stage and he saw my heart that he came to me to share how he had seen me as someone aloof and uncaring, perhaps thinking that I was better than him. I told him that I was so sorry. It was never my intent to treat anyone in a way that would make them feel unimportant or not valued. Was it possible that I was tired? Had I just given all I had on stage and exhaustion had set in? Was I just oblivious to him being there? Or was I actually being a jerk at that moment? It could have been any of the above, because I’m very human. Just as I had expectations of how the author whose worked changed my life would respond to me, there are others who place expectations on me. And while it’s never my goal to let anyone down, I recognize that I probably do it on a regular basis. I guess that’s what you get for being human. And it’s one reason that I don’t like to put anyone on a pedestal. I really don’t care how famous you are, how much money you make or how much power you wield. We are all just human beings with hopes, dreams, fears, successes and losses. We are all born into this world and we all die. No one is greater than another. I’m far more concerned with the character of an individual than the size of their bank account, their societal status or how famous they may be. When people come up to me and tell me how much they appreciate me or my work, I usually thank them and attempt to engage in a dialogue that says “you matter more than I do.” Sometimes I get it right. Sometimes I don’t. While I do enjoy the spotlight, I also still feel some discomfort when someone thinks more highly of me than they should. I let them know that we are all the same in our value and I have no desire to be seen as anything more than an incredibly grateful and blessed guy who gets to do what he loves and sometimes gets it right. Because that’s the truth. Yes, others have disappointed me. You may have been one of them. But I’m sure I’ve disappointed many as well. And for that, I’m sorry. I know I didn’t mean to. We all require a lot of grace and forgiveness when it comes to living this life. I believe doing so will protect us from setting expectations that can become self-fulfilling prophecies. And next time we meet, I hope I don’t disappoint you.

The Myth of Hard Work

For as long as I can recall, I’ve heard teachers and leaders tell me that if I want to succeed, I have to work hard. As a student, that meant I would have to spend long hours sweating over my homework assignments. And as an adult, it meant I would have to work 60-80 hours each week to get ahead. We are told to “put our nose to the grindstone” and “bust our hump”. We quickly embrace Mondays as something to be avoided, Wednesdays as something to get over so we can begin the downhill slide towards Friday, where even the non-religious become praying people, giving thanks to God for the last day of the work week. Well, I managed to do just fine in High School without too much effort, and I made it through college in a haze of partying and skipping class. (I think that’s what happened. I don’t remember.) As an adult I’ve been able to reverse-engineer my success and discover something profound. As it turns out, while working hard is an admirable virtue, it isn’t always the best way to success, however you measure it. Before I go any further, I want to be clear about something. I’m not saying hard work can’t bring reward. And I’m not saying there aren’t seasons of life that don’t require long hours to accomplish great things. There are. Without the hard work and sacrifice of others, there are many things that would not be experienced. However, I’ve discovered that much of what is done in the name of work is little more than busyness. I’m all for sacrifice, but just being busy is sacrifice without real purpose. One well-known author has suggested that you don’t need to work more than four hours each week in order to accomplish what you need in order to get what you want. That is likely a bit extreme. But even assuming his premise has truth to it, I would like to suggest that there are ways of accomplishing the goal that doesn’t encourage cheating (or life hacking as it is sometimes cleverly disguised as) People often ask me how I get so much done. I guess I give the appearance of being an incredibly hard worker. Yet, I continue to show up at events and have a great time being with others. One peer recently commented (with slight sarcasm) that he has never seen me work. The answer is in snowflakes, snowballs and mountains. It’s an analogy I really like since I live in Colorado, home of fifty-two mountains with an altitude of at least 14,000 feet. Someone with a hard work mindset has a dream of where they want to go. They are told they can accomplish anything if they just set their mind to the objective and are willing to do the hard work. They see the mountain before them and are prepared to do whatever is needed to get to the top. They begin by collecting snowflakes at the bottom and are encouraged to roll them uphill. As they roll, the snowflake becomes a small snowball, growing in size as it accumulates more and more flakes. With much effort (re: long hours), those snowflakes have become a massive snowball that now sits on the precipice of the mountaintop. The hard work has been done and it should now be easy to get momentum just by giving that massive snowball a gentle push. With little effort, the snowball can turn into an avalanche! The smart worker sees things differently. Rather than starting at the bottom of the mountain and fighting an extremely arduous and long uphill battle, their focus is on the massive snowballs already sitting on mountaintops. Sometimes we’ll discover the hard work of others who have gone before us was left unfinished. We may also discover previous innovations that require only a minor tweak in order to become something truly big. And most importantly, the relationships we forge on our journey have the potential to provide the greatest opportunities of all. Ultimately, the work you do is NOT about your product or service. It is about the people who will benefit from your product or service. Therefore, it makes sense that more doors for opportunity open based on who you engage with. How do I get so much done? By consistently showing up at events and engaging with others. I do it by finding snowballs already positioned on top of a mountain. They are just waiting for someone to come along and give them a gentle nudge to get things moving. Some might say this is the lazy person’s way of finding success. I call it smart. And it allows me to explore more opportunities, find more ways to NOT succeed, and by virtue of the sheer quantity of things I am willing to try, discover more success on my journey. How do you have greater impact with less effort? Look outside. It’s snowing somewhere.

The Best Customer Service Experience Ever

I’m a stickler for customer service. If you are going to be in business, you should strive to understand your customer and deliver an experience that delights them. I recently had the opportunity to attend IBM’s Amplify 2015 conference in San Diego, an event focused entirely on engaging with customers. At the event, I took to the conference floor and interviewed a number of people, asking them one key question; “When has a company or brand truly delighted you?” I’m sure you’ll be able to relate to many of the stories people shared with me. Go ahead and give it a view… Now, it’s YOUR turn to tell your story! In partnership with IBM Commerce, I have launched The Idea Factory. By sharing your best customer experiences with brands and companies, we hope to stir conversation that will help all of us better engage with our customers. To participate, simply go to The Idea Factory and share a customer experience that delighted you via Twitter and/or Facebook. Yours, and many others’, tweets, will display on the page so we can all benefit!

TEDxMileHigh 2015 – Ideas Unbridled

In the past ten years, I’ve spoken at more than 200 events around the world. I lost count a long time ago. Few things are more exciting, fun and powerful than getting on stage in front of any audience to share my thoughts, feelings, experiences, ideas and passions. There’s just something about being given the opportunity to inspire, influence, teach and entertain people, whether the audience is small or large. But there’s something really unique about being invited to participate in a TED Talk. After all, the TED brand has become the most desired stage in the world, having had more luminaries, leaders, big thinkers and success stories on that platform than any other. While I have not yet been given the privilege of speaking from an official TED stage, I was recently invited to be a speaker at TEDxMileHigh, the independent TED event produced and hosted in my home city of Denver, Colorado. The desire to give a TED Talk came upon me last year while attending TED @ IBM in California. My friends Bryan Kramer and Kare Anderson both had the opportunity to present at the event, and I was inspired to pursue preparing and delivering my own TED Talk in the future. It became a bucket list item for me. After a period of vetting by the TEDxMileHigh producers, I was officially invited to give my talk just a month ago. Since the event was planned for June 13th, I had very little time to pull it together. Preparing a TED Talk is unlike most presentations I have delivered. Instead of the usual 45-90 minutes of stage time, the TED format is typically 12-15 minutes. And instead of talking explicitly about business, my proposal for this talk was far more personal and inspirational by design. Suffice to say that I spent more time and mental energy preparing this talk than any I have ever given. After all, I wanted to make my 12-15 minutes count! Working off my initial outline that was approved by the producers, I put together a powerpoint presentation that shared my message which was tentatively titled “Being Human in a Digital World.” I wanted to illustrate the good, the bad and the ugly of social media and technology with a call-to-action for us to choose good. However, once I had put the presentation together I stood back and assessed it. I didn’t like what I saw. I felt like it was vanilla, and not worthy of the TEDx stage. I phoned a friend and shared my struggle with him. I received input, and back to the drawing board I went. By the time I had reworked it, I still wasn’t happy. I then phoned another friend and received more counsel. Again, I fine-tuned and reworked the presentation. My displeasure and frustration increased. I wasn’t getting to the core of the message that I was hoping to uncover. I scrapped the presentation and decided to do something that I NEVER do when preparing for a talk. I scripted it out. 12 pages later, I had something… but I was still frustrated and feeling like I was missing something. Right around that time, another friend reached out to me and asked if he could help me. I spent time discussing the topic with him, rehearsing it and fine-tuning once again. I ended up eliminating almost everything I had started with and finally had a presentation that I was ALMOST happy to deliver. I went to bed thinking about my talk. I woke up thinking about my talk. And in the process, I found my voice… which leads me to Saturday, June 13th at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The TEDxMileHigh team was wonderful, paying close attention to every detail, as well as to the needs of the speakers. I was shown to a dressing room which I really didn’t have need of as I was already prepared. But it was kind of cool that they had a room for me with my name on it. As I stood there looking in the mirror I imagined the incredibly talented people that had spent time in the same room, preparing to perform an aria or Shakespearean tragedy. The lobby of the opera house contained a number of exhibits which I wish I had more time to enjoy. But among the exhibits was a bookstore. I was delighted to see three of my books available for sale amongst all the rest. I then met Jeremy Duhon, the curator of TEDxMileHigh. He was enthusiastic and excited about the sold-out show that was soon to take place. A majestic venue with 2200 seats and four tiers of seating, it was a marvel to see! When I stepped out on stage for my rehearsal at 9 am on that morning, I found my place on the 12-foot diameter red carpet and delivered my talk to an empty house. Jason Dilg, the Producer of the program, gave me some great insights, and I fine-tuned the presentation just a bit more. I’m not usually nervous before an audience these days, but the gravity of the talk I was about to deliver certainly brought about anxiety. Fortunately, I had the support of family and friends encouraging me. Due to the nature of my talk, Jason and Jeremy felt that it would make for a good kick-off to the event. So I was invited to go first. Usually I don’t like going first, but I just wanted to get it done and be able to enjoy the rest of the day. Plus, I considered it an honor that I was invited to start the event. A short video welcomed the packed house to the event and the energy was electric! My heart was beating fast and my mouth was dry. But having experienced anxiety before speaking before, I knew this was temporary and that by the time I hit the stage all the fear would fade away […]

You Never Forget Your First Time

Memories. They are all we collect of the experiences in our lives. And boy, does life go by quickly! The most memorable experiences tend to be of the first time we did something. First steps. First birthday (ok, I dont recall these first two.) First day at school. First kiss. First job. As I prepare to celebrate the 20th anniversary of my first website, I am looking back on my journey with technology and the internet, and I’m recounting some of the more significant firsts I have experienced. You may recall the first time you powered on your computer; the first time you dialed in or connected to an online service; or the first time you posted on a social media account. I thought it would be fun to walk down memory lane and remember some of these times. And then I want to hear from you to discover when your firsts took place. 1980 – This is where it all started. In 1980, I spent my hard-earned savings from working at the mall food court ($2.65/hour) to purchase my first computer, a TRS-80 Model 1 with 4K of RAM and a tape cassette player for a storage device. Hard drive? Those were WAY to expensive? My mother asked me “What are you going to do with a computer?” Needless to say, she’s figured it out and has a popular website of her own at TravelsWithSheila.com. This also marks the year that I first dialed into an online service. With my 300 baud coupler modem, I would connect to Bulletin Board Services (BBSes). Hosted by individuals on personal computers, these services were the grandfather to all social media. 1991 – 1992 – It’s difficult to recall exactly when I signed up for America Online (now AOL), but I was on version 1.x on my home PC. I also had accounts with Prodigy, Compuserve, Delphi, GEnie and Sierra Online. I was clearly hooked. 1995 – Registered on July 20th of that year, WorldVillage.com was my first website. It became the launching place for many successful businesses. Unfortunately, the site has been neglected and I am in the process of retooling it for a 20th anniversary relaunch with a new mission. The domain has thousands of pages indexed in Google and has only had one owner. I think that’s pretty nifty. 1996 – 1997 – I’ve been shopping online for what seems like my entire life. But the truth is I made my first purchase from Amazon.com around 1996-97. I believe I started a new account in 1999, which is why my history shows purchasing going back to that time. Amazon is received a TON of money from me over the years. But I also made a lot from them in 1999-2005 when my site, DealofDay.com, was popular (I’ve since sold this property.) As an early Amazon Associate, I generated commissions from linking to products that others would purchase. Ah, yes… the good old days. 1998 – First time I sold one of my businesses was when Yahoo! purchased ClassicGames.com. It became the foundation for what is known today as Yahoo! Games. It was also my first seven-figure deal. 2005 – I don’t really remember signing up for LinkedIn, but according to my profile I’ve had my account since August 30, 2005. Wow… that’ll be ten years this August. 2006 – I uploaded my first YouTube video on September 29, 2006. It was video that my friend Mike Stewart created to promote my book, The AdSense Code. 2007 – May 17, 2007 found my posting my first tweet. Who knew I would end up writing the top-selling book on the subject? Not me! I also joined Facebook in 2007. It’s hard to tell which post was my first since I know I’ve tagged with various dates, but it appears that it was July when I posted Rick Raddatz and Mark Widawer of my friends Rick Raddatz and Mark Widawer when they visited my home. I guess 2007 was a big year, because that’s also the year I bought my first iPhone. I’m one of the guys who spent $600 for the device, and I have no regrets. I’ve owned just about every version of the iPhone since that time and currently carry an iPhone 6. 2008 – On March 26, 2008, I broadcast my first live-stream using UStream.tv. For the next couple years, I broadcast Joel Comm LIVE with Dan Nickerson by my side. I linked the first one above, but I thought I would embed one of my favorite episodes of the show for you to enjoy. From time-to-time, a special guest would drop in on me in Northern Colorado. In April 2010, Mari Smith was my special guest, and we had a great time playing music on our iPads. There have been numerous other firsts on my journey through technology and the online world, but these are just a few of the highlights. What about you? Please share some of your technology and online firsts in the comments below!

My Top 10 Career Moments

Life is packed with ups and downs; highs and lows. Some days are unmemorable while others feature snapshots which are forever etched in our memories. I recently was a guest on a podcast and was asked this question. “What was your single greatest moment as an entrepreneur?” I was stumped. I’m blessed to have had so many great moments that I couldn’t name one that was more significant than others. Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I recognize there were some truly defining moments that have helped shape who I am today. Some of them are the obvious low-hanging fruit. Others are the less publicized moments that were just as profound to me. And one of them isn’t what you would call a “success” at all. Yet, the impact it made on me helped shape me in a positive way. I thought I would share my top ten list of entrepreneurial moments from both categories and why they were significant. I have ordered them in order of impact. 1) The AdSense Code charting on the New York Times Best-Seller list Most people don’t know that I wrote my first traditionally-published book in 1997. With the assistance of Bonnie Bruno, a writer in Oregon, I secured my first publishing deal with an independent house called No Starch Press. The book was called Internet Family Fun: The Parent’s Guide to Safe Surfing. It was essentially a directory of sites that would be deemed family-friendly. I didn’t look at writing another book for some time. It was fall of 2005 when I met David Hancock at Armand Morin’s Big Seminar. I handed David a CD featuring a PDF of the 2nd edition of my top-selling ebook. AdSense Secrets. He suggested that my book would make for an excellent physically published book. I understood the credibility that would come from sharing my material in printed form so I agreed to write the book. David’s small publishing house, Morgan James Publishing, was still new on the independent publishing scene. I told him that I was going to be his first New York Times Best-Seller. He laughed a kind-hearted laugh. In March 2006, The AdSense Code came out with a robust marketing plan behind it. I can’t recall exactly how I found out about hitting the charts, but I do recall I was the one to deliver the news to David. It was an incredible rush and one that created unprecedented momentum for me and my career as a marketer. 2) iFart Mobile reaching #1 in the iTunes AppStore There’s so much to the iFart story that I really ought to write a book on the subject. Perhaps I will some day. But what I’ll share now is what happened on December 12, 2008. After having submitted the application to the AppStore in October and not seeing any hope that Apple would reverse their previously publicized decision to NOT release fart novelty apps, I had already moved on to other things. I tried and it was out of my control. On that day in December I was in Palm Springs, California. I was about 20 minutes from taking the stage before 800 or so entrepreneurs when I received a phone call from the home office. “iFart has been approved by Apple and is now in the AppStore!” I didn’t expect it and was delighted beyond belief. My marketing machine went into high gear and the app hit #1 in the world on December 22, 2008. Needless to say, there was much rejoicing. The success of the app showed people my fun side while earning me a tidy sum. To this day, I regularly meet people who are floored to discover that I am creator of the app that made a stink all over the world. You just can’t make this stuff up! 3) Producing and Hosting The Next Internet Millionaire Eric Holmlund is one of the brightest marketers I’ve ever met. Soft-spoken, calculated and passionate, Eric is a brilliant man with a big heart and great integrity. After our fantastic success with Instant AdSense Templates, I approached him with the idea of shooting a reality show that would take elements of Donald Trump’s The Apprentice and mix it together with the Internet marketing niche to serve the growing online video market. Eric would produce and direct the show while I was the host and Executive Producer. An ambitious project that would never have happened without the dedication and talent of Eric, the production team, the contestants and my support staff, in 2007 The Next Internet Millionaire was the world’s first competitive Internet reality show. With the exception of the final episode, the entire show was filmed over a two-week period in Northern Colorado. An exhausting whirlwind of drama, both on set and off set, the resulting product is something that I am still tremendously proud of, earning us an honorary Webby Award in 2008. 4) Speaking at Robert Puddy’s Focus 4 the Future event In Charlotte, NC When I talk about public speaking, you might think I would focus on the more epic moments such as speaking on Tony Robbins’ stage, being invited to train the marketing team at Microsoft on the subject of social media or delivering a talk to more than 5000 people at the London O2 arena. But while those and other speaking/keynote engagements are quite memorable for me, I have to turn the clock back to that small conference room in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2005. It was there before an audience of 27 people that I gave my first marketing presentation. Alongside the other speakers Mike Filsaime, Gary Ambrose and Craig Perrine, I fearfully, but boldly, stepped up to deliver the goods for the first time. My presentation was about making money with AdSense and it concluded with a pitch to purchase an AdSense training product and coaching from me for $1997. I was pleased to have sold my product to five people that day. But even […]

The Top 5 Worst Kinds of Facebook Posts

Facebook is a fantastic tool for engaging with others and building relationships. I know SO many more people in real life because of it. Whether I’m connecting with family, rediscovering old friends, engaging with my current tribe, reading interesting posts or laughing at yet another funny meme, Facebook has enriched my life. But there are some uses of Facebook that make me cringe. It’s a good thing I have a full head of hair, because I find myself pulling it out when I see people I know fall prey to certain kinds of posts on Facebook. But before I do I’d like to say a couple things. There are a few reasons people make posts like this: 1) They are trying to get more likes because they need affirmation. I understand that we all need attention. It’s common to all human beings. But this isn’t the way to go about it. If you are desperate for human connection, reach out to a family member or friend. Go meet them for a cup of coffee. Pick up the phone and have a conversation. There’s no need to reach out to the masses for affirmation. You are worthy and you are loved. Get away from Facebook and hug someone. 2) They are trying to increase their Klout score. Ugh. Klout doesn’t really matter, except when it does. But why try to game the system? Just use social media in an authentic way and let the numbers be whatever they are. Don’t suck others into your need to have your ego stroked by seeing your score jump a point or two. 3) They just don’t know any better. I expect this behavior from newbies. But once you have spent some time on Facebook, there’s no excuse. So how do I respond if I see these posts on my newsfeed, I do one of two things. If you are family or a close friend, I pass by the way most people ignore a homeless person on the street. I love you and forgive you. Please stop it. If we are just Facebook “friends” and you are a repeat offender, I’ll likely keep the connection in tact, but I will unfollow you and save myself from having to see your posts. With that said, here are the five things that will cause me to unfollow you faster than a lemming about to jump over a cliff. 1) Manipulative posts that play on emotions There are appropriate times to call for help. I’m not talking about those who are in actually physical or emotional need. These posts are more like an emotional drive-by, with the intent of getting you in the same emotional state as the person posting. After all, if you DON’T share this status update, what kind of unfeeling, cruel, heartless creep must you be? I guess I’m the unfeeling, cruel, heartless creep, because I will not like, share or comment on these kinds of status updates. No. 2) Ridiculous word search puzzles I’m desperately searching for “irritated”, “annoyed” and “impatient” in this puzzle, but am coming up empty. Too bad as those are the three words that would best describe my reaction to the post. How about I just describe the first thing I do when I see this? Unfollow. 3) Tag spamming I don’t mind being tagged in a status update when I appear in a photo, video or article, or when I am (or was) actually with the person making the post. But when it’s tagging just for the sake of getting my attention, you got my attention… in the wrong way. The worst offenders are those who post inspirational quotes, seeking to spread magical pixie dust over their entire circle by tagging EVERYONE! Click the image if you need a closer look at this post which tags 100 people who do not appear in the image and are likely not currently with the original poster. My response is simple… 4) Name a city or animal without a certain letter This is the low-hanging fruit of like bait. Shall we play a game and see how smart you are? Or perhaps it’s a test to see how gullible you are. If you want to play, you’ll be surprised to know that they have removed the word “gullible” from the dictionary. 5) Post to stay friends Topping it off is this highly manipulative, and unnecessary, tactic. You may very well be at your 5000 friend limit. I have been there myself… managed it myself without requiring the aid of people I already know. But do you really need to ask people who already engage with you if they want to stay engaged with you? And to make it worse, do you need to turn it into a game in order to get comments? I’d rather see a post that just says “How did we meet? Lie about it!” than turn it into “if you are really my friend and don’t want to lose your spot as my friend prove you are my friend by doing what you already do as my friend.” ACK! Look, if you are at your friend limit, I want you to know something. First, I won’t post to let you know I’m still here. Threaten to unfriend me if you must. If our connection is that tenuous, perhaps its for the best. But more important, I want you to know that I believe in you. I believe you have the ability and intelligence to look through your friends list and recognize your own family members and friends. I believe you will be able to spot people you don’t know and ask yourself “who the heck is that?”, picking up on a prime candidate for unfriending. If all all fails, going through your friend list and discovering connections like this might help you on your quest. You’re welcome. You can do this. Yes, you can. So there you have it. Call me a curmudgeon if you wish. But I […]