Just as interesting is how fickle people can be. Earlier this year, Twitter was having technical difficulties. As a result, several other "micro-blogs" popped up all over the internet. In a way, that's how we are today. Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Vice President choices. It's a maddening race for popularity.

Of course, for most of us it comes down to VALUES -- what do people and social networks stand for -- and where do I fit into their scheme? As a Follower of Christ, I am influenced by a standard, God's Word, the Bible. It has and continues to shape me. That message does not change or move.

I love it's anchor. In a world where there are no moral absolutes, where rules change, and where networks of people move around so much, I need that. I have also attempted to live by those standards.

Oh, no, I am not perfect, that's for sure. However, when I get off course I can look forward and strive toward a finish line that DID NOT move.

It can be confusing to follow the commands on the Bible. In fact there were like 1,630 of them listed. When Jesus was asked which was the most important He brought it down to a level we can all not only understand, but we can RELATE to it.

Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Now THOSE SOCIAL NETWORKS ROCK!

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No sabemos desde cuando twittea pero la descubrimos hace poco y ya nos damos cuanta que es inquieta, intensa y comprometida.

@catbulsara es Ingeniera de la Chile y trabaja en una empresa bancaria de inversiones. Desde ahí, todo el día esta compartiendo mañana y tarde. Nació al parecer en San Antonio o al menos tiene vínculos con este puerto.

Esta cosa de la virtualidad la enloquece, la mueve y a hace disfrutar. Es tanto así que fue entusiasta promotora y participante de @misstuitera (el concurso "guateo" por quejas de las participantes dicen).

¿Daniela? (creemos que es su nombre real) en el último FirstTuesday (FT) repartió pegatinas promoviendo Twitter hechas por ella misma demostrando lo embalada que es.

Su corazón lo ocupa @gonzomau quien es activo Betazeta.

Es fans de los mas GEKK @leoprieto @aschek y @stark y no se achica con nada. Es clever y ademas siente lque es la raja, cosa que es muy buena en cualquier persona.

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Twitter is one of those hard to figure out web anomolies that can get strangely addictive once tried. I find myself checking in with Twitter at least 4 times a day to see what is being talked about in the Twitter community and to conversate with those I follow and those that follow me. It is an interesting addition to your daily email, RSS, news and todo list regimen.

A few things you will find on Twitter:

• Experts
  There are many tech experts that regularly Twitter. See www.twitterholic.com for a list of the "most followed" twitterers.
• News Updates
  CNN has really taken a shining to Twitter lately and is promoting their Twitter feed on air. Many other news organizations are also moving towards web 2.0 initiatives like this.
• Friends
  The real reason Twitter was invented was to allow friends to micro-blog their movements and moments to each other. Once you connect or drag all your friend on here you will see the social value of Twitter. I find it incredibly easy to meet new people with similar interests on Twitter as well. 
• Boredom
  If you have reached a heightened state of boredom you can always check out the public timeline and watch microcosms of the world drift by one refresh at a time.

I have been in construction equipment sales and rental for my whole working career. Sometimes it tends to burn you out! Sometimes it makes you a lot of money (most of the time!), and other times it makes you question why on earth you chose this career path. My newest project www.equipmentjobs.com, is at a point where I have to make a professional decision: finance growth with my savings, grow by finding capital, or Sell it (as an asset sale, not a business sale or acquisition). The choice is much harder than I anticipated. After going back and forth with a friendly competitor who brought up the possibility of sale, it only left me more ambitious about growing the company after they scrutinized my company's worth. I think of my small business similar to the way I will have to think about sending my little girl off to college in 14 years from now. The thought of letting someone else take care of it makes me want to cry. They don't have the same exact goals in mind, they don't seem to respect the work that I have put in, and if they do it wrong, the future of my company will be in jeopardy. I am not sure I want to see that. As I write this, I sit in top 5 on Google for my main keywords, #1 on Yahoo, and #1 on MSN. I did this all myself. I didn't contract out, I didn't use pay per click, and I did it for next to nothing with the exception of my time which I put a high value on.

In my path towards my decision, I have had to review my ambitions, motivations, and passion. NO they are not the same, not even close! My motivation is to make a good life for my family in the small village we recently moved to. My little girl has just started pre-school, we have met many people in the town, and we are being quickly accepted as part of their warm community. We have made a commitment that will be nearly impossible to break. My ambition is to make enough money so that my family can do the things we WANT to do and make a comfortable life. I have been on the receiving end of many $10k+ monthly commission checks and that is a lifestyle I truly enjoy, but the baggage sucks! I am not a fan of traveling alone. I am not a fan of fourteen hour days. I want to make sure I am doing something I am proud of, but more importantly, I want my wife and girls to be proud of what I do. EquipmentJobs.com fits that criteria, but at some point it will grow with or without me and will require traveling and corporate meetings and a lifestyle that is not conducive to what we are building here. My passion is building. I don't mean like construction building, although I am a fan of it, just not good at it (ask my wife about our 6 week bathroom remodel). I mean building relationships, friendships, companies, sales territories, and stuff that produces legacy. 

If you were in my position and money was not a huge factor in your decision, What would you do?

Would you sell it, personally finance it, or find outside financing?

Have you ever faced this decision?

Finally, what are your motivations, ambitions and passions?

Do you Twitter? Do you know what Twitter is? Well ... Twitter is difficult to describe. If you really want to see how it works, sign up for a "free" Twitter account at http://twitter.com.

Once you are signed in, go to http://twitter.com/ednabarney and click on "Follow" under my photograph, to start following me and my updates. If you get bored with following the Twitters of my "exciting" life, you can always click on that button again to un-follow. By starting out following just one person, you will see how the system works. Notice on the right hand side bar of my Twitter page there is a group of tiny images. Each one of those images represents a person who I am following. Click on any of them to see if you want to follow them too.

The next step to your Twittering adventure is to allow Twitter to go into your Contacts Folder and find any real friends you may have who are already Twittering. Then you choose whether or not to follow them too. When your email friends find that you are following them, they may choose to follow you in return. They may even send you a private message saying something like "Who the Hell are you, anyway?"

The joy of tweeting is in full swing this season in Bryant Park and throughout all of Twitterville. Throngs of fashionistas are delivering instantaneous, online, up-to-the minute information on what's going on in the Bing Tent and at other Fashion venues in New York. And nothing, nothing escapes the attention of the beady-eyed twitterers . From long lines to get into certain shows to which model just tripped on the runway, from the fabulous gifts in goodie bags to who got standing room only in the tents, from being drenched by tropical storm Hanna to peeves and praise, information is coming in fast and furious! And exactly who is tweeting merrily away? We have stylists, editors, bloggers, and it girls. Here's a list of twitterers I've found :

Nside L.A.
Nside L. A bills itself as L.A.'s Lifestream, but note that their news comes from NY Mag's own fashion pages The Cut.

55SecretStreet
A beauty and fashion blog for stylish women of substance by Nichelle

ElkeVonF
A top celebrity makeup artist in LA & NY, her work has been seen on runways, celebrieis, top magazines and advertising campaigns. Elke is also works on clients on both coasts as a top Eyebrow Speciallist.

YuliZ
Yuli Ziv is the co-founder of http://MyItThings.com, blogger, fashion addict and entrepreneur.

Well done, twitterers! Keep us enthralled!

So why the change?  As Julia, my boss/social-media-extraordinaire so wisely explained, I should make this website the "hub" of my digital life.  That is, my other online profiles should be incorporated into the site and made visi(ta)ble.  So, dear readers, please bear with me while ninanyc.com takes its first steps in the grown-up blogosphere - i.e. I can't figure out how to get a pretty Twitter widget someonehelpmeI'msoconfusedahhhhh.

I found the way that Rheingold traced the development of modern social networks to Japan (i-mode) and Finland ("tekstata" or SMS) very enlightening in "Shibuya Epiphany".  It makes sense that early adoption of the new technologies occurred in young adults as they were trying to define their own identities outside of their families.  Rheingold quotes Finnish researchers: "Text messaging is a way to share relationships".  It seems that it was-and arguably still is-less about content with certain types of social networks and certain demographis and more about the act of communicating (sending messages like "whatchya doing", "i'm bored").  It allowed, and still allows, teenagers (and even children) the ability to develop individual identities by expressing themselves, and, as equally important, attaching themselves to a social group through this unmonitored, 24/7-accessible "private" social network outside the direct family group.

I believe this has really affected the way we communicate.  Usage of SMS in the U.S. has certainly caught on since then across many demographics, not only for teenagers.  I think that this has also led to or influenced the evolution of communication... leading to the eventual creation of "Status Updates" in Facebook and "twittering".  Although these features still are preferred by the younger demographic, I certainly think that many adults see the benefit of communicating using these newer methods that have enriched their lives and in some way have allowed for 'closer' relationships with some of their friends.  For full disclosure, I am 31 and have only recently started using facebook.  I can't say for sure that it has dramatically changed my friendships, but I do think it has added something new to a few of my friendships already.  I will have to see what happens over time.  A NYT Magazine article that will be in tomorrow's paper reflects on digital intimacy and talks about the introduction of the now two-year old "News Feed" feature on facebook.  It touches on many of the topics that we are discussing this week.

One of the other effects of prevalent mobile communication (SMS/Blackberry/iPhone, etc.) is that some individuals can be looser with time.  I read this example really in one of the readings or NYT article that holds true for me and my friends specifically, while you are getting ready to go to a party or on your way, you may be texting with other friends that are also on their way or already there, so there is this feeling of being together even though you are not in the same place.  Don't know if this is a good thing if it encourages people to always be late though.  Haha.

Another issue that these readings made me think about is the idea of us interacting with others in our physical environment, and also in a "converstation" with someone else via facebook updates, email, or SMS at the same time.  Now, no one likes the loud cell phone talker on a bus or in another public space, so I think that typing is a dramatic improvement.  You cannot necessarily communicate at the exact same time with someone face-to-face and someone farther away, but are we more distracted because we are worried about texting someone?  I don't think that this will have an effect on the level of intimacy in face-to-face communication.  What do you think?

I would also be interested in any thoughts regarding the usage of features such as "status updates" and "news feed" in facebook as well as the usage of twitter in the larger population.  What do you think is the greatest benefit or unintended side product of using these tools?

Lifetime employment is over
Stable employment at large corporations is gone
The average career will likely encompass two or three “occupations” and a half -dozen or more employers.
Most of us will spend sustained periods of our career in some form of self –employment.
Bottom line: We’re on our own, folks.
It’s not theory. It’s happening  …  NOW.
From Tom Peter’s ‘Re-imagine.’

We know there is a tectonic shift in the world of employment afoot. We feel it , we fear it, we cannot avoid it. Fact is we need to embrace it! Who will get kicked out of their cubicle next? Raise your hand , ME, ME, ME!

We need to emigrate to ‘free agent entrepreneur’. Definitely , it is scary, but also liberating. The golden key is Attitude! The monetary gains will blow you away. Simply put. We have encountered a new age Gold Rush. Don’t wait. Don’t hesitate. Start digging for your gold!
The rebrand of ‘You’ commences! It is a moment of AHA or WOW!
Your security has been uprooted. Euphemistically speaking, you have been laid off or fired! OK, Deal with it. Don’t waste any time in hindsight about what might have been.

Yes, it is scary as hell.
Imagine you are on stage and millions of fans are cheering you on! That is the life you could be heading toward. So discard the victimization of someone else powering your life. Power your own life!. You perform, you live by your wits, your gig is your own WOW moment, you have become your own rock star. Add that to your resume!
Spirit is the Mother of Reinvention. Attitude is everything.
Technology replaced your job.  You are a creative, sentient being. Add new value to your value proposition. We need to become independent contractors.  Convert yourself into a genuine businessperson. Spread the word. Sell yourself. Become a leader.
I am a firm believer in independence. Cubicle slavery sucks. Microprocessors evicted us from our jobs. Thank God for technology, it is a blessing not a curse! Our value is much greater than the stupid product we sold; our creativity is our intellectual capital. If you feel powerless, succumb. Don’t fight it. You cannot fight it. Wake up. Use your own God given talents. The new world is all about talent.
It is about you. Rebrand! Reimagine!
WOW!
Terrifying, Liberating. Hugely challenging. Exhilarating.
Enter the age of the “Free Entrepreneur”.
“You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not.” Isabel Allende.
We all have to agree. Ordinary is boring. We need to separate ourselves and become distinctive. Tom Peters coined the phrase,
DISTINCT  … OR EXTINCT!
Rebranding ourselves is not a hype. It actually is a meaningful reflection both of our outer world, the marketplace, the products and services we offer, and our inner self. The mirror image of our own personal brand is no more than a reflection of our inner soul, what lies within us, the lifestyle design of our dreams. Stephen Jobs CEO Apple Computer, says “Design is the fundamental soul of a manmade creation”.  We are in the age of redesigning our self.
We see the hot shot entrepreneurs making 6-7 figure incomes. I can tell you, they started out where we are now!  They are no more than the reflection of their own soul beliefs.  They rediscovered their passion, believed in it and started selling it!!! They figured out HOW to capture their spirit of offering, or Selling, rebranded and offered their product and services in a new way, out there in that wide open, largely unprotected global marketplace. The rest was history. They are now the new HEROS, our leaders, our inspiration. 4 short years ago they were where we are right now, broke, scared and twittering on a new lifestyle of choice. ! Thank innovation, use technology and GET GOING!
Finally, Be the Boss of your own show! I work for a company called Me! LOVE it, HONOR it and BE LOYAL to it.
The stronger the foundation is of the Brand called YOU , the stronger your market position in the age of :
BLAME NO ONE
EXPECT NOTHING
DO SOMETHING!

Ok so where do I start?
In my workshops under the banner of Art and Technology entitled I AM; I AM NOT. I have posed a few questions to get the ball rolling toward YOU.
Who are you?
Why are you here?
What makes you Unique? (USP’s)
What do you care about?
Are other people's opinions about you important to you?
How about your mindset of Brand?  Is it high, or low? Growing or declining, solid or fragile? What is your personal Brand Equity?
Who are your friends? How do you follow them?
Who do you Trust?

Tom Peters in his book ‘Re-imagine’ has provided a road map or survival kit as one enters the unknown frontier of the new work economy. The following steps are paraphrased.

What should you pack in your ole kit bag of 'Attitude Shifters' before you enter the new frontier of the ‘Free Entrepreneur”?

1.    Think like an entrepreneur. Self Reliant- Be your own Boss! Act like a Boss.
2.    Close your deals, don’t waddle! Make money and be responsible to your own bottom line. Become smart about money and wealth creation.
3.    Love Marketing. Swim or drown. Dare go after the technologies that will make you a fast winner.
4.    Be a Master. Learning should be your inspiration. Pose yourself to be a Leader of Leadership!
5.    Shifting Deals. Be very good at one thing. But on a moments notice , be prepared to shift. Then, be ready to master 10 new things at once. Nothing is certain so become a 'Shift Shaper' quickly. Deal with it. Flexibility wins.
6.    Attitude. Laugh or Die! Stretch your limits, explore everything and when the elastic snaps, laugh hysterically. That was that. Go with it. Your enterprise will reach excellence if you keep stretching, keep laughing and go with the punches.
7.    Hail Twitter. Build your network. Your loyalty with your peers is everything. This is not a market of secrets and inclusion. This market is all about sharing! Build your rolodex on line. Manage it. Love it. Follow your friends.
8.    An Apple a Day. The internet and everything in its wake is your newfound freedom. You don’t need to be an expert but you do need to be curious. It’s made easy for dummies like you and me. Think FAST. That attitude embraces our new tech tools. Build your toolset.
9.    Think Young. Whether you are 20 or 80, this marketplace loves you. Respect each other. Learn . Listen and grow your Spirit of Offerings. Be your own fantastic ‘no matter what age you find yourself’ Brand as a ‘free entrepreneur’.
10.    Free Agent Web 2.0. Technology is your friend. Social networks are your distribution resources. Be creative. Package your skills and your TALENTS. What you don’t know. Ask and learn. I can guarantee there are plenty of folks that want to help you BECOME SUCCESSFUL.

Here we come. Create your own work. It’s a ‘Free Entrepreneur’ Economy.

Meet me at my space. http://www.myspace.com/cashbiznetworking

Operation was a success, but I was warned that I may need the same procedure again in the future. Not exactly what I wanted to hear after having the same one performed on me three times now...

So I came out Thursday morning, not even twenty four hours after the operation, was driven home and went straight in to spare bed. I have since been passing in and out of consciousness for only a few hours at a time.

I have been catching up on some old DVDs and boxed sets in my waking hours: Collateral (a brilliant Michael Mann film with him at his directorial best), Chinatown (the Roman Planski classic which I had never seen until this week, but I can now see why it is held up with such high regard!) and the Alien Quadrilogy (watched Alien for the umpteenth time but was more interested in all the behind the scenes stuff offered in this 2003 boxed set, including a 'new' director's cut and interviews with Ridley Scott and other production members)

I did do some writing whilst in hospital; it's amazing what effect those drugs can have on your brain you know. Came up with a few key plot points for Dark Star which I shall discuss elsewhere. Also had a weird dream the other night about fairy princesses and family trees...

I am constantly tired at the moment is my main problem, so I cannot plan ahead of time what I want to do. That aside though, I do have a second interview lined up with a firm of architects for next Wednesday...bandages and all...

While watching the coverage of the DNC and the RNC, I again found myself infront of the TV with my laptop simultaneously following my friends on the social networks, and again, I found I was getting more insight and information from the Internet. It have to say that it was a lot more fun, too. The night that Sarah Palin spoke, FriendFeed, Twitter, and even my friends' FaceBook updates lit up in response. The following night when McCain delievered his acceptance speech, my friend Stacy in Ohio and I were IMing eachother our observations.

There were people Twittering during both conventions. There were alternative news sources tweeting about all of the protests and the police activity around the RNC. I heard nothing about the police raids from CNN or PBS about Amy Goodman's arrest or the raids on private homes in St. Paul. I learned this from the UpTake's webcast and Twitter feed.

I am continually inspired by citizen journalism and the movement to reform media. The Chicago New Media Summit is coming up next week, and though I won't be there, I am eager to learn about the outcome of that event. I'm hoping to learn about more alternative news services as the election approaches. Meanwhile, I'm planning on watching the election returns on The Daily Show's Indecision 2008, as well as continuing to get information from my Twitter feed.

While I am discouraged by the political discourse that is reflected on mainstream television, I look to my social networks to be reminded that there is a majority of people in this world who, like me, want to get information out there about what is really going on in American politics, and raise the level of political discourse above the drivel that the conservative media is feeding us.

Now that you've read it, you agree there's so much good stuff in it, that it's hard to know where to start. But I picked this place, late in the article, because it's something I've been thinking about:

"Yet Ahan knows that she cannot simply walk away from her online life, because the people she knows online won’t stop talking about her, or posting unflattering photos. She needs to stay on Facebook just to monitor what’s being said about her. This is a common complaint I heard, particularly from people in their 20s who were in college when Facebook appeared and have never lived as adults without online awareness. For them, participation isn’t optional. If you don’t dive in, other people will define who you are. So you constantly stream your pictures, your thoughts, your relationship status and what you’re doing — right now! — if only to ensure the virtual version of you is accurate, or at least the one you want to present to the world."

Last week, in my first installment of social media rules, I wrote that the social costs of silence for a brand were large. When I read the paragraph above, I kept placing Brand in the place of Ahan.

A brand can't simply walk away from its online life. It needs to be continually monitoring what is said about it. Some brands do a really good job at that.

The second thing that I took from the article is the notion of "passive updating." This is a meme from another Canadian writer and thinker named Grant McCracken called Status Casting. This is the notion that someone’s status is a critical thing to promote to people.

This is especially true for younger people who are emerging brands. And it’s obviously true of brands.
The goal of a brand is ‘ambient awareness’. It’s not one that is easily achievable, but it’s certainly a goal. If a people were ‘ambiently aware’ of a brand, when a purchase decision comes along, they will more than likely think of the brand.

Think of status casting as a non-interruptive, passive way of updating fans on what's going on with the brand. it doesn't matter what tool a brand uses, it matters that it stays true to the brand, it entertains, and it engages.

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• Is Social Media Passing Your Business By?

Internet high five to the support guys for responding so quickly!