I Saw a Frame of Black Last Night!

It was intentional!  It looked like this:

 

 And it was preceded by the screen image gradually fading to it then back up again.
It was surprising, no, refreshing!
Have you ever listened to the average teen talking, ending each sentence on an upswing to tell you they had more to say, segue after segue. Today’s production and operations fit that personality well.  A constant barrage of semicolons and commas but never the period that a fade to black brings – that little breath your mind gets.
They now only to seem to exist in the theatrical world, smartly used as an emotional device.  (Although I don’t know what emotion some French films are trying to convey as they fade to black and stay there long enough for a cat nap.)  The same device was once used in the broadcast world, too – and for the same reason – change of thought, emotional impact, not cat nap.
I’m not talking about the “silent pullup” that was once commonplace.  (Trivia time:  what was a silent pullup and, for the prize, why was it employed?)  I’m talking about the good old transition of a FADE TO BLACK that was the punctuation mark on a scene.
Maybe it disappeared when early satellite relay was implemented.  Full screen black put a heavy load on the transponder – ate up power and contributed to higher heat “up there” – so directors, especially live feed folks like those who worked news and sports, were told not to go to black for significant periods.  Once sensitized to it, they began interpreting it as “never go to black.  Ever.”
But, even in television drama, I don’t see it much.   Certainly not in a commercial pod where every frame is filled.  Hey, if ya got nuttin’ else to say, stick up the URL or 800 number.  And I really think that’s part of the clutter.  Like running wind sprints but never being allowed to stop and take a breath.
Just for the heck of it, I went to YouTube and started looking at random clips.  I decided I’d make sure they were over 2 minutes in length figuring that anything shorter probably had a lesser chance of having an opportunity for a “dip” or fade to black.  Even with materials 2 minutes plus, I didn’t see any except at the open and close and, even then, they were few and far between.  I then jumped to some sites where the subject might include a video.  When I found them, I found the same display as I had seen on TV.  OK, full disclosure, I didn’t do a frame-by-frame analysis, but my recall told me it was the same.  Sure enough, wall-to-wall video.
So what, who cares?  Probably no one except me.  But it’s fun remembering that chance to settle for a fraction of a second – whether it’s watching the tube or listening to a teen.

 

 

That Clog Called Management

There was a show in prime time around 1970 called Arnie.  Herschel Bernardi (probably more famous as the voice of Charlie the Tuna than for his dramatic work) starred as a loading dock worker who had suddenly been promoted to “corporate.”  A real worker becomes management.

 

It was an interesting albeit short-lived concept that might be worth review today.

 

Geez, Len, where are you going with this?

 

Herschel Bernardi
Courtesy
starscolor.com

Keeping Arnie Nuvo in mind, step back and look at today’s management.  Clogged with lawyers, DBA;s and MBA’s – all trained to manage but few with knowledge of the business they’re in.  Now, with due respect to the JD and other degrees, let me say that the whole method of organization is wrong.

 

In the media world, the last thing we need is a manager who doesn’t know the specific business.  Or one who wants to put everything into discreet “silos” which are convenient for PowerPoints but, frankly, don’t work in the real world.

 

If you read any of the corporate “self-help” books, you find that the involvement of line folks in management is the exception rather than the rule.  Yet when you look at successful companies, you find that the ones that do have open relationships among everyone are the ones making it.  Go figure. 

 

When you’re making flanges as was Herschel Bernardi, you have a pretty controlled input-to-operation-to-output.  That’s just not the case in the media world.  It’s too broad, it changes too quickly, and it rests on that fickle thing called an audience.

 

So bringing in management folks who haven’t had contact with your particular business is usually a big mistake.  I’ve seen it too many times.  Decisions made by the Harvard- or Kellogg-book but which don’t work in the real world.  Best example:  broadcast station expansion.  That was fun watching the MBA’s and DBA’s running the numbers.  “Hey, it’s simple.  We take over 3 stations in a market.  We central-cast, cut a truckload of people, raise the ad rates, and make wheelbarrows (I already used 'truckload') of money."

 

Now in case you don’t see the flaws, raising ad rates isn’t that easy.  If you don’t have the numbers, you don’t get the orders.  In an agency world where you can’t even get to a buyer – and where most of them are paid to say no – you can’t just raise rates.  In fact, major advertisers are gutsy enough to say, “Here’s what I want, here’s what I’m going to pay.  Take it or leave it.”  Ouch.  That’s a little different from the world of flanges.  And cutting people?  Cool idea.  Then, looking at the payroll, they toss out folks who know the history…the ones who’ve already made the mistakes.  Ah, but a younger person – if they think they need a person at all – will come at half the price.  That is until you factor in a repeat of the mistakes the old lady you let go learned from.

 

And central-casting.  Think about it.  With more and still more modes of information or entertainment delivery, is producing your [for example] Louisville news out of Dallas a good idea?  If local is the real USP for a station, do you want the lead of a story left on the cutting room floor because that guy in Dallas doesn’t know the background?  So, sure, go ahead and put the folks who may be able to contribute most to the company’s success in an isolated location where the only interaction is the nightly critique coming out of programming, or the consultant telling the female anchor not to smile so much.

 

A lot of the problems come out of the chasm between “management” and “labor.”  Both have a lot to learn from the other.  If you’ve run across Cluetrain Manifesto, you’ll recall that Levine et. al. talk about the flattening of the corporate pyramid.  People at the bottom (I hate that term) know a lot of what people at the top (that one too) are doing.  Observation, filtration, email, and intranet let them find out.  But, sadly, management seems to think that they can orchestrate a one-way communication path.  And what’s worse?  They don’t think they necessarily have to tell the truth!

 

So they say that all’s well, that they’re not changing the news format, not letting anyone go, etc. then, out of nowhere, an anchor gets replaced.  Whatever morale or corporate equity they built up just vaporized.  And, if you trace it back, you find that those lettered management folks didn’t see the difference between a people business and a widget business.  A silo was a silo. 

 

So, the solution?  Bring some “little folks” (oh wow, that’s so much better than “people at the bottom”) along.  No, not a monthly lunch.  Put them on specific developmental or analytical projects.  They’ll ask questions you didn’t know needed to be asked.

 

I’ll give you an example:  A few years ago, we were having a discussion about offering vanity email addresses.  You can imagine it – you sign up and you get yourname@somegreatsuffix.com, where somegreatsuffix = a really neat address.  Maybe co-opting a celebrity’s name, or a professional sport.  A couple of folks had run the numbers and they turned out to be really big.  A 20-year-old ops guy asked a simple question, “How you gonna convince people to give up the email address they have?  I mean, when all their friends…”  After a little research the numbers fell like a rock.  Today, that’s a little different but, at the time, we were able to keep from stepping in it.

 

More importantly, work to collapse the pyramid.  Open the company up.  If the average coder doesn’t feel comfortable dropping a suggestion to you, if you don’t feel you can stop by a designer’s office and ask how they’d do something, you haven’t accomplished it.

 

You don’t have to put Arnie in the corporate suites, but you can have lots of Arnies out there, all with suggestions that may just save your backside.

Trying to Pay a Compliment - When Marketing Blows up in your Face

I’m not sure how on-topic this is but, from my standpoint, it’s spot on.

 

Seems Seven Eleven created what I think is a pretty neat traffic generator.  This morning, they offered free coffee for coming in to “vote”.  Voting was done by selecting either an “Obama” (blue) cup or a “Romney” (red) cup.  

 

I tried it.  I have to tell you, at this particular outlet, it was a terrific customer experience.  Greeted when I entered, seven or eight different types of coffee brewed, hot, and waiting, lids and every associated item in place and available.

 

Then, politely asking what the charge was, I was told, “No. No. No.  It’s free.  Thanks for coming in.”  Then one of the folks asked if I wanted a sample of their breakfast sandwich.   I passed, but there was a blueberry muffin on the counter that seemed to have an aura around it.  I, of course, bought it.

 

Ate the muffin, drank the coffee while walking home.  I have to say both were great.  All around, one fine, well-built promotion.

 

At home, finishing the coffee, I looked at the side of the cup.  “Satisfaction Guaranteed! 1-800-255-0711.”

 

Cool!  I thought, “I’m gonna give them a call and tell them what a neat promotion they’re onto.”

 

It was at that point that all of the good will generated during my visit went down the tubes.  I mean from, “Wow!” to “Yuck!” in less than thirty seconds.  Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version:

·     They put you through the “our menu options have changed…” lie.

·     They use the same number for employees and customers…you have to press 1 to tell them you’re a customer.  Are you kidding?

·     The first prompt as a customer is, “If you are calling in regard to funds being held by your bank…”  Are you kidding me?  I understand that this could be important.  But it’s an important negative that needs to be tucked somewhere else.  Is that the first thing you want every customer calling to think about - that Seven Eleven could bring about an issue with funds being held by their bank?

·     When you finally tree your way through to info about leaving a comment, you hope for a live person.  But, just in case, you start rehearsing your message in case there’s a beep.  Surprise!  After you get through the tree and listen to the message, you’re sent to the website for any comments.  The same is true for complaints

·     As you would guess – it doesn’t mention that on the cup.  In fact, the web address isn’t even given on the cup

 

Ah!  More smart marketing and ops guys/women (or a combination thereof) who don’t talk to one another.

 

Now, somewhere out there is/are the brains behind this.  So to you, let me just say, kudos for the promotion.  Now – take a hike!  You blew it.

The Great Sponsor Reveal...

Well, I just invested fifty-eight seconds in a spot…to finally see the name of the advertiser.

Why did I stick around till the end when 99 percent of the time I just zip past or change channels?  Because it jogged my mind – that I wanted to write this installment of DC to White Light.

It starts with one or two people in an agency “creative” group.  One thinks (or says to the other) “Let’s create some mystery.  Let’s tell a story and let folks try to figure out what it’s about.”

“Yeah,” he/she thinks or hears back from his/her creative partner, “we get this story line going about [place product here] and no one can figure it out till the end and we super the name and fade out.”

Then he/she suggests that the thing be done without ever revealing the sponsor, ignorant of 317 of the CFR and 73.1212 of the FCC rules, “It’s a tease.  We run it for awhile then finally we air the version with the sponsor payoff,” but settles for that closing reveal in each spot.

He/she/they take it up the creative the ladder, through legal, to the client – who has to be talked out of the logo being up for the entire spot – out to production and onto the air.  And what’s important to them?  The reveal.  It’s like they’re the first ones to think of it.

Get a creative life, will you?  Said another way, just how narcissistic are you or your client to think that 99.999% of the world actually cares enough about the connection you’re trying to make between Iowa-raised corn and your cereal to stick around, watch the end and muse to themselves, “Wow, I never realized that.”

I’m not suggesting that these folks are trying to HIDE the sponsor name altogether. They’re not out there pitching a POV or concept without being discovered.  I have a “warm spot” for those guys, but it’s not of this world.  The folks I’m talking about are just trying to be cute.  Inventive.  As if doing something that’s been done tens of times before is inventive. 

“Not with this product.  This is a first.”

One more time with the narcissism.  Very few people care.  If you want to sell something, be upfront about it and show me how that product is a hero.  How does it make my life better.  I’ll buy it.  But if you’re playin’ hide the logo with me, well, guess what…the zip button gets punched and I’ll never even see what the product is.  That’s a tough one to explain to a client.

It’s a zip/zap age.  And people are in a hurry.  Want to use that surprise reveal technique?  Do it as a ten second preroll online.  Ask a question or show a situation then show me the product as the answer.  Your answer will beat me to the “skip” button and I’ll get your message.  Make it :15 and I’ll bet I’m faster on the draw with the remote than you are with your reveal.

And one final thing:  When it does work, it only works once.

“Dummy.  That’s what we want.  The second time someone sees it, they automatically recall the sponsor.”

I don’t think so.  You may find some of that but you’ll find more zippers and skippers than recallers.

One last time.  As an appeal.  Show me the product solving a problem for me.  Don’t hide its name.  I’m in.

This blog brought to you by…

The Dreaded Public File

I’m choosing now to talk about broadcasters’ Public Files.  Why?   It’s renewal year for radio stations.  Some are already way down the path to another eight year cycle.  Others are busy trying to figure out the rules, some calling me to ask, “Now when do I run the renewal announcements?”

I’m not a lawyer.  I don’t even play one on TV…and I don’t give legal advice.  However, the programming, operations and tech sides of the business are closely intertwined with the legal world.

Let me say, first off, that broadcasting is the only business where companies have to help their competition.  They even have to help their detractors put them out of business.  What?  C’mon.  If you’re with a broadcast entity, you know the drill.  If you’re not, check out the FCC’s publication, The Public and Broadcasting. 

Everything you need to know – including how to find a “petition to deny” the renewal application of a station.  Anyone can do it.  Pick a station.  Go in and ask to see the public file.  Everyone has a right…you don’t have to identify yourself and you don’t need a reason.  The station even has to make copies for you at a reasonable price.  The public file has to contain all of the following (links are to the section of the publication that references the topic): 

• The License
• Applications and Related Materials
• Citizen Agreements
• Contour Maps
• Material Relating to an FCC Investigation or Complaint
• Ownership Reports and Related Material
• List of Contracts Required to be Filed with the FCC
• Political File
• EEO Materials
• “The Public and Broadcasting”
• Letters and E-Mails from the Public
• Quarterly Programming Reports
• Children's Television Programming Reports
• Records Regarding Children's Programming Commercial Limits
• Time Brokerage Agreements
• Lists of Donors
• Local Public Notice Announcements
• Must-Carry or Retransmission Consent Election
• DTV Transition Consumer Education Activity Reports

If you find any of the “folders” empty or lacking, you can go after the station for remediation – from fixing the problem to additional programming all the way to denial of a station’s license.

For many stations, the files coast quietly in a drawer somewhere, heavily guarded by the receptionist or possibly by the local librarian (under some conditions the files may be kept off site).  Seldom does someone ask to see them.  They’re most often checked by FCC field inspectors.  In fact, violations are a major source of revenue for the commission.  Many times the violations are for inaccessibility rather than lack of content.  Witness this FCC Notice of Apparent Liability.   (If you stop reading here, at least get a cup of coffee and click the preceding link.  It’s great reading!) 

Here are a couple more courtesy of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, with whom my company has NO relationship:

Three $10,000 fines

$10,000 to $14,000 fines

and $9000 more

So, at license renewal time, the public file becomes extremely important.  And right about now, stations are scrambling to make sure everything’s in order – quarterly issues and programming reports, EEO materials, even the filing of records that you aired announcements telling people that they have the right to come see the records! 

It becomes a little panicky and you see a lot of jumpy and tense station management and employees.  In fact, walking into a radio station in the next couple of months and asking to see the public file is a sure way to send a GM to a cardiac specialist.

The public file is definitely integral in the license renewal process, both TV and radio.  Beyond that, there are other elements related to renewal – they deal with whether the station is actually compliant with all the rules.  Here are a few that are often found “out of tolerance” by inspectors:

Tower location!  You have to be kidding, right?  Nope.  I’ve taken the trusty GPS to more than one station and found the actual location off by more than a few seconds.  Yes, even being on the east pylon on Chicago’s Sears/Willis Tower is different from being on the west pylon.  Time to file for a minor change.

Power.  C’mon.  If you’re licensed 10kw, run 10kw.  If you do the math on 10.6kw, which is out of tolerance, you’ll see the increased coverage is almost immeasurable.  If you’re running 20kw and licensed for 10, hey, you’re probably really interfering with another station.

Pattern.  If you’re a directional AM, check the monitoring points.

EAS.  With all the brouhaha about EAS in the past year, if a station’s system isn’t working at this point, they deserve the fines

Logs.  Is there a designated chief operator and assistant?  Is he/she reviewing the logs?

Tower lights.  Duh.

Station ID’s.  Again, we’re not lawyers here.  But remember this:  Call Letters & Location.  That’s the legal ID.  Not call letters then “Boise’s home for sports” then location.  Check the rules or call your lawyer.  Oh yeah – if you’re WXXX-FM, don’t ID WXXX!

If you’re having technical problems, more than likely you can file for an STA (special temporary authorization).  Do it.  It keeps you legal.  You can operate “at variance” with the license till you get the problem fixed…and it’s legal.  If someone checks the file – including an inspector – you’re legal.

Now a couple of parting comments about the public file:  The whole idea of “…public interest, convenience and necessity…” in the broadcast licensing process is based on the scarcity of frequencies/channels available in the radio spectrum.  Even though there are thousands of media outlets now, it’s still true that not everyone can have their own radio or television broadcast station. 

Some pirates seem to think otherwise but, in fact, it’s physically impossible.  As a consequence, a broadcaster does have some level of obligation to the rest of us who have abdicated our claim to any frequencies in order for them to be able to operate their station(s).  Some may say that just playing music that listeners want is enough.  The Nicholas Johnsons of the world will demand that entire dayparts be devoted to needs and problems of the community.

The public file does force stations to select some issues to deal with.  It makes them think about what’s out there beyond the audio console and video switcher.  In that respect, it’s a reasonable idea.  Are there better approaches?  Absolutely.  Competition can go a long way.  Stations which identify major problems in a community often lead other station to cover the same story or to do some level of investigative reporting on other topics. 

Linked coverage, stations covering a topic superficially then carrying it over to an HD2 channel or to web pages or streams provide significant coverage while, at the same time, retaining their main channel for more general programming.  Viewers can even sign up for RSS feeds on selected topics.

And about the file, itself:  The FCC is considering requiring all stations to publish the public file online.  It would allow anyone and everyone to access it via the web.  I don’t see the problem.  Sure, everyone can see it.  So what?  And there’s an upside.  Scan an item and stuff it into an online file and it’s there.  Barring crashes, it doesn’t get lost.  There’s a log file that will tell everyone when the item was posted.  Look, if the rule is there, compliance is mandatory.  If there’s some set of steps or a procedure that helps you do that, what the heck.  As for everyone seeing it?  Let ‘em look.  Give a staff member “ownership” of it and challenge them to shine.*

One last time, let me say that if you’re a station operator and you have legal questions, call a (your) communications lawyer.  Call your tech consultants to get you “legal” on the operating side.  One more thing:  File on time.  And, if you haven’t read Red Quinlan’s The Hundred Million Dollar Lunch, why not?

*While they’re shining – or not – remember that regardless who you give ownership to, it’s the station's ownership who is responsible as far as the FCC is concerned.

Writers in the Sky

Huh?  Isn’t it Riders? 

Not this time.  I’m writing…and I’m in the sky.  Now, this is no big deal given the technology available.  But here’s what is amazing:  It’s a Southwest flight.  You know – those “line up coz we ain’t got seat assignments/peanuts here, we gotcher peanuts” guys that ferry 737s around.

In the past month, I’ve been on two other airlines, neither offering WiFi service.  Yet here I am on this little plane checking out the email and even talking to one of my servers…for five bucks.

Is it cable modem download speed?  Nope?  But it’s fast enough.  At least it keeps up with my typing.

I guess what’s important here is that in the tradition of Herb Kelleher, Southwest gets it.  Another carrier I travel on has embarked on a crusade to remove, cover, or change the plug of every outlet in the terminal.  Wish I’da bought stock in Graybar or whatever company makes outlet caps.  I’d be super rich from all the covered outlets.  Southwest?  I sat at the gate and plugged in as did about 20 other people.  That’s a perk on a Friday night when you need to get a last minute order out – or in.

Did I mention that I checked a bag (49.5 pounds) and carried one on, along with a set of wheels.  Didn’t pay a penny more.

And we left on time.  Southwest has a habit of that.  Somehow, they’re able to turn the plane around faster than the other guys, even the guys with the little RJ’s.  Go figure.  Let me add that there’s a blizzard going on in Chicago, our destination.  But they managed to get this thing in the air as scheduled and we’re due in on time.  I’ll let you know (if I don’t get this posted before we land).

I said earlier that Southwest “gets it.”  By that, I mean they get it as to what’s really important to travelers.  Then add to that the friendliness.  I won’t go into detail.  If you haven’t flown Southwest, you won’t understand.  What you will understand, though, is the attitude of their marketing.  Call Southwest for a reservation and you’ll hear, “You may be able to find a lower fare by booking online…”  Call one of the competition and you hear the same thing, but worded negatively, “Telephone reservations are subject to additional charges compared to online booking.”  Yes. Both say the same thing.  So which camp has the smart people working for it?

Back to the WiFi.  When you open it up, you can see inflight deals.  This isn’t an onslaught of popups.  It’s a carefully filtered list of offers and coupons, many of which are from establishments in the destination city.  Discount at a steak house and similar offers…and they close the circle – the redemption is/can be through your mobile device.  Yeah.  You do the WiFi, computer or phone, and then show your phone at the establishment and you’re saving money.  Yes, it’s a bolt-on from a third party provider.  But, the doggoned thing works – for ME.

I have to say, I’m a pretty cynical.  Not much impresses me.  Certainly, very little in the tech world does.  But this works.  Sure, it’s good for them.  But it’s good for me, too.  You get the feeling that the marketing folks actually test this stuff before they put it out there.  And one of the questions they ask is, “Is this helping YOU?”

I don’t see that with other carriers.  In fact, the opposite is true.  I’m sure they’d love it if we were all exactly the same height and weight, traveled with the same bags, had the same needs and, well, you get it.  One of them has napkins that say, “Planes change.  People don’t.  Our values are your values.”  Pure hype.  With 200 people on board, that’s 200 sets of values and they can’t all be the same.  The Southwest guys understand the differences.  They understand wants and needs.  Why, you’d think they were consumers, themselves.

So, Southwest, thanks!  For paying attention.  For letting me get some real work done on this trip.  Oh.  Gotta go.  The flight attendant just gave me two bags of honey roasted peanuts.  Time to stop writing and start eating.  After all, I have my priorities.

That "New" Thing Called Social Media

Social media.  A new way of communicating, it’s heralded.  Changing the way the world works.  Different.  Interactive.  Earthshaking.  Gotta have it.  Gotta do it. 

This is a new medium and nothing ever like it before.  Wow.  I have a single word:  NOT!

Social media have been available since the beginning of civilization.  Cave drawings in France?  Don’t try to tell me that’s not a social medium.  If 100 people lived in the cave and Jacques did half the drawings and Vincent the other, they were socializing and passing their thoughts along visually.  Best thing was nobody had to log on and enter a password to see them.  They just walked past.

Hey, I wonder if the LWxPJ I carved in a tree on Hewitt Avenue is still there.  Definitely using social media.  And I’m pretty sure it could be called interactive because as I recall, ole PJ saw it and had her brother scratch it out.

No…the social media rage isn’t new.  Just the medium is.  And the medium makes for broader dissemination and allows more interaction.  But the emotions remain the same.  I’m sure if you posted something on the board in the post office (hey…any connection there?) back in 1490 that said, “Isabella is a witch for not giving me the money to sail,” you’d get a broad range of responses from sympathy to, well maybe one of the queen’s guards asking if anyone knows where that guy Chris lives.

So the emotions, the feelings have always been there so what else?  Brevity?  No.  Remember the tree?  Or check out a bathroom wall.  The longest I’ve seen is the 5 lines of a limerick.  How ‘bout anonymity.  Don’t think so – or police wouldn’t spend time trying to track down taggers.

It’s gotta be the immediacy and the breadth of the distribution.   My guess is that maybe 50 people knew that LW was sweet on PJ based on the number of people that walked down Hewitt Avenue and might have actually noticed.  And it probably took weeks for them all to see it – if they even did, based on PJ’s rush to eradicate the posting.

Post it on the web and it’s out there NOW.  Pretty much everywhere.  Well, isn’t that special.  The sarcasm is because I think that posters think that their words are the be all and end all…that the world hangs on them.  They love the fact that the whole world can see their thoughts instantly.  And somehow, that translates to a feeling of power.  Of influence.

Well, as I write this, I know doggoned well that these words’ll be out there all right.  But power?  I don’t think so.  Influence? Doubtful. 

And why’s that?  Well, one set of initials carved on one tree might get some attention.  Carve 100 sets of initials on every tree on the block and what you get is, “Who cares?”  And that’s where we are with social media.  

Let me suggest that if you think your friends reeeeeally care that you just sat down with a bowl of ice cream and you’re tired, you’re wrong – unless you’re sharing the ice cream with Will-i-am or Angelina.

The “Marry Me” sign behind towed an airplane gets attention.  Put one hundred of ‘em in the air (air traffic control be damned) and the meaning drops to nada.  

So we’re all screaming as loud as possible, all vying for attention.  And, given that we each have X hours a day for social activity, that means the more folks who enter the fray, the less time we have to spend with any one of them.

Let’s just take a different tack altogether.  If you’ve read Robin Dunbar’s Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language, you may recognize some similarities between his conclusions and the use of digital social media to broaden one’s trust of others.  Yes, I can make that connection.  If I have 1000 Facebook friends (I don’t.  I once had someone offer to “friend” me because of the small number I did have), after a period of sharing info, posts and the digital equivalent of chatter, I begin to trust them and they begin to trust me.  AND, I can weed out the ones that don’t live up to my expectations/needs or violate my trust.

Aha!  Now we arrive at a reasonable explanation for the success of digital social media – building one’s circle of trust.  That makes sense, certainly more sense than using the medium to outshout others on the topic de jour.  An expansion of trust.  An extension of the herd.  McLuhan would be proud.

Gone in Sixty Seconds

The star of this one isn’t Nicolas Cage and the title really isn’t as above but rather, Obsolete in 18 Months.

Technology keeps marching, for sure but now it’s double time or better. Maybe it’s the technology or maybe it’s just churning the masses and generating new purchases.

Hey, I can understand true advances but the one I’m writing about is not. It’s an “upgrade” by what you want to think is one of the good guys. Google.

Google and T-Mobile launched the MyTouch and Android pairing. Pretty good competition for iPhone. Worked great. I bought one. The Android platform is open source and thousands of folks are developing apps. I’m amidst one right now.

Well I was – until awhile ago. The phone slowed to a crawl. Sometimes locked up, even rebooted on its own. But the biggest annoyance is that the touch screen runs slowly, often responding to a touch long after a finger has left it. And with that, slow screen changes including over a minute for the screen to rewrite itself after dialing a phone call or reading an email.

Calls to T-Mobile were a laugh with the first one beginning with, “Have you turned your phone on and off?” Well actually, it didn’t begin there. It began with them asking if I was aware of a certain promotion…I had to remind them that they shouldn’t be pushing anything on me while my phone was misbehaving.

At first, the person denied that it was a common issue – until I pointed to pages on T-Mobile’s own forums and all of the problems and complaints posted. Then she admitted that, well, there have been some other calls. Well, if the calls were like the posts, people aren’t happy. In fact, they’re angry at both T-Mobile and Google

There were no improvements after the first call. Reset a lot of things, turned off one app that had decided to run all the time, but no improvements.

I made a trip to the T-Mobile store. “You’re not alone,” the kind guy behind the counter said. “I probably had five or six others just today.”

“So what is it?” I hoped for an instant fix.

“Google.” Well, Android 2.2, to be specific,” he smiled.

I wasn’t smiling as he continued, “1.6 was fine but when they went to 2.2, the MyTouch 3G saw all sorts of problems. Looks like your phone has most of them.”

“How do I fix it?”

“Go back to 1.6,” he said. But you don’t have long on your contract…stick it out and get a different phone.”

That wasn’t the right answer. Especially when he said the alternative was to go back to 1.6 which meant wiping everything on the phone, reverting to the old version of Android and reloading it all. I asked if there was a patch coming for 2.2 which would fix the problems and he said it wasn’t likely.

OK, off to the web. The guy was right. Lots of folks getting burned by a non-caring Google. At least that’s how it seemed. Apparently, I was lucky. At least my alarm still worked and I could get text messages. But as I read the complaints and checked them out, I found I had even more issues. Battery life, for sure and keyboard freezes. Now I get the battery life issue – a newer OS may be running more items in the background and it’s all those cycles in CMOS that suck current – but keyboard freezes? C’mon, Google. A $600 stock price doesn’t give you the right to ignore your customers…unless your goal is a $300 stock price!

Next came another call to T-Mobile. “May I have your phone number?” he asked.

“You mean the one the automated system already had me type in?”

“Yes.”

“XXX XXX XXXX.”

“And the last four of your social…”

“And you mean the ones the automated system already me type in?”

“I’m sorry. That information doesn’t come over to us.”

“Why?”

“Uh…”

“Never mind. I know it’s not you. Let’s hope someone actually listens to the recording you’re making for ‘training’ purposes. Where do we start?”

“First, let’s turn your phone off and back on.”

I resisted the urge to stick my hand through the phone. “OK, but if you have any of my account history in front of you, you know this is going to take some time.

“That’s OK.”

So we waited…and waited. Did get to talk about weather.

“OK. We’re back up. I counted almost four minutes. How about you?”

“I’m sorry sir. How is it working? Can you open an app?”

The first one opened perfectly, as fast as I touched it. But when I closed it out and opened another, it slowed to its usual crawl. After some investigation, he was hard-pressed to believe that no one had told me that 2.2 allowed me do move apps from the phone to the SD card and that that should clear everything up.

The migration started…and stopped. “These apps have the “Move to SD Card” option greyed out,” I told him.

“Yeah. Some don’t work except on the phone.”

One after another gave me no option but to leave the app on the phone. But convinced that moving the apps would free up needed phone memory, I made a mistake. I told him that I could do these changes without holding him up and I’d call back if there were further problems. He thanked me, promised he had noted everything in my account history and hung up.

I moved another eight or 10 applications to the SD card then restarted the phone. The house of hope fell in on reboot. No better. I mean no better.

Another browse session just showed more disappointed users. I called T-Mobile customer care again and, as you would expect, went through the same restating of my information as before. I got to an unsympathetic lady who

• Read my account history

• Confirmed that a lot of people were having the problem

• Asked if I had turned the phone off and back on

• Disagreed when I asked her if she thought that Google and T-Mobile have rendered my phone obsolete (“…after all, you can revert to Android 1.6 and your phone will work…” she said.) – as if somehow asking me to spend hours fixing a problem brought about by an “upgrade” was fine with her

• Told me she didn’t know how to get my message (that Google and T-Mobile have to provide support for their products or say goodbye to consumers) to her supervisor or others in “management”

So, with an 18 month old phone, I’m on the make again. This time, though, it’s for a new service provider as well as new phone. I’d say, “Farewell, Android, [Aquarius] and we thank you,” but the astronauts on Apollo 13 were saved and Aquarius helped. Android burned up on reentry.

Where are the Leaders?

Yes, the economy's bad. "Let's not make waves." Yes, many of us are far from top management. "Just keep my head down and fly under the radar." Wow! A great way to keep a job, maybe, but what does it really do for you or the company? Not much. Long before the economic downturn, leaders disappeared at alarming rates. Workers became more and more passive, carrying out orders from above. And those "above" were busy carrying out orders of the "top." No thinking, just robotic, rote performance. No wonder the business is stale. And no wonder there are no new ideas. It's not just fear of job loss or of being branded a renegade. It's that no one knows how to lead. So why's that? How about no one's really been given any responsibility. Home, school, work, everyone gets a pass. What I mean is that they get correction instead of guidance. Lists and procedures instead of goals and opportunities. They will look down on a new idea and promote conformity - their conformity - in the home, at school, and in the workplace. Worse still, they can't get to you fast enough with "help." Their help; their solutions; their thinking. Follow that with a reluctance to rate performance, and you have a couple of generations used to being bailed out...used to following. So, are you a leader? Are you willing to go out on a limb for a good idea? Ready to gather people around your thinking in order to produce a better product or sell more spots or cut the costs on a remote broadcast? Or do you wait for the thinking of others. It's a sad thing, going along day to day waiting for requests from above, below or to the side, offered along with suggestions on how to accomplish someone else's goals. Just as sad to be doing so out of fear. But there's a way out. Be a leader. Sounds simple enough. Get yourself a "Leader" button, pin it on and start marching around. Or you could try this:

• Engage in conversation and think about what other people are saying
• Listen to the problems
• Evaluate your own problems or challenges
• Devise a solution
• Write it down, concisely, so you can explain it to others
• Look at the solution logically. If it really works, great. If there are hitches, write them down, too
• When you're talking to those that can "approve" your idea, work your way into it slowly. With luck, the subject will be brought up by the other party. Be ready with the :30 - the "elevator speech" that sells in your idea
• You'll get asked for more. Be prepared with backup
• Make that backup honest. Up front! If there are flaws or elements that need to be worked out, put them out there along with a solution.
• Go back to others whose help you will need and sell the idea in. No doubt, the "approver" will seek counsel from at least one of them
• When the go-ahead comes down, move! Have a plan of attack and execute
• Keep people apprised of the status
• Once executed, rate it fairly and make sure everyone knows
• Do it all with enthusiasm

A lot of work? Sure, but that's leading. Once you get one in the bag, others come more easily and that easing is exponential. It becomes habit.

Leadership isn't being the loudest voice at the table. It's creating or recognizing good ideas, being willing to embrace them then taking the baton and running with it.