Today, I received a promotional email from a company that produces security software - specifically a well-known antivirus product. The promotion is for a kit to train people about security basics.

Great idea, much needed, and a good initiative.

I know the company, and run their software on our personal laptops.

When I went to the site and clicked on the download, I started to download a .zip file. (.zip is often blocked in organizations' email because of its ability to hide nasty things.)

OK. So, a company that is training me about being secure by observing basic precautions is handing me a .zip file, which then I am supposed to open.

In effect, the company is training people to "take our word for it - it's safe." And that feeds right into the hands of social engineers who want to distribute malware.

In fact, they should have explored a safer delivery system, and not asked end-users to violate one of the basic rules of security: Don't click on links to download unsafe files. Ever.

The social opinion of who we are is not as important as that image we see in the mirror of our own self-knowledge. If we can only stand ourselves in company, we have some work to do.

Why There Should Be a Klout App

Klout is considered one of the leading measurements of online influence. Online influence may or may not be important to you. For me, it’s a “nice to have” but not essential by any stretch. For someone who is a social media director, however, it might very well be a “must-have.”

Knowing how closely bound mobility and social networking are, it would seem to me to be rather obvious that Klout would have an app available in the Apple App Store and/or in the Android Marketplace.

Klout is not just a place to look up your score. It’s also a place where you get “achievement” badges, give people who influence you “+k” as a token of thanks or admiration, look up the scores of other people, add people to lists, add topics to their spheres of influence, and so on.

As a website goes, it’s pretty straightforward to navigate, but it is certainly not optimized for mobile devices.

Now here’s where I ask, “Who is most likely to be using Klout?” I believe the answer to be people who are interested in social media as more than a pastime, people who want to learn more about the people they follow—or who follow them. Are these same people likely to be mobile? Yes.

So, why would I like to see a Klout app?

In a post on ServiceSphere.com, Chris Dancy enumerates the advantages of mobility:

Proximity, Location, Camera, Voice in/out, Vibrate, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, App Internet, Gesture, Touch.

OK – so let’s say I am at a conference. I’m meeting people al day long, and making notes in my Hashable app. I’m checking into places on Foursquare. I’m exchanging contacts using Bump. I just heard an amazing speaker, and her “about me” slide included her Twitter handle. I want to give her +k in the topic she spoke about, or add it to her topics if it’s not already there. Right now my choices are:

1. Wait until I get back to my room and have my laptop out and connected
2. Fight with the non-mobile nature of the Klout site

Neither of these is a good option. I won’t remember to go to the site when I tumble back into my room after a lengthy conversation with friends about this “ITisAlive” conference at the bar this evening. And frankly, I’d rather take kabob skewers through the ear than try to do anything complex on non-mobile website from my iPhone. (I can view OK, but entering information in non-optimized sites is just plain painful.)
If I had a Klout app, I would have:

* Persistent login (I would not have to use O-auth every time I go to the page)
* Quick ability to find a person in a mobile-friendly search
* A nice on-screen +k button and an "add-to-list" button to show my appreciation
* The possibility of finding other Klout-bearing peeps close by
* Twitter integration through iOS – no flipping back and forth
And whatever other mobile-friendly capabilities the developers at Klout decide to build in.

Would I settle for a mobile website? Yup. But an app that knows how to take advantage of some of these features (especially location) would be terrific.

Dear Klout: I hope you are listening.

Over 40 years ago, and long before my move to Maine, I became acquainted with the story of the beginning of a great company.

It wasn't a great company in the beginning. In fact, way back before my time, its product (there was only one) had a 90% failure rate. That kind of track record would put most companies out of business, or send shade tree entrepreneurs packing. But there was something unique about this particular company because of the man who started it. He knew he had a great idea, and he decided, all by himself, to offer a guarantee. No problems, no questions: If you don't like the product or it doesn't work for you, just being it back and retrieve your money.

Well, a 90% failure rate wasn't a great start, especially when he refunded all the money he'd collected from buyers. But it sent him back to the drawing board to make the product better. When he was convinced he had it right, he offered it again, and people bought it, knowing they had absolutely nothing to lose if it failed again. It did not fail, and people loved it.

The man went on to produce many more of that product, to expand his product line, and to begin to build a very successful enterprise. He kept that guarantee, so people had no fear of buying his goods. He integrated customer service into the whole outlook of the growing company so that people would feel confident and comfortable doing business there. He knew that many of his customers were fishermen and hunters, so he kept his store open 24 hours, 365 days a year to accommodate their schedules. He didn't have to do this, but he knew he'd be serving his customers better. He was meeting their needs.

That company was started 100 years ago, and today turns nearly $1.5 billion per year in sales. It is still family-owned. The man was Leon Leonwood Bean, and L.L. Bean is consistently one of the top brands for customer service. In tthe 2011 Customers Choice Awards, L.L. Bean came it at number 2, between Amazon and Zappos.

Not bad for a company that started off with a "crummy product" but a complete commitment to customer service.

Happy 100th Birthday, L.L. Bean!

Note: I am not affiliated in any way with L.L. Bean, other than being a customer who wears their products every day. I am a lifetime customer.

Just about an hour ago, I checked my email from my iPhone, and found a request that stopped me in my tracks. Someone I don't know was asking me if it was OK to post my photo on LinkedIn.

The email (see below) looked like a LinkedIn message, but it didn't' smell like a LinkedIn message. LinkedIn is not a place to post a photo (except your profile picture). First, I checked my LinkedIn app, and the message was not there. Next, I touched the "View/Reply" link at the bottom and held it to display the URL (second licture below).

It doesn't go anywhere near LinkedIn.

Be warned - I'm sure I am not the only person to receive one of these social engineering bait emails.

(download)

Click here to download:

linkedin-spam-scam-bcBEewgAcgAaaectuowI.zip (116 KB)

And another attempt on Sunday morning:

And yet more, received 1/16:

I'm not a "resolution for the new year" kind of person, but rather tend toward continual improvement.

For 2012, however, I'm making one resolution:

I won't spend any of my time grousing about the bad writing I see every day in blog posts by writers who should know better. (I think they do know better. See number 2 below.) No more attempts to enlighten or correct. No more.

I will simply form an opinion of your work that will include all or some of the following:

1. You are sloppy
2. You don't care
3. You were educated poorly and haven't tried to improve on that
4. You think, "It's not my job." "It doesn't matter." (See number 2)
5. You don't think of your readers as customers
6. You don't think of your own content as valuable*

Please note: I am not talking about people whose native language is not English, and who struggle with one of the most difficult languages that exists. I'm also not talking about Twitter. Goodness knows it's hard enough to dash off a 140 character message. I am mostly talking about people who, oh well, see number 2.

The other thing I won't do is try to keep struggling through malformed sentences, misused words, undefined acronyms and convoluted jargon.

I will just stop reading and move on.

The praises of those who do care enough to stop and read through their work (or, better yet, ask a friend to read through it) will be sung from the rooftops.

*Why, in heaven's name, should I?

Dear Trainers and Educators,

A simple question: If I submitted a scan of a copy of a copy of a copy as part of my work, would you be willing to accept it without forming a negative opinion of my attention to the task at hand?

I didn't think so.

Remember that your students and clients feel the same way. If it would not be acceptable to you, it's not acceptable for you to do.

If you expect respect, give it.

Sincerely,

Roy

Well, I'm seeing a lot of posts about "gamificaton" - creating game-like elements everywhere, including work.

When, may I ask, was all this not a game? Ever since Sister Mary Whosit or Mrs. Tarshaguadle or Mr. Fuggettaboudit  gave you a gold star for completing your work well, or you got an award for "perfect attendance" (no sick days), your life has been "gamified."

We earn little badges and pass milestones no matter what we do. We complete our college work and get a diploma. We do well at work and get a new title or a corner office.  We stack up the certificates of completion we earn at seminars and workshops. We get to use more letters after our names.

But there is a difference. I am left to wonder if achieving a GollyYerFabulous badge on a website or at work will have any real consequences, or if the new "gamified" world will dispense badges and tokens instead of raises, better benefits, respect and responsibility. Or maybe the badges are the real deal and the raises are an illuson. 

Well, whatever your game is, play it well and play it wisely. 

Goodness knows I've been known to talk on planes. I've met some great people and one good friend by accidents of seating. Today, I learned how incredibly...well...stupid supposedly smart people can be.

Seated a row behind me on the flight from DC to NYC today was a woman maybe in her late thirties and a male companion whom I guessed to be a coworker. Throughout the flight, she loudly declaimed that "That guy is an a--hole" and that so and so "should be investigated by the SEC" and that she "piled boxes across the entrance of her cubicle to keep the idiots out" and that a school she went to (an excellent technical college with which I happen to be quite familiar) "was a waste in the middle of nowhere." All of this was said in a loud enough voice that people seated across the aisle from me were rolling their eyes. Now, amid all of this were liberally sprinked company names, bosses' names, coworkers' names, and information like "all the numbers were wrong so we just made up a bunch of sh-t."

Now, I'm no longer a hiring manager, but I was thinking, "Ma'am, if you were to cross my threshold looking for a job, I would have secuity escort you from the building."

The saying is that "loose lips sink ships" but they can sink careers, too.

- Mind your manners
- Remember where you are
- Think about this: I might be someone in your company you haven't met
- Think about this even more: I might be one of your competitors
- Think about this yet again more: I might be one of your customers (!)
- Think about this even more than that: I might be from the SEC or another regulatory authority

Have a good flight!

September 21: Toastmasters Club 897 Humorous Speech Contest (evaluator), Bangor, Maine

October 8: Toastmasters Humorous Speech Contest, Area 5 (evaluator); Belfast Maine

October 12: Speaking on "Social IT" - How IT support can use social networking concepts to better utilize organizational knowledge. http://events.linkedin.com/603-Networking-Oct-12th-River-Mill-Dover/pub/764242

October 19: Speaking on "Social IT" at the HDI Capital Area Chapter (DC) http://www.hdicapitalarea.com/

October 20: Keynote at Brew City HDI (Milwaukee, WI) on Customer Service Excellence http://brewcityhdi.com/

October 22: Toastmasters Humorous Speech Contest, Division B; Evaluation contest; Belfast, Maine

October 24-27: HDI Deskotp Support Forums (facilitator), Oklahoma City, OK

November 4: Colorado Information Management Association Fall Educational Conference, Colorado Springs, CO (Nov 2-4) on "Social IT."  http://ow.ly/6sSds

November 7-8 Voice of the Customer Conference, Bolton, MA (social media; facilitator)

November 16: HDI South Carolina Local Chapter, Columbia, SC at IT-ology. Presentation on Social IT, customer service, and their nexus. http://ow.ly/6N6E6

Update - Nov. 22: Done!

My favorite feedback from an evaluation (bold added):
" Roy gave an excellent presentation!  Very informative and applicable to our businesses.  Roy really kept the audience engaged.  Please have him back!"