Category Archives: Branding

Should we be looking to Groucho to understand the future of networking relationships?

groucho

IPhone
Android
Google
Tablets
LinkedIn
Facebook
Smartphones
Potential life outside the Milky Way
Cyber crimes

 

We have thrust ourselves into the next industrial revolution. The only difference between the 1880′s and now is that the end product is 1/1,000,000th the size. With more content, knowledge and information being shared every second, how do we absorb it. More importantly, when do we have time to interpret and respond to that content before the next piece is fed on our plates? We no longer have to share content in real time; we can schedule when real time will be.

The pressure is building. Which will explode first, the robotic brain or the human brain?

I am done with the dramatic portion of this commentary.

Where can I possibly be going with this?

I believe we are transgressing back to a simpler time when connections were about two people working together for the common goal. That goal can be a job, a collaboration or a project. Needless to say, relationships are becoming more and more critical in the employment community as technology is fighting harder and harder to build on innovation and gain market share.

This is an interesting conflict to wrestle with.

black-and-white-shake-hands

Let us look at the state of career IT solutions:

  • Programs are developed in IT solutions that monitor activity levels.  As individual move closer to a change (loss of job, move, etc.) they tend to become more active including updating profiles and resumes.
  • We are no longer identified by the wealth of experience we bring to the table but by a series of skill tags.
  • We are not people but a brand.  Some a simple brand while others saturate the market with their image.
  • Business cards are not exchanged, meetings are not had; We are officially engaged with a Facebook friend request, a LinkedIn request or a Google+ circle initiation.
  • The summation of our growth and development is summed up with visual or verbal sound bites and our performance is rated by the number of +1 or likes we receive.
  • Big brother is watching.  The difference between Big Brother of old vs. new; He doesn’t have to try very hard to find dirt on you.
  • Jobs are posted everywhere but no one is hiring?  How bizarre.
  • If it involves physical effort, there is an app for it so sit back and relax.

Where exactly does Groucho Marx come into the picture?  As you can see from his famous mirror scene, the impostor was trying to convince Groucho’s character that he was looking at himself in the mirror.  By mirroring his moves, he was creating a relationship.  One of deceit but still a relationship.  Throughout his career Groucho would  befriend woman, professors, government leaders and con men offering them the world and then dancing the night away in the end.  Sometimes it takes an old film to remind what is still the most important thing in our lives; the relationship.

Connecting with others, not by common tags or mutual friends but by the respect and passion their have for their career choices is critical for you to continue to grow.  We live in an employers market and most likely will for the rest our lives and perhaps our children’s.  Opportunities are limited and skill requirements more specialized.  Now is the absolute time to find those that share your passion; your energy and you desire to continue to grow.

Network with them.  Not through a network but human interaction.

Without that element, we are lost in a cyber melting pot.  Once you fall into the deep abyss, there is no turning back.


Why we are all in love with ourselves?

“It is silly of you, for there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” – Picture of Dorian Gray

Recently I have tried to tackle the question of social media narcissism and determine if our desire to be noticed and followed is more marketing/branding focused or pure self absorbed selfishness. Perhaps the root cause may even go deeper to some rooted self-esteem issues. I understand the importance of “likes” and “+one” as they help shape SEO and effectively lead brand marketing your way. I even understand the significance of comments as they have become an integral part of our communication patterns.

Though, without a deeper and more significant study of a broader audience can I make any clear deductions. For some, a virtual presence has created a significant and even lucrative brand which has grown and flourished well. For others, mobile social networking has made instant gratification almost an obsession. I can certainly think of worse obsessions than an instant upload of your life.

I have witnessed extremes when it comes to active participation in the social space. Some are passionately against the public exposure of their lives and some embrace it as an extension of themselves. Each has their own medium/platform of choice. Foursquare has given individuals a sense of social celebrity status allowing them to check in to each and every spot and often rewarding them with mayor status and a digital star but no financial reward. Facebook allows users to upload pictures, video, status updates and location status within a few clicks while still allowing the opportunity to monitor each and every like and comment. Does this take away from the “actual” experience of the event? Who am I to answer. I rarely have a phone with me when I am out and I do not even own a smartphone.

So what is the fascination with ourselves? How many Facebook and Myspace pictures can you find of people standing in front of their own mirror taking pictures of themselves with their IPhone? Probably more than most of us care to want to know. We have become a society so self-absorbed in ourselves that we may be forgetting the importance of sharing, volunteering, helping and given back to those that had been there for us in the past.

If we resort to selfish tendencies, we will never recover from the economic and social woes we are so deeply entrenched in.

By no means can any one single person reverse a societal shift, but we cannot ignore the fact that there is one. Mobile technology, social media and cloud technology have given all of us a global audience to promote the one person we know so well, ourselves. In exchange for selling our soul for the opportunity at instant cyber fame, we are becoming numb to the moral standards that once made this world a better place to live.

Maybe a Mayan apocalypse isn’t such a bad thing.

There is nothing wrong with self promotion. We all want a little attention every now and again to give us the confidence we all need to get through this thing called life, but we also need to lean on our support network that has and continues to be there for us. We cannot become a “me” community. We have to look around and hold hands in unity if we are ever going to recover and prosper again.


Does This Recruitment Video Make You Want to Work for Google?

Watch this seven minute promotional recruitment video and see if it makes you want to work more or less for Google.

Enjoy this video courtesy of YouTube:


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