It’s been a while everyone, but I wanted to talk about why it’s been a while. Hopefully you’ll be able to gain something from this little insight.

I’ve been overextending myself.

Isn’t that always fun? Workaholics always like taking on more and more projects until they hit a point where they realize it’s dropping their productivity in the tank.

So I have taken a brief reprieve and organized my work into tasks. If you don’t know, I have two jobs: My primary job as the Interactive Content Manager for Spine-Health.com and my second job as a writer for Mashable.com. In addition, I’m working on two business ideas (TechThrill and another unnamed project), this blog, a novel, the GMAT (Business school exam), and…

Well, you get the idea at this point.

I’ve decided to put things to the side and blaze through different projects one-by-one and get thme done before I add anymore or progress on anymore. I will still be writing for Mashable, working to grow and improve Spine-Health, and occassionally writing practical and entrepreneurial posts on this blog, but I will be putting TechThrill, the GMAT, and my other business project on the backburner until I’ve got the novel done. It is a chapter or two away, but I need to tie it together.

Expect me to vanish for a week to finish writing it. Should be an interesting way to spend my vacation time. I’ll be sure to inform you all when I finish. The next post I write will be a summary about my fiction novel. I’d love to tell you all about Tarell Larant and the war-torn world of Desel.

In keeping with the spirit of my blog, though, here’s a few things you can do to make sure you keep your focus and productivity at their peaks:

• Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize! Setting up lists can seem like a chore or a time waster, but you must think in the long term. Knowing which tasks are most important in projects and in life overall will make your work flow easier.
• Finish. My dad has a saying: Do what you say. If you commit to finishing a project, finish it before going on to the next task. 10 projects 10% done mean nothing compared to one project 100% done.
• Stop multitasking when you need to focus. I have spoken about multitasking in a previous post, but it’s worth reiterating – you get more done with focus. Turn off your email, remove all distractions, and work diligently through task after task. By getting distracting you lose your train of thought and focus at what you’re trying to do
• Know your limits and set expectations by those. You can accept every project thrown at you, but if you know you can’t put your heart into each and every one, you’re doing your team, clients, and friends a disservice. We only have 24 hours in a day, and remember: you need to sleep, have a social life (yeah, seriously), and relax sometimes.
• Do what you love. You’re simply going to focus better when you’re doing something you’re passionate about.

Live streaming video by Ustream

I hosted a panel on the future of online video on behalf of Mashable. If you missed the live stream, you have the chance to watch the recording of the show – it’s intense and hilarious! Highlights include

• Toy cars driving over my foot
• Live root beer tasting
• Audience questions
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Me trying to get the mic from Gary to ask questions

So here you go. Enjoy!

For those of you who haven’t been following my Twitter updates (shame on you!), you’ll know that I’ve been phoneless since Sunday. My phone can no longer charge, I don’t have a way to replace that battery, etc. You get the idea.

And although it’s sucked at times, it really hasn’t been all that bad (at least until I check my text messages…). But it’s given me some interesting thoughts about our current standards for communication that I want to share.

So here are ten things I’ve learned since I became phoneless:

1) It’s not so bad

Despite how easy it is to connect and to manage things with a phone, it’s hasn’t been so bad post-phone. It’s worse at home since I have no landline, but I can use other people’s phones and my work landline for those conversations that need a phone. I’ve used the Internet more to supplement my lack of calling, and Skype is also a wonder.

But it’s not calling out that’s the problem, it’s receiving messages, and that I do miss. However, I function just fine without a phone.

2) But you WILL miss out on important things if you are phoneless

My dad’s in the hospital for a foot infection (he gashed his foot and thought continuing a triathlon would be a good idea). I didn’t know until late the next day because I couldn’t call or be called. That’s one of those htings you don’t want to miss or be told about late.

And if you’re phoneless, you’ll miss out on some of the important things. Or at least the news will be delayed, especially news you need now.

3) I am unwilling to get an iPhone without the $200 subsidy on principle.

I have been a loyal AT&T customer since I was sixteen. I’ve never used any other provider and have been satisfied with my service and customer support.

When my phone first broke, I knew what phone I wanted next – the iPhone 3G. My current phone is a smartphone, but without the keypad, I can’t blog, I can’t do fast email replies, and I can’t surf very fast. The iPhone has all the functionality I am looking for, plus the app store for added features.

With all that said, I am completely and utterly unwilling to pay $400 for the iPhone when others are getting it for $200. Come on AT&T – I’m 1.5 years into my current contract and know others who have gotten the iPhone subsidized with just a year on their contracts.

In fact, with the temporary phone I’m about to get, I’m going to be paying less to AT&T and Apple. My plan will cost less and the phone costs less as well.

I wish AT&T would reward loyalty and allow me to purchase the phone for the $200 price tag, especially since I am so far into my contract. Being stingy about it isn’t good customer service and in the end, it’s not going to make you money. By January, I may have found a better phone option. You need to lock me in when I really want something – which would be now.

And if you’re reading AT&T and Apple, I still want my iPhone. Just not for $400 bucks. Never. No way, no how.

4) Cindy Talbot of AT&T Customer Support deserves a promotion and a raise

She is the one of the most incredible customer service reps I’ve ever talked to in my life. She tried everything to solve my problems, was nothing but courteous and helpful, despite being sick. That woman is a trooper. She didn’t get the result I was hoping for (an iPhone for $200), but she did get me a temporary phone to help me along until I get that iPhone. She deserves a medal, a raise, and a promotion. And as soon as this post is done, I’m emailing AT&T customer service.

5) Twitter, Gmail, and IM are close to replacing phone functionality

Those three do a good job of supplementing your contact needs. I can do quasi-texting with Twitter Direct messages, I can email friends and inform them of my issue, and I can IM people for faster conversations when I’m not using Skype. It’s worked out pretty well, especially with my techie friends.

6) But Twitter, Gmail, and IM still do not match the convenience of a phone

Nothing beats full two-way voice communication with a set of numbers you’ve built up since you were sixteen. I can’t do tweets while driving, and I can’t tweet a restaurant order on the go. I still need a phone for a lot of things.

7) Contact with those outside the tech circle’s nearly impossible without a phone

Outside of my tech friends, I’ve had almost no conversations. I can only inform so many friends and have been on the phone with only a handful of people. They probably don’t know I’m out of the phone world. And who knows what calls I’ve missed from outside family given my father’s condition.

Memorize key numbers and backup the rest

I tried to back up the numbers when I realized that my phone could not be powered up again, but I didn’t have enough time to pick the top 250 numbers and stick them onto my SIM card while in the airport.

Keep back-ups of your numbers on your computer and memorize the numbers of your best friends. I know my family numbers, but I need to keep the numbers of those closest to me in my wallet or in my head so I can talk to them from anywhere at any time.

9) Nothing beats a phone on the road or planning meet-ups

There’s a reason why it’s called a mobile phone. Calling for directions cannot be replaced. And I can’t check Google maps on the go anyway without my phone.

10) You will not die without a phone

I’m still blogging, aren’t I?

I gave a talk last week at the SocialDevCamp last Saturday on Social Media for business. I also had the opportunity to watch many presentations, both good and not-so-good. I’ve had some great training on presentations from Northwestern (particularly Surepayroll founder Troy Henikoff) and notice where people go right and where people go wrong with their presentations.

This is a quick list of seven things that will kill your presentation – avoid these problems as much as possible and you will see your presentations gain better reception – plus people will want to talk with you afterwards and get to know you.

1) Excessive text on Powerpoints

I’m sorry, but this is the #1 sin I see with presentations – long blocks of text that many presenters read from the screen. there are huge problems with this, including:

• It distracts the audience from you
• It distracts you from the audience
• It is hard to read
• It becomes the presentation rather than become a supplement to it.

I try not to place more than three bulletpoints on any powerpoint slide. Half the time, my powerpoints are simply images. Instead of listing my points, I’ll put up a related set of images and go through my points by memory. Which leads me to #2.

2) Excessive use of notes or note cards for presentations

People want to concentrate on you, not on your notes. You want to concentrate on engaging the audience, not engaging your notes. You don’t need to know every word of your presentation before you present it – just the main points. If you know your content, you will be surprised as to how easy the content comes up. If you need notecards, just list a few key terms to remind you of what you want to say, nothing more.

3) Small fonts on Powerpoints

Guy Kawasaki recommends the 10-20-30 rule for Venture Capital presentations – 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 point font. This is a good rule in general, but you’re going to need more slides for certain topics (and don’t be afraid to use multiple slides to make the presentation seem animated). However, try not to go below 28 px for your font – you have people in the back who need to see it and older people in most crowds. Think of them.

4) Not asking questions of the audience

People get bored when they are not interacted with. If you’re talking at them, they are distracted. If you’re talking with them, asking them to answer questions and to think, they will actually be listening.

5) Always standing behind the podium

Why put a wall between you and those you’re talking to? The podium acts like a barrier to your audience – it’s not that your different or special compared to them, bur that you’re across a river or across the street. Great presentations are also conversations – converse with your audience by moving around, going into the audience, and stepping out of the comfort of the podium

6) Not using examples

We love stories. It’s simple – we consume stories and more importantly, we remember them. If you want to convey your points, don’t just give them a bulletpoint – give a background story to prove your case. In my case, I used Comcast as an example of using social media for business. It helped fill in the picture.

7) Not displaying your passion

If you’re giving a presentation on something, you hopefully like what you’re talking about. But so many times people get nervous, dip into their cards, and go monotone.

If you’re truly passionate and know what you’re talking about, take a risk, drop the notecards, and speak from your experience. That’s what we wanted to hear in the first place.

- Ben

A nice side-effect of tracking the blogosphere’s reaction to my Mashable post on Social Media Jobs has been a debate on the definition of Social Media. What the hell is it?

I agree – the definition is vague and sometimes completely idiotic. So let’s finally put this question to rest and get a consensus. What is Social Media?

I’m going to define it in the most basic way possible – by breaking down the term into its core parts:

• Social
• Media

Social:

First line of Wikipedia: Social refers to human society or its organizations.

The social in social media refers to human society and human organizations. Broad, but it’s a start.

Media:

First line of Wikipedia: Media are the storage and transmission tools used to store and deliver information or data.

So Media is about communication and communication tools. Alright. Still too broad, but we’re getting somewhere. We’re talking about primarily electronic media – you haven’t seen someone use a chisel or a pen to Tweet, have you?

So now we’re talking about using electronic communication storage and transmission to deliver information or data. Because we have “social,” that means it’s the transmission of data to other people and other social groups.

So far, social media is the use of electronic tools by humans to communicate with one another.

Closer, but we’re not there yet.

The vein that flows between FriendFeed, Facebook, Digg, Twitter, etc. is sharing. The sharing of experiences, of information, of Rick Astley to unsuspecting YouTubers. Traditional media presents information to you for you to digest. Social media allows you to pick, choose, comment, parse, and retort – all at the same time.

Now we have it to this: Social media is the use of electronic and Internet tools for the specified use of sharing and discussing experiences and information with other human beings.

But doesn’t a general website do that?

Sort of but, social media tools do it more effectively and they do it faster. That’s the point of Digg – you can share something you found with a lot more people than your IM buddy list. It’s more efficient.

Social Media:

First line of Wikipedia: Social media is an umbrella term that defines…

Enough.
From our deduction, here’s a standing definition:

Social Media is the use of electronic and Internet tools for the purpose of sharing and discussing information and experiences with other human beings in more efficient ways.

One too many “ands”, but oh well – I’m very happy with this definition. If you disagree with me, please debate it in the comments. Otherwise, someone change the first paragraph of the Social Media article on Wikipedia, because I’m tired of the ambiguity.

Before I get to this awesome post, I wanted to link you all to my very first article at Mashable.com (ranked as the #9 blog by Technorati).

Are Social Media Jobs Here to Stay?

Now with that out of the way, I wanted to post two images to show you just how fun Digg can be for your blog.

The following is the month of July stats. I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to how much of that was from July 23rd, the day my article on Digg hit the front page (and stayed there for the rest of the day).

People need medication to relieve their pain.
People don’t need another way to bookmark and share websites.

People need to learn about their options in battling cancer.
People don’t need to learn about their options for microblogging.

As a technology evangelist, I feel weird saying all this, but really, think about it. Back pain is a problem that has existed since human existence. Social media overload and noise is a problem that has existed for a year, maybe two tops. It’s important to solve the new problems we’ve created with the Internet, but it’s still more important to solve the problems that can kill us.

I’m not saying start a health website – follow your passion, always. But I want you to think and understand why so many technology blogs have low eCPMs and health websites the opposite. Learn from that.

If you’re writing about technology and want to make a living off of it, you need to help solve a problem people actually have. If you’re aspiring to start the next Google, you need to solve an actual problem, not a niche problem. Manage your expectations based on how many people actually have that problem.

Just a little something I’ve picked up working for a web health company.

- Ben

Update 9/9/08: I’m pretty sure I was wrong on some of the points of this article. Facebook agressively launches features, and despite the slow rollout of the new facebook layout, it’s created a small revolt which I expect to become a bigger one soon enough. Read on, I stand by my work, but know that I feel like I was off the mark on some points.




Two years ago, I was intimately involved in the Facebook News Feed fiasco. Facebook launched the feature, users (including myself) rebelled, Facebook had to code immediate changes to quell the revolt. The end result of the entire affair was a bruised but smarter Facebook. Since News Feed, Facebook has had more success with the Facebook Platform and prevented major rebellions over their failed Beacon launch. Oh, and Facebook overshadows its rival MySpace and continues light-speed growth.

A week ago, Facebook launched the beta of the Facebook profile redesign to very little fanfare. The response from the blogosphere and general users has been…

Well, there really hasn’t been one.

Sure, some users has opinions, but a lot of users have yet to switch to the opt-in system (I’m assuming it’ll eventually be mandatory to switch once the bugs are worked out). At least with News Feed, there was significant media coverage, passionate people on both sides, and the ideal outcome for Facebook: News Feed became a hit. The Facebook Platform had passionate people developing apps and huge adoption by users. But since then, things have slowed. Beacon has simply vanished without a second attempt (I still think it was a smart innovation, just an unfortunate deployment) the Platform has created user blindness to application invites and general application usage, and the new profile redesign has received little criticism, but as a trade-off, it has received no enthusiasm from its heart – the users.

Make no mistake: the Facebook profile redesign is not an innovation, but rather a reaction to the unintended side-effects of the Facebook Platform. To control application spam and reverse user blindness, they needed to do this. But while they were doing this, why not throw in a few innovations, like a FriendFeed-like interface? Or a publisher tool? Or a tabbing system?

But what if users don’t like it? Well, let’s slowly give them (and the news and blogosphere) information about it and make sure they aren’t shocked by the changes.

However, that solution has a side-effect: people don’t get excited. There’s been coverage of the redesign, but it’s been a slow and steady stream. The result is that lots of users hear about the redesign and, when it finally comes, say “eh.”

It’s important to get your users excited about new features and products. Sometimes it’s about buildup to a date (Facebook didn’t do any build-up) and sometimes it’s about surprising your users and delighting them (Facebook didn’t do this either). Facebook purposely lowered expectations about the redesign and never made any dramatics about the launch. The result’s well, nothing. No great fanfare, no great reaction, no great revolt.

The approach is simply too cautious - if you don’t keep your users excited about what you do, you become old and eventually lose them to hotter and smarter competitors. Facebook has been catching up to FriendFeed in features rather than leading the way in innovation. Facebook needs to take back its innovation mantle or it may see itself become the next MySpace.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has visited my article on the things Google would do if it bought Digg. It’s been an incredible response (over 2100 Diggs as of this post) and I’m honored you think so highly of my article.

I want to keep everyone up-to-date on my blog happenings. As I have hinted on both Twitter and FriendFeed, I am building a new blog to replace BenParr.com. It’s going to be called TechThrill and it is in the early stages of being built.

The blog’s goal is to make the internet technology you use more useful and more accessible to the average person. To that end, here are some of the features of the TechThrill blog:

• A live, weekly web TV show co-hosted by Matt Schlicht and me, that will focus on Internet trends and internet technology
• A daily round-up of the most useful posts and discussions related to technology and productivity on the web
• “Centers” that will house and link to the most useful third party apps for websites such as Twitter and FriendFeed.
• Bi-weekly articles on making existing technologies more useful
• Reviews of new technologies and whether or not they’re worth your time to adopt
• Question answering posts and sessions by multiple authors answering the questions that plague most people about technology.
• The Internet Tools Wiki, which will expand in scope and strength.
• A new, multifaceted, and entertaining approach to technology.

It’s not going to be just a blog, but a center for technology information and technology development. I’m looking for help in executing my goal, so if you are interested in writing or are just interested in learning about the blog when it launches, subscribe to my RSS feed or keep in the loop by adding me to Twitter, FriendFeed, or the other services I have put in the left-hand side of the site. You are also welcome to IM me at my AOL IM: YGRPG.

- Ben

I thought I would remind everyone of that. In the meantime, I am working on the design of my new multimedia weblog (multilog? mlog? I haven’t though of a name since it isn’t completely a blog). That’s why posts have become a bit more infrequent. TechThrill will incorporate FriendFeed, a uStream.tv web show with Matt Schlicht, a Tumblr, and other multimedia in the goal of making tech exciting, useful, and more accessible. It will have daily gems as well as your standard blog posts, so you’ll always get something interesting every day on TechThrill.

Now I need to find a way to get work done on a computer without sitting on my ass or standing for three hours.