Twitter Community -- How I use Twitter; love and hate.

So, Twitter is an amazing micro-blogging, social phenomena the idea that peoples thoughts would be streaming on to the Internet in a way that is searchable and with an open API is amazing. (Think single consciousness of mankind)

Bahá'í Faith
Quran -- Mankind Oneness
Bible -- Mankind Oneness (Please pay special attention to this one, considering the Internet--smile).

So, this morning; I was communicating with someone I met through odesk about doing some programming work with me through email. I saw they had experience with TestComplete, so I read about it; and did a little question/research of it compared to Selenium (especially for Silverlight). Anyway, I did a search on twitter for TestComplete and boom, JonKruger's tweet popped up. So, I sent him a reply tweet asking if he got any responses and what he knows. A couple notes: 1) Jon lives in the same cityI live in (Columbus, Ohio); we have met once or twice; and I see him several times a year (and a lot more if you count codemash.org--smile) he works at QSI with a very good friend of mine (SteveHorn). 2) I am not following Jon on Twitter, I just randomaly found him by doing a search for "TestCompete" amongst the millions of users using search.twitter.com. I think this experience is a good example of showing the power of twitter for an individual to jump into the mankind consciousness that is the Internet; and for it to return connections to you locally.

Now a little bit of disappointment, I have not figured out the following/friend thing yet. I am an open networker in the sense I agree with Tim Sanders book, Love is the Killer App. I must always give away my network, knowledge and compassion; but I can't really "follow" even 33 people on twitter; let alone the thousands and tens of thousands some people follow. So, I started using TweetDeck some, and I follow only four people closely, and others I categorized by interest and commonality (is that the definition of different communities?). What's even more interesting is most of my closest friends are not even on twitter (my wife, my children--except for the photo of me with them--a little young for twitter--smile, and even most work colleagues). So, I am still trying to figure it out; how do I do, who do I follow--and am I really following them--or am I just lucky to read something they post sometimes before it scrolls on by in the other tweets I get.

I met someone the other day, I introduced myself to him in Panera (because I overheard him talking about Drupal with someone else, and the opportunity came up to strike up a conversation). The interesting part was once he handed me his business card, I recognized the company from the Columbus Tech Life community and then after we said good-bye and I went to send him my contact information by email I realized he was following me on twitter already (but I wasn't following him at the time). I think the best use of social software and twitter is when the use of the internet intersects with real world.

It is fascinating and engaging to think about social software and how it is useful and it intersects with real life, and at the same time a little scary--there are many thoughts out there from me in blog and twitter--that people could research to speak to my personal side and potentially manipulate conversations. There is no way for me to remember all that I have put out into the internet (blog, twitter, linkedin, facebook); that could be used to manipulate (or better sounding--direct) a conversation and decision.

I don't understand how it (Internet, social software, community) all works, and where it is going, but I am trying to figure it out, if anyone else is reading this, and you are trying to figure it out also, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Best wishes!
Pete Gordon

Invest locally; better yet Invest in yourself!

So, I was watching one of those meaningless "money" talk shows on CNN. Although, I liked listening to Robert Reich on the show say "prepare for the worst, hope for the best".

I started thinking, maybe I should put some money into Columbus, Ohio Fortune 500 companies (Large Cap Stocks); or maybe in the State of Ohio fortune 500 companies So I looked at this list on USA today, to find the Central Ohio Fortune 500 companies from 2004....

Cardinal Health
Nationwide Mutual Insurance
American Electric Power
Limited Brands
Big Lots

Then I found that of these Fortune 500 companies in Central Ohio; Nationwide Mutual Insurance is no longer a public company (NFS, as of January 1st, 2009). That made me immediately think why invest in "public" companies, seeing that Nationwide just took their $2.4 billion subsidiary private. Which made me think, why are companies public. Well, the basics are that a company goes public to raise capital it could not raise in a private market, and it is often an exit strategy for the founders and original investors of a company. Wait a minute if that is the reason to go public than why would I spend so much time looking to invest in public companies, wouldn't it be more valuable to invest in private companies that I have transparancy into; or, even better, to invest in myself and my own work/companies/businesses.

Hmm, lots to think about.

With all of that said, if you are looking for a small investor or worker in your ideas and/or are interested in becoming a small investor, worker in my ideas; drop me an email, and let's talk about working and investing together.

Best Wishes!
Pete Gordon

2009.....

10 Goals for 2009... (in no particularly special order)

More International Exposure. Visit Africa and Amsterdam. This should be a definite; because we have already been planning it for hearthecry.org. Take a course in Mandarin Chinese http://www.columbus-occs.org. Deepen my international relationships, in my field of expertise (sofware, hardware, technology, health care) and outside of my field of expertise.

Organize and Automate my business more. Business filings, taxes, structure must get automated this year. So that everything is submitted on-time, and the process flows! This may mean, I get a new accountant--if they don't get with the 21st century! And, I am thinking my daughter is now old enough at eight that she can maybe start doing some minor paperwork, scanning and emailing. That just occurred to me; and that would be great; maybe I can hire her as my assistant, perfect!

Do Video on the Internet. I am going to use video to communicate with others this year. I have neglected it, and don't have a good video camera. Kinda funny, since I have a software portable usability lab that uses Apple iSight cameras (iSights are now no longer available). But, I am thinking about maybe video taping interviews with Film/Television Producers, Building Architects, General Contractors, Professional Engineers; and then maybe getting them transcribed; and using them as resources for publishing an industry comparison for the software industry compared to other industries (Steve and I had talked about it; see earlier blog entry). The bottom line, there is a lot of value in communicating with video and I am going to do more of it this year.

Repeatable Sales Model. Repeatable Sales for Critical Systems; selling Health Care Managed IT Services and increasing Critical Systems revenue by 100%, with 2-5 new clients.

Time with family. Have a wonderful vacation, with my family. And, take Blake and Rachel to school at least once a week.

Lose 10 pounds. And exercise consistently. (wii fit, recumbant bike, and treadmill)

Dress more professionally. I'm still a little uncertain on this one; I love my t-shirt and jeans.

Spend time daily in worship and prayer. I'm pretty good at this, but some days and then some weeks--it slips away from me and that is when things fall apart.

Give more away. I'm really thinking of time and software here, but it is true across every area of life. I want to give more away in open source, like codeplex.com/edf. I want to have a couple open source projects that I am committed to, and see them grow in momentum and value. I want to see open source succeed in a sustainable business model, they are not mutually exclusive. It makes me thinking of communities of needs, creating mutually beneficial software and making it open source. Open Source Polysomnography software anyone?

Listen more and talk less. Enough said.

Software Executive Producer

So, why doesn't the software industry have the concept of the "Producer"; like the Recording and Film industry? We have taken our concepts from traditional construction and architecture, for terms like Developer, Architect, Project Manager; rather than from more creative industries like Film and Recording, for Producer and Director. Maybe it is time to blend the industries. Macromedia tried to do this a long time ago with their product, now Adobe Director.

Steve Horn sent me this blog posting about a Chief Engineer; http://blog.scottbellware.com/2008/12/chief-engineer.html.

Reminded me of the discussions Steve and I have had in the past about publishing interviews with people in different fields (architects, general contractors, videography/film, television producer, etc.) about their roles and how those roles might relate to roles in the Software Development Life-cycle (Software Product Development).

I remember; I was talking to a client a year or two ago about the need for developing some Flash code. And, when I suggested a couple people to do the work; I said, "that is why there are so many names in the credits of movies"; because if you want "A+" quality work--you need people that are "A+" in each specific area. Just more evidence supporting the need for a Software Executive Producer.

I changed my twitter description to include Software Producer.

Direct Email Business Introductions...

Twitter wasn't long enough for this experience.

So, I just got an email that I was about to respond to from an individual requesting a brief phone call; it was a business introduction; and it was very specific and sent to my apneicare.com email address. I realized after a moment that, oh, they probably got my email from a conference this past summer that I had given my name and email to for networking. Crap! That is why for usersfirst; I have two emails I give out--one for lists (petemail) and one for direct contact--so I can recognize the difference. I need to do that with apneicare.com also.

Here's some advice for email introductions, especially those requesting a phone call, please specify how you got someone's name in addition to why they might be interested in talking with you.

I'm still learning this Internet thing after 12 years of developing for it! I don't ever see it stopping--the learning this Internet thing--that is!

Pete Gordon

Financial Collapse?

Wow! What a day... keeping up with the financial markets and the craziness this week.

So here is my assessment, of Paulson and Bernanke's Plan (oh and that guy that McCain would fire)... (if you have time--I highly recommend following the links--please don't take my assessment as anything other than my $0.02...I think this is what is going to play out over the next couple weeks)

1. Treasury assess that there is a crisis, T-Bills fall below zero, credit markets freeze, and Treasury, Fed, SEC start pushing through Bill to make thing "right".
2. Once bill passes...Fed prints the money
3. Treasury/Fed reverse auction and buys lowest selling mortgages with the money, or does whatever the Treasury sees fit to do with it.
4. Wall street gets flush with cash from selling mortgages to US Government, more liquidity occurs in the market.
5. 3mo T-Bill rate stays above zero and Banks continue to lend to one another, and companies that are carrying too much debt live to see another day
6. Wall Street makes killer bonuses in 2010...again.
7. US Government saddled with the mortgages, and we'll see if China or Japan wants to buy some.
8. Spin the Wheel of Fortune

Notice I didn't touch on the consumer, or the homeowner...why?.you may ask...because that is secondary to the proposal...this seems to me to be all about Washington and Wall St. Not that it is a bad thing, but it does seem a little rushed. The panic that occurred Wednesday that pushed the T-Bill into negative territory did not last long... people are irrational but they learn from mistakes (sometimes). I do think there is a real concern of stagflation in this market. But, what do I know. I'm just a software guy. At the same time... I see real opportunities globally utilizing the Internet (who doesn't!).

One last point, I think this may be a great political move for Paulson. I think it could give legs to his blueprint for regulatory reform, which I think looks pretty good from the Insurance after just reading the exec summary.

Everybody calm down, and be honest with one another, and get along, and all will be fine!

I'm surprised there was uptick in companies with no debt.

Twitter, Social Software, and the Internet

Ok, so I stepped into Twitter this week. I am kind of overwhelmed, I think it is "blog ADD". But, I am still considering it (how it works, its usefulness, everything). I think it is actually better than blogging for me (maybe I suffer from ADD). It is immediate, limited to 140 characters of text, "easily" accessible from my blackberry (compared to blogger).

Found that BarackObama was on Twitter... here and has ~50,000 followers. That is a strong indicator to the election I believe (note: I am not taking any sides as of yet--and may never take sides in this election--although I did promise my dad if Barak wins I would read his book the Audacity of Hope, that my dad got me). I am just amazed at the following, 2,000,000+ , and the idea of sharing such short thoughts and musings with other people that are (or are not) like minded. I read about ChaCha, and they do human responses to questions, and are doing it on twitter. I sent them a question about restaurants in Pickerington, Ohio... waiting for a response now... will see how well it works. They pay their guides about $0.20 a question, amazing. Some of the public questions/answers I read were not that good, but one about the alcohol level of Leffe was excellent. The question was "how strong is Leffe", and I didn't even know what Leffe was until I read the question and did some research on it.

Twitter is definitely an amazing application of social technology and search. I love the trending charts they have... http://blog.twitter.com/search/label/stats ... Reminds me of Google Trends, but this is stuff people are communicating to others rather than just searching for. I guess it is the difference between asking a question of the Internet, or making a statement to it (the mind of the Internet).

Much to think about.