Xi Jinping and Donald Trump standoff trade wars — Michael & Josh #dailycartoon
The US and China have gone all out on the trade wars. Early March #Trump felt it would be an easy #win. It’s not turning out such an easy win. Go figure! China has released a list of 106 US products which will incur a new 25% tariff (unless Donald Trump backs down). The spat inspired our latest cartoon.
You can understand why the US wants to protect it’s own manufacturing base but it somehow looks like it’s too late now. Sure Trump will have a go, but likely the US economy will suffer. China will show it’s might.
I’ve been reflecting quite a bit on the #metoo movement, where men and women are calling for an end to sexual harassment and abuse. And about time too.
I know both sexes can be accused of being perpetrators in this and although I wouldn’t wish to take sides, I am siding with women more so. Why?
I’m not sure, maybe I sense that they haven’t had a voice and haven’t been heard, they’ve been afraid that they wouldn’t be believed and that their stories would be ignored.
There are days when I feel embarrassed to be a man, I am truly angry and disgusted to think that my fellow man has had it within himself to carry out these crimes against women. I sense the pain that women are going or have gone through and I wish I could do something to help and stop it happening.
Unfortunately the truth is that it carries on every single day and we have no idea, because many women still don’t speak out about it. It is unacceptable and it has always been unacceptable and somehow millions of men are getting away with it every day. I know women get away with it too.
Men all over the world that agree that this has to stop forever, need to take a stance and when they witness or sense there is a perpetrator around women, we must confront them and tell them they have to stop. We must all be leaders in this and if we as men can not stand up for women and men of course, who are being abused then we really can not call ourselves men.
We must report it, regardless of how small the incident may be. Even the manner in which some men talk about women, maybe how they complain or sexualise women, we must tell them that it’s no longer acceptable. We may lose friends as a result, we may make some enemies, but we must stay firm in the belief that this is no longer acceptable.
Maybe us men that feel the same should start a new hashtag and start exposing the abusers and help them to feel differently about women and stop the abuse.
William The Conqueror defeats King Harold in 1066 — Michael & Josh — #dailycartoon
In one year’s time the UK will leave the EU (Brexit). I listened to a radio programme on the BBC and it shared a couple of history lessons. One of those was the story of William the Conqueror, a Norman from France, who at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 defeated King Harold and became King. So, if you were to begin by asking, in Monty Python style, “What have the Normans ever done for us?” Without the Norman Conquest, Shakespeare would not have been Shakespeare, because his language would have resembled 16th-century German or Dutch.
As I get older I have noticed that I’ve become less trusting and more suspicious of strangers, their motives and their communication. I will readily challenge unsolicited emails I receive, ask deep and probing questions on how they found my email address and why they are sending me marketing emails that I had not asked for.
Here’s an example. Note that this was the 2nd email I received. I had junked the previous one, hoping he wouldn’t follow-up, but follow-up he did.
Hello Michael,
I hope you are doing well.
Did you have the chance to take a look at my previous email?
Would you be interested in an opportunity to accelerate and automate Staying Alive (UK) Ltd’s Influencer Marketing processes?
I would love to learn a bit more about your day to day process finding and managing influencers and see how (company name) can help you save time and energy.
When can we plan a call to address these matters? Or, if you are not in charge of this topic, could you please forward my email?
Have a great day, — Thomas
I decided to dig deeper after receiving this 2nd email;
Thomas thanks for your emails. I regret to say that I’m not keen in influencer marketing processes, it’s just another way to sell stuff to consumers that they do not need. But thank you for thinking of me and please remove me from your future correspondence. One heads-up for you, it actually is illegal in Europe not to have an unsubscribe button on your emails, I have no idea what system you are using, but please be aware when you are emailing your prospects in Europe, it could cause you some issues and potential financial fines if reported. Success with your campaign and please remember to remove me from your list. I appreciate it.
ps. How did you manage to locate my email address by the way? It would help me to understand this. Thanks!
His response;
Hello Michael,
Thank you for your reply. I obtained your email through LinkedIn. The reason we do not include an unsubscribe button in our emails are because they are not marketing emails, i.e. newsletters, but rather proactive solicitations to initiate a discussion about a delimited topic.
Either way, you will not receive any more emails from us, given that replying positively or negatively accounts for an unsub request.
Wishing you a great day,
Best,
I could have left it at that but I didn’t, I started further probing, challenging and maybe even being passive aggressive in my stance with him, see below;
Thanks Thomas I appreciate your response. So I’m curious because we’re not connected and therefore how did you see my email address on LinkedIn?
Thanks for helping me uncover a glitch in the system?
I’m sorry to disagree with you, your emails most certainly come across as sales/marketing your services, it is actually quite obvious. In your email you are asking me “how [company name] can help you save time and energy.” That for me is a sales proposition Thomas.
Now if you had connected to me on LinkedIn and started a low level conversation by sharing some content, I might have reacted differently.
Get an unsolicited email from someone you don’t know and there is a repeat email that chases a response for me is most definitely marketing, sorry.
Success!
Needless to say, I have not yet had a response to that last email and I suspect I probably will not. I do understand why he’s trying to say it’s not marketing, because he’s been taught that newsletters are marketing and a sales email is not marketing, well, I most definitely disagree. Sales, marketing it’s all the same these days.
And then the feeling came up in me that I want to report this guy to LinkedIn. How is he scraping emails from LinkedIn when we’re not even connected, maybe I am connected to another employee or hacker somewhere. So from this point onwards I feel I should be less trusting of people inviting me to connect on LinkedIn, they never personalise their invites, so I could be accepting the next email list builder by accident.
Am I the only one feeling this way? With the Facebook scandal continuing to brew, maybe I’ve become more paranoid. Then today I also heard about a data breach on an exercise app and people’s details being stolen.
This internet is not working out as well as we thought is it?
Putin with Russian Dolls — Michael & Josh #dailycartoon
140 of Putin’s diplomats have been expelled from Russian embassies around the world. Have we ever considered those Russian dolls they’ve left behind?
All I could imagine is those diplomats leaving duplicates of themselves behind in embassises, so we may have expelled 140, but there’s probably 3 or 4 times that amount left in the embassies and we don’t have a clue.
The world is angry with Facebook and rightly so. It may not happen straight away, but we may have seen the gradual and ultimate demise of Facebook over the next few years. It’s not just the Cambridge Analytica story that’s causing it.
Most people are realising that Facebook is a total time-suck. You lose yourself in the Rabbit Hole, never to come out. You stop speaking to people and avoid having real conversations that matter.
I stopped on Facebook, I haven’t deleted my profile, but maybe one day I will. My mind is so much better off as a result.
Down the Rabbithole — Michael & Josh
What gets to me now is not only the manipulation of the social media platforms, also the manipulation of marketers using those platforms.
I can now see the wording, the language, the videos, the NLP, basically the brainwash that’s taking place across the board. I’m worried for us all. Capitalism, consumerism, growth, GDP’s, nationalism, plastics, money, all of it is making us greedy, corrupt and wish to take rather then give.
A human wants to help her fellow human, but not at any cost, not telling her that I’m better than anyone else, surely?
That is what’s happening at the moment. When I read LinkedIn profiles I am astounded how people promote themselves as the biggest this the best at that, showing off awards, so-called corporates to have worked with, testimonials and also sorts of gimmicks, tricks and magic. It’s making me feel quite nauseous when I read them.
Elon Musk & Facebook — Michael & Josh #dailycartoon
The Facebook anti-trust saga continues. Elon Musk took down his company fan pages (SpaceX and Tesla) removing 5 millions fans in the process. He tried to send a Facebook satellite into orbit in 2016 but the rocket exploded at launch. I’m not sure he will be trying again do you?
I recently had a LinkedIn connection rage-quit on me. He disconnected from me on LinkedIn because he felt my free advice was not the advice he was looking for and he also felt that when I referred him to a contact who might be able to help also wasted his time.
So he asked to connect to me, with a personalised invite I will add. Nobody sends those these days and therefore he stood out for me and I gladly and willingly accepted. His question in the invitation was;
Hello Michael,
My name is …. I have some questions and need your help.
I respond to every single invitation I receive and every new connection receives a link to a hidden page on my website with some free stuff, including a 13-hour LinkedIn video course, which took me 12 months to create. I also welcomed whatever question he wanted to ask, adding that if I wasn’t able to assist him, I was sure to know someone else who might be able to.
Question 2 from my new friendly connection;
I am trying to get my business off the ground but I don’t know if my personal brand story that I paid someone to write is good enough that describes me and what I stand for.
I then shared with him some text I had written for someone who has a similar role and he never said thank you, then proceeded with sharing his signature speech (sentence). It took a day for me to respond back to that and before I could respond he said;
So your not going to help me anymore?
I then created a google doc with my sentence and his and suggested that we worked on it together. All free of charge by the way, I never asked for any money.
Again no thank you, just coming back with push-back to what I had suggested. He then shared a video by Donald Miller, see below, not bad.
But he wasn’t doing anything so I encouraged him with;
My suggestion is keep working at it. You write the next one okay?
And then this came back;
Thanks anyway, I will just do this with no support and help from anyone anymore. As I just don’t care anymore. I just won’t help anyone anymore every time they come to me and want my help. That is what the problem with everyone they care about just making money. I blame you for wasting my time recommending me to (contact name).
The Borg and Zuckerber — Michael & Josh #dailycartoon
So trying to come up with the next instalment of Mark Zuckerberg Facebook and Alexander Nix of Cambridge Analytica. You must have been a fan of Star Trek to get this one. Remember The Borg? #resistanceisfutile — So The Borg (Alexander Nix and Cambridge Analytica) visits Mark Zuckerberg and The Zuck is begging for the data, but as you can see it’s too late.
Side note: earlier I tagged Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn asking why Cambridge Analytica still have a company page on LinkedIn, as I was able to tag them in previous posts. Just tried and the company page has gone! Happy days!
Even the name Cambridge Analytica gives me the creeps. Cambridge obviously is a famous University in England and has a great standing, after all some famous people were students there.
So using the University town’s name in your business title is a clever move. It just feels reputable and very knowledgable. Add a bit of Harry Potter sparkle by adding the word ‘Analytica’ and it sounds like a spell straight out of one of J.K. Rowling’s novels.
And indeed it was a spell and everyone fell for it, most of all us the citizens of the world that have handed over all our personal details, so freely and trustingly to the biggest data farm in the world, Facebook.
Of course you will get companies farming that data, scraping it and utilising it to their own benefit. And Facebook allowed you to grab the data with those amazing apps you could create. They’re the ones that you again so freely trusted, signing up to them because they looked and sounded so enticing. Everyone wants to know about their personality, their match partner and many other schemes to hand over your data.
Maybe, just maybe we will be wiser next time, although I doubt it. On a Radio programme I heard a young person interviewed saying how much she loves her social media and that she’s on it all the time, as are all her friends too. It seems almost inconceivable that something we’re so addicted to, we’ll ever going to leave behind.
“Face me I face you white neon sign at work on dark background, Phoenix Art Museum” by Dayne Topkin on Unsplash
Don’t get me wrong it does a lot of good in the world too, whole communities (tribes) can stay in touch with each other on topics they enjoy. Indeed Zuck (short for Mark Zuckerberg) even went on a tour to talk to communities in the real world and get them to speak openly about how much they have benefitted from Facebook. Very clever Mr Zuckerberg, very clever to get people on-side this way, pulling them in even further, ever deeper.
And why didn’t you come to the EU Zuck? Because you know we don’t trust you anymore, you know that we’ll be after you and your schemes and expose them.
Actually Governments love Facebook, that’s why they’ve gotten away with billions of tax dollars and pounds. Governments can get data on individuals like they’ve never been able to before.
Just watch the TV series ‘Hunted’ and you will see how those intelligence experts can grab data from Facebook in just a few clicks. We’re the stupid ones, we’re the ones that fell for Zuck’s web of deceit and manipulation. He cleverly pulled us in and make us feel secure and maybe even loved by the Facebook family.
As I said in a previous article I call myself a straight talking Dutchman and often find myself giving feedback to members on LinkedIn who ask to connect to me. It’s always meant with the greatest intention and often it can come across as being critical. So I’m sticking with the theme and want to go a little bit more in depth on this.
By far what I witness on social is self-congratulatory language, especially LinkedIn.
‘The contributors are smug. It’s like Facebook without the jokes. It’s a breeding ground for envy. It isn’t healthy to spend your whole life comparing yourself to other people.’
Initially I felt like he might be attacking me and I because his language was quite direct and very very honest, maybe it wasn’t a good thing to approve the comment to be shown on my blog.
“A black-and-white shot of people sitting on stools at a long table” by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash
Seeing as I hardly receive any comments on my blog and after reading his comments a few times, I concluded that actually there is a lot of truth in his statement. People are smug on LinkedIn, it is a breeding ground for envy and people do compare themselves with others.
One of the bits of feedback I give is on people’s profile photos. See, I believe they need to look professional, a head and shoulders shot, produced by a professional photographer and when I see folks with their kids, drinking alcohol, being on holiday, on a stage, showing off with a headset microphone or anything else equally at home on Facebook I say NO! Sort out your profile photo, you look ridiculous. Judging again!
Often people come back to me and say, well I’m not doing so bad and I have more connections then you after all’s who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. Not exactly those words, but pretty much the same.
I do believe social has become all about ‘look at me’, look how great I am, look at my achievements, if you don’t hire me either as an employee or as someone to solve your business issues then you are off your head, because actually I am the best thing you will ever find on here. I see no humbleness any more and don’t even get me started on the videos and adverts people post. Yuk!
We love belonging to tribes. It all starts with your family tribe, then your school tribe and continues into your educational tribes as you progress through to the sports tribe, the political tribe and your workplace tribe.
And you enjoy belonging to these tribes because it allows you to view those folks as like minded individuals. They may be from different families and backgrounds but when you arrive in their tribe, you are basically the same as them. You look at these people through rose-tinted spectacles, believing that they own the same values as you.
You probably have no idea about this person and quite possibly have never met them ever and truly no idea what they stand for, their values and habits. But because they belong to the same tribe, well that means they are like you? This is especially true of Facebook. Belong to the same group around just one idea and bang, you are now the best buddies forever.
Wrong!
This can also be understood as ‘confirmation bias’.
We believe certain things about ourselves and others and if there’s a match then we believe we’ve arrived in our tribe.
But belonging to a tribe can have many positive benefits. I recently listened to an episode of a podcast series on the BBC, titled ‘Digital Human’. The episode was indeed called ‘Tribe’.
In their research they were able to uncover that Facebook was hugely beneficial for extended families to keep in touch with each other, especially if they have been apart for long periods of time. Their meeting up after a long period apart was stronger because they could keep in touch with their family tribe.
Alexander Nix places a spell on Mark Zuckerberg — #dailycartoon Michael & Josh
Even the name Cambridge Analytica gives me the creeps. Cambridge obviously is a famous University in England and has a great standing, after all some famous people were students there.
So using the University town’s name in your business title is a clever move. It just feels reputable and very knowledgable. Add a bit of Harry Potter sparkle by adding the word ‘Analytica’ and it sounds like a spell straight out of one of J.K. Rowling’s novels.
I use a regular excuse to give direct feedback to people that connect with me on LinkedIn by saying that I’m a straight talking Dutchman. The Dutch have a reputation for that, right?
I give feedback because I’d like to help them. I also give it because I see so many dreadful profiles and after having been a LinkedIn trainer for 5 years, I can spot the rubbish instantly.
Why do so many folks write such nonsense on their profiles? What makes them rush the process so much? Is it to just get their profile published quickly? Many then never go back to it to improve it. We are so distracted in our lives that it shows through in the way that we present ourselves online as well.
“Black and white photograph of the back view of street protesters in a rally in Washington.” by Jerry Kiesewetter on Unsplash
Just take a few moments, maybe a few hours to improve what you write about yourself on LinkedIn. It’s not a CV or an advert, it’s an opportunity to present who you are, what your passion is, how you got to where you are now and what vision you have for yourself. Be personal, your story is the most important thing about you.
Whether you’re looking for a job, wishing to further your career or looking for new business relationships, people always buy from people. The way you write about yourself tells us a thousand times more about who you truly are.
The LinkedIn summary is probably THE most important piece of content you can write about yourself.
This is what I witness on a regular basis in LinkedIn summaries.
No summary at all!
Writing in the 3rd person like you’re some sort of celebrity.
Writing one sentence, which says nothing.
Writing an advert.
Writing a list of skills.
Professing that you are some sort of Super(wo)man
Using jargon that nobody understands unless they have intimate knowledge of your industry/sector.
Telling us how many connections you have and how popular you are.
Not writing about yourself only about the company.
And you actually believe it’s good enough?
We must all have higher standards for ourselves and show the world that we care about coming across coherently and that we’ve taken the time to express our intimate world to others.
Well he’s Russia’s new president for a further 6 years, that means 2024!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
If we knew what we know now about his regime, the Sochi Winter Olympics doping scandal, The US election collusion and the latest Salisbury nerve agent poisoning, would we have awarded him the 2018 football (soccer) worldcup?
This made us wonder and inspired our latest cartoon. Will anyone be attending or even watching the football (soccer) this June?
I attended a sales training keynote by Nick Davies, a barrister turned trainer in the legal profession. He delivered probably the most common sense sales keynote I’ve every experienced and I promise I don’t say that likely.
One of the key messages was ‘ASK’. Something most sales people don’t actually do. We must do this, Nick said. It’s the one thing we are afraid of doing, asking for the business, we leave things too long and hope that the prospect client will make their mind up eventually.
The other message was following up and keeping control. How many of us actually don’t follow up and don’t keep control, we hand control over to someone else and then hope they will turn it our way, often that doesn’t happen.
And stop sending emails, pick up the phone and call them. We’re hiding behind email and Social Media. People receive hundreds of emails and they had getting more of them in their email. A phone call will actually make you stand out from the crowd.
You can get Nick’s book, ‘How to be great at the stuff you hate’ at your favourite online bookstore.
In recent years, an increasing number of scholars have sought to study and measure the impact of social networks (social media).
The world has been surrounded by Social Media
A 2010 study by the University of Maryland suggested that social networks may be addictive, and that using social networks may lead to a “fear of missing out”, also known by the acronym “FOMO” by many students.
It has been observed that Facebook is now the primary method for communication by college students in the U.S.
According to Nielsen, global consumers spend more than six hours on social networking sites.
Consumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of sites — roughly 20% of their total time online via personal computer (PC), and 30% of total time online via mobile.
Tim Berners-Lee contends that the danger of social networking sites is that most are silos and do not allow users to port data from one site to another. He also cautions against social networks that grow too big and become a monopoly as this tends to limit innovation.
According to several clinics in the UK, social media addiction is a certifiable medical condition. One psychiatric consultant claims he treats as many as one hundred cases a year.
Introduction
Networks are not new; they have existed since the very first existence of cells on planet earth. It’s quite amazing to know that our cells work together in networks to achieve tasks together. One such example is wound healing. For wound healing to occur, white blood cells and cells that ingest bacteria move to the wound site to kill the microorganisms that cause infection. At the same time fibroblasts (connective tissue cells) move there to remodel damaged structures. This is a wonderful example of how cells behave together in networks.
Even our brain neurons wire together in associative networks to create our memories and skills. Cell division even mirrors the way that networks grow.
We humans are no exception in nature. We exist and flourish as part of networks. We seem to have some inborn instinct to behave in this way, actively involving ourselves in many different systems of connections.
We long for likes
The first network we experience in our lives is the immediate family, where we learn how to be social by watching our parents and siblings. Beyond that, we soon learn how to ‘network’ with other groups of adults and children. We then start our social journey by joining many different networks, the nursery, primary and secondary school, the college and university and then our work and leisure networks.
The size, membership and complexity of these networks may grow or contract during our lifetime, but they always remain an important part of our experience. There are several theories put forward to explain this networking phenomenon, from Social Comparison Theory,Role Theory,Homogeneous Theory and the Social Identity approach. The evidence seems to point to the conclusion that networking is in part driven by our genetic make-up.
Tribes
These networks have a major impact on our lives. They determine how we see the world and how we see ourselves; we constantly monitor how we are accepted in our various networks.
Perhaps another word for these networks could be ‘tribes’.
Belonging to a ‘tribe’, gives us the feeling that we are part of ‘something bigger’ then we are. It helps to give our lives more meaning and significance. The belief that you belong to a ’tribe’ is reinforcing, as it encourages you to relate more strongly with the other individuals in that ’tribe’. It helps with the identity that you have given yourself as you became an adult.
When your ’tribe’ behaves in the same way that you do, you will consider them the same as ’you’ and somehow feel a connection. It triggers an automatic approval, telling yourself that they are OK as they behave in a similar way to you.
The way that this translates in social networks is that individuals will follow people on twitter, send each other friends’ requests on Facebook or ask to be connected inside professional networks, like LinkedIn. We may have never met the person but for some reason we want to share intimate details of our lives with them.
We have become addicted
Never in the world have we seen this kind of behaviour before. It did not exist before social networks appeared on the worldwide web. You could not have imagined walking up to strangers, people you have never met and suddenly start sharing your personal life with them. It just didn’t happen. We as humans need to trust someone first before we will share personal details. In social networks personal details are being shared all the time without any apparent shyness or reservation.
And the only reason this happens is because we have connected at some level with this stranger in a social network where their behaviour mirrors our own. In social networks we behave for around 80% of the time exactly the same way as everybody else. Just the act of being in a social network together, posting updates, sharing content means you are doing the same as everyone else and that makes you part of that tribe.
Significance
Social networks give us a platform for significance. According to Anthony Robbins, significance is one of the 6 human needs as per his Human Needs Psychology model. We all have a need to be significant in our lives and when family and friends, like, comment or respond to our activity inside social networks, we feel good, we feel loved, we feel significant.
Dopamine is closely associated with reward-seeking behaviours, such as approach, consumption, and addiction. Recent research suggests that the firing of dopaminergic neurons is motivational as a consequence of reward-anticipation. This hypothesis is based on the evidence that, when a reward is greater than expected, the firing of certain dopaminergic neurons increases, which consequently increases desire or motivation towards the reward. This is why social networks are so addictive and why games inside social networks (e.g. Farmville) are so popular. Equally though, aggression is also evident in social networks and recent studies indicate that aggression may also stimulate the release of dopamine.
Why do humans enjoy social networks?
Humans are social beings, they thrive around other humans and other humans make them thrive. Without human interaction we have no reason to exist. Compassion and love is a ready built-in operating system, which we are born with. Without the love we experience on the day of our birth we would probably die. Throughout our lives we crave that love and connection with other humans. Especially as those humans are the same as us or expressed in another way, exist in the same tribe as us.
Anthony Robbins’ Human Need Psychology says that one of our 6 human needs is love and connection.
Physical social networks, whether it’s the family unit, our workplace unit or other tribal social networks, which we belong to for our sport, hobbies and political activities, all exist because there is some love and connection that takes place.
Virtual social networks via the web also exist for the same reason. The creators of these networks have been able to create certain activities to allow us to feel love and connection with a connection or a tribe that exists inside these networks. Whether it is ’liking’, ’commenting’, ’sharing’, ’re-tweeting’, ’favouriting’, ’re-posting’, the user feels good when this takes place or in other words they do feel loved. This is very addictive and when dopamine is released in the brain, we want to experience more of this feeling.
As human beings we also want to give out love and this is another one of the human needs and is called ’contribution’. And therefore in social networks we also like to contribute to our fellow human beings.
The way that this translates inside of virtual social networks is no different. For example by actively ’liking’, ’sharing’, ’commenting’, it makes us feel good and drives us to do more of it, whenever the recipient rewards us in some way for taking this selfless action. And guess what happens more dopamine is released and the more addictive it becomes.
and ’ding, ding, woof, woof’, every time our mobile device makes that familiar notification noise, we know that this could mean more dopamine and more love, so we’ll react instantly to the need of that possibility.
How social learning grows networks
In 1961 Albert Bandura conducted a controversial experiment known as the ‘Bobo-Doll ‘experiment, to study patterns of behaviour associated with aggression. Bandura hoped that the experiment would prove that aggression can be explained, at least in part, by social learning theory, and that similar behaviours were learned by individuals modelling their own behaviour after the actions of others. The experiment was criticised by some on ethical grounds, for training children towards aggression.
Bandura’s results from the Bobo Doll Experiment changed the course of modern psychology, and were widely credited for helping shift the focus in academic psychology from pure behaviourism to cognitive psychology. The experiment is among the most lauded and celebrated of psychological experiments.
Bobo Doll likeness
This study can be viewed as quite significant and why social networks grow so fast. When we see the activities of others in social networks, we start to wonder if we’re missing out on something and whether we need to start involving ourselves. When we then discover that our tribe, (whether family, work, hobby or other tribe), is doing the same, we will stay and investigate it further. And that is when we start enjoying shots of dopamine in our brain and when the addiction of this social network interaction starts working.
[embed]https://youtu.be/Pr0OTCVtHbU[/embed]
Conclusion
Social networks are here to stay, they’ve always existed and whether they are physical or virtual they are an important piece of our human make-up. My personal view too is that back in the times when humans went through war and terror they would draw closer to each other and grow closer socially. For example, during World War II, it was easier to connect with our fellow humans as we were all going through the same terror and strife. We would look out for one and other and support each other.
Basically we were giving each other a lot of love.
Twitter Love
As the human population has grown and spread across the globe, some of the physical connections may have been lost. Virtual social networks have allowed us to make that re-connection with each other and in fact get in touch with people who we may not have seen for many years.
Of course this makes us feel loved and appreciated too.
And now, because these virtual networks show us how many fans, followers, and friends we have, this is proof to the world and ourselves how popular we are. We take this metric as an important measure of how many people approve of us or rather love us, a kind of ‘love-o-meter’!
This article was originally published in 2013. I purposely have not updated the stats and I’m sure you’ll appreciate that the stats have just increased two-fold. My attempt was to wake people up. I failed…
Update September 2020
Over 7 years on and things haven’t really got any better, in fact they’ve gotten a lot worse. We’ve experienced Cambridge Analytica and their dirt tricks campaigns. The whole story (The Great Hack) can be seen on Netflix. (https://www.netflix.com/watch/80117542)
Many youngsters and adults alike are being affected, brainwashed and even nations, governments and its armies have reacted to fake news and propaganda being spread by bad actors trolling the social media airwaves.
And now Netflix have released their latest instalment The Social Dilemma, where Tristan Harris and others walks us through the unbelievable issues those creators have contributed to the world. It is quite ironic that Tristan and the others being interviewed were actually part of creating the problem and they are having to live with the legacy of death and destruction they have created for the world. I feel for them but have no pity, they have their millions in the bank, so they are okay.
Tristan now runs the Center for Humane Tech for a number of years, I’ve been following him ever since I saw his Ted Talk in 2017. I’ve embedded his Ted Talk below, “How a Handful of Tech Companies control Billions of Minds every day!”
The Center for Humane Tech presented their New Agenda for Tech, see video below.
[embed]https://youtu.be/09Jeyu4-Fcc[/embed]
One aspect of the Center for Humane Tech’s work I am particularly impressed with and that’s their ‘Ledge of Harms’.
After watching those two documentaries and these talks you should be well versed to make some decisions for you, your family and especially your kids.
90 seconds for videos is too long. I remember when YouTube first came out and the limit was 10 minutes. We all cried in despair, we wanted more time. Think about it, our attention span is about 20 seconds. Therefore videos need to be just 20 seconds.
They need to get to the point quick and grab your attention even faster.
During our #dailycartoon series, our cartoons are just 20 seconds long. About the right length.
Do you have more to say? Of course you do, you need to make sure all your solutions are heard and as a result they will pick up the phone and call you, right? WRONG!
After 90 seconds you are totally forgettable.
So here’s my new formula and you can have it for free.
The best stories in Hollywood are told along a timeline of ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’. Okay so remember that.
1st 20 seconds, chapter 1 — what is — current state, problem, issue and pain.
2nd 20 seconds, chapter 2 — what could be — future state, happy place, no issues, less pain.
3rd 20 seconds, chapter 3 — what is — other issues and pains, lay on more, because there are always more.
4th 20 seconds, chapter 4 — what could be — even better future happy place, solved the other pains too.
5th 20 seconds, chapter 5 — what is — if the pain continues and you do nothing, where will you end up in maybe 3–5 years time?
6th 20 seconds, chapter 6 — now the hero, that’s you, saves the day and walks off into the sunset, into that super happy place, arm in arm, hand in hand, arm over shoulder, we looked after you and we saved your life!
Thinks about it, 6 assets, drip feed campaign, stacking methodology, viewer is looking for the answer, waiting for it.
All educational, promotional, storytelling campaigns need to be told in 20 seconds video clips.
Mergers are dangerous beasts. Corporations that once thought they owned the space they operate in, decide that they have to merge with a past competitor in order to survive globally.
But it’s a reality in today’s world and we likely will see this increase as the greatest corporations in the world decide they must not have any competitors in their sector.
So when a friend of mine, let’s call him John, told me about a meeting that was about to take place between some senior executives and the subject is mergers, I was astounded when he mentioned that the order from the top was that they were happy to discuss anything in connection with mergers with the exception of employee wellbeing.
“Black and white photo of the downtown New York City skyline from Top of the Rock” by Anders Jildén on Unsplash
I have been involved in companies merging and I can confirm that the only things management focus on are, financial capital (includes lay-offs), machine capital and renumeration capital.
They never ever focus on the human capital. Well I have news for them, without human capital the organisation doesn’t exist.
I’ve seen plenty of losses during mergers, which occurred because the two production directors, the two financial directors and even the two HR directors could not agree on the best solutions.
Mergers are about the people, always.
Unless you have a plan in place for merging the people, properly, compassionately and sensibly, your business will take 5 years to recover from not having a plan.
Donald Trump shows Rex the door! — Michael & Josh #dailycartoon
Rex Tillerson was sacked via Twitter. Rex is a dog’s name right? He was such a loyal dog to Donald Trump. But as the saying goes every dog has his day and unfortunately it was Rex’s time. He inspired our latest cartoon.
It really is a new dawn in the era of social media and hiring and firing of people, thanks to the President of the USA.
