6.23.2009
Well, since you guys don't seem to dig Seesmic quite as much as I do... Here you go!
It's been so long since I've taken the time to sit and write a blog post. I remember back in high school hearing about a site called diaryland.com (which I frequently misspelled as dairyland.com) from a grass green mohawked punk chick from NYC. Wow, now that I think about it, that was 1999. I don't think the term "blog" had even come into existence yet! Anyway, I've been blogging in one form or another since 1999, 10 whole years. That's kinda nuts...
The most formidable, turbulent, and growing-up parts of my life are documented across various sites on the internets. I find myself looking back on them every now and then to pick out pieces of wisdom I unknowingly left for myself years ago. As a child of the technological age, this seems perfectly natural for me to "reside" on the net and constantly turn to technology for ways to simplify life. It's also the most amazing way to learn new things, come up with great ideas, and meet interesting folks.
I guess it only makes sense that I now reside in the world of social media. The gradual progression from individual websites catered to small groups of people to a few websites catering to large swaths of people happened with the whole "Web 2.0" thing... whatever that means. There's definitely a huge difference between the online world of today, and the world of web in high school.
I have a few central places where people know to find me including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Myspace. Yahoo! profiles nipped at the idea of a social network years ago, but they didn't have the insight to morph it into something bigger than that. Myspace made the social network scene mainstream, while Facebook perfected upon the format. And then... we come to Twitter.
People ask me all the time, "What's the use in Twitter? It seems pointless and stupid!" and I have to tell them it's not what they've heard. Twitter has become very publicized in the wake of folks like Shaq, Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, MC Hammer, and any number of celebrities using the service. They don't, however, really hit upon why Twitter is so amazing as a community tool. News programs are using this realtime (@RickSanchezCNN) to interact with their viewers and members of our Government are communicating things out to the People they serve. Companies are using it to promote products, provide news, and more importantly provide SERVICE to their Customers.
This leads me to a huge part of my world... My job!
I didn't actively pursue a career in the exciting world of Tweeting. I mean, come on... Twitter didnt even exist until recently. Let's be honest with each other. The chances of someone getting a job doing this are slim to none. Prior to coming to my current position, I was helping maintain vital systems in a data center within the company. When someone said "Hey, you should check out this job! It would fit your personality so perfectly!" I was like... what? We all know how that turned out, and you all know how my personality meshes with the online world around me (and the the real world just outside of my boss's office... Sorry Frank! *laughs*).
I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing (honest!). I enjoy running into "tough" Customers with the most crazy and outrageous issues that never seem to get fixed. I enjoy the challenge of fixing their services. The most important thing I enjoy is restoring their trust in a company that they have lost faith in. I want them to know that I'm here because I care, not because I'm getting paid to help. If I didn't believe in the people I work for, I would have left the company a long time ago. Four years later, I'm still here! I believe more than ever that we're moving in the right direction acknowledging that hey... we haven't had the best customer service record. Why don't we fix this? Well, that's what we're aiming for and I wan't to be a part of making that a company-wide change.
ANYWAY.
When I look at the big picture, there are so many possibilities for what we can do in this space. You and I can connect instantly via chat, voice, or video anywhere in the world with a decent internet connection. Heck, you can do that from your cell phone! We can collaborate in real-time, share documents instantly, and improve upon the world one keystroke or click at a time. Doctors can perform surgery remotely... who would have every thought about that happening? ANYTHING is possible, and the limit is whatever our imaginations make it out to be. What will you make of it?
ARE WE DONE YET???? Hehe. No.
This is the most coherent blog post you'll ever see from me. It took an extreme amount of concentration to write it and to be honest, that's not something I have a lot of. I'm diagnosed with A.D.D. and take medication to keep myself from crashing my car and functioning in general. It's a never-ending battle to keep track of everything in my world, and I lose track of myself occasionally. My weekends are my time to sit back and catch up on my life. Without them, I might be a really irritable person. If you've tried to reach me Saturday, Sunday, or Monday I probably didn't respond. As much as I absolutely positively LOVE MY JOB (I'm not getting paid to say that either) and want to help every person I possibly can, I have to remember to take care of myself. I hope you understand that, as I'm sure you lead a hectic and sometimes crazy life as well! Also, future blog posts wont be so um... formal. It's just not the way I am. I'd like you to remember I'm an individual, and I exist outside of my company. This blog will attempt to bridge those two worlds together in the most politically correct way I know how. Keyword here is: attempt.
(OK, we're done now!) :)