So, how has Twitter replaced my reader?

1. I subscribe to people, not sites

   Subscribing to a site via RSS means that you subscribe to all of the content on that feed. With Twitter, you subscribe to people. The users you follow will (hopefully) weed out articles that are not interesting, so you don’t need to. If they don’t or if they have too much noise, then you can simply unsubscribe. Many RSS readers added “following” other users later, but by then it was too late.

   Also, with only 140 characters, people get to the point about where the link goes. That makes it easy to ignore links that don’t sound interesting.

2. I get direct recommendations

   People I follow tweet a link to an article. This is the simplest and easiest way to read interesting articles since I’m already following people I find interesting.

3. I also get indirect recommendations

   People I follow retweet (RT) a post, from someone I don’t follow, that contains a link to an article. It seems like the volume of RTs has increased over the last 6 months; people are sharing more. This could be due to the ease with which the Twitter interface and mobile app allow RTs. This also gives me a chance to discover new, interesting people that I might want to follow.

4. I can randomly discover articles

   I have several saved searches and lists that I check periodically. A majority of people I see on there are not people I follow. When I check these, I often discover content that I would have missed otherwise.

   Combine that with straight up search and managing multiple accounts and I find random stuff all the time.

5. I can bookmark an article

   I don’t always have time to read a link right away, so I use the favorite feature as a way to bookmark a tweet until I have time to come back and read it. If you look at my favorites, they are overwhelmingly tweets containing a link.

6. I can share easily

   If I write something or find something that’s interesting, I’m likely to tweet/RT it. Twitter made it easy for sites to embed a share button, too. People can easily (un)follow me if it’s (un)interesting.

When I look at the current feature set of my RSS reader, it does the same things I described above, but checking it has constantly felt like a chore. I’ve already worked Twitter into my daily routine for communication, so there isn’t another site I need to log into to find articles. Additionally, I also don’t need to manage 2 sets of people I’m following.

Truthfully, I can’t think of a reason to keep using an RSS reader. Can you?

Update: Found these links from Business Insider: Twitter Has Killed RSS Readers and PaidContent.org: The Death Of The RSS Reader.

1. make eye contact; smile
2. perform a full clasp; no premature grabs
3. use a firm grasp; not too hard though
4. don’t be overzealous with the shaking
5. hold it for a few seconds after saying your intro (e.g., “nice to meet you”, “my name is X”)

Photo by tenderlung / CC BY-NC 2.0

If you were to search Google about how to give a proper handshake then you would find articles and videos that mostly tell you the same things I learned. A handshake is one of the first impressions you get when meeting someone. With the way I was taught, there is an element of sizing up the individual with whom you’re shaking hands; there’s a certain machismo involved. If the grip is too weak or they avoid eye contact it could be construed as a sign of weakness and, therefore, leaves a bad impression. CareerBuilder cites a University of Alabama study to this effect:

[The] study found that consistent with the etiquette and business literature, there is a substantial relationship between the features that characterize a firm handshake (strength, vigor, duration, eye contact and completeness of grip) and a favorable first impression.

However, a few days ago I had my ingrained notion of what a handshake should be challenged by an unassuming individual. He didn’t challenge it directly, he simply shook my hand in a way that was entirely foreign to me. His handshake had the following characteristics:

1. downcast eyes; slightly bent body
2. double handed clasp
3. soft grasp
4. barely any shaking involved
5. held it for longer than a normal handshake

Normally, I might have a negative reaction to this type of handshake, but this time I didn’t. Why? The handshake was sincere, absolutely and utterly sincere, and conveyed quiet confidence. In fact, it was probably the most sincere handshake I’ve ever received, yet it goes against most of the things I’ve been taught about a proper handshake.

It made me wonder why we’ve trained ourselves to look for weakness and/or dominate the other person during first impressions instead of looking for sincerity, authenticity, trustworthiness and good will. Is it some sort of evolutionary thing; a throwback to the days when our ancestors continually fought for dominance of each other? I’m not sure, but I feel like the handshake has become an insincere, mechanical response to a common interaction. In essence, it’s lost it’s meaning.

What do you think?

• Event photographers must be like ninjas. Going in and out of sessions shouldn’t distract the participants too much and you want to capture things unobtrusively.
• People like to look at cameras and/or pose. However, I was trying to capture more candid shots. It was especially hard because I still don’t know what I’m doing and it takes me a while to adjust the settings before taking a picture. I’d either put the camera down for a little bit or tell them I was just playing with the settings, not taking a real picture.
• Dealing with different lighting is hard. Each setting was unique and trying to figure out, with my limited knowledge, what to adjust was both time consuming and frustrating. I ended with quite a few dark or blurry shots because I couldn’t get it adjusted correctly. I also missed quite a few while I was trying to adjust…
• Manual focus is also hard. Part of my tutelage involved placing everything on manual as I need to learn what all of those adjustments mean before trusting the camera to do some of them for me. I stuck with it all day… There were many shots where the focus was really close to being on, but was 3-4 inches too near or far (e.g., focused on someone’s ear or on their hand that’s resting on the table in front of them).
• Photographing an event can be physically tiring. I spent much of the six hours I was there crouching, kneeling, leaning or standing. There was not much opportunity to take a break. I went to each of the sessions and, during lunch, grabbed a quick slice of pizza before everyone else so that I could take pictures during lunch/networking time. And I only had one camera and no additional equipment; think about the people lugging multiple cameras, tripods, lens, etc. around.
• I’m self-conscious about taking photos. It seems like a weird thing to say, but that’s how I felt during the day… It got better as the day went on, but it was especially bad during the first hour or so.

One of the constructive comments I received afterward was from local Phoenix fine arts photographer, Tyson Crosbie. He said it looked like I was afraid of getting close to my subjects. This may be a reflection of feeling self-conscious about the whole thing, but might also be the result of only having the 50mm lens.

Overall, it was a good experience and I think some of the photos actually turned out well. Of the 330 I took, I narrowed it down to 62 that were, somewhat, fit for viewing. So go check out the photos from LaidOffCamp Phoenix and let me know your thoughts and suggestions so I can improve!

Disclaimer: I am not a professional photographer, nor do I aspire to be one at this time.

Please read and share!

If you’re starting a business in Phoenix, or already have one, how are you approaching defining the values of the company, how those values are communicated to employees and the steps necessary to find and retain great employees? Do you practice “adequate performance gets a generous severance package?” Have you ever asked yourself something similar to the Keeper Test:

Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving in the next 2 months, would I fight to keep?

Why not?

If you’re an employee of a company in Phoenix, do you believe in the values your company believes in? Does your company say one thing, yet do another? If you were considering leaving, does your company value you enough to work to keep you there, while at the same time celebrating those who decide to go on to bigger things? Do you know what you’d be paid by another company; is your pay at the top of the market?

Why not?

Update: Interesting analysis of the Netflix guide by Scott Berkun.

As a small, Phoenix Rails development company, Flatterline was particularly interested in this discussion. I’d been discussing this same topic with Chris Chandler the day before as we sense an expansion on the horizon, but are hesitant to bring someone on full-time. Our major point of concern is being able to provide constantly for someone else while we’re still figuring out our own business.

Jason Ayers led the discussion and we came up with a few things to consider when growing a small business. Here are some of the things we discussed:

1. Know the difference between a contractor and an employee – Jason related that there have been several times that he was treated like an employee, but was classified as a contractor. As a small business this can get you into a heap of trouble if you misclassify people. Consult with an attorney…
2. Build a network – Establish relationships with independent contractors that can help you out as needed. Even if you don’t bring them on as full-time contractors or employees, you can supplement your workforce more easily
3. Try before you buy – Bringing someone in on a trial basis as a contractor for a few months makes a lot of sense for a small business. You can’t afford to hire the wrong people, so there’s no need to rush into bringing someone into the company that’s not a good fit. Additionally, you can limit their hours so that neither party is entirely reliant on the other
4. If it’s not right, don’t hire – If someone isn’t the right fit, then don’t keep them on. You need to do what’s best for your business and sometimes that can be hard, but necessary

Overall, I thought it was a good discussion. Since I’m a new small business owner, I’d love to hear comments from other, more experienced business people.

What wisdom do you have for small businesses in Phoenix?

How I became a danger to myself (and possibly the people around me)

It all started with WordPress, specifically the All-in-one SEO plugin, which allows you to customize the meta data in the head tag of your site, specify what should be indexed and customize information per post/page, and Lucia’s Linky Love plugin, which encourages good comments by rewarding with a follow link (as opposed to a nofollow). This was like the free taste to get you hooked and they seemed pretty cool… but I still didn’t know much about SEO.

So I read a book. Yep, the paper kind. I actually won it in a contest through Twitter, so I figured I’d give it a shot. It’s called The truth about search engine optimization by Rebecca Lieb and I have to admit, it’s pretty good. I’ve heard so many bad things about practitioners of SEO that I went into it half expecting to be disgusted. Instead I was pleasantly surprised at how accessible and realistic the content was. If you’d like to borrow the book, let me know.

Next up, I watched some SEO videos from a local Phoenix company. They introduced some more real world techniques and walked me through how to implement them, whereas the book talked in general about the concepts behind search engine optimization. If you have a spare hour, give them a look.

Conclusion

SEO doesn’t seem hard, per se, just extremely time consuming and I’m not sure I have the patience for it.

Plus, after all that, I realize how terrible my links have been over the years. Phoenix SEO, Chuck Reynolds, was just ranting talking about this recently on Twitter. People need to learn how to link to others using keywords that are relevant.

I mean, come on, there are over a billion results (via Google) for “click here”… How many of those are from you?

After donating I received a personal email from Nick telling me about Heat City, what they’re working on and how much they appreciate my donation. Even better, he knew who I was and asked me how Flatterline was going. That surprised me because we’ve never actually met or talked. It’s that kind of attention to local happenings that sets Heat City apart.

They’re only looking to raise $700 in the next 2 weeks. Seems like a small price to pay for something of great value. Will you show your support and donate?

Also, if you have news stories or leads pass them along to Nick.

I’m using Lucia’s Link Love, so after a certain number of comments, you will receive dofollow link love! (NOTE: sexual healing is playing right now at the coffee shop I’m working from… coincidence? )

Enjoy the new blog. I’ll probably make a few other changes to it, but I want to keep it simple. Thanks for visiting!

Here are some resources that helped me get started:

• WordPress on Nginx
• WordPress on Ubuntu, Nginx and MySQL
• Using SSH for WordPress updates

The name we chose for this project is Personality Flatline and you can subscribe via RSS or subscribe via iTunes. Of course, you can always visit the site and catch up on recent episodes.

After the first recording session, which consisted of us talking about random stuff, we ran an experiment for two weeks where we talk about topics suggested by people attending hacknight. We’ll be releasing those episodes over the next few weeks. We’re interested in hearing your feedback on the show, so don’t forget to leave us comments.

Over the summer, my dad (the big guy pictured) and I did some work on my backyard. In this picture, we’re laying the header for the brick patio. Where I’m mixing the concrete in the wheelbarrow became the patio and where my dad is walking became grass. Now that the patio is done, the kids have a great time riding their bikes on the patio, drawing all over the bricks with chalk and playing soccer in the grass.

Now I’m supposed to tag 6 other people… who will I tag?

• Erica Lucci
• Jason Newlin
• James Archer
• Tyson Crosbie
• Remi Taylor
• Chris Chandler