Almost 40% of the Twitter messaging

is "pointless babble".

I often face this dilemma about Twitter, where I have various kind of "friends" - some of them individuals, some of them organisations or newspapers and reviews: how interesting what I am "twitting" about could be? I finally made the choice to simply put on-line some articles or some questions related to professional issues, as none of the members of the network are close friends. So, they will not be interested how happy I am today, or if I liked the icecream. The need to adequate your message to your readers is the main line and the key to efficient communications.

Bright ideas

for selling the ordinary.

Social media

and our words.

Google and knowledge

an antinomic couple?

Should we fear that Internet will kill the "true" knowledge? I don't think Internet in itself is the big issue we should worry about. It is, in fact, a huge, virtual library with everything you never dream it could be found.

Better, we should put under close scrutiny the education systems in themselves, and the ways in which the knowledge it is distributed. For a long time, the focus was on facts, now, we should mostly focused on how to use facts.

My choice is somewhere in-between: I know very well the system focused on facts, facts, facts. When, for example, you have to learn by heart - not by mind - long poetries, without having any idea about what it is all about, because you don't have time to think. In the same time, searching the Internet without clear criteria about what you are looking for, in terms of being able to make your own choices among thousand of results, it is problematic. Our capacity to know it is extremely limited, in comparison with the enormous volume of knowledge. But, a "voie royale" should be the pure desire of knowing and knowing and knowing.

Week-end readings

about how to keep a balance between work and private life.

Good advice, but in reality, at the beginning, you cannot have too many choices and opportunities to avoid late hours in office or in-between meetings. It is why, perhaps, it is better to start a family later on, after you enjoy a certain financial and professional clear status. Sometimes it is too late for a career, sometimes too late for a family life. In many cases, you depend upon too many people, with not a very clear notion and respect of time ruining your time and putting your patience at a big trial.

In my opinion, whatever you start and whenever, it is important to have a very clear schedule of what do you want to achieve. A happy life, with friends and family, without a luxury comfort but still happy. Or a busy life, with meetings and money and ups and downs. It is very important to be happy with your own choices. But of course, at the beginning of the road, you don't know for sure what you should expect at the end. Hence, a permanent checking of the correspondence with your own values it is more than welcomed. As often as possible.

The next generation

after Twitter?

It is just the beginning, as much of the advantages and technical weakness are still being tested. But, what it is more important, is the increasing demand, also creating a pressure towards change.

Food bloggers

met food PR. Not to change roles and try to convince each other of their unique truth, but to talk and exchange ideas. A matter of dialogue and transparency.

Good idea for difficult economic times

The textbooks rental industry.

Total freedom

for movie-making. In terms of distribution.

As long as you have the blogging platform to write and share your interests and thoughts with similar individuals, why not to do the same in the area of movies? The money are still an issue - a big one - but you know that part of it will no go to the distribution channels. For example. It is not enough to have the artistic talent, you should be a good PR and marketer. You cannot know all and be the best in all the domains.

US Marines, not allowed to network

Because we haven't achieved yet the universal peace and socialization interest should stop when meeting the national interest.

Anyway, the idea to launch the own social networking tools is, in my opinion, a good idea, as it could compensate, including psychologically, the interdiction in itself. In the same time, the military sector could develop its PR and marketing aims through the social networks.

Birth-live, on Twitter

by CEO's wife.

The idea in itself is as any other idea of communicating an event. The question: are people interested in such a private encounter? The answer to this question seems to be "yes". Of course, not anybody could enjoy such publicity and, of course, you need some previous advertising, in the on-line environment.

Foreign Policy and new media

a challenge for Israeli diplomacy.

and why the authoritarian regimes should fear social networking.

The efficiency of such approaches are very much depending on the degree of literacy and the number of Internet users. In the same time, it is almost impossible to keep a certain control of who is posting the information and of its reliability. It happened several times in the case of the Iran twittering. For foreign affairs, the opening is controlled - normal, because whatever open we consider ourselves, the sensitive issues should not be public, mainly when as it is the case in foreign affairs, another country is involved. And, in a non-democratic country, those tools are used for the purposes of propaganda. The key of a ethical use of social networks is, of course, democracy, but for the promoters of democracy, the social networks are the fresh air which could be used to counter the anti-democratic regimes. Regimes who could as well block access, as it was the case in Iran or China.

The process is on the run, but it is better to have now those tools than before. It is still a chance for change and more transparency.

Tracking public opinion

the case of Air Force One.

Of course, from the very beginning we enter the social networking sites, we have to be aware by the fact that we accept to share with - mostly unknown audience - personal and privat information. Of course, it is always possible to limit the degree of access to your own life - as the privacy selection from Facebook, or the limited access to tweets, in the case of Twitter. But, once on the net, this information could be accesses easily. The question is: how social we want to be? How large should be the extent of our network? A matter of option full acknowledging the risks and opportunities.

Social networks for the community

Helping to prevent crimes and creating a certain sense of the common goal of the community.

You have the right tools - the social platforms. All you need is to move fast and use them at maximum for the social benefit.

Astronomic Twitter

on the occasion of the International Year of Astronomy. An example of the good use of the micro-blogging platforms who are no more the "priviledge" of young and restless. It is a very efficient way to share instantly with people from your group - professional and personal - ideas and thoughts. A dimension not to be missed in any strategies and communications plans, whatever the domain.

Facebook and our relationships

apparently not a safe heaven.

The on-line dating sites are already a reality and their incresing number is a proof of their success. How do we deal, as adults with the on-line temptations is a new challenge and a significant change in how we see and interact with each others, including with our private environment.

Twitter Opera

a very interesting project lauched by Royal Opera House. Everything could be expressed in words and their power is up to their use, not to their number.

Lessons learned from the last week cyber-attack

against the Georgian blogger. How you could discourage the invisible "fighters"? Or how to continue to trust those platforms, used frequently in the latest months - in Iran, Republic of Moldova, unrest in China, to mention only a couple of them? Should be the Internet freedom and the obligation to refrain to attacks an international obligation, entrusted by organisations and states?

PS: Among the entities accused of the revolt in Iran, at the show-trials in Tehran have been mentioned: Twitter and Facebook.

Medical records - on line?

Risks and opportunities. It is obvious that the on-line system cannot avoid the health-care system. But, it is not easy: you need trainings with the medical staff - from the technical aspects to purely communications ones. For example, how to be able to communicate, to use on-line portals and offer more than a simple medical service, but also a friendly environment, fit to the requirement of a new emerging generation of patients - more informed, but equally possible victims of the overinformation (think about the big number of sites where people not with a medical qualification are giving advices who are took into account, including about pharmacological self-treatment. And on-line is a place as well for miraculous healings and charlatans). The most important is privacy and data security. Ethical data management.

Elections and Internet

could be Internet policies a reason to offer - or not - your vote to a certain politician? Increasingly yes. Because Internet is increasingly a part of our lifes and a reality easy to deny or neglect. Keeping the control over the Internet could be a way to acquire power. But, in comparison with the usual reality, the virtual reality is almost impossible to control. A good news for democracy?

Another analysis about the current trends of addressing Internet issues in Germany - here.

Social Network Marketing

Social networks could do more than a simple viral. Because more or less everything is a matter of trusting, or not. Somebody and something.

Breakfast on-line

Yes, it is true. Most part of us - with an active, social life, but not necessarily - we are more and more used to start our day not by preparing the breakfast, but by checking our accounts. It is a daily habit not only of adults, but also of the younger generation. An element already took into account when it is about various services offered on-line and about how to make the social platforms fit to the growing demands of an increasing number of users. This is the very practical side of the coin.

Another aspect is related to the situation in itself. It is unavoidable? Can we live without all this on-line communications and still consider ourselves alive? For me, it is mostly a matter of use and abuse. Of course the ways in which we acquire knowledge today is very fast and beneficient for anybody interested and eager to know more. And, to share this knowledge to the other - as this blogging service, anybody could set up in a matter of minutes. But, the real-life balance cannot be neglected. Think about a "virtual" politician, present and popular on-line and on various social networking platforms: his active virtual life is valuable only if it is continued by the same active involvement with real people, in the everyday life.

And, are we more socially connected nowadays, and more happy with our lives and friends? If I am thinking about how many possible friends I lost contact in the last years, because it wasn't Facebook, for example, to add them immediately and continue the communications, I would answer "yes". But, in the same time I have my own reserves about a high percentage of this on-line aspects. Think about on-line break-ups or on-line "relationships", about people unable to manage their real-lifes, about the confort of anonimity and the perverse pleasure to permanently lie about yourself, because almost impossible to discover who is hiding behind a nickname.

But this is the situation on the ground. It is important to be fully aware of this and to continue to think about solutions and ways to improve our communications. On-line or off-line, it is still a matter of words.