Mar
21
Scoble uses Friendfeed to give away $5,500 to people in need
Filed Under Misc, Social Media | Comments
You may have noticed lately the growing number people on social networks who are organizing efforts to raise money for a good cause or to help recently unemployed people find jobs. One recent example was when Robert Scoble decided to give away $4,500 of his own money, which he later increased to $5,500 because of the response. The money was from a video project he did for Cisco (which he says we’ll hear more about soon) and he had no obligation to give it away but that’s what he did.
It started with this message on Friendfeed:
Although this amount of money isn’t enough to significantly change someone life, the post still led to a response of over 1,400 comments. When I saw he was giving it away on Friendfeed, I was interested to get Scoble’s thinking behind this approach so I asked him a few questions:
After you decided to give the money away, was doing it through Friendfeed your first reaction? Why didn’t you just give it to a charity?
I wanted to do something online instead of just giving money to a charity. I think it worked out wonderfully.
Do you think it would have worked if given away through Twitter?
Twitter wouldn’t be usable because I wouldn’t have been able to group replies like this. Also, I like Friendfeed a lot more and it’s more reliable and nicer for conversations.
One of the winners, Margaret, is using the money to help bring an Egyptian girl who suffers from a condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (like her own son) to Philadelphia for the surgeries. The condition affects 1 in 3000 and results in multiple fixed limbs and joint contractures. The $1,750 that she will be getting from Robert Scoble is only a small chunk of the $25,000 needed to cover all the trip’s expenses, but it has certainly gotten her a lot closer. You can find out more and donate money at the Big Life, Big Spirit website or follow @bigspirit on Twitter. I asked her:
Would you have ever thought being a Friendfeed user would have helped you get closer to your fundraising goal?
I have had more luck leveraging Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed for donations and awareness than my associate has with letter writing. It really was a fluke that I saw the contest. I hadn’t been on FriendFeed in awhile and just logged in. I saw the contest and realized it was ending that day. Any chance I get to promote Dolagy and the AMC community, is worth a shot. I posted the story and honest to god, I was speechless when I saw I won. The kindness of strangers sometimes blows me away. Actually since my son was born, my life has changed so much for the positive. Thanks to FriendFeed, Twitter, etc. I have gotten contacts to help publicize our efforts, look for Luxor-based videographers to capture her living conditions now (no luck yet but still hoping) and dozens of ideas on how to continue our efforts.
I think the social media community is so much tighter and willing to help each other. You would be amazed at the number of emails, tweets and messages I have gotten from people offering to help look over content, call a friend, offer a few dollars. When I started this project back in July I never honestly knew how valuable my online community would become to me. The full story of Jude, Dolagy, Shriners and myself is truly powerful and a strong example how you can be connected to someone you never met.
The other two winners were just as deserving - a student from England who will use the money to help pay for tuition and an art studio that was damaged during a California wildfire.
Her example is solid proof that all charities should now be putting a majority of their fundraising focus on social communities instead of traditional methods. In this example, Friendfeed made it easy to create an open thread that was easy for Scoble to read through and filter later on.
Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr. Further Reading: Well Wishes $2 You & Neighbors + Neighborhoods.
Mar
4
5 things people like to TwitPic
Filed Under Misc, Social Media | Comments
The image hosting service TwitPic has become one of the most popular 3rd party services for Twitter. Because of its popularity, most of the mobile Twitter apps that are available offer an easy way to upload pictures directly to TwitPic to post along with your text update.
While breaking events and celebrity photos generally get the most views, you can browse through the hundreds of the pictures being uploaded every couple of minutes by typing ‘twitpic’ into Twitter Search. Without any stats, I thought a little about what people are most likely uploading the most to TwitPic and came up with these 5 things (click on them to see the latest Twitter search results or click on image to enlarge).
1. Sunsets
When you get to witness a great sunset, your first reaction is likely to take a picture if you have a camera. For Twitter users, that first reaction is taking a picture, uploading it to TwitPic, then posting it to Twitter. Almost as frequently as sunsets, people are tweeting pictures of rainbows.
2. Dessert
What is it about desserts that makes us want to remember what they looked like before we devour them? Probably because for most of us it’s a rare occasion. Thanks for making everyone else on Twitter jealous but just remember who is going to be feeling better after it’s all gone.
3. Puppies
Puppy pics might be a close tie with cute babies. Either way, Cute Overload should be paying attention.
4. Driving
Probably not the a great idea (especially while holding onto an iced coffee) but people are doing it anyway. Hopefully your next tweet won’t include a TwitPic of your car accident.
5. Drunk Photos
Why only regret drunk dialing or texting one of your friends when now you can reach several people at once through drunk Twittering? I say do whatever you can to share these funny moments with everyone (Twitter can be too serious), just don’t drop your iPhone doing so.
We should also start to see more drunk videos posted through Qik, Seesmic, and 12seconds.tv as more phones come with video recording options. This is only going to continue to get more interesting as Twitter adoption grows and as mobile phones come equipped with higher resolution cameras. I hope TwitPic considers adding a better way to sort and view the best pictures being uploaded.
Any other common or funny trends that you have noticed lately?
Leave a comment below with a link to some other good Twitter search results or TwitPic’s you have come across. Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr.
Feb
16
Happy employees get their own book
Filed Under Culture, Management, Misc | Comments
I recently came across another video with Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, being interviewed informally by web entrepreneur Loic Le Meur. The interview, which is 20 minutes long and was recorded during the TED conference, can be found on YouTube.
In this interview, Tony Hsieh talks about the several ways the company differentiates itself (many of which are widely known but others not). He also goes on to mention that Zappos releases a book every year called The Culture Book that consists of authentic employee responses when they are asked what the Zappos culture means to them. I got a hold of this year’s book by emailing Tony. After browsing the book and reading through some of the responses, you immediately get the feeling that Zappos employees are very proud of working for the company no matter what position they hold (book is organized by departments).
So why put this book together? The answer to that is not clear, but the book says it does get “distributed to employees, prospective employees, business partners, and even some customers.” So that alone should tell you it’s very likely used as an effective way of recruiting new employees and further proving to the business world that Zappos is onto something.
Your employees are happy and they are not afraid to tell their story, why wouldn’t you want everyone to know?
Besides this interview, there is already tons of discussion on what differentiates Zappos as a company and now as a major brand, but I keep finding myself amazed at how seriously they take employee and customer satisfaction and how open they are with sharing their reasons for success. Tony’s presentation from a conference last year on how they got to $1 billion is sales is even available on Slideshare.
When I posted about the Zappos Culture book on Twitter, Julio Fernandez (@SocialJulio) replied with this important question:
Whatever happens, I think the Zappos story is becoming more valuable as time goes on and as they continue growing with very little marketing. Email Tony to get a free copy of The Culture Book (he replied to me within a few hours and I had the book in 2 days) or buy a copy on their site.
Nov
7
After purchasing the iPhone and activating it online through iTunes, I began to think about this activation experience and how it compared to the other methods we are used to. I remember the days when I used to handwrite all new contract forms by hand working for Radio Shack many years ago. It was very tedious and timely. I also remember working for AT&T, and often something would go wrong with the activation process leading to many dissatisfied customers.
Why aren’t all wireless carriers offering a similar online activation option for newly purchased cell phones?
Sure, no other company has iTunes to incorporate into this process, but it should not be very hard to build a website specifically for this purpose and have it mimic what Apple and AT&T have done with the iPhone. This will drastically cut the time needed for a customer to be in a physical store or on the phone once their new cell phone is in their possession. Also, another advantage of giving the customer the power to choose their own calling plan and features is the elimination of common employee errors.
I could understand how this might not be convenient for everyone. Only because some people like to leave a store with a working cell phone. In most cases now, everyone should have a working old phone until the new one is activated. Also, if you are porting a number over from another wireless carrier, it usually takes some time for the number to transfer over. Most people would not want to wait in a store for that period of time to make sure it has transferred successfully. Porting my number from Verizon to AT&T took less than an hour and I was sent email updates of the process which was added security.
I think this new activation process that Apple and AT&T introduced for the iPhone is being overlooked because of all the hype about the phone itself. I hope wireless carriers are quietly taking notice. Customers are more informed now about their cell phone options and do not need the help of sales associates to make decisions on purchasing and activating.
As companies make this type of service available, it is up to them to make sure people are aware of it. Apple did this by releasing one of their video tutorials, which is how I first found out about activating the iPhone at home. If this is adopted by companies and consumers, I can imagine this option could save wireless carriers millions of dollars by decreasing employee labor and possibly decreasing retail space.
Oct
24
This article is meant to help people who are thinking about employment with any of these retailers. I worked many years in retail when I was younger and this article will cover 5 of the retail jobs I held before graduating college.
What I am going to do is give a general summary of my experience working at these stores and whatever additional information comes to mind. This article from Fast Company also got me thinking and I may go into further detail on some of this retail experience at a later time. Some of the things I will briefly cover now are: training, job difficulty, and pay. I worked in these stores from 2000 to late 2006 and have them listed in order of employment, starting with Staples when I was youngest and ending with Cingular - the new AT&T. I have moved on since then to the corporate world.
What everyone should take into consideration while reading this (which should be common sense), is that my experience certainly does not represent the way it will be at every store. I think the two factors that will play the biggest roles in an overall retail work experience are: the employees you work with (management in particular) and the customers you will have to deal with. The hourly pay will also vary between different locations and your prior experience. So let’s begin…
Staples (approx. $7/hr)
Here, I mainly worked the customer service desk which meant being a cashier and answering the phone. Training was mainly one-on-one from what I remember and the POS system was very easy to use. The environment was OK and I was fortunate to work with some nice people. Management focused a lot on the store image. This is basically your local grocery store for office supplies. Most people came in, got what they needed and were on their way.
There were no real benefits since I only worked part-time. One downside was most of the employees were very lazy in my store so you couldn’t really depend on anyone to get something done. Overall, a pretty easy and simple job with decent pay if you are young. I worked at a fast food restaurant for my very first job, and this was certainly a huge step up from mopping greasy floors and changing garbage bags full of soda.
Overall Rating 4/5
Radio Shack (approx. $7/hr + commission)
I spent the longest time here out of all these jobs, for no particular reason. I honestly don’t know how Radio Shack is still in business. Who goes there to buy anything but resistors and fuses anymore? The training was not very good which makes it tough to help the customers who come in looking for small parts. Most of the time after searching for 20 minutes you’d find out the $1 part they needed was out of stock anyway. It’s hard training yourself on the 2,000 small parts and accessories Radio Shack sells. Be ready to try and sell and then up sell customers on the stores products, especially cell phones and satellite installations.
These are smaller stores which means it will not be as busy as the larger retailers. There were many slow days & nights when you did nothing for hours except maybe sell a phone battery to a senior citizen and stock products. Not good for the paycheck, but less stressful. All employees had to attend a monthly training class which usually focused only on selling cell phones and satellite service. The POS system was not very user friendly. Avoid this store if it is not in a busy location and if you are not very good at sales because you will end up working for close to minimum wage with no real benefits for part-time employees.
Overall Rating 3/5
Circuit City (approx. $10/hr)
I worked here for one holiday season, the busiest time for a store like this. Training was mainly computer and reading material based, so very dry and boring. It is a large store with many employees and managers so you will get to know a lot of people. Prior to me working there, the pay structure was much better because of higher paying commissions. It then changed unfavorably for the employees, obviously to save the company money. So while I was there, the only commission that was made was by selling extended warranties.
The employee discount was average at best. It’s nothing spectacular considering better deals can now sometimes be found online at other retailers. Just to warn you, working on a Black Friday meant everyone needed to be there 5am and work the registers for 12 hours straight. Management did focus a lot on overall store sales here and everybody’s sales were tracked to see who wasn’t selling. Most of the employees besides a few really didn’t know much about what they were selling which shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. But the customers that came in generally were not very tech savvy either.
Overall Rating 2/5
Apple (approx. $11/hr + quarterly commission bonus)
I applied here right around the time I started becoming interested in Apple products. A new store was opening very close to home so I applied online. I ended up getting the job even though I was not very knowledgeable with Apple products (I didn’t even own an iPod). The interview was conducted with 6 people in one room and was about 30 minutes long. They asked me about my prior retail sales experience and asked me some general questions about Apple products, which were not difficult since I told them I was new to Apple. Training was 6 full days from 9-6 in a nearby hotel before the store opened. If you are hired for an already established store, I believe you train mainly on the back computer and during regular hours with an assistant manager. There are ongoing training classes held in the store on Apple’s software titles which management encourages you attend.
You will work with a very diverse group of people. They try to hire genuinely nice people, so if that is one of your traits, you should get along with mostly everyone. Weekdays were OK here, but Saturdays were extremely busy. Especially since the store I worked in was not very large and located in a very busy shopping mall. There were days when I worked from the beginning to the end of my shift non-stop (besides breaks). You do get a couple 15 minute breaks and one 30 minute break if you work a full shift.
Partial benefits were available to part-time employees and full benefits with 401k and stock options available to full-time employees. Employee discount was 25% once a year and 15% three times a year on hardware, and a crummy 10% to use anytime in the store. They don’t give any discounts on software but you should be supplied with the latest iWork, iLife, and a free .Mac account for your length of employment. All employees at my store also received an iPod nano before opening which you get to keep after a certain amount of time. I believe they may have stopped giving out the iPod’s for new stores though.
The quarterly bonus depended on how well the store did and on the total hours you worked. As long as you are in a busy store (which most all Apple stores are nowadays), you can expect a pretty good commission check. All your sales are tracked on an individual basis and each month you sit down with a manager to see where you are not performing. All employees now have to use the wireless EZ-Pay systems that email purchase receipts so this means many repetitive conversations with customers explaining to them how the system worked and convincing them that there was no need for a paper receipt. Overall, it was good job. I got to learn a lot about Apple products and also got a MacBook Pro at 25% off.
Overall Rating 4/5
AT&T Wireless (approx. $12/hour + commission)
The interview was held with the store manager. They look for people who are knowledgeable with mobile phones and wireless technology. The training will either be in store or a week long out of store if there is one being held close to your time of hire. Once you are hire, there are online training courses which must be completed regularly. The stores are smaller in size but can get very busy on the weekends and many weekday nights. The store itself does not carry a large inventory which makes it easier to keep organized and stocked.
Another job that is hourly pay plus commission. Your sales will vary depending on the time of year, how aggressive you are, and some luck. It is a pretty competitive environment because of the large commission aspect so be prepared to work for your sales. What made it kind of hard to sell was not having many good phones to sell at low prices. Most people nowadays expect a free phone with a 2 year contract, but it was rare to see that while I worked there. Full-time employees get full benefits with 401k and paid time off. The biggest perk is getting a free cell phone to use with unlimited minutes and data, but on an average network.
Overall Rating 3/5
In Conclusion…
I do not regret working any of these jobs. I was able to save a good amount of money and pay for all my expenses through college. I learned a lot from my experience and I think some of the things I learned to deal with have helped me become a better rounded person. Most importantly, you will learn how to interact with people, how to deal with stress, and many other selling and customer service skills which can help you a great deal in business.
Please correct me if I am wrong about anything in this article. Let me know about your own experiences with these stores or any other retail job.
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