3 Tips To Better Manage Your Social Media Addictions

The other day a friend of mine told me she had something she needed to tell me. I tensed up. She sounded serious enough to have me worried that something was really wrong. 

“I’m addicted to social media. I have not said this out loud before, but its true. Addicted. In a bad way.”

Because I am a good friend, I did what good friends do. 

I listened. 

I didn’t judge. 

Besides, who am I to judge? I question my own addiction to Social Networks most every day. I have to be there. I’m a marketer. I’m an author. I’m a businesswoman.  So part of my time is justified for work. But all of it?  If I tell the truth - the honest truth - the whole truth - and nothing but the truth - the answer is no.

I am as guilty as the next person of scrolling a Facebook feed aimlessly in avoidance of doing work that might matter, of comparing myself to Twitter posts of people I don’t know, of looking to see who viewed my LinkedIN profile and didn’t reach out and then being so exhausted I need a nap after which I wonder why nothing is getting done. 

The question becomes - is that a true addiction?
The answer is - I’m not sure - but it might be.

My friend told me she had spent two hours on social media that morning. That made me feel better. While there is no doubt I spend at least that much time in the course of the day social networking, I generally don’t do it contiguously. Despite the fact that according to eMarketer we are both above the US daily average of 1 hour and 7 minutes I decided if we both had a borderline addiction, maybe mine wasn’t as bad as hers.

In any case, being the self-proclaimed Goddess of time management that I am, I offered my advice. 

Given her business - cold turkey is not an option. 
But putting oneself on a restricted diet is.

Which is how I have managed other similar addictions I have to things like shoes - which I am currently limited to buying only when on sale and no more than two new pairs a season. 

Here’s what I told her:

#1 Limit your social media intake to a half hour, 3x a day.  My days in radio and television have taught me to always live life in dayparts so I suggested morning, midday and afternoon drivetime - the theory being that different people engage at different times in the day. 

#2 Use a timer. No surprises here. Timers are my thing. Especially the old-fashioned kind that make an audible sound. For me it makes the time I’ve allowed seem longer. Plus it offers accountability.

#3 Turn off the alerts. On the phone, the iPad, the Desktop. There is no reason that everytime something happens in your networks you need to know that second. Just because someone liked the picture you posted of yourself in the seventh grade on #ThrowbackThursday - you don’t need to know that very second - much less respond. It’s distracting. It will suck you right back into your addiction and let’s face it - it’s just not that important! 

She liked the idea. 

I felt like a good friend.

Everyone was happy.

Then the oddest thing happened. 
As soon as we were done our conversation I got back on my computer and in less time than it took you to read this far I was on Twitter star gazing until my own addiction hit me squarely between the eyes. 

So I did what I had to. 
I listened to my own advice and have put myself on a restricted diet. If you notice otherwise, it’s a sign I’ve gone off the wagon.

A Message For Facebook

Dear Facebook, 

We've been friends for awhile. According to your records, since May 8, 2008. For a long time you were a lot of fun and I genuinely believed that you really were interested in working to improve my experience on your network.

But then you went public and as things work in our world, needed to get to the business of making serious money. I can't blame you. Money pays the bills.

Unfortunately the valuation of your business far exceeded the reality. That's a lot of internal pressure. A lot of creative thinking on new revenue models. Particularly challenging in a world that no longer wants to feel "sold to" or "marketed to" or "pushed."

Again - as a businesswoman I get it. As a digital strategist and former advertising salesperson I get it. And as an adjunct professor in digital marketing I get it.

But it's starting to get out of hand. You are starting to not  listen to me, your customer.

For weeks you have been annoying me - trying to get me to download your Messenger App. I assumed you understood my closing the pop-up meant I was not interested. But apparently you didn't get it. It continued to appear - which annoyed me even more.

Now I get an email from you telling me if I want to continue messaging from my iPhone, I have to download your App. Since you have not been listening to date -  I will repeat - I am annoyed. In fact, now I am REALLY annoyed.

I don't like anyone telling me what I "have to do" much less a social network that - to put it bluntly - is just not as much fun as it used to be.

My newsfeed is cluttered with stuff I didn't ask for.
Sponsored posts outweigh those from my "friends."
Every time you change an algorithm I have to go into my privacy settings to make sure you have not defaulted them back to what you want them to be. 
And, I'm tired that every time I take a peek at a new pair of shoes they follow me around like a lost puppy. 

I don't want your new Messenger App. And I won't be downloading it. Today or anytime soon. Truth be told, I don't even like to use it on my desktop. You already have more information about what I am doing and who I am connecting with than I would like. You can call it "private" messaging but I know the truth - someone over at FB headquarters is mining that text for data that you can use to make more money. I am not interested in adding to that stockpile. 

So if one of my Facebook "friends" happens to private message me - they'll have to wait until I am in front of my computer to hear back. I am okay with that. Because really - if it's so important to reach me - they have other choices.

Email. Text message. Other social networks we are connected on - the ones that are still fun and/or useful - like Twitter and LinkedIn. Besides, if it's really critical - they can do something decidedly retro - pick up the phone and call me.

My guess is the reason you are forcing this issue now is because there are a lot more people like me who have been refusing to download the Messenger App and you have sold this through already to clients and need to deliver.

I get that. 

But I don't care.

However, you should. 

The way I see it - new social networks will continue to proliferate in much the same way that cable networks did, going after niche markets or in this case - like-minded people. Some will be more successful and others not so. But in every case they will mirror what cable did - continue to pull share away from the broadcast networks - all because they did a better job of listening to what people really want. 

So Facebook, we are not through.  At least not yet. As I said earlier, I teach this stuff - so I like to keep my hands in it. But if you thought trying to force an unwanted App at me was going to increase my engagement - it is doing just the opposite.  You see - I still watch broadcast television - just less of it. 

How Social Networks Like Twitter Can Influence

When you go to a conference like the SHE Summit you leave with a lot of things. Renewed connections. New contacts. Ideas. A goodie bag. A pile of notes. And a lot of inspiration.

The writer and the teacher in me is always looking for themes. Especially ones that circle back to the work I do. So when I hear people like Norma Kamali, Mariane Pearl and Kelly Rutherford reiterate the power and importance of sharing our story and how technology allows us access to more story, I admit to getting a bit tingly.

Or when Margaret White discusses social media with Krystal Ball and how it is a platform through which to drive change, I can barely stay in my seat. 

I know things have changed when not one, not two, but three people with Greek names as difficult to spell and pronounce as mine grace the stage - Eleni Gianopoulos of Eleni's Cookies, Evy Poumpouras, former Secret Service Agent and on-air Security and Investigative Analyst and of course my good friend Agapi Stassinopoulos, inspirational speaker and author of Unbinding the Heart. 

But I also know they haven't changed enough when the conversation continually turns to the fact that as far as women might have come from the days of Marlo Thomas' character in "That Girl" (yes - she spoke too and I was a bit star struck!) we haven't come far enough. Whether it was Geraldine Moriba of CNN or Ambassador Samantha Power sharing their stories or Justine Aitel, head of Cyber Risk at Dow Jones discussing the need for better role models so young girls will go into technology - the consensus was clear. 

Change is happening - but not everywhere - and not enough. 

This past Sunday the NY Times reported the list of the 200 highest paid CEOs and only 11 were women. 

Which gives pause that there is still much work to do.

As Marlo Thomas so beautifully illustrated in paraphrasing her acting teacher, Lee Strasberg - acting is in the doing and so is change. Take a step and one step leads to another and to another and to another. 

Which takes me back to Krystal Ball's conversation with Margaret White. In 2014 that step can be as small as optimizing the impact you - just one person - can have using a social network like Twitter.  

Twitter's influence is disproportionate to the amount of people who actually use it. And it's no secret that the Media is using it to find their stories. Turn on any show today and they've figured out a way to incorporate Twitter into the mix  or at the very least report on what Twitter is saying.

So use it. Tweet something relevant or useful. And occasionally funny. Share something someone else tweeted. Listen to what else is being shared. And see what you might influence.

At the end of the day on Thursday, Claudia Chan, the creator of the SHE Summit announced the event was trending on Twitter in NYC. I'd like to think at least one or two of my tweets contributed to this event getting the attention it deserves. 

That's what taking a step or a tweet can do. And as Marlo reminded us - one leads to another and to another. That's how you influence in a digital age. That's how things change.


Try it - if you like this blog - click this link to tweet! 
 

The Upside Of The Stress Of Keeping Up In A Digital World

It’s not easy keeping up in a digital world.

You take off for a week - to a location where internet service is unstable - not to mention expensive. The withdrawal gives you the shakes. You find yourself distracted in conversation, your hand keeps reaching for that iPhone, certain there is something important happening inside of it that you can’t get to. You worry your business might suffer and no one will sign up for your June workshops because you are suddenly absent from Twitter and haven’t blogged in a week. That fear you are missing out on something happening somewhere else is getting in the way of where you are. You keep hearing Agapi and her sister Arianna Huffington reminding you of what their mother used to say  - “don’t miss the moment” - but you realize you probably are anyway.

It takes a few days and slowly but surely, the stress subsides. The sunshine, the blue skies, the sand and the sound of the ocean win out. The views are breathtaking. A camera cannot do it justice.  Everywhere you turn you are surrounded by family and friends, some new, some old. There is laughter and conversation - the live and in person kind - not the texting kind. Joy and love fills the air - after all you are here to celebrate the marriage of two wonderful young people who found their soul mates. You dance under the stars to a live band and feel transported to that time not so long ago - before technology had overrun your life and it was still possible to hide from the rest of the world.

You come back - relaxed and tan and happy and yes - a little bit excited to sit in front of your computer and catch up and get back to the work you love.

But within hours you’re overwhelmed. 

There are 500 unopened emails in your inbox, most of which are junk, but you have to go through anyway in case an important one is hidden in the bunch. You vow to unsubscribe to them all even though you know you won’t. Your page views on your blog have shrunk. All those creative ideas that were running through your head on what to write next while you were sitting under the shade of an umbrella negotiating with a local for that multicolored sarong with the sequins that caught your eye has suddenly disappeared into the ether. LinkedIn reminds you it has “been 8 days…since your last update. Share something new to stay top of mind.” The 8 days are written in bold red.

You start to wonder if you really do love all this technology as much as you think you do. You question if you can really keep up or if you even want to.

Then you sign on to Facebook and notice you have new friend requests from the people you just met. Those same people are sharing pictures from the big group vacation instigated by this destination wedding. People are commenting and liking and you get to relive each moment. 

You can’t stop smiling. 

And you remember - this is why you keep up. This is why you love all these social networks and digital tools. For the connections that get to continue when face to face is not an option. 

Registration for Your Digital You - the blueprint - 

a workshop designed to improve your digital profile 

is now open for June 12 and June 14. 

Grab your seat now!

How Digital Tools Can Work - A True Story

One of the requirements in my NYU graduate class is creating a blog. It serves two purposes. A place to complete the weekly homework assignments and a vehicle through which my students can learn experientially what it means to create and publish content.

I encourage them all to tweet out their posts and to interact with influencers online. That's always a challenge and one I easily relate to. It's one thing to complete a homework assignment. It's quite another to put that out into the world and to try and make friends with strangers. It's a scary place, not unlike the one I wrote about earlier this week.

But this is what can happen when you do.

The assignment last week was to find an example of newsjacking, a term defined as "the process by which you inject your ideas or angles into breaking news, in real-time, in order to generate media coverage for yourself or your business" and popularized by David Meerman Scott . One of my students wrote her post on what the London Hilton Hotel did to ride the news cycle around an event called Blue Monday,  a concept created a few years ago to spotlight what is considered the most depressing day of the year - the third Monday in January. 

Here's how Sonia used social media to get more attention to her post.  She tweeted the link and included David Meerman Scott in the tweet. David is one of those rare marketing people that actually practices the concept of social engagement - as opposed to just talking about it - which is just one of the many reasons I choose his book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR as the text for this class.

He read the blog and tweeted her back. 

This accomplished a few things. It made Sonia very happy. She got to see first hand, in real time,  how social media can connect. It's also a great example of CRM on David's part. David is a marketing influencer and Sonia now feels a greater and more personal connection than she did before and is more likely to help spread his messages.  And it put her blog link into his Twitter feed with his 104,000 + followers. 

When I saw what had happened I had to jump into the conversation. David already knows I use his book as our text but I wanted him to know Sonia was one of my students. 

The moral of this story is that this stuff works! Digital tools allow us to make new connections, expand our sphere of influence and overall - improve our digital profiles. 

In this case it also gave me material for a blog and a great segue to promote my new workshops! Your Digital You - the blueprint - a workshop designed to improve your digital presence.  

Smartphone Free Parties Plus 4 More Predictions For 2014

It got a little too noisy out there the last few weeks. Whether it was a Tweet, a Facebook post, an email or a television show it seemed everyone had something to say about the year ending. Best Of This. Worse Of That. To Resolve Or Not To Resolve. The Year In Review. Predictions for 2014. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Every now and then I found something worth reading, but mostly not. So I pretty much shut off my digital interactions, my #jtlunchbreaks not withstanding. I read Gary Vayner's new book about all this noise, binge watched Boardwalk Empire, saw American Hustle and Osage County on the big screen, wrote up a big long list of all I have to be grateful for 2013 and another for what I want 2014 to look like. 

Curbing the amount of time one spends on-line creates a lot of quiet and room to do something rather old-fashioned - it's calling thinking. 

From that experience I came up with my own list of predictions. 

1-The Internet is not going away. This might sound foolish to even suggest but there are still people who think this is all a fad. For real. They yearn for the early '80s before commercial access to the Internet took hold. They think if they engage as little as possible their dream might come true. This news flash is for them - except they are probably not reading this.  We're past the point of dialing it back. A lot more people are on to it now. So with this prediction I expect there will be more people looking for people like me who know how to explain it all.

2-Good story will rule. The idea of storytelling - not just to write a book or develop a movie script - but for business has become very popular. Here's your second news flash. Storytelling has always been important. The best sales people have known this for centuries. Today we are giving it a label. We call it storytelling for business or content marketing.  The reason it's become so trendy is that the noisier our world becomes the more critical it is to tell an engaging, compelling story - whether you are a scriptwriter at HBO or a brand strategist for Mastercard. Lucky for me I know how to write both.


3-More people will overcome their fear of Twitter.  The myth is that Twitter is a place to tell people what you had for dinner. News flash # 3. It's a lot more than that. It's a source of information and a great place to listen and get an unfiltered and uncensored understanding for what is really going on - with your customers and the world. The best thing about it is that unlike Facebook, your personal habits are not dictating what shows up in your newsfeed. You can follow people who have no interest in following you back. That makes the likelihood of stumbling upon something fresh and interesting and out of your comfort zone much more likely. 

4-The In-Person Event will continue to make a comeback. Maybe you didn't know it went away, but maybe you have noticed there are more and more conferences and talks and events being organized. I love that I can work from home. I love that I don't need the excuse of a blizzard to not leave my apartment for two days.  But that gets old quickly. We are not designed to be interacting with technology at the expense of human interaction. We need to be physically seen. We need to smell and to talk and to touch. We need the energy of other people in our physical space to survive.  Give me the option of speaking virtually or in person and I'll always opt for the live event.

5-The more technology complicates our lives, the more we will strive for simplicity. I'm thinking the next trend will be Smartphone free parties. When your host asks you to remove your shoes so the dirt from outside doesn't get on the carpet they will also ask you to put your smartphone right next to it so the noise from it does not infiltrate the fun. Restaurants can have a smartphone check right alongside the coat check. This will encourage people to actually speak to each other instead of their phones.

This one may be a long shot but I do believe we are reaching a tipping point to just how much information and noise we can take in. Forced reprieves might just be the answer.


It also occurs to me that predictions are similar to desires. If you are essentially an optimist as I am, you might slant your predictions to what you would like to happen. I'd like a bit more simplicity. I'd like to speak at more live events this year. And of course I'd like to have more people hire me to help explain how to use all this "digital stuff" to their personal and professional advantage. 

Predictions or desires? We won't know for sure until December. In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you predict for 2014.

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Why Twitter Is My Favorite Social Network

Twitter goes public today. Of course, you'd have to be living under a rock not to know that. Pundits on and off line are offering predictions for what it's really worth. 

My unscientific opinion is a lot.

But I'm biased. 

Twitter is my favorite of all the social channels. 

People who don't know Twitter don't see it for all it offers.  Their impression is that it is nothing more than a repository for Kim Kardashian to justify why she makes so much money or Anthony Weiner to tweet pictures of parts of him we'd all rather not see.

I was reluctant at first, too. I wasn't quite sure what to make of tweeting when I first joined - almost five years ago - but eventually I was won over. Which if I think about it - is how most of my great loves started. 

Twitter is a challenge - which is ironically one of the things I like about it. Limiting me, a verbose Greek to 140 characters or less (120 for pros who want to be retweetable) is never an easy task. 

But that's just part of the fun. 

Twitter is -
-a source of news and information
-an easy way to keep up with the trades and/or influencers       
-a source of insight into almost anything from pop culture to digital marketing
-a place to voice an opinion - uncensored
-a place to listen to others opinions 
-a place to make new connections - globally
-a place to learn more about the connections you already made
-a great resource for prospecting new clients and learning about them 
-a venue to amplify an event
-a channel to meet other people at the event
-a place to ask a question and start a conversation
-unfettered by intrusions in the sidebar (at least for now)
-a great way to start a conversation or spread one
-a way to start movements

That's just some of why it's my favorite. I could go on.

But let's face it. Those financial types could care less why I like it. They just want to know how it will make money.

The trick will be to keep it likable and to make money while not annoying users in the process.

We'll see how that goes.

In the meantime if you want to follow me on Twitter click  here.


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The Lengths Some Folks Will Go To - Day 26

Last Sunday Twitter was a flutter over Chipotle's tweets. Something had gone awry - as if someone had hacked into their account or a disgruntled employee had caused the feed to go "loco."

Chipotle has been celebrating their 20th Anniversary so there was speculation it could be part of a promotional stunt. 

But the company was silent as to whether this was intended or someone had indeed hacked into their account. The only explanation was this: 

Until Wednesday, three days later when the truth was revealed to Mashable. It was all nothing more than a marketing ploy intended to garner more attention to their anniversary promotion.

And it worked. 

That day they added 4000 followers and had 12,000 retweets. The earned media continues to pile up - this blog just adding on to the tab.

Or did it?  

Do you build customer loyalty by a hoax?

Or do you annoy and create distrust?

Are these the sort of antics necessary to rise above the noise today?

Will any of those new followers represent new customers?

Or were they just curious to find out what all the Twitter uproar was on Sunday?

As for me - lying is not something that endears me personally or professionally. I am no more likely to visit a Chipotle than I was before. Perhaps even less likely now. 

Unless of course - as I wrote yesterday - George Clooney asks me out and that's where he wants to take me. In which case the odds shift.

note: This is Day #26 of the 30 Day Experiment.   Here are the details on how it all started.

Where The Cool Stuff Is Created - Day 24

The really cool stuff, the ideas and innovations that are changing our lives are not being created in the big corporate offices.

Apple's roots were in somebody's parents' garage. Facebook was created by a couple of college students. Twitter is reportedly the result of a brainstorming session by a podcasting company.  Instagram,  Pinterest and Vine were not borne in an idea lab funded by a big multi-million dollar corporation.  Warby-Parker - who has disrupted the entire eyeglass industry - was the result of a conversation between four Wharton graduate students over why it was so hard to find a reasonably priced pair of stylish eyeglasses. Social media channels continue to proliferate. Case in point - Happier, which bills itself as a "simple and beautiful way to collect happy moments you find in every day, share them with close friends, and be inspired to do more of what makes you happier." 

Big business resists innovation. They might say otherwise, but they hardly walk the walk and instead create hierarchies of processes that make it near impossible to do something new in real time. 

They don't like risky. Risky is too hard to explain to their board members and shareholders. That conversation is not about the cool and cutting edge. It's about what their monthly financial statements look like. 

There's no doubt in my mind if the idea for Happier was pitched internally at a stalwart media company that it would have fallen on deaf ears. In those environments - if it bleeds, it leads. Which would be their reasoning behind passing on  the opportunity as they explained that happy stories don't make money. 

Except of course the one about the new start-up called Happier that according to the New York Times has found $2.4 million in seed funding.






note: This is Day #24 of the 30 Day Experiment.   Here are the details on how it all started.

Three Ways Technology Helped Me To Say Goodbye To Corporate Life For Good - Day 14

I owe a lot to digital technology. In fact, I'm pretty convinced that if not for the advances of the last five years I would probably be sitting in a glass-walled office someplace rather than at my desk in my living room.

Looking back, these are what I see as the top three reasons technology has allowed me to follow an entrepreneurial path.

1. It kept me connected. One of the hardest things to adapt to when you leave a busy office is not having all those human beings around all day. At first it seems like nirvana, being able to work uninterrupted and not having to pretend to be interested in a conversation a colleague has dragged you into. But it can get lonely at times. Which is where social networks come in. They keep you connected. You need a break and a little interaction and all you need do is sign on to Facebook or Linkedin. And you don't even need to get up from your desk.

2. It helped me learn what I needed to in order to move forward. A lot of people discount social networks, especially Twitter. They think it's nothing but mindless jabber.  Sometimes that's true. But more often than not it's also a great source of news and information. It can connect you to like minded people, influential bloggers  and potential business prospects as can other nets like Google+ and LinkedIn. The trick is learning how to use them right - which ironically can often be found at the end of the right link in a good Tweet. 

3. It allowed me to inexpensively set up shop in the living room. Let's face it, even ten years ago it was not as easy or seamless to create a business with nothing more than an iMac and the geniuses at the Apple store to show you how to unravel its mysteries. Five years ago it was. Today even more so. 

Lucky me. Lucky you. Lucky us. Thank you technology!

note: This is Day #14 of a 30 Day Experiment. Here are the details on how it all started.

When The Best Way To Connect Is To Disconnect

This was going to be a blog sharing this really great novel I just finished. It was so good, simply writing an Amazon and/or Goodreads review just did not seem sufficient. So I started to write this post.

I was going to tell you about how on Friday after an exhausting week of work I needed a break. From everything. People. Places. Computers. Things. I was going to tell you how I retweeted this tweet that originated from Lee Woodruff.

I had heard about this book. How could I not? While I don't know Caroline Leavitt personally we are Facebook friends. In fact apparently we have 118 friends in common. I checked ( yes - bloggers do research what they are writing about) and discovered  there are actually more than a dozen of those mutuals that I consider friends in the non-virtual world.

Anyway - Caroline has been sharing posts about this new novel for a while. She is one of those authors who understands the value of social sharing in a way that allows her true writer voice to be heard - authentically.

I made a note to add it to my Amazon wish list - for when I had time to luxuriate in a novel. Which was definitely not Friday. Not when I have a new NYU class starting on May 29,  two proposals for clients and all that marketing and prep work for the Digital Marketing w.001: Shedding Light On The Basics workshop on June 4.

But as I said, I was exhausted. I did not want to do any of the above, so I downloaded Is This Tomorrow to my iPad. Around 4 in the afternoon, I lay down on the couch and started reading. And I couldn't stop.

For the record, that doesn't happen often. I read a lot. I love to read. But it is a rare novel that I cannot put down - no matter how much else I "have" to do. It is a rare novel that reads effortlessly. That doesn't make me want to do anything but  read the next line. That each character pulls me in more than the next. That allows me that luxury of escape into someone else's world. That reminds me of how when I was a kid, one of my favorite places in the world was the second floor young adult section of the Glen Oaks Library where I could open the cover of a new book, lose myself in someone else's world and mysteriously connect more with myself. A book that reminds me I haven't been writing fiction enough of late.

I read until I was too tired to read one more word. All day Saturday, filled with real world responsibilities I kept thinking of this story set in suburban Waltham, Massachusetts in 1957 and 1963, of the complexity of the characters and of how real this fictional world had become for me. I couldn't wait until I got home to find out how it ended.

That's what great writing does. You can't wait to get back to it and then it makes you almost sad when you read the last page because even though you wanted to find out what happens, you don't really want it to end.

I wanted to write this blog to share this really great book and tell you that I think you should read it.

But as I was writing I realized there was more to this post than that.

This was a post about connection and how we find things in 2013. 

I had not read any of the reviews when I downloaded it. I hadn't seen it featured in a bookstore, because truth be told the last time I set foot in a real life bookstore was in January at the Barnes and Noble on Broadway to hear Ann Leary speak. (for the record I found out about that reading on Facebook)

I only knew that it was a May Indie pick and got featured in People Magazine because Caroline had shared that with her Facebook tribe. I read her posts because she shares good, useful info and often makes me laugh at her take on things. 

It was a tweet by Lee Woodruff, author, contributor to CBS This Morning and savvy social sharer that hooked me in on Friday. 

That's how discoverability happens today. Yes - there is a place for all that coveted traditional press - but what makes ideas and products and yes - great books spread - is good ol' word of mouth recommendations - a Tweet, a Facebook share, a Pin or a + Google.

This is also a post about disconnection. When I stopped all my busyness on Friday to treat myself to a novel the idea was sparked - without them having any idea - by the tweet of two people I really only know through Facebook and Twitter. 

And by that virtual nudge I was reminded that sometimes the only way to connect back with ourselves is to shut it all off. And do something drastically old world. Read fiction. 

So I'm sharing. Generously. Not because I'm being paid to. I'm not. Not because I was sent the book for free.  I wasn't.  Not because I will get something for this. I won't. 

I'm sharing because I can. And that's how people can say thank-you in the digital world.

This novel gave me a much needed respite from a crazy and exhausting week. The story and the characters replenished me, made me think and inspired me to go back to my own art - my unique combination of consulting, teaching and writing.

I'm sharing to say thank you to the author for creating such great art.

I'm sharing because that is the way of the world - and the digital world allows me to share more and do it more quickly.

I'm sharing because it makes me feel good. As did Is This Tomorrow.