Social Media has gone to the dogs!

Social Media has gone to the dogs.  After training, showing, handling, and judging dogs for eight years, social media and dogs have their similarities in concepts and behaviors.  *Note: This post is mostly intended to be humorous.  Don't be too offended.  Also, Happy 8th Birthday to @Mousethedog!

1. Classical conditioning is an old dog training principle.  Classical conditioning is simply the pairing and associating of two things.  In Pavlov's case, his dog associated a bell with dog food which lead to drooling.  Eventually, the dog would begin to drool with sound of the bell even in the absence of food.  In dog training, the trainer should always be in a cheerful mood regardless of what the dog is doing (much easier said than done).  The dog will associate the trainer with cheerfulness and other good things.  If the trainer is always angry and upset, the dog will begin to associate the trainer with angry and upset feelings.  It isn't hard to figure out why some dogs avoid their owners in this case. 

If your Twitter voice and Facebook posts are always unhappy and angry, people will stop following you.  You are a debbie downer, a stick in the mud, an angry cloud on a sunshiny day.  On the other hand, if your Twitter voice and Facebook posts are always cheerful and happy, people might start to associate you with positive emotions, engage with you more, and tend to follow you.  Classically condition people to like you, not to run away from you. 

2. Everyone wants to chew on the new toys until it is broken.  Dogs love to play with new toys until they are un-stuffed and shredded.  Just give a group of dogs a fuzzy stuffed toy and check back in a few weeks to see if you can find the parts of the stuffed toy.  This is the same thing with social media tools.  Today, Twitter is big.  It is so popular that it fail whales frequently.  Everyone wants to play with Twitter, and now we've broken it.  Tweets have gone missing. Twitter search is a joke.  While the Twitter toy has lasted a couple of years so far, how much longer under social media gets a new toy?  Other examples of broken toys include the iphone.  AT&T's network (especially in San Francisco and Austin) just can't support iphone users anymore.  Looks like the HTC Evo 4G is the new toy. 

3. In dog training, like social media, there's not only one single right way to do things (many wrongs as well).  There's countless numbers of dog training methods, and there are also countless numbers of social media strategies and tactics.  Different methods for different dogs.  My big dog doesn't respond well to repetition methods.  He gets bored.  However, my little dog loves doing the same exercise over and over again, especially when she is very confident about her performance.  Different social media strategies for different audiences.  In social media, hard selling or spamming on Twitter usually get you a kick in the pants.  You'll probably also get blocked.  However, hard selling or spamming in the adult website industry probably works considering how many wind up in my spam box. 

4. In dogs, they all want to sniff the newbie's butt.  Who's that new dog at the park?  What's his story? Should I pee on him?  In social media, we all tend to google and search for dirt on new users.  Who's that new blogger?  Has anyone ever met that newbie with only 3 followers?  Before you get started in social media, be sure that you clean up your Facebook and Myspace (may it rest in peace) accounts.  No one needs to find that photo of you doing a keg stand in your sister's bikini and high heels when sniffing your online butt.

5. Dogs breeds were developed with certain innate characteristics over hundreds of years.  Border collies love to chase moving objects.  Daschunds love to dig.  Huskies love to pull.  You can try to train them to not engage in those behaviors, but the dogs like to do what they like to do.  Your audience has innate characteristics.  They like what they like, and you can try to change it, but good luck.  If psychologists knew how to consistently and reliably invoke attitude and behavior change, we would have put an end to drug abuse, unsafe sex practices, and unhealthy eating habits.  We're still working on those. 

6. Motivation.  Dogs wake up in the morning wanting to pee on things, eat cat poop, slobber on the couch, and hump stuffed animals (maybe not in that order).  They are dogs after all, and that's what they are motivated to do.  Users wake up in the morning and look for interesting news, follow new users, and play Farmville.  Face it.  They don't wake up saying, "I would LOVE to spend my time writing a blog post about your product!"  Dogs have different motivations than their handlers.  Consumers have different motivations than businesses.  While your business might have fans who like your products, they aren't as motivated as you are to stay afloat. 

7. Be genuine.  Dogs can smell a fake from a mile away.  They can read your body language much better than humans can.  Users can also smell a fake on social media as well.  You can't put up a fake front for long.  We'll call you out!

8. Dog training and social media never ends.  I get asked frequently how long it took to train my dogs.  My reply is, "It never ends."  The notion that one can take a dog through few obedience courses and get a well-behaved dog is pretty far from the truth.  Training a dog happens is a never ending process, especially if they are trained for performance activities.  Training lasts a lifetime.  Successful social media also never ends.  I've been asked "How long do we have to use Twitter? When do we are we finished with social media?"  The answer is: Unless your business or your internet presence ceases to exists, social media should not end.  Social media tools may come and go, but hopefully the social part never ends. 

The Age of Entitlement in Social Media

Disclaimer: The Age of Entitlement attitude is not limited to age, nor do all Generation Y-ers have that attitude.

Generation Y, those babies born in the 80′s and 90′s, have been dubbed the Generation of Entitlement.  There is a plethora of articles from business journals to psychology magazines describing the typical attitude of Generation Y-ers.  Early in my teaching career, seminars on how to deal with this type of attitude and expectations were common, even at major universities.  We were warned that these generation of students were demanding.  They wanted exams grades posted within hours of the exam.  They wanted credit for effort, regardless of mastery or completion.  The phrase “But I tried….” was fairly typical.

The first lecture class of 250 freshmen I taught was likely the poster children of this attitude.  While that class was soon under control with a reality check, I decided that there had to be a serious culture setting procedure right from the beginning.  I use old school teaching methods where I set expectations high, keep my grading scale difficult, and ban all misbehaviors from my classroom.  Any student that has an unpleasant attitude is asked to leave, forever.  I also show Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture video, and I insist that all my students perform as well as his students did.  Needless to say, by the end of the semester, the generation of entitlement is turned into the generation of hard work and gratitude.

There’s no attitude switch for the Generation Y-ers when they enter social media.  The attitude of give me, credit me, and make me feel special persists everyday on social media.  It doesn’t take long to see someone on Twitter complaining about what they should have gotten.  Just show up late to a party advertising free food and free drink.  You’ll hear the Generation Y-ers complaining about how they didn’t get any free food or free drink that they deserved.  Some businesses have reported hearing the “I’m a Yelper so you should give me free food/drink.”  Sadly, that’s not unheard of from unscrupulous bloggers as well.

It isn’t any secret that I was a born in the 80′s.  I’m technically a Generation Y baby, and I’m embarrassed about the attitudes and behaviors of my generation.  Some people assumed that I was given things like my house.  Sorry, I bought my house when I was 21 by saving up all that I had earned as being a nanny.  I could afford to invest in my hobbies because I worked many hours during my early years of graduate school.  Now that I started my own business, I get emails and phone calls from people asking me how I did it.  The short answer is, “I worked hard.”  Fortunately, my doctorate is in social psychology so I had a knowledge base that translates easily into marketing and social media.  But most importantly, I worked hard to build up my skill sets and to build relationships that now support my business.

I very happy to help others get started in social media.  On the other hand, I’ve been contacted by many generation y-ers about social media and food blogging.  Most recently, someone who had only been on Twitter for two months was now wanting to start working as a social media consultant.  This person was straight out of college with no work experience to boot.  I was speechless.  Had Generation Y babies completely forgotten about hard work, learning from mentors, and earning a reputation?  Did they not realize that many successful people worked their way up?  Gary Vaynerchuck is living it up now, but he started from a basement, literally.  Rachel Ray is highly successful now, and she started making only $50 per show.

So what can you do if you’re a business that faces the Age of Entitlement regularly?  I’d advise that you set a strict policy on how to deal with the most common challenges you have.  If your business regularly gets people asking for free product because they are active in social media, implement a policy on how to handle those requests.  Hint: A complicated policy requiring those people to send you samples of their writing and/or detail the impact their strategies have on your type of business usually sends them on their merry way.

If you’ve got that Entitlement attitude, don’t be hurt.  Just be prepared to work hard.  If you fail, just try again.  If you have a passion for something, look for a mentor to help you cultivate that passion.  Show gratitude.  Thank people for their time.  Thank people for helping you.  Open your ears to criticism.  You can’t improve if you don’t know where you need it.  Look for communities in which a hardworking attitude is required and rewarded. This Week in Startups is one I highly recommend. @Jason is the complete opposite of a Generation Y-er.  If you haven’t watched Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, this is the time to do it.

The Cars of Maker Faire San Mateo

Maker Faire 2010 San Mateo was a blast.  From Oldies to New(ies?), there were all sorts of interesting transportation vehicles. 

I like how it says Stop.

I'm not quite sure what he's thinking.

I wish I could remember what they did to this thing.

A Ford Fiesta.

I'm not sure how one would get on this one.

Chevy Hydrogen Fuel Cell Equinox - Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about this vehicle.  Let's just say that the representatives were pretty tight lipped with the information.

The interior.  Since I only had about a 30 second drive with this car, I don't have much to say.  I could feel vibration in the steering wheel.  That's as notable as it gets.

On the course.

Toyota Pruis converted to be a plug in.

These people were also tight lipped with the information as well.

This car wins longest name contest. CMT 380xblackbird diesel turbine electric serial plug in hybrid sports car at Maker Faire San Mateo

The owner of this car was the most secretive with information.  No words, just pictures here.

Eating through San Francisco - part 4 - The Slanted Door and Tu Lan

Eating across the spectrum in San Francisco can mean many things.  For us, that meant eating at hole in the wall cheap joints and also eating at fancy pants dining locations.  Of the many recommendations that we received for places in dine in San Francisco, the Slanted Door was by far recommended the most often. 

The Slanted Door is an upscale modern Vietnamese restaurant.  The dishes were creative, and the view across the water was amazing.  Additionally, they also carried Nikolaihof biodynamic elderflower, an elderflower syrup that is near impossible to get in the United States.  This particular syrup isn't from the United States, it is from Australia.  I asked my waitress for a sample to see how it compared to St. Germain Elderflower liqueur.  It seemed to be very similar for the most part, but slightly grassier and more citrus notes. 

We started off with mesquite grilled lamb sausage topped with Chinese black olive and preserved lemon relish and kusshi oysters . The mesquite grilled lamb sausage has great flavor however slightly tough.  The black olive relish was just a tad salty. 

The kusshi oysters on the other hand, were fantastic.  The oysters were incredibly fresh and smelled like the ocean.  The garnish on top was tangy, crunchy, citrusy, with a slow cool yet spicy burn at the end.  These were a sure winner. 

I ordered the Becker lane pork shoulder with green garlic and wolfberries in banana leaf with pineapple-anchovy sauce. The flavor combinations in this dish were well-balanced, savory yet sweet, and perfect with rice.  The meat was incredibly tender, and the pineapple-anchovy sauce was pretty fabulous.  Sweet and salty, with great depth of flavor.

As you can see, we didn't like it at all. 

For a soup, we ordered the asparagus and wild dungeness crab meat with white pepper and sesame oil.   It was pretty light and tasty.

And lastly, we ordered the grass-fed estancia shaking beef, cubed filet mignon, sausalito springs' watercress, red onions and lime sauce. The shaking beef is one of Slanted Door's more popular dishes, and the recipe is online here.  The dish was pretty tasty, but not something I'd order again.  This steak dish is available at other Vietnamese restaurants, and I can make it at home.  I was looking for something that isn't on the menu at other restaurants that really show cases Slanted Door's creativity. 

For dessert, we had the banana tapioca with sweet potato, avocado ice cream, and crisp lime meringue.  This dish probably sounds odd and gross.  You might think that banana tapioca, sweet potato, avocados, and lime have to be the a terrible combination.  You are wrong.  This was the most delicious and well-balanced dessert.  The tapioca is infused in pureed bananas.  The avocado ice cream was mild and creamy.  And the lime meringue (which was more like chunks of lime divinity) pulled everything perfectly together.  The textures and the flavors of this dish were amazing.  This is the type of dessert  that impresses.  The final bill with tax and tip was $125.74.

The other end of the dining spectrum was Tu Lan.  While Tu Lan wasn't the cheapest place we ate at in San Francisco (I paid two dollars for a dim sum meal), it certainly did qualify for hole in the wall.  I'm not sure if the clientele or the restaurant was dirtier, and I didn't care care.  I didn't care if the seats are duct taped together or that the counter was visibly grimy.  I didn't care if homeless people were engaging in trade at the counter. I was going for grungy hole in the wall, and I hereby declare Tu Lan to be the "Mother of All Hole-in-the-Walls."

Imperial Rolls at Tu Lan were perfectly crunchy.  Flavorful. Delicious.

Spicy beef noodle was an awesome soup.  It had reminded me of Chinese spicy beef noodle soup, and it was perfect on a cold night. 

Chicken curry with potatoes was pretty good, from what I got.  @windaddict ate most of it.  Total bill: $18.  And the food we got could have easily fed another person.  Now this place closes pretty early at 9:30 pm, and we saw an endless stream of people coming in wanting to be served even after closing.  I asked the chef  if they were always that busy, and he said nope.  Could have fooled me.  Wouldn't it be awesome to have an endless stream of people wanting to eat at your restaurant?