by bwheeler on March 7, 2010
Survivor Redemption is the latest season of the hit reality TV series by CBS – Survivor and this season has me wondering who will be the winner of Survivor Redemption.
Survivor is a game that combines a combination of strategy, physical skills and social skills. Contestants are castaways in a remote location and must compete in various challenges to “Outwit, Outplay and Outlast” their fellow team members and the other players throughout the game.
However, who wins Survivor often comes down to who has the best social skills or at least, who can manipulate the social portion of the game the best. With Survivor Redemption, the contestants are from previous seasons of the series, making this perhaps one of the best social networking experiments taking place on television.
The players all have experience in how to play the game, form strategic alliances and manipulate situations to their advantage. They have to establish trust that will not only carry them through the early parts of the game when they are members of two distinct teams but also through the later portions of the games when the teams or tribes as they are known on Survivor merge into a single team.
Perhaps the social portion of the game that is so deep rooted in trust is what makes me a such a fan of the Survivor series. I find this TV series parallels the trust component that we must build in our online social networks in order to be successful online. Those in Survivor who build trust from their social game advance through the many challenges ultimately become the winner of Survivor and take home the million dollar prize. This, in my opinion, is no different that what successful businesses are trying to do online.
While I watch Survivor Redemption this season, I will be cheering for my favourite Survivor Redemption contestant to become the sole survivor and the Survivor Redemption winner. I have my pick for who will be the winner of Survivor Redemption and hope that he can step up with a great social game!
by bwheeler on February 23, 2010
The Arc Hotel in Ottawa does not offer complementary in room Internet for its guests. If you want free Internet while staying at The Arc Hotel in Ottawa, you have to sit in the lobby.
The Arc Hotel on Slater Street in Ottawa, Ontario, is one of several hotels that I’ve stayed at recently that has forced me to look elsewhere for an Internet connection. Maybe it’s just me but I would like to be given a choice – Free Internet or Free Cable TV.
I’m just saying.
As for this trip to Ottawa, it won’t end soon enough. I will never again frequent the inside of The Arc Hotel until they realize that Internet access now, it’s pretty much commonplace and free at many other hotels around Ottawa.
by bwheeler on February 16, 2010
Well, I’m searching for a new WordPress theme to use on my blog. I’m not overly happy with the one that I’m using now and want something that is a little more “me”.
I’m currently running the Thesis theme that many people rave about. I find that it is a very good theme that offers lots of SEO functionalilty and works very nicely, with lots of customization available. However, I’m looking for something that provides me similar functionality but offers me a little more pleasing look out of the box.
I don’t mind having to hack the theme to make it look good but I’m not sure that Thesis is for me.
Anyone have any suggestions?
by bwheeler on February 10, 2010
Relationships are the key to successful social networking and social media interactions. People use a variety of mechanisms to form relationships and expand their social influence.
For me, relationships start to develop as I begin to participate in discussions and become engaged. I see the interaction that I’m having as a thing of value and I become stimulated at some level, either intelletually or emotionally.
Forming successful relationships is not always about agreeing with or thinking like the masses. This “sheep” mentality to relationship building is ineffective and provides nothing of value. Building successful relationships sometimes invovles stepping outside what is considered the “norm” and going against traditional views.
Often this establishes grass root movements that grow and flourish within organizations, adding value to those that participate in the relationship.
Whether it is increasing your social influence or fostering some personal growth, laying strong foundations within a relationship by building trust and credibility is essential. It allows the relationship to be leveraged later to your advantage.
Tell me, how do you build your relationships online?
by bwheeler on February 2, 2010
After being contacted by several readers asking why I have not posted about Mac’s greatest release to date, the iPad, I realized that they were right. Here I am with a blog about technology and I haven’t covered one of the most hyped technology releases around.
Well, here it is, my token iPad post.
To answer those critics who have said I’m not much of a geek because I’ve neglected the iPad in my writing, my response is simple - I don’t care about the Apple iPad. I haven’t bought into the culture that I must have an iPod, use an iPhone and now own an iPad. I haven’t bought into Apple’s cultural influences that has created many “sheep” that line up each day to get their Apple fix.
Yes, these gadgets definitely have a following but I’m not a follower. I have a less expensive MP3 Player that delivers my music and digital storage. I have a BlackBerry that delivers corporate email to me and I have a few laptops / netbooks that provides me all the functionality I desire in both Windows and Linux based operating systems. I’m one happy geek in my little world that doesn’t include Apple.
To be perfectly honest, I don’t see why there was so much hype. From what I’ve watched and read, the Apple iPad is an iPhone without the phone and I just don’t get the Apple culture that is so alive around me.
Apple hasn’t invented anything new with its iPad, it simply created another product for the Apple Cult that’s grew up on the iPod and stayed connected with the iPhone. Was there even a need to bring this device into a market that has become saturated already?
Tell me your thoughts on the Apple iPad and how the iPad / iPod / iPhone has changed your lives. Convince me that there is a need and use for these devices.
by bwheeler on February 1, 2010
In my last lesson in the series Building a Profitable Website, I talked about installing the WordPress blogging software.
Continuing with my Building a Profitable Website series, I will talk about installing and configuring some WordPress components that will be used to enhance your profitable website.
WordPress when installed comes ready for you to begin developing keyword rich content necessary to attract search engine traffic. It is however, not quite ready for you to use for making money online. You will need to install some key WordPress plug-ins that will enhance your new profitable website. [click to continue…]
by bwheeler on January 21, 2010
After writing the article on Why Automatic Follower Services for Twitter are Crap, it seems that I struck a nerve with a few people and I’ve received some pretty interesting emails from people who think that John Chow’s service, TwitterFollower.com is a great tool.
I’ve received several pieces of email from people saying that John Chow was one of the best bloggers in the world and that I had no right criticizing the free tool that he willingly gave to the rest of the Twitter community. It was made clear to me that I was a “nobody” blogger and a John Chow wannabe with very little to offer the blogging community. [click to continue…]
by bwheeler on January 11, 2010
Occupying a profitable niche and following my strategic approach to building a profitable website does not guarantee success. It does however, increase a webmaster’s chances at having a profitable website and having long term success.
When creating a new profitable website, one phenomenon that you will more than likely experience is the Google Sandbox effect.
Webmasters entering extremely profitable niches with their websites often notice regardless of how hard they work at developing their content, optimizing for their keywords and building links to their sites, their website rankings rarely improve in Google’s search engine results. What has been dubbed the “Sandbox Effect” is either a filter or penalty assessed by Google preventing sites in highly profitable niches from ranking well. [click to continue…]
by bwheeler on January 10, 2010
In the last Building a Profitable Website lesson I discussed web hosting and how it could impact your ability to make money online.
My latest lesson on building a profitable website involves installing and configuring the blogging platform WordPress which will be used to build our profitable website.
WordPress is perhaps the most popular blogging platform being used and it is one of the easiest way to create a dynamic website that is SEO friendly, easy to monetize and easy to maintain. This makes WordPress one of the best choices for building a profitable website especially for those new webmasters wanting to make money online.
WordPress supports a variety of plug-ins to extend the functionality of the software and has a variety of templates available to change the appearance of your website. There are many free plug-ins and templates available to help you build a profitable website. [click to continue…]
Survivor Redemption is the latest season of the hit reality TV series by CBS – Survivor and this season has me wondering who will be the winner of Survivor Redemption.
