Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Hey NSA, even my kids know snooping is creepy
This morning's breakfast conversation: ME: I'm feeling upset about how Barack Obama has been reading all the stuff we've been posting online -- everywhere except Twitter, which refused to cooperate. SWEETIE: That's creepy. ME: Good news, though -- I blogged your list...
8 kid-inspired features for Apple’s iOS 7
For the past couple of years, our kids' favorite bedtime stories have featured a feline protagonist whose best friend is Apple CEO Tim Cook. In each story, Tim Cook teleports this cat to Cupertino (Apple HQ), where Tim and cat work on various cat-friendly inventions....
Work Smarter with Twitter and HootSuite, new from Harvard Business Review Press
Do you feel like you could get more out of Twitter? Or are you a passionate Twitter user who wants to help your colleagues, friends and family use it and love it the way you do? Work Smarter with Twitter and HootSuite is for everyone who wants to get more out of...
End those digital fasts with these 5 April Fool’s Day pranks
Well, folks, it's almost that time again: Easter. Also known as the end of Lent. Or what should be known as national coming out day for all the people who've just spent the past 40 days doing some kind of digital fast. They inevitably come back with a desire to...
NSF Political Science cuts fail to predict the unpredictability of research
On March 20 the Senate de-funded political science grants from the National Science Foundation “except for research projects that the Director of the National Science Foundation certifies as promoting national security or the economic interests of the United States.”...
The 23 stages of the task management software lifecycle
Totally on top of all pending tasks Moderate slippage of select tasks leads to mild anxiety Catastrophic failure to complete one or more mission-critical tasks leads to wholesale re-evaluation of career choice, self-worth and why are we even on this earth anyhow?...
3 tricks for monitoring Twitter mentions and trackbacks
The brilliant Lauren Bacon made a big splash yesterday with her thought-provoking post on the emotional work that often gets assigned to women working in the tech world. The response to that post has been so massive that it's left her with a challenge: how do you...
Which Facebook updates could you live without?
The beauty of being married to a man with absolutely no interest in sports is that I would remain blissfully unaware of the start of hockey season, at least until I get to the office Monday, were it not for Facebook and Twitter, which are suddenly overflowing with...
Love in flames: finding the joy in hostile comments
"I don't know why you care about the shit that a bunch of total strangers say about you on the Internet." This was my mom's delightfully candid and potentially comforting response to this week's comment eruption on my Harvard Business Review post. My mom is quite an...
Saying goodbye to pen and paper
My latest blog post for Harvard Business Review has provoked a strong reaction to the idea of saying goodbye to the paper notebook. Here's my own take on the experience of giving up on paper and pen. 4.00 22.95 Alexandra Samuel Those 25 characters, comprising a tip, a...
The Harvard Business Review
Hey NSA, even my kids know snooping is creepy
This morning's breakfast conversation: ME: I'm feeling upset about how Barack Obama has been reading all the stuff we've been posting online -- everywhere except Twitter, which refused to cooperate. SWEETIE: That's creepy. ME: Good news, though -- I blogged your list...
8 kid-inspired features for Apple’s iOS 7
For the past couple of years, our kids' favorite bedtime stories have featured a feline protagonist whose best friend is Apple CEO Tim Cook. In each story, Tim Cook teleports this cat to Cupertino (Apple HQ), where Tim and cat work on various cat-friendly inventions....
Work Smarter with Twitter and HootSuite, new from Harvard Business Review Press
Do you feel like you could get more out of Twitter? Or are you a passionate Twitter user who wants to help your colleagues, friends and family use it and love it the way you do? Work Smarter with Twitter and HootSuite is for everyone who wants to get more out of...
End those digital fasts with these 5 April Fool’s Day pranks
Well, folks, it's almost that time again: Easter. Also known as the end of Lent. Or what should be known as national coming out day for all the people who've just spent the past 40 days doing some kind of digital fast. They inevitably come back with a desire to...
NSF Political Science cuts fail to predict the unpredictability of research
On March 20 the Senate de-funded political science grants from the National Science Foundation “except for research projects that the Director of the National Science Foundation certifies as promoting national security or the economic interests of the United States.”...
The 23 stages of the task management software lifecycle
Totally on top of all pending tasks Moderate slippage of select tasks leads to mild anxiety Catastrophic failure to complete one or more mission-critical tasks leads to wholesale re-evaluation of career choice, self-worth and why are we even on this earth anyhow?...
3 tricks for monitoring Twitter mentions and trackbacks
The brilliant Lauren Bacon made a big splash yesterday with her thought-provoking post on the emotional work that often gets assigned to women working in the tech world. The response to that post has been so massive that it's left her with a challenge: how do you...
Which Facebook updates could you live without?
The beauty of being married to a man with absolutely no interest in sports is that I would remain blissfully unaware of the start of hockey season, at least until I get to the office Monday, were it not for Facebook and Twitter, which are suddenly overflowing with...
Love in flames: finding the joy in hostile comments
"I don't know why you care about the shit that a bunch of total strangers say about you on the Internet." This was my mom's delightfully candid and potentially comforting response to this week's comment eruption on my Harvard Business Review post. My mom is quite an...
Saying goodbye to pen and paper
My latest blog post for Harvard Business Review has provoked a strong reaction to the idea of saying goodbye to the paper notebook. Here's my own take on the experience of giving up on paper and pen. 4.00 22.95 Alexandra Samuel Those 25 characters, comprising a tip, a...
OneZero
6 Ways to Prioritize Your Online Friendships
Tech expert Alexandra Samuel shares her six strategies for maintain friendships, both online and off.
How the Internet made me a better mother
Unlike some full-time working mothers, I’ve never fantasized about staying home with my kids. And yet here I am: close to a full-time working mother in terms of how I spend my hours, but nothing like a full-time working mother in terms of how I spend my days. The most surprising part: I’ve never been happier.
How kids create security risks — and business opportunities
In today’s Wall Street Journal, I outline the security risks posed by the hacker in your house: the child or teen who may be “borrowing” your credit card to make online purchases, downloading viruses or inadvertently open vulnerabilities in your network. That story...
A family Minecraft policy
Minecraft has become a global phenomenon because kids love playing it, and parents and educators praise the way it fuels creativity and learning. But we've held off on introducing it to our household because we're concerned about the compulsive behaviour and conflict...
8 easy ways to make me (and everyone else) love you more online
We all know the world runs on love. But every day, we squander that love by bugging the living crap out of other people, thanks to our careless interactions with technology. The good news is that there are some simple ways to avoid annoying people online (and off)....
Why I’m leaving Vision Critical
As of today, I’m leaving my role as Vision Critical’s VP of Social Media so I can spend more time with my devices. While it’s been a delight to lead Vision Critical’s efforts on social media R&D, I’m returning to my life as an independent consultant so that I can...
How much sharing goes on in the “sharing economy”?
How much of the sharing economy really involves sharing? It's a question that came up first thing today at the Collaborative Economy Conference, and it's a question that came up in a number of responses to my recent post on picking the winners and losers of the...
If conferences were like slot machines
My Facebook friends should be forgiven if they think I'm in Vegas to try out novelty slot machines. I was actually here to deliver three presentations on "How social media drives consumer decisions" at the LeadingRE real estate conference. I got to my last...
JSTOR DAILY
6 Ways to Prioritize Your Online Friendships
Tech expert Alexandra Samuel shares her six strategies for maintain friendships, both online and off.
How the Internet made me a better mother
Unlike some full-time working mothers, I’ve never fantasized about staying home with my kids. And yet here I am: close to a full-time working mother in terms of how I spend my hours, but nothing like a full-time working mother in terms of how I spend my days. The most surprising part: I’ve never been happier.
How kids create security risks — and business opportunities
In today’s Wall Street Journal, I outline the security risks posed by the hacker in your house: the child or teen who may be “borrowing” your credit card to make online purchases, downloading viruses or inadvertently open vulnerabilities in your network. That story...
A family Minecraft policy
Minecraft has become a global phenomenon because kids love playing it, and parents and educators praise the way it fuels creativity and learning. But we've held off on introducing it to our household because we're concerned about the compulsive behaviour and conflict...
8 easy ways to make me (and everyone else) love you more online
We all know the world runs on love. But every day, we squander that love by bugging the living crap out of other people, thanks to our careless interactions with technology. The good news is that there are some simple ways to avoid annoying people online (and off)....
Why I’m leaving Vision Critical
As of today, I’m leaving my role as Vision Critical’s VP of Social Media so I can spend more time with my devices. While it’s been a delight to lead Vision Critical’s efforts on social media R&D, I’m returning to my life as an independent consultant so that I can...
How much sharing goes on in the “sharing economy”?
How much of the sharing economy really involves sharing? It's a question that came up first thing today at the Collaborative Economy Conference, and it's a question that came up in a number of responses to my recent post on picking the winners and losers of the...
If conferences were like slot machines
My Facebook friends should be forgiven if they think I'm in Vegas to try out novelty slot machines. I was actually here to deliver three presentations on "How social media drives consumer decisions" at the LeadingRE real estate conference. I got to my last...
THE VERGE
What we’re getting wrong with hybrid
Organizations are getting a lot right in the transition to hybrid work: Recognizing that most professionals want to keep working remotely at least part of the time. Taking a team-based approach to hybrid, because the right structure depends on the kind of work you do....
The dimensions of hybrid equity
Those of us who enjoy the professional and personal benefits of remote work are a large and lucky minority—but yes, a minority. Most estimates show that about 60% of North American jobs just have to be done in person. Not incidentally, these are jobs that are more...
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My latest for The Wall Street Journal outlines seven key considerations in picking software to help your hybrid team work more effectively.