Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
2×2: Filtering your Facebook friends
How do you decide to view or relate to different friends on Facebook? As with all things in life, this can be described by a 2x2 matrix: Love this person Not so much Entertaining Facebooker Add to my "A1 pals" list, which is the news feed I look at most of the time...
What to tell your kids about dating before the Internet
Hey, old people! By which I mean: hey, people my age! If you've been wondering what dating wisdom you can usefully impart to your teenage or soon-to-be teenage kids, you should read Stephanie Martin's thoughtful post on Dating in the Social Media Age. Stephanie...
Don’t blame the Internet for infidelity
The Petraeus drama reflects the enticements and betrayals of our new, disembodied modes of discourse. The come-ons, the flirtations, the stalking, the alleged harassment: all were abetted by the deceptive cloak of cyberspace, and all were immortalized there. It’s a...
Smartphones have transported us from an offline third place
Public transit used to be a version of what Ray Oldenburg calls a “third place”: a neutral space, neither work nor home, in which conversation and community can unfold. Have smartphones changed that?
6 ways to speed up your social media response times
Speed is essential to developing the right social media campaign, response or update. In my last post, I looked at how the right kind of market research program can support faster and more responsive social media management, inspired by The Quick and the Dead, a new...
Why the speed of research matters in social media
How quickly do you have to reply to a critical tweet? How long does it take for the right video to go viral? How often do you have to update your company's Facebook page? Speed is at the heart of many of the questions that come up over and over again in social media....
Should copyediting be part of your social media strategy?
I'll admit it: I'm a grammar nazi. When I see a poorly punctuated tweet, I cringe, and when I see a blog post with a comma splice in the title, I want to tear my hair out. I've fantasized about a supper club for copy editors -- the folks like me and my husband, who...
A new path to social media insight at Vision Critical
People who post frequently on Facebook and Twitter are more than 3 times as likely to care about being the most fashionable person in the room, compared to more passive social media users. That was one of the surprising findings that came out of a major social media...
5 questions about your personal brand and your day job
My latest for the Wall Street Journal addresses the challenges that companies face in managing "co-branded" employees: employees who have built a significant reputation and following through social media. The story covers a range of issues managers need to consider,...
How quickly should you reply to email?
I'm a judgemental email sender and an anxious email recipient. When I send someone an email, I judge them based on their response time: instant? slow? eternal? And by judgement, let me be clear: I'm not judging them on their email skills alone. Increasingly, I use...
The Harvard Business Review
2×2: Filtering your Facebook friends
How do you decide to view or relate to different friends on Facebook? As with all things in life, this can be described by a 2x2 matrix: Love this person Not so much Entertaining Facebooker Add to my "A1 pals" list, which is the news feed I look at most of the time...
What to tell your kids about dating before the Internet
Hey, old people! By which I mean: hey, people my age! If you've been wondering what dating wisdom you can usefully impart to your teenage or soon-to-be teenage kids, you should read Stephanie Martin's thoughtful post on Dating in the Social Media Age. Stephanie...
Don’t blame the Internet for infidelity
The Petraeus drama reflects the enticements and betrayals of our new, disembodied modes of discourse. The come-ons, the flirtations, the stalking, the alleged harassment: all were abetted by the deceptive cloak of cyberspace, and all were immortalized there. It’s a...
Smartphones have transported us from an offline third place
Public transit used to be a version of what Ray Oldenburg calls a “third place”: a neutral space, neither work nor home, in which conversation and community can unfold. Have smartphones changed that?
6 ways to speed up your social media response times
Speed is essential to developing the right social media campaign, response or update. In my last post, I looked at how the right kind of market research program can support faster and more responsive social media management, inspired by The Quick and the Dead, a new...
Why the speed of research matters in social media
How quickly do you have to reply to a critical tweet? How long does it take for the right video to go viral? How often do you have to update your company's Facebook page? Speed is at the heart of many of the questions that come up over and over again in social media....
Should copyediting be part of your social media strategy?
I'll admit it: I'm a grammar nazi. When I see a poorly punctuated tweet, I cringe, and when I see a blog post with a comma splice in the title, I want to tear my hair out. I've fantasized about a supper club for copy editors -- the folks like me and my husband, who...
A new path to social media insight at Vision Critical
People who post frequently on Facebook and Twitter are more than 3 times as likely to care about being the most fashionable person in the room, compared to more passive social media users. That was one of the surprising findings that came out of a major social media...
5 questions about your personal brand and your day job
My latest for the Wall Street Journal addresses the challenges that companies face in managing "co-branded" employees: employees who have built a significant reputation and following through social media. The story covers a range of issues managers need to consider,...
How quickly should you reply to email?
I'm a judgemental email sender and an anxious email recipient. When I send someone an email, I judge them based on their response time: instant? slow? eternal? And by judgement, let me be clear: I'm not judging them on their email skills alone. Increasingly, I use...
OneZero
Choosing research methods for data-driven storytelling
This blog post does not represent Vision Critical. In fact, I think some of my colleagues are going to argue with me vigorously over this one. Rigorous data gathering and analysis can get in the way of effective storytelling by non-profits. That proved to be the most...
Is this an ice cream? A 2×2
It has recently come to my attention that many people seem to be unable to recognize whether their preferred frozen dessert is ice cream. At last! A modern dilemma I can actually solve, thanks to this handy 2x2: Is it ice cream? Butterfat content 10 to...
Yelpless: What kinds of reviews get squelched by Yelp?
I'm an ardent (some might say pathological) Yelp user, and since I am incapable of putting anything in my mouth without first validating its viability on Yelp, I try to contribute back to the community by sharing my own perspectives and information, particularly on...
Is the Canadian media responsible for Western Canadian alienation?
What is the root cause of Western Canadian alienation? Contrary to common arguments, it's not because the rest of Canada fails to understand the West's "distinct history, economy and society", it's not due to the National Energy Program or even (as my friend and...
Bumper sticker conversation guide: 2×2 edition
This weekend my mind got blown a tiny bit by this unexpected combination of bumper stickers. Naturally, I facebooked the photo, and my friend Steve challenged me to fit this phenomenon into a 2x2. But as with any 2x2, the structure of the table should be determined by...
How 17 essential travel apps can improve your next vacation
Whether you’re packing your bags for a summer trip to Europe or packing the car for a summer road tip with the kids, you may be tempted to define your vacation by what you’re not packing: your computer, tablet or mobile phone. As more and more of us struggle with the...
Making room for messiness
For the past two weeks we've been in the middle of our semi-annual domestic meltdown. Meltdown features include: emergency school visits necessitating precipitous departures from work implementation of new household rules precipitating epically draining tantrums...
What you can learn by NOT throwing your child out of a window
A few years ago I found myself comparing vacation plans with a colleague — a single guy about a decade older than me. His upcoming vacation? A month-long backpacking trip to Hawaii, totally off the grid. When I marvelled at his bravery, he offered this wisdom: “Every...
JSTOR DAILY
Choosing research methods for data-driven storytelling
This blog post does not represent Vision Critical. In fact, I think some of my colleagues are going to argue with me vigorously over this one. Rigorous data gathering and analysis can get in the way of effective storytelling by non-profits. That proved to be the most...
Is this an ice cream? A 2×2
It has recently come to my attention that many people seem to be unable to recognize whether their preferred frozen dessert is ice cream. At last! A modern dilemma I can actually solve, thanks to this handy 2x2: Is it ice cream? Butterfat content 10 to...
Yelpless: What kinds of reviews get squelched by Yelp?
I'm an ardent (some might say pathological) Yelp user, and since I am incapable of putting anything in my mouth without first validating its viability on Yelp, I try to contribute back to the community by sharing my own perspectives and information, particularly on...
Is the Canadian media responsible for Western Canadian alienation?
What is the root cause of Western Canadian alienation? Contrary to common arguments, it's not because the rest of Canada fails to understand the West's "distinct history, economy and society", it's not due to the National Energy Program or even (as my friend and...
Bumper sticker conversation guide: 2×2 edition
This weekend my mind got blown a tiny bit by this unexpected combination of bumper stickers. Naturally, I facebooked the photo, and my friend Steve challenged me to fit this phenomenon into a 2x2. But as with any 2x2, the structure of the table should be determined by...
How 17 essential travel apps can improve your next vacation
Whether you’re packing your bags for a summer trip to Europe or packing the car for a summer road tip with the kids, you may be tempted to define your vacation by what you’re not packing: your computer, tablet or mobile phone. As more and more of us struggle with the...
Making room for messiness
For the past two weeks we've been in the middle of our semi-annual domestic meltdown. Meltdown features include: emergency school visits necessitating precipitous departures from work implementation of new household rules precipitating epically draining tantrums...
What you can learn by NOT throwing your child out of a window
A few years ago I found myself comparing vacation plans with a colleague — a single guy about a decade older than me. His upcoming vacation? A month-long backpacking trip to Hawaii, totally off the grid. When I marvelled at his bravery, he offered this wisdom: “Every...
THE VERGE
Remote work is a learned skill
Nobody is born knowing how to work...
Remote work: A conversation
What does it take to succeed in the hybrid workplace? I'm delighted to join my friends at the Lavin Agency for an Author's Corner conversation with Charles Yao, Lavin's Director of Intellectual Talent. Our conversation will take place online at 9 am Pacific (noon...
How Working From Home Has Changed Employees
Today in The Wall Street Journal, I offer an expert-driven roadmap to managing employees who've been changed by the experience of remote work. As I write in today's story, They have spent over a year adjusting to a radically different rhythm—both in terms of work and...
Today in The New York Times: How to Navigate the Postpandemic Office
How much time should employees spend at the office, and how much time can they continue to work remotely? How do we schedule office time for our teams so that we get the most from our space—and our employees? What do we do if some employees want to stick with remote...