Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Working with social media: top 11 posts of 2011
What the Internet did for you in 2011
My year-end post for the Harvard Business Review asked the question, What did the Internet do for you this year? In that post, I wrote: Appreciating the moments when our online work and lives just click tells us that all this time we spend online is not a compulsion,...
My 11 most popular blog posts of 2011
29 free or cheap online collaboration software tools for you and your team
Under "fire, pants on", please file my blog post of not two weeks ago, claiming to have seen the light on how to choose online collaboration tools so that you accommodate the least-geeky member of your team. As a philosophy, that lasted for 10 whole days, but as a...
Writing about Motherhood Online
[O]n the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog, which liberates you to be a bitch. Not a bitch to others -- ...online mothers' groups are quick to sanction hostility -- but the impatient, imperfect bitch of a mom uses jarred babyfood, disposable diapers and a TV-as...
6 crucial police guidelines for stopping social media vigilantes
Yesterday, Vancouver was treated to the first court appearances by alleged participants in the 2011 Stanley Cup Riots. It was a snapshot of one of the most profound and valuable institutions in our society: a system of justice to which we have collectively delegated...
10 geek gifts for this holiday season
The holiday season sends many of us into the aisles of Best Buy or the Apple Store. We might wander…
How to follow your own principles online
Listen carefully to any twinge of discomfort when you’re online. It’s there to help you learn how to follow your own principles online.
Delete your Klout profile and be more than a Klout score
7 steps to deleting your Klout score, following through on my Harvard Business Review blog post, “The Social Sanity Manifesto”.
Learn to listen online by lurking silently on one social network
Today's practice: Practice your listening skills by choosing one social network where you'll pay active attention, but not actually contribute. My friend Jason Mogus likes to say that we teach what we need to learn. I have long taken this as the single best...
The Harvard Business Review
Working with social media: top 11 posts of 2011
What the Internet did for you in 2011
My year-end post for the Harvard Business Review asked the question, What did the Internet do for you this year? In that post, I wrote: Appreciating the moments when our online work and lives just click tells us that all this time we spend online is not a compulsion,...
My 11 most popular blog posts of 2011
29 free or cheap online collaboration software tools for you and your team
Under "fire, pants on", please file my blog post of not two weeks ago, claiming to have seen the light on how to choose online collaboration tools so that you accommodate the least-geeky member of your team. As a philosophy, that lasted for 10 whole days, but as a...
Writing about Motherhood Online
[O]n the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog, which liberates you to be a bitch. Not a bitch to others -- ...online mothers' groups are quick to sanction hostility -- but the impatient, imperfect bitch of a mom uses jarred babyfood, disposable diapers and a TV-as...
6 crucial police guidelines for stopping social media vigilantes
Yesterday, Vancouver was treated to the first court appearances by alleged participants in the 2011 Stanley Cup Riots. It was a snapshot of one of the most profound and valuable institutions in our society: a system of justice to which we have collectively delegated...
10 geek gifts for this holiday season
The holiday season sends many of us into the aisles of Best Buy or the Apple Store. We might wander…
How to follow your own principles online
Listen carefully to any twinge of discomfort when you’re online. It’s there to help you learn how to follow your own principles online.
Delete your Klout profile and be more than a Klout score
7 steps to deleting your Klout score, following through on my Harvard Business Review blog post, “The Social Sanity Manifesto”.
Learn to listen online by lurking silently on one social network
Today's practice: Practice your listening skills by choosing one social network where you'll pay active attention, but not actually contribute. My friend Jason Mogus likes to say that we teach what we need to learn. I have long taken this as the single best...
OneZero
NameRater: A search tool for evaluating a possible name change
Wanted: a search tool that evaluates the search engine visibility of your prospective married name, or the name you are considering for your baby.
SinglesMob: An app for turning parties into mixers
Envisioning an app that lets you blast your single friends with the news that you are at a party with a lot of single guys (and not enough women) or vice versa.
Take these ideas…please
For the next month, I’m committed to sharing almost every one of my ideas — no matter how valuable, and no matter how terrible.
A bird’s eye view of hashtag diffusion
What's it like to be on a panel with rock stars Peter Shankman, Julien Smith, Chris Brogan and Russell Bowers? For all who have wondered, I can answer that question with a video -- at the same time, answering a question that came in on Twitter during today's panel at...
Help your kids learn with Etsy and the Maker Faire
Tonight Little Sweetie was thrilled to learn that she has been accepted into the Vancouver Maker Faire, a DIY festival we attended last year. She loved it, and immediately wanted to run her own booth, based on her Etsy store, 2 Dots 1 Symbol, which sells emoticon...
Tx is short for f*** you, not thank you
Today's practice: Write your thank yous instead of abbreviating them. Last night, I caught myself on the verge of a profound etiquette violation. A colleague had replied quickly and helpfully to an email I had sent, asking for information, and my breezy reply ended...
Meet Your Pinterest Customer
Pinterest is the social media darling of the month, growing madly and reported to be driving more traffic to third-party…
Stop blaming yourself for your kids’ challenges
Today's practice: Focus on healing your kids, not on figuring out how you've damaged them. In the past year a number of very important and dear people in our lives have started or grown their families in a way not everybody knows is possible: by adopting kids who have...
JSTOR DAILY
NameRater: A search tool for evaluating a possible name change
Wanted: a search tool that evaluates the search engine visibility of your prospective married name, or the name you are considering for your baby.
SinglesMob: An app for turning parties into mixers
Envisioning an app that lets you blast your single friends with the news that you are at a party with a lot of single guys (and not enough women) or vice versa.
Take these ideas…please
For the next month, I’m committed to sharing almost every one of my ideas — no matter how valuable, and no matter how terrible.
A bird’s eye view of hashtag diffusion
What's it like to be on a panel with rock stars Peter Shankman, Julien Smith, Chris Brogan and Russell Bowers? For all who have wondered, I can answer that question with a video -- at the same time, answering a question that came in on Twitter during today's panel at...
Help your kids learn with Etsy and the Maker Faire
Tonight Little Sweetie was thrilled to learn that she has been accepted into the Vancouver Maker Faire, a DIY festival we attended last year. She loved it, and immediately wanted to run her own booth, based on her Etsy store, 2 Dots 1 Symbol, which sells emoticon...
Tx is short for f*** you, not thank you
Today's practice: Write your thank yous instead of abbreviating them. Last night, I caught myself on the verge of a profound etiquette violation. A colleague had replied quickly and helpfully to an email I had sent, asking for information, and my breezy reply ended...
Meet Your Pinterest Customer
Pinterest is the social media darling of the month, growing madly and reported to be driving more traffic to third-party…
Stop blaming yourself for your kids’ challenges
Today's practice: Focus on healing your kids, not on figuring out how you've damaged them. In the past year a number of very important and dear people in our lives have started or grown their families in a way not everybody knows is possible: by adopting kids who have...
THE VERGE
How to lock your kids out of every device
I wrote my Ph.D. thesis on hacktivism: politically-motivated computer hacking. Interviewing fifty politically engaged computer hackers turned out to be great preparation for running a business that built nonprofit online communities, because I really know how to speak...
How to balance evening work with family life: the 2×2
Blame it on after-hours email, but it seems like the extended workday is here to stay. If your household is anything like ours, you often have work to do in the evening...and if you're a parent, that means that work often intrudes on family time. To help with the...
The Five Competencies of Social and Emotional Learning
Social and emotional learning focuses on five key competencies. These are framed slightly differently by different organizations, so I have created a table that incorporates the (verbatim) descriptions found on several different sites. Dalai Lama Center: Heart-Mind...
How to end screen time without tears
Turning off the phone, TV or videogame is hard. Here’s how to make that transition easier for you and your child — and to build your child’s core skills in the process.