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...

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...

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...

Can shomi solve Canada’s video streaming problem?

When I drove past a billboard earlier this week that promised me a new universe of streaming media, I nearly pulled over to the side of the road so that I could try it. Right. Now. Was this the day I’d been waiting for? The day when I’d finally experience...

What’s wrong with the Ello backlash

My latest blog post for the Harvard Business Review argues that Ello — the “it” social network of the week — is a wake-up call for businesses to re-assess their social media strategy in light of growing public concerns about privacy and ad...