One of my friend Gini Dietrich's very favorite blog posts of the week is Six Links Worthy of Your Attention that Mitch Joel does with Hugh McGuire and Alistair Croll every week. It typically has links she wouldn't otherwise read because they're outside her scope of work and personal passions. But she told me she learns something every week and appreciates the work these guys put behind each blog post. I admire Mitch very much for his intellect and love his monthly podcast with Joseph Jaffe . And Mitch's blog is linked on your left.
After asking Mitch if he wouldn't mind if she shamelessly stole the idea, she asked Michael Schechter and myself to join her in a weekly post. I agreed because the three us share interesting things via email all the time and have divergent interests outside of marketing. If you read Michael's blog you would know he is a big fan of tech and Apple. If you didn't know Gini was a big foodie just follow her pinterest page (and she has a blog somewhere I need to link) So welcome to the new edition of The Three Things! It'll arrive in your inbox on Sunday mornings (if you don't subscribe, you'll have to check in here on Sundays).
Michael on Technology. As more of our lives exist on hard drives instead of photo albums and filing cabinets, there’s a lot that needs to be considered. Hard drives fail, personal information gets stolen, and essential information for loved ones live behind a myriad of passwords. Two of the smartest (and geekiest) guys I know, Eddie Smith of Practically Efficient and Gabe Weatherhead of Macdrifter, help you better understand why you should care and how to better manage digital planning. This gets geeky (and a bit paranoid), but it’s too important to ignore.
Howie on Privacy. I am a huge proponent of privacy, or at least having proper controls online to manage your presence. It has been one of the bigger beefs I have with Facebook and I champion opt-in versus opt-out in the advertising, marketing, and technology industries. When asked if people care, they do. In a 2009 study by the SSRN, not only do a majority of people reject tailored advertising and being tracked across websites without their knowledge, more than 50 percent felt managers at companies that do this should go to jail.
So it didn't shock me the Do Not Track voluntary industry initiative has been a failure. What did shock me is companies such as Google who claim, "Do no evil" and Apple allow mobile app developers to watch not only where you go and what you do on your phone, but even see the numbers you dial.
Gini on Decency. We've all done this and now I feel badly (I just posted a photo of the back of some guy's head because he was cutting me in line). Someone took a photo of a bearded woman standing in line at the airport and posted it to his Reddit page, where hundreds of people ridiculed her. When the woman found out, she acted with grace and charm, while teaching the users a lesson or six about her religion and beliefs.
There you have it. The very first edition of The Three Things. If there is anything you'd like to see us include or do differently, you know the drill. Comments, tweets, direct messages, emails, texts, pigeon carrier all work.
