Welcome to 21st edition of The Three Things, the weekly update of three links, podcasts, videos, or books you can’t miss from Michael Schechter (Honora, A Better Mess), Howie Goldfarb (Sky Pulse Media, Web Choice Consulting), and me!
For those of you new to this series, The Three Things arrives in your inbox on Sunday mornings (unless you don’t suscribe, but that can easily be fixed if you hurry over and enter your email address or add to your RSS feed) so you have some extra time to spend perusing the obscure content we’ve curated for you (and one another) before your week begins and deadlines, meetings, and work takes over.
This week we have thoughts on how the web is driving less personal conversation, social media bullying, and a new 3D pen.
Happy Sunday reading!
There’s No Romance in a Mouse Click
Michael on Technology. Despite disagreeing with a fair amount of it, this cautionary post from Harry Marks is well worth the read. Harry and I love to disagree on the Internet. I don’t care about many of the things that he cares deeply about and Harry doesn’t care about much of what matters to me. But that doesn’t matter. What matters (at least to me, as I’m betting Harry will feel differently) is that we both care. It’s probably why I enjoy our squabble as much as I do. Harry’s right, our technology is a dangerous thing that can isolate us from the world. He’s also wrong as it’s an amazing tool for connecting people. All that really matters is how you care to use it. There’s as much “romance in a mouse click” as you care to put into it, but to Harry’s point, it is all too easy not to care.
Rebecca Marino Quits Tennis because of Social Media Bullying
Howie on Bullying and Social Media. This is outrageous and sad. It is why so many use aliases and why Facebook is shameful for forcing real names. It’s shocking to learn how often bullying happens online. Why would a celebrity or sports figure want to be on Twitter? Bad enough reading the news about you. In 2009, when healthcare reform was going on, I found some hashtags used by the teaparty and GOP conservatives etc (#tcot, #sgp, #orca) on Twitter filled with racist and hate tweets. So guess what Twitter and Facebook advertisers? Unlike TV or radio or print, your brand’s ads are showing up next to hate-filled bullying and racist content perfect for your brand image. Maybe if the social networks had no ad support they would take this more seriously?
Gini on Technology. This is the coolest thing you will see all week. Heck, maybe all year. With the 3D printing technology, 3Doodler launched on Kickstarter and raised all the money they needed (and then some) to bring a 3D pen to you. I can’t describe it well enough to do it justice, so check out the video in this article. You’ll scrape up the $75 it costs, even if you have to rob your kid’s piggy banks.
Now it’s your turn. Is there a podcast, video, book, or article you think we need to see?