Welcome to the ninth edition of The Three Things, brought to you by Michael Schechter, Howie Goldfarb, and me.
I hope all of my U.S. friends had a nice Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I heard lots of reports of the crazies out there waiting in line to get into the stores, while I stayed in my warm house and shopped online.
One more day and then you have to get back to work. It’s the race to the end of the year. Good luck!
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.
Michael on Loving Something on the Internet. Many of us shared a common and awkward moment this week. While stuffing our faces full of stuffing, we were forced to go around the table and tell our family what we were thankful for. Of all the things that were likely to come out of our mouths, something we love on the Internet probably wasn’t it. I mean if, while surrounded by my family, I were to declare my undying gratitude for Radiolab, Back to Work or even friends such as Gini or Howie, my four-year-old might take it personally. Yet, moments after this unfortunate holiday ritual, the conversation picked up and chances are that you did talk about something you love on the Internet (or at least it’s a certainty I did). It’s also probable someone else at the table turned you on to something they love on web.
Because none of you invited me to Thanksgiving (not that I’m angry), I thought I’d share something that I love on the Internet: Robin Sloan’s app Fish. Fish is an app-based manifesto that (quite fittingly) encourages you to recognize the difference between the things you like and the things you love on the Internet. Not only is it great, but having a better understanding of that seemingly subtle difference between what I like and what I love is something I’m very thankful for. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
Howie on Brands Using Social Media. Social media has become complete anarchy. Every brand wants to talk with you on social media….RIGHT NOW! Yet we spend most of our time interacting with our friends and family. So few people consumer brand’s social network engage. And their networks tend to be just a fraction of total customers. Yet if you aren’t there to respond, take complaints, give stuff away, people have their pitchforks out and are ready to light you on fire. Your mistakes get amplified. Your triumphs often barely mentioned. And yes, if you intrude, they will hate you.
Gini on Crazy Shoppers. More than a century ago, Black Friday referred to the day the stock market crashed. But today we know it as the day after Thanksgiving. The busiest shopping day of the year. The day people camp out for hours, waiting in line to be the first inside to grab deals. But how did it come to be? This Bloomberg article explores the evolution of the name and gives credit of its branding to Philadelphia cops.
Now it’s your turn. Is there a podcast, video, or article you think we need to see?