Apple Picking iPhone Theft

Original iPhone + iPhone 3G + iPhone 4 (Photo credit: Yutaka Tsutano)

Apple picking. It’s not just with that tree in your backyard anymore.

I was at the gym last night peddling away on one of the recumbents when a news story about a new trend in iPhone stealing popped on the screen. It’s one that’s gaining traction in the US. Has it happened here yet? Not sure, but it could.

Apple Picking. As in, mugging you for your phone while you’re on it. The report said women were often the target. The older, the better. We’re often unaware of our surroundings when we’re lost in conversation or in text. Stolen iPhones can be sold for as much as $300 according to a nameless and faceless source during the story.

A few tips for keeping your phone in your hands:

1.  Put it away. We’ve survived plenty fine in the world before cell phones. Save your texting and you’re talking for a time when you’re out of that big open public space.
2. Get yourself a hands free, wireless set. Then you can continue on your merry way with smart phone in a zipped up pocket somewhere and still have your conversation.
3. Don’t keep your phone on the table at a restaurant. Another easy walk-n-snatch opportunity. Take that photo of your food and then… put it away. Your dining companion is sure to thank you too. If you’re on call, set it to vibrate and keep it in your lap.
4. Have a backup and don’t store important information or access to it on your primary phone.

Taking photos from your iPhone or iPad, talking, texting… what are other day-to-day behaviours that would make it easy for a thief to make off with our gadgets?

 

All You Need Is A Lineup

I don’t wait in line. I’ll either try something out before it’s super big, find a way onto the VIP list or wait until the hype has died down. Let me rephrase. I don’t wait in big lines.

And yet, as soon as there’s a lineup, people will join it. They’ll wait in line for hyped products, for new releases, for rides, for food trucks, or sometimes even for something unknown. Is it a North American thing? Or a human thing? I’m not sure. But… the fact remains, all you need is a lineup.

The proof is in the pudding with the virtual lineup Mailbox has created. “Put email in its place,” the tagline touts. A redesigned inbox promising to make the ever elusive Inbox 0 goal an attainable, sustainable reality. I first heard about it on Instagram when one of my fellow grammers posted her wait time. “What is that?” I wondered. I followed the link, downloaded the app and set my clock to wait. Then… I posted my wait time. “What is that?” a few of my friends wondered. I was waiting in line and posting about it. It must be important. Next thing I know, they’re waiting in line with me. We don’t even know if what we’re waiting for is as impressive as it promises to be.

Now, the lineup’s still growing, and I’m 143,214 people away from my new inbox. It sounds silly, but every few days I check in to see how quickly the “lineup” is moving. I want that inbox dammit!

And… my friends are doing the same! And I’m so totally jealous of those much farther in front me.

See? Lineup. All you need is a lineup.

Social Media Is Not A Tool. It’s A Technique.

Photo Credit: Paull Young

Way back when I started going to meetups explaining what this social media stuff was all about, there was one important message that I kept hearing over and over. In its simplest form, the message is this:

Social media is nothing more than word of mouth.

That’s it. It’s not about Pinterest or Twitter or Instagram or blogging or YouTube or any of the other mediums out there. It’s simply word of mouth. And those who are good at getting people to interact with them, to create stories and experiences with them and share these with others… those are the true social media practitioners.

If you have a blog or a website and you’re trying to use social tools to drive more traffic to your website, you are NOT employing social media, you’re building an audience. It’s not bad, they’re just two different things.

If I put a pen in your hand, does it make you a writer? A poet? An artist? Or just a person holding a pen?

So, before you say you want to engage in social media, define first what it is you’re hoping to accomplish. And then know that just because you’re sharing information through online channels, it doesn’t mean you’re engaging in social media. It means you’re broadcasting, answering questions, delivering customer service. The social media part comes when your audience, customers, friends, whoever, become a part of what you’re building. They take ownership for having an influence over your brand and they do so simply by sharing.

Social media isn’t new. It isn’t a tool. It’s a technique. And when applied correctly using tools, either online or off, it’s a more powerful force than any we could hope to harness individually. Because the whole is greater than the sum of its part, it’s impossible for social media to exist without a community behind it.

 

Google Hangout Vs Skype

Working remotely, often my only means of face-to-face communication with my coworkers is of the online type. We’ve been using Skype for the longest time, but often had problems with the clarity of the call. At first, we chalked it up to our internet connections. But, then it kept happening. With different people, in different cities. Maybe not so much the internet connection?

Sometimes old habits die hard. But sometimes, when a more clear (literally in this case) alternative comes along, jumping ship is pretty easy to do. Google Hangout. Like Skype, it’s free to use and it’s got an app for that. Unlike Skype, it’s also free to host a video chat with up to 10 people. In Skype land, at least one of you had to subscribe to the group video chat feature.

I’m sure there other bonuses still to using Skype (like the super cheap calling to landlines feature that I still use instead of long distance on my mobile), but when it comes to video chat, it just seems to be the call quality winner.

 

Social Media Tip #2: It’s Not Your Low Budget Alternative

There’s a common misconception that social media is a cheap or free way to get your message out there. Many of us thought that at first. After all, there aren’t many barriers to its use, most platforms and apps at least have a free version available. When you come from a land where the monetary bottom line counts the most, sure, the use of online social tools might look like your free ticket to even more eyeballs. Except… they’re not.

When I lived in corporate Calgary land as the Electronic Communications Advisor at ATCO, we ran a contest for the 2010 Olympics. It was also our first opportunity to play around with social media. We had a Facebook page, I got the Twitter account up and running and we signed up for some listening tools with Radian6. We didn’t have much lead up time to building our audience before we launched the contest. And guess what? The social media bits were a flop. Sure, it felt warm and fuzzy to be able to post about all of the kids we were sending to Vancouver for a day, but what did it really do in terms of contest submissions and at connecting with a larger audience? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

In a larger context, it was a huge success. It was the first toe dip in the online social water for a major Calgary company. And overall, the response from those we did connect with was positive. Having Radian6 in place during the campaign helped me garner a lot of the data I needed to show our management team the types of conversations that were happening online directly related to our brand. Not our competitors, not some other company, but US. Yes, in this context, big success. But… do you know the hours and the fight I put in over the years to get that in place? And during the campaign, all of the time setting up the profiles and condensing the information into something they’d understand? I’d look at tag clouds, rivers of information, growing keywords and I could see the trends and get a decent picture of what was going on. But then again, I lived it, ate it and breathed it. If it’s going to be of any use at all, you have to.

Social media is NOT cheap. And it’s not low-budget either. It works in two scenarios. You either need the dollars to buy someone’s time to invest in listening or you need your own time to invest. And depending on who you are or what your organization is, it might not be the right fit for you. Do the evaluation. Make the smart choice on whether your time is better spent navigating this world and ensuring all of your current processes are running as efficiently as possible, or if it’s time to amplify your message. You might have bigger fish to fry first.

Remember. You first. Your health and well-being. Then that of your company/nonprofit/organization, this includes the employees, volunteers, customers and so on. If you’re all good in the offline world, move forward into the online world. But never, ever, ever to the detriment of your day-to-day operations. The internet amplifies. And if you’ve got problems, it makes them worse (Note: There are scenarios where we’re forced into online conversations in a time of crisis, but that’s the exception to this post). Or if things are coming along swimmingly, more will come your way. That’s just how it works. And you’ll still need a plan and a team and resources in place. Real resources. Time and money to ensure things continue to go well and you’ve got the support you require to handle the growth.

So, not free. Not low-budget. And definitely not to be taken with a grain of salt.