Since the internet became the go-to place for research, finding information, entertainment and socializing every business large and small has tried to come up with the best approach to branding, product recognition and monetizing their company's presence on the web. It doesn't appear that anyone one or any business has really figured out how to do this effectively.

Even the giants like Facebook and Twitter haven't cracked the code on how to monetize their traffic. While their valuations are in the billions their profits are non-existent. Facebook is valued at $9.5 billion while Twitter's value is estimated at $1 billion. Facebook has over 300 million regular users, but doesn't expect to go cash positive before 2010 and that doesn't necessarily mean it will be profitable. Twitter is not close to being cash positive, let alone profitable.

What does this say about the effectiveness of web advertising? What does this say about advertising your company, your brand or your products on a social media site? What it says to me is that no one, not even the most brilliant advertising executives on Madison Avenue, has figured out how to use this medium to bring brand recognition or brand awareness to their company or products.

The one exception is Google. Of course, they are not a social media site. Google determined this early on with their Adsense and Adwords programs. Being a search engine certainly gives Google a unique advantage and a head start on the other popular web sites. They have certainly done a tremendous job branding themselves over the years. Just "Google it". Their name has become a verb. Google is typically the first place anyone on the web will go to when they are looking for anything. Ads corresponding to that search make perfect sense.

The most popular social media sites will have to crack the code on effective web advertising soon. In order to survive they will need a better business model. Who will figure out how to help them do this - the web sites themselves, the advertisers or the advertising community? Some smart person, entity, or agency will generate some serious income whenever they do come up with a solution to this problem.

Currently banner ads just annoy most people and instead of reading the ad, they hurriedly try to figure out the quickest method of getting it off their screen. And why put the same ad online that you would put in a newspaper or magazine. Does the term multimedia ring a bell? Then there are the pop up motion ads that try to take over your screen while you are trying to read an article or get some needed information. Again, such ads tend to aggravate their audience instead of drawing them in.

On television or radio, the audience is captive and they don't have a choice other than changing the channel or the radio station. Of course, if you have Tivo or a DVR, then you can avoid even those advertisements. If you are watching a program using the internet as your medium, you will still be subjected to commercials, but in most cases there are fewer of them during the program particularly on sites like Hulu or a broadcast network site. Still the network ads are usually more compelling and more entertaining. Then again, how many ways can they sell us E.D. drugs? No more twin tubs please!

When it comes to social media, Steven Hodson in a recent column on Mashable.com, suggested that social media sites should ask for donations using Paypal to generate income. If you like Twitter or Facebook and use it regularly, then why wouldn't you want to contribute $1 or $5 a month. He calculated that if 50% of the Twitter users donated $1 per month, that would result in $500 million of revenue per month for Twitter. Personally, I don't believe users would fall for that concept, particularly given the fact that the users are the ones generating the content on that site. Without the tweets there would be no Twitter

Personally, I think the best approach would be a compelling well produced viral type video highlighting the advertisers' product or message. Videos that people would want to watch and not be forced to watch. You can view samples of this type of video at http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=140819. Check out the bottom of that page. These are agency produced videos that appear on YouTube. 30 and 60 second segments of these videos can also be seen in standard television commercials. On YouTube, the videos last 1-3 minutes. My favorites are the roller skating babies and the bulldog playing Tony Hawk's video game.

The most successful video ads would need a theme and be serialized. It is a proven fact that people recall and respond to ads that draw their attention. Recall is a logical process while recognition is an emotional process. Motion, such as video, evokes emotion, but the printed word normally doesn't do that. Of course these videos would need a recurring theme or character. There are plenty of well done TV ads that come to mind. The e-Trade baby is one. Remember Joe Izuzu? Okay I might have just dated myself.

These web videos could be original content or they come from a clip of a current box office hit movie that includes a clever use of your company's product. They could be elaborate productions or well thought out amateur videos. If you think that you can't produce an inexpensive video that draws millions of viewers, you need to watch the Pink Glove Dance on YouTube. This video was made to promote breast cancer awareness in a hospital using hospital staff as its cast and was done for very little money.

Come on people. It's time to think outside the box and get creative. A well-made, creatively done video ad should draw you in, not push you away. One option for Social Media sites would be to insert 15-20 second ads every 10-15 minutes. That might not be too intrusive for most people. If the user wanted to avoid these interruptions they could pay a monthly use fee to use that site, say $1 or $2. The web isn't going away and we need to come up with ways to make it a viable commercial enterprise. Wouldn't it be cool if the web ads were so good that your friends recommended you view some of these video ads?

With the advent of broadband and streaming video, web ads shouldn't be rehashed versions of print ads. That is sooo nineties. Video and/or clever animation is where it's at. Being able to quickly opt out of any web video should be mandatory. If a product ad isn't compelling enough to make its potential customers want to watch, then the viewer should be able to click it away. On the other hand, if it is good enough to bring you back several times, then the production will be well worth the investment.

What's you opinion about web advertising? Got a better idea? I would love to hear it. Comment on this blog and tell us what you really think.

If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined www.boomeropinion.com, then please consider joining our community. We are looking for Boomers who have opinions and don't mind ruffling a few feathers by telling America what they really think about the issues facing America.

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Just as I was about to write this blog, I remembered that I needed to check my Facebook news feed for new posts from friends and family. I also needed to send a text message to one of my colleagues about an upcoming project and get his feedback. I absolutely had to check my Outlook calendar for any appointments I might have scheduled for today. Oh, and I was going to finish reading that book about Mark Zuckerberg and Social Networking on my iPad. My life has been taken over by technology it seems.

It doesn't seem that long ago when I was bored to death and I would have to find things to do to fill my time. Back in those days, I had 3 network television channels on my TV and the only way I could keep up with my friends and family was by calling them or visiting them. If there was a project, personal or business related, I was able to devote my full attention to it until it was completed. Distractions were few and far between. Today it seems we are all overburdened with technology and communications devices that seem like technology leashes. They pull on us this way or that way constantly.  

Will we ever be able to take control of our lives again, or is it futile to even try? Younger generations seem perfectly happy to stay connected to that leash 24/7. Am I just too old to smell the cappuccino? Am I looking backward and thinking that it would be better to return to the past? Maybe, I should just fully embrace these technologies and take advantage of what they have to offer. After all, I have never had this kind of instant access to my family, my business associates or my world. It's a good thing, right? I think it is a good thing as long as you don't let it completely dominate your life.

If we let technology rule our daily lives, then we aren't really taking enough time out of each day for ourselves or for the ones we really care about. I guess I just need to find the right balance. That is easy to say, but hard to do, right? It is a lifestyle decision. Instead of letting technology run our lives, we need to step back and set some priorities. If you are trying to build the next Fortune 500 company, your time is not your own. You business life and personal life are the same. For you, there is no choice. But, for the rest of us...

Recently I wrote a blog about Mark Zuckerberg's view of social media and why he thought everyone on Facebook should be willing to share the most intimate details of their personal and business lives daily on his social network. One commenter to my blog responded that since Mark could really distinguish between his personal and professional lives, that was easy for him to say and to do. For the rest of us, we probably want to maintain some separation between those two areas of our lives.

So how can we find that balance? When and how can we free ourselves of our technology leashes? First step is to set priorities. Some people would feel completely lost if they had to put away their iPhones, Blackberries or notebook computers. I am sure age impacts those decisions. If you are old enough to have lived without all these gadgets and appliances, it is probably easier to find the proper settings and times to put them away.   

One suggestion for simplifying one's life is to start by stopping. Each day you set your agenda and try to optimize every minute of the day. What if you chose not to set any agenda? What if you just let go and didn't try to be totally productive every minute of the day. You could do whatever you felt like that morning or escape for the entire day. You could go for a walk or take a hike. You could pull out that novel that you have been meaning to read, but just couldn't find the time for.

You could take your kids or your significant other on a bike ride. You could go to the beach or the lake and just take in the natural beauty of the area. If your time is really limited, you could just go outside and watch the clouds roll by. Just remember to unplug. Leave your iPhone or Blackberry in the house or the glove box. If you have to take it with you, at least turn it off.

If you are a list person, then put aside an hour or more each day to do nothing. Write it down on your list. Stephen Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, suggests taking time for yourself on a regular basis to sharpen the saw. Translation: do something to improve your mind or your spiritual being. The metaphor is all about being able to perform at your best. Take time to sharpen the saw because with a dull saw you won't cut much wood or be very productive.

If every day of your life is so busy that you can't get everything done on your list, then re-examine your list. Typically, there are a number of things on your to-do list that might seem urgent, but aren't really that important to your job or personal life. Re-evaluate your activities in order to optimize the ones that really are important to your mission. Remove the ones that aren't really fundamentally necessary in achieving your daily goals and objectives. Your list just might become manageable.  

When it comes to your cell and your computer, you can simplify and declutter those devices. I used to receive 50-100 emails per day. A lot of them I thought I needed for work. You know the ones...Briefings on technology, leadership, management, etc. I have unsubscribed to most of them. If I need to learn the latest on any topic, I just Google it and generally learn more than I ever wanted to know in a short time.

If you have joined too many groups on linkedin and receive daily or weekly email updates, then unjoin them. Getting rid of email clutter will make your life easier to manage. Do you have too many friends on Facebook? You can hide them from view and then the only news feeds you see will be about those people that you actually care about. Don't get me started on Twitter. Unless you have a business connection that requires you posting tweets or reading other's tweets...just say no. How important can information that consists of 170 characters or less really be? Check your news feeds no more than twice a day.

And consider turning off your television set occasionally. I realize that is a lot to ask. A great many people turn on their TVs when they get up in the morning and turn them off when they go to bed. Even if they aren't actually watching, it is like an extra voice in the house to keep them company. Bottom line: Living your life vicariously through your favorite television actors or personalities is okay as long as you don't spend the bulk of your free time doing it. I realize that some of you schedule your lives around our favorite TV shows. If you are that addicted, get a DVR and do something meaningful with at least a portion of your spare time.

One final note. Recent studies have indicated that technology appliances are having an adverse effects on the attention spans of humans across the world. Our attention spans are getting shorter and we are having a more difficult time focusing on anything for extended periods of time. It is no wonder that this is happening given the amount of information we are exposed to each day and the methods we are using to communicate with each other over cell phones, instant messaging platforms, email and Twitter.

The only way to extend your ability to focus and extend your attention span is by practicing. Stop scanning the news or trade sites and start reading full articles. Read entire books. Find projects that require your full attention for extended periods of time and engage. If you want your mind back, you will have to exercise it the same as you would exercise your body to gain muscle tone.

If you want to take your life back, you can do this. It isn't really that tough. I encourage you to tell us about your ideas on unleashing yourself from technology. Inquiring minds want to know.

My web community, www.boomeropinion.com  is all about capturing and broadcasting opinions and viewpoints. We provide daily polls, discussion forums, and news about critical issues facing America and Baby Boomers. If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined us, please consider it. It is free and only takes a minute to join. Coming soon you will be able to create your own polls, initiate discussions on topics you choose and ask questions of the membership. We also have a Twitter page, http://twitter.com@boomeropinion.

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I certainly hope not. My partners and I recently launched a web opinion portal (read social network with a conscience). I will talk more about the purpose and value of our site later in the column.

One of my closest friends has a cell phone and a laptop. He can use the cell phone, but the laptop is currently serving as a paper weight. Ask him about Facebook or if he has been micro-blogging on Twitter lately and the expression on his face resembles that of a person who has just had a frontal lobotomy. Technology is not his thing.

According to a recent New York Times article, dated February 20, 2009, 60 % of Baby Boomers are avid consumers of social media like blogs, forums, podcasts, and online videos. That's up from 40% just one year ago. They also point out that Boomers like to take polls, rate and vote on items, rank favorites, and add critiques on services or news stories. These stats came via a study done by Forrester Research

A Nielsen Co. report shows that Baby Boomers and older Americans make up the bulk of the country's online population. Accenture's 2009 Consumer Products and Services Usage Report points out that while Gen X'ers usage of social networking sites rose 2% last year, Baby Boomers usage of social networking sites rose 59%.

While the growth and usage percentages in these reports don't always correspond exactly, one thing is clear. Baby Boomers are embracing the internet and all it has to offer in very significant numbers and those numbers are increasing daily. And don't forget that there are 10,000 Boomers turning 50 every  day.

One of my favorite viewpoints on the social networking comes from Lev Grossman in a Time Magazine article, titled Why Facebook is for Old Fogies. His logic is both humorous and almost logical. Here are his 10 reasons older Americans should use Facebook:

1. Facebook is about finding people you've lost track of. 

2. We're no loger bitter about high school.

3. We never get drunk at parties and get photographed holding beer bottles in suggestive positions.

4. Facebook isn't just a social network; it's a business network.

5. We're lazy. We have jobs and children and houses and substance-abuse problems to deal with. At our age,  we don't want to have do anything. What we want is to hear about other people doing things and then judge them for it.

 6. We're old enough that pictures from grade school or summer camp look nothing like us.

 7. We have children. There is nothing that old people enjoy more than forcing others to pay attention to pictures of their children.

 8. We are too old to remember e-mail addresses.

 9. We don't understand Twitter.

 10. We're not cool, and we don't care.

This definitely an insightful look at the uses of social media for sure, but we can all identify with one or more of those reasons. Lev shows that social networking has something for every Baby Boomer.

Bottom line is that Baby Boomers are not technophobes. And that is good for a social networking entrepreneur like me and good for America.

My web community, www.boomer-insight.com is all about challenging Baby Boomers to re-engage in the process of helping change America for the better. There are 77 million Baby Boomers out there. One out of every three adults in this country is a Boomer. Baby Boomers control over 70% of the wealth in America and outspend the next closest generation by 400 billion dollars each year. 

I firmly believe that when the Boomers speak, Washington and the rest of America will listen and act on our advice. Every day Boomer Insight provides polls and discussions on the most pressing issues facing America. We also provide compelling content on Boomer specific issues. Come join us.  It takes less than one minute to join.

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An article in the technology section in today's Washington Post, May 14, 2009, by Michelle Singletary, titled "Be Careful Online: Not Everyone Is a True Friend", brings up some very good points. Can you trust the internet and social networking sites with your personal information?

We are not talking about your bank account number or your social security number, but just random personal information. She points out that even providing information about your age, your friends and your family can expose you to a number of cyber crimes. She believes that cyber criminals are lurking in the shadows of some of the more popular web sites like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace waiting to collect enough personal data about you so they draw you unknowingly into one of their scams.

Ms. Singletary cites a lot of eye opening statistics in her column. Online crime hit a new high in 2008 according to the Internet Crime Complaint Center which is a partnership of the FBI, The National White Collar Crime Center and the Department of Justice Assistance.  According to Ms. Singletary, the center received 275,000 complaints last year which was a 33% increase over 2007. These crimes netted the cyber criminals some $265M. That is a substantial amount of loot.

One example she cited came from a warning made by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. They warn that you shouldn't divulge too much information about plans you might be making.  For example, if you twitter about leaving for a two week vacation, one of your followers might just come rob your house while you are gone.

A couple of other caveats brought to light by Ms. Singletary have to do with information you might willingly give out on your favorite social network. Don't provide both your full name and complete birth date, since that is data that can be used to steal your identity or access an account. Since a lot of folks use pet names for their passwords, it is not wise to divulge the names of your pets online. If you don't use your pet's names as passwords, then feel free to blog or tweet about them as much as you like. Derogatory comments about an employer, past or present, can come back to you in spades. It can significantly reduce your ability to be promoted or get that new job. But you know better, right?

She even points out that inflammatory comments about neighbors on social networks have resulted in defamation law suits. Now I realize most of you who are reading this know better and wouldn't make any of these mistakes. I also suspect a number of you have children or older parents, that could get taken in by cyber con artists. So teach your children (and your parents) well.

When I first started writing this blog, I wondered how many of us could be tricked into giving out personal information that a cyber criminal could use against us. I must say that even for an experienced tech guy like myself, my eyes have been opened by Ms. Singletary's article. Good on you Ms. Singletary.

My web community, www.boomer-insight.com is a social network with a conscience. Is it safe? Well, to become a member, the only information we ask for is your nick name, your gender, your birth date (which is of no use to the bad guys if you haven't entered your full name), your zip code, and your email address. I don't think that is too invasive. Our site is all about your opinion on important issues. We provide polls, forums and discussion threads to get your take on these issues.  You can read the latest news on national events and Boomer specific articles. Like a social network, you can blog, or fill in your profile page with photos and videos or not. You can remain anonymous if you like. All we really want is your opinion. Won't you come join us?

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 Will the internet profoundly change our society for the better? I hope it will, but I see examples that would indicate otherwise. Don't get me wrong, the world wide web powers my business. Last fall, my partners and I launched a web opinion portal that is quite social. But I am worried about the state of social networking today and what it might evolve into in the not too distant future?

I am not an old curmudgeon railing against technology. Okay, maybe I am old, but I am no technophobe. I became involved in technology early on selling computers at a Computerland store in Austin, Texas before IBM introduced its first PC. I graduated from personal computer sales to product management, then onto marketing and general management working for mainstream hardware and software companies. So I have witnessed the evolution of the personal computer and the internet in the last three decades.

I believe technology will drive our economy into the future and play a major role in both America's economic recovery and societal evolution. Those things are certain. My biggest concern has to do with the declining quality of social interaction on the internet. I realize that the written word in cyberspace is going to take all forms from the eloquent to absurd just based on the numbers of citizens online at any given moment.  

It wasn't so long ago that there were some limits on what a person could say in public and in their communications to or through the media. Hate, as well as gender and racially biased rhetoric was held to a minimum. That was before the advent of the world wide web. Consequently the dialogue that took place in newspapers, and on the radio or television broadcasts was more civilized for the most part. With the advent of the internet, social networks and public forums have become the Wild West all over again.

Each morning I scan numerous media sites, blogs, and social networking discussions looking for topics to write about and content to add to my own web site. I am amazed at the amount of profanity, racial and gender slurs, and outrageous comments contained in these discussion forums and comment sections of the social networks. I am not talking about the content of web sites like the New York Times, Washington Post, or Wired.com. I am talking about some of the more popular blogs, along with Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.  Free speech is what makes America great, but a lot of what is posted on these sites is crap, pure and simple.

Of course, the crap factor is a function of the anonymity of the web. Most right thinking, or left thinking people would never talk like this in public. But since you can use a pseudonym on a lot of these sites, your anonymity is pretty much guaranteed. I am also confident that most of these offenders wouldn't use this type of language in front of their family. Of course when you are sitting alone at home, or in your office, staring at your computer screen, you tend to feel both invincible and invisible. So let her rip and tell it like it is.

I am pretty sure the majority of these offenders are under thirty. Sorry, that is my own biased assessment. And I am guessing that most of these offenders have been brought up to be courteous, congenial and to respect others. So what happens when they sit down at their computers? Maybe it's a perfect outlet for venting their aggressions and hostilities towards others. I am quite sure that they also know that this platform is about the only form of social interaction where they could get away with such behavior.

So what are the ramifications of this type of behavior on the web? Will it lead to lowering the bar in all social interactions? Will discourteousness, profanity and bad behavior become the behavioral norm in social situations in the future? I certainly hope not. Can we police the web and set fines and punishment for these miscreants? I don't think so Tim. We take our free speech very seriously.

So how do we raise the bar? It's your turn to tell me. And please try to do it without being profane, culturally biased, politically incorrect or disrespectful. And if you are a Baby Boomer, please take a minute to click over to our homepage and check it out. You should already be on www.boomeropinion.com if you are reading this. You might even want to join our community. We recently changed our web site name from Boomer Insight to Boomer Opinion. If you are a Boomer and have an opinion, we need you. And hopefully, you won't find very much profanity or disrespectful comments on our site.  Thanks for your support.

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First, let me qualify this blog by saying that I manage an opinion portal, www.boomeropinion.com, which is in reality a social media site. We provide polls, discussions and articles on issues facing America and Baby Boomers. We encourage Boomers to visit our site daily so they can weigh in and discuss the critical issues of the day.

I should also mention that I use twitter, but only for business purposes. I post the latest polls and discussion topics on my company's Twitter page. I use Facebook to keep up with my friends, relatives and children. After much persuasion, I got my wife to join Facebook and I haven't seen her since. And I use Linkedin to network with people around the world and to promote my businesses.

That said, I find that a good chunk of my time is taken up by these sites. Could I be more productive if I didn't fall prey to these sites? Absolutely. Is social media just a new form of crack? Quite possibly. Are large numbers of Americans wasting work hours perusing these sites? I am sure that is true.

It should be obvious to every American the loss of attention caused by twitterers across the country. Remember when the President made his first State of the Union speech last year? As the network cameras panned the audience, you could see numerous Congressmen and Senators sending out tweets on their smart phones. How intently can you listen to a speech if you are otherwise occupied tweeting?

A 2008 Study in Britain concluded that workers in that country typically lose 12 hours of work a week logging onto social media sites. That's over 25% of their time at work. If your typical American office workers are sitting at their computers tweeting about what they had for lunch or checking out the latest posts on their Facebook wall, how productive can they be during those periods. How much work are they not getting done each week?

Social media has a number of very positive benefits. Documenting protests and clashes between protestors and police or soldiers in parts of the world where network coverage is not available or not allowed. Documenting major weather events and other catastrophes in remote areas around the world is another benefit social media has brought to the table.

Instantaneous movie, restaurant and concert reviews are becoming the norm. Keeping close touch with relatives or friends in far away places, as well as keeping in touch with relatives or friends who live across town. Synching schedules or inviting people to special events is yet another benefit.

Some companies have initiated firewalls and/or filters to keep employees off social media sites and focused on the job at hand. Other companies have written policies against social networking during business hours. Without technical blocks, policing the usage of social media particularly given the new smart phone technologies will be hard to do for most companies.

There is no doubt that social networking and social media is here to stay, so what can be done to ensure that it doesn't distract the American worker to such an extent that it significantly impacts our national productivity? What do you think? We want to hear your thoughts on this topic. And if you respond from your office computer, just make sure you have completed your work for the day.

If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined our community, www.boomeropinion.com, please consider it. It is free and only takes a couple of minutes to sign up. You can share your viewpoint and voice your opinion on the critical issues facing America. And if we recruit enough of you, we can positively impact business and political policies around the country.

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At the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas last week, Ford Motor Company unveiled dashboard innovations that included being able to use Twitter and Facebook from behind the wheel. Streaming internet audio from behind the wheel is one thing, but social media? Presented as Ford's connectivity strategy, it appears that other auto makers will soon follow suit. Can you say distracted driving?

I have had a love affair with cars since the nineteen fifties. I secretly aspired to be a race car driver. Although, over the past thirty plus years, my racing has been confined to some motocross racing, a couple of years of road racing really fast go karts, and about five years of autocross. The pinnacle of my driving experience occurred when I attended to Jim Russell's race driving school at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California. We were fitted, literally, into open wheel formula fords and got three days of intensive training on the finer points of open wheel road racing. Too much fun for sure.

I have owned numerous sports cars including an Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce, an MG-A, a Sunbeam Alpine, an Austin Healy 3000, a Porsche 911, two RX 7's and several turbo charged Mazdas. My first car was a 56 Chevy with a small block V8. I love to drive and I love road trips.

My first road trip with a cell phone took place back in the early nineties. The phone was huge and didn't work all that well. The one thing I remember about using that phone was a conference call I was able to take part in while sitting in the parking lot at Buffalo Bill's Grave just outside of Denver. Talk about an office with a view!

Our cars are our second home. According to the National Highway Safety  Administration, on any day of the week, 800,000 people drive and use their cell phones. In a recently released Pew report, one in three teenagers admitted to texting while driving.  In 2008, 6,000 highway deaths were the result of distracted driving - a great many of which involved cell phone usage.

In the near future we will be able to access social media from inside our cars. I'm sorry, but how smart is this strategy? Given the statistics and the growing use of cell phones in automobiles, do we really want to continue down this road? I understand that some people can't seem to function without talking incessantly, but texting and twittering? Even if you could accomplish interacting with Facebook or Twitter hands free, you still have to look at the screen.

Did you know that sales of in-vehicle gadgets is expected to surpass $9.3 billion for the last year? There are some gadgets that are aimed at reducing cell phone use or at least making it safer. One such product will shut off your cell phone once your exceed 15 mph. There are gadgets that provide traffic alerts and accident reports using cell phone ring tones.

One FCC member, Meredith Attwell Baker, puts her two smart phones in her purse and locks them in the trunk before driving. Transportation Secretary, Raymond Lahood, puts his Blackberry in the glove compartment to ensure he is not distracted. Mr. Lahood has publicly stated that texting while driving has become an epidemic in America.

During one panel discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show, Peter Appel, the Transportation Department's head of research and technology stated that his agency is researching ways to use technology to make driving safer. There is an application that will make the drivers seat vibrate or rumble and alert the driver to an accident ahead on the road. A couple of software firms have demonstrated technologies that block text messages and incoming calls while the car is being driven.   

So what's the answer? Should all cell and internet communication devices be banned while driving? There are states where cell phone usage is illegal. Of course, if the technology is built into the vehicle, how will the troopers and police spot offenders and enforce such laws? Can all such communications be accomplished hands free and if so, does this ensure that the driver is not distracted? Yes, I talk on my cell when I drive sometimes. And I encounter distracted drivers every day who are talking and driving.  

What's the answer? What do you think? What's your view on this subject? Should cell use and internet connectivity be outlawed altogether?

If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined our community, www.boomeropinion.com, please consider it. It is free and only takes a couple of minutes to sign up. You can share your viewpoint and voice your opinion on the critical issues facing America. And if we recruit enough of you, we can positively impact business and political policies around the country.

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Recent surveys indicate that Baby Boomers prefer Facebook 6:1 over Twitter. 50% of Boomers have profiles on Facebook. This shouldn't come as a big surprise to most of you. Facebook is all about keeping up with your friends and relatives on one easy to use page. And with Facebook, you don't have to check your wall/page every hour to see what is happening. Twitter on the other hand is more about ego streaming and requires more frequent engagement. 

I would much prefer to find out what my son or daughter thinks worthy of commenting about than read what they had for lunch or that they had just flossed their teeth. I realize that some of our kids will put some of their more inane activities up on Facebook, but that is a chance we are willing to take if we want to keep abreast of their day to day activities. Hopefully they will provide us with interesting anecdotes on their latest activities and provide some photos to help tell the story.

Twitter has its niche for sure. It's great for companies interested in keeping track of what their customers are saying about them. It is also great for companies launching new products or services. Your followers are your fans. Live streaming will invariably benefit your company's success.

Twitter is a great tool for breaking news like earthquakes or political protests in areas where the state controls the media. It is great for quick summaries of the day's local or national news stories. Our Congressman, Congresswomen and Senators seem to think it is a good way to keep their constituents informed. I wonder if that is the best use of their time given their progress in the past few months.

Most Boomers unlike their younger generation counterparts don't want to be held hostage by technology. I will never forget the day I got my first cell phone and pager. I remember thinking that I didn't want to be found that easily. My personal time was my personal time and having those technologies meant that I could be located and communicated with regardless of how far away from work I was at any given time.

Of course, today I have a notebook computer and an iPhone. I am still debating on whether to put my email on my iPhone. My inbox sometimes has over 150 messages waiting for my perusal. Do I want to access that mail regardless of where I am at any given moment? I am not sure.

So will Twitter stand the test of time? Baby Boomers won't put it over the top. However, the younger generations have gravitated to Twitter in huge numbers, and because of that I think it will do just fine. Soon the Boomers will no longer be the dominant generation and their say in the matter will be of no consequence. Then again, given the speed of technology advancement, Twitter could be displaced by something else by the time Boomers move out of the picture.

Just as with other technologies, I am sure convergence in the social media space will take place and the various forms of social media will converge. If Google has anything to say about, it will happen sooner than later. Google created Buzz to weaken Twitter's position and put it in Google's acquisition cross hairs. We know better than to underestimate the power of Google. 

We already know that the Millennials were born with their thumbs on the buttons and began texting before they could walk. We also realize that Gen X'ers are eager to use technology in any manner that will help them succeed. So those generations will embrace whatever new social media engines arrive in the near term. What's your take on social media and its value to the various generations?

 

My web community, www.boomeropinion.com is all about capturing and broadcasting opinions and viewpoints. We provide daily polls, discussion forums, and news about critical issues facing America and Baby Boomers. If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined us, please consider it. It is free and only takes a minute to join. Coming soon you will be able to create your own polls, initiate discussions on topics you choose and ask questions of the membership.

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Today is Twitter's fourth birthday. Whooohooooo! I have an ongoing love/hate relationship with Twitter. I have yet to decide whether Twitter is of any value to most people. Is it a valuable tool when used for its intended purpose? What is its intended purpose? I suppose Twitter is like an adjustable wrench. If you use it to hammer nails then it isn't worth the money you paid for it. However, if you are tightening bolts or nuts with it, then it is a very useful tool.

Being Twitter's Birthday, Mashable.com, the ultimate authority on social media and all things internet, posted an article about Twitter today, "140 Reasons I Love Twitter". It was actually 140 tweets. The categories for these tweets are Finding Love, Finding Fame, Staying Up to Date With Current Events, Stalking Justin Bieber, Stalking Celebrities in General, Making Friends Around the World, Making Friends with Similar Interests, Being Better Than Facebook or MySpace, Decreasing Performance at School, Tweeting on the Go, and Miscellaneous.

Finding Twitter's purpose has always been a mystery to me. In reality, the founders of Twitter are still trying to determine its real value proposition. Twitter's initial question has morphed from "What are you doing?" to "What's happening?" Bing and Google believe that it is a valuable tool for getting real time up-to-date information on events unfolding around the world, ie. instant news feeds. They both paid Twitter millions of dollars to get access to that info and use it in their search results.

To me, Twitter is more like a multi-tool...a Swiss army knife or a leatherman. These are very handy tools indeed if you are out in the middle of nowhere and need a knife, pliers, screwdriver, scissors or leather punch. So, I guess the real question is: How can I use Twitter to make my life or my business better?

Let's start with how the majority of people use Twitter: ego streaming. This is what turns most people off I think. I personally don't care what you had for breakfast or that you are going for a run. I don't care that you found a great deal on toilet paper or monkey chow. I don't care that your kid was just awarded a gold star for potty training at preschool.  I don't care that you just got your oil changed. I have more important information to consider.

Having 500 followers doesn't make you famous. In my best Andy Rooney voice, "Ever wonder why 500 people would think you are interesting enough to follow on Twitter? Ever wonder why those people's lives are so devoid of activities or excitement that following you on Twitter is what they do for fun?" Ego streaming is tantamount to stalking if you ask me. But that's just me.

Since time and common sense dictate that I cannot address every one of the categories listed on Mashable, I will select the ones I believe are relevant to the value of Twitter. Finding Fame is all about following/stalking celebrities and/or believing you yourself are a celebrity because you have hundreds of followers. I can see its attraction to young tweens and teenage girls. They want to know everything about their teen idols. But if you are over fifteen and you follow your favorite celebrity's every tweet, I say, "Get a life!"

I never considered Twitter a dating site, but apparently there a large number of people who have found their true love on this site. I am amazed and somewhat confused about this particular use of Twitter. I am guessing they have common interests and found each other by engaging in tweets about those interests. Examples of these star crossed lovers: @fallwall, "#thankstwitter4 being a good listener and perfect boyfriend substitute now and again..." and @Thick_Maddam: "#thankstwitter4 being eharmony and allowing me and my boyfriend @freakzilla718 to meet lol" Not exactly the boy and girl next door, but online romances are seldom traditional.

The category, Decreasing Performance at School seems to make perfect sense. If the high schoolers and college kids are tweeting instead of paying attention in class, then decreased performance is guaranteed. This category speaks volumes about the commitment and discipline of these students.

Tweeting on the Go provides the user something to do while being driven to school or work or when taking public transportation. I am not sure what they could be tweeting about in this scenario, but then again Twitter isn't always about communicating important or even interesting information is it? Although, they could be tweeting about black holes or nuclear fission...you never know.

Certainly for special interest groups I can see a great deal of value. If you just wanted to keep up with solar thermal energy production or bionic prosthetics, then I am sure there are Twitter sites devoted to these topics. Instant news on these developing fields is just a click away I suspect. Twitter would certainly be a way to stay up to date and get the latest links to studies and information in high tech, biofuels, medicine and any other field that you might want to track.

For businesses, I can certainly see the value in getting immediate customer feedback. I can see the value in announcing new programs or products. The instantaneous nature of Twitter provides value for any business wanting to connect in real time with their customers. Whether it is a movie review, product review, restaurant review, or customer complaint, the value is there for businesses wanting to stay close to their customer base.

When you get down to it, Twitter's most valuable use is instant news. Its real time coverage of unfolding events around the world is second to none. Since Twitter can be used by a smartphone or computer, the news coverage is both pervasive and instantaneous. No other forum provides those capabilities. No wonder Google and Microsoft were willing to pay to get access. If you don't want to scan the headlines of numerous online news sites, you can simply go to http://twitter.com/breakingnews and you will see all the latest news and headlines.

How do you use Twitter? Am I completely off base in stating that in most cases tweets are of little relevance or importance? We want to hear how and why you believe this is a useful social site.

My web community, www.boomeropinion.com  is all about capturing and broadcasting opinions and viewpoints. We provide daily polls, discussion forums, and news about critical issues facing America and Baby Boomers. If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined us, please consider it. It is free and only takes a minute to join. Coming soon you will be able to create your own polls, initiate discussions on topics you choose and ask questions of the membership. We also have a Twitter page, http://twitter.com@boomeropinion .

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The current model for most social media sites calls for free membership. Sites like Facebook make their money from advertising and premium features. The question is: How long will Facebook be free to use? There is a similarity between an addiction to social media and an addiction to drugs. The strategy is to get you hooked and then raise the price.

Most of my family logs on to Facebook several times a day to see what the other family members and friends are doing or saying. It seems like an addiction. Don't get me wrong, I think Facebook is a great platform to keep up with those closest to you. And unlike Twitter, your text is not that restricted and you can add photos and videos easily to your wall. And for the most part, it is not ego streaming about trivial stuff, there are a number of important topics and events that are documented daily.

The Facebook addiction is pervasive throughout the country and the world. So will Facebook take advantage of our addiction? I suspect they will. According to a Piper Jaffray report, "Pay to Play: Paid Internet Services", July 13, 2009, US Paid Social Networking Services will grow more than 25% per year in the next few years.

The big question is: Will social media users be willing to pay for this content? Currently, sites like Linkedin, Classmates.com, and Mylife.com are making as much revenue from fee-based content and services as they make from site advertising. Will Facebook and Twitter follow suit?

Consider the fact that Facebook now has over 400 million active users worldwide. Let's see, if Facebook charged a $5 per per month subscription to each member, then they would make $2 billion per month. Obviously not everyone would be willing to pay for Facebook, but if 20% of their members paid, then they would still make $200 million per month.  They could charge us a dollar a month and make some serious revenue.

Of course, Facebook has to think about the long term. Myspace thought they had taken the market by storm and just as soon as they rose to the top, Facebook came along and took the wind from their sails. Facebook had better features and a better approach. If Facebook were to move to a subscription based model, who's to say that another social media site with a similar model and some additional features might come along and displace FB.

The more likely scenario will be for Facebook to add more premium features that are fee based. What those features will be is pure speculation. They could involve mobile apps. The newest smart phones are providing geo features that will bring restaurants, transportation and shopping tips for your location. Expect a tie in to Facebook for these types of features. These could easily become fee based.

Twitter will probably never charge users a monthly fee, but the site could consider charging businesses for their tweets. After all, the two most important Twitter features are breaking news coverage and business related tweets. Twitter is already charging Google and Microsoft's Bing for using the Twitter database for their search engines. Businesses get free access to customer feedback and can set up their own accounts to tweet about products and services. Businesses would most likely be willing to pay for this exposure.

Do you believe Facebook will ever charge its membership to use the site or will the social network just begin adding more premium fee-based services? Will the site advertising model provide significant revenues for Facebook and Twitter? Do you think an upstart can take on Facebook and take their market share away in the same manner FB took Myspace's market share? We would love to hear your take on this topic.

My web community, www.boomeropinion.com  is all about capturing and broadcasting opinions and viewpoints. We provide daily polls, discussion forums, and news about critical issues facing America and Baby Boomers. If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined us, please consider it. It is free and only takes a minute to join. Coming soon you will be able to create your own polls, initiate discussions on topics you choose and ask questions of the membership. We also have a Twitter page, http://twitter.com@boomeropinion .

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Social media is taking over the world. It should be obvious to all of us that there are lessons that we should take away from this phenomena. The question is: What are those takeaways?

Tanveer Naseer, a self described business strategy coach, writer and overall good guy put up a post on his website titled, What Twitter Can Teach Leaders About Effective Communication. The four lessons he lists that we should learn from Twitter are:

•1.    Focus on the message, not the medium

•2.    Praise in public, criticize in private

•3.    Spend more time listening to others so you can learn and engage them

•4.    Put people first and let profits come later

The first lesson applies to not just Twitter or social media, but the internet in general I think. However, sometimes it is difficult to separate the message from the medium. Marshall McLuhan wrote in his 1964 book, Understanding Media: The Extension of Man, that "The medium is the message". He believed that the medium embeds itself in the message creating an inseparable link between the medium and the content it carries.

Mr. Naseer's observes that if a message is relevant and important, the medium used should not impact its validity or discount its value. Given the amount of irrelevant content emanating from Twitter and Facebook, some people immediately discount the content because of its source. Content originating from most social media platforms is routinely discounted because it originates from social media and because most of it is of little value to anyone besides the person posting it. If you are sharing information with your team, the message should be what's important, not the platform you use to communicate it. You do have to ensure that your colleagues regularly access that platform or your message is irrelevant.

His second point relating to praising or criticizing someone in public should be recognized and understood as the proper behavior in any and all personal or business matters. His discussions on Twitter are obviously more civil than a lot of those I have personally witnessed. That said, chastising family members or subordinates should never be done in public. Making examples of your family members or coworkers in public is just wrong under any circumstances. I believe this more common sense than a lesson in leadership.

 Mr. Naseer's 3^rd lesson about spending more time listening is a lesson more managers and leaders should follow. In Stephen Covey's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, he lists this concept as one of the seven habits:  "Seek first to understand, then to be understood". Too many of us spend most of our time formulating responses to what is being said rather than actually listening and trying to understand what the other person is saying. How can you truly engage in conversation with someone or get your own points across if you haven't given them your undivided attention when they were speaking? You can't.

Mr. Naseer's final point, "Put people first and let profits come later" is a great point. If BP would have adhered to this lesson, then maybe the oil spill wouldn't have happened. They cut corners to reduce costs and look where it got them. Twitter and Facebook have followed this rule and will ultimately be very profitable. Too many companies make choices and decisions strictly based on the bottom line and not on what's best for their employees, their customers or for their communities.

What lessons have I learned from using social media? I have learned that if your target audience does not regularly log on to your social platform then you posts are exercise in futility. I have also learned that if you can't produce compelling content day in and day out, then you won't develop a following of any consequence. Life streaming will only draw family and friends, unless you have an amazingly interesting life. I have learned that the anonymity provided by social platforms empowers some people to act badly and cruelly in their interchanges and messaging. This is a perverted use of social media, but no one has come up with a solution to this pervasive problem.

Finally, I have learned that following all of the social media streams that you subscribe to can consume most of your waking hours and negatively impact your ability to get your work done or live your life in a meaningful manner. What lessons have you learned from social media? How has social media changed your life? How has social media affected your job or career? Is the medium inextricably tied to the content or messages that it broadcasts?

My web community, www.boomeropinion.com  is all about capturing and broadcasting opinions and viewpoints. We provide daily polls, discussion forums, and news about critical issues facing America and Baby Boomers. If you are a Baby Boomer and haven't joined us, please consider it. It is free and only takes a minute to join. Coming soon you will be able to create your own polls, initiate discussions on topics you choose and ask questions of the membership. We also have a Twitter page, http://twitter.com@boomeropinion.

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A few weeks back I wrote a blog about Ford's new internet connectivity suite...Sync. I lambasted Ford for promoting their vehicle's connectivity to social media. That's a crazy idea I said. I could just see folks trying to Tweet while driving. In reality, Ford is connecting you to your phone and the web applications you use in a much safer and better way than any other manufacturer. After learning more about this technology, I stand corrected. I spoke to soon when I criticized their system.

Ford has taken the high road and is using Microsoft's Windows CE, Bluetooth and your smartphone to make driving safer. According to a recent article in Fast Company magazine by Paul Hochman, titled How Ford's Sync Technology Will Turn It Into America's Most Surprising Consumer Electronics Company, "Ford is transforming the car into a powerful smartphone, one that lets you carry your digital world along with you and then customize it."

The article went on to state, "By freeing you from the tyrannies (and dangers) of messing with that little phone while you drive and letting you command your technology, through the car, using only your voice; by establishing the car itself as your connection to the cloud; and by giving mobile developers a way to create an ever-expanding portfolio of services designed for -- and around -- your vehicle."

Sync uses only voice based commands. Want to make a call. Just hit the media button on your steering wheel and tell your Ford what you want it to do. If you say, "Call Bob at home", Sync will pull up Bob's home number from your smart phone, dial it, and you can talk to him without holding your phone. If you can't hear Bob clearly just turn up the volume like you would on your radio from the steering wheel. The system uses artificial intelligence and learns your voice commands.

The Nuance software has more than 10,000 commands associated with driving that allows you to speak in a normal voice to your car. You don't have to go through numerous layers of menus to get advice, play music or get directions. For example, instead of saying "music, playlists, Oscar Peterson", you can just say, "I would like to hear some jazz". And up comes every piece of jazz music from your car or iPod playlists.

Ford's Service Delivery Network can connect your car wirelessly to the cloud. SyncMyRide is a Web based service that lets you load a destination into your home computer and pull it up on your car's navigation system. You won't have to print out directions and hold the map while you drive. Your nav system will give you verbal turn by turn directions that will take you to your destination. Pretty neat, huh?

Want to grab a bite. Just tell your car, "I'm hungry" and out comes spoken restaurant advice matched up with the car's navigation system. If you have satellite radio, you can say, "Find talk radio to pull preferences from that media. You want to post something on Twitter, just speak your tweets into the invisible microphone and your tweets will appear on your Twitter page.

Sync's MyFord Touch interface can be customized to your specific requirements. There are two LCD panels on either side of the speedometer. Drivers can change the layout quite easily. If you aren't concerned about the interior climate, but you are lost, you can get rid of the climate control graphic and replace it with the navigation display. If you don't need the nav screen anymore, you can replace it with the phone controls or radio display. You can even watch video on the center console...if your Ford is in park.

Since, Sync is an open platform, all types of applications will be developed for it. Services such as traffic, directions, business searches, news, sports and weather are all great candidates for Sync. Ford has six datacenters around the country that can beam in Sync applications. According to Ford, Pandora and OpenBeak created Sync-specific software for the platform in about 10 days.

To Ford's credit they didn't just put this system on the high end models. When they rolled out the first Fords with Sync, it was on the 2008 Ford Focus. The President of Ford pointed out that there is a healthy small car market and he wanted Ford to become a leader in that market. He knows that the Japanese won't be far behind.

Don't expect the other car makers to just stand idly by. Mercedes, Kia, Audi and many others are burning the midnight oil trying to catch up. First mover status doesn't guarantee success. Just ask all those MP3 player manufacturers who came out with their MP3 players before Apple introduced the iPod.

Ford is selling twice as many cars with Sync than those without Sync. Are you ready for your very own talking car? Sounds kind of like Knight Rider, but hopefully your Ford won't drive off by itself.  Does this technology appeal to you? Let us hear what you think about Ford's internet play.

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