23February 2010

Are we putting all our eggs in one
technology basket?

Last week, the death of the woman at the Seattle YMCA spurred quite the discussion in my online mostly-NW-women's group.

One woman responded that she is putting together a list of alumni of an organization many of us originally belonged to, and asked for people's Twitter names. Several members gave theirs publicly.

One of our members thoughtfully posted that she wondered how many of us have a buddy system in place.

Then a few members chimed in with gruesome stories of somebody who died alone and wasn't found for days/weeks, and some close calls.

Our member who lives in the rural Midwest (as opposed to the rest of us, who are mostly Seattlelites) talked about carrying her cell phone to protect her when she walked around her farm during bad weather -- and that she would also tell her neighbor where she was going if severe weather was happening.

I posted that as someone who admittedly doesn't know but 3 of my 7 closest neighbors (and has never socialized with any of them), I wondered if I should look into getting a LifeAlert system and/or a buddy system. A woman in the group whom I've met face to face and lives only 15 miles away offered to be my buddy.

Someone else posted a helpful suggestion about setting up code words in advance, such as calling your buddy by a name that lets them know whether you're in trouble or not (especially if you're doing online dating).

I wrote to my "buddy," cc'ing the group: "Thanks, I appreciate that. How would that work? I'm trying to think of a way to do a weekly check-in. You can't absolutely count on email, or Facebook, of course. So what's an easy way? Besides a phone call hopefully? (I would feel obligated to chit-chat, so would procrastinate making the call! Sorry. I just know myself.)"

One of our wisest members noted that perhaps a weekly check-in wasn't good enough, and harkened back to a time when people spoke to their neighbors. (See a pattern emerging?)

I posted, "I suppose I could tell the mail carrier that if the mail & newspaper piles up, send someone out for a welfare check."

My new "buddy" suggested I use Facebook to check in, apparently forgetting I had specifically ruled out FB and email in my post.

She also reminded us of last fall's tragedy, when one of our members quietly passed away because she kept a low profile after she got cancer. Just a few weeks before her death was when some of us learned of her illness, and we were going to do a chicken-soup brigade but we took too long getting organized.

My new buddy then suggested we all do daily check-ins on the discussion list... by email, that is.

Someone else suggested using Google Wave.

Oh great, let's put all our fragile eggs in Google's basket. You might detect a note of frustration in my next post:

I do think we need to come up with something but I don't want to rely on Facebook or email or the Internet. They're all built on shifting sand.

Ironically, at 9:20pm on Feb. 28, 2008, my 69yo dad, who was a diligent, dedicated full-time volunteer moderator on RV.net, suddenly stopped replying to emails and posts.

His co-moderators (from around the country!) sounded the alarm the next morning and they sent the sheriff to the RV park my dad was snowbirding at in Nevada. Sure enough, he had passed away from a heart attack -- all alone.

If not for his tightknit online community, no one would have noticed his absence for about a week (that's how often he and I communicated, and only by email, never by phone). He had already paid his March rent, so if I happened to be pissed off at him, he could have lain there for a month before being discovered.

But still, I think the lesson I learned from my dad was NOT to make online life your *entire* life -- to have real connections offline. I'll let you know when I figure out how to do that while working from home and having all your hobbies at home...

I think it's time to get to know my neighbors. It's silly, really, but I'm such a city girl at heart and just feel kinda shy. How can I break the ice after all this time?

9January 2010

Happy New Year

I got an email the other day from a gentleman in Canada who wanted help deciding whether to pursue an online-business idea he had. Advance market research is a service I provide because it utilizes my keyword research skills, marketing savvy, and creative resourcefulness.

When I replied that I would be happy to research the viability of his prospective project and gave an overview of my methods, he revealed that he had already done some keyword research. Plus he had already talked to an Internet marketing company that said there was too much competition for his idea. I could tell he had just talked himself out of hiring me after all.

However, I persuaded him to call and tell me his business idea. As usual, the  entrepreneur was aiming for too broad a market. It always amazes me how tunnel-visioned people are when it comes to marketing. I encouraged him to narrow his focus to a niche market and gave him the 2 examples that are near and dear to my own heart: new parents (I just became a grandmother) and pets (I have 5 cats and a dog).

While we were talking, I suddenly came up with a fantastic idea for a pet product that was perfect for his project. Then and there I decided it's finally time to launch that site I've been ruminating over: RpetsRRkids.com (Our Pets Are Our Kids). Lately I keep hearing the phrase on a commercial, so I'm hopeful that it will catch on online. My target market is empty nesters and childless-by-choice couples who pamper their pets.

Looks like I will have at least one product to sell if this guy comes through!