shawn.me

Category: business

  • The Web is a tough place to do business

    The economy is in rough shape these days. Nobody’s job seems secure, and no industry is safe, but the Web is an especially hard place to make a living. Startups are scrambling with greater urgency than ever to find the cash to keep going – either in the form of investment (despite the fact that…

  • Sign o’ the times

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    I received my weekly BayCHI job bank email today, which has always contained at least twenty or thirty postings.  Today, however, it was so thin that I mistook the email for some other kind of announcement, and I scrolled right past the one(!) job posting it contained: Senior User Experience Designer at H&R Block –…

  • If you build it, they won’t come

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    The Business Technology blog over at WSJ reports on a recent study of more than 100 corporate social networks. Ed Moran, a Deloitte consultant, found that: Thirty-five percent of the online communities studied have less than 100 members; less than 25% have more than 1,000 members – despite the fact that close to 60% of…

  • Yes People and No People

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    I’ve been stretched too thinly across a few big projects and trying for nearly three months to find a couple of qualified people to help me on the work I’m getting through EVB. Right now the market is hot for UX people, and the only ones who seem to be available are the totally un-hireable.…

  • Better than nothing

    My job has sent me to Amsterdam for the week, and when I went to the Continental Airlines website to check in for my flight the other day, I was presented with the option to buy carbon offset credits – powered by an organization called Sustainable Travel International. The whole idea of carbon offsetting is…

  • Resumes are obsolete

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    I was doing a little housekeeping the other day, and I found a packet of cream-colored, cotton fiber resume paper that I must have bought a long time ago. I remember painstakingly laying out my resume in MS Word and printing it on this high-quality stock, then tucking it into a matching envelope with a…

  • Here’s to the high price of gas…

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    …and not just because my recent investment in oil futures depends on the price continuing to rise. The sudden upsurge in the price of gas has been the top news story for the past few weeks, and there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight. Oil is a finite resource, and as China, India…

  • Give it up

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    Back in my agency life, clients were always asking us to create “viral” campaigns that would get the attention of the digital youth. Our inside joke was that there was a simple three part formula… Create a MySpace profile Enlist the Black Eyed Peas (they were especially hot at that time) Put some videos on…

  • Stupid product of the week: American (big brand) beer

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    Have you ever noticed the way American beer commercials emphasize packaging gimmicks? The wide-mouth can. The label that turns blue when it’s cold. The easy-pour vent. The shelf pack that fits better in your fridge. Are there people who peruse the beer aisle thinking, “hmm… you know I really enjoy [favorite microbrew/import], but it pours…

  • An Inconvenient Fee

    I was reminiscing with my colleagues yesterday about the dawn of the ATM machine. We were remembering how, when banks first started to install them, they all used to charge you a small fee for the convenience of using it – whether you belonged to the bank or not. Thankfully, banks abandoned this practice, although…