The 12 Most has only been live for a few weeks, but it has garnered a lot of attention and traffic. At 12most.com, it is a Web site featuring posts by guest contributors with 12 tips or items on a particular topic. Thus far topics have included business, technology, social media, and a tribute to Father’s Day.

Last Friday I was honored to contribute a guest post titled, 12 Most Basic Things You Can Do For Your Web Site Without Modifying It. In it, I present a dozen tips to benefit your Web site without actually making any changes to the site itself. Some of these are based on The State of Your Web Site checklist, the others come from the full Web site assessment my Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC offers.

With the quality of posts and contributors so far, The 12 Most is poised to be one of your 12 most favored Web sites.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

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Announcements • Blogging • Social Media • Strategize • Web Design • Web Development • (1) Comments • Permalink

Let’s all take a look at the photo below, which is of the Chicago River one recent night at dusk.

The photo is of the river looking west and slightly south, as it flows away from Lake Michigan. To the left is the Hotel 71, the right is Trump Tower, and many corporate headquarters in between. I was impressed with this photo, which I took with my Nokia E7, in that I did not have to retouch the photo, as well as it fit well with something I have been thinking about – what I have been missing by not being on social media as much lately.

Over the last month, and for many reasons, I have not been using social media much. I may check and send a few tweets or Facebook posts and my blogging has been sporatic at best. The act of engaging with social media is not something I have missed at all, rather the interaction with friends and those I only know thru social media I have missed. Which is the way it should be, right?

It turns out I have missed more than I had thought, and looking more I have missed some things I wouldn’t want to miss – birth announcements. The fact that a new life has joined this planet is definitely something I want to know about, even from the most distant friend. However it was over a week after a friend’s kid was born that I learned of it, but not directly, rather from reading between the lines of a Facebook post. Upon going back in their Facebook wall stream, I saw photos an announcement made at a time when I was not the social media site at all. In the process of going back in time, I saw 2 other people I know have had kids within the last year that I wasn’t aware of.

Not to play high and mighty, but when my wife and I were blessed with our children, we did post it on Facebook, but we also emailed our friends and even sent a photo birth announcement to some. Not everybody we know is online, nor are members or active in social media. We did this not only to cover the bases of various forms of media, but wanted to make sure we got the word out, as we have found from recent experience that the most creative of messages can get lost (but I digress, as this is a topic for another time).

At first I felt bad – I never congratulated someone on the birth of their children – but I had more pressing things to act on so I let this thought go to the back of my head. It wasn’t until I got to the point between the Wrigley Building and the Michigan Avenue bridge, the point where I took the photo above, that all this made some sense to me.

The analogy of social media content streaming is nothing new, and it does flow like a river. Earlier that day there was surely more boat traffic and activity on the Chicago River, and by my viewing it at this point in time I missed it. Typically I wouldn’t do any research to see if I missed anything. If someone was on the river or wanted me to know about it, shouldn’t they make a point of letting me know? Blame is not the right word to use here – there was a missed connection. Nobody was hurt, and it is what it is (or water under the bridge?).

The very concept and usage of social media is surely not to blame, as I can count many more gains than losses with it. I have been able to reach out to people throughout the world and have had opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. To offer an example of missing and gaining with social media at the same time, it involves a company whose headquarters is in the middle of this photo, United Airlines. One day they tweeted they were at the Chicago Theatre a few blocks from me giving out theatre tickets. I missed their original tweet, but my good friend Glenn Letham in Vancouver, Canada retweeted it to me, just in time to get over there and claim tickets.

Overall, social media had been a positive part of my life. Has it for you? Please share any thoughts and insights in the comments below. In the meantime, I have some people to congratulate.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

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Blogging • Social Media • Strategize • (4) Comments • Permalink

The next likemind will be Friday, May 20, 2011 in dozens of cities around the world.

In Chicago, it will be at Argo Tea, 140 S Dearborn St. at the corner of Adams and Dearborn Streets in the Loop from 8:00 am to 10:00 am.

I call likemind a gathering of creative-minded people, from various disciplines including Internet, advertising, art, social media, et. al. For more on likemind, read this great article on likemind Chicago from the Newcity and likemind from the New York Times.

Follow @likemindchicago on Twitter. You are welcome to join the likemind Chicago Facebook group.

The first edition of our lame design, yet functional Web site is live at http://likemindchicago.com/.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

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Announcements • Thrive • likemind • (0) Comments • Permalink

For the past 18 years, I have been a season ticket holder of the National Football League’s (NFL) New England Patriots. Pictured below is my seats at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA, the home of the Patriots.

This photo was taken in the summer when there was nothing going on at the stadium, which explains why I am not sitting in them. By this September, I am hoping my seats and all the seats around it will be full on any given Sunday, with fans cheering on the Patriots.

As it stands right now, if things continue as they are, that won’t happen. The collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) expired, and negotiations on a new agreement fell apart. As a result, the NFLPA “uncertified” itself and is no longer representing the players. This same action happened back in 1987, the last time there was a gap in football due to labor negotiations.

Everybody Needs Everybody Else, But At What Cost?

It’s hard for a common fan like myself, or probably most people who are not star athletes or team owners, to quite understand the breakdown in negotiating a new labor agreement. Some have called it the billionaires (the owners) versus the millionaires (the players) and that’s not far from the truth. Issues of salary, plus extending the season to 18 games from 16 and long-term healthcare for retired players are some of the main issues to be resolved.

Where at that scale it doesn’t resonate with me, it does on a much smaller scale, namely within my own business. As part of my Web consulting business Dunkirk Systems, LLC I work with subcontractors, work as a subcontractor to other firms and as well pay myself. When determining project costs and what people I can afford to have on a project or how much I can work for on another, a dollar value has to be determined. Sometimes there is a long negotiation, other times it’s straightforward. In the end, it should be a win-win, otherwise it’s something stuck in the back of my head throughout the project.

Everybody Wants The Games Played

Despite all that has happened, all parties involved want an NFL season. As a fan, that goes without saying. Recently, Patriots season ticket holders got an email from Robert and Jonathan Kraft, the owners and leaders of the team. The second to last paragraph gave me hope in football being played later this year:

We know that many Season Ticket Holders are feeling frustrated by our inability to finalize a deal with the players' union. We apologize for any role we played in that. Please know that we are working diligently to assure that NFL operations get back to "normal" as soon as possible.

Robert Kraft and his family bought the Patriots, a bumbling team, in the early 90’s for what was then a record price. Under his leadership, the team has won 3 Super Bowls and has a shining stadium surrounding by a complex including a Renaissance Hotel, a branch of Mass. General Hospital and a Five Guys burger shop. Kraft has a finance background, understands league finances, and was a season ticket holder before he bought the team. With the metamorphosis of the Patriots over the years, I trust his words and know he wants his fellow fans to be watching games along with him this fall.

What do you think – will there be a 2011 NFL season? Your thoughts and opinions are welcome in the comments of this post.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

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Business • Strategize • (3) Comments • Permalink

QR codes are not afraid of heights. Despite this, they still tend to be placed in obscure places, and in this place, mere inches from the ground.

The following sign was up for the month of September last year in Chicago’s Millennium Park.

From a distance, you can barely see the QR code at the bottom right of the sign. I saw it, but I digress. Here’s a closer shot of the sign.

I was able to get a closer shot, but I had to squat down to take the picture.

The code did work at the time, but it brings up an error, now several months later.

Where it’s always nice to see a QR code in action, why implement one so poorly? The position so low to the ground makes it less likely to see, let alone scan. If you do scan it, you’d have to squat down or have to bend over in an awkward position. The description accompanying the code could be made much clearer and concise. I also encountered issues scanning the code as the protective clear plastic over the poster caused a reflection and didn’t allow me to quickly scan the code.

How could this have been improved? By simply moving it from the bottom right to the top right would have helped adoption. This would have positioned it at just above waist level, that is for someone like myself just under 6 feet. Making the accompanying text clearer may have helped as well, or simply having it say, “scan here or visit explorechicago.org” would have been all that was needed.

So, would you have even bothered to have scanned a code in such a location? Share that or any other thoughts in the comments of this post.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni, Founder and President of Web consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC.

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Build • Mobile Technology • QR Codes • QR Codes In Action • (1) Comments • Permalink