RESQBug.com – Geek Speak to English

Lately, I’ve had the “pleasure” of lying in bed (most of the time in traction) recovering from hip surgery.  Given the liberal doses of Percocet and other pain meds, I’ve refrained from doing any work-related emails.  But it’s boring as crap and I can only read so much (poor attention span due to drugs) and watch so many bad movies (Max Payne was one of the worst ever).  I relegated myself to surfing around the Internet and getting caught up on all the cool stuff that I’m behind on.

One site that I’ve neglected the past 6 months has been Facebook.  Besides playing Zynga games Poker and Mafia Wars, I had stopped updating my status, uploading pictures and maintaining my profile.  Whereas, I used to be on FB a couple of times a day, I was now spending all of my social media time on Twitter. I figured that with my copious amount of free time, I’d rediscover my interest in FB and get sucked back in.

Surprisingly to me, it hasn’t happened.  And it’s day 4 of trying.  I’m not sure that I need FB anymore.  What I perceived as the value before has clearly changed.  And when I look at the value proposition then, versus now, I can’t imagine what FB would have to do to win my social media time away from Twitter.

Here is why Twitter is better than Facebook (in scorecard fashion):

1. Meeting and / or reconnecting with friends.  I have 1,110+ friends on Facebook. I have about 1,700 on Twitter.  But there are two factors that must be considered above quantity: quality of friend and velocity of friend acquisition.

Quality-wise, my networks are probably about equal with a mix of real friends, acquaintances and folks that are just network builders.  I find this interesting, as on FB I have to allow folks to be my friends, but on Twitter people can essentially befriend me unilaterally.  (I accept all FB friend requests, by the way).  I’m very much overweighted with high school connections on FB and over weighted with business  friends on Twitter.  (This is a good thing, nothing against my high school friends).

Velocity, however is no match.  While FB started strongly, I’ve only added about 200 friends in the past 3 months.  I’m adding about 250 a month in Twitter.  Just this week alone, I’ve added several dozen Twitter followers and only a couple new FB friends.

Winner:  Twitter

2. Relevant Information. This one isn’t even close.  Besides knowing when a birthday occurs, the information stream inside Facebook sucks.  It’s 90% noise.  Yeah, I know that I can go and configure the info stream, but the interface stinks and it’s always changing.  Twitter?  Simple.  I follow those who provide me interesting information and can always check out “@jasonmendelson.”  If someone is creating too much noise, I can unfollow them with one button.  Plus, for those in my life whose opinions I really trust, I can pay attention to who they are retweeting and pick up others to follow. For this reason, friend discovery is better on Twitter, as well.

Winner:  Twitter

3. Activity.  So which network sees more activity from those that I care about?  This one is mixed.  It’s all over the map, so let’s punt on this analysis.

Winner:  Tie

3. Fun.  So life isn’t all work.  Fun matters.  Which one is more fun?  I think FB still wins this one with the games, applications and photos that Twitter doesn’t have.  Plus the persistence that exists with content is nice, as well.  That being said, Twitter is catching up and some of the Facebook fun is moving off the FB platform.  One of our recent investment, StockTwits shows that a great application can be built on top of the Twitter platform and game makers like Zynga have more and more standalone offerings (like Farmville).

Winner: Facebook (but, isn’t a guaranteed long-term advantage)

4.  Efficiency.  Putting aside all jokes about Twitter’s infrastructure aside, the cumbersome nature of FB, plus the ever-changing and poor UI make this one no contest.  Plus, I think 140 characters is a better format for folks to connect up, instead of the three page dissertation from the girl from high school telling me about her high school crush on me.  And don’t even get me started about FB email and chat – two more complete time sucks in my life that I see no benefit to.

Winner: Twitter (In a landslide, but please scale your infrastructure)

5. Privacy.  Let’s see… On one hand we have a founder (Facebook) who believes privacy is dead and on the other hand we have a really simple platform that allows me control over what the public sees.  Even more inscrutable is knowing what Facebook’s du jour policy on privacy really is.

Winner:  Twitter

6. Spam. I’ve had to defriend folks on Facebook due to spam (mostly politicians) and I’m sure we’ve all made a mistake or two where we’ve invited our entire address book to something that we weren’t aware that we were doing.  With Twitter, I only follow those whom I enjoy, it’s easy to audition folks by following / unfollowing, where the “Remove Friend” button seems to change location often.

Winner:  Twitter

7. Ability to Network.  connections / help:  At one point, I thought that FB would replace Linked In.  I was wrong, Twitter did.  I sent out a tweet and almost instantaneously whatever I need is addressed.  Instead of spamming folks on FB, I just send out a 140 character missive and folks decide whether or not they want to help or not.  With FB, I’d have to create an email and send to everyone and annoy them as they would at least have to go delete the message or forever show new messages in their inbox (especially annoying on the iPhone client).

Winner:  Twitter

8.  Sharing.  I think FB still wins.  Granted, if you want to share each and every part of your life, there is no substitute for posting pictures and letting everyone know which Sex in the City character you are most like. I think the novelty of this wore off on me a while ago and I prefer sharing information and content that I find find interesting and I find Twitter to be the perfect platform to do this.  That being said, I may not be norm.  And perhaps those that rank sharing as their top attribute for participating in a social network will always flock to FB, but I’m not sure how many people feel this way.

Final Score:  Twitter: 5  Facebook: 2 Ties: 1

Now that Twitter has effectively taken over friend discovery, connection, networking and information for me, the only real use that FB has if for fun.  And I’m finding more fun in the Twitter platform everyday.  Given that I only have so many hours a day for social media, I’m allocating my hours to Twitter (and blogging, of course).  I wonder if others are finding the same thing? Or is sharing the killer app?

With thanks to www.jasonmendelson.com.   To see the original article please click here.

Remember, that the only dumb question is the one never asked. If you have any questions or comments, I look forward to them, please email or call me.

Cheers.

Allan

RESQBug.com Technical Services and PRAD Enterprise

“Managing Your Technology for Improved Workplace Performance”

c: 416.464.1508

e: allan@resqbug.com

t: http://twitter.com/resqbug

Visit us on the Web at http://www.resqbug.com

This article is for information purposes only.  It is recommended that individuals consult with an IT professional before acting on any information contained in this article. The opinions stated are those of Allan Waddington and not a reflection of any company he currently works with or has in the past.

“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” -Red Adair

There are many, many reasons why it’s smart for an entrepreneur to learn about intellectual property law.  Here are ten of my favorites:

1.  To keep the intellectual property that you create for your new company free of ownership claims by your former employer

Watch out if you’re working on your new venture while employed by another company in the same industry.  Later claims by your former employer to your startup’s IP can land you in court and ruin your new company.

Knowing how to carve out and keep the intellectual property rights to what you create for your new company can be critical for your success.  It’s important to learn about trade secret law and what you can use from your prior jobs.

There are key steps you can take to narrow the net of what your former employer may claim, especially if you live in California.

2.  To increase the odds that you can use your company and product names without being stopped by another trademark owner

After picking names that you love for your business, products and services; incorporating your company; building a website; and working hard to promote your brand,

IT SUCKS TO HAVE A TRADEMARK OWNER CLAIM THAT YOU ARE INFRINGING!

Warning.  Just because the dot com domain is available, it doesn’t mean that you can freely use the name.

Just because the Secretary of State for one state allows you to use a business name, it doesn’t mean you can freely use the name nationally or on the Internet.

And no, your corporate lawyer probably didn’t check for conflicting trademarks.

Learning about trademark law and doing some basic groundwork before starting  your business can save you from big headaches and expenses down the road.

If you love your name, think about registering your mark so you can increase the odds of being able to use it.  Few people want to start over from scratch.

3.  To make sure your startup owns the intellectual property created by its founders, employees, vendors, and independent contractors

This is where many startups screw up if they don’t understand basic IP law.  Some of the legal rules about IP ownership are counterintuitive and complicated.

You should be aware that you may not own what you pay others to create for your new company if you don’t take precautions.

It seems so wrong but it’s true.

I’ve spent years doing intellectual property ownership clean up.  Some startups were able to make some basic changes and turn things around.  Others got burned — to the ground.

4.  To own the rights to your logo

Your logo is the symbol of your company.  Your hard work and promotion make it valuable and it’s usually worth the trouble to protect it.  If you don’t have a written copyright assignment by the person or company who designed it, you don’t own the copyright.  You need an assignment to register a copyright or trademark.

Professional design studios will assign the copyright to you without a hassle.  Beware of designers who won’t do a copyright assignment or balk at the suggestion.

5.  To own your company website

This is similar to number 4.  If you don’t have a written, signed copyright assignment for the design of your website, you don’t own the copyright to the site.  This may create problems in the future and it will prevent you from registering your website with the Copyright Office.

Bizarrely, if you don’t own the copyright and you change your site,  you may be guilty of copyright infringement.

If you already have a site, check on the footer to see if the design company is claiming the copyright.  Does their name appear after the copyright symbol?

Pragmatically, caring about IP ownership to your website depends in part on how much you spent for the design; the complexity of the design; your commitment level to the look of your site; your type of relationship with the designer; and how hard it would be to build a new site.

If it was expensive, design intensive, hard to replicate and you love it, pay attention to copyright ownership.

Further, to avoid infringement, make sure you have a license to use or own the copyright to every element on your website.

If your site is expensive, it’s important to be aware of what software was used as the foundation for your site and the related licenses.

6.  To minimize the chance of liability for IP infringement

Ignorance is not bliss.  It can get you sued.  And as some unfortunate software developers have learned, trade secret misappropriation can land you in jail.

7.  To get legal protection for intellectual property that is created for your startup

Different laws have different requirements for obtaining legal protection.  To get protection, you must follow the rules and take specific actions.  You don’t want to blow it and lose protection for your million dollar invention or product because you didn’t know what you needed to do.

8.  To understand open source licenses

Many technology companies incorporate open source software into their products.  What you can do with the new work you create that incorporates the open source code can vary dramatically.  Some open source licenses prevent you from selling your new product.  Beware unless you plan to give your product away for free.

9.  To protect your IP when you are doing a joint venture

When you work with another company or developer on a joint project or product, it is important to use more than a handshake.  It’s important to know what to do to keep the lines of IP ownership clear or you may end up with the default legal rules that create a mess you never intended.

Arguments because of an initial lack of clarity can ruin even the best friendships.

10.  To not scare off potential investors because the ownership of your startup’s intellectual property is a mess

The core assets of many technology startups are based on intellectual property.  I’ve done due diligence for venture capitalists and other types of investors and I’ve seen some horrible, dirty messes.  Don’t scare off potential investors because you haven’t taken the time to do what you need to do to have clear lines of intellectual property ownership.

Right now, you may not care about potential investors or buyers.  But if your startup is wildly successful, you may care when it’s too late to fix things.

Later posts will explain each category above in detail.  I will share valuable information about intellectual property law and some concrete steps that you can take to help your business succeed and increase the value of your work.

P.S.  You may want to subscribe to make sure you catch what you need to know most.

With thanks to www.iplawforstartups.com.   To see the original article please click here.

Remember, that the only dumb question is the one never asked. If you have any questions or comments, I look forward to them, please email or call me.

Cheers.

Allan

RESQBug.com Technical Services and PRAD Enterprise

“Managing Your Technology for Improved Workplace Performance”

c: 416.464.1508

e: allan@resqbug.com

t: http://twitter.com/resqbug

Visit us on the Web at http://www.resqbug.com

This article is for information purposes only.  It is recommended that individuals consult with an IT professional before acting on any information contained in this article. The opinions stated are those of Allan Waddington and not a reflection of any company he currently works with or has in the past.

“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” -Red Adair