Volapukblog.com

…is slowly turning into a squawking mega-flock.

(picture © by Kevin Bell)

We’re gonna need a bigger boat…

Twitter is really picking up speed these days, elegantly carving its niche between phenomena like sms text, blogging, Facebook and instant messaging.

Two observations: 1. Twitter is quick and easy. 2. Twitter displays a suprising flexibility, allowing itself to be tweaked to serve different (social/professional/commercial) purposes.
That is an instant recipe for success, you’d say. However, after signing up, many people wonder aloud what the added value of Twitter is. Its use is not always immediately visible and not always intuitive. While getting familiar with Twitter, you may find yourself scratching your head, banging it against the wall, holding it in your hands in despair or lending it the glowing swollenness that we all know as pride.

Don’t worry. It’s just a phase.

I took the Five Stages of Grief, as defined by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, to twittering, as it seems that most of us move through different stages after signing up.

Stage 1: Denial

I don’t need it. I’m above it.
Sure you are. In fact, you are not wrong, Twitter is not a vital service to perform as a professional or to stay in touch with people.
But Twitter has more faces than it shows at first, and it may just make your professional life a bit easier as a quick monitoring tool, news aggregator or networking instrument. At the current pace, Twitter may well move past the hype and nestle inside the blend of communication channels for individuals, companies and press.

Sign up for an account and give it a try, but be patient. It takes time to develop and tweak to your needs. In the beginning, many people tweet about trivial things, to get a feel of what it is.
“Am getting a cup of coffee”
“Am enjoying my coffee” (or “Is enjoying his coffee”)
“Considering getting a second cup of coffee”
etc…
After a couple of these messages, the attention span of many people wears out. I signed up for Twitter for the first time in 2007, only to delete my account a few days later. I did not see how I could use it and I did not have the patience to watch it grow. Just stick around.

Stage 2: Anger

Twitter is useless! It’s an endless outpouring of mindless banter.
Well, the service was named after the sound that birds make. Maybe the developers never realized the many different possiblities it offers now. New users often get stuck easily in those trifling messages. It makes Twitter look trivial and wasteful. But there is more to it, it just takes time.

The time I haven’t yet lost on Facebook is now squandered on dim microblogging.
That is your own responsibility. Twitter should always be quick and easy and is designed to be exactly that. By the time you’re moving out of this stage, you may already have built up a small network of small-circle followers (friends / colleagues) and are following a similar amount. Still, Twitter i not doing things for you that other on-line services are not already taking care of. Once more, stick around.
Check out the many applications that will help you to use Twitter more efficiently. Integrate it in Outlook with Outtwit, connect it to your status update on Facebook, the possibilities are endless. Many of your tweets can be automated by text you generate elsewhere, and vice versa.

Stage 3: Bargaining

Building up a network in Twitter doesn’t happen overnight. Not even in a few weeks. See for yourself who you want to follow: not only friends and colleagues, but prominent bloggers and other writers will share thoughts and interesting links. Press publications and more and more companies use Twitter to share their latest news, offering you an alternative to RSS as a news aggregator. An advantage over RSS is the fact that news is aggregated, not by one channel, but by a much larger group of sources. News from a certain source can reach you indirectly but very quickly via any of the people you follow.

I have nothing interesting to say.
There is nothing wrong with that, there are many silent followers, using Twitter in a more passive way. Besides, your followers on Twitter aren’t like the followers of the Buddha: they do not shave their heads, sitting cross-legged with their mouths open in anticipation, waiting for you to speak. Everyone is following a whole bunch of people that together create a cloud of messaging. Your share can be minimal. Basically, you can announce (a news fact, a feeling, an opinion or an experience), you can ask or you can share (a link to another web source) on Twitter.
By now, you have decided to stick around because it is clear that there is more to explore.

Stage 4: Depression

Nobody’s following me.
Don’t take it too personal. This is the internet: people cannot ignore you because of bad breath, nor can they avoid you because you tend to make yelping noises whenever you get excited about something.
It takes a while for companies to build a network of interested followers, but a crowd of followers comes naturally with good content. Twitter has already become a medium that spreads news quicker than e-mail or IM.

I’m following everybody! Stop talking! Do I know you?
By now, the list of people you are following may be getting out of hand. And suddenly, Twitter is an annoying kind of static in the background, leaving you with a feeling you might be overlooking interesting tips or stories. Once again, apps come to the rescue: Tweetdeck, for example, will let you divide your follow-list into different groups. In Outtwit, you can track separate groups of people into separate folders. Also, un-following is not a sin, even internet environments can use a spring cleaning on occasion.

Stage 5: Acceptance

You like Twitter for what it is, because you have tweaked it to your needs. It does not take up too much of your time and you have largely managed to separate relevant stuff from white noise. Keep it going: every day, interesting new sources sign up. It’s up to you and your network to spot them.

Some more insights and tips on Twitter:
http://clickingandscreaming.com/2008/12/02/top-5-twitter-lists/

By invitation of the Motos Scooters Club des Falaises - the local branch of the Vespa Club de France - and together with the Classic Car Club Normandy we got a top spot at the quay in QuilleBeuf to park our cars.

Arriving very early in the morning, we got ourselves installed ahead of the huge crowd that struggled to find a free patch of grass near the river bank to watch the ships go by, have a glass of cider wine and stroll by the motorcycles, oldtimers… and Bluetooth cars. It was a lovely day and the atmosphere was cheery, the ships were stately, the oldtimers plucky (both the cars and the foursome playing cards at a picnic table next to us) and our enjoyment very, very, véritable.

So, after a bit of preparation, it seems we’re in good shape for the festivities around the French National Holiday. Taking an elegant convoy of cars to the beautiful region of Normandy when large crowds gather for the Sail Armada on the river Seine is definitely a winning tactic. If they weren’t looking at the boats, the folks in Rouen were certainly looking at us.

Created in 1989 and held in Rouen every four or five years since, the ten-day Armada is a festival for the finest sailing ships in the world. Attracting literally millions of people, it is one of the largest international events in the world. In the days leading up to the 14th of July, many people already come to take a look at the majestic ships that are lying in the inland port of Rouen. There is music (Iggy Pop seems to be everywhere these days), there are markets, there are of course fireworks and there is - after all, this is France - lots of food and drink. And then there’s us.

Doors, steering wheel, gasoline, check!

2000 Watts sound system and subwoofer, check!

Roof, check!

Crazy driver, check!

Mudtrail, check!

This car is officially ready… Landcruisers can eat our mud.

What better idea to get noticed than driving around in a flashy car? Well… driving around in three flashy cars! Beside our trusted Lotus, we took the Parrot MG out of the stable and added to that a Landrover Lightweight. Greasemonkey had to work until the last moment, and then some, to get the old boy (born in 1980) in shape for the trip.

Although, in shape? With a maximum speed of 80 km/h, it’s not exactly a bullet on the road… more like a boulder. But it does get you noticed. And when an Aberdeen-Le Mans classics race passes by, you get quite a few nods (’one of us’) and consenting salutes from old Jags and Bentleys. Cool. Pity about the weather though, it was raining cats and dogs all day… glad to be inside now in front of a glass of cider wine, the local specialty.

Yup, it’s been awful quiet here… Not that there wasn’t much to tell, I just did not take the time to tell it. Blogging about driving fancy cars around in European cities is fun and easy, but it sort of gives the impression that it is all I do. It is not, but I just do not feel the urge to communicate about the fact that I work on strategies for niche products in specific demographics, chase new business, guide the production of press releases, case studies, by-lined articles and newsletters, set up press briefings and host interviews, play coach and coachee, think about the future, muse on the past, glorify and curse the present, and of course getonthebackofmilkcartonson stakesinthemiddleofcornfieldsoncoversoffuturehistorybooksonoldlady’s mantleswalkin’onwaternailedoncrosses…

While driving around in Geneva, I became the living proof that - when talking about telephone calls and music - Sony Ericsson makes sure you are connected wherever you are in whichever way you want. Headsets, handsfree carkits, stereo headsets, audio dongles, fm transmitters, audio speakers and phones with shake control ensure that you can make calls safely and comfortably and that there is no place on earth where you cannot listen to your music.
I have been listening to Chet Baker at the shore of Lake Geneva today and calling my dad from a traffic jam (Dad! Coool cars!).

I’ll be streaming Chet again tomorrow morning via the Music Receiver audio dongle on the dodgy old Denon amplifier in the apartment here and knowing who’s calling me then before I have my phone out of my pocket. The future is now, and it is wireless. It also still has traffic jams, but they’re a bit easier to tolerate now

A lot more pictures can be found on Heliade’s picture site here.

And it goes so well with my Hermès handbag… oooh, suit you sir.

When I was about 14, for some reason I suddenly really got into cars. I kept files of as much car brands as I could and tried to know all the models out on the market. Later on, it faded away until I couldn’t care less and I actually never owned a car until I was 28. Now I enjoy driving, but I know nothing about engines compared to some of the car nuts in my direct environment.
But today, while being in Geneva to create some buzz for Sony Ericsson’s car accessories, we were allowed to visit the Car Show itself… and boy, that was AWESOME!! It almost made me go VROOOOOMMMM. But not really.
A sea of shininess, squeaky rubber and suave boothbabes. We saw so many stunning cars that I just don’t know which ones to post (they’re all here).

It was very obvious that Italian car brands still find it important to express their knack for style. The Alfa Romeo booth was dazzling, with cars in the bloodiest red, pitch black and iPod white, all caressed by elegant ladies.

The same was true for Lancia, the supercar brands Ferrari, Bugatti, Maserati and Lamborghini. Why, even Fiat did its best! And they won the prize for the cleverest hospitality suite with ease. Wherever you were in the gigantic hall, you always had the gigantic Cinquecento in the back of your view.

I am truly glad I had the chance to walk around the show today. The 14-year-old in me says it was kick-ass. And the Greasemonkey agrees.