Rob Bell's Notes from a Yorkshire Internet Megalomaniac

If you’re a regular visitor to the blog, you’ll notice occasional changes – some more obvious than others. Today, the changes are very obvious! I’ve given the site a major overhaul. Britain’s trying to sort out its’ next government – in the strangest election result that’s every happened in my lifetime – and I’ve been up following the news through the night the past few nights. So while I’ve been up, I’ve updated the site theme – to a more modern, almost minimalist theme that’s inspired by the iPhone’s ‘Notes’ app .

You can now enjoy Notes from A Yorkshire Internet Megalomaniac’s closer integration with Facebook and Twitter, clearer access to my social media links, a cutting-edge comment platform, and a few other little tweaks.

Now the blog’s looking nice and fresh, I will once again redouble my efforts to update more often – it’s a constant struggle juggling 3 companies, a social media presence, writing, training, networking, technical work etc… but you probably know that – what’s that you say? Yeah, poor me – I know – grumpy, northern, englishman… it’s due to lack of sleep since Thursday!

Oooh, I almost forgot – I got access to a site that’s not even launched til next week, where I got hold of a copy of Copyblogger‘s as yet unreleased guide to ‘Creating Compelling SEO Content That Ranks Well in Search Engines’. If you want to sneak a copy for yourself before everyone gets hold of it next week, visit this pre-release launch page – you don’t have to leave your email or anything, just download the guide. I’ve printed it out, it’s good stuff.

Take care and have fun doing what you do out there,

Rob

p.s. Let me know what you think of the site updates – leave me a comment below.

Here I sit, while outside snow is covering the UK, rendering most of the country useless – schools are closed, people can’t get into work, and we’ve run out of rocksalt because the largest mine in the UK can only produce in a week what is being used every day, as local councils try to keep the roads clear.

It’s the ‘worst’ winter in 30 years according to the press, although I beg to differ – it’s the BEST winter in 30 years! Snow may be disruptive, but it’s so very beautiful, with a white blanket covering the everyday dullness of the city, making buildings look ‘postcard pretty’ and presenting a visual splendour out of town as fields and trees proudly display their temporary white overcoats.

Happy New Year to all of you, and all the best for 2010. I’ve got big plans for this year, although I haven’t made any resolutions – actually that’s an untruth, I made one – to go swimming more often as it’s my physical therapy – but I’ve broken it already due to the fact I can’t get to the gym because of the snow! Which brings me onto what I want to discuss today – why New Years Resolutions suck, and why you shouldn’t make them!

I have nothing against planning or setting goals – these are both worthy activities that will help you get where you want to be. In fact, I insist you set some goals and plan towards reaching them – how will you know how you’re going to get where you want to be unless you have a map? However, don’t name them ‘Resolutions’! Why? Because you’re setting yourself up to fail straightaway…

People don’t generally make New Years Resolutions because they are committed to changing a behaviour, getting rid of a bad habit, or achieving something.

People make New Years Resolutions so that they have something to say when other people ask “What are your Resolutions for this year?”.

Over the years, you have probably made hundreds or thousands of resolutions that you’ve later broken… or never even attempted to keep. In people’s minds, New Years Resolutions are things you make but don’t make the most of. So what if they fail – millions of other people have done exactly the same thing… 2 or 3 weeks into the New Year, old habits reemerge and new improvements slide back to 2009 levels. Subconsciously, we know that New Years Resolutions are useless – a traditional pastime borne of the New Year, soon forgotten as winter fades into memory.

Okay so some people manage to keep their resolutions – but I reckon they’re in the minority. More people give up smoking in the New Year than at any other time of year, and hopefully many remain non-smokers forever… but the majority eventually return to tobacco’s vice-like grip and the comfort of the burning stick of reduced lifespan.

So this year, don’t make any New Years Resolutions. Save yourself the time and effort and future disappointment as you go back on your festively-induced promises.

Instead go out and buy yourself a notebook. In that notebook write down the things you want to achieve in 2010.

Once you have those goals written down, then you can start to plan how you’re going to achieve them.

Once you have your plan, start working towards your goals. Keep it positive and you’re more likely to succeed.

I hope you’re having a great snowed-in day, and let’s all look forward to a successful 2010 filled with fun and laughter (but not Miley Cyrus!)

Rob Bell

I’m not quite sure what it is… it’s not time, it’s not lack of ideas, it’s not lack of content… but something makes this blog harder to keep updating than any of the rest of my web estate! Those of you who follow me on social networks know that I’m online plenty, always researching new and quality information and applications, engaging with and sharing with people. I have almost 2,300 Twitter posts to my name at the time of writing this, so why oh why oh why do I find it such a chore to look after my blog? It’s been 6 weeks since my last update here – shame on me!

Does anyone else share this malady, and find their blog to be the hardest part of their web presence to maintain?

Of course, I have a bagful of excuses – too much client work, medical appointments, other jobs to do, things to learn, too busy talking to people – but at the end of the day, they are just excuses. I can make time for this blog, I’ve just failed to do so, and I aim to rectify this starting today. I made an agreement with my mentor to finalise the core of each of my sites – I’m going to include this site too, so a redesign to fit in with the others is imminent!

I always put pressure on myself to make my blog posts fit certain criteria – they have to be a certain minimum length, be original content that isn’t lifted from somewhere else, pass my rigorous quality standard… and I set the bar too high for myself, it’s so high I can’t realistically hope to fulfil all the requirements every single time – I have been paralysed by my own perfection-demanding nature. I read Seth Godin’s blog posts each day via RSS and they’re not often very long at all – why do I crave lengthiness in my own??!?

So today I’m giving myself a slap and reminding myself of the saying “You don’t have to be great to get going, but you do have to get going to be great”

What are you going to get going today to get great?

Rob Bell

p.s. I stayed up until ridiculous o’clock to ensure I got my vanity link on Facebook, so I’m going to use it lots – friend me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/robbell

p.p.s. And as if you didn’t already know, on Twitter I’m @robbell

According to this article in Computerworld Twitter traffic has shot up, not due to the teen age group who grew MySpace but rather older people – 45-54 years olds, followed by my generation – the 25-34 year olds. OK you got me, I’m 37 but that’s only on the outside! A ComScore survey found that 18-24 year olds, the ‘traditional’ social media early adopters, were actually 12% less likely to use Twitter than the average. They also found that older users spend more time on the site each visit.

Now I’m not going to repeat the facts in the article verbatim, you only have to click the link above to read it for yourself, but it did get me thinking about why older users might like Twitter much more than other networks. I struggle to believe that I’m now in the 35-54 age group for many surveys, but believe that my generation may be seriously affecting surveys who class us with those almost 20 years older. We were the first generation to grow up with computers available at home – ok they were 1k ZX80s and 48k ZX Spectrums in the early 80s, but we still had them at home,and I’ve now been a computer user for some 29 years (eek!) and an Internet user since 1991, 18 fun filled years (actually 5-10 fun filled years, the days before broadband were awful, we’d wait all night downloading a rubbish picture of a topless girl – that’s right – a picture, just one cos it took that long… You broadband pervs have no idea how lucky you are!) I think people my age have started to skew the survey results where we’re listed with people 20 years older – but that’s beside the point because the article and report don’t use that age grouping – they do it by 10 year gaps, much more accurate and representative, so let’s just get to the point!

I think this metric could have something to do with the ease of use of Twitter in comparison to the other social networks – somewhere like Facebook/MySpace where you have profiles, upload photos and videos, make use of applications you have to install and so forth can be daunting to older people with less computing/internet experience. Maintaining your profile and keeping it updated can take up lots of time, and it’s all very daunting to lots of people. Twitter on the other hand is a beautiful piece of simplicity for the user, and not at all threatening for the inexperienced computer user. You can be up and running in minutes, and there’s always something to read about. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t picked it up and been able to use it straightaway.

Young people easily understand technology, having grown up with it – it’s hard to think we’ve only had computers in the home for about 30 years because they’re everywhere now. My Dad used to stare at my screen in bemusement when he came round because he didn’t believe the people talking directly to me via the computer screen could possibly be real – how were they getting there, and how was text appearing on my screen when I wasn’t typing?!?! Bless him, he was from a generation that grew up before television – he even used a horse and cart for his coal round in his younger days before vans and lorries became the medium of transport for commerce.

How things have changed in such a relatively short space of time in the greater scheme of things.

I think it’s a great positive that Twitter’s attracting an older generation, and many people in their later years find this massive world of information, entertainment, discussion and communication to be as useful and involving as I do. When I broke my back and had to lay down at home for a long time, I couldn’t have survived without the Net – I’d never have escaped my 4 walled virtual prison without it. I see the Net giving those with less mobility wings through which to set themselves free online. I also see it as giving voice to the voiceless and community to the lonely and isolated (although the isolated may struggle to get decent speed broadband in rural areas so they’ll have to stay away from streaming video!)

As the older generation starts to welcome the tech savvy teens of the 80s like myself into their throng via the ‘excuse’ that “we’re not old, we’re only just heading into middle aged”, I’d like to say to each and every one of you silver surfers, “Welcome, it’s a mad place and you’ll fit right in!”

Rob

p.s. I have no excuse for not posting very often today, beyond ‘Twitter ate my homework’