I applied and got an auto email thanking me for joining the Pinterest waiting list.  Wait…what?  I have to wait to join?  Why? A you really checking up on me? Do you need to see my credentials? After venting my frustration at being wait-listed, I did have a couple of big-hearted pals who took pity on me and sent me an invite to speed up the process:

Four days later, I was finally got the “approval letter” from Pinterest directly, but by then I was already in.  By the way, drop me a line if you want a personal invite to check it out for yourself. I can’t seem to find any online resource about why they choose this process for inclusion, but I did find a lot of people asking the same question as me.  However, the process isn’t slowing down their use rate.  According to Alexa, Pinterest pageviews have increased 128% over the last three months, even though it has been around since March 2010. And according to their Wiki page, the company was valued at $200 million in Oct 2011. What am I missing?

To be fair, Pinterest has never claimed to be a game changer. Their stated mission statement is “to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting. We think that a favorite book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people.” But other than being able to post pictures, what’s the appeal?  I can see how this would be great for visual designers, photographers, interior designers, etc. to strut their stuff. But what about the rest of us? Just to see how it works, I created a board focused on the Imminent Zombiepocalypse. Last week I started adding images to it and since then, it has had hundreds of “likes’ and “repins” and new “followers”, but so what? I didn’t post anything that wasn’t already online or anything original, so who cares? I am not a renowned zombieologist, I’m just a guy who thinks zombies are fun. I contribute nothing original. How does the fact that Jenna or Kyle or JumaniXL repinned one of the images from my board help to “connect everyone”?

Do you see any business or personal value in using it? Is it just another online time waster? Is it just for fun? That’s cool with me, ’cause I know those are really popular. But somebody just tell me that so that I can let it go and move on and maybe try Tumblr next. Fact is, I have only a small bit of time for fun these days, and I don’t care to spend it looking at pictures of couches, but that’s just me.  But don’t worry – become a faithful follower and I’ll keep posting those awesome zombie pics!

Kickin' it old skool

Big browser news today in a post on Mashable – Internet Explorer, the long-standing behemoth of browsers can no longer claim their long and tightly held 50% of browser share:

“Safari’s hold on 62.17% of mobile traffic has reduced IE’s overall share of web browsing, despite still claiming 52.63% of desktop traffic, according to Netmarketshare.com.

The Microsoft browser’s diminishing share (49.6%) reflects its near absence from the realms of mobile and tablet, which now make up 6% of web traffic. However, chances are, you gave up on IE long enough ago that this milestone makes you more curious as to who actually still uses the browser.”

Good point.  I gave up IE many, many moons ago. Back in the olden times, I was all about Netscape. Please understand I was a die-hard Machead so anything I could do to escape the clutches of the evil MS empire I would take. I have since mellowed a bit and now realize that there is a time and place for MS…not so sure about IE though. I went straight from Netscape to Firefox on my old home Mac cause they stopped upgrading IE anyway and I was quite smitten with FireFox.  FireFox still holds the number two spot of browser share, at 21.20%.

Nowadays, I am all about Chrome on my PCs and Macs. My mobile devices are all Safari. I was happy to see that Chrome’s 16.60% of the pie continues to grow. Safari on the desktop lags behind at 8.72% because…well, it kinda stinks, doesn’t it?  (Did I just hear the sounds of a thousand simultaneous Machead machinations begin to formulate my painful demise?)

But the bigger question is why does IE still hold the largest market share?  Why do we still use it?  It’s still the Windows default and I suppose it does its job for the casual surfer. Ah well…hamburgers and steaks…chocolate and vanilla…the world is full of choices.  Choose wisely friends! If you are an IE fan OR a Safari on-the-desktop fan, please tell me why…what am I missing?

Call for Documents

FEMA is collecting documents related to using social media during disaster response. As the use of social media increases throughout the county, many jurisdictions are incorporating Internet sites such as Twitter and Facebook into their public communications plans. Recently, the LLIS.gov team worked with Harris County, Texas, to develop an exclusive Practice Note, Emergency Public Information: The Harris County, Texas, Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management’s Implementation of a Social Media Protocol. 

Does your jurisdiction have a similar story? Please email stories or documents to the LLIS.gov Research Team at research@llis.dhs.gov. Alternatively, you can always upload documents through the SUBMIT TO LLIS.GOV tab on the LLIS.gov homepage.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Still not convinced Social Media is important? Try telling that to FEMA Director Craig Fugate’s after you read his testimony on the topic. Kim Stephens over at idisaster 2.0 has a great post on FEMA’s use of Social Media in disaster management and emergency preparedness.

In the Social Media in the Public Sector guidebook that we just submitted to the publisher for peer reviews, we highlighted FEMA’s efforts in social media as a true testament to the value of crowdsourcing when you need quick, actionable information (i.e. immediately following a large-scale disaster.) Check out Kim’s great post for more info! 

Although the kit was designed as a tool for those IT professionals in New York at the local, state and federal level, the tools can be used to start a community of practice anywhere.

It sounds like a great idea to formalize the concepts in such a package, but I wonder if that can actually be a the detriment to the collaborative spirit?  Most of the networks to which I belong relish in the idea of being outside of a bureaucracy.  They focus on personal relationships, quick engagements and responses and the free sharing of ideas and professional opinions. It will be interesting to see how the Kit compares to or meshes with the more well-established, albeit less formal, collaboration tools offered today in government via things like LinkedIn and GovLoop.

Brainssssssssssss!

It’s Halloween season…and who doesn’t love a good zombie story?  AMC’s The Walking Dead is dominating TV and Romero’s Dead continue to press forward in new brain-munching glory with every new iteration.  And the federal government does not want to be left behind!

Last May, the CDC had massive success with their Zombie Preparedness Kit campaign – teaching everyone about the value of being prepared for ANY emergency.  Whether you are being threatened by a shuffling corpse or a tornado, being ready can save your life. A serious message delivered via a fun (and effective) campaign. The campaign went viral (how ironic) across social media channels and crashed the CDCs servers as people logged on for more info.  Like I said, who doesn’t love a great zombie story?

Now the CDC is back with those fun-loving flesh-eaters in comic book format. You can download the online graphic novel Zombie Pandemic: Preparedness 101, from the CDC website for free. It educates about a preparedness kit against the gory backdrop of what else? A zombiepocalypse! Get ready..and read a comic book!