Weekend Magazine: In The Lap Of Luxury

For Gracie the Wonder Beagle,

any lap is the lap of luxury.

Why Google+?

To say there are more social networks than you can shake a stick at is an understatement. Frankly, shake a stick in any direction and a social network will likely spring up immediately. Given that nuisance limit of 24 hours in a day, it doesn't matter how many "gotta be on" social networks exist. Like the cable conundrum where the number of channels increase and the stuff worth watching decreases (okay, disappears), at a certain point it will not be possible to be on all the social networks* one must be on.

New Year, New Challenge.

I made Google+ a priority for 2012. Wanting to break in on Google+ with friends, I asked via Facebook status, "Anyone want to connect on Google+?". I made some connections. My friend Yvonne (a great advocate and activist) aka @stopfox indicated that she had more social networks than either time or money. Yvonne asked (not directly) "Why another network?"  Her query caused me to think, "Why Google+?".

Indeed, "Why Google+?" is a good question. Although Google+'s circles organization is very practical, any unique strength of a social network is usually co-opted  by other social networks (it is maddening for a medium that encourages individuality to play follow the leader in this manner). Google+'s integration with the Android platform and everything else Googley is nice, but I'm sure Google+ works equally well with other platforms. My reason for involvement with Google+ is merely mundane.

No One Will Ever Read The Newspaper On Their Computer.

Like the horseless carriage, the television, the Betamax and the MP3 player before it, social networking is here to stay. The format may change and today's mega-monsters of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter may or may not continue for decades but platform driven e-networking will continue as long as their are humans and computers.  From all appearances Google's business model appears flexible enough to withstand the roller coaster turbulence of today's marketplace. So that is "Why Google+". I'm not leaving Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the cast of thousands but I will actively add Google+ to the mix.

How do you feel about the plethora of social networks? Any networks (currently in existence) you will be adding or subtracting from your mix? Would you rather return to carrying a pocket full of change to make a necessary call from a payphone?



*The social networks on which I currently have accounts include: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Triberr, HubPages, examiner.com,unemployedworkers, Blogger, examiner.com, Mashable, Huffington Post, StumbleUpon, Quora, Plaxo, Google+, connect.me, Branch Out, Klout and some Yahoo groups. I also have inactive accounts with Wordpress and MySpace. This doesn't count the blogs where I am an occasional commenter. These blogs also have the elements of a social network, but I don't want to include them in my list for fear of appearing obsessed with social networks.

ROL: Positive Reality.

ROL is an abbreviation for Return on Life. Return on Life is all about making small incremental changes that yield large returns on life enjoyment. This week's ROL is about keeping a positive attitude grounded in reality.

This Season.

source: Wikipedia

It's been a tough season to be a Chicago Bears fan. The Bears started off the season losing 3 of their first 5 games. All three loses were dreadful. After that, the Bears reeled off 5 wins in a row and appeared to be an actual professional football team. The Bears star quarterback broke his thumb in the last victory of the 5. After losing their star quarterback the Bears lost five in row. With those five consecutive losses the Bears had no chance of qualifying for the playoffs. The coup de grace was a Bears win in the last game of the season, guaranteeing a worse draft position for the Bears. At least I'm used to it.

The Last Half-Decade.

The Chicago Bears had a great season in 2006, winning 13 of 16 games. The Bears advanced through the playoffs until losing the Super Bowl to the Indianapolis Colts. The next three years the Bears had a composite record one game below break even with no postseason appearances. Last year everything went right for the Bears until they lost the conference championship and found themselves 1 win short of a Super Bowl appearance.

It's All In How You Look At It.

At the post-mortem press conference the day after the Bears season ended, a reporter asked Bears coach Lovie Smith how he planned to turn around a franchise that has made the playoffs only once in five seasons. Smith replied, "We've made the playoffs once in the last two years". True. And Bill Clinton didn't have sex with that woman. The stain on her dress proves it.

Measure Accurately.

I'm a big fan of staying positive. A strong will to stay positive has gotten through some pretty rough times (How was 2011 for you?) Staying positive does not mean ignoring the truth. Staying positive means identifying and acknowledging and developing an action plan to correct any deficiencies.  Ignoring the obvious only makes it harder to improve and has a negative impact on a positive outlook.

Do you have any examples of someone (you, a family member, a colleague or employer)obscuring the truth in order to portray an overly rosy outlook? How do you feel when someone inaccurately portrays a situation in an overly optimistic manner?