Meaningless Metrics [Rant]

/ Gary Hilson / 3 Comments

I’m influential about Ireland. Let me tell you why.

Over the years I’ve marveled at how organizations will continue to do things that do not generate any value for their business, specifically in marketing and communications. They do the same activities, e.g. trade shows, e-mail newsletters, press releases, because that’s what they have always done without ever stopping to evaluate why they do them and what impact these activities have on their brand awareness or bottom line. With the advent of social media, there are tools to help measure influence. One of those tools is Klout.

I’ve seen people in my Twitter feed reference Klout over the past three years. I’ve even seen the odd job posting that specifically asks for my Klout score. Most recently I’ve seen people mocking Klout for its inaccuracy.  I felt had to try it out for myself, so barely a month ago I created an account and connected my Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts. Immediately I was told I had a score of 51.

That’s good right? I passed?

In addition to the score, I’m told by Klout I’m most influential about Ireland, media and coffee.

Huh?

I’ve never been to Ireland. I’d like to go to Ireland but I don’t expect it will happen any time soon. I don’t really talk about Ireland either. Not on Twitter. Not on Facebook. Not on Google+. I do however hang out in an Irish pub in Toronto (owned and operated by a Korean gentleman) and I do drink a lot of Guinness. I may have tweeted about said Irish pub and Guinness once or twice. I probably mentioned wanting a Guinness, ordering a Guinness or drinking too much Guinness, likely on my birthday.

Now that I think of it, the fact that I’m influential (by Klout standards) about Ireland because I mention Guinness could be considered a little racist.

As for media, that actually makes a little sense. I am a communications professional and I do post articles about the news media and social media. However, my coffee influence is probably on par with my Ireland (Guinness) influence. I drink coffee. I need coffee. I ponder how much coffee is too much coffee (and do empirical research). I’m by no means a coffee expert or connoisseur. I bought Maxwell House last week because it was on sale.

Yesterday, Wired published an article delving into Klout and how it’s becoming a guideline for companies when hiring new talent. I’m currently between full-time gigs and freelancing in the meant-time. Occasionally I get a call from a headhunter looking to fill a social media-related role or online community manager position (which was my last position). The first question they ask is how many Twitter followers did I have.

At first I had to work hard not to lose my temper when getting these questions. And now I simply tell these recruiters I’m not interested in the position they are looking to fill. I don’t believe the number of Twitter followers is a fair evaluation of my skills or capabilities. I also think that depending on the focus of my Twitter account, I could get a lot of followers quickly, even if they were bots, by posting a daily fart joke or links to free porn.

Right now I have nearly 800 followers on Twitter. And I have no idea why. Or who they are. Most of them I don’t follow back. Many that I follow don’t follow me back. Some who follow me never interact with me even when I try to engage with them. Twitter even recently admitted there was a bug that unfollowed users on your behalf.

So no, I’m not going to let my Twitter following be a metric as to my influence and capabilities. Nor am I going to take Klout seriously. And don’t get my started on Amazon’s algorithm for book recommendations. Or Facebook friend suggestions. Yeesh.

I need to go now anyway. Have to get ready to meet a friend for coffee. Or a Guinness. She’s not Irish though.

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

Kemp Balances Great Functionality, Affordability [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

Kemp Technologies is unveiling the successor to its flagship LoadMaster 5500, the newest addition to its family of load balancers and application delivery controllers. The LoadMaster 5300 appliance delivers faster processing, throughput and double the concurrent connections while continuing the Yaphank, N.Y.-based company’s focus on combining performance and price for small and medium-sized enterprises. Read more…

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

Confusion Reigns On Cloud Storage, Backup [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

Enterprises once relied on a variety of physical storage devices, both on-site and off, to manage backups–everything from tapes, disks and DVDs to USB drives. Now the cloud is replacing these storage options, providing additional functionality that enables users to not only back up data but also share and collaborate. However, while there are of plenty of cloud storage options available to businesses, there is a lot to consider before selecting a provider. Read more at Network Computing.

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

I Smell Summer

/ Gary Hilson

Research shows that smell can be a powerful trigger for memory, so much in fact that some retailers are using scents to draw people into their stores, while real estate agents lay out fresh baked goods in kitchens to make a house feel like a home to prospective buyers.

Sitting in my home office with the balcony door open means not only do I hear the lawnmower cutting the grass for the first time this year, but I can smell the clippings. That smell reminds me of summer, particularly the summers of my youth, growing up in rural area on a three-acre hobby farm. As I got older, cutting the grass almost weekly became my responsibility. It wasn’t all that much of a chore because I got to drive a riding mower.

There are so many smells I associate with summers growing up in the country. Some of them make sense, some are a little odd:

Gasoline: Before getting on that riding lawn mower I had to fill it up with gas from a gas can using a funnel. Don’t get any funny ideas; it’s not as though I paused and savored the smell. By the end of high school I was getting my daily gas fume fix as a gas jockey at a gas station next to a chip wagon, which leads me to my next scent….

French Fries: Specifically, the smell of a deep fryer. I spent two summers working in hot chip wagons and later, as a gas jockey, I enjoyed the smell of petrol mingled with the sweet aroma of fries from the chip wagon next door, which was only open in the summer, I might add.

Lilac: Grade school usually wrapped up the third week of June, and my mom liked to put us to work to keep us busy. One of my regular jobs as I got taller was to hang laundry on the line. We had a clothesline that stretched between the garage and one of our barns. Nestled right next to the garage was a large lilac bush; it usually blooming by that time of year. Since then the smell of lilac not only brings back memories of summer, but of freedom from real responsibility and the stress of school.

Fresh Laundry: Further to the above, even when I’m pulling my laundry out of a washer to place in the dryer in my apartment’s laundry room, I still think of summers and hanging wet clothes on a line.

BBQ: Whether it’s coal-fired or propane-powered, the smell of meat grilling brings back memories of summer. In this I’m hardly unique. That being said, my parents would cook on the barbeque well into November as long there was propane left.

Cow Manure: I grew up next to a dairy farm. By the end of the summer the corn in the surrounding fields was all harvested and it was time to fertilize those empty fields naturally. Hence, cow shit reminds me of summer.

Beets Boiling: Not that I smell this often, but as a kid we had a fairly sizable garden and there was always one weekend afternoon when it was time to boil beets for pickling. I hated the smell, but I love the taste of pickled beets. Just don’t eat a whole jar in one sitting or you’ll pee red, freak out and drive yourself to the emergency room.

Bark Chips: My first summer as a gardener I went through a lot of bark chips – bags and bags of bark chips. When you first pour them out the smell is particularly strong but fades the longer the chips have been out. Bark chips are to summer what pine needles are to Christmas.

Fresh Pavement: Before my family moved out to live in rural Ontario when I was five, we lived in the suburb of Ottawa known as Hunt Club, which at the time was quite new. I vividly recall the smell of fresh pavement during the scorching summer. Now living in the big city of Toronto, I naturally associate summer with roadwork and inconvenience.

What smells tell you summer is here?

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

Puppet Labs Tools Up For OpenStack Clouds [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

My first of hopefully many contributions to Network Computing and today’s top story:

Enterprises deploying cloud computing infrastructures using OpenStack now have another configuration tool at their disposal thanks to Puppet Labs. The Portland-based company unveiled one of the first OpenStack implementations suitable for enterprise-class production deployments at this week’s OpenStack Summit in San Francisco. The company’s IT automation software is aimed at system administrators, designed to help them launch and support cloud computing infrastructures. [Complete Article]

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

6 Important Life Lessons I Learned from Ballroom Dancing

/ Gary Hilson / 2 Comments

A year and a half ago, I decided I wanted to try ballroom dancing. I have no idea why and it doesn’t matter because it was the best decision I’ve made in my entire life. I learned many dance moves, but it also offers some broader lessons on life.

Dance Like No One Is Watching: When you’re on the dance floor, it’s easy to worry about what others may think of you, whether it’s your partner or an audience when you’re performing. In life, there’s always going to be someone watching you and there’s always someone who feels the need to critique you. Sometimes other people’s opinions may have value and can help you improve, but there’s always going to be someone who feels the need to judge you and put you down if only to make themselves feel better.

You Need To Trust Someone: Some of us trust others more easily than others. If you’re a cynic, you may feel the need to question everyone’s intentions. There are a people out there who really want to help you because it’s in their nature. Ballroom dancing is about trusting your partner. If you’re the lady, you need to trust your male lead (and yes, ballroom dancing is somewhat sexist). If you’re leading the dance, you need to trust that your partner is in your corner and wants you to succeed.

Don’t Be Afraid to Step on Other People’s Toes: When I first started taking lessons, I was terrified that I would crush the toes of my teacher or dance partners. And it did happen. The more I danced, the less it happened. We all want to be liked and sometimes we worry about taking action that may hurt someone’s feelings. It’s going to happen, accept it. People who truly care about you will forgive you and move on. Those who don’t hopefully will get over too, but if they can’t, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Live In the Now: Whether you’re taking lessons, dancing socially or performing in front of an audience, you need to be in the moment, focusing on what you’re doing, not worrying about the horrible day you had at work or dreading the challenges, real or imagined, that life has in store for you tomorrow. It’s not easy when you’re in a bad head space, but it’s important to focus on where you are now and what you can do about it, and not worry about what could have been and what might be.

Make Mistakes: Even the most experienced dancers flub a step here and there, and we’re all afraid to fail. It’s natural. Sometimes we let that fear keep us from trying new things and we miss out on some wonderful experiences or opportunities to learn.

Keep Moving: We’ve all had the winds knocked out of our sails at one time or another. When we make a mistake or get thrown a curve ball in life, our first instinct is often to stop and get upset at ourselves or someone else. If you flub a step on the dance floor, the best thing to do is keep going. In life, you need to keep at it and be persistent.

A friend of mine once told me that if I could learn to ballroom dance at age 35, I could learn to do anything. I try to remember that whenever I doubt my ability to take on new challenges.

Gary Hilson is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for hire. He lives in Toronto.

Handy Dandy Chicken

/ Gary Hilson

I make this casserole a lot. It’s similar to one my mom made when I was a kid. You can use any cut of chicken you like, as long as you stick to the recommended weight in the recipe. I use skinless, boneless chicken thighs which makes it easy to split the servings and freeze leftovers.

2 cups instant white rice
10 oz can of mushroom stems and pieces
10 oz can of cream of mushroom soup
10 oz can of cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup of apple juice
1 1/4 oz envelope of vegetable soup mix
3 lbs (1.4 kg) of bone-in chicken parts, skinless

Combine first six ingredients in large bowl. Spread in ungreased 9×13 inch pan. Arrange chicken, meaty-side up, on rice mixture. Cover with greased foil. Bake 350 degrees F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until chicken is no longer pink inside.

Serves 6.

Recipe pulled from Company’s Coming: Most Loved Casseroles by Jean Pare.

Latest Lego Acquisition: Star Wars 7915-1: Imperial V-wing Starfighter

/ Gary Hilson

Imperial V-Wing StarfighterMy parting gift from my last job was an HBC gift card which I struggled to spend at The Bay; however, a trip to Zellers allowed me to buy a Christmas gift for my nephew and something for myself.

I prefer the Classic Star Wars Lego over the Clone Wars, even though some of the ships are pretty cool. A lot of the sets being released right now are obviously trying to bridge the gap between the Clone Wars era and the original trilogy. Case in point this set is a tweak of an earlier Republic V-Wing fighter but with darker Imperial colours. Totaling 139 pieces, this was quickly assembled and pretty cool.