On today’s lesson of “What did we learn?” we examine one Ashton Kutcher – Twitter’s biggest cheerleader, short of Lady Gaga. A Twitter hero from the start, his eight-million followers boasts a mighty big audience. As I’ve said many times, for many, social media is simply a better way to screw up to a much larger audience in a much shorter amount of time. Ashton proved that last week, when he defended Penn State’s fired coach without knowing all the facts of why he was fired. Kutcher immediately took a ton of grief for his defense, and backpedaled, realizing what he did, and admitting that he screwed up. He did the complete and total right thing. He screwed up, he [...]

Another in the popular “How To Be Taken Seriously” category. It all comes down to personal trust, whether you’re a one-person shop, a small business, or a multi-billion dollar corporation. As I’ve mentioned a few times already, I finally bought an apartment in Manhattan. Years of renting have come to a close as I signed close to 1,453 documents over the course of an afternoon in exchange for two lock keys and one mailbox key. I’m a homeowner. Yes, it’s scary as hell, with each day bringing up more scariness excitement than the day before. But the one thing that keeps me smiling is this: Because I own, I can create. Or, in less dramatic terms, I can mold my [...]

I love the fact that I sit on boards. It means I get to give away super-cool free stuff. Today, I get to give away a Winter Jacket (just in time) at ScotteVest. Like the kind I have. Want to win A Fleece 5.0? ScotteVest? Perfect for winter? Here’s all you have to do: Someone tweeted me this morning with a speaking opportunity – But they did it to @peter. When they didn’t get a response, they tweeted to @shankman. By this point, I was notified by more than one person that this tweeter thought I just wasn’t replying. *Facepalm.* So it occurred to me that I might want to do a better job branding my Twitter name. That’s where you [...]

I woke up on a random morning last week and did what I always do – Fed the cat, made coffee, stumbled towards the shower, and eventually, sat down at my desk, and launched Chrome with the five tabs I’ve programmed to open at startup. Two of those tabs are Facebook. Facebook.com, and my (I hate this term) “like page.” I go through the people in my network, then look at any posts or comments on the “like page,” and respond accordingly. This is a daily thing. I do it every morning, whenever morning happens to fall in the part of the world I’m currently in. This morning, though, something was different. I’d been invited to try Facebook’s new “Timeline” [...]

Hey gang! Remember Boxing Day 2008, where I held a massive all-day trivia contest on Twitter, giving out prizes to everyone who had to work that day? Remember the one I did on the HARO anniversary the following year? They were both a ton of fun, and there were awesome prizes to be had! Well, I feel like doing it again this weekend, for as long as we have power and connectivity! We’re all going to be home and chilling anyway (at least those on the east coast) and in NYC, all outdoor events (including the two races I was going to run) have been cancelled. So why not give out some prizes? It won’t be as massive as last [...]