The Digital Influentials, by Cory Treffiletti

Being A Dad Seriously Cuts Into My Gadget Time (Mediapost 10.10.12)

When I was in my twenties and early thirties I had “spare time”.  I’d dive deep into the in’s and out’s of my newest gadgets and in a matter of hours I’d have the iPhone figured out, my Jam Box synced with every device and all the software on my devices running the most recent version of whatever system was available.  I’d have remote access to desktops (when that wasn’t easy), my playlists would be synced with that weeks’ new releases and my TiVo would be almost empty because I was up-to-date on all the newest shows.

Then – I had kids.

Being a dad is a serious time suck (even if it is great)!  By the time I roll around to 8pm the baby is asleep and my oldest son is playing in his room in the most desperate hope that he’ll fall asleep within the next hour, my wife and I sit down for the first time and we are exhausted.  Sometimes I can barely keep my eyes open.  All that time I used to dedicate to myself, when I would stay up late and multi-task with multiple screens, is lost and the same goes for my wife.  Now I understand why technology early-adopters are typically a younger breed.  It’s devastatingly hard when you’re older and have more demands on your time! 

Companies like Apple and Samsung, when not embroiled in bitter legal disputes a la the siege of Troy, understand that and market to a youthful demographic.  The recent Samsung ads mocking the iPhone 5 buyers (of which I am a faithful devotee) are brilliant in their ability to point out the “silliness” of the Apple hardware culture.  While it won’t make me buy their phone, it does make me appreciate the power of good creative and it points out that the younger audience are the shapers of the zeitgeist – these are the folks we emulate most of the time.  As an advertising and marketing guy, that makes me smile even if it makes me grimace as someone closer to 40 than any other number.

Maybe it’s just a stage.  Maybe when I get out of this phase and my kids are a little bit older, I’ll have that time back again.  Or maybe this is why our parents always seemed so “behind the times” when we were younger.   They couldn’t possibly balance the role of “aging hipster” with “responsible parent”.  Maybe, just maybe, all our parents were super hip and cool before we were born and once we emerged into the world we sucked all the coolness right out of them.  After all, it takes effort and time to be cool.  Time is not something we have much of anymore, and effort is in short supply when you’re exhausted.

To my defense, I did figure out my most recent gadgets, just not at the same pace as in the past.  The iPhone 5 is up and running, my Jam Box is synced with what it needs to be synced with, and most of my devices are updated with the most recent software.  With everything running in the cloud, it’s a whole lot easier to be up-to-date than it was in the past and I do have, for better or worse, a virtual desktop that uses Chrome, Google Apps, Evernote and Dropbox.  My virtual world seems to be up and running in good fashion, even if my sleep schedule is still a bit awry. 

So, a toast to finding balance in life, between the role of marketer, father, husband and gadget-geek.  And a “cheers” to all of you who’ve also found the way.  I’ll be seeing you at some technology-oriented Meet-Up in the next few weeks.  If we’re lucky.

Dear Social Media; I Hate Politics. (Mediapost 9.4.12)

I hate politics.  Politics is like your underwear – I know you have them on, but I really don’t want to see them.  This time of the election cycle, and with the advent of social media, politics and political messaging has become close to unbearable.

I know the Internet has morphed into a social animal over the last few years, and Facebook is one of the best and worst inventions of my lifetime.  I don’t put it up in the pantheon of developments with the microwave oven, the ATM machine, the cellphone, or even the Internet itself, but its pretty darn useful.  I get to see and hear from people who I’ve known for many years.  I get to stay in touch with loads of people that otherwise may have fallen out of touch.  All that being said, I wish they would keep their politics to themselves.

Political advertising is bad enough without Facebook friends having to weigh in and create more viral antagonism.  The negative advertising I see on Television coming from all sides has achieved new heights, and with it my opinion of politicians has sunk to new lows.  We live in a media-driven culture and unfortunately ratings and circulation are associated with the extreme right and extreme left and the sanity of the middle is left out in the cold.  Those of us who sit in the middle of the political spectrum, who are cursed with the ability to recognize both sides of the argument and who recognize the flaws as well as the promise of both sides, become disillusioned and malcontent with the debate in general.  Our government is run by egotistical, self-centered children who fail to recognize the wonderfully rich history of the nation and the promise of a future that we want to leave to our children in favor of their own infamy and power.   I’m somewhat surprised that I have yet to see someone on the floor of Congress kicking, screaming, and throwing their hands in the air when they don’t get their way the same way my 3-year old does when he misses his afternoon nap, plays outside all day and its 9pm on a Saturday night.  It’s probably only a matter of time.

On Facebook I would hope to see more mild-mannered, intelligently driven debate about the issues and fewer personal attacks against the key figures by people I know and respect.  Unfortunately I see more of the same extremist points of view and less of a desire to understand both sides of the issues.  I see people posting funny pics (yes some of them are actually quite funny) and I see people posting political gaffes (yes some of these are simply frustrating and embarrassing), but rarely do I witness intelligent forwarding of the issues that matter most.  I have yet to make up my mind regarding all of the issues at hand, but my motivation is to ensure a strong future more so than ensure that “my team wins”.  I honestly hear more intelligent debate regarding NFL issues from sports talk radio on my commutes back and forth than I do from any political discussion through the media. 

The Internet is an amazing thing, and the people in my life are amazing people.  I would not trade any of them and I would not trade on any of my life experiences to be a different person.  I do however wish to see, in my lifetime, a political race and the subsequent media coverage which is driven by topics such as the economy, health coverage, personal rights and substantive foreign policy rather than who stood under the wrong sign at a convention, who paid for an outrageous haircut, or who misspelled something basic in a letter to the editor in college.   I wish to show my sons that our political process is one based on truth and intelligent debate rather than name-calling and personal attacks.   I wish to show my sons that media can actually be unbiased, truthful and fair to all sides. 

This election season we have two worthy Presidential candidates.  One has one point of view and the other has a different point of view.   One comes from business and one comes from politics.  They both have their faults, but I hope they both will be mature enough to surround themselves only with the kinds of people who reflect a mature way of tackling a serious topic like running the most amazing country on the planet.  If not them, then maybe the next time around?

I know its not a marketing topic, per se, but as a marketer I do honestly feel that a mature, ethical, honest point of view which is based on personal integrity is the right way to promote your message.  I’m sure you would agree.

The People’s (Tech) Bailout (Mediapost 12.19.11)

If you’re anything like me, you’re getting tired of politics.  This has been a disturbing year, especially given all the stalemates and political immaturity that’s running rampant in Washington.  Additionally, if you’re anything like me, you’re getting tired of protests without a point.  It’s time that our government focus on the important things like creating jobs for Americans, so as we embark upon a new year I thought I’d lay out an idea for you.  I call it my proposal for the People’s (Tech) Bailout.

The tech industry has jobs, which is confounding because reports estimate there are as many as 10 million people in the US without jobs.  In the tech industry, as many people have called it, its 1999 all over again.   I’ve seen estimates ranging from 150,000 tech jobs added per year, to some people stating there are as many as 3 million open jobs in the US, many of which are in tech.  The simple explanation is that most of the people who are out of work are not qualified with the necessary skills to be applied to the open jobs, but that’s a problem we can solve if we put our minds to it!

My solution is a simple one; training and placement.  I’m typically not a fan of government stepping in and spending money, but in this situation I have an idea that would require them to step in, and they would actually make money while creating jobs, and revenue, all at the same time.

Step 1: For the millions of people who are out of work and are actively looking for work, the government will establish a payment of $1,000 per prospective employee for training. 

Step 2: An independent start-up company would be established to train and place these people, using the $1,000 payment per prospective employee.  The $1,000 should be enough to take an educated person, and train them in specific jobs that are available, especially if the companies who have these open jobs are incentivized to provide information and training materials in order to get these people up and running.

Step 3: The independent start-up would use those payments as revenue to pay for staff and resources to get these people trained over a 3-month period to be capable of entering into these companies and filling open jobs.  The requirements would be that the jobs be U.S. based, and that the prospective employees be U.S. citizens, in order to take advantage of the program. 

Step 4: When these jobs are filled by the prospective employees, they will have a portion of their wages garnished over a 3 month period to repay the training fee, plus a 100% mark-up (an additional $1,000, for a total of $2,000).  This money would be used to repay the government loan, and the government and the independent start-up would split the additional fees.  In this manner, the government would be repaid their outlay of funds, the start-up would create training jobs and put some percentage of people to work, and we would have successfully retrained millions of people who want to work, and placed them in positions where they can work. 

I know this sounds too easy, which is why the government will probably never pursue it, so I’m putting it out here for all of you to read and respond to.  The government would have the cash to kick-start this kind of a program, but anyone with enough funds could honestly make it happen.  It’s a revenue driver, and a guaranteed one at that.   

What do you think?  Is 2012 the year that someone makes this kind of thing work?  If you’re an Occupy person or any other protester, and you see an idea like this, then you should be incentivized to at least react.  Otherwise, you have no right to gather and protest for the sake of protesting.

Consider this idea my entrepreneurial Christmas gift.  Happy holidays everyone!