Please Stop It: Five Things I Hope Not To See Again in 2012.

Dezember 13th, 2011 • 2 comments Allgemein
Tags: 2011, 2012, Future, List, personal, Prediction, Rant, Trends

My calendar reminds me that I still haven’t really proceeded with my Christmas shopping. And this usually is a clear indicator that another year goes by. Much has happened in 2011. And still – some of the most annoying stuff is still there. So before the year ends I would like to articulate my hope that I won’t see 5 things ever again after January 1. But probably I will anyway.

1. Social Media Infographics
Social Media Infographics are probably the most painful thing to witness while browsing through a whole lot of inspiring thoughts in blog feed every morning. Originally the idea was quite good: take dull information and turn it into something nice. By late 2011 social media infographics have unfortunately become a metaphor for reducing information to colorful shit. Many of them are simply wrong or misleading, many of them are even Spam. For the love of Baby Jesus. Stop that.

2. Social Media Boutique Agencies

Whenever I think about the artist formerly known as Social Media I also think about its maturity in 2011. And one sign that the social media evolution isn’t yet where it is supposed to be is quite evident: Social Media Boutique Agencies still exist. I have absolutely no idea why some major companies still let specialized ‘social media vendors’ pitch for isolated accounts. It is against the idea of tearing down the silos. It makes no sense from a management standpoint – and no: they are not necessarily more thoughtful, up-to-date or inspiring than more holistic vendors. Quite often the opposite is the case.

3. TV is Dead Bullshit
Even the Guardian still uses tabloid-style headlines like ‘TV is dead‘. Can we please clarify one thing: Claiming that TV is dead is simply not true. TV (and TV advertising) will definitely reinvent itself over the next couple of years. It will take over a new role in a more digitalized world. But one thing is for sure: My dad still will rather watch TV than tweet.

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Germany. Why this country really sucks once in a while.

November 18th, 2009 • 18 comments Social
Tags: Germany, HR, Rant, Recruiting

It’s never been easy to be German. Four months ago I published a post about why Germany struggles with Web 2.0 with exactly the same words. My thesis then was the same thesis today: Germans love to be whiny, are risk-averse and love big institutions which half-heartedly manage their personal responsibilites. Germans simply don’t like to be individually creative so much. We like to talk about it, but at the end of the day entrepreneurship isn’t our kind of thing. Big media corporations, the state or labour unions will do the job…they always did. And no, that German idea of lifestyle does not fit well with our decentralized concept of a digital world.

The reason for this quick rant is a report which I have watched on German TV yesterday. I don’t really watch TV too often, but I like Political reports. Yesterday’s report was, again, about Social Networking in Germany. We have two big state sponsored media institutions, ARD and ZDF, bound to deliver high-quality political and historical content dedicated to make us smart enough that we’re not becoming Nazis again. That works more or less. Unfortunately these channels seem to be run by editors who either don’t understand or don’t want to focus on the many positive aspects of the social web. The key message of most German TV reports about the social web is about

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