commbasics

The rising SPAM flow in Linkedin is causing some of the more valuable members to flee to other platforms. A couple of weeks ago I provided my input on the benefits and weaknesses of Linkedin and promised insights from others. The first to respond was IdaRose Sylvester of Silicon Valley Link. IdaRose is an incredible international networker, an angel investor, former analyst and business consultant and is exactly the kind of person you would expect to be a power user of Linkedin... but she is not. And for good reason.  As I mentioned in my post, the rising SPAM flow in Linkedin is causing some of the more valuable members to flee to other platforms. We recorded the interview. Check it out.   Related articles Is Linkedin a valuable business tool or a spam bucket? One man's view of the state of Linkedin LinkedIn Promises Less Email Spam

Looking back over the past decade has not been easy for me.  The recession really began in 1999 and is just now coming around in my view.  It's been a rough 10 years and I'd rather not dwell on it.  There have been some very good things that have come out of it, however.  One is the satisfaction that I was pretty much right how things would go (pat on the back), even though I was unable to change the outcome (sigh of resignation).  Another has been watching my family cope with the negative changes and seeing them adapt and support me and each other.  As an only child with two dead parents and no other family ties it has been great having these remarkable people teach me what family means... even though we don't seem to be like any other family we know. But the one grand thing of the past decade has been the new relationships that have developed over the past 10 years and that have been honed by the use of social media.  At present, I...

Over the years I've developed a few favorite industry influencers and IdaRose Sylvester is one of them.   She's just a fun person on top of being very smart.   IdaRose was most recently a senior analyst for the semi industry at IDC and got caught in the Spring layoff cycle at the organization.   That's a big loss for everyone.   Now she's out in the world trying to figure out what she wants to do when she grows up and is doing some custom work for the Telecomm industry in the mean time. We specifically got together to talk about Jeremiah Owyang's recent post regarding what he perceives is the morphing of analysts into reporters, reporters into analysts and everyone doing it on the blogosphere.   As usual, she had her own opinions and I think they make the entire conversation more interesting.   Check it my podcast with her.   There are some moments in the conversation where she's probably glad I didn't video tape this.  Her expression answered the question...