Do things when you should…

From Eric Brown:

We’ve all seen organizations who hire consultants, pay a good bit of money for ’strategy’ and then do nothing after the strategic plan is created. What’s worse, we’ve all seen organizations pay for that strategic plan and then wait until they ‘have’ to implement their strategic plan.

When you (or an organization) wait till you have to do something rather than doing something when you can or should, you’ve put yourself in a bad spot.

The economics of role-playing games

From Tyler Cowen:

Between 1993 and 1999, the social network of the TRPG players had become seriously frayed. Even if you just looked at the network of Dungeons & Dragons players you could see this effect: People self-segmented into groups playing Basic D&D, 1st Edition, 2nd Edition, and within 2nd Edition into various Campaign Settings that had become their own game variants. The effect on the market was that it became increasingly hard to make and sell something that had enough players in common that it would earn back its costs of development and production. We looked around the industry and saw the same problem at virtually every company that had become successful.

Consumers Really Do Care About the Data You're Collecting

From Josh Bernoff:

In a survey of 37,000 US and Canadian online adults, we first asked how concerned people were with companies accessing their personal information. More than 70% were concerned about social security numbers and credit cards. Less than half cared about their phone number, and only 19% were concerned about their online reviews. This proves people are at least thoughtful, and distinguish between extremely sensitive information and other information.

Marketers -- especially direct marketers -- love data. But now, over 15 years into the Web, consumers are becoming far more aware of how data collection can go awry, and are voting with their pocketbooks. You can collect and use this data broadly and hope you don't run afoul of an angry consumer with a lot of Twitter followers ready to destroy your brand with your own behavior.

UX Degrees and Certifications

From UX Matters:

A degree in user experience—or more likely, a degree in one of these specialties—provides you with an opportunity to learn this body of knowledge in a structured manner. Through course assignments and assessment of your work, you also have opportunities to put that knowledge into practice in a controlled and protected environment. A degree program also ensures that you don’t skip over parts, that you lay a solid foundation, and that you do, in fact, apply knowledge in practical ways.

However, you’ll find that, if you ask most UX professionals with eight or more years of experience whether they have a directly relevant degree, they’ll answer no. They learned by doing; through trial and error; by reading, sharing, and putting what they learned into practice daily.

Taboo Topics to Take Off Your Social Media Account Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30859/10-Taboo-Topics-to-Take-Off-Your-Soci

From Corey Eridon:

... the opportunities for misunderstandings and miscommunications abound. And I'm sorry to say that no matter how hard you try, you will inevitably encounter some negative social media experiences along the way. But you can greatly reduce the number of mishaps you experiece -- be it trolls, unfollows/unfans, or PR nightmares -- by simply avoiding certain topics of conversation.

Another misstep for Netflix?

From Nigel Hollis:

Here is my prediction for 2012: Netflix is going to find itself in serious financial trouble. The predicted problem will have little to do with existing customer’s appreciation of the company’s service, and a lot to do with its continued strategic missteps. This time the misstep is to launch the service into the UK.

Launching your brand into a market where an established incumbent already owns your existing positioning is one of the biggest gaffs you can make in global marketing. Time after time, companies have fallen into the same trap. Just because you made it to leadership position in one country does not mean you can repeat the same success in another ...