JotPourri

I had a few different ideas today, so I thought I’d compile a little jots-style rundown of the things I’m reading and thinking about today. Think of it like Potpourri, but with less Trebek.

It’s JotPourri!

First order of business, it looks like Wal-mart finally gets it. It’s not the greatest campaign ever conceived, but it seems that after enduring a few blogstorms (flogstorms?) and major stumbles on the road to fully embracing social media, Wal-Mart has a venture that could be a lot of fun and good for business. They’ve launched a Facebook group linking future college roomies together to design the look for their dorm room. Hitching its wagon to an already established platform like Facebook was the key move here, as Techdirt has pointed out. It was floggy nature of the retailer’s previous attempt at a social network that probably caused the lack of interest. By working with Facebook, this new program has a shot at success. (And it’s interesting following Jen’s observation last week that parents are also using Facebook to screen potential new roommates for their incoming freshmen kids.)

Notable piece on Drudge today: workers are reporting email stress that is affecting their productivity. That is, the pressure to deal with seemingly nonstop emails flying in all day can get in the way of achieving goals. I think it’s interesting to note that the “social media overload” meme flying around earlier this summer seems to have penetrated the mainstream. Average workers may not have the added pressures of sorting through thousands of RSS feeds, updating various social networking sites, and finding time to follow along on sites like Twitter and Pownce, but they are experiencing the same technology fatigue that plagues some of the more plugged in among us.

Two Tweets have also caught my eye today.

In an interesting bit of symmetry to the Drudge piece, Bryan Person conducted a little Twitter poll, asking fellow Tweeters how they avoid getting sucked into the “Twitter Time Suck” when they had other tasks to sort through. The responses were immediate and made for a great post on Bryan’s blog. The general consensus makes sense: check in when you have the time, keep an eye on your “Replies” tab to respond to any Tweets aimed at you specifically, and try not to stress out if you’ve been away a few hours.

Doug Haslam made my favorite point in response, however, pointing out that as “procrastination aids” go, at least Twitter is productive. Can’t help but agree there, it can lead to brainstorms, ideas, new contacts—far more than say, a rousing round of Minesweeper.

And finally, Kevin Dugan made my day by passing along a link to a story indicating Michael Vick’s likely full season suspension. As I previously argued, this is the only move for the league in terms of public relations; Vick’s public image has been all but destroyed by this scandal, and to tacitly defend the player by allowing him to continue play would have been disastrous for a league already beleaguered by off-field shenanigans. I continue to maintain that if Vick is convicted, a permanent ban from football would be the only move, no matter how badly the Falcons need his exceptional talents.