First impressions are important, if you don’t believe me just ask yourself. How many times have you passed critical judgement on someone you’ve just met and realized that you’ve totally misjudged them? Sometimes it’s way too late to change your mind about that person because you’ve already established that they’re not “suitable” for you.

To get to my point, you need to pay attention on how you present yourself the first time you meet a stranger, that may eventually become a valuable contact for you to have.

It’s all about how you introduce yourself. Your image is contingent on the way you “sell” yourself to strangers. How you say your name, what you say in the first few minutes about yourself. This entails the filtering of valuable information that you want to portray. This is essential, while you may think that bragging about your “accomplishments” will help build a valuable image about you, some may perceive it as being “cocky” and self-centered.

You need to know how to promote yourself with the least amount of words, and with the right tone of voice that will surely impress the person you are conversing with.

Eye contact is key when meeting people, so make sure that you are not distracted by something else in the background that may make the person you’re talking to feel like they’re not significant to you or that you have ADHD.

You’d be surprised with how far a smile can go. Even if you are convinced that this stranger is the least of your concern, maintain a genuine smile that will leave a long lasting positive impression with them.

After all, you never know when or how you may collaborate with this person in the near future…

Almost every other day I come across an article or a blog post related to either Facebook or Google or any other online mogul concerning privacy issues. People are suing or scrutinizing these services for trespassing on one’s privacy rights.

The truth is, the vast majority of online users are on some sort of a social network platform. This entails some sharing of personal info. The latest debacle that I’ve come across was related to Facebook “reading” personal text messages (as a result of having the Facebook ‘app’ on their phones).

Let’s face it people, such is life, and privacy does not exist! Just a few moments a go, news broke all over the web that the infamous ‘WikiLeaks’ hacker group has hacked a CIA cover agency and released MILLIONS of unsanctioned and private emails. If the ‘CIA’ is hackable, are you really concerned that someone is going to read YOUR text or Facebook messages?

Give it up, you and your data are never going to be safe. The only safe place for your data is in your brain, and unless you have some form of super memory and never need to use a computer to save your junks, you will need to rely on it.

I say, make peace with the idea that your data is always vulnerable wherever it is, and remember to not store anything that may cause harm to you or your loved ones, specially on the ‘cloud’ or your mobile device. The least that could happen is if you loose or sell your mobile device, it is ridiculously easy for someone to retrieve your personal data.

Such is life but what can you do?

So unless you were living under a rock this past weekend, you surely would have read/seen/heard someone/something related to the Super Bowl.

There is a reason why a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl costs $3.5 Million. A friend of mine and I were conversing last night about why the rate is extremely high, and the conclusion we both agreed to is the fact that advertisers are paying such a premium as a result of the high viewership rate.

Not only are millions of people around the world are watching this event live, but Twitter just announced today that a new TPM (Tweets Per Minute) rate record was broken during Super Bowl 46, a record 12,233 TPM!

Most of the articles posted today whether on newspapers websites or blogs, have all mentioned the advertisements. The ones they favored, the ones they disliked, and even the ones that never got to make it on TV.

What surprised me this year is that many of the big spenders (advertisers) released either the full copy or a teaser of their ads online and on YouTube. This was indeed a surprise to me because I personally believe that it takes away from the Super Bowl experience and the anticipation of who will air what and which ads are going to kick butt!

I wonder if this will become a new tradition and if it will eat away from the viewership share of those who actively watch the big game mainly for the ads. I for one resort to YouTube’s annual “Ad Blitz” page, where they post all the Super Bowl ads on the Ad Blitz account.

Yes I will continue to watch the game but, I will also continue to wonder if this will pick up as a ‘permanent’ trend to skip the ads on TV and go straight to the Internet instead…

Here’s something interesting.

Today I went to check out Philippe Chow’s new location in South Beach Miami. They recently moved from the Gansevoort hotel into a former Greek tavern in a more upscale area known as “South of Fifth”.

The main story is that I am (was) a fan of Philippe’s food and atmosphere. But after an interesting tweet I made earlier regarding my impression on the venu, it seemed like the “CEO” wasn’t too pleased with my comment. So he exchanged a few tweets with me (as you can see above) and I was quite…astonished with his attitude.

Now I don’t wanna stereotype but I mean really? A CEO of a well-established and supposedly uber-chic restaurant exchanges such arrogant remarks with a loyal customer? Now that really isn’t the way to behave now is it?

Moral of the story is, don’t underestimate the power of social media. Oh and I would really expect that a “resterantuer” would be used to critisicm by now and not take it so personaly the way Mr. Morfogen did. Lighten up buddy and I highly recommend you get yourself a publicist.

Thank you for convincing me to switch over to Mr. Chow from now on..

Oh and P.S. Asking for a minimum of a $100 for delivery? I didn’t realize CEO’s now deliver food personally lol What a joke…

Related links:

@stratism  @PhilippeChow Conversation

Tablets are here to stay, deal with it.

Everyday I hear of a new tablet coming out or something that was already out has gotten its price slashed by 50%. It’s happening, and its all because of Apple. Apple did not invent the tablet, but it made it cool and easy to use.

The truth is that Tablets make it easy for us to be online. Its easier to Tweet and Facebook from your tablet, and both social platforms have apps on almost all of the major tablet operating systems. I am on my tablet literally more hours a day than I can count. I’m even thinking of how I can use my tablet more effeciently, and how I can put it to better use such as taking it to school with me instead of lugging my (now) heavy laptop!

Will tablets take over laptops the way laptops took over desktops?

In different occasions over the past few weeks I have had conversations with different people about whether or not we should have social presence, particularly in Facebook.

Many people are starting to say that Facebook to them, is no longer that tool where they interacted regularly with their friends. It’s becoming more and more as an online address book that contains recent updates about friends and family and less socially interactive. As we grow out of our younger attitudes, and begin to adopt the serious one of being professional and reputable, we begin to rethink some of our decisions, including being socially acessable.

The thought has crossed my mind several times whether I really want to be so easily accessible to friends at any time they like, be it online or on the go. And to tell you the truth, I just can’t get myself to pull the plug. I really wonder how just a few years a go I managed to survive without being so connected, and ask myself why can’t I go back to those days? I’m not saying that I’ll cut all communication ties, but do I really need to be available on every single social network?

So apparently Steve was right after all. But is anyone surprised? I guess people can be in this particular case. I know that a lot of people are boycotting any Apple iOS device because of the lack of Flash. But the truth is that more and more websites nowadays are abandoning the platform and moving over to simple and faster ones such as HTML5.

Adobe in a recent article admitted that they are abandoning the mobile flash platform, and indirectly declaring Apple (or Steve Jobs to be specific) as being right.

With is recent passing, will Apple continue to set new industry standards as they did in the Steve era? I am becoming more skeptical about their ability to remain as the industry standards. But I don’t doubt that they will continue to produce spectacular products…

Reading has evolved.

Those who say that the new generation does not read anymore, are thinking about reading from one angle. They neglect to notice that everyone today, young or old, is always online. Being online mostly entails LOTS of reading. Whether it’s blogs, news, or even books, the fact remain that reading is a part of the online experience. But what the older generation is probably trying to stress on the most, is the act of reading books. While many have shifted their book-reading habits to e-readers to the likes of Amazon’s Kindle, many still prefer the traditional paper book.

I for one, believe that my reading habits, generally speaking, have increased a lot thanks to the internet. I believe that I get most of my news now directly from the source, rather than watching it on TV or hearing it on the radio. I find it very convenient to read up on social media feeds about the latest breaking news, and it has never failed me to be the quickest source of getting information from around the world. This in turn, has sparked my interest to explore specialized blogs. To which I can read more about the things I like directly from people with credible sources and backgrounds. Reading blogs, to me, has a direct tie-in with writers who published interesting books.

I find myself always searching for interesting books that appeal to me personally. Something that I wouldn’t have thought of doing five or six years a go. Blogs have helped me discover books that I like, books that I enjoy reading on my Kindle, and that I can discuss with people of similar interests, physically and digitally.

Some may argue that reading blogs or tweets online is not the same thing as reading books. While this may be true, I would tell them not to rush to quick judgement of the online social front. I owe the internet my gratitude for turning me to the right sources that enrich my knowledge and expands my limits of intellect.