Clayton Lengel-Zigich» Social Networking

Intel Developer Ignite #2

Clayton — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:30:49 +0000

I had a blast presenting at the recent Intel Developer Ignite. In my quick five minute presentation I mapped ten of Aesop’s fables to modern day software engineering challenges and principles. If you missed the event, or just want to check out my presentation again, here it is!

Age-Old Solutions to Everyday Problems

Big thanks to Intel and everyone involved for putting on a great event, I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to do it again soon.

Test Driven Development Talk with ASUSoDA

Clayton — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:14:31 +0000

Tonight I had the privilege of giving a presentation on Test Driven Development to the ASUSoDA group at ASU. I focused on the higher level aspects of testing and the specific benefits and pitfalls of TDD. After my planned presentation I was also able to demo my Intern Management App which was fun given the lighthearted nature of the examples.

Here are the slides from my presentation: 852k PDF

Fostering Successful Twitter Relationships

Clayton — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:37:25 +0000

At a basic level, most prosperous relationships are a two-way exchange of value. If one party is neglecting the other and the balance of value gets out of whack the relationship becomes damaged and potentially fails. With this in mind I’ve been evaluating how I use twitter to interact with those who follow me and also those who I am following.

Twitter: A two way street

Permission and Tweet Spam

When someone chooses to follow you they are essentially saying “I find you interesting and want to hear more”. They are giving you their permission to interact with an expectation that you will continue to deliver the same type of value you were providing when they made that original decision. To make the most of this you should be mindful of what you’re providing and compare that to the noise you’re sending across the wire.

Someone to Ignore

There’s a passage in one of Seth Godin’s books where he mentions a study in which CDNow (the amazon-purchased-dot-com) ruined their customer relationships by sending them too many e-mails. At a certain frequency their once loyal customers determined that CDNow was something they could ignore.

Don’t pollute your relationships and become someone to ignore.

Low Barriers Of Friendship on Twitter

Clayton — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:04:42 +0000

You don’t use twitter? You silly luddite! Okay actually I just started using it yesterday, I’ve had an account for a while but I never really understood what I was supposed to do with it. The idea that other people care what I’m doing at the moment seemed like a joke, however I’ve realized that there’s more to it than that.

That was Easy

Reciprocal Friendships

You have two basic relationships on twitter, following and follower. If I find you and like you for whatever reason I can choose to follow you, I am not your follower. On the other hand, people might find you and decide that you’re interesting and want to follow you. So after a few clicks you’re suddenly “friends”.

I find it hard to not to follow someone who has decided to follow me. It feels wrong not reciprocating the love and saying “oh you? Uh sure, I’ll be interested in what you’re saying too, sounds great!”. I have 1 person that I’m following on twitter that I’ve actually met in person (we’ve known each other for a while) the rest of them are unknown entities recognizable only by their 48×48 pixel avatar.

Twitter as a Networking Tool

Since I’m not really interesting in trying to form a bunch of online relationships with various people, I’m trying to approach twitter as a method to get in touch with people in my area who are interested in the same things I’m interested in. So far I’ve found a number of local industry experts, bigwigs and people I’d like to meet and have issued that first bit of contact. I’m now on their radar, fantastic. I’ve also found out about an awesome local gathering that I’m excited to attend.

It may be simple to follow and be followed on twitter, but if I remember “quality over quantity” it’s possible that I will create some very useful online and offline relationships that can benefit both parties. So what are you waiting for? Follow me on twitter