Category Archives: Social Media

Epic Overuse Symbolic of Me-Now Generation

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By Jason Menard

Fed up of the word epic? Join the club. Unfortunately, we’re only going to see more of it as it’s the perfect word to illustrate the narcissism of today’s youth – a narcissism that we’ve created and nurtured.

Nowadays, everything’s epic. It was bad enough when Web hipsters coined the term ‘epic fail’ to describe whatever pseudo-hip meme they posted on the Internet showcasing someone screwing up. What we used to call badly voiced-over Bob Saget-era America’s Funniest Home Videos and brushed off as mindless, now lives on in the Internet bestowed the same categorization Virgil’s Aeneid and Dante’s Divine Comedy. Continue reading →

Great Communication is Learned One Day at a Time, Not in One Day

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By Jason Menard,

One day can help start you along the right path, but when it comes to learning how to effectively communicate, one day’s just enough time for you to learn how to firmly lodge your foot in your mouth.

Earlier today, I received an e-mail at work promoting a course that promised to teach you “How to be an Outstanding Communicator” in one day. And while normally I pay just enough attention to these e-mails – you know the ones you receive after attending one conference, and then you’re stuck in an e-mail list purgatory for years – to figure out what the course/conference topic is, and then file it under “G.”

However, this one struck me as particularly audacious. Or perhaps it’s just simple vanity – to suggest that a craft I’ve been trying to hone for two decades is something that can be mastered in a day bruised the ol’ ego. Continue reading →

Two Weeks of Tiger Tweeting Show Honesty Still Not His Policy

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By Jason Menard

Two weeks into Tiger Woods’ commitment to openness and fan interaction and it’s abundantly clear that honesty remains far from the best policy for the golfer and his public relations team.

If you’ve read any of my previous work relating to social media, you’ll know that I have a simple mantra — just because everyone can blog, tweet, or post on Facebook, doesn’t mean
they should. Continue reading →

If Your Audience is All A-Twitter is that a Good Thing?

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By Jason Menard,

It’s somewhat ironic that social media is perpetrating a behaviour that is inherently anti-social. But while that behaviour would come across as disrespectful to previous generations, it is in fact the greatest show of respect one can display.

After all, seeing a room full of people ‘ignoring’ a speaker and typing furiously away wouldn’t seem to be a positive thing – but it could be the greatest display of approval one can show. Continue reading →

US Labour Board Says You Can Criticize Your Boss On-line; But Should You?

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By Jason Menard

Just over two months ago, I wrote about how poor choices when using Facebook could prevent you from getting a job in the future. And while that may be true, a landmark case in the U.S. may define whether or not what you say on Facebook could get you fired from the one you already have!

The story in question is about a Connecticut emergency medical technician who took to the Internet via Facebook to criticize her supervisor. Long story short, she was fired and now the National Labor Relations Board in the U.S. said that the firing was illegal as it violated the EMT’s First Amendment rights. Continue reading →