Deep inside the confines of the Beal household, my wife and I often debate what motivates us–and others–to share so much of our private lives on Twitter.

We discuss the notion of being significant with each Tweet, and often joke about those that seem to Tweet as if their very life depended on submitting 140 characters every 5 minutes (sounds like an episode of LOST!).

After reading the Times Online, it seems that there’s some scientific foundation to our light-hearted conversations:

The clinical psychologist Oliver James has his reservations. “Twittering stems from a lack of identity. It’s a constant update of who you are, what you are, where you are. Nobody would Twitter if they had a strong sense of identity.”

“We are the most narcissistic age ever,” agrees Dr David Lewis, a cognitive neuropsychologist and director of research based at the University of Sussex. “Using Twitter suggests a level of insecurity whereby, unless people recognise you, you cease to exist. It may stave off insecurity in the short term, but it won’t cure it.”

While every Tweet may not stem from insecurity–I do enjoy simply having a nice chat with my Tweeps–I’ll be the first to raise my hand and admit that Twitt... read more >>
 

Can you?

I don’t need to tell you that the web is progressively beating the library in every battle for information. The search engine has effectively replaced the card catalog, microfilm reader, magazine stand, and bestseller list.

Representing those born after 1993, the Google generation is trending the future with 93 percent of college students satisfied finding information with search engines, compared to an 84 percent satisfaction rate from librarian-assisted searching.

And that’s if they’re physically entering the library and not calling-in or emailing for help...

That's the way Derek Sivers (founder of CDBaby) described his mission statement in building the company. "What could I build that would be a like a dream come true for independent musicians?"

What an extraordinarily universal way to construct a product, a service or a business. Notice that dreams are rarely "within reason" or "under the circumstances." No, dreams are dreams. If your business is a dream come true for customers, you win. Game over.

Too often, I hear about businesses that just might be a dream come true for their owners, but hardly for the people they seek to recruit or the customers they hope to snare. What do your prospects dream of? What would get them to wait in line?

Ron Box, chief financial officer at Joe MoneyMachinery, thinks he has. His two strategies:

• Work with more banks than would be normal for a company of your size - With $20+ million in revenues, Joe's company has active lending relationships with four or five banks at a time. Different banks will have different appetites for deals at different times. Maintaining a stable of current relationships enables Joe's company to source credit when and as needed. What's Joe's secret? Treat each bank as if it were your main banker... 

Earlier this year I gave a talk on something I believe is an emerging trend whether we like it or not. The idea of everyday people spending countless hours building and managing their reputations online. I made the comparison of this equity generating behavior to that of brand building. Ordinary people, having micro influence in this macro medium we call the internet.

Since I only had 20 minutes for the talk, I missed out on very important part of this phenomenon. The potential risks and downside of of this activity as it can relate to your full time profession—especially if you are not self employed. Take Scott Monty, who currently heads up social media initiatives at Ford. If you go to Scott's Twitter page, you'll immediately notice a dichotomy between Scott Monty, the individual and Ford the company he works for...