Hasta La Gadget!

We are hearing so much now about social media creating a shift from “the wisdom of crowds” to “the wisdom of friends,” but what does that really mean for brand advocacy? A lot. It’s this “wisdom of friends” that brings a new “social power” to Brand Advocacy.

Social power (the ability to influence) used to be determined by who had the most money, or was the most intelligent, or was the most effective at impressing their will on others, but that’s changing thanks to social media. Now social power comes through connections of friends, or the “wisdom” of friends, so advocates have much greater influence.

Numbers still hold some power, and they always will, but the strength of connection is becoming even more powerful. Consumers care about reviews, evaluations and what other consumers say about your product, much more than advertisements… and that is great for a brand. What they care about even more is what their friends think about your product. One or two friends’ opinions — the “wisdom of friends” – carry more weight than many other opinions combined.

Bring Brand Advocates into the equation, and you see the power here. An Advocate is so impressed by your brand or product that they can’t wait to tell their friends about their experience… and because of this trend toward ‘wisdom of friends,’ their friends are primed to pay attention to those recommendations. Friends immediately trust their friends who are Advocates, purchase the recommended product, and if that experience is everything they hoped for (and it likely will be, since advocates won’t be excited about anything less), a new Advocate is born and the cycle continues.

Since your Brand Advocates are seeing an increase in their social power, this means your brand itself now has more power to influence. And the more social power your brand has, the more Advocates it will create. It’s a mutually-beneficial relationship circle, all built on this ‘power of friends.”

Advocates are an incredible asset, now more than ever, treat them as such.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — The white police officer who killed Michael Brown has resigned from the Ferguson Police Department, his attorney said Saturday, nearly four months after the fatal confrontation with the black 18-year-old that fueled protests in the St. Louis suburb and across the nation.

Darren Wilson, 28, has been on administrative leave since the shooting on Aug. 9. His resignation was announced Saturday by one of his attorneys, Neil Bruntrager. The resignation is effective immediately, Bruntrager said.

A grand jury spent more than three months reviewing evidence in the case before declining in November to issue any charges against Wilson. He told jurors that he feared for his life when Brown hit him and reached for his gun.

The U.S. Justice Department is still conducting a civil rights investigation into the shooting and a separate probe of police department practices.

The shooting struck up a national debate about race and police power.

After the shooting, Wilson spent months in hiding and made no public statements. He broke his silence after the grand jury decision, telling ABC News that he could not have done anything differently in the encounter with Brown.

Wilson said he has a clean conscience because “I know I did my job right.” Brown’s shooting was the first time he fired his gun on the job, he said.

Asked whether the encounter would have unfolded the same way if Brown had been white, Wilson said yes.

Wilson began his career in nearby Jennings before moving to the Ferguson job a few years ago. He had no previous complaints against him and a good career record, according to Police Chief Thomas Jackson, who called Wilson “an excellent police officer.”

A few months before the shooting, Wilson had received a commendation for detaining a suspect in a drug case.

Read Darren Wilson’s resignation letter, via St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“I, Darren Wilson, hereby resign my commission as a police officer with the City of Ferguson effective immediately. I have been told that my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow. For obvious reasons, I wanted to wait until the grand jury made their decision before I officially made my decision to resign. It was my hope to continue in police work, but the safety of other police officers and the community are of paramount importance to me. It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal. I would like to thank all of my supporters and fellow officers throughout this process.”

No, we don’t live in a time of Greek Mythology but we use words of past historical and mystical figures and gather images of centuries past. “Narcissus fell in love with his own image in a pool of water and finally changed into a flower.” This flower bears his name “Narcissus” to this day. Many stories have been written about Narcissus throughout the ages; he was a tragic figure.

It is said that healthy narcissism exists in many individuals and is an essential part of normal development. It is either a search for self-worth or self-esteem, sometimes to counter an inadequate self-perception or overcoming an emptiness within. We have to learn to understand this boundless need to self-expressing as we see today. Technology quickens the “me-myself-I” theme. Many tasks once considered uniquely human are now driven by personal technology. These tools also bring change to all that we hold dear or important. There is a shift in perception, fewer people work in jobs thought important at one time, education, medicine, manufacturing, law-professions, servicing homes, these and more are constantly changing. Education above all guides people into the next stage of ingenuity and technology. This is optimistic and positive.

With all the speculations and visions of the future we are living in the “now” and need to learn to adjust. Technology is part of our everyday life and we are learning to deal with these intense challenges. Hands-on labor will never be obsolete. Learning, building a productive life, tilling the fields, feeding the billions and enjoying a precious, healthy life is still a gift. Maybe innovation and entrepreneurs have found substitutes for human labor yet all these new inventions and ideas also compliment life and bring new understanding.

Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis, an Australian Psychologist, writer and presenter, now living in New York, is affiliated with major psychological and counseling associations, and a specialist in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) with a doctorate in alternative medicine, is saying:

Sadly, many people are taught to value themselves according to any talents or material goods they possess. The danger of identifying with what we have or do is that if we lose abilities, looks, wealth or possessions – there can be a tendency to feel lost, empty and worthless. When we work on accepting ourselves and our fallibility unconditionally – knowing that we have worth, simply because we exist, we can lead wholesome, happier and healthy lives. Each human has worth, whether he or she succeeds or fails at attaining their goals. It is beneficial, given that we are largely social animals, to make an effort to show kindness and compassion to others as well as to ourselves. Some cynics may say it is ‘selfish’ to do for others in order to make ourselves feel good. Self-interest, and showing interest in the well-being of others, is key to creating healthier communities, healthier societies and ultimately a healthier world.

That brings the age of narcissism to foreground. Our tools for communications are fine and helpful, yet they also provide an alienation process, a virtual life versus a real one. For example seeing art or great architecture, travel to far-away places in real time enriches our human understanding, brings a new dimension, and teaches us to respect or honor those who give or gave us these great gifts and made them possible. Yes, automations are part of our daily lives, yet we still enjoy looking into the eyes of a human being, hearing a real voice, sharing feelings and emotions. It is of endless value, machines don’t offer that. We can choose to be part of this ‘loving-my-tool’ society, choose taking selfies every moment of our lives, always with us in the picture, masterpieces of self-importance, positively or negatively, joyfully or obnoxiously. Our choice! Yes, there are masterpieces by great painters of the past in self-portraits, like Goya, Rembrandt, van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, the selfies of their time, are great and precious gifts to us today and will be for centuries. We are fortunate to enjoy them and to live in a Nation of open minds and possibilities with our open systems.

The consequences of this brilliant new technology is positive and predictable… yet we must remember that it is not always well-intended. Warnings about cyber-attacks, personal and institutional, have become an often occurrence. No matter how well protected we think we are in our privacy. Genuine tension exists between our ability to know more or feel protected –but so do others and know more about us than we envisioned. Selfies are a mirror of ourselves! Sometimes these mirrors are broken and we cannot stop it.

We live in a time of abundance, have an endless choice of smartphone cameras for selfies… now even provided with selfie-sticks. People wandering through the great spaces we know from history or travels yet often are totally unaware nor paying attention to these great visions. These stick — extensions are intrusive and show also the disrespect, not only to the people sharing the space but to the accomplishments of the past. It has nothing to do with technology but a way of feeling entitled. Narcissism is all around us! Of course the right to pose for selfies is each person’s choice, unless posted otherwise. Today’s travelers have the great joy of seeing art and architecture of the now and the past by taking photos or selfies, but should remember that there are others who have as much interest and the same right to see these treasured surroundings without being blocked or intruded upon their reverie.

Not all mugs are created equal, and if you are sick and tired of using a different mug every single day at the common area of the office pantry, while looking on in envy at those who have their personalized mugs, perhaps it is time to get a mug of your own. And by that, I do not mean going all out to print a “World’s Best Office Drone” mug or something to that equivalent – just an eye catching one will be able to do. Since you happen to have a great love for video games in the days of your youth, why not settle for the $11.99 8 Bit Rise & Shine Heat Change Mug?

The 8 Bit Rise & Shine Heat Change Mug definitely lives up to its namesake and reputation, where the image on the outside would change whenever hot liquid is poured within. This would transform the sleepy face into one big and happy face, and you will not be able to find this anywhere else since this happens to be a ThinkGeek creation and exclusive. Do make sure that you hand wash this particular mug only, as treating it to a microwave or dishwasher will result in it losing its color-changing property.
[ 8 Bit Rise & Shine Heat Change Mug adds character to your pantry copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Interfaith marriage is one of the most persistent spiritual realities and challenges of our time. As a rabbi who has officiated at interfaith ceremonies for over 37 years I have watched as the rate of intermarriage has risen every year so that today more Jews may actually marry non-Jews than Jews and I see no reason to believe that this trend will reverse itself any time soon. I have always considered finding non-judgmental ways of supporting every couple and family, regardless of the religious lifestyle that they choose to create for themselves as one of my most important professional and personal challenges. So as we once again enter the holiday season with its inherent stresses and strains, especially on interfaith families, here are some of the most persistent questions that I am asked each year regarding how to make interfaith marriage work.

1. “Is it important for young children to identify with one religion as opposed to two?”

I believe that religious consistency promotes emotional stability, especially for young children. Children are very flexible and they have no trouble saying, “My mom is one religion and my dad and I are another and we get to celebrate mommy’s holidays with her, too.” What is most difficult for children is when they are put into a situation where they have to say, “I know what my mommy is and I know what my daddy is but I don’t know what I am. So the best decision is usually to give your children an identity to call their own.

2. “Is it confusing or irresponsible to tell a young child that they can make up their own mind about which of their parents’ religions they should follow?”

Telling children that they can make up their minds about which religion to be is putting an unfair and emotionally difficult burden on them. All children have the same needs — to feel that both of their parents love them and will protect them and keep them safe from life’s fears. The last thing that children want is to be in a position where they are asked to choose between one parent and another, which is, after all, the primary cause of so many traumas among children during divorces. Asking children to choose one parent’s religion over another’s puts them in a no-win situation and places an emotionally traumatic burden on them as well. Regardless of how they choose they will inevitably feel that they are betraying one parent or another and thereby risking that parent’s love and affection. It’s helpful to remember that all of us ultimately have the ability to choose which religion or spiritual tradition we will follow or embrace when we become adults anyway and literally millions of people throughout the world do in fact change from one religious tradition to another every year regardless of how they were raised. A parent’s job is to provide every child with the most stable, loving, nurturing, safe emotional environment in which to grow up that they can. My best advice is to raise your children in a consistent religious tradition, whatever that may be so that they will have a sound, emotionally secure religious identity out of which they can make decisions for themselves as they grow older and meet others from different religious traditions.

3. “Should major holidays of both religions be celebrated or is it overwhelming for children to be exposed to too many different religious practices and holidays?”

The challenge of an interfaith marriage is to create harmony out of differences, mutual respect and love in the midst of ambiguity and paradox. The challenge is to learn to see differences as opportunities and gifts from which each in the couple can learn and which can add richness and diversity to your children’s lives as well. When couples can learn to see holidays through the eyes of their partners and not only through the lens of their own upbringing they can enrich their own lives and give their children the tools with which to experience different religious traditions in an open and nonjudgmental way. Children who grow up in interfaith families have a right to love and respect and cherish all of their relatives regardless of their individual religious traditions. That is why interfaith parents have a particular responsibility to teach not merely tolerance but nonjudgmental acceptance of the idea that there are many different legitimate paths to experiencing the sacred in our lives. It is important to teach your children that no one religion is the “right” religion with all the others wrong. After all, if that were the case then most people in the world would always be wrong. Here is where I believe that interfaith families above all others have an opportunity to experience and teach the lessons of inclusion and acceptance of differences. Children can still feel a strong sense of identification with one specific religion or the religious tradition of one parent and at the same time enjoy celebrating holidays, customs, and traditions of the other without fear of confusion.

4. “What is the most important advice you can give to interfaith couples?”

In my experience with interfaith families over the years I have learned the simple lesson that when parents are confused kids are confused and when parents are not confused kids are not confused. It is helpful for parents to agree upon the religious identity of their children and to work together to reinforce that identity. At the same time every successful relationship, whether same-faith or inter-faith is a partnership. When parents make decisions together as partners then regardless of which specific decision they might make, their children will receive consistent messages and the emotional stability that such messages invariably create. Only when couples establish what is important to them together will they be able to successfully pass those values down to their children. When parents cannot agree upon how or what to celebrate in their home or even the religious identity of their children they are running the risk of communicating that same ambiguity and spiritual insecurity to their children as well.

Ultimately interfaith couples have both the opportunity and responsibility of creating their own unique religious lifestyle together which requires patience, tolerance, flexibility and an openness to experiencing life in a different way from which they were raised. There is something wonderful about nurturing an attitude of experimentation and openness to new experiences and customs that can allow both parents and children to see themselves as partners on a lifelong journey of spiritual self-discovery. Ultimately one person in each couple will inevitably take the lead in creating the religious celebrations and experiences of the family, but the most successful interfaith families are those in which both partners are willing to share the experiences together and find a way to create a stable and consistent sense of religious identity for their children.