Continue reading… »

1. E-mail

   I remember an era during the 90’s when signing up for dozens of e-mail accounts was cool. Having so many e-mail accounts did nothing; sending an e-mail was still sending an e-mail. People back then had Hotmail [now called Windows Live Mail], Coldmail, Yahoo Mail, Mail.com, ICQ mail, and AOL mail. Now, people also have Gmail, self-hosted e-mails on personal domains, and more. Having more e-mail accounts was once considered a status. Now, even though many people do not realize that each existing and additional e-mail account can bring in its own unique benefits and downsides, more and more people still keep opening new e-mail accounts daily.

   Opening e-mail accounts is one of the longest lasting online trends ever, and e-mails are still one of the most widely used online tools, if not the most widely used online tool.

2. Guestbooks

   This trend also started more solidly in the 90’s, and continued all the way until the first year or so after 2000 under the original name “guestbook“, after which the name continued and continues to lose its popularity to other terms and concepts which have been derived from it. The term guestbook came from the actual guestbooks and the same term used to describe books at places like museums, where visitors could leave comments and remarks for others to see, whether anonymously or with any detail. Online, in many cases, the guestbook became more popular than e-mail during its strong day, not in number of users but in actual fame, among many people who had guestbooks like Bravenet Guestbooks.

   Guestbooks paved the way for public comments that we see on blogs today. Overall, Guestbooks are still around in their pure form and in some evolved forms like online blog comments. Original, pure guestbooks themselves have lost a lot of their original popularity. In many cases, guestbooks have lost popularity and ground to the very concepts that were derived from them, like comments and forums.

3. Online diaries, blogs and their variants

   Online diaries were the sites that brought blogs into existence. Technically, blogs are nothing more than diaries. Of course, the concept of blogging has been commercialized and now online diaries, the very sites that started it all, are considered immature and not worthy by many of the blogs that aim to make money through non-personal content. I know many people who had and have different online diaries for different reasons. Many people would simply abandon one online diary for the other, as the concept of deleting online accounts was not considered as important by many people in the mid-90’s.

   Among the other things that online diaries have evolved into, blogs are the new normal craze now. Many people get more excited about having a blog instead of getting excited of what they want to achieve and what they can achieve with a blog. Online diaries have evolved into many things including blogs, networking sites, and more. LiveJournal can probably be considered an evolved example of personal diaries.

   Blogs are thriving, and are continuing to get stronger everyday. According to Technorati, more than 70 millions online blogs existed as of April 2007.

4. Chat and instant messaging accounts

   Instant messaging started mainly during the 2nd half of the 90’s, and to this day is very popular. Instant messaging accounts allow people to instantly chat with someone online. In the 90’s, people used to lure their friends into using ICQ to keep in touch. Slowly, Yahoo Messenger, AIM and MSN Messenger [now called Windows Live Messenger] brought more popularity to the entire instant messaging arena.

   Instant messaging itself got popular because of Internet Relay Chat [IRC]. IRC allowed people to chat instantly and live, and thus allowed them to communicate a bit faster than e-mail, if the people involved were online and using an IRC program at the same time. IRC evolved into different kinds of instant messaging, and instant messaging itself evolved and divided into voice chats, webcam conferences, live chat via e-mail accounts such as in Gmail, and more. In some ways, IRC itself can be considered an evolution of e-mail.

   Instant messaging accounts and online chats are also thriving and getting more popular everyday. At this moment, for the first time in internet history, a growing number of online people are using instant messaging more than e-mail.

5. Networking sites, which include social networking sites

   The latest, youngest and biggest craze right now is to open a social networking account. MySpace, twitter, facebook, linkedin, Bebo and many other networking and social networking sites came out with a big bang at different times during the last 5 years. As of last week, MySpace had over 200 million accounts. If it is assumed that each of those 200 millions accounts is owned by a unique individual, 200 millions MySpace members are almost 1/3rd the size of the entire U.S. population. Many people have multiple accounts on different networking sites, and many people simply delete their online networking accounts so that they can start afresh with new accounts.

   Networking sites are very strong right now, attracting more and more members everyday. At the same time, networking sites are also in their infancy sage. Social networking sites are the least experienced players in the entire online arena compared to the other 4 types [e-mail, guest books, online diaries and instant messaging accounts]. In many ways, networking sites can be considered children of concepts like Yahoo Groups and the original Usenet groups, now part of Google groups.

   The trend of opening networking sites in huge numbers started recently, and is in full force right now, gaining more momentum. It is happening and evolving live as you read this.

There you have it. Listed above are 5 trends of opening up 5 different kinds of accounts. These 5 services have had a historical trend of attracting a crowd that focused hysterically on opening new accounts. E-mail is the oldest and longest running of such trends, and networking sites are the youngest of the bunch.

Can you think of any trend from the above or any other trend you yourself may have been, or are, involved in? Do you have any questions or comments? Please let me know.

Thanks for reading.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

Responding immediately

There can be several benefits of responding to non-critical e-mails immediately. Responding to e-mails immediately results in less tasks that you have to focus on, more free time, taking care of important tasks and communication immediately, not keeping people hanging on, etc.

Responding to non-critical e-mails immediately can also result in a few problems including you making mistakes because of composing a response too fast, forgetting to include something important, responding with something or in a manner that you may regret later because you responded too fast without thinking straight, etc.

Responding later

The benefits of responding to e-mails at a later date can be numerous also, specially when we respond too quickly and make some mistake or forget something. Responding at a later time can result in more time to think of a good response, more flexible time schedule that you can modify to your needs, less sense of panic or hurry when it comes to responding to others, not allowing incoming e-mail to dictate and take over your times, etc.

Responding later to non-critical e-mails can result in a few downsides also, including keeping someone waiting longer even when you did not have to respond immediately, communication between you and someone else going at a very slow rate, the other person losing interest in you or your response or the e-mail topic in question by the time they get your response, etc.

Do you prefer responding to non-critical e-mails right away?

So, do you prefer responding to non-critical e-mails right away?

Please let me know, thanks you.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

Opening a business with a friend can have the following 3 random benefits and downsides.

3 random benefits

1. More honest and open communication about issues
2. More chances of solving business problems as if they were friendship problems
3. Fewer chances of being taken advantage of by the other person in the business

3 random downsides

1. Friendship can get affected because of the existence of money and personal interest in the business
2. Existence of friendship can result in one person not taking the business or business issues seriously
3. Friends may not realize if their honest, friendly communication is satisfactory enough for the business to work properly

Opening business with a reliable non-friend contact

Similarly, opening a business with a reliable non-friend contact can have the following 3 random benefits and downsides.

3 random benefits

1. More formal and effective communication
2. More chances of both parties addressing different issues openly so that they can be satisfied, resulting in more issues coming to the spotlight quickly
3. Professional relation with the business partner means both partners will know exactly what to expect, in contrast to the confusion that may result because of a friendship

3 random downsides

1. More chances of being taken advantage of if one partner does not feel fully satisfied
2. Less chances of talking openly about one’s emotions and feelings about the business
3. Fewer chances of solving a business problem on a personal level

A business with a close friend or a reliable non-friend contact?

So, what do you think? Do you feel more comfortable with the idea of opening a business with a friend or with a reliable contact who is not yet your friend?

Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions, thank you.

---

[Update: September 9th, 2007 - 2:00 pm PST] For this question, Stacee in the comments for this question asked if the friend was reliable also. I have updated the above question and added the following line in the 2nd paragraph of this article: “Last, imagine that the non-friend contact has shown reliability in other business situations, and that you do not know about the business reliability of your close friend; you only know that your friend is your close friend.” Thank you Stacee. [/ end of update]

---

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

Your friend may expect you to comment on their site, whether or not your current friendship with that friend is solely based on the online world. You can talk to your friend via the phone or even chat with them online, but if you do not visit or comment on their site regularly, they may retaliate by not talking to you that much or by talking to someone else who visits and comments on their blog.

It is as if the friendship is solely based on the number of comments you leave on a blog. A blog can be considered someone’s personal property, thus you have to see whether or not your friend is justified in getting upset over you not commenting on their site. Your friend getting upset over the absence of your comments on your site can either be like your friend expecting you to support them in unrelated things in order for the friendship to continue or like your friend expecting you to support them in a passion they may have.

Of course, such confusion can be solved if you ask your friend what they want, or if your friend tells you what they want. However, I wonder if it is always easy for everyone to tell a friend “You know what, I don’t like commenting on your blog or reading it, because of this and this reason. Is that going to upset you?”

Business and non-business contacts expecting comments

Business and non-business contacts can be different than your friends. Sure, more and more people are calling each other friends, but no one is there for each other in anything from which they themselves do not benefit, or when a business deal is not around. Thus, let us briefly focus on the idea of non-friend contacts expecting comments from you: a random person or a business contact may show you their personal or some other blog, and thus may expect you to regularly visit or participate that blog. What happens if you do not fulfill their expectations?

Well, from my personal experience, several things can happen. I have seen business contacts doing less business simply because I do not comment on every post of theirs. I have also seen some very famous business contacts being non-communicative until they need something, which can appear to be beyond unprofessionalism in many cases. I have also heard people complaining about their business contacts becoming more aggressive and unfriendly in business deals if those people post a disagreeing comment about something on a blog. Getting upset in different ways over other contacts not commenting on some site can be signs of people not being able to differentiate between their expectations from their own blogs and their business and other deals with other people.

How do you fix such a thing? You cannot fix such a trend and mentality until you find out what the business or some other deal expects. You entered into a business deal; did it include in any direct or indirect manner your participation on any site? Did the other person get any kind of a hint in the beginning that you will continuously participate on their site? It is best to not mix business with personal life or something like your passion for comments unless you know the people involved in a business deal are willing to be true friends or logical contacts who will not let things get affected by something like the number of comments you post on a blog not related to the business or some other deal in question.

What to do?

It depends. I personally do not want to be obligated to comment on any friend’s or non-friend’s blog. I comment when I want to. Otherwise, I try to communicate with people a lot outside of a blog, like via the phone, e-mail or even chatting online on different im’s. I actually prefer to communicate more offline than online in many cases.

Do you want friendship to continue? Do you want a business or some other contact to continue doing business or remain a contact with you? Do you want a random contact to keep in touch normally? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you can think of ways to come at a solution that satisfied either you, the other person, or both of you. Whatever solution you come up with, you should feel comfortable enough to actually stick to the solution if the other person agrees to the solution also.

What do you think? Please let me know, thank you.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

1. Many taxi drivers honk at everything

   You did not start driving the very millisecond the light turned green? The taxi driver will honk at you. You slowed down by one mile and are still over the speed limit? How dare you: the taxi driver behind you will honk at you. You are waiting at a pedestrian walk and letting some people walk by in front of you? Boohoo! You deserve a honking.

   Honking, or using the horn, can cause a lot of stress or anxiety in others. It is a perceived sign in most cases that our action is not right, and thus many people simply become nervous and upset because of being honked at for something they cannot identify.

2. Taxi drivers drive too fast

   You get scared while driving at 80 mph in a 75 mph zone. However, many taxi drivers feel that you driving at 80 mph in a 75 mph zone is too slow. Speed up! Speed limits were meant to be broken. Your car comes with the capability to drive at up to 120 mph for a reason.

   Driving fast and having an even faster drivers right behind you can cause stress. I see many taxi drivers sometimes driving less than 50 inches from fast cars in front of them. I am guessing everyone has an emergency of some kind, like the emergency to avoid slow driving.

3. Taxi drivers suddenly switch lanes without showing any sign or an indicator

   Try changing lanes without showing any indicator and coming in front of a fast taxicab. You will probably be honked at, like by the taxi drivers in point #1 above. However, many of the same taxi driver will change lanes without showing any indicator or sign.

   Last year a Ford taxicab driver changed lanes and came right in front of me, less than 50 or 60 inches from my car, while we are both driving at the speed limit. He did not show any indicators, and thus I had to hit the brakes and slow down myself, with cars behind me hitting their brakes also. The car right behind me could not slow down on time and I got rear-ended, with the car behind me getting read-ended also. Insurance covered me 100% through various ways because it was not my fault, but the people behind me were not that fortunate. The taxi driver who played a major role in the entire accident didn’t have to feel any stress or waste any time at all, since he kept driving and was never caught.

4. There is usually no stop sign, no speed bump, and no respect for a non-paying walking pedestrian life for many taxi drivers

   You stop at a stop sign. Many taxi drivers only slow down at a stop sign. You slow down over a speed bump. Many taxi drivers do their best to see how high they can fly while speeding over a speed bump. You stop when someone is crossing the street, even if the light is green and they are crossing illegally. Many taxi drivers keep driving at the same speed when they see a pedestrian walking.

   I was crossing the road near a movie theatre earlier this year, at a stop sign. A taxi driver was approaching and did not slow down at all for the stop sign, where I was crossing. I had to run to save my life while the speeding taxicab passed without stopping at the stop sign. The taxicab missed me by the length of my jacket’s end: the end of my jacket touched the right side mirror of the taxicab and I felt a small pull by my jacket in the direction where the taxicab was headed. The risks Bes has to take to watch movies are just countless.

5. For many taxi drivers, no space is too small, and no opportunity is too risky

   Taxi drivers can be great risk takers. If they see a small opening between two cars, they will try to squeeze through. If they see an opportunity to pass someone by changing lanes while other nearby speeding cars are approaching in those same lanes, the taxi drivers will still change lanes and force the other drivers to slow down.

   The small scratch to both cars while the taxi driver tries to squeeze through? $120. The brakes that die because a taxi driver suddenly jumps into your lane without giving you much space to avoid the taxicab? $900+. The accidents that happen because of some taxi drivers doing whatever they please because they think they have more rights over the road simply because they earn money driving? A few lives and broken bones. The terrifying look on your face when you see such taxi drivers jump right in front of you and the evil happy look on those taxi drivers’ faces? Priceless.

A personal example: when I was a taxi driver

A few years ago a friend of mine who owned a private taxicab took me around with him while giving his customers rides. My friend would tell his passengers, or customers, that he was teaching me how to drive a taxicab. I was only hanging out with him as he did not have enough time to hang out with me by not driving a taxicab and still earn a living. I did help my friend a few times for free, by driving around his customers while he had some emergencies.

While driving the taxicab, I noticed that many customers would like me, and many would get upset because of my untypical driving. Some upset customers would give me advice on how to be aggressive to everyone on the road, whether or not it was warranted, so that I could get to destinations with a little bit more aggressiveness. It was interesting to see many customers advocating the harsh driving of taxicabs, in order to get to a destination faster even when there was no need to hurry. Maybe being inside a taxicab and having the taxi driver allow control of the taxicab mentally prompted many customers to become more aggressive. I soon realized that an angry taxi driver could be more threatening to a walking or a driving murderer on the road than the police itself.

Benefits of living in the Bay Area - you can avoid taxis and love the subways

As for me, one of the benefits of living in the Bay Area in Northern California is to use the BART subway systems, and not have to worry about taxi drivers and their time schedules. Of course, if I ever notice a taxi driver driving normally or if I am in a taxicab and the driver is driving slowly and following the rules while being considerate to people, I wonder if I have finally found Travis Bickle.

You can try to run me over, but you can’t stop me from getting to my movie on time! Long live the previews!

So, there you have it: 5 random ways many taxi drivers cause a lot of stress for other people on or around the road, and some of my direct and indirect personal experiences. Can you think of any other points? Do you have any questions or comments about the above points or this topic in general?

Thank you for reading.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

Following are 3 good and 3 bad points, chosen randomly, of having the same contacted listed in more than one of the instant messaging or e-mail accounts you have have.

Pros of having the same contact on more than one e-mail and instant messaging account:

1. Talk via a different account if the primary account is not working
2. Talk advantage of different accounts for different things - one for texting, one for webcam, etc
3. Separate business and personal communication with the same person

Cons of having the same contact on more than one e-mail and instant messaging account:

1. Make communication more confusing with a person by having too many unnecessary channels of communication
2. Have too many duplicate contacts across your instant messaging and e-mail accounts
3. Harder to keep track of all the communication through different accounts between you and the other person

So, do you have any contact who is listed on more than one of your instant messaging or e-mail accounts? Is there a reason for that? Do you think it is a good or a bad thing?

Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

Viewing online and offline friends as being equal can be different than treating online and offline people equally. I know some people who prefer online friends to offline friends. I know some people who prefer offline friends to online friends. For me, online and offline friends can be equal.

I have a personal preference of wanting to move online friends a little bit into the offline realm, whether it be through face to face interaction, phone calls, text messaging via cell phones or even postal mail. That way, I have both online and offline friends and I can treat them equally and consider both to be important, while preferring the offline world a bit more than the online world, regardless of whether the friend was originally an online or an offline friend.

3 random things online and offline friends can offer

To help you figure out the answer to this question more, I am listing below 3 random things that online and offline friends can offer to you in their respective worlds.

3 random things online friends can offer

1. More privacy
2. More space
3. More ways to listen to you - you can send an e-mail or an online message to a friend anytime, even if they are not online

3 random things offline friends can offer

1. More powerful interaction
2. More physical privacy
3. More powerful ways to listen to you

So, do you consider your online and offline friends to be equally important? If you do not have online or offline friends, would you consider them to be equally important if you ever did have both online and offline friends, or would you prefer one over the other?

Please let me know. Also, if you have more things in mind that I can add to the above “3 random things” lists, please let me know and I will add them to this list and give you credit. Thank you.

---

[update September 2nd, 11:35 am PST]
Simonne, in the first comment and answer to this question, said that “The online-offline split is not very clear.” I have added 2 sentences to the end of the 2nd paragraph in this article to briefly explain the difference between the online and offline friends I am referring to. The 2 sentences added are “Also, by an online friend, I am referring to friends we make solely in the online world. By an offline friend, I am referring to friends we make solely in the offline world.” Thank you Simonne.
[end of September 2nd, 11:35 am PST update]

---

« Show less..