The inevitable has come to Facebook, and I don't mean IPO status. Starting on the 16th of this month, the so-called "Timeline" format will be mandatory. Some of the features with the new interface are advantageous, but the lack of a single column, replaced by alternating rows of entries around a skinny-little "timeline," will take getting used to. (They could make the line more visible, couldn't they?) In addition, the user is able to add a photograph to their profile page. Mine is the official photo of a family reunion in Sidney, Ohio, in August of 1997, when my paternal grandmother, Viola (née Barga) Alexander, celebrated her one hundredth birthday. I'm in the center of the back row, looking quite dashing with the straw hat and shades.
Meanwhile, this other image showed up today. It got me to thinking ...In the past year, we replace our interoffice e-mail with Google. It beats the dickens out of Lotus Notes, but it also comes with an array of features for scheduling, job tracking, and so on. Alas, some tools are more useful than others. While I was out last week, they introduced something called "Chatter." I don't know why we need it, but sometime this month, it'll be mandatory, which means that people who didn't return my messages before (usually a client, or someone of a higher rank with an ego to match), will have yet another means by which to avoid returning messages.
They can introduce a new gimmick every week until the cows come home, but the most effective tool for communicating is the desire to do so, don't you think?
Or don't you?
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