Microsoft Xbox Makes Good… Sort of.

I don’t think Microsoft actually did enough, mind you, considering that it has been over a month since the issue was blogged about.

Today, I received a call from the Better Business Bureau’s “Microsoft Representative”.  Apparently, they have persons at the BBB dedicated specifically to dealing with issues that people have with them.

They’re big enough, so I suppose it makes sense.

My Rep gave me a call to let me know that Microsofit is providing me with a free code for 1 full year of Xbox Live!

Woo Hoooooo!

That’s exactly what I wanted back.

And it kind of figures that I think they should have done more than that since this wasn’t my mistake and I lost several hours of my time dealing with some unyielding folks, but that’s okay. I should be all good.

I type this without the benefit of actually sitting down in front of the Xbox to find out. The IA Summit was over the past weekend and all the intense learning, the crazy connections and over-the-top Twitter action has me more energized than I can remember being in recent years.  And wholly exhausted at the same time.

And thanks, Microsoft, for giving me what I asked for.

Face the Money

I worked at a Burger King in high school for 2.5 years.  It wasn’t a terrible experience (for me)–I came out of my nerd shell quite a bit and learned a lot about a world outside of my front door that I probably would not have otherwise experienced.

The lesson I learned that I keep with me to this day came from one of my least favorite bosses–a woman by the name of Sandy.  I’m sure Sandy didn’t really give a crap about a bunch of high school kids who were more interested in flirting and planning parties than in keeping her restaurant clean and all that, but one time when she caught me hanging out in the drive-thru trying to hide from her view, she fired-open my cash register and took a look.

I’m pretty sure that gave me a good scare–it seemed like there was always someone taking money from the tills and subsequently getting fired.  That person was never me; my parents would have killed me–regardless of anything a police officer or cell mate could have done, that thought was one that terrorized me.  Plus, I made minimum wage, drove a ‘76 White Chevy Impala and gas was a helluva lot cheaper than it is today.  I had it all.

Sandy looked at me with a bit of a disgusted look and told me to “Face your money”.

“Huh?”

She told me I should face the money–even if this wasn’t a career for me, I should be taking some pride in my work and I should make sure that all the money was facing the same way.  Not only would it make the job of counting my till a lot easier for me (and her, of course), but it would make the customers feel less concerned about a pimply kid handling their cash when it came back neat and orderly.

“Okay.”

Simple enough, really.  But Every. Single. Day. I think of this.  NO ONE faces the damned money today. Unless there are a bunch of fresh, crisp bills from a bank, you very rarely get your money back facing the same way.  Cab drivers may be the exception to this, for what it’s worth.

I’m sure this is one of those “oh whatever” types of things, but wait until the next time you grab a coffee or a lunch when you’re not using a debit or credit card.

Every time I pay cash, I find myself being the slow poke in front of the line trying to straighten out the bills so that they sit right in my wallet–the more valuable in the back, all the way up to the singles.

Blind people take their money and apply folding patterns–think of what this means to them.  Think of how this little batch of organization of money helps you out in so much of your daily life.  Think about how little effort it truly requires for that cashier to keep their money “faced” so you don’t have to slow down the line, risk dropping your wallet/purse/fanny pak, whatever it is.

My point today is simple:  Identify simple tasks in your life that you’re over-looking and find ways to make them work outside of your sphere of reference.  I’m not a cashier anymore, but every time I have to face the money, I think about Sandy and her lesson, and where I am today.

Sure, Sandy didn’t make me the stunningly mediocre UX Practitioner you read about today, but she did teach me that you don’t have be overtly anal-retentive to be organized and to have a downstream impact.

Start small.  The big stuff will follow.

Microsoft & Xbox Live: When Customer Service Goes Drastically Wrong

Alternately titled: How Microsoft is Stealing $50 from Me. You Could Be Next.

Here’s the simple breakdown of the story:

October 20: Xbox Live emails me, account will auto-renew next month
November 20: Xbox Live emails me, account renewal a success!
November 21: Xbox Live emails me, prepaid card for 12+1 months has been successfully applied!
November 21: Xbox Live emails me, again confirming prepaid card successfully applied!
March 3: Xbox Live emails me, prepaid card being canceled tomorrow!

So, in internet-speak, I said, “WTF!?”

The story seems pretty clear, but after some grueling time on the phone with Microsoft, first in India and then in the United States, Microsoft has made it pretty clear to me that I’ve done something wrong, I’m borderline a criminal and they absolutely WILL NOT be giving me a credit for a prepaid card, nor will they refund it, supply a code for re-use, etc.

The longer, more detailed story, as it has been explained to me, via “Jason” and “Christine” at Microsoft, in regards to Case Reference #1061488919

The details in all of this are still murky to me–Microsoft apparently has a policy, but I’m not sure how they see it as either logical, customer-friendly or even helpful.

At the time of authoring this, I see it as stealing from me.

When I first signed-up for my Xbox Live account, I apparently used a credit card that was eventually replaced due to some fraudulent usage. Since I want to remain upfront and honest about this–as I have since the beginning with Microsoft (even when I was irate after asking 6 different times to please speak to someone else)–I was unsure which card I had used, but in the event that it was the card in question, I wanted to cover my bases.

Almost a month before my account was set to expire–or rather, drop back down to “Silver” Status, my pals at Microsoft sent me this:

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Automatic Renewal Notification for Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership
Date: Sun, October 21, 2007 1:11 am
To: russ

Dear Russell,

Your subscription to Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership is scheduled to be automatically renewed on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. Here is a description of the service:

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. For only $49.95 plus applicable taxes per year, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Please confirm that your account and payment information is up to date.

To update your credit card information:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Memberships.
4. Select the membership you want to update.
For more info, go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 12

Cool! Thanks, Microsoft. I’m glad we’re friends and you reminded me about this. I wonder what card I used…

See, I thought for certain that a declined card from Microsoft would have an email generated saying “Russ, your card is bad, click here to fix this and we’ll be friends again.” But that didn’t happen. Instead, what happened was this:
In fact, Microsoft was kind enough to confirm that this was groovy, too, and that we’re still BFFs:

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Confirmation of renewal of Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership
Date: Tue, November 20, 2007 12:51 am
To: russ

Dear Russell,

This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed your subscription to Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership. This renewal goes into effect on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. Here is a description of the service:

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. For only $49.95 plus applicable taxes per year, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 24

Okay, so my immediate thoughts are this: Awesome! I must have used some other credit card instead! Cool!

Reality: According to Microsoft, a successful renewal is not the same as the SETTLING of the account.

Customer Reality: Uhhhh, what’s the difference? Why would you give me a receipt of “success” when I’ve not paid for something? They don’t give me a receipt at the grocery store until I actually pay for my groceries and the cash, check or credit card is deemed to be “good” tender.

However, I soldiered on, probably playing some Halo 3 in my spare time. My Xbox Live 12+1 Month PrePaid card arrived from Amazon (thank you, Amazon Prime!). I went ahead and applied the card to my account–knowing me, I’d misplace it within the next year, anyway.

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Renewal Confirmation for Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Wed, November 21, 2007 6:51 pm
To: russ

Dear Russell,

This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.. The subscription will expire on Sunday, December 20, 2009. Here is a description of the service:

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. Your 13-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. At the end of 13 months, your membership will automatically change to a Silver Membership, unless you use another prepaid card or change your membership renewal options. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 42

Why, you’re welcome, Microsoft! Thanks for acknowledging that. Wait–what’s this? Oh, thank you for acknowledging it TWICE:

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Renewal Confirmation for Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Wed, November 21, 2007 6:51 pm
To: russ

Dear Russell,

This mail is confirmation that you have successfully renewed Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.. The subscription will expire on Sunday, December 20, 2009. Here is a description of the service:

Welcome to the future of gaming and online entertainment. As a new Xbox Live® Gold member, you will enjoy access to demos, trailers, downloads, tournaments, friends, and your gamertag, your unique digital identity. Your 13-month Xbox Live Gold Membership gives you all the rewards, privileges, and possibilities that come with being a Gold member. At the end of 13 months, your membership will automatically change to a Silver Membership, unless you use another prepaid card or change your membership renewal options. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

If you have any questions, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.
Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 42

And this, folks, was apparently my biggest, most evil and malicious mistake. THIS is where Microsoft decided that it is appropriate to steal from me, you, and any other customer in the world.

See, when I applied this prepaid card–which, by the way, could have been a nice gift from a parent, a nerd-supporting spouse, a nerdy boss, whatever–I did what is called “stacking” by Microsoft.

I’m still not sure how this is wrong. But apparently, when you “stack” AND you have an invalid credit card on file that they continue to attempt to charge, this is where you begin to earn your criminal status.

Allegedly, Microsoft sent me 2 follow-up emails to let me know that my card had been declined. I do not have those, but I have every email I’ve received that isn’t SPAM since 1997. Including all 5 emails referring to my Xbox Live account.

Microsoft has proof that those emails were sent–none that they were received mind you–and if I did not receive them, that’s an issue with my server and none of their concern. They do not, will not, pick up the phone to call you.

No, instead they send you an email that says this:

From: “MICROSOFT *XBOX LIVE”
Subject: Confirmation of cancellation of Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card.
Date: Thu, March 13, 2008 7:37 pm
To: russ

Dear Russell,

This mail is confirmation that your subscription to Xbox Live Prepaid 12 + 1 Month Gold Membership Card. has been cancelled on Friday, March 14, 2008.

If you have questions about this cancellation, or if you want to reactivate your subscription, please go to www.xbox.com/support or call Xbox Customer Support at 1 (800) 4MY-XBOX.

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

The Xbox Live team.

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
To receive notifications at a different e-mail address:
1. Select your gamer card.
2. Select Account Management.
3. Select Contact Information.
4. Sign in with your Passport Network credentials.
5. Update your e-mail address.
Form: 22

I received this on March 13th. I immediately picked up the phone and called my buddies at Microsoft. We’re BFFs, after all, and I wanted to know what I could have done to upset my pals. We should be able to hang out until December 2009, man!

After asking 6 different times to speak to someone else because the CSR from India was only repeating herself from a script and causing me phone rage, I finally spoke to “Jason” the supervisor who made a lot of wild claims.

He actually asked me if I read the Terms of Service. That’s the equivalent of “I’m not going to help you, you have the fine print to contend with”. Customer Service 101, I suppose.

Even so, as of November 2007, I had 25 months that I was paying for. If the credit card was declined, the appropriate response would be to simply subtract 12 of those months–the prepaid card was just that PRE PAID. PAID IN ADVANCE.

Microsoft: Your account is in billing violation and is in collections with Microsoft. If you would have called in before it was sent to them, we could have helped you. We WILL NOT be refunding, replacing or anything else to compensate for the prepaid card we’ve just canceled. We won’t even subtract the months you’ve used it. We would have, however, waived the $15 in fees and reinstate your account, at which point in time you can pay for service how you like or you can provide a new credit card.

Me: Okay, I’d like to fix the situations. We were tight before. Good friends, even. Look, how about I go ahead and give you a new credit card and I pay for a whole year–and we’ll just call the time that you’ve suspended my account as a wash since I’ve been busy with work, school, blogging about NotchUp, having a new baby, playing that new Mario game on the Wii and everything else. We’ll be buds again, we can hang out and I’ll let you play drums in Rock Band.

Oh, and just give me back that 12+1 month card, because, after all, it was PRE PAID.

Microsoft: Nope. We’re not friends. You’re a criminal. You were sent to collections and we canceled your PRE PAID card that you STACKED (gasp!) on your account that had a bad credit card on it. You, sir, do not get to keep your 12+1 months. It is gone. The code was “consumed” and we added it to your account. We’re canceling it.

Me: Wait, what?

Okay, so that’s poking a little fun at a situation that has gotten tense and terse. Microsoft will not budge.

The Resolution?
For starters, I’m blogging about this. I’m contacting the local “Fixer” people at the Big City Newspaper (Chicago Sun Times) to see if they can help. Google will be my friend and raise this up the flag pole.

What Do I Want to Happen?
I only want what is fair, and that’s all I’ve asked for since the beginning. I didn’t start out being the ticked-off, phone-rage guy who wanted free service for life and all the cheat codes for every game and whatnot.

I want my PRE PAID card back–I PRE PAID for service that was taken away from me by a billing snafu–not anything that was behavioral or deceptive, but a pretty simple–and easy to rectify–mistake.

This should be no problem. I should, at the very least, have the remaining balance of my PRE PAID card available to me–I should NOT be canceled. That’s simply unfair, and it is the equivalent of stealing.

Microsoft, make this right. I promise I’ll be BFFs again and I promise I’ll tell everyone that you did.

Falling Down

There is not much on this earth that will make you realize just how little you know about the elevator that you stand in everyday than a very large, obnoxious noise followed by an abrupt jerking motion. I was the bottom of the shaft when this happened to me yesterday and I loosely recall erratically looking all over the elevator for the “stop falling” or “emergency brake” button. Once the elevator came to rest and the door opened, I moved toward an area that I thought would be safe (inside the elevator) still and looked cautiously around the car before catching my breath and stepping out.

I wonder, would anyone really recall that they should put their air mask on themselves first prior to helping the elderly or small children on an airplane in a disaster mode? Would you know where your flotation device is?

Does life require more quizzes, or have we settled on the success and failure rates in our world? Or now, more than ever, do we really need to focus on making everyday objects more usable?

Small Steps to Save Small Moments

Alternately titled: Holiday Potty

For those of you who don’t read Boxes and Arrows, I am an editor there, and the staff submitted some of our experiences for intended and unintended uses. This is mine, for intended uses, and it should be published for the new year. Enjoy!

As a Chicago Suburbanite, it is inevitable that my family will visit the German Christmas Market at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago. There’s also a pretty good chance that I’ll be walking around that little village-like setting drinking from a mini-boot mug of hot spiced wine or Dinkle’s hot chocolate, momentarily transported to that tiny village.

As the father of a four year old, it is also inevitable that my daughter will find the least opportune moment to have to go to the restroom. Since my wife is 30-some-odd weeks pregnant, that generally means that there isn’t even a chance to roshambo to see who the fortunate one is that gets to accompany the mostly-adorable child to the facilities to take care of this business.

Don’t get me wrong–I can handle Daddy-duty just fine and can deftly change a diaper or wipe a nose with my sleeve on a moment’s notice, but sometimes it can be fun make a sport out of it.

After perusing the various overseas goodies from a variety of the shops, getting our pictures taken with the giant tree and with Mr. Claus, my daughter determined that it was time. THE time.

I felt a brief moment of pure, unadulterated terror as I was considering my options, until I felt a tug on my gloved hand and heard, “Daddy, I’ve really got to goooooo!”. My focus wasted no time returning and we headed out in the direction of the restrooms that people within earshot were kind enough to point to as they showed knowing smiles.

The dread set in as I realized that the “restroom” at Daley Plaza was nothing more than a plastic teal Port-A-Potty. The last I had checked, Port-A-Potties aren’t exactly made for more than one person, yet alone 1.5 people in full-on winter garb. The terror was returning as visions of shuffling around clothing while trying to get my daughter into position.

We rounded the corner and were met with the surprisingly pleasant view of a couple of tents, each surrounding its own Port-A-Potties on one side and a table on the other. There was a sturdy glass door right in the middle that resembled the type of door you would expect to see if you were looking at the entrance of any retail store from the street. We quickly entered the tent, placed the coats, etc. on the table and the rest is pretty uninteresting, and I am sure you’re thankful for that.

However, somewhere out there in a planning committee is a person who, when placing squares on a layout plan for Daley Plaza, considered that the freezing cold was not the ideal place to use a Port-A-Potty. That UX genius on a committee somewhere may a small–but very significant–change that kept our pre-holiday festivies…

Festive!

How Comcast VOIP Penalizes The Majority

I was one of the first to adopt Comcast’s VOIP when it came to my area. (If it would have been a midnight event at Best Buy, I would have stood in line for it–that’s just the kind of geek I am). For the most part, I do not notice that I have VOIP instead of a traditional telephone service, which, ultimately plays into Comcast’s favor. There are times, like when the cable service goes out that you realize that in order to call to report the problem, well, you have to use your mobile phone, but that is also a known risk.

There are also great benefits–like a voicemail system that is kind enough to send you an email and that allows you to access your messages online. Since the Comcast system will only store my password for 24 hours and I don’t feel like Im able to navigate their system quicly enough, I mostly dial-in to listen to my messages.

About 6 months ago, Comcast upgraded their voicemail services.

Upgraded?

Okay, let me rephrase: They upgraded their voicemail system.

The degraded their VUI (Voice User Interface) for the voicemail system, in my humble opinion.

Wikipedia has blessed me with some information that I’ve found useful:

Although the United States currently has no official language, English has long been the de facto national language. Government agencies in most states and at the federal level can commonly be contacted in Spanish. Many states such as California require legislated notices and official documents to be printed in Spanish alongside English and other commonly used languages.

And:

The United States does not have an official language, but English is spoken by about 82% of the population as a native language. The variety of English spoken in the United States is known as American English; together with Canadian English it makes up the group of dialects known as North American English. 96% of the population of the U.S. speaks English well. On May 18, 2006, the Senate voted on an amendment to an immigration reform bill that would declare English the national language of the United States. The immigration reform bill itself, S. 2611, was passed in the Senate on May 25, 2006, and now has to go back to the House of Representatives in conference to make sure amendments are agreed upon.

The Spanish language is the second-most common language in the country, spoken by almost 30 million people (or 12% of the population) in 2005.

Here are my key points to Comcast:

1. I live in the United States
2. American English is the most spoken language in the country

That said, the Comcast Voicemail system previously worked as follows:

1. Dial voice mail number / your number (if calling from home)
2. Press ‘#’ if you have a mailbox on the system (otherwise listen to bizarre message that allows you to enter in a phone number and leave a message for someone on the system–huh? The voicemail number is not a publicly known number)
3. Press your phone number
4. Press ‘#’ if you’re impatient and don’t want to wait for the system to recognize you (learned by trial and error, thank you very much)
5. Press your password
6. Press ‘#’ if you’re impatient and don’t want to wait for the system to recognize you
7. Enter voicemail system, do voicemail-related things

Upon implementation of the “system upgrade”, something broke. Much like the blasted soda machine in my office, I still get tripped up by this change.

The change has caused a slight-looking shift (see bolded text below) in the way the voicemail system now works:

1. Dial voice mail number / your number (if calling from home)
2. Press ‘1′ if you wish to hear your prompts in English, ‘2′ if you wish to hear your prompts in Spanish (Pressing anything else ie ‘#’ results in you listening to the English/Spanish message all over again)
3. Press ‘#’ if you have a mailbox on the system
4. The rest is the same

This seems minor, right? Simply adjust my thinking, unlearn what I’ve already been using for over a year, realize that there is an extra button press and accept that Comcast is attempting to serve a broader customer base. The thought itself is not problematic. The implementation is. To me. And possibly to those whom I assume are in the majority of their user base.

I do not take issue with that, but I would not expect to check voicemail in France and have to identify myself as a French speaker EVERY TIME. On the contrary, I would expect to listen until I heard something in English and then press the corresponding number that would allow me to listen in my language. If France had more than one primary launguage–like Canada (see the humor?)–, then I would expect to be able to choose my primary language in my voicemail set-up, including the option to select my language at each login. For Comcast, this does not happen–although I am allowed to set my languages in my Administrative options. You’ve probably guessed it: My language preferences are all set to English.

Still, I am an English-speaking American, and I am in America. For whatever reason (okay, for statistical reasons, even), I feel as my language should be in the majority. I feel that spoken prompts of a VUI should be in English automatically and I should not have to listen to a prompt that forces me to select the option to hear prompts in English. Instead, I should be able to quickly bypass the system and get right to my voicemail, which is all that I care about to begin with. Comcast, you may have fixed something that was not even remotely broken.

However, that 1 extra keypress repeatedly frustrates me and repeatedly trips me up and more frequently than I’d care to admit, causes me to redial voicemail and try again. Or wait until I get to computer and login and listen to an audio file.

In my mind, the system should work like this:

1. Dial voice mail number / your number (if calling from home)
2. Press ‘#’ if you have a mailbox on the system
3. Press your phone number
4. Press ‘#’ if you’re impatient and don’t want to wait for the system to recognize you
5. Press your password
6. Press ‘#’ if you’re impatient and don’t want to wait for the system to recognize you
7. Enter voicemail system, do voicemail-related things

Does that seem at all familiar? It should–it’s the same system that was previously in place. Before the system upgrade.

I wonder if this change was tested on an appropriate sampling of their user base? I’ve got a hunch it probably was not.

Perhaps a better enhancement to the system would be to perform an overhaul that could be used across all of Comcast, so there is a familiarity whenever you need to call in to one of their phone numbers. By gosh, even better would be the notion that there could be some VUI globals, well, globally.

Beloved Apple hung up on me today because I tried to hit ‘0′ to get a human and find out store hours, instead of just listening to their pre-recorded information. I think it may have been a ‘5′ that would have let me do that, but I was impatient and instead, I received a friendly “Good bye”. Somewhere in the world, someone is chuckling that the VUI was unforgiving and that I was too impatient. To a degree, that almost seemed rather Steve Jobs-ish, eh?

Regardless, the United States is a melting pot, and I’ll happily admit that. The Spanish language is ever-increasing in usage and there is a large population that needs to be served in voice systems. In fact, if nothing else, this emphasizes to me that a function needs to be dedicated on systems to change back and forth between languages.

Example:

1. 1-6 - used for standard “options” (each is task-specific, otherwise, by the time you listen to 9 or 10 options, you’ve spaced-out and missed the one you needed or invariably someone has distracted you and you randomly push a button anyway)
2. 7 - paginate backward through options
3. 8 - swap language (English / Spanish)
4. 9 - paginate forward through options
5. * - system help
6. 0 - Operator
7. # - “Enter” or “Finished submitting” or a bypass for when a system offers the option of your account, phone number, etc.

Maybe I’m not exactly breaking new ground with my frustration points here. I doubt that I’ve come up with a world-class solution at this point, but I don’t think I’ve met a person who enjoys any of the VUI systems in place today. It may be time for an overhaul.

And don’t get me started on the systems that force you to be conversational with them.

The Failings of Facebook, Etc.

Like a lot of people, I’ve got a Facebook account. I even check it with some frequency (thanks to that BlackBerry application that allows me to check for any status updates when I’ve got some spare moments) and update it with some regularity. But I wonder, just how honest is this?

Quite a few years ago, perhaps around 2000-ish, I started writing a personal blog. In my mind, that was well before blogging was big. I used a fun little nickname (which also fails, once everyone knows who you are) and I ranted and raved about whatever I’d chose. I had enough insight to be careful not to name names, but for the most part, nothing was off-limits on my blog.

For awhile.

Shameless self-promotion took over as readership increased (and perhaps those things fed each other). There was an addiction (and it probably took me until right now to admit that) to getting those updates about comments or various other interactions on the site. I checked-in frequently, often refreshing stats on advertising and readership. I enjoyed being in the fishbowl–and knowing people were watching me. In fact, I went out of my way to try and find humorous (juvenile, immature) antics to write about for the sake of maintaining an image I was trying to portray.

In retrospect, it was definitely an interesting experience, and I’m glad that one is behind me and I’ve turned the corner on that chapter of life.

That is an experience that, I think, makes me a bit wiser now. MySpace, Facebook, Friendster and the others all draw you in and they play on your desire to know about the updates of your various connection types, or your own desire to share what it is that you happen to be doing at this moment. It is intriguing and sometimes a little exciting to get caught up in their experience.

They certainly hope that you do. There’s big money in it for them.

But, what’s in it for you? I think a lot of people do not entirely realize what some of the ramifications of being a bit too flip in online communities can be. Ask anyone who has had to write a few personas in their day and I’m guessing that, like me, they’ll tell you that they utilize these social networking sites to do a little bit of background research. I bet that they’ll also tell you that at times they’re shocked at what people are willing to display to the general public about their habits and preferences.

I am a pretty caffeinated person, but I am fairly laid back when it comes to online content. I can laugh with the best of them when I’ve got my Russ hat on. However, if I were wearing a hiring manager hat and Googling your name to see what the professional behind the resume looks like on line, well, my take on your professionalism may shift a little bit if you are not practicing a bit of discretion.

Think about that. For those of you who work in a client-services industry, do you ever use LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. to get a view into the client or the vendor? Most likely. I’ll admit that I do. I think it’s a bit of human nature to find out just how qualified someone that you are working with–I’ve seen it done at previous employers, and with negative results for other people. Perception was shifted based upon information that was readily found online in some public forum.

And therein lies a big enough problem. Still, this is not the biggest problem that I see with the social networking sites.

The biggest problem that I see is one that involves how you interact with your friends, peers and acquaintances that you allow yourself to be connected to.

First and foremost, have you ever declined an online connection with someone on one of the social networking sites? I once had someone–a co-worker–tell me NO on LinkedIn and I did not even want to see him in passing in the hallway anymore. Awkward, thy name is Social Networking Rejection.

Have you ever accepted a connection with someone that you work with–but that you are not really social with? For example, my current boss and I are connected on Facebook. We don’t go catch a movie together or go and grab a beer together, but I think he’s a good guy and I would not work for him if I felt otherwise. That said, the instant that the connection was accepted, I noticed that I began to lightly filter things that I posted. The more that other people from work were added, the more that I noticed I became less flip and more cautious about how I would allow myself to be perceived on Facebook. I’m older, and I like to think a bit wiser, and I feel comfortable enough in my skin that it really is a lot easier to be “me” online these days, but I do not think that a lot of people are at that point–at least after reviewing over a hundred various Facebook profiles.

However, by virtue of a professional relationship, it may be wise–if not necessary–to apply a filter to your publicly available social networking information. Perhaps it is best to just maintain a private profile that does not allow itself to be easily found or added. Of course, what does that say about you? Are you too private? Are you hiding something? I think that seems silly, but I also think that history should show us that we can all be silly from time to tome.

Likewise, if I would no have allowed my boss to be my friend on Facebook, what would that say about me? I ask this regardless of what it should say–when it comes to feelings and impressions, most times what should be done gets thrown out the window. If I would have rejected his offer of friendship, would I have look like an anti-social jerkwad? Do I look like one because I don’t have a large number of friends as it is?

This is where I see the biggest failing of Facebook, etc.

Just last week, a friend of mine posted a status update that she had the just been on one of the worst interviews of her professional career. There is no way on earth that I could post that on my Facebook status. Instead, I would need to find the right way to get ahold of my closest friends and let them know what was going on–perhaps IM, email or a call on the cellphone (while driving). If one of your connections is an acquaintance and not a friend, could you broadcast a status update about a gathering that the friend was not invited to and risk hurting their feelings or having them invite themselves? There is a breakdown that starts to happen as you allow yourself to become the equivalent of “online popular”. Eventually, you may find yourself censoring yourself.

Ultimately, you return a very personal method of communication with your inner circle. That may be an instant message, an email to a small group or even 1-to-1 conversations via telephone or in-person when it comes to truly personal or sensitive matters.

FaceBook, LinkedIn, MySpace–you name it. These have become a personality promotion tool for yourself. These are tools that allow you to promote yourself in the way that you want people to see you, but ultimately not the person you really are. There is a famous quote out there that loosely states:

“I am not who I think I am, I am not who you think I am, but I am who I think you think I am.”

These tools are here to help us all take that the whatever Nth level we desire. However, the internet has a memory, and we need to remember that. Google caches pages. There are archive sites with previous information stored, and even those brief snapshots could be just enough to cost any of us something important to us tomorrow from a lapse in judgment or discretion.

This also serves as a notice to users: When you eventually do tire of your social networking flavor of the week and move on, you may want to consider revisiting your existing profiles and do a bit of house cleaning.

The realization of this, or the impact of this may not be immediate. It may take quite awhile to even recognize that it is starting to happen, and when it does, the shine will start to fade a little on the shiny new toy, no matter how many new tools, applications or vampire/werewolf attacks you may endure (I ignore those faster than you can send them, just in case you are curious). Eventually, you may move on to the next big thing–until everyone else finds you and you begin to feel that you may be censoring yourself again. And then it’s on to the next next thing. I made a nice Venn Diagram to help illustrate how this particular point may play out in the future: