Gratitude: unexpected free time.

Today I got up early and went out to Heathrow for a client meeting. Meanwhile, my client got up early and went to Canary Wharf.

Ooops.

The first temptation is to curse the inconvenience but I chose not to. Instead, I focussed on the free time I would have to read. I never go anywhere without a book, or rather, many ebooks on my Kindle. It makes delays and unexpected journeys a gift.

What goes into an experience strategy?

I'm often asked what goes into digital strategy. I usually steer the question towards 'experience' so that we aren't limited to encounters in digital media and channels and recognise that people travel from off- to online seamlessly.

So what goes into an experience strategy? In it's most basic form:

What are we trying to achieve?
What are our participants trying to achieve?
What do we know about their needs and behaviours?
What content and functionality do we need?
What is the journey to, through, and from the experience?
What is the best way to structure it?
How can it be phased?
How can it evolve?
How do we manage it?
How do we measure it?

Will write soon about Pompeii, Sorrento and Berlin, but in the meantime:

How to make the perfect poached egg. The vortex method really works!

Can't wait. Yazoo - Reconnected Live (sampler) by MuteRecords

Can't believe this is still even here. Don't believe anyone is reading it, but must get back into the habit of reflecting on things.

I recently downloaded, Sleep Cycle, an application for my mobile iPhone that monitors my sleep. Because the phone itself is sensitive to movement, you place it on your mattress, near the pillow (with the network turned off) and it monitors movement; the idea being that the deeper the sleep, the less tossing and turning one does. It then looks at the cycles of light and deep sleep to determine when the best time for the alarm to go off. For example, if I set the alarm at 6am, but that would the deepest part of the sleep cycle, it goes off instead at 5.45 when my sleep would be light. It's kind of fun/ creepy to watch graphs of one's own sleep cycles. I seem to sleep well for five hours (say, 10-3am) and then have lots of light/deep cycles from 3-6. Anyway, I find it fascinating, sad git that I am.

State of anxiety

This week, I am in Bangkok. I thought the worst thing may be the heat. It's 100 degrees and humid. But turns out, I was venturing into political instability.

Red Shirts are a group of rural poor who are faithful
to the last PM who was overthrown in 2008 and want him reinstated.
They have been protesting in central Bangkok for the last six weeks,
but peacefully, and as such, the PM declared them a legal
demonstration and vowed no violence which the army and Red Shirts also
vowed. They then stepped up the protest and stormed Parliament on
Wednesday. As such, the PM declared a state of emergency, but no one
really knows what that means. They are trying to shift the Red Shirts
out of Bangkok and the PM has now declared them an illegal protest. He
is still vowing no violence, but has said that the march on Parliament
was an act of violence itself, although no one was hurt. There's a
feeling on all sides that the media is playing it all up but everyone
is watching what's going on. The PM is seen as being very by the book
and cautious and the Thais I spoke to don't think much will come of
it.

Saturday starts the nine-day celebration for Thai New Year and all
parties want it to be resolved by then so that the Red Shirts can go
home to celebrate with their families. People feel tomorrow therefore
will either be a climax or the end of it. We're being told to stay
away from the centre of town and have been assured by Global Unilever
that we are safe where we are (not being near any government or army
areas and, being a laundry detergent conference, not likely to be seen
as very political. Luckily, I didn't pack anything red). And like I
said, no one seems anxious about it including the British Consulate.
And the two Brits who have lived here for a while.

If things do escalate tomorrow, they are almost sure to close the
airport (they did it last year for five days during a similar
protest.) which means I may not be going home on Saturday and may
instead be lounging by the pool.

I think the worst thing that's going to happen is that I won't be able
to go shopping at Siam Paragon which everyone recommended. And as the
5-star hotel is a fort-like complex with six restaurants, two pools
and a cheeky Thai Jazz star named Lilibeth playing in the bar it seems
utterly civilised. It would be a shame not to get to sight see, but
better to be safe for the time being.

So, little apparently to fret about besides which Thai curry to try
next. I'll keep you updated but in the meantime don't worry. No one
here seems to - they haven't even interrupted the TV with it.

Businesses need social strategy not social media strategy

Yet, most "social media" strategies have one or more of three goals: to "push product," "build buzz," or "engage consumers." None of these lives up to the Internet's promise of meaning. They're just slightly cleverer ways to sell more of the same old junk. But the great challenge of the 21st century is making stuff radically better in the first place — stuff that creates what I've been calling thicker value.

Organizations don't need "social media" strategies. They need social strategies: strategies that turn antisocial behavior on its head to maximize meaning. The right end of social tools is to help organizations stop being antisocial. In fact, it's the key to advantage in the 2010s and beyond.'

Umair Haque, HBR