Holtz Communications + Technology

A lot of hype accompanied the launch of Unthink. Most major news outlets carried the story of a decently-funded social network launching with the intention of being the iconoclast on the block, the one network that ensured your data was always your own. Unthink not only put Facebook in its sights, but Google+, too.

I asked around and found few people…

The research company Gallup claims that a recent study debunks three social media myths. When Gallup, a trusted name in reserach, announces “groundbreaking new insights into how people interact with social media and into its effectiveness as a marketing tool,” you’re inclined to pay attention.

But while the results are interesting, I wouldn’t make any decisions about how to use social media based on them,…

Google+ has been dominating the online conversation cycle with discussions analyzing the pros and cons, debating Google+‘s chances of unseating Facebook at the social network, explaining how to use it (there’s already a list of tutorials, and speculating about its future.

It even occupied about half of yesterday’s episode of FIR.

For those unclear on Google+, it’s the new social network Google has cobbled together from…

Shame on CBS Radio News.

On its June 23 6 p.m. (EDT) top-of-the-hour newscast, CBS reported on the results of a study that indicate Facebook and other social networking sites are costing companies lost worker productivity.

I dashed home to find the source of the report. What I found was a month-old study that focused on all manner of workplace distractions. In…

My new boss intimidated the hell out of me.

He intimidated me when I met him during the job interview and the intimidation I felt continued on my first day on the job. He reminded me of Professor Kingsfield (from “The Paper Chase”). He wore a professorial coat that looked as though chalkdust would fly off it if you patted it. He had a…

Among the reasons companies list for blocking employee access to social media is the fear that employees will disclose information they shouldn’t. This usually falls into two categories: compliance (such as posting private information about a customer) and leaks of a company’s intellectual property. This last type of disclosure often includes premature revelations of products that haven’t launched yet.

Most of these situations…