Mike McBride Online

Blogging | SocialNetworking

With Social Media Companies Distancing Themselves from News, It’s Time For You to Learn About RSS
ByMike McBride October 21, 2023October 20, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

In the interest of helping.

Check out this post with a tutorial on using Feedly. Or some of these other posts about RSS Readers.

Check out a newsletter service like Substack. – here’s my newsletter as an example.

Check out a Fediverse-based social network like Mastodon. No big companies, no data tracking for ad tech, just people and a small, but growing, number of journalists, sharing stuff. (Here’s my Mastodon profile, feel free to create an account and follow me.)

Read More With Social Media Companies Distancing Themselves from News, It’s Time For You to Learn About RSS
Career | Mental Health

Linked – Looking for a Job While the World is Falling Apart
ByMike McBride October 19, 2023October 19, 2023 Reading Time: 3 minutes

The advice in the article below might seem familiar. I’ve seen plenty of advice on the topic of how to keep moving in life during difficult times over the last few years. Things like turning off the news, keeping to a normal routine, etc. What I like about this article is that it acknowledges the elephant in the room that typical advice doesn’t when you’re not working.

“Many people are in a job search and have to keep the quest moving regardless of world events.”

Therein lies the rub. The difference between being informed and being overwhelmed often comes down to being able to turn the news off, set boundaries around our social media use, and so on. But it can be especially difficult to do that when your day isn’t filled with things you have to do.

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Training

Ask the Question
ByMike McBride October 17, 2023October 17, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

Here’s the challenge for those of you who want to lead. If someone in a meeting says something using jargon that you aren’t sure everyone in the meeting understands but is afraid to admit they don’t understand, ask the question on their behalf. Show them that asking questions is a good thing, and model the behavior that says learning is so important here that we ask questions without fear.

It also sends the message that we expect everyone to take the time and explain things to each other. That’s a big part of having a learning culture.

Read More Ask the Question
Career | Mental Health

Linked – “Burnout is a relationship problem”: A conversation with Michael Leiter
ByMike McBride October 13, 2023October 12, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

Trust is going to have to be hard-earned in the tech industry after the last year. That’s a shame because figuring out how to not burn out employees is going to take everyone working together.

Read More Linked – “Burnout is a relationship problem”: A conversation with Michael Leiter
Career | Training

Good Way to Develop Those “Soft” Skills People Are Always on About – Train Others
ByMike McBride October 12, 2023October 11, 2023 Reading Time: 2 minutes

If you want to challenge yourself to learn something deeply, start figuring out how you would train someone to do it. If your employer doesn’t have an opening for a full-time trainer, create some opportunities to cross-train with your team, to reach out across teams and help teach them some of your skills, or to introduce them to some new technology that is coming. The skills you develop with come in handy, and you’ll be showing off some serious leadership skills as well, something that is probably in short supply in your industry. It is in most, anyway.

Read More Good Way to Develop Those “Soft” Skills People Are Always on About – Train Others
SocialNetworking

It Feels Like Facebook Punted on Pages
ByMike McBride October 11, 2023October 11, 2023 Reading Time: 5 minutes

So, when I saw that Facebook was going to start letting people create multiple profiles and that it was really targeted toward people with different interests, or small business owners and freelancers who wanted a Facebook presence for their work apart from their personal profile, I immediately thought, isn’t that what Pages were for? Isn’t that exactly what Pages were promoted as being, a place for the “brand” apart from your personal profile? And isn’t this just a tacit acknowledgment that, outside of huge corporate brands, Facebook broke Pages for everyone else?

Read More It Feels Like Facebook Punted on Pages