A good way to maintain a network is to help others.

Find some useful information? Pass it on. Forward it to the person or people you know will find if most useful.

Hear about an opportunity? Let someone know about it.

It probably won’t take very long, but it will help others and keep you in mind when they come across something that might benefit you.

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My Twittering comes and goes, depending on whether the service is up at any given time, and I’m online.

If you have a Twitter account, follow me. You can add your Twitter handle in the Comments below, or wait a week or so, and I’ll get around to finding my new followers and adding you.

I don’t do a lot of Tweets during the work day, but evenings and weekends I’ve been known to add to the wisdom of the Twitterverse.

You can find my profile at: http://twitter.com/ericeggertson

Tweet you later!

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I saw Wanted yesterday, with Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy.

The whole thing felt like a trailer, with action money shots coming (pardon the pun) at you one after the other.

It fell far short of the Jason Bourne films, but I’m sure it will do fine at the box office.

I couldn’t help but reflect on the declining value of trailers. Most of the Coming Attractions show you key plot elements deep into the movie. It’s one thing to show you the initial dilemma faced by the hero, but why do so many of them show you the climax of the film? (I can’t seem to avoid porn references today.)

Are we so afraid of going to a movie that might surprise us (or, gasp, disappoint us) that we can only go to films from known franchises, or films where we know the entire story arc? The Wanted trailer, by the way, contains scenes that appear deep in the movie, saving you the trouble of watching the first 70 minutes.

The biggest benefit I get from trailers is the assurance that I can:

1)  Wait until it comes out on DVD

2)  Wait until it’s on the movie channel

3)  Skip it altogether

It’s a very rare trailer that convinces me to rush out and see a movie.

Does anyone out there have a rational explanation for why modern movie trailers work?  I’d love to hear it.

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It’s not every industry that gives away what would ordinarily be the key proprietary assets: source codes, communication protocols, content.

In the spirit of barcamps and podcamps before it, Jeremiah Owyang is offering to hold an impromptu trade-show-cum-unconference that defies the rules of trade shows. Instead of the vendors’ products and services being at the centre of things, this event would bring vendors of content management systems together to explore opportunities for common standards, joint action, even mergers and acquisitions.

All in response to his blog post about the research report he’s writing about vendors in the content management/social networking field.

Yes, this is business, but it looks a lot more like a co-operative venture, or a World of Warcraft clan tackling a big challenge.

This is the kind of industry event that’s going to be fun to watch, or be part of.

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Reviews are hell.

Writers, actors, directors and restaurant owners hate them. And so do business owners.

It’s never easy observing or taking part in a discussion about your business, especially when customers are taking potshots at you.

Calley Nye writes on TechCrunch about businesses fighting back against the review site Yelp by creating “sucks”-type sites about the site that features local reviews.

She says: “The good news for Yelp is that when businesses are afraid of you, its only because they realize how much power you really have. See, for example, Paypal and Ebay, two of the most reviled and profitable businesses on the Internet.”

Companies have a legitimate concern if someone is writing something misleading or incorrect about their products and services.

The conflict of interest policy protecting Wikipedia entries from undue editing by the subject of an entry leaves business people feeling exposed to rumors and errors dressed up as fact.

Customer reviews are a big part of sites like Amazon.com. People don’t just want to hear what journalists think about a book or other item. They want to know what regular folks have to say.

Of course, sometimes the “reviews” are thinly-disguised mischief at the expense of the author.

A company shouldn’t be afraid to clarify confusing information, or correct errors. But when someone just doesn’t like you or your product line, attacking the critics (whether professionals, semi-pros or amateurs) usually backfires.

Before engaging in a pissing match with a reviewer, ask yourself how petty you want to look.

Then go find something useful to do, like fixing the typos and broken links on your website!

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