It’s a little funny, we adults with agendas (not a bad thing) sit around and tell each other what social media is while our teenage children live it all day long. Want to see what social media really is? Watch the teenagers. While we are trying to master these new tools to drive traffic, grow our lists, and create our own huge networks our children are the only ones using social media to be social. Sure, many of us play by the strictest of rules as not to blatantly advertise but what’s going on in the back of your mind? Go ahead and say it, it’s not a bad word… Yes, sales!

Surf around YouTube and watch the subscriber rates of a very social fifteen year old. Many of them could blow away the biggest marketers online without even trying and their subscribers actually watch the videos. There’s no agenda so there’s no shield up. No one wants to be sold to and our kids don’t have that obstacle – they just want to be kids and, yes, socialize with other kids.

If we could learn how to remove that ‘shield‘ we would be kings and Queens of social media (along side our children). You want to know what I think is going to be interesting? When those kids become adults interested in business. Will they still thrive with social networking skills or will they be like us trying to fake it till we make it?

I’m old enough to remember when phone booths still had rotary dialers and cost a dime so it’s pretty amazing what these phones do now.

The Samsung Instinct™ has more bells and whistles than I’ll ever use but I’m really finding that it’s an invaluable tool. I’ve been carrying a laptop with me when I get more than fifty feet from the home (Yeah, I’m addicted) and it’s pretty time consuming to boot the computer up, access the net just to see if there’s anything pressing in my email. I don’t want someone to wait hours for a HelpDesk answer for example. Now I can check my email within seconds using my cell phone. I only need to boot up the laptop if there is something important that I need to take care of. The Instinct does have internet access but is limited to what can be done.

A couple other features I’m finding very helpful is the camera phone and the ability to upload shots to my Flickr account within minutes. It’s just a 2.0 MP camera and camcorder but I’m pretty impressed with the picture quality. I can fill my 22″ monitor with wallpaper from the camera phone with almost no distortion. The color and crisp pictures are nothing you would expect from a cell phone. Here are a few photos I’ve taken so far: Camera Phone Shots

If you are considering a touchscreen smart phone I would recommend you research the iPhone if you like AT&T. I say that because it’s more popular and probably a better phone. Most apps. available are for the iPhone and even though I’ve never used one I’m still a little envious. If you’re like me and want to stick with Sprint than I don’t think you would be very disappointed with the Samsung Instinct™.

Here are a few of the Instinct’s features:

• Stereo Bluetooth®
• GPS Navigation
• Live TV
• Email with both POP3 and corporate email
• Calendar and Scheduler
• Texting and Instant Messaging
• 2.0 MP Camera and Camcorder
• Internet access with an Internet HTML Browser
• external memory (microSD)
• Clock with alarm and Worldtime
• Calculator
• Memo book
• Voice memo & Voice mail
• Embedded JAVA™ Games and JAVA™ Download
• Music player with music Library

I found a cool Twitter tool a while back and I finally got around to putting it to use. It’s called Friend Or Follow. FriendOrFollow.com will show you who’s not following you back, who you aren’t following back and who your true Twitter friends are.

I’m pretty new to Twitter, in practice anyway, but I’m already to the point where I want an enjoyable and mutual experience. I decided it’s a two way street and I really have no use for a one-way Twitter friend. If I need a monologue I’ll find another source.

It’s true I don’t follow everyone back. Not even close. I only follow those that I find interesting. I have other criteria as well and they can pretty much be summed up in a very good blog post I ran across a few days ago. It’s 5 Reasons They May Not Follow on Twitter from Blogging Tips. Jonathan Bailey has read my mind with this post.

I have removed every single no-follower from my Twitter following. Everything I do on Twitter is done manually so every now and then I’ll go in and remove those that I follow that don’t want to follow back. No hard feelings, I don’t want to sound bitter – far from it. I removed a bunch of people that I like and respect and even have other business relationships with. Twitter will be reserved for mutual following.

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I wanted to comment on one of Natalie’s videos that was just posted YESTERDAY! and there were already 8,982 comments. Can you believe these numbers? Just incredible! Oh yeah, don’t even get me started on the whole 248,116 subscribers thing. I wonder if I could get her to wear my ‘Get Extreme‘ t-shirt in her next video

I am not an expert of any religion yet I have very strong opinions on the subject. I do not go to Church, at least not normally. I will go to Church next week on Easter Sunday to please my wife. I will go and worship God in my own way among other friendly people that no doubt feel much differently than I.

Whether you practice Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism or another religion altogether I respect your belief. I even respect the irreligious and atheist’s rights to their beliefs. The key word is belief. I have no problem with one’s beliefs, it’s when our arrogance takes over and we begin to believe we have the answers that gets my blood pressure up.

My personal beliefs are very simple. Life is far too perfect to be an accident. No one is ever going to convince me the we are the product of amino acids and lightning strikes millions of years ago. With that said, no one is going to convince me that we are the only planet with abundant and intelligent life on it. How do I know? I don’t! That’s the point. No one knows what’s true, we simply have our beliefs. The next time some one walks up to me and asks me if I’ve heard the truth or the good news I have this post to direct them to.

Simply put, we are a small planet in a very small solar system. Our solar system is among billions of stars to make up our galaxy. Our galaxy is just a dot in the universe among countless billions of other galaxies. Certainly one capable of creating such a place is beyond our comprehension. I am content to believe there is a God and I can not begin to comprehend what that is or what it means. Why is that so hard for so many to accept?

To understand just how small we are I highly recommend this video:
Journey to the Edge of the Universe

Here are a couple more related videos:
The Hubble Deep Field: The Most Important Image Ever Taken
The God Theory