Jonothan Stribling

I was watching the Survivor final last week and was amused that the evil Russell thought that he had won “the game” even though Sandra had walked away with the $1 million.

Clearly Russell was playing a different game. He was playing the big man in town game and Sandra was playing to win.

I know which game I would rather be playing.

Often when working in teams to produce products or interfaces you come across someone playing the big man in town game. The thing about them is that they are always right and they can never be told what to do.

And unless they are a genius they are always a destructive force in any team.

So how do you make sure your own big idea can be launched?

Here’s how to cope with the Russell factor:

Don’t work with them
It might seem obvious but not working with Russell types is a great way of avoiding the manipulation and anxiety.

Focus on your idea
Be motivated by your idea and your vision not the politics.

Don’t be intimidated

People like Russell believe attack is the best form of defence and they will do their utmost to attack you and make you doubt yourself.

Don’t play their game.

Ask questions
Asking questions is a great way to make the swaggering big man in town Russell get off the attack and really engage with you.

Use silence
Silence does not always equal consent when negotiating with a Russell. When negotiating, hold back on answering or responding. A Russell will quite often keep talking and dig themselves into a hole.

Don’t lose your temper
Punching a Russell in the face might seem like a very good idea but it won’t help.

Are you a liar?

I am. I lie continually.

I am like that Jim Carrey character who lies so much he is forced to spend a whole day telling the truth.

Lying, whether it be stretching the truth or a bald faced porky pie is an important skill.

Federal opposition leader Tony Abbott has established that he is a compulsive liar. According to Abbott things can be said in the heat of the moment that aren’t true. So if they aren’t true they are lies.

And that’s OK because it happened in the heat of the moment.

With professional and ethical integrity undervalued in corporate life, media, politics, the clergy and sports Abbott has simply told the truth.

The truth, that’s your version or my version, doesn’t matter anymore.

We’re evolving as a species to appreciate and respect passion over integrity.

“Bob lied when he said he would do the dishes!”

“Yes, but he was really passionate about it at the time. He really thought he would do the dishes.”

“That’s OK then.”

Substitute doing the dishes with paying a bill, being faithful, picking the kids up from school and the absurdity is made clear.

A community requires guidelines about trust that help build relationships and made sure everyone can get what they need.

A community that celebrates Tony Abbott for finally telling it how it is, is deeply flawed.

Passion is no excuse for deception.

I really want to delete my facebook account.

I was enthusiastic about the idea after all the changes the Zuck made to “privacy” this year and then I read this polemic by Jason Calacanis about how facebook is evil and the Zuck has Zucked his way to the top.

I was kinda gratified because it meant that my suspicion and anxiety about facebook was felt tenfold over by an industry observer.

It meant that my doubts about the business model were in part justified because eroding privacy for commercial gain is clearly unethical.

And not being transparent about it is very unethical.

Privacy should NOT be opt-in.

A year ago I said facebook was (almost) doomed because of the difference between the sacred and the profane.

After facebook became the most visited US website for a week in March I thought I was completely wrong.

I wasn’t.

Running a massive website is expensive and advertising won’t generate enough of a return for the Zuck so he is monetising his biggest asset – you and me.

I don’t want my private data to be monetised and Zucked up. If I share publicly I use twitter. If it’s a private conversation between friends I might send an email, pick up the phone, send a text or just maybe use facebook.

The problem is that I need facebook. I need to understand if advertising and targeting is more cost effective for certain campaigns than Google.

I need to understand it, to use it for traffic generation, to observe it with a critical gaze.

So I guess I’ve been Zucked after all.

We all have.

Once watching the TV was a complete passive act of slovenly consumption. The evening show was watched while slumped on the couch all senses dulled by the blue rays of the box.

Now watching the TV is only one part of watching the TV. In face “TV events” can be enjoyed by hooking into the Twitter firehose and looking for the right hashtag.

During the Logies, an Australian TV award show for all US folks, I noticed that the digital hipsters at the event were tweeting, that people on the couch were tweeting, that journalists were tweeting.

Everybody was talking at the same time about the #logies. Cracking gags, being outrageous laughing at “the stars”.

And what for?

Comedian Wil Anderson (@Wil_Anderson) attempted controversy by alluding to John Mayer, herpes and his “white supremicist cock”. He passed comment about Michael Slater doing jokes, Sigrid Thornton looking like gollem and something about the Rogue Traders.

It was pretty nasty stuff. Funny when you’re pissed and wearing a dinner suit, not so funny the next day.

Wil Anderson wasn’t the only one trying to be real funny on twitter for free.

Catherine Deveny (@catherinedeveny), Melbourne comedian, satirist and athiest offered such gems as:

“Rove and Tasma look so cute … hope she doesn’t die, too”

“I do so hope Bindi Irwin gets laid”

She now claims that she has been taken out of context.

I am not massively offended by any of the logies comments by Anderson, Deveny or anyone of the other clowns.

In fact I think it’s great that celebrities can be taken down to size by anyone with an attitude, a twitter account and the right hashtag.

And this is just the start.

Twitter TV commentary is taking off in Australia.

The latest series of Masterchef has seen continuous tweeting.

Such was the volume of tweets during ABC’s live discussion show Q and A, that it now publishes selected and topical tweets as a way of engaging the home audience.

It is all a little fun.

What concerns me is that the greater the volume of tweets, the greater the tendency for some commentary to be mindless and involve badly executed irony, cruelty and thoughtless aphorisms.

There are gems to be found, but as Twitter grows they are harder to find.

According to Deveny, Twitter is

“a great challenge for us, to have a sophisticated response to the evolution of communication.”.

That implies that people are actually listening and engaging.

But they aren’t. They are too busy talking shouting.

As a means of cultural commentary Twitter is more like talk radio than the smart coffee chat. They only difference is that rather than being between a moron host and a moron caller there are a gazillion morons all saying the same thing, all crying out for attention, all hoping for a retweet from a celebrity.

If everyone in the room is talking loudly then the conversation is useless and boring.

Perhaps there needs to be a stop tweeting and listen campaign, real-time curation of TV and cultural events and an education program about satire and irony for Twitter to stay fascinating, beguilling and delightfully stupid.

Without that Twitter is doomed to become just a million moronic conversations.