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This is ShortMan's entry for his school's pumpkin fest celebration this weekend. The boy loves Scooby Doo.

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford

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I am taking this opportunity to publicly apologize to Joselin Mane for misjudging the nature of our relationship. If that seems like an odd thing for one to need to apologize for I assure you it is not.

Joselin I am deeply sorry that I made the assumption that you and I had a relationship where we could lightheartedly joke with one another via Twitter and other social media channels. When I posted the picture of you flashing the peace sign with the caption "This is @joselinmane committing a flagrant @FourSquare foul." I did so with the belief that our interactions up to that point, which had always been friendly and filled with laughter, would allow for some fun. In fact at the very moment I made that post you and I, along with serval other people were, standing outside Starbucks in Central Square laughing after having just filmed the Four Burgers episode of NomX3. I would hope that alone would serve as evidence that I had no malicious intent to harm your public image.

I had always held you in high esteem and enjoyed seeing you at events around town. If you recall I was pleased to see you show up during the taping of the show that day and made a special point to engage you with a hearty handshake when taping had wrapped. Going back further, I have promoted you and your BostonTweetup project on Tweetworks TV (see episodes 39 and 46) freely and spoke highly of you and the effort. Again, I would hope this would be top of mind when you considered whether I was out to do your harm.

Based on your direct messages to me (listed below) after the post however, I know you believe diferently. For this misjudgement on my behalf I am truly sorry and I hope you can forgive my lapse in judgement.

Warmest,

Mike Langford

To anyone else reading this public apology, Joselin is a good man and he is working very hard. Despite the dust-up caused by my error in judgement I still wish him well and want to see him succeed. I posted this apology and the supporting material below because I owe it to Joselin.

What is Foursquare?

Foursquare is a location based, social application with a fun game compontent layered on top. Users connect with their friends and check in at locations as they go about their daily lives. Points are awarded for checking in. Add a new venue and you get extra points. Check in to a particular venue often enough and you are declared the Mayor of the venue. Then there are the badges which are awarded to users as a fun way to keep them engaged and competing with their friends. Badge names range from the PG rated Adventurer and Explorer to the more adult themed Crunked or Bender.

All in all the game is supposed to be fun. C'mon people are psyched when they unlock the Crunked badge. The lesson learned here though is, only connect with people you know well enough to share your location, share a beer and a laugh with on a regular basis.

The Post

Here is the original post typo in Joselin's name and all.

This is @joselinemane committing a flagrant @FourSquare foul.

[[posterous-content:LW3gnFImepNGzmkgaOpn]]

The Direct Messages That Followed

The lesson learned here is people see and react to things much differently than you might expect sometimes. Tread lightly. Make sure you have a good relationship with the people you are joking with. If you find that relationship isn't there as I did, beg off and give the peson his space. Life is too short for grudges. I only post these messages below to ensure there is no future misunderstandings.

•  JoselinMane: As supportive as I have been to you & your brand, what U tweeted was extremely uncalled For! I will no longer support YOU!
• JoselinMane: An inside joke is an inside JOKE, Think before you tweet something out to the public timeline!
• JoselinMane: Good think I hadn't spoke to the Exemplar team about you yet.
• JoselinMane: look at what you tweeted & how it makes me look, why would I joke about my public image?

Again, I like Joselin and assumed he was joking because I had never seem him without a smile on his face. I hope the next time we see each other the smile is back.

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In this video are @SteveGarfield @JeffCutler, @URWingman, @SchneiderMike, @CarissaO, @BostonMarketer and hundreds of other people. Please leave a comment with if I missed you or someone else you know.

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Garry Tan, co-founder of Posterous, lamented this evening that his rights were being deminished because states have equal representation in the Senate. He thinks it's unfair and that the 200+ year old constition that created the system may lack relevance today.

I thought it would be fun to carry the debate over to Posterous. I like Garry and would have enjoyed being in the bar having this back and forth over a beer but this will have to do.

First, the reason why states have equal representation in the Senate:

1. The United States is a union of States, not citizens, each of which has its own constitution and elected goverment. When you were granted admission into the union you were given two seats at the table. BTW: Garry's point about things that were set down in the olden days no longer being applicable might be true of California having so much political power. We admitted the state into the union back in 1850, maybe we should rethink that proposition and split it into a bunch of smaller states. Why not? I mean, my state Massachusetts was at the table to start this whole deal. I let you in the club and now you want to talk smack about your rights? How about you focus on running your state before you start running your mouth?
2. As Garry mentioned, to protect minority rights. Avoid heavily populated states from forcing less populated states to abide by their will.
3. The Senate ratifies or rejects treaties. Kind of a big deal for a state to have the power to bind other states who may have fewer people but just as much if not more at stake in the outcome.

And then there's the other stuff:

1. So, you have a state that occupies more land mass, has an artificially inflated population due to lax imigration, and a federally subsidized mass irrigation project that made once unihabitable land (Southern CA) livable. What does that mean? If people in Arkansas start breeding like crazy over the next 20 yrs are you going to give up one of your Senate seats to them?
2. Is population the only criteria worthy of consideration? What about intellectual contribution? New England has 4 Ivy League schools and MIT to boot but our states are small. Should this resource be underrepresent just because another state has figured out how to have more people within its borders? What about states with abundant natural resources? Should the people who live there be at the mercy of CA?
3. Doesn't an equal distrution of Senate seats offer a check and balance within the legistlative branch? Congressional terms only last 2 years. Any jackass can get elected to Congress. Have you seen some of the meatheads in the House?

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford
Call Me: 617.699.9835

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A couple of weeks ago I went on a mini rant about how no one likes "the smartest guy in the room." It proved to be a good topic for that day's episode of NomX3 where I explained that being the smartest guy in the room often means you fail test number two, likability, of my five fundamentals of networking.

Real quick, the five fundamentals are:

1. Know You
2. Like You
3. Trust You
4. Think You're Competent
5. Think You're Relevant

I ran up against the relevancy challenge this morning. I attended an OpenCoffee event which is billed as "Fellow web entrepreneurs and VCs gather once a week in Cambridge, MA to grab some coffee, free WiFi, and chat about what's new."

All the more reason I was surprised to find myself talking to people who were job hunting. I have no problem with people looking for a job at networking events, I think it's smart. I have no problem with the job hunters I met this morning, most were delightful. Heck, I may be in desperate need of a job soon myself if I don't scare up some investment capital for Tweetworks. And that brings me to the problem.

These job seekers were not only at a completely irrelevant event for their needs, they were actually impeding me in my quest to get my needs met. I attended the event to meet other entrepreneurs and hopefully investors to raise capital for my business. Instead, a great deal of my morning was spent talking with people who, while nice to meet, were taking up my time inappropriately.

Here's the thing, if I'm talking to a job seeker at OpenCoffee guess who I'm not talking to? That's right, investors or other entrepreneurs.

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford
Call Me: 617.699.9835

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford
Call Me: 617.699.9835

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford
Call Me: 617.699.9835

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford
Call Me: 617.699.9835

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See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford

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This week she called me to discuss the specifics of my talk and cover the overall format of the event. The event is going to be broadcast on a local AM radio station and she is going to have it recorded with an aim toward syndicating the event. I think, "good for her, she's working to create a series and establish herself as a content producer." At some point during the conversation she says she's referring to the speakers as "partners" and she is thinking of asking each speaker to pay $50 for marketing and such. I politely told her that I thought this was not a good idea.

It's not that $50 is a ton of money it's the concept of asking someone to speak and then expecting them to pay for the privilege. You called and asked me, and the other speakers, to donate our time to your commercial endeavor and you want us to pay for your marketing cost too? "Seems a bit off." I told her. I love to speak, and I don't mind doing it for free under certain circumstances but I have never been asked to pay when my name is on the program as a featured speaker.

Now this is different than events like PodCamp or SXSW where I and others volunteer and actively seek out the speaking opportunity. I paid $50 to attend PodCamp Boston 2009 next week and I am happy to do so in support of the event and the community I am a part of. I signed up to lead a session because I think I have something to share and I think participation is important. I'm paying what any other attendee would pay, I've just chosen to speak.

I wonder how she would have reacted if I said "Sure, I'll pay the $50 but I almost forgot my fee is $500/hr plus travel expenses."?

Mike Langford
CEO, Tweetworks LLC
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford
Call Me: 617.699.9835

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Mike Langford
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford
Call Me: 617.699.9835

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