This afternoon, the children went outside to play. It’s frigid cold here, but there were snowflakes flying and so the children bundled up and out they went to burn off some energy. Good for me, as I am busy working in my office.

In comes Emily (8) with a scratch on her leg from a sticker bush. So I stop my work to go bandage her up; when I hear a commotion out in the garage. When I inquire what that noise was, Emily informs me that Sam (9) and Hannah (6) not only have the stray Boxer in the garage that has been hanging around, but also the stray cat that showed up a few days ago. But what I did not know until I opened the garage door was they had both of these stray critters INSIDE MY VAN!!!!

Let me just say, the Boxer does not care for cats; and the feeling was mutual. There was growling, hissing and here was Hannah sitting inside the van between the two very unhappy critters! Good googily moogily - what were these kids thinking?!!! It took every ounce of strength and Dog Whisperer Pack Leader-ness I could muster to drag the Boxer out of the van and out the garage. Then I had to calm down the cat, because I’m more concerned about the damage a cat could do to me than the dog!

Good news: the dog and the cat are both out of my van and out of the garage. They are perfectly fine. The children, however, got an earful of my royal ‘Mom-ness’ and I can be reasonably sure they will never again allow stray critters into the garage and into my van.

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GM recently released a video on the need for a bail-out. Here is that video:

While I believe that the majority of this video to be fact, in regard to their numbers quoted and the overall impact the Big 3 would have on the economy, if they should all fail: I do not agree that they will all fail, nor that the government should give them a bail-out.

From the time I was two years old on, my dad worked at Chrysler. I’ve witnessed the ups and downs in the auto industry. Thankfully my dad had enough seniority to never experience a lay-off, but many of my dad’s friends were not so fortunate. Some were laid off for three years, before they were finally called back to work.

Chicken Little Syndrome

I believe that while GM’s video was compelling, I think it’s a bit presumptuous and premature to say that all three of the big automakers will fail next year. They are implying that without a bail-out, all of them would fold at essentially the same time (in 2009). I seriously doubt that would happen; and Chapter 11 bankruptcy should be considered as a viable option for any or all of these companies. They see trouble looming (and it has been for a long time) and they start crying the sky is falling! Hello - the sky has been falling, and it’s your own doing, wake up!

I personally believe that these companies should first go through Chapter 11 and restructure before even thinking of asking for a bail-out. While the demise of any of these companies would cause a catastrophic ripple effect; neither the fault (nor the guilt) lies with the American people, or the government: it is the fault of the corporate decision-making executives and no one else. They have made poor decisions and mismanaged how funds were spent (million dollar bonuses for executives to stay with the company¹ - is gross mismanagement in my opinion!) and should have been focusing on fuel economy vehicles and/or hybrids years ago.

Chrysler has received a government bail-out once before, when Lee Iaccoca took over. He brought the company from the brink of bankruptcy to flourishing. ²,³ My father worked at Chrysler during that time, and yes, people were laid off and plants closed. Major restructuring took place to keep the company going and to keep at least some jobs, and the ripple effect on the economy, to a minimum. However, I see no moves to bring in someone with Lee Iaccoca’s leadership abilities to help save the big three. They need to bring in better leaders and executives who can make the hard decisions and choices these companies need to turn things around.

If they can not recognize the how and why they got into this position: then throwing good money after bad will not help. Blaming the economy isn’t going to help. They knew the economy was bad and they should have known years ago they needed to change what vehicles they were building. They are in this industry - they should have known and anticipated. This is what good management does. Poor management and planning has gotten these companies in the position they are in - not the wages paid the employees, not the union, not President Bush or anyone else. Tossing around excuses and playing the ‘blame game’ is childish and irresponsible. The ‘Big Three’ have been living large and ignoring good business practice. If they fail - they have no one to blame but themselves.

Should Chrysler fail: it would personally impact my household, as my husband would lose his job. To say that’s not of a concern to us is an understatement, and one would probably expect us to be rooting for a bail-out as quickly as possible. But in all good conscience, we can not. It’s looking very likely that my husband will be taking one of the company’s ‘early out’ offers and doing a voluntary quit. He will accept what pension he had earned for his years of vested service and will begin a new career in another field. Not easy for a man his age; but we would rather be in control of how and when his employment abruptly changes. At least this way, we can plan for it.

So until his last day at Chrysler, we watch the news like everyone else - wondering what the future holds for us, and the Big Three.

¹ Chrysler paying big bonuses to execs who stay

² Lee Iacocca

³ Chrysler

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While we use the term ‘followers’ and ‘following’; these are really people. Twitter is about connecting with people. So don’t forget these are people, and just like we do not agree with everyone offline, so too we will not agree with everyone online. I would rather have fewer good friends or contacts, then a plethora of casual acquaintances: even on Twitter.

So too, Twitter isn’t about how many Twitter followers you have: this isn’t a contest! While some will argue that those who follow you are potential customers/clients and a more targeted audience; Twitter is first and foremost about networking with people - not just self-promotion. So if you get hung up on the number of Twitter followers you have, how will you feel when they UNfollow you? Believe me, followers will come and go. Don’t take it personally. Other than blocking someone from following you, you are not in control of who chooses to follow you.

Therefore, I adopted the ‘Quality over Quantity’ follow philosophy. I do not automatically follow everyone who follows me. I prefer tweets that I value as quality. In order to maintain a level of quality over what was coming across my tweetstream, I needed to establish criteria of whom I would follow.

Defining ‘Quality’: There are certain things I don’t care to read about in my tweetstream; and that’s when I realized that I needed to establish some follow criteria that I would use before I chose to follow anyone. These criteria merely help me to establish if I have anything in common with someone, before I actually follow them. So now I check three things before I follow anyone on Twitter.

Three key check points before following on Twitter:

1. Twitter bio: This is key in learning more about someone. The Twitter bio is searchable and is one great way to find others with similar interests; yet many do not provide any real useful information in their bio, or worse - no bio at all. I believe it’s best to use keyword-type phrases to describe yourself and your interests. Here’s my Twitter bio, as an example: Christian, homeschooling mom of 6, grandmother, parenting coach & mentor, internet marketing, SEO, 30DC, web designer, WordPress, dogs, coffee. This bio sums up me and my interests. You will find that my tweets will be mainly about the things listed in my bio. Some days I may tweet more about one than another, but generally it will revolve around these key areas. With only 160 characters available in the bio space, make that space count!
   
2. Recent Tweets: What are they tweeting about - is it all self-promotion, or are they engaging in conversation with their followers. If all I see is self-promotion, that is too spammy for me. I also don’t care for foul language and someone who is negative. Negativity is contagious. I avoid it.
3. Web site link: If they have a web site linked in their profile, then I check out their web site to see what they’re all about. Again, to see if we have any common interests.

If I can find some common interests, then I will follow someone.

How I Find Folks to Follow
There are many ways to find people on Twitter, but here’s the three key methods I use in finding new folks to follow:

1. Twitter Search: Go to http://search.twitter.com/advanced and enter in keywords that are of interest to you, location, a certain #hashtag or any of the other fields they offer for the advanced search. It will give you a list that meet your criteria. I strongly suggest you then utilize the three key check points listed above before you choose to follow.
2. Friend Follow: do you have someone you are following that constantly provides quality tweets? If so, then chances are you will find many others where you share common interests via that person’s followers. Then go http://friendorfollow.com/ and enter in their (not yours) Twitter username and it will reveal three tabs: ‘People who don’t follow me back’, ‘People I don’t follow back’ and ‘Mutual Follow’. Click ‘Mutual Follow’ and then go through that list and click avatars to go to those Twitter pages, follow the three key check points listed above and see if they are a good match to follow. I choose mutual follow, because if the person I’m following has also chosen to follow them, chances are it’s a win-win all around. Spam Watch: To avoid appearing spammy to Twitter, I would not choose to follow more than 50 or so people at one time using this method. There is a 2,000 limit at this point on how many people you can follow - so remember it’s quality over quantity.
3. Forums/Email Lists/Web Sites: I am member on a few different forums and email groups, and now most members are including their Twitter info in either their signature, or profile pages. Same is true for blogs or web sites that I visit, most people have follow me icons on their sites. If I happen on someone, and I like what they have to say on a forum, email group or their web site; then I will follow them on Twitter.

This is my following philosophy for Twitter and how I find new people to add to my tweetstream conversations.

What makes you decide to follow someone on Twitter? Post your comments below. Oh, and if you’d like, follow me on Twitter: @TraciKnoppe

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