Where was this when I was changing diapers: Dove Men + Care Ultimate Changetable

Parents, as we grow older, we see products and services for our children and wonder how cool it would have been to have had that when we were kids.  I’m not the only one who does this, right?  Massive bouncy castles, iPads, gas-controlled mini-cars, and SO much more.

So yesterday, when I saw a clever twist on an established product, I was blown away.  I saw a change table which not just contained all that a father would need to change a diaper – diapers, wipes, etc., but also with a TV.  Sweet.

I can remember having to change diapers in stores, or malls, or restaurants only to find out that the change table was in the woman’s bathroom.  Then came the change table in the family / handicapped bathrooms, and finally change tables in men’s bathrooms.  We do change diapers too!!!

But a change table at a sporting events with a TV.  Brilliant!  As Dads, we have to make sure our children are clean and we gladly miss several minutes of live action to make sure we look after our kids, but not having to miss any of the action is a luxury and a gift to father’s everywhere.

I saw the Dove Men + Care Ultimate Gameday Change Table – billed as a “souped-up baby change table” at the Toronto Raptors / Miami Heat basketball game at the Air Canada Centre.

The official press release: 

Toronto, ON (March 18, 2012)  – Dove Men+Care unveiled an interactive change table to Toronto sports-fan dads at the Air Canada Centre, yesterday. The table was designed to be a light-hearted way to call attention to the brand’s campaign to support real men and their changing role in today’s society.

The Dove Men+Care Ultimate Gameday Change Table’s was given a ‘field-test’ during one of the hottest ticket basketball games of the season. The souped-up change table provides all the tools necessary to keep dads and their babies happy during unplanned intermissions, including:

• A built-in television so dad didn’t miss any game action
• An emergency Lullaby button that played soothing music
• An interactive timer and scoreboard to determine the best diaper-changer in the game

According to a recent study, men have tripled their involvement in childcare over the last four decades. That’s why Dove Men+Care has taken steps to change societal norms by tailoring a public change table temporarily to suit the needs of men and make it more enjoyable too. The Ultimate Gameday Change Table is designed to help men maintain at least one aspect of their daily life so they can maintain everything else and never miss a moment.

About Dove® and Dove Men+Care

Thanks to Dove Men+Care all men can literally be comfortable in their own skin. Built on Unilever’s success in the men’s deodorant, personal wash and hair categories, and the Dove brand’s heritage in outstanding skincare, Dove Men+Care products are specifically designed to provide men with both the results and the care they need. The Dove product lineup, manufactured by Unilever, includes beauty bars, body washes, face care, anti-perspirant/deodorants, body mists, hair care and styling aids. Dove is available nationwide in food, drug and mass outlet stores.

I actually began using Dove Men + Care products recently when my current deodorant / anti-perspirant started giving me a rash.  It’s safe on sensitive skin, smells great and the scent is not overpowering at all.  It also helps that their products are available everywhere.

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[i] Bianchi, S.M. (2011). “Family Change and Time Allocation in American Families”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 638:21-44. The author analyzes how recent changes have altered American family life and have produced new challenges for working caregivers. Unpaid and paid work hours are averaged over all couples with children under age 18 and over the 2003–2008 American Time Use Survey data collections.

You can and should follow Dove on Twitter @madeformen.

Here are some pictures of the table.  The music note is so you can add a lullaby if your baby is cranky.  There is a pile of diapers already stocked in the table (on the right).  The TV screen you can see is in the middle and the hand on the top right let’s you compete with other Dads to see who can complete the diaper change the quickest.  The ranking is on the left of the TV screen.

It’s smart, it’s cool, and it’s fun!

Sweetpea Baby Food and Organic Snacks. Have you tried their cookies?

When was the last time you ripped open a bag of Sweetpea Organic Cookies, served them for family, friends or guests, and had any leftover to be eaten later?  Probably not very often.   These cookies, if you have not tried them before, are addictive.  They are great for what they have as much as for what they do not have.  If you have not tried them before, you might want to have a quick read below, to see what makes these cookies so unique, which will probably lead you to run out and pick up a bag of any (or all) of the 3 flavours of these cookies;

Sweetpea Baby Food Organic Cookies

1) They are for ages 1-101.  Really they are.  The cookies are flavourful, but certainly not overpowering.  If you freeze them, young kids can teethe on them, and if you put them out on a plate, the pretty flower pattern makes them look appealing.

2) The cookies are organic.

3) They are made from 100% whole grain organic ingredients.

4) They are dairy-free.

5) They were made without salt.

6) They do not contain eggs, preservatives or additives.

7) They are certified Kosher.

8) They are made in a peanut-free facility.

9) They come in resealable bags – so you might not want to “rip” open the bag unless you know there are not going to be any cookies left over.

Whew.

And the three flavours they currently come in are; Banana Pear, Pumpkin Spice and Sweet Apple.

As a parent, you can be comfortable having your nanny leave out cookies for your children and for their playdates because they do not have much of what children are allergic to – nuts, eggs, dairy and they also cover off dietary restrictions by being certified Kosher.  The fact they taste great is secondary to their appeal across the masses, but is also what keeps people from buying them over and over again.

Did I mention that the packaging rocks!

Have a look;

What parent wouldn’t want these in their house?

If all the information I provided above has not convinced you to try these cookies, I dropped by the Sweetpea website, and pulled off some nutritional information which you certainly will find interesting as it relates to the flavours and ingredients chosen to go into the cookies.

Sweet Apple:

• When added to food, cinnamon inhibits bacterial growth and food spoilage.
• Whole grain spelt flour has a higher protein content than normal wheat grown under similar conditions
• Eating organic snacks ensures your child’s diet is free from harmful herbicides, pesticides and fungicides.

Banana Pear:

• Bananas are rich in vitamin B6 and are a good source of fiber, vitamin C and magnesium
• Pears are an excellent source of water-soluble fiber
• Canada’s new Food Guide recommends that at least half of your grain consumption daily is whole grains – which contain phytonutrients (plant chemicals that fight disease).

Pumpkin Spice:

• Pumpkins are a rich source of potassium
• Spelt is a nutritious source of B2, manganese, niacin, thiamin and copper.

You can follow Sweetpea Baby Food and Organic Snacks on Facebook here.

I’m ready for some cookies right about now, but cannot choose between the flavours, so I think I’m going to have to open a bag of each flavour, mix them all together and just enjoy what comes next, one cookie at a time.

Hey! Could I get a little bit of help, please! The 2013 Bloggies are about to close!

logotype of The Weblog Awards (Bloggies) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m not exactly sure how this happened, or how I missed this but a couple of weeks ago I noticed a massive spike in readership here at The Urban Daddy and after a very quick check of my statistics I came to realize that I had a whole bunch of new readers coming to see me from The 2013 Weblog Awards aka The Bloggies.

The specific reason for the increased traffic was because many folks were dropping by to learn more about this blog which was nominated, and made it to the finals of the 2013 Weblog Awards in the following two categories.

Best Parenting or Family Weblog
Best Canadian Weblog

I’ve always been a big fan of the Bloggies because of their global coverage and I looked through many of the other blogs who made the finals in their respective categories and there are some pretty awesome blogs out there being written by some pretty amazing writers. Being nominated is really great, as I’ve said before after being nominated for the Canadian Weblog Awards, it’s great just to be nominated.  That someone other than myself has taken the time to put forward my URL is quite humbling. (thanks Mom!).

But now I need your help, and I need it quickly! I don’t normally beg or ask for favours but I’m going to do both today. I need your vote! Please.

Voting for the 2013 Bloggies closes on March 17th, and all you need to do in order to vote for me (or someone else if you like them better) is follow the link to their website, here, then vote for at least 3 blogs, enter the security code and your email and you are almost done. You will receive an email from The Bloggies to ensure you are legitimate, and once you confirm that, your vote goes through. Nice and easy!

But remember to only vote once, please. If you vote more than once, the awards use your most recent vote.  We don’t want to waste your time now, do we?

Then, after that has been completed, you can sit back until the 24th of March, at which time you can Watch the Ceremony from 8:00-10:30 PM EST (UTC-5) on the Bloggies’ Twitter feed and Facebook page. One winner will be announced approximately every five minutes, culminating with the Weblog of the Year at 10:30, at which point the winners will be posted to the site. Follow the feed to keep up to date on the Bloggies!

If you are able to take the time to vote, I appreciate it. Heck, I’m happy that you even come by, subscribe and “like” my blog.

Related articles

• Bloggie, Bloggie, Blogger (marriageconfessions.com)
• The 13th Annual Weblog Awards (youlookfab.com)
• The Post Where I Beg for Your Votes (pocketfulofjoules.com)

Happy 42nd Birthday to Me. 42 Facts about The Urban Daddy.

Happy Birthday! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, February 21st, is my birthday. It’s actually been my birthday since 1971, and I’m not posting this to solicit birthday greetings so please do not feel obligated to do so, but I realized this morning during my drive into the office that in the 8-years that I have been blogging, and the over 1100 blog posts between The Urban Daddy, Intaxicating, and Daddy Knows Sports (which I’m not using anymore) that I have shared very little about myself. So today, in honour of my birthday I have decided to open up my kimono and reveal 42 facts about myself to shed some light into who exactly has been writing these (long) posts for so many years.

So please sit back, enjoy, there is no need to take notes, and for those of you who actually know me, there are some things here that you will not have known and for total strangers who come by frequently, I hope you will still come back. LOL.

42 things about The Urban Daddy.

42. I am not in any way affiliated with UrbanDaddy.com, although many people “like” me on Facebook for this reason, then realize I’m a Canadian Daddy blogger, and they run the other way. That site, for the record, is not a “Daddy” and while it is “Urban”, it is not an “Urban Daddy”. I am.

41. I have a full-time job outside of being a parent, husband, etc. I have been working for 18-years in the taxation industry here in Toronto. I worked at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)for almost 11 years, then I joined the private sector and have moved from a Manager, to an AVP, and now the Managing Director at Tax Solutions Canada, where this great organization of professionals help people who have tax problems work with the CRA.

40. I am a level-3 CGA, but stopped taking courses when my father, who was a CA, gave me some advice.  He said, “Son.  Why are you doing this to yourself?  You’re terrible at this.  Pick a different course of study… Please.”  So I enrolled into graduate school 3 days after our first child Linus was born, and completed my MBA 3-years later.

39.  I was a typical 80′s kid, growing up.  Overweight, bad skin, big plastic-framed glasses and a mullet.  Thankfully I grew out of it.

38.  In middle school I carried my baseball glove everywhere and was too busy with sports to do my school-work.  I told my mother I was going to quit school to be come a professional soccer player – yet I was never good at soccer.  I was also the kid who showed leadership in everything I did yet struggled in school.  When I applied myself I excelled.  I earned 50′s through grade 8, 70′s in high-school, 75 (B+) through University and 85-90′s (A/A+) in Grad school.

37.  I was bullied as a child in public school.  In middle school I was picked on for being Jewish.  In Hebrew school, I was bullied for being over-weight.

36.  After high-school, I lost 50lbs and found my voice.

35.  After our second child, Stewie was born – he was such a difficult child for the first 10-months of his life that I herniated a disc in my back carrying him all the time.  I asked my physiotherapist to please allow me to tie my shoes on my own.  She got me into shape and one year later I ran a 5k race in 33-minutes (without stopping).

34.  I tend to be a little right-wing in my political views, but fiscally conservative, not right-wing extreme in any way.  I’m pro-choice – A woman should decide what she wants to do with her body.  I believe marriage is for anyone and everyone, if they want to, and I don’t care who you marry, or sleep with.  I believe no one deserves to carry guns unless they are protecting people and you have the right to free speech and practice whatever religion you want, until you either insult someone else, or try to convert them to your beliefs.  Like my mother used to say, “Look at your own plate.”  Don’t look at what I’m eating or how I’m eating it.  Mind your own peas.

33.  I’m left-handed and actually started a left-handed club while at University to help get left-handed desks in some of the lecture halls where they were all the way on the left-side of the room.  Personally, I needed to sit front-middle, so I could see.

32.  I have never tried drugs.  Ever.  Not a puff of anything.  That being said, I do think that certain drugs should be legal and taxed.  Take the criminal element away and increase revenues.

31.  I see people as human-beings on one giant planet.  I don’t see race, or colour and I was really embarrassed when working at the CRA where I delivered a lot of training and we had a new employee from West Africa with a VERY heavy accent and I could not for the life of me understand him.  I was devastated.  He kept asking questions and I couldn’t understand him.  That was over 10-years ago, but it stays with me.

30.  I’m a terrible friend.  I never learned what it means to be a good friend and I don’t have any friends from when I was young.  Certainly makes it challenging as an adult, however, we’re meeting lots of great parents through school events.

29.  My voice is a little on the higher-pitched side and I used to mumble sometimes when I spoke very quickly, but I am also just under 6 feet tall and 225lbs, so no slouch at all.  I used to deepen my voice when I answered my phone at the government so people wouldn’t call me Mrs.  I even had a guy tell me he was coming to see me at the Tax Office so he could “kick the shit out of me” because I sounded like a “weak, little man”.  He came.  I greeted him in the meeting room, and he was about 6ft2, 350lbs, but when he saw me he apologized for his actions and within 5 minutes being in the meeting room, he was bawling his eyes out talking about his tax problem.  It’s unfortunate that people feel violence is the best solution.

28.  I have no tattoos, but I have my ear pierced.  I wanted to pierce it so badly when I was 14 but my mother said no, and it wasn’t until my wife convinced me to do it at age 30 when I finally did it.  Now, at my age, I’m not so sure I want or need it…

27.  I’m a great defensive driver.  I let cars out, I wave thank you, I don’t cut cars off and I do the speed limit.  But if you piss me off, Karma will box you in and I’ll be on one side laughing to myself while you stew.

26.  I say “bless you” when someone sneezes.  Anyone.  Anywhere.

25.  I love Canadian music.

24.  My musical influences were Queen and the Police when I was young.  Then Def Leppard, Platinum Blonde, Bon Jovi, STP, Soundgarden, Green Day all the way through Rob Zombie, Saliva, etc.  I like my music loud, hard, with a great beat and no screaming.  I’m also awesome on SongPop.  All genres, any year.  Challenge me!  I dare you.

23.  I support the Canadian Armed Forces – I prefer if there were no wars – but there are bad dudes everywhere and we need our troops to keep us safe.

22.  I’m in awe of my wife for so many reasons including the way she runs our household and has led the raising of our children.  She’s been supportive of all of us and sadly I have not taken her out enough.  She needs so time away from the house, the kids and the responsibilities.  She certainly earned it.

21.  I’m in awe of my children.  They fascinate me.  They’re smart, good-looking, friendly and they laugh a lot.  I find myself looking at them, staring at them amazed at how they are developing and hoping they can stay that happy forever.  They have no idea how nasty the world can be and unless we can create a nasty laser to zap away all the scumbags, they’re going to need to be watched over to make sure they stay safe while they find their way in the world.  Oh, and at 8, 6 and 3, I have a little time.

20.  I am externally motivated so I seek confirmation that I’m doing a good job / staying on track often.  I’ve learned to read the signs so I don’t annoy.  If you want to help me you can “like” The Urban Daddy on Facebook or follow this blog (or follow The Urban Daddy on Twitter).

19.  The glass is half-full.  Always.

18.  My favourite number and the number of my ball-hockey jersey.  I’ve played ball-hockey in a league (not floor hockey in a gym, but ball hockey in an arena – no ice and running) for 23 years and I’m getting better and better each year.  I’m shocked at the improvement, but loving it.

17.  I hate to lose more than I like to win.  In everything I do.  My ball-hockey team was 0-62 before we won a game and it felt okay to win, but when we lose I’m pissed.  That goes to everything I do.  Success and winning is great, but the other side really gets me going.

16.  I used to have no sense of direction whatsoever until my wife taught me how to navigate my way out of a wet paper bag.  Once, in France for our honeymoon, it was getting dark and we were in the countryside driving on a dirt road surrounded by lavender and sunflowers.  I was beginning to worried that we would need to sleep in the car but my wife made me stop, she got out of the car and pointed off to her right, and within 10 minutes we were at the B&B we had booked.  I have no idea how she knew to go that way, but she gets it and I’ve been learning from the pro.

15.  Nice guys do finish last, and after being sick of being passed over and left behind, I’ve brought in a little bad ass / I don’t give a f*ck attitude and it’s helped me tremendously with my confidence and getting things done.  I no longer take sh*t, but I’m still really polite and kind to service people no matter the place or the service.  They’re people too, and deserve to be treated with respect.  But when I have a task to get done for myself, my family or a client, look out.  I play to win.

14.  I’ve realized you cannot pick your neighbours, your family or your nose.  You get what you get and you don’t be upset.  Plus, I’m big into forgive and forget.  I’m just hoping others are too.

13.  I am passionate about things and sometimes that passion can get confused with a lack of patience.  If I know I am right, I will do whatever I have to do to get others on my side and go that way.  I had a keychain as a kid that read; “Diplomacy.  The ability to tell someone to go to hell and make sure they will enjoy the trip.”

12.  I don’t like clutter and sometimes in my odd way to keep my personal space in order, I line up things, like shoes, to keep them neat.  I might be a little OCD on that side.

11.  My father passed away 10 years ago, and my grandfather 8 years ago, right after we went on a vacation to Poland to visit his birth place.  I actually have someone right now who is not speaking to me because “[I] don’t know what it’s like to lose a father.”  I’m not upset.  I feel for them because they said something in a time of grieving which was factually incorrect and one day they’ll realize it and I’ll forgive and forget.  Life’s too short.

10.  I love coffee.  Flavoured coffee, actually, and have been compiling a list of the best coffee in Toronto for 3 years.  My last ranking reached McDonald’s Canada, Tim Horton’s, Country Style and Starbucks Canada.  These brands have amazing marketing and social media practices.

9.  I had bells palsy as a child, which resulted in paralysis of half of my face for almost a year.  I was lucky I recovered 98% of my functioning and only have the slightest sign of the virus when I’m tired.  The left part of my lip is ever so slightly higher than the right side.

8.  I have always had body-issues from being a solid shaped child and for the longest time I refused to take off my shirt to swim even though I love swimming and even though when I was running and going to the gym at lunchtime.  I have been in pretty good shape since the end of high-school.  I will never ever be that 150lb skinny guy.  As it is, my shoulders and back are so big that I need a larger shirt / jacket to fit my shape.  When I was 13-years-old, I fit into a size 56 jacket.  I was in a 42 pant (maybe more – as high as a 48, I’ve blocked this from my memory), but now I’m a size 36 pant and a 46 tall jacket.

7.  I was asked to contribute my thoughts to the OHIP4IVF awareness campaign and realized that I have found a cause that I strongly believe in.  Now I just need to help convince the government the same thing…

6.  I once asked then Toronto Blue Jays General Manager J.P. Riccardi for a tryout with the Jays, at a breakfast with the Blue Jays function.  He must have thought I was nuts, but he asked me this; “Do you have any experience?  Have you ever played ball?”  I replied, “No. But I’m left-handed, I’ve been clocked as fast as 88mph and I’m deadly accurate with a baseball.”  He then thought about it and said to me, “The day I sign a 38-year-old pitcher is the day I need to start looking for a new job.”  Sure enough 3 weeks later he signed a left-handed 38-year-old pitcher from Japan with a career 5.38 era.  Not long after he was looking for a new job.

5.  I did some fundraising for Karen Stintz when she was just getting elected, and we raised a ton of cash to help her out.  She was very appreciative and good to the community.  I hope she can find her way again and help lead the right-wing on Toronto City Council move some stuff through.

4.  After sponsoring 4 nannies over 8-years through the Canadian Live-In Caregiver program - and helping them settle in Canada once they fulfilled the terms and conditions of the program, I dubbed myself an expert on the CLICP.  I regularly post about it and get contributing articles from others in the industry.  As a matter of fact, readers from the Philippines are the 3rd most popular readers to visit here daily – after Canada and the US.

3.  I used to be horrible with money until my wife (probably fiancée back then) taught me a great lesson about impulse purchases.  She froze my credit card and debit card in a block of ice so when I needed it to make an impulse purchase, she said I could do that but I would need the ice to melt on it’s own first.  And by the time the ice melted I didn’t want or need that purchase.  The cards actually stayed in the freezer for almost 7 months while I got my spending under control.  Now… I’m very good with it.

2.  I, um, err, Ahhh, I… Fine.  I like wrestling.  It’s like a male soap opera with strong guys and girls in it.  I like the music, it makes me laugh and and I’m impressed with their athleticism.  Plus, my kids love it.  My daughter wants to be Kane when she grows up.

1.  I made it through the entire day without telling anyone – not one person – that today was my birthday, except the 2500 people who follow this blog, mind you.  This was a first for me, who usually tells anyone and everyone.  Now I feel better.

Honourable mention:  I love escargots, but hate bamboo shoots and water chestnuts…

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Facts About Starbucks’ Canada and Naming Starbucks’ New Blonde Roast Contest

Map of the countries with Starbucks Coffee Shops (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Starbucks is the world’s top coffee retailer with over 19,500 stores in 58 countries.  Canada ranks second to the US in the number of stores (over 12,800 in the United States compared to over 1,245 locations in Canada).  Japan, Great Britain, China and South Korea round out the top 6, all under 1000 locations.  But you cannot really trust these numbers because Starbucks are opening nearly 5 new stores everyday.  Starbucks recently held a contest for Canadians to help name their new Starbucks Blonde Roast coffees, which are best described as their lighter roast with a subtle, mellow, lighter-bodied, full of flavor, and delicious.  I liken it to a roast which gently awakens the senses – the more you enjoy your cup, the more flavour you detect.When they first launched the Starbucks Blonde Roast, I immediately picked up the VIA instant packets and was shocked by the lack of flavour from the first sip.  Used to strong coffee I had added way too much cream and sugar and it drowned out the mellow flavour of this mild roast and once I learned to be gentle with this Blonde, I began to notice the subtle flavours and it has become my go to roast.

So of course I wanted to enter the contest to create the name for the Blonde Roast and in doing so, I found some interesting facts about Starbucks I felt compelled to share.

So, here are the 13 Most Interesting Facts About Starbucks, then the details about the contest …

13.  Starbucks currently employs over 137,000 employees, which may not seem like a lot, however this is twice the population of Greenland.

11.  There are currently over 87,000 drink possibilities – a free drink to anyone who can name all 87,000.

10.  There is a size called the ”Trenta” which is 30oz / 916 ml or slightly bigger than the capacity of your stomach which on average has a capacity of 900 ml.

9.   A Starbucks grande coffee has 320 mg of caffeine which surprisingly contains over four times more caffeine than found in a Red Bull energy drink.

8.   The Starbucks cinnamon chip scone has more calories than a McDonald’s quarter pounder with 480 calories.

7.   Starbucks uses 2.3 billion paper cups per year.

6.   They currently serve 40 million customers a week.

5.   The owners almost went with the name Pequod, the name of the boat in Moby Dick, instead of the character Starbucks’ name

4.   After tasting the Clover at a small café in New York and claiming it the best cup of brewed coffee he has ever tasted, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz decided to buy the company that made Clover in 2008 and began introducing the dream machine at select stores around the country

3.   Most Starbucks stores have been equipped Swiss-made Mastrena, which was created to make “the highest-quality, consistent shot of espresso”. The machine also allows baristas to interact with customers due to it’s size and shape.

2.   My first choices for the new name were “Mellow Yellow”, “Platinum Blonde” named after the great Canadian band, “Ambition”, “Natural Blonde” and the “Have More Fun” Roast.  These have all been entered in the contest.

1.   The first Starbucks location to open in Canada was at the Seabus Skytrain Station in Vancouver on March 1, 1987. This humble store was Starbucks Coffee’s first international location.  My last suggestion was to honour that location with the “Seabus Light Roast Blend.”

On February 20th, Starbucks Canada will announce the 3 finalists and open up the voting.  What was your name for the Blonde Roast?

The Harlem Globetrotters Are Coming to Toronto! February 9th and 10th, 2013. Get Your Discount Code Here;

Harlem Globetrotters (TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WOW, how exciting.  The legendary Harlem Globetrotters are coming to Toronto on February 9th at 7pm and February 10th at 2pm to play games at the Rogers Centre.  If you know who the GlobeTrotters are, then you are going to want to read through this article and see the special discount code I posted at the bottom of the screen.  If you are not sure who the Harlem Globetrotters are, then read on.

The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, incredible skill and a lot of comedy.  It’s basketball theatre which will leave you with your mouth wide open in awe.  The Globetrotters’ act feature incredible coordination and skillful handling of one or more basketballs, such as passing or juggling balls between players, balancing or spinning balls on their fingertips, and making unusual, difficult shots.

Over the years they have played more than 20,000 exhibition games in 120 countries.

The team has their own signature song, which is a whistled version of Brother Bones‘s ”Sweet Georgia Brown“.

Among the players who have been Globetrotters are NBA greats Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, Connie “The Hawk” Hawkins, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, as well as Marques Haynes, Meadowlark Lemon, Jerome James, Reece “Goose” Tatum and Hubert “Geese” Ausbie. Another popular team member in the 1970s and 1980s was Fred “Curly” Neal who was the best dribbler of that era of the team’s history and was immediately recognizable due to his shaven head. Baseball Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins also played for the team at one time or another. In 1985, the Globetrotters signed their first female player, Olympic gold medalist Lynette Woodard, and their second, Joyce Walker, just three weeks later.  In 1995, Orlando Antigua became the first Hispanic and the first non-black on the Globetrotters’ roster since Bob Karstens played with the squad in 1942.

Another cool thing about the Globetrotters is that they rarely to never lost.

Harlem Globetrotters, are playing with a spectator during a game (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After a loss to the Washington Generals in 1962, the Harlem Globetrotters lost only two more games in the next 38 years (12,596 games).  Usually they played a “stooge” team owned by “Red Klotz”, which also appeared as the Boston Shamrocks, New Jersey Reds, Baltimore Rockets, or Atlantic City Seagulls.

On January 5, 1971 the Globetrotters lost to the New Jersey Reds, 100–99 in overtime; that ended a 2,495-game winning streak (which would mean that the Globetrotters were playing 277 games per year up until that date).

In addition to their hundreds of exhibition games, the Globetrotters returned to competitive basketball in 1993 under the new ownership of former player Mannie Jackson.  On September 12, 1995, they lost 91–85 to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s All Star Team in Vienna, Austria ending an alleged run of 8,829 straight victories going back to 1971. The 48-year-old Abdul-Jabbar scored 34 points. The 8,829 games in twenty-four years would mean the Globetrotters were playing nearly 368 games per year, or more than one game a day some days, for twenty-four years. This is because multiple team line-ups tour as The Globetrotters to allow for a greater number of exhibitions.  Amazing!

The Globetrotters won the other 10 games during that European tour.

Five years later, following another 1,270 wins, they lost 72–68 to Michigan State University, the reigning men’s collegiate champions, on November 13, 2000.

On February 27, 2006, the Globetrotters extended their overall record to exactly 22,000 wins. Their most recent loss came on March 31, 2006, when they went down 87–83 to the NABC College All-Stars to bring their loss tally to just 345, a losing percentage of 1.5%.

The Harlem Globetrotters were also quite popular on television.  In 1979 Hanna-Barbera created an animated TV Series called The Super Globetrotters, in which the players undercover superheroes who would transform from their regular forms by entering magic portable lockers carried in “Sweet Lou” Dunbar’s afro, or in a basketball-shaped medallion. Although the Super Globetrotters would first attempt to take on the villain with standard comical heroics, things would almost always be settled with a basketball game, of course.

My second favourite Globetrotters show was when they appeared on Gilligan’s Island in 1981 and faced a bunch of robots in a basketball game.  The Globetrotters decide to play with standard moves in the first half, which the robots are able to counter, until Gilligan unwittingly comments that they have not done any fancy tricks, which make the Professor advise the team to use their comedic style of play to win, which hopelessly confuses the machines. However, a couple of Globetrotters suffer injuries, and the team needs the help of Gilligan and Skipper to substitute.

They also appeared on The Love Boat‘s “Hoopla” episode where The Globetrotters were on a cruise and challenged the crew to a game in the dining room and they appeared on an episode of The Simpsons, called ”Homer the Clown” where Krusty the Clown used all the money he made franchising his name to bet against the Harlem Globetrotters in their game against the Washington Generals stating that he “thought the Generals were due!”.

Coming to Toronto!  Get a discount this way:

February 9th: http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/event/harlem-globetrotters-rogers-centre-1

February 10th: http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/event/harlem-globetrotters-rogers-centre-2

The discount code is “TOGETHER” and through it you will save $7.00 on each ticket purchased (available for select ticket levels).

Love It or List It Vancouver. My Interview with Co-Host Todd Talbot.

Love It or List It Vancouver’s Todd Talbot

A new twist on an old favourite, Love It or List It Vancouver, premièred on Monday, January 7 on W Network.  I’m sure you already know the premise of the show and if you have seen it, then you already love it.  It not, then you must tune it and see what the hype is about.

Love It or List It Vancouver showcases families in B.C.’s largest metropolitan city who are struggling with homes that no longer suit their needs.  They have either outgrown their home or the lustre has worn off which means the home owners are faced with the dilemma of whether they should love it (renovate it) or list it (put it up for sale).

The “Love it” side, features interior designer Jillian Harris, best known for her work in “The Bachelorette” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” pitted against the “List it” side, featuring West Coast realtor, actor, businessman and overall real estate expert, Todd Talbot.  Jillian’s challenge is to make the owners love the house again by delivering a show-stopping renovation while Todd is determined to get home owners to relocate by dangling temptation right in front of them with dreamy homes on the market.

I have caught all three of the episodes so far, and these shows have taken viewers on an emotional roller-coaster as Jillian and Todd implemented their plans to sway the home owners to their side.  The stakes are high as the home owners weigh the financial and emotional decisions of buying a new home or staying in the renovated one — will they love it enough to stay or is it time to list?  It’s a situation that most of us have encountered or currently are dealing with which is what makes the show even that much more fun to watch.

Todd and Jillian were in Toronto recently and I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Todd about the show, his love of real estate, his acting and find out how he juggles all of this with two young children at home.

What many may not know about Todd is that he is a professional trained stage performer who grew up learning that real estate is more than just the house you live in.  At an early age he watched his parents’ involvement in the real estate industry, through buying, selling, investing and renovating properties and that was where he began to develop his understanding of the benefits of investing in real estate and his love for renovating.  Todd is also a self-proclaimed social media junkie whom you can follow on Twitter @ToddTalbot or see more information on his personal website, here.

But check out Todd’s personal website quickly because there is a new one coming… Bigger… Better… Stronger.

Stay tuned.

Before speaking with Todd, I carefully selected 15 questions to ask him and I suspected that I would need 20-30 minutes to get through them, but I was caught totally by surprise at how awesome he was to speak with and after an hour of talking I felt that I had taken up way too much of his time, yet I wanted to keep chatting – which is why posting this was so difficult – I had so much great information and very few of them tied into the questions I had originally set out to ask.

So if you have never heard of Todd before today, here is what you should know about him;

• He’s a father of two young children whom he loves dearly and he is a devoted husband who credits the love, support and understanding of his wife with his ability to juggle fatherhood, the show and all the other stuff he does.
• The other stuff… Yes.  He is a professionally trained actor and has appeared on stage and on TV too many times to list here, so you are going to have to follow the link to his blog and check it all out.
• He has a real estate marketing business which he runs with a partner and their website can be found here.
• He is passionate about real estate.  I referred to him as being a quintuple threat because of his in-depth knowledge and understanding of the markets, renovating, buying and selling houses, investing in real estate and marketing.
• He has a hard time saying no to new business ventures.

This man does it all, and when you look at him on TV you would never know because he looks so darn young (and he’s only a year younger than I am).

But once he speaks, you understand how knowledgeable he is, how educated he is and how passionate he is.  This show is perfect for him because it ties his acting with his passion and that makes the show worth watching.

I asked him this question; “People may not be familiar with your considerable body of work, so how would you best explain yourself in 140 characters (or more if necessary).  What would you like them to know?” but very quickly realized that he had answered this over and over again throughout our conversation, and I think my bulleted comments above go a long way towards explaining what he is all about.  Plus he’s on Twitter, so follow him, and see for yourself (he’d love it).

I was also curious about the length of time, on average, that it takes to go through all the requirements for a show – from finding the potential couples, meeting them, showing them houses and / or renovating their house, etc. in order to get that one hour (or 42 minutes) of viewing ready?   In response to this question, I was astounded to find out that the shoot process (filming) is around six-weeks from start to finish, but the entire process from finding people, getting permits, the renovations, etc., take much longer.  Todd did share with me that in some cases he had provided the home owners with very detailed information on camera during the taping and when it came to air, his comment to them was edited to something like, “It looks nice”.    At least the home owners know the real story and used that to make their decision.

I asked him if he would be able to provide a general answer to someone who wanted to know if it made sense to move houses, or renovating their current house based on the current market conditions in Vancouver and would his advice change if interest rates were up at 5% instead of in the 1% range?

To that question, Todd provided me with the response I expected, which is that he would need to assess each situation on a case-by-case basis.  Obviously with interest rates being this low for so long, anyone who got into the market is reaping the benefit of being able to maximize their mortgage payments, however, jumping in at these low rates and just being able to make the minimum payment is never a good idea because when interest rates rise (and they will rise) it may force the home owner to sell or miss payments, which can lead to foreclosure.

We also spoke about the real estate “bubble” and whether the recent reduction in house prices in Vancouver was a sign that the bubble was bursting to which Todd and I again came to the same conclusion, that there was no bubble, and the bubble that economists have been predicting will burst for the past 10 years have to admit that even in such a depressed period, house prices are rising and that might be the way it stays for a long while.  Waiting for the bubble to burst is not a good reason to wait to buy a new house, I remember Todd saying, and for those who have waited and continue to wait, they are losing out on the satisfaction a new house would bring them.

And with that question, I thanked Todd for his time and told him I should be able to have this post in draft form in a day or two which could not have been further apart from how long it took me to take all this great information and put it into a post which did the show justice, him justice and explained why on Monday’s on WNET, you should be watching Love It or List It Vancouver.

I hope I just did.

Enjoy the show.

Related articles

• Vancouver real estate market crash? Not so much… (vancouverobserver.com)

The Urban Daddy Year in Review, 2012: Notable Deaths.

Fraggle Rock (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now that 2013 has rolled in, I wanted to take a look back at those we lost in 2012.  Usually these year-in-review lists contain a few shocking deaths – celebrities who died way before their time or in a tragic manner – but in compiling this list, I didn’t come across any. Yes, Whitney Houston died in 2012, but based on her much publicized battles with drugs and Bobby Brown it reminded me of the Amy Winehouse death-watch from the previous year.  Very sad, but everyone saw it coming.

Say no to drugs, kids…

So below is a list – certainly not inclusive – of notable deaths from 2012, plus a little about the person, and the date they died – based on my knowledge of after some research and this list is in reverse chronological order.

Actor Jack Klugman, died on December 24th and was best known for his roles on television as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and as Quincy in the show Quincy, M.E..  He was 90 years old.

Pandit Ravi Shankar, a musical icon and legendary sitar player who taught George Harrison of The Beatles to play the instrument and brought Indian music to the West over an 8-decade career, passed away December 11th at age 92.  He was the father of jazz singer Norah Jones.

Actor Larry Hagman, best known for his role as the villainous patriarch “J.R. Ewing” from the TV show “Dallas” died at the age of 81, on November 24th.   Who doesn’t remember the “Who shot JR?” cliffhanger…

Art Ginsburg, better known as Mr. Food died on November 21st at the age of 81.  You may not remember his name but if you see his picture you certainly will recognize him.

Alex Karras, the former NFL lineman who anchored the Detroit Lions’ defense in the 1960′s, who went on to an acting career in which he starred in the sitcom “Webster” and famously punched a horse in the 1974 comedy “Blazing Saddles,” died on October 10th at the age of 77.

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died August 25th at 82-years-old.

Phyllis Diller died on August 20th at the age of 95-years-old and she has been credited with breaking the gender barrier in the world of comedy.  A former housewife turned mega-comedienne.

Voice actor and puppeteer, Jerry Nelson, most known for voicing The Count in “Sesame Street” Gobo Fraggle in “Fraggle Rock” and Sgt Floyd Pepper in “The Muppet Show”,  He was 78-years-old.

“Oh!  Oh! Pick me.  Pick me!”  Ron Palillo, the actor best known as the nerdy high-school student Arnold Horshack from 70′s hit TV Show “Welcome Back, Kotter,” died of a heart attack on August 14th at the age of 63.

Sherman Hemsley, best known for portraying the character “George Jefferson” on TV’s “The Jeffersons” and on “All in the Family” died on July 24th at the age of 74-years-old, either from natural causes or from cancer.  There is some confusion swirling around his estate after his will gave his $50,000 estate to his manager, but a man came forward claiming to be his brother stepped forward.  Finally on November 21st, he was buried.  Sad.

Dr. Stephen R. Covey the motivational speaker best known for his self-improvement book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” died July 16th, three months after a serious bicycle accident at the age of 79-years-old.  His book, published in 1989, has sold more than 25 million copies in 38 languages, and became one of the most influential non-fiction books of the end of the 20th Century.

Andy Griffith, died July 3rd at the age of 86.  Best known for his 1960s’ starring role as the Sheriff in The Andy Griffith Show.  He later returned to TV in the drama Matlock.  Did you know that he was also also an award winning gospel singer?  Yeah, me either.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir who throughout his life believed that Israel should hang on to it’s territory and never trust an Arab regime, died on June 30th at 96-years-old.  Is it any surprise then, that after Fatah released their new logo it was a picture of what they believed to be the new Palestinian state and on that map there was no Israel?!?  You cannot negotiate with a party who does not want to negotiate.

Rodney King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers set off one of the most destructive race riots in the history of the United States, died after drowning in his swimming pool on June 17th.  He was only 47-years-old and a very unhappy man after being awarded compensation for his beating he said that neither the general public or his community believed he was a victim.

Richard Dawson, the former host of  the TV game show “Family Feud”, and an actor on the TV sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” died on June 2nd at the age of 79-years-old following complications from esophageal cancer

Singer Robin Gibb of the Super-group The Bee Gees died on May 20th at the age of 62.  He had a long battle with cancer.

Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco and best known for hits such as; “Love to Love You Baby”, “Bad Girl” and “She Works Hard for the Money” was a five-time Grammy award winner and was the first artist to ever have three consecutive double albums reach #1 on the Billboard charts.  She died May 17th at the age of 63.

Conspiracy!   Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was found dead inside Kennedy’s home in Westchester County on May 16th. She was his second wife and they had 4-children.  Speculation is that she hung herself.  She was 52.

Celebrity hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, whose 1960′s wash-and-wear cuts freed women from endless teasing and hairspray – such as Mia Farrow’s iconic pixie cut for the film “Rosemary’s Baby.  Sassoon grew up in England and later fought in the Israeli Army during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.  He was 84.

Children’s author Maurice Sendak, who wrote the popular children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are,” died May 8th the age of 83.

Adam Yauch, better known as MCA of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted Beastie Boys, died May 4th, at the age of 47. Youch, a hip-hop pioneer, had been in treatment for cancer since 2009.  My post about him can be found here;

Former NFL star Junior Seau, 43, was found dead in his California home of an apparent suicide on May 2nd, 2012.  Seau was a 1st round draft pick in 1990 NFL draft and he played in the league for 20 years for the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots.  He left behind 3 children.  My post about him can be found here;

Dick Clark, long-time TV host and producer who changed the way we listened to pop music with American Bandstand, and whose trademark Rockin’ Eve became a fixture of New Year’s celebrations, died at the age of 82.  My post about his influence can be read here;

Mike Wallace, best known as a “60 Minutes” correspondent, famed for his tough interviews died April 7th at the age of 93.

John Demjanjuk died March 17th in a home for the aged in his native Germany – a much more peaceful way than all the victims of the Nazi concentration camps where he was a death camp guard.  He was charged and convicted of 28,060 counts of accessory to murder.  A retired Ohio autoworker, he hid in the US after WWII until he was found, tried and deported to his native Germany for his war crimes after being stripped of his U.S. citizenship.  He was 91-years-old.

Songwriter Robert B. Sherman – whom I had not heard of before his passing – wrote classic songs for movies such as “Mary Poppins”, “The Jungle Book” and “Winnie the Pooh” as well as the theme for the amazing Disney water ride, “It’s a Small World (After All)”.  He was 86-years-old.

Davy Jones of the super-group, “The Monkees” passed away February 29th of an apparent heart attack.  He was 66-years-young.

Former Montreal Expos catcher Gary Carter died February 16th from complications of a brain tumor at the age of 57.  During his career he played mainly for the Expos and the Mets where he won 3 Gold Glove awards and 5 Silver Sluggers.  In 2003 he was induced to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Whitney Houston died February 11th at the age of 48.  She had such a beautiful voice and he life became such a train-wreck that tabloids reported she was killed over drug debts.  In 2009, the Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time.

Don Cornelius, the smooth-voiced creator and former host of the hit television show “Soul Train”, which brought black music and culture into America’s living rooms committed suicide on February 1st at the age of 75.  Soul Train,” was one of the longest-running syndicated shows in television history (35 years) and it played a critical role in spreading the music of black America to the world.  The show featured musicians like Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and James Brown, as well as Elton John and David Bowie.

Robert “Bobby” Hegyes, best known for playing the Puerto Rican Jewish character Juan Epstein on “Welcome Back Kotter,” died on January 26th at the age 60.

Related articles

• FAREWELL: A final roll call of luminaries lost in 2012 (timesleader.com)
• Entertainment 2012: The year of ‘meh’ (cnn.com)
• Notable Celebrity & Public Figure Deaths In 2012 (dabxblogger.com)
• Final goodbye: Roll call of some who died in 2012 (cnsnews.com)

2012 Canadian Weblog Awards: I’ve been nominated!

My blogs, The Urban Daddy and In-tax-icating have been nominated for the 2012 Ninjamatics Canadian Weblog Awards. What a great way to end up 2012.

I have always felt that as Canadians we need to speak up more and promote our own blogging talents.  We live in the best country in the world and we’re a little on the shy side, a lot on the polite side – not as in your face as some other countries (ahem: America).  :)  So it’s really great that the kind folks at Ninjamatics are doing all of us bloggers a favour by creating and hosting these awards.

It’s always an honour to be nominated, which I have before, but as these awards grow in popularity it seems even less likely that I will ever win because the talent in each category is out of this world.  I’ve been going through the nominations in each category and with each blog I check out I am more and more impressed.  We’ve got some great bloggers up here in Canada, eh?

The Urban Daddy has been nominated in three categories;

Family & Parenting,

General Interest,

and Lifetime Achievement.

In-tax-icating has been nominated in the Business & Career and Topical categories.

The Ninjamatics’ 2012 Canadian Weblog Awards are a juried competition which means — no voting – so I don’t have to ask (or beg) people to vote for me.  Yay.

The nominees shortlist will be announced on January 15, 2013, and the winners will be announced on January 31, 2013.

A running blogroll of the nominees is kept on the Ninjamatica website throughout the year so that they can continue to highlight Canada’s blogging talent. 

The Importance of a Social Media Policy and Compliance to that Policy

English: Data that lists Social Media activities (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a user of the Internet, for work or for play, it is extremely important to know and understand what the consequences can be when you use social media.

Many do not.

I am constantly amazed that people get caught doing, saying or showing things online which they later regret and the consequences of their actions can be very severe. It certainly changes the way people see them, and can change the way people treat them, with bullying, job loss, or lack of promotion some of the worse case scenarios.

I learned this the hard way. In the almost nine years since I started blogging I did so with the mistaken assumption that no one read my it and that the 5-10 hits a day were complete strangers who arrived there by error. Not having any comments, and being able to see the search engine terms used to get there it was easy for me to write whatever I wanted in complete anonymity. My blog was my forum to bitch, moan and complain about whatever I felt like, whenever I felt like it. Getting it all off my chest made me feel great.

Then it all came crashing down. I can recall this as if it were yesterday, when I hit send on one particular post from 2005 in which I complained about my employer and also lambasted some colleagues for their lack of work ethic. I never thought for a moment that there was a remote possibility that anyone from my company was reading my blog and that the information I wrote in that post, or in any of my previous posts were going to be spread around the office and used against me, like they were.

My hits over the next couple days went from 5-10 to 150 on that post and I started to receive anonymous ominous comments on that post. Stuff started to disappear from my desk, and I would get hang-ups in the middle of the night. Then some of my colleagues would start random conversations with me and include information from my blog that they would not have known if they did not read it there, like “how was the movie you saw Saturday with your wife at Yorkdale.” I was perplexed.

It was soon thereafter when I realized that I had made a really stupid mistake and if I wanted to continue to work there without having my stuff disappear, I would need to go into damage control and implement my own social media policy.

Some of the key points are below;

1) No mention of work. Ever. I’m a blogger building my brand first and foremost.
2) No mention of names of my family or friends unless they give me permission.
3) No posting of pictures on any form of social media except for family pictures on Facebook that I would be comfortable sharing with the world or a future employer.
4) I would never say anything online that I do not believe in or would not say face-to-face to someone.
5) If I am going to be critical of something or someone it had to be fact based and that required sources and a ton of research. No gossip or hearsay.
6) I am my own brand. I want my brand to be respected and taken seriously so I will have to treat others that way – good and bad.

The next thing I had to do was take a step back and see how this new social media policy worked for. I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress and kept it hidden until I was sure that I could play by these rules. Once I came out from hiding, I not only started to play fairly, but I started to informally educate others about the consequences of using social media for I realized that whatever you post that can be traced back to you, or your brand, can and will be used against you at some point in your life.

I have seen people tagged in photos where they are with friends and drinking, and the picture is most unflattering – maybe they are winking but look drunk – or the comments to a photo are unflattering or rude, or a photo taken in an inappropriate position – like on the toilet, and even an innocent comment like “I’m bored” which shows up next to a mention about your place of employment. All these examples can have long-lasting consequences far from the original intent. Ignoring them is not an option and just removing them usually does not suffice either. Not being in that situation is the best choice a person can make, and letting others know if equally as important.

I’m being tough on myself, but it’s nothing compared to the tolerance that certain industries have for themselves and when tracking their massive employee base.

Financial services, for example, can be especially tough due to the high regulation and as an employer they must ensure that their employees are clear about the organizations expectations and the social media policy.

I, for example, when hiring for my tax units always spends a few minutes to check out the candidates Facebook page, LinkedIn profile and then I Googled them to see if there are any warning flags. To not do so, would be not be responsible on my behalf. If they post anything and their profiles are not neat and tidy it means either they are going to be social media nightmares for the company or I am going to have to do a lot of coaching and mentoring them to ensure they don’t get caught online harming the company’s image of their own brand.

One of the first discussions I would have with staff is to caution them about what they say when using certain social media outlets, like LinkedIn. If they are choosing to comment on posts and join discussions they have to remember that they are not just individuals commenting there but they are also employees so they have to be cautious to keep their comments on topic and away from anything which could get them fired or the company sued.

I treat all my online activities, whether blogged, tweeted, liked or commented on, which relate to any external business as being monitored and recorded by someone if the company is not doing it themselves. I expect the same from my staff, my colleagues and my peers. I know when I talk to staff who are not practicing safe, social media that it is just a matter of time before it catches up to them.

Implementing an effective social media compliance process isn’t rocket science especially when the company has a clear social media policy and everyone abides by it and that policy has to be more than reactionary and punitive. Effective companies outline how they interact with the world via social media and how they expect their employees to do so as well. Leading organizations empower employees to build the corporate brand but it is certainly a team effort every step of the way.

Almost every other department has a key role in shaping the message. Marketing defines the scope of the message, the IT group outlines which social technologies will be used and provides the devices to be used while the legal and social media compliance groups are critical to ensure that the messages meet the necessary regulatory criteria. Once all that is in order it is absolutely critical for the training and learning group to be engaged so that the organization be trained to understand the pros and cons of using the various forms of social media, the most common being Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

What most employees in large organizations do not know unless they are trained is that any output on a social media platform goes through a series of serious checks and balances before someone hits send. Static content, for example – such as Facebook and LinkedIn profiles – require documented pre-approval before being posted online, while interactive content such as updates to Twitter, LinkedIn, and other networks do not need to be vetted, however, regularly monitoring the content is extremely critical to ensure that there are no compliance violations or negative comments.

What most employees fail to understand is that these tight rules not only apply to business-related items posted by the organization but also if it comes from the employees personal social media accounts. It pays to think twice before speaking about your organization, their practices, clients or earnings.

Organizations keeping a close eye on their social media content in order to control the public message and ensure it is compliant with the organization’s policies and procedures. It also allows organizations to control their message and that makes sense from a brand perspective as quick accurate responses to comments shows a proactive organization while quick responses to, or removal of, derogatory or inappropriate messages displays a proactive social media policy. Keeping negative comments unanswered in a thread is a message to the general public that it is okay to pile on with more negative comments and spam the site. If these comments are removed and/or responded to quickly than others will think twice before hitting send.

Even prior to the monitoring the output, employees usually are not aware that many organizations prefer to control the message by utilizing tools to prevent rogue posts from ever hitting the web. Organizations assign limited permissions to certain employees and once that employee is finished creating a tweet, comment or update it is them moved into a queue to be edited or for managerial review before it moves to the compliance group, then on to marketing before it is approved and posted.

The best of these systems even come with their own archiving tools already built-in as financial services are heavily regulated and keeping all outgoing messages for a certain period of time, are a requirement of regulators.

Banning social communications altogether and hoping for the best, is no longer a viable alternative. Restricting communication, access to information and people networking is a practice which many organizations have been moving away from since smartphones have become commonplace on the hips of many employees. There is also the opinion that if organizations continue to resist, that their competitors and customers are moving ahead and talking about them to their current customers and to their potential customers.

To further that point, many organizations who are already heavy in social media are forging ahead with new social media positions, such as the social media compliance officer who among other things, lines up tweets for management’s approval and works closely with legal, marketing and training to ensure the right message is getting out and that all staff have been trained in a meaningful manner on the risk of non-compliance to these policies both for their personal brand and for their company.

Banks in particular, are moving forward quickly in all areas of social media, and with great reason. These customers tend to be more affluent and faster adopters of new, expense-cutting technology such as online and mobile banking, which makes them particularly valuable at a time when revenues are low and expense cutting makes the most sense. Getting them on the bank’s side also helps on the public relations front as these tech savvy folks are just as likely to comment online about good experiences, as they are to complain about bad ones.

So next time you fire up the computer, smartphone or tablet, make sure that before you press send that you are doing so responsibly. You don’t want to ruin your brand in a manner of seconds (or a few words) considering how long it took you to build it up.

Related articles

• The Importance of a Social Media Policy and Compliance to that Policy (intaxicating.wordpress.com)