An Open Letter to the End of the Year

Dear 2010,

What? You’re done already? Seems to me that you just got started! I mean, there’s so much left to do. Why, it felt like just yesterday that June arrived, all full of too many Oregon rainclouds and green grass. Now we’re already past that Thanksgiving turkey carcass and ready to wrap and then unwrap presents. Holy Christmas, indeed!

So what did you accomplish, 2010? Your Facebook website passed 550 million users and more than 3 million active business pages. But there’s still plenty of room to get involved. Your Twitter users passed 17 million, and thousands (probably tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or even millions) of companies are seeing the value in the real-time customer engagement that you facilitate. But still some company bosses think it’s kid stuff. Right. Well, in a year or two, those folks will be wishing that had seen the light in 2010.

Speaking of carcasses, I see that MySpace did a complete makeover earlier this fall. I keep getting invitations to go back to my page, but the few times I’ve bothered it hasn’t intrigued me much. So…probably not. Sorry.

Personally, it was a challenging and enlightening year. But aren’t they all? I bought an iPhone during spring so that I could see what the fuss was about. And of course, to see how that whole smartphone thing works. After all, how can I blog about mobile marketing and tweeting and stuff if I wasn’t personally involved?

And as for the iPhone itself, so far I’m only mildly impressed. Yes, it’s only a 3G (got it right before they announced the 4G) and it has a few minor issues. But overall, a nice piece of gear. But I’m already thinking about what I might replace it with when the contract winds down.

‘Twas certainly a good year for some personal-growth-type stuff as I continued to expand boundaries. It was great to be involved with a number of live speaking gigs and several webinars (thanks to Classic Exhibits to helped promote them), topped off by the presentation at the Exhibit Designers and Producers Association annual conference in Jacksonville, Florida earlier this month. I hope/plan to see more of those in 2011.

As for the Great Beyond, 2010, you claimed some of the Greats indeed. We said goodbye to folks such as J. D. Salinger, Leslie Neilsen, Gary Coleman, Tony Curtis, Eddie Fisher, Patricia Neal, Dennis Hopper, Frank Frazetta, Lynn Redgrave, Fess Parker, Don Meredith, Dino De Laurentiis…the list is too large. Can you just hold off for a little while so we can enjoy some of these people while they’re still around?

So, 2010, you give way to 2011. What can we expect? More of the same? Or perhaps some new thinking? Oh, you’re right. It’s up to us. WE have to decide to change. You don’t just make things better because the days on the calendar have flipped over.

Okay, well…let me think about it. And see if I can come up with a blog post that’s actually WORTH reading!

You pal,

Tim