Imad's Corner

Going Home- Speaking at TedxDeadSea

May 15, 2011 imadnaffa 4 comments

I left Jordan when I was seventeen and headed west, some 12,000 km west to be exact to the City of Fresno, California, USA, home of Fresno State, where I went to school, and the place that became my second home.

I studied civil engineering and found myself specializing in the field of building codes and construction regulations. I started a company and in the blink of an eye, thirty years zoomed by.

Recently I was invited to speak at TedxDeadSea which was held in Jordan. I was already hooked on Ted and Tedx conferences and previously spoke at TedxCanton in the City of Guangzhou, China, so it was very easy for me to agree.

Seeing my country of birth, my family and friends would be an over due visit. To top it off, I get to speak at Tedx held at the majestic and historic Dead Sea. How exciting is that!

Well, the experience was just like I imagined it would be……..even better.

The Dead Sea is truly a majestic, historic and memorable location. If you have not had the chance to visit, I encourage you to do so whenever you get the chance. Jordan is loaded with historic places and the Dead Sea is one of the special ones. And yes, it’s safe to visit!

The Jordanians are one of the most hospitable, generous and helpful people you will encounter in the world…and the food….well, in my humble opinion, is one of the best in the world. Just remember the word “mansaf” and make sure you get some when there.

The home of TedxDeadSea was the exquisite Kempinski Hotel Ishtar-Dead Sea. It is by far one of the best hotels we’ve been to during our travels. It was the prefect setting for Tedx and located on the shores of the Dead Sea.

TedxDeadSea was a first class event and proved to be a success in the planning, organisation and diversity of interesting and captivating topics and speakers. There were five sessions in all. You can find out more from www.TedxDeadSea.com

Yes it was a long and feature packed conference- from 9 am to after 9 pm, but it was well worth it. I was the very last speaker to close the conference. By 9 pm I was exhausted from the excitement, commotion and euphoria of meeting friends and classmates from years gone by.

My message was the story of the past thirty years since I left Jordan and use of social media globally to connect and build bridges of friendship and business connections on six continents. I’m very thankful for the opportunity.

I finally met face-to-face with many of my Twitter friends and they were wonderful, gracious, lively and kind to us. I’m grateful to all of them and wish we had more time together.

TedxDeadSea was the first Tedx in Jordan and over 800 attended. It was well received and accomplished its goals by highlighting topics and issues related to the region and hopefully inspiring the younger innovative Jordanians. I expect to see more Tedx and technical conferences in Jordan, given the hunger for knowledge in the area and talent that is available.

With Ahmad (Peanut Man’s Son in Downtown Amman)

I also had the chance for an emotional meeting with the Peanut Man’s son in downtown Amman. I wrote about the Peanut Man (Abu Ahmad) previously in this story.

At Bishop’s School- My HS in Amman

I was honored to speak at my beloved High School, The Bishop’s School in Jebel Amman. Both the boys from Bishop’s, and girls from Ahliyyah, schools attended and it was a memorable time to speak in the hall that I used to watch plays while in high school over 30 years ago.

The Bishop and Ahliyyah Schools superintendent, staff and students made us feel at home, showed us around the two campuses and highlighted the exciting projects taking place there. We are very thankful for the opportunity and wish them continued success. The students in those schools, along with other schools in the country, are the future of Jordan.

We also had the chance to finally meet some of our friends on Twitter from Jordan at a get together we had on May 2nd at the Wild Jordan. Thank you for all that attended and we missed you- the ones that couldn’t make it. Until next time.

With Wada’h- Dead Sea

A day before we left Jordan, I did two interviews on the radio (in Arabic and in English) by the awesome people at Spin.Jo about the TedxDeadSea experience and social media related topics. Thank you guys!

Our time in Jordan went too fast. The memories of family, friends and places will stay with us for a life time. Thank you Jordan ( you remain beautiful and vibrant as ever), TedxDeadSea, our family and friends in Amman and entire country of Jordan. We will see you soon إن شاء الله

Downtown Amman

TedxDeadSea

Imad Speaking at TedxDeadSea

Categories: imad naffa, imadnaffa, tedxdeadsea

>Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami- My Take As A Building Codes Engineer

March 21, 2011 imadnaffa 3 comments

Numerous news articles, TV and Cable broadcasts, andhundreds of blogs have been created regarding the recent earthquake in Japanand the tsunami that followed. So I will not repeat what you may have readalready. [Don't miss the flash presentation at the end].

Instead, I will share with you my personal experience, as anengineer that specializes in the building codes and review of constructiondocuments for structural and life-safety compliance with the adopted building codes of the US.

My initial reaction was mixed after witnessing the news of the monstrousearthquake and tsunami.

On one hand, witnessing the utter devastation, loss of life and property wasdisheartening, frustrating, sad, which left me with a sense of helplessness.Could anything we do in the planning, design and the plan review/inspection process for code compliance have prevented or lessened thedestruction?

Witnessing the power of the 9.0 shaker and how the tsunami devouredeverything in its path casts doubt in all of us and in our abilities to preventor lessen the effect of such disasters.

On the other hand, I thought of the opportunities presented for learning fromthis tragic event and how we can improve in the preparations in our own countryby updating our building codes and construction standards and regulations.

After every tragic event, be it an earthquake,tsunami or hurricane; we learn somethingnew. We go back to the drawing board, update the codes and procedures in order to have a fighting chance against such disasters. This will take place yet again and before too long.

I needed to know that what we do in plan review, inspection and design mattersand can help in the overall life safety of the structures and buildings. The fact is- it does. Code-compliant buildings along with efficient preparations can and do preventfailures and allow occupants time to evacuate buildings before failure.Without earthquake-proof and/or tsunami/floodingproofing of buildings and structures, devastation (life and property wise) would be much worse and an unacceptable course of action.

There are always challenges that face us: economical, technical, political and timing. As a country, wewould be in a dire situation if any of the events that took place in Japan occurred in the US.

Japan set the gold standard in earthquake-proof construction, alert systems in place (a huge network of over 1200 GPS monitoring stations) and the extensive preparation that were at hand. They were ready as much as possible for a great event. Even with allthe preparations, destruction and loss of life was unfathomable.

Yet, most experts credit Japan’s strict building codes with saving millions of lives. In comparison, Japan’s 1923 earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9, killed over 100,000 people and leveled cities. Japan has learned a lot since then.

At this point, the US is behind Japan in regards to earthquake-proofing of structures and in the preparations and alert systems in place to confront catastrophic disasters similar to the ones experienced in Japan. We have a long ways ahead of us and we cannot stop.

A 9.0 magnitude shaker, any way you look at it, is amassive force that no matter what we do to prepare, loss of life and property in great numberswill be encountered. Watching the tsunami on the news and how easily it devoured land,buildings and everything in its path was scary and humbling.You realize the limits of what we can do.

But try to be better prepared, improve and update our design, construction methods and building codes to be ready is not an option- it’s essential.

Startling information about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami:

Earthquake

The final official magnitude of Japan’s March 11, 2011, earthquake was set at 9.0.
The 5^th strongest earthquake in the world since the 1900’s.
A 9.0 shaker has a great devastating effect in areas several thousand miles across and the frequency of such an event taking place is 1 per 20 years.
Approximate TNT for seismic yield of a 9.0 shaker is 474 megatons.
So powerful that it moved Japan permanently by about 8 ft (2.4 meters).
Shifted the country’s coastline by some 13 ft (4 meters) to the east, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Knocked Earth off its axis by 6.5 inches (16.5 centimeters).
Shortened the length of days by 1.8 microsecond.
The location of the earthquake was a surprise. The shaker occurred some 231 miles (372 km) northeast of Tokyo. The epicenter was 80 miles (129 km) off the coast of Sendai province of Honshu. This was not where the Japanese scientists and geologists thought the “big” earthquake would hit- somewhere southwest of Tokyo.

Tsunami

A tsunami can travel 5000 miles (8047 km) across the Pacific Ocean in 14 hours and still pack enough punch to kill people and make a marina and developments near the coast look like they’ve been through a blender.
Tsunami waves travel as fast as 400 mph (644 km/hr) across the ocean- the speed of a jet airliner. Over land, they move at 30 mph (48 km/hr)- too fast to run from!
Tsunami waves can be as much as 250 miles (402 km) long.
The Japan 9.0 earthquake lifted a section of the ocean floor 50 feet (15 meters) over a space of 180 to 250 miles (290 to 402 km), according to the US Geological Survey. That resulted in billions of cubic yards of water- trillions of pounds- suddenly shifting position.
A cubic yard of water, 3ft x 3ft x 3 ft, (0.9m x 0.9m x 0.9m), weighs 1700 pounds (771 kg). Tsunami travels on land at about 30 mph (48 km/hr). Imagine 1700 pounds (771 kg) hitting you from all directions at that speed. Now you’re getting the idea of the destructive power of a tsunami.
Imagine a wall of water, 10 meters high. If that wave is two miles long into the ocean, it’s basically like a hundred tanks coming across you. Even though it’s a fluid, it operates like a solid hammer.
At least 40% of Japan’s 22,000-mile (35406 km) coast line is lined with concrete seawalls, breakwaters or other structures meant to protect the country against high waves, typhoons or even tsunamis.
In Japan’s earthquake, almost all the deaths resulted directly from the tsunami.

For additional in-depth educational, analysis and news articles regarding Japan’s earthquake and tsunami, I’m curating a site for “Earthquakes” with a special section dedicated to Japan’s Earthquake (see below, Flash-enabled browser required) http://pear.ly/OKGj

http://cdn.pearltrees.com/s/embed/getApp

Categories: earthquake, imadnaffa, japan

>A Peek into the Future. A Collection of Thoughts!

March 7, 2011 imadnaffa 4 comments

I love information, stats and peeking into the future every chance I get. So when a friend of mine, T.W., sent me an email that contained intriguing information, I couldn’t resist sharing with you with my edits. I have no reason to suspect the numbers quoted, but I have not independently verified all of them, so you are on your own there.

This all happened the following day after I watched with great interest Fareed Zakaria’s (@FareedGPSCNN) GPS Special on CNN “Are America’s Best Days Behind Us” and read the article in TIME Magazine.

Some of the changes discussed below will happen in our life time. Some already taking place. Whether these changesare good or bad, depends in part, on how we adapt to them.

#1. The PostOffice Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are sodeeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it longterm. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenueneeded to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mailand bills. Even though postage rates are increasing on an annual basis, westill ran a $7.5 Billion deficit this past year.

#2. TheCheck Britain is already laying the groundworkto do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions ofdollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions willlead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death ofthe post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received themby mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

#3. TheNewspaper The younger generation simply doesn’t read the newspaper. Theycertainly don’t subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go theway of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, getready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers hascaused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They havemet with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a modelfor paid subscription services.

#4. The BookYou say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand andturn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music fromiTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when Idiscovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving hometo get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browsea bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And theprice is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Onceyou start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you findthat you are lost in the story, can’t wait to see what happens next, and youforget that you’re holding a gadget instead of a book.

#5. The LandLine Telephone Unless you have a large family and make a lot of localcalls, you don’t need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they’vealways had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. Allthe cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cellprovider for no charge against your minutes.

#6. Music Thisis one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying aslow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It’s the lack ofinnovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would liketo hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and theradio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the musicpurchased today is “catalog items,” meaning traditional music thatthe public is familiar with. Older established artists. Will the music industry reinvent itself to stay alive? Stay tuned.

#7. Television Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because ofthe economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers.And they’re playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the timethat used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down tolower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing andcommercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

#8. The”Things” That You Own Many of the very possessions that we usedto own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future.They may simply reside in “the cloud.” Today your computer has a harddrive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your softwareis on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of thatis changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest”cloud services.” That means that when you turn on a computer, theInternet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and theMac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will opensomething in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to thecloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.

In this virtual world,you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop orhandheld device. That’s the good news. But, will you actually own any of this”stuff” or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big”Poof?” Will most of the things in our lives be disposable andwhimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photoalbum, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

#9. PrivacyIf there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would beprivacy. That’s gone. It’s been gone for a long time anyway. There are camerason the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer andcell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, “They” know who you areand where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google StreetView. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and yourads will change to reflect those habits. And “They” will try to getyou to buy something else. Again and again.

19 Facts About TheDe-industrialization Of America . . .

The United States israpidly becoming the very first “post-industrial” nation on theglobe. All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squanderthe great wealth that their forefathers have left them, but the pace at whichAmerica is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing. It was America that was atthe forefront of the industrial revolution. It was America that showed theworld how to mass produce everything from automobiles to televisions toairplanes. It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed Germanyand Japan in World War II.

But now we arewitnessing the de-industrialization of America. Tens of thousandsof factories have left the United States in the past decade alone. Millionsupon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the same time period. TheUnited States has become a nation that consumes everything in sight and yetproduces increasingly little. Do you know what our biggest export is today?Waste paper. Yes, trash is the number one thing that we ship out to the rest ofthe world as we voraciously blow our money on whatever the rest of the worldwants to sell to us. The United States has become bloated and spoiled and oureconomy is now just a shadow of what it once was. Once upon a time Americacould literally out produce the rest of the world combined. Today that is nolonger true, but Americans sure do consume more than anyone else in the world.If the de-industrialization of America continues at thiscurrent pace, what possible kind of a future are we going to be leaving to ourchildren?

Any great nationthroughout history has been great at making things. So if the United Statescontinues to allow its manufacturing base to erode at a staggering pace how inthe world can the U.S. continue to consider itself to be a great nation? Wehave created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world in an effortto maintain a very high standard of living, but the current state of affairs isnot anywhere close to sustainable. Every single month America goes intomore debt and every single month America gets poorer.

So what happens when thedebt bubble pops?

The de-industrializationof the United States should be a top concern for every man, woman and child inthe country. But sadly, most Americans do not have any idea what is goingon around them .

The following are 19facts about the de-industrialization of America that will blow your mind….

# 1– The United Stateshas lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75 percent of thosefactories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.

# 2– Dell Inc., one ofAmerica ’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans todramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100billion over the next decade.

# 3– Dell has announcedthat it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.

# 4– In 2008, 1.2billion cell phones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufacturedinside the United States ? Zero.

# 5– According to a newstudy conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficitwith China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy willlose over half a million jobs this year alone.

# 6– As of the end ofJuly, the U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to thesame time period a year ago.

# 7– The United Stateshas lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.

# 8– According to TaxNotes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S.parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. Duringthat exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinationalcorporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.

# 9– In 1959,manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, itrepresented 11.5 percent.

#10– Ford Motor Companyrecently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger inSt. Paul , Minnesota . Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs aregoing to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in withFord’s new “global” manufacturing strategy.

#11– As of the end of2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last timeless than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#12 – In the UnitedStates today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent,over half is spent on services.

#13– The United Stateshas lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#14– In 2001, the UnitedStates ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Todayit ranks 15th.

#15– Manufacturingemployment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it wasin 1975.

#16– Printed circuitboards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia nowproduces 84 percent of them worldwide.

#17– The United Statesspends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spendon goods from the United States .

#18– One prominenteconomist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times largerthan the U.S. economy by the year 2040.

#19– The U.S. CensusBureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and accordingto them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years thatrecords have been kept.

Despite all this, the US remains the world’s largest economy, has the most dynamic technology companies and a highly entrepreneurial climate that is not matched anywhere else in the world. I urge you to read Fareed Zakaria’s TIME Magazine article one more time.

In addition, I’m curating the pearltree Interactive Maps & Graphs site that may be of interest to you: http://pear.ly/NWuj

Categories: fareed zakaria, FareedGPSCNN, future, gps, imadnaffa

>15 Best of the Best Articles About Twitter

February 25, 2011 imadnaffa 4 comments

Every day, hundreds of articles are posted dealing with Twitter.

With the exponential growth of this powerful platform, and the expansive adoption by small and large businesses, one can see why so much is written about the subject, and it can be overwhelming.

I’ve sifted through numerous articles over the last two years dealing with Twitter and how use effectively. This is my “Best of the Best” list, in no particular order.

If you know of additional articles specifically about Twitter features and ways to use- feel free to add them in the comments section. Enjoy!

Categories: twitter

>Twitter- My Way! The Journey, Tips and Stats

February 24, 2011 imadnaffa 11 comments

Updated: May 20, 2011

I like Twitter……a lot!

Since many have asked me about my journey using social media- specifically Twitter, I decided to finally write about it.

I have passion for knowledge and for engaging with people from all over the world to learn and share experiences- professional and personal.

Social media has become a part of our lives, our businesses, our economy and more. There’s no denying or ignoring it, unless you want to stubbornly cling to the past and try to function in a world that is rapidly leaving you behind. Businesses and individuals are clamoring to set up Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn profiles and more in a frantic effort to remain relevant and ride the wave this relatively new method of communication has become.

Using Social Media platforms, I report on topics of interest to me beyond my business (the building codes and construction regulations): World Affairs, Geopolitical, Economies and Stats of the World, Cultural Topics, the Central Valley, CA., (where I live), Financial News, Up-and-Coming Technologies, Twitter and Facebook, Social Media, Gadgets, Leed, Green, Clean Tech., Solar, Sustainable, Eco-Friendly, QR Code and Tedx.

I’m intrigued by the people, countries and cultures of China, India and the rest of the BRIC; along with the MENA region, especially Jordan, where I was born. I’m fascinated by people in general and their unique backgrounds and stories. Twitter has become my conduit for connecting and engaging with a large and diverse audience.

Although I use many social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube, TED, etc), Twitter remains my platform of choice for social media engagement. It’s a far-reaching, fast and culturally-diverse platform. Even so, only about 13% of the American internet users have Twitter accounts.

What do I get out of it?

Feed my hunger for knowledge; and engaging with the smartest, culturally-diverse, like-minded and fascinating people located throughout the globe.
Promote exchanges with unique individuals that would be almost impossible to meet in person. Through Twitter engagement I met awesome people from as far away places that culminated in Tedx speaking engagements in China and Jordan and more planned in the future.
One of my daily continuing education resources on a myriad of topics: professional, technical and global affairs.
Introduce a global audience to the building and construction codes.
Encourage architects, engineers, code officials and the AEC industry at large to join social media and become active users. Only about 35% of US companies are successfully using Business Social Networking at this time and the US lags behind many countries. The AEC industry is about 2 years behind in adopting social media- closing the gap, slowly.
Twitter was the genesis for connections made with individuals that led to opportunities to speak on social media and AEC topics to professional groups and businesses throughout the US and Asia.
Promote and monetize the many professional services, tools and online resources that I developed over the years for architects, engineers and code officials relating to the building codes.
For example, traffic to the Building Code Discussions Group (BCDG), one of my online building code resources, increased by 30% due to Twitter, resulting in additional subscriptions to this service.

So what do you want to get out of it? Do not read further unless you answer this!

What it takes?

Time! For me, 3 to 4 hours a day. Some of this time is done early in the morning, throughout the day and late at night PST. With followers located in 12 time zones, to engage one-on-one in real time (not always required, but great at times to experience) becomes a challenge!
So it’s not for everyone and may not be possible or practical for most. Using social media is an integral part of my business and I have incorporated within my daily work day. Most users may get by with 20 minutes a day. It just depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Big commitment for staying on top of trends, news related to topics you are interested in and reporting on; social media and technology in general.
Sharing, filtering and curating an enormous amount of information to keep content fresh, interesting and intriguing. Think dozens of RSS feeds to go through to glean the information you need.
Ability to engage one-on-one with topics I post. You cannot simply post topics you have no idea what they are about, not interested in, or would not be able to reasonably discuss or defend points of view. Remember, we should be talking about subjects we are interested in and have basic (and in many case, detailed) knowledge and experience with.

How to do?

You learn how Twitter works. You watch others. You follow smart people (you will find them soon enough). My initial comfort zone working with Twitter took about 3 months. There are many articles written that you can search for on how to start using Twitter.
I share a lot of information (links, news, resources, RT of posts) that are part of my expertise: Engineering, building codes, accessibility and ADA, green, sustainable and renewable energy.
I introduce my followers to the many online tools and resources that I developed, most are free, some you pay for.
On average, I post about 95 times a day (around 2200 per month).
I engage with people interested and knowledgeable with topics that are my passions. They are located all over the world and on 6 continents. This part took several months to build the bridges of friendship and trust with followers.
In 26 months of engagement, my followers count reached 40,000. The majority are from the US, South America and Europe, with a sizable portion from Asia and the MENA region.
Having tools and resources to maintain and keep up with the massive amount of information you have to go through, filter and curate for your followers. I happen to use dozen of apps dedicated to Twitter maintenance, automation, tracking and posting. No one app can do it all. I talk about some of the apps here: http://oneforty.com/imadnaffa/
On the hardware side, I use the desktop (Windows and Mac platforms). On the road, the iPhone and iPad.
Having web sites, blogs, online tools and resources to compliment social media engagement obviously provides an edge. Many of these were already a part of my company’s offerings and all web-based. Social Media tools, such as Twitter, became a powerful conduit to bring attention and traffic to those offerings.

Why would followers stay followers?
You have to be interesting, reliable, diverse, consistent and fascinating! That’s it- you do that and we can all go home, job well done! Well, actually doing it is harder than just saying it. Out of millions using Twitter (currently estimated at 200+ million accounts worldwide), why would someone follow you? You always have to ask yourself that.

What is your niche? What makes you different, intriguing and fascinating to others? What sets up apart from your competitors? What do you do to stand out in the global noise of social media with millions of eyes vying for attention? Would you follow “you”?

If you talk about one subject only, or a few, and still want tens of thousands of followers, maybe that is not a realistic target. Well, maybe if you are a celebrity of sorts or have monopoly of knowledge in a certain topic- it’s possible. Also, diversity of topics and multiculturalism becomes a must if you are trying to attract a large audience.

Your target audience and what you are trying to accomplish may be met by a few hundred followers. Why would you need that thousands of followers anyways (other than bragging rights I guess). A small number of targeted followers with meaningful engagement would be more effective. The key is to have enough followers to keep it interesting, diverse and large enough for multiple perspectives to be shared.

Are you trying to sell a product or service? Do you know where your target audience is located and who they are? What about language and cultural differences; time zones? Have you thought about all that and came up with solutions?

For many, 200 followers is more than enough. Some swear that you would not get to experience of Twitter unless you have about 2000 followers. There is no stead fast formula here. You just have to find the balance for yourself.

Unless you are a superstar, globally-sought-after personality or celebrity, to expect tens of thousands of followers, takes an inordinate amount of time, consistency of quality posts and passion to keep things going. What do you have to offer to keep thousands coming back to hear what you have to say?

What makes us special and worthy of their time to follow us? Answer this realistically and truthfully, then you have something!

Twitter Stats

To put things into perspective-Twitter Stats* (updated May 20, 2011)

155,000,000 tweets per day.
97% of users have less than 100 followers.
81% of users are following less than 100 people.
As of May, 2011, there are over 200 million accounts worldwide.
Some predict Twitter reaching 1 billion users before Facebook.
Not all Twitter users are tweeters. 5 out of 100 Twitter members create 75% of the content.
460,000 new accounts created every day.
70% of Twitter accounts are based outside the US.
75% of traffic comes from outside Twitter.com.
Gets 3 billion requests per day through its API, generated by over 180 million unique visitors.
Users are sending 155 million tweets per day (over 1 billion every 8 days). My contributions amounted to 0.000173%.
There are already 100,000 apps created to work with Twitter.
40% of tweets come from a mobile device.
50% of active users access Twitter on more than one platform.
Monday is the peak day for retweets. Wednesday is the No. 1 day for self-promotion.
Only 8 out of 100 tweets are considered retweet-worthy.
Examining sample tweets showed that 20% of users are Informers (shared information and replied to others). 80% are Meformers (mostly sent out information about themselves).
Pecentage of companies successfully using business social networking for new customer aquisitions by country: India (52%), Mexico (50%), Spain (50), Netherlands (48%), China (44%), US (35%).
There is an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 users in the MENA region. Bound to be higher after the recent events in the region and the important role Twitter played in transmitting information.
Most active users outside the US are in the UK, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan and India.
I curate an information hub dedicated to Twitter stats, articles and searches that you can bookmark and use (Flash needed). Here is the link http://pear.ly/NKCb* website-monitorng.com, readwriteweb, spring.or.uk, pew, webpronews, sysomos, spotonpr, business.twitter.com, techcrunch.com

Additional Resources-

Twitter Stats Info. Hub, curated by Imad: http://pear.ly/ODt1
My list of the “15 Best of the Best Articles About Twitter”
http://imadnaffa.blogspot.com/2011/02/15-best-of-best-articles-on-twitter.html
How to get more followers on Twitter?
http://www.wikihow.com/Get-More-Followers-on-Twitter
Kevin Rose: 10 Ways To Increase Your Twitter Followers
http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/25/kevin-rose-10-ways-to-increase-your-twitter-followers/
Please have fun while doing all the above!

Categories: imadnaffa

>CALGreen. It’s finally here. Now what?

February 5, 2011 imadnaffa Leave a comment

This is my “Guest Post Friday” that appeared on the Construction Law Musing Blog, February 4, 2011 > http://bit.ly/h67a22

Highlights….

Background

Every three years, the building codes are updated. That in by itself is always a challenging time for all involved in the building permitting process (Owners/Developers, Design Team and the Code Enforcement Community).

In California a new family of building codes, known as the 2010 California Codes, became effective throughout the state on January 1st, 2011.

This time around, a brand new code known as the “2010 California Green Building Standards Code”, aka “CALGreen”, was introduced. This code is Part 11, of the California Code of Regulations, Title 24. It is the nation’s first statewide green building standards code and applies to newly constructed residential and nonresidential occupancies.

CALGreen stems from former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mandate to reduce greenhouse gases in California. Estimates predict a reduction of 3 million metric tons of greenhouse gases by 2020 as a result of the requirements of CALGreen.

CALGreen creates uniform and consistent environmental regulations for new California buildings, but it is not meant to replace individual jurisdictions’ environmental programs and ordinances.

The Code requires that all local environmental ordinances still be followed. Local jurisdictions also have the ability to amend portions of the Code based on a finding of need due to climate, topography, or geology. Complementary sustainability programs, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”), may still be used as long as they do not interfere with CALGreen requirements. Some jurisdictions in California had their own Green Codes before CALGreen came about.

Among other things, CALGreen goals are:

Reduce construction waste;
Make buildings more efficient in the use of materials and energy; and
Reduce environmental impact during and after construction.

Only new construction is subject to the mandatory provisions of CALGreen; remodels, retrofits and additions are not affected. Residential buildings subject to CALGreen include buildings that are three stories or less, including motels, hotels, apartments, and one-and two-family dwellings. Nonresidential buildings subject to the Code include state-owned buildings, state university, and community college buildings, and privately owned buildings used for retail, office, and medical services.

The Code includes requirements for site selection, storm water control during construction, construction waste reduction, indoor water use reduction, material selection, natural resource conservation, site irrigation conservation and more. Significant documentation of compliance with these mandatory provisions is required.he Code provides sample compliance forms and worksheets, which may be acceptable or required by the local building department.

Commissioning, a process for the verification that all building systems (heating, cooling, lighting, etc.) are functioning at their maximum efficiency, is also required for certain buildings.

In addition to the mandatory requirements, the Code includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 provisions. These are voluntary measures that a building may choose to comply with for even greater efficiencies than those called for in the mandatory requirements, with the Tier 2 provisions being the most efficient.

CALGreen Mandatory Provisions

The mandatory minimum provisions in CALGreen have elements that go above and beyond a typical building department’s role and may require additional training, and likely special inspections and/or increased fees. To help in interpreting and enforcing CALGreen mandatory provisions, California’s Housing and Community Development Dept. (HCD) released A Guide to the California Green Building Standards for Low-Rise Residential, and a similar guide to the nonresidential. These documents are a key first step providing guidance and documentation helpful to the enforcement of the mandatory provisions in CALGreen.

CALGreen Tiers

In addition to the mandatory measures in CALGreen, the code also includes two voluntary packages of above-minimum green practices, called “Tiers.”

The Tiers include all the mandatory CALGreen measures plus additional required practices (prerequisites), with a further requirement to choose a set number of optional measures from lists. Unlike the mandatory provisions of the code, the CALGreen Tier structure and associated provisions are a work-in-progress that requires additional definition and interpretation before they can be implemented and verified consistently across regional boundaries.

While the HCD and California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) have provided guides to CALGreen that address the mandatory provisions, these guides provide little guidance on implementation and verification of the Tiers. Until a guide is developed for the Tiers, the burden of defining and verifying the Tiers is assumed by the local enforcing agency, which will need to allocate sufficient resources to ensure proper compliance.

In addition, if the Tiers are adopted by a jurisdiction, the growing number of projects that utilize third-party rating systems—either as a requirement or voluntarily—may incur costly and duplicative documentation and verification procedures, resulting in the unintended consequence of discouraging rating systems, and diminishing a key reward for exemplary performance.

Challenges

I’ve stated in the past, that for green and sustainable construction to take a foothold, it had to be incorporated in the codes and not simply be a voluntary process. Well now we have that in California. The green related provisions are in the code and we have to deal with them from this point on.

For the design and construction community, confusion remains. What is expected of them is being asked even today. Many training opportunities have been offered to the design and code enforcement sectors throughout the state, but now it’s the real thing. How to comply. What needs to be done!

What do the plans and specifications have to show. What about the inspection process? Who will do what and will there be a need for third-party inspections and verifications.

CALGreen specifically, will test the system in a grand scale.

From the plan review side, most of the requirements will be dealt with through forms and notes that will need to be added to the drawings and specifications.

California already has the strictest energy conservation code in the country and compliance with the energy code will ensure compliance with the majority of CALGreen’s requirements.

The building departments will provide most of the verification through the inspection process. Buildings larger than 10,000 sf will have to deal with the commissioning process, which may be the greatest challenge in complying with CALGreen. Third-party inspection/review entities will step in to fill the gaps where the local jurisdictions are not able to provide the service. Additional costs for the owner will be incurred.

Only time will determine if the CALGreen Code lives up to the expectations stake holders had for it.

As with any new code, there will be an adjustment period in the beginning that lasts about six months where the design, construction and code enforcement communities get used to the new code and what is expected from each party.

This will be no different.

Additional Resources and Tips

1. The state maintains a site dedicated to CALGreen FAQs. Designers and Code Officials should be familiar with that site.
2. The Building Code Discussions Group (BCDG) a technical forum of building code-related Q&A has a dedicated forum for CALGreen and Green-related topics. News, checklists, resources, technical code-related discussions by experts and more can be found on that site.

3. For the transition period, the design team should be proactive in soliciting input and interpretations from the local jurisdictions regarding their expectations of what is required (forms, documentation, notations and the inspection/verification process) for CALGreen compliance.

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