As I close in on my second full month with  my Droid I am generally satisfied.  I should probably make that statement more positive as with the range of functions available on the device, I can pretty much exist without other devices, such as a computer, if I so choose.  By the way, I transitioned from the Storm 1 and considered the Storm 2 but ultimately chose the Droid.  The display is top-notch and reading Tweets or internet sites are easy.  I find myself using the on-screen keyboards almost exclusively even though the Droid has a slide out physical keyboard.  The flat slide out keyboard is difficult for someone with fat fingers like me to use.  Further the on-screen keyboards are easy to use.  One thing that I miss is Poynt!  While there are location programs for the Android system, I have not found anything that works quite as well as Poynt which is available for Blackberry devices.  I can only hope that Poynt will be ported to Android.

I have encountered a two things that probably should have been identified by either Verizon, Google or Motorola.  For starters, the Droid is not recognized by 64 bit Windows.  I discovered this when attempting to move music from my 64 bit Windows machine.  Thankfully I have a networked 32 bit Windows machine and had no problems making the transfer.  However, I discovered this pretty much by myself.  I talked with both Verizon and Motorola and neither of them offered this information.  Another issue was with Tweetcaster.  I was experiencing problems with Gmail and Tweetcaster suddenly being unable to connect.  A reset to factory spec solved the problem for a short time but inevitably the problem would reoccur.  Conversations with Verizon support yielded a decision to replace the device.  Shortly after setting up the replacement device the same problem occurred.  Removing Tweetcaster solved the problem.  I am currently using Twidroid with no problem.

As noted earlier, I am happy with the Droid and truly appreciate all of it’s capability.

Today I read the following quote from Oprah Winfrey “People don’t change behavior or positions based on what they know. They change based on what they feel.” That quote I think is a corollary to one thing that I have believed for a long time – That is – “Perception is reality to the perceiver”.  Think about it, if someone believes something to be the case they often persist in that belief even in the face of evidence to the contrary.  Why is this the case?  I do not know for sure, but I think it has to do with preconceived notions, value systems, myth or things that have been touted as fact for a long time.

So what does this mean for us?  It means we have to be aware of our audience’s perception of us and be prepared to make the appropriate adjustments to square the perception with our reality.  The social media tools can and should be a major component in this quest.  First, we should be tracking any mention of us on the social media networks.  Google Alerts and other tools will provide you daily with a list of items that appear with you or your organizations name.  Strategically placed questions in the various social media forums, Twitter and Facebook come to mind, can enlist responses that provide a picture of how we are viewed.  Armed with the information that we glean from all sources we can, again using the social media tools, work to change the perception our audience holds of us.  It can also mean that our current offerings are not meeting the needs of our audience.  This too is valuable information and can provide us with what we need to make the changes necessary to meet the expressed wants and needs.

Not adapting to what we find is analogous to pushing a chain up the hill – it does not work!  Start today to build your intelligence system and begin assembling all of the information you can acquire and be ready to adapt.