Jeremiah Owyang and a proper thank-you...

Yesterday, I complimented Jeremiah Owyang on his blog post by providing my own post here and also publicly on Twitter, he responded with a "Thank-you."

We're all busy and still, I believe that's no excuse for poor manners. Jeremiah demonstrated that even though he has thousands of followers collectively in "his" community on Twitter and elsewhere online, he is still able to take the time to thank someone specifically for something they've said or done.

Like my wife and I say to our daughter, "manners never go on a holiday."

Of course, we all get to choose who, how and if we want to respond to someone online or offline. That said, I believe that just like a general lack of ability to effectively and properly follow-up in a business context when opportunity knocks, there also seems to be a general lack of "manners," on the Internet today as well.

Call me "old-fashioned" if you like but I believe it proper to "thank" people when they take the time to respond to anything I've done, regardless of the intent or comment being good or bad. This is especially tough when someone is saying something less than positive about you, your company or the work you're doing. This is the true test of the Internet today. We continue to see large companies running and hiding because they don't want to stand up to the scrutiny.

Welcome to a general test of our morals, philosophy and character, how we respond or don't respond says something about us as human beings. To me this is at the core of who I am, it guides me and my business dealings every single day and I don't ever waver from it.

So to everyone who cares to make contact with me or my company, know that I will always "thank-you" for your time and comment regardless of its content, as long as, you're being respectable. I respect your opinion, I may not always agree with it and I understand that you are entitled to it. The fact that you took some of your valuable time on this planet to communicate with me in general says something positive about me and/or my company.

Thank-you for reading this post and I hope you have a profitable day.