Congrats to everyone who competed in the US coffee champs over the weekend! If you attended Expo, please test and test multiple times. There have been quite a few reports of people testing positive for COVID in just the last two days alone.

• I’ve been looking for a Goodreads replacement and finally found one in Storygraph! I was able to export my Goodreads reading lists pretty seamlessly.
• Do you use emojis in your business communications? It might be time to see if they’re needed and if they’re being interpreted the way they were intended at the time of writing. Read more.
• If you’re in or around Houston, the Color of Coffee Collective’s Symposium is happening mid-May.

How to Do a Facebook Audit in Less than 30 Minutes

[BYLINE] There’s no better time than now to fine-tune your Facebook presence. The good news? Conducting a Facebook audit can be done in a matter of minutes with the help of this step-by-step guide.

This should’ve been an email

I have a running list of office pet peeves that might become a larger article but for this essay, I’d like to focus on those meetings and calls that should’ve been emails instead.

A study was recently published about this, comparing the various communication types.

From the study:

“Excessive use of text-based communication—including email and instant messaging—for complex tasks such as negotiating, decision-making or problem-solving, can lower a person’s interest and performance on work started after the conversation is finished.”

I feel a little attacked here, as I’m one who would much rather receive an email than an unplanned phone call. But, this study isn’t really for people like me (working remotely, across many time zones, with multiple companies, and communicating with non-native English speakers). So I digress.

My first response in reading the article was, Well, why don’t people learn how to better communicate?. This is unfair of me to ask, plus I’d be out of work. There are always going to be communication issues, whether it’s at work or in personal relationships. In my experience, there are quite a few meetings and calls that could’ve been emails instead. At least for emails, I can sort through my inbox on my schedule. For random calls, I’m locked in for that moment. I’ve spent far too many hours in meetings wondering why I was there at all. There was no agenda, no follow-up, just a calendar invite existing as if it was shouting, “Look at me! I’m doing my job! I have this meeting about this project!”

One of the biggest reasons I prefer emails (besides how meetings and calls can waste my time) is that there’s documentation. Even if a meeting was better, I would still follow up with call notes or a summary so that everyone at the meeting is on the same page. Then you avoid those “but I remember Bob saying this at the meeting” when it didn’t actually happen.

There’s also the issue of “this Slack message should’ve been an email or documented in a central location”, which might be familiar to those who have spent too many hours searching through messages on the app. But, internal communications are always going to be an issue. I do strongly believe that people should continually learn how to better communicate, especially with different communication styles.

Unless you’re a billionaire who can afford a private shuttle around the Earth, we’re all on this planet together. And, if dogs can develop a special eye muscle to create the puppy dog look and bond with humans better, we can surely all figure out if that meeting should’ve been an email instead.

Instagram updated its Reels editing tools and added new messaging features.

Twitter is testing the “unmention” feature for those who are annoyed at still being tagged in conversations they don’t want to be a part of. It’s also retesting the ability to post your current status.

In other news, YouTube added a new search insights tab to provide creators with keyword search history. Pinterest is adding a new partnership with WooCommerce for rich pins.

Benchmark your business! HubSpot released a content & media strategy report. And Semrush released the content marketing landscape report for small & midsize businesses.

Building in Public: How Transparency on the Internet Can Support Your Goals

This article delves into why you might want to take the transparent approach to goal-setting and achieving, also known as building in public.

Which Social Media Measurements Matter Most? It’s All in the Customer Journey

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15 Ways to Use Instagram Product Tags

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The remarkable brain of a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages

In a city where diplomats and embassies abound, where interpreters can command six-figure salaries, where language proficiency is résumé rocket fuel, Vaughn Smith was a savant with a secret.

A History of Hup, the Jump Sound of Shooting Games

You can hear it in your head: the grunt your character makes when hopping a fence or leaping into battle. But no one quite remembers why it exists.

Employees Are Sick of Being Asked to Make Moral Compromises

[HBR FREEMIUM] The Great Resignation is a signal that employees no longer want to be complicit in behavior that conflicts with their values and sense of fairness.