the McClain Report

Folks who hold down full-time jobs and still find the time to manage their social media and blog have my utmost respect.

My quest going forward is to discover a way that works for me to continue the personal and professional Twitter and FaceBook account work I do and start back into blogging.

The question is how to focus on a message, or chose to go random.

The decision was clearer when I was preparing to start my own company and earn a living freelancing and managing small clients. Now, with a full time job in the political world, words and topics must be chosen more carefully.

If I stick to my personal life, and offer a bit of what it is like to be a parent to a freshman away at college and a 10th grader itching to drive, that may be entertaining in a historical record sort of way. But will anyone else care?

I have many thoughts today on the world of business and politics. I remain distressed with the international situation our country finds itself in, but really have no insight any greater than the many folks out there who follow the same news streams.

The world of local business is more up my alley, and perhaps I will be commenting on events I observe, offer a few scoops and my feeling on the pulse of our local economy. Today, we are stuck in a place of not-as-bad-as-it-could-be but not really moving forward. My extended family has been effected in a significant way, with business issues, job losses and investment disasters. In the old days you could just dig in and dig out. No so easy today.

The perspective of the media also continues to fascinate me, as it did for a quarter century when I was a member of that establishment. When the economy was jamming in the late 1990s and even into the 2000s, the focus was mostly on those who were being left behind, on how housing prices were excessive and salaries unfair. Well today we have housing prices that have crashed and folks fighting for entry level jobs. So it really was better then, which I tried to point out to people at the time was really a good thing.

Today the challenge is pointing out that as bad as it is, 90 percent of people still manage to find and hold jobs. Yes, the issue is those jobs often are paying less and the security is not there. Was it really that long ago that driving around our tech centers off Mira Mesa Boulevard drivers were assailed with banners promoting various employers. The goodies and packages and incentives were everywhere.

Our economy is undergoing a fundamental change. But we in California are fortunate to live in a place not resistant to change, and the opportunity it creates. It started with the Gold Rush and has not stopped. If I was to bet, the next wave of world-shaking innovations will come from the Golden State and a new wave of prosperity will be upon us. In San Diego, I suspect it will be telecommunications and alternative fuels, with the latter for the first time finally delivering the biotech promise of spreading the dream, and wealth, from outside the small circle of scientists and researchers who now own the largest chunk of that largess.

See, that way, when my son graduates with his degree in environmental science, he can move here for a job, and not the gulf or someplace even farther. But that's a hope for another day.

Once the purview of larger companies with larger budgets, CoTweet is now in the public domain as a beta, available to all. So far, so great. I am managing my own Twitter account -- SanDiegoBiz -- and now from one location can also manage from one place those for a pet supply warehouse in Downtown San Diego -- SDPetSupply -- and an educational supply store in the Antelope Valley -- ptastoreav.

My next step is having those clients download and sign on to the system. Potential issue: Both are very new to all things social media. Will jumping from the standard Twitter interface to something new be to unnerving? Nah.