Jason Spector.com

As many of you may have noticed, my presence on this site lately has been a little sparse. Since my fun wrap up of 2009, a lot has happened and I took a small hiatus to soak it all in. In short, I’ve made the move from an employee to an independent consultant and entrepreneur . Why? To be honest, it was thrust upon me as so many others before me. And like many others before me, I took it as an opportunity to explore what I want to do, where I want to be and how I can make the greatest impact.

But before we look forward, we should take a look back…

As we wind down 2009, the blogosphere is a buzz with end-of-year posts. Everyone wants to finish up on a high note and why not? We’ve all watched, learned and experienced many things and events that we never would’ve even considered this time last year.

Now it’s my turn. But what to write about? Hmmm….

HootSuite, my preferred Twitter client, recently upgraded their app with several new features, some UI tweaks and a few minor design changes. The long-awaited and highly-anticipated updates were the LinkedIn, Facebook and Ping.fm integrations as well as Twitter Lists. What prompted me to write this post, however, was a single subtle change that I imagine many users might not catch. But being the type of UX guy that I am, it drove me a little nuts. I’m referring to the updated character count of the twitter posts.

Driving down the east coast to South Florida provides its own unique set of observations, experiences and challenges. During a recent family road trip, I found myself looking at the standard geographic differences and weather changes as well as enjoying some southern hospitality. But it also occurred to me how much we can learn from these local businesses.

I’m often asked the question, “What makes a great community?” My reply back is usually, “What makes a great community for you?”. No, this isn’t my subtle way of dodging the question, but my subtle way of forcing the person asking into a bit of truthful introspection about who they are and what environments they flourish in.