It's all geek to me

Here's a lesson in technology that's really a lesson in culture: don't assume everyone knows what you're talking about, especially when you're talking about something new and jargony.

A British survey found that a lot of people didn't know what a "blog" or "RSS feed" are. The lesson for small biz? If you have a blog, an RSS feed, or just about any other techno-dweeby kind of new-new thing (or even something slightly older), translate it into plain, understandable language, in terms the user can understand. Sure, "See our blog at sitename.com" might be an enticement. But you might get another group if you refer to it as an "online journal you can comment on," for example.

Then there's this survey that shows office workers are very confused over tech terms. My favorite? People turning off firewalls because they thought, based on the word, that they would do harm.