Biz Stone in London

Great thinking and content from the session at NESTA this morning. Reviewed in part here by the BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8368750.stm

what the papers say

OK. It's the Evening Standard, which barely counts anymore but it adds credence to my initial argument that social media = more noise than good business:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23760596-workers-tweet-away-pound-325m-of-time-in-the-office.do

thought for the day

Love this from Clay Shirkey:

"IT doesn't typically help to forge new acquaintances; it mostly helps to commnicate with existing one's".

This should be applied to all business strategy in relation to their use of social media platforms. They should not rely on it or expect it to deliver new business and new customers. It can however be used as part of the mix to help communicate and strengthen relationships with old and established customers.

Good background research to this quote found here - http://arxiv.org/abs/0906.3202

thought for the day 2

Love this quote too from a random Tweet somewhere.

"We progress from being consumers to creators through the rise of social media" That's great then. "why bother reading anymore when we can all just write?!"

social media aggregator - comment technologies

A peer pointed me in the direction of this tool for aggregating all your social media conversations. Will assess the impact I think it could have on different lines of business.

http://www.commenttechnologies.com/

what the papers say 4

Interesting article on the history and growth of the internet. Particularly struck by all the bravado from the those claiming responsibility back in 1969 for its creation, but, as a few bloggers have correctly pointed out, despite all this talk of how fundamentally the internet has changed our lives in just 40 years (quit a long time in innovation terms actually) the majority of us still go to work, drive cars, physically go to school or university, watch tv etc. Hardly fundamental change then!

Maybe, that change is now coming. As a result of social media and the semantic web? We will see.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/23/internet-40-history-arpanet

thought for the day

Can't help thinking these feelings about Google's business model echo the initial thoughts about social media that I kicked this research off with. Ultimately, social media tools support malfunctioning business models and encourage 'loose relationships' between all businesses and their customers.

The The Guardian online 23 October 2009:

"

Murdoch himself has said he wants to bring in paywalls to fix the media's "malfunctioning" business model, while former Times editor Robert Thomson – now running the Wall Street Journal – has lashed out at Google on several occasions for what he says is a parasitic attitude towards mainstream media.

Yesterday, Thomson repeated his attacks - telling Google vice president Marissa Meyer that she encouraged a loose relationship between media companies and consumers.

"Marissa unintentionally encourages promiscuity," he said. "The whole Google model is based on digital disloyalty – about disloyalty to creators."

"