Strategy and Social Media

I don't know anyone who has run a blog who has not, at some stage, had their content stolen.  I'm not talking pingbacks, I'm talking plain cut and paste in a third party site without accreditation or your permission.  

Of course, the horse has long bolted on the notion of what really constitues 'free culture'.  Robert Levine's "Free Ride" makes the point just a tad too forcefully.  Here are some ideas for retribution against content thieves, if you are so inclined.  

Very compelling conversation with Buffett.  "Find  the job you would have if you were independently rich. Associate with people you love doing what you love. How can it be any better?"

Interesting article on blogging as long tail PR.

On the great disconnect.  Burnout at 26 years old leads to paid opportunity to disconnect from the Internet and communicate about 'life' through some other sensory media. Watch this space for further opportunties for therapists, thespians and start-ups waiting to profit on the withdrawal pains of the multitudes.  

When I was 26, I was burnt out from waiting for trains on cold platform stations; and late aeroplanes in club lounges in the company of alcholics in dark suits.  We didn't have the social web to moan about that to anyone.  So I guess we were better off then.  Right.

Another in the increasing tidal wave of articles on Online Professional Development, MOOCs and (some) universities preparing to re-invent their offers in the face of adversity (fewer students prepared to pay for expensive tuition in the hope of careers that are increasingly tenuous).  Whichever way you look at it, the case for blended learning reamins compelling.  The online-only route will remain less likely - until some major university (or variants of Coursera) decides to go for broke and grants accrediation at par. 

I've been a Hootsuite convert for many years. Combine it's intuitive interface with a social business such as Airbnb and you start to understand how the tool can be used to facilitate meaningful conversations.

Just because the data is there, it doesn't mean that counting it is going to make you any wiser.  Particularly if you don't know why you're doing the counting in the first place.  

When I was doing my PhD, I found Diigo's note feature very useful.  But that was still a discussion on an online piece with myself.  Not a forum, but a lonely echo-chamber, musings on the work of another.  What used to be blog commentary may yet morph into something else, if some of these start-up ventures get some traction. The 'close-reading of texts' can only be a good thing, if it stimulates more reflective discourse.  

Slowly, the changes are happening within the organisation.  We've gone from blocking the various Facebooks & Twitters to exploring with collaboration tools and exploring social CRM.  It's still early days. The CEOs are still looking for quick ROIs, harbour doubts about the time their staff waste on social media - but recognise that the horse has bolted; that customers are more empowered; and that it's time to similarly empower staff if the organisation is to become more 'social',  

The power of networking as explained by a PhD in statistical physics at MIT, and someone fascinated with complex systems and the behavior patterns that emerge from them. Quite compelling.

The old mantra about social media was conversation. Horizontal conversations between people for social purposes.  Brands with their rebranded marketing agencies figured they too could get social and join those conversations.  Cue more inane 'conversations', dancing cats, competitions, cheap entertainment, spam.  Turns out customers want something else.

Industry experts on the the holy grail of the value - real or imagined - of social data.  The arguments ultimately boil down to context, and the propensity for a brand to both invest in data analysis, and take action.  Which in turn depends on intangible issues, such as corporate culture.  Still, you cannot get away from 'big data' these days.. 

Being stategic dictates that you know when you cannot get sidetracked; and when you should.  I've never been a great fan of the David Allen 'Getting Things Done' regime.  But you cannot argue with Gino's theory about the 'enemy within us'.  Interesting.

Wake up call or viral entertainment? A taster of the great disconnect between old institutions and mobile power.  I think this video raises many issues. From the Foucault-style public spectacle of 'naming and shaming'. to the lack of digital literacies, to mobile devices as tools for smart mobs (Rheingold-style), to 20th century education power systems being forced on a generation brought up on web reality shows, and without much fear of retribution. And that's just the tip of the iceberg...

Now this looks really interesting.  "A brand new specification for learning technology that makes it possible to collect data about the wide range of experiences a person has (online and offline)".

Normally, that's the kind of statement that freaks me out.  Tin Can claim their comnunity-driven API captures data in a consistent format about a person or group’s activities from many technologies - and applies it to a co-learning framework. 

Bright people on the holy grail of branding.

Nielsen take a close look at 35 years of new product concepts, from 1978 to 2013, by testing more than 175,000 concepts across 73 countries. Emerging markets, such as sub-Saharan Africa, are gaining ground as innovators.

Howard Rheingold interviews Kio Stark on how the traditional power equation between holders and seekers of knowledge has been altered by digital media.  As universities lose their monopoly on the accreditation of knowledge, it will be interesting to see what we end up with.  MOOCs? Lynda.coms? The funny thing is that it was the realisation that I was starting to learn a bunch of new stuff online that made me want to go and research the power of the Internet.  And 'research' still means P2P-style PhDs, until we find something else that disrupts the old model for ever.  

Change has to start at home, and in schools.  I need to understand coding myself.  Codecademy, Code School, Code Avengers... I have no excuses now.

You don't need all of these.  Some are actually very helpful.  Most are trying to deal with noise.  Others are trying to help you get your message across despite the noise.  Before it gets quickly drowned out and forgotten.

"Access to the technology you love without the clicks".  I'm starting to look at my fingers in a different way..

Wisdom, mindfulness & startups via Evan Williams. 

The sooner we marry the social sciences with technology, the sooner we will get the education and innovation that we need.