Daily We - Revisited

My first thought when looking at this article was, this is from the year 2001.
That was almost ten years ago.
In 2001, I had just barely started using email and the internet.
A LOT has happened since then.

At the time he wrote this article, Cass Sunstein discussed the possibility of the internet limiting people's views and creating more segregation of thought and influence. He says:
"A system in which you lack control over the particular content that you see has a great deal in common with a public street, where you might encounter not only friends, but a heterogeneous variety of people engaged in a wide array of activities (including, perhaps, political protests and begging)".
And, so, in theory, when people have "control" over the content that they see, the "public sphere" might suffer because of it. People may not come into contact with people who have different perspectives from their own.

But what has really happened over the past ten years?

David Brooks of the New York Times looked at a study that set out to answer just that. Brooks says, “the core finding is that most Internet users do not stay within their communities.”
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/opinion/20brooks.html)

The study found that internet activity is actually more integrated than real world interaction. "...Internet users are a bunch of ideological Jack Kerouacs. They’re not burrowing down into comforting nests. They’re cruising far and wide looking for adventure, information, combat and arousal."


What has your experience been? Do you think the internet limits our experience of Others?

"Everyone Wins!"

I've never "checked in" anywhere.

I like that companies are creating win-win situations for people though.

"In loyalty programs, consumers give to get."

"It ties together word-of-mouth influence and real-world visits, rewarding people for motivating others to visit a business." The businesses get more people in.

Sounds great.

& like other social media technology, it makes the shopping, eating and buying experiences more interactive.

I work in a library. This kind of technology is great for group study. If someone is working on a project, it is a great way for people working on the same or a similar project to meet up and collaborate.

How can it be used in other work environments?

Social Media = Preventative Behavior????

I like the ideas in Eric Qualman's book Socialnomics
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8)

But I think he is a little overzealous in his statement:

It connects parents to their kids like never before.

At this point, parents might see a lot more of what their kids have to say. But I don't think this will last. Kids will more than likely hide any material that they don't want their parents to see via something like Facebook's group function or some other control on social networking sites.

Social media sites do help people connect and they help form communities; and maybe if a family is geographically spread out across the country or the world, or if a kid goes to college, it could even help a family stick together. But I don't think it will have much of an impact on parent-child relationships at home. Parents have the opportunity to interact with their children face to face and this is what really forms a bond between parent and child. I don't think that social media is going to change much here.

It's has been proven that activities like eating dinner together help families and students develop. But do you think social media will help children and parents connect?

Idea Storm

“It may be that just when IT tools become simple, ubiquitous, and easy to use that the exciting management challenges really begin.”

It seems that this idea comes up again and again in our class. When everyone understands how to use a tool, it starts to get boring. People want to see what’s next. They want something new. Something exciting. Or something that will make their lives a little easier.

User Innovation Communities can help companies really listen to and engage their customers. In the Dell case, we get an outline of how Dell responded to its customers through IdeaStorm. Dell developed a number of programs that helped break down “barriers to participation” including a User Toolkit that showed people how to use their products and services.

Companies who want to use social media effectively need to “develop a consistent and integrated message across a diverse set of very different social medial tools used in different ways”. Managers need to be smart and savvy. They need to develop simple yet innovative ways to get people, both inside and outside of their companies, involved and interested in what they are doing.

Communispace

Communispace recognizes the shift in paradigm in the marketing world from advertising to listening. Consumers don’t want companies to try to sell them something that they don’t need. People want someone to create a product that they do need. And in order to do this, companies need to listen to what consumers want.

Companies need to really know their customers. Everything in the world is becoming more individualized, more customized. Companies need to do one thing and do it well to maintain their customer base in the long term. And they need to have the “right people” as their customers. People want to connect with like-minded people and it is up to a developer to make a real community of people.

New products and services will come from this high level of interaction. And more sophisticated networks will be formed.
Social media is helping to create a more sustainable way of doing business…

..."the ad has been liberated": thoughts on “When Customers Create the Ad”

A revolution is taking place in the way we live. Brands are part of our identity in every way, shape and form - from the clothing we wear to the shows we watch to the foods we consume – brands are everywhere. Now, we all have an opportunity to take more ownership and responsibility for our own lifestyles and choices by influencing how brands will look and by supporting or not supporting the changes made by companies …”the ad has been liberated” through social media.

Everyone has some level of freedom to be an active participant in the companies that they invest in on the web; be it through time or money, people can have a big influence on the products and services that are out there. “The traditional distinctions between producer and consumer and between mass communication and individual communication are dissolving, and with these, traditional models of media management...” Managers need to understand why consumers are interested in generating their own ads, what kinds of ads customers create and how they can best respond to what is going on.

Consumers create ads because they like to create, because they enjoy it; they want to learn, to self-identify, to have a “public sense of accomplishment” and to be part of a community. People like to be able to have a say in what is going on in the world that they live in.

People are very clever. They love and know the products that they use and they come up with innovative, fun ways to share this information and feelings with others.

Managers need to pay attention to the demands, interests and concerns of their users in order to survive today. They need to constantly re-evaluate what their business is doing and what they have to offer in order to satisfy their customers needs and wants. “The ad is liberated. Managers’ thinking will have to be as well.”

Reflections on Open Leadership

Social technology is having a big influence on leadership. “The flow of information around the company and into and out of the organization” has changed tremendously with new technologies, starting with email and even more so with social media. So many new things are happening in the business world today that companies need to make a lot of quick decisions in order to adapt. This calls for a more distributed leadership.

Leaders have a lot more to consider. A leader is no “longer the ultimate strategist and decider of what people do” but s/he is someone who communicates information and ideas. “His/her job is to make sure that the right protocols, the right environment, and the right infrastructure are all in place for people to create new features and make amazing things happen”.

Leaders need to be able to delegate more than ever to be sure that quality work is done across the company. “A tremendous amount of discipline and planning is needed to get everyone working in the same direction”. Leaders need to follow the example of Cisco who created a system of distributed decision making. The leaders of this company developed a “disciplined, replicable” method of decision making that was infused throughout the company; and through collaborative technology created a structure with leaders positioned all over the company.

If you are going to involve more people, they have to have the right information. Leaders need to really be in touch with people. And the more people who can effectively communicate a company’s message, the better it is for everyone involved. “The key difference today is that the give-and-take that typifies OBM happens more regularly, not just once a quarter when the executives of the company descend to share results. It’s the constant checking –in that leaders do”. Blogs, Twitter, and podcasts “enable them (leaders) to share their thoughts and decisions” and this sharing takes place outside the company too.

It is important for customers to make informed decisions. The author claims that the more information shared, the more trust will result with some exceptions of sensitive material. But, every situation needs to be studied and acted on in different ways. Some amount of privacy is useful. The challenge is to find the right amount of sharing for each idea and product.

reflections on naked conversations

Before this class, I never tweeted or blogged or read anyone else’s tweets or blogs. So, any opinions I have are going to be fairly superficial, but here is what I gathered.

In the business world, it seems to me that this way of communicating is attractive because it is fast and fosters trust between individual and companies.

Ten years ago, if someone had a complaint about a product or service, he or she probably had one of two options:
a. Write a letter and send it snail mail, which would probably take about a week. Once the letter got to the already overflowing mailroom, someone may or may not look at it. Generally, a response will come as a form letter.
b. Call. You could place a call to a company and quite possibly wait ten, twenty or thirty minutes and still be on hold.
In either case, customers do not really feel as though they are being listened to.

Then, we had email which could take a day or sometimes more.

Today, companies have numerous social networking sites like Twitter that respond almost instantly to customers needs. And that is what customers want. People feel like they are dealing with real human beings and not just automated responses.

Likewise, blogs allow for people within a company to give users and customers a better sense of who they are dealing with. Blogs make a company more open and give it transparency which can translate into trust for many customers and clients. Bloggers can try to engage their customers with more in depth and personal information about their organization and help stimulate “word-of-mouth buzz” about a company, what they are doing or what new products they have to offer.

Because sites like Twitter and blogs are so popular, companies are being faced with new challenges. People want to feel a real connection with the places, spaces and products that they are investing their money in; and people expecting more and more from businesses. This calls for new skill sets, including the use of social media, in order for a company to be successful.

One Million Voices (reflections on Facebook Fairytales)

Facebook Fairytales is a refreshing book. It shares stories that inspire hope; hope that is desperately needed in today’s world. For the most part, we are used to hearing bad news and reports on devastating events all day via the media. It is encouraging to read stories about positive events that are taking place throughout the world. *

Our use of words is powerful. So much is said about the bad things that happen throughout the world, that it becomes, to a great extent, our reality. Facebook Fairytales shows some examples of how social media gives people an outlet to share different kinds of news. At this point, positive news and events that would have gone practically unnoticed ten years ago are spreading as fast as news of war and devastation across the world. People are captivated by stories of courage and generosity of spirit.

This is having a huge impact on the world today. Individuals have tools at their disposal to really make a difference. People can make light of things that create common bonds and trust among people, things that are largely ignored by traditional media.

My favorite Facebook Fairytale is One Million Voices. It’s amazing that one person could organize against such a powerful group. Without the speed and ease of social media, if one person stood up against FARC in the public sphere, he or she would more than likely be killed by this group. But with thousand of people banding together by the minute on the web, a group was created, peacefully, that was more powerful than FARC.

This is especially important in places where poverty and corruption is so bad that there are no resources to fund an effective legal system. Now, people have tools to help them form powerful alliances with each other and are less likely to be persecuted. Ultimately, people are given more opportunities and tools to develop freedom and have a just society because of social media.

*idea partly taken from a book called Hope's Edge by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé

In the Name of Humanity... (reflections on A World of Connections)

“Man is no longer indigenous, native to one place; he is global. His immediate environment is no longer local but digital. Once tied to a territory and people, now he is plugged into a network and can make his own virtual community.”
-from In the Name of Humanity

I found this excerpt while I was doing some outside reading this week and I think it echoed what was said in the Economist article, A World of Connections; we all live in a world that is becoming increasingly connected and more personalized everyday.

The invention of the internet and social media tools are making it easier for people to organize based on real interests and concerns. People can make connections with people socially and professionally with much greater ease than ever before.

Information is available within an instant. Geographic borders and locating information are no longer relevant concerns. People can communicate across the globe, instantly. This kind of interaction makes it possible for more intentional, meaningful action to take place.

This can be a double-edged sword. People of every walk of life are participating in the same activities and creating common bonds with one another. Potentially, this can help develop a deeper sense of trust world-wide. Unfortunately, people can use these tools to organize for harmful purposes too.

We all live in the “internet bubble” to some degree. We get our information ranging from news to music to events from the computer. We all share the same sources, the same servers and the same networks.
As Twitter co-founder, Biz Stone, said, there is a “trend towards greater openness” and people are “happy to share more information about themselves”. But this involves obvious dangers too.

How can this system be monitored to allow for maximum freedom yet protect people at the same time…


9/10

tell-a-vision (reflections on cognitive surplus...)

We’re witnessing a shift in paradigm from television to tell-a-vision.

People are taking an active part in world events.

Instead of watching TV, people are talking to more and more people, making more and more connections, and sharing more and more information.

People are taking full advantage of the opportunity they have to be more connected to the world.

Personally, I know without Facebook and cell phones, more than half of my friends would be completely out of touch. Within the same second, I can communicate with people in South Korea, Florida, California, Hawaii, and right here in Boston. It’s as though time zones no longer exist.

Left unchecked, this can be devastating. People can use these devices will ill intent; and bad information can travel as fast as good.

But, there is a lot we can understand about social media & with the right balance of expertise and collaboration we can create more and more positive outcomes…

Groundswell

"In groundswell, relationships are everything."

What can we do with current technology? Does it enable people to connect with each other in new ways, does it facilitate relationships, does it make people feel more connected?

These are the questions that we need to ask when making new tools for social media.

What kind of relationships can exist via social media?

How can we facilitate and support new ways for people to connect across the internet and the world?


Reading Groundswell left me with more questions than comments. I'm looking forward to learning some possible answers...