connecting

I find myself on both sides of this idea when I'm listening to clients about their business/products/services/processes requirements and then trying to explain to them the business advantages of social network software. What happens on both sides is we assume too much and expect others to at least have an understanding of the basics. Hell, most people are overwhelmed. Anyway, here's an interesting article form The NY Times about innovation and "the curse of knowledge".

"Eight business technology trends to watch", from Mckinsey Quarterly

Eight emerging trends are transforming many markets and businesses. Executives should learn to shape the outcome rather than just react to it.

Managing relationships

1. Distributing cocreation

The Internet and related technologies give companies radical new ways to harvest the talents of innovators working outside corporate boundaries.

Not so fast. I often times get caught up in what I know about social networking and information management - the curse of knowledge. I assume that most people are familiar with the ideas of social information management. They aren't.

Anyway, I came across a blog post (from the blogroll - an rss agregator), by Jon Udell, "Social Information Management".

Younger generations [future customers and employees] rarely notice the technology in the devices they use. Baby boomers raised in the 1960s only saw the programming and didn't think much, if at all, about the technology and infrastructure that brought them Bonanza, The Ed Sullivan Show and Laugh-In.
Not only do younger generations perceive technology differently from their elders, including the CIOs and other executives who manage IT organizations and corporations, but they use it differently, too.

"Does college matter?", from Kathy Sierra. This is one of Kathy's older post, July 14, 2005.

This idea has been around for some time. I first read about it in, "small pieces loosely joined", by Dave Weinberger (one of the authors of the cluetrain). Anyway, Micheal Schrage has a good post, "Round-off Error? Hardly!" MIT Technology Review that applies the math. to the idea.

"Social Networking Blurs Boundaries of Learning", from Chief Learning Officer

"Comparing Wal-Mart and Target on Facebook", from Emergence Marketing.

"Target has over 7,000 members and mostly positive comments in a vibrant set of discussions. The Wal-Mart group on the other hand has a little over 1,200 members, no discussions are allowed, and the wall postings are mostly negative."

Just 1% of people can create a new market for business, spark a social movement, or effect a political change. Here, Penn (one of the world's most highly regarded pollster) and Zalense (social-change expert) introduce you to this compelling idea of microtrends, and their assertion that the culture is formed by the push and pull of small trends that are often invisible or ignored.