social commerce

Amazon figured out social shopping and e-comm - social e-commerce - a long time ago. They made it easy for consumers (aka prosumers) to make recommendations, write reviews and then share the information with other users. Although, I am not surprised that these ideas failed to catch on with most businesses. Interestingly, most businesses today are missing out on web 2.0 too.

You know, the static ones with old information. Or one where you couldn't find the information you wanted? The kind where the customers needs were an after thought. I dread those. You see them all over the web. From small business sites to medium ones and even large company sites. They all suck.

Here's a nice film promoting Charles Leadbetter's new book "We Think". The book is about collaborative innovation on the net.

From Mr. Leadbetter's site, "Welcome to We-think: mass innovation, not mass production

WeThink explores how the web is changing our world, creating a culture in which more people than ever can participate, share and collaborate, ideas and information.

Ideas take life when they are shared. That is why the web is such a potent platform for creativity and innovation.

"The growing number of companies offering private-label social network solutions, as well as IBM's recent entry into the field with its Lotus Connections social software platform for business, is a sure sign of increased demand. Other companies, like LinkedIn and Ryze, have social networking at the core of product offerings that generate revenue by bringing offline business networking practices into the online world. And corporations are continuing to incorporate advertising on affinity networks in their campaigns to reach highly targeted audiences with measurable response rates.

Christopher Carfi, The Social Customer Manifesto, has pulled together ten good reasons why business development managers should consider using social network solutions and community software solutions. I've snagged the bullets but go a head and read his full post.

The article is about the kid that started facebook, a social network for highschool and college kids.

The half-a-billion-dollar kid,

Commentary: Facebook gets $550 million valuation - By Bambi Francisco, MarketWatch