Barry talks about the ways that social media and community are fundamentally changing the way smart companies are doing business!
My Bad
7/2/2008 | posted by
Stoical
As someone that has been in the business of "community" for the last 10 years (since I was advocating this at Andersen with their clients), I'm constantly surprised with how fast the "community" market is changing. Just two short years ago, I remember attending one holiday party after another where guests asked me what I did for a living. The blank look on everyone's face when I told them I ran a "community" company said it all. So you'll forgive me if I started to have my doubts as to whethe ...
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A long time ago, my friend, who was the CEO of Thomson at the time, said that success accrues to companies that produce products which are consumed like air, not haircuts. Let me clarify what he meant.
In short, there two types of businesses:
The first category sells products that are like haircuts — their customers purchase them only infrequently — once a month at most, if not less often; andThe second group creates products that are like air - their services are inhaled all day long by t ...
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day’s weekend WSJ. It showed that the future is here when it comes to who owns content, broadcasting, and distribution in all industries in the age of community.
In short, todays web 2.0 technologies and social networks are enabling the crowd to become the king of content and distribution regardless of the source and industry. The only question I have is when will the traditional purveyors of content -- be they management consultants, market researchers, tv and radio broadcasters, movie pro ...
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I remember the first time my young sons asked me, "Where's Waldo?" We would be reading at night before they went to sleep, and we would diligently look for Waldo among a large crowd of people. Depending on the level of the book or game, it was either hard or simple. But in the end, we found Waldo.
As I look back, I have been plagued with looking for Waldo throughout my adult career. Whether I was looking for the right attorney for a specific transaction; an executive search consultant to ...
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My peers are finally beginning to wake up to their kids’ technologies - including blogs, wikis and podcasts, as well as up- and down- loadable videos - and how they can be applied to improve business performance according to this week’s issue of Businessweek. And it couldn’t have come any sooner for my company and yours.
In short, we have all known that our rolodex (who we knew) was invaluable. It helped us find new jobs, make sales, compare notes and gain trusted feedback. And the same w ...
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I just finished reading a great article about Web 2.0 in BusinessWeek. The main point was that Web 2.0 technologies have all CEOs spinning because they cede control from the enterprise and their leaders and give it to their crowds -- e.g. customers, employees, partners and investors. Given that I am a CEO, I understand their pain.
In short, I was trained at an Ivy League business school, have worked for major enterprises as an executive and have started small companies as their leader. Each ...
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There has a tremendous amount of press recently about the growth of online advertising, communities, social networking, job growth and e-commerce. There is no doubting it: online is coming of age.
But I think it is more profound that any of us in business can imagine. Currently, the hottest media properties, jobs, phone company, real estate firm and, as we all know, means for finding anything and everything form of search is online. More amazing to me, however, is that my mom runs a car dea ...
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I can remember sitting in front of my TV as a young child in the 60s, excited to have a choice of three different stations to watch -- CBS, ABC and NBC. My family sat together to enjoy the entertainment and news together. It was an important social gathering for us.
Wow has the world changed. No longer does my family sit together around a single TV in our living room watching the same show (in fact, there isn't even a TV in our living room). We all have shows that we like, and they are dif ...
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My first start-up involved building and buying apartment complexes. It was during the 1980s, after a stint with McKinsey & Company. We reached nearly a quarter-billion dollars in assets before we sold it. What I didn't realize in building brick and mortar communities, was that they were less durable than virtual communities.
How can that be? Buildings have plumbing, electrical, roofs, windows, carpentry, wallboard and flooring. They are 'rock solid' -- while virtual communities are just tie ...
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Many of you young bloggers don't know who Frank Sinatra is or what he has to do with building communities and social networks. But to me, he is one of the great visionaries of the social networking and community groundswell that is now in full swing.
It was nearly 30 years ago, and I remember the song vividly - It was called MY WAY. Now, I'll admit it, when Frank was singing that song, he probably wasn't thinking of myspaces.com, flickr or youtube as a means to achieving one's own PERSONAL ...
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