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27 November 2009  Ironically Self-contradictory Article Overlooks the Real Purpose of Digital Social Networks
Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal published What Facebook Can’t Give You, which chronicles the growth of the “Wednesday 10,” a professional networking group started in 1957 in Manhattan by William Safire. Established when members were in their 20s, the Wednesday 10 saw many of its members go on to become leading broadcasting executives, investment bankers and real estate moguls, and the point of the headlines is that “old fashioned” offline face to face networking is superior to online social networking.
This is another example of uninformed “criticism” of online social networks because it takes a mutually exclusive attitude toward offline and online social networking, a growing head-in-the-sand response to the disruption that the latter presents. Read on for a short review and discussion of how successful executives in the 21st century will use all modes of social networking to increase competitiveness through authentic relationships.
4 September 2009 Spats on the Road of Transformation—Backlash Right on Schedule
As the Web 2.0 Adoption Curve, 2009-2015 predicts, there will be a significant backlash against social networks during 2009-2010 because the market’s perceived value of social networks is much higher than its skill with the tools, and this will result in inflated expectations and disappointments. Most decision makers are distracted by social networks’ novelty and features, and they overlook the obvious, that social networks offer a quantum leap in productivity for developing and managing relationships.
The MSM (mainstream media) have at best an ambivalent relationship with social networks because the latter weaken their monopoly on influence and mass communications. Consequently, they face a double barrier in understanding social networks’ value proposition: 1) like the rest of the market, they require time to understand how they can best use social networks in meaningful ways and 2) since they perceive social networks as challengers, they are too ready to be dismissive. Executives will be well served to keep this in mind lest they be influenced into rejecting social networks’ promise too hastily.
To illustrate the point, I will comment on Facebook Exodus from the New York Times as an example of self-indulgent journalism that will add to the backlash. Expect a wave of such press in the coming months.
29 August 2009 Contradictions Abound—What Seems New Is Ancient—Sorting through the Clutter to Create Value
 Digital social networks are transforming every field of human endeavor, from society and romance to politics and business. This is happening because they change the economics of how people discover, develop and maintain relationships. Although some will argue this point, we humans share with other animals the propensity to take more of something desirable when given the chance, and social networks enable us to have more relationships.
However, as I predicted in the Web 2.0 Adoption Curve, 2009-2015, there will be a significant backlash against social networks during 2009-2010 because the market’s perceived value of social networks is much higher than its skill with the tools. This will result in inflated expectations and ensuing disappointments. Most executives are distracted by social networks’ strangeness and features, and they miss the obvious, that social networks offer a quantum leap in productivity for developing and managing relationships. Much of the market will reject social networks as a fad and will sit on the sidelines during the Failure & Disappointment part of the adoption curve. However, people and companies that understand the real proposition will develop a rare competitive advantage while competitors are snoozing.
26 July 2009  The 20th century created and democratized unprecedented wealth for humankind in many parts of the world, but soon after the 21st century dawned that party ran out of booze (credit), and the global economy is still seeking a new equilibrium. Businesses and individuals are beginning to suspect or realize that they find themselves in a fundamentally different environment. Here I will briefly outline two levels of adversity executives are facing, one of which is serving as a smokescreen for the other. Then I will share some recommendations for managing through this period. By understanding some of the causes involved in these economic effects, you will be able to guide your company and career most appropriately.
10 July 2009
Enterprise Social Networking Continues to Mainstream: 2009 Mid-year Adoption Snapshot
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 In January, I reported that enterprise social networking was showing many signs of mainstream adoption, and this conference bore that out. Wal-Mart’s Ben Newton offered one of the strongest signs: in a recent survey, fully 83% of Wal-Mart employees expected the company to provide social networks for them to communicate outside of work. If Wal-Mart isn’t a barometer for mainstream U.S. workers, what company is? Social networking managers from Sun, Intel, HP and Oracle shared their lessons learned, and these ran the gamut. They spoke as practitioners, not solution providers.
Los Angeles 2009 took place June 24-26, 2009 at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. I was happy to see Digg talking about community and Nokia sharing a vision for mobile social networking. Yammer brought us current on enterprise microblogging, while Dow Jones mashed up business intelligence and business networking, Electronic Arts injecting the gaming element, and Google briefed us on marketing trends as only they can. And The Facebook Era was as enlightening as ever.
Between running a workshop and moderating a panel, I took enough notes to share the high points of most of the tracks, which I’ll summarize before offering Analysis and Conclusions. The reportage follows this convention: the summaries are from my notes of speakers’ remarks. For more information on my workshop, Succeed with Enterprise Social Networking Initiatives, see the description and preview. Click on logos for abstracts of the tracks.
18 April 2009  Fusing Business Development and Social Networking to Create Breakaway Value
IOR Before ROI
 As disruptive innovations cross the chasm and prepare for widespread adoption, early adopters need to integrate them with the levers of market power to create unusual value. For over 20 years, I have helped companies seize unusual advantage by adopting disruption ahead of competitors, so here I’ll share how early adopters are creating value with social network investments. Specifically, I will show how to combine social networking with “business development” (practice development, sales). I will begin with a high-level description of the social network-led business development life cycle, and I’ll close with key thoughts on value and ROI. Although the immediate context here is B2B and business development, the principles also apply to the B2C environment.
27 January 2009
Twitter and Facebook Top of Mind | #snc2009 | Awaiting Discovery: The Nascent Power of Weak Ties and Small Touches
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 What a difference a year makes! The Social Networking Conference debuted several years ago as a forum for social networking sites and vendors, with enterprise clients few and far between. Miami 2009 took place January 22-23, 2009 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, and it was a veritable enterprise 2.0 conference. Many of the presenters hailed from enterprise-focused high technology vendors, but they spoke as social networking practitioners. The good practices they shared reflected the maturation of social networks. Don’t get me wrong, we are still in early days, but it was obvious to see that social networks would be completely mainstream this year. Enterprise-focused vendors provided additional evidence by explaining some of the new social network features in their offerings.
Social Networking Watch’s Mark Brooks gave an overview of key trends, while jetBlue’s Morgan Johnston and IBM’s Adam Christensen drove home the message that companies could be rewarded for trusting their customers in social networks. Ford’s Scott Monty, Sun’s Lou Ordorica and Microsoft’s Marty Collins shared how they were using social networking to evolve their companies by opening up to customers and adopting P2P, two-way communications.Yammer’s David Schwartz and Faceforce’s Clara Shih presented two tech innovators that promised significant disruptive potential. SAP’s Steve Mann, Opera’s Thomas Ford and Dow Jones’ Tom Aley all shared fascinating social networking elements of their portfolios, which were all enterprise-focused. Awareness Networks’ John Bruce was on hand to share good practices and pitfalls. I presented the only industry-focused preso, focused on how social networks were beginning to disrupt the U.S. healthcare industry. I also gave the pre-conference workshop, Successful Social Networking Projects in the Enterprise.
Between my workshop and conference track, I scribbled enough notes to share the high points of many of the tracks, which I’ll summarize before offering Analysis and Conclusions. The reportage follows this convention: the summaries are from my notes of speakers’ remarks, and [when a sentence is bracketed], it is a comment. Click on logos for abstracts of the tracks.
2 January 2009
Volatility, Uncertainly and Opportunity—Move Crisply while Competitors Are in Disarray
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 Now that the Year in Review 2008 has summarized key trends, we are in excellent position for 2009 prognostications, so welcome to Part II. As all experienced executives know, risk and reward are inseparable twins, and periods of disruption elevate both, so you will have much more opportunity to produce uncommon value than normal.
This is a high-stakes year in which we can expect surprises. Web 2.0 and social networks can help because they increase flexibility and adaptiveness. Alas, those who succeed will have to challenge conventional thinking considerably, which is not a trivial exercise in normal times. The volatility that many businesses face will make it more difficult because many of their clients and/or employees will be distracted. It will also make it easier because some of them will perceive that extensive change is afoot, and Web 2.0 will blend in with the cacaphony. Disruption produces unusual changes in markets, and the people that perceive the new patterns and react appropriately emerge as new leaders.
31 December 2008
Editor’s Choice of the Global Human Capital Journal—Accelerating Disruption and Opportunity
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 What a year! When I wrote in the 2007 Year in Review that 2008 “would produce an unimaginable degree of change,” I had no idea how right that would prove to be. We saw major disruption in the global economy, and the U.S. presidential campaign closed the year with a major political upset, largely at the hand of social media. That said, I still believe that 2008 will prove to be a transitional year and that more profound change is on the way.
Look in any direction. From a macroeconomic perspective, the global economy is showing itself to be pervasively interdependent. The U.S. successfully exported its real estate finance crisis without even working up a sweat. I don’t believe that anyone really knows where all the bodies are buried yet, and central bank chairmen, national presidents and global organization leaders are still holding their breaths, even though they smile bravely on television. Barack Obama’s successful U.S. presidential campaign showed that a new era of politics is upon us; as we’ll discuss below, it will likely redefine how “democracy” operates. A new phase of disintermediation is afoot.
Continue reading Year in Review—2008: Social Media Out of the Gate and in Full Run
29 December 2008
Conventional Wisdom Scuttled—Disruption Preview—Business in the Batter’s Box
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 Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was more than a major social media milestone because it ushered in a new relationship model among leaders and their supporters. Due to social media, an unprecedented number of individuals had a new kind of active, direct role in Obama’s campaign; moreover, I predict that the Obama campaign and imminent administration will change citizens’ and consumers’ expectations of “leader” and “follower” roles in government and business. Amazon.com changed consumers’ expectations about retail in general—information on demand, reviews, unbelievable variety at low prices—and a significant portion of Obama supporters will want to continue their support to “make the change happen.” These supporters will bring their changed expectations of action and collaboration to their vendors. That means your company.
The Obama campaign is very instructive to business leaders because business customers are changing expectations of their leaders, as we’ll discuss in more detail below. As the Global Human Capital Journal is not primarily focused on politics, I am less interested in the fact that Obama was elected than how he was elected. Moreover, I’ll go on record now as predicting that you will experience Obama’s use of social media increasingly in 2009, and I believe that the election will prove to be only the beginning: the Obama Administration will leverage social media in governing. Although Global Human Capital endorsed Obama, I have no inside knowledge of the campaign or its strategies. Obviously, this is a huge subject, so I will use this post primarily as a way to frame an ongoing discussion so that it may prove valuable to business and government executives.
Continue reading Web 2.0 Case Study: Barack Obama’s Use of Social Media
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