If you're interested in Social Web and Online Identity Management - and you should be, then I would suggest checking out Jeremiah's work and thoughts. You can follow him on Twitter, too. He's going to be here in #YYC next week for a conference and, as a Forrester client, we get to meet him for a chat. His latest paper talks about the future (and evolution) of Social Web. He describes as five eras: 1) Era of Social Relationships: People connect to others and share 2) Era of Social Functionality: Social networks become like operating system 3) Era of Social Colonization: Every experience can now be social 4) Era of Social Context: Personalized and accurate content 5) Era of Social Commerce: Communities define future products and services
We're in Era 2 at the moment, where social networks have evolved beyond just making friends. They've turned into platforms that support social interactive applications. Cool stuff.
Thought of the day. I have so few, bear with me. I found it funny and ironic - and not to pick on @poploser - that the expression 'keep me posted' still exists. I can't readily find a reference, but I would suggest it's related to the military sense of 'keeping your post' and things like the Pony Express. The fact that we interact with each other in real time, virtually, and have these nifty little devices that permit us to access information on the fly, means that we're always informed, if we choose to be. Perhaps, too much. Remember letters and cards? That you had to write on, put a stamp on, and walk to the post box? I can't remember the last time I posted a letter.
Many of you have likely seen this. Biggest grossing online video of all time? Only, it didn't make a dime. Why? Because YouTube and ITV couldn't agree in real time. So, bupkis. Thanks to January for sending this along.Her comment was spot on. Main Stream Media is still trying to get ahead of the curve. In the meantime, Gen X, Y and 00 are becoming increasingly allergic to them, especially newspapers. Image and data from a reputed source, who will likely tell me to take it down. This is a test.
Some of you might have noticed that I'm stalking Wil Wheaton (@wilw.). His personal journey, writings, affability, open geekness and beliefs have (no joke) fascinated and well, inspired me for years - I even bought a copy of Dancing Barefoot when it first came out. Plus, he is a hockey fan and former goalie. Oh yeah, and in showbiz.
My goal - as sad as this may seem - is to have a little ping-pong with him online.
Don't get me wrong, if he's in town and wants to have coffee, I'm totally there. But, when half a million people are hanging on your every word, I imagine it's hard to respond to fan mail. So, I won't get my hopes up. The point is that I now can readily empathize/identify with him because of his blog and tweets. The interwebs do in fact make Earth an accessible, smaller place (at least for Gen X, affluent Canucks).
"William Whyte, who was an editor at Fortune magazine, argues in this 1956 bestseller that some people not only worked for an organization, but sold their psyches to them as well. These "organization men" willingly subordinated their personal goals and desires to conform to the demands of corporations and other organizations."
This is part of the reason I like chatting with my dad, who grew up back in the day. Did his MBA when it was still new, and followed Mintzberg and Drucker when ideas (of the business and strategy sort) were discussed and debated like Socrates and Plato. OK I admit, a bit of a stretch but I hope you get my point. In my current circles, no one still argues about Keynes vs. Friedman, nor could they identify. Given our current climate, a discursive chat worth having. I can of course now read this text online, but I'm likely to go to a place that has these things called books.
I read about this on Michael Wesch's blog. A new pen that links whatever you write to whatever is said at the same time. The kind of pen that is worth saving. It also makes a digital picture that you can send to colleagues and friends. Very handy for lectures, meetings and collaboration...I'm all for remembering, but this type of innovation points us to the future. No wonder it one a Macworld best of show award.
Private Facebook. WTF? Yes, you can make things private, but it is by default very public. Clueless.
FOLLOW UP: Nothing like an ignorant apologist: "Most British Columbians don't understand Facebook as a social networking tool. I come from a different generation and I don't fully understand Facebook. What I learned in the last 24 hours is that you can have more than one level of access," said Mr. Fox, who is 52.
Two articles yesterday made me shake my head: 1. From the Calgary Herald, who ironically have a Twitter feed. 2. From CNN, the bastion of true journalistic integrity: Aston Kutcher, RLY? Ric Romero would be very impressed, indeed. Contrast, an interesting application of Twitter: Sickcity.org. Geoff raised a good point however. It's a 'false positive' self-reporting mechanism isolated to a distinct % of the population. So, not reliable, nor accurate.But, still an interesting possible application of such a simple idea.
This dude seems to think that Twitter is passe. Am I that out of touch, or are we talking ADHD? He does raise an interesting point about how online users migrate from one area to another, much more quickly than before. As if newspapers don't have a big enough problem... If the #'s are any indication however - Twitter is now @ 14M unique visitors a month and on a bullet - it is now reaching the masses, not just the geek snobbery. I'll try and throw in some actual literary references going forward. Yes, I know how to read books.
No, I'm not talking about those sullen teens that skulk around the house, eat your food and spend too much time on Facebook and 'sexting'. I'm talking about this experiment in curiosity and a variant of altruism. January posted this on Twitter for all of us to enjoy. In a world where women get shot in broad daylight, mostly because they're women and express an opinion, a ray of light? From 'mericans? Perhaps. "There is good in you, I sense it". Obscure?
I seem to be on a bit of a Twitter tangent of late. A talk by Evan Williams at TED about the Twitter story. A bit ominous that I'm using one of his inventions (Blogger) to talk about another one of his inventions. Makes me realize, that I'm not so SMRT.
If you're interested in Social Web and Online Identity Management - and you should be, then I would suggest checking out Jeremiah's work and thoughts. You can follow him on Twitter, too. 
