Podcast interview on social networks in business and Enterprise 2.0

By

I recently met Stan Relihan, having been introduced to him separately by Cameron Reilly of The Podcasting Network fame, leading tech journalist Brad Howarth, and also from further afield Charlene Hutt, one of the leading HR practitioners in Canada. The diverse introductions in themselves illustrate the deeply interconnected nature of social networks.

Stan is an executive recruiter, and also a keen student of and participant in social networks. He ranks in the top 50 most connected people on LinkedIn, with something in the order of 10,000 links, and has a great podcast series, The Connections Show, focusing on the business value of social networks, which is now ranked 4th most prominent business podcast series by Digg.

Stan has just interviewed me for The Connections Show:

Click here to go to the podcast interview on Improving Performance and Profitability.

Some of the themes I cover in the interview are how social networking platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn are being used in business, social networking tools specifically for business, the value of organizational network analysis, and the role these network tools play in Enterprise 2.0, including a mention of our Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum.

Revisiting the top 60 Web 2.0 applications in Australia for 2007

By

Back in May 2007 ReadWriteWeb posted my list of the Top 60 Web 2.0 applications in Australia, which we created as a prelude to our Web 2.0 in Australia event.

I’m reposting the list now, partly as the full list is no longer available from the ReadWriteWeb site for some reason, and also because I will be updating the list soon.

Click here for the full list of the Top 60 Web 2.0 applications in Australia – 2007.

The first update I will make – hopefully in the next couple of weeks – is simply an alphabetical list of the 25 or so additional interesting applications I have come across since the list was posted.

Then in a few months I will release the top Web 2.0 apps list for 2008, again scanning the landscape to see what’s out there, and coming up with a highly subjective ranking of their prominence by selected criteria (Web 2.0 characteristics; coolness/ innovation; maturity; and commercial success/ number of users).

Over the last weeks there have been numerous rumors that our #1 pick for last year, Omnidrive, is in trouble, though their website and forum are currently up and running. CEO Nik Cubrilovic says that the company is profitable and problems are simply from being too busy, so let’s wait and see what the reality is. Most of the rest of the top 10 have flourished, and a number of apps lower in the list are now strong contenders for top places. Overall the development of the companies on the list has been extremely healthy.

Our Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum on 19 February will focus more on what is happening in applying Web 2.0 applications inside the firewall. We may run some kind of Australian Web 2.0 awards or showcase later in the year, depending on our organizational bandwidth.

Please let me know if there are other interesting Australian Web 2.0 apps I should be aware of for our next lists.

Interview on SBS TV World news tonight: How Skype changes how telecom firms add value

By

I’ve just been interviewed by SBS TV for a segment on Skype, which will air on their World News tonight at 6:30pm. There was no particular news that prompted the segment, which simply looks at what Skype is, and in particular how it is impacts the telecommunications industry.

In the interview I repeatedly emphasized how telecommunications companies have for over a century dramatically overcharged for communication, holding back progress, business, and personal relationships. Only now that there is a free alternative are international phone calls getting a fraction closer to their actual cost. Connectivity is a human and social right, which fortunately is now available to anyone with an Internet connection or who can afford 30 minutes in an Internet café. In order for telecommunications companies to continue to be as vastly profitable as they have over the years, they must find news ways of creating value. One way is to add value to the basic connectivity services they provide. Another is to shift into adjacent businesses such as content, services, or to leverage their existing relationships into new areas.

Last year I wrote about some of the strategic issues for how telecommunications firms reposition themselves, in the context of mobile search. I’ll expand on this theme anon.

Writing about the global talent economy (and blogging less?)

By

I’m now back from holidays and launching myself into 2008. We went up the North Coast of NSW, and had a rather adventurous time of it, what with massive flooding in the region (see below one of the bridges we crossed which had been through a tough time, while other roads we attempted were completely cut off).

FloodswithLeda.JPG

It was a very refreshing break, and it does feel to me that I’m moving into a new phase in my work. Part it is that I have committed to carve out time from my burgeoning speaking work, the growth of Future Exploration Network, and organizing our Enterprise 2.0 and Future of Media summits this year to write a book about the global talent economy.

Full details will come later, as I’m still writing the proposal and haven’t sold the book yet. The five key premises behind the book are:

Almost all economic growth will come from talent. As the economy shifts to the intangible, everything that has value – knowledge, ideas, innovation, content, expertise, effective strategic positioning – comes from talented people.

The global availability of talent is exploding. Professionals are leaving big firms to work as independents, retirees are selling their expertise part-time, and most importantly communications technologies are allowing people anywhere on the planet to provide high-value services based on expertise and creativity. Global talent is becoming a massive highly liquid economy which will dominate the global economy moving forward.

Read more →

Will the innovation landscape become more fluid?

By

One of the single most important factors determining the future of business and society is the US legislative framework for innovation. US legislators shape the global patent landscape, due to the country’s dominant global role in both innovation and commercialization,. As covered in a New York Times article titled Two Views of Innovation, Colliding in Washington, Patent Reform legislation under consideration could shift the balance between large established corporations and smaller innovators, impacting how the patent landscape functions as a motivator of innovation.

As I wrote in my book Living Networks:

In the US alone, there are over two million enforceable patents. Only around 5% of those make money. The rest sit dormant, the documents quietly gathering dust on a shelf for the 20 year duration of the exclusive patent rights, or lapse due to lack of maintenance payments. Some of those patents are not applied because they don’t have a real commercial application. Probably many more are neglected because the patent holder is not interested in exploiting them, and they haven’t managed—or perhaps even tried—to match them with a company that could profitably apply them and would be prepared to buy or license them. This is not just a problem for the company that forgoes revenue on its portfolio of patents. It also means that part of the intellectual property landscape is unavailable, potentially squelching innovation by other companies. Because of the complexity and sheer number of existing patents, information about intellectual property has tended to flow extremely poorly. The promise of the next phase of the networks is that this flow will become far more fluid, resulting in better exploitation of our existing intellectual property, and a faster pace of innovation.

Read more →

Away on holidays – Happy New Year!

By

Tomorrow we leave on a little over two weeks holidays – it’s a good time of year to get away, so we always take the opportunity. The last three years Victoria and I have taken our New Year’s holiday in various Asian countries – Vietnam and Laos, Thailand, and Japan. The last was with our lovely daughter Leda, who was four months old at the time, but not too young to acquire a taste for Japanese cuisine and esthetique.

This year we’re heading to the North Coast of Australia’s New South Wales. We’ve made no bookings for accommodation or anything else, so it will be a very laid-back affair as we wander around and probably hang out for a while in the hippie hinterland rather than cosmopolitan Byron Bay. My wife Victoria will paint and design, and I may make some progress on my novel set in the near future (realistically a few years away from publication yet). Leda will no doubt make some friends and enjoy being out of the city for a change.

I’ll report back on any startling encounters or insights when I’m back, but there’s unlikely to be anything as futuristic as Leda’s encounter with a robot in Akihabara, and more likely I’ll just experience a very pleasant stilling of the mind before I throw myself into 2008, which promises to an extremely fun and exciting year.

Have a fabulous New Year!

How to survive Christmas parties: A practical guide to festive conversations

By

As we move into Christmas season, many people will find themselves in social situations they may not want to be in. They may find themselves sitting next to distant relatives or acquaintances who are tedious, obnoxious, annoying, pedantic, weird, bombastic, stupid, or all of the above.

For these situations, I would like to provide a handy guide to party conversation that will help anyone to be completely comfortable in any social situation and conversing with anyone.

Ten years ago, in a period when I went to even more parties than usual, I observed that close to 90% of conversations were essentially content-free. There are in fact many, many things that can be said that are ALWAYS appropriate at ANY point in ANY conversation. This means that you can say these phrases, irrespective of what the other person has just said, and it will always be a relevant way to continue the conversation and appear to be a brilliant conversationalist. I then engaged in a long-term research project, spanning many parties, in which I compiled a list of these “appropriate phrases” that can be used at any point in a conversation.

In the spirit of Christmas generosity, I now share these phrases with the world. Before you go to your next party, memorize a few of the phrases to use. If you prefer, print out the list, and surreptitiously refer to it during the conversation. No one is likely to notice, given your outstanding conversational skills.

Have fun with the 335 phrases listed here, and please add any other “always-appropriate” conversational gambits below when you have completed your Christmas party research. Happy partying!

You expect me to believe that?

That’s a good one

I’ll drink to that

Truer words were never spoken

Have you ever said that to anyone else before?

If something’s worth saying once, it’s worth saying twice

Could you say that again for me in a low, sexy voice?

I’m sure you can do better than that. Take 2!

Just give me one last pearl of wisdom, and then I have to go

Are you an actor, or are you always like this?

We don’t go for that sort of thing where I come from

Lots of people tell me I have a sick mind. Do you think so?

You’re joking

Enough small talk. How about it, then?

Do you understand what you just said?

Do you know for a moment there I almost believed you

Read more →

How to make Facebook secure for organizational use: no more excuses!

By

I have written and being interviewed many times in the last few months on the use of Facebook in organizations.

There are a range of reasons why Facebook is often being blocked inside organizations. In many cases it’s because it’s viewed as a time-waster. However in other cases the concern is more about information loss – competitors finding out who is working for your organization and potentially sensitive information.

Worklight has just released a Facebook application called Workbook, reports Dan Farber, which authenticates users with an organization’s identity systems, and enables closed communication within the Workbook application between Facebook users. In one step Facebook can become an enterprise application, including proprietary discussions.

The application is expected for general release in February. For now it is being trialled in three large institutions, including a global retail bank with 70,000 staff that had received loud complaints from staff when it banned Facebook, and an investment bank that tried to implement an in-house social network based on Sharepoint that its employees didn’t use. The intention is to use Facebook not just internally, but also with clients and fund managers. As I’ve written before, one of the key issues with banning Facebook is that it makes it harder to attract and retain young, talented workers.

Read more →

We are discovering our “latent humanity” by how we share and communicate on the Internet

By

The latest Teens and Social Media report from Pew/Internet gives some great insights into how teens aged 12-17 are using the Internet.

There are a host of great insights in the report, including:

* 64% of online teens aged 12-17 have created content on the Internet, up from 57% at the end of 2004 (this is 59% of all teens, as 7% are not on the Internet)

* 35% of teen girls write a blog, compared to 20% of boys

* 19% of teen boys upload videos, compared to 10% of girls

* 70% of 15-17 year old girls have used an online social network, compared to 54% of boys

* 89% of teens who post photos online say they get comments

* 79% of teens restrict access to their photos in some way, compared to 61% of adults

* Email is the least popular communication form among teens, with just 14% saying they email their friends every day

The fact that close to two-thirds of teens create and share content on the Internet underlines the fact that we are moving into the Participative Age. In fact close to a quarter of over-65 years olds also create content on the Internet, however generational change will see a world in which we take it for granted that we all create and share in some form.

Read more →

Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum: early-bird registration ends 24 December!

By

Early bird registration for Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum in Sydney, Australia ends 24 December! So if you want to go, you might as well save some money and register now :-).

Speakers include: (click on this link for speaker bios)

David Backley, Chief Technology Officer, Westpac Banking Corporation

Ross Dawson, Chairman, Future Exploration Network

Peter Evans-Greenwood, Chief Technology Officer, Capgemini Australia

Joshua Gliddon, IT Editor, Australian Financial Review

Brian Haverty, Editorial Director, CNET Australia

Andrew McAfee, Professor, Harvard Business School

Sheryle Moon, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Information Industry Association

Victor Rodrigues, Software Development Manager, Cochlear

Euan Semple, Former Head of Knowledge Management, BBC

Jonathan Stern, Business Unit Executive, Lotus Software Australia/ NZ