Story of the week: Social networking

Story of the week: Social networking
July 3, 2011 9:43 pm by Maryam Nabi .0 0.In the world of social networking, it was out with the old and in with the new last week. Google unveiled its latest crack at the market, while News Corp said goodbye to MySpace.

Google+ opened to limited access early in the week. From competitors and bloggers to privacy-concerned users, the initial reactions around the Web were mixed.

Comparisons with Facebook were a prominent feature in much of the Google+ coverage. In Business Insider’s review, Ellis Hamburger compared photos of Google+ and Facebook side-by-side to show “how uncannily alike the two products are”.

PC Mag’s John C. Dvorak took the resemblances further and asked why Google didn’t just clone Facebook. But Scott Rosenberg of Open Salon found Google+ “a useful alternative that’s worth exploring” for users who want an alternative to Facebook’s platform.

Robert Hof of the Forbes blog The New Persuaders pointed out that “advertising is the key reason Google’s so hot to make a splash in social” and addressed a couple of ways Google could use its “Circles” and “Sparks” features for ad targeting. And ZDNet listed the five things it loved about the new service.

Meanwhile, News Corp ended its hunt to find a buyer for its once market-leading social networking service, MySpace.

The BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones’ wrote that MySpace should be a reminder that social networking is “not the road to riches”. He advised that the “success in social networking is an ephemeral business and the owners of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter should get out now while the going is good.”

Bloomberg BusinessWeek highlighted how “mismanagement, a flawed merger, and countless strategic blunders have accelerated MySpace’s fall.” Even Sean Parker noted MySpace’s wasted potential: he told Jimmy Fallon at the NExTWORK conference in New York that MySpace could have been Facebook if it had simply responded faster, PC Mag reported.

As MySpace goes through yet another round of lay-offs, it’s hard not to get nostalgic for the social networks that have come and gone. Still, as users hunt for Google+ invites and await its public release, sharing personal information isn’t letting up anytime soon.

10 More Things You Never Knew You Could Do On LinkedIn

There's a lot of buzz surrounding LinkedIn's IPO this week.

And with good reason. LinkedIn isn't just incredibly valuable on paper. There are also a ton of great features that users can take advantage of.

We put together 10 more of our favorite tips and tricks for LinkedIn. Give them a shot.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/more-ways-to-make-the-most-out-of-linkedin-2011-5##ixzz1MmrNUDsY

Facebook to expand with ‘social plugins’

Facebook to expand with ‘social plugins’By Chris Nuttall in San Francisco

Published: April 22 2010 00:38 | Last updated: April 22 2010 00:38

Facebook has launched a major initiative to extend its influence with “social plugins” that embed its social networking service more deeply inside third-party websites.

The plugins are part of an “Open Graph” strategy announced on Wednesday by Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive, at Facebook’s f8 developer conference in San Francisco. Open Graph is an evolution of Social Graph and Facebook Connect, and extends to the web at large.

Mr Zuckerberg said the web existed today as a series of largely unstructured links between pages, but Facebook’s initiative would put people at the centre of the web and provide personally meaningful connections between people and things.

Open Graph was the most transformative thing Facebook had done for the web, he said.

“We’re building towards a web where the default is social – every application and product will be designed from the ground up to use [people’s] real identity and friends.”

Facebook’s power play is likely to be welcomed by website owners and developers but regarded warily by rivals such as Twitter and Google, which launched its Buzz social networking service this year.

With more than 400m members, Facebook’s plugins can drive substantial traffic to sites that install them and boost their advertising revenues. Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook itself would not place ads inside the new features.

The largest social network said it was launching Open Graph with 30 partners spanning categories from books and movies to celebrities and athletes with sites such as CNN’s news site and the ESPN sport site embedding its social plugins.

Facebook users visiting the sites could click a “Like” button on stories they want to share with friends and would see pop-up windows showing friends who had also liked something. They could also see their friends’ activity on the site and share comments through other plugins.

Liking a movie on the IMDB film website would include that movie in the user’s interests in their Facebook profile, with a link back to the original site.

“We think over the next few years that the connections between people and the things they care about will play as big a part as hyperlinks do today in defining people’s internet experiences,” said Bret Taylor, head of Facebook Platform products.

Open Graph will replace Facebook Connect, which allowed users to log in to other websites using their Facebook credentials.

Mr Zuckerberg told a news conference he was eliminating the Facebook Connect brand.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others.

Wissensmanagement 3.0

Wissensmanagement 3.0: "BarCamps"

Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung der letzten beiden Jahre hat gezeigt, dass sich Unternehmen in einem zunehmend unüberschaubareren und damit schwieriger planbaren Umfeld befinden. Hier kann die Komplexitätstheorie einerseits helfen, die eigene Situation besser beurteilen zu können und andererseits als Metapher dafür dienen das Führungsverhalten so anzupassen, dass Kreativität und Veränderungsbereitschaft im Unternehmen optimale Bedingungen vorfinden. Dies wird gleichzeitig als neues Paradigma des Wissensmanagements verstanden, dessen Vorboten in solch "komplexen" und "chaotischen" Lernarenen wie KnowledgeCamps sich abzeichnen.

Social media are changing the rules for business

Social media are changing the rules for business
By Paul Henri Ferrand, vice president for SMB Marketing at Dell

Published: July 24 2009 12:40 | Last updated: July 24 2009 12:40

Does it seem like the world has gone Twitter-crazy? But crazy or inspired, one thing is for sure – social media have changed the way we do business forever.

For a start, the way reputations are built has changed. Not that long ago, the sum total of how an organisation portrayed itself in public set its reputation over time. Customer opinion was important but conversation was much more one-way. Reaching millions of customers with a message was expensive and time consuming.

Those days are gone. An organisation’s reputation is being altered and formed constantly. Around the globe people are searching for information, buying online, formulating opinions and sharing them. A company may win or lose potential customers based on an online conversation.

With the click of a button, a business can connect with customers in real time, hold conversions and build raving fans. In short – social media is one more thing breaking down the barriers between SMEs and large enterprises.

This means that companies:

• need to adapt or risk losing business;

• cannot overlay traditional marketing on to social media platforms and expect it to work;

• have a tremendous opportunity. SMEs in particular can use social media to leapfrog large competitors.

Get in the game

It can feel risky to open the gates and be so direct with the public. But a company is going to be discussed anyway, and it might as well be part of the conversation. The ease and speed with which customers now share information goes far beyond what we could have imagined even a few years ago.

At Dell, we’ve significantly turned around our approach to social media, from a cautious start years ago. Our Direct2Dell forums allow customers to express freely their experiences of using Dell products and we take the good and the bad into account at a senior level.

These forums, that we do not edit or censor, feed into our future product design and give our company invaluable feedback on what truly matters for consumers, small businesses and large enterprises.

We’ve also launched blogs, Facebook groups and pages, a crowd-sourcing platform called IdeaStorm, and we were one of the first big enterprises to be active in Twitter. Through all this we’re having over 5m conversations per day with potential customers, over 2bn interactions a year!

There are a few different ways businesses can “jump in”:

• Closer Conversations

Blogs are a great sounding board, engaging key audiences in fast and honest conversation. Leave any business-talk offline and make sure to get across personality and opinion. They can attract negative comments – but open and transparent answers can counter that.

Microblogging (ie Twitter) allows companies large or small to send out regular chunks of news or insight easily. Even when expanding a small business and hiring new recruits – Twitter and Facebook can be great ways of putting the word out. I know of SMEs who have got back in touch with old colleagues and head-hunted them.

• Building relationships

Know where customers are talking. Use Google Alerts, Netvibes, Yahoo Pipes and Technorati to adapt campaigns accordingly.

Online dialogue is direct and personal, and requires the highest levels of transparency. Fans know a company’s products and brand, and can be ambassadors for them.

So it is important to have an open exchange. Listening to customers and influencers has always been fundamental to good business, and this is integral to any social-media marketing campaign, and provides real-time insight.

Crowdsourcing lets customers be actively involved in creating new products and services, or solving a business challenge for your company. No one knows better than customers what they want and need. Two heads (or 200,000) are better than one.

Multi-way, Not One-Way

As companies jump in, it’s important to remember that traditional marketing unaltered will rarely work in the social media world, because it is built around one-way conversation.

The message needs to be adapted to prepare for dialogue – which can involve some fun, with the building of a company’s online “personality” in real time as it starts sharing with the world.

SME Leadership

Where is all this heading? Just three years ago we may have struggled to understand the importance of social networking sites. Today, there are hundreds of millions of potential customers engaged in these networks and virtually no barrier or cost to an SME joining and connecting with them.

I would argue that because SMEs are so agile and efficient, they might dominate the social media business landscape before the majority of large enterprises.

While Dell is proud to be a leader in social media, only 12 per cent of the Fortune 500 even have a company blog.

I also think we’ll see far more diversification of social networks aimed at specific interests – for example www.webjam.com allows anyone to set up a social network on their personal hobbies. This will allow SMEs even more chance to target or network with specific customers.

Like most things, the only way to “get” digital media is to jump right in. Start building a brand on social networks now – that’s the key to hiring staff and finding customers that will allow an SME to thrive, whatever the economic climate.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Skills: Business must learn from the new tribe

Skills: Business must learn from the new tribe
By Jessica Twentyman

Published: May 28 2009 21:39 | Last updated: May 28 2009 21:39

“To read the criticisms about the Net Generation,” writes author Don Tapscott in his latest book, Grown Up Digital, “you might conclude that they are a bunch of dull, celebrity-obsessed, net-addicted, shopaholic exhibitionists.”

Such a bleak view, he goes on to say, belies the fact that the children of the baby boomers – now aged between 12 and 30 and reared in an era of digital technologies – are poised to transform society in profound and largely positive ways.

In the workplace, he adds, their aptitude with technology and willingness to collaborate could provide their employers with a real source of competitive advantage.

But whether they are referred to as the Net Generation, digital natives, Millennials or Generation Y, this new tribe of employees can only make its mark if the businesses they work for are able to accommodate and capitalise on a host of new attitudes, beliefs and ways of working.

“Listen to young people,” Mr Tapscott urges business leaders. “Put them in the driver’s seat alongside you when designing work spaces, processes, management systems and collaborative working models.” In other words, be prepared to make big changes in order to unleash the power of these new employees.

Are businesses ready to heed that advice? In truth, many are not, says James Callander, managing director of recruitment consultancy FreshMinds. “This new generation is well-known for its unrestrained ambition, but its largely unparalleled handle on technology presents a significant management challenge,” he says.

“I think one of the biggest problems is that older members of the workforce feel scared of looking foolish in the face of new technology and are threatened by these younger peers who seem to hold all the cards.”

He observes two common approaches to tackling this challenge. “The first is almost a ‘divide and conquer’ approach, consigning technology to different divisions or units in the business. But the internet and mobile technology is now so all-encompassing ... that separation is all but impossible. The second and better approach is to encourage younger workers to train and enfranchise their older colleagues.”

In principle, that makes good sense, because while they may be reluctant to admit it, older business leaders have much to learn from their younger co-workers, says Urs Gasser, executive director at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and co-author of Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives.

As principal investigator on the Digital Natives project, an academic collaboration between the Berkman Center and the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, he has devoted the past few years to studying how people who grew up immersed in digital technologies interact with the world.

Three characteristics distinguish a digital native in today’s workplace, he says. The first is their relaxed attitude to information disclosure; the second, their aptitude at social networking; and the third, the very different way they process information, as compared with previous generations.

It is this first trait that causes business leaders most concern, according to Prof Gasser. “Digital natives are generally more open about themselves and have fewer reservations about sharing their thoughts and opinions with the world.

“The fear is that this will lead them to share information about their jobs and the organisations they work for, without reflecting on how appropriate it might be to divulge information that might be considered confidential or commercially sensitive.”

Tackling the issue is a matter of education, he argues. Where corporate policies are thoughtfully applied (and observed), that propensity for self-disclosure can be a positive force, building trust between colleagues and opening the door to deeper collaborations.

It also offers organisations a chance to get to know young employees better, to understand what motivates them and the best ways to channel their energies to reap better business results.

But it’s the second and third traits that offer companies the greatest chance to get ahead. “For years, organisations have been investing heavily in knowledge management initiatives to tap into the collective expertise of their workforce, but the results have been mixed.

“Suddenly, the cultural barriers to information sharing are crumbling with the emergence of social networking and the rise of a new workforce that is more than comfortable with working online with their peers to solve a problem.”

This, he says, has huge implications in many aspects of business, such as developing products, identifying market opportunities and generating sales leads.

But the issue of working hours can be contentious, says Claire Schooley, an analyst with IT market analyst firm Forrester Research. “Work-life balance is paramount to Millennials. These young people do not work by the clock – rather, they work by the task. Let them know what they need to do and when assignments need to be done. With mobile technology, they’ll be online at night completing projects.”

As the connected world evolves, it is therefore vital that organisations adapt policies and tools to suit the style of new workers. In economies where the working population is ageing, this may not just be desirable but essential to survival.

Grown Up Digital, by Don Tapscott, McGraw Hill, 2008.

Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, Basic Books, 2008

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

The world connected: Society’s new highway roars up the agenda

The world connected: Society’s new highway roars up the agenda
By Paul Taylor

Published: May 28 2009 21:39 | Last updated: May 28 2009 21:39

Expanded access to fixed and wireless broadband connections is beginning to transform business communications and corporate processes while driving a new round of innovation that could have profound implications worldwide.

“Today, broadband is at the turning point with infrastructure widely available,” said Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson’s chief executive, speaking at a recent event.

“However, we have not realised the full impact and potential for society.

“Over the next 20 to 30 years, it will stimulate innovation across society and will lead to the deployment of completely new solutions,” he said.

Mr Svanberg predicted that broadband would be the society's new highway, with telecommunications contributing to sustainability through innovations such as telepresence, video links which can reduce the need to travel to meetings, for example.

The potential of broadband to streamline business processes and cut costs has also ensured that investment and providing access for individuals and companies has remained top of the political and business agenda.

“The sector is receiving growing attention worldwide as governments recognise the crucial role it will play in economic recovery,” says Dianne Northfield, analyst at Yankee Group, a connectivity research firm. “The emerging ‘Anywhere Network’ – a powerful, pervasive digital network that can connect all people, at any time, in any place – presents an opportunity to create more jobs, increase productivity and develop solutions for healthcare, education, transportation and energy.”

Recent research, including a study commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks and conducted by LECG, a consultancy, on the economic impact of broadband adoption in Europe and the US over the past 10 years, suggests this emphasis is fully justified.

The LECG Broadband Study directed by Professor Leonard Waverman of London Business School, found that in countries where diffusion and use of information and communications technologies (ICT) were at medium or high levels, the economic benefit from improved penetration was significant.

For example, the study predicts that adding 10 more broadband lines per 100 individuals across the US, or a total of 30m new lines, would raise US GDP by more than $110bn.

Significantly, the LECG study also found that in countries where ICT deployment had been relatively low, broadband has generally been adopted more slowly and has not had a noticeable positive effect on productivity.

It suggested that in these countries, while it may just be a matter of time before the benefits are evident, governments should be active in helping to speed up its adoption.

Another conclusion is that there is a significant role for “demand-side” policies which create incentives for, or lower the costs of, adopting broadband and computing technologies. “Governments and businesses could look at providing training in using ICT and raising awareness of the potential benefits,” it suggests.

But like other studies, the LECG report also suggests that even where broadband has had an impact, there are lessons and warning signs.

First, providing there are no diminishing returns, policies that promote it are policies that promote productivity, innovation and economic growth.

“Innovative ability” is an important source of comparative advantage for advanced economies – thus policies that promote innovation and encourage investment in advanced infrastructure are to the good.

However, it must not just be about infrastructure because the same infrastructure in different, more skilled hands can yield far higher returns.

Second, even within countries such as the US and the UK there is an internal digital divide. This has sometimes been portrayed in terms of access to infrastructure, but many argue there is also a divide in usage and skills.

“Many countries are looking at how to provide universal access to broadband as an assumed driver of economic productivity,” says Prof Waverman. “But far too little attention is given to other key factors. For instance, a US stimulus package that addresses affordable access would have a far greater impact when complemented by emphasising provision of computing devices, ICT training and education.”

The lesson for policy makers, he suggests, is that there needs to be a greater focus on the users of future infrastructure, enhancing the “demand side” of access.

Specifically, for broadband to become a more effective way of enhancing productivity, countries need to invest in improving skills and lowering the costs to businesses of adopting technology and restructuring business models around technology.

Ilkka Lakaniemi, head of global political dialogue and initiatives at Nokia Siemens Networks, says: “The models must take into account the digital divide between northern and southern Europe.” He adds, however, that even in advanced countries, policies that call for universal broadband access should also address issues of skills and awareness.

The LECG study agrees: “useful connectivity” depends not just on the number of people connected to a network or infrastructure, but on how those connected use the network or infrastructure.

Although it is convenient for governments and the telecoms industry to focus on the “supply side” (access), policy makers cannot ignore usage, skills and technological know-how among businesses and consumers.

Ovum, the technology consultancy, reaches similar conclusions in its recent report, “Bridging the broadband divide: challenges and solutions”. Divisions in developed economies are linked to lack of demand and complex interfaces more than limited availability, Ovum suggests.

Globally, overwhelming evidence that broadband is “good for the economy and good for the nation”, has made connecting society an important government goal. In many developed markets, penetration is well above 50 per cent; although growth is slowing. This, says Ovum, is due to a significant minority of people either not being interested in broadband or facing significant barriers.

The report outlines strategies that could help bridge such divides. It says many people are put off by complex devices and interfaces that cater to the technically literate. In addition, users with disabilities are largely under-served. Inclusive design needs to play a much greater role.

It argues that strategies to promote internet use need to work as part of wider inclusion efforts – embedding broadband in education, employment, care and other programmes designed to empower the socially excluded – and connectivity needs community relevance.

In most cases, operators will play a key role in inclusion activity, but this will be in partnership with other commercial companies, public agencies, non-government organisations and user groups.

For example, efforts to target elderly people can involve charities, targeted media coverage, local care agencies and companies specialising in products designed for elderly users.

The debate over the role of government in promoting access continues. For example, a report from the International Telecommunications Union noted that several of the top ICT countries have higher ICT levels than expected, given their income levels. For example, South Korea is outstanding.

“This illustrates how a strong and targeted ICT policy can drive the development of the information society in countries with relatively lower income levels,” the ITU concludes.

What LECG, Ovum and other commentators agree on is that the provision of access, either by private entity or government, will not, on its own, ensure that the full potential of broadband internet access to transform lives, companies and economies is realised. For that, a more holistic approach is needed that transcends all divisions.

ITU: ”Measuring the Information Society – The ICT Development Index, 2009 Edition”, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2009/material/IDI2009_w5.pdf

NSN/LECG Connectivity Scorecard, http://www.connectivityscorecard.org/images/uploads/media/TheConnectivityReport2009.pdf

Ovum: Bridging the Digital Divide – less technology, more understanding, contact Maria Di Martino on +44 20 7675 7529 or maria.dimartino@ovum.com.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Hollywood op de werkvloer (fd.nl)

15 januari 2009 | Het Financieele Dagblad
Door: Dalm, R. van

Opkomst van internet leidt tot 'sterrenprofessionals' die grote inkomens verdienen

Roy van Dalm

Amsterdam

Dankzij de sociale netwerken op het internet kunnen mensen zichzelf organiseren. Nu nog vooral om filmpjes of foto's te delen, maar straks steeds meer om samen online te ondernemen. Wat betekenen in de toekomst nog begrippen als arbeidscontract of loopbaan? De Amerikaanse internetprofessor Clay Shirky voorziet een 'Hollywoodeconomie' waar de sterrenprofessionals van organisatie naar organisatie 'hoppen'. De mindere goden kiezen voor veiligheid en leveren daar loopbaankansen voor in.

Clay Shirky, hoogleraar Nieuwe Media aan New York University, is auteur van de bestseller Here Comes Everybody. Het internet van de sociale netwerken, ook wel Web 2.0 genoemd, verandert de manier waarop mensen groepen vormen ingrijpend, is de kern van Shirky's observaties. Dat begint met foto's delen op websites als Flickr, en leidt via online actievoeren tot het vormen van commercieel gerichte organisaties. Bedrijven die zomaar op het internet ontstaan? Is dat wel een organisatie? En, hoe maak je daar nog carrière?

Is het in de toekomst afgelopen met onze organisaties als ze alleen nog op internet bestaan?

'Nee, dat is niet zo en wel om de doodeenvoudige reden dat ze niet allemaal virtueel worden. Mensen denken vaak dat een bepaalde vorm de plaats gaat innemen van de vorige vorm. Echter, de beweging is niet van A naar B, maar van één vorm naar vele vormen. Het is niet zo dat hiërarchie en management nu ineens slecht zijn en verdwijnen. Online netwerken zullen hiërarchie niet overbodig, maar wel hybride maken. Vroeger moesten organisaties wel gemanaged worden. Nu kunnen ze ook gecoördineerd worden. En sociale netwerken zijn er altijd geweest, ook binnen organisaties. In het verleden moesten mensen fysiek samenkomen om dingen te delen. Op het internet kun je meteen al kennis, foto's of muziek delen en daarna pas samenkomen.'

'Neem fotosite Flickr als voorbeeld. Iemand zet daar zwart-witportretfoto's op en vervolgens gaan anderen daaromheen ook hun zwart-witportretfoto's plaatsen. Daarna ontstaat een hele kennisgemeenschap rondom zwart-witportretfotografie. Je ziet die samenklontering ook gebeuren met actiegroepen met een gezamenlijk maatschappelijk doel. En met groepen met een gezamenlijk commercieel doel. Met andere woorden, bedrijven die spontaan ontstaan. Maar daarmee verdwijnt de gewone arbeidsorganisatie nog niet.'

Maar hoe zit het met arbeidsrelaties als er een veelheid aan organisatievormen gaat ontstaan?

hirky: 'Wat in ieder geval gebeurt, is dat de opkomst van Web 2.0-organisaties zal leiden tot een destabilisering van onze arbeidscontracten. Er komt veel meer onrust en beweging van mensen die van de ene naar de andere organisatie trekken. De vraag is of dat voor iedereen geschikt is. Voor de zelfstandige professional wel. Die redt en verkoopt zichzelf. Maar mensen in minder kennisintensieve beroepen met minder mobiliteit hebben daar geen baat bij. De kenniseconomie zal steeds meer een Hollywoodeconomie worden met grotere inkomensverschillen. Voor de sterren worden kapitalen neergeteld om ze maar bij jouw productie te krijgen, en de rest is bijrol en figurant.'

Is dat het einde van de arbeidszekerheid?

'Nee, omdat je ook hier zult zien dat er een diversiteit aan contracten en afspraken met de werkgever gaat ontstaan. In grote lijnen heb je twee mogelijkheden. Of je hebt een overeenkomst die hoge kansen maar een lage zekerheid biedt. Of je kiest voor een hoge mate van zekerheid, maar neemt dan genoegen met lage kansen. De ene werknemer spreekt zijn scholing en ontwikkeling met zijn werkgever af, maar heeft een beperkt loopbaanperspectief. De ander heeft de financiële ruimte om meer aan de eigen ontwikkeling te doen, maar hij of zij regelt het dan ook helemaal zelf. Die mensen managen hun eigen cv en profiel via online netwerken als LinkedIn of Facebook. En de kloof op dit gebied zal niet bestaan tussen grote bedrijven met grote loopbaanbudgetten en kleine bedrijven die dat niet hebben. Die kloof bestaat straks binnen de organisaties zelf en is afhankelijk van het type werk dat je doet.'

En die hoogopgeleide, mobiele superprofessional: hoe bind je die nog aan je organisatie?

'Nou, niet dus. Op dat niveau kun je geen mensen rekruteren. Je kunt ze alleen uitnodigen. Zo functioneren organisaties op het internet ook. De opgave voor bedrijven is om nieuwe modellen te vinden om in een zo kort mogelijk tijdsbestek zo veel mogelijk waarde uit je medewerkers te halen. McKinsey heeft een interessant model waarbij de consultants er voor twee jaar tussenuit kunnen. De kracht van McKinsey zit in hun enorm sterke alumninetwerk. Consultants gaan bij de klant werken, maar blijven via het netwerk in beeld en worden op termijn op hun beurt weer klant bij McKinsey. Meer bedrijven zullen als McKinsey moeten gaan denken, omdat hun werknemers dat ook al doen.'

In hoeverre zullen spontane, online commerciële samenwerkingen wel echte bedrijven worden?

'Dat is dichterbij dan je denkt. Sociale netwerken op het internet werden tot voor kort niet als onderneming beschouwd voor de wet. Ze voldeden niet aan de klassieke eisen van een geografisch hoofdkantoor of een hiërarchische managementstructuur. Maar de staat Vermont in de Verenigde Staten heeft enige tijd geleden als eerste overheid zijn wetgeving aangepast en de obstakels daarvoor weggenomen. Zij hebben een vergunning gecreëerd voor wat wij commerciële, collectieve actie noemen. Het is gewoon een kwestie van tijd en dan zal het zich gaan uitbreiden.'

Op sociale netwerken delen mensen nu nog vooral foto's, maar straks gaan ze samen online ondernemen

De opkomst van Web 2.0-organisaties zal volgens Shirky leiden tot destabilisering van arbeidscontracten; mensen trekken van organisatie naar organisatie.

Copyright (c) 2009 Het Financieele Dagblad

Magic Quadrant for Social Software, October 2008

Magic Quadrant for Social Software

31 October 2008
Nikos Drakos, Anthony Bradley, Jeffrey Mann

Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00162146


The social software market continues to be fueled by increasing interest from buyers looking for social interaction support as well as from vendors looking to establish a foothold in a growing market.

What You Need to Know


Growth, volatility, innovation and immaturity characterize the current state of the social software market. It is evolving in response to the demand for a coherent way to support information creation and sharing, team communication and coordination, and communities and informal social interaction. Buyers are looking for flexible environments where participants can find and interact with one another, and create, organize and share information. The promise is one of improved "connectedness" as well as the capture and dissemination of informal knowledge by capitalizing on community involvement. The idea is to delegate to the community what the community can do more quickly and effectively. Established vendors are enhancing their products with improved support for social interactions. Several smaller vendors have experienced growth so far in 2008 and are gaining some traction within enterprises. A large number of small new vendors (including open-source products) are also competing for enterprise attention. Even though most vendors are still far from delivering mature, complete and dependable social software suites, each could be a good choice for a particular set of requirements and context. Differences in product strengths and questions around long-term viability make it more important to be clear about requirements and payback timescales.

Facebook targeted Web 2.0 start-up Twitter (FT.com)

Facebook targeted Web 2.0 start-up Twitter
By Richard Waters in San Francisco and Tim Bradshaw in Oxford

Published: November 24 2008 21:41 | Last updated: November 24 2008 21:41

Twitter, the micro-blogging company that has become one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched start-ups, recently held talks about an acquisition by social networking company Facebook.

The negotiations, which put a valuation of as much as $500m on the 2½-year-old private company, could throw a fresh spotlight on its rapid growth and prompt other big internet companies to consider bids.

Twitter has become a leading light of the Web 2.0 generation of consumer internet companies, whose services rely more heavily on communication and social interaction than the original dotcoms. Users of Twitter post short messages of up to 140 characters about what they are doing, and the “tweets” are broadcast to anyone who wants to sign up to follow them.

However, its name has also become synonymous with the lack of revenue in the Web 2.0 world. Despite its passionate following among Silicon Valley’s digerati, and an audience that is now growing rapidly, Twitter has yet to make any money.

The talks were first reported by the AllThingsD blog and confirmed on Monday by two people familiar with the situation.

Facebook’s approach to Twitter is set to raise as many questions about the bidder’s value as it does about the target. The social networking site offered to pay for the acquisition in stock, according to one person close to the situation, but putting a value on its shares proved controversial.

Had it used the $15bn valuation at which Microsoft bought a stake in Facebook last year, it would have valued the Twitter purchase at $500m, though that investment was seen as a high-water mark for Web 2.0.

Speaking on Monday at a gathering of internet entrepreneurs at Oxford University, Chris Sacca, a Twitter investor, questioned the valuation. “If Facebook brings $500m of stock to the table to buy Twitter, the first thing you talk about is whether that stock is worth $500m or not,” he said.

However, one person close to the situation suggested that the $15bn valuation for Facebook was the top end of a range of values the two companies talked about, implying that a deal might have valued both Facebook and Twitter at a much lower level.

Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder, would not comment on the talks, but suggested that the company wanted to remain independent to build on its messaging service.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Seize the skills and HR benefits of social networking

Seize the skills and HR benefits of social networking
By Patrice Barbedette of Jobpartners

Published: July 11 2008 10:20 | Last updated: July 11 2008 10:20

I don’t suppose that when Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook he realised how huge it would become. Facebook and other social networking sites such as MySpace and LinkedIn have taken the world by storm.

But many of us aren’t chatting to friends and watching videos on sites such as Facebook at home during our free time – we’re doing it at work. This presents businesses with the challenge of dealing with the loss of productivity. Social networking sites also pose the potential problem of confidential information being exposed, or employees posting negative comments about their employers.

Some businesses have clamped down on the use of social networking sites by either banning them or restricting access to lunch hours. But this can stir up feelings of resentment among employees as recent cases have demonstrated. When faced with huge numbers of staff complaints, one organisation performed a U-turn after banning employees from using Facebook at work: it realised that rather than using the site for chatting with friends and downloading videos, many were also using it for work and business networking.

There are certainly many benefits that social networking sites can offer the corporate world and businesses need to be taking note. Rather than having a knee-jerk reaction to these sites, what can we learn from them and how can we use them to our advantage in the corporate world?

The technology now exists to enable organisations to create their own internal corporate social network. This provides the advantages of networking and knowledge sharing that is found on sites such as Facebook, but within the safe boundaries of the corporate environment. This means that the risk of embarrassing or confidential information reaching the public domain is greatly reduced. It also means that while employees will still spend some time chatting most of the discussion will be on company related issues.

So what can a corporate network bring to the business? As Dick Eve points out in his article, the opportunities for knowledge sharing are huge. A social network enables every employee at every level at every single office across the company to interact and share information. This means employees can operate as a community and feel involved in company decisions which helps to engage them and increase productivity. Corporate networks can also be used to get learning content to employees but more importantly, employees connected to the knowledge experts.

Improved communication is another great benefit of a corporate network especially when building a global workforce. Employees can interact more easily on a professional and personal level with staff from other offices whether they are UK based or international. They can also come into more direct contact with senior managers, the opportunity for which may not have been presented before.

Better talent management is a further significant benefit. A corporate network can enable employees to brand and market themselves within the company by posting information on their profile page about their career goals, experience and skills. This helps managers and HR to identify the skills and talent they need internally much more easily which can reduce the reliance on external recruitment. It also enables the identification of those who are hungry for new opportunities and challenges. The ability to develop a professional profile also helps the employee to take a more active role in their career development which can boost company loyalty.

As well as professional profiles, employees can create personal profiles detailing their favourite books, charitable organisations and activities. This can help employees to get to know one another outside of the confines of their job titles as well as build a broader sense of corporate social responsibility.

For new recruits, a corporate network is an excellent way of getting to know people more quickly and getting up to speed on company processes and culture. It can also be particularly effective at engaging generation Y and attracting young graduate talent.

In summary, social networks present an unforeseen way of improving communication and knowledge flow within organisations, and engaging employees. An engaged employee equals a more productive employee, which equals better business performance. And who can afford not to look at ways of boosting employee performance during these hard times?

Patrice Barbedette is founder of Jobpartners, a talent management company

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008