Biznology

Photo credits: www.roadtrafficsigns.com

Those who had the opportunity to attend the 2013 IDC Directions conference saw  IDC Senior Vice President & Chief Analyst, Frank Gens, talk about how business technology is migrating to the 3^rd Platform.  He defined this 3^rd platform as the intersection of mobile, social, big data and cloud.   He predicted that these technologies will change how business gets done and enable the customization of intelligent industry solutions.  It was clear from his talk that the changes that will be brought about by these technologies may exceed those ushered in by the 2^nd Platform of client servers/PCs or the 1st Platform of mainframes/terminals. Read the remainder of this entry »

Image via CrunchBase

I have been concentrating on listening lately. Part of it is because I work with Trackur, an online listening tool for corporations. Another part of it is because I am trying to simply improve at it in my own life. Communication is a two-way street but in the world today it is more often than not a one-way street that is led by an innocent enough egomaniac with a bullhorn disguised as a Twitter or Facebook account. It’s that last point that makes listening even more important. Why you ask? Why even listen to the masses scream and pound their chests in the social space? Well, that is a very good question. One that is answered with another one, “Do we need to listen to everyone all the time?” Read the remainder of this entry »

Photo credit: Fora do Eixo

We’ve got to come up with a better name for social media. When people hear that phrase, most immediately think of the “what I had for breakfast, aren’t my kids great, isn’t my life fabulous” world of Facebook. And that is overwhelmingly what social media should mean to many people. And that can make talking about social media to C-level executives a challenge. It doesn’t change the fact that social media can be – and is – a great business tool, both for B2B and B2C organizations. It just means that we have to do a  better job of explaining to skeptical clients how social media can work for them. Read the remainder of this entry »

If you read your local newspaper or a typical magazine, you’ll realize that most journalism is specialized. You have your columns, reporting, reviews, editorials, letters to the editor, and ombudsman; however, most companies don’t have the volume, diversity, or constancy of news required to need such staffing.

That said, enough does go on each and every day in your office, amongst your staff, in your business, in your industry, with you and your very own personal brand that you need to cover the entire newsroom on your own, including the advertising and publicity (because like the news, everything comes down to driving revenue, and if you can’t prove that all the time, energy, and resources you’re spending online aren’t feeding sales, your one-man-social-media-band is not long for this world.)

Let me break it down.

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After reading Disruptions: As User Interaction on Facebook Drops, Sharing Comes at a Cost by Nick Bilton in the New York Times (and Facebook‘s detailed fact check), I thought I would spend $21 for your amusement. I would sponsor three Facebook posts. OK, I’ll be honest with you, I came up with that plan after I sponsored one spontaneously and organically to see if anyone might want to join my virtual rowing team, Team Grotto, and join a virtual regatta, the 2013 World Erg Challenge. Read the remainder of this entry »